#i know i know realistic games bad bc they sacrifice everything else for looks but. Preddy Bideo Game...

[blossombloodcurse]

current ranking of datv companion personal quests, spoilers obv

i’m not finished with the game, but i’ve gotten hero of the veilguard status with everyone except lucanis, but i feel confident judging him anyways bc whatever remains of his personal quest would have to be wildly unexpected to change my mind about it

RANKING

#1 Neve

Neve is an amazing character and her quest is pretty much perfect. The plot is compelling, the pacing is good (I don’t feel like we should be doing it with more urgency, the breaks in the quest make sense) and while it ties into the main quest by having Aelia be Venatori and servant of Elgar’nan, it’s still personal for Neve and relates to her struggle maintaining her morals while trying to effect real lasting change in a corrupt city. Both options at the end feel justifiable and realistic, neither feels like the “bad” option. The side characters are compelling, the city feels lived in (on one of the message boards I saw a flyer that said Cida Ciconia had missed a show, which indicated she was one of Aelia’s victims, and it made it feel like the plot was progressing even when we weren’t actively on it), and even though it’s taking a new angle with the noir detective vibe, it also feels appropriately “dragon age.”

#2 Davrin

Davrin and Neve are very nearly tied. The plot is excellent, but the pacing was occasionally off. Sometimes I felt like we could be doing more with more urgency—the threat to the griffons was time sensitive!—and unlike Neve’s where it felt like she was doing her own legwork in her off hours, each leg of Davrin’s quest started with “let’s check in with the wardens.” There’s nothing super wrong with that though and it’s much less tiresome than it could have been since I like the wardens as a faction and the specific warden npcs that appeared in game. It connected to the main plot as part of the elven gods spreading the blight, and it also was personal to Davrin as he struggled with what sort of caretaker he wanted to be to Assan. The highlight of the quest is that it’s very fundamentally “dragon age,” exploring the darkness and horror of the wardens and the blight. Neither DA2 and DAI really brought back the wardens in their element the way DATV has (Anders being a warden was secondary to everything else about him, and Blackwall wasn’t even a warden). On that note though, the choice at the end, while neither option was “bad,” I don’t feel compelled at all to take the griffons away from the wardens. I love the wardens and I love the hope that the griffons bring them. I know it’s explored that the wardens harmed griffons in the past and there’s a chance it could happen again because of the way the wardens are dedicated to doing anything they must to fight the blight, but as a player and long time fan, I’m so fond of the wardens that the choice was easy to make.

#3 Emmrich

Emmrich’s quest was fun and suitably personal as Emmrich struggles with his fear of death while being so close to it all the time, but it had nothing to do with the main plot at all. At this point, that’s my main critique of the Mourn Watch as a faction as well (they’re fun, but what do they do here?). It also lost points because it didn’t feel very “dragon age.” Unlike Neve’s where they’re going for a different genre but slot it into the setting seamlessly, Emmrich’s feels like it could be transposed to another universe easily. There’s nothing to tie it to any existing dragon age touchstones. It’s fun! I enjoyed the creepy necromancer mad scientist thing! But it’s not dragon age to me. It gained points at the end because I enjoyed Manfred’s sacrifice and that both options, to revive him or let him rest, felt respectful to him. I wish we had gotten more lore on what lichdom really means and some more pushback on whether it’s bad or good, why Emmrich wants it other than just his fear of death, etc. Leading up to the final choice, I saw no reason to stop Emmrich from pursuing it. Emmrich looking at Manfred and saying he doesn’t regret giving up lichdom was so well acted, I really enjoyed it, but I wish it had been more earned.

#4 Harding

I hate that I have to rank her so low because I love dwarf lore and her quest was all dwarf lore. However, it loses points because it was just dwarf lore. Other than a connection to Solas because he was the one who made the titans tranquil, it has very little to do with the main plot and it doesn’t feel very personal to Harding. Harding embracing her emotions at the end was cool, but I didn’t feel like I was even aware she was suppressing that much leading up to it. The choice at the end was also simple: of course she should remain her own person and not become a vehicle for the titan’s anger. It also felt way shorter than anyone else’s quest. When it was over, it was unexpected and kind of abrupt, but it was also the first personal quest I completed in its entirety, so it possibly just caught me off guard that I was at the part in the game where people’s personal quests were coming to an end. I loved Isana Negat and the Deep Roads and Kal-Sharok, but I got angry that those maps were only open when we were doing her quest. I rushed through Kal-Sharok when we went to see the oracle, thinking I would get to go back, and then it was closed and so I missed a lot of it, which sucks because this is literally what I have been waiting ten years for. I also think it was odd how little it was explored that Harding was a surface dwarf and had no real connection to the Stone before this. I wish she struggled with that more. All in all, I love the lore but I’m really disappointed in Harding’s character writing. It feels really sparse, and also irrelevant to the plot, which makes me sad because I love her.

#5 Taash

The early parts of Taash’s quest were entirely personal with no plot. At first, I really enjoyed exploring Taash’s struggles with their heritage and their gender, but by I think the second leg of their personal quest, I was like, “Oh, is the entire quest gonna be like this?” I said this before, but it is baffling to me that they made Taash’s struggle with their cultural heritages an either/or issue while simultaneously having an exploration of their gender being more nuanced than a simple binary. I can’t understand how anyone saw those playing out right next to each other and didn’t think they were muddying their message. I was cringing during the dinner scene with their mother when my encouragements to them to embrace the parts of Rivain’s culture that they enjoyed turned into them forcing it on their immigrant mother. It just seems like someone with a multicultural background should have been in the writer’s room for that one. Taash’s quest gets points at the end because I enjoyed the fort inside a volcano map, and their mother’s death scene was moving and well acted.

#6 Bellara

Big waste of everyone’s time in the most baffling way. No one seems to care that there’s another elven god on the loose? The pacing is bad and constantly has me like, “Shouldn’t we be more concerned about all this?” Bellara’s dead brother is alive! But he dies again at the end. Anaris is back! But he goes away at the end. We didn’t learn anything. Bellara didn’t develop as a character at all. Like what did we do and why did we do it? It gets points at the end solely for the in-fight dialogue where Rook calls Anaris a second rate loser, exactly what I’ve been thinking this entire time.

