#as opposed to some epic battle

[vaugarde]

love how indigo and unova both end with ash going “wow, what a fantastic experience” with a full theme song drop as they reminisce on their adventure over the battlefield in the sunset like those weren’t the worst written leagues in the series

[zvaigzdelasas]

[NewYorkTimes is Private US Media]

Over the past month, we’ve watched an astonishing, high-stakes global drama play out in The Hague. A group of countries from the poorer, less powerful bloc some call the global south, led by South Africa, dragged the government of Israel and, by extension, its rich, powerful allies into the top court of the Western rules-based order and accused Israel of prosecuting a brutal war in Gaza that is “genocidal in character.”

The responses to this presentation from the leading nations of that order were quick and blunt.

“Completely unjustified and wrong,” said a statement from Rishi Sunak, Britain’s prime minister.

“Meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the United States National Security Council.

“The accusation has no basis in fact,” a German government spokesman said, adding that Germany opposed the “political instrumentalization” of the genocide statute.

But on Friday, that court had its say, issuing a sober and careful provisional ruling that doubled as a rebuke to those dismissals. In granting provisional measures, the court affirmed that some of South Africa’s allegations were plausible and called on Israel to take immediate steps to protect civilians, increase the amount of humanitarian aid and punish officials who engaged in violent and incendiary speech. The court stopped short of calling for a cease-fire, but it granted South Africa’s request for provisional measures to prevent further civilian death. For the most part, the court ruled in favor of the global south.[...]

The court was not asked to rule on whether Israel had in fact committed genocide, a matter that is likely to take years to adjudicate. Whatever the eventual outcome of the case, it sets up an epic battle over the meaning and values of the so-called rules-based order. If these rules don’t apply when powerful countries don’t want them to, are they rules at all?

“As long as those who make rules enforce them against others while believing that they and their allies are above those rules, the international governance system is in trouble,” Thuli Madonsela, one of South Africa’s leading legal minds and an architect of its post-apartheid Constitution, told me. “We say these rules are the rules when Russia invades Ukraine or when the Rohingya are being massacred by Myanmar, but if it’s now Israel butchering Palestinians, depriving them of food, displacing them en masse, then the rules don’t apply and whoever tries to apply the rules is antisemitic? It is really putting those rules in jeopardy.”[...]

The military campaign has “wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II,” the report quoted researchers as saying. The researchers, hardly some raving left-wing activists, are experts cited in one of the most respected news organizations in the world, The Associated Press.[...]

The International Court of Justice issued a nonbinding opinion in 2004 that the security barriers Israel was erecting in the West Bank violated international law, but that ruling has had no effect. The walls still stand.[...]

Indeed, what is a rules-based system if the rules apply only selectively and if seeking to apply them to certain countries is viewed as self-evidently prejudiced? To put it more simply, is there no venue in the international system to which the stateless people of Palestine and their allies and friends can go to seek redress amid the slaughter in Gaza? And if not, what are they to do?

For the cause of Palestinian statehood, every alternative to violence has been virtually snuffed out, in part because Israel’s allies have helped to discredit them. The most recent example is the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement that has, in many places, been successfully tarred as antisemitic or even banned altogether. Efforts to use the United Nations Security Council have drawn U.S. vetoes for decades. Is seeking redress at the appropriate venue for alleged violations of international law also antisemitic, as Israel’s defense minister said on Friday? Does no law apply to Israel? Are there no limits to what it may do to defend itself?[...]

The Biden administration has made the shoring up of the international rules-based order a centerpiece of its foreign policy but, unsurprisingly, has struggled to live up to that aspiration.[...]

Occasionally straying from your principles because circumstances require it is very different from being seen to have no principles at all, and that is precisely how much of the global south has come to regard the United States.

It seems especially shortsighted in these times that the Biden administration elected to wave away the carefully documented case prepared by South Africa. One of the biggest threats to the rules-based international order is the growing consensus in the poor world that the rich world will apply those rules selectively, at its discretion, when it suits the powerful nations that make up the global north, such as when Russia invaded Ukraine.[...]

As far as the rules-based order is concerned, when it comes to crimes like genocide and ethnic cleansing, it simply does not matter who started it. [...] The best way to shore up the rules-based order is to be seen, in word and deed, as committing to the institutions and moral commitments of that order.

28 Jan 24

[gingermintpepper]

Okay, let's finally talk about EPIC's Apollo

I feel very compelled to say, first of all, that I do not dislike Epic. In fact, I am very fond of Epic and have been following its production and status very eagerly! I attend all the launch streams, I watch all of Herrans' update videos; I am, at the end of the day, a fan and I want it to be known that my words are spoken out of love and passion as much as they are spoken from a place of critique.

So really, what my problem with Epic's Apollo?

In the briefest possible terms; the choice to have Apollo be defined by his musical aspect in God Games is thematically strange. And not in the 'oh well in the Odyssey, Apollo was important to Odysseus and his family so it's weird that that wasn't kept in Epic' strange, strange in the sense that Odysseus' character arc since My Goodbye has been getting more and more obviously Apollonian and so it is positively bizarre that when we get to meet Apollo, the god seems entirely disinterested in him and his affairs. So much so that he is not even defined by any station that would indicate that he has been watching over and protecting Odysseus and his family.

What do I mean by 'Odysseus has been following an Apollonian arc'? I'm so glad you asked!

Remember Them is the last song in which Odysseus explicitly uses his sword until Mutiny where he must use it to defend himself against Eurylochus' blade. He uses it to help enact the plan to conquer Polyphemus and, due to Polites dying in that battle, Polites who wished for Odysseus to put the blade down entirely and embrace a post-war life, Odysseus also retires his sword. This is an action that symbolically separates him from Athena - and the image of Odysseus as a traditional warrior set for him in Horse and Infant - as much as My Goodbye physically separates him from the goddess and her war-ways - from this point onwards, Odysseus will no longer be leaning on Athena's wisdom or methods to solve his problems. Likewise, he will no longer be able to rely on her protection.

Odysseus thusly solves most of his upcoming problems through diplomacy and avoidance. He approaches Aeolus - a strange and ambiguous god (both in gender and in motivation) and appeals to them for help. Circe too, he approaches not with wishes to conquer or for revenge, but for the safe returning of his men and an alternate way forward. In all of these scenarios, there is some Apollonian element which is subtly interweaved alongside the influence of other gods; it is with a bow and arrows that Polyphemus' sheep is slain (and thus it is this Apollonian element which is at the root of Odysseus' spat with Poseidon), it is a vision of Penelope that warns Odysseus that his men are about to open Aeolus' wind-bag, Circe's peace offering to Odysseus is to refer him to a prophet of Apollo who has since died.

In this way, Apollo is walking alongside Odysseus for all of his journey after Athena departs - even in the Underworld, he is guiding him. It is Tiresias' proclamation that is the last straw for Odysseus, it is by the power of a mouthpiece of Apollo that Odysseus decides to embrace his ruthlessness. It is with the bow and arrow that Odysseus subdues the siren who sought to trick him, likewise, Odysseus does not attempt to undermine or escape the fate of paying Scylla's passage price - he knows of the doom about to befall the six men and quite unlike the rest of the journey until this point, he does not fight against it. This all comes to a head on Thrinacia where it is a blade which sacrifices the sun god's cow and brings destruction upon the crew once more.

