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tolstirades · 1 year

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Gritty Brutality, Slightly Ruined by Morshu. A Review of Forbidden Lands.

(This is a post from my old Blogspot, dated July 19th, 2022)

The cover art for Free League's Forbidden Lands

My favourite back-end engine / system of any RPG has got to be Free League's Year Zero Engine; specifically the 3-colour variant. It's an ingenious way to merge narrative, tactics, exploration, management, and character mechanics into something simple and quick, yet strangely simulative. A great example of this very specific variant of the Year Zero Engine is the Forbidden Lands RPG - my first foray into Free League's fantastic game catalogue.

I first ran Forbidden Lands with a small group of only 2 players, one of whom created a travelling merchant that went by the striking name of "Morshu" (yes, that Morshu), whilst the other played "Garm"; a much more serious character to contrast the obviously goofy partnership that needed to flourish between the two party members. Garm was a cold-blooded wolfkin fighter, whilst Morshu was a rather spherical half-elf merchant. This blogpost will tell the story of the first 1-2 sessions, and what fuzzy memories I have of what occurred within them - and I'll also explain some interesting ideas the system has on display too.

Morshu. Yes, this is what I have to work with.

The Blood Mist. A catastrophic event caused by the careless sorcerers of the past wherein demonic entities were summoned from another realm alongside a thick, crimson fog. The Raven Lands, a once (questionably) peaceful area was completely covered and surrounded, and news quickly spread that anyone of whom stepped foot into its horrifying smog would never step foot out of it again. Was it the mist killing the people, or was it the creatures lurking deep within it's concealment?

Relatably as of late, this terrifying time caused the people to stay inside and to not venture too far from home if possible; the only exceptions being the Wolfkin, a race of humanoid creatures that bore canine heads; some say it was because they were born of demons themselves. Wolfkin could venture into the mist with relative ease, though only within the forests - if they dared venture into the open plains they'd be torn apart just the same as everyone else. The Blood Mist lingered and lingered and lingered, for a very, very long time...

Garm, our wolfkin fighter.

Until now. Our story begins only a few weeks after the Blood Mist had been lifted, and seemingly everything once surrounded by it began to flourish and live again. What remained was an overgrown world filled with relics and treasures of old; but the lands were unexplored, and so no-one knows exactly how safe it is to venture forth still. Desperate, many folk didn't particularly care for the dangers. They got out. They were free. After so long, a full century of waiting, or for most the very first time in their lives, they could wander their homeland once again - and rumours spread of treasures left by the unlucky folk who first discovered the danger of the crimson fog.

The party began in a rather uninteresting plane, long grass sprouting around small, winding desire paths made by both folk and animal that came before. Morshu had always dreamed of being the most well known and respected salesman in the Raven Lands, and by The Nightwalker; if these rumours about the artifacts of old still being out there were true, then they'd fit well upon the shelves of Morshu's grand shop. Garm, hired by Morshu, led the way, knowing the world well thanks to his heritage, as well as being a mighty fine swordsman for whenever a blade is required.

After setting up a few camps and hiking across the way, it didn't take long until they came across a few other opportunistic travellers; bandits, to be exact. After a rather firm, uh, "request", for the travelling duo's food and gold. One swift glimpse of these rough looking characters would unveil their own struggles; they were starving, completely malnourished, no matter how hard they tried to hide it with their tough act.

Either way, this clear act of hostility got Garm brandishing his blade at a rather suspiciously bloodthirsty pace, and combat commenced. This is where I'll get a little nerdy about the system, as it took both players and I off guard at how quickly the encounter was over and done with. You see, in Forbidden Lands you don't have a flat stat for your "Health" or "Hit Points", instead you only have your core attributes.

Each point you have in these attributes represents a 6-sided die you roll when you perform an action that calls for that specific check. Any 6s you roll are successes. However, going back to the comment about the lack of a health track, this system simulates pain and injury through quite literally using those attributes as your health. Get hit by a club? Your strength goes down. Over-exert yourself? Your agility goes down. Terrified? Your wits go down. Depressed? Your empathy goes down. With every step, your chances to succeed go down, as you use less dice to perform those specific attribute-related actions. The scariest part? Even though you can evolve and progress your character to make them more powerful, these attributes never change. Your health never bloats. You get more options, but you're just as easy to put down as you are when you've just started out.

The attributes of Forbidden Lands. Yes, 6 is the absolute maximum. Yes, that means you'll have barely anything in any other attributes if you do that.

Now, a 6 on a 6-sided die? Anyone who's played Arkham Horror before will tell you that sounds like horrible odds, no matter your amount of dice. You do have skills (red dice) and gear (black dice) that can also come into play and help you out, but one particularly interesting mechanic is the ability to push your roll. You can choose to set aside all your 6s and 1s, and re-roll everything else. Great right? Well, every 1 you roll on your base attributes (white dice) damage your attribute as if you've been hit, simulating you pushing yourself too hard, whilst every 1 you roll on your gear (black dice) will damage your equipment, so your very blade may snap off of it's hilt mid-combat! Skills (red dice) are the only ones that don't inflict a bad condition when you roll a 1.

Now, you're probably thinking that that sounds like a horribly punishing push-your-luck mechanic, and it is a bit; however, another great thing comes of it. Every time you unfortunately damage yourself due to pushing, you gain a willpower point per the amount of damage you took. Willpower is a tracked stat you can spend to perform some extraordinary actions and even cast magical spells! So yeah, it's mean, but risking it is certainly tempting...

Anyways, that tangent went on for too long. Swords were swung and insults were hurled, and in only 2 rounds or so, it was done. However, it was done in a rather peculiar manner. You may be thinking a lot of blood was shed within that swift bit of action and that the underfed corpses of bandits painted the wild plants a deep shade of red, but you'd be wrong. You see, whilst people did indeed get hit and struck, some falling to the floor suffering from small injuries, it was all over thanks to one particularly interesting weapon - Morshu's sharp tongue.

You see, the leader was so down on his luck, and his posse was so depressed and desperate, that one mere insult from the unusually wide half-elf sent him spiralling, dropping to his hands and knees and crying, apologising as he'd gained a new Mental Horror - a personality shift. The bandit didn't want to do this anymore, and his fellow thieves surrendered as he apologised, following their leader to the end. Morshu, pleased with this, graciously donated some food to the group, forever immortalising him as a kind man in the eyes of this group, and forming a story that will spread across the Raven Lands swiftly, no doubt about it; gaining the merchant a reputation point, something that helps notify the GM which characters recognise him from the rumours in the future.

The Sharp Tongue talent and all it's ranks. The double swords are successes.

After that escapade, the party ventured forth towards a small fort in the distance. As they neared their destination, great, dark clouds rolled over the sky and hard rain fell upon the party. The cold spread throughout their bodies fast. They needed to get to this fort, and quickly. The great wooden gates were worn and unkempt, a century gone by without any care left the hinges rotted and the great wall around it crumbling. Conversation could be heard from inside, and as our beloved duo pushed their way inside, eyes glared towards the newly arrived individuals, and weapons were drawn. "Who goes there? What business do you have in Rust Keep?" a well-armed soldier spoke, biting down on every word that escaped his helmet.

After a short while attempting to convince the guards that they were safe and simply adventurers needing somewhere to stay, the guards cautiously accepted their new squatters - but only for a day, and a favour in return. Two cylindrical buildings rested within the walls of this fortress, but the guards seemingly only use one. The other building has been used in the past, but odd noises and a generally discomforting atmosphere had spread throughout it's decievingly cosy interior. Garm and Morshu can stay here tonight, as long as they investigate.

First though, the group decided to hunt and forage for some extra food for themselves and the soldiers to make a good impression upon them, and through some extra, rather well worded manipulation, some of the soldiers agreed to come along and aid them in their investigation, and Garm was even given some extra equipment to use by one soldier by the name of John, a polite man of whom was happy to help our travellers out.

The deafening silence hit like a brick as soon as the party and their soldier followers set foot into the building. Eerie. That's the only word that could describe such an atmosphere, as if this very building was once alive and breathing in the past, and all that life had been snuffed out of it. Something is definitely wrong here. No investigation was needed to find that out.

The ground floor had barely anything left; it was easy to tell that the soldiers once slept here; bedrolls and fur rags were abandoned on the ground still - just from a sound? Such swift abandonment seemed a little overkill for just a sound. Slowly but surely the ragtag group made their way up to the first floor, and awaiting them there was something truly terrifying; unorganised storage. Boxes and barrels piled up rather dangerously atop one another with rotten and rusted materials still left within.

Rummaging around in this room revealed the ugly truth however; as perhaps the rotten smell wasn't just the stored food going off, but perhaps it was more to do with the decaying corpses hidden behind the crates. Their bodies were covered in growths and doused in disgusting liquids that had seeped from the plethora of boils that had completely covered their bodies prior to their death. What's worse was that after a quick inspection, they started to move.

Some examples of the undead from the Gamemaster's Guide.

Deep lacerations, decapitation and bolts through the skull. Combat was swift, creatures were broken in single hits and our party was smart with their decisions. Before I continue on, I want to nerd out a bit once more to talk about death in the system, and why I love it. This system is brutal, as you can already envision by just reading the fact that your health never bloats, but something that's really interesting is that it aids in the narrative even if characters get beaten to hell and back.

Every time you reach 0 in an attribute, you break. If you break due to a physical injury, you roll on a big critical injuries table. This table ranges from broken toes, to severed limbs and of course, instant (or near instant) death. The interesting thing here is that the latter is rare. Breaking is common, but it's very uncommon that you'll just instantly die; instead it gives you a lasting effect that will linger for a while (or sometimes forever) and warp the narrative in interesting ways, as well as open up new roleplaying opportunities (especially with mental horrors, which is a table you roll on when you break from mental damage). If you do get broken, any intelligent creature will find it hard to put an end to your life. Coup de grace is not an easy action to pull off. You have to fail an empathy check and spend willpower to kill someone when they're on the ground, still writhing. There are ways to build more sadistic characters who don't follow those same rules, but for the most part, this is a super clever way of making the danger of dying a lot more interesting.

Anyways, rant over - back to the story: Every one of the undead humans that once perished here had perished once again - hopefully for good, this time. After exchanging some thanks and lugging the disgusting bodies down and out of the fort carefully, the party rested up and slept around a small fire lit in the centre of the fortress alongside the soldiers. The night passed by smoothly, and in the morning the party gave their farewells and thanks, as did the soldiers. John let Garm keep the equipment he'd given him the day prior, making him the only human Garm has ever appreciated the company of.

That's where it all ended. We finished up the game and calculated the player's experience points, which I'll happily nerd out for a bit again to explain: Experience is handed out at the end of every session, and can be spent throughout a quarter-day (6 hours) to practice skills or pick up new talents. Experience is calculated by answering yes or no to a series of questions asked by the GM.

The experience-calculating questionnaire.

This is incredibly clever, and really encourages more activities than just killing creatures to get stronger. You may notice some oddities there too, those of which I haven't explained yet. Strongholds are home-bases you can make / capture to have a safe place to return to and manage. You can fill it with workers and all sorts of functions to help your party out. Your pride is a very specific skill your character prides themselves on. If the specific situation ever comes up and you fail your check, you can roll a big 12-sided artifact die atop that once per session. If you fail, you lose your pride in performing that task, and have to come up with a new pride for the next session. A dark secret is a specific part of your backstory that still haunts you, and the GM can throw things into the session to set it off and mess with the party. Suffering gets you experience though, so that's nice, I guess?

Before I finish up this post, I want to reveal a twist. I am a Game Master through and through, even if I adore being on the player side of RPGs nothing beats the thrill of putting all your creativity down on the table right in front of your friends and hoping to invoke emotion with every word you utter - whether it be intrigue from narrative description, or (more commonly) laughter from stupid ideas coming into fruition. That being said, I didn't do anything for this session. Not one thing was prepared, it was all riffed. This entire system holds itself up without even needing to prepare anything. Don't get me wrong, you absolutely can (and probably should), but this entire adventure was randomised to an insane degree, and it worked insanely well somehow! All the encounters, areas, hindrances, and even the weather events were randomly generated. My players were essentially taking part in a roguelike on the tabletop. I still run in this randomly generated world of mine and am confident it'll hold up, but I do run prepared scenarios within it now at least.

Rust Keep, the randomly generated fortress our party explored. See where I pulled the encounter ideas from?

I love this system. If you want a brutal, yet heavy-on-the-narrative RPG then this is a fantastic one to go for. It's great for pretty much everything. Usually with narrative games the combat is lackluster, but it'll even entertain the combat fans with its interesting systems (Forbidden Lands even has a strange, optional hidden-card combat system, which is pretty unique, albeit I haven't played with that yet.) Fantasy not your style? This isn't the only Year Zero Engine game either. There's a whole lot. Post-apocalyptic gonzo goodness, more serious, war-focused post-apocalyptic settings, Arabian Nights in space, 1800s Scandinavian horror, hell - even Alien; an official setting for fans of the movies.

Go check it out!

#ttrpg #tabletop #tabletop games #tabletop rpg #d&d #osr #dnd #forbidden lands #year zero #fbl

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hospitalterrorizer · 5 months

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diary78

11/28-29/2023

tuesday -wendesday

light on reading today, but:

i still did it, at least.

this is simply a good quote to have around, the carnivalesque is powefully aligned with much good art, i feel. another interesting bit in a prior section made me think of hour of the star.

this makes me think of the appearance of the framed narrative, over and over, the book being written as if you were witnessing the machinations of another author, an "i" who is truly anonymous, outside the system of the author/true author, lispector, and macabea, you really get thrown around the varying subjects, and are forced into identification with/against these figures at various points, the narration being, in that novel, several conversations, layers of discourse, perhaps no more than two, but they are complex, if anything, more enmeshed, the falsity of the narrative makes evident the signs the novel is playing with, but it never dissolves them completely, the tears will still come, the weight arrives, but it is toyed with, to its very limit. the drama of it remains there.

a strange thought:

on youtube, i remember it used to work like this:

your video stays around long enough, it will accrue views over time. this isn't 'good' because views are positive, but it meant people would see whatever dispatches were made, possibly, at least the curious could see/would. it seemed more certain, it's also the case that i'm thinking of music videos especially, where things over time just become more traveled (this will likely remain the case, as old yt uploads of songs do better than topic uploads, sometimes, and have more going for them). right now though, it seems that everything will continue to trend towards the immediate, and up to 3 years is lost, ready for the garbage heap. the thought makes me think about old let's players i watched, like trask nari, and if his videos will simply be totally forgotten, or if at some point in the future, people will find things like that, and say: these old vibes are so much better than right now. a weird future.

currently thinking about the way 'the gaze' is used right now in the whole indie sleaze thing, it's very obvious/weird but it's strange to me how it's kind of coming out of this reactionary pulse in ny, especially in their theory re:art, that it's losing the sense of 'the erotic' or something, but gaudy videos that zoom right into women's asses is not really 'the erotic'. but it isn't the case that the erotic as actually founded in being chaste, or restrained, it's a particular sense of heat, so a naked body can be erotic, think of schiele or bellmer, or in writing, bataille describing naked bodies, so much before you, that you are in the middle of, or baudelaire's description of the bloated corpse. these are all plain displays of nudity, the imaginary though, is still involved. the obvious does not negate the imaginary, usually the two gather so much speed so quickly they travel elsewhere, and so in each of these examples i've listed (many come to mind, genet, cocteau, blanchot's description of fever) take the erotic to somewhere strange, and it feels actual, i suppose. there are plenty of things in the realm i like, honestly there are times i dress very skimpy, this summer i had my ass out basically (something to be said about how some of these videos i am seeing are directed by women, so there is a level of i guess wanting/needing to be sexy), but something about the camera/the particulars of the editing are strange. often the videos are just women half-dressed, skinny, posing. they don't do much, other videos though (tu tu neurotic specifically (which seems a lot like violet vanalden's other work, it has her in it, i wonder if she directed/edited?)) oscillate between the oversexualized and then these strangely emotive/violent bits. violet takes this to an extreme with this video (don't want to embed it because it's giving me evil vibes). i don't like this really, the fact that new york weirdos have created this weird, super-vitalistic fantasy of what art should be, and that this is what being erotic means (or is it really what it means now, and i am the weird one for wanting to be tied to a tree and beaten? (or writhe on the ground (always, i am wanting to be in the middle of something, to forget i got there (there it is, the erotic always follows a sequence similar to dreaming, you end up with people inside of you, half knowing why, by their intent, the expressions on their face, but the details fuzzy)))). i am not sure what solution there is, in all honesty, the dare (the musician) who got accused of having fully clothed teens in sexual positions on his album art (they weren't, it was a strange moment where wearing a tennis skirt and being skinny = young (or trying to look young? (a whole way of dressing thrown out as too fantastical))), seems to be the least insane or freakish in this way. his music is goofier about sex, he really doesn't seem compelled by the weird screeds written in compact mag or whatever else (these ny people seem to love doing print only magazines (so the woke horde cannot cancel them (to make them seem worth 'cancelling'? (to buy into their cool club, mostly, though)))) about how sex is gone from art, but i am sure they loved what happened to him, those people, as they felt it proof of their own narrative, that the world right now is totally puritan (while pornography proliferates, higher and higher numbers, and the spectacle has found a way to make prostitution seem less like a kind of torturous work one turns to while in throes of serious material lack, while shows like euphoria are super crazy popular and whatever, too (they love that guy, the director, they're going to all say his show, the idol, is totally genius (actually they already are))). essentially they want to look, i think, that's what it's about. hang the icons of sex in frames, stare, and then from there, aroused, they can have sex for reproductive purposes, like bug people.

it is crazy that they call everyone else bugs, but they really are the most bug-like.

takato yamamoto

anyway, it's late, i am getting sleepy. i did work on music today, i got that song's last part out, the one i was talking about last night, and soon i've gotta get through all the songs i have exported rn and i need to go and do the subtle mixing stuff and put the reverb on them, and see where we are on everything. the song also has more of a lyrical idea, since the last part is written out. i always write about voyeurs, especially in music. i dunno why. i should put that confusion in the song. i am just worried about finding a way to fit words over the first parts of the song, since it's pretty fast/hardcore.

but i am exhausted basically, so:

byebye!!!!!

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demonologistfucker · 3 years

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Free Angel GN! Angel MC x Obey Me, Part 1

Summary: You are the third Angel to be welcome in Diavolo’s exchange program. This is the first time in your life that you are free from any Angelic codes, and you’re interested to indulge. You can’t explore hell alone though, so you’ll be given the Avatar of Wrath as a guardian.

This is my writing out the AU i had for my own mc, but as an MC insert. This first chapter is SFW, but if I continue, there will be NSFW smutty chapters. This Angel wants to have some fun in hell, and is Poly so ✨

Word Count: 3459

“Are you excited?” Simeon looked down to Luke. Who was fussing over his own clothes. Making sure everything was neat and presentable.

“Of course not,” Luke huffed. “This is going to be the worst year.”

