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twistedwonderlandshenanigans · 2 months ago

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More Random Headcanons About The TWST Cast As Kids

Reminder that I write these as if y'all have read my other HCs LMAO /lh if something seems off, it's probably because it has to do with my headcanons overlapping- I've linked a few for context if anyone would like them ^^. No TW, and please no chapter 7 spoilers ^^

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Heartslaybul

Riddle used to really badly want a key collection. Something something about hearing that every door is leading to an opportunity you can unlock if you work for it. Took it too literal as a little kid. Still thinks antique keys are cool as fuck

Trey used to have a fascination with ants because his mom was able to smell them, and of course, growing up in a bakery they would have been a bit of a concern. So sometimes he would just go and sit and watch an ant hill for hours, claiming that he was making sure none were getting in the shop but uh he was really just watching them

Despite his own accent, and the one his mum made him use, Cater would pick up other people's accent like a sponge when he was little; thankfully little kids thought it was cool, not that he was trying to offend them (haha also a psychological survival trait to try and blend in as quickly as possible in a new environment and since we know he moved around a lot---) (lol I actually forgot to make a post about this I've only yapped about it on DC)

Deuce used to love blowing and getting raspberries when he was little because he could feel them rather than hear them

When Ace was Little Little he stuck a toy cat up his nose, followed by a firetruck, followed by a fireman. Yes it took a hospital visit. Yes this is based on a clip I saw from house m.d Yes it was his brother who took him, shut up

Savannaclaw

Leona desensitized his hands when he was younger because his coping mechanism for frustration was physical training. He wanted to be the best general the royal army ever had and if he could feel no pain in his hands like his great great grandpa he would achieve that goal, at least in his mind. (He would fist fight trees basically, after he was done his basic training with the current general)

Ruggie didn't speak to anyone except his grandma until he was about 5/6 years old; mostly because he had been taught that listening is less likely to get you in the bad sort of trouble than talking would, especially in the neighbourhood he grew up in

Jack used to sleep on his dad's tail, to the point he COULDN'T fall asleep unless he was hugging his dad's tail. Luckily his dad doesn't get excited too easily but this lasted until he was about 7 years old

Octavinelle

Azul loved getting ready with his mum in the morning, and before she had to go to work. He would often come to her with like a strand of seaweed or clams or coral so she could give him a cute hairstyle. He wouldn't be caught dead wearing them to school unfortunately, but he loved those moments with his mom.

Floyd used to collect shark teeth off the sea floor, at least. for a short time. After The Incident he decided to collect sand dollars instead to slide under Jade's 'door' while he was recovering

Jade first liked mushrooms because he thought the tops of them looked a little bit like sand dollars :) but also once he recovered he started collecting shark teeth from the sea floor and made a knife out of one as a silent thank you to Floyd - not because he thought he needed it, but just because it looked cool

Scarabia

Kalim used to have a horrible skin picking and nail biting habit; not out of anxiety but pure boredom from living under highly protected circumstances for a little while (also iykyk what this lead to)

Jamil had a mild allergy to mango, but still ate it anyways because he thought the tingly feeling was normal for mango.

Pomefiore

Vil used to make his barbies their own outfits; he would request fabric scraps from his designers to do so so they could match, and often brought a matching barbie with him onto sets and talk shows

Rook had bangs so long they covered his eyes; without having anyone reliable to ask for help, he used to use mud to slick it back out of his face

Epel 'refused' to lose any of his teeth in any other way than by biting an apple. Tooth fell out at school? He kept it a secret until lunch and put the tooth In His Apple. Tooth fell out at home? He would deny it, run to the orchard and grab an apple just to stick his tooth in it. Even now he says he lost all his teeth by biting an apple OTL

Ignihyde

Idia (as an only child) used to make 'potions' out of his moms bathroom supplies BUT they were always organized by use. So skincare products would get mixed together, hair products would get mixed together, dental products would get mixed together because in his mind, when his parents put everything together, it made the product better than it did originally

Ortho used to hide in vents OTL he would unscrew vents (which he did so by stealing his moms multitool on her belt) crawl inside and hold the vent cover in place until he could pop out and scare someone (usually his dad)

Diasomnia

Malleus was really bad at singing, I mean just awful. Like birds are dropping from the sky, magic mirrors want to shatter themselves and Lilia would even make him stop by offering him ice cream :skull: he did get voice lessons, but he was very huffy about them because he 'didnt need to get better if he was already the best'

Lilia as a teen would make dolls for fae orphans, but never told anybody about it out of embarrassment

Silver would often fall asleep with an animal he somehow managed to smuggle into the cabin from outside. If Lilia ever tried to take it, (even for the benefit of the animal), Silver would pull the biggest saddest puppy dog eyes you ever did see and Lilia had no military training for that OTL

Sebek used to eat his food by twisting his head and shaking his arms in opposite directions to tear it apart because of Croco instincts (can't deathroll, can try though).

Faculty

Crowley once got his entire fist stuck in his mouth

All of the cats Trein had growing up were named after famous religious figures that he grew up with

Crewel used to restore cars a lot, before he picked up his more glam style. His first car was a 1972 Chevy Nova that he managed to buy and soupe up after working two summer jobs since he was 14.

Vargas had a highschool sweetheart that he never got the chance to confess to. He still has the love letter in a shoebox somewhere. (hopeless romantic Vargas is so canon to me guys you don't understand)

Sam has never lost a card game since he was 9. His dad used to show him allllll the ways to cheat and fudge the deck in his favour, but also developed his skill. As of right now he's also banned from the local casino

Others

Che'nya was legally missing for 48 hours as a child because he went invisible, and decided the back of an unmarked van and a bunch of weird dudes acting strangely was paw-fect for an adventure. He ended up making them think their house was haunted before finding his way back home completely unharmed. The police and his parents didn't notice he was home until he asked for help opening a yogurt tube OTL

Jack Hearts had an obsession with learning how to fly, and accidentally incited panic in his parents several times after thinking a pile of leaves would be enough to cushion his jump from the second story of their house.

Falena had a really bad phase of making a popping noise as a stim. It had started off as a joke to mildly annoy Leona but he ended up annoying himself too

Cheka likes wearing his moms heels because he feels really small and thinks he should be taller

Najma had a HUGE sweet tooth. Sometimes, if Jamil could manage it, he would slip desserts from Kalim's testing tray (after he had tested them) to her and promise to learn to make them if she really enjoyed them. Also, unlike her brother, Najma has always been a disaster in the kitchen

Marja used to tap all sorts of trees to make syrups out of them. During the off season for apples, she would make lollipops out of them to sell door to door to neighbours. She was trying to save up for a dog (a border collie specifically)

Mama Shroud used to go scuba diving regularly (she's sooo Aussie in my head) and wanted to become a marine biologist before she really discovered engineering; which only happened when she had to think on the fly for one of her friends air tanks malfunctioning.

Papa Shroud loved to annoy his big sister LMAO he loved fake crying to get her in trouble and make her play with him

Ms. Hades (who I HC as Papa Shroud's sister) used to love doing her makeup, and would sometimes wrangle her younger brother into being her guinea pig for new styles

Maleanor used to flirt by asking other noble boys if they wanted to butt heads like rams with her OTL for some reason they all said no…

Baul was in cello lessons when he was little. He hated them. His mother commissioned a piece to have his disgruntled face and little outfit immortalized forever

Rollo used to buy little oils/perfumes so he and his brother could have the same smell on their respective handkerchiefs. His brother's favourite was sandalwood.

OCS

Vizzie loved pomegranates because she thought they made her look like a vampire when she ate them

Xenos used to throw fish at people from under the water when he was bored

Aspen would go up to random people to show them how he was double jointed in the wrists OTL

Danya's comfort item was his late father's ushanka

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If you want to read more about how I hc their families, I have two headcanon posts here and here and specifically about their guardians here

If you want some more Kid Silliness, I've got hcs here and here ANNND here

If you want to check out something else, I've got my masterlist here

And if you made it all the way here, thank you for reading!!

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Tag List (lmk if you'd like to be added/removed): @theleechyskrunkly @sunsmilu @tixdixl @nemisisnemi @starry-night-rose @thehollowwriter @distant-velleity @elenauaurs @galacticstationsblog @my-cursed-brain @fluffle-writes

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togglesbloggle · 6 months ago

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Insofar as I have a principled position on the matter- and I don’t, not really- it’s this: art does have the ability to alter our values and our way of interpreting the world. It’s absolutely a live grenade, and should be taken seriously as such.

Like, of course it does! Probably you can point to some book, some film, some story somewhere that touched you not just deeply but irrevocably. There are moments of aesthetic experience which give a before and after to our lives, just as surely as moments of extraordinary suffering or extraordinary joy can.

I’m lucky enough to have more than a few I can list off, personally. Profoundly transformative ones like Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited or the music of John Cage, sure. But maybe even more interesting (tractable?) to me were small moments of grace like the one I found in the Dragonlance novels by Weis and Hickman: the dark wizard Raistlin Majere wove back and forth across the line between ‘hero’ and ‘villain’ in exactly such a way that, after reading his books at a young age, I immediately and quite distinctly overcame my fear of the dark.

What a wonderful thing for a book to do! I’d be hard-pressed to explain exactly how, if only because I’m such a different person now than I was then. Perhaps your own intuition will bridge the gap a bit. It was all tied up with this distinction between good and evil, you see, and with the ability to stare in to the face of evil things without flinching, to understand that they have contingency and history just like good things do, and to be in some sense in community with them.

That was a long, long time ago, and I don’t think my model of the world even has evil in it any more, not in the sense that I believed in it then. But my fear of the dark never came back, either.

I don’t believe for a minute that Weis and Hickman had any idea that they were giving me that gift in particular, nor did they have any sensible means to achieve such a goal even if they somehow wanted to. It wasn’t a transformation mediated by intent, you know? It didn’t reduce to an argument that I believed or disbelieved in some intellectual way, or to some specific controlled experience that the authors had planned for me.

Art is transformative, but not in the way that effective polemic is transformative. It doesn't (principally) reason with us or persuade us. Rather, I think art is dangerous for the same reasons that travel to a foreign country is dangerous, or a friendship with somebody new is dangerous. It threatens us by expanding our conscious history to include new categories of experience, that is, by changing the context in which we go about the business of living.

It's wrong to think of art mostly as a tug-of-war dragging hapless consumers from one ideology to another, with the victory going to whichever faction can fill the algorithm with mass-produced and doctrinally compliant stories clamoring endlessly for their views. Normalization has its power, don't get me wrong, but there will always be far greater power in a single glimpse over the horizon.

Think about Whoopi Goldberg's account of seeing Nichelle Nichol's Uhura on television:

“Well, when I was nine years old Star Trek came on. I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, ��Come here, mum, everybody, come quick, come quick, there’s a black lady on television and she ain’t no maid!’ I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be.”

