#also i think i fucked his quest a bit by killing the dragon before being told about it by his dads buddy

[elfrootlover420]

wtf do we not actually get to have our feast with wyll???? I wanna drink ale and eat pork or whatever he said

[explodingchantry]

Anders isn't my problematic fave because he isn't problematic. I think the wider concept of anders being 'wrong' the fandom has is a clear example of how biased the writing has been in the games. It's the same reason why people hate Jowan, or why they think the kinloch hold mages were stupid. There's a clear bias in the writing and framing of it all that guides the player towards feeling negatively.

The majority of answers you can give Jowan in Dao are negative, mocking, or downright insulting. The ones who aren't are just... Neutral. You can be a bit sympathetic to him in the circle origin but by the time you meed him in redcliff most of your dialogue choices are so fucking mean. In my replay I was trying desperately to be nice and sympathetic to him but the best you can do is be neutral and let him go but for every rude dialogue option there is no "you've been through something horrible, I'm sorry" or "you were manipulated, loghain took advantage of your vulnerability, I'm sorry" it's soooooo.

Likewise, I always make sure to speak to every single npc in the mage origins and the One mention of uldred before the broken circle quest is from the one mage who tells you about the different political faction enchanters are in, and it's with absolute disdain. That mage thinks uldred is annoying and it's implied that the other enchanters think so, too. Uldred who was an activist for mage liberation is treated as annoying for being an activist.

Then he turns out to be a blood mage and to have killed the majority of the circle, turning them into abominations. The message is clear: those who seek liberation are wicked. In the first game of the series, thus in the game which introduced the concept of circles at all, their existence is justified by the text. It overtly says: look at all those foolish mages, how dangerous they can be when One of them is wicked. Can you imagine if they were free? Can you imagine those abominations' destruction if they were out in the open?

Something similar happens in the mage origin, with Jowan. Through the whole origin, whilst Jowan is painted as annoying, he's definitely seen as a victim. Up until he uses blood magic, that is. Suddenly, the player is likely supposed to think "oh, so they were right to want to make him tranquil after all". Instead of being a way to show that the circle will often turn innocent mages tranquil, it shows you that greagoir was right to distrust Jowan, because he was indeed a blood mage. Instead of showing you how paranoid those in power are about mages, the writing justifies their fear and hatred.

Bear in mind this is the first game and likely the very first thing that happens to a lot of new players. The game does not expect you to know the intricacies of its lore yet, doesn't expect you to understand that blood magic is actually fucking neutral unless you sacrifice people for it. You might be tempted to argue that it's setting up for that realisation later and for you to feel bad about Jowan later, realizing he was led to blood magic because it was his only solution, because he and all other mages are caged like dogs (except this is ferelden, so the dogs are better treated than them). But then you've got the redcliff fiasco where it's obvious the writers expect you to fucking hate his guts

And while dragon age 2 is more overt in its depiction of mage suffering, it also tries to pass on the idea that kirkwall is a special case, that it's only the gallows that are this bad. That it's just Meredith whose craaazeyyy 🤪 and not just Meredith being a product of a corrupt system. The writers expect you to think of Anders as an unstable extremist, or as his writer puts it, a "bipolar terrorist" (note that ofc there's nothing fucking wrong with being bipolar, but I don't think his writer cares!)

With different writers and the exact same set of events, Anders blowing up the chantry would be easily recognized as a positive, as an act of justice, of rightful rebellion. Instead it's seen as a tragedy, a mistake. Instead Anders is categorized as a villain, morally grey even though Hawke themselves has a higher death toll than he ever will.

It's a lesson, I think. In narrative bias.

[oddnub-eye]

Throwing my hat into the Dawntrail review ring now that I've had the time to sit on it.

Pacing is definitely Dawntrail's weakest point, but I think an...underrated feels like a weird word to use here, but its all I got, so underrated "weak point" of the expansion is that a lot of it feels like a lot of the set pieces can fall victim to a bit of player dissonance.

Like, the biggest victim of this is Valigarmanda, who gets a ton of hype in the build up to his trial, but as you settle in for the fight, they start hyping it because its a big bird that controls the weather and -

Oh hey final boss of 3 expansion ago, what are you doing here?

Its not totally unexpected from an expansion meant to set up a new story arc, but it feels like a fair few of Dawntrail's set pieces suffer from the sequel problem of "Member of the old cast is way too strong to scale to a challenge that would reasonably be a satisfying challenge for the new cast"...except they can't write around that problem because the overpowered question in character is you, the player character.

Like, the scenes where Koana reminds Wuk Lamat that she hasn't surpassed her father yet because Valigarmanda hadn't fully recharged its aether or when Allisae talks about how dreadful fighting the shade of Gulool Ja Ja would have been if Koana's team hadn't helped just like

Don't land.

Not 5 levels ago in the Endwalker Patch Quests we had a scene dedicated to our allies hyping us up about how we've overcome every challenge possible, right before we smack around what amounts to a voidsent primal made from fusing a dragon and the remnants of fucking Zodiark's aether. In Endwalker proper, we outright kill Zodiark, fight the Endsinger into becoming Metion again, beat Zenos, etc etc. There's nothing in Dawntrail that makes me go "yeah, this is a reasonably high stakes situation for the Warrior of Light" until Sphene and Alexandria come in. And that wouldn't be a problem, but it also feels like the expansion wants us to feel the same level of triumph we get from actually overcoming the challenge like it did in previous expansions - and while its fun on a gameplay level, when it tries to give that same feeling on a story level, it all falls apart.

One of the best set pieces in the expansion is the duty where you play as Wuk Lamat to fight against Bakool Ja Ja. The Warrior of Light is removed from the situation, complete with dialouge options to be a bit cheeky about it:

(say hi to Klar everyone)

You can be encouraging or warning or just outright trollish. Its the same as back when Wuk Lamat was kidnapped and the Warrior of Light captured Bakool Ja Ja's attention so well they were able to set up Thancred and Koana up to do the actual important parts of the rescue.

These are both set pieces that write around the Warrior of Light extremely well while letting the new characters take the spotlight - Wuk Lamat's duty allowing her to affirm her growth and show off her resolve by defeating Bakool Ja Ja in a one on one, and Koana showing his care for his sister by being the one to actually catch her.

Ultimately - in spite of going on about it for 6ish paragraphs, this is a relatively minor nitpick. It's something I only really felt for a moment before getting swept into the excitement of the next story beat, and only really bugs me further on deeper reflection. But it does contribute to a feeling that I think is the root of a lot of people's issues with Dawntrail (that being that the Warrior of Light feels really awkwardly implemented).

Most of the set piece issues do utterly vanish once we hit solution nine, however. Zoraal Ja going full Vergil in particular absolutely fucking rules.

That being said, outside of the pacing (which has been talked about enough) and the hit-or-miss nature of the set pieces, Dawntrail is a very good expansion. In particular, I think Dawntrail really shines in its characters.

Wuk Lamat is a very fun character to follow (and she better be, given how central she is and how much circles back to her). Her character arc is less about needing to grow or evolve her ideals, and more about needing to refine them and understand what they actually mean. Its not a particularly dramatic transformation, but it is nevertheless fun character growth to watch.

Bakool Ja Ja is Bakool Ja Ja. What else is there more to say.

Koana went in a character direction I really wasn't expecting. While his ideals and vision is thoroughly proven false, the background with his abandonment provided a background to those ideals that I didn't expect going in, rather than him being set up as someone purely enamored with progress for progress' sake. Staking his anti-tradition viewpoint in his birth parent's abandoning of him also set up a fun contrast where he is able to make the decision his birth parents weren't: he's able to change his ideals to accommodate for the people who matter for him, his birth parents weren't.

Zoraal Ja is fucking goofy. And I love him for it. There's a lot to read into his character - and he probably would have benefited from like...an echo flashback or a few more levels to let him stretch his muscles, but ultimately his themes of expectation and how they crushed him do come through. It is also the case that he spends most of the expansion doing Metal Gear Villian monologs, gets really close to becoming a cyborg, and goes full Vergil complete with summoned swords. He may not have been the most cooked antagonist, but he had insane amounts of sauce about it.

Sphene. Sphene Sphene Sphene. Admittedly, I did not have the best first impression of Sphene. I streamed a lot of the back half of dawntrail to the homies and so a lot of Sphene's screentime was eaten up by us going "i don't trust her." and fossil fuel jokes. However...Sphene gets stronger the longer you have time to sit and think on her. Sphene's in-built purpose to preserve Alexandria at all costs was always going to clash with the base of "Queen Sphene" that she was built on - and one was always going to break. Its very reminiscent of the tragedy of Elidibus, who was so dedicated to his purpose that he, ironically, forgot what his initial motivation even was. Elidibus lost his reason, and Sphene ultimately resolved to cast aside "herself". Bringing the "meta" aspect of the inevitability of tragedy to the literal text of Sphene's story only makes the overall tragic nature of her story that much stronger, in my opinion. Ironically, that "criticism" of how untrustworthy Sphene seemed that I referenced earlier ends up being retroactively heartbreaking: you watch as Sphene builds up sympathetic scene after sympathetic scene with the knowledge that you'll probably confront her eventually, just like she does.

Her trial does, however, suck shit. Which is a little disappointing since most of the dungeons, duties, and trials absolutely knocked it out of the park in the gameplay department.

That's another thing that's really good about Dawntrail. The combat and design of most of the encounters felt really good. It was challenging without being frustrating (except for Sphene), and everything felt learnable without sacrificing challenge. It makes me really want to actually do the raids for this expansion right away instead of putting them off like I have the rest of them (although I probably should do Bahamut and Pandaemonium first for story reasons).

Solid story, extremely solid gameplay, with one moderate flaw I didn't even bother to talk about and one nitpick I blew up into 6ish paragraphs. All in all, I'd say that's a damn solid - no, damn good, expansion.

[forcedhesitation]

the end of wyll's quest is....interesting. it was VERY cool. I thought having the archetypal fairy tale prince go "slay the dragon" was a fitting ending, I just feel like it was....a little underwhelming in some ways.

more under cut

first and foremost- I wish that it was not possible for your tav/durge to converse with ansur. I wish that it automatically selected wyll, because I simply do not think that this entire scene has as much impact if it is not wyll at the forefront of everything. which is why I also have to complain about the emperor here.

the reveal that he is balduran is.... well. I knew about this already, through accidental spoilers. Initially, I thought it was a stupid reveal. but reframing the reveal in the context of a fairy tale...well it makes perfect sense. it just FEELS a bit underwhelming and strange, because your player character is not wyll. this entire area feels like it was written with an avatar wyll in mind. and I wish that there were changes made to the companion wyll version of the game that made up for this. wyll is a character who is hugely tied to the main plot by virtue of being the duke's son. he spends the game searching for his father, while trying to deal with both mizora and the absolute. mizora is the one he sold his soul to to save the city before, the reason he was cast out. the absolute wants to destroy and steal his city. and ansur, a legendary dragon, might be his way of saving the city and getting his father's approval back. ansur had wanted to kill balduran because balduran had been infected with a mindflayer parasite, but had embraced his illithid nature rather than rejected it. I feel like there's some parallel that can be made to wyll there. in that he was othered, like balduran was, because he accepted mizora's help. ansur condemned balduran because ansur is a bronze dragon and therefore lawful good. wyll's father exiles wyll because wyll was "at best a fool, at worst a traitor," in his father's eyes and his father tolerated neither. wyll & balduran are both victims of the inflexible nature those of lawful good alignments have. they are both seen as monsters for what happened to their bodies. I wish that was emphasised a little more. like autoselecting wyll for the ansur dialogue & giving him dialogue with the emperor would have made this ending feel a little more complete, in my opinion. and it would have better demonstrated the point of having the emperor even be balduran. because that's such a fairy tale thing, the stuff of real legend! for the hero's mysterious guide to actually be some great old hero thought to be long dead. and I do think it works. it just doesn't feel as impactful if wyll is not your avatar.

