#Heroes vs Anti-Heroes

[joncronshawauthor]

The Anti-Hero's Journey: From Ancient Epics to Modern Fantasy

Fantasy literature has long been known for its iconic heroes and valiant champions, but it is the rise of the anti-hero that has reshaped the genre’s landscape. Anti-heroes, flawed and morally ambiguous protagonists who defy conventional notions of heroism, have emerged as captivating figures who challenge traditional storytelling tropes. Today, we’ll trace the evolution of anti-heroes in…

[rosabell14]

The fact that in house of hades Annabeth is like "Nooo Percy 😭 what you did wasn't good some powers should never be used like that 😰" and then the narrative actively decides to prove her wrong in Blood of Olympus? By having Percy listen to Annabeth's ideology and nearly get killed for it in his fight against Polybotes? He doesn't use his control over poison and nearly dies from it. Had Jason not convinced Kymopoleia to help them, Percy would have died. Listening to Annabeth would have killed Percy.

(and then Percy says that he deserved to die for what happened to Akhlys and Jason is like mood bro and it's never brought up again 😑)

And THEN, in the same damn book Nico literally turns Bryce Lawrence into a ghost and Reyna who has trauma associated with ghosts goes: yeah it was scary and reminded me of my dead abusive dad, but Nico we all have darkness inside of us and we should get to release it. Plus you saved us soooo ☺️

[2thouxand99]

dead-pool vs Dante fight sequence (marvel vs capcom 3)

[sandibullock]

ANTI-HERO: It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.

[smh0217]

Qurikless Hero Course Student AU

*After a training exercise where Midoriya’s team beat Bakugos team*

Bakugo, stomping towards Midoriya: YOU! You thought you could beat me?!No!

*Bakugo lets off an enormous explosion at Midoriya, which cause him to fly back and everyone around them to scatter*

Bakugo: You think you have some worth in and of yourself? No! You're an abomination!

*Bakugo rushes towards Midoriya and begins to beat him while he’s trying to get back up*

Bakugo: You’re nothing more than a pebble on my path! You little quirkless freak! How dare you think you are more, DEKU!

*Midoryia is finally able to free himself from Bakugos assault by pulling out his stun blaster and blasting Bakugo at point blank range. Bakugo is sent flying away from Midoriya. As Bakugo try’s to recover form the attack, he sees that the green haired boy is now standing and aiming the blaster right at him*

Midorya: My name is IZUKU MIDORIYA! AND I WILL BE THE FIRST QUIRKLESS HERO!!!

*Bakugo roars at him and launches himself at Midoriya, but he is intercepted by a close line from Kirishima. As Bakugo goes tumbling, he is then hit from the left by a recipro burst from Iida which sends him flying towards Todoroki, who then puts up an ice wall that Bakugo then collides with. Bakugo try’s to recover again, but he’s then kicked in the chest by Tsu, which sends him crashing straight through the ice wall. Finally, he’s then touched by Uraraka, who uses her quirk to effortlessly lift him up by the ankle and slams him down onto the ground. Disoriented, Bakugo opens his eyes to see all of class 1-A prepared to attack him if he decided to try anything. Bakugo proceeds to pass out from his injuries and class 1-A then drops their guard now that the deranged sociopath is out of commission*

[sunnysideaeggs]

We spent 8 seasons watching how everybody south and north of the wall scorned Jon for being a bastard and how even the doubt of the future king being illegitimate (while having the very plausible excuse of looking like his mother) burst a giant war where almost everybody dies and now we are supposed to believe Rhaenyra putting bastards (that don’t even look like her) on the throne has no political repercussions whatsoever?

[lemonhemlock]

so, i'm going through your anti team black tag and living my best life, but one post in particular that you made got me thinking.

