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sullustangin · 3 years

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Darth Marr and Satele Shan: Names and Priorities

I’ve reached the point in my Yavin fic that I’m starting to use Marr’s POV on occasion. One of the things I’ve been chewing on (likely to the annoyance of others) has been the Marr-Satele-Theron dynamic during the Yavin 4 op. It’s clear that Satele and Marr have put aside differences and have become friends (as much as a Force ghost and a self-exiled Jedi Master can be friends) by Chapter 12 of KotFE.

I give credit to @swtorpadawan for posting about Satele on Yavin 4 a few months ago and being willing to have continued discourse about the post -- thank you. In comments and reblogs, there’s been discussion about how to interpret Satele’s references to Theron during the op and her motivations for why she does this.

This is a spin-off of that post, since I’ll be focusing more on the dynamic between Marr and the Shans instead of Theron and Satele.

During the Yavin op, Theron is consistently referred to as Theron, not as Agent Shan or as Shan. The issue of his last name is avoided. A few people (including me) have the headcanon that ‘Shan’ is a common name in the galaxy, like Smith or Patel or Garcia would be on our world; two people named Shan does not a family connection make, necessarily. It would explain why Theron doesn’t have a code name (though he jokingly? complains about it on first meeting).

And yet, Satele avoids using the name in reference to Theron. So does Marr. And Theron doesn’t insist on being referred to by his last name, even though his peer, Lana Beniko, is referred to as ‘Beniko’ by Marr. (Satele never addresses Lana using her name.)

Why the dance?

Honestly, when I try to reverse-engineer dev!logic, in terms of the game design for Yavin 4, I’d guess it was done to help the player differentiate between Grand Master Shan and Agent Shan. And maybe that’s all it is: calling Theron “Theron” just keeps the player from getting confused, especially if the player isn’t a Jedi and doesn’t know Satele; and/or skipped the Forged Alliances quests and thus doesn’t know Theron.

Within the universe, however, what’s an explanation a player can come up with?

The Spies in Question

Theron’s name was broadcast across the galaxy as a wanted man for killing Colonel Darok. He was to be apprehended on sight, but Theron was a spy; spy agencies to this day rarely let any images of their active duty agents be circulated, even if they do go rogue or defect to the other side. Theron’s image in direct connection to his name and job as SIS agent would be on a need-to-know basis. This has led me to headcanon that Director Trant was well-aware of Theron going off the grid; in fact, he aided and abetted it.

Lana, on the other hand, was a known member of the Sphere of Military Offense. She commanded troops on Hoth. She had a known face, and there was an Imperial bounty contract on her head, per Theron at Manaan. If anything, Lana was in as much danger as Jakarro; someone could try to claim the bounty on her head, since the bounties weren’t lifted til the end of the Yavin op.

And yet, Theron’s name was the unspeakable one.

Satele and Theron

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I feel that the dynamic between Theron and Satele is not that of son and mother; both of them have gotten past that decision. Rather, it’s more similar to a child who was given up for adoption looking for some sort of acknowledgement from his birth family -- it’s not love. It’s not approval. It’s.... complicated. Acknowledgement of existence. Acknowledgement that the decision had impact on Theron well beyond his first year of life. Acknowledgement that Satele hurt Jace.

I’ve interpreted Theron’s bristling at the use of the term “my agent” to be more directed at the possessiveness of the word, yet how far apart they still are, despite the biological connections. Technically, Yavin 4 was the first time they worked on an op together. This was their first professional collaboration. They haven’t seen each other socially, they can’t talk about their issues/relationship/whatever.....and they have to save the galaxy together.

Giving up Theron doesn’t mean Satele felt nothing. She privately struggles with what she did and how it turned out -- still does, based on 6.2. However, she, like Jace and Theron, believe in serving the cause at great personal cost. Seeing Theron beat to hell after Rishi bothered her -- it would bother anyone with any sense of compassion (which she does have). Theron got the beatdown he did because he was taken by the Revanites. Revan attempted to convince Theron to join him on Yavin 4 by invoking the idea that they are flesh and blood -- family.

Pretty sure Revan wasn’t talking about the Malcom side. Satele knew that. Was there a sense of protectiveness for Theron because of what happened immediately before Yavin 4? I think so, yes, but it’s not motherly.

Theron’s experience on Rishi probably made Satele hyperaware that if Theron was of interest to the Revanites, then the Empire would doubly interested in Theron if they knew that he was not only an heir of Revan, but that the Grand Master of the Jedi Order was his biological mother. Referring to him as “my agent” may be Satele’s way to avoid using any part of his name on Yavin 4.

I’m willing to bet, regardless of any efforts to ignore or conceal Theron’s name, that Marr quickly figured out that the agent who managed to outfox Revan, resist torture, get Marr’s attention, and unravel an intergalactic conspiracy was something special to the Republic. Odds were that this agent had acted against the Empire.

Marr would be interested.

The History of Darth Marr and Satele Shan

Prior to Yavin 4, Marr and Satele had most recently squabbled over Makeb in the Hutt Cartel expansion through their various operatives. When Marr saw Satele on the Imp side Battle of Rishi, he bowed. He respected her and she respected him. I didn’t get any other impression from their interactions. They saw each other as equals, though on rival sides; that creates tension, since a fight between them would be a draw or mutually assured destruction. It’s highly likely they fought against each other in the previous Galactic War (which I’ll talk about below).

Marr was born in 3702 BBY, Satele in 3699 BBY. They’re about the same age, and they ascended almost equally quickly when the Sith returned in 3681 -- Satele is 18, Marr is 21. I have spoken about how Satele and Jace (who seems to be somewhere between 16 and 20 in the trailer) were essentially just kids when the conflict started. So was Marr.

The big difference, in terms of how their characters are constructed, is that we have the end product of Marr. Period. We don’t know what his name was before he took on the name ‘Darth Marr.’ We know nothing about his family, his relationships, his struggles. As Marr said later to the player in KotFE, he wanted to be a symbol to the Empire. Marr did not let himself be just a man.