I also wish this area was overall bigger & more developed. I know they redid wyll's character from EA. I know they had less time. I just. I wish that this area was as detailed as the sharran temple in act 2. it feels like SUCH a big deal, it feels like it should be bigger. especially since at lvl 12, you're just. unkillable.

but the dialogue afterwards, where he says he's in the mood for celebration and wants to make a celebratory dinner? SO CUTE!!! that man's joy is contagious!!! I could practically feel him holding back how much he just wanted to jump around with joy. and the sweet little "let's hope gale won't be too upset that I'm cooking for once and not him." I love you. you are too fucking sweet wyll. this fucking city does not deserve you. this playerbase does not deserve you. you are a true gem and I wish people saw you are just as beautiful and interesting as astarion and gale.

a cool possible scene they could add, to given wyll's questline more material IS that dinner he talks about. or preparation for it! something where he asks tav/durge to taste the food beforehand? or where your avatar can ask him about where he learned to cook, prompting him to talk about his time as the blade of frontiers? out in the sword coast on his own? this scene could easily be platonic or romantic, but be given extra options for a romantic relationship. but something like this could truly be added at an earlier point in the game too, it doesn't have to be tied to this particular moment.

but overall really cool area of the game. very cool bossfight. and a rather clever ending to wyll's quest, contrary to what his haters say. I love the commitment to the fairy tale theme. it just needs a bit more. maybe it feels more satisfying if you've romanced him. although I've heard his act 3 romance scene is currently bugged? his unromanced questline is slightly bugged (doesn't rob you of any material, though, it just replayed some dialogue for me). either way, I hope that gets fixed asap. I so badly need to experience this romanced version in my other campaign.

[charkyzombicorn]

Well fuck Dragon! Au where he tries that bias bullshit on Crocodile and gets kicked in the dick for it while Crocodile just leaves with their son. Au where Luffy is the prince of Baroque Works and Robin is his bodyguard/best friend

I'm so sorry I lost this in my asks!!!

I saw that SBS that said Croc would spoil his kids rotten and yes definitely absolutely also timeline what timeline anyway

Croc left the RA when Luffy was abt 2 months old, Iva didn't want to directly betray Dragon so they started the half level in impel down and was down there for a while monitoring comings and goings and conveniently missing every letter their vice monarch sent abt Croc being stashed away on Peachy Island - he didn't Need need to but sailing on his own with an infant would be rough especially since most of his contacts were also connected to Dragon (and not completely coincidentally on Dragon's part) so he would be sailing alone. Peachy Island is also where he meets Bon Clay (13-14 at the time) and he becomes something of a son to Croc.

Croc and Luffy spend 3-ish years there before Croc decides he's not in fact done playing with fire and he wants to be a warlord so he can be a pirate with a respected home territory to keep Luffy and also because staying still so long made him Itch. Luffy spending 3 years surrounded by people with a bit more focus on vanity and identity mixed with being raised by Croc does mean that Luffy gets a sense of style! Croc does not allow jorts in his house :( so Croc forms a small crew with Daz (afab went to peachy Island to fight Ivankov for testosterone got a found family is still on the quest for T), Zala (Old Old contact I'm aging her up 20 years because reasons. She knew Croc back when he was still on Whitebeard's ship and is one of the few that doesn't care at all abt the RA), Bon Clay (Croc was hesitant to bring him but he could more than hold his own Croc made sure of that), Drophy (left Amazon Lily because she fell for a man but then she killed him teehee she was on Peachy Island for groceries mostly) and Galdino (his sister's trans and lives on Peachy Island he visits her and her kids sometimes)

They set out, Croc making a massive name for himself mostly by accident (he likes planning things but he can't help being cool) but then the marines strike a deal - if he can remain an active pirate while being targeted by the other warlords for 1 year then they'll give him the warlord title (it was harder to become a warlord back then) so Croc says deal but then secretly gets Garp to pick up his grandson, says in no uncertain terms that if Luffy gets mistreated Garp will never see him again and Garp humors him mostly but still agrees and takes him to Dawn. Meanwhile the hunt begins, the only current warlords are Mihawk, Doflamingo and Moria and Croc manages easily enough by seducing two of them and beating the stuffing out of Moria thrice. He only wanted to keep Luffy away because he didnt trust any of the warlords to not do any research and find his glaring weakness. Also because Garp had been nagging him for years to let him see his grandson (Crocodile doesn't like the seperation, he's very clingy in an Italian way)

So Luffy lands on Dawn, immediately calls Shanks crusty and says he smells like if you soaked a sock in booze, Shanks thinks he's the funniest little guy ever. All the Shanks stuff happens, then Croc comes back for his kid only for Garp to pull a fast one (and by fast one I mean he told Dragon abt Croc and Luffy and Dragon decided to fuck with the groundwork Croc was laying in Alabasta so Garp could hide Luffy better this was not coordinated the Monkey family is just rude) so Croc had to turn right back around to chase Dragon away and Garp threw Luffy up the mountain (Luffy knows his dad's coming back for him but he doesn't know how long it'll take since his dad's only late when something bad happens and he eavesdropped that what his dad was doing was dangerous. Ace asks how Luffy knows his dad isn't dead, Luffy doesn't have an answer)

While Croc is away he finds Robin and takes her in

By the time Croc can get back to Dawn Luffy has 2 brothers and a sister and Croc decides Dragon and Garp keeping him from his kid means he has full rights to take the three new ones also

When he starts Baroque works the kids are called the Wani's (after bananawanis because they're as cute and also as vicious as them to Croc)

[spacehostilityy]

NNT Rewatch s2ep1-6

(This was written weeks ago but was in my queue. I am moving back to my college town Saturday so busy days are to come but now I have things to procrastinate 😈)

So YAYAYAY time for season 2 (my fave season overall) !! I’ve rewatched this one before, so i actually remember some of this lol

Ban: I quit

Meliodas: your face is the only joke we can handle

HE GOT HIS ASS DAMN

i love both of diane’s orange fits, but s1 leotard hits different

i have thots abt the introduction of power levels that will be told beneath the cut

i mean it’s all very dragon ball (which i love, but in a very different way). I feel like they are just better executed in manga format, because saying the numbers out loud just kinda breaks up the flow of dialogue and action. Plus the numbers never stay accurate since the characters are always powering up and nakaba lowkey just stops using them at one point. so like assault mode!Meliodas has a power of 142,000. BUT he defeats enemies with powers higher than that and is shown to gain even more power. But this is the highest number we have for him. Overall, theyre clunky, not updated enough to be accurate, and just kinda cheesy :/ I feel like plot could have been added to justify and explain the eye of Balor (AKA Drole if i remember correctly) but it’s just used as an excuse to quantify the characters’ strength since this season is mainly focused on physical and emotional growth, as seen by the Ishtar Arc (one of my fave arcs hehe)

merlin’s friendship with hawk is actually so cute tho

so Meliodas’s beginner stats (still missing his powers) are magic 400, strength 960, spirit 2010. The way I see it, his insane spirit strength could mean one of two things: bitch is just hella determined in his quest to end their curses and protect his friends (likely) or merlin taking away his power only affects his strength and magic since spirit has to do with your mind (also likely) anyway what do y’all think?

how the fuck is gowther’s strength 500??? The average person who can lift 50-100 lbs has a strength of 30. HOW IN THE FUCK?? IS GOWTHER SECRETLY SWOLE????

Meliodas being like “no idk who the ten shadows could be haha” when he and merlin literally formed the sins to fight them and HE WAS THE LEADER OF THE 10 COMMANDMENTS is so funny like so tru king lie to their faces

the first thing Zeldris says is “3000 years... please tell me that he’s still alive” which tells me two things: 1) he doesn’t know about Meliodas’s curse, which could explain why estarossa kills him when he’s just going to come back a rival to the throne of the demon king and 2) the listed life expectancy of 1000 years for demons is probably not accurate lol

maybe it’s driven down due to number of battle deaths like the mortality rate of the middle ages lol

we are introduced to a demon who hopes mel is alive, shares a voice actor, AND HAS THE SAME FACE yeah the brother coding is very thick

AJSDBJKBHJEBFNWKFH YESSS THIS IS MY ALL TIME FAVE INTRO SONG AND ANIMATION

ban’s refusal to get jericho’s name right makes me laugh every time

Jericho: is scared and runs to Ban

Ban: 🤨 yeah. i don’t remember asking you to grab my arm🙄

im sorry but king rlly was a bad fairy king like mans didnt even know the forest was there 😭 its ok tho i love that for him

King hating Ban at first bc he “killed elaine and destroyed the fairy kings forest” only for Ban to pull THE BIGGEST uno reverse on him will never not be funny

wait does that mean ban is technically the 4th fairy king and king is both the 3rd and the 5th bc that would be rlly funny and does happen quite a bit historically

I love how as much as a smug asshole Ban is, he’s not rubbing it in King’s face and is showing him he’s still his friend

so if Gil is Margaret’s guard and Griamore is Veronica’s, does that mean Howzer was Elizabeth’s ?? bc that would be so fucking funny

Helbram got King’s ass with “and you’re short”

KASBDFNJBSDKF HE LOOKS SO GOOFY😭

MY BABYGIRLS ARE HEREEEE

Best girls Melascula and Derieri fr

i love that they said slader is gay, how can we let the audience know and then gave him the smoothest, gayest voice imaginable

merlin calling og gowther a great magician when we know he was the one to train her is actually so sad, i want to give baby merlin a hug

slader is hot, thanks for coming to the ted talk

how the fuck does he walk like this tho??

is there a reason i just don’t remember why they never really bring up albions again or do they just ~disappear~ conveniently from the story lol

So the whole concept of sacred treasures is really cool to me because they are clearly something unique to the Sins, despite all of the sacred treasures being very different and made of different materials. I mean Gowther’s is straight up made of light Still, them having weapons that serve as a constant and grow with them as they become more powerful is just a neat concept to me. I just wish we could have seen Ban use Courechouse more than just a few episodes. There really isn’t a plot reason he couldn’t have had it beforehand.

