puravedaorganics

[nonndrawz]

When Týr becomes an companion in the next game and he has a wonderful dyamnic with Kratos, everyone is gonna start shipping them and the Kratýr nation will rise up again!!! 🗣🔥

[melverie]

⸺ LESSON 11 ⸺

Solomon

Lucifer

two bitter exes

demons & angels (& humans)

strange feelings & soup

records of a banshee

fragments of the past

misc

- lesson 10 || lesson 12 || all posts so far -

Since season 3 releases starting July 2, I hope I can finish the recap by then ;-; I actually have a few more thoughts on the 'two bitter exes' & 'records of a banshee' categories, but I'll put them in their own posts. It also has to do with 10-A btw :) General spoiler warning for all of Obey Me Nightbringer, as well as for the original Obey Me taglist: @lonely-north-star

⸺ SOLOMON ⸺

treat for the Solobesties <3 [11-1; pic below]

Solomon says he hasn't been to the reaper's cave in a long time [11-4], but we went there in OG season 2?? Was that really that long ago??

Solomon apologizing to MC for putting them in this situation [11-8; pic below]

we learn that the rule at the Fountain of Knowledge is that no promises can be made there and Solomon claims he forgot about it [11-8]

Solomon reminds us that we can't return home even if we wanted to [11-12]. Thanks Solomon ._.

Thirteen gives MC the brothers' grimoire and adds that, since grimoires are born at the Fountain of Knowledge, that's probably why Solomon wanted to come here in the first place [11-16]

⸺ LUCIFER ⸺

apparently Diavolo and Barbatos wanted to come with Lucifer, but Lucifer somehow managed to talk them out of it. He also told Belphegor to stay with Beelzebub [11-14]

if MC tells him that he isn't actually angry, Lucifer doesn't answer and instead just looks annoyed [11-14]

he has moments where he seemingly calms down for a second only to immediately go back to trying to recreate the OG's lesson 16 incident [11-14]

⸺ TWO BITTER EXES ⸺

(hi the category title is a joke. That being said, re-read lesson 11-14 and you'll know what I mean)

Solomon calls Lucifer out on essentially needing Diavolo's permission to do anything because he swore complete loyalty to him for all eternity [11-14; pic below]--which is SO funny to me btw?? Like, Solomon is really out here acting like Lucifer wasn't actively committing treason the first time they properly met back when the exchange program first started -> that being said, he does seem to put a lot of emphasis on Lucifer having sworn his loyalty to Diavolo... -> also why is Solomon provoking Lucifer further btw, the situation does NOT call for that

Solomon mentions that Lucifer already sees him as an enemy which then caues Lucifer to fall silent and change the subject [11-14]

Lucifer casts a spell on Solomon and MC to immobilize them. I have a few problems with this because

1. I might have misremembered, but wasn't it (offhandedly) mentioned in NB season 2 that Lucifer was still learning demon magic? OG Solomon should definitely be able to easily break free of the spell then 2. Solomon easily overpowered pissed off Diavolo once 3. Solomon thought a war against the entire Devildom by himself 4. even if Solomon isn't necessarily stronger than Lucifer, the OG has stated multiple times that they are on par with each other

You can argue that Lucifer's magic was enhanced because he was so pissed and overprotective of his brothers in that moment, but Solomon is also super protective of MC. He should have absolutely been able to overpower Lucifer here -> also, Solomon later does break free from the spell, however he was only able to do so because Lucifer lost his composure after seeing the grimoire [11-16]. I call shenanigans, but that's for another post... (-> also just wanted to say that I love overprotective Luci. That was such a good moment ❤️ [11-14; pic below])

when MC decides to hand the grimoire over to Lucifer, Solomon seems saddened by their choice, and Lucifer questions if they truly know what they are doing [11-14]

⸺ DEMONS & ANGELS (& HUMANS) ⸺

Solomon asks MC to side with humanity [11-8] -> he wants the other realms to see humans as equals -> he does kind of make it sound like he won't be able to side with humanity himself for whatever reason [11-8; pic below]

⸺ STRANGE FEELINGS & SOUP ⸺

Leviathan calls Thirteen the 'mean and scary type'. Asmodeus rightfully points out that Leviathan should have no idea what kind of person she is [11-12]

both Leviathan and Asmodeus seem kind of bothered by how much Thirteen loves MC [11-16]

⸺ RECORDS OF A BANSHEE ⸺

once again, the only two brothers that originally went to free Beelzebub also happen to be the only two that now attack MC for being human. Who knows what would have happened had Solomon and the rest of the brothers not shown up when they did

while discussing the lesson @misc-obeyme (hi CC!! Thanks for letting me post this <3) pointed out that the entire situation with Beelzebub was probably orchestrated by Nightbringer to force MC into revealing the truth [discord server lol; pic below]

⸺ FRAGMENTS OF THE PAST ⸺

Solomon's past!

1. he and Thirteen met back when he was a kid [11-8] -> he was looking at her through a lattice window from the basement and shrieked when they made eye contact [11-10] 2. Thirteen says that back when they first met Solomon's soul was captivating [11-10] 3. Barbatos brought Solomon to the Fountain of Knowledge when he was on the verge of death and nursed him back to health. Once his wounds were healed, Solomon left. Thirteen doesn't know where to [11-10] 4. Barbatos gave Solomon the title as "the Witty Sorcerer" and told him that he now has to look after the Fountain of Knowledge [11-10] -> ever since then, Solomon's soul has changed 5. Thirteen says that Barbatos let him experience whatever he wanted which is why he lost his innocence and why nothing scares him anymore [11-10]

⸺ MISC ⸺

Thirteen lore Thirteen lore Thirteen lore Thirteen lo--

1. she lives in the 'Otherworld'. [11-4] Solomon says it's called that because Thirteen enjoys her freedom 2. she already has the RAD uniform because Diavolo gave it to her in hopes of her attending the school. After modifying it a little, she now wears it because she likes it [11-6] 2. each level in the reaper's cave has a different rule that must be followed, otherwise One Must Pay the Price™ [11-6] -> the rule at the Fountain of Knowledge is that no promises can be made there [11-8]. MC later promises the brothers to help them and Must Therefore Pay The Price™ [11-16] 3. she has an older sister called Candy ( @too-much-gacha is that you? XD). Solomon says he hasn't seen her ever since she fell victim to one of the traps decades ago, Thirteen claims she's fine [11-6] 4. she hated the human world back when she first met Solomon because of how depressing it was with people dying left and right due to diseases [11-10] 5. apparently reapers are supposed to stay neutral, but Thirteen does her own thing [11-16]. Queen <3

Leviathan gives us the basics on how grimoires work [11-16; pic below]

Asmodeus turns into Leviathan's personal interpreter for a second, you love to see it lol [11-16]

Satan and Luke bonding over a cat ❤️ [11-A] -> btw has anyone else noticed that they've sort of become a dup lately? They keep sharing Nightmares and events...

[shortpplfedup]

Chapter 8: The Self-made House and Home

I'm struggling with this one because it was so perfect. For the second time in as many weeks, a GMMTV BL completely sticks the landing, in a gentle, satisfying conclusion to a story that felt so healing to me in a lot of ways. We don't often get stories about people out of the first flush of youth in BL, and we even less often get family dramas, generational stories. And we almost never get something this real, this grounded, this lived in. This show is going to stay with me, somewhere deep. In this final episode we say goodbye to the Moonlight Chicken Diner, and the denizens thereof, as life goes on without us.

I've been unsure about the signs that Heart and Li Ming were contemplating leaving together for the US, because it didn't feel like there was much of a plan for Heart, and it felt like a lot to put the responsibility for the accommodations Heart would need to thrive on Li Ming. I should have known Aof would ground this story like all the others in a reality that is more sensible. Li Ming in a sense following Heart instead of the other way around makes the plan work. Will they make it together? Who knows, but they're going to try, each walking their own path next to each other, which is the healthiest way when you're young. Heart hinting around the commitment he wants from Li Ming was adorably shy, and Li Ming's response was delightfully cheeky, completely their dynamic. So off the young lovers are going to America.

Alan and Gaipa making the decisions to firmly let go of Wen and Jim respectively is a new beginning for each of them. It still hurts though; Alan telling Wen he can walk on his own and leaving their photos behind when he moves out of their condo; Gaipa realising that Jim's smiles are for Wen and not him and declining the invitation to attend the diner's closing party. Sometimes the bone has to be broken cleanly to heal correctly. A few months later, when they see them again, Alan still feels awkward, but he can say Wen is his friend, and Gaipa can see Jim without awkwardness between them. The tentative first steps of Alan and Gaipa toward each other feels like the right way to leave both of those stories. Both of them are no longer reeling, but they're still grieving and healing from their losses. In the midst of all that, they've noticed each other over the two months that they've been meeting to settle Ms. Hong's affairs, to the point that Alan has started inventing reasons to extend the process, and to try moving their interactions out of the purely professional realm. Their little 'khrap'-off every time they meet is ADORABLE, perfect depiction of that initial awkward stage of 'I think I like this person, and I think this person likes me'. It may become nothing, may become something, but Ms. Hong was the kind of lady who'd brag about her cute, single, gay son to anybody who looked like a possible, so we leave them with hope.

I like the way Jim and Wen still don't rush into anything, despite knowing how they feel. Wen still buys his own place; even as he establishes his place in Jim's home, he also lets Jim know he belongs in Wen's home too. Wen helps out at the new Moonlight Chicken, but it's Jim's business, not a shared business. Wen keeps his day job, even as he turns down a promotion because he would have to move. They are together, they are home to each other, but they are still independent, still themselves. Given both of their histories, that feels right for their relationship. Maybe someday they will want to consolidate more, maybe they never will, but for now they are absolutely contented with the way things are, because they are 100% committed in love and partnership. Jim takes Wen to Sakhon Nakhon, to Jam's home with her new husband and his daughter, and introduces Wen as his boyfriend. And when Jam calls him 'brother in law' Wen demurs, 'I'm just his boyfriend'. They're perfectly content with what they are for now. When we see them in the epilogue, finally watching Jim's favourite movie, they're clearly still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, the desire is there, but it feels settled, mellowed, lived in. It feels grown, and that's the thing I have loved most about Jim and Wen's path to get here, turbulent as it has been. These are two mature people with their own baggage, who found each other in the most unbelievable way, and walked an unconventional path to form a family that feels wholly and solely them. As much as I can't forgive Beam, Moonlight Chicken needed to exist for Wen to walk into it someday, and it would never have existed without Jim and Beam's love. And Wen needed to be dissatisfied with his life to embrace the magic of the night he and Jim met, and keep embracing it, and that wouldn't have happened without Alan either. They're not here despite their pasts, but because of them.

Li Ming is still not sure how he feels about his mother, whether he loves her or not, but he knows he bears her no ill will and he genuinely wants her to be happy. He sees her clearly, without any of the filters which usually sit on our gaze of our parents when we're young. The way he stares at her while she drinks the boba tea he bought her, almost as though he's searching her, searching himself about how he feels, tells me that these two may yet find their way to a closer relationship. Because Li Ming may not be sure he loves his mother, but the kind of relationship they have matters to him nonetheless, that's why he gives her his blessing to get married again, that's why he gives her his apron. Jam knows she's been a bad mother, and she is trying so hard, so desperately to be a better one. Buying Li Ming those cute, childish socks that he nevertheless accepts with a certain fondness, shows how she still sees him, and how far they have to go. But buying him the shoes he so clearly wanted after he rejects her own choice shows that she does acknowledge that he is grown now, and can decide what he wants. When he takes Heart to Sakhon Nakhon with him, to meet his mother's new family, his new family, they are much warmer than they have been. She listens to him quietly, not pushing, and accepts Heart as his person. And the way that she contrives to pay for his work/study programme in America, not offering the money to him outright which she knew he wouldn't feel comfortable with and wouldn't accept, but giving Jim the means to take a loan which she would pay off herself, shows that she understands the depth of the brokenness of their relationship, but she will do whatever she can to repair at least some of the damage.

