#and also ignore the fact that a lot of these rules are actual for child safety?

[theoihalioistuff]

Do you have any information on misconceptions about Hades & Persephone? I'm not well read but all the portrayals of them as a #goals power couple doesn't seem quite right to me (also am I losing my mind or did Persephone get girlbossified?) I could be totally wrong of course! There's a lot to learn in the world. Hope your day is good ^-^

Hi Anon! Sorry for taking so long to reply, (I'm in the middle of exam season and have tons of work to do T~T)

There's a lot to unpack here, as this is basically the most popular greek myth nowadays and one of the most affected by misinformation and people spreading their headcannons as facts. Broadly, in every surviving account their marriage is a forced abduction, where Persephone is very much unwilling. For example in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (our earliest and most complete source): she cries out in fear for help as she's seized and dragged away under the earth "So he, that Son of Cronos, of many names, who is Ruler of Many and Host of Many, was bearing her away by leave of Zeus on his immortal chariot — his own brother’s child and all unwilling", is mournful and despondent until she gladdens at the news of being brought back to the surface and reunited with her mother, is "grieved to tell the tale" of her abduction, and finally is not so much tricked as force-fed the pommegranate "I sprang up at once for joy; but he secretly put in my mouth sweet food, a pomegranate seed, and forced me to taste against my will."

On the other hand, it's true that their marriage is one of the few where they are presented as standing on equal footing and ruling jointly (compared to, for example, Zeus and Hera, where she's generally very much subordinate to him), to the point where Persephone frequently eclipses her husband as sovereign in myth (sending forth the dead in the Odyssey, recieving Herakles when he goes to the underworld, permitting the return of Sisyphos and Alkestis, etc.) and it's widely theorised that Persephone predates Hades in her role as ruler of the underworld. Also in several parts of Magna Graecia their marriage seems to have displaced Zeus and Hera's as the ideal model in cult.

I get the appeal many feel for the myth (though also frankly sometimes get a bit tired of it), but regarding original sources I would certainly hesitate to call a kidnapping and a forced marriage a #goals power couple. As for Persephone getting "girlbossified", I completely agree and find it really disappointing how in most so called "feminist retellings" the only sort of shallow "empowerment" she gets is "fiercely stricking a pose and looking cunty in black next to her bad-boy misunderstood sweetie of a goth/millionaire fifty-shades-of-grey husband."

All that aside, for a great retelling that in my opinion successfully presents Hades and Persephone as a compelling love story and skillfully avoids the pitfalls where most other retellings fall short, I can't recommend @a-gnosis comics enough. They're really well researched, original, beautifully drawn and peopled with actually well written characters (non-perfect, endearing, interesting, etc.) instead of 2D caricatures. She balances a delightful romance without ignoring and addressing the beats of the original myth (as much as possible anyway, no easy feat in my opinion), and all her comics are free to read on her tumblr, deviantart and comicsfury. I really recommend them to anyone interested!

[heartlyrins]

I haven't seen any no req rules on your blog so i apologise if im overstepping a boundary, it's not a req tho but it looks like it (? idk either just a heads up?? using tumblr after a while bear with me)

ive been thinking of incest sunday x reader where you essentially take robins place aka youre robin and the cannon robin doesn't exist. not really in the haha he noncons u 24/7 way but more of an emotional incest way before it gets sexual/romantic and involves a lot of grooming

he's nice, caring, he's here if u need anything and always cares for his dear little sister (or sibling, but ill keep it fem reader cuz youre in robins place), just ignore the weird touches and how incredibly touchy he gets with you when youre both alone and hidden!

dont think youre of the hook though, he still has very high expectations for a young sweet girl like you! singing lessons, private tutoring and all of the sorts! you practically have no social life, and oh what's that? you want to go out? nope,sorry sweetheart, another time - sunday replies as he gives you yet another touch on the thing as he explains every single mistake and pinpoints your every insecurity

it starts off nice and slow, he begins the weird touches and stares when you were very young. when the nanny was changing your clothes perhaps or you two were showering, before it escalated to something more. i dont see him as "id drug to keep you close", hes already got that weird xipe hallucination power thing that he used on aventurine

hed probably guilt trip you into letting him take your virginity because the world is tainted and theyll hurt you if youre not careful. maybe even take ur first kiss too while hes balls deep and telling you that hell keep the bloodline pure with his sweet perfect little sister

i also like to think sunday is a bit fucked in the head due to past trauma like if he was groomed himself or even molested and he simply mimicked what was done to him rather than doing it cause haha im evil, i dont see much rep of him being fucked up cuz something happened to him in the past.

id like to see ur take on that tbh idm if its a fic/ficlet or something but id gladly see sundays character study on the fucked up obsessive sister fucker version

Maybe I will make a fic of this.. But my aventurine fic is not even completed yet 😭

tw:INCEST, noncon/dubcon, grooming (non-sexual), coercion, guilt tripping, manipulation, brainwashing, slight misogyny, Sunday is the warning itself, DLDR and block if ur uncomfortable

Robin!Reader would be good.. But imagine he's more obsessive and strict than he would ever be with cannon Robin.

YES. He would groom you not in a sexual way, but in a way that he wants you to be according to him. No, grooming isn't only based in romantic or sexual and it HAS been shown in media. (The nearest example is Tomura and OFA)

I feel like he wouldn't need any trauma to actually do this to someone—it's just how he is and he doesn't really see the wrong in it even as an adult.

He has been doing this as a child, it's in his mind to manipulate someone in order to get what he wants. Unlike a normal child who cries and rolls on the ground to get a piece of candy—it wouldn't be that for him.

If he wants it—then he would get it, in this case the thing he wants is you.

Ever since you were both a child, he would be stuck to you at every moment. You want to bath? Sure, but he's going. You're very fragile as a halovian child—and especially a girl at that. You need your big brother to protect you wherever you go.

Despite the fact that he's everywhere with you, there would be times where sometimes he just can't be at that moment. But somehow, he makes it feel like you're in a constant watch even when he's not there.

When you expressed your dreams to be an idol, you thought that he would oppose to it but it's actually quite the opposite! He helps you get voice and vocal lessons with a private teacher and it's every single day that you have to suffer practicing.

What do you mean you want a break? This is your dream yes? He's just helping you achieve your dreams, isn't your big brother so caring?

It's when you start filling curves around your body that he realizes his romantic feelings for you—at first as a child he thought that it had to be with the fact that he has to protect you.

But now that you're both grown, he now knows it's something more than platonic. The first time he touched you a bit further down that he usually would was when you were both just reaching the peak of famous.

He became the head of the family—you've became what you wanted and what he wanted, an idol. That's when it hits him, becoming famous means that he had to share you with other people.

And then before he knows it.. You will disappear from his grip. So he restricts you from going out, you're supposed to stay by his side anyway, you know that right?

And you're supposed to give your virginity to him. It's important. He's helped you achieve your dream, so you need to help him back. No it's not wrong, it's actually quite normal.

You don't know what to do? That's okay, he'll guide you. Look, he's already balls deep inside you—no don't turn your away and face him.

Now that he's tainted you, you can go out now. But remember that he's always watching you.

[actual-changeling]

It was actually rather hard to decide how to begin this meta post because there are essentially going to be two main parts: why Crowley does not actually avoid/run from his problems and why "going off" is not a bad thing regardless.

Then I wrote the first part and realised this is now 2.5k words long, so uhhhh I will grant part 2 its own post.

With that, welcome back to Alex's today-not-unhinged meta corner!

I am going to approach this topic from a psychological angle, which a lot of people have already done, but without explicitly mentioning it or going into depth. All my information comes from personal experience, research, my therapist, and my psychiatrist, just so you know I am not making shit up. I actually dug up some resources my therapist gave me a while ago.

Generally, there are four different fear/survival responses: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. Most people have probably heard about fight and flight, since those two are usually the only ones that are mentioned/taught, so I will stick to explaining the other two.

"Fawning" refers to actively being submissive and subdued, both physically and emotionally. The goal is to appear non-threatening and to calm whoever is causing the fear response in the first place. It shows up as being overly agreeable, not having thoughts/opinions of your own and ignoring them if you do, your body language changing (e.g., making yourself smaller, taking up less space), and generally attempting to 'keep the peace' or reinstate it.

"Freezing" is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin—you freeze. It means slipping into a dissociative state, which disconnects you from your body, your emotions/mind, and/or the outside world. Usually, people stop being able to talk well or at all, they do not move, and if they do, it is on autopilot; you do not fight or flee, you simply exist until what is causing the fear response is over.

While dissociating, your brain is unable to form full memories—and depending on how heavily you are dissociating, it does not form any memories at all. 

Freezing as a response happens when fight, flight, and fawn aren't possible anymore, e.g., a child who has no internal mechanisms to deal with large amounts of fear because it's a child, so the only way to escape the pain and aggressor is by fleeing into your mind and shutting down.

Why am I telling you all this? Because most people tend to have one or two survival responses that dominate/they usually fall back on, and the same goes for Aziraphale and Crowley.

When faced with an outside problem and a lot of stress, Aziraphale's first instinct is to fawn, to placate the person, to diffuse the situation, to make sure everyone is agreeing, or, at the very least, submitting to authority figures or aggressors. It is what heaven teaches them—stick to the rules, don't ask questions, do what you are told. If fawning involves lying, he will do so, here the need for safety is stronger than his desire to be truthful and stick to his morals.

Unfortunately, the fact that this is his primary fear response is also the reason behind his extreme cognitive dissonance. How can you stick to the rules when you do not know what the rules ARE? So he is stuck trying to figure out what is "good" and what is "bad" so he can be a good angel and avoid doing anything that might be seen as bad or disobedient.

His secondary response to stress or fear is to fight—once it's clear that fawning won't work, he can and will switch over to being more direct and aggressive/less submissive. We see that happening when he gets discorporated in season 1 and needs to get back to earth, at the airbase, or when the bookshop gets attacked.

If I were to ask you what you think Crowley's primary fear response is, how would you respond?

Well, if you said "flight"—you're wrong, and I will explain why.

Flight is his secondary fear response, it is what he falls back on in absolute emergencies when everything is doomed and there's nothing he can do anymore.

Before that, though, he fights.

Even as an angel, he was already questioning the system, he was ready to go and tell God she was doing a terrible job, that her ideas were bad, that he wants to keep his stars and the universe— six thousand years are nothing! If you actively oppose existing rules and defy people's authority over you, fighting is the only option you have unless you plan on giving up or the response becomes too much to deal with.

Fear itself happens when you or someone/something you love is being threatened (whether that threat is real or simply perceived as such doesn't matter), plus there are a large number of more irrational fears.

Crowley's creations were threatened -> He goes against the rules, he wants to fight for them.

On the walls of Eden, he questions God and talks to an angel, his hereditary enemy, once again defying the rules, questioning them.

Job and his children were threatened -> He goes against orders to try and save them.

There is good reason to believe he went against God by saving some of the children from the flood.

He showed Jesus the kingdoms of the world—do we really think that was based on orders? No, it was once again Crowley not playing by the rules.

Wessex? He proposes the Arrangement, which is one gigantic "fuck you" in his fight against celestial rules. Everything after that goes back to Crowley knowing that their jobs suck and that they can cheat, fight the system by working together. In 1827, it gets him pulled to hell and punished, and yet he does not stop; he keeps fighting.

Crowley is the one who immediately tries to stop the apocalypse. Aziraphale needs to be talked into it, needs to be convinced with selfish reasons and personal pleasure.

The reason why both heaven and hell absolutely loathe him is not because he is a runner; it's because he constantly and consistently defies them. He fights.

In season two, he immediately tries to deal with the Gabriel problem while Aziraphale is standing behind him and saying "I don't know" to all of his questions. Taking him somewhere so they can figure shit out in peace is not 'running'—it's smart. Sure, it's far from ideal, but we see what keeping him in the bookshop brought them, don't we? The hiding miracle is what tipped heaven and hell off in the first place.

Aziraphale goes to Edinburgh based on a hunch, but once again—did that help? Did his journalist roleplay trip actually provide vital information that solved a single puzzle piece of that mess? No. Finding out that Gabriel was at that pub with some mystery person was a nice fact to know, but that's it.

During the ball, Crowley is scared, vigilant, prowling around the shop, checking windows, telling Aziraphale to "stop this charade" so they can figure out what to do. Aziraphale, in that moment, was already convinced that sticking to the rules would save them—a heavenly embassy on a technicality, surely the group of fallen angels who got booted due to not following heaven's rules will respect that.

Crowley goes to heaven, which is once again him actively looking for a solution, while Aziraphale also falls back on fighting because fawning is not going to do shit.

There are three times during which Crowley suggests fleeing—which is his secondary fear response—but those are exceptions. Let's have a look at them.

The first one is at the bandstand, the evening before the Apocalypse, and since Aziraphale is lying to him, the situation seems hopeless to him. Yet he is still having his 'agents' look for him, is still fighting.

Do you know why he even suggests running? He is about to leave when Aziraphale calls him back with "there isn't anywhere to go," and now allow me to insert the following passage from the scriptbook.