Gerheade being a bitch to Ban bc he’s a human makes literally no sense when we learn her backstory with Rou. Like NO sense at all lol

I honestly love that Meliodas destroyed the albion on his own. Like yes, he is my OP blorbo BUT he’s also supposed to be incredibly powerful in canon, which we haven’t seen him go all out with an enemy yet. Not only does he know all about albions (bc he’s a demon), but as leader of the 10 Commandments, he probably was on the controlling side of the golems. Then, as a member of Stigma, he fought against them. Not to mention, this is when he finally gets Lostvayne (the DEMON sword) back. This moment for me is when he gets to show off the perks of him being a powerful and high ranking demon. Might fuck around and do a full post later on Meliodas’s relationship to his own race and what/who he is lol

Ban screaming “you bitch!!” is... a wonderful experience

Yass king (hehehehe get it? bc his name is king? hehehe)

Galand petting Gloxinia is actually so cute lol

Merlin covering Arthur’s eyes 😭😭 she’s his mom fr

“its been a while meliodas” oop galand just let the Meliodas is 3000 years old cat out of the bag ehehe

(stay with me bc im about to get delusional) WAIT so galand says “to think that after all this time has passed youd still be in that form” in this essay i will prove that Meliodas looks like a young teenager because he essentially is biologically young for the demon race. Galand doesn’t know Mel was cursed, so he would think that he had aged in the past 3000 years. Plus, I think the demon king’s possession of Meliodas AND Zeldris can be (somewhat) compared to Sariel’s aging up of Solaseed. Anyway, i feel like this can support my hypothesis of Zeldris and Meliodas are just babies who will eventually look like adults. Also, I think them being super young just enhances the angst quite well.

everyone is fucking terrified of galand but hes just a silly foolish little fellow to me lol

ban and king being brothers-in-law makes my heart happy like theyre so cute

Ban threatening Gerheade and actually being pissed and serious has suddenly reminded me that if i saw a grown ass man who couldn’t die and was a 7 foot tall violent alcoholic i would be fucking terrified

like a demon 14 year old? creepy ig but not a 7 foot tall masochist with an 8 pack

I love how hard Diane always goes for the ones she loves, she’s just so devoted and passionate Best Girl tm behavior

*Merlin being incredibly confidant and nonchalant starting a proposition*

Meanwhile Merlin’s thoughts: SHIT SHIT I HAVE 10 SECONDS TO THINK BEFORE EVERYONE I LIKE DIES

Meliodas doing the same thing Hendy did by reattaching his fucking arms using Darkness and the sins still being like wait?? is Meliodas?? a... demon ??? 🤨

okay so we DO see him in this mode again. But what is it called? and why does he become no thots head empty? its not like he died. and even in assault mode, he has thoughts and emotions (when they’re not stuck in purgatory) 

Im ngl, i forgot everything about this episode entirely lol

obvi i hate that derieri died, but at least the souls she fucking ate got returned lol

do we think arthur has a tiny teenage gay crush on meliodas? Discuss.

(the answer is yes ehehe)

gowther walking around with his dang a lang swangin hehe

Gil crying in annoyance and defeat as griamore and howzer bicker is literally so hashtag real

HENDYYY MY BABYGIRL IS BACK BAYBAYYYY

very suddenly realized that Hendy’s probably only like in his 30s. Mans is just not that old

exactly 3 seconds after I had that though Howzer calls him old man LOLLL

i forgot about hendy’s childhood trauma. damn. thats actually rlly sad :/

look how cute he is tho 😭😭

hendy and dreyfus are in love. thanks for coming to another one of my ted talks

so do we think dreyfus is half druid (and zaratras is full) or zaratras is half druid? i mean they’re half brothers but only one is a called a druid sooo

IM SORRY BUT THIS IS THE FUNNIEST FUCKING SCREENSHOT ASDFFHSLDH elizabeth scandalized, meliodas accepting his fate, slader leaning in closer and blushing ITS JUST SO GOOD

The ass shot of Diane 🤨😑

Damn Idk how i never realized that all of them pretty much only call Meliodas captain. Merlin, Ban, and Elizabeth are the only ones who will call him Meliodas, but even merlin and ban typically go with captain.

“im a giant, why arent you afraid of me?” hes a fucking demon. lol

[avemstella]

so that archon quest, huh. Would be absolutely thrilled to hear what u have to say about fontaine act V :] i love all your takes on furina & neuvillette & fontaine as a whole, and of course childe [pretty much an honorary fontanian with how he unintentionally got wrapped up in everything whoops]

Oh boy, I have so many thoughts. To start with some non-spoilerly stuff: I loved it so much. I'm not sure if I'll say it's my favorite Archon Quest yet (I think I would have to go through some of the older ones), but I think it's safe to say Fontaine overall as an arc is my favorite. Even its weakest part (the prison stuff, tbh it was a pacing issue) was still really solid and the ending, while not perfect, really landed. Genshin continued the trend from Sumeru of having the playable characters really take the stage and god there were some great standouts (Navia/Neuvi/Furina to name my favs, but I also loved my fatui and there really isn't anyone I've disliked). And well, the quest (and Furina's chara quest) made me cry like a baby, so that's a win.

Tbh, I think my biggest issue, wasn't even really an issue with the story but just a case of I had a very clear idea of what I wanted out of it (the woes of writing speculative fic pfft) and when it wasn't that I'm like "awww darn". Thats on me, and I genuinely really loved what we got, but it do be like that sometimes haha.

Spoilers below, oh boy (also my Furina fic spoilers too lol).

Eldritch abomination Furina I'll mourn u forever. I can't complain because Furina splitting herself in two to go fuck u to the heavens is such a boss ass move I can't haha. Okay, but I will say, even if I'm probably the only one, I do wish they brought some Remuria stuff up in the main quest. They had the perfect set up with Ajax being there with his Greek myth references and just ahhhh, one can hope they do something with it later. But yes, just know it's my silly headcanon that Focalors just lied about being an Oceanid to Neuvi and is one of King Remus's fucked up Primordial Sea experiments that maybe caused the Abyss rift at the fall of Remuria.

But yes, Furina, Furina, I'm crying. She really destroyed the girl failure accusations in the most glorious way possible. She literally didn't fail once (either of her), she plotted out a plan to trick the heavens, give back what was stolen, and save her people and she did it perfectly. As you're probably well aware, I'm a big fuck u Celestia gal, so it was just so satisfying to see her just obliterate the throne (even when I was crying haha). And honestly, super relevant to the state of the real world, but her giving back sovereignty to Neuvi in my mind is a very clear decolonization metaphor. Ages past descenders came to Teyvat, killed the dragons and created their own order, and now Focalors is returning that power back to said dragon (or well, the dragon's heir, it's a bit vague if Neuvi's literally the old dragon's soul reincarnated or just the body).

The entire scene between Neuvi and Focalors was great, though I will admit I have one issue with it (and even then I go back and forth on it haha). Neuvi in that scene doesn't have a big attachment to Focalors. What I mean is that ultimately Neuvi only ever knew Furina (which side note I'll get into this next, but I do view them as the same person, but still), and with Focalors' 'death' he's not technically losing anything, the person he's sad over will still be there. Like don't get me wrong, he's very empathetic and can be sad over this person who is dying for them, but I feel like it could have been even more heartbreaking if he had met Furina/Focalors before the split, or he had interacted with Focalors somehow in the past, and so in this moment he wasn't just watching Furina's sacrifice, but the sacrifice of someone he shares memories with. But that's me being picky haha and not really a critique on the writing.

But yes, Furina! Focalors! As I previewed before, I'm going to come out swinging with a possibly hot take. They are, and always were the same person. Yes, Focalors is the divinity, but as we see after Furina is allowed to rest her persona, Furina is also super mature and knowledgeable. In Neuvi's flashback quotes of Furina, it's her softly giving important advice about living with humanity, which is what Focalors was all about. And much like Furina, Focalors loves preforming, she loves humans, she gets all excited about Furina and her future, and is sad she won't get to experience it.

Not to remotely downplay Furina's suffering (because holy shit my poor girl), but Focalors too played her role. Unlike Furina who had Neuvillette and all her friends post this, Focalors was all alone in the Oratrice, waiting for the day she had to kill herself. Furina, has the promise of a future, despite all the suffering she endured to get there. She gets the reward of a happy life as a human surrounded by people who love her, and while it was touch a go for a bit, she was told one day her play would end. In contrast, while Focalors didn't have the same anxiety that Furina had, Focalors knew from the beginning she would never get to see her people saved. Technically she, like Furina, didn't even know if it would even happen. She put her faith in Neuvillette to follow through, and while she had the utmost faith in him, she could never know for certain. But much like her mirror Furina, Focalors weighed her suffering over the people of Fontaine's, and never once faltered. Furina was willing to possibly kill herself via primordial seawater in order to keep up her ruse, whose to say Focalors wasn't the same. Smiling at Neuvillette until the last moment because she couldn't risk him interfering, hiding away her anxieties and sorrow, so he wouldn't look so sad. Furina's performance ended, Focalors' never will.

Focalors was so certain she couldn't be human, but as we see from the Oceanids it was totally possible. And even more vitally, we see from the other Archons it's possible. They might fumble around a bit (some more than others, looking at u Ei), but they are learning and immersing themselves with their people. While not an Archon, it's the same with Neuvillette. Focalors should have had the same opportunities as Furina and the rest (mostly because she is Furina), but the world isn't kind, and that's why her sacrifice hurts.

If u can't tell I have a lot of feelings about Focalors/Furina and while I can appreciate a joke about Focalors giving Furina anxiety, I'm also like, they are literally the same person working together, she deserves the world (all of her).

But yes, I can go on and on about Furina, but for now I'll move onto our boy Childe. To get it out of the way, a little disappointed that we really got no answers about him. Poor guy didn't really have any lines. Also, not big on Skirk's design, mostly the outfit. Putting her next to Dain and uh, yeah (like don't get me wrong don't mind the color scheme and all, but could she not have gotten some kind of armor. Or look more like Foul Legacy or something idk).

But onto more happier notes, I'm so happy to see Childe finally getting to do well in a fight. I know it's a meme for him to get beaten up, but my dude is the Vanguard, let him win sometimes (he doesn't technically win here, but he was fighting an eldritch whale monster for ages and helped save Fontaine, I'm giving it to him). And Skirk, while her design is mostly less to be desired, I'm winning on guessing her hair and eye color haha. Also, while I'll always love my version, I'm liking her personality so far. Her yeeting Childe, while I admit took me out a bit (I thought she threw him farther into the Abyss and was like, "uh guys, yall worried about my poor boy here???" and then was a bit baffled at them saying he was fine) was so fucking funny. It's cool to learn "Foul Legacy" refers to a literal person, and I found the fact that Skirk's relationship with Foul is basically the same as her relationship with Childe very amusing. And it seems she's Khaenri'ahn, maybe? Also, I thought she was listing off her master's other names at first, so when she said Gold I got super hyped that I guessed correctly about the narwhal being Rhine's in my fic, but then they were like nope pfft. I'll take it as a win.

Sidenote, Alice and Rhine where are yoooouuuuuu.