Jim and Li Ming's loving, tumultuous relationship has been at the centre of this show for me. I'm Jim's age, so I know how he feels, what he worries about, his drive to protect Li Ming from the slings and arrows of the world the best way he knows how. But I remember what it felt like to be young and chomping at the bit to be released from the parental reins and take on life on my own terms. I also remember what it felt like when I was on the cusp of doing just that, and was suddenly hit with a wave of tenderness and compassion and just pure love for my parents. I wanted to leave them, but I also never wanted to leave them. Li Ming asking Jim 'are you tired?' and Jim's surprised response at being asked that question by Li Ming, quite likely for the first time felt so real. It's like now that Li Ming is an adult on the verge of forging his own path through life, he can see Jim as a person and not just a parent, a tired person who's doing their best, and who has loved and looked after him in the best way he knows how. Most of us, not all granted but most, forgive our parents for a lot as we grow older; it's part of the circle of life. Li Ming and Jim will fight again in life, a LOT, but that's because of the love, the bond, the expectations each has for the other. You can't fight the way those two do with somebody you don't love with all your heart. Jim responding to Li Ming's surprising question with a surprising question of his own 'when did you know yourself?' is acknowledging Li Ming as a person as well, not just as a child, his child. He's asking 'hey, when did you grow up huh?'. And god, I feel that so deeply as somebody whose own nephew who I'm helping raise walked for the first time yesterday. 'Wait, when did you get here?' is such a REAL sentiment from a parent to a child. The love between these two is overflowing, so Jim voices it in his own way. 'I'm glad you found what you like. Please know that you do nothing wrong.' This is on the surface about Li Ming's sexuality, but on a deeper level it's Jim telling Li Ming 'I love you, I'm happy for you, I'm in your corner, I have your back.' And then Li Ming also says I love you in his own way. 'Staying with you is the best. Thank you Uncle, for everything.' That's all you ever want to hear from your kid.

Goodbye Moonlight Chicken, goodbye Pattaya, goodbye Jim and the family you built from nothing, and thank you Aof for giving us this story.

Side Dishes

I wanted to see Saleng and Praew's baby, but it was probably difficult to get a baby actor. Ah well. Saleng getting a stable, well-paying job and thriving at it, but still dreaming of one day running his own chicken rice diner like the man who became a father figure to him made me tear up.

Jim turning Moonlight Chicken into a food truck out in the open under the moon felt exactly right, the combination of letting go of the pain of the past while holding on to the good things it gave him, and giving him the freedom to up sticks and move if he ever wants to.

Heart giving Li Ming his name sign, and also vocalising his name because he knows Li Ming loves hearing his voice...crying in the club. Everybody in the little family unit learning sign, including Jam immediately giving it a try...BAWLING in the club.

'The right love consists of the right person, and the right time, at midnight, at a chicken rice diner.'

What on EARTH did Alan message Gaipa?!🤣

[thewertsearch]

You have a lot of inside information on what you and your coplayers are about to face. You are jacked tight the fuck into this thing in so many ways we don't know what to say anymore. And it's not just cloud visions either.

Alright, I know I said I wouldn’t speculate, but...

I don’t think it’s Sollux-style Visions, since she doesn’t seem to be psychic. For the same reason, I’ll discount the Voices, and any other variety of troll psionics. 

She could be employing Sburb powers, but I’m still committed to my theory that Terezi is the Seer, and there’s no real evidence that any other classes grant you information. Jade’s might, but her Title is pretty confusing, so I don’t think I should count her. 

Some sort of time travel could be in play - but that implies it’s Aradia giving Kanaya intel, and she’s been keeping people on a need-to-know basis since this whole thing began. I doubt Aradia would give future intel to anyone but her own past self. 

Doc Scratch could be telling her all sorts of things. I want to say Kanaya wouldn’t be as easy a mark as Vriska, but I’m pretty sure Scratch could adapt his manipulation style to any target he likes. This might actually be the most plausible option - I just really don’t want it to be true. Stay the fuck away from Kanaya, orb man.  

I was pretty much just kidding about the 8-ball, lmao

...never mind, it’s better than any of those. 

In one dream, the clouds pointed you to the address of a server hidden in an obscure pocket of a realm unknowable to mortals. It contains a journal written by a young member of an alien species. She has documented her experiences playing the game you are about to play.

Yes, holy shit!

Most of the trolls’ sources are fairly suspicious, and I’m constantly trying to figure out where their hidden agendas are. This guide, though, is guaranteed to be trustworthy, because we’ve watched Rose develop it in real time. Plus, she wrote the whole thing before her corruption. This really is a best-case-scenario. 

Back when Rose first started writing this guide, I hoped that it could become a beacon of hope - a way to help out other sessions, and maybe gain some allies. In a very real way, this was the first gesture of friendship from the kids to the trolls.

It also explains why, a long, long time ago, I wondered how Kanaya seemed aware of Rose's personality prior to Project Trolling. Turns out their relationship began right here. 

[ricardotomasz]

Such is life! Behold, a new Post published on Greater And Grander about Where Did Vampires Come From?

See into my soul, as a new Post has been published on https://greaterandgrander.com/where-did-vampires-come-from/

Where Did Vampires Come From?

Did ancient collaborative storytelling techniques give us vampires?

From my own background of the itinerant tribes of Jewish and Turkish descent, their nomadic lifestyle facilitated storytelling as a means of connection and survival. While roaming through the Middle East and Eastern Europe, these tribes relied on storytelling to earn the trust of locals and navigate unfamiliar territories. Stories were shared through various mediums, from one-on-one fortune-telling to communal gatherings around fires, blending tribal narratives with local customs and legends.

While the traveling storytellers knew the framework of their stories, they would NOT have every word memorized. In fact, it was quite common for storytellers to modify and update their stories for each local village they passed through, and would often determine these modifications based on feedback from the local audiences in the form of gasps, laughter, and tears.  One of the ways they accomplished this was by having set archetypes and structures for stories, with specific segments cut out for local flavor to be added. For example, one of the folkloric creatures they would tell stories about were the Mullo, an undead revenant described as having white clothes, hair that reaches to their feet, and one physical oddity (a trait which varies from geographic region to region). Anyone who had a horrible appearance, was missing a finger, or had appendages similar to those of an animal, was believed to be a mullo.

A mullo's purpose was to seek out people it disliked in life, and harass that person, which included family members, returning to the Earthly realm to commit malicious acts, like attacking by strangling and sucking the blood of a person. To ward off mullos, Romani people drove steel or iron needles into a corpse's heart and placed bits of steel in the mouth, over the eyes, ears, and between the fingers at the time of burial.

In India, where the Romani people originated, similar tales of Vetalas, ghoul-like beings that inhabit corpses, are found in old Sanskrit folklore. The vetalas are described as creatures who, like the bat, hang upside down on trees found on cremation grounds and cemeteries.

In ancient Hebrew cultures in the Middle East, there was the Alukah (the literal translation of 'leech') which is synonymous with the term Motetz Dam (literally, 'bloodsucker'). The creature is understood to be a living human being, but can shape-shift into a wolf, and would eventually die if prevented from feeding on blood for a long enough time. The Alukah can also fly by releasing its long hair, an allusion to kabbalistic teachings that Jews should allow their hair to grow long in Payot or Payos, stretching back to the Dead Sea Scrolls, and continuing to Orthodox Jewish communities today. I want to make clear, this was not a creature meant to slander the Jews, but was a creature believed by Middle Eastern Jews to exist.

In Turkic Europe, two of the earliest historical recordings of similar creatures can be found in Neplach's Chronicle, probably written in 1360 which directly correlates to when Sinti and Roma people began moving into Europe. For the year 1336, Neplach (the historian) mentions a shepherd named Myslata from Blov. He died and was buried but he didn't stay in the grave. Each evening, Myslata walked around, spoke to people as if alive and scared them. Soon, he started killing people, and if he stopped by someone's home and called their name, said person would die in 8 days. So the people of several villages decided to exhume him and burn his body. During the process, Myslata let out a loud scream.

The second case happened in 1344. Neplach writes about a woman from Levín, who after being buried, came back, killed several people, and danced on them. Once she was exhumed and a stake was put through her, blood started pouring out of her as if she were alive. She also ate her clothes, and when the clothes were removed from her mouth, the clothes were bloody as well.

In the Dalmatian region of Croatia, there is a female creature called a Mora, or Morana, who drinks the blood of men and also the kuzlac/kozlak, the recent-dead "who have not lived piously." They can be men or women who show themselves at crossroads, bridges, caves, and graveyards and frighten the locals by terrorizing their homes and drinking their blood. To be killed, a wooden stake must be thrust through them.

In Romania, these creatures were first called “Moroi” (from the Romanian word mort meaning 'dead' or the Slavic word meaning 'nightmare') and then later renamed to “Strigoi”. Similarly, dead Strigoi were described as reanimated corpses that also sucked blood and attacked their living family. Live Strigoi became revenants after their death. A person born with a caul, an extra (oddity) nipple, a tail, or extra hair was doomed to become a Strigoi. The same fate applied to the seventh child in any family if all of their previous siblings were of the same sex. Finally, a person with red hair and blue eyes was seen as a potential Strigoi, a unique and odd physical appearance for the region.

In Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, a creature called Pijavica, which literally translates to 'leech', is used to describe a creature who has led an evil and sinful life as a human and, in turn, becomes a powerfully strong, cold-blooded killer. Its former family can only protect their homes by placing mashed garlic and wine at their windows and thresholds to keep it from entering. It can only be killed by fire while awake and by using the Rite of Exorcism if found in its grave during the day.

By now, you can recognize this creature as the prototype of a Vampire. While many speculate that these proto-vampires arose simultaneously, I would argue that the archetypes for these creatures existed in India circa 700 CE, and through the itinerant communities' use of collaborative storytelling, perpetuated and adapted to local cultures, thus giving us the modern-day vampire. Basically, without the itinerant storytellers, you don’t get Dracula.

Today, itinerant tribes continue to face persecution, underscoring the ongoing relevance of storytelling as a tool for resilience and resistance. Their stories remind us of the enduring power of storyteller-audience relationships in shaping our understanding of the world and connecting us across diverse communities and experiences. As storytellers, we inherit a rich tapestry of narratives, woven together by the threads of history, culture, and human connection.

For more exciting details on the art of storytelling, check out Threads of Imagination, published by DSTL Arts! Purchase today at https://www.dstlarts.org/s/shop

Purchase Today

Do you have your own thoughts? Let us know in the comments! Or join our community of successful creators on Patreon!

#DSTLArts, #Hollywood, #Storytelling, #Vampires

[turenneteddy]

Success Secrets from Teddy Turenne: A Businessman's Guide

In the realm of business success stories, Teddy Turenne's journey stands as a beacon of inspiration and strategic acumen. His approach to entrepreneurship and leadership has not only propelled his ventures to unprecedented heights but has also imparted invaluable lessons to aspiring business leaders worldwide. Here, we delve into the core principles that define Teddy Turenne's success and unveil the secrets behind his achievements.

1. Visionary Leadership

Teddy Turenne's success can be attributed significantly to his visionary leadership style. He possesses the remarkable ability to anticipate industry trends and consumer demands, enabling him to steer his companies toward profitable ventures. By staying ahead of the curve, Turenne transforms challenges into opportunities, setting new benchmarks for innovation and growth in his field.

2. Strategic Innovation

Central to Turenne's business strategy is strategic innovation. He emphasizes the importance of fostering a culture of creativity and continuous improvement within his organizations. By encouraging bold ideas and embracing calculated risks, Turenne cultivates an environment where groundbreaking concepts flourish. This approach not only fosters competitive advantage but also ensures sustained relevance in a rapidly evolving market landscape.

3. Resilience and Adaptability

In the face of adversity, Teddy Turenne exemplifies resilience and adaptability. He understands that setbacks are inevitable in business but views them as opportunities for learning and growth. Turenne's ability to pivot swiftly in response to changing circumstances allows his enterprises to navigate challenges effectively and emerge stronger than before.

4. Commitment to Excellence

Excellence is non-negotiable in Teddy Turenne business philosophy. He sets high standards for himself and his team, fostering a culture where every detail matters. By prioritizing quality in products, services, and customer experiences, Turenne not only earns customer loyalty but also solidifies his brands' reputation as industry leaders.

5. Empowering People

A cornerstone of Teddy Turenne's leadership is his commitment to empowering people. He recognizes that a company's greatest asset is its workforce and invests in nurturing talent and fostering a collaborative environment. By prioritizing employee development and well-being, Turenne ensures that his teams are motivated, innovative, and dedicated to achieving collective success.

6. Strategic Partnerships

Collaboration plays a pivotal role in Teddy Turenne's business strategy. He leverages strategic partnerships to expand market reach, enhance capabilities, and capitalize on complementary strengths. Turenne's ability to forge alliances based on mutual trust and shared objectives enables his enterprises to achieve sustainable growth and create value for stakeholders.

7. Customer-Centric Approach

At the heart of Teddy Turenne's business ethos lies a relentless focus on customer satisfaction. He believes in building lasting relationships with customers by delivering exceptional value and personalized experiences. Turenne actively listens to customer feedback, adapts offerings to meet evolving needs, and anticipates future expectations, thereby cementing his brands' reputation as customer-centric pioneers.

8. Ethical Leadership     

Integrity and ethical conduct are paramount to Teddy Turenne's leadership style. He upholds principles of transparency, honesty, and accountability in all business dealings, earning trust and respect from stakeholders. Turenne's unwavering commitment to ethical practices not only strengthens his brands' reputation but also fosters a culture of integrity that permeates throughout his organizations.