My point with all of this is that when I heard the teasers for God Games years ago, it made perfect sense to me that Apollo would be Round One - he is not Odysseus' adversary and has no reason to oppose Athena's wish to free him. From other teasers about what will happen in the climax of Epic, Apollo will still be walking alongside Odysseus - it is Apollo's bow that Penelope will give the suitors to string. Likewise, it is Apollo's bow that will prove Odysseus' legitimacy and identity. That bow will be the power by which Odysseus hunts his adversaries and cleans out his palace - it is Apollo who is the avatar of Odysseus' ruthlessness, not Athena.

So tell me, truly, what was the point of having Apollo raise a non-argument in God Games? Why have him appear unconcerned, aloof and slightly oblivious? Why have him appear in his capacity as the Lord of Music at all?? And if the intention was never to make Apollo an active player in Odysseus' life like he was in the Odyssey, why keep Odysseus as a primary archer?

The answer of course is that Apollo is inextricable from the fabric of the Odyssey - his influence and favour exudes from Odysseus just as much as Athena's. In Athena's ten year sulk, it would have been Apollo who kept Telemachus and Penelope safe. It would have been Apollo protecting Odysseus from Poseidon's gaze as he travelled the seas (according to the Odyssey anyway)

Forgive me for not being excited about something that I thought was being purposefully set up. I was extremely ecstatic about all of the little Apollonian details that litter the sagas because I know where this story ends up (loosely) but all God Games did was reveal that maybe those Apollonian details were not intentional at all, but merely the ghost of the Apollo who persistently haunts those he favours, even if he cannot explicitly come to their aide in an adaptation.

[orphiclovers]

Thoughts on yjh and body horror?

Hmm, some. I think Yoo Joonghyuk's whole deal is a lot more often about mental anguish as opposed to physical. Regression resets all his wounds and scars except the mental ones, so those are the ones that take a massive toll on him. 'Hell of Eternity' is hell because he can never escape his own memories. He is weak to mental attacks but his body is usually near indestructible.

Secretive Plotter's damage is the 'curse of immortality' and his only motivation is finding eternal rest, so that's all mental. Even outergodification is a mental process. Losing his appearence as a 'human' was a secondary side effect to losing his identity as 'Yoo Joonghyuk' and just asthetically speaking, turning into a shadow person isn't really 'body horror' to me, which I associate more with viscera and flesh, not cold and clean intangibility.

I'm not just bringing up SP because I have brain worms (also that) but because there is a specific regression that I think does exemplify 'body horror', and that's 999, baby!

Hear me out. I don't say this soley due to 999's lack of limbs, since there's nothing inherently horror about being an amputee (though removing his own eyes is a bit saw trap energy not going to lie) BUT because his was the one regression where his main problem wasn't mental - he had all his companions, was as happy as one could be in an apocalypse - but the fact that his physical body failed him. He didn't die in battle, but instead wasted away due to the 'outer world covenant'.

Kim Dokja might be self-sacrifical but this guy was on another level.

999 didn't hesitate to take hits for his companions, which is how he lost his limbs, and at the same time he borrowed an outer god's powers to win battles (I'm imaganing a chaos version of advent of a half-god) , which probably looked really epic, but unforunatley was at the expence of his soul. The covenant ate away at him piece by piece, and it's said his 'bloodstream went haywire until he couldn't walk or use his skills' (the translation was wonky here but you get it) which I take to mean he had some kind of cell damage, kind of like radiation or chemo.

This was a years long process, from when he first signed the Outer World Covenant up until the 99th scenario, and that whole time he kept borrowing those powers even though he saw it was killing him. What I mean is, it probably didn't look or feel great to see him falling apart, but the level of gore is reader's choice to imagine (anywhere from a tasteful coughing up blood and nosebleeds, to skin peeling off and hair falling out etc.).

Oh and since I know you would enjoy this, I'll say this too.

I don't think Secretive Plotter knew what he would do to 999.

He meant to save 999, not kill him.

This was almost assuredly his first Outer World Convenant, since I figure changing the 999th regression was the first thing he tried to do after he gained the ability to worldline hop/ had the tiniest bit of control over his outer god powers. He was still young and hopeful - 'foolish' as the Secrerive Plotter reminices. But he clearly fucked something up badly, maybe since he didn't have the clear grasp of probability manipulation that he developed in the next thousands of years or tried to directly change too much.

Canon era, he gives both KDJ and HSY a covenant just fine and they don't have any issues from it. (He's very careful to take the probability on himself - remember the finger thing?)

I wonder how horrified young SP was to see 999 destroying himself using SP as the method. Did he try to back out at some point, but couldn't due to the covenant? Did he try to make 999 stop, which he of course refused to do? I think about them a lot.

[freddie-77-ao3]

Riordanverse Characters As EPIC Lyrics

"I no longer dream, only nightmares of those who've died" is Clarisse after manhattan

"Whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from the heart" is Silena in general

"No matter the place, we can light up the world" is Lee and Luke, when they're dreaming of college right before Luke betrays them

"Time... I've unlocked it, I see past and future running free" is Rachel before manhattan, she sees all sorts of visions and doesn't know what's going on, just knows that it isn't happening now

"There is a world where I help you get home, but that's not a world I know" is Leo to Jason. If only he'd made it back just a bit sooner-- maybe jason wouldn't be dead

"A man who gets to make it home alive, but it's no longer you" is drew returning to camp after manhattan, and at the start of this war she was happy and bright, and now she's unrecognizable.

"I'm the only one who's line I haven't crossed"

"What if I'm the one who killed you, every time I caved to guilt"

"What if I've been far to kind to foes but a monster to ourselves"

"Learn to be colder when she got older, and now she saves them the pain" Drew refusing to let aphrodite kids fight. if people don't remember they CAN fight, they won't make them fight. if they're kept out of the worst of the battles... well. drew will have protected them in the way she can.

"Does he throw away his remorse and save more lives with guile"

"Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves" that's a general drew and malcolm idea that connor is opposed to but can't get through to them on

"i must become the monster, and then we'll make it home" percy in house of hades (especially with ahklys)

"I have something that I must confess, something that I must get off my chest, until it is said I cannot rest" silena, trying to tell clarisse she's the spy, before she resorts to the drastic pulling a patroclus

"No, i'm not a player, I'm a puppeteer" Drew Tanaka in general. like she won't fight. she'll watch from the sidelines, manipulate people into doing things, but she doesn't want to get her hands dirty again.

"Of course I'd like to leave now, of course I'd like to run, but I can hardly sleep now, knowing everything we've done" Connor, refusing to run away with Malcolm and Drew the night before a big battle (you choose if it's manhattan, the BOO, or a trials of apollo battle)

"Wouldn't you like a taste of the power, wouldn't you like to use more than words?" some new camper trying to convince drew to fight (and then promptly getting stabbed, because drew CAN fight, she just prefers charmspeak)

"I've got people to protect... so I'm not taking chances" silena on why she chose to join luke. like yeah she was groomed but she also honestly thought it would protect those closest to her.

"i still believe in goodness, I still believe that we could be kind" connor, trying to reason with malcolm, drew, or clarisse in war counsel (about the romans specifically)

"you are reckless, sentimental at best" ares to clarisse about her fighting in manhattan (her loved ones' deaths were the things motivating her and she told kronos to fight her so)

"I know what I'm fighting for, while you're fighting to be known" malcolm to annabeth in an argument early on.

"what good would killing do, when mercy is a skill, more of this world could learn to use?" connor again, probably about the romans.

