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posi-pan · 4 years ago

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happy/bubbly/innocent pan “stereotype”

This “stereotype” (that I think of as having two sides; happy/bubbly/outgoing and shy/innocent/childish, sometimes combined) is quite new. There’s really only talk from 2021.

Pan people/characters have been stereotyped most often as flirtatious/promiscuous, as pan is commonly viewed as “having sex with everything and everyone”, and pan rep and the lived experiences of pan people speak to this.

There are endless pan articles/posts that touch on/are about misconceptions that include “pan people are attracted to everyone” or “pan people are promiscuous” from 2012-2021. (Some examples: x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x.)

In 2011, the study Bisexual Invisibility states some people feel pan and omni “reinforce a stereotype of promiscuity” without challenging it. In 2012, Margaret Cho said she doesn’t like labeling her sexuality and she’s just slutty, yet media outlets declared her as speaking “on pansexuality” and “letting her pansexual flag fly”.

In 2014, folks on Tumblr spread the idea of a show called All or Nothing, with pan and ace main characters, with a “plot twist” flipping ace and pan stereotypes; the ace character is outgoing and flirtatious, the pan character is socially awkward and can’t get a date.

From 2014 and on, sexualization was considered “the” pan stereotype. In 2017, Zane Michaleson perpetuated this in Our Dirty Little Secrets: “I hated the term pan with a passion. It was another way of saying I’m greedy and want to fuck anyone and anything. ‘Any hole is a goal’ was never something I’d subscribed to.”

In 2017, LezWatchTV’s pan page included characters who’ve “slept with aliens”. In 2018, Donald Glover said “how can you not be pan in space? There are so many things to have sex with”. (While Jonathan Kasdan confirmed Lando being pan by saying the fluidity/sexuality of Donald and Billy Dee’s portrayals lends itself to pansexuality.)

In 2018, we start seeing the angry, hateful pan stereotype of pan people being irrationally upset about being “associated” with bi and “should examine why that is” (bi group PAVES tweeted exactly this), when we’re just rightfully frustrated by mislabeling and erasure.

In 2021, talk of this new “stereotype” started popping up. There’s a TikTok video sarcastically saying those who perpetuate this stereotype in contrast to other stereotypes are interesting and the first to ever have that opinion. Yet, before this year, this “stereotype” didn’t really exist.

Regarding canon pan rep, less than a quarter of 81 pan characters I found descriptions for have prominent traits that fit this “stereotype”. More common traits are evil/cunning, promiscuous/flirty, hedonistic, charming, sarcastic, and quirky, most of which fit pan stereotypes that have existed/been perpetuated for years.

Most commentary on this “stereotype” is about headcanons. But it’s rare to find pan headcanons that are generally agreed upon, like so many other queer headcanons often are, let alone so popular and common that one could considered them a “stereotype”.

(If pan people tend to have “bubbly/innocent” pan headcanons, which isn’t inherently bad, maybe it has nothing to do with others, and everything to do with pan being demonized and sexualized?)

Blanket condemnation of and assumptions about pan headcanons is panphobic. It’s unfair to scrutinize pan headcanons and project bad faith on them, when the same level of analysis isn’t directed at other headcanons.

My point isn’t to deny the existence or harm caused by people who perpetuate this stereotype to the point of demonizing others. It’s that treating them as the majority (when they aren’t) turns them into a false, harmful generalization. Which is what you’re condemning.

I’ve seen people argue that this “stereotype” is proof that pan people are more accepted/supported than lesbians and bi people. But this “stereotype” isn’t positive for pan people, and only criticizing it in how it reflects against lesbian/bi stereotypes is an example of ignoring panphobia to focus on lesbophobia/biphobia.

Aside from this “stereotype” being a dehumanizing exaggeration, as all stereotypes are, it plays into existing panphobic infantilization of pan people. It does not speak to a broader/majority/generalized reality of pan rep and treatment, as shown above.

Does anyone else feel weird about this “stereotype” or have any idea where it came from? Feel free to share your thoughts!

#pansexual #pansexuality #pan week #pan antagonism #text #mine #long post

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maxwell-grant · 4 years ago

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Might I please ask if you have an opinion of DRACULA? (Either the novel itself or the adaptations); having read both this novel and FRANKENSTEIN, I'm tempted to agree with the reviewer who wrote that one of these is a Classic and the other is actually Fun to read ... (-;

(Art by Cinemamind)

I completely understand the sentiment of "one's a classic and the other's fun to read" and I don't necessarily disagree with it. I don't read Frankenstein for fun, I read it because it's the book closest to me and it's heartbreaking to think about and it's got one of my favorite characters ever in it and it's got a stake in my soul I gotta renew every year. Dracula, however? Dracula is a blast and it boggles the mind as to how every adaptation can be so crushingly lesser in nearly every aspect. My hardcover edition with annotations is one of my most prized possessions.

It's interesting that people tend to talk about Frankenstein and Dracula like Frankenstein was cutting edge sci-fi while Dracula was archaic and folkloric, when it's really the other way around. Frankenstein is the story of an arrogant dipshit rejecting modern science and thinking to unearth outdated knowledge soon blossoming into a vicious cycle of savagery, where as Dracula is the story of an ancient predator adapting and trying to take over current society and fought by a ragtag team of upstanding citizens using modern tactics to stave him off and eventually fight him, desperately struggling to stay ahead of the curve as he wisens to their tactics.

This book was really ahead of it's time in so many ways. I could easily see excerpts of it, particularly the Demeter journals and Renfield's story, taking off as internet creepypastas or found footage horror films. Dracula's a story about a group of characters playing detective as they update their blog entries about the coming of an initially incomprehensible horror taking over their lives. It's a story that could work regardless of Victorian or vampire trappings, and we know this because Blair Witch Project and Marble Hornets are some of the biggest horror successes of the past decades, all of which follow the same general idea, except in Dracula, they don't just discover the true nature of the horror, they also start fighting back and ultimately destroy it.

Dracula's obviously a great villain, that goes without saying. I don't actually tend to take Dracula seriously much of the time because I'm very fond of comedy takes on Dracula and vampires, but that doesn't at all diminish his impact in the original book. He's barely in the novel for much of it which makes his every appearence Count, and the atmosphere as well as the many, many forms he can show up or be suggested at really help solidify what an incredible presence he can be.

He's the strange ruler in a foreign country, he's the kooky old man with weird customs, he's the creepy house owner tormenting a hapless guest, he's a barbarian who lives in nostalgia. He's the wind on your window, a dog on the street, a bat in your windshield, a storm on your ship. He's a predator in every way possible, he's a handsome aristocrat, he's a tragic victim of his own monstrous nature, he's a demon who threatens to consume all mankind, he's the fucker who assaulted your loved one and has to go down hard by machete right now.

Even if we just threw out the 124 years of Dracula's history out, we'd still have enough material in the book not just for a great villain, but dozens of great villains and characters who could take just about any of these traits and run with them. And still, the thing that really, really stuck out to me about Dracula wasn't him, it was the other characters

Art by Kiwi

Dracula's cast is so, so underrated, so unfortunately sidelined as a result of adaptations that only care about The Count and try to give him all the dramatic weight and characterization and sideline all the other characters as merely bit players. Stories that twist Jonathan into a useless fop or an active jerk on the idea that he's the "boring" one, that diminish Renfield's story into just being a hapless and insane goon of Dracula, that make Van Helsing the only character who's even capable of putting up a fight and make him a generic badass, that completely neglect Quincy Morris even though he's great and everyone who discovers him is aghast at discovering "holy shit there's a COWBOY in Dracula?" like yes, there is, and he's incredible and everyone should love him and everyone WOULD love him if only the adaptations remembered he exists.

Adaptations that completely sideline Mina when, and I can't stress this enough, she is the most competent character in the book, one of the greatest pop culture detectives, a wonderful and compassionate and incredibly strong and intelligent character and the main reason why they even managed to win against the Count in the first place, and arguably the closest thing the book even has to a protagonist or hero. I'm not gonna go too into it here but, even putting aside the sheer awfulness of adaptations that try and force a romance between The Count and Mina, seriously fuck off with that, why is it that pretty much every "official" adaptation has had considerably less feminist interpretations of Mina than the source material written in the 1880s? It's a complete travesty (and yes, I'm including LOEG Mina in this, anyone who likes the book and character could have done that concept better)

I enjoy aspects of Dracula adaptations, mostly regarding certain actors's takes on the characters like Bela Lugosi (the only saving grace of that movie, honestly, but rightfully considered the iconic performance), or Peter Cushing as Van Helsing. I very much enjoy the Dracula adaptation Orson Welles did because it at least tried to stay faithful to the book. But regardless of their individual quality, I don't have much to say about Dracula adaptations that try to adapt the book other than "WHY in christ aren't you just sticking to what's in the book? Do you not see how GREAT it is, all the great things about it that are just waiting to be rediscovered and loved by new audiences? STOP WHATEVER IT IS YOU'RE DOING WITH MINA FOR THE LOVE OF GOD-"

So yeah I definitely got thoughts on Dracula. Utterly adore the book but thinking about how much of it's greatness has been lost in the adaptations kinda makes me a little angry. Of course, this doesn't extend to adaptations that tell different stories or just put Dracula into existing stories or reinterpret it. I love Nosferatu and Castlevania Dracula and Hellsing Dracula and Billy & Mandy Dracula and Sesame Street Dracula. Dracula's basically become a sub-category of monster in it's own right and there's no such think as too many monsters, or too many Draculas

I'm very glad that Dracula's public domain because it means not only can he just show up anywhere, but it also means that just about anyone can pen their own Dracula stories. Still, it would be nice if the other great characters of Dracula got brought along for the ride on a couple of those.

#replies tag #literature #monster tag #dracula #bram stoker #mina murray #jonathan harker #van helsing #quincy morris #i may have gotten a bit ticked off there

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meteor752 · 4 years ago

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Dsmp Hogwarts AU, except it’s all the characters and I go into why they are what they are, please reblog this took a long ass time

Man, what a title Huh? Anyways, this will obviously go over the characters and not the content creators, because in some cases those are vastly different

Also, before we start, I will go over an important thing that I will mention probably a few times, and that is the difference between Hufflepuff Loyalty and Slytherin Loyalty.

Both of these houses value loyalty, but in very different ways. Take for example that you’re a spy who has their best friend as their partner, and you’re out on some super important mission. Let’s also say that your partner got shot and is close to death, and the only way to save them would be to abandon the mission entirely.

A Hufflepuff would try to complete the mission because it would be the best for all, while the Slytherin would abandon the mission despite the fact that it could result in countless deaths, just to save their friend.

See it as Selfish Loyalty vs Selfless loyalty. Both are great things to have, but are still different.

Anyways, on with the show

Tomathy Danger Kraken Careful Innit

I have seen people try to argue that this boy is a Hufflepuff because of his loyalty and such, but gosh darnit everyone this child is a god damn Gryffindor. I mean, one of his main character traits is that he’s brash and too brave for his own good. The reason he got fucking exiled is because he burned down George’s house without thinking of the consequences, and then just screamed at Dream without thinking of the consequences. The same goes for Ghostbur’s “death”, it was because he had no real plan except Stab Dream with an axe. So yeah, Gryffindor

Wilbur Soot

Slytherin, 100%. This man has created one and a half nation, one entirely out of spite, he was both a general and a president, he’s a smart lil fella, and he managed to hold his own against the god of the server. I don’t even thing you guys wanna argue with me here

Tuberculosis Underscore

This one is tricky, because it’s really between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw for me. Like, he does possess the Hufflepuff loyalty™ plus he is very kind, but he’s also one of the more logical and observant characters we have in this server (The bar is very low let me tell ya). But I think I will have to go with Ravenclaw, just because like, the boy invented nukes. He built fucking nukes. So yeah, a very chaotic Ravenclaw that will spout bee facts at you, be prepared

Technoblade

My man is a Ravenclaw, no doubt about it. I mean, he started talking about an old greek myth in the middle of a war? Just Ravenclaw things amiright?

Philza Minecraft

I will have to go with Slytherin on this one, simply because of the large amount of Slytherin Loyalty, but also because of his cunningness and resourcefulness, but for real this was very tricky, simply because I don’t like to think about c!Phil too much because as some of you may know, I kinda hate him (Not the cc though, obvs, he’s awesome)

Ranboo My Beloved

Hufflepuff. This boy’s ideology is literally “Choose people, not sides”, he’s an honest and compassionate boy who works hard, and has a very open mind. He’s literally the by the book Hufflepuff

Eret

Honestly, Slytherin. I mean, they are ambitious as fuck, both shown by them betraying L’Manburg for the throne, but also by working hard towards their redemption arc. They are also a good leader of the smp, and in general a great role model to have

Nikki Nihachu

This one is actually difficult, simply because Nikki has gone through quite the character arc the past couple of months. She started out kind, sweet and loyal, a classic Hufflepuff. Then she joined the syndicate and straight up tried to kill a child, which is less Hufflepuff but who am I to judge. But in her core, as seen through her discussion with Jack about Tommy’s revival, she is still a good person that works hard for what she believes in, wants the best for everyone (Despite sometimes working in her best self interest) remains kind through it all. So yeah, Nikki is a Hufflepuff, just a bit of a sadistic one. But we can’t all be perfect ya know?

Fun Jonathan Michael Vincent Georgina James Sus Dy Soot

Ah, my favorite character, and also one of the best examples of a Ravenclaw. And I ain’t saying that just cuz I’m a Ravenclaw, Fundy is one of the most Ravenclaw characters out there. He’s creative, Clever, Spontaneous, Witty, Curious, Sharp, and a real trickster. The idea of Ravenclaws being the goody two shoes kids that always does their school work is just false, we never do our Homework and instead sit and read about things we find interesting, and Fundy is a good example of that. Also he was quite the eager learner during the Dreamon Hunters arc, which again is a good example of a Ravenclaw. So if Ranboo is the by the book Hufflepuff, then Fundy is the by the book Ravenclaw.

Dreamwastaken

I’m pretty sure it’s confirmed that Dream is actually a Slytherin, and I ain’t arguing with that. This boy is cunning, sly, a leader, traditional, Self-Preserving, and a master with words. There is not much more to say here, apart from the fact that Slytherins main colour is literally green, so it all checks out, this boy is a snake.

