#Because if they did her redemption arc then they wouldn't have had enough time to develop

[theprinceandthewitch]

So I've been thinking about this for a hot minute now and... I still think Amity's insecurities around inadequacy are going to be brought up even if they didn't come up in all the other episodes featuring their relationship (besides Eclipse Lake).

Partly because Hunter is involved in this issue... but mostly it's because:

It wasn't the right time for Luz to learn her lesson from Amity. She's going to learn it in this season, as it is the third act of the story. This is the Act where the protagonist learns their "truth" and is forever changed by it. They didn't really delve into Amity's insecurities because it wasn't the right time to do so. Bringing up her insecurities will cause conflict between her and Luz - which I believe they have been saving for this season.

[orchidego]

ao3 has taken me places I wouldn't even go to with a g*n

smoking on that dramione pack

( @ailenach asked me for a dramione rec list so that's what this post is, anyone else read at your own risk )

Compiler’s note - skip down to the list if you don’t need to know why/what exactly I like in fic!

aka my dramione ethos: The most compelling dynamic in a ship, for me, is when it comprises of two people giving each other the strength to be the people they need to be.

Before he can be loved, Draco must be redeemed. In a way, he’s awfully bad at being a blood supremacist (lacking real conviction). Draco’s Slytherin morality, at least as a teen, compels him only in the direction of protecting and preserving himself and his own; he doesn’t seem to have a morality outside of this. Everything else is borrowed from his fear and desire to conform to his loved ones’s expectations. Contrast with Hermione, who has an outsized sense of morality—she knows exactly what is good and right, and she throws herself into her causes with self-righteous conviction, headstrong and beautifully off-putting.

Draco, the boy who belonged everywhere, watched his fragile worldview turn to ash and became unmoored. Hermione, the girl who belonged nowhere, bent the world towards her through obstinate radiant willpower, and established herself. Two people who could, maybe, find a home in each other.

A Draco in love with Hermione might wrap his morality around her courage, might steady himself while in the service of her. A Hermione in love with Draco might be preserved by him, may be bolstered against burning out or being misunderstood or unseen. They’re both industrious with their respective tasks (she researches! he toils!), which lends itself to them having intellectual parity. They’re both kind of intense. Then there’s the general enemies to lovers appeal, the idea that at no point in time were these two characters ever indifferent towards each other. The banter potential alone…!

So this is some of the kind of exploration I like in fic, pressed in many different tones; ff is especially unique in that we can play around with the elements (AUs, contrived circumstances, tonal shifts, narrative beats) and be more experimental because the weight of canon grounds it.

My rec list:

Before I truly begin, I feel like I have to comment on it: I did ultimately enjoy Manacled. A "Voldemort wins" fic with a Handsmaid Tale twist; it has compelling structure, with a D/Hr dynamic suited to my tastes and what I find interesting about the characters. However, it's dark (mind the tags) and I’m still not certain if the content was handled as effectively as the author meant it to be, and so I don't think it's a universal recommendation despite its staggering popularity. If you do want to read this I would recommend downloading it because she's going to delete it off ao3 once the novelization of it comes out next year.

My quintessential dramione recommendation is, of course, The Disappearances of Draco Malfoy. It's a full Deathly Hallows rewrite where Draco goes Horcrux hunting with the trio and as far as I'm concerned, it's canon. Unlike every other fic on my list, I would recommend this to everyone. Written very closely in style to the books, I think it has universal appeal and it’s the perfect jumping off point for the pairing while being convincing. Sometimes I would find myself wishing that this was the direction the books had taken. PG-13, in terms of violence and sexual content, which I find significant enough to bring up since there’s usually a lot of sex in popular ff.

My favorite humor-based rec: Bad Omens. Written in the vein of Terry Pratchett. I would describe this as a "star-crossed morons" kind of story. It's literally perfect.

Remain Nameless. Caveat that this sort of trailed off for me once the central tension with the relationship was resolved but I think in terms of an adult redemption arc it was very sweetly done. Sometimes achingly tender.

The Fallout is probably my favorite “extended wartime” fic of all time. The intimacy in this makes me want to kms, in a good way. I'm linking to a downloadable pdf here since it's been removed off other sites.

Love in The Time of Zombie Apocalypse. Zombie outbreak AU. Strays from canon characterization but. Plot goes crazy. Complex character work. Hooked me all the way through.

Thirteenth Night. Post-war, Hermione assigned to monitor a memory-charmed Draco. Less epic than a lot of the other recs on this list because the scope of the world is small, but it’s quietly good.

This is just my plug for anything PacificRimbaud has ever written, but particularly the historical rom com Love and Other Historical Accidents, the raunchy and funny One and Done, and the tender romantic one-shot Les Pelerins.

BLOODY, SLUTTY, AND PATHETIC. Listen to me. Listen to me. The title sort of explains the tone and it carries entirely throughout. I am obsessed with this version of Draco. All men should be bloody slutty and pathetic. Post-war, ministry employee Hermione, marriage law AU (which tbh I don't tend to love usually, so this really is exceptional).

She Whom He Harbors. Ok before you read the summary/tags and judge me, yes, this is basically a "fuck or die" fic. I figured I needed to make the rec in case this is a vibe anyone is interested in pursuing. But it's not just gratuitous smut, I swear, there's a compelling plot here. Lot of orgasms. But there is a plot.

Brand New World. Epic in scope. Diverges in plot while they're still at Hogwarts. Great Draco redemption arc (which is important to me!)

The Gloriana Set. ThebeMoon is my personal queen of Hogwarts Eighth Year fics. I would also rec The Darkwood Wand, by the same author. Both very fun reads.

Things Without Remedy. Time travel! Adore the serious relationship build in this one.

Tea & Necromancy. Sort of an experimental tone. Equal parts funny and morbid.

Sucker Punch. Also would classify this as experimental; you'll know if you jive with the writing within a few paragraphs.

Choice and Chance. Absolutely delicious plot divergence at the point of Hermione's torture at Malfoy Manor. Involves multiverse elements.

Beyond Recall or Desire. If you like soulmate bonds!

Malfoy Shrugged. On the shorter side; just a great two-shot.

Tromp as Writ. While I'm recommending perfect one-shots.

Mindbound. This author has a series of very short works based on fairy tales. This one is my favorite but I'd recommend the others too.

Past / Present / Future. Barbara Kruger AND a perfect adult Draco characterization? J’adore.

My very last recommendation is something that is so important to me, but I'm separating it like this because it's a WIP whereas all the others are completed fics. Please don't let that deter you, if at all interested.

Lionheart. !!!!

What can I say about Lionheart, except that its author somehow resides in my brain and created something for me, specifically? I've really so rarely read fic that is so perfectly balanced in dialogue, character understanding, narrative arc, plotting, action—when I read this, I feel like how I felt at 11, reading Harry Potter. For real. It's a whole series rewrite, truly epic in scope, asking the question: what if Draco had been sorted into Gryffindor? Currently the storyline is complete as to book four, partially through book five, and being updated. The character work is especially stunning to me. This is the sweetest slowburn friendship-to-lovers of my dreams; obviously heavy on the friendship arc since we're not all the way through, and yet I find that my emotional investment in this is so heightened it doesn't even matter to me. I want to read thousands of words of this (luckily, it's already got 600k+ of those). Thank you greenTeacup, for my life.

I obviously have read more than this so if there are any specific tropes/interests/limitations you want a rec for, I'm open to give an opinion. Also I have my eye on a few fics that I just haven't read yet, so alas, this list is not perfectly complete. The next thing I want to read....Détraquée....

[litnerdwrites]

It's interesting how Nesta had to apologise for something she wasn't even in the wrong of doing while Rhys, who overreacted by threatening to kill her (for a mistake he made) and chasing her out of the city, did not have to. Especially, after it was canonically established by Feyre herself that he did not have the right to do that..