#7 Lucanis

Anything I enjoyed about this quest has been so overshadowed by my frustration with how the Crows have been presented as a faction. First of all, it’s obvious from the very beginning that Illario is behind everything. I was trying to withhold judgment on that because I thought it could still work as dramatic irony to highlight that family is Lucanis’s blind spot, but that’s not really explored. It was baffling to me that Illario left Caterina alive, but still I thought, this could work I guess to show that family is Illario’s weakness as well, but again, they don’t get into it. The plot fell apart entirely for me when Lucanis (hardened in my playthrough) only sent Illario to prison instead of killing him, and that Caterina and the other Crows not only tolerated it, but rewarded him with their most prestigious leadership position. Lucanis can make as many offhand comments in banter about the Crows infighting and house wars as he wants, but the Crows that are on screen are docile. It’s infuriating that Lucanis (hardened!!) can do something so tepid and weak in front of the leaders of all the houses, show them all that he will suffer attempts on his life without retribution, and that doesn’t ruin the reputation of House Dellamorte irreparably. I don’t even know where to start with this. After I finished this quest, I stewed about it for the entire day afterwards. I guess I haven’t finished with him because I haven’t gotten Hero of the Veilguard status yet, but the game would have to pivot hard on how they’ve portrayed the Crows to change my opinion of this quest, and I don’t think that’s going to happen.

[mvrkieboo]

(2) Now yn girlypop imma hold ur hand when i say this: i'm sorry but hiding things even the most fucked up ones doesn't get u anywhere and it'll eventually come back to bite u in the ass 😣 i fear this is the consequences of not laying it all out there. I get the emotional struggle, shame, guilt, heaviness and all the emotion that surrounds the past, tbh idek if *I* could be upfront with everything. So yk understandable babe.

But like if that's the road that imma choose for myself then i gotta make do with the fact that there's gonna be a part 2 of the fuckassery that has happened before, all bc they didn't know the WHOLE picture and the complete lore 😔😔 so I fear the reactions are completely justified.

Bc looking at her friends and family's perspective, i would've thought that everything's in the past, how could we know about yoonsu and that she's under duress bc of the chokehold he has against her, like we don't even know yoonsu or this chokehold exists in the first place.

So i fear i can NOT hold them accountable for not realizing smth is wrong with her. And tbh, hoping she could get out of the situation by having someone realize what's going on is like hoping for a fairytale to happen hhh.

Imo it's either having the balls to admit and reveal everything for a chance of survival and truly putting everything behind—no matter how ugly it would go and how bad it would affect everyone, or this scenario 😭 now idk how she's gonna get out of this.

Like girly you're going to die anyway, what else could u loose. If i were jae i'd rather have my career done and my sister alive. But for her to choose that would require some kind of magical divine intervention from the universe, bc realistically i don't think girly is that ballsy.

one of y/n's main characteristic is that she sacrifices so much for the people she loves, that selflessness turns into selfishness.

it's how she's always been. the fact that she'd rather sell herself to be yoonsu's slave than let him go after yuno and her dad for her dead stepdad's loan is the start.

then the fact that she'd rather have yuno mistreat her than letting him know why she didn't keep in contact with him before they officially reunited in that condo's lobby. she'd rather keep him in the dark than let him know what she'd been through because she knew the guilt that would consume him.

then there's this—she'd rather suffer playing yoonsu's game because she knew yoonsu was right—those pics of her will go viral, and he will keep his promise to make it public that the underage stripper in those photos is her, jeong jaehyun's little sister. she knew how much yuno had been waiting for an opportunity to become a singer—she didn't want her past to become a scandal that can stain/end his upcoming career.

her non-communicative issue, also, is stemmed from the fact the trauma never really ended for her. yoonsu did say he was going to come back, and for the whole time she had been living in bliss ignoring her past, she always thought : why talk about it when he's going to come back and have his revenge anyway? this was temporary bliss, it won't last long.

and if you remember correctly, y/n will always remember the last time she spoke with her mother on the night they discovered her stepdad's body—her mother would rather abandon y/n than stay back and watch as y/n rots away as yoonsu's slave, because her mom couldn't handle that kind of burden.

her mom abandoned her because she was going to become a burden. surely, if the people around her came to know that yoonsu was still on the run and looking for her to get his revenge, they were going to abandon her too.

repressing trauma as a coping mechanism + abandonment issues + lack of closure on what she had suffered during her teenage years due to yoonsu escaping authorities = y/n's lack of communication issue.

that lack of communication is why everyone around her can't clock the fact she's actually acting so bizarrely on her part. now, all we have are faultless people, except yoonsu. you can't fault y/n's people for dropping her and you can't fault y/n for playing along yoonsu's fucked up game.

so yeah, you're right—y/n won't ever have the balls to come clean and admit to it. it'd actually be so ooc of her to be ballsy enough to do it.

[jawsplitter]

despite, um...the weirdness of feeling like im not in my body, tonight has been really good

[asterekmess]

S3A - E8

I’m realizing just how damn far behind I am on working on season 3, but I don’t wanna skip any episodes of the rewatch, so let’s get to it! Double time, double time!

Content warnings for discussion of cannibalism.

Forewarning, this one is a doozy, so be prepared to Read More:

Lesgo!:

First thing’s first, Derek has experience with those awful sound thingies? Can you imagine how freaked he must’ve been seeing Chris bring those out when they were tracking Boyd and Erica?

Also, Chris Argent has been hunting Derek one way or another since he was a child. Even BEFORE Kate. Why the hell do we have a Derek & Chris broness in the later seasons? This kind of shit doesn’t just go away. I can’t believe I forgot about it.

I love how awkward sweet bby Derek is trying to run through the trees and tripping on branches everywhere. It’s honestly so much more realistic for a teenager than just the crazy cgi stuff. Also, since we know Derek is comfortable in the woods, it really gives you a hint as to how truly messed up he is from fear right now. He’s off balance in a dozen ways.

