#despite having zero context or time to prepare themselves

[34choco]

Also they clearly wrote this movie with the assumption that viewers have watched enough of the show to understand what the hell is going on

[cannoli-reader]

Watching the Wheel of Time show, season 3, episode 7

Originally posted on readandfindout.com on 4/11/25

Quick reminder: My own reactions at the time of watching are in red. Editorial meta comments are in blue and lines in green are points made from the perspective of a strictly show-watcher to point out places where such viewers might not understand something without the book content.

Emond's Field now has a log wall and a watchtower. Perrin is forging weapons while people drill with weapons, under not-Owein's eye, and Alanna trains the Cauthon girls. Perrin pauses to survey the preparations for war and advise a couple of helpers who are making weapons with him. One of them refers to him as Lord Perrin, and when he says not to call him that, the other calls him Lord Goldeneyes.

2:14 LoL. He's only teaching black guys how to be smiths. It's "black" smiths or nothing.

A bell rings. People start calling out that the Trollocs are coming, despite it being bright and sunny and the show's CGI not capable of enduring that kind of scrutiny. Everyone runs to the gate, where an old guy I am going to assume is Cenn Buie, says "Trollocs! And their wagons!" Perrin is puzzled by the mention of wagons and goes to peer between the logs, to see it's people. He says it's the Tinkers and to open the gate.

2:41 Oh, cool. Raen & Ila showing up again, with zero context. This oughta be good.

Quite a few wagons roll in, and in the middle of the line, sure enough, we get Ila and Aram.

3:03 Oh, I forget. Raen isn't really a thing in this version, is he?

They greet Perrin happily, although Ila doesn't seem pleased that he has an axe, and he asks about Raen, who was recently killed by Trollocs. Some of the wagons have arrows sticking out of them.

3:46 Not Taika Waititi! Those bastards! They killed my favorite Tinker. Because he was the one who never said anything stupid.

Perrin sends them off to get water, and Faile & the Maidens follow in behind the wagons. They all exchange looks with Perrin who says, "They'll come for us tonight."

3:57 So why were they not in front, to let the village know the Tinkers were friendly? Also, why are Bain & Chiad so sanguine about following after the Tinkers?

We get an overhead shot and pull out of the village to reveal several abattises erected outside the walls, in the area between the forest.

4:10 Awful lot of trees so close to the village, considering they are expecting an attack. Also, there is a lot of new wooden structures, which meant they needed wood, but could not be bothered to cut down the trees that would cause problems.

Title Card!

Perrin is eating with the Tinkers, and Marin serves them meatless food. Ila wishes Perrin had joined them, but Aram is still bitter about the attacks, and says he'd probably be dead like Raen. Ila pushes back with Way of the Leaf, because that's what they have always done.

5:10 I notice she's saying the "we bury our dead and go on" line from the Rhuidean flashbacks.

Perrin says that maybe the leaves are falling now, but people will long for spring when they see how bare the trees are, and then the Tinkers' "wagons will fill again." He looks around like he's expecting applause for stretching out the metaphor until it screamed, and Ila says maybe there's hope for him. Faile looks proud or miserable.

5:35 That sounded so patronizing. And nonsensical. What are the trees supposed to be in this metaphor? And Ila's reply sounds like Perrin has proved he can stoop to be as stupid as a Tinker.

Bain and Chiad eye Aram from another table, saying he's handsome for a coward and express with hand gestures what they might like to do with him. Loial doubts he'd like it, but Chiad says Bain would not actually do it, and "no Aiel would dirty themselves with a Lost One." They both spit in disgust, because wasting body moisture like that is a totally sensible custom for desert dwellers.

5:58 Can't even have Bain & Chiad express their issues with the Tinkers without using sex.

Several villagers appear to be making Molotov cocktails. Several women are hefting or sharpening blades as the men work on stakes and abatises.

6:10 Our second montage of military preparations in less than five minutes, and I've yet to see any evidence of the Two Rivers longbow. Which is the only way the village holding off the Trollocs was at all plausible.

Alanna is coaching the Cauthon girls through novice exercises, and one of them wants to learn to throw fireballs. Alanna says they don't have time to learn, so she's just going to use their strength in a link. They ask if she can throw lightning like Moiraine did, and she turns around in exasperation or something, and suddenly notices Daise Congar watching (behind the girls, the direction she was already facing, so that could not have been the reason for her spin). She greets her, guessing Daise is the new Wisdom and saying that she can see the weaves, so she must be able to channel, and has been watching the lessons all week. Daise isn't interested in learning to channel if she has to stop drinking. Light help me, but that is the actual script and not remotely my joke.

Not-Owein is guiding a group of villagers in spear moves, telling them that they just have to touch the enemy with poisoned spears, and being accurate isn't important, so they just have to hold the line.

7:13 That's bullshit. A. Trollocs, I am pretty sure, have much stronger constitutions, at the very least being capable of eating things that would make humans sick, and they are already much bigger and stronger than humans. And I doubt there are many natural poisons, available in temperate climates in the small mountain villages in large quantities, that can kill a Trolloc quickly enough to matter in battle. But even if they have something fast-acting, like liquid nerve gas, the last people who should be using it is a bunch of amateur, barely trained villagers, in close formation, where they are as likely to flick drips into each other's eyes or scratch themselves or each other with their weapons. When you're a bunch of effeminate theater kids and writing nerds, stick close to the methods given in the book written by a decorated military veteran, rather than trying to get clever, 'kay?

Cenn Buie takes exception to the admonition to hold the line, and not-Owein condescendingly tells him that the longer he holds, the longer his family will survive. Cenn retorts that he can hold the line all night with a Two Rivers longbow. Not-Owein is amused at the idea, and asks if Cenn can actually draw a longbow, which he insists he can, "better than you, boy." With a smirk he makes no effort to hide, not-Owein dismisses poisoned-spear class to fetch their longbows.

7:35 This should be a moment of not-Owein getting the smug wiped off his face, but they are playing this like Cenn is just an old crank.

Not-Owein gets himself a drink in the meantime, when Alanna comes up to ask about their progress. He says they're all going to die, LoL. Alanna is more optimistic because she found another powerful channeler, and blah blah Old Blood. Not-Owein concedes she was right & he was wrong and hopes that comforts her when they all die.

They look up to see a banner being unfurled, a white, or dingy tan, field with what looks like a pencil sketch of a wolf with a pig snout. Music starts up as everyone oohs and ahhs, and comes to look. Faile mocks Perrin saying she knows he loves it. He doesn't think the Two Rivers needs any banners, let alone that one, and she objects that she told people about Trollocs being afraid of wolves, and it gives them something to rally around. Perrin worries that he's not ready and Faile agrees he's not, but the people follow him because he's one of them, not the best fighter, like the Aiel or best general available, like Alanna. His ability to fight monsters gives them confidence they can do the same.

8:49 I just noticed but Faile is always kind of hunching forward.

Perrin appears to accept this and asks if she got a message to Lord Luc, and she replies that he said "they'll meet us at the pass."

At the pass, there are more people erecting abatises in the roadway and prepping arrows, and Dain Bornhald is waiting, taking a swig from his official Children of the Light flask.

9:38 Dain drinks. I'm going to start keeping track of these shots.

Faile speculates what if they just murdered Dain, but Perrin says they need their help, since the Children have 200 trained men, and reiterates that he means it, while she rolls her eyes, because she's so cute and spunky. Dain asks if they are trying to keep out the Children's patrols and Perrin says he's asking them to join the villagers against the Trollocs. Dain is skeptical of his claims about their numbers, but Perrin says they've taken as many refugees into their camp as the village has, and does that sound like only a few Trollocs, with his aha! posture.

10:13 That's not a win or even a smart argument. It says nothing about the Trolloc numbers, just how many people went running for shelter at the first sight of them. It could be the same band making the rounds, with each family having seen the same ones before fleeing. That was kind of the point of Emond's Field standing together, to have the numbers that can resist what scattered families can't. Also, the Children are taking in refugees. Their ITB incidental help is rather more substantial on the show.

Perrin insists that the Trollocs want to destroy them and will attack tonight. Dain is still skeptical and dismounts, saying Perrin knows a lot about them. Perrin says he's not a Darkfriend, no matter how much Dain wants him to be. Dain asks why he'd want that and Perrin says to make it easier to hate him.

10:36 He doesn't need any reason other than you murdering his father, while he was trying to save people from the Seanchan!

Dain makes that very point. Perrin says he's sorry. Honest.

10:52 Do the writers honestly think that apology makes it better? Perrin literally did that. There's no excuse. No justification. Also, he has no way of knowing the Trollocs are going to attack tonight, or if he has, the show has done nothing to establish their knowledge of that.

As Dain is stomping back to his horse, Perrin calls after him asking if he's sorry for what he did to Natti. He calls her "an innocent woman, burned alive, in your camp." Dain turns back as he adds the irrelevant datum that Natti was already their prisoner (like, those are the only people you actually can burn alive). Dain says she was a witch and Perrin says, without offering any sort of proof or counter, that she wasn't and died for Dain's grief.

11:15 This just sounds really stupid (and Marcus Rutherford's dumb voice doesn't help), because we saw what happened, and as far as anyone knows, Natti channeled, and received the penalty the Children exact, as we see in the first ever scene with the Children. Whatever one thinks of that practice, it is an established one, and Dain's grief has nothing to do with it. What's more, Perrin is not actually offering a diegetic argument, he is not saying anything to convince a person in the same world as he, who had the One Power used on him, and heard Natti take credit. His argument is aimed entirely at the show's audience the writers assume are automatically ready to accept all the worst things about the Children of the Light.

Perrin adds that Dain's father died for his (Perrin's) grief, and rhetorically asks "Where does all this stop?"

11:18 This is not some cycle of revenge nonsense. Perrin got mad that a soldier, in the middle of a pitched battle, killed a wild animal who was attacking his comrade in arms, so Perrin ran him down and attacked him by surprise and kept up mutilating his corpse, all while a battle was raging against their common enemies, and Perrin was ostensibly undertaking a vital mission to retrieve a critical object from enemy territory. Dain did not kill Natti out of revenge, he was holding her prisoner as an accessory to obstruction of justice, he was very much insistent on doing things by the book and not letting the Cauthons be harmed, when he was assaulted with the One Power for grabbing her hand when she was trying steal from him. He turned her over for execution when she admitted to doing it, in the first ever demonstrated instance of her prioritizing her children over herself. Perrin, and Perrin alone, has the information necessary to make all the right choices here.

Bornhald Sr had no way of knowing that Hopper was quasi-sapient or that Valda had gone off-mission for his own deranged grudge. Perrin knows these things, and knows the limits of Bornhald's knowledge (also he knows what a piece of crap Natti is). He is the one who had the power to not start the cycle by accepting that Hopper got involved in human shit, and paid the price and Bornhald's killing him was in innocence and ignorance. His implied plea to end the cycle, in his current position, is that of a man trying to evade the consequences of his own part.

Dain's answer for when it ends is "when the Light's justice is done." Perrin passionately argues that letting the village full of accessories after the fact be slaughtered isn't justice or revenge. He says it's a betrayal of what Dain claims to stand for and what his father stood for. Dain states, gesturing with his flask, that his father fought for the Light.

11:44 Seriously, if it was not for the usual shallow dipshit channeler-stan hate-boner the writers have for the Children of the Light, they'd never write this stuff, with a guy who wrongfully murdered a man, deigning to speak of and for him, to his bereaved family and ideological kindred.

Dain demands to know why they should fight for Perrin. He pompously replies that it's the right thing to do. He approaches Dain closely and offers that if Dain & the Children come to the village and fight for the Two Rivers, he'll go with Dain afterward.

12:05 Rutherford has three acting moves: there is the constant whispery voice that sounds like a normal person affecting stupidity. He furrows his brow, or scrunches up his nose, to indicate emotion. And finally, cocking his head with one of those expressions when he thinks Perrin has just said something clever. And that's it. Marcus Rutherford's entire acting repertoire.

12:16 Dain drinks.

He says he won't waste his men's lives on an empty promise, and that if the Trollocs don't finish Perrin, the Children will.

12:30 Notice how despite all the extra alcohol consumption they have inserted into the show, the signal that Dain is not reliable or "good" is that he punctuates every scene or conversation he is in by swigging from that canteen?

Loial is writing in a book, with Bain & Chiad standing over him. They ask him about a word in the text and he tells them it's the name of the last king of Manetheren, who died fighting Trollocs where they are. Bain notes the similarity of his name to Rand's. Loial stares at the camera for a bit, then gets up and turns to the Maidens, saying that if this is going to be their last night together, he'll finally play Maiden's Kiss.

13:24 Is nothing sacred? Keep your disgusting, grubby, sex-addled hands OFF of Loial you perverted hacks!

Not-Owein approaches Alanna in their attic, offering her a choice of food. She is excited for one of the choices, but when he hands her a bowl, she looks less than enthused, so I guess he lied about the good option. She asks, with too many words, if he wants her to turn off their bond so he can enjoy a little peace before the battle starts. He says no and her face lights up. He goes on to say that if it's going to be their last night together, he doesn't want to miss it. Also, he has a fig. They playfully fight over it, and she calls a man "you bitch" isn't this progressive?

14:08 Why is this getting serviced instead of the main characters? Oh, right. These are the main characters, in the writers' eyes at least. Yay, nepotism. But notice we know absolutely nothing about Alanna & not-Owein and especially Ihvon, outside of their relationship? Every trait, every datum that does not go on a resume, concerns their relationship. It's the entirety of their personalities and motivations.

They start getting their bond on, if you get my drift. He stops her from using one of Ihvon's moves, because he wants to build something new with Alanna.

Perrin is brooding over an axe, he looks up at something blurry in the foreground, as Faile comes up and leans on a post behind him looking very pleased with herself. Perrin tells her that her hidden knives give her away trying to sneak. She comes up to reassure him that it's okay to be afraid before a battle, her father is and he's stupid enough to marry a Darkfriend and let her get to the kids fought in many. He asks if she's afraid and she scoffs that she's not a baby.

16:20 I'm gonna let that slide on the girl-power charges, assuming she's joking.

Perrin says he's not afraid of dying, but of seeing everyone realize he's a shitty leader who has doomed them all. Faile says they would never have fought without him, but he says they'd have had to, since it's their home, missing the point. But, he adds, it's not Faile's home, and asks why she's fighting for it. She gives him a look, and he says it's not just because of him, since they only met a day or two ago and their relationship is based on exactly zero character development and makes the book version look like a slow burn. Her answer options are that A. the question proves Perrin doesn't take her for granted, B. Mat ruined her plans to win glory with the Horn or C. she likes lost causes (despite her fleeing the lost cause of exposing the Darkfriend general in the Saldaean army), but lucky for Perrin, she's here. He tries to convince her to leave to spare him her death, and she asks if he's afraid he'll kill her like his wife. He gets mad and tells her to leave, but she yammers about her choice and whatnot.

18:12 Once again, they're doing the thing where the answer does not fit the connotation of the other party's question on argument. Perrin is telling her to go away, because she went too far with her comment about his wife, separate from the 'please get clear of the fight,' request, but she's answering that one.

Loial has two spear points at his throat.

18:21 Nope. Skipping.

After the game, Loial asks if men have died playing it. Chiad says yes, and women, because we're so progressive, and Loial says that by stopping the game, they saved his life and met their toh and can leave.

19:26 And their version of making Loial clever is really just making Bain & Chiad incredibly stupid.

Chiad gets mad, saying it is dishonorable to cheat an Aiel of her toh even though that means cheating the person who is OWED the toh does not get repaid. She storms off, but Bain rationalizes that by his efforts, Loial is trying to save her, Bain's life, who didn't have any toh issues, so now she has toh and Chiad is part of a package deal.

20:00 Well, ji'e'toh is incoherent gibberish in this medium. Must be a day that ends in Y.

Perrin is chatting up Bode & Eldrin and they are bummed about not being more successful at channeling and Mat not coming home and he finally takes the opportunity to show them the stupid portrait of Mat with the Horn. They are amused by the appearance of the Horn and start making jokes about it and mocking Mat over it, with the best laughter child actors can fake.

20:48 Their father is missing, they haven't seen their brother in over a year and they just watched their mother burn to death. Glad we're taking characterization seriously, instead of selling out for cheap laughs.

The alarm bell starts ringing as Trollocs are spotted. They decide this is the time to all sit down in the inn for a meeting. Since they have torches, Perrin assumes they have Darkfriends with them, even though Trollocs were seen carrying torches the last time they fought in a battle on this show. Alanna is sanguine about the numbers, and they have eliminated all the approaches but the mountain pass, and the strategy is to wear down the attackers at the pass and then retreat back to other fighting positions along the way to the village. Ila asks why the Tinkers are in the meeting since they won't fight, no matter what. Perrin has a special mission, because no one can run faster than a Tinker. Bain and Chiad make some noises.

21:49 Okay, that was funny. I'll give them that.

Perrin wants them to take the kids out through a secret tunnel that the Women's Circle dug under the inn after the last Trolloc attack. They agree. Now Loial points out that the Trollocs will eventually win by attrition as long as they can keep bringing in more through the Waygate. He is going to go shut it for good, with Bain & Chiad. Perrin tells him once he completes the mission to return to a stedding to recover from the Longing. He says that three more fighters won't affect the outcome at the village, but if they fall, Loial's book might inspire others when it's their turn to face the Trollocs. Actually, his words suggest the book will tell people how to fight the Trollocs, but if someone else hasn't written a book or 500 on that subject over the last three thousand years, the world-building is even more stupid than I like to believe. Perrin bids him farewell, using the Ogier phrase of introduction, because it's book words, so what's the difference.

24:19 This is multiple commercial breaks, and we're still in Emond's Field. I am afraid this is going to be an all-Perrin episode.

Perrin, Faile & not-Owein ride up to the first line of defenses. Perrin has armor now, and he checks the swords of the two guys he was teaching in the opening scene, Just Like Aragorn At Helm's Deep. The multiethnic Two Rivers men & women collectively do a much better job of conveying nervousness than all but a handful of main characters on this show are generally capable of.

25:07 Suddenly everyone has a bow. Is the show saving the Two Rivers archery skills for a surprise?

Perrin starts singing the Manetheren song from the first season and everyone joins in.

26:04 Remember, in the first season, none of the Two Rivers folk had ever heard of Manetheren, and Moiraine did not tell the whole village, she told the three boys & Egwene once they were on the road. This song should be utterly meaningless to them. And Rutherford sucks at singing, too.

The trollocs approach, not-Owein is apparently in charge of the archers, because Perrin says to shoot and he gives the individual orders. Blessedly, no one says "fire!" They do a number on the trollocs, Perrin gives the most underwhelming roar of triumph ever, and the rest of the people respond better, and not-Owein archly indicates he's impressed by the Two Rivers longbow, despite the non-longbow appearance of the bows in question. Perrin orders shields, as the Darkfriends with the Trollocs run up to the first obstructions and loose a volley and we do the scene from Braveheart.

Loial & the Maidens are observing the Waygate, while the Maidens in handtalk indicate they think it's lightly and poorly guarded. A courier runs up to tell the guards that they need reinforcements, which seems to be ahead of their intended schedule, so the guard turns to open the Waygate.

27:50 It's not a reinforcements cupboard! There aren't (or shouldn't be) reinforcements just waiting on the other side of the door for when they are needed! Anyone remember Journey of Destruction? The Black Wind of Lies That Are True?

Loial says they need to close the gates before the reinforcements arrive, so I guess the guard is going to run back through the Ways to the Blight to call for more Trollocs, who will run down through the Ways to join the battle.

27:54 In the first season, it took more than a month to travel from the Two Rivers to Tar Valon, which was then an overnight trip away from the Borderlands, and they bailed early, before getting to the Blight. At a minimum the courier won't reach the Blight until tomorrow, but more realistically, much longer, and the same amount of time (actually longer, for larger groups) for the Trollocs to return. So the master calling for reinforcements is counting on not getting them for at least three days, and more likely several weeks. Which is why I thought at first the guard was just opening the Waygate to let more Trollocs out. So damn stupid.

