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vickyvicarious · 4 years ago

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Leverage Redemption Pros/Cons List

Okay! Now that I've finally finished watching the first half of Leverage: Redemption, I thought I'd kind of sum up my overall impression. Sort of a pro/con list, except a little more just loosely structured rambles on each bullet point rather than a simple list.

This got way out of hand from what I expected so I'm going to put it all under a cut. If you want the actual bulletpoint list, here it is:

PROS

References

Continuity

Nate

Representation

Themes

New Characters

General Vibe

CONS

'Maker and Fixer'

Episode Twins

Sophie's Stagefright

Thiefsome

You might notice the pros list is longer, and that's because I do love the show! I really like most of what it does, and my gripes are fewer in number and mostly smaller in size. But they do exist and I felt like talking about them as well as the stuff I loved.

PROS

References

There is clearly so much love and respect for the original show here. Quite aside from the general situation, there's a lot of references to individual episodes or character traits from the first show. For example, Parker's comments on disliking clowns, liking puppets, disliking horses, stabbing vs. tasing people. The tasing was an ongoing thing in the original, the stabbing happened once (S1) but was referenced later in the original show, the clown thing only had a few mentions scattered across the entire original show. The puppet thing was mentioned once in S5, and the horses thing in particular was only brought up in S1 once. But they didn't miss the chance to put the nod to it in there; in fact with those alone we see a good mix of common/ongoing jokes and smaller details.

We got "dammit Hardison" and "it's a very distinctive..." but also Eliot and Parker arguing about him catering a mob wedding, and Eliot being delighted by lemon as a secret ingredient in a dish in that same episode (another reference to the mob episode). Hardison and Eliot banter about "plan M", an ongoing joke starting from the very first episode of the original show. We see Sophie bring up Hardison's accent in the Ice Job, Parker also makes reference to an early episode when describing "backlash effect" to Breanna, in an episode that also references her brother slightly if you look for it.

Heck, the last episode of these first eight makes a big deal out of nearly reproducing the iconic opening lines of the original show with Fake Nate's "we provide... an advantage." And I mean, all the "let's go steal a ___" with Harry being confused about how to use them.

Some of the lines are more obviously references to the original show, but they strike a decent balance with smaller or unspoken stuff as well, and also mix in some references between the team to events we the audience have never seen. If someone was coming into this show for the first time, they wouldn't get all the easter egg joy but most of the references would stand on their own as dialogue anyway. In general, I think they struck a good balance of restating needed context for new viewers while still having enough standalone good lines and more-fun-if-you-get-it callbacks.

Continuity

Similar to the last point, but slightly different. The characters' development from the original to now is shown so well. I'm not going to go on about this too long, but the writers clearly didn't want to let the original characters stagnate during the offscreen years. There was a lot of real thought put into how they would change or not.

It's really written well. We can see just how cohesive a team Parker, Hardison, and Eliot became. We get a sense of how they've spent their time, and there's plenty of evidence that they remained incredibly close with Sophie and Nate until this past year. The way everyone defers to Parker is different from the original show and clearly demonstrates how she's been well established as the leader for years now - they show this well even as Parker is stepping back to let Sophie take point in these episodes. Eventually that is actually called out by Sophie in the eighth episode, so we might see more mastermind Parker in the back half of the show, maybe. But even with her leading, it's clear how collaborative the team has become, with everyone bouncing ideas off one another and adding their input freely. Sometimes they even get so caught up they leave the newbies completely in the dust. But for the most part we get a good sense of how the Parker/Hardison/Eliot team worked with her having final say on plans but the others discussing everything together. A little bit more collaborative than it was with Nate at the helm.

Meanwhile Sophie has built a home and is deeply attached to it. She and Nate really did retire, at least for the most part, and she was living her happy ending until he died. She's out of practice but still as skilled as ever, and we're shown how much her grief has changed her and how concerned the others are for her.

There's a lot of emphasis on how they all look after one another and the found family is clearer than ever. Sophie even calls Hardison "his father's son" - clearly referring to Nate.

Nate

Speaking of Nate! They handled his loss so, so well. His story was the most complete at the end of the last show, and just from a narrative point, losing him makes the most sense of all the characters. But the way he dies and his impact on the show and the characters continues. It's very respectful to who he was - who he truly was.

Nate was someone they all loved, but he was a deeply flawed individual. Sophie talks about how he burned too hot, but at least he burned - possibly implying to me that his drinking was related to his death. In any case, there's no mystery to it. We don't know how he died but that's not what's most important about his death. This isn't a quest for revenge or anything... it's just a study of grief and trying to heal.

Back to who he really was real quick - the show doesn't eulogize him as better than he was. They're honest about him. From the first episode's toast they raise in his memory, to the final episode where Sophie and Eliot are deeply confused by Fake Nate singing his praises, the team knows who he was. They don't erase his flaws... but at the same time he was so clearly theirs. He was family, he was the man they trusted and loved and followed into incredibly dangerous situations, and whose loss they all still feel deeply.

That said, the show doesn't harp on this point. They reference him, but they don't overwhelm new viewers with a constant barrage of Nate talk. It always serves a purpose, primarily for Sophie's storyline of moving through her grief. Anyway, @robinasnyder said all of this way better than me here, so go read that as well.

Representation

Or should I say, Jewish Hardison, Autistic Parker, Queer Breanna!

Granted, Hardison's religion isn't quite explicitly stated to be Jewish so much as he mentions that his "Nana runs a multi-denominational household", but nonetheless. He gets the shows big thesis statement moment, he gets a beautiful speech about redemption that is the emotional cornerstone of that episode and probably Harry's entire arc throughout the show. And while I'm not Jewish myself, most of what I've seen from Jewish fans is saying that Hardison's words here were excellent representation of their beliefs. (@featherquillpen does a great job in that meta of contextualizing this with his depiction in the original show as well.)

Autistic Parker, however, is shown pretty dang blatantly. She already was very much coded as autistic in the original show, but the reboot has if anything gone further. She sees a child psychologist because she likes using puppets to represent emotions, she stims, she uses cue cards and pre-written scripts for social interactions, there's mention of possible texture sensitivity and her clothes are generally more loose and comfortable. She's gotten better at performing empathy and understanding how people typically work, but it's specifically described as something she learned how to do and she views her brain as being different from ones that work that way (same link). Again, not autistic myself but from what I've seen autistic fans find a lot to relate to in her portrayal. And best of all, this well-rounded and respectful depiction does not show any of these qualities as a lack on her part. There's no more of those kinda ableist comments or "what's wrong with you" jokes that were in the original show. Parker is the way she is, and that allows her to do things differently. She's loved for who she is, and any effort made to fit in is more just to know how so that she can use it to her advantage when she wants to on the job - for her convenience, not others' comfort.

Speaking of loved for who you are.... okay, again, queer Breanna isn't confirmed onscreen yet, and I don't count Word of God as true canon. But I can definitely believe we're building there. Breanna dresses in a very GNC way, and just her dialogue and, I dunno, vibes seem very queer to me. She has a beautiful speech in the Card Game Job about not belonging or being accepted and specifically mentions "the way they love" as one of those things that made her feel like she didn't belong. And that scene is given so much weight and respect. (Not to mention other hints throughout the episode about how much finding her own space meant to her.) Also, the whole theme of feeling rejected and the key for her to begin really flourishing is acceptance for who she is, not any desire for her to be anyone else, is made into another big moment. Yeah, textually that moment is about her feeling like she has to fill Hardison's shoes and worrying about her past, but the themes are there, man.

Themes

I talked a bit about this yesterday, so I'm mostly just going to link to that post, but... this series so far is doing a really good job in my opinion of giving people arcs and having some good themes. Namely the redemption one, from Hardison's speech (which I'm gonna talk a little more about in the next point), and this overall theme of growing up and looking to the future (from above the linked post).

New Characters

Harry and Breanna are fantastic characters. I was kind of worried about Harry being a replacement Nate, but... he really isn't. Sure, he's the older white guy who has an angsty past but it's in a very different way and his personality and relationships with the rest of the crew are correspondingly different. I think the dynamic of a very friendly, cheerful, kind, but still bad guy (as @soundsfaebutokay points out) is a great one to show, and he's got a really cool arc I think of learning to be a better person, and truly understanding Hardison's point about redemption being a process not a goal. His role on the team also has some interesting applications and drawbacks, as @allegorymetaphor talked about. I've kind of grown to think that the show is gradually building up to an eventual Sophie/Harry romance a ways down the line, and I'm actually here for it. Regardless, his relationships with everyone are really interesting.

As for Breanna, first of all and most importantly I love her. Secondly, I think she's got a really interesting story. She's a link to Hardison's past, and provides a really interesting perspective for us as someone younger who has grown up a) looking up to Leverage and b) in a bleaker and more hopeless world. Breanna's not an optimist, and she's not someone who was self-sufficient and unconcerned with the rest of the world at the start, like everyone else. She believes that the world sucks and she wants it to be better, but she doesn't know how to make that happen. She outright says she's desperate and that's why she's working with Leverage. At the same time, Breanna is pretty down on herself and wants to prove herself but gets easily shaken by mistakes or being scolded, which is a stark contrast to Hardison's general self-confidence. There are several times when she starts to have an idea then hesitates to share it, or expects her emotions to be dismissed, or gets really disheartened when she's corrected or rejected, or dwells on her mistakes, or when she is accepted or praised she usually takes a surprised beat and is shy about it (she almost always looks down and away from the person, and her smile is often small or startled). Breanna looks up to the team so much (Parker especially, then probably Eliot) and she wants to prove herself. It's going to be so good to see her grow.

General Vibe

A brief note, but it seems a fitting one to end on. The show keeps it's overall tone and feeling from the original show. The fun, the competency porn, the bad guys and clever plans and happy endings. It's got differences for sure, but the characters are recognizably themselves and the show as a whole is recognizably still Leverage. For the most part they just got the feeling right, and it's really nice.

CONS (no, not that kind)

'Maker and Fixer'

So when I started writing this meta earlier today, I was actually a lot more annoyed by the lack of unique 'maker' skills being shown by Breanna. Basically the only time she tries to use a drone, the very thing she introduced herself as being good at, it breaks instantly. I was concerned about her being relegated into just doing what Hardison did, instead of bringing her own stuff to the table. But the seventh episode eased some of those fears, and the meta I just wrote for someone else asking about Breanna's 'maker' skills as shown this season made me realize there's more nuance than that. I'd still like to have seen more of that from her, but for now the fact that we don't see a lot of 'maker' from her so far seems more like a character decision based in Breanna's insecurities.

Harry definitely gets more 'inside man' usage. His knowledge as a 'fixer' comes in handy several times. Nonetheless, I'm really curious if there are any bigger ways to use it, aside from him just adding in some exposition/insight from time to time. I'm not even entirely sure how much more they can pull from this premise in terms of relevant skills, but I hope there's more and I'd like to see it. Maybe a con built more around him playing a longer role playing his old self, like they tried in the Tower Job? Maybe it's more a matter of him needed distance from that part of his past, being unable to face it without lashing out - in that case it could be a good character growth moment possibly for him to succeed in being Scummy Lawyer again down the line? I dunno.

Episode Twins

This was something small that kind of bothered me a little earlier in the season. It's kind of the negative side to the references, I guess? And I'm not even sure how much it annoys me really, but I just kinda noticed and felt sort of weird about it.

Rollin' on the River has a lot of references/callbacks to the The Wedding Job.

The Tower Job has a lot of references/callbacks to The White Rabbit Job.

The Paranormal Hacktivity Job has a lot of references/callbacks to the Future Job.

I guess I was getting a little concerned that there would be a 'match this episode' situation where almost every new Redemption episode is very reminiscent of an old one. I love the callbacks, but I don't want to see a lack of creativity in this new show, and this worried me for a minute. Especially when it was combined with all three of those episodes dealing with housing issues of some kind. Now, that's a huge concern for a lot of people, and each episode has its own take on a different problem within that huge umbrella, but it still got me worried about a lack of variety in topics/cases.

The rest of the episodes failing to line up so neatly in my head with older episodes helped a lot to ease this one, though. Still, this is my complaining section so I figured I'd express my concerns as they were at the time. Even if I no longer really worry about it much.

