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chynandri · 15 days

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My Thoughts on Ratchet After 14 Years

This is nearly 5000 words of my analysis and impressions of Ratchet as a character (...there are pictures, at least 😃). I can't say I've been interested in any other character for this amount of time so - he truly is special to me. I wanted to externalize all I love and see in him in one post, more for myself than anything as I've held so many thoughts in my head for so long.

This is largely based on my own inferences. I won't bother to make proper citation or anything, it's more of a huge ramble based on me rewatching basically all cutscenes, the movie, and rereading the comics. Almost every year I do a big Ratchet and Clank marathon like this, but I might get some things wrong or skip over some things as I'm focusing on articulating my thoughts rather than being completely comprehensive.

Ratchet's Beginnings

Ratchet’s background is pretty fundamental to all this so let’s establish that first.

I will be basing this post on Ratchet as he is in the original games, but I do want to say that I like movie Ratchet too! I don't think it completely cancels out all my thoughts because imo they captured all the main traits of Ratchet. In one scene he says he wishes to 'matter'... to others, as a person, to the universe? Maybe all three. And that is truly the most concise way to describe what drives Ratchet the most.

But for now all we can do is infer on his life prior to Ratchet and Clank 1. I think it’s not too hard to make some assumptions based on the circumstances or a few lines:

1. Ratchet seems to have fended for himself/lived alone.

2. He is likely self taught on rocket mechanics and general machinery. He has an intuitive understanding of how machines generally work and wings it.

3. He has been on Veldin the whole time and never had the chance to go anywhere else. He also could not afford many things.

4. TV (or Holovision) is the most accessible form of media and likely what Ratchet grew up with, as he is aware of and looked up to heroes like Qwark and Ace Hardlight.

Given these inferences let’s look at how Ratchet behaves in 1. He awkwardly addresses authority figures, is rude to Clank and others - he’s just very blunt and critical of people’s intelligence. And why is that? Thinking of how he had to probably rely on himself first and foremost, having street smarts and situational awareness must be important to him. And that he’s likely not had friends before Clank - he’s not gonna know how to act lol. Besides that, he’s honestly just a Guy and a teenage Guy at that. This is his Very First Time outside of the backwater planet he’s been ‘stuck on’ (his words) and it’s extremely exciting for him. And what is the thing that consistently gets him excited and motivated to do things? Fame.

He loves the idea of being famous, like the celebrities he’s seen on TV and the ones he meets while on this adventure. And while this is a pretty common desire for kids, let’s think about why this is for Ratchet specifically.

We inferred that he probably has been alone up to this point. This means: no friends, no family (the movie also makes Ratchet explicitly say how he had absolutely nothing to his name.) Family as we know becomes a huge part of Ratchet’s character arc later on. No friends or family means no support system: no attention, love, or validation. You see what I’m getting at. Ratchet always responds with pride and excitement when others praise and recognize his actions - puffs up his chest and grins, it’s very goofy and all. But you have to consider how he likely just did not receive this validation much prior to 1. Now he’s doing all this stuff and getting recognition. This is how he ends up acting very selfish and self absorbed, the most prominent character flaw of his. In his eyes, Clank’s insistence on him seeing the bigger picture is just not as important as all this sudden attention and new experiences that finally validate his pretty lonely and insignificant existence.

And let’s consider that Ratchet and Clank are not even really friends until the end of the game. For the most part, they are useful to each other in their goals. When Clank claims that it ‘isn’t like Ratchet’ to not care about what’s at stake, Ratchet responds with ‘and what do you know about me?!’ - and it’s true, what DOES Clank know about Ratchet, or Ratchet know about Clank? Clank, too, hasn’t had a long time to exist yet and this is his very first friend. But he does have a natural charisma and strong sense of morality - which leads me into some more core aspects of Ratchet’s character and inner conflict.

Ratchet's Struggles

In the first game and onwards, Ratchet and Clank are kind of like rivals in certain things often for a gag. To put it simply - Ratchet has no rizz or game. Clank often catches the affections of both robot and squishy people. He DOES always know what to say without even trying. Clank always does the right thing. And that’s the thing… in these same situations of talking to girls, or making a speech or commercial - Ratchet tries too hard.

Consistently, when put on the spot, Ratchet freezes up and all his bravado is gone. He stutters and stumbles and is just a mess and Clank has to speak for them. Ratchet visibly shows how frustrating it is that Clank has more rizz than him. He’s clearly jealous of how Clank always knows what to say and do and people just seem to like him more. And his pal is the star of a TV show while he’s the bumbling side character who gets fired anyway. Not only is Clank ‘better’ than him, Clank is getting more validation and attention than Ratchet is - the one thing Ratchet has lacked in his life.

But let’s consider the first time a girl DOES actively like and pursue Ratchet - Sasha. The first time they speak is cringe but cute. Sasha is describing the state of the art gaming console on the Phoenix and Ratchet is so impressed he says in a daze ‘will you marry me? 😍’ AND IMMEDIATELY SLAPS HIS FACE cuz he really was just NOT THINKING. But Sasha doesn’t seem to mind, she goes along with it! I think she can tell he didn’t mean to. And although it’s not been long since they met, her father tells Ratchet ‘she’s said a lot about him’. And… when Ratchet is recounting his fight with the Teranoids, she’s giggling along and very engaged with how he’s acting out his story like the silly guy he is.

And although the first 3 games occasionally emphasize how heterosexually interested in girls Ratchet and Clank are based on Ratchet’s comments about girls - when Sasha kissed him he’s just… quiet and bashful and has no smartass ‘cool guy who likes girls’ comments. He obviously has no experience or idea of what really goes on with girls or relationships lol. If you think about it - has he even really tried to like… flirt? He’s all talk about it, but doesn’t seem to put it much into action. He also associates popularity with girls as a part of fame.

But - he pulled a girl without even leaning into status or fame. What I’m getting at here is: Ratchet didn’t try hard in front of Sasha and she was so endeared to him. She LIKES how goofy and cringe and, in a way, how pure he is. She was probably like ‘can you believe he wanted to marry me just because we got a PS5? Hehehe’ at her dad. He was just his cringe, rizzless self and talked to her like she’s anyone else. We can infer that Sasha, as the daughter of the President, is not used to that and likes it.

But let’s think about why Ratchet feels he’s suddenly got to be a different person when on the spot? He tries to sound cooler and more well spoken (like Clank, Qwark… people on TV!) but he’s no good without a script. In Deadlocked, he even felt like he had to rehearse a bit before calling Sasha (this is why Ratchet’s characterization there is a bit weird to me, when they’re supposed to be more comfortable around each other).

This is all indicative of how Ratchet is not confident in his sense of self - and where do we get a confident sense of identity from? Our friends, family, culture, community. Things Ratchet did not have a lot of before meeting Clank. Ratchet may have asked what Clank knows about him in the first game. But what does Ratchet even know about himself? What consistently gets Ratchet angry and protective is when Veldin ends up in danger. Veldin was really all Ratchet knew for a long time, and we can assume he sees it as part of himself. But beyond that…

This is why Clank is so… so… SO… important to Ratchet and why he could literally be nothing without Clank. Despite Ratchet being mad at Clank’s uselessness and stupidity in the first game, Ratchet is genuinely upset at the idea of losing Clank when lightning strikes him. He awkwardly suggests that he and Clank stick together at the end of the game without directly saying so. It’s his first time having a friend and wanting someone to stick around. In the end… he’s not as independent or self assured as he thought he was.

Size Matters may be a weird spin off game but it did have a pretty important line: after fighting the Ratchet clones, Ratchet tells Clank that these clones weren’t that powerful because ‘I’m not half as good without you.’ It’s a really significant thing to say, and this sentiment echoes all across the games. After all, without Clank’s robot ignition system - who knew how long it would take for Ratchet to get out of Veldin, if at all? Would Ratchet have gotten as far as he has now as a person without Clank?

It’s an admittance of how much Ratchet truly depends on Clank for self worth even if he feels inferior to him - Clank consistently supports, loves, and believes in him despite his flaws. He basically never had this presence in his life. Clank is like his whole support system while at the same time, a source of his feelings of inferiority and jealousy. Although as time goes on Ratchet does thankfully make more friends along the way. Even though Qwark is nothing but trouble to them, I suppose Ratchet still bothers with the guy cuz he’s just that loyal to the few people consistently in his life in some way.

Ratchet's Home

And this leads me to another point. Ratchet’s lack of belonging, identity, and validation ends up having him go from occupation to occupation, world ending situation to world ending situation. In the second game he is markedly different now that he’s got military training and surprisingly (to me) doesn’t question Fizzwidget that much (though the goofy rough parts of his personality still shine through while out in the field). Then he’s the captain of the Phoenix for a while. But overall he’s just kinda unemployed until he’s gotta shoot people and save the world. When given a sense of purpose and belonging he seems serious about it, though how long he has a purpose and group to belong to is relatively inconsistent.

Aside from the meta circumstance that the Ratchet and Clank games needed a new plot, it’s in the Future trilogy where Ratchet started thinking deeper about his origins. As we often have new revelations or thoughts about ourselves and past as we get older, I think Ratchet finally started to realize… there’s quite a big thing missing from his life - which to him was his ‘normal’. Why IS he one of the few lombaxes in the universe? Why did they leave HIM behind? You can imagine the amount of sad thoughts from just asking that question, when coupled with his already shaky sense of self worth.

The way Ratchet acts in Tools of Destruction is interesting. Although he could hardly be qualified as an expert on his own species cuz he’s never even been a part of lombax society - this is something Talwyn does not hesitate to tease him about, which he seems to not take so well. Yeah he gets it, he’s a disappointing representation of his people. And for some reason he acts like the spokesperson for lombaxes when they come under fire by Tachyon. He takes it all SO personally, as if he invented the dimensionator himself. Which then really becomes all about how he’s invented a series of not too successful inventions and sees Clank as someone who doesn’t support him enough. He uses the lombaxes as a way to validate himself: ‘oh, so a lombax can’t invent anything useful?’ he says derisively at Clank and you know it’s not JUST about the lombaxes as a group. Here he is finally finding the reason for why he is the way he is and that his inherited inventive spirit just isn’t appreciated enough. With the way this games story makes Ratchet feel stupid and inadequate at every turn for his lack of connection to the lombaxes, I can see why his worst personality traits jumped out with all his insecurities.

I think Ratchet wanted to lift himself up by association with the lombaxes, to say he IS lombax enough and he knows what it means to be one! Which then made him lose sight of what really mattered - destroying the dimensionator before it breaks the universe and no one is safe. And ironically, when Ratchet realizes this and refuses Tachyon’s offer to see his family, Ratchet embodied the heroism of lombaxes more than when he was trying too hard to prove he was one.