The Maidens veil up and move out, with Loial carrying a giant hammer and they make a frontal attack on the guards.

Back at the pass, a Trolloc heaves up an abatis, overturning it, and missing the point that it does not matter which end is up, it's still in the way and you still have to get around it, making you easier to shoot. Perrin tells not-Owein "now", he calls for the archers and starts ordering them to shoot. IDK why this is a new thing or what "now" was supposed to mean. Not-Owein is drawing a bead on another target when Perrin comes up to him and tells him "now" again, and the warder looks down all grim. On a hill overlooking the battle, Alanna is apparently telepathically signaled by not-Owein, and links with the Cauthons and Daise to channel at the sky. A spirally pattern causes stormclouds to form, and both sides, including Trollocs, pause to stare up at the sky. Perrin & not-Owein start ordering their men back.

On the hill, the girls are starting to spasm, and Alanna screams, but in a deep, macho way, not a high pitched girly tone, Light forbid. Giant shards of ice start slicing down onto the battlefield.

29:55 Blizzard, huh? I'd have preferred Death and Decay, personally.

The Trollocs and Darkfriends retreat and everyone cheers. Not-Owein sighs that Alanna will be insufferable now. On the hill, the girls are thrilled and Alanna & Daise look tired but satisfied.

Faile wonders if they've given up, Perrin says if they are lucky and looks at the Warder who tells him to go see what's happening, that they will hold the pass.

Perrin & Faile ride back to the village, where people are running around in the streets. Alanna & co are coming from another direction and Perrin asks if she saw where they went. Alanna says they made a tactical retreat, which Faile is skeptical because Trollocs. Perrin confirms that their use of armor & discipline is unusual so someone must be controlling them. He hears a rumbling noise, but Faile doesn't and he calls out a warning to Alanna, right before she gets shot by a giant arrow, and screams, low and manly. Over at the pass, her warder reacts as if he has been shot.

Well, this bond is a singularly bad practice for combatants. One shot, two kills, eat your heart out, Billy "Ishamael" Zane.

Daise holds up a shield while the girls drag Alanna to safety, but arrow hits disintegrate the shield like she's playing Space Invaders, until it collapses and she gets shot.

Back at the pass, the Two Rivers folk guess why not-Owein fell down for no reason, and then the Trollocs show up. Cenn Buie suggests retreat, because they are not soldiers and now there is no Aes Sedai cover. Not-Owein makes a speech invoking Two Rivers stubbornness and contrarianism, and they are fired up.

32:55 Not-Owein has taken over the leadership role now. Hey, remember in the books, how the Aes Sedai visitor specifically said that the Two Rivers would not have accepted her leadership, or that of her warder? That it had to be Perrin? And how Faile made a similar point earlier in this episode? Guess not.

Loial & the Maidens finish off the Darkfriends guarding the Waygate. The Maidens wonder how to close it, and Loial holds up an Avendesora leaf saying it can only be closed from the other side. He opens the gate and turns, formally asking them if they will defend his back. They just stare as he enters the gate closes behind him.

34:20 I guess their answer is "No"?

Back in the village it's now dark and Perrin sees not-Owein leading the defenders back to the village, saying they held as long as they could without an Aes Sedai. Faile is concerned that without her they can't hold in the village either. Meanwhile, the Cauthon girls are failing to Heal Alanna. Rather than a "there is no try" lesson, she gives them a participation trophy pat on the head.

Outside a horn is blowing and Perrin asks who it is. The lookouts say it's the Children of the Light with a truce flag. The gate is opened and the Children ride in.

35:42 They have the abatises lined up alongside the road, leaving open to the gate. That's not how you do it! You put at least one just in front of the gate, so that no one can ram it, or rush the gate when it's open, and others in staggered positions so there is no straight path, breaking up the momentum of oncoming enemies, by forcing them go wind around and through the obstacles.

Faile expresses surprise that they came, because she wasn't at Falme, where they saved the continent by driving off the Seanchan. Dain says that it was the right thing to do. Dain says they came by way of the pass, and saw no Trollocs, that it was abandoned so Perrin, channeling the Stalinist sympathies of the showrunners, promptly executes not-Owein for cowardice in making a tactical retreat. For the slow kids, not-Owein explains that the Trollocs took the pass less than an hour ago and it should not be abandoned.

Then Fain rides in wearing the uniform of the Children. Perrin is shocked and tells Dain he's a Darkfriend, ordering the gates closed, but Fain's men kill the gatekeepers and Fain orders them to hold the gates. Long pause for drama, and he orders an attack and his Whitecloaks charge the good ones, and outside Trollocs come rushing, shooting fire arrows ahead of themselves. The villagers start hucking Molotov cocktails off the walls and they blow up in the Trollocs' faces, but they have a straight shot at the open gate, almost like one of us, and I don't mean the show-writers, knows what he's talking about.

The Children of the Light are pushing the gates closed, but the Trollocs reach them and shove them open again, and are now in the village. Perrin orders the archers who are on the rooftops to shoot, not-Owein orders the fighters back to form a line and hold the village square, and Faile shouts, quote "Guys, let's move!" For real. Dain tells Perrin he didn't know about Fain and Perrin shouts "You should have," officially rebuking the Children of the Light for not being sufficiently paranoid about Darkfriends.

A group of people of a certain gender, guess which one, are standing in a line, looking determined and grim, with Marin al'Vere behind them. Ila comes out of the inn behind her and Marin tells her to go now. Ila backs into the inn as Marin shouts for the Women's Circle to hold the line. They hoist shields, and hold spears over them, like hoplites in dresses.

Inside the inn, Ila and Aram start leading the kids to the escape tunnel. Outside, people are fighting and the Trollocs are getting all the kills, are you worried yet?

In the Ways, Loial is hammering at the frame of the Gate, and making it vibrate, but causing no damage. The lines of torch-bearing enemies is visible in the distance and he starts to get worried. Outside, Darkfriends approach calling for reinforcements, and seeing all the bodies. Bain & Chiad are just chilling on the steps, and when the Darkfriends and Trollocs get close, walk down the steps, veil and hoist their weapons, which I guess is what Loial meant by watching his back.

In the woods, Aram and company emerge with the children, children, not the heroes of Falme, only to hear a Trolloc, so they run as it pursues them.

In the village, Valda is lurching around holding his side, but still cutting down false Whitelcoaks, looking around like he's searching for something.

In the woods, the White Walkers are closing in on Winterfell, but, actually, I mean Aram is running with the Trolloc in hot pursuit.

40:12 Let me guess. Aram's going to kill this Trolloc and they're going to try to draw parallels to Hobbit Rand from the flashbacks.

He stops to hide behind a tree that is not as wide as he is, and the baby he is carrying starts to cry. The Trolloc pounces on someone and then turns toward Aram and he runs. It lunges at him from all fours, he ducks and it rolls over, dropping a blade. Aram stares at the blade, then as the Trolloc draws near, grabs it and stabs. He gets up with the baby still crying, holding the bloody sword and of course, Ila shows up. Aram drops the blade, but she backs away from him, horrified, because the Way of the Leaf is a hymen.

Perrin is defending the forge by punching a Trolloc. He uses the dangling chains to shove the Trolloc into the coals. He then watches out the window as Trollocs start carving up the Women's Circle, exclaiming "Everyone's going to die tonight because of me, I failed them" so we understand his arc.

Actually Faile is there with him, and he was talking to her. She says that failure is liberating, because now he's faced his worst fear. She asks what would he give for the Two Rivers, he scrunches his face and says everything. So she tells him to show them, he scrunches his face again and charges out. After tossing a Trolloc out through the wall of the forge, he is all manfully stomping around snarling when he sees a big hammer hanging up, that I think he was staring at earlier in the day.

Holding both hammer and axe, he heroically moves to the door, preparing to enter the fray and tells Faile to stay behind him. She starts to whine about trying to protect her and he tells her to kill the ones he misses. She grins. He wades into the fight, swinging both weapons, and one-shotting Trollocs, while Faile does spins and flips behind him and the soundtrack makes slicing noises, and Trollocs fall.

He rallies the people in the square and everyone is all hyped. Fighty-fight-fight. Dain and not-Owein are also shown fighting. Women kill some Trollocs and Faile expresses admiration for the Women's Circle. Valda comes into the area where the Cauthon girls are still trying to help Alanna. He tells them to step aside, and they do, only for the Power to start swirling around them as they hold hands, just like they did every time we've seen them channel before, but which they haven't tried while hovering over Alanna. Valda stares at them in horror, realizing he was duped by these devil children into executing their innocent mother for their crimes, and they incinerate him. He falls screaming, while Alanna laughs hysterically.

44:17 R.I.P. Emmon Valda. He died trying to save children from a witch. Congrats on that, show. You've repeatedly made the Children of the Light more heroic, despite your mindless contempt for them.

The watchtower is on fire, and collapses. Two women take down a Trolloc with the rope-held-between-us trick that only ever works on screen. Fighty-fight-fight. Perrin's just kind of standing there watching. Fain is also staring, giant teeth gleaming as he cuts a woman's throat. Perrin strides out to fight him, cutting down Trollocs that get in the way. Faile is riding one piggy-back, and prison-shanking it in the back of its head.

Perrin comes up to Fain, who laughs, but then looks worried when Perrin handily dispatches his two bodyguard Trollocs. He turns to run, but Perrin throws his hammer and knocks him down. He tackles Fain when he tries to get up again, and knocks the blade from his hand, and yells as he holds his axe over him. He just holds the axe while we follow Faile running somewhere for some reason. Back to Perrin and he is still holding up the axe, but can't bring himself to use it and holds it to Fain's throat.

He screams at Fain "Why did you do this to us! Why do you hate us?" but it sounds like "Whuh did yuh do dis do us! Whuh duh yuh hay tus?" And Fain can't believe this idiot, responding that he doesn't hate them, he DGAF about the people or the place, he's just following the Great Lord's orders to eradicate it in order to spite Rand.

46:00 You really needed to know this? You're as dumb as you sound, Perrin. By the way, what is the show's excuse for Perrin not surrendering to the Children after the battle, since they're actually fighting? Are the Children going to be slain to the last man defending Emond's Field? Or is Perrin going to just blow them off, after he has shown more scruples about killing a known Darkfriend then he did murdering the man who was leading the fight against the Seanchan?

He tells Perrin to kill him or don't, he has too many Trollocs coming through the Ways to stop, and the village won't live to see Bel Tine.

Back in the Ways, Loial is still banging on the doorframe, to no avail. He can hear their screams now. He stops, closes his eyes and hums, before holding the hammer, and then starting to bash the floor at his feet. He stares determinedly at the approaching enemy, and roars at them, before striking a final mega blow. The Waygate, with Loial, falls off the end of the bridge, just as they reach it.

47:41 Welp, guess they got tired of doing Loial's makeup each episode.

Dramatic music and singing over the Aiel slo-mo fighting outside the Waygate. Their enemies knock them to the ground, but before they are killed, the Waygate explodes in a fiery blast.

Perrin sees the light of the explosion in the sky. He tells Fain that he's not getting reinforcements, but Fain is undeterred, saying he has enough troops already. Perrin asks why he smells afraid, and points out that his people are just shepherds and farmers, but Fain is the only one who is afraid. Fain blurts out an offer of a deal, but Perrin says, no, he'll make Fain a deal. He stands up and tells Fain that he knows he's been controlling the Trollocs the whole time, so if he wants to live, he has to call off his army and run far away and never return. Or he can die right here for no reason.

Fain asks if Perrin will trust him to keep his promise, and Perrin says to trust that he'll keep up his end if Fain doesn't.

49:24 The only justification for Perrin to make this offer is that the Two Rivers folk are going to be overrun and killed without the deal. Which completely negates his ability to follow through on his threat if Fain backslides. This is a nonsense deal, allowing Trollocs to run free, and counting on the word of a Darkfriend. This is treason against the Light and criminal stupidity all in one.

According to Fain, the Dark One wants the Two River eradicated. So what he is going to do, go back to the Great Lord and say "Sorry boss, but they were going to kill me unless I called off the attack"? Either Fain is dead anyway, with no incentive to comply, or the Great Lord is a wuss and a pushover of a boss. Are we supposed to be worried about Rand facing him?

Fain starts calling out commands in what I assume is Trolloc. Suddenly, the Two Rivers folk are looking around with no enemies in sight. Fain keeps yelling as Perrin lets him up. He and the Trollocs and Darkfriends start running, and no one bothers to chase them too far, except for a couple of Children of the Light, briefly. Faile comes up to Perrin and they kiss for a bit despite their gross, bloody faces. Marin hugs them, there are backslaps with Cenn and then he grabs his pupil from the opening scene by the face, and presses their heads together, calling him "warrior."

Suddenly it's daylight and the cleanup is well underway. Alanna is sitting on the steps of the inn under her Warder's arm, when the Cauthon Twins approach holding hands. They ask if she'll take them back to the Tower, but she says no, because the Pattern has bigger plans for them, since they saved her life twice. They accept this means they have been drafted into her private organization and wander off. She & not-Owein exchange looks. Aram watches Ila on her wagon from a distance.

51:29 Good thing the Tinkers somehow knew to bring the kids home.

Marin comes up to Aram and informs the show-only crowd, and reminds the book readers, that his people are really good at mending pots, so she offers him the job of Two Rivers blacksmith.

Inside, Perrin & the girls process up to Loial's desk, where his book sits in a sunbeam, because he's dead, and not around to worry about the damage sunlight would do to his book. Perrin notes the presence of the book is inconsistent with his final orders to Loial and Faile says that leaving the book meant he knew he wasn’t coming back.

52:08 Shouldn't Bain & Chiad be getting punched repeatedly for letting a comrade get killed?

They say the stuff about waking from a dream. Perrin scrunches his face to indicate grief, while Bain mashes up Aiel & Ogier courtesies in a half-assed eulogy. She and Chiad wave their hands in a synchronized motion and smile like "We're done here" and walk off.

Perrin opens the book to the last page, and Loial voices over a pseudo-poetic description of how the Two Rivers leveled up and became badass. Perrin walks out of the inn just as Voiceover Loial starts to blow smoke up his ass, and the Children of the Light ride in.

Dain dismounts and approaches Perrin, with the moral high ground, now that all the evil black guys have been purged from the organization, and reminds Perrin of their deal. Faile's all WTF? And Dain goes on to recite the terms of Perrin surrendering.

Faile holds a knife and points out the correlation of numbers and other people start hefting weapons, with the Children drawing swords in response.

Perrin stands there like a lump for a moment, then remembers his lines and starts waving his arms, telling everyone to stop. Bain sheathes her knife. Perrin tells Dain he'll come.

Faile points out the "gonna kill you" drawback, and Perrin sanctimoniously says that's their choice. He compares it, with much face scrunching, to her choice to fight and adds that his choice is to >scrunch< stop fighting. He asks her to respect that and she's a WoT-on-Prime character, so she is dumb enough to accept it. Perrin makes eye contact with Ila, who is watching with her arms folded, and a vaguely quizzical look, like he's doing okay so far, but will he stick the landing.

Then he sanctimoniously proclaims to Dain that "Violence never ends until someone says 'enough'" and then the Dark One takes over the world. Ila seems proud and Faile's expression is as opaque as ever, but devoid of the usual smirk, so she's probably just glad she didn't let him past second base before she realized what a tool he was. Perrin holds out his hands for cuffs and the Children lead him off while Loial keeps on hyping him in voiceover.

As the Children mount up to lead Perrin away, his pupil shouts "Hail Perrin Goldeneyes, Lord of the Two Rivers!" Others join in as he walks with his hands held out melodramatically and a possible CGI tether leading him behind his captor's horse.

55:52 This is just retarded. There is no cycle of violence going on, just a case of either the Children interposing themselves where they don't belong, or Perrin being a criminal. And the way the show has depicted it, he is. Also, hailing him as your lord while he is being led off in fetters is weak. And on the show's part, having a voiceover claiming Perrin is awesome does not make up for the complete failure to show his awesomeness over three seasons.

The end.

55:59 Liars!

That was utter shit and the fans are probably going to eat it up, because of all the awesome battles. Even though they sucked and there was barely any story. Ugh. Also, they're all acting like the village is saved for good and for all time now, except the Dark One wants it destroyed because Rand. Well, nothing has changed in that regard, so why do we think there is not going to be a bigger, badder attack, escalating if they are fought off, until the Dark One gets what he wants?

[sonicasura]

J took a few to go scream outside.

Meanwhile, Overkill took the time to look over their new form. Just about none of their other forms had hair so it was a bit surreal to actually have some or at least a natural wig resembling. Styled in a very boring pixie cut—though the silverish white was an interesting color. Their metal ‘teeth’ were more of a vague metal piece on their mouth albeit with twelve slightly fanged sections were canine teeth were.

‘Hmm.’

‘Something up?’

‘Can you check underneath the shirt?’

‘Sure???’

The transformed teen generally tried to not pay attention to certain areas across various transformations. Lifting up the edge of the shirt revealed… the outline of ribs??? Overkill turned a bit, viewing themself in a worryingly broken mirror. And yep. Somehow, they had the black outline above ribs as a technorganic organism who appeared more mechanical externally. A poke of blunt fingers produced a weird feeling which made something squirm internally.

Overkill shivered at the sensation.

‘That would be your core.’

‘Like a power core or processor or…?’

‘Yes. All the above.’

‘Ooookay.’

‘Also. Guess which weakness this form has?’

‘…UV light.’

Oh, come on!

—————————————

“Ahem.“ The disassembly drone cleared her throat to get the attention of the once again human visitor. “So, you came here to get DNA samples?” J reiterated and received a nod. “I suggest getting out of here with what you have. There’s a reason why there are no humans left.” She failed Tessa, she wouldn’t fail this one.

Dart looked at her a bit confused. “You said you’ve been lied to a lot recently? Mind explaining things more so I don’t have a vague warning to go off of.” They suggested, walking back to sit down in one of the office chairs. It was always hard to tell what humans were feeling due to the privacy program’s blurring.

J thought they were worried or bothered. She sat in the opposite chair preparing to have one of the longest conversations in her recent life.

“You’re going to need the context of what I used to be.” She sighed, disliking to dwell on her past. “Humans created the toast—worker drones for cheap unpaid manual labor. Think a robot like me, but a head shorter and with metal tubing to connect their limbs.” It was slightly reassuring to see the distress form on Dart’s face. (Like Tessa.) “Worker Drone deaths were usually due to human or drone error.”

Their face scrunched up. “Deaths?”

“Deaths. Not deactivations.” The disassembly drone confirmed. “In every other case, the slightest injury will lead to the AI personality being unrecoverable. It’s as simple as throwing a fork into a worker visor to kill them.”

Dart shook their head at the example. “J… That’s awful.”

(“J. They’re awful. They keep chaining workers outside to die or destroying them themselves!”)

“Yeah, well. Maybe with what ended up being their undoing they ought to have destroyed all of the workers.” She desperately shut down the memory pop up of Tessa expressing similar sentiments. “After being put up for disassembly and improperly disposed of, there’s a point zero one percent chance of drones who reactivate. Traumatizing yet ultimately harmless toward humanity… Then, there’s the rare cases.” Her yellow eyes flickered as she fought the memory.

It was over, Cyn’s playing mortal once again. The Absolute Solver Eldritch horror’s content to poke around some new playthings currently.

“Of those workers who reactive in mass worker body piles, there’s a point seven percent chance of them coming online with a dangerous mutation.” J grabbed a paper to draw a symbol which continued to haunt her rewinding nightmares even now. “The Absolute Solver.” Don’tthinkdon’tthinkdon’tthink. “A program that lets an supposedly ordinary worker break reality to their whims.”

————————————

‘…Naming the biological defense Eldritch Scorpion mode was always going to bite me in the back one day, wasn’t it?

