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Ring Theory Continued: How is it holding up? (Ep 12)

Ep 3 Ep 4 Ep 5 Ep 6 Ep 7

It's been a few weeks since I posted about the ring theory for The Next Prince. Is it still working? Well...mostly. Depends on your tolerance for creative interpretation.

As a recap -> the idea is that the hand/finger that characters (in power) wear their rings on matters. Some characters (like Khanin) tend to wear their rings differently depending on the situation. But others (like the King and older princes) are very consistent. In general: Right hand = power game/motivation Left hand = personal game/motivation Second finger = love/protection of a loved one Third finger = good/neutral (or pretending to be) Fourth finger = no bueno Pinkie = Chakri 🥰/support

In the past few episodes, the older generation pretty much stayed their course. But the young royals and Jay? They have definitely been shifting their rings around.

Let's not talk about Calvin. He might be looking fine, but he's a mess when it comes to rings.

I guess that makes sense actually. He really can't decide what he wants and he's being pushed around all over the place by all the people surrounding him. Fine. It works.

Khanin/Jay also both shift their rings around frequently, but they at least do so in a way that can be consistently interpreted.

Khanin and Jay both went ringless to the first protest. They were being open/honest with their intentions and not really playing a game at that point.

But at the second protest? Jay goes back to wearing a ring. He's a shifty man when it comes to rings. But this time he chose the left hand, second finger. A personal game out of love for his family and the people of Emmaly. He wants change, and he wants it now.

And Khanin? Also sports a ring on his left hand, middle finger at the second protest. It's a personal agenda to do good. It felt initially like it should've been on his right hand. After all, he's exhibiting power. He has a ring on his right hand, middle finger anytime he is studying in the library or most of the time when he stands up to the King.

His left hand is normally reserved for moments like eating the spaghetti that reminds him of foster dad or asking to go on a trip so he can check out the dark champagne pearls. Things that have personal meaning to him.

But more and more, he's wearing his ring on his left hand any time he is speaking publicly against the status quo and powers that be.

It's on the left hand when he presents during the Battle of Wits. He's decided winning the competition is important, but with a personal motive. He's fighting for his own agenda now.

Ava took her gloves off for the battle of wits. Her true thoughts on gender equality were on display. After all, that's her purpose in this show. We also saw her with gloves off when drinking with her coach Mira...the love interest that barely qualifies as a character.

Yes, I'm salty about the lack of development for my girls. I'm not talking about screentime. You can do wonders with crumbs. But they aren't getting crumbs. They're getting the same lines remixed. Regardless, gloves (rather than rings) still work for Ava.

Interestingly, even though it was a competition and royal function, Ramil didn't wear a ring to the battle of wits. In fact, he hasn't worn a ring at all since Rachata threatened Paytai in episode 5.

From four rings to none. One could argue that this really isn't his game anymore, and he just wants out of it all.

It's not a game when he speaks up about the lingering effects of domestic violence. It's a personal plea. It's the same sincerity we saw from Khanin/Jay at the first protest. Unfortunately, the other royals have a hard time seeing the wounds beneath his gloating words.

That's an entirely different essay though. Back to rings.

In contrast to the last several episodes, episode 12 was all about reveals.

It's where we see how well the Ring Theory played out for those that have consistently worn their rings on the same finger.

No surprise here. The King is bad news. Even if you didn't believe in the fourth finger power plays, there has been plenty of evidence that he really only cares about power. He cares about pollution over profits, and they dropped in and confirmed one of my clown cars that the King was responsible for the death of Charan's mom.

Tharin wears his ring on the second finger (love).

And he confirmed that everything thing he does is for Khanin. I have a lot of thoughts on him as a leader, but that's a different essay too. Ring theory works here.

Rachata continues his nefarious (fourth finger) ways.

He's cheating to rig the competition. He's profiting off of illness. Definitely no good. With all of the shooting in this episode, it's a shame he didn't get shot.

But the final four players for today...did the ring theory work for them? That depends on how you interpret things.

Wasin consistently wears his ring on his left hand, third finger. There's one exception...when he's talking about Mira. He actually doesn't wear a ring there. It is the only time I've noticed him without a ring in the entire show.

Was he being sincere about Mira's skills? Showing that he really thinks women deserve equality despite the traditions of his own Kingdom? Not sure.

However, the rest of the time, he is consistent. Ring Theory states he's playing a personal game that is good/neutral. Is that the case?

That depends on your interpretation of a rebellion designed to kill all of the heirs. Personally, I think there's room to argue that the ring theory stands in this case. He definitely thinks he's doing good.