Crowley looks back. He looks at Aziraphale. Above them, a beautiful starry sky. And Crowley softens.

"Big universe. Even if this all ends up in a puddle of burning goo, we could go off together."

The sentence in the show is slightly different, but they have one thing in common: If.

IF the world ends, we can still leave and be together. IF.

Crowley is NOT saying "let's leave", he is presenting Aziraphale with a contingency plan in case stopping the Apocalypse does not work. He is NOT running, he isn't even SUGGESTING to run.

It's a "if the world ends, we can be together. We don't need to be with hell or heaven; we can be in the stars," because remember what the end of the world would mean? Eternal torture for Crowley while Aziraphale bores himself to death in heaven.

The next time he suggests it again—when he stops Aziraphale on the street—several things have happened.

First, he did not leave. If he truly wanted to flee, he would have by now, but he didn't. He sits in a cinema waiting for the end: "Out of time. Out of hope," as Neil puts it. Then Hastur and Ligur show up on screen and tell him, 'You're dead meat, Crowley. You're bloody history. […] We're coming to collect you'.

We all know that means "eternal torture in hell," but if you're not convinced for some reason, have another snippet from the script book that did not make it into the show.

Dagon is speaking from the Bentley's radio while he drives towards the bookshop, saying that something has gone wrong and they're sure he has a 'perfectly reasonable explanation' for it. Once he gets out of the car, however, Dagon still keeps going and says the following:.

"Your explanation, and the circumstances that will accompany it, will provide a source of entertainment for all the damned of hell, Crowley. Because no matter what agonies the damned are suffering, Crowley, you will have it worse."

Crowley already knows that. He has been punished by them before, heard, seen, lived torture, there is no doubt as to what will happen should they catch him. So he does what any person with a single fucking brain cell would do—he tries to get his loved one and FLEE.

Flight is the best response in this situation, and if you need me to explain why, then honestly, I cannot help you anymore. I won't go into detail about Aziraphale's response, but, tl;dr, it was shitty and incredibly hurtful, go figure.

Now, let's get to situation number 3, which is his speech during the final fifteen. We do not have an official script for that, but someone did make transcriptions for all episodes; you can find them here. Additionally, I will copy some of what I already said in a different meta post.

Crowley, stuck in his trauma-induced hypervigilance and paranoia, suggests putting as much distance between them and the problem as possible. I think it is interesting that in ep1 he wants to get Gabriel away from them, while at the end of the season, he is ready to get them away from the problem.

So far, I have never seen anyone mention that change! And it’s important! The entire season, it is hammered into our heads how much they love being on earth. It is THEIR bookshop and THEIR car and THEIR life.

Crowley wants to protect that home, and Gabriel is a threat to it, a threat to both of them, their life, the bookshop—everything. He does not want to leave, he wants his peace and angel in one place.

Yet by allowing Gabriel to stay, Aziraphale destroyed the sense of comfort and safety Crowley had slowly developed over the last few decades. Heaven nipping down every now and then to check in with Aziraphale is very different from him sheltering the Supreme Archangel who is running from ‘something terrible’ without even asking if he’s alright with that.

Aziraphale calls it their bookshop, but he fundamentally still sees it as his space to govern and Crowley as a guest; he even calls it a 'heavenly embassy'.

After another horrible week and having his previously safe space violated by several different times and beings, Crowley is back to where he was before—without a home. That fragile existence broke apart, so he is standing in the heap of shards and telling Aziraphale 'I don’t feel safe here anymore, let’s leave’.

He lost his safe space, but he still has his safe person, his best and only friend, the person he loves. I doubt he cares where exactly they go as long as they’re together and it’s safe.

Returning to heaven—it is the one place Crowley cannot follow him to. It’s literally the worst option, he can’t go back, he won’t go back. So he invokes the bookshop again, if you don’t want to stay for me, stay for the bookshop, your books, your corner of existence that I thought we had carved out for ourselves.

There is a common error that people make regarding the timeline, which is assuming that during this conversation they are already aware of the impending apocalypse—but they aren't. Aziraphale himself has no clue, and while Crowley saw the conversation and trial, he does NOT know when it will happen. For all he knows, it could be tomorrow, could be in a thousand years, and, even if he had been given a date, I doubt they laid out all the details and how to stop it.

Considering that his original plan was "get drunk at the Ritz and then have us time," I don't think he knew literally anything about how or when to stop it. So no, Crowley does NOT suggest running away from earth and leaving it to die.

All he wants is some bloody peace and quiet where no demons, angels, or power-hungry floating heads can interrupt them. A space that is safe and theirs. There are also zero mentions of where he wants them to go; he is not talking about the stars or the universe. He wants to get away from where they currently are because heaven and hell show up uninvited whenever they please.

If your boss and ex-boss constantly kicked down your front door and stated their wish to torture you, would you stay there or would you move? Yeah.

This post got very long, but it was long overdue.

I am tired of seeing people call Crowley a callous coward who always runs away from his problems when he is the literal opposite. You take three sentences said under exceptional circumstances and apply them to Crowley as a whole, when it is nothing but his last ditch effort to keep himself and Aziraphale safe.

One last thing: If you come onto my post and start aggressively arguing about this, I will block you. Genuine discussions and questions are always welcome, being a dick is not, and I also simply cannot handle some of the rhetoric people in this fandom perpetuate because it's very triggering.

Make your own post, don't do it on mine.

[ziggyyyystardust]

I’m sorry but I hate the way people completely disregard the fact that Luke is a Jedi, like he’s literally the og Jedi?? I’ve seen a lot of people talk about how much “better” his new Jedi order would’ve been because he would’ve removed the attachment rules or whatever, and I think that that type of characterisation really disregards the essence of Luke’s character and what he stood for. People seem to cite him bringing his father back from the dark and being close with Leia but that doesn’t mean he’s attached to them in the way Jedi view attachment, he cared about his father because Luke is a caring person and wanted to help him, acting as if it’s only because Vaders his dad really disregards a lot of the character development Luke went through from a new hope till return of the Jedi.

Also it seems really odd to ignore it as he 1: shows a genuine want to become a Jedi and all that being a Jedi involves 2: (mainly rotj) cares what Yoda and Obi-Wan have to say and the advice they give him 3: says word for word “I am a Jedi” sure he may not have the training of a Jedi but it’s pretty clear that he really does care.

On a similar note - I’ve seen people talk about it but people also tend to disregard the fact that Luke was part of the rebellion?? It’s treated like “oh silly sunshine boy just wants to fly ships he doesn’t know what politics are🥰🥰” it completely infantilises his entire character, his beliefs and what he cares about. We see in ANH that he has interest in the rebellion, knows of the clone wars and vaguely of the Jedi, and in the deleted scene with Biggs they both talk about defecting to the rebellion and fighting against the empire. These scenes clearly show his political beliefs and how he was against the empire even before they killed his Aunt and Uncle. It does him a disservice to ignore who he is as a person and to treat him as if he’s just a child who likes ships, it removes any sense of agency or conviction when he’s treated that way

Point is I wish more people would treat him like a mature adult who is capable of making his own choices and is an actual Jedi who follows the code.

[drakaripykiros130ac]

Green stans: “Aegon is the rightful heir because he is the King’s son.” - always the simplistic of minds. And that is all they can say in their defense.

I said it once and I will say it again: at the time of the Dance, there is no specific written law which states that there can be no ruling Queen or that a daughter cannot inherit. Basically, a succession law does not exist.

And just like it is these days, where something isn’t forbidden by law, then it’s perfectly legal.

But one thing is absolutely certain: in a monarchy such as this one, the King’s word IS law. A royal decree IS law. By royal decree, Viserys named his daughter, Rhaenyra Targaryen, Princess of Dragonstone and Heir to the Iron Throne.

When the matter was discussed in episode 1, Lyonel Strong (Master of Laws) stated that “No Queen has ever sat the Iron Throne.” He doesn’t recite a law, because there is none. He simply makes it known that so far no ruling Queen has sat the throne, not that it is forbidden/impossible.

The Grand Maester then adds: “That is only by tradition and precedent.” Aha. So, no law. Only tradition and precedent. Tradition by which the Kings didn’t need to officially name their sons heirs. They just assumed, like the rest of the Realm, that the eldest son would follow. But Viserys did officially name Rhaenyra his heir and he never changed his mind even after having sons.

As for precedent, they are most likely referring to the Great Council called by King Jaehaerys I. Keep in mind that Rhaenys was a candidate at this time. She was not immediately excluded from the “election” because she was a woman. She was not forbidden to be a claimant of the Iron Throne. She was an option. The Realm viewed her as a candidate. She was also supported by people, including Queen Alysanne herself. The fact that she wasn’t chosen in the end hardly matters. What matters is that she was clearly an option. She was the eldest grandchild of King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne, as well as the only child of the Heir to the Throne, Prince Aemon.

Jaehaerys could have named Rhaenys his heir easily. He was the King and his word was Law. But he knew that there would be conflict, so he called the Great Council and let the Lords of the Realm vote. They decided on Viserys. But Jaehaerys could have overruled them. He could have ignored their wish and still named Rhaenys his heir, and that would have been perfectly legal.

What all this means is that just because the Lords of the Realm are not accustomed to having a ruling Queen sit the Iron Throne, does not make it illegal. A lot of people don’t seem to get that this is not a democracy. Just because some would rather keep the tradition, does not mean that a change would be outrageous. It would simply be uncomfortable for certain lords. Not all, since Rhaenyra is supported by a total of 53 Houses during the Dance, almost twice as many as Aegon has. It seems to me that all these Lords don’t mind at all that a woman would be Queen and they recognize King Viserys’ word as law.

And then there is the Widow’s Law to consider. That’s an actual law, which explains that the children from a first marriage cannot be disinherited in favor of the kids from the second marriage. If there is no legal explanation for disinheriting the children from the first marriage in favor of those of the second’s, then the children from the first marriage keep their inheritance (all of this was Queen Alysanne’s idea).

We have established that Rhaenyra being named Heir to the Throne is perfectly legal, since there is no succession law which forbids it. The Widow’s Law only solidifies her claim.

[dcawritings]

You are the manager of the daycare (and Sun by extension). Some people think this means you don't care if he gets yelled at.

This assumption is wildly inaccurate, and you are not afraid to professionally threaten correct them.

You're in the middle of something important.

It's been clinging at your thoughts all day while you tried desperately to ignore it, but at some point it became impossible to deny the truth--technically, it had a higher priority than everything you decided to complete much earlier in the shift.

And unfortunately that leaves you stuck at your desk, staring down hard at the collection of intake forms and spreadsheets. You know it won't take more than half an hour, but that time would be some of the most horrible, boring, downright painful minutes of your life.

Could you push it off until tomorrow? Maybe Monday even?

No, you ultimately decide, the paperwork needed to be done. There was no point to pushing it back again--it still needed to be forwarded to the document filing team, then to human resources, and that would only end up making your job harder in the end since only then could you finalize everything.

By the time that you'd actually relegated yourself to sitting down and getting the work done, the day was nearly over with--parents were starting to come in and pick up their children.

Some were kids of employees that worked at the Pizzaplex itself; childcare cost was heavily discounted for workers of any department, so it was extremely convenient for many who simply didn't have any other options. They were also some of the sweetest kids you'd ever met, if only because they were very familiar with the daycare and its rules. Other children were simply dropped off because the guardians wanted some time to enjoy the facility themselves for a few hours or so. The process for checking a child out was the same regardless, and typically very painless after a parent knew to expect the process.

Normally you don't need to worry about assisting with child pickups. You had several employees that were expected to make sure the process was quick and smooth, though there was only two on the clock right now--a couple call-outs had left you with less people than you'd like on such a busy day, but the two working today were some of your best and longest-term employees. They handled plenty of crazier days, so you trusted them to keep things together when office work took precedence over smaller tasks that kept you visible and available even for the kids themselves.

So, one can imagine your utter surprise when the sound of disdained yelling suddenly echoes through the daycare. Not just a little yelling either; it's shrill, with enough intensity that it reaches all the way to your back office and that... that takes a lot. Enough that it immediately tugs at your instincts to investigate.

The words aren't clear enough to make out, so you push yourself away from the desk and leave the office, then out of the hallway into the main daycare area.

It doesn't take more than a breath of time to realize who is making all the noise--a parent. They're standing near the front of the daycare, but not where they're supposed to be.

The check-out desk was located in the small room overlooking the daycare's main play area, separated by plexiglass and rope netting. Not only was it supposed to be an easier way to get kids comfortable in being away from their parents (they literally arrive in the daycare by way of a slide into a ball pit), but it also served as a form of security--nobody could enter the daycare without proper credentials, and there was always someone posted up there to greet anyone coming to drop off or pick up their child.

But this one? Somehow, this one came through an employee-only entrance. That audacity alone would make your blood boil, but the fact that you recognized the woman only made it worse.

Her shrill screaming filled the room with venom while she clutched her son against her hip, as if trying to shield him from the poor daycare attendant animatronic who was, as best as he could, diffuse the situation.

It doesn't take long to get an idea of what she's going off about either--the woman is not particularly quiet about it.