Conclusion

Teddy Turenne journey from aspiring entrepreneur to industry titan offers a blueprint for achieving lasting success in business. By embodying visionary leadership, strategic innovation, resilience, and a steadfast commitment to excellence and ethics, Turenne has carved a path that inspires and empowers aspiring business leaders worldwide. His success secrets serve as guiding principles for navigating the complexities of today's business landscape with confidence and clarity.

In essence, Teddy Turenne's story is not just about achieving financial milestones but about creating a legacy built on principles that elevate both business and humanity. Aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned executives alike can draw invaluable insights from his experiences to forge their own paths toward enduring success.

[topcaservices]

Unlocking Excellence: Discovering the Top Chartered Accountant in Malappuram - Shehin Andrasid

Introduction:

In the dynamic landscape of financial management, having a skilled and reliable Chartered Accountant is crucial. Malappuram boasts a standout professional in this domain - Shehin Andrasid. Let's delve into the exceptional qualities that position Shehin Andrasid as the top Chartered Accountant in Malappuram.

1. Expertise Beyond Measure:

   Shehin Andrasid brings unparalleled expertise to the table. With a comprehensive understanding of financial regulations, tax laws, and accounting principles, clients can trust in his ability to navigate complex financial landscapes.

2. Proven Track Record:

   A stellar track record is the hallmark of a top Chartered Accountant. Shehin Andrasid has consistently delivered exceptional results for clients, ensuring financial compliance and optimization. His success stories speak volumes about his dedication and proficiency.

3. Client-Centric Approach:

   What sets Shehin Andrasid apart is his unwavering commitment to client satisfaction. He goes above and beyond to understand the unique needs of each client, tailoring financial strategies that align with their goals and objectives.

4. Innovative Solutions:

   Shehin Andrasid is not just a Chartered Accountant; he is a problem solver. His innovative approach to financial challenges sets him apart. Clients benefit from cutting-edge solutions that maximize efficiency and profitability.

5. Timely and Transparent Communication:

   Communication is key in the world of finance, and Shehin Andrasid excels in this aspect. Clients appreciate his prompt and transparent communication, providing them with a clear understanding of their financial status and strategies.

6. Local Insight, Global Perspective:

   Being rooted in Malappuram, Shehin Andrasid understands the local business landscape. Yet, his global perspective ensures that clients receive advice and solutions that are not only relevant locally but also align with international standards.

7. Continuous Professional Development:

   Staying abreast of the latest changes in financial regulations is imperative. Shehin Andrasid is committed to continuous professional development, ensuring that his clients benefit from the most up-to-date and relevant financial advice.

8. Client Testimonials:

   Nothing speaks louder than the words of satisfied clients. Explore the testimonials of those who have worked with Shehin Andrasid, gaining insights into their positive experiences and the tangible benefits they've reaped.

Conclusion:

In the realm of Chartered Accountancy in Malappuram, Shehin Andrasid stands tall as the epitome of excellence. His expertise, client-centric approach, and proven track record make him the top choice for businesses and individuals seeking financial guidance. Trust Shehin Andrasid for a journey towards financial success and peace of mind.

[amitycomputeracademy]

Mastering AutoCAD: Elevate Your Skills with Top-notch Training Benefits

In the dynamic realm of design and engineering, Mastering AutoCAD is not just a skill; it's a key that unlocks boundless opportunities. From intricate architectural designs to precision engineering schematics, AutoCAD stands as the cornerstone of digital drafting. In this article, we delve into the transformative journey that comes with mastering AutoCAD in Kolkata and explore the unparalleled benefits of comprehensive training. Join us as we unravel the expertise waiting to be unleashed.

he Power of Proficiency: A Glimpse into AutoCAD Mastery

Mastering AutoCAD is akin to gaining mastery over a powerful digital pencil. It empowers architects, engineers, and designers to translate their creative visions into detailed, precise drawings. Proficiency in AutoCAD opens doors to efficient drafting, enabling professionals to bring their concepts to life with unparalleled accuracy.

Training Benefits: A Catalyst for Success

Embarking on the journey to master AutoCAD is a commitment to excellence. Rigorous training programs serve as the catalyst for success, providing participants with a comprehensive understanding of AutoCAD's diverse functionalities. These training modules cover everything from basic drafting to advanced 3D modeling, ensuring that learners are equipped with a versatile skill set.

The Power of AutoCAD: A Brief Overview

Before we plunge into the training benefits, let's understand why AutoCAD stands out in the realm of Computer-Aided Design (CAD). AutoCAD, developed by Autodesk, has become the industry standard for 2D and 3D design, offering a robust platform for architects, engineers, and designers worldwide. Its versatility and feature-rich interface make it an indispensable tool for creating precise and detailed drawings.

Why Invest in AutoCAD Training?

1. Enhanced Productivity and Efficiency:

Mastering AutoCAD through comprehensive training allows professionals to streamline their design workflows. Learning the intricacies of the software enables faster drafting and precise modeling, leading to increased efficiency in project execution.

2. Stay Competitive in the Job Market:

In today's competitive job market, possessing AutoCAD skills is often a prerequisite for many design and engineering positions. Acquiring proficiency through training not only adds value to your resume but also positions you as a desirable candidate in the eyes of potential employers.

3. Versatility Across Industries:

AutoCAD's versatility extends across various industries, from architecture and civil engineering to mechanical design. Investing in training ensures that you can apply your skills in diverse projects, widening your scope of opportunities in the professional landscape.

4. Industry-Relevant Curriculum:

When selecting an AutoCAD training institute, look for one that offers an industry-relevant curriculum. Ensure that the course covers the latest features and updates in AutoCAD, keeping you abreast of the advancements in the software.

5. Experienced and Certified Instructors:

The expertise of instructors plays a pivotal role in the effectiveness of training. Opt for an institute with experienced and certified instructors who can provide hands-on guidance and insights based on real-world scenarios.

6. State-of-the-Art Infrastructure:

A conducive learning environment is essential for mastering AutoCAD. Choose an institute equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, including modern computer labs and updated software installations, facilitating a seamless learning experience.

7. Comprehensive Course Modules:

Evaluate the course modules offered by different institutes. A comprehensive course should cover fundamental concepts, advanced techniques, and practical applications, ensuring a well-rounded understanding of AutoCAD.

8. Project-Based Learning Opportunities:

Practical application is key to mastering AutoCAD. Look for a course that provides project-based learning opportunities, allowing you to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world projects and scenarios.

9. Certification and Placement Assistance:

A reputable AutoCAD course should culminate in certification, validating your proficiency. Additionally, institutes offering placement assistance can further boost your career prospects by connecting you with potential employers.

10. Peer Reviews and Testimonials:

Before enrolling in an AutoCAD course, delve into peer reviews and testimonials. Insights from former students can provide valuable perspectives on the quality of training, helping you make an informed decision about the institute that aligns with your learning goals.

11. Flexible Learning Options:

Consider your schedule and preferences when selecting an institute. Opt for one that offers flexible learning options, including evening classes, weekend workshops, or online courses. This ensures that you can seamlessly integrate training into your professional or academic commitments.

12. Overcoming Learning Plateaus:

AutoCAD, like any complex software, may pose challenges during the learning process. However, viewing these challenges as opportunities for growth is crucial. Seek assistance from instructors, engage with peers, and leverage online resources to overcome learning plateaus and emerge as a more proficient designer.

13. Staying Updated with Industry Trends:

The design and engineering landscape is dynamic, with continuous advancements in technology. A true AutoCAD master remains updated with industry trends. Follow design blogs, attend webinars, and explore new features within the software to stay ahead of the curve. When it comes to choosing the right institute for AutoCAD training, excellence is non-negotiable. Our institute stands out as the epitome of quality education in Kolkata. Here's why we are the Best AutoCAD Training Institute in Kolkata.

State-of-the-Art Infrastructure:

Our institute boasts state-of-the-art facilities, equipped with cutting-edge technology. From high-performance workstations to advanced projection systems, we provide an immersive learning environment that mirrors real-world design studios.

Industry-Driven Curriculum:

Stay ahead of industry trends with our curriculum crafted in collaboration with leading professionals. Our courses are not just about software; they are about preparing you for the challenges of the professional landscape.

Placement Assistance:

Your journey with us extends beyond the classroom. Benefit from our robust placement assistance programs, connecting you with top-tier firms seeking skilled AutoCAD professionals. Your success is our priority.

In conclusion:-

mastering AutoCAD is not just a skill; it's a transformative journey that propels your career to new heights. Join the ranks of skilled professionals who have harnessed the power of AutoCAD for unparalleled success. Enroll in the Best AutoCAD Course in Kolkata at the Top AutoCAD Training Institute in Kolkata and unleash your true potential.

[shammah8]

🕊️🌺Wendy🌺🕊️:

STAY UNDER GOD’S PROTECTION To conclude this chapter on the believer’s authority, I want to emphasize again that anything from the spiritual realm needs permission to freely operate on the physical earth. We must continually stay obedient to God and under His protection to have authority over familiar spirits—both to prevent them from infiltrating our lives in the first place and to regain our authority over them after we have given them an opening.

In Numbers 22, there is a very interesting story of a backslidden prophet named Balaam whose prophetic ministry became contaminated by his love of money. People with a prophetic gifting on their lives must be particularly careful not to defile themselves by a love of money. This story is also a very detailed example of how familiar spirits operate.

[King Balak of Moab] sent messengers therefore to Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide opposite me: come now therefore, I pray you, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me:

perhaps I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed. And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak. (Numbers 22:5–7)King Balak of Moab was intimidated by the Israelites, so he wanted them destroyed. He knew Balaam was an accurate prophet, and he wanted to pay Balaam a handsome sum of money in order to decree a curse over God’s people. In the ancient world, curses were verbal pronouncements or imprecations that could carry spiritual authority.

Such curses would set spiritual forces in motion that could cause ill favor, sickness, calamity, destruction, and/or even death.

It is very important to understand that pagan nations such as the Moabites were in agreement with, and under the authority of, demonic powers. They hated Israel because of the spirits that were controlling them. King Balak did not have the spiritual authority to curse the Israelites himself, so he sought to hire Balaam to do his dirty work. Of course, if you are familiar with this story, you know that things did not go according to King Balak’s plan. Instead of cursing the Israelites, Balaam blessed them, later saying, “How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD has not defied?” (Numbers 23:8).

The twist in the story comes two chapters later, in Numbers 25:

And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself to Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. (Numbers 25:1��3) Even though King Balak had not been able to curse the Israelites through divine imprecation, the Israelites brought a curse upon themselves by violating spiritual laws. Many of the men married Moabite women, thus inviting familiar spirits to defile their people.

They participated in idolatrous practices. They entered into a covenant with the very people who had been hell-bent on destroying them; by doing so, they opened the door to spiritual consequences and provoked God to judge them. This is what God told Moses to do to those involved in worshipping Baal-peor:

Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Slay you every one his men that were joined to Baal-peor. (Numbers 25:4–5)Wow! This sequence of events is a profound revelation about spiritual warfare. The Moabites represent demonic powers. They worshipped demons disguised as deities. They performed evil rituals and defiled the land they inhabited.

Again, their association with demonic powers is why they were always hostile toward the Israelites. Note that when the Israelites operated under divine protection, their enemies could not successfully curse them.

However, when they went out from under that protection, they were susceptible to the curse.☕️Kynan Bridges

[supersaiyanjedi14]

RWBY COMBAT ANALYSIS: QROW BRANWEN

“You see, some people can absorb electricity, and some people can burst into rose petals. And some people are just born unlucky. My Semblance isn't like most. It's not exactly something I 'do'. It's always there... whether I like it or not. I bring misfortune. I guess you could call me a bad luck charm. Comes in real handy when I'm fighting an enemy, but it makes it a little hard on friends... and family.”

PHYSICAL

A human male, Qrow Branwen’s exact age as of Volume 8 has not been established, though as the twin brother of Raven Branwen, who gave birth to the now 19-year-old Yang Xiao Long after graduating from Beacon Academy, I’d estimate him to be in his early forties.  Raised by the Branwen bandit tribe in Mistral, the twins were sent to Beacon in order to learn to combat Huntsmen for the tribe’s benefit, eventually being assigned to Team STRQ alongside Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long.  However, Qrow’s conscience won out, and he committed himself wholeheartedly to his supposed façade.  Upon graduation, the team fully ingrained themselves into Ozpin’s inner circle, Qrow in particular becoming one of the ancient wizard’s closest allies and placing a tremendous amount of faith in him. Regularly assigned as a field operative, Qrow made it his business to investigate Salem’s activities and, whenever possible, nip them in the bud, while simultaneously serving a brief tenure as a teacher at Signal Combat School.  While he built up an impressive reputation, endearing himself to his nieces Yang and Ruby, Qrow also bore the scars, both physical and psychological, of his career, his black hair and red eyes turning paler from stress, and the burden of his experiences led to him falling into alcoholism, regularly carrying a flask prior to attempts to sober up in Atlas.