Darth Marr is not the singular leader of the Sith. Marr is the head of the Sphere of Defense of the Empire for decades, and as of the Battle of Corellia and the death of Darth Decimus, he also becomes the head of the Sphere of Military Strategy. With 2 of Military Spheres in his grasp, Marr was the de facto leader of the armed forces of the Sith Empire. The Sphere of Military Offense passed from Baras to Arho and then to Arkous after Ilum. When Arkous is killed by the player’s character, there is no indication as to who was the next head; that Sphere is never spoken of again in-game. We may assume Marr took hold of that. Either way, he has become the de facto leader of the Sith Empire. His voice, his robes and mask -- immediately recognizable to the whole galaxy.

The creators of content for SWTOR took the opposite approach to Satele. We can read about how her mother Tasiele was forced into exile when Satele was still a child. We meet Satele at 18 in a SWTOR trailer during the first Sith incursion at Korriban. We see her in comics fighting against the Empire. We see her at the Battle of Alderaan against Malgus. In Annihilation,we see bits and pieces of her falling in love with Jace Malcom and hoping she doesn’t get too attached... until a pair of permanent complications occur in 3667 BBY: Jace was severely maimed in the Battle of Alderaan, and Satele got pregnant. Jace’s injuries made him a much harder person than the soldier Satele met in 3681 BBY; he scared her with his hatred of the Empire.

I’ll take a moment here to say that Satele wasn’t dumb or naive when she made the decision about Theron. Satele was at least 32 years old, possibly 33 by the time Theron was born in 3666 BBY. She wasn’t a teen having a knee-jerk “oh noes, he’s evil” moment. She had been in a constant state of war for 15 years when she got pregnant. It’s in that context that Satele was concerned that Jace’s hatred could drag their child to the Dark Side... but also, Satele’s love for her child would make it impossible for her to serve the Republic without a second thought. She couldn’t fight and die for the Republic if she was always preoccupied with coming home to her baby.

So she let Theron go. She had other adventures. She was at the Treaty of Coruscant. Satele founded Tython. She became the Grand Master of her order.

We don’t get any of that pathos or glory with Marr. Marr IS. Marr is the Empire. He is the best of them. He has been, is, and will be.

The odds are pretty good that Marr and Satele met each other in combat, directly or indirectly. The bow on Imp side Rishi is a big thing for me that points to that. Also, look at their responsibilities during the last war. Marr was responsible for not only defending Korriban and what would become the Imperial core, but also any gains the Sith made over time against the Republic. That’s the job of the Sphere of Defense of the Empire; taking planets was somebody else’s rodeo, not Marr’s. His job was to defend... something the Imperial people living on these planets would love him for. He was their protector against brutish Republic troops and their systemic corruption.

Satele was responsible for winning those territories back; we see her on counter-strikes against the Sith. Satele is cast as the liberator of people imperiled by the spreading Sith Empire, not a conqueror taking new territory. Marr probably had to defend against Satele at least once in their careers, possibly multiple times. If she was absent from the front lines for any period of time, Marr would have noticed; he had to anticipate the next move of Republic counterstrikes as part of his job.

And indeed, Satele was absent for an extended period. How long Satele was absent from the battlefield due to her pregnancy, we don’t know. Satele did continue her battlefield duties for “months” after she found out. The only information we have about post-partum Satele is that she stopped visiting Baby Theron at 6 months old, according to Lost Suns. I don’t think she could just skip off at random while in command, so I think she probably was off the battlefield at least 10 months (last 4 months of her pregnancy, 6 months post-partum), possibly as long as 18 months, since Gnost-Dural reports she was assigned to duty with the Republic Navy at some point in 3665 BBY. She did give birth on a random planet in a cave, so she didn’t exactly have the best medical care immediately. Maybe there were complications. Maybe she did show early. We don’t know.

Regardless of the timeline, Marr would have been paying attention. Marr would have noticed when Satele Shan stopped fighting for the Republic. Where was she? What was she doing? Was this part of a greater plot by the Republic? What were they planning? And when Satele did return, he may well have wondered what she had been up to. But no matter; she had returned. Marr had to be ready.

There’s no obvious indication in the game as to when Marr figures out Satele and Theron are mother and son. He makes no comment to indicate that he knew before Rishi. Based on Marr’s dialogue in game on the Imperial side, he heavily suggests that he knows who Theron is by the time Iven, the former commandant of the Imperial Guard, is taken into custody and it’s time to interrogate him. Satele objects to Marr’s plans to torture Iven. “And what do you think your agent has done in the Republic’s name?” is Marr’s response.

The delivery of ‘your agent’ is indicative that Marr knows.

Theron himself stated at the end of the Imp side romance that if he was indeed recruited by the player to join the Empire, people would be suspicious that he’d be working for his mother. That would have to include Darth Marr.

Personally, I would guess that the after-action reports from Lana and Theron would have some clues for Marr. However, once Theron had healed up from the Rishi events, Marr may well have taken one look at Theron standing next to Satele, and then had an epiphany so immense it gave him a headache that Lana felt across the compound. There’s the answer. That’s why she disappeared for almost two years, twenty-nine years ago. Theron Shan.

(According to Jace in Annihilation, Theron has some similar features to his mother. He doesn’t specify which ones.)

The Lie of Omission

A lie of omission is permitting an inaccuracy or a falsehood to continue to circulate without correction, even though the person knows the truth. (In contrast, a lie of commission is when you actively make something up or contribute to the lie -- you commit the act lying.) Marr signals he knows who Theron is by the time Iven is retrieved from the Imperial Guard training facility on Yavin, but he never says the name Theron Shan out loud. It’s simply “the agent” “your agent” or “Theron.” But not Agent Shan.

The use of “Theron” in the Pubside story is most eyebrow-raising.

Marr calls people by their titles. Marr always keeps professional distance. Underlings are uniformly referred to by their titles. Lana doesn’t like titles, so Marr doesn’t refer to her as Lord Beniko or Darth whatever; it’s just Beniko.

Calling someone by their first name is highly irregular. He does not refer to Satele as such until 6.2 (and that might be the Socratic Problem of Marr in the player’s memory rather than the real Marr). It’s always Grand Master or Grand Master Shan. In a unique instance in the game, Marr calls Theron by his given name when he finds the Imperial Guard’s buildings in ruins during the Pubside story: “But given the destruction Theron describes, it’s mostly likely a distress call.” This is before the Pub operative annoys Marr by going to the Imperial Guard facility by themselves; it’s not said in anger or in irritation. It’s said under ‘normal’ circumstances (if circumstances on Yavin are normal at all).