And for someone who claims to write about badass female mcs who crush patriarchy and choose the course of their own lives, shouldn't an apology scene for something in which a female's right to information on her own body was undermined be a fundamental part of the book?

I mean, she could add a bonus chapter about the characters in question fucking to make babies but had to keep the apology off-page? Weird.

The only somewhat sufferable part of the book was the scenes with the Valkyries and the smut (if you ignore the poor timing).

I don't know if it's my eldest daughter syndrome acting up but I feel strongly about this.

I agree completely. I won't deny that Nesta has some things to apologies for, but so does Rhysand, and Feyre and Mor. I'd even argue that the things the IC put her through negate the need for her to apologies, or at least makes it a little less urgent/important than the apologies she's owed. This is mostly due to the fact that Nesta's so-called crimes amount to a bad attitude (most on page examples of which are pretty understandable to me), and issues she had with Feyre in childhood. Meanwhile, the IC's actions are immature and ignorant at best, and extremely abusive at worst.

Honestly, I don't think any of them, much less Rhysand, see what they did as a mistake. If any of them did, they wouldn't have made her walk through those woods. Feyre would've demanded Nesta be brought back otherwise, but she didn't.

As for Rhysand, honestly the part where he hugged Nesta gave me ick. Especially when Nesta said he'd been acting like a brother the whole time because he hadn't. He abused her. He broke her down. He only showed any semblance of decency (even then it wasn't much) when she did something to benefit him.

Offering pity jobs for somebody else's sake without taking into account Nesta's strengths or passions into account isn't what a brother, or anybody who cares for her, would do. Staring at her like a circus attraction when she enters the room isn't something a brother would do. Forcing her to social events just to ignore her isn't something a brother would do. Financially abusing her, refusing to give her a salary for her work during the war, along with her inheritance, is not something a brother would do. Not caring for her wellbeing beyond how her sister feel's is not something a brother could do. I could go on.

I think, at the end of the day, this amounts to a simple fact. SJM clearly doesn't see anything wrong with the things she writes and narrative she creates. No matter how you argue that ACOSF is a healing story, not a redemption story, it doesn't matter. Through analysing the sext, the author clearly shows how she feels about Nesta. Looking at what she says about the book, the author clearly has little understanding of mental health, and hasn't done enough research on it to be able to write a healing arc that isn't straight up abuse/torture (seriously, the bar is in the crust of the earth).

ACOSF could've been the best book in the series. All of the material, the concepts, the potential was there. Nesta's story was set up in ACOFS, and perhaps I wouldn't have minded the actions of the IC as much (from a literary perspective anyway) if they had been acknowledged as wrong and the IC apologised. I don't think anyone would've minded the locked in the HOW plot either, if, at some point, the characters acknowledge how abusive it was. If the narrative itself acknowledged how messed up it was, and did something about it.

If Cassian apologised for abandoning her after the war, Cassian especially. If Feyre apologised for not trying to reach out in a way that Nesta was comfortable with. If Elain apologised for not being there for Nesta the way Nesta was for her. If Mor apologised for, intentionally or not, isolating Nesta from the rest of the court. If Amren apologised for her comments. If Rhys apologised for sticking his nose where it didn't belong.

Rhys apologising for the hike, or threatening to kill her would mean nothing because both he and the narrative don't see anything wrong with his treatment of her. If he did, then the forced training/library/stuck in the how part would've ended half way through the book.

The part that infuriates me the most, however, is that they don't see their wrong doings at all. They still think they're doing the right thing and that they know everything. It's messed up.

[ara270904]

I don't care about the whole apple discourse drama. I'm so Apple neutral, I really don't care about her. Like Dexter, I don't really care about him I used to like his doll because brushable hair and his coat.

And the neck of the only Apple White doll I had was broken and you had to position her head in a specific way so that her head wouldn't sag and her head would be on her shoulders like a no neck Apple. It was funny

I don't even know what's really going on in the fandom or what mess they're supposed to bring because I'm a little bit into my MLP obsession.

I honestly think Apple is one of those characters where you have to say, yes, she did all these bad, selfish things, but she also did these good things.

And even if the bad things outweighed the good you could say, I still love her and even though she might deserve hate, a lot of people like villains so what's the problem?

Apple is probably not a defensible character, meaning she can't be easily defended because I don't think you can come up with a good defense without using silly excuses and that's fine! She was selfish? Yes, and like I said I'm neutral about her but at the same time I like her, I never was to Apple hater.

Sometimes I just think you should try to love a character for who they are, without just defending them: Yes she has this million flaws maybe but I like it anyway. Like she did bad things but there's something called redemption arc too! This topic would be interesting if I had paid enough attention to it.

[archduchessgortash]

Gortash week day 7: Suffer

This is a preview of part 2 of Love Is A Tyrant, my AU Durgetash Gortash redemption arc fic.

This scene is the Gortash & Orin confrontation after she attacks Durge, plus some after the changeling sods off.

The 3rd of Nightal, 1491 DR

Enver Gortash was in the Steel Watch Foundry, sitting in an office, pondering what he should have for lunch as he checked reports on Watcher performance, determining where to best allocate the massive funds that had been approved to aid construction of his army of automatons, when a red-haired gnome rapped on the half open door.

'What is it?’ He said in his gruff, authoritative voice.

‘A visitor, Director Gortash, sir,’ the gnome said nervously. ‘She's calling herself the… Chosen of Bhaal?’

‘Oh!’ He replied more cheerily, ‘Send her in… please.’ Then he pondered quietly to himself, ‘Why not just give her name?’

‘Through there,’ the gnome said meekly, then scampered away, terrified. The newly appointed lord frowned at the tone in his employee's voice.

Without looking up, Gortash asked, hearing slightly odd-sounding footsteps behind him, ‘Happy as I am that you're home early, D, why did you come to the Foundry? Did you miss me that much?’ His flirtatious grin vanished as he looked over his shoulder and saw Orin standing there, both hands behind her back, silent as the grave, smiling at him like a mad parody of a harlequin.

Standing bolt upright and turning to face her, he demanded, ‘Orin?! What the Hells are you doing here? And why are you calling yourself the Chosen? Where's D?’

Still silent, her black lips curled in a devious grin, she took her right hand from behind her back, showing him the red dagger, its stone glowing faintly. ‘Because I am the Chosen. The mantle has passed,’ she declared, still grinning.

‘Where is she?!’ He roared, taking an angry step toward her, fists clenched hard enough that the clawed fingertips of his gauntlet and rings pierced the skin of his palms.

Unthreatened, Orin raised her brows in mock sympathy and asked, ‘Did the toy get attached to his little mommy? How deliciously tragic!’ What had she done?!

She continued, holding the blade in front of her, ‘The pact between our gods stands. I'll be replacing my unworthy bloodkin,’ she announced, then wrinkled her nose as she looked him up and down, adding, ‘though not in every way. I shall be the pure, almighty voice of Bhaal in your ears now, and I require no trinkets.’ 

Taking her other hand from behind her back, she then opened it, a heart-shaped locket dangling from her fingers. He immediately snatched it from her hand, eyes wide with fury, less than an arm's length between them. Her dagger was instantly under his chin, its point a hair's breadth from his throat.

Gortash didn't blink as he vowed, ‘Tell me where she is RIGHT NOW! Or pact or no pact, I will kill you where you stand.’ He tapped her hip with what he held in his left hand at the same time as he put the piece of jewelry into his pocket to free up the other hand. Her eyes darted down for a second, growing a bit wider as she saw the small but very powerful explosive he held in a hand that slowly dripped blood onto the stone floor with a faint slapping noise. 

‘You wouldn't,’ she dared, fighting the urge to murder that flooded her at the scent of his blood, ‘you'll kill us both with that thing.’

‘Maybe…’ he said, his dark eyes unreadable to the changeling. ‘You'll be just as dead.’ Orin backed down, taking the point of the blade away from his neck. 