Sophie's Stagefright

Yeah, I know this is just a small moment in a single episode, but it annoyed me! Eliot made a bit of a face at Sophie going onstage, but I thought it was just him being annoyed at the general situation. However, they started out with her being awful up there until she realized the poem was relevant to the con - at which point her reading got so much better.

This felt like a complete betrayal of Sophie's beautiful moment at the end of the original show where she got over her trouble with regular acting and played Lady Macbeth beautifully in front of a full theater of audience members. This was part of the con, but only in the sense that it gave her an alibi/place to hide, and I always interpreted it as her genuinely getting over her stagefright problems. It felt like such a beautiful place to end her arc for that show, especially after all her time spent directing.

Now, her difficulty onstage in the Card Game Job was brief and at the very beginning of being up on stage. @rinahale suggested to me that maybe it was a deliberate tactic to draw the guy's attention, and the later skill was simply her shifting focus to make the sonnet easier for Breanna to listen to and interpret, but he seemed more enraptured when she was doing well than otherwise in my opinion and it just doesn't quite sit well with me. My other theory was that maybe she just hasn't been up on stage in a long time, and much like she complaining about being rusty at grifting before the team pushed her into trying, she got nervous for a moment at the very beginning. The problem there is that I think she'd definitely still get involved in theater even when she and Nate were retired. I guess she could've quit after he died, and a year might be long enough to make her doubt herself again, but... still.

I just resent that they even left it ambiguous at all. Sophie's skills should be solid on stage at this point in my opinion.

Thiefsome

...And now we come to my main complaint. This is, by far, the biggest issue I have with the show.

I feel like I should put a disclaimer here that I had my doubts from the beginning about the thiefsome becoming canon onscreen. I thought the famous "the OT3 is safe" tweet could easily just mean that they are all still alive and well, or all still working together, without giving us confirmation of a romantic relationship. Despite this, the general fandom expectations/hopes really got to me, especially with the whole "lock/pick/key" thing. I tried to temper my expectations again when the character descriptions came out and only mentioned Hardison loving Parker, not Eliot, but I still got my hopes up.

The thing is, I was disappointed pretty quickly.

The very first episode told me that in all likelihood we would never see Hardison and Parker and Eliot together in a romantic sense. Oh, there was so much coding. So much hinting. So much in the way of conversations that were about Parker/Hardison's relationship but then Eliot kept getting brought into them. They were portrayed as a unit of three.

But then there was this.

I love all of those scenes of Parker and Hardison being intimate and loving and comfortable with one another and their relationship. I really do. But it didn't escape my notice that there's nothing of the sort with Eliot. If they wanted a canon onscreen thiefsome, it would by far make the most sense to just have it established from the start. But there aren't any scenes where Eliot shares the same kind of physical closeness with either of them like they do each other. Parker and Hardison kiss; he doesn't kiss anyone. They have several clearly romantic conversations when alone; he gets important conversations with both but the sense of it being romantic isn't there.

Establishing Eliot as part of the relationship after Hardison is gone just... doesn't make any sense. It would be more likely to confuse new viewers, to make them wonder if Parker is cheating on Hardison with Eliot, or if they have a Y shaped relationship rather that a triangle. It would be so much clumsier.

Still, up until the Double-Edged-Sword Job I believed the writers might keep it at this level of 'plausible hinting but not quite saying'. There's a lot of great stuff with all of them, and I never expecting making out or whatever anyway; a cheek-kiss was about the height of my hopes to be honest. I mostly just hoped for outright confirmation and, failing that, I was happy enough to have the many hints and implications.

But then Marshal Maria Shipp came along. And I don't really have anything against her as a character - in fact, I think she has interesting story potential and will definitely come back. But the episode framed her fight with Eliot as a sexyfight TM, much like his fight with Mikel back in the day. And then his flirting with her rode the line a little of "he's playing her for the con" and "he's genuinely flirting." The scene where he tells her his real name is particularly iffy, but actually was the one that convinced me he was playing her. Because he seems to be watching her really closely, and to be very concerned about her figuring out who he really is. I am very aware though that I'm doing a lot of work to interpret it the way I want. On surface appearance, Eliot's just flirting with an attractive woman, like he did on the last show. And that's probably the intention, too.

But the real nail in the coffin for me was when Sophie compared herself and Nate to Eliot and Maria. That was a genuine scene, not the continuation of the teasing from before. And Sophie is the one whose insight into people is always, always trustworthy. She is family to the thiefsome. For this to make any sense, either Eliot/Parker/Hardison isn't a thing, or they are and Sophie doesn't know - and I can't imagine why in the hell she wouldn't know.

Any argument to make them still canon leaves me unsatisfied. If she knows and they haven't admitted it to her - why wouldn't they, after all this time? Why would she not have picked up on it even without an outright announcement? Some people suggested they wouldn't admit it because they thought Nate would be weird about it, but that doesn't seem any more in character to me than the other possibilities. In fact, the only option that doesn't go against my understanding of these people and their observational abilities/the close relationship they share.... is that the thiefsome is not a thing.

And furthermore, the implication of this conversation - especially the way it ended, with Eliot stomping off looking embarrassed while Sophie smiled knowingly - is that Eliot will get into another relationship onscreen. Maybe not a full-blown romantic relationship. But the Maria Shipp tension is going to be resolved somehow, and at this point I'm half-expecting a hook-up simply because of Sophie's reaction and how much I trust her judgement of such things. Even if she's letting her grief cloud her usual perceptiveness... it feels iffy.

It just kinda feels like I wasn't even allowed to keep my "interpret these hints/maybe they are" thiefsome that I expected after the first couple episodes convinced me we wouldn't get outright confirmation. (I mean, I will anyway, and I love the hints and allusions regardless.) And while I'm definitely not the kind of fan who is dependent on canon for my ships, and still enjoy all their interactions/will keep right on headcanoning them all in a relationship, it's just.... a bummer.

Feels like a real cop-out. Like the hints of Breanna being queer are enough to meet their quota and they won't try anything 'risky' like a poly relationship. I dunno. It's annoying.

That's the end of the list! Again, overall I love the new show a lot and have few complaints.

#leverage #leverage redemption #leverage spoilers #leverage meta #my meta #this turned into a BIG ol ramble #i planned to write like a couple of sentences for each point but noooo

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rockislandadultreads · 3 years ago

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Best Fiction: Top books in 2021

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily R. Austin

Gilda, a twenty-something lesbian, cannot stop ruminating about death. Desperate for relief from her panicky mind and alienated from her repressive family, she responds to a flyer for free therapy at a local Catholic church, and finds herself being greeted by Father Jeff, who assumes she’s there for a job interview. Too embarrassed to correct him, Gilda is abruptly hired to replace the recently deceased receptionist Grace. In between trying to memorize the lines to Catholic mass, hiding the fact that she has a new girlfriend, and erecting a dirty dish tower in her crumbling apartment, Gilda strikes up an email correspondence with Grace’s old friend. She can’t bear to ignore the kindly old woman, who has been trying to reach her friend through the church inbox, but she also can’t bring herself to break the bad news. Desperate, she begins impersonating Grace via email. But when the police discover suspicious circumstances surrounding Grace’s death, Gilda may have to finally reveal the truth of her mortifying existence.

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance. Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid. The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss. Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy. Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys. Provocative and fast-paced, S. A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change - and maybe even redemption.

Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves

Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness. Then there’s Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he’s still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more. Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?

Impostor Syndrome by Kathy Wang

In 2006 Julia Lerner is living in Moscow, a recent university graduate in computer science, when she’s recruited by Russia’s largest intelligence agency. By 2018 she’s in Silicon Valley as COO of Tangerine, one of America’s most famous technology companies. In between her executive management (make offers to promising startups, crush them and copy their features if they refuse); self promotion (check out her latest op-ed in the WSJ, on Work/Life Balance 2.0); and work in gender equality (transfer the most annoying females from her team), she funnels intelligence back to the motherland. But now Russia's asking for more, and Julia’s getting nervous. Alice Lu is a first generation Chinese American whose parents are delighted she’s working at Tangerine (such a successful company!). Too bad she’s slogging away in the lower echelons, recently dumped, and now sharing her expensive two-bedroom apartment with her cousin Cheri, a perennial “founder’s girlfriend”. One afternoon, while performing a server check, Alice discovers some unusual activity, and now she’s burdened with two powerful but distressing suspicions: Tangerine’s privacy settings aren’t as rigorous as the company claims they are, and the person abusing this loophole might be Julia Lerner herself. The closer Alice gets to Julia, the more Julia questions her own loyalties. Russia may have placed her in the Valley, but she's the one who built her career; isn’t she entitled to protect the lifestyle she’s earned? Part page-turning cat-and-mouse chase, part sharp and hilarious satire, Impostor Syndrome is a shrewdly-observed examination of women in tech, Silicon Valley hubris, and the rarely fulfilled but ever-attractive promise of the American Dream.

#fiction #adult fiction #popular books #best books of 2021 #2021 best books #to read #tbr #library books #public library #booklr #book tumblr #booktok #literary #womens fiction #lgbtq books #thrillers #contemporary fiction #literary fiction

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eastonia-blog · 5 years ago

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I’m going to do a weird.

I know a whole lot of us are stuck at home due to the COVID19 outbreak and all our respective governments attempting to flatten the curve. So I’m going to break out my VAST library of fanfiction recommendations for you to read! Please bear in mind that my tastes in fics are not necessarily like yours so the following 15 Fandom reccs might be hit or miss. All ships and above T ratings will be tagged with brackets, all crossovers will be mentioned in those same brackets. Also, if I mention it’s part of a series, I’m not just recommending the fic I mentioned, I’m recommending the whole series. I’ve tried to recommend a different author’s fic each time. So! Let’s start with the 3 fandoms I mention in my blog description.

1) ATLA Fate Deferred (Zutara) Aang remains in the iceberg ten years longer. Sozin’s comet comes, the world keeps turning with no Avatar to save it, and by the time he’s finally found by a waterbender and her Fire Nation husband, a lot has changed. [Zutara established relationship full series rewrite; Now on Book II: Earth] Cheating at Pai Sho (Canon Divergence) “You said you were the Avatar!” “…I lied?” Aang doesn’t get rescued in episode two, and no one’s seen him go glowy yet… so he starts bluffing. Hard. Or: “The Avatar joins Zuko’s quest to find the Avatar.” In which Zuko doesn’t join the Gaang, the Gaang joins Zuko. The Undying Fire: Blood and Fire (First in the Undying Fire Series, eventual Zutara) Book 1. In which rescuing the Avatar from Pohuai Stronghold doesn’t end so well. It’s a tough life being a banished prince trying to get home, especially when the Avatar just wants to be your friend and keeps making everything confusing. Oh, and did Zuko mention he somehow healed the kid? Yeah, that happened. Stalking Zuko (First in the Stalking Zuko Series, eventual Zutara) Katara has developed a new hobby. At the Western Air Temple she takes to stalking Zuko. Much silliness and shenanigans follow. In chapter 20: Katara and Zuko return home to the others. Katara hates the F word and she comes to a decision regarding Zuko. Embers (Canon divergence) Dragon’s fire is not so easily extinguished; when Zuko rediscovers a lost firebending technique, shifting flames can shift the world… 2) Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Father (Percabeth in the GFFA, eventual Anidala) It all started with a wish, but because it was Percy Jackson it couldn’t have been a friendly goddess granting him a wish. No, it had to be Nemesis, goddess of revenge and balance. Now Percy and Annabeth are stuck in a strange new galaxy right when an ancient and powerful darkness finally begins to stir. Glass Figures (MCU Mashup) I lifted my gun, pointing it towards the minefield of shattered fragments, and kicked the small coffee table out of the way.Only to stare down at an awfully familiar face, which split into a somewhat lopsided grin. The intruder raised his hands in a mocking surrender. //“Long time no see, dude.” //I lowered the gun. “What the hell are you doing in South Peru?” //Or in which Clint Barton and Percy Jackson have a long personal history that starts in high school. All Together, Cousins (Canon divergence) When Thalia ran away with her toddler brother, Jason, she slowly gathered her cousins: she and her cousins being Big Three children. As Jason gets older and their motley group expands to six, Thalia resigns herself to the fact that she won’t always be the leader of the pack. As she accepts that, something more is coming, able to challenge even the gods above. A Crown of Golden Leaves (Historical AU) Annabeth, a Lady from the declining polis of Athens, must marry the Heir Apparent of Rome to save the rapidly expanding world from a threat even the gods couldn’t foresee. Deluge (Percy in the Arrowverse) Barry has to deal with yet another Metahuman that Zoom has pitted against him. But this ‘Metahuman’ is an unwilling pawn in Zoom’s plan and really wants to find a way around killing the Scarlet Speester. But how can he when Zoom is holding something against him?

