#being in a supporting role does not make you lesser. you just have a different function

[simpxxstan]

best friend's older brother vernon

this is part of my 550 followers celebration event! find the rest of the members' headcanons in the event too as i post them through this month!

warnings: mention of cheating (not vernon or reader)

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who is two years older to you, but doesn't feel older at all

he may have lived in the world for two years more than you or your best friend, but you don't see where the years except the fact that he's taller than you

it's clear that vernon needs someone to take care of him. someone to show him which stop to get off at on the subway. someone who feeds him snacks when he's skipped lunch because he was too busy riding his bicycle. someone to push his hair back and make him wear a beanie when he's long due for a haircut. someone to remind him to take a certain book to class because he's bound to forget.

and mindlessly, unconsciously, you've taken up that role. of course, his sister and his family members are there, but you get involved too. partly because you spend so much time with his sister, but also because you like doing this. somehow, seven-year-old you felt very grown up taking care of a boy, so you go with the flow, and even after eleven years, the habits have stuck.

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who introduces you to his relatives as his 'girlfriend'

ten year old vernon learnt the day before that a girlfriend is a female friend you want to marry. hence, he finds no problem in introducing you to everyone as his girlfriend. consequently, he absolutely does not understand why you smack him on the back and go all red and pouty, and everyone in the room begins laughing at him. he didn't say anything wrong, did he?

"why do you want to marry her, vernon-ah?" his mother asks him later. "because she's the nicest girl i've ever met. and she knows everything about me, and i know everything about her." his mother laughs, "that is quite true. well, you can't go about calling anyone your girlfriend, okay? it's only something you can do later, when you're older, and the girl also agrees to being your girlfriend." "why can't i do it now if y/n agrees to it?" "because that's how it is, nonie."

vernon doesn't understand why it is like that, but he lets that occasion. it doesn't mean that the joke doesn't persist. and even at the age of twenty, when you meet his relatives at his birthday party, they all call you his girlfriend.

of course, vernon understands what it really means now, and he also realises his mistake back then. even you don't mind the joke anymore, and just go with it. but it's wrong- he should correct everyone and put an end to it. and yet, he doesn't. does he, maybe, like people referring to you as his girlfriend?

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who grows up to be a fine specimen of the male sex

and you, along with everyone else in the neighbourhood, are awed by his curly hair and chiselled features. he doesn't let everyone get close to him, owing to his shy nature, but you're fortunate enough to still remain in his closest circle, even after he graduates from school and joins a music production course in college. the age gap between the two of you feels lesser and lesser as you both grow up.

when you join the same college as him, he becomes your guardian angel in college. from giving you tours in the college to getting you involved with societies and the joys of dorm life, the two of you are again always together. except, his sister enrolled in a different university so unfortunately, you have to bear a long-distance friendship now. it is a comfort, still, that vernon is right here.

the roles are slightly reversed now. although vernon's still lost in daily life- losing track of time and place often and hoping for your guidance- he takes a more proactive role in supporting you in other, important matters.

like how he drives you to the interview of your first internship. you leave the office crying, and he pulls you into a hug. two weeks later, when you receive an acceptance offer letter, he hugs you close again. "i had said so," he tells you when he buys you ice cream as a treat.

like how he ensures you get in touch with the top seniors from your major so that you can prepare your notes well. "how do you even know him?" you ask him after he introduces you to one such senior. "oh, i see him around." "is he your friend?" "no, but he's not not my friend either."

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who also sees you fall in love for the first time in college

it's with a senior he introduced you to, youngjae, and he regrets the decision completely. he had introduced you to him because of his academic merit, but beyond that, he knew youngjae was up to no good. a playboy through and through- he would break your heart the second the chase dies out.

he ends up spending lesser and lesser time with you these days because of how you go everywhere with your new crush now. "has he asked you out yet?" vernon raises a brow at you when the two of you meet again in front of the dorms. "not yet," the blush is clear on your cheeks, as your eyes lit up. "but i'm sure youngjae will, soon! we've been texting a lot, nonie. i must thank you for introducing him to me, of course." you giggle, but vernon's face doesn't reflect your happiness. he's still confused about how to feel about this entire affair.

rationally, he should not be confused. this is protectiveness he feels. he felt the same way towards his sister when she started dating her current partner. it's worse in this case because he knows your heart will be broken. so it's just his instinct that's making him more protective.

but it's not just protectiveness, he knows. he knows it when you're going to parties with youngjae on your arm. he knows it when you laugh too loudly at any of youngjae's stupid jokes. he knows it when people start referring to you as youngjae's girlfriend.

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who is the person you run to when you find out that youngjae has been sleeping with someone else all this time

vernon doesn't ask or say anything. he simply sighs when he sees the tears streaming down your face, and pulls you into a bone-crushing hug against his chest. and he lets you cry into his sweater, all snot and wetness.

but it's the best thing he could do for you, and you wouldn't trade this for anything else. you know he understands in the silence, and you don't leave his side all night, as he plays soft jazz on his phone and you both sit on the bed in his dorm room in silence. his roommate also surprisingly doesn't question it, the two of you sharing earphones and sitting on the bed without saying anything, all night.

the next morning, you finally come to terms with your grief, having overcome the shock, and tell vernon everything. thankfully, he doesn't say, i knew it. he only says, "he never deserved you anyway. such a fool."

when you go to the cafeteria for lunch, as both your and vernon's classes start after lunch that day, vernon's hand is around your shoulders. every person in the cafeteria turns to look at the two of you, even youngjae. he steps up to you to talk to you, but you don't even look at him and walk straight past him. the two of you finally reach a table where your friends are sitting, who you'd texted earlier about the situation. they all sympathise with you, consoling you and genuinely making you feel better. but the best medicine is the weight of vernon's warm hand on your back throughout lunch time.

soon the entire college gets to know about the situation. it's comforting to know that no one's standing up in defense of youngjae and everyone's isolating him for his shameless actions. when vernon walks you to your classroom after lunch, youngjae confronts you again, forcefully making you stop in your way. when he sees that his pleas and apologies aren't melting you in any way, his eyes flare up with rage, and he looks to vernon instead.

"and what the hell are you doing? why are you walking around with her like that?"

"because she's my girlfriend, that's why."

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who takes everyone by shock by his declaration

of course, this new addition to the ongoing situation spreads like wildfire through all students also. and it has the same effect it has on them as it does on you. vernon almost laughs at the way your cheeks flare up and your lips purse into a pout. it's hauntingly similar to the incident eleven years ago, except vernon knows he's not saying it without understanding this time.

"what was that for?" you ask him later. "i had to do it. you know he would beg you to come back if i'd moved away." "well, i would be strong and resist him." vernon's glare makes your words falter. "are you sure?" "vern-" "okay just play along with it for a few days. will help you forget him faster."

you spend that night thinking about the events of the day, and you finally realise that the burning sensation in your chest is not sadness. that seems to have run out totally after your crying session with vernon last night. then what is this feeling?

you don't get time to yourself the next few days- when everyone's bombarding you with where when and how you and vernon got together. "it- it just happened," is what you say. and vernon doesn't clarify it either- so it just goes along.

and everyone actually accepts it immediately. no one gives it a second thought, no one needs a longer explanation. "oh we kinda saw it coming," one of your friends say. well, you certainly did NOT see it coming.

apparently, him playing along with it means he has his hands constantly on you, either looped through your arm, or a touch at the small of your back, or his fingers weaving through your hair. it also means him spending every moment outside class with you. soon, he becomes a permanent feature in your friend group, and your and his friends merge to become a big group sitting together at lunch, and creating an endless cacophony.

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who tells you that you can end this play-acting after a few weeks and the initial gossip has died down

but every weekend, his heart thumps in his chest as he anticipates when you'll tell him that you want to end the ruse now finally and you're sick of him. he knows he's putting on a very bold face in front of you, but inside? god, he's all nervous putty. he knows he's taking big risks- risks which are more likely to not pay off than actually succeed. but he can't not take the chance when it's right in front of him.

for these fifteen days, vernon lives his dream into reality. before this, he had no idea it would make him so happy to be your boyfriend. even if it's a fake relationship. is this what he's been yearning for all these months when he's seen you going around with another man? is this why he detests youngjae even more than he deserves for his faults?

he doesn't want to think too much about why he's so enthusiastic about doing this. he doesn't want to understand why his heart is fluttering all the time and he's losing focus on everything- even things he's usually very concentrated in, like music or films. he doesn't want to think of why his heart is thumping in his chest whenever the weekend comes around.

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who invites you over for movie night to his dorm on sunday

"you'll break up with him now." you tell yourself, looking into the mirror, even as your body moves with a mind of its own. you're wearing a silk dress that's completely not appropriate for a friendly movie night. you're even tying up your hair in a ponytail because vernon once said that hairstyle looks good on you.

"you will draw it to an end for your own good." that's what you tell yourself, but what is your own good? kinda blurry at the moment, because a big part of you doesn't want to let go of vernon. you know that ending things today will have an impact on your closeness- but you can't figure out why it is that you're so worried about letting go of vernon. is it because you don't want to lose a friend, or is it because you've found your ideal man in him?

because one thing you can't lie to even yourself is how perfect vernon would be, hypothetically, as a boyfriend, especially to you. he knows everything about you- your coffee order so that he always knows what to bring from the cafeteria, your menstrual cycle so that he can remind you to buy pads when your week's due, your workout routine so that he knows exactly where to massage that night while the two of you chill.

he's everything youngjae could never dream of being. you're in fact glad youngjae did cheat on you. you've been so blind for stooping down so low when you have had a perfect man around you for all your life. and yet, you don't know if these feelings are just the butterflies from his attention through this make-believe relationship, or whether you've really lost your heart to him. and in fear that it's the second, in which case you're going to regret the steps you plan to take tonight, you make haste to vernon's dorm room to tell him to break up.

