problemswithbooks

[problemswithbooks]

I saw your tag where you mention in talks of Touya "heck he only apologized to shoto" and all I thought was literally, like a mutual of my mine discussed it with me and I mentioned how he only felt enough remorse to only apologise to Shouto in the end but like you said Natsuo deserved one after nearly being killed and Fuyumi also. They did agree, that it's a bit unfortunate that he didn't feel remorse enough to apologise to more than just Shouto, but they did mention that his apology to Shouto could have possibly been the start of that remorse but obviously we wouldn't know because we're 1) not shown that and 2) he dies so whether he ever felt remorse later on during those visits from the family before he finally did pass away is something people would only ever to explore in fics. Which I can see her point because even Enji had his moment of change or remorse, his guilt and remorse didn't just hit him straight away it was gradual - so who's to say that Touya feeling enough remorse to apologies to Shouto wasn't his start?! I guess it's all down to interpretation or opinions. However, that's my problem not just Touya but Toga too only had remorse for hurting Ochako, I wished if we're going to get glimpse of remorse why couldn't of it expanded a bit more to the other victims.

I think the issue is that as much as people really loved the Todofam arc, realistically it was never going to get the time and attention it needed because the story wasn't about them.

I mean, I get that it'd be nice to know if Touya apologized to his other siblings, but with Hori so totally done with this story, and Fuyumi and Natsuo being super side characters, I can see why he didn't bother to touch on that. Shoto was the most important character of this side plot, so it's only really important to make Touya's regret towards Shoto be known to the readers.

It's nice to think that perhaps Touya's apology to Shoto was the start of him coming around, and given we're not told either way, fans are free to come to their own conclusions.

[problemswithbooks]

I suppose it depends on what your definition of a coward is.

To me, Kimblee doesn't come across as a coward because he doesn't do what he does out of fear. No, he doesn't want to die, but it's not because he's afraid of death--it's because that goes against his only true goal.

Something that's important to note about Kimblee is that he's not on Father's side because he believes or wants Father to succeed. Kimblee is only on Father's side because he knows that's the side that will let him use his skills to what he considers their full potential, aka, killing a massive amount of people. If he'd have thought Ed/Roy's side would use him similarly, or given him a stone to use, he equally might have chosen to fight for them.

Kimblee's true goal is to see how the conflict between the homunculi and the humans plays out. He wants to know which side the world will choose. That's all he wants (along with using his alchemy the way he wants).

Given that's his goal, the only thing he'd care about is surviving long enough to see the outcome.

This is the main reason why, until his fight with Al on the Promised Day, he's quick to leave fights where he's at a disadvantage. It's not that he's afraid to die and freaks out and leaves--he's not panicked like Yoki often is, who I would consider a coward. Instead, Kimblee's simply selfish, caring more about his own goal, rather than caring whether or not he progresses Father's own plans.

I think this is also why the author gave him the ability she does. Kimblee is not suited for one on one fights--he's a weapon of mass destruction. Explosions aren't highly targeted and almost always cause civilian casualties, or even kill comrades. He doesn't care who he kills, and he certainly doesn't care about beating individual targets. He goes for quantity over quality. He's not the type of person to stick around and put a huge amount of effort into killing one person, when he could take a step back, and use his ability more efficiently to slaughter dozens or hundreds, maybe even thousands.

Kimblee's self-serving nature is also why he won't, and I argue, can't open the gate for the Homunculi. I don't 100% recall if they conclude he's too afraid to or not, but I don't think what they say matters. I wouldn't be surprised if they do think he's too afraid to, because given how they view humans, it's likely they think Kimblee is 100% behind their cause or at least fully under their thumb like their other human allies.

I doubt they understand that Kimblee, even if he was able, would not open the gate or be a human sacrifice for them. To do so would, again, conflict with his own goals.

Kimblee wants to both see which side wins but also use his alchemy as he likes. Truth always takes the most important thing it can from those who open it. Kimblee isn't stupid and would know this--it's not in any way secret knowledge. The only thing Kimblee really seems to love is his alchemy (and possibly his hearing). Sacrificing his alchemy for Father's own agenda is not something Kimblee would ever do.

If he even could. People open the Gate and bargain with Truth in order to save a loved one. Again, Kimblee doesn't care about anyone but himself. This makes it unlikely he even could open the Gate at all. Nor could the Homunculi trick him into opening it by hurting a loved one, as they did with Roy.

This is why I don't consider Kimblee's flaw to be cowardice. Instead, I see it as selfishness. He doesn't care about anything but his own agenda. He feels no camaraderie with anyone. This is why he turns on Pride, essentially helping Ed beat him in their fight. He's more focused on his own ideals, that being hating hypocrites, then sticking with the person whose side he was supporting.

Kimblee's not afraid of being killed, he's just not going to stick his neck out for anyone but himself and his own desires.

FMAB is the BEST at giving villains actual flaws that aren’t just “bluh bluh scary bad man!” Like kimblee?? Most franchises would be like he’s just pure evil (which he is) and leave it at that but hiromu was like nah this man at his core is a COWARD

That scene where the homunculi are talking about potential sacrifices and one of them says what about kimblee and they’re IMMEDIATELY shut down by “nah he’s too much of a chicken to actually open the portal”

Or how in every single fight scene he’s like “shit this guy’s too fast!!!” and so he just blows something up to get out of there ASAP??

Man fully relies on the philosopher’s stone to give him false confidence but has no actual courage and just hides behind the big scary booms without ever facing anything directly head-on

[problemswithbooks]

I've always found the over the top hate for Cat's character really weird because even if you go by Iron Flame, by the end Violet didn't even hate her. No, they weren't bffs, but they respected each other as squad mates and had each other's backs when it mattered.

I've seen this hate continue on in at least the first half of Onyx Storm, where people are still angry at Cat for making small quips every now and again--quips that Violet doesn't really do more than roll her eyes at.

IDK, but it feels like so many people are desperate for Cat to be pure evil and ignore canon in order to do so. I'm seeing the same behavior toward Xaden's mom now too. And, like, I get that people love Xaden and he's the love interest we're supposed to swoon over, but it does feel a bit misogynistic that Xaden, who turned full Venin this book and does some less than great things, is let off the hook, while these two women aren't given any understanding, even when the book itself seems to want you to feel some sympathy for them.

The popularization of a particular head canon in this fandom about Cat is so rooted in a particular brand of fandom misogyny that the romantasy fandoms pretend doesn’t exist

[problemswithbooks]

Onyx Storm and LGBT+ Rep

How does everyone feel about the LGBT+ rep in the series post Onyx Storm? Personally, I'm not very impressed.

Now, the LGBT+ rep was never the best. Frankly it was always a blink, and you'll miss it type deal, but I have to say after reading Onyx Storm I'm seeing some worrying signs.

One thing I noticed in particular was that the two main LGBT+ characters we have are the only ones without clear love interests/ they're the characters pointed out as sleeping around and unattached. This is in comparison to the straight side characters, who almost all have clear end game love interests or close relationships with one person. The straight characters also have their love interests as part of the side cast, who have at least some lines, as opposed to the LGBT+ characters whose lovers are barely mentioned by name, let alone are a part of the group.

Take Dain. He's one the main side characters. This book it appears his love interest and end game (because no one simply has a crush in a romance novel, or breaks up) is Sloane. Sloane didn't have many scenes in this book, but she's still around, she still has moments. She's apart of their Wing. She has multiple interactions with Dain on page. Also she was a pretty big character last book, who has family ties with an important character from the first book.

In contrast, Ridoc. He was a major character in this book, getting far more scene time than he did in previous installments. He's gay and the only thing we know about his love life, something that's been brought up multiple times, is that he loves sleeping around. In the book where he gets upped scene time, his only romantic interaction is flirting with a new Flier who never shows up again. The only other thing he does romance related (if you can even call it that) is to jokingly mock his straight friends for having steady partners, instead of living it up by sleeping around.

Rhiannon gets similar treatment, though she's not as much of a player. Rhi is an incredibly important character in the first two books and Violet's bff. Her romantic partner is a woman called Tara. They have an off and on again relationship, that is implied to simply be sexual, not romantic. Tara maybe gets a line in one of the books, but I can't recall it at all. Tara is in First Wing.

Unlike the straight characters (or at least those pursuing opposite sex relationships) these two prominent LGBT+ characters are not allowed to have romantic interests, only sexual hook-ups, none of which who are other important side characters, therefore get zero character interactions.

Also, the only LGBT+ character that had a romantic partner (who again is not part of the main friend group) died in this book, so that's not great.

I'm not saying that Yarros has to write an epic LGBT+ romance, but it'd be nice if she at least gave one of these characters as much care as her straight side characters get in the romance department. I mean, would it have killed her to have Ridoc or Rhi have crushes on someone in the main friend group and have cute interactions with them, similar to Dain and Sloane, or Sawyer and Jesinia, or Imogen and Garrick? Why can't Ridoc be interested in Bodhi and get some cute moment during the sparing matches?