But why? Why not “Agent Shan”? That would differentiate him from Grand Master Shan. Just referring to the pair as Grand Master and Agent would work too; how many Grand Masters and SIS Agents are running around on Yavin 4? Why is Marr avoiding attention to the man’s last name?

And why doesn’t Marr hop on this and use it to the Empire’s advantage?

Pragmatism and Prioritization

Marr is not a Jedi. Marr doesn’t do things for the greater good. He does things for the Sith Empire and for the people of the Sith Empire. Offing Theron Shan? Definitely on the agenda. So is killing Satele, eventually.

But not now. Not on Yavin 4.

Marr is probably the person closest to knowing what Revan is going to try to do in order to make the Emperor take physical form again so he can kill him. It’s going to involve a lot of dead people. That can easily happen; up until this tiny fragile cease fire between Marr and Satele, the Empire and the Republic have been engaged in a hot war. When they first make camp on Yavin, there is a real possibility they’ll frag each other regularly. This is why players have to do daily quests, in theory -- to build good will between the factions.

My partner is a military nerd and a Star Wars nerd. He watched both version of the Battle of Rishi. His conclusion: based on the ships we see, Marr had more than twice the number of troops that Satele did (I put the numbers in my Yavin 4 fic). The Imperial troops, at Marr’s word, probably could wipe out the Republic forces on Yavin 4, pack up, and head back to Dromund Kaas in time for tea.

But they won’t. Marr wouldn’t permit it.

He knows how dangerous the Emperor is, and if he does let his troops kill the Pubs, they feed him. There also appears to be some sort of weird mystical thing going on with Revan’s bloodline. Revan knew highly personal information about Theron (and Theron says so when the player opens the temple later on); somehow, Theron was able to use that connection to get Revan to give up Yavin 4 and secure an invite there at the end of the Rishi op.

Marr knows about this. Marr doesn’t know what Revan would do if Marr did kill Theron or Satele, plus there’s the more predictable possibility that the Republic would respond to the death of Satele Shan thanks to the Jedi feeling it through the Force. Chancellor Saresh would not let that opportunity pass by, even if it did feed the Emperor; we saw that at Ziost.

Grand Master Shan is a public figure. Her name and her power is obvious to everyone in the Yavin camp. Theron, however, is everything his mother is not. He is a spy. His face is not known to the general public. His work is secret, his exact abilities unknown.

Sure, the last name is common enough....

But Theron and Satele have never worked together before. They’ve never operated in such close proximity before. Yavin 4 would be the first time all the pieces could fall into place to someone observant. Marr is many things, but one of the things he really gets annoyed about in regard to the Sith is their arrogance. They get such fat heads that they can’t see obvious danger or they overlook aliens and non-Force Sensitives to their own detriment.

Marr isn’t arrogant.

He doesn’t think he’s the only one who can see a family similarity or sense some connection between them. Saying someone’s name is a powerful thing; we get upset when someone screws up our name. It’s how our attention is attracted. Shared last names of interesting people attract attention. Attention leads to distraction away from the primary goal of stopping Revan and the Emperor.

That’s something Marr doesn’t want to deal with right now. Revan and Emperor now. The Shans later. He avoids referring to Theron as “Shan” so as to reduce any chance that some young Sith will attempt to make their bones killing Theron, since that would spell doom for the Empire, whether through Revan’s anger or the Republic’s revenge. It would also help empower the Sith Emperor to retake physical form, which is the last thing Marr wants him to do.

Exposing the Grand Master as having a secret son would remove an ally from the field for Marr; Marr doesn’t want to destroy his assets before he’s used them to their full ability. There’s no point in burning Satele Shan on Yavin 4 before Revan is dealt with.

...And Marr respects her. It’s a cheap way to win against a rival he knows to be his equal.

Marr wants to end Revan and the Emperor now, in that order, to defend the people of the Empire. He’ll worry about the Shans later. Marr will let Theron’s last name be overlooked and unmentioned, if only because it makes his job as Defender of the Empire less complicated for a few months.

Thanks again to @swtorpadawan and also @inyri @shabre-legacy @theniveanlegacy for discussing the original post about Satele and Theron and making me think about this.

Headcanon Postface:

This last bit is purely my headcanon ideas about Marr, so you can leave here if you so desire. I’m placing them here rather than making a separate post and having to link back to this one.

As I’ve described previously, we have the finished product of Darth Marr, with none of the personal insight that was provided for Satele Shan. Who’s under the mask? Nobody knows, really. His first comic book adventure takes place in 3678, when he’s about 24 years old. There’s nothing about his life beforehand that would let the player wonder how his past life affected his current decisions. Marr ultimately would do the best he could for the Empire, regardless, but knowing if he ever hesitated, ever had second thought, had a regret -- that would make him mortal.

And Marr is an icon, not a man, in the grander SWTOR universe, per the writers. That’s the point driven home to the player. So that leaves it to fan fic to take off the mask or not.

In “The Planter of Trees and Other Tales from Yavin 4,” Marr comes to this conclusion about the Shans’ relationship after observing two Shan chins. He then alludes to understanding Satele’s decision to conceal Theron’s existence.

After Marr had gained his seat on the Dark Council (late 3680s, early 3670s), a lot of Sith families wanted him to add to their prestige. The man needed a legacy; he needed heirs. Marr had already set himself on his path, however; he understood that it was better to be an icon. If Marr was a normal man, he would be weakened by family connections, love, protectiveness, concern for his personal future. Instead, Marr’s devotion to the Empire was unmatched and pure. In the public’s eye, he was the great defender. He was the perfect Sith.

Marr never did have a public wife or a political marriage. His private life -- better secured than Imperial state secrets -- produced a daughter that did not inherit her talents from her Force-Using parent. Marr had been relieved that his daughter was not like him. It meant she would never be pressured to come into public life. It meant she was free of the burden of his legacy.

Lately, I’ve considered that, regardless of having access to the Force or not, a child of Marr was always in danger of becoming a pawn. She was something Marr’s enemies could use against him, if they ever found out about her; being Force-Null simply meant that others could not detect her as easily. That may have also have been a concern of Satele in regard to Theron, especially as she rose through the ranks of the Jedi Order. As soon as Marr could let his daughter fly away from Dromund Kaas, he did. She was free.

