#probably have some other stuff to post too..

[kynimdraws]

References in the older generation of demon hunters from the movie KPOP DEMON HUNTERS

It is not the BEST animated movie of all time but it got all the little Korean cultural references that feel like it is catering to me....in particular I really loved the narration sequence of how the Demon Hunters came to be!!! So I decided to make a post about it

The first generation of demon hunters we see are set in the 조선 (Chosun) era, which is a VERY common place to start for a lot of Korean media. There are no specific singers/performers they are referring to here, but they are based on 무당 (mudang). Korean female shamans. There are male shamans as well but those are not as well known and not popular. That is why the boy band Saja Boys are based on 저승사자 (Jeosung Saja) aka Korean underworld magistrate/grim reaper.

Anyway the mudang have various roles in Korean paganism/spiritualism. Instead of flashy musical numbers with weapons, they perform 굿 (gut), rituals that vary by region and function.

The second generation of hunters we see have the flapper girl aesthetic (American 1920s fashion) which was popular in Korea around the 1960-70s. This also is probably shouting out to the og Korean "girl group" aka the Kim Sisters (김시스터스) of the 1950-60s. They might not have been the MAIN influence but the trio singer composition and their fame for being popular among US troops in Korea (which launched their career in the US) doesn't feel like just coincidence.

The third generation we see has the Korean 1970s to maybe super early 80s aesthetic. I couldn't think/find any trio girl groups during this time, but they feel like a mix of The Pearl Sisters (펄 시스터즈), Lily Sisters (릴리 시스터즈) and Kye Eunsook (계은숙). Not the most confident with this one. Thanks to a kind bsky person, it does seem like it was MOSTLY based on the Pearl sisters, esp if you look at an old video of their performance.

The fourth generation is the 1980s, which is when the word "k-pop" starts being used to describe the songs. BUT MAN, THIS SET PISSES ME OFF BECAUSE WHY ARE THEY ALL DIFFERENT 80S KPOP STYLES? COORDINATE GIRLS!!! Again no specific girl groups jump out at me but looks like this is a reference to Settorae (세또래, aka "The three friends") seen by their performance video, which capture similar vibes.

The fifth and final generation we see before Rumi/Mira/Zoey are STRONG 90s K-POP. The whole aesthetic of stars and the hairstyles SCREAMS S.E.S which is one of the classic 90s kpop girl groups of the time.

In particular their appearance for the music video "Dreams Come True" comes to mind. The video now feels really dated but back in the day, the effects and stuff they used were the HOT SHIT. Extremely nostalgic Korean media

And ofc we got the modern trio, which I won't really comment on because they are mix of the current (2010s to 2020s) kpop and I feel like the current fans will have better knowledge of this than I about it. so that's it for now! Of course there may be some other stuff I missed or got wrong possibly, which I will fix if anything comes up. Feel free to correct me as well in the replies!

Update 6/26/25: I think people got confused on what I was trying to cite in terms of time period for the hunters. If we go by strict fashion sense it definitely harks earlier decades of AMERICAN HISTORY. But I am looking at all of this thru a Korean lens so some of the recognizeable early American fashion were popular during different times in Korea specifically. Feel free to reblog/comment the fashion refs bc that in itself is interesting too.

And speaking of fashion, I do really like how each of them have the iridescent accents on their outfits, which are reminescent of Najeonchilgi (나전칠기), the Korean art of inlaid mother of pearl pieces on furniture, jewlery, etc.

Update 6/27/25: I decided to write about the movie's use of Korean spiritualism/Muism to make Honmoon, which you can read here :)

[picturejasper20]

It seems to me that the phandom as a whole should start like pushing out from the fandom people who haven't watched the show or at least try to learn from the source material because if not we are going to keep getting people who don't know nothing about the series and are talking about some OOC version of imaginary show.

This thing has been getting way too out of hand for years and now we keep getting posts and people who are shocked to learn that the Box Ghost is not in fact a talking box but an actual human looking ghost. Like, actually watching a show or reading the comics should be a basic rule to be a fan of something. It should be common sense- this phenomenon is very specific from the DP fandom, in other animated and videogames fandoms i have been part of this stuff doesn't happen, it isn't a thing.

¨There isn't real canon in Danny Phantom¨ comes from people who have watched the show and saw the inconsistencies and plot holes the series has and decided to built something from it and expand on them- not people who have never interacted with the source material or probably don't know that Danny's real name is Danny Fenton, not Phantom.

I'm not saying to harass or attack this sort of people who want to join the fandom but at bare minimum put some type of ¨rule¨ so we don't keep seeing posts that have nothing to do with the actual show nor the characters.

