#att character analysis

[assmaster-8000]

I need to know all your thoughts of cecile

i need to preface this spiel with thanking you for opening my can of worms. will this satiate my endless need for this freak? maaaybe not. but like gay sex, it's a temporary fix and by god will i take it.

so, this post will delve into multiple aspects of my thoughts on cécile. i'll have to section it because if not, you'd probably just have a post the equivalent of a werewolf barking at their reflection in a mirror. here they are;

i. visual design

ii. personality and traits (backstory) / character development + his romance arc

iii. comparison to other characters + what made him stand out to me

no read more will be added on this post because i'm forcing everyone to either scroll past a wall of text or indulge my insanity. is this analysis? my simple thoughts? who fucking knows, man. not me. i don't know anything ever. everything is speculation, because my man's ain't even in the demo yet. ask me this question again when the extended demo drops LMFAO

i. visual design

the most notable aspect to cécile is his metal jaw, facial scar, and black eye.

his metal jaw had me in a pickle. for the longest time, i thought it was a prosthetic. as in, he had his lower jaw removed - regardless of how and why - and it acted as a replacement. however, on the ravenstar tiktok account, they show a draft of cécile's sprite that caught my attention.

he doesn't have his metal jaw, nor his iconic scar or black eye. he does have his original lower jaw, though. maybe this is just a draft before they settled on his current design. maybe this is how he looked in the canon past. maybe! but on top of seyl (the director of lost in limbo) confirming that cécile still has his tongue, i believe he was always intended to have his lower jaw. so the prosthetic is out of the picture.

right now, i believe it's more like a retainer; teeth appears to literally be growing out of his cheek, and i don't think it's the teeth in his mouth jutting out. i can't tell what exactly is the cause of all this, too. my favourite medical student (bean ily muah) said his facial scar appears to have been caused by a controlled flame, and shrapnel to the face based on the scarring around his lip. so he could have suffered an act of assault (physical? magical?), an accident, or maybe he's afflicted with a curse that developed teeth on his skin + his red eyes. could he be turning into a monster as time passes?

i also find it incredibly tragic that his eyes used to be brown before The Incident (air quotes). there's always something inherently tragic about the mundane being unattainable - to think that of all things in the world you are forbidden from, you are barred from the sweet innocence of adam and eve, rather than the glorious garden. brown eyes are the most common eye colour here on earth; imagine how cécile feels, the interloper with a face unmarred. a face that was once his. his dislike towards mc runs deeper than his dislike for everyone specifically because they're a harbinger of danger to the master he protects, and they could just be the past he's been hiding like a wound underneath his clothes.

the gaze of his bloodthirsty eyes... is it really? as in, always bloodthirsty? or is it so because it's your blood he needs on his hands?

aside from the practicalities of his metal jaw, i just think it's super... metal. (i wink at a camera offset and i proceed to get shot a million times. where were these snipers at the trump speech smh)

cough... anyways. i think it's bias, but one of my own oc's has a metal jaw prosthetic because they lost theirs in a fight long ago, so you can imagine i morphed into the spiderman pointing at spiderman² meme when i saw him. it's just automatically intriguing when the character's face is unapologetically damaged, unapologetically different. cécile and lázaro attracted my attention instantly because of how unique they look, and i appreciate that cécile's face does all the talking of his character while his attire is rather subdued. (even that itself speaks for him tbh)

as for my personal feelings, i appreciate a man with a long/wide nose. hit tweet, let doja cat smite me down herself.

now, as for his sprite's body language. i was rather taken aback at the fact that cécile has a less imposing stance than envy - yes, there's a defensive undertone to the way he holds his hands in front of him, but it's not to close him off from the world the way envy's crossed arms communicate that. in fact, cécile appears to be comforting himself. most people who hold/rub their own hand tend to do so because they're revolving a subtle conflict within themself. it doesn't help that the hand being held is the one that appears to have suffered the brunt of whatever he endured, based on the scars around his wrist. he could be holding it because it's instinct - to protect the side of him that was hurt the most. cécile is a weapon of war and a shield to his very core. he hurts others, and i don't think it'd be a stretch to say he hurts himself (why wouldn't he? the man that stares back in the mirror is so very wretched and it wouldn't be wrong to want to tear it all away.) cécile protects others (literally only gael) from the world, and cécile protects himself from the world and the additional enemy of himself.

he is a walking wound of all that has happened to him, and he knows acutely where the gash continues to weep.

yet, his cocked head also denotes a level of serenity that not even envy has. atleast, that's what it reads to me. it could also be an expression of interest in his surroundings, and hence, he's actually more on guard than envy. he doesn't keep his arms crossed, and instead in a stand still, because he constantly needs to be ready to pounce. maybe!

back to his attire. i adore the idea that gael actually picked it out for him. cécile is, technically, a representative of gael, so it makes sense his attire needs to hint at that, with the purple and all. but again, i would like to think of gael comparing outfit after outfit on cécile, engaging his opinion on which he thinks is best - and all cécile offers is, "whatever you deem is best, i will accept." (never ask this hoe where he wants to eat /j). one of the few things gael can do for a man like cécile is offering him a part of him to carry around.

also, for anyone who missed it - cécile has freckles ;)

ii. personality and traits (backstory) / character development + his romance arc

cécile is stated to be an istj, and seyl confirmed he's likely to be a scorpio sun. if so, loyalty is legitimately built into this man. a man if the fates wept tears of their eternal duty onto the spool when they wove his life into existence.

his reliance on the past + his traditions is gonna be like a pair of crutches to a man with both legs lobbed off. routine is the prison that keeps him going - break it, and you break him. after all, experience is all he has to go off of. as much as he may try not to linger on his past - that's exactly what he does. his memories are like ghosts in the corner of his bedroom. every good and bad experience, and by god is there a plethora of the latter, stands out like bruises he can't stop pressing down on. that's why i believe it's especially harder for you to gain cécile's worship; gael is all the good he's known, and you're just a strange human. why would he love you, a fickle being that can barely stop themself from being killed by him, when he could have an immortal sovereign? why, indeed. and it's gonna be especially hard for a man like cécile to grow accustomed to a love that's soft, because he's known violence all his life. he was born of it, made of it, and will be undone by it. that's all he can offer you, so he will expect the same from you the day he accepts you.

also, like... cécile literally fits the bill of scorpio's holding life long grudges. aside from protection, his primary desire is vengeance. and it's not something you can dissuade him from. why would you? you loved cécile because he's a walking bundle of rage and despair. you love him because his heart bleeds on you like an open wound. you will kiss the blood off his lips after the carnage - yours? his? someone else's? who cares, it's ours - and he will only sigh on yours, a thank you for being the best constant in his life of spite.

i can also see where cécile's need for domination comes from, with that extraverted thinking (Te). he may be a bodyguard in subservience to a god, but even they must know when and where to call the shots. it's very clear that control was robbed from him repeatedly ("[...] those who snatched his soul away from him—"), so it comes as another instinctual need to maintain control in every situation. and if he must trap it in the iron-fisted palm, so be it. that's exactly why cécile, like envy, benefits from an mc who knows how to push past sharp commands and loud warnings to chase after him. he relies on people shrinking away from him when he snaps to establish a clear line of boundaries. ultimately, it is by obeying caution that you'll never romance him, because you're playing into what he wants - and what he wants is you away from him. he needs an equally dominant person in a way that has them constantly battling for ultimate dominance, or maybe someone who is more dominant, but not in a way that completely imposes on him. in a way that shows him why exactly you can be his new master, y'know? in this life, everything is chains and prisons to cécile. it's just a matter of picking the most luxurious one. if you're shameless about what you can offer him, he might just take you up on it.

i think it's pretty obvious that cécile has volatile emotions hidden underneath (aries moon maybe???). he buries his softer sentiments deep below, where they lie, they run rampant. i'm a little unsure as to how this'll manifest, but cécile obviously can be soft and sentimental when he wants to, especially or only when the mc isn't looking. he traces their face in the dead of night - he alleviates their burdens behind their back - his favourite sex position is one where they can't see his face, but he can service them just fine. he can be vulnerable, but he doesn't want you to see him when he chooses to be once in a blue moon, lest you get the impression that there is a secret goodness to this violence. there isn't. he's not like envy - standoffish and cruel on the outside, soft and pliable underneath. no, peel away layer and layer of rage and you'll find more rage. crack away at that and you'll find a hollow heart. he's doing it because every human, no matter how depraved, is capable of SOME tender intimacy.

also, man. i think switching his loyalties is gonna be the equivalent of ripping all his skin off. like, yes. he loves you. the need to worship is strong, but it is unbidden for a reason. it is essentially betraying gael, isn't it? loving someone else? a man like cécile has a lot of 'love' in his heart, and all that love can only be directed at one person.

now... extraverted intuition? coupled with his scorpio sun? i imagine it feeds into the possession and obsession. it's less about worrying that you might look at others - it's about knowing that everyone has their eyes on you. it's an irrefutable fact, that there's a bounty like a guillotine on your neck. and he promised to protect you. he did, he promised. and he will, no matter what it demands of him, because you're the one thing that makes it all worthwhile and he'll be damned if the world takes more from him.

i don't know if i can sum his personality up, and i'm not interested to. he's an enigma, and i prefer complexity. as for his character development? i don't know. i really don't know. would it be bad to say? that i don't want him to get 'better'?

the appeal of cécile is that he can't offer you a 'normal' love that even a god, for all they're entrenched in, can offer you. his love is always bloodied. his love is always cruel. his love is all-consuming, like a punch in the mouth.

i think the one thing i wanna see, or predict for him to have, is to learn that there is someone who will do more than passively accept him. there is someone who actively desires him - needs him, even, in all his depravity. i want him to realise that he's not the only one who loves like he's the forest fire, and they're the forest or the witness. fire meets fire. violence for violence, like beasts.

maybe i want to see him become more open to someone calling the shots for him? and know that he can trust them, that they won't use him like everyone else has. honestly, it's difficult to not 'use' him. he's a lover, a weapon. the only difference is the affection in your grip when you swing his blade down to take another head. i want romancing him to come slow yet fast, harsh and cruel and intimate. i don't want the devs to feel like they need to water his morality or cruelty down, because like... isn't that his whole appeal. he's a killer and a sinner and that's why you love him. so on that note,

iii. comparison to other characters + what made him stand out to me

i originally was not interested in lost in limbo, because i tend to prefer darker horror. that changed when i saw lázaro, because the knife scene made me believe they were a FREAK freak. turns out they're pretty chill; and that's simply not my cup of tea, so my interest waned even more.

until i saw cécile.

my favourite romance trope of all time is obsession, but it's something i abstained from for so long because it's ALWAYS one-sided. with cécile, there's the strong potential that you're mutually obsessive, because let's face it. you won't be able to get anywhere with cécile without matching his freak. AND I MATCH HIS FREAKY I LOVE HIS NASTY!!! I LOVE UNAPOLOGETICALLY VIOLENT CHARACTERS!!! I LOVE CHARACTERS WHO UNAPOLOGETICALLY KILL AND MAIM AND DESTROY!!!! FUCK!!!!

i am not someone who is made to enjoy the tender mundanity of love. i want to be loved like a body hits the pavement below and that is exactly what cécile is.

i think the biggest difference is that cécile's whole romance with mc, aside from his loyalty to gael, relies on the dilemma of knowing he's just a man. the main cast are gods, they can afford to put up a better fight against whatever is ailing the two of you.

but cécile? he has almost nothing. he's just a dog, after all. he'll fight tooth and claw just to keep mc because there is quite literally nothing else he can do in the face of it all. and i love that it would make his route a lot more desperate. in life, we will all suffer so very beautifully. he might as well be your suffering, in name and heart. then, is he truly yours. then, are you truly his.

also, i adore the fact that cécile is the only openly hostile love interest to mc! envy has that ease to growing flustered that endears him even in the face of his... lack of manners. but cécile's only official existing line of dialogue is warning you to stay out of his way lest he gives you a quick death. STAY AWAY is literally printed in big, bold, black letters on his forehead, and i don't doubt he isn't afraid to be the one to kill mc.

AND I LIKE THAT OK!!! GIVE ME A CHALLENGE!!!

i think that is... the brunt of my thoughts, off the top of my head. feel free to ask me any more questions and i will try to go in depth but for now... we rot. @ravenstargames this is all your fault cécile is chasing me around in his basement AND I CAN'T GET OUT

[bl00dlight]

Ooh I just saw the ask you answered about if Aemond genuinely cares about people and what not, and I loved your answer, very succinct. But it got me thinking, just food for thought really; if Aemond were to meet someone who genuinely loves him back and shows him this love, in a sense that he perhaps would know this person wouldn't betray him/wouldn't hurt him (be it a romantic partner or otherwise). How do you think he would react then? Do you think that, if he knew this person cared for him the same way, he then would allow himself to be vulnerable and trust the person enough to open himself completely?

I won't say similar because it's not that kind of relationship that I mean, I mean an actual real one, but kinda like the vulnerable we see him being in the brothel with the madam? Because there he looks fairly comfortable letting his walls down.

An Analysis Of Aemond Targaryen: Relationships, Romance, Cluster B Personality Disorders, Avoidant Attachment and How Childhood Trauma and Family Dysfunction Fucked His Ass Up.

I've written a psychology paper for you.

I have not proof read this. Idgaf about typos.

Also obviously as I say later, when I talk about this shit - it's in the context of me talking about a FICTIONAL, exaggerated character who has ungodly levels of power. Not your average traumatised irl person. So please do not come for me, I'm analysing AEMOND not you/others irl.

●●●●●●●●●●●●●

Answer;

I think it would be a nightmare.

I don't think he is capable of a stable reltionship. Just like many men in our world, Aemond needs CBT and like maybe a prescription for vallium to help him chill the fuck out.

This isn't a call out by the way, thank you for your question its a genuinely interesting one that Ive thought about alot. But I think fanfiction can start to feel like accurate interpretations of characters. So alot of the idea of Aemond being this soft baby boy on the inside who just needs a woman who loves him to fix him is a completely false dichotomy.

So here is why -

ATTACHMENT ISSUES? PROBABLY.

Aemond didn't actually really care about the Madame. We know that because he walks out and basically says 'A whore is a whore.' In his mind she is just a means to an end - he feels comfortable with her because she is familiar, but ultimately she is still below him, still what he would consider immoral and dirty. Remember he is paying her, he is buying her silence, her discretion and her submission. This is a consensual relationship, she isn't CHOOSING to do these things. He is buying her out.

The reality is, Aemond wouldn't be any different to Daemon. He would neglectful and likely alot less redeemable than Daemon - because ultimately Daemon's wounds are far more surface level, because Daemon is loved and has known compassion/warmth/supportive family etc.

Aemond hasn't. His ENTIRE identity is fractured. For example, take how he treats Alicent and Helaena - two people he knows both genuinely love him and cares for him (in there own dysfunctional ways) and he reciprocates this love and care. Yet look at how he treats them when he is triggered by something (feels weak, scared, confronted, vunerable).

Most people who come from dysfunctional families and have attachment issues or personality disorders or whatever other labels you want to give to trauma. Espeically for men who mainly become more avoidant or anti-social as a result.

They don't lean in to the people who genuinely care for them, they pull away. It's easier for Aemond to give in to the Madame, because she is familiar, but she's also distant. He has all the power. He can be vunerable because she literally cannot hurt him at all, she can't use that vunerablity against him, she can't abandon him etc. Why? Because he can do whatever he wants to her. He could just have her killed if she fucks him off. He doesn't actually care about her, there is no risk for him in being vunerable with her. Ewan Mitchell basically said it himself:

" 'Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.' That’s the code his character utilizes so he’s able to maneuver around this world without getting caught by Al Pacino.Aemond has a similar code that stops him from being hurt like he was as a kid. That’s why he’s able to walk out on the madam in that scene. He’s humiliated by his brother and all his crew, and it’s like this switch flips. The madam is no more. All of these people in front of him? They mean nothing. He stands up, he owns it. 'Yeah, I’m bulletproof. Anything you say, it will not work.' "

He isn't attached the Madame. He CAN just get up and leave because the dynamic is risk free. He has the power. But with Alicent or Helaena for example? Notice how he easily he crumbles? How he desperately wants/needs things from them. Comfort, validation, support, love? And when he feels he is being denied that - he shatters.

The trouble is, Aemond would never know someone isn't going to hurt them. If they are choosing to be there willingly, from what we've seen from his characterisation so far - that wouldn't make him less likely to hurt that person. It would make him more likely to hurt them. Which is standard practice with people who have been abused, they repeat that abuse onto others.

Genuine love, genuine vunerable is a fucken huge risk for him. A HUGEEE risk. That's why he kicks Alicent from the council - he can't be around her because she makes him feel vunerable and when he is in the council room he can't afford that. He'd rather convince himself the other person is weak/useless etc, then actually admit it's him who is the problem.

Again... look how he talks about Alicent and Helaena when they deny him, he calls both of them weak.

I legitmately think the Balcony scene is the perfect example of what you're asking about. Aemond does trust Helaena, and he does know she cares. He even thinks she won't hurt him. I mean she is the only one who HASN'T abandoned him. Look at how he approaches her, he is gentle and unknowingly manipulative. And when he feels those feelings become too much, the fear, abandonment, vunerablity etc, when he is rectifying with his own guilt the fact that he might have pushed away the last person who he had- he is literally about to cry. He didn't cry over the Madame that's for damn sure. He just gets up and leaves?

But Aemond doesn't leave at all. She denies him help over and over again, denies him validation and calls him out, and instead of walking away, he stays and threatens her in the hopes she'll give in. He is trying to maintain power over her, even though he knows he is completely powerless. That he can't do anything to stop her from walking away.