“george made damn sure rhaenyra’s bloodline sat on the throne at the end bc, if the hightowers won, house targaryen would have been reformed, and he couldn’t kill them all off at the end of the main series”

i'm pretty sure this might've just been a joke, but it makes me curious. do you think something like a targaryen reformation would be possible, hypothetically speaking? i certainly wouldn't mind it in a "greens win" AU scenario, but that's just me. i wanna know if anyone else sees potential in this. 💚💚💚

Hello, yes, this was mostly a joke, as it happens. 😅 (anon is referring to this post) To introduce another lengthy parenthesis, I remember at the time that some of the reactions to that post were in the range for "why doesn't anyone understand that the Hightowers are also feudal lords vying for their own interests and not some great reformists out to save Westeros", which... Listen. 😄 To put equitably, this fandom has a considerable issue with knowing when to level criticism and when to just treat banter as lighthearted horsing around and not take it too seriously. Something which even I'm not exempt from, I don't think. 🤷‍♀️

So, in the interest of making a meme, that post was kind of half-true in that it simplified a more nuanced concept (that was never an avenue that the author decided to explore anyway) for the sake of humour. I have, in the past, detailed my thoughts on House Hightower and what I think is their role in the wider narrative. This is based on the information we have on them presently. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. Who knows, maybe Lord Leyton and Melara plan on blowing Oldtown up for shits and giggles. We don't have to guess everything correctly - another aspect this community struggles with in their fandom wars and obsession with having the most correct, morally pure take.

Regardless, yes, the Hightowers obviously are a privileged family at the top of the social food chain, benefitting from the exploitation awarded by feudalism - a political-economic system based on vast inequality. Therefore, any type of reform they might be willing to undertake will be limited and not really something that significantly changes the status-quo. Just like the beloved, fan-favourite, and mostly confirmed "winners" - the Starks. A third element that our fandom has trouble accepting is the concept of incremental change. I feel like it would basically be a truism to point out that incremental change has been the most reliable vector of socio-economic evolution throughout human history. So, bad news for them, I suppose, but any superficial study of history will reveal that feudalism hardly collapsed overnight. Which leads us back to the idea that any small change, no matter how limited, does matter in the long run, because, as time passes, it will be compounded with another small change and so on.

Anyway, coming back to the question. Would Targaryen reformation be possible? Certainly! GRRM could have made up any story he wanted. Anything is possible if you plan for it and it makes sense within your worldbuilding. As it stands, the Targaryens are foreigners with a questionable culture, hailing from a land that used to engage in practices that even the feudal Westerosi found backwards, distasteful, barbaric or immoral: slavery, human sacrifice, incest, great feats of violence such as pillaging and conquering neighbouring lands for the sake of feeding their population to their volcano gods etc. The Targaryens also have fire-breathing monsters that, while not exactly enough all the time to prevent any rebellions from happening, are weapons that no one else has access to and that can cause a great deal of damage that no one else can replicate.

So, in order to "reform" and integrate, they would need to renounce all that. They would need to do it the traditional way. They do some of the work, but never go all the way. They accept the main religion of the land, but they don't let go of inter-marrying, because they don't want to lose their access to dragons. There are attempts to integrate, but, by the time of the events of the main series, they have returned to incest. Funnily enough, Aegon V plays a role in both - he marries outside of the family and has no dragons left, but his succeeding son and daughter marry each other and, eventually, Aegon decides that bringing back dragons is not such a bad idea after all. I do think that the symbolic weight of Daenerys having both her parents and her grandparents as brother-sister sets is laying the "dragon blood" metaphor thick - and that it holds more magical weight than any mathematical calculation of her actual watered-down Targaryen DNA.

In any such scenario where GRRM decided to go down a Targaryen reformation path, IMO it would have been thematically-relevant to ease into it via a marriage alliance with one of the oldest families in Westeros - a well-respected, rich house that also has close links to both the only centre of higher education and the main religious organization in the land. Hence the meme. :) But it doesn't last and the Targaryens go back to their dastardly ways eventually, that's the point of them in the story, because the author chose it to be the point.

[elijones94]

🦍 “I asked YOU to PROTECT our family! And YOU have BETRAYED us all!”~Kerchak 🦍

[shinigami-striker]

Good vs. Evil [Sonic Prime] | Tuesday, 01.02.24

That whole "good vs. evil" dynamic in Sonic Prime.

Watch more of Sonic Prime on Netflix, and stay tuned for the upcoming third and final season next week (Thursday, January 11, 2024).

[ackermental]

The pettiness and jealousy Otkazat'sya feel towards Grisha over them having cool powers, nice home and pretty clothes is absolutely disgusting. This show is disgusting. Alina is disgusting.

Oh, but if only Darkling took away their identity and made Grisha play with people who were mocking and harrasing them for centuries! With people who were only accepting Grisha's presence because they were isolated and used as tools of war by the Tsar.