Gortash didn't move. In a lower, more threatening tone than Orin had ever heard from him, he said, ‘Answer or die. Your choice.’ As she attempted to step back, he grabbed her by the throat, the claws of the gauntlet requiring only the slightest bit more pressure to open her veins. Her dagger was back in its former position, lighting quick, her other hand on his wrist, fighting against the one at her throat, but she couldn't move it. 

‘Last chance, Orin,’ he said as he scratched the metal casing of the bomb with the fingertip ring on his third finger, creating a spark that lit the fuse. It was lined with flint for that specific purpose.

‘I don't know,’ she admitted through clenched teeth as the fuse sizzled. ‘I humiliated her… she was alive when I left her and gone when I returned.’ Gortash shoved her away from him and twisted the fuse off the bomb as he scrambled to organize his thoughts amid the panic that threatened to rise.

Rubbing her throat as she stumbled backward, Orin said, ‘She probably ran off with her tail between her legs. A disgraced scion has no place among loyal Bhaalists. You've more backbone than I thought, toy. Try that again, and I'll flense the flesh from your bones… without killing you.’

‘Get out!’ He bellowed as he pointed to the exit, splattering a line of blood onto the floor.

Orin narrowed her eyes at him, then sauntered out of the office, slamming the door on the way out.

Once she was gone, Gortash turned, screamed in rage, and punched a hole in a wooden crate near the door. Breathing heavily, he stumbled backward, letting the fuse-less bomb drop to the floor as his back hit the wall. He took out the locket and held it in his bloody hands, noting the broken clasp. He opened it, holding his breath, then he looked inside, winced, and closed it. He banged the back of his head against the wall and slid down it until he was sitting on the floor. 

As he held the locket to his chest, he said, ‘Where are you?’ A few tears squeezed out of the corners of his eyes. 

After a few moments, he got up, straightened his vest, careful not to get blood on it, and walked to a water barrel, pried the top off, and filled a bucket. His every movement was deliberate, narrowing his perception down to only the thought of the next action in the sequence. No deviation, no branching ideas. Every step was the only thing happening. Nothing else was real. He couldn't let his mind wander.

He placed the bucket on a crate and dipped his hands and the locket into it, gently rubbing his blood away from the intricate designs he'd spent weeks crafting. Surrounding the gemstone, non-flowering wisteria vines climbed from the bottom, shaped from strings of gold he had smelted, twisted, and tapped into leaves. The vines flowered at the sides of the heart, their blooms the most technically difficult part of the locket's construction, because they were so tiny. Carved flames licked the tops of each side of the heart. He made sure every detail was clean.

Wisteria couldn't flower without enough light, but it was strong and hardy; it could survive the dark and the dead of winter. In the light, it became one of the most beautiful flowers he'd ever seen. She wasn't dead. Whatever Orin had done, she wasn't dead… was she?

Gortash shook his head, pushing the thought away. He found a cloth on a small cabinet, dried his hands with it, and carefully blotted the locket. Then he tucked away his lover's keepsake in a pouch on his hip. 

He wiped his face with the cleanest part of the cloth, and walked slowly to a liquor cabinet next to the desk. He poured a glass of whiskey and drank it. Then another. And another. Then he drank straight from the bottle, until it was empty. It had started out half-full. Right before he left the office, he stopped short as he remembered. He went back to the cabinet, poured a glass of water and drank it. For her. 

As he exited the Foundry, Gortash huddled into his coat, grateful he'd brought a scarf that morning. It was nearly Highsun, the light a blinding winter bright, yet it was still cold enough that he could see his breath. He waited anxiously for the Flaming Fist mercenary that patrolled outside to see him. The merc had short brown hair and a long scar on his left cheek. He approached, glancing about, and said gruffly, ‘Afternoon, sir. Can I help with something?’

‘You can indeed,’ Gortash replied, his false cheerful tone working on the merc, who smiled. ‘You Fist mercs gather somewhere and relax, drink, and make merry so to speak, don't you?’

‘We do,’ the merc agreed skeptically, rubbing his cold hands together.

‘Not everyone in these circles is part of the Fist, are they?’ he ventured, though he knew the answer already, having bribed dozens of them over the years.

‘That's right,’ the Fist replied, then breathed on his hands to warm them before rubbing them together again.

‘I need someone found,’ the inventor said. ‘I'm looking to hire someone smart, brave, resilient, and discreet for this task. They will need to travel outside Baldur's Gate.’ He pulled a small leather notebook and a pencil from the inside pocket of his coat. Careful to keep his palms from being seen or touching the paper, as they still oozed blood, he wrote in very precise script, then carefully tore the paper from the notebook and offered it to the merc, saying, ‘Send anyone capable to this address.’ 

Once the merc took it, Gortash held up a pouch that clinked with coins. ‘This is for spreading the word. You'll get another just like it once I hire someone for the job. What's your name?’

‘Kurtz, sir,’ he replied, taking the gold.

‘Should they be successful, you'll get ten times that,’ he assured, emphasizing the increase with a hand gesture.

‘What’ll they get?’ Kurtz asked, raising an eyebrow.

‘They will be very well compensated,’ he answered, folding his hands together in front of his body.

‘I'd like to be very well compensated,’ the merc said with a smile. ‘Why not hire me for the job?’

‘Because you let the second most prolific murderer in the city into my Foundry without noticing a single thing amiss,’ Gortash replied flatly with a humorless smile, as Kurtz's eyes widened in alarm, ‘You're not observant enough for this job. Send me someone who is, and you'll be well paid for minimal effort. It's what you Fist do best, isn't it?’

Kurtz narrowed his eyes at the insult.

‘Come now, you are what you are, and you have your uses,’ Gortash said patronizingly, tilting his head to one side. ‘Pretending to be otherwise is unseemly… and unnecessary. Do as I've asked or return the gold. Simple enough.’

‘I could keep the gold and do nothing. For the disrespect,’ he smirked as he said it, his hand near his sword.

‘You could indeed. You can't swim, can you, Kurtz?’ Gortash asked, meeting the merc's eyes. His smirk wilted. ‘You stay further from the water than any other Fist who patrols down here, and you gave it a nervous glance as you approached me. The water is quite deep below this section of the pier. Scale armor makes for wonderful protection… but it is terribly heavy, isn't it?’ 

He took a step toward Kurtz, who swallowed hard but held his ground. ‘I don't care about one hundred gold, but I do care about respect. Respect is earned by one's actions. It is not given freely because a person has a title given to any idiot who can hold a sword properly. If the Flaming Fist truly lived up to what Ulder Ravengard thinks they do, speaking the truth to one of their number would never be considered disrespectful. Either you can rescind your erroneous comments about disrespect, or you are calling a War Counselor a liar to his face. Choose wisely.’

‘Apologies, s-sir,’ he stammered. ‘R-rescinded. What is… your n-name?’

‘Lord Enver Gortash.’

‘Gods!’ the merc exclaimed, his eyes wide. His whole demeanor changed. ‘Why didn't you say that straightaway? It's done, sir. I know at least three who could manage it. I'll ask them to come round tomorrow?’

‘The sooner, the better.’

‘Tonight then, sir?’ The sudden desperation to please him in the merc's tone was a change he might have relished once. Today, it inspired mild disgust.

‘Perfect,’ Gortash said with all the false pleasure the irrelevants expected from him. ‘You should learn to swim, Kurtz, as soon as possible,’ he advised. Then he glanced over the merc’s shoulder and added, ‘Come along, Silence.’

A shorter than usual Steel Watcher painted solid black, with none of the ornate details of the ones being manufactured suddenly became visible behind Kurtz. Instead of the usual weapons, the automaton had very long, sharp claws, five on the hands of its longest set of arms, though it had six arms in total. Among its other unique qualities, the construct had some semblance of a face, though metal and lacking any expression. Its sudden appearance so startled the merc that he lost his balance and teetered near the edge of the boardwalk. 

Gortash caught him by his collar and pulled him back from the edge. ‘I’m serious,’ he reiterated, ‘learn to swim.’