Once. It took one time, and the walls fell away, and everything was possible. The fashions and approved styles may come and go with the seasons, but the outer perimeter of our experiences, and the sense of what the world could be, can only ever grow, and sometimes it grows by leaps and bounds in an instant.

I guess this is why I tend to think of censorship and control over media as basically quixotic. Sure, with enough energy you can control what's normal and what's public, but controlling what's possible is an exercise in futility on a grand scale. You can never win that fight, only lose it fast or slow.

We all have this remarkably unpredictable collection of soft places and hard places: some things in us that deform to match the shape of their environment, and other things that break us before they can bend. And we all try to find a way to make these strange shapes work within the limits of our own experience and the world as we understand it. Some of us thrive in communities and cultures where others die gasping, and some of us spend our entire lives trying to smash through excruciating barriers that others can't even detect.

Art is one of the things that expands those limits, gives the strange creature inside us a little bit of room to stretch and grow and find a space for the hard bits to arrange themselves as they need to be. But it can't do that without changing the soft parts as well, because the soft parts need external force to maintain their shape. Socialization and ideology can only weakly bind us, because they rely on deliberate and conscious pressures to conform; ignorance is stronger, because it denies us the choice altogether. Without art, you'll never really be able to learn what kind of animal you are, as opposed to the kind of person your world has told you to be. But art will change you, too, as discovery always will.

The life you have now has real value- great beauty, and great meaning. For all that you are defined in part by the walls of your cage, knowledge and new experiences are not something to accept lightly, and they can never be undone. All I can say, really, is that I've never once regretted it.

#Some late-night posting from a bed with far too little sleep in it

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sanctus-ingenium · 2 months ago

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Hello! Just wanted to let you know that you have been such an inspiration to me for so long, my art style is completely different but seeing your art motivates me to draw, you make me wanna grab my sketchbook and a pencil and just draw. I wanna buy prints from you too but alas I'm Low-key broke rn so I need to save some money so I can run to your shop. I also wanted to ask, how do you approach shapes when drawing? Specially when drawing creatures, I love it when some anatomy is followed and then distorted and bent and twisted around to make a creature look uncanny. I don't know how to explain it well but some of your creature design look uncanny in a way I find fascinating and comforting, I guess I just want to know how to achieve that. Thank you for sharing your art. I've been a silent observer but I just wanted to let you know how much your drawings are appreciated 💜

oh hi thank you! how i approach shapes when drawing... to use an example from earlier today i can show my sketch since i still have the canvas open lol

i think the sketch shows the general approach. big overlapping shapes to build a form. easy to do if you know the construction of the creature in question. i try to get the shapes down in as few strokes as possible so the action doesn't get diluted. as for Shapes in general i try to keep them curved or organic, especially when drawing human forms. i avoid straight lines as much as possible but that's just me yfm. i used to have a far more angular, 'straight lines and zig zags' art style which i used to cover up inadequacies in construction so i've been moving away from that for a few years now and i'm happier now.

to end up with a kind of uncanny or weird take on an existing creature, i do a lot of studies (heavily referenced - in this case, from a video, so i can see the action & follow through in its context. highly recommended) so i know how it looks normal style

and then once i know how to draw it normal style i can draw it weird style

#teensy sneak preview of our new style camera pascal under the cut. idt he's been on this blog yet

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suratan-zir · 4 months ago

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Why do some people believe this false info that people in Donetsk and Luhansk oblast support Russia? Yeah some of them may support Russia, but i don't think the majority of people do.

That's a very complicated question - one I'm not quite prepared to answer today, because today has been a lot. But I'll try anyway.

The statement "people in Donetsk and Luhansk oblast support russia" is both correct and incorrect. It's all about the context.

Let's start from the beginning. Russian propaganda was rampant in these regions for years before 2014. The Kremlin poured a lot of resources into conditioning people in the Donbas to believe russian false narratives, creating an artificial divide between the eastern and western parts of Ukraine - an "us vs. them" dynamic. Once they achieved that, they simply claimed, "It was always like that. These are different nations, different people, and they were always against each other" - which, of course, is a lie.

Disinformation coming from russia was often so obscenely ridiculous that one has to wonder how people believed it. How they still believe it. Takes like "Western Ukrainians ("Banderovites," Nazis, "raguli," etc.) will create concentration camps for the Russian-speaking people of the Donbas" or "They will extract shale gas here, which will make the entire region completely uninhabitable."

Along with the fearmongering and dividing one nation into "us" and "them," russia also pushed the false narrative that the Donbas was "feeding" Ukraine ("Донбасс кормит Украину"), suggesting that other parts of Ukraine were nothing but parasites, feeding off the hard-working people of the Donbas. You see where this is going? The road to separatist sentiments was paved completely artificially by russia, and the so-called DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) was first created in 2005-2006 - many years before it actually came to fruition. There are speculations suggesting that Yanukovych and Putin wanted to divide Ukraine into two separate entities, separating western Ukraine.

In any case, all of this was possible only due to russia's corrosive influence paired with Ukrainian authorities not doing shit to stop it (likely due to russian infiltration). Heck, I remember absurd disinformation like "Ukraine got rid of all the residents of Sloviansk, secretly replacing them with Ukrainian-speaking khokhols from western Ukraine" (this was right after Ukraine liberated Sloviansk in 2014). Who could believe this nonsense? A lot of not-very-smart people.

Then there's the issue of gradual filtration and, as a result, the general degradation of the population. Since 2014, being openly pro-Ukrainian in russian-occupied parts of the Donbas has been dangerous. The last pro-Ukraine protesters were brutally beaten by russian thugs. Later, such protests became impossible altogether. So, those who could afford to leave - or who had nothing to lose - moved away. The pro-Ukrainian people who stayed can't express their real opinions without risking being thrown into a torture dungeon. Even before 2022, something as small as singing a song in Ukrainian in public could get you in trouble - or even cost you your life, depending on how lucky you were.

After 2014, when russia occupied parts of the Donbas, they continued their false narrative, claiming that western Ukrainians wanted to genocide/enslave/set on fire/etc. all Russian-speaking people from the east - despite the fact that Russian-speaking people in towns just a couple of kilometers from occupied Donetsk were living completely normal lives (when not shelled by russian terrorists). Their lives were much better than those in the occupied territories. It's hard to explain. All I can say is: corruption, propaganda, stupidity.

The irony is that now russia is doing exactly what it claimed Ukraine would do to Ukrainians living in the Donbas - concentration camps, genocide, persecution based on language, robbing the region of all its wealth and redistributing it to Putin's oligarchs, making the region uninhabitable for generations to come... the list goes on. Every accusation was a confession.

They have also switched the cause and effect - a standard gaslighting tactic used by dictators and domestic abusers alike. They created a parallel reality in which it's not russia who attacked Ukraine first in 2014, seized parts of Ukrainian land, and started a war. No, in their version, Ukraine is the aggressor, who had been "torturing" the people of the Donbas for eight years before russia invaded again and killed thousands of them.

People believe this for the same reason they believe any other bullshit - propaganda, low intellectual potential, more propaganda. People outside of the Donbas believe the "pro-russian Donetsk and Luhansk" because it's easy to create a false picture nowadays, especially if you don't really want to research the topic, but rather seek the confirmation of your own bias.

#it's especially funny for me to encounter people calling me ukronazi who “tortured people of donbas for 8 years”#i am “the people of donbas”. i was living there for 7.5 out of those 8 years #born and raised. speaking russian my whole life until 2021 #now i'm getting best of both worlds/wars #ukraine #war in ukraine #russian propaganda

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paulyenvol6 · 9 months ago

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Byka Atroksia (Chapter 8)

Contains: Smut, fingering (f receiving), kissing, touching, dirty talk, body image issues, soft dom!Daemon

Wordcount: ~2.31k

Masterlist of this story

A few hours later you found yourself in your chambers again. After a fight had almost broke out between you and Rhaenyra you had managed to avoid another outburst even though you didn’t feel the same kind of lightness between you you had felt in the beginning of your trip together.

Now you sat on your bed and looked outside your window. You simply didn’t want to feel miserable or sad, but the heaviness wouldn’t vanish. You hated this so much, because you knew that you COULD have a normal conversation with Rhaenyra. Today had proven it once again. You just hated that at some point everything shifted and you couldn’t recognise your sister when she looked at you with those flashing eyes. You wondered whether what you did with your uncle had made it worse.

But that wasn’t really possible as Rhaenyra obviously didn’t know anything about it. It also hadn’t made it easier though, so had just nothing changed at all? How could you change it? You wanted things to be always the way it was when you had been lying with Rhaenyra in the grass, gossiping and laughing. But you didn’t know how to achieve that, you just both had to understand that Daemon wasn’t the prize of some inofficial competition between the two of you.

But you couldn’t understand this yourself if you were honest to you. You still felt this tension in your stomach when you saw them laugh or dance together. And now you had been bedded by him… Which alone was already bad enough, but what did it mean for Rhaenyra and your rivalry?

Of course you had already thought about this before. You just simply couldn’t help it as you were always so affected by this ongoing fight but you hadn’t really come to a good conclusion. Had you won the fight? Daemon had shown you quite a lot of attention the last couple of days. But you didn’t feel like you had won and that was what was odd to you. It seemed like nothing had changed.

How did you feel? What did the fact that your uncle had coupled with you make you feel? Of course you felt dirty, but more because of your initial fear of what would happen if someone was to find out you had lost your maidenhood before marriage. But in context with Rhaenyra and your rivalry…?

You didn’t really know. Maybe there was a little pride and self – satisfaction but it was hard to separate all those feelings. Because there were so many more layers, you felt joy, excitement, nervousness, fear, shame and so much more. It was hard to identify what emotion was caused by what. Or by whom.

You let yourself fall back on your bed and closed your eyes. It was still early and the sun hadn’t touched the horizon yet but you were very tired so you closed your eyes and found peace in a matter of seconds.

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The next day you stayed by the Keep and helped your handmaidens pick out new curtains and carpets for the King's and Princesses' chambers. You had fun doing it and put a lot of effort into choosing beautiful ones. Time passed swiftly and in the afternoon you found yourself in your chambers writing a letter to your childhood friend Isa Tully.

She had just gotten betrothed to a Bracken lord and you asked all kinds of questions about her future husband. Isa was Niclas Tully's niece and you knew her from when she had been a ward in the hand's family. When you had been young she was one of your best friends and saying goodbye when she had left at the age of 14 you had thought that you had lost her. And indeed, you didn't see her often now but you exchanged letters and were able to catch up through them.

But you were interrupted when the door opened and you looked up from the parchment.

"Daemon," you said and slowly put down the feather. He walked towards you with a smirk and had his hands folded behind his back.

"Hello, niece."

He stepped close behind the chair you were sitting in and you turned your head so you could look at him.

