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casurlaub · 4 months

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Why Wolfstar makes sense canonically

Call me delusional but welcome to my TED talk

Most of this has been said repeatedly by others over the years. I don't mean to steal anybody's credit, so if you feel like I have, please reach out.

This is me 'defending' Wolfstar, I'm not hating on another ship here and I won't engage in a discussion about which ship makes more sense. I'm just trying to elaborate why I can 'see' Wolfstar - even from a canon perspective.

I'm trying (and hoping to succeed) to be respectful and I'm not attacking a specific person here. This is just a general post with all my thoughts on the matter and all the arguments I've heard against it.

Brace yourself because this is going to get really really long, and there'll be a lot of quotes from the original source material.

The original source material

I feel that many people who claim the ship doesn't make sense fail to see that we're in this fandom because it did make sense to us after reading the books. The fandom exists, because many people saw it. Because it's possible to see it. It's not the other way around.

The thing with Wolfstar is, that it's all in the 'show not tell' which I suppose makes it 'easy' to overlook. Obviously it is, with the author not intending the ship - I'm not saying wolfstar is canon, but it makes a lot of sense with what we have in canon.

Their nonverbal communication

They have a lot of nonverbal communication going on, which shows a great level of understanding for one another. But they're not only able to read one another, they're actively (and both of them) communicating via eye contact - a lot. They're searching for the other person's eyes and are passing along 'thoughts', are reaching silent understandings just like that. That hints at a great emotional connection.

Let's do that 'chronologically':

It doesn't take more than a single look from Sirius to convince Remus that he is innocent. At this point Remus doesn't know shit about what really happened. He admits so himself later on, he keeps asking Sirius questions later on. And yet again he's so ready to believe Sirius,

Professor Lupin came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, his wand raised an ready. His eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor, over Hermione, cowering next to the door, to Harry, standing there with his wand covering Black, and then to Black himself, crumpled and bleeding at Harry's feet. 'Expelliarmus!' Lupin shouted. [...] Lupin caught them all defty then moved into the room, staring at Black, who still had Crookshanks lying protectively across his chest. [...] Then Lupin spoke, in an odd voice, a voice that shook with some suppressed emotion. 'Where is he, Sirius?' [...] Black's face was quite expressionless. For a few seconds, he didn't move at all. Then, very slowly, he raised his empty hand, and pointed straight at Ron. 'But then… Lupin muttered, staring at Black so intently it seemed he was trying to read his mind. “'Why hasn’t he shown himself before now? Unless...-' Lupin's eyes suddenly widened, as though he was seeing something beyond Black, something none of the rest could see, '-unless he was the one… unless you switched… without telling me?' Very slowly, his sunken gaze never leaving Lupin’s face, Black nodded. [...] Lupin lowered his wand. Next moment, he had walked to Black's side, seized his hand, pulled hm to his feet so that Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Black like a brother.

And then he says, still without having received any explanation, just like that,

'I haven't been Sirius' friend for twelve years, but I am now... let me explain...'

They are so in synch with their actions without even having to talk about it; they're forming a united front (I'm getting to that later on), they're again reaching a silent understanding just by looking at one another (again),

Both Black and Lupin strode forwards, seized Pettigrew's shoulders and threw him backwards onto the floor. [...] Black and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, wands raised. [...] Black and Lupin both looked staggered. [...] Black and Lupin were looking at each other. Then, with one movement, they lowered their wands.

I think it's also important to note that they do not just look, but look to check for each other's opinion on the matter. Harry asks them not to murder Peter and of course they listen to him, but they first look at each other as if checking to be on the same page. So - they've just reunited after over twelve years and immediately take the other person into consideration (I'm getting to that later on).

Then in OotP there's the famous fourty line stare where Remus is just intently staring at Sirius while he and Molly are arguing, as opposed to the others who are watching the conversation (who does that?),

'Lupin, who had been about to take a sip of whine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary' [...] Lupin's eyes were fixed on Sirius. [fourty lines of back and forth between Molly and Sirius] 'Personally,' said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last.

And it's not just Remus doing it. It's mutual. They act like a unit (again, getting to that). They care for each other's opinion and they do know each other so well that a single fleeting look is enough for them to check in with the other,

He [Harry] thought he saw Sirius and Lupin exchange the most fleeting of looks before Sirius answered [...]

And again when Harry contacts them via floo to discuss Snape's Worst Memory, they do it again,

They exchanged a look of great surprise [...] Lupin glanced sideways at Sirius, then said, [...]

They communicate via touch, too:

Black's wand arm rose, but Lupin seized him around the wrist, gave him a warning look, then turned again to Pettigrew, his voice light and casual [...]

So - Remus does not only convince headstrong Sirius to back down nonverbally just by looking and touching him, no I think it's also important to note that Remus, who isn't a 'touch person' (he's awkward when comforting Molly, he (as far as I recall) never hugs Harry, always just shakes hands), doesn't even seem to think twice about touching Sirius. No, he immediately pulls him into a hug, then is restraining him physically when he tries to launch at Scabbers, then continues to communicate via looks and touch. After twelve years of separation he's immediately comfortable enough to initiate it.

They're super in synch - also with how they say things

It carries through the whole of OotP, really. Sirius says something just for Remus to say something immediately afterwards or the other way around. When they're together in a scene, the vibe is always them carrying the conversation together, one adding to the other's thoughts.

It already starts in PoA,

'They didn't say what they thought they saw !' said Black savagely [...]. 'Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter,', said Lupin nodding.

But in OotP it's taken to whole new levels. It's too much to put here, but in that conversation where they tell Harry about the Order it's basically:

said Sirius / said Lupin /said Sirius /said Lupin... throughout the whole scene. One of them says something and the other one adds. And again. And again. And again.

And it happens again (though not to that extent) before Harry's Ministry hearing. In the Boggart scene. And then again when they discuss 'Snape's Worst Memory'.

They're also portrayed as being close to one another (distance-wise) repeatedly throughout OotP.

Like when Remus is there chances are Sirius isn't far. That doesn't have to mean anything of course but the frequency puts out a certain vibe to me,

'I said - shut - UP!', roared the man [Sirius] and with a stupendous effort he and Lupin managed to force the curtains closed again

Honestly, I think it's kind of funny that even when there're a number of people the two of them are always mentioned right after one another. Before Harry's ministry hearing, at Ron and Hermione's party, when Mrs Weasley is battling the Boggart, in the Department of Mysteries,

He pushed it open and saw Mr and Mrs Weasley, Sirius, Lupin and Tonks sitting at [...] Sirius, Lupin, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt were already there Lupin had come running into the room, closely followed by Sirius [...] [...] and five more people sprinted into the room: Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and Kingsley.

And then when Harry floos to see Sirius after he has seen 'Snape's Worst Memory' Remus is there again-, casually sitting at the table and reading and Harry mistakes him for Sirius even (because he's looking so at home?). But Remus immediately knows where to fetch Sirius and comes back with him quickly after. That just has such a domestic vibe to me.

[...] long wooden table where a man sat poring over a piece of parchment. [...] 'Sirius'? [...] It was not Sirius, it was Lupin. [...] 'I'll call him,' said Lupin. [...] And Harry saw Lupin hurry out of the kitchen. [...] Lupin returned with Sirius at his heels moments after.

Remus and his relationship to his friends

Remus mentions Sirius first when he speaks about his friends, although in every other occasion it's always James who's mentioned first. He always says 'James and Sirius'/'your father and Sirius'; it's always James first, Sirius second, but when he's talking about him finding friends for the first time in his life, it's suddenly Sirius first,

'I had friends, three great friend. Sirius Black... Peter Pettigrew... and, of course, your father, Harry - James Potter.'

I don't think that necessarily means anything though, but I felt like adding it just for the sake of it... (I know the author stated James supported Remus after Hogwarts, not Sirius, implying they were (always) closer, but - and that's just my general personal approach - I don't care much for what she said in any Interviews/on pottermore/wizardingworld.com or whatever. She's contradicting herself so often there (see below). To me it's always books first and the books show that Remus and Sirius are close as adults whereas we don't have much information about Remus/James).

Then Remus is very obviously operating on double standards when it comes to Sirius as opposed to Peter. In his conversation with Harry it's insinuated that he doesn't want Sirius, who he believes to have betrayed Lily and James and killed Peter and twelve others, to receive the Dementor's kiss.

'He deserves it,' he [Harry] said suddenly. 'You think so?' said Lupin lightly. 'Do you really think anyone deserves that?

Yet later when he learns the truth he has no qualms whatsoever about killing Peter. He doesn't stop Sirius, he doesn't hesitate, he's joinng in. Why's this so different suddenly? Selling away your friends lives and framing your other friend (Peter) isn't worse than selling away your friends' lives and killing your other friend (allegedly Sirius), is it? So if their 'alleged' crimes are comparable, why is Remus acting different about Peter's than he is about Sirius's?

'Shall we kill him together?' 'Yes, I think s,' said Lupin grimly.

It's not about him thinking the Dementor's kiss was worse than death either. Because he as no qualms to bring Peter to the Dementors when Harry stops them from murdering him. So... why the double standards again?

Sirius/Remus also so do 'relationship behaviour'. I mean the whole nonverbal communication already, but also,

'Sirius, sit down.' [...] Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.

Remus gets Sirius even after over twelve years of being separated. Sirius is impatient in PoA, because he - finally - wants to take revenge on Peter. Remus not only sees that but tries to stop him. To me it reads as if he knows that Harry's opinion is important to Sirius, will be, once he sees clearly again and that he doesn't want him to destroy his chances with Harry by acting too impulsive. Because his intervention isn't rooted in his concern for Peter's life obviously, because he's ready to kill Peter once they explained everything,

'[...] I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough.' Sirius half-shrugged, but did not argue. 'I'm coming up there to have a word with Snape!' said Sirius forcefully, and he actually made to stand up, but Lupin wrenched him back down again. 'If anyone's going to tell Snape it will be me!' he said firmly

Sirius doesn't exactly react well to being emasculated (and that's an understatement). He doesn't react well when Harry doesn't want him to come ro Hogsmeade as Padfoot - he lashes out and answers with a low-blow ('You're less like your father than I thought '). And yes, that's in OotP where his mental health isn't the best. But the rest of those scenes also happen in OotP. And he lets Remus call the shots, lets Remus stop him, in front of all the others. Remus is giving him a direct order like he is a f**** dog (not going deeper into this because I *hate* all those pup/pet play fics) and Sirius does not only not fight back, he complies. I'm not saying he respects/likes Remus more than Harry, I'm just using this example to point out that, considering Sirius's character it's a really big deal.

Remus understands Sirius and is looking out for him

'Sirius, NO!, Lupin yelled, launching himself forwards and dragging Black away from Ron again. “WAIT! You can’t do it just like that - they need to understand - we’ve got to explain -“ 'We can explain afterwards!,' snarled Black, trying to throw Lupin off, one hand still clawing the air as the tried to reach Scabbers, who was squealing like a piglet, scratching Ron’s face and neck as he tried to escape. 'They’ve - got - a - right - to - know - everything!,' Lupin panted, still trying to restrain Black. 'Ron’s kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don’t understand! And Harry - you owe Harry the truth'

And then again he's stepping in when Sirius is not doing himself any favor with Harry (again),

'And why did he fake this death?' he [Harry] said furiously. 'Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents.' 'No', said Lupin. 'Harry-' 'And now you've come to finish him off!' 'Yes, I have,' said Black, with an evil look at Scabbers. 'Then I should've let Snape take you!' Harry shouted. 'Harry,', said Lupin hurriedly, 'don't you see? All this time we've thought Sirius betrayed your parents, and Peter tracked him down - but it was the other way around, don't you see? Peter betrayed your mother and father - Sirius tracked Peter down-'

And then Remus is stepping in - again - when it's getting too much for Sirius,

'Harry... I as good as killed them', he [Sirius] croaked. 'I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment [...] I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed and their bodies - I realized what Peter must'v done. What I'd done.' His voice broke. He turned away 'Enough of this,' said Lupin, and there was a steely note in his voice Harry had never heard before.

And in this scene in OotP he's also looking out for him,

'I'm coming up there to have a word with Snape!' said Sirius forcefully, and he actually made to stand up, but Lupin wrenched him back down again. 'If anyone's going to tell Snape it will be me!' he said firmly

They're forming a united front - not once, but it's a recurring motive.

Both are ready to handle the whole Peter thing together. They haven't seen each other for over twelve years, they didn't part on good terms and still they're immediately including the other. Even Sirius who's (in this situation) either failing to see how his behavior isn't doing him any good with building a relationshio with Harry or is incapable of stopping himself, is including Remus,

'Ready, Sirius' said Lupin [...] 'Together?' he [Sirius] said quietly. ‘I think so', said Lupin [...]

And then again, they're ready to kill him together, too,

'Of course,' said Black, and the ghost of a grin flitted across his gaunt face. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. 'Shall we kill him together?' 'Yes, I think so,' said Lupin grimly.

And also non-verbally they're an united front (see above),

Then they're portrayed as 'shoulder to shoulder' (figuratively speaking) in other situations as well. Remus is taking Sirius's side in the argument with Molly although he has no business doing so, although he usually prefers to stay in the background. He's usually keeping quiet, usually not speaking up - Molly even thinks she's getting an ally when he joins the conversation,

'Personally,' said Lupin quietly, looking away from Sirius at last, as Mrs Weasley turned quickly to him, hopeful that finally she was about to get an ally. 'I think it better that Harry gets the facts - not all the facts, Molly, but the general picture - from us, rather than a garbled version from ... others.' [...] 'Molly you're not the only person at this table who cares about Harry', said Lupin sharply.

Remus is always taking Sirius's Side - he keeps making excuses for James and Sirius's behavior at Hogwarts, he keeps playing it down - even as an adult. He's damn biased, he doesn't move an inch - as long as they're in public at least,

'Sirius thought it would be - er - amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree-trunk with a long stick and he’d be able to get in after me.'

'a schoolboy grudge' [Remus to Snape]

Lupin looked sideways at Sirius, then aid, 'Look, Harry, what you've got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did - everyone thought they were the height of cool - if they sometimes got a bit carried away-' 'If we were sometimes arrogant little berks, you mean',, said Sirius. Lupin smiled.

And I think it's important to point out that Remus does this even though it's not his real stance on the matter,

'[...] it would be - er - amusing, to tell Snape [...]' 'We were in the same year, you know and we - er - didn’t like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James’s talent on the Quidditch pitch…'

The 'er' and 'I think' is a speech pattern of his that indicates he's not being completely honest/doesn't truly believe what he says. ('So he - er - accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast.' / 'Er - perhaps it will be best if we don’t revive him until we’re safely back in the castle.). He doesn't truly think they were as harmless as he's portraying it ('Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were ought of order?').

So - united front on the outside, no matter what. But it's insinuated that behind closed doors Remus is taking a different stance. He's blaming himself for not stepping in with the whole Snape thing, because that's just who he is - blaming himself for everything (sometimes rightfully so, sometimes not) While I do think he didn't say anything outwardly, there must have been something that made it clear to the others that Remus didn't approve of their behavior,

'Of course he was a bit of an idiot,' said Sirius bracingly, 'we were all idiots! Well - Moony not so much', he said fairly, looking at Lupin. But Remus shook his head. 'Did I ever tell you to lay off Snape?”' he said. 'Did I ever have the guts to tell you I thought you were out of order?' 'Yeah, well', said Sirius, 'you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes… that was something….'