Standing at 6’1” and boasting a slim, lanky build, Qrow was outwardly unimpressive, but this was in truth a sharp deception.  Despite his age and drunkenness, Qrow was still extremely fit, befitting a lifelong martial artist, and he has consistently matched and exceeded many of his peers in his athletic performance levels.  The attribute Qrow relied on most heavily was agility, regularly working in intense, elaborate acrobatics and balletic footwork to dance circles around his enemies and evade attacks.  He alternated between flying lunges and spinning somersaults when airborne, while favoring nimble sidesteps to stay out of the opponent’s crosshairs when his feet toughed the ground.  He has kept pace with both Winter Schnee and Tyrian Callows, both of whom are known for their evasive speed, maneuvered over uneven terrain with minimal difficulty, and frequently leverages full-body rotations to throw his full weight behind his strikes.  The only individual to have definitively outpaced Qrow was Harriet Bree, and even this feat was only done through her spamming her Semblance.  Despite appearing light, Qrow was still exceptional in the realm of physical strength as well, his fighting style clearly emphasizing power as well as precision.  His might was sufficient to overbear both Schnee and Bree, maintain bladelocks with Callows and his sister Raven, casually bisected and decapitated even high-caliber Grimm, and even left a large crater in the Beacon Academy sidewalk with a single sword swing.  Even when not hefting Harbinger, Qrow has sent targets flying with the force of his physical blows, sending both Callows and Clover Ebi rolling backwards with well-placed punches and overcoming several Sabyrs with hand-to-hand combat in Mantle.  Blending these two traits was his refined manual dexterity, enabling him to execute precise strikes and defend against incoming attacks even in close quarters.  He has deflected projectiles ranging from powerful Dust boulders to automatic gunfire, smoothly transitioned from one instant-kill to another, and matched the skill of many of the premier masters of his day, even outmaneuvering Clover Ebi with his seemingly cumbersome scythe (I’d like to remind you that Clover’s entire fighting style is about subtle subversive tricks, so outdoing him with a giant scythe is nothing to scoff at).

Despite giving the appearance of a weary old bird (which he was to an extent), Qrow’s tolerance for pain and injury is still highly respectable, especially given his alcoholism.  Though inebriated, he was able to fight evenly with Winter Schnee at Beacon with only minor difficulty, soaking up several heavy strikes in the process.  He has fought through numerous lengthy battles while maintaining his performance, only tiring out in the final leg of the Battle of Haven and after his battle in the tundra had concluded.  Against Tyrian in Oniyuri, he continued to fight after being thrown out of an abandoned house hard enough to break his Aura, and was only subdued when the serial killer took advantage of his distraction and poisoned him, an injury that he survived despite a minimum of two days without appropriate medical attention.  At Haven, Qrow was briefly disabled when Hazel Rainart sent him flying with a heavy punch to the back after the brute had stabbed electric Dust crystals into his arms, yet he still managed to recover enough to provide tactical support for the remaining heroes.  In Atlas, Qrow survived an airship crash in the tundra severe enough to knock Robyn Hill unconscious, and despite having spent the better part of the night fighting a Grimm swarm, was still able to power through and fight both Clover and Tyrian at the same time.  During the collapse of Atlas two days later, Qrow fought through a swarm of Ironwood’s security drones, endured close proximity to two separate explosions, flew out in crow form to intercept Harriet Bree’s airship, smashed through the windshield and fell hard into the cargo bay, and went on to battle the much younger Ace operative to a draw.  Despite a history of severe mental strain, Qrow’s exceptional discipline allowed him to roll with the punches and persevere under fire, and he has only lost his cool when specific buttons have been pushed.  Even against younger and stronger adversaries, Qrow can deal with what they are bringing to the table, guaranteed to make them work overtime for a ghost of a chance of outlasting him.

As he primarily functioned as a covert operative and spy, Qrow’s MO was to be inconspicuous rather than imposing, an attribute enhanced by his generally irreverent demeanor.  Combined with his fighting style relying on full freedom of movement, this made armor a relatively impractical asset for him, and he instead favored simple civilian garb.  When working with James Ironwood in Atlas, he wore a gray collared shirt with embroidered sleeves, a black vest, dark kakis and dress shoes, over which he wore his distinctive red cape and a collection of personal jewelry.  Instead of dressing for battle, Qrow dressed to be himself.

RANKING: Tier 2, Peak Human Fitness

Qrow Branwen’s nearing the end of his physical prime and has all the signs of burning out soon, but the dusty old crow’s not over the hill yet.  Agile, tough, strong, and disciplined, Qrow is a lifelong combatant who has been through the meatgrinder of hard combat longer than almost any other mortal character, and his exceptional performance levels are more than enough to enable all of his combat skills and outperform his adversaries, making him a surprisingly powerful physical threat despite his light build.  Qrow’s capabilities are even more impressive given his history of alcoholism, and with his newfound sobriety, he has overcome a crippling limitation to him both in his personal life and in battle, enabling him to hold out far longer than he previously would have.  Qrow has his limits and can be beaten into submission, but it takes a lot to get him to that point.  He may not look like much, but underestimating Qrow Branwen is a surefire way to get your ass kicked hard.

MARTIAL

Qrow Branwen wields the Harbinger as his primary weapon, a combination of a broadsword, scythe, and double-barreled shotgun that he built in imitation of Maria Calavera’s Life and Death.  In its sword form, the single-edged blade was approximately four feet long and about a foot thick, with a metallic handguard covering one side of the hilt.  Red leather wrapping made up the handgrip, with a rounded pommel at the base.  The semi-automatic shotgun barrels were situated parallel to the blade, and they could be activated by cocking the blade to a right angle or by simply retracting it back.  As a scythe, harbinger’s handgrip extended to at least six feet long, while the sword blade segmented and bent to reveal a secondary edge housed in the back.  Furthermore, the scythe blade could be kicked back to form a crescent-moon war scythe or straightened out to the sword form to make a stabbing spear.  Alternatively, the handgrip could be retracted back to its standard length, turning the weapon into an oversized bladed tonfa.

Though Qrow lacked the formal combat school education possessed by many fresh Huntsman Academy students, the rigors of bandit life clearly required quick learning.  By his sister Raven’s assessment, the entrance exams were a breeze for the twins, and the two would go on to graduate at the top of their class alongside Summer Rose and Taiyang Xiao Long before being recruited into Ozpin’s shadow war against Salem.  Qrow distinguished himself as one of Ozpin’s most dependable and effective field agents, regularly going into the field to the point where he completely mastered all of his weapon’s functions.  With decades of training and experience under his belt, Qrow easily stood as one of the most skilled and powerful Huntsmen of his day.  Furthermore, Qrow was an extremely capable combat instructor, having served a brief tenure as a Signal teacher and personally tutoring his niece Ruby in scythe combat.  Between his swordsmanship, marksmanship, and his various polearm proficiencies, Qrow possessed a comprehensive array of skills that allowed him to function comfortably in just about any combat situation, from swarms of feral Grimm to fellow well-trained armed opponents. Whatever weapon he was using, Qrow’s moveset was powerful yet refined, using dynamic full body movements to deliver sweeping slashes and chops. Favoring a one-handed grip when sword fighting, Qrow’s offensive technique was direct yet highly diversified, consisting of hacking cleaves, overhand chops, swift cuts, and heavy thrusts.  When forced to defend, he relied on active blocking sequences to intercept incoming attacks, and when faced with shooters, he incorporated windmill flourishes to deflect gunfire, creating a safe zone around his body.  With his scythe, Qrow was just as bold but far more unorthodox, favoring heavy sweeps and flourishing rotary spins to build momentum for cleaving attack sequences, defending when necessary by using the greater surface area of the weapon to block incoming attacks.  This aggressive yet sophisticated style was reinforced by capably worked in shotgun blasts whenever possible, Qrow’s trigger speed enough to keep Winter Schnee on her toes and to accurately knock Leo Lionheart off kilter.  Additionally, Qrow was an exceptional hand-to-hand fighter, regularly working in punches and kicks into his attack sequences and even managing to briefly subdue Tyrian while completely unarmed.  As a whole, Qrow’s skill set covered all of his bases, and his advanced use off all of them provided him with an extreme degree of versatility in all areas.

Qrow’s tactical outlook was very much influenced by his Semblance and cynical worldview.  While a good man, he was jaded by man’s failures and his own unwitting bad luck, favoring tangible solutions over simple optimism.  Used to having things turn south with him around, Qrow was always expecting the worst-case scenario, and thus took every opportunity to end the problem before it got to that point.  He would often try to diffuse situations before they escalated, drawing a line in the sand and giving the opponent the choice of either backing off or crossing that line.  If combat was unavoidable, Qrow regularly took the initiative, either by drawing his weapon to provoke a response or simply attacking first.  His go-to opening was aggressive yet measured, aiming to overcome the opponent with heavy offense while keeping something in reserve.  If his initial push was unsuccessful, he would change the rules of the engagement, either by blindsiding the opponent with opportunistic gunshots and physical combat or by altering his weapon.  Neither expecting nor appreciating a fair fight, he had no qualms about using misdirection and deception to achieve his ends, such as when he tricked Clover Ebi into performing an evasive jump, leaving him open to an abdominal kick, or sucker punching Tyrian when he was distracted.  In this manner, Qrow successfully maintained over a decade of active service in the field as Ozpin’s agent and came away with firsthand experience of Salem’s more terrifying Grimm, as well as leaving an impression on his students during his brief tenure as an instructor at Signal.  Qrow proved capable of applying his tactics to both battlefield engagements and single combat without any noticeable difficulty, traits that were demonstrated during his participation in Beacon’s final days.  In his confrontation with Winter Schnee during the Vytal Festival, Qrow was under the influence of alcohol, yet still managed to meet her diverse assault with relative ease, fencing evenly with her and disrupting the flurry of Summoned Nevermores she siced on him.  Though he overextended twice and took a couple of physical blows, Qrow recovered quickly and maintained his composure, gradually goading her into a more agitated assault before preparing to unveil his scythe.  In fact, it is my official stance that, had Ironwood not interfered, Qrow would have ultimately prevailed.  During the Fall of Beacon, Qrow and Glynda Goodwitch led the defense of Vale, slaughtering numerous Grimm and rogue AK-200 drones while clearing a path to evacuate civilians.

After the Fall, Qrow took it upon himself to safeguard Team RNJR during their trek to Haven, covering their rear by killing stray Grimm packs but keeping his presence hidden due to the risks of his Semblance.  Qrow would reveal himself during RNJR’s confrontation with Tyrian Callows in Oniyuri, rushing in to save Ruby after her Aura broke and ordering the team to stay back lest they be affected by his Semblance.  The two stood evenly matched, Qrow meeting the serial killer’s frenzied assault with his own staunch defense and managed to slip in several heavy counters, even recovering quickly with unarmed combat after being disarmed.  By the end, both men’s Auras had broken, but Ruby’s stubborn interference led to Qrow getting distracted to protect her, giving Tyrian a chance to poison him before he was forced to retreat.  While Qrow held his own, this battle also demonstrated his vulnerability to ambushes as well as his own ability to be provoked.  Several weeks later, Qrow had recovered enough to help train with RNJR and Ozpin’s newest incarnation, Oscar Pine, all while planning an assault on the Branwen camp, demonstrating a reasonable talent as a military strategist.  Sadly, this plan would be rendered moot by the Battle of Haven, where Qrow, RNJR, Oscar, and new arrivals Yang and Weiss Schnee were ambushed by Salem’s agents due to Leonardo Lionheart and Raven Branwen’s treachery.  Despite his anger, Qrow initially tried to defuse the situation, though Cinder Fall’s callous posturing triggered a brawl when she got under Jaune Arc’s skin.  Qrow fought evenly with his sister during the early fight, but was forced to switch over to protecting Oscar from Lionheart and Hazel Rainart after the brute learned about Ozpin’s reincarnation.  While Qrow was able to fend off Rainart’s onslaught and overpower Lionheart without difficulty, the fight ultimately ended with Rainart incapacitating him with a back punch after he overextended to protect Oz.  On the Argus Limited, Qrow coordinated with RWBY, JNR, Pine, Dee and Dudley to fend off a swarm of Manticores, ultimately ending the fight by teaming up with Ruby to form a double-scythe buzzsaw that slew the Sphinx.  Though Ozpin’s revealed duplicity and an increased drinking binge initially turned him off from Jaune and Ruby’s plan to infiltrate Atlas, Qrow conceded to his niece and aided in fighting off Caroline Cordovin’s Colossus mech suit, teaming up with Lie Ren to disable the suit’s shield generator.  Once in Atlas, Qrow worked regularly with the Ace Operatives to clear Grimm from the Amity Tower launch site, in particular forming a strong working relationship with unit leader Clover Ebi.  Sadly, this partnership that would take a turn for the worse with Ironwood’s growing draconian rule and, more significantly, the reemergence of Tyrian Callows.