She died shortly before the Sack of Coruscant. Marr did not go to her. The Empire had to matter more. That doesn’t mean he didn’t love her. He just never could prioritize her over the Empire.

In my fic universe, Marr understands Satele’s choices. He can keep his mouth shut. For now.

Theron is far more dangerous to the rival faction than Marr’s daughter ever was, however; he is an active player in the war, while she... just got caught in the middle, in the end....

Revan and Emperor now. Shans later.

#swtor #shadow of revan #darth marr #satele shan #revan #theron shan #lana beniko #swtor fan fiction #headcanon #pragmatic sith

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verobatto · 4 years

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Destiel Chronicles

Vol. XCII

It was a love story from the very beginning.

What Do I Do Now?

(12x23)

Hello my dear fellows! We reached the last meta from season 12! This is a sad one, my friends, I know. But we embrace the destiel angst, as good shippers, right?

So, let's cry again with Dean again at the end of this season.

Let's start...

The Promise

When the episode starts we have Kelly Kline dressed in light blue.

Gif credit @kingofthecrxssroads

The light blue and white color talks about purity and is related to divinity. Those are the colors weared by Virgen Mary, the mother of God, which is now very meaningful to see Kelly Kline, the mother of the future god, wearing the same colors.

After this beautiful detail in the visual Narrative, let's focus on that promise that changed Castiel's priorities for ever.

Gif credit @mad-as-a-box-of-frogs

This is gonna be the new mission for Castiel. His change of priorities, the cause of the future Destiel break up in season 14. This promise will lead Castiel into his decision that will en with his death, exchanging his life for Jack in Heaven, the deal with the Empty.

Then, in another scene, we have this dialogue:

KELLY: Tell me again. Tell me again what you saw.

CASTIEL: Right, I saw– I saw... I saw the future. I saw a world without pain or hunger or want. I saw the world that this child... that your child...

KELLY: Mm.

CASTIEL: ...will create.

KELLY: Mm.

CASTIEL: And it is a world without fear and without suffering and without hate.

KELLY: Mm.

CASTIEL: I saw paradise.

This is a reflection of episode 15x19, with Jack as the new God, defeating Chuck, creating a new Paradise, Heaven.

Another interesting visual Narrative was Jack's room.

Pic credit @fallenandinlovewithhumanity

The tree represents: FAMILY, each word of his name is colored in TFW colors BLUE, YELLOW AND RED. The meaning is all over that wall, Jack's family, Jack's parents will be Sam, Dean and Castiel. The family settled with strong roots, like a tree.

Noe the rainbow 🌈 in the Bible represents THE DEAL BETWEEN HUMANITY AND GOD, is a promise of no more harm. An example of it, was the rainbow that appeared after The Great Universal Flood.

I will talk here about a little and funny foreshadow... You'll pick it up quick!

MARY: All right, then. Kind of always wanted to punch the Devil in the face. So how do we find them?

Yes, my friends, this was an easy one, right? Is a Foreshadow of Mary Winchester punching the devil, not just once but twice, one in season 13.

Another beautiful and blatant parallel was this one...

Gif credit @godshipsit

Those are the same words Mary said to Dean when she was pregnant.

This marks the Jack as Dean's mirror. The kid will try to be like him, to follow his steps. Because just as Dean is a role model to CAS, he will be the same to Jack.

Another foreshadow of Castiel's dead, and example of those who takes bad decisions to have a win, was Crowley.

SAM: Crowley...why did you do it? Save Lucifer– What did you want?

CROWLEY: I wanted to win.

The desire of a win is remarked as the precursor of bad decision. First we will have Crowley explaining why he let the devil out, which will end in his death, and then we will have Castiel at the end of this episode dying after taking a collection of bad decisions. But for Dean it will mean to get Castiel back in 13x06.

Dean and Cas

The reuniom between Cas and Dean was full of dramatism, jealousy and sassy looks, just to exalt their relationship as romantic.

We all recall the scene in which Case opens the door, and everyone is there: Sam, Mary and Dean, but CAS just calls DEAN hahaahaha. Is just Dean for his eyes, well, that's love.

We have Dean and Sam giving a discourse about loyalty and family and work together... Very dramatic.

DEAN: Look, Sam's right, okay? We'll work through our crap. We always do. But right now, we are here to get you, get Kelly, and get gone.

They heard Kelly, and Mary goes to assist her. But then Dean keeps scolding and talking to Cas, but Castiel replies with his sassy self:

DEAN: Hey, if he shows, can you flame on again? Can you torch Lucifer like you did Dagon?

CASTIEL: I don't know. No, that wasn't me. That was the child. And in case you haven't noticed, he's a little busy.

After this Dean will show himself in pain, just to caught CAS attention, like a annoyed boyfriend that doesn't want to ask for help to his boyfriend, because they're fighting, but whining and moving his harmed knee to his boyfriend, is a great method to get away from the fight they're having, showing Castiel 'look how i was hurt when you weren't there, you weren't there so I had to carry with this pain in my knee.' Believe me, i know this method very well. Hehehehe. So, it works, because Castiel goes immediately to heal him.

DEAN: [bends and grasps his injured knee] Aah. Son of a bitch.

CASTIEL: Here, Dean.

DEAN: Mm.

CASTIEL: Let me.

Gif set credit @shirtlesssammy

So, this is the beginning of jealousy Dean has Because Castiel will put Jack first on his list, just like now, Because is the arriving of a son, and that's a crisis for couples.

Look how Dean accepts his healing, and then smiles shyly, happily, goofily, avoiding Castiel's eyes. He is happy because he got the attention he wanted from his angel. Because even after fighting for the bad decisions CAS had taken, he is still his Cas, and he'ss still caring about him. After feeling Cas was acting odd, this healing is like getting him back.

Another scene full of jealousy, coming from Dean feeling Cas was staying away from him, doing his own life, is this scene:

SAM: Whoa. Cas, what is this?

CASTIEL: As I said, it's– it's Earth. But this Earth is locked in eternal war between Heaven and Hell. There are armies of angels fighting hoards of demons, and the few humans that remain are caught in between.

SAM: How do you know that?

CASTIEL: A friend told me.

DEAN: Oh, good. Now you're makin' friends? That's...

Dean is jealous that Cas is making friends out of his sight.