"When I leave my son here, I expect that he will be safe!" she hisses, brushing her son's hair as if trying to soothe the child. "And what do I find when I come to pick him up? That he's been manhandled and tossed around like a toy--you're lucky he didn't break a bone!"

The young boy doesn't look injured, and if anything he seems more scared of his mother.

Travis, you recall his name--a rather quiet boy, didn't always like to play with other kids. His mother, Sarah, worked in one of the back offices as a programmer. Her hours were always odd, so his father tended to be the one to drop the boy off. Now you understand why.

The thing was, Travis really liked playing with Sun. Since he was shy, the daytime bot often took it upon himself to try and encourage the boy to take part in craftime or storytime--he'd recently been able to get him to play in the ball pit with the other kids his age.

"This kind of behavior is completely inexcusable," she finally seethes, a look of one-note rage in her eyes that seemed to burn the longer she looks at the animatronic. "I will make sure to put in a complaint about this--"

"I-I am sorry that you think your son was h-harmed, Miss Martin. I assure you that h-he was just playing with the other kids." Sun lifts his hands up in a passive way, trying desperately to keep her from screaming more. People were starting to stare at the unfolding scene, and it was quickly coming undone at the seams. "I am incapable of doing anything that w-would put any little superstars in danger!"

Sarah's eyes gleam with poison as she seems to catch her claws on a hook. "Oh, so you're saying you're defecting from your programing?"

"N-no! Not at all! My programming is clean as a whistle, I have it debugged at r-regular intervals!"

"I work in the programming department," she says, voice going quiet. "With the glamrock series code. Directly down the hall from the man who makes decisions about every machine in this facility. All it would take is for me to walk right down to his office and let him know that the daycare is turning into a severe liability for the company." You are already hurrying over, not missing the way Sunny's fists start to clench tight, tight enough for his joints to squeal under the pressure as he restrains himself. He's trying so hard to keep his professionalism under the abuse--and Sarah seems to know exactly what to say.

"Your model is old. Your code is old. It's a shoddy piece of work that should be scrapped and redone, I've been telling them that for months now. They'd be better of scrapping you so we can finally have room for another glamrock and-"

You waste no time in immediately stepping directly into the line of fire, forcing yourself into the space between Sun and Sarah who has, until that moment, been encroaching closer and closer into his personal space. Was she trying to set him off? To see how far he would take the abuse before saying something wrong?

Probably. You wouldn't put it past a cruel woman like her at this point.

"What seems to be the problem here?" you say, fake smile wide and tone forcibly friendly. "I sure heard you all the way from my office!"

"Oh no dear, don't worry, it's nothing you need to concern yourself about," the woman says, waving her hand at you as if expecting her words to be like an order. "Though you can be a dear and go fetch the manager?"

You don't move, but clench your jaw tight and force the words through your teeth, "I happen to be the manager of the daycare, so if there is an issue or complaint, then I need to know about it! So please," the fake smile drops and you stare at her hard. "What is the problem here?"

Sarah's expression twitches with annoyance, but she tries to immediately save face by gesturing to her son and acting as if she was the one getting yelled at.

"Well, I didn't want to make a big deal of it, but my son has been injured because of your animatronic!"

You glance over at Travis. The poor kid is no older than eight, and he's trying to stare down at his shoes, his face flushed red with embarrassment and shame.

"Hey, little buddy," you kneel down to be closer to eye-level with him. "Did something happen to get you hurt?"

He shakes his head before his mother can try to interject. When you try to ask him another question she finally puts a hand between his gaze and yours, breaking it and forcing you to look back at her.

"That thing is running on severely old, broken code," she says, tone low and voice slow, as if trying to communicate an unspoken threat. "It's only a matter of time before something happens. Before someone gets hurt. I don't understand why they haven't just decommissioned the abhorrent thing. Doesn't even look as cute as the glamrocks."

Oh. So she's chosen death?

No. Breathe. Slowly. Remember how things work. Remember to play it smart. She wants you to get angry, needs to get a response out of you just so she can use it to cry to upper management.

Be smart about this. Be smart and unyielding. It takes every ounce of restraint not to deck the woman in the nose right there--but you at least have an upper hand.

"Who is your direct manager?"

"Huh?"

You stare at her expectantly, letting the silence fill the room before finally clarifying and repeating yourself. "Who. Is. Your. Direct. Manager?"

"I-I don't know how that's relevant to the current problem we're trying to solve."

"Well," you finally say, pulling out your company-assigned mini pad and scrolling through the employee database. "I need to get into contact with them about your behavior. Obviously you've forgotten several very important policies and I want to make sure you're educated on them as need be."

"Wh-what policies?" Sarah demands. "I haven't broken anything--that thing is what we're talking about right now."

You shake your head, proud of the even tone to your voice even though you want nothing more than to scream and yell at her in kind.

"First, you enter the daycare using an unapproved door-"

"I am an employee for the company-!"

"-and even employees are not allowed to use that door. It is for daycare attendants and handlers only. It is an active security measure to ensure the safety of little superstars like your son, whom you obviously seem to care for the safety of, right?"

She is silent, sputtering, taken aback by your confidence or simple knowledge of how to play the system correctly.

"Second, I have you on record actively harassing a coworker. Not only are you specifically not using his preferred pronouns, you are also belittling and demeaning him and his ability to do his job correctly. A job which I will remind you is difficult and stressful and comes with a wide variety of nuance."

You take the opportunity to step forward. Not too far, just a little idle step. Enough to take control and apply pressure to the situation.

"I'm sorry that you can't seem to understand the subtlety of how kids tend to play around Travis' age, and I'm sorry that you don't seem to care about the fact that he has been making very good progress in getting to know the other kids--specifically because of Sun's hard work with him."

Another small, calculated step. Sarah retreats from how she's looming forward, and you can see the tension in her jaw.

"Harassing a coworker? I haven't said anything to-"

"Sun? You mean one of my employees? The very one I heard you screaming at?" You shrug, managing to seem coldly nonchalant with surprising ease--maybe it's the adrenaline coursing through your veins. Between the heat of your words, you feel one of Sun's hand gently grabbing the back of your shirt. Not tugging, just holding on. "I mean, if you like we can go into my office and I can pull the cameras--if I misunderstood something then surely we can go over the recording and find out where I'm not getting that right."

That's the final push. Sarah knows she can't win the argument or force you to back down from a legitimate, honest-to-god threat. Despite being in a different department, technically you are still above her; you already know her manager. Marcus was a pretty easy-going guy that had a lot of sympathy for the animatronics, so it wouldn't take much for him to write her up from your word alone.

"I... well, maybe I just misunderstood," the woman finally says, her smile cold and not reaching her eyes. "No need to make this a big deal or anything! I will make sure to use the right door next time, my mistake."

Your mouth moves faster than your brain can stop them--it's edging on the line of being appropriate for someone of your position, but you need to make sure this woman understands that you are willing to hold your ground.

"Please do, because if I hear of something like this happening again? I will ban you outright from the daycare facility."

Her eyes widen and she opens her mouth as if to say something, but she's already lost. You have the authority to decline service to anyone, and at least with this situation you were grateful to have that power.

Sarah hurries out of the room without another word. You feel bad for Travis--the kid really didn't deserve to be in the middle of all that--but he offers some assurance by turning around to try and wave before the two of them disappear beyond the door.

You barely get a chance to let out a held breath before a pair of hurried footsteps approach you.

"Is everything okay?" one of the attendants ask. She's normally so soft spoken, but you can hear the genuine concern leaking through the words. "I knew as soon as I saw Sarah things would be bad--she always tries to find something to yell about when she picks Travis up."

"Yeah," the other worker echoes, then turns to speak to Sun. "I am so sorry you ended up with her, Sunny. If I knew she had used the door down here I would have immediately left the intake room."

The two of them started to crowd around you and Sun a bit more than you liked. Jesus, how was Sun even doing?

"We're okay, it's fine just-" another sigh spills from your lips, exhaustion taking the space where adrenaline had kept you so still and composed. "You two go make sure the other kids are okay? That was a lot of screaming for them to hear."

With only a little more consoling they finally move away to check on the few kids still waiting to get picked up. It leaves you and Sun alone at least, a vague amount of privacy.

You turn around, not sure what to expect from the animatronic--but it's a surprise all the same to find him staring at you with wide, as if unbelieving eyes. There's a sense of tension hidden somewhere in his expression, but its overshadowed by something else. Something hard to read.

"... Are you okay, Sunny?" you finally ask in a soft, gentle voice. He looks down, peering at the multicolored carpet silently. All it takes is the soft touch of your hand gently touching the side of his faceplate to make him twitch, listening but still not looking at you. "Don't you worry about anything, okay? She's just a cruel nobody who likes making other people feel bad. I will make sure she's not allowed anywhere beyond the intake room and make a recommendation that Travis' dad be the only one who can pick him up."

He is still silent, but you're relieved to see his body loosen. All that tension, all that heartache and anger, almost all gone in an instant.

"Sunny...?"

After a moment, the animatronic finally tilts his face into your touch. Before you can ask or say anything else, however, he sweeps you into his arms in a tight hug. So tight in fact that he begins to spin you around in a circle, stopping only when he's done sputtering.

"You didn't have to do all that for little ol' me! Someone so busybusy like you shouldn't need to deal with parents at all--you're so silly, starlight!"

Despite the fact that his words try to sound casual, you saw every sign in the book that Sun had barely been taking the woman's verbal abuse. You can't imagine what would have happened if you hadn't shown up--would he have snapped? Would she have threatened something worse?

"Oh goodness please put me down Sunny-" you lean into his arms as the room slowly stops spinning around you. Then, when you collect yourself, you offer him a warm and genuine smile. "Sunshine, you are one of my employees, and nobody deserves to be talked down to like that at all. It's not fair for her to treat you like that-" you catch a look of worry somewhere in his eyes, and so you quickly add, "-and I will never let you be decommissioned. There isn't anything wrong with you, so don't let her empty threats put a rain cloud over you."

It's only in that moment that you realize how tightly his hands are grasping at your uniform.

"... you... promise?"

He's more scared of that then he ever lets on.

"I promise," you say with complete confidence. "Nobody will ever hurt you on my watch, Sun. You and Moon both. They'll have to go through my stubborn ass first--and I actually memorized most of the employee handbook anyway."

"Starlight!" he says, sounding shocked.

"Wh-what?"

"Language."

You chuckle, the sound rumbling through your chest as you bring a hand over your face. You'll have to touch base with Sun again once the other kids and employees have left for the night, but at least he's doing better.

And you're still sending a message to Marcus about her--she'll be lucky if she doesn't get a huge write-up for that outburst.

[batrogers]

"Feral" Tropes

For Clarity: I have written pretty much every single trope on this list at some point or another myself.

(Yes, including extremely ill-advised arson, non-verbal and illiterate Link, needs help with his hair, and spends weeks in blood-stained clothes.)

These can be funny tropes, dark tropes, ironic tropes, heartfelt tropes, and cathartic tropes.

[Art of my Minish Cap Link, by @l3ominor]

Why do people find “Feral” link so polarizing, then?

I’m gonna go over what makes a fantasy, character agency (or deliberate lack thereof), and – because I’m AO3 trash forever, and because I think it’s the most useful thing here – tagging.

It's also like 2000 words, whoops.

I’m using “feral” here to say that Link is positioned as either failing to adhere to expected social norms, or positioned as outside them. Social norms are part of civilization: a structure of rules and expectations that are positioned as the “height” of human social achievements. Meeting them makes you a good, normal person who is respectable and respected; failing them can make you anywhere from imperfect to exile to enemy.

“Civilized” is a moving target that’s defined by others. Anyone, at any time, can be constructed as a failure just because someone wants to do that. Similarly, other features – like slavery and war crimes – can be considered “civilized” because that’s just what the dominant power does. Being “civilized” isn’t inherently good; it’s also not inherently evil. Civilized social rules also include stuff like charity, hospitality, and similar social welfare stuff.

Basically both “Civilized” and “Feral” can mean whatever you want them to mean, but there are some common ways it goes wrong.

Again. I have written 90% of these in various ways. These are not inherently wrong; the frustration often arises from presentation and lack of clarity, which I’ll address below:

The first is infantilizing the character, creating them as helpless.

Wild can’t bathe himself and doesn't see the point in being clean; he doesn’t do anything with his hair. He’s so dumb he eats rocks; he'll eat too much or anything at all, and he has no objection to being treated like a child. He doesn’t know language or how to read or write. If transmale, he doesn't understand his period and thinks he's dying. He was literally raised by a wolf. He can't do anything right. It's presented as fair and just to pin him down to clean him, because he cannot do it himself.

The fact the wolf is supposedly Twilight, who should be striving to get him to other hylians is irrelevant. Real youth react to their period thinking they’re dying, but this is associated with literal children, particularly ones raised completely ignorant of their own bodies and of sex.

The second is othering them, treating them as antisocial.

Other people react badly to him; he has no manners, he smells; he never tells anyone what he's doing. He's afraid of other Hylians; he's indifferent to them, and wants nothing to do with them. He doesn't understand how to function in a group. He'll wander into a trap carelessly, and drag others with him in pursuit of something pointless.