George Lore

Mr not found over here really is hard to pinpoint down, simply because his main character trait is his apathy, which isn’t really a trait for any of the houses. I was discussing this one with my girlfriend, and both of us were pretty clueless of what to do with him. I was thinking if Hufflepuff since they take the ones that don’t fit anywhere else, but then I was reminded of the most recent Dream XD stream, which showed us one thing, and that is that George is clever, observant, and Sharp Minded, all the traits of a Ravenclaw. Sure, he could also be Slytherin as he was both cunning and sly as well, but I think Ravenclaw fits him more personally.

Sappitus Nappitus Boyhalo

Finally we have another Gryffindor, there’s been a serious lack of them on the list. My man is a fighter, he’s bold, he’s brave, he’s passionate, he’s confident, and he doesn’t really think that much of the consequences of his actions (Cough the pet war cough), so yeah this boy a lion.

Punz

Ah, Punzie, the mercenary themself. Tbh, I know very little about them because Punz don’t get involved that much in lore unless they are hired for something. I mean, they were in the eggpire, but even then they were barely involved, which is sad cuz I like Punz. But what we have seen of Punz is that they are someone who does not care about you or what you want, as long as you pay them. They are power hungry and self preserving, which means that I have to put them in Slytherin.

Jack Thunder1408 TV Manifold

The boy who I can’t help but be sympathetic towards. Jack is also a hard character to pin point because of the reason that he’s gone through quite the development. Jackie boy is a very broken character that has literally been through hell, so it’s hard to properly sort him. He’s quite confident and clever, yet cunning and resourceful, so for me it’s either Slytherin or Gryffindor. But I do lean towards Gryffindor more, partly because of his stubbornness and gullibility, and part because of all the fire imagery that’s associated with him. I mean, the cc described him as burning inside, he’s been through the scape of fire and death, and he burnt his nation to the ground. In case you didn’t know, Fire is the element of Gryffindor, so yeah, another red and gold boy.

JSchlatt

Schlatt is as both charming, charismatic and calm in the early days, using subtle manipulation tactics to get his way and achieve ultimate power. He’s ambitious, narcissistic, cunning, and tyrannical, while still hiding it all behind a facade of smiles and waves. He could also be both cruel and irresponsible at times, aka the time he had an underage child drink during an event, but ya know, mistakes. So all in all, I think it’s pretty clear that he’s a Snakey boy.

QuackityHQ

As much as I love CC!Quackity, I also fucking hate him because of the many, many different directions he’s taken this character which makes it possible for him to fit in literally any of the houses. The duckie is both Chaotic and lawful, he’s both friendly and hostile, he’s a smart cookie and a fucking dumbass, so like bruh. But, I’m gonna have to go with how he is now, which is manipulative, power hungry, cruel, and strong willed. Aka, another Slytherin.

Karl Jacobs

Finally, a character that is not broken down to the point of barely making out a readable personality. Karl is a kind and funny person, who is very open to new people considering how often he gives tours to visitors and new people, and he is quite literally loosing himself traveling through time in an attempt to help people. Hufflepuff

Awesamdude

This one I know will be controversial, but I’m saying Hufflepuff on him. Sam is one of the best cases of the Hufflepuff loyalty, literally letting both Tommy and Ghostbur be stuck and ultimately die in the prison just so he wouldn’t risk Dream breaking out. Before that point he was very kind and gentle towards Tommy, literally building a robot to keep him safe and take care of him. Sam nook is a reflection of Sam’s feelings towards Tommy, and they are kind and gentle.

Dropsbyponk

Ughhhh, another tough one. Ponk is a chaotic being who is mostly neutral in conflicts, but is shown to be very open about their feelings towards those they care about, like Sam or Foolish. They seem to be have strong feelings in what they believe in, and can be a bit brash sometimes, not really caring about the consequences of their actions, which is what makes me say Gryffindor for them.

Badboyhalo

Our favorite muffin demon. I assume, I don’t know what life you live. Anyways, Bad is like the stereotypical Hufflepuff. The kindhearted, well meaning, sweet, responsible Hufflepuff. The Hufflepuff that’s like in all of those incorrect quotes blogs and “Slytherin and Hufflepuff friendships uwu” posts. But for real, Bad is very Hufflepuff. He does however have Slytherin Loyalty, considering he pretty much sacrificed the entire server for Skeppy, but if you would try to convince me that Bad is a Slytherin I will just laugh at you

Skeppy

It was at this point I realized what I’ve gotten myself into with this post, which you know, not fun. Skeppy is both cocky and filled with energy, with a real ambition to cause chaos. He’s also shown to be willing to sacrifice himself for the person he loves, Bad, when he gave himself up to the egg. I’ve seen some people say Slytherin, but I’m kinda getting Gryffindor from the lad, so yeah, another lion.

Antfrost

Frosty here is a kind hearted person that for the most part seem to be along for the ride. He reminds me a bit of a parent of toddlers, with his patience and serenity towards the more chaotic people on the server, so of course my natural instinct is Hufflepuff. Buuuuut, then there’s again the issue with the egg and the Slytherin loyalty, this time towards his boyfriend Velvet who he was willing to join a cult for (relationship goals) but again, you can’t really say Ant is a Slytherin considering how wrecked he was about what he did while in the eggpire when he was released from it’s grasp. So yeah, Puffle boy

Captain Puffy

Oh captain my captain, you are such a Gryffindor. And some of you may disagree on that, stating that she’s a Hufflepuff or something (I did research before this to check what other people think, I know) but naaah, she a lion. Puffy is very motherly and protective towards other people on the server, especially the minors, but in the way that a Bear is protective towards its cub, which is gentle towards them but fierce towards others. Puffy also falls natural in the role of a leader as seen with Pro-Omelette, but that is kinda expected since she’s a past Pirate Captain. But she wasn’t the leader she was supposed to be, as she waited quite a while to act against the eggpire out of fear of hurting her friends, which lead to quite the damage towards the rest of the server. She’s also been shown to act on impulse, killing Antfrost and taking one of his lives after he killed her son. Idk if this is a good explanation of why I believe Puffy to be a Gryffindor, it sounds more like I’m claiming her to be a Slytherin or Hufflepuff, but she is a Gryffindor I promise!

Foolish Gamers

Foolish is a kind and friendly being, if not a bit naive and easily distracted. He’s also not the brightest person, in fact I’d go as far as to call the guy a Himbo, and he can be a bit skittish sometimes if he’s stressed or haven’t taken a break in a while. But despite it all, the guy is someone who’s creative and hard working, with a brilliant mind for his building. The man is an artist who can get grumpy if you suppress his creative aura, and put his heart and soul into his works. He also has a habit of getting wrapped up in big projects, and ignoring sleep or personal care until he’s finished them. This all leads me to say that Mr Gamers is a Ravenclaw, just not the smartest one. But hey, we can’t all be geniuses, can we.

Slimecicle

Slime is very naive and very trusting towards people around him, taking every word they say as a fact. He can also be a bit dark and ominous at times, but quickly shakes it off as nothing important. This all makes him quite childish, which is very hard to sort, so I’m gonna say Hufflepuff for his friendliness and move on.

Purpled Bedwars

I actually started loving this guy the minute I saw him, purely because Purple is my favorite colour, like my man has taste. Purpled, like Punz, is a guy who helps whoever pays him the most. He’s not interested in most things on the server, too busy looking out for number one (And Dogchamp of course). He’s very self reliant and resourceful, but still quite passive. He may not be the most ambitious guy, but Purpled is definitely a Slytherin (It also brings me and my girlfriend Serotonin knowing that the mercenary siblings are both in the same house, we love those two)

Hannahxxrose

I don’t watch Hannah that much, but god I love her voice, it makes my lesbian little heart happy. Hannah is a friendly person who is very naive about the conflicts on the server, thinking it all can can be solved by placing a rose (God I wish). She’s a good decorator and a good hearted person, who unfortunately fell victim to the egg’s influence. I’m going with Hufflepuff on her, but I’m honestly not entirely sure as I don’t know that much about her.

HBomb94

H is a very well meaning person that only really wants people to be friendly towards each other. He had a strict moral code and he keeps to it, as shown where Fundy tried to get his help with blowing shit up. He’s very helpful to those who ask and is willing to back up his friends when it’s needed, which makes me say that the friendly totally not dirty cat maid is a Hufflepuff.

Connoreatspants

I just want you all to know that I’m writing this before Connor’s lore stream that surely will just go against everything I say because fate hates me, just so ya know. Connor is not a person that does stuff on the server with lore and he for the most part keeps to himself, so this is a bit hard. Connor also has this thing where he likes to say things just to confuse him, and also making a bit of cursed lore, but he’s still a fairly humble person. He does lie and steal a bit, and has this habit of moving into other people’s houses, but I digress. I’m actually leaning towards Ravenclaw on him, for some reason, so that’s what I’m going with until I have more of an established character.

ItsAlyssa

I know she has left the server and stuff, but she was one of the original members so it would be a crime not to include her. Alyssa is a bit chaotic, often going on killing sprees, or burning down the trees outside of L’Manburg. So I’m placing Alyssa in Gryffindor, but to be honest I don’t really know at this point.

Callahan

How do you sort a person who does not speak, stream, or show like anything of his personality? The answer is, you don’t. Hufflepuff is the house of those who don’t fit in anywhere else, and that’s where I’m placing him.

Vikkstar123

Please log onto the server I’m begging you, I didn’t watch you as a kid and honestly know nothing about you. From what I’ve seen of Vik he’s a very humble person that tries to stay out of it all, instead forming a land together with his bro Lazar. Honestly my instincts say Ravenclaw and I trust my instincts, so I’m putting him in Ravenclaw

Lazarbeam

Lazar was actually a big part of the exile arc which I realized after already have written his, so now I gotta rewrite it. Lazar is fairly ambitious on the server, and has the goal to obtain the most powerful objects on the server just to rival the other strong members of the smp. He’s especially against Tommy, and aims to do a lot to be the opposite of him, aka well respected and not a war criminal that got exiled (Totally fair goal). Despite that, he was able to show some empathy to the British child, even going as far as to give him a disk during his exile. This all makes me say Slytherin on him.

Michaelmcchill

Newest boy. Michael is a very apathetic person, showing little to no empathy towards most people’s trauma on the server. The person he does feel empathy for however is Dream, who of course did nothing wrong and is locked up in the prison which is just horrible oh no. Michael just truly does not care about what you’ve been through (as of now) which is why I’m gonna say Slytherin, because he does have Slytherin loyalty towards Mr Was Taken.

TL;DR

Tommy-Lion

Wilbur-Snake

Tubbo-Eagle

Techno-Eagle

Philza-Snake

Ranboo-Badger

Eret-Snake

Nikki-Badger

Fundy-Eagle

Dream-Snake

George-Eagle

Sapnap-Lion

Punz-Snake

Jack-Lion

Schlatt-Snake

Quackity-Snake

Karl-Badger

Sam-Badger

Ponk-Lion

Bad-Badger

Skeppy-Lion

Antfrost-Badger

Puffy-Lion

Foolish-Eagle

Slime-Badger

Purpled-Snake

Hannah-Badger

HBomb-Badger

Connor-Eagle

Alyssa-Lion

Callahan-Badger

Vik-Eagle

Lazar-Snake

Michael-Snake

So all together we have Seven lions, Ten Snakes, Seven Eagles and Ten Badgers. I think that’s fair tbh

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acapelladitty · 5 years ago

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cannot fucking imagine the sheer passive aggressive bullshit that would go on between jonathan crane and john constantine

Jonathan Crane would snatch Constantines life together like fucking velcro lmao.

"Once you've been up against real demons, bastards like you aren't as scary as you'd like to think, mate."

Taking a final draw from his cigarette as the embers burned close to his fingers, Constantine dropped it to the floor and stamped it out with the heel of his left shoe. His gaze, pointedly so, never left Crane and it was easy for the scientist to pick up the complete lack of respect within. No fear. Not even a whiff of apprehension.

That simply wouldn't do.

Taking a moment to gather and sort through all of his prior knowledge of the insolent magician, his insecurities, and the few tidbits and traits which he had personally observed over their interactions, Crane took a steady inhale.

"Tell me, John Constantine," he began with a conversational tone, "how does a man with as much blood on his hands as yourself sleep at night? Surely the demons of your past and the terrors of what awaits you for your many selfish acts must weigh on your mind on those nights where all you can do is lie awake and attempt to seek kinship in the warm flesh of a stranger."

Constantine bristled in position, his shoulders squaring off as he opened his mouth but Crane was quick to continue without allowing for any interruption.

"Do you think your inability to hold down a relationship is due to the fear that anyone who lays with you is marked for death? You seek out these seedy, emotionally-bankrupt encounters for little more than base satisfaction, knowing that your very presence corrupts and condemns and yet you remain still too selfish to resist."

Jonathan paused to take in the red blotches of barely concealed rage which were strewn across Constantine's face as his speech continued with vague amusement. The anger was clear but that was not his goal of his tirade; the glimmer of fear which he could see gently reflected, the fear as his words rang true, was what he sought.

Long legs striding across the short space between them, Crane closed the gap so he could gain a closer examination of that glimmer. The scent of smoke and liquor was one he was familiar with and he mildly regretted not accepting another smoke before engaging in this little tussle. Still, a point had to be made.

"We both know that real demons exist, child, and you don't have to look very far to see them." Crane split his lips into a sour grin which was barely illuminated in the dismal light, "In fact, for either of us, a mirror would suffice."

#Jonathan crane #john constantine #scarecrow #gotham rogues #dc comics #i wrote this in 5 mins between rounds of Dead By Daylight #let me live lmao

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moonlightreal · 3 years ago

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Field Guide chapter 4

This chapter is all about vampires! And links. So many links.

And I’m going to bold titles for each section and then summarize them. With disclaimer: I am not a vampire or energy worker, so I may misunderstand things!

Vampire Lore

This section is what you’ll find in any nonfiction vampire book. “vampire’ means either a predatory ghost or shambling corpse, the modern vamp is modern, folklore vampires overlap a lot with witches/demons/werewolves. There’s even a Korean kitsune called a kumiho that drinks blood.

Vampires in Pop Culture

Castle of Otranto, Carmilla, The Vampyre, Dracula, Lost Boys, Buffy, Salem’s lot, Vampire: The Masquerade, Ravenloft. Vampire nonfiction tends to have a section like this too.

Modern Vampires

There are two types: sanguine who drink blood and psychic who feed on pure energy. It seems that sanguine vampires are just taking in energy through blood since a human body can’t take in mundane nutrition from blood. Some sanguinarians are able to learn to feed on energy directly. Michelle Belanger is mentioned as an authority. Psychic vampires can feed unconsciously, becoming those people who are just draining to be around.

