I’ve seen a few people asking why Thrawn would attack the New Republic – shouldn’t he join them and fix the system from the inside, or just go back to the Ascendancy? Why would he destabilize the galaxy further?
But if you think about it
Really, the only reason Thrawn needs is to believe that the New Republic is a threat to the galaxy. Which, well...
Thrawn joined the Empire to oppose the Grysk, because Thrawn believes in a strong military. Thrawn’s not good at politics, and deals with everything in military terms – remember the Lioaoin's economic issues? That’s why he got along with the Empire, and why he put up with all their crap. In Thrawn’s head, big military = big victory = stop bad guys = good.
Enter the New Republic.
What are they doing? Disarming. While there are still pirates, the Hutts, Imperial Remnants, and, of course, the Grysk nipping at their heels. In the midst of a tumultuous time, they are deliberately weakening their ability to meet the challenges ahead, and opening the galaxy to invasion. Says Thrawn.
It doesn’t even matter if they’re Grysk influenced or just stupid – it’s the same result. The galaxy loses. His people lose. Says Thrawn.
What do you expect him to do? Join them? Of course not – he at least knows he’s terrible at politics. And the New Republic is all politics – it would put him at a disadvantage, in a fight he cannot afford to lose. And it would open him to attacks on fronts where he has no power: trials for war crimes, possibly leading to execution – or worse. The Mind Flayer.
You think Thrawn would risk his mind?
Besides, better to ask forgiveness than permission, as they say.
And if you want something done right, do it yourself.
Conquering the New Republic would be better for everyone, Thrawn says. It would save the galaxy from annihilation, allow him to turn the resources of the Empire against evil, bring peace and order to the galaxy and beyond. He would keep all the good of the Empire, Thrawn says, while getting rid of all of the bad, Thrawn says – whatever that means to him.
For the greater good, Thrawn says.
Everything he’s done has always been for the greater good, Thrawn says.
The tragedy is that he believes it.
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random thought, but i had a vivid image of, if helsknight and welsknight ever saw each other without armor (or just helsknight out of his armor tbh), helsknight showing welsknight the scar tanguish gave him and saying "this was intended for you."
i don't know how in character that is, but tbh it's haunting me. maybe it's part of helsknight's revenge against welsknight or something, calling out his unknightly behavior and unhonorable conduct.
"You didn't answer my summons."
Helsknight froze. It was a quick, momentary startle, a short-circuit of normality. The moment he did it, every instinct told him to keep moving. That old command [Do something.] blared loud in the quiet surprise of his mind. So he moved his hand to pick up the brush on his table, and pretended to be unconcerned.
"I'm not a dog. You can't call me to heel," Helsknight said simply. He smirked and growled, "Though if you feel like losing some limbs, feel free to try."
Behind him, Wels shifted uncomfortably. Helsknight liked making Wels uncomfortable, he didn't handle it well. He was a creature used to comfort and ease. Inconvenience often galled him more than a sword to the throat. Different tactics for different battlefields, and this battlefield was a delicate one.
Helsknight was cleaning his arms and armor, which was one of several reasons why he hasn't leaped for a fight when Welsknight had called him to one. He was only in a tunic and breeches. It was luck he even had his boots on. He had offered to run errands with Tanguish, but Tanguish had said he was visiting his church and wanted to go on rooftops. So Helsknight stayed home, and he left his boots on. That was the other reason Helsknight hadn't answered the call: Tanguish wouldn't know where he was, and he knew Tanguish got paranoid about being left behind. Besides, Helsknight had chores he could do at home [like cleaning his arms and armor] so he stayed. Cleaning the chainmail was almost a formality. Hels was hot and dry, and he wore it often enough that the rings clattering together cleaned themselves. But sometimes he just liked putting an extra shine on things, so he took out his brush and oil and started brushing it down for any miniscule specks of rust or broken links he could find.
Wels, always keen on the times he wasn't wanted, decided now was the perfect time to show up in his living room. He stood awkwardly, waiting on Helsknight to make some aggressive movement. When none came, he cautiously stalked further into the tiny living space. His emotions were loud and uncomfortable without the distance between their respective worlds to dampen them, and they clung like smoke against Helsknight's skin. Caution at an unfamiliar space. Disgruntlement at being ignored.
