#and i know i'm smart and capable

[halfdeadwallfly]

the only thing getting me through is the thought that i don't have physics lab next week

[tethys-the-aquatic-sea-godness]

Sarevok's image in Baldur's Gate and how he uses it

Among the numerous misrepresentations of Sarevok's character in BG3, is how he came into power. Of course, properly showing that would also show that the new villain's great master plan is just a rip-off of his, but let's ignore that. Obviously, Sarevok's stunt in Baldur's Gate becomes infamous, and he, rightfully, doesn't have a good rep in the city. That being said, it wasn't always the case, yet all you'll see in BG 3 is a brutish villain that only knows violence and 'mURdEr'. Yes, spelled like that, yes.

More rambling under the cut.

The thing was that, prior to Charname exposing his plan, Sarevok had become truly popular in Baldur's Gate. Let's remember the set-up back then. The Iron Throne is a shady mercantile organisation from Sembia. A new western division is trying to take root in the Sword Coast, led by Rieltar Anchev.

Their plan goes as follow: they aim to create a misinformation campaign to blame the Zhentarim for all the troubles in the region. They worsen tensions between the governments of Baldur's Gate and Amn. With iron being the most important resource in a war, the Baldurian government has to go to them in order to get any. The Iron Throne has disrupted all the iron trade through the region using the Blacktalon mercenaries and the Chill. The only known iron mine in the region is at Nashkel, and the Iron Throne has effectively crippled it. They have their own mine operating in Cloakwood. When the Baldurian government comes to them for iron, they will be able to make exorbitant trading demands, and thus become the preeminent trading power in this region.

(Yes, this is copy-pasted from the dialogue you can get from the charmed Iron Throne leaders, what can I say, it's a good recap)

So, that's Rieltar's plan to settle the Iron Throne in the region, a plan Sarevok will hijack in several ways. He intends to kill Rieltar and the other two leaders, and while the Iron Throne didn't intend to actually start a war, only increase tensions, Sarevok thinks that a massacre on a godlike scale can ascend him to godhood. That plan of Sarevok also requires him being named Grand Duke, and thus becoming sole leader of Baldur's Gate once he's eliminated the others (yes, the more you know, the more it sounds like someone in BG3's act 3 copy-pasted this plan for his own takeover, hush). This part of his plan required Sarevok to build a positive public image in Baldur's Gate, so the nobles would want him to be grand duke (despite being a newcomer from a Sembian trade group). That wasn't an easy task. The Iron Throne has a bad reputation even before Rieltar's iron plot. It's a known fact they're more a criminal organization than a trading organisation, so people are less likely to deal with them, unless, as Rieltar's planned, they don't have a choice anymore. However, Sarevok doesn't wait for his father's plan to be completed before he starts building relations with the ruling class of the city.

When you first get to Baldur's Gate, various npc inform you of the, mostly, positive image Sarevok has built for himself. That's something even Gorion's ward points out in their own journal entries.

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1: "Nobleman: Those Iron Throne fellows are quite the secretive bunch. Sarevok, the foster son of their leader, is quite the charmer, though."

2: "Journal entry by Charname: Sarevok, son of one of the Iron Throne's leaders, has become increasingly popular in Baldur's Gate."

3: "Noblewoman: From what I've heard, the new man with the Iron Throne, Sarevok, is an unmarried man. I plan to change that."

Love the last one.

So, Sarevok is very popular in the city, even though there are some who disagree, they're not the majority. Most people who aren't as fond of Sarevok are among the commoners, and I would argue that's because they weren't the target audience of his PR campaign. Sarevok needs the nobles' vote to be Grand Duke, so they are the ones he wants on his side. The popular vote is only a bonus.

It's also important to notice he's improving his popularity, not the popularity of the Iron Throne.

He still has popularity among the lower class, and that only increases when you near the game's end.

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4: "Commoner: I think it's about time we took the fight to them [Amn], and Sarevok is the man to lead us."

5: "Commoner: I don't know what them nobles see in that Sarevok fella, but he's something darker, that's for certain."

6: "Commoner: That Sarevok is going to make everything all right again."

