#you could apply this to any of the characters without backstories really

[loveshacks]

ok when alex hirsch says they worked backwards with stan to fill in what about his childhood made him so lonely and needy, i have to also wonder what happened in fiddleford's childhood to make him the way he is

[applestorms]

sebastian/ciel relationship dynamic breakdown (pt. 2)

For a clearer breakdown of what this post will entail, please read my little intro for part 1 (linked here). Also: this section will be covering the latter arcs of the series, so please pay EXTRA attention to the spoiler warning on this one. <33

SPOILER WARNING !! (obviously.) there is a lot of summary in this, albeit hopefully narrow/focused, and filtered through my own thoughts and analysis. be warned. this is also not inherently a ship post, though you may certainly read it as such. have fun 🫶

6. LUXURY LINER ARC: VACATION GRANTED

Backstory time!! :D This arc is delightful in that it provides us with some really clear insight into the greater trajectory of Sebastian and Ciel's relationship over the last few years, especially when it comes to showing just how far they've come since their first meeting. As Sebastian's memories show us, Sebastian was not always the hyper-competent butler we know and love today, and Ciel himself was not always as settled into his position as head of the Phantomhive House or Funtom. (We also get the incredible reveal that Sebastian was, in fact, named after Ciel's dead dog, which will never not be funny. <3)

The big thing here is the reinforcement of the fact that, as much as Sebastian and Ciel love to fuck around and get on each other's nerves, they have also put a lot of work into learning how to get along and function like a team. And they do! What's also neat about this flashback sequence is that it comes in the middle of an arc that is generally quite high-stakes and tense, action-heavy in a way that means both of them are consistently on high alert and not as inclined to fuck with one another since a Whole Lotta People's lives are on the line. Sebastian is really giving his all for most of this trip, and Ciel is cognizant of that enough to grant him quite a formal break. They care about each other!! Perhaps even to their mutual embarrassment at times, and not entirely without some level of selfish motivations on both sides-- but there is also clearly something deeper starting to be established by this point, at the very least a habit and instinct to collaborate that will not be easily broken, though whether or not it will stand up to any tests will have to wait for a later arc. (Hint, hint.)

But back to the flashback-- obviously, the juiciest part of this for SBCL specifically is the fact that this is the first time we explicitly see Sebastian try to test the limits of Ciel's dedication to his whole revenge plot. This is great for two reasons: first, it is one of the more notable pieces of evidence we get this early on about just how untrustworthy and scheming Sebastian can be, as well as what his instincts are like as a demon, and second, it reinforces Ciel's unwavering dedication to their contract. For the latter point in particular, this is the first arc to really show some notable Ciel character development in this sense, which is important as this unwavering dedication to his revenge is obviously going to play a massive role in some of the next few arcs.

sidenote1: With regards to motivations, you could maybe argue that this is just Sebastian getting sick of his job or even Ciel and wanting to punch out early, but considering how much he seems to enjoy his whole butler cosplay schtick later on, I'm not as inclined to agree with this interpretation. Personally, I think a more interesting take on this is that Sebastian is reverting back to what he knows about humans from previous contracts, that they are selfish, power-hungry, and greedy for money and romance/sex, and applying that to Ciel to try and push at his limits and see if he'll take the bait, only to be caught off guard when Ciel defies him and doubles down on his original intention. At this point in the story Sebastian is, at the very least, still dedicated to the idea that Ciel's soul is going to be this drawn out, slow-cooked gourmet meal that will totally rock his shit, and he wants to be Certain that his initial prospecting was correct. This is new for both of them!

Ultimately, this arc as a whole functions as reinforcement: of Sebastian and Ciel's growth in their relationship, of their respective dedication towards Ciel's protection and revenge, and of their capacity to work as a team under stressful circumstances. It is certainly not perfect, and this connection will be tested in the future-- but for now, they've got other shit to worry about.

7. PUBLIC SCHOOL ARC: UNDERTAKER STRIKES BACK

Unfortunately for our purposes, this is the arc in which Sebastian and Ciel seem to interact directly the least, largely because they are once again forced to play distinct teacher/student roles and dedicate most of their meetings to scheming meaning that we're mostly back to just watching SBCL working at peak cooperation, with Sebastian once again bending to Ciel's will even if it means a ton of extra work for him (lol). That being said, there's still a lot of gay shit happening more generally at Weston, and we notably have one major moment between Sebastian and Ciel at the very end of the arc, which points at another idea I wanted to discuss:

If there is One (1) Thing in this entire series that makes it the most clear Sebastian and Ciel's relationship is the core of the story upon which all else revolves, it is the fact that Undertaker is the series' primary villain. Or rather, to put this the other way around: Undertaker himself makes it clear that Sebastian and Ciel's relationship is the central by constantly threatening to snatch Ciel away and break the two of them up.

This threat was clearly established by Undertaker in the last arc, and it becomes Very relevant yet again in some of the most recent arcs, but it's the brevity of the scene in this particular arc that causes me to view it like a kind of microcosm of these three's dynamic throughout the entire story. UT really doesn't do much once his identity is revealed during the tea party-- other than talking, his only notable action is to reinforce himself as a threat to Sebastian by proving, which he manages to do without even actually doing much other than anticipating the situation so that he can position himself closer to Ciel than Sebastian is. It's a very slick, subtle move, but one that Sebastian picks up on and hates.

It's because of this that I actually kinda view this scene as more fundamental to establishing UT as KURO's primary/endgame antagonist than his reveal as a shinigami in the last arc, as this proves that UT is someone who is dangerous, calculating, and capable of fucking up Sebastian to a previously-unseen degree. Quite impressive, really.

Notable as well is the fact that this approach to exploiting Sebastian's weakness (namely, Ciel) is not without its precursor either-- as I mentioned back in P1, Ciel himself even uses this weak point to his advantage, putting his own health and safety at risk due to his own stubborn determination during the Circus arc. For all his overpowering strength, his one greatest desire is also his most obvious soft spot, and the biggest players in this game are very much aware of that fact.

8. EMERALD WITCH ARC: OH MAN.

Oh, man.

I'm gonna try to keep the recency bias off of this one if I can since the anime is currently still coming out at the time of writing this, but OH FUCKIN' MAN. Two big things for this one: tentacles, and trust.

To start with the tentacles: hey, remember in P1 when I mentioned Sebastian and Ciel's close connection and dedication getting tested? This is that-- or more specifically, a kind of internal test served from Sebastian to Ciel, to check and see whether or not he still has the same kind of Dedication that he originally had to their contract. This is obviously also quite similar to his initial testing of Ciel's will right after his meeting with the queen as seen in the LLA, though with notably quite different circumstances: now Sebastian isn't just fucking with Ciel, not just testing him or trying to see if he'll adhere to his preconceived notions of what humans usually act like/want, but rather trying to see if this will be the thing that breaks him. He seems to be genuinely disappointed by Ciel's reversion and inability to break out of his trauma, taking to extreme measures to either ensure he gets his meal or, hopefully, break Ciel out of it.

Which he does!! To the great relief of basically everybody involved. And not only that, but we come out of this with an important reinforcement of not only Ciel's commitment to their contract and his revenge, but a valuable gloss on his claim to revenge-- a clarification of his pledge, that he is getting revenge for himself and nobody else. Ciel is grieving, but he recognizes that the dead will never return. His relationship with Sebastian is thus one that benefits him for himself and for himself alone, and nobody else will ever get in the way of that. This is Ciel regaining his self-confidence, his trust in himself, and growing closer to Sebastian because of it.

Thus: at the end of this arc, when Ciel says that Sebastian is, "the one he can trust the least," I really do believe that he is being truthful. He doesn't trust Sebastian, or at least not without some caution-- he is not nearly foolish enough to put his full faith into the monster trying to eat him, and (as we shall very soon see) hasn't been since the very beginning. They are closer now, certainly, but that is due in no small part to Ciel's trust in his own abilities to use Sebastian as he pleases and exploit his weakness (himself) to get what he wants.

The irony of this is that, overall, I think Sebastian and Ciel's relationship does have a greater positive impact on Ciel, on his self-confidence and strength and his ability to regain his agency after having it so viciously ripped away from him. Ciel doesn't want a strong, capable hero to save him, not after all that has happened to him by the time he and Sebastian finally meet-- he wants power and vengeance, the strength to stand on his own legs, and Sebastian, intentionally or not, gives him that. And it's that soft undercurrent of their relationship that paints their relationship in a much more interested, nuanced light than the surface level observation of "evil demon preying on a traumatized child," that is still true, but doesn't quite capture the full picture.

9. MUSIC HALLS ARC: PEEKING OVER THE EDGE

This arc once again features a mostly submissive Sebastian, with a majority of the emphasis falling on Ciel while he gets his shit freaked. Lots of this perhaps comes from the fact that the PSA kids are back, meaning that the cast of somewhat major characters is once again quite large and spends a lot more time bouncing around, setting up some of the REALLY major shit that's right on the verge of being revealed. Most of the pressure is either on Ciel or about to be, so their relationship specifically isn't under enough tension to be tested again in any major ways just yet. There are still some minor moments of friction, of course, but none that really feel character-defining like in the previous few arcs-- the story is foreshadowing a lot here, with tensions from the last 100+ chapters rising, but not quite tipping over the edge... until the end, anyway. When it comes to interactions with other characters, Sebatian and Ciel are pretty in sync this arc, falling back into a more typical dynamic as they team up to train and terrorize their new boy band.

That being said, there is ONE slight exception to this, and that is the slight interlude we get with the Halloween chapter (approximately chapter 119.5), which is one of my favorite specials so I must ramble about it at least a little. As a reminder, here's the last few pages:

I just love this. The symbolism!! THE SYMBOLISM!!! I know I just went on a whole spiel in the last part about how Ciel doesn't trust Sebastian without question, and I still do believe that, but this does point to the fact that Ciel does have some assurance in Sebastian's ability to keep himself safe for as long as it takes to get his revenge. Functionally he believes in him, at least enough to light the way forward, and even to snuff out that flame when the appropriate time does come. Fates intertwined, etc. etc. etc.

The symbolism of Sebastian putting Ciel in a devil costume is also Very intriguing to me, though I'm not entirely sure that I have one clear answer for it. While it is in part just a very funny costume for Ciel to wear, I can't help but feel like there is some kind of greater meaning behind it-- Sebastian's mutual influence on Ciel, perhaps? Grooming him into something more like him, even as Ciel willingly hands over his life and affects him just as much? It seems obvious to me that something a whole lot Bigger than just the contract has been coagulating in the deeper bond between these two, but I'm not entirely confident that I can place the specific nuances of what that is just yet. And looking at Sebastian's face in that second to last page... I'm not entirely sure that either of them have the words to place exactly what it is either.

sidenote2: Could this be interpreted as romantic? Almost certainly-- but it is the nuances within that which interests me most here. How much do they actually trust each other, and how aware are they of this? They're clearly pretty codependent-- but are they themselves even willing to recognize this? When does the predator/prey relationship end, when do the master/servant roles stop, and where do they begin to legitimately care for and respect one another? As we see in the most recent arcs, there is still plenty of room for their relationship to be tested, for the limits of what they are/aren't willing to admit to be put in conflict with what they want above all else. Their conclusion is still a ways off, I guess is my main point here.