3) DC Firework (First in the Sparks in the Dark Series) Orphaned and removed from the only life he’s ever known, Dick feels like there’s no light left for him in the world. His new benefactor, however, still sees something worth saving… Chronological beginning of the Spark in the Dark series. Iron, Fire, Mirror-Glass After a brutal confrontation with Bane, Bruce comes away with a broken spine and the certainty that his days as Batman are over. An unexpected discovery offers him another chance—but at what price? The story of a man who risks his soul for the sake of his mission, the dangerous creature he names Robin, and the unlikely partnership that will shape the legend of Gotham’s Dark Knight. Get Back Up There was a mole, one who played a long game. The team was betrayed, crushed. Robin nearly died. What are they going to do now? Only one chirped the answer. Get back up. WARNING: lots of talking, little action, many follow ups Five Times …Five times Damian thought of Dick Grayson as his father, and the one time Dick thought of Damian as his son. Future-fic. YJ characters will show up later. Batman!Dick and Damian as Robin. With guest appearances from Jason, Tim, Cass, and Steph. Unveiling the Mystery Series of one-shots about the team learning a little about Robin (Dick Grayson). With all the fics, I heavily suggest you also read what else these authors have to offer in their archive.

And now here’s the plethora of other fandoms I read fics in under the cut!

4) Harry Potter The Horse (Mature) Looking after a Muggle animal should be easy compared to saving Hogwarts from Voldemort. Harry and Draco might disagree with that. Featuring Luna, Marauders, peppermints and, of course, a tall, black, badtempered horse named Simon. The Potions Master’s Nephew An accident occurs and Professor Snape finds himself trapped in his fifteen-year-old body. Enrolled into Harry Potter’s fifth year, he is forced to hide his true identity. Girls, drama and teenage angst do not bode well with Severus. Keeping Up with the Grangers (Dramione, Mature) Mr. Malfoy, I invite you and your mother to tea next Tuesday, May 25th at 2o’clock to discuss recent events. Dr. Helen Granger //… …// He glances at the boxy too-uniform numbers flashing on the face of Richard’s radio. It’s nearly noon, and he should be getting ready to leave; but there is still a harsh tension in his shoulders and neck that he wants to work out before Hermione finds him. It is, after all, Tuesday; and while his Tuesdays were designated ‘tea with Helen’ days previously, they are now ‘lunch with Granger’ days, ever since the chance meet-up with the Weasel’s wife and the insufferable swot herself. Faceless (Dramione, Mature) New year. New love. New threat. A powerful enemy is on the rise, and Hermione Granger finds herself intertwined in a relationship with Draco Malfoy – only she doesn’t know it’s him. / / RUNNER-UP: Enchanted Awards Summer 2017 for Best Relationship Development

5) Devil May Cry And the Rest is Silence (Mature) The destruction of the Saviour wasn’t the end. Too many people had too much invested. An Uncle’s Thoughts Dante’s thoughts and feelings regarding one particular quarter-demon kid. Vignettes that span from the start of Devil May Cry 4 through Devil May Cry 5, and beyond. Fortuna’s Fool Events after DMC5 with flashbacks to the events we briefly see in DMC4SE only with Vergil telling Dante all about Nero’s mother. Family ties are so complicated, aren’t they? Family of Happenstance Some orphans have happy endings, getting adopted or finding their family. Having a demon slaying half devil for a father tends to throw a tiny monkey wrench in the process. AU Father!Dante, Son!Nero. Rated because hunters don’t exactly have clean mouths.

6) Power Rangers (Focus on Might Morphin’ and Dino Thunder teams) Of Love and Bunnies Set just after Dino Thunder. When Angel Grove announces another Power Rangers Day, Tommy takes the Dino Rangers to Angel Grove for a reunion with the original team… including Kimberly. TommyKim, JasonTrini, KiraTrent. The Reason (Part 1 of eclyptyk neo‘s Dino Thunder AU) COMPLETED. DT. AU. Years go by as Tommy Oliver becomes accustomed to his job as a teacher. A person from his past returns. The new ranger team grows interested in its outcome. How will these new changes between rangers young and old be? Sequel: Ordinary World Change of Hearts (Wild Force) PRWF: When Jindrax and Toxica set out to find themselves, they had no idea that their greatest adventure was only beginning. Chronology Conundrum DT/MMPR - After a strange mutation is released in Reefside, the five Dino Thunder Ranges find themselves thrown back into the past, circa 1995 Angel Grove. Somehow, they have to figure out how to make it back to their present without destroying it or themselves. And if they succeed, they must navigate the consequences of their actions in the past, while still protecting Reefside. 7) Merlin (Mergana leaning) The Other Version of Events What if Merlin and Arthur had met when they were children? What if a mysterious illness fell over Ealdor and Merlin was blamed? What if Arthur had actually felt sorry for him? What if destiny was thrown at them in a whole new way? AU, no slash, Bromance, A/G M/M… You get the idea. Flipping the Coin, Part 2 of Coins (2nd story in the Coins Sage but 1st multichapter) Merlin and Gwaine are sent on an adventure to discover their past and stay one step ahead of Morgana. Fearing for them, Arthur and the other knights set out to find them, but soon discover much more than they bargained for. Alt version Season 5. Sequel to “Two Sides of the Coin” Angst, Adventure, BAMF, Bromance, Redemption, Twists on Arthurian Legends. The King’s Legacy “I hope you are rolling in your grave brother, I will find your son, and I hope he is like you. I will ruin him and gain a lovely weapon in the process.” Cenred spat on the grave, “I win Balinor.” .Sequel posted. The Warlock’s Quickening (First in the Albion Cycle) Merlin might have come to Camelot to master his magic, not to end the Purge, but he’s not going to sit idly by while his kin suffer. Oh no. Whether it’s releasing a chained dragon, smuggling sorcerers out of the city, or trying to change Arthur’s mind, he’s fighting back. Now. Series rewrite beginning after 1X02 featuring Proactive!Merlin. AU.

8) Dragon Ball Under the Radar (Gohan/Videl) Gohan is living life as a secret superhero, but Videl is making it her business to find him out! How will Gohan manage her and Saiyan hormones? Will he fess up? Or will he try to live his life -puts on sunglasses- “Under the Radar”? *applause* Thank you! Thank you! And GOODNIGHT! G/V obviously. Rated T because adult situations and language in later chapters. COMPLETE! Golden God (Mature) To save the lives of millions, Gohan is forced to expose himself as a Super Saiyan, proving that his tricks are indeed very real. And it drives the whole world to insanity. Warning; becomes a little graphic goes as it on. Walking Towards the Sunset Bardock’s curse sends him to a mysterious place where weaklings are abundant and an odd trio claim to be his family. Eventually giving in, he stays with them to discover that Earth is more unlucky than Planet Vegeta. Impatiently waiting for his son’s arrival, Bardock has to survive a new life with his estranged family and a certain girl set on finding the truth. (Saiyaman-Buu Saga) Plus One (Gohan/Videl, Mature) Tired of being pursued by the gold-digging, glory-seeking, Satan obsessed freaks of the world, Videl will resort to the only method open to a celebrity like her to find Mr. Right. 9) Sailor Moon (Mainly SenshiShitennou) The Crystal Age (Rewritten) In an alternate version of Season 1, as a result of Beryl’s curse at the end of the Silver Age, Tuxedo Mask and the reincarnated Shitennou are fighting a losing battle to save the city and find the lost princess. Sailor Moon has disappeared, Sailor V is working on her own, and the other Senshi are still just ordinary girls. Sequel to The Silver Age. MxU, SxS. Please R&R. Hooligans It’s after Galaxia and time for University. The Senshi and Mamoru settle into life in Great Britain and meet some old friends. Inner Senshi x Shitennou and Usagi x Mamoru. Modern Timeline. Strong language, crude humour, hilarity and sexual situations abound, be warned, there will be some heavy angst later on too. Never Gone R A single choice can change the course of Fate: a choice, say, like waking up on time. If that choice were made, Chiba Mamoru would never meet Tsukino Usagi; but, he WOULD meet Unami Seiya and the burden of Terra’s future would fall onto his shoulders. Never Gone AU. The Dinner Hour (Part of The Dinner Series) It can be hard to be patient in the face of eternity. But good things come to those who search and refuse to give up on their dreams. R/J. (Sequels: Dinner And Again, Dinner at Last completed!)

10) Les Miserables (Warning: Enjonine ahead) When Apollo Met Persephone (1st of the 1830s AU) The revolution, or at least the first part of it succeeds. Enjolras confronts political and personal realities. Eponine is suddenly faced with more opportunities than she ever thought. Can they guide each other in a world that needs them as much as they need it? Les Choses Qui Sont Arrivées Après “You must flee Paris at once.” Enjolras and Eponine. The thief and the leader, the marble Apollo and the dark street girl… two wholly different survivors of the Revolution are forced together under a dangerous circumstance. Can they successfully fight their demons as well as each other? Neither of them knows quite what is going on, or what will happen when they figure it out. Teacher of Man The first time Enjolras and Éponine meet, it is their wedding day. (arranged marriage AU) My Best Friend’s Wedding Éponine Thenardiér always thought that Marius would eventually come back to her, until the wedding invitation came in the mail. Now she is going to do everything that she can to get him back from that blonde tart Cosette. Nothing goes according to plan and even her partner in crime Enjolras is becoming an obstacle. E/E. 11) Naruto Beginnings Naruto was six years old when he met the man who changed his life. …Now he’s kind of just hoping he survives it. An Inch of Gold (Part of the Legacy of Fire series) Team 7 is sent on a mission to investigate a disturbance outside of the village, where they encounter an unconscious girl in a crater. The mysterious Sarada insists she’s a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf trying to rescue her teammates. When the team discovers she possesses a Sharingan, things become even more unbelievable. [Part of the Legacy of Fire Series] Guilt of Innocence Uchiha Sasuke abandoned Konoha in his persute of power to join Orochimaru. However, this was only a cover story. In fact, on Tsunade’s orders, Sasuke is to act as Konoha’s spy within Otogakure. One agreement and his path had changed forever… Blind (SasuSaku) It was almost time, Orochimaru was going to take his body as a vessel. He hated being used…he refused to be used. With that thought, he took the kunai in his hand and slashed across his eyes.