"Is there a reason for your visit?" you asked for some reason out of breath and Daemon's hand started to caress your back.

"Yes. There is."

You tried to surpress a smile and quickly got up from your chair. In one movement you turned to him and got close to kiss him. You were excited and eager for him but when you wanted to undress him and take off his shirt he denied you and pulled your hands away. You moaned against his mouth feeling dissatisfied but he ignored your pleading and pushed you into the second part of your room.

You expected him to move the both of you to your bed and awaited the edge of it to hit the back of your knees but it didn't happen. Daemon's hands were on the side of your face and your waist until he stopped the kiss and watched you with glaring eyes. Then he grabbed your shoulders and slowly turned you around until you stared at your reflection in the mirror. His eyes observed you as you watched the both of you and Daemon moved closer so he stood behind you.

"Daemon, what -"

"Shh," he interrupted you with his mouth close to your ear. His hands traveled over your body and he stroke your hips and waist.

"I want you to see yourself," he whispered softly. "I want you to see what I see. I want you to see how pretty you look."

You felt goosebumps on your arms and his husky voice made your knees weak which was quite unfortunate because you were still standing.

"You don't believe me when I say it. So I want you to see for yourself."

His mouth brushed over your ear and then his hands reached behind you to unlace your dress. You watched his beautiful face as he looked at your back and then with one movement, Daemon pulled the dress over your shoulders and down until you saw your bare chest in the mirror. Daemon followed your gaze and his hand brushed over you naked shoulder which made you feel the coldness of his rings.

"So pretty," he whispered when he ran his hands over the swell of your breast. You didn't exactly agree, but you had to admit that the view was kind of nice. His hands on your body and your nipples that stood out pink against the color of your skin…

"Can you see it?" Daemon whispered against your ear. "Can you see how nice you look?"

You gulped loudly when his finger brushed over your right nipple and nodded slowly.

"Good," he growled and his touch on your chest became a little faster and more determined.

While his right hand pulled at and rubbed your nipple his left ran over the curve of your breasts and now and then massaged your tits. Your eyes were glued to your reflection and Daemon was sure to remind you to when you forgot to keep them open.

His lips brushed over the side of your neck and he gently pressed little kisses on your skin. Then after a while he pulled your dress and undergarment further down until it fell on the floor and you stood with nothing covering your body. You observed yourself and Daemon's eyes were fixed on you. You felt his hard cock against your arse and his arms wrapped around you to caress your hips and belly while his chin brushed against your hair.

"Look at yourself, Vhaela," he whispered, his eyes so dark that you almost couldn't see the pupils.

"Do you still want to tell me that you can't possibly be desired by a man, mhm?"

His hand wandered down your body and slipped between your legs.

"You think no man in the seven kingdoms would kill to be in my position at this moment?"

Your heart pounded in your chest and you kept staring in the mirror as Daemon's hand lightly brushed over your pearl and your mouth formed an 'O'.

"How pleasure washes over your face and you start to shake when I rub at your little pearl. It's pretty."

His voice was so quiet against your ear and you saw your chest heave quickly in the mirror. Next, Daemon's left hand wandered to your torso to toy with your tits while his right remained between your legs to rub and flick your pearl.

"Mhmm," you hummed and your eyes threatened to roll back.

"Yes, that's it, my girl. My beautiful girl," he whispered and your eyes met his in the reflection of the mirror.

Daemon was able to make you finish within minutes. His finger was of incredible strength and persistence and soon your juices were running down your leg. It was hard for you to concentrate on what you saw in the mirror because you just wanted to let yourself fall and enjoy the pleasure you were receiving without perceiving your surroundings but you wanted to listen to Daemon and obey him.

So you watched. The goosebumps on your arms when his heated breath tingled your neck. Your perky nipples that stood hard when being teased by your uncle's skillful finger. Your hair, that fell down skeekly to your chest. Your glistening eyes that fluttered at particularly tight and well-aimed circles performed by Daemon's finger. Your lower lip that were red because your teeth bit on it. You watched everything as Daemon had told you and his satisfied smirk that you could see on his face confirmed that it had been what he wanted.

Eventually you came hard and your knees threatened to give in so your uncle wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you against him. He walked a few steps backwards and sat down on your bed with you on his lap. You panted heavily and let yourself fall against Daemon's chest as you tried to regain a clear mind. In the meantime he ran his hands over your thighs and then after a while turned your head around so you looked at him.

"Good girl," he whispered and your insides fluttered. He kissed your naked shoulder.

"I want you to keep it in mind. The pretty picture you saw in the mirror, my little owl."

Slowly you started to feel like yourself again and your heartbeat felt healthy again so you smiled softly. Then after a while Daemon tapped your thighs and gestured you to stand up so you did. You really liked being so close to him and feeling his arms wrapped around your body but he told you that he had to attend a meeting with the Lord of the tides about the crown's issues with the Braavosi Lord so you got dressed again while Daemon watched you. Then he swiftly ran his hand over your hip and smirked at you.

"I'll see you soon, niece." You nodded while adjusting your undergarment.

"Goodbye, Daemon."

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The next morning you were woken up early by your handmaiden. It was your cousin Aegon’s name day so there would be a feast in the gardens. The maidens helped you get dressed and put your hair up and then you went down to eat.

"Good morrow," you said to your sister and father and kissed him on his cheek. You felt well – rested which was probably caused by the fact that you had gone to bed quite early the other night and sat down next to Rhaenyra. She seemed to be a little more relaxed now as well and smiled at you.

"Good morrow, sister. Have you heard that Lord Cordin Stark is going to attend the feast?"

You were genuinly surprised by that information and looked at your father.

"Really? Why?"

He chuckled. "Why not, daughter? It’s a beautiful day and we want to celebrate your cousin."

You smiled. It was beautiful to see your father that happy. You knew that life hadn’t always been easy for him as he and Daemon had lost their father at a young age and the death of your mother… And then shortly after she had passed and he was still grieving for her, first he had been pressured to remarry by his small council, which he eventually had done and a war had threatened the peace in the seven kingdoms. The crown had been able to avoid a bloodshed but it took exhausting, long-lasting negotiations with the Tyrells in High Garden and you knew that your father had suffered. And then of course there was Daemon, an ongoing curse for your father. Of course they loved each other but Daemon was a chaos founder and had given the King more than once a aching headache. But right now… everything seemed to get better.

The Tyrells and ruling Targaryens had concluded a peace treaty, he had had time to process Aemma’s death and had been able to develop a close relationship with his new wife, Laena Velaryon, even though he would never love her the same way he had loved his first wife Aemma and now Daemon had defended the Stepstones from the Crabfeeder in the name of the crown. He had accepted advice from his brother and for the first time in a long time, Viserys had felt as if he could actually trust him. Of course he knew that his brother was still his brother and he would probably never stop messing around and causing problems, but things were good right now. Really good.

And you definitely didn’t want to destroy his new found happiness by him finding out that Daemon had bedded you. Seven hells, he simply couldn’t find out.

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michanvalentine · 6 months ago

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I was asked if I had any thoughts on Astarion's character development in terms of taking responsibility and making choices. And him coming to terms with that part of his past he's ashamed of. In the past I didn't dwell on it in detail, normally I write down on the keyboard what spontaneously passes through my brain. But I think they are excellent food for thought, so I will try to express what I think about it.

Here’s a little ramble, just because I love psychology and think it’s something to always keep in mind when discussing Astarion. If you’re not interested, feel free to skip ahead!

(Let’s talk a bit about the self.

The self is quite a complex concept with many facets. Briefly put, it’s shaped by various internal and external factors and reflects a conscious image of "me." In psychology, it’s key to building the Ego of an individual—the capacity to act, understand, organize, and interpret experiences. The Ego provides a sense of uniqueness, coherence, and personal continuity since the self encompasses many "faces." All this forms the personality of an individual, which naturally develops (and changes) throughout life.

Particular attention in the formation of the self is given to sensitive periods, such as early childhood. The self determines the level of self-esteem based on an individual’s assessment of their worth and competence in the characteristics they attribute to themselves (Real Self), their future aspirations (Ideal Self), and what they want to avoid (Feared Selves). The greater the discrepancy between these aspects, the lower the level of self-esteem. Social support and approval, as well as competence in domains deemed important to the self, obviously contribute to perceiving oneself as a person of value.

I’ll stop here, or this will turn into a full-blown psychology lecture, diving into every possible personality disorder! xD)

Astarion, as we know, has had his sense of self fundamentally undermined. For him, the world is divided between those who have power and those who don’t, with the former always being the "winners" in his eyes. The magistrate he once was is long dead, along with his moral compass and the life he used to live—especially after 200 years of servitude to Cazador.

As vampire spawn, akin to a newborn in some respects, Astarion learned to exist solely within Cazador’s world, revolving around Cazador, for Cazador. He was the domineering father figure, and vampire society functions under strict rules handed down by vampire lords. In this hostile context, without any room for self-expression or choice, Astarion developed a fragmented and damaged self-image. Constantly belittled by Cazador as an individual (small, weak, useless, incapable, all words he uses in the game), always pitted against his brothers and sisters, and degraded from a magistrate to a prostitute (this is important because it’s the only skill—or "talent," as he calls it himself—that Astarion believes gives him any value or power, forming the basis for his self-image). It’s easy to imagine just how high his self-esteem must be, right? Most importantly, he never developed the skills to navigate life as a free individual—at least not in a healthy way.

This is why, even if reluctantly (and despite his fear), he ends up leaning on Tav/Durge. Astarion is a follower, not a leader—not yet, at least. He needs a guiding figure to help him figure out what to do because making decisions and acting independently don’t come naturally to him; they terrify him. Especially outside of his talents, sex and survival. He needs to be rehabilitated, re-educated, and to achieve this, he requires a safe and healthy environment where he can experiment and grow, perhaps developing other faces of the self on which to base a new evaluation. Like, I'm not just a slave or a whore: but I'm also a companion, a friend, a lover, a hero and I'm able to listen, to help, to learn, to collaborate, etc. For instance, I think his lack of attention to detail reflects this to some extent—not just his tendency to be dismissive or distracted. In fact, Astarion isn’t stupid at all; his intelligence and wisdom stats in D&D terms are above average. He knows how to move in the shadows, remain unnoticed, and is highly skilled with his hands. Additionally, we shouldn’t forget that Astarion is an excellent observer of bodies, particularly body language. This is especially common when someone has lived in a stressful environment with abusive parents or partners. Recognizing the early signs of what they fear most—abuse—is crucial for trying to avoid getting hurt. The inflection of a tone, the light in someone’s eyes, the posture of their shoulders, arms, torso, etc. Body language is the most direct and primal form of communication and reveals intentions.

This is a skill Astarion has naturally refined, not only through survival but also by interacting with countless partners. It inevitably helps him sense certain things before others do, often saving him from trouble. So, he’s far from just some clueless fool, no matter how frivolous he might seem at times.