That is exactly what it would be like if he knew someone truly cared/loved him. He would be distant to maintain control most of the time, he would probably seek out alot of validation, he'd likely be gentle to some extent/ want to gain their approval - but once he has all those things, it would be an endless back and forth cycle and when he feels them pull away he would crumble and try to manipulate them back. And if they didn't give in, he would probably go back to threatening or abusing, just like with Helaena and Alicent.

Dont ask why but I know ALOT about attachment issues/personality disorders. He reminds me of a former narcissist I had a thing with, whom also had a raging avoidant attachment style.

BPD? Probably.

Now if we were to diagnose Aemond, I'd go down the bpd with narcissistic/anti social tendencies line of thought. Insert this tweet I found the other day:

There is really no fixing Aemond, the closer you are to him to more likely he would fuck you up basically. Because think about it? If he can be legitmately vunerable with you, if he ACTUALLY cares/loves you? There is a greater risk involved for him. It's harder for him to just up and leave when he needs to.

I mean we see him LITERALLY stay even after Helaena walks away. And then we see how he has another one of those shut down moments, his tear dries up, and he gets them cluster b shark eyes, like he did in the brothel.

Ewan Mitchell is unknowingly giving one of the most intensive, exaggerated yet nuanced depictions of a SERIOUSLY dysfunctional cluster B mf. Forget American Psycho or Girl Interrupted - Aemond Targaryen

And by the way, when I talk about this- just know I have alot of bpd friends, so I've had personal experience with them and they are some of the most deeply loving, insightful people I've ever met. All of them are trying their best to heal, which most borderlines really do try and want to get better. I also speak from a place of similar attachment issues and trauma - and believe me, my ass don't behave like Aemond at all. So I always speak with the knowledge that, I'm talking about fictional characters and not real people. And fiction is always exaggerated.

99% of people with bpd or dysfunctional attachement styles dont have narcissistic or anti social tendencies to the extremity Aemond does. It's a TV show, and Aemond is more comparable to the cluster B' s who are fascist leaders/cult leaders/serial killers/criminals etc then your average sufferer. So that's important to note.

I'm applying real world ideas to fictional characters to get a better understanding of how they tick. Aemond was written basically as a sociopath in the book. That's why I stress that his relationship with Alys is NOT a good one.

But in the show, the writers have 'humanised' Aemond which is code for "let's make his eventual villainy rooted in deep familial trauma and neglect, but also make it so he is capable of love, care - etc" So basically you've given him untreated, festering BPD which as a result of the fact he is male, a Prince and a rides Vhagar: he develops narcissistic tendencies as a result of a superiority complex compounding with the fact he can only get validation when he achieves things/ feels powerful when others feel inferior ON TOP OF THAT in s2, the lack of familial support/abandonment is installing an even deeper lack for empathy for those he views below him. He is also validated by Targaryen supremacy and subscribes to the idea that he is more deserving and entitled to power and a Targaryen legacy. He thinks being vunerable is a weakness because thats what he is taught. He thinks you get power via violence. Thus why he idolises Daemon who is his parallel.

Daemon also might be a tad bit cluster B. But, significantly less. He probably falls more into the line of general male fuckery and an unhealthy attachment style.

Aemond is sort of leaning into the Anakin/Scarlet Witch line of psychology more so then the typical American Psycho or Joker or Ramasy Bolton, Joffery Lannister etc etc; chaos for chaos sake.

In fact I think Aemond's greatest parallel isn't Daemon - it's Visenya Targaryen. Which is no doubt WHY Vhagar chose him. And Visenya too devolves into a total state of genocidal mania too. Probably why Jace told Rhaenyra not to idolise her.

Visenya was extremely stern, powerful, dutiful and most importantly: believed DEEPLY in Targaryen supremacy and loved her siblings fiercely. She was basically the one who got shit done, who was the driving force of the conquest and was able to whip Aegon into shape. She didn't fuck around, and she didn't like being fucked around. She even pulled a knife out on Aegon to prove his guards were slow and shit - thus establishing the King's Guard.

But she devolves into chaos and rage after Rhaenys dies and ESPECIALLY when it's Rhaneys' son who is Aegons heir not Mageor - WHOM ALSO IS A PARALLEL TO AEMOND.

But we won't get into that.

DOES HE HAVE WOMAN PROBLEMS? PROBABLY.

So basically as I said, Aemond has woman issues. Not just mummy issues. He has WOMAN ISSUES.

Number one he is a teenage boy. He wouldn't be some daddy dom sex god. Espeically since he has zero experience outside of the Madame where... it seems like he just cuddles with her.

As Ewan said, Aemond finds substitutes for the love he couldn't find in his mother/family. Ultimately, no matter what - that's what he is after. He wants the love of his family. And so any outside source he gets it from is disposable, because it's a substitute- because it will never not be a power dynamic for Aemond. He is the most powerful mother fucker in Westeros. He literally tried to kill the KING and didn't get in trouble for it. He wants to be in control of the world around him, he wants to as Ewan said 'Be the Daddy' of his family. He wants to make THEM rely on HIM.

And isn't that funny? Isn't that funny... how desperately Aemond wants the throne, how he'd sacrifice anything for that power. Why do you think that is? Because it means his family has to answer to him. They can't ignore him, can't invalidate him, and they can't deny him love/respect. He'd have total power over the people he feels powerless against.

And look at what happens when Helaena for example denies him, she's the Queen and Alicent reminds him of this. That she doesn't BOW to Aemond. And it shows, it shows because he begs her to help him, because he knows he holds no power over Helaena.

In a weird way, his desire for the throne is the closest he can get to being a baby. Baby's hold a lot of power over those around them. And being King well? Basically everyone does everything for you. You can have what you want, you can do what you want and everyoneeee HAS to love/adore/admire you or its treason.

Think about how valuable that is for a man like Aemond, who wants that comfort, that adoration. He was literally being held by the Madame like he was JESUS.

I think Ewan is right in saying, Aemond doesn't have 'mommy issues' - as I'm watching him, I don't think he wants to submit to woman or be dominated by them. I think the whole coddling/adoration etc IS his version of dominating them.

It's his version of power. Of having a mother dote over you. It's not a humiliation thing, Aemond doesn't want to be humiliated or made to feel inferior or at the mercy of anyone ESPEICALLY NOT A WOMAN. (Again look at what he does to Alicent and Helaena. He legit tells his own mum to go back into the kitchen.)

He wants a woman to make him feel special and validated. To not see any wrong in him or make him feel othered. And even the Madame does this, she validates him by TELLING HIM THE BLACKS SHOULD BE SCARED OF HIM. And that he isn't a boy anymore, he is a man.

It's alot more trauma based and psychosexual then some pornified kink. He isn't really getting off on it. And we see that because when she goes to kiss him, HE PUSHES HER AWAY. If he wanted to be dominated then he'd let her do what she wanted?

It's very specific to show that. He is in control. Again, he isn't taking comfort in the fact he can feel like a helpless little boy. He is being comforted because he feels empowered.

And I think ultimately that dynamic would play out in what you're asking. That genuine love/care you felt for him would be weaponised into him basically siphoning validation from it. It would be a very.... transactional thing, why? Because that's all he knows. His whole life has been transactional. He's been taught that love IS conditional and love IS synonymous with power.

He is looking at Aegon and thinking??? Look at how much attention he gets from Alicent? It's not because Aegon is more worthy of being King, it's because Aegon has power? Aegon has been given everything already just for being born first.

I think Helaena files into that. He WISHED Alicent had given him Helaena as a wife. Why? So he could prove himself worthy. So he could outsource all the love/validation he could from being given that power.

And what is that? Well Aemond tells us as a kid, 'To keep the Valyrian bloodline pure'. Which is what? Power. That's a big reason why Targs marry each other politically is to reinforce power. Had Aemond married Helaena, that would grant him power. Not only from the fact he's basically been provided a wife the point of heirs/politics - but it also because a wife is supposed to love and be dutiful to her husband. A wife is supposed to tend to her husband, even over her children, her duty is to HIM.

So in conclusion - I don't think anything could truly replace that for Aemond.

But I think the fact he views Helaena and Alicent as equals to him, makes it worse. In a weird way as a woman, the more he cares/loves/views you as an equal- the more likely he is to lash out against you because you have the power to hurt him.

He has to actively PUT DOWN his mother, when speaking to Helaena. He literally mentioned that ALICENT IS NOT LIKE US, SHE DOESN'T GET IT. In order to distance himself further from her, and distance himself from the pain of being abandoned by her.

IN CONCLUSION

Can you fix Aemond? No.

Would he become better just if he was shown love/care? No.

Is he capable of love/care. Yes.

Is there a chance at a healthy relationship with him? No. Not without him going to therapy which doesn't exist in Westeros.

Would he be a nightmare? Undoubtedly.

And remember there is a big different between not being capable of feeling love and care VS being capable of it and only being able to express it unhealithly because that's your experience with it.

It's a really tricky thing, because we are taught that abusive people and ABUSIVE MEN in particular are basically psychopaths. And absolutely, they are a section in the vast range of abusers.

But the nuance and unfortunate truth to abusive relationships and why in particular they are so dangerous and AEMOND would be so dangerous - is because many abusers aren't psychopaths. They aren't innately evil or want to hurt you sadistically at least.

Alot of abusive people, are simply reliving their familial trauma. When love/vunerablity/care become weapons, become points of abuse - you don't know any better. And you view them as weaknesses. Because well? They are. They risk you being hurt, you being traumatised. Or for Aemond 'being that scared little boy again'.

So the unfortunate reality is, the closer you get to Aemond in terms of genuine love/care the darker it becomes. Because it would become a source of pain for him - which would trigger all the nasty things we see him do to Alicent and Helaena.

The only way THE ONLY way you could bypass it, is if you basically lost all sense of self and completely submitted to whatever he wanted. As long as you validated him in some way, or comforted him in some way - then it might work. But i don't think that would mean he would turn into a loving and warm man. I think the extent of how gentle he would be is how he is with Alicent and Helaena. And notices how quickly that switch is flipped and how easily he pushes them away when he feels he is getting too close.

And it's not like you could talk to him about it, it's not like you could point that out and say - because he'd view that as you challenging him, making him feel less then, small, inferior, bad, unworthy.

Again... cough cough. Helaena and Alicent? When they call him out for him burning the village and trying to kill Aegon? What does he do? He gets ANGRY. He pushes them away further. He even outrightly LIES to Helaena. Like poing BLANK LIES and tries to accuse her of treason.

Yall see? There would be no winning. If you did everything he wanted, and he loved/cared about you the relationship would still not be loving or warm or fulfilling because he is scared of his own vunerablity in it.

And if you tried to fix it or God forbid had your own desires/free will - he'd threaten you and feel abandoned and do what's called 'spiltting'.

He is black or white. He doesn't know the grey scale. He can temper himself only to the point and only when it benefits him, just so he can strike later. He is calculating. He didn't flip out on Aegon at the brothel. He waited and when he had an opportunity, he took it. Aegon was dead to him already.

So you'd be walking on egg shells. Your best bet if you wanted him to be soft and vunerable with you, is to be the Madame. Meaning he don't give a fuck about you and you'd have no say at all about what actually happens to you. And he holds all the power via money.

But this is just my analysis based on his character SO FAR. It might change as the seasons change because... lord knows his characterisation has been all over the place as everyone's have.

[viperixsworld]

mutant file (logan howlett x fem!oc)

name: michaela isabella fiore

alias: natura

day of birth: june 22nd, 1968 (32 in X Men 1)

height: 5'6

category: mutant (alpha level)

abilities: chlorokinesis, toxikinesis, toxic immunity, genius

residence: xavier school for gifted youngsters

occupation: doctor and biology teacher

affliction: x-men (since 1990)

state: alive

history

"early life"

Michaela Isabella Fiore, born on 22 June 1968, daughter of Paul and Francesca Fiore in the borough of Brooklyn, New York. Both are children of first-generation Italian immigrants to the United States. Working class, they ran a flower shop in North Brooklyn. Currently retired.

The first mutant gene samples are demonstrated in a biology class during primary school. According to the teacher's reports, during an experiment where students were asked to grow a bean in a beaker, Fiore's plant grew "abnormally". Other school reports state that, during high school, girls who were picking on Michaela reported to the teacher that Fiore had planted manure in her lockers. It was never proven.

Michaela continued her studies and was awarded one of the Xavier Scholarships for Gifted and Talented Youth at New York University, where she graduated with a major in Botanical Biology and Toxicology and a minor in Genetics,where she met Sara Kinney. She later obtained her PhD at Oxford, with a thesis on assisted mutation in various plants for medical purposes.

"xavier school for gifted youngsters and X Men"

Since her doctorate at Oxford in 1990, Michaela Fiore has been a registered biology teacher at Xavier School for gifted youngsters. She is also a member of the X Men team, along with Scott Summer alias Cyclops, Jean Grey alias Marvel Girl, Ororo Munroe alias Storm, Kurt Wagner alias Nightclawer and Hank McCoy alias Beast.

However, Fiore's work is more oriented towards laboratory work and the development of new ways to treat the injured mutants who come to the school.

Some field missions are recorded. Despite little hand-to-hand training, Fiore's skills allow her to get the upper hand in a ranged fight.

During the 2000s, the X Men had several clashes with the notorious ex-terrorist Magneto and his Brotherhood of Mutants. As well as battles against the government against the Mutant Registration Act and the "Mutation Cure". Both Dr. Fiore and Dr. Grey advocated against both of these in Congress.

During this time, new members join the X-Men: Remy LeBeau aka Gambit, Anna Marie aka Rogue, Piotr "Peter" Nikolaievitch Rasputin aka Colossus, Robert Louis "Bobby" Drake aka Ice-Man, Katherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde aka Shadowcat and Logan Howlett aka Wolverine.

...

2006➜ ERROR, FILE NOT FOUND

ONE SHOTS SET AFTER DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

Currently, the X Men grouping is still unleashed by Scott Summers aka Cyclops, Ororo Munroe aka Storm and Logan Howlett aka Wolverine. Michaela Fiore does not take part in the field missions and shares the position of deputy director with Dr. Jean Grey.

The Sentinel menace was stopped in 1973 by a mutant named Mystique, who saved the president from Magneto.

currently, 2024 (nobody's dead, we're all happy and forgetting the timeline, FUCK TVA)

The school remains the same as it has been all these years, but the threats don't stop. Recently, records came in about a trafficking of mutant children being experimented on by an illegal organisation on the Mexican border.

The X Men are working on it at the moment.

character analysis

Michaela is a kind and optimistic person. Over the years she has gained more experience and control over her powers, which makes her a confident person. At first she was reluctant to be introduced to the X-Men, but her colleagues convinced her.

She spends much of her time in the underground lab at X-Mansion, alongside Jean Grey and, on occasion, Hank McCoy.

Her first encounter with Logan, aka Wolverine, was not a pleasant one. The mutant awoke from his coma (induced by the Professor) altered and confused, so he attacked Michaela and scarred her back with his claws. Michaela, in response, put him to sleep with chloroform, until the Professor arrived.

The two slowly, slowly worked out their differences.

For their personalities clash quite a lot. Logan is a lone wolf, while Michaela is all about teamwork. But according to Cyclops, they're both equally annoying.

Despite appearances, constant bickering and "mutual hatred", there is a pact of respect between the two. They will never say it to each other's faces, but they are very fond of each other. (Everybody knows it, except them).

now some headcannons

The X Men affectionately refer to Michaela as Mickey or Dr. Mickey.

Logan refers to her as "kid".

Mickey refers to him as "old dog".

Mickey wears a necklace with a St. James medal, a legacy from her paternal grandfather Jimmy Fiore.

Mickey doesn't know that Logan's real name is James.

The children shipped their biology teacher and the history teacher (i.e. them).

Michaela was upset after Logan's departure after fighting Magneto.

And when he left again.

And again.

He has commitment issues (no shit).

Apparently he always fixes it when he comes back.

The X Men always party when he comes back, they go to a bar a few miles from the school.

Our girl can't stand alcohol (she's given Logan endless lectures on the problems of alcohol), but on these occasions she has a margarita or two.

Bad idea.

She's a lightweight.

Very funny until she throws up.

Logan always ends up looking after her.

But not without laughing the next morning, delivering her own sermons against her.

Again, children SHIP them.

Bobby tried to lock them in a classroom. It was fun until Logan chased him all over the mansion.

Logan offers to teach Michaela how to fight.

She has improved a lot.

He always ends up in a cold shower.

Sometimes they are found in the kitchen at night, or in the greenhouse or laboratory.

Logan suffers from chronic nightmares, about his past, about Weapon X, PTSD...

Michaela is only used to little or no sleep. She lives in a mansion with hundreds of children, there must always be someone awake.

They do not normally speak at these meetings.

The next morning it's back to normal.

Michaela lives in coffee.

Logan hates coffee.

Logan always makes Michaela coffee.

They will end up together. For sure. But there are bets hanging around.

Even Magneto, in his plastic prison, asks the Professor for updates.

"Any news on...?" "Not that I know of." "For God's sake, Charles! You're a mind reader!"

ONE SHOTS

incoming...

[lych33dragoncookie]

I see you have mostly discussed kingdom lore, do you also look into oven break and witches castle? If so I have some fire spirit things to discuss •<•

OB is a bit of a mess continuity-wise, and though I do love the dragons and I 100% plan to say something once the next dragon update comes around (specially because it's probably gonna be a lychee magic candy <3), it's... A lot harder to engage in the same way I do Kingdom. In part because there's a lot of more simple filler updates, and being completely honest, they do not put as much effort into it as they do Kingdom. Which genuinely makes me sad because I started with that game, and I still play it, but it's clearly more of a side thing that they don't put anywhere near as much budget or research into (as shown by the sheer contrast between Yogurca and how lowkey racist any update they do with it is compared to Flour and Spice and all the cultural research they did for them both), and... Yeah, generally, it's not as easy to nerd out over. They also tend to completely waste characters!! Millie's magic candy update was a complete disaster, and he barely had a role in it at all. Which is a complete shame, because I love him, and I expected him to have a bigger role in the dragons story, but they just completely wasted him. Oh, and that's not even mentioning when they tried to merge Kingdom and OB's continuity into one, with a complete disregard for what that may mean for anything in either continuity. They stopped after a certain point, but god, it was a strange move.

