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if-loki-was-a-fox · 4 months ago

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anyways. I have gone through the transcripts and taken notes on how John and Arthur use "my"/"our"/"your" in regards to their eyes and hands over the seasons, if anyone else is interested in that (it's mostly just for myself tho tbh)

TL;DR: - s1: Arthur says "my" (all around). John says "your eyes" but wishy-washies on "my hand"/"your hand"/"our hand". - s2: Arthur switches to "your eyes", "our eyes", and "our hand". John still mostly says "your eyes" but has settled for now on "our hand". - s3: Arthur says "my" when talking to Yellow, and "your" when talking to John. Arthur starts calling John "my eyes". John finally starts saying "our eyes", but perhaps goes back to wishy-washing on "my/your hand/arm"(? could be context of the moment) - s4: no one refers to anything. Arthur continues calling John "my eyes". - s5: John now says "my eyes" and "my hand" consistently. Arthur says "your eyes", doesn't mention the hand

(Disclaimer that I may have missed things. I used ctr+f for most of this, so any time they phrase it funny I do have to find it the old fashioned way by stumbling into noticing it on relistens)

(long rambling version below the cut)

Throughout season 1, Arthur consistently refers the the eyes and left hand as "my eyes" / "my hand", aside from one instance of "keep your eyes-[open?]", and one instance of "with our hands cuffed..." (same conversation, John says "with your hands cuffed"). John consistently says "your eyes", aside from phrases such as "their eyes meet (y)ours" where he switch pretty 50/50 between "yours" and "ours", and when using the phrase "my eyes were playing tricks on me" which Arthur then corrects/reprimands him for. Immediately after gaining control of the left hand he refers to "my (left) hand and yours (right)" separately, before switching to "your (left) hand" and occasionally "our (left) hand". There are also a whole ton of references to "[my/your] hands" in plural as belonging to Arthur.

Arthur begins consistently referring to the eyes as "your eyes" and "our eyes" throughout s2, John mostly still says "your eyes" (with one reference to something "tricking my eye" and one "it’s difficult to keep my eyes on [...]"). Both refer to the left hand as "this hand" on occasion, and as "our hand" throughout the pinkie biting scene. John says "your left hand" once or twice when guiding Arthur. Arthur says "your hand" once when threatening John, and "my hand" once when talking about what he has lost, to the KiY.

At the beginning of season 3, immediately after meeting Yellow, Arthur refers exclusively to "my eyes" (even when telling Yellow to "keep my eyes open", a phrase that has historically been an exception). Yellow refers once to "your eyes" ("I am a prisoner, trapped in your eyes") (Yellow also refers to the left hand as "your hand", but given that, unlike John, Yello does not control it, that doesn't really say anything interesting)

Immediately after getting John back, Arthur refers to "your hand" when saying "you have your hand back". There aren't many references to their eyes, but both use "our eyes" at least once in s3. Arthur also refers in a specific instance to "my eyesight" when talking about what he's lost, and one time refers to John as "my eyes" (and "my conscience" too. which isn't techincally relevant here but I can't just not mention that). John refers to "your arm" when urging Arthur to take care of a wound that it seems only John can feel (thus, presumably the arm John controls), but says "my hand" when saying he doesn't want to touch something later. He also refers to "your hand" ambiguously a bunch of other times, with very little evidence either way which he means.

In season 4, Arthur once again refers to John as "my eyes". Aside from that, there's not a lot to be said about s4. The majority of references to hands and eyes is either John talking about other people's hands or the Butcher asking about Arthur's eyes, rather that John and Arthur talking about their own.

In season 5, John consistently refers to the hand he controls as "my hand" (with one instance of "our left hand"), his references to "your hand" are more often clearly referencing Arthur's right hand. He also consistently says "my eyes" or sometimes "our eyes" (with one exception for "keep your eyes-" when giving direction where to look). Arthur refers to "your eyes" and "our left hand" each once. (Arthur also refers to "my other hand" once, which may refer to the left hand, but it isn't entirely clear from the context)

(Side note: Arthur and John both refer to their hands in plural as being Arthur's throughout the seasons. I assume this is generally more a neutral ease of communication thing, rather than a statement of ownership, which is why I haven't really mentioned it in the rest of this post, or tracked it closely. But it could be noted that this does happen by far the most in s1, and then rarely-to-never in s4-5? and I got the impression that Arthur perhaps refers to his own hand separately more often in s4-5 as well, but that could just be a matter of context. If you wanna read too deeply into it tho, go ahead! I probably will be)

I might make a post with an actual point + personal thoughts and opinions on this at some point? or at least go through the instances of them correcting each others' usage of words like "me"/"my"/"you"/"we"/"our"/etc because that is what initially inspired this ...buuut rn it is far too late at night and I have already been scouring transcripts for hours. so leaving this here for now

(if anyone else wants to add on with their own thoughts, however tangentially relevant, tho... 👀👀👀)

#a few edits have been made! mostly typos and ease of reading #went through the transcripts more thoroughly for the hand #added a few details I don't remember why I didn't bother to include before #just me rambling #rambling about blorbos #malevolent #arthur malevolent #john malevolent

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mediacircuspod · 5 months ago

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(this is part 1) (part 2) (part 3) (part 4)

Buddy Cop au where Noel and Oscar stumble into each other both looking for signs of where Arthur/John could have ended up in New York and realize that they should team up to continue the search by retracing Arthur’s steps to find more information.

And god damn, do they not really like one another all that much.

(both of them trying to see if Daniel or his place have any clues)

Oscar: Detective.

Noel: Father.

Both, suspiciously: …what are you doing here?

(Riding the elevator back to the Order meeting theater)

Noel: So what happened to your arm?

Oscar: I couldn’t help noticing the new neck-wound.

(Driving Daniel’s “borrowed” car to Addison)

Noel: …You ever meet John? It’s just you haven’t mentioned him.

Oscar, eye twitching as he holds the map in his one hand: No.

(The patrons at The Red Right Hand start to do their freak dance)

Noel: Is this considered like, a God thing? Holy intervention or whatever?

Oscar, slamming back a full glass of disgusting home-made Brandy: Not really, no.

Oscar, after sitting and watching for a few minutes: …Actually.

(A random bar after a lead came up empty)

Noel: What’re you even trying to find him for, Father?

Oscar: Not that it’s a third-rate detectives business, but… I think Arthur’s my purpose.

Noel: Don’t quote me on this, bc the only gods I believe in are the freaks who go bump in the night, but isn’t the big guy supposed to be your purpose?

Oscar, sighing: Aye. Sometimes he shows us our path, and I think mine is supposed to lead me back to Arthur. To save him maybe. Or to help where I can.

Noel, putting some pieces together: uh-huh. So is this obsession in a culty way or a queer way?

(In some creepy ass basement)

Noel, running his hand over a tattered yellow book with the King’s symbol on it, face flickering between longing and hatred: The King was always so yellow, too bright. But John, when I got to see him, he was golden, nothing like that yellow prick he came from.

Noel, opening the book and scoffing: nothing gold can stay, though, right?

Oscar, still a little pissed off about the cult comment: …do u think you might be gay for the voice in Arthur’s head or something?

#malevolent #malevolent arthur #arthur lester #john malevolent #john doe malevolent #john and arthur #jarthur #blind faith #noel finley #noel malevolent #oscar piastri #oscar malevolent #charlie dowd

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flying-fangirls · 5 months ago

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To be quite honest with y'all, one of my biggest frustrations with the Witch isn't the fact that she's portrayed as a bad person or an allegorical transphobe, but moreso with how... nasty, the responding attitude toward her is-- both in the podcast's voice and several fans' voices. I'm not saying that her hate and intolerance were totally excusable, but like. Relatively speaking-- in this podcast-- it's nowhere near the worst thing any character has done (especially in light of all the yonic/assault coding behind her character, but I won't go into that because it requires way more energy to respectfully talk about than I have rn)

Everything about Larson's background has pretty clear undertones of incest and rape, but we all still treat him as one of those "characters you love to hate" (and I'm definitely not condemning that fandom response btw, I do it too). Hell, even the podcast's voice itself portrays him as that entertainingly despicable villain. And even past Larson, let's be honest with ourselves, most main characters in this show have done incredibly fucked up stuff, such as Kayne, Arthur, and John. Still, Kayne also gets the entertaining villain treatment, and Arthur and John get praised for their imperfect nature.

