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when you show up to the insane parabatai competition but will “jem is my great sin” herondale and jem “my will, my rebellion, mine forever” carstairs are already there

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I’m reading the first few chapters of Lady Midnight and I love the different interpretations of Julian’s character.

Emma: I miss him so much, and I know him so well, and we have the strongest bond in existence.

Cristina: He seems so charming and happy, he looks adorable with the pancake batter and the towel with puppies; Guys, she literally identities him as having a “halo” of light around him

Julian: I hate it here. I am a massive liar and no one knows the secrets I keep.

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GotSM was a comedy and I can prove it

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I'm constantly delighted by Raphael's commitment to acting like he isn't even on first name terms with the guy who introduced him to the Downworld.

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rip alastair carstairs and raphael santiago you wouldve loved each other

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You will not use AI to get ideas for your story. You will lie on the floor and have wretched visions like god intended

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saw this in a twt thread abt someone who predicted the queens death and honestly pjo apollo definitely would lmao

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Hc that Hermes created the Lin Manuel persona as a joke but Hamilton was wildly successful so he just kept it up and Apollo is FURIOUS that a) he’s overstepped into his domain and b) he’s so damn GOOD at it (much to the chagrin of literally everyone)

It’s like the dam cow thing all over again, but this time instead of stealing fifty of his cows Hermes stole his bit.

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I know its obvious, but I love how Apollo and Hephaestus literally seemed like they were pulled out of nowhere and handed a binder of everything Odysseus did up to that point and had to come up with a reason to hate him on the spot.

At least Hephaestus sounded like he gave a bit of effort, skimmed the info and provided a fair argument with what he had.

Apollo was like the kid who started working on his homework while the teacher's collecting papers. Like "Huh? Wha? Odysseus? Oh uh" *flips files to a random page* "Pfpfpfprllflfrrr i dunno, he did something to some sirens and uhhh, they sing and i like singing sooooo...yea not cool"

Athena: But they tried to kill hi-

Apollo, already turning away and pressing the golden button: Yeyeyeyeyeyeaa he's aight he's aight release him or whatever can i go now-

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she gets me she just does

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I think another reason why I get rather annoyed when people hate on ToA Apollo is because how hypocritical their criticisms are.

I just saw a post talking about how great it is that Annabeth gets to show a lot of emotion, especially by crying. I also recall moments where she got frustrated or angry, and I found myself absolutely agreeing!

But then my thoughts turned to Apollo, another character who shows a lot of emotion.

But you know what he’s called for being frustrated, or upset, or for crying?

Whiny. He’s called whiny.

Apollo gets frustrated when he’s unable to perform something (archery) he used to be extremely good at. He’s upset that he can no longer use a bow correctly.

And people call him whiny for that. Apparently, those people have never experienced, let alone heard of The Gifted-Kid, something all Gifted-Kids (hello, tis me, Gifted-Kid since 4th grade RIP) can relate to Apollo over.

You were really good at something but all of a sudden you can no longer perform it as well? You’re not hitting your usual mark?

Well too bad, according to the fan base, you should shut up and not be so awfully whiny! It’s just archery!

(That was obviously in jest but you get my point.)

Additionally, Apollo never complains about important things. He complains about having to walk, but not the injury that’s literally turning him into a zombie and physically tormenting him.

That post really made me think about this, and then I asked myself; “Why? Why are people’s thoughts so different on Annabeth v Apollo showing emotion?”

It became apparent rather quickly, if you ask me.

Annabeth is a woman. Of course she should be able to show emotion! also maybe deep-seated sexism of ‘women are emotional’

Apollo is a man. And God forbid men show emotion I guess smh so also sexism

Because think about it. How many of the RRVerse male protagonists were allowed to cry? To be fully, and undeniably, upset?

I can only remember Frank crying on the plane after his grandmother’s presumed death, and Grover sniffling/getting teary-eyed in PJO. I don’t recall Percy, Jason, Leo, or Nico ever crying, or really having powerful bursts of emotion.

Yes, yes, Percy and Nico have both gotten mad and unleashed their fury upon someone, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.

I’m talking about letting them feel, letting them be emotional.

Not a burst of anger. But real, genuine character-driven emotion.

The fact that I can only name Frank and Grover from the previous two series is truly saddening.

Apollo gets to feel. To let his emotions flow freely. He whines, yes, but he also gets frustrated, he gets upset, and most of all he cries.

That all makes him a real character, someone people can relate to.

I’ll admit I’m a rather emotional person too. I have a quick temper, and more often than not the water-works come on real quick when I get upset. It’s a normal emotional response, but it can be difficult to work with, especially when you’re trying to stay calm.