Now put into perspective how Clank fully finds HIS own purpose and origins in this trilogy. I read an interesting YouTube comment on a Size Matters cutscene video that said something like ‘Ratchet is so against the idea of technomites and the Zoni being real, because he always had a feeling Clank was meant for something more and admitting they were real is like losing his friend.’ I thought this was so profound because Clank truly is all he has and could leave him when he’s found his own purpose and family.

Especially since for a while, Ratchet was prepared to do so himself after learning that there is a chance to save his family with the Great Clock. Even if it meant not ever meeting or remembering Clank, the biggest person in his life. But Ratchet's character truly reaches its most mature in ACiT. Instead of reacting negatively to Clank finding his own home and family while having a possible means of fulfilling Ratchet and Alister's desires - Ratchet is supportive and willing to let go of Clank. Because after all, they have to be their own people and Clank has supported him long enough. Just because Clank has found where he belongs, doesn't give Ratchet any right to selfishly keep Clank to himself. I feel so proud of Ratchet in ACiT, as it was clearly hard for him to let go of such an important person in his life. But the combination of what he learned in ToD and from Alister's own life led him to be at his best in this game.

(But come on they're so inseparable there’s no way Clank would be happy without Ratchet either. Because that’s HIS very first friend in the whole universe that gave HIM a place to call home even if it’s just the two of them in a small garage. It’s RATCHET who decided that he wanted to actually be friends with Clank, beyond fulfilling their goals, at the end of the first game. They’re… each other’s home 😭)

Alister represented a major turning point in Ratchet's own definition of himself. And in the end he chose not to be like Alister, to not let his identity as a lombax control his life. Unlike Alister, Ratchet isn't bound to a childhood of belonging to lombax culture and society. And though Ratchet shared Alister's goal for some time, the way Ratchet goes back to rescue Alister when he was captured just goes to show that Ratchet won't think like him. It's just not in Ratchet's character as we know it to forsake the present when up to now he has always, always been about loving and enjoying the present moment and all he could do in it. From Ratchet chastising Clank for not being able to have fun, to being a guardian of all that he loves in the present... it is a beautiful progression of Ratchet's character.

Ratchet so far has been given two chances to finally reach what he thinks should validate his own existence. But he chose to protect the present, the universe he lives in, the people who already give him a sense of self - most importantly, he chose self-determination.

However, he didn't know he would lose Alister with this choice. But it was out of his control, as Alister was too far gone and would act regardless of what Ratchet said. The shock of not only losing someone like family to him, but the sole link to his past and family sends Ratchet into depression and grief. His choice to own his life is not made with triumph as it should've been, but with deep regret and fear. From this point on he truly has a different vibe to him. His energy is dimmed, he gets down on himself more easily. He had his fill of the validation of being a hero, and with Clank choosing to remain with him he's content to retire from it all and try to go back to the things that defined him from the very beginning.

And exactly so as in the comics he went back to Veldin and being a mechanic. Though Ratchet seems his usual, careless self the comics reveal the huge amount of underlying emotions Ratchet has been struggling with in the aftermath of ACiT. The comics have Ratchet going through an utterly terrible time, as someone whose mental health is already fragile: Veldin is in danger once again, Clank recklessly kills himself for an hour, and he nearly lost Talwyn for good. Ratchet almost loses the three crucial things that defined him. Talwyn, Clank, and Sasha help Ratchet work through his guilt over what happened and taking time for himself, while also making a point of how self-isolation isn't healthy for him.

And eventually, Ratchet does get back on his feet and involved with his friends again - but not unscathed, as one major issue would still affect him. The pain of loss leaves Ratchet with a deep fear of experiencing, or being the cause of it, again. And this wound would be reopened too soon with Into the Nexus where we see him struggle to cope with losing Cronk and Zephyr on his watch - if the events of the comics weren't enough...

Watching the scene with him hiding in the crate and refusing to come out, the distance between the goofy and prideful kid we used to know and Ratchet as he is now has not felt more evident. Into the Nexus really highlights how Ratchet at this point just wants a secure and permanent place to belong to. Tal is so important because she may really be one of the few people who could understand and relate to Ratchet. Her family is missing too, she’s been lonely her whole life too. She is a link to lombax culture. She was there for him when he lost Clank. They see themselves in each other, and I think the opening scene of this game speaks a lot to how comfortable and perhaps emotionally reliant they are on each other.

It‘s understandable that Ratchet would let go of the pursuit of finding the lombaxes for someone who not only needs him, loves and supports him just as he is - but also someone he almost lost for good. She is also home and his family, even when or if Clank chooses to go back to his Clock duties. Ratchet just doesn’t want to lose anyone else, can’t handle the possibility of losing one more person - so he finally decides to end his eternal search for purpose, belonging, and validation and cling onto his sources of such things that were in front of him the whole time.

But as fate would have it, Insomniac really will drag out this whole finding the lombaxes thing even longer lol. This is the logical conclusion to the Ratchet and Clank story as of now, so Ratchet isn’t allowed to give up just yet.

Ratchet's Heart

WHY I started thinking so deeply about Ratchet’s character is because of how he is in Rift Apart. I LOVE Ratchet and Kit’s friendship so much because it highlights and reveals so much about each other!!! There’s probably a reason why Kit and Ratchet share a colour palette, and it’s because they’re kinda parallels:

1. They’ve let bad experiences in the past control their present and future - but it limits their world as a result. (Interestingly, Alister also let the past rule his life. But he was so obsessed with righting the past that he would endanger the present. Ratchet learned what not to do from Alister, but he kinda ended up being a different version of him.)

2. They’re both afraid of getting hurt and causing hurt - so they avoid it. They both have a tendency to hide away when feeling bad about themselves. They’re both seen as cowardly for this (Vendra and Rivet judging Ratchet for being too scared to find the lombaxes).

3. Ratchet’s advice to Kit when it comes to socializing is ‘don’t overthink it.’ I’d love to make a connection here to how Ratchet would overthink what to say on the spot or overcompensate for himself in the past.

Kit is potentially dangerous and doesn’t know how to be a friend. She’s caused real hurt before. But Ratchet accepts and believes in her, and is adamant about expanding her world, seeing all the good in her, and encouraging her to grow. Ratchet knows what it’s like to not be perfect, to be stuck somewhere, to make mistakes, and be rough around the edges. I believe this is why he is so kind to Kit, providing the validation and belonging and opportunity he would’ve wanted for himself.

And it’s to Kit that he opens up about his anxieties. Ratchet’s true feelings about finding the lombaxes… he’s so… defeated, unsure and doesn’t think much of himself anymore. This was also evident in how anxious he was about the parade celebrating them at the beginning of the game. Yet another indicator of how different Ratchet is now - younger him would’ve loved all the attention even if ‘unearned’ (cuz they haven’t been a hero for a few years). It’s crazy because he’s done SO MUCH and yet - from the way he talks to Kit he still doesn’t feel like he measures up to how great the lombaxes are. Or his parents, judging by his apologetic tone when he explains that his dad tried so hard to keep the dimensionator safe.

And let’s think on this idea of not measuring up - his self worth issues, he’s not exactly a successful inventor, overall flawed and clumsy personality, seems to only be useful for shooting some bad guys, plus not being able to prevent the deaths of some people very important to him - it becomes clear why he thinks so little of himself in comparison to the lombaxes legacy of being brilliant heroes and creators. Beyond the misfortunes that seem to happen around the dimensionator, Ratchet’s problems stem far deeper into his sense of self. So he tells Kit that even if the lombaxes are the perfect family - would they be disappointed in him, or he disappointed in them? He also doesn’t want to lose the life he has now, not when it has finally given him some stability.

But it is Ratchet’s very own kindness and faith in her that allows Kit to turn this issue on its head and address the crux of the problem and reveal the precious thing that ultimately defines Ratchet and his identity - perhaps more than wanting to matter and belong, what he had almost lost over the course of his life up to now.

I would like to say that in a word, Rift Apart is about possibilities. The alternate counterparts of Ratchet’s world and all the implications of it exemplify this.* The Clank sections directly use this word I believe, as he helps Gary fix the dimensions.

*(I don't know where else to fit this observation, but the ways Rivet and Ratchet contrast are somewhat relevant. Rivet, unlike Ratchet, has friends and a group to belong to earlier on in her story - so she doesn't end up falling into the same character pitfalls of being selfish or self absorbed. She and Clank share that big picture awareness. But she's lonely in a different way: having to be strong for herself and everyone else, she's a Ratchet that doesn't know how to be open and vulnerable. I just wanted to point out how cool it is that they considered all this as a 'counterpart' to Ratchet.)

‘Possibility’ is also probably… at the very heart of Ratchet’s character.

One of Ratchet’s defining character traits is his recklessness. He risks too much, takes too many shortcuts, doesn’t think enough when he should. But this is precisely why Ratchet is amazing at the same time. Of course it’s good he grew more careful as he got older. But the big thing to take away from his anxiety about finding the lombaxes and him wanting to stay safe and content with what he has is that - he’s almost lost that crazy and beautiful ability to risk it all and take a chance. Namely, on himself. And it’s ironic because he convinced Kit to risk it all and be friends with him, to go out into the world she’s so afraid of! And this is exactly what Kit points out to him, and expresses her belief that finding the lombaxes will turn out alright for him - even if he still struggles to believe so.

In the way he loves living in the moment, pushing himself to the limits, making weird inventions, pulling off unsafe stunts, throwing together scraps to fix and modify things against better judgement, trying to beat the odds, befriends strange little robots that are just as odd as him - Ratchet thoroughly, intrinsically embodies possibility. If you have nothing to define you, then you have so much freedom to define yourself. And that has been Ratchet’s whole life. Being able to not only think of all that’s possible, but being brave and silly enough to try to achieve them - that in itself, is an extremely valuable gift.

Ratchet is just not the same anymore because he is scared to be and act on what is the most natural and fundamental to him as a person - lest it lead to immense pain and loss. And as I have established multiple times in this post: Ratchet is at his best when he allows himself to just be… himself without pretense. Perhaps Clank knows or doesn’t know this, but he took it upon himself to try to help Ratchet find what makes him whole and himself again. Because the people around Ratchet can see that him completely giving up on what is in his heart would be truly sad and a loss to the universe he loves so much.

Ratchet and Clank were always meant to keep expanding their universe and themselves! That is the very spirit that propels this franchise. And by the end of Rift Apart, and even if Ratchet is still scared - he’s going to find the lombaxes, scared. He’s not going to give up on himself anymore: just as he didn’t want Kit to give up on herself, didn’t want Rivet to give up on Kit, and how Clank never ever gave up on him, believing in the possibility of him being a good and worthwhile person from the very start.

I feel really optimistic for Ratchet and wonder how they will (possibly?) end his character arc in the next game. I’m deeply grateful that Insomniac still cares about this franchise, and cares about Ratchet as a character so much. It truly is a unique privilege, I think, to see one character’s story develop and grow and change over a decade. I love Ratchet and all he is and represents so, so much.

