itsvioletevergarden29

[itsvioletevergarden29]

"She is a dream of a life she could never have, but that longing has given her so much capacity for kindness"

🩶

[itsvioletevergarden29]

Having Slay the Princess thoughts

[itsvioletevergarden29]

"They call me 'the shifting mound'. A pale imitation of what I actually am"

🤍

[itsvioletevergarden29]

"This one yearns to grow and struggle. Even now I feel a will pushing against mine, not realizing that we are one. She will make for a bold heart. Do not mourn her. We will provide her with the growth she fought for."

♥️

[itsvioletevergarden29]

"This one is perspectives bleeding into one. You know her better than you know yourself. She will make for an empathetic heart.

Do not mourn her, for you would not mourn yourself."

🩶

[itsvioletevergarden29]

slay the princess is good

[itsvioletevergarden29]

The princess trying to use a hair brush on the long quiet's feathers and the long quiet trying to preen the princess's hair

Neither know what they're doing and it's not pretty but they're trying

[itsvioletevergarden29]

I’ll wait forever if I must. 💔 ♾️

Doomed attempt at comics again 💔

[itsvioletevergarden29]

slay the princess! i like drawing The Long Quiet because he’s just a big bird…i like birds 🥹

[itsvioletevergarden29]

Putting all the confirmation Silco canoncially genuinely loves Jinx as his daughter in one place since some people still can't put 2 and 2 together after watching him choose Jinx over Zaun, admit he understands Vander now, and use his last words to comfort her.

Also not only does he keep the ashtray jinx drew on with him along with the other trinkets she gave him, he always keeps the side that says "DAD" facing him 🥺

[itsvioletevergarden29]

I don't really care whatever tone-deaf Arcane viewer who watched the show with 0 critical thinking disagrees with me and this really shouldn't be a hot take, but the amount of "found family" or "happy AUs" I see where Silco is left out? The people who make those are exactly the problem and are exactly why Silco became who he did.

Vander admitted that both him and Silco were responsible for Felicia's death, but the start of the bridge fight happened because Silco tried to save Benzo from being arrested by Enforcers. The start of Silco's trauma was because he tried to save his family. Part two of Silco's trauma was accidentally killing his family. Part three was being physically harmed and betrayed by his last remaining family. Silco was ALONE after Vander's betrayal, he had NOBODY.

And still it's proven that (aside from emotionally) he didn't need Vander for Shimmer. He didn't need Vander to get people to respect him. He didn't need Vander to make Piltover afraid. He did not need Vander. He *wanted* his brother back, even after every thing Vander did to him.

That backfired and Silco took in a bomb-obsessed child who shared his trauma, Jinx became the only person he could relate to and he viewed Jinx as his DAUGHTER, not his employee, no matter how many times people say she works for him, literally IN THE SHOW he tries to steer her clear of continuing to do missions for him, he tries to put her on the most simple jobs, too, specifically so she didn't screw them up. Silco KNOWS that Jinx is overreactive, sensitive and hostile. Jinx had NEVER been helpful as an "employee", he lets her ruin his plans because he doesn't want to tell his DAUGHTER no.

All of his manipulation is also accidental (manipulation is still manipulation, before people come for me for defending manipulation. Try to listen)

- Silco genuinely believed Vi was dead

- Silco genuinely believes Vi is VANDER'S child and would behave like VANDER

- When Silco tried to reconnect with Vander, Vander tried to kill him again

- Silco finds out Vi is alive and looking for Jinx, he assumes that Vander's daughter is going to behave like Vander and try to kill Jinx

- Silco's intial act that caused all of his trauma was an accident, an accident while he was trying to do GOOD and trying to HELP and he lost EVERYBODY. He didn't do anything wrong that he didn't mean to, and everybody left. He genuinely believes that people will leave, no matter what you do or how you try to prevent it.

He isn't saying these things to purposefully manipulate her, he isn't thinking "This will keep her in line", he manipulates her on accident because this is his experience and he is thinking that this will SAVE her.

Silco was willing to imprison himself for Jinx. When Jayce asks for Jinx, the only crimes Jayce knows of regarding Jinx are crimes Jinx enacted towards Piltover. Killing enforcers and stealing the hexcore. Silco never told her to do any of this and actively berated her for it, but he does not hesitate to say all of Jinx's crimes were his and done under his orders. He throws himself under the bus to protect his DAUGHTER, not his employee.

All he would lose are problems. Jinx is a problem. You would fire an employee for being a problem, you don't give up family, and he never did. He would rather Jinx be free than Zaun.

Everytime Silco is genuine, every time he isn't putting on a facade to look more respectable, less weak, fancier, meaner, tougher, it is for his FAMILY. Silco on the surface wanted Zaun to be free, but his only real motivation was family. Defending Benzo, getting Vander back, keeping Jinx happy.