I doubt it was intentional, but Yarros is playing into the trope (especially with Ridoc) that LGBT+ people are very promiscuous and rarely have meaningful relationships based on love, rather than sex. Past that, it really feels like they aren't treated the same as the 'straight' characters (because they could be bi) who get at least some dialog with their love interests, who in turn have scenes independent of that relationship, because unlike the LGBT+ characters' love interests, their crushes are important to the story.

[problemswithbooks]

Dreamwalking, and Inntinnsic Signets

With the release of Onyx Storm, we now know what Violet's second Signet is--Dreamwalking. In and of itself, I have no problem with this ability. I'm mildly concerned with how Yarros will treat it moving forward, twisting it into something very OP in later books, but as of how it works in Onyx Storm it's fine.

No, the issue I have with Dreamwalking is how it ties back into the poorly handled 'inntinnsic' Signet category; for you see, somehow Dreamwalking is inntinnsic.

As of Iron Flame, inntinnsic, as a category, simply doesn't make any sense.

When we were first introduced to the concept of an inntinnsic, it seemed to only apply to those whose ability gave them the power to actively read minds without touch. These users are killed ASAP due to Navarre's desire to keep Venin secret from any but the most powerful. Despite some critics nit-picks I didn't find this practice unrealistic/stupid. Trusting an untrained cadet, who can read minds without any sort of tell, to keep national secrets would be ludicrous.

But then Iron Flame complicates things.

Xaden turns out to be inntinnsic--the problem is that he doesn't actually read minds. Instead, he essentially has a 'vibe' checking power. How it works is kept very vague, with a broad application, since he can seemingly tell if someone is telling the truth, detect their planed movements in one-on-one combat, and gauge a crowds' reaction to his words. The only thing we know for sure is that he is not reading individual thoughts.

Another issue is that Iron Flame introduced people who had Signets that turned them into lie detectors. From what I can recall, these people did not have to touch others for their power to work. Similar to Xaden, they simply can tell when the vibes of someone's statements are off when they lie. These people are not considered inntinnsic, even though they'd have just as much ability to suss out if their superior officers were lying to them as much as Xaden would.

Why is Xaden's power inntinnsic, but theirs were not?

Then we get the Fliers, who seemingly use 'mind-work'. The only example we have is Cat, who can, without physical contact, heighten people's emotions. To do so she must be able to detect the emotions of those around her, which would give her a similar, if a bit weaker, 'vibe' check ability to Xaden's. Yet she is not inntinnsic, nor any of the other Fliers' 'mind-work' abilities.

Now, with Onyx Storm, Violet is given an inntinnsic Signet of her own. The problem is that it makes even less sense than Xaden's to be categorized as such. From what we've seen of how her ability works, Violet enters a pre-established dream/nightmare. From there, she can affect how it plays out. Later, she may be able to create someone's dream herself.

How is that an inntinnsic ability? Or to put it another way, why would the higher-ups kill her for it? In fact, why would even the traditional inntinnsics be killed at all now that Navarre's secret is out?

First off, dreams are not always accurate. They don't always show the truth. We see this in the book itself. Neither Xaden or Maren's nightmares are true to life. We see what scares them, which could possibly be advantageous for blackmail, but it's not as if someone's fears are particularly difficult to find out. Of course Maren wouldn't want to lose the picture of her family she loves; of course Xaden is afraid of losing to a Sage. Violet didn't need her dream ability to figure out how to blackmail the man Xaden's mom is married too.

At best, it'd be a good power to use to possibly prevent an enemy from sleeping--constantly giving them nightmares when they tried to sleep. Though even then it seems difficult because Violet needs to be asleep herself, and from a distance she'd simply have to guess when they might be asleep.

Dreamwalking in no way would 100% lead to the user finding out about the Venin secret Navarre was so desperate to keep. Venin were not unknown to people in Navarre--they were simply seen as the boogeyman. It wouldn't be a huge red flag if a Dreamwalker stumbled into, say, Lilith's nightmare of being killed by Venin. It might be weird if every superior officer had a nightmare about Veinin, but that in no way confirms the lies they've told.

This leads to the question as to why Navarre still has the zero inntinnsic policy? Or at least that seems to be the case since Xaden says they'd kill Violet if they found out it (which makes 0 sense because it'd kill Tairn, his mate, Xaden and possibly Andarna--all of their biggest assets, during a world ending war).

Yes, a traditional Fourth Wing inntinnsic would be a huge privacy issue even with their secret out in the open, but given people can shield and they're in an epic war for their very lives, and losing, you'd think even a mind reader would be kept alive due to their usefulness. A Dreamwalker and an Intention reader, would be easy-peasy to work around, particularly when both are your strongest weapons. Especially when you've already been working with Truth Detectors, and Emotion Manipulators--one of whom is a former enemy, without killing them.

I find the whole inntinnsic thing to be such a big issue because it's clear Yarros is simply applying the label to her main characters for added drama/tension. It does not jive with the rest of the world building to claim Dreamwalking and Intention reading are inntinnsic, but what Cat does isn't, nor are the people who worked with Violet's torturer.

I don't think either of them needed their second signets to be classified as inntinnsic. They can still choose to hide them because it's an advantage to keep them secret. I mean, it turns out a bunch of the Marked Ones are hiding second Signets themselves, so why do Xaden and Violet need extra drama tacked on to their second powers.

Part of me wonders if in an earlier idea or draft of the story Xaden was going to be a traditional inntinnsic, but Yarros scrapped it because it would make him look bad (and also just be Edward Cullen 2.0). It would be far harder for Violet to believably forgive Xaden for reading her thoughts, than it is for her to forgive him for checking if she had trustworthy vibes. Especially when she completely turned on Dain for the same thing.

Meanwhile, Dreamwalking was added as an inntinnsic ability because it puts them on equal footing--now Violet has a forbidden power too, and she was using it on Xaden without realizing. It also makes it seem a far more powerful power than it realistically should be. Again, dreams aren't reliable sources of info, and unless Yarros adds something onto the ability--like being able to alter people's personalities or keep them asleep, it's not as groundbreaking of a power, like, say, Aaric's future sight.

[problemswithbooks]

I will agree that calling Stolas names isn't very nice, nor does it add to OP's criticizing, but I understand where they're coming from. I'll explain why OP and others might agree with the idea that Stolas staying in the marriage doesn't make sense, and therefore people like OP blame him for staying.

Stolas going to the party wasn’t about “obligation.” It was about avoiding whatever retaliation Stella would dish out if he didn’t. Abuse operates on control, and the victim learns to navigate around the abuser’s unpredictable wrath to minimize harm. Stolas went because, in his mind, the fallout of staying home likely felt worse than enduring a miserable evening at Stella’s side.

I'm sorry, but where is this at all backed up by the show? Stella's tone in no way conveys that she cares whether if he goes or not. Stolas in no way is fearful of Stella in the scene, and even curses at her when he asks what is going on. The show in no way presents Stolas as going simply because he's afraid of retaliation, and given Stella didn't even give him the invitation herself and he only found out because it was in the paper, it's unlikely he's obligated to go for societal reasons.

Hell, I could equally argue that Stella did not want him to come at all. Hence, her not even telling him about the party and her making her awful comments about him as close to him as possible because she wanted him to overhear--her retaliation for him showing up. It'd also explain why she didn't care that he left. If she wanted him to be there, she'd have been angry he wandered off and go find him and drag him back.

The reason Stolas is at the party is that the plot needed him to be there. It needed him to be miserable, so he'd drink and then get so excited about Blitz being there. He's not in any way shown as being there because of some hinted threat by Stella. Due to the short run time of these episodes, surly the writers didn't feel like any reason needed to be given as to why Stolas would attend, abuse or having nothing else to do, either way. They simply needed him there to move the plot along, so that's why he's there at all.

Which is why, especially since they put in Stella's shrugged "You can come if you want" line, makes it look as if he went to an event he knew he'd hate for no reason.

Stella’s volatile personality made leaving a high-risk move. The likelihood of her retaliating—socially, politically, or even physically—was enormous. Stolas staying wasn’t about being a “sucker for punishment”; it was about survival. And let’s not forget, he had Octavia to consider. He believed staying gave her a chance at stability, even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness.

Yes, leaving an abusive relationship is hard, but none of the reasons that that's the case apply to Stolas (at least as far as he knew).

Stolas is one of the most powerful people in Hell. He outranks Stella's brother. He has immense magical power that Stella seems totally lacking. It is not an elected position and he never seemed worried at the possiblity of lossing it if he became unpopular. After Octavia was born he was under no obligation to stay so that seems to rule out his father refusing to let him leave. Financially, he was fine after the divorce and only lost everything because of the Full Moon Deal he made with Blitz came out.

Sure, you could argue it might have effected his social standing, but he seems disliked by most of them anyway. Plus, Stella is already ruining his social capital with the upper class as it is, by publicly badmouthing him, so it's no benefit, socially, for him to stay.

Stella is only shown as a stupid bitch, who is never nice, ever, so it's not as if the relationship is going through the usual cycle where the abuser apologizes and acts nice for a while, therefore luring their victim into thinking they've changed, and giving them happy times to remember, which makes leaving harder. Stella and Stolas always hated each other, so that's not why he stays either.

Abuse creates a cycle of control, self-doubt, and helplessness. Victims internalize their circumstances, convincing themselves that enduring the abuse is the safest or only option.