Kurtz nodded vigorously, backing away from the edge, a smear of the lord's blood on his armor.

As Gortash walked away from the Foundry, he said, ‘I may need you to shadow me indefinitely, my friend.’

‘Yes, sir. D is usually at your side, isn't she?’ they asked.

‘She is… unavoidably… delayed.’ He tried and failed to keep the emotion from coming through in his voice.

‘Understood,’ Silence stated, then commented, ‘Your hands are bleeding, sir.’ 

‘I know,’ he replied, and kept walking, only an occasional drop of blood falling to the wooden planks of the boardwalk. It was slowing. 

‘May I suggest you imbibe a healing potion?’ they asked, following as noiselessly as their name indicated.

‘Not until it stops hurting,’ he replied quietly.

‘Will the potion not accomplish that?’ the automaton asked.

‘It will.’

‘Ah,’ Silence paused, then inquired, ‘Shall I re-engage stealth?’

Gortash nodded. The agile, spider-like Steel Watcher vanished.

‘Shall we communicate non-verbally, sir?’ Silence asked.

‘If you like.’

‘Has Rusty reported back?’ they inquired.

‘No. Either she's still out of range, or… If Orin got to D… I can't think about… either of them. I have to plan.’

Silence wondered whether or not their master knew that when he used D's name telepathically, it came to them as a ragged, howling scream, a blissful whisper, and an almost incoherent sob all at once.

[peachysunrize]

Sorry to come here to rant but I love your blog and I don't know where else to talk about this. I saw the leaks for the finale because some asshole didn't tag them as spoilers and now I'm fucking shaking. I hate the writers with all my heart, why did they have to do this? I wish I had known sooner that the show was going to be about Condal's obsession with the Blacks and I wouldn't have wasted my time watching this second season. The complete character assassination of all the Greens because it wasn't enough to make them look like villains, they also had to make them weak and pathetic and incompetent. What did they do to my girl Alicent? What was the point of Alicole apart from making Alicent feel guilty for having consensual sex once in her life? Aegon the realm delight? Is this a joke? And I can't even think about what they did to Aemond. They completely butchered his character because they saw how popular he was becoming and it would have taken the spotlight off the precious Blacks. I wish they had made him a full villain from the beginning, Ewan would have shined in the role anyway. Instead they built a multi-faceted character, showed us his trauma, and for what? Aemond acting this way towards his sister and mother is unrecognizable not only from s01 but also from the beginning of this one. But hey, if we're lucky we'll get another Daemyra incest scene because apparently groomer Daemon of all people deserves a redemption arc. In the meantime the Greens have been humiliated and shamed in every way possible. I’m crying and I don’t know what to do

Oh my love please don’t cry i love you so much this show doesn’t deserve anything especially your tears🫂🫂🫂🫂🩷🩷😭😭😭😭

I’m gonna answer under the cut<3333

LEAKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

This season’s mission was to villainize the Greens as much as possible, especially Aemond because he got INSANELY popular in such a short notice and Ryan couldn’t have that.

This is probably the worst leaks we’ve ever gotten for all the greens: Aemond being this bad villain who doesn’t care about anyone at this point, Aegon the realm’s delight and thinking about his fucking cock, Alicent begging Rhaenyra and saying Aegon will bend the knee after having his son killed, Helaena being a subject to everyone’s unnecessary cruelty…

This is horrible writing with no regards that this series should be AN ADAPTATION. But it’s far from anything GRRM has written in F&B…

[ladyloveandjustice]

Hello fellow sailor moon I just found your blog and in quite intrigued and figured you might find this question interesting

So I was watching Sailor Stars episode 7, and I realised that the sailor moon in the anime has something of a no kill rule in the anime while the in manga she seems pretty OK to kill most of her foes

In the anime, she spears a lot of her villains with the exception of Queen Beryl and pharoh 90, so I was wondering, do you think the sailor moon should have a no kill rule

Personally, I'm not a fan of her killing in the manga, considering she's meant to be the representation of love, so I'm kinda glad the 90s anime gave her the no kill rule

But in your detailed opinion do you think sailor moon should have a no kill rule?

(ftr i think manga Sailor Moon would also have saved an innocent civilian she knew had been transformed into a monster against her will. She refused to kill Hotaru, after all)

The no kill rule is kind of a weird thing thing to contemplate because it's like, does killing the monsters violate her supposed no kill rule? Sure, they're technically made of evil magic or objects or whatever but they're all sentient, and in later seasons they start having distinct personalities (the doorknob one who was bad at fighting, the jump rope girl who wanted friends, ect) but she never tries to talk them out of their behavior the way she would a human foe. It's kind of a convention of the genre.

I think Sailor Moon killing most of her enemies quickly was just a convention of how the manga had to work--Naoko only had twelve chapters and she was told to design seven or more villains to cover a 45 episode season and now she has to fit them in a short space somehow... so having them one shotted is really the only way to go about it. She didn't have time do do stuff like redemption arcs for villains, while the anime did.

It's also notable that Usagi regrets this even at the end of the manga. She realizes that these dark magic abominations were not something seperate from her or the rest of humanity, but lonely beings just like herself. And she grows tired of killing, because with all her loved ones gone there's nothing left to fight for.

As for my ideal, I prefer a mix. The Usagi who offers a hand to everyone, who sincerely believes anyone can change and should be given a chance... but if they've rejected that hand, and even worse, hurt/killed her friends, she'd do what needed to be done to protect the world, with a very heavy heart. She will never, ever give up on anyone if there's even a glimmer of a chance they would change their ways, but she's not stupid enough to die instead of defend.

I do thing the end of the anime where she forgave Galaxia for killing her friends and just totally let her off the hook- without even knowing if Galaxia would bring them back--was a bit too much in the other direction, personally. I wanted to see more anger from her, and i believe she WOULD normally have been very angry (like she was in the manga) if the writers hadn't decided she must be as saint like as possible in those episodes. I'm fine with her reaching out to Galaxia and helping her but there should have also been some anger and a demand there- undo the damage you've done, bring back my friends and if you can't I WILL personally remove your powers and we will rebuild every planet you've destroyed, find every survivor, because you're going to have to work for this."

The Usagi who killed Beryl (and Kunzite!) would have demanded those things, and I don't think her into becoming someone who wouldn't do those things makes her more enlightened, it just makes her seem less like a real person.

(Usagi does save Galaxia even more inexplicably in the manga, but there it comes off as an act of desperation after seeing everyone she knows get killed, it's over, there's no hope, she can't take it anymore, she wants to at least still have one person there with her even if it's the person who killed them, because at least Galaxia understands her deep loneliness)

To be clear, it's not like I think the last episode is terrible or anything. I can roll with it, and I love the scene where Galaxia's shell cracks open and we see her true self underneath. It just felt off, because yeah, Usagi is love, but love can be angry, love can be unforgiving, when the people you love the most are hurt.

[sokkastyles]

Just saw the craziest take. Zuko's redemption arc will be incomplete til he helps his sister heal and he let's go of the sibling rivalry Ozai created. What? Am I missing something? He needs to help his abuser heal?

It's not just the idea that he needs to help his abuser heal that is bad. This idea fails on its very premise. Not to mention that Zuko learning that he did not have to play nice with abusive people or listen to them was a big part of his redemption arc. Which includes Azula because there was that whole thing where he almost joined the gaang in Ba Sing Se until Azula convinced him to join with her, and the climax of his arc was rejecting and atoning for that choice and then defeating Azula in battle in combination with Katara, in a perfect reversal of his choosing Azula over Katara at the end of book 2. Saying NO to Azula was a large part of Zuko's redemption arc.

But the main reason why this take is wrong is that Zuko ALREADY let go of the "sibling rivalry." Which wasn't a sibling rivalry to begin with, because Zuko was never a rival to Azula, he was her Ozai-approved punching bag. Him standing up to her and defeating her was rejecting what Ozai created, which was not a sibling rivalry but a golden child/scapegoat dynamic where Zuko was the scapegoat. Zuko refusing to BE the scapegoat any longer IS letting it go.

