#and the implications of treating it

[kasumingo]

Even if the sentiment about feeling the same about fictional characters as we do about real people was real, it should not be encouraged or used as a leverage

[dreadark]

that ivan loves till is the most obvious thing about them

but. does ivan know that…?

the ivan that regards his own feelings as shallow, the ivan that learned how emotions are expressed only from copying others… does he even know that the love he’s felt for so long is love? probably not. and part of the reason is the one he loves himself

because the easiest example he has of love is till's feelings to mizi. till outright calls it love, and ivan watches him so much he has to be aware of this and till’s love to mizi is totally unselfish, right. he doesn’t seem to actually want much from her—just that she's still there and still "mizi"

but ivan can't be satisfied with just watching he… wants. ivan wants till’s attention, till’s affection—

surely this selfish wanting can’t be love

...no wonder he was never able to express his feelings straightforwardly when he belittles them so much but he can’t stand not having anything either, so he does… whatever he does instead to get any scraps of attention he can, from someone he's convinced doesn't care about him at all only showing affection when till can't see it, right until he knows he's going to die

but ivan's feelings for till are all he still has of himself... to think of them as shallow...

I've seen this translated as "I should've been kinder" to him (till) or to her (sua)

but really, the one he should've been kinder to was himself

[lukashaa]

Patho fanart of varying quality

[mourn-and-watch]

isn't it wild that warden-commander invoked the right of conscription on anders with direct permission of the queen/king of ferelden and templars still didn't leave him be. isn't it wild that some of them were willing to drink darkspawn blood and bound themselves to another order just to get to him even though he was proven to be under warden-commander's protection. isn't it wild that the wardens had always been a golden ticket for mages who tried to get away from the circle and it was working perfectly fine for everyone else and then in his case it just didn't

[juniemunie]

"Why am I still doing this?"

"Don't you get it?"

"This is all just a show... and we're playing parts~"

[thesummerestsolstice]

Silm AU Concept that Won't Leave me Alone:

Earendil falls ill, not long after his marriage. None of the healers in Sirion– human or elven– can explain why. Maybe it's because Idril and Tuor left for Valinor recently, and no one really thinks they'll make it there alive. Maybe it's the plague that's been sweeping through war-torn Beleriand. Maybe his body is just giving up on him– it's not unheard of for half-elves to die that way.

And it's becoming clear that Earendil is dying. Nothing they do helps. Some of Elwing's advisors try to keep her away from his bedside– half out of fear his illness is contagious and half because she spends all her time there, refusing to eat or rest. They're trying to protect her from the horrible truth. It isn't working.

Elwing knows of two great sources of magic. One is her own– inherited from Melian, running far stronger in her blood than any had expected, far stronger than it had in her father. Strong enough that she's spent most of her life learning to hide it. Flowers bloom under her feet, birds flock to her side. Elwing is powerful, but she's young; untrained. She tries to help Earendil. She fails.

And then there is the Silmaril. The Silmaril's power is not like hers. It does not make things grow, or bring the birds and gentle beasts of the world to their doorstep. But it drives away the orcs, keeps the wolves at bay, cuts through the darkness, burns away evil. It is a much more violent kind of purification.

And Elwing thinks, is it not evil coursing through my husband's veins, choking his lungs, threatening to tear him away from me?

She takes the Silmaril and pries it open with a dagger, pouring it's divine light into the abalone-shell cup that Idril had given her before she sailed away. She gives it to Earendil, comforts him, climbs into bed beside him. They hold each other, whisper their marriage vows again in the darkness. When Elwing drifts into sleep, she doesn't know if he'll still be there when she wakes up.

And then Earendil wakes up with clear, bright eyes. It works. It works very well. It works so well that Elwing has to teach Earendil how to hide the new light in his eyes and the shimmer under his skin.

Elwing keeps the Silmaril hidden away after that. Some whisper that she's become obsessed with it, just as her father had. In truth, she's just trying to hide the fact that the gem has no light left. Somehow, she doubts her advisors would approve of her decision.

But she doesn't care, and neither does Earendil. They are happy, and in love. Not long after Earendil's recovery– a recovery most think was a miracle sent by the Valar– they have children. Two very strange children with sharp teeth and bright eyes who they love very much.

It looks like everything will work out for Elwing's little family, right until the day the first letter from Maedhros Feanorian arrives.

[razberrypuck]

thoughts on troy

he's playing nice with blink and runt exclusively because he needs them to get back up to the surface. I'm 100% sure the three of them are gonna get roped into some larger thing and forced to spend more time around each other, but if that WEREN'T the case, he would drop them the moment they stopped being useful to him. MAYBE he'd keep up the "yea I'll get u medical supplies whatevs" part of his deal with blink, but after that he wouldn't spare a single fucking thought to them, or to anyone else living down there. at the end of the day, he doesn't give a shit. like say what you will about him being stupid (he is) but he sure as hell knows how to walk the line between "vaguely decent guy, probably fun to party with," and "selfish piece of garbage"

the most blatant example being his interactions with runt; asking for her name bc that's generally what you do when you meet someone, runt saying it doesn't matter bc he's drunk and won't remember it, and troy going yk I'm glad you said that bc I don't actually give a fuck :) in response. like he does his best to sound friendly when he asks, but the moment she disregards it, he drops it. because she doesn't mean anything to him! blink is the one he's stuck with.

this is what he does! this is what he's good at! he's clearly charismatic, but he doesn't have any "friends" besides lint, because this is how he is with everyone. this is how he treats every relationship he's ever had. his friendship with lint is one of convenience, because lint just goes with everything he does. and that's useful! who needs real friends when your personal doormat will listen to you rant about whatever the fuck AND validate your feelings?

