#Mel really is HER

[ambelle]

I wonder if the people being passive aggressive in Meljays tag get that it doesn’t change the fact Jayce was into one person on the show and her name was Mel.

You can call it rare and pretend to be confused as to why.

You can ask if anyone actually ships it.

It’s still canon that’s she’s the one he wants. Not your favorite skinny white person.

It’s HER

[egophiliac]

starting off with an amuse-bouche of some of my initial favorite bits! y'all, this update was WILD.

[blood-starved-beast]

shout out to the Japanese translation of the game confirming the order of Nyx's children as

the Fates

Charon

Moros

Nemesis

the Twins (Than and Hypnos)

Eris

Honestly doing the heavy lifting the other versions of the games can't really explain without it being out of place

[dykesevika]

fortiche studios please make her a canon dyke please and thank u

Men DNI

[mollysunder]

Look everybody! Mel's ALIVE!

In Bridging the Rift you can see her in the storyboards for season 2 coded in yellow (like her armor). This scene probably takes place when the chemtanks attacked.

We can see that the figure coded in red is likely Jayce fending off against a large combatant.

I think the figure coded in blue is dressed as an enforcer but just as a disguise to get at close range to Mel, because she's clearly struggling against them before being pushed to the ground.

By the end someone is standing over her with a gun.

[naarlar]

Okie so hot take: I don’t think Melinoë is as good of a protagonist as Zagreus. And here’s why.

It all comes down to motivation. Why did Zag go through the events of Hades 1? Because he was living in an abusive and volatile household and had to find some way to make things better for not just himself but his house. Otherwise he surely would have lost his mind having to deal with the abuse he got (remember at the beginning of the game basically only Nyx and Achilles were helping him. Everyone else is either neutral towards him or outright hostile). He needed answers, he needed to find out who and what he was by trying to find Persephone. And in the end he succeeded and was able to create a better life for himself and his house. Hell, even his relationship with his dad improved.

Now let’s look at Mel (yes this criticism is only addressing Early Access Hades 2). Why is she going through the events of Hades 2? Because… she’s been groomed since basically birth to kill Chronos. She doesn’t really have any other motivation than because it is what is expected of her essentially. She even says during her confrontation with Chronos, AFTER HE THREATENS TO HURT HER FAMILY, what do I care I barely know them (yeah sure she could just be bluffing to Chronos but that is still a very chilling thing to say when supposedly all of this is to save them and it makes her reunion with Hades lowkey ring hollow or weak). In another scene she even says the same thing to Hecate and says Hecate is more her mother than anyone else. Heck even in the flashback scene with young Mel and Hecate (which was very cute I’ll admit) she says she would want her mother to come back so Hecate isn’t sad. This makes all her motivations to kill Chronos and save the Underworld seem very… disconnected from the main component of the game? Being saving the house of hades and her family??

Like it’s expected of her and she was raised at birth to basically be prepared for this but she doesn’t have any personal reasons for doing any of this than just not letting Hecate and the others in the Crossroads down. Hell when she comes back from killing Chronos for the first time it honestly feels like Hecate is more interested and invested in what happened than Mel herself.

It makes her a really weird protagonist especially when comparing to her brother and how effective he was as a protagonist. Think about it, with Zag we got really in depth and character revealing moments where as the player we understand why he is doing all of this and so it is easy to go along for the ride because we like Zag and want to help him. Mel says she cares a lot about what is going on and wants revenge, but it all feels surface level (and which is understandable she doesn’t know these people, all she can say is “the titan took my family” when let’s be real she sees the people in the crossroads as more of her family). It honestly just seems like because she is expected to kill Chronos since she could think, she feels she has to do all this. It feels weird how she is disconnected from the core point of the game being to save the house of hades when Zag was so integral to that same core point in the first game.

I dunno, just my thoughts, I’m curious to see what everyone else thinks.

Edit: just fyi cause I feel with the comments I’ve been getting from my posts, I like hades 2 I am excited especially for the official release. I recognize my criticism/analysis could be wrong or out of date since the game isn’t finished yet. These are just my initial thoughts.

[letshareapapou]

Everyone is saying it but Mel has too badass of a character design to be taken out

[cl-0v3r]

I was rewatching the s1 trailer and heard silco say this as it shows Mel.

so I see.

[starleska]

brain is still so scrambled from watching The Legend of Ruby Sunday and Empire of Death in cinemas yesterday but...all i can say is. that felt too easy. far too easy. are we willing to bet that Ruby's story is not entirely over, and when she returns in the next season we will be unearthing that? or am i coping?

