#fandom: metaphor

[specterthief]

really good hulkenberg moment

[diverse-hearts]

@charlotte-liddel asked for a Xmas Starter

"Ye can try one if ye like!" He'd agreed to help Maria with handing out some of the winter themed cakes to those that hung around the inn. Having made the majority of them himself, he thought it made sense to be the one handing them out too - especially as the little girl had long since ran off to play with the new friends that she'd made.

Not that he minded much - it was nice to see that people around the city seemed in a good mood. Change was going to take a while to come, and this festival was taking place too soon after all the chaos for that change to really be felt...but it still felt like such a nice change.

"Haha, sorry, did'ne mean te startle ye any", he opened the tin he carried, lowering them to the woman's height, "Oh...or maybe yer new to the city? Is that it? You lost?"

[descendant-of-truth]

I think the other reason I don't really get into ships as portrayed by fandom culture is that it seems like the mindset is more like. "I want these characters to be in a Romantic Relationship(TM)" instead of "I want these characters' relationship to be romantic"

What I mean here is that, so often I see pairings enacting romance tropes to the point of heavily altering or downright replacing their original dynamic - as if the people behind it only understand romance as a series of checklists to tick off. Couples like to kiss and sleep in the same bed and flirt with each other, so it doesn't matter who the characters are, if they're a couple then naturally they'll do those things, right??

And that's where the whole thing starts to lose me, because I would assume that the appeal of shipping characters is, y'know... the characters? Rather than just, the idea of a couple? If I'm thinking about how it'd be cool for them to be in love, my first thought is always "so how would they show it," because just like everything else about a person, the answer is going to be different on a case-by-case basis.

Maybe the characters involved aren't really into kissing, but they like arranging date activities. Maybe they aren't committed to the structure of dating at all, and just want to be around each other whenever they can. And even if they are the types to like doing traditionally romantic things, that doesn't suddenly erase whatever else they had going on before they started adding that on top of it.

I'm not saying that the more typical romance tropes and activities are bad, just that they're applied kind of excessively, regardless of whether or not they actually work for the characters involved. I want to see my favorite characters having relationships that are true to who they are, not what the stock depiction of a couple says they should be.

[specterthief]

extra info about louis (major spoilers beneath the cut)

charadrius is also a reference to the caladrius, a mythical bird whose name is pronounced identically and treated interchangeably in japanese! (カラドリウス, just like louis's name.) japanese tellings of the myth also (from my research) typically specify the bird appearing before sick kings...

it's also appeared as a demon in other megami tensei games a few times, with this being its compendium description:

A mysterious bird that can tell the severity of one's illness as well as heal sickness itself. A Caladrius draws illnesses into itself with its beak and flies away, healing the sick. But if the sickness is too far advanced, the bird will refuse even to look at the sufferer. It is thought to be a plover or wagtail, but the only certain detail is that it is pure white.

with louis's parents being doctors/his own corrupted healing magic and his "taking the sickness away" from the king the mythical bird is probably the more specific animal reference than the real bird!

also caladrius the demon is a cute little guy:

Metaphor: ReFantazio has a cast of wonderful characters and in looking up the origins of some of their names I noticed that most of them are named of plants or animals. So I had a category 2 autism moment and compiled a list of them and where their names came from because I love details like this. Tell me if I missed any!

Under the cut for some spoilers

Plants:

Gallica: (Rosa Gallica, also known as the french rose)

Eiselin Burchelli Meijal Hulkenberg (Burchellia bubalina, or wild pomegranates)

Juani "Junah" Cygnus (Ajwain, known by other names such as bishop's weed and carom)

Basilio Magnus (Basilio is equivalent to the name "Basil")

Catherina Grann (Catherina is a variety of white tulips)

Cercis Klinger (Cercis is a genus of plants in the pea family known as "redbuds")

Cirsium Zorba (Cirsium is a genus of thistles)

Joanna Calendula (Calendula is a genus of the daisy family. its members are commonly called marigolds)

Aestivum Forden (Triticum Aestivum, common wheat)

Idaeus Glodell (Rubus Idaeus is the European Red Raspberry)

Milo Adriano Narcissus Maurizio - (Aside from the obvious, Narcissus is a genus of flowers commonly known as daffodils)

Roger Arctium Ward (burdock is from the Arctium family)

Julian Ruta Castillion (Ruta is rue)

Loveless Muscar O'Shea (Muscar comes from Muscat, a variety of grapes used to make moscato wine)

