#AND THEN SHE WENT ON ABOUT ANOTHER LENORE AND I WAS LIKE

[coconut530]

BELLTOWER BONANZA

[blacknedsoul-blog]

An unnecessarily detailed analysis of the (re)encounter between Annabel and "Leo" (part II)

Evil tongues say I've had this shit in the oven for several weeks because I bought the fast pass on episode 105 and smoked the whole season one afternoon when I was bored as a fucking oyster about to climb the walls. Don't listen to them, they're telling the truth.

So, yeah, people. We had a flashback. One that comes right after the last one we had. Aside from the fact that we finally know a little more about Theo, I want to focus on the direct sequel to a review I did a while back. So let's get started.

I'm still trying to decide if Annabel is complaining just because she had to get off her ass or because "Leo's" room being so far away from hers is, ahem, inconvenient. Another detail that someone mentioned on the discord, is that Annabel does this thing where she grabs her dress when she is trying to maintain the performance.

(later edit: someone commented to me that actually their rooms are ridiculously close to each other. So allow me to insert ridiculous jokes about how the first thing Ira will do when these two are engaged is take his precious daughter who is not to be touched before marriage somewhere else).

...Ah, they put... they put Annabel in Lenore's old room. Yeah, that must have been uncomfortable as shit. 

Okay. This is something I kind of suspected in her first stolen moment at the Arboreum, but I think this confirms it for me: yes, Lenore teasing Annabel is a way of expressing annoyance without being directly hurtful. 

Raise your hand if you enjoy seeing "Miss Proper Lady" lose her fucking temper. Bonus points if she deserves it. 

Lenore, I don't know if taking your clothes off is the best way to get Annabel to stay on topic. I do want to emphasize her face in that moment, though, like she knows Annabel cares about her, but she's still angry at her, and pressuring her to drop the mask is literally the only way she has to express it. I like it because it's consistent with her stolen moment in the Arboreum. 

"Admire this magnificent door made of door. Yes, an excellent door. Wonderful door. Eyes on the door, Annabel, eyes on the door and not on your crush taking off his jacket in front of you. Also, don't think too much about the fact that if anyone sees this, everything that is important to you will fall apart".  

Pause. Where did we see Annabel say that? Ah, yes. Well, if we had any doubts about posh besties, this confirms it. 

I want to linger on the faces of both of them in this scene because, for the love of Nyarlathotep, they are painful to watch knowing that this will end with both dead. 

Yes, Annabel, this "perhabs" was very VERY serious. 

I'm sure this is the second time in Annabel's life that someone has asked her if she wants something. And it's the same person. Ouch.

Does anyone else in the squad find it disturbing that ANNABEL is concerned about moral issues? 

That's not how Kabedons are made, missy. 

LENORE, LOOK AT THE FUCKING FACE SHE'S LOOKING AT YOU WITH, SHE WOULDN'T BE "PRETENDING TO BE IN LOVE WITH YOU", SHE'S EATING OUT OF YOUR FUCKING HAND RIGHT NOW. IF SHE WASN'T AFRAID OF JAIL AND WASN'T SO VICTORIAN, SHE'D BE ASKING IF SHE COULD GET IN YOUR PANTS.   

Okey, I need to know how this went from "pff, it's not a real marriage, we're both women!" to "I'm gonna fuckin' whore myself with Nyarlathotep Tumblrsexymen to come get you, baby. Shit, if these two die without having this conversation, I'm going to shoot myself in the mouth with a medieval arquebus. 

I like this moment because it tells you two interesting things: one is that Annabel must have a complicated relationship with her father, she cares for him and maybe feels he loves her in his own way, but at the same time Ira is her jailer, the main culprit of the golden cage she's trapped in. Another thing: we know Lenore used to care about her father, but come on, after everything that happened, I doubt she gives the man a second thought. 

...I wrote practically the exact same dialog in a fanfic. Actually, in the first Nevermore fanfic I ever wrote, when the fuck did my bullshit ever come true? 

I was racking my brain for a while about why Annabel keeps doing this. Like, look at this shit, even Ada or Morella would be able to see that this is bullshit. And I think I have an idea why. 

I think Annabel started to figure out how to make this work even before she came in. Maybe she's not all in, but at least the idea is tempting. The thing is, she's putting a lot on the line here: her life, her relationship with her father (the only family member we know of), what little freedom she has.

And that means she has to put her chips on the right person. She knows how the social game works, she knows how to manipulate the stakes of her hand, maybe she even thinks she knows how to get around those pesky legal snags when they come up. 

But she's not cunning, she's not quick-thinking, she lacks determination, and she's definitely not brave. Lenore can wrap herself in big dreams and beautiful words all she wants, but if she can't make up for Annabel's weaknesses, it's a losing bet from the start. On top of that, she has to be able to read her: in Victorian engagements, even your pet was into that shit, so sneaking away to plan things would be more of a rare privilege than a constant, her playmate has to be able to understand her perfectly, because they can't waste valuable time explaining minutiae. They have to be on the same page to the millimeter. 

Annabel is a player. And as such, she knows that in games where you have a partner, the key to winning isn't playing your own cards or chips well, it's being able to synchronize with your partner to give each other better plays until one of you manages to win. 

And if I had to bet, I think that is the Lenore that Annabel wants back: the Lenore who can read her, the Lenore who can get under her skin and know her true intentions even when Annabel is wearing the most perfect mask. The Lenore who can smile boldly and tell her that everything will be all right. 

Of course, Lenore passed the test. With a more than perfect score. 

The chapter ends with Lenore giving Annabel the final decision: if she sees no reason to stay, she won't, and she can assure her that she'll be fine. But if she's in, she'll do everything in her power to make it work. 

This was the moment that tore me up inside because it made me drop the shingle of sad, sad shit. 

Conclusions

And here's why I decided to post this analysis after the season.  

One thing this episode told me was that I was wrong about one thing: the relationship between these two isn't exactly what it used to be. What this episode also told me was that, despite everything, the two of them seemed to be able to communicate and find common ground, to make deals, to give each other choices. Shit we don't see anymore in their time in Nevermore. 

And with good reason.

In Nevermore Annabel and Lenore are adrift. No memories, no identity, no bonds. As if that weren't enough, both are terrified: Annabel has built all her means of survival around a context that she masters perfectly, and in Nevermore she doesn't know what's going on; on the other hand, Lenore's bravery and cunning are qualities that turn from virtues to flaws in a context where every single one of her decisions has repercussions for the people around her; she's willing to take anything, but not what happens to the people she loves. 

These two idiots know only one thing: that they love each other. And for Annabel and Lenore, loving means protecting. They have to try to protect each other because they really love each other. They love each other so much that they can't.

Because the only way for Annabel to protect Lenore is to be the queen of the board, to be the piece that everyone wants to get out of the way because her presence is too much of an inconvenience, because if she's good at anything,  it's dazzling so hard that no one is able to really see her. On the other hand, the only place Lenore can protect Annabel is by her side, she won't have a Spectre, but she's willing to do what it takes to take care of her if she stays where she can fight for her. 

But that won't happen because of the irreconcilable conflict caused by the memory (false or not, in practice it doesn't matter) that the Deans showed Annabel. She can't tell her that, she won't tell her that, how could she? It would tear Lenore apart and at worst alter her memories. But on the other hand, Lenore obviously wants to know, because she sees that Annabel is suffering, she wants to be there, she wants her to let her comfort her, to be by her side to help her sort this out, and all her pleas fall on deaf ears for reasons she can't even fathom.

But without realizing it, in all this devotion and accompanying fear, Annabel and Lenore are repeating the same controlling patterns of those who tried to save the other in life. 

Annabel is doing the same thing Thaddeus did when he got Lenore a fiancé, the same thing the doctors did when they kept her drugged 24/7 as a treatment even though she was sick, dare I say the same thing Theo did: assuming she knows better than she does what's good for her. "Protecting" her, even when that happens to be the agency Lenore is desperately trying to have over her life after being deprived of her freedom.

And on the other hand...this.

By taking full responsibility for what happened, Lenore is doing the same thing as Ira and all the people we meet in Annabel's life: denying her agency as an individual. Annabel is not a naive brat who was seduced by sweet words, she is a grown woman who was very, very clear about what the risks were. That they both ended up dead is partly her fault, but by turning this affair into "if I hadn't gone looking for you," Lenore completely invalidates Annabel's feelings, desires, and choices. 

A relationship that was once built on respect for choice and shared decision-making has now become a power game that neither can win, because one of the most important foundations of their relationship is that they are both equals. 

I'd like to end this on a more positive note, but...uh...well, the thing is, I don't. Like, that they're going to reconcile, they're going to reconcile, you know? But for that to happen, somebody's got to give them a massive punch like, something that tears them apart so they realize how fucking bad they are do-

You know what? Yeah, that might do it.

[thereapersgambit]

Theory Repost

Alright theory time theory time

So, this particular theory is one I've had about a certain creature and I have seen the same theory around a few times as well but the new free chapter (#100) puts a litte confidence behind it. This all starts with the Raven's curiosity about the creature stalking Lenore and while Lenore is expectedly surprised she suspects it could be the Vandernacht curse that ended with her. That answer, to both me and the Raven, was a bit unsatisfactory because it seems unlikely to be the case until I thought about another theory that I've had but with no good foundation.

I know most of you remember the first ceature we come across (not the flying sperm cells); The deer like creature that chases Lenore and Annabelle until they run into the Academy. I'll just say it, I think it's Theo. And look, you think it's random, I think it's random but here are my reasons. Looking back at the creature, that looks like a muntant of a deer. Glimpses of memories pertaining Theo weren't uncommon for Lenore but the one that stands out for this situation is in chapter 38.

"I've always liked Venison."