The Witch though? It feels like the general response to her is unflinching disgust, a sort of "that nasty, lying bitch" attitude without any remorse or nuance. All of a sudden, harmful behaviors mean a character should only be despised, and nothing else.

And yeah sure, the Witch refused to budge from her intolerant viewpoint or whatever-- in this single conversation, after a lifetime of being taught only hate, despair, and loneliness. I don't know about y'all's experience talking to people raised in hateful environments, but it takes more than one heated conversation to change their minds. And again: no that doesn't excuse the harm they spread. But for a story that preaches the importance of giving people extended time to improve themselves from the worst of morality, even if they stumble or fuck up several times along the way? It feels entirely antithetical for this woman to get spat upon after a single impression of her.

Think about Yellow, too. Think about how he "grew up" in an environment (Arthur, then Larson) that taught him only hate and despair, which led him to be incredibly intolerant, violent, and hateful. And then think about how both the story's voice and us in the fandom treat Yellow. It's not with unflinching disgust and loud vitriol; most of us view him with sympathy, despite all the horrible things he says/does that aren't necessarily excusable, yet are understandable. Why is the Witch any different? Why does the disdain for her ring so much louder, sharper, and meaner than anyone else in this entire show? Why do we "love to hate" nearly every other antagonistic character we've met (Kellin, Butcher, Larson, Kayne, etc etc etc), but suddenly only do the "hate" half of it for this one specific character?

Why is SHE so much worse? What difference between HER and every other major onscreen character subconsciously shifted our viewpoints?

Obligatory disclaimers: Again, I don't think the Witch's physical/verbal violence was wholly excusable. I don't think anyone who dislikes the Witch is a terrible person, nor do I think Harlan or the show are terrible. I am not claiming that everyone in the fandom displays these attitudes, nor am I saying this attitude is some moral failure. This is a critical critique meant to spur critical evaluation, and not any sort of attack.

#*taps the sign* nuance in art/media engagement is possible if you make it #malevolent #malevolent neg #malevolent analysis #malevolent meta #cherrys rambles

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hydrus101 · 9 months ago

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It’s so fascinating to me about how much of Malevolent centers around bad or misguided fathers.

We spend ample amounts of time with Arthur’s grief and his faults, his fear of fatherhood, his failings of Faroe and the ensuing spiral afterwards. We hear of Bella’s strict upbringing, of Daniel’s controlling nature, the desire to shape his daughter into what he expected her to be, and even admitting to Arthur’s face that he intended to mold him as well, into what he thought his daughter’s husband should be. We learn of Larson’s betrayals, the sacrifices of his children: the monsters he made of those he should’ve loved, all in the pursuit of power and legacy. There’s an argument to be made even, of fragments and reflections and daughter and sons, that the King - that initial version of him now dead in all respects - was a sort of father, with John and Yellow as his residuals, his sons, his heirs, in a way. Finding their own identities now, free from the shadow of a predecessor, free to chose their own destinies, wether that is to separate themselves entirely, to scream defiantly of humanity and hope and self, or to try and reshape the visage of that dead malevolent god in desperate pursuit of love that wasn’t given, driven by a hate that was shared. What other analogy so seamlessly fits with the relationship between Arthur and Yellow than that of a neglectful father? The one who was supposed to be patient, be caring, be kind, the one who was supposed to teach this new being, this new child, about what life could be like? What love and kindness it could hold? But Arthur was too unsteady then. Too unstable to give Yellow the upbringing that he deserved. His nature was shared with John, and we’ve seen the depths of love he’s embraced. Yellow was simply nurtured wrong, encouraged down that spiral by a foster father who embraced and even venerated his rage. And similarly, in the basement in New York, we are reminded of nature and nurture, of animals and babes. Briefly, quick as a glance, we learn of the Butcher’s father, both a seething livewire and a subtle undercurrent in his motivations, manifested, perhaps, in his tumultuous relationship with failure, his self inflicted violence. Roland and Amanda receive less of the spotlight, but the foundations of everything are built upon their relationship. And now, with the Unclean, we know more of Arthur’s own father—who’s fate is known and the same as his mother’s—and his envy towards his friend, his childish jealousy and vindictive actions, of which he now condemns, having learned better, having known better. Every aspect of the narrative is seeped in fatherhood, in parenting, in children. Malam says as much by the fire: “They are our betters, our futures, our learned mistakes.” Malevolent is, at its core, about parents and children and hope.

And now, Arthur and John are on the run from a mother, on a mission given to them by a father, who’s daughter is largely a mystery, or perhaps, more familiar than we might think.

#I need to make a post about the mothers of malevolent as well - Anna and the Wraith; Marie and her Son; the Hag and Mother Darkness #There’s so much to dissect there it’s insane #malevolent #malevolent podcast #malevolent spoilers #hyde’s malev thoughts #not to even mention the blurring of the lines between authors and their fiction when you take into account that Harlan is a dad #like #Being in that position - being someone’s parent and being that childs whole world - loving that kid to the ends of the earth-#all the while knowing that there are other people out there that could stand to watch their kids suffer and not do a thing about it #It would boil me alive I’d write the fuck out of that too #part 46 spoilers

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nemesis-is-my-middle-name · 4 months ago

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ok anyway the reason i embarked on this whole big stupid textfile adventure in the first place, the actual reason i wanted a quick/easy term search, was to satisfy a little nagging question i had regarding word choices. which is:

john very rarely uses the word "human" in an othering way.

i.e., he doesn't really use "human" to denote some outgroup that he isn't part of. he actually primarily just uses it as a neutral descriptive term when describing like, bones or corpses or monsters, lol. the closest i could find to him using "human" in a way that implies distance is probably this line about lilly in part 20, when he's contrasting the king's attitude towards mortals:

or maybe this in part 30, reminiscing about things he saw as the king:

and maybe in part 43 when the witch is specifically challenging his humanity:

but by and large, he doesn't really, like... idk, call anyone "human" directly, especially not in a way that belittles them or emphasizes their weakness.

when he's not, as mentioned above, describing some bones he found on the floor, john actually mostly uses "human"/"humanity" to refer to a sort of abstract notion, one he appreciates or even idealizes. or he'll use it for himself, to describe the self-determination that separates him from the king.

(part 13, 19, 39, 43)

which, yknow, makes sense! of course john doesn't want to use that word in that way. he doesn't want to distance himself from humanity. he might not think he's totally there yet, but that doesn't mean he wants to constantly remind himself that he's something other, separate from his friend and everything he wants to be. constantly referring to arthur or the people they encounter as "humans" would just remind them both that he isn't one, which is at best awkward and at worst actively hurtful, depending on how he's feeling about himself at the moment.

...you know who does love to use "human" in an othering, derogatory way, though?

(part 21, 23)

yellow picks up this habit almost as soon as he knows what he is. a distinctive difference in speech patterns between the two of them.

...and one that makes this particular exchange, in part 22, all the more significant:

like, atp yellow's already drawing a clear line between himself and humanity. they're other, irritating, beneath him, lower than animals.

and arthur responds with, "you don't have to be human to be a person."