Other otherkin can also have vampiric energy needs. Some also identify as succubi/incubi and feed on that sort of energy. It is not clear if vampires are born or created. Biting doesn’t do it.

A source named Kaldera describes it as being “born without the conversion circuits necessary to transform outside energy into human psychic nourishment” and thinks vampires could be created by trauma damage to those circuits. A born vampire is like someone with an allergy to certain foods and a made vampire like someone who got malnourished and messed up their ability to digest them.

Vampires are more organized than most otherkin, they have Houses. Which seem to sometimes be called Courts these days. All the websites I found looked old.

Also a sanguinarian named Jonathan Sharkey ran for governor of Minnesota under the “Vampires, Witches and Pagans Party” up until he was arrested for stalking. He seems an unpleasant individual.

The Need to Feed and Other Physical Characteristics

Vampires’ need for energy is a physical need that can be as intense as an addiction.

Sanguine vampires must feed on willing donors, because otherwise it’s a crime.

Psychic vampires can use “ambient feeding’ to draw energy from a crowd in a high energy state, like at a concert. Contact feeding from an individual requires physical or auric contact. Deep feeding is drawing “straight from the donor’s energy body” and requires close physical contact.

Vampires who do not feed suffer from feeling run down, lowered immune system, mood swings, nausea, migraines, craving for foods with high iron content, and “heightened awareness of energy.” The symptoms are similar to those of physical hunger, but eating normal food does not help. Different vampires have different symptoms and at different levels of intensity.

The vampire community emphasizes on feeding only on willing donors in contact and deep feeding.

Some sanguine vampires can use rare steak to tide over between feedings and there’s a vitamin drink called HemoSynth which has the same levels of things as human blood. Lupa says this is not FDA approved, and I don’t recommend it. Individual vampires may find that certain foods help with their energy needs between feedings, but nothing seems to replace feeding forever.

There are various lists of characteristics vampires tend to have: photo-sensitivity, pale skin, quick reflexes and above average strength and stamina, also high intelligence. These traits are not universal to all vampires.

Breaking away from the book, I’d be curious to know about vampire feeding from a medical perspective. Has anybody stuck a feeding vamp in any kind of scanner? Do vampires have different bloodwork than humans? Has a vampire ever suddenly lost the need to feed after a significant life event? There’s research to be done here!

Origins

Vampirism can be carried over from life to life as the shift in energy is part of the soul. Or it can be physically inherited. But multiple systems can have one member who is a vampire while the others don’t need to feed.

The theory of a vampire virus comes from fictional sources and there is no evidence for it in real life. Dion Fortune’s book Psychic Self Defense talks about vampires astrally projecting to feed, but that is mostly not done today. Another possibility is that vampires could be caused by possession but that’s not much believed in nowadays.

I do find it interesting how the lore changes over time.

Lifestylers and Vampire Enthusiasts

People like dressing up as vampires. It’s fun.

There are also “vampire research groups” that according to Lupa, “seem to completely miss the vampire subculture, instead trying to find people who are literally undead or who will burst into flame if subjected to sunlight.”

I did a search and found this article and this one. The society seems to be defunct but it does have a facebook. The field guide says there’s an English group and an American group, but of the American one I could find no trace. My best guess is that after years of not finding the vampires, they disbanded.

The Atlanta Vampire Alliance is a group of vampires that does research on vampires.

Donors

All feeding must be done ethically. The book stresses this. Blood feeding has health risks, HIV, hepatitis, and risk of infection if the vampire puts their mouth to a wound. Sterile lancets can be purchased and it’s safer to allow blood to flow into a cup. Using a knife can be dangerous; it’s easy to cut deeper than you meant and do some damage.

Donors might want to read up on kink as the same “safe, sane and consensual” issues matter here.

Be aware also of legal questions. If a vampire accidentally harms a donor and frightens them enough that they go to the police, a media circus could result.

For psychic vampires deep feeding carries risks of creating deep emotional bonds unexpectedly. Love, obsession, resentment… people can get mentally messed up by this sort of relationship.

Donors should learn about energy work and psychic shielding so they have more control over how much they share. Luca suggests the books Inner Alchemy and Hands of Light.

Nobody is ever obligated to be a donor. Lupa mentions that having your energy drained is not something the police can exactly help with, so avoiding any vampire who does that is the best defense. Of course any attempt to take your blood against your will is assault and the police will be happy to help with that. (well, they probably won’t, but one should report them anyway.)

There are psychic safety issues for the vampire as well. Not all people have healthy energy, it depends on the donor and vampire’s state of health and mood. It is best not to feed on anyone who is physically or mentally ill.

Dispelling the Myths

Vampires are not bothered by garlic. They do not change into mist or bats. Most have normal looking teeth. You cannot become a vampire by being bitten. Vampires don’t burst into flame in sunlight.

Vampire mythology casts vampires as monsters but modern vampires are as good or bad as anybody else.

#otherkin

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forevercloudnine · 5 years ago

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new 52 scarebat ship meme

(I had @heroes-etc give me more questions, but for scarebat this time, since we talk about it 24/7 but I never post about it. These are from this ship meme.)

4. Their favorite physical feature on each other?

There’s only one feature of Bruce’s appearance that’s scarier when he’s not wearing the batsuit, and that’s his creepy blue eyes. Especially the way Greg Capullo draws them where they’re sickly pale and have ridiculously constricted pupils.

So his eyes would definitely be in the running for Jonathan’s favorite feature, even if seeing them would require Bruce’s mask to be off, which is something New 52 Scarecrow explicitly avoids. Yes, that character trait only exists to justify why Batman’s identity is still secret after Scarecrow mind controls and subsequently institutionalizes him in “Gothtopia,” but I think it’s interesting so I’m going to pretend it’s not shoe-horned in there for meta reasons.

Actually having to see Bruce without the cowl on would definitely permanently break the illusion of Batman as a nightmarish inhuman bat demon, which I’m sure is a large part of the appeal for anyone as obsessed with fear as Jonathan Crane. But Bruce’s creepy eyes would be a serious consolation prize.

Bruce’s favorite of Jonathan’s physical features is rough, because Jonathan is famously not great re: physical features. I’m going to say his mouth, because a) that’s where the snark comes from, and b) the New 52 establishes that in one of their earlier encounters, Jonathan had sewn his own mouth shut, so it’s one of those things where a bad first impression turned positive later on leads to more fondness than if you’d made a good impression in the first place.

I just looked up the panel where he does it and I DID forget how incredibly gross his lips look here, which makes the fact that I have chosen it as Bruce’s feature seem really funny in retrospect. But I do think that seeing Jonathan’s mouth healed and unmutilated would be a reassuring reminder of how he’s stabilized since their first encounter, at least to the point that he isn’t hurting himself anymore. Also, Bruce buys him a lot of chapstick.

Bonus alternate answer that did not make it into the Google Doc:

9. How open are they with their feelings?

Bruce and Jonathan are both pretty competent deceivers in the New 52; Bruce always, Jonathan depending on how the writer is feeling (though you could argue that Bruce just has a stronger grip on reality, while Jonathan’s skill at obfuscation varies with how lucid he is).

...I was going to use Detective Comics #23.3 as an example of Jonathan being a good liar, but actually upon re-reading I’m realizing that only 1/4 rogues buy his attempt at manipulation. So maybe he’s considerably worse at hiding his intentions than he thinks he is. Regardless, he doesn’t ever attempt to disguise his obsession with Batman.

Whether or not he’d express romantic feelings or try to hide them is debatable. There’s no Masters of Fear equivalent in the New 52 establishing that he was ever mocked or punished for expressing romantic feelings for someone, though there is a flashback panel in his origin emphasizing that he was always lonely in this regard (and coincidentally doesn’t specify that his interest is in women, which is fun).

In Green Lanterns #17 he has some internal monologue about how fear is his romance and he needs Batman to feel it, but it is an INTERNAL monologue, so it’s not clear if this is something he would express to Bruce or keep to himself. Or if he’s even fully processed it himself, given how incredibly out of it he is in this comic. Most of his spoken lines are just kind of screaming incoherently. Bruce gets pretty snippy with a Green Lantern at the end of the issue for suggesting that Jonathan should be punished for his crimes as if he were in control of his actions.

Bruce is a similarly complicated answer, since for all his deceptions and shadowy mystery he pretty much wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to romance. It’s just that his heart doesn’t express or process emotions the same way as anyone around him, which can create conflict. His (seriously underrated) love interest during Scarecrow’s origin arc, Natalya, spent most of her time dating him thinking that he didn’t care about her for this reason. He was trying to express that he loved her, but he mostly did so through complimenting her skills, which she never took as serious declarations of affection because he wasn’t being straightforward and she was insecure.

Jonathan does not himself seem like someone who would be especially secure in the idea of another person having romantic feelings towards him, so I assume that while Bruce might THINK he’s being open with any romantic feelings he develops, he would in reality just be really confusing.

13. How do they react to being away from each other?

I actually think that in general, Jonathan is one of the few people who would have no issue dealing with Bruce’s tendency to unexpectedly go AWOL for long periods of time, given that he himself has a tendency to fixate on his work to the exclusion of everything else.

But New 52 Jonathan specifically probably has pretty serious abandonment issues due to his father putting him in “the pit” and dying before he could take him out, meaning that Jonathan was waiting for his dad to come back for him for God knows how long, until Jonathan Sr.’s employers finally sent the police to investigate.

So while in general I think he wouldn’t be very clingy, any impression that Bruce had died or otherwise wasn’t coming back for him would probably be incredibly triggering. If Bruce could assuage this reaction by occasionally sending updates that at least indicated he was still alive, then I doubt Jonathan would have any problems with his absence.

(@heroes-etc: bruce sending like a checkmark emoji once a day. jonathan hears his phone ping, looks at the screen, and goes hm. good. and doesnt respond.)

Bruce meanwhile has no problem ditching literally any love interest at any time if something crime-related comes up, unless he’s considering quitting the cowl for them (as Joker probably accurately fears will happen with Catwoman in Prelude to the Wedding). But I don’t think he’d stop being Batman for Scarecrow, nor would Jonathan ever want him to — he’s interested in Batman, not necessarily Bruce Wayne.

But even though Bruce wouldn’t have an emotional problem with distance, I think he would get similarly paranoid if they went too long without contact, though for different reasons than Jonathan. Unlike some other villains (*cough* Joker and Riddler), Scarecrow has machinations that don’t require getting Batman’s attention, so if he decided to continue with his less legal experiments, he would not feel compelled to get Bruce involved. While the “World’s Greatest Detective” would probably not have an issue keeping an eye on Jonathan while he’s in Gotham, he’s considerably less capable of that in space. And Jonathan is definitely a rogue he would be obsessed with keeping an eye on, even if he reformed.

Batman & Robin Eternal established that Dick’s first supervillain conflict AND first mission leaving the country was chasing Scarecrow across the world for an entire summer, which is kind of insane considering how early it was in Batman’s career. Like, he did not have an army of children to watch Gotham for him while he was gone. He had one child, and he took that child WITH him. He left Gotham undefended for months, JUST to catch Scarecrow. Sooo that in of itself implies he wouldn’t be great at keeping his distance.

15. Does their view of themselves differ from their partner’s view?

Well, Jonathan occasionally sees Bruce as a giant bat demon, so yes.

Outside of that very obvious differing view, Jonathan in general sees himself and the rest of the rogue gallery as more vital to Batman’s identity than Bruce considers them; the extent to which he’s right varies depending on your interpretation of Bruce’s character, but it’s definitely not something Bruce would ever consciously think or say.

This is related to something that’s definitely a misconception of his, though, which is that the majority of Batman’s job revolves around supervillains like him. In Kings of Fear, when Jonathan blackmails Bruce into letting him come on patrol with him (which is a whole thing in of itself), he’s shocked at how boring most of Batman’s work is. Which probably goes along hand in hand with sometimes seeing Bruce as an almost mythologically inhuman figure.

In his defense, it’s not like he has a lot of context for what the minutiae of Batman’s job is like. He’s either fighting Batman, hiding from Batman, or imprisoned by Batman in Arkham, a place where everyone else also spends all their time fighting or hiding from Batman. Which would really skew your perspective.

Interestingly, Bruce and Jonathan are both people who pride themselves on being extremely self-aware. Both of them probably inaccurately. You can rant about how you have a perfect understanding of your troubled mental state all day long, but if you’re still dressing up like a monster at night to indulge the power fantasies you created as a traumatized child by scaring the hell out of people, there’s probably a level of self-realization you haven’t gotten to yet.

Bruce however is at least self-aware enough to regularly be able to analyze his way out of fear toxin induced hallucinations, which Jonathan is unable to do — when he’s not depicted as having become immune to his fear toxin due to overexposure (as he is in Green Lanterns #17), he can be defeated with the same formulas that Batman regularly manages to resist (like his honestly embarrassing breakdown in Nightwing #50).

Which ties into the difference between how he sees himself and how Bruce sees him: Jonathan obviously visualizes himself as a “master” of fear. He actually has the same internal monologue about fear and trauma that Bruce does in Batman: The Dark Knight #13: “Make it your own... run to what you fear... stare it in the eye... until it whimpers and backs down.” But Bruce doesn’t see Scarecrow as conquering his fear; he sees him as addicted to it, to the point of his own detriment.

Which is interesting, because Jonathan clearly sees his Scarecrow persona as a way to regain control after being victimized by his father’s fear experiments throughout his childhood. I guess Bruce’s perspective would be that Jonathan’s father instead got him addicted to fear as a child, so his attempts at agency as Scarecrow are just a) reliving his trauma over and over and b) compulsively inflicting his own trauma on others. There’s probably some truth to that, even if overall it’s probably an oversimplification (and coincidentally pretty much EXACTLY what Riddler argues Bruce is doing by “funding” Batman in Batman Annual #4, so there’s that).

20. Did either person change at all, to be with their partner?

The obvious answer here is yes, because Jonathan is a supervillain with no regard for human life while Bruce is a superhero who has dedicated his life to protecting people. So presumably one or both of them would have to make serious compromises to be together. HOWEVER. Scarecrow’s primary motivation is to research, understand and inflict fear, while Batman’s modus operandi is making his enemies afraid of him. So despite their contradiction in morals, they’re uniquely positioned to advance each other’s goals, were they to ever join forces.

