#;; or position of power in a war

[chyarui]

My poor broken commander, good soldiers follow orders indeed and you were a damn good soldier (even though you’re an asshole, i still love you 💔)

Firmly on the side that believes Fox was under orders from Palpatine to kill Fives. There’s no way any of the vod’e would kill their brothers unless they literally had no choice. He does what he can to honour every brother whose blood is on his hands, directly or indirectly, on the tattoos on his back.

[hashtagartistlife]

how much greek mythology do you know?

(for ichiruki month 2023 day 8: fairest)

[gingermintpepper]

One of my biggest pet peeves is the assumption that something has to be sad for it to be tragic.

I've always been a big believer of the 'Apollo has an awful love life'/'Apollo is plain unlucky with love' line of thinking but it does bother me that the general reasoning for that statement is given to the concept of 'Apollo is somehow undesireable and thus rejected' (Cassandra/Daphne/Marpessa) or 'his lovers die young and thus their love is unfulfilled' (Cyparissus/Hyacinthus/Coronis). I personally think that's a very unfortunate way of looking at things - not only because it neglects the many perfectly cordial entanglements and affairs Apollo has had, both mortal and divine - but because it presents a very shallow interpretation of the concepts of love and loss and how loss affects people.

Apollo can still grieve lovers that have a long, healthy life. The inherent tragedy of an immortal who knows his lovers and children will die and cannot stop it does not stop being tragic simply because those lovers and children live long, fulfilled lives. The inherent tragedy of loss does not stop being tragic simply because someone knows better than to mourn something that was always going to end.

What is tragic is not that Apollo loves and loses but that loss itself follows him. Apollo does not love with the distance of an immortal, he does not have affairs and then leaves never to listen to their prayers again. He does not have offspring and then abandon them to their trials only to appear when it is time to lead them to their destinies. He raises his young, he protects the mothers of his children, he blesses the households that have his favour and multiplies their flocks that they may never go hungry. He educates his sons, he adorns his daughters and even in wrath he is quick to come to his senses and regret the punishments he doles out.

Apollo loves. And like mortals, there will always be some part of him that wishes to protect the objects of his affections. Apollo, however, is also an emissary of Fate. He knows that the fate of all mortal things is death. He knows that to love a mortal is to accept that eventually he will have to bury them. There is no illusion of forever, there is no fantasy where he fights against the nature of living things and shields his beloveds from death. Apollo loves and because of that love, he also accepts.

And that, while beautiful, is also tragic.

[wonder-worker]

Wild how we know that Elizabeth Woodville was officially appointed to royal councils in her own right during her husband’s reign and fortified the Tower of London in preparation of a siege while 8-months pregnant and had forces gathering at Westminster “in the queen’s name” in 1483 – only for NONE of these things to be even included, let alone explored, in the vast majority of scholarship and historical novels involving her.

[om0000]

mfs will make one of the most interesting n nuanced characters uve ever spun in ur brain just to stuff them into a kids media n make them look like this:

[bobpolls]

Hogwarts House Sorting Results

The BoB characters have been sorted into their Hogwarts houses by the community!

For each house, I’ve organized the list in order of how many votes each character got. For example, the character with the largest percentage of Gryffindor votes is at the top of the Gryffindor list, while characters who narrowly made it into Gryffindor are closer to the bottom. The characters at the top of each list are the best representations of their house on the show.

Gryffindor

Bill Guarnere

Buck Compton

Bull Randleman

Dick Winters

Floyd Talbert

Joe Toye

Charles Grant

Frank Perconte

Smokey Gordon

Ravenclaw

David Webster

Lewis Nixon

Hufflepuff

Shifty Powers

Babe Heffron

Alex Penkala

Harry Welsh

George Luz

Donald Malarkey

Popeye Wynn

Skip Muck

Carwood Lipton

Eugene Roe

Donald Hoobler

Moe Alley

John Janovec

Slytherin

Ronald Speirs

Joseph Liebgott

Johnny Martin

Earl McClung

Thank you all for voting in the polls and following the blog!

[foundfamilynonsense]

Y’know. Anakin was a real asshole in Ahsoka’s hallucination.

Like. She mentions something about what she’ll be able to teach her padawan one day, since all she’s being taught is how to be a soldier, and Anakin’s like “teaching’s not all it’s cracked up to be”

And like. Asshole move. And Ahsoka rightfully calls him out on it. And he goes on the whole “uuuh I was joking. Lighten up.” Literally a complete jackass.