Remus is suddenly living at Grimmauld Place

So at the end of GoF Remus obviously has his own place (or is living with his father again, although he didn't want to because he didn't want to disturb his quiet life according to the author? But then again I don't care what she said on Pottermore).

'Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher —the old crowd. Lie low at Lupin's for a while, I will contact you there.'

So that's at the end of June. And then at the beginning of August when Harry arrives in London, just six weeks later, he's living at Grimmauldplace already, and not only at Grimmauld Place, he's living with Sirius

Lupin, who was staying at the house with Sirius but who left it for long periods to do mysterious work for the Order [...]

And then rhey give away joint Christmas presents,

Sirius and Lupin had given Harry a set of excellent books entitled Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts, which had superb, moving colour illustrations of all the counter-jinxes and hexes it described.

They act differently with / because of one another

Sometimes they even defy their core character traits.

Remus's primal drive in everything he does is to be liked/fit in/be seen as good by others (and not as the monster he sees himself as deep down). He's even sometimes manipulative and hypocritical because of it. For example he doesn't tell Dumbledore about Sirius's animagus form because of it (or at least it's part of the reason, or he believes it to be). But when Snape enters the Shrieking Shack he doesn't care about himself getting into trouble for - allegedly - helping a supposed mass murderer break into the castle and everything. Even though he stated before that he didn't tell Dumbledore about Sirius for fear of losing his respect, all he cares about suddenly is Sirius's safety:

'Severus, you're making a mistake,' said Lupin urgently. 'You haven't heard everything - I can explain - Sirius is not here to kill Harry-' [...] 'You fool,' said Lupin softly. 'Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban.'

Also Remus is able to get through to Sirius even in a state of utmost agitation. Sirius is trying to murder Peter and Remus stops him and Sirius listens, even though his goal is finally in reach. Although, up to that point, he didn't exactly act very sensible (slashing the Fat Lady, breaking into Harry's dorm with a knife),

'All right then,' Black said, without taking his eyes off the rat. “Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for…'

And he continues to listen to Remus, Remus continues to be able to get through to him even when he's getting emotional. And Remus, who's always trying to appear mild (for fear of being perceived as aggressive which he can not afford because of the werewolf-thing), who even spoke quietly before in that very same conversation, is losing parts of his composure when Sirius is attacked,

“Molly, you’re not the only person at this table who cares about Harry”, said Lupin sharply. “Sirius, sit down.” Molly’s lower lip was trembling. Sirius sank slowly back into his chair, his face white.

Remus is letting loose around him (and the other marauders). He quips,

'Did you like question ten, Moony?' asked Sirius as they emerged to the Entrance Hall. 'Loved it,' said Lupin briskly. 'Give five signs that identify the werewolf. Excellent question.' 'D’you think you managed to get all the signs?,' said James in tones of mock concern. 'Think I did,' said Lupin seriously, as they joined the crowd thronging around the front doors eager to get out into the sunlit grounds. 'One: he’s sitting on my chair. Two: he’s wearing my clothes. Three: his name’s Remus Lupin.'

'Well, as everyone thinks I’m a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry’s put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?,' said Sirius restlessly. 'And I’m not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community,' said Lupin. “It’s an occupational hazard of being a werewolf.'

[As @remusawoooo put it: let's form a comedy duo <3]

And Remus is obviously very comfortable with Sirius. He's always restraining himself, Harry narrates his way of speaking as 'mild' or 'quiet' so many times, but apparently he's different when he's alone with Sirius. That hints at a great level of trust. He doesn't bother to keep up his act around him, because he doesn't worry about being perceived as mild with him and just speaks his truth ( e.g. about Umbridge). He can just be and oh boy, thinking about Remus's character that has to be the greatest fucking deal ever.

'I know she's a nasty piece of work, though - you should hear Remus talk about her.'

And then Remus, who is so good at appearing restrained, is losing his composure when Sirius dies,

'He can’t come back, Harry,' said Lupin, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. 'He can’t come back, because he’s d-' [...] Lupin's face was pale. [...] Lupin turned away from the archway as he spoke. It sounded as if every word were causing him pain.

In this moment Harry himself is in huge (emotional) pain, but he still notices - must've been rather obvious, then?

Edit (because it's been pointed out to me): and then Remus goes into self-destruction mode after Sirius's death, signing off for dangerous Order missions, obviously falling into some sort of depression..

Their mutual respect for one another

So, I've read how Sirius wouldn't/couldn't possibly respect Remus / see him as an equal. How they wouldn't fully 'trust' one another. No matter if you 'see' Wolfstar or not, that is just plain wrong.

Sirius respected Remus already as a teenager. He (and James, too), cared for his opinion, otherwise they wouldn't have been affected by whatever he thought about their bullying. But they were ('you made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes').

The whole Sirius thinking Remus was the spy thing also shows that he respected him. He saw him as capable - not just as capable of betraying his friends, but also as a capable person in general, a person with an own agenda, not just a copy of him or James. He didn't see Peter like that.

Sirius lets Remus take the lead in the scene in the Shrieking Shack even though the whole taking revenge on Peter/avenging James (James!) thing is most important to him. He does not only let himself be swayed by Remus and lowers his wand instead of killing Peter right after they forced him to transform, he also let's Remus lead the conversation. To me that shows a huge level of trust. He only joins in after Peter accused him of having learned tricks from Voldemort. But before that it's just Remus talking for some paragraphs?

And Sirius listens to Remus not only in that scene, but also in OotP. First he sits down again in his argument with Molly simply because Remus told him so. Then he's waiting for Remus to come back to the room before he even starts telling Harry about the Order business.

Lupin hurried of to the portrait to restore calm. It was only after he had returned, closing the kitchen door behind him and taking hs seat at the table again, that Sirius spoke.

Then he just accepts when Remus says they've said enough without arguing,

'[...] I think Molly's right, Sirius. We've said enough.' Sirius half-shrugged, but did not argue.

Headstrong Sirius, who's even challenging Dumbledore's orders by insisting on telling Harry stuff, who's challenging Dumbledore's orders by accompanying Harry to King's Cross (as Padfoot), who's willing to challenge Dumbledore's orders when he suggests meeting up at Hogsmeade (as Padfoot). But Remus says we've said enough and he is just like 'okay'. Remus says 'sit down' and despite him having been attacked personally he just does. He clearly respects him a great deal.

On a more subtle note (and maybe I'm reading too much into the source material here, but it makes sense to me)... The Prank was not a big deal in canon. At least not initially. But adult Remus tells us in PoA,

'That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you’d given the others the slip and bitten somebody?' [Hermione] 'A thought that still haunts me,' said Remus heavily. 'And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless - carried away with our own cleverness. I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore’s trust, of course… he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so and he had no idea I was breaking the riles he had set down for my own and others’ safety.[...]'

And he's still making excuses for the prank in this scene and Sirius still says how, 'it served him [Snape] right'

But then in OotP when they discuss Snape's Worst Memory with Harry, Sirius obviously has some introspection and to me it easily reads as if they had talked about that behavior - as adults,

'I'm not proud of it,' said Sirius quickly. Lupin looked sideways at Sirius, then said, 'Look, Harry [...] if they sometimes got a bit carried away-' 'If we were sometimes arrogant little berks you mean,' said Sirius. Lupin smiled.

He cuts him off and to me it reads like, 'okay Remus, you can stop making excuses for me'. Maybe adult Sirius came to that conclusion himself with being out of Azkaban for almost two years at this point. He's certainly emotionally intelligent enough to do so. But then again, he's incredibly blind when it comes to Snape in general, even as an adult, so I'm not so sure about that.

Other things

Sirius was lounging in his chair at his ease, tilting it back on two legs. He was very good-looking, his dark hair fell into his eyes with a sort of casual elegance neither James's nor Harry's could ever have achieved, and a girl sitting behind him was eyeing him hopefully, though he didn't seem to have noticed. And two seats along from this girl - Harry's stomach gave another pleasurable squirm - was Remus lupin.

I personally think that's over-interpreting the source material, but I've read someone pointing out how it reads like,

'Hormonal male teen doesn't care for the attention of a teenage girl, why could that be, why could that be... oh, here's why: ...'

(let's not forget about asexual people though)

The Original source material getting ridiculously obvious without the author intending so

Okay, so I personally don't set great store by this, but I think it's funny:

Their names being the biggest cliche ever

Remus 'Moony' Lupin and Sirius ' the Dog Star' Black. Moon and stars, come on. All this from an author who's taking the name game to ridiculous levels. (I mean Remus Lupin = Wolf-son Wolf?, even Lyall = Wolf. And Sirius = the Dog Star Black. And he's a black dog.... really?)

Nearly matching Patroni

They have (supposedly) nearly matching Patroni. Remus's is a wolf while Sirius's is supposedly a dog because it usually aligns with the caster's Animagus form. Anyhow, it's supposed to reflect the caster's personality. Matching Patroni are a huge deal in HP. And a wolf and a dog are pretty damn close, meaning that even if they're not 'matching' technically speaking, they (the caster) are pretty damn close character-wise?

But what about...?

All your 'proof' doesn't necessarily mean they're a thing romantically

No, that's right. I'm not saying wolfstar is canon, I'm just saying it makes sense, even from a canon perspective. Obviously the author didn't intend them to be canon. My point is that it's no stretch to read them as being a thing (whatever that means - being together or just having some sort of unresolved feelings) even in canon.

I'm aware that the things I pointed out don't mean much if you look at them individually. I agree. Like, of course joint presents don't have to mean anything, maybe Sirius is just being 'nice', is including Remus. But it's the sum that give off that vibe—at least to me.

But hey, I'm not trying to convince anyone of Wolfstar; I'm just trying to elaborate. I'd be happy if we could all agree that, no matter any romantic feelings, they were very close friends. Because that, as I hope to have pointed out, is definitely canon.

They don't make sense because of the prank

First - they don't have necessarily to have been a thing back in fifth year already.

Second - the prank was no big deal in canon. I've already ranted about this in another post, so I won't repeat myself here. But canonically Remus didn't make a scene. Like it or not, think it's in character or not, but he didn't.

But Sirius disregards Remus's feelings in 'Snape's worst memory

So this is, what we're talking about, right,

'I’m bored,' said Sirius. 'Wish it was full moon.' 'You might', said Lupin darkly.

Again, they don't have to have necessarily been a thing back in fifth year already. Most of the 'show' we get from the original source material is from when they're adults.

And: Sirius being flippant is just how he is, it's not unique to his relationship with Remus, it doesn't mean he disrespects Remus or anything. He's sarcastic with James in that very same scene, too, even though James had just been insulted and turned down by Lily in front of numerous bystanders (maybe not the nicest thing to do?).

'Bad luck, Prongs' [...] 'Reading between the lines I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited, mate.'

We - as a fandom - are turning the full moons into a much bigger deal than they were - or at least than Remus wanted them to be. ('And they didn’t desert me at all. Instead they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi.')

But Sirius thought Remus was the spy - they couldn't have been close in 1981

'Being close' is a matter of definition, like, I can be super hurt and disgusted by someone's behaviour and still the person can mean a lot to me. So I think it's possible that they cared for each other even though Sirius suspected Remus to be the spy. But in the sense of them 'emotionally getting' each other I definitely agree. But - even if they weren't close in 1981 - what does that say about their teenage years? Or about them past PoA? Right, nothing.

But Lily's letter didn't even mention Remus and Remus isn't standing with them in the Order photograph

See above.

But you don't just move past something like mistrusting each other so deeply

Maybe you don't. They did. Because they did, no matter what you think about wolfstar. Btw, Sirius is asking for Remus's forgiveness, so there's that for the whole 'he can't forgive him for not having him gotten out of Azkaban'-thing.

'Forgive me Remus', said Black. 'Not at all, Padfoot, old friend,' said Lupin, who was now rolling up his sleeves. 'And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing you were the spy?' 'Of course,' said Black, and the ghost of a grin flitted across his gaunt face.

The ghost of a grin. Yes, Sirius is obviously very resentful.

And even if they had a chat about it during 'Lie low at Lupin's', even if they worked through some old baggage - by the beginning of OotP they're definitely super casual with one another.

Their whole dynamic is super toxic... The mistrust and everything. That's not a healthy basis for anything

Unfortunately, being toxic doesn't stop people from being in a relationship. But I don't think they are toxic, not necessarily. While I agree that they definitely have issues (I don't see either of them being good at healthy communication; how were they supposed to learn? Besides, both of them have problematic character traits), I do think, in general, they treat each other with respect. And there's no evidence whatsoever for either of them holding grudges about the spy situation. I know people want Sirius to be resentful because they feel Remus deserves it for letting him 'rot' in Azkaban, but there's no evidence for that.

But Sirius didn't seek out Remus's help in PoA when he was after Peter

That would have been risky, wouldn't it? And I don't think there was much on Sirius's mind except for the revenge thing. Sirius is usually quite calm and way less dramatic than fanon makes him out to be. But he loses it completely with the whole Peter affair. I mean slashing the Fat Lady and acting like the mad mass murderer everyone thinks him to be by breaking into Harry's dorm with that knife? (Stupid and also super risky with no wand)

But Sirius isn't with Remus in GoF but rather lives in a cave

Yes, to be close to Harry. Because Harry is his top priority (see below). So what does that prove? He's rather with Harry than with Remus. Agreed. But it's not like he was roaming the UK instead of being at Remus's before. He was somewhere south, far far away to evade seizure. He only comes back because of Harry.

It's understandable, because he feels responsible for Harry (and perhaps guilty because he blames himself for James's death). He doesn't feel responsible for Remus, who is a grown man - and Remus's safety isn't at stake. His own safety is more important than just being with his friend/lover/whatever, but it's not more important than Harry's safety. I think that's a pretty healthy dynamic actually.

Harry doesn't notice so they can't be a thing

Harry is great at noticing some things. Others, not so much. For example Harry thinks Tonks is in love with Sirius, so so much for Harry's perceptiveness. The books being from Harry's perspective is part of the point of Wolfstar making sense.

What about James?

What about James? Is this a contest? No one says Sirius and James weren't best friends (I won't step into the shipping James/Sirius debate here, I respect the ship eve though it isn't my cup of tea). We all agree they were super close. We all agree they were inseparable and that Sirius was devastated about James's death. Following this line of argument Jily makes no sense either (as @myheadsgonenumb pointed out). People are capable of loving their partners (or loving someone unrequitedly or loving someone without realizing) and having a close best friend at the same time.

Plus, who's to say he wouldn't have been devastated if Remus had died, too? People have the ability to care deeply about more than one person (and again, it's not a contest)

BANG! Thin, snake-like cords burst from the end of Snape’s wand and twisted themselves around Lupin’s mouth, wrists and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Sirius started toward Snape, [...]

Yes, Sirius is obviously completely indifferent to what happens to Remus.

BUT it does annoy me that a lot of wolfstar fics are erasing James / are turning Remus into everything James was for Sirius. Like James was just a side character for.Sirius. That's unrealistic. Sirius needs James, Wolfstar or not.

But it's stated Sirius and James only cared for each others opinions, no one else's

Is it really? I've basically already tackled that one above, but, while I agree that they were most important to one another, Sirius himself says to Remus, 'Yeah, well. You made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes… that was something….'

What about Harry - the books state he was the most important person to Sirius (and vice versa), not Remus?

Agreed and again - is it a contest? That line of reasoning would mean that parents aren't capable of loving their partners because they have children.