“I don’t know about that,” MC grinned as they rocked back onto their heels. “We’re going to learn quite a lot.” So much about the Devildom had been kept away from the angels. MC was created by God after the revolution. All they had ever been told was what to fear about the devils and their land. However, MC knew there were gaps in the story. Noticed the longing that flared in Simeon’s eyes whenever The Morningstar and his family were brought up. Which is why, as the magic circle began to glow, MC felt a great excitement. Luke watched the magic circle glow with wide eyes. While Simeon continued on as if nothing was changing.

“Try to keep an open mind, Luke. The Devildom is not all bad.” Simeon patted Luke’s head. “You might even make some friends.” just as the magic circle completed. Reality spluttered for a second, and then everything was dark.

“Absolutely not!” Luke’s shrill voice was all that MC could sense. Then they tasted the air, cool and tinged with sulfur. “Make friends with Demons? I could never!” Luke prattled on while his eyes adjusted. After several blinks, MC could see the palace they stood in. The grandeur was almost repulsive. Gold trim and deep red walls. It was the beauty of wealth and statues.

“I hope you’ll be able to make friends during your stay.” A deep voice said from behind. MC spun around, and then had to crane their head upward to see who was there. His broad smile was so warm that it clashed with the royal regalia the man was dressed in. The red jacket with a medallion on the shoulder. MC scrunched their nose, wondering why Hell would choose to continue earths obsession with war decoration. “Thank you for joining us.” The Man continued, and he bowed his head to the Angels. “I am Lord Diavolo, Prince of the Devildom. As well as the head of the exchange program.”

“Thank you for having us,” Simeon smiles as he walks over to the prince. Without hesitation, the two embrace in a familiar hug.

“I’m just so happy the program worked.” Diavolo rubs the back of his neck. “The humans will be coming this evening. So I’ll be able to help you all settle in and still make it for the humans.” Simeon and Diavolo continued to talk about details. Mainly the excitement over the humans. While Luke looked on with a fury.

“I can’t believe Simeon is being so familiar with the Demon Lord.” Luke crossed his arms. “We cannot befriend the enemy.”

“Yah.. Enemy.” Mc can feel something tighten in their stomach. Instead of processing that, the angel turns to look about the palace a little more. Now that they knew what the Prince looked like. Some portraits on the walls made more sense. The one that caught the angel’s eye was of a young Diavolo. He stood alone in a field of red. A skull of a dragon under his foot, and a toy left in the distant background. It had been commissioned to show the great power Diavolo had ever as a child. Unintentionally, it spoke some truth. A small child alone in a field. Left with death at his feet.

“I won’t be able to be around much in your day to day, I’m afraid.” Diavolo was now standing to face the whole group. So MC turned their attention back to the conversation. “But I do want to do my best to keep your stay in my realm as comfortable as possible. If there is anything we can do, please let us know.”

“Is there a way we can go back?” Luke asks with great seriousness.

“Luke!” Simeon gasps.

“That is what would make me most comfortable,” Luke huffs and crosses his arms.

“Luke, you can’t just-.” Simeon rubs the space between his brow.

“It’s fine,” Diavolo shrugs it off. “We all process homesickness in our own way. The spell to move between heaven and hell is a powerful one. So we truly won't be able to do this till next year, but if there is anything else we can do. Do ask and I will try to accommodate. Lucifer should be here soon, and he will bring you to your dormitories. As well as go down the basic rules of staying here.”

“Rules?” Mc asks, finally speaking up.

“Not much but briefly - Michael requested that you three still follow your codes, but there is no way for them to actually check.” Diavolo puts a hand on his chest. “One of our realms defining features is that your god’s awareness cannot reach here. So the rules you must follow are the rules of the devildom and whatever you personally value. Our rules you’ll find are much more lax.” Luke gasps in horror, but excitement only brewed within MC.

Two men in uniform walk into the Palace hall. One walks directly to Lord Diavolo’s side. Dark hair falling into a shock of green that followed framed half his face. They were stiff and despite the collected look. MC could see the anxiety running through their spine. The other kept a distance from the Angels. A cool dark look, judging each of them openly.

“My Lord we must be going.”

“I don’t have any more time?” Diavolo’s face falls.

“No, your next meeting has already begun.” They kept their voice rather calm, but their eyebrow twitched.

“Alright,” Diavolo sighs, but turns back to the angels quickly. “I truly hope you enjoy your stay in the Devildom. It’s an honor to have you here.” With that, Diavolo is ushered away.

“Now who could that brooding gentleman be,” Simeon was once again walking up to the strange demon. Though the man looked as disagreeable as before. He did let Simeon hug him. Only adjusting his jacket the moment he was free.

“You know who I am,”

“I am asking for the children,” Simeon looks back to Luke and MC. While Luke gets all huffy about their age. MC is truly an adult by the fact that they can just roll their eyes and get over it.

“My name is Lucifer,” He bow slightly to the three angels. “Avatar of Pride, and right hand to Lord Diavolo. When you need his help, come to me.” Lucifer sharpens his gaze on MC. “Diavolo is very busy, and I would prefer you to bother me than him.” Then his glare moved to Luke. Who paled and shuffled towards Simeon. “Now, if you will follow me. I’ll lead you to your housing for the year.” Lucifer walked briskly out of the Palace. “ Compared to the celestial realm, the Devildom functions much more like earth. The city is based on a money exchange. We will provide a small allowance once a month, but if you want to indulge, you’ll have to get a job.” Lucifer says all of this while walking briskly out of the Palace. Luke grumbles about nearly having to run, and MC has to fight back a laugh. “If you stay within the Devildom your life will be remarkably like that on earth. With a key distinction that there will be demons who lust for your blood every so often, and there is no sun.” Lucifer swung open the front door of the palace. Exposing the dark courtyard beyond, and the block void of the sky. Illuminated on the horizon was The Devildom. The glowing sector of Hell where Demons and spirits lived their personal lives. It glowed beautifully, and illuminated the Palace like a setting sun.

Normally, this effect was made greater by the fact that the courtyards had no lights. If one was to see, it was their own gift, or from the light of the city. The angels broke this by having their own innate glow. Casting warm shadows against the cool nature of hell. Lucifer glanced at the glow with mild annoyance. Normally, the walk from the palace to the road was his moment of peace. Now each step he was reminded about the great task this year would be.

“To help with the exchange, we have enrolled you three in the local university. There you can learn about how the systems of hell truly function, as well as our magical training programs. We have some of the most skilled magic users training with us.” Part of Diavolo’s plan was to show what Hell was truly worth. The eons didn’t pass without change, and under Diavolo that change was being brought to its most refined point. Lucifer himself had led many of the projects to start translating Hell’s data into deeper means of understanding… Books with narrative instead of strings of numbers or archaic runes.

“So you won’t be making us torture humans?” Luke snaps.

“Only if you want to.” Lucifer doesn’t even look back to Luke. He knew enough about the little angel to know it would start on a rant if provoked. He was already battling a headache and couldn’t stand the thought of being lectured by a child.

“I could never!” Luke brings his hand to his chest.

“Then you won’t.”

“What will we be learning then?” MC asks.

“Standard education for someone new to our system. History of the Devildom, Grimm economics, Devildom literature, Alchemy and potions 101, art, athletics,” Lucifer twirls a hand around. “The basics,”

“Oh that sounds… Fun” MC grimaces.

“Did you come here to have fun?” Lucifer glances back at the angel.

“So what if I did?” MC tries to be defensive, but can’t help cracking into a smile. It was rather funny seeing the confused look on Lucifer’s face.

“MC! We are not here to have fun, we have to learn and do as much research for our arch-”

“I know Luke,” MC groans. “We’re allowed to have Some fun.”

“Indeed,” Lucifer nods. “None of the classes should take all your time, so you’ll be able to have your own time. If you want to explore the Devildom please go in pairs. While you have Diavolo’s blessing, not all demons listen to authority. There is no promising what a rogue demon would do to a lone angel.”

MC scrunches up their face, which makes Simeon laugh. Meanwhile, Luke is actually trembling.

“Oh Luke, you look like a scared puppy.” Simeon tries to keep his voice sympathetic, but the hint of laughter is clear.

“A little chihuahua,” Lucifer smiles.

“I am not a chihuahua!” Luke shrieks!

---------------------------------

Purgatory Hall was a lot more comfortable than MC had expected. The interior was surprisingly bright and cozy. Though still favoring the overly ornate and plush. MC was wandering aimlessly through the halls. Luke was still hurt from the chihuahua incident by the time they were done getting situated. So Simeon had taken Luke out to get something sweet to make up for it. While at the time, MC had said they wanted to stay here and explore the house. They were now realizing that was a foolish choice. After looking in the rooms once, MC was more than satisfied with exploring the house. So now they were draped across the couch. Flipping idly through their D.D.D. When MC opens the messages to pulls up Lucifer.

“You said I shouldn’t go out by myself. Simeon and Luke are often a pair without me. I could just risk it?” Dots appear quickly.

“No, let me find you a guide.”

Lucifer leaned back. Thinking about which of his brothers, he wants to make baby sit an angel. No one who might find it enjoyable like Asmo or Beel. He already planned on having Mammon for the human...

----------------------

“Satan, would you be a guide for one of the Angel exchange students?”

“Are you actually asking me?” Satan looks over the top of his reading glasses.” Or are you just telling me in a passive manner.”

“It’s not passive,” Lucifer crosses his arms.” Answer my question.”

“No,” Satan leaned back into his chair. Lifting his book up to block Lucifer from view.

“You are just saying that because I am asking you.”

“Yes,” Satan smiles.

“Which is why I am going to make you do it.” Lucifer smiles back. “I think it will be an informative experience for you.”

“Informative?” Satan can feel the fires in his stomach boiling over, but his keeps his composure calm. It was centuries of practice. “As if I don’t hear enough about the celestial realm from you?”

“You hear our side of it, and now you can learn another.” Lucifer looks so sure of his convictions that it made Satan want to lift his chair and throw it through a wall. Instead, he took a deep breath for seven seconds and let it out in ten.

“How do you intend on making me do this?” Satan propped his elbow on the armchair, and then his head in his hand.

“I will tell Diavolo you refused to use your strength and knowledge to help his exchange program. If the angels are to learn the best qualities of Hell. Who is better informed than you? No harm would come to that angel with you near.” Lucifer has pride in many things. Not just himself, and that was one of his worst qualities. The way he looked at Satan with such knowing. Then how it could vanish into cold apathy. “It’s lazy work, really. You could have an audiobook in your ear if you truly needed it.”

Satan looked from Lucifer and down to the floor. Then he switched which way he was leaning in the chair. Fidgeting as he thought. Trying to find a way to accept that he will have to do this. Without having to agree with Lucifer.

“Fine, I don’t want to be lectured by Diavolo as well as you.” Satan begins to read his book again. “When do I start?”

“Now, they want to explore.” Lucifer’s face was full of mirth. If Satan showed that he was irritated, that would only play into what He wanted. So Satan sighed as he picked up the bookmark and wedges it in.

“The angels will be living in Purgatory hall, correct?” At least Satan could show he’d be competent in the task.

“Indeed. MC is an Angel a little younger than you and will not know what to expect in the Devildom.”

“That we’re not all monsters or that monster’s still exist?” Satan slowly took of his glasses. Cleaning the lenses before tucking them away.

“Bit of both. Which you’re a perfect example of. ” Lucifer ignore the scowl that rips across Satan’s face. Instead, tapping his watch. “They asked me for a guide an hour ago, so I would appreciate it if we could hurry up.” Satan stands up and again takes a deep breath. Then many more. A deep breath each step of the way to purgatory hall. Asmo was hanging out in the hallway, but the moment they saw Satan. Asmo found an excuse to leave.

It was right up to the moment that Satan knocked on the door. That’s when he took one final breath and let the tension fall from his shoulders. Suddenly the portrait of composure with a grace in his eye. The door opened easily, and there stood MC. Satan was shocked to see that, despite being an angel. They had changed out of any holy robes and into something more comfortable. There wasn’t the annoying level of arrogance Satan had come to expect. Off to a good start, it would seem.

“Hello, My name is Satan. Lucifer sent me to be your guide.” Satan bowed slightly and smiled brightly as he stood up. His green eyes were glowing with genuine warmth.

“Oh, awesome,” MC rocked back on their heels. “I don’t really know where to go. I just want to see… stuff?” MC shrugs and smiles sheepishly. Satan felt something new in his chest. This Angel was genuinely curious about the Devildom.

“I know lots of lovely spots. Do you want some history or a bit of culture?” Satan raises a brow. Looking at MC as if they were co conspirators on some great plan. MC’s heart pick up the pace.

“Why not both?”

“Good choice,” Satan offers an elbow to the Angel. With flushed cheeks, the Angel accepts. “A friend of mine commissioned a new branch in the museum nearby. It’s full of artifacts that were destroyed by invades. Now in the Devildom we can restore the artifacts and get first-hand facts on the culture.”

“An accurate history or ones written by victors?”

“Accurate, of course,” Satan looks almost offended. “We are not on any side of humanities battles.”

“You like their military regalia.”

“I don’t. Those in charge think it’s pretty.” Satan rolls his eyes. “One part of hell is under strict authority, and another is nearly pure anarchy.”

“Anarchy with demons must get interesting.” MC tries not to giggle. “I have the image of Demons fighting to create and making utter chaos.”

“You’re close, just throw in some packs working together, and rogues wandering around the city trying to push their chaos were ever. The principles of anarchy aren’t too bad, actually. I’ve read the literature, but in practice with magic beings, too many hot heads can ruin it for the rest.”

“There’s so many rules in Heaven,” MC sighs and rocks their head back. “Anarchy sounds terrifying, but also refreshing? If that makes sense.”

“It does,” Satan nods. “What sort of rules does heaven have?”

“Well, the rules of angels and people are different.” Satan nods instead of saying, Obviously. “For angels, we literally have a mandated outfit. Can’t wear anything but the one holy look. We cannot stray remotely close to any sins, and must keep peace at all times. Which isn’t difficult with 1000 of human souls all wanting their own ideal conflicting paradise.” MC tenses with the anger, and then lets it slide out. “Sorry about that-”

“Don’t apologize,” Satan squeezes the Angel’s arm a little. “You got more than the right to be annoyed with such treatment. Speak what you feel.” MC looks up at Satan with bright eyes.

“If I have to sing in another chores for God, I will scream.”

“You should! Screaming is cathartic.” The talk the whole way to the museum and through it. Both have more than enough to say, and genuinely want to hear the other. Satan has carefully made opinions and seems to be educated in every topic under the sun. The Niches of thing MC thinks of Satan can keep up with. He also seems to have causes at least half of the wars which destroyed the artifacts now on display. “Alexander was rather easy to manipulate,” Satan hums. “Just had to bat my eyes at him and ask if that’s what he really wanted. He would be up for anything after that.” Satan can’t keep back his mischievous grin.

“Did you… Seduce Alexander the Great?”

“And helped kill him.” Satan smiles proudly. “He was an asshole, but fun to play with it.” Now Satan looks off with a distance in his eyes. Clearly lost in the past, where he could saunter about Rome. Arm and Arm with a brutal conquer.

“How often do you accompany brutal killers?” MC asks with a sharp look.

“This is where our working on opposite sides could come to a point,” Satan chuckles. “I am the avatar of wrath. I accompany most of the greatest killers. Push them to indulge just a bit more. If not me, one of my many underlings is probably there.”

“Funny,” MC says with a rather serious face. “I haven’t been given a title yet, but I spent the last century working with the angels in the peace department.”

“Oh that is some hard work,” Satan looks over to the Angel. MC had been prepared for Satan to look annoyed, but instead he looked more impressed. “Humans are so easy to manipulate with their emotions. Peace is going against their instincts.” By now, Satan and MC had entered the museum. Other demons milled about. Quickly commenting on the pieces of history elegantly on display. The explanations that come with each piece are at best wordy paragraphs. At worst, there is an essay attached. MC is saved from any reading by having Satan in toe. He knows all the information backwards and forwards, and the fact he’s more curious about the Angel. Saves MC from having to sit through lecture after lecture. Satan pauses to breath, and to hear the Angel’s own thoughts.

----- Rest of the museum date will be finished if people show interest in it.

A/N: Thank you for reading! If you have any requests for what Angel MC get’s up to feel free to ask! If people actually like this I’ll writing more parts consistently. If not more will just come as I feel like it.

#my writing #gn!mc #Gn!Mc x obey me #gn!MC x Satan #obey me!#Angel MC!#Angel MC! Obey me #fanfiction #writing #Obey me! Satan #Obey me! Lucifer #Obey me! Simeon #Obey me! Luke #Obey me! Diavolo

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skye-huntress · 3 years

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RWBY Panel 2021 Reaction

I figured why not. I was up at three in the morning to watch the panel just for even the smallest sneak peak or news of Volume 9 so I might as well throw out my reactions and thoughts into the void of the internet.

Let me start off with the biggest non-news, the lack of date for Volume 9. In the back of my mind, this was something I feared to expect. Between the pandemic, the blackouts, and probably a lot of other disrupting forces I am not aware about, it’s not reasonable to expect CRWBY to be at the same place with every upcoming volume every year. Similar for the Volume 8 Soundtrack, though for that I wasn’t expecting to hear any new updates on.

I am interested in the new game, Arrowfell, though I will admit that side-scrollers are not a style of game I’ve ever found compelling. It’s RWBY though, so of course I am going to check it out. They never said anything about what platforms it would be on though.

Now for the sneaky peak:

I’ll admit, that first half of it was intense. It really brought everything back, the anxiety, the near-panic, the anticipation of what would happen. It felt fresh seeing it from Ruby’s perspective.

Maybe seeing Yang’s fall happen in realtime will get people to lighten up on Ruby and realise that she couldn’t have really done anything, but I doubt it.

It is interesting to see how the edges of Ruby’s vision light up when she’s trying to call on her silver eye powers. I’d wager she experiences other sensations as well when its working and not just the sudden fatigue we see her go through after the fact.

So Neo is still attacking Ruby on sight despite the fact this path may have already sealed both their fates. I feel I should say this, I don’t think there is any reasoning with Neo. If she’s half as smart as she thinks she is, there’s no way she genuinely believes Ruby is responsible for Roman’s death. She went after Cinder first for a reason. She’s angry and in pain, and she needs someone a little easier to stab than a rogue maiden to take out her frustrations on. Ruby’s just a convenient scapegoat for Neo. One way or another, it will end this volume.

Oscar, Yang, Penny. These are all people Ruby has failed recently. Oscar was captured and tortured and Ruby didn’t even hear of it until afterwards. Yang took the blow meant for her and was the first to fall. Penny is the Maiden and it was Ruby’s job to protect her but now she is at Cinder’s mercy and that bitch doesn’t even have the word in her vocabulary. I feel this is the volume where Ruby has to confront her failures and increasing doubts about her leadership. We’ve been building up to it for a while

All alone and unarmed on a shore, in a strange place in another world. Nothing to do but keep moving forward.

At the very least, that she landed in the same realm we saw Crescent Rose suggests all or at least some of the Fallen have ended up in the same place.