#malevolent #malevolent podcast #john doe malevolent #malevanalysis #mv liveblog #the nemesis speaks #this started as a lil nagging question abt speech patterns for fic and oops there was a whole rabbit hole to go down!#anyway ououough arthur and yellow... holds them gently. i see u. i see u both Trying. nobody else does but i see it.

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arthurs-better-half · 5 months ago

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Malevolent - Arthur and Grief

Reblogs much appreciated

Memento Mori - Crywank // Malevolent - Part 20 // Christina Marie Brown, Ghost I // Malevolent - Part 20 // @/ojibwa // Malevolent - Part 12 // Stephen Dobyns, Grief // Malevolent - Coda // Nunemaker's Parable - Everybody's Worried About Owen // Malevolent - Part 18 // song for a lover - of long ago - Justin Vernon // Malevolent - Part 13 // Stephen Dobyns, Grief // Malevolent - Part 31 // C.S. Lewis // Malevolent - Part 21 // Trista Mateer, Cold Spot // @/robertszombie-deactivated202407 // Malevolent - Part 20 // C.S. Lewis // Malevolent - Part 26 // Youadan Teddy // Malevolent - Part 33 // Lisel Mueller, When I Am Asked // Adrienne Kalfopoulou, "Poem in Pieces, a Log," A History of Too Much // Malevolent - Part 20 // @/jb-blunk // Harriet Caie, Who Wears Grief Long // Anne Carson, The Glass Essay // Malevolent - Part 20

Everyone I love is gonna die And I will die as well I think about this before I sleep And have since I was a child

THE KING: Death surrounds you, Arthur. It stalks you like a black shadow that takes everything you touch away. You're cursed. You're damaged. A boy playing with matches that kills everyone sleeping in the house, while you escape unscathed.

There's a ghost in the house. But, I've learned that the house is me. And the ghost is also me.

And I would lie, if not to say, our relationship was pure, I am young, a cause of grief, Of this I am quite sure.

Grieving, grieving, constantly grieving. I mourn what could have been, what will not be, what I can't save.

ARTHUR: Hello? Faroe, darling? KING IN YELLOW/ "JOHN": Why is this the memory you refuse to let go of?

To say your name was to be surrounded by feathers and silk; now, reaching out, I touch glass and barbed wire.

FAROE: Dada.

Turns out that the god he found was just a little girl Sitting on a swingset Just a little girl She said "Mister, you look tired I will let you go, but first I think that what you're asking for It just might make things worse"

THE KING (a whispered version of John's voice): Let her go. (Thunder rumbles) (A melancholy tune starts to play) ARTHUR: I will not. Not her. Not ever.

I have buried you In every place I've been You keep ending up In my shaking hands

JOHN: Call it embracing my human side, but I've learned that I can choose what I want to remember. No different than you. (Faroe's Song plays.) ARTHUR: You think I can choose what to remember?

I was dancing when I learned of your death; may my feet be severed from my body.

KELLIN: There's that fire that burned her. ARTHUR: Shut up! (Arthur starts to repeat 'this isn't real', very softly.) KELLIN: That burned so bright it brought your house down around you! That drowned your girl!

I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was grief.

ENTITY: If you go out there, we'll both die. ARTHUR: I don't care! You're not fucking John, you're not my friend, you're a goddamn parasite!

every ghost story sounds like a love note if I use the right tone of voice. Which is to say- I don't always know the difference between haunting and hanging on.

"don't live in the past" okay well the people I loved are there

ARTHUR (passionate): Because I can't lose another person! (He breathes hard.)

No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.

ARTHUR (quietly pleased): Yes. Yes. Why did that pop into my head? You - You said bedrock. That's something that Parker would say. I hadn't heard it before him. (In a deeper, less accented tone, as if mimicking Parker's voice) 'You look like you've hit bedrock, friend.' (Returns to normal voice.) I wonder why that popped in...

At the end of the day, there is only you and your grief; reluctantly dancing, trying to avoid stepping on each other's toes, and occasionally failing. You'll dance until you've become familiar with one another. And I know people quiet the song, pause the dance - but when you go home and finally manage to fall asleep, grief will gently shake you awake and you'll have no choice but to dance again, your footsteps echoing with the weight of it all.

JOHN: It will drown you.

I sat on a gray stone bench ringed with the ingenue faces of pink and white impatiens and placed my grief in the mouth of language, the only thing that would grieve with me.

Grief will keep you reaching back / for what is not there

And there are nights, where he needs you, and he still crawls out of bed, And walks towards your bedroom door, before recalling that you're dead.

I want it back = I drag its dead weight forward

Incurious and undesiring, With memories for daily wine and bread, He goes his way, no more requiring. Take grief away, the man falls dead.

It isn't like taking an aspirin you know, I answer feebly. Dr. Haw says grief is a long process. She frowns. What does it accomplish all that raking up the past? Oh--I spread my hands-- I prevail! I look her in the eye. She grins. Yes you do.

And I want that someone to be you, as I write this, but alas, This pain will linger with me still, I pray this too shall pass."

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podsprout · 7 months ago

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malevolent TMA crossover where it’s MAG 195 Adrift Jon (picking up Basira in his rowboat) and then sometime between Part 7 and 9 of Malevolent either heading to the island or leaving it (post being arrested and then half-drowned and mostly died and then also being a little boat)

Idk what happens exactly but Jon is rowing and Arthur is rowing and then they see each other (well John sees Jon but you get what I mean) and idk what kind of conversation they have but Jon is probably fascinated by what these two have going on and Arthur is still learning to grow tough to the horrors (and and also just mostly died) so he really doesn’t have it in him to deal with eye avatar bullshit.

John is like. “Arthur… something about this man isn’t right… Jesus Christ Arthur his eyes!”

And Arthur is like “Hey are you actively about to drown me or hurt me?”

Jon: “uh no? Why would I do that”

Arthur: “do you work for evil eldritch gods that’s typically why people want me dead these days.”

Jon: “….well, I mean, technically,”

John: “Arthur we need to kill him!”

Arthur: “yeah so even if I wanted to do that, which I don’t, I don’t think i have the energy for that. I am barely hanging on as is. I couldn’t fight a kitten right now.”

John: “but aOrthur he’s dangerous!! He works for the King in Yellow!”

Jon: “…I can hear you. Both of you. Just so you know. Also who the fuck is—wait I just learned—okay wait WHAT—“

And then they puzzle over the liminal space between worlds that is this body of water, misunderstandings get cleared up, Arthur is very happy to talk to an Englishman (or anyone really) that doesn’t want to kill him, and Jon empathizes with Arthur still in season one of his horror podcast protag Journey and is endlessly fascinated by whatever dynamic John and Arthur have going on.

And then Jon leaves like “yeah sorry gotta go pick up a cop…friend? Cop acquaintance. Of mine. To gave backup to go to the evil house and save my boyfriend from a spider woman.”

And I mean what do Arthur and John even have to say to that? Jon doesn’t know shit about who John is or how to help them or anything bc that’s not knowledge the Eye has seen but he’s like yeah good luck and then they rowboat away.

#the magnus archives #malevolent #malevolent podcast #arthur lester #john doe malevolent #jonathan sims #tma season 5 #malevolent season 1 #tma

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grayscale-sparks · 6 days ago

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behold the twin princes of the dream kingdom, John and Yellow 👑☁️

LORE BELOW!

these are their formal fits, but they spend more time during arc one in traveling outfits that I didn’t feel like designing. The royal family all have various mental/dream powers. John has the ability to project into dreams and Yellow has the ability to see into dreams but not change them. Their father, King Hastur, can switch between both and manipulate dreams as he chooses.

The dream kingdom is a militant one, encroaching on both kingdoms of land and sea. Hastur is the one that curses Prince Arthur, forcing him to go into hiding. (Think sleeping beauty)

ever since he was a child, John is projected into the same dream in the woods where he meets his mysterious dream prince (it’s. It’s Arthur. It’s literally a prince.) once he learns his father’s plot to kill Arthur, John runs away to save Arthur and his kingdom.