In the case of Hyrule, he lives in a cave and this is strange, bizarre, and horrible, rather than a thing that is in the actual historical record and is a dry, temperature controlled and easily protected place to sleep.

The third is to make them dangerous, a savage thing.

He solves his problems by lighting things on fire, uncaring of the damage done. He bites and growls when upset. He'll kill a monster with his bare hands; he'll show up in town covered in blood and filth.

He's an abomination; he's literally not human at all.

IIII

Probably you read that list and had checkmarks going off in your head. I like that one; I don’t like that one. People never do that right; I’d handle this way better if only—

Good. It’s a fun list of things that can be good, if done to your taste.

A lot of these touch into disability tropes; some edge into racialization ones. A lot are dehumanizing. People have a lot of feelings about both, good and bad, and feeling your way through it by writing is normal, expected, and okay. You do not deserve to be punished for writing something “bad” while trying to understand what you like. Many of these fall under care-taking tropes: someone needs help, and they feel awkward asking so they just want someone to step in and “Fix it” without the humiliation of having to ask.

That’s fine. But if you want to change it up: let Link ask. Let him reach out. Let him initiate the help. There’s a very different feeling when someone pins Wild down to clean him, versus when Wild works up the courage to ask “Can you help me?”

Because yeah, brain damage is complicated. He could have just about any struggles you imagine, but what can be frustrating for others seeing this, over and over, is that he’s treated like a permanent child or an animal. He always will need taken care of; he always needs someone to step in. It is right and just to force him to submit to care against his will...

He never has anyone ask if they can help him, either.

How much sweeter can the care be when he’s willing? When he initiates? When he has agency in his own treatment? Because too many people who need help are not given that choice. Some readers are turned off because the force is all too real, and all too painful to see reflected in what they came to for escapism. One person’s care-taking fantasy, is another’s real life trauma.

Escaping society and it’s pressures is also a fantasy, one of independence and freedom all its own but again, a major feature here is choice. Does Wild have choice? Does Hyrule? Is this presented as of course they don’t belong, or as a reasoned decision, or as a result of being driven out by real violence from others?

All different stories. All different fantasies.

And being the agent of violence is a fantasy, too. “Burn it all down” is a valid emotion (I write variations on it myself, although not this one.) Think of “Kill Bill” and “Fury Road.”

But with an ostracized, feral Wild there is the reflection of real violence against the marginalized communities whenever they express frustration or rage at their treatment. The wrong person being dangerous can get them killed. Of course this is polarizing.

Ironically, this category includes the one trait that Wild displays in the Linked Universe comic that didn’t make the feral list: emotional dysregulation. He loses his temper; he lashes out. He gets upset and jumps the gun... but it’s not cute, it’s not pretty, it’s presented very well in canon (Warriors is frustrated with him, but not seriously angry.) But it doesn’t suit the feral take, because it’s too mild for the violent fantasies, and too adult and human for the innocent ones.

IIII

My first advice about writing this is to be more clear about your tags. Spoilers are always a thing people worry about, but some things can be improved with clarity, and conflict over “bad writing” is one of them. “Feral” Link can mean literally any combination of the above, but those are all wildly different things. Narrowing down what happens in your fic into more specific tropes will both help people who want to read what you write to find it, and help people who will be upset avoid it.

It just common courtesy. I tagged a recent fic “Drunk arguments”+ “Politics” because that argument could go a lot of ways. Someone who’ll read political nonsense may not read sex and may not read crack. It doesn’t say anything but the subject matter, and it doesn’t need to: the question of whether this will turn into politics or sex is a way to direct people in or away according to their taste.

Is this required? No. People make mistakes or have bad days or just don’t want to, and don’t deserve punishment for it. But it’s a tool at hand to filter your readership to better match you, one you shouldn’t disregard.

If you want to adjust how you write, frequently the aggravating factor is in the presence (or deliberate absence) of agency, and in evoking sympathy over pity. There’s also a way to balance traits in just like, the general sense of making the story more complex: nobody is one thing.

For an example from my own projects, I write my version of Minish Cap Link combined with the first Four Sword game. The second time he used the Four Sword changed him into something not-quite-human. But even prior to that, he was non-verbal and skittish; he bit and hissed, he has visible injuries on top of the later changes. I have two fics that present two different ways to frame much the same event: he gets upset and lashes out, and legitimately terrifies the people around him.

In one story, he is restrained. The people doing so are treated as villains for it; you see his fear and panic, and Zelda’s rage over his treatment. In the other, he is calmed by another of the Links, and even in an outside perspective it is made clear that Minish is reassured, relieved and desperate for comfort once his fear has passed – and he trusts the person who talked him down (who did not hurt him) to give it now. He doesn’t have to “behave” to be treated as human, but I also don’t have to make him act “normal” to do so: the framing of how he’s treated by others does it. He’s also clean, well-kept, polite, sweet when he’s calm, and playful.

Similarly, because I have multiple characters who are all non-verbal to varying degrees, I can get away with a lot of variety. I can make one a total bitch, and I don’t have to worry that he’s going to be “bad” representation because if people don’t want a bitchy non-verbal character to relate to, there’s two others to choose from. Balancing a “feral” trait with a mix of signals creatures a nuanced character that isn’t just a ball of Whump.

(Although again: nothing wrong with a ball of Whump if you’re in the mood for it. I have my balls of Whump fics, too.)

Some of the other weird things can be done as just misunderstandings: Is Link eating rocks because it’s polite to join the gorons? Did he realize he was weird and could eat rocks as a child and now does it to joke around? Does Hyrule get to be exasperated at the others pitying his cave? Letting the weird be weird but legitimate can be fun, or even funny: Hyrule lets the others sleep cold in tents while he’s warm inside.

Readers get tired of one-note characters no matter what they’re like. I’ve heard the same complaints about “Dad” Time as I’ve heard about “Feral” Wild, and about Twilight. The fix isn’t to throw out what you like; it’s to build it up into something more. It will never be to everyone’s taste, but you can have a dirty little gremlin who, no matter how inhuman they may seem, is still treated like a person.

Dehumanization is far too prevalent in the world right now, and a lot of us desperately need somewhere to escape it.

Now I’m gonna go write me some fluffy Wild asking for hair brushing. After spending all week chewing on this, it sounds like a fun challenge.

[matthewsvoyage]

Why do you find Charles interesting?

I find Charles fascinating because I think that he's a very unique character. He's terrible in a multifaceted way that I think is often overlooked.

Fandom and Creator Attitudes

I feel like a lot of people write him off as "annoying" and ignore him, which is kind of irritating.

First, in writing Charles off as "annoying" without elaborating on that, we brush the actually-heinous things Charles does under the rug. Specifically in regards to Alastair. Like, no, he wasn't just a boorish boyfriend who neglected Alastair's needs! He was an abusive person who groomed him when he was a child, transparently used him for sex based on their behavior in ChoG, treated him consistently terribly, brainwashed him to the point that Cordelia compared Alastair-dating-Charles to Bracelet-James, and harassed him in public after they broke up. Let's talk about it beyond "lol what an annoying asshole!"

Unfortunately, the narrative and the fandom villainize him for being closeted. This is not a reason he sucks. Charles is a gay man in the early 1900s and should be allowed to chill in Narnia for as long as he wants. When we go "he needs to CoMe oUt," that's shitty. But it also brushes the perfectly legitimate reasons he should be villainized under the rug!

But second, in writing Charles off as "annoying," we ignore what a complex and layered character he is.

Why Is Charles Layered?

Charles Buford Fairchild is, mark my words, a pompous git. I don't want there to be any misunderstanding here. He is an arrogant, self-important douchebag who puts on an air of perceived authority and thinks he is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

And yet.

In addition to thinking he is the Coolest Thing in All the World, Charles also hates himself on a deep and fundamental level.

This dichotomy is fascinating. Charles isn't just made up of ambition, shame, and fear in equal parts. He's made up entirely of ambition, entirely of shame, and entirely of fear. All three of these things work together to form the character. They exacerbate each other. If Charles did not have so much ambition, he would not be so scared of his homosexuality; if he were not so ashamed, he would not be scared. But at the same time, that fear drives his ambition. He has to be the best, he has to be Consul, he has to matter.

Charles also is incredibly awkward. Like, sometimes he says and does awful things that I don't even necessarily think he means to.

I personally, like @faithfromanewperspective and @caterpillarinacave once said, believe Charles to be autistic.

He has 0 concept of how to engage with people, and he seems to follow pre-set rules when it comes to social interactions that don't always make sense. Exhibit A: talking to James when he destroys the Blackthorn's greenhouse. He has walked into this encounter with a preconceived idea that James has done something wrong; he is unable and unwilling to entertain otherwise, because he has already made up his mind. Charles Buford Fairchild simply cannot be wrong, not only because he's pompous but also because it would go off-script to be wrong. It would be awkward for him, and the way that he purports himself here illustrates that.

Defining Charles's Character Through Relationships

There's also something interesting to be said about his relationships with other people. His mother, whose footsteps he wants to follow in despite the fact that he has deep-rooted misogyny, yes. His father, who he seems to show absolutely no interest in, sure.

But, family-wise, I think it's interesting to pick apart the fact that he and Matthew are so different in an almost cultivated way. They seem to have each defined themselves against the other. Matthew is open, flamboyant, a libertine; Charles is a closeted, stuffy, sexually repressed person. They're both MLM. They just handle it in the exact opposite ways. And everything with Charles totally backfires in part because of this. Everybody loves openly bisexual Matthew; Charles knows this, but the fear that stems from having too much ambition convinces him that his homosexuality will be a barrier in the way of becoming Consul. He convinces himself (incorrectly) that Matthew has no ambition or drive; that all he does, and, yes, I think this is a very interestingly slut-shamey thing to say, is go to "clubs and salons and orgies." He's the classic Republican gay guy that has convinced himself that Matthew is the other kind of gay person that he doesn't like. Baffling. And, still, everyone loves Matthew. Astounding.

His relationship with Alastair, though vile and rancid, is also interesting on a narrative level. He's doubtlessly predatory, and he's very abusive - but I don't think that he views Alastair as a person that he's abusing. I think he views Alastair as another gay man, one that he is attracted to - and, thus, a constant reminder that he is gay. This supersedes Alastair the person and is in part a reason that he is so foul.

It's also interesting to note that Charles is the natural culmination of what a Charlotte/Henry baby would look like in its worst possible form. Charlotte's ambition and drive, but totally blown out of proportion into something ugly; Henry's desire to matter to the Shadow world magnified and redirected toward political pursuits rather than scientific ones.

In conclusion, he's fascinating.

[mintacle]

Jason Todd being girl-coded, you've opened my eyes! You are so right and suddenly a lot of things about him make sense (including why I like him so much), especially with how the narrative treats him (right down to turning a morally complex character into a straight-up card-carrying villain who eats puppies, ironically right around the time they did that to another female character, Talia). Jason is even written how I (a girl) tend to write angry victim power fantasy female characters. Like yes babygirl, scream and rage against the heavens about how unfair it all is!

I remember a post calling Jason "the Punisher for girls" except... yeah he kinda is. The Punisher is a male power fantasy with all that implies, while Jason is such a girl power fantasy and written with a lot of the usual negative narrative bias female characters usually get.

Except if we're honest and look past the superficial similarities of lethal force and guns, the narrative role of Batman is far more like the Punisher than Jason. Jason's role is the Punisher's daughter. Jason is if Lisa came back and was angry after what happened and big parent man Frank had to try to keep his (hysterical emotional angry-like-a-girl) daughter from crossing his arbitrary lines because she was going "too far" and tragically, he's unable to "save" her from herself and he must Move On while his child gets locked up or lies dying behind him (I can seriously imagine exactly how a proper Lisa-is-back plot would go down it's crazy how similar it'd be to Jason's return).

And another way Jason is girl-coded is that he's mentored by Talia, a woman. In comics you don't see male characters mentored by female ones often. Sometimes they can be taught specific skills by them for a brief time (like Tim and Shiva) but Talia's role as Jason's primary mentor and caretaker for several years is pretty unusual in comics.

True!! I'm glad my posts resonated with you so much. :)

I don't really know anything about the Punisher so I can't add my opinion to the mix, but other people will probably recognize your point.

But! On the subject of female characters mentoring male characters @benbamboozled made a great post actually about how women are seen as Having A Specific Skill or Expertise to teach whereas men are mentors For All, or For Life. And yeah Jason does break the rule absolutely! But we also don't get to see to much of that on page. He is in Talia's care for years, but other than Lost Days and utrh we just don't get to see these two interact. I either made a post or drafted and forgot about it, how DC won't publish Talia and Jason working together because it is vital to DC's agenda of keeping them marginalized that they each be alone nomatter how much reason and history they have to be in more frequent and meaningful contact.

At the same time, we really only see Talia caring for Jason in a motherly context, she isn't cast quite in the role of a mentor, rather sending him around to teachers than teaching him herself. It's a step in the right direction, but the fact of any mentoring and most interactions occuring off-screen, as well as their relationship being ignored later, or ret-conned like in the utrh movie where Talia was kind of replaced with Ra's.