Lina Kayden (The name "Lina" has a different meanings depending on the language. Some possible meanings include: "palm tree", "olive crown" or "flax")

Animals

Leon Strohl da Haliaetus (the osprey, Pandion haliaetus)

Arvid "Grius" Alces (The moose is Alces alces, the only animal in the genus Alces)

Heismay Noctule (Nyctalus, a genus of insectivorous bats are commonly called "noctule bats")

Euphausia "Eupha" Etoreika (Euphausia is the largest genus of krill)

Neueirus "Neuras" Corax (Corvus corax, the common raven)

Alonzo Crotalus (Rattlesnakes belong to the genus Crotalus)

Elphas Maxim Bardon (His name is derived from Elephas maximus, the asian elephant)

Brigitta Lycaon (Lycaon is a genus of canines of which the African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, is the only extant member of)

Fabienne Vulpes (Vulpes is the genus of "true foxes")

Rella Melancoryphus Cygnus (Reversed, Cygnus melancoryphus is the black-necked swan)

Gruidae (The crane family is Gruidae)

Ovis Gideaux (Ovis are sheep)

Rudolf Krause (Rudolf means "glory-wolf")

Goddard Gunnel (Gunnels are a group of fish in the family Pholidae)

Louis Guiabern Charadrius (Charadrius is a genus of wading plovers)

[vulcan-moon]

maria robotnik i truly believe in my heart that you should be allowed to get so mad and angry

[myfandomrealitea]

Honestly you people need to start thinking about fanfiction like a restaurant.

You do not have to order the salmon if you don't like salmon.

If I order the salmon, I am not forcing you to eat the salmon. Nor are you obligated to order it just because I am.

If we are going with the intention of sharing food, that's okay! I happen to like steak too. I don't need to order the salmon. I'm capable of going to the restaurant and not ordering the salmon. We can order the steak.

There is a whole menu of things you can have. The salmon is just an option. We can even find a restaurant that doesn't serve salmon at all.

Yes, I know some people are allergic to salmon. But I'm not going up to them and force-feeding it to them. The only way my salmon can hurt them is if they come to our table and take the salmon.

The only way you'll expose yourself to my salmon and the unpleasantness of eating it is if I tell you my dish has salmon in it and you insist on having a bite anyway.

You're midway through your meal and realize it has salmon in it? Okay. Lets send it back and order something else. Maybe you didn't see it in the ingredients list. Or maybe the chef didn't put it down.

Its really that simple.

[bebx]

"dog as a symbol or metaphor is overrated and boring" WRONG.

I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies (thank you hozier)

devoted as a dog

hunted down like a dog with rabies

how a dog loves

I can be a good dog. I can be good

like a good good dog

I want to be your dog

bad dog gets punished

loyal like a dog

a wounded dog will bite anything

I'm not a violent dog. I don't know why I bite

a dog’s trust

chained up like a dog

I could go on and on. like I’m sorry you can’t see the beauty of using dog as a symbol/metaphor. sorry you can only see shallowness in the depth of rawness. anyway MORE DOG AS A SYMBOL AND MORE DOG AS A METAPHOR

[phewgitoid]

purity of the machine

[rednightmare18]

Sometimes I do think the hyperfocus on religious guilt, especially the hyperfocus on religious guilt pertaining to sexual behavior (with one particular romance taking up 90% of the fandom's concern here), is eclipsing the absolutely fascinating canonical relationship Henry has with God.

Henry's guilt, a complicated tangle of survivor's guilt and moral guilt, is never on clearer display than when he dreams of his parents. This dream is the face of how Henry feels about himself and the sins, moral and divine and cultural, he has committed. It always troubles me when I see people yelling at Henry's parents as if they were really there... and not recognizing this is insight directly into how Henry feels about what happened in KCD2.

Notice that he is deeply caught up on theft and revenge/wrath (even when he argues with his father/i.e. himself in his own defense).

Notice, too, that he has no apology to make about Hans (if romanced). Of even greater interest from a character analysis standpoint, neither of his dream-parents (the voice of his internal guilt and misgivings) spare more than a moment's surprise on it. Henry's mother immediately scolds Henry's father when he expresses surprise; down to the marrow of his dreams, Henry does not seem to feel badly, guilty, or conflicted about romancing Hans at all.

Henry's aversion to touching the dead in kcd1 and kcd2 (particularly when someone he deeply cares about does it) is period-place-typical. It is fascinating how he rationalizes with himself in different contexts and how he justifies or does not justify this.

