#I mean I get it he was a tortured and abused as a slave for 200 years right??

[biscuitkazoo]

The Astarion romance really is like enemies to lovers on a spin cycle so that they're constantly both, huh?

[krystal-kade]

Charlie's a bad person

I know it's a bit of a bold statement, but I think Charlie's a pretty bad person

Not in the way Alastor, Angel, or Val are bad people. They are hateful and purposely harm others. She's a bad person because she enables bad people

Imagine finding out your friend is a literal sex slave who's soul is owned by his abusive boss. He knows his life's a mess, but he blames himself for everything that's happening to him. He uses sex and drugs to cope and forget everything that's going on in his life. He desperately wants to be free, but feels like he doesn't have the power to leave.

Imagine knowing your dad is your #1 enemy. He allowed the exterminations and continues to allow them because he thinks your people deserve death. He is encouraging the same things you're fighting against

Imagine your father figure (who is "supporting" your goal of redemption and good deeds) is a sadistic serial killer cannibal who owns the souls of thousands

Imagine being able to stop the suffering of millions around you, and you just ... don't.

That's Charlie. She is the daughter of a fallen angel. She's the daughter of an overlord. She's the princess of Hell. She's one of the most powerful beings in Heaven and Hell (less powerful than God, Jesus, Lucifer, and maybe the other sins?). She could free Angel Dust with the snap of her fingers. She could end their contract, kill Valentino, SOMETHING. Yet she does nothing. FOR 6 MONTHS her friend has been a tortured sex slave, and she does absolutely jack shit about it.

Her dad advocates for the slaughtering of her people, and is the entire reason she has to have her hotel, yet she's more worried about their father-daughter bonding. If he went to Sera and told her to stop the exterminations, I'm sure she'd oblige. If she didn't, just say "I'll tell all of Heaven about the exterminations if you don't stop" and she would. Exterminations could end so quick if Charlie or Lucifer used any ounce of their power.

She could fight Alastor and get him to stop killing people. Get him to stop being so evil and murderous, but she doesn't.

She has the power to fight essentially every demon in Hell and win, yet she doesn't. She's a pacifist who REFUSES to use violence or authority unless it's for her benefit (fighting Katie Killjoy, screaming at Susan, fighting Adam, etc). While using non-violent tactics are great when they work, they don't always work. You're in Hell, and saying "don't do that, it's mean :(" isn't going to work. You're not a good person for avoiding violence and not using your authority, you're a spineless jackass for never using violence or authority to help your friends or your people

[thealexandriaarchives]

If you're one of the people who haven't read the Dune novels or haven't read them since the Villeneuve adaptation brainrot set in, just a couple friendly reminders I haven't seen yet!

The scar on Gurney Halleck's face is from an Inkvine Whip, the same type used by (and possibly the same one as) Glossu Rabban when he was a slave on Giedi Prime.

Despite this killer backstory we don't get Gurney vs. Rabban in the book! Rabban dies offscreen in the battle and both we and Gurney are denied catharsis. Frank loves that.

But almost Not! Because you see, Muad'Dib was in full 'IDGAF about War Crimes' mode at the end of the book, and he'd promised his boy a present of equal or lesser value with the same name. Wrote him a little coupon. 'One Harkonnen to Kill in a Brutal and Humiliating Fashion, exchange for one Nuclear Warhead'

Which leads us to the final scene, where it turns out the only Harkonnen left alive is Feyd-Rautha and Gurney is really eager to remind Paul of what their deal was.

But as we know, Paul is the Duke, the Boy-Messiah, The Emperor to be, and he can absolutely take backsies on promised Good-Boy Points atrocities.

I'm not going to get into all the ways Feyd-Rautha is differently portrayed in the book and movies, but in what is either a 'cowardly move' or the Harkonnen thought process of' 'oh hell no this guy has a serious grudge against my family, I just got free of my uncle for 20 seconds, now I'm about to spend my whole Barony getting tortured-raped to death that ain't how I wanna go out', Feyd-Rautha invokes the ancient vendetta between the Atredies & Harkonnen clans that the Harkonnens put forward a claim to call off (in bad faith but on the record) while Leto on the Record sent back a reply saying 'suck my balls you snakes it's been 10,000 years, it's on sight', which means Paul has to fight him instead in 1:1 combat.

Of course in the Villeneuve adaptation there are many many minor and larger changes that alter Feyd's character for the better, but removing a lot of his more explicit sexual abuse and manipulative pleasing behaviors to survive means we lose a lot of his internal dialogue and his best actions. He is no longer the one to have the slave not be drugged at the fight, he doesn't get to try to kill his uncle with a harem boy that looks just like Paul Atredies and have it backfire miserably. But he does get to stand up and announce himself as the Emperor's champion when he doesn't need to, simply because he wants to and he has things to gain.

It may, with the rewrites, be the only time this version of Feyd-Rautha gets to make a meaningful choice about his destiny.

Plus, Gurney got to kill Rabban, so everyone got something!

[kingthunder]

I keep seeing Astarion commentary with people saying he starts out "bad" but he can become good/redeemed/whatever and that's not how I see him at all. What does he actually DO that's awful? Have bad opinions? Give approval for bad deeds that the PC does? That's just talk. That's a man who just escaped two centuries of horrific abuse approximately five minutes ago and doesn't know yet how to exist among people who aren't actively trying to torture him, so he has bad thoughts about everyone, because WHY WOULDN'T HE. Bad thoughts are all he's had to sustain him for so long. He's never had any power to enact any of them. They're coping mechanisms. And he doesn't actually want most of his bad thoughts to happen. There are so many times he gives approval for something and then instantly regrets Tav actually doing it. "Let me open the barn door," he says, followed by the most comical look of regret I've ever seen when you actually let him do it. "Betray the grove," he says, and proceeds to have the worst time at a party that anyone has ever had. Idk. I just don't think he's "bad" in the sense that I feel most people mean when they call someone that. This isn't a well-adjusted person who's making calculated decisions, this is a severely traumatized person flying by the seat of their pants, who doesn't even know who he is yet when he's not someone's slave. Give him some space to be unpleasant until he starts to get his shit together.

[mercymaker]

this has been on my mind for literal months now, resurfacing, then floating around that pool a bit and then sinking into the depths again, but maybe i should just write it down and get it out of my system idk

but i always found it a bit chilling how once ascended, astarion calls tav the consort, the closest thing to a family he has. sort of.. painting them as 'the wife' or 'the husband' and i know that a lot of people find it endearing and as a sort of a 'proof' that he still loves them and trusts them, yet all i can think about hearing those words (especially with the context and other things he can say to spawn tav) is how cazador called the seven spawn his 'children'.

how he created this 'family', specifically named them as such (when he could've just as easily treated and called them as what they truly were to him, just his slaves), only to then horrifically abuse them, shape them into what he wanted them to be through torture, both physical and psychological. this sort of.. oxymoron in motion. and if it wasn't bad enough with all the abuse, he knew (for hundreds of years) that these poor souls, his children, are going to be consumed for the ritual to grant him the powers of the vampire ascendant. the sort of.. devouring and annihilation of his own 'family'.

and it always made me wonder if that's the eventual story for spawn tav and ascended astarion as well. if them being 'the consort', in the whole picture, means the same thing 'children' meant to cazador? if he could heartlessly torture and abuse his own 'children', then astarion could eventually do that very same thing to tav?