#Fiiinally getting into main character lore #Charlie and Kayne are not major players in the first arc at all #Kayne isn’t even in the first arc #I’ve gotta design Bella and Arthur next but I really don’t wanna #Anyway enjoy #you’ll get more lore drop when I finally design Arthur #malevolent #malevolent podcast #john doe malevolent #yellow malevolent #Malevolent au #fairytale au #OH also yellow gender fuckery headcanons #Masc terms (Prince/king/boy) and fem and neutral pronouns

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yarnzipangirl · 13 days ago

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John's Narrative Importance: Narrative Reasons Why John Doe =/= KiY

So I've posted a couple of times about how I don't think John was the King in Yellow and a second potential for his identity, but all the stuff I listed was evidence and when it comes right down to it, this is a story. And it's a story that's utilizing a mythos that has a *million* different riffs on it being told as, essentially, a solo CoC campaign. By which I mean: DMs do what they want. 'Evidence' is about Watsonian reasoning. And Watsonian reasoning only matters so much.

Here's the Doylist side aka *why I think the story will be better if so*.

(spoilers up to De Capo)

The Dark World and Cosmology

As some have noted, the second that the Dark World became not just a dumping ground for things that cannot die but became The Afterlife, Endstop, you set up the problem of a cosmology that does not align with the lesson of the story.

'A life has meaning, even if it's short' does not align with 'and then you have all of that erased and your existence continues in Eldritch Turbohell where nothing matters, potentially indefinitely'. I'm not saying that the story has to end with Heaven Existing. But I am saying that if you're venerating surviving and living and existence, the Dark World is a direct antithesis to all of it. And you have to do something *about* that for the narrative to feel satisfying, especially when you've chosen to not just make it vague-upsetting-consequence-for-John but a whole world that we are now going to travel through and explore.

So not only do you have to Stop Kayne for the plot, you have to address the Dark World or straight up Arthur Is Wrong. He's, essentially, delusional and placating himself about his suffering instead of saying something meaningful and beautiful.

Which means that they have to change the cosmology somehow. They *do* have to change reality to be different, but instead of being whatever-the-fuck horrors Kayne wants, they have to inject the lessons of the story *into* the cosmology. They have to *reject* everything that is the Dark World and either make it so that there *is* no afterlife whatsoever (either oblivion or reincarnation or some secret third thing) or there is a 'better place' for the dead (either as a second option or just The New Version). Hope has to mean something. It has to have a payoff or it's just delusion.

And the most satisfying way, narratively, for this to happen is for John to do it. John, who's been learning about how important life is, how beautiful the world is, who's experienced things *with* Arthur, to be the hand that manages this. That Arthur's humanity informs the greater cosmology is narratively important, but it would be the most meaningful if done through the intensely personal love shared between him and John, the experiences formed through the narrative, the lessons that he struggled through and learned with him as they faced the uncaring multiverse and said 'fuck you' to it.

Arthur's Humanity

So obviously, we've got a lot of hints that whatever this 'letting go' is or this means of beating Kayne, it might be about Arthur. Arthur's got a weird scar. Arthur absorbed a piece of Lilith. Arthur's parents were cultists doing *something. Arthur is Lilith's favorite. So maybe Arthur is secretly someone?

But the difference between John and Arthur is that Arthur *has* a past. He has had a *life* where he made *choices* in the *world*. He has been a person for 34 years! Having Arthur suddenly secretly be X, go super saiyan and save the day, (aside from pretty much making everything with John unnecessary for the story) or even having John-and-Arthur combine like Voltron into something because Arthur is *special*... kind of takes away what has been Arthur's very important purpose both for himself *and* the story.

It makes staying alive something that was just going to happen because he's special. It makes all the things that he's lived through, his choices, how he feels about them, irrelevant to the conclusion of the story. Instead of letting his humanity and his thoughts and words and feelings and how they've shaped the relationship between the two of them, how they've helped John on his journey through becoming someone mean something... his contribution is some thing that he didn't choose and had no part in. And I hate that, narratively.

Arthur being human, Arthur being limited, Arthur being a fragile life washed this way and that by the eldritch forces around him and both surviving and making an impact *because of his humanity*, because of the person he is and the choices he's made and the love that he's shown is thematically satisfying in a way that Arthur being 'special' is not.

Agency and Self Determination

John has had the least agency of anyone in this narrative *at* all times. Bar none. Even Yorick had *knowledge* of things that John didn't, the means to travel, the means to communicate with various beings while John could only talk to Arthur.

And if this story isn't just about kicking John over and over again until he gives up, then this lack of agency should have a purpose in and of itself. This should be a lesson. The fact that John is both the one with the least agency and the one with the *most* empathy in most cases is *not* to be lost: it's right there in the first season, after all. When he had his *least* agency (Arthur was in a coma) was when he had nothing in the way to let him start thinking and feeling and considering other people most deeply. His identity was formed during that period of the least agency: he chose to be John *in that period*.

Even the one that most fans hold against him (Parker) as being entirely his agency? Nope. "John" as we know him, did not know how Parker died. And the Entity that killed Parker did so accidentally. Even if you will give John the blame for it since it was 'him', he told Parker to stay away and Parker didn't listen and he reacted. It wasn't deliberate and planned, or it certainly didn't sound that way. More importantly, it's no more his action than ep18 and 20, or everything that happened to Noel, can be 'blamed' on Yellow. Yes, same being, but the memory is completely gone. The John we know didn't know he was the King in Yellow for 12 episodes. The 'person' who did it (accident or not) is not the same.

Claiming to be Parker's murderer was cruel, but it wasn't a smug, knowing dig at Arthur even if John sold it that way. It was an angry proclamation from someone who felt incredibly guilty at the time over the Widow, lashing out to hurt both himself (putting distance between Arthur and himself when Arthur was already the most important to him) and Arthur (who decided to take that path while he was helpless to stop him) claiming an incident he legitimately didn't remember because that was also, clearly, his fault. It was him trying to claim agency in the *worst* way, trying to do *something* about what he felt was a terrible action, a first attempt.

So in a sense, this journey is John earning his agency after (ostensibly) abusing it. The narrative set up for this that we're told at the moment is being the King in Yellow, seeing people as insignificant, etc. etc. etc. But once you see the greater cosmology, the King in Yellow is *such* a small fish in this pond that that lesson loses a *lot* of oomph. Yellow's existence, the same experience being done to him despite the lack of extraordinary circumstances? Nah. It loses the kick *fast*.

And John has *also* had the least amount of self-determination in the series. No one tries to tell Arthur who he is (other than, like, the Butcher and Larson pulling standard villain monologue nonsense) whereas John has no known identity that he isn't in real-time forging for himself. He's *told* he's the King in Yellow. He's *told* he's a Great Old One. Yorick continually calls him 'My King' (though again, Theories on That). See *everything the Witch said* per how everyone has tried to shape John's identity. And even Arthur has overreached at times or dismissed him at times, not out of malice but in defense of his own sense of self and body and life. You have to do this, you have to do that, backed in a corner or trapped *constantly*. Even in a place where he is ostensibly strong enough to be the one hunting and killing and building Citadels of Bone (the Dark World), he's still under the gun.

But if you make him Azathoth, for instance, who created a multiverse that has the Dark World, that created a multiverse that is so unkind, that treated his son like a servant (Nyarlathotep), who had literally *all power over reality in every way shape and form*, was the one *shaping* it all, and you make him live through it from the view of one of those 'little people' who never mattered, whose suffering he literally sleeps through... or Nodens who simply sees people as a means to an end, manipulating them for his own desires and purposes from a position of great power...