The memory is Theo coming home with other hunters carrying deer game. It's an animal I feel is associated with Theo. I'd also put money on the bet that that's the same creature stalking Lenore instead of it being a random being looking for a light snack. So just think, the creature that follows her is not a manifestation of a curse that even haunts her in death, as she believes (Although, the curse does seem that persistent) but is another victim of the curse and Theo being that creature is a big possibility.

Now to really get a feel of this theory, it makes me think "what the hell would have happened to him to become that?" The deans surprisingly mentioned Lenore's brother but unfortunately not how he was impacted by Nevermore Academy; if he won a second life, if he went to the Land of the Dead though he'd shown much promise or even escaped and probably doomed to a worse fate. It isn't mentioned at all. But as much as I'd like to believe he won, I'd still have my doubts even without this theory.

It makes me question what the hell goes on in limbo between the land of the living and the dead. Does it change you over time or is this Theo's spectre? Had he escaped and succumed to the form?

Hold on: This is me hours later, with a revelation. In the new chapter, Lenore accuses the Raven of being affected by the deans. Is this being unable to shift to another form while in Nevermore Academy. What if it's the Deans putting some sort of barrier from rampages of magic or in this case, Spectres. This may have to do something with how being outside of the Academy may change a being over time, which we kmow happens from the Raven but is halted or reduced in the Academy. This gives me much more confidence about my theory.

[nfcv-saltmine]

To christen this blog, how about you compile your top 10 reasons NFCV should not be watched either as an adaptation or its own thing? :3c

Only ten? I have like. 40, at least. But oh well! I'll be happy to provide with ten, for a start. ❤️

(Warning for mentions of SA and death)

Reason number 10: The characters all suck, in one way or another. The only ones I have some sympathy for is Hector who was never given the chance to evolve, and was forced to be a victim the whole show, and Trevor, who is never taken seriously and is mostly there to be mocked by those who are supposed to be his friends.

The others? Dracula is a joke who can't keep his own men in line. He has to wait for a #girlboss to enter and insult his wife to his face. He spends most of his screentime being a poor little meow meow, gaslighting everyone into thinking he deserved the happy ending he got. Isaac is boring and his "deep arc" really is just inconsistent and a bad version of game!Hector's arc. Lenore is. Lenore. :) Going from a manipulative villain to a poor little meow meow so fast it's ridiculous. The lesbian vampires just exist to be lesbians and pretend the plot is more deep and complex than it is.... it's not enough to have good ideas. You need to execute them properly.

Concerning Nocturne? Only the girl who was kidnapped and used as Erzsebet's juice box has my compassion. Everyone else sucks, from Maria being twitter personnified, to Annette being a cunt who gets a pass because she's black. Tera doesn't do shit to defend her own children when Annette insults them right in front of her. Edouard is there for cheap drama. The Abbot Emmanuel's logic for why he does what he does doesn't make any sense. Erzsebet has no charisma and is a cheap replacement for the villain Dracula should have been (not to mention her plan is stupid because we saw vampires being touched by sunlight with no problem on multiple occasions. :) And Olrox literally went to met his future bf in plain daylight. Clearly the sun musn't be THAT much of a problem). Olrox and his bf are there to be gay. And Juste... Juste deserves his own post for how dirty they did him. Richter isn't THAT bad compared to the rest of the cast, but I do not care for him (except when he gets shit on for no reason), he's just a cheap mix of Trevor and Game!Richter. And Drolta is Game!Isaac with boobs. Would be cool if Game!Isaac wasn't constantly shat on by NFCV fans, the same who love Drolta. :)

Reason number 9: You like representation in your media? NFCV sucks at it. They have: man who gets raped by both a man and a woman, two lesbians who exist just to be lesbians and could very well be written out of the plot, two gay men with a rushed relationship who share very little screentime together (four scenes and the first one is them meeting) yet we are supposed to be affected by their romance, one man who is implied to have a bf so vaguely that most people probably have missed the one hint there was of it, and lesbian main villain who uses a random woman as a juice box and potentially is mindcontrolling her (would be hot if said villain had any charisma and random woman was more than a fridge)

Reason number 8: Character developments are either bad, meh, or inexistant. Isaac goes from ordering his night creatures to kill every survivor at the end of an episode, to build them graves and rebuild the town and pretend to be so deep and nice and caring for said innocents and future people of this town in the next. Hector started a nice guy trying to live in peace, has lived as a nice guy trying to live in peace while getting mocked and shit on and used and abused by everyone, and ended as a nice guy trying to live in peace but now in a Castle and with one finger less. I guess Trevor is less of a drunkard than before (but it's not like we saw him drink THAT much before). Lenore's development is not much of a development than it is the writers trying to convince us she was always sweet and tragic and Good Deep Down and make us forget her evil doings...

Reason number 7: There's lots of ACTUAL anime out there with prettier animation, if that's what you like. Or you could. Play the games. ❤️

Reason number 6: The couples are bad. Sypha is rude and never showed any interest or appreciation for Trevor's own interests or findings. They don't have an actual spark, despite "cute" moments here and there. The moment Sypha asked Trevor to travel with her just made me question what she saw in him considering now she's been treating him (also the moment she decides to nickname Trevor as "Treffy" is embarrassing more than cute. Doesn't help that it's the same moment where she pulled him aside to scold HIM for getting mad and defending himself against Alucard's bullying). They lack a proper build-up, because the show loves doing things offscreen and expecting us to go along with it, but they NEED to be together because they NEED to have sex because they NEED to have children even though they completely destroyed the reason why.

Alucard and Greta. Haha. Oh Alucard and Greta. You'll see in reason number 1 the biggest reason why Greta sucks big sweaty balls, but one of them is that she's just a generic girlboss. Her and Alucard are not an official couple, but considering the parellel they made with Draculisa at some point (Alucard bowing to welcome her in his home, like Dracula bowed to Lisa to welcome her in his lab), and her line "lucky you have me to run your life for you now", I think it's implied. And I do not buy it. :) (They both suck anyway, so who cares)

Richter and Annette DEFINITELY have NO chemistry at ALL. Annette spends most of her time HATING Richter, who is only, along with everyone else, trying to help her. And when they finally see each other again after multiple episodes of being away from each other, during wich everytime Annette mentions Richter it's to insult him, when dares to pretend she was worried for him and they have a little "cute" scene together...? NO. THEY DID NOT EARN IT. THEY BARELY SHOWED ANY INTEREST IN EACH OTHER BEFORE RICHTER DISAPPEARS, ANNETTE SEEMS TO DESPISE HIM MORE THAN ANYTHING. And one of the worst things is that thinking of HER, a woman he JUST met and who just kept insulting him, that Richter unlocked his powers??? I CALL BULLSHIT. YOU CANNOT RUSH THINGS TO THIS DEGREE, NO.

I ain't talking about the two gay couples because there's literally nothing to say. The lesbians are supposed to be cute and the gays are supposed to be hot. It's just fetishization at this point.

Reason number 5: Female characters are either fridged or girlbosses. That's it. Don't expect much variety here. Because apparently to be a woman you have to either shut up and die, or be super strong and rude. (Or be a BDSM mommy. :))

Reason number 4: CHURCH BAD mentality with no nuance. Because it's so cool and edgy. And that works for both shows. :)

Reason number 3: The villains sucks too, when you have your brain turned on. You might like the ideas or the designs (though Erzebet Sun Thundercat's design is so awful i can't understand why anyone would like it. Also Carmilla is ugly guys?? Her head melts into her hair, come on), maybe a scene here and there, but when it comes to the execution? Urgh. I already talked about Dracula being a poor little meow meow, but what I can add that him and Isaac are fucking stupid for going with Carmilla's plan. Isaac is fucking stupid for blaming Hector and going after him. And Carmilla is fucking stupid for treating Hector the way she did when he wasn't intending to go against her before she makes him her prisoner and beats him up.

Reason number 2: Play the games. The themes and ideas taken from them are bastardized and done poorly in the show, when they're not straight up ditched.

Isaac's arc? Game!Hector's but more inconsistent and pretentious. Trevor and his family being rejected and hated by the people? Castlevania 3 (and this fear and dislike of them won't end until centuries later, with Simon). Dracula welcoming Isaac and Hector and making them his generals? He did so in CoD and they were literal children seeking a home, wich he helped and shared his own essence with. Not two random dudes who happen to have powers of their own. Alucard vs Dracula and the tragedy of blood fighting blood? Symphony of the Night but way too early

Alucard literally steals Trevor's spot as the main character and the one who is supposed to kill Dracula first, wich is a MAJOR part of the games and the CV universe, completely taking away the Belmonts' purpose as the only ones capable of defeating Dracula. It was completely unnecessary, too, if what they wanted was family angst, as Alucard could have simply been about to stake his father, but because of his love for him, would have been unable to give the final blow. Leading to Trevor giving the final blow himself, so his "friend" wouldn't have to go through the pain of doing it himself, thus keeping the Belmonts' unfortunate purpose intact and still making for a poignant father/son tragedy. But no, they just had to make Alucard the MC and make him destroy the core of the games they are supposed to adapt, on top of making him a cunt.

Oh, and this idea of Dracula being the literal Lord of Darkness? Not just any vampire, but the most powerful of them, a straight-up demon, respected and feared by all creatures of the night, who has multiple terrific forms and cannot be killed by any weapon... other than the Vampire Killer? Out the window! Now we're SUPPOSED to think he's big and scary and dangerous, but he can be killed with a piece of wood and no one respects him! Barely fear him! Not even Death, who is supposed to be his closest confidant and most devoted servant, is now an entity that uses him in the dark and don't hold any respect for him. Pathetic.

There's no respect to the source material. The VK means nothing now, wich is coherent with the fact that Belmonts mean nothing now, because Dracula means nothing now and nothing is near as epic as it is in the games. Nothing that makes "Castlevania" Castlevania matters anymore, it's just bullshit, and chances are, what you like from the show you will prefer in the games.