For me a lot of Jason's girl-coded aspect arises from his opposition to Bruce who embodies patriarchal ideals. To some extent Jason is in the role of every person who has been let down by the patriarchy. The system we were told is for our benefit as well and which has let us down. It's about how we were let down by this world we thought was fair when we were smaller and trusted to be protected. It's about how our own father's have let us down, even if the time we last thought of them as protectors might have been many, many years ago.

None of these experiences are exclusionary to women either. I am not a woman, but I am queer. And I have been let down both by the idea that my father could ever be my protector instead of the one I needed protection from. And I have been let down by the idea I used to have of a world that would give me a voice without me having to prove myself every step of the way.

The need I have for more interaction between Talia and Jason is so much about two people villainized and victimized by the same patriarch-favoring narrative bonding and rising to challenge and upset the status quo. While I am aware that it will never happen and that DC already left Winnick a lot of leeway to have made Talia play such a type of role at all, logically it should be what follows.

Jason is girl-coded, but he also drinks his respect-women juices.

[irithnova]

More on Chagatai Khanate

I feel as if Chagatai Khanate is not talked about a lot by me. This is despite the fact that I pretty much have his whole characterisation and storyline planned from birth to death in my head and I have written about him before as a part of larger posts however I have not dedicated a single post to him.

I somewhat fashioned his personality off of the actual Chagatai. I also did something similar with Golden Horde and Jochi.

He really fits into the role of the ignored middle child well to be honest. Both character wise and how the actual Chagatai Khanate is perceived. From what I've seen over the years, when people reflect on the different Khanates of the Mongol Empire, they often think of the opulence of the Yuan Dynasty and Ilkhanate, or the infamous reputation of the Golden Horde in Europe, with the Chagatai Khanate often coming last and least in many peoples minds. Hell, a Khan of the Chagatai Khanate itself declared that it was a "miserabe little ulus", so its no wonder its not given as much attention.

I wrote this before in a much longer post about Mongolia's relationship with the different Khanates (Mongolia came to be the figurehead of the Yuan Dynasty) but I think Chagatai Khanate was born only one year after the Golden Horde (kind of wanted it to be poetic in the sense that this reflects the actual age gap between Jochi and Chagatai) so they're quite close in age. I think this only made him more competitive towards his eldest brother (Ilkhanate being the youngest). This is especially because Golden Horde felt outcasted to an extent as he was the representation of the Jochid territory and there was a lot of speculation about the nature of his birth - if Genghis Khan was actually his father or not. This casued a lot of tension between the actual Jochi and Chagatai, this is something Chagatai constantly berated him for. I think this is the same for Golden Horde and Chagatai Khanate. Not in the exact same way of course - no one was questioning whether he was Mongolia's child or not. However as he was the representative of Jochid lands - he was seen as illegitimate by proxy if that makes sense.

Out of the three brothers, I think Chagatai Khanate was the most similar personality wise to Mongolia. Don't get me wrong, all three of them inherited his traits, such as his stubbornness, competitiveness and intelligence. However if I was tasked with knee jerk picking the one son who just is the most like Mongolia personality wise overall, it has to be Chagatai Khanate. 

This is one of the major reasons as to why Chagatai Khanate wanted to be the favoured son. Golden Horde was technically his first born, however he represents the Kingdom of  a bastard. He considered Ilkhanate a weakling who was not strong willed like he was and just bent over to whatever Mongolia said (unfortunately for Chagatai Khanate, thats exactly why Ilkhanate was Mongolia's favourite). He thought Mongolia would prefer a more hard headed son - like him. 

Considering this reasoning, Chagatai Khanate was expecting... More? From his father. More approving pats on his shoulder when he did something right, more proud smiles when he stood his ground. Sure Mongolia gave them all attention but it was never enough. He was always busy with something else or late for something. 

For the longest time, Chagatai defended his father a personal level and was extremely uptight about upholding tradition and rules. Out of his brothers, he was the one who was so anal about upkeeping proud Mongol tradition. Not that he was not a troublemaker in his own right - he most definitely was, however he was very conservative when it came to this. He could pretty much recite the entire Yassa code off by heart. Hence another reason why he thought he should be the favoured son.

Before Chagatai Khanate came to resent his father, he saw his meticulousness of upholding Mongol law and tradition as an extension of his love and respect for his father. But as time went on and there were more developments in the empire (as in, infighting between the divisions), Chagatai Khanate no longer saw it as an extension of his love for his father but as a competition. He was already given the short end of the stick when it came to the wealth of his Ulus ("miserable little ulus") which he was most definitely a sore loser about and not only that, Mongolia went on to establish the Yuan Dynasty under Khublai Khan -  a dynasty that ruled over China, posed itself as being a legitimate dynasty with the mandate of heaven, Khublai himself was very fond of China and there were whole wars fought between Khublai and Qaidu - the de facto ruler of the Chagatai Khanate, as Qaidu was more traditionalist compared to the more liberal Khublai. It's speculated that one of the discussions that took place during the 1269 Talas Quriltai was about Khublai straying away from Mongol tradition and turning to China! I explained this in more depth in a previous post I'll link here, it's a lot more historically dense but it's worth a read if you want more context. 

Even before the different Khanates went their separate ways, I think Chagatai Khanates resentment began to blossom. I think he realised that no matter how hard he tried, Mongolia would never consider him his favoured son. So he got strangely competitive with Mongolia in more subtle ways before everything blew up. Who could inspire more fear in the lesser staff, who was the better wrestler. Mongolia caught onto this and was... Not impressed. He was quite annoyed at this. I don't think he felt threatened but I do think it's funny how the son most similar to him personality wise annoyed him the most. Admitting that you're obnoxious, Mongolia? (At least in the context of this era).

Mongolia definitely had his own thoughts on Khublai and absolutely raised an eyebrow at a few things he did (like moving the Mongol Empire capital to China) however he was not expecting his children (except for Ilkhanate who pretty much always sided with him) to turn against him in such a way - and to accuse him of all people of disrespecting Mongol tradition! Yes, he was pissed. Especially at Chagatai Khanate who he saw as the instigator of it all. Despite this conflict ending, Chagatai Khanate was still very sore about it and continued being a pain to his family. What's funny is how much Chagatai Khanate and Golden Horde hated each other, but one of the only things that could unite them was when they wanted to bully and threaten Ilkhanate. lol. And I guess their shared frustration when Mongolia inevitably sided with Ilkhanate in the conflict - Mongolia/the Yuan Dynasty being one of Ilkhanates only allies (daddy's boy I guess)..

This staunch adherence to tradition did not stop though. Whilst the other Khanates became more sedentary, the Chagatai Khanate was still living traditionally (ironic as this was a factor in halting the growth of wealth in the Chagatai Khanate, something he complained about) and when the Chagatai Khanate broke up into two, the West in Transoxiana and the East called Moghulistan (Chagatai Khanate became the Eastern Moghulistan) , Moghulistan was a hell of a lot more traditional than the Western Chagatai Khanate. They upheld Chagataid tradition whereas the Western Chagatai Khanate used Chagataids as puppet rulers usually. They were even discriminatory towards the Western halfs more mixed status, and the Western half similarly looked down on Moghulistan for being "uncultured" from what I recall. Yes I do think he was hatecriming his son-

Anyways it's ironic because Moghulistan itself became increasingly Turkified over time and even adopted Sharia law over the traditional Mongola Yassa. He's my fave jock loser

Some other hcs:

Ruddy face

He and GH are similar in stature but he is slightly bigger

Bushy eyebrows

Small scar on his cheek

[daphnebowen]

percy jackson episode five thoughts

I skipped a couple episodes where I wrote down my thoughts, but I'm about to rewatch and write don't worry! warning: lots of screaming, fangirling, heart attacks, and nonsense below :))

also these are all just copied straight from the notebook I use when I'm writing down my thoughts and I barely proofread them :)

Annabeths trust in Percy being alive is literally just like her belief that Luke is alive later on and even though it's kinda sorta different (or at least people are gonna treat it that way) I'm all here for it

WHY WERE THE FATES SO CREEPY HELLO

AAAAAHHHH THE PERCABETH HUGGGG I IGNORED SO MANY SPOILERS AND IM SO GLAD 2 minutes in and I'm already fangirling so hard haha

is Grover blushing at them??

"surprise" omg Walker 😭🥹

the droplet of water clinging to walkers chin is so distracting

"I'm the last person to realize this aren't I?" It's okay Percy

his eyes are SO FREAKING BLUE it's giving zac efron from hsm2

"it doesn't have to be a thing, yk. That you hugged me." OHKAY HES NOT ENTIRE CLULESS THIS IS FAN SERVICE RIGHT HERE WE KNOW THAT IT MOST ABSOLUTELY WILL BE A THING LMAO and annabeths "oh boy" and Grover's clear exasperation HAHAH

where the heck did the motorcycle go lol we know it's ares but like it doesn't take that long to drive

"we're all gonna die... eventually" wise words Percy wise words

ugh the fact that it's Luke's string 💔

Ares ‼️‼️‼️

Ok but why is ares literally EXACTLY how I thought he would be?!?!

"that's my cousin? what kind of family is this?" A dysfunctional one for sure, sorry Percy you're in for a rough ride

ares starting a fight on twitter is ABSOLUTELY CRAZY and yet so in character lmao

"I'm gonna kill him" same Percy SAME I will gladly help you - although all things considered I am glad they decided to keep delinquent percy in the show

they keep bringing up the "push someone down a flight of stairs" thing! There's no way this is just a coincidence anymore, what with chalice of the gods and earlier on with Annabeth and like... they're obviously doing it on purpose. is that gonna be the shows new thing?? trusting someone enough so that if they can push you down the stairs they're the one? idk man, love the metaphor tho

PLS LET THERE BE THE ZOO TRUCK SCENE OH MY PLS

leah's eyebrow quirk is 💋

WATERLAND IS PERFECT OMG

walker portrayed Percy's anxiety and nervousness and scaredness (is that a word?) perfectly

Can't tell if Grover is actually a history buff or playing Ares so he will talk but that scene was actually cool, I like the change they made to have Grover stay behind (this was what I wrote originally, but now after seeing peoples interpretations and opinions and things I know he was playing ares and I think it's BRILLIANT how smartly he played the god of war. Good for you buddy!)

"I didn't say anything" "I can feel you thinking it" OHKAY THEN

thrill ride of love = flawless. No words. I am speechless.

"I hate kids" relatable

ARES IS ACTUALLY BEING SMART AND MAKING SENSE FOR ONCE not to mention he's so funny and so relatable!

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH SEAWEED BRAIN ALERT 🚨 SEAWEED BRAIN ALERT 🚨 SHE CALLED HIM SEAWEED BRAIN AND I LOVED IT never mind the actual SCREAM i let out lmao

is Annabeth about to cry?!?!

yeah she's definitely about to cry

why am I so scared. This cannot be happening. What?? What??? he's the main character. main characters don't die. well except for Magnus chase BUT THOSE ARE DIFFERENT GODS AND DIFFERENT RULES NO WALKER

why am I actually so scared about this chair thing omg

(I would just like to say that I was so speechless and in shock throughout the whole chair thing, so I didn't write down a single quote but I loved them all I just was in too much shock to pause the show lol)

um.

WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED.

WHY IS MY BABY GOLD

WHY IS MY CHILD GOLDDDD

I AM SO CONFUSED RIGHT NOW THIS DEFINITELY DIDNT HAPPEN IN THE BOOKS MY BRAIN IS TOO SLOW FOR THIS 😭😭😭

oh my gosh ITS HEPHEASTUS

dude the way that door suddenly opened scared the crap out of me

leah is absolutely shining as Annabeth, her monologue was so profound and heartfelt, love that addition 💗

THAT CLIFFHANGER GOES CRAZYYYY

okay of course those of us who read the books know who really stole the lightning bolt and stuff but the clueless fools just watching the show are gonna be like OMG WHO WHO and even if they piece it together technically they'll only be half right. and their confusion and confidence in what they think they know is going to be SO entertaining in the coming weeks hehehehe and even throughout the whole series if we continue to get green lights for the series

but yes that episode was utter perfection! Now for the teaser...

WHO DID PERCY JUST TACKLE EXCUSE ME

duuuuude. The lotus casino is MASSIVE and actually super pretty I cannot wait for the episode tomorrow!

WHY IS PERCY DRIVING OMG THIS IS NOT LEGAL although tell me why he is literally better at driving than I am HAHAHAHAHAH

ugh and that is it! Those are all my random thoughts from the episode! thanks for reading :))

[sokkastyles]

Hey I normally agree with you on things about ATLA, but that post from the user themattress(sorry I dont remember their username, just what they talked about in regards to Azula and who is responsible for shaping her to be the way she was) didn't seem to be wrong at all? Maybe this is my own experiences talking but while Ursa and Iroh aren't entirely guilty for how Azula turned out, there is a level of responsibility there? They're not completely absolved of everything because they were the adults in that situation, Azula was and is the child? Who depends on and looks up to the grown ups in her life and they are the ones who have the responsibility to teach and guide her?