Zuko let it go when he told Ozai that Azula lied to him about the Avatar's death. He let it go when he told Ozai that he didn't care about his approval anymore, and therefore has no reason to seek it either from Azula or by fighting her. He doesn't fear being Ozai's scapegoat anymore and he's not cowed by Azula's threats. He chooses to walk away.

And like, I know I keep saying this but I can't stress it enough. What Zuko does in walking away is the thing that abusers fear the most. Believing that you are responsible for "healing" an abusive person is what a lot of abusive people want, because it's another way for them to control the relationship and the narrative. Walking away from an abusive relationship is always a valid choice, and sometimes it's a necessary choice. And sometimes that's what letting go looks like.

And that's sad, but it was never Zuko who couldn't let it go. It's also not Zuko who continues to hold on to it, who challenges his sibling to an agni kai and says it was "always meant to be" even after the other person has chosen to walk away. Zuko left, remember? Azula was the one who came after him in "The Southern Raiders" with the intent to kill him because she couldn't let him walk away and live. Azula is the one who won't back down from a fight and says it was "the showdown that was always meant to be." Zuko came back to face her because he wanted to save the world. Azula is the one who holds onto a personal grudge. Azula is the one who cheats when she realizes she can't win. Azula is the one who almost kills her brother and laughs while he is dying. (Do NOT talk to me about Zuko's expression while she is tied to a grate when Azula had THAT expression after she had struck her brother with lightning.)

Azula is the one who, in the comics, continues to hold onto her hatred, continues to justify Ozai's abusiveness, and rejects Zuko's attempts to reach out to her every single time. Azula is the one who used Zuko's offer of dignity to weasel herself into a position where she could keep their mother's letter from him and force Zuko to take her along and put them all in danger. If anything, I'd say that Zuko's mistake in that comic was believing that she would be helpful to him in the first place and that she wouldn't try to take advantage of him. But the fact that he does continue to try to be kind to her shows how much he has risen above what his family tried to do to him. But he also has every right to be angry at her and distance himself from her completely. Just because he's still hurting doesn't mean he hasn't healed. And Zuko's abusers aren't the ones who get to be the measure of whether he has healed. Especially when they keep trying to hurt him.

I find it interesting that Azula is the one who keeps holding onto the idea that she is Ozai's golden child, and yet I've never, ever, ever seen it suggested that Azula should let it go, even when Zuko has risen above it and Ozai has rejected her. Even while Azula's reluctance to let go of this destructive mindset continues to hurt her as well as those around her. That's what Azula's mother tried to tell her in the mirror at the end of ATLA, that's what Zuko tried to tell her at the end of the "Search," and why she wept when he did. It's also why Ursa offered Azula an apology even when she didn't remember her, because she could see that Azula was holding onto this thing so tenaciously. Azula's mind has been telling her this whole time that she needs to let it go, but she can't. And that's a tragedy, but it's not one that Zuko is responsible for or had any hand in making.

[markantonys]

You know, considering the show only fans' reaction to the Seanchean, if they do put Mat and Tuon together, they're gonna have to give her and them a LOT and I mean A LOT of character development. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Tuon shows up already with thoughts and doubts about slavery. Cause there's simply no way people are gonna be okay with it.

yeah i really do not envy them having to figure out what to do here, because EVERYTHING about mat/tuon and about tuon as a character is a giant landmine. (even just with casting, because the Head Slaver being a black woman is 🥴 especially if we then get scenes of her having to be told by a white man that slavery is bad. but if you DON'T cast a black actor as tuon then you've whitewashed a book-canonically black character. tuon's character design is the kinda thing where rj was trying to go for a ~boundary-breaking role reversal~ but it just really isn't a good look, and i don't envy the show having to deal with his choices there.)

anyway, i'm really hoping for tuon to be introduced at least a season or two before she meets mat so that she can have some development before they even cross paths, let alone begin having romance. (similar to how elayne, aviendha, and min were all developed through non-rand characters this season, which was a great choice.) one idea i'm quite fond of* is tuon showing up in nynaeve and elayne's storyline in s3 in an egeanin-esque role (tho not exactly equivalent ofc given tuon's and egeanin's differences in status/life situation/etc), so then she unknowingly befriends and comes to respect 2 ~marath'damane~, thus she has to start rethinking some things about seanchan culture when she finds out her new buddies can channel. and in s4 maybe she can have some kind of invented plotline to keep her development moving along, and s5 might be the time for her to first meet mat, and they can spend seasons 6 AND 7 together with the romance being a very slow burn. if the show just has tuon show up in ebou dar straightaway with the initial invasion rather than in a second wave after mat's storyline's been left out of an entire book, then she can meet mat sooner and they can leave sooner and have more time to spend together.

rj could have pulled off mat/tuon if he'd introduced her way sooner and had left enough time for their relationship to develop naturally and for HER to develop naturally, rather than breaking mat's characterization to cram him into a rushed relationship it makes no sense for him to want to be part of at this point in time. in WH it really does feel like rj was planning a whole meaty character development arc for tuon, but then realized between books that he wasn't gonna have enough time for it in the main series and came up with the idea of the outriggers spinoff, and in COT suddenly we have tuon being a completely static character and mat replaced by a pod person who's obsessed with her and has completely changed his views on slavery.

but the show has the benefit of knowing the endpoint already, so hopefully they're already planning for how to make the mat/tuon romance feel more believable. i think the only 2 options are a) introduce tuon way earlier and give her a proper redemption arc, or b) make it a political marriage which mat is putting up with for the greater good but has 0 romantic interest in tuon. because yeah, mat falling in love with an unrepentant slaver would make him absolutely vile in the eyes of all viewers, especially after how hard the show went on showing the vileness of the seanchan in s2. show viewers will not have forgotten the torture egwene suffered by the time mat meets tuon as easily as so many book readers apparently did.

*i'm also very fond of the idea of tuon being introduced in seanchan proper because i spent the whole series expecting us to see seanchan proper and the court of the 9 moons etc and felt SO robbed that we never did, so i'd loooooove if the show took us there and had tuon leading a plotline there before she leaves for the westlands. but purely in terms of getting her to start rethinking the damane system early on, this scenario wouldn't be as useful as the one of her meeting nynaeve and elayne in the westlands.

and finally, it's very interesting that they killed off every single notable seanchan character from s2. this could mean that they didn't want to leave any loose ends because the seanchan will be entirely absent for the next season or two, ooooooooooooor it could mean that they wanted to clear the stage for tuon to step up as our major seanchan character in the next season or two.

[inastarlesssky]

In Defense of Dramione - an essay

Okay, time for another Ted talk/ soapbox/ pointless rambling...Putting it under the cut because I have opinions.

In Defense of Dramione - an essay

First of all, I want to say I ship Dramione. Which is a recent thing, specifically about half a year ago. I didn't always because well it never occurred to me that you could. Of course, that's how ships are. We ship some ships bc they're canon, okay, fine. But we ship a whole lot others that aren't because you name whatever reason (they've got chemistry, they WORK, they're better than the canonically approved pairings whatever the hell else, idk). My point is, it had never crossed my mind that I myself would actually like the idea of Draco and Hermione. Bc naturally, you look at them and you think, "He did insult her when they were children. He was an asshat, etc etc." But...BUT.

You know that trope Enemies to Lovers? Ever heard of redemption arcs? Yeah, those are things. Of course, I don't speak on behalf of everyone in the fandom because we all have our reasons for why. But I ship them because there is potential in Draco's character for growth, for repentance, for redemption. I believe that he's capable, when he's an adult of realizing that he fucked up and that the beliefs he was spoonfed as a child are not the law of the land. I've read more fics than I can count that describe this character arc for him and they do it masterfully. Honestly, I think he's a pretty complex character and I believe that we see a sliver of that in the last few movies. Like look, in 6th year, Harry hit him with Sectumsempra and nearly killed him. But when the Golden Trio were at the Manor and it was on Draco's shoulders to identify Harry and basically seal their doom, did he do it? Did he rat them out? Nope.