"you will tell him to end this right now." you tell yourself when you knock on his door. but when he opens the door wearing his old, ratted t-shirt that you've seen him wear since high school, his hair messy over his forehead, and his pink lips plump, you forget all about breaking up and instead just go in with him, taking his hand as he helps you sit down on his dorm bed and sets up the movie on his laptop. when he gets under the blanket, his body unimaginably close to yours, the exposed skin of your legs graze against his hands and you can see the way he gulps.

"you have to tell him now, y/n!" your brain screams to you, so you blurt out. "vernon, i have something to tell you." vernon moves his hand away from you and sits up. "me too. but you go first." he doesn't break eye contact, and you can see the way he's biting his lip and fidgeting with his hands. symptoms of nervousness, you recall from your psych class. why is he nervous? "no, you go first, nonie."

he raises his eyebrows for confirmation and you nod. then he gulps before answering, "i like you, y/n." "what?" "i know i- fuck, i swear i'm not a creep. i swear i didn't start this fake ruse with you because i like you. hell, i didn't even know then that i liked you." "then, when?" " i realised it last night. but i think it wasn't even like a epiphany per se. just a realisation.... and a way to label some feelings that have been occupying my heart recently."

dear god, help me. you cry out silently for help, because fuck, he looks so earnest right now. so soft, so genuine, his words stunted with how fast he's speaking and his eyes a little dazzled in that on-brand look only vernon can pull off as cute. "nonie, are you serious?" he nods his head fervently. "i am. and i know this may be overwhelming, so you don't have to respond to me right now. but if you do want to reject me, you can tell me right away, i won't be-"

thinking about best friend's older brother!vernon who didn't see this coming in any of his mind's versions of how his confession would go

but it's certainly the best version when he feels your lips press against his. you pull away almost instantly, and he asks, "y/n?" you don't reply immediately, your eyes cast downwards to your hands. "y/n-ah? did you mean that?" after a long pause, he finally hears you squeak back, "yes, nonie. i- i wanted to try it and see what it felt like."

oh. so it was an experiment. well, that's manageable- although vernon doesn't think he'll ever forget the way your lips feel. "y/n-ah if you want to leave, you can. you don't have to-" but you don't let him continue. you kiss him again, pressing your wet, warm, soft lips against his own, and his hands find their way towards you. one of his hands settle on your cheek, and the other on your waist, and he pulls you nearly on top of him as he kisses you back hungrily.

they're all chaste kisses, until you open your mouth slightly and he takes the opportunity to let his tongue roam inside your mouth. but he underestimates you, you quickly suck on his tongue, making him moan out as he pulls back, breathless. "y/n, you've gotta tell me what this means. i can't keep kissing you without any clue of your feelings."

"do you need me to say it aloud, nonie?" "yes? please!" you pout slightly, as if offended by his demand. but then you whisper, "i like you too, nonie. i just wanted to see if my suspicions are real or just a figment of my imagination because you're so perfect." "perfect? har-" "no, you are. and that's not a recent discovery of mine. i've known it forever. you are too perfect to be real, vernon."

and that does it for vernon. the floodgates of his heart burst open, and all the feelings he'd been suppressing for so long flood into his system. it makes him warm and tingly all over, and he leans it to cup your cheeks. "you're the one who's perfect for me y/n-ah. i wasn't wrong all those years ago, you know. you are the woman i've always wanted to marry." you giggle shyly and hide your face in his chest, and vernon knows he's found his soulmate in you.

[torchwood-99]

The difference between a dry nurse and a healer

It's interesting how at a glance these two roles appear similar, and how Eowyn fiercely rejects the first yet embraces the latter, and what's more is vindicated in the narrative for rejecting the first, yet is celebrated for accepting the latter. So to understand Eowyn's arc, it's important to look at the differences between a dry nurse and a healer.

Eowyn states herself she is not a dry nurse. Gandalf points out to Eomer that part of Eowyn's depression comes from her having been forced into the role of dry nurse. And in his own commentary, Tolkien says that Eowyn isn't a dry nurse by nature. So that's the character, the in-narrative voice of reason, and the writer himself all saying that Eowyn is very much not a dry nurse.

Now, what is a dry nurse, and how does that differ from healer? A dry nurse nurses. Seeing as that was Eowyn's role with her uncle, we can presume that to be a dry nurse was to be like a carer, someone who takes care of a person and tends to them on a day to day basis. Eowyn's role wasn't to cure her uncle, but to make him comfortable and support him as best as she can.

This was a role that was foisted on Eowyn unwillingly, for she was a woman, and there's a prevalent idea that women are just "inherent carers", that is comes more easily to them and that this is is there natural role. That emotional burden, that denial of other choices, isn't seen as an injustice to Eowyn until Gandalf spells it out to Eomer at the end, because as a woman that's just what she's suited for. She shouldn't have wanted something else, and if she did, it meant she was either lacking in something, selfish or defective.

This all came at the expense of her own personhood, and so she ended up feeling like the "staff" Theoden leant on. She was his living crutch, and this dehumanisation played a massive part in her depression, which was made worse by Grima's influence.

For all that LOTR is a fantastical setting, Eowyn's plight was very grounded and applicable to modern day. As her uncle's carer, her life revolved around his needs and wellbeing, she was stuck in the home because she couldn't leave him alone, and her own hopes, her own dreams, ambitions and desires were put aside as of lesser consequence. And because she's a woman, and therefore naturally inclined and suited for all this, she should have felt alright with this, and any resentment on her part is a sign that there was something wrong with her.

She was isolated and stagnant and she felt she couldn't even speak of her resentment because it was her duty to tend to her uncle, (Gandalf tells Eomer that Eowyn didn't share much of her feelings because of the duty she felt to him), and all of this left her vulnerable to Grima's emotional abuse. This situation can so easily be transplanted into modern day.

Being a carer is a really difficult job, tending to both the physical and emotional needs of another person. It's emotionally draining and challenging and it's all the harder when it's a family member, as that doesn't allow you some of the distance and space that professional carers have, as well as a life outside work which allows you to enjoy other pursuits and interests.

It's a hard enough job for professional carers who genuinely feel a calling for it, who choose that role and find satisfaction in it and have a chance to decompress and lead lives of their own away from their work, but Eowyn never felt such a calling, and caring for Theoden wasn't her job but her life. Her life had been dedicated to tending to the needs of a single other person. And all the while she cared for him, she knew she couldn't heal him or prevent the awful things happening to her country. She wasn't a person, but a tool, and in her mind, a tool of limited ability.

No wonder she yearned to go and die gloriously. Her life was no life, and yet with a glorious death she could reclaim something for herself, exist in the songs as her own being with her own deeds. She could live on after her death as she has never lived in life.

In life, she could only watch as her brother and cousin and peers got to leave Edoras, where she was caged and hopeless, and go out and do stuff, with the ties of comradeship to support them. Already, without Grima's influence, it would have been easy for Eowyn to hate herself for her seeming uselessness, to resent the world and her society for shutting her into that role, and to hate herself for hating her role, for it meant she was a failure as a woman and a niece.

Compare that to the role of the healer. A healer, by its very definition, heals things. It fixes things. A healer can't always succeed, but that is the healer's goal. To heal.

Now, we don't know specifically what Eowyn meant by being a healer, whether she literally meant she wanted to train in the healing arts, to learn how to set bones, clean wounds, perform surgery or cure sickness, or if she meant she wanted to live a lifestyle given over to healing the world around her (her new home Ithilien needs clearing of orcs, is a military outpost, and and lies near Minas Morgul, so there is much to be healed there, with a sword too, yay!) or if she meant both.

A healer is active. A healer needs to leave the domestic sphere to go to where there is trouble and put it to rights, whereas a live in dry nurse stays in the home and tends to a patient in their domestic setting (which is partially why it's seen as a more feminine role).

Eowyn, fearless, longing for deeds and open fields, needs to get out, needs some risk, needs to be bold and needs to be able to do work which has some sort of final goal or success to fight towards. Being a dry nurse is being a lover, pouring out empathy and compassion and care, and being a healer is being a fighter, someone who faces challenges and overcomes them, and that is who Eowyn is by nature. Someone wants things and fights for them.

As a healer, Eowyn would have a variety of tasks; whether that be literal patients or general problems in the world, that need fixing, which gives her more change and also a break, for she won't have just one life she has to constantly attend to.

The active, combative nature that made her long to be a soldier is what makes her suited to be a healer (both literal and figurative), someone who is confronted with challenge after challenge and has to tackle them. Who must come up with a battle plan and then take up her tools and get to work, sticking at it until victory is won.

But whereas a soldier's business is bringing death, a healer's business is bringing life (even if that may mean clearing away dangers and sicknesses in order for that life to flourish. If Eowyn does mean healing figuratively, her work may often cross over into the work of the soldier, but the intent behind it will be different.) Becoming a healer reconciles Eowyn's desire to go to battle with the need for her to embrace life and peace.

She cannot stay at home "in the cage" because what needs healing is beyond her doorstep. And as a healer, when she has done her part healing others, healing the outside world, she can go home, which is now a sanctuary and not a cage, and then she gets to do something else.

As a healer, she will have deeds to accomplish and an existence beyond the walls of her home. And her home, being a place she now gets to leave, a place of comfort and leisure, is a home at last. It's a place she can escape to, not a place to escape from.

As Eowyn and Faramir play around with gender roles a fair bit, it's not surprising that Faramir, a man and a soldier and a bloody good one, is naturally more inclined to being a carer or "dry nurse" than Eowyn is, and in many ways he would have done much better as Theoden's carer than Eowyn did. (Not that Eowyn was bad as a carer, like Faramir she felt it was her duty and she put in the work, but Faramir would have personally coped with it better.)