But Sirius wouldn't be with someone who let Harry suffer at his aunt's / who allegedly endangered Harry's life in PoA by withholding information from Dumbledore...

He wouldn't? The backbone of this argument is that Sirius would not trust/forgive someone who did these things. And wether you ship wolfstar or not, that is just canonically wrong. They were canonically close in OotP (see quotes above) - if you're negating this you're being delusional.

I don't think I have to deep-dive into Sirius's character here because it's obvious that he didn't hold a grudge against Remus.

Remus is too much of a loser for Sirius to want him as a partner

I feel like that's pretty much the same argument, so it get's pretty much the same answer: He wouldn't?

The backbone of this argument is that Sirius was too cool for Remus, had not enough respect for Remus, which is, canonically simply not true. No matter if you like it, no matter if you think it makes sense considering Sirius's character, it's fact that adult Sirius respected him very much. He listened to him, he cared for his opinion, he backed down because of him, he allowed Remus to take the lead. He doesn't treat him as inferior. Not a single time.

But Sirius is so much better than Remus, he has a better moral code, he's a better man, a better [insert statement here]...

Again - it doesn't matter much if you think so, or what I think about it. But Sirius didn't think so. Not a single proof he's resentful towards Remus, not a single proof he thinks Remus is inferior to him, not a single proof he doesn't respect him. The opposite actually.

But Remus is such a pushover, it just doesn't fit personality-wise. Sirius needs someone strong

Is Remus really? Because he isn't as an adult. At least not as long as he isn't concerned personally.

I see Remus as someone with deep-rooted self-worth issues, hence he's struggling to stand up for himself (his worst decisions are all linked to his poor self-esteem). But he has no problem in PoA to stand up to Snape (in the scene in the Shack), he has no problem to stand up to Sirius (multiple times in that scene), he has no problem to take the lead in the conversation with Peter. He has no problem to stand up to Molly when she's attacking Sirius and he tells Sirius to leave it to him to deal with Snape when they learn that Snape stopped giving Harry Occlumency lessons (and wrenches him down again). He's not as gentle/soft/pushover-y as people sometimes think.

Besides, we don't know much about how he really was as a teenager. He himself says that he didn't call them out for the whole Snape thing, but his self-perception isn't the best and he tends to blame himself for everything, so we don't really know how true that really is... As mentioned before, Sirius himself says,

''Yeah, well. You made us feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes… that was something….'

And also (before that),

'Of course he was a bit of an idiot,' said Sirius bracingly, 'we were all idiots! Well - Moony not so much.'

But Sirius is depressive in OotP - the long hair, the drinking, his moods...

Yes, of course, he's trapped in his childhood home without being able to do anything, he's feeling useless. No wonder he's depressed. Having a relationship doesn't save you from depression (although having no fulfilling platonic/romantic relationships at all can be a major factor for getting depressed).

If one or two pillars have crumbled that is possibly already enough for the roof to tumble down - even though the third is still standing (surprise!).

[On a personal note: I know what I'm talking about (although not everyone's experience is the same obvs) because I'm suffering from depression despite having a wonderful partner, great sisters and great friends.]

But Harry inherited all of Sirius's money/belongings when he died, not Remus.

I don't know about you, but I don't peg Remus as somebody who would've accepted it. Apart from that, Remus was an adult whom Sirius saw as an equal, just as capable as himself, whereas Harry was Sirius's godchild, whom he felt responsible for (and probably still guilty towards).

But Sirius had his wall plastered with pictures of bikini-clad girls

And I had a poster of my favorite (male) singer over my bed at the age of fourteen. Guess what, I'm not straight.

What about Remadora?

I'm not stepping into the 'Is Remus gay'/'Is Remus bisexual' debate right here because I don't think it's necessary. Remadora was after Sirius's death. Period.

And the whole Remadora ship is awful - for both of them. @lizlemonbennet wrote a beautiful post about that

Tonks deserved better - she was so unhappy pining after him, it was literally sucking joy and confidence out of her (her hair changed and her Patronus changed). Lets talk about her Patronus actually. Before Remus it was a rabbit, after she fell in love with him it was a wolf. If Patroni represent your personality, what does it say about you when your Patronus is your lover's literal prey? To me that's a pretty obviously unhealthy dynamic.

But you're erasing women from the story

No, we're not. Wolfstar was a thing before Remadora and Sirius doesn't even have a canonic love interest. Besides - I love Jily and doesn't Hermione get paired with just about anyone?

But the author stated on wizardingworld.com that Remus had never fallen in love before he met Tonks.

I think the whole killing off Sirius and marrying off Remus thing was just the author dealing with fans interpreting her story in a way she didn't like. So, that's point Pro Wolfstar in my book. Either way, I don't care much about what she wrote on Wizardingworld or elsewhere when it contradicts the original source material. Because the author contradicting herself in interviews, on Pottermore, with the films, and even within the books is really nothing new. Just a short list of her making no sense:

James Potter being a seeker, no a chaser, no a seeker, actually nvm

Saying that Snape was in a gang with the Lestranges ('a married couple') at school, when Bellatrix had already left school when Snape arrived at Hogwarts

Saying James was fifteen in 'Snape's Worst Memory' when he had to have been sixteen. It happened after O.W.L.s and students turn sixteen during their fifth year of school. With his birthday being stated as being in March in the very source material itself (DH), sorry, but that's just wrong.

The whole timeline of the Order deaths in 1981

Halloween 1981 being a Wednesday when it actually was a Saturday (Wednesday - Saturday, close, huh?). The story starts from Vernon Dursley's perspective who's on his way to work and Harry's been brought to Privet Drive the same evening. According to the 'real calendar' this means baby Harry spent over a day alone in the ruins of his parents' house? Cool

September first, 1993, being a full moon, meaning Remus has to have transformed on either the train ride to Hogwarts or during the Start of Term feast. Meet your need DADA professor, he's a werewolf, like, right now. Ups, I guess the jig is up.

Remus not transforming in PoA when he hurries to the Shack despite sun already having set just because the moon is blocked by clouds??? It's that easy to evade transformation, yes? Why not lock yourself in the basement, then?

.... (don't get me started on plot holes, I could rant about this to no end)

Other reasons the ship appeals to so many people

Friends to lovers (with a bit of enemies to lovers because of the spy thing?)

I don't have to elaborate on that do I?

Just the right measure of opposites attract / Like will to like - They're good together or at least have the potential to be

I didn't mean to turn this into some Remus Lupin / Sirius Black meta, but...

In some ways they are super similar. It's very important to both of them to be viewed as 'good' by others (although their definitions may differ). Remus because he needs that sort of validation because of his poor self-worth. Sirius needs to be seen as 'good' as opposed to his family. They get each other partly because they know how it's to be reduced to a single trait. But then they act very differently about it - Sirius plunges into action while Remus retreats and masks.

They're both dark in some ways; they were both ready to kill Peter.

James didn't believe one of his friends would betray him. Both Sirius and Remus weren't so naive (Although drawing the wrong conclusions):

You think I'm a fool?" demanded Harry. 'No, I think you're like James,' said Lupin, 'who would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends.'

Remus is kind/gentle but he's also passive-aggressive at times and sometimes manipulative. Whereas Sirius is harsh, sometimes even cruel, but that means he's also blunt. That has the potential of them dragging one another away from the extremes a bit, meeting in the middle (although Sirius probably would be able to do so on his own, I think most times he simply doesn't care).

While Sirius is much less dramatic and rash than parts of the fandom make him out to be, he has a tendency to act impulsive (acting like a mad mass murderer when he breaks into the castle / wanting to murder Peter without thinking about what that means for his relationship with Harry / jumping to his feet to immediately have a word with Snape when he hears about him dropping the Occlumency lessons). He can do with some sort of counterforce just as Remus needs somebody who forces him to crawl out of his shell.

The drama

They get each other without really getting each other. Sirius thinking Remus is the spy is super tragic because he's (probably) in one way or another reducing him to the werewolf thing, which is the one thing that really hurts Remus.

But he doesn't do that for malicious intent - he does so because he sees Remus's struggle, because it makes sense to him and because he deems Remus capable. But he doesn't really *get* Remus. Because if he did, he would have realized that for Remus it was always most important to be liked/fit in. He'd never betray his friends' trust, because he's so grateful for having them in the first place. He would have rather died, - he doesn't think his life is worth much anyhow (as opposed to Peter). Remus would rather die than risk being shunned.

So he sees Remus but misses the point spectacularly. Which just breaks my heart. And still they're finding back to each other (as friends at least)

Goodbye

Thanks to everyone who's read that far. Again, I don't mean to bash any other ship, this is just about my 'love' for Wolfstar - canon wolfstar especially, meaning keeping their canon personalities and not erasing James or playing down his importance. Don't tell me I can't write a canon compliant Wolfstar story just because the fandom has transformed the characters into something else.

I'm also not saying that you have to read it the way I do, it's always interpretation anyhow. But I hope I managed to shed some light on the whole matter.

I didn't check the text because I didn't intend it to get that long tbh. I only had time to write it down because I'm sick at the moment. But I hope there's no holes or anything.

#Can we at least agree that they were close as adults? Bc that would already make me happy (and it's true)#wolfstar #wolfstar defender #remus x sirius #remus lupin #sirius black #marauders #marauders era

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coelii · 3 months

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let’s talk Castlevania lore~

so it occurred to me that, within the game material (I haven’t watched the TV show or anything like that so that’s not personally interesting to me for this discussion, sry sry), we don’t have all THAT clear an idea of why Dracula is A Bad Guy Who Must Be Stopped At All Costs, do we? I kinda feel like it’s mostly just treated as “c’mon, it’s Dracula, let’s go vampire killin’”

I mean we’ve got the accusation that he “steals men’s souls and makes them [his] slaves,” and, okay, if true (do we ever, like, see that?) I guess that’s pretty not great. And I’m willing to accept just a priori that he is A Vampire and therefore, okay, presumably there’s some drinking of innocent blood or something, not ideal. (Again, not sure that ever occurs on-screen?) I guess he also cursed Simon to have some pretty horrible nights? That’s not rad, i guess.

But like, fundamentally, do we ever have actual word in the games/game material of what exactly Dracula’s menace really IS? Just what kind of fate is the Belmont clan (et al.*) supposedly protecting us from? I guess I probably don’t want to live next door to an Active Vampire, but honestly it’s pretty amusing to me that I can’t actually think of what Dracula supposedly, like, wants.

(*from the Latin “et Alucard”)

So if we’re strictly looking at game material (and specifically main game and not the Lords of Shadow reboot) in my opinion there’s two origin games that have made a case for Dracula’s desires.

Castlevania Lament of Innocence

As covered in another recent ask, this is the official first game in the timeline

Here you play as Leon Belmont whose betrothed Sara is kidnapped by an ancient vampire named Walter Bernhard. Leon’s close friend Mathias Cronqvist, an alchemist who is grief stricken over the loss of his wife Elisabetha (who died of an illness while he was away), informs Leon that Walter was the one who kidnapped Sara and Leon goes to save her. Over the course of the game you learn that there are two powerful vampire relics and Walter is in possession of one: the Ebony Stone that produces darkness and makes Walter effectively invulnerable (as he is strongest in the darkness the stone produces).

You also create the Vampire Killer whip during the game which has the power to break the Ebony Stone and make Walter susceptible to damage. At the game’s climax, when Walter is close to Death (both metaphorically and physically) it’s revealed that Leon’s buddy Mathias had the other vampire relic, the Crimson Stone, the whole time. This relic absorbs the souls and power of other vampires (kind of a Ghostbuster situation).

Walter’s soul is captured in the stone, but Mathias uses it for his own dark purposes - to become a vampire himself and take revenge against God (whom he curses for taking his wife from him). Mathias eventually gives up his name and adopts the name Dracula instead and is canonically the Dracula in all Castlevania Games.

This origin story unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired in Dracula’s motivations because it basically amounts to Dracula being a man who’s just mad that God took his wife from him and uses another Vampire’s power (Walter) as his own. He isn’t noble or powerful without the stone (which is this red thing he wears in much of the official artwork apparently)

But I guess “stick it to the man” is technically a motivation…

Castlevania Legends

Now I’m a Lament of Innocence denier personally and would prefer to use the older games as the source to answer this question.

According to the Legend’s instruction book the story is:

IT WAS THE MIDDLE AGES IN TRANSYLVANIA. ONE MAN CAME INTO POSSESSION OF AN EVIL POWER, AND THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS WAS BORN. BEFORE LONG, THIS BEING HAD USED HIS NEW-FOUND SUPERNATURAL POWERS AND THE MAGIC POWERS OF HIS FOLLOWERS TO SPREAD HIS PLAGUE OF DARKNESS AND DESPAIR THROUGHOUT THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT, HE WAS COUNT DRACULA. EVEN TO MENTION THE NAME OF THIS PRINCE OF DARKNESS WAS TO CAST FEAR INTO THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE IN THE LAND, WHO WERE POWERLESS TO DO ANYTHING SAVE VOICE THEIR CONCERN. HOWEVER, AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME A BABY GIRL POSSESSING SPECIAL POWERS WAS BORN TO A FAMILY LIVING IN A REMOTE AREA OF THE COUNTRY. "YOUR POWERS ARE MEANT FOR A HIGHER PURPOSE AND NOT ONLY FOR YOURSELF” SHE WAS OFTEN REMINDED AS SHE WAS GROWING UP. THE PLOT OF THIS GIRL'S FATE BEGAN TO DEVELOP ONE NIGHT IN HER SEVENTEENTH YEAR WHEN SHE MET UP WITH THE YOUNG ENIGMATIC ALUCARD, WHO WAS ON A JOURNEY TO SEARCH FOR THE FATHER THAT HAD DESERTED HIM. THE YOUNG GIRL'S NAME WAS SONIA BELMONT, AND SHE WAS THE FIRST OF THE VAMPIRE HUNTERS IN THE BELMONT FAMILY TO BECOME LEGENDARY.

Now unfortunately this doesn’t tell us too much. In this origin Dracula exists already, obtained his power by coming “into possession” of it, and his motivation is simply “spread his plague of darkness and despair throughout the European continent” (Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Australia are all safe apparently).

Now I don’t want to theorycraft too far off the actual game material here, but I do know that Vampire Hunter D was heavily inspirational to the development of Castlevania. Many people know the anime films, but Vampire Hunter is a series of novels first published in 1983 (three years before the first CV game was released) and in these novels the being known as the “Sacred Ancestor” is the progenitor of all the other vampires and the oldest among them. He is known as the Vampire King or God and D is the Sacred Ancestor’s son (so to speak). This was the inspiration for Alucard, who we know in Castlevania lore to be Dracula’s direct descendant.

The VH novels present vampires as a race unto themselves, not the traditional mythos of humans given vampiric power (although they can still create vampires from humans).

Novel #17: White Devil Mountain (published 2014) is more explicit in this stating that vampires predate humans by possibly millions of years. The Sacred Ancestor, as the oldest among them, felt it was his duty to watch over his people and did many experiments over the years to try and save his race from eventual extermination (not necessarily by the hands of Hunters, but through a variety of circumstances). Some experiments included inventions that could block out the sun and give eternal darkness (a common theme in vampire lore).

The Dracula of Castlevania seems as much inspired by Bram Stoker’s creation and the historical Vlad Tepes as he was by Vampire Hunter’s Sacred Ancestor.