7: "Nobleman: An election of sorts has been called because we cannot be without a full governement in these dangerous times. I hear Sarevok is a frontrunner in this matter."

8: "Noblewoman: Entar Silvershield's death was a tragic blow, but with Sarevok stepping in I feel a true sense of hope."

9: "Journal entry by Charname: With the murder of Grand Duke Entar Silvershield, Sarevok is poised to gain control. The people love him."

10: "Noblewoman: Such people would not dare to show their faces in Baldur's Gate, not now that Sarevok and Angelo Dosan control the Flaming Fist. Order will be enforced, more so once Sarevok is appointed as a Grand Duke. I shall have little to fear of the streets once that comes to pass."

11: "Journal entry by Charname: The nobility is especially approving of Sarevok and Angelo Dosan being in control of the Flaming Fist."

12: "Nobleman: He's [Sarevok] making a lot of friends, and I bet he will be nominated to replace poor entar as Grand Duke."

13: "Noblewomen: It is a good time to be of the nobility. Sarevok has ensured us all that order will be restored in this region, whatever the cost."

14: "Journal entry by Charname: The nobility are especially welcoming of Sarevok and his hard stance against Amn."

15: "Nobleman: Sarevok seems like a man who gets things done."

16: "Sir Lothtyran: Personally, I think he'll [Sarevok] do wonderfully."

17: "Brennan Risling: That's why we need Sarevok as Grand Duke, for he'd take the resources from the Iron Throne and' assist us."

18: "Journal entry by Charname: It is good to know that not everyone in this city has fallen in love with the hardliner Sarevok."

Sarevok doesn't have everyone's approval, but he has more than enough to take over the city. Obviously, the mood changes once his plot to drag both governments into war is revealed.

But you know what? Even then, he still has some popularity.

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19: "Commoner: He was such a handsome one, such a shame he had ta go and do that."

random commoner woman: if evil, why hot?

In conclusion: Sarevok almost took over Baldur's Gate and the whole Sword Coast with covert force and was almost lawfully elected Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate thanks to the popularity he cultivated within the city. That was possible thanks to two things. One, it's safe to say that Sarevok can be charismatic and charming when he wishes to be, even though, according to Diarmid, another one of the mercenaries working for him, "[...] subtlety is something that doesn't quite comes naturally to him. He doesn't have the patience for it, though his mind is amazingly tactical".

In his BG2 banter, you also learn he's not overly fond of being around people. That means this entire schmooze fest he did to boost his popularity took serious effort on his part, and it paid off. It was a trial of patience for a man who isn't known to be patient, or at least, not patient for niceties. He can prove very patient for the sake of a plan. We're talking about a character who has had to wait years before he got the opportunity to take revenge on his father for his mother's murder, and a way to get away with it. Sarevok may not enjoy being patient, but is definitely familiar with the practice.

The second reason is that, well, he's hot. I'm not the one saying it, the women (and men, you know there had to be men too) thirsting over him are saying it. They're bound to be disappointed, because while he's not married, he's definitely not single. Anyway, being hot, not something to underestimate. He gets pretty privilege.

To be a bit more serious, while impatient, Sarevok is described as having an "amazingly tactical" mind. This is something you clearly see in his takeover of Rieltar's plan, and manipulation of public opinion. Yes, Sarevok's plan involves various murders, but it's a tool, not an end in itself. He's even careful to have specific murders look like 'robbery gone wrong' or 'mysterious disease strikes'. He has assassins do the killing for him so he can't be directly linked to it. Sarevok is a strategist, whose plans involve a lot more than just 'killing'.

It is a part of his characterization BG 3 abysmally fails to show.

[leatherbookmark]

Every once in a while there will be a blogger I'm not following, but whose posts I know and whose blog I visit from time to time. They can either be a generally popular user, a fandom-popular user, a mutual-in-law, or simply someone whose posts I've seen reblogged by other blogs I visit. You know how it is on tumblr dot com.

Anyway, impressing me -- and at the same time making me take you for a Cool Person Who Knows Things, And Whose Opinions Are Important And I Should Defer To Them -- is only a little bit harder than biting into an overcooked noodle, or accidentally stepping on an ant. So, I'll often admire these people from afar and feel sad and inadequate if we disagree on something, or of they criticize something I think is fine (especially if they do it without giving a reason, like 'well, it goes without saying that X simply sucks').