10. BLUE MEMORY ARC: LEASHING THE DOG

Sebastian is fucking FERAL in this arc and it is so unbelievably incredibly hot narratively interesting. This entire section has some of the absolute BEST interactions between any two characters in the entire series, istg. Easily my favorite section in the whole entire comic. They're unbeatable. Incomparable. Unmatched meet cute at the demon summoning ritual. What if I was next in line to be sacrificed on the altar, and you were the devil who showed up to snag my twin brother's soul 👉👈 tee hee hee!!1 :3 Soulmate behavior. I'm getting sick to my fucukging stomach just thinking about it oh mgygoddd sedate me >__< (ok not yet i need to finish writing this BUT STILL)

There's just Something about being able to see some of the earliest interactions between Sebastian and Ciel here, to see the stage how it was originally set, that really makes so many of their later interactions that much more fascinating. Like I really cannot emphasize enough how delightful it is to see such an unhinged side to Sebastian from before he was collared and domesticated, back when he was still a liar and a monster and not quite settled into the fact that they were going to be playing the long game. And on the other end, it is wildly impressive seeing Ciel actively in the process of figuring out how to chain Sebastian down-- not falling for the lure of endless power or wealth or whatever other sins Sebastian might like to pull him into, but rather solidifying his first pass at the whole "revenge" idea and figuring out how to limit Sebastian's power so as to better harness it for himself, rather than going the more typical Faustian route of trying to get so much power it immediately bites him in the ass.

One of the most intriguing aspects of some of these flashbacks to me personally is also seeing just how quickly Ciel undergoes his outward personality shift from the shy, sickly, anxious kid that he was as a young boy, stuck back in his role as The Spare, the one stuck inside, to the more sullen and aggressive "Earl Ciel Phantomhive," that we see in the present day. He really does feel like a whole other person after Everything that happens, an amalgamation of intentional changes to try and appear more like his brother to fit his new identity as the confident, capable, outspoken one and the natural shifts that come with his trauma and grief and complete loss of faith, all of which is very much mediated by the new, constant presence of a certain demon butler lurking right over his shoulder.

Similar to EWA, what I further really appreciate about this arc is the way in which it sets up Sebastian as something legitimately dangerous, as one of the biggest, most powerful threats in the series that is absolutely dying to sink his teeth into Ciel. This is easily one of the most openly manipulative Sebastian's we get in the series, really the only time we ever get to see him lie outright to Ciel's face, and it establishes the tension between them perfectly, calling back to their spider couple games in the earliest chapters. Honestly, while it's pretty easy to read both Sebastian and Ciel as the protagonists of KURO, it is also wonderfully easy to read Sebastian as the "true" antagonist and Ciel the primary protagonist-- and ultimately it's the tension between those two sides that keeps the story rolling.

This is also one of the most clearly we hear Ciel speak in reference to the underlying lack of respect that he has for himself, and what I read as his thinly veiled suicidal tendencies. In this arc in particular, Ciel really gives me the vibes of a kind of mundane self-hatred, one that is not necessarily actively self-destructive or even very overt or noticeable to the people around him, but more along the lines of a simple acceptance of himself as something lesser. As is hopefully clear by this point, I really do view Ciel's self-confidence as a key aspect of not only his own individual arc but his relationship with Sebastian and their mutual development as well. It's why the twin reveal is so crucial to understanding who o!Ciel is as a person, imo-- from the very start of our story, o!Ciel has been living under the assumption that he can only ever have power or agency or receive love as his brother, that his own existence is one that can disappear and be swept away without excess grief from the people who remembered him. What his relationship with Sebastian reveals, and really everybody he meets and connects with who isn't attached to his Phantomhive Past, is that this absolutely is NOT the case. For better and for worse, o!Ciel is the one that Sebastian picked-- and, as UT so loves to point out, his life is not replaceable.

sidenote3: Agni. :( Can't let this post go without talking about his passing at least a little, particularly considering all of the parallels between those two couples that I discussed in P1. In particular, it's the parallels between him and Ciel that really gets to me here, and the ways in which we might view his death in conjunction with the sword of Damocles that has been hanging over Ciel's head for this entire series' run... Probably gonna talk about this more in another post on all the master/butler relationships in the series, actually, but the big thing here for me is comparing Soma's reaction to Agni's passing, and specifically Agni dying for Soma, to protect him, to the distinctly more predatory and cannibalistic dynamic that SBCL have going on.

sidenote4: Additionally, after re-watching the ending of S1, I've been struck by the thought that I seriously doubt the ending of the manga will look very much like the ending of either S1 or S2. Like, on a surface level I wouldn't be surprised if there were some similar aesthetic elements or if the greater set-up had echoes of either ending, but I just don't think that a direct recreation of S1's ending would hit the same or even work at all with how the story currently looks. S1 Ciel just feels like such a wildly different person to current-manga Ciel, in his relationships w/ other characters alone if not his underlying core personality. S1 Ciel can drop himself off a bridge, sit quietly on a bench, and let Sebastian easily chow down on his soul. But current manga Ciel? Current manga Sebastian? I don't think it will be nearly as easy, and I'm inclined to keep a sharp eye out for any further developments in Soma's reaction to Agni's passing in particular for the potential parallels it may present to SBCL.

11. BLOOD SPLIT ARC (current): THE FINAL TESTS

This whole section is interesting in that we get another experience of SBCL that feels a LOT like when we took Arthur's POV back in the Manor Murders, only now it happens a couple times in succession with Mey-Rin, Bard, and (a little bit of) Snake's backstories. We are also largely relegated to seeing Sebastian and Ciel purely through these backstories, with very little to no insight into the present-day actions (until very recently, anyway) which is quite different to the kind of masked performance they were doing way back in Murder.

What's fascinating about these depictions to me is just how much Sebastian and Ciel are idolized and practically deified in the eyes of their servants, standing as this image of some kind of unbreakable power couple that certainly gets up to some questionable shit, but is also to a degree untouchable to anybody else. It's actually been somewhat strange for me to see them interacting normally again in the most recent chapters after months and months of seeing them through this lens of the eyes of the people they saved, returning to the usual antics but with the lingering flavor of their mutual overwhelming power still present at the back of my tongue. Since very little time has actually passed in-universe over the last few years there isn't much to sink my teeth into with this section in terms of Insane Developments in their relationship-- instead, I feel left with this distinct thought of just how simultaneously loved and isolated Sebastian and Ciel are together.

Since Sebastian's true nature seems to (miraculously, frankly) still be basically unknown to every other character in the series, save for the shinigami + Arthur + whatever other humans they happen to be terrorizing at any given moment, those two are somewhat uniquely situated in the sense that they are the only ones who really seem to Get what's happening between them. Of course, everybody picks up on the closeness, on the deep bond and apparent trust that is undeniably between the two of them, but the true depths of their codependency and the nature of their contract seems to confine them away from most other characters. Naturally, Undertaker comes closest to figuring it out, but as I think we're likely to see in the upcoming chapters, even he doesn't seem to fully Get It either (or at the very least is biased by his own desires/feelings surrounding the Phantomhives).

SO. Speaking, of... where is all of this going, anyways?

I'm certain there are things that will come out surprise me about this series as we begin descending into the final stretches of this manga's run, but if I had to list my suspicions/thoughts/questions surrounding where I think the story is likely to go, considering everything that has come thus far (and still staying centered on SBCL), it would look something like this:

o!Ciel has still not yet fully dealt with the fundamental insecurity at the center of his psyche: the idea that he is inherently lesser than his brother. As delighted as I am by his adamant refusal to give up the title of "Earl Ciel Phantomhive," there's some deeper shit there that he's still not addressing. This is not at all to say that I think he needs to go back to using his old/birth name or some shit (frankly, it's more of the opposite)-- but if he really is committing to the "Ciel Phantomhive" route, I think he still has a ways to go when it comes to defining that name for himself, to take his power and agency as the Ciel Phantomhive that he wants to be, and not as some dubious stand-in for someone that he thinks better of.

Sebastian has not solidified his commitment to their contract in the same way that Ciel continually has. I feel like this is going to be the most relevant when it comes to whatever shit Mr. Modri Vladis starts digging back up with regards to Sebastian's past-- clearly, there is something Different about this current contract for Sebastian, and I don't think he's fully processed that yet. Personally, I don't really doubt that Sebastian is still perfectly capable of chowing down on Ciel the second his time comes, dude's been blueballing himself out of that meal for literally almost 20 real life years by this point, but how is he actually going to feel about it? Will he hesitate? Will he regret it? He may not have a past in the same way as the humans of this story, but what is his side to all of this? Who is he, if not the Earl Phantomhive's butler?

AAAAAAAAARRAHAURAGHHG YANA-SENSEI PLEASE. PLEASE. I don't even know what I'm begging for at this point. Just Please. Where are these bitches gonna end up, I still feel like I Just Don't Know. I really do think that Ciel is gonna get eaten. But the specifics of how, and why, and when, I'm really not sure I can tell. Regardless, as I said in my little sidenote for the Memory Arc, I really don't think it can be quite so straightforward as it was at the end of S1 by this point-- the connections, the blood, it all runs too deep now. None of this is going to be easy.

We're in the midst of Some Shit now. The story is clearly picking back up, the plot moving forward as we start to near the point where these bloodlines converge, back to the perspective of the two Big Ones. Frankly, I don't think I have any real fuckin' idea where this shit is actually going to end up. But fuck if I'm not excited out of my mind to find out >w<

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

How would you (if you were Ryan Condal) have fleshed out book Aemond in s1 without woobifying him too much?

Good question anon!

If we're going book!Aemond and keeping the book timeline, I think there's very little chance of woobification because Aemond plays a much more overtly antagonistic role in F&B from the start. I think lots of HotD fans, even those who have read the book, kind of mentally default to the show version of Driftmark, but the book version has him pushing a 3 year old into dragon poop and he's absolutely beating the shit out of Jace when Luke-- who is 5-- runs up and slashes his eye. Baela and Rhaena aren't there so there's really no "stealing Vhagar" plotline, and while it's 2 on 1, Aemond won the fight, taunts them by calling them bastards, which makes them engage again, and is once more winning the fight when Luke gets in a lucky shot. The same criticisms of the adults still apply of course, and Viserys is still equally useless at acknowledging Aemond's injury, but it is harder to feel sorry for the guy when he is the one doing the bullying and the bullying just so happened to backfire horribly. And I think that while it is true that for Alicent, this incident proves once and for all that Viserys does not care what happens to her children, what book!Aemond takes from this is that he will never allow himself to be beaten by someone he considers his "lessers" again (and the Strong boys are half his age, so this is a humiliating defeat, not necessarily something he'd want to be coddled over). There is this fanon idea of Aemond, is the dutiful son who does what he is told, who does everything right but gets shat on for it, and who finally gets sick of playing by the rules and snaps. But Aemond (and I'd argue this even applies broadly to show!Aemond) is actually quite defiant and combative from the start, often to the detriment of himself and his family. Not only is he not as competent as he believes himself to be, he causes a lot of his own problems and then gets mad when others do not want to help him fix them.

