#but I also want to defend what to me looks like a very misguided child

[circular-bircular]

alright last thing I'll be saying about this, promise. one of the latest thing AEV said is that apparently it's now SAS' fault for *checks notes* being an adult who "started beef" with a minor?

dude you started this??? you started this by spreading a wildfire of misinformation in your so called anti misinformation blog??? and got extremely defensive to be point of aggression?? in your so called "not condoning harassment" way??? I'm so. I'm just so exhausted I swear. it's the cognitive dissonance for me. I can't do this it confuses the fuck out of me. it's also the using their minor status + NPD as shield for me. no the fuck not, it does not protect you from criticism, we don't have to sugarcoat and be nice for you to read what we have to say lest you "don't know how to reply because I'm very sensitive :((" sounds like a you issue.

(same anon as the last AEV vent post, the one with the blocklist thing and shift in thinking of SAS. I might as well tag my asks or come off anon at this point lmao. only reason I stay on anon is because my main is not sys related but also it's not a secret, and I've been following you for a while, so I'll be pondering the orb with future asks)

Nothing much to add.

I’m likely not going to be saying much more, unless more progresses.

Just shame on the few adults in this picture who are encouraging this behavior, and an encouragement for everyone to let it die at this rate. I knew these were kids, but not just how bad it was until I saw a literal middle schooler arguing alongside everyone.

When I was 13, I was playing games on my computer and didn’t have tumblr yet. I was a child. Please let yourself be kids.

For those who are “almost adults” — don’t grow up too fast. Don’t let these people convince you to grow up this fast. You don’t need to stand up against ableism at 18, especially if you have DID; you just need to focus on surviving and recovery.

And to the adults: get a goddamn life. Seriously? You have nothing better to do that out someone’s main blog to a minor and stir up shit? Calling them “your kiddo”? It’s giving all the red flags, to the degree it makes me sick.

AEV, if you’re reading this: at the start, all we were upset about was the misinformation that you were spreading. Your sources were shit, and you did more to prove endogenic plurality than any pro-endo has with your little antitoxins blog. But then you made it disinformation, slandered my friend, and continued to do so against all the critics.

This isn’t harassment; this is just an adult’s playground.

Please step back, for everyone’s sakes.

[wilcze-kudly]

What do you think of this?

https://www.tumblr.com/rifari2037/761435740681928704?source=share

Oh wow that's a lot of points. And it looks like the OP is living the cottagecore dream judging by all the cherrypicking and strawman building they're doing! Though I do think they make some good points, or at least they have the spirit. It's clear they're passionate about their ship and they want to defend it, which is understandable. I don't want this to come off as shading some random shipper, because I can respect their dedication and the gathering of references, even if they present points rather disingenuously and their use of references is incorrect.

1.

In their first point, OP calls upon the very obvious reference of La Pietà, particularly Michelangelo's statue of it, as basis of their opinion that Katara is presented as Aang's mother.

Now, Pietà is actually a term used to reference anything related to Mary mourning Jesus's death, so there are multiple statues and pieces of art depicting that biblical scene, however the most famous, and most refrenced one, is Michelangelo's statue, so much so that it had become synonymous with it.

While yes, the most obvious and straightforward interpretation of Pietà is a mother grieving her son, there are many other interpretations of it in fiction and art, due to how ancient the concept is.

One very obvious connection to be made is the similarity of Aang and Jesus. While atla is primarily based around non Christian media, the concept of a 'deity in a human body/human touched by god' suffering and dying to save humanity is hardly a novel concept. It just so happens that the Christian mythos is the most widespread iteration of this theme, with plenty of art and themes to reference.

La Pietà symbolises the death of a saviour, the destruction of a godlike deity by misguided humans. It shows us this deity's first and truest believer grieving their death.

The utilisation of a refrence to Jesus is also a nice reference to Aang's future revival, because that is also what happened to Jesus. The theme of rebirth is surprisingly prevalent in references to Pietà.

It's actually very interesting that this scene refrences Michelangelo's sculpture in particular, since one of the bigger controversies surrounding the statue at its time is how young Mary looked, much too young to be the mother of a 33 year old Jesus. Many believe that this depiction is meant to showcase Mary's purity, and some believe that this was a refrence to Dante's Divine Comedy, particularly a passage where Dante highlights not only Mary's role as Jesus' mother, but also her role as God's daughter and the spouse of the Holy Spirit (the Holy Trinity be weird like that). Presenting her as the pinnacle of human virtue.

This is an interesting angle, because (even though this concept eludes a large chunk of the fandom) Katara is young. She is a child. And she's also pretty damn virtuous. Throughout the show, Katara is compassionate, determined, hopeful, strong and a myriad of other things. She is who keeps the Gaang going in the Desert, she is the one who saves Aang, she shows compassion to the people of the Fire Nation. She represents and embodies the goodness and hope of humanity in a way many female characters can't.

If we're gonna refrence the Bible, we can compare Kataang to the Holy Spirit being so taken by Mary's virtue, to the point where an aspect of it becomes human like her, by her.

(Does this make Bumi II Jesus? Maybe)

Boiling this reference down to "momther" seems like a disservice to Katara, because Mary represents a whole lot more than just that too. Or maybe I'm just an ex Catholic from Poland which is like the seed of the Cult of Mary.Now, don't get me wrong, many of the aspects of Mary's story do have some icky undertones, but the concept of her in Christian mythos and in popculture has evolved extremely.

It's also important to note that atla isn't unique in referencing La Pietà, even for romantic couples. The statue was quite a big infulence on art, even without its symbolism, to the point where it's sometimes heralded as the start of a short time period named the High Renaissance (which sounds much more fun than it actually was. Alas, no weed in late 15th century Italy.) Many media used it as a shorthand for grief, loss and sorrow, utilising many different pairings. Yes, even romantic.

What, are we gonna say that the Batman and the Joker had a mother/son relationship now?

Pietà means 'pity' or 'compassion' in Italian and I think this perfectly sums up the essence of the theme, particularly in modern art. It is meant to invoke the viewer's compassion, our pity, our sorrow.

And the scene where Katara, a 14 year old child caught in a war, cradles the dead body of Aang, another child, who is burdened with the weight of being a godlike saviour, should evoke pity, should it not?

Also Op references that one interview where Bryke say that Kataang is like having a crush on a babysitter, which, if anyone has the link to the full interview, I'd appreciate it, because I wanna have the full context before I make a call. It could be a clumsy explanation of a trope, it could be taken out of context, etc. Op does not provide enough of the material for me to formulate a proper opinion.

2.

Op's second point is that they believe that Kataang anti's claim that Katara never had romantic feelings for Zuko and that Katara was like a sister to him. They provide the scene of Katara examining Zuko's scar as evidence of potential romantic feelings from Katara's side. As they say, it is unusual for Katara to inspect a wound so closely before proceeding to heal it. Now, I don't think Katara had any regular water with her in the catacombs, which may be an explanation.

And when we see Katara usually heal, it's because someone is dying/freshly wounded. Like you don't have to poke around in the bleeding lightning hole in Aang's back to go: huh maybe this needs medical attention. And in the cases of her using healing to reverse Jet's brainwashing there really wasn't anything to inspect.

Now as a professional burn scar haver, I can say that, especially in the first few years, a lot of doctors inspected my many scars by physical touch. This is, from my understanding (do forgive me for not remembering I was like a toddler) is to assess the damage to the skin, whether or not certain glands are working properly and regulating the skin, etc.

ButI guess next time I go to the dermatologist to have my scars examined and they inspect the burn on my hand they're actually tryna hold hands romantically. Good to know. I'm gonna get railed by so many doctors. 🥳

Another reason for Katara stalling could be because... well, she did bond with Zuko, but he still does have a history of being bad™️. Like as kind as girlie is, there probably was a bit of a "should I really use all my super special magic water on the guy who tried to kill me like a few months ago?" type of questioning there.

I believe the creators also mentioned that Katara did experiments on the spirit water and determined that it only works on people with a strong spiritual connection, so she may be pondering if the water would even work.

As for Zuko and Katara being sibling coded, I think it stems from Katara and Azula obviously being foils and the very blatant juxtaposition of the Fire Nation Royal Family and that of Katara and Sokka's.

These two families have very obvious similarities and their dynamics are often used as foils.

So it isn't a leap for people to put forth the idea that Katara embodies everything Zuko wanted Azula to be as a sister and longs to have the relationship Sokka and Katara want.

We don't see much of Katara and Zuko's interactions after they make up, but we do occasionally see her poking fun at him, not unlike she does with Sokka, but that is just an observation. The gaang banter between each other a lot. But the ending to the Last Agni Kai, where Katara literally heals the damage Azula made to Zuko also does solidify this point, at least symbolically.

3.

The Op claims that another anti Zutara take is that Zuko and Katara's elements do not mix and can't work well together, and prove it to be false by showing how well Zuko and Katara work in combat situations. And you know what? They have a point there! Zuko and Katara are very capable together and they are honestly incredibly fun to watch when they team up!

....and then OP slides their way into the false eqivalence fallacy, which is a habit they seem to pick up especially for the last 2 points.

OP brings up the 2023 film Elemental, to back up their point, however, instead of utilising the comparison of tropes, they substitute their point with simply describing the plot of the movie and making loose allusions to zutara as a ship.

When bringing up references, it's best to pick out common tropes/storylines/themes. For example, they picked out the symbolism of fire and water, which is an excellent first step. However, then they proceed to describe an event where the characters of the movie touch, creating steam, which, if they want to make this comparison, they need to connect somehow to Zutara.

I assume they wanted to imply that Zuko and Katara could also create something new by working together? However, they'd have to explain this comparison, because one of the predominant themes of Katara and Zuko's relationship is healing the old. The idea of healing Zuko's scar, the attempt at retribution for Kya, Zuko and Katara healing their relationship being symbolic of them healing the great pain the Fire Nation caused to the Water Tribe, etc.

Im not saying this comparison can't be made, I just want OP to elaborate because they just yeeted vague concepts at us and expected us to extrapolate.

Where the theme of creating something new lays more with Zuko and Aang's relationship, as Zuko describes in his coronation speech if I'm not mistaken.

I think Op could've pulled this comparison off if they'd gone more in depth, because there certainly is a proper comparison to be made. (I assume. I haven't watched Elemental. Op just presented their point poorly. They could've just lied to me I just want them to at least lie well).

4.

In the last point, OP attempts to debunk the claim that Zuko and Katara have no chemistry. And once again, I agree with them! I think Zuko and Katara have very good onscreen chemistry. Their banter is fun to watch, they work well in action scenes and their emotional scenes always hit pretty hard for me.

Whether or not this chemistry is romantic chemistry or not is left up to interpretation. Because when we talk about chemistry between characters, it can refer to things other than romance. It's, in generalisation, something that makes us care (for good or bad reasons) about a relationship between characters. For example, Katara has good chemistry with Sokka and Toph. But it isn't necessarily romantic chemistry (though I am a big Katoph truther).

Now the term chemistry has been mainly taken over by romance because we can't have nice things, so I don't blame OP for looking at this rather nebulous concept purely through the lense of romance.

Side note, I think OP mixed up IRL romantic chemistry and the different types on onscreen chemistry when pulling up a definition, but that's beside the point. But I'd perfer thek to specify exactly which type of chemistry they mean, like are we talking 'weird pickup artist chemistry' or 'these characters make me feel something chemistry'.

However, I think OP once again presents a very lacklustre example of this chemistry and utilises false equivalency to prove their point.

Instead of bringing up Zuko and Katara's actual chemistry, OP utilises a different movie as a crutch. They compare the ending of the movie Tangled, where Flynn Rider is injured and later healed by Rapunzel to the admittedly very similar scene of the last Agni Kai.

Where I can see where they're attempting to go with this, they're trying to point out romantic tropes that could be applied to Zuko and Katara's relationship, they kinda miss the mark?

They bring up a narrative, when the point is meant to be about chemistry. Where a good narrative and storyline can enhance chemistry, romantic chemistry is often more about character interactions.

As I pointed out previously, Zuko and Katara do have chemistry as characters. Whrm pointing this chemistry out, utilise the many similarities and mild differences of their ideals and personalities, point out where these differences clash and where their similarities intersect. Dissect their interactions, how they influence each other.

It may not force the reader to consider romance as much as building your argument around an established romantic couple like Flynn and Rapunzel would, but it will present your points genuinely and allow readers to slowly come around to your points instead of forcing the conclusion on them.

Going "oh pair A did this, and pair B did this too. Pair A is a romantic couple, therefore pair B is also a romantic couple" is literally comparing apples and oranges and proves very little.

I see what OP is trying to do and I appreciate the effort, and even agree with some of their points, to an extent. I would also like to know where they got a lot of these ideas about what zutara antis think because it doesn't really add up with what I have seen from this side of the fandom, but maybe I'm just not as invested as I used to be in the ship wars.

I also don't want to send any harassment towards OP, please.

From just reading their post, they seem rather young and other than the first point, their post consists purely of just pointing out tropes they enjoy and applying those tropes to a ship they like. Yes, they presented their points kinda clumsily but they were simply expressing their preferences and opinions.

Where they presented some of their points in a manner that was a bit disingenuous and leading, this is also not a crime. And I don't think they wanted to intentionally mislead people, just express their own thoughts without going too in depth with them. Which is fine too, we're all just screaming into the void here on tumblr.

As arguments for Zutara go, tqhis si probably the least egregious I've seen in a while. It's benign, just someone talking about their preferences and not being used to presebting their arguments in this form.

[grace-williams-xo]

I have but three things to say to the anti Penelope crowd. (Neither of which directly defend many of her worst offences as Whistledown).

ONE: Some people have pointed this out but I think it’s really important we remember that she is 17 s1, 18 s2 and 19 s3. She is high school age. Girl did not have a fully developed brain by any stretch. Is that an excuse and free license to be a dick? No, of course not, but I think y’all should remember some of the stupid and regrettable things you did in high school. Now again, think of the way society operated at the time and then imagine, just for a moment, what if teenage you had an anonymous and unfiltered Twitter/Insta account that was keenly followed by everyone in your town/city/community—most people you’ll interact with in your life. You would do DUMB SHIT. It’s not just ‘she’s young’ it’s ’she’s young with an unrestricted megaphone to everyone she’s ever met’.

TWO: The Whistledown moment that sticks with me, as perfectly capturing who Whistledown is and what she does, is not anything read by Julie Andrews but what Eloise talks about in the very first episode. She talks about how LW is discussing a countess who, despite looking like her season last year was good, lives in depressing solitude miles away from the earl she married. This stays with me for a few reasons. First, it shows that—right from the start—she has access and information and connections that we do not and will not understand. How does a 17 year old know the living situation of a married woman in the countryside? Maybe she overhead servants gossiping, we really have no idea. Second, it shows her equality in reporting. Like any news outlet, she reports what people want to read, but this passage sets up a precedent and example that she doesn’t just report on people from her block in Mayfair. I always watch shows and movies with the knowledge that what I’m seeing is never the characters entire day or life. Similarly, we never hear an entire LW issue—only what is plot relevant to the Bridgerton’s and that episode. I think this was shown well again in the opening of s3 when she comments on several of the other debutants.

THREE: On Marina. It is not Penelope’s fault that Marina attempted an abortion and nearly died. We are not responsible for other people’s reactions. At no point did she wish or encourage harm on Marina, she just wanted to stop a loveless marriage. I hear you saying it’s not her responsibility to stop it, but teenage girls have big emotions that they deal with badly—and many have an overwhelming and misguided sense of justice. Marina was in a fucking awful situation but Penelope did not cause it, and it was at several points exacerbated by Portia the actual adult. I’ve just started a rewatch of s1 and my anger at Portia (and Varley bc wtf there are some really unnecessary comments) about the way she treats Marina from the day she arrives is raging. Portia was bullying Marina at every opportunity because she was jealous Marina was more desirable than her own daughters.