During the Battle of Mantle, Qrow was accompanied by Ebi and Robyn Hill, the trio luring Callows into an alleyway before engaging him.  Qrow drove most of the action, pressuring Tyrian’s defenses directly while Clover subverted and undermined his movements and Robyn chipped away at him from a distance.  Despite the close quarters, Qrow was able to take Tyrian’s attack in stride, converting his sword into a tonfa to close the distance and staggering him with several punches and kicks.  However, Ironwood’s decision to arrest Team RWBY and their allies led to an altercation with Ebi en route back to Atlas.  Qrow was unable to prevent Hill and Ebi from coming to blows, and the fighting allowed Callows to kill the airship pilot and force a crash in the tundra.  The subsequent three-way played out with Qrow fighting evenly with Clover and Tyrian, but the Faunus was able to take advantage of Qrow’s mental stress and Clover’s narrow loyalty to Ironwood to play them off against each other, goading Qrow into attacking Clover and eventually breaking his Aura after being disarmed.  Unfortunately, this gave Callows the opportunity he needed to impale Clover on Qrow’s own weapon, framing him for his friend’s murder.  Though he was dazed by the explosion caused by Cinder Falls’s prison break, Qrow utilized his bird form to avoid detection from the guards before quickly overpowering them with unarmed combat and escaping with Robyn.  Initially seeking to kill Ironwood, Robyn managed to get through to Qrow about the pointlessness of revenge, and he maintained his composure during the subsequent Atlas coup, cutting through the security forces before being joined by the rouge Marrow Amin, who froze his former teammates before they could carry out the bombing of Mantle.  However, Arthur Watts chose this moment to act, setting a rigged AK-200 against the group that broke Marrow’s concentration and gave Harriet Bree an opportunity to man the airship.  While Robyn took another ship to chase her down, Qrow assumed his avian form and attacked Bree directly, smashing through the windshield and tackling her into the cargo hold.  Though Harriet was clearly a major threat, Qrow capably fended off her speedblitzing assault while holding back and trying to reason with her.  Ultimately, the fight was cut short when Elm Eldrene and Vine Zeki managed to finally get through to the fanatical Bree, though Zeki was forced to sacrifice himself to contain the bomb.

RANKING: Tier 2, Advanced Mastery

Each of Qrow Branwen’s weapon settings provide an additional layer of functionality to his overall fighting method, allowing him to drastically alter his style to adapt to the situation and exploit circumstantial factors.  All of his skills are elevated to the master level, indicating that his success is based on quality of skill rather than just quantity of tricks.  For perspective, he was able to acquit himself well against Winter, Tyrian and Harriet with only his sword, and his pure scythe technique was enough to fight evenly with Clover, only needing his other weapon settings for tactical support.  Qrow is not a perfect duelist, his repeated encounters with Tyrian Callows proving that he can be distracted and provoked, while his encounter with Hazel demonstrates that he can run into trouble against sheer raw power.  Luckily, Qrow has only come up short against these factors in the hands of opponents at or around his own level, and even then, Qrow never fell for the same trick twice.  While honorable and honest, he was still sketchy and unpredictable, his opportunistic strategy allowing him to probe for his enemies’ weaknesses and seize every chance he could get.  His first response is his highly refined and diversified fighting technique, but if he can get a hit in by shooting you in the face or kicking you in the crotch, he will.

SPECIAL

Qrow Branwen’s Semblance was Misfortune, and not in a metaphorical way.  His passive presence affected the world around him, afflicting individuals and even inanimate objects with bad luck.  Unlike many Semblances, Qrow’s was constantly active and beyond his control, randomly causing things to break and hinder people’s endeavors.  Qrow himself described his abilities as a “bad luck charm”, noting how they provided great advantages in combat, yet brought difficulties to friends and family.  Qrow’s inability to control his Semblance made his personal life a living hell, prompting him to keep his distance from his friends and loved ones for their own safety, to the point where he spent months shadowing Team RNJR and helping from the shadows rather than actually accompany them, only stepping in when Tyrian tried to abduct Ruby.  However, while Qrow’s Semblance hindered his private life, this metaphysical bad luck charm only helped to mold him into a devastating combatant, and he did learn to develop some measure of skill with his powers despite his lack of control.  While the specific mechanics of his Semblance are somewhat vague, my belief is that, in battle, the negative probability manipulation subtlety interferes with the opponent’s concentration and physical balance, hurting their ability to bring their full power to bear by messing with their decision making and creating artificial openings in their guard.  This can be glimpsed in his battles with Winter and Clover, both of whom are heavily technique-oriented fighters who still had difficulties landing their hits on Qrow.  Of course, this does not mean that Qrow is reliant on this, as he wouldn’t be as legendary a Huntsman as he is if all he had were sloppy opponents instead of real talent.  Rather than just letting his Semblance do all the work, Qrow developed a talent for recognizing these unintentional oversights and making them his primary target, their mistakes informing his strategy.  In his first encounter with Tyrian, he took advantage of the Faunus’s erratic acrobatics to maneuver him onto uneven ground, landing hard on a weak wooden beam.  Additionally, Qrow could briefly amplify his Semblance by channeling his Aura, triggering greater mistakes on the opponent’s part and increasing the chance of them being injured.  However, Misfortune has also been seen affecting its own bearer, with Qrow running the risk of losing his own balance in SDC Mine No. 2 and unintentionally harming his surroundings if he’s not careful, such as when he popped a tire at Brunswick Farms.

In addition to his Semblance, Qrow was also blessed with minor magical enhancements.  Early in their careers with Ozpin, the wizard empowered both Branwen twins with the ability to transform into birds, enhancing their capabilities as covert spies and operatives.  While the exact species Qrow can transform into is unconfirmed, it is likely based on the Carrion crow, one of the most common crow breeds in the Europe and North America.  At 19 to 20 inches in length and an average weight of 400-600 grams, the carrion can fly at average speeds of 30 mph and could double that speed in short bursts.  Small, fast, and inconspicuous, this transformation provided Qrow with nigh-unlimited capacity as an infiltrator, while his ability to fly gave him near limitless mobility.  Like other magic powers, this ability could be used even with depleted reserves of Aura, seen when Qrow transformed at Haven even after the beating he took from Hazel.  While Qrow’s combative prowess was obviously undercut significantly while in his avian form (aggressive little buggers as they are, birds are lower on the food chain for a reason), he has capitalized on his transformation in combat, using it to traverse the battlefield for reconnaissance, infiltration, and even attack.  It was his ability to fly that allowed him to reach Oniyuri in time to save Ruby from Tyrian, and during the Battle of Haven and against the Colossus in Argus, he used his transformation to move to advantageous ground and maneuver around his bulkier opponents.  When Cinder Fall unintentionally freed him and Robyn Hill from their containment cells in Atlas, Qrow demonstrated his ability to use his transformation for ambush tactics, using the smaller size to hide in the rubble of the brig and tackle Ironwood’s soldiers without warning.  Putting all these applications on display was the opening salvo of his confrontation with Harriet Bree, which saw him fly in front of her airship, abruptly transform mid-flight, and catch her completely off guard with a full-body tackle through the windshield.

Qrow’s special abilities played into his strategy of undermining and undercutting his enemies rather than simply overpowering them.  Instead of relying solely on heavy attacks to beat his opponents to death, he used his living bad luck charm to make them overextend, slip up, or simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time, giving him the opening he needs to deliver a fatal strike.  With his bird transformation, he could slip out of sight, gain an advantageous position, and zoom in to blindside them where it hurts most.  He emphasizes surprise and ambush, capitalizing on the given situation to screw with his opponent both physically and mentally.  Qrow’s lack of control was still a major detriment however, and a slip in concentration on his part could spell disaster.  Where these weaknesses manifested most often were when he was working with others, his indiscriminate Semblance affecting his allies just as much as it did his enemies.  In Oniyuri, Qrow was nearly killed when his Semblance left Ruby exposed to a falling beam, forcing him to rush in to save her instead of defending himself from Tyrian’s sting.  While it has never been outright stated, I believe that this bad luck had a hand in the disastrous Airship crash in Atlas, exacerbating everyone’s tense situation and leaving them vulnerable to Tyrians ruthlessness.  Furthermore, Qrow could still be distracted and left vulnerable to things no amount of bad luck can deter, his defeat at the hands of Hazel Rainart showing his vulnerability to sheer overwhelming force.  However, for all his limitations, Qrow did eventually manage to gain control over his powers during Atlas’s final moments, demonstrating an ability to reduce misfortune rather than just enhance it.  After coming to terms with Clover Ebi’s death, Qrow, holding his late friend’s badge to help him focus, managed to prevent the worst-case scenario and nullify bad luck, snagging the Dust bomb in the airship and preventing it from falling into Mantle. 

RANKING: Tier 2, Flexible Combat

Despite the seemingly erratic and unreliable nature of his Semblance, Qrow Branwen is able balance out the practical benefits of his Semblance with the extraordinary traits of his magical enhancements, allowing him to capitalize on both his innate abilities and circumstantial factors to manipulate the flow of the engagement.  While his Semblance may not appear to have many direct advantages in combat, especially given Qrow’s lack of control, he has adapted it for combat in a way that furthers his overall viability, and his newfound control is bound to elevate it even further.  Subtly altering the probability of events around him allowed him to subvert his enemies without having to waste time with psychological warfare or preplanning, creating the circumstantial factors that he can exploit to achieve victory.  His crow transformation may lack leverageable power analogous to the Maiden powers, but it does add additional tactical functionality to his fighting method, enabling both mobility on the battlefield and an opportunistic ambush tool.  Even with the risk posed by slips in concentration, Qrow’s experience and discipline means that such slips are a rarity. He’s an unpredictable monkey wrench who can disrupt his opponent at any time and they’ll never see it coming.

OVERALL RANKING: TIER 2, MASTER HUNTSMAN

Qrow Branwen is one of the rare examples of a combatant who holds the same ranking across the board, putting him solidly in the Master Huntsman category.  In fact, this is one of the reasons why I consider Qrow to be the definitive example of a Tier 2 combatant in the RWBY setting, exemplifying the standard for this level of fighter.  All Qrow’s combat-relevant traits add up to a balanced array of techniques that can be adapted to suit the nature of the situation and the opponent, reconfiguring his fighting style on the fly to exploit the enemy’s weaknesses and neutralize their strengths.  His robust physicality has been honed by hard combat and makes him more than capable of overcoming most situations, only coming up short against extremes in speed or strength.  His comprehensive fighting style provides him with all the options he needs for any fight, all of which he can comfortably rely on to achieve victory, and otherwise he can cycle through them to find a more appropriate one.  His special abilities enable him to undercut the opponent’s focus and weaponize his environment, both as passive interference and an active form of attack, while also delivering attacks that nobody, not even himself, can see coming.  Linking all these layers together are his surprisingly nuanced and unpredictable tactics, using every tool in his arsenal to hit the opponent where they least expect it, balancing between refined technique and dirty fighting with a smirk on his face.  With the sole exception of his ability to turn into a bird, none of Qrow’s abilities are beyond what a mortal Huntsman can achieve.  Lacking extreme magical powers, superhuman athleticism, or unnatural fighting skills, Qrow Branwen represents the best one can achieve on the back of nothing but developed skill and power.

Qrow’s cynicism is ironically the source of both his strenuous life and his capabilities as a fighter.  He knows that things will go wrong when he is around, regardless of who it happens to, so everything he does is in preparation for a worst-case scenario.  Just as he makes a misguided effort to shield the people he cares about by keeping his distance, he does everything he can to prevent bad situations from getting worse by ending the fight as quickly as possible.  While prone to sarcasm and messing around, when push comes to shove, he will do whatever it takes to win.  Qrow isn’t perfect and has his weaknesses, but his experience means that he is aware of them and works to compensate where he can.  His weaknesses are logistical issues, not oversights, and his cunning and sketchy use of his abilities ensures they rarely come up.  Behind it all, however, Qrow still strives for a world where the worst-case scenario is just a rare possibility, Ruby’s optimism rubbing off on him more than you would think.  Qrow is a surprisingly hopeful person, both in overcoming his own foibles and defeating the evils that threaten those he loves.  Expecting the worst yet hoping for the best, he seeks to nip disasters in the bud by perusing victory by any means necessary, ending conflicts before they become catastrophes.

*originally posted on RoosterTeeth community page on 1-2-21*

*all images taken from the RWBY Wiki*

RWBY Combat Analysis

[amysgiantbees]

Genshin Vent

  1. There’s a way to deal with child protagonists in adventure stories. Either go with it or actually address it. Genshin does not commit to either and it’s immersion breaking. This would all be solved if the traveler and their sibling were adults but they decided to make them kids. It keeps reminding you all the time that these are kids, particularly with comments about how they’re too young to drink (apparently they’re 15). They don’t allow for underage drinking but never comment on the traveler fighting constantly. Adult characters like Lisa can sound like they’re flirting with the traveler which is really uncomfortable. Where are their parents? Are they orphans or can their parents not dimension hop? Who let them do this in the first place? No one brings it up. Characters ages are relevant but not logical. It’s bizarre that the only line the adult characters will not let the children cross is underage drinking. Not that I want the kids to do underage drinking I just want the game to be consistent. 