I pointed out after Khanin's poisoning that the King's right hand man wears a ring on his fourth finger making him bad news. And he was definitely the mole. He's not really as noble in his intentions as Wasin. He's purely out for revenge. I guess the ring theory mainly stands here...although it really should be on his left hand since it's personal.

Chakri wears a ring on his pinkie unless he's "off duty" or Khanin thinks he's getting in the way of the ship (instead of supporting it).

His ring was on full display when cheering Khanin on during the archery tournament.

But his ring was nowhere to be seen when he got shot.

Which just makes me mad on multiple levels.

Even ignoring the whole Chakri got shot bit, you're telling me in the chaos of the gun battle at the mansion that Chakri removed his ring AND refolded his pocket square? 😒

Finally, we have Ava's dad. That's the real kicker. He wears his ring on the third finger. That should be good/neutral.

And sure, he's not rigging competitions like Rachata or killing people like the King. But...there's nothing neutral or good about this misogynistic profiteer. This is where the Ring Theory clearly fails in my book. No creative interpretations can save this one.

Edit: Well, maybe it works if I squint (see comments). He's not good, but he's not the same level of bad as King or Rachata.

Overall though, this wild theory has worked FAR better than I ever thought possible when it got developed in episode three. 😅

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If you want me to teach you French, you must teach me muay, Monsieur Mek. Of course, sir. I will make sure my lessons match your kindness.

MEMOIR OF RATI | EPISODE 4

+ bonus:

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I adored Ava's sass when she took her shot. She knows that women in this kingdom have to take the things they want.

She also pushed Khanin out of harm's way when the smoke and arrows started flying. This beauty has skills...even if we don't often get to see them in action.

And I appreciated that Khanin didn't hesitate to take out the enemy.

It's not easy shooting somebody if you aren't trained for that. And even if you are...it can be hard. Charan hesitated.

But I applauded when Ramil continued to demonstrate that he is so much more than the asshole that Khanin and Ava believe him to be.

After all, Ramil's having to dodge his own arrows.

But he threw down his bow, leaving himself vulnerable, in order to help Ava. He chooses to trust Khanin in this moment.

Yes, Ramil is a competitive jerk...with a reason to be that way.

But when in crisis? He didn't hesitate to help the people that didn't spare a thought to his own wounds and pain.

And he is the only one of the royals that's main concern when reuniting with their partner was their PARTNER'S wellbeing.

I'm glad the heirs are finally banding together even if I wish we had got to see more of that unity. It means my dream is still alive.

That said, when all of this is over, I need Ramil and Paytai to go make a cozy love nest for themselves somewhere far away.

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WHAT. THE. FUCK

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Casting Ateez in a BL (revised and expanded)

Purely self-indulgent and a way for me to draw from my stores of BL knowledge (see my tags) and procrastinate on my actual work

Hongjoong

Hongjoong doesn't quite fit standard BL male lead visuals, yet he has shown himself to be intense, jealous, and possessive with atiny (and certain other members), which makes him a good fit for a cult fave Taiwanese BL. I would cast him in a Lin Pei Yu drama as a lead who secretly and furiously pines over his love interest for years, leading to an explosive moment of passionate intimacy, only to then ghost the love of his life for five years in order to prove himself worthy.

We Best Love 1 & 2 (Taiwan 2021)

Seonghwa

With Seonghwa's ability to draw from the emotional spectrum in his art (sadness, longing, grief, anger) and his unconventional yet staggering good looks, he would be a great fit for a Korean BL directed by my queen Hwang Da Seul. A show about the cost of aiming for perfection in a society that values beauty above all else. Seonghwa would definitely try for a more authentic depiction of queerness in a BL and would not be afraid of playing a messy character yearning for love.

Bleuming (Korea 2023)

Mingi

Given Mingi's penchant for pushing boundaries and zagging where others would zig, I see him fitting in with his new friend Up Poompat in a high-budget Thai BL adapted from a Chinese web novel. A show filled with questionable/downright problematic tropes and an incomprehensible plot, yet with great ratings due to its flashy visual style and high heat. Yes, I think Mingi would have a field day and charm the pants off everyone on the set.

My Stand-In (Thailand, 2024)

Yunho

Realistically, Yunho has the best chance of being cast in a Korean bromance drama like The Devil Judge or Beyond Evil, playing an honor-bound yet impressionable rookie who comes under the thrall of a mysterious and dangerous older mentor. However, we are casting him for BL and I think he would be perfectly suited for a Japanese BL filled with comfortable and nostalgic vignettes of everyday life and extended scenes of one character cooking for the other. His handsome, boy-next-door good looks would make him the ideal romantic lead who quietly devotes himself to his childhood friend-turned-roommate.