Apollo is the first RRVerse protagonist to be allowed to have feelings— strong ones, even. And I can relate to that. There’s a reason why Apollo, Reyna, and Annabeth are all favorites of mine, and that’s because I see myself in them.

Annabeth is prideful. I can be too. She gets obsessed over her work. I do that too. Hates spiders? Oh hell yeah.

Reyna gave me someone to connect with over my sexuality. Ignore that Rick mixed what aro and ace are for a moment please She really gave my demiromantic self somebody to relate with, because the lack of aro rep is criminal. and no the Hunters are not aro rep

Apollo is emotional. He’s made mistakes and wants to do better.

Who wouldn’t see themselves in him? I certainly do.

And yet, he gets called whiny for having the literal rug pulled out from under him again and again, and he doesn’t even let himself complain over what he should, absolutely complain about!

Idk. I think there’s a lot to be said about how this fandom treats emotional characters, especially based on gender.

I guess this is all to say don’t judge a fictional character, because you’re judging a real person too.

And real people have feelings, you know.

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I think people forget that one of the main themes in Shadow and Bone is summarized in "What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men." It's about the corruption by power, the awful things someone would do to achieve the power and basically saying that there must be a line you wouldn't cross. Alina asks Nikolai if he wouldn't walk her up the gallows steps himself if it would mean he would get closer to the throne and he gets shocked cause he doesn't know, he only hopes he wouldn't, he hopes he wouldn't cross this line, and a few moments later is she feeling ill cause she threatened to take the few comforts of a woman that lost all hope just because she wouldn't help her to get the power of the third amplifier "You’re taking to power well.… As it grows, it will hunger for more." says Baghra, and Baghra herself had tried to help her son to not cross this line but she couldn't save him.

So people forget this and go around saying Alina should have chosen the corrupted or that Mal is an asshole because he's wary of the path she's taking and this kind of infuriates me cause if you wanted a different end to Alina then you missed the point entirely

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i just realized that in you'll be back from hamilton that line where king george says "and when push comes to shove, i will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love" is literally just the darkling's "i will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no shelter but me" in r&r. they are the exact same quote and i have no idea what to do with this information.

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Once saw a post critizing Zoya and Nikolai for not giving Yuri emphaty for his backstory and , alright maybe some emphaty would have been good but we are talking about the person parading as if the darkling was a saviour when he ruined both Zoya and Nikolai´s lifes as soon as they are concerned AND he called Genya´s scars a blessing.

Like, all of them had traumas and a lot of them caused by the person Yuri is trying to convince them its the best thing that ever happened, of course they got mad

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I think people forget that one of the main themes in Shadow and Bone is summarized in "What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men." It's about the corruption by power, the awful things someone would do to achieve the power and basically saying that there must be a line you wouldn't cross. Alina asks Nikolai if he wouldn't walk her up the gallows steps himself if it would mean he would get closer to the throne and he gets shocked cause he doesn't know, he only hopes he wouldn't, he hopes he wouldn't cross this line, and a few moments later is she feeling ill cause she threatened to take the few comforts of a woman that lost all hope just because she wouldn't help her to get the power of the third amplifier "You’re taking to power well.… As it grows, it will hunger for more." says Baghra, and Baghra herself had tried to help her son to not cross this line but she couldn't save him.

So people forget this and go around saying Alina should have chosen the corrupted or that Mal is an asshole because he's wary of the path she's taking and this kind of infuriates me cause if you wanted a different end to Alina then you missed the point entirely

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the king of scars duology was leigh bardugo’s answer to every darklina shipper/darkling fan justifying the darkling’s crimes. in kos+row they explicitly call out every single one of the darkling’s crimes, which is why i’ll always be a malina shipper (in canon ships at least, genyalina supremacy) because the other option is simply terrible. so please learn to separate an artist from his art, which in this case the artist is ben barnes, and the art is his portrayal of the darkling.

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What makes the Darkling evil is not that he committed (auto-)genocide on multiple occasions or that he tortured too many people to count them or that he kinda groomed young girls or that he enslaved Grisha. It is true that he did what he thought was best for Ravka and the Grisha.

What makes him evil is that he said on multiple occasions that he doesn't regret any of his actions. It is not that he thinks he did the right thing. So do Nikolai, Zoya and Alina and yet they all see the faces of the people who died because of their decisions when they try to sleep. But he literally doesn't care about the woe he caused.

He only did what he thought was for the greater good? Well, so did Hitler, Stalin and Mao.