#ratchet and clank #chyna writes too #it’s been such an emotional journey rewatching all r&c stuff this time #i dont know if this is well written or cohesive but it's what's in my brain and in my heart 👊😔#if anyone DOES read all 4882 words - CONGRATS AND THANKS????

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alltheboysandgirlsiloved · 6 months

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So I've been trying to get a gist of post-time skip Ben based on Chaos Theory trailer (obsessed again? wrong, I never stopped being obsessed), and I feel like I can optimistically assume that his personality will make sense for his character development that we've seen in Camp Cretaceous.

I made a post about it once but to sum it up shortly:

season 1 Ben is a boy who was clearly raised in some sort of bubble (a different bubble than Kenji) - he is scared and anxious (not just regarding dinosaurs); at the same time we get hints that he can be very passionate and has a sense of an adventure (he's just scared to cross the line). Season 2 Ben experienced a massive traumatic event, to put it nicely, his personality was put into a blender which was then turned on and left unsupervised for several days. His season 2 jungle boy persona, while still consistent with the traits showed prior (as mentioned - Ben was both passionate and adventurous before - he was just too shy to act on it), is mostly a result of a severe trauma; meaning his personality feels more extreme because he had to rely on extremes to survive. Season 3 Ben is one of the most interesting "forms of evolution". The trauma is still fresh but at the same time Ben tries to think beyond it – wants to make decisions based not on "fight or flight" response but on his own feelings on the matter, it's very interesting but in this season - though not visibly - he slightly reconnects with season 1 personality (slightly) for example by considering advantages and disadvantages of his actions (leaving Nublar or staying) (it doesn't apply to every situation which is actually quite perfect because at this point he is still pretty damn traumatized). Then we have season 4 which is actually very important for Ben's character arc because, for the second time, he loses his footing - Nublar was wild but familiar, Nublar was 'never without Bumpy'. Mantah Corp Island is completely new and Ben is forced to reestablish what actions and behaviors are going to pay off in this environment; ironically enough, I think that the distance from Nublar is good for him - Nublar was also the environment where he got traumatized, personally I think that the island could, to some extent, prevent him from healing. And ofc, season 5 - Ben shows clear signs that he is going to evolve as a person; he mellows down not because he gets soft in a bad way but because he recognizes that he doesn't always have to be a knife. At the same time, he is not hesitant to strike if the situation calls.

So, now let's take a quick look at Ben in the Chaos Theory trailer. I noticed four traits that we can spot in that short clip:

He has that sort of shy-silly boy charm to him. A subtle mixture of bashfulness ("hey Darius," his voice is amused but he also sounds a bit apologetic). That is something that especially shines through his character in season 1

When he needs to be serious - he is ("Someone is hunting us"). This is such Ben-thing to do, especially in season 4 and season 5 Ben – when he is learning how to distinguish between a real danger and something that doesn't require setting the world on fire.

He gets slightly panicky sometimes ("before it's too late!") which is a fantastic news because trauma really messed up Ben's sense of danger and it's just good to knows that he feels fear like a normal person (yes, when someone is hunting you for sport, I guess everyone would be a little bit panicky)

From what I can tell - when the situation calls he does display signs of recklessness - notice how he's driving the car. Notice how Darius is visibly not impressed with Ben behind the wheel. Now, sure we can't tell whether someone (something?) is chasing them at that exact moment but either way - it seems that Ben is in a hurry and, excuse me but, he does not give a flying fck about safety on the road (which is! funny considering how he was driving the gyrosphere in season 1)

So yeah, overall, I think that we are going to get a nice continuation of Ben's character arc in Chaos Theory. I certainly hope so because watching Ben grow as a person was one of my favorite aspects of Camp Cretaceous!

Ah, and also... I really hope that at some point in Chaos Theory Ben will do something unhinged out of nowhere and the rest of the campers (because we will see all of them - I don't doubt that) will look at each other, nod, and say "ah, yes, that's our Ben"

#jwcc #camp cretaceous #jurassic world camp cretaceous #ben pincus #jwcc ben #jurassic world #jurassic world chaos theory

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inbarfink · 1 year

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I already talked about, like, the Obvious Symbolism of Simon reaching his lowest point literally dressed like the Ice King and then gradually gets back to his old outfit as he starts climbing out of his depressive spiral, at least somewhat.

But it’s also really interesting, maybe even more interesting, how Fionna’s outfit has been gradually shifting and changing with basically every adventure.

My first thought was that it really shows Fionna coming into her own as a character. The more she grows and also the more character development she gets - the more the audience learns to see her as more than just Girl Finn - the more her outfit moves away from just being a slightly girlier version of Finn’s classic look and into being its own thing.

Because Fionna is her own character.

But my second thought was more about the first time Fionna’s classic outfit got an update in this series.

This wouldn’t really relate to my first reading, since it just kinda makes her outfit closer to Finn. But it does relate to the most important Theme that her character arc revolves around - Fantasy versus Reality.

Fionna starts out the story interacting with the idea of magical adventure and heroism via the lens of fantasy. She compares everything to video games and just thinks about everything in terms of it being cool and fun and she literally tries to chase down a person from her dreams.

And her mindset was probably only reinforced by discovering she was literally created to be the Main Character in God’s little fantasy universe literally created out of self-indulgence for his silly little stories.

And because of that, she starts out the story with a huge Protagonist-Centered-Morality blind spot where she can’t recognize when she and Cake are in the wrong

And she rushes into action and violence just thinking it’s ‘cool’

And, like, in general acting without thinking of the consequences.

And at basically every step of this adventure, these kinda actions clashed against the reality of her situation. And it all started when she pointed out to her own creator that the outfit he designed for her is cute - but extremely unrealistic for an adventurer like herself

And from there we move to Fionna experiencing more and more of the harsh consequences of assuming everything should fit into her fantasies of heroes and villains

And that she should punch first and ask questions later

And in general that it’s always better to trust her guts over her head.

And with every one of her experiences, the bright and adorable outfit that is a reminder of her origin as God’s Most Self-Indulgent OC gets tweaked in more way - turning it into something that looks a lot more, for the lack of a better word, gritty. And also turning it further and further away from the outfit of her own literal fantasies.

And all of these horrible traumatic experiences and the general dangers of the magical and very different world she’s in have all weathered down Fionna’s original optimism and eagerness and brashness that originally defined her and turned her terribly overprotective and scared instead. And it really reminds of how Simon’s own trauma weathered him down.

Turning him from a kind man with a passion for adventure and the fantastical and a powerful parental instinct to a miserable jerk who aches for mundanity and made a little girl cry

Until he got to his very lowest point.

So I’m guessing next up for Fionna is getting to see her regain some of her old identity that the Trauma has been tearing away at - getting back some of that cheerfulness and brash attitude and adventurous spirit. Because while it has put herself and her teammates and others in serious troubles - it’s also been a huge help at other times (especially as she's a good counterbalance to Simon ‘slow but dependable’ Petrikov)

She needs to find the balance, learning the lessons from her multiverse adventure without losing all the things that made her Fionna Campbell in the first place.

And I wonder if this development is gonna be paralleled with a return of some of the more ‘classic’ elements of her look - or if her outfit is instead going to diverge farther?

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demaparbat-hp · 8 months

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The issue is that you’re always giving Katara the bare minimum of her culture. In your AUs, she can’t have both a betrothal necklace and hair loopies - she either has to have one or the other. I couldn’t even tell that it was Katara in your Lee and Kya AU. I thought it was Jin.

I think it’s wrong to assume that anyone who has an issue with your Fire Nation Katara AUs are automatically jealous and bitter Zutara antis. Even having read all the context, your portrayal of Katara in the Hunters AU along with the caption makes me uncomfortable as a woc.

I know it seems like I'm always putting Katara, in specific, in an uncomfortable position. Maybe I am.

I love to explore what situations like those—being forced to hide who you are, always a foreigner, holding on to a single remnant of your identity (and doesn't that sound like Zuko?)—do to a character. I don't always get it right, but I don't think there is a right way to do it.

These are extremely sensitive subjects, I know, and they are important to me, too.

It is never my intention to make anyone feel uncomfortable with what I think or how I decide to express it. I'm genuinely sorry if I made you feel that way.

I love these fictional cultures. I love these characters. And I don't want to "give Katara the bare minimum of her culture", but putting her in a position, within the AU, where she is forced to have only said bare minimum has consequences that I feel compelled to explore. Not only with Katara, but also with Zuko, with Aang, with Iroh, with Sokka... They are all different characters and react to these issues differently, and that's so interesting to think about.

The Southern Water Tribe culture is dying. Katara's culture is dying, and my stories' intention is not to finish the kill—I want to see how, despite every single obstacle thrown in its way, Katara's culture survives. And if I have to let her keep only her necklace to do so, then so be it.

On the other hand, I never thought of you as an anti, nor was it my intention to treat you, or any other anon, like one. You have been nothing but respectful so far (am I right to assume you're the one who asked about Katara's cultural identity in the first place?), and I would be a hypocrite to demand said respect without giving it in return.

Antis are rude. Antis are spiteful. Antis mention colonizers and woc and domestic abuse without caring or knowing about what they're talking about. Antis tear you down to feel better about themselves.

I refuse to treat anyone like an anti unless they give me reasons to do so.

You are not an anti. You are a person who has legitimate concerns about how I tackle sensitive issues in my AUs and artwork. You disagree with me, and you state your reasons for doing so, because these themes are important to you, personally.

I don't expect anyone to readily agree with me on anything. My opinion is my own, with all the conflict and trouble it may bring me. But it is mine, and I will defend it. However, I'm also self aware enough to recognize when I'm wrong, and when I'm treading on dangerous ground.

Someone once told me I'm as neutral as a wall. They meant it as an insult, but I guess they're right.

Judging everyone for the actions of a few is not really my thing. I have only come across one single anti so far (fortunately). I'm not about to get on the defensive and start attacking everyone. Unless they deserve it.

#dema answers #zutara

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nightcolorz · 2 months

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Daddy wants 2 hear ur thoughts on Armand’s relationship with lestat ‼️if you don’t I will aggressively butt fuck you and spank you like the naughty little boy you are

Xoxo -TOTALLY not your favorite boy toy Edward

(Also I imagine someone already asked you this cuz ur so hot and popular so u don’t have 2 answer if u already answered someone else’s ask about it)

Edward I instantly recognized ur sexy voice and I pissed myself cuz I was so eager to answer ur ask 🥹❤️. I love how ambiguous this prompt is so I can talk about whatever I want 😈💦💦. I sure do hope my answer is sufficient so that u won’t butt fuck me and spank me bcus im a naughty boy who needs to be punished 🥺

uh anyways. Armand and lestat !! They r my favorite ship in the vampire chronicles ssh don’t tell anyone. Devils minion is a very, very close second. By nature of the polyamorous blood orgy dynamic of all of the vampire chronicles characters, all of the main cast is in some way deeply in love with every other member of the main cast. The great thing about this is that every character has the capacity to have a deep and important romantic and sexual connection with any other given vampire, regardless of how many deep and romantic connections they may have. But even with all this in mind, in my opinion, out of all of the loves of his life Lestat has had, I’d argue that Armand was the most significant. By this I mean their relationship is fundamental to literally every relationship Lestat has had there after and the vampire chronicles literally wouldn’t have happened if lestat and Armand hadn’t become insanely psycho sexually bonded for a little bit in 1700s Paris. Even tho Lestat and Armand never end up as “endgame” bcus they r 100% incompatible and their love is less like an affectionate desire to be with someone and more like a virus they can’t control, I think that Armand is always going to be lestats “soulmate”, in the sense that if any pairing in the vampire chronicles is destined to always find each other in every universe, it’s lestat and Armand. I mean this incredibly derogatorily btw.