12) Legend of Zelda (Zelink) The Conviction to Save The princess is dead. Those are the words being whispered in the streets. A great shudder sweeps across the land of Hyrule as news of its beloved monarch’s passing spreads like wildfire. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, a humble village doctor happens upon the body of a gravely injured young woman on the road. Legend of the Miraculous (Concepts taken from Miraculous Ladybug) A legend retold through many a tale, but when a darkness resurfaces after so long, Athena and Sheikhan Wolf must return again! Will Link and Zelda be able to combat this threat? and will they figure out each others’ identities? Come inside and take a look! Hit List AU. It all started as a typical day at Ordon High, until a sudden school shooting turns the life of Link Hero upside down. Now, surrounded by enemies, can Link save his friends and escape the school alive? (Edit 10/2015) Counting Stars Link finds himself caught in the middle of an elaborate gang war. Lucky for him, being a B-list superhero makes that predicament a tiny bit easier. / Modern AU ZeLink, inspired by Spider-Man. Under Revision! 13) Hunger Games Vox Libertas Due to things playing out a bit differently in the last few minutes of the Quell, the rescue also goes a bit differently than expected. Now Peeta has the responsibility of representing the Rebellion thrust upon him. No pressure. *AU Mockingjay. Part I of Dandelion in the Storm AU. Mainly Peeta POV.* Someone To Watch Over Me (Everlark, 1st in the Series) A HG rewrite. What would happen if Peeta was just a little bit bolder, and Katniss a little less emotionally confused? You’d be surprised. Let the Games begin. This is an AU, but I’ve tried to stay as canon as possible. Rated T to be safe. Enthralled (Everlark, Gadge, Mature) Thrall (þræll), n., a slave or serf in Viking Age Scandinavia. After a successful raid, Gale is rewarded with a slave girl: the Saxon noblewoman Madge. Meanwhile, shieldmaiden Katniss grows closer to captive monk Peeta. Gadge/Everlark historical AU with background Odesta and other pairings. Katniss, Vampire Slayer (Mature) “Into every generation a slayer is born.” the man droned out slowly, quietly, in a way that made her think he was quoting something. “One girl in all the world. A chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.” // Haymitch mocked. “One girl in all the world. Ain’t I just lucky it had to be you.” 14) How To Train Your Dragon Becoming Lífþrasir (Hiccstrid) People often wondered what kept Hiccup going during those early years. When that single, most-treasured thing is taken from him, there is little left to keep him on Berk. The day Stoick returns, and the day before the best recruit is finally chosen, Hiccup leaves Berk; little knowing that he would one day return under … strange circumstances. H/A, R/F, rated for violence. HTTYD Easter Special Sequel to “The Unholy Offspring,” set after the season finale. When Alvin the Treacherous threatens Asgard with a rogue demigod’s help, Hiccup and Berk’s Dragon Riders must prevent an early Ragnorak. It doesn’t help that Alvin has learned to tame dragons, and that the only god that can help Hiccup is a sullen, suspicious boy named Mud. Happy Eos week, Hiccup! The Blacksmith’s Apprentice (Hiccstrid) AU. Hiccup never took the shot on that fateful night-and the war continued. Three years later, Berk is beset by dragon raids and hostile tribes while the boy who should have saved the island is merely the assistant in the forge. With only Astrid as his friend, fate gives Hiccup one more chance to end the war and become the hero he was meant to be. Hiccstrid. Snap (Hiccstrid, Mature) He was just supposed to fix her back, and she doubted that at first. She definitely didn’t expect to get dragged into the ethics of a girlish crush. Modern AU. 15) Star Wars Double Agent Vader The one where Vader turned double agent for the Rebellion about three years after ROTS, and Leia is now his primary contact with the Rebellion. Or, a man attempts to escape slavery by turning into one of his culture heroes, teaching his daughter how to do magic, killing people, and flower arranging. A New History During a heated battle, Dooku escaped into the past! Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker follow to stop him, but discover that Dooku went to the past where Obi-Wan is a young padawan to a very much alive Qui-Gon Jinn. Now, the two must go undercover to stop Dooku’s plans from coming to fruition in order to save not only the future, but also young Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. Pulse AU for ROTS. As Padme’s life hangs in the balance on Mustafar, a stream of brilliant light causes Anakin to reconsider his choices. Jedi Shmi AU Shmi leaves Tatooine with Anakin and goes to the Jedi Temple.

#Stuff to do #while youre stuck inside #due to coronavirus #eastonia reccs #fanfiction recommendation

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lokiarsene · 6 years ago

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Isn't it better if Akechi doesn't have a palace, though? I like the idea of it, but I also find the idea of him having a change of heart on his own and not through his shadow-self really meaningful.

Mod Krist: No, I don’t think it’s better. Just because he has a Palace (which exists in the original game’s coding) doesn’t mean the Phantom Thieves will be the one change his heart. And he definitely has a Palace. It’s in the code.

Akechi can easily come to that decision on his own, similar to Futaba’s Awakening. The difference here is that instead of Awakening, Akechi will have to decide to change. Not so much “steal” his heart as confront it and be given a sufficient reason to change it. That reason, IMO, is Ren.

Even if you don’t ship them, Ren’s impact on Akechi’s life is undeniable. Ren means so much to Akechi that the dude spends his final breaths lamenting how they didn’t meet sooner. The OVA “Proof of Justice” is written entirely around the relationship he and Ren have, how much both boys meant to each other, and how it hurts Ren to think about how unfair life was for Akechi. Ren even sees Akechi as a friend–he tells Sojiro the chess game is between him and a friend.

So again–even if people don’t ship them, they have a clear deep bond that’s a mix of rivalry and affection (with some good ol fashioned spite mixed in, because villain/hero romances are GREAT). And as Ren is really the only person in Akechi’s life that leaves any lasting, significant, healing impact, I can’t see how anyone or -thing else could convince Akechi to change his heart.

Akechi has to have a good enough reason to abandon his entire life’s planning of proving that he was a valuable, worthy, and important person to the one man who ruined his life and cast him aside. If he’s going to throw away all those years of his life, he’d want to do it for something that deserves it. And I think the only thing that would get through to him is if Ren accepts Akechi at his lowest and ugliest, and offers to help Akechi get revenge on Shido. Hell, Ren himself might end up being Akechi’s “treasure.”

The game’s code has his Palace after Sae’s and before Shido’s–which means it’ll take place during the period of time when Ren faked his death. Which means Akechi will believe Ren’s dead. What’s the one thing he would want back, bitter mixed feelings and all, but the one person he saw as a worthy rival and a friend? What else does Akechi value so highly besides his desire for revenge? Ren. Everything else in Akechi’s life was simply a tool leading him to the goal of revenge: his popularity, his public persona, his usefulness. All these things were part of the long con. But the two sincere things he cherishes are his desire for vengeance and his relationship with Ren.

Right now, in P5 vanilla, Akechi’s desire for revenge overrules all else and destroys him. We’re seeing him with his heart unchanged, unable to accept his other sincerest wish (Ren). His Palace doesn’t necessarily have to change Akechi or have anything to do with his redemption, it could just mean he gets a chance to balance out both his wishes (which is what that scene after his fight was very likely meant to do). He’ll join the PT after making the conscious decision to want to belong with them. The PT won’t “steal” his heart so much as just like, look on while Akechi decides what his heart should be.

I speculated a few weeks back about what I think an Akechi Palace might look like, and what they might base it on.

To quote from the link above:

This edda is the second part of a larger work that talks about a son resurrecting his mother from the dead. The band Heilung recently did a song about the very same thing (with the female vocalists singing the mother’s magic spell, and the men singing the son’s chant to bring his mother back to life). After the hero’s resurrected mother chants a protective blessing on him, he has to go to a castle to play a “game of questions and answers.” The hero then must give his true name so he can go inside and rescue the person within. That person is the hero’s bride and true love.

It’s worth noting that in the code for Akechi’s Palace, they refer to it as a castle. Ain’t that something?

And:

The bride threatens death as a punishment for lying about something she’s been longing and waiting for (”the hero is come to my hall”). Goro’s stance towards justice lies heavily on the “punishment” side, as well as a quest for truth. She then questions the hero about his true name and his past so he can prove he’s really the one she’s been waiting for. The hero gives her his true name, they kiss and embrace, and leave the castle. She has the final words of the poem:

“Welcome thou art, | for long have I waited;The welcoming kiss shalt thou win!For two who love | is the longed-for meetingThe greatest gladness of all.

49. Long have I sat | on Lyfjaberg here,Awaiting thee day by day;And now I have | what I ever hoped,For here thou art come to my hall.”

50. Alike we yearned; | I longed for thee,And thou for my love hast longed;But now henceforth | together we knowOur lives to the end we shall live.“

Akechi’s breakdown in Shido’s Palace is very likely what they intended to have his breakdown be for his Palace, and that entire argument hinges on one thing: Ren, what Ren has, how he and Ren compare/contrast, and how envious Akechi is of Ren’s life. Akechi doesn’t really break until Mona says, “You really like Joker, don’t you?” That’s the entire crux of his downward spiral: his feelings to Ren.

None of Akechi’s breakdown dialogue would need to be changed so much as where it takes place. They can have a fight like his breakdown in the hold of Shido’s ship, Akechi decides to “change” his own heart, and they leave the Palace. The only thing that is really left out in the wind here is Shido’s Cognition of Akechi–but he can still exist in Shido’s Palace if that’s how they want to handle it. They already put Cognition!Mishima into the P5R version of Kamoshida’s fight, so maybe Cognition!Akechi still exists in Shido’s Palace, too.

So to sum up: the only person capable of making Akechi change his own heart is Akechi himself. Akechi values his free will, desires, and his beliefs over all things. No one else is more qualified to change his heart, or balance it out, than Akechi himself. That’s probably why his new AOA phrase is (likely) “I decide the truth”–no one else will be in control of the truth but him. And the only person capable of making Akechi want to change his heart is Ren. If Akechi’s Palace is back in P5R, Ren is Akechi’s treasure and their friendship/rivalry will be at the crux of Akechi’s Palace, much like the hero’s quest in the castle mentioned in the edda. Once the fighting’s over, they’ll reunite, Akechi will move forward with his new resolve, his Confidant maxes out, and that’s that.

Wait, no: you meet up with him after his Palace, he and Ren makeout on the upstairs couch, and that’s when his Confidant maxes out.

And that’s that.

Side note: You are all now imagining a scene where Akechi gets his “calling card” is just Ren showing Akechi he’s still alive, and then quickly tapping on the Metaverse app to go into his Palace. You are all now also imagining that Akechi’s Palace is Leblanc, made to look like a castle. I mean, he does welcome you back home as if it’s his home, too.

Addendum: This excellent post by @loki-friggason (I love your url btw!) gives in game proof that made me change my stance on Akechi’s revenge plan (which was always either muddled to me, or I filled in the blanks by assumption). The post accurately points out that it was acknowledgement and acceptance that Akechi sought, which would be a bitter pill for Shido to swallow after having cast Akechi and his mother aside.

Because of this, I feel even more strongly that Ren will play a big part in Akechi’s survival and change in P5R. Even if Ren isn’t Akechi’s treasure, and even if Akechi’s Palace isn’t put back into the game, there’s no denying that Ren’s friendship--his acceptance, his support, his interest in Akechi’s life, him seeing Akechi as a worthy rival with talent and skills--left such a lasting impression on Akechi and thus will have something to do with Akechi’s change. The validation and acceptance Akechi bitterly craved from his father was everything he had in his relationship with Ren, and a manual Confidant link will very likely show this in ways an automatic Confidant link could not.

#Anonymous #this is the ask tag #mod krist #speculation #meta #persona 5 royal

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mittensmorgul · 6 years ago

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Hiya: If there's been conversation about Nick/Lucifer I've missed it, sorry. I can't figure out where they're going with him - there's a reason he's still around, surely, but so far his story seems to be rudderless. Sarah's little monologue suggests that Nick's Lucifer experience is significant going forward. What are your thoughts?

Hello! And sorry it took so long for me to reply to this, but I wanted to approach it from several directions and cover this as completely as possible, so I’m now fortified with cookies and caffeine, and will hopefully do as thorough a job as possible while also demonstrating that I am prepared to fend off any and all wank with this here big stick *waves large stick in the air*. :P

I don’t normally like to use the production side of things to justify the narrative, but in this particular case, I think it’s CRUCIAL to keep in mind when considering anything having to do with Nick. Here’s a few “production specific” bullet points to bear in mind:

Eugenie really enjoys writing this specific character, for whatever twisted reason.

therefore I personally like to imagine the rest of the production staff roll their eyes and let her have him to play with over in a corner, which interestingly enough keeps her from mucking about with the characters we all actually care about

J2 specifically asked to have more time off. That’s why we have a 20 episode season this year (and I think we would’ve had an even shorter season if wayward had been picked up, but their compromise to sign on for even 20 episodes was explicitly to get more time off to spend with their families). Have you wondered also why there’s been a lot more scenes that ONLY had Sam or Dean in them? Why they’ve been separated for a lot of the season? Because one of them has been having nice days off with their family while the other has been filming. In order to have episodes where they’re together, the compromise is that some of the focus go to other characters so they can both have time off still... and sadly, Nick fits the bill for “available for scenes alone.”

Enter cries of “BUT WHAT ABOUT CAS! WHAT ABOUT MARY OR THE WAYWARDS?! WHY NICK?!”

*points everyone back to that first bullet point*

So now that some of that real-world nonsense is out of the way, I really do think that they’ve been actively making the most of this objectively terrible character that most of us have utterly failed to connect to in any way, because he is just so damn terrible.

I personally LOVED Davy’s treatment of him last week, and how Nick’s own story had been paralleled to Sam’s since the beginning of the season. Not for Nick’s sake, but FOR SAM’S.