If the Sacred Ancestor’s motivation was as ward and protector of his race, acting in various ways to save them and ensure their continued reign and existence then I would say Dracula’s motivation is similar: “spread his plague of darkness” by ensuring that the curse of night spreads and his people can remain powerful and eternal.

In Short

Both games present Dracula as a man who obtained power through unholy means. Walter Bernhard’s origins aren’t necessarily explained in the game and it’s possible that like Vampire Hunter D he is of a race of vampires older than humanity and Dracula simply is just a man using his power as his own. However I feel Dracula’s motivation may still be similar to that of the Sacred Ancestor from VH: with great power comes great responsibility (thanks Ben!) and his duty is to protect and allow his people to thrive in a world hellbent on destroying them.

#coelii.ask #Castlevania #castlevania games #vampire hunter d #vampire hunter #vampires #196 #infodump

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mauveberries · 5 months

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the reason i think tomarrymort is a predator-prey relationship is because in reality, if you look at it completely objectively, harry is just an obstacle voldemort has to beat down. he is not an equal enemy. it's really not that deep. put down your pitchforks, let me explain.

obviously, they are enemies in the way that they stand for opposing ideologies. so it is an enemies to lovers dynamic, but it isn't THE enemies to lovers dynamic. they just don't have enough history to be portrayed as arch enemies in my opinion. that title goes to dumbledore.

you have voldemort, who is a terrifying warlord who has brought britain to its knees. he has stricken fear all over the world. people are afraid to say his name. and then you have harry, who is powerful in his own way, he is a decent wizard and is considered voldemort's enemy by a prophecy.

voldemort, in his paranoia and fear, decided to kill this toddler who is considered his enemy and ends up without a body. as you can already tell, there is a maaajor power imbalance here, it's laughable that voldemort lost to a baby. because of this, he has to spend 13 years as a wraith without a body. that is probably one of the most traumatizing things he has probably went through. obviously, when he recovers, he becomes even more irrational. he makes another horcrux, he considers harry as a real threat because he thinks harry's power did that.

we, as the readers know that the last statement is untrue. canonically, it was lily's love that protected harry. not some magical power harry possessed when he was a toddler, but because lily loved him so much that voldemort's soul was split apart again and he was left in agony.

then, harry grows up. he is a bright student. he is good at DADA, he sucks at history, he is powerful enough to cast patronuses. but overall, he is mediocre. we don't see him having a thirst to learn, we don't see him actively seeking out ways to destroy voldemort, we don't see him taking his occlumency lessons seriously. (rightfully, because snape was being an ass) but overall, he doesn't go out of his way to do anything significant. he's just trying to survive. but that doesn't mean he is not brave. when he's put on the spot, he faces voldemort and hardly runs.

but overall, he is not in control of the grand scheme of things. dumbledore is the one orchestrating voldemort's downfall behind the scenes. harry is just a particulary shiny pawn needed to win the chess game, but the queen is still dumbledore. sure, harry is scene forming the da in book 5 and sure, he goes on the hunt in the seventh book, but that is only because voldemort is actively pursuing him. do you see it now?

yes, you could say harry would have graduated and fought against voldemort but... so would everyone else. there is an entire order dedicated to fighting against voldemort, harry isn't special.

harry is only significant to voldemort because of the prophecy, without it, he will always be a no one to voldemort. you can't disagree with this, because if you do, you should be prepared to ship neville with voldemort because he could have been the chosen one, but the prophecy wasn't about him. he fought alongside harry, too. he slit nagini's throat, and yet voldemort barely pays attention to him.

you can say harry isn't prey-material because he fights back. but that is because he's been put on the spot. he has no where to escape at all. harry never instigates any of their fights, they are not on equal footing. they can therefore, never truly be equals opposing each other, simply because harry does not have the expertise to hold his own against voldemort. the prophecy labels them equals, but is this ever truly portrayed? no! voldemort literally has a piece of his soul inside harry, it's like he partially owns harry already. they were never equals to begin with. if jkr truly wanted to portray them as equal enemies, she should have given harry more credit. he is never anywhere near as powerful as tom riddle. she shouldn't have had dumbledore providing all the info, she shouldn't have had harry be a martyr-like figure who has to sacrifice himself to save the world, she shouldn't have made harry win based on pure luck.

the only reason harry won was because of voldemort's irrationality and harry's plot armour.

#is this not obvious? 😭😭😭#voldemort #lord voldemort #tomarry #harrymort #tomarrymort #tom riddle #harry potter

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we-are-inevitable · 1 year

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disclaimer: all of this is my PERSONAL opinion. if you believe something different, that’s completely fine and i support that! however these are just my thoughts bc ive gotten a lot of delancey asks recently and i think they are FASCINATING but not for the (recently) popular reasons

real talk though: i personally think the delanceys are less compelling and fun when theyre redeemed tbh. i think, if you’re going to like the delanceys or use them in fics or make fan art of them, you can’t sanitize what they’ve done. THATS what makes them compelling and fun- they’re ruthless, they’re mean, and they don’t give a fuck about the newsies. they can have whatever backstory you want them to have but they are not The Delancey Brothers if you take away the one thing they have in canon: brutalizing children and having fun with it.

you can absolutely blame their actions on a tragic backstory. i’m not saying you can’t. but taking that fanon backstory and turning them into redeemable, lovable characters is frankly disrespecting the source material, and it doesn’t make sense in regards to canon. you can humanize them without sympathizing with and redeeming them, essentially.

and to me, that’s the fun part! the delanceys are good characters because they’re awful characters. they’re fucked up. they have no remorse. they help ruin lives and they brutalize children and they never show any guilt, or any indication that this isn’t exactly what they shouldn’t be doing. the delanceys are fascinating characters that i truly love, but only because they are irredeemable and dejected and downright brutal. that’s what they are. you can’t change that.

and before anyone says that you can change it in an au: you can! you can absolutely do that- but they won’t be a Delancey if you do. they won’t hold the same weight. if you treat them like they’re “uwu sweet boys”, you’re actively going against everything in the source material; at that point, they aren’t The Show’s characters. they are Your characters. if you want to change them up, that’s fine and wonderful and a lot of iterations of their characters are really interesting, but the driving force behind the delanceys as characters is their codependent brutality. there has to be an aspect of that for them to be recognizable, and i think that’s fucking INCREDIBLE.

basically, there has to be some Essence of their canon characteristics to make out-of-character things work. i’m known for my love of david jacobs, so i’m going to use that as an example. is my davey accurate to the show? no, because i love giving him my own backstory and character traits. but i have reasonings behind the traits i give him, and those reasons are based pulled from canon and expanded on. you can’t just completely ignore canon for everything because then- like i said above- they aren’t The character anymore, they’re Your character, and it’s not the same.

the delanceys are a masterclass in the fact that trauma (though completely fanon- there’s no canon evidence of it) is not always something you can overcome, because you continue to perpetuate it. at that point, they’re no longer victims. they’re just as bad as who created them.

#welcome to another episode of jac’s hot takes!#this blog always and forever will be a fan of fucked up and evil delanceys!#i just think its a disservice to their character to redeem them for the harm they’ve caused #so many people are quick to jump at jack for scabbing but yet they’re out here supporting the delanceys? girl ok…..#if anything i would love to see them even MORE fucked up. let oscar kill a guy #they DO like skull busting…… let them murder let them maim! let them be sick fucks who ruin lives #newsies #jac txt.

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gnomeonamelon · 1 month

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Benefit of a time skip: I get to do fun new things with the characters!!

While Estelle would be 10-12 at the time of the Trials of Apollo, I imagine this design to be a good bit older, around 16.

Backstory, design notes, and all the good stuff below:

Backstory:

In the years after preventing the apocalypse^3, Ash finds young people with the potential to learn magic and walk the line that she does between pantheons. She takes them under her wing, teaching them what she can and helping them find teachers for their individual skillsets.

Ash noticed Estelle and her potential very early on. On the day they met (Estelle was about four), the child pointed out her back tattoo to Percy and his family even through Ash was using particularly strong coating of Mist to hide it from Sally's clear sight. Estelle has the strongest clear sight of any mortal, demigod, or magician she's ever met, she's never been fooled.

Of course, Sally and Paul don't want their daughter going on any quests. Ash promises them that, if she decides she wants to learn magic, it will be treated as an extracurricular activity, and she will be firmly out of the action.

This lasts until she finds a god on her doorstep. She can pretend she's sleeping over at a friend's house for a little jaunt to Indiana... right?

Design:

While Percy and Estelle look a lot alike, I think it's strange that she (and Paul) are described to look a lot like Poseidon. I decided to change her salt and pepper hair to a dark brown and her sea green eyes to either a more standard green as a reference to canon!Percy's eyes or brown as well.

Abilities:

She summons her extra arms through the ᛗ/ Mannaz rune (meaning augmentation and support). What her arms feel like and their physical strength depends on what material/ deck of runes she uses to make or summon them. She has both stone and metal runes, although she favors her metal deck.

I'm sure this comes as no surprise, but Percy was the one to teach her to swordfight. When it comes to dual wielding, incorporating magic into sword fighting, as well as some other more general magician things, Annabeth's cousin Julian taught her (although they didn't know he would be the same Julian when Ash pitched the idea).

She has a sword collection- everything from celestial bronze to bone steel, khopesh to gladius. She even has a half celestial bronze, have mortal steel one that makes Percy really uncomfortable.

As its uncommon among magicians, Amos Kane (the Chief Lector) helped refine Estelle's storm magic. Percy was certainly surprised when Estelle showed him the first time <3.

Role in the story:

Instead of Percy, Estelle is the one that opens the door and attempts to defend the group from plague spirits (Sally's driving them to camp). Through the power of masking, they do fare better against the monsters than canon!Percy on that front and Estelle's able to use the power of storm wind to help break them up but it was covid instead of the common cold.

Estelle and Sally head home to quarantine for a while just in case while the dynamic duo head to camp. She doesn't come back until the end of The Hidden Oracle to once again replace Percy.

She also ends up sneaking along to Indiana behind Apollo and Rachel, only revealing herself when it's too late to send her home by herself (like the gremlin she is). She does very well for and has a blast doing it until the Hunters of Artemis (including Ash and Thalia) appear. This whole adventure definitely gets her grounded.

#I was listening to Starry (the musical) while doing the final touches and now I associate her with The Starry Night and Impress Me #Limen Au #trials of apollo #riordanverse #heroes of olympus #percy jackson #magnus chase #kane chronicles #estelle blofis #She gave Percy a pet rock with blue eyes named Peter Johnson

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notsosilentsister · 1 year

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What is your female characters pet peeves? How do you think female characters should be written? And do you think people often minimise violence against women when it is subtle or passive?

One of my most reblogged posts on tumblr is quote by writer Foz Meadows, about the lack of redemption arcs for female anti-heroines. So that's definitely something I'd like to see more of, for instance. It doesn't mean that I think you should never write iredeemable female villains though. Firstly, because "should" is always a tricky word in the context of art, wouldn't want to sound dogmatic, etc. Secondly, because I don't generally mind cartoon villains; sometimes that's just verissimilitude.

Sure, I usually prefer multidimensional, dynamic characters with complicated motivations, drawn in a nuanced, psychologically plausible manner. But there's also a place in story-telling for cartoon villains and Mary Sues, broad archetypes and blank slates for audiences to project onto. Characters don't have to be relatable, redeemable, admireable, complicated, dynamic, nuanced, plausible, active, memorable, unique, not even interesting. The interesting thing about a piece of fiction doesn't have to be a character. Not every piece of writing has to be character driven. There is no way any individual character could be written that I would consider categorically wrong.

One does notice patterns though, some of which I'm not too fond of. The dearth of redemption arcs for female anti-heroines for instance. Or how the prototypical Blorbo on Tumblr is probably male.

A Blorbo is not necessarily a protagonist, or even a character with a lot of agency, lines, scenes. A Blorbo can play a quite minor role in the source material. The whole thing about the Blorbo is that the fans do most of the work themselves. They sift the canon for every crumb of info, no matter how meagre the yield, and create the most lavish meals by adding home-grown ingredients. It's an ever repeating miracle at the foot of the mountain, a perfect use-case for the age-old wisdom that a little can go a long way, with a bit of crowd participation, if you know the tricks.

But it doesn't just happen, there are some tricks, and they are, it seems to me, sometimes a bit neglected for female characters. A lazy writer might consider a female character as likelable by default, merely by virtue of not having her do anything overly objectionable. Or they might equip her with all sorts of interesting characteristics on paper, but fail to follow through on show-don't-tell. The biggest issue however, the biggest obstacle on the road to potential blorbo-hood, is being done with creating a character too quickly, letting her remain as the placeholder that was introduced in the first outline.

The important thing about a Blorbo is that you can imagine a life for them beyond the narrative of the source material. They must seem more than a mere plot device, an obstacle for the protagonist to overcome, a victim to avenge, a trophy to win, a provider of exposition, a token to meet a diversity quota.

Of course a lot of writers, in their first outline - if they use an outline - might start with plot devices instead of characters. Ideally these are just placeholders, to be replaced by the actual characters in revision after revision, as their image becomes clearer and clearer in the writer's mind and the organically evolve beyond their initial conception. Some writers say the characters take on a life of their own. I tend to find this too cute by half, implying there's not much agency on part of the writer. But I do think there's a valueable idea in there, the idea that you have to let the process take you beyond your first idea, because let's face, first ideas are often very dull. To allow a character to come alive in that way, there has to be willingness to let them grow beyond the place initally reserved for them by the placeholder, to create that space for growth in your mind, to revise and adjust original plans accordingly.

Some writers won't do that, they'll stick to their initial outline come what may, they have no curiosity for their characters beyond their plot function and they're never going to be my favorites. But not everything has to cater to my preferences, and compelling characters are not the only way to sell a story. That's not really my issue.

My beef is with writers who can apparently make that space for evolution for their male characters, and seem to stick with their first outline when it comes to the female ones. Of course I don't have any conclusive evidence for that, it's just a feeling you get with some characters who seem to remain mere placeholders to the end, there's just never the slightest whiff about them that seems to point beyond a first idea. I think this is a subtle violence already, this lack of curiosity, lack of imagination, lack of willigness to change plans to do a character justice, comittment to keeping a character in their original place. Especially because it's an attitude all too easily transferred to real-life-relationships with women and might trigger a lot of frustration and agression when women fail to serve the function they were assigned at the start.

#on writing #female characters #personal #journal

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loosesodamarble · 1 year

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Hi Erika! Sending you lots of positive vibes and much love! Also a couple of questions for you for your new ask game:

Demon Slayer or My Hero Academia?

Tanjiro Kamado or Asta?

Zenitsu x Nezuko or Finral x Finesse? (Flirty Guy x Sweet Girl pairings hehe🥰)

Mist Breathing or Love Breathing? (In honor of the new KNY season)

Thank you so much, friend! Cheers!! 💖

Thank you for the vibes, Acacia, they are must appreciated... 💖

Now, to answer your questions!

Show: Demon Slayer. Hngh... I still have a fondness for MHA but for the earlier arcs. The current arc is just... dragging. I miss the simpler days when the students weren't expected to lead the front lines against the Villains. Okay yes, I know Demon Slayer has the same problem of having youths being the main fighters against dangerous foes, but it feels different. I don't know how to explain it, it just does. Also, the way the two medias handle the whole "the enemy is hurt" thing is done better in KnY. When Tanjirou is fighting, he's thinking of fighting and of how cruel demons are for the evil they commit. But once they're defeated and Tanjirou can let his guard down, he softly watches them pass and laments their tragedy (Rui and the Upper Moon 6 siblings in particular). But then Ochaco is in the middle of drowning on Himiko's Twice copies and she's like "I like seeing people happy so I notice when they cry." Like, my child, your life in on the line right now; stop the sympathy and kick some butt right now.