"the blood we shed, it never dries, is this what it means to be a warrior" sherman praying to his father, (he was so paralyzed by guilt after the battle of manhattan he would have nightmares about being covered in blood again and just throw up), (this is when he loses faith)

"this life is amazing when you greet it with open arms, whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from the heart"

"i'd like to show my friend that kindness is brave" silena about clarisse

"Have you forgotten to turn off your heart?" clarisse to silena

bolded are chb in general

[dangermousie]

Here is my subjective ranking of all the costume trailers iQIYI released (since I didn’t watch moderns or republican stuff they posted) note - not only is it subjective, it is just the trailers which often does not correlate with either quality of or my interest in the drama itself.

11 Go East - I am vvvv fond of Tan Jianci but this was the only trailer that bored me. It wasn’t bad, it just gave me NO hook of any kind. It’s a pity since this was one of the very few historical trailers (as opposed to wuxia, xianxia etc) and I love those. This said, trailers and dramas often don’t correlate so I hope the drama is good.

10 Reborn for Love - half this trailer is cutesy hijinks and I am just not wired for that. By the time the trailer was halfway over, I found myself thinking that if it wasn’t for leads, I’d not check it out. But the back half has blood and romance and I sat up and paid attention.

9 Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Red Moon Pact - I wanted to be more excited for this than I was. I love the cast. But even in comparison with the trailers for the other two entries in the series it looks…generic. I don’t truly get the vibe or the story. It’s nice but doesn’t grab me.

8 Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Sword and Beloved - it’s gorgeous and intense and screams fantasy romance and Cheng Yi fighting and bleeding. Pay your taxes, everyone!

7 Fox Spirit Matchmaker: Love in Pavillion - the visuals, the vibe, the angsty love feel, the colors! That trailer was my fave out of Fox ones. I need this drama now!

6 Strange Tales of Liao Zhai 2 - I haven’t seen s1 and mysteries (even supernatural ones) aren’t my thing. But the visuals in that trailer are insane and I spy with my little eye Yang Xuwen as one of two mains and the man owns my heart for Eternal Brotherhood and he brings his young Hu Ge vibes here too!

5 Win or Die - this baby is apparently only 18 eps and is all war war war but it’s a Cao Dun drama so the visuals are eye popping. It’s just stunning to look at tbh and sometimes (a lot of times), I want a grim war epic.

4 The Legend of Rosy Clouds - this trailer just grabbed me for some reason - it really makes you want to watch these people. It’s not visually amazing compared to the rest but it’s just dragging me in. In fact, while this isn’t my favorite trailer, out of all the dramas they promoed, this is the one I want to actually watch the most. I used to love the anime so maybe that’s why?

3 Snowy Night: Timeless Love - all the snow and the longing and the battles and we all know we will see red blood on that pristine white soon enough.

2 Love of the Divine Tree - it’s very very pretty and has so much shipping and angst and I have a huge 17 hangover so seeing Deng Wei with similar vibes is sending me. Honestly, my fantasy romance junkie is thirsting.

1 Fangs of Fortune - if someone told me a trailer for a drama full of actors I don’t care for would be my favorite, I’d not have believed it but here we are. This is fantasy and visuals and hooking you done right. I need this NOW!

ETA; I forgot follow your heart OMG! That’s my most fave except for Fangs of Fortune!

ETA2: and A Moment But Forever - I would rank it just behind snowy love.

[ozziethegreat]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but what are your Delta headcanons? :D

HIII THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!

so I am usually terrified of these questions because of my crippling social anxiety, but I love Delta too much to NOT yap about him..

Alright so I’ve seen some other people (howls and sandee) talk about how he would have toxic masculinity and have difficulty dealing with emotions. I COMPLETELY agree with this, he absolutely would.

He would most definitely overwork himself in an attempt to prove his bravery and whatnot. He gets himself badly hurt in fights and proceeds to brush it off because he doesn’t want to look weak. (Loser)

So I like to headcannon that he eventually gets a service dog to help him with this issue, since the injuries were very inconvenient, and Epic and Color were worried for his physical and mental health.

If he ever overwhelms himself by running around and constantly helping people, the dog would do its job and force him to take a break :3

(I drew him with the doggy once) (its name is Zorox) (take a guess why)

Anyway obviously he would be opposed to the idea of a service animal because “that’s stupid, service animals are for disabled people, I’m perfectly fine” but Color and Epic forced him to for his own good.

He grew fond of the dog after a while, and accepted the idea since it was actually helping him.

-

Anyway enough of the dog, I wanna talk about him and Color.. 😣

So basically I’ve drawn ship art of them and I’d like to say I headcannon them as exes. Howls at some point said they could have been roommates in the Omega Timeline and I’ve just stuck with that because I’m not original.

I think the isolation Color went through made him very touch starved, and he attached to Delta because he was one of the first people he saw after a long time.

Delta, on the other hand, in general is a very social and friendly person (in his own ways), so he was just nice talkative to Color as he is to most people.

Anyway I think they dated because roommates lore /j

It ended up not working because Delta wasn’t very good with relationships, and his personality and morals clashed with Color’s. They broke up and stayed on good terms as friends 😋😋

-

As for Delta and Bravery, the two are literally just besties.

I think Delta initially had a father/kid relationship with Frisk, and he was extremely crushed when he failed to save them. It was like losing a kid basically, and he probably forced himself to help people all over to make up for his mistakes.

He ended up exhausting himself, and Core found him when he was having a mental crisis due to all of the guilt and stress he was put through, and he was later relocated at the OT.

As for Bravery, as Delta was recovering from his little guilt trip, he got to know the kid better and learned about who they were, their backstory, how they died.

He felt bad at first, convincing himself that he was just trying to replace Frisk to get over their death, but Bravery urged him not to have those thoughts because he wasn’t being “brave.”

Whining about the past wasn’t something a brave person would do. He should move on because dwelling on it wasn’t going to help him get better, or stronger.

Poor Bravery accidentally convinced him to push down his feelings 😭😭

But other than that, they just act like father and kid all the time, like best friends. Bravery offers him battle advice, keeps him from falling apart when things go wrong, and they work as a team.

In return, Delta takes the kids places they always wanted to see, lets them try new things, basically just letting them experience being a curious kid again, as they died WAY too early.

okay I’m done yapping because my phone’s about to die and it’s almost my curfew at camp 😣😣

PLEASE add to this if yall have more headcannons I love him :3

Delta belongs to animatedzorox

[cg11555]

On Ankarna

BLeeM said the Rage God's name for the first time, and because I'm certifiably insane, my first thought was damn isn't that a Hindu demigod? Then it came to me, the Hindu epic the Mahabharata. OF WHICH KARNA IS A MAJOR PROTAGANIST AND TRAGIC HERO!!!!!

Now, I don't know who here is familliar with the plot of the Mahabharata but if you're not I'll do a quick TLDR so you don't have to google.

The epic follows two opposing factions of cousins vying for power. The crux of this power struggle centers around the line of succession. These two factions are the Pandavas and Kauravas. The Kauravas are the senior line in the order of succession but the Pandavas' eldest member is older then the Kauravas' eldest member. The whole epic details the conflict through births, deaths, and MARRIAGES. In the end, The Pandavas ascend to the throne.

This is important for us because of the demigod Karna a member of the Kauravas faction. WHO IS THE SON OF THE SUN GOD SURYA. ALSO - in Hindu his name translates to - Husk Of A Grain - . This guy is a tragic hero who falls in the final battle. He narratively is important in the epic because he serves the purpose of bringing up Dharma ( the Indian religious ideal of actions that serve the purpose of upholding life and balance in the universe ) This guy is a flawed hero that is an archetype for any protaganist that suffers through rejection as a result of circumstances, ( HIs mom Abandons his ass Moses style bc she was 16 and pregnant )

NOW, we have to connect this info to a dnd campaign on the internet.