Bruce never has a problem using fear toxin on Scarecrow, presumably partially out of an “eye for an eye” sense of poetic justice, but also because Batman is practical and it’s a nonlethal weapon that’s always available to him while fighting Scarecrow. If he could have fear toxin customized for his own use, it’s hard to imagine him being unwilling to use it. In Gothtopia he actually advocates for using what’s leftover from Crane’s new formula on all the inmates at Arkham, which seems about as insanely morally ambiguous as it gets. Arguably, putting fear toxin in his smoke bombs would be considerably less wrong than drugging mental patients out of their mind when they’re supposed to be receiving therapy (this is also the issue where he illegally releases Poison Ivy because she did him a favor, which is both morally questionable and relevant to the current topic).

Jonathan obviously already thinks Batman is the most interesting possible case study in fear; it’s why he keeps coming back to Bruce and Gotham despite being one of the more independent villains in Batman’s rogue gallery in the New 52. So though he would have to give up actively kidnapping people (which would be a huge sacrifice, I’m sure), teaming up with Bruce would give him unrestricted access to his favorite test subject. Unfortunately, it seems very possible that he would fall back to old tricks if he ever felt that he’d gotten everything he could out of a partnership with Bruce. Fortunately, that would probably take a VERY long time.

#scarebat #jonathan crane #scarecrow #bruce wayne #batman #ship meme #every day i think about the parallels between bruce and jonathan's childhoods that were set up by their new 52 origins #well. not every day #pretty goddamn regularly #i used to absolutely despise the new 52 scarecrow origin + characterization #but scarebat redeemed it for me

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erchommai-a · 5 years ago

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demon blood.

trigger warning: abuse mention, gross, scars, etc.

origin.

Lilith, Mother of Demons, was not an easy creature to summon, even with Valentine Morgenstern’s talents and determination. His earlier experimentation had attracted the demon’s attention. And had manipulated certain events to inspire the man to consider her blood for his experiments, hoping that through him, she may finally bear that son that she could never have.

With it came an agreement ─ an alliance that while Valentine had no plans or means to keep, he made regardless. Should his Uprising ( or any others in the future prove victorious ) it would not only be his Nephilim that should benefit but her included. And the added clause that she would get to watch over Jonathan while Valentine ensured that it could and cannot happen without his direct permission.

Contracts after all are binding intricate dances. Especially when done with the mother of all demons.

childhood.

His birth, for the most part, was normal. He only cried once, on that very night, and then never again. He never smiled. And often, had this knowing expression in his eyes as if he could comprehend the whole world around him, as if he could see the disgust written all over his mother’s eyes everytime she held him. It was the pregnancy with him that was difficult. Jocelyn suffered nightmares ; she suffered deep and unsettling exhaustion mixed with depression. An anxiety that wouldn’t leave her until that night Jonathan was born. A feeling that would only be replaced by disgust and almost fear for the first half of her first born’s life.

Jonathan for the most part was privy to these little things. Memories deeply ingrained in him but never really had full comprehension for it. More like vague nonsensical sequences, no matter how vivid the scenario is inside his head. Jocelyn crying. Green eyes looking down into his. Fingers in his hair. His fingers in her clasped hand. Valentine proudly called him his son. Stories of a grandmother and grandfather. Grand tales of a future to come.

Except for his eyes, by all appearance he looked normal. A quiet boy with advanced motor skills and seemingly quick and adaptive cognitive abilities. But he didn’t speak until he was around two and it was only one word, “Mom.” And he wouldn’t speak again until that fateful night his Father scoops him out of his bed and takes him away.

relationships.

In his youth he wasn’t as volatile or violent towards new people. He found them fascinating and could just stare at them for hours. It was for that very reason that people tend to react to him differently. This child with deep empty soulless eyes just looking up at you, trying to understand what you’re thinking, could be unnerving with his almost complete silence and obvious lack of affect. But generally it was the adults that could pick up on his almost other-worldliness.

Children paid no mind to it. Alec, among the few children of the circle, was considerably his most constant friend due to how close Jocelyn and Maryse had been then. And they often had no issue playing around with each other. So long as Alec doesn't push Jonathan when he doesn’t want to do anything or doesn’t take anything Joanthan considers to be his. Oftentimes, Jon would just sit there and play with his own toys right next to the other kids.

Quiet and contnet with his own company.

Of course, this changed as he grew older. Restricted and practically trapped in solitude, save for the company of his dismissive father ─ his idea of people was easily twisted by Valentine’s Dogma. And his lack of opportunity for actual social practice or basic social understanding forged instead into weaponry and spycraft. Because for the most part, he can be very intuitive in the nature of people. But his childhood has made him very much a cynic towards people. Or humanity as a whole. He doesn’t think anyone or anything is worth saving. He finds chaos to be more fascinating. Morality is muddled whether you lean towards good or bad.

Chaos, to him, could almost be his religion.

physical traits.

The most obvious and significant effect of the demon blood in his system was the black eyes. And by that I literally just mean black pupils. He does not do the whole black eyes thing in my canon verses. It is just deep soulless black eyes that are quite freakishly inhuman but also human. He’s a cryptid.

There’s also a general sharpness to his whole countenance that he wouldn’t have if the demon blood wasn’t there. Although it’s not really something completely noticeable, or something that ruins the aesthetic of his features, in fact it enhances his looks a lot more. Accentuating the beauty to his features that almost make it unnatural. Cause again, he’s kind of a cryptid.

The best way to picture it is how it's such a direct and obvious contrast to Jace’s beauty. Jace is golden, the sun, absolutely angelic. Jon is raw, sharp, ethereal like the night, absolutely hellish.

nature of the demon blood.

Please take note of this, cause this is such a crucial part to how I play him.

The general philosophy regarding demon blood is plain and simple, it’s a cancer to his soul. It’s not something that had any serious instantaneous effect on him so much that he is inhuman ─ or that he was born demonic or anything like that. He is different. But he isn’t entirely all demon or entirely all human because he has angel blood. He is still Nephilim.

So with it came this effect of diminishing humanity ─ the hell fire inside of him was burning it up in a waythat it wasn’t just purely dependent on how he was raised but the demon blood itself was isolating him from his human traits. The good emotions, empathy, compassion, etc. And influencing him in a way that his aggression and general affinity for violence is louder. So it just amplifies deep dark baser urges that are already within him ─ like his impulse control and fascination with violence and blood lust. They were all only heightened. And you match that with Valentine Morgenstern’s school of learning ─ it builds inside of him a clashing.

Demon versus Human.

A conflict of demon and angel fighting within himself in such a profound way that him, being the one with it, can not tell the difference of how abnormal his physical constitution is. He neither feels it, nor comprehends it. To him it’s a natural state of being. That feeling of conflict inside of him that never goes away. That unbearable loneliness. That insufferable hunger or feeling of emptiness. That absolute soul sucking encompassing black hole that is never sated, never satisfied, never content. It never goes away. It just is. It’s just him.

He has been burning ─ rotting ─ from the inside out since he was born.

With that said ─ at no point does it take away his agency ( because please stop doing that ) to the point that it’s easy to assume that he would be different without demon blood. No, it won’t. The anger in him is something he was born with. That loneliness, he was born with it. He was given as much choice as anyone ─ he could have killed his Father but he didn’t. He could have killed Jace first, without hesitation or second judgement in City of Glass, he didn’t. He didn’t have to kill Max, but he did.

One could argue that he didn’t make the choices with the best capacity or capability to make those decisions, yes, But it doesn’t take away the fact that he made those choices of his own volition. He chose to follow the path that leads to his death.

The demon blood or his demonic nature is not the sole instigator.

But he has done and will do evil things.

morality.

This is just a quick thing because I stand by the notion that he isn’t evil. Not inherently. He has done despicable, heinous, evil things. He has nearly accomplished more devious and horrible crimes. And had he won ─ he could have continued to try to raise the stakes until that deep hole inside of him was filled and satisfied.

Which cruelly would never be sated.

But his intent had never been directly for absolutely malicious intent.

He was built and cultivated towards this prospect because after his first death. It is the only clear and obvious direction for him. Because without his Father’s purpose, he has nothing. Without that legacy to latch onto ─ he has nothing. That and Family has only been the two things Valentine had allowed him to strive for. So in truth, he wouldn’t really know any better.

And if you let him loose, absolutely and purely, on his own whim and want. Things would have ended differently. He would have thrived more beautifully in chaos.

It could have still led to a war. But a fun war. For him anyway.

Quick summary, he isn’t evil for evil sake. Kind of in the same vein, Valentine isn’t inherently evil. He was a villain who thought he was doing what was right, if a little bit over-zealously and like a megalomaniac. But I guess, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. There’s a method to both their madness.

effects and abilities.

infertile. This isn’t really something he knows or directly thinks about. Children, to him, for the most part aren’t like a big deal. But no, he can’t have kids. None of his own anyway. The demon blood has taken that away. demon connection. Although his connection to Lilith is both in part because it’s her blood specifically that flows through him, it does extend quite a bit to others within the demonic hierarchy. With Lilith, it’s a very specific sort of connection. She can contact him, although with limitations, but she can make her presence very well known to him. In his childhood, she could only maintain it in short instances. Soft reassuring voices in his ears. Little visions. Little dreams. Nothing that could alert Valentine to her presence because of their contract that she is not allowed to see Jon without his permission / supervision. But this connection extends to all other demonic creatures specifically. It doesn’t only offer itself up as a sort of dowsing rod that works both ways ( he can sense them and they can sense him like he’s a beacon ). With that, also comes this understanding. He can speak in demon tongue that is also not just exclusively phonetically but emphatically or telepathically as well in the most natural sense. It was never something he had to study. demon manipulation. This is just an extension of the effects of Lilith’s blood in him. He can influence, to some degree lower tier demons. Order them around based on his blood connection to Lilith. Something that works almost similarly like light hypnotism. But is not overly powerful or overt that he can use it for very long or very often. And only works on the unintelligent breed of demons. blood magic / blood sorcery. There is, inherently, a lot of use for his blood in terms of magic and rituals. His blood being a unique combination of demon and nephilim make it a very powerful conduit or power source for dark magic. And not only that, his blood is a good supplement to other things like summoning rituals and binding rituals. Summoning circles lined with his blood has a stronger binding energy against demons and may not be exclusive to just demons. ( He has yet to find out, although theoretically can be applied to anyone that falls within the confines of summoning circles. ) It also has corrosive properties when interacting with objects heavenly by nature. Or some enchanted objects. ( e.g. deactivating the wards. ) demonic blood empowerment. Physically, this technically makes him stronger than jace to a certain degree. Partnered with his training, this makes him absolutely lethal. And both fast and stronger than the majority of shadowhunters. Along with it, is a sense of physical self reliance. The more the influence of the demon blood becomes stronger, the less he has a need for human things. It destroys him spiritually and mentally but it builds him up physically to the point that a lot of what is essential to another person may not be as essential to him. Like physical sustenance is less of a necessity to him which in turn makes him eat less, sleep less, basically do so little of the human things that most people absolutely need. ( e.g. dreaming art, little enjoyments, those sort of things. ) This is also where the advanced nature of his progress in childhood also comes in effect. It helped him adapt to the physicallity of growing up or maturity much faster than a normal child would have. pain supression / resistance. Mostly before LIlith's resurrection, pain to him was a normal affliction. He felt as much as anyone physically could. But again through Valentine Morgenstern school of how to be a monster, he was taught to make himself numb to it through training and with physical abuse, he did. Post Lilith’s resurrection, he was gifted with almost unnatural invincibility. He is more likely to feel the pain now unless it was directly imbued with heavenly fire. This also meant there was no scarring and that he could get stabbed as many times as he liked. Cutting his head off could also work though. If you were fast enough. limitations. For the most part, there are only three things that can effectively hurt / bruise him in a sense. First and foremost is Demon metal, weapons made from these are rare but can leave significant scars on his skin after. And nothing that any known magic or angelic rune had been able to remove. Electrum, can also have similar effects but not as aggravating or as long lasting as demon metal. In pain level, electrum is a lot more tolerable for him than demon metal. And the scars, no matter how deep, are not as permanent as weapons infused with demon metal. Sanctified objects or holy ground can make him feel kind of an allergic reaction. There’s definitely a different energy around them that makes him uncomfortable. Not to the point that it weakens and not even to any significant degree that it hurts him. But they do make him feel weird and kind of aggravate the hell fire in his veins so it’s almost like a fever that’s just there. Or an itch that he cannot scratch. Anything imbued with heavenly fire directly however can be excruciating to him. magic. To some degree, he has an affinity for it. He can be very talented with magic. It’s something innate and he can be very intuitive with. More so than his own father, from whom he learned nearly all the spells that are within his arsenal. However, he isn’t as in tune with it so to speak, spiritually, as he is with his weapons. It’s why even when he has the ability for most things like basic healing spells, tracking spells, etc, he still prefers to use his shadowhunter training and weapons. But he does have a working understanding of how to use and conjure magic for himself. He just doesn’t. edom magic. I thought I should separate this just to emphasize that edom was gifted to him by lilith. Edom is his and hers domain. There is nothing he or she can not build or unravel or undo or make or destroy within the confines of that universe. He is, within its world, by all means a god. It does not however mean he is omniscient or omnipotent within it. It just means every grain of sand and every single atom within the confine of said universe is his to control. wings. This is absolutely just me indulging myself because I live for the aesthetic. This comes about after the bond between him and Jace is broken in COLS. A part of Lilith’s gift. To expound on the image or her goal for her son too to be hell’s knight so to speak. An absolute bastardization of angels with his demon blood and angel blood, so voila, wings. They are dark and sharp, the wings fade from white to gray to black, right at his shoulder blades, where they connect to his skin. Blood red vains stretch from his skin to the arch of his wings. They are retractable and can be easily hidden within his skin or just through plain glamour magic. ( Cause you know, still kind of a cryptid. Just a pretty cryptid. ) Outside of some ability for flight, they don’t offer him much protection. They work more like an extra appendage. And something that stays with him in post-cohf verses although they appear more withered then and scarred. They also appear as fresh new scars, that cover over a small part of his shoulder blade as well as over the lines of scars from his whipping across his back.

#𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓.┋study.#long post for ts #this is definitely a lot more extensive than the last one but i still feel like im forgetting something #BUT ALSO IF PEOPLE HAVE BETTER IDEA FOR terms cos i genuinely cannot think of better terms for some of his gifts right now #i'll have to read through this again tomorrow

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lamiralami · 6 years ago

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TMA Retro 4: Page Turner

I was touched to see some tag commentary on yesterday’s post! Honestly, it gave me an emotion - I am traditionally very anxious about engaging online, it speaks to my immense love of TMA that it brought me to Make A Post At Last. It’s very affirming and reassuring to get some response to my lunatic treatises. Y’all are all right. 💜

Anyway, grab some lighter fluid and a sturdy wastepaper basket, time to torch your haunted novel in MAG 4: Page Turner

It’s ironic that this statement is about the Vast when it is one dense motherfucker. so many dangling plot threads are introduced here, each ready to hook you and start reeling. we’ve been into the meta plot since episode one but this episode is the first time the audience is made aware of such.

seriously: Jurgen Leitner and his library, Gerard Keay and Mary Keay, Michael Crew. the figures introduced in this one thirty-minute installment loom large over the rest of the entire run

you could, your first time through, even file this away as a one-off scary story if not for the fact that Jon knows what’s going on (enjoy it while it lasts, my son). He’s heard of Jurgen Leitner. He alludes to an incident with his library in 1994. Deeper than that, he immediately takes the statement at face value and treats the claims within it as authentic, which is a complete 180° on the first three episodes

and this is such a smart story choice? Jon shapes our perspective into this universe and up until now he’s been utterly dismissive of the validity of the stories he’s telling. To go from practically rolling his eyes to scheduling a meeting with his boss about tracking down more haunted books - that tells us that Jon takes this seriously as a threat. And that makes us take it seriously too, makes us take note that strange books are dangerous things in this world. Any offhand mention of books in future statements will be enough to make us sweat

And! It starts winding the narrative tension on a character level. Why and what does Jon know about Jurgen Leitner and his library? Why does he say his name with such venom? And if he’s so sure about the supernatural nature of these books, why is he so loath to believe the other statements?

(and then it takes 80 + episodes to fully answer these initial questions. Jonny enjoys a slow roasted torment)

love that the statement giver presents, as proof of his iron-clad sanity, the fact that he works as a theatre technician. speaking as someone with an unfinished theatre degree: theatre people are feral my good buddy, try again. I mean, we refuse to say the name of one of the most famous plays in the English language because we think a ghost will trip us for the indiscretion. this is not the trump card you think it is.

a quick sidebar for the Red String Brigade: The Trojan Women is an ancient Greek tragedy that involves a baby being thrown off a city wall. The Seagull’s first published English translation was done by Marian Fell, and also a seagull is a bird and birds can fly. Much Ado About Nothing is very good and you should all watch the version from 2011 with David Tennant and Catherine Tate.

it’s interesting that these early episodes seem to take a cue from urban legends in some respects. Nathan Watts gets extremely drunk at a party and then is almost skinned by a monster while having a smoke. Joshua Gillespie is approached while engaging in a whirlwind of debauchery and has to take care of a cursed coffin after accepting money for what he thinks is a drug trafficking gig. Amy Patel regularly spies on her neighbour for her own entertainment and then has to watch him be replaced by a malevolent entity only she can perceive. and now Dominic Swain pushes past his guilty conscience to score a valuable book off an unknowing charity shop and...gets a bit dizzy and haunted by a phantom stink for a few days then gets ‎£5,000, well anyway, the point is he got spooked! spooked after doing something kind of iffy! that is pure urban legend procedure; modern day fairy tales imparting dire consequences onto societal transgressions. in a horror story this structure offers a false sense of safety - if you’re a good person, the monster won’t come for you. I can’t recall which upcoming statement yanks the rug out from under us with the first completely random victim.

cannot comprehend how this guy didn’t start plugging the book into google translate the second he got home. that probably saved him from being taken by the book but I am still judging him for not even trying it. yeah you’d be sucked into some sort of sky hell but at least you’d know what’s in the book!! could never be me

(yes I am aware in this universe I would have been eaten years ago. I’ve made my peace with that)

grbookworm1818 slays me. I don’t know which is better, the idea of Gertude carefully curating the most sixty-five-year-old-on-goodreads username she could as a cover for her cursed purchase history, or her actual sixty-five-year-old brain just expressing itself naturally because Gertrude is a very busy woman who doesn’t have time to immerse herself in the ins and outs of internet culture, she just wants to buy the demonic tomes she’s selected for destruction and get on with her day thanks.

did Gertrude know what a meme was? which Archivist could convincingly pose as a millennial best, Gertrude Robinson or Jonathan Sims?

The Key of Solomon and its former keeper, Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, are both real historical figures. the book is basically Renaissance-era magical au fanfic of the Bible, and the man was a 19th century British occultist (and likely drinking buddy of Jonah Magnus) who founded a Very Serious Secret Society. this is a picture of him whiiiiiich rather dispels any sense of menace he’s meant to invoke. what kind of cosplaying nonsense

Mary Keay is such a striking figure. “She was very old and painfully thin, but her head was completely clean shaven, and every square inch of skin I could see was tattooed over with closely-written words in a script I didn’t recognise.” a Look, a vision!

I’m guessing that Our Gerard was blasting heavy metal at 2 am to try to drown out his undead mother while waiting for her manifestation to dissipate. I like to imagine him frequenting Reddit advice posts about dealing with toxic family members, poor lad

oh my gosh Mary refers to Gerard as “her Gerard” is that where Jon got “our Gerard” from?? I feel betrayed??

whatever, I’m reclaiming it. Our Gerard is meant with affection now babey!

the eye portrait is a bit puzzling. the inscription - ‘“Grant us the sight that we may not know. Grant us the scent that we may not catch. Grant us the sound that we may not call.”’ - could almost be read as an invocation against the Eye? But in general Gerry is fairly Eye-aligned, so...shrug emoji

(honestly my main takeaway from the eye portrait is that it’s finely detailed and near photorealistic so we can add “tortured artist” to our list of Gerard Keay traits and is it any wonder that he’s so Fandom Beloved?)

Mary is Not Good at negotiating sales. her main technique involves terrible tea, bringing up repressed childhood trauma, and getting her magic book to drop animal bones onto customer’s shoes. I’m guessing Pinhole Books was in bad shape even before the police investigation and murder charges.

hahaha, the Vast pushes Dominic down the stairs. classic. you gotta grab what opportunities are available

so did Gerard have to follow Dominic back to his flat and wait awkwardly on the doorstep at like 3 in the morning, hoping none of his neighbours would notice and call the cops

the revelation that Mary’s been dead the whole time! this episode may be more intent on world building and plot set-up but damn if it isn’t still a good little ghost story.

kind of rude of Gerry to just burn a book in this guy’s flat without asking and then steal his wastepaper basket.

Jon may not call the statement giver a liar for once, but never fear, he’s still our petty bastard man. accuses Gertrude of filing statements without reading them, has Sasha double-check Martin’s research, grumps about his general misfortune . he’s stressed from the Archives’ disorder and having flashbacks to a certain picture book but by Jove, that won’t stop him making snide comments on what’s supposed to be an official audio transcription!

#tma retro #the magnus archives #tma spoilers #tma meta #I love love love all the little dominos being set into place in this episode #but I am looking forward to an episode about the Vast that really dives in deep #(pun absofuckinglutely intended)

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ettadunham · 6 years ago

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A Buffy rewatch 7x01 Lessons

aka redemption, nostalgia, and the circle of storytelling

We did it, guys! We made it to the last season! Also, hello if you’re new, and stumbled upon this without context. As usual, these impromptu text posts are the product of my fevered mind as I rant about the episode I just watched for an hour (okay, sometimes perhaps two). Anything goes!

And in today’s episode it’s the beginning of the end, as it’s relentlessly signaled towards the audience.

I’ll be honest, in the pantheon of Buffy season openers I find Lessons to be somewhat… middling. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of good stuff here, but there are parts of the main storyline that are just frustratingly inconsequential.

Let’s not beat around the bush – I’m mainly talking about Dawn’s new friends here. It’s obvious what the show is doing here, having Dawn form a friendship with two other misfit students and fighting demons on her first day of high school. We’re clearly going back to the beginnings. It’s what the Master aka the First tells us as well. Invoking the show’s very first episode and showing the next generation taking on that mantle.

(Also, that scene of the Fist appearing to Spike as all the Big Bads is still a lot. The music! Drusilla! You got me there, show. You got me right in my nostalgia feels.)

Which is a nice and cool thought. I love that. I love Dawn here. I just wish that the friends she makes actually appeared beyond this one single episode.

Imagine if one of those kids were Cassie! Or Amanda! I know that it’s tough to plan out these kinds of things, but the show’s done it in the past – or at the very least, set up a consistent group of background characters they could always go back to.

There are so many minor characters all over the Buffyverse, who were plucked out of that canvas and had their own little arcs through a few cameos. Think of Chantarelle, Amy, Harmony, or even Jonathan. And these characters weren’t set up to have as big of a role as they eventually got; the writers just saw an opportunity to develop them.

Meanwhile we’ve got these two kids, who this episode codes as part of our new Scooby gang. And we never see them again.

That’s just a bummer.

And it takes away a lot from the main action for me. Again, I like the idea of doing this, going back to high school as the beginning of a new cycle, where life as a teenager is hell… But I also wish I was more invested in the fate of these kids beyond Dawn.

On the plus side, I’m definitely a fan of Prinicipal Wood, and his lack of subtlety when it comes to his involvement with the supernatural. He’s like dropping hints that he knows what’s up, instead of just straight up telling Buffy that his mom was a Slayer. So is it any wonder that it’s getting picked up as shady on Buffy’s end?

He’s doing his best though, guys!! He’s got a lot of mommy issues. Give him a break.

Spike too has his own issues (which we’ll talk about in relation to Robin too). It’s a stark contrast, seeing a newly ensouled Spike here, laughing maniacally at Buffy asking him if he’s real. So are the cuts on his chest, marking his attempts at trying to cut his own heart out.

I don’t feel adequate enough to talk about that in depth. This is self-harm territory. But there’s also obviously something very specific about Spike trying to get at his own heart too in a metaphoric sense. Sure, through the heart is one of the ways a vampire can be killed, but he didn’t try to stake himself.

Spike’s a romantic. It’s one of his core traits that’s followed him through all of his incarnations. Even as a soulless vampire, he was a romantic. Except then, that side of him became twisted. As he was incapable of experiencing love in its entirety, this alter ego of his focused on what was left. Dependence. Obsession. Possession.

Spike as a vampire also reveled in his passions, and so to him violence, sex and love were all the same. They all came from the same place.

It’s no wonder then that the first thing Spike does after getting his soul back is to try and get rid of his heart. The thing that made him do all those things, even before he became a vampire.

Discussing redemption on Buffy is interesting to me, because this isn’t the show where that’s a central motive. Those stories happen over at Angel.

So, from that perspective, seeing how Willow’s story is handled here makes complete sense to me.

You know, I’ve read the hot takes about how Willow should be facing more consequences for her actions. But let me ask you this: what could possibly be worse for Willow than losing Tara?

Here’s another: how would punishing her be helpful?

And if your answer is “because murder should be punished because we live in a society”, that’s a good point. It is indeed how most of our society functions. For a reason.

But the show has been proposing for many seasons now, that normal societal rules don’t always apply in Buffy’s world. As a result, Buffy herself is positioned as the one with the power to decide how to handle any situation. Something that Faith already tells her in season 3; but Buffy rejects that idea then. At that time, she hasn’t even severed her ties with the Council yet, and was unprepared for that level of responsibility.

The Buffy of season 7 however not only recognizes her power, but embraces it. She is the law.

Which means that she can set her own principals and examples outside of society. And you can call Buffy self-righteous or whatever anyway you want, but she was never one for punishments.

Buffy always protects. If there’s a threat, she fights it, and if it’s neutralized, she lets it go. That’s why she never killed Spike after he was chipped. That’s why she didn’t kill Ben.

Buffy’s not vindictive and gives everyone the chance to grow; and in turn, so does the show.

“But… what about Faith?” – you say, predictably. I of course knew you were gonna bring her up. Mostly because you are currently just a voice in my head, arguing with my much more advanced logic.

Ah, yes. Let’s talk about Faith.

Specifically, let’s talk Faith in Consequences.

Hey, remember Consequences? The episode in which Buffy is trying to make Faith face up to her actions while also protecting her? The one where they argue about them being the law, and Buffy rejecting that specifically because Faith posits that they shouldn’t take responsibility for what they do?

More importantly, I want to emphasize this: with the gang, Buffy argues for Faith. She may not have quite embraced her role here yet as the law, but it’s clear where her head is at. She even asks for Angel’s help to keep Faith from becoming a threat.

Faith of course has her own set of issues that pushes her over to the dark side, but that doesn’t become evident for a few more episodes to the rest of the group. And I’d argue that it’s largely due to Buffy that Faith is even welcomed back for that short period of time.

Of course, comparing that to Willow’s murder is still not a good fit. Faith killed someone by accident at that point. Willow was going on a vengeance trip.

So let’s fast-forward to season 4. Where Faith wakes up and the gang doesn’t know how to deal with her.

Now, I criticized Buffy’s approach there, saying that she only seems to be preparing for two options here. Faith is either still a threat that needs to be dealt with, or she regrets her actions, in which case, there’s nothing to worry about.

Faith’s state of mind is of course a bit more complicated than that in the episode, but notice something important. Buffy doesn’t want to fight or punish Faith if it’s not necessary, even though at this point, she definitely did more than enough murder. When they meet, she tells her so. “It doesn’t have to be like this, you know.”

And for Buffy, that’s genuinely true.

After what goes down, Buffy’s pissed at Faith though. And yet we only see that side of Buffy on Angel the series. Where redemption for Faith becomes a central conflict, and one that’s ultimately resolved by her taking responsibility for her actions, and giving herself up to the police. A justice system that’s operating under normal societal rules.

And for Faith’s arc, that works. Part of her ongoing struggle was facing up and dealing with what she’s done, so this gave her the opportunity.

That however, isn’t always the case. Mostly because prison systems overall are largely unhelpful in actually rehabilitating people, but that’s a hot take for another day.

Narratively of course we still want that sense of fulfillment. We want to see the characters we love redeem themselves, and we want to be satisfied that it’s earned. But for me, that’s there with Willow as much as it’s there with Faith. It’s just that beyond the difference in thematic approach between the shows, their arcs just aren’t a one-to-one comparison.

Willow isn’t in denial about what she’s done. And she’s been dealt enough punishment as it is, even if it wasn’t any consequence of her own actions. By societal rules, she should be in prison, but because Buffy operates outside of those, Willow instead gets to have help, support and lessons.

And that’s kind of fascinating.

GILES: “Do you want to be punished?” WILLOW: “I wanna be Willow.”

I haven’t talked about Dawn nearly enough, but just know that I love her.