If only Darkling thought about making peace with them during all those long centuries and it didn't kick him in the ass in the end. Oh, my mistake. It was his fault and Alina knows this for certain because... Some old, mad lady, that was beating and offending her for months, told her so.

If only Sasha married some Princess over those long years!

I'm sure it would've stopped the genocide and cured the racism! After all, it worked so well with Alina and her orphanage.

I'm certain that the point this show was trying to make in season one, was that a kid who called Alina 'rice eater' turned out to be a decent citizen and is now telling all Ravkans to lay down their arms and embrace Shu Han as any loving neighbour should 🙂.

Just wait, we will meet him in season three and he and Alina will become best buds, until he obviously also falls in love with her and they make a Grisha-Otkazat'sya baby, ending all wars for the rest of days.

Anyway, we should totally start the change by remaking the entire Grisha community. Beginning with the nomenclature, because this is twenty first century America, not a kingdom based on Tsarist Russia. Totally not by educating Otkazat'sya. They are not the actual problem 🙂. At all.

[tentacle-therapissed]

SvS is great because Janus's argument is simultaneously so well crafted and also so deceptive and manipulative. Look at him go. He really fits the lawyer role to a tee

[stairset]

I do think it’s kinda funny seeing Thrawn fans be like “they’re gonna ruin him by portraying him as a villain” like we are talking about this guy right

[horizon-verizon]

In the book, Aemond seems to have quite an obsession with Daemon. Where do you think it comes from, and how would you interpret/characterize it ?

I’m still thinking about it in ways that aren’t already know or talked about in the current fandom and here on Tumblr. So bear with me here. I might do many edits on this post in the immediate and far futures.

*Update* I was right.

In all and of the two, Daemon acts more out of love than Aemond does, even with him being as violent and brutal as he is. Daemon is flawed and cruel, while Aemond is evil and cruel, though both are ambitious. They both acted out of a lack of love or attentions or recognition at some point.

By and large, Aemond is a character who finds his personhood only through disenfranchising others. He is the potently evil shadow of Daemon. Aemond is a character who lacks love or a true understanding of respect and considers Daemon the beast to slay to solidify and validate his own existence, worthiness, and masculinity.

A)

Aemond is Daemon’s narrative and literary foil. 

A foil is:

a literary device designed to illustrate or reveal information, traits, values, or motivations of one character through the comparison and contrast of another character. A literary foil character serves the purpose of drawing attention to the qualities of another character, frequently the protagonist. This is effective as a means of developing a deeper understanding of a character by emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, a literary foil allows writers to create a counterpart for the protagonist that puts their actions and choices in context.

B)

Both

They are both fighters with skill. Both are brutal and willing to get violent (but in different ways and reasons). Both are Targaryens and proud of it. Both want the throne or a strong claim to it. Both are second sons tasked with the role of supporting their older, not-very-competent or completely incompetent brother to keep or gain the throne and are passionate about it (for different reasons). Both squirm with the thought that their existence and purpose is to support such brothers but for different reasons.

And as @theblackqveen says, they even both have a connection to Visenya the Conqueror through her dragon and her sword.

Daemon

1)

Daemon is uncaring of not-family people. Not hateful, just uncaring and thus willing to spill their blood if that will bring him results (Jaime Lannister).  Canonically (not HotD), he is a charismatic, violent, and ambitious man.  He creates the gold cloaks and inspires the preexisting city guardsmen into believing in their own validity and strengths by revamping their looks, etc.

His mother died when he was 3 from labor complications. Unlike Viserys who seemed to have responded to this by being too much a people pleaser, Daemon sought to completely look out for a small set of people he would think of as his family or “close ones”. 

Baelon’s grief would have inspired such reactions from his sons--Viserys to be eager and affectionate, obviously caring. He wants to believe that hospitality and following a sense of duty to those around him will bring him love or contentment. He may have found it difficult not to judge Daemon for taking a “misguided” approach or path, so when Daemon disagrees with him or disobeys his order or does something that is conventionally upsetting, he may have found it difficult to relate to Daemon or see things from his persepctive. While Daemon would, in my mind, is outwardly or superficially crotchety and unwilling to seek/initiate obvious intimacy but needing to be validated through his family and loved ones. However, he doesn’t think words or hugs brings comfort or favorable outcomes--he depends on action. 

