It's kind of funny that Kendall and Shiv are both equally delusional about their ability to charm people for business and somehow think they can do it even though they choke almost every single time, whereas it's like the one thing Roman is consistently good at despite being the "least legitimate" option.
I think part of this comes down to the fact that Shiv and Kendall both have very clear ideas of the versions of themselves they're trying to be and the images they're trying to project, and they're trying so hard to be seen that way that they end up coming off as a little desperate and off-putting. Meanwhile Roman "knows" that there's something wrong with him and he's worthless, so he doesn't get sucked into the trap of trying to force people to see his idea of himself and instead molds himself into whatever he thinks the other person wants from him because that's the only way he can compensate for "being him," which works very well in the short term but also means he's the least capable of maintaining any relationship for very long because he has no sense of self.
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I think a lot of people forget why a character like Micah exists - aside from aiding the plot.
Micah is a guide (of sorts) for you to see what a "bad man" really is, to help you understand why Arthur does what he does and to show you that there's actual thought and morals behind his actions.
Micah, on the other hand, kills because he wants to and for stupid reasons. He is a malicious, mocking, hurtful, and sadistic man who cares very little for anybody but himself. He's a misogynist, racist, and frankly irredeemably evil.
As much as Micah was able to manipulate Dutch, Arthur could see right through him. Ultimately causing a rift between Dutch and Arthur, which is exactly what Micah wanted.
Micah was made for you to see the differences between "good" and "bad" people.
Characters like Sean, Lenny, Charles, all "good" people who have done "bad" just like the rest of the gang, including Arthur. I think the reason that people are quick to say that Arthur was "a bad person until he got tb" is because we see his experiences first hand (plus player choices) and not much of the other "good" gang members' "bad" actions. That and his motives and his background is sometimes misunderstood by players.
Arthur is a "good man", "a saint", "an angel", "a blessing" to some and a "bad", "evil", "cruel" man to others.
Playing as Arthur means getting to understand his internal conflicts and his desire to be a better person, something Micah had no intentions of being.
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rue is, i think, in love with the idea of love.
they set a wager. the lords of the wing will find true love in this romantic, ephemeral bloom, if they only seek it. they can win it, as though it’s a game.
they long to abolish the courts. their own court has never held any love for them - why would any other court be different? a court stifles, a court smothers, a court suffocates love. the courts must be abolished, so that love can bloom. true love, love that is unfettered by politics, or station, or duty.
they are the architect of the bloom. the hunt, the heart. the dance. the potions. they will pour love into a cup and the guests will drink their fill. fae from across the realms will fall in beautiful, perfect love at rue’s hand.
they have become the arbiter of love. when an engagement between a cruel prince and a wild goblin is set, what else can they do but judge it unfit? it was not love, it was not true.
they share a moment in a forest with a venerated captain. he is tall, as they are. he is clawed, as they are. he is a beast, as they are, and so beautiful for it. they fall fast, and hard, and heavy. and perhaps it is only the nature of queerness, of a life lived behind a mask, yearning for the faintest spark, that causes them to love so fast.
or perhaps they did not truly fall in love with hob at all. for they did not see him.
they fell in love with a reflection of themself.
except, of course, that hob is not a reflection of rue. hob is his own person, and like any real person, he cannot live up to an idea. and while rue is on a wonderful journey of revelation and self acceptance, it is baffling to them that someone else’s love does not always mirror their own.
rue, in an act of bravery and vulnerability and hope, removed their mask. and they long so very much to remove hob’s - but he has never worn a mask. he has always been exactly as he is - a soldier, devoted and dutiful. an outsider, used and abused by his court. rue’s true form was hidden by their court, while hob’s otherness has always been mercilessly exposed.
rue loves hob for the idea of who he could be, if he could simply unmask as they did. but hob needs, just as rue does, to be loved for who he is.
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It's weird how people paint "daddy issues" and even "mommy issues" as, like, a joke or a failure on part of the person who has those issues, rather than recognizing that daddy and mommy issues stem, for so many people, from abuse. What this all is is just abuse apologia, and nobody seems to either notice or maybe even care.
When somebody with daddy or mommy issues opens up about the "why," I can't ever seem to shake the fact that they tend to have gone through a ton of abuse and bullshit as a child. It's just crazy that other people would look at that and see a joke or a failure of the once-child who was abused.
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