Henry usually gravitates toward social pariahs out of genuine curiosity first, compassion second; I find this point (blended with the above point) especially interesting in the context of his work with Executioner Hermann from KCD1!

Henry's anger is extraordinary, especially in KCD1, and whether or not Henry comes to understand his anger has immense echoes into the "voice" of his guilt.

Henry has a curiously spotty religious knowledge; this always delights me, as he's had a dash of monk's education and grew up in a town without a church. "Crimbo" is a hilarious line, but in other ways, it is also nicely representative of the half-formed grip he has on religious philosophy.

Henry's furious outbursts of "you call yourself a Christian?" are almost exclusively tied to his outbursts in defense of the defenseless, and this is used as a call to moral shame, especially against militant men. I always think first of his genuinely furious attempt to interject when Kuno deliberately uses civilian women as bait in KCD1.

Henry at times seems incredibly confident in his personal relationship with God. I adore the quest A Sinful Soul for how it showcases this. In a direct prayer the player has limited control over, Henry addresses God as informally as one might address a neighbor he has a minor grievance with. He essentially tells God, "Look, I know what you said about this issue, but I also know that YOU know I'm right this time, so I'm gonna do it my way, cause I know you didn't exactly mean it the way you said it there. Thanks in advance - knew you'd agree with me." Henry believes in a God who makes individual exceptions based on what is moral; he also differentiates what is moral from what is godly, and seems certain that God also draws this distinction for Himself.

Fucking thrilling from a character development standpoint! Fucking thrilling in the breath before the Hussite rebellions.

[specterthief]

got possessed by demons (insomnia) and spent way too long on a portrait edit of new recruit louis because. that sure is what he looked like back then man

[specterthief]

yeah funny thing about this whole thing, the "caged songbird" line is entirely an invention of the english localization lol

like it's definitely a bit of a snarky fuck you to louis, but more to the tone of "and i'm done being your beard too btw" than accusing him of being the one keeping her "caged"

am i insane or would it make more sense to give junah an arc about getting out from under the sanctist churchs thumb because while she uses the line about no longer being your caged songbird or whatever on louis it really. doesnt make much sense with him. but it DOES seem to me as if from the moment the cygnus family adopted her the church hasnt left her alone - first forden threatening her to manipulate rella, then what we see in the game with how even she’s working with and the rumoured lover of the churches biggest opponent theyre still able to get her on stage for any of their performances and she just. does it. goes up with barely any notice and repeats their propaganda she disdains. like. if she’s anyones caged songbird.. i would never defend a blonde man but it’s not louis who has her go on stage to spread his ideology and who she obeys every time..

[cheebuss]

thanks for the terrible suggestion Cat, I hate all four pixels of him

[feelingthedisaster]

The King's Men's plot structure is genius.

TKM has been critized a lot for not following the conventional plot structure, because it doesnt end inmediatly at the resolution of the climax, like they taught us in class. But it actually has a reason behind it and it think that is what makes AFTG unique and Nora Sakavic an amazing writer. I'll explain.

So, we all know AFTG has a lot of chess metaphors, however i think it doesnt contain the metaphors, it is the metaphor. Each character represents a piece of the board (Riko king, Kevin queen, Neil pawn, Andrew knight, etc) and exy is the chess, but but but, a chess game not only involves the pieces, the game cannot exist without someone playing, the chess masters (which would be Kengo, Ichiriu, Nathan and all the mafia stuff).

So, AFTG is divided into two plots happening at the same time: what happens on the chess board (exy season) and what happens outside it (the mafia mess).

Of couse, the climax has to be about the outside out, because who cares which one of pieces move in which way if the players are pointing guns at eachother under the board? The guns are more more important. So who cares? The pieces on the board care, the ones that are being played with. And who is the narrator? The character that represents the pawn, the less important figure of the entire room.

Yeah, the 'outside of the board' plot is over half way into the book, but it doesnt matter because that happens outside the board, the chess game has not ended yet. The pawn cannot go back to rest in the box until the game is over, until the king dies. The book cannot be over until the chess game our protagonist is a piece of ends. The books have to end with the king's (Riko) death and that is exactly what happens.

If this isnt excellent writing and one of the best examples of know the rules so you can break them, i dont what is.

[teakei]

hamilton fanart (the room where it happens)

decisions are happening over dinner

[dailyhmsw]

loop 264

[fittlebottom]

hi