DEREK HAS BEEN WATCHING PEOPLE DIE IN FRONT OF HIM SINCE HE WAS 15. I’m gonna CRY. If I wanna hurt myself even More, you could argue that the Random Beta (RB) got shot bc he stopped to talk to Derek. So...guilty minds would assume Derek has been watching people die because of him since 15. I hate everything.

PETER comin’ in clutch. Also, hilarious that they use that arrow catching move so much.

I almost like how they tried to make Gerard look younger by just having him wear a douchey leather jacket instead of the serious grandpa one he wears in S2. He swaggers over to the body of RB, and it’s hilarious.

Okay, what is this bullshit about “Bring them back alive, we go by the code?” If you were going by the code then you wouldn’t be fucking hunting them AT ALL. They’re innocent! Why the fuck are you ‘bringing them back’ in the first place? Chris, you piece of shit. This is supposed to demonstrate that you’ve always been a stickler for the code, but all it does is emphasize how little that code actually means. “We hunt those who hunt us.” Fuck off, you hunt anything you deem ‘dangerous’ and find excuses to kill them so you can feel righteous.

Gonna casually note that RB was shot in the Throat with an arrow, but bc of makeup necessities they moved the arrow down to his chest when he’s shown on the ground. It’s funny. :)

It’s seriously so hard to hate Peter, do the writers realize that? Like, yes, he did horrible shit and I’m not denying that, but when you show him running into the hunter-filled woods to save his nephew’s life at 24 years old, then hiding with him in a cellar for two fucking days when he could probably have escaped on his own, it’s hard to see him as a heartless bastard.

I’m almost afraid to find out why Cora knows the details. Can you imagine? She would’ve been, what, 9-10? Her big brother and uncle both go missing for two days after a hunt and she had to stay at home waiting for someone to say they’d found their bodies. God, the lives of the Hales are so fucked up.

The rain is really making the mood here.

I gotta say, I’m confused about this initial Cora-Stiles interaction. He goes on about everyone who’s died or nearly died, but then Cora assumes he wants Derek to do something about the deaths, and Stiles agrees? Except that Derek currently fits the COD that all the other sacrifices have hit. Missing for about two days. Everything Stiles has said implies that he’s worried Derek is also dead. I don’t get why they go with ‘I’m worried about the missing man that I’ve been helping for the last four months because I blame him for the Alphas even coming to town”?

One thing they got on point here is just how disgusting they made Gerard. The slime and the spitting and ugh *shudders* it’s just so gross.

I’m also...I think intrigued is the right word--that they shoved this whole story into the episode without ever addressing the fact that Derek IS missing and they should go looking for him or something. It starts with Stiles asking where the hell he is, but then everything else is about this past moment. Talk about going off on a tangent. I mean, I don’t blame them, but if I shoved this much character background into one chapter people would call me out for the infodump that it is.

Which is all this episode is. Info-dumped exposition. Here’s how werewolves were made. Here’s why Derek’s cranky. Here’s why Duke’s an asshole. Here’s why the Hales are ‘special’

Again, I don’t blame them. It’s just...a lot.

Just a tiny thing: Why do they both roll up their sleeves when Scott only has to touch Gerard’s hand?

It is also very hard to believe that either Allison or Scott are remotely good people when they’re both lying to everyone about Gerard’s existence.

*finger guns, bc now i have to use the tag* I think this is the longest I’ve ever gotten before using it.

Another thing: Why does Gerard make the gross noises like he’s in pain, when we know it doesn’t hurt to get the pain taken away from him? It certainly didn’t hurt that lady in the ER.

I know this is a weird thing to notice, but I find it interesting that Paige is wearing actual makeup. Not just the ‘natural’ look, but eyeshadow that’s visibly dark. *shrug*

Is she Actually playing the cello? The notes Don’t look like they match up with her bowing and fingerings.

HA that music cut in is fucking Hilarious. Derek turns around like he’s in a teen rom-com, with that casual “I never stop smiling all the way bc I’m the coolest guy around” grin and the music just WHAM. That’s right, Derek Hale used to be a JOCK. He didn’t used to be ‘a lot like Scott.’ He was a lot like JACKSON.

So, this group of cronies Derek has. What is that about? He’s gotta have that posse just like Jackson did in S1? Unnamed people to cackle at his jokes.

Paige’s face, right there? That is the SHIT for me. That’s not hidden attraction, that’s genuinely “What the fuck is my life, why are you so lame?” and I am LIVING for it.

Derek peacocking is also hilarious. Peacocking so hard he (THE WEREWOLF) didn’t notice that she’d left the hall, is even more so.

I hate to tell you this Paige, but THAT is where I could tell you liked him. Giving in to his bullshit offer was the first step, that look on your face when he said, “Hold on” was Blatant “Holy shit, my crush wants to talk to me” but then all you idiots did was make eye contact. Paige, if you’re trying to get the ball, try looking away from those pretty eyes, okay?

Derek, you always go too far. You can see Paige lose interest when she realizes that he’s not actually into Her, he’s into showing off.

OOOF, i guess they weren’t such good friends after all, cus’ they left when Paige did.

I also feel the need to point out Derek is WEARING A CHECKERED SHIRT. *inarticulate screaming* Everyone who makes jokes about him thinking plaid is disgusting owes me five bucks bc he CLEARLY didn’t think checkers/plaid were that bad when he was in high school.

I’ll admit...the instant sorry is like...really good. If they’d had him come in and be More of a dick and then end up together, I’d be a lot more bugged. But his First real introduction to her is an apology.

THEN he goes back to being a dick. But at least this time it’s not about him, he wants to know about Her.

And I LOVE the turnaround! THIS is flirting. THIS is cute teasing. She plays his game Back at him, shows her own skill and forces him to get on her level. Then he weasels out of it, but in a Cute Way.

If there’s one thing that I’m routinely impressed by in TW it’s the scoring. They’re Really good with music to fit the moods and the vibes of the whole episode. For instance, all the transition music in this episode is Cello, bc it’s about Paige.

I hate agreeing with Gerard on Anything, but he makes a good point about the Dark Druid taking and killing someone else right alongside Deaton. Why would she take 4 people when she only needed three? She wouldn’t know that Deaton got a message out or that Scott would save Deaton. Plus the addition of the mountain ash circle is kind of weird, don’t you think?