But beyond how he answered the question, it’s a valid complaint Ahsoka is bringing up! Anakin’s teaching her how to live or die. But Ahsoka wants to be taught how to be a jedi.

What happens after the war is over (order 66 never happens) and she now has to navigate a galaxy without a war? The Jedi take teaching very seriously there’s no greater honor than teaching a padawan. And she’s not being accurately taught, so she will not be able to pass anything on to the next generation.

But Anakin brushes it aside because he simply does not respect her or her wishes. Like. He never wanted a padawan, despite teaching being foundational to the Jedi. And he only took ahsoka in because he started to like her and became attached to her. He doesn’t care about jedi legacy, not really. So he brushes her comment off with a joke.

But in the rest of the vision… idk it didn’t feel like we were supposed view Anakin as entirely wrong here. He wasn’t in the right, he was definitely channeling Vader and being an ass, but he was basically the reason Ahsoka survived the fall, right? Bc he was making her choose life? When Ahsoka wins against him it’s sort of like she’s both learned his lesson and moved beyond him. And then for the rest of the season he’s only talked about in positive ways.

And like. That one line ahsoka said was really powerful in relation to the entire point of the show. What does she have to pass onto her own padawan (Sabine) if she wasn’t properly trained herself? That is, perhaps, the only valid plot question asked in the entire show. And it doesn’t get an answer. It’s never even brought up again.

[comikadraws]

Whats tobirama's beef with the Uchiha?

An Analysis of Tobirama's Prejudice

EDIT: If you have headed here via another user's post, here is a note. That user has never interacted with me. They clearly also haven't read any of my previous or linked posts, as far as I can tell. They simply just blocked me and then made that post to harass me afterward - completely out of the blue. My post has since been edited to better combat bad-faith takes and bullies like her.

Oh boi. More Tobirama. Once again, I am probably biased but these are my thoughts on him.

First of all, the guy definitely had beef with the Uchiha Clan, but I personally find the "racist" allegations he often gets to be... difficult, to say the least (not that I necessarily disagree with them). It is just that there are some very oversimplified, black-and-white takes out there with zero nuance.

Not that I am necessarily better but I'm definitely trying xD

Tobirama's Prejudice

Tobirama doesn't "hate" the Uchiha Clan but considers them to be a danger to Konoha. That is because

The Uchiha were more loyal/attached to the concept of "clan" rather than the concept of "village" (which stood in conflict with one of Konoha's main philosophies). Hence Tobirama sees them as "rebellious".

The Uchiha are more likely to lose themselves to intense hatred (aka "Curse of Hatred"). And, in the world of Naruto, hate is one of the main motivations of war, ever since the Warring States.

Combine that with the several bad experiences Tobirama and other Senju have had with the Uchiha (centuries of recurring battles, the death of Kawarama and Itama, Madara leaving the village) and you can see why Tobirama would think the Uchiha Clan is dangerous. Beyond that, Tobirama's character actually makes a lot of sense - more so than if he didn't have any prejudice. The prejudice he has is realistic.

He also personally does not believe that he "hates" the Uchiha and describes his bias as "caution".

The Racist Allegations

As I have already covered in this post about the Curse of Hatred, there might be parallels to our world's definition of racism, but Tobirama is not intended as a racist by Kishimoto.

What is important to understand is that perceived themes of racism in fantasy settings (where made-up races can have all sorts of magical differences between them, even those that are undesirable) do not equal actual racism in the real world (where racial differences are purely cosmetic) and often make for a bad analogy.

What I have also covered in the same post is that the Curse of Hatred very much does exist and Tobirama was right to assume that there is something "wrong" with the Uchiha. (For all of you not interested in reading, the TL;DR is that Zetsu's been manipulating the Uchiha for centuries, hence the illusion of a "curse")

Whether his theory was correct or not, however, is up to the audience's interpretation. The problem here is that Kishimoto never contradicted Tobirama's theories and also that they were presented and treated as exposition by the narrative. I am basing my own theory specifically on the exposition given by Hagoromo (chapters 670-671) and Zetsu (chapter 681) who are both relatively reliable sources and seem to imply (emphasis on "imply") that the Curse of Hatred mostly just affects Indra's reincarnates rather than the entire clan (again, reference to my other post because it has nothing to do with Indra specifically but rather just with Zetsu being manipulative).