Honestly I really don't get what you didn't connect(? Is that the right word?) or I guess agree with(?) with in that post since it made very much sense to me and I don't think I'm an Azula apologist or whatever that is? I want to understand where you're coming from since to me it feels.. very much like blaming Azula for being the victim of Ozai and the imperialism and fascism in the Fire Nation at the time. These don't absolve her of anything though because her choices to hurt and attempt to kill others are the choices she made, it's just trying to understand why and how she would have ended up the way she did and the adults who were involved and are culpable for it.

Either way, whether we agree or disagree, you're opinions and interpretations are valid too, as are other peoples. I hope you have a good rest of your day! 👋🏼

Okay, first of all, I never said they didn't have a responsibility for her, and you're right that adults do have certain responsibilities towards children, particularly Ursa as Azula's mother. But the ting is, we are shown this responsibility in canon. We are shown Ursa acting as a maternal figure for Azula and trying to teach her right and wrong. That IS her showing responsibility. The OP of that post claimed that Ursa neglected Azula, in ways that just aren't canon. We can say that certain interpretations are "valid" all day long, but the thing is, there are interpretations that can be backed up with canon evidence, and there are interpretations that cannot be backed up with canon evidence. The idea that Ursa neglected Azula is not backed up by any canon evidence.

Further, the OP says a lot of incorrect things about how abuse actually happens, specifically in statements made about Ursa. OP also specifically said that Ursa was "a guilty party." They didn't just say Ursa had a responsibility to Azula, which I agree that she does. They tried to make an argument that she was, actually, just as guilty as Ozai. I should not have to explain why it's victim blaming to say that an abused wife and mother is just as guilty as her abuser for the abuse of her child. There is a WORLD of difference between that and blaming Azula for her abuse, which I never did. Because I never said that Ozai's abuse of Azula was okay. In fact, it was Ursa who was often trying to counteract it. Because Ozai not teaching Azula right from wrong and not teaching her boundaries or how to function socially and just letting her treat people cruelly is abuse, as abusive as the pressure he put on her to be perfect. It's also neglect, neglect of Azula's emotional and social needs. Neglect is a word that I often see lobbed at Ursa, but the thing is, chastising your child isn't neglect. Not giving your child boundaries and rules and not teaching them the tools they need to grow into a happy, healthy person is. Ozai neglected Azula in every way except when he wanted her to be his perfect princess, and that aspect of his abuse is often ignored in order to make these accusations at Ursa, when we have no canon evidence of Ursa's so-called neglect.

Let's also take a closer look at some specific things the OP said.

Ursa gets some leeway for being a victim of Ozai's abuse, but it can only carry her so far. As frightened of Ozai as she was, she was still an adult, and her children were far more vulnerable and at risk from Ozai. And yet Ursa let her fear of Ozai, whom she saw in Azula, and her guilt for inadvertently setting Zuko up for being targeted for abuse by Ozai, cloud her maternal judgement. She focused her energies on Zuko, neglecting Azula save for chiding her when she acted out for attention, and gave Ozai the perfect opportunity to convince Azula that unconditional love was a fantasy. And on top of that, she ended up completely abandoning both her children. Both of Azula's parents sucked.

First of all, where, where oh where in canon, is it stated that Ursa's "fear of Ozai, who she saw in Azula, cloud her judgement." What scenes can you point to from the show to show this? Every scene of Ursa chastising Azula happens because of something Azula specifically did, not because Ursa is afraid of Ozai. Ursa is afraid of Ozai, for good reason, and probably also afraid of what Ozai is turing Azula into, but there's no reason to believe that her judgment was clouded. She's not wrong when she chastises Azula for wishing death upon family members. She's not wrong when she chastises Azula for terrorizing her brother. Her judgment of Azula is not clouded during these scenes. She reacts in the way a parent should react to that situation.

There's also no evidence that she "focused her energies on Zuko." Where is this in the show? Us being shown more scenes of Ursa with Zuko in a flashback from Zuko's perspective is not proof of that. There's no evidence that she neglected Azula. We don't see her excluding Azula in things, and in most of the scenes from Zuko's memory, Azula is there with him and Ursa.

What we do see, and this is where the "favoritism" argument always comes in, is Ursa protecting Azula from Zuko or attempting to mitigate Ozai's and Azula's attempts to exclude or terrorize or mistreat Zuko. And that's where I have to call bullshit, because this logic? Is straight out of the abuser's playbook.

We also have no evidence that Azula "acted out for attention" because she was neglected by her mother. We know why Azula did the things she did. She did them because she was being groomed by Ozai to behave that way. Trying to frame it as something else is ignoring and diminishing and excusing Ozai's abuse. Azula was not cruel because she was acting out for attention, she was cruel because her father made her believe that being cruel was the best way to show your worth, and that other people were weaker than her and deserved to be treated cruelly.

In fact, the show itself contradicts the idea that she was acting out for her mother's attention, since in "Zuko Alone," we see her lie to her mother about her bad behavior twice because she knew her mother would not approve. Azula is smart, and very aware, even as a young child, that her father will enable her behavior and that her mother won't, but that her mother can also be manipulated because of her expectations for Azula. For example, Azula knows that Ursa expects her to be kind to her brother, so she lies to her mother about wanting to play with her brother so she can play a mean trick on him and Mai. Later, she lies to her mother about threatening her brother with Ozai's plan to kill him because she knows Ursa would not approve of that, either. She is not trying to get her mother's attention here, even negative attention. She is trying to hide and get away with bad behavior, specifically the abuse of her brother, which she has been taught by her abuser how to get away with.

Also, the claim OP makes that Ursa "gave Ozai the opportunity" to abuse Zuko and Azula is disgusting. Full stop.

I'm going to address this because this is something that needs to be said. NOBODY should be blamed for "giving abusers the opportunity," and yes, that is just another form of victim blaming. Obviously it's important for adults to be aware of how abusers gain opportunities in order to prevent abuse, and that's why it's vital to talk about these things, but abusers also a very good at finding and making opportunities for themselves. Sometimes abuse happens because of other ways adults in a child's life are negligent, but not always. Sometimes the adults do everything right and it still happens. And in the case of Ursa, I wrote another post about how Ursa was also groomed and how this is actually a really common abusive situation. It's not a reflection of Ursa's negligence or guilt. It is a reflection of Ozai's abusiveness. Period.

I have never and will never blame Azula for being abused, but the thing is, she is already an abuser herself by the time we see her in "Zuko Alone," as I said above, and every time we see Ursa chastise her it's because of her own violent or abusive behavior. Being an abuse victim does not mean she gets free reign to abuse others, even as a child. She especially does not get free reign to abuse other children. Namely her brother, who was also being abused by her father who encouraged her to participate in his abuse. We have no evidence that Ursa didn't care about Azula or didn't try to stop her from being abused. We have evidence that Ursa tried to prevent Azula from abusing Zuko, and that is being used as evidence that she either didn't care or abused Azula herself. This is victim blaming because it is twisting an event where an abuser abused someone and trying to make them the victim. And while Azula is a victim of Ozai, she is not a victim when her mom is telling her not to light her brother on fire.

OP claims that not only did Ursa cause Ozai's abuse of Azula, but that she also caused Ozai's abuse of Zuko. And I could really dig in and talk about how manipulative Ozai is with Ursa. I could get into what we learn from the comics about how Ursa lied about Zuko's parentage because she knew Ozai was reading her letters and how this is often held up as "proof" that she caused Zuko's abuse, and how much people miss the point of that scene. For one, Ozai purposefully sets up Ursa to fail, and then he himself blames Ursa for Zuko's abuse. So like, first of all, I hope anyone who reads that comic and takes away that Ursa "caused" Zuko's abuse realizes that they're agreeing with Ozai, here, which should be your first clue that it's wrong. But second, Ozai does to Ursa exactly what he does to Zuko when he purposefully sets up Zuko to fail an agni kai against him that he didn't know he'd be fighting, and then punishes him for failing.

Abusers know how to do this. They know how to leverage your guilt and do it purposefully. That is one of the reasons why it's so hard to leave an abusive relationship. Ozai also does this to Azula, by making Azula feel guilty for how he made her complicit in his horrible actions, while convincing her that it was actually her mother that made her feel like a monster, when it wasn't. It was Ozai all along.

The whole idea that abuse can be prevented if only all adults "stepped up" is a comfortable fantasy, but it's one that encourages shifting blame away from where it actually lies: with the abusers.

Now, on what OP says about Iroh, their first sentence right off the bat is an example of faulty logic.

Azulon and Iroh are both guilty through inaction. In Azulon's case, he just straight-up didn't give a damn about Azula...her being named after him and being a prodigy at firebending failed to move him in the way Ozai had hoped.

Putting Azulon and Iroh in the same category doesn't make a lot of sense here, unless you consider that OP is trying to reach for that comparison on purpose to show that Iroh is "just as bad," just like they did by putting Ursa and Ozai in the same category. But before we even get into Iroh, they're assessment of Azulon is totally wrong.

OP lists Azulon's flaws as "inaction" and "failure to be moved in the way Ozai had hoped." But like...that's not what happens in the show at all. Azulon didn't ignore Azula despite Ozai's hope that he would be "moved" by her firebending prowess, and that wasn't how Azulon shaped Azula, either. This statement imagines that Azulon could have rescued Azula from Ozai's abuse if only he'd been "moved" enough by her firebending ability. Azulon didn't fail to save Azula because he wasn't moved, he failed to stop Ozai's abuse because for all we know about him, he probably agreed with it. Like Ozai, he also valued power and conquest above all else, which was why Ozai wanted to show off Azula to him in the first place.

I'm not saying Azulon cared about Azula, but the main way he shaped Azula is by being another example of the Fire Nation legacy which she whole-heartedly embraced, one of cruelty and lust for power. He wasn't going to save her no matter how much he was "moved" by her firebending prowess. In fact, if anything, he would have probably seen her the same way Ozai did, as someone he could mold into his perfect weapon.

In contrast to how Azulon helped shape Azula by being another example of the power and control and cruelty she was taught to value, Azula actually resented Iroh long before he turned his back on the Fire Nation for not fitting into that legacy perfectly, as she derides him as "kooky" and "not a real general."

As for Iroh, he knew damn well what kind of a parent his brother was likely to be, but let his own military ambitions and desire to please his father take precedence over any concerns.

Again, where is this stated or shown or even implied in the series? The only thing we know about how Iroh felt about Azula pre-series is that he once got her a gift. How do you get "he had no concerns" from this, exactly? Oh, I know, I know, the doll wasn't good enough. That's not an argument. Adults have responsibilities to children, but "getting exactly the gift they want and ONLY the gift they want" is not one of those responsibilities. I don't know how else to say this. It would actually be an example of irresponsibility if an adult responded to a child destroying a gift in the way Azula did with "oh, you're right honey, let's get you a shiny new, COOLER gift." That's how narcissistic parents create narcissistic children. And, well, we know how that turned out.

As for "he knew damn well what kind of a parent his brother was likely to be..." Again, what even is this argument? That Iroh should have like, gelded Ozai before he had the chance to reproduce? I kid, but for real, it is incredibly insensitive to argue that abuse could have been prevented if only the people involved tried. That is not how it works. No. You do not get to do that. That IS victim blaming. It's the same logic used on victims, and it doesn't become better if it's used on the victim's families or friends or other people close to them, who often are usually victims to a lesser degree. If you really think that's true, say this kind of shit to, for example, the parent of a child who was groomed by a teacher, and I hope you get punched in the face for it. And I say that in the nicest way possible. Because once again, abusers know how to thrive on this logic, and manipulate that misplaced guilt to their advantage. You are only enabling abusers by believing this to be true.

Then, when he finally had the opportunity to help, he only did so for Zuko because he saw in him both his own dead son and a young version of Ozai that he could save from falling to darkness, while in Azula he only saw current Ozai which completely ignores the fact that she's a child. He didn't help her, and she got worse. Especially damning is that even after Zuko betrayed him and he was locked in prison, Iroh still reached out to help Zuko through teaching him he was Avatar Roku's descendant which somehow means the potential for good is inherit in him...yet did no such thing for Azula even when she is also Avatar Roku's descendant whom that theory should also hold true for.

Iroh had a specific opportunity to help Zuko that he did not have with Azula. Azula wasn't burned and banished. Azula also didn't come to visit Iroh in prison or previously show any inclination that she would listen to him like Zuko did. And, as I previously mentioned, Azula also dismisses the idea that the story of Roku and Sozin could have happened any other way than how Fire Nation propaganda says it did.

And again, where is it shown, said, or implied in the story that Iroh saw Azula as only exactly like Ozai? It isn't. It's Azula's actions that we can point to for why Iroh had no opportunity to help her. I can point to where Azula tells Zuko he is dumb for questioning the story of Roku and Sozin to know that she wouldn't be open to hearing it from Iroh. NOT because Iroh wrote her off, but because of her own actions.

And no, none of that is blaming Azula for being abused, because I'm not saying it's her fault Ozai abused her. It's her fault that she became an abuser and an imperialist and never shows an remorse for her actions or desire to be different.