Zaun could burn as long as he had a family.

Making happy AUs where everyone is happy but Silco is fucking cruel and if you do it to him, surely you have to do it to Jinx too. Jinx and Silco were paralleled until the very end and and that is not a fact you can ignore without blatantly disrespecting every single person who worked on this show. Jinx even says that she understood how Silco felt about about her when she took in Isha. Ignoring Silco is ignoring Jinx.

[itsvioletevergarden29]

Reblogging this again 💙

Let’s talk about Silco’s parenting.

An essay. Because the internet is stupid. The meta is going to touch on the question of manipulation (a commonly raised but moot point), the concept of “good” parenting versus “perfect” parenting, his relationship with Vander, as well as a double standard I see with traumatized people both in fiction and in real life.

My employment of “you” below is addressing waves hand vaguely I don’t know, the unseen masses? Naturally, this isn’t any sort of pointed attack on anyone. It’s merely a meta commentary on talking point trends I have seen over the past couple months and common discourse on social platforms. First of all, the standard which Silco’s parenting seems most often measured against makes most questions of “good” and “healthy” irrelevant. This is not modern day current culture with access to therapy or education about cognitive reconditioning. This is fiction, there’s magic and fucking talking guinea pigs in government positions and this man is a crime boss who floods the streets with drugs to financially support weapons manufacturing. Let’s keep that in mind, shall we? His atrocities are part of him and I think they’re funny. Second of all, the argument I see often is that manipulation automatically means bad father. It doesn’t. They are not mutually exclusive. Do you know why? Well, I well tell you because I am so tired of black and white media analysis with zero question of ‘why’ for the characters within it. 

Trauma will often be the root of toxic behavior and unhealthy methods of coping. Even being aware of it, we have to actively work against it in ourselves. I was raised in a traumatic environment, I learned toxic traits. These needed to be unlearned with the help of a therapist over time. Because we are not measuring his choices against real life standard, we have to look at intention. That is ALL we can look at because how it manifests is a question of trauma response, a manifestation of genuine belief that stems from hostile experience and a broken sense of safety relationally and otherwise.

Silco’s primary source of relational safety brutally violated that safety.

When he tells Jinx that everyone betrays them, he means it. When he says it’s only them, he means it. It’s not about isolating her. It’s a desperate attempt to teach her what life has taught him through personal experience. It doesn’t matter if its true or not, he believes it is based on what he knows and he wants to offer his daughter lessons that he thinks will empower her to take agency for herself. Is it healthy to teach your child that the world cannot be trusted outside of your tiny family? No, of course not. Does he lie to her about Vi and claim that she is there for the crystal only? Yes! He does! Whether or not he believes that himself, truly, is subjective and I think both the interpretation of deception on purpose versus his active belief that Vi will abandon her are both perfectly valid. But that isn’t the pertinent question in the discussion of whether or not he is a good father, the argument itself is irrelevant on the subject of manipulation because the intention has not changed. He is afraid of losing her. He is afraid of what will happen if she is outside of his care. He’s scared. That fear manifests the way it naturally would for someone with his understanding of relationships.

And intentions do matter when we are dealing with people with this level of untreated personal trauma in storytelling, which is the lens were are looking through here. If you want to measure all fictional dynamics against a generalized standard of healthy behavior, then you’re missing the point. We, as people, try to maintain healthy dynamics in our relationships and to be aware. Stories are not real life and characters in Arcane, while realistic, have a different environment. So, on the question of using a prodigy to further his goals. Does he employ her skills for the sake of the undercity’s sovereignty? Yes, he does. The Nation of Zaun is everything to him. It is the point of his entire arc. The visuals, narrative, it smacks you in the face with his internal conflict at a constant: Jinx or Zaun. It might see a strange point to raise but I have seen it said many a time that his impressing on her the importance of the weapon, the crystal, all of it somehow makes it so that he doesn’t care about her. But that is… the point. That is his primary character conflict, the undoing of a dream carefully sewn for years all for the sake of her. He battles that continually during the second and third acts.

And do we see, very clearly, over and over again, a man that chooses this child above all else? Over himself, Zaun, without question? Yes, we do. You cannot argue otherwise, you really can’t. I’m sorry but that isn’t a discussion point with anything to stand on. The first glimpse we have is an immediate peek into how much he has prioritized her to the point of losing respect from his own people. He takes time away to ease her fear, he allows her into his personal space at a constant, this girl is precious to him and it shows. 