That is all.

#buffy rewatch 2k19 #btvs talk #btvs

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enkelimagnus · 6 years ago

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🔥 about relationships in SH bc I'm emo and I really like reading about your thoughts/opinions.

Okay this is going to be a BIG answer because, I dunno what you mean by “relationships”

Romantic Relationships

When it comes to romantic relationships on the show, I find them relatively nice. If you forget that from 1x01 to 3x22 (year later not included) there’s maybe 3 months, and that as a result, Magnus and Alec got married 2 months into their relationship, Clary and Jace have dated for a month, and Simon and Izzy 3 days, of course.

The romances are interesting. Though some parts are badly written (in season 3, every thing that Malec has a couple gains is done through Magnus as a person losing something), I find Malec especially very interesting. Clace has also a good dynamic, with a true development from Jace’s character, which is very interesting to see. And the third ship I’d say is probably in the top three writing wise: Saia. Saia is amazing, for some of the same reasons that Malec and Clace are, actually. Saia, Clace and Malec all have one interesting in common. Healing.

Jace, Clary, Simon, Maia, Magnus and Alec all have an healing journey as they go through their relationship. They all grow, and heal old traumas and pains, and I find it very beautiful and comforting to me. Victims of abuse like Jace, Maia and Magnus finding trust and love and support and being able to open themselves to vulnerability again? That’s GORGEOUS.

Family dynamics

I enjoy the family dynamics a lot too. Especially the Lightwoods. Though the Luke/Clary bond is amazing, it is often the only plot that Luke gets: something to do with saving Clary’s ass. And I find that sad. Luke tends to be only Clary’s dad, not his own character.

You can have characters who put family first without it becoming their only personality trait. Because who is Luke if not someone’s dad? Maryse gets to have this growth, this enormous change in the way she portrays herself and the way she loves her children. Luke doesn’t get that. And you can probably peg this more on racism/people not knowing what to do with Luke, but it’s sad.

As said before, I love the Lightwoods. I love the dynamic between Jace, Izzy and Alec, and the way Maryse, Max and Robert add to the trio. I find the maturing and the changes in that family the most interesting. And Izzy going from a daddy’s girl to a mommy’s girl is the best.

Had it not been this outrageously incestuous, I would have enjoyed the Jonathan/Clary dynamic so much! I think there was a lot of wasted potential with Clary there, with the reasons behind her going dark. It’s a little too “the demon made me do it”. Too magic based, no matter what she says in 3x20.

And of course the Asmodeus/Magnus relationship is GREAT. It’s one of the best and most fascinating parent/child relationships on this show, at least to me. There is such a history between those two, and a deep deep resemblance. it is BELIEVABLE that Asmodeus is Magnus’ son.

They have a way of carrying themselves, a theatricality that is just similar. I love the way they move, and talk. Magnus gets some of that slow, deliberate diction sometimes, and I LOVE it. I love the feeling you get that Asmodeus raised Magnus. And I also love the enormous differences between them. It’s so GOOD.

Ships (gonna go with canon ones here)

Malec

Obviously gotta start with Malec. The show wasn’t originally made for them. The show became theirs though, so easily. There’s gravity in that ship, and depth, and this sense of history-making. Not only in TV, but in the Shadow World.

It’s far from perfect. Magnus gets the short end of the stick so very often, and the writing glosses over Alec’s flaws so often that it feels like they are actively trying to erase them.

I very much dislike the way they went with Malec in season 3, even in 3A. It was just not what I wanted for them. Magnus losing his title, his magic, his home, all for Alec... this isn’t what i wanted. It’s what I got.

And I got some very nice things with this. This building of them as a couple that happened, of them knowing each other’s habits and wearing each other’s clothing, and the wonderful, sweet domesticity of them.

They are a ship that manages to be both extremely dramatic and extremely domestic at the same time. And it’s so nice to see, how complex it is.

Also, like... Alec’s immortal. I’m not having it any other way. He deserves that.

Clace

I don’t like Clace. I don’t think I ever have, and I don’t think I ever will. My dislike for Clace was born out of dislike for Jace, mostly, then was fueled by the way Clace fans tend to act.

I do get why it’s a good ship. I do get how nice it is for Jace to be able to be okay. Do I think it’s rushed? yes, of course it is, Jace deserves therapy but... yeah.

Sizzy

Sizzy was built on friendship chemistry, addiction, and blaming Maia for taking care of her mental health. It was built out of nowhere in season 3, because the writers thought they needed to satisfy those who wanted to see them bang. I guess they are both hot and close enough to being white that it’s sexy.

Simon/Maureen

Could have been very cute. That’s all?

Meliorn/Izzy

In my top 3 Izzy ships. There is an understanding and comfort between these two, a deep caring, and just something that could have been so genuinely beautiful had it been given any chance at all.

Climon

Cuter than Clace. They were sweet together, and honestly, I could have seen it become a real interesting ship had they been developed after the cute stage. These two share history, they share memories and interests, but they have this big break, when Simon became a vampire. It would have just been wonderful to truly see that history go further.

Too bad it fell to both antisemitic tropes and the love triangle.

Jocelyn/Luke

I don’t see the appeal to them? I think they don’t have much romantic chemistry at all.

Izzy/Raphael

Canon them? Bad, worse than bad. It was horrible. Just something that was wrong on a lot of levels.

I think it could be super interesting completely in another context. Especially in regards to Raphael being asexual and Izzy being a character known for being very sexual.

Saia

Saia is just.... everything Sizzy wishes it was. It’s healthy, it’s sweet, it’s built on mutual understanding and trust. it’s built on two people finding each other. it’s built on two people who understand the other’s experience. Traumatic events and fear, anger and pain. it’s built on people who have the tools to build a future together.

Saia is the kind of relationship you can see going far. They fit perfectly. They are different enough that it’s not like dating a copy of yourself. They are sweet, and fun, and they care about each other and RESPECT each other, and I love that about them.

Saia is comfortable. It’s the kind of love that’s just... wholesome. That seems to be built from steady foundations.

(yes I’m ignoring the hellfire that is 3B).

Marcian

Luke and Maryse. What can I say? These two kinda came out of nowhere but... it works. Luke appreciates Maryse for everything that she is. Strong, smart and beautiful. Something I think Robert didn’t appreciate enough.

And Maryse trusts Luke. She cares about him. They went through similar things, they have shared past and shared regrets. I love that about them. That they get to build what they deserved to have in the first place.

Heline

I don’t get it. The only reason they are together is because they were written to. They seem to have 0 stuff in common. But I guess I would know more if they were more than blank slates with “science one” and “combat one” written on them.

aaaaand. think I’m done.

#malec #clace #sizzy #saia #climon #melizzy #marcian #maruke #rizzy #lucelyn #heline #shadowhunters #opinions #ask game #thanks for asking #cap-mars

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bellamyblcke · 6 years ago

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here’s why jonathan’s 3b storyline is problematic (and it’s not the reasons you think)...

so the thing about shadowhunters 3b is that there’s a really compelling story buried UNDERNEATH the actual story that they’re giving us, but the writers are just careening right on past it, which is a damn shame. i think the problem really stems from the fact that they can’t figure out how they feel about jonathan (and in particular how his history of abuse informs his present actions), and therefore are treating his backstory/actions/motivations in a really haphazard and confused way (which isn’t necessary and is actually, dare i say it, pretty problematic).

under a read more bc this got... long

so i’m not in any way saying that abuse excuses people’s actions, but jonathan’s history of abuse does make his choices throughout the show more understandable. his backstory is, i mean let’s face it, pretty ridiculously sad. he was abandoned by his mother as a baby (for killing some flowers?? mysterious) and raised by his father to be a child soldier for the first ten years of his life, abandoned (again) and then graphically abused by his surrogate mother for the next ten. he’s never known true love or compassion, and really just doesn’t understand how to exist in this world in a way that’s not violent or obsessive. which yeah does make sense based on this backstory. not excused, just like yes it makes sense. (and finding it sympathetic also makes sense, you’re supposed to, it’s really tragic). and the show itself is really leaning into this backstory for the sake of... complexity i guess?

the problem is that when they brought jonathan back for 3b, his ONLY goal was to win clary over so that they can finally be a family, and like yeah he has gone about it all wrong, but it is a goal that make sense and is actually pretty sympathetic (even if his methods (incest! incest!) may be less sympathetic (i could go into a whole rant on this too but i wont)). the question of why exactly he’s supposed to be the main villain of 3b when he’s just basically a little kid running around being like love me! love me! while also looking for a family heirloom so that he can feel safe from his abuser is a pretty damn good one (god the stan is really popping out sorry)

if they had given him a different goal (say for example getting revenge on lilith/the demon world that tortured him for the last ten years), and then had him trying to convince clary to help him, that would propel the story along in a much more interesting direction. by making the act itself monstrous (it would sort of be like a mass demon genocide?? which is questionable?? tho i suppose that depends on how we feel about the humanity of the demon world which is A Whole Other Can of Worms) but the goals understandable and even dare i say it compelling we would get to see clary questioning her sense of morality and her perception of jonathan as a monster. in this instance, he can be both a victim and a bad guy and a well-rounded, well-thought out character that is doing some complex villain work. (huzzah for storytelling!)

the way they’re doing it now the problem is that they’re using his victimhood as a tool to manipulate clary (which actually i’m... kind of okay with), but also still trying to make the argument that it’s only the rune that’s making her drawn to him. the rune is a VERY cheap plot device (and when cc did it the focus was on clary’s perception of jace under the rune and a (lying don’t remind me) jonathan so like a little more complex than this sort of blanket manipulative demon rune bs). by employing the rune as like a This Is Why she’s going dark plot device instead of having her make her own choices we lose so much of her agency in the story, and it also makes jonathan’s reasons for doing stuff just another part of his “demon” energy or whathaveyou. WHICH IS SO BORING.

this also opens up ANOTHER huge problem. by having the demonic tether make clary think jonathan’s abuse plotline is compelling, it implies that an abuse narrative is actually NOT a compelling/valid reading of his plotline. which makes me pretty deeply uncomfortable. when clary tells isabelle in 3x18 that jonathan’s not a monster and that he’s really a victim of lilith and valentine and then that comment is immediately framed as having been influenced by the demon rune, it completely negates all the work that was done in 3x17. which is so frustrating, like what was the point of going into his history of abuse if none of it matters anyway? if he’s purely demonic and manipulative and it’s all going to go down the drain? that conclusion was one that clary could have come to on her own, and having her grapple with the fact that there are legitimate and really tragic reasons for jonathan’s behavior is MUCH more interesting than just throwing away the work they are already doing in the show. and i feel like they do this some of the time (her being upset that she wasn’t able to save him when they were kids for instance), but then really back off from it by pulling in the rune, which is just so irritating. and also pretty deeply problematic if we’re looking at jonathan as a character who has been legitimately abused and is still suffering the consequences of it. (this ties into a lot of other instances in the show where they want the emotional shock value of abuse without really wanting to deal with the aftermaths of it. (ie. jace and maia))

here, they’ve set up the stakes to be almost purely personal, but then they aren’t willing to go the distance on following through with that would mean in terms of clary and jonathan’s relationship (and if they were really going for it, they would include jace in this dynamic as well, bc it make sense that he would have a lot of feelings about jonathan, and jonathan about him, but they’ve just... thrown that aside). by focusing exclusively on clary, they also open up a whole separate issue: bc jonathan’s whole plot line is focused on gaining clary’s love and affection in order to “fix” him (from his perspective), it makes fixing him clary’s business, which it isn’t. she has no duty (morally) to help him, but she does (narratively), if the whole story is hinging on it. there’s definitely a way that his core character traits (his need for love and affection, his misunderstanding of violence/love, his obsessive tendencies, his rage) could be played with in an interesting and compelling way and ways in which the dynamic with him and clary could still be an important part of the show without defining him by her (and specifically by tying it very explicitly to incest in order to make it “monstrous” WHICH IS A WHOLE OTHER CAN OF WORMS) but the way that they are doing it now puts all the stress points in the story in all of the wrong places.

all of these issues are lurking in the show currently, and it’s making me really worried for the finale bc i know none of them are ever going to be addressed. and i’m pretty damn sure they’re just going to be like “it was the Demon Blood” even tho it really clearly... wasn’t. this is really just an issue of clarity in terms of storytelling (and it’s something cc definitely couldn’t get right in the books either so maybe it’s not entirely the showrunners fault), still, i think when we’re dealing with such contentious subject matter, this clarity is really important. bc the way they’re doing it now they’re just sort of using abuse for Effect and not treating a serious issue seriously, which is pretty problematic. but then again, why am i surprised?

this is also not to negate some of the really good working they’ve done on jonathan’s character this season, it can just be really irritating when the writers undermine their own work, and they’re so damn close to doing something really good. but alas.

#shadowhunters #jonathan morgenstern #i'm really out here getting my degree in creative writing just so i can say that jonathan morgenstern deserved better #if you reached the end of this i love you #shadowhunters meta

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idumean-archive · 6 years ago

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CANON DIVERGENT MAIN VERSE. loosely follows the canon backstory established for the SHOW, shadowhunters before diverging. full verse details & backstory under the cut.

*this section deals with Jonathan as I write him in his canon divergent main verse. here you'll find a blend of both book & show canon, as well as a heavy overlay of personal headcanon. most information can also be found in the breakdown of the sourcing for his different canons, but this section lays them out seamlessly to illustrate the muse as a whole.

like this post if you are interested in;

interacting in this verse

developing a ship in this verse

generally plotting within this verse

Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern was born to Jocelyn Fairchild & Valentine Morgenstern on April 4th. He is the older brother of Clarissa Morgenstern Clary Fairchild, though he was unaware of his younger sister until he was an adult. During Jocelyn's pregnancy, Valentine gave Jocelyn doses of Lilith's blood as part of his experiments. This meant that when he was born, Jonathan had black eyes & was eerily quiet as a small child. This horrified Jocelyn, & became something she couldn't move beyond regarding his firstborn.

After the failed Uprising, Valentine, hurt by what he perceived as an ultimate betrayal by his wife & his parabatai (Luke Graymark), took Jonathan & fled. To cover his tracks, Valentine faked their deaths by burning down the Fairchild manor with Michael Wayland & his son in their stead, along with Jocelyn's parents, Granville and Adele. Afterwards, he would go to raise Jonathan in seculsion a remote cabin in Idris. It was during this time that Valentine gave him a chemistry set & taught him the basic laws of physics. He also received his first seraph blade at the age of eight.