Reason number 1: It handles trauma and sexual assault like the purest shit.

It's something to not give a shit about Trevor's trauma wich happened offscreen. It's another to treat the trauma the characters go through RIGHT IN FRONT OF US like it's nothing.

As much of a cunt Alucard is, I cannot excuse the way his case with Sumi and Taka was handle. Forget how their reasoning for betraying Alucard was shit and the way they decided to go at it was unnecessary. The fact is, they tricked Alucard with sex. Giving him the deepest kind of affection sexual creatures can share, making him so very vulnerable, making him believe he was loved and not alone anymore... only to betray him. Forcing Alucard to kill them before they kill him. It's a truly traumatizing experience that can easily lead to the victim struggling to trust anyone, on top of having a very complicated relationship with their own body from then on.

How does NFCV handles that? It makes Alucard piss on the corpses of his old friends, then have him tell his story to a random #girlboss who jumps on the occasion to make a joke out of it, comparing this very obvious sexual assault and betrayal of his trust with her willingly sleeping with a married man.

Funnily enough, Hector was going through the same thing at the same time! He has been manipulated and seduced by Lenore. She's the only one who treated him decently (because Carmilla is supposed to be a smart bitch who can trick Dracula and his court, but not smart enough to understand that physically assaulting Hector and letting him rot in a cell naked with only molded bread for food and freezing water thrown at him to wash is a bad idea.), the only one who talked to him, offered him gifts such as books, a bed, a desk. She worked her way into his heart until he fell for her and "willingly" had sex with her... and then, in this crucial moment, where Hector was at his most vulnerable, she stabbed him in the back. Made him her slave with a magic ring. Then went on to say "Shh, the real people are talking" to him when she talks about her brilliant plan to her sisters, and then going "i gave you what you always needed. i made you into my pet." when Hector expresses his horror and pain about the situation.

At the end of s3, there was absolutely no doubt that Lenore was an evil, two-faced villain. And there was hope that Hector would go back at her when he pensively looked into a fire, a parallel to when he burned down his home with his parents inside, and foreshadowing for chaos to come... but nope! Next season, he makes sex jokes with Lenore like we're supposed to believe they share chemistry, and he PROTECTS her from Isaac, and let her die on her own terms because she could not handle to be trapped in the same kind of life she tried to trap Hector in! And Hector's sexual assault is only mentioned ONCE, so Lenore can go "oh shush, you were having fun". :)

Actually, it's not that NFCV handles sexual assault and trauma badly. It's that it does not believe men can go through them, clearly. It uses very heavy topic for cheap drama and nothing else. Lenore did not need to have sex with Hector and trap him with a magic ring for her plan, not any more than Sumi and Taka needed to fuck Alucard if all they needed to do was use some magic object on him to trap him. Ellis just wanted something he could masturbate to. And THAT is supposed to be the Peak Adaptation Of All Time? Seriously?

Oh you also have Richter's trauma. They literally gave him a mom just to fridge her and use that for a little bit of drama that only really matters ONCE, when Richter runs away from Olrox in the dungeon, and Annette hates him for it... but then he quickly gets over this years-long trauma and next time he sees Olrox, it's as if he's just another vampire. It's not as bad as Alucard and Hector's cases, granted, but it's ridiculous. A clear case of bad writing who feels the need to rush things.

SO YEAH. Plenty of things wrong here, and plenty more to come. ❤️ I can't possibly tell them all in just one post. It wouldn't be fun. 🥰

[nevermoreconfessions]

I just got to say, the ending of S1 isn't bad perse but it is a little disappointing that we're left on another "Annabel Lee needs saving" cliffhanger. The writers don't pull any punches so it's not that I think Annabel's death is off the table, but we already had this scenario happen just a few episodes ago when Duke tried to kill her. And if she does die I doubt it's going to be the beginning of S2 because that'd be a little anticlimactic. So all of this feels a little redundant and I don't feel very invested in what happens because I'm pretty sure Annabel has plot armor at least for the time being. Still looking forward to S2 but I'm more interested in Lenore facing off with the stag than whatever happens to Annabel (though I still love her muah) because that's where the focus has been. Lenore vs. her curse.

Honestly, I get this. In a way, I share the feeling, but not in the same font.

I have a theory that Lenore's curse is that she loses the people close to her heart. She is the one who survives and has to live with the pain. In my brain, this ties very closely with the situation Annabel Lee is in.

Lenore is safe with her friends.

Annabel Lee is not.

If we take my theory and run with it, the cliffhanger with Annabel is Lenore's curse.

We all know that Annabel Lee is going to survive; though, I suppose the most interesting thing, to me, about Annabel and the Stag is how she's going to make it through.

We know she does, and if Lenore happens to save her, then yes, albeit that's a little predictable. I'd still eat up that storyline, I won't lie, but it would be a repetition of Lenore saving Annabel.

But.

Oh, the fated "but."

If Lenore doesn't save her, what happens? How could Annabel Lee possibly survive the Stag? That's what intrigues me about the situation.

In fact, I want to see Annabel Lee save herself. I want to see her wit in action against the "unbeatable" Stag. I always love a good Annabel Lee moment, so maybe I'm biased.

It's also got some heavy angst potential. Lenore never saved Annabel, she's got no idea what happened to her; she shakes in fear and desperation because she has the feeling that Annabel Lee is dead, and there's nothing that Lenore can do.

Anyways.

Would Lenore saving Annabel be a little redundant? Yes. Would I still gobble that up because I love those lesbians? Also, yes.

That went a little off topic of what you're saying, Anon, but I felt like rambling.

[blubugg13]

I finally got to finish another one, after some thought and changes. Meet Jasper Ward, my 7th year slytherin oc. I created him on the spot during my second play through of HL and i just went with the flow of building up his character.

Appearance

Jasper has messy raven black hair. He has brown eyes from his father. And he has pale skin, he is covered head to toe in freckles.

Background

Jasper Ward was the son of Samuel Ward and Zilla Ward, he was born and raised in Australia. His father was an Auror while his mother was a Journalist and Editor. Though from an unknown cause, Samual would fall ill and the family was forced to move to London were Samual would stay at St. Mungo. Jasper would be 2 when he saw his father pass away. 3 years went by before Zilla would find a new lover, Julian Lenor a wizard who worked as a Curse Breaker for the ministry. At first Jasp didn’t necessarily like his stepfather but as they grew to know each other, Jasper would like him the more he got older. Jasper would be 5 years old meeting his little sister Elanor Lenor. At the age of 10 he started calling Julian dad and not by his name. It was also the year he showed magical capabilities by trying to help Elanor not fall. He received his hogwarts letter a couple of days after his 11th birthday. When going to get his school supplies in diagon ally his mother wanted him to go pick out himself a pet. Thats when he fell in love with a tarantula which he named her Crystal. At his first year he was sorted into slytherin. While at hogwarts he discovered his love for art and beasts…specifically dragons or any dangerous beast. As he would make a lot of art works of dragons. By his 5th year his little sister Elanor would start her first year, being sorted into Gryffindor. Jasper didn’t necessarily care for which house she would be in just as long as she is safe. He wasn’t afraid of beating up some brats who pick on her. He would be in his 7th year when the New Fifth Year shows up, Elanor being in her 3rd year. Obviously with the goblin rebellion and dark witches and wizards Jasper was on edge, especially trying to look out for his house mates and sister.

I feel like he could be of help to MC as he has knack on how to deal with dangerous creatures. (And a possible plot point of him becoming a leader to a spider colony. As well as another plot point of him befriending a dragon.) Jasper knows Omins and they are on good terms as well as Sebastian though Jasper often times wanted to help Seb with his situation, but was afraid of making things worse for the 5th year.

Patronus

When i did the test i was not suprised? I mean the stag describes him perfectly honestly. Specifically the leadership and protection. His big brother energy just makes all the first years flock to him with questions and he happily steers them to the right direction. He looks out for everyone, especially Ominis and Sebastian.

Wand

Minus the Pure-Blood aspect, and a powerful linage, Jasper has dexterity and he respects himself as well as knowing his self worth. What caught my eye the most was that it can have a negative association. Jasper’s father passing away from an illness way to early in Jasp’s life. He doesn’t care about the pure blood thing. But this is apart of a good reason why he’s really good at charms and nonverbal magic.

Personality

• He is a social butterfly, he doesn’t mind being left alone though, it leaves him to his thoughts and art.

• He is very active, but more on the outdoorsy type. He doesn’t play quidditch but he loves taking walks and hikes. He just wants to enjoy the scenery.

• Sloppy, like I mean unkept spiky-ish hair. And everytime you see his uniform there is at least something wrong with it. Like his dress shirt isn’t even tucked in or he might’ve forgotten his belt. He just has a lot on his mind to were fashion is the last thing he’s thinking about.

• He is a nice person all the way, he supports students breaking the rules every now and then. He may be a 7th year but he aint no prefect, he can be just as mischievous at times. He will enforce the rules if he has to though, like bro you obviously shouldn’t be sneaking out past curfew, go to bed, you gonna lose house points. Other than that, dont try anything to his sister other wise he’ll have Crystal steal your things and make sure you have arachnophobia. Dont cross him unless you want bugs in your bed.

• He is brave, he has a pet spider the size of his hand, in which he trains. Crystal is the best girl ever, he plays with her like a yo-yo. Don’t worry, she enjoys it. He got detention once for bringing in a centipede. His nickname is Bug Boy through out the entire school.

• He is very playful but he can get serious fast! Say or do something wrong and he will get onto you. He can be a lenient person but don’t push it. If his sister is involved he will panic internally and will snap at people if they do anything to Elanor. He’s pretty chill though in general.