Yah, I have no clue why your body is producing anything Either. You literally make no sense and you shouldn’t be alive. Period. Bringing you back was a lazy way to have someone who could be a sub-sub plot and hand out exposition and red herrings that are totally useless.

HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT GERARD? You weren’t There when Deucalion found out he could still see with his Alpha Eyes (Which makes no sense btw, he doesn’t have TWO sets of eyes???) and if you’d interacted with Deuc since then he’d have ripped you to shreds.

SERIOUSLY people, why the FUCK are we getting this information from Gerard when it makes WAY more sense for Deaton to tell them this? He was THERE for the whole thing!

I get that the point of the episode is supposed to be “Unreliable Narrators” (The whole show has an unreliable narrator.) but you had that covered with Peter’s story. You could’ve Instilled TRUST in Deaton by making a contrast and having Deaton TELL THEM THE TRUTH. Show the difference between reliable and unreliable. Gerard doesn’t need to be here!

Stiles, asking the real questions.

AND GETTING THE MOST BULLSHIT ANSWER IN THE UNIVERSE.

Could these writers GET any lazier? Put some fucking effort in and give us some information about Werewolves IN YOUR WEREWOLF TV SHOW.

What the fuck were Paige and Derek into that they knew where an abandoned distillery was when it wasn’t even in TOWN? And you’re telling me they left town every time they wanted to make out? Even worse, are you implying they had SEX in that distillery? And then trying to tell me that none of the fucking Alphas and their packs noticed the smell of Derek and his girlfriend all over the building?

...what...do people seriously not remember being teenagers? What the fuck Peter? In what fucking universe  is “one minute it’s ‘i hate you, don’t talk to me’ the next it’s frantic groping in any dark corner’ remotely accurate to real life?

Teenagers in the majority don’t DO that. I really fucking hate that all teenagers are made out to be like this. Like they’re “run by their hormones” and “everything is sex to you” STOP. Seriously, STOP. Saying shit like that completely negates the fact that Teenagers are Real fucking People. They’re not just buckets of hormones and sweat that need to be shaped into an adult. They’re fucking PEOPLE and reducing them to sex-crazed idiots is lazy and stupid.

Are you ALSO telling me that the hunters dragged RB’s DEad Body to an abandoned building, then strung the corpse up and cut it in half? AND that someone happened to go the abandoned building and found the body and called the cops, or that they MOVEd the two halves somewhere they would be found, Or that They were the ones to call and report the body?

Has teen wolf got even a Single brain cell?

ALSO, what the fuck is this timeline? Derek and Peter went missing for two days after RB was killed, but the packs don’t get together to discuss RB’s death until After Derek has run out of the building with Paige because he could smell blood from RB being hemisected. So, they waited at Least two days before talking to each other about RB’s death? And Derek apparently recovered Instantaneously from his two day nightmare and went right back to macking on his girlfriend and laughing freely the Day he was found? Or did they wait even longer? I’m so fucking confused!

Okay, you tell me that this place is their favorite makeout/groping spot, but they seriously just walk in the door and start kissing in the middle of the room? You guys didn’t bring some blankets and pillows here? You’re gonna stand there the whole time?

WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU MAKING PETER A PERVERT? He was fucking watching his nephew make out with his girlfriend through the wall??? WHat is WRONG with you?

ALSO, Cora was alive and active in Derek’s life at that point. She wasn’t That young. She could easily point out that Peter being Derek’s best friend is total bullshit if it weren’t actually true. Which means Peter is telling the TRUTH here. Hell, she doesn’t call out his heartbeat for lies the entire time, and while they imply at the end of the episode that Really Good Liars can just force their heart to be steady while lying so they don’t get caught, that isn’t a thing for the entire rest of the show. Derek trusts KATE when she says she’s not lying. So the evidence actually points toward Peter telling the TRUTH in this entire episode.

THAT is accurate to teenagers. Using the word “like” and “liking” so many times in a conversation that it doesn’t even sound like a word anymore.

Paige...dude, I’m so torn. Like I’m glad you’re being honest with Derek about your worries, but also it’s a complete dick move to just Assume that he’s gonna bail? To say to his face that you Know he’s leaving you and you’re just waiting for it? Fucking rude.

Ennis...bro...how exactly did your Beta “Accidentally” kill a hunter? How would that happen?

AGAIN WITH THE TIMELINE. If the packs only CAME to beacon hills because of Ennis issue with the hunters, why was RB running through beacon hills when he was killed?

Also, side note: Where are all of these werewolves staying? Are they territorial so they like, all claimed different hotels to take over? Or do they not mind, and THAT’S why the Hale house is so big for such a small family? Because they had a ton of guest rooms for packs that visited to get that sweet, sweet Hale Wisdom?

I firmly believe that werewolves are clothing-optional people. Talia straight shifts into a naked human form in front of over a dozen other wolves.

Also, where the hell is the Hale pack here? Some random chick comes up and gives Talia a robe, but that person is standing with Deuc’s pack. So....what?

I’m so curious about the formation the wolves make when they hear Talia coming. Everybody backs away, except Deucalion. And they do this weird focus on his face as he watches her come in. And her eye contact is JUST with him.

OH GROSS. DID DEUC HAVE A THING FOR DEREK’S MOM????

I will admit that watching things with subtitles sometimes ruins the surprise. There’s that little pause before “I’m just a deputy” like it was supposed to be shocking to the audience, but the subtitle on Amazon Prime just Pops up right away and it kind of ruins the effect.

Here we go! The one piece of concrete information on “Packs” and “pack members” that we’re given in the whole fucking show. Word for Word. “Losing a member of your pack isn’t like losing family, it’s like you lose a limb.”

That is....severe. Now imagine that your entire family IS your pack. And losing almost every one of them. Is it any wonder that Cora, Peter, and Derek are so messed up? That they’re so dark and wounded looking?