[deadmercenaryslover]

ok maybe you know. WHAT is going on with ol istys nobleman status? some stuff indicates he was always one and other that sigismund gave him a title after he saved his ass. What Is The Truth?

Oof, I definitely wish I knew that, because I could really use the information for fic-writing purposes, but unfortunately, I don’t. I suppose no one knows the whole truth, except maybe some lorekeeper at Warhorse, assuming they have one.

That said, there are a few in-game hints that could be used if someone wants to form their own headcanons.

Here are some of the tidbits I’ve used while shaping my personal take on Ištván’s background for the fic I’m currently writing, probably in a fairly random order. Just keep in mind that I’m going to veer pretty heavily into headcanon territory here, and I’m not claiming any of this is canon. Just some random thoughts put together.

Thanks for asking, though! 🖤 I just love to yap about Ištván and KCD in general, I’m just usually a bit too shy to share my thoughts unprompted.

(It's going to be a pretty long post, so I'm going to put the whole thing under a cut.)

So, what we do know for certain is that Ištván was born in Banat, his parents were killed by the Turks, and his father had a fortress, which somewhat implies that Ištván was originally highborn.

I think this is where we have a gap we can fill with whatever we want and veer deep into headcanon territory, since he trails off and never finishes the sentence. Personally, I feel like it's quite heavily implied that whatever happened to him after his family was slain and his home destroyed must have been deeply traumatizing for him. I know the devşirme theory is quite popular, though I believe becoming a war captive and ending up in regular slavery is just as plausible an option.

I don’t know if it’s just me, though probably not based on what I’ve seen, but I get the feeling that Ištván is kind of dancing around the issue here, despite usually being all about tough talk. To me, that suggests there's deep trauma behind it, likely connected to sexual abuse.

I also believe that what Henry says to him, "You pretend to be cruel, but you take good care of Erik. Someone must have really hurt you, am I right?" also points in that direction.

Another thing we know for certain is that, at some point, he fought the Turks, as we hear from both Ištván himself and Erik (in KCD1), and that he also fought in the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. There's still a lot left open to individual interpretation, but I think one possible reading is that the events at Nicopolis led to Ištván, who might’ve been just an ordinary mercenary back then, becoming personally acquainted with Sigismund.

I imagine it's also possible that Sigismund rewarded him for his service by elevating him to the nobility, despite the battle itself ending in disaster. Saving your king’s life has to count for something, right?

I think this bit is also interesting to take into account. More often than not, Ištván seems to look for connections between himself and Henry, but here he draws a rare distinction. The way I see it, this doesn't necessarily contradict the possibility of Ištván being noble by birth. I could see it implying that he simply lost that privilege at some point in his life, likely when his family was slain and his home destroyed.

I imagine noble blood doesn't count for much when you are all alone and have lost everything. With his family gone, and the possibility of him being taken into the Ottoman Empire and kept there for some time, would he even have had any way to prove he was of noble origin? Even if he had surviving relatives, they might not recognize him after so many years and could be inclined to think he was just some impostor trying to get his hands on family wealth or something.

I don't know, just some food for thought.

And then there's this small detail. I just find it interesting how he says "the noblemen," not "we noblemen." Again, we can't be sure whether he's simply trying to influence Henry by highlighting their supposed similarities, or whether he genuinely relates to Henry here, even though he's a nobleman himself. It could just as well be both, I suppose. This doesn't have to mean anything, but I wanted to include it because it supports my personal interpretation that Ištván might personally not relate much to those nobles who have led easier lives than he likely has.

And from there, we come to another aspect I’ve been thinking about lately, one that’ll probably need its own post at some point: taking a sociolinguistic approach to Ištván’s background. I don’t have the screenshots at hand to support my theory yet, but it seems to me that he can switch between appearing as a rough mercenary and an eloquent nobleman, depending on what the situation calls for (and yet, he's often being clocked for this, too.) The clearest example of this, I think, is the way he code-switches during the prison scene in Nebakov while speaking with Sir Jaromier.

This doesn’t have to mean anything in particular, either. We could just draw a parallel between Ištván and, say, the Dry Devil and leave it at that, but as a language nerd, it’s just something that’s caught my attention. If anyone’s interested, I could ramble some more about it.

[freedelusionshere]

They set up all of the stuff that was in S4 and circled back around to it.

On rewatch, Emmanuel had meds for a heart condition. So he finally does have a heart attack and Syd, she protects her relationship with her dad because it’s so precious to her.

Syd is afraid of being in love with Carmy just as he is with her. And it’s not just Carmy she names his family as part of the chaos, which is true.

Her life with her dad is very chill. She didn’t want Carmy at the hospital on one level and on another probably did for herself but she’s protecting her dad from their chaos. And you can tell this isn’t what Emmanuel wants, for her to be afraid and put her life on hold for him, but she has and then thrown in pretty much everything else she has left over into work.