In regard to his operatives? Manipulation is all he knows, he lacks interpersonal skills, he has a cracked view of what it means to trust, and he is under-socialized. This occurs. This happens. This is human behavior. There’s default to manipulation as well as a default to violence. Based on how he was raised, the environment he was forced to grow up in, his experiences with those he loved (Vander) of course that is where he goes when he’s desperate.  Nothing Silco did surprised me in regard to negative tactics. It was all rooted in something I could easily understand and see from his history. But the lack of interest in the ‘why’ of characters with that kind of complexity is telling to me. It seems that characters that aren’t easily sorted in “good” and “bad” are hard to hold so often. So, we simply drop them. We reduce them. That saddens me. When Silco thinks he is going to lose the only person that he values, trusts, that loves him back and offers him a sense of purpose, does he use what could be described as manipulative language to keep her? You bet! Why the fuck would we expect anything else from him? That does not make him a bad father, it makes him a broken man who has a warped view of the world because he was bent that way. And that man loves this kid more than anything and even through all the cracks in his vision, he tries his best to be what she needs. THAT is what makes a good parent. It is not being perfect. It is the urge to try. I love this quote by Mitch Albom about the nature of parenting:

All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.

The constant lack of empathy I see in ‘media analysis’ these days alarms me because it utterly lacks compassion while veiling itself as righteousness. A viewer casts judgement rather than looking at the human experience being displayed. There is no true compassion and understanding, there’s only performative, waving a proverbial flag of moral superiority. 

The unconditional love and support Silco offers Jinx is deeply profound. His desire to meet her, always, where she is with patience. His allowance of her taking over his life and his personal space, his constant marvel at WHO she is? That? Giving her that despite his complete lack of it in his own life? That’s so fucking beautiful. It doesn’t eliminate the other parts, manipulation, projection, etc., any more than those parts don’t eliminate a father’s extraordinary love. They can coexist. And they do. 

I believe Silco made mistakes because that is what parents do. But I also believe that man knew this kid, saw this kid, fostered her uniqueness and offered her a sense of safety in herself where she did not have one prior. Vander couldn’t do that for her, neither could Vi. He understands how her mind works, that she needs to know she is still trusted after she messed up. He gives her the injection tool as a physical demonstration of that continued trust. He takes her to the river to show her, using sensory experiences that she can hold, that he believes her to be good enough, perfect, loved as she is. She has another breakdown in the last episode and he knows that warm memories for Vi are triggers for her and he wants to stop it. Silco gets her. He sees her. And for a girl that needs to feel accepted, he offers it despite his own suffering. THAT is a good father.

Silco did his best with the tools that he had. And he died for her and he would do it on purpose as well by accident. If that isn’t perfect enough for you, good luck building healthy relationships with people that have trauma because we all have wounds that will manifest with toxicity despite our best efforts. It’s human.

People say they love a damaged character but then when that character demonstrates realistic consequences of that trauma, they demonize them for it. What message does that send to people that have similar struggle because of something that was done to them? That your worth is measured by how much you hide the less than savory pieces of you? That if you aren’t without negatives, you’re bad? We all have bullshit, we all have bad coping methods, some of us more than others but its part of recovery.  Like Silco, those of us that have trauma responses to things that manifest in negative behavior fight toxicity in our blood and our bodies and our brains. If you like the “angst” of painful backstory but reject the consequences, you’re fetishizing human pain. That’s all. TL;DR Silco is a good dad and I love him. A lot.

[itsvioletevergarden29]

I've seen people say in the past that Silco didn't actually love Jinx because we never hear him say "I love you," to her. But guys, maybe I'm forgetting something but I don't think a single character in Arcane said "I love you" to anyone, not once. If they did it's certainly not a scene that gets talked about or one that I remember.

Love in Arcane has always been something that was shown, not told. Telling someone you love them is incredibly meaningful, but that's not how the people in this world express their love. They express it through actions. And while by this point, I think everything has been said about "you're perfect" but personally, even if you can argue day and night about if that was the "right" thing to say, I feel like that line had more meaning than a simple "I love you" ever could because it's Jinx. She wants acceptance more than anything.

I'm rambling but tl:dr: Silco never telling Jinx he loves her doesn't mean his love wasn't real. Afaik no character in Arcane verbally expresses their love to anyone, love in Arcane is expressed mostly through actions rather than words.

[itsvioletevergarden29]

🌍 Gaza is starving to death — and the world must not stay silent.

❗This is not just a headline. It’s our reality.

No food. No medicine. No safe place left.

We cry out in every language, hoping someone hears us:

غزة تموت جوعاً

Gaza is starving to death

Gaza meurt de faim

Gaza se muere de hambre

Gaza verhungert

Gaza sta morendo di fame

Газа умирает от голода

加沙正在饿死

ガザは飢えで死にかけている

가자는 굶어 죽어가고 있다

Gazze açlıktan ölüyor

गाज़ा भूख से मर रहा है

Gaza está morrendo de fome

Gaza sekarat karena kelaparan

غزہ بھوک سے مر رہا ہے

غزه از گرسنگی در حال مرگ است

Η Γάζα πεθαίνει από την πείνα

Gaza svälter ihjäl

🆘 Please don’t scroll past this.