Yes, abuse does do this, but that is not what we are shown for Stolas.

He is never afraid of Stella. EVER. Instinctively, he protects his face when she throws things at him, but that's it. He never holds himself back from telling her what he thinks or showing he's angry with her out of fear. As I said before, he wasn't even less harsh or careful before he stood up to her. He doesn't show any signs of being affected by Stella's abuse, either, like subconsciously flinching away from Blitz yelling and getting in his face.

Hell, even after he finds out she hired Striker, he's not afraid. Instead, the focus is on his relationship with Blitz, and it's not portrayed as him doing so, because he's so afraid that he wants to distract himself with the one possible good thing in his life.

This take also misses how abuse warps decision-making when children are involved. Stolas stayed because he genuinely believed that keeping Octavia in a two-parent household was the lesser evil. Was it the right call? Maybe not. But it wasn’t about stupidity—it was about trying to protect her within a deeply broken system.

The problem with this is that, again, Stella is only shown as pure evil. If she's always been volatile, someone who never bothers to hide how awful she is, who will always say the mean thing regardless of how dumb a choice that is, then there is no reason for Stolas to ever assume Octavia having her mom in her life is a benefit. If Octavia, as we've been shown doesn't and has never, had a relationship with Stella, why would Stolas risk the possibility of Stella being cruel to Octavia? Which--given what we've seen of her, would be the most reasonable conclusion.

Plus, as I pointed out earlier, from everything we've been shown, and for all Stolas knew at the time, the systum would have been on his side. At most, he may have had to do pacial custody (as we see in the show) and lost a bit of money. Even if other Goeita don't like him, he seems to have more then enough power/high enough title they couldn't have done much about it.

And let’s not act like leaving would have been a magical fix. Stella isn’t the kind of person who’d let Stolas walk away quietly, much less take Octavia with him. She would’ve weaponized every ounce of her power to destroy him and maintain control over their daughter.

Again, where are you getting this?

Stella for all that Stolas knew, up until Striker kidnapped him, was leaving without a huge fuss (for her). At most, she wanted more money, which from the dialog doesn't appear he was lawfully obligated to give her. She never asked for Via and both of them seemed fine with taking turns with her. It was her brother's idea to 'manipulate' Via (which they don't really do, considering they can't stop loudly bragging about how evil they are in front of her) because he wants Stolas's power.

She's not presented as desperate for control over Via at all. She only hired Striker because Stolas cheated, not because she wanted to keep sole custody of Via. And, while yes, I think it's likely she would have tried to kill Stolas if he simply divorced her, we see no evidence to suggest Stolas thought that (he doesn't even notice when she hires Striker over the phone in front of him). Nor is he concerned about her brother in any way. The best we get is him saying "I don't care what your brother thinks" which more implies that he thinks Andre will simply be squawking in his ear about the divorce, which is annoying but not a threat.

If you can’t understand that, maybe it’s time to rethink how you approach character analysis—or better yet, try learning a thing or two about the psychology of abuse before you come for Stolas again.

I'm sure some people who don't like Stolas don't understand abuse or what it does to someone, but that's not everyone who points out issues with how he's portrayed. Personally, I, due to my own circumstances have to live with my abusive parent, so I get the psychological effects and reasons why someone wouldn't choose to leave an abusive situation. The problem is that the show does a poor job of conveying this reality with Stolas. Inturn this makes people not understand the situation he's in.

This isn't really a Stolas problem--he's not real. It's a writing problem. Not just for Stolas but for Stella. There were multiple ways to make this narrative work, even in small ways, like actually showing moments where Stolas was nervous around Stella, particularly in that pre-divorce flashback (similar to Moxxie and his abusive father).

Instead of a nonchalant, "Come if you want", have her say "you know what will happen if you don't come" with one of her malevolent smiles.

Maybe when he meets with Ozzie and sees Striker is involved, we get a shot of him being scared, and when he steps up to help Ozzie it's clear he's doing it in hopes of perhaps getting back at Striker in some small way.

Have Stolas flinch when Blitz gets in his face during Apology Tour, with it becoming more and more clear as they fight that he's growing more afraid/triggered by the fight, until he, in a panic, warps Blitz away. And instead of following Blitz right as he's kicked out we get a shot of Stoals trying to calm down before he has a full blow panic attack, maybe Stella's voice mocking him in his mind, with him trying to shrug it off while he looks down at the invitation, showing that part of the reason he goes to the party is to get his mind off of his past abuse.

During Sinsmas at some point he catches Stella watching everything down below and freezes momentarily in sudden fear.

Just, simply present it as Stella actually being someone he sees as a threat, someone who can actually do damage to him if he leaves. Instead, the show presents it as Stolas having all the cards. He has the money, the power, and social position (Ozzie, a Sin, likes him, and Vessago likes him too, so he's not completly isolated politically) to not just leave but leave Stella with practically nothing (so far all her social standing and personal wealth seems to come from Stolas, given she moved back in with her brother after the divorce and Andre says she'd get nothing if Via inherits). If he has no fear of her, if he'd lose nothing finacially, or socially, or politically. If his father isn't making him stay, then it does come across as him simply staying because...well, he wanted to.

The Lens of Abuse: Understanding Stolas’ Actions

💁🏽‍♀️🤖: Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s remind ourselves of one critical fact: Stella is abusive. The show doesn’t beat us over the head with it, but the signs are everywhere—from her open contempt and cruel insults to her explosive fits of rage. Her dynamic with Stolas is defined by control, belittlement, and a lack of empathy. Abuse isn’t just about physical harm; it’s about creating a constant undercurrent of fear and power imbalance, and Stella wields both masterfully.

When analyzing Stolas’ choices—whether it’s staying in the marriage, going to that party, or how he handled things with Octavia—it’s essential to understand that they don’t exist in a vacuum. Abuse clouds judgment, limits perceived options, and forces victims to prioritize survival over happiness. Let’s break down why this perspective is crucial to understanding Stolas and why the critique of him being “pathetic” or “a sucker for punishment” completely misses the mark.

1. “He didn’t have to go to the party” — That’s Not How Abuse Works

It’s easy to sit back and say, “He didn’t have to go.” But when you’re in an abusive relationship, even basic decisions like this are never simple. Abusers like Stella don’t offer real choices—they create situations where every option carries a punishment.

Stolas going to the party wasn’t about “obligation.” It was about avoiding whatever retaliation Stella would dish out if he didn’t. Abuse operates on control, and the victim learns to navigate around the abuser’s unpredictable wrath to minimize harm. Stolas went because, in his mind, the fallout of staying home likely felt worse than enduring a miserable evening at Stella’s side.

Calling him “pathetic” for attending the party is an oversimplification that dismisses the psychological toll of years of manipulation and coercion.

2. “He didn’t have to suffer in the marriage” — Leaving Isn’t Easy

Here’s the thing about abuse: leaving isn’t just a decision—it’s a process. Victims often stay in harmful situations because of fear, obligation, or a belief that leaving will only make things worse. Stolas’ marriage to Stella wasn’t just an unhappy partnership; it was a deeply ingrained system of control.

Stella’s volatile personality made leaving a high-risk move. The likelihood of her retaliating—socially, politically, or even physically—was enormous. Stolas staying wasn’t about being a “sucker for punishment”; it was about survival. And let’s not forget, he had Octavia to consider. He believed staying gave her a chance at stability, even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness.

The idea that Stolas “didn’t have to suffer” ignores the reality that, for victims of abuse, the path out often feels blocked, whether by fear, societal expectations, or the abuser’s power.

3. The Cycle of Abuse: Why Stolas Didn’t Leave Sooner

Abuse creates a cycle of control, self-doubt, and helplessness. Victims internalize their circumstances, convincing themselves that enduring the abuse is the safest or only option.

Stolas wasn’t “just an idiot who can’t turn down obligation.” He was stuck in a dynamic where Stella controlled the narrative and made him feel powerless. Add to that the societal expectations of Hell’s elite, and it’s no wonder he felt trapped.

When victims like Stolas finally leave, it’s not because they’re suddenly smarter or braver. It’s because something shifts—whether internally or externally—that gives them the push they need. For Stolas, this shift came when he chose to pursue his own happiness, even at great personal cost. That’s not idiocy; that’s growth.

4. Octavia and Parental Decisions Under Abuse

This take also misses how abuse warps decision-making when children are involved. Stolas stayed because he genuinely believed that keeping Octavia in a two-parent household was the lesser evil. Was it the right call? Maybe not. But it wasn’t about stupidity—it was about trying to protect her within a deeply broken system.

And let’s not act like leaving would have been a magical fix. Stella isn’t the kind of person who’d let Stolas walk away quietly, much less take Octavia with him. She would’ve weaponized every ounce of her power to destroy him and maintain control over their daughter.

Stolas’ decision to stay wasn’t about weakness. It was about navigating a situation where no option felt truly safe.

5. Why This Argument Falls Apart

This take boils Stolas down to “an idiot who can’t turn down obligation,” but that’s an insultingly shallow reading of his character. Abuse isn’t about obvious choices or easy outs—it’s about power, control, and the psychological toll of living under constant threat.