If anything, it might have been a role that would have brought Faramir satisfaction, if not one completely devoid of heartache and difficulties, because even for those suited for it, being a carer requires a lot and is inevitably draining.

But Faramir is deeply compassionate, compassions and caring does come naturally to him, and he values it highly, so he would have taken pride in knowing he was easing another's suffering, He would have seen the successes and progress and been able to celebrate them. And crucially, his love of lore and studying would have been an escape and often a consolation for him, and given him something of his own to work on, so his own personhood wouldn't have revolved around who he was caring for. His work as a carer could have coexisted with his work as a scholar, and thus he would have been making use of both his natural empathy and intellectual curiosity.

Faramir is also very emotionally intelligent. He is very quick to understand others feelings, even before they do, and can give them very apt emotional support. See how he is with Eowyn, how understanding he is of her love for Aragorn (no resentment or jealousy, he gets it), and her despair and her inner conflicts, and is able to communicate with her really well due to that insight. Between the two, it is Faramir doing the bulk of the emotional support, which must come as a blessed relief for Eowyn after all that time as Theoden's living crutch.

This is also why they work so well as a pairing. They have both experienced what it's like to be a carer and a fighter, to carry the burden of warfare and nursing, and together they're a partnership capable of caring and fighting, dry nursing and healing. They can both do both, but where is inclined one way, the other is inclined another way, and thus they balance each other out.

[demonproofboi]

ok, putting my thoughts in order

I get the why. youtube sucks and each year that passes, it sucks more. they have a company and employees, and they've said before that watcher wasn't actually making a profit. it is way too harsh to say they're too greedy or "just like buzzfeed" or other stuff I've seen thrown around. they deserve to get money for their work, we are not entitled to free content, etc! I agree with all that.

the thing is though... I don't see how this could feasibly work? like, putting aside how most people are fed up with the sheer amount of streaming platforms popping up lately, the way I see it, their content does not have enough variety to warrant a paid subscription. and if it were to become varied enough, it would probably need a bigger cast and shows run by different people. and the problem with that is that we can't deny that the main appeal of watcher is how much people care about shane and ryan and (it pains me to say this, you all know he's my favorite but, to a lesser extent) steven. a ton of us are here because we wanted to keep watching them. for the people, not the shows, essentially. that is very clear when you look at the views of their shows.

idk, what I mean to say is, I don't see how they could have a catalog of content that justifies paying a monthly subscription if you're not a very avid fan willing to support them just because they're them, and even then those avid fans might end up dissatisfied because either a) a lot of the content will not include the people they want to see or b) the content will not be frequent enough. maybe I'm wrong and there is a third option here but, let's be real, there's gotta be a limit to how many different shows they can put shane and ryan in to have a varied catalogue and frequent upload schedule. and if it's not them in those shows, we bump into problem a.

I know the topic of whether or not $5.99 is a lot of money also became a reason for fights around here. this is what I have to say, as an international fan: depending on what country you're from, it's the sort of expense you just can't justify. like, the sort of money you shouldn't even spend on netflix with its very extensive selection of content. the sort of money you could use to pay a whole bill, buy groceries for a week, a month even! as it stands, here in brazil, for now, it's not really feasible. R$312 a year is a ton of money for me and I can't even say I'm struggling financially.

still on this topic, it is really hard not to take this "affordable to anyone and everyone" thing to heart being someone outside of the US, because it is the sort of thing that happens again and again, this sort of americentrism the internet at large seems to be stuck in. when they outright say they view this price as affordable to everyone it's very clear they have not taken international fans into consideration or they just don't really care. if they hadn't said that with so much certainty, maybe I'd feel a little less hurt. and you know, whatever, it's my feelings vs the needs of a company, and companies are not your friends but! ever since the beginning, the relationship between us and them has been very parasocial. lol it's like a good friend of mine said something that hurt my feelings. although maybe that's my own fault for placing them in that role in my head in the first place.

anyway, idk if this makes sense, the goal here isn't even to pick a side or tell anyone they're wrong... as with most things this is just too complicated for that. what I can say is that the way they went about this could have been a lot better. and for now what I am feeling is that this is eventually going to crash and burn but well, I just really hope I'm wrong. they deserve good things.

[bestworstcase]

hi, found your post about Yang and Salem. Didn't know that she, out of all people in team rwby, is the one who foils Salem the most. Like she's the most normal member in team rwby.

Which led me thinking, Yang has a lot of parallels with the villains, notably, Adam, Cinder, and Salem. What do you think is the ideal route of Yang during volume 4?

well that’s the thing about salem, isn’t it? she wasn’t anyone special. her father was a lord in a world ruled by kings and queens, and he abused and isolated her so viciously that whatever notional privilege she might have had by virtue of noble birth was stripped away from her; after she and ozma murdered her father and escaped, she was a commoner. the raw magical power that sets her apart on remnant was commonplace then. there was nothing extraordinary about her at all.

but she was brave. passionate. determined. angry. she walked into the domain of gods and refused to flinch.

who does that sound like?

anyway, yang’s core allusion is goldilocks. too hot, too cold, too hard, too soft, just right. balance. compromise. scathing eyes ask that we be symmetrical, one-sided and easily processed. rwby is a story about complexity and nuance. every dichotomy is false. yang is a good person—good to the bone—but she’s also strong-willed and not inclined to be forgiving. who would she have become if, say, ruby died on one of those occasions they were left home alone as children? what would it have done to her if she watched adam kill blake during the battle for beacon?

it took millions and millions of years for salem to break. she tried so hard not to become a monster. cinder bowed her head and endured years of torture because rhodes told her it was the right thing to do. before adam lost his way, he fought to protect others; the first time he killed, it was in defense of his leader.

the difference isn’t as simple as a choice to be good or bad. yang has always had ruby and now she has blake and weiss, too, and—bluntly, her trauma is of a lesser order of magnitude than her villainous foils. yang has endured a lot of suffering—parental abandonment, childhood neglect, the vytal tournament and the battle that followed, losing her arm, being left behind by her sister and friends—but she wasn’t enslaved and tortured as a child. she isn’t the sole survivor of a genocide. she did not spend millions of years alone.

if you put yang in salem’s or cinder’s or adam’s shoes, would she have turned out different than they did? would she make better choices? would she still be a good person?

would she even know how?

and if you put salem or cinder or adam in her shoes, would it make a difference? if salem wasn’t alone, if cinder had even the smallest taste of genuine love, if sienna had seen adam’s increasing anger for what it was years earlier—would they still have become what they are now?

yang’s gone through her own personal hell and back, but she wasn’t alone. she had role models and a loving sister and a father who provided for them and at least made some effort to be involved—he read bedtime stories and trained yang, tai is far from the worst parent in the story. it was bad. it could have been so much worse. how much of a difference did it make for yang that she had these crumbs of support?

as the blacksmith says, even the smallest act kindness can change a life. no one is an island. everyone is responsible for their own choices, but sometimes our choices are limited by forces beyond our control. sometimes there is no right thing to do.

everyone has breaking points.

everyone has a limit.

yang… in addition to having all these villainous character foils, is also the heroic character most inclined to ask why. why did raven leave her? why did ozpin lie? why did he make the branwen twins into birds? why did raven sell them out to salem? why is she the spring maiden? why did blake run away? why did ozpin think it was okay to hide so much from everyone? why shouldn’t she and blake think critically and follow their consciences instead of blindly obeying orders? why is salem waging this war? why why why

yang isn’t the most empathetic character—she can get too tangled up in her own feelings to see clearly where other people are coming from. she isn’t the most compassionate, either—she can, in fact, be rather ruthless. but yang does care, a lot, about why people make the choices they do.

and i think that is because yang knows her own darkness. she sees herself clearly; she knows she’s capable of cruelty, of being vindictive, of hurting people in anger. the reason yang isn’t an angry person is she works fucking hard not to be. i think yang is self-aware of these similarities between herself and adam, or raven, and maybe even cinder and salem too, and the question of why she didn’t end up like them bothers her. what made her different? what saved her? if she could have been like them, then doesn’t that mean they could have been like her? why aren’t they? what made the difference?

so she keeps asking. why. why.

weiss helped her understand why blake ran, but yang has never gotten a satisfying explanation from anyone else. the resolution of ruby’s arc in v9 leaves her asking why summer chose to leave; the natural trajectory is toward answers. why did summer leave, and why didn’t she come back? why did raven keep her secrets? why has salem gone to war? why did ozpin hide so much? it’s all tangled together. it all needs to be answered together. i think, if the olive branch comes from the heroes, it’ll be yang who plants the seed—what if we just ask salem what she wants? it’s not like we have any better ideas. and if salem’s the one to make the first move, it wouldn’t surprise me for yang to be the most open to hearing her side of the story.

after all, yang’s the one who asked.

[taintandviolent]

long rambling rant about AHS delicate below the cut (contains spoilers!!)

listen, I had my qualms with this show from the get-go because it was filmed during the strike, and the circumstances surrounding said filming (after speaking with someone who shall remain nameless) were beyond shitty. but, not wanting to be a groundless naysayer, I gave it a good college try anyway. I went in with as little bias as I possibly could, truly.