Sure, stress kills neurons, but the issue is deeper than intellect. To execute a plan, one needs to make decisions and lead a group—something he simply isn’t equipped to do yet. This also ties to accountability, an inherent part of decision-making—especially when others are involved.

Throughout the game, Astarion grows and begins to reclaim his rights as an individual. He realizes he’s more than an object to be used (he is no longer small, weak, useless, incapable), and he starts to establish boundaries and discover what he truly wants or doesn’t want to do, always alongside Tav/Durge. By the good ending, he even states that with Cazador gone, he can finally find out who he really is and what he wants from the life he’s regained. He’s still afraid—the road to healing is long, and the trauma is deep—but he’s willing to work on himself, which he couldn’t or wouldn’t do before.

A significant part of Astarion’s defense mechanism is dissociation, the ability to separate himself from the terrible things that have happened to him—or that he has done.

This, in my opinion, is how he managed to survive without completely losing his mind. In the game, there’s even a dialogue choice that highlights how Astarion simply repressed everything inside and kept going—a deeply unhealthy way of coping. And rightly so, the vampiric spawn retorts that it’s easy to judge when you haven’t lived through such a situation.

However, when Astarion comes face to face with his victims, that mechanism begins to falter. This time, he’s forced to confront what he has done directly, with all the consequences it entails. He has to look them in the eye, listen to their harsh words, and endure both their pain and his own—without filters, without excuses. The sequence is heart-wrenching, as we all know, but what I particularly love is Astarion’s comment about the Gur children and how, when he delivered them to Cazador, he felt nothing. I love it because it’s followed by an “oh” that speaks volumes more than all the discussions about ascension up until that moment. That “oh” seems to say, “How the hell is that even possible?!”

Astarion is surprised, first and foremost, because what he felt then isn’t what he’s feeling now. Before, he was numb, alienated—a ghost wandering the streets. But now, he’s not. He’s more awake and lucid than he’s been in the last 200 years. This concept is crystal clear when, upon setting foot inside Cazador’s palace, the vampiric spawn states that everything feels different, even though the place hasn’t changed. It’s not the palace that’s different; it’s Astarion!

And at this point, after speaking with Sebastian and Chessa, Astarion is torn.

On one side, there’s ascension, with all the rational explanations—or justifications for Tav/Durge and himself—about why it must be done. The vampire spawn are too many and too hungry; they’ll cause a massacre, etc., etc. On another side, there’s the need to erase the evidence of what he was, of what Astarion endured, and what he inflicted upon others—what these wretches represent as a mirror reflecting his own helplessness and pathetic state. A victim, essentially. And that, for him, is humiliating because he was, in fact, humiliated for 200 years. He’s deeply ashamed of it.

But yet another part of him holds the desire to do the right thing.

In fact, if asked about the prisoners and what he intends to do, Astarion will say he’s weighing his options. Not only that, but Astarion also gives his approval when Tav/Durge tells Sebastian that their freedom depends on whether or not they know how to control hunger. Adding immediately after that they can succeed. Anyway, at this moment, for the first time, the choice and the responsibility are entirely on Astarion's shoulders—and on his conscience. There are no orders from Cazador to carry out, no Tav/Durge acting on his behalf. The most Tav/Durge can do is help him think clearly in a moment when, between fear, the scent of blood in the air, and power within reach, Astarion might not be the most clear-headed being on the planet. But ultimately, the decision is his to make. The first of many more to come.

However, I believe Astarion truly takes responsibility for his actions when, after freeing the vampire spawn, he becomes the leader of the coven in the Underdark in the ending. In this particular case, the transformation is complete—Astarion is a leader who plans, makes tough decisions every day, manages resources, takes care of his people (his old victims, let's not forget), and continually grows in his independence.

Naturally, returning to the concept of the self, each of the endings—whether he travels across Faerûn with Tav/Durge, becomes a nocturnal vigilante in Baldur’s Gate, or even ascends—offers a perspective on how Astarion has changed and how new experiences have added positive aspects to his self-concept. These enable him to increasingly perceive himself as competent and valuable. At this point, I’m afraid I might have gotten lost in the flood of words, and I’m not sure if I’ve managed to address the proposed topics thoroughly. My apologies—I tend to lose myself in my thoughts and ramble on freely! If needed, feel free to let me know, and I’ll add a follow-up! xD Anyone who made it this far is a true hero, just so you know!

#astarion #astarion ancunin #baldur’s gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 astarion #bg3 astarion #astarion bg3

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chaotictempleknight · 1 month ago

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Some more of my writing advice

Hello, I'm Chaotic. I'm an author who is here to give you some more writing advice. I have written 7 self-published, science fantasy adventure novels (ULTRAMagic Alternate). I like to think I have achieved a fairly good grasp on what makes a good book and how to improve your writing.

Don't Show when telling is better, don't tell when showing is better.

You know how everyone tells you "show, don't tell" or the inverse of that? Well I have a better piece of advice. Sometimes it is better to show the problem than to talk about it. Some issues would legitimately make the story way too long and would be better just to show it in action. On the other hand, sometimes it is better to talk about the issue as showing it may require context at first. It all depends on what the scene calls for. Is it a complicated subject that needs to be seen to be believed? Or is it something that can be explained in a few sentences?

Of course, you could potentially do both. Perhaps the character is going to see someone about a problem they have and they are a hypochondriac. Have character A tell character B about their issues, with character A demonstrating their hypochondria. Don't explain the hypochondria, show it. Don't show character A's personal issues, talk about them. And if you are worried about a character not showing their personality/character, a character can speak through their words and actions. Everything a character does represents who they are, be it how they speak or how they dress.

Don't write everyday life; get creative

I am going to be upfront about this: Some plots are boring. Personally I don't want to read a book that is "milquetoast main character has a bad day and goes through every day real life issues normally." I don't want to read that, that's boring. What do I want to read? I want to read about knights fighting dragons, alien civilizations fighting drawn out wars that open up into greater conspiracies, eldritch entities ripping people's mind asunder, universes colliding and ripping a hole in reality, ancient deities coming back to destroy humanity, machines taking over the planet and turning it into an impossible factory of unfathomable proportions! It's fiction, go wild.

And if you still want to do the normal plot? Well make it interesting. Is the MC a vampire? Is there some kind of conspiracy involving window cleaner and zombies? Did your character discover alien life? Is the main character's community secretly forming a cult worshiping an obscure doomsday prophecy? Did a character murder someone and is trying to hide it in the most bizarre way possible? Or maybe the main character is running a marathon and witnesses a crime taking place, so they have to go on the run to stay alive. Again, it's FICTION, get creative. Do not write every day life as we experience everyday life every day. Every day life is boring.

And if you're going to say something like slice of life anime/manga is justification for "normal plots happening normally," no they are not. Boring anime of this caliber will be called out for being boring, and these stories have the benefit of visuals. The artists/mangaka put time and effort into making their characters and settings look interesting and expressive. They also take liberties in making exciting things happen. Writing does not have this luxury, so you need to make the story interesting to maintain the reader's attention. The average joe or jane does not want to come home and read about the day they just had.

Characters can be self-aware!

If anyone ever tells you that a character should never be aware of their issues because we are biased, do NOT listen to them. That is horrible writing advice and I kid you not-I heard that in a video one time. I really should have commented on how bad that advice was. Yes, we are biased, but we can also be aware of our issues. It's called self-awareness. Getting someone else's opinion and/or evaluation can help, but they could be biased too.

A character can have a moment where they realize they were being "the bad guy" and try to fix that issue. Will they succeed? Will their fix be perfect? It's hard to say and depends on the character. The hallmark of a growing character is that they recognize their faults and try to fix them. You do not need a legally registered mental health expert to recognize when you have messed up. Now if there is a deeper issue like a psychological problem or a learning disability, then yes, that individual needs some form of help.

A character is not a "sociopath" if they recognize their issues and resolve to fix them. That is backwards thinking and potentially leads to worse issues. Yes, physical and mental health experts are there for a reason and have dedicated their lives to their work (the ones with integrity...). They are here to help, but they also need you to recognize when there might be a problem. They are not miracle workers, they are experts in their field of study. Of course there will always be people that need intervention, but the point is that people can be aware of their issues, regardless of bias.

Editing and updating self-published work?

Are you a socially awkward, autistic man in his late twenties going on 30 constantly obsessing over making his work the best it can be because you're afraid of looking like a fool in front of everyone, but are too shy and awkward to acquire a proper editor? No, that's just me? Well I have some thoughts on updating your work after it's self-published.

There is multiple ways to view this, the idea of realizing your work could be better and going to back to fix it up:

If the work is free to read in its entirety and no money is being exchanged to experience the story, I don't see a problem in fixing it up. Ideally you should have an editor, but that costs money and editors who work for free are not obligated to help you.

A webcomic can easily be redrawn in the future, but it doesn't hurt to fix an error or mistake in the art. And if it is free to view, it is not a problem. No money is being lost to experience the comic.

This should never be done for work that requires money to experience. If you're work costs money to view/read, it needs to be ready to go before its made available. If it is that bad, either take it down or rerelease it with expansions and revisions. Note that this does not include authors who are relying on services like Patreon. You are paying to support the author, not read the book... unless they paywall the book behind a paid tier, then what I just said goes back into effect.

It's actually a fairly nuanced subject that should be handled on a case by case basis. Don't get angry at someone who goes back and fixes up a free book. You are not losing any money by reading it and presumably the author is doing it out of pride for their work. Of course, those who are doing it in bad faith should be called out. This goes doubly so if you have to pay to read the book. Naturally there will be those who read this section and start screaming their heads off, ignoring the nuance I just presented, but whatever.

The groundwork for a functional plot

I'll keep this simple. Having trouble figuring out the plot? Here's 3 questions that will help you:

What is the conflict of the story?

Why is the conflict a problem?

How is the conflict solved?

If you cannot answer these three questions, you do not have a story and are not trying hard enough. If you cannot answer these questions under any circumstances, you were never meant to be a writer in the first place. These three questions are the fundamental structure of a plot. They are what move things forward. You NEED to be able to answer these questions. If you refuse to address these questions, then your plot is fundamentally flawed and needs to be taken back to the drawing board.

Obviously this is just the first step in writing a plot. There is a lot more to a plot than just those questions, but they are what I view as the starting point.

Focus on finishing a story rather than starting more WIPs

Stop starting projects left and right. Finish one and then move onto a new project. You are not growing as a writer by starting one project, getting 1/4th of the way through, calling it quits, and starting a new project under the excuse that you are "sO ReLAtABle." This is being lazy and prideful. You cannot gain proper experience if you do not finish something. In finishing my novels in a timely manner, I realize how I can further grow my writing and where I could have done better. Having the story of my novel series evolve as time goes on forces me to think outside the box every time I begin the next book.