I do not necessarily think Aemond needs a sad backstory to be a good character, and I've never cared for the show's take on his villain origin story. The bullied kid becomes a mass murderer is a tired trope in 2025 but I think it falls flat with Aemond in particular for a number of reasons that I won't get into here (and Aemond's messy and incoherent S2 arc is a direct product of the show's inability to pull off his heel turn-- I could write an entire post about that in and of itself). I think if I were adapting book!Aemond, I would lean into Aemond's problems with authority and the massive chip on his shoulder that comes from him being a powerful, warlike, ambitious man with no outlet for his ambitions. Not only is he not the secondborn son, he's pushed further down the line of succession by Viserys keeping Rhaenyra as his chosen heir. He's never knighted, despite being an excellent fighter, is not betrothed during Viserys' lifetime so he will have no holdings of his own, and although he accepts his role as the "enforcer" of the family, he clearly believes he would make a better king than Aegon, whose claim he must nevertheless uphold. And to be clear, I do not believe book!Aemond has studied history and philosophy (or the Valyrian language for that matter) to any greater extent than Aegon has, he is simply a warrior whereas Aegon is not, but to Aemond that is all that matters.

So I would show Aemond as man who has followed the tenets of Westerosi masculinity but who has not, in his own view, reaped the rewards that he believes should be his due. I would juxtapose this with Aegon, who is the eldest son but who has never been treated as an eldest son and therefore does not even attempt to perform the swordbro variety of Westerosi masculinity because what would be the point? It would get him nowhere and worse than nowhere, it might cast him as a true threat to Rhaenyra's inheritance. Aemond's disdain for Aegon therefore would come not from Aegon's failure to embrace his "duty," because there is no duty for Aegon to embrace, and Aemond doesn't care about duty anyway, he cares about power. Aegon's hedonism makes him soft in Aemond's estimation, and that is what Aemond cannot tolerate (which is not to say he does not love his brother, he just does not respect him). In contrast, Aemond has learned that there are few problems that violence cannot solve provided you have an unlimited capacity for violence, and his cruelty grows in proportion to his ability to enact violence upon others. The more he is enabled by his family (who also cannot tell him no or punish his misdeeds in any significant way because Vhagar is too important to the war effort), the bolder he grows. Remember, there is a reason why Aemond, much like Maegor, turns his nose up at the idea of making a trip to Dragonstone to claim a hatchling (which, despite Viserys' condescending phrasing, is very likely how Aegon claimed Sunfyre). No mere hatchling will do for Aemond, it has to be a war dragon. He needs to be, if not the one wearing the crown, then the one with the most firepower, the one who cannot be refused.

Even Aemond's one canonical romance, with Alys, is one in which he claims her as a "war prize," and Alys feeds his ego with visions of the future, giving him an excuse to abandon his allies and family. He takes Alys along with him when he seeks out Daemon, as she has become a sort of talisman, proof that he will emerge victorious-- she has seen it in her visions, after all, or so he believes. Soon the war itself becomes secondary Aemond's own self aggrandizement and his need to justify all of his previous acts with ultimate victory, not for the greens, but for Aemond himself. And again, I would contrast this with Aegon, who undergoes a transformation during the war, his sense of self shattered and pieced back together again in a way that he never truly recovers from. He shows himself to be tougher and more tenacious than anyone expected, but the cost of this transformation is his body, his health, his dragon, and most of his family. In the end Aegon is exhausted by the effort it takes to survive, clinging to the last shreds of his humanity in his refusal to execute a child, and increasingly more concerned with how his family is remembered than with his own legacy, commissioning statues for his brothers yet none for himself.

In Aemond's final days, he does not negotiate, he does not coordinate with his armies or his Hand (who is of course long dead due to Aemond's refusal to ), he does not lay patiently in wait or spring any traps; he burns the countryside indiscriminately in search of one man, an effort which brings him no closer to his goal. As he burned the countryside, Aemond must have felt like a god on dragonback, immortal and unstoppable, and yet mere months later the dragons (and Aemond) are no more. I would portray him as a man with more power than sense, whose actions helped ensure that an army that had no real reason to keep fighting would nevertheless refuse to surrender. Ultimately, Aemond and Vhagar can be viewed as a cautionary tale about the might makes right aspect of Targaryen dragonpower. Aemond thinks he can ignore the existing power structures because he has Vhagar and no one can stop him or punish him, and yet his misuse of that power dooms his faction, much as the Dance itself speeds the end of the Targaryen dynasty.

[angrybubbles]

Death and Symbolism in Interview with the Vampire - Armand

Disclaimer: I have only seen the AMC adaption, and have passing knowledge of the books harvested from tumblr. I will apply the book tidbits to occasionally support my point, but feel free to add/disagree if you have read them.

So I initially was going to do Claudia next, but then I realized that Armand's death symbolism is really helpful to figuring out why her story ended the way it did, so we'll do him first. I will also be very piecemeal on connecting his backstory to the book version, simply because his death symbolism has changed (see more after the cut).

I have already discussed Louis and Lestat, and will build on the ideas discussed in those posts, so it may be helpful to read those first. But to give the general thesis; Vampires are both a metaphor and symbol of death, how it is delivered, and what kind of people it targets. Vampires have to live with this, love like this, and they make choices that reinforce this symbolism.

Armand is a really fascinating character for multitudes of reasons, but his death symbolism is especially so. In the books, we have him symbolic of a death on the cusp of adulthood. Not just the age of desire (sexual, but also those of dreams and hopes), but cut short before a turning point, before full maturity. In the AMC adaption, however, Armand is fully an adult. 27 years old, Armand can no longer represent this, so any connection I could make to the original material is changed. We also have a single conversation about the nature of his turning, bare in details, and an argument, so unfortunately there isn't much canon I can connect to his origins to flesh out his beginning. However, we do have a lot of his interactions with other characters, so I'll be able to extrapolate from there.

The other tidbit I want to make clear is that Armand has overwhelmingly presented himself in the show so far as a performance. The realest Armand we get is the recording in 2x05. I am making the disclaimer here, because that does impact the symbolism he provides because he's curating those decisions that help us parse it out.

The Vampire Armand

Unlike the other characters in the series, Armand has died more than once. The boy who could possibly be Arun, stolen from his homeland and whisked into slavery. The slave Arun, bought from a brothel and remade into Amadeo, who was then remade into a Vampire. Amadeo, stolen from the palazzo as his maker burns to be tortured under Rome and given the new role of Armand. Armand, the coven leader who watched his coven disintegrate, the Theatre burn, who looked to others to make a new identity of him. Every memory of his is someone deciding who he is. Similarly to Louis, Armand has experienced the death of self, but unlike Louis these deaths have been single-handedly at the violent hands of others.

Usually I put my racism point at the end of the essays, but I want to make it clear that this is directly related to Armand's race. He has been shackled for so long he doesn't remember what it's like to have them off, especially since so many of the shackles have been on his mind, not on his person. He has never existed in his memory without being shackled to someone/something. The reason why race matters here is because it is societally reinforced. He will not have the same power and role if he simply leaves the coven, for it is only in the past handful of decades that the European world has been friendly to a lone brown man. Armand would not be free if he left, not for most of his undeath.

Of the information we know for sure about his turning, we know he was nursed through it. Falling ill for months before being turned. This "nursing" aspect will come up later, so keep that in mind. What I want to highlight here, however, is the slowness of it. For that is one of the deaths that Armand symbolizes; a Slow Death.

The other I'm going to choose to connect to the cult (although there is ample evidence from the books this could also be from Marius), which is that deaths should be justified. To those "deserving" of it. Those asking for it. Thrill-seekers. Louis tells us that his method of hunting includes seeking out those "half-in-love with an easeful death" (book!Armand begging God to free him in the brothel) or those who are dangerous and inhumane enough that he's willing to hunt. I'm going to summarize this into a Justified Death.

Let's look at season 1 of IwtV. Armand play-acting as Rashid is nearly always looming in the background, slowly becoming more prevalent as the episodes continue on, before revealing his identity as the Interview shifts into something he doesn't want. He justifies his presence, making the nature of the interview shift.

We can also see this approach in season 2 with his first meeting with Louis in Paris. He lets Louis and Claudia linger there for months, before slowly approaching Louis and making the judgement that this one should stay alive. His looming death is always there, watching. (Daniel would know something about that, but you'll have to wait for his section for me to explore that further.) He spares Louis in the tunnels of Paris, because he cannot justify this death.

One of the reasons I believe he's so interested in Louis (keeping just symbolism in mind) is that Grief and Regret hold hands well with a Patient death. A depressive spiral can feel like the slow death of oneself. Justification for actions can serve to hide regret. It's why their relationship is doomed from the start, because they are emotions suited to each other, but inherently incapable of growth beyond it.

And what is it to be loved by Grief and Regret? It is a heavy burden, one that wears on you. There is unmistakable value in it, they are traits that keep us human, but it ages at the seams. If you cannot escape its hold, it'll whittle away at your sense of self, something Armand is deeply familiar with. If you can't keep control of it, then it'll keep control of you.

Now, Armand loves. He loves so deeply and possessively. What does it mean to be loved by the Slow and Justified Death of Armand? A soft, suffocating pillow, taking you closer and closer to a death spiral. The spiraling death of the Children of Darkness. The spiraling death of the Theatre, dwindling in audience and passion. The 77 year relationship with Louis that ends in a tomb. The twelve years of Devil's Minion. It eats and eats and eats at you until you're hollow.

Now, what of Claudia? Well she was already spiraling into a slow death. Madness and mayhem in New Orleans, losing herself in Romania and Paris, spiraling as she is forced to perform LuLu (I'll get into that in her installment). Not only that, but in the concept of the Laws which Armand lives by, she is not supposed to be there. And he truly believes that she won't live long, even if he doesn't have a hand in this death. When he says "I couldn't prevent it," whether he took the actions in the trial or not, it is his role as this symbol you can see that Claudia would probably succumb to a slow death. She does not endure well. Just as Louis had to justify her death to turn her, Armand justifies it a second time, but it is forced, Dramatic, and therefore wrong. Armand and Lestat as symbols of death are at odds, and that showcases itself in the nature of the trial. (We'll see if the trial gets explored more, this take might change).

So remember the AIDS metaphor I brought up in Louis' section? Well, it continues with Armand. Little history lesson; nurses were not really considered the "good guys" in the viewpoint of AIDS/HIV victims. Armand initially saves Daniel, tearing Death away from him, and then "caring" for him over the next six days. "You make the mess, and I clean it up." Now, keep in mind that treatment was painful and non-existent for many years, and nurses would not let loved ones in to see those who were dying (Louis begging Armand to leave Daniel alone, Armand slamming the door). It is only Louis as Regret saving Daniel from the easeful death Armand was offering (medically assisted suicide, anyone?) that let Daniel continue to the man he is today.

Armand also nurses Louis through his wounds, saving his life, but the drawn-out suffering is not immediately fixed (another rejection of a loved-ones call as well, just a call from a hospital). If you know anything about metal-health nurses in the 70's you would also know the torture-like care is also very present in that episode. This torture-like care ("prison of empathy" if you will) continues into the modern day. Louis' life is dramatically structured, all for the sake of Louis' health. While Louis technically has choice in the situation, Armand repeated interjects with reminders of the risk of Louis' actions. It is all FOR Louis, but it is still suffocating due to his fear of losing Louis after the suicide attempt. A slow, justified, suffocation of a relationship.