So he develops his own moral compass that is just adjusted to “do these people act like I matter to them and do they matter to me” all the fucking time because he comes from a dwindled, fraught lineage (Rhaenys' death in Dorne; Aenys' conflicts and stress with the Faith; the Faith; the conflict with Maegor and threat towards Jaehaerys/Alysanne; the internal issues in Jaehaerys' early reign and Rogar Baratheon; Aemond, Baelon, Alyssa, Viserra, Daella, Daenerys-- nearly all Jaehaerys and Alysanne's children die & Jaehaerys' political focus on the Targ's dominance-survival). That plus he wants to, in some way, bring glory, prosperity, and more power to his house.

Daemon and Viserys would have still received the genuine love of their father, Baelon, and would have grown up together as caring brothers, enough that they would know they loved each other. We have reason to believe that his upbringing was still loving and that he maybe thought himself his brother and father’s caretakers. If not in traditional sense, in that he is the one who will do “what it takes” to keep them afloat. In his mind. Especially after his father passes form a “burst belly”, leaving him and Viserys alone. Seeing how Viserys is so eager for validation and willing to have others have a say in what he does, it makes sense that he falls into this protector role even deeper.

2)

He also wanted to be an example of excellence and make a name for himself, especially with being a second son and without a clear, solid inheritance of authority. Second sons in this feudal society are thought of as “spares” in one sense, since if their older brothers die they can take their place and inherit the family resources and the authority over the house. so he’d have felt more pressure to prove himself in the shadow of his brother (while he wasn’t much of a warrior or inclined to develop physical prowess, Viserys was also considered quite attractive before he gained weight).

3)

He supports Viserys in that he was wiling to use a group of fighters to go against Corlys and his group for Viserys’ claim before Jaehaerys I called for the Great Council of 101 A.C:

Reports had reached the court that Corlys Velaryon was massing ships and men on Driftmark to “defend the rights” of his son, Laenor, whilst Daemon Targaryen, a hot-tempered and quarrelsome young man of twenty, had gathered his own band of sworn swords in support of his brother, Viserys. A violent struggle for succession was likely no matter who the Old King named to succeed him.

(Fire and Blood; A Question of Succession)

Yet, at 16 Alysanne marries him to Rhea Royce (the Runestone heir), and while this was a good practical marriage for creating more ties to the Vale and setting up Daemon with some money through his wife’s properties, etc., Daemon did not like the atmosphere, look, anything of the Vale, probably how far away it was from King’s Landing/Viserys--thus the emotional and physical isolation. That he was basically sidelined by his family, kept apart.

He likely thought that since Viserys already had Aemma Arryn (the person who even was the scion of the Lord of the Vale, he himself didn't need to also marry another Vale woman not of his choosing). [headcanon]

Viserys did not let him annul his marriage to Rhea despite its failure. Viserys is directly involved with Mysaria losing her child with Daemon when he forced Daemon to bring back the dragon egg and send her off to Lys:

When he learned that his concubine was pregnant, Prince Daemon presented her with a dragon’s egg, but in this he again went too far and woke his brother’s wroth. King Viserys commanded him to return the egg, send his whore away, and return to his lawful wife, or else be attainted as a traitor. The prince obeyed, though with ill grace, dispatching Mysaria (eggless) back to Lys, whilst he himself flew to Runestone in the Vale and the unwelcome company of his “bronze bitch.” But Mysaria lost her child during a storm on the narrow sea. When word reached Prince Daemon he spoke no syllable of grief, but his heart hardened against the king, his brother. Thereafter he spoke of King Viserys only with disdain, and began to brood day and night on the succession.

(Fire and Blood; A Question of Succession)

4)

He was also not at all attracted to his new wife. So now he knows what it’s like to be a political tool, or he feels like more of a device than a person part of something “great”? (I say somewhat facetiously, he still is a feudal man who is very proud of his aristocratic lineage throughout all 3 of his marriages)

And so their marriage becomes barren (no kids). She comes to hates him too for not loving her home, for openly showing his disdain for it and for her, and perhaps she feels he is unwilling to do his duty like her and she feels resentment towards him and his ability to just fuck off while also being happier with him gone [headcanon].