As for Witch's Castle... It looks like it has a somewhat intriguing story, but I'm honestly not too interested in it or tower of adventures. And I swear to god, if they try to incorporate Witch's Castle into the Kingdom continuity, I will actually lose my fucking mind, because the entire exposition cutscene about the witches completely contradicts Kingdom's own continuity, even though it tries to convince you that it somehow connects the two games together by flashing to cutscenes from Kingdom. Because, guess what, if the witches that were benevolent all died during that night, how the fuck did they split the soul jams in half after the Beasts became evil. If their death is what caused life on Earthbread, then how in the name of god could they have done anything with or about the beasts or the soul jams?? It genuinely makes no sense whatsoever, and it just reminds me of when they carelessly tried to merge OB and Kingdom's continuities together. OH, AND THAT'S NOT EVEN MENTIONING THE FACT THAT BOTH GAMES HAVE GINGERBRAVE & CO ESCAPING FROM THE OVEN AT THE START OF THE GAME. AS DOES TOWER OF ADVENTURES. AND OB. THEY ALL HAVE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE STARTING POINT OF THE STORY AND HOW IT BRANCHES OFF AND THEY STILL TRY TO MERGE THE CONTINUITIES TOGETHER???

Sorry, complete side tangent, but it baffles me how they at all thought that trying to tie Witch's Castle and Kingdom together was a good idea in the slightest. They are, fundamentally, completely incompatible. So, when analyzing Kingdom, I choose to completely ignore any of the other games, because they are all incompatible on some fundamental level.

... Right, the question at hand. Ovenbreak analysis is definitely on the table, but there's nothing I really feel the need to talk about as it stands right now. People have already analyzed the now-not-current Black Sugar Swan update pretty well, and the current one is just kind of another filler update. Again, expect something whenever they continue the Dragons plotline, or if they decide to do anything else that's particularly narratively interesing; unlikely as it may be. Seriously, the dragons are like... The only thing to really be invested in, at this rate. There's really not much else going on. Witch's Castle and Tower of Adventures are completely outside of my periphery; the former isn't my type of game at all and while it has cool concepts, it's not really anything from what I've already grown attached to over the years. The latter, I tried, and it really, really didn't hook me. At all. Not that it's really doing anything big right now, but... It probably will, sooner or later. And, I swear to god, if they try to tie it back to Kingdom somehow, I might have an aneurysm.

[maybe-in-another-nicer-life]

Wizard with a Gun [analysis and theory]

Because this new fandom needs content.

Firstly, an analysis of the Riders:

One Eye

Creative name, I know.

I think the bard is singing while they appear on screen, so it makes sense for One Eye to be The Hunter. The old hat and the brown coat with the gun with a wide muzzle make it look that way, plus the aforementioned one eye makes them look badass.

Or rather, makes her look badass.

Because I’m pretty sure One Eye is Hilda, the inventor of Gunmancy and the first wizard you meet.

Same clothes. Same yellow light. Same one eye. She even has a Worldbuilder in the animation, the same weapon she teaches you to craft.

And even makes sense for her to be the last one standing in the battle against Chaos, being the most experienced of them all and a past user of The Tower. But alas, she still died having her soul ripped out of her.

Giant

Possibly The Maker. They have a belt full of tools, although it is hard to see, and the scarf on their hat reminds me of the “We Can Do It” poster, so there’s a probability of the Giant also being a woman.

They carry a two-barrel pistol and died being immobilized by chaos tentacles.

Not much to talk about them, but they also have blue/cyan eyes.

Gremlin

Quite small, covered in rags, has a little mushroom on their head… reveals a bunch of eyes and tentacles underneath. Yeah, I think Gremlin it’s the Wild Swamp's Own.

The Gremlin also, for some reason, carries a giant machine gun.

They have green eyes and die being overwhelmed by Chaos.

Something else that I noted, but could end up being nothing. When one of their companions died, they immediately became enraged. Could show a deep loyalty/connection to the other Riders, or a great hatred towards chaos (or both).

The last three sets of characters were more complicated, at least for me. :)

Barbarian

The Barbarian, the figure that doesn’t have much focus in the animation, it’s also much probably a woman, since we can see her chest and such.

They’re literally dressing as a barbarian, so my bet is in they being the Young Chief Risin’, but they also wear a boar on their head, with the tusks protruding a lot, but that’s the only thing that can make the Barbarian the Weaver of Bone, and it’s very weak evidence.

The Barbarian has pink eyes and carries a canon. They died with the Sharpshooter in a big chaos explosion.

Sharpshooter

The Weaver of Bone??? Maybe? Nothing in their design says anything about it maybe aside from the great style, but maybe this is something more in the story.

The Sharpshooter possess a wide hat with a red feather, and a red cloak to mach. Sometimes they have three eyes, sometimes four, sometimes more, but they are mostly yellow.

The fact that they have yellow eyes made me theorize that the Sharpshooter is Hilda’s brother, but it’s a pretty weak theory.

They died with the Barbarian in a big chaos explosion.

The thing to mention is: Sharpshooter appeared in the first trailer, for those that didn’t remember them.

And finally:

The theory that I saw being passed around by the community: We, the Player, are one of the Riders that appears in the animation at the beginning of the demo.

See, the bard only gave titles to 5 wizards, and he also sing “Remember, remember” in one part of the song.

Which brings us to...

Fancy

the wizard with purple eyes that (I think) wears fancy naval clothing.

Literally, the first one to die at the beginning of the battle, being disintegrated on the spot by a ray from the portal.

No wonder the Cryptomancer was so disappointed we were the one to survive if that’s the case.

- One thing to mention: The fact “we” are so bad in the animatic, plus how the Bard calls the player “Kid” may imply the player is the youngest/least experienced of the Riders, so that could be the reason as Hilda’s reaction towards the player.

Anyway, Fancy is the only one similar enough to the character we created in the game, with the exception of One Eye and Gremlin, but these seem to have names attached to them, plus we know One Eye is Hilda.

But then what? Fancy died, how did they come back to life next to a broken down ship without memory?

I have no idea :D

But there’s a thing...

Fancy has skeleton hands, while ALL the others wear gloces, so maybe there’s something to do with it?

That’s all I have. :)

[starlene]

Analysing every song on the Änglagård original cast recording

I understand this is extremely niche content, there are probably four or five people besides me who have seen and/or are interested in this musical on Tumblr... so of course I'm going to post it.

The new (and super successful!) Swedish musical Änglagård has bothered me ever since I saw it for the first time – because in my opinion, at the same time, it's very badly written but also very enjoyable.

Under the cut is my futile attempt of getting to the bottom of this enigma of a show.

Before I start, please note that I haven't seen the movie the musical is based on. However, I think the number one mark of a successful musical adaptation is that you don't need knowledge of the source material to understand and enjoy it, and that's the point of view I approach this show and cast recording from.

Now, let's go. Änglagård the musical. Music and lyrics by Fredrik Kempe. Book by Edward af Sillén and Daniel Réhn. Cast recording produced and orchestrated by Fredrik Kempe, Dan Sundquist and David Kreuger. Analysis by me.

1. Prolog

A very standard musical theatre overture/prologue: it introduces a couple of reoccurring motives and the general musical tone of the piece. Some of the string parts (the orchestration is mostly strings) remind me of Kristina från Duvemåla. Nothing special in my opinion, but no complaints either.

[Edited to add: okay, one complaint. The whole thing kicks off with the "Änglagård Burning" motif that we'll come back to later, which I think is not a good choice because nothing much ever comes of that whole plot thread. But yeah. Put a pin in that, we'll come back to it.]

2. Upp

An extremely bog-standard musical theatre cabaret song about having a good time and being able to be who you are.

That said, I give the song a lot of bonus points for the tacky orchestration (on the album at least, I can't remember how it's done live). It has a very obvious synthesized sound, you can just imagine a three-person band in the back corner of some dingy early 90s nightclub playing this on their keyboards. The beginning especially is so deliberately bad it makes me laugh.

So actually, this song sneakily does a very good job setting up the world Fanny and Zac inhabit, and acts as a great musical contrasts to...

3. Farfars händer

In my opinion, this is the most beautiful song of the whole musical. Just... very beautiful, very powerful. Lovely lush full orchestra sound, amazing vocals by Fredrik Lycke. Some of the lyrics are a bit clunky ("och att få göra det för oss var meningsfullt" is, uh, not great) – but in general, I'm a sucker for this exact type of musical song, where some melancholy middle-aged man sings his heart out and the music just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

That being said, dramaturgically, this song is SO confusing.

In many musicals (and Disney princess movies), this spot near the beginning is reserved for the protagonist's big "I Want Song", and this certainly sounds like one: Axel wants to continue the work his grandfather started, and for that, he needs to buy the Änglagård estate for himself. So he's one of the protagonists, right, and the show is going to be about his efforts to do just that? Not at all. His struggles are a C plot at best, he has no character arc, and he doesn't get to sing again until the end of the 2nd act.

In short: dramaturgically, a song of this calibre shoud absolutely not be given to this character. Interestingly – and maybe this proves my point – they've used it a lot in their marketing (which makes sense both because it's gorgeous and because it's practically the title song), but the first version they released didn't feature Lycke at all.

All that said, musically, this does a great job setting up the world of Änglagård/Yxared and contrasting it with the German cabaret world of the previous song. Fanny and Zac come from a completely different world than this guy.

4. Minnet av dig

Helen Sjöholm's first big solo. What can I even say, apart from that this slaps. I love these types of songs that let an outwardly very withdrawn characters express all the anger and resentment they're hiding... and Rut has been hiding a lot of anger for a very long time.

9/10. My only criticism is that I think doing the "going full volume, dropping to a calm/quiet part, then going full volume again" thing twice during one song is a bit much. The latter instance almost feels like the remains of a cut dialogue break, but what do I know.

5. Barnet som försvann

An I-Want-ish song for our real protagonist Fanny – it's mostly about what she wanted but didn't have as a child, but we can infer that even as an adult, she wants to find a place to call home and everything that entails. It's pretty nice, with great vocals by Tuva B. Larsen, but not especially memorable.

6. En enkel gubbe

Comic relief funny men song #1. Succeeds in its most important task right away: the ending of the first stanza ("du är min lillebror / och du vet jag älskar dig / men varför i helvete / sa du inte nej") makes me laugh out loud.

It's a simple ditty and has a somewhat traditional/old-fashioned sound (especially at the beginning when the orchestration is just a couple of instruments; I think it grows too bombastic near the end, tbh), which of course fits the characters of Ivar and Gottfrid. Besides being fun to listen to, it sneakily sheds some light on the brothers' dynamic and their developing relationship with Fanny... if you're able to pay attention to any of that with the male ensemble doing a silly knee-slapping dance to this while the audience goes ecstatic. 10/10.

7. Sticka, sticka

The ladies of this sewing group really give the Mormon missionaries in Uganda a run for their money when it comes to repressing one's emotions! It sheds a light on why Rut is the way she is, surrounded by all these other women who have very unhealthy ways of coping with their troubles and insecurities.

That said, I think it's a little bit weird to place two comic songs right after each other, even if this one is a very dark sort of comedy. But then we have...

8. Åh herregud

Comic relief funny men song #2!

Everything I know about musicals says this song shouldn't be here. The comic relief duo's second song belongs in the second act, and it definitely doesn't belong right after two other comic songs... but I guess the plot demands they put it either here or nowhere, and they couldn't resist giving the old men another duet.

It's pretty fun, though, so I'm not protesting too hard. Tommy Körberg's little riff near the end makes me laugh.

9. Leva min dröm

This is... heaven's sake, this song is atrocious. This character does not need a solo. This song does not need to exist within this musical. This song doesn't need to exist within any musical.

I mean, this is the most clichéd musical theatre song I've ever heard! It feels like a parody, really. The lyrics are vague drivel about being able to dream, and musically, it just sounds like you put ABBA and Wicked in a cocktail shaker.

And of course I absolutely love it and have already listened to it many times.

What can I even say? Martin Stokke Mathiesen gives such a sincere and heartfelt performance here, I can't help enjoying it. And even though I stand my ground that this character does not need a solo, I have to admit a clichéd Broadway banger with ABBA-esque vibes is exactly the kind of song a character that wants to become the next Benny Ulvaeus (but is really not quite there yet) would sing.

Simultaneously, 0/10 and 10/10.

10. Jag är jag

Tensions are starting to build and we get Fanny's mission statement: you can't smoke me out or change me, I'll stay here exactly as I am and you'll have to learn to accept it.

It's a good song, and somehow, I think it has a very similar stubborn/angry energy as Rut's songs. Maybe that's intentional and we're meant to pick up on the two of them not being so very different in many ways?

11. Min plats i solen

This song is rather different on the album than it is in context. On the album, it sounds like a straightforward song about becoming a better person – but really, it's about how Rut almost psychs herself up to do the right thing... and then slips right back into her old toxic ways when she sees the Germans having an orgy at Änglagård, which is just too much for her repressed sensibilities. It's a bit of a silly moment onstage tbh, though I get where Rut is coming from. In any case, it's a powerful song.

The strings (especially during the instrumental break near the end) sound extremely Kristina från Duvemåla-esque. Maybe that's intentional, a little nod to Helen Sjöholm's big breakthrough? There's a little throwback to the phrase "jag är jag" in the lyrics, which confirms my thought about the music intentionally highlighting Rut and Fanny's similarities.

12. Kött och blod

I think this has too much dialogue to be a very enjoyable cast recording song... but Helen and Tuva are both so good, so it's nice to have an angry duet like this with them, even though it's interspersed with a lot of talking.

I like how the lyrics subtly shed light on what Rut's real problem with the Germans is: "och först i kön är gubbarna / som tagit av sin vigselring" – her anger is really insecurity, and it's all stemming from the trauma she went through when her husband cheated on her with her best friend, a trauma that she hasn't processed at all. Gah. The more I listen to this album, the more I feel for Rut and the more interesting I find her!

The "Änglagård Burning" theme at the end is very powerful, but... yeah, we'll come back to this later.

13. Poor Little Rich Girl

This song is also bogged down by too many spoken parts. I enjoy how Lindy Larsson performed this live, but it doesn't have a similar impact on the recording, I'm afraid.

Anyway, I like the orchestration with its slightly haunting melancholy sound, and "vi var lek vi var kitch / sedan blev du en perfect bitch" is a super catchy lyric, I'll give it that!

14. Ljusa minnen

As far as I can tell, dramaturgy-wise, this song has no reason to exist. It's framed as a moment for Fanny to learn some life lessons, but it's not really, because the stuff in this song is so far removed from her situation – actually, if anyone needs to hear this, I think it Rut, not Fanny.

In short, to me, this song feels like Molokov's sad solo at the end of Chess på svenska. We do not need to hear about this old man's trauma.

But of course, this show is a Tommy Körberg vehicle, so they needed to give him a proper solo. And it's pretty and it made me cry when I heard it live for the second time. So, uh. I guess just cut this one if you're ever doing a production without someone as beloved as Körberg in the role.

15. Utan Änglagård

Here's where the "Änglagård Burning" theme comes back big time. This is such a good song about a character having a complete mental breakdown. It's like you rolled Fleur-de-Lys and Frollo into one, it's super creepy and gives me the chills.

The problem here? It's in the wrong musical. As a part of this story and this particular character's arc, it's absurd. While I love a good musical mental breakdown, I think this doesn't fit with the realistic tone of the rest of the musical. Instead, it feels like someone has inserted Hellfire into Next to Normal, sung by Henry.

I mean, Eva, girl... I get you're upset because your boyfriend is leaving you, and has probably never seen you as anything more than a friend-with-benefits anyway. In a situation like that, you cry a lot, maybe go slash his tires at most. Literally trying to burn down his new crush's house is the overreaction of a century (and also makes me very worried about your mental health, which the musical doesn't address at all.)

And what really makes this song/scene weird is how little impact it has on the rest of the story. The fire is immediately put out and the whole incident is quickly waved off and never mentioned again. Why was this included at all?

But, again, the song is very good. Sofia Pekkari gives a suitably creepy performance, I especially enjoy the understated ending. The staging is very good, too, with just the right amount of fire projections to make an impact. Man, in some other musical, this would be the highlight of the evening, but here, it's just very confusing.

16. Skuldkänslor och skam

It's really just an intro to the next song, so I don't have an awful lot to say about it – but I'm glad they included it, especially seeing how the other reprises weren't included.

It's a short reprise of Minnet av dig with a tiny little bit of Farfars händer thrown in during Axel's part, which might hint at Axel already thinking of Fanny as family, seeing how Farfars händer is all about family connections. A great little musical detail, if you ask me.

17. Moln av vita lögner

Music-wise, I don't have much to say about this one. It's a beautiful duet and I enjoy it a lot.

Dramaturgy-wise, though... a while ago, I wrote a little post about people subconsciously looking for catharsis in musicals. That's something you're definitely not getting with this song and these two characters.

Here, Rut and Axel get to the point where they can admit their relationship is built on lies – but even so, I'm worried they'll just go on as they always have. The song is a sort of a half-apology. With Rut's reaction to Fanny telling them who her father is, I get the feeling Rut and Axel are never going to open that can of worms again... but it's going to keep bothering them. It's realistic, and it's also a frustrating ending to Rut's character arc. I'm not sure she's coming out of all this much happier or more content than she was at the beginning of the story.