Armand and lestat remind me of Batman and the joker, they r like in universal unable to exist or be completed without the other while simultaneously hating each others guts. The great thing about that is that they also genuinely like each other despite the hatred and betrayal and see each other in a very affectionate, human way that isn’t common for either of them. But lestat and Armand require each other in a way that I perceive as very cosmic. I love the concept of two characters who hate each other very much being bound by some force that compels them to care for each other. And that’s lestat and Armand to a tea. They are very brothers to me, Cain and Abel but if Abel is immortal and gives cain wedgies and affectionate punches on the arm after Cain kills him for the one billionth time. Can’t have a cain without Abel, rlly.

Lestat will always forgive Armand for anyway he betrays or wrongs him bcus he is connected to Armand in a way that he is with no one else. They sort of fulfill this primal desire in each other that is impossible to get from anyone but each other. Lestat sees Armand in a way no one else does. He basically has had Armand’s entire life’s story and whole self inserted into his brain by Armand in magnus’s tower, and he ends up knowing Armand in his entirety and being like “well what a pathetic little fuck. How embarrassing.”

It’s important to Armand and to lestat that they both see and understand each other in their entirety and the feelings they come away with are “wow. Ur so gross and weird. But I like u anyway.” Lestat and Armand both have problems with having their identities romanticized or treated like mythological tales to the point where they kind of can’t perceive themselves in anyway that’s normal or comforting. Lestat has his issues where he acts like he’s a doomed god who’s every action and step is some sort of thematic representation of evil, and Armand has been told since he was a child that he’s not human and hes unable to be like humans or even be like any vampire who understands what being a human means. So I think to the both of them, having someone who understands them so intimately, and perceives them just as that jerk nasty they can’t help but like is so important. Who else would ruffle Armand’s hair but lestat? Anyways

most of Armand’s hatred for lestat comes from a place of expecting him to be more important then he is. Lestat takes away Armand’s divine purpose, and then he’s like idk what u want from me I’m like 20 and stupid. Lestat is just as lost as Armand is, and neither of them can give each other the guidance or support in immortality the other is looking for. they r both just kids who have been abandoned who happened to wander into each other on the street. And I think that, ultimately, this what lesmand is all about. While lestat and Armand both have amazing relationships with other characters that define who they r in unique and interesting ways, lesmand breaks them both down to their barest essentials, it strips them of the glamor into smth dirty that they both can’t help but see in each other and love.

in conclusion #lesmand for life!!!thank u sexy for sending me this ask mwah

#armand #tvc #the vampire chronicles #iwtv #interview with the vampire #vampire chronicles #the vampire armand #lestat de lioncourt #The vampire Lestat

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sword-dad-fukuzawa · 2 months

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Ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok. So. The Yotsuba Arc.

While there isn't an insignificant minority of people in the fandom who share my train of thought, the two opinions I've really seen throughout my time with these motherfuckers (2017 to present) have been either A) the Yotsuba Arc is the worst part of the L v Kira but because Light became un-evil/they didn't try hard enough to make Lights characterization consistent or B) the Yotsuba Arc is the best part of the entire thing because Light became a precious uwu bean baby. While I can see how both of these opinions sprung from the ground, they are also BOTH WRONG

Allow me to explain:

It's made clear from the start that Light Yagami is not inherently an evil human being; just a judgement-challenged adolescent (as all are) who got kind of excited about the possibility of a magic notebook and didn't really consider the consequences of his actions. He asks himself "if someone dies, would that make me a murderer?" and then dismisses the question outright because "no one will die". While refusing to think through the philosophy and continuing on to test IF someone will die may seem callous (it is) it's not done out of apathy or hatred, just short-sightedness and curiosity (also age-typical. I say this as an 18 year old). We know this because, in the manga, he literally throws up when he realizes what exactly he's done. Also, we know that he never actually had a plan for the death note until AFTER he starts rationalizing away this really heinous, reprehensible act (that HE RECOGNIZES - "those were human lives, this can't be overlooked"), driving the point home. He starts writing names because he doesn't know how to live with what he's done otherwise. We watch him quickly spiral out of sanity (he's laughing five days in, roughly 60 names minimum).

I could elaborate on this as well but the point we're moving for here is leading to the Yotsuba arc.

The writing also goes out of its way to show that Light is not special in this regard. Misa Amane is just as flippant, if not more so, of human life, even though she was presumably a semi-normal, if traumatized, girl (especially considering what we see of her just literally living life through Gelus). Higuchi starts as an un-empathetic greedy business man and spirals into full manic cackling as he's on his way to slaughter likely an entire studio of people. Mikami... well, I really can't say anything about Mikami. He's just like that ig lmao.

On top of that, there's the assertion that the death note is a curse by Soichiro and L. Not literally, metaphorically... like watch the scene... but the point is the exchange has the purpose of philosophically pointing out that killing humans removes your own humanity as well. That's what Kira-Light is missing: humanity.

With that set up in mind, (and that set up is really the only reason we have to care about the Yotsuba arc, it's IMPORTANT), let's look at Yotsuba-Light.

It's at this point in the story that we ascertain not only what the manga/anime considers humanity, but also what it considers fundamentally LIGHT.

What changes with the revival of Light's humanity (take a shot every time I say humanity):

He is no longer willing to purposefully manipulate romantic emotions, and is in fact disturbed by the thought

He strongly values the preservation of human life, look at that scene where he poses as L

I wouldn't say he's more honest, but he's more open. He freely compliments, he fully faces people when they're speaking, (he gets those fuckin doe eyes GOD I wanna eat him), he expresses his emotions including anger, and he doesn't wait to be asked for his opinion, likely out of a desire to participate in general

He is genuinely upset when he realizes some of his hypothetical values align with Kira's enacted ones, because he thinks the method Kira went about accomplishing it was bad

What DOESN'T change (the fun part):

He's a snarky motherfucker (comments towards Ryuk + "that is his specialty" RUDE MY GOOD SIR)

He's damn good at lying when he wants to (all of his time as Kira + talking to Namikawa)

He's fucking batshit insane, Mr I Put A Bomb In My Desk and PUNCHED THE WORLD'S GREATEST DETECTIVE WHO HOLDS YOUR LIFE IN HIS HANDS IN THE FACE S I R

He's fucking brilliant. The loss of his memories does not reduce his ability to keep up with L in the slightest.

He cares about morality. That never changes, just his perception of it.

He is not interested in women

Whatever the hell that antagonistic punch you beat-for-beat dynamic is that he has with L 🤨

The entire point of the Yotsuba arc is to highlight these changes, highlight what exactly we're losing and how far Light is going, without even having to show us flashbacks into his boring past with no antagonistic morally dubious genius detective for him to bounce off of. It's an ingenuitive, inventive, honestly phenomenal piece of character-study stakes-raising writing all wrapped up as actually a huge master plan that eventually leads to Kira's win, and I would kiss Ohba and Obata on the mouth about it if they weren't so misogynistic. It's also why Light is my favorite character.

Also I'd like to point out that Light regains his humanity and is immediately attached 24/7 to literally the least human man you'll ever meet and they're both obsessed with each other, and I don't think the personal consequences of that is explored NEARLY enough. Personally the idea that the perception flips from "the 'good' detective catching the evil murderer and one of them is gonna kill the other" to "the morally-lacking torture-happy detective who is Not Amused by this change and will do his best to reverse it and Mr I Can Fix Him, Oh Wait" is a fairly appealing interpretation of that in that it's so fucking funny

I spent too long writing this and as such refuse to check it over so I hope it's coherent good luck I have a lot of feelings

Turning this ask over in my brain thank you. Firstly I have been made deeply aware of my own mortality because why are you YOUNGER THAN ME!!!!!!!! WHAT !!!!!!! okay. Okay!!!! hahaha. HAHHAHhh...

Secondly. Yeah no I think it’s interesting that Light has teenager level foresight. I personally subscribe to the notion that he does in fact have flashes of “hey wait maybe I shouldn’t do this, this is wrong” but he is actually an olympic gold medalist in cognitive gymnastics so the moments of clarity don’t last for very long.

I really do love yotsuba arc light just because of, yeah, everything you said. It’s light sans the notebook. More importantly, it’s light before he went down “this dark and evil road” (thank you musical soichiro). We really don’t get this level of characterization fuel in a lot of other media, not where a character canonically becomes the guy they could have been without the events of the plot. It’s super fucking interesting and it’s fantastic food. Like. as a fic writer. It’s good to know what characterization bits are set in stone and fundamental to a guy and which ones are circumstantial and can be stretched or reinterpreted. Yotsuba light provides really compelling evidence to this question, as you said. He is absolutely fucking insane and sarcastic and a two faced piece of shit but he’s fundamentally not a maniacal murderer. He has the capacity for it, but not the will.