Maybe this wasn't exactly Draco "forgiving" Harry, admittedly. But Draco saw that Harry was their only hope for destroying Voldemort or for having some sliver of a winning chance, of a possibility of surviving the mess Voldemort was orchestrating. He obviously deemed it important enough to dare to lie, especially knowing that Bellatrix would have summoned the Dark Lord himself in the next few moments. If Draco really didn't care about the outcome of everything, he wouldn't have done that. If anything, we see that he cares at least about the safety of his family because that could have also been the motive. But that gets me thinking, couldn't he also have confirmed Harry's identity? Voldy would have arrived, perhaps praised Draco and spared the Malfoys to die another die. So really, Draco might have gotten more out of it if he HAD confirmed Harry's identity. Hmm food for thought.

Second point, I'm not going to judge anyone in the fandom because of reasons stated above, but I will go so far as to say, please, if you don't ship Dramione, that's okay. Everyone has their own cup of tea, but please, do NOT claim that all of us (that every single one of us who happen to support this ship) are and I quote "are just a bunch of horny teenagers desperate for some pretty boy and pretty girl sex". That isn't fair and it frankly isn't true, so please don't. I know many wonderful people who have crafted amazing stories and shown great talent through their writing to express the complexities I've just spoken about.

I'll end by saying that we all have our ships, and that's okay. There's no real right or wrong inasfaras who you ship with whom. But it's a basic gesture of respect, I think, to let others love the pairings that they love. Spreading hatred, ill-will or just unkindness toward those of us who enjoy a particular ship, that's not cool and that's what brings us down in what should be something we all enjoy and go to find joy and share that joy with others.

Okay, it seems I really defended Draco more than Hermione here but I will die on this hill and defend my dorks. Fight me on it (joking here but really though. XD) Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

[chaifootsteps]

Metallica Anon here... to criticize a show I've loved since childhood. 🤘

I've hinted this a few times before, but I absolutely adore Hey Arnold. I consider my favorite cartoon of all time. However, just because I love it doesn't mean it's immune to any criticisms I have.

One major criticism I've had with Hey Arnold, even when I was a kid, was Arnold and Helga's relationship. Yes, I was never a Shortaki shipper, mainly because I view their relationship as toxic given how Helga tormented Arnold throughout the show. Sure, Helga's home life sucked and she did have some redeeming moments in the show and the movies, but they really don't outweigh all the suffering Arnold endured from here during his young life. If they had given Helga some sort of "redemption arc" in the show, then my opinion on the ship would be different.

Also, I don't view Shortaki as the most toxic ship in animation, or even in Hey Arnold (see Oscar and Suzie, how the hell did they end married?) There are other criticisms I have with HA, like the decline in quality in the last two seasons, but I really felt the need to rant on a certain canon ship.

Did you ever ship Arnold with Helga?

I actually really do like Arnold/Helga, even more so now than I did when I was a kid, but I can easily see why someone wouldn't. The way I see it, they're still just kids. I like the idea that by the time they seriously get together, it's been years and Helga's had more than enough time to work on her issues and mellow out. I like the reveal that Arnold's grandparents had the exact same dynamic as kids.

I think most of all it was the Christmas episode that did it for me. I look at a ship like Stolitz and it's just starved for something like that...that act of pure, self-sacrificing, complete and utter love, carried out completely in the dark.

Also, Suzie apparently divorces Oscar between the series and the jungle movie, so that's nice.

[mdhwrites]

Saw the TOH Finale in Its Entirety.

I think I need a little time away from talking about TOH after it. I have some blogs prepared but I may just let myself breathe a little bit. This isn't me suddenly calling the finale good. No... No. Like For the Future, it was an episode I'd always seen and heard enough to know I wouldn't like it. I'd watched enough of it to know it was bad. I had to watch the Collector's redemption for a different blog though and when that portion was done, I decided to watch the last fifteen minutes I hadn't seen.

And... I could say a lot about it but this picture is all I need to focus on.

This was the end of the series.

Oh yeah, there were six minutes after it that showed them in the future but this was the end of the series. They had just spent 3-4 minutes with epilogue narration, a curtain call saying farewell to everyone and showing they were safe, showing us that the Isles would heal and then it came to this. Luz thinks about how she'll miss magic but grew as a person and how all of this will have made her better. Made her able to face the future and then you get this shot.

That is the end of a story. Period.

But then TOH wastes six more minutes running it back and doing the exact. Same. Thing but worse. Because it doesn't end on the thematic focus of Luz's journey, growth, and what you can take away from it. It ends on self indulgence, takes EVEN LONGER, and on a forced group shot that includes villains and one off characters for some reason. It's much worse composed than this, it's much less meaningful but they decided not to cut it. They decided they couldn't choose one of two endings and so did both.

All while the Collector fails to properly finish his redemption arc or admit that what he'd done was wrong. While Luz dies in a sequence of like five plot beats and reveals that happen in like a minute's time. While the episode is repetitive and contradictory in the most infuriating ways and even when it's looking good, the story boarding and choreography and lack of real creativity is holding it back. All while claiming it's so much better than other media while doing exactly what it's mocking.

In other words... It was indeed a finale to TOH.

But it's a finale that makes me feel worried about being able to kind to it. After all, the creators of this show complained about being shortened. Claimed they had so many ideas. So many they never got to tell. But then... Then they made this finale and spent a fifth of the time on two different endings rather than actually completing and fleshing out their story.

I don't think Dana's name will do anything but turn me away from a project now. Not unless I know she's not a part of the writing team. And... While that may still just be due to the quality of her work, I do not want this thought so fresh in my mind. Not when my analytical roots sadly still stem from an angry part of me and was first birthed out of an angry part of the internet. It doesn't change my opinion but like I said, I think I just need some time and I have some blogs cued to post in the meantime, as well as some Amphibia asks I can get to instead.

See you all next tale. Hopefully I find a new one to get stuck into properly soon.

[morallygreyvigilante]

is there anything you think could've been done to improve the hiromi arc in assclass?

At a basic level, the main issues with the Hiromi arc is that it was both introduced very close to the end of the story and also that it was resloved way too abruptly to be believable. So, there's three possible options that would've made more sense:

One:

Hiromi doesn't get redeemed. This is the option that I know a lot of people would've prefered (or at least, that was the general attitude I observed - and shared - back when I first got into the series).

Hiromi was shown to be abusive, and it's not like she was overly concerned about keeping up the "caring parent" facade in front of Korosensei when it became clear that he wasn't just going to bow down to her demands unless it was something that Nagisa himself wanted.

Now, I can perhaps understand nothing being done about her following that incident because this was the first time any of Nagisa's teachers had interacted with her. All three of them are shown to be good judges of character (barring one or two incidents) so maybe they should've picked up on it, but I guess her behaviour could be brushed off as her just having a bad day since none of them really have a good general idea of what she's usually like. It's a flimsy excuse, but it happens.

However, what can't - or shouldn't - be excused were her later actions. Not only did she drug Nagisa, but she also attempted to force him to commit arson, which I'm pretty damn sure is illegal and definitely would've been enough to warrant some kind of professional intervention.

A parent who is willing to drug and endanger their own child in such a manner is not one who would be quick to change. Nagisa's sudden willingness to stand up to her would not be taken as lightly as it was, especially considering her earlier response to him standing up to her in that same episode.

A more believable ending to the arc would've either involved Nagisa being removed from his mother's care or, at the very least, things remaining tense between the two of them. Her attitude certainly wouldn't have realistically changed by the end of the next episode.

Two:

Hiromi gets introduced a lot earlier.