Where's my indies at?! Actually support those independent artists/writers

This is more for the audience side of things. Do you want more independent content? Then you need to go and seek out these independent artists/writers. You NEED to support them. You NEED to share their work around. They will not grow if you do not properly engage with them. Do not just leave a like, as those are just over glorified bookmarks.

Also critique and criticize their work. This is how these creatives grow and improve their work. It is very cool to do this, and anyone who says otherwise is afraid of being criticized due to their work being inadequate and they know it.

Stop expecting the creator to also be the audience and the critic. We need time to actually work on our art. You cannot expect the creator to be all three as I would not expect that of you. We are not superhuman, we have lives too.

Stop trying to democratize art. Anyone can do art and no one should be "voting" to decide who succeeds and who doesn't. This does nothing but hurt small creators who do not have the support of properly grown communities/fandoms. Let someone's work speak for itself and don't let a group of people decide whether or not you should engage with it. You need to take that first step for yourself, not let someone else do it for you. Art is not a competition. Selling art? Sure. Art in and of itself? No.

Be mature when engaging with other writers

I'm going to be frank: If you bait someone in by saying something like "Any thoughts?" and block them for having a different opinion or point of view, you are not a writer, you are a clout chaser. Same goes for the audience. When you engage with a writer or anyone in general for the purpose of starting a "conversation" or a "dialogue," you need to actually engage with the things being discussed. Sticking your head in the sand and blocking people shows a distinct lack of maturity and creativity. Silencing your opponent does not mean you have won, it means you are afraid of what they have to say. You know you might be wrong deep down and instead confronting that uncertainty, you're ignoring it and refusing to grow.

There is nuance to this as blocking someone who is harassing you or is going to harass you is acceptable. I'm saying don't block someone if you start a conversation with them and they disagree with you.

Also as a reader, you are not going to win a battle of wit against a true writer. This goes doubly so if you block them for disagreeing with you. And honestly, I don't want that kind of individual engaging with my work.

Our parents and school teachers always taught us "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it all." I think the principle rings true here. No, this is not a license to dismiss criticism, it's a call out of bad behaviour. Likewise, if you don't have anything meaningful to say, don't say it at all. And if you are reading this and getting angry at me, why? This issue doesn't apply to you, does it? Unless you want to admit that you have an issue which is ideal for resolving it, as you need to know about an issue in order to resolve it.

All of this to say please don't treat writers like trash. We are not machines, we are people with feelings just like you. We are not above you like many seem to arrogantly assume, we are just trying to get by like everyone else. Insulting us is not going to make us side with you, it's going to make us make fun of you in a future story as a commentary on how not to behave in society. Obviously we're not here to call people out specifically, but these experiences are now ours to use as we see fit. Keep that in mind next time you attack a writer for not agreeing with you. The pen is mightier than the sword.

Ending remarks:

To be clear, I am not here to say ‘it’s my or the highway’ or dictate what you can and cannot write. Write whatever you want at the end of the day. I just so happen to be a very passionate writer who legitimately cares and wants people to succeed. I may come off as very upfront and assertive, but know I do it because I care. I know you can write something truly great, it just takes time, effort, and discipline. And if you have an idea, write it. Is it good? Great. Is it bad? That’s fine, figure out how to make it better. You can do it no matter what, keep moving forward.

Note that all of this applies to REAL writers who actually sit down and put pen to paper. “AI authors” are not real writers and will never be real writers. Turn off the computer, get out a pen and paper, and actually write something. The only one gatekeeping you from success is yourself. The same logic applies to “AI artists.” Also no, I don't want to see these people "sued into the ground" or "banned from the creative space" as they have potential just like anyone else.

#chaotictempleknight #writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writers #writers of tumblr #writing advice #my advice #advice #creative writing #bookblr #advice for writers #literature #my thoughts #author #writer #writing community

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legendofmorons · 1 month ago

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Incorrect written in the stars au quotes (with varying levels of context) part 12(?)

Warriors: Am I... Unlovable?

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Dink, glaring at the chain from across the room: There are two things we agree on and luckily for you one of them means you get to live

Chain: What could we agree on?

Dink:... We love out soulmates -

Chain: you have a soulmate?

Dink: Shut up. We love our soulmates, and we don't enjoy causing (Y/n) pain.

Chain: What?

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Reader: Everyone is being weird but now I know why. I should... give them space?

Wind: Hey roll down this hill with me!

Reader: Okay

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Legend: I'm getting a Good Grade in pretending I don't know any secrets, something that is hoth possible to achieve and normal to want

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Time: Stoicism has No Consequences!

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Sky: Don't you ever get tired of being nice?

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Reader, alone and finding the goddess sword: Is this a calling?

Dink: NO! Put that down!

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Demise: None of my curses will effect me.

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Reader: Hey Hylia, quick questin: What the FUCK?

Hylia: :( My bad?

#lu written in the stars au memes

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novlr · 1 month ago

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Hi, I have a fairly easy time writing all the meat and potato bits of my story but it's the normal everyday stuff I struggle with. A lot of my writing involves the metaphysical which I can do but characters sitting down having dinner together? I just feel I can't make it convincing. how can I improve with this?

I think this is such a great question! So much of the writing advice and education out there focuses on the big plot moments, the characters changes and the story world that it’s so easy to forget the importance of the moments that are simply ordinary.

Writing the extraordinary can so often feel easier than capturing ordinary moments. When you’re writing an epic battle scene or a sweeping romance, our imaginations soar with possibilities. It’s easy to get lost in the moment and let the fantasy carry you. But making a simple dinner conversation engaging? That’s an art in itself. So how do you write the ordinary?

Why ordinary moments matter

Everyday scenes aren’t often spoken of, but they server very important functions in your story. You may not even notice them as a reader, but they’re always there, tying the narrative together. So what do you achieve when you write the ordinary?

You ground your readers in reality, making the extraordinary elements more impactful.

Your characters have natural opportunities for development.

You create contrast and variation in pacing that can make the story more engaging.

You make your characters and story world more relatable and build an emotional connection with your readers.

Making the ordinary extraordinary

Now, just because a moment is ordinary, that doesn’t mean it needs to be boring. Even the ordinary moment need to have plot relevance and serve your story.

If a character is sitting down to dinner, then that scene must mean something in the wider context of the narrative. It could be the vehicle for an important conversation that needs to happen, or it could be something as simple as needing to illustrate a family dynamic (meals together is a very popular set up for character development in the found family trope, for instance).

To put it plainly, even though a scene might not contain action, it must contain purpose.

So how can you achieve that?

Focus on character dynamics

Rather than describing the mechanical aspects of a mundane scene, like eating dinner, concentrate on the undercurrents of relationships. What tensions simmer beneath polite conversation? Who’s avoiding eye contact? Who’s hogging the salt shaker and why?

Use sensory details selectively

Don’t catalogue every moment in minute detail. If you highlight a sense or a detail, ask yourself why it’s important and if it elevates the scene.

If a fork clinks against a plate, or you can hear a napkin rustle, why is this important? Does it punctuate the silence, showing that the moment is uncomfortably quiet? Or does it make a sound that sparks a memory for a character?

Create subtle conflict

Every scene needs tension, even quiet ones. This doesn’t mean characters need to argue or fight. Tension can come from unspoken words, differing expectations, or conflicting desires.

Maybe one character wants to discuss something important while another avoids the topic. Perhaps someone’s trying to maintain proper etiquette while secretly dealing with devastating news. These subtle conflicts create engaging dynamics that keep readers invested in ordinary moments while, at the same time, revealing deeper layers of your characters’ personalities.

Layer in subtext

Ordinary moments are the points in your story where you can reveal what characters aren’t saying out loud. Through body language, facial expressions, and carefully chosen words, you can show the deeper meanings beneath surface-level interactions.

A character might say “pass the salt” while a white-knuckled grip on their fork reveals their anger. Another might compliment the meal while pushing food around their plate, suggesting they’re lying, they’re distracted, or have something else going on beneath the surface. These subtle cues create depth and meaning in everyday moments — aka subtext.

Tips to write the ordinary

Observe real life. Take notes on how people actually behave during daily activities. What quirks and patterns emerge?

Find the extraordinary in the ordinary. Look for unique angles or meaningful moments in routine activities. A family dinner isn’t just about eating, it can be about power dynamics, love, tradition, and conflict.

Keep it brief. Don’t linger too long on everyday scenes unless they’re pivotal to your plot. Often, a few well-chosen details work better than a lot of detailed description.

Connect to larger themes. Link ordinary moments to your story’s broader themes and character arcs. How does a morning coffee routine reveal someone’s inner struggle?

Use contrast. Ordinary moments can highlight the extraordinary elements of your story. They give readers a baseline for “normal” that makes the unusual more striking.

Common pitfalls to avoid

Don’t over-describe routine actions.

Don’t include everyday scenes that don’t advance plot or character.

Don’t make dialogue too “on the nose.” Keep it subtle.

Don’t forget to include emotional undercurrents.

Don’t lose story momentum.

Remember, the key to writing the ordinary isn’t to make it more exciting. It’s to reveal its hidden significance. Every shared meal, morning commute, or load of laundry carries the weight of your characters’ hopes, fears, and relationships. When you tap into that emotional current, even the most mundane moment becomes meaningful.

Think of ordinary scenes as the connective tissue of your story. They may not be flashy, but they give your narrative its human pulse. They create a richer, more immersive world for your readers where both the metaphysical and the mundane feel equally real.

#writeblr #writing tips #writing advice #creative writers #writerblr #writing inspiration #creative writing #writing #writing resources #writers of tumblr #writing community #writers #on writing #writer #writers on tumblr #ask novlr

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miriadalia · 7 months ago

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Kwon and Draco Malfoy's character archetype and why it makes fans go crazy

(Warning: this post contains spoilers from both stories)

Like it or not, Kwon Jae Sung has become one of the most beloved characters in the Cobra Kai series, and he only needed 15 minutes or less of screen time to do so. Here's my analysis of why his character traits are so interesting to many fans and how this reminds me of the "Draco Malfoy effect" in the Harry Potter fandom.

Cobra Kai and Death Eaters

The first time we see Kwon, he's a student at the Korean Cobra Kai dojo, a place that not only condones but actually encourages young people to be violent, offensive, and merciless. We see how this teenager eagerly absorbs every one of these teachings and puts them into action.

Sounds familiar? In the HP universe, Death Eaters were an elite group created for the sole purpose of terrorizing and eliminating those they considered "the weakest and unworthiest": Muggle-borns and Muggles. They convinced (or forced) very young people to join them in their "mission": Draco, Snape, Regulus… All victims who then became perpetrators of the same crimes.

This scenario is SO attractive from a fictional POV. You have this dark group of adults that use and manipulate these teenagers or young adults for their own selfish purposes, and you begin to wonder: what are these young characters going to do when faced with the real consequences of their actions and way of thinking?