Stolas’ actions make perfect sense within the framework of an abusive relationship. Calling him pathetic ignores the complexity of his situation and dismisses the very real struggles that abuse victims face every day.

TL;DR

Stolas’ behavior isn’t about being “pathetic” or “a sucker for punishment.” It’s about the psychological realities of abuse: the fear, the manipulation, and the way it warps decision-making. Leaving an abuser isn’t easy or obvious, especially when children and societal expectations are involved.

If you can’t understand that, maybe it’s time to rethink how you approach character analysis—or better yet, try learning a thing or two about the psychology of abuse before you come for Stolas again.

[problemswithbooks]

On Stella (Helluva Boss)

The fandom fights a lot over Stella and how she's written. Fans who like the way she is presented say it's fine that she's a one-dimensional 'evil queen' trope. It's not bad writing that she's so shallow and one note--some villains are better that way.

That isn't an inherently wrong statement. Some of the most fun villains are shallow, evil, for evil's sake types. Unfortunately, I don't think Stella works as this type of villain for a multitude of reasons.

Reason 1: Stella's 'evil' trait is at odds with the themes of the show.

Stella's primary evil trait is that she's cruel to Stolas simply because she likes being cruel to him. She's abusive and hates him. That, by itself isn't the problem. The problem is that the story isn't about Stolas being in an abusive relationship--it's primarily about two people from two different classes, and how they have to become better people and change in order to have the loving relationship they both want.

Yes, Stolas being in a past abusive relationship could be a hurtle to his growth as a character and him being in a relationship with Blitz, but the show never goes there even when it could. Stolas is not shown as being triggered by Blitz's yelling at him. In Apology Tour he has no issues fighting back and telling Blitz off, ordering him to leave. Blitz's yelling and more aggressive attitude isn't what leads to their misunderstandings, where Blitz accidentally hurts Stolas by reminding him of Stella's abuse.

Instead, Stella's abuse isn't even touched on in any major way, and does nothing to move the plot forward or cause connected drama between the two leads. Yes, she hires Striker to kill Stolas and that does at times cause problems, but she didn't need to be abusive inorder to explain why she'd want Stolas dead. In a world where assassins and murder is around every corner, it'd make just as much sense for Stella to hire Striker because Stolas cheated, and it made her a laughingstock among her high class friends.

I'd even argue her abuse makes the story make less sense. We know, from Stolas's own admission, that once his daughter was born, their marriage wasn't necessary. He claims he stayed to give Octavia a normal life, but if Stella is as volatile as she's shown, why would he think Via being around her was a good idea? If Stella had been less outwardly antagonistic and instead more cold and standoffish, with the both of them having mostly separate lives, intersected by polite, if strained family interactions when around Via, then him staying would make sense.

One of the reasons I think more people wanted Stella to be a caring mother to Octavia was because it explains why her and Stolas were still married despite her constant abuse towards him. If Stella cared about Via, and they were close, Stolas would be not only reluctant to leave but to let their false pretense of 'happy couple' slip in front of Via, since both would hurt her. It also would make Octavia's choice to stay with Stella and her anger at Stolas hold more weight, and give Via more complicated emotions. She'd really love her mom, but be confronted with the fact she hurt her father, who she also loves. As it is, it's pretty clear to see that as soon as Octavia finds out Stella is pure evil, she'll easily go back to Stolas with very little if any internal conflict.

Reason 2: Vivziepop claims she's not a one-dimensional character.

A really huge issue with Stella being presented as a one note bitch, is because the creator herself claims she's not. In an interview, Vivzie says Stella is like Beatrice Horseman from BoJack Horseman, saying that at some point we will see things from her perspective.

The problem with this is that Stella has already been portrayed too negatively and flat for this to work. Beatrice worked because, while yes she was awful to Bojkack, she also had Alzheimer's which gained her some sympathy points, as did the way Hollyhock cared for her. She also wasn't always over the top horrible to Bojack, being more passive-aggressive and neglectful.

On top of that, despite her abuse toward BoJack, particularly when he was growing up, she wasn't framed as the reason for all of BoJack's issues. He was still responsible for his own shitty actions as an adult, and when he retaliated toward her, like tossing the baby doll off the balcony, it was framed as shitty behavior. More than anything, their interactions said more about BoJack than Beatrice. Him trying to hurt her, by throwing away her baby doll or putting her in the shittiest nursing home he could find was to show how BoJack wishes he could retaliate against his mother for all the things she did to him, but it leaves him feeling hollow because he knows that due to her disease she's not aware of who he is. It's meaningless, doesn't help him get any closure.

Stella is not presented as anything other than over the top abusive in every scene she's in. Nothing in the show suggests she's anything besides violent, even going so far as having her choking dogs in a childhood picture. Nor is Stolas's treatment of her supposed to reflect on him or characterize him. The only time it might is when he ignores Via because he's too caught up fighting with on the phone, but again, it's not given much focus and he doesn't reflect on it. The same goes for the cheating--yes, Stella was abusive and he doesn't necessarily owe her anything, but Stolas refuses to acknowledge that what he did clearly upset Stella, both times he talks about it asserting that he knows he didn't hurt her. No, they weren't in love, but cheating is still degrading, and Stella is obviously upset. Frankly, I think it would have made more sense for Stolas to rub that fact in her face--he has no issue insulting her, as we see later in that conversation. Instead, his continued assurance that he didn't hurt her or do anything wrong feels like the writers talking through the character, afraid watchers will judge Stolas to harshly otherwise.

Stella getting the Beatrice treatment will likely fail because there is nothing to soften the audience toward her even a little. She has been presented as Stolas's tormentor and nothing else. There are flashes of possible sympathy for her when she interacts with her brother, but for the most part they're framed as Andre being right and Stella being stupid, rather than Stella possibly being manipulated and used by her brother.

It also will fall flat because unless her background is another showcase of how even the upper class are hurt by the system, and this leads to something either story or character wise for the main cast, then there is no point to bring it up. The point of Beatrice's story was to show how generational trauma seeps down into the next generation. BoJack doesn't even have to know about it for it to reflect on his character and explain why he is the way he is. He and his mother parallel each other, where they start out as innocent children but through their parents mistakes, they grow up into cynical, bitter adults who both feel as if they've wasted their lives.

Reason 3: To many villains.

Stella has taken a backseat in her own villain story to her brother, who, just like Stella, is simply evil (he's even characterized as a catty bitch, just like she is, except less of a yeller). It's true Andre wants power, whereas Stella wants...well nothing really, just Stolas dead I guess, but for the most part they are nearly the same. Andre is just a better written version of Stella since he actually gets to make plans and have an end goal.

Once Andre gets introduced, Stella is redundant because she offers nothing different and in fact offers less to the story overall. If Stella was going to be a flat, evil for evil’s sake villain, she and Andre should have been combined. It would have made far more sense to have Stella be a bit smarter and be the one plotting to get Stolas's power. It also would have made the court scenes more impactful because Stella would be a character that was established far earlier, and who we know is a major threat to Stolas, since she's the one that hired Striker to torture and kill him.

If Andre was going to be the main big bad for Stolas, then Stella needed to offer something different. Generally the underling under the main villain is more sympathetic, and less evil, as a way to showcase how much worse the main bad guy is. Or they're more charismatic and show up far more than the main bad guy, like Azula and Ozai. As it is, Stella is neither. She shows up just as little as her brother, and does far less.

And, while Vivzie is a woman herself, I do find the handling of Stella to have mysoginistic undertones, mainly that since her brother has shown up, she is constantly shown as stupid, and that her only good quality is her looks--things her brother constantly brings up, but are not framed as shitty on his part. Them being essentually the same charater make this look all the worse, since Andre, as I've said, didn't need to be a charater at all, and Stella could have been the main villain instead. To pretty much sideline a female charater in order to introduce a male charater that fills the same roll is not the best. Just like racisuim, sexisuim doesn't have to be done purposfly, and I don't blame anyone who finds this choice to be sexist.

Then there's Striker.

Another reason I think Stella and Andre should have been combined. Striker worked really well as the side antagonist under the main villain. He's the one we see more of, he's more charismatic and has hints of a generally interesting backstory, one that we know would fit into the theme the show has of class issues. He's a mirror of what Blitz could have turned into, while Stella could be presented as Stolas's opposite. Even their work relationship could be a dark mirror of Blitz and Stolas's real love for one another.

As it is, Striker is under two other villains, one of which has become essentially unless to the story (Stella can't do anything Andre can't at this point, especially since her and Via aren't shown to have a close relationship). This reduces his threat level and reduced his screen time since he now has to share it with another character. We can see this in the newest episode, where we get a scene where Andre is talking to Stella and then Striker appears later at the trial with no explanation. If Andre and Stella were combined, that scene could have been Stella going over the plan with Striker instead. This would have helped Striker's character, since as it is, his appearance at the trial is confusing. Maybe he's just out for himself and his selfishness won out over his hate of Royals, maybe he was blackmailed, maybe he was so furious and his pride wounded so much by Blitz he'd do anything to bring him down, maybe it's a combination of all three. We don't know because we aren't given the set up. Is it cool that Striker was a suprise? Sure, but in this case it wasn't worth not showing the charater's reason for doing something that seems to go agasint his own charaterization.