Syd does have friends and she doesn’t prioritize them, and is starting now to realize, like Carmy she needs a life outside of work, too, because her dad isn’t going to be there with her forever. That’s why she chooses to stay because the Berzattos are also her family, even though they’re messy.

Her running and being chased in her dream by a bear and trapped in this very white cooking show where she’s dressed like Martha Stewart (or young Donna, take your pick) is her feeling stuck. She even gets the same red/blue lighting mix of hot/cold.

Carmy tells her she’s The Bear because he doesn’t want to be it, but he knows she loves this and it’s important to her, and the restaurant is a source of life with her in it, and he’s messed up. However, patterns and Carmy are such that he’s now reenacting what his father did to his mother. Which is what Donna kinda warns Syd about at the wedding. It’s what Lee warns him about himself.

Carmy spends most of the season trying to be better and also focusing on his past, Mikey in particular. As I said on another post, Carmy and Richie were destroyed by the mask wearing and the toxic masculinity they were around. No one was ever emotionally honest. People wore masks.

Carmy was always pretending and trying to be someone more than who he was. He had all the professional success and it wasn’t enough for him which is what Tina hits on. So when you take that away of course he says he doesn’t know who he is inside the restaurant and like Syd, he never bothered to make a life outside the restaurant or try until recently with Claire.

He doesn’t think Syd will see him as anything without being the guy who is great and so good at this and he’s burnt out trying to be that. He wants more and up until she yells at him, “You’re my partner!” I don’t think he believed that she wanted that from him or thought of him like that as anything but related to their work relationship, because she won’t let him in closer.

And he says he’s her friend which is of course a throwback to that “friend that’s a girl” conversation because he’s been trying to be a friend and not the other thing he was trying to be for once. He told her in the first episode he liked being there with her and she said it sounded depressing and by the time he goes to apologize to Claire he’s already decided what he’s going to do.

He also finds out Syd very likely was never going to sign the partnership agreement and she wasn’t telling him about Shapiro so all he had left to give her was the restaurant but without the thing fucking it up which was himself. And he’s right. But also, he needs to stay and fix the mess he made. Which, it will keep coming up all season that he doesn’t do that and leaves when things get hard. So he starts trying to do emotionally hard things.

But Claire is also stuck and has some kind of darkness in her past and it’s not going to work because he’ll realize without people growing around you, you will stop growing. Carmy has already run before. He wants to find himself outside of cooking and that doesn’t mean he doesn’t love his family or Syd. Claire literally tells him he can’t run away like that from her and then he immediately makes plans on running.

He turns to Claire because she knows his family is chaotic and it’s a source of shame to him, he is embarrassed by them, Richie is correct. He’s learning not to be and just accept them as flawed people, like he is, which will help him to stop busting his own balls.

Claire’s residency is up so she’s also free to leave. But Claire sends Carmy digging around into his past (like she did for that green sweatshirt in Mikey’s closet of secrets) and all season he’s like in the worst part of Groundhog Day where he realizes he didn’t know Mikey at all, that he’s been holding onto anger and resentment, that he’s not the best at his job it’s the woman he’s in love with, and that he’s terrible and has gotten in her way.

But he hasn’t made it yet to the part of the movie yet where he stays to fix the chaos and in doing so fixes himself. He hasn’t gotten to the part yet where he wakes up and the clock radio plays a different song.

However, that fight in the last episode and them all actually being honest with each other and realizing that if he wants to leave he’s going to have to come up with a plan and that he’s not just getting to bail and get off easy is what he agrees to.

Syd is also a part of their family now she stopped running away from that, and like they said at the wedding once you are a bear you are always a bear.

That’s what is set up for S5.

[bintheredreamedthat]

i got a bad case of yeonjunism

based off this clip. OH.MY.DAYS

You were just doing your job.

Camera in hand, moving between stylists and open wardrobe racks, getting the usual pre-show coverage for the behind-the-scenes reel. It’s a routine at this point—capture the candid stuff, keep it natural, nothing too staged. Fans like the chaos, the energy. The closer to real, the better.

Soobin was laughing at something Beomgyu did. Taehyun was adjusting his mic pack. You zoomed in a little, catching the curve of a grin as he mocks his older members about something they had said.

Then you felt someone watching you.

It wasn’t unusual. The guys were hyper-aware of the camera, especially when it was this close to showtime. Still, something about it made you pause. You turned the camera just slightly. Slow and casual, just enough to glance over your shoulder—and that’s when you saw him. 

Yeonjun. 