Character: (frantically looks between my two boys like I'm in a burning house and I can only save one) Girl no, this is too mean!/lh I'm sorry Asta. I'm sorry baby boy, I do love you but Tanjirou is who I pick today. Tanjirou is just... a little less yell-y compared to Asta. The boys both share an ability to touch the hearts of others and while I do love how Asta inspires the Bulls and other characters to change, I prefer how Tanjirou inspires people while those characters still get to draw power from other places. Tengen is impressed by Tanjirou but it's his love for his wives and wish to be a better man that keeps him going against Upper Moon 6. Genya and Sanemi... Enough said. Kanao's change of heart was started by Tanjirou but ultimately, it's her bond with her sisters that pushes her through her final battle. I think it's lovely to see Tanjirou be one strengthening aspect to characters, like how everyone Tanjirou meets also strengthens him.

Ship: Ahsiuhfast! You're right! That got those base traits in common! UIehsrt! I think I'll have to pick Finral x Finesse this time around. I do love Zenitsu and Nezuko's wholesomeness. Zenitsu is a young lad in love and is so mushy-gushy about Nezuko. And she's there just kinda taking it in (her subconsciously remembering Zenitsu's sweetness though, that has me all kshasrtuisarht IT'S TOO CUTE DARN IT!) 😂. But Finral and Finesse is so... Ah! It's wholesome as well, since Finral's flirtatiousness doesn't really show around Finesse. It's a little stronger for me since Finesse isn't in a state like Nezuko. She can actively observe Finral and recognize what he's trying to do for her sake. And the fact that she doesn't judge him and simply encourages him as he tries his best. It's so sweet and lovely and ajshgiaushtr!

Other: Yes, in honor of the new KNY season! I pick Breath of Love (yes, I know that's not the actual terminology used in canon but it's what I adopted when I first started reading and while I usually adopt the terminology in canon material, not this time). Breath of Mist is a very cool (ha ha, because mist is... hah... you know...) breath style (oh my gosh the way it was animated was a feast for the eyes) but I prefer Breath of Love for its uniqueness. The way Mitsuri fights is like she's doing a ribbon dance, light and graceful. But she's also in extreme control of her body when she fights. Also, Mitsuri canonically has the coolest weapon in canon which just adds to my love of her breath style.

#questions from the ask box #fully bloomed acacia #soda asides #demon slayer #tanjirou kamado #ralesse #not me thinking that ralesse and nacsele parallel each other #with a sad man trying so hard for his lady love #and the lady love just being like #'i love you regardless but am so happy to see you trying for me'#like babes finesse and josele would get along swell once the curse is broken

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cannoli-reader · 10 months

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My notes watching Wheel of Time: Season 1, episode 4

Posted on readandfindout.com on 11/27/2021

1:10 – Says Ghealdan. Looks like a Logain flashback. Or at least it had better be a Logain flashback since there is absolutely no other reason to set more of this show in Ghealdan, given the enormous amount of material they don’t have time to cover.

1:49 - Interestingly the flows of the Power wielded by a man are white tinged with black. Not sure if the difference is the taint or saidin.

2:42 - “What does a crown mean to the Dragon Reborn?” This is kind of good, because it’s a lesson Rand did not learn until late in the series. Not that he was hungry for crowns or misused the one he did take, but although he’s probably doing so out of arrogance, Logain is articulating something about the job that Rand (and especially Moiraine) did not get. Rand was not born to govern but to lead and to inspire.

2:59 - The Spanish-type accents and Muslim-looking helms and armor give Ghealdan a sort of Andalusian character, which is a nice sort of world-building thing, even if better reserved for Taraborn or Tear. I am also uncertain about the king’s realization that Logain truly believes he is the Dragon Reborn. Logain almost certainly knew he was not born on Dragonmount. I’m also reserving judgement on the voices until we find out more about them.

5:05 - I think I like him healing and recruiting the king. There is a bit of an issue with the fandom swooning over Logain early on and being predisposed to think the best of him, when he’s actually kind of a jealous dick when it comes to Rand and a war-criminal and terrorist who started a conflict over a title he had no right to. But he did try to cause as little harm as possible.

8:15 - Your healing is crap, Kerene. Nynaeve would have done way better. On the other hand, good job on staying alive 20 years longer than you did in the books.

8:55 - “Only Alanna, Liandrin and (Kerene) are strong enough to shield (Logain).” OK, show, you had better be careful with ANY other Aes Sedai names you use for this party. If any of them are canonically stronger than Alanna, who is the weakest of that trio, I believe, some friends of mine will have words. Pretty sure Liandrin is a tick below Moiraine who is the top tier of active living sisters before Egwene is fake-raised or Cadsuane comes out of retirement.

Although, come to think of it, since Cadsuane had hunted down Logain, why’d she fuck off leaving the party short of strength? Even though her given strength is controversial, the fact that she is almost as strong as Egwene and Elayne would probably put her around 9 or 10 and Kerene is 11, I’m pretty sure.

9:03 - Alanna has enough of a likability problem given her future crime against Rand that we don’t need her being passive-aggressive.

9:27 - Porcelain doll, my ass. Is that tangle on the side of her head supposed to be Liandrin’s trademark multiple honey-colored braids?

9:41 - Proclaiming oneself the Dragon Reborn is apparently a symptom of delusional madness. In the books it’s always referenced as ambition or power-hunger, in keeping with the theme of everyone having agendas and motivations. There isn’t even any real mention of false Dragons going mad, at least not the famous ones, since it seems like it would be an impediment to the kind of efforts that make them notorious, like gathering large followings and effectively fighting back against the Tower and armies sent against them.

I also miss Liandrin’s SS dominatrix accent.

10:08 - I kind of feel like Moiraine would not be volunteering for these side projects when she’s lost track of her charges.

10:19 - I will defer to the Power experts in our community, but I think what they are describing with the shields works. I have always thought that the description of a shielded man we get from Rand’s PoV does not fit the description of a link, especially with each shielding sister individually tying hers off. It is also mentioned that when holding a shield, you are supposed to use all your strength, according to law or custom, which is not actually possible, or up to the individuals, in a link. So I’ll give them this one.

But I’m watching you, show!

11:09 - The relative strengths, as pertains to shielded and shield-holders, I am less sure of.

11:40 - I am assuming the reference to Siuan’s enmity toward Moiraine is for public consumption only.

11:58 - Why would an axe-man be going through the same kata or progression of forms as a swordsman. Especially one with two axes, to one sword. And the axes are much shorter, and double-edged.

12:05 - Lan would not badmouth a woman to another person. Even obliquely.

13:01 - This scene is good establishing Moiraine and Lan as being reticent and stand-offish from their colleagues, alluding to the male channeler pogrom and the slipping of the Amyrlin’s authority as well as demonstrating the dynamics of typical Warder-sister relationships. Kerene’s acting, I think, saves some of her dialogue from verging on GoT-esque clunkiness.

14:22 - “If either of us feels like we should go, we go.” Who are you and what have you done with Egwene? Setting aside interpretations of her character, this is in direct contrast to how her relationship with Perrin played out during their journey together, with both Elyas and the Tinkers.

14:46 - “…if you’re bandits, you’re not very good ones.” This is stupid formulaic TV writing, intended to be iconoclastic or deconstructive or something, but it just makes people look stupid. You become a bandit because you’re broke and have no other recourse for income or survival. Also, there is a thing as a shill or spy, who acts as the inside man. This is the second or third appearance of the Tinkers and a very good set-up line for them to finally articulate the Way of the Leaf! Perrin asks “how do you know we’re not bandits?”, and a Tinker says something about accepting whatever comes and offering hospitality to everyone in need, even a pack of hungry Ogier when your supplies are tapped, because leaves.

15:15 - They’re really trying to get the Tinker wagons right, with the garish colors, but it’s just not coming through in the dingy lighting.

16:10 - Rand is suspicious of Thom, while Mat, who is carrying the Shadar Logoth dagger, reasonably points out that Thom saved their lives, and makes a joke when Rand implies maybe it was a ploy.

16:25 - When Mat first said “…the five of us. You, me, Perrin, Egwene. Who else?” the natural impulse of a book reader is to say “Forget about Nynaeve?” but of course, Mat would not know she is any more significant than Daise Congar or the villager he stole jewelry from, because as far as they know she’s dead. Because of a pointless and unnecessary change from the showrunners that watered down her characterization.

16:30 - Ohhh. And cut to Logain. Tell me why we’re entertaining this delusion? Setting aside the choice to make it a mystery which of the Emond’s Field crew is the DR, why would a WoTnovice who has ever watched another movie or show think Logain is the legit Dragon?

17:15 - Is Alanna working around to calling Siuan a bitch?

Seriously, though, what do we get by the dog story? It doesn't establish their relationship - it could be affection, good-natured teasing or subtle mockery & belittlement.

18:34 - Interestingly in the books, the strength Logain manifested had sisters believing he was considerably weaker than he really was, with Verin claiming he lacked the strength to use the Choedan Kal. OTOH, she also seemed to think it required a maximum level sister, like Moiraine, Elaida or Siuan to handle it. The only other two named sisters Rand has met at that point (Leane and Liandrin), were only slightly below that level, and did not make it into Verin’s list, even though she was nearby for his encounters with both.

19:12 - Alanna sounds like a fan who thinks of the Ajahs as specializations, rather than sororities. Greens are not combat specialists and the Reds are not responsible for gentling men. In fact, the Amyrlin by law does all the gentling and she has not been Red in 1000 years. Greens and Reds simply believe that the purpose of Aes Sedai is to protect people from enemy channelers and prioritize different threats. The main Greens we see in the series are a scholar, the best living male channeler hunter and a politician. The most effective combatants are a Blue and a Yellow. The first Green we see in combat action doesn’t perform notably better than her Brown companion. Saying the Greens are better at combat or the Reds are responsible for gentling is like saying Michigan natives are all industrial workers and better at it than Texans. All Aes Sedai do all sorts of stuff. They gravitate toward Ajahs based on personality and inclinations, not skillsets.

19:50 - If you like braids, why don’t you wear some, like your book character, Liandrin?

19:52 - No, it’s not Nin-Ayv, it’s Ny-neev, which Robert Jordan implied was a pet peeve of his at a book signing my brother attended.

20:25 - Liandrin lets a non-sister talk smack to her. Totally in character.

21:30 - Handling a bow incompetently is not an indicator of lack of resolve - or intent - to kill!

21:59 - More “TV writers attempt to demonstrate competence” tropes. AHA! There were other archers behind them all along! Never mind that as this scene is blocked, it was absolutely impossible for the woman and boy to get into position that fast, let alone without making any noise as they are both standing on a pile of leaves. Even the stipulated intent to show Rand catching flies with honey has him do so by belittling the other person’s shooting and offering a faulty logical proposition supposedly proving his lack of hostile intent.

22:13 - Liandrin, or any Aes Sedai, would not gossip about a sister to an outsider! Ever. The only possible rationale would be if she’s aware of Nynaeve’s strength or potential and wants to get her on her side, but setting aside the Tower’s canonical disdain for any channeler not raised to sisterhood, that would make her a wilder, which Liandrin hates like they have a Y chromosome.

22:35 - Lan addresses an Aes Sedai in public without the honorific Sedai, which so far we have seen the show lean toward excessive use of, rather than insufficient. Kerene uses it when speaking to her warder while alone. Lan would not fail to do so unless he was married to Nynaeve and Liandrin was clearly snubbing her in some way, rather than being way nicer to her than any book Aes Sedai would. Lan is the one who told off Perrin’s assumption about Red sisters, that they are fighting the Dark One in their own way. This sort of thing makes it stick out more that he helped Rand for his audience with the Amyrlin.

23:18 - Lan’s assertion that they can better look for the missing TR folk from Tar Valon only makes sense if they are taking GoT’s approach of aggressive indifference to geography. It looks more like a weak rationalization of a plot divergence to introduce the Aes Sedai in general.

23:56 - FINALLY. Four scenes of Tinkers before we so much as hear about the Way of the Leaf. For the Tuathan it’s like being a eunuch on Game of Thrones – they tell people about it every chance they get.

24:30 - Aram’s underlying dissatisfaction with the Way is rather on the nose. It was done more subtly in dialogue ITB where Perrin showed up his posturing of moral superiority.

24:55 - Ila’s pointed remark about the axe is similarly heavy-handed, especially with her jumping right to “axe” as his weapon of choice. Also, Perrin doesn’t have the axe, which represents his conflict with personal violence. I also feel that conflict might have been better served without that nonsense of his accidentally killing his wife. SHE’S the one who surprised an armed man, after all.

25:08 - And in the books, Perrin’s beard symbolizes his maturation. tDR was a coming of age story for Mat, Egwene & Perrin, where they each learned an aspect of maturity. In the next book, he is growing a beard and begins a leadership arc, where before he was always in the company of a “grown-up” type character, like Moiraine, Elyas or Ingtar or doing very poorly.

And this caravan is moving south or southwest.

26:08 - Not sure how I feel about the dagger making him puke up blood, or that the blood is tainted, but I suppose it’s going to be easier, going forward, than trying to make him look visibly wan and scrawny.

27:25 - That’s an OK way to introduce Birgitte as a legendary hero, although an explanation that it’s more than a doll’s name will hopefully be forthcoming.

28:30 - “He’s not an idiot” says no one who know Mat. That being said, while the channeling diagnosis is pretty quick on Thom’s part, that’s kind of par for the course with this show’s pacing so far. It could be a halfway decent way of illustrating how paranoid people in this world are about men channeling. I wonder if a WoT novice is going to agree or go right to the dagger he picked up in a city where he was told not to touch anything. The black stuff in his puke looked a little like Logain’s channeling.

29:25 - No one would know about the malaise that afflicts women, because the Tower is no more keen to advertise weakness or fallibility than any sensible power-seeking group. You can use the exposition excuse, but considering one of the three storylines is currently following a group of Aes Sedai, it would be more appropriate to have one of them drop a mention that both men and women fear losing their ability to channel. Especially when a major subject in that plotline is holding a man shielded and taking him in for gentling.

30:33 - Is there some massive gleeman conspiracy? Are the gleemen subtly manipulating the powerful while passing as harmless? First of all “there is nothing as dangerous as a man who knows the past” is script-writer bullshit they think makes them sound clever, and nerd-pandering to the conceit that liking to read is a superpower. If you actually want to be witty, people who don't know the past are way more dangerous. Secondly, knowledge of the past is not remotely relevant to the topic of their discussion. Male channelers are very much a right-now problem.

31:01 - Male warders cuddling! Now there’s not going to be any complaints about Rand’s love life! All the junior feminists whining about the lack of Aiel polyandry have been silenced!

31:19 - Do they even realize they have all the warders laughing at Lan being tracked by a guuurl? Nynaeve’s tracking comes up in the books as something that earns her respect, it’s not something she thrusts forward into a discussion teasing Lan. But as I have said, Clever TV Dialogue TM consists of belittling people and tearing them down. All humor and fun must be at someone’s expense.

31:38 - What exactly is Green Oriental Sister doing with the group, since we have not seen her taking a shift with Logain, nor does she look like she’s going to anytime soon?