Overall, the season felt very disjointed and haphazard for me. while it didn't lack the classic AHS stylization, the plotline didn't feel like a season of AHS at all. I'm not sure what it felt like, but it wasn't the show I know and love. albeit, i'm not a fan of pregnancy storylines and this was entirely that, at its core and even during its reveal, but i gave it a shot anyway, for the sake of it being AHS. I'm not sure why or what motivated RM to go with a story based off Delicate Condition, like what was the driving force where he read it and went NEEDS TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH AMERICAN HORROR STORY STAT???? don't understand that all. i guess it stays true to his recent obsession with focusing on real issues as opposed to ghosts and ghouls and fun shit, but I digress.

the lesser, supporting roles were all played wonderfully. everyone who was a 'background' character for lack of a better term did a great job. which usually isn't how it goes for AHS.... everyone does a great job and it's this amazing cohesive success, regardless of if you have a starring or a supporting role. didn't feel that way with Delicate. also having absolute monster talented actors like Billie Lourd and Leslie Grossman but making them some superficial PR specialists? weird. weird choices all around.

Emma Roberts didn't exactly shine in this role, but she wasn't playing the stereotypical bitchy girl that she usually plays so I can at least give her that?? i guess?? kudos for uhhh brancing out or something? it was a very lacklustre performance, in my opinion. as are most of her performances, but that's a conversation for a different day. i'll say that it was the most.... *grits teeth* invested I've been in her. all her other characters are just preppy bitches. anna at least had some emotional substance.

Kim K was.... well, not great, but she was better than I thought she'd be. I'll say that. I'm not convinced that she wasn't just being herself.... but yknow. she knows how to "play" a mean, scary upper elite type bitch in charge kind of role, I guess. sounds like I'm just describing her... well, anyway.

the finale felt extremely rushed. I felt like none of anna's hallucinations were explained, what was real, what wasn't real. what were they?? the sisterhood of what? why were they still alive after decades and centuries?? what was the baby? what was the fucking spider thing about??? why were spiders so prevalent in the promo stuff? and the - ugh lord have mercy, the "battle", if you can call it that?? a simple chant being what defeated Siobhan?? c'mon, be so for real with that. that was like they had NO idea what they were doing and they just decided last minute to be like "a magical whispered spell hooray!! the evil is defeated!!!" afjhdeskjsd. what.

is it worth a watch...??? uhhhhhhh I guess so?? if you're a completionist and wanna try? I truly don't know how to answer that man. like if this was my first introduction to AHS I probably wouldn't watch another episode of any season.

anyway, tldr AHS: Delicate was very weird and I rate it like a 3/10. Maybe 4 because of the supporting roles being acted well. I don’t know man.

[majoringinsarcasm]

“V9 was filler because nothing changed about Ruby or Jaune, she could’ve had her breakdown in Vacuo while the real plot was being fleshed out.”

Ahem

1) Above all else you sound like you hate fun bc V9 was so freaking cool and visually stunning and new and different and weird and wonderful

2) Had Ruby gone to Vacuo right away she would NOT have properly grieved Penny nor would she have had time to vent her frustrations because she is a Leader, capital L, and it’s been 8 volumes of her not addressing her issues or having bursts of anger and then immediately trying to comfort someone else. See V4 when she tries to tell Jaune that Ren and Nora will be fine. He responds “you don’t know that” and we see her smile fade. Her uncle might die and it’s her fault he’s hurt but she’s trying to comfort Jaune. No time for her.

Or in V6 where she just learned the big bad they are fighting seemingly can’t die. She goes to Oscar and makes him feel human she comforts him even though she’s no doubt flipping out inside. And then later when she smashes the bottle to wake Qrow up she is visually upset that he’s passed out drinking again but she softens and hugs him and offers support.

She has been trying to prove herself since Volume 1. She is the one who tells Jaune that as Leaders they have to put their team first and themselves second and she’s stuck to that rule. She wants to prove that Ozpin making her Leader wasn’t a mistake. With Jaune, it’s similar, he doesn’t ask for help from anyone with his emotions. He’s the golden retriever, the lovable idiot stuck in the tree. He didn’t want to be a team player at all he wanted to be The Hero, someone who didn’t need help, someone who could save his friends instead of being shoved in a locker and moved to safety. He didn’t want to work With them, he wanted to save them all.

And that’s why V9 is so special. For the first time since the series began Ruby Rose “puts herself first”. She’s been lamenting all of her failures she’s been stewing in this hopelessly because she thinks SHE is the issue when that’s not the case.

“What about me?!”

“What happens if I choose me?”

She decides she is Enough, flaws and failed plans and all. She does not need to change into someone else to be better because SHE was never the problem. The world would have fought against whoever came out of that tree and she’s holding her own hand and saying “I will be there for this girl I will grab the weapon she made and I will fight for Myself as well as everyone else. I am worth fighting for.”

And with Jaune, well he got to be The Hero all by himself. He got to be the protector of a group of beings that did what he asked and wanted to make him happy. Who Let Him Help. No one shoved him into a locker, he wasn’t laughed at for making up silly team attack names, he was in charge all by himself. He was selfish but he STILL wasn’t putting himself first at the same time. He was clinging to unhealthy ideals because he was without a team to lean on or even help. He had no one to call him out nobody to keep him level. It’s not until the final battle that he gets to be “the man he’s always wanted to be.”

Jaune is a strategist. He’s good at looking at the whole picture BECAUSE he’s not on the frontlines from the start. He provides perspective and new ideas. In V4 he also plays this role but he’s a bit reluctant. He’s without a weapon and sees at first the role as lesser, but now he’s fully embracing it. He’s from a big family and then had a team he’s not Built to be a lone wolf. He’s built to be with a family, he’s meant to be part of something bigger. After years of being the rusted knight he never changed or got better and THAT was the lesson. He got to play out his ideal and was worse because of it because a hero isn’t what he thought it would be. Or what he wanted it to be.

In the end Ruby still doesn’t call herself a huntress. Somewhat calls her that. In the end Ruby still doesn’t pick that definition for herself, but someone she showed kindness to and helped just because she could called her that. THAT is what makes Ruby a huntress. It’s not just about fighting monsters or even protecting those who can’t protect themselves. It’s about kindness, it’s about love, it’s about patience.

Ruby Rose is a huntress, because SHE embodies what a HUNTRESS should mean, not the other way around. And That is why this finale means everything to me. She’s better than the heroes in the books, and now she gets to save herself along with everyone else.

[miracles-and-butterflies]

In what way are the Madrigals celebrities? I think you already have an actors au, so things artists or musicians?

It’s a whole mixed bag!

Just a bit of context: Alma (and Pedro) were not famous in any way, neither was anyone else in their families before the future generations. They didn’t have much money and Alma especially struggled after his passing with three babies and little support. Nowadays, she’s comfortably retired (though still currently in the family home) and very proud of her children/grandchildren.

Bruno is a famous playwright and director. He initially worked in Colombia, but when one of his shows reached major success and producers in Broadway were interested in staging a production there, he moved to America with his boyfriend, Alfonso. He hasn’t been able to meet up with the rest of the family much, but he still keeps contact with his mother and sisters.

Pepa is a competitive/professional dancer and met Félix (who is also a professional dancer) through competitions. They don’t compete as much by Antonio’s birth, but have definitely made guest appearance as judges and are very much local celebrities in town. They are also both very musical and encouraged a love for performing in all their children.

Julieta is the only one of the triplets to not have any celebrity status. She runs a bakery in town and still does. Agustín, however, does. She meet him through Pepa as he was her dance partner during their teenage years - Pepa later changed for Félix after they started dating.

Now, onto the grandkids!

We’ll start with Antonio as there isn’t much to say about him. He is still a child and is in school. He has no great plans for the future, but that’s understandable given his age just now.

Dolores is the only other grandkid still at home in Colombia. She is a music artist but doesn’t care about being famous, she just enjoys making music. Probably has a nice group of followers on social media, but nothing big. She’s made the odd cameo in a few telenovelas too - usually to sing.

Isabela was, albeit briefly, a model and telenovela actress in this AU’s variant of her “Señorita Perfecta years”. She was getting very successful before she mysteriously quit. It was like she completely disappeared from the world for a few years. She is now pursuing acrobatics and gymnastics competitively, always travelling and never in one place for too long.

Luisa, upon finishing high school, left Colombia to study performing arts in America for college. She later went abroad to do a year at Shakespeare’s Globe as part of her degree and found she preferred it. Once finishing college, she moved to London and made a name for herself as a West End actress. She has featured in a few television and films roles too. Probably the most successful in the family, after Bruno.

Camilo was very much inspired by Luisa, though he probably won’t admit it out loud. When he finished school, he went straight to America to try make it big as an actor. It hasn’t worked out well for him thus far. He’s had a few minor, background roles in lesser known projects. But I’m sure he’s doing fine and this hasn’t affected his self-esteem at all.

Mirabel followed Luisa to the UK when she moved there permanently; they live together. She had no ideas for fame but it is one of the best places for historical places/studying history. (She also didn’t want to be alone but that’s a different story). She’s at university for the most part, but as Luisa gets more successful, she becomes her sister’s unofficial stylist and embellishes everything herself by hand, accidentally getting a name for herself in the process.

[blackautmedia]

Reminder again that Michigan has one of the highest Arab populations in the US. This is horrible communication.

Writing off people rightfully upset about the choice to remain complicit in genocide as just people who want Trump is not effective. It's dismissive and arrogant.

Earlier this year we saw -this come the state of Michigan how there was a push for uncommitted votes because these people are watching their friends and family be genocided. They're dying and being disabled en masse here too.

We're not "pushing Harris left" by calling people bots, Russians, Trump lovers, and psyops whenever they vocalize their grievances with how the "lesser of two evils" is still death and disability for us.

What discernible difference does it make for Black, Arab, South and West Asian people when the baseline of the "lesser of the two evils" decides to continue in genocide?

What is this party going to do that they haven't done in the last four years? Why do you continue to draw a hard line of imagining anyone critical of the democratic party and refusing to lend support to genocide as people opposed to queer rights and reproductive access like these issues don't disproportionately affect Black, Native, and other non-white people?