In short, I think this is a weirdly melancholy song to have at this point of the show, but I guess I see where they're coming from with it.

18. En del av något större

The finale and the answer to Fanny's I-Want-ish song from the first act: she has found her place in the world.

I feel emotionally manipulated by this song/scene. I don't think it's a very good or memorable finale, tbh, I feel like I've heard circa seventy other musical songs with this same exact vibe and message... but live, it still made me cry. Of course onstage, they give the very last word to the funny old men, and it's just. Ugh. It's so clichéd, but it hits, and then you're crying and clapping.

I guess that summarises a lot about this musical, really.

So that's it for my analysis! I could also write about how in some ways, I think this musical is uncomfortably close to Så som i himmelen... but I guess that is a post for another time.

And in the end, no matter its faults, I really enjoy listening to Änglagård. It may be a bit of a mess at times, but it's the sort of mess I tend to like, and I'm really glad I've gotten the chance to experience it. May Fredrik Kempe write a dozen more musicals for us to enjoy! <3

[atiny-piratequeen]

Ya know what can I asks for mood boards for each of the secondary characters plus got7 from ATT

I do mbs with my analysis posts. Perhaps i start doing them again

[techtired]

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[amelia-mga2022mi6014]

Final Character Designs

Project Doc

Analysis

[bees-bees-fear]

The other trans rep we do get is so... What's a word. It's more natural in Thedas than the real world, it seems, to be trans or nonbinary. (I've seen people "complain" that you don't learn Flynn or Ivenci's pronouns, you just know them). No questions asked, no confusion. It's inconsequential in most contexts (again I've already gone over how being trans in the Imperium is considered a dereliction of duty rather than the real world treating you like an abomination. One can abscond without being trans or gay, it's just a thing you can do. Those are just their reasons). So Taash's story is so awkward when it comes time to teach the player things. It's like it's got exposition just for bigots so that they can't deny it. It doubles down on itself in real time. Maybe it's just because I'm nonbinary and I already "get it".

And to clarify, I'm not talking about Taash telling their mother that they're nonbinary. That's just, how coming out works. You say "I am" and it's a conversation.

I just wish we could watch Taash's journey (I always want to apologize for calling it a journey because they said they don't want to have to have a journey) unfold and appreciate it for what it is, without the narrator staring over my shoulder at the rest of the audience to make sure they're paying especially close attention.

Our trans friends talk about being trans. They are called trans, but to my memory they don't *say* it. (Bioware still not audibly saying "trans" or "gay" out loud by any character is also part of why Taash being nonbinary feels like we skipped a few generations on inclusivity, and again, it ends up with ALL of that history manifesting through Taash. It's a heavy burden. All critical analysis of Taash is suddenly reduced to this facet because of how much weight was put on them)

Anyway, our friends, they talk about their experiences that only trans people could have in this world. There is no other assumption to make. And they don't come out to you. These are just their experiences. They could only happen to them because they are. And there's no "well I can explain it away by saying they're something other than trans" happening for them. It's avoidable without the explicity. It's so open. No assumptions are made by Rook, just information recieved. Trans people exist and they do stuff and it's colored by being trans. Same as men and women, mostly? Tell me how much attention to detail was paid to Bellara or Davrin's gender. Their actions and interests are colored by their masculinity and femininity, but it isn't a focus. It doesn't need to be. The writers probably never even consciously considered their gender. But Taash doesn't get the luxury of just, being a nonbinary person in this world, figuring out what that means. Having their experiences colored by being nonbinary. Taash also has to function as a vessel for teaching the player what nonbinary is.

And just for a little extra oomph, would anyone like to analyze, just a little bit, the potential transphobia and misogyny behind deciding to implement lore around menstruation just to apply it to the nonbinary character? I thought about it as an obstacle at first, since many trans people have dysphoria one way or another about this concept. But at least Taash doesn't resent it, and their meds are not to suppress it. Maybe that was the writer assuring everyone that Taash doesn't experience physical disphoria. (They have issues perceiving themself as "ugly", repeatedly, but I don't think that's gender related other than they probably think they're "supposed" to look a certain way. They like to be perceived as a man, and that's not really tied to any of their physical attributes)

And with that we have the problem of the "moon-cycle" in contrast to the formal word. We "fantasy"ed one of the most normal concepts in the world for half the population. It creates a stark contrast. It's one thing to say "Tevinter is more socially and linguistically advanced, and brought the term to Taash's attention" (which is good), but the freaking SCHOLAR doesn't call it menses? Okay. You're more interested in forcing the audience to acknowledge the reality of nonbinary people than the reality of PERIODS. All my bruh.

Anyway to summarize. Taash doesn't get to be "nonbinary". Taash is "bioware's first attempt at making a nonbinary character". Their story suffers for the emphasis.

I've seen people saying it's good that Taash is explicitly nonbinary because people are ignoring Lucanis being demisexual. They're not. They know he's demisexual, and they don't like it, hidden under the guise of not liking his "traits". People will ignore whatever they want to ignore. They'll look just as stupid and ignorant regardless of how explicit it was. The only outcome here is people attack Taash directly, instead of nonbinary traits, I guess. Tanking.

Writing challenge!

Taash doesn't get to exist as the character they intended because of how it was decided to use them to introduce the concept into the IP. Taash's whole character and storyline could exist exactly as it plays out, and they could be presented as "Here ���" just as plainly as the other nonbinary characters you mentioned. But the writers figured they needed to use them as a tool, because they skipped over all the other real world LGBTQ history, and had to bum rush the full implementation. Taash is the only vehicle they have for this, they get watered down into this whole YUP NONBINARY PEOPLE EXIST, IT'S TOTALLY NORMAL, DEFINITELY NOT OUT OF THE ORDINARY, BEEN HERE THE WHOLE TIME, WE'VE DEFINITELY EVER HAD NONBINARY PEOPLE IN MIND, orientation of excuses. They didn't make any room for Taash to simply exist, to simply be, and have their experience with finding theirself. Taash carries the entire weight of everything trans in Thedas. If you took Taash out, there's only tidbits here and there (though Taash theirself is very well implemented. I've mentioned many times how "being nonbinary" is very well engrained in Taash's character, and not just a post-it note that was slapped on their portfolio, left for any player to go "I'ma just go ahead and rip that back off there and ignore it").

Everything rests on them, and it dilutes their actual characterization.

Taash has to be "how Bioware implemented nonbinary characters" in the same way nobody ever talks about any actual aspects of Krem, he's only brought up for the trans conversations.

[wasflypaw]

I’m going to try and explain why c!Dream fans like CC!Dream’s tweet.

“C!Dream liked the feeling of power and control that c!Tubbo exiling c!Tommy gave him”

Your argument is that this means c!Dream enjoyed abusing cTommy.

C!Dreamers view this as cDream being happy to finally be able to have power back Because c!Tommy, a person he views as the most disruptive to the peace of the server, is now away from the server. He’s separated clingyduo and now he will be the main person influencing c!Tommy. cc!Dream could’ve said “c!Dream liked the feeling of power and control killing c!Sam gave him” bc c!Sam had abused his power over c!Dream and the same sentiment would stand. Control over the server is one of c!Dream’s goals.

“He wanted c!Tommy to feel so isolated that he eventually viewed c!Dream as his only friend,”

This part is something c!Dreamers (at least those on tumblr, twt is a different monster) view as obvious. We knew this. It was in the text. No one was denying c!Dream was manipulative during exile. This isn’t new. What c!Dreamers always questioned was WHY. In response, we got “he was obviously doing it for fun” or “it doesn’t matter his motivations bc it’s still abuse!” C!Dreamers have always pushed back against the “for fun” argument bc they like analyzing c!Dream and know he always has his “logical in his head” reasons for doing things. The second argument is just a strawman bc no one was arguing he was right, we were arguing abt what his goals were. Which leads us to…

“And would help c!Dream’s goals”

THIS is the gold. Not only did we get confirmation that c!Dream DID have a goal in mind with the way he was treating c!tommy, but we got the goal. He wanted c!Tommy on his side to help him. THIS is now what c!Dreamers are analyzing bc of how interesting of a goal it is.

C!Dreamers don’t need confirmation that c!Dream did bad things. They know. C!Dream even said he’s a bad person. But he’s an interesting character and any insight into his motivations just reinforces his complexity and intrigue as an antagonist.

Of course it’s fair to interpret c!Dream’s tweet as “he enjoyed abusing a child.” If that’s your take more power to ya. But we as c!Dream fans find that boring and lacking analysis. Thanks for listening! Hope this helps you understand our POV.

I actually was not feeling too good 5 seconds before seeing this so I thank you for giving me a distraction and something to write (not sarcasm or anything)

Some of this may not be coherent I'm in Brain Fuzzy mode right now I'm trying my Best

1. You say my argument is saying he liked the feeling c!Tubbo exiling c!Tommy gave him means he enjoyed abusing him when this is Not what I said. There are Other reasons I think he enjoyed abusing c!Tommy, down to scenes of him literally laughing at him on screen as he's repeatedly pushing him around and mocking him and hitting him with weapons, while telling Lazar who they were with "it's so good, it's so good" in a giddy tone (referring to making Tommy put his items in the pit and blow them up)

I argue that c!Dream liking the power c!Tubbo exiling c!Tommy gives him is NOT at all a point in his defense, and is instead an argument against him just using the exile as an opportunity to jump on, which some people like to claim. (As in, claiming it's not orchestrated and c!Tommy's friends wouldve chose to exile him on their own without any of c!Dream's input) c!Tubbo exiling c!Tommy is exactly what c!Dream wanted, and he got a power trip from it.

c!Dream isnt interested in c!Tommy because he thinks he's "disruptive to the peace". We can see multiple times that c!Dream would encourage their wars, would enjoy annoying c!Tommy, would start (usually indirectly so he can shift blame) himself, and once teamed up with c!Tommy to burn shit down becuase he "likes destruction". He knows damn well c!Tommy isnt the one disrupting any peace, he just knows c!Tommy wont bow down to him. He wants control over c!Tommy because he wants control over people's attachments, not because he wants peace. He doesnt care about peace.

He cares about their little game, the Disc War. It's why he let L'Manberg have technical independence, cause c!Tommy gave him the discs to continue their game. It's why he traded over Spirit to c!Tommy in the first place, cause giving him the Discs would end their game. It's why c!Tommy had to give up the Presidency, because he knew c!Dream would want to continue their game. It's why, after his tantrum and blowing up all of c!Tommy's belongings after finding c!Tommy's secret chest, c!Dream let him keep one thing. A Jukebox.

People seem to believe that c!Dream having a goal in mind means either

1. The goal was ultimately a Good one, and cc!Dream confirming he has a goal is a win for c!Dream apologists

2. He cannot have enjoyed exile or tormenting c!Tommy at all. Having a goal and enjoying what you do to achieve it can go hand in hand

"We as c!Dream fans" I dont like the implication here considering c!Dream is quite literally the Only character I have spoken about in nearly a year now 😭 are you implying I'm Not?

[missingn000]

oh WOW where do i even begin with this chapter. okay maybe higuruma and nobara because you've gotten me all invested (again) in a pair that's never actually met in canon. pfpk will get their turn later in this ask lol so dw!

so higuruma and nanami finally meet again!! fuck yeah!! the "you talk all high and mighty" was a nice throwback, but that domain expansion joke was AWFUL. like... "lighten up" ?? um?? higuruma ?? all that aside, i found his description as a "dark figure" that "eclipses Nanami like a silhouette" really neat - it goes really well with their roles as each other's foils! no better way to hammer it in than with a symbolic image from another person's perspective :D

Nanami is the type of dad she’s always wanted, but Higuruma is the one she has. 

i hope u know i reread their fight in ch34 as a refresher and wow i need to write a separate analysis for that one sometime... anyway, it's just really interesting to me how nanami, higuruma's character foil, is the one who manages to earn nobara's respect! both of them have seen the worst of what humanity has to offer, but where higuruma came out of it disillusioned and despairing, nanami was lucky enough to have encountered yuuji & toge before the bleakness of it all could truly set in. the same can be said of the reverse! on the other hand, nobara and higuruma found each other at what was quite possibly the lowest point in their lives; higuruma was grappling with the crippling emotional aftermath of his and nanami's ideological clash, and nobara's grandmother literally just died. they may not realise it yet, but they're reliant on each other to make it through

also the parallel you drew between nanami holding back from killing nara & higuruma murdering the village sheriff Hit me like a fuckin truck. one of nobara's main arguments against higuruma is that he's a literal murderer, which is a very valid and fair thing to be upset over, BUT, and this is an important distinction, while nanami may come off as the ideal parent (in nobara's eyes), higuruma is the one she does have - and needs. and vice versa. also:

Toge expects her to ruminate, but almost immediately: “Thanks, but no thanks,” Nobara declares. “He said to come home whenever, right? That guy can’t cook for his life. I gotta make fun of his shitty dinner.”

he gave her a home!! got it in (...verbal?) writing and all!! the fact she's willing to acknowledge this in front of the ff is so significant too. higuruma says that "she'd be the first to tell you she's not my daughter," but her actions say otherwise! even if unconventional, lol. higuruma wasn't allowed past the threshold this time, but it's obviously just a matter of time and i can't wait. wonder what she has against toji but i'm not gonna dive into that rn. speaking of which - nobara's main issue (with regard to her fighting style) is that she tries too hard, which holds her back, right? i feel like that's also applicable to other parts of her life as well, so of course it'd seep into the way she approaches combat. clever, i like that!

megumi saying to gojo that "sometimes I wish I’d told you sooner that I love you too" absolutely ruined me, esp considering his silence in ch13. which i just read yesterday. don't do this to me. anyway, it's such a small thing, but it really shows how far they've come and it means the world to me! i would elaborate but this """ask""" is getting long enough as is </3

AND NOW

PFPK TIME

alternative title: reincarnated sorcerer tries to navigate the 21st century with a whimsical curse as their sole guide, it goes about as well as you'd expect

really fascinated by the descriptions of mahito's exaggerated imitations of human behaviour, btw. these are my favourites:

Mahito bursts into a jarring cackle.

He folds his arms with a vacant grin.

They wish he wouldn’t laugh like that. It sounds so real. 

all of it feels so staged. artificial. because it is - he copies what he sees humans do, to varying degrees of success. sometimes his attempts are hollow. sometimes they're startlingly... accurate, and blur the lines:

Mahito says, wiping a tear duct, and that’s just wrong. Only people should be able to laugh so hard they cry.

even though mahito actively messes with humans, he's... simultaneously deeply fascinated by them, going so far as to observe and copy their mannerisms AND retain a humanoid form. considering he's able to modify his body, it's not a stretch to assume he quite literally has to maintain his appearance-- but why bother putting in that much effort? if everything he does is a mimicry of the original, why does he bleed red? why does his name mean true person? the parts of himself that he has no control over are unsettlingly, undeniably human. really, he's doomed from the beginning, even though he tries to use his 'curse instincts' to distinguish himself from them.

AND - WAIT FOR IT - that's exactly he's so afraid of making a digestive system!! if he succeeds, he'll be crossing that invisible (and self-made, imo) line that differentiates curse from human. imitate the latter as he might, he still holds himself as separate from them, and he's not going to do anything that threatens that belief. on a subconscious level, he probably knows the truth, which is why he doesn't even try to prove kashimo wrong.

“Then I’ll fight you,” they murmur, beneath the booming crackle of pyrotechnics going out in a final blaze of glory, sacrificing themselves in the victoryless war raging in the heavens above.  “So look forward to it.”

wow. y'know, fireworks in chinese & japanese culture are apparently symbolic of warding off evil. fitting kashimo would talk about trying to kill mahito then, huh? :)

you already know what i think about the gojo-kashimo character foil but i'm putting it here again for easier reference in the future:

something gojo and kashimo share in common is strength (supposedly) being their defining trait, but there're some subtle differences here, namely in how they use it: in gojo's opinion, there's no point in being strong if you can't protect the people who matter most to you. in kashimo's eyes, though, it’s completely reversed. having an emotional crutch is "embarrassing," a hindrance more than anything else, the complete opposite of gojo's mentality. to them, you discard human bonds to become strong. to gojo, you become strong to preserve the people you've formed those bonds with.

the third time gojo and toji tried to kill each other, it was for highly personal reasons. but in kashimo’s and mahito’s hopefully hypothetical future fight ("Then I'll fight you"), it seems to be less about a personal vendetta than being the one to decide how their dearest person’s story will end.

There’s so little you can hold onto, in this world. If you can’t cherish something, maybe it’s enough to decide how you have to let it go.

KAY OH MY GOD. HI

ive already said this to you BUT this comment is everything to me. your analyses are always so insightful and on point dude, it's SO flattering that you put this much time, effort, and consideration into the themes & symbols in this monstrosity 😭❤️️ warm and fuzzies. like my heart is next to a fireplace

OKAY NOW FOR THE COMMENT ITSELF. more below cut!

nanami & higuruma meet again!! yes!! i just had to give higuruma a weird, off-putting joke, considering that "i'm a lawyer, so talking to me costs ¥5,000 every half hour" quip he gave yuuji during his introduction. his dynamic with nanami is so interesting to me, because out of all character foil duos they're definitely the most alike. which is why it's so interesting that you pointed out how nanami is the one who managed to earn nobara's respect; that "Nanami is the type of dad she’s always wanted, but Higuruma is the one she has" line physically hurt me to type. OW. the angst. they totally met at rock bottom, and i don't think they can climb back up without each other, either: you got it totally right that higuruma is the dad she needs!!

they're both already growing. higuruma now realizes nanami was actually lucky to not have to kill toge's aunt, because he saw firsthand the damage murdering the sheriff caused to his relationship with nobara. and nobara realizes she has a home!!! she's wanted!! even though she thinks he "probably didn't mean it like that," the fact that she's willing to hope already speaks volumes to how much she's grown in her short time with him.

dfghjk that megumi line...ive also mentioned this to you but gojo & megumi have one of my favorite canon found family relationships of all time. they're everything to me. i will put gojo & megumi fluff and angst wherever possible. this is a threat

ANYWAY.