I really do love!! The yostuba arc!! Thank you for laying this all out lmfao i agree with you 100000% and i am shaking you about it. Thank you for “i can fix him” lawlight as an interpretation. I am rotating it so hard. This was lovely to read :]

#lawlight

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bingoboingobongo · 2 years

Text

cod characters alphabet: gratitude

Characters: Simon "Ghost" Riley, John "Soap" MacTavish, Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, John Price, Alejandro Vargas, Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra, Valeria Garza

Warnings: none

Prompt: Gratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

A/N: god why do u have to make me fall in love with every boy i meet

simon "ghost" riley:

guys let's be honest you do not have to tell ghost to be grateful ever

i mean he is the poster child for not taking things for granted, like he is very aware that nothing is promised and things very much can be worse

he is always super duper grateful for anything and everything that you do for him

literally even just liking him or texting him

he's very conscious that he has a lot of flaws and so he's very appreciative that you don't let them hinder your love for him

that being said, he's not the greatest at expressing his gratefulness

he's not really good at expressing his feelings in general, but i'd say it pains him the most that he can't show his gratefulness to you as well as he would like to

he really wants you to know that he recognizes all the things you do but sometimes it can be tough to do

he'll try to mention it casually or be nonchalant about it

but inside he's positively bursting with love for you

john "soap" mactavish:

alright so soap is sorta half and half

like all of these guys he's in the military and he knows not to take things for granted

but sometimes he can just be a little clueless and so if you're doing something really subtle, don't expect him to notice it right away

now if you're doing something bigger than soap definitely notices

he's very vocal about how grateful he is for you and he'll pull you into a hug and tell you how you're "the best thing to happen to him"

he'll usually try to match your act with an act of his own

whether that be through quality time or a gift or date night

he's also just generally really grateful for you, regardless of if you've done anything specific for him recently

he's constantly telling you how lucky he is to have you and how he'll never find anyone as good to him as you are

kyle "gaz" garrick:

alright so gaz's very observant and so he recognizes all of the little things you do for him

his family raised him to show his gratitude and that's definitely something that stuck with him

so he's very vocal when it comes to thanking you

whenever you do something for him, whether it's big or small, he's quick to tell you thanks as soon as he notices

if you're with him he'll usually give you a peck on the forehead followed by a quick "thanks, love"

or if you're not there he'll text you (or send a voice message) saying thank you

like soap, he also shows his gratitude for you unprompted

he's just thankful that he can call you his and he'll let you know that all the time

whenever you guys are separated he'll do his best to call or text you

and he always finishes out his messages by telling you he loves you and that he's the luckiest person in the world because he gets to call you his

john price:

okay so don't get me wrong price is a very grateful and observant guy

he recognizes all the little things that you do for him and it makes him love you so much more

but he doesn't really express his gratitude explicitly very often

i think part of it just comes from how he was raised and another part comes from him just not really feeling the need to

in his opinion, he expresses his gratitude through his love for you

he's a strong believer that actions are more important than words and so you'll find him showing you his gratitude more than he tells you his gratitude

him lowering the volume of his alarm and only letting it ring once so it doesn't wake you up, remembering how you like your coffee or tea, helping you apply lotion or brushing through your hair after a shower

the little things

that being said, if you tell him that you want him to be more vocal than he will be

he'll always be telling you thank you, how lucky he is to have you, how he probably couldn't get through his day without you

just generally being thankful

alejandro vargas:

okay so alejandro is such a romantic that his heart explodes every time he notices the little things you do for him

again, he knows full well that tomorrow is far from promised and so he wants to do his best to make sure that you understand how thankful he is for you

he's always showing you his gratitude, verbally and through acts

whether that's rubbing your feet after a long day, running you a bath and pampering you when you're going through it, or making you lunches to bring to work when he's home

in terms of how he expresses his gratitude verbally, he does it all sorts of ways

usually in a mix of spanish and english and done so romantically it has you swooning

"you're so good to me princesa, i would buy every star in the galaxy for you"

"you bring so much light into my life, corazón, i would go blind without you"

what can i say he has a way with words

rodolfo "rudy" parra:

okay so rudy's like eternally grateful for you, like you can't even verbalize his love for you

for one he didn't even think he had a chance with someone like you and so he'll never stop being grateful that you gave him a chance

but the thing is, rudy's a little inexperienced in the relationship department and so he can be a little oblivious to the little things

he'll notice it eventually, but it might take him a little while to notice that his towels are always warmed when he gets out of the shower, or that whenever he texts you that he had a bad day there's a meal waiting for him when he gets back home

don't worry though, because he can recognize the big gestures pretty easily

when he does express his gratitude for you, he's very insistent about it (but not in a bad way)

he really wants you to know just how much he's grateful for you and he'll twist himself inside out to do so

he might not have the best way with words but he'll get his message across through sheer eagerness

he'll also do his best to show you his thankfulness through his actions

making you dinner, buying you little trinkets that remind him of you, running to the store in the middle of the night because you said you were hungry

valeria garza:

okay so valeria's very observant so she definitely notices all the little things that you do for her

but like ghost, she's not the best at vocalizing her gratitude to you

but just because she's bad at vocalizing it doesn't mean she's not grateful, because she definitely is

she knows how hard it must be to put up with her and love her, especially because of her career

but you do it anyways and that really does mean the world to her

she'll show you her gratefulness in her own little way though

it's very subtle and you might not even notice it, but she'll try and protect you from danger

she'll tell her dealers not to sell by your work, hire people to watch the streets on your commute home so you don't get attacked

very small things that you might not even notice

when you're asleep, she'll whisper how thankful she is for you while she strokes your head or your back

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khaire-traveler · 2 years

Text

Is it the gods, an imposter/trickster spirit, or your own trauma?

The reason I am choosing to make this post is because I've seen an increase in the trickster/imposter spirit talk in polytheist and pagan spaces, and I feel like I have some personal experience with this that may be helpful to share with others. Whether you agree or disagree with me is entirely up to you, and I am not trying to force anyone to follow the same belief system as me, since we all have a different truth, but I wanted to share my take on things in case it can be useful to someone, so without further adieu, here we go.

I feel like there is a serious problem within pagan spaces of individuals projecting their personal traumas onto gods.

I'm just gonna outright say it: this is a very real problem within the pagan (and the polytheist) community. So, what exactly do I mean by this? How are people "projecting their traumas onto gods"?

When I say this, I don't mean to imply that people are doing this intentionally. In fact, I think that 99% of the time people are doing this without realizing it. It takes a serious level of self-awareness to recognize when one is projecting traumas onto a situation, and in my experience, therapy often aids significantly in making these types of discoveries; once you recognize it within yourself, sometimes you can also recognize similar behaviors in others (do not diagnose anybody with anything, though, or assume you know everything about them and their life).

Personally, I have done a lot of self-reflection and have become very aware of behaviors and experiences I've had in the past where I've projected my trauma onto the gods. For a lot of these experiences, at the time, I thought I was going through a situation with imposter spirits or "deity drama" (experiencing some kind of major drama with the gods), but looking back, I have spotted several underlying patterns (I suggest always looking for underlying patterns within your own situations; are your situations often very similar to each other, and do they remind you of situations from your past) within all of these scenarios - they have always been connected in one way or another, whether it be by the type of things the "gods" or "spirits" are communicating to me (what they are saying) or the type of situation I've gotten myself into with these entities (the type of drama I'm experiencing/how the situation plays out; e.g. it relates to some form of abandonment, hyper-criticism, emotional abuse, etc.).

In order to tell if these things are trauma-related, I've found that stopping and asking myself a few questions has been really helpful.

First, I asked myself, "When was the first time I felt this way in my life?" By that, I am asking myself when I first felt the emotion I'm feeling in the given situation (does this situation feel familiar, does this sense of sense of abandonment feel familiar, does this feeling of helplessness feel familiar, etc.). You'd be surprised how many times the answer to this question in a "negative experience with the gods" has been yes (100% of the time, actually).

The second question I ask myself is, "Would [insert deity name here] actually do [insert problem/bad experience here] to me?" Remember to think very critically about this question. It can be easy to think - especially if you have religious trauma - that some deity would really spend their time focused on "punishing" or berating you in particular, but realistically speaking, would a deity really spend their time tearing you down instead of lifting you up? Would they really spend their time telling you about how awful you are, how disappointed they are, how you're doing everything wrong, etc., especially if this is a deity you have been historically very close with? Why would this deity be upset with you in the first place? Now, sometimes deity DO get upset with us for our actions (and it is important to note that you may not click with every deity you encounter), but even then, keep in mind that deities are extremely mature and ancient beings; they aren't going to treat you in a cruel, or even abusive, manner. If you don't think deities are mature enough to treat and respect you as an actual person, maybe you should examine why you feel this way about them. Do you expect to be treated as less than a person by other people as well? Have you been treated this way in the past? Look for possible connections to your past traumas before completely discounting the idea that these beliefs are entirely unbiased.

With the third question, it's important to think very critically about your situation. "Why would [insert deity name here] treat me this way?" When answering this question, make sure to consider also asking yourself if you expect to be treated this way by other humans; the answer to that can be very telling. Some people also assume deities will treat them a certain way due to a deity's mythos. It's imperative to realize that a deity is often very different from their mythos in reality. Mythology isn't typically meant to be interpreted literally. Most of the time, mythology was there to explain things that didn't make sense to humans at the time, such as the seasons changing or the sun moving across the sky. Of course, that wasn't the only purpose of mythology, but it was one of the many. Along with that, deities were often paired with the cultural values of the time, such as Hades kidnapping Persephone being a common practice in ancient Greece when "taking a wife" or Zeus giving Persephone's hand in marriage without telling Demeter or Persephone first (fathers were seen as having the right to marry off their daughters, with or without consent). Consider the cultural context of a deity's mythos before immediately assuming a deity is accurately represented by it. Again, deities are extremely mature and ancient beings, so realistically, would such a wise, knowledgeable, and very mature being treat you in whatever way you think they're treating you now? Why do you think this?

A simple and easy answer for a deity acting out of character that people have come up with is "it's an imposter/trickster spirit", but...is it really? Or could it just be your personal traumas reflecting onto that deity? Do these situations feel a bit familiar to you? Do these harsh criticisms sound like something you'd maybe even say to yourself when in a negative state of mind? How would this spirit know how and when to target all of your deepest insecurities (spirits cannot just randomly read minds, in my experience)? Would it even be worth it for a spirit to impersonate a deity (think of the potential consequences they'd face for pretending to be a literal god; if humans were punished for their hubris, just think of what would happen to a spirit)? Would a deity really just allow some random spirit to impersonate them, and if so, why do you think this? Random spirits are not more powerful than literal gods - remember this. Do you think a god wouldn't at least try protect their worshippers from imposters in some way? Why would some spirit pretend to be a god anyway? What would they have to gain from you?

Rather than it being an imposter/trickster spirit "messing with you", could it really be your personal trauma manifesting itself within your mind?

A good example of something actually being trauma, within my personal life, is when I thought that Hermes was permanently leaving my life. After the fact, I blamed my experiences on an imposter/trickster spirit, but when I actually stopped and examined the situation, I realized it was a culmination of past traumas and fears coming to light and manifesting themselves within my mind. I began almost looking for reasons why Hermes would want to leave my life and told myself that he was going to "abandon" me, despite receiving tarot readings, and even some dreams, that were reassuring me Hermes was sticking around. I had constant nightmares about the situation, misinterpreted signs as being negative, and was constantly anxious about Hermes' perception of me. When I reflected on times in the past where I perceived to have been abandoned by others, I realized that this situation was eerily similar to these past traumatic events in my life. I took a step back from the situation, calmed my nerves as best as I could, and reproached the situation with a clearer and more stable mind. Sometimes taking that step back can help significantly in figuring out the true cause of a spiritual problem.

Why are deities so easy to project our traumas onto?

As is everything within this post, this is my personal opinion; you don't have to agree with me.

Personally, I believe deities act as mirrors into our subconscious. They reflect parts of ourselves that we choose to hide from, often to aid in our personal growth. Sometimes, though, they do this unintentionally, and I think it's something that's just inherent in their nature. I can't fully explain it, but it's definitely a phenomenon that I've seen time and time again within both my own practice and the practices of others.