I do think getting stuck with blink and runt could get the idea that a person's value isn't determined by how useful they are to him through his thick fucking skull. I do think he could actually forge a real bond with them. but to do that, he has to acknowledge that his behavior is fucked up, and he has to be willing to change.

[hiding-under-the-willow]

old habits die hard

[mikkeneko]

BingYuan idea that I absolutely will not write: Luo Bingge's pov through PIDW, except that at random intervals when shitty things are happening to him he will suddenly hear a disembodied voice in his head ranting angrily about how this is all bullshit and it's so unfair and he doesn't deserve any of this to happen to him, how he is good and he deserves the WORLD, and later on always defending his questionable decisions to some unknown auditor, and it's only in the post-BingSwap special that he does some exploring past the boundaries of the world. and eventually comes to realize that what he's been hearing throughout his life has been the angry Zhongdian forum posts of one Peerless Cucumber

[syekick-powers]

it's fascinating to me how tumblr users who talk about worldbuilding seem to fall under distinct camps of audiences who don't care about detailed worldbuilding logistics at all, audiences who just want things to make sense and cohere internally even if it's not perfectly realistic, and audiences who seem less interested in stories and more interested in just hearing about the tiniest most irrelevant minutiae of how a fictional world works to the detriment of actually telling a story. and then there are also storytellers on here who also fall under three similar camps of writers who don't really care about detailed worldbuilding and mostly paint their worlds in broad strokes, those who put a fair amount of thought into their worlds but don't really get down into the fine details, and those that plan every tiny little fucking thing out. the variety of humanity is truly fascinating

[krispdreemurr]

constantly thinking abt how in Undertale the consequences for violence are immediate and lasting while in Deltarune you have to actively work to make violence "stick". like not that there's no neutral vs pacifist differences but the plot absolutely continues on as if nothing happened while Undertale a single death changes the entire ending and structure. the way a broken snowgrave run immediately reroutes everything back onto the rails. the quick dismissals and movings on. it just feels like the entire world is trying to avoid thinking about violence or assigning consequences unless forced to do so

[glitterfiasco]

"There was a boy called Eustace Winner, and he almost deserved it. His parents called him Eustace and masters called him Winner. I can’t tell you how his friends spoke to him, for he had none." 

[ancient-romes]

Finding the panel where Miles acknowledges that Tucker was taken advantage of by Crunchbite and Burnie refuting it by saying Tucker "can't be taken advantage of" and then seeing how Tucker was treated in restoration like......i am connecting the dots and i do not like it

[diosapate]

mercymorn the first + fragrant is my many flower'd crown, lingua ignota

[cycle-hit]

hey so do you guys think about how MAHIRU is the prisoner second-place tied with kotoko for "prisoners who talk about their families the least" or are you normal.

like. Mahiru Shiina. mahiru "values the idea of very traditional romantic love and starting a family to extreme amounts" shiina. is the prisoner second-place tied with KOTOKO FUCKING YUZURIHA for "least information given about their parents and least talked about". why. how.

why does mahiru talk about wanting to start a family yet talk about her own so little? why doesnt she mention the love between her parents, the romantic love she wouldve witnessed the most, when shes so obsessed with love? why does she refer to them with fond terms (equivalent to "mama" and "papa" in english) yet not talk about them at all? why does she not even consider them in the interrogation question "would you be leaving anyone behind if you die"?

mahiru what did you mean by you are/were a "sheltered girl" and that youre thankful towards your parents but perhaps they were a bit "strict". mahiru PLEASE. family is very important in milgram's writing! yamanaka even says this in an interview!

SO WHY IS MAHIRU SHIINA TIED WITH KOTOKO FUCKING YUZURIHA FOR LEAST INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR FAMILIES. EXPLAIN TO ME NOW YAMANAKA. RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!!!!!!!!

also. her prisoner pair is shidou. the #1 spot holder of "milgram prisoner of whom has never referred to his side of the family not even once". he only refers to his wife and kids. we know nothing about HIS family he grew up with beyond that except for implicated guesses taken from his behaviours and way he is. yamanaka why is mahirus pair shidou. YAMANAKA

[i3utterflyeffect]

What if one day, Alan came home early, insisted that Chosen would stay to dinner, and they have big family dinner together? And everything so surreal for Chosen, so when they come back home, Dark can't stop asking Cho why they look so stunned.

god yeah-- i don't think he'd insist on chosen staying personally but there's no way SC doesn't beg them to stay--