Predictions

For Ruby, I think this will be a critical volume for her. All sorts of negativity has been building up with her for a while now and with her current situation, the fate of her friends, and when the news of Penny’s death inevitably reaches her, something is going to give. This might be a break from the plot but it is also a break for Ruby to reevaluate her leadership, her choices and how she’s been handling basically everything. How this changes her will likely determine the direction of the show and how the protagonists confront Salem going forward.

For Weiss, this could also be a big volume for her. For one, she’s gained and lost a lot this volume. Atlas, for all its faults which caused her to leave it twice, was her home, and now it is rubble and those of her people that survived are now refugees in a Kingdom they are not necessarily welcome. She confronted her father, and was working on her relationship with the rest of her family, but is now separated from them. She wasn’t as close with Penny as Ruby, but she lost her, too, and now her sister has the same target on her back and is probably doomed to suffer the same fate sooner or later. She also thought she lost her other family and it will be bittersweet to find herself stranded with them if when she can find them again. It’s been a rollercoaster for her.

While on this note, I think we are due for a heart-to-heart between Ruby and Weiss. Ruby recently had a talk with both Blake and Yang about her leadership, but I think Weiss has the best chance of actually reaching her. After all, Weiss was the first one to openly express doubts about Ruby being a leader, and it was also a position she once coveted for herself. Weiss is the sceptic turned believer, and she’s not afraid to call things as they are, so I think she is and always was the best one to talk to Ruby about this, which is why I think they never had this conversation before. Now that Ruby is in this critical stage, of course this is the perfect time for her once reluctant and now devoted partner to put in her two cents.

Since everything went down with Adam and her relationship with Yang improved, I haven’t been quite sure where Blake’s character arc will go from there. When Yang fell, she nearly completely lost and it clouded her judgment. After her talk with Nora, I wonder if Blake herself needs to reevaluate if perhaps there are parts about her own life and wellbeing that she has neglected since she and Yang have gotten closer. Perhaps it’s a time for her to reevaluate her priorities, which doesn’t necessarily mean distancing herself from Yang but it could still mean she puts more effort into herself and her other relationships, especially with Ruby, Weiss and Jaune.

Yang was the first to fall and everything went to shit after the fact. She stopped a sneak attack on Ruby but she couldn’t stop Neo or Cinder, and she was not there for her team or Penny. That moment is probably also too familiar to what happened with Adam at Beacon for Yang’s comfort, not that I think there was anything she could do better in either situation besides simply being faster. I don’t know what Yang’s response to everything will be, what effect this will have on her. Plus I can’t forget that she’s probably suffering a concussion right now.

As for the Bees, despite all they’ve been through and even with the split that happened last volume, they were still closer than ever. There’s a mutual respect there for each other’s decisions. If one is going through something, the other will be there to talk them through it or even simply be a shoulder to cry on. If this is a situation that they’ll be stuck on for the foreseeable future, at least they have each other and there are worse places they could be stranded in. Despite everything that happened or maybe even because of it, it might seem the perfect setting and timing for some confessions and more.

Now to Jaune. He certainly hasn’t had it easy. From the start, he was the furthest behind among his peers, and now he’s been licensed earlier than most of them. Pyrrha helped him a lot with that, and was the first to believe in him and she was taken from him, and it seems he came to terms with that since Argus. He didn’t let his grief blind him and he stayed on task with the evacuation, and he wasn’t reckless when he did confront Cinder. He did everything right, but it wasn’t enough to save Penny and in the end he had little choice but to respect her dying wish. It had to be done, I don’t blame him for being put in that position, but it’s still got to hurt. It’s also so appropriate that his weapon, one of his most important tools as a Huntsman, was broken after spilling innocent blood, almost like a punishment(?) for his “betrayal” to what a Huntsman is suppose to be. He’s going to carry this until the day he dies, and now he has to face his friends, especially his best friend whom was the closest of all of them to Penny.

Finally Neo. Like I said, I don’t think she can be reasoned with. She abandoned any sort of rationale a long time ago, and it will take more than words to shake her out of it, if it’s even possible anymore. I doubt there will be a peaceful solution to this conflict, it feels too similar to what went down with Adam towards his end. He also refused to back down, he too insisted on making Blake his scapegoat, and despite being given every chance to walk away, he persisted until his death. Time will tell if Neo can avoid that fate, but my doubts about that have only strengthened since the sneak peak.

As for Oscar and the others, I already had my doubts about whether we’d see them at all. The way CRWBY talked about this volume, it seems clear that this is our break from the main narrative so I doubt we will be seeing much of Vacuo yet. I am more than okay with that, it’d be good to take a break from the main plot and focus and our main girls again and we’ll get more of that with a significantly reduced cast.

#rwby #rwby8 #rwby8 spoilers #rwby9 #rwby9 spoilers

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rpgsandbox · 3 years

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"Only a few understand adventurers. Most consider us insane driven by treasures, ancient secrets, fame, admirers, power, or what comes to mind. It couldn't be farther from the truth." /Adbjorn Haig/

Enter the cruel and savage world of Atlas, where the ruins of forgotten civilizations are desecrated as the strange bones of the past begin to stir. Dark rituals mixed with corrupt technologies animate the ashes of the dead. As bloodthirsty hordes of barbarians and beasts alike roam the plains, the stern land can never be satisfied by the sweat and tears of the innocent. Mighty despots pass the time with their concubines behind high stone walls. Metal and magic have formed the land, erected floating islands, and twisted the deadly mountain paths. Take all you can before others plunder everything in this land of limitless possibilities! Rise as a mighty warlord or rot away like a maggot! Join us in the world of Atlas right here, right now!

"I have seen many shitholes on my voyages." /Feth Col/

Atlas – Rise or Die is a classic, vintage sword & sorcery tabletop RPG. In its style and mood, Atlas brings about the renaissance of the epic RPGs of the '80s with a modern, clean design and breath-taking illustrations.

If you are interested, don't wait! Get a sneak- peek of the layout right now! Come and look at how we imagined the book's design and the base of the 2d10 system!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-e7_UOnNPa2cGsnwsowr55X9J2tFIPu1/view

The campaigns are housed in a brand new, progressive system that facilitates fast-paced and fluid gameplay. The system rests on the following seven main features:

A realistic, d20 compatible 2d10 system with low numbers. We believe that by using the result of rolls with 2d10s, we can eliminate some of the radical distribution of values often associated with d20s. This makes "Nat20" rolls even more epic and memorable, since their chance decrease from 5% to 1%.

We use a three-dimensional (race, class, archetype) character creation system, where by removing the traditional "alignment" aspect of characters and introducing the archetype system, well-rounded personalities can be created and played out.

The Atlas system allows for completely free character advancement, even maxing out a single stat is possible, though not encouraged by the system. It favors balanced characters and allows unique combinations of strengths and weaknesses.

Subsystems for NPC interactions, that allow overcoming obstacles by not only violent means. These make social interactions and investigations as enjoyable and manageable as combat encounters, resulting in immersive role-playing.

The XP system supports actual role-playing, not only combat.

The combat system is fast-paced and not roll-heavy. Alongside customary mechanics for damage distribution, it also emulates the dynamic physical positioning of combat participants. Combat maneuvers, boosts, and the decisions made in a fight scene this way become a fun activity instead of brainless rolls and damage calculation. Aiding our teammates and getting them in position come with substantive strategic rewards.

D&D 5th Edition compatible Setting on a brutal, bloodied, barbarian world of ancient technologies and dark rituals

“A great sword consists of three parts. You grab the grid, you defend with the middle and you kill with the point. It can’t be simpler.” /Adbjorn Haig/

Frankly speaking, ATLAS- Rise or Die, is not one but THREE unique books merged into one revised and united volume.

The first part is the Corebook which contains the basics of the game. This includes descriptions, explanations, added tables, and examples. All the presented sub-systems represent one, merged system that can be used as a core for any alternative games. It is with 5th Edition and with d20 system also compatible.

The second section is the Player's Handbook. This contains detailed information for players to create their character through the Handbook's unique 3D character creation system. Roles, Races, paths, highlighted classes, and much more are included in this book. Everything listed above serves the ultimate purpose of exclusive character creation to ensure that each player generates their unique character that is entertaining and cool to play with.

The third and last book is called Setting, which presents the wonders and dangers of ATLAS, a description of places, creatures, and everything that can be found on this barbaric land. It is full of adventures bringing you forgotten treasure, ancient monsters, and thrilling legends. The descriptions in this edition contain all the information a player needs to survive this brutal world. It is also "5th Edition-friendly".

All this will be brought to you in an old-fashioned hardcover book with the following parameters:

Hardcover, straight spine book

Classic portrait A/4 size

Matte art paper- core pages for stunning looks and to be easily readable

"When Enoon, our Dark Sun, arises, it shakes the calm waves of magic with its power. At such times, numerous disconcerting events manifest themselves all over Atlas." /Magister Athan/

Atlas – Rise or Die is more than another boring remake. Our goal is to bring back the atmosphere of classic game sessions in a unique new format, never seen before, through a completely modern, fresh, and trendy gamebook.

We are aiming to evoke a retro, vintage feeling with our design, all the while using high-quality, contemporary graphics, that would not have been possible in the ’80s.

Our own 2d10 system is less random and unpredictable than the classic d20, but it offers the same ease when it comes to calculation and keeping track of events. By using two ten-sided dice, average rolls are more frequent and exceptional rolls, like natural 20s, even more valuable - but is with D&D 5th Edition compatible.

We were adamant to retain as much as we can from the proven template of classic sword & sorcery RPGs while adding a few twists to make them better suited for the brutal world of Atlas. Our elves for example are sickly, degenerate nobles who rule their people through intrigue. Their savage relatives are bloodthirsty head-hunters, protecting their ancient forests and hunting down all intruders. The dwarves are tyrannical conquerors at the head of an enslaved populous, dwelling in underground fortresses, that they call cities. They often make deals with subterranean creatures only to have their aid in their territorial clan wars.

The fast-paced, narrative, and tactical combat system goes a lot further than the classic, "attack roll–damage roll" format. The combat maneuvers infused in attacks alongside the collected bonuses make combat less hectic, more enjoyable, and realizable.

It is not only the lovers of fight sequences who can find something to please them. We have developed influence and intuition systems to support non-combat situations, which give flexible frameworks for meaningful interactions, information-trade, and realizing player goals through NPCs.

In the world of Atlas, everything is about brutality and blood sacrifice, and so it is with our magic system. It is optimized for coming up with unique combinations, while it supports the creation of your own spells. Magic twists and drains its user, should they become too greedy, the price could easily become their lives.

“Atlas is a cruel violent world, where barbarism, blood, and brutality dominate. But it wasn't always like that... A long time ago, ancient civilizations, advanced races, and rich kingdoms ruled this world, using their magic and technologies, rather than cold steel and muscle power.” /Magister Athan/

ATLAS is much more than a simple sword and sorcery world. It was shaped by barbaric realms, ancient monsters, and pioneer spaceships from forgotten civilizations.

Kickstarter campaign ends: Thu, June 24 2021 11:00 AM BST

Website: [Old Mages Games] [facebook] [instagram]

#RPG #kickstarter #Atlas Rise or Die #Old Mages Games Studio

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doomonfilm · 3 years

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Ranking : David Lynch (1946-present)

Film is definitely an art, and yet, it seems to be distinct from other forms of visual art such as painting or sculpture. Perhaps that is what makes David Lynch such a fascinating director, as he has the ability to tap into the surreal stimulus often found in the most famous paintings and transform it into brain-bending moments on film. Whether it his fear-fueled fascination with fatherhood present in his debut film Eraserhead, his ruminations on Hollywood society present in Inland Empire, or any of the stopping points in-between, it’s safe to say that David Lynch sits in the rarified air of directors like Ingmar Bergman, Alejandro Jodorowsky and the other few who can turn film into something deeper, more visceral and more meaningful.

With one of the most unique collections of films credited to his name, including a couple of curveballs in the early portion of his career, ranking the films of David Lynch is as perplexing as it is entertaining... so, without further ado, we attempt to climb that hill. I’m not even going to pretend that I can break down all of the symbolism and meanings of these films, but I can give my honest opinion about them.

10. Dune (1984) For a film that is supposed to be such a science-fiction gem, it’s a bit funny that nobody can seem to make a coherent, entertaining version of Dune. After nearly 15 years in pre-production hell (and three iconic names attached to versions of the production), the film landed in the laps of Dino De Laurentiis and Ridley Scott, but after another extended period delaying production, Scott bowed out, leaving the door open for David Lynch to step in. For what it’s worth, he did bring a huge list of names to the project, but the fact that the directing credit for Dune belongs to the throwaway pseudonym Alan Smithee should clue in any perceptive viewer that the project may not be one that Lynch cares to stand behind.

9. Inland Empire (2006) David Lynch isn’t the type of director that revisit ground he’s already covered, which is what makes Inland Empire (the seemingly final film from Lynch) such a confusing choice. Had this film not been released after a five year gap between it and the stellar Mullholland Drive, another film that focuses on the dark underbelly of Hollywood, fame and the tolls of the acting craft, perhaps it would hit a little different to me. That’s not to say that the film isn’t good, as it is definitely a slight adjustment from the style that Lynch basically trademarked, but when a director like Lynch experiments on what feels like general principle, it makes experiments that feel like a step backward lose impact.

8. Lost Highway (1997) Technically, you could count all of the Lynch “mystery” films as noir in some capacity, but Lost Highway feels like a direct skewing of what we know as the traditional noir structure. At its core, the film is a simple murder mystery, but it doesn’t take long for the Lynch signatures to begin appearing in every form from a mysterious, unnamed character to our protagonist literally changing into another person with no base explanation provided. Perhaps the latter choice was a look into split personalities and the disassociated nature that can come with brutal crimes... as I said before, I’m not here to try and decode the David Lynch mystery. While Lost Highway serves as a good entry point into the David Lynch catalog, it sits on the back half of the rankings due to no fault of its own... it’s more of a situation where the other mysteries are so stellar, that even the strange seems simplistic by comparison.

7. The Straight Story (1999) If you played a game of “one of these things is not like the other” with the films of David Lynch, it would not be difficult to make a winning choice, as The Straight Story is clearly the most accessible and standard of all the Lynch fare. What the film lacks in oddness and style, however, is more than made up for in terms of heart and performance. The use of a lawnmower as the main source of travel allows for some beautiful landscape cinematography, and the sheer force of will exhibited by Richard Farnsworth pays off in spades when he is reunited with Harry Dean Stanton. If you’re looking for something creepy, eclectic and mind-warping from Lynch, there are plenty of other films to choose from, but if you are looking for an excuse to shed a tear or two, this is the film for you.

6. The Elephant Man (1980) It’s funny to think that if not for The Straight Story, the Joseph Merrick biopic The Elephant Man would serve as the most normal film of the Lynch canon. This sophomore film dialed back on the abstractions present in Eraserhead, but it brought some extraordinary makeup and costuming to the table, not to mention it gifted viewers with a powerfully moving performance from John Hurt. Though memorable in its own right, the film really made its mark by tying Raging Bull at the 53rd Academy Awards, garnering eight nominations (and sadly losing in all categories, going home empty-handed). The backlash for the Academy’s lack of giving The Elephant Man special praise for its makeup effects also led to the creation of a Best Makeup award for the Oscars. It is quite possible that the combination of shock from Eraserhead in tandem with the skill and prowess shown in The Elephant Man opened all of the creative control doors for David Lynch, as not even Dune could derail his career and artistic oddness.

5. Blue Velvet (1986) While Twin Peaks is where I first heard the name David Lynch, it was Blue Velvet where I first got a taste of why Lynch was held in such high regard. The suburban paradise presented in the opening credits is immediately shattered by the discovery of a random ear, and the weirdness rabbit-hole gets deeper and deeper from that point on. The classic look of the film stands in powerfully beautiful contrast to the extreme darkness of the narrative, and Dennis Hopper turned it all the way up to 11 for his performance in the film. If Lost Highway serves as the best introductory film for those curious about Lynch, then Blue Velvet serves as a good midpoint to determine how much weirdness, abrasiveness and shock you can handle in a Lynch film.

4. Mulholland Drive (2001) I really and truly do not know where to begin with this insane rollercoaster ride of a film. The first time I watched this film, I thought I had everything figured out, every mystery solved and every bait and switch identified, but upon repeat viewings of Mullholland Drive, I’ve determined that I either had a brief moment of harmonic brilliance or I was fooling myself. The film makes sense at its root, if really and truly dissected, but when taken at face value and in real time, it’s almost impossible not to get completely lost in the sheer immersive nature of everything thrown at you. Naomi Watts is brilliant as the viewer guide through the film, and it’s good that she is so powerful in her lead role and guiding task, because Mullholland Drive is not afraid to get downright bonkers on more than one occasion. While films about the trappings of Hollywood and stardom are nothing new, I’m hard pressed to think of another film that approaches these in a manner even remotely close to that of Mullholland Drive.

3. Wild at Heart (1990) Quite possibly the most enjoyable of all the David Lynch films, despite some downright brutal moments of celebratory violence sprinkled throughout. The combination of Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern is nothing short of electric, and the presence of Willem Dafoe as antagonist is the perfect spark to ignite an already volatile mixture of leads. The energy level of this film starts on ten and only continues to rise as the film progresses. If/when I ever get the chance to program theater showings, I am putting this film on a double bill with Natural Born Killers immediately. While I can’t say that Wild at Heart is my favorite David Lynch film, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it’s my favorite Lynch film to gush about with other fans.

2. Eraserhead (1977) More often than not, directors the caliber of David Lynch have stunning debut films to their name, and Lynch certainly exploded onto the scene with a gamebreaker in the form of Eraserhead. Upon first viewing, there is enough “WTF?!” going on to confuse most people, but for those brave enough to watch the film more than once, it becomes painfully obvious that all of the madness and shocking imagery on display is a clear metaphor for Lynch’s fear of fatherhood. The simple act of taking a fear that resonates with most humans and turning it into the equivalent of a black and white bad drug trip works perfectly, and Jack Nance’s iconic look and performance are almost recognizable enough to know without knowledge of the film. Eraserhead is one of those films that leaves you different than you were prior to watching it.

1. Twin Peaks : Fire Walk with Me (1992) In all honesty, was there every any doubt that Twin Peaks : Fire Walk with Me wouldn’t be in the top spot? Of all the properties that the David Lynch name is connected to, none of them have even come remotely close to touching the sheer size of the lore and fandom that has emerged from this modern day masterpiece. The story of the high school princess with deep, dark secrets to hide is not new territory, but the way that Lynch handles it all with Twin Peaks takes the familiar to all new realms of weirdness, including the creation of iconic places and characters like the Black Lodge, the Log Lady, the production mistake that created the infamous Bob, and the eternally iconic Laura Palmer, and oh yeah, the film’s not half bad either. I doubt that David Lynch ever had any intention of reaching the heights of fame that Twin Peaks : Fire Walk with Me afforded him, but it would be dumb to think that he isn’t impressed with the magnitude of the world he created based on that single idea for a film.

#ChiefDoomsday #DOOMonFILM #DavidLynch #Eraserhead #TheElephantMan #Dune #BlueVelvet #WildAtHeart #TwinPeaksFireWalkWithMe #LostHighway #TheStraightStory #MullhollandDrive #InlandEmpire

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shelf-care · 3 years

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Get to know the writer

This ended up taking longer than I wanted to, but I'm okay with that. It's a good warm-up.