I s2g sometimes Peter literally just sounds like he’s a self-insert for the writers. He explains shit that the writer’s are showing Really Badly as if to wave away the fact that the Ennis flashback is pretty much Completely unnecessary. “You just don’t understand my artistic genius, it’s never just a single moment, it’s a confluence of events. I have to show you all these random flashbacks because you need to understand why Derek is soaked in MANPAIN all the time. Which is totally relevant to the current plot bc....bc....bc ART (and also Tyler Hoechlin was busy so we could only get one shot of him for the entire episode)”

That is just the cutest shit oh my god. Derek listens to Paige’s music while he’s in class and doing homework. THAT is love, you realize? He doesn’t just deal with her dedication to her music, he loves it.

THat little wince when he says “Are you sure about that?” Paige knows he’s gonna screw with her.

THAT IS A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP. He gives her space! She likes studying during lunch so he Leaves her Alone. I LIKE IT.

What do you mean “Laura told you about the packs being here.” Derek KNOWS they’re here because he watched RB DIE IN THE WOODS. Seriously, I”M SO CONFUSED.

FUN FACT (that I might’ve already shared) Oak wood was liked by the Celts because it was really sturdy and hardy and bore food, but it wasn’t their favorite type of wood! Rowan was the favorite, and Irish pagan practitioners used to sleep in rowan trees so they could have prophetic dreams. After that, it was Hazelwood. :P

I...do not enjoy when they bring up the Celtic Druids. *Scuttles to get my textbook bc this is my nerd shit*

“We’re in a Nemeton” This is the correct wording, actually! A “Nemeton” isn’t a thing, it’s a “sacred meeting place” as Chris calls it. Go chris! Nemeton refers to the entire grove/area around the main tree.

I can’t speak to whether they chose a ‘Large, older tree in a grove” but it does make sense bc if we’re talking about Oaks they were a symbol of food and safety (acorns were a staple to Celtic diets) so choosing an older tree would not only look more impressive, but it would probably bear more acorns for the clan.

“It would represent the center of the world” *Puts on vine voice* THat is NOt Correct! The tree at the center of the Nemeton was called a “crann bethadh” or “Tree of Life” and it was essentially a Totem that marked the center of the tribe’s territory. It was not ‘the center of the world’ it was the center of THEIR world. Their land.

“There was a belief that cutting or harming the tree would cause serious problems for the surrounding villages” Not sure if ‘villages’ is the correct term for the era, but the rest of it sounds like a close mistranslation. See, in Ireland there were raids people would do against other clans where the SOLE PURPOSE was to destroy their crann bethadh, because it was demoralizing. It’s like graffiti-ing the front of a church. But technically, it WAS severely frowned upon to harm the tree in any way.

This is mostly because in most Celtic areas, Oak trees were considered symbols of the “Father of the Sky” or the “God of Thunder.” Of course you don’t wanna piss off Thunder man.

Also, you notice how I’m saying CELTS and not DRUIDS. It’s because DRUID isn’t a cultural label, it’s a SOCIAL CLASS. It’s like saying “The Educated”

Okay, back to the--OH WAIT. Before anyone gets any ideas, the blood on the crann bethadh isn’t human. Estonian Celts smeared animal blood on the tree roots as an assurance for rain and good harvests. This is the same concept as TONS of other religions, including Christianity. (Abraham was supposed to sacrifice his son, Isaac, to God, but God stopped him and had him sacrifice a Ram instead. So, Yes. Christians used to perform animal sacrifices.)

NOW back to the show.

THe fact that gerard doesn’t know this stuff implies that Chris is the nerd of the family.

I LIKE THIS. I hate that I like it bc it’s Gerard, but I LIKE IT. Gerard gets up from his wheelchair. He doesn’t need it All the Time.

I’ve never seen another show that bothered to have a wheelchair user who wasn’t wheelchair-bound, which is stupid because it’s Very Common for people using wheelchairs to not need them all the time.

though it does beg the question of why he’s sitting in a wheelchair when he’s in his own bedroom? Was he going somewhere? Or did he know he wouldn’t have enough chairs and didn’t want Allison or Scott to sit in his chair?

The story of Lycaon, who was considered a savage ruler of Arcadia and Zeus went to his house disguised as a human (this is v common in myth) to find out if he was batshit. Lycaon and his FIFTY SONS (he also had one daughter) wanted to know if the stranger was a human or a mortal, so they fed him human flesh in stew. Zeus flipped shit and blasted the room with thunderbolts, murdering all but one of Lycaon’s sons, and then turned Lycaon into a wolf.

So...this whole ‘myth of lycaon’ is totally fucked up when it didn’t need to be? Like, they didn’t NEED to change it to make it a messed up origin story of wolves. It already was.

There’s three major versions to choose from

Lycaon was a pius man who founded the city of Lycosura on Mount Lycaeus and used a child as a sacrifice to Zeus, thinking it would please him. Zeus flips shit and turns Lycaon into a wolf. FROM THEN ON; at every sacrifice made to zeus a man was transformed into a wolf and if he managed to restrain himself from eating human flesh for 8-9 years, he would be turned human again.

The same story as the first, except Lycaon Knew Zeus was in disguise and the child he fed him was Zeus’ own son, and it was revenge for seducing his only daughter Callisto.

If you want to make it match what you’ve already said about wolves in the show, they could’ve used the last one and it would’ve demonstrated how Ingrained the concept of vendetta/revenge is for wolves.

If you wanted to focus on the Turning Human part and working with Celtic Druids to learn to become werewolves, you could’ve used the second one.

there was no reason to add in the bullshit about Prometheus except as an excuse to make Deucalion look like he picked his name to be an asshole, which he fucking didn’t.

 I’m so sorry about all the classical shit (i’m really not) but I studied it in college and I can’t just let this bullshit stand.

I’ll give them a pass on the ‘the lesser known part’ bc it’s technically plausible for the wolves to have run north to the Celts and beg for help, And the Druids (those who’s education was specifically in magic, not all of them) were known for shapeshifting (though not usually into animals. They did that to Other people, not themselves)

I cannot believe this is so long, i’m so sorry.

But WHY tho, Cora? How is an Emissary supposed to keep you connected to humanity if No ONe KNows Who They Are?? How are they supposed to do their job??