‘Eh. I house the DNA of a god species in my genetic database despite usual contention saying that shouldn’t be possible. If anything, we were bound to run into something Eldritch one of these days. Let’s be thankful it is… partially quantifiable.’

“If worker drones can become these Zombie drones, then where exactly does your type of drone come into play?” Dart questioned seeing the glaring lack of a mention from her.

J was pointedly not looking at the symbol, a hexagon in the middle of three arrows. “The first instance of it got… bored.” She parceled out in a vague manner that meant there was a lot being unsaid. “One of my friends became a Solver-infected drone with the more fleshy wings they’re capable of sprouting. I guess you could call that a maybe in between phase? All I knew during was my programming got taken over and I woke up as my current self later.”

.

.

.

Again, J reiterated how dangerous the Solver truly was when it had an able body. The near infection could throw things with a degree of telekineses and repair objects. Sprout ungodly flesh similar to what was planted in the core only in greater mass. It took over disassembly drones who took too much damage to regenerate from—she didn’t elaborate further.

Overall?

The Absolute Solver wrecked devastation on whim consuming anything it wanted, manipulated whoever for its entertainment.

…The Omnitrix caught hint of another unregistered DNA signature which had to be it.

—ROB’d Anon.

J’s very paranoid that the AS is simply playing around in a new body (Uzi).

Considering J wasn't present when Uzi technically ate Cyn's core, yeah, I ain't surprised about that either. At least Murder Drones is a bit more...chill when it comes to reality breaking. The Omnitrix would probably have a fit upon seeing the Madness Combat equivalent.

[kelpiecodyne]

(Cracks knuckles) Okay, time to see how good my knowledge of this era is.

First off, there is no canon timeline for exactly how long Bruce is dead. It is very much something you have guess from context clues and hints...which to be honest, thanks to the joy that is comic book timelines, is an absolute nightmare. Especially since several comics during this time directly contradict themselves.

But, if you try and find logic in what they offer, you can conclude that Bruce is ‘dead’ for approximately 5-6 months, and most likely dies at some point in July.

Our first solid clue is in Batman #687, where Bruce's ‘death’ in Final Crisis is established as exactly four weeks earlier.

This is post Battle For The Cowl (which when you think how much happened in the Robin and Nightwing comics up until then is kind of hilariously quick). But Bruce is dead approximately one month before Dick becomes Batman, Damian becomes Robin, and Tim leaves to find proof that Bruce isn’t dead.

This suggests Bruce died in July of that year, because in Batgirl #1 (2009), Stephanie Brown begins attending college, which typically starts August/September, and gives us a solid date point to extract other times from.

It’s hard to say exactly when Tim left because Red Robin starts with a time skip, but given that Dick and Damian seem relatively comfortable with each other this issue, it’s probably not been immediately after, so Stephanie likely becomes Batgirl a few weeks or so after Dick becomes Batman at the very most, so by this point we're in late August or early September.

Now, not long after Dick becomes Batman, Blackest Night happens, and this has to be prior to Tim going to Iraq. But the closest thing Tim gives us to a timeline is this: (Red Robin #1)

So no clue how long he’s been running round before he’s called back to Gotham for Blackest Night. Batman & Robin have a few story arcs before this point, and are comfortable with each other by Blackest Night, so it’s been at least another month since Dick became Batman, taking us solidly into late September or October.

Anyway, Blackest Night happens, and issue #8 confirms that Bruce is alive – but for unknown reasons, they don’t bother to mention this to any bat.

Since they don’t bring this up, Tim returns to Europe, and gets caught up in Ra’s al Ghul shenanigans less than week later. We know he doesn't immediately fall into Ra's clutches due to meeting with Kon in Paris after Blackest Night (Adventure Comics #3), but he's still in Paris by the time the assassin trio catch up with him. Given how fast he'd been burning through cities, it must have been pretty soon after. More on this later.

After Blackest Night, Damian gets shot and becomes paralysed (Batman & Robin #6). This requires surgery through Talia, extending this time period to allow for recovery. (Batman & Robin #8)

Also during this time, Dick, unaware that the JL have realised Bruce is alive, ends up dumping the not-Bruce in a Lazarus Pit (Batman & Robin #7).

After which, he learns Bruce is alive, and Dick and Alfred start searching for clues too (Batman & Robin #10).

There’s nothing in Batman and Robin to suggest how long this period is however, and couldn’t find anything in Justice League (though didn’t look too hard). Damian is on his feet by #10, so it's been at least two weeks. But it does suggest Tim isn’t back yet, meaning he must still be with the League, so we look to Red Robin.

Despite zero time specifics in that whole damn run (they literally just refer to the time skips as 'before' and current as 'now'), there is context clues in Red Robin for how long he’s gone – specifically, the day he leaves, after about a month of Hush pretending to be Bruce and spending money like crazy, Lucius Fox demands to see Tim so they can activate the emancipation/share contingency (Red Robin #1).

Tim is either already gone or preparing to leave at this time, so when Lucius learns (through unknown means) that Tim is in Berlin, he sends his daughter Tam to retrieve him. However, she's at least a day behind (it's stated that it's approximately 29 hours between Tim's last interaction with the assassin trio in Berlin and arriving in Baghdad (Red Robin #3), and when she eventually catches up with him in Iraq, she’s immediately abducted with him to The Cradle, where the two of them remain for some time (Red Robin #5)

Again, we are not given a timeline, but since Tim has just lost an organ and came close to death, if we give him comic-book-timeline to recover, it’s probably at least four-six weeks in Ra’s custody minimum.

It’s likely not longer either, since Lucius is not concerned about Tam when he brings her up in conversation with Alfred, that suggests it’s not been long since he asked her to go. A month to six weeks to track down a vigilante without hearing back doesn’t seem unreasonable. Any longer and Lucius would probably be more concerned due to the lack of communication (Red Robin #7).

So let’s say just over a month to get Tim back to Gotham. If we try and figure out where that fits in the Gotham timeline, he’s probably back three weeks or so after the Not!Bruce Lazarus plot at the earliest, given Damian is on his feet at this point as well, but Dick and Damian have a Barbatos related arc to finish up before Tim shows up too. so it’s not unreasonable to say we’re in late October, possibly even November at this point.

One final thing to note, is at some point between Tim returning to Gotham and Bruce returning, Damian joins the Titans for a brief period (Teen Titans #89).

Although Beast Boy’s definitely being sarcastic here, it’s suggested that Damian has only been Robin for a short time, lending to the '3 month's as Robin' timescale. And Damian joins after Tim returns, as Tim is surprised to learn Damian is with the Titans (Teen Titans #91), after having reunited with them in the showdown with Ra’s (Red Robin #12), and would have learned if Damian joined beforehand from them at that point.

So, given that timeline, it has been approx 3-4 months of Bruce being 'deceased.' There’s also a few Gotham storylines that happen after this point where Bruce is clearly not back, but it also can't be too long after this before Rip Hunter and the Justice League manage to pinpoint Bruce and bring him home, as he is still missing when Tim gets Lynx arrested in Red Robin #13, but is back home before #17 when Tim frees her, which is noted in Bruce Wayne: The Road Home #Red Robin.

So less than a month from Tim returning to Gotham for the Justice League to rescue Bruce and bring him home, which means late October, or possibly November.

With all this said, unless someone else knows of any other time specific moments mentioned in comics, the basic timeline as far as I can piece it together is:

July – Bruce ‘dies’

August – Dick becomes Batman, Damian becomes Robin, Tim becomes Red Robin & leaves Gotham

August/September – Stephanie becomes Batgirl

September/October – Blackest Night, Tim gets abducted by the League, Damian is temporarily paralysed and Dick tries to resurrect the wrong Bruce

October – Tim Returns to Gotham, Damian joins the Titans

October/November – The Justice League Retrieve Bruce, Damian leaves the Titans

Hey, I’m trying to write a fic and there’s something I’m not sure of and I don’t have access to the comics.

How long was Batman stuck in time? I know how it happened, Darkseid, final crisis, and I know Tim had something to do with getting him back, but how long was he gone?

From what I’ve researched it couldn’t have been too long, afew months to a year at most, Dick was filling in for a bit, but I can’t narrow it down more than that.

Does anyone have a better timeline?

[galadrielspeaks]

just thinking about thranduil and how he categorises his life and how the events of his life affects the way he rules his kingdom…. how so much of his development was defined by huge cataclysmic tragedies… thinking about how his youth is defined as before Doriath and his adulthood is defined as After Doriath… how when he became a prince he probably held on to his more idealistic beliefs only to be sternly reminded of the fickleness of life during war….. how the entire kingdom of the woodland realm probably has a Before Dagorlad and an After. how could you not after losing your king and the majority of your people? it is incredibly telling how these events of Thranduil’s past has affected his rule and everything about him down to his parenting. he understands he’s alone. that’s tragic. but he also understands his kingdom is alone. he’s a lonely king. there's no one higher than him, no one to seek advice from. he understands he is the final defender of a kingdom and he is fighting an inherited war, he has first hand witnessed the tragedies of this war and has been directly critically affected by it, he is just as much a victim of Sauron as his people. his nobility offers him zero protection, at any point he could lose everything, and yet he remains empathetic. he remains kind. he remains generous. he obviously sees the worth in fighting, he refuses to give up fully. he is (reasonably!) incredibly cautious which some call him an isolationist or consider him fickle for, during events like his refusal of gandalf’s invitation to the White Council but it becomes incredibly clear why he is like this when it’s put into context of his past. he has trusted allies before, he has seen what has happened. to join an organisation full of ring bearer’s as the sole leader of a nation with no ring to protect his people is almost an insult. they would not and do not understand what it takes to lead in that situation. Thranduil and all of his people are living in the after of the war of the last alliance. why would they join another? Thranduil has put his people first. He recognises that they themselves are the only ones who understand just how at risk they are. and yet with all of this in mind it should noted that he allies himself with men (who historically have experienced and understand the dangerous climate of their respective nations) and creates trade routes with them to provide for his people and also provides aid to them. and it is noted in the text that Legolas has been raised incredibly happily, and he is well-adjusted. throughout fighting a seemingly losing war thranduil found it implicitly important to raise his son with joy and hope. i like to believe he understands the importance of childhood whimsy and enchantment and worked to instill and maintain his child’s innocence. he raised his son as trauma-free as he could (saying this bc we do not know if his mother is dead or sailed or not but either way to be without the mother is traumatic but besides that Legolas appears to be generally mentally healthy). despite knowing first hand just how cruel and painful life is he did not feel the need to raise his child to be prepared and worried about very real threats. rather he raised his child happily, and simply worked to give his son the skills he needed to survive and to defend himself. usually military father's who have expreienced a great deal of trauma and haven't processed it correctly tend to succumb to the urge to raise their children to understand the cruelty of the world, and loathe their children for their innocence. i think that in thranduil not doing this with legolas, we can infer that he has taken time to healthily process his experiences. I believe that Thranduil is an incredibly important figure in the Lord of the Rings because he is truly an incredible example of someone who learns from their mistakes, learns from tradegy, who learns from life. i think that Thranduil never wanted to be a King, it is a responsibility that fell into his lap unwillingly and that is why he is a successful and well-loved ruler.

[thefirstknife]

In regards to whole uluran/cabal thing I would suggest reading the post by @allonsyjeni in regards to their thoughts on the matter

Thanks for sending this! Here's the link. I'm glad to hear another perspective!

I want to say that my involvement in this is because my Jewish friends have been incredibly uncomfortable with Destiny ever since the stuff from Chosen and when things were put together + combined with the name "Cabal." A lot of the times when they wanted to speak about it, they would get harassed online for it so I offered to speak in their stead since antisemitic harassment doesn't affect me. I'm glad to take the punch instead of them.

Most of these things separately would not be as strange to see, but together it raises eyebrows. I wanna leave the majority of the discussion to people who are actually Jewish, but I do already know that a lot of Jewish people are unhappy about this naming so ultimately, it would not affect anyone outside of people who would be made less upset if the word was dropped.

I'd like to point out a few things from the lore perspective. First, what the "Cabal" describes. So far we have not seen any indication that it just describes their ruling style. All Cabal rulers, some of which differ wildly, have called their people "Cabal." Calus largely abandoned conquest and war but still calls himself and his people "Cabal." The word is also used to refer to individuals of the species. If it were just a ruling style, then we would reasonably see a difference.

This COULD be just a thing to make in-game stuff more uniformed but even outside of gameplay elements, all Cabal regardless of affiliation or status or rank are called the same. The name of the military leaders ruling prior to Calus was the Praetorate. Calus overthrew them to take reign as the Emperor. Despite all of these disagreements and differences in ruling, they all call themselves "Cabal."

OP also pointed out that they are heavily based on Ancient Rome. Which is true! It's something I am very familiar with, having a master's degree on this topic. It's also why it's extra strange to me that they are called "Cabal." Everything else they have has Ancient Roman terminology; centurions, legions, phalanxes, praetorians, gladiators. Their whole culture is based on Ancient Rome with conquest and war and integrating conquered species into the Empire, assimilating them and giving them citizenships... It's all a very clear reference.

So why "Cabal"? It is not in any way related to Ancient Rome or anything from antiquity. There's also other influences from other cultures for them as well! But never anything Jewish. Naming them "Cabal" makes literally zero sense. Which is exactly why it raises eyebrows for me and others, when paired with other stuff. Nothing else about them is Jewish, so why that name and random bits and pieces? Why "golem" out of nowhere? The guy is called Basilius! It originated from Greek and was adapted by the Romans! It's always been very strange to me, even outside of the context of antisemitism.

I also want to touch on "shadows" because that only works in context of Calus. Calus was exiled and brought with him his loyalists, aka people who still believe he is the one true Emperor. Calus has also always been preparing to one day return and rule the Cabal again. The "shadows" in this context absolutely evoke an idea that Calus is the real ruler, ruling in secrecy from the sides, like a "shadow government" until he is put back into his rightful place again. Which is an antisemitic conspiracy.

The association of the two words, "shadow" and "cabal" is directly linked to antisemitism. His Shadows are explicitly here to help Calus re-establish his reign again and they're all a part of his elite council. The imagery involved here is not subtle. Furthermore, the Shadows are all parts of other species, which evokes another troubling imagery of "the elite members of every group are in on this." The idea is that there are members of every species that believe in the true Emperor Calus, who want to help him become the ruler again. Similarly, the problem with "Shadow Legion" is the "Shadow" part.

Obviously, this may have been just a coincidence. It's really hard to prove what was the thought process behind this, as that is the whole point of dogwhistles. It can easily be explained with something else, leaving only those "in on it" to understand what it truly means. It definitely doesn't remove the fact that some people see it and have a visceral reaction to the implications.

Other details mentioned are all stuff that can be easily explained otherwise, as OP pointed out. I definitely agree on that which is also why I don't want to assume malice on Bungie's part. Unfortunately, the word "cabal" is pretty clear. Obviously it has a more benign possible meaning, but as we both said, it's why it's a dogwhistle. The origin of the word and the most common usage is very explicitly antisemitic, even when people don't know where it came from. And the situation irl currently is such that I cannot see that word and not flinch. It's incredibly difficult to remove the association and think of "cabal" as just my silly little space rhinos.

But I do want to show this perspective as well and ask others to see that as well. And I especially invite other Jewish people to weigh in on it because it primarily affects them. My personal opinion is always that if there's a group that is upset by something and the rest of us are indifferent to it, we should act on the behalf those who are upset.

[nanowrimo]

5 Tips for Finishing Your Novel

April’s session of Camp NaNoWriMo is drawing to a close, and you might find yourself nearing the end of your novel. If you need some tips on writing and polishing the ending of your story, author Derek Murphy is here to share a few! Plus, you can check out the rest of our novel-finishing resources on our #NaNoFinMo page. 

You won NaNoWriMo and have a 50k collection of scenes and sentences, but how do you clean it up and get it done? How do you make sure it’s finished, satisfying and enjoyable? Here are 5 powerful strategies for finishing your novel and some helpful writing tips that will push you past the finish line.

1. Give it a satisfying resolution.

In order to have a powerful story, your book should probably focus on a main character’s change or transformation. There’s an inner war, a.k.a. the character’s emotional healing, and an outer war: the conflict that forced the reckoning. If it’s a purely symbolic internal realization, you can mirror that with actual conflict in the real scene: the breaking of a dish, a fit of rage, a sudden ray of sunlight (or a storm… this should not be pleasant; It’s a breaking point and spiritual death/rebirth).

You can clarify the moment of change by setting up an illustrative contrast, a before and after, that shows how those internal changes have resulted in real-world consequences or benefits. Each character’s unique challenge will match their personal weakness or fear. The price for victory is the one thing they have so far refused to do, or something they cannot give up or bear to lose.

Make sure your protagonist has gone through a transformative struggle to arrive at deep insights, knowledge or awareness. Find a way to deepen the incidental scenes so that they become instrumental to a deeper purpose, leading towards an identity-shifting event.

The plot is what happens, and it’s important. But you can make it more dramatic and meaningful by making sure you demonstrate how hard it was and what it cost. It matters, it is remarkable, because it forced your protagonist to change.

Your conclusion might include:

Physical tension as allies perform a tug-of-war battle against resistance, that shows how difficult this struggle is, and how much force is required.

The consideration phase, as characters are tempted last minute or the price for victory is revealed: the sweet memories that give them awareness that this fight is worth the cost or risk (you need to show them making the choice, knowing what they will lose).

The final flashback, as the full backstory is revealed so we can see exactly why this conflict is so difficult or meaningful for the main character.

2. Add (unresolved) conflict.

Your story is made up of the events and scenes, where something happens. Each new event will push the characters further into the plot. Slow scenes where nothing is really happening can be red flags, so the first thing to focus on is increasing conflict, drama, suspense and intrigue. This is what creates urgency. The full reveal, demonstrating why THIS challenge is so difficult and powerful, should happen just before the final battle or resolution.

You want to make sure every scene, especially in your conclusion, has enough conflict. I recommend these three:

Outer Conflict (threats): Challenges or obstacles that prevent the character from achieving goals.

Inner Conflict (doubts): Moral struggles, decisions, guilt or shame, anger.

Friendly Fire (betrayal): Strong disagreements between allies or supporting characters. 

You want to extend and deepen the potential conflict, without resolving it too easily. The biggest destroyer of conflict is conversation: when your characters just sit around and talk to each other. Most conflict involves a lack of information, and a desire for clarity. A lot of conflict is perceived or imagined.

The most important information needs to come last, and come at a great price. The information that has an emotional impact, and influences their actions and decisions, should be big reveals at dramatic peaks. A surprise or twist should be treated as an event: each scene is leading towards a change or new piece of information that provokes the protagonist to respond.

3. Fill plot holes with character motivation.

After you’ve made sure that “what actually happens” is intriguing (opening questions and raising tensions without resolving them) you can focus on making sure the plot holes are filled, and characters are properly motivated – these two things are usually adjacent.

You can find and fill plot holes by asking:

Why are the characters doing this?

Why does any of it matter?

Basically, readers need to respect the main characters enough to care what happens to them, so their choices and actions need to make sense within the given information. If there’s a simpler, easier solution, readers will get stuck up on “why didn’t they just…”? To fix plot holes and gaps in logic or continuity, or make the story go where you need it to, you can add urgency, fix the mood of the scene (bigger stakes require bigger justifications), show characters in a weakened mental state, or raise concerns but have them dismissed, with an excuse or justification.

You need rational characters to make plausible choices that lead to dire consequences. You need show why they don’t do something easier, or nothing at all, or why they face clear challenges, despite potential obstacles.

They’ll also require a deeper motivation, for why they’re willing to put themselves in identity-destroying conflict, rather than just giving up or running away. Why do they stay in THIS fight, when they’ve run from similar ones? If they weren’t ready at the beginning, why are the ready now – what changed in them, as a result of your story’s journey?

Your protagonist needs to have a strong, consistent internal compass, and it needs to be revealed through incidents that establish their character. This is who they are. Without this reliable core identity, we won’t be able to tell a story that forces them to change. 