When he was young, he once asked Valentine about his mother. To dissuade him from asking any further, Valentine told him that his mother left because he was a monster, and that she was never coming back. Valentine furthered his psychological abuse and manipulation by telling him that no one except him will ever love a monster like him, leading to Jonathan's further psychological problems, in an effort to make him into the "monster" he would become.

During this time, Valentine hit Jonathan, lashing him in the back with a demon metal-tipped whip to remind him of the "perils of obedience," then continued to train him into a soldier fit for his plans for the Clave & the Nephilim. Jonathan was taught the necessary traits he would require someday to fulfill, which he needed to learn without experience of contact with other people besides his own father. He was also taught the skills that he would need to help Valentine bring down their adversaries.

While Jonathan was raised by his father secretly & in seclusion - cut off almost entirely from the rest of humanity - he knew of Jace & that Valentine was raising/training for the same purposes. However, unlike Jace, Jonathan was well aware of his father's plans, given almost full disclosure, & even knew when the other boy finally failed Valentine enough to prompt him to send the boy away.

Eventually Jonathan became uncontrollable in Valentine's eyes. After keeping him shackled in the basement of the cabin out of fear he himself might become the next victim of his son's violent tendencies, Valentine eventually sent him to Edom. He was greeted by Lilith, in her human form, on his arrival. She introduced herself as his mother as she felt it was her blood that made him something special, thus overriding the maternal claim of his absent human mother. She would go on to burn his skin, layer by layer. Other demons would join in on this, making him something more akin to their world as his human face was considered too beautiful for their world. She would go on to reshape him in her own image of the perfect son.

The passage of time in Edom is 120x the passage of time in the human realm, causing Jonathan to age significantly between being banished & clawing his way out. His demonic blood guards him against showing the effects of this. While in Edom, he would learn to use his demonic blood & draw from its power. He spent his years in Hell clinging to memories & hopes of freedom. His incredible willpower was the only thing that helped him retain any shred of his deteriorating humanity, thus allowing him to escape by summoning the Greater Demon Azazel out of Duduael & bargaining with him.

After escaping Edom, Jonathan had hoped his humanity & remanants of his former life would flood back into him & he was bitterly disappointed when this didn't happen. Because of his time in Edom, the cold became wholly unbearable to him. To blend in, Jonathan took the appearance & name of Sebastian Verlac, an English Shadowhunter from the Paris Institute, & used it as a glamor. His endgame was to send his father, along with the Soul Sword, to Edom as revenge for the torture he endured.

To enact his goals, he orchestrated an attack on Isabelle Lightwood by Azazel so he could plausibly bill himself as a hero & someone she could trust. He hoped this would eventually lead to him the doorsteps of the Institute, & after some time, it did with unintended side effects. The more time he spent around the other Nephilim, his long-dormant emotions begun to surface. Being at the Institute also allowed him to meet the younger sister he never knew he had, as well as his own mother, as well, though he kept his identity secret from the two of them.

Further complications came to his plan as he began to bond with Clary, helping her overcome the block preventing her from using her runic abilities. Their proximity & his distance from Edom began to trigger further change. The emotions that had felt just out of reach began to fully surface, threatening his own mental stability until he was able to find ways to cope. While he was working through all of this, he managed to win over the trust of others at the Institute & was assigned to the team hunting Valentine. After an attack on Valentine prompted the Clave to arrange for Valentine to be portaled to Idris, Jonathan hijacked the portal & took the two of them away to the remote cabin he had been raised in.

While he had Valentine captive in the cabin, he recounted his time in Edom. Unexpectedly, Valentine took the blame for everything that happened to him & told Jonathan that he grew to regret sending him away. Jonathan refused to believe him & continued to prepare for the ritual that would send Valentine and the Mortal Sword to Edom. This plan came to a grinding halt when Valentine used the Sword to prove the veracity of his statements. Feeling the splinters of emotion clawing their way to the surface, Jonathan abandoned his plan to send him to Edom for the time being & instead returned the two of them to his apartment, currently located in New York.

During his time away, Clary & Jace were made aware that the real Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern was alive & well by the angel Ithuriel, though they remained ignorant of his cover as Sebastian Verlac. Clary, Izzy, & Jace make it to the cabin only after Jonathan & Valentine have left, are able to find the journal outlining Valentine's experiments on his firstborn son as well as Jace. Unaware of Jonathan lurking under Sebastian's glamor, he helps them work towards finding the Mortal Mirror on their return to the Institute. Watching his father's methods & feeling conflicted as his returning emotions & new-found if unknowing connection to his sister, Jonathan begins to step back from is father once again.

Meanwhile, Clary & Jace have begun to suspect Sebastian could be Jonathan Morgenstern. A tense exchange with Valentine deals what would grow to become the fatal blow in the cleaving of their relationship, & Jonathan returns to the Institute. Looking through the memory box in Alec's office that had Jocelyn kept, he's caught by Max. When he hesitates just a moment too long, the boy escapes. Slipping from the Institute, he makes his way back to the apartment & makes what would become his most pivotal decision. Cutting Sebastian Verlac, who he'd kept comatose, loose, he allows the other to leave without further harm. He's still in the apartment when Jace, Izzy, & Clary arrive.

Allowing his sister to burn a truth rune into his skin, he tells them that he will officially surrender - to no less than the head of the Institute - once they've stopped Valentine. He's taken back to the Institute & locked into the cells while the others decide how to proceed. With alliances breaking down, & Valentine slipping through every precaution to leave his whereabouts unknown, there's little choice but for Jonathan to be allowed to help Jace & Clary in tracking his father through his blood & the combined strength of Jace & Clary's angelic abilities. Jonathan eventually reveals his father had once had a plan to use the Seelies to slip through the wards & head to Lake Lyn with the other two Mortal Instruments.

He remained confined to the cells under the Institute while Clary & Jace portaled to Lake Lyn to find Valentine. After the events at Lake Lyn, he was officially placed under what amounted to house arrest. He was stripped of all of his runes in the interim, & re-runed with only the barest protections as well as binding runes preventing him from leaving the confines of the Institute or touching adamas. His runes were later restored after an eleven hour interrogation by the Mortal Sword shed light on the horrors he had endured at the hands of Valentine, & the sincerity of his desire to become something better than what his father had tried to make him into.

He was allowed to return to the New York Institute with his freedom, where he still resides.

#long post #q.#udl

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clarascuro · 6 years ago

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Clara Reads City of Bones Part 3: Hogwarts Institute for Witchcraft and Shadowhunting

The Plot Thus Far

When last we left off, our lovable cardboard cutout protagonist, Clary Fray, had been attacked by a demon called a Ravener and taken to a place called “The Institute”. After three days of recovery, she has an uncomfortable (for us) conversation with Isabelle Lightwood, where we learn that Isabelle is hot and that we, the audience, should hate her for that, and also that Jace Wayland lives with the Lightwood family because his parents are dead. We are meant to feel bad about this. We are meant to feel sorry for Jace, which is a bit of a tall order, considering that Jace Wayland is the worst person to ever smirk and shrug his way through a YA book. If I were trapped in an elevator with him I wouldn’t even wait five minutes to be rescued, I’d pry those doors open and just drop. Death is cruel but quality time with Jace Wayland is crueler.

So Clary leaves the hospital wing and goes down a long hallway, lead by the sound of someone playing a piano. Last time I said that it was Alec (Isabelle’s brother) who played piano, and that it was his only character trait, but nope!! It’s actually my favorite boy Jace, that sack of human refuse! So I guess Alec has no personality, actually. Anyway, they have some “witty” “banter”, and then Alec takes her to the library to talk to the head of the Institute, Hodge Starkweather, and, yeah. I think it’s time to talk about the Harry Potter stuff.

The Harry Potter Stuff

You know how E.L. James made minor changes to her crappy Twilight fanfic and then published it as 50 Shades of Gray? Well, as near as anyone can figure out, this is basically the same thing that Cassandra Clare did with her Harry Potter fanfic The Draco Trilogy. Just change the names, tweak the backstories ever so slightly, slap on a crappy cover and publish that sucker! It’s technically not plagiarism anymore! This is how you end up with stuff like "The Institute”, a secret school to teach young magic kids to control their powers, or Hodge Starkweather, elderly magic professor, who, one could argue, is a crackpot old fool teaching our protagonists magic tricks. (Gosh, how does Clare come up with this stuff?)

This obviously isn’t proof of any kind, but when the villain of your story is named “Valentine” and he’s an evil magic user who has been dead for sixteen years (the age of our secretly magic protagonist) and the main characters are afraid to even say his name...yeah, it doesn’t exactly take a genius to figure out where all of this comes from.

Now all this is frustrating, but it’s also hilarious. I mean, the big bad of the story is called Valentine. VALENTINE. And I actually laughed out loud for several minuted when I first read the name “Hodge Starkweather” to myself. I still get a little chuckle typing this. Oh, and since the word “muggle” would have JK Rowling’s lawyers on her ass faster than light, the word Cassandra Clare uses for non-magic people is...”Mundie”. It’s short for “mundane”. Like...first of all this is objectively hilarious. Second, mundane just means “normal”. If the Shadowhunter society is magical, then aren’t they they mundane ones? I know humans don’t have magic, but we still figured how to like, fly and stuff. That has to count for something. If I saw a dog that taught himself how to read, I wouldn’t like, make fun of him for not also being able to talk. I’d be like “Shit! That’s a pretty impressive fucking dog!” like what the fuck?

Anyway, this is all just a roundabout way to say that obviously this used to be a HP fic that through some twist of fate landed a publishing deal. And you know, it’s not as brain-meltingly bad as 50SoG, so who cares? Cassandra Clare’s just having fun, so who cares if her writing gets published?

Well...

The Plagiarism

So, yeah, she plagiarized lot. Like a lot. The Draco Trilogy has lines of dialogue taken directly from shows like Red Dwarf, Black Adder, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as well as from Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett novels. Quoting shows apparently used to be pretty common in the early days of fanfiction, so there is context to consider here, but it gets worse. Cassandra Clare lifted almost a whole chapter, nearly word for word, from an out-of-print fantasy series called The Hidden Land, by Pamela Dean. On top of that, Clare was sued in 2016 by author Sherrilyn Kenyon, whose Darkhunter series predates Clares Shadowhunters series. (And for the record, Clare’s series was originally titled Darkhunters. Yikes.) You guys can read the full(ish) stories here and here.

I Guess I Have To Keep Talking About The Plot Now

Sigh. So after Hodge Starkweather (A+ naming there) tells them about Valentine, he explains that Shadowhunters are angel-human hybrids? Or something? They’re special, and they fight demons. Also faries, vampires, werewolves, all that stuff exists. We’re stuck with the Shadowhunters, however, because God has punished me for my hubris, and my work is never done. (Oh look, I just plagiarized Brian David Gibert. I’m a real author now, like Cassandra Clare!) The Shadowhunters were started thousands of years ago by a man named, I shit you not, Jonathan Shadowhunter. JONATHAN. FUCKING. SHADOWHUNTER. Why the fuck am I trying to come up with clever names for my characters? I should just name them all “Alex Clarasbook” and call it a fucking day. Fuck.

Anyway after a thrilling conversation with Alec-Who-Has-No-Personality, we find out that he does have a personality! His personality is that he hates humans. Oh, excuse me, “mundies.” Yep, that’s the best way to make a character relatable. Just make ‘em fucking racist. It’s okay though, it’s only magical racism so it evens out. Have I mentioned that this story has no poc?

(Oh also Clary’s mom was a Shadowhunter, but 1. I hate Clary and 2. literally a newborn baby could’ve figured that out, so)

Clary and Jace leave the Institute to go back to Clary’s house, and Clary slaps Jace, an act that brings me such joy that only the birth of my firstborn child will ever eclipse it, and even then, it will be it close tie. The moment is quickly over, however, as Clary immediately feels bad about it, because again, she is not a character. She’s a Walmart mannequin created for Jace to make out with. Then she sees two girls looking at Jace, and, in what can only be called the true essence of the book, “Clary turned instant traitor against her gender.” Just as a reminder, Clary sucks.

Anyway they get to her house, kill a giant, talk to a witch, yaddah yaddah yaddah. Basically nothing happens except the inevitable unraveling of my mental processes. I had to stop reading there because I have better things to do with my life besides destroying the few braincells I have left. I’ll post the next part soon, as soon as I can read more than five pages without wanting to fling the book off a seaside cliff into the frothing mist that obscures the swell and crash of the unforgiving waves. Until then, please enjoy some of my favorite bad lines.

Selected Passages (And Commentary)

“Jace chuckled. Clary could tell that he had come up behind her and was standing there with his hands in his pockets, grinning that infuriating grin of his.” (She knew all that without looking?)

“Attacked. Clary wondered if this was a euphemism for ‘murdered’.” (Clary you’re literally the dumbest person I’ve ever met.)

“Clary let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in.” (This may just be me being petty, but I hate this cliche so much.)

“‘You may be the only guy my age I’ve ever met who knows what bergamot is, much less that it’s in Earl Grey tea.” (Ah yes, that famous stereotype, that boys don’t know about tea. Oh, you like tea? Name three kinds. I hear sexist gatekeeping is a real problem in the tea community. I am not having a good time.)

“Dorothea chuckled. ‘It’s good to see a young woman eat her fill. In my day, girls were robust, strapping creatures, not twigs like they are nowadays.’ ‘Thanks,’ Clary said. She thought of Isabelle’s tiny waist and felt suddenly gigantic.” (Cassandra Clare’s super feminist, guys. You can tell because she’s always pitting her female characters against each other.)

Rating So Far

3/10-Bad. Jonathan Shadowhunter gets an entire 10/10. I’m going to have my name legally changed to Jonathan Shadowhunter.

#Clara Reads City of Bones #city of bones #shadowhunters #the mortal instruments #come at me i wanna fight

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machiiatto · 4 years ago

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main verse / de tenebris

* this section deals with Jonathan as I write him in his canon divergent main verse. here you'll find a blend of both book & show canon, as well as a heavy overlay of personal headcanon. most information can also be found in the breakdown of the sourcing for his different canons, but this section lays them out seamlessly to illustrate the muse as a whole.

Jonathan's body bonded well with this blood, & as such he was born with a unique blend of both angelic & demonic traits - most noticeably black eyes & was eerily quiet as a small child This horrified Jocelyn, & became something she couldn't move beyond regarding his firstborn.