I am very aware that intent does not diminish impact, you can hurt people accidentally, but I do firmly believe that Penelope a literal child and did not act out of malice.

All that being said, I don’t think the relaxed and forgiving reaction at the end of s3 from the queen and the ton was in character or proportionate at all but also we didn’t really get to see much of their reactions so will be interesting to see how s4 plays out.

TLDR; Penelope was a literal child in s1, and nothing can ever convince me that she didn’t write about lots of other people in the ton beside the Bridgerton’s. That’s just not relevant to a show called Bridgerton. Most of Marina’s problems are on Portia, not Penelope.

[llycaons]

ep23 (pt 2): I think I'm a lxc hater now

in the book, I don't think this conversation happens. all the sects are equally guilty of the atrocities that are to come. but this scene establishes lxc and nmj as Good guys, if a bit misguided. the cruelties we see later are all that evil jgs and jgy's doing

I actually don't care about this change because I don't hold the moral ambiguity or the original purpose of the novel sacred, but this scene does make me want to weep because it didn't HAVE to be this way!! lxc and nmj could have pushed a little harder, questioned a little more, overseen the process more responsibly!! they were not advocating for genocide!! they were LEADERS they could have done something!

'another ambitious person' he's already thinking of wwx and planting the seeds of doubt

like THIS! guys! why were you so quick to agree to IMPRISONMENT???? lxc! why so trusting! you idiot!

it's bc he cares about jgy too much on a personal level to doubt him now. also he's guided by his desires - he WANTS to believe in jgy since he already cares about him

STOP DOING YOUR STUPID INTRICATE RITUALS IN FRONT OF THE PEOPLE YOU'VE JUST DOOMED TO WORK CAMPS I HATE YOU

and THESE people don't even get that chance! they've murdered in this very room! bc jgy wants to make his dad proud, I guess! fuck all his defenders he did not HAVE to become a mass murderer 'oh he wanted respect uwu' WELL I THINK THOSE PEOPLE PROBABLY WANTED TO LIVE THEIR LIVES

oh we know that cliff

holy shit I wrote a whole meta post about this very concept. HA. I KNEW it

this scene is so fucking chilling

like bar none this is one of the most disturbing scenes in the show. heavy-handed and unsubtle it may be, but it's sure as hell effective. and it somehow manages to not make the people murdering innocent civilians the real victims here. I hate american war films. don't watch oppenheimer

also, I don't think that's a-yuan. too big. but god, isn''t that what he wears? there may be only one child in this entire sect

this shot lingers on lwj way longer than it lingers on wwx, who gets to work playing cleansing immediately for the souls of the recently murdered. what's lwj thinking? is he taken aback by what they just saw in ways wwx is too jaded to be? is he starting to get concerned about the power of the jins? is he taking a moment to honor the dead?

I really like this shot! it's lovely and symmetrical

this is also kind of ghastly. once they killed or captured the wens, they move into their seat of power and demonstrate their command over it

lots to observe here

jyl's dress is GORGEOUS

there are female cultivators in the first row. how about that!

all the jiangs are wearing white sashes in mourning

jgs has just lamented the fact that he and jfm are now 'separated by death'

he's stepped forward to clap jc on the shoulder in a very awkward paternal gesture he probably meant to be encouraging, but given that jc had probably never had that interaction from his real father, perhaps he has only confused and frightened him

jgy doesn't quite get happy when this is announced, but he does get more eager and attentive, in the way that I associate with dogs whose names are called

hey! the first line for lan cultivators are women too!

and then there's this entire conversation happening. lwj does that thing where he looks at wwx meaningfully then casts his eyes down (happens ALL the time) as he retreats from whatever situation he's found himself in and declines to speak. wwx looks like he wants to say something and is interrupted

AND THE SAME FOR THE NIES. all the sects said we have exactly four female cultivators and they WILL be up front. wait the nies may have 6. cannot tell

jgy needing this reminder? don't buy it. he's too smart. I do not believe he genuinely forgot. in fact, iirc he has photographic memory and that's why he was able to send map info so well. I do not trust him!! this is definitely another ploy to look hapless and humble to lxc, his protector, and the others, his enemies

ppl have said lwj tossing his hair behind him here is wyb breaking character. I say why can't lwj be a little fussy and dramatic about his hair

he is also sitting completely alone in a corner by himself hashtag autistic icon

hate to say it but sect leader yao is KILLING in those robes. what a gorgeous color

and of course fucking jgs comes in propping himself up as the new head of the sects, sitting there to make a grand declaration. citing his long friendship with jfm, his desire to look after jfm's daughter, etc. etc., cultivators and sect leaders seem to really like jgs and I assume he must be personally quite charismatic because he is a sack of shit as we well know. now there is a character easily transferred to a modern AU. lecherous, misogynistic, popular, and power-hungry rich old men who are heads of organizations are very common today as well

look how concerned jyl looks! she doesn't want to be forced into making a decision this soon or this publicly, especially not when their political situation is so tenuous

jc is actually doing pretty well as a tactful sect leader in this episode, appropriately humble and polite while maintaining the air of dignity he needs to. and this is good thinking from him, just not fast enough. wwx is about to barge in dramatically to solve their problems, as he is wont to do, but the episode ends here on a very strange cliffhanger

personal highlights

wrh coming out of his palace all in a tizzy

"we, of course, have come from hell"

intimate red underrobe music session

the scenery and music of the massacre contrasting with the corpses all around them WOW

the political games of the banquet between jgs, jgy, lxc, jc, jyl, etc.

the costumes!!!

wwx coming in right at the end, but his best scene is next episode

[dotstronaut]

HEY DID YOU KNOW that four years ago, I had a full AU idea for Miraculous Ladybug that integrated Felix and Bridgette as the original Parisian Chat Noir and Ladybug and inserted them into the canon timeline by making Felix the younger brother of Gabriel Agreste? 

If you want the rundown of the AU and basic plot (and the reasons why I will never finish it), it’s under this read more:

Felix and Bridgette have the same roles they do in the pilot. Felix is a little less social than his older brother, they were close when they were younger but grew apart as time marched on and Gabriel met and married his high school sweetheart, Emilie. I was going to make it so that Emilie Agreste was the original Moth miraculous holder. The old man gave all of them their miraculous secretly, so it’s likely very few of them know who the others are. Emilie and Gabriel are either given theirs as a unit, or Gabriel finds out his partner’s identity on his own.

Felix tragically dies while using his bad luck during a particularly tough job (conflict is either caused by general bad juju/negative emotions taken to the extreme OR the holders just save people from regular disasters and crime) and the current Ladybug is beside herself with grief. (In my headcanon, miraculous ladybug either doesn’t fix death OR because there’s no akuma to purify, it just doesn’t have the same amount of power.) She may have had a crush on Felix at school, but she had become quite close to Chat Noir during their time working together. Possibly at that point they had grown up and ended up together as a couple, even. 

Tikki, in an effort to save Bridgette from the trauma, uses her miracle to fix what was broken and also wipe Ladybug’s memories. (Or this may have been a deus ex, more than one miraculous being used by Bridgette, something like that.)

Gabriel witnesses all of this and suddenly realizes he has lost his brother. He didn’t even know Felix was Chat Noir. When Felix gets killed by his bad luck, Gabriel blames the miraculous and kwami and steals Emilie’s moth miraculous and stashes it away with his Peacock Miraculous. He becomes obsessed with the miraculouses and with his failure to protect his little brother. They have and raise their child, Adrien, but their relationship quickly degrades due to his controlling and abusive behavior, and eventually she runs away to try to regain control of her life. Gabriel’s role in the show is shifted by this. He owns two miraculouses and is desperately trying to find the old man and the rest. When a new Chat Noir and Ladybug appear on the scene, it enrages him. He starts using the moth miraculous to try to steal theirs in a misguided attempt to save them from the miraculous and themselves. This makes it Extra Dangerous for Adrien to be found out by his father, as Gabriel blames Plagg for his Felix’s death.

If you’ve read this far, the big twist, the big surprise ending? The young woman who gave up her memory of being Ladybug rather than feel the grief of losing her partner? It was gunna be Nathalie. Gabriel’s loyal assistant, who upon having no memory of her role as Ladybug and therefore no memory of much of her youth, was taken in by Gabriel and given a job so that he could keep an eye on her and make sure nothing else happened to her.

Over the course of her boss acting as Hawkmoth, she encounters Ladybug and Chat Noir a few times and has niggling memories and reminders. Of course at some point the memories would be unlocked at just the right moment, or to prevent Hawkmoth from doing something heinous. I was never sure how this AU was going to be resolved, but it explained some of why Hawkmoth is such a dick towards two kids and why he wants the miraculous so bad (he wants his wife back, but it’s possible he may believe the power of all four would be able to bring Felix back for himself and Nathalie).

It’s too bad the network approved/published a super racist comic where Marinette interacts with super-stereotypical “gangster” African Americans (plus Marinette is naked/wearing a cardboard box and assumes they are going to kill her - you know, fun for the whole family!) It’s too bad the show’s creator defended the comic and called those who were upset ‘sjws’ and looking for racism where there was none. :)

It’s also a shame Astruc was such a dick to members of his audience in general and treated them like they were idiots for wanting to identify with a struggling teenage girl playing the villainous rich-girl role (and wanting to see her redeemed and grow as a person). He straight up insinuated that a struggling teenage character was evil and never going to change her ways! :) So that’s the other grudge I hold in addition to the racist comic thing.

No shame to anyone who is still in the fandom, because the characters were super sweet and relateable, and it was a really fun sandbox to play in. But these were dealbreakers for me, and as I don’t trust the show or Astruc anymore, I will probably never return to this idea or the Miraculous Ladybug franchise ever again. But like, if you’re reading this and you still care about these characters and think it would be interesting to explore this idea, it is absolutely up for grabs! You can take pieces of it or the whole AU, I do not mind at all. I appreciate credit but it’s not required. You can also reblog my other fan art and AUs for this show if it floats your boat. 

[longitudinalwaveme]

Arkham Files: The Flash (Wally West)

Hugo Strange: From the patient files of Dr. Hugo Strange, director of Arkham Asylum. Patient: Wallace “Wally” West, also known as the Flash. Session One. So, Mr. West, how are you? 

Wally: Let’s go over the situation I’m in, shall we? My wife and I visit your creepy, Gothic asylum-perfectly legally, by the way- to make sure that Bruce Wayne is okay, and you get us arrested on bogus charges of trespassing. Then you pull strings to get me stuck in Arkham Asylum while I’m awaiting trial, and now you’re trying to have me declared legally insane so that you can lock me up in here for good. How the heck do you THINK I’m feeling? 

Hugo Strange: Your hostility is unnecessary, Mr. West. I am trying to help you. 

Wally: If this is your definition of ‘helping’ me, I’d hate to see what you do to people you want to hurt. Seriously, did you go to the Zoom Academy of Making Things “Beeetttteerrrr”? 

Hugo Strange: I am nothing like Mr. Zolomon, Mr. West. 

Wally: I’ll say you’re not. Hunter...he’s sick. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. But you? What’s your excuse? 

Hugo Strange: I do not need an excuse, Mr. West. You may not realize it yet, but you-and all the other costumed vigilantes-are doing more harm than good. 

Wally: What do you mean, more harm than good? I’ve had my powers since I was ten years old, and since then I’ve done my best to hold to the promise that I made to Uncle Barry: to use my speed only to help those in need, to combat evil-and never for my own personal gain. I haven’t been perfect at it-I’m not as selfless as Uncle Barry, and I’ve got quite a temper-but I’ve tried. I’ve really, really tried. 

Hugo Strange: Let’s talk about your Uncle Barry, shall we, Mr. West? 

Wally: Why? So you can twist my words and use them to make him out to be some sort of misguided lunatic? Not gonna happen. 

Hugo Strange: Mr. West, I assure you I bear no ill will towards Mr. Allen. Obviously, you bear a great deal of affection for him. I simply wish to know why that is. 

Wally: Because he’s a hero! He’s brave and loyal and honest and kind and good. He cares about everybody. He uses his powers to protect the weak and help the poor and defend the helpless. He became friends with Albert Desmond when nobody else would’ve given him a chance and got him his job at S.T.A.R. Labs, and he’s tried to help Mick Rory get the treatment he needs for his pyromania, too. He’s raised billions of dollars for charities, and he’s helped to save the world more times than I can count. (Pause) And he does all that while also working for justice as a police scientist! 

Hugo Strange: Mr. West, the exploits of Mr. Allen are well-known. I was asking you why you, in particular, are so fond of him. 

Wally: Well, he did marry my favorite aunt. (Pause) More importantly, though...as a kid, I really needed a hero, and he….he was my hero. My parents barely knew I was alive, except when I did something that inconvenienced them. When that happened, my dad would call me names or hit me, and my mom would wail and cry and guilt-trip….and then they’d go right back to obsessing over their own problems or arguing with each other. I...I felt like I was all alone, except for Aunt Iris. She was the one person in my family who really seemed interested in me, and she also had this awesome job as a reporter in a big city. She was really cool, but because I lived two hours away from her, I didn’t get to see her very much. (Pause) When Uncle Barry first became the Flash, I didn’t know who he was...but I idolized him. I was his biggest fan! I was even the President of the Blue Valley Flash Fan Club. (Pause, laughs) President and only member. The other kids thought he was cool, but they weren’t as invested in him as I was. To me, he represented freedom. 

Hugo Strange: It sounds as though you were a rather lonely little boy, Mr. West. 

Wally: Yeah, I guess I was. (Pause) That’s why I was so excited when my folks sent me to live with Aunt Iris in Central City during the summer when I was ten. And that’s when I first met Uncle Barry. Like I said, I didn’t know he was the Flash yet, so at first I thought he was...well, honestly? Kind of a dweeb. But then he told me that he knew the Flash and could introduce me to him. I was so excited, I probably could’ve inhaled an entire shoe. Anyway, Uncle Barry used his super speed to change into the Flash and act like he’d been waiting for me to arrive, and that’s when I met the Flash. He was everything I’d dreamed he would be. Even though I had been a little bit of a brat to him as Barry Allen, he treated me with respect; like he was happy to meet me and have me around, and it put me over the moon. Eventually, he started to explain how he’d gotten his powers, and that’s when it happened: lightning struck twice. I was doused in the same chemicals he’d gotten his super speed from, and I gained access to the speed force. It was the best day of my entire life. Besides the day I married Linda, of course. I became his sidekick, and from that point on, he was like a second father to me. He laughed at my stupid jokes, got me ice cream, took me on field trips, played games with me….all the things I dreamed of having my dad do with me. Eventually, he told me his secret identity. It was shortly before he and Aunt Iris got married, and I was ecstatic to learn that my favorite aunt was going to marry my hero. I was the ring bearer at their wedding, and from that point on, Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris basically raised me. They helped me through my parents’ divorce. Uncle Barry taught me how to balance a checkbook and apply for college scholarships; Aunt Iris helped me get my driver’s license and taught me how to really notice when other people were in need. (Pause) If it hadn’t been for them, I...I don’t know what would’ve happened to me. Maybe I’d be one of Captain Cold’s strays right now. 