Since this took place in Detroit, let's also remember that Detroit saw one of the highest death tolls for covid early on in the pandemic.

But the administration decided it was acceptable to declare the pandemic over and spend that money on police knowing it will continue to disproportionately murder non-white disabled people.

You can't decontextualize situations like police murdering Black disabled women like Sonya Massey from the fact that this administration directly funds the institution responsible.

You can't separate the ongoing genocide and occupation of Palestine from the imperial interest of the US.

I don't begrudge anyone urging people to vote democrat, but what I cannot stand is the refusal to deviate or understand the people raising perfectly reasonable grievances. To act as if they are just "bots" or "Trump lovers" because the communication is only predicated on fear.

But that fear is meaningless in the face of those of us in such dire conditions in the US. Those of us who know our lives already mean nothing to people in power.

There's no going halfway on genocide.

There's no compromising with genocide.

There's no middleground with taking preventative measures during a pandemic.

There's no "progressive" way to enact eugenics.

It's also not lost how many voters clearly just had more of a problem with Biden being old and disabled than his role in enacting genocide and eugenics.

Creating an environment where you repeatedly shut out anyone who has legitimate grievances with the state of the party because you see them as "fake" or as sympathetic to Trump only creates the conditions for you to never hear their voices on critical issues.

[rynnthefangirl]

I think the hate started with the increase in fix-it fics where Rhaenyra wins but also Jace with Baela as his consort are next to inherit and there is (due to the show's biggest age difference) the way if they focus on the dragon twins and the velaryon boys, V&A tends to get left out

But I don't think these people are thinking this through. I love my two boys and I want good things for them and do you know what the survival of their older brothers means? That Jace can have the ugly chair and I can have a fic with Aegon and Viserys where they are not traumatized and are happy with their family. Where's my fic of Aegon meeting Daenaera at a feast and falling in love with the pretty, bubbly girl while his brothers gleefully mock and his sisters coo? I really dislike Larra (Viserys deserves someone better) but what about him meeting him on a trip and maybe starting to become pen pals? Maybe it ends just as badly as in the canon but a. Her family will never become as problematic as in canon and b. This time he will have a bigger support system after the breakup

I don't know, I'm just saying that in a world where everyone lives, everyone is happier.

Totally, a world where Rhaenyra and her oldest boys survive is such a fun and happy AU for Aegon and Viserys. I’d especially love to see what it means Aegon, since I think Viserys would still serve in his older brothers council as he does in canon (perhaps still being Jace’s Hand of the King, the role just fits him so well).

I do understand being frustrated at them having lesser or nearly absent roles in fanfiction. Like don’t even bother tagging them if they get like one or two mentions, it crowds out the search results and makes it hard to find actual Aegon and Viserys centric works. But like… I’m not gonna hate the Velaryon boys for something like that, how bizarre.😂

[rocky-the-rockstar]

🥤 🧅🍉For Pinku

BRO PICKED LIKE ALL THE ONES WITH SAD ANSWERS OH MY GOD so sorry for the angst post

The simplest way I can describe Pinks relationship with his mother is "it was great until it wasn't" Basically Pink's mother was his everything, his role model, his support system, his cheerleader. They had a great relationship. But in his teen years, due to his father leaving, she fell into severe depression and became very cold and neglectful, and she rarely left her room. With the older siblings working jobs to feed them, this left Pink to take care of the younger siblings almost entirely on his own. He did all the cooking and cleaning etc etc. He never held any resentment towards his mother and felt bad for her, even now he doesn't blame her for how she treated them in those years and will deny that she was ever neglectful. "She never meant to, it wasn't her fault"

Speaking of his father. Fuck that guy!! He was very abusive to both Pink and his mother, until one day he just didn't come home. Pinks father at the time of Pink knowing him was a semi successful business owner, he was rarely home and when he was it was expected to not bother him. After he left he would go on to become more rich and successful. However bro does die and leaves a good chunk of money to his wife, who moves to the city to be less isolated, leaving the farmhouse to Pink.

As for non biological???

I'm definitely gonna say Cupid's mother. Cupid's mother was good friends with Pink's and tried to do all for Pink that she couldn't. If things were really bad at home, Pink would get sent to "have a sleepover" with them for a few days. She bought him birthday and Christmas presents, she fed him and sent him home with food. He would make gifts for her in exchange. This all happened while he was a child and he was mostly oblivious to the fact that what was going on at home wasn't normal and that he was being sent away, not for fun silly times with Cupid, but to get him away from the house. He could see that Cupid's home life was very different from his, but he just assumed it was cuz besties rich. Obviously once Cupid turned on Pink he lost both his contact with Cupid's mother and the safe space at their home.

I'm also gonna say @kissingonclouds oc Dimitry, who was Pink's highschool Medical Biology teacher. He checked in on Pink best he could and let him rest in the teachers lounge, giving him tea and telling him stories. (I'd also include Father Evangeline in this for similar reasons, but to a lesser extent since Pink pulled away from him once the bullying got really bad due to the fact he's related to Cupid)

When faced with triggering or even just rude/mean comments, Pink tends to close off, get cold and blunt. Talking to upset Pink is like talking to a brick wall, more likely to boil into slight aggression than tears. However if faced with behavior, speaking patterns, visual similarities, or even scents that remind him of Cupid, he may spiral to the point of tears. At first he may just get tense and defensive, he's very quick to accuse whoever is stirring up those memories of being our to hurt him. But in a confused frustration, and guilt of lashing out, he usually starts crying shortly after. During these periods his behavior makes no sense to most people so it's hard to say who knows of this. I'd say Hobo probably has at least some idea.

And on a more wholesome note it is INSANELY easy to make Pink cry from affection or words of affirmation. Like much MUCH easier than making him cry upset tears. You could hug this guy and he'd be a sobbing mess. Told him you're proud of him??? That you love him??? Yeah bros on the ground in a puddle of his own tears.

That he still cares for Cupid, that deep down subconsciously he still sees him as his best friend, that despite it being triggering he actively seeks out anything to remind him of him. He has one of his posters, he listens to his music.

[houseofzoey]

World-Building

This is the first book in which we officially meet Death as a separate entity from Nyx. We still know NOTHING about her. What does she look like? Can she, like Nyx, alter her image to suit whoever she is appearing before? What is her actual role? Thanatos' death is the only time we've seen Death escort someone to the afterlife, and the process is also wildly different - Thanatos doesn't leave a body behind. So did Thanatos go somewhere different than Nyx' Realm, where it's already been well-established that you can't bring your physical body? Also, who aside from Thanatos knows of Death? Does she have worshippers? What does that worship look like?

This leads to questions about Nyxism as a pantheon. Like, first of all, is it a pantheon? Obviously Death exists as a separate godly entity, but we have no idea what her role is in the broader cosmology or if she's even worshipped. Are there other, non-Nyx deities aside from Death? Are these deities known and worshipped? Because up until Death was introduced, every goddess or revered female figure from other religions was actually just Nyx in another guise. So why is Death different? And are there any other deities distinct from Nyx? If there are, they must not be particularly well-known, important, or worshipped, because we've never heard of them.

What is the point of Thanatos' affinity? We see numerous deaths that she isn't present for, and as far as we know, those spirits make their way to the Otherworld unassisted. We also know that Zoey can perform the exact same duty by casting a circle. So what exactly is the point of having a "High Priestess of Death", and why does everyone treat it like a big deal?

Kalona says there are different realms. What are they? Where are they? How does this work? How can Kalona move from one realm to the next? Does Nyx have power over all these realms? Are these different layers of the same reality, or completely different dimensions of existence?

If love is antithetical to evil, the power of love can defeat evil, and Darkness is the embodiment of evil, how is Neferet's relationship with her tendrils possible? Neferet loves them as a mother loves her children, and the tendrils love her in return. Neferet is evil and the tendrils are Darkness. By the logic and philosophy of this series, they shouldn't be capable of love. Or is it only romantic love that's so powerful and important? If that's the case, then the arc words of "love, always love" as part of Nyxist philosophy takes on a different meaning. It also indicates that Nyx loving vampyres as her children is not so powerful or meaningful, if familial love is indeed a lesser force than romantic love.

Why was Lynette able to pass through the protection spell to enter the Mayo? She was returning to the Mayo with the specific intent of serving Neferet, aiding her in committing horrific acts of violence and supporting her reign of terror to avoid being possessed. That's ill intent through and through.

When Neferet tried commanding Darkness to kill Zoey in Destined, she needed a sacrifice of equal value to a High Priestess. Neferet provides no such sacrifice in the climax; all the people she killed in the Mayo were to strengthen herself and her tendrils so they could break through the protection spell. So how was Neferet able to command Darkness to attack Zoey directly with intent to kill?

Why would breaking the circle kill Zoey? That's never been a risk before. It's not even if the circle is broken while she's casting a specific spell - just having the circle set at all while confronting Neferet could mean she dies if it's broken.

Because Stark is Zoey's Warrior, Thanatos can't give him orders, despite her being in a position of authority over Zoey. Why can't Thanatos order Zoey around on matters pertaining to her Warrior? Given the importance of Priestesses having Oath Sworn Warriors, how large a portion of the Sons of Erebus is answering to lesser Priestesses instead of the school's High Priestess or Sword Master? How does this work when there is actual conflict and the Warriors need to step up to defend their grounds or fight off a threat?

How does the power of the land boost a protective spell based in fire? Wouldn't it make more sense for it to be boosted by the sun? That would certainly create an interesting obstacle and greater sense of tension around casting and maintaining the spell.