[lucozadehulahoop]

A Question of Time (Astarion x f!reader/tav) part 2/?

Chapter Summary: Astarion gets caught by Cazador in his daughter's room. Tav attempts to get him out of the situation.

Read part 1 here! part 3 part 4

tags and TW: pre-bg3! Astarion, slave!Astarion, mentions of torture and abuse, demi-goddess!tav, Cazador being all sorts of creepy, eventual NSFW (minors stay away kindly, thank you darlings)

tag list for those who asked for part 2 (if you want to be added to the tag list, just let me know!): @d0nutkaky0in @i-just-want-to-sleep-97 @omggiannarosa @dead-giirl-walking @warbwarts @mrsfullbuster500 @uwomina @iyaesakura @cheeslyy @dragon-kazansky @bambamwolf87 @chibi-chi @orsomethingelseentirely @davenswitcher @adequate-superstar

Astarion dropped to his knees and bowed his head the second Cazador stepped into the room. He couldn't even look at his Master, choosing to stare at the ground, fixating on the space between the Vampire Lord's heavy boots to anticipate the blows that were no doubt coming to him.

It was over. Whatever hell awaited Astarion next, it was going to make the past two centuries seem like a dream in comparison. That much he was certain of.

He could feel Cazador's ice-cold stare on him, yet it was his daughter he spoke to. "Step aside, my dear. I have made the terrible mistake of being too gracious with this... servant. I will personally make sure he never strays again..."

Astarion began to shake violently. For all he knew, Cazador was already making a promise to break his legs.

What he did not expect was what happened next. The young woman stepped in front of him, putting herself between him and Cazador. "Father, there has been a misunderstanding... I sneaked out and met... Astarion in a local tavern." She faked an attempt at trying to remember his name correctly. "I believe he was deeply charmed by me and offered we spend the evening together. When he brought me back here, I had to confess who I truly was and immediately realized his mistake. He acted like a true gentleman and returned me to my chambers."

Astarion didn't move a muscle. He could not have come up with a better lie himself, considering that little story painted him as a dutiful spawn who'd merely been out seeking prey for his Master. But he doubted Cazador cared. A line had been crossed, and Cazador rarely needed an excuse to torture anyone, least of all Astarion.

"Is that so, dearest?" Cazador's tone turned sickly sweet, yet he was not fooled by the shared. He'd taken a good look at the dagger on the floor and the open window. He'd already come to his own conclusions. "In that case, such a valiant display of chivalry deserves a reward, wouldn't you say? Come along, Astarion, I wish to give you the recognition you deserve..."

Astarion had lost all feeling in his limbs, but he knew it wouldn't matter because Cazador's words would have been enough to make him stand and walk like his own personal puppet. Except... they weren't.

Cazador had given him a direct order yet he hadn't budged.

The Vampire Lord seemed to notice this too, his eyes widening at the realization his influence seemed to have no hold on Astarion's mind at that moment. Astarion looked back at his Master and it was all Cazador needed to make a stride toward them, no doubt intent on dragging his slave out of the room by force when his luck struck out for a second time.

"No!" His valiant protector protested in the face of Cazador's increasingly obvious rage. Her little outburst was followed by a loud crash as a heavy bookcase fell in the middle of the room, nearly missing Cazador by an inch.

And that was when Astarion realized why Cazador kept this girl pampered and at a considerable distance from him. He was afraid of her. Of his own daughter. Terror was all that was left on his Master's face now, and Astarion had never witnessed something so satisfying ever since he'd crawled out of his own grave on that faithful night.

"I mean..." She backtracked, looking quite abashed at the mess she'd just made, more so than the thought of having nearly buried her father underneath a small library. "I would like to request Astarion stay in this wing of the castle from now on. I... have no servants, and I never see anyone all day. I believe Astarion has proven himself to be an honorable man, and I trust him. That way... I won't be tempted to run away again, and you can trust him to keep an eye on me and...report back to you in case I get into trouble again." She reasoned in a sweet voice, almost as if she were asking Cazador for a new pony.

"The reasonings you make are quite sound, my dear. But-"

"Oh, wonderful!" She cheered and looked back at Astarion. "Only if that would be an agreeable arrangement for you, Astarion. It's your choice, of course..."

Astarion stared up at her blankly. His... choice?

The spawn hadn't made a decision for himself in two hundred years. Obviously going back to Cazador meant there was a world of pain to pay for the innumerable transgressions that he'd perpetrated that night. But what about this girl? She was clearly a force to be reckoned with, and he was more than familiar with the old saying: better the devil you know...

"Tav, dearest." Cazador attempted to interject. "It is unbecoming for a noble lady such as yourself to have such a bleeding heart for the lower class. Astarion knows his place, he does not need to be asked for permission..."

Tav. Astarion knew that word well from the scriptures he'd studied for so many nights on his path to becoming a magistrate all those centuries ago. The name meant 'sign' or 'omen', the symbol of truth, perfection, and completion.

Maybe he could let himself hope one last time.

"My lady, I accept your gracious request..." And put myself in your debt.

Cazador gave him an amused look, almost as if he knew whatever freedom Astarion thought he'd just obtained was going to be extremely short-lived. After all, Tav, as far as either of them was concerned, did not know about the true nature of any of the inhabitants of the castle. Her father had more means than necessary to hide his appetites and odd schedules, but Astarion? He'd soon have to make the choice between staying up in the tower and starving or crawling back to Cazador to beg for a measly rat to feed on.

Tav smiled at Astarion's decision and helped him up to his feet.

"Well, my dear. It seems as if I can't do anything but warn you... this one barely does anything during the day and I personally wouldn't let him near any one of your dear pets... When you tire of his incompetence, be sure to return him back to me."

...💫...

Astarion was shown to a private guest room and he had an inkling of what was to come next, now that Tav had finally got him alone. If there was one thing he'd learned in all of those years was that the only thing about him that was worth anything was his body.

Now that he could think things through with a clear head, there was no doubt in his mind that Tav had 'saved' him solely because she, like many others, had come to be infatuated with him. And as much as it pained him to acknowledge he'd merely swapped an old owner for a new one, he wasn't going to look this gift horse in the mouth. He needed her protection and the fact she was already harboring affection for him would only work in his favor in the future. Maybe, just maybe, he could convince her to let him escape someday, once he was sure the bond between him and Cazador had truly been severed. he had no way of knowing if it had been Tav's presence in the room that had counteracted Cazador's powers, nor could he be sure how long that blessing was going to last.