PFPK.

i feel like im just gonna repeat what weve talked about in messages but YEAH, that constant sense of "off"-ness about mahito where he's just close enough to seeming human to give someone pause, but inhuman enough to show that he's dangerous. how much of it is an act and how much of it is real? it's a line unclear to even mahito sometimes. you can only pretend for so long before you either get too tired to continue or it genuinely becomes a part of you -- if it wasn't a part of you all along, and you just didn't know how to express it. mahito's "human" act is never one he's continually had to play, because he had some semblance of alone time to go off and commit atrocities.

but he's around a human 24/7 now. he constantly has to figure out how to react to external stimuli in the most human way possible, and i don't think he wants to admit how naturally it comes to him. mahito is born from human hatred: but the thing is, hatred goes so much deeper than just animosity towards others. it's self-hate, it's hate towards your own weaknesses, hating feeling a certain way and not being able to do anything to fix it. i think this is why mahito has such a wide emotional range in canon: hate is a multi-dimensional emotion. hate is fear, grief, anger. i always joke that being a hater fuels me, but to an extent it's actually true -- it's cathartic, y'know? it's fun to hate. you can love to hate. and you can hate to love.

GOJO AND KASHIMO...i was looking in our chat at for my response to this analysis and it was something along the lines of "RATTLING THE BARS OF MY CAGE" which is really in character for me but not great for, uh, actual analytical responses. of all the character foils, i think kashimo and gojo are the most different -- polar opposites, but with that one disturbing, awful similarity about dooming their own partners. it fucking sucks to care about who they each respectively care about, and kashimo won't even admit it, so gojo's really got his work cut out for him. poor guy, dude's dealing with enough already without having to instigate inconvenient realizations in some guy over 20 times older than him

GOD. of course you'd call attention to that last line. i won't lie, "There’s so little you can hold onto, in this world. If you can’t cherish something, maybe it’s enough to decide how you have to let it go" is definitely one of my favorite things i've ever written. it fucking HURTS and represents so much about this story. i need to lie down

THANK YOU FOR THIS MESSAGE!! i seriously have parts of it memorized. i'm sure we'll continue to discuss/screech over all these things and i greatly look forward to it

[actualbird]

n/s//f///w text ahead and also so much stupid, get out while u can

context because god, all of this needs context or else you'll think im nuts (or, well, more nuts than you guys already surely think i am):

kay so on twitter i was talking with BecktheBeetle and ilong_musk about marius thirst and we somehow got to discussing subby marius. which! i am very much into and i replied with, and i quote "my problem is i want him subby for everybody but also i love luke subby for everybody as well. so i have to like...have a hierarchy. marius bottoms for all nxx except for luke, where suddenly his top vibes activate."

to which BecktheBeetle replied with "I’ll need this in a 1k word essay format complete with diagrams please" possibly in a facetious nature but i love writing 1k word things and making diagrams

which is why this post (probably the dumbest but also the funnest thing ive ever done) happened

my unholy nxx polycule sex hierarchy dynamics hc

wc: 1.5k (1.4k if not including flimsy context above to justify all this)

disclaimers: dont take this seriously. i didnt. definitely do not expect any character analysis rationale in this either, this is wholly just my own self indulgent preferences for the characters. also, this is mostly for the laughs and i feel the need to state the obvious that theres no hard and fast "rule" and definitely no "hierarchy" for how sex dynamics must work. switching is a thing, power isnt a requirement, and yadda yadda, pls dont take sex lessons from ppl online, especially not me, is what im tryna say

anyway, before i talk about bottoms or subs or sex in relation to the tot characters

i first have to explain to you a boardgame called Game Of The Generals

Game Of The Generals (GG) is a filipino board game and im so sorry i had to use it for this but it's the most fitting framework my brain could figure out and i Needed A Framework.

this boardgame is like chess in the sense that theres two sides and one side is tryna defeat a key piece (for GG, it's the flag) to win. unlike chess tho, the pieces have ranks, these ranks determine the pieces that piece can defeat, and the player can only see the ranks of their own pieces (thus necessitating a 3rd party called an adjutant (JUST REALIZED THATS BASICALLY AN ADJUDICATOR OMG, HI VYN) who is not on either side and whose purpose is just to check which piece wins when one piece goes into the box of another piece)

but the ranks r whats most important to this deranged ramble.

the picture above lists all 15 ranks (which i hope tumblr lets u see clearly). the ones at the top are the strongest and can eliminate everything under it EXCEPT when you get to the Private and Spy. the Spy is supposedly the strongest piece because it can defeat Literally Everything

except for the Private. which is the 2nd weakest piece on the board (1st weakest being the flag). it's horrendously weak but its wildcard power is that it is the ONLY PIECE OF ANOTHER RANK that can defeat the Spy.

i say "of another rank" because in GG, if two pieces of the same rank try to challenge each other, the one who attacks first is the one who wins. EDIT: WOKE UP IN A DAZE AND REALIZED I MISREMEMBERED THIS. IF TWO PIECES ATTACK, BOTH OF THEM ARE ELIMINATED. first strike wins only applies to flag vs flag. i can fix this still

got all that? cool. im now taking that list of GG ranks and pieces and condensing it and editing it for my terrible mission

LET ME BREAK THIS DOWN

"eliminate" in this sex ramble now becomes "im the one with the reins" which can either mean topping or being dominant cuz a person can totally have a dick in them and still be steering the show

the Private rank now has two special variants: "with rights" and "without" rights and this is in regards to how they can eliminate the Spy and i swear to god i'll explain that more in detail later, trust me. still, the original rule of "if two pieces of the same rank fight, the one who makes the first move eliminates the other" still applies even among these variants. so if Private Without Rights attacks first at Private With Rights, Private Without Rights eliminates the other

EDIT: so same rank actually means both ranks lose. so both Privates get eliminated. this can still work in my favor tho, trust me

note that for both Privates, i say that there is only the capability to eliminate the Spy. meaning that theres still a possibility they themselves can be eliminated by the Spy

i say this in the beginning of the post but i'll say it again: dont take this seriously. i certainly am not.

with these new pieces in place, i now put forth my hc via assigning a piece to each member of the nxx investigation team

from this alone, i think a good chunk of my thoughts are expressed, but lemme walk through them so you appreciate my hardship

mc is the most powerful. she can rail the hell outta everybody (including both privates but not always. but i'll get to that later) and they will say "thank you" with hearts in their eyes (and come just all over their body)

vyn and artem are in the middle of this insane sex sandwich with vyn just one star more powerful than artem. which means that vyn can bend artem over the desk in his dumbass minimalist study in his apartment but should mc want to give vyn the strap not even 5 minutes after that (or, hell, even during), hes happy to oblige.

marius and luke are at the bottom of the this horny power ladder and i realize, fuck, i rlly should have formatted the above image in a line but it's too late to turn back now. anyway, MARIUS AND LUKE ARE THE BOTTOMEST OF BOTTOMS, THE SUBBIEST OF SUBS. they are getting fucked and pushed around sexily so so much and are having a blast

to visualize, heres a chart. red arrows are the straightforward ones. the place where the red arrow originates from is The One Who Fucks and the place where the red arrow points to is The One Who Gets Fucked. orange lines are a bit more nuanced because i messed with the Private rank

but yea, thats it!

now that thats been said, i will explain wtf ive done with the Private rank

see, i wanted mc to be a Spy because while shes the most powerful, theres still one piece she can fall at the hands (or dick) of. and in my mind, the one she hands the reins over to easiest and happiest is Luke Pearce.

because i know in my heart that luke fucks like a one man demolition squad (linked is a meme visualizing this)

so i knew luke had to be a private. but then i go back to what i said that started this whole thing: i want luke to be the one getting fucked if hes with marius. but i also want marius to be a bottom, just not with luke where i want him to top. but i dont wanna rank marius higher because i think the brat doesnt deserve it (i say this affectionately) but i couldnt rank luke lower to be the flag cuz then thatd mean he loses the capability to top mc.

i was in a conundrum! i wanted all these things but the pieces of GG didnt allow me to do this!

so my solution is to deviate from GG a little bit

i split the Private rank into two variants to compensate how pathetic (affectionate, horny) i find marius von hagen to be while still keeping his dick advantage with luke.

see, when luke and marius (same rank) are going into the same square (//waggles eyebrows), i remind you about the rule concerning same ranked pieces facing off: the one who attacks first eliminates the other. and in my mind marius, more often than not, is the one pouncing on luke.

so by sheer virtue of speed caused impatient desperation and incessantly whorish vibes, marius wins.

EDIT: due to my oversight on same ranked pieces, the edited rationale is now that luke is bottoming physically but because of luke's inherent genuine tenderness present at all times, marius, even when topping, is still bottoming emotionally. at the end of the day tho after the Feels, marius still feels smug superior cuz at least He Made The Move First. which luke thinks is super dumb but he got great cummies out of it so fine. he'll let it pass. told ya i could make it work

OK LASTLY....LASTLY....THE LAST THING I HAVE TO EXPLAIN: the whole "capability" thing i invented for the Private variants

luke, a Private With Rights, gets to top mc basically whenever she wants him to. which is probably more of a service top situation but from time to time she Does wanna have a go with Agent Raven and maybe play a very coy target he has to sexy threaten honeypot. when mc is not in the mood for luke going that route, luke always surrenders because for him, it is an absolute joy

marius, a Private Without Rights, is submitting because he wants to and enjoys it but also he makes it such an Ordeal. if luke is obedient even if he really really wants to come and always says "please" like a good boy, marius is Not That.

marius is whining, marius is on purpose riling people up cuz it's gonna get him one hard fucking, marius is misbehaving so that somebody will set him straight (ha! as if!)

so mc is kjsdfkJBKJ NOT GIVING HIM THE SATISFACTION SO EASILY!! hes such a brat!!! so he has a much more difficult time winning in the whole rank business because shes being rightfully stubborn against him being Like That

however, she will give him a reward if he earns it

and the process of earning it is just a long grocery list of being everybody else's boytoy for a Long While.

im suddenly now angry because i designed all this to put marius at a disadvantage but......if hes getting fucked on the reg by the team, hes winning anyway. i was tricked. fooled. BAMBOOZLED!

curse you, marius von hagen!!!!!!!!!!

[aemiron-main]

Yeah, that’s uh. very much part of it. Maybe next time you want to shittalk, try spending 2 seconds actually looking at the analysis, please. (and maybe just tag me next time LMAO like seriously so much confusion could be resolved if people were just direct instead of vaguing like this).

It’s a little frustrating to get a bad reputation when I’ve genuinely spent a lot of time laying out exactly what’s happening & why i don’t think Henry’s responsible- i didn’t start making the analysis because i liked him, I started liking him BECAUSE I did the analysis and realized he wasn’t the one responsible. Never ONCE have I ever said “oh it’s okay that Henry killed those kids and kidnapped Will”- instead, what I HAVE said is that HENRY ISN’T THE ONE WHO DID IT! That Henry isn’t Vecna, and instead, that Edward Creel is, and that’s why Eddie Munson (who exists to deliver Edward Creel subtext) has so many references to the lab (shaved head and tattoos etc), and also why he’s LITERALLY VECNA in the DND game (Eddie Munson is Vecna in DND whereas Edward Creel is actually Vecna). Eddie Munson’s whole character makes a lot more sense with the context of Edward Creel.

 And the other thing that makes sense with the context of Edward Creel is the fact that the Vecna name fuckery still isn’t resolved. We still don’t have a firm name for him. Supposedly the twist was “Henry is Vecna,” but in reality, the twist is presented as “One” is Vecna, and Edward is 001 and therefore Vecna. 

This is why Mike still refers to him as One when talking with Will, instead of calling him Henry, this is why the “who is Vecna” thing still isn’t fully resolved, this is why Vecna didn’t have a particular response to being called “Henry”- because he isn’t Henry. It’s just like what Hopper said in Season 1- we’ve been going after the wrong kid. Henry isn’t the one responsible for this. It’s also like I said in this post, where I talk about how Robin straight up says that they were all WRONG when trying to decide between Vecna/Henry/001 because NONE of those names are right.

I’ve got a whole list of Edward Creel posts here. He’s mentioned in the show, we see his name on-screen, with details about his life, and the name “Edward” is even bolded on the S4 movie board. I especially recommend this post about shadow selves and Edward vs Henry vs Vecna, and this post about Eddie Munson being Vecna in the DND game and this post for a general Edward/Edward timeline overview (considering that there’s definitely multiple timelines in ST which also ties into all of this) and this post showing an example of when we see two different timelines with the characters ONSCREEN and not just in the newspapers and this post about Will’s birthday being on the same date as the day that the Creel murders happened in Edward’s timeline (which, they happened on a totally different day in Henry’s timeline, and so again, Will and Edward are connected, not Will and Henry). I’ve also got a list about all of the multiple timelines weirdness (not counting the nina stuff because that all gets its own post/list) here. I also have a ton of posts specifically demonstrating that Henry wasn’t the one who did all of this and how much weirdness there is with the 1979 massacre (bodies moving and changing positions before our very eyes and Brenner showing up in shots with completely new hair and completely new bloodstains  that correspond with the childrens’ changing bloodstains on their bodies and on the floor, and how the bloodstains on Henry/Edward change and how some of the bodies are ADULTS so Henry/Edward may have killed ORDERLIES/adult patients like Terry who may have attacked first etc etc etc). And that’s all barely scraping the surface. We literally see multiple different 001s with different bloodstains and different FACES and hair ON SCREEN in front of our very eyes. Again, here’s a link to that post list. I also recommend this post from James about the evidence of some sort of creature attack at HNL in 1979. I recommend ALL of James’ posts.

And regarding Henry supposedly murdering his family: a.) how did he supposedly murder Alice if he was busy trancing Victor? We’ve seen nothing to indicate that he’s able to do both at once and we also don’t see Alice die. Don’t you think that they would’ve shown that to us if they really wanted to hammer home the idea that Henry brutally killed her? They’ve never hesitated to show us gore or dead children before, so why not show us now?

b.) Killing Virginia was justified. If you had to choose between spending the rest of your life imprisoned with Martin Brenner (whom Henry seems to have already met prior to the murders and therefore has reasonable cause to fear him & understand what he’s capable of) as a lab experiment OR murdering your mother who despised you and who was the person choosing to send you to Brenner without even trying to TALK to you, which would you choose?

c.) that’s assuming that  Henry even KILLED Virginia, as there’s significant evidence to support the idea that Hawkins Lab was involved with the Creel murders, and especially considering the new context from the leaked The First Shadow auditions about a “radio wave that kills people” versus Virginia Creel dying immediately after the radio starts going haywire, and Henry looks confused when the lights start flickering/when the radio starts messing around, which doesn’t make any sense if he was the one doing it. You can find some of my other posts about the lab’s involvement in the Creel murders here, here, here, here and here, and here's a link to the full creel murders analysis post list and that’s just a very tiny handful of them. Victor was literally arrested by the same state troopers who were working with the lab to facilitate and cover up Will’s death in S1 and then was found wandering alongside the road that leads to Hawkins Lab. And the fact that we have those random newspaper pictures of blood all over the Creel house and smeared on the walls that we never actually see in the show, which just SCREAMS Hawkins Lab, especially since Victor’s initials were supposedly written on the wall in blood.

And if you just believe that murder is inherently evil, then I think you should go and take a look at El’s killcount and apply the same standards to her.

The idea of Henry being born evil is ridiculous considering that this is the show that gave us Dart, a literal maneating interdimensional beast, and showed us that he wasn’t born evil and instead was a product of his environment. Why on earth would Henry, a literal human child, be any different? Seriously, do you think that Children Are Just Born Evil Sometimes is the message that ST is trying to send?

Anyway, I don’t have enough energy right now to argue over every little detail of this (although I’m up for just like. genuine discussion) but personally I’d rather be batshit crazy than be unwilling to even try to grasp even the most basic concepts of this show (such as Children Not Being Born Evil).

You don’t have to like him! You don’t have to compare him to kittens! You don’t have to agree with me, or believe me, or even read my posts (although it does seem a little silly to criticize me without even reading them) but maybe, when you’re watching The Show That Tells You to Look Below The Surface/Curtain every five minutes, and then get to a sequence that’s compared to a play (see: murray’s curtain line vs 001′s silly, terrible play line), where the dead bodies are turning into adults and completely changing mid-shot (which is intentional because all of the bodies have hyperrealistic digital 3d model doubles  so it’s not just a matter of standins for the actors), you should consider Looking Behind The Curtain and not just taking everything at face value. Try considering what you’re being SHOWN, not just what you’re being TOLD (especially considering the emphasis that ST puts on show over tell).

Hell, there’s even substantial evidence to support the idea that Henry didn’t even kill the rabbit (see this post and this post), and instead, broke the rabbit’s leg to free it from the snare it was caught in, JUST like how Hopper broke his own foot to free himself in Russia. Which explains why a.) we never see the rabbit die, just like how we never see Alice die and b.) why the rabbit’s dead body is NEVER found where Henry supposed killed it (the dead body is shown in two places- in the show, it’s near the slide, and in the Creel family trailer, which has scenes that aren’t in the show, it’s shown right in front of the house, with a BROKEN LEG NO LESS, which is odd considering that Henry supposedly killed it around the side of the house). So yeah! Everything’s organized in my pinned post if you want more. Everything I’ve put in here is barely scraping the surface, especially considering the analysis that James @henrysglock​ has also done on the subject. I’m not even like, mad, just a little annoyed and hurt that there has to be this constant vagueing (not just from you, from multiple people) before people have even given my analysis a fair shot or a single glance. What’s the harm in even reading it before jumping to shittalking? It’s one thing to have genuine criticism, it’s another to not even be willing to take a moment and look at what you’re criticizing.