Now Armand has this thing about turning people into Vampires. He doesn't really believe it should be done, he needs justification for it that is solid, and he can't bring himself to do it. He doesn't see death as a gift. Despite begging for it his entire life (o o f), he doesn't think the gift of it is worth the suffering it takes to live with it. He again pairs well with Louis here, for he feels such grief connected with his past that it is overwhelming. Yet, he turns Daniel. Now Daniel does fit his victim list, but why provide him the gift? Lestat and Louis both break their trends when they turn someone, so what about Armand?

The show hasn't given us a clear answer about that (I have my doubts about the "spite" Louis gestures at), but based on my understanding of Armand's death symbolism? There's something up there.

[mayhemchicken-varneyposting]

In a post you said "if you want this trope or that trope that you keep inserting in Dracula, read Varney instead!" And omg you're right. I could add "If you want a vampire story that puts the spotlight on the titular character and gives them tons of screentime, read Varney instead."

Which made me realize the same applies to Carmilla… "You want a story with a badass vampire slayer from a vampire-hunter bloodline, who has connections to the titular vampire, and is the one who kills it? Carmilla." "Want a dangerous but sympathetic vampire with a tragic backstory? Carmilla." "Vampire who obsessively loves a girl and awakens Thoughts in her? Carmilla."

Everyone wants Dracula to be the everything vampire and he really isn't. (I would argue Varney is, but I am biased.) Of the various literary vampires, Dracula is the best horror monster; for all other purposes, one of the others is better suited.

Tragic/sympathetic monster? Varney/Carmilla. Suave/seductive? Literally any of the others - Ruthven, Varney, Carmilla and Clarimonde all do this in some flavor. The only person Dracula ever seduces is Jonathan and he can't even do that without turning it into a grueling psychological torture. The vampire is the protagonist? That would be Varney (the back half of it, at least). The vampire did nothing wrong actually? Clarimonde. Saved/redeemed by the power of love? Also Clarimonde (Varney gets an honorable mention for trying on this one but it never actually happens). Sexy Liberator? Surprise, that one's actually The Black Vampyre (RIP king your vampire revolution should have succeeded).

[natt-writes]

~5 Writing tips that actually help~

(These tips are meant for fiction books, especially fantasy. so if you’re writing nonfiction a decent amount of these won’t apply to you. Sorry!)

Find your writing voice.

one of the biggest issues I find in things written by beginners is a lack of emotional connection with the narration. Sure the story can be great, but without personality, without looks into the characters minds, without little quips here and there, it really isn’t all that interesting. Something that really helped me to realize this was a book called the tragical tale of birdie bloom. It’s a kids book but it honestly has such a good narrator (and storyline tbh) that you can look past the little kiddy-ness. I recommend you check the book out if you’re looking for some inspiration. I will be making a post about how to develop your writing and character voices soon so if you want some extra help with that, stay tuned!

2. Get to know your characters.

I know that you all probably already know this, but characters are one of, if not the most important part of a book. Readers don’t want to read about a flat, boring character who just feels like a vessel for the horrifying amount of trauma you add to your story. They want to read about people that feel real, people with flaws and feelings and hobbies and backstories. When I wanted to develop my characters I started going through the drafts, the plot outlines, everything and seeing what the characters did, said, felt. Then I took their basic backstory and started lining things up. Like if a character decided to get into a fight with another character, I would see what had happened to them that might have caused this. Maybe they had been abused as a child and thought that any disagreement meant they had to fight for their life. Maybe this person reminded them of a former enemy. After you start to figure out what connects the characters to the big plot points, you can then start to develop subtle things. You could start writing something, realize this situation would have triggered a character, and then drop subtle hints towards them feeling uncomfortable. Go nuts with it, after all you can never over-analyze a character.

3. Describe things uniquely.

Descriptions are what help us to understand what’s going on in a scene. They can tell us about the tasty drink a character is enjoying, the slick dress that someone is wearing or the way a characters muscles tense when a certain someone enters the room. But sometimes descriptions a fall a bit flat and that can ruin the experience for the reader. Something I always try to remember is to try and come up with new words describe something, for example; “her eyes were a beautiful shade of brown.” Is a very basic and over used description, instead you could try; “her eyes sparkled as she sat across from me, gleaming a rich chocolate shade as the light from the candles reflected off of them”. This is a much stronger sentence as it gives both environment hits and a description of the eyes, all while staying away from overused terms. I often see this theme in stories written by beginners, things being described in a very straight forward manner. And of course this is ok once in a while, especially if this isn’t a very important topic, but it still sounds better when you branch away from that basic sentence structure. I always like to use descriptive sentences to push things forward. Here is another example; “she was wearing a fluffy green dress with lots of lace. She walked over to the door and opened it.” Vs “the lacy trim of her green dress dragged on the floor as she walked towards the door. She smiled wide as she held it open, inviting her guests into the building.” Making strong sentences is very important, so please toy around with different words, structures, etc, until the sentence fits the type of book you’re trying to write.

4. Make trauma realistic.

Yes, even if you’re writing a fantasy book, characters experiences have to be realistic. Something that always gets on my nerves is when writers come up with a good idea for some trauma, so they just give to a character, even when it doesn’t suit them at all. if you are going to give a character trauma you need to explain it, set it up so it actually fits into their character arc, then have the character actually be affected by it. They can’t just randomly be like “I got shot by a dude.” And that’s it if there is no way that character could have gotten shot given their life experiences. Also if you want a character to be relatively unaffected after an extremely traumatic event you have to plan it out so that they have a specific and consistent trauma response that makes them not react shortly after an event like that. Characters are supposed to be like people, and no two people react to trauma the same way, so you do have some leeway if necessary, but people also don’t just stay the same after something horrible happens, they are affected by it and that has to be accurately portrayed. This does get easier the more you get to know the characters though, as soon you will know how they react to things and how to plan trauma that suits them.

5. Make a plot outline.

I cannot stress this enough, make a plot outline. Making a plot outline literally saved my book, and they are really easy to make! I recommend you download a spreadsheet app like XL spreadsheets or Apple numbers but you could even use google docs if you want. You want to put in all the chapters and then give each chapter at least six spots to write scenes. Add a spot for adding the main event of the chapter/a summery of what you have to write. This will help you to understand what you have to write for that chapter and how it fits into the next chapter. After that you start to fill all the scene boxes in with your plot information. Having a plot outline is great as it can be super vague and messy, but still hold all your ideas. It also helps to prevent unnecessary rewrites later, as you can just edit the plot outline before you start writing the first draft. You can even make a plot outline after you’ve started writing your book. That’s what I did and I promise, it still is very helpful. (Example of a plot outline below.)

[wryuxim]

this has been in my drafts way too long, and again, i suck at writing, but i’ve really needed to say this. how the hell is millionsummers so normalized in the fandom? well i know why, but it’s honestly crazy to me how 90% of the pretty small amount of legato fans in existence ship him with knives. like do you even understand his character? sure if you haven’t read trimax (like too many people) you literally wouldn’t know anything significant about him since he’s just kinda there in the other iterations. all you’d see is evil guy x bootlicker right hand that have minimal interactions with each other. don’t get me wrong, i could get behind that. like it even. but the issue is that there’s more to it than just that. even if you haven’t gotten to legato’s backstory in the manga, it’s clear from the start that the way that knives treats him crosses the line of average evil toxic yaoi bull. like literally the very first time we see them interact knives casually shatters every bone in legato’s body bro. causing irreparable damage and rendering someone a quadriplegic(?) after they were probably trying to get you a new body for the past 7ish years is so romantic, right!! He also just disregards him as a person and is generally shitty and all that which is kinda mean of him to do ngl. yeah you could say erm actually knives does care about legato though, he’s just too much of a stubborn bitch to show it!1!1!!1!! and i agree with that (to an extent, not getting into it though) but like…that doesn’t excuse the fact that he’s literally abusive. and that isn’t even considering literally everything about legato himself. he was horrifically abused for as long as he could remember. he doesn’t know what a healthy relationship of any kind is. he chose to serve knives (despite being well aware of how he was) because he never knew a life outside of that. he thinks that’s all he’s good for and knows he won’t be anything more to knives, yet still kills himself trying to prove his worth. knives is someone he is unhealthily dependent on who causes him to become more and more self-destructive. just because knives isn’t the same as his previous abusers doesn’t mean it’s not just another shitty situation he fell into. i do think legato’s feelings towards knives could be some sort of crush, but it’s more of a one-sided obsession than anything. to think that it’s an actually good cute little pairing baffles me. i do get that the fun of it is the toxicity, but you can explore the character dynamic without them fucking is all.

i think what i’ve said so far is enough of an argument ig, but there’s still my main point left. i held back on this till now because of the crazy amount of people say he wasn’t for whatever reason, but legato was a CHILD when they met. like do y’all SERIOUSLY think he’s an adult here??

i really don’t want to pull up panels from his backstory flashback, but you literally cannot convince me. nightow didn’t need to state it outright for it to be pretty obvious that he was a kid. we see how he draws other characters when they were younger as reference so you can clearly see the differences in proportion. i mean just compare it to how he looks throughout the rest of the manga, especially near the end. just because he doesn’t have a confirmed canon age doesn’t mean that there wasn’t an intent there. y’all are grasping at straws to justify it.

also the same applies to elendira (x knives) because of the super secret third legato flashback:

i won’t count this as proof for legato because tristamp (though a separate canon) kinda muddies it, but woah she’s not an adult. also irrelevant but knives was smiling at him 😞😞 i’d like to think he was nice to them at one point but this isn’t about that. the fact that people probably take this to fuel their millionsummers makes me very very sad.

back on topic though, there’s another side of the copium spectrum. i can’t believe i have to say this, but i’ve no joke seen people say that legato and knives were both teenagers when they met as if that makes any damn sense. the twins are both confirmed over 150 years old. in trimax, the july incident happened ten years by the date before the events of the last few volumes (cited in my last post), and legato doesn’t look all that different in the two flashbacks. and the flashbacks or any other evidence i could pull out my ass don’t even actually matter because knives is old as fuck and legato is obviously a normal human age. again, it’s just straw grasping bro so please give up 😭🙏

and if you don’t give a shit and loooove grooming mentally ill teenagers you pick up off the streets then fuck off?? you’re gross and legato would hate your ass. i probably have more to say but i can’t think of anything rn so that’s it for now. millionsummers is cringe and this fandom is a prison. but like a cartoon one where the bars have large enough gaps between them to walk through.

[ilikekidsshows]

-long ask ahead-

Big fandom blog recently said that ML is a character-driven show, that it shows what the characters WOULD do, not what they SHOULD do. This really got me thinking.

Somehow I can kinda see their point; if there was a book about the events of ML written completely from Marinette's POV, we could see all her thoughts and how she disregards other characters' feelings/existance and it would make sense because they are not of any priority to her view of the world. As Marinette she has a strong drive to get Adrien into her hands that leads to all kinds of funny/questionable situations. Her depictions in the show where she paranoidly imagines scenarios with Adrien or is plotting to get to him is what I could see as character-driven moments. No-one outside of herself is giving her these goals and ambitions.