That's *earning* your position. That's changing the whole world through changing the individual at the top. That's got IMPACT.

An Agency Aside: The Manager

...don't get me wrong. I *love* the Manager. Favorite new character, hands down. But the second you introduced a new reason why X has been possible and start hanging ways for the boys to succeed on being the Manager's Work, you again wave around the idea that John doesn't matter, his agency doesn't matter, his lessons don't matter.

Arthur is the mundane/human side, John is the supernatural side. When you add a second supernatural ally, and one who (given the timing and the situation) could be seen as a Deus Ex Machina, you're weakening John's place and importance in the narrative unless there is something that John can do that the Manager cannot do. And, re: the Above, the Manager is another Nyarlathotep. His position in the narrative has to match what he's 'earned': he's here to help our boys be in a position where *they* can handle the solution. He's not here to provide it. Otherwise our characters and their journey don't matter. He hasn't learned or changed, so he *isn't* going to change the universe. He isn't going to have that impact because *he* hasn't changed.

Villain vs Abuser

Kayne is Arthur's villain. It couldn't be plainer: he's threatened his daughter's life and happiness, killed his own daughter (and clearly didn't take care of her, given what happened re: Scratch), he threatens the world that Arthur lives in, and if Arthur's purpose is to survive, he's the direct counter to this.

But he is John's abuser, and that is a very different thing.

While he's fucked with Arthur, he's consistently pumped him up. Talked about how he's special. Looked into his life. Been *interested* in him. Even if it was a ploy or a game, it's not degrading. To Kayne, John has always been a joke, a bufoon, something to make cracks about, criticize, and belittle, a *tool* to get Arthur to do what he wants at best. For Arthur, he shows up at pivotal moments, but for John, he's happy to show up and mock him for a while as he eats Gardettos and pop off with nothing of significance accomplished. He might watch Arthur to see what he'll do, but for John? He knows. And John's suffering *was* his objective.

When Kayne made a deal with Arthur and John, Kayne appeared to Arthur and got nudged towards the deal over and over again, and in that deal he got to choose *whether John had his identity/memories intact or not* (wtf John's agency?) whereas John had to call out to Kayne. He had to beg. He had to do *additional things* just to get a deal. And when he got his deal, John had to convince Arthur to do things of his free will. Arthur's deal was a *trick* but in a way, that was a kind of kindness: it turns out he didn't actually act like a fucking asshole to his friend John, whom he loves. John? Absolutely did all of it. And he has to live with that betrayal to Arthur. The difference could not be more clear.

Kayne is Nyarlathotep. And *even before getting the stones*, Nyarlathotep is one of your biggest active powers in this setting. Their goal is to stop him, but stopping him doesn't address the way that Kayne has out and out abused John. You stop a villain. You recombine Azathoth or you hide a stone or use the lighter to set something on fire or a dozen other things. Stopping a villain is mechanical. Do the thing, stop the villain.

For an abuser, you have to take their power away or take their access to you away. You make it so they can *never hurt you again* and can't hurt the people you care about. And a shard of the King in Yellow can't do that. A shard of the King in Yellow can't retrieve Noel or look after Lilly if Kayne decides to murder her just like the buopoth that bore her name. There's nowhere John can avoid Kayne, no way he can protect anyone, and he's never going to be able to beat him or be safe from him or keep others safe from him. Not when Kayne can toss him back into the Dark World or kill anyone he wants and do that to those John cares about.

John and the Search for Self

And last but not least: John deserves to never have been the King in Yellow.

It is what the cultists in Leerie wanted. It is what the Witch wanted. It is what the King in Yellow wanted. It's what Kayne insists, with every nickname and jibe. Larson. The Elder Things. Yellow. It's what the universe *seems to be saying at every turn*. It's what's simple. It's what's easy. It's what makes 'sense'.

And yet, the series let John make *this* statement:

And that statement loses a *lot* of power, especially in some of the allegories that have been mentioned around John, if this is reforming oneself vs. self discovery. If this is something he had to do instead of being something that he found within, the truth, while figuring out what he wants and who he really is? That's a different thing.

And you know who says he wasn't? You know who said 'You're nothing like [him]?' Who denied it even as John was forced at literal gunpoint to claim that identity?

Noel. The first character to ask John 'what does it feel like'. To try and see him as a person and empathize with his situation. (I love Arthur, but can sometimes forget John has emotions and feelings and is Trapped In There Alone.) The character who knew the King the most. Noel told us, right then and there: No. That's not you. You might sound like it. You might think you were. It might be convenient as fuck for everyone else. But I know that ain't you.

And goddammit, Noel deserves to be right.

John Doe is the name of someone who does not know their own identity. It is someone who is unknown. It's the perfect name for someone who's journey is about self discovery but also about finding out who they actually are so that the *world* can know too. But it's not a destination. It's still a name and identity that is about how *other people perceive them*: it has no source, no roots, nothing that identifies them as *anything* and part of self-discovery and self-determination is an identity entirely your own. It's a tool. Lilly gave it to him, like it's given to any John Doe, to have something to use while he was finding himself.

Narratively. And for me, as a die hard John Doe lover...

John needs to find his *own* name. John needs to discover his own identity, the *right* identity. And he is still John Doe because he hasn't *found* it. And when he does? If this narrative is going to fulfill the hopeful 'fuck you' tone that it has held throughout? That discovery needs to change everything.

That's how you finish a story.

#malevolent podcast #malevolent spoilers #john doe #john doe malevolent #wild mass guessing #thank you for listening to my ted talk

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spacetimeaccordionfolder · 1 month ago

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listening to 43 again and

Now I'm having even more feelings about 26 The Bedrock and everything with 24-26 while Arthur's hitting his bedrock again and John can't tell Arthur about what he's been through.

"Watched him turn into the very thing I despised about myself... I couldn't let him fall, like that." OW

I mean:

in 24:

His reaction to Arthur saying someone deserves to die, the "don't I?" because yeah he knows what it's like to be alone and dying and broken and what it pushed him to do but he can't say that. He also reacts to Arthur saying Larson deserves to die again in 26, so I'm wondering if he told himself the inhabitants in the Dark World deserved to die.

in 25:

John describes Arthur in 43 as becoming the very thing he hated about himself. With that in mind "how exactly was yellow the monster between you two?" and "I'm glad I'm not like you" hits so much more.

in 26:

"You don't need to go down this path" "Larson isn't worth my humanity" "I'm sorry... for failing you... I must have." OW

Didn't screenshot it but there's also the "You are human. Along with all the failures and terrible mistakes that come with being human."

And, of course, the one that hurts me the most:

"How could they have won? We're nowhere near finished" what if I cried.

The "we" here. It hurts. John's already hit his bedrock. Arthur's hitting his. But neither of them are finished. John's been there. He killed as if he were the King again. He plead for Kayne's help and did who knows what for that deal to get back to Arthur. The worst in him was brought out and it has horrified him since. So John saying that line just. We're no where near finished.

And after the poem,

I'm sorry for leaving you for so long.

"I'm not ready to give up on fixing my mistakes"

And all this discussion of both of their bedrocks makes it more delicious in 52 when Arthur says he doesn't want to put the darkness behind him, and John says "it makes us who we are" and Kayne trying for the reveal of John's darkness and a greater hint at his bedrock and it fails spectacularly when Arthur just forgives him ("I don’t care, John, what you did. You did what you had to do...And all I can do is say… it’s okay. It’s okay."). Because John was there through Arthur's bedrock. He saw Arthur become what he had hated and wanted to keep him from falling as John had. (the wager and the bedrock parallels are eating my brain I need to do something with them and I don't know what guys can we scream about it some more please)

Also 43:

My love for Arthur saved me from what I was, from being a monster.

I don't think he's the only one that love has saved from being a monster.