• He is agile but everyone falls every now and then. He slipped down a flight of stairs in the DADA tower once.

Overall

In conclusion, Jasper is inspired off of my older brother. They are both slytherins. As well as some personality traits. I really wanted Jasper to be a good example as a slytherin, a lot of people see them as troublemakers. Yeah Jasper got into trouble a couple of times but it was because of his curiosity. But i over all wanted him to be a fun natural leader who will protect his family,friends, and the innocent no matter what. Jasper was also a little inspired off of Newt Scamander, specifically with knowing how to deal with dangerous beasts and creatures.

In Game Screenshots

Jasper catching Seb red handed.

My Art

Ai Art

What i picture Jasper Ward to look like:

Attention!!! I only use Ai or Picrew to help me get a visual. Im shit with realism or legit human faces. Plus i can show you who im picturing! :)

Fyi marcgallagher32 describes Jasper’s time at hogwarts perfectly. Just in the 1800s though lmao

[lafcadiosadventures]

So, there's this scene in Cousin Bette, which has a pretty striking line:

– On a marché, dit le vieillard en se retirant, et les morts vont vite à Paris !

(Honoré de Balzac, La cousine Bette, 1846)

“The world moves on,” said the old man, as he withdrew, “and the dead move quickly in Paris!”

(tr. James Waring) (given the implications, I would translate the first half of Vautrin's reply as “We have made our move”)

and I was like, critique of capitalism, etc etc. My friend @madmerchant said she was pretty sure she'd read something very similar in Dracula. Was Stoker referencing Vautrin? Was it a coincidence? There's a persistent shroud of the Fantastic surrounding Vautrin, it would not be surprising if someone would have thought of him as a vampire, or an immortal creature of some kind... however:

“You are early to-night, my friend.” The man stammered in reply:—“The English Herr was in a hurry,” to which the stranger replied:—“That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift.” As he spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of my companions whispered to another the line from Burger’s “Lenore”:— “Denn die Todten reiten schnell”— (“For the dead travel fast.”)

oooh. this lead to discovering that Lenore, is one of the cornerstones of Romanticism. So it wasn't that Stoker was referencing Vautrin's last incarnation, but rather, the same originary poem Balzac hismelf was referencing. The influence of the poem was huge, and epsecially the french went crazy over it. The first translation was published in the Journal des Débats in 1811, translated from English. The newspaper published it, not without adding the poem put in display "the most odious vices of the German School".

It was not until Mme de Saël (she of the North vs South temperaments fame) wrote an article trully valuing the work as the poetic masterpiece it was, that the fever for Lenore started to root on the young minds of a Certain Group of Artists-and their readers- in 1820. Madame de Saël had thrown the gauntlet:

"No french translation, be it prose or verse, could express all the nuances and detaild of the German original."

and one Gérard de Nerval picked it up, offering FIVE translations of his own throuout the years...

The poem collects a German folk story, and as soon as you read the summery you *know* why the more edgy Romantics were crazy about it. Like other German folk tales (as Der Erlkönig) it features a frenzied ride through the forests, and a lover that is not what he seems to be (he is DEATH. The RIde is A TRAP) Embroildled in the poem are some anti nobility aspects:

"(in Lenore, we hear) The powrful and pained voice of a Titan, tormented until death by the aristocracy. (...) In German language, 'Bürger' (the poet's name) is synonimous to citoyen"

(Heinrich Heine)

and a desire to revindicate the autochthonous, popular poetry from the lower classes -the Lenore poem is recolected from a popular song Bürger heard a young peasant singing- as the true voice of a nation:

It will remain eternally true that if we have no Volk, we shall have no public, no nationality, no literature of our own which shall live and work in us. Unless our literature is founded on our Volk, we shall write eternally for closet sages and disgusting critics out of whose mouths and stomachs we shall get back what we have given.

(Johann Gottfried Herder)

So, what I'm saying is, I must read Lenore, and also, it is very likely that that Vautrin line is a direct reference to that icon of the dawn of French Romanticism, something the then elders (cousin bette was published in 1846) would have remembered and understood...

[detectivemaker]

It's a au time once again

It's a DC / Gravity Falls Fusion, obviously the mystery twins have been usurped by my own favorite set of twins

Lewis and  lenore  was sent to spend the summer with their Uncle William(the clock game who's the head was brother in the old Adam West show), or at least someone they think is their  uncle William but it's actually uncle James( head Cannon name for the copycat Hatter who in this is another one of jervis siblings) who's pretending to be his twin brother after the man was sucked into a portal

Now that we have the two sets of twins how about I told you a bit about this ciphers

The poison  tooth clan are the big bads of the show, the baddest of all being the ruling   patriarch William, vincent acts as the initial bill Cipher stand in but as soon joined by his lovely nephew Michael,  and the rest of his lovely  niece and nephews coming to play during weirdmageddon 

So Mike and his family come from the dimension that's a fusion between the original OC Mike's home dimension and euclidia,  say the rules are the chimeric creatures can see up, but William wanted  do more than just see up to feel Superior

So he went up with his family, and that caused the rest of the world to burn like a painting  on fire, it's safe to say everyone other than William was completely traumatized by this

They appear in the dream realm as humanoid but I'll have a piece of headwear covering their eyes

Vince has the usual top hat, michael has a fedora, elizabeth has a son hat, peter has a  a Newsboy hat, Philip(with an F has a pirate hat), david has a 10 gallon cowboy hat, gregor is just straight up wearing a blindfold, william has it oversized crown

They all have unique alterations to the pupils of the people they possess

Vincent once again is the usual Cipher yellow with a slit, michael and William both have purple whole eye and slit as well, elizabeth is pink with a heart pupil, peter is blue with a teardrop,  philip is red with I guess a fire i'm still thinking about it,  gregor is  silver with a cog, and David has a goat like people much like  the demon version of Tad strange

Grego and David only show up doing weird again near the very end , for the big party 

doing weirdmageddon Lizzy and Michael are quite enthusiastic to play  with  their cousins, as dear Uncle Vincent prepares to celebrate his wedding anniversary,  yeah sure Clocky he wasn't entirely conscious for it but it's still legally binding

But then his brother has to Rush In  users his throne, and start rambling all about how this is his Triumph and just being a glory stealing douche

Williams the one who gets twin tricked and sent to the therapy dimension for time out,  and everything  ends happily ever after though Gotham is left a little bit weirder than it usually is

And  dorothy's there too but she's usually just texting in the background

[alpaca-clouds]

Hector and Trauma

You know what. I wanna talk about Hector from Castlevania, specifically the Netflix version of the character. (Again: I hate CoD Hector, who just replaces his dead girlfriend for her fucking clone. That's just fucking low.)

As people might've noticed... I am kinda obsessing about this man right now. And the main reason is that... I really do identify with him in a way I have not identified with a fictional character before. I read him as autistic (though I am not sure whether he was supposed to be read that way or just happens to be written in a way that every single autistic person I know reads him so...) and I very much identify with the C-PTSD that he clearly has.

We do not know much about his childhood, other than "lonely kid revives animals to have friends" and "abusive parents". We do not know how far the abuse went, so whether it was just verbal abuse (which we know about) or went into physical abuse. All we know is that at some point he could no longer take it and killed his parents by setting the house on fire and locking them inside. We don't know, how old he was after this and what exactly he did after that. Only that in his early 20s he is somewhere on Rhodes with his undead animals, has already met Dracula once and then agrees to "cull" humans and then creates night creatures for Drac.

Again, there is little information for what has happened in the time in between. But we get enough information to understand that he has been at least somewhat mistreated by other humans, making him wish for humans to be somewhat culled.

Here my interpretation of him being autistic comes in, too. Because... an autistic child with an abusive home will completely lack social skills and hence will probably meet with a lot of abuse from other people. Because he would not know how to act around them.

Something we do see: He kinda seems to understand that Dracula is doing a genocide and not just a cull. But he very willingly ignores it or keeps himself soothed by thinking that he is just misunderstanding it until Carmilla comes in.

Now, Carmilla makes it clear that Dracula lied to him. But she obviously also betrays him and then abuses him. Something that is kinda ignored: During the march to Styria he is constantly abused. He has fresh bruises, when he arrives at Styria, making it rather clear, that he got beaten up constantly during the long march there. So: Say hello to even more trauma.

Along comes Lenore, her original violence against him and then obviously her betrayel. And let me make one thing clear: What she does to him in the finale of season 3 is sexual assault. Maybe not in the legal sense, but speaking of a psychological effect, it clearly is SA.

Obviously at that point we do have season 4. Where he seems kinda... fine. Like, what we see is, that he presents as fine. He is joking with Lenore. He is making his escape plan. He appears to be okay. Which is a state that seems to continue till the end of the show. Heck, we see him smile as Lenore dies........

And that should be a hint on how not-okay he is.

Let me talk about child abuse first. See, here is the thing: Children do not only develop physically, but also psychological and neurological. In that, they need to learn certain things at certain points in time. One of the first things children are supposed to learn, is to trust and mistrust. But for that they need a stable surrounding in which they can trust that they are cared for. Which children, who get abused or neglected, usually do not have. Especially with the dialogue we have from his mother: "I knew you were wrong from the moment you came out of me." (Note: This is another reason I read him as autistic, because at times autism shows even at infant age and without the information it might lead to parents not quite bonding with the child.)

They also need to learn some basic autonomy early on and to deal with self-doubt and shame. Which again abused children, who do not get encouraged to develop autonomy in a healthy environment and often might get shamed cannot develop.

Some other things they need to learn is how to deal with guilt, how to understand consequences, how to develop an identity and also what role they have in society. All things that children, who are abused, cannot properly learn. Additionally here, because Hector clearly has not found his own place in the society he lived in.