I mentioned that the other issue with the Hiromi arc was how late in the series it got brought up. Sure, we weren't too far into the second season (because I'm not entirely sure when it was brought up in the manga) but, with how close we were starting to get to the "earth goes boom" deadline, the action was noticeably speeding up.

There were hints earlier on in the series that Nagisa's home life wasn't ideal, including (but not limited to):

His natural talent for assassination/his bloodlust

His discomfort when teased about his appearance

He talks about how his parents never "looked him in the eye", plus the scene with his father where we find out his parents had separated at some point

Now, each of these things on their own (and before Hiromi makes her appearance) are pretty harmless. The kids are being trained for assassination, of course one or two of them would start showcasing more talent for it. A lot of people are sometimes insecure about their appearance, especially when they're young. And it's not exactly uncommon for people to have family problems, hell from some of the stuff that gets mentioned over the course of the series, there aren't many kids in that class whose parents would be winning "parent of the year" awards.

It's not until Hiromi actually shows up that those, initially minor, issues are revealed to go a lot deeper. It can, and does - at least, on a first watch - feel very sudden.

For a redemption arc to feel believable here, it would've made more sense to have Hiromi - and the way she treated Nagisa - revealed earlier on in the series. That way, there could've been a more gradual change over several episodes, we probably wouldn't have actually seen a lot of it since Hiromi is mostly a background/side character and the series is largely focused on the class as a whole. But it wouldn't have been too out of place to add the occasional reference to Nagisa's home situation, either through him commenting on it or through subtle hints similar to the ones that were used to hint at the abuse previously.

Three:

This one's probably the more controversial option, but having Hiromi introduced as just being a strict parent instead of an abusive one would've been a lot more believable when you consider just how quickly the matter was resolved.

Her wanting Nagisa to leave the E class in general makes a lot of sense considering the purpose the E class was shown to serve in the earlier episodes, especially when you consider how the rest of the school treats them. A lot of parents would most likely want their child to be removed from such a situation as soon as possible, and they likely wouldn't understand why their child was so determined to stay where they were. They'd likely just brush it off as stubbornness.

Those little hints I previously mentioned that pointed to Nagisa's home life would've still made sense if Hiromi was just strict.

If Hiromi was simply a strict parent, then her seeminly sudden change in attitude would've made a lot more sense. A parent who is simply strict would be a lot easier to convince that Nagisa's insitence wasn't just him being stuborn or ungrateful and it's unlikely that she would've flown off the handle as drastically as she did in canon.

In this case, her redemption arc wouldn't have seem rushed because the issue wouldn't have been as explosive as it was in the anime.

[greenerteacups]

Until your most recent chapter I didn't really stop to consider Molly Weasley's role in the first war. She had a baby, 2 toddlers and 3 kids to take care of, plus the house. I imagine she was the one preparing meals for the Order and tending to the wounded, since she seems pretty good with healing charms. It's a side of war that people don't really talk about, right?

What do you think were James and Lily's roles in the war? Either in canon or Lionheart is fine. Also, if you have the time and the will, I'd love to hear what you think about the while blood magic thing Lily did for Harry. Cause we don't really see this type of magic in canon, jkr was really vague about it, and since your Pansy seems to know quite a bit of blood Magic I was curious to know if they work in similar ways in your canon. It doesn't seeem like they teach this kind of thing in Hogwarts' normal curriculum, and to know that Lily Evans was possibly an feral muggle-born toying with dark magic fascinates me. Like, did Snape introduced it to her? The recent talk Draco had with his mother about cruel spells not always being dark magic and vice versa was really interesting and got me in my current state of rambling

This dovetails wonderfully on the heels of my last post about Molly Weasley, so I'll pick it up here! Molly is absolutely at the center of the Order's efforts in both the First and Second Wizarding Wars, and her role as a mother is indivisible from her role as a soldier. Bill is 7 or 8 when the first war begins, which means Charlie's 5-6, and Percy is around 2. You can only imagine the frustration for her — that's an age where someone really needs to be around the house, but at the same time, everyone you know is going off to fight. And like— oh—

Did you ever think that Molly probably had to sit through the battle where her brothers died? That's a thought that just occurred to me. Set aside what happened to Lily and James, or even Frank and Alice; Molly wasn't an only child until the war. Bill was old enough to know his uncles. Charlie was, too. And hey — do you think she had the twins before or after her twin brothers died? Which do you think is worse?

Anyway. I think James and Lily joined the war effort immediately, considering how short the timeline is after they graduate => marriage => baby Harry => Trelawney's prophecy. In Lionheart, Moody mentions that "Evans was 16 when she came to me," which I meant to acknowledge that students were (and are! cf. Cedric and Angelina) trying to get involved with the war before they graduated. Moody and Molly are of different philosophies on this, but it's implied that Moody accepted Lily's offer, because of Molly's remark about "forgiveness" — which is obviously a bit vague, but the implicit accusation is that the Potters wouldn't have died if they hadn't been soldiers. Of course, we know that's not actually true (my spin on this particular part of canon will be fully fleshed-out in the story, but as you can probably guess, James and Lily aren't random kills). But Molly doesn't know that, so in her mind, there's a straight line between Moody accepting Lily's offer and Harry being orphaned.

James and Lily, while by all accounts quite competent, are not actually described as being that powerful in canon. Becoming an animagus at such a young age obviously requires James to be an unusually clever and/or motivated kid, and I have no trouble believing that he was one of the most naturally talented wizards in his year, but he also reads as a bit of a lazy jackass in the one(!) scene we ever get. The person who vouches for his offstage character growth — Sirius — is frankly a bit of a jackass himself. To be clear, I'm not denying the James Potter Redemption Arc. I have great affection for James as this jackass jock who gets walloped off his pedestal by one Lily Evans, and then cobbles together a decent personality from spit and elbow-grease. I just don't think he's a mind-blowing secret agent or anything. In Mad-Eye's view, it would make most sense to put James somewhere behind the front lines, where he can learn from the seasoned Aurors. Same with Lily, too.

Which is good, in my opinion. It's important to the thematic tissue of Harry Potter that James and Lily are ordinary people — extraordinary in the hearts and memories of the people who loved them, extraordinary in courage and resilience, but not especially magical or gifted beyond the range of what normal people in this universe could achieve. That isn't to say that Lily didn't do anything remarkable on October 31, 1981; she did. But I have always liked how canon left them ordinary soldiers, who were betrayed and slaughtered by an accident of fate; in another world, it could have been the Longbottoms, or it could have been no one.

[tangledbea]

Why does everybody hate Cassandra’s arc in season 3?

Well, not literally everyone hates it. Lots of people think it's really good. I don't like to generalize and say that "everyone" feels a certain way about anything.

But what a lot of people don't like comes from a few different directions, often coming together in the center into a hot mess. I'll do my best to recall all the biggest complaints. (Under a readmore, because it's kind of long and I don't want to subject people to it if they don't want to see it.)

It's incredibly out of character for her to blindly trust a stranger who won't reveal their name to her. She mentions several times during the course of the series that she doesn't trust people (especially people she's only just met), but Zhan Tiri wouldn't even tell her who she was, and Cassandra just decided that what this strange ghost child in a weird and dangerous house had to say was more important that a friendship built over the course of a few years, even if that friendship was currently strained.

Her rancor was poorly sourced. There were legitimately several things Cassandra could have been mad about, even directed at Rapunzel. But being mad at Rapunzel for Gothel choosing to kidnap her and abandon Cassandra was an unsympathetic way to go. She sang a whole song about not wanting to be second best anymore, about always waiting for her time to shine. But that entire story beat was thrown out the window in the face of "I am Gothel's biological daughter". She had one (1) glorious line of, "I'm not taking orders from you anymore!" and then all of that was put to rest in favor of, "My mom abandoned me, so I'm going to blame the abuse victim that she kidnapped."