Seriously, what’s more likely A.) everything I’ve analyzed and listed is all a massive string of EXTREMELY convenient production errors in the biggest show out there, despite me proving over and over with BTS photos and interviews that these things are confirmed to be intentional and not production errors. or

B.) The show with constant references to multiple timelines and “the wrong kid” and with themes of people being wrongfully ostracized and that’s constantly telling us that Nobody Is Born Evil and that’s constantly telling people to Look Deeper wants people to Look Deeper is, in fact, using multiple timelines, and telling us that we had the wrong kid, and that Nobody Is Born Evil and that Henry was wrongfully ostracized not just in the show/by the characters, but in fandom too.

people here who call henry creel pookie and compare him to kittens and shit are batshit crazy. did you forget he murdered his whole family.

[9worldstales]

MCU Loki Ep 6 “For All Time. Always.” intensive analysis

So that’s the end of the series and of my analysis of each episode. No, actually it’s not as there will be a second series. So basically this episode too follows the same trend the other episodes followed, it ends on a cliff-hanger.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with cliff-hangers but if you abuse of them, it reveal you don’t believe your series can hook viewers even without cliff-hangers.

Whatever, let’s go.

This time, instead than a music, the ‘MARVEL STUDIOS’ writing has in the background quotes from the Marvel movies which is interesting because it kind of hints to the time passing.

It continues showing a beautiful view of spaces which seems to be creating and destroying in which we get other quotes which are historically famous.

Then we move to where Sylvie and Loki are.

Title and then first (poorly done) dialogue as they face the door of a place which has weird cracking, shining lines as if that reality was about to break apart.

Sylvie all of sudden asks Loki if he’s going to tell her not to kick the door, but since she has Mary Sue powers he’s not going to do so because:

Loki: It never made a difference.

In itself is a terrible premise for your relationship guys and the prove you don’t have one. If you don’t listen to each other, that’s not a good basis to found a relation and the fact that Loki doesn’t even care to be heard but would let her do what she wants is equally not promising.

Please, mark Sylvie’s words here:

Sylvie: Well, if you think it's a bad idea, I prefer you to speak your mind.

This would be a good sentence. A good basis for a relation as she asks for his input, she tells him she wants to hear it but he has none. Okay, whatever, it could work if it wasn’t that Sylvie is hesitating. Loki worries and she tells him she needs a moment, he worries more, tries to speak his mind about it and she tells him:

Sylvie: Loki, shut up. I was pruned before you even existed. I have been waiting for this moment my entire life. I just need a second to get my head straight, okay?

So… she has asked for Loki’s input, she has told him to speak his mind but when he does she tells him shut up. Because she actually didn’t want him to speak his mind. She wanted him to be the one who would stall her because she needed a minute and now she’s angry and rude because he’s not giving her what she wants. Loki still remains compliant because… Mary Sue.

Since Sylvie clearly doesn’t want to enter, the doors decide to open on their own so as to force them to enter.

I’ll be honest, the place is cool but I’ve no idea why ‘He Who Remains’ would have built to himself a place like that in a location like that. Whatever, let’s not make questions which obviously won’t get answers.

Miss Minute appears abruptly to welcome them to ‘The Citadel at the End of Time’ and tells them ‘He Who Remains’ is impressed, ‘He Who Remains’ being the one who created all and controls all, in short, at the end, it is only ‘He Who Remains’. According to Miss Minute he’s willing to offer them a deal, adjusting the timeline to place them back into the timeline in a way that won't disrupt things while the TVA keeps doing its work. Loki will get to win the battle of New York, get the Infinity Stone and the Throne of Asgard… because it’s not like he wanted the love and acceptance of his family and feel like he belonged, no, the TVA and this series don’t care about this part of the whole Loki problem.

You know, many blame Waldron for messing up Loki’s character in this series and is real, he messed it up big time, but I wonder if he did it on purpose or because he was requested to do so.

Because I can’t believe someone who sat down and hear a Tom Hiddleston’s lecture about “Loki” has no idea all this came from pain and not from ambition to rule, so Miss Minute offering him a throne POST “THE AVENGERS” instead than his father’s love, his family’s acceptance, a way to pack up things with his brother, maybe even the chance to be Odin’s legitimate child feels dumb and a mere attempt at remarking how Loki is actually solely moved by ambition.

And it’s not like they couldn’t do it because she then tells Sylvie she can give a lifetime of happy memories and the chance to live with Loki. So they can redo what happened to Loki… and they don’t offer it to him? As if what happened in the Vault in “Thor” was something he wanted to keep? As if his attempted suicide at the end of “Thor” was something he enjoyed?

She could offer him everything and she says so:

Miss Minutes: It's crazy, but he could make it work. All of it. Everything. Exactly the way you've always wanted. And you can have it all, together.

…and satisfying Loki’s greed for a throne was what she chose to go because this series desperately wants to characterize him as solely longing for a throne.

Sylvie doesn’t believe her, saying it’s just fiction.

Loki’s statement could have been a little more profound, as he says they’ll write their own destiny, meaning he doesn’t want the help of ‘He Who Remains’, but it could have been deeper if Miss Minute has offered him to change his past and he has just worried about the future, it could have meant he would let go of the past, and worry about what he could improve in the future.

Instead Miss Minute offered the past to Sylvie and the future to Loki, whom, we know in this series was set on the start on being in charge of his fate so it was unlikely he would have accepted. Pity, it’s a wasted chance.

She leaves them, this meeting changing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING except that we now know we’re in ‘The Citadel at the End of Time’ and the final enemy is supposed to be called ‘He Who Remains’ and we move to Renslayer who’s downloading files.

On a side note I like how she sees the sign Mobius’ glass left and pause for a moment.

Then Renslayer discovers the files Miss Minute has downloaded for her aren’t the ones she asked for, but she’s told ‘He Who Remains’ thinks they’ll be more useful to her. As a good little soldier without will, Renslayer doesn’t even argue on this.

We won’t see Miss Minute again in the series.

Overall she has been useless. This last episode tried to paint her as a bit more malicious but she’s basically a Clippy cartoon, as an AI she doesn’t have at all the character of Jarvis (from “Iron Man”) or Karen (from “Spider-Man: Homecoming”). Miss Minute is entirely forgettable, overall useless, just a kid cartoon to draw kids’ interest.

It would have been scarier if Renslayer had downloaded the files by herself and discovered somehow she had downloaded a different file but whatever, let’s move on.

Loki and Sylvie walk for a corridor as the camera rotates, drawing on the suspension but not really doing anything relevant. They get in a hall and Loki, seeing the dust, wonders if ‘He Who Remains’ is actually still alive. Again this won’t mean anything because the guy is alive and why there’s dust is left unexplained.

Sure, they might want to save the answer for the second series but considering how this series went I’m not even sure about it.

A door opens and ‘He Who Remains’ appears and it turns out the big bad is the actor who’s meant to play the part of Kang the conqueror.

Kudos to Jonathan Majors as he managed to make ‘He Who Remains’ very charismatic, which is relevant as he’s also meant to play Kang The Conqueror in incoming movies and if it had come out as boring it would have been a huge problems for those movies.

Anyway, ‘He Who Remains’ is absolutely calm, comfortable, in control and amused. He eats an apple, commonly viewed as the fruit of temptation and knowledge as he talks with them and doesn’t play the role of ‘action boy’ like the other 3 female POC were.

He invites them to follow him to his office, which they do although they keep on pointing their swords at him. Loki realizes he’s just a man and Sylvie tries to kill him but he warps himself away from her blow so she misses. She tries again and fails again so they remain alone in the lift. The doors open and ‘He Who Remains’ is outside, waiting for them.

Now… I guess Sylvie attempting to kill the guy at random foreshadows the fact that’s she’ll try to do so afterward as well… but this is sort of signalling she’s losing her Mary Sue powers because she’s starting to look dumb. She’s not even sure he’s the real big bad and not a side kick and yet she’s trying to murder him in one blow.

She has already tried it with the Time-Keepers and it didn’t work out well, why she’s trying again?

Once they’re in his office he offers them… tea? And tells them to sit down while they’re all nervous and with their swords out. They sit because… the plot says so?

I mean no one would sit while at the same time still being so wary he keeps on pointing his sword to a guy.

But back to Renslayer we go. She’s collecting documents and complaining she said she didn’t want to be disturbed when she hear the door being knocked.

The one knocking though, is Mobius, with a Time Stick.

Renslayer expresses her admiration for him coming back from the Void… when it actually was Sylvie who gave him the means to do so. Not that Mobius mentions it because for him it was a piece of cake coming back. With the Tempad Sylvie gave him and that he didn’t left her.

Renslayer: If anyone was ever gonna make it back from The Void, I suppose it was gonna be you. Mobius: Oh, well, you know, one man's Void is another man's piece of cake.

Whatever. Renslayer asks him if he’s gonna prune her and he acts all moralist with her.

Mobius: I like that idea. But, you know, my standards might be a little bit higher in that area than yours. You know, with close personal friends.

So what? He’s gonna close her on a time-loop in which she gets beaten over and over until she admits she was bad for betraying him as he has done with his other friend, Loki? Or Loki got that even though he hadn’t betrayed him because he wasn’t a close personal friend?

Renslayer tells him he couldn’t get in the way of her little cult’s mission. Mobius complains the Time-Keepers are fake and they’re Variants so there’s no mission because for Mobius all this is very personal.

Pruning Variants was fine only as long as whoever was in charge didn’t lie to him. Once he did, there’s no mission.

Renslayer at least is more coherent. She doesn’t care about the lies, she has decided the TVA is her life and so she’ll continue serving it as the brainwashed cult member she is.

Renslayer: It can't have been for nothing.

Mobius instead goes back to his beliefs when he perceives himself to be wronged

Mobius: It's exactly the same thing. Because if you think too hard about where any of us came from, who we truly are, it sounds kinda ridiculous. Existence is chaos. Nothing makes any sense, so we try to make some sense of it. And I'm just lucky that the chaos I emerged into gave me all this... My own glorious purpose. Cause the TVA is my life. And it's real because I believe it's real.

Because there’s no point in thinking too hard at things when they’re murdering others but when they’re lying to you… of course you’ve to care.

Anyway when Renslayer tries to call for D-90 helps Mobius tells her it won’t work and shows her the Franklin D. Roosevelt High School pen Renslayer had in her office which we saw in Episode 2. So, to 2018, Fremont, Ohio, Franklin D. Roosevelt High School we go. B-15 is hiding there, chased by U-92. She shows herself to him and then gets into an office which has plenty of Franklin D. Roosevelt High School pens. As they’re inside they’re interrupted by Renslayer, only it’s not judge Renslayer but principal Renslayer, the Renslayer who can live in the Sacred Timeline. Apparently this is done to persuade U-92 that Renslayer is a Variant, same as them. Now what, is B-15, going to lead all the hunters to know Principal Renslayer? As a plan it seems a little slow but of course the series just asks us to assume it worked and each hunter now believed B-15 that they’re all Variants.

And how could they track the original Renslayer?

Because Renslayer COINCIDENTALLY had a pen with written over the name of the school in which she worked among all her trophies and stuff and everything else and Mobius, who supposedly knows her by centuries, never saw it before and COINCIDENTALLY noticed it only, what, the day before because Renslayer COINCIDENTALLY gave it to him to sign a document and COINCIDENTALLY he remembered the name and COINCIDENTALLY he assumed if she had it, it’s not because another analyst gave it to her but because it’s tied to her true identity and COINCIDENTALLY this was all true. What an awesome series of plot contrivances in a poor attempt to explain how they did find out which was Renslayer’s school when they could have just searched in the computer for a Ravonna Renslayer in the Sacred Timeline. Back to the Lokis we go with ‘He Who Remains’ fully aware Sylvie is the main character, the one who make a journey filled with pain while Loki was just ‘a flea on the back of a dragon’.

Because yeah, this confirms that, despite the title being “Loki”, this has never been Loki’s story. He just happened to be there, a bystander. This is Sylvie’s story. But Loki managing to ‘hang on’… well, ‘He Who Remains’ guesses it counts for something. Yeah, that the series used Loki’s popularity to lead people to view it thinking it would be about him when it’s all about Sylvie. I’m sorry for Sophia Di Martino, it’s not her fault but if someone says me I’m watching a series about Tom Hiddleston’s Loki I want it to be about Tom Hiddleston’s Loki not about anyone else, not even my favourite actor or the best actor in the world. I feel cheated and this doesn’t please me at all. Loki tells him he lost while Sylvie tries again to kill him and again he phases out of her way. He tells them they can’t kill him because he knows what they’ll do and shows them in fact he has a document on which is printed what they’ll do. On it we can see that Loki is the Variant L. 1130 while Sylvie is L. 1190. Loki tries to wave it away as a parlour trick.

‘He Who Remains’ points out to how he has programmed already his TemPad to make sure he’ll avoid all of Sylvie’s blows. I’m not even sure how this works, before they used Time Twisters to loop the Variants, now they actually use the TemPad to… teleport in another place without even opening a timedoor?

The Tempad is the great applied Phlebotinum of this story. It can do everything and the Mary Sue can even make it work without knowing how.

‘He Who Remains’ also informs them he knows whatever happened between them.

Oh, good moment to point this out, remember that big fact about Sylvie and Loki touching each other and this breaking the timeline and we never learnt why but Mobius said it was because two variants of the same person fell in love?

Well, we’ll never get confirmation if it’s true or not and it’ll never happen again. The best we can assume from a Watsonian perspective is it was ‘He Who Remains’ who caused the timeline to branch to save them… from a Doylist perspective it was just another plot contrivance created ad hoc to get them out of a potentially fatal situation.

‘He Who Remains’ insists whatever they did was because he paved the way for them. So what, he controlled their minds? Everyone else’s? He told Classic Loki to die so they could have the time to beat Alioth? Or he would have stopped Alioth? Just because he knows, he didn’t pave the way, at best he predicted it.

Then we get this bit:

‘He Who Remains’: Oh, come on. You know you can't get to the end until you've been changed by the journey. This stuff, it needs to happen. To get us all in the right mindset to finish the quest.

So what’s this? The author talking to us through ‘He Who Remains’, telling us we had to go through 6 episodes so that the reason why Kang the Conqueror will appear wouldn’t feel like a random plot contrivance? And he lead us through all this journey a plot contrivance after the other?

So basically this series could have been avoided by just having ‘He Who Remains’ shoot himself but no, we needed to go through 6 episodes to have Sylvie kill him and refuse to take his place so that his Variants can come? Or even better we could have avoided all this by just having Kang coming but no, too easy, better waste 6 episode setting up that Kang was coming because no one was interested in a series about Loki but in a story about how Sylvie, the supposedly perfect Mary Sue female viewers were supposed to identify with because all female viewers want is not a compelling female representation but a Mary Sue, actually is a dumb woman moved by revenge that opens the Pandora Box and starts it all?

I… I don’t even know how Sylvie moved from Mary Sue to Pandora from an episode to the other.

Do those characters have a character or are they merely puppets?

Loki asks him if this means he manipulated them and ‘He Who Remains’ uses his words to imply he’s the great manipulator.

Loki? In this series? Manipulator? He couldn’t talk his way with an old woman!

You can’t destroy a character and then speak as if his abilities are still there!

Loki WAS a manipulator in the movies! You destroyed him so don’t come here and tell me he still is! It’s no more believable!

But that’s not the point, the point is that ‘He Who Remains’ wants to say that Sylvie isn’t any more capable to trust anyone… so the series had Sylvie say she can’t fall asleep near someone she can’t trust in Episode 3 and then showed her sleeping in front of Loki short after, and then she pruned herself to go save him and trusted him to help her enchant Alioth and he never betrayed her, and he never betrayed anyone in this series really and a Loki even died to help them and just because ‘He Who Remains’ says she can’t trust anyone she doesn’t?

When actually it’s not that she was betrayed by people as far as we know, her story isn’t one of lies and betrayal as her parents were honest with her, her story is merely of a fascist organization wearing very obvious uniforms hunting her?

She shouldn’t have trusting issues with normal people, she should just hate the TVA and yet she trusted Mobius and even gave him the Tempad, her only way out of the place and told Loki Mobius cared about him and now, out of nowhere, she has trusting issues?

It’s Loki the one with trusting issues, not her! He’s the one who was lied all his life, he’s the one who wasn’t believed when he told Mobius the truth, he’s the one who saw Boastful Loki blackmail them.

Does this story knows what’s going on with its characters?

We switch to Mobius and Renslayer.

Mobius wants to tell to the people of the TVA the truth. Renslayer shows him that just because she knows the truth it doesn’t change a damn thing to her and in a way she’s right… or better, she makes more sense than him.

Renslayer: But what if it's a necessary one? Someone created the Time-Keepers. They created this whole place. They gave us all purpose. I have to believe they had a reason.

Mobius was a blind believer before. He was sure the TVA was necessary. So what does it changes if the Time-Keepers weren’t in that room, if they aren’t three but one guy who calls himself ‘He Who Remains’. The mission, the goal, is the same and maybe he lied for self protection so if someone were to try to decapitate him, he would decapitate a puppet.

And which difference it makes if Mobius knows he’s a Variant who got lucky enough to be spared? He, B-15 and all the others didn’t care about the Variants they killed and all they complained and whined was they were lied at, without realizing they had it better than the other Variants who were hunted and killed.