But aside from that? The Ladybug/superhero side seems only reactive instead of active. She saves the day when the villains attack, but has no ambition to go after them when the attack is over. There is no real tie to her personal life aside from her having to play the hero role and some attacks interrupting her civilian life. If the story wouldn't emphasize that she is the greatest Ladybug, and instead anyone could do it as well, then Marinette probably wouldn't do it. She doesn't seem personally attached to being Ladybug, as seen in Kwami's Choice. If we removed Hawkmoth with all his backstory and ambitions from the show, there wouldn't be a Ladybug, there wouldn't be a plot outside of Marinette wanting Adrien. Marinette is not interested in the lore of the miraculous or in being a superhero, she wouldn't do anything without an outside influence. So this side is more plot-driven if we view Hawkmoth as the plot-tool?

And what about characters popping out of nowhere and mingling with the plot (e.g. Felix, Chloe)? Chloe's actions are clearly often just there to further the plot of the episode instead of giving us insight on her character. Felix's goals change every other episode. Tomoe could be any other prop and we wouldn't know more about her, etc.

Can stressing about being the guardian be viewed as character-driven? No-one outside of Ladybug herself really pressures her to act a certain way in that role (Su-han could be talked down easily, I don't count him). Is her keeping secrets and disregarding Chat Noir a result of her controlling behaviour, thus character-driven? (but it's also extremely convenient for the writers to add tension or because they don't care about Chat Noir) And how is this perspective meant to make it more bearable to watch unfolding?

I did look up some character-driven vs. plot-driven posts and explanations, but the more I think about it in the context of ML, the more it blends together and I get no clear answer. Of course, there's probably very few exclusivly 100% character- or plot-driven stories, and certainly not a show like ML, but some elements should be easier to put in one box or the other? I'm not even sure about the definitions of character- vs plot-driven anymore, I'm so confused, I'm sure I got it wrong along the way and mixing in-character with writer's views and so on.

I would love to respark my enjoyment of the show with a simple change of perspective but I think that sadly won't do. In the end, whether it's this or that, I'm still disappointed and unsatisfied with how it went in the long run. Yet it's still interesting to think about how people who still really like the show could view it.

I think you mentioned on your blog that you have some education in media-analysis or something of the kind. If you like, could you share your perspective on the claim at the top?

What's the common definition of character-driven stories and can we apply it on ML?

Would this change of perspective make some writing choices more enjoyable (it's subjective, I know)? I think a lot viewers expect a superhero show to be more plot-heavy and characters to develop (or characters wanting to improve themselves somehow), so if we went into ML thinking from the start "this is not about the plot and how people should act, I'm just watching characters do whatever they would do" would our reactions be really different?

How would the show have to be written and presented to be truely character-driven?

Sorry that's a lot I ask. Feel free to answer whatever you like (or ignore the message). Thanks for reading anyway.

Anonymous asked: Miraculous is character driven story, the plot is determined by what the characters's do rather than the usual opposite with wath the characters doing is determined by the plot, said a friend of mine when we discussed before. What's your opinion about it if I may ask?

---

Okay, so I'm just going to start this by saying that "character-driven" and "plot-driven" are not literary analysis terms, but writing tip terms. It refers to what the focus of your story is. It means that, when you write a book or a movie, you should usually pick to prioritize an in-depth character study or a story with a lot of plots or world-building (the lore, if you will). Character-driven stories have a plot or several, but it isn't intended to be the main draw, so it can be sloppy while more work gets put into making sure the characters are complex and have clear arcs from beginning to end. Similarly, plot-driven stories can have complex characters, but the main draw is meant to be the larger narrative.

Plot-driven vesus character-driven is a writing tip against avoiding a bloated story full of unnecessary details. If your story is about two nobles dealing with an arranged marriage and the pressure their families put on them, having a complex magic system and magical duels using said system take up a bunch of pages is unnecessary. Similarly, if you're writing a story about a complex magic system, how it gets used and how it affects the society at large, dedicating a lot of time to a romance arc takes attention away from the actual points of the story, like the dreaded "forced Hollywood romance" in action/adventure movies.

In a comic or TV series, you usually (thanks companies for cutting episode counts; you suck) have more time and space to deal with more stuff, and varying stuff can improve a long-running series. In an ongoing, long-running superhero comic or show, you can and should use both and have them take turns. This is, in fact, the industry standard. Sure, a Batman story can technically have him chasing down Scarecrow, but, if the bulk of the episode/issue/trade is him battling his inner demons that the Scarecrow's Fear Toxin causes him to hallucinate, then is the story really about chasing down Scarecrow, or is it about developing Batman's character? (It's the latter.)

In general, I don't think "character-driven versus plot-driven" is a useful analysis tool, because it's binary. Basically, in media analysis, you should always try to avoid yes or no questions, but many binary questions are equally bereft of deeper meaning. Asking if Miraculous is character or plot-driven will answer that question, but not anything else. You can describe how you came to that conclusion, but the character/plot divide won't by itself create any other points to be made about the text, you need another tool/lense/question for that.

In addition, character-driven versus plot-driven can't refer to "what moves the story", because moving the story is the plot. The plot, or plots, are the cause-and-effect chains within a story. A plot doesn't move by itself, either natural occurences or character actions will move it along, you need a cause and effect. This also means, that, even if character-driven was a way to describe story progression, only stories about natural disasters could be not-character-driven.

In the top ask, the would vs should division seems to imply that the person describing Miraculous as character-driven is trying to say that, in Miraculous, the characters’ actions are supposed to be logical from the perspective of their personal motivations and not necessarily morally correct. This is how I’ve seen most people defend Marinette's villain arc; that we aren't meant to agree with her, but simply wait and see what the payoff will be.

The problem with this approach to analyzing Miraculous specifically is that the writers have never committed to a long-term payoff. I just can't believe that Marinette's villain arc will lead to a satisfying conclusion instead of the show either dropping the whole thing without addressing it, or having Marinette once again get so upsette that her victims have to console her. They're already setting up the possibility for instant forgiveness by focusing on how upset she was about the lying she “had” to commit. She already feels bad, so punishing her would be wrong, and the “punishment” here refers to any kind of long-term consequences for her actions.

Of course, the implication also is that, while we supposedly aren't supposed to agree with Marinette, we can't hold her too accountable either, we can't “demonize” her or want her to get “punished”. Which just sounds like we aren't even allowed to expect this “plotline” to have a satisfying conclusion. It could very well be that these people would think “yeah, Marinette was wrong but she feels really bad about it so let's just everyone forget about it until she does it again” would, in fact, be the satisfying payoff. Basically, even wanting the other characters to be justifiably upset with Marinette is the same as wanting to “punish” Marinette, so we can’t expect any character to behave like they have motivations or feelings outside of pleasing Marinette.

But, like, that's that thing with character actions supposedly making sense from their perspective; as you said in that book comparison, it only makes sense from Marinette's perspective. From any other perspective, what on earth is motivating the other characters to keep giving Marinette chance after chance while she squanders them all? She's not that good of a friend that she’d earn that much leeway, not from supposedly reasonable normal people who are merely acting how they would act instead of how the Marinette-favoring writers think they should act. The would versus should argument therefore only refers to Marinette and is just an excuse for her actions.

In addition, we have one big problem with the argument that Marinette is supposed to be a flawed character and anyone criticizing her is just too impatient to wait for the payoff for her character arc, in addition to the writers’ inability to write payoffs that I already mentioned. The other problem is that, while the audience might think Marinette needs to grow and become better, the writers don't. Every single one of Marinette's self-growth arcs has been scrapped: her inability to communicate got vindicated, her awkward romancing got excused and her quest to confess to Adrien got resolved by Adrien confessing instead. Marinette isn't a character who grows. In addition, the writers' every comment on the S5 finale has been nothing but excuses for why Adrien not knowing anything is right, because Adrien is just too emotional (like a hysterical woman who needs to be controlled because the writers are that kind of people).

So, in terms of what character-driven and plot-driven even mean: if Marinette is both completely disengaged from the plots of stopping the villains permanently or figuring out the Miraculous lore, and is a static character who doesn't actually grow or have a discernible arc, what is Miraculous as a show even about? In addition to the love square, it used to be about character development before the retool, but, after said retool, the characters have stagnated and the show just spins its wheels until the writers decide to have something cool happen to ramp up social media engagement. Now all we have is the love square and Marinette acting like she’s the center of the universe, so I guess the show is about the love square and Marinette, so it's technically character-driven, if character-driven can mean “making one character look like she’s the only one deserving of sympathy or celebration”. I guess you could say the show is Marinette-driven, it’s about Marinette and what she wants and what a girlboss she is while getting what she wants.

Frankly, it kinda sounds like the new character-driven vs plot-driven comparison is trying to create a new way to say: “don't expect a kids' show to be well-written.” It's kinda like people are saying: “of course the plot is shit because Miraculous is about the character writing”, but, like, the character writing is shit too. That’s what I’ve been saying since the S5 finale aired and Astruc started claiming that Marinette won and was truly kind and Adrien can't be trusted to know the truth about Gabriel: the way Marinette is written doesn't match how the writers want her to be viewed. The writers are only really interested in writing one character, but in a way where all her character arcs get scrapped, which, I think, doesn’t even hit the bare minimum requirement of being character-driven the way writing tip websites intend it.

My background in media analysis mainly means I'm pretty good at spotting patterns, and Miraculous' patterns reveal sloppy plot writing and sloppy character writing. It's all just been slop since the retool, mostly, I think, because the writers aren’t really interested in developing their characters or plots. The writers’ main focus seems to be to try to sell Marinette as an amazing person who deserves all the attention, while everything outside of isolated “cool” scenes gets overlooked. The wisemen of the groupchat saw these definitions and called Miraculous a “look at our cool girlboss”-driven show.

[pey-up]

okay now can we PLEASE be chill and normal when i say this? Im not defending canon junko, not saying anything about her, just saying what i as someone who enjoys these concepts of the danganronpa characters and writing characters believe is more compelling

Okay. Junko Enoshima. ICONIC character, shes not the most cosplayed character for nothing, but shes also very... characterless? She has NOTHING really going for her at all. In thh we see mukuro, not her, so we dont learn much there, and every other time we see her its all "despair despair despair" which is FINE, keep her on topic, but i just cant help but feel like she could be a better villain if her motivation was more than just "boreddd!" or her personality was more than despair, bored, and fashion diva.

Danganronpa, to be fair, isnt the best at characterization, especially for its female characters. It falls into the tricky trap of making the characters. Well. *character* all around their talent. I see this a lot with danganronpa oc's! Dr like to throw one or two personality traits at one of the 16 characters and top it with the figurative talent bow and some tragic, needlessly dark and trope filled most the time, backstory. (Ex: himiko- sleepy, likes tenko and angie, mage. Done. I understand she CAN be written deeper, but i only ever see that done by fans, in game she and so many other characters are so shallowly written)

So how does this apply to Junko? Well, like i said earlier, her whole shtick without being the shsl despair is shes a fashion diva, she has an opposite twin (ive never seen any of the animes, does any of that ever get explained? The last name thing, looking totally different, anything? I dont remember it, but i could be totally overlooking something) and shes kind of a bitch

That is. SO boring. Her design is the only thing going for her, its cute, her monokuma clips and pigtails are iconic and adorable, sure im keeping that the same. But by the GODS give me something to work with!! If i asked anyone to make me someone who looks like a fashionista theyd give me 50 copies of junko i assure you. The personality is so nothing to me. And do not get me STARTED on her despair motivation, that comes later, NOW we rewrite her personality.