The first step for now would be seducing her, and at least that part he was an expert in. Another blessing he could count on was that she was gorgeous, and if he truly had met her in some tavern, she'd been right in thinking she would have been one of his marks.

"I'll be leaving you now..." Tav announced, snapping Astarion out of his reverie. He looked back at her as she returned his dagger and his climbing tools to him. The weight of the gear seemed heavier than, before and he heard the distinct sound of a heavy pouch of coins in the mix. "There is a small boat that leaves the harbor in a few hours. By dawn, you should be well away from the Sword Coast... although where you'll end up I don't know."

Being out at sea at the break of day was not a realistic option for Astarion unless he wanted to burn alive with nowhere to hide. But that certainly wasn't what he took away from her words. Tav was giving him a way out, just like that. Her plan could not work for him, but she couldn't have known.

"What is your angle?" Astarion snapped, baffled beyond reason. He could not wrap his head around what she was or what she wanted with him and it was driving him insane.

"My.. my angle? Forgive me, I don't-" Tav wrought her hands together nervously, fearing she'd somehow misunderstood. All this time, she'd been certain Astarion had been crying out for help, for someone to rescue him.

"You can cut the crap now, sweetheart. I'm not as easily spooked by a falling armoire as your dear old dad is..." Astarion grinned, a slight glint in his eyes as he spoke. "That little naive act of yours though... that's the real thing about you that's terrifying. And let me the first to say, it was quite something watching you put on that show. I'm not that easily impressed."

Tav looked completely lost at his words, and Astarion admired how good she was at keeping up the act. But he was tired of it now.

"So, what does it feel like to have me all to yourself now, hmm?" Astarion inquired, his voice turning sultry as he carelessly chucked the objects she'd handed him on the bed and took a step towards her. "Is it everything you dreamed of, precious? All couped up in here by yourself, day after day..." He stroked Tav's cheek with the back of his hand gently, and Astarion would have been lying to himself if he didn't recognize the warmth ghosting over his fingers from that brief touch.

"You-you misunderstand, I don't have you. I... I heard you calling-" Tav tried to explain, but it was difficult. Would Astarion have believed her if she told him who she truly was? All that mattered now was that he could leave, so why didn't he? She must have done something wrong. It was hard putting the right words together when Astarion was so close. Her mind was completely scrambled and her face felt like it was burning up.

Astarion smirked. Finally, he was getting somewhere with trying to understand what Tav wanted with him, and he'd been right. Watching her blood rise to her cheeks, however, almost made his mind go blank for a few seconds.

What on earth was he doing? Standing there trying to figure out the impossible woman in front of him, when he should have been getting out of dodge and putting as much ground between himself and Cazador as possible?

A faint voice inside him wondered what the consequences on Tav would be if he ended up going missing, and he hated himself right after for even having such a thought.

The way out was right in front of him, and he could still count on a few more hours of darkness to make his way underground.

All he had to do was turn and run.

---

AN: aaah thank you so much for the love! Comments are appreciated and keep me writing. I'm planning on adding more chapters soon!

[vole-mon-amour]

is it just me or the way Wyll blushes and hides the pic of Mizora in that xbox ad doesn't sit well with you as well?

so Mizora traps him in a contract, owns him via contract, can boss him around, yank his invisible leash, and, if he disobeyed or if she dies, he either dies as well or immediately goes to hell for an eternity. I'm a way, he's her slave. as far as he knows, he can get out out of the contract by sacrificing himself (or he can sacrifice himself to save his dad).

sure, you can go behind Mizora's back and save Ravengard, buy we'll go with Wyll Doesn't Know That for the sake of my point.

and canonically Wyll dislikes Mizora and her company. he wants to get rid of her. he hates that she turns him into a devil. he hates how he looks. he hates everything about that.

and what Larian say in that xbox ad? oh, Wyll actually blushes and keeps the implied sexy pic of Mizora and it's implied that he has a crush on her/would have sex with her.

AND Karlach, who was also a slave with no means to get out, who was sold to slavery by a person she trusted and protected, elbows Wyll and goes, "what, you don't want it?" Karlach who KNOWS how it feels and who wants to kill Gortash for what he did to her, and Mizora is Wyll's Gortash in a way.

so first we have Halsin being a sex slave for three entire years and he feared for his life every single day. yet, that info is hidden very deeply and is easily misseable, and its written in the manner of him victim blaming himself with "i was a young druid" and he chuckles as he says that and it's presented in a way way as if he had fun? as if he was there willingly? as if it's all a big joke and not a big deal?

like, i know it's a big topic, but why is only Astarion's trauma taken seriously? why is Astarion's story written and loudly told in a way that we know that Cazador tortured him in every way, including rape, and not once it's treated like a joke? but when it comes to other's slavery, abuse, and trauma, it's suddenly treated like a joke?

Halsin's story is generally badly written/portrayed & he deserves way better, and maybe I'm reaching with this because neither Shadowheart's or Gale's stories show their captors as something good (still not as detailed as Astarion's though), but somehow that slips/gets dismissed when it comes to others.

I think Larian should stop with memes and hehe haha teeheee and be serious when it comes to others' trauma, not just Astarion's.

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Remember how I mentioned yesterday that Hezbollah had attacked the Northern Command base? It was announced that Ali Hussein, the commander of that aerial strike on the IDF base, has been eliminated.

Hey, remember how the anti-Israel crowd kept insisting that Israel has turned Gaza into a concentration camp, before this war? The IDF has arrived at the summer home (!) of Marwan Issa, the deputy military commander of Hamas in Gaza, and I am trying to remember a single Jewish slave laborer in Dachau, who had a summer home that looks like this, inside the camp...

(screenshots from a vid in Hebrew here, discussing Marwan Issa, his home, and the way Hamas leaders built their wealth)

This is vital: UN Watch have published a report about the Telegram group of UNRWA teachers, who celebrated the massacre of Oct 7, and prided themselves that this was thanks to the education that the terrorists got...

In the US, Jewish stars have signed a letter addressed to the Academy for Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences, protesting the fact that Jews are not on the list for includion, as one of the marginalized groups that suffer from underrepresentation. I've written way before the war about Jewish representation, and how it has never been good enough. But more than that, Most people are incredibly ignorant about Jews, Judaism, Jewish identity, Jewish history, and even some very basic related facts, such as Jews being native to Israel, or that Jews aren't just white people with a less popular religion. Jews have suffered the longest streak of persecution in human history, the most extreme genocide, and yet we're not even recognized as marginalized and discriminated, which means we're discriminated against even among marginalized groups. It's unfathomable, and it has to change, if the west wants to fight antisemitism, and it has to change NOW.

Idan Amedi's condition, which I posted about in my update post yesterday, is said to have improved, he's regained consciousness, can breathe on his own, and even talked a bit to his family.

This is 62 years old Aviva Siegel.