Ankarna is a God that has lost their original domain (Summer / Sun) presumbly at the same time as their wife Cassandra (Doubt / Night). Both of them are corrupted into perversions of their original states. Cassandra becomes the Nightmare King and rules over Fear and Terror. We are currently unaware of what emotion that Ankarna started with before their shift to rage (I've seen some people on here provide very good cases for conviction). Ankarna begins as a member of the Giant Pantheon and sibling of Ruvina ( Goddess of winter and sorrow that was worshipped by Lucy Frostblade ) At some point in their story they lost this original domain and became Fiendish and was stationed over rage. We see a mirror of this relationship between Ankarna and Ruvina in Cassandra ( Night / Doubt -> Fear ) and Galicaea ( moon ). Most importantly, we know now that Sol is Cassandra and Galicaea's brother.

Reviewing these facts, I believe that there was a war over who would hold domain over the sun ( Sol or Ankarna ) and Sol won. After their loss the other gods sundered Cassandra and Ankarna names from existence to stop them from rising again and threatening their power, mirroring the central confict of the Mahabharata.

Here's an insane person theory that I also have relating to this

As previously stated, Karna means husk of grain in Hindu. Going off the idea that Ankarna was sundered from existence by Sol IT IS POSSIBLE that he was absorbed into Sol's domain and instead of morphing into something similar to the Nightmare King they Became Helio. This is a crazy idea so feel free to disregard.

[best-nun-tournament]

Round 1, Match 17

Zhou Zhiruo (Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre) vs Mercedes von Martritz (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Zhou Zhiruo is a Buddhist nun of the Emei sect.

Mercedes von Martritz is a nun of the Church of Saint Seiros at Garreg Mach Monastery.

Zhou Zhiruo

Arguably the central antagonist of HSDS, an epic novel adapted into multiple 40+ episode TV series. Most powerful female character in HSDS. Using Nine Yin White Bone Claw at a tournament for the position of leader of the Wulin she defeated every other martial artist who came and was crowned leader of the martial arts world.

Mercedes von Martritz

Mercedes was born to the fallen House Martritz and bore a minor Crest of Lamine, a special type of blood that gave it's bearer enhanced abilities. Her father died shortly afterwards and Mercedes' mother remarried into House Bartels, giving birth to Emile von Bartels, who also had a minor Crest of Lamine. Mercie's stepfather was uncaring and only married for his new wife's crest which led to said wife's departure from House Bartels. She ran away with only her eldest child to the Kingdom, where Mercedes would really start her own life as a student of Fhirdiad's Royal School of Sorcery. There, she befriended Annette Fantine Dominic and both girls would later attend Garreg Mach Monastery together. Mercedes is a kind soul with a soft voice and the ability to speak her mind. She's the eldest student attending the Officer's Accademy and takes it upon herself to be a shoulder of support for her classmates, no matter their origin. When the timeskip hits, Mercie returns in a nun's garb and expresses reinforced belief in the Church, even in the route where you fight against the Archbishop. I find her extremely fascinating due to her sub-plot with her brother, Emile. Mercedes held deep regret for leaving her brother behind in House Bartels despite not knowing that he had chosen to stay behind to protect her and her mother. Emile later returns as The Death Knight, a general under the Flame Emperor's command and his story with his sister changes depending on the player's route. Should the player oppose the Flame Emperor, Emile and Mercie can reunite briefly, with The Death Knight granting Mercedes a relic that can only be operated by their Crest before dying in her arms in a later battle, happy to be with his family once again. In the event that the player does side with the Flame Emperor, The Death Knight becomes playable alongside his sister, revealing thatthe years spent in House Bartels changed him, giving rise to two distinct personalities: Jeritza von Hyrm and The Death Knight. Jeritza had been a teacher at Garreg Mach, serving as a spy to the Flame Emperor while The Death Knight quelled his bloodlust under the Flame Emperor's orders. In this route, Mercedes reaches out to both Jeritza and The Death Knight as their elder sister and the exchanges they have are some of my favorites in Fire Emblem history. Also Mercie is bisexual and both M!player and F!player can marry her in the end, regardless of route. Love her for that

[twigstarpikachutroll22]

Okay, so. Towa is a great character. I can’t say I don’t like her, she’s sweet, she’s precious, she got abducted and brainwashed and upon being freed has to recover from the trauma of it and feeling terrible for what she did while brainwashed, it’s all done well for sure.

However. I feel like there is some serious missed potential.

One of the things that interested me most about her as Princess Twilight was her having this whole idea of what it means to be a princess that was completely different from the Cures’. It was really interesting to see those opposing mindsets and philosophies on the whole concept of being a princess go head to head. There was that one really epic battle where they seriously got into some of that, and that was really good, I wanted to see more of that, there was more to dig into on that whole subject, I wanted to see that explored further and I wanted to see how she could be brought around to the Precures’ perspective.

So I was really kinda disappointed when her whole mindset turned out to be entirely instilled by brainwashing, and as soon as the brainwashing was broken all of that was immediately gone and she was immediately a completely different person so we just didn’t have to deal with any of it any further. I really can’t help feeling robbed.

The recovery arc we got for Towa as-is really is great, it is, but like.

Imagine this instead.

Imagine: When Dyspear lures in Towa as a little kid, she suppresses her memories as done in canon. But after that, instead of simply brainwashing a new personality into her, she (and possibly the rest of Dysdark) “raises” her as Princess Twilight for several years, “training” her to be what she is when we first get to meet her. So all of that is built up organically.

Then the Precures and Kanata manage to break through the magic that suppressed her memories of her life before Dysdark. Allowing her to remember originally being Towa, and remember what having dreams and human connection and happiness and stuff are like. But everything built up from her years with Dyspear isn’t gone. She now has those memories in addition to all that. And so now she has some serious internal conflict struggling to reconcile it all. And it gives her Doubts about her mother figure and her teachings and the cause she’s fighting for and everything, ultimately making her not want to be part of Dysdark anymore, ultimately leading to her joining the Cures, but there still has to be a process of unlearning a bunch of stuff.

Wouldn’t that have been so SO cool to see? It really, really pains me that we didn’t get that.

[yandere-romanticaa]

Anna. Give it to me straight. As an Otome loving gal, out of 10 rate your top 3 Ikemen games and a brief description of WHY you’d recommend them? I see you talking about Ikemen and I wanna get into it but I don’t know yet.

Ok so, this is the order I started playing them because in truth, all of the Ikemen games are good in my opinion.

❤️ IKEMEN SENGOKU.

This was, I believe, my first ever otome!! I actually started playing it because I saw that the voice actor for one of my top anime husbands, Mikaela Hyakuya, was in this game so I was SOLD, I just went in blindly.

I never turned back though.

In this game, through a freak accident the MC ends up going back in time to the Sengoku era and meets the actual warlords such as Oda Nobunaga, Mitsuhide Akechi and many others. She is trying to find a way to go back home and not fall in love with any of the warlords. Now, in case you don't know, the Sengoku era was the era in which Japan was united which meant that there was a lot of war and battling, which gives this game a bit of edge. All of the characters have this epic air to them, everything they do is for the greater good but then the MC shows up and just fucks it all up with her presence jahahaah

Personally, I'd give it a 7/10. Solid game but not quite as good as some other games. There is also a bonus to learn a little bit about Japanese history lmao!!