Im not totally renovating her, dont worry, just SOMETHING compelling, so not including any despair stuff i think Junko is absolutely the straight girl who compliments your shoes and then giggles to her friends, someone who winks and smiles sweetly before clawing her way to the top. I like to think she and mukuro are similar in that way, that theyre both ruthless to get what they want

For her backstory, she obviously came from a rich family. Like look at her. Again, no clue on most of her and mukuros actual backstory because it made me gag reading two lines in but to explain the last name change and different childhoods, i think they were seperated at birth. Mukuro living in a poorer area, growing up fighting tooth and nail and becoming the soldier she is, and Junko fighting tooth and nail in her mansion for every drop of attention she could get. Then, somehow, mukuro was introduced to junko with the knowledge that they're twin sisters as young kids/tweens maybe. Mukuro seems more introverted and almost shy, so junko wouldve probably used that to her advantage somehow, both elated to have a sister (she more than likely had plently of empty friends she just kept around, but a *sister* is different! That's what she thought at least) and angered by the lack of attention. She seems like the older sibling who lies to your face and tricks you as a prank, just for giggles. I can definitely see her liking pranks. She OBVIOUSLY has so many disorders, including rich spoiled and/or neglected child disorder (this wouldve been a fun detail to parallel with togami somewhere too!) but i think the lack of treatment on that wouldve caused her to spiral more and more, not understanding WHY she wants to hurt people or cause chaos, but doing it anyway and acting out more and more as an outlet. Attention, positive and negitive both, she cant tell the difference, is all she really wants at the end of the day i think.

Ok. Designs. I said i wouldnt change it, and im not, just adding small details here and there. Firstly they look hella different for being "identical" sisters (i assume anyways) which i KNOW is possible but youll rip the "junko dyes her hair that color" headcanon from my cold dead hands, she has black hair and freckles too she just wont show it. Also! In offical art her eyes go from blue to grey to whatever colors all the time so im also headcanoning that she and mukuro have grey eyes, but junko puts blue contacts in. Cant be a fashionista without looking the part, she always reminds herself!

Alright. Second to last we can do this. This ones my least favorite though. Her and mukuro. You can manipulate someone without sexually assaulting them, i assure you. Shes smart enough to be able to, obviously, im sure shes seduced people in the past but theres no point to throwing that in there as another reason to hate her. She kills people!!!! She ran a killing game!!! Obviously she sucks!!! Its never stated in game and they have to shoehorn it in, its stupid and im getting rid of it. Its not like korekiyo where its a lot of his motivations and backstory, the enoshima/ikusaba incest detail is so unnecessary and gross. Similarly to korekiyo, its awfully done too. Its not representing a tragic abuse story between sisters, its another "oh, but dont you hate this character sooo much?" throwaway buzzword. Im ignoring it, its stupid.

Last one!! Her despair motivation!! Okay, her being "bored" is sooo whatever. Youre not izuru, you can pick up a hobby or two. What. Go watch a movie. Get a job. I wasnt really sure what to do here so my rewrite would lean into her desperate need for attention, as well as whatevers wrong with her head wanting to hurt people/see people hurting as an outlet. She has mukuro who had hurt people so so often as a soldier by her side and said. "Wow. Im a god. I can do whatever i want. I wonder if i *could* do this" and then she fucking did?? Im sure her parents were like super big governmental people, and mukuro seems like she loves her sister a lot (IN A NORMAL WAY. POINTS TO ABOVE PARAGRAPH.) and if she was given puppy dog eyes would go. "Sigh. Yeah okay we can try to end the world." And gave her the military related information she had. Junko was bored, fucked in the head, wanted attention, and most of all. She COULD do it. So why wouldnt she?

Dont think she regrets it at all, she likes feeling bad because its new, its unpredictable, shes felt GOOD in her privileged life and she wants to hurt others and herself now, i mean, she said she was going to kill herself before she created the tragedy

Ok!!!!! Thats it!!!!! If you read this far im kissing you on the lips, i wrote this in one sitting so im soo sorry if any of this is confusing or whatever, feel free to add your own headcanons, thoughts, whatevers, or send me an ask about it! Love hearing people talk about my ramblings :3

[hessadv]

My unwanted thoughts on the tanjiro and nezuko's trial

Tanjiro and nezuko's trial is something I have alot of thoughts about,and none of them are good.

I feel like people never talk about how horribly _unfair_ and downright _cruel_ this trial was.

because anytime this trial is mentioned,it is **always** about sanemi stabbing nezuko and _nothing_ else.

it is always sanemi stabbing nezuko. Not the fact that all of them were ready to execute both nezuko and tanjiro,who is one of their juniors and a _child_ without giving either of them a chance. Not the fact that these are 7 adults and not an **ounce** of sympathy for tanjiro's situation. Not the fact that they were talking about killing him and his sister INFRONT of him like they were talking about the damn weather. Not that rengoku said they should just kill them immediately with a smile on his face. Not that tengen asked to do the **honours** and he would give them a "flashy" death.(Love them both,but WHY is that never mentioned?left a bad taste in my mouth the entire MUGEN train arc and entertainment district arc). Not the fact that they were completely and utterly disregarding the master's orders by doing so(as if it shouldn't have been crystal clear that he,at the very least, wanted to hear them out. That there was a chance they were innocent). Not the fact that gyoumei straight up Said tanjiro shouldn't have been born?? Hello??

Not even a "he's a 10 but he was willing to kill children meme" I would have been happy with tha

Sanemi definitely holds the most blame here but the rest of them certainly aren't innocent.

The only ones that get a pass are giyuu(because he was on their side and frankly went above and beyond to protect the kamados) and muichiro(because he's a child)

**And worse,in my opinion**...

It is never brought up again,not in any negative capacity, around anyone except sanemi.

There is not a _single_ apology from anyone. I waited the entire series for **one** to apologize. To even just bring it up,but it never happens. The story just forgets about the trial,even though there was ample opportunity for an apology to be made.

Muichiro, because of his switch up would have been inclined to apologize. Mitsuri, because she warmed up to nezuko very quickly and was one of the only people to suggest waiting for the master. Gyoumei,as the eldest and unofficial leader of the hashira. Shinobu, because she welcomed the kamados and grew to really like them. Hell even _giyuu_ ,even though he did nothing wrong in my opinion, could have brought it up as an apology for "not doing more".

It is never acknowledged that they did anything wrong. That the trial wasn't an extremely fucked up thing to do.

It is extremely weird to me, because kimetsu no yaiba,as a story, focuses so heavily on the theme of **accountability**,of taking responsibility for your actions. How even if you have had something horrible happen to you,that is not an excuse to hurt someone else .

How _understanding_ a character's motivation≠ _justifying_ their actions.

We see in every demon's backstory. How most of them were treated horribly,how some didn't ask to become demons,how regardless of how horrible their past is...they still die and go to hell to atone for their sins.

Because they have to take responsibility for all the people they have killed.

It was a missed opportunity in my opinion not to apply that to the humans too.

Are the hashira's reactions understandable? extremely. Are they justifiable?HELL NO.

What's even more disappointing is that it doesn't seem to have any effect on tanjiro.

I mean,he was 15 and didn't even know about the hashira,but is suddenly thrown into fake smiles,passive aggressiveness,and straight up death threats from his "allies".

You cannot tell me that wouldn't have an effect. That it wouldn't shatter tanjiro's trust in the corps.

Give me tanjiro not wanting to be in the butterfly mansion because he doesn't want to be around people who wanted to kill his sister without a second thought.

Give me tanjiro having nightmares in which they _do_ kill her.

Give me tanjiro feeling safer and more at ease around Tamayo and yuishiro(literal demons)than he does around his human "comrades"because at least they have never tried to _kill either of them_ . Because yuishiro's animosity isn't directed at him having a demon sister and is something almost normal.

Give me tanjiro keeping himself between tengen and nezuko's box at all times. Just in case(even though he is aware that uzui at the very least respects the master not to do against his order)

thank you for coming to my ted talk 😌

[procrastinatingwritersblog]

oubing as genshin characters! (concept)

nezha first:

obviously, he’d be a pyro DPS. are spears a thing in genshin? idk but his signature weapon should be 1) gold TIPPED and 2) red ribboned that during his burst transforms into snakes of pyro that encircle the enemies and apply pyro/deal pyro damage in my not-so-humble opinion

his skill….. hm, this is hard. i envision it to be kind of like a shield (because of him protecting his family/town) but instead of you know, shielding, it would push enemies inward toward a specific area that you can target (so, like, the shield shrinks) while dealing/applying pyro damage, setting up for ao bing’s burst, because SOULMATES

(oh i forgot this: when you tap his e he teleports to the [targeted] spot and deals a bunch of damage)

his burst: flying up into the air and FIRE LIGHTNING strikes down (in reference to you know his fated death) kind of like amber’s burst but a million times better, obviously, as well as the ribbons turning into fiRE SNAKES.

you know, his skill sets up for his burst pretty well? huh, this reminds me of the quote being like “you are completely whole without your soulmate” but, like, nezha’s e and then aobing’s q is better because vaporizer/melt (i’ll get to that in a sec)

aobing edition:

he’s actually much harder. i think he comes from a family of cryo people (being… cold and distant and all that) (shen gongbao is electro btw) (no i will not elaborate) but ended up being hydro!

i was considering making him cryo too for a very long time… because it could work! he is kind of distant and polite (like lan zhan) and i don’t really imagine him valuing the inherent freedom of hydro/water, so…. so really, that’s up to you which one you like!

in any case, he’s a claymore user because have you SEEN his weapons they’re like as big as his HEAD

his e: cryo spreading through the ground and then affecting the enemies standing on top of said ground. tapping it encases his weapon in ice for a solid 5secs so he basically becomes a catalyst user but with more normal attack damage for 5seconds.

his q: i’m sure you know where i got this from. a giant island of ice forms above your heads while ice falls down on the enemies (like how he was destroying nezha’s home that i manage to keep forgetting the name of)

since character design and backstories are the second thing i come up with, lemme know if you want more!

UPDATE: what the fuck is a polearm and why haven’t i heard of it. goddamit. fine. nezha uses a friggin polearm, apparently—

[the-bar-sinister]

Suffer the Little Children (685 words) by thesavagesabretooth Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Caesar Clown, Vinsmoke Niji Additional Tags: Whump, Whumptober 2024, Backstory, Surgery, Medical Procedures, Medical Trauma, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Child Soldiers, Character Study, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Caesar Clown-centric, POV Caesar Clown

Summary: In exchange for protection from the World Government Caesar assists Judge with the medical procedures he wants done on his children, but Judge's sloppy methods and inconsistent approach annoy him. Not that he'd ever say that to his face.

