#in a sick and evil way

[stanfiction]

MABEL RECIEVES A LETTER....

her response...

( inspired by @cravingpepsimax 's fujoshi bill AU )

[khickuwa]

Dear God, won't you look at me? Even for a moment, won't you let me pretend you're mine?

[coolseabird]

Random Musings on Gale and His Relationship With Mystra

I find Gale's relationship with Mystra to be one of the most fascinating parts of his story. It’s a dynamic that can be viewed in many different ways, depending on how you approach it and I think that’s part of what makes it so compelling. While some might see it literally, I’d like to explore it through a more allegorical perspective, though I want to be clear: this is just one way to interpret their relationship, and other viewpoints are just as valuable. This isn't even the only way that I personally interpret them haha. (I just have to be nuanced, it's a compulsion truly.)

In literature and mythology, take Greek mythology, for instance, relationships between gods and mortals can often carry deeper, symbolic meanings. The gods aren’t always just powerful beings they can represent larger forces like nature, fate, or human desires. This approach, called allegorical interpretation, is something I find really enjoyable! It adds layers to a story.

Consider the famous story of Paris’s judgment of the goddesses. The goddess Eris, seeking to sow discord, throws a golden apple inscribed “for the fairest” into a wedding attended by Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. They decide to have the mortal Paris judge who deserves the apple most out of the three of them and is thus the fairest.

Each goddess offers Paris a gift in exchange for the title. Athena offers great tactical ability, Hera promises leadership over vast kingdoms, and Aphrodite tempts him with the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world (who happens to already be married). Paris chooses Aphrodite, gains Helen as a lover and this leads to the Trojan War. Beyond the literal reading, this story can be seen as desire (Aphrodite) overcoming both wisdom (Athena) and marriage (Hera). Paris's fatal flaw is his lust for Helen. The story can also be interpreted as Paris losing due to declining to accept both of the other offers. He fails strategically in the ensuing war and also causes the collapse of his own kingdom.

Mystra, as the living incarnation of the Weave, can be interpreted similarly. She isn’t merely Gale's ex-lover. She is magic itself, the force that gives Gale his entire identity. Their relationship transcends romance; it’s more like that of a man consumed by his craft to an unhealthy degree. Like a mathematician to mathematics, or a physicist to physics, he's in love with something that can't love him back.

His attempt to give Mystra a gift she's never received before, something truly incredible, is due to his belief that transcending all limits to somehow earn Mystra’s (and thus, magic’s and his life's work's) recognition is both possible and necessary. It was 100% done with the best intentions but tragically any all-consuming passion carries the risk of blowing up in your face. (Just look at Alfred Nobel, pun intended) And, due to the aforementioned "blow up", his emotional low and his measurable low in his abilities correspond quite directly

There is a cut dialogue from early access about how much of his power he lost after this:

You see, this fire – there was a time that I could make it come alive. That it would take the shape of a dragon and roar in delight. There was a time I could silence a Beholder with a word, and lift a tower from its foundations with a flourish. There was a time I was all but one with the Weave. But no more – a mere shadow of the wizard I used to be. Why? Because I’ve lost.

A key theme in their relationship (in my opinion) is not just Mystra’s rejection but what her rejection represents: The collapse of Gale’s identity as a powerful magic user. (An identity he's built his life around and sacrificed for ever since he was a child)

Without this, he starts self destructing. He has to make do with consuming scraps of magic rather than the all encompassing sort he used to receive from Mystra's presence.

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While Mystra’s treatment of Gale is undeniably harmful, I think it’s important to recognize that she is not cruel in a personal, calculated way. She is so out of touch with normal people that she’s more akin to a force of nature. As an arbiter of natural laws, she wants to control him/kill him because he represented a destabilizing influence, not out of any targeted animosity. (Which is arguably worse than outright hate depending on your point of view)

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Now for a bit of a change in topic I wanted to go over his different endings:

His "good" ending comes from the realization that magic, or any external force, cannot be the source of true self-worth. The deeper theme here, beyond just getting over an ex-relationship, is that Gale must learn to build relationships with people and and find a healthy balance between his work and personal life, rather than devoting himself wholly to impersonal things at the cost of his well-being. He has to learn that he is "Galenough," as @ekansbot once put it. Ultimately, his growth in this regard is best shown with his choice to embrace his ordinary, human last name "Dekarios", rather than defining himself solely as the archmage "of Waterdeep."