Daemon doesn’t and never has considered her “family”, is the point nor ever to be in the same league as him, not just because she wasn't royal. Partially because Targs are and have been considered unique and nation-movers right from the Conquest in broader Westerosi culture. She is not a Targ or someone he can think of as his match or someone he thinks could do as much a a Targ can, which presents very interesting questions as to whether or not his pride can be equated to Lannister exceptionalism...I'd say that, eh. The Targs have put their money where their mouth was in most of their generations (and we the readers know that like the Starks but more apparent, the Targs are the closest to being magical beings or have the closest access to real magic) while the Lannisters are more famous and powerful in the main storyline bc of Tywin's reputation gained from the Rains of Castamere/friendship with Aerys II (a Targ) and Steffon Baratheon [the allegiance gives power trio for a while that reflected back on Tywin]. So there's a level of him not believing that they could ever relate to each other. He might have thought it was like trying to get an elephant to mate with a zebra.

I don't think that we should tell people they shouldn't dislike him for that bc yes his person can read as arrogant and he's still a prince/male who has a lot of benefits over a woman like Rhea (but not the authority she has over her own men as a female ruler in her own right, which some might argue grinds his gears more as a second son and this is actually a very interesting and valid thought...but I also doesn't think it bothered him for long to have a wife who has more practical power over others than him since his marriage to Rhaenyra saw no attempts of him barrowing over her, so that would support the idea that Rhea having this wasn't really the issue). But considering how

Still, it's not because of anything she did to him, but because she was someone who enables him to be in a position that he really does not want to be in and he believes it’s unlikely that he’d ever get any sort of glory or power all the way in the Vale, away from King’s Landing, away from the throne. It’s also probable that she also had a very different--sort of "duty is everything, sacrifice your pleasure and making compromises aside"--personality than his, thus convincing him even less to actually try to forge some sort of bond with her. Stern, but too serious, punctilious, and [for him] overly tradition-bound and scrupulous. But who knows?! [headcanon]

Laena and Rhaneyra, though? They both obviously had a lot more in common with him other than being dragonriders than he ever did with Rhea. Laena has her adventurous-ness and some daring, and Rhaenyra has pride and that “restlessness” that Viserys of HotD mentions, that unwillingness to accept a lot or assignment. They are also both his closer blood relatives, real family (remember that he grew up alone with his brother and father, a small set emotionally dependent on each other but also probably not that expressive). Those marriages were better for him, both personally and politically.

Daemon also named his kids after loved people in his life or people who will give love to his daughters.

“Baela” -- “Baelon”. “Rhaena” -- “Rhaenys”.

Viserys (II) after Daemon's own brother, Rhaenyra after her father, and both to spite/oppose Alicent & give their son the cloak of Targ-ness and kingliness: out of pride/love, the latter the stranger reason while the former the icing on the cake.

Aegon (III) after Aegon the Conqueror (king-liness and house pride) & to spite/oppose Alicent.

"Visenya", after the woman who loved her siblings and son and put them first over herself or the realm.

5)

He strategizes more logically than Aemond does and is less prone to act on his anger. Contrast this QUOTE with THIS and THIS.

6)

He specifically distrusts other houses and nonfamily bc the Targs are the pinnacle of power with their dragons, conqueror past, and prestige. He knows other lords--like Otto and pretty much all the mentioned Hightowers (think Maegor, Ceryse Hightower, and the High Septon at the time)--will always have their own agendas.

The reason why Valyrian dragonslords literally kept it in the family was to keep their control of the dragons within their respective families so people like the Lannisters (Queen Dowager Rhaena, Jaehaerys' and Alysanne's older sister) or some nondragonlord Vlayrian family couldn't then acquire dragons to use them against them.

Again, bc he and his brother and father became their own unit--and then it was just him and Viserys--that sense of needing to stick together against others would and did only strengthen.

Aemond

1)

Aemond, by contrast, has little justified reason to hate Rhaenyra like Daemon hated or grew emotionally distant from Viserys. 

While Alicent taught him to hate her, he still grew up with the assumption that he could and should destroy/rape people because his male, trueborness allows him to. His preoccupation with his maleness makes him think that he should usurp the heir, even though the law and precedent of “King’s word is law” (Viserys naming Rhaenyra as his heir and never straying) justifies his & the Greens’ treasonous actions. 