But Mobius goes…

Mobius: No, because I've seen the horror waiting for people when they get pruned and there's nothing necessary about that.

…so okay, if they just died and ended up becoming nothing it was okay for you? It’s because you’ve seen the Void all of sudden you decided pruning people isn’t good?

I mean, I found right from the start the TVA a fascist organization employing torture and police brutality to murder people they saw of a different ‘racial’ group (Variants as handled as if they were a different race from them) with dehumanizing methods, stripping them of their rights and enjoying belittling and hurting them.

Yeah, occasionally Mobius showed some sense of moral but he was an active perpetrator who stuck Loki in a time loop so he could be beaten to Mobius’ heart content until he were to mindlessly obey to Mobius who called himself his friends but basically forced him to cooperate right from the start and continuously belittled him.

And when Loki confronted him more than once Mobius was absolutely fine with what the TVA was doing because, as Renslayer will remind him, without the TVA there should be chaos and free will is bad. But now, now that the TVA lied to him and even pruned him… oh, Mobius saw the light, HE would never again send people to such a horrid place.

Only he escaped from the Void, knowing for all the others who were in the Void, there was no way to come back without a TemPad but who cares?

I mean, it’s great Mobius grew a conscience and decided that sending people in the Void isn’t the right thing to do… but the story should have PROVED he was thinking so in the past episode already instead in the past episode he didn’t show any care about the Variants he forced to end up there, most of which died.

He was all ‘All that time, I really believed we were the good guys’ and ‘Well, I guess when you think the ends justify the means, there's not much you won't do. By the way, you did some annihilating too’ and ‘I too did what I had to do’ and didn’t care at all to save the people that ended there. The TVA kept on pruning, innocent people kept on being sent there and he gave them no way out.

And now he preaches to Renslayer they shouldn’t send people there because he seen the place and he thinks they shouldn’t send people there? How was instead right leaving them there?

They had then an absurd discussion about how, if the TVA weren’t to exist people would have free will.

It’s not that people didn’t have the free will if the TVA existed. No one knew if they were following the sacred timeline or not, so it’s not like whose who followed it were coerced into doing so. They did so of their own free will.

The people they killed didn’t go against the sacred timeline deliberately, it was never a matter of choosing if to obey or not.

One of the biggest problems of the TVA was they processed people for breaking rules people didn’t know existed, and not because they had been lazy but because the TVA didn’t have the authority to impose those rules and didn’t even inform people they were imposing them.

Anyway Renslayer, who’s big about enslavement, says only one person should have free will, the one in charge. Great, Renslayer, so if that person decides to kill everyone and then commit suicide you will agree with it, won’t you?

Because this won’t be chaotic.

So Mobius, not having anything to counter, complains she babbled about them being friends and then sent him to die and wants to know why she changed.

I honestly love this bit but I fear I love it not for the author’s intention.

Renslayer: Nothing, Mobius. I didn't change. Mobius: You didn't change? You betrayed me. Renslayer: No, no. You betrayed me! I looked out for you, hung my neck out for you, and you suffer a crisis of faith and turn to those Variants? Eons of friendship. And you threw it all away on a couple of Lokis. No, Mobius. I didn't betray you.

Mobius sees the world through his personal, selfish lenses. He changed his mind so Renslayer should have too and should have supported him and given him what he demanded. What Renslayer wanted, what she felt, how she didn’t care if the TVA lied to them and was her job to cover up the lie, didn’t matter to him.

Up till that moment he always did what he wanted and she covered up for him. The moment she said ‘no, I won’t cover up for you anymore’ he goes ‘you betrayed me’. His relationship with her is not one of friendship and in the same way he can’t be friend with Loki because the moment Loki did something that displeased him he stopped listening to him and punished him by having him beaten.

Owen Wilson is really good at portraying Mobius but Mobius, as a character, is a spoiled child who’s used to have things his way and throws a tantrum if they don’t go as he wants.

This is the only one time though that the series dares to call him out and since it’s Renslayer doing so, I fear it’ll go unnoticed.

Mobius, in fact, has again nothing to counter except they can’t take away people’s free will. HIS OWN specifically, I might add because until he wasn’t involved he was perfectly fine with taking it away.

Loki: It's an illusion. It's a cruel, elaborate trick conjured by the weak to inspire fear. A desperate attempt at control. Now, you all parade about as if you're the divine arbiters of power in the universe. Mobius: We are. [Ep 1]

Loki: So everything is written. Past, present, future. There's no such thing as free will. Mobius: Well, I mean, you know, it's an oversimplification... [Ep 2]

And he also was fine with avoiding chaos.

Loki: Ah, I see. So, when they're finished, what happens then? Mobius: So are we. No more nexus events. Just order. And we meet in peace at the end of time. Nice, right? [Ep 2]

But the most ironic thing is that Mobius in Ep 1 tried to criticize Loki for doing and believing exactly what the TVA is doing and he never seemed to realize it.

Whatever, Renslayer opens up a timedoor telling his she’ll do what she’ll need to do.

Mobius tries to tempt her with an offering:

Mobius: Wait, stop. Look, maybe we can build this into something better together.

And I’d like to know what’s this something better he means. They’ll control people’s will only a bit? Just to make sure only the good guys win? Or what? They’ll simply forbid time travels?

Which would be the TVA purpose if they don’t catch people who go against the sacred timeline and prune them? What are they going to do? Become a private police? Spies? History archivists? What?

So Mobius tries to use the big gun to stop her, the time stick.

Renslayer warns him he’s no danger to her even with that because she’s an action girl and he’s not.

Mobius has his own heroic scene in which he attacks her and he’s sent flying the next second. He tells her to prune him and she doesn’t. Renslayer couldn’t even watch when he got pruned the first time, she can’t do the job herself.

She’s more of his friend than he is Loki’s friend as she didn’t even close him in a time loop in which he gets hurt but leaves him there.

Mobius asks her again where she’s going to go and she says:

Renslayer: In search of free will.

And I’m WHAT IS THIS SUPPOSED TO MEAN? Unless she means she’s going to search for the person in charge, or for power, she just claimed only one person can have free will, the one in charge so is she searching for the TVA boss or for a way to become that herself?

And anyway that’s the last way we see Renslayer so she won’t have the chance to tell us why Sylvie was pruned because it actually wasn’t relevant, it was an excuse to give her a sad back-story.

Depressing.

Back to the Lokis, ‘He Who Remains’ goes on with his propaganda.

‘He Who Remains’: I understand your moral objections to what the TVA does. And my methods are deceptive. But the mission, it never was. Without the me, without the TVA... everything burns.

Loki asks him what he is afraid of which turns out to be him so Sylvie asks him who he is.

Before focusing on his reply I want to point out how the dialogue between the three of them tends to be structured.

Loki says something, ‘He Who Remains’ answers, then Sylvie says something, ‘He Who Remains’ answers then we go back to Loki. Sylvie and Loki take turns in making questions with ‘He Who Remains’ which is not how a discussion goes in the real world. Sometimes someone makes two questions in a row, sometimes another person add a question to the question done, this sort of order is something you get only in a script that tries to balance the screen time of the characters.

Anyway, ‘He Who Remains’ pulls out his whole back-story and yes, he has a back-story and it’s better than Sylvie’s. Which isn’t surprising as he, or better one of his Variants, is meant to be Kang the Conqueror, the next big bad for the movies.

He even hints it in the list of names he says he had.

‘He Who Remains’: Oh, I've been dubbed many names by many people. A ruler, a CONQUEROR. ( Snickers ) ‘He Who Remains’, a jerk.

A conqueror. Kang, the conqueror.

He then proceeds to explain his back-story, confirming what I suspected. Part of the TVA back-story was true, eons ago there were various timelines they came in contact and then decided ‘why not to destroy each other because the bright lure of freedom diminished their life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity as they were made to be ruled and…’ okay, he didn’t put it quite in this way but this was, as Miss Minute said, almost the end of everything.

And, apparently, the ones who started the mess were all his Variants. Because having so many Loki Variants might be troublesome but having Kang Variants is apparently apocalyptic.

But then ‘He Who Remains’ reveals that the truth diverges from ‘dogma’ (so yeah he too sees the TVA as a cult). The first Variant of himself and with this I guess he means himself found Alioth, weaponized it and used it to end the Multiversal War. Once their timeline was isolated he just used the TVA to kill the branching timelines. He’s not the devil he’s the one who kept them safe…

…though he’s conveniently skipping he kept them safe until he decided to prune them. But he tells them his Variants are worse than him which really doesn’t promise anything good.

I would say this doesn’t explain at all how he knew what Loki and Sylvie would have done when facing him because the TVA usually knows what’s going on in the sacred timeline by excluding all the other possibilities. If you’re pruned if you’ll go forward, right or back, you can only survive by going left, hence you’ll go left.

There though there’s no one which can prune Loki and Sylvie for saying something different from what’s in the script.

I was thinking the TVA would employ some sort of prophet/prophetess to explain this but no, why explain things? Much better to leave them unexplained and without sense.

Still, he who comes last makes an interesting observation which I was hoping would be discussed in episode 3 but I got no luck.

‘He Who Remains’: You may hate the dictator, but something... ( Exhales deeply ) ...far worse is gonna fill that void if you depose of him.

When there a Void of power, problems always come. The bigger the place, the worse. Because that’s how human works and what history teaches us.

So Loki’s idea that Earth is at war with itself because it’s not united under a single ruler isn’t completely out of a Void (even if it discounts rebellions and attempts at stealing power and assumes he’s capable of ruling a huge planet with lot of people he knows little about and views as inferior). Complete chaos, anarchy, total lack of authority aren’t working ways to handle things. But the TVA sits at the opposite extreme, it’s just too controlling, too trampling of people’s will to be okay.

The TVA is a bad solution, it doesn’t really work, it just seems so because it murders whoever who doesn’t agree. How many lives preserved? And how many more it killed? Did it murder 1.000 for each 10 it saved? More? 100.000 for each 10 it saved? Even more than that? There are whole cities in the Void, how many times did they rest New York? Asgard? The whole Earth? Some other world?

The idea ‘He Who Remains’ went through any scenario makes me wonder again ‘how?’ did he have a time stone like Doctor Strange in “Avengers: Infinity War”? Explanation please?

Loki goes moralistic as well since at this point everyone is going moralistic:

Loki: So you just... continue to prune innocent timelines?

‘He Who Remains’ surprises them telling them he wouldn’t be the one to prune innocent timelines…

‘He Who Remains’: You two would. There are two options! One... you kill me and destroy all this, so you don't just have one devil, you have an infinite amount. Or... you two. You two run the thing.

Basically ‘He Who Remains’ is offering them a choice between complete chaos and complete order, telling them he’ll pass the ball to them.

Loki doesn’t believe he would give up being in control but ‘He Who Remains’ insists he’s just old… which makes sense but… then what about all this being already written and predetermined?

If everything was already written it’s not like he’s giving this up willingly, he’s merely following the script, a script that has to be followed and so whatever his motivation is, is pointless.

I also don’t quite get why he chose Loki and Sylvie, why they were perfect. They even have contrasting ideas, for crying out loud, but since we aren’t explained anything we are just supposed to accept this logic or lack thereof as valid.

‘He Who Remains’: I've gone through a lot of scenarios... trying to find the right person to take this spot. It turns out that person came in two. But it's definitely you two. So, no more lies. You kill me and the Sacred Timeline is completely exposed. Multiversal War. Or you take over and return to the TVA as its benevolent rulers. Tell the workforce who they are and why they do what they do.

Was that actually the purpose? To see Sylvie, that represent chaos and wants to murder him, fight with Loki which represent order and a benevolent ruler?

Sylvie’s turn to go moralistic.

Sylvie: You treated real people's lives like some kind of game.

‘He Who Remains’ shrugs off her words.

‘He Who Remains’: It's not personal, it's practical. Sylvie: It was personal to me.

That’s the real problem with Sylvie. She’s not worried about everyone he played with, she’s worried about what was done TO HER. It was personal TO HER. Who cares about the others. For her revenge she’s willing to sacrifice everyone.

‘He Who Remains’ turns the blame on her.

‘He Who Remains’: Grow up! Grow up, Sylvie! Murderer! Hypocrite! We're all villains here. We've all done horrible, terrible, horrific things. But now, we, you... have a chance to do them for a good reason.

She has to grow up, she’s a murderer and a hypocrite, we’re all bad… but now we can do something for a good reason… and this is messed up, actually.

Let’s try to put some order in this.

Sylvie was hunted by people, lot of people, who wanted to kill her. Yes, she could keep on escaping and never trying to kill them back or doing so when it was the only way for her to escape. It’s a valid possibility if your sense of moral is against killing.

But also deciding to prioritize your life and murdering whoever is attempting to that is a valid choice if you have no problems dirtying your hands and hope in a more normal life.

So okay, she’s a murderer, a murderer that killed for a very personal reason... but there’s a problem here. It’s ‘He Who Remains’ who’s a hypocrite because HE was the same as Sylvie, not the other way around. He has killed countless Variants and condemned her to such a life for a very personal reason, his own survival. It’s practical FOR HIM, to condemn Sylvie and the others, the others do not agree.

If there’s some growing up, they both have to do it as this is survival of the fittest and there’s no noble and good reason like he’s trying to sell them. The TVA saves a really small minority to condemn a huge majority. Keeping the TVA active to save such a small minority because they belong to said minority is not a ‘good reason’. It’s the same old, a selfish reason.

Still, credit when it’s due, this part is interestingly philosophical. However the series contained so many things that don’t make sense I honestly don’t know if it’s interesting on purpose or by coincidence (this show was big on coincidences as well).

And I don’t see why he has to point at Loki when he says they’ve all done horrible, terrible, horrific things when he could actually point at himself, instead, through all the discussion he has tried to put Sylvie against Loki, to make her doubt him… while Loki just lets him. In fact Sylvie looks at Loki as if one would look to someone guilty of something terrible.

Then he informs them they have passed the threshold, the point in which he doesn’t know anymore what will happen.

And I’m again, why could he know things before and now can’t anymore? Explanation please?

Meanwhile the timeline on which that place seems to rest starts to branch.

Loki is confused, apparently he didn’t expect ‘He Who Remains’ to let them decide their fate freely.

‘He Who Remains’ points out that, whatever they chose, things wouldn’t change for him.

‘He Who Remains’: Yes! Yes! Yes! What's the worst that can happen? You either... take over and my life's work continues or you plunge a blade in my chest and an infinite amount of me... start another Multiversal War. And I just... end up right back here anyways. Reincarnation, baby.

Oh, so there’s also reincarnation in the MCU? Are the Variants reincarnations or people who diverged from their chosen path? I’m beyond confuse.

Sylvie says it’s another lie, another manipulation and ‘He Who Remains’ denies it.

I mean… when Loki says manipulation ‘He Who Remains’ goes all ‘Interesting, that your head would go to that. Sylvie, you think you can trust this guy?’ when Sylvie says so he’s ‘Oh. No lie. No manipulation.’

I’ll say he’s trying to manipulate Loki and Sylvie to fight. That’s why there are two of them, to make them fight.

In fact Sylvie goes for the kill without even asking Loki what he thinks about her and he stops her. He asks her to talk about it, but she’s not interested, she just wants to kill ‘He Who Remains’ and that’s why I find them a terrible couple and I don’t get why Loki should love her beyond her being a Mary Sue.

She’s not really interested in Loki’s opinion, in what he wants, in hearing him out. She wants to do what she has always wanted to do, kill the person behind the TVA, not for the other Variants who can fall victims to them but for herself, for her revenge.

It’s not that she doesn’t believe in ‘He Who Remains’, it’s she doesn’t care if he’s telling the truth or not, she just wants to kill him. Loki is not saying they shouldn’t kill him, he’s saying they should think at it, but she’s in a rush to do it. And, at this point, she doesn’t want to believe in Loki’s either.

Loki: Sylvie, the universe is in the balance, everything we know to be true. Everything. I know the TVA has hurt us both. But what if by taking him out, we risk unleashing something even worse? All I'm suggesting is we just take a minute to think about it. I promise you from my heart this isn't about a throne. Sylvie: What was I thinking trusting you? Has this whole thing been a con?

And this hurts Loki because… she’s like everyone else. She doesn’t trust him, she never did.

Loki: Really? That's what you think of me... after all this time? Sure. Why not? Evil Loki's master plan comes together. Well, you never trusted me, did you? What was the point? Can't you see? This is bigger than our experience.

And at this point Sylvie says something very childish.

Sylvie: Why aren't we seeing this the same way?

Or better ‘Why aren’t you seeing this the same way as me?’ because if the problem was ‘we see this differently’ we could talk about why this is it, but if the point is ‘you see this differently’ you are the problem and you should change your way or you’re in my way. And again this proves they’re a terrible couple because being together is also about finding compromises.

Loki’s reply actually seems to miss the point:

Loki: Because you can't trust... and I can't be trusted.

It’s not about what they can’t do, it’s about what Sylvie wants and what he wants. She wants ‘He Who Remains’ dead. He wants her safe and a new life for himself, one in which he won’t have to lie and backstab. He liked her because

Loki: But that's kind of what's great about her. She's different. She's not trying to take over the TVA, she's trying to take it down. And she needs me.

…but he was slightly wrong. She’s trying to take down the TVA yes, but not for pure reasons, but just because she has a grudge toward them. It doesn’t really matter to Sylvie it’s a Fascist organization or what it does to other Variants, she’s just hurt and wants retaliation.

And in this she’s similar to him. He was hurt by his family and wanted the throne not out of ambition but because he was taught that who gets the throne is the one worthy and loved. Getting the throne was his way to soothe his hurt. Sylvie comes from a different back-story, she was taught killing the enemy is the way to solve the problem and that’s why she wants to destroy the TVA, because the TVA taught her destroying something is the way you deal with problems.