I wrote some about that here:

http://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/182308756300/love-that-your-nick-tag-says-possibly-murderous

But this week’s episode goes several steps beyond that. Since 5.01, Nick’s entire deal with Lucifer had been predicated on his desire to be reunited with his murdered family. He’d been dismally living in the house where they’d been murdered, with his child’s crib still sitting there, drinking himself to sleep at night, unable to move on past their deaths. It was implied in s14 that he’d even been a suspect in their murders, but he was cleared after having the alibi that he’d been out drinking while they were killed.

And yet, when he thinks back to why he said Yes to Lucifer, he doesn’t remember the promise to be reunited with his wife and son, he remembers Lucifer telling him he was special and chosen. Which I think is really telling:

NICK: I just don’t know what kind of pain would make me allow Lucifer to possess me.CAS: It was your family.NICK: My family? Sarah and Teddy?[CAS nods.]NICK, gasping: No. [NICK flashes back to Sympathy for the Devil (5.01). We see these scenes along with current NICK as he remembers]SARAH/LUCIFER, in flashback: It’s you, Nick. You’re special. You’re chosen. Nick, I need you to say “yes”.NICK, in flashback: Then yes.NICK, now: Oh my god. Who could do that? Who could do that?

Because even his reason for saying yes was this sort of personal aggrandizement of being “special” and “chosen,” even if he’d always framed it as being this revenge quest on behalf of his murdered family. That’s what Sam had been sympathizing with, at any rate-- the fact that they’d both been manipulated into saying yes, and both had these familial/loved ones murdered to force them into participating in this awful cosmic game. But personal grandiosity had NEVER been one of Sam’s motivations for saying yes. He’d felt personally BETRAYED when Lucifer revealed the extent to which his entire life had been nudged into place by demons, you know? He HATED the fact he’d been “chosen” and felt it was more of a curse than something special.

But not Nick. He may have said he wanted justice for his wife and son, but the truth kept coming out of him throughout s14:

He beat his neighbor to death in the exact manner his family was killed, because the neighbor told police he’d seen someone at Nick’s house, and then recanted his statement.

because what he’d seen was a POLICE OFFICER entering and then leaving the house, and he was not prepared to testify against a cop

Nick kills Arty’s priest for refusing to divulge what Arte confessed to him about the man he saw, but learns about the cop from a reporter he interviewed later

Nick then tracks down the retired officer, who tells him he was possessed by the demon Abraxis and had no memory of the murders. The man had been used just as badly as Nick himself, and yet Nick killed him ANYWAY even though he’d been tormented about his part in all of this for more than a decade.

After killing the cop, Nick confesses that he said he just wanted revenge, but that it was a lie, and he liked being evil this way

He pleads with Lucifer to come back to him

He then goes on a rampage to find Abraxas, to ask him (ostensibly) who ordered him to kill his wife. He kills his way through other demons until he discovers where Abraxas is, in a puzzle box trapped by Mary Winchester.

And this is where everything falls apart for him

Once he learns that Lucifer ordered his family killed-- not because he was special, but because he was convenient-- he had one final chance to repent for what he’d done in the name of vengeance. And he failed to take it.

Instead of accepting that all of this was a horrific abuse, and that this was the most justice he or his loved ones could possibly get, and trying to make peace with himself and try to do the best he can with what he now has (including the support of the Winchesters, who are arguably the people on the planet most inclined to sympathize with what Nick has been through), he rejects ALL of that.

He prays to Lucifer, begging for answers that he technically already has. But he just cannot let go of it. It ceased being about justice for his wife and son a long, long time ago. It’s only about him, now.

He’s mad at Lucifer for hurting HIM. He’s mad at the fact his wife and son were murdered, not because it wasn’t fair to THEM, but because they were taken away from HIM. Which is all proven out in how he treats the ghost of his wife in 14.12.

He returns to his home, where he has to break in. He doesn’t have a key anymore, and still, the house is sitting empty and abandoned, where nobody else has wanted to live since. Compare that to the Winchester family house in 1.09. Despite the tragedy there, it’s still inhabited. Life goes on there, and after 1.09, when the ghosts of its past are finally laid to rest, it has a chance for a happy family to live and thrive there again. Nick’s place is just stagnant with the ghost of his dead wife trapped there, wearing a nightgown so similar to Mary Winchester’s.

I thought it was strange that this incarnation of Sarah’s actual ghost had long hair, while the vision of Sarah that Lucifer used in 5.01 to woo Nick in the first place had short hair, and I think it was intentional... making her look like the sad, dark version of Mary Winchester. This was Sarah’s big moment, her chance to finally be released from the misery of being trapped in that house as a ghost... and she failed, because Nick failed HER on every level.

Sarah: My unfinished business isn't just about how I died, Nick. It's you. I was here that night. I saw what he did to you. I... You chose Lucifer. You wanted him. You... You still do.Nick: He chose me, okay.Sarah: You didn't come here to find peace. You came here to find him in the place you became one with him.Nick: No.Sarah: Then show me I'm wrong. Reject Lucifer right now. If you do, I can leave. I can find peace. Reject him, Nick. Please. Please!Nick: I-I can't. I'm sorry.Sarah: You can't. Because you are him. You doomed me to stay in this place forever. You've doomed yourself.

Nick is flim-flam-- on a meta level, on a personal level, on every level. He’d never been seeking her, which is why he bought into Lucifer’s deal. He wanted to be special, and up to the point Lucifer came to him, he’d only felt worthless. That’s what made him useful to Lucifer. He could buy into his own lie that it was about seeing his wife again. He would go along quietly.

This was his one last chance at an easy redemption, and he refused to do it. When faced with the ONE THING he always said he wanted, he turned away, because he’d never wanted it in the first place.

Granted, all of this serves as The Darkest Possible Mirror to the Winchester family, but I think it’s still useful to keep this in mind with what the 300th will be giving us next week. Sam and Dean have been struggling with what happened to their family, and how it resulted in their entire lives lived as a revenge quest and how the entire universe has demanded their involvement in cosmic affairs ever since. And now, they’re also looking for a bit of catharsis. And we have a dark mirror set up to shine an interesting light on that now...

Granted, it makes it really difficult to engage with Nick’s storyline, considering how little interest any of us have in him as a character, compounded by the fact that the character himself is entirely devoid of anything resembling something we can have sympathy for. And honestly, we never cared about him in the first place, and it just feels like beating a dead horse to keep dragging Mark P.’s face up on screen year after year just to demonstrate how irredeemable he is, but *heavy sigh* they do seem to be making the most of these facts despite that.

Honestly, they can do better. Pick a different character for us to spend a bit more time with. I’d love to see more Cas, and more Cas interacting with Sam and Dean individually, or more Mary, or more Jody and Donna and the girls, but this is what we have. So I’ll continue to wish they’d just put him out of our misery and off him once and for all, but sadly I think we’re stuck with him for at least the rest of the season...

There’s several ways I can personally think of that he could become more useful down the line, like the crack spec I wrote last week:

http://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/182454196470/solution-1-put-mike-into-nick-2-put-nick-in-the

but maybe a lil less... cracky... if they do something along those lines in canon...

Just how desperate is Nick to feel special again? To feel chosen? Would he take his second choice (Michael over Lucifer), and Dean’s sloppy seconds? How would that even work? What would they do? It may or may not be something in the future, but it’s one theory that’s giving me hope that he has some actual purpose to the narrative, since he’s proven himself absolutely irredeemable at this point. The only way he’s gonna earn redemption at this point is via self-sacrifice. Not even Lucifer could pull that one off... I don’t really have high hopes for Nick...

#spn 14.12 #spn 5.01 #nick the possibly murderous vessel of lucifer #spn 14.02 #spn 14.11 #livinginthequestion

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socksual-innuendos · 6 years ago

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Im bored so yall get some Graham chatter. I think trying to fit Joshua into a redemption arc in HH takes away a lot of what makes him a good character. The man is performative and skeevy as fuck and it gives him better angle than ‘guy trying to do good but fucks up’ ever will. The DLC forces you to partake in some way with their war against the White Legs, and from an outsiders’ POV (which you have) you only know a few things. Objectively, you know that Graham is ex-Legion and was known for his brutality as Legate. Subjectively, we hear from Chalk he’s changed and Daniel/New Canaan accepted him back and kept him for the past five years. Other than that you have to draw your own conclusions on the man.

Which we know how he acts during the DLC, but we have no idea how Graham was during those five years before HH. I dont know if Daniel knew him personally, but he has dialogues relating to Graham that I dont think can be chalked up to “We knew what he did as Legate”. What I mean, when Daniel tells you that Graham will burn everything along side him, hes pulling from time he’s spent around Graham rather than what he knows of the Legate, necessarily. God forgives and forgets, so why wouldn’t New Canaan? If they don’t condemn him for being Legate, then why would Daniel say what he does about Graham if those qualities still didnt hold true. After all, he does warn you that Joshua will try very hard to convince you to his side, and that we “dont know him”. Makes me wonder if he had tried to convince part of his own tribe to join in his efforts.

I thought this was a bug at first but I think its worth mentioning on the off chance it isnt. My courier wasnt willing to help Graham when they first talked. She also wasnt gonna put in effort to shake down Daniel. If you give Graham a hard time about helping, he stops talking to you outside of a greeting dialogue and the quest to find items never triggers. I didnt try talking to Daniel afterwards, but if this was intentional in the story it again shows you how bent Graham is on his goals and how prideful he still is. Not willing to help? He isnt going to beg, and you already decided to be stubborn. Go ahead and try to survive this valley without the map.

And heres the kicker I think people miss. He knows how to appear and what to say to get what he wants. I think a lot of people discredit him in strategical areas because its easy to fall into a “loooool he fell into an obvious trap at Boulder City ecks-dee” joking mindset. He was still a Legate for 30 something years, he isnt a complete idiot, but we can see how his ego gets in the way of his rational thinking. And to the people who want to give him a chance or want to believe he’s better, he’s playing directly on that soft spot. He says a lot of things that he /thinks/ will convince you he’s in this for the ‘right’ reasons, that he’s not falling back into old tendencies, but he can later confess it was all for personal revenge. Hell, his dialogues about Caesar, ‘hate the sin love the sinner, but theres a lot of sin to look through’ seems to be poorly tailored considering he never once openly condemns /LEGION/ (never Legion, just Caesar). And why should he? He helped make the damn thing, a lot of the rules were likely his own convictions.

Which raises the issue of not knowing how I want to take his “best” ending. I dont recall the exact words, but they were along the lines of ‘the tribes dont need to see you do this’ to get him to stop. He then confesses he “always has that fire”, which regardless of whether he means that in a repentant way or just telling us what he thinks we want to hear, shows that he /does know/ what his issues are. Furthering that, he does change his behavior enough when not killing Salt that it warrents a seperate ending. Its only /slightly/ different, he still likes power and violently asserting it or whatever, but he shows mercy at times without needing someone standing over him to tell him to do it (which infantilizes him, like he isnt aware of what hes doing— false) nor does he do it because he thinks people are watching (in which he’d be completely unrepentant and would act the way he percieves others want him to act— also false). Its another layer of character, because regardless of how exactly he views the Dead Horses, he still budges enough on his brutality (showing he can and did make conscious effort to chill) that it goes noticed. On the flip side, he actually gets /worse/ if you let him have revenge. Youre teetering his scales, but I wont say one side is “road to redemption”, but I cant place both as “evil” either.

But yeah, Ill say it again. I do not think Graham staying with the Dead Horses allows him any sort of ‘redemption’ ending or allowance to change for the ultimate better. It still enables him to fall back into old, bad habits regardless of what the courier does and how it effects him. Which this again wraps back to my original thought of veiwing him through a “made for a redemption arc” looking glass detracts from his character and weakens his writing sevearly.