❤️ IKEMEN VAMPIRE.

Ah, here we are, to my personal favorite.

I'm biased, I'm a sucker for vampires, okay? I also find it so hilarious how this game takes some of the most famous people in history and turns them into cute anime boys which you can date. Seriously, just what game allows you to date Napoleon Bonaparte or Mozart?? Well, it's this one!! Here, the MC follows a mysterious man, Comte, through a door that sends her back in time to 19th century France. That's not all though!! She is stuck in a mansion full of these historical figures, who all happened to be hot vampires! They're all there for a reason and it's bloody amazing.

Can you tell that I love this game? Because I fucking love this game.

In my objective opinion, it's either 8.5ish/10, maybe even 9/10. I'm not good at rating, my apologies. But since I'm biased, I'll give it 10/10. I'm in love, leave me alone.

❤️ IKEMEN PRINCE.

This might just be the best game yet. The writing is very good here, it feels as though the developers keep pouring more and more love into each new game that comes out.

In this game, the MC lives in the fictional kingdom of Rhodolite. Whenever the ruler dies, a maiden with a fair and pure heart is selected to become "Belle", who has the duty of selecting the next ruler of the nation. She must become close with all of the candidates and understand them well in order to pick the right ruler. The catch?

Once the king is selected, Belle is not allowed to have any contact with the new king. Bummer, am I right?

There's a plethora of princes to choose from, even some from opposing kingdoms. My own bias is creeping in oopsie, but Gilbert is a treat. So is Kieth tbh. The world feels very real and fleshed out, there's always SOMETHING happening in the background which makes this game feel more alive, if that makes sense.

Dare I say, this game is a 10/10.

✨ PRO TIP! - For all of these games, if a character has different colored eyes, he's most likely a yandere.

[ryotaiku]

I beat Final Fantasy XVI

This game is pretty divided among players. It's entirely action-oriented as opposed to being turn-based, it's the first mainline entry to receive a big ol' M rating (and boy does it deserve one), and FF's place in the industry in general is a pretty hot topic right now. Square Enix has stated FFXVI hasn't met sales expectations (coming from a company who sold off their biggest IPs to try getting into NFTs a year too late), and fans have been dooming pretty hard about the future of the franchise. I even saw one guy say the only FF fans today are people who were teenagers when VII came out.

But speaking as someone who wasn't even conceived when VII came out, FFXVI has been the most fun I've had with a mainline entry since XI. I went in expecting this to be decent at best and it ended up exceeding those expectations quite a bit.

My one complaint, and pretty much everyone's biggest complaint, is a lack of character variety. For pretty much all of the game you only play as one dude, but the companions all do a bunch of cool things that make me wish I could play as them too. Even in the Eikon fights, the big epic Kaiju battles shown in the game's title art & marketing, you only get to control the same Eikon in every single fight.

Even with that missed opportunity, I loved playing XVI and will most likely go back to try the DLC at some point. Stranger of Paradise is probably the best action-oriented FF, but XVI can still stand all on its own.

[theoutcastrogue]

[D&D PLAYTEST] Pleasant surprise: 5.5 is actually getting good! And in combat I can FINALLY do something more exciting than "hit it again"

So this was my biggest issue with 5e: when I play a character who's good at hitting things, as opposed to flinging spells at things, I want to do cool shit! I love tactical combat, and I can't stand it when "I hit it again" is the only option of a martial character. Everyone should have options, but especially the Rogue. (I'm biased, yes, but the Rogue is conceptually the one class that fights dirty.) And disappointingly, not even the Swashbuckler got manoeuvres in 5e. For everyone other than Battle Masters and monks with Stunning Strike, our only options in 2014 were a measly Shove / Grapple / Disarm IN PLACE of an attack (for many of us, our only attack), and that was WITH optional DMG features. And Tasha's additions were only a marginal improvement.

You couldn't impose conditions with an attack, which, from a simulation aspect, is just silly. Any two-bit caster could do the craziest shit with spells, but an epic level martial couldn't even say "I hit 'em so hard or so deftly that they got a headache". For the most part, they could only say "I hit it again" and deal damage. And I hate that. It's boring. I even had an unfinished homebrew project of Called Shots, where you could spend a resource to do interesting shit with your attacks (give 'em disadvantage, make 'em dazed, reduce speed, that sort of thing). For Rogues, that resource was Sneak Attack dice. And guess what! In the latest version of the 5.5 playtest, WE GET THAT!

Can I get a fuck yeah, and also a fucking finally.

It's not an automatic win button, and that's good! I don't want win buttons (that's also boring), I want options. Cunning Strike is situationally useful, and that's ideal: if it's always good, you'd do it every time (so why isn't it a standard rule?), and if it's always bad, you'd never do it (so why does it exist at all?). If it's potentially good, depending on the situation, it means I get to THINK what I'm gonna do on my turn, and that's such a joy.

For years now, the only combat decisions my Rogues made in 5e were about movement/positioning, and how to get advantage. And co-ordinating with the others, which always happens, I mean it's a group game. But I had very little to contribute in that department other than flanking, I usually just waited for THEM to help ME to get advantage or something.

With this feature (which I'll be stealing as is, regardless of what happens to the playtest, or if I'm gonna adopt 5.5 as a whole or not), I can set up moves for others, I can impose conditions, so many things. Plus, it's customisable. Now that this basic framework is in place, anyone can fiddle with it and come up with new effects that fit their game and style. (I am NOT in favour of perfect rulesets that cover all bases, needs, and preferences, since that's an impossible and silly thing to ask. I am in favour of solid frameworks, that can be easily tweaked and built upon.) So I am ecstatic. I don't have to hit it again every time! Holy shit!

This is not a blanket endorsement of "One D&D" (I'll keep calling it 5.5, thankyouverymuch). It's still a work in progress, I haven't even read all of it in yet, and I do have issues with it, big and small. (And if my favourite class was the Monk, I'd be thumbs down right now: this one needs a lot of work, oof.) But with Weapon Mastery rules (another interesting development for martial characters), and better feats, and with this enormous improvement, I feel that some of the fundamental problems I had with 5e get... kinda solved. The new Rogue simply KICKS ASS. The whole class, not just Cunning Strike, it's a huge improvement. [Go read it, here's the PDF link.]

It's not overpowered, mind you. In terms of damage output it still lags behind Fighters and Barbarians and whathaveyou (which I'm perfectly okay with: Rogues are experts and skillmonkeys, they got stuff to do out of combat, meanwhile Barbarians have ONE JOB so they better be scary good at it), and full casters still slay. It just does cool shit, and I ask you: why do we even bother with the fuckton of combat rules in D&D if not to do cool shit?

See treantmonk's video below for a nice breakdown of the new Rogue. It's a few months old, and a couple of things have been revised since then: there's no "Arcane" spell list any more, so the Arcane Trickster presumably reverts to the Wizard spell list, and the Weapon Mastery rules are slightly different now. But they're very minor changes, and all the conclusions, with which I wholeheartedly agree, stand: this is simply FANTASTIC.

[softquietsteadylove]

Hi! Can you please do the eternal/human au but with thena being human and gil as the eternal this time, please? Your stories are so good!

Thena somewhat glanced to her right as someone else also sat down at the museum bench. She was looking up at one of her favourite relics--an old tablet potentially depicting one of the earliest examples of The Epic of Gilgamesh. She sighed. "Is this really about you?"