[Guilt, like ash on a burn.]
"Is this... Yours?" Wels asked, glancing around.
"No, I'm just squatting in a random house. Sounded like a fun way to spend a Tuesday."
Helsknight felt the ant-bite sting of vicarious agitation and smirked. He was already getting on Wels's nerves.
[Good.]
"Couldn't build something nicer?" Wels snapped impatiently.
"I'm a fighter."
Helsknight found a place on his chainmail to brush down and got to work. The rough, grating twinge of the coarse bristles on chain made Wels wince. Helsknight always found the noise pleasant. Like scratching an itch.
"So?"
"I have better things to do than spend hours building the perfect house."
Wels scoffed and looked around the room with renewed disdain. "Where's your little devil?"
It took Helsknight a moment to place what he was asking. He sneered, a quiet bearing of teeth, and caught the flicker of red in the reflective shine of his chainmail. Wels looked pointedly away from him.
[Like ash on a burn.]
"Not feeling remorse... are we, crusader?" Helsknight asked, finding a new place to polish. The coin-drop clatter of chain, and the shrill scrape of bristles filled the silence like an accusation.
"Of course not," Wels sniffed disdainfully, still refusing to meet Helsknight's eye.
"Careful." Helsknight murmured, that red flash reflecting off his chainmail again, anger simmering. "Lying's a sin."
"Why would I feel remorse for protecting my home?"
"A crusade well fought I'm sure."
"It's not a crusade!" Wels snapped, his own anger a living thing raising hackles. "A crusader invades! A crusader fights a holy war just for the principle."
"Right. And you're fighting because--"
"Because I'm protecting Tango."
"-because it's for his own good?"
Wels didn't exactly wince, but he did still, as though he'd heard someone draw a blade from its scabbard. Helsknight might as well have unseated his sword. He had stopped scrubbing, all pretense of work falling. The need to pace, to circle, to corner, rose up in Helsknight like a waking beast.
"Interesting choice of words. Protecting." Helsknight said, his voice low, his hands still. "I was under the impression they were friends. Do you often protect Tango from the people he's begging you to spare?"
"That doesn't matter." Wels said so firmly it was almost convincing. Almost. "People are convinced they need an abusive relationship. That doesn't change the fact it's bad for them."
"So many interesting words today," Helsknight hissed. He stood like a dark tower rising, all embered fury slowly stoking. Wels didn't bother turning to face him. He could feel his intent like thunder. "Abuse. Brings to mind the image of power. I do have a question."
"I didn't come here for your stupid questions."
"No, you came here looking for a fight."
"I didn't."
"You really do need to tame that lying tongue."
"I didn't come here for a fight."
"Did it feel powerful?" Helsknight demanded, pacing a step, and loathing the tiny room for denying him the space to circle. "The voice. The command. How did it feel."
"Shut up."
"To have someone begging you not to hurt them," Helsknight continued relentlessly. "Not your stupid play fighting on your stupid little server. True, shaking, terror. Did it feel good, crusader? Just?"
"I told you to shut up!" Wels shouted, taking a threatening step forward only to find Helsknight had closed the space between them and stood looming like a rook on a tombstone.
Fear, a caged thing howling, battered against Helsknight's anger. It made Helsknight feel almost giddy, the crash of malicious schadenfreude and self-righteousness against Wels; a flickering thing of brittle will. They made a terrible ouroboros together, fear feeding anger feeding elation feeding fear. They were always like this. No matter how calm either of them tried to be, once anger kindled in one, their emotions burned until there was nothing left but fury and loathing. Helsknight had been made to cut Wels down to size.
"Do you know what that kind of fear does to people?" Helsknight demanded again, his voice so near a whisper it was smothering. They were so close together, but they made so little noise, all will and wide eyes. "What happened to mercy for the helpless, crusader?"
"He wasn't helpless," Welsknight said, trying very hard not to back down. "He stabbed me."
"And a drowning rat bites. I wouldn't call it an apex predator. Certainly I wouldn't call it a danger to you, with your full armor and sword." Helsknight bared his teeth at Wels, something like a bitter grin. "I wasn't wearing armor."
Wels looked down, where Helsknight had drawn up his tunic to reveal the new scar in his abdomen. Wels looked like he'd stopped breathing.