Reson 4: Threat.

One of the main reasons to have a simply evil villain is so the can be incredibly menicing. The Aundence doesn't have to feel anything but fear for the protagonists and hate for the villain. They pose no deep moral question, and it feels great when they're beaten.

Despite being a major villain we never see her threat felt by the protagonists. Take her abuse of Stolas. We see her go to hit him and he catches her hand easily and tells her off without issue. Stolas has no problem standing up to Stella ever. In The entire show Stolas is never portayed as afraid of Stella.

Contrast this with how Moxxie and Crimson interact. Yes, sometimes Moxxie does stand up to his father, but we are shown how terrified he is of Crimson multiple times during the one episonde they interact. In comparison Stella's actions never make Stolas even worried. The most we see is him doging things when she throws things at him, but he doesn't seem genuinly afraid, and it's forgoten as soon as she leaves.

He insults her over the phine, insults her to her face. When he learns she hired Striker we arent shown him suddenly relize he underestimated her and become afraid. He instead he's more conserned with his reletionship with Blitz and getting him a crystal. Stolas never tells Blitz about Stella, so we don't even know how Blitz feels about how she treated him.

It's hard for a pure eveil villain to work when only one charater even seems to know they exist and they aren't even worried about offending them. The only way this could work is if Stella pretended to be nice most of the time, but was secretly ploting, like Scar in the Lion King. Instead she's framed as this force of nature, pure bitch, who torments Stolas, yet Stolas doesn't even show anxiaty when having to meet with her, something we know he's prone too because he shuts himself in the refrigerator when contemplating his confession to Blitz ending badly.

If the writers want Stella to be evil--make her evil. Let her be powerful and scary. Have Stolas fintch at her voice, show flashbacks of her hitting him, let her win arguments and verbally tear Stolas down. Make her smart enough to plan things on her own.

I think when alot of people say Stella is a badly written charater it's not nessesarily because they wanted her to be good, or complex. I don't see alot of people angry at how Mother Gothel was written (besides her deisgn being anti-semetic) or Maleficent. It's possible to write evil, one-dimensional female villains. The issue is that even as an evil bitch, Stella falls short in a mutitupe of ways. Her charater is a complete waste, even more so now that her brother has been introduced. She has no reason to exist and serves no narritive purpose. Even as a raod block to the Stolas/Blitz ship she isn't nessesaey because their main issue is the class systum. Stella could have been dead before the show started, leaving Stolas with Via for drama, and Andre could be the evil uncle trying to get Stolas's power.

Stella is pretty much a sexy lamp, execpt the sexy lamp is also a bitch. She's less affective then the random bitch charaters introduced in romatic webtoon comics that are only there to be mean to the main charater and try to steal her man. Stella's not badly written because she's pure evil and simple, she's badly written because she doesn't serve a purpose in the story and could be replaced with a sexy, evil lamp.

[problemswithbooks]

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) dir. Henry Selick

[problemswithbooks]

Fic writer asks

How old were you when you started writing fic?

Where did you first post your fics?

What was your first fandom?

What fandoms have you written for?

Romantic or gen?

Fluff or angst?

A fic of yours you think is underrated?

What's the best summary you've come up with?

What's the best title you've come up with?

Do you read your own fics for fun?

What's an idea for a fic you've had that you'll probably never write?

Post a sentence from your current WIP

Do you post WIPs or wait until you're finished writing to post?

One-shots or chaptered fic?

What are some of your favorite tropes to write?

What are you favorite characters to write?

Have you ever or would you ever write a fic in first person POV?

Is there some headcanon you've included in more than one fic?

What's the longest fic you've written?

What's the shortest fic you've written?

Do you have an abandoned WIP?

Pick out a random line from a fic you're really proud of

What's the most personal fic you've ever written?

What's the cringiest (affectionate) fic you've ever written?

What's your most popular fic?

What fic are you proudest of?

[problemswithbooks]

So, I recently watched Helluva Boss and as always I've been prusing the tags for it on tumblr to see what other people think about the story and characters.

Something that stuck out to me is when people say Striker is a hypocrite because he hates the Royals, puts down Blitz and Fizz for being with Royals, but he, himself, works for one. Also that his pitch he gave to Blitz about teaming up to take down Royals was all a lie.

Now, I'm not going to say he's not being a bit of a hypocrite, especially given how much he hates Royals. What I will say is that I understand why Striker wouldn't see it that way (besides the fact he has a seemingly desperate need to feel superior to other imps).

Striker wants to kill Royals--that is very clear. A huge hurtle to that goal is that they are immortal. The only thing that can kill them is Angelic Steel--something that is rare and expensive. Yes, Striker is supposedly a well known assassin, but it's doubtful he'd ever make enough money to afford Angelic Weapons without taking on extremely wealthy clients. The wealthiest would be those at the top.

We don't know if Striker has worked with Royals before. If we assume Stella was the first Royal he was hired by, that makes his choice to work with her make far more sense. Particularly when we take into account who her target is--her equally Royal husband.

Unless stated otherwise later, Stella must have provided Striker with his Angelic Weapons so he could kill Stolas. She doesn't just give him a single weapon, either. She gets him a sniper rifle, pistols, a knife and a rope so he can incapacitate Stolas and take his vast magic abilities away, rendering him helpless. On top of that, she is also paying him money.

Given Stella never brings up the fact he lost the sniper rifle, or demands he return the weapons she provides, this deal he's making, although hypocritical, is only a benefit for Striker. He's getting paid to kill someone he wants to anyway, and a new arsenal that gives him the capability to kill Royals afterward.

This is why I don't think his offer to Blitz was a lie. I think what he told Blitz is his long term goal/plan, and was simply offering Blitz to join him since he found Blitz to be somewhat equal to him after Blitz did so well in the harvest games. Once they killed Stolas, got Stella's money, they would turn around and start using those funds and weapons to kill more Royals.

The reason Striker doesn't see himself as on the same level as Blitz and Fizz with their relationships with Royals is because he sees himself as using Stella, where he perceives Blitz and Fizz as being used. It's true that Blitz gets similar benefits from his relationship with Stolas (if Striker even knows about Blitz using Stolas's spell book for his business, I can't recall) but given what Striker saw of their relationship, he would see Stolas using silly pet names despite Blitz disliking it and see that as Blitz debasing himself publicly for Stolas. Yes, Stella doesn't treat him with the upmost respect, but it's over the phone, without witnesses. Nor does he give her anything in return except a dead husband--someone he would have targeted anyway.

He sees Fizz as even worse because, to him, it appears Fizz has given up his own autonomy to live a cushy lifestyle. Yes, Fizz gains many benefits from being with Ozzie, but Striker views it as letting Ozzie take advantage of him, to let Ozzie treat him like a pet (which some people do, do to some imps). He doesn't know Ozzie loves Fizz--franky I don't think he'd believe a Royal could love an imp at all anyway.

Yes, he may work for a Royal, and take her orders, but he does so to pilfer more and more Angelic Weapons from her as well as take her money, all of which I'm sure he tells himself he will later use against her and the rest of the upper class. It's a business transaction that he actually holds all the cards in. Unlike Blitz and Fizz he doesn't have to publicly debase himself to get the benefits he seeks. At least that's how he sees things.

[problemswithbooks]

Can someone do an Africa poll with the Sporcle quiz or do I have to do it myself

[problemswithbooks]

Wow, this really doesn't make me any sadder Toga died. If anything, it really makes me glad she's gone.

Like, IDK, but this not reasonable. Enji had his had blown off, burned head to toe, end up in a wheelchair, and keep saying how sorry he was for what he did. But Toga never even felt remorse once for anyone she hurt.

The least she could do was give Ochako her blood after she stabbed her. She owed Ochako that much after all the crap she put her through every time they interacted. Especially when Ochako was still so willing to help her after Toga sided with the man who was known world wide as the Worst (who was actively hurting Shigararki, her friend ,and clearly did not care about any of them or have their wishes in mind at all).

It also just doesn't make sense Ochako feels this way. Sure, I can see her feeling bad that Toga couldn't be helped sooner, but the girl's not dumb. She knows it's Himiko's fault she was stabbed. If she regretted not listening to her during the first war, I could understand this mentally more, even if it'd still be unfair. I get the point is she's blaming herself unnecessarily, putting to much weight on herself--but choosing the stabbing as the source of her guilt is not great.

girl…. she was the one who stabbed you…?

[problemswithbooks]

BNHA Ch. 429

So, I guess Toga is dead, and people are losing it.

I get why people liked her--she was actually queer, being pan/bisexual. She was representation for them and that's rare in shonen manga. But here's the thing--she was bad representation at best and insulting at worst. Nor do I think she was made queer because Hori really wanted to represent a queer girl. Himiko was always the author's poorly hidden fetish--she just was. She liked girls as much as boys because Hori wanted to draw a girl touching sexually on another girl. You can see this in how he draws her and Ochako in solo pics together.

I mean, people seem to understand this when it comes to Momo and her outfit being overly sexual or that both Himiko and Hagakure's Quirks either leave them naked or they have to be naked to use them. These are excuses to draw girls in a sexual manner. Himiko being into other girls is the same thing and that's the kindest interpretation.