4. Let readers picture your story with detailed description.

In the final stages of revision, you can begin improving the description with specific details.

It’s smart to start – or end – a chapter with a vivid, immediate scene. You want to leave readers with an image they can see in their minds, hopefully connected to the feeling you aim to evoke. You can close a chapter with a reference back to a motif or image, with a deeper or more reflective context; applying meaning to the metaphor. This will help readers feel engaged, be moved, and leave a lasting impact.

Vivid scenes are mostly a matter of detailed description, so add the specifics about the story environment. Be precise, not vague. Instead of “she put a plate of tea and snacks on the table” you can write “she gently placed an antique porcelain teapot on the table. I could smell it was Earl Grey from the scent of bergamot. The half-sleeve of Oreos and can of onion-flavored Pringles seemed incongruous with the fancy dishes, but I knew she was making an effort to welcome me.”

Focus on the sensations and feelings; but also zero-in on any potential sources of conflict or internal emotions or states of mind. In my example above, the host might be nervous or ashamed of her spread; or perhaps she has a degenerative brain disease and doesn’t notice the incongruity. Tensions are unspoken, potential sources of negative feelings. They hover in the background of your description.

Readers will remember the pictures you put in their heads, not the words on the page.

Description should serve and be bound to the story, not distract from it.

It should be squeezed into and around the scene action, when the protagonist is using or exploring.

Show what’s different, not what’s the same.

Leave space for readers to fill in the gaps, but get them started in the right direction so they aren’t surprised later.

Sidenote: be careful about your metaphors, analogies and similes. Each one will put a picture into readers’ minds, and it can quickly get overcrowded with imagery. You’re asking them to ignore your real scene and think of something else. Use them to confirm and amplify the scene you have, and limit distractions.

5. Prepare to publish.

Typos are bad, but perfectionism will ruin you. This section is about editing and proofreading, but I don’t have time for all that, and you don’t either. The real problem with a story is rarely the number of typos. A very clean book isn’t better if people stop reading.

You can solve a lot of common writing problems, with my big list of 25 common writing mistakes, and self-edit your manuscript to make it as good as possible. After that, a copyeditor or proofreader isn’t always the best investment (and it can also be the biggest publishing cost).

Instead, use an editing software (I like Grammarly) to root out obvious mistakes, but don’t dwell on the small stuff like perfecting every word or rearranging the commas. Spending a very long time wrestling a poorly-written manuscript in shape is less effective than getting something (actually) done to the point where you’re comfortable sharing it.

This may be difficult at first, but you can’t learn and improve without genuine reader feedback (from people who aren’t your mom or best friend; nor the short-sighted opinions of a self-proclaimed literature enthusiast). You need to find readers who enjoy your particular genre, and the sooner you find them, the more valuable feedback you can get.

Shorten the feedback loop: Get over the fear and focus on learning by getting feedback early and often. However, this doesn’t just mean joining a writer’s club: writers are brutal and might focus on trivial things. The safest bet is to make it public, on Wattpad at least. Or get a cheap cover and throw it up on Kindle, Draft2Digital or even your own blog.

Making it public is scary and vulnerable, but it’s better than letting the fear of messing up keep you from the brutal, necessary experience of allowing readers to tell you what they liked and disliked about your writing. Will some people be critical? Yes! But guess what, you’ll get negative reviews even if you’re a brilliant, famous writer. Those are inevitable. And the first negative reviews may teach you more about writing than 10 years attempting to self-edit, afraid of putting your book out into the world.

PS. You can use resources, like my 24-chapter plot outline, as a way to spot story gaps in your manuscript and improve the structure (especially if your book suffers from a “soggy middle.)

Derek Murphy has a PhD in Literature, writes urban fantasy and is the founder of the alliance of young adult authors. More recently, he’s started sharing writing tips on http://www.writethemagic.com

Top photo by Adegbenro Emmanuel Dipo on Unsplash.

[darks-ink]

What We Are - Holiday Truce 2020

Happy holidays @dandan-phantom-blog, I was your Truce gifter this year! I wrote this for your prompt "Danny and Vlad Role Swap", with a touch of "Danny, Tucker, and Sam are all trans and they kiss sometimes" (except I didn't find a way to organically mention that Sam and Tucker are also trans in the context of this fic so hhhh). I hope you enjoy it!

Rating: Gen Genre: Hurt/Comfort Words: 8,276

[AO3] [FFN]

---

“Looks pretty clear from up here,” Vlad reported, hovering high above his friends. His cape flapped as the wind tugged at its edges, the red flashing repeatedly.

“The scanner isn’t picking up any ghosts besides you, either,” Maddie reported from below, staring at the silver invention in her hands. “But the range isn’t great.”

“We should look into that some more,” Jack agreed from next to her, frowning up at Vlad. “You can’t pick up any invisible ghosts either, Vladdie?”

He sighed gustily, peering around a little more. “No, Jack. I can only sense the cores from pretty close by, and I can only see them if I’m really trying.” Rolling his eyes, Vlad started lowering himself closer to the ground. “If I don’t know there are any ghosts present, chances are I won’t see through their invisibility either.”

“That seems like a bit of a flaw,” Jack commented cheerily. “Too bad you didn’t just get a ghost-scanning ability with the other powers.”

“For all we know it would’ve been as strong as this tracker of ours,” Maddie pointed out, turning to face them. “At least this mechanical tracker can be upgraded.”

“And my abilities aren’t exactly the most reliable, either.” Vlad cocked an eyebrow at Jack. “I got the basics down, but ghost sensing seems a little more advanced.”

Maddie hummed thoughtfully, continuing on in the direction they had been heading. “Well, who knows. A ghost tracking sense could’ve been an expansion of your innate ability to sense ghost cores. That seems pretty basic to me.”

“And,” Jack jumped in, “If you could sense ghosts yourself, we could’ve spent more time working on weapons for me and Maddie!”

“I thought your ecto-guns were fine?” Vlad frowned at the guns either of his friends held. He’d been assured that they were both well-armed, perfectly safe if they ran into a ghost, but if that wasn’t the case…

“They work just as well as your ecto-ray,” Maddie assured him, not slowing down or looking up from the scanner. “But it could be useful to have more variation in weaponry besides the ray gun and the Thermos.”

“Ah.” Well, that was fair enough, Vlad supposed. More ways for his friends to defend themselves couldn’t hurt. “Fair enough. We can always focus on more weaponry next. The scanner is fine as long as we do regular patrols.”

The device in question pinged, and three pairs of eyes zoned in on it instantly.

“Looks like there’s a ghost nearby, boys.” Maddie grinned, turning towards the right. “This way!”

“Remember to mute it,” Vlad hissed, diving lower until he was just over his friends. “Let’s try stealth for once.”

Maddie snorted as she reached down to the mute switch. “You don’t have to tell me. It’s not my stealthiness we have to worry about.”

“Sorry,” Jack whispered, making a face. “But it’s not like it’s always my fault!”

Vlad pressed a finger to his lips, and Jack snapped his mouth shut immediately. Then mimed zipping them up for good measure.

The three of them snuck closer in complete silence, gathering on the corner of a building. According to the scanner, the ghost was in the small park beyond it.

Forcing himself invisible, Vlad leaned out. And saw…

“Nothing,” he reported quietly, dropping his invisibility. Maintaining it for long was too draining. “I don’t see it anywhere.”

Below him, both Jack and Maddie peered around the corner as well.

“Just two people kissing,” Jack agreed.

“And neither of them look like ghosts.” Maddie glanced down at the scanner again. “The ghost should be here though, it’s still showing up on the scanner.”

Vlad cast out his senses. “Yes, there is definitely an increase in ectoplasm. Must be invisible.”

Which was just such a joy. He could see invisible ghosts if he really tried, sure, but it was such a strain. His eyes would inevitably start hurting later from all this peering around.

Finally, though, his eye caught on a glimmer on movement. Immediately zeroing in on it, Vlad immediately recognized it as a ghost.

There was no time for a good look, however, as it was clearly preparing to move. And based on the way it was invisibly staring at the kissing couple, there was no doubt in Vlad’s mind as to what it was about to do.

He pushed off from the building, rushing forward to intercept the ghost. The moment he got his hands wrapped around the ghost’s upper arms he turned them both intangible as well, shoving the attacking ghost through a different building and onto the ground behind it.

His target, a male humanoid ghost, seemed briefly startled, dropping his invisibility as Vlad pinned him to the floor of the alley.

It didn’t last long, however, as the ghost narrowed his bright green eyes and promptly kicked Vlad off. The ghost kept moving up, white boots leaving the ground instantly, even as he brushed dust out of his white hair.

Vlad blinked at him, feeling oddly caught off-guard by the fact that the ghost had just kicked him off, rather than flipping them around so Vlad was the one pinned to the ground.

Apparently his silence lasted too long, because green eyes zeroed in on him. The ghost’s aura flared violently, angrily.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he hissed at Vlad, green ectoplasm sparking around his hands. “We could’ve been spotted, you absolute moron!”

Vlad, belatedly realizing he shouldn’t be lying on the floor with a potentially dangerous ghost right there, pushed himself up into a seated position. “We were both invisible, it was fine.”

“It was not fine!” the ghost snapped back, even as footsteps echoed through the alley. “See?”

Jack and Maddie appeared in the opening of the alley, and Vlad rolled his eyes, secretly relieved for the backup. “They’re just my friends, they already knew we were there.”

“Well.” The ghost drew himself up, muscles rolling underneath the tight black jumpsuit he wore. Bright green eyes moved over Jack and Maddie, clearly evaluating them—and the ecto-guns in their hands.

Instantly, Vlad scrambled up onto his feet, ready to shield his friends with his body if he had to.

“Good for you,” the ghost concluded, bitterly, eyes moving back to Vlad. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”

And before any of them could stop him, the ghost vanished into a puff of green smoke. Literally, he dissolved into a ecto-green cloud, which faded away almost instantly.

“Huh,” Vlad said despite himself, finding himself blinking stupidly once more. “I guess he wasn’t interested in fighting after all.”

Maddie hummed an agreement, pulling out the scanner with one hand, still holding her gun in the other. “Scanner says that he’s gone, too.”

Vlad lifted up further, peeking over the edge of the building. “And the couple he was watching is gone too.”

“Guess we have no clues left to track him down, even if we wanted to.” Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair. “That sucks. Hopefully he won’t be up to anything too bad.”

“Let’s hope so,” Maddie agreed, shaking her head. She clicked the safety back on, stowing her gun into its holster. “Maybe we’ll run into him again while we finish up patrol.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Vlad floated back to his friends. “Still, something about him was weird.”

“He’s a ghost,” Jack pointed out with a shrug. “They’re always a little weird.”

And while that was true, something about it just kept niggling at Vlad.

---

They finished their patrol before long, returning to Vlad’s home once more. Somehow it had become their go-to place over the years, and after his accident… well, the little time they spent at their own houses, they were usually at Vlad’s.

He figured it was because his house was a quiet place, full of privacy, especially compared to Jack’s and Maddie’s. Between Maddie’s sister and Jack’s overbearing parents, well… Vlad’s own house, with just his own mother, was a breath of fresh air to the both of them.

Which was, he supposed, the reason why they were all so shocked to see a stranger standing in the living room, talking to Danielle.

The man, pale skinned but with mussy black hair, had his back turned to them, which certainly didn’t help with recognizing the guy. His t-shirt and jeans were rather nondescript too, not anywhere near recognizable enough to place the man.

And then he turned around and, well.

He looked exactly like Vlad’s mother, except with shorter hair.

“Um,” Vlad said, eyes darting between the two. Standing next to each other, both looking at Vlad, it was undeniable: they were almost exactly the same.

“Vlad,” his mother said, sighing exasperatedly. “I told you that my brother was coming over to visit. Did you forget?”

Well, now that was just embarrassing. Between all the ghost stuff he had, indeed, forgotten about his uncle.

Luckily the man in question did not seem offended at all, laughing brightly. “Honestly, Elle, you should’ve seen that one coming. You know what it’s like being that age, not caring a whit about family members that you don’t know.”

Still laughing, Vlad’s uncle stepped closer, eyes moving over Vlad and to Jack and Maddie. As he did so, his laughter faltered a little, but before Vlad could process that, the man offered a hand, smile once more back on his face.

“Danny Masters,” he said, as Vlad accepted his hand and shook it. “Danielle’s identical twin.”

“He picked his name to match mine because he thinks he’s hilarious,” Danielle explained, rolling her eyes.

Danny released Vlad’s hand, turning to shoot her a wicked grin. “That’s because I am hilarious.”

“Don’t lie to my face, Danny,” Danielle countered, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Wouldn’t dare to, sister dearest.”

“How are you two identical twins, anyway?” Jack asked, loudly, breaking into their bickering.

As everyone turned to blink at Jack, Vlad could hear Danielle snort.

“Well,” Danny said, clapping his hands together to draw the attention back to him. “So sometimes when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much…”

He paused, then shrugged. “After Jazz our parents got tired of having so many girls so I decided to even it out a little.”

“Stop joking about it,” Danielle huffed, rolling her eyes again.

Danny snapped his fingers, cocking finger guns at her. “Never.”

“Wait. Did you actually name yourself after Danielle, then?” Vlad burst out, unable to hold it in anymore. Surely not? Names are a serious matter, right, especially for transgender people? He wouldn’t have—

“Oh, definitely,” Danny confirmed before Vlad could finish that thought. “I mean, we’re twins. It was perfect.”

“It was—and is—ridiculous, Danny.” Danielle shot him a withering look, but even Vlad could see the fondness badly hidden in it. “I still think you should’ve gone after Jazz instead.”

“There are no good male names that resemble Jasmine and you know it.” Danny stuck out his tongue towards Danielle, and Vlad was suddenly overcome with the realization that his uncle was basically a child.

And then Danielle blew a raspberry back and Vlad amended that thought with the realization that his uncle and his mother were both children.

Unbelievable.

It took another solid thirty minutes of chattering about everything and nothing before Vlad (and Jack and Maddie) managed to break away to Vlad’s room.

The moment he closed the door behind them, Maddie whirled around, a frown on her face. “Did anyone else notice that Vlad’s uncle kept throwing us weird looks?”

“Not really,” Jack admitted with a loose shrug. “Vladdie?”

“Yes, actually.” He thought back of the way Danny’s smile had faltered when he had first looked at Jack and Maddie. “He’d been smiling, laughing, but when he saw you two it fell. I thought that that was odd.”

Maddie hummed, thoughtfully. “How strange…”

“He could’ve just been afraid of our reactions,” Jack pointed out, quirking an eyebrow. “Since he looks so similar to Vlad’s mom, and because he’s trans.”

“Or maybe he wanted to make sure he made a good impression,” Vlad tacked on. “From what I remember of Danielle telling me about him before, Danny is a bit of a family-man.”

“Maybe it’s because Vlad could’ve been Danny’s own son.” Jack shrugged at their incredulous looks. “What, it’s true, isn’t it? If Danny and Danielle are identical twins, then Danny could’ve had a son just like Vlad, no?”

Vlad blinked at that. “I… suppose?”

“Hm. I don’t know…” Maddie sighed, then shook her head. “I just— He seems so familiar, I could swear I’ve seen him before. But I can’t for the life of me remember where or when.”

“Well, no point in fretting about it.” Vlad stretched, his spine clicking loudly. “It probably wasn’t anything important, anyway.”

“Probably,” Maddie agreed, before pausing, her eye caught on the clock. “Oh wow, is it that late already? I had better go home before my parents get worried.”

Jack turned to look as well, before making a face. “Yeah, me too. Man, they really kept us occupied for a while, huh?”

“We took our time with the patrol as well,” Vlad pointed out. “But yeah, wouldn’t want you, either of you, to miss dinner.”

They all walked back downstairs, where they paused at the door.

“And Vlad? If I remember, I’ll text you, okay?” Maddie said. “Both of you.”

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Vlad pushed, but she flapped a dismissive hand.

“It’s fine, I won’t stop thinking about it anyway. You know me, don’t you?” She laughed, stepping outside. “See you tomorrow!”

“I’ll get going too. See ya tomorrow, Vlad!” Jack shot him a brilliant grin and then, too, walked out the door.

Vlad waited for another moment, watching them leave, then quickly escaped back to his room before his mom spotted him. He had no desire to get trapped in another conversation with her and Uncle Danny. He’d had his fill of socializing for the day, thank you very much.

---

When Vlad came out of his room in the morning, it was to the sound of voices, only slightly muffled by the walls between them. It took him a moment to process, before he realized: his mother and uncle. Right, of course. They had obviously gotten up earlier than him, and were in the kitchen, talking.

Satisfied with this conclusion, Vlad made his way down the stairs to join them.

Until he heard his mother shout, “Stop being a fucking moron, Danny!”

He paused, hesitating, halfway down the stairs. Vlad didn’t think he had ever heard his mother swear before.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” he heard Danny snap back and, well. Sue him for getting curious.

Using the cover of the stairs—and the fact that the adults were clearly occupied—Vlad shifted into his ghost form, feeling his core surge up with renewed energy after a good night’s rest. Certain that he had plenty of energy for the moment, even without breakfast, Vlad turned himself invisible.

He pushed off from the stairs, floating towards the kitchen. Peeking in, he could see his mother and uncle Danny sitting at opposite sides of the kitchen table. Not their expression, however, since Danielle had her back turned to him and was, in turn, blocking most of Vlad’s view of Danny.

Silently cursing the small kitchen, Vlad shifted slightly in the doorway, but couldn’t cram himself into the kitchen and still keep an eye on both of them at the same time. Not unless he made himself intangible, but that would drain his energy too fast to risk.

Body language would have to do.

“I think I do,” Danielle bit at Danny, her shoulders visibly tight even with her clothes covering them. “Would it really kill you to talk to Sam and Tucker?”

“Clearly you don’t know, if you’re asking that!” Vlad kind of regretted not being able to see uncle Danny, now, because he sounded pissed.

Danielle huffed, shaking her head. “Just stop being an idiot and make up with them. Or, hell, just talking would be a good start. I’m serious, Danny.”

“And so am I!” Danny flung out a hand, gesturing wildly. “You know what they did! What happened to me!”

“You really think they don’t feel guilty as shit over that?” Danielle countered, also flailing her hands. “They love you, Danny. They don’t care about what happened with the accident at all!”

Well. This was becoming awkward. And it didn’t look like it would escalate into a proper fight at all, like he’d been afraid of, so… Time to make a hasty escape!

Before he could, though, Danny slammed his hands down on the table. Vlad found his eyes drawn back to his uncle instantly.

“Why wouldn’t they care?” Danny snapped at Danielle, his eyes glowing a bright vivid green. “I’m a monster!”

Vlad… froze. He could feel his mind grinding to a halt, even as the green left again from his uncle’s eyes, returning them to the cool blue they had been before.

How could that be? Was his uncle really part ghost like him?

And Danny considered himself a monster for it. What did that make Vlad, then?

He shook the thoughts off, watching as Danny slumped down on the table, his anger having apparently left him after the outburst. Danielle leaned in closer, patting his shoulder, comforting him.

Biting his lip, Vlad floated out of the kitchen again. He could ponder about this moment, about the ramifications, somewhere else. Better to give them a little privacy. He’d taken enough of it already.

---

After sneaking out of the house—an act made easy thanks to his ghost powers—Vlad texted Jack and Maddie to meet him in the park. Figuring it would take them longer than him to get there, Vlad made a stop on the way to grab himself some breakfast.

So by the time he’d made it there, both of his friends were already present, waiting impatiently.

“What happened?” Maddie asked as soon as he was within earshot. “You texted us to meet up early, so it must be important, right?”

“Definitely,” Vlad confirmed through the bite of donut in his mouth. He held up a finger for her to wait, then quickly chewed and swallowed the last bite away. “My uncle Danny has ghost powers too.”

Maddie frowned immediately. “Are you sure?”