Not that Tobirama could reasonably know about that detail, though. What he saw instead were centuries of war and Madara's defection, leading him to believe that there must be something influencing the Uchiha's decision-making. (And yes, assuming that my own interpretation about Zetsu is correct, that would make Tobirama a racist as his theories are not based on fact).

Systemic Oppression of the Uchiha?

Another misconception that people apparently have is that Tobirama ostracized the Uchiha Clan, which is untrue. Yes, the guy was horrible, was far too wrapped up in his own trauma, and should not have become Hokage. Not even because I think he was a bad leader necessarily but simply on principle.

That being said, the Uchiha were not being purposefully isolated from the rest of the village. The police force is neither entirely comprised of Uchihas nor are Uchihas forced to join the police. Instead, it is implied to be a choice in the manga.

Somebody else pointed out Orochimaru mentioning that the Uchiha had their clan compound near the prison. But this is not a criterion of ostracization. All the other canonical information we have on the Uchiha's supposed ostracization is based on Obito, who is famously a liar and not a reliable source (therefore it is up to headcanon).

Tobirama also practically gave away permanent leadership of the police. The police are part of the executive branch in any government, just like the military or, in this case, the ANBU - with the only difference being that the police don't require Hokage orders for everything they do. The Uchihas working at the police are in a position of power rather than in a position of suppression. It is also implied that they are able to arrest anybody they want (except ANBU members) without a warrant (again, emphasis on "imply" because the context implies that arrest without a warrant is possible for all non-ANBU citizens).

Keeping this in mind, the establishment of the Uchiha Military Police Force was (most likely) indeed a gesture of goodwill and trust. It was not a slight and it was not an attempt at ostrachization. If anything, it shows that Konoha (and by extension, the police) was corrupt and abusing power on a regular basis (though that is not the point of this post but yes, Konoha's politics are no unchangeable gospel).

There are more misconceptions about Tobirama that are often twisted to fit people's agenda, but I'll leave it at that for now.

My personal conclusion is that Tobirama might fit our real-world definition of "racist". But that heavily depends on your interpretation. Either way, Tobirama was a product of his times.

[idliketobeatree]

Crowley as the new Duke of Hell: I mean, Supreme Archangel Aziraphale, what the hell? not saying he can't do it, but as a concept? disgusting. revolting. absolutely nasty business. the moment I see his eyes flash purple I'm throwing up

Aziraphale, actually having a Thing for seeing Crowley in charge, ordering the demons around:

[kismetconstellations]

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart) x.

[cryptidm0ths]

Vvvvvv messy doodles of magical girl au

[rexcaliburechoes]

does anyone else find it fucked up that moon's friends protect themselves from her with the skyfire at the end of moon rising?

[eloquentsisyphianturmoil]

In the country where your cousins live, the head of state of an ethnic minority has been assassinated and his people’s greatest assets stolen or destroyed. They are forced to beg your cousins for help, who refuse, and they fall to fighting and a pyrrhic victory.

They are exiled and seek asylum, coming through political turmoil in two separate and suffering hosts to your country. Do you a) offer them aid and unite against a common threat, or b) bar many entrance to your realm (the only politically stable area), restrict the places they’re allowed to go, and ban their native language?

Thingol wants to make Doriath great again.

[wonder-worker]

The division between the two families [the Woodvilles and the Nevilles] and their allies can be seen in the royal charters that they witnessed. Warwick, Rivers and Archbishop Neville of York, while serving as chancellor and afterwards, were fairly constant witnesses to royal charters and consequently often appeared together. This was not, however, the case for other family members and friends. From 1466 to 1469, if Scales or Woodville associates like Sir John Fogge, John Lord Audley or Humphrey Lord Stafford of Southwick witnessed royal charters, then members of the Neville group, such as John Neville, earl of Northumberland, or John Lord Wenlock would not, and vice versa. Discounting the ubiquitous Warwick, Rivers and Archbishop Neville, of the twenty-four charters issued between February 1466 and June 1469, twelve were witnessed by men associated with the Woodvilles, eight by men associated with the Nevilles and two were witnessed by no member of either group beyond the two earls at their heads and the archbishop; only two charters, both from 1466, featured associates of both families.

Such striking segregation of witnesses suggests that something more than simple convenience or availability was at play. [...] The evidence of these witness lists does show the extent of the split between the two groups from early in Edward's [first] reign and of the need for political society to work with that cleavage in the heart of the Yorkist regime."

-Theron Westervelt, "Royal charter witness lists and the politics of the reign of Edward IV"

*This is specifically applicable for Edward IV's first reign; in contrast, the charters in his second reign displayed a great deal of aristocratic and domestic unity and cohesion.