Yeah, well now Deaton is a sour bitch who has a chip on his shoulder against the Hale pack so like...fuck his advice.

I will say though! Pre-fire Deaton doesn’t give me the heebies like post-fire Deaton. He’s much more clear about the advice he’s giving, and it’s actually helpful! He still has a dumb little anecdote/parable about the scorpion and the frog (which...in most circumstances I hate. It doesn’t even match what happens) but he gives Real Advice instead of vague asshole nonsense.

“I’m an Alpha, I never walk alone.” I have an inordinate affection for this line.

Paige is clearly some kinda bad bitch if she thought nothing of going to hang out in the school in the middle of the night with Derek.

Okay, but like...why would he attack Ennis like that if he was the one who asked him to bite Paige? And why is the moment played up “A fifteen-year-old boy against a giant” Derek was literally swatted to the side while Ennis walked out of the building. this wasn’t some big showdown.

If she’d already been bitten, why was Ennis still grabbing at her??

....seriously? Peter is literally right there? And no one noticed?

Again with the “Scott is a genius now” LIsten, bro, why the fuck would Scott know a sanskrit fable? If he Did know a story like that, it would be bc Deaton taught him. In which case he would know the FROG and the scorpion. Come on, guys.

OH MY GOD GERARD DOES IT TOO. GERARD, PETER, AND DEUC all have a CHRONIC case of verbal diarrhea when they’re trying to be intimidating.

I do NOT understand this warehouse scene. It’s a GAS gerard, if you stabbed yourself with some sort of...antidote or whatever it wouldn’t save you from the GAS you’re inhaling. At the very least you would be shouting like everyone else because it HURTS going in.

why did it take so long for Talia to come? It’s implied that Peter left to get her, so why did it take so long? Even PAST peter looks fucked up at seeing that Paige is dying, it’s not like he would wait.

I’ll be real, i get weepy so i’m skipping the actual death. Just know that it hurts me. Severely.

Y’all know how much I hate this ‘innocent life’ bullshit for blue eyes. It’s very True Alpha-y in that it’s impossible to pin down the specifics. What constitutes an ‘innocent life’? What constitutes taking it? With wolf claws? With a gun? What counts and what doesn’t count? Ugh.

Eyyy, so I’m exhausted and this is so long that my computer is fritzing. There are five minutes left and nothing happens in them at all. Just Scott pointing out the heartbeat thing and threatening to kill Gerard (so he’s still fine with murder at this point in time. Good to know). Stiles telling Cora that he doesn’t think Peter was telling the truth (which she would Know if he wasn’t) and that he’s gonna ask Derek about it (which we never got to see). And Deucalion murdering his own Beta (who, tbf, tried to kill him first. Which, again, what the fuck is up with Deaton’s office that wolves are able to rip each other apart in it, but it’s still ‘hard for someone like Scott to cause me any trouble.’ I’m just so confused

Final Thoughts: This episode actually had some interesting stuff in it, which is kind of sad considering there was no PLOT, just Exposition. I look forward to tweezing the bits out that I want and dumping the rest in the garbage where it belongs. Oh, and like I said, the music was on Point.

[witch-of-tempests]

Tiny rant Bc I fucking hate her

[[MORE]]

Why do people love Feyre Archeon so much? I’ll tell you why. Because she’s the perfect person to live vicariously through. She doesn’t do SHIT through her story that has a lasting impact. She isn’t really even that kind or humble like the book and how she wants us to believe. She has to literally tell us that she’s a ‘badass’ over and over again and doesn’t even do shit to prove it that once again, has a lasting impression. The literal final battle she just sort of watches as shit happens and doesn’t really do anything. I know nothing about her personality or could give you a example off the top of my head that stuck with me. I still however, love her sisters. They have actual flavor to them, and I like how their stories went. Everyone calls Feyre a badass, or they feel so sorry for her for her mental struggles and shit. They excuse her behavior because she was traumatized and what have you, but when Tamlin lashes out and can’t handle his own emotions for the same reason, he’s labeled as total chode. Abuse is not ok in any form, and if the fandom jumped on Tamlins ass for what he did (mind you the unspeakable crime he did was lock her in the house when she’s clearly unstable and be sort of a closed off jerk for a bit. He also destroyed some furniture but I don’t remember Feyre being particularly upset about that.) they should jump on Rhysand for the same thing. He literally took a doped up Feyre around and paraded her though the mountain, THEN sort of forced her into a yearly contract because she had no other choice. Which don’t get me wrong, I love Rhysand I think he’s the best part of the series. But his flaws are his love for bland ass Feyre. While we’re here, let’s address how Feyre literally does not exist without a love interest. She has no motivations beyond one base need in the first book before her love interest is introduced. So let’s look at a few other YA protagonists that are in the same boat.

America singer, the selection:

America is by far the second worst in terms of story. She suffers from YA love. Meaning she usually doesn’t have motivations beyond her love interest. But the key difference here is that she does SOMETHING. Her entire story is super self indulgent and you have to turn off your brain for a bit with some of the politics, but still it’s enjoyable because America feels somewhat grounded in reality. I haven’t re-read the selection in a while but here’s what I remember of her personality. America is sort of a ditz, she says things that she doesn’t mean to say but it ends up working out for her thankfully. But she’s also very kind, and though the story does linger on her biggest gesture of kindness, she sort of backs up that action by doing other small things. (Playful banter with her maids always gets me smiling). She’s also just as emotionally charged as any teenager, and though her moods seem irrational when she gets them, she keeps a level head about it. She exists both to compliment, and outside of her love interests. Infact I don’t remember a lot of time she gets with her eventual fiancé, because she’s busy sort of making a name for herself.

Jude Duarte , The folk of the air series.

Now Jude has a lot more in common with Feyre, they both are humans thrown into the Fey’s courts, and have to navigate their own feelings about a ‘bad fae boy’ while fighting for a place there. The key difference? Jude. Actually. Does. Something. Cardan is a jackass and absolutely everything Rhysand would’ve been had he not been destined to be with vanilla ass Feyre. Jude doesn’t hesitate to call Cardan out, kick his ass, or question his motivations. Infact her childhood upbringing and Cardans actions to her blind her from romance for the most part. Judes character development and it in its entirety exists outside of her romance. Jude is a headstrong, willful person, and I don’t need her telling me that to know.