2. The game was already unrealistically and overwhelming white/pale before it decided to whitewash Sumeru, which is obviously based on southeast Asia and Africa (India and Egypt in particular). It’s not just racist but colourist. They have made the brown people not only scarce but as pale as possible with barely any variety in tones. 

3. I don’t like how Paimon struggles with names and is dismissive of food only in Sumeru - she eats slime but African food is too much for her? It’s gross and has racist undertones. 

4. The disability representation - despite this being a pretty combative world the characters live in - is aggressively lacking. Which makes the world unrealistic and boring. Collei’s Elazar could have been some great representation but it of course get’s cured (which you could see from a mile away). 

5. I hate that the women’s breasts bounce when they breath. Nearly half of players are women you do not need to pander to straight men only (I say straight men because I think most queer women still prefer fem characters to have a bit more dignity than this outside of porn).

6. I just wish we knew about the protagonists more, what was their home planet like? Have they realm jumped before? Why are they so chill about it? 

7. Dori is a Turkish stereotype, most cultures that aren’t white have harmful stereotypes around being greedy so maybe just don’t. Especially since she’s the only Turkish based character that I’m aware of. 

8. Eula’s quest is bonkers. I can’t tell if the writers are self-aware that she’s being classist or not. Because they seem to frame it like people are just prejudiced because of her family. But she’s the one who is unsolicited calling them plebs for no reason. You’re meant to be training to talk her uppity uncle, shouldn’t we be talking to the townsfolk like they’re royalty then?  It makes it seem like she deserves her treatment, especially with her threatening to fight everyone. 

9. Kuki Shinobu is my least favourite character. She calls Itto - a character that I read as ADHD - “crazy” and belittles him. Her outfit is also my least favourite. She’s meant to be this strict lawyer, no nonsense figure yet she’s in a tacky crop top and booty shorts. Jean and Sara both have outfits that show their authority and seriousness so why not her? I get that she wants freedom but otherwise her outfit does not fit her at all. 

10. I wish Takuya the blue oni was a member of the Arataki gang. Or even a playable character.

11. The government of Mondstaht makes no sense. It’s meant to be all about freedom. However, it’s essentially a police state ruled by a nepotism general. It should be a form of anarchy. 

12. Diona makes me so uncomfortable. Who let a twelve year old enter a bar, let alone work there? Is she staying up all night? Why can’t she just be an adult teetotaler. It makes her dad seem irresponsible that his drinking upsets his daughter a lot and he does nothing about it and that he lets her bartend. Which would be fine if anyone addressed that or tried to help them. It’s just uncomfortable as is. Like, an adult with a dead beat dad is sad but fine. But a child with a dead beat dad makes everyone around her look bad and irresponsible. Which seems to be a big Genshin issue to me. It creates lore that it’s not prepared or ill equipped to fully explore. 

13. Big tell not show problem. Especially with Kokomi.

14. I hate that the closest we get to a plus size main character is that Ganyu used to be larger and now stringently watches what she eats. She even comes across like she has an eating disorder sometimes. Genshin characters can look and act very similar, so not only would it be nice representation if she was plus size but it would help differentiate characters as well.

15. Paimon does not need to comment every time you fish. Once every few goes is fine. She also doesn’t need to re-explain what an NPC just said.

16. Having to go and pray at statues to change your power as the MC was fine in Mondstaht when you’d mainly just have the torch and totem puzzles. However, now that every five seconds I have to switch to anemo for sand, fire or water for flowers, fire for the lightning rocks, dendro for the flowers that shoot dendro teleportation sigils and more I want to be able to scroll and switch powers for the MC as long as I’m not in combat. Like I hate running over to the wolf boss in Mondstaht just to realize that I should teleport over to Inazuma to be electro and run all the way back.

17. More outfits, especially for the MC. It is SO annoying that Ayaka offers us a new outfit and we have to turn her down. It feels like the developers are laughing at me. Also, Ayaka and Ayako should at least have matching pastoral outfits.

18. I’m SO SICK of the male characters getting to be more clothed than the female characters on average. Also give some of the women flat shoes. I get having impractical clothes for flavour but sometimes it actively does not suit a character and makes them look incompetent. Like Ningguang suits heals and a sexy, impractical dress, she’s high society, but Beido does not. It doesn’t suit her personality and she lives on a wet, slippery ship so it’s even less practical for her than the other fighters. 

19. If they had more diversity the characters would look more interesting. Sometimes I feel like they add excessive and bizarre elements to the character’s designs to differentiate them instead of just having more shades of skin colour, different hair types (like curly, wavy or coily hair), physical disabilities, scars, or body size differences. Like Childe’s teacher looks like a discount Eula with a busier, uglier leotard and nice boots and gloves as the only saving grace.

20. Buying two things from the teapot traveling salesman at someone else’s place is a stupid thing to tick off in Battle Pass. Who buys from the salesman that much let alone from someone else’s place? He has hardly any stuff and no variety. Fish for twenty fish or something, that would be way better.

21. More of the furnishings for the tea kettle house should be indoor as well as outdoor. It’s bizarre that little things in particular can’t be inside like the Statue of Her Excellency. Red Kitsune Doll, or Storm Braver Ship would all fit really well inside the mansion. 

22. Hate the water diaper you get while swimming. It looks SO dumb and it’s so bizarre because Genshin is the one that puts most of the women in skimpy clothes so why are they trying to preserve the character’s dignity now? To look all the way up a mountain to see how far you have left you almost have to get an upskirt angle. It is baked into the game that certain characters do not get to preserve their modesty, so why this?

23. Important limited timed events should be character quests you can play later. They can have less rewards as a trade off. But it’s BS that if I go for a trip in the woods I could miss out on important plot in Genshin that I could only find on YouTube not even in it’s complete form on Genshin’s page. Like what do new players think when they play and theirs limited time events in areas they can’t even reach yet???

24. There are so many characters to keep track of I would love them to have less names. Like Childe being Childe and Tartaglia. There are so many irrelevant details and characters and it’s a lot to keep track of especially since only through replaying a game does everything sink in for me. But I’d never do that here. What am I meant to do replay the same limited time event twice immediately at the same time, farm for level up items a million more times????? No. But this might just be an issue for me and my ADHD and subsequent poor memory.

25. The lore is so much work. Between the manga, character texts, and overly wordy dialogue it’s too much. Edit things better. 

26. If there’s important NPCs PLEASE give them them a unique look! Otherwise they all blend together. Even the human adeptus’ at the latest lantern rite were boring looking and they were gods.

27. Why is Paimon not a big deal? Apparently stories of fairies exist because people call her one but it seems she’s the only real one. Can you imagine if a fairy just suddenly existed and no one was curious or surprised about it. It’s so bizarre.

28. The traveler should be a celebrity by now. Charlotte should have been begging us for an interview from day one. We’ve literally changed the landscape. We have fought dragons, know gods, fought gods, lit up mountains and giant glowing trees in the sky. We should have a MUCH bigger reputation by now. Sure a few people comment on us. We can’t compete in the Pankration ring because of our reputation but people should be TERRIFIED of us. Not even gods can use more than one element. We are half way to being a god. It’s just weird to be not that big a deal to most people. And then the characters that are obsessed with us, like Ayaka, it’s not about what we’ve done it’s romance coded who we are stuff. 

29. God I wish Watasumi Island never made peace with the rest of Inazuma. Hoyoverse should go back and add more to the Inazuma main quest in general they rushed it SO MUCH. Like the puppet should not be allowed to exist anymore or if it’s alive now like Scaramouch it should have to step down. Love Ei, but one traumatizing god is enough.

[reginarubie]

The younger, more beautiful Queen - Cersei and Sansa (and Daenerys and Margaery; and Brienne of Tarth)

When Cersei recalls Maggy the Frog's prophecy about her being casted down by a younger, more beautiful queen we were all ready, thinking that younger, more beautiful Queen was supposed to be Sansa; then Margaery entered the picture and how could anyone actually ignore the dragon queen in the east and the threat she posed to Cersei and everything she stood for?

At which point many theorized each and every of three girls, younger and all described as beautiful may be the younger, more beautiful queen and would fulfill a part of Cersei's prophecy, each taking something she cared for from her. Which has many merits, especially thinking about how much Martin dislikes prophecies and likes playing around with them nudging towards the realization that we as people are the one who make our own destiny with Cersei being the real catalyst of everything Maggy the Frog prophetized for her.

Under the cut, my own personal vision of this prophecy and why I think that, no matter who will actually cause Cersei's downfall directly, Sansa (assuming she ending as QitN is also book!endgame, which we have good reason to believe it shall be so) is actually the younger, more beautiful queen.

People way more talented than me have already talked about this matter, but I wanted to give my input about it as well because I like to talk and this has been sitting in my files way too long and now I've decided to share with you all to see what you think about it.

Beneath her golden curls, the girl's face wrinkled up in puzzlement. For years after, she took those words to mean that she would not marry Rhaegar until after his father Aerys had died. "I will be queen, though?" asked the younger her.

"Aye." Malice gleamed in Maggy's yellow eyes. "Queen you shall be ... until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear."

Anger flashed across the child's face. "If she tries I will have my brother kill her."

Maggy 's prophecy has haunted Cersei all these years since first the words had been uttered and it's no wonder. Now, we know Cersei married the king - Robert Baratheon, first of his name - after he had won the Realm through conquest and we also know that the other part of Maggy's prophecy, about Cersei having three children and the King many more than her. So it stands to reason that this part may also come to be true in some way or the other.

Though show!canon has derailed and distanced itself from book!canon, it must hold some kind of importance that Cersei asks Jaime to find Sansa and kill her especially if we connect it with what child Cersei told Maggy the Frog "if she tries I will have my brother kill her"; while she easily, in the show, decides she will be the one to cause Margaery demise as well as Daenerys's.

But let's break the prophecy and try to determinate what exactly it may mean to Cersei now.

Maggy tells her that she will be the Queen for a time, which we know to be the truth, and that she will have three children while the king (Robert) will have over seventeen. She also tells Cersei that one day another may come, that she will be younger and more beautiful.

Note, the first person we know Cersei describes as beautiful, by her words, is Sansa both in show and the book.

In the very first episode of the series, when Martin was still very much part of the writing process of the episodes, Cersei comments on Sansa's beauty and on how it would be wasted in the North (foreshadowing in my opinion Sansa growing past her enamourment with beauty and return North to stay, but I digress).

While in Sansa VI, AGOT, she states "such a beautiful child. I do hope you know how much Joffrey and I love you"

Also, note that this is said about Margaery Tyrell in AFFC in Cersei III: “When all the vows were spoken, the king and his new queen stepped outside the sept to accept congratulations. "Westeros has two queens now, and the young one is as beautiful as the old one," boomed Lyle Crakehall, an oaf of a knight who oft reminded Cersei of her late and unlamented husband.”

(Guess maybe it can’t be Margaery after all tho I do remember someone saying someone else, someone younger — Catelyn about Sansa — would grow even more beautiful than she was and though she did not mean to confront Sansa with Cersei, but with herself, the phrasing did stuck me as strange)

So this girl coming to cast Cersei down will be younger (and all candidates for the place are younger than Cersei) and more beautiful (now this could be as simple as a math count of how many times each candidate is described as beautiful and confront that number with Cersei's).

The counts now stands as following:

Sansa: 18 times (without sharing those times with anyone, all on her own; 2 times she is defined as more beautiful than someone older)

Drawing by @innocent-enyo; sorry I took your pics, I fell in love with them! If it bothers you I will take them down!

Cersei: 17 times (thyo sometimes shared with Margaery so the counts, if we count the shared times with Margaery goes up to 20)

Drawing always by innocent-enyo.

[honorable mention] Brienne of Tarth: 8 times (wouldn’t it be just perfect if Brienne did manage of convince Jaime to fuck loyalty and follow her instead of Cersei? Oh wait… that’s already show canon) after all if every girl can be the another younger, more beautiful who will take (something) everything from Cersei why not Brienne the Beauty?, especially since it’s said sarcastically yet she is far more fair and beautiful in character than Cersei is. I would appreciate the irony and the twist, all I am saying 🤷🏼‍♀️

Drawing by Lucas Werneck.

Margaery: 7 times(of which 3 shared with Cersei)

Margaery Tyrell by innocent-enyo as well.

Daenerys: only 5 times (?! I am surprised as well, tho to be fair she is described as the most beautiful woman in the world once and she was asked if she had grown more beautiful in a lapse of time, but never confronted to another older)

Daenerys Targaryen by innocent-enyo again!

So we have a neck-to-neck between Sansa and Cersei.