And this is something we actually do see in the show. He is absolutely unable to understand whom to trust or to see any red flags. He also is so clearly longing to be loved and praised by someone. Which is why he falls for Dracula and Carmilla and then Lenore. Heck, good chance that his understanding with Varney went something like that.

He is obviously not aware of this, but he is very much compensating for what was not given to him.

There are several characters over the entire story, that note how he has the mind of a child. And part of that is just, that he has childhood trauma and developmental delays because of it. And this delay is used again and again against him.

Something that is very noticable in the show is, that Hector never once cries. No matter how much he is abused and betrayed, he does not cry outside of the flashbacks where he is a kid. Now, in any other show it would not be that noticable, because we rarely do not see men cry in media........ but Castlevania is different here. Castlevania has no qualms letting the men cry.

Now, IRL it is obviously that a lot of men got taught not to cry. Because our society has the entire "boys don't cry" thing going on. BUT... I kinda doubt that is what is going on here.

See, one thing that happens in some cases, when people have amassed too much trauma, is, that they loose the ability for appropriate emotional responses to things happening to them. Mostly because the brain cannot process the emotion normally any longer.

Which is also why I think he is smiling in that last scene. Because... I mean, let's face it. The Lenore death thing has to be fucking traumatizing too. But he just... doesn't quite have the ability to process it in any proper way.

Now, how much of this is intended reading?

Honestly, I do have no idea. But at some points his behavior does make a lot of sense from the CPTSD point of view - and it is even called out by other character. Which kinda makes me think that at least some of it was intended.

Either way: I am rather thinking the man has a lot of healing to do post-canon. Because he not only has to heal from the stuff that happens to him in the series, but also the entire childhood trauma, that so very clearly is not addressed.

And if he addresses that trauma, there will also be a point in which he has to face his guilt. Because that is very much another thing he has not yet done.

Anyways. I adore him. And I want him to be alright. Q-Q

[beevean]

I keep thinking of this interpretation of N!Hector (at the bottom). How, essentially, his growth revolved around his conception of love: how he's at his core a broken, love-starved man who had to learn how to let go out of selflessness.

They make some valid points. So I want to put together why the story still wastes a very intriguing concept and its morals are still disgusting.

Let's take N!Hector purely from this angle. His sloppy writing starts to make sense. N!Hector never warms up to Carmilla, because his last memory of Carmilla is her beating him up after she revealed that her apparent respect was a lie. Dracula is on thin ice: he was the first person who was nice to him, but he lied to N!Hector about his real plans, and most importantly, got convinced that he might have died if Dracula actually succeeded. (still doesn't stop him from wanting to resurrect him)

Lenore is "nice" to him. Lenore not only praised his voice, the strength of his character, etc., but she also has shown that she wants to be with him for no ulterior reason, and that she wants to protect him from mean Carmilla.

So N!Hector is totally fine with her. It's okay that she beat him that one time, because it was his fault (granted, an abused person might think like that...). It's okay that she made a sexual game out of taking him out with a leash: that's just how vampires are, right? It's okay that she used sex and took advantage of his feelings to put a trapping ring on him: it was with good intentions. It was for his sake. It was to protect him.

So, N!Hector falls in love with Lenore because she did everything in her power to keep him in a gilded cage, including resorting to rape by deception. Abuse is love. Selfishness is love. He, too, loves like a vampire, shown by the way he surrounded himself with pets magically compelled to be loyal to him, so the two have the same love languages.

This speaks of a profoundly ill mentality, the byproduct of a lifetime of abuse. It's a delicate topic that should be treated with the utmost respect.

exhibit a: respectful writing that truly gives trauma the gravitas it deserves.

After some more bonding over how similar Lenore and N!Hector are because no one loves them and they're just victims, they're so like each other fr fr, we get to S4E6. In a way, we can see N!Hector's actions here as a mirror to what Lenore has done to him: she used treachery to turn him into a tool and so "keeping him safe", and so he used treachery to cage her and protect her from N!Isaac destroying the entire life she built with the others. This is mercy for him. This is an act of love. Protect Lenore and stay close to her, but everyone else can die, even if it hurts her. I see the intention, I really do.

But add to this the fact that N!Hector's whole plan was for the sake of resurrecting Dracula, therefore risking another mass slaughter, for no other reason than to feel better about his mistakes, and we're starting to see a problem.

We're near the end of the show, and N!Hector hasn't grown one bit. Not morally, and not emotionally. He still has no empathy. He still loves like a vampire. He still has no self-respect. He went through unimaginable torture, and he's still the "manchild" we were supposed to laugh at in S2 - except now he's marginally cooler, I guess.

(also, is it really "love" if N!Hector genuinely thought N!Isaac would kill him and he accepted it? He didn't plan to stick around, he didn't plan to "keep" Lenore with him. So the point starts to fall apart.)

But then N!Isaac makes a speech to him about agency and the will to live, and a few episodes later, N!Hector has his "magnificent" growth. His sign of maturity is letting Lenore die. Not keeping her close, despite her being the kindest person to him (although I suppose N!Isaac will quickly replace her lol). Letting this woman, both a victim and an abuser, commit suicide on her own terms, the terms he never had, is N!Hector finally learning how to love.

All very nice and wholesome. On paper.

Lenore is forcibly made to be sympathetic in S4, to the point that it becomes blatant lying. Suddenly she has no sexual interest in N!Hector anymore, after all she did to him (and very interesting, that Lenore was only aroused when he was her prisoner - now that he has more freedom and seems to like her as a person, she doesn't care anymore). Suddenly her smug demeanour has vanished, treating him with almost real respect. Suddenly there's more focus on how alone she is, and how she and N!Hector can relate to each other and only have each other in the world. It's disingenuous, and all so that I could pity her, and believe that these two would care for each other, and be touched that N!Hector's big love gesture is allowing Lenore to find freedom from her unnatural existence, while in reality I'm just frustrated that this rapist got to find freedom from the consequences of her actions - she doesn't even feel bad for what she did, "I'm sorry for everything you went through", so much for growing to love him. It's not even framed as him being free of her, but her being free of herself, fuck that guy I guess. Hell, even her phrasing implies that the main reason she sunned herself was that she wasn't willing to live in a cage, even with Hector, basically throwing a tantrum because she didn't have power anymore. I get reading between the lines and connecting that what triggered her suicide was the realization that as a vampire she's inherently doomed to go insane with craving power, but she really painted herself in the worst light.

I can't even say that the show forgot about her previous behavior: it specifically calls out to Lenore "solving Hector's problem", but makes it a joke that is quickly brushed off. We are meant to be endeared at Lenore using sex as a tool of deception. Yeah, silly Lenore, that was awkward I guess. More seriously, Lenore neither had a solid change of heart/realization that she behaved like a monster in the name of her "good intentions", nor is she tragic enough compared to her actions - at most I can understand where part of her behavior is coming from, like her being happy to show her strength by beating N!Hector into the ground, but I don't feel sorry for her. The story had the chance to emphasize her conflict with her vampiric nature, if I was really meant to pity her hopeless existence, but it doesn't take it. So I have no reason to care about her, or think she's a good person for N!Hector. The fact that she is the kindest anyone has ever been to him doesn't mean that she is kind, just that this poor man has been spit on far too much.

And maybe N!Hector really is too broken to understand that being raped is bad. Maybe his abuser choosing to waste time around him feels like a banquet for someone as love starved as he is. But is that how he ends? Still not getting it? Still not feeling anything about the way he has been treated all this life? Is he really completely not conflicted about the two-faced way Lenore treated him?

And what about his relationship with humanity? Is writing a book about his mistakes really the best he can do? N!Isaac realized off screen that he wants to change the world for the better: what is, effectively, N!Hector's change in this aspect? Sure, maybe he won't keep resurrected pets anymore, but after jotting down how much he has fucked up in life, what does he want to do? What was his journey, made of nothing but suffering and mockery and the lesson "you are stupid for trusting", for?

If I am to read N!Hector as a victim of deep abuse, so damaging that he has lost all sorts of empathy, morals and self-worth... what is, then, the story told through him? He doesn't get better. He doesn't even get worse, in the same way Isaac did, for example - I proposed an ending where he snaps and sets the castle on fire as a bookend with his abusive childhood, which would have been tragic, but ofc it didn't happen. The climax of his journey is that he holds no resentment towards a woman who was both kind and cruel to him, and simply chose to forgive all the bad that was done to him without any struggle. He accepted the crumbs and lapped the plate.

The message: forgive the people who hurt you, if they think they are only helping you - in fact, don't even think about it. Not because it's unhealthy to let yourself be consumed by resentment. Because if they hurt you for your own good, then they are good people deep down.

Steven Universe became the internet's laughing stock for far less.

(it's not even that Lenore was his mother, or his long-time wife, someone that could be genuinely hard to distance yourself from if they abuse you. They knew each other for maybe two months.)

I cannot empathize with N!Hector, and I can't even sympathize with him, because this is not a character arc, this is a slop job. I don't think Lenore is so nice because she deigns to speak to him, and I don't think her wanting to protect N!Hector can make up for her disgusting behavior in S3. I have no reason to be happy that N!Hector is "free", because he's in the same position he started from in S2: cooped up in a castle, uninterested in getting closer with humankind, alone. And I have no reason to be sad that Lenore killed herself, because the story did a poor job of convincing me that she deserved to be happy with the man she treated like a pet before her character was disingenuously defanged.

I can assure you: Ellis did not have any intention of writing a story about how abuse warps your conception of love. He just liked kicking around a ball in the shape of a character, and then gave him a rushed "good" ending (that still feels bittersweet compared to all others) because of backlash. Trying to see a coherent arc here is like trying to squint to see an image on a magic eye poster, and the effort is not worth it. N!Hector deserved better, and abuse survivors deserve to be represented by characters written with love, not spite.