“One hundred percent.” He glanced around to make sure no one was watching them, then shifted back into his human form, landing with a thud. “He was having a bit of a discussion with my mom this morning, and I saw his eyes glow bright green when he got angry. But it faded away pretty quickly, so it wasn’t possession or anything.”

“Well, it makes sense,” Jack said with a shrug. “You guys are pretty closely related, so you must share some kind of genetic predisposition towards becoming part ghost. And a family-bound bout of ghost interests, maybe?”

Vlad snorted. “When you put it like that… yes, I guess so.”

“Did your mom not comment on it or anything?” Maddie’s frown deepened. “Or did she not see?”

“Oh, no, she definitely saw.” Vlad ran through the conversation again in his head. “I guess she must’ve already known? They mentioned an accident a few times, and that Sam and Tucker didn’t care about that it happened, but Danny did, he considered himself a monster.”

Maddie sucked a breath through her teeth. “Yikes. That’s pretty harsh.”

“Sounds to me like they had an accident similar to ours,” Jack pointed out. “Danny turning into a half-ghost like you, Vlad, and his two friends present for it. And, hell, he might’ve been the ghost we ran into during our patrol yesterday. Maddie must’ve thought he looked familiar because we had seen him earlier.”

“That… sounds pretty reasonable, actually.” Vlad clicked his tongue. “But then what happened? Shouldn’t they have stuck together over it, rather than fall apart?”

“Anything could’ve happened,” Maddie pointed out, her frown smoothing out a little. “Who knows how long ago it happened, anyway. Maybe they just grew apart, maybe they didn’t. We have no way of knowing.”

“Besides asking?” Jack laughed at their incredulous looks. “Didn’t think so. But if Vlad’s mother and uncle were fighting over it, then clearly he must still care.”

Vlad hummed. “My mom seems pretty convinced they care for him still, even if he can’t see it. But I wonder… If he really was the ghost we saw yesterday, maybe Sam and Tucker were the couple he was spying on?”

“That sounds like a good reason to split apart, too,” Maddie agreed, brows creased. “You turning into a half-ghost, and your closest friends hooking up? I think I’d be miffed too. But to split apart entirely?”

“Well, it’s not really our business, is it?” Jack crossed his arms. “They’re all adults, they can figure it out themselves. They don’t need a bunch of teenagers to start meddling, do they?”

“No, I guess they don’t,” Maddie agreed. “But we should talk to Danny, anyway.”

“And admit that I listened in on his private conversation with my mom?” Vlad bit his lip. He felt bad enough about it already, he didn’t exactly want to get a scolding on top of it. Or see Danny’s doubtlessly stronger ghost powers from up close.

Maddie snorted, like she knew exactly what he was thinking. “He is another half-ghost, and one with probably tons more experience than you. He might have advice, or more knowledge. At the very least, he’ll be an older half-ghost to compare your stats to, no?”

“Maybe he’ll even be able to help with training!” Jack chipped in enthusiastically. “He must’ve done something to develop his own powers, right?”

“Ugh, I guess.” Vlad grimaced. “Fine, we’ll go and ask him.”

“Well,” Maddie said out as she stretched. “First we’ll have to find him.”

---

“Got a ping on the ghost scanner!” Jack reported, pointing slightly to the right. “That way!”

Finally. When they had set out to talk to Uncle Danny, Vlad hadn’t thought it would be such a chore just to find him.

“And I see him, too!” Maddie added on, her head angled back. Vlad followed her gaze and saw Danny as well. Or, well. The ghost they were fairly sure was Danny.

The white-haired specter was high in the sky, out of the eyesight of casual onlookers, and actively flying about. Vlad wondered if he was looking for Sam and Tucker, after he’d lost them yesterday.

“I’ll go bring him down.” Vlad tugged on his core, letting his transformation wash over him. Honestly, they were lucky that Danny wasn’t flying very quickly, because Vlad didn’t think he could’ve caught up otherwise. That was part of the reason why they always patrolled with him in his ghost form. Only today they had decided against it, worrying that Vlad’s presence would throw off the ghost scanner too much.

Vlad pushed himself up, feeling the wind tug at his hair, his cape. Before long he was catching up to Danny, and he cupped his hands around his mouth to shout the other ghost down. “Hey, wait up!”

And, surprisingly, he did. Danny glanced over his shoulder, then slowed to a halt in mid-air. His white eyebrows were creased as he frowned at Vlad. “You again. What now?”

“We just want to talk,” Vlad assured, holding his hands up appeasingly. “Me and my friends down below. You know who they are, don’t you?”

Danny’s bright green eyes narrowed. “Well, it’s not like they’ve offered their names. At all.”

They hadn’t? Vlad thought back furiously to the night before, and…

Yeah, no. Danny had introduced himself, but none of them had offered theirs in return. And Vlad couldn’t remember if they had referred to Jack and Maddie by name at all.

“Uh, oops?” he offered Danny, expression sheepish. “In our defense, we live in such a small town that we don’t meet a whole lot of strangers that we actually need to introduce ourselves to.”

Danny snorted, shaking his head a little. “And what makes you so sure that I am a stranger you need to introduce yourselves to?”

“Please, Uncle Danny?” Vlad pleaded, clasping his hands together in front of his chest. “From one half-ghost to another?”

Danny’s expression stilled, and for a moment, Vlad worried that the other might just go and beat him up for spoiling his secret. But then it softened again, and he sighed.

“You shouldn’t listen in on private conversations, Vlad. That’s not only rude, but also a terrible way to use your ghost powers.”

“I know, I know.” Vlad started slowly lowering himself closer to the ground, and Danny obediently followed. “Normally I wouldn’t have, but… I just heard you and my mom being angry, snapping at each other, and I guess I just got worried that it would, y’know, escalate.”

Danny quirked an eyebrow at him, catching up so they flew side-by-side. “And you didn’t think that Elle could take care of herself?”

“Obviously she can.” Vlad rolled his eyes. “I didn’t really think. I just… acted. And then just when I went to leave I saw… Well, you must know.”

The other ghost hummed, then twisted around to smoothly land on the ground in front of Jack and Maddie. “Greetings, teenagers whose names I do not know.”

“Look, I’m sorry for spying on your private conversation, alright?” Vlad darted around Danny to meet his eyes, putting on his most earnest expression. “It was a really shitty thing to do.”

Danny shot him an unimpressed look, then shook his head once more. “Listen, Vlad. I’m not mad, just… Ugh, I dunno. Annoyed? Frustrated? But not mad. I knew you were there. I could feel your ghost core appearing during the conversation, so I should’ve watched my words better. If I had, I could’ve avoided this entire situation.”

“How did you know it was me, then?” Vlad pushed, also dropping his feet back onto the ground. “Or did you just guess?”

“Well, gee, how did I know?” Danny asked, dryly, letting his eyes wander from Vlad to Jack and Maddie and then back to him. “It’s not exactly rocket science, kid.”

“I told you we should’ve invested in goggles,” Jack shot at Maddie, who rolled her eyes back at him.

Vlad ignored them completely, instead turning back to Danny. “But if you knew I was there, and you could’ve prevented me figuring you out, why didn’t you?”

“I…” And something about Danny’s expression just… broke. Shattered. “I guess I got too caught up in the discussion.”

“Right…” Vlad said, catching the unspoken undertone: Danny had been too upset. “Um. So what we actually wanted to talk about… You’re also half-ghost, right? So you must have way more experience with it than me, yes?”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed, slowly, drawing the word out. “About two decades of it.”

“Great!” Maddie clapped her hands together, a grin on her face. “Can you help Vlad train, then? Or at least teach us a little more about half-ghosts? We’ve been going by trial and error and it’s been…”

“Not great,” Jack finished for her, leaning around her to offer a hand to Danny. “I’m Jack, by the way. Jack Fenton.”

“Oh, right!” Maddie also stuck out her hand. “And I’m Maddie Walker.”

Danny reached out to shake both of their hands at once, his white gloves stark even against their pale skins. His expression was rather bewildered, Vlad thought. “Well, pleasure to meet you properly, I guess.”

“So will you help?” Jack asked, when Danny let them both go again. “It would be a huge help!”

“I…” Danny’s eyes slid back to Vlad, who stood up straighter as if for inspection. “I guess,” he finally conceded. “You’re family, and I know from first-hand experience how much it sucks to figure this out without guidance.”

Before Vlad could cheer, however, Danny added on, “And your mother would be incredibly upset if you get yourself killed, so.”

“He’s not going to get himself killed,” Maddie bit at Danny. “We might be teenagers, but we’re not that stupid!”

Danny just turned a cocked eyebrow at her. “Yesterday he suddenly pinned me to the floor, for no reason except that he thought I was up to something bad. Just that would’ve been enough to get serious retaliation from most ghosts, since you attacked first. And if you’re new to having these powers? That’s usually not a fight you can win.”

“So what are we supposed to do if strong ghosts attack?” Vlad asked, puffing up his chest and trying not to feel offended. Because Danny was right, damn it, but it still felt like an attack. “Just run for cover and hope the ghost doesn’t hurt anyone else?”

“If that happens, you’re supposed to call in experienced ghost hunters to come deal with it instead.” Danny rolled his eyes, crossed his arms. “But I doubt it would be a common occurrence, since there is no permanent door into the Ghost Zone around here.”

Danny stilled, then. Turned to frown at Vlad. “Speaking of which, though… How did you become half-ghost, anyway?”

Vlad thought back to the priceless ghost artifact they stole from Danielle and never recovered.

“That’s… not important?” he tried, shooting Danny a hopeful grin.

“It was a ritual we found in a book,” Maddie elaborated as Danny’s eyes started narrowing again. “It was supposed to bring a ghost into our world so we could study it.”

“We think it opened a temporary portal into the Ghost Zone and then went awry,” Jack explained. “The book was old and kinda terrible, so they might’ve noted down the ritual wrong.”

Danny heaved a deep sigh. “You three are lucky that nothing worse happened, then. Did you even have any plans on how to deal with the ghost if it had been volatile?”

“We built some containment devices, and weapons!” Maddie crossed her arms, glaring back at Danny. “We’re not stupid.”

“Well, maybe a little,” Vlad allowed, shrugging as Maddie’s glared moved to him. “We probably should’ve known better than to try a ritual like that first, instead of first validating the book with some less dangerous stuff.”

“Good to know at least some of you have learned from the experience.” Danny shook his head, running a hand through his hair and messing the white locks up even further. “Alright, how about this. Vlad, you go and tell your mother what happened—the complete story—because for some reason you haven’t told her yet.”

Vlad grimaced but nodded. That was fair; they should’ve told her before.

“And once you’ve done that we’ll arrange some sort of training,” Danny concluded. “Does that sound good to you guys?”

“Yeah,” Vlad agreed, as Maddie and Jack gave their assent as well.

“Good, good.” Danny nodded, dropping his hand to his side once more. “I gotta get going, but I’ll be around for dinner tonight. We can talk more then.”

“Wait,” Jack blurted out, holding up his hands. “We’ll tell Mrs. Masters, but you gotta tell your own friends too, alright? I just…” He paused, uncharacteristically, as if searching for words. “I’m sure they’re worried about you.”

Danny’s bright green eyes narrowed, peering at Jack. “How would you know?” he snarled, low and vicious, and Vlad immediately felt his hackles go up. “You don’t know my friends.”

Then, before any of them could stop him, or say anything, Danny pushed off. He rocketed away into the sky, his white-and-black form blurring into nothingness.

Vlad was suddenly very sure he never would’ve caught up to Danny if the man had actually been trying to keep away.

“Well, it was a good attempt,” Maddie tried, patting Jack on his shoulder.

Jack rolled his shoulder, shaking her hand off easily. “It was,” he agreed cheerily. “I’m sure it worked.”

Which Vlad highly doubted but, hey, he wasn’t about to get Jack down for no reason at all.

---

“So, uh, yeah. That’s basically it,” Vlad finished, trying to discretely read his mom’s expression. “Um. Surprise?”

Danielle’s eyes moved to the ceiling as she quietly muttered to herself, but then she shook her head and refocused on Vlad. “You’re—all three of you—idiots. I can’t put into words how unbelievably stupid that was. Did you three even consider everything that could’ve gone wrong?”

“Well,” Jack said with a sheepish expression and a shrug of his shoulders, “We kind of thought that summoning a powerful and malevolent ghost would be the worst case, and we prepared for that. We didn’t think of…” A vague gesture. “This.”

“And that you might get hurt, or even die, didn’t cross your minds at all?” Danielle clicked her tongue. “Never mind, I can tell it didn’t. Unbelievable. Is this sort of dumbassery genetic? Are all men in the family gonna be like this?”

She sounded angry, but Vlad knew his mother well enough to tell that it hid her concern, her worry.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, ducking his head lower. “It was stupid, we know.”

“Well.” She snorted, imperiously. “As long as you know.”

Then she sighed, mellowing out further. “You three are damn lucky nothing too bad happened. This… half-ghost stuff… might be weird, but it’s manageable. You’ll be fine, Vlad. But you might not have been.”

“I know,” he assured her, glancing back briefly at Jack and Maddie. After the accident they had spent a lot of time worrying about what happened. Even now that they knew that he was half-ghost, it was hard to dismiss the thoughts of how easily he could not have been. “I promise, Mom, we know.”

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly, before pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Good. I’m glad.”

When she let him go and stepped back, however, her brow was creased. “Although I do wonder why you three decided to tell me now, of all times. Why not tell me sooner? Or wait longer?”

“So… It is possible that I might have listened in on your conversation with uncle Danny this morning,” Vlad admitted, grinning sheepishly. “Perhaps. Maybe.”

The disappointed look she gave him was truly without peer.

“I know, I know, it was a private conversation, I really shouldn’t have. But I heard shouting, and I got worried, and I reacted without really thinking about it.” He shrugged and tried to look apologetic.

“If it helps, Danny already chewed us out too,” Jack tagged on, and Maddie next to him nodded in agreement. “We talked to him first, to ask if he could help Vlad with training and such.”

Danielle sighed, shaking her head. “Oh, you three… And what did he say, my brother dearest?”

“That we should tell you first, and we could talk more about it during dinner.” Vlad scratched his cheek, idly. “But he did promise to help, so…”

“Sorry if this isn’t our business at all, but I can’t help but wonder… What happened to Danny?” Maddie’s violet eyes moved over Vlad and Jack before settling back on Danielle. “He just seems so… so upset about it all, and he apparently detests his ghost side, but I can’t imagine how he got it in the first place without caring about ghosts.”

Danielle stared her down for a long moment before sighing deeply, her shoulders sagging. “It’s… a long story. But you should know that it is possible for someone to be interested in ghosts while still detesting them, thinking them monsters.”

“You don’t have to tell us if it’s too personal,” Jack blurted out. “But it has something to do with his friends, right? With this Sam and Tucker?”

“Yeah,” she admitted, quietly. Danielle ran a hand through her hair, mussing it up and tugging on a few strands as they got caught up in the motion. “I guess I could tell you a little. It might come up if you’re gonna be working on ghost stuff together, and I don’t want you to get blindsided, just because Danny has issues talking about stuff.”

She sat down on the nearest chair, and Vlad, Maddie, and Jack followed her example by sitting down on the couch, clustered together.

“It’s important to know, for the rest of the story to make sense, that Danny, Sam, and Tucker had been close friends throughout most of their lives. Since they were kids, really, they’ve been best friends, even though their interests varied wildly and often even conflicted. In college, they decided to work on a project that combined their various skills and interests: an artificial portal into another dimension, the so-called Ghost Zone, which had not been proven to exist at the time.” She paused, then amended it with, “Or at all. It hasn’t been officially proven to exist at all.”

Danielle cleared her throat, then continued. “Between Tucker’s interest in technology, Sam’s interest in ghosts, and Danny’s interest in exploring the unknown, as well as their skills in engineering and inventing, they built a miniature ghost portal. But when it failed to activate, a fight broke out. Tucker was sure that it had failed because ghosts weren’t real, while Sam blamed Tucker’s technology. Danny, wanting nothing more than to stop his friends from fighting, decided to try and fix the portal alone.”

“And he succeeded,” Maddie gasped. “Right?”

“He did,” Danielle confirmed, her voice low and weary. “But he’d forgotten to unplug it. The device turned on while his arms were still inside it, a ghost portal forming before he could pull away. Sam and Tucker heard the commotion and managed to get him away, and the device turned off, but it was too late. Even though Danny was declared to be fine by doctors, who hadn’t found any injuries, it didn’t take long for the effects to show. Little by little, Danny developed ghost powers, and even gained the ability to turn into a ghost entirely.”

Danielle paused, running her fingers through her ponytail. “We didn’t know, back then. Jazz and I, I mean. He didn’t tell anyone. The only ones who knew were him, Sam, and Tucker. They grew even closer, somehow, trying to figure out what had happened to Danny, even with how little they knew. But there were always concerns, they were always worrying. What if Danny was slowly dying? Gradually becoming more and more ghost until no human part remained?”

“So what happened?” Vlad asked, startling himself. “If they all got closer afterwards… And it was Sam and Tucker who were fighting, before, not Danny. How did it end up like this?”

“It… Something happened. Something I’m not gonna tell you guys about because it was personal, but anyway, Danny ended up lashing out in anger.” She dropped the hand she was tangling in her hair, her expression dropping along with it. “The anger didn’t last long. Almost immediately, he got worried about him falling into a ghostly rage, about it escalating and him hurting his friends. So he left, cut contact entirely.”

She laughed, humorlessly. “It took forever to get the story out of him, between me and Jazz, and… I guess he sees himself in you, Vlad. And Sam and Tucker in Maddie and Jack.”

“But clearly he no longer thinks he’s slowly turning into a ghost, or worries about the ghostly rages,” Vlad pointed out. “So why hasn’t he reunited with Sam and Tucker?”

“Who knows?” She clicked her tongue. “He cares about them, deeply, and I’m sure the feeling is mutual, but Danny doesn’t seem to think so. And once he has set his mind… He’s too stubborn for his own good, really.”

Jack hummed. “I think we might’ve caught him spying on his friends, a few nights ago, before we met him as Danny. During patrol we found him in his ghost form watching a couple.”

“A dark-skinned man, probably wearing a barrette, and a light-skinned woman with black hair?” Danielle asked, and at their nods, she made a face. “Yeah, that sounds like Sam and Tucker. I hoped he wouldn’t realize that they lived in Amity too, but this seems just his kind of shitty luck.”

Vlad thought back to the couple. He admittedly hadn’t paid too much attention to them, too occupied with watching the ghost, but still… If they were kissing, if they were together… was that the reason why Danny had gotten angry in the first place? He couldn’t help but think that, if Jack and Maddie got together while he was becoming half-ghost, he probably would’ve been pissed too.

“Anyway,” Danielle said, clapping her hands together. “None of this is your business, and I probably shouldn’t have told you guys in the first place. I’ll talk with Danny about ways to help, once he gets home, but I don’t want you trying to get involved, okay? Let me and Jazz handle it.”

“Okay.” Vlad pressed a kiss against his mom’s cheek, trying to hide how increasingly troubled he was feeling. “We’ll be in my room. Thanks, Mom, love you.”

“Love you too, honey.” She ruffled his hair before he got the chance to distance himself, and her laughter followed them all the way to Vlad’s room.

This time it was Jack who stepped into Vlad’s room last, closing the door behind them. “We should try to get those three together to talk,” he immediately declared.

“Why? Mom just said to stay out of it.” And clearly Sam and Tucker had decided to be happy together, rather than with Danny, Vlad thought, but did not say.

“Well, clearly nothing that they have tried is working,” Jack pointed out, with a tone of voice like he was being totally reasonable. “And it was super obvious that Danny is not the only one pining, right Maddie? You saw it too?”

Maddie stood with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes. “Yes,” she admitted, finally. “Yeah, they didn’t look very happy. But for all we know there’s something else going on with them. It’s been decades. They might have moved on.”