Hugo Strange: Mr. West, let me posit a question to you. If your uncle loved you so much, why did he put you in a costume and allow you to fight dangerous criminals? You became the so-called Kid Flash at ten years old, and by the time you were eleven, you had already faced the Weather Wizard, Captain Cold, and the first Mirror Master-to say nothing of your garden-variety gangsters and thugs. Surely, a responsible adult would have ensured that you stayed far away from such violence...and yet Mr. Allen seemed to almost thrust you towards it. 

Wally: (Annoyed) Thrust me toward it? Are you kidding? If Uncle Barry hadn’t allowed me to be his sidekick, I’d have struck out and done superhero work on my own. I wanted to be just like him, remember? If anything, I thrust him into letting me fight criminals. (Pause) Besides, it wasn’t like he was just letting some random kid fight crime. I had super speed, remember? The chances of my getting shot were virtually nil. And the Rogues have a thing about not hurting kids. I wasn’t in any particular danger, especially not with Uncle Barry watching out for me. 

Hugo Strange: Mr. West, you obviously are unaware of this, but your uncle is a very sick man. 

Wally: Have you been listening to anything I said? Uncle Barry is the best man in the world. If that makes him crazy...well, I don’t want to be sane! 

Hugo Strange: Mr. West, I understand that this is difficult for you, but you must face reality. Your uncle was a very eccentric, very lonely man. He had few friends; most of his life was absorbed in his work. He always wanted to be someone special, but he knew that slow, lazy Barry Allen was no one important. Like you, he idolized a superhero-in his case, the Mystery Man known as Jay Garrick, and, like you, he wished that he, like his hero, was special. When his metahuman powers were activated by the lightning strike, his mind, already fragile from years of being mocked and looked down upon by his peers, shattered. He decided to use his powers to emulate the hero he had read about and idolized as a child, so that he could finally be special. Eventually, his antics drew the attention of other, even more damaged individuals, thereby indirectly inspiring the debut of all the costumed oddities that both you and your uncle spend so much time playing cops and robbers with. And then he met you. Another lonely little boy who wanted to be special. When you got your powers, he saw a chance to expand his fantasy world; recklessly endangering you. He may have been deluded enough to call you a sidekick, but what you really were was a child soldier. No wonder your life was sent into such a tailspin when he was temporarily lost in the speed force five years ago. Without him around to help maintain the fantasy that he had indoctrinated you into, you were lost, and the only solution you could think of was to take up the role that he had once filled. You are not a hero, Mr. West. You are a sad, deluded child; just as your uncle is a sad, deluded man. But I will see that you get the help you need. 

Wally: (Furious) That’s a load of bunk, and you know it! I don’t know what your game is, Dr. Strange, but you’re not going to get away with dragging my uncle’s name through the mud! 

Hugo Strange: Mr. West, your loyalty to your uncle is misguided. He is a dangerous vigilante, one who took advantage of your innocence and loneliness to turn you into yet another costumed freak. What he did to you was wrong, and it is my duty to make sure that you, and the rest of the world, realizes that fact. 

Wally: (Very loudly) Don’t you talk about Uncle Barry that way, you filthy liar! (Stands up rapidly; knocks over the chair he was sitting in) 

Hugo Strange: Mr. West, I would advise you to refrain from such open displays of hostility. Otherwise, I will have to recommend that your children not be allowed to visit you, for the sake of their own mental health. 

Wally: And how do you think it affected their mental health to have their parents locked up on phony charges, huh? 

Hugo Strange: Neither of you were fit guardians for them, Mr. West. I understand that having them separated from you was upsetting, but it is for their own good. You and your wife obviously love them, but you are too ill to properly care for them, and your wife was only enabling your behavior. It was simply not a safe environment for the children, so they have been removed from your home until such time as you have been cured and can properly care for them. Two generations of costumed vigilantes is quite….(Hugo Strange is frozen solid) 

Capt. Cold: And he’s got the nerve to call us crazy. Really, accusin’ you an’ your missus of being bad parents? I seen how you dote on those kids, West. Only a nutjob could think you were unsafe for ‘em. 

Wally: Captain Cold? 

Capt. Cold: The one and only. You ready to bust outta this joint, kid? 

Wally: Are you seriously asking me to help you escape prison? 

Capt. Cold: Sam got Lisa and all the guys out already, and I’ve pretty much already escaped, kid. Just figured I’d be nice and get you outta here, too-before the Doc decides to give you a lobotomy. (Freezes and breaks Wally’s metahuman power dampener) Besides, Central City is furious over what happened to you and your missus. They ain’t exactly gonna expedite you back here. 

Wally: All right...but as soon as Iron Heights gets rebuilt, I’m taking all of you Rogues straight back there. 

Capt. Cold: I wouldn’t have it any other way. (Pause) C’mon, kid. Let’s blow this popsicle stand.

[crazyforcococaine]

she’s a lady

chapter 1

levi ackerman x fem!reader

note: this is just a filler. an introduction, if you will so you can skip ahead if you’d like to get straight to the levi action hehe

(edited by @crazyforcococaine)

Chapter 2 Coming Soon

I never put much thought into anything other than when my next meal was going to be. I also always worried about what quiet, cold alleyway I would have to hide in next, to sleep, away from the prying eyes of perverse drunk men, searching for their next prey and desperate women looking for ways to get enough money to travel up to the surface.

Although, I wasn’t very strong, I made up for that with speed. I was small, and light on my feet.

A gift, one would say, but it had its’ disadvantages.

Especially, down here, where everyone took one look at me and deemed me weak. It was satisfying to prove them wrong, but it was so constant, that I would grow tired. Sometimes, letting my guard down, and suffering the consequences.

I was but a child.

A reckless, lonely, misguided little girl. I shouldn’t have had to have been so strong at that age. What I needed was my family.

My father to teach me how to defend myself against those who dared mistreat me, and to protect me when I couldn’t do so myself.

My mother to show me the care and affection every kid my age needed, with her arms wrapped around my petite frame, shushing me to sleep after dinner.

Unfortunately, I’d never met either. As far as I knew, I was alone. I had no one but myself in this disgusting place I called home.

I eventually gained enough courage to start taking jobs to give myself a sense of purpose. I knew I couldn’t just sit, and wait for maggots and rats to eat away at my rotting, limp body.

I also couldn’t find it in myself to confide in anyone else here, so finding solo jobs was always difficult. I was afraid of the greedy bastards from this dark void stealing from me, taking my cut, selling me out, or doing whatever they could do to somehow throw me under the bus.

Over the years, I taught myself how to use knives, and was trained hand to hand combat by some of the women from a brothel I once slept behind. Of course, having been a naive kid, I had no idea what the place was and what type of nightmare that place was for them. Our meeting was sorta awkward, but they’d saved my life, even if I hadn’t known it at the time.

The women who trained me, found me, shivering behind a dumpster, confused just as a group of men had seen me. They managed to convince them I had diseases they surely didn’t want anything to do with.

I hadn’t understood what had been happening that night until I became of the age they thought was appropriate to teach me about sex, and such. And though, they didn’t go into detail about the type of work they did, I eventually put two and two together and no longer wondered how they knew how to fight so well, and the reasoning behind them being so persistent to teach me self defense became crystal clear.

With the horror and abuse they were put through every day, they were forced to learn how to defend themselves. It made me furious, the way they were treated like nothing more than objects, a toy for some mindless imbecile to use before tossing it away when he got bored.

Enraged, I offered to help sneak them out, somehow get them to safety, and as far away from this life as I possibly could, but every time, they’d brush me off, making me suck my teeth in annoyance. They never took me serious. I could help, I could get us all out of here if they’d let me do jobs more consistently.

At times, I would catch Gladiss, a brunette with blue eyes, mumbling to Yuna, the eldest of the group of women with short ginger hair and green eyes, about how much I reminded her of someone. They’d giggle to themselves about how much we would most likely clash heads, constantly in each other’s faces. Something about me being messy and him being some sort of clean freak, I never caught much.

They never specifically mentioned a name but from what I’d gathered, it was just some fool who’d gotten himself caught by the Military Police or something. The son of another woman they’d managed to befriend in this terrible work place, who sadly, I didn’t get the privilege of meeting. May her soul rest in peace.

From the way the group of women spoke of her, she seemed like a lovely lady, making me wish I’d slept behind that dumpster years earlier while she was still with us. Though, I am kind of glad she’s no longer suffering the pain this specific brothel brought her, it is difficult to swallow the fact that her son had to witness everything she’d been put through at the hands of all these bastards.

I felt for the man, and wherever he was, I’d always hoped they both rested in peace, living a quiet and happy life somewhere away from all this filth and corruption. If anyone deserved to get out of this place, and get a life, it was them.

“Petunia? Petu~nia?” A sun kissed hand with long, delicate fingers waved in front of my face as I stood in thought, my stance stiffening as I loudly inhaled. I refocused my eyesight and pushed up my glasses so they sat comfortably once again at the top of my nose, seeing Janeth, a blonde with two different colored eyes; one hazel, and the other a perfect silver, give me a small smile.

“...” I arched an eyebrow at her, and wondered how long she’d been calling out for me. Had I been lost in my own head again? I cursed at myself, hoping they weren’t talking to me about something serious.

She let out a breathy laugh, noticing my questioning, slightly panicked expression and motioned to Selene and Yuna going against one another, training.

Right. We’d been practicing and perfecting new moves that Yuna and Gladiss have been working on for weeks now.

“Sorry...I didn’t-“ I began, sighing after clearing my throat, my voice raspy after having not spoken for awhile, while I was stuck in my own train of thought, “I didn’t get much sleep last night.” I stopped myself before I could give away why I hadn’t slept a healthy amount yesterday, after realizing the hours long lecture they’d give me.

My head was throbbing, and I knew my legs were marked purple and blue from the job I’d so carelessly taken after a few drinks at Ralph’s Pub.

“I can see, ya know? Your eye bags have somehow gotten worse. Yuna also noticed and told us to start checking up on you more when you get home. We’re all worried for you, Nee.” Janeth confessed, frowning when I shook my head, waving my hand as if to say everything was fine, ignoring the fact that she called me by the nickname she knew I hated. Now wasn’t the time for that.

“It’s just the cold. The windows have started to come loosely opened again, by a small bit, but it’s enough to bother me from my sleep.” I tried to reassure her, not technically lying, but also not giving her the entire picture of what’d really been going on almost every night for the last few weeks.

They could never be angry with me, knowing and understanding it’s what had to be done to survive down in this dump but they’d definitely be disappointed in me for not being honest and open about how I’d been struggling to make ends meet lately, having been telling me since I was small, they’d always be there to help me in anyway possible.

Unfortunately, for them, I was stubborn. Very stubborn. So I suffered in silence, as to not disturb anyone. I couldn’t be more of a bother on this little group I’d learned to call my family, even more than I already have been for years.

I was twenty two for fuck’s sake. A grown woman. I needed to take action and responsibility for my own life. I couldn’t risk becoming so dependent on the three women, and never knowing how to do anything for myself if I were to ever be alone again. I wanted to be able to survive and thrive on my own; and that was a swear to myself, and the two who birthed me but failed to raise me. I’ll show them. I’ll show them all.

Chapter 2 Coming Soon

[menalez]

I know this is an old topic on your blog now but I just saw the anon taking about polilez being etiologically r/t womb envy and I wanted to agree! as a former inadvertent polilez (sorry) my experience was like. i grew up in a very accepting area of the US and knew a lot of gay/lesbian adults as a child, didn’t have internalized homophobia, only liked girls as a kiddo, had my first “gf” at 11, never really paid attention to guys. was out as a lesbian by 13 among friends, but started being attracted to men as well around 16-17 like right before I discovered radical feminism. also at that time started getting harassed at school by an older guy with a history of violence against women and so really doubled down on being lesbian because I thought it would ward him off, because I had a hard line “reason” to turn him down that was beyond my control. i was scared of him.

spoiler alert he “transitioned” on a Tuesday and on Wednesday was asking me to come over and cuddle again bc he was “suicidal”, and I think at that point it being “lesbian” became very political for me, I was terrified and so angry at the lengths males would go to to violate women’s boundaries, and having just finally accepted and understood the innate nature of sex that, yeah it felt like the enlightened thing to do to affirm homosexuality. and honestly calling myself a lesbian was my way to really validate to myself (was still very involved with “queer activism” at the time) why it was okay that I still really didn’t want to sleep with this person, because, even tho now I know it was because he was a creep and an abuser and a rapist, if I were bisexual, what excuse did I have to not entertain the idea besides genuine bigotry? even though I had been radicalized I didn’t want to disrespect trans people and didn’t want to be the bigoted evil terf that I had been warned about.

obviously I was a kid and just needed practice saying no, but IG my point was for me claiming lesbianism was my way to feel like i could justify being a terf to myself and also because as a bisexual people just assume you “don’t care” about someone’s genitals which is in fact not true lol. the dude transitioned back immediately after graduation, is in jail for assault now. Can’t help wonder if he’s trying to transition again to go to a woman’s facility :-/

anyway this was long winded but basically I just had this misguided notion that being a lesbian would protect you from predatory male behavior when in fact I now understand it just makes you an even bigger target. and also that it was the only “valid” reason to be GC in my own head because I believed that it would be easier to defend my views on sex and gender if I had the authority to say “look as a lesbian I’m not attracted to you.” was also totally wrong about that as y’all receive the worst of the worst IRT backlash about dating boundaries. and there are one million other reasons to be GC besides not wanting to date/fuck trans people but because I was so afraid of being bigoted it was the only one that seemed “safe” to me. no need to publish this if it’s confusing or stupid but haven’t talked/thought about it in a while. Ok done. love your blog and think you’re amazing :-) keep fighting the good fight

your experience is quite interesting to me bc i do hear many bi & het women argue they call themselves lesbians bc it provides them some safety / means they don’t want to fuck men and dont want to explain not wanting to fuck men even tho their sexuality doesn’t bar them from it or sth, and to me i didn’t rly get it bc 1. just bc ur into men doesn’t mean ur obligated to fuck them 2. just bc ur into men doesn’t mean u should want any man possible. ur allowed to have boundaries too! 3. claiming to be a lesbian doesn’t actually provide any security. maybe maybe in the most progressive gay friendly place ever or something but even then i doubt it. so it’s definitely interesting to hear from someone who had that perspective and realised through experience that for men “lesbian” is just another variation of “try to change my no into a yes” to them. also i can say from my own experiences that when we’re teens, our idea of sexual orientation and sexuality can be quite dumb and skewed so i don’t fully blame u here. some of my feelings about sexual orientation back then made absolutely no sense and looking back im just like -_- ok how on earth did i buy that bullshit

[my-hyperfixation-trash-can]

Hetalia’s Russia and DID/OSDD 1-b

Hey! So @autistic-hetalia your blog said you accept neurodiverse head canons and I thought maybe I could share this one with your blog!

I believe the Hetalia character of Russia has OSDD 1-b (Otherwise Specified Disociative Disorder or possibly DID, being Dissociative Identity Disorder) and this is why.

Just a note,

There is no such thing as an evil alter. Do not demonize people with DID or Other Dissociative Disorders! Those with this disorder are victims of Trauma and are likely to continue being victims of abusers, rarely do they become abusers!

Anyways, -cough cough- I’d love if anyone wants to add to this with more evidence!

1. Russia had a traumatic childhood

He is shown to have had abusive bosses who would punish him. He is threatened by one to invent steam power by the end of the week or be punished. Tartar Yoke mentioned by Lithuania as one of his bosses was also known for his cruelty. So the Authority figured in his youth were often cruel and held power over him.