32:00 - ITB Formulaic salute from Warder to Aes Sedai “Honor to serve, Aes Sedai.” WoTshow Warder “We don’t (serve Aes Seda).”

32:46 - Apparently Owein has been replaced by Maksim in Alanna’s group of warders.

33:10 - Yay. Polyarmory fan service. Just what WoT is really all about.

33:36 - If neither Moiraine or Alanna is shielding Logain, who is?

33:57 - Ahh. They’re hanging around to check if Logain is the actual DR. And Lan pointing out that’s kind of stupid from a Watsonian sense doesn’t make this guessing game any less so from a Doylist one.

35:02 - I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt that Lan’s just making a joke and they aren’t trying to say that a warder bond feeds back on the Aes Sedai. It’s unique to a female-female bond, which was the whole point.

35:56 - So 50% of the Tinkers’ distinctive belief system is just a superstition or fairy tale? What is their point then, if they are not seeking the Song? Why are they wandering around with Ila and Raen? This sounds like more post-modern scoffing at fantasy elements, which is very weird, because a lot of the fandom took the idea of the Song seriously at face value, no matter how often the more perspicacious of us tried to clarify that it was an example of the power of belief and legends, even when they are misunderstood and garbled over time! The fact that the Tinkers are wrong about the Song does not change the importance of that belief to a central thematic concept to the whole story! Having Aram sneer at the idea and Egwene offer a Hallmark-worthy comeback is the show trying to be clever and superior at the expense of servicing the story!

36:36 - Taika Waititi is really going to town on them bongos. Like a chimpanzee. That’s the way you do it.

37:00 - I have zero faith that the ensuing conversation will produce anything particularly relevant to the plot or Perrin’s characterization.

37:19 - I suppose it’s good that Perrin’s powers of observation are being revealed, but “don’t look peaceful” should reference their actions, not be an assumption that they are somehow falling short of the Tinkers’ Way based on their appearance! Especially since absolutely nothing about non-resisting pacifism suggests you will never acquire scars, which are done by OTHER violent people!

38:03 - This conversation is dumb and pointless. Watching Perrin be instructed on the novel concept of principles mattering more than results adds nothing to the story. This is junior high philosophy!

38:31 - Aaand we’re excising Aram’s mother. Who never appeared on screen, so it’s not like we’re sparing the casting budget, but whose death was his catalyst for abandoning the Way of the Leaf.

39:12 - Ila would not refer to taking up the spear to seek revenge as an act requiring courage.

39:26 - Perrin sees no difference in actions and desires. Ila, who, it has been established, did not act against her principles and Way, is guilty of acting in a manner that “does not sound like the Way of the Leaf.” I said this discussion was junior high philosophy, but by 3rd grade we had already learned the difference between having sinful desires and acting upon them! I guess junior high is still way above Perrin’s competency level.

39:33 - This makes no sense! Perrin chides Ila for desires that go against her principles, and she responds by rationalizing her principles as fulfilling those desires! They are not actually responding to what the other person is saying, not in any coherent or congruent manner.

40:04 - I should like this better, given how closely it tracks with my recent theory where I argued that adhering to principles even at great personal cost makes the world a better place to be reborn into. But for this character, why not go with Ila’s ITB answer that violence harms the soul of the one who commits it? This is the 21st century, and we have been fighting a war for all but 8 months of it. PTSD is a household term. This should not be hard to get across.

40:16 - Robert Jordan, criticized more often for excess verbiage than any other fault, did not find it necessary to have a single on-page conversation between Egwene and Aram, not least because adolescent interactions are insipid and banal. There is no way this second on-screen conversation is going to add anything more than Ila’s & Perrin’s did (and ITB, it was Egwene who had long conversations with Ila).

40:51 - Okay, are Rand and Egwene broken up or not? Either way, I’m rooting for her to move on and have some fun with Aram. Like do SOMETHING to establish her actual characterization, please?

41:02 - Tuatha’an rumspringa?! Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me?!

41:10 - “Some farm, some set sail”. Chubby nerd film major who’s probably never done manual labor in his life thinks those are jobs you can just pick up at 20, after growing up wandering around in wagons, or that you can join a collective enterprise as a distinctively-clad member of a despised and mistrusted group of cosmopolites. And what does this detail have to do with the subject of Egwene’s missing boyfriend? Or girlfriend, because this is the kind of show that would make a point of not making assumptions.

41:46 - WHAT did we gain from either of those conversations? How does Tinker Rumspringa expand our knowledge and understanding of anything? And why are they all from Murandy? What does Ila’s sorrow at the death of her daughter add to her character? The real contention against the Way of the Leaf is the question of addressing the need for revenge, but of preventing evil. That IS the first thing Perrin brought up after hearing about it ITB. And it has even less to do with his experience on screen, where the signal act of violence in his life has been the friendly fire death of his wife. In which case, there is a real conflict, because taking up arms in defense of himself, his home and his family led directly to Laila’s death. You can DO something with this. That’s why I was intrigued in the first episode. But they seem to have forgotten that datum, since nothing Perrin says is informed by that singular experience of violence.

42:20 - There are a hundred fan-fiction writers right this moment hard at work composing luridly elaborate descriptions of ass-piracy all pretentiously titled some variation of “When the Candle Went Out”

42:50 - The scary thing Ba’alzamon does in their dreams is talk to them! Not jump scares or acting like a monster! How is this supposed to get them on Team Shadow?

43:08 - Well, shit. Dagger-possession escalated rapidly.

43:49 - That scene was so quick, you barely notice the Myrddraal disappearing into and out of the shadows. We’re so used to this genre being shot in darkness, that it seems like it just backed out of sight and ran down the stairs. Also the implication is that Thom’s knife knocked it back. There should have been some indication that it would have hit, but the shadow-thing moved the Fade out of the way.

45:13 - Doll-shots are the most pretentiously trite thing ever.

That was crap. We have one conversation with Thom that is not entirely exposition, barely get to know him, he never meets the rest of the Fellowship and likewise, are barely told anything about the Myrddraal or its powers and abilities. We have no lines indicating that a Warder and Aes Sedai failed to bring down the one that attacked the village, no real demonstration of the threat it poses. I noted in my analysis of the trailer that the sandworm mouth might work to convey its wrongness and inhumanity, but going with that, rather than attempt to convey its shadow affinity or unnatural strength and speed, or mentioning how it paralyzes you with terror or controls the Trollocs by fear … that just undermines the peril Thom faced. The show has given us no reason to suppose this thing is any more formidable than Narg, who at least had size and power going for it. We have not seen it kill a single person on this show! Thom kicks it across the room! How tough can it really be, catching daggers or not?

So why are we supposed to assume that Thom died, or the boys were right to run, rather than try to fight and improve his odds? Thom has not even been there to see that the Shadow is hunting them and that they need protection. If Rand is to be taken seriously with his noting that he could have killed Dana to ingratiate himself with them, well, the same goes for an off-screen fight with the Myrddraal.

You might not even realize that the Myrddraal killed the Grinwells, rather than Mat, driven by the dagger.

But this is why they changed Else from a flirtatious young woman, which demonstrated Rand’s attractiveness and incompetence with regard to the opposite sex, as well as the way ta’veren change people’s lives, to a too-cute-for-this-world child. Who dies tragically, of course. Though if the names were mentioned, I don’t recall. I got that from the subtitles & X-Ray feature.

I have also just now realized that it was not blood, it was Mashadar-like manifestations. Which is not a bad way to indicate the actual source of his odd behavior, but hard to notice with the dark lighting every time we’ve seen it.

45:26 - If holding Logain is as difficult at Kerene said earlier, and as Liandrin is claiming now, as the crux of her argument to gentle him, why is Liandrin doing it alone?

45:34 - The Three Oaths have nothing to do with why they have not gentled Logain. It was established in a prior scene in this very episode that it’s orders and Tower policy. The Three Oaths apply to all sisters, including the Amyrlin, so if gentling violates the Oath to not use the Power as a weapon, how do they gentle him at all, without a procedure that entails both lethal danger and considerable sophistry?

45:47 - Nice sentiment, Kerene. I’ll let that one stand. But ITB

46:00 - I like the assumption that most Reds would follow the law, and that this is Liandrin’s personal animus, not a characteristic of her much-slandered Ajah.

46:50 - Yay. More invented rituals. /sarcasm How did Lan get to be one of the most rabidly loved and admired characters in the series, when Jordan was too stupid to have him doing any of this crap?

FWIW, ITB, Lan does not believe Malkier shall rise again. He intended, before being bonded, to commit suicide by Blight to prevent any Malkieri from getting killed uselessly trying to bring it back.

47:31 - I’m pausing to look up the Old Tongue dictionary for this. “Dead People Blood Must Pass Through World and Our Memories Will Of Tied to Your heart.” Flipping pages back and forth is hard with a Kindle Paperwhite. (Dear Amazon; Please don’t sue Ben. Thanks)

47:49 - That was some pretty precise recitation for someone who does not know the Old Tongue. Speaking as someone who prays in a dead language, that’s not how it works, unless you read it a lot, too.

48:40 - “We shall go into the land, so our children can always hold us and will never be alone.” I guess context is critical in the Old Tongue. Maybe when that’s the closest approximation you can get with the extant Old Tongue dictionary, drop the unnecessary dialogue, hmm?

50:55 - I’ll give Alanna that one under the Three Oaths. She just dropped the arrows. Not her fault the soldiers ran under them. She dropped them forcefully to quickly get them out of the way, that's all.

52:10 - I’m glad Nynaeve is not using a weapon in all this, but now I’m afraid this is going to turn into her big moment of revelation by channeling to destroy the army when everything appears lost.

52:28 - Ugh. Now it’s Moiraine stepping up to Logain. Like a Boss. Yay. Snap. Snap.

52:41 - Did she sabotage the shield?!?

53:30 - This is like in GoT, where they had Tyrion in the first season toss off a line that basically summed up Jon Snow’s plot arc and character development for books 2 & 3. Except Logain is here stating as a given the lesson that Rand takes the whole series to learn and the realization of which pulls him back from the brink of his self-destructive despair. Assuming the series even gets that far, aren’t observant fans going to miss the significance of that, when Rand starts repeating Logain’s delusions?

I’m not sure how I feel about the voice of the Dragons thing as a set-up for LTT’s voice.

53:40 - This is sort-of in character for Moiraine to miss the philosophical point by nitpicking semantics, as she did with Perrin in Book 3. But it also feels like the “we know all metaphysical belief is dumb, aren’t we so clever?” writing that pervaded the latter seasons of Game of Thrones. What even are prophecies and the point of the Dragon or ta'veren if "the Wheel doesn't want anything"?

I feel compelled now to start searching through promotional material fr this show, because I'm pretty sure there's been something that quoted Moiraine saying "The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills." As she often does ITB, especially to cover her own ignorance or mistakes.

54:19 - Moiraine’s comparison of Logain’s strength as “a pinprick of candlelight against the sun” compared to the Dragon Reborn is interesting considering he’s “one step below Rand” according to the Companion.

54:56 - Okaaaay, show clearly does not get how shields work. They don’t trap the Power in with you, they keep it AWAY from you.

57:00 - And because Kerene’s warder stuck his axes through the shield, Logain was able to grab them and break them? What even is this?

57:32 - Logain making those saidin wings just like he did before Healing the King of Ghealdn sort of undercuts the peril here. You’re halfway waiting for him to do it again and sway everyone back to his side. That probably does not seem as ridiculous to WoT Novices as it does to book readers.

Anyway, I say this because the obvious thing to do here is have Nynaeve Heal people as her big moment of channeling revelation.

57:59 - I like that we saw her Healing Liandrin, so it’s not a thing that she was driven to Heal Lan out of Twoo Wuv.

58:12 - Just because men can sense women channeling does not mean they are aware of their strength, or in any position to compare one’s power to “a raging sun”. And again, let’s remember that Logain is canonically stronger than Nynaeve, whose full potential (unreached late in the series) is short of even the second step for women, let alone men. All Logain should notice is that she Healed some people. Only two we can tell for certain on screen.

58:30 - For the record, “nature itself” is A. never anthropomorphized in the books and B. does, in fact, wish Logain to channel since it gave him the inherent ability. The taint is Unnatural and the work of the Dark One.

59:02 - And Logain’s gentled, so that’s that.

Interestingly, the writer of this episode is credited as Dave Hill, whose sole other credited work is Game of Thrones. He is listed as “assistant: David Benioff & DB Weiss, LA” in seasons 2 through 4, staff writer in season 5, story editor in season 6 and is credited with writing one episode in each of the last four seasons. You know, the shit ones? What a shocker. So if you're trying to make a new fantasy TV show, based on a series of doorstopper novels, why would you hire a guy who fetched coffee at the Hollywood office ("LA" suggests he was not on the set in Ireland or Malta or wherever) during the good part of the show, and saw it go into a downturn when he was promoted to writer. And incidentally, started writing around the time the show stopped writing off of existing books.

And regarding Thom, how about that run? Thom showed up at the very beginning ITB, he was the voice of the author in describing the changing of history and fact into different stories, on more than one occasion. He was an intermediate character between the ignorant hicks and Moiraine & Lan, who are operating at the preternatural level. While they exposited the paranormal levels of the story, Thom guided the kids into the wider world at a more human level. While Moiraine's One Power lectures and Lan's weapons instruction didn't come into play until much further down the road, Thom helped give Rand and Mat skills to help them survive in the immediate, relatable crisis of being lost and alone with no resources. He got them passage on the ship, and a roof over their head in Caemlyn and gave them the means to earn their way there. And he threw himself in front of a monster to save them. There's only the bare bones of that here. Nothing was done to establish any real rapport between him and the boys. He's the one to finger Mat as a potential channeler and tells Rand they have to keep him clear of the Aes Sedai. That barely fits with his actions and intentions ITB, where, like any sensible person he is resigned to the fact that you can't do anything in that case. When he thinks Rand is cleared of suspicion in channeling he says not to tell him which of Mat or Perrin it was. He mostly wants to protect the boys from getting chewed up and spat out by White Tower machinations. Protecting a male channeler from gentling is basically a lost cause, a fact which is only obscured from WoT Novices by a lack of clarity about the details of channeling.

Now it's starting to look like Logain is a bigger part of this section of the story than Thom. Logain was pure background and setup in "The Eye of the World" through "The Shadow Rising." He was basically a McGuffin for Siuan and Nynaeve to act upon in the next two books. And Thom actually interacted with the main characters and influenced Rand significantly in the first two books. He served as sidekick and mentor to various characters throughout the series and he's Moiraine's love interest, for crap's sake!

Except, you know what? There's a significant portion of the newer fandom on social media, especially the half-assed feminist posturing sort, who worships Moiraine and thinks Thom is unworthy of her and/or ships her hard with Siuan. And all too many of the changes or additions to the show seem to be the sort targeted exactly at that segment of the peanut gallery. The possibility that the Dragon can be, and has been, a woman, the shallow LGBTQ nods, forefronting Moiraine, swapping Raen for Ila as leader of the Tinkers - it's all the sort of thing they're panting for, as well as the chance to posture and virtue-signal their embrace of the non-white cast.

The problem is not which fans they are trying to appease, but that they are coming at this with the attitude of trying to "fix" the story, and trying to 'update' it. How often has that ever panned out? The successful genre adaptations tend to have in common fidelity to the source material. "Lord of the Rings" was almost religiously so and "The Hobbit" took a great many more liberties and was much more poorly received. "Game of Thrones" is generally considered to have worked when it was faithful to the books and not when it struck out on its own. It's worth noting that the 5th season is much more reviled than the subsequent 6th or even 7th, even though they were still more or less covering established book material in the 5th. But in that season, they felt more at liberty than previously to deviate and repackage the story. They swapped out characters and moved carelessly from one plot-point to the next with little care for keeping the storyline coherent and the progression logically or fitting in with the established setting.