She kept talking about her destiny, but didn't seem to have any goals beyond "be first over Rapunzel." She never even said what it was her "destiny" to do or be. She wanted to take over Corona? And then what? It's not like this was some long-standing desire of hers. Which leads me to

Cassandra spend the majority of her life defining herself as strong-willed, distrustful, and thinking for herself. But they decided that Zhan Tiri could get into her head as easy as that and start full-on manipulating her from the word "go," and that we'd all just handwave it away and accept that Cassandra was doing villainous things because she was being manipulated. Well, nay, I say. Cassandra was an adult with her own mind, and manipulation isn't as instantaneous as that. They didn't even try to portray it like they did with Rapunzel and Sugracha as complete magical mind control. No, it was Cassandra being given choices and choosing the things that would benefit her and/or hurt other people over and over and over again. But we're supposed to be sympathetic towards her.

She assaulted and kidnapped people, attempting to kill Rapunzel or at very least leave her for dead multiple times, then was surprised to find out she was the villain. And honestly, that surprise does a lot to make me dislike her villain arc. I love me a villain who thrives off their villainy, who revels in it, like she did at the beginning of "Cassandra's Revenge." And even villains like that can be redeemed. But people who choose violence and revenge and hate and are then surprised that they're the villain don't impress me.

Her redemption was rushed, crammed into the last twenty minutes of the series - her realization and apology was literally given about a minute of time - and she only realized she was wrong when she lost. Up until the moment Zhan Tiri wrestled the Moonstone away from her, Cassandra was convinced that she was going to win the day. As soon as she was powerless, she was sorry. And then, she was forgiven by everyone because she was forgiven by Rapunzel.

And things that don't go on the list because enough people disagree with them, or because they don't exactly line up with "why we dislike her villain arc" but are still things that bug me, personally:

That Gothel was her mother at all. I hate that plot point. It's stupid, lazy, and makes no sense.

That her arm getting burned and disfigured was just... dropped as a plot point. We don't know if having the Moonstone was supposed to heal it, or if she'd sufficiently rehabilitated it on the road enough for it not really to bother her anymore, but the showrunner literally said that they decided it wasn't important anymore, so dropped it.

[the-irreverend]

In Defence of Growth Spurt

Well, this has been quite the last quarter of the year…

As if we Undertale fans haven’t already been spoiled enough, the beginning of October blessed us with the triumphant return of one of the most beloved UT comics in the fandom. From the cold ashes of a long hiatus, Growth Spurt rose like a glorious Phoenix, treating us to 29 panels of vibrant colour schemes, sharp writing, and one of the most unique art styles this godforsaken site has ever known, an art style that this godforsaken artist has taken a lot of inspiration from.

But as great as this page was, it did leave me a bit stunned as it unveiled a shocking twist…

...that Alphys is not a good person.

*GASPS SOMEWHAT SARCASTICALLY*

Pardon my hyperbole and lousy humour, but I knew from the moment I read this that some were going to discuss how Alphys is depicted in this page, and I understand why. 

I know how easy is to dismiss these kinds of viewpoints, especially since the excessive idolization and demonization of morally complex characters is a bit of a tradition here, and the Undertale fandom is no exception. Trust me, as a person who’s been part of the Chara fandom, I know from experience (who was also exceptionally well-written in this comic by the way). 

I’m very glad I didn't talk about this immediately because it’s given me some time to think about this scene and you’ll be relieved to hear that I no longer have an issue with this page. But I still understand why people would take issue with this. Because hey, at one point so did I.

But to say that everyone who has a differing opinion is just a salty Alphys stan is nothing short of tasteless. That’s why I am going to explain the best I could criticisms that someone might (and that I used to) have, before explaining why I decided to abandon said criticisms.

To give a brief recap, the Matainence/Defect Arc centres around Alphys and Asriel, along with Frisk and Undyne as they attempt to fix the CORE which has suffered from, would you believe it, a defect. In addition to repairing the CORE, Alphys must also repair her relationship with Asriel, as she’s haunted by the creation of Flowey, and dreading what might result from it.

Wholesome family-friendly entertainment, am I right?

Fast forward to where we are now, where we see the CORE starting to break down completely, along with Alphys’ and Asriel’s emotional state. While starting to doubt if the meltdown can be stopped, she argues with Asriel that it may be better to just give up on their efforts, and when she’s confronted with the possibility of fatalities resulting from that course of action she says this:

As I read this panel, which did give me a bit of a shock, these were my first impressions, which I must re-emphasize are impressions that I NO LONGER HAVE.

There’s a difference between saying “we can’t save them all.” and “it’s just a few deaths.” It’s the same reason people were left reeling when Superman asks his dad if he should’ve let the kids die to protect his secret identity, to which he replies "Maybe." I understand the feelings behind what’s being said, but to articulate said feelings like that wouldn't sit well with some people.

But the real reason I had doubts about this scene's direction was not that it highlighted a flaw in Alphys’ character but that it, as it seemed to me, potentially undid Alphys’ progress in overcoming those flaws. Let me better explain.

It should go without saying that Alphys isn’t the greatest person in Undertale. I mean, no one is. This has more to do with just her checkered past with Amalgamates as she does possess personal qualities that… aren’t the best. Just look at her true motivations for helping Frisk get through the underground.

But while she’s not the greatest person, she did become a better one by the end of the Pacifist Run. Yes, she didn’t exactly get a complete redemption arc, but she’s in a better position than she was now. She did find the courage to release the amalgamates and confess to her former king and queen about her role in creating them, which gave her the honour of becoming the former royal scientist. 

So for Alphys to be beside herself with regret about what she did to the Amalgamates AND Asriel only to later be seemingly unconcerned with the deaths of people (AS IF SHE WON'T REGRET IT LATER), while also reducing their demises to being “outliers” just didn’t click right with me… AT FIRST.

But eventually, after a little consideration, I eventually came to accept this scene, and realize that this panel in the Defect Arc is anything but a defect. All you have to do is look no further than to the panels that followed it.

You don’t need to express indignation about what she said because Asriel already did. Of course a well-deserved chastising should follow that line, but what makes Asriel’s lecture that much more impactful is not just because it’s just a well-deserved reprimand, but because of what it does for Asriel’s character development.

Keep in mind the previous page saw him asking Alphys not to call him by his title because he felt he didn’t do anything to deserve it. And yet one page later, he displays qualities that show that he does. But what makes this scene even more memorable for me is what came before the reprimand:

See? Right before he proceeds to humble the good doctor, he takes a moment to EMPATHIZE with Alphys plight and shows that he fully understands that this isn’t worth “taking at face value”. Though he still rakes her over the coals for her statement, he still takes a moment to show that he fully understands why she made it.

It’s while I was re-reading this scene that I realized something: if Asriel can learn to understand Alphys, then why the duck shouldn’t I?

This is what continues to draw me and many others back to Growth Spurt to this day. It’s more than just the comedic one-shots or sadistically revelling in Asriel’s teenage angst. 

The story didn't need grand clashes, shadowy conspiracies, or inter-dimensional antics (not that there’s anything wrong with that). It’s just the main cast learning to confront their past. It’s so simple, yet so impactful, just like the art style.

I’m not concerned about what Alphys is like here because I know where she’s going to end up. Just look at what happened with Toriel!

Remember this scene where she completely attempts to shut down Asriel as he attempts to get her to talk with Asgore? 

It’s not a good look for her if you just cherry-pick these panels, but look where this scene eventually led up to. Only perhaps my favourite story arc that I have ever seen out of any Undertale comic period, and one of my favourite comic scenes!

Seriously how can you not get teary-eyed looking at this?

I save the can't even-ing about this particular arc on another post, but for now, all I know after reading this comic is this: sometimes when a character’s progress takes a step back it’s because it’s about to take a bounding leap.

Because in the end, that’s what Growth Spurt is all about: GROWTH.

So don’t judge a book by its cover...

...and don’t judge a character arc before it’s finished.

Thank you for reading the incoherent nonsense I've typed here. I look forward to hearing your own insights.

Growth Spurt AU belongs to @potoobrigham // @potoo-reblogs