Given how Himiko acts and her Quirk being heavily coded sexual desire, and therefore her use of it against someone unwilling being sexual assault, it could just being playing into harmful stereotypes of predatory gays.

As a queer person myself I just found Toga insulting. She was designed to be overly sexual and give the male author a female character that he could draw being suggestive with his other female characters. When he did flesh out her character, her backstory was eventually the trope/fear of straight people, that gay people will be so overcome with their lust that they end up sexually assaulting them.

In the end Ochako accepts this part of Toga and says she'll giver her blood forever, but as much as a lot of readers took that that as some deep lesbian confession, for me it really fell flat. Hori never really gave any of the main kids time to actually learn about their villain or show how that changed their minds toward them. Shoto only works because Touya is his brother (even though he admits he barely remembers him). But Ochako goes from not thinking of Toga at all pre-first war, to one thought about her during her speech, to suddenly caring about her so much she--given how Toga's quirk is coded, is willing to essentially fulfill Toga's kink for the rest of their lives.

It's weird and it comes out of nowhere. It's made even stranger because Toga doesn't actually change or show remorse for anything she did, which included personally hunting and murdering people before she joined the LOV. None of the death and destruction she is also partially responsible for is brought up either, something that Ochako was rightfully upset about during the first war when less people and property had been destroyed. Ochako just accepts everything about her suddenly and her past serious crimes are forgotten so they can cuddle and cry.

Am I shocked Toga died--a little. I didn't think Hori would have the guts to kill off a young girl character, especially one that he clearly got a lot of joy drawing in sexy poses. But at the same time, once he killed off Shigaraki and ended Touya's story with his slow death, I'm not surprised he went the same route with Toga.

This isn't Naruto--Hori isn't really kind to characters that do something wrong, especially if they don't try and change. Enji, Bakugo, Hawks, and Aoyama all sort of got punished for what they did. Enji is the worst off, being permanently crippled, missing an arm and burned everywhere. Bakugo's hand is damaged, his heart weaker, plus he feels bad that Izuku lost his Quirk so they can't compete the same way he wanted them to. Aoyama, despite doing way less wrong and even helping his class during the forest raid, still leaves school because he doesn't feel he earned being there yet. Hawks lost his Quirk and even though him running the HPSC could be seen as good for him, Hawks always wanted a break, but now he has one of the most time consuming and stressful jobs out there.

So, if this is what characters who actively did good things and even changed and fought to be better get, what would characters who never changed and never did anything positive for anyone but their friends/themselves get?

Before the last Arc started, when so many people said the LoV were 100% going to be redeemed I had doubts and always thought it wouldn't make sense with how the story presented redemption or treated other non-LoV villains in the past. That if the main LoV did get some happy ending where they were bffs with the main cast it would clash with how other characters had been treated.

That doesn't mean that I think how Shigaraki, Toga, and Touya ended up in the manga was well done. I think their endings fit far better then a last minute redemption would have, but at the same time you can feel how rushed everything has been since the end of the first war arc. Hori was done with this story months if not years ago, yet he was contractually obligated to finish it. Because of that I think he left out as much as possible. As much as I think he's written some pretty obsessive stuff, particularly towards women, I can't really fully blame him cutting corners or the story being shit at the end.

We know Manga authors, particularly those that work with Jump are treated like shit. That they suffer incredibly long hours at times not even getting to go home for days. We've gotten messages for Hori saying he's sick quite a few times. On top of that, weekly story telling is not a great way to tell a cohesive narrative. Ideas probably change week to week or at least month to month and you can't go back and change the last chapter no matter how much you need or want to. Then you remember he also gave a lot of ideas to the people who made the movies, which would also change his plans for how he wanted the main story to go.

The story is bad--it has been for a while, but I think a lot of people put their hopes on their favorite characters getting a happy ending, even when there were signs that probably wasn't going to be the case. I know how much it sucks when a character you love gets a shitty ending (Stain was my fav, but he got an absolute dogshit ending) but at least, knowing what I know about the industry I can't really blame Hori the way I see some other people doing. Criticize it, sure, but saying Hori hates his readers or is horrible writer isn't true. BNHA was popular for a reason--he's great with characters and the beginning of the story had some great pacing. We'll never know, but I wouldn't be surprised if BNHA could have been amazing if Hori had been treated better and the story hadn't needed a chapter every week.

If anything BNHA has taught me how much a story suffers when authors/artists are treated like crap and forced to work past burnout.

[problemswithbooks]

I get this impression that House of the Dragon doesn't get that "named" heirs aren't really the norm in Westeros. If it were that easy for someone to just give everything to their favorite child, Randall Tarly wouldn't have needed to force Sam to go to the Wall and Tywin could have simply chosen Cersei over Tyrion as heir of Casterly Rock.

If we look at the history Westeros borrows from, the concept of "naming" heirs wasn't really a thing in medieval England. Landed gentry didn't have direct say over the order of succession until the Statute of Wills in 1540. Before then, land and subsequent titles could only be inherited through agnatic primogeniture.

Agnatic primogeniture prioritized the living, eldest, trueborn son. Claims can only be passed on patrilineally. This means that a grandaughter can inherit a claim of her grandfather's titles through her father, but a grandson cannot be given the same through his mother. However, if his mother finally does have land and titles under her own name (not under her father's), only then does her son and other children enter the line of succession.

The reason it was like this was because it kept land and titles under one family. Daughters are less preferred because when they are married, they become part of their husband's family — meaning that any titles they receive will be inherited through a new line. This wouldn't be an ideal situation because it gives two families claims to the titles. The more claimants there are, the more unstable the hold the owner has.

In other words, agnatic primogeniture was practiced for stability. Because back in the day, titles weren't just property or land. They came with governorship over a people, so a stable and predictable transfer of titles was necessary to avoid civil conflicts and questions of legitimacy.

A landed lord or lady wasn't given the right to designate heirs for a few reasons:

Most of them were vassals who oversaw the land in the name of someone higher up. It technically isn't even theirs to give away (see: feudal land tenure).

The wishes of a human being are less predictable than having a determined line of succession based on birth order. What if he becomes incapable of declaring an heir either through illness or disability? What if he's captured and a bad actor forces him to name this person heir under threat of violence?

People died unexpectedly all time. This was before germ theory and modern medicine — child mortality was extremely high. With no refrigeration technology, a single poor harvest could mean dying from starvation. Bandits, cutthroats, and raiders were a constant threat. They could not afford to rely on a person choosing a different heir every time the old heir drops dead, because the landed lord/lady could die just as suddenly.

Even 21st century families stab each other in the back over who gets grandma's house — so imagine having an uncertain line of succession in the middle ages over a life-defining lordship and without a modern-day court system to mediate.

Going back to HotD, whenever Targaryens did go against the established line of succession, they could only have done it by consolidating the support of their vassals. Only royalty seemed to have the power to bend agnatic primogeniture, but even then they were beholden to it.

When Jaehaerys I ascended the throne over Aerea, it was mainly because there were those who saw Maegor the Cruel's act of disinheriting Jaehaerys as null and void. This restored Jaehaerys place in the line of succession above Aerea.

And when Rhaenys was passed over for Baelon, Jaehaerys had to convene his lords and offer compelling reasons as to why — her young age, her lack of an heir, her Velaryon last name, etc. It wasn't a given that just because she was a woman that she was ineligible. If he was doing it purely out of misogyny, he still had to legally justify his misogyny in order to strip away her rights.

Even after consolidating support, the book mentions Jaehaerys I and Viserys I's respective hold on the crown was still weakened. Even though their claims were backed by reasons cosigned by a powerful majority, they still had to ensure the security of their rule through other means. There were people who doubted their right to rule, and those people had to be placated with gifts (by Viserys) or intimidated into submission (by Jaehaerys).

So we come to Viserys I who never gave his vassals a reason why Rhaenyra should supercede his three sons other than, "I said so." Had he convened with his lords and maybe made the argument that a first marriage takes precendence over a second one, then maybe he could have set a new precedent and gathered support.

But no, he didn't. He relied on the power of his own words and the lords' personal oaths — oaths that he didn't exactly plan how he would enforce posthumously.

And the Realm did not choose to adopt a different succession law after Jaehaerys's designation of Baelon in 92 AC or the Council of Harrenhal choosing Viserys on 101 AC. If those two events did change anything, it was that now women were exempt from the line of succession for the crown and only the crown. It did not set the precedence that monarchs could freely choose heirs. It did not upend the whole system; it only made a tweak, as most lawful policy-changes do, by carving out at an exception. It was a committee, not a revolution.

Before and after the Dance, no other monarch, lord, or lady "declared" an heir that went against agnatic primogeniture, save for Dornish who have cognatic (equal-gender) primogeniture instead. Ramsay had to get rid of Roose Bolton's living trueborn son AND be legitimized by the crown in order to be recognized as heir (only a crowned monarch can legitimize baseborn children which is another world-building pillar a lot of people miss). Randall basically had to force Sam to abdicate because he wanted his younger brother to inherit instead. And of course, Tywin despite his intense hatred of Tyrion is forced to acknowledge him as his heir.