Ultimately, while I enjoyed the Childe and Skirk stuff, it really just feels like a set-up for later stuff. Which isn't really a problem, but I was hoping we'd get something a bit more concrete. Like, I thought we were going to get answers about the "it" that Skirk saw in him, and it would have to do with the Narwhal, but now it seems those were mostly unrelated??? While I did find baby Ajax accidentally waking up a big world eating monster up kind of hilarious, it did feel a little incidental, if that makes any sense. Like, Fontaine's doom was an accident and not the result of anyone's choices. But that might just be a me thing. (and the quest needed more Arle, where was she??? my not really based on anything theory is that whenever we get Furina (or maybe Nevui's) 2nd character quest, Arle will be the boss fight. A reverse of the normal final Harb boss fight during the Archon quest)

Okay, because I really don't want to end on a downer (as I said uptop, I genuinely adored this quest haha), here are some minor spoilers from the Narzissenkreuz Ordo quest that have me by a chokehold.

I wasn't ready for a sudden Ajax. What does this mean??????

And this one just makes me laugh. Whichever Ordo member wrote this, I vehemently disagree with u and am on Khaenri'ah's side with this one. I'd much rather have bread then some higher power nonsense. In my fic I tend to write Khaenri'ah more akin to a modern nation than a fantasy one, and its nice to see me vindicated pfft.

Other random notes, enjoyed that the Fatui weren't just cartoonishly evil in both the main and world quests. I like some nuance. I saw that Sandrone hint, that was fun. Though it makes me wonder when we'll get Columbina lore (especially because if the theory about Harbinger boss fight order based on the Constellation circle is true, she should be showing up soon. Though also I half think that order will break because if it doesn't, it means Sandrone will probably be the final Harb boss which is an odd choice.) As revealed on Furina's weapon, Egeria being around during Remuria raises so many questions around the timeline of events. Genshin pls tell me when the Archon war takes place in all this pls (if they tell us in some lore I haven't read yet, whoops). (also on egeria, I mourn my version but hey, she exists in my heart and in my fics pfft. I can't wait to write her in smfwtwd and venti fic, though she's getting a new name for confusion and better symbolsism)

the contrast between Neuvi and Furina after the quest is so funny and sad. Neuvi "Furina is the best, I want her to be happy". Furina, "Everyone hates me, Neuvillette most of all, I can never face him again." And the other Archons, they are all like Furina, wow u are so cool (which just highlights Neuvi's utter disdain for them other than Nahida haha).

And most vitally, Furina and Venti should be best friends. Musically inclined performers who definitely aren't plotting to overthrow the heavens. I think they are neat (they also both have Latin names!).

[shes-a-badkid]

Thoughts while reading The Trials of Apollo - “The Dark Prophecy” with my nephew-

1. I still cannot get over the name Lester for Apollo

2. Even after being humbled a bit, he is still the cockiest bastardized out there

3. I love the idea of Leo just having a good time with his girlfriend and his dragon and helping a God out and then there is Calypso and Apollo just snarking at each other the whole time

4. I love Calypso so much- just straight punches someone, breaks her hand, and almost immediately says fuck it and kicks someone and breaks her foot. I just really identify with this

5. Poor Leo- had to leave Festus again. WHEN WILL MY SON GET A BREAK, RICK?!

6. Oh poor Emmie and Josephine! If this book doesn’t end with them getting their daughter back I will be seeking financial compensation

7. I’m obsessed with Emmie and Josephine, every new thing I learn about them just adds to my love

8. Apollo and Calypso on a quest with no Leo to buffer… I’m so here for this- the sass with be *chefs kiss* impeccable

9. I really like that Apollo’s memory is iffy right now because I truly don’t know who most of these people are and him remembering doesn’t feel like a generic info dump

10. Hell yeah, Meg!!! Run away from those assholes! (But please don’t make me sad again)

11. Apollo- how are you so thirsty? Like we haven’t focused on the gods in as much detail as you, but you seem like a thirty bitch. Now I know you can’t possibly be as thirsty as Zeus, but you might come close

12. So far on this quest we have Calypso doing like 85% of the work- picking locks, grifting the two searching for them into believing she was cursing them- what a queen. And you know, Apollo is also there, like good job with that train buddy, you helped!

13. Hell yeah, Meg! Take his ass out! (I think ‘hell yeah, Meg’ might become my catchphrase thought this series)

14. Okay Apollo- nice work letting all the animals loose, that was clutch

15. Sure, Apollo, you totally didn’t cry when Meg hugged you. We all totally believe you 😑

16. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it a million more time- I am obsessed with Josephine

17. “I was, after all, selfless, caring, and all around nice guy.” And just when I was feeling a bad for you my dude

18. Oh poor, Georgina, your mind is just mashed bananas right now

19. Look at you Apollo being all smart and melting that door- I would say I’m proud but the ego doesn’t need the compliment

20. PEACHES!!! NOOOOO! My sweet, little maniac

21. Festus! My favorite boy 🐉

22. Thalia about to kick some ass like the boss bitch she is

23. I love that Lityerses immediately went from down to kill for Commodus to I’m gonna kill Commodus for thinking of killing me and joining the side of good

24. Apollo may have fully won me over for staying back just to save Livia the elephant- also what a sight to see Thalia being a badass while escaping on a elephant

25. Leo and Calypso staying at the waystation makes so much sense and I’ll miss them so much, but also I would totally ready a book about Leo and Calypso at the waystation with Josephine and Emmie

26. Apollo hating his arrow is the best. I love a god having beef with an inanimate object

27. Oh Meg, my dear, I just want to hug you!

28. Apollo may be a self centered douche like 90% of the time but my man has a lot of feelings. Like- he cares for Meg so much, he just wanted to save Livia the elephant, he is passionate in his hatred of slavery, and he is so worried for his friends at the waystation

29. What is this red lightning, Jamie?!? I am intrigued

30. Sssssarah is delightful and I would love for her to just randomly pop up

31. Can we leave Festus alone, please

32. RICK! WHAT THE FUCK! YOU ARE GONNA KILL OFF A LOVELY GRIFFIN WHO JUST GAVE BIRTH (laid an egg… whatever) AND EXPECT ME TO BE OKAY?!? RIP Heloise

33. The delight I feel at just the mention of Coach Hedge is entirely normal! Stop judging me!

34. GROVER! MY SWEET SATYR!

[zhongster]

Hi there! I absolutely LOVE your page! Your stories and headcannons have left me blushing SEVERAL times. Thank you :)

Ahem. Anyways...

I've got this idea in my brain and was wondering what your thoughts on it/would you write a small story about said topic.

So, as you said in your Vax headcannons, he's not shy about his belching abilities until Keyleth comes around, then he's "nervous"

What if, the two of them were made to share a room at an inn or something during one of their quests. She's busy talking to Pike or Vex even, he's alone in the room. WRONG. She comes in as he's just about to start releasing said "monsters" in his stomach. Of course, she wants him to feel better, she's his friend/girlfriend/wife (you decide, lol) so she encourages him to let loose and when he does, he finds out she secretly "likes" it...

I hope you enjoy this idea that now lives rent-free in my brain.

Oh my god dude… this prompt has me on the floor holy fuck. Also tysm I’m glad I’m finding more eructo people that like tlovm/cr 😭

(Post Writing Note: another day another me poking my emetophobia with a stick like an angry bear, that being said: ⚠️‼️EMETO TW: MENTIONS ONLY, WE DON’T ACTUALLY SEE IT (it happens off screen, so to speak) ‼️⚠️)

THIS IS KINK CONTENT, DNI IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT

Vax absolutely adored Vox Machina’s post victory ragers and considering the dragon they’d just killed, he found himself drinking with his friends and destroying some poor innkeeper’s tavern. Some hours ago Scanlan had disappeared upstairs with a rather attractive male tiefling to do god knows what and Grog and Pike lay asleep at a table over in the corner. This left only Vax, Vex, Keyleth, and Percy keeping the party going.

As he glanced around the room, looking for his sister (who definitely wasn’t in the process of swindling a nearby dwarf out of several gold pieces), he spotted Keyleth attempting to lead Percy in a drunken imitation of a waltz. The two of them were giggling and stumbling over each other and Vax was of the opinion that Keyleth had never looked prettier.

Vax’s stomach gave a slight groan to which he gently placed a hand over it. It pressed against his shirt, filled to the brim with tavern food and alcohol. A small gas bubble pressed up his throat and came out in the form of a quiet closed-mouth burp.

He decided he’d better make his escape now while Keyleth was distracted. He could go up to their shared room in the inn and empty his stomach of its troublesome gas before Keyleth was even aware he was gone.

He’d only just made it past the threshold of their room when a sizable belch forced its way up his throat. He placed a hand on his chest in slight surprise, he hadn’t expected that one. He wasn’t too perturbed however, this had been what he’d come up there to do anyway.

Wasting no further time, Vax turned away from the door and pressed his hand onto the top part of his overtaxed stomach. Immediately another deep belch rolled up his chest and out of his open mouth. As soon as it came to an end the door behind him flew open revealing none other than Keyleth, the one person he was trying to avoid at the moment.

He hurriedly removed his hand from his stomach and clamped his lips shut. However, once that first burp had come out he now found it a bit difficult to keep the rest from following its predecessor.

Keyleth passed through the doorway giggling and animatedly telling him a story about a Goliath that had just been rude to her and, he thinks, Percy ended up vomiting on his shoes when he attempted to tell the guy off. Vax isn’t totally sure as all of his focus is currently in keeping the rest of the air in his stomach from making an appearance in front of Keyleth. He’d taken to nodding and smiling through her story instead of actually responding.

“And anyway, Percy’s fine. I think Vex took him back to their room” Keyleth finished.

Vax hummed in acknowledgment.

Apparently, despite her slightly drunken state, Keyleth took notice of his lack of verbal response. “You feeling okay?” She asks, raising her eyebrow.

“Oh uhh-“ Vax started before he inevitably lost the battle with his stomach.

The belch that rolled out of him was a long one. Long enough, in fact, that he had time to close his mouth part way through, turning it into an extremely deep closed mouth burp.

Keyleth was just staring at him.

Vax lifted a fist to cover his mouth as he stifled a smaller after-burp, “shit, excuse me I’m so sorry Keyleth.” He apologized.

This seemed to break Keyleth out of the sort of shock she’d been in and she stuttered back to life with an awkward jolt.

She hurriedly waved her hands in front of him, “Nononono don’t worry about it, is your stomach hurting? Do you feel sick?” She asked.

Vax shook his head, “No I’ve just got… a bit of gas I’m afraid.”

Keyleth’s shoulders tightened before she spoke “Oh… well I’m glad you aren’t sick, you can keep going I don’t mind. I just want you to feel better.”

As much as he didn’t want to take her up on her offer it was beginning to seem as though he wouldn’t have any other choice. His body was not reacting well to the alcohol and he began to hiccup. His hiccups never lead to anywhere pleasant. Though they were tame at the moment he knew they would devolve in a few short minutes.

And of course, right on cue, he was wracked with another hiccup that quickly turned into an extremely long and painful burp. When it came to an end he brought an open palm to his chest and gently began to rub his own sternum. That one had hurt. Before he had a minute to breathe another hiccup-burp shook his chest. “Oh god” he wheezed.