CASTIEL: You don't have to worry. The child, he opened this door. He'll close it.

DEAN: You sure about that?

CASTIEL: I have faith.

DEAN: Really? In your unborn baby-God?

CASTIEL: Yes.

DEAN: Well, then, you're a dumbass.

Jealousy again, reflected in how Castiel is having faith in Jack, and how he used to have faith in Dean. So Dean is feeling maybe, he is replaced slowly by this child.

After this Castiel explains to Sam and Dean that this Apocalyptic World is a world in which they never born. Trying to remark that Dean and Sam are important to our world.

Then, AU!Bobby mentions bullets that kill angels and Dean goes...

DEAN: Wait, angel-killing bullets? Awesome.

And sassy married look from Castiel...

As I said, everything is so dramatic, because they're so married.

Another important scene was Lucifer appearing in front of them, and saying the following words...

LUCIFER: You're right. What should I do? Oh, God! Don't strike me dead! Come on, Sam. You sound like a virgin in Jesus camp. "We can't. God is watching." No. Chuck "walked." He's gone.

When Lucifer mentions this, Castiel turns around to see Dean. It was filmed that way toake us see that was a thought in Castiel's POV, this is something that will be developed to in episode 14x15 and 14x17. In the first one, Peace of Mind we will have a Castiel's POV, with pink color everywhere (representing happiness) and green all over (representing Dean) as something forbidden, something HE CAN'T HAVE, the second episode, we will have a girl and a boy making out inside a car, and the girl is afraid of her dad finding out their relationship, HE COULD SEE US. As if they were doing something prohibited. Both examples are linked to this scene, and Castiel's Sacred Oath.

Crowley's redemption arc was him sacrificing for the boys. As a prelude of this.

Gif credit @inacatastrophicmind

Castiel sacrificing himself for Sam and Dean, and dying after this...

Pic set credit @akitescoldstrings-blog1

The dead that had been foreshadowed for two seasons is here. Stabbed by the back, the bright light showing he is dying, Dean's desperate shout, and his worst nightmare becoming truth.

Gif credit @they-stare-i-ship

The burnt wings on the ground is another sign that Cas is gone for real. Dean's facial expression is the most sad we an see, defeated, he will bend down on his knees.

Sam will run to the cabin, because Jack is coming, even with Mary falling with Lucifer into the AU, even with Castiel dead, Sam is focused on the mission. But Dean can't. He can't react, because he had just seen the love of his life dying in front of his eyes. And nothing will be normal again for him.

To Conclude:

This episode is linked to with season 15 final episodes. Talking about the new Paradise the New God will bring.

It shows too the role Cas, Sam and Dean will have in Jack's life.

It talks about sacrifice for love, and how Castiel will change his priorities, leaving Dean feeling a little jealous about it.

And this episode ends with Castiel's dead, in front of his lover.

Hope you like this meta. See you in the next one in season 13!

Tagging @magnificent-winged-beast @emblue-sparks @weird-dorky-little-d @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @dea-stiel @poorreputation @bre95611 @thewolfathedoor @charlottemanchmal @neii3n @deathswaywardson @followyourenergy @dean-is-bi-till-i-die @hekatelilith-blog @avidbkwrm @anarchiana @dickpuncher365 @vampyrosa @authorsararayne @mybonsai1976 @love-neve-dies @dustythewind @wayward-winchester67 @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @deeutdutdutdoh @destiel-shipper-11 @larrem88 @charmedbycastiel @ran-savant @little-crazy-misha-minion @samoosetheshipper

@shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @nerditoutwithbooks @mikennacac73 @justmeand-myinsight @idontwantpeopletoknowmyname @teddybeardoctor @pepevons @helevetica @isthisdestiel @dizzypinwheel @jawnlockwinchester @horsez2 @qanelyytha

@destielle @spnsmile @shippsblog @robot-feels @superlock-in-the-tardis @superduckbatrebel @2musiclover2 @madronasky @anon-non2 @cea1996 @lisafu02 @asphodelesauvage @destiels-canonahhhhhhhhhh

If you want to be added or removed from this list, just let me know.

Of you wanna read the previous metas from season 12, here you have the links:

Vol. LXXV, LXXVI, LXXVII, LXXVIII, LXXIX, LXXX, LXXXI, LXXXII, LXXXIII, LXXXIV, LXXXV, LXXXVI, LXXXVII, LXXXVIII, LXXXIX, XC, XCI.

Buenos Aires, December 13th 2020 9:07 PM

#destiel #destiel chronicles #destiel meta #supernatural meta #season 12 meta #vol. XCII #dean winchester #castiel #mary winchester #sam winchester #kelly kline #lucifer #jack kline #crowley

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nobodysuspectsthebutterfly · 6 years

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question from a non-book reader; i've been reading up on a lot of targaryen history since i got the world of ice and fire book. i vaguely understand the blackfyre rebellion and a lot of what i see on tumblr seems to side either with the targaryens or the blackfyres. but it seems to me that neither side was fully in the right since the targaryens overall weren't exactly known for being just rulers. that said, what is your opinion on the blackfyre rebellion? (1/2)

(2/2) did bloodraven genuinely commit tyranny and sins against the gods, or was aegor rivers the one who had the moral high ground in comparison?

…um.

I’m not sure if you’re confused because you haven’t read the books, or what, but sorry… no. The Blackfyre Rebellion happened because King Aegon IV Targaryen, Aegon the Unworthy (motto: “wash her and bring her to my bed”), always hated his trueborn son Daeron, considering him weak, hated Daeron’s mother Queen Naerys (and always tried to undermine her, including accusing her of infidelity through a proxy), hated the peace made with Dorne that was sealed with Daeron’s marriage to a Dornish princess (including trying and failing to start a war with Dorne by attacking them unprovoked with wooden “dragons”), decided to give Daeron one last stab in the back by legitimizing all his bastards on his deathbed.

One of those bastards included Daemon Blackfyre, born Daemon Waters, the son of Aegon and his cousin Daena the Defiant.