After the failed Uprising, Valentine, hurt by what he perceived as an ultimate betrayal by his wife & his parabatai (Lucian Graymark), took Jonathan & fled. Valentine faked their deaths by burning down the Fairchild manor with Michael Wayland & his son in their stead, along with Jocelyn's parents, Granville and Adele, to cover his tracks. This lead the Clave to believe the two of them dead, though Jocelyn suspected otherwise.

Afterwards, he would go to raise Jonathan in seculsion a remote cabin in Idris. It was during this time that Valentine gave him a chemistry set & taught him the basic laws of physics. He also received his first seraph blade at the age of eight.

When he was young, he once asked Valentine about his mother. Valentine told him that his mother left because he was a monster, and that she was never coming back to dissuade him from asking any further. Valentine furthered his psychological abuse and manipulation by telling him that no one except him could ever love a monster like him. This further unbalanced the boy & would lead to severe attachment issues that he would only begin to delve into much later in his adult life.

It was also during this time that Valentine took to hitting Jonathan - lashing him in the back with a demon metal-tipped whip to remind him of the "perils of obedience" among other measures meant to mold the boy into his vision of the perfect soldier.

While Jonathan was raised by his father secretly & in seclusion - cut off almost entirely from the rest of humanity - he knew of Jace & that Valentine was raising/training for the same purposes. Unlike the other, Jonathan was fully aware of his father's plans & even knew when the other boy finally failed Valentine enough to prompt him to send the boy away.

Despite all of his training, & every measure Valentine took to instill control, Jonathan's demonic blood & its influence eventually became uncontrollable in Valentine's eyes. After keeping him shackled in the basement of the cabin out of fear he himself might become the next victim of his son's violent tendencies, Valentine eventually sent him to Edom.

edom & time under Lilith

He was greeted by Lilith, in her human form, on his arrival. She introduced herself as her mother as she felt it was her blood that made him something special. In her eyes, this made her more of his mother than Jocelyn could ever be - especially given her absence. She would go on to reshape him in her own image of the perfect son by burning his skin, one layer at a time, & allowing other powerful demons to join in in making him something more akin to their world as his human face was considered too beautiful for their world.

These changes didn't just have physical effects - in re-shaping him, Lilith taught him how to draw on the power of his demonic blood while in his natural form. He additionally learned other skills from the masters of hell themselves as Lilith would summon them to act as a sort of demonic tutor for her heir. He would later memorize her exact summoning ritualto use for his own benefit once he made the decision to escape.

He spent his years in Hell clinging to memories & hopes of freedom. His incredible willpower coupled with the last vestiges of angelic/nephilim blood was the only thing that helped him retain any shred of his deteriorating humanity, thus allowing him to escape by using his mother's own summoning ritual to call the Greater Demon Azazel out of Duduael & bargain with him.

return to earth

To blend in, Jonathan took the identity of Sebastian Verlac, a Parisian Shadowhunter, & used it to further his personal goals. His endgame was to send his father, along with the Mortal Sword, to Edom as revenge for the torture he endured.

Before venturing further into the world he had been forced to leave behind, Jonathan spent some time in the seelie realms, developing a sort of relationship with the seelie queen as he tried to navigate & adjust to his body outside of edom. unknown to him, it was during this time his son, ash, would be conceived.

He orchestrated an attack on Isabelle Lightwood by Azazel so he could plausibly bill himself as a hero & someone she could trust. He hoped this would eventually lead to him the doorsteps of the Institute, & after some time, it did with unintended side effects.

The more time he spent around the other Nephilim, his long-dormant emotions begun to surface. Being at the Institute also allowed him to meet the younger sister he never knew he had, as well as his own mother, as well, though he kept his identity secret from the two of them.

While he was working through all of this, he managed to win over the trust of others at the Institute & was assigned to the team hunting Valentine. After an attack on Valentine prompted the Clave to arrange for Valentine to be portaled to Idris, Jonathan hijacked the portal & took the two of them away to the remote cabin he had been raised in.

While he had Valentine captive in the cabin, Jonathan recounted his time in Edom. Unexpectedly, Valentine took the blame for everything that happened to him & told Jonathan that he grew to regret sending him away. Jonathan refused to believe him & continued to prepare for the ritual that would send Valentine and the Mortal Sword to Edom.

This plan came to a grinding halt when Valentine used the Sword to prove the veracity of his statements. Feeling the splinters of emotion clawing their way to the surface, Jonathan abandoned his plan to send him to Edom for the time being & instead returned the two of them to his apartment, currently located in New York.

Unaware of Jonathan lurking under Sebastian's identity, he helps them work towards finding the Mortal Mirror on their return to the Institute. Watching his father's methods & feeling conflicted as his returning emotions & new-found if unknowing connection to his sister, Jonathan begins to step back from is father once again.

Instead of fleeing, Jonathan makes his way back to the apartment. Stepping inside, he finds what would amount to the final straw in his decision moving forward - a letter from the Seelie Queen, announcing the birth of his son, an event sped up by the variance in the passage of time between realms.

remembering the cruelty his own father had shown him as a child, & the torture he had endured at the hands of Lilith, this ultimately would push him to make what would become his most pivotal decision. Cutting Sebastian Verlac, who he'd kept comatose, loose, he allows the other to leave without further harm & remains in the apartment until Clary, Jace, & Izzy arrive.

a switch in allegiance

With alliances breaking down, & Valentine slipping through every precaution to leave his whereabouts unknown, there's little choice but for Jonathan to be allowed to help Jace & Clary in tracking his father through his blood & the combined strength of Jace & Clary's angelic abilities. Jonathan eventually reveals his father had once had a plan to use the Seelies - something he learned early in his return to Earth - to slip through the wards & head to Lake Lyn with the other two Mortal Instruments.

He remained confined to the cells under the Institute while Clary & Jace portaled to Lake Lyn to find Valentine. After the events at Lake Lyn, he was officially placed under what amounted to house arrest with runes placed on his skin to bind him within the Institute & prevent him from touching adamas until his fate could be decided.

These runes were later rescinded after an eleven hour interrogation by the Mortal Sword shed light on the horrors he had endured at the hands of Valentine, & the sincerity of his desire to become something better than what his father had tried to make him into - if only for the sake of his own son.

He was allowed to return to the New York Institute with his freedom, where he still resides.

#child abuse cw #abuse cw #torture cw #long post #→ jonathan morgenstern // de tenebris (v. — main)#→ jonathan morgenstern // verse introduction

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thecaffeinebookwarrior · 8 years ago

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Internal Conflict: Five Conflicting Traits of a Likable Hero.

1. Flaws and Virtues

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but characters without flaws are boring. This does not, as many unfortunate souls take it to mean, imply that good, kind, or benevolent characters are boring: it just means that without any weaknesses for you to poke at, they tend to be bland-faced wish fulfillment on the part of the author, with a tendency to just sit there without contributing much to the plot.

For any character to be successful, they need to have a proportionate amount of flaws and virtues.

Let’s take a look at Stranger Things, for example, which is practically a smorgasbord of flawed, lovable sweethearts.

We have Joyce Byers, who is strung out and unstable, yet tirelessly works to save her son, even when all conventional logic says he’s dead; We have Officer Hopper, who is drunken and occasionally callous, yet ultimately is responsible for saving the boy’s life; We have Jonathan, who is introspective and loving, but occasionally a bit of a creeper, and Nancy, who is outwardly shallow but proves herself to be a strong and determined character. Even Steve, who would conventionally be the popular jerk who gets his comeuppance, isn’t beyond redemption.

And of course, we have my beloved Eleven, who’s possibly the closest thing Stranger Things has to a “quintessential” heroine. She’s the show’s most powerful character, as well as one of the most courageous. However, she is also the show’s largest source of conflict, as it was her powers that released the Demogorgon to begin with.

Would Eleven be a better character if this had never happened? Would Stranger Things be a better show? No, because if this had never happened, Stranger Things wouldn’t even be a show. Or if it was, it would just be about a bunch of cute kids sitting around and playing Dungeons and Dragons in a relatively peaceful town.

A character’s flaws and mistakes are intended to drive the plotline, and if they didn’t have them, there probably wouldn’t even be a plot.

So don’t be a mouth-breather: give your good, kind characters some difficult qualities, and give your villains a few sympathetic ones. Your work will thank you for it.

2. Charisma and Vulnerability

Supernatural has its flaws, but likable leads are not one of them. Fans will go to the grave defending their favorite character, consuming and producing more character-driven, fan-created content than most other TV shows’ followings put together.

So how do we inspire this kind of devotion with our own characters? Well, for starters, let’s take a look at one of Supernatural’s most quintessentially well-liked characters: Dean Winchester.

From the get-go, we see that Dean has charisma: he’s confident, cocky, attractive, and skilled at what he does. But these qualities could just as easily make him annoying and obnoxious if they weren’t counterbalanced with an equal dose of emotional vulnerability.

As the show progresses, we see that Dean cares deeply about the people around him, particularly his younger brother, to the point of sacrificing himself so that he can live. He goes through long periods of physical and psychological anguish for his benefit (though by all means, don’t feel obligated to send your main character to Hell for forty years), and the aftermath is depicted in painful detail.

Moreover, in spite of his outward bravado, we learn he doesn’t particularly like himself, doesn’t consider himself worthy of happiness or a fulfilling life, and of course, we have the Single Man Tear(TM).

So yeah, make your characters beautiful, cocky, sex gods. Give them swagger. Just, y’know. Hurt them in equal measure. Torture them. Give them insecurities. Make them cry.

Just whatever you do, let them be openly bisexual. Subtext is so last season.

3. Goals For the Future and Regrets From the Past

Let’s take a look at Shadow Moon from American Gods. (For now, I’ll have to be relegate myself to examples from the book, because I haven’t had the chance to watch the amazing looking TV show.)

Right off the bat, we learn that Shadow has done three years in prison for a crime he may or may not have actually committed. (We learn later that he actually did commit the crime, but that it was only in response to being wronged by the true perpetrators.)

He’s still suffering the consequences of his actions when we meet him, and arguably, for the most of the book: because he’s in prison, his wife has an affair (I still maintain that Laura could have resisted the temptation to be adulterous if she felt like it, but that’s not the issue here) and is killed while mid-coital with his best friend.

Shadow is haunted by this for the rest of the book, to the point at which it bothers him more than the supernatural happenings surrounding him.

Even before that, the more we learn about Shadow’s past, the more we learn about the challenges he faced: he was bullied as a child, considered to be “just a big, dumb guy” as an adult, and is still wrongfully pursued for crimes he was only circumstantially involved in.

But these difficulties make the reader empathize with Shadow, and care about what happens to him. We root for Shadow as he tags along with the mysterious and alternatively peckish and charismatic Wednesday, and as he continuously pursues a means to permanently bring Laura back to life.

He has past traumas, present challenges, and at least one goal that propels him towards the future. It also helps that he’s three-dimensional, well-written, and as of now, portrayed by an incredibly attractive actor.

Of course (SPOILER ALERT), Shadow never does succeed in fully resurrecting Laura, ultimately allowing her to rest instead, but that doesn’t make the resolution any less satisfying.

Which leads to my next example...

4. Failure and Success

You remember in Zootopia, when Judy Hopps decides she wants to be cop and her family and town immediately and unanimously endorse her efforts? Or hey, do you remember Harry Potter’s idyllic childhood with his kindhearted, adoptive family? Oh! Or in the X-Files, when Agent Mulder presents overwhelming evidence of extraterrestrial life in the first episode and is immediately given a promotion? No?

Yeah, me neither. And there’s a reason for this: ff your hero gets what they want the entire time, it will be a boring, two-dimensional fantasy that no one will want to read.

A good story is not about the character getting what they want. A good story is about the character’s efforts and their journey. The destination they reach could be something far removed from what they originally thought they wanted, and could be no less (if not more so) satisfying because of it.

Let’s look at Toy Story 3, for example: throughout the entire movie, Woody’s goal is to get his friends back to their longtime owner, Andy, so that they can accompany him to college. He fails miserably. None of his friends believe that Andy was trying to put them in the attic, insisting that his intent was to throw them away. He is briefly separated from them as he is usurped by a cute little girl and his friends are left at a tyrannical daycare center, but with time and effort, they’re reunited, Woody is proven right, and things seem to be back on track.

Do his efforts pay off? Yes -- just not in the way he expected them to. At the end of the movie, a college-bound Andy gives the toys away to a new owner who will play with them more than he will, and they say goodbye. Is the payoff bittersweet? Undoubtedly. It made me cry like a little bitch in front of my young siblings. But it’s also undoubtedly satisfying.

So let your characters struggle. Let them fail. And let them not always get what they want, so long as they get what they need.

5. Loving and Being Loved by Others

Take a look back at this list, and all the characters on it: a gaggle of small town kids and flawed adults, demon-busting underwear models, an ex-con and his dead wife, and a bunch of sentient toys. What do they have in common? Aside from the fact that they’re all well-loved heroes of their own stories, not much.

But one common element they all share is they all have people they care about, and in turn, have people who care about them.

This allows readers and viewers to empathize with them possibly more than any of the other qualities I’ve listed thus far, as none of it means anything without the simple demonstration of human connection.

Let’s take a look at everyone’s favorite caped crusader, for example: Batman in the cartoons and the comics is an easy to love character, whereas in the most recent movies (excluding the splendid Lego Batman Movie), not so much.

Why is this? In all adaptions, he’s the same mentally unstable, traumatized genius in a bat suit. In all adaptions, he demonstrates all the qualities I listed before this: he has flaws and virtues, charisma and vulnerability, regrets from the past and goals for the future, and usually proportionate amounts of failure and success.

What makes the animated and comic book version so much more attractive than his big screen counterpart is the fact that he does one thing right that all live action adaptions is that he has connections and emotional dependencies on other people.

He’s unabashed in caring for Alfred, Batgirl, and all the Robins, and yes, he extends compassion and sympathy to the villains as well, helping Harley Quinn to ultimately escape a toxic and abusive relationship, consoling Baby Doll, and staying with a child psychic with godlike powers until she died.

Cartoon Batman is not afraid to care about others. He has a support network of people who care about him, and that’s his greatest strength. The DC CU’s ever darker, grittier, and more isolated borderline sociopath is failing because he lacks these things.

And it’s also one of the reasons that the Lego Batman Movie remains so awesome.

God willing, I will be publishing fresh writing tips every week, so be sure to follow my blog and stay tuned for future advice and observations!

#the author speaks #writing #writing tips #writing advice #stranger things #supernatural #american gods #toy story #batman #dean winchester #shadow moon #laura moon #dc cinematic universe #not my gifs

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