He looked up to Keyleth who was staring at him like a deer in headlights and weakly gestured towards his back. She seemed to get the message as she began to roughly bring her palm down in between his shoulder blades. This finally managed to jar the rest of the air that was struggling to get out of him. The belch seemed to go on forever and when it finally ended he was gasping in relief.

“Gods that wasn’t fun,” he winced “thanks Keyleth.”

She seemed to start at the sound of her name and snorted a quick “no problem”.

That’s when Vax noticed it for the first time. There was a light rosy tint to Keyleth’s cheeks that hadn’t been there before. Now, her face usually flushed when she’d been drinking but he’d seen her drunk enough times at this point that he knew this was different.

Her strange behavior since she entered the room was finally starting to click. She was into it. She was actually into his gas.

Now Vax wasn’t one to kink-shame, he was friends with Scanlan after all, but the idea of her being attracted to him in any capacity both excited and terrified him. It almost seemed as though his hopelessly unrequited crush on her might not be so unrequited at all.

Shaking that thought out of his head, the mischievous part of his personality began to make an appearance and he found himself wanting to tease her even more than he already had. Against his better judgement, he subtly gulped down more air and smiled wickedly to himself.

This was going to be fun.

[ralofofriverwoods]

For the ask game: Pinewatch and Cistern

Pinewatch: If you could rewrite the backstory of any character, who would it be? What would it be?

Hmmm this is a hard one! Usually I don't mess much with existing character backstories, but it would have been nice to be expanded upon would be Irileth+ balgruuf's, and how they became friends, as well as whatever the fuck ulfric was doing before he shouted the high king to bits. I have a feeling I wouldn't actually change much of those though

One that id actually change would be gelebor and his brother's story. It seems weird that his brother would become a vampire, assuming they never left the forgotten vale. The only thing that the entire region has to do with vampires is that auriel's bow is there, and that's practically an antithesis to a vampire's existence! And it also doesn't make sense that gelebor and his bro are the ONLY live snow elves left, and the rest became falmer.

So id change pretty much everything about the forgotten vale, inhabitant wise.

Firstly, id alter what areas have falmer. The caves and stuff could definitely still have em and be believable, since iirc they're connected to Skyrim(or at least close enough), but the open areas(like the place with the dragons) should still have 'uncorrupted' snow elves. Sure it may not be a metropolis, but it would be like a small town in Skyrim at least. Like rorikstead and karthwasten combined, perhaps.

Second, I'd have to connect how vampires happen. As we know there's really only one way in canon to get vampirism straight from the source, which is molag bal, but I think that's stupid and I don't like him so I added sanguine as another way. That being said I think it would actually come from some vampire travelers. Gelebor welcomes you to the forgotten vale pretty easily, even if you've collected daedric artifacts like pokemon cards, so it would be safe to assume they either don't check very far for daedric influence, or they kind of just don't give a shit. Either way, I think this is how vampirism was introduced.

Some adventurers made a journey to the forgotten vale, possibly hearing about some ancient treasure or boon from auriel, and met a knight paladin that welcomed them, and didn't notice a vampire in the group(or that they were all vampires, either works). From there everything was normal, but a vampire decided to have a snack one night, and accidentally(or on purpose) infected someone with vampirism.

This could lead to either a split between vampire Snow elves+non vamp snow elves, or a small circle that simply collect power under everyone's noses. This could go on for generations, until gelebor and his brother eventually became fully fledged knight paladins, at which point they would be split just like in the base game, but with more people backing them up on either side.

Of course you could then choose between these mini factions as the dragonborn, depending on what side of the quest you are playing. If playing on the vamp hunting side, you'd be able to turn a few vampires back, who would then become followers, and vice versa. If you wanted you could even have the brothers be convinced to join the other side with persuasion or intimidation, depending if you wanted to be more or less angsty. You'd need a high score in either to do that though, at least lvl 80 speech.

This would also fix the sad reality in the game, that the only snow elf that yet lives(and isn't falmer) was gelebor, who killed his own brother for somehow becoming a vampire. I think it would be much more narratively appealing to have both 'uncorrupted' snow elves and 'corrupted' falmer exist at the same time, in big enough numbers to each have their own societies. It would open up a good opportunity for the falmer+snow elves to make an allied debut back into the world at large in a future game as well!tes6

Cistern: Which Guild Hall is your favorite? Why?

Unmodded id have to say sky haven temple. It has very pretty architecture, and though I haven't seen it past where you're supposed to kill paarthurnax(because I'm not killing peepaw partysnax >:( ) it's still very pretty. This may change when I actually progress that story line, but ATM it's not half bad. The finished thieves guild and dark brotherhood aren't too shabby either, though the tortured people in the dark brotherhood take a solid 3 points away from the atmosphere.

Overall I like all of them so it's hard to pick favorites, but as I'm still not used to seeing sky haven much, they've deffo got my vote.

Modded would have to be the thieves guild with the opulent thieves guild mod. From just the screenshots alone that shit is killer in the best way. Much warmer and more welcoming(at least for a cistern)

[commanderfloppy]

[@forsaken-constellation] 2, 6, 9, and 11 for Damia? <3

Ooo stuff for my thorny girl!

2. What class would your character just absolutely blow at?

She can be pretty good at most things she puts her mind to, but probably an engineer. She doesn’t know how fucking explosives work, let alone all this other gadget bullshit. Also while she’s stronger than she looks, I think if she tried to fire a big rifle or mortar the knockback would send her to space, (the price of being 5ft nothing and weighing about as much as a small branch) 

6. They're now a heart NPC/part of a string of quests. What does that involve?

She’d definitely be a heart NPC somewhere in Orr (after Zhaitan’s death), probably with a title like “Help Lieutenant Damia cleanse Orr”. There would be the usual objectives of ‘kill unchained risen’ and ‘contain dragon corruption’, but there would also be one of those really special objectives. 

In the area you’ll find little trinkets and artifacts that belonged to Orrians, and when you bring them to her she’ll tell you where the ghost it belongs to wants you to put it (to help them move on). Some ghosts are ok with their artifacts being studied so you put them over at a small priory research area (you have to put it in the right artifact box though the ghost wants accuracy). Some ghosts want it to be buried in a grave for them, and you have to go put it in the correctly named grave at a small graveyard area. And then there’s also some ghosts who want you to just toss that shit in the sea. 

9. What's an au for them you think could be fun to explore?

Honestly I haven’t really thought of any Damia AU’s before, but if I think about it she has a bit of potential. 

The first thing that comes to mind is her getting captured by Asura like other secondborn, they see how much insane medium, ghost pulling energy she has, and take her somewhere else for use in research. She’d probably have her necrotic powers enhanced to max, the asura try to convert her power into a device but it doesn’t work. So she becomes the device. Eventually some rowdy ghost they let possess her runs off with her body, and at some point the switch they added to essentially turn ‘on and off’ her powers gets flipped.  She’s now in the middle of somewhere, full of trauma but finally conscious.

11. How accurate is their reputation/image compared to how they really are?

Honestly she’s incredibly accurate to how she seems, but that’s also because she has only ever really let herself be what she’s ‘supposed to be’. Like yep that’s the somewhat strange and serious secondborn who helps Trahearne. Maybe she’s a little different in certain moment’s, like when she burst into laughter seeing Canach after his changed appearance. 

Basically she’s exact to her image because her image is who she makes herself, maybe she’s different than it, or maybe it still fits her to a T, but she’s comfortable living like this.

[codyjey]

another day another george lore stream MAJOR SPOILERS obviously.. .

so. We start with c george complaining about how no one is around and just doing random shit because he's bored. pretty standard start. then, he goes to the prison and c dream is there. they argue. c george takes the side of KEEPING KINOKO SAFE OVER JOINING C DREAM... I find this super fucking interesting for his character. he's taking pride in his home. he cares about it. they continue to argue. c dream kills him.

c george wakes back up in his bed, thinking his shit will be gone, and it's not. he goes to walk back around, and c dream and c techno pull up to fight him. he kills them. now this is strange already since they are the two most skilled pvpers on the server. . . anyways.. .

c george goes to continue on a murderous and power driven rampage, blowing the smp up and killing anyone he sees. manatreed is also here, for some reason.

c george talks about how now that c dream isn't here, he basically owns the server. he gets so infatuated with that idea and I think it's because he misses being king. he misses having power, having purpose on the server, so he's taking it back.

then eventually he runs into c karl.. . now this isn't normal c karl this is, what was implied to be, inbetween c karl. he tells c george about him being a time traveler. c george makes him prove it. c karl then tells him he needs to stop what he's doing because he's, "friends with dreamXD now" )which I assume we will get more on when tales eventually comes back.) and that he wasn't gonna be happy. c george kills him.

then he decides he's gonna go to the end (with the help of callahan) and sets off on that quest. he finds the stronghold, dreamXD is there, and he's pissed, just like c karl said he would be.

they fight. c george kills him.

c george then actually goes through the portal, and begins to kill the enderdragon, but before he can get to it, he wakes up.

it was a dream. like always. and he's running around confused, and shaken up, and he ends stream.

NOW! I leave you with some questions.

is the beginning bit how c george imagines meeting up with dream again will go?

can c karl travel through dreams? or can george predict things through his dreams?

is the dreamXD in george's dreams the same as the god walking among the server? or is he a seperate being?

why, when c george killed dreamXD, did dreamXD make the ender dragon dying sound?

why was killing the ender dragon what woke him up?

how much of his dreams does he remember?

all questions I'm very curious about and would love to hear opinions on thanks For coming to my insane thoughts after every lore stream guys

[jasper-dracona]

Had a fun lil one-shot D&D session last night with me, my bf, and 2 of our friends, one who is very experienced with D&D and one who is brand new and that was his first game.

I was a last minute addition, so I went with just a gnome Druid, classic for me. Our newbie friend went with a dwarf barbarian and our experienced friend was a warforged artificer.

We were doing a starter mission from Hoard of the Dragon Queen I believe so spoilers for that

We were running around this rock gnome cave system, wildly fucking lost, no idea what direction we should be going in, and we eventually ran into these two guards and have a fraught conversation with them about a “shape-changer” and get some details out of them. They say it killed 2 people, and it’s been the form of a rug and a chair, and that it attacked one of their kings and the kings have been holed-up in their chambers ever since.

They are suspicious of us and say that if we can kill the shape-changer they’ll let us pass, but otherwise we have to leave. So we’re like “okay, sounds like this thing mostly likes to be objects. Our best chances are the barrel room and the dining room I think, and if we go to the dining room we’ll be able to hear if it starts attacking someone in the kitchen.”

We quickly scan the barrel room and there’s one fewer barrels. Shit.

Our warforged buddy waits behind a bit and me and the dwarf head to the dining hall and start whacking furniture. (Prop Hunt jokes were had) I’m hitting it with my walking staff, he’s hitting it with the handle of one of his handaxes, and we each take one side and do a loop around the room, and finish at a pair of identical cutlery storage drawers. My character has given this room a scan previously and thinks “I’m pretty sure there was only one of these before” and we prepare to attack.