Aegon had knighted Daemon for valor in a squire’s tourney (age 12), and presented him with the Valyrian steel sword Blackfyre, the hereditary sword of House Targaryen and the Targaryen kings. (Blackfyre had belonged to Aegon the Conqueror, and when Aenys gave the sword to his younger brother Maegor at Aegon’s funeral – because Maegor was a warrior and Aenys was not, wanting them to rule together – it was widely considered to be a sign of Aenys’s weakness and Maegor’s strength.) Aegon IV giving Daemon the sword of kings, acknowledging him as his son, and then legitimizing him two years later, was considered by many to be his attempt to make Daemon his true heir and deny Daeron as falseborn, Naerys’s secret bastard.

Nevertheless, Daeron did not let his father’s duplicity preclude his obligations to his many bastard half-brothers and -sisters; including allowing Daemon to change his last name to Blackfyre, arranging his marriage to Rohanne of Tyrosh as Aegon had negotiated (though Daeron did not allow Daemon to marry his sister Princess Daenerys too), and granting a keep and lands along the Blackwater to the new House Blackfyre. Daemon even took his sigil the Targaryen arms inverted, a black three-headed dragon on red. And Daemon made it known that Aegon had given Daemon the sword because he was a warrior and Daeron was not, though Daeron did have two sons (out of four) who were highly martially talented.

Daeron’s rule soon stablized the excesses of the reign of his corrupt hedonist father; he was seen as just and good-hearted, and he was called “Daeron the Good” by both smallfolk and lords. Nevertheless, as time went on, those who opposed Dorne and its inclusion in Westeros, bound by two marriages to House Targaryen, found their figurehead in the handsome warrior Daemon Blackfyre. They looked at Daeron’s marriage to Mariah Martell, and his heir Baelor Breakspear, who though a warrior, also looked like his mother, with dark hair and dark eyes. They stewed at Princess Daenerys’s marriage to Prince Maron Martell of Dorne (oh noes a smelly brown man manhandling our white princess), and imagined a great love story denied to Daemon. (Though for all Daemon’s passion was supposedly cockblocked by his mean half-brother, he was still getting busy with Rohanne, producing at least 9 children in 12 years; and Daenerys never seemed unhappy in her marriage to Maron, who built the Water Gardens for her.) They got really angry at the Dornish courtiers who came to King’s Landing with Mariah, and supposed special treatment to Dorne. They brought up the rumors of Naerys and Aemon the Dragonknight, claiming that the weak Daeron was not Aegon’s son. We literally have the words of a Blackfyre supporter telling us this:

“Treason… is only a word. When two princes fight for a chair where only one may sit, great lords and common men alike must choose. And when the battle’s done, the victors will be hailed as loyal men and true, whilst those who were defeated will be known forevermore as rebels and traitors. That was my fate.” Egg thought about it for a time. “Yes, my lord. Only…King Daeron was a good man. Why would you choose Daemon?” “Daeron…” Ser Eustace almost slurred the word, and Dunk realized he was half-drunk. “Daeron was spindly and round of shoulder, with a little belly that wobbled when he walked. Daemon stood straight and proud, and his stomach was flat and hard as an oaken shield. And he could fight. With axe or lance or flail, he was as good as any knight I ever saw, but with the sword he was the Warrior himself. When Prince Daemon had Blackfyre in his hand, there was not a man to equal him…not Ulrick Dayne with Dawn, no, nor even the Dragonknight with Dark Sister. “You can know a man by his friends, Egg. Daeron surrounded himself with maesters, septons, and singers. Always there were women whispering in his ear, and his court was full of Dornishmen. How not, when he had taken a Dornishwoman into his bed and sold his own sweet sister to the Prince of Dorne, though it was Daemon that she loved? Daeron bore the same name as the Young Dragon, but when his Dornish wife gave him a son he named the child Baelor, after the feeblest king who ever sat the Iron Throne. “Daemon, though… Daemon was no more pious than a king need be, and all the great knights of the realm gathered to him. It would suit Lord Bloodraven if their names were all forgotten, so he has forbidden us to sing of them, but I remember. Robb Reyne, Gareth the Grey, Ser Aubrey Ambrose, Lord Gormon Peake, Black Byren Flowers, Redtusk, Fireball… Bittersteel! I ask you, has there ever been such a noble company, such a roll of heroes? “Why, lad? You ask me why? Because Daemon was the better man. The old king saw it too. He gave the sword to Daemon. Blackfyre, the sword of Aegon the Conqueror, the blade that every Targaryen king had wielded since the Conquest…he put that sword in Daemon’s hand the day he knighted him, a boy of twelve.” “My father says that was because Daemon was a swordsman, and Daeron never was,” said Egg. “Why give a horse to a man who cannot ride? The sword was not the kingdom, he says.” The old knight’s hand jerked so hard that wine spilled from his silver cup. “Your father is a fool.”

–The Sworn Sword

There is nothing to do with justice here. Nothing to do with ruling justly. There’s only hero-worship, glorification of violence, ableism, anti-intellectualism, misogyny, and Dornish racism. That’s what the followers of Daemon Blackfyre supported. They’re like Trump supporters, wanting to make Westeros great again.

And no bigger supporter of Daemon was his half-brother Aegor Rivers, aka Bittersteel. Aegor, “pissed off all his life”, was particularly mad at the court, because his mother Barba Bracken, Aegon’s mistress, had been sent away in disgrace after it was found that she and her father were talking up making Barba queen when Naerys had a health scare. (It was Daeron and his uncle Aemon, Naerys’s supporters, who made enough of a fuss about the scandal to get Aegon to send her away. Note also that Aegor’s grandfather was later executed along with his daughter Bethany, Aegon’s mistress, after she was caught sleeping with a Kingsguard.) While Aegor also received the legitimization given to all of Aegon’s bastards, he didn’t get all the benefits he felt he should have gotten – unlike his half-brother Brynden Rivers, “Bloodraven”, whose mother Melissa Blackwood (another one of Aegon’s mistresses), had always been popular at court (even with Naerys and Daeron), leading to Bloodraven remaining close with Daeron and his family even after Melissa was dismissed as mistress. Furthermore, Shiera Seastar (another one of Aegon’s Great Bastards), chose Brynden as a lover instead of Aegor, making him even more angry.

So, Aegor got close to Daemon, including getting betrothed to one of his daughters, and frequently urged him to press his claim to the throne, on the grounds of king’s choice, having the sword, being more fit than Daeron Falseborn. Do you see a moral high ground here? I do not. It’s further implied that Brynden was also close to Daemon at the time (see him telling Bran that “a brother I loved” is one of his ghosts), and was able to get away and warn Daeron when the Blackfyre plans went from idle talk to open rebellion. He was no tyrant – he probably didn’t even have an office at court at the time, though he did eventually become Daeron’s spymaster.