#joshua graham #hes a fun character because they leave bread crumbs to the big #this wasnt a j grahams got better story #this was seeing an ex legate in action and a glimpse into how he ran the show back in the legion #like i dont want to give him too much credit #but being second in command of legion isnt an attack dog position #he lead troops #he was the one to help conquer tribes #he has to have some strategy to him #it couldnt have all been caesar #n he uses the same skeevy shit inthe dlc to convince you to do what he wants #hilariously since you use just about nothing of the original shit they send you out for #and that it mostly benefits daniels get up and leave plan #i like to think he was testing the waters for how much youd listen to him #or at least how well you handled yourself #anyway #skeevy boi

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tiliqi · 7 years ago

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Lost and Found: Lyrical Character Analysis for Shadow the Hedgehog

it’s all under the cut; it’s also really long......

can’t really make a TLDR for it since it’s kinda chaotic and you need the context sajfhsakj just know that shadow is a super deep character and fuck anyone that makes him The Token Edgy Boy,,

if you have anything to add, feel free to do so. If you think I missed a song, tell me! (i spent over 10 hours on this, i fell asleep at one point too sjafhaskj)

song index (each song has a link to a youtube video up here, and also in the analysis of the specified song):

throw it all away

supporting me

waking up

almost dead

broken

chosen one

all hail shadow

i am all of me

never turn back

who i am

1) Throw it all away

Shadow’s theme in SA2, the first theme he ever had.

This show’s Shadow in his state immediately after the ARK raid where he still has *all* of his memories. He is blinded by rage over the events and emotionally confused. His sorrow manifested in a tunnel vision that could only see the revenge that Gerald had planned for him to carry out.

Everybody tries to be straight But things are still unchanged It's useless to resist Their effort will be wasted

obviously this means shadow is gay thanks for reading my analysis.

By “straight” the singer probably means upright, proper and just.

This makes a lot of sense considering Shadow’s world view in that moment. Humans are all the same: They pretend to mean well and fight for the right thing/justice; but in the end their true selfish nature will arise, they just can’t resist being evil. No matter how many people speak of change, he’s seen what they really are. Every effort of people to be good is wasted because they just do bad things anyways. Mostly seen as that even after those 50 years that Shadow was asleep, humans have not changed at all. They are still fighting and at war with themselves (in different ways/forms than back then) and discriminative. And most of all are they trashing the planet that Maria wanted to protect so dearly. (the efforts are also wasted because Shadow wants to kill them all with a big laser)

The trauma of the in a later game implied abuse, aswell as the brutal loss of Maria shaped Shadow to have a very black and white view of the world that led him to believe that people couldn’t redeem themselves. (the same actually goes for the GUN Commander, but that’s for another post.)

Head straight for your goal by any means There is a door that you've never opened There is a window with the view you have never seen Get there, no matter how long it takes

This verse is interesting as it suddenly changes the perspective. This is not how Shadow sees himself, but how an observer would describe him.

Shadow is a person that does whatever he needs to achieve his goal and in this game it is even more prominent because of his tunnel vision and the fact he acts a lot on emotion. (rage, sadness, confusion, guilt)

The door and the window are symbolic to the opportunities that Shadow has to make a difference and be the change he wants to see so badly, aswell as a reference to his tunnel vision and an urge for him to open his eyes to what he is doing and that there is more to the world than what he believe it to be at that time, mostly considering that Shadow never got a chance to actually see much of the real world, since he was born and raised in an artificial and military environment in space; and after that he was immediately put to sleep and imprisoned. And after THAT he was too fixated on destroying the world to actually pay attention to his surroundings.

It almost sounds like this is Shadow’s voice of reason speaking to him. It is gentle and patient (Either literally Maria or Shadow’s suppressed memories of her)

Oh dark the darkness that dozes in the dusk Throw it all away! No-one can break you, nobody can tear you You live an endless life forever

Dusk is the colors at sunset. (I googled it to be sure.) so that might be symbolic for the light fading from his sight, darkness and negativity creeping up on his bright and colorful old self.

Shadow realizes his mistake late in the game and he is reminded of Maria’s wish. he throws the darkness away. (he also “throws his rings away” in the final phase of the fight against the finalhazard…)

He has put this mask on himself, created this persona of himself that is unfazeable, unbreakable. This is him speaking to himself, telling himself he should not let anything stop him in his plans, that he is the strongest and true ultimate life form.

He knows that he is doomed/cursed with his immortality. Exactly this is why he’s ready to “throw it all away” and ultimately sacrifice himself in the end.

Oh dark the darkness that dozes in the dusk Throw it all away! You see a light wherever you go You have to face it again and again (and again and again)

The memories of Maria haunt him, but even if they do make him suffer, at the same time they are only his last and only reason to live and to move forward. She is his light, and he has to face the truth about her fate over and over and over again every time he has those flashbacks.

The way he has to face them is not a haunt though, it is a reminder. His subconcious wants him to remember his true purpose, but his stubbornness makes it really really hard to see the truth.

Alternatively he also encounters Sonic who is trying to stop him from destroying the planet at numerous places. Sonic is also a light in shadow’s world, a very harsh one that literally tries to beat sense into him.

Now, wake up, up, up, up…

He has to wake up and snap out of it and save the world.

This song is easily a dialogue between Shadows true self and the version of him that is blinded by rage. He argues with himself about if he is doing the right thing and urges himself to snap out of his anger induced trance.

2) Supporting Me

Arguably not directly one of his theme songs but there are important hint to Shadow’s character development within SA2.

Remember how Shadow was very selfish in his wish to destroy the planet? Well get a load of this then:

I'm gonna be desperate

He’s outright desperate to right his wrongdoings. He did not believe in redemption before, but now he’s not so sure himself. He doesn’t know or care if he will be redeemed, but he’s desperate to do what he was to do to make it right again. (By fighting his brother and winning Sonic and Knuckles some time to stop the ARK from crashing to the earth)

Never lose, hurry Never lose, hurry

Shadow can’t lose, not ever, and most of all not now. He has to beat the Biolizard at all costs and he has to do it fast as time is running out.

I believe in my future, farewell to the shadow It was my place to live, but now I need your hand Lead me out with your light I have breathed in the disgusting air of darkness But I never lose out to the pressure

Shadow stopped looking back to the past, all that matters is the present and the future of this planet. He bids farewell to

1) the shadow that was clouding his view

2) the Shadow (himself) of the past.

He insisted that he was the real and Sonic was a Fake, he told him to die and that he didn’t have the right to be alive since it would be a mockery to his existence. He regrets his words and acknowledges that implying that he was the only one who had the right to live was wrong. He needs Sonic’s help now. Sonic is his light (as mentioned in the song before) that can lead him out of his darkness. The disgusting air of darkness he’s been breathing for too long. (This verse also refers to how the Biolizard is Shadow’s prototype and how Shadow was the one who was allowed to “live a life” while the Biolizard was artificially programmed (however they did that) and made a consciousless slave to Gerald’s plan.)

But no matter what happens, Shadow is able to stay cool and not give in to his emotions in the sense of his mission. He has to keep fighting without any disturbances or distractions. He can’t afford failure. Pressure (mainly the pressure of time in this context) is nothing.

(The instrumental in this part has a distorted part of live and learn in it!) Everything's just like an illusion I'll be losing you before long

I never lose my confidence

Everything being an illusion is a reference to how fast everything is going for Shadow, how confused and unsure he is of his actions and the future of the planet. It’s too much to take in, but at the same time he (as mentioned before) can’t afford the confusion. He’s quick to adapt and accept this fate, but he can’t help feeling like the last few hours have been too wild of a ride.

He’s ready to sacrifice his life to save the world though, and the You he’s referring to… well.

I know you were supporting me Supporting me Supporting me I'll be losing you before long

Who’s supporting him? Sonic. Sonic is supporting him. Shadow already know’s he’s going to sacrifice himself to save the planet. He’s known from the very moment he was reminded of his purpose.

He doesn’t believe in redemption. He knows that he did something villainous, and he doesn’t deserve to be saved and supported by Sonic (the Hero). He’s okay with it. It’s okay. He lived and learned. He doesn’t want to live out his curse of immortality anyways.

3) Waking Up

Covering the ShTH songs is a challenge, but I’ll do my best to make sense.

This is the true neutral theme of Shadow. well… “true”. I’d call it more of a… this is the theme for a Shadow that was not told any new information throughout his quest and the only thing he was told by Eggman was a lie. (him being an android that is. it’s a lie. Eggman confirms it later in the game.)

Jet sounds a distant roar behind you As you try to clear your head You start to look and answers find you Your inner purpose lies ahead

This isn’t about Jet The Hawk btw.

Due to the Alien Invasion that’s going on right now, the military (GUN) is out and about having war with them. It’s loud and irritating and it’s distracting Shadow from his true mission: Remembering his past, his identity. Finding out who he is. Finding answers. He finds them, but many are not what he actually wanted to know. He gets more answers than he asked for and he has to sort them out and find the truth behind them. The true ending: his inner purpose that’s always been there right from the start.

One step to calm the storm inside you Unlock the secrets in your head Not another day, no more confusion No more living like you're dead

His mind is in turmult, he’s confused and scared, but determined to find the truth. One step forward towards that truth can clear his head and help him focus. He’s tired of being manipulated and confused, he wants to know who he is and why he exists! He feels fake and unreal and its suffocating. He will remember at all costs.

It seems it's just out of sight The ones with answers always get their way And I think they should know That I'm coming for them Now

He’s so close to the truth it seems, because everyone keeps telling him they know who he is, and they are willing to tell him if he does them a favour. He plays along for a while but ultimately he sees through the manipulation and opposes them. Eggman, GUN, Black doom…. He will combat their manipulation by using it to his advantage. He just wants to know who he is…

Waking up, breaking out *This is what it's like to be free Rip it up, tear it down *This is what it means to be free Waking up, breaking out *This is what it's like to be free Rip it up, tear it down *This is what it means to be free

(lyrics with * are in omegas voice as this is the ending song for shadow being told he is an android and he and omega join forces to kill eggman)

waking up and breaking out is meant symbolic aswell as literal… being aware of the abuse you’re going through and breaking out of it…. it’s freeing. You feel free.

And, technically, you *are* free, too. But Shadow and Omega… they feel like this isn’t enough.

In order to be really free, they have to destroy the source of their suffering. This is their meaning of being free. Once whatever is emotionally holding them back is destroyed, it can’t bother you anymore.

This is the path they had been manipulated into. ( I’ll explain how everything goes together when I get to I am All Of Me)

4) Almost dead

This is the pure dark (and normal dark) ending theme for Shadow.

No more gods No more graves Are you friend or fiend? No more life No more death Somewhere in between

This is the path there he got too many answers, too much information, things out of context left and right that got to his head.

he says, I quote, “I was created to bring order and justice to the humans… With the power of these emeralds I’m going to destroy this danm planet!”

He’s tired of being told what to do, tired of being “meant” to save and protect creatures that are not worth it, sick of catering to black dooms plans. He’s sick of *everyone* what better way to end it than to just kill everyone?

It doesn’t even matter anymore that innocent people will go down with him. Existence is cursed and there’s nothing anyone can do about it anymore.

Heaven can't save us Hell is a joke No place left to go What you see You cannot believe But when we rise, you'll know

This is a reference to the other ending. The ending where shadow is convinced by black doom to be evil. Where he works for black doom. He will help the black arms rise. Humans are worthless and deserve to be ruled over by the dark arms.

Well we're almost dead Almost dead Almost dead to the world Almost dead Almost dead Almost dead to the world

The world is almost dead, since it’s doomed now, but he and the aliens are both not seen as living being either.

5) Broken

This is an unused track that was not included in the final game, I’ll talk more about this later and what ending this would probably be for. (edit: i’ll explain why it’s unused and everything in the next song that replaces this one)

Don't wanna feel like Don't wanna think like Don't wanna live like Like someone else Wanna feel like Just wanna think like Just wanna be like Everyone else

Shadow just wants to be normal like everyone else, he hates his destiny as chosen one (pun intended)

The below verse is a cont of that thought.

Don't wanna sing like Don't wanna dream like Don't wanna act like Like someone else Wanna feel life Just wanna live life Just wanna live life As someone else

Here its like. He isnt even sure if he can relate to pleople in the most TRIVIAL THINGS ... He feels alien to other ppl bc... He literally is an alien.

And he really wished he wasnt. That his past wast so tragic. That all this hadn't happened. That he wasnt made in the first place.

Couldn't walk away from something broken Tried to find a way to make it good again Only you can make a difference, darling But always...

And he refers to himself as broken, bc thats what he is. Just. A scrap heap of memories and misery And he tries so hard to be good but he feels like he cant do it And hes trying hard for Maria, trying hard for Sonic, trying hard for Rouge. Their love is his reason to live, they give him the power to keep going. But always..... Everyone dies and leaves him behind alone again. As is his fate as immortal life form.

6) Chosen one

The Neutral Hero ending.