His expression was unreadable. No smile. No wink for the camera. Just... looking. For a second, you assumed he was doing a bit. You knew how he was—dramatic, always camera-aware. He knew how to get good footage, ones that get clipped and reposted a lot. Maybe he wanted to be mysterious today. 

However, this felt different. He kept walking, not daring to break eye contact. Not once had he glanced at the lens the way he usually does when he knows he’s being filmed.

He just looked. First through the camera, then past it.

At you.

You told yourself it was nothing. Probably just a moment you’d trim out in post. Still, you stepped back—reflex, mostly—to avoid bumping into him with the rig. You didn’t expect the table behind you, and you certainly didn’t expect him to close the space anyway.

He stopped just before the lens could brush his face. No words. No real expression. Finally, he looked into the camera, then quickly flashed a tiny smirk, as if he knew exactly what he was doing.

Without uttering a single word, he walked off. 

He had left you there, your camera still rolling, wondering whether that footage was ever meant to be captured at all. 

—

The show ends in chaos.

Loud laughter, members bouncing off each other, shouting over one another as they flood into the dressing room. You trail behind them with the camera, catching wide grins, breathless comments, and confetti stuck in hair. Beomgyu flashes a peace sign. Hueningkai yells something incoherent whilst you pan around the room like a pro.

You’re filming Taehyun once again. He’s talking about his favorite moment from the set list, looking directly at the lens, when a shadow passes behind you. 

The air shifts. You don’t even have to look.

A second later, you get a tap on your elbow, light, casual. You lower the camera just a bit and glance to your side.

Yeonjun tilts his head, still in full stage makeup, hair pushed off his forehead now and sticking slightly from sweat. He doesn’t smile.

"You always get that close with the lens?" he asks, tone light, but there’s an edge buried somewhere underneath.

You blink. “What?”

He lets out a short, humorless laugh. “Don’t play dumb. You know you’re playing favorites."

“Oh my god,” you groan. “Yeonjun—”

“No, seriously,” he says, stepping in a little. “You're on him for like, minutes at a time. Do I need to start acting cute when you walk in just to get your attention now?”

“You were literally across the room,” you argue, trying not to laugh. “You think I ignored you on purpose?”

He tilts his head. "Did you?" You don’t answer.

The silence stretches, thick and humiliating. Someone coughs. Hueningkai whispers “wait, what is happening right now?” like it’s an episode of some drama and he missed the first ten minutes.

Yeonjun doesn’t look away. Doesn’t break.

“You’re lucky I didn’t say something on camera earlier,” he adds, voice low. “You would've had to cut the whole thing.”

“Right. Because your little ‘I’m-suddenly-jealous-and-mysterious’ bit wasn’t dramatic enough?” you snap before you can stop yourself. You felt instant regret as you crossed the line. You’re were staff. He was the talent.

A few people glance at each other. Taehyun raises an eyebrow. Beomgyu is already mouthing “dramaaa” across the room.

But Yeonjun?

He doesn’t even flinch.

“That wasn’t a bit,” he says, causing the whole room to go silent.

Your smile falters. Your camera dips in your hand. Every part of you is begging for the earth to swallow you whole. Yeonjun just stared, serious yet still so sure of himself.

Then, mercifully, he turns. Walks off with that same cool indifference he always pulls on post-stage, like he didn’t just cause an entire scene in front of everyone. Someone breathes out a loud, shocked “bro??”

You can’t even respond. You just lift the camera, hands shaky, and the red light is still blinking.

You're going to have to edit all of this out.

[myshollow]

making a damn character list cause i forget how many characters this show has goddamn (not counting one off villains/characters). while I'm trying to avoid sacking too many characters, I've listed a few that will likely go bye bye lol. as much as I want to try to work with every character, I need to lower the amount, cause there's TOO MANY I DON'T NEED THIS MUCH!!! (tweaking out rn) ALSO I'm making David a side character so down below is also some synthos lore!