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

On The Hunt: Run Run Little One

Summary- 1.8k Alpha Steve Rogers x Little One. You are navigating a life unbonded and without your mate.

Warnings- There is no Steve in this chapter, it is dedicated entirely to our Reader. I felt our reader deserved her own chapter showing how she is handling life after Steve left. It is heavy on angst.

A/N- Well I had the hardest time with them after what happened. Seriously, I broke my own heart with that ending and tried to pick up the pieces after that... I needed to mourn it in my own way I guess. But let's see what happens. Thank you to everyone who ever followed The Pack series, and had a deep love for Alpha Steve and Little One. Please don't give up on them. Dividers made by @firefly-graphics

Masterlist

You turned the last bolt and pushed up from the engine, peeking around the hood to a teenager sitting in the driver's seat. “Turn the key Parker.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” He said respectfully, which you hid a grin at the young wolf. Still, a pup, displaced from his home, he tried so hard to belong. You immediately liked the kid and found him smart with all the technological stuff. Sam was smart to quickly recruit him to help keep the equipment running while most of the pack went back into the logging business, trying to keep them afloat while they all tried to recover from what happened. 

The truck shuddered to life, Peter giving a fist pump in victory. “I knew we would get it Y/N! And Sam thought we were going to have to junk it.” 

“He should have more faith in us.” You agreed while closing the heavy hood with a loud bang and started putting away the garages tools, Peter gathered others scattered around, handing them off to you. You noticed his glance continuing to drift back to the back of the garage but you ignored it. There was nothing back there for anyone.  

“Hey, what's up with that truck under the sheet in the back? Does that one need to be fixed?”

You felt a tremor roll through you because underneath that oversized sheet was Lenore. Steve’s precious truck that he left behind. It was something that you couldn’t bring yourself to go back to look at, the truck had so many memories that still hurt. When you returned back, Sam had it already stored away, another sign that Steve was gone. 

It felt like a lifetime ago and just yesterday all at once. 

Your Little Wolf whined at the sudden change in you, trying to keep you from sinking back into those feelings of a broken heart. “That one isn't to be touched, it is out of commission,” you said sharper than you meant to, unable to mask the anger and hurt that Lenore brought up in you, Peter snapped his mouth shut from any more questions, picking up the clear warning in your voice. A soft thump against the garage entrance broke you from your tension.  

Sam made his way into the garage to check on their progress. “Is it ready?”

“Yup, Parker took one look and figured it out.” Your tone changed from earlier, one that said you were happy and content. A lie. The Little Wolf yipped happily as the teenager blushed at the praise, rolling his thin shoulders. 

“It was really just a guess.” 

“Well when you save us from having to purchase a new truck Peter, you helped us out a lot with your guess.”  

“You keep bringing the equipment you guys deem can’t be fixed. I will put money on this kid making it work better then before.” You winked at Peter, who was scoffing at the praise, red in the face. 

You bowed out of the conversation, leaving the garage to head to Natasha’s cabin. Peter waited till you were gone before speaking privately to Sam. “I’m worried I might have upset Y/N by asking about that truck in the back.” 

Sam sighed sympathetically. “Don’t worry about it Kid. That was Steve’s truck and he is a sore subject for Y/N, you didn’t know.” He pointed to the engine. “How about you show me what you did so I can fix it myself next time.”

As soon as you stepped into Natasha’s home, you started stripping from your sweaty dirty clothes, feeling much too sensitive. The shower called your name, and when you stepped into it, your head tilted back to let the water stream over your face, rivulets of grime that came with working on equipment brought. The Little Wolf seemed to feel more relaxed, grooming herself in your mind just as you started to scrub yourself clean. 

<I think you scared that kid when he asked about the truck.>

Your mouth twisted at her observation, you certainly hadn't meant to. Peter didn’t know anything about your broken bond with Steve. He just caught me off guard with the question. 

<Eventually people are going to start talking about him. We can’t avoid discussing him forever.> 

That made you snarl, whisking the last of the soap and shampoo off. You didn’t want to talk about your mate. It had been months and it still stung, broke your heart, and reminded you of the bond you lost and the man who you still loved with that said broken heart. 

“I’m asking you, as your mate to not do this, don’t shut me out from you. Sending me away from you won’t keep me any safer than before.” 

“Ever since you have been with me, you have been hurt Y/N. When have I ever actually been able to keep you safe? I already freed you from me Little One.” He paused at the door, his hand on the door handle, and pushed through, never once looking back at you.

The memory was an onslaught that made you sob out in the streaming water, mixing with your tears. Watching him just walk away and holding out hope he would turn around, tell you that you two would figure it out. He didn’t. You waited so long till Natasha came to you, telling you he left. 

He really was gone. The hardest part was you couldn’t hate him because of it. You knew he held himself responsible for what happened to you and was doing it because he was scared of ever hurting you, that he couldn’t protect you like he promised he would. 

The Little Wolf brushed against you for comfort till you felt control again. She dropped the conversation, but you already knew what she was going to say. 

That you had a home already, the cabin that Steve let you make into your home sat vacant and dark, waiting for either of its people to return. Maybe it’s time to return home, and start healing from everything that had happened. 

It was just too hard. 

You needed to take your mind away from the past, you needed to run and play before leaving the pack once again.

The Little Wolf spanked the ground in front of the black yearling, yipping at him to play with you. Peter was cautious, pretending to be uninterested in what you were trying to entice him into but he soon broke, giving chase after the Little Wolf, who swiftly took off. 

You had the advantage of knowing these trails with all the twists and turns, the thick underbrush you could hide in and attack the younger wolf. You ducked into the blackberry brambles, your thick fur keeping the thorns from pricking you, and the sweet fruit was fragrant enough to hide your scent. Lowering to the ground, you waited, patiently. 

Soon the black wolf breezed past, his nose to the ground and circling with deep inhales. A confused growl rolled from him as he twisted back, having lost the trail. Your tail twitched, and your muscles flexed with anticipation to leap. When he stuck his nose in the hole where you darted into, your paw thumped the tip, making him fall back and you pushed out, knocking him over with playful yips and licks to his face.

Taking off again, Peter scrambled after you, picking up speed with his lighter yearling body. You took his challenge, picking up speed to lead him to fallen logs that lay decaying in the path. Your hind legs powered beneath you, sending you easily soaring over them where Peter had to skid in his surprise at the sudden obstacle, losing seconds in making his jump. 

It was freeing, to feel the bursts of forest floor shoot underneath you as you leveled yourself, streamline racing through the last of the woods till you burst onto a stony beach, twisting to tackle Peter and roll him into the edge of the lake. Tumbling together till splashes of water soaked you, you and Peter both stumbled out of the cold lake to shake the water off and in a peaceful lope, trotted onto the beach, panting to catch their breath. Both dripping wet, the Little Wolf started to run a tongue against the pup's ears, chewing out the debris that got caught in his fur. He grumbled in agitation at being taken care of but rolled his head this way and that for you to do so. After all, it was so reminiscent of his mother taking care of him that he wasn’t going to stop you. 

A howl sounded up, calling the wolves all back, and the Alpha compel in it made Peter whine, having to trot away from you. You chose to ignore it, watching as Peter left you the way you two came. Pushing up off the stony beach, you started following the water's edge, able to weave back and forth as the gentle waves rippled on the shore with the wind blowing. The cool autumn was starting to touch pack lands, the trees hinting at the color changing with bites of yellows and reds. 

Other pack mates answered, there ‘I’m here, I’m here” location cry, but none of them had the deep boom of the Alpha you so desperately missed. 

Returning back to Natasha’s, you dashed past the redhead who was lounging on her porch, face tilted to the twilight sky just starting to edge the treeline. After changing back and slipping on your clothes, you made your way outside, a bag slung over your shoulder. Dropping it near one of the chairs, you slipped into it. 

It was quiet between you and Natasha for a few minutes until she stirred in her chair to finally face you while you too admired the night sky, recalling happier times when your Little Wolf sang her Alpha’s song. “Time for you to leave again?” 

You gave a wistful smile, nodding. “Yeah, I’ve been here longer than I intended already. T’Challa won’t care but…” You shrugged, finally turning your gaze back to knowing green eyes and a sad smile. “I’m still trying to figure out what I want in life. Helping the Panthers find their stolen, gives me a purpose right now.”

“Y/N” Natasha reached over to grasp your hand, squeezing tightly. “You have a home here, a purpose, all those things. You are family, always will be.” You nodded at her words, tears building in the corner of your eyes but refusing to spill. “But I know you have to do this. Just come home when you can?” 

“Of course, I will, keep your couch free for me?” 

“Well, you could just take the damn bed woman. Not like I’m here all that much either.” Natasha laughed and you pushed to a stand. She followed suit, you both embracing in a goodbye hug. “Stay safe Malen'kiy volk, don't make me come to Wakanda to save your ass.” 

“You can come, but to hook up with that panther again.” 

Natasha gave a wicked smirk and arch of her brow. “Now that is tempting indeed.” 

You laughed before one last hug. Grabbing your bag, you headed off the steps. Stark's was a few hour's drive and he already was expecting you in the morning to send you back to Wakanda. 

It hurt to leave, but it hurt to stay too much.

[skaruresonic]

I heard people have explained to you Hector's deal in the show :)

This is my most hated part of it. Not only because Hector in his game is my favorite character, but because even on his own terms, the one in the show is treated in such a vile way, and I see nothing but terrible takes on it that make me think "y'all wouldn't be so horny over this if he was a woman".

So, to summarize his plotline in Season 3. After being manipulated into betraying his master, getting the shit beaten out of him in graphic detail, and dragged through the snow barefoot for a month, the dude is thrown into a jail because he needs to work for the OC #girlboss villains. The idea is to send a diplomat to manipulate him again into trusting them.