Draco realized (slowly and painfully) how his family's ideals were turning him into a monster forced to torture and kill innocent people. Kwon wasn't given enough time to do that… But I'll talk about this later.

Bad Boy trope and the King of Ships

Now, we can't deny that a huge part of both Kwon and Draco's attractiveness stems from their charisma, quick-witted remarks, and their inflated sense of self-importance, believing themselves untouchable and incomparable. They feel empowered to say and do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want.

All this, combined with their appealing and recognizable looks, creates the perfect formula for your next fictional Bad Boy crush™. And it also makes them so easy to ship with other characters, especially if their interactions can be interpreted as flirtatious when taken out of context (ahem, Dramione, ahem, Drarry, ahem, Kwon x Tory).

"He's just a boy"

At the end of the day, both boys were just that: 17-year-old boys trying to fit into the world they were raised in, be the best in their class, and achieve great things in life. And this is what makes them so endearing to many fans like me.

Both tried to impress the father figure they kind of idolized.

And both suffered when they faced the reality that they were just as powerless and insecure as any other normal teenager.

But in Draco's case, this moment of realization became the start of his regrets and redemption arc.

In Kwon's case, he was fated to be consumed by rage and die… due to a questionable plot and chain of events.

Now, I'm not going to debate the last 15 minutes of Cobra Kai Part 2 here. I've already written about it, and this isn't the point of this analysis anyway. I respect the people who think that Kwon's death was necessary and that it will help other characters' growth in Part 3, even though I strongly disagree with how the Cobra Kai writers handled it all.

However...

The infinite possibilites of the Redemption Arc

Not giving Kwon the possibility of a future redemption arc was a real waste of his character's potential.

Draco Malfoy wasn't truly redeemed in the original books, but at least in the epilogue, we see him raising a beautiful family, far removed from his racist past. And if you consider what happens in Cursed Child canon, you'll see how much he has grown and how good he could have been as a teen, too, if he hadn't been fed the wrong ideas and morals.

Imagine how cool it would have been if the "There's no such thing as bad student, only bad teacher" theme was applied in a drastically different way than what they decided to do in Part 2.

I'm not saying they should have shown us Kwon's redemption arc in Cobra Kai Season 6. That wouldn't have been good because we only have five episodes left, and it wouldn't have been believable that he changed so fast... But if he hadn't died, then all possibilities were open (for future spin-offs or even just to be coherent with the tone the CK series had until season 6, that is: no dead kids, just adults and only because of an illness).

Sunshine Actors

Lastly, it can't be denied that Brandon H. Lee and Tom Felton have played a crucial part in making their characters fan favorites.

They both have amazing acting skills, portraying charismatic yet tragic characters. And Brandon's stunt and martial arts skills are truly fascinating to watch.

But there's even more to their casting as Kwon and Draco. And even though I can totally separate the actor from the character, I won't deny that the actors being handsome, gentlemen, and the nicest people behind the scenes plays an important part in fans loving their characters.

If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading!

I often post more character analyses and plot reviews, so if you like this, feel free to follow me and message me with any questions you may have :)

~miriadalia

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kerorowhump · 2 months ago

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So ok I wanted to make a post talking about my thoughts on ep110 but I feel like they're gonna be scattered but bear with me

I think the most important thing I wanted to mention is that the way the starfruit is described feels symbolic of what Keroro actually wants deep down

essentially a hybrid of the best of both, coming together into a single unit. all keroro does want is for keron and earth to co-exist in harmony, but his flawed way of imagining that is explored a bit more in 110b.

Any sort of invasion, even a peaceful one, despite being the best possible scenario for him in the situation he's in, still implies changing things about earth in order to achieve it and... as he realized, he doesn't want that!

Having a nightmare about successfully invading... Even with the starfruit representing literally the best possible scenario. It highlights his impossible task, but it also served to make him reflect about the invasion and his feelings on it at all.

In fact this whole episode is huge in this regard because the whole reason he got sick in the first place was stress and failure to adapt (hey! remember those old posts I made about how he doesn't quite feel at home on either planet and even though he loves earth it feels unwelcoming too in many aspects...) and it's easy to see why, normally we can see his stress, but this season won't let us forget (thanks to that beautiful timer device). With this constant reminder of what he has to do, where usually he likes to not think about it at all.

Coming to terms with his feelings towards earth and his own role in regards to it when it comes to invading, realizing you don't want anything to change about it really, in the second half that is.

The entire first half he spends it severely downplaying his negative feelings, which is nothing new, he often does this.

Trudging through his daily tasks sluggishly, doesn't ask for help or complain at all, actually the opposite is true.

Losing strength and physically lighter, like someone who doesn't want to be a weight and can't stand up for what he believes in. Ready to give up.

The kind of lethargy one experiences when under extreme pressure (and already depressed if I'm allowed to add), which is why when he tastes the starfruit (which again, what it represents...) which is one new positive thing he hadn't experienced before (something to keep going for), he literally breaks down in tears. And then attaches way too much importance to it (in a dream yes, but that's still his subconscious so, if anything it counts more).

Normal phrase to say for someone whose feelings are totally stable and not at all experiencing an extreme low. Normal tantrum behavior showing perfectly fine emotional regulation, not dramatic at all.

So anyway in my opinion from what I've observed so far anime keroro really isn't one to explicate his real feelings/needs or even do much self reflection on them at all. Normally, these occur when he's under huge stress. On average he has tantrums or indulges in escapism.

When Aki asks him a simple question on it, he has to stop and think about it, despite literally almost dying from the severity of them. My alexithymia king.

And then and only then, when it feels like he'll actually be listened to (by the way, getting ignored seems to be a big trigger for him! just based on observing his reactions... when people don't pay attention to him or praise something else while he's there... and stuff like that), does he say it in a way that feels so understated.

But to me it's really huge, because I don't think he has ever admitted these two facts so naturally. Or at all?

And as I said the shot with the timer feels especially devious in this context, it's a reminder to us the viewer that anyway how Keroro feels about the invasion doesn't matter, because he really has no agency or choice about it at this point. It's also a visual reminder of the obvious other underlying reason for his stress, that he doesn't outright say, but is shown to us regardless.

I think maybe, in such a context, even praise for a job well done could start mattering less to him, because the outcome is what's unfavorable, the thing he dreads.

That might be why this did nothing for him. Throughout the day so many duties, things he has to do, but not many times that he's asked how he feels about it (which is why he often ends up snapping in extreme ways). Like "what's the point?" of even thinking about it, if the situation is set in stone no matter what?

And I know Aki said may disease and we settled on that, it's the closest thing for sure, it lends a description for the type of disappointment he feels about what he has to do. But I do feel like it's not about "may" for him, it's more long lasting, it's just reaching a boiling point now due to the set timer. And may disease (while not clinically recognized) is best described as a type of minor depression. Keroro doesn't really have responsibilities tied to japan school/work (even if it's representing it), so you also have to see the bigger picture of it here... of why it manifested... He himself says he carries stress and unease every day. So it's not limited to may, it's circumscribed to his situation.

So yeah that's it these were my thoughts on the ep

#keroro #musing 2.0 #ep110 #analysis #keroro repressing his negative feelings so hard that he becomes unable to properly identify them is awesome #like you can really see it develop in real time wauw #hope this post makes sense and i dont look insane anyway BYE lmk if u vibe with this #they really need to pay more attention to keroro and ask him more questions and listen to him more. in general #i think it would make him more well adjusted and also help him open up a bit #cuz really he DOES carry a lot but doesnt say anything #looking at you natsumi keroro body switch ep #anime keroro suffers more than christ i think #i was a visionary for picking my url not even 15 eps into the show tbh

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abadsmile · 3 months ago

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About what Makoto incarnates in Danganronpa

This is repost. The other one wasn't posted in any tags.

This is a revamp of a former interpretation that I have made months agp concerning the symbolisms that Makoto embodies. Many can disagree with it as I may have overanalyzed and it’s fairly possible, but I want to take that risk. Before beginning, I have to alarm you that this one is very long analysis. So, let’s begin.

Everyman Hero?

So, many people think that Makoto is normal guy from the beginning and it’s true in a sense, when we saw him for the first time. Through him, we could see a critic of the Japanese society. Indeed, as we know the Japanese society can be repressive against people that want to differentiate from the ordinary folks. Japan is a country that put the collectivism above the individualism of its citizens. While it has its great advantages, it also comes with a cost which is sometimes the repression of an individual.

Again, something quite observable is when someone quit the enterprise he worked with to work with another. Much people have difficulties exiting their company and it’s viewed in a bad light to do so because you « betrayed » the company and you aren’t loyal to your former company.

Effectively, loyalty is also a key quality in Japan. But there is also the fact that Japan had one of the highest suicide rate estimated at 24.90% per 100 000 habitants in 2009-2010 which was already high before but coupled with the arrive of its worse recession, explains us how stressfully and tough it was.

We have also the phenomena of Gyaru or Hikikomori which show a will to break that conformity and to rebel against this society that restrains its citizens’ ego. But it’s normal, every country has its own problems, troubles, a perfect country can’t exist after all.

Thus, the repression of an individual leads to the conformity of society where being normal or in line is good. This is something which is exaggerated in the universe of Danganronpa.

Any attempts so as to try to be out of the norm are viewed as bad, inadequate and inappropriate as it’s not the good thing to do. There exists a moral superiority which is highly present in this universe.

We can see it clearly with the reverse course which are seen as tools and inferior beings by HPA themselves. Even the staff treats them as garbage.

Therefore, the common good in this universe would correspond to talent which is viewed as hope. It’s something that many want to achieve in order to be part of the good, like Hajime.

Now that I have put the context, I can use that context for Makoto. I think, and it’s pretty obvious, that Danganronpa at least for his two first games, is a critic of the Japanese society, especially THH where much characters have problems that concern Japan society. It’s fairly observable with Makoto in the prologue. He presents himself as an ordinary person which is for the moment, a basic description that many slice of life protagonists describe themselves. But there is something more in Makoto’s description of himself. Throughout his presentation, he insists on how ordinary he is and how he is so unremarkable that he is more average than the average guy.

Do you see where I’m going? Makoto Naegi in the prologue, is seemingly a perfect representation of the Japanese citizens in Danganronpa. He is normal, polite and loyal but especially normal. Like said before concerning the Japan society, normalcy is viewed as a great quality which is what ironically Makoto describes himself to be. Not to a normal degree but in an extreme degree. He fits all the case. Even if he said that he is more optimistic than the other people, that optimism isn’t shown at all in the 1st chapter except for one time which serves to highlight that his optimism does exist. He is also very humble.

Moreover, like said before he has accepted that normalcy, it’s who he is. The fact that he has accepted that only confirms what’s has been said before. While there is some truth in what he said about himself some aren’t totally true but I’ve already analyzed this, so I won’t do it here. Notice that he hasn’t talked about his luck at all, which seems to be suppressed in order for his description to fit the ideal of the Japanese society.