Main characters: Mordecai Rigby Benson Skips Pops Muscle Man HFG Side characters: Margaret Eileen Starla CJ Mona Celia Pam Stef Thomas Mordecai’s Dad Mordecai’s Mom Rigby’s Mom Rigby’s Dad Don Gene Betty Dunwoody Benjamin Dunwoody Beatrix Dunwoody Techmo Gary Death Klorgbane The guardians David Mr. Maellard Candy Maellard Anti-Pops Muscle Man’s Mom (takes the role of the dad. His mom truly is dead like that one meme NOOO) Low-Five Ghost Grand-Five Ghost Characters I’ll probably sack: Poppy/Codey (gene’s wife and son) (probably make these two only a visual gag like the photo actually ik i made the small lore post but eh not really feeling them..though they are good for gene development hmmmmmm idk) Quips (+wife and child) (i actually love quips but his existence is.. unnecessary lol, especially for the reimagined Skips lore) Muscle Man’s Dad Muscle Man’s brother Characters i’m considering sacking: Death’s wife Baby Thomas (these two are rough cause they’re good for Stef lore but idk what else i’d do with them) BENSON’S STUPID FUCKING DEAD stick hockey bro (don’t really want benson to have a dead person from his past, skips and pops already got that handled. But it is good for accentuating why Benson wants nothing to do with stick hockey hmmm) SYNTHOS STUFF: Actually rewatched the ep (and good thing I did i somehow forgot half the shit in it), and yeah there’s a few things I’ll do differently. 1. Have the plotline of Gary being the rightful king not be solved within one episode for the sake of having more room to expand the lore across multiple episodes. (also this plot would happen a few seasons earlier) 2. Gary and David are kinda half and half about how wrong each of them is. Gary, while wishing for freedom, is very reckless and careless, causing..multiple deaths of citizens under his rule. David is the opposite; wanting to be as safe as possible…also causing multiple deaths under his rule via execution. Gary intentionally abandoned his post as king, wishing for a more exciting life, and thus David taking his place in the present. Though Gary is “the better” of the brothers cause by the time he returns to synthos, he’s gotten some character development and more sympathy to “lesser beings.” 3. Gary’s development makes him realize that SOMEONE needs to step up and be a better ruler for synthos. While he still doesn’t want to be that person, he decides to do what’s right and stand up to David, which is hard for multiple reasons, one of which is that he still has an attachment to him (and vice versa for David) due to growing up together. 4. Other characters do get involved in this plotline. The most notable example being Celia (see her design similarities to synthos? lol). Celia is sort of the equilibrium between the brothers; being fun, but not a reckless jerk about it (also her anxiety keeps her in check from demonstrating the ..major flaws the two brothers do). AND she’s musically inclined, demonstrating a style that’s a mix of Gary’s and David’s. After David’s..defeat, Gary still doesn’t want to take up the throne, suggesting that Celia do it. But SHE DOES NOT want to rule a whole kingdom, that like goes against her whole character arc, and suggests that the two brothers rule together, kinda solving both their issues. (though they still have A LOT to sort out lol) After this main plot, there would be a few smaller ones that also take place at Synthos, mostly for the sake of giving Gary/David more development/more synthos worldbuilding. (was thinking of having David still die but the arc wouldn’t wrap up properly at all LOL i keep accidentally sparing villains. I like to think of them as sort of foreshadowing pops/anti-pops)

though this is first draft lore so this'll either stay the same or get changes depending on what I think.

[itsraining-pebbles]

normal fandom behaviour is assigning characters houses from the series that shall not be named. or maybe godly parents from percy jackson. unfortunately im not normal so instead im assigning the dark age characters a magnus archives fear entity.

also this is my opinion and maybe this is too niche but if it’s not and there’s anyone else with opinions on this then this is me humbly asking for input on some characters (mostly ythae’el kosima, talis, and sal) who i can’t figure out.

mandatory spoiler warning for dark age and also sort of the magnus archives.

theagus (the inspiration behind this whole post) - i have never seen anyone/anything more Eye coded than theagus. like any other character i would accept arguments but theagus?? yeah no. everything he does is in the pursuit of knowledge and he has made so many stupid decisions for more information. also his whole relationship with iridia. the most important part of his character is wanting knowledge. and he is the literal HERALD OF KNOWLEDGE. so yes he is Eye and that is the objective truth (would be interested to hear any other ideas. i just wouldn’t agree)

iridia - similar to theagus in that she is also very extremely Eye coded. like the conversation her and theagus had about joining sentinel?? yeah. she is also super dedicated to gaining more knowledge. also ilithids in general are very Eye coded. and shes an archivist which is already an Eye coded job, even without taking into account tma Archivists

decima - Web. like lets be so fr. her whole everything was so Web coded and thats most of why i love her

hareem - Spiral. hes a fucking liar and (from what we know so far) his entire goal seems to just be entertainment for himself. that is the Spiral

keno - definitely the Dark. like i’d love to just say the End because of his tarot card being death. however keno is definitely a lot more Dark, inspired partly by his character but mostly just because of the bards after dark stream where drew talks about how he came up with keno’s first and last name.

xilyreon - the End. i feel like this is probably the obvious answer because… yeah. come on now. but also because the witchbreed versions of people and the horror of seeing a dead loved one in something you’re fighting is so End coded.

aelys - now here is where i start being willing to take criticism on my decisions. i do feel like in a world where the Fears existed, her main connection to the Fears would be through x so i’m just going to say she’s an End avatar for that reason. but i can be convinced otherwise for earlier chapters aelys.