Because Zoey is Cherokee and the reincarnation of A-ya, she is the embodiment of Oklahoma earth and its Old Magick... despite Cherokee not being indigenous to Oklahoma. Moreover, Cherokee people did not historically abide by contemporary state boundaries, so the concept of a Cherokee person being the embodiment of a specific state's earth is absolute nonsense. It also doesn't really matter to the climax. Zoey calls upon the elements (her actual affinity), the Great Earth Mother (Nyx), and Old Magick (a nonsentient force that she can tap into with the Seer Stone) to push Neferet into the grotto. There's no reason for her to call on her Cherokee heritage to do so - literally none of this magic is related to the Cherokee.

[providencehq]

With the reveal of the Black Pawns actually being robots, what did you think that said of BK's leadership style vs WK's leadership style? Also, do you think she incorporated some aspects of herself into them? Like, fighting styles and personality traits; watching "Assault on Abysus" had me hyperfixated on that one Black Pawn with a speaking role. That one, at least, made me think of a younger BK, more easily frustrated and with the need to succeed without additional help.

Man, your brain. Thinking things I would have never esp in regards to Black Knight. You seemed to have nailed on the head of my personal headcanon when it comes to her: her leadership style is vastly different from White Knight but it seems more so from an internal force rather than external and it radically shapes their ideals and how it plays out into their leadership styles and let me explain. (Edit as I finish writing this, very rambly, I think I repeat points many times)

Black Knight is seen constantly as a need to control, something, anything whether it is as openly as Providence or as lowkey (more so indirectly but still having her hand in the pie as the saying goes) in regards to the initial Nanite research group. This need to have control and in essence power can stem from who knows where. We as viewers never get that chance to actually dwell into her past like we were able to in a degree with White Knight. I personally make the assumption due to what we do see of her of being a fairly rash, quick tempered, and take/make an opening to get the smallest step ahead as a result not having power in her life to some degree when she was younger. Black Knight has to make opportunities to get power rather than what seems to be willingly handed with White Knight in comparison. (I can and would talk about my headcanons about young BK here but that is long and lengthy and I feel like little evidence to support from the show but know my ideas about her and her relationship with whatever happened to young her is basically rivalry based and feeling lesser.) She kills a member of the Consortium who more or less challenged her and made it seemed like she was a means to an end (for the Consortium) because she wasn't viewed as an equal. Questioning of her role, her power, her knowledge is a threat to her and the ability to control herself.

But here's the thing! She's a really, really shit leader for Providence. We know she's rash, manipulative (yay! go gaslight, gatekeep girlbosscore for her). She can't lead like White Knight does. Here's the thing, White Knight, questionable at times with his leadership skills but he's commanding a massive, multibase operation over many years and he makes tough calls. He commands forces, he gets information, he's actively working on trying to better the world whether the cure is feasible or not. He was forced into a position of power by happenstance but he takes in stride and understands that his leadership hinges on the survival of humanity, cure or not. WK has a tough job he has good reigns on the whole of Providence.

What does Black Knight do? Clearly struggle through keeping Providence under any semblance of control in comparison. She has lost it's more or less elite force when Rex went a little MIA there for a few months and clearly she can't keep things in Providence under control unless every aspect it seemingly controlled by her. The Black Rooks, her elite guards (I don't think all of them are androids just... most. I like to think she managed to have a few actual human elite running around) ARE FUCKING ANDROIDS! SHE CONTROLS THEM FULLY! Programmed to obey (and clearly be more prone to violence and generally extreme tactics which uh, wonder who programmed them to be like that!?) But to get onto that point of her ask, I see it's a very reasonable jump to make that she included aspects in herself in the androids. She needs something that she can rely on, that she can understand what move they'll make next, that understand the objective. Time after time we see she can't rely on anyone but herself to get after her true goal of just control (over Providence, Rex, EVOs, nanites, Consortium, the human body, life and death itself) why would she program her elite to not have a similar mindset to herself? Basically disposable extensions of herself. But I like the idea of her incorporating her fighting style with them, I will be crafting ideas in my head for that for a bit. Gonna let that idea simmer in the brain pot of headcanons.

Also back onto the whole internal verses external forces causes her leadership to be super wonky and insightful in comparison to White Knight. White Knight is more or less driven, yes to an extent the Consortium, but mostly by to be in power. A goal that all of humanity can overcome or bare with the nanites. Dude is pessimistic, makes choices that could easily in the blink of an eye end millions of lives (like bleaching a city), and manipulates/misleads people to get closer to a cure. But it's all for that chance for a cure, for Providence to come out on top, for humanity to survive fully! He has the support of Providence, large portions of the population, Rex and Six and Holiday, to make the hard decisions for humanity. To make decisions with that kind of gravity can't be done lightly and there's trust in his leadership and decisions even if they suck from Providence on multiple levels.

Black Knight doesn't have this trust. We as the audience are missing a lot of information from those six months Rex was gone but Black Knight is in charge now and things are weird and bad. The lack of trust with Black Knight being in charge can come from so many angles: new leadership, discontent from the public and Providence workers as a whole, the loss of many of their assets without an effective replacement. But I lean towards she won't trust down the ranks in Providence. She sees herself as higher than everyone else in Providence and won't let anyone be an equal. Research? She knows best. EVO containment and control? She knows best. The direction of Providence? Don't worry, she knows what to do. Her need of control is her downfall for leadership, her suspected inability to have Providence soldiers/rooks be completely under her thumb with her decisions led her to make her androids that would follow her orders instead. (Which brings into question, what was something she asked them to do that they wouldn't cross the line of? WK was going to bleach a city, costing countless lives, what could be worse than that? Providence before WK was pretty casual about child vivisection so who knows! Maybe refusal to accept a new leader simply, esp head of Providence.) Black Knight's leadership is stemming from her need to control, a pressing internal force is seemingly every choice she makes. She's selfish and it shows how she heads towards goals with Providence as the vessel and man! is it shit! It's just a massive shitshow barely holding together!!!

Black Knight is ahhhhh! She's so focus driven on herself and her goal of control in whatever means and it's so clear she's basically a kid who wants power but doesn't actually know how to handle it. She's nothing like White Knight no matter how she tries to emulate him when she's running Providence. She wants power but she doesn't know how to handle it. She fumbles through the steps of being a leader and yes, members of Providence question her, but she's still there, leading it! It isn't until placing her directly up and against White Knight do you really see it! Their fight is such a great analogy for how they run Providence. White Knight prepares, plants ahead, has backup plans, and knows what he's up against verses Black Knight who lashes out, has to pull a plan out her ass, and thinks she knows what she's up against by personal history but not through technical knowledge and it fucks her in the end.

Ahhhhh! the parallels! THE PARALLELS!!!!!!!!!!

[ilikekidsshows]

“Adrien is a deuteragonist without agency” What's your opinion about that statement?

Agency can refer to two things in a story. Personal agency is the same as real-life agency, the ability to affect your own life and make decisions. Narrative agency is a character's choices and feelings being important to a story. Even a main character can lack personal agency if the story is about that, with their agency coming from their influence on the narrative, their narrative choices and their feelings on their lack of agency. You can not have a main character without some kind of agency because then the story isn't about that character.

The statement: "deuteragonist without agency" is an oxymoron. Just like with a primary main character, you literally can't have a secondary main character without narrative agency, as I explained in my essay on how a deuteragonist should differ from a supporting character. A main character can lack personal agency, but even then their narrative will naturally be about their attempts to gain personal agency and their feelings on their lack of agency, hence they have narrative agency.

I've covered this before, so I'll just sum up: Adrien doesn't have personal agency, and the way the show presents this denies him narrative agency as well. The only area he's allowed any agency is his role as Marinette's love interest and emotional support. His purpose in the story is to prop up Marinette and be her love interest. He functions like Mamoru in Sailor Moon. Sure he has a say in whether or not he dates the main lead, but that's it. None of the Agreste plot threads actually connect to him, he's just a bystander things happen to who Marinette needs to save.

Outside Marinette, the ones actually figuring things out and moving the plot along are Félix and Alya to a lesser degree. The thing that makes Adrien not a deuteragonist is this fact: supporting characters have more narrative agency than he does. This means Adrien is also a supporting character. The take-away is this: I don't think Miraculous has a deuteragonist at all.

Sometimes it's better to accept that a definition doesn't apply to everything than to relax a definition until it loses all meaning. If everything could be placed under a singular descriptor, it wouldn't tell us anything about the target being described. A deuteragonist isn't something a story has to have, unlike a protagonist. Every story has someone or something the story is about,  a main character/protagonist and almost every story has something opposing the main characters' goals, aka an antagonist. But a deuteragonist isn't nearly as vital. A secondary main character needs to be a main character, not just more important than most supporting ones, and not all stories split narrative importance away from the protagonist.

Many stories have only one protagonist and then just a bunch of supporting characters, like Sailor Moon and many other magical girl shows that follow its lead. The show might sometimes have a focus episode about another sailor scout, and the other scouts might get to figure things out, but only Usagi is allowed to solve the main problems and she will be in every single episode. Her importance eclipses the other characters so entirely there's no room for a deuteragonist. Similarly Marinette's role as the main character is so extensive that it leaves no room for a secondary main character. After all, Miraculous borrows extensively from the magical girl genre in terms of visuals and how the forces of evil are presented, so it would make sense to borrow the cast structure as well.

[purplekoop]

Forgot I had like. Perfectly good art of a little wizard robot to share already.

This is Sorsier, an eclectic bot that harnesses a unique energy source to casts what other bots can only seem to describe as magic.

Not a full breakdown for them either, once again because I don't have a great kit in mind for them right now. To explain why, I'll indulge myself by divulging some extra info about how characters and their kits work in this game.