His environment is cold and unforgiving much like an abusive home. Russia often describes his home as cold, quiet and lonely. He rarely found support from his land and often struggled to get by. The environment and home were harsh with little support. It is also implied he froze to death each Winter, and celebrated the year he didn’t.

This is on top of having to deal with other nations attacking him, making him feel helpless. Many nations “bullied” him in attempts to conquer him. He was mobed and pursed every day by Mongolia. That is exhausting to have everyone around you be a threat. (Lithuania and his sisters were the only nations kind to him in his youth) Early on, he learns that force and strength are what matters.

Next point tw sexual abuse and assault

He also felt a great deal of responsibility to care for his sisters. He was close to them, as they were experiencing similar issues and not violent to him. He had to be the strong one. Belarus and her unhealthy attachment to Russia depending on the age she started her behaviors may have also contributed to his trauma. All of the siblings have unhealthy attitudes towards boundaries with their bodies and the bodies of others, implying another type of abuse. Ukraine and Belarus took victim roles. Russia took on an abusers. Ukraine only ever suggests using her body to get what she wants as if never taught anything else, even as a child that’s what she knows. Belarus I don’t know where to begin, but her staring off is certainly dissociative like, paired with other trust issues. In a diary entry she is stated to have possibly messaged Ukraine’s breasts, once again showing more unhealthy boundaries with attachments to loved ones. Someone taught her that. And Russia, who internalized his abusers, acted out his abuse on others as implied with Lithuania looking distressed dressed as a maid and Russia holding a whip. In another non canon game Himaura worked on, Bulgaria in the bad ending is shown tied up and naked implied to be whipped by Russia as Russia says this is “tradition” or possibly more routine implying this is something he does often.

The idea with dissociative disorders is that the repetitive trauma that happens has to be too much for the mind of that individual child in comparison to the culture they’re raised in, and it conflicts with getting their needs met. And to the countries, all of them know Russia has had a life with far more conflicts in his youth than most, and a great deal of pain.

2. Russia has General Winter (GW for short)

General Winter manifests when Russia is being attacked by other nations in order to defend him, or to be a tormentor to Russia himself (such as freezing him to death each Winter).

This is oddly similar to what is known as a persecutor alter. These alters have the goal in mind to protect the host or body, but they’re a bit misguided in how to do that. They might take on the form of an abuser, or something outside the body, this turns into being an Introject. I’ll post a link to more info on DID/OSDD at the end of the post. The educational videos playlist will have a video on alter roles.

Russia’s bosses often abused him, and if he had an alter like this it would make sense that it would take the form of a general, someone in power who feels so much bigger and stronger than him. A boss who can push him around and make him behave in a way that will avoid further trauma from the real abusers. Winter the season, being another tormenting force of the environment, is another abuser, and it makes sense GW would take that into his identity. Russia feels helpless to it. It is also worth noting that other nations who also had to deal with Harsh winters do not have General Winter as an ally. He only protects Russia.

It would also explain why General Winter protects Russia from others attacking him. He took the ideologies of his abusers to heart, so GW pushes people away and treats them like threats. He feels strong by holding power and fear over others and force. If I can be stronger, no one can hurt me or would dare try, this is the mentality.

I believe GW can manifest as he does because Russia has magic. It’s canon that Russia can do magic or has a strange magic of his own, so whose to say GW can’t utilize it too. Perhaps even to let himself manifest sometimes in his spirit like form. This is more a headcanon or idea though.

Russia himself however is shown to be very passive with his bosses. These are people who hold power over him that he can’t really run away from or fight. So his response is to faun or freeze. This is basically stated in the comics (picture below.) and it’s often that alters have a specific role. Russia’s would be to people please those who he can’t fight. Making General Winter’s job to defend from attack.

3. Russia is shown to dissociate

When he is told to do an impossible amount of work, he just straight up loses himself in a fantasy immediately to escape the reality of the situation. There are other instances too, some in his childhood directly, but this was the most overt. This is from To your Hearts content, Russia!

4. Russia Is Inconsistent

There are times when Russia feels very different from moment to moment.

He goes from open about himself to swiftly sadistic and cold. He has moments of childish behavior to moments of maturity. These, when combined with the rest of my points, are worth noting. He both wants to hurt (possibly destroy) the others, but also be liked by them?

You can’t destroy people and have them like you.

The baltic Trio who lived a substantial amount of time with him still are confused by his unpredictable behavior. Each encounter The Baltic’s have with Russia is marked by a fear of what he might do. And not having certainty, thus they say things without knowing if it’s safe or not.

Even to Lithuania, (Whom Russia often shows Vulnerability to, in moments like bloody Sunday and Sharing his dreams in Outsourcing Sequel)living with Russia feels a strange theme park where he never knew what to expect. Lithuania has been shown to be great in strategy and games of wit, and a commendable leader with great people skills, yet he only has a general idea of Russia’s behavior? He is seen advising Prussia and Moldova that Russia likes it when people laugh or cry easily (This being predictable to Russia and thus easier to navigate social situations with) so it’s not like Lithuania isn’t paying attention. Russia shows moments of vulnerability and his thought process in panels like Bloody Sunday, which is quite telling as to what he believes are his responsibilities, and how the world works.

Now the real question is “why is he like this?”

He only understands the world from the point of view of someone who still lives in the abuse and knows no other options. He never had anyone teach or show him different. His world is ruled by who is the strongest, and if you can obey the strong you won’t get hurt or discarded. “We don’t want children who can’t play nice,” sounds like something an abuser told him frequently in his youth.

Russia just doesn’t have a support system due to his strained relationships with everyone. So he keeps relying on old defense mechanisms, hence letting General Winter step in when something threatens his sense of safety.

Nearly Every time (at least that’s what I noticed) Russia is emotionally vulnerable to someone, he suddenly changes to be sadistic or scary. It successfully pushes the person away and Reestablishes the fear of Russia in the individual, returning him to a state of being feared and alone where none of the other countries can hurt him. Examples below.

France talking to Russia after meetings and asking him personal questions would result in Russia ending the conversation by scaring him with a scsry remark and aura suddenly.

Russia Comforting China after Japan turns on him, he is kind and compassionate at first, but suddenly changes at the end.

The Baltic Trio never knows what to expect. He frequently uses fear and force to keep them.

This behavior seems directly contradictory to wanting friends and having a warm and lively home. So GW still reacts with a trauma response, and Russia reacts in line with his wishes of making friends and having others around him. The Use of force and intimidation is naturally the middle ground between their wishes. Russia believes everyone is his friends, and doesn’t see how his behavior is pushing people away. Other times he seems to want friends to like him back, like when he sent France an anonymously written letter to his radio show. However he has wishes that contradict.

Now, I think he sees friends as people he can keep near him that he enjoys the company of. (This doesn’t need to be mutual or involve trust, just force) but those wants directly contradict.

I think GW is passively influencing him with some of the behavior rather than switching out right, but either option still would have the same effects. Passive influence is when an alter is close to the front, or feels/thinks something strong enough that it affects the person at the front. Making them behave in a way that is ooc for them, but not the other who intentionally or unintentionally influenced them.

This would explain sudden shifts to a cruel threatening position with other nations, something that will most likely always be a threat GW needs to defend against. He is particularly cold and defensive with anyone that has a chance to hurt him, (or tries to look into his psyche) regardless of if they made a move to do so.

More on passive influence can be found in the sources at the bottom under educational playlist.

5. Misc. Points of knowledge

Russia’s character originally was meant to be a cry baby, and only when he drinks, has a complete switch in personality. Frankly I’m glad he was changed to the complex guy we have now. However I think this concept wasn’t fully lost.

His character song, Winter, seems to talk of him experiencing freezing to death each Winter. Further adding to his repetitive trauma.

It is not unheard of for nations to have disorders and conditions. Australia has ADHD, Prussia is Albino, Lithuania has severe anxiety (and possibly PTSD), so who is to say a nation like Russia can’t have a dissociative disorder?

It is stated in one of Russia’s character bios that “General Winter is always with him”, however where? I don’t physically see him, but perhaps we can’t because he’s sharing a body with Russia.

In summary

Russia dissociates under stress

Russia has repetitive traumas and an ongoing history of abuse all his life

Russia has inconsistent behavior and attachments

General Winter could certainly be a separate personality and functions exactly like an introject/persecutor alter would to their host.

Russia acts out and damages relationships, acting in inconsistent ways that might play out his own abuse, and/or reflect his desires to keep others near him.

As a note, I actually have DID, so this could be my projecting, but please don’t yell at me about how I made a “villain” have DID and feed into evil alters and split Stareotypes. I would only like to raise interest and provide an example of what a misrepresented disorder can look like. And the links below are there if you want to make your mind up for yourself and educate yourself if this inspires your portrayal of him! This isn’t meant to be insensitive, I’ve been working on this post for months to word it as sensitive as I could while also acknowledging Russia is still responsible for his and GW’s actions. Saying he has DID isn’t to excuse it, just explain it.

Don’t erase his victims, but don’t erase that he also is one.

(This blog below was also really helpful, but this post covers a lot of Russia’s earlier trauma and his mentality)

https://ellawritesficssometimes.tumblr.com/post/175060886956

Research for DID and OSDD 1b below: (along with links to comics)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm56LzW0BA_P7-yL3rK7INZDDozTayJvJ

https://www.hetarchive.net/blog/tag/russia/

http://hetarchive.net/tag/russia/

http://www.hetarchive.net/blog/2013/10/11/blog-entry-1411/

https://hetalia.fandom.com/wiki/Russia

https://www.hetarchive.net/blog/2019/01/29/about-the-fact-that-russias-history-is-too-scary/

Below is for an example of dissociation:

http://www.hetarchive.net/blog/2019/02/28/to-your-hearts-content-russia/

https://youtu.be/ZV3ToVA5BqQ

https://did-research.org/origin/comorbid/dd/osdd_udd/index.html

[adhd-wifi]

Madam Yu is an Amazing Character, Here's Why

What's up guys it's been 57 years but I finally have another meta lmao. Shoutout to those who helped me decide on this one, and for those who wanted the Yi City analysis? Don't worry that's coming soon lol.

So Madam Yu is a really important character in MDZS, and here’s a whole meta post about why I think she’s (in my opinion) the best-written minor character in the entire story. Quick note though, this meta is going to focus on the animation specifically, because that’s my favourite version of Madam Yu (though design-wise, Audio Drama Madam Yu is best lmao). The novel and CQL versions will be mentioned, but I don’t quite remember all the novel details and I don’t really like CQL-Madam Yu, so yeah. ^^; Also, this is talking about her character writing, not her morality as a person if she were real. Feel free to disagree with the post, but here's my take on her and why I love her despite not liking her as a person.

Anyways let's goooooooo. Warning: This is pretty long cuz I have a lot of feelings about Madam Yu ZiYuan. 

Madam Yu is a very well written character, easily the best written female and minor character in my opinion. From her very first appearance, we are shown much of her personality in very little time. In the novel, we are told of her fearsome reputation and why she goes by Madam Yu instead of Madam Jiang, followed by her verbal abuse towards Jiang Cheng in front of the other disciples. In the animation, she is shown talking down to the struggling disciples and scowling as soon as she sees Wei WuXian, despite smiling at Jiang YanLi moments earlier. In CQL, she is shown with a commanding authority over her husband and children, and in all three versions we’re shown how much she hates Wei WuXian. We also see her verbally abusing Jiang Cheng (Wei WuXian in the animation) in her introduction scenes, but also some degree of motherly love showed by how she adjusts Jiang Cheng’s clothes (or showing a kind smile to Jiang YanLi in the animation). 

Her introduction scenes alone tell us the core important traits of her character: That she’s a fierce and prideful woman, that she is a powerful cultivator with a frightening reputation (the animation and CQL also make a point to show ZiDian in her hands in her introductions), and that she is an abusive mother despite having love for her children (but not Wei WuXian). We also instantly understand that SHE is the reason why Jiang Cheng is so uptight about saving face for the Jiang Sect when Wei WuXian never seemed to give a fuck about it (he does, but you know, teen Wei Ying lol), berating Jiang Cheng constantly about how he doesn’t seem to be doing well enough despite being the future Sect Leader. She’s kind of the epitome of the “It’s for your own good” brand of abusive parent. 

There’s a scene in the animation, Episode 6, that strongly shows the discord between her and Jiang FengMian. This scene, though hard to watch cuz my favourite character is Wei Ying, is one of my absolute favourite character building scenes in the whole adaption, which makes me sad that it’s not in the other mediums (that I’m aware of). If you haven’t seen the animation, PLEASE go watch it because gods that’s my favourite version of Madam Yu. 

In this scene, Madam Yu is relaxing alone in one of the pavilions late at night, and Jiang FengMian joins her. She’s civil at first, speaking without any real hostility as she asks what he was doing out so late. He offers her a gift in the form of a jade hairpin, and says he bought it because he thought it was beautiful when she asked why he bought “such a useless thing”. Jiang FengMian then tells her of Jiang YanLi and Jin ZiXuan’s arranged marriage being called off, and while she’s obviously annoyed, she still doesn’t speak with the same fierceness or hostility as she did previously. 

That is, until Jiang FengMian makes a comment about how the children should not be forced into a marriage without love between them.

This is clearly a sore spot for Madam Yu, who immediately becomes hostile. Even the gentle music takes a darker turn for the shift in tone. She then makes a comment about how “Wei Ying always causes trouble”, and subtly looks back to gauge Jiang FengMian’s reaction. As soon as her husband defends Wei WuXian, she lashes out. She accuses Jiang FengMian of treating Wei WuXian better than his own son, and goes as far as to say that if Jiang Cheng had started the fight with Jin ZiXuan, Jiang FengMian wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to help him. In Madam Yu’s defense for this accusation, it’s not completely an unfair assumption, as Jiang FengMian does canonically treat Wei WuXian better, and the fact that he didn’t even try to deny Madam Yu’s accusation is very telling. Madam Yu then laughs bitterly about how Sect Leader Jiang will always be there to clean up Wei Ying’s messes before she walks away without a word, and the scene cuts to Wei WuXian watching them forlornly in the distance. 

I really really love this scene as character building, because from this scene we are very quickly shown Madam Yu’s personal problems, and how she resents her unhappy marriage and blames it on the child she believes took it from her, but the scene also doesn’t hold back on showing that she’s the one being unreasonable and unwilling to talk things out because she lets anger, pride and resentment control her. We see how she was fine and willing to try and talk at first, trying to reason with Jiang FengMian about why the marriage should be carried out, because their daughter does like Jin ZiXuan, and she also wants the Jiang Sect to have good relations to the Jin Sect like the Meishan Yu Sect does due to her close friendship with Madam Jin. This shows that she does care about her daughter’s feelings and that she’s doing what she can to help the Jiang Sect. But as soon as the sore topic of the loveless marriage is brought up, she blames Wei WuXian for it and starts the argument. 

From this scene, we also learn the extent of Jiang FengMian’s favouritism and how it hurt Madam Yu as well as their son, and having Wei WuXian watching their argument creates a nice transition into the next scene where he apologies to Jiang YanLi for ruining the marriage, showing that he feels guilty about the situation and most likely, the discord between his adoptive parents in general. 

As the story goes on, we see that Madam Yu’s problem is basically based ENTIRELY around Wei WuXian. She gets mad at Jiang YanLi for peeling lotus seeds for him. She gets mad at Jiang FengMian for giving Wei WuXian a choice to go or not to go to the Wen doctrine. She gets mad at Jiang Cheng for trying to calm her down and berates him for not being as good as Wei WuXian. As the audience, we are more sympathetic to Wei WuXian’s point of view, and so far Madam Yu comes off as an abusive bitch who hates him for no reason. 