We fight it out, defeat the carnivorous drawers, and in the process of that fight I cast 2 spells. Moonbeam, and then faerie fire. When I casted moonbeam, the DM had me roll a d20, and I got some glowy orbs around me, (The warforged also got these earlier) and when I cast faerie fire, I rolled again and my skin turned blue. That was... slightly worrying.

Anyway I was covered in mimic saliva from head to toe so while the other 2 brought the puddle of slime that was once the “shape-changer” to the guards as proof, I waddled outside and dipped into the river. Then I suddenly realized that it only being 2 of them now and a puddle of goo when there were 3 of us before was gonna look bad and sprinted back as fast as possible, just barely making it in time.

After some arguing and a lot of not-great persuasion checks, we convince them to let us pass. They warn us about the rope bridge being a bit sketchy and a dangerous room just past that and we head outside. Also the dwarf barbarian freaked out the guards when we can in by lifting up the carcass and spraying purple mimic juice at them and the more freaked out one accidentally fired her crossbow and shot him in the shoulder by accident. They apologized a lot and he was relatively fine.

After the fight with the mimic and getting shot in the shoulder our barbarian was pretty busted up, so once we stepped outside I casted cure wounds on him. I casted another spell so that means time to roll that d20 and this time I sprouted butterfly wings and now had a flying speed of 30ft.

So that was... convenient timing and I just fly across. While our artificer packs up his lil sentry buddy (it has a tripod base, and 3 legs isn’t really the right configuration for a rope bridge with no wood planks), me and the barbarian try and figure out a way to get him across. At first I toss him some rope and he ties it around his waist, but then we realize that uhhh I’m a small creature and he’s medium, and I have a strength of like, +1. So, I turn into a brown bear! Or I guess, more accurately, a blue bear. (I’m circle of the moon btw, hence why I can turn into a CR 1 creature in a beginners’ quest) but then I realize that, now that I’m bigger, I could just carry him across! So the blue grizzly bear with butterfly wings and little orbs of light grabs the standard-issue dwarf barbarian up and ferries him above the rope bridge in front of the waterfall and places him on the other side.

The artificer throws a small metal ball to the other side, and his lil sentry thing uses its tiny little jet thing that pops out the bottom once the legs are all packed up to fly to the other side, landing on the metal ball.

Then the artificer just walks across.

No athletics check, no Dex save, no nothing.

So that’s the story of how my perfectly normal gnome Druid somehow became a blue-coloured grizzly-bear-pixie carrying a dwarf barbarian for literally no reason. Thanks for reading!

[weirwoodking]

who do you think will be on the throne at the end? is there a chance it will be a woman? do you agree with the theory that bran will be king in the north bc he symbolizes winterfell? idk if i see dany on the throne bc i don't feel like she belongs in westeros, i think she would be better off with a throne on the other side of the narrow sea but i really don't know what i'm saying

It’s very hard to make predictions for ADOS, because we don’t have TWOW yet. So much can change about the story and the characters in one book, thematically and narratively. Think of how much the plot was influenced by just that final Bran chapter in ADWD. 

But, here I go anyway.

My short answer is: no one. (And no, I don’t mean Arya)

Let’s get into it.

Part 1: How the Show Tainted Everyone’s Brains

Obviously, a lot of people care about the Iron Throne plot. Sometimes too much. I do believe that this is mostly because of how much the HBO show changed everything about the story to make the Iron Throne seem like it was more important than anything else. Like promotional posters of all the actors each sitting on the throne, the name of the series itself being changed to “Game of Thrones”, actors getting asked in every interview “who do you think should get the Iron Throne?” as if it’s the last cupcake at a birthday party that everyone’s fighting over, the final episode was titled “The Iron Throne”. The marketing for everything was “it’s the fight for the Throne!” up through the eighth season. It made the object itself become a huge pop culture symbol.

It almost felt like the show was trying to make it seem like the goal of the Night King (a character not in the books) was to sit on the Iron Throne! The show portrayed it as if the Others were just a little distraction that needed to be dealt with so the characters could get back to arguing over the Porcupine Chair. However, in ASOIAF, it’s the exact opposite. The Porcupine Chair is what’s distracting the characters from the real conflict, the Others.

It’s almost comical how that has somewhat transferred over into the fandom, the “game of thrones” is what’s keeping everyone from focusing on what really matters, the “song of ice and fire”.

Part 2: GRRM’s Quote

It wasn't easy for me. I didn't want to give away my books. Every character has a different end. I told them who would be on the Iron Throne, and I told them some big twists like Hodor and "hold the door", and Stannis' decision to burn his daughter. We didn't get to everybody by any means.

-George R.R. Martin

So, he “told them who would be on the Iron Throne”. Something important about this quote is that he doesn’t say who. And, of course, the Iron Throne gets destroyed at the end of the show anyway. Show!Bran doesn’t really “end up on the Iron Throne”. Show!Dany does. George never said that who “ends up” on it in the books is who ends up on it in the show. He’s said that the Shireen thing and the Hodor thing will “happen very differently” in the books anyway. And, of course, another major part of that quote is “every character has a different end”.

I don’t think that who sits the Iron Throne last is necessarily going to be the ruler of Westeros at the end. For example, Cersei (or Aegon) may be the last person to sit the Iron Throne. Or even Euron (however, even though his goal is to rule post-apocalyptic Westeros as a god from the Iron Throne, I don’t think he’ll actually get there). If wildfire is hot enough to melt iron, I could see the throne being destroyed during whatever fiery shenanigans go down with Cersei and JonCon in TWOW. I think it would be fitting for the fight over the throne to end in the next book. ‘Cause the winds of winter are coming, baby, and it’s gonna be time to start dreaming of spring.

Part 3: The Weirwood King

The idea/theory of Bran becoming King has been around for a long time, long before the HBO show even started airing. This is because of the Celtic myth of King Brân the Blessed, whose name means “Blessed Crow” or “Blessed Raven” in Welsh. Other than the obvious connection with the name, Brân the Blessed’s story involves a magic cauldron that can bring the dead back to life. 

In the myth, Brân’s head is cut off and continues talking (think of how Bran’s most powerful aspect is the magical powers of his mind), because in Celtic mythology the head is believed to be where the soul is.

Celts had a reputation as head hunters. According to Paul Jacobsthal, "Amongst the Celts the human head was venerated above all else, since the head was to the Celt the soul, centre of the emotions as well as of life itself, a symbol of divinity and of the powers of the otherworld." (source)

Catch that? “Otherworld”. There is another myth (Irish, specifically) called the Voyage of Bran, in which the title character goes on a quest to the Otherworld. The Otherworld is a supernatural realm in Celtic mythology. It is also where the sidhe (a.k.a. aos sí) live. Remember, the sidhe are what George has said the Others are inspired by. In Irish mythology, the Otherworld is called Tír na nÓg, Mag Mell and Emain Ablach, in Welsh mythology it’s called Annwn, and in Arthurian legend it’s called Avalon. Fun fact, “Avalon” was the title of the novel George was writing when he had suddenly had the idea of a scene in which a young boy and his brothers see a beheading and then find a litter of direwolf pups in the snow. And so ASOIAF happened.

I’ll leave that there, and try not to go down the great big rabbit-hole of Celtic (and other cultures) mythology connections in ASOIAF. The takeaway is: ASOIAF has been influenced by these myths.

I do believe that Bran is going to be King. Not just because of his ties to this mythology, but also because of symbolism in his own story. The most notable one being…

Under the hill, the broken boy sat upon a weirwood throne, listening to whispers in the dark as ravens walked up and down his arms.

[...]

The singers made Bran a throne of his own, like the one Lord Brynden sat, white weirwood flecked with red, dead branches woven through living roots. 

[...]

His father and the black pool and the godswood faded and were gone and he was back in the cavern, the pale thick roots of his weirwood throne cradling his limbs as a mother does a child. 

- Bran III, A Dance with Dragons

Bran is also the only one of the Stark kids who still thinks of himself as royalty:

What was he now? Only Bran the broken boy, Brandon of House Stark, prince of a lost kingdom, lord of a burned castle, heir to ruins.

- Bran III, A Dance with Dragons

Bran is the heir to Winterfell. It doesn’t matter if Robb named Jon his heir in his will, the will was written under the pretense that Bran and Rickon were dead.

However, Bran doesn’t have any connection to the Iron Throne. It’s far more likely that he would sit on a weirwood throne, because of, y’know, everything about his story. So, if Bran was King of the Seven Kingdoms, I don’t think it would be on the Pincushion Stool.

If Bran is king of the realm, I do think there would still be a separate Lord/Lady of Winterfell, but I do think that there’s a possibility of a Pevensie siblings ending, where all the Stark kids would rule together as the Lords and Ladies and Winterfell.

Something that I’ve never really seen talked about regarding the idea of Bran becoming King of the Seven Kingdoms is the religious differences between the North and the southern regions of Westeros. Of course, the show didn’t deal with this at all. For fuck’s sake, they had Cersei blow up the Westerosi verison of the Vatican and face no backlash. It was so laughably absurd how Show!Cersei’s destructive reign was shown to have like… zero impact on the Seven Kingdoms. 

In short, I’m not too sure that the Kingdom who is majority Faith of the Seven worshippers would react too well to a weirwood-tree-Old-Gods-warg-wizard-king. I mean, when Janos Slynt finds out Jon is a warg he calls him a “thing”, a “creature”, and a “beastling that is not fit to live”, and wanted to execute him not just for being a turncloak but for being a warg as well. And Jojen warns Bran of these things, saying that his own folk may want to kill him if they know what he is.

But… all of that anti-magic attitude might not matter after night falls. 

Part 4: Winter is Coming

I believe that the Long Night is going to be very devastating for the Seven Kingdoms.

Martin is a big believer in making things have meaningful, permanent consequences in his stories. I don’t think that an apocalyptic event like the Long Night is something that’s just gonna get dealt with in a quick snap and have no lasting effect.

A lot of people are going to die. I don’t mean main characters, I mean people that would not survive a normal winter and sure as hell won’t be prepared for this one. Westeros’s food stores have been severely depleted by the War of the Five Kings, and we’ve been told multiple times in the text (particularly AFFC and ADWD) that feeding people during this winter is going to be extremely hard.

Besides that… the whole, uh, invasion of the eldritch ice beings thing might have a bit of an impact on the realm. 

I won’t go into depth about how the Seven Kingdoms will be affected by the Long Night, ‘cause we really have no idea. But, however it all goes down, I do think it will have lasting changes for the people of Westeros. The impact that it leaves may make the concept of Bran being a wizard-king more acceptable. “Oh, well we’ve just seen zombies and winter elves, so what’s too surprising about a magical greenseer warg king?” I think that Westerosi culture becoming more aware and accepting of the existence of magic is the only way that Bran could become the king of the whole realm. The Westeros at the end of the series is not going to be the place that it was at the beginning.

Part 5: Dany: A Home, Not a Throne

To sum up my thoughts on our dragon girl, I don’t think Dany will end up on the Spiky Toilet. I don’t want Dany to be on the Spiky Toilet.