It is NOT anyone's fault that they couldn't change her, especially when she goes from victim to abuser. But I can tell you that abusers are really invested in getting you to believe that they are the victim so they can continue being abusive. That's what's wrong with blaming Iroh or Ursa for not saving Azula.

I get the impulse to "understand" Azula and why she became the way she did, but as I said above, OP is totally wrong about how Azula became the way she did, and twists canon to suit their own narrative when we already have explanations for how and why Azula became the way she did in canon.

Edit: I also forgot to address, but quoted above, that OP blamed Ursa for "abandoning" both her children, when she was literally banished by Ozai, after he manipulated her into doing his dirty work by blackmailing her with her son's life. That is victim blaming and there is no argument where it isn't.

[lloydfrontera]

ok i gotta ask how fucking strong are javier's hair genes. like. what kind of genetic lottery are we talking here.

because. either it's a lot like blonde hair in that both parents have to have the same hair color to pass it down and is therefore a pretty rare color, which would explain why he's the only person we see in tged that has that hair color.

or it's like red hair, in that very few people have the gene but it's dominant over certain other colors (according to what i read), meaning you can have only one parent with that hair color but as long as the other parent has a less dominant color it'll be mostly likely passed down to the child. which would explain how on the holy hell rakiel (and pretty sure the asrahans too) got to have javier's silver hair despite being 300 years down the line.

i am definitely leaning more towards the second theory, because otherwise it makes no sense why silver hair is both a rare color but still able to be passed down generations down the line. it would also mean that javier's silver hair genes are stronger than alicia's red hair genes.

actually let's talk about alicia's red hair genes. because what the fuck is this.

let's ignore how fucking adorable charlotte is for a second i know it's hard but focus this is important.

how in all that is logical did she turn out to be blonde. this makes no sense. suho's dark brown hair genes should by all accounts have been dominant over alicia's. he's korean he almost certainly doesn't carry the genes to produce a blond kid and even if he did red is still dominant over blond, so if anything charlotte should've been a redhead like her mother. or, y'know, have brown hair and eyes like her father. as should've been logical.

but okay. okay. let's say that alicia was a fluke and carried mostly blond genes (not unusual in a vaguely european setting) and by some reason suho did too (way more unusual for a korean guy but not impossible). fine, then charlotte is a blonde now. let's just. let's leave it at that.

it's still a fucking miracle that rakiel got to have javier's silver hair.

listen. let's make a hierarchy here. we know for a fact that in this universe most people also have brown and dark hair the same way we do irl so presumably dark hair genes are still dominant over all other colors. if we follow the same logic then it goes brown -> red -> blonde in the dominant escale. and i propose silver is less dominant than brown but around the same as red. like there's always your exceptions but it mostly follows that rule.

because otherwise you would have way more silver haired people running around and that's clearly not the case.

so let's pretend charlotte's hair color makes a modicum of sense and she has mostly blonde genes. she would then have to marry another light haired person and have a light haired child who could then marry a silver haired descendant of javier that could pass on the dominant silver hair gene onto the magentano family. and then every single heir to the throne would've have to marry only people who were blond and/or carried enough light haired genes for the silver hair to be the dominant gene, at least for enough generations to get to rakiel who gets the silver hair.

like. fucking miracle.

and that's not even getting into the fact that javier married silurian who has brown hair but at least is light enough that we can assume she probably has enough light hair genes for the silver hair to have a chance at coming on top. at least in the novel that is.

SO. here's my proposal.

i believe javier's silver hair is rare, probably more so than red hair, and the reason it isn't as common is because it's a less dominant gene than brown which is the most common hair color. but it hasn't gone out of complete existence because it's more dominant than blonde, which is a more common hair color to have despite being the less dominant gene overall. javier is probably the result of his parents both being silver haired or one of them having silver hair and the other being either blond or redheaded, but most likely the former just for probability's sake.

he then went on to marry silurian, who has light brown hair and who we don't know what color of hair her parents had (i am not acknowledging the webcomic, that is not count namaran he doesn't even simp for lloyd-) so we can probably assume at least one of them was blond, maybe even both and she just happened to receive a brown hair gene from her grandparents. so she has enough blond genes for javier's silver hair to pass down their children who then go on to marry only light-haired people and have silver haired descendants, one of which marries into the magentano family, specifically to the heir to the throne who is presumably also light-haired.

and so the silver hair gene is in the magentano family now too. after that i'm not too sure how it goes, i would like to see asterion and theodore first before assuming anything, but i'm almost certain asterion must also have silver hair which would mean one of his parents must be light-haired themselves. and i would love to see rakiel's mom too.

i don't think silver hair could do the same as red hair does, in that sometimes a parent with brown hair goes onto having a redheaded child. mostly because the way that works is that (i think) the parents are themselves redheaded but because eumelanin (how dark hair is) is expressed more in hair than the phenomelanin (red pigment) their hair gets so dark any of the reddish hue is masked by a stronger brown or black pigment.

which obviously wouldn't work with silver hair. or maybe it would and we just haven't seen it, maybe it manifests as a ashy brown or a dark grey, maybe some people are born with silver streaks on their hair and then when they have children with a light-haired partner their child gets full silver hair. i changed my mind that's a fun option actually.

either way! i am fascinated by the way silver hair works in this universe can you tell

[prying-pandora666]

My Azula Diagnosis Analysis Part 3: Sociopathy/ASPD

Find all the parts here.

Sick of bad armchair diagnosis for Azula? Me too! So in this thread let’s discuss Azula’s most commonly “diagnosed” illnesses and disorders, and find out what she actually meets the criteria for, if any.

So lets move onto the most highly contested one: is Azula a sociopath?

Sociopathy Claims

—Azula is violent

—Azula is manipulative

—Azula is cruel and sadistic

—Azula seems to have been “born bad” and abused animals and her friends since childhood.

—Azula laughs when Zuko gets burned by Ozai.

So is Azula a Sociopath/Does Azula suffer from Antisocial Personality Disorder?

This one is easy to rule out off the bat. Minors cannot be diagnosed with ASPD as too many childhood disturbances can mimic the symptoms. At worst a child can be diagnosed with a conduct disorder. There are too many cases of children from abusive homes who demonstrated downright chilling behavior, but once removed from the toxic environment and given proper care, managed to develop into adults with no such affliction.

But let’s ignore that a moment and press on to the symptoms for the sake of argument.

—Lack of empathy for others: Debunked by The Beach. Azula’s problem isn’t a lack of empathy, its not knowing how to express in a healthy way or how to be vulnerable. Besides helping her friends and Zuko walk through their traumas and come to understand how its affecting them all, Azula also is able to predict how others will react precisely because she is able to empathize so well. This is an ability she wouldn’t have otherwise. The most telling moment, however, is in The Beach when Zuko makes Ty Lee cry. Initially Azula laughs at the mockery, but once she sees Ty Lee is actually upset, her expression changes. Azula looks genuinely upset for her friend. Sadness etches her features. No one is looking at her in this moment. There is no one to manipulate or put on an act for. Yet, the moment Ty Lee turns to look, Azula shifts her expression to one of petulant annoyance. Azula doesn’t lack empathy, she hides it.

—Impulsive behavior: After she begins to breakdown, Azula shows increasingly impulsive behavior. But anyone can develop uncharacteristic impulsiveness during a bout of psychosis. Azula as she normally is though? She couldn’t be any further from this. Even Iroh speaks to her controlled, calculating nature. Azula is far less impulsive or reckless than most, especially compared to her hotheaded brother Zuko.

—Attempting to control others with threats or aggression: Absolutely. Azula relies on manipulation and intimidation to control others.

—Using intelligence, charm, or charisma to manipulate others: Azula also demonstrates this heavily. She does on occasion use it to help others (mostly Zuko), but by and by its her main go-to for conflict resolution.

—Not learning from mistakes or punishment: Again its difficult to say as we don’t get Azula’s POV. This doesn’t seem to be the case as she adapts her strategies after defeat.

—Lying for personal gain: All the time. To the point Zuko has a mantra for it.

—Showing a tendency to physical violence and fights: No more than anyone else. This is a war, after all. If anything, Azula chooses manipulation, deception, and intimidation over violence whenever its an option, making her less prone to violence than Book 1 Zuko.

—Generally superficial relationships: Azula doesn’t have many relationships for us to judge, but I wouldn’t say they’re superficial. Despite her friends and Zuko turning on her, the fact that Azula is so devastated by this shows that they did truly mean a lot to her, and weren’t just superficial tools.

—Sometimes, stealing or committing other crimes: Azula doesn’t break the laws of her nation. She most often acts on orders of her father. Meaning she’s not committing crimes.

—Threatening suicide to manipulate without intention to act: Never.

—Sometimes, abusing drugs or alcohol: Never.

—Trouble with responsibilities such as a job, paying bills, etc.: Azula is efficient and capable to a fault. She only struggles once she has a mental break, and this doesn’t qualify as symptomatic as anyone would struggle in such circumstances.

Conclusion: Azula is not a sociopath and doesn’t have ASPD.

While highly manipulative and prone to expert deception that can even fool Toph’s lie-detector, Azula is too empathetic and grounded in the reality of her circumstances to be a sociopath.

Further, many claims made to bolster this misdiagnosis are exaggerated or inaccurate. Let’s look at the claims.

—Azula is violent: So is everyone else. This is war. If anything, Azula avoids violence more than her brother Zuko.

—Azula is manipulative: Highly. But this alone isn’t enough for ASPD.

—Azula is cruel and sadistic: Azula never shows any sadistic tendencies. Her prisoners are all shown to be properly arrested and unharmed. Her interrogation of Suki in Suki Alone was downright pathetic, even ending in Azula offering a hug which Suki rejects. During The Boiling Rock, when a prisoner is shown to be innocent, Azula orders for him to be released rather than enjoy tormenting a man who knows nothing. Azula never inflicts pain for personal enjoyment and never even attacks civilians. She only fights enemy combatants.

—Azula seems to have been “born bad” and abused animals and her friends since childhood.: Perhaps the strangest claim in how popular it is despite having no actual evidence. Azula interacts with a few different animals in The Show and comics and is never shown to mistreat a single one. Not even when she tried to capture Appa. If they wanted us to think she was an animal abuser, why wouldn’t it ever be depicted despite ample opportunity? Other characters are shown to hurt animals, but never Azula. The only evidence we have is a hazy memory from Zuko’s childhood of himthrowing bread roughly at turtle-ducks and claiming he learned it from Azula. But using this scene as proof is odd for a number of reasons.

Zuko is the one who commits violence against the turtle-ducks, not Azula. Is he an animal abuser for this? Most would say no, he’s simply innocent because he’s so little and doesn’t know better. But if this is the case, doesn’t that same logic apply to Azula who is two years younger? Couldn’t she be equally misguided and innocent?

Zuko laughs before he throws the bread. If he had actually seen Azula harm turtle-ducks this way, why did he think it was funny? Why did he want to replicate it? Doesn’t that make Zuko look more suspicious than Azula whom we never actually see hurt an animal?

Zuko looks shocked at what actually happens. Before the mama turtle-duck bites him, just from seeing the results of throwing bread at a duckling, Zuko looks stunned. Why would he look so surprised it he had seen this before and found it funny? Its as if he didn’t actually know what would happen.

The best I can conclude is that Zuko never actually saw Azula “feed” turtle-ducks this way. Considering this is the same episode that gives us “Azula always lies”, it seems more likely that Azula told a fib or dark joke and Zuko gullibly believed it. Otherwise this scene would reflect far more poorly on Zuko than on Azula.

—Azula laughs when Zuko gets burned by Ozai.: No she doesn’t. She smirks and clenches her fist, a reaction that can be read as being pleased as much as it can be read as being uncomfortable. As we never get Azula’s perspective on that day and only have Iroh’s account (where by his own admission he looked away) we don’t have any insight into what Azula was thinking or feeling.

What I can say both from studies into children raised by narcissists and personal experience coming from an abusive home is this: Children in an unstable or dangerous environment will display all manner of maladaptive behaviors to survive. It is well documented that abused children will often join in on the abuse or show loyalty to the abuser to avoid being targeted themselves, and seeking the approval and love that we are all hard-wired to seek from our parents and/or guardians. Children also learn what’s normal or moral from their surroundings. In a nation where even jovial, kind Uncle Iroh once starved the people of Ba Sing Se by camping in the Agrarian Zone during his 600 day siege, and while the people (including children!) died, Iroh laughed and joked about burning the city to the ground. Iroh who was already an adult, crown prince, and a highly decorated general. He didn’t see this was wrong until he lost his own son.

How is 11 year old Azula (because she is only eleven when Zuko is banished!) supposed to understand this isn’t normal, let alone stand against her nation and father who is their unquestioned leader?

She may have even been putting on an act, because as we know, Azula always lies. Why would this child desperate for approval and terrified of showing weakness because these are the consequences of revealing vulnerability, expose herself? Should any child be expected to jump into the line of fire in this situation when not a single adult—not even Iroh—is willing to do so? 