She's one of the hostages that were released. Yesterday, she went to the Knesset (Israel's parliament), and I got to hear her testimony about the sexual abuse and torture of the young women in captivity in Gaza, which she had witnessed firsthand. Aviva recounted that one young hostage asked to go to the bathroom. When she returned, Aviva could tell something was off. The young woman confirmed to her that the terrorist molested her. Aviva went to comfort the girl, but the Hamas terrorist rapist stopped her with gun threats. "He wouldn't even let me hug her after he raped her," Aviva said. She also shared that there was another young woman who was physically tortured based on the suspicion that she was an IDF officer. Aviva's husband is still held in captivity, for 96 days now.

This is Ronen Engel, with his daughters Mika and Yuval.

On Oct 7, Ronen was murdered, his body is still held hostage in Gaza. Yuval and Mika were kidnapped together with their mother Karina, and the three were released during the hostage deal. Two days ago, during the tragedy with the explosives truck in Gaza in which many soldiers were killed and injured 2 days ago, the Engel's family adopted son, 25 years old Amit Shachar, was killed.

May Ronen and Amit's memories be a blessing.

This was just SO sweet, I had to share. Since the fighting in Gaza started, and some soldiers have been away for months at a time, when they do get to come home, people have shared vids of the reunion joy, and this has to be my personal fave so far:

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[byfulcrums]

Something I love about Star Wars is how Luke didn't fix Anakin, he gave him the courage to save himself.

Anakin Skywalker is both a villain (and an abuser. I mean he tortured his own daughter and cut off his son's hand, come on) and a victim, that much is obvious. He is, most importantly, a slave. There has never been a single moment of his life where he wasn't/hasn't felt like he was a slave to something. Watto, the Republic, Palpatine, maybe even himself — you name it. He has never been free.

When Luke goes to the second Death Star, he is going to his father, to the suffering Palpatine is putting Anakin through (he is the main victim of Sidious's abuse and torture, something many people tend to forget). To the suffering Anakin is making himself go through, because, while it was heavily influenced by Palpatine, Anakin's choice to never leave was his own.

He Fell, and that wasn't his fault, but he chose to stay there. Many people — namely Padmé — gave him second chances. Padmé gave Anakin the chance to leave and stay together, but he didn't take it. He did all of it to save her, and it the end, he ends up believing he was the one who killed her (he 'destroys' his goal, because that's what the Dark Side does. You may begin as a noble person looking to save someone, but the Dark Side isn't good, and you will lose track of yourself along the way.)

And now here he is, inside a prison that is seen as his own suit. A prison he was put in, a prison he chose to stay in. By the time of ROTJ, he truly believes that it's over for him. That nothing can save him. That there's no hope. Anakin, the lifelong slave, is resigned to his fate. “It is too late for me, son,” he tells Luke, who willingly came to him wearing shackles.

And Luke, still believing that there is some humanity in Darth Vader's armor, doesn't deter. He doesn't let his father's words stop him. He shows that he's willing to give himself away, to die, just to save him.

Luke Skywalker, son of Padmé and Anakin and the last Jedi Master left, shows a man turned monster that he loves him unconditionally. He shows him that no, it's not too late for him, not now and not ever. And this — his selflessness, his compassion — is what finally gets through Anakin. Someone loves him, and he loves them back. And he would do anything to keep them alive, including killing his own Master and breaking his chains.

It's Luke's own sacrifice that inspires Anakin to give up his life. It's Luke's undying hope that motivates Anakin to finally break his own chains. It's Luke's trust in him that gives Anakin the courage to save himself, and in that single act, he saves the entire galaxy.

The light comes to him in the form of one Luke Skywalker, extending his hand for the last time — the light comes to him when he takes it.

The Prophecy is fulfilled when Anakin kills Palpatine and leaves the dark. The galaxy is saved when a father dies for his son.

[ladonnaalata]

I've seen somewhere an HC that Astarion lied to Tav about the extent of Cazador's abuse and that in reality Cazador was a caring and affectionate master.

Can we not do that?

Can we not woobify a villain just like we woobify Astarion?

I think there can be a middle ground between victim blaming Astarion and seeing him as this defenseless little flower who could never hurt a fly.

Cazador is an abuser. Period. Even if he tortured his spawns once in centuries, that is still abuse.

Even if he forced them to sleep with strangers once, that is still rape and it's still abuse.

Even if he entered their minds to control their bodies or thoughts once, it's still abuse.

Even if he gave them rats once, that's still abuse.

And we are quite sure he didn't do any of those things only once in several decades or centuries, as the game shows us.

Even if one doesn't want to believe Astarion (and it's weird because he has zero motivations to lie as the outcome of his life would still be the same: be free from slavery), there are plenty of other testimonies in the game that do that for him.

The servant speaking of the "horrible things" Cazador will do to him once he gets back, the fact that if you handle him back to Cazador he gets skinned alive and turned into a zombie, the siblings who hunt him who are completely subjugated to Cazador's mind control, the kennels and the rough torture instruments scattered around, the simple fact that this man carved personally an infernal mark on the back of his spawns for them to be "consumed", as that is for his own admission their ultimate purpose. He forced his spawns to fetch children as prey for mere revenge reasons and killed the daughter of one his spawns and left the corpse to rot in an abandoned bedchamber. He has a diary in which he records his "special obsession" and punishments he reserved for Astarion. He imprisoned 7000 people and left them to starve in a cage for centuries.

Now, if we want to HC that Cazador still has humanity left in him, and that he doesn't always have gorish violent outbursts we might indeed do that. Two hundred years is a very long time and probably even a Vampire Lord gets tired of the same sadistic routine.

There is no doubt that in his own mind Cazador was doing the right thing and was convinced he was spoiling his spawns, because he probably had it worse during his spawn times. He was impaled for eleven years, he had one of his friends killed under his eyes, and he was probably the only spawn of Vellioth, meaning he was the only one his master could obsess over and torment relentlessly. But his idea of "kindness" it's his own perception of himself. It's his own point of view which is completely narcissistic and does nothing to take in consideration the torments of his spawns, even for a while.

We might also think that sometimes he understood pain and suffering and used to comfort his spawns via affectionate gestures but that would be hardly be a retribution for torments he himself has inflicted. If anything it would indicate a personality disorder in which sadism and guilt mingle together to create this unpredictable ambivalent monster who acts sweet and caring one day and might skin you alive the next.

Cazador is not good, Cazador is not caring. He is a turbulent, complex, disturbed man with his own demons and painful past, we might feel sad for him, feel compassion for him and appreciate his character without forgetting that overall he's still a sadistic vampire lord who genuinely takes pleasure in others people's pain and treats his slaves as objects to satisfy his whims.

Astarion might be a liar and a manipulator but he lies to bring Tav on his side, seduce them and obtain protection because he's scared his vampirism might get him killed. And overall because that's what he's been taught to do in order to fetch dinner. That's in itself already proof of abuse and trauma response behaviour. But it's obvious when he's lying and when he's not, the game makes it super clear he's only playing with Tav about sleeping together, and Tav is equally amused at his attempts (you get the opportunity to tell him he's silly and a liar).