Living With Him (Japan, 2024)

Wooyoung

Has there ever been someone more suited to a pulpy Thai BL? I mean this as a compliment, of course. Yes, these shows have a reputation for being little more than sexy melodramas with poor production values, but I see the vision. Wooyoung's magnetism, swagger, and confidence would land him a show produced by Be On Cloud with great cinematography and a high-concept story held together by tape and glue. That wouldn't matter, because Wooyoung would get every advertiser of ice tea and printer ink to fund the show.

KinnPorsche (Thailand, 2022)

San

Yes, I know San was actually used as a visual reference for a character on KinnPorsche, but he would be playing it safe as a nice, strong, romantic lead in a New Siwaj-directed Thai BL. Physically, he embodies all the attributes of a seme, defined as the active pursuer in the narrative. He is the soft dom of our dreams, and would gently yet persistently woo our skittish ML while dealing with the emotional fallout of an intergenerational trauma that threatens his happily-ever-after.

P'DEEEAAAAAN!!!

Until We Meet Again (Thailand, 2019)

Yeosang*

Yeosang is tough to cast, because we know he sees himself as a doberman while the world insists he's a maltese. Unfortunately, his angelic good looks and soft-spoken demeanor would make him catnip for a Koran BL casting director looking for the ideal uke (the passive resistor in the narrative). He would play a sweet-natured yet timed character with a tragic backstory desperate to be loved by the touch-too-possessive ML who has known him since childhood. The show would be inexpensive yet tastefully staged, with a soft and dreamy style. The chemistry would be awkward and unconvincing, but the visuals would do most of the heavy lifting. His co-star would dine out on fan-meetings for the next 2-3 years.

Cherry Blossoms After Winter (Korea, 2022) starring Ok Jin Uk, from the trot idol group SUPERFIVE

*Thanks to an excellent suggestion by @byemambo, I am also casting Yeosang in A Man Who Defies the World of BL, using their explanation:

Mob is easily one of my favorite BL characters because I rewatch A Man Who Defies the World of BL religiously. I know we tend to see Yeosang as this ethereal beauty or someone who defies the odds of reality, but Yeosang to me is one of the funniest and wholesome members once you really take in his personality and composure. I feel like even if he tries not to due to his wallflower and observant tendencies, he draws you in, which is also Mob's dilemma until he has to come to terms with his bigger than life presence in the grand scheme of things. Although he spends so much time avoiding the spotlight and desire to lay low, he finally comes to terms with how signifiant his role is in the lives of others, and I find that beautiful (even if the series itself is unserious in nature haha).

Jongho

This was the hardest casting, because Jongho is so emphatically anti-fan service. Yet his prickly appeal and fondness for weepy dramas makes me think he could tough it out in a melancholy Japanese BL. Despite a mean and grumpy demeanor, his big round eyes would fill with devastation as the person he loves is taken from him too soon, only to get him back with only enough time to say their goodbyes and learn something about acceptance and memory.

Eternal Yesterday (Japan, 2022)

I will happily hear your substitutions or recommendations.

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They Can't all be Straight Janet : Erasure of Queerness by Some BL Fans

It kills me when I see a post on here or on tiktok still pretending all BL actors are straight and any sign of affection is just fan service. Sure. That makes complete sense… if you ignore math, experience, and the entire concept of human diversity.

Let’s start with the basics: a percentage of the population is LGBTQIA+. That’s just how people work. So if you put together a group of actors—any group, really—some of them are going to be somewhere on that spectrum. That’s not speculation; that’s statistics.

Now, I happen to be the mom of someone with a theater degree. I’ve been around theater kids since my daughter was in middle school. Theater has always been a space where queer people gather. Because it’s one of the places where self-expression, chosen family, and breaking norms aren’t just tolerated—they’re part of the job description.

So, let’s take that already LGBTQIA-heavy industry and apply it to a genre that specifically focuses on relationships between men. Are we really going to act shocked when queer actors are drawn to that work? Like it’s some kind of wild plot twist?

The idea that entire casts of actors in a genre built around queer relationships are somehow magically exempt from the basic demographics of queerness is just… silly.

But Also—can we talk about how Hollywood is absolutely full of straight couples who met on set and fell in love after one movie or show together? It’s practically a trope at this point. But we’re supposed to believe that in the world of BL, where some of these actors work together across multiple productions, travel for fan meetings, do joint interviews, promotions, live events, for years… absolutely nothing real ever develops? Ever? That feels less like realism and more like willful denial.

That's what it is, denail and erasure—coming from people who want to enjoy queer-coded content without acknowledging actual queer people exist within it.

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So after learning that the HR disaster duo do not even have enough sense to button up after getting it on in the company fire escape....

And managed to get caught....probably on camera.