As well as this, deities are intangible beings that we often cannot hear, see, or physically interact with. When you can't hear what someone is trying to say to you explicitly, your own biases and experiences often do the work for you in interpreting what that person is trying to communicate. It becomes alarmingly easy to assume that they're upset with you, randomly leaving your life forever, and so on. Think of a time where maybe a friend didn't respond to a text you sent and you thought they were upset at or ignoring you. When you have existing traumas involving people abandoning, ignoring, or even just being generally upset with you by not interacting with you, it becomes extremely easy to misinterpret the actions of others as something more malicious. It becomes extremely easy to project your past traumatic experiences onto completely unrelated situations and people. This is the same for deities, especially since you cannot hear, see, or physically interact with them.

What should you do if you discover that you've been projecting trauma onto a deity?

Chances are that if you've been projecting trauma onto a deity, they're already aware of it. In fact, they may have been trying to help reassure you or send communicate that the situation is not what it seems. You can find this is signs/reminders that they're still a part of your life, divination readings that everything is ok (despite you thinking or feeling otherwise), comforting dreams featuring the deity of symbols of said deity, and so on. Try looking for these signs and/or messages within your life, and see what you can find.

In rare cases, the deity may have been entirely unaware of the situation. I think, either way, it's best to communicate with this deity and tell them what you suspect has been going on. If you feel the need, you can offer an apology and maybe provide an offering as a way to make amends, but in my opinion, you never have to apologize for experiencing trauma and not knowing how to properly cope with it. Therapy exists for a reason, and trauma isn't something that you have to be ashamed of. Deities are very understanding and forgiving, and more than likely, they're not going to judge you for having potentially projected trauma onto them. In my experience, you have nothing to be afraid of.

If you're still unsure whether you are projecting trauma onto a deity or not, that's ok. Sometimes you never really get a concrete answer. When that happens, my advice is to move past the situation as best you can. You can give offerings to the deity and tell them, "I need to move past this situation with you because it is negatively affecting my mental health and well-being. When I am more stable/feeling better, we can readdress the issue," and take a step back from the problem for a while. It is more than ok to need space and time away from a deity or a situation to focus on your own wellness. If something is extremely triggering or upsetting for you, let your deity know, and take that step back that you need. You can always come back to the issue later, when you feel readier and more equipped to tackle the problem. Sometimes it just takes time for the issue to resolve itself, too. Either way, always prioritize yourself and your well-being.

Conclusion

It's clear that my stance regarding trickster/imposter spirits is simply that they aren't really a thing. This doesn't mean spirits can't be problematic (because they absolutely can), but I just personally feel that spirits aren't pretending to be gods. Spirits can certainly cause issues in other ways, such as messing with divination, causing you to feel uncomfortable/uneasy, or even being generally antagonistic towards you, but I don't personally believe they impersonate gods. It just doesn't seem realistic or worth it to me, especially when considering the fact that there will more than likely be massive consequences for such actions. It's more than ok if you disagree with me, but I'd like to ask that you don't reply to my post with an argument. This post is meant to give advice and share my personal thoughts, not start a debate about the existence of trickster/imposter spirits. To be completely honest, this is a triggering topic for me, but I wanted to make this post because I've seen so many new pagans and polytheists get discouraged or even straight up decline the opportunity to worship deities solely because they're scared of accidentally interacting with trickster spirits, and I want to reassure them by providing an alternative to out of character deity interactions. Plus, I haven't really seen anybody talk about this before, so I figured I'd hopefully shed some light on a topic that isn't usually discussed but is clearly a recurring issue within pagan and polytheist communities.

ANYWAY, thank you for reading this massive block of text! I hope it gave you some insight or at least a new perspective on this issue. Take care, and have a wonderful day/night! May your gods bless you, if you so wish them to. 🧡☺️

#deities #deity work #deity worship #paganblr #personal opinion #helpol #hellenic polytheism #hellenic pagan #paganism #pagan deities

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myguidingmoon-light · 9 months

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“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:7)

No room. That’s something I’ve heard too much lately. Palestinians have been hearing that for 75 years. Since they were driven out of their homes—more than 700 000 of them—in 1948 to make room for the colony of Israel, there has been less and less room every day. Less land, literally, as even though lines and walls have been drawn over the years, Israel continues to illegally settle in Palestinian land. Less room to breathe, as the population of Gaza grew within the illegal blockade walling them into a tiny strip of land. Less room to live now, as Gaza has been under constant attack by Israeli bombs and guns and while the civilians of Gaza are pushed by this violence into even smaller and smaller “safe zones” (though there is nowhere safe in Gaza right now).

But also no room our conversations. No room in our imagination. No room in our understanding of our world of “human rights” and “developed nations.” You’d think “Palestinian” is a slur for how quickly it shuts up (or heats up) dialogue. These are our neighbours, and it feels like pulling teeth to get people to engage with their humanity—let alone ask their MP to ask our government to ask Israel’s government to please stop bombing civilians for the third month straight.

Today we recognize when a Jewish Palestinian family was forced by the state to leave their home, shelter in unfit terrain, give birth without proper medical care, survive a massacre, and become refugees. We Christians call the baby born in that family Emmanuel, which means God with us. God was born in Bethlehem, behind the border wall, in an occupation. What does that tell us about who God is?

Our Christian siblings in Palestine have asked us not to let this Christmas pass as usual. To that, I ask, what is Christmas as usual? If we don’t see our neighbours in the story of Jesus, what is the point? If we need to put the real, genuine injustices of the world out of our mind so that we can be comforted by Christmas, we are frankly doing it wrong. The point—the whole point—is that love and justice are possible for the unloved and the oppressed, even when it doesn’t feel that way. It is our responsibility to make that happen, and we can’t do that with our eyes closed.

You should feel uncomfortable about celebrating Christmas while a genocide is going on. We need to have room for that. We also need to have room for the hope that Christmas represents. We need to have room in our hearts for justice, lasting peace, and a free Palestine, because we are all needed to make it a reality.

And for God’s sake, CEASEFIRE NOW!

“He has brought down the mighty from their thrones/ and exalted those of humble estate;/ he has filled the hungry with good things,/ and the rich he has sent away empty.” (Luke 1:52-53)

I am indebted to Rev. Munther Isaac for his wisdom in helping so many of us walk through this time. Personally, I just finished his book “The Other Side of the Wall”—if you are a Christian, you have to read this book. I’ll buy you a copy if you want.

I also want to note that this post isn’t really supposed to be an explainer or an argument. I didn’t cite anything here, but if you’re curious about anything I referenced (e.g. why did I bring up medical care?), send me a message and I’d be happy to give you more details about what’s happening in Palestine. I’m no expert, but I know some people just genuinely don’t know the extent of the injustice and don’t know where to learn more; if you have questions I’m happy to help, but I’m not here to fight with you.

Same deal if you want to help but don’t know how. I’m happy to give you some ideas and even help you out with them (distance permitting). One important action you can always take is contacting your Member of Parliament. You don’t have to write anything fancy—just tell them honestly how you’re feeling and ask them to support an urgent ceasefire. This is literally your right as a Canadian, so you don’t have to worry about doing something wrong.

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less-than-three-3 · 3 months

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(spoilers) On Miquella, Shadow of the Erdtree's ending and, well, everything

Having just finished my first playthrough, I wanted to write about my whole experience and review of the content, but there is just so much to unpack and, frankly, a whole spectrum of discourse about the story content of this DLC that I wanted to get all of my thoughts on the lore written down first. Plainly, I think people just have it wrong and those who are confused about the choices made just haven't been paying attention. Yes, there is a lot of big lore dropping in the DLC, but a lot of background characterization from main game is kind of being ignored even if it doesn't explicitly foreshadow the choices the characters made. Of course major spoilers for both parts of the game below, play and make your own opinions first before reading. Also this will be a lot so please bear with me.

I won't beat around the bush, the biggest sticking point to, like, pretty much everyone is "why the fuck is Radahn here?" Or, maybe more broadly, what was Miquella cooking, and how did things end up like this when we didn't have any clue about it in the main game?

And this is something you can't really answer in a vacuum, you need to zoom out and look at not just the framing of the whole DLC but of the entire game as whole - Fromsoft's DLC's are always about expanding on and deepening the characterization of the entire game as opposed to being a self-contained narrative, my favorite example of this being the DS2 dlc. So first, let's talk about Marika and Messmer.

Some people have pointed out amidst the noise that this DLC is not just about Miquella but about expanding on Marika and her motivations. This sounds obvious and like yeah it is, but the point is that these two stories are very intentionally woven together. And, without going to deep into the weeds, the big picture of what SotE says about Marika is more or less explaining her traumas that lead to her genocides and oppression. (shoutouts to _7albi on twitter, not sure if they're on tumblr, for a lot of marika and jar lore/deconvolution)

Of course we know about her hatred of Those Who Live In Death, not just a blasphemy to the rebirth cycle of the Erdtree but a cruel reminder of the murder of her Golden Child Godwyn. But now we learn that the hornsents, of the Crucible, tortured and laid waste to Marika's people, imprisoning the condemned in the DLC jars, leading to her hatred of the Misbegottens and Omens and to her son Messmer leading the crucade against the Hornsent. Additionally Messmer (her first son? or at least first child who was cursed by an Outer God?) was likely tainted by the Fell God, which led to her felling of the Fell God and genocide of the Fire Giants. (I think the current theory is that the war against the Fire Giants was also to protect the Erdtree, but I think having a deep personal hatred explains how far she went with it). Check out albi's twitter I linked above for a lot of really insightful posts about all of this!

Of course, this isn't to excuse her actions, and to be clear I don't even think she is a grey character, these are terrible things to have done. It's precisely for these reasons that we, the player, aim to either change or displace the current Golden Order of Marika in almost every ending, and precisely for these reasons Miquella was so intriguing in the first place, as one of the most powerful Empyreans and thus most likely successor to Marika. Deepening Marika's motivations in the DLC keeps her at the forefront of your mind as you engage with the drips of information we get about Miquella throughout the shadow realm. This is incredibly important because it can change how you view Miquella's attempted godhood. He is Miquella the Kind, who has put so much effort into essentially righting the wrongs he saw in the world. He views Marika's rule as injust and oppressive, and I think he recognizes that Marika's intense emotional trauma is the root cause of most of this, which is why he abandoned not just his flesh but his love, his fear, his doubt, and his heart. He seeks to become, essentially, fully unbiased and accepting of all, and compel everyone to do the same. But the major flaw behind this is that compulsion and forced peace without free will is a bland, sterile way to live. Additionally, there is St. Trina who Miquella has split off from, who claims that godhood would also be bad for Miquella, perpetuating the theme in the game of "power corrupts all". Essentially Marika and Miquella's rule would be two flavors of typical SMT Law/Order endings lol. And these parallels are important for the theme that Miyazaki loves of perpetuated cycles.