[scalpho]

the thing about colin is that he's generally fairly passive in the grand scheme of things, and the few things he arguably takes into his own hands are not satisfying.

killing the banana man, an innocent bystander, is not a task he takes any joy in, and he makes an effort to try and atone for it afterwards. killing his shitty father was of course, sick as hell, but it's an act far too steeped in the feeling of "you should have never had to do this in the first place because he was not meant to be alive for you to kill, and, worse yet, he was not meant to be alive to orchestrate your involvement in the FDA, in the murder of a monarch, in what looks like is an attempt to destroy much of calorum" to be gratifying. the closest thing to an embrace his father has ever given him, the "i'm still proud" as he finally goes down - killing the man who is the cause for the majority of colin's hardship should be satisfying, but it's not quite there.

and the rest of it - being born under to a family name which serves as a death sentence, the FDA, delissandro giving him the title of skald, and then raphaniel giving him knighthood under the church - is mostly stuff that happens to him, or stuff he's guided into in some way. he's not completely passive or faultless, of course, but a lot is out of his control and he spends much of his life subject to the ebbs and flows of life, of power and of the powerful people around him

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Febuwhump Day 8 - "Why Won't it Stop?"

Back for more drama with the heroes who predate Hyrule Warriors! (also I edited the prompt words just a smidge, same sentiment, though)

X

The large chambers of Hyrule Castle used to house extravagant parties and religious ceremonies. Now it held the moans and cries of the dying, words of assurance and anguish, whispers and pleas and final gasps of life.

Princess Zelda walked among the soldiers, her people, and comforted who she could. She watched the light fade from a young Hylian's eyes as he finally succumbed to his injuries, watched how his ragged breaths stilled, how his stare now reached somewhere she could not see.

His hand felt cold in hers. She squeezed it all the more before letting go.

After meandering a little more, Zelda found that she couldn't bear to be in here any longer. When she left the room, though, she hadn't expected to run into the king.

"Father!" she gasped, taking a small step back and nearly tripping into her Sheikah protector, Orik.

"Why are you turning our halls into infirmaries?" the king demanded. "The stench alone is intolerable!"

"I--I had heard that the wounded were too many for what was already available," Zelda explained shakily. "I wanted to help."

"You don't know anything of the world," her father said in exasperation. "How could you possibly help? These people need healers, not our castle halls."

"But--"

"Enough," he interrupted. "Go back to your chambers. I'll handle this."

With that, her father turned and walked away. Zelda watched him go, heart racing, heat rushing to her cheeks.

I just can't win with him!

She shook her head. That didn't matter. What mattered was helping these soldiers, and they did need extra space. What if her father threw them out? What could she do?

She heard Orik rise from where he'd been kneeling, and she felt helpless.

When will this end? Why can't it just end?!

She didn't bother asking Orik's opinion on who was right and who wasn't. It wasn't his place to make such a determination, and it absolutely wasn't fair to put him in such a position. She knew she was right - perhaps she'd been shut away from most of the world her entire life, but she'd still studied the world, and she had common sense.

...Or she hoped she did. She had the confidence to say she did, but she also knew she wasn't exactly experienced, as her father had pointed out.

I would've been more experienced by now if he hadn't kept me in the castle as his personal trophy, she thought bitterly, feeling tears sting in her eyes. How was it that she was simultaneously enough and never enough for him to even acknowledge her?!

Stop it! This isn't about you! Zelda shook her head, looking back in the direction of the soldiers, the dying young Hylian's face burned into her memory.

"They need the help."

Startled, she looked hastily at her protector, who was watching her. "What?"

"You're right," Orik said. "The infirmaries are overflowing. They need to be here."

Although Zelda had not asked for the vindication, she desperately appreciated it. "You don't... think he'll kick them out, do you?"

Orik's solemn expression grew uncertain and worried. "I don't know, Your Highness."

Zelda bit her lip, hands clasped over her heart in anxiety. She had to do something. Her father had let all of this happen in the first place - he'd trusted Ganondorf, he was fumbling his way through this war, he wasn't taking the threat Ganondorf presented seriously, and he wasn't even taking care of the soldiers who were suffering for it.

And the Hero...

The princess glanced at her protector out of the corner of her eye. Her fingers traced the new mark on the back of her hand, hidden by white skin paint.

The moans of the dying rang in her ears, and she looked away.