Anyways I paused the episode for this and It's been easily an hour of finding screenshots and having emotions of how all this connects together I'm going to go listen to Arthur get stabbed several times now.

#malevolent #the bedrocks AHHHH #john doe malevolent #arthur lester #malevolent part 43 #malevolent part 52

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autismfox · 29 days ago

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In my vision of the season 4 Malevolent polycule Noel is dating John and Arthur they have a good relationship. It's almost normal. It comes very close to being healthy. Arthur is extremely insistent on communication, especially when he senses tension between Noel and John, which is often. Noel is also secretly fucking Collins on the side. It's not a secret because they're exclusive. The idea that they'd be more than casual lovers is a pipe dream and at any rate John and Arthur are more committed to each other than they'd ever be to anyone else. No it's a secret because Noel is ashamed of the things he lets Collins do to him. He's ashamed of being attracted to the sadism the Butcher offers. And he doesn't want to drag Arthur and John into his masochism when they're both working so hard to be kind generous people. Also it could be too triggering to engage in that with a person who used to be the King in Yellow. Unbeknownst to Noel, Arthur (& John because he's along for the ride) is also fucking Collins on the side but for different reasons. Arthur is fucking Collins because he gets to be feral and rough and degrading with him and Collins revels in bringing out that side of him. It's so liberating for Arthur to have someone he can hurt and not feel guilty over it because truly the butcher deserves it. Deserves worse even. John has misgivings about what this is doing for the state of Arthur's soul but he can't deny the enjoyment they both get out of it. Maybe he thinks he can stop Arthur from going too far. He doesn't really have to worry about Arthur accidentally killing Collins during risky play. Collins wouldn't let that happen. Arthur doesn't tell Noel about it because he's ashamed of wanting it at all. And he wants to keep that part of himself away from Noel. At first Collins doesn't know that Arthur & John are seeing Noel then when he does he assumes they don't talk about him because of typical don't ask don't tell attitudes regarding same sex relationships. When he sees how sweet and loving they are towards each other and how their fights don't escalate into violence it's not hard to figure out the real reason they don't talk about him. Indeed their fights often end in one of them deciding they need to take a walk and they end up "serendipitously" bumping into him. It's not an accident on his part. He's been spying on the both of them ever since he met them. It's not a possessive stalker type of spying, he's strictly keeping tabs on them because he needs to know if either of them are going to decide he's too much of a menace to remain a free man. That's what he tells himself anyway. It was true initially but it does warp into an obsession over this secret between the four of them. He's immensely thrilled to be the one holding all the cards. He often thinks about revealing everything to see what will happen but he's smart enough to know that would probably end with him being on the receiving end of their cumulative ire. No, there's no way one of them won't slip up eventually, he just has to wait it out, it will be far more entertaining that way. Anyway he doesn't plan to stick around forever. He can always accelerate things if he gets a job that will take him out of the city. For now he's going to keep playing the game as long as he can, outside of a hunt it's the most fun he's ever had.

#malevolent

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amanda-519 · 2 months ago

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Malevolent Favorite Character Poll 800 Milestone Results

It's finally time for the Malevolent Favorite Character Poll 800 milestone results! (Well, technically 806 results, some more responses came in while I was writing down the 800 responses) For those not the in the know, every 100-ish new responses I get on my Malevolent Favorite Character Poll, I post the results for everyone to see!

And this one is special, because this results milestone has characters from season 5!

So without further ado, let's get into it! (Results over the read more) And don't fret if you haven't had the chance to do the poll yourself! Like I said I post the results every 100 milestone, so do the poll now and your response should be in the next milestone results!

> Who is your favorite character in Malevolent? (804 responses)

- Arthur: 245 votes (30.5%)

- John: 221 votes (27.5%)

- Kayne: 129 votes (16%)

- Collins/The Butcher: 42 votes (5.2%)

- Noel: 35 votes (4.4%)

- Oscar: 33 votes (4.1%)

- Yellow: 18 votes (2.3%)

- Parker: 12 votes (1.5%)

- Yorick: 12 votes (1.5%)

- The Manager: 6 votes (0.8%)

- The King In Yellow: 6 votes (0.8%)

- Kellin: 6 votes (0.8%)

- The Cab Drivers: 5 votes (0.5%)

- Anna Stanzcyk: 5 votes (0.6%)

- Rafters: 2 votes (0.3%)

- Faroe: 3 votes (0.4%)

- The Three Soldiers: 2 votes (0.3%)

- The Hag: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Larson: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Scratch: 1 vote (0.1%)

- The Vanguard: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Bella: 1 vote (0.1%)

- The Lighthouse Keeper: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Lily (animal): 1 vote (0.1%)

- Blinky: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Medieval Antoine: 1 vote (0.1%)

- "I can't separate John and Arthur"

- "hard tie between arthur and john"

- "dont do this to me </3./j"

- JARTHUR DO NOT SEPARATE"

- "John and Arthur (package do no separate) (update: just saw this below and I completely agree)"

- "Are you really making me choose between John and Arthur right now?"

- "both John and Arthur (don't make me choose 😭)"

——

> Who is your favorite side character in Malevolent? (798 responses)

- Kayne: 230 votes (28.8%)

- Noel: 132 votes (16.5%)

- Collins/The Butcher: 113 votes (14.2%)

- Oscar: 105 votes (13.2%)

- Yorick: 48 votes (5.9%)

- Yellow: 43 votes (5.4%)

- Parker: 20 votes (2.5%)

- Kellin: 16 votes (2%)

- Faroe: 15 votes (1.9%)

- The King In Yellow: 15 votes (1.9%)

- The Trader: 11 votes (1.4%)

- Marie: 10 votes (1.3%)

- The Manager: 8 votes (1%)

- Daniel: 8 votes (1%)

- Medieval Antoine: 6 votes (0.8%)

- Larson: 5 votes (0.6%)

- Alia: 4 votes (0.5%)

- Lilith: 2 votes (0.3%)

- Scratch: 2 votes (0.3%)

- The Hag: 1 vote (0.1%)

- The Wraith: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Lilith: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Blinky: 1 vote (0.1%)

- "Can I choose Kayne and The Manager because their two sides of the same coin? If not, Kayne and then the manager"

——

> Who is your second favorite side character in Malevolent? (801 responses)

- Noel: 150 votes (18.7%)

- Kayne: 149 votes (18.6%)

- Collins/The Butcher: 126 votes (15.7%)

- Oscar: 101 votes (12.6%)

- Yorick: 60 votes (7.4%)

- Yellow: 42 votes (5.3%)

- Faroe: 26 votes (3.3%)

- Parker: 22 votes (2.8%)

- The King In Yellow: 20 votes (2.5%)

- Marie: 18 votes (2.3%)

- The Manager: 15 votes (1.9%)

- Larson: 15 votes (1.9%)

- Kellin: 11 votes (1.3%)

- Daniel: 10 votes (1.3%)

- Scratch: 8 votes (1%)

- Lilith: 6 votes (0.8%)

- Medieval Antonie: 6 votes (0.8%)

- Alia: 5 votes (0.6%)

- The Trader: 3 votes (0.4%)

- Percy: 1 vote (0.1%)

- The Hag: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Evrard: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Mother Darkness: 1 vote (0.1%)

- "Arthur"

- "Bella :3"

- "Butcher"

- "Alexander (owl)"

——

> Who is your third favorite side character in Malevolent? (798 responses)

- Noel: 124 votes (15.5%)

- Oscar: 117 votes (14.7%)

- Collins/The Butcher: 102 votes (12.8%)

- Kayne: 82 votes (10.2%)

- Yellow: 54 votes (6.8%)

- Yorick: 52 votes (6.4%)

- Kellin: 35 votes (4.4%)

- Faroe: 34 votes (4.3%)

- Marie: 33 votes (4.2%)