[empress-things]

One of the fun things about melnem is the parent reactions. (Talking about Hecate and Od). Because Hecate has the typical "You stay away from my daughter!" Dad reaction. Thinks Nem is not good enough, absolutely hates the idea of Nem and Mel dating.

Meanwhile Od is offering to cover Nem's guard shifts and totally trying to set them up on dates and meetcutes. He also unsuccessfully tries to talk Nem into being nice to the girl she likes rather than picking on her. But he just doesn't understand sapphic bullying being a key part of the courtship.

[sistersofsilver]

in sharp contrast to my favorite eris screencap, this is my favorite of nems. this line made all her nonsense toward mel click for me. what if this is what the gods deserve? poor divine retribution.

[mel-loly]

-“Ties and a Unique Love”..

[m3lth3ph4nt0m]

Idk i wanted to draw hatsune miku cause i saw a lot of figurines on pinterest and i adore how the fabric looks on them <3

somewhat inspired by strawberry x miku and also sakura miku?? idk i just did something

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Hello! So i know that I am WAY! less knowleged than u re: asiof but I have a question about the Prophecy (AA/PTWP). I did a deep dive on it and GRRM spoke repeately about handling prophecy carefully/not too literally etc 3 weeks ago at Oxford he repeated: "you cannot have a prophecy that comes true way it was written and everbody understands it(..) it has to come true in a way you didnt understand(..)so it bites you in the ass" So rather than "who has the most obvious PTWP clues" shouldnt we theorize "how will the idea of AA/PTWP backfire on the believers" or "how can a unique/unpreditable element fill the role"? Since Im assuming GRRM stance will likely apply to the biggest prophecy in the books. What do you think? do you know theories like that? If anything, I only see "the prophecy is just nonsense!!" but that is clearly also not what GRRM says: not prophecy is bogus but has to be unexpected or "bite you in the ass".

Hey! No, you're far too kind 😭

I completely agree with you, and you raise some interesting and important questions, especially when considering how these ideas reflect back on our protagonists.

The tricky thing with interpreting prophecy is that the characters are operating on second-hand, third-hand, or even more distant accounts, all filtered through their cultural understandings of what a hero should be. Their beliefs are shaped by the information available to them, which is often incomplete or distorted. This means each character's idea of who is the subject of prophecy is largely subjective, influenced by their biases and specific cultural narratives and thus might never present the whole truth! So as readers, we should be very cautious about how we interpret the declarations presented by any character as absolute truth. We will probably never know until the final book is published, and even then it might be murky at best.

I saw GRRM’s comments a few days ago, and they really resonated with me because they align with how I’ve been feeling lately, particularly regarding Melisandre's role in all of this:

“[…] It is written in prophecy as well. When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone.” (Davos III, ASoS)

It's often amusing in fandom to discuss how wrong Melisandre is, and she certainly is almost all the time. But lately, I've been wondering: what if we're wrong too? We focus so much on Melisandre misidentifying Azor Ahai, but what if she completely misunderstands her own role in all of this—and we're too blinded to notice it?

Because the issue isn't just that she's chosen the wrong person. The bigger problem is that she's fixated on providing what she believes are the necessary tools to defeat the Others. She wants to "wake dragons out of stone”, repeatedly asserting that "two kings" are needed to wake the dragon so they can serve Stannis Baratheon. This thinking leads to the burning of Shireen—because someone must die to forge the hero's weapon. Melisandre even sees herself as expendable in this grand scheme. But what if her entire understanding is flawed—not just about who the hero is, but about the very dragon she is trying to awaken?

I've been considering all this because "dragons" in the text don’t always refer to actual winged creatures—they're often symbolic descriptors for Targaryens in visions. For example, Moqorro's visions show dragons old and young, true and false; Baelor Breakspear appears as a dragon falling on top of Dunk; and a dragon egg hatching essentially symbolizes Aegon V. So if we're taking prophecy at face value, just as Mel does, we're left wondering where in seven hells she expects to find her "sleeping dragons".

But the thing is, she already has one: Jon Snow. In fact, her visions in Dance suggest that Jon is the one she is truly searching for. And I often think of these visions as moments where I go, "Oh, come on, Mel! It's not that guy; it's the other one!" Yet I've come to realize that even if she identifies Jon correctly, Mel would still face the dilemma of needing another sacrifice to "wake" Jon's dragon. However, she is likely to resurrect Jon before reconnecting with Stannis, which means that by the time she and Stannis consider burning Shireen, she may have already awakened the dragon - and thus fulfilled the prophecy.