Now, my personal speculation (which a lot of people disagree with, which is fine) is that Dany will never see King’s Landing before the Long Night. I personally don’t think that Dany will ever meet Aegon or Cersei. I don’t see there being enough time in the story for that. Yes, GRRM said that there will be a second Dance of the Dragons, but he also said that the second Dance does not have to involve Dany. He may have originally planned for it to be Aegon and Dany, but probably not once the Meereenese Knot happened.

The Meereenese Knot is what Dany’s ADWD plot is referred to as. GRRM did not intend for Dany to stay in Meereen as long as she has, but because of his “gardener” style of writing, that’s where the story led him. GRRM has said that one of the hardest parts of writing the Meereen plotline (which involves Dany, Barristan, Quentyn, Tyrion, and Victarion) is trying to find a way to cut the plot knot he accidentally got himself stuck in. He has said that Tyrion and Dany will meet towards the end of TWOW, which means that Dany will most likely be spending a large portion of her story with the Dothraki. That part is a completely blank page, but I believe that Dany will meet Tyrion possibly ¾ of the way into the book, and sail for Westeros at the end.

I won’t write a full meta about this here (because that’s not what this post is about), but to summarize my prediction: Aegon VS Cersei is going to be the battle in King’s Landing, a battle which will destroy the city. Dany (who has already rejected sailing for the Throne multiple times) will still be stuck in Essos, dealing with everything she’s still got going on, and will sail for Westeros at the end. Not for the Throne, but to go North for the real fight (remember that Marwyn is also on his way to Meereen to tell Dany that they need her).

Because Dany's purpose is not to fight for the Iron Throne, it’s to fight the Others. Dany (fire, light, and life) VS the Others (ice, darkness, and death) is the main thing the title refers to:

“Well of course the two outlying ones, the things that are going on north of the Wall and Daenerys Targaryen on the other continent with her dragons are of course the Ice and Fire of the title, the Song of Ice and Fire.” 

- George R.R. Martin, 2016

One of the most important excerpts that shows us where Dany’s story is headed is this:

That night she dreamt that she was Rhaegar, riding to the Trident. But she was mounted on a dragon, not a horse. When she saw the Usurper's rebel host across the river they were armored all in ice, but she bathed them in dragonfire and they melted away like dew and turned the Trident into a torrent. Some small part of her knew that she was dreaming, but another part exulted. This is how it was meant to be. The other was a nightmare, and I have only now awakened.

- Daenerys III, A Storm a Swords

Dany has a short prophetic “this is what I was meant to do” dream. Dany could possibly have more dreams about the Others in TWOW, visions that will make what Marwyn has to tell her more believable. It’s not like that dream was the only one Dany has had that alludes to the winter threat, Dany has had visions about this since book one:

The red door was so far ahead of her, and she could feel the icy breath behind, sweeping up on her. If it caught her she would die a death that was more than death, howling forever alone in the darkness. She began to run.

- Dany IX, A Game of Thrones

Anyway, there’s just a lot more foreshadowing in the plot that this is what Dany is meant to do. I think adding in another conflict into her story once she leaves Meereen would make the story feel bloated and would severely fuck up the pacing.

I don’t think Dany will ever see the Iron Throne. The themes of her story have never been about her wanting the Iron Throne for what it is, but for what it represents to her. It represents the possibility of a home and of feeling safe for the first time in her life, what Dany truly wants. I think that it’s absolutely fine if Dany never sees the Throne or sits on it, and that it makes more sense for her narrative arc if she discovers that she can find a home somewhere else, not necessarily where she thought it would be. 

Part 6: Final Thoughts

So, in conclusion, I don’t really give a shit who ends up placing their ass on the Forbidden Laz-E-Boy, I care about the War for the Dawn. I care about seeing the characters I’ve followed for the past five books coming together to fight the real conflict of A Song of Ice and Fire. Also, even if we do get a Scouring of the Shire-type post-climax for ASOIAF, it doesn’t matter. People don’t see the Scouring of the Shire as the climax of Lord of the Rings, they see the climax as Aragorn leading the forces of good against the forces of evil and Frodo and Sam throwing the One Ring into Mount Doom. Whatever ending resolution comes after the climax of ASOIAF, it doesn’t change what the climax is.

"Do you think your brother's war is more important than ours?" the old man barked.

Jon chewed his lip. The raven flapped its wings at him. "War, war, war, war," it sang.

"It's not," Mormont told him. "Gods save us, boy, you're not blind and you're not stupid. When dead men come hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits the Iron Throne?"

"No." Jon had not thought of it that way.

- Jon IX, A Game of Thrones

TL;DR:

My prediction: Cersei will be the last person to sit the Iron Throne, which will be destroyed in the Wildfire of King’s Landing. After the Long Night devastates the Seven Kingdoms, Bran will become the King of this new Westeros that has been majorly affected by the return of magic. Also, it would be real nice if Dany found her red door.

God I hope my rambling made sense

[theravennest]

Hot Loki Take: Sylvie was Right

*Spoilers for all of Loki the series up to and including ep 6.

Sylvie was right to kill He Who Remains and free the timeline.

I’m deadass.

He Who Remains forced reality into an endless cycle between a time of Order (he rules as dictator) & a time of simulated and controlled "Chaos" (his Conqueror variants wage war). I say this “chaos” is simulated because when you think about it, it’s chaos that He Who Remains arranges himself by manipulating Lokis.

He Who Remains is so fucking sus but for some reason people are just tripping over their own feet to believe everything he says and vilify Sylvie for killing him. 

He literally tells them (and us) that his methods are deceptive and we know for a fact that he’s willing to murder trillions upon trillions of people, planets, and realities to get the outcome he wants. Yet some are still believing everything he says cuz he said maybe 4 things that were truthful, I guess, and cuz he’s cute. Some of us are so blinded by the fear/anticipation of Kang the Conqueror’s arrival, we are letting him bamboozle us.

He Who Remains perfectly and personally tailored the Ordered period of the timeline to produce this exact Sylvie and this exact Loki, had them meet/influence each other, and then had them travel to the end of time...to him.

Now Lokis by nature are agents of chaos and could suddenly swerve left, so to speak, for no reason. So let’s assume I believe that He Who Remains didn’t 100% know what they would choose once they crossed the Threshold (if the Threshold he described is even real, tbh). He also so carefully molded both of their entire lives for that moment in the Citadel. He may not have known 100% but he knew at least 90% of how they would react to everything he said and did when they were both pushed to this place/mindset.

Notice how he teed them up for the fight that ended in his death:

Manufacturing a scenario where they would meet via the TVA’s variant pursuit.

Manufacturing a scenario where they would travel to the Void and meet Alioth.

Kid Loki being in just the right place to give his sword to Loki.

Miss Minutes appearing to menacingly offer an obvious devil’s bargain.

Him slyly telling Sylvie that she can’t trust Loki, putting it into her head just before he gives them his ultimatum.

All of these thing practically gift wrapped that ending to the Loki on Sylvie fight.

Let’s elaborate.

What was even the point of Miss Minutes offering to re-insert them into the same Sacred Timeline with both getting their hearts’ desires there? 

Not more than ten minutes later He Who Remains told Loki and Sylvie to their faces that he manipulated all this for the sole purpose of making them choose between taking over as rulers of the TVA or killing him and ushering in a Multiversal War. Neither of those choices would result in re-inserting Loki and Sylvie back into the timeline.

So what is the truth? Why waste precious moments with a creepy Miss Minutes menacing them in that vestibule scene?

Notice how Miss Minutes’ words pushed Loki further onto his path of no longer wanting power or a throne but desiring to change his attitude about himself and the universe. Notice how her words conversely pushed Sylvie into balking at the idea of accepting another “fictional” life after a lifetime of being manipulated and made her double down on her mission to free the timeline and get revenge.

Sylvie has the ability to see memories but interesting how he kept her distracted by condescending to her and provoking her, just stoking the fire to make her react negatively. (Interesting how he was far more focused on Sylvie’s reactions than Loki’s, most likely because he needed her to kill him for his plans to work.)

Now I don’t want to completely shift responsibility for her choices away from Sylvie. In truth, if she had held in her vengeance for let’s say an hour and trusted Loki a bit more, they could’ve sat down to talk about things and maybe found a third solution other than starting a Multiversal War or ruling the TVA that still could’ve even allowed her to get revenge. (More on the ultimatum later.)

But I can’t blame her for losing her cool, either. He Who Remains made damn sure she would burn as hot as possible because he tailor made her life to give her the personality he wanted. And any other version of her out there who might have made a different choice would’ve already been pruned.

He Who Remains tells Loki and Sylvie straight up that he set them on their particular life paths because he needed them to be “changed by the journey” to ensure everyone in that room was in exactly the right mindset to do what was needed to “finish the quest” and presumably “slay the dragon,” aka Him. (Notice the parallels to the speaker narration just before episode 2′s fight at the Ren Fair.)

We don’t know! Sylvie never enchanted him to read his memories because she was so filled with rage and Loki was too busy trying to stop her, he didn’t think to do it either. And we’ve already established that He Who Remains trained them that way. Nothing that happened in that office was without He Who Remains’ influence and meddling.

Another nail in the coffin that convinces me that He Who Remains is a no good dirty liar is Renslayer.

If He Who Remains’ end goal was to either have the Lokis choose to rule the TVA or destroy it and thus end up with no memory of her previous TVA judge role/life, why did he send Miss Minutes to Ravonna with files that caused her to pack her bags and search for what she calls “free will,” AKA the one in charge?

I’d bet dollars to donuts that when the next season rolls around the only people who will know what’s going on and still have their memories will be Loki, Miss Minutes, Sylvie, and Ravonna. (Maybe Kang the Conqueror will know as well but I could see it going the other way too. I’m 50-50.)

He Who Remains was planning something by pushing Ravonna the way he did. Does he want her out of the TVA so she doesn’t lose her memories when everything resets? Does he want her to go find the Conqueror version of himself? I mean, at this point, practically everyone knows who she is to Kang in the comics, so let’s not pretend that’s not an option.

Another thing to think about...it’s super suspicious that he was so eager to make them believe he’s one of the “good versions” of Kang and all these others are much worse while giving absolutely no evidence of that outside of an interactive blob powerpoint, a quirky attitude, and a couple of sad, weary faces????

Who’s to say He Who Remains isn’t playing the long game and always manipulates his variants to eventually give him the chance to seize control of the multiverse?

Who’s to say he’s not one of the Kangs that wanted to conquer too? Funny how the “pure of heart” Kang is the one who still wrested control of all reality, killed off every other timeline with a weapon of mass destruction, installed a fascist time bureaucracy, and set himself up as the dictator. Sounds an awful lot like some conqueror shit to me, just saying.

Even wilder theory: what if this really is the same Kang the Conqueror but at the end of his life? We only have hhis word that he’s a variant. He Who Remains tells Loki that this fight is for the “young and hungry.” Maybe the “young and hungry” he’s referring to is not Loki and Sylvie at all but his literal younger self. Perhaps he set up this entire cycle of chaos and order so that he can perpetually live, conqueror, rule, die, and start all over again? Reincarnation, as he says...