Every share, every donation, every voice counts.

Vetted!!!

(#167 on the verified fundraiser list by el-shab-hussein and nabulsi) (but we had to make a new gfm campaign cuz our old organizer stopped contacting us).

# dlxxv-vetted-donations

[itsvioletevergarden29]

how long do you think silco spent screaming jinx's name when he went to scold her for the dead guys because it seems like it was quite a while until he said: fuck the song, JINX PAY ATTENTION I'M ANGRY WITH YOU

I just think it's cute and funny that he didn't start out with rudely getting her attention by pulling her, but rather that he hoped she heard him over the song that he was calling her before he went to hit the gramophone

[itsvioletevergarden29]

As a huge HEA fan (both chapter and vessel) this post legitimately brought me to tears. I think you’re absolutely right. That dance is for her, not us. It’s her finally getting back her agency and getting to do what she truly wants more than anything, and that’s beautiful. ✨

Princess Appreciation Week - Prompt 1!

I'm late for Princess Appreciation Week and will continue to be days behind probably but!!! I'm gonna do it!!! I wanna talk about my wife!!!!

So here we are for prompt 1-Favorite Princess! My favorite vessel is EASILY Happily Ever After and it's not even close. I could rant about her for hours, but for now I'll just say I think her chapter is very often misunderstood and it's easy to miss the point of her dance under the stars being SO easy to accomplish.

look at her. look at my wife.

HEA my beloved ♥️ my sweet girlie who just wants to dance under the stars. give her her dance let her have what she wants finally.

okay yeah no you know what. i'm doing it. i'm ranting. rant under the cut LOL

I see a lot of complaints that it's too easy to get the dance under the stars in Happily Ever After, and that after everything you put HEA through (we're not gonna talk about how people treat smitten in this chapter that's another topic, needless to say his actions are OUR fault and WE are the problem here), it doesn't feel earned. And I get that! I see why that's the take a lot of people walk away with! I also fundamentally disagree with it.

Because the point of the dance is not that it's a reward that we earn. The dance is not for us. The dance is a beautiful moment and a romantic moment and something wonderful for the player to experience, but it does not exist for the benefit of Quiet or the player.

The dance is for her.

It's easy to accomplish, it's really simple to get to, it's hard to avoid, because we are not the ones making it happen. Our choices don't cause the dance. Hers do.

HEA wants this dance. It's the one thing she wants now that she's been trapped in this cabin, playing the demure wife, doing whatever Smitten (and Quiet) wants because she just wants to make you happy, because she cares about you, because despite how you treated her she still finds your heart "beautiful"...and all she wants after all of this, all she wants when she's finally free of the pressure to please you, all she wants when you let the torches go out and allow her to leave, is to dance under the stars.

The dance is not our reward for our behavior and treatment towards HEA. It's her reward for putting up with our behavior all this time.

So yes, it is easy! Yes, it is extremely easy to stumble into the dance without doing much to earn it! Yes, you have to go out of your way to make it clear you don't care about her at all and you just wanted to get out of there for selfish reasons to avoid being able to dance with this woman you just tormented for so long! And you have to do that because the only way to avoid what she wants, the one thing she chooses to do with her free will, is to continue asserting your own will over her!! It's to decide "actually, I don't think I earned this dance so I'm going to deprive her of it even though it's the only thing she wants to do because I don't feel like I earned it." And that's a valid take! But it misses the point!!

I love Happily Ever After because to me, it's a story of reconciliation, of two people who deeply care about each other and want to make each other happy, who fear hurting each other so much that one of them DOES hurt the other, deeply, in an attempt to give her what he thinks she wants. And when that story ends and she's finally allowed to think for herself, when she finally has a chance to choose what she wants, when she finally has a chance to exercise her own will again with someone she now feels does care about her, at least to SOME extent...so many people dismiss that dance as "unearned" or complain that it's too easy to get or try to avoid it on purpose because they don't want to feel rewarded for their actions. And in doing so, we deprive this poor woman who has already had so much denied to her of the only thing that would make all that suffering worth it to her.

That's just my take! That's how I view my girlie! Maybe I'm way off the mark!! But the fact that it's always, ALWAYS HEA who initiates the dance, and that she does so even if you don't ask her what she wants, that she does it even when you do nothing to earn it, drives in to me that it exists for her. That's her moment. And I, for one, will never deny her of that moment ♥️

[itsvioletevergarden29]