When he speaks about Cazador, there is no hyperbole in his words. He stops at describing some very specific episodes and vague suggestions, but he never gets overboard in trying to spur compassion or horror in Tav about his past abuse. He casually speaks about his scars when Tav sees them for the first time, and his demeanour is falsely lighthearted, like he's forcing himself to talk about them only because Tav asked. ("Now let's go, if I can't see them you certainly can't"). As a matter of fact, he's reclutant to speak about his past and we can only get him to open up if we choose the romance path and get to deepen our bond with him.

Astarion is selfish and arrogant, he comes from a noble background so it was certainly tough for him to accept and adapt to some things. He's an instigator and a yapper so no doubt he did what he could to annoy Cazador and get on his bad side from time to time. We can even HC he knew the Szarrs and always wanted eternal life without considering the cost, but in my opinion this shouldn't invalidate what Cazador did and how it impacted him. Trauma is also subjective and different for everyone, if for Astarion 200 years of enslavement have been a lot, another would be scarred for life at the mere thought of hunting a victim or at mere touch of a rusty knife on skin.

I think that simplifying this gothic horror which is Baldur's Gate 3's vampiric lore does a disservice to the player and we should take it for what it is: an horrifying story of power, corruption and control, maybe even envy, obsession and sexual attraction but please don't throw in feelings like "care", "gentleness" or "love" because those aren't present if not in the shape of another form of control and psychological manipulation and its still a completely toxic and abusive relationship.

[blisss777]

PART 1

Anakin skywalker x best friend reader

Warnings:mentions of rape, pregnancy, violence, torture, sexual power play, reader kinda takes padme's place in this, but don't worry padme ends up with sabé. If I missed more let me know.

Part 2:here

As Anakin and padme lands the ship on tatooine, the search for his mother begins. Seeing his once slave owner watto, who gives directions to a house out a ways in the plain dessert. Where he surprisingly finds out he now has a step brother.

He is happily surprised to find his mother safe, but bed bound, the torture and abuse the Tusken Raiders bestowed upon her left her weak. But safe nonetheless and healing. "Oh ani, my son. You're so handsome." Shmi places kisses all over anakin's face as he smiles through tears at finally seeing his mother again, and free.

His mother suddenly stops and stares at anakin with a serious and worried look on her face. "Ani, y/n is still missing. The rescuers and your stepfather haven't been able to save her, I tried to get them to go back for her but they told me that it is too dangerous." She shakily whispers, her eyes watering at the thought of what she's going through as they speak.

"What?" Anakin gasps in shock, unaware that his childhood friend has been taken as well. A memory floods his head, of the time they said goodbye.

"You promise we'll see each other again, right ani. And you'll free us." Y/n sniffles as tears flow down her little chubby cheeks. Hugging anakin with a strength so surprising for a little eight year old. "I promise, I'll never forget you y/n. Never" little anakin promises in a confident voice, meaning his words with a striking intensity.

So anakin decides then and there that he is going to find her and free her, no matter what. He then sets out to find her, sneaking into the Tusken Raiders camp and using the force to find where she is being kept. Slicing open the back of the tent and walking in.

The sight before him causes a sharp pain of blame and sadness in his heart, he quickly yet gently unties her and softly places her down in his lap. Pushing the stray hairs out of her face, gazing down at her and fighting off the tears. "Ani?" She whispers out in pain and slight confusion.

Her face and body swollen and bruised, tears rolling down her cheeks just like before when anakin left tatooine. She looks just the same as before, just older and she's lost all her baby fat. But she's still his y/n. "It's me, I'm here. You're safe now." He rasps out in the same tone he did as a kid, promising he'd come back and free her.

"I missed you so much." Y/n smiles through the pain, grabbing his hand and squeezing as best as she could. He places a hand on her cheek in response, caressing her gently with his thumb. "I'm here now, I'm taking you home." She smiles as she gazes up at him.

"Ani." She repeats before her eyes fluttered closed, her head lolling back as her grip on his hand loosens. "No, no y/n. Stay with me. Please." Anakin voice wavers as he tries to shake her awake. But nothing, no response.

Anguish and seething anger fills his veins, as he lifts his head to stare daggers. He softly lays her flat on the ground as he leaves the tent, igniting his saber and cutting down two guard Tusken Raiders. The other's stopping in shock before approaching him angry that he's killed one of their people. Anakin gets in fighting stance and readys his saber. The blue glow casting a beautiful light on his face.

After successfully killing all the Tusken Raiders in a blinding hate, he enters the tent where y/n still remains. Leaning down to pick her up but stopping short, how could he have not felt this before. She's alive but barely, something is keeping her alive. A familiar thing he sensed, Midi-chlorians. It surrounds her in waves.

He narrowed his Eyes and let's the force guide him, his Eyes widened in shock. Thinking that this couldn't be true, it just couldn't. He picks her up and jumps on his speeder bike with her in his arms. Speeding back to his stepfather's house.

They all rush out seeing the girl limp in his arms. "She's hurt, badly but she's still alive." They all stare in shock, wondering how this girl survived. Covered in horrible bruises. Rushing her inside They get a medical droid to help her, the droid works in silence as it tends to her wounds before wrapping them.

"Her and the child will survive, it is healthy." The droid hums out before leaving anakin, padme and his stepfather in the room with her. "She's pregnant." Cliegg asks in shock as he looks to anakin with widened eyes.

"I sensed it, I wasn't entirely sure." Anakin says as he sits in a chair besides her as she lays still on the bed. Not once looking away from her, her breathing slow yet rhythmic. "Who is the father?" Padme ask as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Maybe we could ask watto he has to know something, right." She places a hand on anakin's shoulder, hoping to comfort him.

"You're right." Is all he says as he stands and leaves the room, both him and padme finding there way back to watto. Finding him with a client, when watto spots them he waves his hand at the client shooing him away. "Well, well, what you miss me that much little ani. Or should I say big ehh." Watto cackles at his own bad joke, but anakin isn't laughing.

"What, it wasn't funny eh?, tough crowd." He shrugs as he flys over to anakin, padme by his side. "She's pregnant." He suddenly sneers out. Unable to hold back his anger anymore. "Who?" Watto confusedly scratches his head, making anakin even more angry. "Y/n, She's pregnant. And I wanna know who's the father." His voice is stern and serious.

"Oh my little servant is alive ehh, thought for sure those nasty Tuskens would've killed her by now. Well it seems I'm in luck, I won't have to buy another one." He rasps in his grating voice, laughing like this is extremely funny to him. Anakin's about to storm towards him, raising his arm to force choke him before padme holds him back. "Ani you mustn't, we have to find out who the father is."

He realises padme is right, if he kills him now he'll never get the answers to his questions. So he reluctantly lowers his arm, still glaring at watto. "Why is it so important ehh, what you wanna give the man a congratulatory handshake." Watto questions and raises a non-existence eyebrow.