- Parker: 32 votes (4%)

- The King In Yellow: 20 votes (2.4%)

- The Trader: 19 votes (2.4%)

- Scratch: 17 votes (2%)

- Larson: 18 (2.3%)

- Daniel: 16 votes (2%)

- Lilith: 12 votes (1.5%)

- The Manager: 10 votes (1.3%)

- Medieval Antoine: 8 votes (1%)

- Percy: 4 votes (0.5%)

- Alia: 4 votes (0.5%)

- The Hag: 2 votes (0.3%)

- "I CANT DECIDE PLS OMG. faroe, oscar, daniel, yoricm, butcher. I olve them all"

- "Arthur"

——

> Who is your favorite minor character in Malevolent? (800 responses)

- Lily (animal): 138 votes (17.2%)

- Alexander (The Owl): 73 votes (9.2%)

- The Cab Drivers: 57 votes (7%)

- Bella: 55 votes (6.9%)

- Anna Stanzcyk: 54 votes (6.8%)

- The Lighthouse Keeper: 47 votes (5.9%)

- The Canna: 44 votes (5.5%)

- Lily (nurse): 39 votes (4.9%)

- Blinky: 34 votes (4.3%)

- Wraith: 32 votes (4%)

- Malam: 25 votes (3.1%)

- The Three Soliders: 22 votes (2.8%)

- Adam Fry: 21 votes (2.6%)

- Uncle: 18 votes (2.3%)

- Shub/Niggurath: 18 votes (2.3%)

- Michael Fuast: 15 votes (1.9%)

- Amanda/Sarah: 13 votes (1.5%)

- Rafters: 13 votes (1.6%)

- Mathew: 10 votes (1.3%)

- Frank: 9 votes (1.1%)

- Waylay Waiter: 8 votes (1%)

- Henry: 7 votes (0.9%)

- Eddie: 7 votes (0.9%)

- Armitage: 6 votes (0.8%)

- The Vanguard: 5 votes (0.6%)

- Jerry 'The Jokester' James: 4 votes (0.5%)

- Gerald of Vendhuile: 2 votes (0.3%)

- The Prince (NOT the Vanguard. Just the maggot guy): 1 vote (0.1%)

- Horig: 8 votes (1%)

- Langford Ardene: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Emily Macfarland: 1 vote (0.1%)

- James: 1 vote (0.1%)

- "vic tenneta"

- "that one little creature thing from ep 16"

- "Scratch"

- "Percival!!!!"

- "Yorik"

- "woman on the train who gets offended at Arthur talking to himself"

- "Kellin"

- "Owlexander"

- "that little growing lizard thing in the Dreamlands cave."

——

> Who is your second favorite minor character in Malevolent? (795 responses)

- Frank Underhill: 2 votes (0.3%)

- Adam Fry: 18 votes (2.3%)

- Anna Stanzcyk: 32 votes (4%)

- Amanda/Sarah: 30 votes (3.8%)

- Wraith: 38 votes (4.8%)

- The Lighthouse Keeper: 48 votes (6.1%)

- The Canna: 60 votes (7.4%)

- Lily (nurse): 48 votes (6.1%)

- Lily (animal): 102 votes (12.9%)

- James: 4 votes (0.5%)

- Michael Fuast: 15 votes (1.9%)

- Mathew: 8 votes (1%)

- Blinky: 32 votes (4%)

- Rafters: 18 votes (2.3%)

- Bella: 49 votes (6.2%)

- Uncle: 27 votes (3.4%)

- Shub/Niggurath: 31 votes (3.8%)

- Armitage: 7 votes (0.9%)

- Henry: 5 votes (0.6%)

- The Cab Drivers: 53 votes (6.7%)

- The Three Soliders: 34 votes (4.3%)

- Eddie: 7 votes (0.9%)

- Alexander (the owl): 60 votes (7.6%)

- The Prince (NOT the Vanguard. Just the maggot guy): 1 vote (0.1%)

- Malam: 11 votes (1.4%)

- Horig: 2 votes (0.3%)

- Gerald of Vendhuile: 2 votes (0.3%)

- Langford Ardene: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Waylay Waiter: 7 votes (0.9%)

- Jerry 'The Jokester' James: 3 votes 0.4%)

- Emily Macfarland: 2 votes (0.2%)

- Hattie: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Fake Edward William Allan: 2 votes (0.3%)

- "Roland Cummings"

- "Yorik"

- "you misspelled Michael Faust"

- "WHERE IS KELLIAN"

- "I was honestly a massive fan of Faroe from hmtne morsels we were fed of how she was/acted"

- "none"

——

> Who is your third favorite minor character in Malevolent? (777 responses)

- Lily (animal): 95 votes (12.2%)

- The Cab Drivers: 59 votes (7.6%)

- Lily (nurse): 53 votes (6.8%)

- Bella: 51 votes (6.6%)

- Alexander (the owl): 48 votes (6.2%)

- The Canna: 48 votes (6.2%)

- The Lighthouse Keeper: 48 votes (6.2%)

- Wraith: 40 votes (5.1%)

- The Three Soliders: 37 votes (4.8%)

- Blinky: 33 votes (4.2%)

- Shub/Niggurath: 29 votes (3.7%)

- Anna Stanzcyk: 29 votes (3.7%)

- Michael Fuast: 20 votes (2.6%)

- Amanda/Sarah: 22 votes (2.8%)

- Uncle: 22 votes (2.8%)

- Rafters: 14 votes (1.8%)

- Frank: 13 votes (1.7%)

- Malam: 12 votes (1.5%)

- Adam Fry: 11 votes (1.4%)

- The Vanguard: 10 votes (1.3%)

- James: 10 votes (1.3%)

- Mathew: 10 votes (1.3%)

- Henry: 9 votes (1.2%)

- Jerry 'The Jokester' James: 8 votes (1%)

- Horig: 7 votes (0.9%)

- Eddie: 7 votes (0.9%)

- Waylay Waiter: 7 votes (0.9%)

- Armitage: 6 votes (0.8%)

- Langford Ardene: 2 votes (0.3%)

- Emily Macfarland: 2 votes (0.3%)

- The Prince (NOT the Vanguard. Just the maggot guy): 1 vote (0.1%)

- Gerald of Vendhuile: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Vic: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Hattie: 1 vote (0.1%)

- Fake Edward William Allan: 1 vote (0.1%)

- "Marie"

- "!! I I forgot who ever one of these are lmao sorry !!"

- "The woman behind Scratch/Lilith"

- "Rolland Cummings"

- "the little lamp eft guy"

- "Yorik"

- "cant choose!"

- "none again"

——

> Who do you like better, Arthur or John? (801 responses)

- Both: 374 votes (46.7%)

- Arthur: 220 votes (27.5%)

- John: 207 votes (25.8%)

——

> Are there any characters that you dislike/hate? (Is so, free feel to explain why!) (write in question, so take every vote with a grain of salt because many votes are missing nuance)

• Larson: 30 votes

• Kayne: 11 votes

• Oscar: 4 votes

• The Hag/Witch: 4 votes

• Kellin: 3 votes

• The Friar: 3 votes

• The Butcher: 2 votes

• Yellow: 2 votes

• Noel: 2 votes

• Yorick: 2 votes

• Arthur: 1 vote

• The King In Yellow: 1 vote

• Malam: 1 vote

• James: 1 vote

• The Manager: 1 vote

• Daniel: 1 vote

• Bella: 1 vote

#malevolent #malevolent spoilers #malevolent podcast #malevolent john #malevolent arthur #malevolent poll

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inscribedlighter · 3 months ago

Note

for the mini prompts: arthur and noel cuddling or just hanging out? either platonic or romantic

Noel/Arthur, Porcupine Cuddles

Malevolent Mini Prompts are open! Any malevolent relationship or pairing and I'll try to write at least a short scene. Askbox open.