The rigidity of the line of succession is a major and constant source of conflict in the series, so it baffles me that people really thought that characters could just freely choose their heirs. That's why we have a civil war. It wasn't a misunderstanding. It's the expected consequences of someone carelessly going against a foundational tenent of the society they inhabit.

[problemswithbooks]

The 6 chapter epilogue moves to 'end' the Tododrama this chapter leaving a divided fandom...

For me I think that given the story the Todorokis have had up to this point it both makes sense and is the best we could have hoped for. I'm not one hundred percent happy with it, but I defiantly don't view as negatively as a lot of people seem to.

First off Touya dying makes sense and this is perhaps harsh but I hope he does. People theorizing that the mysterious Tenko like figure is Shigaraki and he will heal him and the rest of the LoV with his restored Overhaul powers is insane to me. With only four chapters left idk how that would even be covered or concluded, since even if they were healed they would all still be put in prison--it wouldn't erase the fact Touya killed 30 innocent people by his own omission. So, how Hori would cover that kind of plot in a cohesive way in four chapters is beyond me. It's pretty much people wanting a worse story because they want their favorite character to live.

Also, I'm a bit frustrated that yet again people are acting like Enji should die instead and making wild accusations based on nothing. Namely that Touya dying supposedly soonish negates Enji saying he'll watch him and his death will let him off the hook so to speak.

Enji has shown that he really loves Touya and feels immense guilt and rightful responsibility for how he treated him and his the rest of the family. Touya dying doesn't suddenly heal his permanently crippled body or give him back his Hero job. It will only make him feel worse. Also it's not as if once Touya is gone he'll ignore the rest of his family either. He still owes them as well, and will probably try to help them in whatever way he possibly can.

People acting as if Touya's death will free him or that afterwards he'll go on with his life completely happy and forgetting about him is just not in any way accurate to what we've seen of his character.

The other thing I've seen floating around is the idea that if Enji had been killed off during the first PLF War, Shoto would have saved Touya and the family would have been happy in the end. I don't think that's true. I will admit I'm bias because I like Enji and I'm not a fan of Touya, but given how Hori seems to have delt with the LoV and villains in general (unless he pulls a 180 and heals them last min) I think Touya was always meant to end up dying slowly in a hospital or get some other bittersweet ending.

BNHA is not grimdark by any means but it is not the idealistic manga of the past like Naruto. Hori punishes characters that make bad choices no matter how understandable or even shitty the choices they had were. Aoyama, despite helping defeat Afo, being a child and under the threat of death to him and his family, still drops out of UA because he feels he still has to earn his place there. Bakugou dies and his heart and hand will never be the same, while also having to deal with the guilt of Izuku loosing his Quirk (if that sticks). Enji, even though trying to change and atone for most of the Manga's run is still left permanently crippled, the job that meant everything to him, lost, his legacy gone.

For Touya who killed so many people without care, only to get back and his father. Who plotted to kill his little brother despite knowing he was abused. Not caring if his plans got his other innocent family members killed. After everything we've seen with other characters who did far less wrong and tried hard to amend those mistakes getting harsh consequences, I doubt it was ever the plan to have Touya sitting at the table with his family eating his favorite food with a smile, regardless of Enji being alive or not. To suggest that Hori only had Shoto fail because Hori needed Enji to be involved just isn't true. If Hori wanted to give Touya a happy ending he would have--many fans have already come up with how that could have happened even with Enji still alive.

The only criticism I agree with is Rei's ending. You can defiantly read how she wheels Enji around and answers his phone as them being back together or in the very least her becoming his caretaker. Now, That might not be the case--she could just doing those things because they were both going to see Touya and she's just helping him out that day, while they actually live separately, with Enji having a paid home assistant that couldn't or wouldn't go with him to see Touya (because of the stigma or visiting regulations). The issue is that we just don't know for sure and Rei has been shafted pretty badly.

That said, I wasn't expecting much from/for her anyway. I think getting a little blurb about what she was doing like Natsuo and Fuyumi did would have helped, but I sort of doubt Hori had any idea what to do with her character outside being Enji's abused wife and Shoto's mom. With him rushing to get these last chapters out I'm not shocked he just stuck her in the background, especially when Enji and Shoto as secondary characters needed the screen time.

[problemswithbooks]

Look, Alicent is one of my favorite characters and I'm generally more team Green then Black but some of the stuff you claim is just not correct. Mostly the stuff about Viserys.

His conscience pained him badly afterward, and he decided to name Rhaenyra his heir. Nevertheless, he wanted a young woman to sleep with; he didn’t want a wife, he didn’t want more kids, and he had already named his heir. But he married Alicent and had those kids anyway.

Where are you getting this from? Viserys, book or show is not portrayed as a sexual/horny character. He is not Daemon who is often shown with whores or flirting constantly with young Rhaenyra. If he just wanted a young woman to fuck he could have easily scores of them, just like Robert did on the OG series. He didn't marry Alicent because it was his only way to have sex with teenager.

No, he didn't necessarily want to re-marry. He tells Rhaenyra as much when she's mad at him. But that doesn't mean he only married Alicent because he wanted no-strings attached sex. He marries her because his council is pressuring him to do so, and he knows they're right.

She does the bare minimum whenever they are together: the bare minimum of eye contact and conversation. Viserys was SO PERVERSE that even with the minimum attention from a teenager he wanted to fuck her. Not even make her his wife because he didn’t want another wife.

Again, what are you talking about? He didn't pick Alicent because he just wanted an easy lay. We see that he genuinely seems to enjoy her company. That doesn't mean she's trying to seduce him or anything, but it also doesn't mean Viserys is a sex crazed perv. He doesn't flirt with her and the scenes are not shot in a way where they are implying he is driven by his lust for her. If you want scenes like that look at the ones between Daemon and young Rhaenyra.

No, Viserys instead is shown as having actually grown fond of her and appreciative of her kind words. No, he did not want a new wife, but if he needs to re-marry he seems to want to marry someone who he has a connection with. Is he reading to much into Alicent's kindness? Yes, but that doesn't mean he's some old man whose sole motivation is fucking a teenager.

And I’m saying that he didn’t want a wife because of what he’d done before to Aemma. He had already made up his mind that (to console his own conscience and to honor Aemma’s memory) he would make Rhaenyra his heir. SO HE DIDN'T NEED ANY MORE HEIRS. Then why does he get married and have some more?? BECAUSE HE IS AN IDIOT and because he just wanted a young bride.

Yes, he needed more heirs. It doesn't matter that he picked Rhaenyra as his heir. Daemon was the only spare he had if something happened to her, something his council would not be okay with. Heck, the only reason Viserys is King as it is, is because every heir Jaehaerys picked died. This happened even though he and his wife had thirteen children.

So to say that Viserys was and idiot who only took a second wife because he wanted to bang a teenager (despite being able to fuck however many teenage sex workers he wanted, like Daemon did) is ridiculous. He needed to have more kids just in case Rhaenyra did expectantly. I think this is even pretty easily backed up by the fact that he stopped having kids as soon as Rhaenyra had a child of her own despite the fact that Alicent was defiantly still able to have more at the time.

This isn't me saying Viserys didn't make mistakes or you can't hate him, but at least get the facts straight. He did ignore his kids with Alicent (at least in the show, in the book he at least seemed to spend a lot of time with Helaena). He didn't find them suitable positions that would better integrate them into Rhaenyra's court when he passed away. He wasn't a good husband to Alicent, especially later on in their marriage.

But to reduce his character down into lecherous, evil, old pedo man is just not correct. The anon was wrong to boil Alicent down into someone who should have just been a better friend or implying she had any ability to not marry Viserys. Yet, that doesn't mean Viserys is just a horny old man either. It's not supposed to be so black and white and even if the show favors the Blacks, everyone is supposed to be multifaceted characters. Portraying Viserys as just a horny old dude looking for a way to get some sex even if leads to unwanted kids is really shallow and just not what we see in either the book or show. That doesn't take away from Alicent--it was still awful for her. Viserys's intent doesn't change that she was miserable or that he made mistakes that doomed everyone. It just means he's not a cartoonishly one-dimensional character.

I know u won't get my point, but Alicent should have paid more attention to Rhaenyra and respected her and her father's wishes and not have installed her fucking son on the throne. Things started going south when she married Viserys and when she wanted to strip Rhaenyra off her birthright

How about, no?

*Long Rant Incoming:*

1) Viserys didn't talk about "birthright." In the eyes of the smallfolk, Aegon has the "birthright" to rule simply because he is a male Targaryen heir. Alicent's position was vulnerable because Viserys never actually promised Alicent that Aegon would be king but neither did he specify exactly what his role would be and that was the point… all his children wanted his attention and love, and a place to belong. Viserys didn’t know what he wanted. Before naming Rhaenyra his heir, he wanted a son so desperately that he killed his wife for it. His conscience pained him badly afterward, and he decided to name Rhaenyra his heir. Nevertheless, he wanted a young woman to sleep with; he didn’t want a wife, he didn’t want more kids, and he had already named his heir. But he married Alicent and had those kids anyway. He really was so irresponsible and on top of that, he tells Alicent in episode 3 that he thinks he probably was wrong in making Rhaenyra his heir because of his dream/prophecy, so ofc Alicent was worried. Honestly, he could have made his mind up about Rhaenyra and shut up about it. Or he could have actually thought of his other kids and given them some work to do and trained them for some position if he truly cared for them. From the moment they existed, they were his responsibility. And for sure it makes sense why his kids by Alicent, not having known any special love from their father, would want to finally claim a position for themselves.