"Tell me now!" Anakin sneers, so over his blabbering of nonsense. "Jeez alright ehh, no need to get mad." Watto sighs out. "This zebrak fellow comes through here from time to time, we met over gambling. He was looking for a little action ehh, I decided to offer my little servant to him for a hefty price. One I didn't think he would take." Watto explains animatedly waving his arms around.

"Turns out people are really desperate these days huh." He chuckles and wiggles his non-existence eyebrows, hoping anakin would join in on the joke. Which he doesn't of course. "You what?" Anakin is livid now, but luckily padme still has a grip on his bicep. "Ani he's not worth it, C'mon y/n needs you." Padme pleads with Anakin, dragging him back.

"You heard him padme, he doesn't deserve to live a happy life after what he's done to her. What he put her through!" He shouts back, disgust and guilt filling him. Cursing at himself in his head, thinking that if he came back for her earlier none of this wouldn't have happened.

"Ani look at me, we need to go back now. She's awake." Padme shows him the holo message from his stepbrother, letting him know that y/n is finally awake now. And hopefully ready to talk about this zebrak and tell him who he is.

Anakin nods and sends one last death glare at watto, before turning and leaving. Watto feels a shiver go down his spine, he was sure the boy was going to kill him or worse. Anakin and padme speeds back to the house, rushing into the room y/n is kept in. And seeing her sitting and talking to his mother, both of them holding hands in conversation before turning and seeing Anakin and padme in the doorway.

"Ani." She smiles as tears immediately fills her eyes, shmi watching their interaction with a look of contentment at them finally being reunited. "Y/n." Anakin rushed towards her, sitting on the bed on her left and gripping one of her hands in his. Looking at her in disbelief that she's alright.

"Can we be alone." Anakin looks at his mom then to padme, both of them nodding and leaving. He turns back and stares intensely into y/n's eyes. "Did they tell you?" He questioned curiously, gently squeezing her hand. "Yes, shmi has told me." She looks down in shame and embarrassment, the tears have already stained her cheeks.

"Hey, look at me." He gently grips her chin between his thumb and forefinger, raising her head to look him in the eyes. "You have nothing to be ashamed of." He rasps in a caring and soft tone, meaning every word.

She nodded her head at his words, tears rolled down her cheeks as she gazes at him with her doe eyes. "Whenever your ready, can you tell me who the father is?" She shallows and realised how dry her throat is, looking to the side and biting her lip. Letting out a breath, wanting to say nothing but knowing that she couldn't, she could never keep anything from her best friend.

She leans in and anakin does the same, when she's besides his ear she whisper something that both shocks and surprises anakin. "Are you sure." He asked in a serious tone, narrowing his Eyes. "Yes, I am ani. I'm sure." She confidently confirms, he senses fear in her.

"You're afraid, why?" She grabs anakin's hands in both of hers, trying to ground herself. "He threatened me not to tell anyone, and if I even thought about doing so or if I did, he would kill anyone I love and care for." Her hands are shaking now, and anakin feels it. He grips her hands and holds them to his chest.

"I won't let anything happen to you, I promise you this." He reaches a hand up and caresses her cheek, she throws her arms around his neck and sobs into it. Anakin pulls her tighter against him, wrapping his arms around her as her heart breaking sobs reach his ears.

And he knows that no matter what, he will protect her, he will kill for her. He will kill anyone her dares lay a hand on her. Anyone who dares make her cry, even just a little bit. "Never again, I'll never leave you alone again." He whispered in a adoring tone, yet something else is there, something sinister. Something dark.

Notes:wow that was a roller-coaster of emotions huh, also I'm thinking of making part two because it definitely doesn't end here. There is more to the story then I thought up, but I'll see if anyone likes this one first lol 😅

[fipindustries]

one interesting thing ive noticed in stories about generational trauma, particularly those that have some elements of fantasy or exalted reality or magical realism or just feel like adding interesting flairs to its world, is the weird like escalation of evil as you go back generations.

there are four really disparate, really different and yet really poignant examples that i can think of.

mad men, venture brothers, KND, succession.

with mad men, the story is centered in don draper, a guy who is frankly not the best father, he is distant, irresponsible, and improper. sally comes out of being raised by him as someone who has serious attitude problems and a mean streak. but then he was never as bad as his own father who was a violent mean drunkard who treated his son like shit.

with venture brothers we have rusty, a bitter asshole who is callous and mean, who turned his boys into manchildren who are kind of mentally broken in many ways, unfit to live in the real world and who have serious issues managing their emotions, but then you have jonas who was a violent manipulative narcissistic monster.

then there is KND where you had father, a raging evil genius who brainwashed his children into cold, selfish cruel monsters, but then you had grandfather who was a monstrous overlord far more powerful and threatning.

and here, finally, for the one example that we can take four generations across, you have kendall in succession, a weak selfish, petty douchebag who keeps forgetting about the existence of his daughterand who is incredibly neglectful in his duties as a father, who was raised by a meagre, manipulative, controlling asshole who would constantly fuck with his mind and use love as a way to extort his son into doung what he wanted, who in turn was raised by brutal violent people who beat the shit out of him as a kid and who blamed him for the death of his sister.

so yeah, there is this interesting trend where, however bad or harmful a father figure seems to be in fiction, somehow the previous generation manages to be even more evil and abusive, but like, not just "as abusive or bad" but specifically even more so than the next.

obviously real life doesnt work like that, in reality when you go back what you come across are situation where good loving parents in bad situations end up rasing worse people than them or where the badness levels off or any other number of complications.

but i dunno, it would be fun to explore a story where this is extrapolated to cartoonish levels, about a family lineage where the further back you go the more absurdly evil the ancestors get. where you start at someone who is kind of a mean school bully, who has a dad who is just kind of an asshole irresponsible dad, who was raised by a mean drunkard, who was raised in turn by a violent brute, who was raised by a sadistic torturer serial killer, who was raised by an evil lord who had slaves and plantations who was raised by some great genocidal conqueror king, who was raised, i dont know, by the fucking devil or whatever.

[imagineitdearies]

Do Astarion and Tyrus ever joke about their past as a way to cope? OR do they prefer to avoid the subject "We were Cazdor's slaves, it was traumatic but but don't have to go into details".

Hi anon! Hmm, what an interesting question. I think my answer has more to do with how I generally have characterized these two when it comes to humor.

Astarion's humor in my opinion is actually pretty cute and harmless, silly, when he actually means it in the game (mimicking Halsin, making really lame puns and innuendos). But in the case of trauma and his abuser I'd say he jokes about it as a defensive mechanism to shock people, make them back off and leave him alone, or to hide his true feelings about something. Like when he's making fun of Cazador's "grand ceremony to honor one exalted vampiric master," there's clear anger behind it, not actual levity. Maybe this would change after enough years of healing, but I do clock him as the type to avoid thinking about it even for joke fodder--he did spend a lot longer living it, after all.

Tyrus is a different case. Of course, he's not up for jokes very often during the awful traumatic events of PS, but he does have a streak of dry, occasionally-dark humor running through him that I think will come out a lot more as they get farther from the past and Cazador is truly permanently dead in his mind. And he loves making Astarion laugh when he can; Astarion's always enjoyed Tyrus's strange (sometimes unintended) humor.