Tags can be viewed on Ao3

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“He’s gotten into your head, hasn’t he?” Noel said suspiciously.

“Who has about what?” That could honestly be a lot of people, not that Arthur was going to say that out loud.

Arthur was half on top of Noel, head pillowed on his chest. They had just kind of… fallen there together. Christ he was exhausted.

A good kind of exhausted.

The kind of exhausted you get from a satisfying day of work where everything on your list gets checked off and a full meal is soon to be consumed and then a shower and then sleep in the arms of someone you trust.

Continue here or on Ao3

A heavenly exhausted compared to what the two had experienced in the past.

Arthur was practically basking in it.

“John,” Noel prompted.

“I’ll admit it, John has gotten into my head.”

Noel laughed. Arthur often wondered how Noel could still laugh like that. So unbridled and easy sounding.

Arthur didn’t think he had ever laughed like that.

Noel’s arm slunk around him and got him in a loose headlock-half hug, ruffling his hair with the other.

“Kid’s got jokes!”

“Wait—come’on Charlie, let me go!” Noel playfully roughed him up a little longer before finally releasing Arthur who chuckled breathlessly against his chest.

“Oh, that’s nice.” The hand that ruffled it up started smoothing down his hair.

“What is?” Arthur asked.

“Your laugh.”

“Fuck off.”

“Jeez, between you and John I need tweezers for the amount of prickles I gotta pull out.”

“I just… it’s hard when you’re so… sincere.”

“Truth hurts, don’t it?”

“I just…” Arthur sighed. “It doesn’t…”

“You don’t believe it,” Noel said. Knowingly. Too knowingly. “I get that, Arthur. You know I get that. Feels like a dream come true and neither of us can ever trust dreams again.”

“Yes,” Arthur breathed. “Yes.”

Stubble scrapeed against his temple and a kiss was planted. Noel held him a little tighter.

“He even made the good dreams hurt,” Arthur whispered.

“No more dreams then,” Noel promised. “No more nightmares. You and me, kid. Alright?”

“Alright.”

“Johnny’ll look after us.”

“Don’t encourage him.”

John had insisted on a separate room, and separate bed, and relished his separate body most days, but Arthur actually didn’t mind the occasional nights where he showed up, crawling into bed to wrap himself around Arthur.

Like if he pressed their skin together hard enough they would merge back into one.

He probably should mind. Noel probably should mind. Neither did though and they just let him and they held him.

It was when he would perch on the fucking nightstand and stare at them for hours on end that Arthur drew the line. He nearly cracked his head when he reached for his water and felt a human knee instead. And the times Noel would shriek because he would wake up to a pair of yellow eyes watching them in the darkness wasn’t pleasant either.

“You both looked comfortable, I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“So you did the perching thing instead?”

“Fuck you… I wanted to make sure you were breathing.”

“John…”

He wished he could hold it against him, but some nights he would make his way into John’s room and wake him up just to hear his voice because he hadn’t answered him because he wasn’t there anymore and it was just him in the never ending darkness now—

Jesus they were fucked up.

And that didn’t even include Noel’s own trauma.

Sometimes John would say something at exactly the right pitch and Noel would hear the King again and freeze and John would get terrified for hurting him and panic.

And sometimes it wasn't John's voice, sometimes it was the smell of wet mold that took him to the trenches.

Arthur sighed. He rolled so he could wrap an arm around Noel.

They really were fucked up.

“You put up with a lot,” Arthur said.

“So do you,” Noel said back. Fucking sincere, not a lick of sarcasm.

“Fuck you,” Arthur muttered into his chest.

“Oh, my darling porcupine,” Noel said with too much fondness. “One day you’re gonna accept that I love you, kid.”

“Noel.”

“And then a little later still, you’re gonna accept that I don't find it to be an awful thing, your love. Quite the opposite in fact.”

Arthur made a growly frustrated sound and Noel was laughing beautifully again. He could feel his smile press against his skin, the shape of one of his dimples, and Christ, Arthur could almost believe it. He could almost touch that feeling of certainty and safety.

Instead he tensed, waiting for it to be ripped away.

Noel pressed another kiss to his temple. He was awake. He was awake.

“How do I do this for you, Charlie?” Arthur asked. “How do I make it better for you?” Like you make it better for me?

“Oh, you want the goods huh? Okay. Well, first you could wrap your arm around me. Pretty much how you are right now. Hum, let me see. You could maybe call me Charlie sometimes. Not as a name, but as an endearment. That feels good and grounding. Makes me associate it with you instead of him.”

“Charlie…”

Soft: “Just like that, yeah, perfect. You could also… well I don’t know… maybe you could take out your lighter as soon as you hear the click of my cigarette case opening, offer me a light because you know about my stiff fingers. You could hum something soft and sweet to me when I go pale and still for no damn good reason. You could tell me to get fucked when I dote on you because when you do that you get all flustered and have this boyish look about you, and I feel my heart beat, and I know that you’re real and this is real.”

“Fuck you.” He was getting Noel’s shirt wet.

“Fuck, kid, this is real.” Another lean for a kiss, but Arthur moved his head just so, so that it landed on his nose. He had been trying for lips, but neither could bend that far. Noel grinned against him. He loved the feeling of his smile.

It’s real.

“Wait, what were you talking about before, about John?”

“Hm? Oh! Hah,” Noel’s chest rumbles with his quiet amusement. “His thing about the Sox.”

“Jesus Christ, you’ve got me in bed and you wanted to talk about baseball?”

“Just because we live in Massachusetts does not mean we support the Sox.”

Arthur huffed. “I didn’t care before I was blind, and I care less now, and even I know the Arkham Crawlers are a lousy team.”

“The Sox haven’t won for more than a decade and a half!!”

“The Crawlers haven’t made it to a series ever, at all.”

“Don’t you quote John at me! You know what? Forget all that mush I was talking about before.” Noel rolled over, but instead of getting out of bed he adjusted them into a spoon. “There’s no living with you now,” he declared, rubbing his cheek against Arthur’s shoulder. “Taking John’s side against me.”

“Would it make you feel any better if I told you I don’t give a fuck about baseball and I never will?”

“Only if you say something nasty about Boston.”

“Billy Werber is a showboating malcontent.”

“Oh and look, the mush is back again. Only you, my sweet little porcupine.”

Arthur shook his head affectionately and basked in the warmth of being held.

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah, yeah, tough guy. I love you too.”

Fuck.

He tried to say it.

But he was so sure as soon as he said it the dream would end, and he would wake up, and the King would be laughing at him.

Or worse.

It wouldn’t be a dream, or a nightmare, it would just be Arthur Lester’s life so far, and Noel would die and it would be his—

No.

Shut up.

He ran his hand down his Charlie’s arm, and took his hand, bringing it up to kiss it.

It was pathetic. It was all he could do.

Noel made a happy little sound. “I know, kid, you don’t have to say it.”

Noel’s breath evened out behind him. Arthur felt himself drift.

“You fucks. I’ve been cooking for an hour and you’re asleep?”

“Shh, I’m wooing my porcupine, you owl-eyed miscreant,” Noel answered drowsily.

“He’s already wooed, now he needs to be fed. Both of you do.”

“See?” Noel chuckled. “Told ya he’d look after us.”

“Is it enough to forgive him for supporting the Sox?” Arthur asked, reluctantly pulling himself up, keeping his face perfectly straight.

“Never,” Noel vowed.

“Jesus Christ, Arthur, he’s gotten into your head, hasn’t he?”

Just let me stay awake a little longer, Arthur thought to himself. Just a little bit longer.

#malevolent podcast #fanfiction #arthur lester #noel finley #charlie dowd #Noel/Arthur #Noelthur #mini prompts

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