Linh Cinder, The lunar chronicles.

Cinder herself is a lot in the same retelling vein as Feyre. Cinder being Cinderella obvs. But her romance is not the be all end all of the story. She’s willing to sacrifice what chance she does have with her prince to ensure the safety of a ENTIRE PLANET. Cinder herself is a excellent YA character, she’s thoughtful and actually kind of calculating. She also is able to learn from her mistakes (that she makes frequently) and wastes no time in taking advantage of a opprontunity when she sees it. She also is recklessly selfless, IE going into a quarantine on a hunch just to bring comfort to someone else. But her romance sort of takes a backseat to the main plot, and she never lets what she truely wants get in the way of her wanting the best for the majority.

Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games

Do I need to go on? Ok. Katniss is the PINACLE of the YA ‘chosen one’ girl trope thing. But her romance? It’s like on the back row of a tour bus for her. It’s played up in the movie and mass media consumption, but she’s just trying to survive. She’s a hilariously sarcastic and realistic heroine, even though she describes herself as hard to like and such, she’s still a LOVELY character who I absolutely adore. She isn’t in the games for fame or glory, she’s here for a objectively selfish reason. To save her sister. Anyways I could go on for pages about how much I love Katniss but the point here too is that she struggles with PTSD as well, like Feyre. But she’s again, realistic. And sort of sucks it up and bottles it away so she can like, survive. Where Feyre, and I say this as someone who struggles with PTSD myself, mopes about it. There are days when the flashbacks and terrors make you want to curl up and die, and those days are more often than not. But, you have to suck it up sometime and deal with it later. Katniss does that shit, Feyre does not.

TLDR: Feyre archeon is a shit character

Ps: Theres better smut on the internet.

[oumakokichi]

I might have missed an ask along the way, but have you discussed the dynamic between Momota and Ouma yet? I understand Japanese enough to get by without the occasionally misinformed/misleading translations and I am FLOORED by the lack of people talking about the dynamic shift between them in chapters 3 and 5. I guess I just wanted to know what you had to say on their relationship since your metas are always on point (also bc my friend and I can only scream at each other about these two so much)

I wanted to answer these two questions together because I’mactually very excited to have a chance to talk about this! Ouma and Momota’srelationship and the way in which the dynamic between them shifts is one of themost fascinating parts of Chapter 5, in my opinion.

If Chapter 5 in every DR game is about encouraging theplayer to put aside their preconceptions in order to find the truth (trustingthat Kirigiri is lying to Naegi for a good reason, understanding that justbecause Komaeda’s murder was gruesome and horrible didn’t necessarily mean hewas killed by someone else, etc.) then ndrv3 Chapter 5 really, truly takes thecake: complete cooperation between a culprit and victim is definitely a firstin a DR game.

There are so many intentional parallels and points ofdifference between them, in much the same way that there are parallels betweenOuma and Saihara, or Saihara and Momota. I feel Saihara himself managed tosummarize it best when I was translating the Chapter 5 post-trial, and when hesaid that they “had lost the friend that they could trust the most and thefriend that they could trust the least at the same time.”

I’ll be discussing Ouma and Momota’s relationship prettythoroughly under the read more, so there will be quite a few endgame spoilers.Please read only if you’re comfortable! I’ll also be referencing things fromthe Chapter 5 post-trial quite a lot, so if anyone hasn’t read it yet, there’sa translated transcript of the whole thing here!

So, for most of ndrv3 I don’t think anyone quite expectedsuch an effective and incredible alliance between Ouma and Momota preciselybecause they are so different. For most of the early chapters, and especiallyChapter 4, the emphasis is placed on their inability to see anything from theother’s perspective.

To Momota, Ouma is simply the worst. He’s cynical, he’s cryptic, he seems to relish in saying crueland sadistic things to the group at large, and he absolutely will not playalong with Momota’s “power of friendship” shounen protagonist wishes. Momota isprimarily concerned with motivating and inspiring others, and Ouma’s constantapparent attempts at sabotaging those motivational speeches seems nothing butchaotic and heartless. Therefore, he hates him.

To Ouma, Momota is incrediblynaïve and foolish. His attempts at motivating and “trusting in” the others arenothing but a parallel to Kaede’s early attempts at the same thing, and Oumaabsolutely hates the hypocrisy of someone claiming to trust everyone sowholeheartedly when they themselves are keeping huge secrets (such as Momota’s illness,which is a huge risk to his own safety and could very well backfire if he wereto die suddenly with no one knowing about it). Momota’s beliefs seem likelittle more than idealism without being willing to make cold, hard sacrificesin order to actually keep others alive. What’s more, he feels Momota’s rashnessand tendency to rely on yelling and getting angry is a spark waiting tokickstart the killing game into action. So he looks down on Momota, and thinkshe’s a loose cannon waiting to misfire.

This conflict between them reaches its obvious boiling pointin Chapter 4. After Miu’s death, Momota wants Saihara to become more confidentin his reasoning and believe in himself—but by relying on Saihara’s skills as adetective without actually encouraging him to doubt or suspect others, this isdangerous. By contrast, Ouma notices the others’ complacency and wants Saiharato trust absolutely none of them, but to work with himself instead—but thiskind of isolation from a friend group which provides so much support for one anotheris equally dangerous. Saihara understandably is torn between their conflict formost of the chapter.

The actual trial in Chapter 4 features both of them clashingover ideology and trying to force Saihara to pick a side once and for all. And both of them are ultimately surprised bythe turn of events, which is, I think, precisely why they both begin toreevaluate their plans and strategies in Chapter 5.

Momota is forced to reevaluate his “trust everyone, believein your friends, don’t doubt anyone even if the facts tell you to” strategyprecisely because it gets Gonta hurt so badly. By fighting against the obviousoutcome of the trial and prolonging the inevitable, Gonta became more confused,more upset, and the truth hurt that much more because it was slow and painfullygouged in, rather than accepted quickly and all at once. As angry as Momotagets at both Ouma and Saihara in Chapter 4, it’s clear that he knew he himselfwas partially in the wrong for denying the facts and for blaming Saihara for “betrayingGonta”—because he definitely begins acting guilty and readjusting his plans inChapter 5.