He mainly learns about the things on ARK and his origin, how he was made.

I can't remember Anything at all I've been turning it all around I'm sorry So sorry Is this what I have become

Shadow says “I’m a research experiment gone deadly wrong, I should’ve never been created.”

He feels guilty that he can’t remember all the horrible things that happened, the horrible thing he did in SA2. All the people he hurt when he was looking for answers. And also guilty for the alien invasion.

He’s guilty for his existence.

Wish I may Wish I might be someone else tonight Sometimes I wish I was never born at all And I'll try to save the world Cause in the end I know I'm the chosen one I'm the chosen one

He can wish all he wants to reverse his past, no be someone else, to wish he was never born. He will do his best to save the world, to right his wrongdoings. To somehow redeem himself and take the weight of his guilt off his shoulders. It all depends on him, because that’s what he was made for. It’s his purpose, his fate.

I can't remember What I used to be Something's turning me upside down You made me I love you But I can't change things I've done (I'm the chosen one)

He can’t remember his past self anymore, he has no idea how and what his childhood was like.

All he knows is that he was close to Maria, that he loved her and that her death was horrible and in vain. All he can remember is her death and her smile.

He doesn’t remember how Sonic had helped him in SA2, but he has new recent memories of Sonic’s support. I assume strongly that Sonic did tell Shadow about their team-up on ARK. He’s literally turning his world upside down.

Sonic helped Shadow realize the truth, he supported him a LOT throughout the game. Emotionally and physically.

After all they’ve been through....

He loves him.

Shadow loves Sonic.

And after all this, even when he appreciates him and is grateful for his continuous support….

Just like on ARK in SA2, he feels like he doesn’t deserve redemption. He doesn’t deserve Sonic’s love.

(disclaimer: love doesn’t have to be romantic. see it however you want lmao)

Broken and Chosen One are connected, you can easily see the parallels.

I think that Broken was meant to be the neutral hero theme, but when that was canceled they put Chosen One in its place.

EDIT: the description of the video i linked does confirm this actually. broken was not written FOR the game, rather Jun thought it was so good and fitting that he’d like to have included it in the game, but was unable to get permission,,,, this is why chosen one sounds so much like broken, because it’s MEANT to kinda mimic it in mood and style.

And I think those two songs are VERY underrated. They show Shadow’s more emotional side that people tend to ignore completely.

7) All Hail Shadow

Okay I’ll be upfront. This is Shadow’s theme since 2006.

And I hate it. It is a very “biased” theme for Shadow that only shows one side of him. I’ll explain.

Suffer long and it will set you free! Only through trial do we find the strength we need It's never over, just another day Of hope and tragedies, and everything that comes our way

This song is all about how edgy Shadow is. It tells of how suffering builds character (bad trope)

What i like about this verse is that it addresses that hope and tragedy go hand in hand, that there's good and bad in a balance in life.

Determination of the strong, Found the meaning that you've searched for so long!

Shadow found the seeming meaning of his life. His promise to Maria, and Sonic.

Somewhere in chaos we all find ourselves This destruction is the only tale we tell White is black and black is white, Right is wrong, wrong is right!

Nothing ever fills this hole inside your heart

more edgy stuff………. i really cant tell you what the fuck this is supposed to mean other than “shadow is an edgy anti hero” and im like. we get it. but where’s the lore? the context? the character?

the black and white thing kinda symbolizes the manipulation he went through to find out the truth. How he can’t trust what anyone says and how he has to rely on his own judgement.

the hole in his heart obviously being his missing memories that can’t magically return, even if he tried hard and was fed tonns of information.

All Hail Shadow! Heroes rise again! Obliterating everything that's not your friend! Nothing can stop you now, No ghost to bring you down! There's nothing left to lose, You win!

In this ending Shadow learned just the right facts about his past to boost his confidence.

And like im glad about that its good for him

And in this context it’s valid to call shadow a hero, because in this ending he IS a pure hero. (he and sonic kill all the dark arms together)

and this is a good song i love it

But not as his main theme. This is not Canon Shadow. This is Pure Hero Shadow.

Hear me out guys. ShTH is all about manipulation. You as player get to manipulate Shadow into taking a certain path. It’s about exploring how a person’s personality can change depending on what information they learn and what people they meet and what things happen to them.

Which is why Shadow is an entirely different person in all of those endings.

Yes, all of those are still Shadow, but they are alternative versions of him that do not belong in the canon timeline. The canon timeline is the True Ending that I will explain below.

( also i hate people using this player manipulation as excuse to say “but shadow used guns in his game! its canon! he’s edgy! he uses guns!” like no thats not how it works thats ONE PATH he could go. You chose it but it’s not the one HE chose. in the true ending he uses his chaos powers exclusively.)

8) I am… All of Me

This is the theme of the fight against Devil Doom. This is not the conclusion yet, but it is the immediate reaction to learning the final and absolute truth about himself and his past.

I see no, hear no evil, Black writing on the wall, Unleashed a million faces, And one by one they fall,

I learned that the first line is a saying but I can’t really say much to it and ive been analyzing all those songs for 7 hours in a row now please help with that part.

Black-hearted evil, Brave-hearted hero, I am all, I am all I am, I... I... I am

Against popular belief this doesn’t mean that he is both evil and a hero, it means that he is neither. This emphasises that he is himself and nothing else.

Here we go buddy, Here we go buddy, Here we go, Here we go buddy, Here we go

here we go buddy, you will die now.

Go ahead and try to see through me, Do it if you dare, One step forward, two steps back, I'm here (One step forward, two steps back) Do it... Do it... Do it... DO IT…

Shadow is his own person and he’s determined, more than ever. He feel confident in himself and his power, confident in his destiny and his purpose.

If anyone dares to oppose him…. He will take one step towards them, they back two steps backwards in fear of him.

Can you see all of me? Walk into my mystery, Step inside and hold on for dear life, Do you remember me? Capture you and set you free I am all, I am all of me (I am all, I am of me) I am... I am, I'm all of me, I am... I am, I'm all of me, I am... I am, I'm all of me,

Shadow wonders of other people’s perception of him, of pepole that remember him from before he lost his memory; and he wants them to know that they don’t know this new shadow yet. That they have to get to know him again

The capture part references more like… captivating… Because of his mystery and the urge to find out who he is.

Again. He is all the things that make him himself, but ultimately he’s just Shadow the hedgehog. He is who he is.

I see and feel the evil, My hands will crush them all, You think you have the answer, I laugh and watch you fall,

Reference to the first verse; he used to not see those things, but now he does and he’s confident to be in the right. Confident in what he does and what he believes in. People can pretend to know who he is, but that is merely laughable.

I am... I am everyone, everywhere, anyhow, any way, any will, any day... I am... I am everyone, everywhere, anyhow, any way, any will, any day... I am! I am! I am! I am! I am! I am!

Shadow is himself and nothing in the world can change that. Nothing will bend his will, change his mind… Nothing will manipulate him ever again. He is the one and only ultimate life form and no one can take this away from him.

9) Never Turn Back

This is the real and true Theme of Shadow that plays in the real and final credits after the true ending/final story when you complete the game 100%.

It begins with a piano of the refrain from i am all of me!!!!!!!

It's been a long, rough road And I'm finally here I move an inch forword, Feels like a year

The path he walked to get where he is now, after the black arms, after finally uncovering the secrets to his past…. every time he got new information he was even more confused than before. To him, and the player, it felt like years to get to this point. It was tideous, and who knows if it was worth it?

Everything you feel, It's so unreal Is it true? Is it true?

He doesn’t remember *anything* so are his emotions towards his past justified? Is his grief over Maria, his anger towards the humans and himself… Is it all real? Is it just lies? Is he just pretending to feel to make himself feel real, because if he didn’t react so emotional towards learning those things…. what else would he have? This is a direct reference to SA2 and his quote “Even if my memories are not real, it’s still me, Shadow, and I will fulfill my promise to Maria. That is all that matters to me now.”

Back then the memories were all he had. Everyone he knew and loved (arguably only two people) were dead and long gone. So if he didn’t act on them….. what else would there be to his life and him? He didn’t have any other choice if he wanted to stay sane/stable. Even now that he doesn’t remember, he has this information about his past. And no matter if it rurns out to be true or not, doesn’t matter, because it’s all he has to go by to shape himself and if he doesn’t react emotional to those lies, he mgiht aswell be a lie himself. (His identity crisis was an enourmus mental strain on him that developed into a physical pain aswell, as he very clearly showed to suffer from frequent non contextual flashbacks and accompaning headaches.)

I take one step forward Two steps back I have a hundred-thousand pounds Sitting on my back

A reference to I am all of me! He is fearsome and powerful. Very fearsome and powerful.

He’s done many things using this power that made him guilty. Alone his existence guilts him, as people are scared of him just for *him*. He never asked to be made, to be the only hope to save the world, to live up to all those very unread expectations laid on him as The Ultimate Life Form.

The burden of his destiny is heavy, oh so heavy.

Up, down All around Don't know quite what to do To get through

(time speed highway reference)

He’s confused and his mind is all over the place, he doesn’t know what to do now. He doesn’t yet quite know how to cope with his new found emotions, with his fate, with his existence alone.

Well I'm on my way On my way On my way On my way

Oh boi here he comes!

Here I am (Here I am) Made it to The end of you

Never had a chance when I'm around (No, No) No No No No

Here he is!!!!!!! jokes aside this symbolizes his coming out

double jokes aside

it symbolizes that he’s taken his time to collect himself, his long path of finding himself and building his personality with the scrap pieces of memories he collected. He’s now at the end of the road. He’s at the end of “you”. who is you?

Considering he never had a chance to “get to the end of them” before (and also im biased) I suspect it to be Sonic. He has gotten to a place to be equals with Sonic again, to see eye to eye. To have a close bond with him. The many “no”s emphasis how long it took for him to be able to face him. While he was still unsure of himself he wouldn’t dare to actively build a bond with him, to try and be equals. (he did try to ignore/shove him aside throughout the whole game, but sonic kept coming back/tagging along)

Well now I'll never turn back (Never turn back) I'll never turn that way No matter how life tries to face me, I turn the other way

Shadow, as quoted, “Left his past behind him”. This means he moved on from his memories, from all the things that happened over 50 years ago. Moved on from his destiny. (Hint/foreshadowing to 06 where he emphasises very strongly that “he determines his own destiny.”)

No matter what happens, he swears to himself to never look back at the past anymore. That he will concentrate on the present, aswell as the future.

This is a very very important step to stabilize his mental health and get over his PTSD

Now and then (Now and then) My head starts to spin (Starts to spin) I'll never turn back....again!

Direct reference to how clinging to the past had made him to fatal mistakes (almost destroying the entire fucking planet, and also actually go through with blowing up the moon)

And he will still get flashbacks sometimes, he will have breakdowns and he will have episodes…. But he decides that they can’t and won’t define him. He will stand above them and be himself with his own power.

From this moment on (Moment on) I am moving on (Moving on) And I'll never turn back!

Literally everything I mentioned above. He’s moving on from his past and all the expectatoins others laid on him and he’s becoming his own person, that lives for his own sake. (well he still lives for Maria and sonic but like. It’s less extreme than before)

I guess I'm doing alright And I'm on my way Facing every moment Day by day

I’m so glad shadow the hedgehog is doing fine guys. He’s living in the present and he’s got his eyes on the prize.

Take a chance, slip on by Got no time to answer why Head straight Head straight

head gay

No time to waste it’s time to be of use to the world. All he got left to him is doing what’s right. He often doesn’t fully know why he does certain things or why he has a certain opinion on things, because he doesn’t remember where that thought camefrom, but he doesn’t want to spiral into a breakdown. He accepts it and moves on. Forward. Gotta look ahead and not backwards.

What will I become if I don't look back? Give myself a reason, for this and that

Exactly what I mentioned above. He isn’t entirely sure, and he’s tempted by the past. But right now he thinks it’s best to not dwell on it, to not know more than he does right now, because it could easily make himself slip up and have another identity crisis, which is counter productive to his mental health since he worked hard to establish his current personality. He’s still a little unstable so he best wait until he has settled and established emotional comfort (in team dark and sonic).

I can learn No U-turn I will stay right here Where I'm at Where I'm at

He knows he can still learn from the past, but he also knows that he has to stay in the present and not go too much in depth about it.