He sighed, his hands in the pockets of his black bomber jacket. "It's not the real story. Just something Sprite made up to make me sound like a jerk."

Thena looked up at the tablet again. "The Tyrant King in one of humanity's earliest tales, but you go by Gil?"

He shrugged his massive shoulders. "It's easier than Gilgamesh."

Thena looked at him more properly. She was very familiar with the face of the apparently immortal man next to her. Of course, she had thought he was a very mortal, very human person, just like herself. She had thought he was sweet, if a little shy, and that he just had a special interest in the history of the ancient world.

A very human man who had asked her out, and she had said yes.

"Were you okay?" Gilgamesh asked her more quietly, even given the echously silent exhibit. "Did anything happen close to here?"

"No," she admitted just as secretively. She looked at her hands on her lap over her pencil skirt. "We felt some tremors, but I suppose you took care of things at the epicentre."

Gilgamesh squirmed in his seat.

She had been watching the news, knowing that he was closer to the centre of the city at the farmer's market. The footage was shaky, and the world was acclimating to strange and wild events more and more rapidly. But still, seeing some deviant beast running around London was certainly a shock.

Even more so when the news footage seemed to capture the blurry image of an incredibly strong looking man, literally punching said monster straight through the skull. His face was still a mystery, but he didn't have the average build, certainly. And Thena had known right away that it was Gil.

"Are you a wizard?"

"Pfft, no," he scoffed, waving his hand in the air to dismiss it. "We've seen those guys pop up all over the place, but I wouldn't call what we do 'magic' in any way."

"Then what do you call it?"

Her sharp question landed as intended, and he sighed again. He turned somewhat on the opposite side of the bench from her. She eyed him. "Cosmic Energy."

"So you're an alien?"

"Uh, I guess I don't have a better word for it," he made a face, finally pulling his hands out of his pockets to fidget. He scratched at the hair on his chin. "Eternals is what we're called, uh, officially--I guess. We've been on earth for..."

They both looked up at the tablet again, describing the strength and might of 'Gilgamesh' the tyrant.

He rolled his eyes, "I guess you know, give or take a thousand years."

Thena did look at him more now, as opposed to glaring at him from the corner of her eye. He looked truly contrite, and she knew that he wasn't particularly comfortable with little white lies. Apparently larger ones were more necessary though. "So when you said you could 'really picture yourself' in the battle of Troy, or the siege of Alexandria-"

"I mean we couldn't be everywhere at once," he excused for himself, his smile convincing neither of them. He gave it up rather quickly, sagging again. "But, uh, yeah."

They fell into silence, Gil in particular struggling for what to say next. Thena looked around the museum. She had always been so entrenched in history from all over the globe. The museum felt more like home than her cold and neglected one bedroom flat ever did. And when she had first thought Gil was quite like a walking historic encyclopedia - like a walking piece of history - perhaps she hadn't been so far off.

"So," she started in what she hoped wasn't too bitter a tone of voice, "why talk to me?"

Maybe it didn't work, because Gilgamesh certainly looked like she had screamed and slapped him across the face.

"Or do you make a habit of chatting up humans?" she added, and that part was more acerbic. This wasn't even about their relationship, or the lie of who he was at his core, or even his species.

"Thena," he pleaded, sounding like she had stabbed him through the heart. Would that even kill him?

But she did feel bad. Against her better judgement, she regretted that she had hurt his feelings. She huffed, mostly at herself, "I would think befriending humans would be dangerous for you."

"It can be."

She looked at the honest confession in time to see the sad slouch in his posture.

"We outlive basically everything, and we have to move pretty often, especially with wifi and phones and stuff, now. We don't usually get to really meet or get to know people anymore."

Gil had said Eternals, plural, and she had heard him discuss a few names like 'Sprite' or 'Kingo' before, implying he had some kind of kin or at least some of his own as friends. She didn't know these other Eternals, but knowing what of Gilgamesh she did, she had to imagine that it was hard for him.

Gil was sweet, and charismatic and gentle. And he seemed to genuinely love getting to hold the door open for people, or helping someone elderly with their bags or petting stray cats. He seemed to thrive most when he was surrounded by life, no matter how fragile or temporary it was--how mortal it was.

"I ended up here to keep my sister some company after," Gil slipped his hands back into his pockets, a sign of uncomfortability in both mortals and immortals, evidently. "She and her husband had a split, I guess you could say. I didn't want her to be alone, so I moved here a few years ago. It was just going to be for a decade or so, then maybe we'd go our separate ways again or maybe we'd move on somewhere else together."

Just a decade or so, he said.

"But then," he looked at her with a soft smile, and unfortunately it still made her heart skip. "I met you."

She forced herself to frown at that.

"I didn't mean to," he confessed, and she wasn't sure if that made it better or worse. "Sersi told me all about the museum here, and to see all the stuff people have gotten right or wrong over the years. She met some human, which I told her not to. I guess I can't really say anything about it now, though."

He truly did sound like a brother disapproving of his sister's boyfriend. And he truly didn't have any leg to stand on now, either. "Was it because of Sersi-"

"No, no," he shook his head and looked at her all soft eyed again. "It's not because of anything. It was...it was because of your eyes."

"My eyes?" she felt the need to repeat aloud. It sounded like a cheesy pickup line, or something from a tawdry romance novel. But she supposed that if Gilgamesh had heightened senses, perhaps he would be able to discern her eye colour from an unreasonable distance.

"I used to look out over the water all the time," he recounted, even turning to look at a painting on another wall. "My favourites were always really calm and green and sparkly."

Damn this man and his charming words.

He tilted his head back in her direction. "I was just gonna ask you some dumb question to chat a little and then leave. But then you got so passionate when I asked you the wrong thing on purpose."

She pursed her lips faintly. He had - deliberately? - asked her about the 'Minerva' statue they had, and where in Greece it had been made. It had immediately irked her that he had gotten the Roman name for her right, then the location also right, but in direct conflict with the other half of his question. Surely if he knew the name Minerva, he knew that was not what they called her in Greece--Athens, of all places!

Then he had asked her name, and she had to explain that Thena was not some nickname but her actual, legal name. The thought had charmed him and...and they kept talking from there.

He had picked just the right topic to get her to unload her entire master's degree of knowledge upon him, and he had eagerly listened to all of it. Most would flee partway through, but he had happily followed her around basically the whole floor as she recounted the many details and secrets and misinformation about her expertise.

And he had come back the next day for more.

"I loved hearing you talk about it," he whispered, moving a little closer now that he felt he could. "You were so passionate about it. I could really remember some of those times, and what I couldn't remember, I felt like I could imagine with how you described it."

"Thena, I just loved talking with you. I loved asking you silly questions, I loved you correcting me about stuff. I especially loved when we got interrupted that one time for your real job, and you offered me your card in case I had more questions."

He had pretended to have more questions. And they did actually end up texting that way. And then making plans that weren't just him showing up at her workplace. And then those plans became dates. They'd had five dinner dates and two lunches, and two coffees, although one of those had still been under the guise of their shared love of history.

"I wanted to get to know you more."

Even if he knew he would inevitably have to leave her life in a matter of months, if not years. It was a petty and bitter reaction, but maybe that was the truest way she felt about it; that he would have had to abandon her sooner than later. He thought those consequences were worth the risk, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it.

Because she didn't want to lose him, thinking about it now. And the fact that she now knew that she would have to no matter the future was a slap in the face of her own.