Then after the whole XuanWu incident, we get the scene where Madam Yu storms in on Wei WuXian’s conversation with Jiang FengMian and Jiang Cheng. And holy fuck does it make her seem even more unredeemable than she already was. She comes in right as Jiang FengMian is scolding Jiang Cheng for not upholding the family values, refusing to recognize Wei WuXian’s accomplishment and saying he was bound to bring ruin to the Jiang Sect sooner or later. When Jiang FengMian asks her why she was there, after all it’s common knowledge that she doesn’t care about Wei WuXian’s injuries, she intentionally aggravates him by literally grabbing and shoving Jiang Cheng into her husband’s face, forcefully reminding him that Jiang Cheng was their “true son”. She accuses him of disliking Jiang Cheng because she was the mother, then accuses him of actually being Wei WuXian’s real father. And with that, we instantly know what he whole fucking problem is. 

It’s jealousy. She had been jealous of Jiang FengMian’s feelings for CangSe Sanren this whole time, and took it out on an innocent child who lost his family at a young age. All that unreasonable, misguided resentment, all directed towards a dead woman’s son. A dead woman her husband was most likely in love with, who hadn’t even returned those feelings. 

Personally, when this scene showed up, I decided, “Yup, I fucking hate this bitch.” But I will say this, this scene was also such a good character building scene. It amplified the drama, always necessary in ancient Chinese stories, and was a catalyst that led to a very important plot point: Wei WuXian’s promise to Jiang Cheng. 

Time to talk about how Madam Yu actually functions as a plot-driving character! 

As I just said, this scene drove Wei WuXian to make the promise of becoming Jiang Cheng’s right-hand man in the future, and it was a promise he had fully intended to keep. Madam Yu, and to a lesser extent also Jiang FengMian, were the driving force behind that decision. By now, we as the audience fully understand the core factors of Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng’s insecurities. Wei WuXian feels like he doesn’t have a proper place in the Jiang Family because of Madam Yu, and Jiang Cheng feels like he’s never doing enough to please either of his parents. The abuse from Madam Yu and the neglect from Jiang FengMian weighs down on Jiang Cheng’s shoulders constantly as he feels unloved by both parents, meanwhile Wei WuXian believes he is what ruined the love for the family just by being alive. 

To me, Madam Yu is the strongest catalyst character in the story because she drives the story’s two central characters, Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng, in a way that both explains and exploits their insecurities and the decisions they make because of those problems. She is legitimately the primary reason why both boys are so messed up (though Jiang FengMian played no small part in that too), and we feel the effects of her actions on the two of them long after she's dead. Which brings us to the big topic of her death. 

Now, let's be real, Madam Yu was still kind of a fridged woman like Wen Qing and Jiang YanLi. However, in my opinion she was at the very least a fridged woman done right. The reason for this is that both Wen Qing and Jiang YanLi were overall much weaker characters (especially in the novel) and essentially both died for no real reason except to cause more tragedy and pain for Wei WuXian to push him to his death. They both only died to set up Wei Ying's death, which is why I'm furious about that, but that's for another post (let me know if y'all want it lol). But Madam Yu's death? Her death was far, far more significant and there's a huge reason why a lot of fans, regardless of which adaptation they follow, agree that Madam Yu's last scenes were her best ones. 

Now, onto the analysis of the massacre of Lotus Pier. It started with Wang LingJiao’s pompous ass waltzing in and demanding that they chop off Wei WuXian’s hand and submit to the Wen Sect, even after Madam Yu violently lashed out at Wei WuXian with ZiDian to the point where he shouldn’t have been able to move for days (the animation doesn't agree though cuz they wanted a cool fight scene lmao). This scene is very interesting for Madam Yu’s character, because you can interpret it in two ways; one that makes Madam Yu seem to hold SOME sympathy for Wei WuXian as a member of the Jiang Sect, or another that shows her tactical insight as well as her pride for her Sect and status, or even both. Later in the story, Wen Qing reveals that Madam Yu hadn’t actually hurt Wei WuXian as badly as she claimed, and we can interpret this as either her not truly wanting to cause lasting damage to Wei WuXian, or that she knew there would be a fight regardless and made sure Wei WuXian would be able to fight the Wens off along with her and Jiang Cheng. Madam Yu has previously made it clear that she believes in Wei WuXian’s skills in combat and cultivation, shown in her berating comparison of him and Jiang Cheng, so it would make sense for her to keep one of the Jiang Sect’s strongest fighters on his feet while putting on a show for Wang LingJiao in case it was enough to satisfy the Wens into leaving them alone for the time being (while probably finally having an excuse to act violently against the poor kid she hates maybe). Personally, I do think it is more of the latter, but I also don’t think Madam Yu is one to turn to physical abuse too much. Yes, she slapped Jiang Cheng in the shoulder in the novel introduction and shoves him around when she’s angry, but aside from that we have no reason to believe she actively and frequently engages in physical abuse against them as they never seem to be scared of her in that way, and Jiang Cheng was particularly horrified and scared when she did hit Wei WuXian in that scene with Wang LingJiao, so I lean towards believing it was a rare occurrence (not that emotional abuse really any better, but you know.) 

Quick bonus point, I love how in CQL she just nods at JinZhu and YinZhu and they immediately know what to do, and also when she trusted them to hold Wen ZhuLiu off while she escaped with the boys. It really shows how close the three of them are despite being mistress and servants, having grown up and trained together. JinZhu and YinZhu are criminally under-utilised and I will be forever bitter about it.

In the scene that follows, the animation has my whole heart once again. Mostly because it was the best fight scene don’t @ me, but also because it showed her fighting side by side with Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian. Madam Yu took the frontline first, taking out the large group headed towards them before letting the boys rush forward ahead of her to fight, only taking over the main fight when Wen ZhuLiu entered the fray. During their battle, Wen ZhuLiu used the body of a dead Wen to block her attack, blinding her with blood as she paused in shock at the unexpected action. Realizing she could not win the unfair fight, Madam Yu quickly switched tactics and escaped, aiming to make sure that the Jiang heir survived. I really liked seeing her fight alongside them, even though it doesn’t totally make sense with Wei WuXian’s injury, because it does give a better look into them being able to function as combat partners. It is implied that Madam Yu trained them more than Jiang FengMian did and that'sthe headcanon I go for myself, so I enjoyed that scene a lot. Then comes her biggest defining moment, her final scene with Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian. Please note: This is 100% the animation and why anime-Madam Yu is best Madam Yu.

Madam Yu shoves Wei WuXian into a boat, screaming that this was all his fault. She knows it’s over, that there’s no chance of winning this fight, so she gives ZiDian to Jiang Cheng, and tells him, in the softest voice we’ve ever heard from her, to leave. When Jiang Cheng starts begging her to escape with them, she gives into her emotions and pulls her son in for a hug, telling him he’s a good child. Jiang Cheng is shocked, likely never having received her affection like this before. Here, Madam Yu has no reason to hide her feelings anymore, because she knows she's going to die, and she knows she cannot bear to flee Lotus Pier as she is the Jiang Matriarch and has her pride. She spares Wei WuXian, but I don't think it's because she wants him to live. I think she spared him to ensure her hot-headed son will have someone to protect him, because she knows that Jiang Cheng will absolutely try to save her, and because she fully believes that Wei WuXian absolutely will fulfill that promise. She knows Wei WuXian is loyal to the Sect, and more importantly, to Jiang Cheng. She knows that while Wei WuXian is more reckless and impulsive, Jiang Cheng is the one who reacts more emotionally. Just like herself. When demanding that Wei WuXian give his life to protect Jiang Cheng, she’s not simply giving him an order as a master to a servant. She was telling him, in her own way, that she cannot protect Jiang Cheng as she believed she was doing any longer, and entrusts that task to Wei WuXian, because he’s the only person who can do so. In this very moment, she knows she’s walking to her death, and she knows she would never see her children again, and doesn’t know if her husband would even return for her, because she genuinely believes she’s unloved by him. So, she gives her family to Wei WuXian in the worst way possible, and we see her biggest flaw of her unyielding pride also being her greatest strength as she fights to protect her family and home one last time.

This scene, this GODDAMN scene, is Madam Yu’s most defining moment as a catalyst character, because now her character has served its full purpose. It’s the moment both we as the audience, AND Wei WuXian and Jiang Cheng, see that she is more than an abusive, jealous mother. She is more than just prideful and fierce. She’s also a “real” person with emotions and problems she never managed to work out, but did truly love her son, her family, her sect. But she was also never going to be redeemed, because she refused to face her own demons even to the very end. She was such a prideful and stubborn person, that she died upright, holding on to her sword in a refusal to kneel to the Wens. And for Jiang Cheng, to see the proudest, most powerful person he knew, dead and disrespected by Wen Chao and Wang LingJiao, well, can you blame him for snapping? 

Madam Yu’s presence in the story was primarily to set up the conflict between Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian. Her problems, her abuse, caused them to develop insecurities that became their worst flaws, with Jiang Cheng always feeling inferior because she always told him he was inferior, and with Wei WuXian’s guilt and tendency to blame himself for anything that goes wrong around him. Jiang FengMian’s lousy parenting and neglect (y'all want an analysis on him too cuz he's honestly a really interesting take on a bad parent imo), which is also a form of emotional abuse by the way, shouldn’t be ignored, but Madam Yu is simply the better and more impactful character. We see how her starting arguments with Jiang FengMian push the boys into heartfelt talks, leading to the promise between them before Lotus Pier fell. We see how she set up Wei WuXian’s feeling of owing an unpayable debt to the Jiang Sect, and to her for sparing his life to protect her son. But she also wasn’t simply a plot-device-abusive character type. She is fully shown to have her own motivations, her own problems unique to her, and her own strengths and flaws in ways that a lot of other minor characters don’t get, especially in the animation. Hell, not even Jiang YanLi, a character supposedly being more significant than her, got such an in-depth character. Madam Yu isn’t a developed character by any means, but she has a lot of depth, and the impact she left on both the audience and the canon characters is felt long after she’s dead. When Jiang Cheng and Wei WuXian break things off, Jiang Cheng talks about how Wei WuXian is the perfect disciple of the Jiang Sect, and that leads to Wei WuXian leaving so he “doesn’t cause them any more trouble”. Wei WuXian cannot abandon the ideals of the man who took him in all those years ago, but he also felt that he had given his all to Jiang Cheng already in his golden core, and thus he felt that he should respect Madam Yu’s presumed wishes and stop causing more problems for them. Even far, far later on, Wei WuXian still feels guilt towards her and Jiang FengMian’s death and wishes to pay respects, but doesn’t argue with Jiang Cheng when he’s told that he doesn’t deserve even that. And honestly, we also just know who’s fault that unreasonable guilt really is. 

I say Madam Yu is the best minor character, and a fridged character done right, because she genuinely felt like an actual person, an actual abusive mother but also a human being with her own complex feelings while also being an overall bad person who (arguably) needed to be out of the protagonist's life. To get a little personal for a moment, Madam Yu strongly reminds me of my own mother, who is quite emotionally abusive, though not as extreme, which might have made me feel more realism from her than most other minor characters and definitely made me think that MXTX has some personal experiences herself. The animation is the best at this, because her tones and expressions change drastically here and there when it’s needed, plus her voice actress does such an outstanding job conveying her emotions instead of just shouting everything like the novel and CQL presents it, but she maintains her pride, the most defining trait, both her greatest strength and greatest flaw, until she was no longer needed in the story. A lot of stories with such a character tend to give them an emotional breakdown before they end their arc, but Madam Yu had none of that (...except...in CQL...I guess...yeah that’s why I don’t like that one). Her death was to push the story and the motivations of two male characters forward, and I agree that it’s not fantastic given that most other women died within the same story for male plot progress, but her death actually felt, to me at least, like it also had a genuine purpose to her own character as well as the plot. Wen Qing’s death was heartbreaking to me because I love her and she is my QUEEN, but narratively pointless especially since Wen Ning came back and in the end she was only really there to perform the golden core transfer. Jiang YanLi’s death was just...utterly unnecessary man pain. I have made no secret of hating how her death was handled. 

With Madam Yu, I personally really liked that she essentially was an irredeemable person that would never change herself out of pride so she almost needed to die, but was still human nonetheless. And going by MDZS’s heavy theme of grey morality, she fits the theme perfectly. And that’s why, while Madam Yu may be an abusive and terrible person, she’s easily one of the strongest characters in the whole story, right up there with Wei WuXian, Jiang Cheng, and Jin GuangYao in my opinion. 

I hope y’all enjoyed this monster of a post of me rambling about the angry purple lady.

[hadesisqueer]

Alright, I don't have class today and I'm bored and kinda tired of some very aggresive anons telling me I'm a slut because I apparently hate Adam.

Now, for real, do I really hate Adam? Yes, I hated his guts. Do I acknowledge that I hate him? Yep, just said it.

But, in case you haven't watched Game of Thrones, there are two villains I fucking hated there too: Joffrey and Ramsay. I loathed them, couldn't wait for them to have the most gruesome deaths because of everything they did to Sansa (never really understood all the hate for that poor girl, to be honest. She was a child) AND Theon, and seeing those bastards getting what they deserved was spiritually healing.

And yet, even though I hated them, I also liked the characters in a way. They were entertaining to hate. They were specifically written to be hated like that. And to me, the same thing happens to Adam: he was the kind of villain that I LOVED to hate.

I hate Adam, but there are a few things that I really liked about his character. I liked his design (but why did he have so many zippers though). I thought his weapons and semblance were neat. And I love Iaido, so watching him (and also Raven) fight was always entertaining.

And I liked his backstory, because it made sense. He probably joined the White Fang already hating humanity, but you can see, in his character short, that at the beginning he wasn't out to kill all of them. Then he kills that guy when he tried to kill Ghira (fuck that racist though). That was probably because he kinda panicked: as I said, he most probably already hated humanity but at the same time, he was still under Ghira's command, so even though he loathed humans, he still hadn't killed anyone yet. He simply was defending his leader, and he looked kinda disturbed after killing that guy. But seeing people cheering him and encouraging him, after killing a human was the beginning of his fall. Because people were praising him for doing what he, in the inside, most probably wanted to do in the first place. They were calling him a hero.

And damn, that really was the beginning of his end. He stopped caring about controlling himself and his rage and spite, and went out to kill as many humans as he could, to the point where Sienna, who believed in violence but only when it was necessary, had to stop him from killing a crew member. Because she knew killing a bunch of workers who were no longer a threat because they had already taken them out wasn't going to fix anything, whereas Adam didn't care. He stopped caring about equality because all he wanted was revenge and killing as many humans as possible. It didn't matter to him if they were actively abusing faunus or were innocent people (like at the Fall of Beacon). Damn, he got to a point where he didn't even care if he killed faunus too because they were getting in his way. All he cared about was himself. There is some disappointing stuff with his backstory, but it definitely makes sense. I understand why Adam became who he was, even though I don't think it justified any of his actions.

Now, when it comes to his abusive behaviour towards Blake... Damn, it was so well done. I haven't been in an abusive relationship myself, but I've met people who have been, unfortunely. I've met abusers. And the way he was portrayed as one was perfectly done. The gaslighting, the manipulation, the victim blaming, the threats... I've seen it in real life. I've had to threat a guy saying that I'd call the cops if he didn't leave his girlfriend alone the way Adam didn't leave Blake alone. I've had to go to the police station with a friend so she could sue her ex for abuse.