If Jon is the awakened dragon, that adds a tragic irony to the whole situation with Mel and Shireen. Legend has it that the woman (Nissa Nissa) dies for the hero’s glory. But if Jon is the dragon, then does that make Melisandre Azor Ahai in this case? After all, we don't know much about the original prophecy so who knows how much it has been distorted over time?

But wouldn't that be such a twist? Mel isn’t a noble lady or royal; she's a former slave, a mere priestess—a tool, a guide, but not the hero. She never considered that she, a woman, could be R’hllor’s chosen. Yet she would perform an actual miracle in bringing a dragon back to life. And if, like me, you believe that Jon will be born from a funeral pyre (inverting Khal Drogo and Dany's dragon eggs), then the prophecy is turned entirely on its head.

This also raises the question: what about Shireen? What does she, an innocent little girl, die for? Why should she have to die for a dragon that is already living? Why should she have to die to exalt a false hero, when the true miracle worker is actually the "expendable" woman who stands before her? Then we have Melisandre carry the baggage of killing a child for something she had successfully completed before...It doesn't matter if she's able to perform some bastardized miracle and create a shadow dragon, because it would all be all for naught and a wasted effort. To me, this is more satisfying from a character development perspective because Melisandre is no longer a background character. She’s got POV chapters now, which means she has an arc that needs to reach its natural conclusion. It cannot begin and end in service of the men around her. She must reflect on her role and come to terms with her actions—both good (waking the dragon in Jon) and bad (sacrificing Shireen for something she had already accomplished and for a prophecy she had already fulfilled); and this could lead to some compelling writing. This might also answer your question about "how will the idea of AA/PTWP backfire on the believers?”. Because “incorrect” interpretations not only hinder progress, but the cost of human life is perhaps too high :/

Oops, so sorry for the long tangent.....

[relicsongmel]

Do you guys ever think about Iris' blushing sprite?

Do you ever think that the first time we see it. is RIGHT AFTER she hears Phoenix use her real name for the first time?

Imagine loving a man. that didn't even know your REAL NAME until five years after you "broke up." Imagine that man loving you back despite him not knowing a thing about who you really are. And you're okay with that

Because you don't really like who you are anyway.

And once the illusion shatters and fate forces the two of you apart?

None of it matters anymore. If anything it's what you deserve for thinking you could live out your lie with no consequences. It's what you deserve for daring to try to find happiness in a world that has cast you and the people you love aside time and time again.

And then. When against all odds he blindsides you by entering your life again

You hear your name escape his lips. And in that moment you realize

Maybe being seen for who you really are isn't so bad after all.

Maybe. JUST MAYBE. With time. You could learn to finally drop your facade and live in earnest. To fight for what's right the way he told you he wanted to do.

And it shows on your face. It's shown by your rose-colored cheeks and a shy smile that's impossible for you to hide. And for the first time in several years

You don't feel like you need to.

[astoldbychae]

Carmelo (and his cousins TJ & Ashanti).

It took forever and a day for Melo and TJ to stop goofin' around so they could get the shot (clearly Ashanti was OVER it!)...but we got it!

Backstory below the cut

These two are literally his right-hand and left-hand women. When I say he would go to war over his girls...Listen, he doesn't play about the women in his life. That's really all he's ever been around (his aunt, cousins, ex-wife and now his girlfriend and daughters...He's always been outnumbered!)

✨He was raised by his Aunt Beverly & Uncle Maurice (which are Ashanti & TJ's parents). His mom passed away when he was in the 1st grade and he didn't have a relationship with his dad. He has a plethora of siblings on his dad's side but he isn't close with them. His Uncle was a Paramedic (that's who inspired him to become a Paramedic/Firefighter)

✨ Melo is the oldest (33), Ashanti is 30, then there's TJ who's 27. He's close with both of them but TJ was literally his shadow growing up. He's the reason she loves basketball as much as she does. They used to get in trouble for staying out past curfew (cause they were challenging each other to dunk contest and shit!). She's a shooting guard for the Del Sol Valley Suns, so it definitely paid off!

✨ Ashanti is married to Mekhi (Monet's older brother) and they have an infant daughter (Jacquelyn) together.

✨ TJ is (secretly) engaged to her short-term girl friend, Deijah (they met a few months ago on a dating app and it's been going well). Although things are moving pretty fast, they aren't in a rush to walk down the aisle just yet. They currently live on opposite ends of the simverse and have pretty busy schedules, so adding wedding planning to the mix (right now) is a bit much. They are content with being in love and being engaged.

Mel & Jacquelyn (Ashanti & Mekhi's daughter) Chile, those Giordano genes are STRONG!

POSES USED FOR FAMILY PHOTOS: One // Two // Three // Four