And those are problems I am seeing the beginning of on this show. Thom's arc feels like they're just hitting line items on a checklist. Thom shows up, we establish the Owyn backstory (actually, that might explain renaming Alanna's warder), and having him disappear fighting rearguard against a Myrddraal. Check and check. When we bring him back, we'll just have Rand be happy to see him and that's all we need to do. They look like they're doing the same thing with the plot in general. Trolloc attack, check. Shadar Logoth, check. Tinkers, check. What about Elyas? Eh, just have some wolves show up here and there.

There's hints they seem to be missing the significance of a lot of elements in the story, like Perrin's conflict with the wolves or what Shadar Logoth represents as a cautionary fable. Or the mechanics of channeling. Nothing is more promising to the prospects of an adaptation than making up a new magic system on the fly. And of course, the whole central premise of perspective as it relates to knowledge, of which there has not been the slightest sign.

My brother, a book fan, sat down with his wife who doesn't read fantasy, to watch the show, and she gave up because she has no idea what's going on and has no attachment to the story. She did not, needless to say, have that problem with Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings.

#wot on prime #season 1 #timestamp annotations

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monsterkissed · 2 years

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⭐⭐ literally talk about anything in BNGN you've been dying to talk about, but if it helps to pick: tell me about those egypt-era scenes in the recent chapters

oh Very good choice

so those scenes were in the outline from p much day one, but they've been moved a lot earlier than they originally were! there are a couple reasons for this including but not limited to one chapter getting split (the only time, miraculously, that i have ever done so) and a few technical re-jiggers in a certain very tech-heavy prologue, but also because i want to do something mean later and i didn't want it to be fighting for attention against those two scenes.

obviously the doppio reveal is star of the show, that's been percolating for a While and i was incredibly excited to finally put it down. there is a point with bngn where it crosses over from intuiting from canon backstory scraps into my own attempts to weave a whole Thing together and that scene is really the point of no return in that regard, it shuts down a lot of ambiguity. there are a lot of hints throughout the 2nd act that the very first chapter of the fic has been a cruel and sneaky trick, but it gets really explicit there (tho bc it's me i think the first line directly referencing the "real" doppio prologue is all the way back in chapter 9). i really liked taking a little break to focus on some comedy again in the midst of some more intense stuff. i wanted it to be very light and funny because you know how i feel about mixing the funny and the drama, but as a scene it also kind of closes the loop on doppio in a sense? kind of trying to cover a lot of aspects about him at once. we go back all the way to the beginning and see what he's about at the same time as we're getting his original canon ending, and later in that same chapter he's going choose to leave behind the new relationships he's been building over the fic and stick to those original guns, albeit with a little less passivity. so it's important to get the context for why this is the natural conclusion his life has brought him to. from here on out, his past isn't going to have the answers. it's forward or nothing.

but by kind of pulling the curtain back on doppio's mysteries we then have to pivot to diavolo's, because very fittingly it turns out neither of them has all of the pieces we need. diavolo's decision to go full crime boss is also a point that's vague in the anime, so we're straight into fresh material there. he's had little glimpses of his POV in the fic before but this is the first real extended shot of him outside of the side content and it's not him as the impressive powerful villain he becomes, but the man he was before that. which is, in short, a Mess. there's comedy there as well, i think being terrified of kc is entirely reasonable as an initial reaction, but it's also a good opportunity to demonstrate diavolo both getting entirely the wrong idea in his scrambling to jump to the right conclusion, and doing things with that faulty data that are not sensible or good long-term decisions. he's still the same person but he's rattled and paranoid and that's a rut he's not getting out of any time soon. he's also desperately isolated and trapped on an island between his various burned bridges, and if he stops to think for a moment he's going to have the weight of that fall down around his ears. so he's not going to stop and think about things very much. this is a minor spoiler i suppose but: while doppio's flashback scenes were very much out of order (actively reverse order, in several cases), diavolo's are a lot more chronological in some senses ("in some senses" because... well, you'll see). they are a lot more grounded and weighted in the past because he is a lot more firmly rooted in it than doppio was. i liked playing with that in his scene particularly, both in referencing spice girl's intro when kc first shows up, and a bit more sneakily by paying off a little detail alllll the way back in chapter 18. for a man who doesn't want to hold onto the past, he held onto that first letter for a Long time.

also, of course, that first egypt chapter lead to the first piece of bngn fanart i received, so obviously it was a triumph in every way.

#writing

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fanbun · 2 years

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Rick Sanchez & The Stages of Grooming (intro)

Hi hello. Yes, you read that title right. This is the first part of a series of posts about how Rick’s behavior towards Morty matches the well-documented stages of grooming that child predators are known to follow. A lot of this is evident even from the pilot episode but is admittedly not the whole picture of the character as we have come to know him over the course of the show.

I know Rick is the fandom’s poor little meow meow so a lot of people are going to be uncomfortable with me making these comparisons. I understand that I am speaking about a sensitive subject that many may prefer not to think about. But even so, I felt the need to write a gross dissection of the character and I’m willing to back up my slander with direct evidence from the show. The instances I point out will be scenes with general overtones of this specific form of abuse, whether that be through clear allusions in the dialogue or through the greater context of Rick and Morty’s relationship.

I’d also like to get it out of the way first that Rick is not canonically preying on Morty for sexual reasons. I am not suggesting that. However, I have reason to believe that the show has made jokes that purposefully allude to sexual abuse for shock value and I find those instances significant enough to mention.

Now let’s start with a clear definition...

Grooming: a form of abuse that involves manipulating someone until they’re isolated, dependent, and more vulnerable to exploitation (x)

Grooming is not just about sexual activity. It can take many forms including to commit criminal acts, carry drugs or become involved in radicalisation. It is a carefully planned process with the aim of controlling a young person, to ensure that they do exactly what the perpetrator wants. Initially, a young person may receive gifts and be showered with attention and affection, but this may later turn to blackmail, threats of violence or actual violence. (x)

We already know that Rick has plenty to gain from securing complete control over Morty. There is, of course, the cloaking brainwaves reason that he provides in Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind. Then there are the practical uses that come from Rick having access to an impressionable youth who he can convince to do things like smuggle contraband through interdimensional customs for him by way of terribly invasive methods. Morty is quite literally Rick’s partner in crime, though notably against his will at the beginning (“I mean, you know, I-I don’t wanna shoot nobody!”) until constant exposure to such “adventures” leads him to become accustomed to the role. This is part of Rick’s grooming process.

But on top of that, and perhaps most crucially, their partnership has the added benefit of filling the void of Rick’s crippling loneliness. This is where the classic icky, too-close-for-comfort side of grooming shows its face. Because at a certain point it becomes clear that Rick is conditioning Morty to fulfill his emotional needs and dedicate himself entirely to Rick’s benefit, regardless of what Morty actually wants. Suddenly it’s not just about crime and material goals. Suddenly it’s personal. Because Rick wants Morty to stay by his side forever and he will do whatever it takes to keep Morty from leaving him.

Without even getting into specifics on the individual stages of grooming, Rick’s tendency to utilize manipulation tactics coupled with his desire to monopolize his grandson’s life is the ultimate red flag.

And all of this gets a whole lot more predatory when you count the Ricks of the Citadel, who systematically bred Mortys and raised them to be subservient to Ricks and forgiving of the abuse they endure. It goes to show that not just one or two Ricks do this. The season 5 finale revealed a whole mass grooming operation carried out by Ricks (a “Morty Market” in the episode’s own words), though it’s clear they were not always successful at making Mortys into their ideal partners. The main antagonist of the Citadel arc, Evil Morty, is the most prominent example of that failure.

You may sense where I’m going with this. Considering the recurring themes of abuse in the show, I don’t think the Citadel’s narrative similarities to the real life horrors of child trafficking was an accident. A large part of the shock of that reveal is the blatant commodification of a minor by an old man, and the revulsion that such a scenario inspires in the viewer is meant to make Evil Morty’s motives for violence more understandable.

Maybe I’m the weirdo for taking an irreverent animated comedy so seriously. But if we want to analyze the overarching plot of the series, this subtext is an observable element that deserves to be acknowledged. And by god am I going to acknowledge it.

[>> Next part]

#Rick and Morty #rnm meta #rickorty #c 137cest #sorry guys #i would put this under a read more but i do not want to #the next parts won't be quite as long #rick sanchez & the stages of grooming #long post #grooming cw #child abuse cw #csa mention

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akolnoix · 2 years

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What’s your ideal light and misa dynamic? I love anything where there’s romance involved. They’re so unrequited and incompatible I can only take them seriously when they’re platonic.

hmmm well, when i look at misa's character, i see a few different directions i could enjoy seeing her character go (and thus, their dynamic).

the first is that of the devout kira believer, who is manipulated by light through her utter devotion to The Cause (not light himself). it's not inherently bad writing for their relationship to be very one-sided, so long as misa's devotion is written in a way that primarily informs Her as a character and doesn't just exist to make her a useful prop for light to wield.

the death note musical is the perfect portrayal of this, and i consider it Mandatory viewing for anyone who wants to see the only official depiction of misa amane that's actually an important and well-written character.

in the source material, misa's dedication is supposedly because of how kira dealt with her parent's murderer but she never feels genuinely invested in that. the musical, however, truly brings that motivation to life and makes you understand why she is willing to go so far for kira, no matter how it hurts her. it's a beautifully tragic take on the character, and the narrative really respects her

a clip, for motivation to go watch it (you can download the full thing here. my personal favorite is the 2015 kakizawa hayato version but they're all good)

but for a longer format like the original manga, i'd like something more like walt and jesse's dynamic in breaking bad. where light is definitely manipulating her but in general their dynamic is somewhat more even (and even genuine to some degree). misa's not just being quietly accepting of light's bullshit, is willing to question their partnership, isn't afraid to be mean and argue with him, so light has to work a Lot harder to get her under his thumb, and not piss her off enough for her to come after him.

then in the most canon divergent direction, a misa that's actively antagonistic, where she retains the more threatening aspects of her character from her initial appearance, being way more willing to kill and way more flippant about it than light is, casually threatening to kill him if he does something she doesn't light (and of course, "if push comes to shove, i've got the eyes so im stronger"). initially putting on the image of the fangirl to manipulate him w/his underestimation of her, any initial claims of justice quickly fall apart and it's clear that she is in this for the power trip, and a similar fascination in light's whole *gestures* like L is (albeit from the opposite end). so i'd like that dynamic to develop into more of a very tense ally-ship where they are working together right now but know at some point the other will come for their throat.

honestly the closest thing we've got to this angle is the netflix adaptation, which im against like morally (absolutely sick to not even allow asian actors to audition) but as a movie i um. actually kinda enjoyed. it's not like profound or very well written but i thought it was schlocky fun, and "mia"+light's fucked up romance is compelling conceptually. keyword conceptually. i'd like to see an alternate universe where it was good.

ANYWAYS. those are my rambling please do not take them too seriously i am just throwing thoughts out there

#ask #anonymous #death note #this mostly just became about misa...#light is just already a *mwah* wonderfully realized character so to make their dynamic compelling you've gotta work on her end #what can i say #anyways. watch the musical

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cqlfeels · 3 years

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Hope no one minds if I share a half-baked 3zun theory with the class 😊

It really is half-baked and is shared more like a drunk guy yelling in the subway than like a fandom scholar presenting a lecture 💖

So, sworn brotherhood is way more complicated than exchanging friendship bracelets and promising to be BFFs. It involves the families of all sworn brothers (and we know how important families are in the world of MDZS/CQL) and, for political leaders, it unavoidably gets tangled up in politics. Though speaking of modern-day rather than historical sworn brotherhood, this paper does a pretty good job outlining the functions of ritual kinship, and it's very readable, so I do think people who are Into Serious Meta would enjoy it:

Anyway, here's why WWX speculates 3zun swore brotherhood:

Ever since Meng Yao betrayed the QingheNie Sect, the relationship between Nie MingJue and him hadn’t been the same as before. Then why did they later become sworn brothers? From his observations, aside from how Lan XiChen brought it up, having always hoped that the two would reconcile, the most important factor was probably the gratitude of saving his life and writing the letters. To be precise, in his past battles, he had more-or-less depended on the information that Meng Yao sent over through Lan XiChen. He still thought that Jin GuangYao was a talented person whom one would rarely come upon, and intended on leading him back onto the right path. However, Jin GuangYao wasn’t his subordinate anymore. Only after they became sworn brothers would he have the status and the position to urge Jin GuangYao, like how he disciplined his younger brother, Nie HuaiSang.

Standard unreliable narrator disclaimers apply, etc.

But I always found this... Strange. I do think this is part of NMJ's motivation, but I think gratitude for JGY's role in the war is not nearly enough to swear brotherhood (WWX was also instrumental to winning Sunshot, and I just can't imagine NMJ saying "that's enough for him to become my brother"), and I... Don't think NMJ is so charitable as to swear brotherhood because he wants oh so much for JGY to be Good and not waste his talents. Yes I think he loves being able to have authority over JGY again, but enough to justify swearing brotherhood? Eh. I can see LXC suggesting both these things to pitch the idea to NMJ, but I don't think it's enough for NMJ to go from active distrust to ritual kinship. Of course these are important factors, yes, but not the whole picture. For all else you can say about NMJ, that he takes oaths lightly isn't an accusation you can make.

Interestingly, besides mutual affection, etc, LXC and JGY immediately gain material benefits by becoming brothers. JGY gains social capital by being held up as being close to two different sect leaders, and washes away his past work for the Wen by ritually aligning himself with the two heroes of Sunshot. LXC, on the other hand, can get financial help for his destroyed Sect without losing face - he's not begging for help, he's just gracefully accepting his brothers' generosity. For xiyao, sworn brotherhood brings some measure of stability to the power play they're entangled in the post-war world - JGY exchanges his sect's resources for the soft power of the Lan. (Note that JGY also gets a way to justify to his father why the Jin will lose face if they don't help the Lan, which, if you read JGY as genuinely wanting to help LXC, is also a perk for both of them.)

And NMJ......... Gets to scold JGY into virtue, I guess??? What benefit is he looking for? Just personal satisfaction??? Is he not Nie-zongzhu, isn't he considering his sect? I mean, the Nie as a sect gain nothing by their brotherhood...... Unless you remove NMJ out of the picture. When NHS gets to power, the Nie are poised to gain a lot.

Although both JGY and LXC clearly love NHS, if he outlived his political usefulness (and let's face it, NMJ is sure he will), there's no way they can justify to their sects why they're helping him indefinitely. If NHS is their sworn brother's heir, though? They don't even have to explain themselves - they're expected to help.

Even if NHS is a disastrous sect leader, he automatically inherits an unbreakable alliance with 2/3 of the major sects. The Jiang sure as hell won't go to war against all the other major sects put together, and LXC won't allow the Lan to be anything but nice to NHS as long as he can possibly help it. The Jin are more of a wildcard because NMJ has no reason to believe JGY will ever inherit leadership, but NHS - and by extension his sect - having a Jin on his side is better than no Jin at all. Plus if JGS were a normal father it'd be super awkward for him to go up against one of his son's sworn brothers' sect. There's always assassination and all, but hey, NMJ can't fix every thing in one fell swoop, can he?