But throughout the story, we see different characteristics of Makoto, even in Chapter 1 where many aspects of his personality is shown whether be bad or good. Those aspects deviate from what’s described initially from Makoto. His lack of rationality, his more aggressive, impulsive side, it’s anxiety and self-depreciation but also his lack of confidence in himself which makes him have a skewed view on his action that he would consider as normal but aren’t really normal or ordinary. We can suspect that he has that view because of the impact of the Japanese society of Danganronpa which restrained the flourishment of his personality, his ego.

As we progress in the story, Makoto becomes more confident, and takes a major role for the cast to survive during the trials. Not only that but his optimism nature is much more present compared to the first chapter. It illustrates a contrast between what he was supposed to be and what he becomes in THH. He was supposed to be a normal person, the ideal of Japan society. So to be average, discreet and shy is what he should have been but it’s the contrary that was shown to us.

Not only his presence becomes pivotal to the plot but his impulsiveness, intelligence, confidence, luck and optimism but also his will to honor the death of his friends, makes him extraordinary. All of what we and he thought that he was, was in fact not totally true. And everything comes to a grand final where he becomes the ultimate hope, a talent beyond others ultimates, an extraordinary talent.

But what was the thing that allowed him to break from his chains ? The killing game itself. Indeed it’s this killing game that enabled him to become what he becomes in Chapter 6. The killing game is what’s break society, here the Japanese society and in-verse, the world of Danganronpa. HPA becoming a symbol of despair is not only important for the narrative but also outside of it as HPA represents the Japan society itself.

Its collapse signify not only the death of society but also the death of normalcy and the end of the imprisonment of the individuality of the person and let the true desires of people exist. Secrets, money, close people, betrayal. All of these are use as a tool to show their real persona.

Moreover, we can go farther. As we’ve said Makoto is supposed to be the everyman hero that grows until becoming a formidable hero, thanks to the killing game, right ?

Yet Makoto in THH was already anormal or let’s say special. He wasn’t as ordinary he proclaimed to be. He is far from being a self-insert or someone relatable because it isn’t his character. By instance, Hajime is made to be more relatable as he is truly normal. Makoto isn’t. He is made to be unrealistic, someone that we can’t relate but someone that we can root on. He is far too inhuman for us to relate to him.

But what I want to say is that he was already the ultimate hope from the beginning. In truth, it’s in his very nature to help people and to confront any insurmountable obstacles. I will take two novels made by Kodaka in example. The first one will be the « Makoto’s secret file » which novel gives us more insight in his character and how he got to HPA.

Sitting at the front of the bus, listening to the screaming, Makoto’s body trembled convulsively—not in fear, though, but the exact opposite.

I have to help him! I have to help the old man! In that instant, an intense drive boiled up inside him. His eyes were no longer those of the timid, abnormally normal high-school boy everyone usually saw, but those of someone who was prepared to fight to the bitter end, no matter how tough things got or outmatched he might be. Before his mind had the chance to shift into gear, his body was already in motion, driven entirely by instinct—the very core of what made him Makoto Naegi.

And second is when he met Ryoko and here’s what she said about him.

‘Strange’― I don’t think I could find a word that suited him more than that. He’s just... a strange guy. He’s so ordinarily ordinary that it makes him strange. […] I couldn’t help thinking about the way Naegi looked at me in that last moment. His eyes seemed to deliver to me a burning sense of unease. The boy named Makoto Naegi didn’t seem particularly reliable, and had a weak presence... but in the depths of his eyes at that moment, there was an incredible strength which seemed to emanate from his very core and shatter all my previous notions of who this person was. He seemed to look at me with a dazzling aura― whether there was a problem, whether he faced an unbeatable enemy, I knew he would always have a strength so powerful he could never give up.

Therefore he didn’t become the ultimate hope The killing game only revealed what he truly was. It crushed his mask that made him pretended to be ordinary and that’s why he appears to be bland or boring at first glance. That mask is a powerful one that restrict his character to fully emerge in the beginning of the game. From the beginning, the prologue and the first chapter, the game and Makoto tries to brutally force the narrative that he is normal. But it doesn’t work and even Ryoko notices that him being « so ordinarily ordinary […] makes him strange ».

Therefore, the intention of the game towards Makoto is to create this false narrative that he is normal and ordinary, that he is a everyman hero while he isn’t and is in fact a classical hero. That’s why the game, right from the beginning put so much emphasis to say that « Makoto is just a normal guy with just a bit of optimism ». Again, everything is made to push the narrative of that. When Makoto talked about himself, the words average or ordinary are used more than 7 times.

But a question arise. Why Makoto doesn’t seem to know or to acknowledge his inner power ?

It’s because he has a warped view of what normal is. That narrative of him being normal is deeply inside of him like we’ve seen in THH and causes him to ignore and severely underestimates himself. Thus, he thinks that the actions of the behavior he has, is normal and not strange, anormal. But him viewing himself as normal only strengthen what I’ve said so far. It’s so deeply anchored in him that it’s normal for him.

Then the game isn’t about a normal boy developing to become extraordinary What it’s truly is about : the killing game is a moral test for Naegi who after the killing game came with his belief reaffirmed and refined. It’s to test if Makoto will overcome the killing game,, if he will discover his true nature.

In conclusion, Makoto is the classical hero not the everyman hero that the game tried to preach us. The mask hiding that truth is broken at the end of the first chapter when he put his faith in Sayaka despite her betrayal. That’s something that a normal person would difficulty do and it surely caused sparks in the community. From the prologue and the end of the first chapter, the game tricks us. And once that mask is broken, we see that in chapter 4, even if the player wanted to tell Kyoko what Makoto has seen, Makoto refused to tell Kyoko anything as he wants t’to prevent things to go possibly bad.

Even when the bad ending plays out after the player chooses to expose Kyoko’s lie in the fifth trial instead of having a game over screen, we see how the bad ending is in his imagination which shows that it isn’t a choice that he would have done and that he isn’t bound by the player’s will. I know that it’s primarily a tool as for not losing time for us but seeing that they’ve made intentionally so that the bad ending is all in his head, illustrates once again this fracture between us and Makoto. As we see that Makoto is the classical hero, we will see symbolisms that Makoto represents inside the world of Danganronpa.

Symbolisms

Symbolism : Crane

Firstly, I think that the crane could also represent Makoto and his journey through the killing game. I know that people often says that Sayaka symbolizes the crane and that would be totally correct. But I feel like Makoto can also symbolize a crane too. Just like the crane, he was lost when the killing game started. Why was he chosen ? What was his place in a class where his classmates are more talented than him and have a true talent ? How could he compare to them ?

But throughout the game, Makoto began to take his flight and become more smart as the chapters goes in until he was capable to hold his on against Kyoko in chapter 5. He rediscovered every facets of himself during the killing game until he finally found, until others guide him into his true talent which is the ultimate hope. Just like the crane who was lost, Makoto was the one to get him find his way.

It’s the same things in the killing game where Makoto discovered himself again truly until he can finally recognize his qualities as great and therefore to be really proud of himself for the first time in the killing game. Not even talking about how the crane symbolizing Makoto is correct as the crane is seen as its white color already represent not only innocence but also hope. The crane is also seen as a symbol of peace, good fortune and longevity. They are often use as an anti-war symbols during protest.

And everything said concerning the qualities of the crane is also valid for Makoto. He does bring good fortune as it was his luck that ended up saving the world. Good Fortune was given to the world except himself the day he was accepted at HPA.

He is also viewed as hope incarnate by the world and his whole philosophy prone a more regenerative and pacific hope than most in the universe of Danganronpa. While he hates death, he never radically opposed to the views of Munakata concerning hope. Thus, he doesn’t completely disregard that death can be considered as necessary even if he doesn’t prone that.

Finally, he is one of the few characters that survived 2 killing game so he does have longevity for him.

Again, he parallelizes with Sayaka as both can be seen as the crane. Sayaka at the start of the story and Makoto at the end of story, representing their initials differences before the killing game.

In addition, just like Makoto who has helped the crane to find his way in middle school, Sayaka in a way helped him to become what he is in chapter 6. Sayaka, more so her death, put him in the right track, in the right mindset in order to fight against the mastermind.

She pushed him forward just like Makoto did back then with the crane which is supposed to represent Sayaka’s mental state at the time : lost and hurt because of everything she did and see in the industry whether the things she’s done is implied to be sexual or not. But seeing one act of kindness was enough to move her heart to such a point that she has been obsessed to see and talk with Makoto Naegi.

That moment is parallelized with Makoto when he saw the corpse of Sayaka. He was hurt and lost. Even after seeing her corpse, he was in denial and even shout at both Togami and Mondo, people that he either fears (Mondo) or is hurt at each encounter he makes with (Togami)

Here it’s these two who tries to do the same thing that Makoto did try to do back then.

The roles are again changed. It’s a great callback to their dynamic which the crane plays an important role in it. So I think it’s fair to say that Makoto can symbolize the crane.

Symbolism : Christ (Jesus)

Next, I know some people would say why comparing him to Jesus ? Except for the banal similarities and symbolism as being the good and the genuine, there is nothing that we can compare, right? That’s what I would have told you months ago. However, I found out that intentionally or not, Makoto is a strong symbolism to Jesus and is in a way very similar to him other than being good and genuine.

First, he incarnates light and is put in relation with genuine and gentle love through his link with Mukuro which is contrasted by her link with Junko which symbolizes toxic and poisonous love but still a genuine one. Those two people are the ones that Mukuro loves the most, the ones who are one of the most genuine characters concerning what defines them as a person. Even his former high school’s emblem seems to be star-like with the shape and the color.

There is also the fact that Makoto is intimately tied to fate and destiny, as if his life was written by the stars. His relationship to Sayaka and how both were star-crossed lovers whose fate was also written by the stars, destined to end tragically or according to Kyoko that he was fated to come to HPA to stop Junko and in a way, she isn’t wrong. Though what Kyoko said is similar to what is said about other chosen heroes, she is ironically right.

What brought him to HPA was his luck. His luck isn’t only luck in the pure sense but also linked to destiny and fate. It’s doesn’t serve only to justifying his « plot armor » but to show how his luck played a great part in Makoto’s life.

As we know luck is a mysterious force that seems to be far more supernatural in the world of Danganronpa. It’s not a force explained but it seems that it can be predicted by Junko as she can predict Nagito’s luck. However the luck of Makoto seems to so incomprehensible that even Junko can’t predict. Even Nagito who seems to have a more grandiose luck than Makoto said that his luck was weaker than Makoto’s

But why does I bring luck ? If luck is that unexplainable force, we can make parallels with God who is by definition incomprehensible and unexplainable. Makoto’s luck seems to be « bad luck » but only for himself but represents also a « good luck » for the world which would explain also why he survived too.