"This was intended for you," Helsknight said. "You should thank me."
"You're-- you're here telling me he's harmless," Wels laughed nervously. "But he almost killed you. You."
Something in Helsknight snapped, and in the moment it took him to reach for it with white knuckles and compose it again, he'd shoved Wels hard in the chest. It didn't knock his other half off his feet, but he stumbled back hard enough hit the opposite wall. Not hard enough to hurt, but certainly hard enough to warn.
"He did," Helsknight snarled, pacing forward slow steps. "That's what terror does to helpless people, crusader. It makes them bite. It makes them beg. It makes them clamor to live. You. Did. That. What did it feel like to abuse that kind of power Wels? To turn someone into a scared animal? To make someone so desperate they would almost kill a friend? Did you find your righteousness there crusader?"
Helsknight didn't know what he planned on doing. Violence was in his blood like a serpent, and he wanted it. And Wels knew he wanted it. There was the ring of drawn metal, and the silver-bright glint of an enchanted blade in a dark room. Helsknight's advance stopped at the top of Wels's sword, not close enough to hurt, but close enough to warn.
"Stop." Wels said. A command. A plea.
"I'm unarmed."
"That doesn't matter."
Helsknight smiled, and there was loathing and euphoria in it, and the wine-dark dread of Wels right on the other side of it. The knowledge of a line crossed, a battle he hadn't even realized he was fighting made forfeit.
"Fine." Helsknight said. "My blood's already been spilled once on your behalf. At least this time do it with your own sword, coward. I'll make it easy for you."
He took a step forward, and nudged the blade with a knuckle, resting the point against his scar. The metal was cold, even through his shirt, the enchantments alive and writhing so close to his skin.
"How cruel have you gotten while I wasn't there to keep you in check, crusader?"
There was a long breath of silence between them. Helsknight stood, precarious and predatory, daring Wels to kill him. And Wels stood there, and dared himself to as well. And the room was dark, lit only by red anger and blue dread, and the pale, languid flicker of enchanted steel. And neither of them breathed. And the universe watched.
A loud clatter sounded on the roof. Both knights looked up towards the ceiling, Wels in startlement, and Helsknight in resignation.
"And he stays my hand once again," Helsknight sighed.
"What--?" Wels didn't get his full question out before Helsknight moved. He knocked the sword aside and lunged forward to grab Wels's shirt. In a move that would've made Martyn proud, he dragged Wels forward into his knee, knocking the wind out of him. In the time it took Wels to collapse to the floor, Helsknight had taken his sword, and held the point beneath his other half's chin.
"Go home Wels," Helsknight said, "before I send you there the hard way."
Wels, breathless on the ground, let out half a strangled laugh. "Why don't you?"
"Because I was asked nicely not to go running off and killing you."
"Helsknight?" A loud knock sounded at the door. Tanguish's voice, a bright comfort even in spite of its concern, called to him. "Is everything okay? I thought I heard something fall."
Helsknight glared meaningfully down at Wels, who only hesitated long enough for Helsknight to draw back the sword before slipping back to his world. The moment he did, Helsknight felt his breath leave him, the great void of being left to his own thoughts and emotions. In the wake of everything that was Wels, he felt ridiculous.
[What in hels had he even been about to do? Die on someone's sword to prove a point? Idiot.]
"Helsknight? The door is locked."
"I'm coming," Helsknight called, pausing only long enough to hide Wels's sword beneath the couch, where Tanguish couldn't see it and inevitably worried about it. He checked his tunic to make sure he hadn't managed to actually stab himself [he hadn't] and went to let Tanguish inside.
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Keep scrolling if you blame Spider
Spider, who is literally still a child by human standards.
Spider, who never gave away Jake's or the Omatikaya's location.
Spider, who cares about the Sullys' safety over his own.
Spider, who didn't want any blood on his hands or a guilty conscience if he left someone to die.
Spider, who just didn't want anyone else to get hurt.
Spider, who never betrayed the Na'vi (unlike Jake but hey, who's counting that, right?)
Spider, who had to fend for himself to survive the toughest events because he didn't have an adult who would tear the world apart for him like the Sully children do.
Spider, who loves Pandora and Eywa.
Spider, who just wanted to be one of Her children because he never knew what it was like for a mother to love him.