“But it’s worth a shot, right?” Jack dragged big hopeful eyes back to Vlad. “Can’t you imagine, Vlad, if it had been us going through that? I mean, we’re not in love like those guys, but still. Losing our friendship like they lost theirs…”

But it was not the same at all. Not really.

Would it be crueler to make Danny face what he had lost, or to let him pine from a distance forever?

Vlad swallowed past the block in his throat.

“It’s worth a shot,” he agreed, quietly.

At least Danny would be able to move on, then. Just like Sam and Tucker had.

---

In the end, Jack and Maddie decided that there would be too much risk of people backing out if they knew what the meeting was really about, and Vlad agreed. If Danny knew he certainly wouldn’t show up, and if either Sam or Tucker (or more likely, both) backed out, there wouldn’t be a point to the meeting at all. So instead they arranged it with everyone separately, somehow managing to track down Tucker and Sam when they were alone.

Danny, of course, was the easiest to meet with. As promised, he had agreed to start training Vlad, setting up a meeting for just that purpose. For Sam and Tucker, they had to get a little more creative.

Luckily Danielle had told them about their prior interests, which were gladly taken as a jumping off point. Tucker proved interested enough in the ghost hunting tech the three of them had developed, agreeing to come meet them to talk a little more about them, and to have a good look at the tech. Sam, on the other hand, was lured in with the offer to take a look at some of their rare books about ghosts.

Which brought them here. Vlad, Jack, and Maddie were there first, settling down in the grass. They had picked the meeting spot with care, a quiet corner of the park where no one ordinarily came. The large trees surrounding it should give them privacy from potential onlookers, too.

Not long after they got there, they were joined by uncle Danny. He hovered over them for a moment, then shifted back to his human form as well, his sneakers softly touching down on the grass. “Ready, Vlad?”

“Almost,” he answered, and tried not to feel too bad about what was coming. It would all be for the better. Even if things didn’t improve, likely as it seemed, then at least Danny would be able to move on.

Before he could worry too much about it, however, the bushes rustled and their last two guests appeared in the clearing as well. Sam and Tucker had apparently realized they were invited to the same place at the same time, and thus came together.

Uncle Danny stilled instantly, his eyes locked onto the forms of Sam and Tucker. They, in turn, also looked rather surprised to see him.

“Danny?” Tucker whispered, voice quiet with… shock? Surprise? Vlad didn’t know him well enough to tell.

That was enough to snap the elder half-ghost out of his frozen state. In the blink of an eye he shifted back to his ghost form, pushing off from the ground.

But he wasn’t fast enough.

In the short moment he had needed to turn ghost, Sam had crossed the distance between them. Had caught Danny’s wrist with her own hand.

And Danny… stopped. Instantly, immediately.

Tucker, not far behind Sam, caught up as well, grabbing Danny’s other wrist. And, like it was nothing, pulled him back onto the ground.

“Stay,” Sam commanded him softly, and Danny nodded meekly.

What on Earth was happening? Vlad honestly didn’t know anymore.

“We missed you,” Tucker told Danny, voice still quiet. “You won’t believe how much we’ve missed you, man.”

“But you two are—” Danny started, his vibrant green eyes wide and darting between the two people holding his wrists, like he couldn’t decide whether to pull away or to come closer.

“It’s not the same without you,” Sam interrupted, her fingers curling tighter around his wrist. “Danny, it’s not just Tucker I love. I love you too. Always have.”

“And the same goes for me,” Tucker tacked on. “It was never just the two of us, but all three. We’re not the same without you, Danny.”

Danny’s mouthed opened and shut several times, but no words came out.

Luckily, Sam took mercy on him, adding on, “We’ve been so worried about you, Danny. For two decades, we heard nothing. You never answered our messages. Avoided us completely. We only knew you were okay because Jazz and Elle would tell us if we asked.”

“Well, yeah,” Danny said, subdued, with a shrug and a meaningful look between Sam and Tucker. “I mean…”

“You thought we’d cut you out.” Tucker shook his head, his voice strained. “Danny, we tried to tell you. It’s not the same without you. But you never listened.”

“But I’m—”

“Not a monster,” Sam snapped at him. Then, suddenly, she pulled at his wrist, dragging him closer to her.

And then they were kissing.

No, really, Vlad wasn’t sure how that happened. One moment they were talking, and then suddenly they were not.

The kiss didn’t last very long, but was promptly followed up by Tucker kissing Danny, mimicking Sam’s move to drag Danny closer.

They broke away again, Danny blinking stupidly at Sam and Tucker. Then at their hands, still around his wrists.

With a short movement, he turned his arms intangible, pulling them free. Except, instead of fleeing like Vlad was half expecting, Danny grabbed onto the hands he had just freed himself from. Wriggled his fingers between those of his… his friends? His love interests? His crushes?

Either way, Danny then promptly used the hands he held to drag both Sam and Tucker closer to him, until they were all mashed together, melting away against the sides of his long-lost friends.

“I’m sorry,” Danny murmured against Sam’s shoulder, where he had tucked his head.

“So are we,” Sam answered him, equally muffled. “We should’ve talked to you first.”

Vlad watched them for a moment longer, feeling increasingly awkward about being there. Next to him, Maddie cleared her throat, apparently just as uncomfortable as him. “We, uh. We’ll get going.”

“Sorry for being present for something so… personal,” Vlad tacked on, nodding quickly. “Uh. Congrats?”

“Congratulations!” Jack shot them a bright, cheery grin. “See, I told you, Mr. Masters!”

Somewhere in the pile, Danny groaned, his glow flickering visibly. “Now I feel old.”

“Ah, cheer up, you’re no older than us,” Tucker comforted, before twisting partly out of the pile to face Vlad, Jack, and Maddie. “And hey, don’t worry about it, kids. Without you three we never would’ve managed to pin Danny down to talk.”

“Besides,” Sam added on, turning around despite Danny still leaning his entire weight on her, diminutive as it was in his ghost form. “You were looking for training, right? Tuck and I got plenty of ghost hunting tech of our own, so we can definitely help.”

“Why do you have ghost hunting tech?” Danny asked, lifting his head slightly to squint at her. “Have you two been hunting ghosts?”

She snorted. “Well, someone had to keep an eye on you. God knows you weren’t doing it yourself.”

Vlad felt a tug at his elbow, and turned out to see his friends leaving. With a nod he followed, hearing an offended squawked “Hey!” behind him.

Yeah, those three could figure the rest out on their own, he was sure.

[ironwoodatl01]

RWBY Review - Start to Finish -

RWBY VOL 1; CHAPTER 2 -

We ended on the line ‘Better shows were canceled for far less unforgivable sins on our last episode.’

There is a second part to this, which goes;

‘But a show has at least one season before something (that) drastic happens.’

I should have qualified that last statement because;

I know, I should have qualified my statement.

Moving on.

Chapter 2: The Shining Beacon -

Picking up from the airship ride upon which Chapter 1 ended, Chapter 2 begins with Ruby Rose taking her first steps onto Beacon Academy and fangirling about the weapons borne by the other students accompanying Ruby to Beacon Academy.

After being abandoned by her sister, Yang, whom we met on the airship. Ruby then meets three characters; Weiss, Blake, and Jaune Arc.

Bonding with Jaune Arc, Ruby makes her way into Beacon proper where the first thing we see of the school is an auditorium. Ozpin gives a speech, and Glynda tells everyone to spend the night in the Great Hall and prepare for Initiation.

During the ‘Slumber Party’ Ruby catches up with Blake, where Ruby then reveals that she loves books. Just like the mysterious, raven-haired beauty Ruby and Yang are attempting to befriend. Despite committing the cardinal sin of interrupting someone while they are reading, Blake seems to appreciate Ruby’s attempts at friendship but decides to call it a night when Weiss appears.

Building upon Chapter 1 -

In the vein of being creative, reviews from this point on will always build upon the last review of the previous chapter. A narrative is not cogent on individual scenes but on how individual scenes build upon each other, and therefore any review of RWBY should be taken in the context of what previous episodes show.

This is especially true since RWBY isn’t a ‘Monster-of-week’ story but a continuous story about Ruby Rose and her adventures.

Chapter 2 chooses to expand on the Huntsman storyline by focusing on Ruby’s entrance into Beacon after she was given a chance to be at Beacon by Ozpin. We learn more about Ozpin and his place at Beacon, we get a clearer picture of what Dust is capable of, and the Faunus issue takes a backseat to Ruby’s character development and relationship building with her schoolmates at Beacon.

However, Ruby Rose’s development is rather inconsistent. Ruby portrays multiple, contradictory character traits which cause Ruby to feel like a blank slate. Adapting herself to reflect the traits of better-developed characters instead of being a character herself.

The dialogue and exposition throughout the episode also make it feel like I’m being reintroduced to plot elements discussed in the first episode, making the narrative so far feel tedious.

In fact, it may be better if Chapter 1 was a prologue or a trailer, while Chapter 2 becomes Chapter 1. This is because most of the plot elements introduced in Chapter 1 were better introduced with a more cohesive narrative in Chapter 2.

What I (genuinely) liked -

Dust -

The scene where Ruby Rose knocks over Weiss’s Dust Cases was my favorite introduction to Dust. The scene was simple and established what we needed to know about Dust for now; It’s volatile, powerful, and produces elemental effects when it explodes.

The introduction also serves multiple goals; establishing Ruby’s clumsiness, Weiss’s schtick as having more than make-up powder in her suitcases, and the relationship between Ruby and Weiss. Ruby’s impetuous energy, and Weiss’s cautious uptightness in regards to her personal items and space.

It is also interesting to see a weapon being introduced in a way that does not involve fighting.

Jaune Arc -

At this stage in the story, Jaune is my favorite character. His simple design is elegant, his weaponry is a breath of fresh air compared to Ruby’s over-designed Crescent Rose, and Jaune feels like the kind of guy you could go out for a beer with. Which is something that writers tend to overlook when it comes to character design. Would your character be someone the reader would go out for a drink with?

Ozpin’s Speech -

Ozpin’s speech raises a question that sets up one of RWBY’s … themes. In the opening narration, Ozpin brings up ‘a Simple Soul’ as the key to victory. Though we don’t really know what is a ‘simple soul,’ it can be assumed that the story of Ruby Rose will tell us as it unfolds. So that’s fair.

In this episode’s speech, Ozpin brings up the question of ‘purpose’. The Huntsmen are at Beacon to get knowledge, but they fail to ask themselves ‘why’ they want this knowledge. Why do you want to be a Huntsman? Implying a question that requires a good answer if one wants to succeed at being a Huntsman.

The purpose is something that most modern stories tend not to explore. Why does a character want to do something? Protagonists and Heroes tend not to have this well established. The Hero fights the Villain because that’s what Heroes do, but why does a Hero want to specifically fight this Villain? How would fighting the Villain help the Hero achieve his goals? Villains tend to have this better explained, which may be why audiences identify with the Villains more.

But in RWBY’s case, this question is not answered yet. But it is a question that the show intends to address, and I think it is a pertinent question.

Another pertinent question is how I’m going to piss off RWBY fans this time.

Problems with the Chapter 2 -

Like Harry Potter, to an extent, RWBY’s main problem is Ruby. A special girl is marked out for a special destiny, and we have to know how special she is at the expense of more interesting characters like Jaune.

One example of this is when Ruby meets Blake and they have a discussion about books.

The conversation is skewed to explore more of Ruby instead of Blake by taking something that is uniquely Blake’s, her love of books, and having Ruby explain Blake’s hobby to her face. We learn about Ruby’s preferred genres, we learn what books mean to Ruby, and how they motivate her to be a Huntress. Forgetting that earlier on, Ruby’s thing was weapons.

Ruby’s thing for weapons was established at the beginning of the episode with a sequence explaining how weapons are an extension of the Huntsman and are thus cool. This in and of itself contradicts Ruby’s first interview in Chapter 1 where she states that being a Huntsman is cool because they are romantic and cool. At the same time referring to weapons a grand total of zero times.

One could argue that this love of weapons and romantic stories about heroes are linked to Ruby’s love of Huntsmen in general. Ruby does state that;

“As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves …”

Which could work, and I like that. So what do weapons have to do with stories? It is a jarring personality thing that takes away from the unique trait of other characters and serves to make Ruby a fence-sitter. A character tries to be like every other character, and in the process loses her character.

Funnily enough, this is why Jaune is a more interesting character than Ruby. He is his own character. A boy trying to live up to his family legacy by becoming a Huntsman, because that is how he would make his mark in a bloodline containing warriors and heroes.

We don’t have Ruby Rose telling Jaune how SHE is part of a family line of ancient warriors, and thus showing how special she is. Jaune is allowed to keep what makes him unique, and he thus maintains the quality that makes him an interesting character at this point of the narrative.

Conclusion -

I like Chapter 2. It interestingly introduces several interesting concepts and is a good start to the narrative of RWBY.

However, Ruby Rose takes too much screen time, and the Chapter would have been better suited to being ‘Chapter 1’ instead.

[fawsldaily]

'Same sport, different game' has long been the unofficial tagline of women's football. But as it continues to grow and in doing so moves closer in proximity to men's football it is inevitable that some distinctions between the two sides of the sport will begin to blur. 

The question of how the women's game can ensure the preservation of its elements worth holding on to, whilst simultaneously needing to attract fans outside of its bubble, is one which it has been asking itself for some time now. There is no simple answer, as demonstrated when those with the task of balancing the scales openly admit they are not sure of the best approach to take.  

For the sake of its prosperity the women's game must tap into an audience which is more accustomed to the starkly contrasting culture of men's football; something so established and ingrained it permeates through to the very society we live in as society itself filters the other way. The nearer the women's game is positioned to something so influential the more likely its norms will change as a result, but there is still opportunity to control to what degree its customs are altered. If managed correctly it should one day be possible to look back and see a positive evolution as opposed to the loss of better days. There is, however, little time to decide how the game intends to achieve the former if events of Manchester United vs Liverpool on Saturday afternoon are anything to go by. 

Many things were said about Manchester United's vocal fan base in the days before they hosted Liverpool in Leigh. Many more things have been said in the aftermath. 

The commentary during the opening minutes of the match was dominated with talk of the club's ‘Barmy Army’ fan group. It echoed the positive sentiments of a BBC article published the day before detailing the group's origin, their song book and growing attendances. A particularly audible chant during the eighth minute prompted the commentator to again commend the group and their efforts creating an atmosphere. He was seemingly completely unaware that they had in fact just finishing singing about the visiting fans being so poor they resort to eating rats.

The chant in question was that of Park Ji-sung; once a player for Manchester United's men's team. Seven years after departing the club his chant was sung at a women's team match, all due to its punchline about Scousers and poverty. It is, therefore, the perfect example of the two most likely things to be brought into the stands on the back of importing too much of a fan base from the men's game and too soon - those two being, things which are unrelated to the women's game and things which should not be present in either. Park Ji-sung's irrelevancy to a Women's Super League match is not negated just because the final line of the chant referenced the opposition, and the nature of that reference ought to mean the chant be considered unwelcome at any match at all. It is hard for Barmy Army members to justify singing this particular chant on them not yet having material more suited to the women's team when they pride themselves so much on the existence of their women's team centred song book.

The point that new fans won't initially know the inner workings of a women's football crowd is a valid one, however. It has to be expected that their contribution will likely be what they do know, which is men's football. Often perceived to be the default in any case. A common argument being made in reaction to events at Leigh this weekend by those on the outside looking in has been that if women's football wishes to be treated equally it must be prepared to have the same elements as the men's game - warts and all. Many comments read like they had been left by people resigned to accepting that abuse is part and parcel now and you can't have football without it. It is easy to understand why somebody would resign themselves to that when also in amongst the reaction were comments from others carrying the disturbing notion that the sort of chants from the Manchester United fans are not even warts but are in fact enhancing a match day experience. Mocking destitution and death (as referenced in their chant related to the Hillsborough Disaster) is not an enhancer of anything. 

It is difficult to find fault in the principle behind the argument that women's football must adopt things from men's football, when it is an argument being made in the general sense. But when made in the context of fan base attitudes and behaviours, it does not in fact need to adopt what are warts. It is impossible to convince fans not to cross a line or to come back on the correct side of a line when they do not acknowledge the existence of one. It is critical therefore that the women’s game establish exactly where the line is as early as possible.

Preventing the adoption of the worst elements of men’s football will require a robust, zero tolerance approach with input from all sides. Including the existing fan base who must play a role and be prepared to police both themselves and new arrivals. It is likely not a coincidence that the one set of fans failing to read the room, or outright ignoring it, happen to also be the set with no grounding in women's football culture because their team is only just over a year old. Whilst it is not possible to force new match goers to adapt to the differences of a women's match, a club stands a much greater chance of their fan base growing into a positive asset if new match goers can at least enter a ground and see women's football culture on display. Recognising and then taking on board the differences will largely be an education achieved through good example. 

It is a shame then that the FA spent so many years catering to children and families rather than to the young adult and adult demographic who have been responsible for setting the crowd tone to date, and so are therefore the subsection who would be most likely to successfully set that necessary example moving forward. Had more of this type of fan been targetted earlier and more assistance been given for the establishment of fan groups then perhaps there would be enough of a vocal presence at matches to offset the introduction of anybody wired to make distasteful contributions.

It would be a continued shame if that demographic were now overlooked for a second time in favour of bussing in 'ready made' fans from men's matches, when it is the case that had this demographic instead been the target audience they could by now have developed into exactly what those bussed in fans will be, but crucially minus the problematic tendencies. The ‘source from elsewhere’ approach may shortcut to higher attendances, but, just as targetting children now so there is a fan for tomorrow came at the expense of building up the fan of today, an influx of fans too contrasting with the present will come at the expense of having a desirable culture in the future.

The young adult and adult demographic who have been part of the league are also key to establishing rivalry. The more seasoned the fan and the older they are the more able they are to recount previous meetings between their team and another. One argument made for bringing in fans from outside of the bubble is that it is a step towards lively atmospheres with needle, but the fact that we so often highlight the times such an atmosphere is present proves the women's game does in fact already have the ability to create such thing - the issue is that it isn't created often enough. This is not because there is something wrong with the current fans and their methods, it is because there isn't yet enough narrative and history which are two things vital to cultivating a partisan crowd. 

The Women's Super League is only nine years old. It has also been through multiple restructures and re-licencings at the same time clubs and squads have been becoming unrecognisable from one season to the next, meaning you can divide those nine years into three or four completely different and practically unrelated eras. Going back further than a season or two takes you into a time of little relevancy to what is happening on the pitch nowadays. It is an unfair and unrealistic expectation that fans regularly create an atmosphere to rival those seen in men's football when those men's football fans are often doing so with a lifetime of meaningful past meetings to reflect on. 

Of the eight founding Women's Super League clubs, only one fixture between them could really be considered a local derby but for the first two years it did not feel like one. Only in 2013, once some of Everton's better players had 'crossed the park' to join Liverpool who had finally become competitive and the power started to swing to the red half of the city, did the Merseyside Derby have the fitting significance. Almost 1500 fans travelled to Widnes on a freezing cold March night despite inches of snow on the ground to watch a Continental Cup match. The atmosphere whenever they faced each other during that period was exactly what is required and requested. Two seasons after the derby found its feet Everton were then playing in the second division and little of the Liverpool team which leapfrogged them into being best in the city remained, causing the few meetings between the sides in the years since to not manage to spark anywhere near the same level of passion in a crowd.

If we are affording ourselves time to grow the size crowds then we must also afford the crowd time to develop an identity, practices, stories and traditions. Such things can not be manufactured or come as a byproduct of transferring fans from men's stadiums because context is what makes the occasion.

Much is said about women's football being reluctant to the culture of the game changing with the introduction of new approaches but the fans being accused of having this attitude are the same fans wishing others would join in with their singing and bemoaning when an attendance is down from the week before. They are ones doing the utmost to create an atmosphere. The are the ones most open to changes which would benefit that goal. Their perfectly reasonable hope that change come with the respected condition that lines not yet crossed remain uncrossed should not be confused with a reluctance to welcome new people. Because to confuse the two will leave the door open for new people to cross the line and justify doing so on it being unreasonable to ask that they don't.