Azula is an extremely troubled child. She has maladaptive behaviors in every facet of her interactions with others and the world. But this isn’t so dissimilar from Zuko, who also threatens, intimidates, verbally abuses, demands, gets violent, and tries to kill others. Considering the sort of good person Zuko grows into with enough love and guidance (and a LOT of forgiveness and chances), there’s no diagnostic reason to conclude Azula couldn’t also be showing symptoms caused less from an internal disorder and more from her toxic environment.

Removing the child from this abusive home and placing her in a safe, loving space with support is highly likely to result in positive outcomes.

This is demonstrated in The Search where all it takes is an apology from Noriko/Ursa and Azula not only abandons her revenge, but leaves behind the only piece of evidence she had to take the throne from Zuko. She gives it all up, despite genuinely believing her mother is trying to kill her and that she needs the throne to fulfill her destiny. All it took was one loving apology and caress.

Azula was horribly abused, same as Zuko. And like Zuko, she needs help. This is confirmed by the head writer who has spoken multiple times about how they always intended for Azula to be redeemed, and that Zuko would’ve been her Iroh.

[archivomeow]

it’s supposed to be fun, turning twenty-one

palestine etc. read on ao3. writing masterlist

description; Yelena and Kate are stuck in traffic when they head to Yelena’s birthday party, she’s turing twenty one and during the car ride she makes a new discovery about herself, she is aroace.



Yelena was sat behind the wheel in the car, Kate had some trouble when her mom was in jail, so Yelena was kind enough to give her a lift while they went over what of their property was actually bought with money that wasn’t a result of fraud.

It was Yelena’s 21st birthday and there was a small party that Natasha threw her with the help of Clint in what they said was a nearby club, it was in fact not nearby.

What made it all worse was the traffic, the streets were jammed with cars and there was no way around it, it was the winter break season.

So far the ride was good, Yelena had to stop Kate from eating in the car, as it was rented, but besides that it went smoothly, Kate was in charge of the radio, she kept playing recent pop hits which made Yelena’s ear ring, but seeing how happy Kate was to sing along she let it go.

But soon enough Kate got bored, she decreased the volume of the radio as she blankly stared at the side of Yelena’s head. The blonde noticed that immediately, but chose to ignore it, knowing very well that Kate had something to say and she could talk about it for the next couple hours and she was already agitated enough. She didn’t want to snap at Kate or be rude and not listen, but her mind was wandering for the last couple of days and traffic was a good place to collect her thoughts before she had to walk into a party that was hosted for her.

“So…” Kate cleared her throat. “It’s your party, so you make the rules…”

“No, Kate. You cannot drink.”

“Why not?!” She whined like a kid, Yelena felt like she was babysitting, not that anyone would actually leave her alone with a child, she instead got left with Kate, who was very lovely, but also insufferable a lot of the time.

“Because you’re not 21.” Yelena responded with a sense of obviousness in her tone.

Kate just scoffed in response.

The car feel into silence again and Yelena would be okay with it, but the radio remained on a low volume and Kate being this silent was alarming, so she made a call in that moment, a stupid idea popped into her head, but she still chose to cheer up Kate, they were stuck in traffic either way.

“Come on… You wanna play a game or something?” Yelena turned her head to Kate, Kate sat up straight and looked confused at Yelena.

“Like what?” She mumbled.

“Like… Questions! You can ask me something or… yeah…” She came up with that on the spot, Kate loved to talk, she talked a lot and she would definitely take her chance to make Yelena talk more.

Kate sighed, pretending to think about it, but Yelena could see the spark of excitement in her eyes. “Okay… So… What’s your favourite color?”

“Seriously? That’s your first question?”

“Baby steps, Yelena, baby steps…”

“I— Whatever…I like green.”

Kate nodded as she stared to think for a moment before she spoke up again.

In that brief moment Yelena scolded herself in her head, because she was sure this is how the rest of the ride will look like.

“What is your favourite animal?”

“Dogs.”

“Favourite meal?”

“Mac’&Cheese”

“Ever shot anyone?”

The question rolled off of Kate’s tongue so naturally, like she was asking Yelena her favourite movie or her best memory. It made Yelena’s grip on the wheel tighten and after a pause she sighed and answered reluctantly.

“You know the answer to that, Kate.”

“Ever stabbed anyone?”

Again a pause struck in the conversation as it was moving in a direction Yelena did not like.

“Kate.” She said firmly doing her best to make Kate read the room.

“Right, sorry…” She cleared her throat as she asked a next question. “Have you ever been in love? Like… Love, love from the movies, you know?”

“That’s not real.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean love. It’s not real.”

“You don’t love?”

“I love… I love Natasha, my… um Melina and Alexei…” She sighed. “I mean in the movies, the cutesy first meet, the idealistic way of loving, the amazing and full of love sex or kissing… That’s fake.”

Kate paused, she needed a brief moment, because she didn’t understand what Yelena was on about. “What?”

“What?” Yelena turned to her, her green eyes meeting Kate’s as the two stared at each other in silence for a brief moment. “You didn’t know it was all made up?”

“So, you’re telling me that romance isn’t real? That no one falls in love, ever?”

Yelena nodded as a response as the traffic moved so she had to focus on the road.

“That is exactly what I’m saying.”

“H-Have you never been in love?”

She groaned irritated. “Yeah. No one has, because those are not actual feeling you can feel.”

“I have thought… many people have, like a lot.”

Yelena rolled her eyes at the statement.

“Can you stop fucking with me? I need to focus on the road.”

“Yelena. I am not fucking… with you…” She paused and whispered an awkward “That sounds weird.”

Kate sighed as she sat up straight, Yelena could very well hear her, but her focus was on the road.

“I have loved before and I have kissed before and… It is real. I think that if you don’t feel it, there might be something wrong.”

Yelena shook her head. “Have you ever thought there’s something wrong with you for feeling that?”

“No, well… I’m not alone, but I’ve never heard of… that.”

“That?”

“Not loving people in that way, not wanting to kiss them or fuck them… Like sure not everyone, but no one, ever? That sounds…”

“That sounds what?”

“Sad. It sounds sad, Yelena.”

Yelena could feel her heart drop with each of Kate’s words, she could feel a hole in her stomach, of course it wasn’t real and it was all in her head, but it felt real, it felt like she was dying in that moment, Kate talked more and more and as Yelena listened to everything she was saying she fet as if it made more and more sense. She was the odd one out. She was broken and everyone could love? How come she never caught up on that? It wasn’t all an act? It wasn’t all forced?

While Yelena was deep in her thoughts, Kate pulled put her phone and started to type.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m looking it up…” Kate bit her lower lip as she focused on getting all the words correct and still misspelled most. “Hm… So… It’s actually a thing.”

“What is?” Yelena cleared her throat as she did her best to focus on Kate.

“Not loving and all that you are… It’s this thing called aro…aromatic, um no, aromantic and asexual.”

“Read it, the, whatever you just said.”

“Aromantic people have little or no romantic attraction to others. They may or may not feel sexual attraction. An aromantic person can fall into one of two groups: aromantic sexual people or aromantic asexual people.”

Aromantic.

Asexual.

“Well, I support it… Fuck yeah.” Kate smiled reassuringly at Yelena. “I was a bitch earlier, I’m sorry, I— There are other things worth living for and if you don’t feel what I feel… It’s okay.”

“…Thanks.”

Yelena was silent and Kate just kept reading more and more about it on her phone. That was it, two words that so precisely described her and not the whole world as she thought, not everyone felt like it was fake, forced or pretend… It didn’t feel gross and almost repulsive to everyone else, but it did to her and as Kate Bishop said… It’s okay.

[raylin-creates]

What Tears of the Kingdom Means for the Timeline

(The timeline I made as reference for my major LU+First Hero fanfiction project, I mean, but a lot of it, most of it, applies to canon as well)

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR TOTK AHEAD

---

Surprisingly TotK actuality fits pretty well with the larger Zelda timeline I put together for my Toss Another Stone AU.

I know a lot of fans headcanon Sky as the first king of Hyrule, and I've read some amazing fics where that's the case, but seeing how Skyloft functions and Sky's personality I just couldn't see that happening. So I had Sky and Sun co-founding the surface settlement and the kingdom being established from that settlement generations later and Sky being posthumously named the first king when the monarchy is established.

So Rauru and Sonia being the founders of the kingdom of Hyrule fits extremely well and saves me a lot of work with the half baked backstory I was trying to build for the founding of the kingdom. (It was mostly the names. I am shit at naming things. Luckily Rauru and Sonia have names! Unfortunately the original sages still don't.) Making Sonia be Sky and Sun's descendant makes it fit even better, especially with my headcanon of Hylia being the goddess of time and Sonia's time power.

The game didn't confirm my theory about this being the end of the cycle, but it didn't refute it either and we don't know what effects swallowing a secret stone and having that stone destroyed could have so I'm keeping that the same until a new game refutes it.

My Link OC I've been calling Wraith who I based off of the sealing hand in the trailers we now know is Rauru, can no longer be claimed as canon compliant, which I expected but I'm still reluctant to part with him. Though honestly Wraith's backstory that lead to him becoming a spirit hand is actually very similar to Rauru's so other than the exact timeline placement (Wraith sealed Ganondorf a couple centuries after 10k while Rauru's era is clearly long before 10k since we have no sign of Guardians or Sheikah tech even ignoring the 'founding Hyrule' thing) it doesn't affect events too much, which I'm happy with.

There are two main tangles the backstory of TotK throws into my nicely constructed timeline.

The first, which is less of a tangle and more of a missing detail my brain won't stop chewing on: WHERE IS SONIA AND RAURU'S CHILD?? For Zelda to be their descendant they have to have had at least one kid and we don't get even a hint of their existence. It's easy to see how the developers maybe forgot about this detail with all the *gestures in demon king* you know, and it's easy to imagine they exist outside of the limited scope of the handful of memories we see, but it's something to think about. Also who ruled Hyrule after them? Rauru and Sonia are dead or as good as, and Mineru and Zelda, the only known relatives of them, are ALSO unreachable now. The kingdom must have been a mess after. You ever think of how those poor sages had to deal with the fallout?

The second, bigger tangle:

If this really is the original founding of Hyrule as a kingdom, it would take place before every other game except Skyward Sword, but Rauru seals Ganondorf and Zelda has the sages promise their powers will reawaken when the demon king rises again... but what does this mean for every other time Ganon/Ganondorf rose up as the enemy in another game (which is most of them)?

I can think of two explanations at the moment:

One: This is not the original founding of Hyrule.

It is in fact, a refounding of the kingdom after a time when the kingdom fell and the monarchy dissolved. This is not unheard of in the series, for the kingdom to be defeated or destroyed. In the Adult timeline the kingdom is swallowed by the ocean and destroyed entirely and is refounded later in the timeline. In the Fallen timeline (I haven't played the Adventure of Link yet so lmk if any of this is refuted in that game) There's still technically a princess and a castle at least, but the world is overrun by monsters and the people we see are mostly hiding and fending for themselves. The "kingdom" seems to exist in name only and the monarchy is defunct as a governing entity. Rauru and Sonia could have founded a new kingdom of Hyrule after the Fallen timeline, or during any of the large gaps between games.

Two: Ganondorf had not qualified as the true demon king until now to bring those promises into action.

Anyone who's played Skyward Sword to the end knows of The Bringer of Demise: the literal Demon King that put the entire cursed cycle into motion, and Ganondorf's... predecessor? Creator? Regardless, Demise is certainly responsible for why Ganon just keeps coming back in one form or another. And in TotK, when Ganondorf transforms into the "Demon King Ganondorf", he looks A LOT like how Demise appears in SS. I believe that this Ganondorf is closer to being the demonic god of hatred that started all this than any other prior instance of Ganon. He's more powerful, more obsessed, and had more time to let his hated fester. (So much so that that hated manifested as a writhing semi-sentient mass of malice known as Calamity Ganon, but that's a different topic.) He's become the Demon King on a level prior Ganondorfs simply hadn't achieved.

I think the most likely answer is a combination of both.

I think it makes most sense for Sonia and Rauru's era to be taking place prior to the 10k Calamity but after the three timelines either merge or become synonymous (with botw's and therefore totk's canonical timeline placement being "at the end of all of them"), after an unseen event causes the kingdom to completely collapse and they refound it as a new kingdom and reestablishing the royal lineage of Hylia's blood.

This easily fits within the looseness of the canon timeline and avoids contradictions with having Ganondorf sealed by Rauru while another Ganondorf is running around causing havoc in Ocarina of Time.

I Also think that this Ganondorf DID become a being closer to Demise than a mortal man when he took the secret stone (which,remember, amplifies the power already there, which in this case would be his connection to Demise), his appearance, speech, and powers all reflect that.

TL;DR:

TotK mostly fits well with my headcanon timeline, the main snag being: if Rauru is sealing Ganondorf underground from near the beginning of the canon timeline all the way to the events of TotK, what does that mean for the games that take place between that period where Ganondorf/Ganon appears? I've concluded that Sonia and Rauru are in fact refounding Hyrule in an era after the other games but still long prior to the 10k Calamity, and that the Ganondorf in TotK became something closer to Demise than any other version of himself.