Age: 22

Gender: Female

Status: Single

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Where I’m From: Texas

Favorite Color: White, gold, forest green

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

It does a little bit of both, I save up ideas to the point that when I actually sit down to write them I become so concentrated on them that when my brain is finished I get tired, but I get excited about the project since there's progress being made.

What’s your writing kryptonite?

The blank page is a big one. Or having more than one idea for a story and trying to make it cohesive and it's just not coming together.

Do you use your real name or a pseudo?

kind of both. I have my real first name attached to my writing but I don't use my real last name because it just doesn't ring or roll off the tongue like it should.

Do you tend to write what you want, or what your readers want?

100% of the time I write what I want, only when someone requests something specific do I do what others want. (Which I'm open to).

What other writers are you friends with?

I would say I'm friends (or at the very least) mutuals with @rainydaydream-gal18 and @fizzyxcustard @fromthedeskoftheraven

Their writing can always brighten my day without a doubt.

Do you prefer to write one-shots or series?

I wish I could write engaging series, I tend to lean towards one-shots or standalone stories the most.

If you could tell your younger self anything, what would it be?

Writing isn't like the movies. It's a cutthroat industry and if you are passionate and want it enough, don't be afraid to take risks. It doesn't matter if people like your work if you like it that's enough.

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

Probably Circe. No one talks about that book at all. It's strange to me since HBO is developing a TV series based on the book too.

What’s your writing spirit animal?

A lizard. I say that because I take everything in spurts.

How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?

I have two. I have one book that is so close to being done. The other I just have ideas here and there and I write the scenes as they come. Idk if it'll ever see the light of day, but who knows.

How many hours a day do you write? Days per week?

I try to write every day. Though it's hard when writing isn't your full-time job. on a good day, I write for about three hours. I'll do this about three days out of the week considering I have the time to commit to it.

How do you select the names of your characters?

Pinterest. Thats one of the only sites I use. I also use "Fantasy name generator" if I want something out of this world or just weird.

Are you primarily a writer? Or do you consider it a second career?

I would love nothing more than to be a writer full-time. (I'm doing my best to take on freelancing and editing for my full-time gig.) At this very moment in time, it's on the back burner and most definitely secondary.

Do you hide secrets/easter eggs in your books?

I try to, but unless it's fan fiction, I like sticking to my own world and writing.

What types of scenes are hardest for you to write?

Pain. Physical pain and parts where the character is in inhuman amounts of pain are really hard for me to write without it coming off as a William Shatner scene.

What’s your biggest writing flaw?

Grammar and punctuation. Just, no matter how many times I proofread. There's always something to correct.

Do you have a specific process for writing?

I have to be completely undistracted. I have to have a hot beverage by me. (Tea, coffee, cider.) I have to have music on most of the time. But the music has to be instrumental or something I've heard a million times, or else I'll get distracted.

What’s your writing setup like?

It's simple. Either my bed next to my bookshelf so I have all my references near me or my desk where I try to pound out as much as I possibly can. There are some days you can find me at the dining table writing away in the kitchen where I can refill my coffee or get something to eat and sit right back down.

How long does it take you to finish your first draft?

Depends on the project. An article takes me maybe an afternoon after all the research and writing and fact-checking. A book takes me about a year to two years. It's kinda ridiculous.

Do you believe in writer’s block?

I'm suffering from it right now. Of course, there's such thing as writer's block! I think most of it has to do with the aforementioned "Blank page." If it's not that, it's getting in the correct headspace to actually write what you want.

Do you want to be/are you professionally published or self-published?

At the moment I want to be traditionally published so I can get my name out there, but I don't want to have to check a bunch of story boxes so I can make it. I'll probably be going the self-published route.

How would you feel if your story turned into a movie?

Like any other writer, I'd be ecstatic! But I'd be worry about how a studio would take my story and rewrite it for the screen. It can't be avoided. It's the way someone does it and how it's edited is how it matters. Also, I'd want to be involved with the scriptwriting process.

Are you a planner or a pantser? Or somewhere in between?

Oh, I'm a pantser. I've tried to have an outline for any of my projects. It just never works for me personally. I know where I want my story to go and that's about all I got.

What inspires you as a writer?

J.R.R. Tolkien, John Favreau, and Dave Filoni are my biggest inspirations. they all do so much and put their hearts into the projects. they think about the story and how it will affect people not only emotionally but mentally as well. I can only dream of making people feel something from my writing. Their narratives are always relevant and inspiring.

Are your characters based off of people you know? Yourself? Or no one at all?

I'd rather not base my characters off of people I know. There's maybe one character that I have in one of my books that was based on the worst co-worker I ever had. But that's about it.

What made you decide to write your story?

There's always been something in me to do anything in the realm of storytelling. I just didn't know it until I was about fifteen. I think I have some stories to tell. I just hope people find comfort and escape in them.

If any of you want to do this I highly recommend it. It really makes you think about who you are and why you are writing.

#get to know the writer

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serpentsapple · 4 years

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(Due to the topics discussed, this post includes general spoilers for: the Shades of Magic series, the Grisha Trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, Deathless, The Bear and the Nightingale, The Priory of the Orange Tree, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell as well as the Yukibana no Tora manga.)

Book after book, especially in fantasy, one might come across a similar situation: daring plots, grandiose characters, extensive worldbuilding… until it concerns women. Then, all creativity goes to the drain, reusing the same tropes, the same caricatures of how a woman behaves and where her rightful place is – a supportive aside to the main characters’ journey, absent, if not outright dead. Such criticism is often levelled at male writers, their lack of effort, their fetishes obvious. Yet what of female authors?

Women, it is said, do not fall into the same traps as men and create complex male characters with more passion than any man will spare for a female one. Do they, thus, honour their fictional counterparts in kind? Would reading women be the solution to the neverending waves of stereotyped heroines and love interests?

Unfortunately, we found ourselves confronted to the same rancid ideas in books authored by women. Too often, their characters oscillate between virginity and depravity, eternal victimhood and stupidity. Vapid and vain, or weeping and weak, or sweet and pure, all to better "defile" them later; their personality barely sketched in the sidelines, their existence hardly worth a mention, their life trivial, sacrificed. Thus appears a string of familiar figures: the dead idealised mother, the living but children-fixated mother, weak, crying; the shallow, beauty obsessed queens and girls, stupid and selfish to the core; the beloved sisters and relatives, abused and killed to distress the male half of their family; the missing female friends and aunts and grandmothers and passersby, the women whose very presence is omitted, repeatedly.

This listing may have triggered a few memories, especially to readers familiar with young adult literature, but let’s be specific: do you recall the few appearing girls derided by Lila Bard, in Schwab’s Shades of Magic series? The queen, always afraid and weeping, having no life outside of her fears and her son? Perhaps, if you persisted until the last volume, you also assisted, powerless, to the systematic abuse and slaughter of every other female character while men mourned?

Or maybe have you picked up Bardugo’s first fantasy series, The Grisha Trilogy, with its vain and unnamed Ravkan queen, its most beautiful woman punished with ugliness, its villain’s mother sacrificing herself for her son and disdaining her daughter? Or were you more interested in her later additions to her universe, Six of Crows, with its dead or mad mothers, its silly and grating young wife to a much older man, its manipulated girl-assassin finding no common grounds with her female rival, only death?

Have you opened Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale and felt dismayed at the lack of care towards Vasya’s sister, sent away at a young age to marry and breed? At the upsetting and unending sexual suffering of a not that much older stepmother, turned bitter and cruel, demeaned despite her resemblance to the heroine, worthy of no compassion?

Perhaps you might have perused Valente’s Deathless where Baba Yaga is portrayed as a bitter old crone expressing sexual jealousy of Marya, espousing views such as a wife’s role is to be a “good mount for her husband”? Her enslavement of the previous Yelenas who were used up and cast aside as Koschei’s sexual playthings (and even more swiftly discarded by the narrative) with Marya giving only a fleeting thought to their plight?

Or Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell wherein a female perspective is conspicuously absent, existing only to be dutiful wives or hapless victims caught in a powerplay between magical men and maleficent fairies?

It would seem only a few chosen women and girls can be in the spotlight. These, usually, take the mantle of "heroines", though, as we noticed, female authors will still not allow them the same latitude as men. Stuck in a man-made world, they must submit to their gazes still, solely rely on them for friendship, love, knowledge and general plot advancement; with their every interaction tied to them, they, too, see their development denied in favour of the men’s. They must shrink themselves, give up on their ambitions, their ambiguity, accept a society designed entirely against them and feel grateful for the scraps of freedom graciously ceded to them. In that sense, they resemble very much the other girls they often strive to detach themselves from.

You may have noticed, in The Bear and the Nightingale, how Vasya, a young girl of fourteen, cannot escape the gaze of a lustful priest, the very narration also espousing his point of view, decentering her. Magic may allow her a way out of forced unions and pregnancies, yet still misogyny weights her down, isolating her from other girls and women, like her stepmother.

You may also have come across the various threats of rape Lila Bard must endure, her cross-dressing to prevent this, her loneliness and contempt for the members of her own sex. You may have noted her ambition and recklessness, only to see it crumble before a male character’s tragic backstory, while her very own desires and excessiveness were handwaved amidst a plot focusing on temptation.

Or you may have seen, in the pages of the manga Yukibana no Tora, a bold female warlord overcome her discomfort with men by ordering a friend to "take" her, turning herself into a passive recipient for men’s sexuality. Her life experience and thus, her differing point of view and confidence in herself is completely swept away. Even in a fictionalised account of her life, she must yield to men’s degrading view of her body.

In fact, despite the infinite possibilities offered by fantasy, many women still build cultures infused with conservatism. Traditional gender roles remain enforced in appearances: makeup, dresses, thinness and not a hint of masculinity, which would prove a stain, an assumed hatred against femininity and its unlucky subjects. Society, in such worlds, favours harmless and nurturing soon-to-be mothers, emotional and lesser girls whose value lies in the marriage they will be able to secure. Bloodlines, powers, knowledge and divinity itself all belong to men in an unquestioned misogynistic realm. Female characters must struggle against the chains of sexism before undergoing any other kind of development, if they benefit from such an arc at all. Rape, pregnancy and misery is their lot.

Take a look, then, at the rulers as well as the extras populating these worlds: men, in Schwab’s, as king, guards or nameless sailors, dressed as such, that is, without dresses; men as rulers again in Bardugo’s, as merchants, as mobsters, while women obsess over their appearances.

Samantha Shannon’s Priory of the Orange Tree presents a striking example of a world still conceived by men: in a country ruled by women for over a millennium, producing a blood-related heiress remains such a primordial task that even a queen becomes a broodmare. Forced into marriage, her character endures unwanted sexual unions until she finally assumes her goal as a woman – a mother, through and through. Reverse the roles, parse history: royal men annulled their marriages, kept mistresses, adopted heirs… and yet, and yet. Fictional women are kept on a tight leash. What a waste of creativity!

Disappointing and frustrating, yes. Even moreso as many reviewers – including women – will gloss over such issues, when they do not misconstruct a lone strong heroine as feminist-worthy, or qualify a superficially egalitarian world as "matriarchal". Yet what bothers us further is the way these authors receive a constantly harsher treatment than their male peers, their works immediately ridiculed and their intents disregarded, however flawed they could be. Despite their failings, men’s works are still deserving of an analysis, of some doubts and nebulous improvements; women’s should be denounced and go back to the garbage bin.

The books evoked in this post aren’t to be thrown out and dismissed. They, too, had commentaries and themes that we may disagree with, that we may believe unfortunate, or short-sighted; they had their stylistic failures beyond sexism, their convoluted plots, their lacking arcs; their moments of brilliance and artistry, their moving scenes, their heroines still shining, despite it all. Hence this blog: a space focusing on women in women’s works, neither absolving them of criticism nor disregarding them completely. We want to inspire discussions, not irredeemably condemn… and, hopefully, spark a few ideas.

#writeblr #booklr #shades of magic #the grisha trilogy #six of crows #the bear and the nightingale #the priory of the orange tree #deathless #jonathan strange and mr norrell #yukibana no tora #our posts

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turtle-paced · 4 years

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GoT Re-Watch: Fine-Toothed Comb Edition

This post is also availablle on my wordpress.

Hello and welcome to forsaken lands. The episodes of GoT that broke fans. And considering that GoT fans made it past in-universe heartbreaks like Ned Stark’s death and the Red Wedding, and major disappointments in the writers such as ‘Breaker of Chains’ and ‘Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken’, that is saying a lot.

It’s kinda fitting that the home stretch starts with a funeral, really. Good way to farewell our hopes. We’re not getting closure anywhere else in this series.

8.04 – The Last of the Starks

(2:15) When the credits said “with Iain Glen,” this is what they meant. With Iain Glen lying on a pile of sticks for two minutes.

(2:46) We do not get to hear what Dany whispers into Jorah’s dead ears, but I’m pretty certain the implication is that Dany, in her grief, is thinking on the lines of “BURN THEM ALL!”

(3:00) Because Sansa weeping over Theon’s body is…somehow less worrying? Somehow shot without the implied promises of fiery vengeance? What we’re looking at right now I think is far more ableist than sexist. The difference between Dany’s grief being portrayed as worrying and Sansa’s grief being portrayed as, you know, grief, is Dany’s family history of mental illness. Don’t get me wrong, there’ll be a heaping helping of sexism in here too, a lot of it in how Dany’s status as a female leader is linked narratively to her emotional state (“hysterical women” and all that) and written into the plot in the first damn place, but right now what attracts ominously unspoken whispering on Dany’s part and “purer” emotion on Sansa’s is connected to the parties we knowhave family members who have suffered from mental illness.

Man, imagine if they’d actually adapted the books, where Sansa’s father suffers what looks an awful lot like PTSD. Which doesn’t stop with just end-of-episode flashbacks, but affects his ongoing decision-making processes.

(3:36) Meanwhile, over in the toxic masculinity department, note who isn’t being so disgracefully emotional! The men, and the women who “aren’t like other girls.”

The show had good material to work with here. They could have shown men breaking down, portrayed as a completely reasonable reaction to the incredibly traumatic events of the previous episode. They could also have shown men struggling with the stoic performance that toxic masculinity requires, only to break down later, or question their own lack of response. You know, like several characters do in the books.

(4:31) Incidentally, it amuses me that though the words of Jon’s speech are addressing the survivors, he’s delivering the speech to the dead (and also the camera).

(6:50) Uh-oh. Dany couldn’t contain her tears as she lit a friend’s funeral pyre. Bad signs! Red flags! Red like fire.

I’m just going to dig out a relevant passage from The Curse of Chalion (spoilers for that book follow). For context, the crown princess Iselle (daughter of a woman widely regarded as mad, for further comparison’s sake) and the chancellor, Dy Jironal, are locked in a struggle over who gets power when the king dies. Iselle’s BFF recounts a relevant public event:

“Iselle is Ista’s daughter. She cannot speak of [the titular curse], lest men say she is mad, too. And use it as an excuse to seize…everything. Dy Jironal thought of it. At [the late crown prince’s] interment, he never missed a chance to pass some little comment on Iselle to any lord or provincar in earshot. If she wept, wasn’t it too extravagant; if she laughed, how odd that she should do so at her brother’s funeral; if she spoke, he whispered that she was frenetic, if she fell silent, wasn’t she grown strangely gloomy? And you could just watch men began to see what he told them they were seeing, whether it was there or not. Toward the end of his visit there, he even said such things in her hearing, to see if he could frighten and enrage her, and then accuse her of becoming an unbalanced virago.”

If Dany cries she’s unbalanced. If she hides her emotion she’s unempathetic. If she gets angry, she’s insane. The difference isn’t in the reaction (as already noted, we’ve got other characters openly grieving and other characters hiding their emotions), but in how, whether, and when the reaction is portrayed to the audience. In The Curse of Chalion there is a named antagonist doing that spin; here, the camera, the viewer’s PoV access to the story, is pulling exactly the same trick as it checks in with Dany’s emotional state to highlight the “out-of-place” emotions. Even the frequency of these check-ins affects the portrayal – as the viewer is treated to each and every fluctuation in Dany’s mood, her emotional state appears less constant than those of characters where we don’t get a reaction shot every time a traumatic thought crosses her mind/she schools her reaction/something mildly irritates her.

This phenomenon is not isolated to this scene. It’s been happening all season. It’s going to keep happening.

(7:50) I do not get the mood of this scene. Tonally, it feels more awkward/ordinary than full of grief, with none of the wild “glad to be alive” mood until a named character prompts it later on. The background characters often do not appear to exist independently of the main characters. It’s just these little things that chip away at suspension of disbelief. In this case, a general feeling like this fictional world is populated by named characters and department store mannequins only, not people.

(9:24) “So who’s lord of Storm’s End now?” Funny question. Strange that nobody’s asked that in the last few seasons. While we’re at it, who’s the Lady of Casterly Rock?

(10:42) Nor do I get Tyrion’s tone as he observes that Gendry’s going to be loyal to Dany due to this appointment. I mean…yes? That was the point? As Cersei shows us in AFFC, appointments for surface level loyalty don’t cut the mustard, but at the same time, Tyrion’s not being cynical and sardonic about Gendry’s competence.

(11:29) Davos here has a heart-to-heart about his complicated feelings towards a woman who engineered the death of a child he loved very much. To Tyrion. Who engineered the death of a child Davos also presumably loved very much. Davos’ interactions with Tyrion regularly go beyond a man who’s bottling up the death of his child for the sake of a political goal he genuinely believes will better the lives of more than just him, and into the realms of real emotional intimacy and friendship. I swear the writers forgot about this.

(13:12) Just from a writing standpoint, that line, “I don’t really want anymore,” really gets my goat. Oh, Bran just doesn’t have any motivations anymore, no biggie. Now the only thing that I the viewer want for this character is for him to start wanting things again.

(13:24) “Mostly I live in the past.” Yes truly this is an excellent trait for a temporal ruler.

(14:31) Here we have the unintentional call-back to season one, wherein information that the characters in-universe find distressing is revealed via the now-rather-clumsy mechanism of a drinking game. Book!Brienne’s status as an only child is a little sensitive for her.

(15:07) Tormund’s praise of Jon here is also pretty clumsy writing. It’s hard to praise Jon’s actions in that climactic battle because, well, he rode on a dragon and fried wights for about thirty seconds, and that’s it.

It’s also hard to see praise for Jon without corresponding praise for Dany as anything but sexism, because Dany was also riding on a dragon and frying lots of wights, and they’re her dragons. Played as in-universe sexism, this could have been a good source of material too, highlighting how Jon’s gender results in him getting more praise for equal (or lesser) work. Left unexamined it becomes part of a sexist narrative, an example of how Jon’s gender results in him getting more praise for equal (or lesser) work.

(15:21) No, don’t mention that Jon got killed and brought back! Don’t! It just raises the question of why!

(15:40) Notice how we keep getting the Dany reaction shot? Yeah. Isn’t the fact that Dany has emotional reactions weird?