But yes, Brynden did kill Daemon and his two eldest sons, sniping them during the last battle of the first Blackfyre Rebellion. For which he was accused of kinslaying, and of using sorcery to get those accurate shots. The accusation of sorcery was probably slander (probably… a weirwood bow and weirwood arrows fletched with raven feathers might have had some mystical qualities), and as for the kinslaying… it was a battle where Daemon would have killed his half-nephews Baelor and Maekar if he’d had a chance, where Aegor fought Brynden one-on-one and took his eye out… and if the Blackfyres had won, do you think they’d just have packed off Daeron and Mariah and Aerys and Rhaegel? No, the falseborn weak Dornish half-breeds would have been executed or hunted down. You think they’d’ve left Daenerys and Maron and their children in peace? Nope, a war with Dorne would have been next on the agenda. Don’t talk to me about kinslaying. (Though whether Brynden considers himself to be gods-cursed could be a different matter.)

Now, after the first Blackfyre Rebellion, when Brynden supported killing all the rebel lords (Daeron elected to take hostages instead), after the death of Daeron’s heir Baelor, after the Great Spring Sickness when Daeron and Baelor’s sons died, leading to Daeron’s second son Aerys becoming king, and appointing Brynden as his Hand and master of whisperers… then you might get into questions of tyranny. (Which I consider a lot more debatable than some.) But it has absolutely nothing to do with why Daemon Blackfyre and his supporters rebelled in the first place. When Aegor Rivers formed the Golden Company, to support the Blackfyre cause in their exile in Tyrosh, did he give a flying fuck about tyranny or justice? No he did not, he just wanted to keep fucking with Bloodraven and put Daemon’s son on the throne of Westeros. (Not the gay son, though! That one, the heir after his older brothers died, Bittersteel ignored and kept his support from.)

The Blackfyre cause was never just. They were never in the right. I oppose them wholeheartedly, and I’m suspicious of anyone who chooses the black dragon over the red. I hope that clears things up for you.

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bioticfox · 7 years

Text

11 Questions Tag Meme

Rules: 1. Post the rules, 2. Answer the questions given to you by the tagger, 3. Write 11 questions of your own, 4. And tag 11 people

I was tagged by @vorchagirl

1. Star Trek or Star Wars?

Probably Star Trek at the moment because of reasons

2. What’s your favourite movie genre and why?

As long as it’s not a sad film, I’m happy.

3. What are you wearing right now? (Does that sound sleazy??)

Jeans and snuggly knitwear, you sleaze :P

4. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I visited @neolithicprophet and we had some really good tofu. I’d eat that all the time if I could.

5. Do you dress for fashion or comfort?

Comfort. I love my snuggly knitwear and big scarves.

6. You see an amazing outfit in the store and you HAVE TO HAVE IT! But oh noes! You don’t have enough money. Are you more likely to buy it then and there and put it on credit, or come back after saving up?

Come back after saving up. Who knows, it might even be on sale by then.

7. What’s your favourite holiday to celebrate?

Bonfire Night!

8. Do you still live in the town you were born in?

Nope.

9. Tell me about the strangest dream you’ve ever had! (Mine was about giant beetles destroying a town)

I’ll preface this by saying I only ever remember nightmares, so be mindful of the tags and skip ahead if you need to. It started with a crew of people landing a spaceship on a creepy planet. It was almost deserted, but then they stumbled across a fairground, which was also extremely creepy. Think dead trees and eyes watching from a distance but when you turn to look there’s nothing there. The crew went on some of the rides and attractions, paying 20p per ticket. There was a horror attraction/haunted house type thingy, where they came across some glass exhibition cases with some really realistic looking decapitated heads that were still moving (eyes blinking, mouths moving without speaking etc). After a blurry montage that I can’t remember much of, it turns out lotr style elves were kidnapping people and removing their heads in a process that kept the heads and bodies alive. They were then putting their own elven heads on the bodies to allow themselves to move more freely (but I can’t remember why they were trapped in the first place), and the heads of the victims were sold/used for the fairground attraction. Was pretty weird. Kinda want to write a story about it one day. Kinda want to forget all about it as it creeped me out.

10. Do you have a dream holiday you’d like to go on?

I’d love to go to Peru.

11. Would you change the worst moment of your life? Or did you learn a valuable lesson from it?

I’m not sure what the worst moment would be. I have lots of little things that all add up, but no one big defining moment.

My Questions:

(I stole most of these from Google because my mind went blank!)

If you could have a pocket sized version of any animal, what would it be?

What can you tell me about your latest creative project? (writing, art, crafting, photography, anything goes!)

Want to share a sneak peak (of your creative project)?

What movie can you watch over and over without ever getting tired of?

What was the last photo you took with your phone?

What would a world populated by clones of you be like?

What’s the funniest word in the English language?

If you were given one thousand acres of land that you didn’t need to pay taxes on but couldn’t sell, what would you do with it?

Favourite fictional alien?

Which apocalyptic dystopia do you think is most likely?

What three things make you happy?

I’m going to tag @bardofheartdive @neolithicprophet @blueteaparty @cactuarkitty @nightmarestudio606 @threewhiskeylunch @finduilasclln @allmypointlessthoughts @uranchan @willowdeville @sagasimon

#meme #a talking fox #11 questions #thank you for the tag #my weird nightmare contains #body horror #decapitation #possession #in a weird way #people not in control of their bodies #and I guess in a sense also #slavery #because I only ever remember dreams when they are fucked up

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therealdragonnerdagain · 7 years

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This blog is not active any longer, but this was something that needed to be said. Preferably in a place where paranoid white nationalists will see.

Racist whites have always been terrified of intelligent black people. So black people in college? That is fucking horrifying to them.

It sounds ridiculous to us, because we know that more than a handful of intelligent, educated black people exists.

White racists don't know this.

I can't count the times I've been sitting in public reading Dostoevsky or some classic shit only to have a white person (one of those "nice" racists) express surprise and the encourage me to keep reading -- like I haven't been fucking reading since I was three.