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More evidence about the meaning of names to him, earlier during the conversation with Mystra in the tabernacle, she will either call him "Gale Dekarios" if she's displeased to remind him of his humanity, or"Gale of Waterdeep" when pleased to inflate his ego with a title. This shows how revolutionary it is for him to willingly forego having a title at all in this ending as it had been something he sought in the past.

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Alternatively, and more fun for my tragedy-loving psyche, he can totally succumb to his flaws and lose himself. In this case the orb's desires fully supplant him as a person. He becomes a power hungry god, doomed to perpetuate the same callousness Mystra showed to him. His grand dreams of bettering the world fades, and his only goals shift to slowly gathering more power and followers and eventually challenging the rest of the gods. He entirely gives up on being a "person" he's the god of ambition now, and you can see it in the way he speaks how much he has mentally separated himself from the mortal world. He has fully given up on having a life outside of his obsessions. It’s quite dark. (Though not quite as dark as my absolute favorite, the Absolute ending, where you use thousands of mind controlled innocents to become Kratos.)

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Something that's extra sad for you. If the player character chooses to break up with him after becoming a god he says "so I'm still not enough for you" Aghh it's horrible. His insecurities only get worse as a god.

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Or... he could kill himself. Literally destroying his darker hungers (the orb) for an altruistic purpose, but he also, obviously, destroys himself in the process. Very sad indeed.

Now, here’s something I find fascinating:

If Gale chooses not to use the crown, nor to surrender it to Mystra, but instead lets it remain in the water, the orb stays within him but rather than being a catastrophe it actually becomes harmless and inert.

Why does this happen? Gale speculates that it's because he has found contentment due to the player character's romance with him.

Clip sourced from this video: https://youtu.be/gikRKEIpvQs

This reveals something crucial: the orb, from the very beginning, was tied to his own emotions. It was basically an extension of him all along. He was inadvertently the one driving the orb’s power. It was his own despair and obsession that were indirectly killing him the entire time! It's very tragic but also supremely interesting!

It is this somewhat gut wrenching realization, though, that makes this the best "good" ending. He doesn't have to apologize to Mystra to get a happy ending out of pity. Instead, it is his own emotional catharsis that resolves the problem of the orb internally, rather than it being fixed through external means. It also has a sort of Jungian quality to it that I really like. With the idea of integrating and accepting all parts of oneself (allowing the orb to remain, but becoming settled and integrated), rather than trying to shed them being a theme I think fits his character well. Additionally, he keeps the orb scar, which looks pretty neat. :)

[thebrainrotsreal]

ROLE SWAAAAAAAAAAAAP. Debbie can now be eligible for the worst parent award! No real thoughts for plot ideas yet, just messing around with a design.

[foe-paw]

YOU THOUGHT THAT YOU COULD OUTSMART THE VERY THING THAT RUNS THE BLOOD OF YOUR KIND?

[venlazlo]

nuzzles

[shepscapades]

This one was a freaking doozy. If I keep talking i think i may be in trouble

[invidiatechdemo]

Bunch of potential Flower King Dark World Talk

People have been talking about potential stuff with the flowers encouraging Asgore's problems narratively/being clingy, and something that's stuck in my mind is Miss Mizzle / HolywaterCooler mentioning the Bluest Flower specifically; as a result I have unfortunately developed an unlikely but really funny opinion:

. . . I hope the Bluest Flower in contrast to the other flowers is a boss (possibly a secret one? unsure) who cares deeply about Asgore but wants Asgore to move on, instead of continuing pursuing the 'get family back together' stuff, possibly in direct contrast with the other flowers theoretically...?

I also think it would be a REALLY fun direct contrast/narrative foil to Tenna, who hates thinking of the divorce, who wants the family be together again, who accidentally reopens little wounds here and there by talking wistfully about the old days, to have one of the literal expressions of Asgore's refusal to let go in the form of one of the flowers from a wedding bouquet under glass turning against the idea. This also works wonderfully with the fact Toriel's name in Undertale is initially shown in Blue.

Probably would turn that flower to stone soon after the boss fight, but... I think it would be fun!

I think it also works narratively with the fact Asgore keeps trying to give Toriel bouquets that get dunked in the trash, also.