The dialogue makes this worse. “What kind of person rides on a fucking dragon? A madman or a king!” Did…did they not realise the depths to this comment? The context? I mean, clearly, this is another hint that Dany’s going ~crazy~. On account of how she cannot be a king. The context of Dany’s gender. The gendered language used here. The minimisation of Dany’s accomplishments. How did the writers think this would come across, if not some fairly blatant sexism?

(16:04) This is the third Dany check-in regarding her unhappiness at a fairly miserable party. This one is extra special because the very observant and knowledgeable Varys is apparently thinking, “hang on, she’s not happy, and it’s a party! This couldn’t possibly have anything to do with listening to her boyfriend praised to the skies for things she did first and/or in parallel, immediately after losing a close friend and fighting in a very scary battle. She must be going crazy.”

Also there is spooky music and the shot choice emphasises that Dany isn’t hanging out with anyone at this party. This is far more worrying than Bran not emotionally engaging with anyone at this party thus far or Sansa not hanging out with anyone at this party thus far or Varys not hanging out with anyone at this party thus far, or Sandor drinking heavily at this party while snapping at people who come near him thus far or Arya not even attending this party. Double standard? What double standard?

(16:51) Tyrion’s marriage prior to Sansa is here brought up as a joke. There’s a joke in here all right. I call it ‘continuity’.

(17:14) Oh, my, how shocking, Brienne’s a virgin. In this world where noblewomen having premarital sex is frowned upon, Brienne not having premarital sex is unthinkable and something that the rules of drinking games say she should be embarrassed by. Wtf?

(18:36) I’m as sick of the “Pod has a magic cock” joke as the next person but frankly, they didn’t beat us over the head with detailed stories or lurid jokes about Pod’s sexual prowess, and someone should have a nice time here in season eight.

(19:56) Oh boy. Reunion between Sansa and Sandor, when these two haven’t interacted for six seasons, and what interaction they had was seriously watered down. Thematically watered down, that is. In the books, Sansa did something Sandor believed was impossible – held on to her idealism and kindness throughout horrible experiences. He was the one who learned more from their interactions. Sandor was not serving as an author avatar, but rather being depicted as a man lashing out with cynicism and nihilism as a defence mechanism.

The show didn’t appreciate that back in season two and it’s sure not going to start now. We’re about to hear some real awful stuff.

(20:10) “Heard you were broken in. Heard you were broken in rough.” 1) Why should we like this character? He’s an asshole! Not just gruff, an asshole. 2) Why is everyone an asshole to Sansa about her rape? Of all the things to be an asshole about. We got it long ago. This world is dark and gritty.

(20:15) Note that Sansa executing someone by setting dogs on them is not depicted as a worrying sign of her mental stability or lack thereof, nor as a lack of empathy, but as justice.

(20:52) “Without Littlefinger and Ramsay and the rest, I would have stayed a little bird all my life.” Okay! Wow! What a line!

What the writers think they’re saying: Sansa has overcome adversity and become a stronger person for it.

What the context of the entire series adds to this message: Sansa needed to be raped in order to become stronger. “Becoming stronger” here meaning “someone who relishes retributive violence,” as if there is no other form of strength, and as if the capacity for retributive violence is necessarily a sign of strength. The person she was before, who comforted others in their time of need and stuck her neck out to help, was stupid, naive, and weak. There is something deeply wrong with retaining qualities such as idealism. Sansa had to shed those qualities. Rape was the way to do it.

So, in short, gross.

(21:30) This is…definitely some archery safety.

(21:42) We got that? Arya is celebrating by standing out in the cold, rejecting social activity, and continuing to practice with deadly weapons (nearly killing a friend as she does, good work!). But there’s nothing to worry about in terms of Arya’s psyche here. The difference is the family history of mental illness.

(22:54) Begin the ship-sinking! Anchors a-smash! This is one of two relationships this episode which work out well until nah. For reasons. Ultimately, I don’t think the writers had a clear vision of what Arya was and what Arya wanted, instead defining the character by what she was not. She’s not a lady. Okay. What does that mean? Does that observation bring us any closer to learning what Arya does want from her life?

Aside from Not Gendry, anyhow. Man. Hope nobody was invested in that ship, because that was quite the abrupt sinking.

(24:56) Now the show remembers that Jaime has trouble with things like laces when he’s only got one hand.

(26:07) Hope nobody’s invested in this ship either! More on Jaime/Brienne soon. Let’s just keep the pattern in mind for the moment. Long-teased relationship culminates only to fall apart almost immediately because reasons.

(27:22) While we’re on the general theme of romance. The deterioration of Jon and Dany’s relationship is dragged over a longer period than the other sunk ships this season, but the reasons for that relationship failure aren’t well explicated. In large part because Jon never has the opportunity to really go into the identity crisis that the parentage reveal resulted in (note that the info that he was seriously shaken about the idea that he was sleeping with his aunt came from the showrunners, not the text). Jon’s silence throughout episode two was a good idea, in the context of building up to an eventual resolution. Only the writers kinda forgot that such a huge reveal might need a resolution.

(28:24) Continuing the thread that what tips Dany over the edge is rejection. Yes! We are really doing this! She is a woman scorned! Goodbye seasons of discussion about whether the ends justify the means. Goodbye seasons of dealing with various setbacks, developing opinions of her own, and earning respect. We’re reducing it all down to “nobody likes Dany, she feels entitled to their love, and now she is angry.”

Incidentally, why haven’t people softened towards Dany? Who was, after all, riding on a dragon just like Jon, and saving a lot of lives? We’ll get to that in a few scenes.

(28:39) Again, the fact that Dany gets angry and emotional about the prospect of losing her claim in Westeros is part of the depiction of a general downward trend in sanity and upward tendency to assume her power as an inherent moral good.

The problem here is that a) Dany’s not wrong that Jon poses a political threat to her, whether either of them like it or not, and b) this character’s arc shows some good sound reasons for wanting power – to protect her own agency, at the very least, to say nothing of her broader politics. If Dany was forced to concede the throne, her ability to decide what she does with her own life is sharply reduced. Her ability to achieve what she wants to do in the world (things like ending slavery and oppression) is sharply reduced.

In short, this is a scene and a situation where getting angry and upset is an entirely reasonable reaction. At best, this doesn’t work to depict a character with declining mental stability. At worst (and I believe worst), the very fact that a woman has emotions is being turned into part of a narrative where her emotions render her unsuitable to do things such as provide a reliable perspective or wield any form of power.

(29:27) I’m actually sympathetic to Jon’s desire to be open about his parentage with his sisters. Again, there’s still good material here! Jon’s reasonable personal desire to not keep secrets relating to their family from his sisters vs Dany’s also reasonable political concern that the more people who know, the less controllable the information is, the more dangerous it is. That’s a real conflict! I’d like to watch more along those lines!

(30:15) The narrative of Dany’s “hysteria” is advanced by focusing disproportionately on her emotional reaction the dilemma, without an equal and counterbalancing focus on Jon’s side of the problem. Through this conversation, Jon’s offered simple rebuttals to more complex statements from Dany. I owe my siblings the truth. Sansa won’t plot against us. The truth will not destroy us. You are my queen and nothing will change that. What’s missing here is any sort of explanation as to why Jon believes these things. The lack of explanation leaves Jon’s character underdeveloped and shifts disproportionate focus to Dany’s reasoning and motivations.

(31:09) So just to put a percentage on it, in flying north to aid Jon and save the north, Dany sacrificed a full 50% of her troops. Half the northerners were killed too, but I don’t think it’s a very controversial argument that without Dany’s aid, 100% of the northerners would have been killed. Also 100% of the non-combatants.

(31:27) Meanwhile, it’s made clear that as a result of Dany’s assistance, she’s taken a serious hit to her ability to take the Iron Throne. Note the mention of the Greyjoy fleet.

(31:37) “When the people find out what we have done for them – “ “Cersei will make sure they don’t believe it.” So…working out a propaganda strategy isn’t worth it? The woman who catapulted barrels of broken chains into Meereen to prove to its slave population that she was the real deal, something she did not do in the books, is out of ideas to counter the narrative? Dany kinda forgot that she successfully conquered three cities already. Not for the first time.

This is a fault with the writing. The writers are jamming square character pegs into round plot holes. These scenes pay lip service to the problems the characters come across, and dismiss those problems either out of hand, or as completely insurmountable and not worth bothering with.

(31:56) “Thankfully, Cersei is losing allies by the day.” Footage not found. Footage to the contraryfound, as Varys plonks down quite a few more new tokens on Cersei’s side of the map table. There’s no good reason for it, but there we are.

(32:24) Give the smallfolk the opportunity, and they will cast Cersei aside? There are a few problems with this.

1. It’s exactly what Tyrion proposed last season. How’s the strategy working out? A reevaluation may be called for here.

2. As someone who lived through food riots in a city under siege, Tyrion should be well aware of the human costs of starvation in a medieval urban area. This is not the mythical “humane option.”

3. This still doesn’t address the fact that Cersei is demonstrably willing to blow up whoever’s in her way, and a slow siege gives her more opportunity and motivation to burn down her own holdings just to deny them to Dany.

4. Why the fuck haven’t the smallfolk rebelled already, given that Cersei blew up the Vatican? If they are not going to rebel over that, what are they going to rebel over?

(32:52) Speaking of lip service! Sansa’s concerns here that the armies are exhausted would (and should!) be a valid and important objection to the wisdom of Dany’s plans. But we never see any evidence later that the troops are over-tired. Or underfed. Sansa’s insights don’t mean anything. And this is poor writing for her.

(33:02) Sansa’s proposed solution is an indefinite break. She came to the meetings without the details about how long a break might be appropriate. Keep in mind who’s been the most vocal about saying ‘we don’t have enough food.’ I think on context it’s fairly reasonable for Dany to suspect this is Sansa trying to get out of assisting at King’s Landing (and we’ll see shortly afterwards that she really does want to get out of assisting at King’s Landing). Likewise, the rebuttal that regrouping gives time for Cersei to dig in is another fairly reasonable argument.

But from Sansa’s comments, apparently this is Dany not caring about the wellbeing of her own troops.

(34:59) Now we get into it! Why are the Stark sisters so dead set against Dany, despite the assistance she’s provided?

(35:34) And the answer is xenophobia! “She’s not one of us.” Arya and Sansa do not trust Dany because “she’s not one of us.” No amount of assistance or heroism can overcome this fundamental barrier. It is bigotry. Not to mention it’s also pretty much identical to the Lannister ethos of “fuck everyone who isn’t us.”

Again, how did the showrunners think this would come across, when the Starks proposed treating Dany with “screw you got mine”? How did they think it would look for the Starks to accept the benefits of Dany’s assistance only to try and back out and treat her with rudeness and hostility when she wanted their help in return? How did they think it would look to have the reason for this rudeness and hostility be “she’s not one of us”? The Starks here look like absolute assholes. Worse, this reaction can be extrapolated to the North at large.

(35:41) Complete with some poor adaptation of Arya, who doesn’t need allies and apparently doesn’t care for friends either.

(36:21) So Jon decides to reveal everything to his siblings. This devastating family secret which should have to force every Stark to reevaluate what they knew about Ned and what they thought about Ned’s treatment of their mother and brother. This is a doozy of a secret. Let’s see some reactions.

(37:15) – a cut? What the fuck? We cut away from that? Why! Why would you do this! Why would any writer in their right mind and possessed of their dramatic sensibilities cut away from the moment two of our major PoV characters discover their father’s greatest secret, in the context of renegotiating high level political relationships?

(38:09) Bronn’s presence here is insult to injury. Not only did we cut away from what by rights should have been one hell of a reveal, we cut to a scene with a character who’s just here for the fanservice. It has been a very long time since Bronn was plot-relevant or theme-relevant. His presence here, in fact, just highlights the plotholes of his involvement in previous seasons. I mean why, for the love of all that is well-written, would this character continue to play along with the jackasses who’ve promised huge payoffs and never delivered?

…aaaaaaaand now that I write it, I see it. We are all Bronn here. Right up until he gets his fucking payoff, and we the audience do not.

(40:40) Ah yes, more homophobia which is somehow not problematic when a funny character says it.

(41:26) So now that that scene is over, what did it do? The answer is “very little.” It provides an explanation of how Bronn’s Lord of Highgarden at the end of the series, when Highgarden’s resources are no longer relevant to the plot. It does not matter who’s running Highgarden. But if you cut Bronn’s subplot from this season altogether, it doesn’t actually affect shit. Hell, it opens up plotholes. Bronn’s going to vanish for the next few episodes. Cersei’s going to proceed as though she never hired anyone to off Jaime and Tyrion, and Jaime and Tyrion are going to proceed as though Cersei never hired anyone to kill them. Also as if they never decided to give away Highgarden, something I’m sure Dany would be thrillled about.

If any of the characters involved thought about the implications, that is, instead of barrelling along with the plot because Script Says So.

(42:21) So Sandor and Arya go on one last road trip for old times’ sake. Can’t have this story finish with anything but revenge.

(42:33) Now, okay, I might draw some conclusions about the quality of adaptation from the showrunners’ decision to make Arya effectively not Arya, but they can make that decision and within the show’s own canon we’ll have to live with it.

But Arya here walks out on her family, completely blank-faced, no goodbyes, no indication of any sort of grief (even a shot where Arya looks back longingly at Winterfell), on a suicide mission to take revenge on Cersei. It’s all very well to rely on Arya’s longstanding desire to kill Cersei. That’s fair. Now that desire should be competing with things like “longstanding desire to reunite with her family.” And the show skips out on depicting any internal conflict there. Instead, we approach Arya’s decision to leave through Sandor’s PoV, the reverse of the book’s choices. More about how the story weights the revenge narrative next episode.

Oh, and Sandor is also completely static as a character. Completely fucking static. Our time has been well spent watching this character not develop.

(43:37) “Why her?” Oh my god. Again? It really does seem like Sansa’s got nothing else going on in her characterisation this season but hating Dany. (This is not quite accurate. There are at least three scenes this season where Sansa is not directly or indirectly engaged in undermining or expressing her strong dislike of Daenerys.) I cannot stress enough, this is both poor depiction of Dany, and poor characterisation of Sansa!

Also, the choice to open the scene with Sansa staring at the dragons, followed by the line “why her?” frames Sansa’s subsequent choices in said scene as being motivated by her dislike of Dany. Think of that opening shot and opening line as a heading for the scene.

(44:55) We establish for sure here that Tyrion is afraid of Dany. The basis for this is Dany’s behaviour after the Loot Train Battle and Dany’s impatience to be getting on with taking King’s Landing. Note that Tyrion, while afraid of his abusive father, was not afraid of him because he pulled stunts like the Red Wedding. And while show!Tyrion hated Joffrey, unlike his book version he does not appear to have been afraid of Joffrey. So what makes Dany different?

If anyone can come up with a reason other than deeply ingrained narrative sexism…

(45:06) “The men in my family don’t do well in the capital,” Sansa says.

(45:58) It’s been [checks] eight minutes and forty-three seconds of screen time since Sansa learned the truth. A truth she swore not to reveal to anyone else. Here she makes the decision to tell someone else. Firstly, this plays real bad for Sansa herself, who broke a promise in a hot second in a scene that’s about How Much She Hates That Daenerys Woman. Secondly, this plays real bad for Jon, who trusted Sansa to do no such thing.

It’s been forty-two seconds since Sansa said she didn’t want Jon to go to King’s Landing, with the implication she believes he’ll be in danger if he does. This does not track with a motivation to protect him. It does, however, track with a motivation of wanting anyone but Dany in power.

I really don’t think the writers were trying to make the Starks look like assholes, which is why their success is so astounding.

Hey, you notice that they cut before we can see Tyrion’s reaction to this news, too?

(46:28) “I’m taking the Free Folk home. We’ve had enough of the south.” It sure is nice that this political faction doesn’t have to deal with things like the long-term material and cultural consequences of internal unification, being subject to essentially foreign authority of variable friendliness, mass migration, dispossession, things like that. Nope. Right back over the mostly-intact Wall. Nothing’s going to change for them. Just a warm southron vacay.

(46:57) Jon just fucking exiles his direwolf. Worst pet owner. Also themes, direwolves, etc.

(48:13) So Gilly’s pregnant. And Sam’s vows to take no wife and father no children have not been mentioned for an awfully long time. The showrunners masterfully resolved the central conflict of Sam’s season two, three, and four dilemmas in this relationship by ignoring it entirely.

(50:05) Here Tyrion tells Varys the big secret. In spite of the fact that he should bloody well realise that spreading the information about could destabilise Dany’s campaign for the throne and eventual rule. Good job, man. Good job. (There is also no reason to believe that Sansa knew that Tyrion would pass the information on to Varys.)

Plus additional depiction of Robert’s Rebellion as being because Robert couldn’t get over being rejected, rather than Aerys being a dangerous tyrant.

(50:41) “People are drawn to him,” Varys says of Jon, in a series where yes, we’ve seen people acclaiming Jon their leader, and precious little reason why they would do such a thing. ‘Failing upwards’ does seem to be the term. Note, however, that what Varys says equally applies to Daenerys. People drawn to her. War hero. But that doesn’t matter because Dany is a woman.

(51:08) Is marrying your aunt common in the North? Do we have time to go back to the history and lore material? And there is still no good reason this wasn’t brought up in season seven!

(51:23) Varys is very worried about Dany’s sanity. Based on…the fact she was impatient with Tyrion’s demonstrated-to-be-failing plan, the fact she didn’t enjoy the one party after one of her close friends died violently in her arms, and possibly secondhand reports of the Loot Train Battle.

This is incredibly hard to buy. I mean really. For seven seasons, Dany was a reasonable, rational individual whose cruelty was a) occasional, b) a reaction to the actions of others, and c) not out of line with what we saw from other characters, giving the impression that her behaviour as a ruler was not beyond her society’s tolerances. What made her stand out was the fact that she was freeing slaves and talking about “breaking the wheel.” That was outside her society’s tolerances. The instances of Dany’s cruelty, in the context of the series as a whole, do not appear enough to support a conclusion that mentally she’s on a downward slide.

Concern over how Dany’s handling her grief over Jorah might be more reasonable, but again, there’s no reason to think this is anything but grief and trauma. Which isn’t great, obviously, but nobody’s going “oh, she’s sad and going through a rough time,” they’re saying she’s going crazy. Just leapt right to the worst possible conclusion.

Meanwhile, on the meta level, let’s keep in mind that the narrative is using the fact that Dany wasaffected by grief and trauma as proof that she is demonstrably irrational and not fit to lead. This is textbook hysterical woman trope. Textbook.

(52:08) So for context, the dragons are approaching King’s Landing. From their height, they should have a good view of the bay.

(52:17) And yet Rhaegal gets sniped! Goodbye dragon #2! Well, given how he treated Ghost, perhaps it’s a good thing that Jon didn’t get another pet.

(52:42) Euron’s invisible fleet strikes again. Sure, we see them sailing out from behind a cliff, but the dragons had some serious height advantage, and there are a bunch of ships. Guess Dany kinda forgot about the Iron Fleet!

No, really. That’s the explanation the showrunners gave.