katari (pre-death) - i’m not totally sure about katari in the early days but after she starts taking levels in barbarian? yeah that is a Slaughter avatar. barbarians to me are the Slaughter bc of the whole thing of unpredictable violence. but i could also be persuaded into thinking they’re an avatar of something else but just with a hint of Slaughter. like katari meaning death and also being called endcrafter does make me think that they did have SOME End vibes pre-dying but idk if i’d call them an End avatar yk?

katari (post-death) - the End. for many reasons including the fact they came back to life, being called endbringer, and the connection to the xilyreon (again, very End)

synnove - tentatively the Web?? like she deffo does manipulate people a lot and does intentionally get people to underestimate her. but also i’m not totally set on this because i’m not sure whether the Web would be her main entity or whether there’s anything else which could fit her better.

jb - for the record i don’t see jb as ever getting involved with the Fears. but again the barbarian thing is very Slaughter coded. and before anyone says i should have put Vast for jb (which im very sad not to bc the Vast <333) i disagree because yes a lot of his stuff manifests through wind and lightning and whatever but his rages and focus are still Slaughter at their core. so i’d still call him a Slaughter avatar, just that maybe he was marked by the Vast at some point.

lenore - marked by the Lonely. avatar of whatever the fuck vaekstaar is (what is he god of btw?? like i havent finished genesis yet so maybe that gets answered but i tried consulting the wiki for this and couldn’t get a solid answer. possibly the Dark bc of the whole Dark Between Stars thing?? unless it’s the Vast bc like. night?? HELP)

valor - avatar of whatever the fuck vaekstarr is but More avatar-y. like previously a casual avatar and now serious avatar. and i KNOW hollows give very End vibes but i’d say this is more of a jonathan sims post-coma situation when the Eye brought him back and he got more monstery.

there’s probably some characters i forgot but for now that’s who i’m going with and what Fears each of them are. i’m honestly just shocked nobody was Stranger or Desolation bc those are usually the most common

and again. please if anyone is reading this then someone help with sal, ythae’el kosima and talis. also garavellir and maravix. bc i actually can’t figure any of them out and this will be bothering me forever.

[cbrownjc]

Oh, the above opens a door for me to talk/spec even more about this. 😊

First off, yes, it was Daniel who noted that Armand let Lestat destroy the Children of Satan coven.

Now, as I said here in this post, I think that Armand had Lestat locked up in Magnus' tower for years.

I think all that stuff we saw of the coven trying to contact Lestat was because the coven didn't know Lestat was already in Paris. Armand was the only one who knew.

Paris was liberated from the Nazis in August of 1944. I think Lestat arrived in Paris sometime after the liberation of the city, but before Louis and Claudia arrived there a few months later, which IIRC was in November of 1944.

Lestat, IMO, could have stowed away on a boat leaving from the US and headed for Paris after the city was first liberated, making it there in late September or sometime in October of 1944. He was probably too weak to book better accommodations and might not have even thought to contact his lawyer before seeking out Armand first, to ask Armand for some of his blood to heal himself, before going to look for Louis and Claudia. (Whom I'm sure he thought had headed for South America.)

And just as in the book, I'm sure Lestat told Armand everything about why/how he got hurt. And then, when Louis and Claudia arrived in Paris and the Coven began to watch them, that is when Armand locked Lestat up in Magnus' tower IMO.

We know that it took 5 months for the Coven to finally make contact with Louis and Claudia, which would have been around April of 1945.

However, all during that time, Armand did not tell the Coven that Lestat was in Paris, though I feel sure he told them everything else, which accounts for why Lestat's portrait was hanging up the way it was when Louis and Claudia first met the Coven.

So Lestat, IMO, was locked up in Magnus' tower from the end of 1944 until sometime in 1949, which is the year the trial happened.

And I think the trial only finally happened because things got to a point for Armand where he was already tired of the coven, but he still needed to hold his authority over them. They knew what Louis and Claudia had done (attempted to do), and they didn't like Louis still anyway.

But, on the other end of things, Armand could probably feel that Louis was not fully committed to being his companion, either, still. Despite what had occurred on the bench in the park, with Louis officially joining the coven then, more or less. As we saw, Louis was still out and about, mostly focusing on art/paintings and such.

IMO, I think Armand either finally revealed to the coven that Lestat was in Paris to try and placate them, or they found out some other way that Lestat was there. Either way, IMO, Armand agreed to put Louis and Claudia on trial for their crimes with the play after the reveal to the coven that Lestat was in Paris.

So, in a roundabout way, Armand couldn't prevent the trial from happening, since he'd had Lestat locked up in Magnus' tower for years by that point IMO. Armand was never going to kill Lestat, but he was never going to let Lestat go either IMO.