Spider, who probably understands Eywa's whole "balance of life" meaning more than others.
Spider, who already lost Neteyam but he couldn't afford to lose anyone else in his life, no matter how terrible they are as a person.
Spider, who helped Jake save Kiri and Tuk when everyone else was still too shocked to move.
Spider, who chose mercy over violence/death.
Spider, who did what he could to survive (I'd like to see how YOU would react under such pressure. It all seems obvious and easy watching from the other side of the screen, right?)
Spider, who was likely being misled, brainwashed, and gaslit by the Recoms.
Spider, who is clearly a victim but hey, let's blame him for simply being a decent human being, right?
Spider, who likely thought he owed Quaritch after he saved him from being tortured.
Spider, who likely thought he owed Quaritch for giving him life.
Spider, who just wanted a father who was proud of him.
Spider, who has been clearly neglected by the heroes (Jake and Neytiri) but doesn't openly or verbally blame them.
Spider, who doesn't purposely threaten children's lives like Quaritch and Neytiri do.
Spider, who just wanted to be one of the People.
Spider, who wouldn't have made those difficult choices had he been properly loved and raised.
Spider, who is as easy to blame as Lo'ak for endangering the people they love (but again, no one's counting, right?)
Spider, who is clearly not a villain, just misunderstood.
Spider, who wasn't raised by the village but didn't burn it down to feel its warmth because he's not petty, not vindictive, not evil, and not a killer.
Spider, who is. A. Child.
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You've mentioned Zuko's "inability to kill" before, so could I ask you to elaborate on that?
sure. zuko is banished for, essentially, committing treason. he says to ozai that he was banished for "speaking out of turn," but simply speaking out of turn is not actually why ozai banished him. zuko said that people shoudn't have to die for the sake of further empowering the fire nation, and that goes against their nation's entire ethos. zuko lacks, as azula puts it, that "killer instinct that is just so fire nation."
while zuko does set fire to suki's village in his quest to capture aang, and you could argue that he may have committed other such acts offscreen, we never actually see him outright kill anyone. unlike zhao, who kills the moon, and azula, who kills aang in a manner that would have ended the entire avatar line had katara not revived him, zuko threatens and intimidates and harms, but when it comes down to it, he does not actually kill, because he simply cannot.
he threatens to kill zhao, and if he had killed zhao, no one in the audience would fault him for it. zuko does not even burn him upon winning their agni kai, going against custom; zhao calls him a coward for it. zhao tries to kill zuko on multiple occasions, including when he blows up zuko's entire ship. but, when the ocean spirit is dragging zhao under, zuko still extends his hand in a futile attempt to save zhao. contrast this scene with sokka arguing to leave zuko for dead in the same episode. he legitimately does not have a problem with letting zuko die, because, as he says, zuko would do the same thing to them (at least, sokka seems to think so).
sokka kills combustion man, toph kills yu and xin fu, and neither of them have any regrets. conversely, katara cannot kill yon rha, and aang cannot kill ozai. like sokka and toph, they are justified in killing these men, perhaps even more so (since yin and xin fu did not actually attempt to kill toph, "only" kidnap her), but they ultimately choose mercy. like zuko on kyoshi island, aang and katara's actions, such as blowing up the factory in jang hui, may have had indirect casualties (i don't count aang being merged with the ocean spirit because he was not truly in control), but they are never able to kill directly, because when faced with another human being, regardless of how much they may hate them, their pathos prevents them from delivering that killing blow.
zuko, as a foil to aang and katara and the deuteragonist of the narrative, is also someone whose instincts prevent him from being the cold-blooded killer his nation expects of him. it is why, unlike the rest of his family (including iroh), he is unable to produce lightning; he is too sensitive to become the perfect weapon his father wants him to be, which is why azula's reveal is so thrilling and terrifying to the audience, because she is what ozai wants in a protege, unlike zuko, who try as he might, fails at embodying the fire nation values of ruthlessness and power at any cost.
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unpopular opinions meme: anything on Earthspark?