"No matter how soon you would have had to leave London for a small lifetime?" she accused, using the adrenaline in her system to drown out the pain she was feeling.

But Gil didn't turn away from her scathing demand. He looked at her with those eyes that she had always seen as holding more than he ever said within. He clasped his hands in front of him, resting on his knees. "After meeting you, I didn't know if I could."

Thena looked down at her lap again as well. It had been a few months since she'd met Gil. And if what he said was true, he hadn't intended on staying in London long, let alone permanently. She wasn't sure how long he had been here before meeting her, either. But Sersi's relationship with Dane was no more than a year old, by now.

"Sersi asked me," he laughed dryly. "She asked if I knew what I was getting myself into, which was rich, coming from her."

He sounded exactly like a protective brother.

"I said I totally had it under control," he laughed at himself, which was something she - foolishly - found so charming about him. "No worries, y'know, so I made a friend, so what? It would be good for me. Next thing I know, I bought my first phone just so I could text you."

She stared. "You didn't have a phone before?"

He waved his hand dismissively again, and maybe she could see why a few of his mannerisms really seemed more like that of an old man than a gentleman in his late forties at most. "Sersi's been trying to convince me. She's so addicted to hers it's ridiculous. She even made an instagram! I told her she would just have to delete it in a few years but-!"

Thena held back a laugh as he cut himself off. "Should I feel honoured, or even more betrayed?"

It had been half joking and half serious, but Gil took on that sad, wounded expression again. "You have every right to feel that way. But Thena, I swear on all the time I have left: I chose to stay, so I could be close to you. I wanted to spend whatever time we could have together...with you."

It was a humbling admission. She didn't quite want to imagine the heavier implications of that. The idea of Gil never aging while she slowly became an old woman beside him. Or did he have some kind of magic, or Cosmic Energy rather, that would help with that? It sounded like Sersi had accepted the consequences of her dalliance with a human.

Gil had asked her if she would want to go to dinner with Sersi and Dane as a couple. Although now all she could think of was the two Eternals smiling on as their humans chatted away about trivial human things.

"Thena, please," Gil slid closer again, taking her hand in his. "I know I sound insane, and I don't blame you if you say you want nothing to do with me after this. But I never lied when I told you liked you, or that I wanted to spend the rest of my days listening to you talk about South American architecture, or Grecian olive harvesting, or the Guptan Empire."

Thena squeezed her eyes shut, feeling tears in them. Gil swooped forward pulling her closer to him, always eager to comfort. He pressed his lips to her temple.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I never meant for you to get hurt."

She believed that. Because Gil would never be capable of wishing harm on her. He probably wasn't capable of really wishing it on anyone, except maybe Sersi's ex-husband. She wouldn't have believed him capable of causing harm either, until the news today.

"If I could trade the rest of my forever for one more day with you, I would."

Maybe that was easy to say for someone who really did have a forever. She looked at him, wild in the eyes.

"Sorry," he whispered, looking away from her. He gave her cheek another kiss before releasing her slowly. "I'll give you time to think. If...if you don't want to talk anymore, I'll understand. But if I don't hear from you in a few days, can I at least come check if you're okay?"

She nodded, completely without the words to ask him to stay. He took it though, nodding back and then walking towards the far exit of the museum floor. She could hear his steps the whole way, although her heart felt like it was pounding at the inside of her skull.

She had a lot to think about. Aliens and monsters and immortal Eternals who had been on Earth for thousands of years. Did this have anything to do with how half of the earth's population vanished in the blink of an eye those years ago? Did they also blip? Could they?

She had so much to think about, so much to worry about. And the only person she wanted to talk to about it all just left.

[fromtheboundlesssea]

HotD Season 2 Episode 1 Live Watch Thoughts

Yay recap! I missed you Emily and Milly!

The recap really does make it obvious that Alicent thinks she is following Viserys’ will.

Mysaria you did nothing to put Aegon on the throne. You did diddly squat that season.

I’m still blown they had Rhaenyra’s coronation at her daughter’s funeral.

Now onto the actual episode.

Ooooooo this opening is SOOOOOO MUCH COOLER!

I think it’s showing off what will happen during the season? Last season?

Opening is soooo much cooler than season 1 and all of Game of Thrones!

I beg you HBO! Keep this style of opening next season and all season!!!!!!

Love the contrast of the epicness of the opening to the quiet forest with a crow flying upon the wind.

“Duty is sacrifice” okay Cregan—mister I will show up last minute.

What has the seven kingdoms done for you really?

Was that SARA?!?!?

Is that adding to the watch from lore in the books or…

Random Stark boy be cute though.

Thank god they let Jace’s actor have his natural curls. So much better than that wig.

Cregan really is missing a beard. I think that is what is odd about his appearance.

The Conqueror went North to the Wall? I can’t remember that happening.

Jace… he bent the knee to not let his people burn. It wasn’t because they necessarily believed in the Targaryens and their right to rule.

Jace’s actor is 100% going to be used for Jon Snow faceclaims and gifs from these scenes.

I guess they are going to delete Sara, which kind of sucks tbh. I wanted Jace to have some conflict where he follows in his mother’s idea of lust and duty or goes against it.

“The mother grieves as the Queen shirks her duties” so like Viserys

Call him out Rhaenys. You deserved better when it came to your children.

Rhaenyra has no battle experience on her dragon and Syrax has no battle experience either. Aemond would not be in any trouble.

“Would that you were the king” OOF. He is going to be rattled by that for sure.

Power to Rhaenyra for not scorching Storm’s End tbh.

Honestly, I love the Velaryons so much. I wish we had more content about them in the shows.

I like that Corlys does seem to care about Luke. I just wish he showed just as much care about his granddaughters. I don’t think they’ve had any scenes together thus far.

So, is Alyn Corlys’ son in this or are they making no familial connection? And he married Baela and had an affair with her niece doesn’t he?

Oooo the same gate Otto left Alicent is the same gate the Green soldiers seem to come.

Love the scorpions. I wonder if they were suggested by Criston or if they just had them. They’re Dornish inventions right.

HELAENA MY GIRL! Is that a golden dragon you’re making?

JAEHAERA! MY CHILD!

Aw! Aegon checking on Jaehaera first before asking about Jaehaerys.

Okay, wow. Okay, having Alicent being eaten out. I wish their first time would have been after B&C where they are consumed by a need for comfort.

Interesting how we see Criston put on his armor after and Alicent helping him with his armor (giving him his cloak where Rhaenyra took it) and her clocking his shift in title and setting a boundary as opposed to Rhaenyra allowing him to assume (not fully blaming her btw).

JAEHAERYS! MY OTHER BABY

Aegon smiling at Jaehaerys 🥰

Tyland trying to be kind with he little prince while being annoyed.

Not Alicent blaming Tyland for the interruptions. 🤣

Here comes our new war criminal.

Aegon giving Aemond a place in the same way Viserys gave Daemon a place.

Me too Aegon. I am also like that when Otto talks.

I wish they gave an explanation of the balls. Have they given any in the BTS stuff?

Yes she was indisposed Larys you perverted creep.

Alicent definitely does not like that Larys chose her new staff. It feels controlling.

Why does Rhaenyra have ash on her face?

Appropriate fear of dragon.

That cgi of Rhaenyra getting off Syrax was awkward. Was that just me?

I hope they give Emma better writing this season, because they are an excellent actor.

RHAENYRA BUNCHING UP THE CLOTH TO HER BELLY!!!! 😭😭😭😭

Not Aegon and his crew sashaying in.