So really, it was only a matter of time, IMO, before he was going to have to use the "Lestat is in Paris" trump card.

Armand never loved Claudia and, along with the Coven, had been trying to make her kill herself by driving her mad with that "My Baby Loves Windows" play. Right up until when he was asked to turn Madeleine, Armand thought that Claudia killing herself was an inevitability.

Claudia leaving with Madeleine would have gotten her out of the way, but, still left him and Louis stuck with the Coven in Paris, if Louis didn't decide to just leave with Claudia. Which is why, IMO, Armand feigned breaking with/leaving the coven to go and stay with Louis. I do think a genuine part of Armand was nervous about Louis actually deciding to leave him and Paris to go with Claudia and Madeleine.

However, the coven wouldn't be a problem/issue soon, nor would one of Louis possibly breaking off or away from him in favor of Claudia... or Lestat.

And so, the trial. Directed by Armand. But I don't think Armand was just totally passive beyond that. I do think he was mentally controlling a now years-long weak Lestat to stay "on script" for the majority of the trial. Some little hints and signs point to it IMO.

And I do think Lestat would have tried to save Claudia if he could have during the sentencing. Armand, IMO, was the one who prevented him from doing so. (And IMO, this is the moment when Lestat "gave" Louis to Armand, so that Louis could be saved by Lestat during his sentencing.)

But anyway, the "problem" of Claudia is now gone once the trial is over.

And once that's done, and Louis is freed of his entombment at the right moment, there is just the Coven left, and Louis is definitely about to handle that for Armand.

And Lestat? Well, he wasn't hanging out in Magnus' tower just because. (He would have never stayed there of his own volition in the first place.) He was there because it had been his lockup, his prison, for the past few years IMO. And still was after the trial was over. Got to keep Lestat quiet and out of the way until after the Coven is gone, of course.

The tower scene probably didn't go down like we saw. Rolin's comment that "you can't burn Lestat twice" hasn't come into play yet, but it would make sense if this is when Lestat actually got burned, as both @nalyra-dreaming and @virginiaisforvampires have both speculated before about.

And I mean, I don't think Louis noting in episode 2x04 that his Fire Gift abilities only seem to work when he thinks of something that pisses him off wasn't going to come back at some point. And Louis is the one who sets Lestat on fire in the book before he and Claudia escape to Paris.

Louis setting Lestat on fire at some point is probably inevitable; in the show, it is maybe just going to happen at a different time, way, and place than it did in the book.

And if so, that is probably something Armand didn't anticipate or expect. (And was surprised by.)

However, Louis doing so -- setting Lestat on fire in a rage -- would also go to explain why he stays with Armand after everything (and knowing/figuring out that Armand was behind what happened to Claudia) when he is clearly very unhappy and self-destructive by doing so ... and then thinks to use the interview with Daniel to try and reach out to Lestat to get Lestat to come to him.

Because after everything, including setting Lestat on fire, Louis, due to his own guilt (and probably some self-hatred), probably just couldn't work things up enough to just break things off with Armand for good and go find Lestat himself.

And, as you noted, Armand is now stuck in another monotonous dynamic, as he pretty much laid out in that fight with Louis in 2x05. But, like, in Armand's eyes, at that point in time, it's the only possible one he's got -- the only companionship or chance at one.

And when Armand is likely faced with that all again, post Daniel's "abandonment" in 1985 IMO? Well, as I said, it was probably "so damn be it" when it came to messing with Louis' memories if it meant not be stuck in that same monotonous dynamic once again, as before.

for the longest time I wondered whether santiago's "overthrow" of armand was genuine at least from his pov. as in, was armand letting him think he was the new coven master for the time being so he didn't have to get his own hands too dirty? i could see santiago being arrogant enough to be tricked into thinking he was in control. and armand being pathetic enough to ease his own guilt by putting on a big show of playing the victim.

but someone pointed out that santiago telepathically told armand and/or sam he was about to "violate the 5th" i.e. the law about killing other vampires at one point when lestat was annoying him. but if he was really the new coven master he'd be immune from that law! maybe it was just a joke or a weird discrepancy but it makes me wonder if his entire coup was fake from the start. but if so, who was it for? if louis was meant to die in the trial anyway, what was the point of armand preserving his (relatively!) innocent image? was he trying to downplay his culpability for lestat's benefit? or was playing prisoner throughout the trial the best way to oversee it without having to deal with any direct recriminations from louis? perhaps he just really wanted louis to die believing lestat was responsible, bc that would hurt both of them the most (altho that's super dark!!)

Santiago was never in charge.

Armand never released his position.