Even though in the moment it seems that Dany also forgot that she isn’t limited to seeing what the camera points at, and/or forgot to use her eyes. If the cliffs were high enough to hide the fleet, they should also have been too high for Euron to aim over. Not that his first two shots weren’t implausibly good either.

(53:18) And Dany does not fly around the fleet and flank them…why?

(54:02) So Euron’s invisible, memory-fogging fleet, which the showrunners have relied on way too heavily for diabolus ex machina, starts laying into Dany’s fleet. Because the showrunners seriously expected Dany to forget about the Iron Fleet. Dany has also forgotten she’s flying on a fire-breathing dragon. Don’t worry, she’ll remember when the plot says she’ll commit a bunch of war crimes.

(54:35) Again straining the limits of plausibility, Tyrion survives despite being knocked on the head by a falling mast. While in the water. In the middle of a battle. That’s one way to avoid depicting a battle that should not have happened.

(55:12) Missandei is established to be missing here.

(55:27) Cersei loses allies by the day. The smallfolk will surely turn on her. In this shot, people are pouring in through Cersei’s gates and seeking her protection. Not a riot in sight. Again, there’s no good reason why, but there we go!

(56:01) They’re not dropping Cersei’s pregnancy. This still raises questions as to how long it’s been, and she’s still not showing.

(56:30) “Keep the gates open. If she wants to take the castle, she’ll have to murder thousands of innocent people first.” That sounds to me like an argument for why Dany should be rather quick securing the capital – to prevent Cersei taking and using hostages! Note that this argument applies from season seven!

(56:44) It turns out that Missandei was captured. Yes. Euron not only managed to sneak invisibly up to Dany’s forces after they all forgot about his existence, kill a dragon with some seriously implausible sniping, escape unburned when Dany forgot to set Euron on fire, and trash her fleet utterly, he also bravely sailed in, discovered that Missandei was a hostage of significant emotional value to Dany, and captured her and her alone. What plot problems can Euron not solve.

More seriously, this is some shoddy treatment of one of the show’s only significant characters of colour. It’s going to get worse. Before we got to see Missandei’s face, we got a long shot of the chains she was put in (and a snide comment about it too).

(57:13) Varys says that storming the city is a mistake. I’m yet to hear workable alternatives. Dany’s advisors have been wrong about Cersei’s political and military strength every step of the way. Why should Dany listen to them, at this point?

However, Dany’s rejection of her advisors’ (proven-poor) advice is depicted as being born of emotion rather than reason. See above re: hysterical women. We’ve got this dichotomy between emotional women and reasonable men. This is all the more noticeable in the context of Cersei’s rule. We’ve got two queens fighting for a throne at the moment, and both are apparently willing to kill any number of people for it. Currently the narrative’s saying that our sympathies should be with the reasonable men trying to rein in these unreasonable women.

(58:34) Tyrion advocates talking to Cersei. Again. This is a bad rerun of 7.07, and 7.07 wasn’t much good to start with. What reason does Tyrion have to believe that anything Cersei says can be relied on? None. He has, instead, every reason to believe that Cersei will lie if she needs to and reject every effort for a peaceful solution. He has every reason to believe this because she already has. And also hired someone to kill him. Which he found out just a few scenes ago.

I realise that Dany’s the one on the Hitler end of the Nazi analogies in episode six, but watch out for Neville Chamberlain here. Peace in our fucking time.

(59:15) “I’ve served tyrants all my life. They all talked about destiny.” Really? Did they? I can’t recall either Tywin or Joffrey or Robert talking much about destiny. Weird throwback to book!Varys, there.

(59:44) We see here that Varys measures fitness to rule in how often the ruler agrees with him. As soon as Dany turns down his advice, even though it was of dubious merit, he starts looking for a replacement. This is, again, the sort of thing that makes Dany’s supposed paranoia not look very irrational.

(1:00:04) “Have you considered the best ruler might be someone who doesn’t want to rule?” Why, yes! That question was considered extensively in the novels, in the person of Robert Baratheon! Back in the day, Robert was a fantasy hero. He had almost everything going for him. Almost every personal quality you could want in a king. But he didn’t want the throne. And nobody could make him do the job once he was on the throne. His disinterest and inertia had profound consequences on both his personal health and the running of the country.

Robert Baratheon is GRRM’s argument against that line.

(1:00:21) While there is plenty of sexism in the narrative, I don’t think Varys is incorrect to observe that in the patriarchal setting depicted, Jon’s gender will make him a more appealing monarch candidate.

(1:00:46) Varys: Jon would make a good king of Westeros.

Also Varys: We can’t marry Jon to Dany, her personality would overwhelm his!

Tyrion’s solution addresses the problem of Jon’s claim. Varys rejects that solution because it doesn’t address the problem of Dany. He does not want Dany to be the driving force ruling the kingdom. Also, apparently marriages where the woman is a Type A personality and the man’s a Type B personality are bad. Presumably the reverse is not true.

(1:03:44) Maybe three or four scenes this season where show!Sansa isn’t focused on hating Dany? Of course, my comments about Sansa being “toughened up” by having her come to enjoy violence against her enemies still apply.

(1:05:14) Now this reads like a fuck you to everyone who was at all invested in Jaime/Brienne as a ship. Brienne lays out the basic position – Jaime is a good man, he can’t save Cersei, and he doesn’t need to die with her. Sums up a good chunk of audience hopes, too. A lot of what drives the dramatic tension of Jaime’s scenes is the audience desire to see him actually follow through on his better impulses, including giving up on his toxic relationship with his sister. Not only is the audience not unreasonable for wanting this, the audience’s desire for this has been actively encouraged by the narrative for several seasons.

(1:05:39) In response, Jaime says, “nah, not a good man, just as bad as my sister, I’ll be leaving now, see ya!” As if scenes justifying Jaime’s actions-for-love never existed (just because I don’t think “I did it for love” is a good excuse doesn’t mean the show has thus far not treated it as a good excuse), Jaime lists a bunch of crimes, concludes he’s awful, and heads out. In hindsight, this is clearly Jaime rejecting any sort of different path. At the time there were theories going round that Jaime was heading off to the battle for some sort of personal resolution…but no.

So, you know, fuck the viewers for thinking someone could grow and change, I guess. A special fuck you to anyone who shipped Jaime/Brienne. They can go cry with the Arya/Gendry shippers. This is not just bad writing, it’s asshole writing. It gave the audience something to want, gave the audience what it wanted, yanked it away, and called the audience idiots for ever wanting it in the first place.

And it’s not even the worst example of asshole writing in the series. As we know.

(1:07:26) So here’s our setup. Dany, her advisors, a small group of Unsullied, and Drogon, are all hanging out on the clear stretch of ground in front of King’s Landing. Cersei’s up there and there are a whole bunch of ballistae pointed in their general direction, as well as a whole bunch of archers on the walls.

(1:09:13) Tyrion and Qyburn state the positions of their respective monarchs. (In the context of the series, especially with both Dany and Cersei being “mad” queens, it gives me the irrits that Dany and Cersei aren’t doing the talking – no, that’s for the men. See above regarding reasonable men reining in unreasonable women.) Note that these positions each demand the unconditional surrender of the other. I don’t think this is going to be resolved. I think this is well past the point where talking does much good.

This is one of the problems I have with the “reasonable” positions proposed by the men around Dany – they fail to recognise that they aren’t working against a reasonable opponent. These men aren’t reasonable in the sense that they considered the available evidence, alternative courses of action, and weighed up their options. The alternative proposed, and initially taken up by Dany, did not work. We saw it not work for most of season seven, and it continues to not work now. The “reasonable” option here doesn’t have anything to do with the situation established by the show. It’s “reasonable” in that it’s less outright violent in the short term, without accounting for long-term consequences or, you know, major strategic objectives. It treats negotiation and non-violence as inherently the most reasonable course of action, and therefore the best.

Again, this makes for a poor contrast with the books, where Dany’s storyline has talked about just these things. There are situations where people cannot solve their problems by talking. There are peaces that should not and cannot be made. Sometimes violence is necessary. The questions are when? and why?

(1:11:49) Note that when someone does actually bother speaking to one of the monarchs here directly, Tyrion doesn’t go for reason. He does not outline military consequences as he did for Qyburn. He goes for the emotional appeal.

It’s also worth noting: fucking again? This worked so well last time.

(1:12:07) Wait, so Jaime’s hateful for murdering his cousin and attempting to murder a child, but Cersei blows up the fucking Westerosi Vatican and she’s “not a monster”? Either the show’s being inconsistent here, or Tyrion is one of a) the greatest actors Westeros has ever seen or b) fooling himself. She hired someone to kill him out of personal spite! Tyrion found this out like half an hour of screen time ago!

I’m deeply suspicious of the show’s attempts to make Cersei somewhat sympathetic at this late stage. It looks a lot to me as if this is intended to make the demonisation of Dany easier. Cersei does not do much this season. She didn’t do much last season. Continuing on from what I just said about reasonable uses of violence, we’re not actually seeing much violence these past two seasons from Cersei which would make Dany’s own use of violence reasonable and appropriate. (No, they still can’t resolve their issues by talking, Cersei’s broken deals with them before.) Cersei’s tyranny is kept out of sight and out of mind for the audience, including most if not all references to that time she blew up the Sept of Baelor, so Dany appears inherently less justified in her actions.

The only thing Cersei does this season, which she’s about to do, is in direct service of “setting Dany off” mentally.

(1:12:57) Also, Cersei’s pregnancy being used to humanise her? Yikes. In context of ongoing comparison over “who’s the worst monster?” to Dany, who is infertile? Mega yikes. These characters should not be judged by what’s going on in their uteruses.

(1:13:45) Finally! A queen speaks! After six minutes of “negotiations”.

(1:14:14) “Dracarys”? Well, that’s ambiguous. Scans an awful lot like Missandei’s saying “yeah, burn the city!”

(1:14:44) So this is awful. The show has two recurring characters of colour. It just killed one. A freed slave, killed in chains, with nasty comments made about this fact, to motivate a white character whose arc has already had fair accusations of white savourism levelled against it. Not good. Not good at all.

(1:15:20) Incidentally, I can’t help but notice that Cersei stopped at killing Missandei. She’s kinda forgotten about her archers and ballistae and that she doesn’t care for norms such as truce.

(1:15:40) Dany walks away with an actual expression on her face. Her inability to school her features after witnessing the murder of a friend is how we know, for sure, that she’s losing it. If she’s calm, she’s emotionally dead. If she’s sad, she’s hysterical. If she’s angry, she’s about to kill hundreds of thousands of people…

#anti got #fine toothed comb edition #cw: violence #cw: rape mention #season eight #in which i call a lot of people assholes

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saltysaltdog · 3 years

Text

You know, one thing that grinds me about the "Allura is forced by the narrative to not be hostile against the species who completely genocided her people" idea is that it IS wrong in canon because her species still exists and she should KNOW this because altea wasn't the only place alteans were.

Speaking of, how does she know that altea blew up? Is she reading ye olde news reports on that console? Who is making those news reports and why do they only report on alteans and not update the castle of lions on anything else? Is it just psychic Altean powers? Why couldn't she divine the other alteans? Allura herself in season 1 admits to using galran galactic hubs to travel, why would she think no alteans ever did so to move to a new life?

Another thing: How does she know Zarkon would try to destroy every altean? it would make more sense to believe that it was just an eye for an eye about blowing up the planet. Why wouldn't he evacuate his wife's family, friends, favourite media personalities, colleagues, etc.

With all these questions in place we can come to a few theories:

Allura was sheltered from court life:

It doesn't explain everything, but let's say that she was sheltered from any important political learning in her youth. No economics, no current events, no law, no foreign affairs, no media classes, no military or tactical learning, etc etc etc.

It explains some things in canon (though not Coran /not/ explaining things) but it implies that alteans start this learning late, or Allura was never really in line for the throne. Leading to idea two.

Someone close to Allura had some bad scruples:

So we've seen that these tanks can interact with memories and that allura apparently had some major information deficiencies. What's to say these gaps are natural? Surely you could create knowledge or even fake memories of events you weren't there for.

But of course Alfor wouldn't test unsafe tech on his daughter, but you know what IS commonly tested on? Mice.

The mice are psychic plants just to keep Allura from seeking out other alteans.

But... why? You might ask. Iunno, just sounds cool. You may as well make up your own reasons but there are some common ones for getting someone out of the way.

-Allura was in danger:

This would need someone specifically targeting Allura, probably someone altean and with enough power to threaten Alfor.

... is this another succession to the throne idea? Yes shut up. So Coran is sent to keep Allura safe and away from other alteans, hense why he's on the attack when he sees somewhat altean faces. Now this idea doesn't require any siblings, any uncles, aunts, cousins, or grandparents could pose a threat.

This doesn't require the intent to murder either, so a powerful enough noble or even stupidly rich layman could provide enough pressure to outright force Allura into a marriage. But doesn't this require Alfor not having any power to stop the match? Yes alteans have a matriarchal culture and Alfor is just a trophy husband let's move on.

If that's not your jam then how about this:

-Allura has psychic powers.

Yes we know, you say, She psychicly connected to the mice. And that was an accident right? So what if on Altea she was starting to accidentally connect to people, multiple people, taking memories, getting overwhelmed, giant psychic explosions!

... maybe not but it's cool and has a built in failsafe. If Allura didn't psychicly leech from the mice, she wouldn't believe altea was gone so she would have just gone home.

It could also explain why she was so quick to believe a random altean against Lotor, she could read her mind better and see she was telling the "truth".

But why doesn't it work on Coran? Sorry, psychic powers dont work on people with moustaches. Joking aside (mostly), Allura might have a limiter on her power. After all, we see the evolution of her daily clothes via the Alfor AI so what is she never seen without that is absent from her childhood? Coran might just be less receptive, a rarity amongst alteans and why he was the only one sent with her.

(Hint, earrings. Though she does get her tiara at some point after being a toddler. Suspiciously early.)

But wait, you may say, that doesn't put Allura in danger from any powerful alteans, Alfor wouldn't need to go so far! True, so welcome to theory number three.

Allura's mother is a psychic body snatcher who has been taking over her daughter's bodies every generation to become a nigh omnipotent Queen.

The galra attacking would provide just the distraction Alfor would need to save Allura from this fate, sending her off with a "false" memory that she can never return to Altea and should start a new life. Or maybe he just intended to keep her on ice till her mother died but then died himself.

After all, what happened when Allura wasn't sent away? After her father died she suddenly gained the power to kill Zarkon and all of his forces, Haggar included. She then went on to become Empress and enslave the universe. How long she lived is debatable, but that sort of power boost is odd, as well as her more militaristic tendencies since she never showed a knack for strategy. (Hira says people that might have been casualties of war in Allura's day could now be 'rehabilitated ' which implies Allura might have gone to war beyond just fighting the galra empire.)

Allura's mother and grandmother basically look identical to her, and as previously stated Allura didn't learn a lot of court necessities. She didn't need to if she was going to get brain jacked, all she'd need is a fit body; and as we see, for a pacifist people Allura was quick to comment on the paladins training method being fit for a child.

In the show we do see individuals being brain jacked by Haggar, either to see through them or directly control them in the case of Cloned Shiro. However cloned shiro needed Technological help to control, and Honerva's fighters required more precise useage of quintessence she only got after going to Orilande. For someone of more talent, like say, royalty like Allura, taking over someone's body is within the realm of possibility.

This could also add to Alfor's horror that his friend was suggesting quintessence could be used to become immortal, after all that was his wife's goal too. This would compound his need to destroy the rift, to prevent his wife taking over Allura's body and then becoming an immortal, near unstoppable, entity.

I also find it's a little strange that Hira/the alteans recognized Allura on sight. I mean, sure her entire female line looks the same, but how do you know it's her specifically unless she lived for a long time/ her paladin suit was extremely iconic. Implying that the alteans appreciated her more as a fighter than a ruler. I know I wouldn't recognise centuries old rulers from each other, why would random alteans?

As for why Melenor would need Allura if an immortal making rift was there, it's likely that before Voltron fighting wasn't seen as a valuable skill for royals, but upon seeing the vast influence it had she had to raise her new body to be able to handle a fair fight instead of being able to impress with musical or artistic talents.

#voltron #allura #Melenor vld #alternate character theories #add it to the list

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therecordconnection · 3 years

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Creating Magic: Superpowers and Michael Jackson’s Music Videos

Introduction: It’s After Midnight (and Something Strange is Lurkin’ in the Dark)

It’s after midnight on the night of August 1st, 1981, and the world was introduced to a new television channel called MTV. The new independent channel, a platform dedicated to showcasing the still-new idea of “music videos”, began their first night with a confident and not-so-subtle video message: Playing the video for The Buggles’ hit single “Video Killed the Radio Star”.

In the first few years of MTV’s existence, the channel that was dedicated to rock n’ roll was just a fledgling entity, grabbing any video they could get their hands on and looking for the one big thing that would propel them into the big time.

Enter the King of Pop himself: Michael Jackson.

By the time MTV began life in ‘81, Jackson was already a superstar, both from his time with his brothers in The Jackson 5 (later The Jacksons in the mid-to-late ‘70s) as well as his successful 1979 album Off the Wall. But while the album was successful, Jackson had bigger plans for his 1982 follow-up, Thriller. He dreamed of an album where every song was a hit single and also had big ideas for the medium of music video, which was becoming the “new thing” in music at the time.

Though he made videos for Off the Wall songs “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough”, “Rock With You”, and “She’s Out of My Life”, they are more archaic and more simple than the more complex special effects, plotlines, and dance routines that would dominate his peak success throughout the 80s. The videos for Thriller songs “Billie Jean” and the title track would go on to revolutionize music video, turning it from a hip, new trend into a bonafide art form. Jackson’s videos for these songs also showed the possibilities for music videos as excellent tools for promotion. In addition, Jackson’s success also broke the color barrier that plagued MTV’s early years. Not bad for the guy who even today still holds the title of “Best Selling Album of All Time”.

Jackson approached his music videos with the exact same level of perfectionism, detail, and precision as he did with his music. Even when working with famous directors such as John Landis (“Thriller”, “Black or White”), Martin Scorsese (“Bad”) and David Fincher (“Who is It”), he’s still in full control of everything that happens and is seen. Across his entire career, Jackson treated the creation of a music video to that of a short film production. A visually fascinating body of work, but strangely revealing of hidden desires and a unique look into Jackson’s mind and his worldview when you marathon them in the age of Youtube and streaming platform binge-watching.

He created realistic-yet-fantastical worlds where he’s not only viewed as a mysterious and almost mythical figure, but also shown using what can be commonly conceived of as superpowers, used as a means to not only add a fantastical element to his videos, but to live out subconscious fantasies that only the realm of film and music video allow. Some of these powers seen in his videos most likely reflected his subconscious; things that perhaps he wished he could’ve actually been able to do in his real life, especially given the trajectory of his career after the first round of child sexual abuse allegations on him in late 1993, which proceeded to play out like one of the wildest music videos and stories ever imagined. For Michael Jackson, the world of his music videos was the only place he ever had complete control over his life and narrative.