I like thinking that every character can be redeemed as long as they show how they struggle with their actions, how they doubt their positions and how they show regret (watch Zuko from Avatar). Could Adam have been redeemed? Well, maybe, if he'd showed any of those things -struggle, doubt, regret-, which he didn't. He never doubted nor felt bad for his actions; he enjoyed what he was doing. There are some RWBY characters that can still be redeemed because they actually were doubting, struggling or feeling regret: Emerald, Mercury, even Raven. They all can still become, if not heroes, anti-heroes. Adam wasn't one of those characters. All he wanted was revenge, and getting back at Blake for being brave enough to leave him. He enjoyed murdering people, he thought he deserved to be treated like some kind of god, he enjoyed tormenting Blake and, as he himself promised, he tried to destroy everything she loved; wanted to have her own family killed, or tried to kill Yang twice just out of jealousy.

I don't think he deserved to be redeemed. Not every villain has to get a redemption arc. And I don't think Adam was “wasted potential”. Wasted potential of what, exactly? Literally all of your ideas of Adam being a leader with moral-grey ideals or just a misguided guy who later redeems himself and becomes a hero or an anti-hero aren't only already the entirety of Sienna Khan or Blake's characters; it's just what you thought he would be after watching the Black Trailer. They're your headcannons. But never, literally never does the show indicate that he's nothing else than what we already saw: a misguided guy, indeed, who has let his spite and hate turn him into a monster with the excuse of the abuse he endured, and who became an abuser himself.

Look, you can like Adam, but you're not supposed to admire his behaviour nor condone his actions. I like Cinder but that doesn't mean I'm forgiving her for killing Pyrrha, or basically destroying Beacon because of her master plan. I like Raven but I'm not forgetting that she was a bandit who killed a bunch of people or that abandoned her own daughter after she was born. I like how Adam was handled. Because there are people in real life that let themselves to be driven by spite to that point, and they drown in it. There are people in real life who abuse their partners. He's not Salem, the Big Scary Villain. He's a realistic villain that can exist in real life. And the fact that I hate Adam so much indicates that he was a well-executed character, because that was his entire point: being a villain.

If you think I'm wrong or something, please stop sending weird messagges. Just block me like a normal person.

[curiousfeline]

You know something? I've admitted to understanding Percy on a very deep level because I can relate and understand his character which is what makes him my favorite. I understand his faults and strengths. I understand his situation and actions. Because of that I'm able to call out all the bad about him while loving him emmensly.

It's something I've done. I've done it with the other Harry Potter characters and I see their strengths and weaknesses. It's why I say my least favorite is Snape. Not because I can't stand him and don't understand him. I do actually! I appreciate him as a character but I don't like his personality and how he treats others. I still find him quite interesting regardless and think he had far more potential than Rowling gave him (doesn't just mean a redemption arc either).

I actually count Draco and his pretentious ass as one of my top 10 favorites for the series. I love how snobby and misguided he is because a LOT of pure blooded children end up like that. He is a product of his raising. He is still responsible for being an asshole. However he should be given a chance to change because he shouldn't be throw to the wolves because of how his parents raised him. Do not punish a child for the sins of their father.

What interests me is that people (*cough* Dracotok *cough*) adore Draco or even Snape but trash Percy for *checks notes* being annoying and pompous. Ignoring the fact that he was a boy screaming middle child syndrome and desperately wanting approval. He was an ass too, don't get me wrong but for people to think he never cared about his family? That boils my blood. He loved his siblings so fucking much.

He was broken when Ginny got taken, he was only one who noticed something was wrong with her and he was wrangling Prefect duties and 4 siblings. He was terrified for Ron when he was in the lake, "looking paler and younger than he was" because he was scared. Which makes you think doesn't it? Because didn't people tell Harry "They weren't going to die Harry, we were gonna pull them out after y'all got back." But Percy didn't know that.

After everything that went wrong in that school and everything he's seen. I don't blame Percy for not really trusting Dumbledore. And the boy desperate for praise and approval was fed that by the Ministry. You know I honestly don't think he even received that sweater from Molly that "he returned." Because I don't think if he was as mad and upset as everyone claimed he was, I really don't think he'd send it back. He'd either keep it because 1) he loved his family especially his mum or 2) wouldn't even put in the effort or time to send it back.

For people who are stans of Draco to make these comments and tiktoks bashing and shit talking characters like Percy aren't even giving him a second thought. And the fact that they're acting better than everyone else is kind of funny considering their favorite characters is even worse than Percy on Percy's worse day. They all seem to forget (probably bc they're watching the movies and haven't read the books) but Draco was a vile little demon and said some nasty shit.

Also I'm going to come out and say it: If Percy's actor was more conventionally attractive he wouldn't be one of the most hated non villain characters in the series. Go ahead tell me I'm wrong.

If Percy looked like.... let's say, a red haired Callum Turner (Theseus Scamander) people would defend him and like him more. Because a lot of people who shit talk him call him the least attractive Weasley, which is honestly more of an insult to Chris Rankin than Percy which is unnecessary rude and inaccurate because Chris was cute as hell and fit him well in those first three movies.

[painted-starlight]

Frozen 2:The Impression of Accountability, Iduna and Agnar Characterization Analysis

Warning: LONG POST, Anti-Frozen, spoilers for Frozen 2, swearing, talking about racism and mentions child abuse. If I get anything wrong on the issue of accountability, please don’t hesitate to correct me. 

Summary: Examining the inconsistencies between Frozen 2′s depiction of the behavior of Iduna and Agnarr and how this affects the overall themes of Frozen.

Introduction 

I’ve let myself sit on Frozen 2 and how I feel about it for a couple of months now. I’ve mostly focused on the meta-aspects of the film, from it’s character design to the early spoilers, but nothing too in depth until recently. 

And I’ve come to this conclusion that Frozen 2 is almost accountable, but backs away from any true accountability on the part of Arendelle and, most controversially from the response from my posts, Elsa and Anna’s parents. 

Arendelle: The Spirits Hate Them But Not Really

Frozen 2 is often praised for it’s handling of holding Arendelle accountable for it’s crimes. The spirits are angry with Arendelle for the previous king, Agnarr’s father Runeard for killing the leader of Northuldra. It is up to Anna and Elsa to right the wrongs of the past and destroy the damn that brought only grief to the Northuldra and the spirits of the Enchanted forest. 

So, I have a question. If the spirits were so angry with Arendelle, then why trap the Northuldra and allow Agnarr to leave to rule Arendelle without any real repercussions? Sure, King Runeard is killed in battle, an immediate consequence for his actions but that was ultimately a good thing because he sucked. Only a few soldiers were left behind as well. And King Runeard was later succeeded by king Agnarr, his son, who sucked slightly less than him. 

Arendelle was allowed to prosper with a better king, and Iduna is rewarded for saving his life by the spirits by having her child be gifted with magic. 

For saving the son of the man who murdered the Northuldra leader. 

Because that is something to reward...?? 

I’m starting to think that the concept of accountability is kind of twisted in Frozen 2. Arendelle is explicitly in the wrong, and yet, they are rewarded constantly for no reason. 

The entire Northuldra community, who have a good relationship with the spirits and were merely acting in self defense, were collectively punished and forcibly kept in a magic barrier for 34 years. That doesn’t sound very fair to me.  

Arendelle is Rewarded Rather Than Truly Punished

Yeah, Arendelle is wrong, but they get more benefits than punishments in long run. In fact, you could argue they were exponentially REWARDED for their heinous actions because as a result of the battle they have:

A super powerful monarch who wields magic (which no one else has because Elsa is special)

A better king than the one who died in battle to succeed him (King Agnarr) and who is married to the woman who is the favored child of the spirits

Citizens allowed to go anywhere they want and do trade with other countries to their benefit

Any consequence of said powerful monarchs magical actions (eternal winter) maybe only lasted three days, TOPS. After that she is immediately accepted for her powers and now Arendelle is essentially bulletproof because they have a magic ice queen to defend them.

Allowed to get a warning before the flood of Arendelle, but the Northuldra didn’t get any. 

Allowed Elsa to stop the flood to spare Arendelle, because for some reason the spirits are super cool with Arendelle now?

Like, how fucking crazy would it have been if the spirits woke up and immediately destroyed the dam while everyone in Arendelle was sleeping? THAT would’ve been a life or death conflict. 

But the movie is determined to deal with accountability with kid gloves, or weasel out at the last minute. 

Part 2: Iduna and Agnarr

Now, the aspect I want to talk about is the way that the story frames Iduna and Agnarr and how this contrasts with what we know about them up until the most recent movie. 

This is an examination of the theatrical installments of Frozen because they are the most canonical. Extra stories in books or supplemental material that wasn’t widely released or accessible don’t really count. And not to mention, the consistency between the theatrically released movies and shorts are mostly made by the same team. Therefore, have most canonical elements to them.

Iduna and Agnarr’s Relationship with their Children

Up until Frozen 2, the general consensus was that Iduna and Agnarr’s parents was...misguided. 

Misguided being a very soft term in my opinion because I truly feel that what they did was completely out of line and extreme, crossing the border of abuse. But that’s my personal opinion and it’s not how they are framed in the movie. 

Control vs. Love Theme

Iduna and Agnarr love Elsa and Anna. That much is true. However, Frozen, like a lot white disney princess movies believes that good intentions means benevolent actions. (Please note: I’m going to refer to Elsa and Anna as white coded, because that appears to be the most appropriate given that they are canonically white passing Indigenous characters. Yet, all the white disney princess tropes definitely apply to how they are framed and their characterization in the first film). 

However, this is not true whatsoever in reality, but most importantly, it’s not consistent with what is shown as a result of their desire to control Elsa. 

And yes, their desire to control and contain her meant that their “love” for Elsa-- least the impression they gave her and never made her feel otherwise--was conditional love. It means that as long as she controlled her powers they approved of her and gave positive reinforcement.

Iduna and Agnarr’s Love Had Conditions, Anna’s Didn’t

Their approach love can be compared to Prince Hans, because he is another extreme: He wouldn’t be interested in Anna if she didn’t have the power he desired. Many characters in Frozen are compared in whether their love comes with conditions, or is unconditional. 

Iduna and Agnarr, unwittingly, proved to Elsa that their love for her was conditional. Yes, they loved her, but they didn’t love every part of her. And that, in of itself, is placing conditions on their love. 

If we go by the narrative context of Anna’s love in comparison, hers comes without condition. Elsa’s powers are at their most controlled when she is given love without strings. Which is why the solution was (admittedly very cheesy and somewhat out of place) “love.” 

The more specific kind is the love Anna has for her sister. She never stops loving Elsa, even after she is hurt by her. She might be angry, frustrated, but in the end loves Elsa the right way.  

Frozen Fever

Subsequent installments drive home this point even further. In Frozen Fever, more is revealed in implications about their parents without directly referring to them by name. 

Iduna and Agnarr don’t celebrate Anna’s birthday after the incident. Elsa cannot recognize when she is sick and in need of medical attention. She feels like she needs to go overboard in celebrating Anna’s birthday, is highly self critical, because their parents never allowed either of them to celebrate it. 

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure goes even further into the theme that Anna and Elsa are moving away from their parents traditions and expectations. 

Elsa laments not having a Christmas tradition, because her parents only rung the bell in front of the citizens as a superficial way to signal “everything’s just fine,” when it wasn’t. When all the mandated bell ringing was done, they went back to separating the sisters. 

At the end, Elsa and Anna make their own unique traditions, and that ringing the bell doesn’t matter anymore. Their bond is what makes Christmas special for them. This is narrative cue that they are moving away from their parents and looking toward the future. 

Frozen 2: Iduna and Agnarr’s Love is Depicted as Unconditional

And then we get to Frozen 2. 

I have problems with the way they portray Iduna and Agnarr as parents in Frozen 2. It started when the film opened with Elsa and Anna playing with Elsa’s magic while their parents look on smiling. 

That’s confusing, and a little out of character. I didn’t get the impression in the first movie or shorts that Iduna nor Agnarr particularly cared for Elsa’s powers, and I also didn’t think they would be so cool with her using them so blatantly. 

Elsa’s ice powers were the bond that kept Anna and her together. That’s why they had to go and play in secret. Because Elsa’s powers were supposed to be something that couldn’t be played with out in front of their parents. That was the first cue that something was very different about this Iduna and Agnarr. 

And Frozen 2 is telling it’s audience that the parents would be supportive? Then why would Elsa feel so anxious about using them and locking herself away for so long after her parents explicitly made changes to the staff, the access to the outside, and refusing to tell Anna about Elsa’s powers? Her actions didn’t come from nowhere. Their negative reaction to Elsa’s powers was a common occurrence. 

In fact, that very same night where he looks on lovingly at Elsa’s ice magic, we hear Agnarr immediately placing blame on Elsa for an accident and exacerbating her trauma. This is a reprimanding that has been done before. Her ice powers were something to be hidden.

Agnarr: “Elsa, what have you done? This is getting out of hand.” 

Elsa “It was an accident, (to Anna) I’m sorry Anna.”

Iduna: “She’s ice cold.”

Agnarr: “I know where we have to go.”

Does this sound like the same man and woman who, just hours earlier looked on with happiness at his child using her ice powers to play pretend with her sister? It really doesn’t. 

King Agnarr and Queen Iduna specifically decide to “Lock the gates, reduce the staff, and limit her [Elsa’s] contact with people. Keep her powers hidden from everyone...including Anna.” 

The filmmakers really pulled out all the stops in the sequel to make sure that all the pain and suffering Elsa went through was actually totally just her own decisions, and the not the decisions that her parents made for a young child. 

I’m not going to lie, I get why they made so many changes. They wanted to expand on Iduna’s heritage and explain Agnarr’s view of magic without complicating the story too much. 

But these morally gray elements to their characters and the revelations on their backstories didn’t need to be mutually exclusive. If the filmmakers held Agnarr and Iduna accountable, we could’ve had a very unique set of parents in disney canon. 

Personally, I think that portraying them without the morally gray areas of their actions and having with an unambiguously supportive relationship with their children in Frozen 2 conflicts with their earlier actions. It makes the story flow a little bit better in the sequel to uncomplicate their relationship, but I think the way they set them up would’ve been interesting too. 

Olaf’s Recap Removes the Parent’s Decision to Lock Elsa Away

I was also tipped off that the whole framing of the parents was being twisted when I saw Olaf’s recap in Frozen 2.

Olaf: [As Elsa] Anna, no too high! Blast! [a Anna] Ohhh! [as Elsa] Mama Papa Help! Slam, doors shutting everywhere, sisters torn apart. Well, at least they have their parents. [beat] Their parents are dead. 

The way he describes the situation is bizzare to say the least. He doesn’t mention “conceal, don’t feel” even once. He mentions the parents positively, stripping their role in Elsa and Anna’s separation and only leaving it between the lines. I think this is because if they remind the audience about the things the parents did, the audience would have a harder time accepting their sudden support for Elsa’s powers. 

If the parents actions weren’t controversial, then I think that they wouldn’t have this problem. But it’s like they went out of their way to make it appear that it was actually all Elsa’s decision to lock herself away instead of her parents expecting her to do so without protest. 

It Was Iduna and Agnarr’s Decision to Isolate Elsa, Not Elsa Herself

When we really look into the specifics of Elsa’s isolation, we can’t ignore Iduna and Agnarr’s role. The only reason why Elsa became so secretive is because she was conditioned to do so by her parents. 

How many times did Anna go to her parents and ask what was wrong with Elsa, only to be turned away to the point where she doesn’t bother anymore? 