Additional thoughts/some general thoughts and opinions about character ties:

-Holywatercooler's lines are as follows:

"The Bluest Flower, A disciple of my speech

Shy to no camera, And a specimen of

Elegance and kindness.

Should you meet, Please give my regards."

The mentioning of a camera, imo is not Just a reference to the wedding photo; TV World sure has a good number of Camerathings, after all, does it not?

This combines with a second point of interest:

Shuttah has a lot of interesting dialogue, but I want to call attention to this:

"There once was the great wilderness here!

Yes... But, the world became the theater, and us, children of Tenna's contract.

Those that did not sign the paper, set off for the far land and were forgotten.

Now... only the legend old hermit still knows the way to the place."

Now, the far land and being forgotten is a pretty on-the-nose hint for Forgotten Island, especially with references to the hermit.

... What about the 'great wilderness', then?

I think... The 'great wilderness' was because there used to be more flowers and plants in the house. Asgore's mentioning that 'these flowers are still kicking' implies they used to be in Toriel's house, especially with the mentioning of the climate being bad for them.

Many other plants probably also used to be there, at one point or another. And the fact that it's SHUTTAH mentioning these, a camera! When we know from Miss Mizzle that the Bluest Flower is 'shy to no camera!'

My other most evil opinion is that 'Those that did not sign the paper set off for the far land and were forgotten' is not JUST about Forgotten Island but also about THE DIVORCE, considering how Chapter 1 events with the playing cards and toys is reflected in the lore of those items.

Those who left for the far land can then also mean 'items that went with Asgore to Flower King', and those who stayed in Toriel's house, and with Tenna and the rest, 'children of Tenna's contract'.

. . . Asgore has his own CRT nowadays, after all. :]

[thylacid]

draw sparkpelt

of course 🫡🫡🫡 I LOVE YOU SPARKPELT

[doomedclockworkdotmp3]

heeyyy gaaanggg

the pose and the background of the album version (left) are based on oingo boingos only a lad album art. not cause i think he has anything to do with it but just cause ive been wantin to draw that pose for like. weeks and i didnt know who to put there. so why not my latest bug man.

[renld]

charlie offering mac to put his teeth in the Official Kelly Teeth Heirloom and saying he can be part of the family legacy is something so special. also charlies sisters calling mac a fag. hes part of the family

[melljam]

evil, yet ethereal

[rhymeswithumbrella]

you know what really pisses me off? so many people acting like he is the worst person out there and no one will miss him. A LOT of people are grieving now and missing him including people that these people supposedly follow and care about. liam was not the supervillain people wanted him to be. he was messed up and did messed up things likely because of what happened to him. this conversation deserves so much more nuance than people are giving it. and maybe it’s too early to have this conversation now but it’s helping me process and grieve so i’m really writing this for me. people are complex and doing bad things doesn’t make you a bad person or someone worthy of death without being given the chance to make things right. and another thing, it is SO hypocritical to make fun of him and look down on him like he’s the ultimate Bad Guy meanwhile i bet every single person you have ever admired in the spotlight has likely also done bad things or at least things you wouldn’t be proud of. fame is an illness and it can cause people to harm others because they were hurt themselves. human beings are a culmination of everything that they’ve been through and everything they’ve done. he is not only the bad things he’s done and it’s okay and normal to grieve him as a whole person, because he was one.

[icewindandboringhorror]

I know this is just a silly bad quality random screencap of a screencap that I found on facebook lol, BUT it's a succinct enough image to easily describe the concept in a quick/accessible way hopefully :

-

(and of course, feel free to elaborate in tags, etc.! (especially elaborating about other senses as well.. can you "hear" in your mind just as well as you can "see"? taste? etc.) It's an interesting topic to me, as someone who's like a 4.5 at MOST lol. I'm curious what option will be the most common :0c )

[lvl100hummuswarrior]

emo simon for the fans!!!

[dykebenry]

sick with the flu and came to the realization that Benry, if an alien, is most likely immunocompromised to earth's viruses and shit so probably gets sick very easily (like me frfr) and im realizing that Nobody has made content (to my knowledge) that has touched on the topic of Benry being susceptible to earth's illnesses

where is my "Benry gets the flu three times and other minor illnesses at least 10 times a year" fanfic