Interesting having Aegon being shown to handle matters of the kingdom before Rhaenyra is shown doing so. It’s an odd choice, especially him initially wanting to be helpful.

Hugh? However you spell it? Is it the dragon seed? Just a common name?

Interesting how we do not see him getting cut.

Starting Aegon as listening to the smallfolk in a way Rhaenyra dismissed is also interesting.

Love Aegon ready to dismiss Larys.

No Aegon do not listen to him. Yes I think Otto is not the best person, but Larys is not the best person to listen to either.

I wish we saw Alicent with the children or her with their things in her room.

Alicent defending her kids. That’s right. Because Otto has seemingly done nothing for those kids. He could have taken them under his wing.

The idea of men silencing the voice of mothers in the rearing and council of their children!

Rhys is such a good actor and I have to think about how he was also Mr. Lovegood.

Goats!

Hello Mysaria.

Man. This dynamic between Daemon and Mysaria is definitely giving off book Tyrion and Shae with his immediate act of ready violence.

Man, the idea of the Kingsguard not knowing what to do during Targ x Targ violence spans a the centuries huh.

Wigs are definitely a little better looking.

BAELA! RHAENA! MY DARLINGS!

Rhaena’s wig is soooo much better!

Daemon definitely does not like being silenced. How does it feel to have be treated in the same way Viserys treated Alicent?

Let my girls (Baela and Rhaena) have lines!

The way Jace’s voice is cracking!

Why do I feel we are not going to get any of the similar comforting moments between Alicent and her children? They are allergic to showing positive motherhood with he Greens.

Change in Joffrey actor.

Where are Aegon the Younger and Viserys?

Wish we got to see more of Rhaena interacting with Luke.

AND JOFFREY THROWING IN THE TOY!

Will rhaenyra hold any regret or kinder thoughts/prayers for Jaehaerys in the way Alicent does for Luke?

Same shore that Tyrion and Davos came in on maybe?

Why is Daemon coming in himself? Surely he would be able to just go inside himself if he was going to be traveling through the passages (although I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen in the show)

I guess this is Blood and Cheese.

And the rats were there while Viserys reigned, Daemon.

And they are really going to make the death of Jaehaerys an accident. Is everything going to be an accident in this show? Not let anyone but the Greens be held accountable.

Oh, so Daemon probably told them to go after any of the other Targaryens in the keep if they couldn’t find Aemond.

Like seeing the different types of map this episode.

And I feel like the show has changed Aemond’s characterization because we don’t have Alicent and Aemond directly talking.

Good. The line comes before B&C and not after.

Fabian is so hot. I need him in another period drama—OH him and Olivia in an adaptation of Persuasion by Jane Austen. It would SLAY

Nice to have Otto actually talk to his grandchildren in a way that isn’t violent or outright condescending.

If the rat catcher knows everything about the keep, wouldn’t he freaking know where Aemond is?

And if he’s going through the passages, again why couldn’t Daemon do it?

DOGGY! Little scruffers!

Ugh. I’m not excited for this and how they’re going to change this. (Although I get not wanting to put child actors through difficult situations)

And people were complaining about people paying no attention to the rat catcher, but we saw rat catchers wandering the hall throughout the episode in the background. So it’s not like it would be unusual for them to be there. And someone does notice them. But they’re servants seemingly doing their job. Why would people notice them wandering the castle.

And Aegon is being so casual on that throne.

Okay, but could they not have just waited for Aemond? Come back later?

And that is a cool as heck mural on Aemond’s wall.

I don’t like this. I don’t like this. I don’t like this.

Why does the maid look vaguely like Emma Stone?

NO HELAENA!!!!

Helaena struggling! 😭

I’m surprised they didn’t just kill them both?

THE TEAR!

Baby!!!!!! The necklace!

NO! This is worse!!!!!

Why is the maid not getting someone!!!!!!!!

The sounds!!! NO I DONT LIKE THIS!!!

This is so much worse than Luke!

WHY IS Helaena not screaming!

Why could they not have Helaena say her son’s name?!?!?

AND THATS THE END?!?!?!?

It should have ended with Helaena screaming instead of that!

And I’m glad the Alicole sex scene wasn’t intermixed with the killing of Jaehaerys. How people were describing it made it sound like it was.

Promo Thoughts

Now we see Aegon the Younger and Viserys.

Destroy that stupid Lego set Aegon!

Good! Yell at Daemon!

I wish Addam had white hair! I wanted more Velaryon face claims.

Is Laenor just never going to appear again?

Looks like Baela and Rhaena will do things next episode.

Hopefully we will have Alicent comforting her children in the same way Rhaenyra comforted Jace.

[actuallyidontgiveadamn]

Really out of nowhere but I rewatched some of fma03 eps and im gonna rant

I'm just so done with smiling politely saying that fma03 and fmab are both great sorry i cant anymore. Just no

So if you in love with fmab im warning you it probably won't be a good read for you, so feel free to ignore this, block me or idk read this and give it a thought

0. I really dont understand the glorification of manga over anime adaptations. Like people who are making the adaptation are not artists and creators themselves? What makes mangaka better than others and absolutely indisputable, seriously?

1. 'Oh no long introduction and fillers' that actually allowed for Hughes' character development before his death. Seriously if i mention his death among my homies I'll get lots of faces clearly going through some ptsd level flashbacks, it was that impactful. I still need to take a breather when im rewatching before diving into that ep.

2. Nina. Yet again got more time to grow on us and thus aquired higher trauma inducing levels.

3. Ishval massacre and aftermath are WAY MORE VISIBLE in fma03. First of all Ishvalans are depicted as human beings, and not some background, and we get lots more on their sufferings, raids on camps, racism towards them, etc etc etc

4. Scar. Oh boi how do i even go about this. So without raging much about that beefy obviously wrong dude who got 'sense' bitten into him and started working with the oppressing gov in fmab, we have a wronged and tormented survivor of a genocide, who was justified in his vengeance and rage, was depicted as an attractive person of color despite his antagonistic role and was seriously almost cheered on in his actions by the narrartive. His interactions with his people and his moral dilemmas made his character possibly the deepest and most thought out one in the series.

5. The Rockbell doctors being killed by their own government. That's a waaaaay more interesting and damning detail on our government affiliated protagonists than just dumping their murder on a delirious patient.

6. Homunculi had their own will and desires and a way more developed story arc that had a huge impact on protagonists' morals. Being created by the humans who were desperate to bring back their loved ones and both parties are getting tormented by it?? Characters strongly driven by their own goals and staggered by their relations to their creators vs some indifferent goons in fmab. Just compare Sloths and their impact on the stories and protags.

7. Final conflict being a fight with god and his intricate plans in fmab, versus final battle vs a selfish pretty much usual person who had thrown everyone under the bus in pursuit of immortality. Adds so much more desperation flavor. Suddenly your hero journey doesn't end in epic battle for the sake of the mankind, as you would like it to be. It's just to oppose one awful person with too much power and zero care about anyone else. That's raw and that's way more plausible and relatable in our mundane lives.

8. Overall darker tone and themes of the fma03.

9. MUSIC. I dont remember a single track from fmab, but i went really out of my way in my teenage years to find internet access and pirate fma soundtrack and cry listening to it

10. ART. Sorry but don't tell me fmabs flat colors are anything to 03's soft tones and lighting

So yeah sorry, but I'll take the dark and gritty tragedy over just another shounen with doubtful messages each and every time