(Haven't watched Season 1 part two yet so take this with a grain of salt)
I avoid looking at fandom tags generally since I tend to not like a lot of popular takes in general, but people's takes about Optimus being brainwashed/shadowplayed/replaced by a clone in Earthspark really annoy me because it demonstrates a couple troublesome things about self-professed Optimus fans (or anyone really interested in OP in general):
People can't handle the fact that Optimus might make mistakes
Because of this, they then rush to remove agency from him (to make the bad things that happen not his fault)
In doing this, they completely erase, downplay, or even lambast as flaws the very traits that make Optimus who he is.
To take this from the top, Optimus "freedom is the right of all sentient beings" is, and has always been, a person who cares deeply about the rights of other species. This is a trait he's had in EVERY continuity: he values all lives, even small and fleeting ones, as equal to Cybertronian life, and he strives to protect uninvolved aliens from the horrific consequences of the Autobot-Decepticon war. This is one of his primary traits. This is a GOOD TRAIT OF HIS and it's LITERALLY ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL PARTS OF HIS PERSONALITY.
In Earthspark, we specifically hear Optimus say "we are guests on this planet" with regards to living peacefully alongside humans. GHOST is a suspicious organization and not only do we see this as the viewers, OPTIMUS HIMSELF acknowledges this by choosing to hide the Terrans from GHOST and openly saying that he doesn't know if GHOST is trustworthy, but it's currently the best option they have and he's trying to find another way.
Earthspark Optimus has no shortage of nuance. He's not a dunce; he acknowledges on multiple occasions that he doesn't completely trust GHOST, that he's willing to hide things from them, and that he would do something else to live peacefully with humans if he knew of a way to do so.
But the fandom seems to get one whiff of anything "problematic" happening due to Optimus (not just Optimus, literally every Autobot and even Megatron collaborates with them too, but for some reason blame for working with GHOST only ever falls on Optimus) and they immediately jump to this bizarre headcanon they have that Optimus is a total idiot and couldn't possibly be aware of any negative consequences of working with GHOST. People seem to think that if anything bad happens because of Optimus working with GHOST, it HAS to be because he was literally brainwashed into working with them.
Optimus believing in the rights of all sentient beings? Optimus being willing to make compromises for the sake of other species besides his own? Optimus knowing that he's making morally gray choices/questionable allies and doing it anyways because he thinks it's his best option? Nope. Nope, clearly he has to be brainwashed or a clone or something.
It's really frustrating because people jump to this black-and-white view of Earthspark's plot where they're like, "GHOST is evil and this clearly means that Optimus is an idiot for even attempting to work with them." But like. What else is he supposed to do? Just let the Decepticons run around stealing from humans, damaging their property, and killing them? Is Optimus supposed to grab a random piece of human land and go "this is mine now, me and all my people are gonna live here now." That would be literal colonialism, and keep in mind that humans had nothing to do with the war to start with-- Earth is just the unfortunate planet that the war happened to land on, dragging humans into a Cybertronian conflict.
It's just.... so fucking frustrating as an Optimus fan lmao. It's gotten to the point that I don't even look at Optimus content made by other Optimus fans because too many of them have this idea that Optimus can't be a normal person who makes bad choices (knowingly or unknowingly), he has to be an eternal paragon of goodness and this means that in order for him to be Good (TM), he can't be responsible for anything Bad And Evil, which means that if anything Bad happens (inevitable in any plot involving conflict, drama, or conspiracy), we have to swoop and take away Optimus' culpability for the situation. Because having Optimus be responsible for bad things happening would make him Not The Perfect Good Guy, and if Optimus isn't The Perfect Good Guy then we don't care about him and we hate/ignore him (which is exactly what people do with IDW OP btw: throwing out a perfectly good/interesting character who's no more bad or good than anyone else in the story because Optimus Has To Be Good).
Another example of people taking away Optimus' agency is the all-too-common TFP/Aligned headcanon in which people like to say that the Matrix literally turned Orion into a different person, Optimus, therefore none of the decisions OP made as Prime were "actually him" and it was just Primus imposing his will on him or something. Really annoying! Ideas like this don't make Optimus any more interesting, they just make him a helpless victim to forces outside of his control who manipulate his every action!
TLDR: Earthspark Optimus is fine actually, people just refuse to take his perspective and instead default to "Optimus is stupid/brainwashed for working with GHOST" instead of coming to the rational conclusion that maybe OP is doing the best he can in a bad situation.
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