They had a different nurture phase, so they came out different.

But as he believes he’s flawed, he sees the problem as a nature’s problem.

She can’t trust. He can’t be trusted. That’s their nature. And it’s not. As Sylvie said when they met

Loki Variant (Sylvie): This isn't about you. [Ep 2]

It’s about her pain. And in a way their fight might parallel the one between him and Thor… and he’s even better than Thor in his efforts to reach her.

When he says they should think about it, he wants to talk with her about it. He’s not saying she has to do what he says, he wanna them think at this together. He’s stalling? Possibly, but he’s showing himself open to discussion which is something.

So, while Sylvie shows she has magically leant Loki’s magic and now can use him to push him away because she’s awesome like that (and note that it’s true Loki magically learnt enchantment, but she explained him how it worked, he never explained her how his magic worked), Loki tries reasoning with her without invalidating her point even though her words about not being able to trust him had hurt him:

Loki: Maybe he's lying! Maybe he's not. The cost of getting this wrong is too great.

When she accuses him of something, he insists that’s not that:

Sylvie: Fine. Do it. Kill me. Take your throne. Loki: No.

But what’s more he proves her he doesn’t aim to hurt her by giving her the chance to kill him. He exposes his throat and let his blade fall. He completely drops the aggressive stance and tries to reason with her from an unthreatening position, giving her all the power so that she doesn’t feel attacked.

He tells her he understands her and it’s true if this is meant to parallel his fight with Thor during which all he could think was that destroying Jotunheim would fix everything. It probably would have worked better if he had explained her why he knows but whatever. He tries to show her he prioritizes her, that he doesn’t want to hurt her, where Thor’s main worry was to protect the Frost Giants. Loki protects ‘He Who Remains’, but make clear he does so to protect Sylvie.

Loki: I've been where you are. I've felt what you feel. Don't ask me how I know. All I know... is I don't wanna hurt you. I don't want a throne. I just... ( Sighs ) I just want you to be okay.

Try to think at how would have been “Thor” if Thor had tried stopping Loki by pointing out how his brother wasn’t the sort who’ll commit genocide, how he would feel bad if he were to do so, how he understood Loki was in pain and wanted him to be okay and destroying Jotunheim wasn’t the way.

It’s interesting in both scenes Loki had to remark it wasn’t about him wanting the throne, it’s always about love. In “Thor” he wanted Odin’s love, in “Loki” he wanted to protect Sylvie whom he loved.

Credits when it’s due, in “Thor”, Thor told Loki he didn’t want to fight him, but he did so by a position of power, he was in a situation in which he could defend himself and the whole ‘I will not fight you, Brother!’ to Loki who had no idea Thor had changed might have felt like Thor looking down on him, looking at someone who wasn’t worth fighting against.

Thor too tried to stop Loki… but the script simply wanted him to be more concerned with protecting Jane and Jotunheim than his brother. Loki instead prioritizes Sylvie. Sadly it’s not enough because she too, like him, is too damaged.

She’s touched by his words… but they aren’t enough. She drops her sword and kisses him… but this is not enough for her. She doesn’t love him enough she’ll gave up on her revenge.

So she steals ‘He Who Remains’ timepad, opens a timedoor and tosses Loki through it. The Timedoor, differently from episode 2, closes quickly so Loki can’t go back.

‘He Who Remains’ meanwhile has enjoyed the show as if it were an amusing, incredible movie. As Sylvie throws away the furniture that divides them and asks him if he’s gonna beg for his life he laughs and says he could do but will never do it. He’s not scared, which is a huge warning sign that killing him out of revenge isn’t the solution, it’s what he wants.

She kills him anyway and he smiles telling her he’ll see her soon then dies laughing.

Sylvie remains alone there and falls sit as she savours how revenge actually doesn’t taste that sweet as they say.

Meanwhile the timeline outside keeps branching madly.

It’s a beautiful view, I’ll have to say this episode has very nice visuals.

Back at the TVA Mobius and B-15 see the timeline branch as well on a screen and I’m confused because the TVA wasn’t meant to be capable to see the timeline past the void but all of sudden they can… or it’s pre Void and the timeline started branching there too? Who knows?

No one at the TVA is doing anything they’re just watching the scene and I don’t know what’s going on.

So everyone has peacefully accept the TVA lied to them and they had to stop working for it but remained at his place?

Renslayer was the only one who believes they had to trust in the system and wanted to fight for it?

That’s impossible to believe honestly, the TVA should be chaos and confusion at this point, with people attempting to cope with the truth and arguing about what to do.

Mobius and B-15 decide that there’s no turning back and, apparently, since they had turned against the TVA, she show is trying to promote them as two good guys/heroes/whatever.

I’m ALL for redeeming characters, really, I’m glad they had changed their ways but it was just done in a very unconvincingly way, EXPECIALLY FOR B-15 who has never showed care for the Variants and was all about pruning them and belittling them with joy, but also for Mobius who was ruined by Ep 4 and had poor dialogues also in episode 5.

Loki is in the TVA room in which Sylvie has tossed him. He’s clearly distraught and sat there for a while until he decides to leave and run out, probably searching for ‘his great friend’ Mobius.

He finds him talking with B-15 about how the timeline is branching and tells him what had happened.

Loki: It's done, Mobius. We made a terrible mistake. We freed the Timeline. We found him beyond the storm. A Citadel at the End of Time. He's terrifying. He planned everything. He's seen everything. He knows everything. It's complicated. Okay? But someone is coming. Countless different versions of a very dangerous person. And they're all set on war. We need to prepare.

He’s so upside down he realizes Mobius doesn’t know what he’s talking about when Mobius asks him if he’s another analyst (probably because Loki is dressed like one).

At this point Loki realizes Mobius doesn’t know him and neither does B-15 who calls for the boots. As he looks around he sees the TVA has changed, there’s no more a statue of the three time-keepers but one of ‘He Who Remains’, or, more likely, of Kang the conqueror.

The episode ends like this and Loki will do better say he was just talking of a nightmare he had or fake temporal insanity if he doesn’t want to be pruned by this new Kang.

Or is it Sylvie who has taken control?

We don’t know, we’re meant to find out in the next series.

So, to sum it up… the initial discussion between Loki and Sylvie was poor and apparently aimed to set up the idea that despite episode 3, 4 & 5 wanted us to believe they were meant to be a couple, the things couldn’t work, thanks for making us waste 3 episodes over this, the meeting with Miss Minute was something that was better to cut, actually let’s cut Miss Minute from the series.

The Renslayer subplot is merely a teaser for the next season. In the Comics she falls for Kang and she basically left in search of him so this might tell us something about future developments.

The whole plan to reveal the truth to the TVA was poorly done, they could have cut the ‘Loki and Sylvie met Miss Minute’ scene and focus more on ‘the TVA discovers the truth’.

I actually liked Mobius and Renslayer’s meeting but, I fear, not for the reasons the author wanted.

There’s tons of things unexplained and confusing in this episode, like the dust in the place, at this point I might even wonder if ‘He Who Remains’ was really there or Sylvie killed an hologram.

Jonathan Majors did a great work with ‘He Who Remains’… on the opposite side Tom Hiddleston’s Loki hardly had a role except for the last bit in which he tried to stop Sylvie.

Even though it was Loki, Sylvie and ‘He Who Remains’ in that room, it felt more like it was a dialogue between Sylvie and ‘He Who Remains’ and Loki had decided to be there solely to support Sylvie instead than for his own reasons and I mean, supporting Sylvie can be a personal reason but he has just… put her in a position of power. It wasn’t as if he was there WITH her, but he was there FOR her and she fundamentally didn’t need nor wanted HIM, she just wanted someone who agreed with her and told her what she wanted right from the start.

In an interesting note this episode remarked again they ARE different people and he’s not an extension of Sylvie who would nods his head when she felt they should nod their head. And Sylvie chooses revenge versus love in a very total way because she’s not even willing to talk over it where, although Loki turned it down, Loki always talked with Thor when they had a fight, he tried to explain himself. Sylvie doesn’t.

Through their fight she just accuses him. She tells him he gets in her way because he wants the throne because he wants to con her, because he wants to kill her. Ultimately when he tells her he only wants her to be okay, she tells him she’s not him, so either she doesn’t want herself to be okay or she doesn’t return the feeling, she doesn’t want him to be okay and that’s all she gives as explanation for her actions.

She doesn’t try to explain how she feels or how the TVA hurt her. She just expects him to understand by osmosis I guess, or because he’s a Loki like her.

It’s an interesting scene, all their fight is worth discussing but also… disregard previous character developments.

He supposed love story with Loki never existed, not even as a teenager experience, the idea of losing him was nothing compared to her wish to murder ‘He Who Remains’. All that incensing about Sylvie being the special, superior female Loki Variant kind of crumbled down in this episode.

Fundamentally she gave up her brain and her love for her wish of revenge and she has played like a pawn in the game ‘He Who Remains’ set for her. He goaded her into not trusting Loki and killing him and she let the guy manipulate her.

The series continued to give her no solid back-story to speak of, her past was just very sad and that’s it, but also skipped on Loki’s back-story entirely with the result they both don’t feel very deep if we just watch the series.

Still I think that the confrontation had a lot of potential but was meant to be set up better.

As for all the things the series left unexplained… I can’t really say I approve. People should want to watch a second season because they enjoyed the first, not because it’s a requirement to understand the first, never mention I’m pretty sure they don’t really aim to explain all that remained unexplained.

We don’t see any more Kid Loki nor anyone explains us the existence of Alligator Loki which are both two huge wastes as they too had a lot of potential. And what about Throg in a jar? He also gets forgotten.

All the points about Loki being a narcissist or not, falling for Sylvie out of narcissism or not remains unexplored. They didn’t dig in a single one of his past family issues and traumas.

The TVA kind of discovered the truth and… that was it because then when Loki is back everything is rewinded.

To sum it up, the “Loki” series had A LOT OF POTENTIAL, but it wasted most of it.

It did a poor use of its awesome actors due to a poor script which turned them OOC or gave them senseless dialogue, it has potentially strong thematic (fascist organization, police abuse, discrimination, passively collaborating with what’s wrong) which didn’t explore at all in a meaningful way, inserted a bisexual character, or two if Sylvie too was bisexual… and then let the whole notion drop as it was completely irrelevant for the plot.

It was set up as a mystery or a crime story which was intriguing… but then failed to deliver as everything happened not following a plan but thanks to plot contrivances happening one after the other.

It could have explored parallel realities, Variants of the same people… but reduced them to a joke that’s mostly uncharacterized.

It could have been all a joke at this point, the “Looney tunes” humour was fun… but no, it wanted to be serious to waste more than half of an episode in “Looney tunes” humour that wasn’t relevant to the plot. And I could go on and on, because there’s plenty of promising bits that… go nowhere.

I mean we didn’t need Loki and Sylvie’s relation to be romantic, if it had been familiar, if Loki were to see her as a long lost twin sister and that was it, someone with whom he wanted to build the sibling relation he failed to have with Thor, it could have worked but no, we needed the romance that… goes nowhere. 3 episodes spent to set up a romance that wasn’t needed and goes nowhere.

And it’s not even a lie, it’s not that Sylvie is manipulating Loki… it’s just that when all is said and done, whatever she felt for him didn’t matter because she wanted to murder ‘He Who Remains’ right then and he told her to wait.

The worse feeling though is maybe that I fear that what I find interesting in some parts wasn’t what the author wanted me to find interesting.

I mean, where I see police brutality and abuse and a wonderful opportunity to discuss of these things… the author seems to see just a funny moment to beat Loki up and humble him and force him to reflect on his bad behaviour. So… I don’t know.

Ultimately the show failed to deliver a Loki story. Loki has a lot of screen time and Tom Hiddleston is great but… he’s not the Loki we knew as, except for a couple of moments in ep 1 & 2, he acts dumb and slow witted, he can’t manipulate anyone but what’s worse he can’t even persuade people when he’s telling the truth and yeah, they gave him back his magic powers but he uses them poorly and lost his fighting abilities.

There was no exploration of his trauma, of what made him ‘Loki’. When asked what makes a Loki a Loki, Loki says ‘independence, authority, style’ but what I wanted to know was what made him HIMSELF, his experiences his trauma, and see him unpack those.

Instead the series only had him say ‘I’m bad, I’m weak, I’m a narcissist’, they didn’t care at all about nurture, they tried to blame all on nature, over and over, especially with the horde of Lokis who’re all backstabbing and longing for power, except the ones who aren’t but we don’t talk about them.

Whatever, I’m done. I’m just sad for how it went and I needed to vent because I really, really hope this series would be awesome, the other series promised well and this series has the potential… but it failed to use it.

[kaypeace21]

Name analysis of the Creel family

Virginia creel ( victor creed's wife)

The name Virgina is derived from the Roman myth of a father k*lling his daughter (Virginia) . And is mostly likely foreshadowing of what Mr Creel will do to Virginia and their daughter.

Victor creel

Is probably based off the xmen comic book character victor creed, who k*lled some of his family members. He also had the tradition of ab*sing family members on their bdays. I predicted possessed-Creel will parallel Lonnie. Lonnie made Jonathan cry on his bday & i predict he will visit Will on his bday (based on foreshadowing)- post here. It would make sense , especially given the fact St references the xmen every season. And so they may have used this xmen ref/name to establish a loose connection between possessed- Creel and Lonnie.

Alice creel (the daughter)

Her name is a tip off that the Creels are constructs of Will's psyche, brought to life-similar to the fantastical world/inhabitants of Alice & wonderland. Which was also referenced in s1.She even is blond similar to the titular Alice. Alice (in s4) is the one to discovers the “de*d “ rabbit. In the original story, Alice follows the white-rabbit , and this causes her to fall down the ‘rabbit hole’ which leads to wonderland. But our Alice finding the “dead “ rabbit indicates the DARK-wonderland they’re about to fall into (as the perfect image of the family starts to unravel) .  A “rabbit hole” is also defined as “ bizarre, confusing, or nonsensical situation or environment, typically one from which it is difficult to extricate oneself.” ESSENTIALLY WHAT THE CREEL’S WILL EXPERIENCE.

Hopper also  says his depression is like a “black hole” . And Will’s dark thoughts about his past could be the metaphorical “black/rabbit hole” that destroys the Creels.

We also have other rabbit refs.When El is running away from the "bad men" the song "white rabbit" (describing Alice and wonderland )plays. Later we see in Terry's room for El : the same white rabbit, from the story. And Billy (William) Hargrove paralleled/created by Will also has a connection to the rabbit. As the name Hargrove means “grove filled with rabbits”. And Max in s3 also has a rabbit figurine- similar to Terry’s. And Hopper- sounds a lot like “thumper”(the rabbit) which Jonathan references in relation to his father making him k*ll a rabbit. Even “hop” is a word we associate with bunnies. And in s3 Hopper makes an analogy to “rabbits”. So all these characters are associated with rabbits: the hunting story/alice and wonderland. Because they're similarly... constructs of Will's mind: that were brought to life. Similar to how Alice (subconsciously) created wonderland and it's inhabitants via her imagination. 

Creel

Is a type of basket used to TRAP sea life such as fish-to later consume and k*ll . A hint something sinister will happen to the Creels. Especially because in the show - water is a sinister element. The watery void, the tub, the isolation chamber where El first sees the demogorgan, Will's fake body in the quarry, Barb being attacked in a pool,and Heather being att*ked in the shower,etc . We also see while eating dinner - Alice has a dress with umbrellas on it . Indicating it’s probably raining outside (and something awful is about to happen). Again it was raining , when the flayed (Heather) knocked out her 2 family members at dinner. And we then see Alice (in the same umbrella dress) on the floor with her brother- as their most likely Flayed-father is looming over them. I’ve seen a lot of people mention the dinner-flayed parallels-such as @small-town-byers (but I don’t believe anyone has mentioned the correlation to Umbrellas/rain).

Son's name is unknown? (Speculation)

I honestly do wonder about this. He parallels Will (both are artists and wear flannel). And his sibling (like jonathan) sees a de*d rabbit. Is there a reason we don't know his name? Unlike everyone else else?

So far we already had Billy whose real name is William (parallel Will) . So will this boy’s name also be a nickname for William?When El is looking into Billy's memories (relating to his ab*sive father) the song playing is even called "William".

Will this boy's name be avoided - and he'll only called William (by his possessed father). once Will realizes that his father is - the real monster ?

Will he simply have another nickname for William not already used in the show (Bill and Billy have been used), so maybe : Liam?

Or perhaps Gill (it’s also a nickname for William) . And, it also correlates to  fish  (like a fish gill) . Similar to  the creel family  being a "trap" for k*lling and consuming fish.

Since the demogorgan (which in d&d is a demon called the "deep father") who is described multiple times in s1 as "eating" when k*lling. And the fact, in s1 we see the demogorgan eating his own eggs (aka: his own young/kids). The boy’s name, being a nickname for William and food/fish, and his surname being a fish trap (for fish heading to the sla*ghter)... would be very clever. Honestly, if the Creels were eating fish at this dinner too-before everything goes wrong (I’d lose it , over the symbolism).

It'd also be creepy, if Mr Creel normally calls him "Gill" (rhymes with Will) but calls him "William" when possessed/angry. And maybe they could make that a parallel between possessed-Creel and Lonnie. So if Lonnie is calm he calls him "Will “ but when he starts to get angry/or have sinister intentions: Lonnie calls him "William". It would give the context of playing the song "William" during the Billy's flashbacks of his father - a different context. Also would give Max saying "max , never Maxine" + Will in s3 calling Mike "Michael", a sort of dark foreshadowing...

But who knows his name could be a different reference entirely. XD