In other words, Marika's backstory isn't meant to be fully sympathized with per se, but also to showcase the reasonings and flaws in Miquella's judgement. But at the same time, I totally understand the reading of the text that Miquella could be completely right and Marika's backstory proves it - I think this is one of the biggest flaws of the DLC, that you can't get "The Miquella Ending/Mending Rune". I don't think you necessarily need to, like, parlay with Miquella about his plans like some people suggest, I think him being hostile to you makes sense because you are, at face value, Marika's champion and thus Radahn will flatten you at any chance he gets, but not having a ring or mending rune or something to be like "hold on he's got a point" after fighting them off I think is a missed opportunity.

Now I've already mentioned that he is Miquella the Kind, but I think it's also important to note very crucially that while he has a big heart and good intentions he is a major fuck up. This is explicitly clear in the text of the base game, and I think many people don't recognize this. He tried multiple times and failed to cure his sister's curse of rot. After the Night of the Black Knives he tried to call the eclipse to revive Godwyn and also failed to do so (this is also why his consort could not be Godwyn! I don't know why so many people are suggesting this it's literally impossible based on the timeline! and even if we go by the theory that Radahn was holding back the eclipse at that time and after his death Miq could call it, I think it's reasonable to believe that Miquella just gave up on Godwyn because nothing he does works, plus I don't necessarily think this timeline works either). And the Haligtree became a safe haven for the outcasts and oppressed of TLB, his original intent was to have it be another Erdtree and to ascend to godhood that way, and it didn't.

So in this state, after literally accomplishing almost nothing his entire life, it makes sense why his final push is to essentially full send, abandoning everything and using his compulsion powers at any cost to achieve something positive. So I don't think his actions at all ruin his characterization as Miquella the Kind, he's a well-intentioned character whose attempts to fix everything have been completely ruined at every possible step. I would hope that anyone that recognizes this understands how infuriating that must feel. St. Trina, who he has abandoned, begs you to kill him as he is too far gone, but to also grant him forgiveness.

But none of this answers "why make a vow with Radahn, and why did he agree?"

And to be honest, I really think the answer to the former is just that he's fucking strong, and more or less the best available option. I mean, he's held the stars together, he stalemated a literal goddess (and she probably would have died if not for Finlay!), and is essentially the poster child of power amongst the demigods. Having someone of that strength means your rule is untouchable. Remember, Godwyn is soul-dead and Miquella failed to recover him (he was definitely the first choice), Ranni is body-dead and fucking off somewhere else, Rykard is, uh, having a moment, Malenia would be a huge no-no, and Morgott (and Godrick and I guess Godefroy et al.) is a Golden Order loyalist. We'll put a pin in Mohg obviously, though I think we really don't know much about what he does until his involvement with Miquella? I think it's safe to assume that the Omen twins are more or less unknowns to the other demigods due to their confinement, though I don't know when in the timeline Mohg appeared on Miquella's radar.

But hey isn't Radahn also a simp for the Golden Order, Godfrey, and Radagon? He would never agree to be Miquella's consort, right?

Well, here's the thing. Radahn is very much a warrior's warrior, he lives by the blade and lives for the fight. The reason he loves the Golden Order and all of them is because they're awesome strong war heroes, he wanted to be just like them and more. He's essentially a military bro lol. He's not ideologically tied to the Golden Order, and to be honest I don't know how much he even really knows about or cares about the ideology; he's tied to the Golden Order because they're large and in charge.

From Radahn's Armor: "The golden lion is said to symbolize Godfrey, the Elden Lord, and his beast regent, Serosh. From his youngest years, Radahn was naturally captivated by the Lord of the Battlefield."

From Radahn's Helm: "Radahn inherited the furious, flaming red hair of his father Radagon, and is fond of its heroic implications. "I was born a champion's cub. Now I am the Lord of the Battlefield's lion.""

So if Miquella can prove that his rule can be even mightier, Radahn will agree to be his consort. And what military prowess does Miquella have? The Blade of Miquella, Malenia, and her Cleanrot Knights. Malenia's march on Caelid was part of the plan, part of the vow she and Miquella made with Radahn ("If we honour our part of the vow" = the twins). And thus they went to war.

I think people are misinterpreting "vow" to mean everyone is buddy buddy and on the same side. That's not the case. To cite every Souls fan's favorite external media, this is literally a direct parallel to Griffith and Guts: "You are mine". Guts is first inducted into the Band of the Hawk because Griffith bests him in combat, and leaves when he wins. This was their vow.

But what wasn't part of their plan was Radahn surviving. By finishing the conflict in a stalemate, the conditions for the vow weren't met. Only after we defeat Radahn does the plan move forwards. This is why Miquella essentially thanks us for killing his lord brother.

So why is Mohg involved? The vow was handled and conditions met, it's a done deal right? Well yeah, but Radahn's body is literally a rotted mess that made him go insane, and resurrection probably isn't fixing that.

Remember that in this game, there is a good amount of emphasis about the duality, separation, and linkage of body and soul, from of course Ranni/Godwyn and Marika/Radagon but also the twinned knights. It's also apparent, through Ranni, that the soul is the source of supernatural abilities, with Ranni being able to do her witch stuff even with a literal inanimate doll as a body.

So what I'm saying is that if they can stuff Radahn's soul into a healthy body, we can say welcome back Radahn. I don't think the strength of the body matters much, probably as long as it meets some threshold, because Radahn's insane gravity magic can bolster even the weakest of beings, like Leonard! So Miquella just needs like a warm demigod body to compel and essentially die for the cause. Process of elimination alone pretty much leaves Mohg as the prime candidate, but also keep in mind the Omen Twins' arcs, where they have essentially been shunned their whole lives and channel that trauma through different avenues. Morgott is the devout one, believing that he was truly born inferior and needs to work harder and devote and prove himself to the Golden Order to be accepted. Mohg, on the other hand, is lost, and though he eventually finds himself devoting himself to the Formless Mother, Miquella being his beacon of hope and relevancy as a consort gives him direction. And I'm sure he harbors resentment towards the Golden Order which helps. I guess Miquella didn't lie to him about that.

Maybe the timeline is a bit of a stretch but it would make sense that Miquella learns of the stalemate, that's when he gets fed up and just decides to abuse his compulsion to target the mentally weak Mohg, and while Miquella slumbers Mohg steals him away.

This definitely gets muddy when we consider the process by which we stuff Radahn into Mohg, or how we turn Mohg's body into Radahn's. I don't think Miquella has access to the Rune of Death... This is the most handwavey part of this story, and to be honest is my other biggest issue with it. I don't think he needed to look like Radahn if this is the case. Or if there is some process by which this happens, I don't think they've made it clear at all how. Leaving this kind of huge detail as speculation feels like a misstep. Maybe we're missing something, I mean it's only been a week, but to have no leads at all is questionable. Maybe it has something to do with Godwyn's presence in the DLC (that seemingly goes mostly untouched)?

Also, as an aside, I really don't think Mohg is "uncancelled". He was compelled but he still did all that freak shit with Miquella's cocoon. I think we still really don't know what the point of all of that was (though I can stand to be corrected), but much like real life, "he seduced me" isn't exactly an excuse. Apparently this is a hot take. If his compulsion doesn't work on, for example, Golden Order loyalists (which clearly it doesn't, otherwise Miquella's story would be a lot lot different) due to their convictions, that means it is possible to stave it off. But Mohg can't. He is tantalized by some inner desire that I wish not to unpack, and while maybe we can reduce some of the blame, he still has a good amount of it.

But anyways I guess that's my answer to "what the fuck just happened?" There's definitely holes in what we know and probably holes in my theory (though I have tried to steer away from speculation and more towards textual evidence where we have it), but this is what makes the most sense to me based on my reading of the text. And frankly, the things I see most often in the discourse I think a lot of people just missed in the details of the main game (which is fine, to be clear), so I hope if you're in that boat this got your cogs turning more and enabled you to look at these characters from a different lens. Or if you think I'm just spouting nonsense, that's cool too! For better or worse they leave a lot up to interpretation and heavy analysis, so if you have a different reading I'd love to hear it!

#elden ring #shadow of the erdtree

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kitkatopinions · 3 months

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TW: Sucide, toxic relationship, slavery, abuser and victim

My biggest pet peeve with stans regardless of the fandom they are in is always "you would've like female character if they were a man" No. Just stop.

If you want the biggest example of everyone hating on a male character even if they swap genders is none other than GOT Jeffrey.

That spoiled brat has no irredeemable qualities he's just a spoiled stuck up brat who everyone cheered when he died.

HOWEVER im not saying that there ISNT any misogyny towards female character/villains because no matter what fandom you are in there will be misogyny most towards fandom that has a large male fanbase (example Star Wars, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, Assassin's Creed, etc.)

Having a valid reason to hate a female character/villain is NOT misogyny. I hate Neo because the shows wants us to feel sorry for her because she didn't know what to do after Roman's death but are we forgetting an episode ago she DROVE RUBY TO SUCIDE USING PEOPLE SHE KNOW and then she redeemed herself by killing Cat?

FUCK THAT!

Regardless if Neo was a male anyone who drove someone to sucide will never be liked by me or anyone else.

Here's another one Leonora from Castlevanina is hated because she made Hector a slave and saw him as a pet yet she started to develop feelings for him the more time she spent with him. And many people are disgusted because 1) she enslaved Hector and then develop have feelings and 2) because of the obvious power imbalance/relationship of the abuser and victim.

If a character has a trait that triggers the audience or they don't like them for any actions then they can have a reason why they dislike not. I have many female characters that I hate with valid criticism just how much I hate male characters for that same reason.

Yeah, here's the thing, if I actually thought that anti-rwde posters were honestly concerned about misogyny, I would be very sympathetic.

Every single time a piece of media so much as passes the Bechdol test or has a woman that never wears a bikini, there are a bunch of misogynistic idiots and dudebros who hate it or those women. And in the modern day, only hardcore Trump supporters are out here out and out saying that they hate women and are misogynists and that's why they hate whatever it is they're ranting against. People do very much so use perfectly valid (or not so valid) "real criticisms" because they don't want to say the honest truth, or because they themselves wouldn't recognize their own misogyny. Recognizing that just because someone SAYS they hate a female character because of an action that they did doesn't mean they're not a misogynist is kind of important. The guys who harassed the actress of Rose Tico off of Twitter all hid behind 'valid reasons' for their criticism too.