Daemon, though he hated that Viserys named Rhaenyra as heir and not him, never actively tried to depose her or his own brother. Does Daemon have his own classist entitlement and ambitions, of course! He's a very proud prince in a feudal system with a family/house with a relatively short but twisted past as monarchs. He is also the person who walked around with non-nobles like a smallfolk in KL, like those in the City's Watch and inspired people to want to follow him.

2)

While Aemond grew up dragonless for 10 years, he was surrounded by family and Hightower supporters since birth who show no sign of mistreating him, at all -- unlike in the show. He does claim Vhagar he at 10, which is impressive (while cradle-bonding is not as impressive, nor did he surpass Rhaenyra, who claimed Syrax at 7. Just saying).

He has a history where his mother teaches him and his siblings to see Rhaenyra as unfit because she has extramarital/maybe premarital sex with unassigned men and gave birth to illegitimate children. The V boys, in Alicent’s eyes, don’t deserve to live or inherit the throne because of what the Faith says about bastards and because they are in the way of her own hous, herown, and her children’s power. Bastards are socially stigmatized and unfavorable because they are believed to be inherently untrustworthy and evil (Faith of the Seven). 

By having bastards, Rhaenyra acts “unwomanly” and against the standards set for her gender–how can she be a good ruler?! 

To him, Rhaenyra is a whore and an inferior person, her sons lesser than himself because their bio parents weren’t married (rumored but we know who the daddy is, not that it matters), and duty and custom goes above everything else, as Alicent teaches him.

3)

So it is Aemond’s duty to make sure that Aegon gets the throne, and for that to happen, Rhaenyra needs to go. Preferably violently. Alicent and Otto both emphasized this to him and Aegon practically since birth, and he would have grown up with this being understood as his main and single purpose. Daemon is what he sees as the obstacle to that goal.

However, Daemon supported more out of love and regard for what he believes would maintain his family's lives and power than duty and to prove his own male privilege. But Aemond sees in Daemon a competitor and his only worthy rival because of those similarities I just listed under “Both” as well as being the person who supports the enemy of the Greens (maybe not the Visenya bit...I doubt Aemond ever seriously thought about how they share a piece of her or her beyond the idea that she was a “witch”, even though he rode her dragon and they both have a strong hand in usurping a rightful heir [Maegor vs Aegon the Uncrowned]).

And with Aemond, perhaps following duty and acting out his role, like Daemon, is a way for him to claim some sort of love from his family, but as @hamliet says, I think love is a transaction for the Hightowers and reinforced that lack in Aemond, creating a cycle of dependency and focus on gaining power through his privilege.

EDIT #1 (inspired by mononijikayu's reblog HERE):

Daemon grew up knowing Alysanne was a huge part of making policies and supporting Jaehaerys' rule; his mother, Alyssa, was a Targ woman known for her actively practicing agency, and his father Baelon never married again after her, preferring to keep the memory of her close and continue to make sure she lived on; and he grew around Rhaenys since they were both children.

Part of his deal with Rhea Royce, therefore, was that he disliked that she was totally emotionally incompatible with him (his own parents were Dragonriders and we as people/humans can and often try to find partners that match the arrangement our *healthy* parents had...if he wants to marry in the traditional Targ way [we remember that Westerosi lords are allowed and did marry first cousins], it is not discriminatory as much as it is almost typical of a nobleman to want to marry within traditions...there is no real indication that he hated Rhea's entire person just because of her looks in the book and after inspecting the context but it certainly was his excuse).

[jadegem20]

I curl into a ball as the hero slowly walks closer. Blood pools from my face down to the asphalt covered roof. I definitely have a few missing teeth and a couple broken ribs. This was how every fight between us went, me cowering and him victorious. I just want one thing. I just need one thing.

“Do you surrender?” he asks.

I turn my head and face him the best I can, and stay quiet. If I’m going down, I’m not losing my dignity.

He stops right in front of me. I can feel his eyes roam across my prone body. “I said, do you surrender?” he booms as he releases another kick straight into my side.

I clench my teeth as I hear another crack and new pain blooms. Tears threaten to escape, but I squeeze my eyes shut.

“You don’t get it do you,” he laughs that charming laugh. The same one they air on the nightly news praising his heroics. The same one that has women and men alike fawning over him. The same one he used when he took her from me. “You don’t get to win, you don't get freedom, and you don’t get the girl. You're a villain.”