However -- sudden salvation -- every once in a while this blogger will have an opinion that's so nonsensical, or they'll behave in a way that's so unnecessary hostile to someone who doesn't really deserve it, that it's honestly both sad and surprisingly relieving to me because ohhhh okay you're just a fucking asshole. You're not a special, sophisticated mini-god, you're just an asshole who's mean for no reason. Phew! Aaaaand block.

[side-b-bumblebi]

Men who view women as their intellectual equals 😍

[adore-gregor]

Ooof

Looking at old posts, sometimes you just ask yourself what was I thinking 😅

[grace--le--domas]

Nothing pisses off a man more than when you, a woman, refuse to participate in your own dehumanisation

[gwydionae]

I get using no specific iteration of the TMNT in a crossover and just making yet another new version. After all, the franchise has had many, many different versions at this point, so it's easy to accept that this is simply one more to add to the pile.

But Naruto has... one. Just the one. So when all of a sudden characters are written/shown to have expertise that they shouldn't have at the age they're being depicted, it just ends up feeling weird.

I get that fitting things into the Naruto timeline can be a chore. Do it too early, and Sakura is kinda useless. Do it too late, and Sasuke's off murdering people. And if you try to set it after the series, the power levels are seriously gonna be out of whack.

But breaking the only canon that has ever existed for these characters makes them feel like... not the same characters. I might be the only one who cares about this, but it really took me out of the story, to the point where I couldn't help but focus on it. I don't want to be distracted from page one of a silly ninja crossover comic.

[impassioned-ships]

My brain is resorting to escapism more and more automatically. Things are stressful. Had it not been for this mechanism I probably would have had a nervous breakdown tonight.

[vro0ms-evil-twin]

The constant quiet fight with my mom to not let her dump all of her mental load on me and none of the men of the family because I'm afab

[ilovecoffeeandchemistry]

my old methods that made me concentrate have stopped working + they were extremely unhealthy and made me stress too much (recently i literally got so sick that my whole body hurt and i couldn't walk for a couple of days because it was too painful)

and i'm trying to take better care of myself now but idk how the hell do i make myself concentrate when i'm bored as hell without consuming an unhealthy amount of energy drinks and chewing gum :(

[arbitrarystrawberry]

.

[yesiwasinthechessclub]

woof im feeling bad about all my stuff. feels like my story sucks and my version of lucien isnt one that anyone else likes and my art is bad i'm not good enough :(

[welcometogrouchland]

The cognitive function is not functioning, I think

[nelson-riddle-me-this]

Anyone have advice for dealing with job application burnout?

[violet-dragongirl]

If anybody were to ask me why I'm a combat medic in a game I like but also hate (total 50/50 love hate for this game there's no compromise to either side) as matchmade players expect me to resurrect them with ease every time knowing that the game's mechanics of how my ult works to it's humanly possible maximum efficiency, still cannot keep up with nearly ANY player being in the area of Only Gonks And Showboats go to die (where enemies spawn, which is opposite/adjacent of wherever the builder is)

¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯

[troglobite]

i've said it before and i'll say it again

the most head-empty dog in the entire world?

the [cavalier] king charles spaniel

i do not mean this as an insult, and i am not evaluating their so-called "intelligence"

i truly, truly mean that when you look a dog in the face, you can kinda "see" what they might be thinking. sometimes it's "PLAY PLAY PLAY" or "FOOD" or extreme judgment and skepticism or just "love you :)". lol

but when you look at a [cavalier] king charles spaniel.

there is simply nothing. nothing is going on behind that face or those eyes.

they're sweet, capable, lovely dogs. but every single one i've ever met has had absolutely No Thoughts in that head of theirs. they respond to everything as it comes and their baseline is True Mental Silence. absolutely hilarious and incredible. i love their little faces and head empty expressions.

every photo on the AKC website confirms this. their eyes are warm, due to being large and brown and soft and round. but they are empty as fuck. lolol