-

"Your father wanted this surgery done without anesthetic," he explained to the quiet six year old in front of him. Niji was sitting obediently on the medical cot, quiet, and still.

Caesar cupped Niji's small jaw and cheek in his hand, his long nails brushing against the patient's cool skin. He could feel the tough, transdermal carapace beneath. "But I'm going to give you one anyway. I'll be our little secret, alright?"

If Caesar had performed the surgery as instructed he had no doubt that the child would have done his best to cooperate. Unfortunately, his father Judge did not understand that a high pain tolerance and stubborn refusal to cry did not mean that an unanesthetized child wouldn't shake, or twitch or tremble or move in involuntary ways that might jeopardize the operation.

Niji nodded, and Caesar had every confidence that it would be their little secret. Judge, the fool, had already drilled it into all of his children's heads that you didn't divulge secrets. Niji wouldn't volunteer the information, and Judge wouldn't ask because he (the fool) trusted Caesar's work and wouldn't even think there was any reason to give an anesthetic in the first place.

'It's unnecessary with their pain tolerance' Judge had said, 'and since they have no emotions, they won't care about it anyway! All my children are free of pain and cowardice!' 

And then he'd laughed (like a fool).

Judge Vinsmoke had no idea that the psychological component of the pre-natal enhancement performed in the quadruplets was a complete failure. Caesar certainly wasn't going to tell him, not when he was so damned pleased with the results! His lips were sealed when it came to the fact that all of his children's so-called "emotionlessness" was in fact due to simple psychological conditioning and the ongoing cocktail of drugs they were being given regularly. 

Judge didn't seem to understand that if you told a small child that they didn't have emotions, and punished them for displaying any, and gave them drugs that dulled their emotional state, then they would not display a lot of emotions.

Caesar fought the urge to massage his temples again. "Open your mouth and take a deep breath."

Niji, of course, obliged, and Caesar blew a breath of numbing gas into his mouth. Caesar patted him on the head absently and started arranging his tools for the procedure. Installing permanent injection ports for drug treatments so that they wouldn't have to drill through the carapace every time to find a vein.

Maybe Judge was fooled because the physical effects of the procedure on Sora's womb had been such a success. He didn't even think to question the validity of the subtler elements. But no, the cocktail that Sora had begged Caesar for had taken effect as he had promised– and just as he had promised it had taken her life also.

Regrettable, really. But it had been what she wanted. Judge– the fool– had wasted another resource. Ah well. These things happened. Especially when you were as irresponsible as Judge. Caesar had asked Judge if he was treating Sanji differently than his other sons as some kind of control subject and Judge had given him a blank look.

Well, Judge was paying him a bundle to help with his ridiculous child abuse experiments, so Caesar sure as hell wasn't going to contradict him. Not when he was also the only reason that Caesar hadn't already been picked up by the World Government like Vegapunk had.

That, he suspected, was only a matter of time.

He sighed and picked up the drill. "Lie back, Niji. I'm going to strap you down."

Niji laid down on the cot obediently and waited to be strapped in.

Caesar wondered how long it would take before the children turned on their father and tore his throat out like a pack of jackals. After all, they had no childish love to bind them to the man. Their loyalty was instilled through mere conditioning. And Judge trusted them with his life.

The fool.

Caesar hoped to be far away when it finally happened.

[joliackermann]

MY SWTD OC

FINALLY CALEB IS HERE

WOHOOO

His full name is Caleb Evans, becoming Caleb Zakarius after he married later on in his life.

He is my bald squad OC, btw 👀

Here is a little doodle I did of him:

Still working on this tho, but I finally have something to present, so here we go:

Explanation: 

Caleb is one of my pre-existing characters. I wanted to finally create my SWTD OC and used a random name generator and it just gave me the name “Caleb” and I was like “eh, why not?”

So this Caleb is technically Caleb from TS4 Vampires, but from my super old legacy save file. Gonna write some more about this later.

My sims 4 save file is a canon part of my book universe, so technically this is canon in my book as well?

It’s honestly kind of complicated, but since this OC is part of my book universe, I will apply the rules of my universe to this character.

Basically there is this thing, where time and space can sometimes be a bit unstable.

You know the feeling when you can’t find something, even though you are 100% sure that it has to be there somewhere?

Or all those missing people, whose bodies were never found?

Yeah. That’s what happened to them.

They were taken from their time, their universe and put somewhere random in another universe, without really knowing or understanding what had just happened.

Spoiler: this is how Caleb survives. 

Backstory:

Caleb grew up in an abusive household, becoming very protective of his sister from a very young age.

At only sixteen years old, his sister decided to run away with an older man, leaving Caleb with nothing.

He knew he needed money if he wanted to escape from home, which he now could. Without his sister, there was nothing holding him there.

Which is why, at the age of twenty four, he decided to take a job on an oil rig in the North Sea. 

When first arriving, he was placed in a room with Addair, since no other rooms were currently available due to water damage.

His job was simple; helping Roy in the galley. Following instructions, not really having to think for himself. For the first time ever, he could turn his brain off and just live, not having to care about anything really. 

He got along well with Roy right from the start, but let's be honest, who wouldn’t?

Roy was understanding whenever Caleb made any mistakes and was willing to help him, becoming a sort of mentor to him.

With Addair, the start was a lot rougher.

Addair never tried hiding his political views, giving Caleb flashbacks from his abusive home. For a moment, he was scared that the universe wanted to pull a prank on him and Addair was going to turn out to be a copy of his father.

But Addair had many good qualities and even though he and Caleb didn’t have the same political viewpoints, they got along great.

Addair gave Caleb another perspective; showing that even someone with these kinds of views could be a good human and a good father.

It was almost as if Addair was healing bits of the damage done by Caleb's father. 

For the first time, he didn’t need to protect anybody. Instead, he was being the one who was being protected by others.

Over time, Caleb's relationship with both Roy and Addair developed into something more. Nobody ever really talked about it, but Roy and Addair give him security and the feeling of being loved; something he never really had before.

Roys and Addairs relationship changes as well. Roy and Addair never really had a problem with each other, being mostly neutral to one another. But both overly protective over Caleb and in love with him, even though they never said a single word. Everybody knew, even though they themselves didn’t even really realise, and everybody accepted it. 

The events of the game: 

So Caleb was with Roy for the beginning part of the day.

After Caz decided to go to the lifeboats, Caleb went on his way to find Addair.

He knew Roy was safe, hiding in the pantry with Caz looking out for him.

But Addair was somewhere out there and Caleb needed to find him. 

He actually encountered mutated Gibbo at one point, though both held their distance.

When Caleb asked him about Addair, Gibbo had a breakdown. He couldn’t think straight for a moment and went for Caleb, though Caleb managed to outrun him, locking the door behind him before bringing more distance between himself and Gibbo.

But soon after, he started feeling worse; hearing voices. More specifically, his sister’s cries, from when they were kids and their father, in a fit of rage, had thrown his half empty beer bottle at his children.

It was something he often did when he had too much to drink. 

Trying to escape the voices and the visions, Caleb started running before suddenly breaking down as he felt pain shooting through his body.

It was the worst pain he had ever felt.

Worse than the stinging feeling when the beer bottle had hit him in the head, or the burning sensation when he was forced to pick up the broken glass and cut his hands. Worse than all the times his father had beaten him.

Caleb closed his eyes in pain and when he opened them again, he was somewhere else.

TS4/Book universe:

At first he thought it was only another hallucination.

After opening his eyes, Caleb found himself on the ground outside, a giant black castle right in front of him.

It was night, even though he was 100% sure that it had been the middle of the day just seconds ago. 

A strange man opened the door.

He was tall and skinny, his hair grey and his face full of wrinkles. He looked a thousand years old, at least.

The man smiled at Caleb and asked him if he needed help; said he knew just the right thing. A cure for every disease possible.

Caleb agreed, not really having anything to lose, his sister's voice still crying in his head. 

The cure turned out to be more of a curse, but it was too late when Caleb realised, already on his way to become the blood child of the mysterious master vampire. 

Caleb lived a hundred years, studying medicine and working night shift at the hospital. He had time and the hospital had an endless supply of blood.

It took years for Caleb to let people into his life again.

He had lost so much and was afraid to lose even more, so for a hundred years, he kept his distance. 

But then came this boy, the son of an acquaintance. Leif Zakarius, the third child of Johannes and Mike Zakarius.

They hadn’t meant for Leif to come into this world, having already enough to do with only two children and a cat at home.

But Leif came into this world and proceeded to stay there longer than any other of his family members. 

Leif always felt like an outsider in his family.

Much like Caleb, he wandered aimlessly through life.

And with time, they fell in love.

It was the first time in a hundred years that Caleb had allowed himself to love again.

Not knowing any cure for the vampire curse, he turned Leif into a vampire instead. It was either spend eternity together or die together as old men, but that wasn’t an option.

Soon, at least for vampires, they welcomed their first and only daughter into the world.

Fiona Zakarius, a beautiful, intelligent girl.

Never before had Caleb loved someone so much.

He became protective, overly protective if you asked Leif, and when she started dating an older man, Caleb was against it.

His sister had run away with an older man and he was afraid that his daughter would do the same thing to him.

But she didn’t. Sure, she moved in with the older man, turned him into a vampire, wanting to spend eternity with him, but she often came to visit and whenever the man was not at home, Caleb came to visit her as well. 

It seemed like he was finally in a position where he could allow himself to heal.

[escapedaudios]

Grouchy rant/Audio roleplay pet peeve: I lose it when a character's description based on exposotion/backstory doesn't actually align with their actual on-screen actions. This is especially bad with Listener characters because a lot of VAs/writers just don't know how to write Listener action, or neglect to let Listener characters interact with anyone other than their love interest.

It's so aggravating. A character will be like "This is my fiance, Demon-Stomper 9000 (but I call her Pookie). She's stomped a hundred demons and she's gonna stomp a hundred more. Sometimes I've gotta be like 'woah Pookie, you've gotta stop stomping so many demons, you might hurt yourself'."

Then when a demon is actually on screen Pookie is just like 🧍‍♀️

On my soul, give the Listener some *flavor* and let them DO SOMETHING. On screen! It doesn't even have to be in action scenes, like just for fucks sake show don't tell for once. It's very much possible within the realm of audio roleplay, it just takes a little bit of thinking and a couple of sound effects. Trust me, you'll accomplish more characterization with five minutes of them actually doing something than you would with a hundred hours of expositional backstory.

This happens with speaker characters too, and it's awful. The title of the series will be like "Mafia Boss: Criminal Chronicle [Strangers to Lovers]" then in the actual audios the mafia boss never actually commits any crimes or involves himself in anything illegal and doesn't even talk about crime. He just wears expensive suits and has a really deep voice.

Quick rule: if the audience could listen to the full length of a mafia audio and not be able to tell that the character was in a criminal organization, you didn't make a mafia audio. You just didn't, idgaf what the title says. Image watching a whole episode of the Sopranos without crime being mentioned even once. It would suck. Same with werewolves, vampires, or whatever other trope is getting abused this week.