With that he let another kick fly. His boot connects with my face making a sickening crack echo in my skull. The force makes me roll to my back. In the blindness of my pain, I almost miss something. The something digging into my back.

I wasn’t always hated. I wasn't always desperate. I was once a top student at MIT. In nano engineering in fact. The gun that is currently pressed into my back is designed to rip atoms apart, effectively vaporizing a target. I had been planning on using it to vaporize the bunker door that hid a secret government prison on the longshot that she was hidden deep inside.

I hadn't used the gun on anything living, much less something that was indestructible by mortal standards.

“What happened to women being just as strong as men?” he says as he reaches down and grabs me by the neck. My vision blurs in and out with pain and lack of oxygen as he drags me to the edge of the roof. “All of that feminist bull shit is the reason why humanity is weak. Strength is what matters, and I think we’ve proven who has won in that department.”

He lifts me up by my throat and places me right on the edge. My heels hang sixty stories above the ground. I shakingly reach around my back and grab the gun. He watches with a smirk as I point it right at his forehead.

“You know that can’t-” he starts, but I pull the trigger.

The ray is invisible and almost instantaneous. In the blink of an eye, I am staring through the head of my once mortal enemy. His hands fall away and his body drops to the ground. His face may have once been handsome, but it is now unrecognizable.

I wait for him to stand back up. One breath. Two breaths. No movement.

Suddenly, relief fills my body. He isn't in my way anymore. He isn't going to hurt me. He isn't going to hurt her.

I killed a man and all I can feel is relief.

Screw it, I am the villain, and I will get the girl.

[texas-hates-taxes-too]

RvB characters and what taylor swift albums I think they'd like

I know people generally don't like TS but I dont care anymore 😭

Carolina: I just really think she would be a Folklore girlie. Although she doesn't quite relate to it, there's something about Seven that makes her want to cry. She listens to Mad Woman on repeat but her actual favourite is Hoax

Church: pretends his favourite is Reputation but really it is Midnights. He's also quite partial to Debut. Favourite song is Karma. He gets really annoyed when he hears people dissing Dear Reader but refuses to say anything.

Wash: everyone expects Wash to like Reputation, but his actual favourite is Speak Now. He has good taste, Speak Now has no skips. His favourite is Better Than Revenge, but he also really likes Innocent

Sarge: OBVIOUSLY his favourite album is Red. He refuses to listen to anything else. The only song from another album he has heard is Maroon and only bc Simmons literally begged him to listen to it

Simmons: 100% evermore fan. He tried to get into folklore too but just wasn't as into it. Favourite song is Tolerate It. No Body, No Crime is also a guilty pleasure

Grif: 1989!! Also really likes Folklore and it lowkey bothers Simmons bc occasionally grif will offhandedly mention the Themes™ and Simmons hates that Grif knows more about something than him. Grifs favorite song is Out of the Woods

Donut: everyone expects his favourite to be Lover but HE is the real reputation girlie. He does love Lover too though. He can't choose a favourite song bc he loves them all equally but maybe if he had to choose? Don't Blame Me

Caboose: Lover boy <3 He isn't actually very good at knowing what album each song is from so if asked he'll just say he likes all of them. It just happens to work out that the ones he listens to the most are Lover songs. His favourite is Its Nice to Have a Friend

Lopez: Debut. No explanation he just likes that one.

Doc: incapable of picking a favourite, he loves all the albums the same

Tex: she never listened to any of the albums after Debut and Fearless. Favourite song is Picture to Burn. She refuses to sing the updated lyrics

Tucker: I almost forgot him. He says he doesn't like any of the albums but really it's bc he's the biggest fan out of all of them and he doesn't want to accidentally admit this so he just pretends to not know any of the songs. Slipped up one time when when carolina caught him humming The Lakes

[kunosoura]

say what you will about Star Wars as political satire but Anakin being a talented young man whose grievances were manipulated to actively groom him into joining a fascist movement and subsequently ruining his own life, while Kyleron was a young idiot who radicalized himself into reactionary fascism because he was obsessed with Vader’s legacy of power and fear and missed the whole thing about it isolating him from the ones he loved and leaving him miserable and paranoid and in pain his entire life, a fate he ends up retracing only more pathetically. It’s more on the mark than it should be