The first thing that happens between them is that Hector threatens to kill Lenore, and Lenore beats the shit out of him: you've seen this scene. You can also see how Hector is framed as being a weak idiot for underestimating the cute vampire, because she's actually super stronk and badass. In-universe, this logically means that Hector learns quickly that she could torture him at any time. (also yes it's a repeat of his beating in S2, at the hands of another vampire)

Then Lenore, between one manipulation and the other (she basically says "yeah you're in a cell but it's better than serving Dracula, right?") starts to treat him like a dog, putting him on a leash, calling him "good boy" and taking him on "walkies <3". This is presented in an erotic way, even though Hector isn't very enthusiastic about being dehumanized.

And by the finale, Lenore says something on the effect of "I can't betray my sisters, but I like you and we could run away together". Somehow, Hector doesn't notice the blatant contraddiction, and when Lenore kisses him, he reciprocates and the two have sex. This is for the sole purpose of coaxing him into pledging loyalty to Lenore, and slipping that cursed ring that would bind him and his creatures to the #girlboss vampires. Next scene, Lenore is bragging to her sisters that she wants to train Hector because he's good at fucking.

Side note, the fact that Hector "consented" to sex is used as proof that he wasn't raped. Even though Lenore could have beaten him to death at any moment, even though he spent more than a month in dehumanizing conditions, even though he get frequently described as being "a child in a man's body" who only craves love. but yeah he didn't say no so that's okay.

And none of this matters in Season 4, because Lenore has become a whining brat making dick jokes around Hector when he works, and the story tries to draw parallels between them to show that oh, they Understand each other deep down, and also Hector protects her from another character who is rampaging through the castle, and chooses to stay with her.

Fun fact, at one point she complains that Hector was "the last problem she had to solve", Hector sarcastically thanks her for the ring, she responds with "oh shush you were having fun", and he replies with "until the end". She might as well have said "shut up you were hard what are you complaining about?" and he agreed. Literal female-on-rape apologism in my Castlevania show.

Lenore then steps into the sun because she refuses to live in a cage and she says "I'm sorry for everything you went through" to Hector, the most bastard of non-apologies of all time. And that's it. This is how Hector/Lenore became one of the most popular ships in the franchise, full of people who cry that they deserved a happy ending together, swear that Lenore did nothing wrong and really she treated Hector well, or are simply horny for the cute girl domming the simp boy.

The fact that Warren Ellis was accused of being a sex pest makes the rape fetishism just a little more uncomfortable :)

Needless to say that the games are far less sexualized. Worthy of note is that in Symphony of the Night, Alucard gets tormented by a succubus, but not by giving him erotic vision: by making him relive the day that his mom died. Just saying.

We can talk about respect for the games all we want. We can talk about the poor pacing, the forced swearing and rude jokes, the twisting of characters. But this? This is indefensible to me. I will never, ever shut up about how this acclaimed show has rape apologism in it, and people defend it because it's from a woman against a man - because the story frames it as something hot and that the man deserved for being "evil" (he wanted to turn humanity into livestock for vampires because he was severely abused by humans, and that means he deserved being enslaved to show him what his plan would have entailed. Real argument I've seen. That and "Hector loved in a possessive way like a vampire, so he understood that Lenore enslaved him out of fondness". I can link to you the post if you don't believe me)

Yeah, all of this has been A Lot to unpack. I started reading the Many of Us website after learning of Warren Ellis'… indiscretions… and I really feel like it's colored my understanding of the show, and I wasn't that hot on the show to begin with. I can't imagine how it would feel to be a fan of the games and have them be adapted by this immature hack piece of shit.

Cross-referencing clips of Hector's behavior in Curse of Darkness and Hector's behavior in the show, the disparity was such that I asked Spinning and Woodchipp, "Why is this show so sex-brained?" Some sexualization is to be expected in vampire fiction, but to this degree? Why does goofy St. Germain have to say "God is going to have sex again?" bruh this is "I'm 14 and this is deep" levels of writing. How could anybody take it seriously?

And it's weird too because everywhere I looked on Reddit, people were praising Ellis' comic writing genius. In all honesty, though, he seems like a huge edgelord. The standard for comics writing tends to be rather low, where more often than not gritty shock-value writing tends to be conflated with good writing, so I don't exactly trust that he's this ~hon-hon oh so geniuese~ fauxteur everyone's portraying him as. Especially if THIS is any indication of how he usually writes.

On the subject of Hector's assault… (tw for discussions of assault and rape) I'll be honest, when Spinning and Woodchipp described the ways people have tried to downplay it, a shudder went through me. I refuse to believe there are people in this world who would defend such a thing, much less try to normalize it.

I apologize for mentioning this, but I think it's worth bringing up because this is what the scene reminded me of. When a man wears a condom during sex but takes it off without his partner's permission or knowledge, it is rape by deception.

It's a fitting parallel because Leonore slipped the ring on Hector's finger without his knowledge or consent. It doesn't matter if he'd consented to the sex before then, he didn't consent to wearing the ring. Consent is an ongoing process, not a "well, you consented to ride the roller coaster, now you can't get off" sort of thing. Just because you consent to sex in the moment doesn't mean you consent to everything that happens after it starts.

And since the ring represents further suppression of his free will, it reinforces the notion that his consent is an afterthought at best, second to Leonore's enjoyment. This isn't even getting into the fact that being imprisoned and tortured in the first place means he was inherently set up to suffer a breakdown of free will.

Furthermore, rape is not about sex, it's about power. It's about denying a person their bodily agency. Ask yourself, would Leonore have had to slip the ring onto his finger if she hadn't chained him and beaten him down first?

I have no idea how the scene could be read as anything other than rape. It's rape. I'm sorry. It just is. There's nothing Leonore can say or do after the fact that will render it not-rape because rape is not something that can be edited in post, assholes. To claim otherwise is rape apologia. "You liked it afterwards" is not an excuse, nor is "you didn't say no."

…and then, as if that weren't bad enough, Spinning said another major character got raped by OCs. That, to me, is a big red flag that the creators held an active disdain towards the source material. Because nowadays writing advice urges you, if you can avoid rape-as-backstory, if you can find a more suitable motivation, you ought to do it. The alternative is hurting the rape survivors in your audience with a blasé portrayal of their trauma, or worse, a fetishization of it.

Why is it that writers who are least equipped to handle rape as a subject matter tend to sprinkle it as some sort of Spicy Garnish in their writing? Like you said, CV doesn't really focus that much on sex or rape in the first place. It's almost as though by making the games characters say "fuck" and suffer rape (with little actual repercussions, 'cause God forbid we have Consequences), the creators childishly believed they could make their writing seem much more Dark and Mature than it actually is.

And then people have the gall to defend it. It's so fucking gross, dude.

because the story frames it as something hot and that the man deserved for being "evil"

I actually ranted at length about how disgusting this mindset is and I'm shocked it still appears in the year of our Lord 2023. Rape is not a punishment. Nobody deserves rape. No, not even the worst person you can think of. If you consider rape a punishment someone can earn by behaving badly enough, like seriously, get the fuck away from me lol.

That and "Hector loved in a possessive way like a vampire, so he understood that Lenore enslaved him out of fondness."

[blacknedsoul-blog]

Random Thought of the Day (VIII)

So, posh besties are finally canon, yay! Congratulations Annabel, you only had to die, get divorced, survive an assassination attempt and have about 4 or 5 mental breakdowns to make one (1) friend, that is progress! Hopefully the next one will take less effort.

That said, there are two things I want to dwell on here.

I should like to by your friend and Could we be friends?

This is not the first time we've seen Annabel ask or tell someone outright that she wants to be friends. It's the second.

Yes, Lenore is not only Annabel's wife, but -possibly- her first proper friend. And it's really interesting because these scenes show you two really different sides of her, even though it's a similar situation.

When she meets Lenore, Annabel comes across as a very confident person, full of confidence and absolutely charming. She is formal but approachable and straightforward about her intentions: "We can help each other".

On the other hand, at this point, Annabel is keeping the reasons she wants this friendship to herself, she seems nervous -even a little uncomfortable- and behaves much more awkwardly. She hesitates, chokes on words, doesn't quite know if what she's doing is appropriate.

If I had to think of reasons for this contrast, there are two.

First: Annabel when she has time to plan vs. when she has to improvise. She went looking for Lenore, probably had at least an entire night to think about what kind of person this mysterious woman locked in the attic might be and how to approach this conversation. On the other hand, this conversation with Prospero had to be pulled out of her sleeve after a lot of emotionally complicated moments, maybe it didn't occur to her that this conversation could actually happen, and she has no plan B if Prospero rejects the offer.

On top of that, Annabel knows better than anyone the risks of getting attached to someone in Nevermore.

Second, that the scene with Prospero functions in some way as a reflection of Annabel's feelings when she first meets Lenore: there's no reason to believe she was any better equipped to enter into a relationship with anyone at that point in her life than she is now. But in this scene, we -and Lenore- see what Annabel wants to show, the parts of herself that she may find most attractive or pleasing. Here, Prospero gets a glimpse of her awkward and uncomfortable side, and I'd bet that awkwardness was present in that first meeting with Lenore, it's just that she had a chance to think about it, rehearse it, and thus hide those sides of her character as well.

The thing that makes me think of it that way is this:

Annabel's first gesture to Lenore is to shake her hand, which she also mentions here:

She still doesn't remember doing it, but the idea behind it is more or less the same: Annabel associates this kind of formality with friendly or amicable gestures; a mixture of business dealings and affectionate promises.

Again, the same intention, but with a very different performance. One that makes me wonder what exactly her thoughs when she went to see Lenore.