How could they look at this situation for more than a week, and just allow this to happen? Easily, because it was a solution that worked for them. It honestly looks like they got used to the situation after years of Elsa’s isolation.

Just look at the body language of Elsa’s farewell to her parents, Elsa is NOT happy. Unlike Anna, she remains a good distance away from them. She is nervous and sad without her parents to direct her. 

This is reaction they are most likely expecting. Her parents smile on, almost as if to say “she’ll be ok for a couple of weeks, then we’ll be right back to normal and keep her in check.” It’s a reassuring smile, that things will go back to the way they were once they come back. And they don’t.  

Elsa Hiding Things is Learned

Look man, I feel like Elsa should be held accountable for a lot of things. Abandoning her people, twice, in the middle of a storm she created. Not getting help for Anna when she was injured and kicking her out of the ice castle instead. All things she should get shit for. 

However, I also think that her parents shouldn’t be let off the hook. 

My other problem comes from Frozen 2′s emphasis on Elsa hiding things from Anna. The constant references to Elsa shutting Anna out, making decisions without her, would definitely lead a more casual viewer under the impression that it was all Elsa’s decision to lock herself away for years at a time when this simply wasn’t true. 

On a meta note, I’ve seen people place all the blame on Elsa to lock herself away to in order to prop up her parents and give them the benefit of the doubt. That they were trying their best in a situation they didn’t have any knowledge of. However, this is an extremely inappropriate reaction to a character who is depicted as a child under the care of her parents. 

I think that there is an intrinsic desire for people to believe the framing of movies, and that good intent creates good results. But the text of Frozen shows this isn’t true either. Iduna and Agnarr should be able to be morally gray characters who made decisions that aren’t always beneficial, even with the best intentions. 

Elsa and Anna, like most siblings, have wildly different feelings toward them. For example, Anna insists to Elsa after finding out the truth about their death that she is not responsible for their decisions when Elsa blames herself. 

On one hand, this seems to be an acceptance by the story that they were not perfect people and that Elsa needs to take into consideration that she is not responsible for their actions. 

However, the way that this conversation is framed shows that this is a different conversation altogether. Anna means that they gave their lives to HELP Elsa, and that she is a gift for Iduna saving Agnarr. It martyrs their sacrifice, something that most fictional parents, who are portrayed as ultimately good, would be. They died to help her, because they were good parents who made good decisions.

They are Flawed Characters

But...they didn’t make good decisions. They were very flawed individuals. Once something is portrayed as flawed, it can’t be flawless. You can’t just dump their decisions on how they grew up, or say it’s all Elsa’s fault they treated her that way because mature writing means that you accept that your characters need to be held accountable for their decisions. 

No matter how many sad looks they give to convey their sympathetic nature in Frozen, the reason Agnarr and Iduna used the gloves and kept Elsa in a constant state of fear so much was because it was working. It wasn’t a good long term plan, nor ideal for them, but it was the one they went along with because it kept Elsa’s powers in check.

I personally don’t like how the filmmakers made them the idea of parents. Iduna is the idea of a mother and Agnarr, the idea of a father. We are supposed to put fond memories of good parents into their characterization because they rely on audiences not really remembering them in the first movie. The biggest scene with them is their death in the original movie. 

If they simply were just parents who died, then the characterization is Frozen 2 would be a welcome expansion of underdeveloped characters with little screen time.And within the vaccum of the sequel, their unconditional love for their daughters makes sense. If we place the generic idea of a mother into Iduna’s role, we get to know the mother who always loved her daughter finally reconnecting with her after her tragic death. With Agnarr we get a loving father who only wanted what was best for his daughters, who was misguided on the truth of the past. 

But Iduna’s big duet with Elsa, “Show Yourself” only highlights the parents role in her involvement with making Elsa suppress her powers with “conceal, don’t feel” since it’s a direct response. 

Agnarr’s misremembering of the past is used to highlight the truth that needed to be revealed. It’s portrayed as tragic, since we can assume he never learns the truth. And their treatment of Elsa’s powers is never brought up in detail, just glossed over. 

Even Parents With the Best Intentions Can Hurt Their Children

The problem is that we could’ve really examined how Iduna, forced with suppressing her identity, made mistakes in trying to protect her daughter. Sometimes people from marginalized groups who have no choice but to assimilate force their children to hide their identity to protect them from harm.

Agnarr’s upbringing is often pointed to as the source of his extreme views on magic, and that he inherited it from his father. But ultimately he is responsible for his actions, and he hurt his daughters. Sometimes people who seek to do better than their parents end up making the same mistakes.  

Maybe Iduna regrets hurting Elsa but felt it was a better alternative than being killed for who she is, or Agnarr so focused on protecting her he never realizes it was doing her more harm than good because it was controlling her and giving him the results he wanted. 

This could’ve been parallel with his lack of critical thinking when recounting the enchanted forest story. He doesn’t question why the conflict started, even though he has the pieces to put it together himself. He told it in a way that benefited him the most, without considering the people around him. 

Both parents could still be held accountable for the pain they caused Elsa and they would also be characters who inspire different feelings from both daughters. This could also be a turning point in Frozen 2′s theme that the sisters are on different paths. 

Final Thoughts

Like I said, I understand why the filmmakers of Frozen 2 decided to tone down the harsher implications of the parents actions. And maybe in the end, people really prefer this version of Iduna and Agnarr. But I can’t really ignore what they’ve done because their actions permeate the very themes of Frozen’s views on love and control. 

However, these are personal feelings toward this subject and I think it could’ve been handled a little better. 

[wyrd-weaver]

"𝔏𝔢𝔱 𝔐𝔢 𝔖𝔥𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔜𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔅𝔲𝔯𝔡𝔢𝔫."

Trigger Warnings: Suicidal Ideation, Mention of Self-Harm, Mention of Rape (That Resulted in Pregnancy), Mention of Binge Eating, Mention of Weight (By a Disgusting Man), Depression, Anxiety.

⤷ Remember: Every body type is beautiful, and you're legally allowed to maim those who say otherwise! The brief few sentences in this story are not accurate of any decent, sane individual.

Word Count: 1887

～～～～～～～～～～

Depression had you caged, shackled to the memories...the all-consuming sensations of horror and disgust. The very same that were forced upon you, that iced all your muscles twelve hellish months ago. Twelve! And yet, the nightmares refused to cease. Every evening, you battled demons most powerful and foul, acquiring scar after scar after scar. If you stumbled, if you lay down your weapon or lost...could you really be faulted? If this was Heaven's retribution, a cleansing of your contaminated, sinful body, then...was it not misguided? Surely a void replaced the evidence against you?

Blame should never have befallen you! This child, despite his mask of innocence, attested to humanity's ugliest side. Your heart was unravelling - you needed him, as an extension of yourself, as someone to cherish, but...you didn't want him. He wasn't the product of consent. He was loathsome...and a burden. He was so young, so dependent.

Casting him to the mercy of the streets would be more than a mere violation of morality. You already felt criminal - convicted on thoughts and false claims, serving a life sentence in the bowels of Hell. There was an escape, of course. Although...it wasn't accompanied by a light, or the gentle touch of a loved one. No...this escape was advertised as selfish, shameful...weak. And maybe so. Maybe life's greatest demand was the forgoing of happiness. But...to such an extent seemed excessive, and deliberately cruel. You shouldn't have been so dirty, so broken...an embarrassing stain on your family's name.

A single mother. A victim. A failure.

Plagued with flashbacks that favoured spontaneity above calculation, you carved miserable little lines on to your arms. Nobody knew - not your son, nor the Avengers...nor even Loki. They all harboured some form of trauma, however deep-rooted, and so...they had no need for your sob story. Who would care for someone so violated? Someone so...afraid? Your mind, weakened by fatigue and chronic worry, was simply too weak to resist those thoughts, and all hope had been drained from your heart. Why should you be tethered to life, if only for your child? Should you instead seek liberation, peace...joy? Decency discouraged it, but pain stood its ground.

With your dignity in shambles, your disowning, your binging...nothing felt right anymore! Nothing felt...clean. Loki had noticed, observant as he was. Here, sequestered within the walls of the Avengers' Compound, he was the closest to a friend...maybe even more.

No, no, no! I can't think like that! He's a man! A man! I shouldn't even be going near him anymore! Why, oh god...why is he the only one I'm not afraid of? The only one who can comfort me when I break? I can't...! I haven't even told him about...about...Well, I haven't told anyone! They all just think I slept with someone recklessly! And now...now I'm tainted, unlovable! This is...it's all my fault...I should have defended myself. I should have done something! Anything! Why...why did I freeze...? Why? Why?! Why?!!

Loki understood mental anguish and the torture of dissimilarity, as his birth-rights. Perhaps that was reason enough for your breathing to even, in his embrace. It had taken moths to allow such a privilege, and Loki's persistence, how his voice quivered as he begged to help you in any form...

You, whom he held so very dear...

You might have assumed his affections romantic, once upon a time. Yet...no longer. An ailment had struck you - one that rendered both eyes and ears ignorant to his double meanings, his implications...his love. You couldn't process them over the fear and paranoia. Didn't all relationships entail force, and...activities of a sexual nature? You never wanted to experience that again. Never! So, while sleep washed over the Compound, you crept to the kitchen, intent on expanding your waistline evermore. That your size may, to some, be cause for revulsion, had never previously occurred. It was only when the words danced on the tongue of that godforsaken man...

Eat, eat more! Who cares if you're sick? Keep eating! He said...he said that excess was unattractive. So - so maybe he won't...maybe I won't be...again...?

It had been dominance play, a show of superiority.

Loki would never steal something so sacred, unless you willed it.

He was a gentle soul, manipulated into committing an atrocity, and scorned - by the Avengers, especially. He wouldn't find any resonance in your tale (and you hoped he never would), but as a companion, a patient listener...surely there would be no judgement in his heart? He wouldn't be so quick to abandon you...right? Still, a single utterance of that day, of that most fright-inducing event...required courage far surpassing your own. Maybe...just a word? A sign? Something...?

Lonely was the path you wandered, in spite of Loki's presence. Alone, he failed to drown your demons. He held them under the waves, but they always returned.

You appreciated the effort. Plasters may cover your scars, but they could never heal your heart. Could Loki?...In time? If distorted thoughts of him were enough to ground you in the midst of panic...could he aid your recovery?

He also wondered that. Your deception wasn't half as masterful as you had hoped. Or perhaps you were simply the target of Loki's observations, and therefore came under frequent scrutiny. He had, of course, picked up on the subtle changes in your demeanour - particularly post-pregnancy. He idled at your side, throwing neither intrusive question nor accusation. This was at the behest of his conscience, although he longed desperately to ignore it. He wanted to know...what exactly happened last year, when your transformation began?

Your lips were sealed, but his very essence ached - sorrow, curiosity, love, sympathy and compassion all melding together within him. They ran amuck, refusing any whisper of sleep. His concentration had flown alongside it, rendering him unable to enjoy the book that rested in his palm. It had maintained a decent level of interest until now, but duty called. He would pry open your chamber door, glimpse your ethereal, sleeping form...and finally feel content. If you were strolling through dreamland, then his concern could dissipate. At least for a while. If not...he would discover why.

Loki hesitated outside your door, for if you were truly non-the-wiser, asleep...vulnerable, then a mere survey of yourself and the room would leave, on his tongue, a terrible aftertaste.

But, lo and behold, only your young son slept soundly, in his crib.

Loki was grappled now with a sense of alarm - where in Odin's name were you? And, pray tell...why was your child on his lonesome, cleansing himself of the prior day, in such a frigid room? He was wrought with grief upon recalling your distaste for the babe, and again when he realised there was no option to remove him, bring him to a warmer space, rock him and sing soft melodies...

Loki's primary goal was to find you, and perhaps...coerce you into confessing everything. From a true account of the day that always replayed in your mind, to your innermost feelings and thoughts...he needed to know, and to understand.

He had scoured half the building before laying eyes upon you. However...relief proved elusive. There were an endless number of questions, but none dared to grace the air. Why was your beautiful face stained with tears? Why were you eating, despite looking so sickly? What had troubled you so? And...could he kill it? He was unsure of the proper manner in which to approach you. He had always tread lightly, but complete silence and delicacy were more fortes of his mother. He swallowed down the nerves.

"(Y/n), darling...why aren't you sleeping?"

You startled, eyes bloodshot and a biscuit lodged between your lips. "U-Uh..."

He walked forward. "Is there something weighing on your mind?"

"...No?" This was mumbled, as though credence escaped you.

"My dear, you aren't a skilled liar. Talk to me, please." The heartache nearly tore him apart.

You wouldn't meet his gaze. "I...I can't."

"Please?" Both of your voices cracked, in unison.

Oh god, alright. Okay. This if fine...right? It's fine. I'm fine...Am I? What if I'm not?! I can't tell him just yet! But he looks so upset...I did this! I caused this! Oh god...just stay - stay calm! Calm down...calm down...

A tear trickled down your cheek, then another. "I-I've never...I don't want to - to relive it."

He brought you into a protective embrace. "Then you won't. I swear, by all the beings in the Nine Realms, that I will keep you safe. Please, let me share your burden."

Three sentences. Who was so weak-willed, that a mere three sentences shattered all their defences? You cursed his silver tongue. "(S-S/n)...! He - he's...I didn't...I-I don't want him! J-Just because I didn't fight back...I didn't try to run, he...t-that man, he did...things. To me. And now...now I'm so dirty! I'm disgusting...unclean, weak. B-But...sometimes - sometimes I think it's all in my head. But it isn't! I-It happened, and (S/n)! He's...he's the proof! He reminds me...o-of that..."

Loki froze. "What...?"

"But I-I couldn't - I couldn't tell anyone! They wouldn't...believe me, o-or care! People like me, they don't - this...this doesn't happen! Why...why did this happen?? A-And now...there's (S/n). And every...every minute is Hell! I can't take it anymore...I don't w-want to be here. I don't want to be...to be alive anymore..."

Loki could almost see the threads of rationality thinning. Who would...defile you, hurt you? You were so important, so genuine and...lovely. "I will find this man, and personally deliver his comeuppance. He never deserved your voice, let alone your touch."

"No!" You stiffened in his arms. "Then he'll...he'll come back..."

"If he does, I shall slay him." Yet, Loki made no attempt to leave. Instead, he slipped into a mask of composure, enough to continue speaking without seething. "I apologise...if you thought I wouldn't care. I do - more than you could ever imagine. You are the most stunning creature I have had the honour of meeting, in all my lifetime. I was resolved to spend my days at your side, never professing my love, but after hearing that...I..."

You panicked. "Loki...don't. Please-"

"I know it would be impudent to assume that you could accept me right now, but consider that...I can protect you. I will never let him, or anyone, hurt you again." Loki wiped away your crystalline sadness. "But, please...when you can't see worth or joy in this life...please come to me. I will be here to remind you of your victory - you survived such torture, and delivered a child. You are far from weak, (Y/n)."

Loki's fingers darted along your wrist. He yearned to kiss every scar, every inch of your skin.

Though, he would do nothing without permission. "Now, my dear...let's put these treats away. I would suggest that, henceforth, you eat balanced meals and partake in some fun activities. Perhaps I could read to you, one day? And venturing out for a walk - we can do that together. I...um, hope I'm not overstepping any boundaries. I'm simply thinking of ways to occupy your mind...and your time. You can do these things alone, of course..."

You nodded. "But...you'd - you'd do them with me?"

"I would gladly do anything with you, my love." Loki's words were empty of duplicity.

You were angelic - the only one safe from his lies.