Examined here are five superpowers that make several appearances across Jackson’s videography, from 1979’s “Don’t Stop Til’ You Get Enough” to the 1996 short film Michael Jackson’s Ghosts. These powers (along with a brief description) include:

1) Summoning -- Jackson either summons music to begin playing or can summon dancers, seemingly at will.

2) Possession -- Jackson’s dancers often perform the same moves exactly as he does once he starts dancing, almost as if their moves are controlled by him.

3) Transformation -- Jackson starts as his ordinary self and morphs into something else. Usually tends to change into animals.Super Spinning

4) Super Spinning -- Energy builds up when he spins, which in turn causes things to happen. Such as: vanishing (detailed below), causing things to blow up, illusion creation, and more.

5) Vanishing -- The ability to (naturally) vanish into thin air. Usually done in conjunction with spinning.

Each of these five main powers are seen within the following videos made between 1979 and 1996: “Don’t Stop Til’ You Get Enough”, “Thriller”, “Beat It”, “Billie Jean”, “Bad”, “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Smooth Criminal”, Speed Demon, “Remember the Time”, and the short film Ghosts (which will be covered within its own section.) Without further ado, let’s get started.

“Don’t Stop Til’ You Get Enough”: Setting the Stage and The First Appearance of Superpower Use

On October 10th, 1979, two months after Jackson released the Off the Wall album, he debuted his first music video as a solo artist for the single “Don’t Stop Til’ You Get Enough”. This first video’s premise is simple for it’s time, much simpler than the more grand concepts Jackson would imagine and bring to life as his solo career took off. In it, Jackson, dressed to the nines in a black and white tuxedo (that mimics the one worn on the album cover), sings and dances to the song while being chroma keyed over a background of abstract geometric figures. Again, nothing complicated, but after the 2:30 mark, something happens in the video that sets the stage for Jackson to push the envelope and the art of video creation for the rest of his career: He displays powers for the first time.

At the start of the video, only the bassline is heard while Jackson does a quick spoken word bit in the meek, high-pitched whimpering speaking voice he used for most of his public appearances. It is in this video that we see the first two instances of Jackson using superpowers of some kind: Summoning and Possession. For summoning, it comes in two flavors. The first has Jackson let out a now-classic “WOO!” after the beginning spoken-word bit and the music then begins in full swing (along with the background). This sets the stage for Jackson’s other videos that involve summoning music (which will be discussed in full shortly.) The other aspect of summoning comes into play around that 2:30 mark, where Jackson leans back and a clone of Jackson walks in from the left side. They fire off a few dance moves only to have a third Jackson walk in from the right. The three dance in sync before Jackson continues the video with just him. It’s the kind of shadow clone jutsu that would make Naruto proud.

The other power shown here for the first time is Possession. Not only does Jackson summon multiple versions of himself here, but he also seems to command them to dance exactly as he does. The clones can’t possibly predict the steps he’s going to do ahead of time (even if they are him), so the only conclusion must be that Jackson uses mind control and possession in order to make his dancers do the right steps. Even in this first video, we can see the beginnings of a strange being tapping into his powers and learning how to use them. It makes sense when you consider Jackson was only twenty-one when making this video, which is generally accepted to be when the human mind reaches maturity. This video lays the groundwork for the rest of Jackson’s videography and allows for him to experiment further and turn music video creation into a bonafide art form.

Now that we’ve laid a foundation, it’s time to begin discussing these powers in-depth.

Superpower #1: Summoning

After learning to summon clones of himself in the “Don’t Stop” video, Jackson takes this concept and applies it to his other videos, using the same two methods as previously detailed. In videos after, he occasionally summons music through some sort of action. “The Way You Make Me Feel” has him sing the first lines before letting out the same “WOO!” that brought the music to “Don’t Stop”. “Bad” has him shoot his hand up, snap, music starts. “Smooth Criminal” has him famously flip a quarter into the jukebox from across the speakeasy, causing the music to start.

Most music videos of the 1980s had the music begin right as the video began. I mean, why not? That’s what we’re here for, right? Sure. But Jackson was different. In the world of his videos, the music doesn’t start until he commands it to. These videos all have one other thing in common: Jackson makes you wait for the song to start. The scene before the music begins usually involves the specific video’s characters at a standoff, with mostly silence as the only accompaniment. With this, Jackson allows himself to gain full control of his surroundings and put himself at the center of it all. Again, the music doesn’t start until he commands it. It’s one reason why his music videos became such an event. It wasn’t just that they were short films, he was creating a story, a world, and a specific reason for the music to be there. He made you wait for it. For example, “Bad”’s music video is a whopping eighteen minutes total in length; the song itself doesn’t begin until around the 9:40 mark.

But what is a music video without a little choreography? The only thing Michael Jackson was known for more than music was his incredible dance ability (...and being the subject of many rumors we can neither confirm nor deny.) Every music video the man ever made had dancing in it to some degree, with longer videos like “Thriller”, “Bad”, and “Remember the Time” having a specific part dedicated to complex and dazzling choreography that would win any contest in the Step Up or Bring It On films. This is where the second part of that summoning power comes in.

In some of these dance sequences, Jackson often summons multiple dancers that will proceed to join him and repeat the same steps that he does (which we’ll talk a little more about during the “Possession” section.) In the video for “Thriller”, Jackson famously has zombies rise from their graves and join him while famed gothic horror actor Vincent Price scares you with a monologue. In “Bad”, as soon as Jackson dons the same black clothes and various chains and shiny buckles that grace the Bad album cover, he has dancers of the gang variety fall into the shot and join him. In “The Way You Make Me Feel”, his street friends that are watching the king work his charms on an attractive woman join him for a dance sequence near the end of the video.

Granted, the logic of music videos dictates that asking questions like “How is this all happening?” or “Where do all those dancers come from?” are immediately refuted by the Mystery Science Theater 3000 answer, “It’s just a show, I should really just relax.” But where’s the fun in that? Being in full control of the worlds these music videos inhabit, Jackson clearly wills these dancers into existence, because who really wants to dance alone? Now, summoning is one thing, but how do these dancers and extras know how to do all of the same steps Jackson is doing? There can only be one answer...

Superpower #2: Possession

In addition to that, a quick, non-music video example provides us with an instance of Possession at work. The 1990 Sega Genesis game Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker contains a special move where Jackson takes as many enemies that are on screen and controls them, causing them to dance quick routines (usually recreating the iconic moves from “Thriller”) and then disappear from the screen. This move also costs a chunk of your health bar in order to use, which indicates that Jackson must be exerting some strange part of himself in order to make this happen. However, surely not as strange as the next power on our list...

When Jackson has these extra dancers with him, once he enters “Dancing Machine” mode, the others join him, all while repeating the same steps he does. During these segments, Jackson is always in the center of the shot, naturally, as he’s always the one leading. In the world these videos inhabit, how does he get these extra dancers to join him and do these moves so flawlessly?

Simple. He’s possessing them and causing them to perform these moves, whether they’re fully conscious of it or not.

I mean, as we talked about with the video for “Don’t Stop Til’ You Get Enough”, there’s no way those clones could have possibly known what Jackson was going to do ahead of time... unless something or someone was guiding them. Perhaps a leader who already knows all the steps... once again, the artist retains full control of everything happening in these videos.

There are five videos where Jackson does dance routines with several other people: “Thriller”, “Beat It”, “Bad”, “Smooth Criminal”, and “Remember the Time”. Of these, three of them (“Beat It”, “Smooth Criminal”, and “Remember the Time”) involve Jackson doing dances with people who are either summoned or already on screen. There is no verbal communication or look exchanged at all. Jackson just starts moving and whoever is around joins in, whether they be gangsters in “Smooth Criminal” or the people of the Egyptian kingdom in “Remember the Time”.

But the video for “Beat It” perhaps provides the best example of Possession at work, especially since this example does not involve Jackson summoning anyone, he instead goes to others. In “Beat It”, Jackson makes his way from a small room, to a diner, and then finally to the scene of two rival gangs at a standoff, switchblades out. After this quick standoff, Jackson comes between the two gang leaders and proceeds to start bustin’ them sick moves. Both gang leaders quickly join him and then the rest of the gang members. The rest of the video is dedicated to all members dancing, proving that the answer to ending any conflict is by simply having Michael Jackson come in and command both sides to dance.

Superpower #3: Transformation

The first instance of Jackson transforming from human into something different was “Thriller”, which he does twice in the video. The first instance is during the movie that he and his girlfriend are watching before the song starts. He goes from normal human to werewolf. The second instance comes right after Vincent Price’s monologue in the song, when Jackson’s girlfriend turns around in horror to find that she’s surrounded by zombies... and Jackson is now one of them. Naturally, this terrifies her. She runs away, only for the zombies to follow her and eventually corner her. Just before they go in for the kill, she wakes up, alerting the viewer that everything that has just happened has been just a dream... or was it? “Thriller” famously ends with Jackson and his girlfriend walking out of her house, but not before he takes one more look at the camera, once again sporting the werewolf eyes.

Transformation appeared in no less than four of Jackson’s music videos: “Thriller”, “Bad”, “Speed Demon”, and “Black or White”. Most of these videos saw him transforming into some sort of animal, as evidenced by “Speed Demon” (a Claymation rabbit), and “Black or White” (a panther).

This is the first of the powers that Jackson uses that reflects his actual life outside of his videos. Transforming from human into something different in his videos can be connected to his dislike and insecurities with his own appearance and the numerous plastic surgeries he had over the years. That’s even before bringing up the obvious fact that Jackson went from a dark-skinned black man in the late seventies to whiter-than-Mount-Rushmore-covered-in-sour-cream complexion time the early nineties rolled around.

“Thriller” is the video where transformation shows up the most, next to “Black or White”, as Jackson shows he can change back and forth from human and zombie when needed. Once he turns into a zombie, he engages in the iconic dance sequence with his fellow zombies. Then, he’s suddenly human again in order to sing the chorus to the song, then turns back into a zombie to deliver more scares before the nightmare ends. This ends up proving one thing: The zombies aren’t the ones that change and zombify him. Jackson can shapeshift at will. I mean, he pretty much has to, otherwise he would look out of place dancing with them. In the creation of these music videos, every choice was a deliberate one and Jackson was smart enough to know that music videos, much like any type of film, doesn’t need to conform to reality.

Now, to add another example onto our pile, the video for “Speed Demon” begins with Jackson finding himself on a movie set (where everybody but him is played by Claymation figures for some reason) and running away from screaming fans who want a piece of the man (and perhaps an autograph.) You know, the usual stuff when you’re a huge mega-star. After a brief chase scene, Jackson finds himself inside a costume room and decides that a disguise is what he needs in order to slip out undetected. This of course is an obvious reference to Jackson’s own life: By the time the video was shot (1988) he often had to use disguises and masks in order to go anywhere without being mobbed by fans and admirers.

The disguise Jackson decides for “Speed Demon” is a motorcycle riding Claymation rabbit, the second time we’ve seen Jackson go from human to animal. It makes perfect sense for a song about riding fast and chasing the adrenaline rush that comes with riding at high speeds. After watching Jackson-as-rabbit ride through the mean streets of some unidentified city, he takes a rest at what looks like the same canyon area Wile-E-Coyote and Road Runner chase each other in. He spins around fast (a separate power we’ll discuss shortly) and becomes human again... then the rabbit returns and he has a dance off with it where we find the rabbit has his own playbook of sick moves, providing the world with the second greatest team-up between a man and a rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit? still being number one, coming out a year before this video premiered as part of the film Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker.)

“Bad” is an interesting addition here, as it’s the only video that has a transformation of personality rather than an actual physical change. “Bad”’s music video tells the story of a young inner city youth named Darryl (played by Jackson himself) who is heading home after a term at a fictional prestigious high school (referred to as “Dustbury” and “Doomsbury” by Wesley Snipes’ character.) Once home, he begins clashing with his old friends after he shows discomfort with petty crime, with the friends believing that his going to school has turned him into a sissy who ain’t “bad” and “ain’t down with it”. All through the first half of the video, the cinematography is in black and white, with the transition to full color finally happening once Jackson appears in the same outfit he donned for the Bad album cover.

The entire song was meant to re-invent Jackson’s image from a meek little dancing machine with a high-pitched and soft voice, to an edgy, tough guy dressed in black, adorned with chains, and bad to the bone. All of this was meant to answer the big money question, “Who’s bad?” This was, of course, done in 1987, before Jackson had to spend most of the nineties and the aughts fighting heavy accusations of child sexual abuse and trying to convince people that he wasn’t bad at all.

Jackson showed the transformation power one more time in his music videos, which was 1991’s “Black or White”. In terms of the power being shown, Jackson doesn’t do it until close to the end. After the iconic sequence where other people sing the line “It’s black, it’s white” while seamlessly morphing/transitioning from one person to another person of a different race (an impressive visual effect for 1991.) The video “ends” with shots of the video set and everybody applauding and going for break. While this is happening, the camera cuts to a panther walking through the set undetected, heading for the downstairs area. Once downstairs, the panther morphs and reveals itself to be Michael himself. He then goes into a furious dance routine in a street setting and destroys a glass beer bottle, a building window, and a parked car labeled with incredibly racist words/phrases spray-painted on them. It’s worth noting that these messages are removed in most versions of the video widely available today, as the image below this paragraph will show. The video offered on Jackson’s official Youtube channel has the version with these racist phrases removed, meaning that the context for why he goes on this rampage and breaks stuff is also gone. Regardless, he tears off his shirt and screams with grand drama as the hotel neon sign falls. This is a very different kind of scene for Jackson, who rarely showed any kind of violence or anger in his videos. After his damage and rampage, he turns back into the panther, growls, and leaves the screen, bringing the video to a close.

These different transformations not only add a new and exciting element to Jackson’s videos, but also give us a fantastical look at his desire to be somebody (or in these cases, something,) that wasn’t him. A conflicting contradiction where he both wants to be the star and not be the star at the same time. These instances of changing into something else doesn’t seem odd in hindsight, given that Jackson was someone who went through an entire lifetime of literally changing the “Man in the Mirror”, to the point where it’s almost impossible to imagine what he could’ve seen when he looked at himself in the mirror. This superpower is a case of wondering and asking if it’s art imitating life or life imitating art. But we still have two more powers to cover...

Superpower #4: Super Spinning

If there’s one thing Michael Jackson was good at doing, it was being able to spin around fast and stop on a dime without any trouble. He did it all the time; on stage, on video, probably alone in his house too. Spinning isn’t a power that shows up a ton of times in his videography, but it’s still something that he does that causes odd things to happen.

The strangest example of him doing this comes in the “Smooth Criminal” video. There is a quick instance where Jackson jumps onto a table, spins around for a few seconds, and then snaps loudly. This then causes a skylight to blow up. I can only assume that energy builds up inside of Jackson when he spins around, which he can then use in order to strike things or cause things to happen. In “Speed Demon”, when doing the dance off with the Claymation rabbit, Jackson blows his mind and wins by spinning around so fast that he creates an aura of light as well as illusions of the other Claymation characters featured in the video before stopping on the tips of his toes.

The final time Jackson’s spinning does something in a music video is in “Remember the Time”. At the end of the video, Jackson is being chased by the king’s (played by Eddie Murphy) guards after serenading the queen and finds himself cornered. Left with no other options, Jackson spins himself into dust, causing him to disappear (which is the last power we’ll be talking about shortly.)

This is the most obvious use of superpowers since it was Jackson’s most well known move next to the moonwalk. It helped to add a special visual flair to videos and was a move that many young fans watching would probably want to try and imitate, especially if they found moonwalking too hard a task. (Personally I never wrapped my head, or feet, I guess, around how to do it...) It’s a cool move that made cool things happen. Sometimes, Jackson even used it in order to perform...

To return to the Moonwalker Genesis game again for a second, spinning is actually a special move Jackson can do in-game in order to defeat enemies. In fact, being able to spin around uninterrupted for a short period of time on-screen is what triggers Jackson to make enemies dance on screen (calling back to the power of Possession we discussed earlier.)

Superpower #5: Vanishing

Jackson has at least four videos where he performs the ability to vanish in thin air. The first video to showcase this ability was the video for “Billie Jean” in 1983. The video shows Jackson walking through a city street set. As he walks around he tosses a coin to a homeless person, takes a second to shine his shoes, and makes his way to an unnamed lover’s hotel room, with things lighting up and turning to gold while he does this. He is also being followed by a strange man in an overcoat in the video, obviously meant to represent a member of the paparazzi looking for an exclusive photo of Jackson that can be sold to tabloids. The vanishing act occurs when Jackson stops to shine his shoe and the paparazzo quickly flashes a photo. Hoping that he was successful and got a good shot of him, he looks at the photo to see that Jackson isn’t there. He has completely disappeared without a trace. This means either one of two things: 1) Jackson is a vampire (...could’ve been for all we know.) 2) He has the power to vanish before our very eyes.

He does it one more time in “Billie Jean”, near the end of the video. As he makes his way up the stairs of a motel, the paparazzo is slowly tailing him, still hoping to get a photo of the elusive artist. Jackson makes his way to a bed with an unknown woman sleeping in it. As the paparazzo gets ready to snap his photo, Jackson enters the bed (which proceeds to light up, same as everything else he’s touched.) However, as soon as Jackson is in the bed, he vanishes again, leaving an empty bed and a paparazzo who has just taken a photo of an unknown woman sleeping. He is taken away by police officers as the video plays back in reverse, with everything Jackson lit up previously disappearing.

We’ve already seen Michael spin himself into dust and vanishing in “Remember the Time”, so the only other example to name is in the video for “The Way You Make Me Feel”. The video takes place on a city street at night. Jackson is hanging out with some of his homies (as one does) while they ogle at an attractive woman in a little black dress walking by. Jackson calls out to her, she stops, and Jackson slowly makes his way over to her. His friends wait in anticipation to see if the king’s charms will get the woman on his side. He proceeds to start singing the line, “You knock me off of my feet now, baby” and summons the music, busting out a few moves in the process.

The vanishing act appears close to the end of the video. Jackson and his friends are seen doing a silhouetted synchronized dance in the street, you know, as we all do with our homies. The camera goes from the dancing set to showing the woman again, then pans back to reveal that Jackson has disappeared. His friends can be seen leaving the screen to the left and are hanging out on the edges of an alley, but Jackson is gone without a trace. He reappears at the very end and hugs the woman, ending the video.

Honestly, why he disappears only to reappear again is anybody’s guess. To give the end of the video an extra punch maybe? I don’t have a real answer for that one. But what I can say is that wanting the power to vanish whenever you want and be seen as an almost mythical creature is definitely a power Jackson would’ve found useful and probably wanted for most of his life. When you’re the biggest celebrity on the planet and everybody worships you and wants a piece of you, being able to simply vanish on the fly seems like a pretty attractive thing. Not to mention Jackson’s numerous controversies and bizarre behavior throughout the late eighties, the nineties, and even the aughts. A list that includes owning numerous odd animals (a monkey named Bubbles and a llama, in particular), building an entire small amusement park in his backyard, accusations of child molestation, and, lest we forget, dangling his infant son over a hotel balcony. Couple that with a dozen other rumors that tabloids may have made up and anybody in that position would want to be able to vanish without a trace.

