“people on the outside of the Wincest/ Wincest adjacent bubble are like “so you think Sam and Dean want to have sex?”
and honestly I’m here like no, you absolute pedestrian. They want to crawl up inside each other and and occupy the same skin and exist away from the whisper of threat of feeling they ever have to compete with anyone or anything for one another’s devotion. And only one of them even realizes how fucked up that is.
If they wanted to have sex it would literally be more normal. That’s how insane they are”
I’m making my way through Lindsay Ellis’s Apostles of Mercy and reserving full judgment until the end (of the book & probably series) but I will say I’m not super crazy about the fact that the one Jewish character in this series is supposedly responsible for multiple American war crimes, including torturing Muslims & bombing children in the Middle East
what I can say that’s positive is that there are a lot of elements to his character that I do like, it was always clear he’s somewhat misunderstood, and he’s finally getting much needed time as one of the main PoV characters in the series, and that has added a lot more humanizing details that complicate other characters’ picture of him. the unreliable narration & themes of prejudice & distrust escalating conflict & causing people to demonize others are central to the story, and there are more than a few moments in the series where the other characters misunderstand & reveal prejudice/ignorance about him through micro-aggressions & the author is very clearly cognizant of & intentional about that, so that at least gives me some hope. there’s absolutely a way to write the story in a way that it eventually becomes evident that a lot of assumptions about him are built on exaggerated, incomplete information warped by ignorance & prejudice, and still have him be that fun rough-around-the-edges, morally-gray, bit-of-an-asshole-but-ultimately-trying-to-do-the-right-thing character, and not like… a very offensive stereotype.
but then I hear Lindsay Ellis talk about the Tanakh or the I/P conflict and I think, “yeah no l don’t trust her to do that” 🙃
not george xanthis literally saying yeah john's gospel is just pages and pages of dialogue because he's infatuated with jesus.... he really said yeah matthew's is more detailed about everything else because he actually pays attention to other things...... meanwhile john only cares about his rabbi..........
The biggest indicator to me that dokja actually just has shit taste in novels is that he was genuinely supprised that han sooyoung(as the first apostle) was a woman
With the advent of Guts and his party seized by Kushans, I don't believe Guts will go down this path.
Guts, the slayer of Apostles, human to the core. What purpose would it serve to surrender his humanity, sacrifice his remaining comrades, and face Griffith as an inhuman?
That is the one defining narrative between the two. Griffith, who when faced with despair, rejected his humanity. Guts, who faces nothing but despair nearly every day, continues to tread down the same path.
Griffith, fated to posses the Egg of the King, ended up becoming part of the Godhand. Guts, fated to die, lives.
They are opposites. Guts cannot become an Apostle as it will make him the same as Griffith.
Sure, Guts is certainly at his lowest point.
But he's not completely powerless. It took this many men just to drag him out of the ship's hold.
Elfhelm is gone. Guts and Casca's life of peace was not fated to last long.
The Kushans are also Griffith's enemy, and the most powerful ones at that. This is Guts and his friends' best shot at defeating Griffith, even if they were taken by force.
Plus, General Daiba is pretty chill now. It'll be fine.
Get your strength back, Guts. You're not done fighting.