That’s who he is now, and it’s who he’ll stay.

And I think this theme, even if less catchy and less edgy, is perfect for him. It describes him perfectly (which was like. intentional. bc it IS his final theme lmao.)

I’m forever salty…………

okay but here comes the final blow!!!!!

10) Who I am

An unused song that got taken out of the game because Magna-fi liked the song too much to give away copyrights…..

it is an alternative to “I am… all of me” and was originally planned to be the fucking MAIN THEME OF THE ENTIRE GAME!!!!!!!!!! (i am all of me is a nice theme for the game, more catchy i guess? works better with the cgi? lemme actually try playing the cgi cutscene with who i am playing over it.. I’ll be real it was not made for this Clip but at some places it fit incredibly well? also the timing was often actually pmuch on point with the scene change? hm. also the video ended on “this is what you made me and you’re not ever gonna change me”)

I mainly think because Magna-fi also performed all hail shadow, but later there was a crush 40 version (which was also used instead of the magna-fi version in later games, that it’s plausible it was meant to be the main theme. Like even the instrumental from the magna-fi version was entirely ignored after shth)

I don’t know the reasons for *that* (maybe because they disbanded in 2007???)

Anyways here’s song….. it’s so fucking important to me and hooooly shit….

You never really understood me You always put me down Like a dog that's beaten over and over One day I'm gonna take you down

This is Shadow’s lanment at GUN. It implies he’s gone through abuse on the ARK, aswell as down on earth. It emphasizes that GUN sees him as nothing more but an animal, not a sentient person.

This is also a cry for war at Black Doom because he obviously doesn’t understand Shadow and only demands from him to work for his goal, calling him a traitor and failure whenever he doesn’t do exactly what he should or when he questoins his orders.

This is who I am Not a shadow of who I want to be Try to understand That this is what you made me And you're not ever gonna change me

Shadow found himself and he now has established his own sense of self (and self-worth!)

He’s addressing everyone that had shaped his personality throughout the game here, they made him who he is now, and if they don’t like if then to hell with them because this is him and he ain’t gonna change. He’s done being a shadow of his past self, he is *him*.

You underestimate my sorrow How the wreckage of my life I tried so many times to tell you The silence down in both of us (No excuses)

This one is specifically addressing Eggman (and the other people that knew him from before his memory loss to a certain degree). Eggman underestimated his immense emotions, his sorrow, the misery he was in, the extreme guilt he felt about *everything* when he told him that he was just a “copy” of the Real Shadow.

But no matter who, Shadow tells everyone he just wants to know who he *really* is. He needs support to uncover the truth, not people who don’t listen to what he has to say and then remain silent in order to not say the wrong thing.

The no excuses goes for exactly those people who are “heroes”. They don’t get a pass for being heroes, they have to respect his emotional needs.

You have made me You can't change me You don't know me This is who I am

Everyone shaped him in different ways, everyone’s independent input made him who he is.

And no one can take that influence back, he can’t be changed.

And no one knows what goes on inside his head. How he processed the information is HIS OWN BUSINESS. What info he recieved… That’s his business. Only he knows. Other people aren’t able to understand him and even if they knew all the things he was told, this still doesn’t mean they know who he is.

Even the people that knew him before his memory loss…. They might think they know him, but they really don’t. How would they. He doesn’t even know himself.

Alright! That’s it!

Again, if I forgot a song please tell me I’ll add it to the post and analyze it (give me like a day or two tho im super exhausted now)

I hope you can understand where I’m coming from with my thoughts and if you have anything to add go right ahead! If you have contradicting interpretations, please tell me! (if you just want to complain that shadow is not gay then fuck off tho its clearly there. this gaylien hedgehog aint got no eyes for women.)

also again: Disclaimer: Shadow’s love for Sonic doesn't have to be romantic, but it is indisputable that he has a very special and close relationship with him.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

EDIT: continue here

additions! more SA2 songs and the team dark theme from heroes

funny how I talk most about the songs with the least lyrics

Rhythm and Balance

The Supernatural

For True Story

This Machine

#do i dare..................#put in main tag..........#shadcanon #shadows logbook #this took me 11 hours #and has over 6.6k words #long post

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myromancebooksworld · 7 years ago

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“Run & Rule” (Pure Corruption MC # 1) by Pepper Winters

"We met in a nightmare. The in-between world where time had no power over reason. We fell in love. We fell hard. But then we woke up. And it was over . . ." RUIN & RULE She is a woman divided. Her past, present, and future are as twisted as the lies she's lived for the past eight years. Desperate to get the truth, she must turn to the one man who may also be her greatest enemy . . . He is the president of Pure Corruption MC. A heartless biker and retribution-deliverer. He accepts no rules, obeys no one, and lives only to reap revenge on those who wronged him. And now he has stolen her, body and soul. Can a woman plagued by mystery fall in love with the man who refuses to face the truth? And can a man drenched in darkness forgo his quest for vengeance-and finally find redemption?

(thanks to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22925912-ruin-rule)

#pepper winters #dark romance #m/f romance

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scripttorture · 7 years ago

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So in my story, there's a torturer that tortured the main character enough to leave the protagonist with some decent mental and physical scarring. He had a plan and reasons for doing what he did, but the plan was formed out of anger for the organization she works for. The protag originally knew him well and did trust him, so it was surprising to everyone that he'd do something like this to her. It takes a lot of care to get the protag back to a point where she can so much as think about him. 1

But later on during a fight between the two, the victim and torturer get in a situation where the victim ends up saving her tormenter from a fate worse than death, not because she forgives him or anything like that, but ONLY because she's not a vengeful person and the terrible fate he would have met was not something she wanted for anybody at all, which happened to include him. My question is, how can I portray the villain well after this? I plan to have him quit scheming against the protag, 2and even help them in some ways from the shadows, not apologizing, but also not interacting with them, or anything redemptive like that. I'm not trying to "rehabilitate" and "reintegrate" him into society, but I want the fact that he was saved by someone who could've had free revenge on him instead saving him to leave a profound impact on him. How can I show this without making it look like a heel-to-face turn and not making it look like I'm trying to make him sympathetic or "good?" 3

That’s a very interesting question and scenario. It’s taken me quite awhile to think it through.

As a lot of you have probably gathered I occasionally struggle with the ‘writingadvice’ side of things here: I find it a lot easier to give people facts thantell them how to write. A lot of that comes from how unhelpful and hobbling I’vefound writing advice in the past. I think the truth is that differentapproaches work for different people with different styles: that there isn’t somuch a correct way to write as thereis a successful way to write.

And what’s successful varies a lot with style and individuals.

One of the main factors I can see affecting your scenario is the pointof view through which the story is told.

Done from the hero’s perspective I don’t think you’d have any problems with the former torturerlooking overly sympathetic or somehow redeemed. Because the audience would beseeing him through the hero’s eyes. They’d see all the horrible things he’ddone and the effect he’d had on the hero primarily. The problem then would behaving the audience understand why the former torturer is acting the way he is.

Because the hero probably wouldn’t understand. She might accept theactions she sees. But how she interprets them is another matter. And if theaudience is seeing the story through her eyes then that’s going to affect howthe former torturer comes across.

She might doubt every single action the former torturer takes. She mightsee everything he does as a cleverly masked threat or attack. She might seethem as a moral turn for the character even if she still hates him and can’t forgivehim. She might not bother trying to interpret why he’s acting the way he is andthink of him as completely unpredictable.

One of the things I quite like to do when writing from a particularpoint of view is try to show the difference between what happens and how thepoint of view character interprets what happens.

One of my characters has an assistant who helps her sporadically in herquest. He tells her repeatedly throughout the story how well she’s doing in herquest and he’s totally in awe of her. But he’s about seven and she’s mucholder. Her natural pessimism and her culture’s view of children means that sheconsistently dismisses and disbelieves his praise.

I used what the assistant character (and other characters around him)say to show the audience that my character was doing well even though she consistently thinks she isn’t.

From a singular point of view (especially the hero’s) I think that wouldbe the best way to approach the problem. Having the hero consistently see theformer torturer (and his actions) in a certain light, but use other charactersto show the audience that the situation might be more complex than the herothinks.

I don’t think that would risk showing him as sympathetic in any way, oras redeemed. But it would give room to show that at least in some ways he’strying to be better.

Basically- highlight the ways in which a point of view might be suspect.

If you switch between points of view I think the same advice applies to everyone.

Especially if you’re planning to include the former torturer’s point ofview- really highlighting how his take on events is suspect would go a long wayto keeping him unsympathetic I think.

I’ll come back to some typical torturer behaviours/traits that you coulduse in a moment.

Writing from the third person, as an all-seeing narrator would require adifferent approach.

Because having a particular point of view to fall behind can give ahelpful amount of remove from the former torturer. And in switching points ofview you get a contrast between the different characters, which forces thereader to think about differences between the various characters’ points ofview.

An omnipresent narrator levelsthe playing field between characters in a way that could easily make thischaracter too sympathetic for what you want. It gives every character’sactions, thoughts and feelings the same weight which can encourage the readerto think everyone’s reasons are equally valid.

That isn’t a style I tend to write in as often. I think using a narratorin this case would make- it tempting to just tell the audience that this is whythe former torturer is acting the way he is.

Now I’m not going to tell youthat you should never tell theaudience anything. ‘Showing’ isn’t always the best approach. I think in thiscase it would be about striking a balance and building up an overall picturefrom what the characters say, what they do and what the narrative states.

I think emphasising some of the more unpleasant but private aspects of the former torturer’s character could help keephim from becoming too sympathetic.

An omnipresent narrator has room to tell us a little about his emotionsand thoughts. A lot of those aregoing to be unpleasant.

He may, for instance, still think the bigger baddies ‘have a good point’because his disagreement with them and his helping the hero seems to come downentirely to the hero as an individual.

Without knowing more about the story or the bad guys I can’t suggestwhat that might be. I know with some of my own characters I’ve highlightedtheir prejudices or a general devaluation of other people’s lives. This isn’tnecessarily something that comes across in their actions, but it can comeacross in their words, emotional responses and thoughts.

Emotional responses generally can be used to highlight the fact that hehasn’t suddenly become a more pleasant person. Expressing disgust at- wellpeople being ordinary people and going about their lives while a member of xminority- is a realistic and effective way to show that.

Especially if you use the narrator to contrast that with what the peoplehe’s so disgusted by are feeling and thinking themselves.

There are a couple of things that show up regularly in torturers thatyou could probably use to your advantage.

The strong tendency to…avoid taking responsibility is one I’d definitelysuggest using. Popular approaches include victim blaming (‘well she was out atnight in the wrong part of town, she was clearlydoing something wrong’), insisting that they had no choice (’the situation wasterrible and we had to show them who’sboss-‘), and insisting despite any evidence that what they did was useful.

Torturers also tend to have a….very distorted view of torture in somerespects. For instance they tend to emphasise personal skill, as if torture issomething a person can be better or worse at doing.

This isn’t true. You can’t really be better or worse at hitting someonewith a stick. Torturers are just as crapas everyone else at judging when someone is telling the truth or how muchpain someone is in. They’re also not particularly good at telling when someoneis at risk of dying or permanent injury.

But they often claim they’resuperhumanly good at all these things and therefore ‘skilled’.

I think you could use that to highlight unpleasant aspects of thecharacter.

There’s also the question of regret. From what you’ve said my impressionis that this character very specificallyregrets what he did to the hero but not what he may have done to anyoneelse.

Finding a way to bring that up could help keep the character…unlikeable.Especially if you can include another victim that he has no strong emotionalconnection to- someone whose humanity you can show to the readers while alsoshowing that he doesn’t regrethurting them.

Ultimately I don’t think there’s an easy straightforward answer to thisquestion. I hope I’ve suggested traits and approaches that can help, but thereisn’t a one size solution when we’re writing complex characters and complexnarratives.

And that’s what this is. That’s actually what I love about yourscenario. It’s messy and ambiguous and very human.

This doesn’t quite feel like a full answer but I’m not sure what else toadd. If you feel like there’s anything I’ve missed please send in anotherquestion when the ask box reopens.

I hope that helps. :)

Disclaimer

#tw torture #torturers #behaviour of torturers #effects of torture on torturers #writing torturers #redemption arcs #subverting redemption arcs #Anonymous

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