So like, I'm not saying it's canon or anything, but it is possible that NMJ - who may be a hot-headed dude but must be capable of some level of strategizing, if he's such a great military man - was counting on dying before his time and leaving behind a beloved but incompetent brother who needs every advantage NMJ can get him if the Nie are to not disappear in a generation. I don't believe he'd take such an oath solely to Turn JGY Into An Upstanding Citizen, but I definitely believe he'd take whatever oath he had to if it's to ensure the protection of both NHS and the Nie sect.

I still have to think things through (maybe this whole theory will fall apart if I remember some direct contradiction or another) but for now I'm inclined to headcanon that this was like, 50% of his motivation, the other 50% being divided among the other reasons WWX outlined.

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paint-lady · 3 years

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Please tell me your thoughts on v5 sabbat

Okay so all in all, one of the more organized v5 books. I still need to tab out important concepts and rules, but I should only need about 5 tabs versus my core rulebook of 42 tabs, the Anarchs with 20, and the Camarilla book with 14.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this sourcebook and I cannot wait to utilize it in my chronicles. I think there were a lot of questions I got answers, there are a few I wish they elaborated on further. The big things that we get to see are 5 Paths, the history of the Sabbat in context of V5, and how the Sabbat is both falling apart and thriving in the fires of their Gehenna War. IMO, you should definitely read this if you are playing V5. Idc whether you pirate it, buy it, download it, borrow it from a friend. Its worth the read and there is so much I could write about. I didn’t want to summarize the topics too much, just present whats new, omitted, or revamped. My final point is that its your chronicle at the end of the night, and this is 130 pages of content to make your story go from “aha and now the sabbat are here lol” to “OH SHIT THE SABBAT ARE HERE”

Point 1: This book is not to create playable sabbat characters. Point 2: There are a couple of things about sabbat politics and in-fighting that are left vague, up to storyteller interpretation, or completely omitted. Point 3: I WAS RIGHT HAHA! Canon Validation! Point 4: Thinblooded Sabbat motherfuckers. Point 5: Burn Brightly (same as above exerpt)

Point One: I think the thing that excited me but may disappoint some fans is the fact that the sourcebook is NOT intended to create playable sabbat characters. In v5, they've returned to their role of the Boogeyman, the thing that both the Anarchs and Camarilla can rally against. It's primarily a tool to create effective antagonists and set dressing for Chronicles that have conflict with the sabbat. It also illustrates the absolute desperation the sabbat feels in the 21st century- and rather than shutting down and dying, they are fired up. Because they don't know how to die quietly. Because they have nothing to fucking lose.

While the purpose of this book isn’t to build sabbat characters, that doesn’t mean the source material cannot be used to amplify characters. They do provide some very powerful and fascinating disciplines for the storyteller and players to use. These disciplines really highlight how the sabbat handle problems- by using their powers of the blood. They are incredibly overt and very devastating abilities. These feel much more geared to be utilized by a storyteller, and give very intense imagery during specific scenes in a chronicle. In comparison to some of the core rulebook disciplines, they feel somewhat overpowered. But that’s the point, right?

In addition to disciplines, the book discusses the 5 most common paths among the Sabbat. I have discussed with my players for my upcoming Midnight Roads Chronicle that they may opt to take a Path rather than touchstones and convictions. HOWEVER, I stress to my players and storytellers, that they will be operating on a completely different moral code than other players. And ultimately the coterie must work together. I cannot allow one player to be on the Path of Cathari, one on The Path of Power and the Inner Voice, and the others to be on humanity. I anticipate that will not last more than a session- as the morals of the Paths and Humanity actively conflict. Additionally, the morals of the Paths are to tempt and control- staining those on humanity to their filthy level. If my players want to be on paths, their codes must at least work with the chronicle tenets for all players.

I think an aspect a player(s) can utilize is perhaps a character atoning from a path and returning to humanity. After all, the book showcases how the sabbat has somewhat fallen apart, and their scouts are usually the first to flip to anarch or autarkis. However, the book also highlights how the sabbat tactfully strips away any sense of self and identity from their victims. They are nothing without the sabbat. And the society of kindred actively hates them and fears them for what they were. There is no support. The process of switching from a Path back to Humanity is excruciating. It is not impossible but there is no set mechanical process. But without guidelines to chain the beast, the vampire becomes a wight. And wights are killed. No True Sabbat would turn their back on their Path, as this would incur a Wild Hunt. True Sabbat don’t really see a point in rehabilitating lost members either. However, by V5 canon, guess which clan has tossed aside its Antitribu title? The Lasombra. They have joined the ranks of the Camarilla. By that fact alone, we know it is possible for a portion of kindred not only succeeded in getting off their Path and onto another, AND ALSO they successfully convince the Camarilla that they have left the Sabbat behind. The other clan is the Tzimisce, younger flesh crafters are more often vibing with the Anarchs. I think a fascinating story could be a group of PCs, once indoctrinated by the Sabbat or just the wayward childer halfway beaten into the full Paths, now struggling to redefine themselves and live as creatures of the Night, but maybe not the way their sires and pack deemed them creatures. I think that is a fantastic goth and hope-punk chronicle waiting to happen.

In conclusion on Point one, its a very good read for what they have to say about the Sabbat, but understanding that it is primarily a tool for storytellers and maybe a light spice for players is critical.The biggest takeaway would be remembering that if the player characters know too much about the Sabbat, they stop being scary. Storytellers need their sabbat to be pushing boundaries and shaking the status quo, but in a way that is completely unrelatable and alien to the Camarilla and Anarchs. Its not the gore and games and shovelheading that is the most terrifying- its not knowing why they do this.

Point Two: Whats Missing?

We all know that things in V5 have been streamlined and simplified. This means that Paths are incredibly watered down- detailing only a page on each one provided. The ten tenets that each Path had is compressed into 3, matching the ruling for convictions in v5 (no touchstones for the sabbat, for obvious reasons). Older editions of VTM would have pages and pages of tiny-ass print on different Paths, which ones adhere better to certain clans, which ones work better with sabbat, which ones the Old Camarilla favor. Gone. I don’t think this is a bad thing. It does exactly as the V5 writing team intends- streamlines. I was able to clearly understand how each path operates, what their views are, and how a pack following each path likely plays in the Night.

While things are streamlined, I think they do a decent job on explaining the hypocrisy laced history of the sabbat. I do miss the nuance of POV characters from older books. It really grasped the depth of characters at different power levels for the sabbat. The 3-night-old shovelhead might think about history differently than the Path of Caine Pack Priest (despite the Pack Priest’s rituals and efforts). The Scout and court spy of the Sabbat knows they go weeks without observing vaulderie, and finds their withdrawals on their Pack to be the worst part of the job- but ultimately they are still loyal to their cause. Its towards the back of the book that they’ve provided a few POV writings- in the same stylistic manner as the Anarch book. What’s different is how concise they are. The Anarch book is riddled with tons and tons of different perspectives, highlighting how each of them have a different idea about how to be an Anarch. The Sabbat ones are observations from outside perspectives, small notes, and escapees that reinforce the boogeyman trope: “its kill or be killed.” I wouldn’t consider it lacking in comparison to the Anarch books POV writings which felt like a clusterfuck of information. I think its interesting how there seems to be so few writings available, even from the Noddist scholars, and that everything is done on the Pack level, making each Pack unique and simultaneously the same.

I think another thing that old players may find absent in this book is the notion of Infernalism. Older players know that the sabbat is vehemently against anything to do with demons and demonic worship (aside from some set dressing, courtesy of the Path of Cathari). It was the Black Hand that hunted down such violators. In v5, the Black Hand is the term that they are using to call all of the sabbat. Now this could be because the turnover rate for sabbat is incredibly high, and the Black Hand stopped being a special ops and just became what the fledglings called it. They still have Wild Hunts, and its a bit simplified. Ultimately, they are called when someone betrays the Sabbat- which that can be flipping to the Cam or sucking demon dick. Whichever comes first. The threat of a Wild Hunt isn’t likely to occur to a player character, unless they have betrayed the sabbat. More likely, they are gonna be swept up in or simply observe the carnage, as the bloodthirsty Cainites bulldoze through anything to get to their traitor.

On the subjects of Wild Hunts, they did explain why certain Ritae are falling out of fashion. As their Hot War rages, Games of Instinct are becoming less prominent. They don’t need to satiate their beast with Demolition Derby or Ambulance if they are actively chasing an Antedilluvian. Where Games of Instinct still get practiced are when they are waiting. If they successfully took over a Camarilla domain, theres gonna be down time after all the feasting and cruel frolicking. They’re gonna get bored. With the Gehenna War raging, they are more likely to move onto the next place and suck up all the resources than to stay. Additionally, the Games directly put targets on their backs for hunters. They are obvious and bloody. In my opinion, the only game that is still widely played is Dog Tagging, where they tag the ear of a Lupine and turn it loose. Lupines tend to be outside cities, which in turn, tend to be less surveyed by constant technology, and the influence of the Camarilla is stretched thin or nonexistent. Palla Grande is one of my favorite Ritaes described to me, and it makes sense that this is also dwindling in popularity. With high turnover rates and abandoned Sabbat domains, Palla Grande just cant be as big. And the whole point is for it to be a mockery of the lavish Camarilla Elysiums.

One of the major things I think was disappointingly vague is the Sabbat and the Masquerade. From what I understand the Sabbat consider the Masquerade to be a shield to the Antedilluvians. In order to strip the third generation bare, the Masquerade has to go. So why do they bother with a Cleaner? Why do they try to keep themselves somewhat hidden? The book doesn’t really go into detail on this. I had to dig through older editions of the books, namely Midnight Siege, to figure it out. My and my partner’s interpretation is that Pragmatism beats Dogma. While its true the Masquerade has got to be destroyed, doing so plays right into the hands of the hunters. Now some Pack Priests will spin this back to dogma, that the Hunters too are controlled by the Antedilluvians to hold the Sabbat back until they can rise to their full power. The other interpretation is the masquerade is kept on the Camarilla and Anarch turf. When operating in the cold war, the Sabbat are at a disadvantage. The Camarilla have the connections, power, and influence to steer any story the way they wish. The Masquerade, in an ironic way, protects them as they scout and plot in their Cold War. If they are discovered before they are ready to Crusade, the Siege is almost certainly lost.

Point Three: HAHA I WAS RIGHT! CANON VINDICATION!

There were several times when reading this sourcebook that my eyes widened and I shouted “AHA! I KNEW IT!” and my very tired partner would smile and give me a thumbs up.

One of the major things that made me screech was the implication that the Beckoning isn’t just to the cradle of life in Mesopotamia. I had the notion that if the Antediluvians were all powerful blood gods, on power tiers rivaling the Abyssals of Exalted, why would they all seat themselves along the Tigris and Euphrates like a cheap child’s “dig up a fossil” toy? Easy answer. They wouldn’t. The founders of the clans embraced and scattered to the wind, letting their lines branch out. If they were awake, supposedly the Earth would know. If they are asleep, they are soon to awake. I had written that there were about three separate calls occurring. The first was the canon one, calling to the two rivers, amidst all the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The two I had written were in the Gulf of Mexico, under the Yucatan Channel, and Ukraine- with most of the conflict in Kiev. And son-of-a-bitch I WAS RIGHT. The book gives a few POV writings. One details a chat to a supposed Baron, detailing how they have observed the Sabbat pursuing something into the Siberian Tundra. The other is in Mexico City. The Sabbat Book purposefully leaves the nature and location of the Antediluvians in the hands of the storyteller, as it is the backdrop to a chronicle. After all, one of the major parts of the horror of VTM is how unknowable the Antedilluvians are. The more characters or NPCs understand and share about these entities and antagonists, the less scary they are.

I had always pictured the sabbat having a rough time in the last 2 decades. When combining V5 and old lore, i, and some others, inferred that the sabbat got the wind taken out of its sails after the Week of Nightmares. After all, this is what they were embraced to do! Defeat the Antedilluvians. And when one finally rose, they were powerless. They were absolutely curb stomped by Zapathasura’s raw power. The fucking mages had to defeat it. The book never explicitly states it was this that fragmented the Sabbat, but rather one of several factors to push it to its limits. Its the hyper-surveillance of this new technological era and the vigilance of hunters that is claiming their unlives with haste. Its the front lines of the Gehenna War that is delivering them to final death. Its the front lines of the cold war, disputes in Camarilla and Anarch territory, that are delivering them to final death. The book illustrates how the sabbat sees this as their time to shine. All these signs are pushing them to go harder better faster stronger, despite their numbers dwindling. And numbers don’t really matter... they can just make more. I had sort of neglected the act of shovelheading as a tool for creating more soldiers for their Hot War. This was because I couldn’t grasp how they would manage to feed so many new hungry mouths at a time. The book goes into detail on Hunting Ritae of Packs, which explains not only how they are sometimes hit and run feeding, but have Cleaner roles to hide the carnage, or just leave no scraps behind (shudder). Or how they just move on, leaving absolute messes for everyone else to deal with.

Point Four: THINBLOOD SABBAT MOTHERFUCKERs

Now this was a surprise! I had always considered the thinblooded to be disregarded by the Sabbat, since they are literally heralds of Gehenna and also too weak to use their own powers. However, The V5 team threw a curveball at me. And I am so so so delighted by it.

The sabbat do have a might is right attitude, and if a thinblood can prove they deserve to keep their blood, the Pack will respect it. Diablerie is a sacrament, so its probable that some thinbloods don’t stay thinbloods too long. However, there is a new point. Since the sabbat value their clanlessness, the thinbloods are a perfect embrace- clan free! Automatic antitribu. They don’t possess any of the telltale clan signs and abilities, they are so separated from the Antedilluvians that they sometimes will refuse diablerie to not taint themselves with the curses of other bloodlines. These thinbloods are utilizing hunting Ritae to lure hunters into unsafe havens, laying traps for Camarilla and Anarchs in disputed domains, and making themselves sunlight bombs with alchemy. They are calling themselves the New Dawn and MMMM CHEFS KISS.

The Path they have provided is called the Path of the Sun. In the eyes of older Pack Priests, this is not a true path. It is exclusively practiced among the young Sabbat. Although this path cannot serve the more blood potent sabbat memebers, the point is that the thinblooded find power and drive through their uncodified tenets. They are still defining what it means to be the Sabbat’s future, not resounding echoes of its past. They fully believe the reason the bane of sunlight does not affect them is because they bear no mark of the Third Generations treachery. Some Caitiff and Cainities with high blood potency see this path as a way to cleanse themselves of the taint of their sires and the Antedilluvian’s blood. The Path encourages camaraderie that is just human enough to blend subtly with the other Kindred and Thinbloods. They are quick to prostelytize to other thinbloods, and with combination of “never go hungry with us” sabbat rhetoric, the Duskborn would quickly join.

Burning Brightly- Wrap Up

All in all, you should definitely read this if you are playing V5. Idc whether you pirate it, buy it, download it, borrow it from a friend. Its worth the read and there is so much I could write and write about. I didn’t want to summarize the topics too much, rather just present whats new, omitted, or revamped. My final point is that its your chronicle at the end of the night, and this is 130 pages of content to make your story go from “aha and now the sabbat are here lol” to “OH SHIT THE SABBAT ARE HERE”

Thank you for reading <3

#vtm #vampire the masquerade #sabbat #steph answers questions #vamp tag #storyteller vibes #midnight roads chronicle

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