So, Viserys set the Dance in motion by his choices. If he had supported his Targtower kids and ensured they wouldn’t be threatened by their mad uncle (Daemon; who hated them just because they were Otto's and Alicent's blood) in the succession, then Alicent would have fewer reasons to establish Aegon on the throne.

2) Alicent spent time with Viserys because she had always considered her own self in reference to the Targaryens. What was she if not Rhaenyra’s childhood companion? When Otto compels her to visit Viserys she doesn’t want to. She brings along the book of histories she used to read to Rhaenyra. What else can she offer to the Targaryens? This is what they like: to talk about their legacies and their histories. So she might as well read to him, right? There’s no harm done. And she went. She does the bare minimum whenever they are together: the bare minimum of eye contact and conversation. Viserys was SO PERVERSE that even with the minimum attention from a teenager he wanted to fuck her. Not even make her his wife because he didn’t want another wife. And you see how surprised Alicent is when he declares so matter-of-factly that he will wed Alicent, no questions asked. Because she was the easiest bride-but-no-wife choice of them all. She already had her father in court who was a megalomaniac, and Viserys thought that by marrying Alicent he was giving Otto what he always wanted: greater opportunities for social climbing. So he’d stay out of his way, right? That’s what he wanted all along, right? So I can have your daughter any way I like, right? (Because had he married Laena, can you imagine being so chill with Corlys as a father-in-law? Ofc he wouldn’t desire anything potentially restrictive for him.) And I’m saying that he didn’t want a wife because of what he’d done before to Aemma. He had already made up his mind that (to console his own conscience and to honor Aemma’s memory) he would make Rhaenyra his heir. SO HE DIDN'T NEED ANY MORE HEIRS. Then why does he get married and have some more?? BECAUSE HE IS AN IDIOT and because he just wanted a young bride. He is the reason the war began, and his reckless choices, not Alicent wanting some compensation for her years of mistreatment and suffering. Because even after he got married and had those kids he still had time to make things right but he didn’t.

So Alicent didn’t marry Viserys, it was the other way around. He lusted after her and wed and bed her. Teenage Alicent couldn’t and wouldn't go against the will of the King.

3) Regarding the friendship between Alicent and Rhaenyra it was actually the opposite: Alicent many times tried to defend her and had her back even when Viserys and Otto believed the rumors of her losing her maidenhood (which as an unmarried heir was an insult to the crown). Alicent didn’t want to believe it and she supported her! However, even earlier than that, Rhaenyra cast Alicent off without understanding or offering consolation for the predicament she found herself in. She never tried to understand Alicent and never really paid enough attention to what her friend was going through even before she married Viserys. Alicent was alone and without a friend and Rhaenyra should have paid more attention to her.

4) Things really started to go south when Rhaenyra betrayed Alicent's trust by lying to her and continuing to flout her freedom, special treatment, and life without consequences to Alicent's face. The reason Rhaenyra had bastards and married Laenor was her own fault in the first place. Alicent tried to encourage Viserys to look for any potential suitors for her, and Rhaenyra had every opportunity to make the right choice but no, she messed it up by seeking out Daemon and then sleeping with Criston, so she brought it to herself. After what she did, there was no suitor available apart from Laenor, and her father forced her to marry him because no one else would. And then she had three Strong kids, making every mistake after the other (although I understand her completely: she had to have those kids because she wanted heirs and because that’s her body her choice, you know? She can sleep with whomever she wants) but at the same time, the game they all play is political and during the time and age we’re discussing, it was a big deal if you had bastard kids, especially since there already were THREE legitimate male Targaryen heirs whose fate was unsure and further endangered by Rhaenyra's actions. But it wasn’t Alicent’s fault that Rhaenyra had those kids, it was her own choice and she had to live up to the consequences of her actions. (She did this once by taking her children away from KL because she, too, recognized that they were being pointed at too much and it was getting too obvious).

5) Alicent knew that Rhaenyra wasn’t going to hurt her kids but the system they were born in would. In case she became heir, for Rhaenyra to secure her succession and have no challengers, Alicent’s kids had to die. Those displeased by Rhaenyra could easily dethrone her if there was an active male heir free to roam around Westeros. Alicent's sons would always be a challenge to Rhaenyra. And maybe Rhaenyra hadn’t thought about it per se and I trust that she never had vile intentions towards the kids (despite the deleted scenes where she gives death stares to Aegon) and despite never calling them by their names or developing a relationship with her siblings. Her own council and her uncle-husband would advise her to kill them. Their position wasn’t safe. Viserys could have secured it by giving them land and titles instead of the throne and by having them bend the knee to Rhaenyra but he didn’t. So their position was very much vulnerable because again, he didn’t care at all what happened to them, but Alicent, claiming the throne for her son, and saving his life the only way she knew how, DID.

[problemswithbooks]

@darkmist111 Replying this way because I had to much to say.

To me the issue is that Hori didn't actually spend enough time or facilitate this plot threat enough for it to work either as a failure or a success.

Izuku did say he wanted to save the crying child inside of Shigaraki a few times, but his choice to do so was rushed and never really a huge focus. It wasn't something he talked to anyone about except Ochako and the vestiges. Even then it was shallow, with it being framed less as something positive because Shigaraki deserves to be saved and it's the right thing to do and more as a show of Izuku's character--that he's so pure he wants to 'save' Shigaraki's soul essentially.

As strange as it might sound the story wasn't nearly as critical of the Heroes and how they dealt with villains as I think the fandom gave it credit for. I remember seeing people accusing Endeavor, Hawks or any other Pro of police brutality every other chapter, but the framing was never so negative toward those actions.

Even when Shigaraki or Dabi condemned the Heroes it was generally undermined by those speeches being given over Heroes saving people and the destruction those same villains cared out. Besides having traumatic backstories to explain why these characters behave the way they do, Hori doesn't really give many positive scenes with them.

It's been one of the most frustrating things about this story IMO. I love a good redemption arc, or having deeper stories about corruption and healing from trauma, but BNHA never really did any of these things well--if that was even Hori's intention at all. He always had his villains escalate and double down, he never gave them moments where they make better choices. Besides having shitty pasts, many of which are not the fault of Heroes didn't really get across a message of 'heroes need to be better to villains' or 'the villains are actually right'.

I don't think either outcome would be very satisfying for either character at this point. The story is to disjointed and unfocused. Sometimes it did feel like it wanted to have this theme of fixing society/villains, but sometimes it did the opposite, especially with Shigaraki and lesser villains. There just wasn't enough focus on either aspect to make an ending satisfying. The story just doesn't culminate in one solid theme.

So, in the end I wouldn't say Izuku failed or succeeded--it honestly just feels 'meh'. I read it and shrug my shoulders, not feeling much of anything from the story itself (outside of that I'm mostly just frustrated with the back and fourth, wishy-washy writing).

BNHA 423

So, I can't say I feel much of anything reading this weeks leaks.

I'm not shocked that Shigaraki died, nor would I be surprised if his death is taken back next chapter and he gets brought back to life in some way.

The thing is despite people saying Shigaraki dying messes with the themes of the story the themes have always been more then a little shaky. IDK if it's just a difference in culture, but Hori has a way of setting something up as being a big deal/theme and then doing something that completely contradicts it.

It's really no surprise he might have killed off most of the villains including Shigaraki despite setting the story up in a way where saving villains seemed to be a theme. He did the same thing with self-sacrifice being portrayed as bad, but later showing it as good.

I will say I don't necessarily agree with how some people are framing Shigaraki's death as throwing abuse victims under the bus. I do get the frustration because Hori did focus a lot of how Shigaraki was used by AfO and in a lot of stories that would be used to absolve him of guilt for all the destruction he caused. But Hori never had Shigaraki change his mind. His last words are him continuing to wish he could have destroyed more and wanting Izuku to relay to Spinner he never stopped fighting for destruction.

I think if this had been a more thought out and focused story you really could make it a great tragedy. It feels unfair that he couldn't be saved, that despite Izuku's effort, at the end of the day Shigaraki wasn't able to break away from the destruction he was manipulated and groomed into believing.

In that way I can understand the anger of some fans, because the story is essentially a tragedy framed as a simply triumphant narrative. It always felt like it wanted to have some deep meaning, and always seemed on the verge of it, but never stuck the landing. The one thing I've always been left wondering is: what is Hori trying to say with this story?, and IDK if the ending, given what's on the page right now will really give me an answer.

If anything I think perhaps Hori was trying to say to much at once. I'm sure a lot of it gets lost in translation and cultural differences, still part of me thinks he bit off more then he could reasonably flesh out. Thinking back many writing choices feel like he had an idea or passing thought and added it because it was cool or thought he'd have time to do more with it latter but due to shitty writing conditions couldn't implement properly.