It's that simple. It's in the trial script, too, the instructions very clear, but as you point out, Santiago also does the remark with the law there, which is a huge exclamation mark within the trial-version we saw.

It's just the tale Armand put into Louis' head after San Francisco, and that absolved him of it all so very nicely.

Remember, Louis in San Francisco was a different Louis (still), he knew what had happened, he knew what he had done, he knew Armand was guilty, both the bar scene and their discussion in 2x05 (and even the fight there) underline that quite heavily.

Only after San Francisco Armand started editing Louis' mind (like that).

If there is more to the reason for that (namely something with Devil's Minion happening and Louis being involved in some kind of way) will remain to be seen, but that is ... what that weird tale was "for". It was to shift blame away from Armand, and ease his and Louis' life together - for decades, always adjusting, always "tinkering", as Assad called it.

[traulisms]

studiez

[hotdogmchiggin]

Company Mandated Fancy Fits on the Tulpar 😏

Also had to include the REAL star of the show (and a bonus)

Based off of this and this. Thank you very much joetastic for being inspirational 👍

The REAL reason this is late

[needlesknick-knacks]

see if someone asked me how to get into comics id tell them to look up reading lists, find foundational arcs, more accessible one-shots etc but that does not mean ill take my own advice. when i want to get into a superhero i start reading from their first appearance like god intended

[basil-the-bulbasaur]

ahaha I love giving fic suggestions. Read according to my superior taste (obligatory all opinions are valid and people have different tastes)

From the Ashes by TinksElixirs: egg/kid fic. their unhatched child is in the ranch when it burns down

If I'm On Fire, You'll Be Made Of Ashes (Too) by Anonymous. Tango can't feel pain from fire, Jimmy can. there's a small amount of wound care

Protect my Burning Heart by devorakit. Tango accidently burns Jimmy and then treats his wound (and freaks out a little bit)

A Midnight Talk by Floef. post ranch burning. Ranchers discuss their revenge (and some other stuff)

SCAAAR! GET BACK HERE by King_of_crows. Ranchers die when the ranch burns down and--now as red lives--get their revenge

also The Highwayman by EnvelopedByOblivion technically has a "ranch" burning scene in chapter 4, but it's an au and probably not really what you're looking for. I'm just obsessed with the Highwayman and will mention it whenever I'm given the opportunity

I’ve come requesting Ranchers fanfics, specifically based around the ranch burning down but honestly I’m not super particular about it. I just want more ranchers to read :3

[valleysofdolls]

istg i’ve never seen a valid reason used by someone explained why they hate sasuke.

90% of the time it’s basically them saying he didn’t react to trauma the way they wanted him to (or doing trauma olympics using naruto, gaara, kakashi, etc as examples of “thEIr TrAUmA DiDN’t TUrN thEm iNtO aSSHOLes”)

5% is again, using very valid trauma from a 7 year old witnessing the death of their entire clan by their brother and being forced to relive it for 3 days, as a way to say he’s “too edgy and emo”

and the other 5% is used by shippers (mainly SS), shaming him for not reciprocating feelings he never felt for the other character

[chiropteracupola]

A very fine captain, and a finer friend.

[rudycrowley]

Shout out to disco elysium for helping me get out of artblock after literal months of feeling nauseous and being on the werge of panic attack whenever someone mentioned drawing to me

not super proud of this one, the disco ball is haunting me, but it's a fine start i think

(i hope tumblr won't buthcer the quality)

sketch under the cut because im not sure which one i prefer (also some rambling)

i wanted to include the hands in the final version although i changed them from other character to the skills so that they would try to like fight over him? but i didn't do it in the end because the drawing became too crowded and you couldn't see whats going on, same with the text. also idk how clear is that but i wanted the tie to sort of represent a rope

as to my thoughts on the game so far, NSINFEGFHIUERHNJG im not even done with the first day yet (i would be but i walked into the harbor past 22 so yeah lol (DONT TELL ME HOW TO GET OUT OF THERE I KNOW I PROBABLY CAN I'LL FIGURE THIS OUT OKAY!!!)) but this game has me in a chockehold i haven't been in for a while now, most of my friends hate me beacouse i won't shut up about it. my therepist seemed a lil concerned when i explained to her why i relate to harry a lot and that drinking myself to death has been very tempting lately, which like yeah it probably isn't great but um let's not think about it okay? okay. i've been listening to "whirling-in-rags 8 am" on the loop for 5 days and it's wild cause i normally hate music like this if it had lirycs i would be #1 hater of this song but it actually makes me feel so calm and i am in desperate need for something that makes me calm idk if it shows. i kind of adore kim but i assume he gest even better later on

yeah, so, uh, anyway, the game is pretty cool, yeah.

[kaiserouo]

he's the only melee frame i use and i love him