Sorsier is part of the "Utility" class of characters in War Bots. In total there's 5 classes: Damage, Control, Tank, Utility, and Support. If you're familiar with Overwatch you should know how most of these work: Damage bots are generally the best dedicated fighters, Tanks can take hits, apply pressure, and protect allies, and Supports are the dedicated healers who generally prioritize keeping teammates alive. The other two aren't hard to explain either. Control bots are better at fighting groups or otherwise keeping enemies in check, either with higher AOE damage or specifically control sections of the map. "Utility" should also be easy enough to understand, these bots have lesser or no healing capability than Supports, but have more powerful benefits of their own.

Sorsier slots into this role by being one of the most flexible characters in the game, capable of providing all manner of different utility, from healing to damage buffs to defensive abilities, and can customize their role on the team dramatically using the game's Loadout system, more profoundly than any other character in the cast.

This loadout system is divided into three slots: Weapon, Body, and Accessory. Weapon determines the bot's main means of attack, with their primary and secondary fire being determined by this choice. Body determines another ability of the bot, usually coming from their unique construction or some other innate technique. This is typically a movement ability, think close to what Overwatch tends to do with the "Ability 1" (Lshift) slot. Accessory determines an additional item the bot carries with them, generally some kind of throwable on a semi-long cooldown. Again, very similar to Overwatch's "Ability 2" (E key) slot.

Note the lack of an Ultimate equivalent. This is deliberate for a couple reasons. One is simple, I suck at coming up with Ults, even just in the context of hypothetical Overwatch characters, let alone for a completely new game with a new "meta" to consider. The other main reason is that I intend War Bots to have more players per team than Overwatch, currently running with 10v10 as my ideal number. As such, having a universal system where each player has the access to a massive game-changing ability at some point in the match feels way too potentially chaotic for matches of that scale.

Back to Sorsier, the reason I bring all this up with them is that I did have a kit in mind for them, but it was using an older version of the loadout system, with the concept I just described being a fairly recent development. It wasn't even an exciting or very fun-sounding kit: slow flying rapid-fire projectile primary fire, lock-on beam secondary fire with a slowing effect, ability 1 being a chargeable AOE shockwave that launches away nearby enemies, and ability 2 being a targetable basic minor heal+cleanse to a single target. Not only does this kit not sound very fun, or do anything interesting with the potential capabilities of basically magic, but it doesn't work with the new loadout system. Everything would be channeled through the staff, which doesn't work under the Weapon/Body/Accessory system, where each ability has to come from a different interchangeable component. So, making a new kit would fix all these problems with one solution. That solution being uh. One I... still need to figure out. I'll get to it sooner or later.

Anyways, rambling post, but I kept thinking of other stuff to bring up. Enjoy the funny little wizard. shadow wizard money gang.

[p5x-theories]

Theory: Kayo is the Sae or Futaba of P5X

I made one theory assuming that Kayo being a Palace ruler went away with her redesign.  But if we make the opposite assumption and it’s still a thing it has huge implications for the plot.  Kayo being a Phantom Idol suggests that she’s a Confidant, but even if she isn’t it’s still something that sticks out.  It wasn’t done with the other Palace rulers.

Except for two, Futaba and Sae.  Futaba graduated to party member while Sae was a major supporting character.  Both were critical to the plot.

And if the real Kayo eventually becomes a party member maybe she’ll be used to explore the differences between Phantom Idols and real teammates?  If she joins the team but you already have Okyann.

Now that I think about if “family friend of the protagonist” is the kind of role that typically has a big impact on a story.

Yeah, that’s a big part of why I’m really hoping they keep her Palace in, honestly!

I think it’d be a fun way for them to do something similar to P5 (as you pointed out here, like Futaba or Sae), but explore two things that P5 didn’t really show too much of: 1) a Palace ruler after a change of heart who doesn’t awaken a Persona, and 2) someone directly connected to the protagonist. I suppose either way we get the second one, but it’s possible we could learn a bit more about Wonder or at least his family in Kayo’s Palace, given her familiarity with them, which would be neat.

As for the first thing, as many Palace (and Jail) rulers as we’ve seen in this series, the only ones you really interact with after their change of heart in any capacity are Futaba and Maruki (and, well, maybe Akane if you count her, haha). Sae had a Palace as well, but since they didn’t actually steal her heart, she’s not quite what I’m getting at here. My point is that if we get to see a lot of Kayo prior to her Palace (as Wonder’s already had three conversations with her by the point Shun awakens a Persona in the plot), and then have to change her heart, Wonder (and us players) would get a perspective on that that, in P5, Joker didn’t really get (other than, to a much lesser extent, Mishima’s social link)- having gotten to know someone outside of the terrible things they’re doing and/or feeling first, then finding out those terrible things are happening and identifying their Palace, and afterward seeing how the change of heart affected them. If Kayo’s Confidant is related to this, it could be really cool to see firsthand how she’s acting after the change of heart, and where she goes from there, without necessarily joining the team like Futaba and (sort of) Sae did.

Alternatively, as you also pointed out here, it may be that she does join later, and is used to demonstrate the difference between a Phantom Idol and a real person, which could be neat too! I’m honestly not expecting P5X to really get into those implications too much in-game, since it seems like it’s just meant to be an excuse for the gacha game mechanic haha, but I would love it if they did, and I agree that Kayo would be a good potential candidate for a role like that. So I guess we’ll have to see how that goes!

[thelostgirl21]

So, guess who ended up watching the whole "Jobriath A.D." documentary, crying her eyes out over a guy singing about Sunday Brunch in his pyramid, and making a whole video dedicated to Jobriath and Hugh's performance as Radovid?

Actually, I also made another version (unlisted) for those of you that are already familiar with the artist, and might want to enjoy some of his music and the visuals without being distracted by the text at the bottom:

But yeah, I'm kind of so sad and upset that I never got to know about him before (given how huge of a fan of David Bowie I've been since my teenage years), and that the gay community totally failed to support him, back then.

I mean, I'm not blaming them. We've had the same issue with feminism where we used to make it all about women assuming more traditional men roles; until we finally realized that it was just as important to give more social value to traditionally perceived feminine qualities, traits, interests, and professions - in men, women, and any other gender, really - as well!

So, I can recognize that the gay community attempting to distance itself from the whole "flamboyant fairy" image likely came from the rest of society attempting to reduce them to it (among others), and creating some kind of convenient "right" vs "wrong" way to be gay narrative (a divided minority is much less powerful and loud than a united one).

Even today, we are facing a similar issue with some members of the LGBTQ+ community claiming to be part of the "LGB" without the "TQ+".

Note: the "B" of that "LGB" is often barely tolerated as a "temporary transitional phase", though; a "stepping stone" towards either the "L" or "G", or a return to being "straight".

Ultimately, it's about our survival instincts making us fear losing the relative safety we've acquired by being positively accepted and valued by those that hold the most power.

i.e. The "TQ+" is too controversial and different from the cisgender monosexual majority to be readily accepted?

Well, let's distance ourselves from it to keep us "LG"s safe, then!

While, of course, reassuring the dominant majority that the "B" will eventually choose a side, so its okay to let them come along while they are still "searching themselves". No worry! We're still as "normal" as you are!

It's all very, very binary.

No, it's not. The world is filled with beauty, diversity and nuance...

And sadly, by rejecting a part of our collective identity to better "fit in", we are sacrificing a part of our very own soul and culture. We are hurting ourselves and giving up power, not acquiring it.

So yeah, I'm not "blaming the victims" by accusing the gay community of any intentional wrongdoing back then, but JFC! It hurts.

It really hurts that he didn't receive comfort, love, and support from his very own people, at the very least, when the mainstream audience lashed out at him.

Yes, the publicity and the hype built around him made everything worse and gave off the wrong image (he probably came off as being a bit of a "self-absorbed prick", rather than someone in a position of great vulnerability), but they freaking ate him alive out there!

And he deserved better not because he was incredibly gifted and talented, but because he was a freaking human being.

What his talent and giftedness had to offer us was a voice, though, that we allowed to be silenced, and the world and our culture became lesser for it.

Jobriath did pave the way for others to then succeed, but I'm against the idea that someone needs to fall and sacrifice themselves so that others may rise. Yes, it happens, but it shouldn't have to.

I don't believe for one second that it is or was ever necessary.

But if it does happen, then yes, I say make it count for something, at the very least!

So, maybe that's why I'm so touched by the fact that Hugh listened to his music and drew inspiration from it while portraying his character.

40 years after his death, you now have a young openly gay actor being offered the role of an openly gay prince (that later becomes king) on a major fantasy show that isn't specifically about LGBTQ+ themes (like, say, "Sense8" could be considered to be), who is listening to Jobriath's music to help him connect with, build, and embody his character.

And, while I am genuinely glad that some artists are doing covers of his songs (ex: Adam Lambert with "Imaman") and bringing people's attention towards his work...

In Hugh's case, I think that what I find really touching is the fact that there's an element of "practicality" to it, if I'm making any sense? A connection that seems to be more internalized / intimate between the two artists...

Art is a means of self-expression, and sometimes you are trying to express a message, an emotion, or an idea that you wish to share with others in the world, and allow it to take a life of its own.

So, it's like the music Jobriath created - that little part of himself and the things he wished to communicate with the world that he left behind - is being listened to and welcomed by Hugh, and then combined with his own creative sensitivities to be integrated within a theatrical performance.

The spirit of what was initially shared lives on, while evolving and taking on a new form that will then go on to connect with people in a different way.

It's not so much about celebrating the songs themselves and paying tribute to the artist's work by covering them, but becomes about honoring the artist's spirit and the emotions, themes, ideas, etc. those songs were covering.

And I am genuinely not saying that one way of connecting with the artist's work or expressing appreciation for it is better than the other, not at all.

Just that as a non-professional artist myself, the idea of leaving anything behind that would have the power to touch a fellow artist's soul, help them grow as a performer, and continue to express and explore certain themes that I personally connected with at that time in my life - even if I would no longer be there to personally guide them - would be incredibly moving and make me feel like art really has the power to transcend boundaries and even death itself.