But let’s set that wild theory aside for a moment. Let’s circle back to the Multiversal War debate and say it really is is caused by an infinite amount of his variants.

I think it’s hella sus that He Who Remains was so insistent that Loki and Sylvie only had two choices to resolve this riddle: Multiversal War or running the TVA almost exactly the way he did while maintaining only a single timeline. Those are definitely not the only two options they had. In fact, I could probably name 1-3 other options off the top of my head right now:

Keep He Who Remains alive while learning how he manipulated time and using those skills to slowly unleash the multiverse while killing every version of Kang to prevent him from existing as either conqueror or dictator.

Kill He Who Remains, take over the TVA, and slowly change it to something not horrific or even build a brand new system for governing time.

Kill or keep He Who Remains, still take over the TVA, slow rollout the Multiverse and kill or prevent every Kang along the way.

(I’m not saying these aren’t also morally questionable options, I’m just saying they are different from the two choices He Who Remains presented.)

But let’s say these options I suggested are not feasible. I just randomly came up with them ten minutes ago so it would be fair if they were picked apart logically. 

So let’s contemplate this, instead:

Why should we assume/believe that a Multiversal War is actually a bad thing again??? Why are we assuming that He Who Remains’ Sacred Timeline really saved reality from total collapse? 

Assuming he told the truth about his motives, maybe he was just...wrong about the end of reality. Maybe he saw what he thought was the conclusion to the Multiversal War coming and erroneously believed it to be the end of everything but actually it was the multiverse sorting itself out and everything would’ve been fine after.

We (and He Who Remains too) will never know because not only did he not show any evidence to back up his claim that reality was on the brink of collapse, but he himself never allowed things to play out naturally. Whenever the end of the war comes to the brink of something, he always panics, weaponizes Alioth, and traps the universe in his cage of Order with the TVA.

Even more controversial take...maybe the collapse of timelines and the end of everything should be allowed to happen. Maybe the natural cycle of reality is to build and build, splinter and splinter timelines, until it collapses and starts all over again from the void.

Nothing is created and nothing is destroyed, all things exist in a cycle so why should the multiverse be any different?

After all in all, in all three possibilities an infinite number of timelines is destined to suffer and die. Whether it be during the Kang-controlled Order period, Kang-controlled fake Chaos period, or the unrestrained natural Chaos that collapses in on itself...an untold amount of people are dying anyway. There’s only one of those scenarios that has actual unrestrained free will where those people get to exist how they want, make choices they want (even bad ones) for as long as they can.

(Personally, I’ll take that over what the Kangs have wrestled the multiverse into.)

I’ll just take this moment to re-iterate: trust nothing He Who Remains says. He’s a known liar and manipulator, and unlike Loki he has done absolutely nothing to actionably show he’s not still lying or to show that he’s trying to change outside of some sad looks. It’s all pantomime, bruh. Like, the pageantry of it all astounds me. 

Is he maybe telling some truths? Sure. But that doesn’t mean he’s not using the truth to manipulate everything. It’s an illusion, I’m telling y’all! He was up to no fucking good.

Sylvie was far more right to kill him than to not. Loki, Sylvie, & team (prolly also the latest Avengers lineup too) now just need to find a way to break this Kang cycle.

[nerdybirdy6602]

Prompt Q: Quiet

Up next for the Dimension 20 Alphabet @dimension20alphabet event is a bit of a longer fabriz fic. No specific spoilers for FH:SY. Now, here’s a time when Riz notices that Fabian is just a little quieter than usual.

Fabian was quiet today.

Passing him in the hallway this morning, Riz had waved hello only to get a nod of acknowledgement back. Catching up with Fabian at his locker before third period as they so often did was also a fruitless endeavor. The half elf barely said a word before pushing past Riz to his next class. Even during lunch, their friends dominated the conversation instead of Fabian. He hardly even ate his lunch, deciding to simply poke at it like he suspected it was poisoned.

Riz knew his friends and knew them well. You didn’t kill an ancient dragon and traverse a cursed forest with people without getting to know them. Fabian being quiet was scary, because it meant he was in his own head. Riz, knowing the overactive machinations of his own mind, found such lengthy periods of introspection daunting. With all that Fabian had experienced, he figured it couldn’t be good for him either. So, when the final period ended and they were free to go, Riz made sure he was the first person out of the building.

He sat atop the Hangman, which he recognized was a bold move seeing as the vehicle didn’t care for him very much. Whispering, he explained, “Fabian didn’t look good today. I’m trying to stop him from running away from whatever is messing him up inside. Please don’t throw me off.”

The Hangman didn’t reply to him directly, but he felt a comforting rev come from the demonic engine. Though he couldn’t be sure what exactly the motorcycle was thinking, Riz took it as a good sign. He watched as, moments later, Fabian walked up to the bike looking worse than when Riz had seen him at lunch.

“Not in the mood, The Ball,” Fabian mumbled. “Get off. I’m going home.”

“Not until you explain what happened,” Riz answered defiantly, puffing out his chest a bit. “You’ve barely spoken all day.”

“The Ball,” Fabian seethed quietly through grit teeth. It made Riz’s ears perk up into an alert, anxious position. “Last chance. Get off the Hangman.”

“Why can’t you just—”

Next thing Riz knew, there was a strong force against his chest, and the poor goblin boy was staring at the blue sky above. He struggled to catch the breath that was knocked out of his lungs before he could process what the hell just happened. As Riz choked and gasped at the pain in his chest, he realized Fabian had straight up punched him in the chest. A wave of betrayal and hurt washed over Riz before he realized that Fabian probably wasn’t in the best place right now.

“Fuck,” his friend swore, stooping down to look at Riz. “Fuck, I didn’t… Well, I did mean to, but… Shit, are you okay?”

Riz gave a quick nod, coughing and hacking as he sat up slowly. Weakly, he rasped, “If you really wanted me off, there were other ways to do it.”

Silence spread between the two of them, palpable and tense. Riz felt the eyes of their classmates on them, as fights tended to gather a crowd. For once, it looked like Fabian didn’t like and didn’t want the attention. Extending a hand, Fabian helped Riz get to his feet. He dusted Riz off and bestowed a Healing Word on him to fix the damages, looking incredibly guilty.

“Take a ride with me, Riz,” Fabian offered, glancing around at the crowded parking lot. “Please?”

“Sure, Fabes.”

Riz hopped on behind Fabian, gripping the boy’s waist tight as they escaped the prying eyes of their peers. The goblin boy felt the buzz of his crystal in his pocket, presumably from their party, but he ignored it. Whatever Fabian needed, it definitely wasn’t their friends casting blame. So, he let the ride go on in comfortable silence.

Turns out Fabian decided to take them to a park. It was quiet and somewhat secluded, which made sense if Fabian wanted privacy whilst he bared his heart to Riz. Fabian smoothly parked the Hangman and led Riz to the edge of the park’s pond. The half elf sat down in the grass, gathering stones to throw into the water. Riz took the unspoken invitation and followed suit.

“I broke up with Aelwyn last night.”

Well, Riz hated to admit that he kind of saw that coming. The pair had been picking fights with each other over nonsense things for weeks. Aelwyn would nitpick Fabian’s clothes, and Fabian would roll his eyes when Aelwyn vented about her drama. Riz could see from a mile away that they weren’t compatible.

“You didn’t seem very happy with her,” Riz admitted gently. “Maybe it’s for the best?”

Fabian tensed like he was about to lash out, and Riz braced for the impact. However, nothing came. He merely threw a stone into the pond and watched as the ripples spread across the smooth surface of the water as he mumbled, “I wanted it to work, even when I knew it wasn’t going to. I tried, I really did, but it’s hard to give your full attention to someone when you’re… distracted.”

Riz quirked a brow. Distracted by what? Fabian barely paid attention in class, and most of his spare time was spent with the group. Rather than ask the question Fabian was baiting him into, he provided the obvious, but untrue, alibi. “Yeah, life just gets in the way sometimes. Between side-quests and school and family, I’m surprised you had any—”

“Not that kind of distraction,” Fabian interjected, chucking another stone into the water. “I mean it’s hard to love someone when you’re in love with someone else.”

Oh shit.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner, Fabes? Who’s the girl?”

Fabian’s cheeks grew red, and he turned his face away and mumbled, “It’s not important. It’ll never happen.”

“That doesn’t sound like Fabian Aramais Seacaster,” Riz teased, a hint of his fangs showing as he smiled. “Come on, it’s you we’re talking about! You’re always going on about how perfect you are and how lucky anyone would be to be with you. Why the sudden humbleness?”

No words answered him. Instead, the reverberating sound of splashing water filled the empty space between them. Carefully, as if approaching a wild animal that could attack at any moment, Riz scooted closer.

“Come on, dude,” he said earnestly. “You can trust me. I won’t say anything.”

Fabian surged forward so quick and smooth it spooked the young goblin detective. He jumped, only slightly, as Fabian pressed his lips against Riz’s own. The goblin, having never been kissed seriously, had no clue what to do. His hands stalled at his sides, his eyes were wide open, and his lips stayed puckered tight. The feeling wasn’t unwelcomed; that wasn’t what his stock-still posture was for. Riz was simply caught off-guard, and that alone caused his brain to short-circuit.

When Fabian pulled away, which to Riz felt like an eternity later but was in actuality probably a few seconds, shame was etched onto his face. The goblin couldn’t begin to tell what Fabian was thinking. Hell, he couldn’t begin to process his own thoughts. Riz’s mouth opened and closed several times, searching for the words that would explain what he was feeling. Alas, he had none.

“I should have asked,” Fabian mumbled weakly, apologetically watching Riz struggle. “That was dumb. I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe I should just go and—”

“No!”

Riz reached out, gripping Fabian’s arm tight in order to hold him in place. Riz wasn’t sure what he wanted, but he knew he didn’t want the half elf to leave with this unresolved. Fabian, looking shocked by the outburst, remained on the grass. He didn’t meet Riz’s eyes, though it was hard to tell if it was out of fear, embarrassment, or both.

“I didn’t hate that,” Riz said slowly. “I know you probably think I did because of what I did, or I guess didn’t do. You’ve also chosen to surprise-kiss a guy with no experience, so that’s kind of on you.”

That elicited a laugh from Fabian as he had hoped. The sound was weak in and of itself, but it showed Riz that the situation could be mended. Fabian looked more at ease, at least, which made hope swell in the goblin’s chest.

“We can make this a thing if that’s what you want,” Riz offered kindly. “If it works out, great! If not, we’ll still be best friends.”

“What if you won’t be able to look at me the same afterwards?”

“Then that’s my problem,” Riz answered immediately, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “And I’ll get over it. But Fabian, you’re always going to be my best friend. Always.”

Fabian sighed, a small smile on his lips. He finally met Riz’s eyes, and it seemed to settle both their anxieties. The half elf was no longer afraid, and the goblin felt his mind start processing normally again. His detective brain was whirring to life, and Riz couldn’t help but wonder how he couldn’t see the signs.

“Riz,” Fabian murmured, eyes drifting to Riz’s mouth. “Can I try that again?”

“Please,” Riz whispered, his cheeks flushing teal.

This time, it went a lot easier.