[eidolonlathi]

The Issue with Gen’s wasted Character Potential

With the manga about to reach its end I thought it worthwhile to have a closer look at how Gen’s character has been written. And the conclusion I'm coming to is that things started promising but then ended with already established potential not getting used.

Let’s start at the beginning. I don't believe that by the time of their introduction, any of the Sato squad’s new members had a clear and finished backstory. Or if, that it must have gotten changed while the story was progressing.

At this point it is difficult to say what the initial intention had been. But looking at Gen’s introduction, I always had the impression he and Takahashi didn't use to know each other before, came to the meeting alone and met there for the first time, instantly developing sympathy for each other. Something of the body and facial language in their first panel just seems too distant for me to signal anything else. And taking into account that until chapter 66.5 it hadn’t been confirmed that they shared a backstory, I view an individual arrival still as a possibility. Gen stating some time after the Grant Pharma arc that he possesses no ghost is no contradiction; just because Kou was clumsy enough to attract attention and got caught doesn't mean Gen wouldn't have been able to attend the black ghost meeting undetected.

Either way, only moments later, as soon as Sato's plan was established, he and Takahashi were able to quickly adapt to the situation and work together in harmony. Be it because they used to already know each other or by forming an instant strong connection. This moment already established the pattern that functioning together came easy to them while with Tanaka in the equitation friction would develop easily. But interestingly on the newly formed team all disharmony vanished at first, the operation on Grant Pharma ending a success.

I think this is about the only time in the manga where Gen is completely on his own and it’s impressive how good his nerves are during this moment. He stays calm, analyses the situation and delivers the needed information. And he has to do all of this while Takahashi is constantly being killed right next to him, yet Gen doesn’t get nervous at all.

That kind of levelheadedness would last until into the Forge Arc. And then getting reduced for the sake of preparing a “twist” lacking any solid foundation. Regardless of what one thinks of Gen being human or him and Takahashi supposed to have been brothers all along, from a storytelling perspective it makes zero sense to hide this all away from the reader until the last second. Like, that’s it? That’s the twist? How is this supposed to be relevant again? One of the random sidekicks to the main baddy –who you always knew wouldn’t have a chance to make it to the end- died instead of having gotten captured. I doubt anyone but the less than 20 people who used to ship takagen cared. These characters were about to disappear from the story either way, the average reader wouldn’t care about the surrounding details because these two were not the kind of characters that were given enough relevance. Or more, after a strong introduction, relevance and focus kept getting taken away from them.

Because relevance is the second factor why the reveals at the end were a bad way to progress the story. Since it got clear that some intended surprise was along its way (being shocking for the purpose of being shocking always looks forced), Takahashi and especially Gen were shoved further away into the background of happenings, given little to do. And that was a waste, frankly, taking into account how active both of them were allowed to behave shortly after their introductions. Remember them both supporting Sato with their sniping skills during the Grant Pharma attack? Sniping is a task complicated to do right but both of them were proving to be capable. Together and on their own: The moment Takahashi was taken out by enemy snipers, Gen was perfectly able to calmly overview and asset the situation, like this gathering together the information Tanaka needed to advance further and deal with those threats.

So, you have these two characters who have proven to be capable during stressful situations with a reliable mind and then the manga just… shoved them aside. Not just by lessening focus on them but by downright ignoring the ways they would have been able to contribute to their team. Cutting their teeth and claws further and further, first by putting more of a focus on their drug using habits (edgy. Now we know they’re bad guys for sure. Don’t get me started on addiction getting used as an indicator of morality) and then taking this further until they were reduced to not much more than moving props clowning around in the background. Compare that to Okuyama, whose early established technical skills kept getting efficiently used to advance the plot.

The curse got broken. After years of silence chapter 59 finally allowed Gen to speak again. Unfortunately barely anyone still remembered he existed or what he had brought to the plot so far.

Letting all this potential go to waste, for what? Because more of a focus would have threatened to reveal those wannabe twists? Something that turned out as boring as “one was human all along but the writing never told us that for no good reason”. It is hard to imagine after all the Sato squad was unaware about this important little detail: Not with their habit to regenerate themselves or their injured comrades via shooting themselves back to life during operations. With this they would have needed getting informed about Gen not being an ajin.

And the sudden sibling status about to get introduced resulting in “Gen’s dialogue needs to get reduced into nothing, otherwise it would become too obvious he and Takahashi being brothers was a last minute idea, with them going against local conventions by not calling each other “brother”, instead using their last names ever since.” Yeah, how did that work out? Now we have actual implied canonical incest because Takahashi and Gen being related changed nothing about the fact they were giving off the most obvious couple vibes this manga had to offer, making it look they were actively hiding being related. Where did it go wrong? Was “Gen is human” installed as a possible twist last minute late in the game, kept nebulous in case some better idea came up? (The hints were always vague guesswork at best, supposed to be able to go both ways, and unlike the anime the manga didn’t have the foresight to prepare it as believable by keeping Gen out of the most dangerous situations and reducing this drug consuming habit to a zero. So, am I supposed to look at it as a deliberate suicide mission on his part in manga context? Was his nihilism this deeply rooted here?) And what about the sibling retcon? Was “he joined this non-human extremist group for the sake of supporting his friend” sounding too gay an explanation, so in an attempt to erase that away they were retconned brothers? Would at least explain why those two look absolutely nothing alike despite supposed to be related.

Ironically this accidental incestuous implication was the only element working here in favour of story telling and character development. Disillusioned incestuous couple disappointed with life drifts into nihilism and thus resonates with Sato's ruthless modus operandi? Now that's the kind of variation and originality I like to see in fiction.

Interesting how Gen just shrugs his shoulders and goes back to routine once told the hostages already served their purpose. Zero sentimentalities to be seen. 

I’m glad the story at least let those two stay loyal to Sato until the end, keeping the last bit of relevance in place that differentiated them from their (former) teammates. Takahashi and Gen had bloodthirsty motivations long before they met Sato, so it makes sense those shared similarities kept deepening the bond of those three. It makes sense on a level of characterization and interpersonal relation as well: I’d go as far as to say that Sato was most likely one of the few (the first?) people who accepted them the way they were. Attentive as he was it is hard to imagine he would have missed any aspect of the nature of their relationship. Yet his demeanour towards them never changed, more, as time went on the three of them grew closer. Being met with this kind of acceptance, it is easy to see why Takahashi’s and Gen’s loyalty towards Sato would have strengthened over time as well. Add to this that those three had a pretty similar mind set and voila. A unit that could have had it all, hadn’t it been for the story’s need to play it safe and prepare circumstances so the “good” guys (anyone seriously believing the status quo of using captured ajin for experiments would have changed without outside pressure?) win because of reasons.

This manga has many strengths but the recent habit to insert plot threads that keep dangling and are leading to nowhere or constant retcons that backpedal on what was previous established are none of it. Seeing how the manga started losing its way shortly after the Forge Arc ended and how the plot is now stumbling around in an attempt to reach an ending has been a disappointment, exactly because the story already has proven so many times that it can be excellent under the right circumstances. Alas, hope gets snatched away last.

[the-desolated-quill]

We Need To Talk About James Gunn - Quill’s Scribbles

This could prove to be the most controversial Scribble I’ve ever written on this blog, and the sad thing is it really shouldn’t be, in my opinion.

First off, a couple of disclaimers because I know some people are going to accuse me of ‘bias’. I’ve never been very fond of James Gunn as a filmmaker, it’s true. I thought the first Guardians Of The Galaxy movie was okay at best and I absolutely hated the sequel, but I confess that’s less to do with any inherent flaws in the films themselves and more to do with the fact that I just don’t like Gunn’s style of humour. Oh don’t get me wrong. There are still legitimate problems, which I’ll go into later when they become relevant, but I’m big enough to admit that my dislike for his brand of comedy and storytelling is merely due to my own subjective tastes (the same is true of Taika Waititi and Thor: Ragnarok).

Okay. So. Let’s talk about James Gunn.

As I’m sure most of you know, in July 2018, an alt-right conspiracy theorist called Mike Cernovich unearthed tweets made by Gunn between 2008 and 2012 where he made offensive jokes and remarks about sensitive topics such as rape, child abuse and paedophilia. While James Gunn did apologise and vowed to ‘do better,’ Disney, fearing the public backlash, fired Gunn as director of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and dismissed him from any role in producing and expanding Marvel’s planned ‘Cosmic Universe.’ The result was the public backlash Disney were trying to avoid in the first place. They received a lot of criticism from various entertainers and filmmakers, as well as many media outlets such as Collider and The Independent, the cast of Guardians wrote a letter urging Disney to reconsider their decision with Dave Bautista in particular being very vocal in his criticism, and there was a massive outcry from fans who petitioned for Gunn to be rehired. Guy Lodge, writing for The Guardian, asked the question ‘Was James Gunn the first undeserving victim of Hollywood’s new zero tolerance policy?’ Now I’d argue the answer to that question is a definitive no, but apparently, and surprisingly, that’s not a very popular opinion among liberals. So I’d very much like to challenge them as we explore James Gunn’s moral character and ask ourselves why he’s being defended so passionately.

Before we go any further, I think it would be a good idea for me to show you some of the tweets that we’re talking about, just to remind everyone what we’re dealing with here.

Now I hope we can all agree that this is objectively disgusting. Only an amoral, depraved and utterly moronic individual would find offensive tweets like these even remotely funny. But I should make it clear that, by James Gunn’s own admission, these tweets represent who he was rather than who he is. In his apology, he described himself as a ‘provocateur’ during the early days of his career, making shocking statements for the purposes of ‘satire.’ But it’s okay because he’s a better person who has grown and matured fully and will never do this again. Fair enough, you’d think. He admitted what he did was wrong and apologised profusely. That was a very honourable and decent thing to do.

Except we’ve seen this song and dance before.

In 2012, roundabout when Marvel announced they were making a Guardians Of The Galaxy movie with James Gunn directing, an old blog post of Gunn’s resurfaced entitled ‘The 50 Superheroes You Most Want To Have Sex With.’ The original post has since been deleted, but cached versions still exist here and there around the internet if you know where to look. Here are a few quotes from said blog:

[on natasha romanoff, the highest ~debut] “considering she’s fucked half the guys in the marvel universe, that’s quite a feat”

[on batwoman] “i’m hoping for a dc-marvel crossover so that tony stark can turn her; she could also have sex with nightwing and still be a lesbian”

”Many of the people who voted for the Flash were gay men. I have no idea why this is. But I do know if I was going to get fucked in the butt I too would want it to be by someone who would get it over with quick.”

Needless to say, this was quite offensive and causing bad PR, so James Gunn issued an apology:

“A couple of years ago I wrote a blog that was meant to be satirical and funny. In rereading it over the past day I don’t think it’s funny. The attempted humor in the blog does not represent my actual feelings. However, I can see where statements were poorly worded and offensive to many. I’m sorry and regret making them at all.

People who are familiar with me as evidenced by my Facebook page and other mediums know that I’m an outspoken proponent for the rights of the gay and lesbian community, women and anyone who feels disenfranchised, and it kills me that some other outsider like myself, despite his or her gender or sexuality, might feel hurt or attacked by something I said. We’re all in the same camp, and I want to do my best to make this world a better place for all of us. I’m learning all the time. I promise to be more careful with my words in the future. And I will do my best to be funnier as well. Much love to all – James”

Sound familiar?

Now of course it’s unfair to judge the man based on past actions that he himself apologised for. What matters is the present. Whether or not he has demonstrated to a reasonable standard that his work has grown and matured and that his offensive idiocy is a thing of the past. So let’s look at the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies.

While the first movie received critical acclaim, a few people (particularly fans of the source material) complained about how Gamora was treated. The so called ‘most powerful woman in the galaxy’ was reduced to a love interest, an occasional damsel in distress and there were a few odd occasions where she was objectified and degraded based on her sexual history. The most prominent example of which is when Drax describes her as ‘a green whore.’ The context being that he was ignorant of how offensive he was being despite trying to compliment her and call her a friend, and this was played for laughs in the movie. The second movie has more examples. Gamora’s role still paled in comparison to the role she played in the comics, and a new female character called Mantis was introduced whose power level from the comics was also significantly reduced for the movie and whose character was effectively reduced to be a punchline/punching bag. There’s also a scene involving Drax where he frequently describes her as ugly, saying that "when you're ugly and someone loves you, you know they love you for who you are. Beautiful people never know who to trust." Again this is played for laughs. Except I’d argue that an adult man constantly fixating on a woman’s appearance isn’t even remotely funny. 

Another disturbing aspect of the Guardians 2 was the way it seemed to romanticise and excuse abusive relationships. Obviously there’s Drax and Mantis, but the biggest example is Star Lord and Yondu. The first movie did a reasonably good job establishing what drew Star Lord and Gamora together. They were both trying to escape from abusive father figures. The second film does a complete U-turn, calling Yondu Star Lord’s ‘David Hasselhoff’ and giving him a gratuitous and overly sentimental funeral as though he were a noble hero. While I’m sure the death of Yondu would emotionally impact Star Lord to a certain extent (he did raise the kid after all), to say that he’s like ‘David Hasselhoff’ because he’s a better dad than Ego the Living Planet was seems like a very low bar to clear. By that logic, Hitler was a good person because he didn’t kill as many people as Stalin did. It’s tone deaf, lacking in nuance and just a little bit insulting.

Bearing all this in mind, has James Gunn grown and matured since the period between 2008 and 2012? That’s for you to judge. I’d personally argue he hasn’t. Sure he’s no longer as extreme or provocative as he once was, but that’s not necessarily proof that he’s matured. Rather he’s just gotten better at hiding his immaturity. And in my own subjective opinion, based on his work, I think Disney made the right decision in sacking him. Now let me be clear, I don’t think Disney sacked him in order to take a moral stand as a lot of the problematic elements in the Guardians films have carried over into other MCU films. Gamora is still treated like shit in Avengers: Infinity War, and Thanos, who, like Yondu, was clearly established in the first Guardians movie as an abusive father figure, has been woobified and turned into a kind of sympathetic anti villain who actually cared about his daughter and only killed her because he had no other choice (as opposed to, you know, because he is a maniacal despot who’s a few Oompa Loompas short of a chocolate factory). The reason Gunn was fired was because of bad PR. Disney had dealt with this shit before in 2012 and they weren’t prepared to deal with it again, so they dropped the baggage, as it were. It’s a very common occurrence in Hollywood. Which is what makes the public backlash against this decision so puzzling to me.

I can understand being upset that the director of your favourite franchise has been fired, but can we try to get some perspective here? What happened to Gunn is nothing unique. This kind of thing happens all the time. A filmmaker does something controversial or has been revealed to have done something controversial in the past, the studio sacks them in an attempt to save face and everyone gets on with their lives. The situation with James Gunn is no different. The only reason I can see why people are so passionately against this is because of how these tweets were unearthed in the first place. Because the discoverer of the tweets, Mike Cernovich, is a member of the alt-right, the liberal community seem predisposed to dismiss this out of hand, which I think is incredibly dangerous. Okay, yes, Cernovich is a Nazi and almost certainly didn’t do this out of the goodness of his heart, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. It doesn’t change the fact that the tweets still exist and that they’re still incredibly offensive. And all the things I’ve heard people say in defence of James Gunn sound very similar to things the right would say about the likes of Brett Cavanaugh and Donald Trump. ‘It was x number of years ago.’ ‘It’s not relevant to who he is now.’ ‘He’s changed.’ ‘You can’t judge someone based on their past mistakes.’ I mean... come on guys! Either everyone should be held to the same standard or nobody should be held to standards at all. You can’t just change tact just because the person in question has the same political ideals as you. What are we saying? It’s okay for liberals to hold conservatives accountable for past actions and behaviour, but the right can’t do it to the left because apparently it’s not as funny when they do it? It’s classic ‘them and us’ mentality and it’s got to stop.

So, why am I bringing all this up, you may be asking? This happened over six months ago Quill. Aren’t you a little late to the party? Well a couple of days ago, it was announced that Warner Bros and DC Films had hired James Gunn to write and direct a sequel to Suicide Squad.

Well... sequel isn’t quite the right word. Apparently it’s more along the lines of a reimagining. Titled ‘The Suicide Squad’, the film is going to follow a whole new cast of characters and effectively start from scratch. No doubt this is part of WB and DC’s attempts to salvage the DC Extended Universe after the critical and financial disaster that was Justice League, as well as a response to people’s criticisms of the previous Suicide Squad film.

Writer/director David Ayer’s version of Suicide Squad was... let’s be charitable and call it problematic. Many people criticised the film for being misogynistic, borderline racist due to the one dimensional characterisation, and particular outrage was directed toward Ayer’s attempts to romanticise the relationship between the Joker and Harley Quinn. So it’s quite ironic that WB and DC are relying on James Gunn - James Gunn?!?! - to fix Suicide Squad when similar criticisms have been made toward the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies. That’s like hiring Harvey Weinstein to investigate sexual harassment claims.

And do you know what the funny thing is? We’ve been in this exact same situation before. In February 2017, news media started to report that WB and DC were eyeing Mel Gibson, the Oscar nominated director of Hawksaw Ridge and professional arsehole, to direct Suicide Squad 2. I even wrote a Scribble on it then. I heavily criticised WB and DC for caring more about snagging an Oscar nominated director to bolster their failing franchise than about holding certain ethical standards of decency within the industry. Oh, sure, Gibson has said many sexist, homophobic and antisemitic comments for years and has never at any point showed any hint of remorse for the amount of offence he’s caused, but he just made a good movie about Spider-Man fighting in World War II, so it all balances out, doesn’t it? We’re good, right? We’re cool. Gibson’s cool now. Yeah?

And now here we are seeing this play out again. James Gunn, a man who has said some incredibly offensive things over the years, is being hired by WB and DC to helm a new Suicide Squad movie and conveniently ignoring all the problematic shit surrounding him because he’s the guy that made those sci-fi films about the talking raccoon. People love those films. Let’s get him on board.

I’m getting so sick to death of actors and filmmakers getting away with shit and avoiding the consequences of their actions. James Gunn and his offensive tweets, Mel Gibson and his shitty behaviour, Kevin Hart and his temper tantrum when he was expected to apologise for being a homophobic prick. And the few times there are consequences for said actions, people of influence within the industry end up undermining it. WB and DC hiring James Gunn so soon after he was sacked by Disney, and Ellen fucking Degeneres ringing the Academy and persuading them to let Kevin Hart host the Oscars. Thankfully, and to his genuine credit, Hart turned it down, but seriously, what the actual fuck Ellen?! You’re LGBT, aren’t you? Why are you giving him a free pass? Do you have short term memory loss like the fish you voice in Finding fucking Nemo? Jesus Christ!

Finally, to people saying that Disney treated James Gunn too harshly for the tweets, may I remind you that when ‘The 50 Superheroes You Most Want To Have Sex With’ resurfaced in 2012, Disney still kept him on! He still got to write and direct two Marvel movies before finally getting the sack. And he was in talks to lead production in all future ‘Cosmic’ Marvel movies going forward before the resurfaced tweets made that impossible. Too harshly? I think he got off extremely lightly, frankly. I think he’s grotesquely lucky he’s still got a job at all. Let alone a job where he continues to direct tentpole blockbusters. For someone who was treated ‘too harshly’, he’s sure done alright for himself, hasn’t he? He’s not Oliver Twist begging movie studios to give him a film, cap in hand, ‘please sir, may I have some more?’ His position hasn’t changed one iota. That’s what we should be pissed off at. Not that he’s being unfairly punished. That he’s not being punished enough roughly seven years after the fact.