And tho I do think each girl will fulfill part of the prophecy (to save Margaery from her marriage to Joffrey he is killed, which catalyses the series of events which brings to Tywin’s death and Myrcella’s; Brienne did convince in the show Jaime to leave Cersei behind for a time; Sansa took her legacy in a way becoming the second ruling queen of a kingdom of Westeros; Margaery in a way took away Tommen as well in the show since learning of her death he committed suicide; Daenerys took the throne and the promise of the child in the show) I think Sansa will be in the end the younger more beautiful queen because the stress on the prophecy is put on the fact that this Queen will take everything Cersei’s holds dear…

…what did Cersei want? [note; now we enter in the show only realm and book hypothesis of the story since we have yet to see the last two books]

To save and protect those she loved; she failed by her ultimate fault;

have the younger, more beautiful queen and enemy killed by her brother (lover)

To sit on the throne as queen regnant because she feels she deserves it.

To be with the man she loves publicly.

What did Sansa achieve by the end of the show:

She marched her troops South and managed to get Jon free and her plotting assured that her siblings were safe (they protected her as well)

Her “brother” (lover?, Martin I have faith in you) killed her rival (Daenerys) to protect her and their family.

She gains the North independence and is named Queen in the North and is the queen with the strongest power love and loyalty (“Ned Stark’s daughter will speak for them, she’s the best they could ask for” and “we didn’t choose you to rule us m’lady but perhaps we should have”)

I truly believe in the books she will end up (or it will be hinted at) with a man she loves or will grow to love.

So, imo, while each and every girl may take something from Cersei and perhaps none of them (fAegon I’m looking at you, sweetie) or only one of them will manage to directly cause her death and defeat in the end Sansa will be the younger, more beautiful Queen because all that Cersei held dear and wanted she managed to achieve and she will be remembered the way Cersei wanted to be remembered, which is ultimately imo the true meaning of Maggy the Frog’s prophecy.

[dreamylyfe-x]

Where do you think Mickey (and for that matter, Ian) would be today if Mickey had never come out?

Wow. I really love this ask. What a question, anon.

This is something of a thought experiment and I’m defining “coming out” as what happens in 4x11 when Mickey tells everyone he's “fucking gay”. So in this world both his father and his wife know he’s had sex with at least one man. 

The world where Mickey never comes out is a really, really hard one for him. And I think it’s a world where Ian never comes back after 3x12. Because I don’t think Ian had it in him to be with Mickey while he was closeted after watching him marry someone else. And I don’t think Mickey had it in HIM to let Ian go after getting him back. Even if he’d let Ian leave that night (4x11), he’d have gotten him back when Ian sobered up and calmed down. They’d have fought and said shitty things to each other, but they were in love and that would have trumped it, for a while. But it would have continued to be a significant problem between them and a source of exploitation for his wife. So that Mickey -- that Mickey comes out. There’s just no path forward for him. Ultimately, he’ll choose to be with Ian. 

(And I do think that would be the choice. Because Ian does have the right to decide he can’t handle watching Mickey live this life he can’t be a part of.) 

I can’t imagine he stays with Svetlana. He’s a terrible husband. he can barely stand to be with her, and as time goes on I think it just becomes more and more clear that marrying her and committing to be a husband and father (at 18!) has cost him something. When Ian comes back and Mickey CAN flee to the Gallagher House, he does. Like he’s desperate for oxygen. I think it’s troubling to consider what happens when he doesn’t have that option. 

I personally don’t feel like Ian and Mickey need each other to be happy. I think part of what’s great about them is that they want each other and they choose each other over almost anything, but they can survive without each other. So I want to make it clear that when I imagine a dark future for Mickey here it isn’t because he’d lose Ian. It’s because living in the closet would have a profound impact on his mental health. Absolutely everything would become more difficult for him. There are lots of indications that Mickey already has some significant mental health challenges. Definitely in the realm of PTSD. Definitely unexamined trauma. And personally, I think there’s some anxiety in there, too. So. Forced to live in circumstances that are oppressive - and suppressive - all those things get worse. A best case scenario for him might be just ending up in jail. Where he’s at least free of a lot of the burdens pretending to be straight has landed on him. I think in this case he’d do better inside than out. But I think he’d be very lonely. And probably pretty self-destructive. Maybe he can find some way to have some kind of relationship, but I don’t think it would work out for him. I think the threat level of that kind of intimacy would just be too high. 

For Ian, I don’t think it’s that different from what we saw on the show. He still has to attend to his mental health. Let’s say he sticks out basic training. He is still going to have a manic episode. Ian’s bipolar isn’t subtle, so he would also probably be diagnosed around the same time -- or even earlier, because he doesn’t have Mickey running interference for him on that front. So in addition to committing identity fraud, being diagnosed bipolar is going to disqualify Ian from military service. From there, anything is possible. Does Ian go home, where he will face pressure to accept his diagnosis and adopt a treatment program? Or does Ian take off with Monica, who will do no such thing? Mickey is the one who brings Ian back to Southside and then he decides to stay, Without that influence, it’s hard to know how long it takes for him to go home, because going home would indicate accepting that he needs help. And we know Monica is where he’s going to be tempted to run and it’s the worst place for him. 

I do think Ian probably figures out he needs Lip and Fiona eventually. I think he makes the decisions he makes on the show -- maybe a little later -- and gets help. And maybe he wanders into a room of hot firefighters again and discovers EMT work. Maybe he doesn’t. At some point, Monica dies, and Ian almost certainly has the same experience of losing the grip he had on managing his illness. Maybe by then he’s met someone who will be better able to help him than the people around in season 8 were. But Ian has a tendency to try to fit into people’s worlds rather than see how they fit into his, and I think it’s unlikely he’ll be with someone who really gets him. I think he’d know that his connection to Mickey was rare, so it would stay raw and painful. And he’d never talk about it. 

And this is so much of what I love about them. Apart, they are complicated men who struggle to connect to people and accept who they are... but they -- forgive the phrase -- get by. In a variety of ways. Together, they can be who they are, completely. They understand each other. They have fun. They have a lightness of spirit they struggle to find apart. They aren’t lonely. They thrive. 

That’s why they’re one of my all-time favourite love stories. 

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

ohh i saw your answer about the sequels of star wars. id love to read you tear through the whole trilogy

Well, I’ve avoided this ask long enough. Part of the reason is this is really a huge topic, far too much for one ask, so I’m going to have to do this at a very high level.

In short, the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy is what one gets when you slap together the goal of selling merchandise and making tons of money, being as risk averse as humanly possible, adding a handful of warring directors with incredibly different visions, and having virtually no imagination when it comes to the imagining and writing of characters.

And we get this beautiful, awful, franchise that for reasons beyond me people seem to actually like (though interestingly, no one seems to like all of it, they may actually like one or two of the films, but no one says all three are actually in any realm of good).

With that, let’s begin.

The Force Awakens

For me this is easily the most tolerable of the sequel trilogy: it’s not great, it’s not terrible. It’s thoroughly watchable, you can be taken along for the movie’s journey and not raise your eyebrows too much at the action and leave the theater feeling this maybe wasn’t a complete waste of your time.

There’s a good reason for that. That reason is called the most blatant form of plagiarism I have ever seen in cinema in my life.

“The Force Awakens” is just “A New Hope” wearing a mustache. Only, it’s one of those cheap mustaches you get from a party store that, if you stare at it too long, just looks like the most false and awful thing you’ve ever seen. The mustache actively makes it worse. “The Force Awakens” is “A New Hope”, but worse.

Seriously, every major character, every major plot point, every major scene I can go directly back to “A New Hope”.

Our story begins when the Resistance, at great cost to our valiant heroes including torture at the hands of the Emperor’s second in command, sends a file out into the wilderness to be received by his people. This file contains plans for the Death Star.

The film then focuses on Luke, er Rey, getting involved in the Resistance, boarding the Death Star, and successfully destroying at the same time even at the lost of a beloved mentor that she just met (trading in Obi-Wan for Han Solo). 

Our evil empire is run by an evil emperor who is so evil he sits in a chair, is served by very Moth Tarkin-esque human storm troopers, and has a second in command who revels in the Darth Vader get up (for no other reason that it makes him feel cool but we’ll get into this).

It’s “A New Hope”. Rey is Luke, Han Solo is Obi-Wan, Poe is a kind of Han Solo, Kylo Ren is Vader, Snoke is Palpatine, Hux is Tarkin, BB-8 is R2-D2, etc.

“But that’s not terrible,” you say, “I liked A New Hope?”

First, it is terrible, it gives a very bad sign of where the sequel trilogy is headed and is just lazy writing. It means that those who produced this franchise were so terrified of taking risks, of possibly ending up mocked as the prequels were, that they will deliver exactly what the original trilogy was. And what’s that? Uh, evil empires, scrappy desert kids, AND MORE DEATH STARS!

That brings us to point number two, the world of Star Wars after the events of the original trilogy shouldn’t support such things. And, if it does, my god what a bleak existence this place has turned into.

The First Order being able to rise easily from the Empire’s remains means that Luke accomplished nothing. Anakin sacrificed himself and had his moment of redemption for nothing. There was no happy ending to the Original Trilogy, our heroes failed miserably, and there is no indication that our new band of heroes can possibly succeed in their place. (More on this as the movies progress).

We now are in a galaxy where this new Republic is so pathetic that Leia doesn’t even give it the time of day and builds her own private army to battle the Empire. The First Order is able to not only rebuild a massive army by raiding villages on many different worlds and stealing children and do so successfully for at least ten years but is able to build a Death Star bigger than any we’ve ever seen before. 

And the movie tries to convince us these are completely new problems, that Luke Skywalker is a hero (remember this is TFA, not TLJ yet), and that somehow these things just sprung up out of nowhere. BUT YEAH, RESISTANCE, WOO!

As for Rey, she’s like... a worse version of Luke. Her only motivation through the entire series is her trauma at being abandoned by her parents. That’s it, there’s nothing else to her, nothing else she ever wants or feels conflicted by. She struggles with the dark side because... the dark side? Genetics? Unclear? She’s absurdly, ridiculously, powerful in a way that’s acknowledged but never that acknowledged (we’ll get into this) and the movies just fail to sell me on her in any way.

Honestly, an easy fix for me would have just been making Rey a much younger character. I could believe a fourteen-year-old having stayed in the desert, scrounging for scraps, believing her parents are coming back every day now. As a twenty-something year old... It starts getting hard to believe she never left. (Also, this gets the benefit of getting rid of Reylo, which is always a plus for me).

As for Kylo Ren, I legitimately walked out of TFA thinking he was supposed to be comic relief. He’s what happens when someone desperately wants a likable, redeemable, villain and we get... Well, as a reminder his opening scene is one of genocide: he pillages and destroys a town with no regret and brutally tortures a man for information. We’re told he’s like this “because evil evil Snoke” and that may well be but throughout the film (and the series) it becomes clear that Kylo Ren’s main motivation is he deseprately wants to be cool. He wants to be a badass like Vader, he dresses in Vader cosplay (either ignoring or not knowing that Vader only dressed like that because his body was completely destroyed), he has these huge temper tantrums and nobody respects him because he’s a toddler in a Vader suit. 

He murders his own father, his parents who (at least in the films themselves) show every willingness to take him back and forgive him what he’s done, so that he can fully embrace his own “evilness”. In other words, he commits patricide to feel cool about himself, then it doesn’t work. 

And the movie series really banks on me feeling conflicted about Kylo Ren or at least wanting him to be redeemed. Granted, the wider internet seems to love him, I just can’t.

Oh, before I forget, the other thing I love about Kylo Ren is that the movies insist he’s a) strong in the Force b) is equal to Rey. Rey consistently beats the shit out of him with 0 training. Kylo Ren has been training in the Force for years. Guys, they are not a Dyad, Rey is far far far stronger than he is and for whatever reason the films never want to admit it. Because I guess we like things coming in pairs now.

But yes, “The Force Awakens”, at a distance not great nor terrible, but a rip off of a movie we’ve already seen that left me going “Welp, the next one’s probably The Empire Strikes Back then I guess we’re getting Ewoks”. I was sort of right on that and sort of wrong.

The Last Jedi

So, JJ Abrams clearly had a vision of where he wanted this sequel trilogy to go. He set up these big questions such as what’s up with Finn, who are Rey’s parents and why was she left on this nowhere planet, will Kylo Ren be redeemed and how, who is Snoke, etc.

Now, I’m not saying these aren’t stupid questions. To be frank, they kind of are. Finn being Force Sensitive was the most inconsequential thing I’ve ever heard of, Rey’s parents should not have been used to drive the plot the way it was, as spoken above I’m clearly team gut Kylo Ren, and that Snoke was actually just Palpatine being the world’s largest cockroach is a beautiful but hilarious answer.

That said, what Johnson did was he decided, “You know what, I’m going to take every trope of Star Wars and completely flip it on its head and absolutely doom the sequel to this movie.”

And by god, he did.