They think we're all stupid and uneducated, like libraries aren't free, and it's impossible that some of us could actually like to read.

So when they see a smart black person, they gasp and think it's that smart ape from Planet of the Apes, who is so dangerous because he is smarter than those other stupid blacks and will lead them to a violent insurrection, committing genocide against whites.

This is the white nationalist's greatest fear, which is why they are so against the immigration of brown people -- notice Asian people and anyone else remotely pale can still come here?

That's what Planet of the Apes is. It's the typical science fiction fantasy of a white racist's fear cranked up to 11. In the original film, Charles Heston's character had to stand on trial for the crimes of the white race and was treated the way black people were treated -- and are still treated today.

In fact, I think I made a post here where I compared a black man getting MACED in the middle of a courtroom for TALKING, the same way "Bright Eyes"/Heston was gagged for TALKING.

White nationalists are shitting in their pants afraid that everything they and their ancestors have done to people of color is going to come back on them.

They fully understand that knowledge is power and that words have power. That intelligent black people can, will, and ARE waking up their white brethren and are -- gasp! -- helping them become decent human beings who will treat other people like fucking people -- not thieves or druggies or criminals that should be shot on sight.

White nationalists want racism to go on so that white people can continue to sit on the top of a pyramid society that has always (ALWAYS, Hancock fans) been rigged to solely benefit them.

It's truly ironic to hear white nationalists trying to use egalitarianism as a weapon against people who are fighting for equality.

Really? All those tribal "savages" you destroyed (and continued to destroy in South America) were living in truly equal egalitarian societies where there were no rich and poor and everyone shared power. Yet you called them primitive and slaughtered them, and now you're trying to act like America is already equal.

You don't live in reality. Really, white nationalists, you do not.

That's the thing about prejudice of any kind. It's a completely irrational hatred of an entire group of people based on one or two experiences with one or two people from that group. And it's completely irrational because you have not met everyone from that group, and also, stereotypes serve a function and exist to keep us separated.

There's no such thing as a true stereotype or a "positive" stereotype, and your anecdotal evidence is not "evidence."

For example, you think the vast majority of black people are stupid because smart slaves who didn't hide the fact that they were smart were murdered. This meant the smartest people in our race were killed, while the dumbest people were bred. At the same time, some of the smart ones hid their intelligence and survived.

Intelligence has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with how healthy the parents were when they conceived.

This is why the first child born to a couple is usually low in intelligence or sickly. The parents were not as healthy as possible and didn't know what they were doing, so their first child was "the guinea pig."

A seasoned mother and father will go on to produce smarter, healthier children -- provided they have access to healthcare and brain nourishing nutritional foods.

Black people seem unintelligent and unhealthy because we are being denied access to healthcare and brain nourishing nutritional foods -- and education.

How did we go from innocently singing doowoop in the 60s to gunning each other down? How did “rap culture” happen? Ask Reagan and his war on drugs -- which was really a war on black people to put as many of us as possible behind bars. We were handed guns and drugs by white nationalists so we would destroy ourselves and that's exactly what happened.

You killed our smart people, withheld from us everything we would need to produce smart children, and then called us stupid -- completely forgetting that everything and everyone originated in Africa and that you yourselves are Africans, our brothers and our sisters.

"The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become" -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

James Baldwin once asked why white man felt the need to invent "the nigger."

White people (not white "man") invented the nigger so that they could have some justifiable reason to keep oppressing us. They needed us to be monsters so that they could sleep at night, telling themselves that we don't deserve equality and that everything that has been done to us was "right."

So yeah. That's why white nationalist like Richard Spencer spend all their free time stalking tumblr and then running to their KKK friends and telling them to put on the blue and go gun down some black people.

Yes. Spencer has literally stood on a stage and said that he and other piece of shit white nationalists were mobilizing to kill us all because they have "no use for us" and white people are still acting like police brutality has zero connection to racism. As if the police force didn't originate out of the KKK. As if the police didn't have racists among them at all.

Thankfully, I live in a place where the police could give less of a fuck about black people. (Our police are too busy smoking pot here to care about anything really.)

But that's beside point.

Point is, white nationalists have *always* been irrationally afraid of intelligent black people. Look at Angela Davis. This shit didn't just start with the invention of tumblr, kids.

And it's an irrational fear because black people have zero power.

That's what these last 400 years have been about: us having no power over our own lives.

Me posting some shit online is not going to do anything. Some dipshits think every person on tumblr is trying to be an activist. In reality, I've always just used this blog to vent and rant about how tired I am of racism and oppression. I highly doubt I'm having any impact -- except to scare some white nationalists into thinking "Oh noes!!! Our precious white power is at stake!!!!"

White people are the ones with the power to end racism in America and it's up to them to decide to stop being racists.

Yes. It really is that simple. Hire qualified black people instead of passing us up, and survival crime rates will do down.

Stop assuming every black boy you see is a thug, and fewer black teens will have pointless criminal records.

Those who are being oppressed do not have the power to simply change the minds of their racist overlords.

That's the way oppression *works.*

Which is why I laugh every time I see Skyrim fans thinking those dark elves in Windhelm are right for busting their asses to impress the Nords. Lofuckingl. Those dark elves in Windhelm are delusional Uncle Toms.

If oppressed people could simply work hard to gain respect, then black people would have been respected hundreds of years ago. White people didn't build America. They whipped another race to build America for them and then stole the credit -- which is nothing new. Like . . .at all.

So yes. White nationalists are being completely irrational when they run in circles over some black college kids on tumblr. But then, racism -- all prejudice -- is irrational.

So just sit back, grab some popcorn, and watch the show.

I know that's a crass thing to say considering our people are being gunned down in the streets over a few white people's crazy paranoia, but at this point, I honestly feel there is nothing any of us can really do.

We can protest, we can march, we can make posts like these. But as I said, it's up to white nationalists to drag themselves out of their delusions of superiority.

Yeah. I'm a pretty apathetic person when it comes to politics. I'm not proud of that, and I’m glad that most people are not defeatists like me. But once again, I feel there is nothing I, as an individual, can really do. I can't even pay my student loans, how am I singlehandedly going to end racism???

And with that last statement, at least I just served to show just how foolish white nationalists actually are.

(so I did one thing)

#shit reddit says #I love negareddit though #black lives matter #angela davis #lemme school you

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