So, we’ve covered all five of the man’s superpowers. That must mean we’re done, right? Not quite. There’s one more thing we have to cover...

Is It Scary?: Superpowers and Michael Jackson’s Ghosts

It’s October 1996, three years after Michael Jackson underwent his first round of child sexual abuse allegations as dentist Dr. Evan Chandler accused Jackson of “repeatedly committ[ing] sexual battery” against his then thirteen year old son, Jordan.

In case a recap is needed, here it is: On August 24th, 1993, as the third leg of Jackson's Dangerous World Tour was getting started, news of these allegations broke to the public and in turn received worldwide media attention and coverage. As a result, Jackson canceled the remainder of the tour, citing health problems arising from the scandal. In January 1994, Jackson reached a financial settlement for $23 million with the Chandlers. In September of that year, the criminal investigation was closed after the Chandlers declined to cooperate, leaving the case without its main witness...

But the damage to Jackson’s reputation had already been done. It didn’t help that this wasn’t the first time the public had to be told about Jackson’s weird behavior, which, by 1993, had become excessively strange for reasons that have been mentioned previously. Several endorsements were lost and plans scrapped, such as PepsiCo dropping him after a nine year partnership, a recording of an HBO concert special, and is supposedly the reason why Jackson left during the making of the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (though there are conflicting sources citing different reasons as to why he left that project.) Regardless, the damage was done and as the nineties went on, Jackson only became more of a social pariah, with the 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I, having several songs related to and directly reference his battles with these allegations.

Which brings us to Michael Jackson’s Ghosts. A 1996 short film with a story written by Jackson, Stephen King, and Mick Garris. The film’s storyline is simple. It opens in the town of Normal Valley, where the mayor (played by Jackson himself) is leading a mob of local parents to the mansion of a man known only as The Maestro (also played by Jackson), who has been entertaining local children with magic tricks and ghost stories. The children assure the parents of the mob that the Maestro has done nothing wrong, but the mayor intends to banish him, believing him to be nothing more than a "freak".

Once inside the mansion, the maestro appears and challenges the mayor to a "scaring contest": the first one to become scared must leave and never return. He proceeds to perform magic tricks, does dance routines with a ghostly horde, and possesses the mayor, forcing him to dance. After the extravagant performance doesn't win him the contest, the maestro agrees to leave and crumbles to dust, only to return as an enormous demon when the mayor and the mob proceed to leave. The mayor, who is now terrified, leaps through the window, supposedly running away. The families all agree that they had fun and they allow the maestro to stay.

None of this is even remotely subtle and having even the most basic background knowledge of what was going on in Jackson’s life around this time would tell you which parts of the film are meant to represent things in real life. Despite all of this, the film does something that none of Jackson’s videos have ever done: make the use of superpowers look horrifying.

Before this film, Jackson’s use of superpowers in his videos were usually nothing more than light-hearted parlor tricks; feats meant to entertain and captivate an audience watching him on television. But here, every single power that’s been discussed previously is represented, but instead used to scare the audience. This is obviously intentional, as it plays up the public perception that Jackson was a freak of nature to a fantastical degree. It’s also the only way in 1996 that Jackson could have really said anything (besides the music found on HIStory) that gave any real insight into how he viewed the allegations that caused irreparable damage to his career. Ghosts basically has Jackson saying, “They want to see a freak? Fine. I’ll show them a freak.” Besides, in a music video, you can’t be interrupted by interviewers looking for a sensational headline or quote.

Two powers appear in this film that don’t deviate too much from what we’ve already seen. He still vanishes and he still summons the music and his crew of dancers (this time of the ghost variety.) The other three powers shown here, all with Jackson performing them with creepier connotations.

For starters, he transforms several times in this film. The first instance is when he stretches his skin and then removes it to fully reveal his own skull. He takes this a step further by later shedding his skin completely to dance as a (CGI) skeleton. The other instance of Transformation that’s shown is when he decides to honor the rules of the contest and leave the mansion. How does he do this? He turns himself into stone and smashes himself into dust. He’s turned into creepy things before, like a zombie and a werewolf in “Thriller”, but those were meant to be more Hammer horror fun ones. This time the maestro wants to actually scare you. It makes sense, given that Jackson’s career by this time was the lowest it had ever been. This wasn’t a superstar utilizing wild effects to astound you, this was an angry, disgraced man trying to freak you out and turn himself into exactly what the public and media saw him as.

The idea of Possession, as we’ve discussed previously, usually involves Jackson telepathically getting dancers and other people involved in whatever dance routine is on his mind. That trick is still here in the form of Jackson’s ghost dancers doing what he does, but this power also takes on a more grim use here. In an attempt to scare the mayor of Normal Valley, Jackson literally possesses the mayor by flying into his mouth, making him dance in front of his mob. There are a few shots where you can see an outline of him crawling around in his stomach. This is the only time Jackson has ever presented this power in a literal sense and it’s creepy and weird as hell. Every other time it was simply implied and just used as a fun way to get background characters like gangsters, street guys, and Egyptian guards to dance with him. This instance in Ghosts just removes all the light-hearted fun and makes it deadly.

The final power that has a different interpretation is Jackson’s super spinning. Normally, Jackson uses it in order to build up energy or create some kind of illusion. Here, it’s combined with Transformation in order to make him into something deadlier than how he usually appears. Here, Jackson spins in order to reform his skin when he’s done being a skeleton, but instead of turning back into his usual self, he returns as a giant with a grotesque face that looks only slightly less horrifying than the zombie face from “Thriller”, which may or may not have been a way of representing the media and public’s prattling and prodding of Jackson’s history with cosmetic surgery.

Overall, Ghosts isn’t just turning light-hearted fun into something macabre just for the sake of making an elaborate Halloween-themed music video, it’s an artist attempting to change a narrative that’s been placed on him... and it doesn’t work. As said previously, the damage was already done and making a video with an unbelievable story like this wasn’t really going to change the minds of people who already came to their conclusions. Jackson using horrifying powers to mess with a town mayor and get the townspeople on his side could only ever exist in a video like this; it can only exist in a world where the creator and storyteller remains in control of the narrative.

Conclusion: Creating Magic

For Michael Jackson, the bigger and crazier that things got in his life, the more difficult it was to keep control. When you reach the top, there’s only one way to go: down. The use of superpowers shown in his music videos start out as harmless fun, but eventually reveal themselves to be magical ways of escaping the real world and giving one the chance to live out fantasies that can only be dreamed about. We all sometimes wish we could just disappear on a whim. We all sometimes wish we could morph into something or someone different. We all sometimes wish we could be the center of attention. These wishes aren’t harmful, they’re normal fantasies. One of the reasons many fans constantly return to these music videos and remain such cultural touchstones---even in a present time where Jackson is more controversial than ever before---is because they inhabit a magical world where suspension of disbelief takes over and for just a few minutes you’re in a world where anything could happen. You can clone yourself, you can get others to dance with you without fear of embarrassment, you can spin yourself into dust, you can vanish, you can become a zombie or a werewolf or a panther or whatever you’d like. The possibilities remain endless.

But perhaps it’s worth it to let the man himself explain it. In an unauthorized interview done at Jackson’s home in the winter of 1983, he says, “I like creating magic”. He then gets asked what his idea of “magic” is. His response:

“When I explain ‘magic’ I mean wonderment, excitement, the unexpected, escapism, creating something that is so incredible. An illusion. To put people in a situation, no matter what it may be and give them totally the opposite or the unexpected, so much more than what they thought would happen. I mean, just blow their minds. I like creating magic, excellence. I love doing that. There’s nothing like it. I try to do it in everything I do.”

He succeeded. Much of the man’s life story remains shrouded in speculation, but the body of work that still stands is not. The intentions couldn’t be any clearer. The man set out to make something that nobody had ever seen; that nobody thought was possible before with music video. The darkest parts of his story will always be discussed, debated, and dissected. The lightest parts will always be these videos, these moments in time that defined a culture and not only helped turn MTV into an empire but also turned music video into a legitimate art form. For Michael Jackson, his creative use of on-screen abilities, visuals, and everything else in between, all came together harmoniously in order to shape the world he brought to life through his work. It was always meant to serve one purpose: To create magic.

#original content #michael jackson #music video #mtv #1980s #off the wall #thriller #bad #music essay #music criticism

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princesstokyomoon · 4 years

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i just posted an artsy homestuck rant on twitter and now im gonna force you all to see it too

ok i know that nobody cares about my opinions on homestuck even remotely BUT THIS IS WHAT IM ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED ABOUT IN REGARDS TO THE EPILOGUES AND HOMESTUCK^2

[image transcript: > Is this canon? There is no straightforward answer to this, since the notion of what should be considered canon in a work of fiction is what is being examined, ever since the epilogues brought the topic into the foreground as one of its core themes. By presenting that work as fanfiction, including other authors, and then going even further in that direction with this storyline, the narrative is being explicitly decentralized. It's being pulled further away from direct control by the original author, and allowed to expand into spaces governed by fandom desire - a fanontinuum, you might say. Where the original seven acts of Homestuck were a narrative contained within paradox space, a realm of strict authorial oversight by a single creator, Homestuck^2: Beyond Canon sprawls through this fanontinuum, a realm adhering less to the unilateral vision of one person, and instead thriving on a wide range of input from fans. And yet, the work is still official, since it is being produced by Hussie and What Pumpkin, and therefore is naturally amplified above other fan works. Whether this means the content should qualify as canon to the same extent as preceding material is something for you to reflect on as you read it.][End Transcript]

ITS SUCH A COOL ARTISTIC GOAL TO CHALLENGE THE IDEAS OF WHAT IS AND ISNT CANON, AND TOO MANY PEOPLE SEEM TO BE FOCUSED SIMPLY ON "but they made my favs bad" OR WHATEVER. LIKE, NONE OF IT IS ANY MORE REAL THAN ANY OF YOUR INTERPRETATIONS AND THAT IS SUPER SUPER COOL???

LIKE I DUNNO, MAYBE ITS THE ART STUDENT IN ME? BUT THATS JUST SUPER FUCKING COOL????? fan culture these days puts soooo much importance into what is and isnt canon, whether its sticking to it rigedly, or ignoring it completely, the idea that canon is somehow More Important is a huge deal in fan spaces - whether that is something conciously realised by fans or not. or hell, even for creators in some cases.

particularly after studying performing arts for so long, that began to baffle me more and more. theatre, by its very essence, is transformative in nature. you take the words of someone else - most likely someone you never have and never will meet - and use YOUR life, YOUR tastes, YOUR experiences to shape what exactly the material is going to mean. the original "canon" is little more than a springboard and playground for you to start with.

and the fact that this is something that goes almost unmentioned in a lot of media circles is strangely fascinating to me? theres a lot of "we must work out what the one true meaning of canon is", but... there is not always a single truth to be found the new HS directions are openly embracing this whole concept in such a fantastic manner that i honestly never would of concieved of seeing in a medium outside of theatre. the idea of getting a group together, giving them the outline, and telling them to go wild with their interpretation.

thats fucking AMAZING??? and i will Not stop being ecstatically excited over the fact that they are doing this. to me, it feels as though hussie has handed over the world, not only to the current crew working on things, but to me, and every other fan personally.

hes saying, "hey, i made these for YOU to play with, and do what you want with. anything is possible, go fucking nuts." AND I LOVE THAT I LOVE THAT I DONT HAVE TO FEEL LIKE IM BETRAYING THE CREATOR BY THINKING SOMETHING SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT ABOUT THE CHARACTERS THAN HE DID. I LOVE THAT HOMESTUCK IS A SANDBOX FOR ALL OF ITS FANS. AND ALL OF IT IS EQUALLY REAL IN THE MULTIVERSE OF FICTION.

#homestuck #homestuck epilogue #homestuck^2 #long post

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khaleesirin · 5 years

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Daenerys Targaryen is The Great Other

Before anything else, this post perhaps should be read as a response to @nobodysuspectsthebutterfly‘s instructive and beautifully nuanced understanding of Daenerys’ characterization as well as her probable endgame in light of/ in response to what happened to the show, and in accordance to her role as a hero rather than a villain.

And how it’s still, for me, an uncomfortable possibility. I’m not talking about the sacrificial role that she may ultimately choose to save humanity, but the problem I have with the whole sequencing of events, particularly in Dany’s situation. Her character arc, which was supposed to parallel Jon’s, is centered around her fight against this actualized presence of slavery-- a form of slavery that transcends borders and is so deeply institutionalized that it becomes the moral norm. I find it problematic that in her situation, the entities that she must realize as her ultimate enemies (as part of her own redemption arc or a reorientation to heroism) are essentially the metaphor (The Other) of the exact reality she was fighting in Essos, with an implication (not of nobodysuspectsthebutterfly’s, but what Martin’s text may effectively does ) that the great slavers and her situation in Slaver’s Bay only serve as a ground for lesson and an analogy to what will be her ultimate battle: The War for The Dawn.

One of the many criticism against white fantasy in literature is the need to make a fantasized representation of real social problems we deal with everyday as an attempt to (ironically) “democratize” and “localize” (or well, white-wash) these social struggles for the intended viewers to better understand and/or be made aware of the social dimension of the hero’s personal battle. It’s alongside those snide remarks that white people seem to only understand the problems of racism better if it’s transported in the fictional world and not presented as a pervasive presence in our real, mundane life. This is made effective in part because it allows the viewers to imagine themselves as a vehicle for change without making them aware that this is also the guilt they have to carry. If Martin intends The Others to be the ultimate representation of slavery itself (which I actually agree), he made the wrong move by making Dany’s storyline a soberingly honest reflection of real life situation and a re-imagining of our own enduring, worldly sociopolitical struggle. It defeats the purpose of the presence of this unreal but objective evil that the heroes must fight as their common enemy to preserve life.

Dany’s storyline stands in contrast with the whole narrative surrounding the existence of The Others because when it comes to her, the realization we should be having is not that we need to gather / forge light (the heroes) to ready for a the fight against the real, ultimate darkness that’s about to come; Dany, as a hero and a revolutionary, came into view because in Arendtian terms, we have been, and are already in dark times. It means, the bringer of lights come into play not because they were designed to fight evil, but because they become aware that something is actually oppressive, realizing that we live within a social structure that maintains the process of othering and dehumanization (even when the world tells them it’s not) and decisively chose to end it. It’s born out of social reflection and not out of prophecized destiny. There’s a reason why Dany’s character is so closely read as a revolutionary figure whose consciousness to fight for change, to end slavery, happens not because of her predetermined role, but because of the experiences she accumulated. It’s a fundamentally broken logic for me to make Dany’s entire anti-slavery campaign in Essos a secondary struggle, when shouldn’t it be the ultimate battle? Since, in the words of Melisandre and in the backdrop of the conversation between Dany and Mirri Maz Duur about what life truly means, it’s the fight for life itself.

There’s a conversation here about what makes evil, evil, or how evil is brought about. Martin is certainly not Manichaeian, but the presence of The Others allowed for a more comfortable avenue to locate who the objective enemies are in the series, which entity our heroes must fight for the sake of humanity. The popular narrative that the fandom tends to follow is that unlike the squabbling for lands and power, it’s different this time because the ultimate price of defeat is life. Yet, if we think about it, isn’t that what Dany has been fighting all along in Essos? She may fight for the Iron Throne, she may conquer lands and proclaim herself the queen, but ultimately these are all her way to save and preserve life. More importantly, her story pushes us away from the comforts of The Other, and towards what we should have come to know all along: who are responsible for the enslavement of people? Isn’t also us, humans? Aren’t we the creator of the monstrosity in this world? Unlike The Others whose narrative purpose is to present evil as a sort of future that will come upon us, as a sort of rare event as when “magic” comes back (to imply that it’s outside the realm of human existence) whose entire otherness makes our common humanity more cogent, Dany’s story makes for an argument that evil is a part of our history, it’s in the past, it already happened, that we made this happen. Because of our own superfluousness, our own thoughtlessness, through our own creation of the other (be it class, gender, or race), it’s often forgotten that collective responsibility is a response to our own collective guilt. There’s a reason why it never occurred to Dany to hold individual trials for the deaths of 163 children, why she doesn’t allow Barristan to make a case to differentiate between the Lannisters, the Baratheons, and the Starks, because be it by action or inaction, they did play a part in Dany’s own isolation, in the same way that her action and inaction put many of her people in despair and in total isolation (again, to say that Mirri Maz Duur has a point: Dany didn’t really save her). Here, she presents a more astute understanding of human condition. So while Jon is fighting this in the north, she is already fighting the same thing in the east. When you have two heroes whose stories run in parallel with each other, if you make someone march to the other side to join the other half, you are already making a value judgement: Jon’s fight against The Others will always be seen as the most crucial fight in comparison to Dany’s battle in Essos, when, again, like I argued, it shouldn’t be the case and to do so would carry highly problematic implications.

Dany understood this humanity’s own tendency to bring evil upon themselves, their own collective guilt, precisely because she is The Great Other in her own storyline. She is marginalized as a woman, marginalized as a child, isolated both geographically and in terms of how she’s the only protagonist among the key five who has no family to speak about or to protect anymore in a story that is about family. She has no nation to call home, marching from one place to another she can’t really belong. She is in perpetual exile, A Conscious Pariah; her own statelessness, her complete otherness and her constant preoccupation with the question who is she? allowed her to understand the plurality of identities, the constructive appearance of our world, and how inaction in the face of darkness is as evil as death; that our own lack of reflection with what we’re participating in spreads evilness around even though we don’t intend that to happen. As a third-culture kid, as a woman, as someone who has been othered throughout my life to control my behavior, to make me less “abhorrent” to “tame” me, to “discipline” me, I identify more with Dany as this stateless woman who’s trying to end slavery using her monsters more than anyone else, or any plot line, in the series. Her anger over the fact that slavers forget the names of the slaves that they claim are their most priced possession, the whole act of forgetting, of reducing someone to “slut” to ��whore” to “monster,” is also my story. This is why many people of color are also seeing themselves in her position.

Dany is The Great Other, because her monstrosity casts shadow from above, that this time the ones you use for your entertainment are speaking for themselves now, reclaiming their identity, changing our worldly exterior so that the monsters won’t be seen as the others, that the people who are doing the othering are also the monsters, that slavery itself breeds this dehumanizing human connection. So Dany tries to help her people be less bad, as she over and over reflects on her own guilt. She is not letting anyone, including herself, off this hook. This degradation of human existence, this dehumanization, is our human problem; there should be nothing foreign or strange about it.

This is how rich her storyline is in Essos so much that when it turns out she will have to head West and join Jon to fight The Others, much more to choose to sacrifice herself to fight this abstraction of evil, I’m afraid it will ultimately cheapens the critical points in her storyline that speak for the humanity, the humaneness, the individuality, of the other that she happens to represent.

So, even if she becomes the hero, she is also ultimately defanged.

#daenerys targaryen #Martin also has to realize that Dany's story is Essos #it's her War for the Dawn #to have her march to Westeros and to Jon reeks of many many faults in white literature #that Toni Morrison also voiced out in The Origin of the Other #thus like i said #i would rather see her die fighting her war in essos #than in westeros

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