We get a weirdly pointless movie in which Poe, SINGLEHANDEDLY, completely obliterates the Resistance. He first obliterates their bombers by failing to follow command, then goes and bitches about how he’s not put in command when he clearly shows no ability to understand how a military works, actively subverts orders which in turn obliterates the entire Resistance fleet until the only survivors can fit on the Millenium Falcon. They have no ships, no weapons, barely any people, and are ultimately doomed doomed doomed.

We have Finn’s weird subplot with a suddenly introduced character Rose in which the pair aid in Poe’s blowing up the resistance (they send sensitive information using the communication equipment of a guy they do not know, who fully admits to being shady and out for his own skin, and are flabergasted when he betrays them). 

Rose herself is this weirdly sweet person who seems forced into the plot to a) provide a love triangle for Finn and Rey b) provide this forced sunny outlook that I didn’t really need in the film.

We get Rey never really being trained, going into the Cave of Wonders for a few seconds, falling in love with Kylo Ren over weird Force Skype calls (where I did not need to see him shirtless, thank you film) and being horrifically betrayed when Kylo Ren turns out not to be a great guy. Never saw that coming, Rey. 

As for Kylo Ren, well... God, we get Emperor Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren, the Emperor. I’m not even that upset about the anticlimactic murder of Snoke (that was kind of funny, especially in the context of Palpatine going, “Bitch, please, you’re in my chair” immediately in the next film) but just Kylo Ren being emperor. And also that the Resistance only escapes at all because he’s so dumb he made their dumb plans seem smart (i.e. concentrates all his firepower on an illusion for ten minutes while Hux goes, “Emperor, sir, we could actually destroy the Resistance right now.”

Now, you’ll notice I didn’t complain about Luke. A lot of people are upset he became a grumpy, miserable, old hermit who sits around waiting for death. Frankly though, in this universe, that’s exactly where he is. He left “Return of the Jedi” thinking he’d saved the world, he’s resurrected the Jedi Order, and all is well. Only a decade later, his students are all murdered by his nephew, the Empire’s back, and he accomplished nothing. He’s an utter failure as a Jedi (though Luke never realizes he knew jack shit about the Jedi Order and was in way over his head but I guess that’s beyond him). Why shouldn’t he go sit on a rock and wait to die? 

Now, did he have to drink that blue dinosaur milk? Well, I guess it was funny, gross but funny so... Sure, I guess he did. But I do like that he gave Rey 0 training, they had one meditation session and then he whined about how Obi-Wan was such a stupid asshole. And then Rey ran off to be with her boyfriend, who then told her that her parents were gutter trash (which again, was funny, but I don’t think that was supposed to be funny).

Of the characters introduced in the movie, the only one I really liked was the hacker, and it was for the actor/the beautiful way in which he gracefully exited stage left with zero shame going, “You all knew I was going to betray you!” You beautiful man, you.

Rise of the Skywalker

First, when something is called “Rise of the Skywalker” you know you’re in for a rough time.

But anyways, TLJ was filled with a controversy Disney didn’t want (half their audience hated it, half loved it, but at least they sold those penguin dolls) so they desperately get Abrams back. Only, what he clearly wanted from his series has been shot to hell, and now he’s left with Emperor Kylo Ren, a completely obliterated Resistance, a dead Luke, a love interest he never planned to introduce for Finn, Rey’s parental crisis being solved with trash people, Snoke just suddenly dead, Hux planning revenge, and then some.

And so, Abrams goes the brave and hilarious route of shouting “PRETEND THAT LAST MOVIE NEVER HAPPENED”

We open to a fully functioning Resistance (their bomber fleet is back, their fleet period is back, they have all their fully trained personnel). We have Rey getting the Jedi training she needed this time from Leia, who is now a Jedi, because yay feminism rammed down my throat to make the audience feel better. Rose says “It’s cool guys, I don’t want to join the adventure this film, I’m going to stay here and work on robots” so that she can gracefully exit the entire plot. Kylo Ren is demoted from Emperor in two seconds when we discover that a) Snoke was apparently Palpatine b) for unexplained reasons Palpatine’s alive (and I am now convinced that man will never die). Kylo Ren tells Rey at the first opportunity that he lied about her trash parents AND REALLY SHE’S A PALPATINE! THIS WHOLE TIME, REY! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. I’M SUPER SERIAL THIS TIME, REY.

Basically, in the course of an overly long movie, Abrams desperately shoves in everything he was trying to get out of the series, while sobbing, and sobbing even harder when things like Finn being Force Sensitive or Lando having a secret daughter get caught. I actually agree with the Producers on this, by the way, the Finn trying to tell Rey something scenes were weird and indicative of a love triangle but him being Force Sensitive instead... It says a lot that the movies did not change when it was removed, at all. And Lando was just this strange cameo who was in the film to make us feel nostalgic.

And this isn’t even getting to the ridiculous 24 hour time limit (which made me think there should have been some video game style clock in the corner letting us know when Dawn of the Third Day is coming), Palpatine’s other secret army on a secret Sith planet that can be easily taken down by taking out one navigation tower, Rey’s hilarious struggle with the dark side in which she has a vision of herself in a cape hissing, Kylo Ren’s hilarious redemption in which the movie in the form of Leia and Han Solo says, “Alright, Ben, it’s time to stop being evil” and he says “okay”, the fight with Palpatine in which I’m supposed to believe he dies for reals because... I have no idea why I’m supposed to believe he’s dead. The Reylo, god the Reylo, and Kylo Ren’s tragic, hilarious, death.

And then, of course, the ending where Rey decides she’s a Skywalker now.

I actually did laugh all the way through “Rise of the Skywalker”, you can’t not, I mean it’s a hilariously awful movie. The only thing that might have made it more hilarious was if we actually did get those Ewoks.

TL;DR

They’re all bad movies, if you want more specifics than this, you’re just going to have to ask me questions.

[mx-barnes]

Soulmate au Pt.8

Summary: When you turn 18 you get the name of a song on your wrist. That is the song you and your soulmate share. It is also how you can communicate with them.

Word Count: 822

Warnings: making out, I guess kinda commitment talk sorta, fluff, insecure Bucky. I think that’s it.

A/n: The quote at the end I found online it didn’t have a name attached to it if you know who/where it is from lmk. Sorry, this is so short and this is the end. Maybe I might make an epilogue.

Chapter 7 Masterlist

You had rushed out of his apartment so quickly his thoughts immediately went to you regretted every second of last night. How could that be possible you were made for each other?

Bucky didn’t trust much but he was quickly falling in love with you which scared him to no end. Dr.Raynor was going to have a hay day. The man she claimed didn’t have much of social life (besides Yori) was falling in love.

You were different he felt like he could open up to you about his past but he was also scared to hurt you. You were this beautiful person. Everything thing about you screamed beautiful. Your skin tone complimented your eyes perfectly. Your smile lit up a room which then would bring a small smile from him. You were kind, generous, smart, and funny. He knew this for the time he spent with you in the dream realm but now that he had you he never wanted to let go.

<~>

Work was stressful. Stark Industries always moved fast but today was just extra stressful. You wanted to be at home with Bucky. You and him and finally met and now you had to work. It was stupid.

After what felt like forever your shift had ended and you were able to back home. But you didn’t want to go home you want to head over to a Bucky’s apartment. You wanted to go over to his apartment and sit and watch an old cheesy movie with him. You wanted to sit and cuddle with him for as long as he’d let you. So that’s what you did.

You didn’t really mean to drive to Bucky’s apartment. Technically you did but not at the same time. You didn’t want to seem clingy but getting kidnapped and then almost dying has some effect on your attachment level.

<~>

Bucky had been sitting in his living room watching tv even he heard his doorbell ring. He walked up to it looked through the peephole that’s when he saw you. He immediately opened the door.

“Hey, I thought you weren’t going to come back after this morning.”

“No. Oh god no James I love you. I just had work and it’s at Stark Industries so you know they never stopped especially after Tony’s death. I am sorry can I stay here tonight. I totally get it if yo-“ you rambled

“I would love nothing more than you to stay the night,” Bucky affirmed.

“Really?” You question feeling flush all of the sudden.

“Yeah really.” Opening up his door more to you and instead of walking through it you tackle him, catching him off guard and making him fall flat onto the ground.

You lightly kiss him. He reciprocates but when you pull away he pulls you back in for another mind-blowing kiss. You two sort of roll so you are now on your back. Distantly you hear the door slam shut as Bucky starts grounding his hips into yours. You moan slightly allowing Bucky to slip his tongue into your mouth. Finally pulling back after what feels like hours to your lungs but in reality, was probably only a couple of minutes.

You wanted more you craved more than just a physical relationship with him. You had had physical relationships before and they never seemed to work out. You wanted this to work. “Bucky let’s go on a date.”

“What?”

“A date. I mean like you are me out to your favorite restaurant. While I dress up real pretty, you pick me up at seven o clock sharp. Maybe bring me flowers open the car door for me. We eat but I barely touch anything hoping not to embarrass myself. Then you drive me back to my house lead me up to the doorstep say ‘this was nice. I’ll call you.’ We part ways not before you leave without a kiss. Maybe I invite you inside for tea or something. All I know is I want a date. A single date with you. I want the stolen kisses I want the romance that authors wrote about in books. I want the movie romance I want to sweep off my feet like they did in the 30s. I just want you,” you ramble on.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry I can’t just have another physical-wait yes. Just like that yes.”

“Just like that yes.”

You almost fainted. Maybe this would work maybe your heart wouldn’t be crushed by the man you had longed to meet. Maybe you had been able to love and not fear the worst.

What was that quote “In one lifetime you will love many times but one love will burn your soul forever.”

Bucky was that love and you know that. You could feel in your soul from the very beginning it was a long ride to get here but know you’re here and you couldn’t be happier.

Taglist:

@oceanmermaidwitch @navs-bhat

[fedonciadale]

Jamie killing another regal person is so redundant I wonder why readers don't see it. There's so much potential with this story, and the crimes people commit, it's the whys that matter and the "who's to benefit" from them, and where do the PoV's and the readers draw the line. There's people waiting to see Jamie kill/die with, Cersei, but Tyrion's a white angel who's just had a bad day. Jamie's PoV is so interesting to me, I can't wait to see what Martin does with him.

Hi there!

Yes! Actually I've sort of liked the character since the beginning!

I laughed so hard when Jaime jokes about mislaying his sword in AGOT and I squealed when I saw that he became a POV in ASOS.

The fandom is so devided on Jaime! Is he on a redemption arc or not? Is he free of Cersei or not? What exactly are his feelings for Brienne?

I am going to state something controversial here. I think Jaime is on a redemption arc or at least at the very beginning of one. If it actually develops into one remains to be seen.

Most people argue that he is not on a redemption arc because he does not feel remorse. Not for shoving Bran out of the window, not for sleeping with Cersei. He's still butthurt that nobody praises him for killing Aerys. And that is all correct.

He doesn't even distance himself from his father : like all the Lannister kids he has huge daddy issues and he is in a competition with Tyrion and Cersei who is the most like Tywin. And the Tywin Lannister legacy is a toxic legacy.

But...

I think that Jaime is completely mistaken about what Tywin did. He thinks that Tywin's goal was peace, that his methods were harsh but that his goal was that. And this is what Jaime tries in the Riverlands. He has no qualms about threatening people (I just say trebuchet!) but what he wants is peace in the Riverlands before winter is upon them.

Now, a good goal does not make someone a good person, especially not when they use questionable methods but I think there is at least a tiny chance that Jaime at some point realises what exactly his father's legacy means. And that will be interesting!

People also argue that Jaime is not free of Cersei, that they both are trapped in a relationship that poisons them both and that they are both equally guilty. And I agree. Jaime was not drawn into that by evil Cersei!

What I find is interesting though, that for all his jealousy, for all his anger and hurt narcism that Cersei betrayed him, for all his fantasies of punishing her, he does not do anything about it. We don't see him riding off to KL to kill Cersei. He doesn't kill Lancel either. Instead he stays in the Riverlands to solve the Brackwood and Bracken problem.

Which leads me to Brienne. It is pretty clear that whatever his feelings for Brienne she is the embodiment of chivalry for him. And Jaime's decisions are actually influenced by what he thinks Brienne might do or think.

So, to me Jaime's arc has the potential for redemption, he could go down that lane if he begins to feel remorse, if he understands how horrible Tywin was, if he finds his way to true chivalry.

It could also remain in the realm of a big 'what if' and Jaime might never change. He might return to Cersei and die with her.

I think that Jaime's arc is the one with the most potential to go in different directions.

And that is indeed interesting. Cersei and Tyrion will stay villains. Tyrion is spiralling downwards and Cersei is interestingly the only child of Tywin who sees him for the ruthless 'might makes right' person he was.

Before season 8 aired I was quite sure that Jaime would be the one to survive atoning for his sins for the rest of his life. He would make much more sense than Tyrion. But Tyrion as Hand is my biggest problem with the show ending anyway!

Thanks for the ask!