( « bad luck for me. Good luck for the world » - answer from Kodaka account in blue sky by someone asking how Naegi’s luck feel more like bad luck).

That same luck exist in THH and ensures that Makoto lives like we know with how the trial 5 ended for instance. But you can take that answer with a grain of salt as the answer made from Kodaka’s blue sky account are not canon but it gives us at least a part of his mind concerning Makoto’s luck.

We also know that the death of Jesus was predestined by God so just like Makoto, Jesus’s fate was also written by the stars, his fate was already written as for him becoming the Christ.

But the most glaring example is the fact that Makoto also carries their doubts and sins, symbolizing the Christ that bear all the sins of man in the Bible.

He bears their sins by not forgetting them, by remembering them. Whether the symbolism was intentional or unintentional, it’s a great symbolism shown to us in the end of chapter 1 and throughout the game. His belief in people isn’t realistic but not too much idealistic but it’s still an hard belief to believe in and that’s why the three blackened + Sayaka couldn’t believe in that belief because it’s not rational and it’s only based in the belief of an uncertain future not a certain one.

The parallels he has with Taka makes this symbolism more striking as one was rewarded for surpassing the death of a loved one and the other one found death as a punishment for becoming a worse person and for latching to his best friend worse qualities.

The same can even be said with Sakura that was a spy for the mastermind. Though she didn’t do nothing, she did helped, though under pressure, Monokuma so she was on the path of « sins » but ended up following the good path by rebelling against Monokuma and gave hope for everyone and put Makoto’s belief into action.

Again, his trust that he has, is tested once again in trial 5, where he must either trust Kyoko or not. Not trusting her is game over but trusting her, saves him at the end, as Kyoko retrieves him. And before Kyoko saved him, he was also saved by alter-ego. Once again, it can be explained by his trust and empathy as in chapter 4, he considered alter ego as a friend and was the only one who clearly insisted on it. He was really worried over Alter-Ego and was really hurt when it died.

As we know Alter-ego is an baby AI that was created by Chihiro in the killing game even though it existed before so Makoto insisting by saying they are friends and that they will get out of here together might have influenced Alter-Ego to save him. Though it can be viewed as plot with his luck, it can be also explained by alter-ego considering Makoto as a important friend to save.

So at each good actions or conduct, he is in a way rewarded.

But those rewards aren’t unmerited. He underwent and was exposed to different kinds of pain, whether be losing his loved one, getting hurt, getting blamed, being trapped and almost executed. His path was not an easy one but one strewn with pitfalls. And we saw his emotions inside of him, the guilt, regret and powerlessness but he didn’t fall and it wasn’t him that declared himself as the ultimate hope but the others as considered him as much.

Finally, he symbolizes in a way with the Christ as he symbolizes the true hope just like the Christ who incarnates the Good and salvation. It was the next step for his evolution.

The same can be said for Jesus who, like I said previously, bearer of the sins of Man. He carried it until his death just like Naegi carried their memories until the end of the killing game. And when that death comes, he comes back to life, the third day after his crucifixion and becomes another person. Again, just like Makoto at the end of trial 5, ended up « dying » for things he didn’t commit just like Jesus but came back to life as another person : the ultimate hope and strike down the mastermind.

But that’s only in the first game so every evidences put in that game could be seen as baseless. But in the next game, one character lead me to believe that that my interpretation of mine could be right and it’s Nagito Komaeda.

Nagito Komaeda

Nagito is interesting as in his conception, he is supposed to be a Makoto who went wrong. In his conception, he is a distorted Makoto and even his earlier design was an evil version of Makoto « just Naegi but shorter, with glasses and a black devil parka »

Kodaka described him as a person with a person with a perverted hope, conceived by contradictions and the horrors of people incapable of empathy. He also described him as being complete opposite but also amazingly similar to Makoto.

Though Nagito isn’t simply that as his writing concerns others themes and things, taking in account how he was conceived is important too. He is more complex and the better written character though Makoto still has good, great writing but he doesn’t compare to Nagito. But while I love both character I will always prefer Makoto of course.

Well, in addition, right from the beginning when playing Sdr2, many thought that he was Makoto Naegi, a trick used by the game so as to magnificently illustrated how different he is to Makoto later in this chapter. He is more pale, taller and a sickly voice.

But let’s analyze what bring me to talk about him. First, his name is an anagram of Makoto Naegi.

If we take my interpretation about how Makoto symbolized Jesus and how Nagito even in his conception was thought to be an « evil Makoto » with later more nuance and themes put in the character, this anagram can symbolize how Nagito is a perverted version of Naegi and how he is the opposite of Naegi but also similar in a way.

The letters being all mingle together can be compared to an inverted cross and we can establish two meaning to it:

it can symbolize Saint Peter’s desire to honor by choosing a different form of death. He didn’t want to be killed in the same way as his lord and decided to day in a less dignified manner to not claim the glory to have died like Jesus. He is one of the twelve apostle of Jesus. So the upside down cross here means humility and unawavering faith

but the upside down nowadays has an other significance as it has been used as a anti-Christian tool in film, series. It is a sign linked to evil, to the devil.

Considering that, most would say that the second meaning is more prevalent in this analysis but I think both can work and it will be confirmed later in the story.

But the point where we can see all there differences and similarities is how one’s talk about hope and how their luck acts. First, hope is seen more as an abstract concept which is absolute for Nagito.

He holds to it as his coping mechanism with how shitty his life was and how his luck makes him distance himself with others. He needs to find meaning in his life and so he find it in the concept of hope. So when he sees the ultimate students in sdr2, he doesn’t see them as individuals but as that concept incarnated. And so he tries to stir that hope so as for it becomes more powerful.

But we see that this obsession of his is so big that it becomes almost despair but to be fair to him, he learnt that his classmates were ultimate despairs and so all his worldview about his classmates collapse. That doesn’t justified his actions but helps to understand why he is doing that.

In contrary, Makoto’s hope is found not in the abstract concept of hope but in people. His hope fonctions because people believes in him and can trust them. It is a bilateral hope that works when trust is both sided which is why in chapter 6 of THH, he succeeds.

In his later appearance, he tries to preach his vision of hope towards everybody as we know that he wants for the world to gain courage and to give the world hope again. He is excited and that’s what Toko tells us in UDG when she talks with him. Though they seem to be distant with each other, I can confidently say that they both cared for each other as a friend. Even Syo cared as seen in dr3 when Monaca warned them about how someone will die because of Makoto.

Concerning their luck, it works differently too. Nagito’s luck exist as a cycle of extreme luck and extreme bad luck which also symbolizes the dichotomy of hope and despair and how he develops inside the story. It is a personal luck.

Makoto’s luck as seen before in this analysis, works more as divine intervention as it saves his life when he is in danger of dying. Depending of the perspective, his luck can be seen as bad luck if we take the perspective of Makoto, an individual but it can also be seen as a good luck if we take the perspective of the world.

His luck benefits the world in its attempts to end the evil. As said previously, it works like a divine intervention and that Devine intervention can be interpreted the will of God. It isn’t explainable by even Junko, the second most intelligent character of the series.

But the final point that pushes me forward this, are his actions and words in chapter five where he decides to become the ultimate hope by making a final trap so as to kill all his classmates in the trial. What’s interesting is that we see his will to become the ultimate hope. He wants to become the very concept that he worshiped before.

Taking into account the two meaning of the upside down cross that we linked to the name of Nagito being an anagram of Makoto, it gives us what Nagito was in beginning and and what he tried to become in the later stage of the game:

in the beginning, he was more as a extremist follower of hope that he preached it as if it was a god.

but at the end, he was more as a false follower, hence why I presented the second meaning. He tried to become that concept of hope which ultimately failed

His death is a botched imitation of Christ on the cross. His body is sprawled out in a similar fashion, the abdominal spear stab (Longinus) as a security measure to assure his death and the pierced hole in the hand

All of that shows us that Nagito is indeed that twisted mirror of Makoto that tried to be the ultimate hope so Jesus but it didn’t work.

But why ? It’s because the way they preach their hope is different and because there is one fundamental difference between them and it’s the ability to redeem. As we already saw Makoto’s hope lies in people meaning that his priorities are people and not hope itself while Nagito it’s the inverse.

That’s why we saw him not minding to sacrifice people for hope because what interests him the most is the finality as to achieve hope. But that’s ironically why he couldn’t forgive himself too when he learned the truth. That’s why he suicided himself too. It wasn’t only kill his classmates but it was also to kill himself because he couldn’t forgive himself as to why he was an ultimate despair.

As such he doesn’t care about humanity. In brief, he can’t acknowledge despair and so failed. But he succeeds to grow beyond it after sdr2 as we saw in sdr 2.5 by finally accepting his friends and so himself at the same time thanks to Hajime in particular.

In comparison, Makoto never became the ultimate hope because he wanted to. From the beginning, we know that Makoto always has that hope inside of him. It was said multiple times whether it be in the game or novels. Makoto’s hope lies also in redemption. His role in sdr2 shows this as he believed that those ultimate despairs are able to be redeemed so he decides to save them though their sins are heavy.

As Junko said « despair is contagious », so Makoto is the one « to heal » that despair by acting with salvation rather than punishment and giving the « sinners » (class 77-B) a second chance that they succeeds to regain by themselves.

Then, Makoto acknowledges despair and doesn’t let that hinder him. He tries to confront it and not run from it as seen with his oath to keep remembering his dead friends or by giving salvation to the remnants of despair.

So the big question is if Kodaka imagined all of that, right or I over analyzed it too much ? It’s left to be debated but I believe that this interpretation of mine is true. If with the first danganronpa game, we could have counted this as a mere illusion, the second game reinforced this symbolism through one character which conception is tied to Makoto. In addition, in ine of the games written by him named Akuma Drive, the protagonist became a jesus like figure after their death so it's not beyond Kodaka to use christian symbolims.

Conclusion

Like said previously, at the end, Makoto is recognized as the ultimate hope by his friends that ended up trusting him and by the world except some exceptions. He succeeds at beating the game of Junko.

But where he became the paragon was inside a game. Though society didn’t exist in the killing game, rules existed and at the end, they defeated Junko by her own terms.

Becoming a paragon in a game is hard but not impossible. And it was at the cost of ten people and with the knowledge that the world that they knew is pretty much gone at this point. Especially for the ultimate students that honed their talent and where again asked to hone their talents at HPA because they represent hope. But those ultimate student by focusing in honing their talent were the ones who ended up being traumatized.

Makoto, him, was able to overcome it not only because it was in his nature but also because he grew with a good family through support and love. His upbringing is also what made him the ultimate hope which is not really a talent but a state of mind as he said at the end of THH.

Nagito comes to push that even further by being virtually a false prophet and by being conceptualized as the complete opposite but similar to Makoto.

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