[facelessfrey]

I woke up mad and have been mad all day so let’s discuss the disrespectful absurdity that was Bellamy’s death on the 100 some more. 

JRoth’s tweet really pissed me off a lot. Ultimately, he’s not wrong when he says the 100 has always been a dark show about hard choices and what people would do to survive. It’s just that I don’t think any of that played into Bellamy’s death at all. I’ve been thinking about all of the other major character deaths across the seasons and how, even the ones I hated and have massive issues with, still somehow seem more respectful to the characters than what he did to Bellamy. Keep reading for the rant:

Season 1 - Wells (and to an extent Charlotte)

Wells - Wells is a bit of a tricky one since it happened so fast and I know there are people still upset about it. But it set the tone for the show, the tone that JRoth is so proud of and referencing for Bellamy’s death. But I think you can get away with a shock value death in season one to kick things off. They also set up the situation fairly well, playing up just how harsh things are on the ark, that most of their parents had been floated. I can understand how Charlotte, who is just a child, reached that conclusion, especially with Bellamy’s maybe misguided advice (although that’s clearly not what he meant). I also don’t know that there was really a place for another presumably male lead in season one alongside Bellamy and Finn. So I get it. But also, Wells still had a chance to repair things with Clarke before he was killed. She discovered the truth and knew that he lied to protect her. He didn’t die with her hating him. It was a truncated arc, but it was something. 

Charlotte - And arguably, Charlotte’s death kind of needed to happen. There wasn’t really any way for her to continue on with them after what she’d done and at least it was her choice, however tragic it all was. 

Season 2 - Finn and Maya

Finn - As with Wells, Finn’s death is something I think you can get away with and can be viewed as edgy in an early season. It’s upping the stakes and reminding you that this is a show that will put these characters in impossible situations. And they still had a male lead left in Bellamy, plus Murphy and Jasper and even a character like Miller were rising in the ranks and there to fill in the gaps. Plus a whole host of new characters. Killing Finn was a gutsy move but one I could respect. They took him down a dark path and instead of absolving him for it because he was a main character, they made him pay for it. But unlike Bellamy, Finn realized what he did was wrong. He couldn’t live with the guilt. He couldn’t live with the way Clarke was looking at him. He knew the truce with the Grounders was important and he knew he was the key. He made the choice to give himself up. He had agency. He got to have one last escape attempt with his friends, say his goodbyes to everyone. And even still, they let him die with some amount of dignity rather than being tortured to death. And Clarke killing him worked in a way her killing Bellamy doesn’t. What he did was directly tied to her. Only she could forgive him in those final moments. There were multiple episodes of build up to this death, it was the story of the whole episode it happened in. It was expected but also a bold move for the show. 

Maya - This was a death about hard choices and survival. The audience had grown to like Maya throughout the season, seeing her stand up for what was right and going against her own people. She didn’t deserve the end she got. But Clarke and Bellamy and Monty were put in an impossible situation and it was either the lives of all their friends and family or death in a very inhumane way because the mountain never would have stopped. And the way it was set up, with us and them watching Raven and Abby being drilled into, the choice was painful but clear. And it had been building to this moment for an entire season. 

Season 3 - Lexa and Lincoln

Lexa - Lexa had arguably one of the most controversial deaths on the show. And I know there were behind the scenes reasons for it with the actress having another show to film. I don’t know how much availability she would have had. I don’t know how necessary it was to remove her from the narrative. I don’t want to get into it I will just assume for these purposes, that she had to be killed off. And I’ve always said with respect to Lexa, that I didn’t mind that they killed her off, it was how they did it. But compared to Bellamy’s death, even her controversial one feels less disrespectful to the character. It may be worse due to lesbian death tropes and that’s a larger issue, but in terms of the show story, I don’t think it was as bad. First of all, she was only a character for a season and a half. Second, her death directly affected the plot that had been hinted at all season and carried out in a major way through the rest of it. Now I hate that she died immediately after having sex by a stray bullet from a guy who should not have been holding a gun in the first place. I hate it. I would have much rather she went down fighting or stepping in front of a bullet for Clarke or something. But at least she got to finally resolve things with Clarke. They reconciled. They said they loved each other. She knew was was going to die at the end and she got to have her final moments with Clarke. Clarke got to do the whole may we meet again speech. Despite the issues, it was a beautiful moment. 

Lincoln - This death has always been the one that pissed me off the most. Again I know there were behind the scenes issues and he also had another show. Again I don’t know how much filming availability he would have or how necessary his death was. Again, let’s assume it was because people can’t just go off somewhere else for a new start on this show. But I still always hated how he went out, being executed in the mud. He should have gone down fighting at the very least. However, even more at the very least, because that’s what we’re getting into here, Lincoln did die because he was defending his people. That’s the bare minimum here but at least he had that. He was true to himself. I hated that he didn’t really get a final moment with Octavia, but hey, at least she was present. Extremely low bar but still, better than Bellamy’s death from a writing perspective. 

Season 4 - Jasper (Roan, Illian, Luna)

Jasper - Jasper’s is a sad tale. He spent two seasons basically completely depressed after the events of season two. There really wasn’t anywhere else to take his character at that point, so I understood and was ready for him to go. It made sense as an end for his character and he got to go out on his own terms and not take the spot in the bunker of someone who truly wanted to live. He got to have his final moments with Monty. It was a good end for him. 

Roan, Illian and Luna - I wouldn’t call them major characters per say, perhaps Roan and Luna but we got to know all of them fairly well. They were expendable characters for the most part but they at least got to die fighting for their people and that’s a respectable way to go out. 

Season 5 - Jaha, Monty and Harper

Jaha - Jaha was a character who did go down a sort of cult path. It probably would have been easy to kill him off in season 3 as a result of that. And if it had been a high stakes, last resort, have to kill Jaha to get to ALIE to save everyone, I could have respected that. But they didn’t. They let him survive that. They let him see the error of his ways. He spent season four determined to save his people from what he helped to unleash. He didn’t do it in the right way but even then, finally, in season 5, he was redeemed a bit, helping to maintain the peace in the bunker and helping Octavia gain control. And he had Octavia and Marcus and Abby there at his end. It was fitting. He got to say his goodbyes. 

Monty and Harper - I was very sad to say goodbye to them but they went out on their own terms. They got probably the happiest ending out of anyone on this show. They got to live their lives how they chose and be together and having a son. And they did all of that while finding a way to give their friends, their family, their people a fresh start. And they got to say goodbye, albeit through video, but it was touching and lovely. 

Season 6 - Shaw, Kane and Abby

Shaw - Shaw was another one that was killed off because he had another show, which is fine. It sucked for Raven and it was sad the character only got one season. Although considering the seasons that followed, I think he should count himself lucky really. But again, he died helping out his friends and Raven. It was a sacrifice and he knew what he was doing. 

Kane - Again, another person who had other commitments. And they did some weird body swap stuff to extend his time a little longer. But I loved that they had actual Kane there at the end anyway to say goodbye to Abby even if it wasn’t really him that she was seeing. It was a nice touch, and a better way to say goodbye to the character. He also chose to let go. It was on his terms and he got his goodbye with Abby. And there were good parallels to floating both men she loved. 

Abby - I’m not fond of the way they killed off Abby since she was basically dead once they took over her body. So that was unfortunate. But at least prior to the body swapping, she did have that last scene with Clarke where they kind of reconciled. And if I recall, she had some last moments with Jackson and Raven too. And those matter. 

Season 7 - Diyoza and Bellamy

Diyoza - By season seven, I’m honestly kind of over major character deaths. I don’t really want them. I just want to see these characters that I love survive all of the trauma of the show and find peace, but I understand that I’m never going to get that. It’s fine. I was sad to see Diyoza go, but her sacrificing herself for her daughter, for the people who became her family, kind of “for all mankind” to use a phrase I hate now, was a fitting way for her to go out since she was introduced to us as a terrorist. And she got to say her goodbyes. This is clearly an important theme for me. 

Bellamy - And then we circle back to my rage. Bellamy kind of took the path of Finn in a way, or perhaps his season 3 arc, which he didn’t really pay for so much. Not the way Finn did anyway because all of a sudden Blood must not have Blood. Plus, Pike was the rightful scapegoat for all of that. But this season saw Bellamy get caught up in yet another man’s bullshit idea of what was right. That was frustrating enough, but I guess it was somewhat in character. It’s just all the more frustrating because the Second Dawn/Shepherd nonsense is just that, nonsense. His sudden anti grounder status in season 3 were motivations that made at least some sense. He’d been fighting them since day one basically. They betrayed them at Mount Weather, which meant they had to kill everyone there, which meant he lost Clarke. And then Echo’s betrayal killed his three episode girlfriend, Gina. Plus Pike was a man he’d respected on the arc. The motivations always felt fairly thin to me since Gina was so minor, but overall, they make sense. 

This season has been all over the place. The storylines have been mostly nonsensical. The nature of the different timelines meant that there were many episodes where we had to backtrack to fill in gaps, which meant the story was basically at a standstill for the whole middle of the season. We have zero sympathy for Bill and his cult followers. They’re not interesting. The Mount Weather people were brutal and doing terrible things, but I understood their need to survive. These Second Dawn people don’t have that same motivation. They’re fine. And so much of it is driven by the flame, which Bill wants for selfish reasons along with the stupid key code. He wants to know if there’s any of his daughter in there, which goes against all his teachings and what he’s trying to suck Bellamy into. And all of that is really just to set up a spinoff no one is going to want to watch at this point anyway after all of this. It’s kind of insulting. 

And we see all of this Bellamy development in one episode late in the season and then he just betrays all his friends and family. He only shows the slightest hint of questioning. He just flat out tells Echo she doesn’t matter more than the cult. He doesn’t even have a scene with just his sister. He gets one good scene with Clarke but then is like “eh torture her it’s fine”. And then we get to this episode, where he barely interacts with his friends that he’s with. They spend most of the episode rolling their eyes at him and mocking his clothing choices. They set up the stupid sketchbook in a rushed little scene with Madi and Clarke just so in the last thirty seconds Sheidheda, who my god should be dead now (Indra I’m looking at you), can say “hey check out that book”. And Bellamy picks up this book that we’ve seen like once or twice earlier in the season that was fairly inconsequential then. We don’t even fully understand what’s in it that’s so crucial that Bellamy can’t show Bill. And that’s what Clark shoots him for? Really? And shoots to kill? Which was highly unnecessary to get her hands on that book. And then she didn’t even take the stupid book in the first place. 

So Bellamy Blake, main male lead of the series, hero and leader to his people, gets murdered by his closest most trusted friend, his person, without getting to realize that the cult stuff was bullshit, without getting any chance to redeem himself, for a book that really doesn’t even seem to matter. And he dies alone. None of his family or friends are around. No one is reciting the may we meet again speech. He never got a final scene to reconcile with his sister. He never had any real final moments with anyone else. He just disappeared in the first five minutes of the premier, showed up eleven episodes later, a brainwashed cult follower and that’s how he died. That’s frankly bullshit. And a massive disservice to his character, to Clarke’s character, to the show. And the fact that they barely had Clarke try and shake him out of his brainwashing. The fact that his friends just mocked him instead of trying to help him. It’s just not what this show was built on. It’s not. It’s one absurdity after another. It’s insulting. 

And the fact that every other character I’ve listed here at least got something, some kind of minor positive to their passing but Bellamy got none of those things?! Not fighting for a cause or a people the audience is rooting for or siding with. And no final goodbyes with the people he loves. Even Clarke only did her crying once she went through the stupid portal. I’m just mad. I should feel devastated by his death, but at least feel like he died for something. He died for nothing and that’s the saddest part of it all.  

[wholehevrted]

{ nonbinary, they/them } ❝ I was only misguided—promise I was misguided. ❞ huh, who’s ARIELA BARER? no, you’re mistaken, that’s actually LYSANDER SCAMANDER. they are a 22 year old MUGGLEBORN wix who is AN EMPLOYEE IN THE DEPARTMENT FOR THE REGULATION AND CONTROL OF MAGICAL CREATURES. they are known for being UNFORGIVING, CYNICAL, SARCASTIC, ARGUMENTATIVE, and SELF DOUBTING but also EMPATHETIC, HARDWORKING, RESILIENT, DECISIVE, and OUTSPOKEN, so that must be why they always reminds me of the song Liar (I Ain’t Calling You A Truther) by Carly Cosgrove  and SWEATERS A SIZE TOO BIG, CLAY DRYING UNDERNEATH FINGERNAILS, MUTED WARMTH FROM SUNLIGHT FILTERING THROUGH LEAVES, WOOL BLANKETS PILED HIGH ON THE FOOT OF THE BED, AWKWARD LAUGHTER IN A QUIET ROOM, SWEATY PALMS WIPED CLEAN ON FAMILIAR FABRICS, BRITTLE SMILES THAT FEEL FORCED. i hear they are aligned with THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, so be sure to keep an eye on them. 

Good morning y’all (though it’s almost noon my time so like.......nevermind I guess. Here is a lil intro to my sweet disaster child Lysander who is Trying Their Best. 

biography

-Lysander was born to a Muggle couple in the suburbs of London, and from a very young age, they knew that there was something different about themselves. Their parents saw it too, the  things that occurred that they couldn’t explain: toys coming to Lysander from across the room, items that they swore were different colors, the way their favorite stuffed animal seemed to grow with them over the years. It made their biological parents uneasy, and the relationship between them and Lysander was never a good one. 

-When Lysander was 8, they had a magical outburst dramatic enough to warrant a visit from Obliviators, and upon learning the truth of the world their child would one day belong to, Lysander’s parents begged the strangers to take their child away; it was too much for them, this idea of magic, and the two of them would rather forget they ever had a child in the first place. 

-When Lysander arrived at their new home with the Scamanders, they were scared and distrustful. They didn’t know or understand this world of magic, and all they knew was that they hadn’t been good enough for their family. It took time, months of Luna and Rolf being patient and showing they weren’t going anywhere before Lysander settled. They feel in love with their new family, where even their oddest behaviors were never looked at as anything other than the way things should be, and where there was always a variety of animals underfoot.

-Hogwarts was another adjustment period for them-they always felt a bit other, between their life prior to the Scamanders, being adopted, their status as a Muggleborn, but they felt it all more keenly once they started school. They were slow to make friends and open up, but they were fiercely loyal to those they held close to their heart

-Over the years they had a bit of a tendency to act out-though, usually for a good cause. They were quick to jump into verbal or physical fights to defend their friends, and was an outspoken animal rights activist. They spent a lot of hours in detention and were often described as having authority issues, but they didn’t see anything wrong with their actions.

-They excelled in Care of Magical Creatures and Potions, but it was clear to them from the start what they wanted to do when they were done at Hogwarts. They took a job in the  Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, and have been slowly working their way up in the Beast division. They want to ensure that all creatures are protected.

headcanons 

-they first time they called Luna mom was a year into living with the Scamanders and they had found an injured animal and ran home screaming for her, calling out “Mum! Mum! You gotta help it, you gotta help it!” in a complete panic. They’ve called Luna and Rolf Mum and Dad ever since.

-Ly was a hatstall! The sorting hat debated both Hufflepuff and Slytherin for them, before ultimately deciding on Hufflepuff

-They like to fuck around with art-they do some sketching and painting, but they like to work with clay the most. They find it almost meditative and they tend to just make a lot of mugs and bowls for people they care about

-They went fully vegan at 15

-Ly is.....terrified of heights and hates flying as a result

connection ideas 

-give Ly a roommate!!!

-personally I would love to see someone who Lysander has punched in the face at least once

-friends! exes! rivals! ly’s childhood crush! all of it!