I'm just going to head canon that at some point in the future their good friends give them a quality coaching session. With step by step instructions so Sorn can follow.

Tai scolding Sorn - Idiot. You're supposed to button up his shirt. You know he will be in a brain fog.

Do your damn job and make sure he looks professional before exiting the stairwell. If you let me know in advance, I'll turn the cameras off for you.

Champ mentoring Jun - Look son, I know it's hard. But if you're going to play in stairwells, then you have to keep your wits about you. Clothes go back on before you leave.

After all, this is supposedly a place of business.

Then somewhere down the line, they have to come back for a follow up coaching session. Idiots! The bathroom does not count as private. Take precautions there too!

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"A man crushed under the weight of deformity who could only hide in the shadow of the cathedral."

Memoir Of Rati (จาฤกรติชา) - Episode 04 (2025)

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The important question right at the beginning (further context below the poll):

I just learned that there‘s a French Fries Day but it’s a bit unclear when it should be celebrated. Apparently the US has its own National French Fries Day which is being celebrated on the 2nd Friday in July - this year July 11. But it seems there is also an International French Fries Day that is always held on July 13. Today is July 12, 2025 so we are right in the middle of it.

And it seems that French Fries is not even the right name but that it should actually be Belgian Fries.

(source & source)

Whoever wants to share fries-lore please feel free to do so in the comments / tags.

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one of the hardest things to learn as a depressed former Gifted Kid™ is that half-assed is better than nothing. take the 50%, 40%, even 20% job. scrubbing your face is better than not taking a shower at all. picking up your clothes is better than never cleaning. nibbling on some bread is better than starving.

DO THINGS HALFWAY. NOW YOU’RE 100% BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE BEFORE.

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i think about my dad's riding mower keyfob all the time (it came with the mower). on the left we have: don't back over your child! no idea why an infant is crawling around in the pasture or whatever but that's on mom. on the right: mom safely inside with the children. "wave goodbye to your father, my dears, as he rides away to his watery doom." the seas are rising. soon he will be out of sight of land forever.

(why is mom inside with the children, and dad on the mower? as @bettsfic once so memorably said: TRACTOR MAN JOB!)

i saved this keyfob for like a zillion years bc i'm obsessed with the way hazard signs always show the Bad Thing happening. all over my parents' farm are those five-gallon plastic buckets and every single one of them has a sticker showing A BABY DROWNING IN IT. you would think we as a society might find this ghoulish, even offensive, but no, it's simply the quickest way visually to depict Things You Should Not Do. as in the case of the sterlite plastic box:

DO NOT PUT BABY IN BOX. VERY BAD. (for one thing baby not fit)

as far as i know there is only one (1) nonverbal hazard sign that depicts the good thing happening instead of the bad thing, and it's in the trunk of my car. freedom! run away! become ungovernable!!

(cc: @hazard-symbols-that-fuck-hard )

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artistic representation of this meme because I was summoned in the tags

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I am a sucker for colors, so I am in awe of the posters for Shine.

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The poll is closed and GAP is the winner. Thank you all for voting and thanks to @chopchopsupercat @commander0fmyheart @gabxe07 @humaninpogresss77 @lowbudgetsuperheroes @thundergrace @unrealcosima for making suggestions in comments and reblogs (and also thank you to the anon in my inbox)! I am almost done watching Affair and GAP is the next one on my gl drama list.

I need a fast paced and horny gl drama and made a list with some gl dramas that I found here on tumblr. Can you all please help me?

For various reasons my drama watching time usually starts pretty late in the evening when I am already rather tired. Therefore, I watch mainly thai bl dramas because there are many that are fast paced and horny which prevents me from falling asleep while watching.

But I want to watch gl dramas, too. I started watching Us with EmiBonnie. It’s cute and I am into both actresses but the pacing is slow. For above named reasons I can’t really watch it well. Once I watched korean movie The Handmaiden and it was great.

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sometimes i think about one of the wildest things guardian (2018) did to subtly suggest a relationship while also circumventing censorship is how they had zhao yunlan change his hair from straight across fringe to being parted in the middle, reflecting the historical way chinese women used to change their hair after they got married. he met shen wei and said whelp! i’m hitched now

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I may be late to this party but I watched this BoatOat "What's in your Bag" video. The subtitles are a bit rough and English is not my first language but if I understood correctly Boat is writing his master's thesis about the approach of the Y-series industry to broaden its audience base. I hope he can milk all the connections he is making through his acting job for his academic purposes.

Apart from that - he has two plushies dangling from his bag and told the host that they are lovers 🫠🫠🫠

(Okay, that's not exactly what he said but I like to interpret the subtitles that way. He said something like 'they have to be together because they like skinship' ...)

(Source)