Because Jobriath's songs tackled issues related to identity, gender, relationships and self-discovery, among others...

And Radovid, as a character, is very gentle...

He's sensitive, empathetic, boyish, openly admits to being scared, freaking huddles himself in a corner to cry when he finds out his guards have been slaughtered...

I mean, when it comes down to it, all Radovid really wanted, this season, was a pretty song and someone to love and belong with...

Someone that could see him as he really is, and see some value in who he is, too...

So Jaskier, sweetheart, listen to Milva...

Because, let's be honest, you're a bit useless in the whole "rescuing Ciri" venture. I mean, you're not useless now, since Geralt is still recovering from his physical and emotional injuries, does greatly benefit from having his emotional support bard around, and you're not quite entirely done holding out interviews to find him new useful companions to watch after him and help him on his quest (don't think I didn't notice what you were doing with Milva!)...

But ultimately, this is going to involve a lot of fighting, and that's not where you're at your strongest.

However, there's a King in need of some serious rescuing, too, that could really use your wits, ability to know, influence and inspire people, and your Sandpiper connections.

You're not a hammer, you're a fellow spoon, luv; and the whole mess that Radovid has been thrown into is a situation that would most definitely requires two spoons, at the very least!

Thankfully, you've already proven that you know how to make two spoons work together very well, and become an effective weapon to annoy the hell out of those trying to keep people trapped!

You and Radovid pooling your own respective resources and joining forces together?

Philippa and Dijkstra would be so fucked... So, so fucked... And not in the "fun way".

So, as soon as Geralt has sufficiently recovered and has enough people with him to watch his back out there, get back to Radovid ASAP and get your whole "spooning thing" on, alright?

Fair warning: He might specifically need a big spoon to help dig him out of the whole mess that's threatening to bury him alive right now... Just saying!

Anyway, getting sidetracked again!

I guess my point is that Radovid is displaying the kind of emotional intelligence, insightfulness, and empathetic qualities that are more traditionally associated with feminine characters.

And that, if they are to ever make him rise to a position of great power within the kingdom, the worst possible thing Netflix could do is probably make him lose those qualities.

If princesses, in fantasy, have been allowed to gain power and become beloved queens through their compassionate and nurturing nature, their ability to genuinely care about the fate of every living person (and even creature) on their land, and "triumph over evil" by building mutually beneficial alliances with said people and creatures, so should a freaking gentle and sensitive gay prince, I say!

There really is no need to "harden Radovid", and change the very core of who he is just to "give him power".

To have him become more confident and assertive in who he is and what he can do, absolutely!

But using his trauma as an excuse to make him become some kind of angry, "tough", paranoid, uncaring and controlling leader? No.

Especially in a context where Radovid is a character that people are expecting to become hard and cruel because of his videogame counterpart, please be brave enough to completely defy those expectations by letting him be his own person!

Because Netflix's version of Radovid, thus far, is a superb example of queer representation done right, too.

And I'm going to attempt to phrase that as best as I can, so hopefully what I'm saying won't be misunderstood, but having a queer actor portray a queer character does offer an added layer of authenticity to the role.

Don't get me wrong, I'm far from opposed to the idea of having straight actors portraying certain queer characters in a context where gay, bisexual, pansexual, etc. actors are also being offered straight roles.

I'm a huge fan of Malec (the pairing of Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood), and I think that Harry Shum Jr. and Matthew Daddario did an amazing job portraying a very realistic and domestic relationship between a bisexual man and a gay man.

They both approached the roles with lots of humility, openness, asked for the queer community's guidance and feedback on their portrayal of the relationship (the fact that some of their fellow cast members on the show are queer IRL - including Nicola Correia-Damude, that portrays Maryse Lightwood - likely helped), etc.

And, when it came to filming scenes requiring to show a lot of love and intimacy between their two characters, they didn't hold back, either.

So, I do think that you can definitely be straight IRL, and feel confident enough in your own sexuality and in who you are to explore and embrace other orientations through your acting.

Not to mention that having such actors show that they aren't afraid to portray queer characters on TV, and to openly support and associate with the LGBTQ+ community, is setting a positive example for other cisgender straight people out there.

It kind of goes to show that, just because one is exposed to diversity when it comes to love, romance and sexuality, it won't magically "turn them gay".

Because, trust me, if Matthew Daddario didn't magically "become gay" after all those steamy kisses and emotionally/physically intimate scenes he had to film with Harry Shum Jr., likely nothing will!

And most bisexuals I've personally discussed the character of Magnus Bane with did feel like he was an accurate representation of their own sexuality.

Just like, as a panromantic and pansexual person, I'm 100% "vibing" with Joey Batey's portrayal of Jaskier.

I have no idea what Joey's actual sexual orientation is, or why he decided to explore pansexuality with his character before they made it official, but I feel like "he gets me".

Even his decision to make Jaskier become specifically romantically attracted to the way he perceives Radovid's intellect (sapioromantic) - and swoon over how intelligent and insightful he is on screen - is something that I can viscerally connect with, since I'm personally exclusively romantically and sexually attracted towards geeks.

If you were to pay attention to the way I'm looking at my partner dungeon mastering a D&D game, you'd think I was watching him perform a freaking striptease! It's uncanny!

So, even if Joey was to tell me that he is straight, I'd be more than fine and happy to have my own romantic and sexual identity be represented by him. I feel like he truly "gets me", regardless of whether it's from personal experience, or because of his own ability to put himself in other people's shoes and intimately connect with their reality.

It's just that, in Hugh's case, knowing that he is gay, and that the role has a personal significance for him, offers another layer of appreciation for the character and the actor's performance.

He just seems to be so happy to be living at a time and age where you can get that kind of representation in a major fantasy show - where you can have queer characters that are complex, fleshed out, and not reduced to mere stereotypes - and to be given the chance to be a part of the people that are making it happen, that you can't help but feel it, too.

It almost makes me wonder if they cast Hugh Skinner specifically because they knew how different from the videogames their version of Radovid was going to be, and they needed someone that would look like he has such a wonderful time with this role, and is so grateful to be there and be given the opportunity to play him, that hating on the character would literally feel like kicking a puppy!

Me: I don't think I could ever feel as protective over a fictional character as I feel about Jaskier.

Hugh Skinner: Hold my - I mean Jaskier's lute, I've got this!

Me: Ah, crap. Here we go again...

And the sad part is that, back when the whole controversial romance between Radovid and Jaskier was planned and filmed, no one had any idea that it would be Henry Cavill's last season.

But now, they bascially introduced a version of Prince Radovid that is the polar opposite of what the writers of "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt" came up with, and paired him up with a character that has never been established as being queer in the books and the videogames (Jaskier)...

...right at the height of the angry toxic gaming community's "let's all assume that Henry Cavill is leaving because of the showrunner's blatant 'woke agenda', and all of these outrageous changes that were made to the source material the games (ex: OMG! They decided that a splendid full-figured black woman could fit the book description of "Margarita Laux-Antille emerged from the pool with a splash.. Ciri could not stop herself from taking a peek. She saw Yennefer in the nude many times and she didn't think anyone could have a more beautiful figure. She was wrong. At the sight of a naked Margarita Laux-Antille even marble statues of goddesses and nymphs would sob with jealousy"... HOW DARE THEY?!?!?!), and call for the boycott and cancellation of the series" movement!

Do you guys ever wish that the LGBTQ+ community had some kind of huge "bat signal" to let fellow queers - that, in this more specfic case, haven't seen "The Witcher" yet - know that there's this absolutely amazing queer romance happening on a show that totally deserves their love and attention?

And that said queer romance could really use their love and attention right about now - and throughout the next season - if we've any hope that the show will keep on running and remain popular for as long as humanly possible, given that it has just lost its biggest star (that was playing the main character, no less), and there's a bunch of people that have decided that they would no longer be watching it because of that.

Somehow, I'm just heartbroken over the prospect of the show not having the chance to really further develop Jaskier and Radovid's stories (both their romance, and each individual character's journeys), and the actors not having the chance to fully really portray and develop them.

Radskier is basically "Malec material" being introduced in a show that has a disproportionately high number of angry right-wing ideologists and incels gamers "fans" that are dedicating entire YouTube channels to trying to punish the TV show for daring to have a more inclusive cast and broader view of beauty standards than its videogame counterpart, and making a womanizer keep the same impulsive drive to love and sexually connect with a bunch of different people he becomes spontaneously enamored with, but without said sexual drive being motivated by them being women.

And bits and pieces of that narrative is bleeding into the more moderate audience, without realizing how problematic or nonsensical some of them are at their core.

I wish there was some kind of "Malec fans hotline" you could call to say "Guys! I know this may not be your usual TV show genre, but there's something exceptionally good happening right here that you need to come and checkout! You have two lovers from two different worlds experiencing an instant soul-deep connection in one of the most adorable "meet awkward cute" of TV history. And that connection throws one of them a bit out of a loop, because he's never romantically fallen in love before (he's greyromantic)... And one of them is expected to basically sacrifice all of his own wants and needs to honor his duty, because he was born into a highly regarded and powerful royal family... And he initially tries to conform to his family's expectations, but realizes that it is not who he is... And there's this situation where he keeps some information from the man he loves, and the other realizes it, he becomes scared that he made a mistake trusting him and pushes him away... But then..."

How do we get the audience that is usually into these types of stories to migrate towards "The Witcher"?

*Heavy sigh*

But yeah, all I hope is that Liam Hemsworth's performance as Geralt will be well-received, and that the show will be deemed successful enough for Netflix to continue investing in it so that these storylines and characters will be given the chance to continue to grow and develop...