Problem is, our boy's offhand, dry remarks about his past may not be so funny to those hearing about it for the first time (poor Cynda).

**Cue Astarion chuckling at Tyrus's dry joke about Justiciars not being very creative torturers, while everyone else stares at the two of them in confusion/horror**

No doubt Tyrus would specifically enjoy making fun of Cazador--though I think everyone finds that enjoyable, to be fair.

Thanks for the ask anon! Hope you're keeping well 🥰

[nalyra-dreaming]

Heeey, Nalyra :)) same anon about marius/ armand as before!! :D

Yeah, I agree that what they're portraying in the show is hinted in the books, in some way or another. I understand why some people would say Amadeo was "groomed and abused" by his maker, though the show is making me feel like when GOT changed daenerys' first time in the show.

Now, you and someone else touched on the topic of rebranding memory and even that Santino might have made Armand think Marius whored him out. Do you think that Armand might be, alongside these things Santino might have put inside his head as he was brainwashed, lying to himself, trying to make Marius seem worse than he was? As if Amadeo had no choice, as if he was just his slave and not had became his lover? I could see that, especially if he has already met Marius in the show and is disappointed he didn't look for him for so long when he thought Marius to be dead

anyway, thank you so much for the response!! sorry for any typos or gramma mistakes, when i read your ask i noticed i had made some haha English is not my first language :p

Well, I mean... within the context of the torture and the cult mentality they had... them trying to "rebrand" what Armand and Marius had there would fit, imho.

Armand was brain washed, for centuries. That is no trifle.

As stated before, I do not want to take away from the show pointing out certain things here. (And as said I do like them putting their fingers into wounds. And I DO think the books more than hint.) But the show also plays with "memory is a monster" and this is definitely an instance of that. Worse even, since it was literal brain washing and torture.

There is also the aspect that Armand might have also realigned some things that happened simply to deal over time. To deal with the loss, to deal with the void within himself. Marius was taken from him after all, and he did think him dead for centuries. Eventually he likely had to harden himself, or he would have perished.

Given how the show is structured I don't think we will get the full picture here for a while yet.

And yes, I also think that the Armand in Dubai might already know Marius is alive... but he and Marius were not always on the best of terms (in the books), given history (very understandable, imho). It's very complicated and I do not see the show shying away from the parallels and reasons for Armand's fear of abandonment there either.

I don't think the Armand in Dubai has any reason to soften Marius, even if he knows already he is alive. As said before, I can easily see it having been Marius who did the "final edit" on Daniel's brain... at some point of the relationship. And Armand... would not have taken kindly to that I think.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

I feel like it isn't talked about nearly enough that Harry freed Kreacher.

And I'm realizing that's because no one else, literally no one I've talked to in this fandom in the last seventeen years, interpreted the scene that way. But when I first read DH, I picked up on it immediately.

Because Harry unequivocally does free Kreacher when he gives him Regulus' locket, and I think that's so important. I get why you might disagree, because they never actually state in the dialogue that Kreacher is free. It's all subtext. You might also say that jewelry is different from clothing, but I don't think we have enough examples to rule it out. (Lucius was tricked into freeing Dobby with a sock that wasn't even his. Far as I'm concerned, if you can wear it, then it counts.)

Harry freed Dobby without hesitation, and why wouldn't he? The sweet little guy was miserable, trapped in servitude to the evil Malfoys. But Kreacher? He was the racist little bastard that betrayed Sirius, Sirius, to the Death Eaters, and had a hand in his death. Of course Harry hated him. Even in OOTP, the point is made that Kreacher cannot be freed, even if Sirius would love to be rid of him, because he simply knows too much information, and they need to keep him bound in service so that he can't pass it on.

In this, we see that Harry's status as an ally to the House Elves is conditional. He wasn't even raised in the magical world like Ron, there's no reason for him to see Elf Slavery as okay, but he just accepts it as part of the magical world because the elves are "happy" and writes off Hermione's campaign as one of her many obsessions. Ron didn't take it seriously, so neither did Harry. He was happy to free Dobby, but to him Dobby was a special case.

Then comes the tale of Regulus. Harry is told all about a Death Eater who had a change of heart for no other reason than because he loved Kreacher, and Voldemort tortured Kreacher, leaving him for dead. Harry cannot fathom it - after all, this is Kreacher. The monster who betrayed Sirius. But Sirius mistreated Kreacher at every turn, something that Harry laughed off because Kreacher was so unpleasant - but it doesn't change the fact that Sirius was literally Kreacher's master, and he regularly abused him. It's not like it's Kreacher's fault that Sirius was abused himself, or that Sirius had to return to Grimmauld Place.

Seeing Kreacher utterly break down was uncomfortable for Harry, because it forced him to confront an uncomfortable truth that conflicted with the worldview he'd set up for himself about the Elves - and about Sirius. Even twenty years later, Kreacher is still attempting to self-harm after failing to follow Regulus' orders, and it's safe to assume Regulus didn't tell him to do that.

At this point, Hermione breaks down too, and she asks them - Harry and Ron - to see what she sees. "Oh don't you see how sick it is, how they've got to obey?" And for the first time, Harry sees it. On a grand scale, he sees it. It's raw, it's awkward, it's painful to confront. But Harry comes to realize that Hermione is right. (As in most things.) Slavery is not okay, no matter the context. The House Elves should be free. Not just the nice ones like Dobby, but even the nasty ones like Kreacher. Because he sees Kreacher trying to "punish himself" just as Dobby has done many times...and I think it hits Harry that no one deserves that.

So he takes a chance. Because freeing Kreacher is still a risk. It gives him back his autonomy. He knows all kinds of information. He knows that Regulus stole the Locket, and that Harry is hunting for it too. If Kreacher were to turn around and backstab the Golden Trio, if Voldemort learned what he knew, everything would be lost. And Kreacher could do that. But Harry chooses to believe that he won't. And he recognizes that even that risk is no excuse to keep a slave.

Cause here's the thing. Even if jewelry "doesn't count" (highly debatable imo) that doesn't mean Harry would know that. So far as he knows, he's giving Kreacher something to wear, and he has personal experience with what that means to Elves. The entire scene reads like Kreacher is being freed. Call it a headcanon if you must but I have believed this for years.

Yes, Kreacher stayed in Grimmauld Place. Of course he did. He loves it there, that's his home. Where is he going to go? And yes, he continues to serve Harry after this and even calls him "Master." Because that's what he knows. I'm not saying Harry broke the conditioning. That kind of thing would take years. If she'd been allowed to, Winky would have carried on serving The Crouches after her dismissal. But the important thing is, Harry gave Kreacher the locket. Whatever enchantment it was that bound Kreacher in service to Harry would have broken when Harry gave him the locket.