IDK why this is such a problem in the audio roleplay medium compared to every other medium ever. We've got mafia bosses that don't commit crimes, we've got werewolves who don't turn into wolves, we've got pirate captains who don't commit piracy, we've got vampires who don't drink blood, and we've got yanderes who don't, uh, yander. It's out of control. Just commit to the character type you said you would write in the first place.

This was way longer than I intended it to be so TL;DR: Show don't tell still applies in audios, Listener characters can and should take an active role in the story, and please PLEASE stop marketing your characters around tropes that you neglect to actually write into your audios.

[dingodad]

I know your tags said that the lil cal & Gamzee stuff isn’t worth discussing, but I think a lot of people could actually use someone articulating the problem with assuming that the puppet is what triggered the breakdown/“mind controlled” gamzee. If you’re really to speak on it, I’d love to hear it 

to preface: i'm not unsympathetic to the desire to see a more sympathetic interpretation of Gamzee given how his arc speaks to certain racialised themes within the comic. but this is what's in the text as i see it.

ultimately it comes down to the exact same arguments that apply to Dave's bro. Gamzee is part of Lil Cal, so if Lil Cal were whispering in Gamzee's ear the whole time he was also undergoing all these stresses related to faith and substance, those whispers are Gamzee's own thoughts being reflected back at him. if puppet-Gamzee suggests to man-Gamzee that he kill people and man-Gamzee concedes, all that's really happened is that Gamzee has given in to his own desire to do that. this is what Homestuck does when it pits alternate timeline versions of characters against each other; it simply manifests interactions going on within that character's own self.

more specifically to Gamzee, this is a character who manifests Homestuck's feminist themes very explicitly, especially in regards to how they are portrayed via Alternia's caste system as a member of the patriarchal purple class. it is true and worth mentioning of course that Lil Cal is not just Gamzee, but is also Caliborn, Gamzee's patriarchal god! but then it was Gamzee who raised Caliborn to have those patriarchal principles; because in Homestuck the patriarchy isn't something you're somehow influenced or tricked into participating in, it's something you choose to perpetuate, just as Caliborn chose to perpetuate it in becoming Alternia's patriarch... and so on ad infinitum.

the "tragedy" of a time loop isn't that fate is somehow forcing you to adhere to a course of events that you don't want to adhere to; tragedy is when the person that you are makes it inevitable that you will walk down that same violent path every time. and Homestuck is all about that person that you are; it's a story by and large disinterested with any scenario where a character's actions do not offer insight into their personalities. a Homestuck character has a certain nature, and while on occasion they are offered psychic stimuli, how they react to that psychic stimulus is according to their nature.

there is of course a physical rather-than-metaphysical approach to Gamzee's backstory, which I'm sure is more along the lines of what you were looking for lol, and while analysis of that is not so much my area I feel that the physical approach basically points toward the same kind of conclusions as the metaphysical one. Gamzee is a character of tragedy, who has been shaped by physical stimuli like religious abuse (from all manner of directions!), parental neglect and substance addiction. and my assessment of that is primarily that... this should be enough? like is that not enough to create a compelling character. even if it were not antithesis to Homestuck's themes I guess it just seems to me like it goes without saying that "this character's actions were the result of someone else's will and not of their own unique circumstances" reduces the character. most certainly yes, there are manipulative forces at work in Homestuck, and their name is Lord English, and yes, Lil Cal is Lord English, but Lord English's power lies in the telling of the narrative; and the narrative that turns Gamzee into a villain is already there! English doesn't need to tell Gamzee to make those malevolent choices, because English already established the circumstances that made those choices inevitable. to make Lil Cal into some literal cursed amulet is to make Lord English into Vriska, and that reduces him, because that's not what he is! he's the god of inevitability!

[izzysillyhandsy]

Thoughts about the finale, and my utter confusion about Izzy Hands

What I hated about Izzy's death wasn't him dying. I love a tragic arc, and although Con O'Neill elevated every scene he was in, it would have been ok if they'd handled his death better.

To have him die with only 10mins of the episode left (and this might even be the last ever episode!) was the first terrible decision. Everything that was built up over 2 seasons had to be resolved in a few minutes, we don't see any repercussions for anyone Izzy was important to - Ed, the crew and even Stede.

But the main criticism is the 180° turn the show made for his character arc in the last episode (or more precisely, in Izzy's last scene) and in David Jenkins' latest interviews.

Since season 1, I kept asking myself the same two questions:

What function does Izzy Hands have in the narrative? What is the nature of his relationship with Ed?

And the answers changed drastically from S1 to S2, and got more and more complex and intriguing.

Until the finale.

Izzy Hands as a plot device for the main couple

In S1, Izzy was an antagonist. His function in the narrative was to stand in the way of the Ed/Stede romance, of Ed growing and finding happiness and to move the plot along. He brought a lot of humour to almost every interaction he was in - he was such a fish-out-of-water character, clashing with everyone and constantly losing.

He was barely human - he was a pirate cliché.

But there was also so much going on in the background - his quiet desparation, his obvious love and longing for Ed, and these hints of a fascinating backstory between the two of them. This is what many fans picked up on, and going into S2 we hoped that we'd get more of this (for me personally the most important thing was clarification on Izzy's importance to Ed).

And then S2 came along and boy, were all of our expectations exceeded.

Suddenly, Izzy wasn't a plot device anymore. He was one half of the most intense (and interesting, sorry Stede) couple in the show. It was even confirmed by the showrunner that he was in a love triangle with the main couple!

In the first 2 episodes, we got so much more than we ever expected. At the end of Ep2, Izzy broke the lifeline with Ed, both of them almost dying in the process. He went on a journey of discovering who and what he even was without Ed (and right up to his death he was still deeply unhappy and broken, even though he was on the right path).

Izzy suddely became a fascinating character in his own right, with his arc of healing and self-acceptance and his inability (for now) to keep himself from sliding back into this relationship with his other half. He was blaming himself for everything that had happened. He was still so entangled with this man he built his whole life around. He still had a long way to go and a lot to work through (the same also applies to Ed btw).

But he also became the crew's unicorn, doing Izzy things (still related to Ed, always to Ed) but you could feel him becoming more himself. Slowly, Izzy's real personality started to shine through and we realized - this man is fascinating on his own accord. He's a respected and very capable pirate. He came from nothing and fought his way up. He's a really good teacher. He's creative and sensitive. He also cares about other people than Ed a lot.

Viewers who hated him or were indifferent to him in S1 suddenly became interested - this man's journey was fascinating and, most importantly, it wasn't at all finished. There was so much yet to come, and we wanted to see it.

Does this sound like a plot device to you? If it doesn't, bad news.

At the end of the final episode, Izzy is suddenly back where he was in S1.

He dies in a completely unnecessary way - almost as if how he died didn't matter. And it didn't matter, because in the end, Izzy Hands' journey didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that he died and how it affected the main couple.

On his deathbed, Izzy is saying exactly what Ed needs to hear to move on. He absolves him of any guilt. Ed is ready. Izzy has played his part, he's ready to die.

Notably, nothing is really resolved for poor Izzy. Even if Ed says he doesn't want him to go, it's because Ed is losing his only family. He doesn't tell Izzy he loves him, or that he's important to him as a person, as his oldest friend, as the one who knows him best.

In the end, Izzy's function in the narrative, even after everything that happened in S2, was to be an obstacle to the Ed/Stede romance, to Ed growing and finding happiness. He had to die to free Ed of his Blackbeard persona and because "it's nice that Blackbeard is upset by it" (WTF).

The problem is, for the rest of the season, that wasn't Izzy's role in this show at all and I felt completely blindsided.

More than a spurned, jilted lover

"I guess it's a journey of redemption, but I think it's more a journey of finding out, who is he to Blackbeard?" According to Jenkins, Izzy is "more than a spurned, jilted lover." "What is that relationship about? And I think by the end of the season it kind of becomes a little unexpected of who they are to each other and what they mean to each other." (source)

I also made a poll about that question after Ep3 if anyone's interested.

The answer is, apparently, the two of them were Blackbeard. Or, Izzy was the brains behind the operation. Or, Izzy egged Eddie on to give in to his darker impulses (which, I think, was alluded to quite strongly in the murder/suicide scene).

I mean, yes. That was one of the options on my poll that I was quite sure of, and I think most of us suspected this even in S1.

Izzy was Eddie's only family. Ok, I think family doesn't quite express what was going on between them in S2, but that certainly was one aspect of their relationship.

This is all fine. I can see that being built up to over the two seasons.

But.

"And then there was the realization that [Izzy] is kind of a mentor to Blackbeard and that he is kind of a father figure to Blackbeard. It felt nice to have him die and have Blackbeard be upset by it, because Blackbeard killed his father. But this is a father figure that he’s losing that it’s hard for him; it's sad and he doesn't want him to go." (source)

This is not fine. Not at all.

Izzy is not Blackbeard's mentor. Izzy is obviously in love with Ed (and Ed is fully aware of that). Izzy might have been a mentor-like presence in Ed's life when they were younger, but when we meet them in S1 Izzy is more like an overworked housewife cleaning up behind her disinterested husband. Izzy would do anything for Ed (apart from killing him) and is ready to die at one point because of him. Izzy is desperate, grabbing onto the scraps Ed throws his way.

Where, where does Izzy seem like a mentor to Ed in all of this? A mentor is supposed to be at least at the same level or above but Izzy is clearly not.

And in the death scene, suddenly, that's all there is left of their complex, intense dynamic.

Izzy took young Eddie in and fed his darkness. He was Eddie's only family, binding him to himself out of selfishness in the process.

So that's their unexpected "who they are to each other". Izzy taught Ed everything he knows (which is actually bad for him) and it'd probably been better if they'd never even met.

And don't get me wrong, I don't completely disagree with this take. As a part of their dynamic, this is a fascinating concept - but only if this wasn't the end.

Because there was so much more, so much promise of a complicated, mutually destructive relationship that nevertheless was also full of love. Those two seemed so intertwined (and I'll never forgive Stede for stealing that for himself and Ed). Ed is Izzy's missing half and Izzy is Ed's.

And I still believe that, without Izzy, Ed isn't complete.

And with this rushed conclusion, and all the mess left behind and never even looked at, Ed will never be happy.

Conclusion

I think what hurts the most is, that with Izzy dead and their last conversation being that reductive, all possibilities of an exploration of all these complex and fascinating aspects of their relationship are now closed. I know this show isn't about Ed and Izzy. But Izzy is a big part of what made Ed interesting, and he's a brilliant character in his own right. We could have gotten so much more (even if it's only allusions, we really don't need everything spelled out).

I guess I expected too much from this show - but with good reason. The actors gave it their all. S2 set up such an intricate dynamic (and it was probably overly ambitious with only 4 hours of screentime!). I've never gotten so much of what I wanted from an outsider character in any show.

And then it let us down in the last 10 minutes.

And even if we hadn't gotten a season 3 - the setup was all there for meta, for fanfiction. Why ruin it all with killing off Izzy for all the wrong reasons and making their last conversation all about Ed "outliving his mentor".

To quote Prince Ricky: "Oh, my goodness. You've just grown so tedious."

Still, I love everything they've done in this show except for the ending. I will watch it again, many times, and enjoy the drama, the humour and the complexity. But I will try to forget these interviews and convince myself Izzy's senseless death was just a dream :).