The Introvert Who Adopts and the Extrovert Who Is Adopted

Another thing that got me thinking about this whole thing is that so far we've seen Annabel -a very introverted person- be the one to take the first step in getting into a relationship with someone: she's the one who asks the question.

The funny thing is that even though Lenore is an extrovert, it was the other way around, she never took the initiative to start a relationship with anyone: Annabel came to see her, Morella is her assigned roommate, Duke came to talk to her, Pluto was won in a Pokémon swap (and she didn't choose him, Ada threw him under the bus), and Eulalie and Bernice approached her first.

I can see why this would happen from Annabel's side; she's a person who moves in the shadows, someone who lives by appearances and isn't afraid to manipulate or deceive to get her way. Under this premise, explicitly telling the people she cares about that this is an honest relationship feels like something even necessary for the sake of the relationship and her own mental health.

But in thinking about why this is happening to Lenore, and going back and reading chapter 22 to do this little analysis, I remembered this scene:

And…I don't know about you, but I think I'm going to pin this one. For now.

[echovale052]

no. 3 annex!

Omg this loser, (/pos) I can tell you one thing I would be a great annex no I wouldn’t I’d be too nice 😭

First impression

Who is this??? 👀👀👀 giving Carol sass??? I am listening (omg does this mean we get to smooch Carol eventually :0)

Impression now

GET HER ASS, OoooooOOoooo you have a cruuuush!!! also Hey😠 be nice to your boss, we know she’s mean but she’s sad too😞

Favorite thing about that character

They literally said…. No comment…. when someone teased them about their crush

Least favorite thing about that character

They just a suspicious loser with some angst I’m assuming😒😒😒

Spoilers for the corollary under the cut

Favorite interaction that character has had with another

Penemue: *literally right in front of Carol* I think you look nice like this Carol, Annex do you think Carol looks nice like this? How long were you planning on keeping your secret crush for

Annex: No comment.

A character I wish that character would interact with more

I would say cricket but I’m afraid they’d be hurting them.

Another character from another fandom that reminds me of them

Lenore from castlevania (bastard/nm) they are both just conniving but they do care and it fuels me

A head-cannon I have about that character

I’ve thought of almost all of annex’s background that I can and a small tidbit of it would be the reason they went through the commutation was because of either a huge fight with their brother or some tragic accident involving their niece.

A song that reminds me of that character

Ofc it’s gonna differ character to character but Goodnight Chicago for Astrid/annex

An unpopular opinion I have about that character

Good people do bad things. Might be the same I have about a lot of them but annex and carol aren’t evil people to me. (They are bad people but they aren’t evil)

Favorite picture

This doodle of them in my sketchbook :))

[overanayzing-everything]

Lenore | Nevermore

My friend, who is obsessed with Nevermore as well, told me that her brother was talking about this poem and she decided to read it. She realized that it may have some affect on Nevermore’s story. I did my research, and yes, Nevermore is loosely based off Edgar Allen Poe’s works (which I will post about too). So my friend and I discussed it and I deep dived into his other works as well.

One of the works I found was ‘Lenore.”

The poem acts as a requiem for a young maiden's life, and if the title of it wasn’t convincing enough, it’s quite obviously what Lenore was based off.

The first section of the poem is the narrator calling everyone to weep over Lenore’s death. “An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young--A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young...” These two lines set a mood in the poem. As if they were mourning what she could’ve been since she died so young, not what she was. Nerveless there are people mourning Lenore, but in the webcomic you can get the sense they are doing it out of politeness, not grief.

It’s made clear in the next section that she wasn’t well liked for being herself. “Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride..” which is a constantly shown in Lenore’s flashbacks, and even at Nevermore. She has to dumb herself down in the living world. When Thomas dies her grief is ignored, and when she shows the slightest bit of her true self she is berated and forcefully driven into insanity (which may also may happen with the stuff they give her her but that’s for another post). Even at Nevermore Academy her demanding answers and confidence is shameful, the main difference though is it’s shameful because she’s being a disruptive student, in the living world it’s shameful because she’s a woman. 

Another point could be this: She has the wealth, why can’t she play along? If she just went with the status quo she could play along, use her dad’s wealth. If she plays along she can get a rich husband, and use his wealth. Lenore isn’t like that though. She refuses to sacrifices her wants and desires for a comfortable life and sticks to her morals. You can see this at the Academy when she refuses to give the Deans respect because she doesn’t fell as if they deserve it. It one of the main identifying parts of her character.

Yet another thing to point out, the narrator is calling the people he’s talking to insults. That it was shameful to only love the materials she had instead of her. So who is the narrator? My first thought is maybe in episode 66 where we see Annabel’s thoughts, maybe this could be her. She is the one mad about Lenore’s death. She is the only one to mourn, in quietness, but she still does. She’s the only one who knows Lenore, not her wealth. But I don’t really think this too much honestly...

“And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her--that she died!“ Is the line directly after. This could be public opinion. One, she was in so much pain and suffering, that it’s nice she’s in peace now. Two, the one I’m leaning toward, she was contributing nothing, and causing uneasiness due to her insanity, so it’s good she’s gone. That may not be what the poem itself is implying, however, it does seem to be the opinion in the living world of Nevermore. Even in episode 66, Lenore’s father forsakes her refusing to acknowledge she ever existed because she’s dead now. She’s not a problem anymore.

The poem starts talking about how the narrator hopes she ascends to heaven, and there is stuff that I could talk about but I’ll save that for another post.

However following that, one line that I find interesting is “Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy bride--For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies...” The narrator seems to be mourning that she will never marry, which is a key thing Lenore hates with the whole “I rather die then marry.” mentally she states to have. But society only thinks of her good for marrying, giving kids, and dying. 

The part of the sentence that I find more intriguing is the “For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies...” At first I thought this was referencing the groom she would never have, when I looked up the word debonair.

Debonair- One who exhibits charming, confident, and stylish traits, usually referring to a man

But then I remembered how to read English and it says. “For her, the fair and debonair...”. Which fits perfectly to the comic with her taking her a man’s identity. Her being charming, confident, stylish, and prideful was no longer shamed once she was under the lens of a man. 

Moving on. “The life upon her yellow hair but not within her eyes--The life still there, upon her hair--the death upon her eyes.” So for the poem I think it’s talking about her corpse. However it does bring up some symbolism. It takes her fake death for Lenore to regain her will of life. Even more, it takes Annabell. She probably thought she’d live out her life in a room, being forced to take the drugs she hates. It took her metaphorically killing her previous self, to be who she was. It takes someone else’s name for her to be recognized and accepted. The girl she was is dead. She now has a new life, and she wants to share it with Annabel.

The rest of the poem is wishing her a good ascent to heaven so she can rest.

So, ending thoughts.

The comic making her prideful and confident, being something that is hated in the in her life is implied in the poem, and it’s just cool to see the inspiration for Nevermore, and how it correlates. 

It seems Nevermore’s writers, used the seemly innocent and good wishing requiem of a young maiden's death to make a deep character who would probably hate her own eulogy because that wasn’t her. Which is insanely interesting. It’s actually awesome how they could've took the smallest word to make a big plot point in the comic (debonair). I’m just glad I figured out that the webcomic was based on Edgar Allens Poe’s works.

But that’s just me. What to you guys think?

[chumpovodir]

btw I really have to say, you're braver than any US marine to engage in conversation with Lenore stans on Reddit 😭 I found your comment about Lenore being evil, and honestly if someone said to my face "[Lenore] did indulge Hector's kink since it's clear he liked it also" I would throw in the towel. What's with these people and finding all sorts of ways to downplay rape? Also what's with her fans literally victim-blaming Hector, as if anyone deserves slavery and sexual assault (let alone that the story itself frames him as the most decent in Dracula's court)? I wonder if they'd justify Carmilla getting raped since she wanted to conquer the world :'D oh no wait, she's a woman, that would be gross.

I don't know about you, but he doesn't look like he's enjoying himself, and that's not counting the inherent compromised consent that comes with being a prisoner. Furthermore, Lenore started calling him "good boy" after she beat him half to death - it was her kink, not his.

I think the discourse surrounding Lenore is a symptom of how bad the writing is, because the cunning Lenore of S3, the one who as you said is willing to do anything in pursuit of her goals but gets underestimated for her pacifist nature (which makes her beating OOC IMO, she never used force again), and the tragic Lenore of S4, the one who feels cast aside by her fellow sisters and can only bond with her prisoner who also was mistreated and underestimated (and makes dick jokes like a 12 yo brat), are simply not the same person. Her fans focus on the latter, her detractors focus on the former. S4 also quite simply ignores Lenore's actions in S3 and only mentions them for the sake of a joke ("Oh shush you were having fun" "Right until the end"): every single defense of her character works if you ignore, or worse justify, that Lenore unnecessarily resorted to rape by deception to put Hector in that infamous "gilded cage". (the same could be said for Alucard, who gets over his own rape and betrayal with amazing ease for what the finale of S3 set up)

"Anyway, Hector/Rosaly for life 🤙" you're so right bestie 💖

dhfdsjhfgd i waded into that against my better judgement but just could not let that "Lenore isn't what I'd call evil" comment slide

(dishonorable mention to another comment in that thread that went "She also honey trapped him but it was also clear that they liked each other and would have banged each other anyways" absolutely rage-inducing. had to completely ignore it for the sake of my mental health) like i don't know if it's just fans trying to downplay what she's done so it's easier to enjoy her, because there is a weird stigma against liking villain characters these days, but it also says alot about just how bad her actions are that people aren't willing to come out 100% in support of her either

and that is such a good point btw about how it's the writing and characterization that's so inconsistent between S3-S4 that's the cause of all the discourse around her. it felt like the writers were really angling to make her something of a 'good character forced to do bad things', kind of in the same vein as Hector, but because of the power imbalance they're not ever really equals in that sense