I know everyone loves to mock the moment at the end when Harry's first thought after defeating Voldemort is whether or not his slave will bring him a sandwich, but, guys. It's a throwaway line about a sandwich. Harry isn't going to order Kreacher to do it. At most he's going to ask. Kreacher is old, and pretty set in his ways. Deprogramming might not even be possible for him at this point. But everything we see of their relationship following Regulus' tale shows Harry respecting Kreacher as a friend, not a slave. He gave Kreacher his autonomy back by freeing him, and, when Kreacher made the choice to stay, Harry treated him with kindness.

This is actually blowing my mind because for so many years I just took this as a given but I realized I'd never seen anyone else talking about it and it turns out I'm in the minority for interpreting it this way? It just seemed so straightforward to me...

[kismetconstellations]

@sockdooe I first encountered this supposed explanation in the comments section of a fanfiction, so it is to be taken with a grain of salt, but I read that Shiro's design was primarily based on what the showrunners thought "looked cool". This includes the prosthetic grafted onto his person by his captors, the scar across his face, and the shock of white fringe in his otherwise naturally dark hair. And, I won't lie, his design serves its purpose. Shiro immediately draws the eye, and not just because of his usual placement front and center in the standard team line up.

It's reasonable for the sort of space soldier, G.I. Joe type of character the staff intended Shiro to be to have these sorts of physical characteristics.

It's also completely reasonable in a Sci-Fi/Action show for a villain as menacing and ruthless as Sendak to have a similarly distinct, eye-catching design. Such features as a sinister, gleaming, red bionic eye, and massive prosthetic arm powered by a core of glowing, magical electric energy pulsing in a line from shoulder to forearm stand out, are easily memorable, and make him instantly recognizable as a really Bad Guy.

The idea of Shiro being a sort of "light, heroic mirror" to Sendak, which the show introduced and continued to attempt to enforce all the way up to Sendak's death, sits incredibly uneasily with me, however. As I've made explicit several times, before.

Content Warning for discussion of sexual assault/rape.

We're shown the recurrent imagery of Sendak looming over and behind an incapacitated Shiro.

Shiro's instinctive response to seeing Sendak heading toward him is to back away out of fear before steeling himself and resolving to fight, if only to protect the Castle and an unconscious Lance.

The very first thing that Shiro says to Sendak is, "You're not getting in", to which Sendak replies, "Yes. I am".

Coran suggests that the Galra might keep him and Hunk as, "some sort of creepy pet to play with how they please", in an appeal to Shay and Rax for assistance concealing their presence on the Balmera.

There's genuine contempt in Shiro's voice when he asks Sendak, "What do you want?", prior to his torture at Sendak's hands.

Sendak delivers a stomach-churning gloating little speech after torturing Shiro via electric shock.

And, Rolo refers to Sendak as a, "real nasty bugger", a term that has an exceptionally crude colloquial meaning.

Now, maybe I'm a cynical weirdo who is reading far too deeply into this, and connecting dots that aren't there. But...

Shiro bears a much stronger resemblance to Berserk's Guts than the Takashi Shirogane from the original Go Lion! that he's named after. Guts is a famous survivor of childhood sexual abuse, having been sold by his adoptive father and purchased for use as a sex slave by an ugly hulking pederast.

There were obvious Neon Genesis Evangelion fans working on this show, and Rei Ayanami, the character that Shiro's story seems to reference with the sheer excess of clones created using his DNA, is also a victim of sexual abuse.

(There's even, arguably, influence taken from The Legend of the Blue Wolves, a relatively obscure yaoi OVA largely set at a military facility which trains soldiers and pilots for combat missions in deep space. It features an extended scene with a virtual flight simulator, and one of the two male leads is-- wouldn't you know it? Raped by an ugly hulking monster.)

Correlation does not imply causation, and perhaps the similarities are entirely superficial, and we're not meant to think too hard about them.

Yet, with the amount of scrutiny that a series as utterly wholesome and innocuous as Bluey is constantly under, I cannot buy for a minute that a series Netflix gave a TV Y7 rating to didn't undergo some level of screening to ensure that its content was appropriate for the intended child audience. Someone had to have asked the staff if bugger was the term they meant to use, aware of the disturbing, far less than child-friendly implications, and was met with a resounding confirmation.

Beyond that, extended proximity to even an imprisoned and inanimate Sendak sends Shiro spiraling into a psychological break down.

Shiro's intensely traumatic experiences in captivity, which his brain seems to have largely repressed in order to protect him ("It's all a blur.") would, by themselves, be enough to convince him that he's been broken and reshaped into something monstrous. His bodily autonomy was, unquestionably, brutally violated, and his innately altruistic, self-sacrificing nature was violently challenged when he was forced to kill or be killed for his captors' entertainment. His right arm was taken from him and replaced with a weapon, and he has the blood of who knows just how many innocents on his hands. He was, indeed, broken down in an attempt to reform him into the Galra Empire's "greatest weapon", and likely very much wars with himself over what he had to do to ensure his own survival, believing himself to be a monster.

What really stands out to me, though, is that this intense, primal terror and the accompanying feelings of "brokenness" and "monstrousness" only surface around Sendak. Despite also being associated with and direct causes of his trauma, neither Haggar nor Zarkon rattle Shiro to his core the way Sendak does.

Neither of them are insistent on drilling into Shiro's head how "broken" he supposedly is, as Sendak is shown doing over and over again. Including taunting Shiro over the non-consensual modifications to his body.

Harboring a deep sense of shame, and viewing themselves as something dirty, ugly, disgusting, broken, or even monstrous is an experience common among survivors of sexual abuse.

Having Shiro's physical condition repeatedly mirror his personal tormentor's would be sick and twisted enough.

Adding the context of rape or sexual abuse to Shiro's torment makes the creative decision to intentionally model his arm after his abuser's outright sadistic.

No one deserves to have a constant physical reminder of their abuser and rapist permanently attached to their person. And, attempting to paint Shiro as a "heroic mirror" to Sendak fails entirely when Shiro doesn't so much as get to best Sendak in combat once.

All of the points you've raised about the function and structure of prosthetics are amazing, informative, and highly appreciated. (The comment about Shiro's abominable floating arm looking like it wouldn't be able to support the weight of a grocery bag makes me laugh.) Sadly, there's a faction of the fanbase who are all too quick to fetishize that arm, like everything else surface-level about Shiro. I've seen a number of fics where its ability to be propelled a great distance with a single thought is used to pleasure a partner while Shiro, himself, is in a different room, where the arm is equipped with a vibrating function for use as a sex toy, and, of course, where the thickness of its fingers is sexualized for... the same reason the bulge in the crotch of Shiro's pants is.

(I beg this fandom to stop reducing this man to a seme stereotype because of his physical build and height. Nothing in his personality suggests that he would be anything even approximating that cursed archetype. Let him be a pillow princess, for God's sake, like he deserves.)

This reply took me forever, and I am sincerely sorry about that. I hope you find something worthwhile in this haphazard collection of thoughts.

And, "Sendick" is how I'm going to be mentally referring to that creep from now on.