But here's the thing:

1. It's important to be able to figure out what is and isn't actually a sign of misogyny. There's not a precise rule, but you can do things like see if the thing they hate is an exception or the rule, or see if they're hypocritical about their reasons, or see what kind of language people use. If they come around with "brat" "bitch" "cunt" for female characters, that's a red flag at best!! But yeah, ANY criticism of that kind of thing isn't automatically misogynistic. It's like yeah, a bunch of misogynists hated Taurial in the Hobbit because she's a woman and yes they disguised that by claiming it was for other reasons, but there ARE very valid criticisms and complaints about Taurial and you have to be willing to hear out those things instead if just blanket assigning 'misogyny.' Lots of things from Arcane to something as bad as Twilight has perfectly valid haters that are fine, and then also a bunch of misogynists that are going to pretend or really think they have valid reasons. Somone being unable to tell the two apart probably means that person is too close to the situation and too defensive, but these critics don't want to admit that maybe they're wrong.

2. If this was something like Steven Universe, then the defensiveness would make more sense. If it were a well written slow burn with a cast of characters with well rounded dynamics that the writers put work into and the show was about rebels trying to fight the system for a peaceful life and the show had never sexualized the women and there was hard-fought for groundbreaking queer rep and it was created by a Jewish bisexual non-binary woman, and there were mistakes and valid criticisms of the series, but also a lot of unjustified venom of nothing but bad-faith... Then we'd be having a different conversation. Instead it's a show about badge-carrying law enforcement officers, who fight the evil civil rights group from upsetting the status quo, in a show that has tons of things just 'happen off screen,' with a history of sexualizing some of the main female characters, that only recently confirmed any main character as queer years behind the curve, and that was created by and mostly written for by a bunch of straight cis men most of them having said or done misogynistic things. Anti-rwde posters like to pretend that there's no reason why a great completely non-problematic misunderstood stand-up show like RWBY made with love by the totally not at all a part of RT "CRWBY" should be hated, and therefore it must be because of misogyny, but they aren't living in reality.

3. Most anti-rwde posters actually don't really care about misogyny and they aren't actually basing this on - for lack of a better word - good faith. They don't care about Jaune harem fics or the fanarts of RWBY girls with giant breasts in bikinis, and they don't call out the writers or even RT for their bigotry, and they have quite literally Trump supporters that post anti-rwde stuff, but none of that matters. Instead they spend their time harassing a group of mostly queer women for *checks notes* criticizing a show written by mostly men.

So yeah. I've seen misogyny in rwde posters tbh, and I don't think that "I have valid reasons for disliking them" is always proof that there isn't misogyny at play, but the anti-rwde accusations are nothing, because not only are they blind to the flaws of the show and the writers and are unable to recognize the difference between misogyny and just criticism, but also they're only using these accusations as a screen anyway, because they only ever go after rwde posters with it and are unwilling to call out the blatant misogyny in the rest of the fandom, in the show, or in the writers room. I would take this seriously if I thought this was an actual concern of theirs, but it isn't. They don't actually care about misogyny, they just want their show to be above criticism.

(By the way, I've never seen Game of Thrones or Castlevania so I can't speak to it, and also I like Neo a lot lol. XD Personally for me, villains doing bad things doesn't typically blacklist them for me so long as they're entertaining.)

#rwde

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mae-i-scribble · 2 years

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Having recently gone through the beginning of orv bc i adore the webtoon, i really have to be in awe at the amazing way orv presents the character vs person argument in the first third of it’s story. Because I would say up until after the demon king selection arc orv is can be assumed to be an isekai/power leveling fantasy deconstruction. And as and entire novel, it is somewhat, but it moreso encompasses themes much broader than a genre deconstruction, along with kinda throwing out that typical story structure halfway through to do its own thing.

And personally how orv goes about presenting the character vs person argument is not only the best i’ve seen in an isekai context, it sets up a very nuanced interpretation of how kdj sees the “characters” around him that is not just “oh he saw [insert name here] as a character until [some event].” Nor is it “oh kdj refuses to understand the people around him because he only sees them as a character.” From the beginning kdj has been shown to realize that the people around him weren’t simply characters following a script, and out of every character who read the WoS novel, he’s by far the one who treats them with the most humanity, even if his assumptions on their behavior are flawed. I’ll only be talking about the beginning sections of orv in this because while the entire novel build on that character vs person conflict, this beginning section is where it is best presented as a deconstruction of genre tropes. It also is what is responsible for setting the groundwork for those big moments later on in the novel, and without this section of story establishing Dokja’s perspective on the issue those moments would lose their tension.

I’m not really going into this with any sort of proper essay format or organization of thoughts besides for vaguely chronological, so if things are all over the place I apologize in advance.

While orv begins with Dokja sort of “shell shocked” at the novel he’s followed for so long coming to life around him. At this point, he very much treats Namwoon, Hyunsung, and Joonghyuk as characters only. He kills Namwoon out of personal dislike and the belief that Namwoon would never change his psychopathic ways. Hyunsung he admires, making comments along the lines of “i never imagined i would be able to meet his character in real life.” Joonghyuk is a similar story only with far more disdain, because Dokja realizes just what a bastard Joonghyuk is at this point. I do think it’s important to know that while Dokja was ultimately wrong about Namwoon, he was absolutely correct in reading Joonghyuk’s intentions when they first meet on the bridge. So even when Dokja sees novel characters as being ripped straight from the pages, he is not completely right nor completely wrong in his understanding of them as people.

As we are introduced to more novel characters with Jihye heralding Joonghyuk’s return, the most important thing to examine with the character vs person aspect is how Dokja interacts and interprets their actions. And for all purposes, there is not a single difference in how he treats party members like Sangah and Heewon vs Joonhyuk or Jihye. None of how he presents himself changes drastically, regardless of the status of the person. The only thing that changes is the fact that he knows what to say to poke and prod at them in the ways he wants to, whether to motivate, or to annoy, etc etc, because he has such extensive knowledge of them from following their story. And even then, even then Dokja has those assumptions shoved in his face when Joonghyuk occupies one of the hidden safe zones during the 3rd scenario. If he were any less resourceful then that assumption would have cost him his life, and he clearly recognizes it as such. When Hyunsung mentions how it seems Dokja has known him for a long time, Dokja doesn’t brush it off or treat it as a useless comment, he recognizes the weight of what Hyunsung is saying- of what he himself is doing by pretending to be a distant friend while knowing so many details of Hyunsung’s life, and it clearly bothers him a bit. Already, Dokja is moving away from the perspective seeing novel characters as characters only, because from the beginning all the novel “characters” are asserting their agency and personhood.

The next major moments come with the cinema dungeon, first up being the scene when the company is in the titanic movie. When Jihye moves to kill the simulations, saying that it doesn’t matter because they’re real and the simulation is just a character, Dokja is left looking on to think over her words. Again, his perspective is challenged and Dokja seriously considers the implications of such. When they get to the sea battle reenactment, and Jihye breaks down, Dokja doesn’t use his knowledge of her as a “character” to convince her to stand up again. He tells her his honest thoughts, the same attitude he’s shown to Gilyoung and Sangah and Heewon. That she isn’t wrong for wanting to survive. That she cannot atone for her actions with death but must live on. Frankly, I have a hard time believing that such an emotionally charged speech comes from any point of distancing the same way one would if they only considered a person to be a character who needed the right catchphrases.

Concerning the fight between Dokja and Joonghyuk in the cinema dungeon, I actually don’t think it has much to add to this character vs person argument orv is building, but it does go to show that even if it were true that Dokja sees all WoS people as being characters only, that perspective is not without emotion or humanity. Dokja wasn’t simply a reader watching over a story, when he read WoS he was fighting alongside these characters, urging them to keep going, to keep fighting for a better world.

Now, next up comes the most important distinction, and one of orv’s best ideas when it comes to expanding on this character vs person conflict: introducing other readers of WoS. Now Dokja is our baseline to compare to others in similar standing to him, and the results are incredibly telling. The apostles refuse to even acknowledge any novel character as human, let alone treat them with decency. When Dokja confronts them about it, they shrug it off, claiming its sad that these characters don’t even know they’re characters. When attacking Dokja’s station, they target Jihye specifically because she is a character, reveling in beating/humiliating her. This is what it means to only see a character as a character, and it is nothing like what Dokja has been doing.

After that, we get the other brilliant twist that when apostles reach a point past where they read, they become “characters,” complete with acting as if other character have always been a part of the world. This, to me, is when Dokja stops separating the people from the characters. In a world where a person can become labelled as a character under his skill, who’s to say what the difference is? Certainly not Dokja, who even when he did have that distinction changed very little about how he treated them. Now it’s simply people he read about in WoS vs people he did not.

A small sidenote here regarding Sooyoung, while being an author herself, she’s certainly much more scathing in her interactions with who she considers a “character,” and while not quite touched upon in the webtoon, she tends to deny the agency of those she considers characters far longer than Dokja ever did. Although the two of them end up in very similar positions later down the line.

Now, all of this is not to say that Dokja seeing Joonghyuk and co as characters first doesn’t impact his relationship with them, because it undeniably does. But none of that shows in how Dokja treats them, it shows in how he perceives their intentions, most notably with Joonghyuk. But considering that as the sole reason why Dokja does so is to ignore the fact that Dokja is not the best at interpreting any sort of positive emotion directed towards him, even more so in the very,,, roundabout way Joonghyuk goes about showing that he trusts Dokja and regards him highly. He has no idea how high a pedestal his little gang is setting him on despite spending literally all of his time around them. When people like Hyunsung and Sangah mention wanting to get to know him more he’s completely befuddles as to why they would even want to.

Additionally, citing the fourth wall as responsible for creating the distance between Dokja and WoS characters doesn’t hold up to me because the fourth wall creates a distance from anyone and everyone, regardless of status. It lets him perceive all of reality as fiction, not just the cherry picked portions. Thus creating another layer of non-distinction for him- equally distant from everything and everyone, the only person in the world who can see it quite the way he does.

Another argument that can definitely be made in more detail is that Dokja’s understanding of Joonghyuk as a character in the beginning is the key factor in letting their relationship blossom. Had Dokja not known what he does, had treated Joonghyuk in reverence like the other apostles do rather than the bastardy coniving way of his, Joonghyuk never would have opened up. What makes Dokja stand out to Joonghyuk is that he keeps challenging the regressor. Challenging him and winning. It’s the speech in the cinema master dungeon where Joonghyuk realizes Dokja cares about him far more than he realized, even if he cannot comprehend how or why.

Anyways, I won’t go any further than that, and if anyone made it this far, here have a cookie for your troubles thank you for sifting through all that. While I think a lot of what I’m saying is like, basic textual shit that doesn’t deserve such a long post for, it still means a lot to me to say it. I feel like the most common fandom interpretations of the character vs person argument and the fourth wall at the beginning of orv so greatly oversimplify and honestly ignore what orv is trying to say in a bad faith reading of the text. Whereas Dokja’s growth is far more complex and subtle than just “he stopped seeing people as characters.”

#orv #omniscient reader #kim dokja #yoo joonghyuk #joongdok #while not a romantic post it is regarding their relationship which i consider inherently romantic so-#should be webtoon only reader friendly #let me know if not #anyways this is too many words for one night never let me do this again

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