Ouma, of course, felt that his strategy was right up untilthe very end of the trial. He wanted initially to reveal the truth gently andin a much more roundabout fashion—but Momota and the rest of the group’srefusal to believe it unless it was presented coldly, harshly, and by ruthlesslyeliminating every other possibility made him angry enough that he “proved” tothem how horrible the truth could be when used as a weapon. He was confidentthat his methods and his doubt for everyone was right, up until the very end—whenSaihara and the rest of the group still ultimately chose to support Momota, andwhen it became clear that Ouma’s own façade and aggressive actions wereprecisely the reason no one could understand him or what he was trying toaccomplish. His intentions were right, but his methods were wrong, and this is exactly what forces him into such atight spot in Chapter 5.

By reevaluating their actions and their plans, these twoarrive at the very unlikely alliance we see in Chapter 5. Ouma isolated Momotafrom the rest of the group because he believed he would likely rile up everyone’smorale and possibly jumpstart the killing game again. But instead he was verysurprised when, contrary to his expectations, Momota stopped Maki from killinghim outright with the second arrow. For all that Momota was reckless and tendedto view things in very shounen-like terms of “good guys vs. bad guys,” he stillsaved Ouma’s life. Even if it was more for the sake of preventing Maki frombecoming a killer than actually protecting Ouma, that was still the end result.And that is exactly where I think Ouma’s opinion of Momota began to change.

The fact that he told Momota directly after that point, “You’rereally not boring after all” is perhaps the highest compliment Ouma had tooffer him. To Ouma, who constantly seeks out fun and interesting things as adistraction, and who can predict so much, boredom is the worst. Being “notboring” in his eyes is the equivalent of holding someone in very high esteem.After all, these are words he offers only to characters who impressed him insome way or other, including Saihara, Kaede, and Momota himself.

While Momota was clearly reevaluating his plans and feelingguilty for the things he had said to Saihara in the previous chapter for mostof Chapter 5, I don’t think his opinion of Ouma quite changed until theirconversation in the machinery bay. It was at that point that he finally sawexactly how far Ouma was willing togo in order to stop the killing game, and exactly what kind of crazy,over-the-top, ridiculous stunts he was capable of thinking up. Ouma’sintelligence and ability to draft the script and diagrams on such short noticeimpressed Momota, but I think his “guts,” if you could call it that, impressedhim even more. Momota was someone who was all about willpower and “fightingspirit.” And Ouma’s tenacity and willingness to stop the game no matter what ittook was the very definition of those things.

Their dynamic is incredibly interesting, because theiralliance was something absolutely no one expected. Not themselves, not theirclassmates, and certainly not the ringleader. The killing game was supposed tobe a situation in which trust and cooperation was impossible right from thebeginning. The idea that a culprit and victim would ever cooperate then,especially when Momota and Ouma were paralleled so thoroughly as “the hero” and“the villain,” was absolutely unthinkable. And yet it happened, because despiteeverything, both of them were actually willing to set aside their extremelydifferent beliefs and work within a middle ground.

As always in ndrv3, working within the middle ground is thebest option.  Ideals get you killed. Reckless,naïve optimism and trust is just asdangerous as refusing to trust anyone at all. Only by showing that they wereboth willing to think more realistically about the situation they were in andcooperate were they capable of accomplishing a plan so incredible that, hadthey really carried it out to the fullest (meaning, had they actually beenwilling to bet everyone’s lives on their plan) they did stand a good chance offorcing Monokuma to make the wrong judgment in the trial and ending the killinggame then and there.

They were so drastically, incredibly different on thesurface. Momota constantly calling himself “the protagonist” and maintainingthe image of a shounen hero who fights with willpower and “the power offriendship” parallels and complements Ouma’s villain façade perfectly,mimicking Ouma’s constant claims that “trusting everyone will get you killed”and setting himself up to be someone hated by everyone else. And yet it’s truethat at heart, both of them were arguably the people thinking the most aboutthe group’s well-being. Their intentions, rather than their individual beliefs,were the reason it was possible for them to cooperate.

Even to the very end, I don’t think that either of them everfully agreed with the other’s perspective. Ouma definitely believed Momota wasstill foolish and rash, and judging by Momota’s willingness to believe thatOuma was “probably just lying to him again” when Ouma confided that he hatedthe killing game and everything it stood for, showed that they really didn’ttruly agree with the other’s mindset. However, there was undeniable respectthere between them. And I think that precisely because they could never trulybe like the other, there was admiration, too—Momota clearly admired Ouma’sability to think up such incredible plans and stunts, and Ouma no doubt admiredMomota’s very real ability to inspire change and development in others.

I absolutely love their dynamic myself, and I’m sad thatthere’s not nearly enough art of them or of Chapter 5 at the moment, becausethis kind of potential for two characters to get along even though they stillhave their differences is something I love to see in fiction. I blame most ofthe current lack of attention to their dynamic on the fact that many people inthe west haven’t played the game or seen spoilers yet, but also on the Japanesefandom’s rather lukewarm response to Momota’s character design. I’m hoping thatmore fanartists will appreciate him as time goes by because he’s a fantasticcharacter, and his and Ouma’s collaboration was an incredible plot development.

Chapter 5 hurts so much because the loss of both Ouma andMomota to the group was such a blow. They went through huge lengths, ultimatelynot to actually create a “completely unsolvable case” (because they bothdefinitely left clues) but to try and get Saihara and the rest of the group tosolve their case first and then solve the mysteries they themselves wouldn’t bealive to see the answers to. They formed an incredibly unlikely, incredibly effective tag team.

This has gotten pretty long by now, so I’ll finish up, butthank you both so much for asking! I love Chapter 5 and I’m so glad there aremore people interested in Ouma and Momota’s dynamic. Their cooperation was soessential to the last stages of the game, so I really hope more people come toappreciate how they both interacted and collaborated from here on out!