So what should we take away from all this? That we need to hold everyone accountable for their past actions and behaviour, regardless of whether they share our political beliefs or whether they were involved in films we actually like, and that the industry needs to do a better job of upholding the consequences of said actions. And regardless of whether you thought Disney were right to sack James Gunn, it cannot be denied that WB and DC handing the keys of another profitable franchise over to him so soon after this controversy is an incredibly irresponsible thing to do.

[creativenicocorner]

[ Just trying something, planning...we’ll see. I need practice with writing Draal. I’d like to get a better feel of writing his character so I can do the character justice. 

The following is presented with zero context aside from this;  Draal was a weapons dealer.]

“When were you going to tell me?” approached Draal.

“How long did you know?” responded Nomura with little remorse to be found. 

Silence fell between Nomura and Draal, and the wind passed through them. It made the grass and bushes shift, and Draal’s weapons cart creek. 

Draal scratched his own chin, and thumbed his nose making the nose ring bounce on his face some. “I’ve, had my suspicions for a while.”

Nomura nodded, crossed her arms and looked down at her hooves. “What, what tipped you off?”

The way the moon made Nomura’s hair glossy was hard to look away from to Draal. It was the hard look of Nomura’s glowing green eyes that drove Draal’s own eyes to look away. 

The troll cleared his throat. “Well.” said Draal leaning against his cart, it creaked under the added weight of his arm, “There are no troll groups on the other side of the canyon that I’m aware of. And, the troll group you said you were a part of...the one that got separated, re-joined with us months ago.”

“Then why did you keep doing business with me? If you know who- what I am, then you know who I work for.”

Draal nodded acceptingly. “Well, they say you always get what you bargain for when you make deals with imp-changelings. They’ve a way with deals, and a handshake, ironically, like iron.”

Nomura’s jaw stiffened, her hand clenching. Eyes unwaveringly hard. She steeled herself anticipating Draal’s train of thought. Though no amount of steel could prepare her for the soft look that followed. 

“As much as I felt hurt when I found out, as much as I was headstrong thinking I could find a way to make this work...I didn’t at all understand what that meant. Not at first...I wanted to use you, just as you were using me...and so I bargained on you...I, I didn’t plan on my heart to be part of the bargain too.”

Nomura swayed a bit where she stood, her arms loosening. She didn’t anticipate the swell in her heart. It confused her, angered her, and most importantly, irritated her. 

“What?” was all she could exhale. 

Draal leaned away from the cart, giving the cold weapons inside a glance, before daring to look back at Nomura. “It’s why I stopped them from using that gaggle-tack.” Draal walked closer as he spoke. “It’s why I kept wanting to see you even after brokering arms-deals. It’s why I...why I invited you to the festival I...despite everything screaming inside me saying this won’t end well.” He stopped in front of her, the moon framed between his horns. Though as much as he wished to cup her cheek, Draal didn’t dare move. 

Nomura’s breath hitched, she cursed herself for the knot that was growing tighter in her throat. Her eyes shifted back and forth trying to keep up with her racing mind. Thoughts jumbling, and tripping over themselves. 

Her heart fluttered with adrenaline. But for the life of her, Nomura couldn’t tell if it was with the excitement of the Trollhunter’s son so perfectly setting himself up to be used like the changeling’s third rule, or because of something else. Something, like a rarity. A chance. To be a heroine like Nomura’s beloved operas. 

And as if reading Nomura’s mind, Draal continued with, “For all I know this could be a perfect chance for you to use me still. You could be planning through that right now. After all, all I’ve known from you so far has been an act. You can keep on acting. And yet...” Draal shook his head slowly, undeterred by the guilty expression lining Nomura’s features. “...Yet, when I look in your eyes there’s something more. Could be wishful thinking, but there’s chance for good in you Zelda.”

“I’m not good.” croaked Nomura. 

Draal’s smile was slow forming, but as soft as his eyes. With this, he dared to bend down lower. His voice a gentle whisper. “I know it was you who saved those troll whelps during the flash flood.” Nomura’s eyes started to prickle. “That you shaded them from the sun while they were passed out.”

“I’m bad, not a monster. Anyone would’ve-”

“-Really? Even Bular?”

Nomura didn’t have an answer for this, her eyes lowered, and her cheeks became streaked with silent tears. “They were just whelps.” she said, as if this was an excuse for kindness. “Everyone was a whelp at some point.”

“Even changelings.” 

Nomura lifted her head, her eyes watery and blobby with emotion. 

“You can change for the better, Nomura...you don’t have to, be this.” Draw urged between Nomura’s sniffles. 

She cleared her throat and shook her head. “I don’t have a choice, Draal. Just like you don’t have a choice in being the Trollhunter’s son.”

“There’s...there’s always a choice. I have to believe that...and I, I hope you can come around to believing that too.”

Nomura laughed, but her heart ached with yearning all the same. Rubbing her face with the shake of her head, Draal would have been discouraged, if it weren’t for the smile peeking behind Nomura’s palm. 

“This won’t end well.” said Nomura, “There’s no way this could end well.” 

Slowly, Draal lowered Nomura’s hand away from her face. It was so small in his large stony palm. He turned her hand over in his. “There is a chance it won’t, I won’t deny that. There’s a chance this could end beautifully.”

“Even if there’s a chance I’m using you?”

“There’s still a chance I’m using you too.” Draal pointed out. He pulled her closer in a sweet-tempered way. “I’m willing to take that chance with you. Even if betrayal can be part of the deal. I want to know you, the real you.”

“Love...doesn’t end well with changelings.”

“Why’s that?”

“I...” Nomura thumbed her eye with her free hand followed with a small bitter laugh, “I don’t know...it’s rare...there’s a story I know that helps explain it.”

“Perhaps...” Draal shifted, lowering his head closer to Nomura’s, “perhaps you can tell it to me, one day.”

“Perhaps...” Nomura was quiet for a long time. Slowly her hands snaked up Draal’s jawline. “I suppose we’ll...just have to see....how it ends.”

[awed-frog]

About your griffin post, about it being Protoceratops... It's not true. Mark Witton did an in-depth discussion about it.

Yes, about that - as I said in the notes, I’m grateful to the person who posted the link because I’d never heard of any of that, and the more diverse perspectives on stuff, the better. That said, a few things about his rebuttal (and yours):

1. When it comes to religion, mythology and folklore studies, there’s no such thing as ‘true’ and ‘not true’. You can categorize theories with other words, such as ‘likely’, ‘probable’, ‘possible’ and ‘utter troll dung’, but those are not exact sciences, so while it’s possible to follow a rigorous and scientific approach, it’s difficult (or even impossible) to prove anything in a definite way.

2. Adrienne Mayor’s book had an interdisciplinary approach. Mark Witton’s article did not. Now, this is more to Mayor’s credit than to Witton’s demerit, because you’re not going to contact fifteen colleagues for a blog post, but it’s worth noting that the lack of interdisciplinary research is a huge problem in academia, and it’s especially noticeable in ancient history (or maybe I notice it more because it’s my field, I don’t know). Since people tend to be either word-minded or numbers-minded, what you get is a series of extremely well-prepared specialists looking at stuff - while being completely ignorant of 98% of the world they’re examining. An ancient Greek scholar, for instance, will know a lot about linguistic shifts but squat about bread making, and that’s a bad way to understand a whole culture. Mayor, who’s more on the word side of the equation, made an effort to consult with science-oriented colleagues; Witton didn’t do that (although, as I said, that’s perfectly normal for the writing format he was using) and it shows.

3. About his first argument, ie that griffins are found in Near Eastern art: who cares? What you need to do here is not look at how you see the world, but at how a Greek person would see the world. Near Eastern griffins are not relevant - not because they don’t exist (they do) or because they’re not objectively fascinating (they are). They’re not relevant because they’re not mentioned in this context by Greek texts. None of the authors Mayor discusses made a connection between the Central Asia griffins and the Persian griffins. Maybe they didn’t know about the other ones, maybe they saw them as different animals - I honestly don’t know. But if they didn’t draw a connection between the two thing, then neither should we. I know mythology books tend to have categories on ‘monsters’ and offer enthralling images of ‘sirens’, ‘giants’ and ‘demons’ from around the world, but the fact is, how a specific culture understands that monster is likely to differ a lot from what their neighbours think of them. Sphinxes are a good example. There’s the Egyptian sphinx and the Greek sphinx - those are never discussed in the same papers because, despite the fact they do have superficial similarities, they’re very different creatures in what concerns their role in their respective societies’ religious and conceptual landscapes.

4. About his second argument, ie that protoceratops bones are not as widespread as she suggests, and one wouldn’t trip on skulls every two seconds - again, so what? As long as those fossils can be placed in that area at the right time, I’m good. This is not a scientific experiment the Scythians are carrying out: one skull is enough to suggest a story behind it, one trader sharing that story in his travels is enough to make it grow, and one bartender telling Herodotus about it is enough to validate it. The Amazons are a very good example of how that works. The idea of a tribe of women warriors had fascinated the Greek for centuries (they’re mentioned in the Iliad) before Herodotus wrote about them confirming they were real people doing real stuff. Western scholars have been scoffing at him ever since - and they kept scoffing until Soviet archaeologists started finding graves of women who’d been buried with weapons. Now - did archaeologists ever find a cemetery that was 100% badass female warriors? No. Did they find a cemetery that was 50% female warriors? Also no. To the best of our current knowledge, some of those Siberian-based tribes had - occasionally - warrior queens, or high-status women who used weapons. They were not Amazons in the traditional sense of the word, but it’s not that hard to imagine what must have happened there: one foreign delegation headed by an armed queen would have been enough to make any Greek go wtf and ooooohh, because that would have been so exotic - Greek women didn’t use weapons (and neither did Persian women, or Egyptian women - cultures some Greeks would have been familiar with) - so the sight of that must have left quite a deep mark. And since that’s how humans work, one warrior queen can become ‘a whole race of man-hating badass women’ in two seconds flat. I mean, we know that’s how storytelling works, and what happens with dubious or spotty record keeping, but also - how many times has that happened to you? You meet one Korean guy, he’s the only Korean you know and he’s an asshole - before you know it, you start to assume that’s what all Koreans are like. It’s just how we’re wired, and I guess it was supposed to be about protecting us from poisonous plants (‘Sure, that other red berry almost killed my brother, but what about this one?’ - that would have seen us extinct in no time), but it’s also something we need to keep in check, because no - people are not ‘all the same’ just because they belong to the same ‘tribe’. 

5. Another argument he makes is that Central Asia to Greece is rather a long distance for Chinese whispers and legend swapping, and that’s so wrong I don’t even know what to say. This is exactly what I meant when I said people can be experts in their field (in Witton’s case, paleontology) while being pretty ignorant about others, because the ancient world was way more connected than what we imagine it to be. We know that even in prehistoric times, there were crowded trade routes moving from the Baltics to Greece, that people travelled hundreds of miles to go to some sanctuary on a Scottish island, and that yeah - ideas and legends did travel with goods, sometimes in a very lasting way. The traces of Buddhist doctrine, for instance, are all over Greek philosophy. This is a subject that’s only recently been explored because people like to believe Greek culture was born fully-formed without any foreign influences, but the studies on the exchanges between India and Greece - well before Alexander’s times - are fascinating. So no, I’m not disturbed in the slightest by the fact news about ‘griffin skulls’ seem to have travelled from the Gobi to Athens. That stuff happened, and as I mentioned above, all you need is one person - one guy who’s well-spoken enough, convincing enough, or convinced enough - one guy who doesn’t want Greek traders anywhere near his gold-stuffed mountains - talking to a second person. Today we’ve only got about 10% of Greek literature, but Greeks were an inquisitive bunch, and the country was littered with self-styled historians, geographers and anthropologists who spent their time either traveling around or paying drinks to whomever seemed foreign enough to be interesting. That method has limits, by the way - I myself once invented a fair bit of my town’s history because I was sixteen and bored and those tourists had seen me with my Latin textbook and asked me if I knew anything about Roman settlements in the area, so. I mean - half of a Greek historian’s paragraph start with ‘A man in Samos told me’ - God knows who they were even talking to. A local priest keen to increase tourism, the village idiot - anything’s possible.

6. Finally, something else that’s just uh is how Witton says, why single out griffins? What about other monsters? And, well, that’s the whole point of Mayor’s book. We know for sure ancient people found fossils; what we’re trying to figure out is what impact (if any) that had on their worldview. For instance, fossils did not suggest the idea of evolution, but they did mess with (or confirm) some of their religious beliefs. I’m hoping to summarize other chapters of Mayor’s book in more detail, but just a couple of examples: the Greeks, like many other ancient people, believed their ancestors to have been much taller and stronger than themselves -

(This, by the way, it’s another tantalizing way the outside world may - or may not - have influenced thought and belief: did the Greeks believe that because of the monumental architecture older cultures had left behind, or did those staggering things confirm an idea that had sprung from a different source? Like, humans tend to be pessimistic mofos, so it’s plenty possible you’d assume people are becoming smaller and weaker just because, and next the finding of a Daedalic temple just confirms that for you, because how the hell could anyone built that and Jesus Christ? Or maybe you find that temple first, and adjust your theology accordingly. We just don’t know. Hell - we’re struggling to explain contemporary religious phenomena - everything and anything from ISIS to spontaneous lynchings in India to cults - we have zero chance of fully understanding Greek religion in a way that allows us to say, ‘that’s right’ or ‘that’s wrong’.) 

- and they also believed in monstrous giants dying in riverbeds (many Greek rivers are named after giants). Both things are probably related to the giant-ass femurs which kept cropping up in fields and - well - riverbeds, so no - griffins are not the lone exception. We know of people finding stuff they assume to be giant bones, divine cattle, cyclops - if you can think of it, there’s probably a fossil for it.

Ultimately, I just want to say: Mayor does offer some rather sweeping statements, but, then again, her book is aimed at a general audience. Too many conditionals and no one’s buying it (or understanding it). On the other hand, she also never pretends to hold any Universal Truth over the subject she’s exploring, because that’s how (good) academia works: you expect (and encourage) rebuttals, corrections, discussions. That’s how we progress. 

Personally, what attracts me to these theories is that they’re part of a movement that’s arising - bloody finally - acknowledging man is not the centre of the known and unknown universe. 

Until very recently, we were told the physical world has zero influence on what we think and how we feel - because we’re a superior animal, that is, so that stuff doesn’t touch us in the same way it does other (lower) beasts. And while that is true to an extent - if there’s an inconvenient river, we move it - saying that the world around us has no impact on our souls, brains and way of life - that’s just laughably pretentious. We now know something as banal as the weather can completely transform our mood and our decision-making, even on the long term - that trees make us smarter, that urban landscapes are likely to give migraines - there are studies in experimental archaeology in how landscape influences thought (like, you bury someone in a fetal position because the ground is too hard, you make yourself feel better by imagining he’s like a baby in the mother’s womb and will one day be reborn), and a lot of new ideas about folklore and religion. This line of studies on fossils is one example of that; another is how geography impacts theology - I don’t remember who it was, but I know someone suggested the reason human sacrifice is more common in tropical cultures is because in a jungle, death will immediately (and very visibly) feed new life, whereas in colder climates the relation is not that apparent. And again, it may never be possible to prove right and wrong there. Even if we had a time machine, these things are tricky to understand. People think of faith and belief in different ways, approach their religion through their own filter, will pretend to go along with stuff for personal gain. Who knows. The only thing we can be sure of is that those fossils would have been understood differently by different people. To some, that would have been proof of mythical monsters. To others, a way to strengthen their flock’s faith and thus cement social cohesion. And to others still, it was probably just a way to make money - a temple displaying a ‘griffin skull’ would have led to people selling griffin statues and opening griffin-themed restaurants, same as you see today in places like Lourdes or Fatima. Humans are messy. History is messy. That’s what’s beautiful (and infuriating) about both.

[conveniencefloor]

A Quick Summary Of Our Thoughts On Supernatural (2 seasons in)

(I’m rewatching because I never finished it, and he’s never watched it at all)

- Our recurring issue is that SO MANY of these problems could be resolved if the hunters just had a goddamn Organization with different departments! Seriously, think about it. Have a department of Therapy and Recovery for your battered and traumatized hunters, because apart from their well-being it’s a good idea because theoretically you could minimize the likelihood of hunters becoming ghosts themselves. After all, they tend to die brutal and unfair deaths, it’s reasonable that they would want to come back to protect people or finish the job. “Sure, but that’s why hunters get burned at their funerals. No remains, no ghost.” Yeah we THOUGHT. Then S2E16 rolls around and we meet Molly the ghost who, despite her body being cremated, is still out and about, because she has a one sided attachment to something on earth still (her husband). Other benefits of an organization include: A GODDAMN CLEANUP TEAM FOR YOUR GODDAMN INCOMPETENT HUNTERS LEAVING BOOTPRINTS, HANDPRINTS, AND EVIDENCE LITERALLY EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME, YOU STUPID IDIOTS STOP MANHANDLING THE BODIES AND TOUCHING EVERYTHING. Also a fucking makeup department maybe??? I have only seen 9 seasons, and it’s been a long time, but I do not recall a single episode where Sam or Dean changed their hair or wore fake teeth or wigs or aged themselves with makeup for their disguises. “OoOo we’RE wAnTeD bY thE FBI, Let’S jUsT gO inTo eVerY mOteL aNd stOre wE PosSibLy cAn, weAriNg EXACTLY THE SAME FACES WITH ZERO CHANGES” occasionally they wear a different outfit but that’s the extent of keeping their identities secret. Not even a haircut or growing out a beard. You are BEGGING to be caught. You know why else you need an organization? Because you need a goddamn research department. You need a database with TESTED AND CONFIRMED data on these things so you don’t have to keep winging it.

- You guys literally know that there’s some kind of afterlife. You know there’s a hell. You hope there’s a heaven. You know things get out. So why has no one done an iota of research on those places? You have ways to find out. Yet no one cares to. Or maybe someone HAS found out and simply doesn’t feel like communicating. Again, ORGANIZATION.

- Very convenient how all these supernatural beings are in America. I mean you can read the lore of different countries and cultures and learn about their creatures, but if those creatures have been imported you’d think you’d find local lore about something of a different (or same) name describing the same attributes/effects. It’s very weird that your only source for something happening in present day America is an ancient source local to a country halfway across the world. (I think they are aware of that for some things, but certainly not others).

-2 seasons in and the three main characters have already died approximately once each.

-“Sure, most supernatural things are true. But Christianity is the default.” As if you haven’t seen enough gods to consider the Christian god as just another one. As if the word God hasn’t lost authority in all this context you’re wading around in. No reason given for treating it as more legitimate than any other religion or belief, yet still treating it as more legitimate.

-What in the everloving fuck was the Croatoan episode. First, the editors discovered slow motion for the first time and it shows. Second, everything prior would lead you to believe that both Sam and Dean would do whatever they could to try prevent someone from dying. But Dean is prepared to immediately kill someone on the bare minimum of knowledge about the situation? Just some dude? The entire time we were watching it we flabbergasted at the inconsistency of their characters. And the editing. An outlier in our minds for sure.

-although then in S2:E17 they kill Maddie the werewolf right away. Like dude. You already know you can contain her in a wooden room for a night. Contain her in a better room a couple more nights. Then spend the whole month before the next full moon researching a cure. If that doesn’t yield anything, fine, mercy kill, whatever. But we also were aghast at how easily they gave up. Like a couple phone calls?? That’s it??? One more time: ORGANIZATION. Your organization should have an iron/silver/blessed dungeon with safes to keep people like Maddie in so you can actually help them.

-currently confused why the yellow eyed demon wanted a leader for the demon soldiers if all the demons are just going to fuck right off the second they get out.

-also is there a proximity requirement for crossing salt lines? Or could a demon cross it if they just jumped really high? Because I feel like a beach counts as a salt line, and we know demons can go in planes, so what happens when they fly over a beach??

That’s all for now ❤️

(PS: I love Supernatural for the nostalgia and for the utter chaos that trails it. I just also really love complaining about it)

[ear-worthy]

The New Trailer Park Podcast: It’s Not A Tease But A Teaser

When a cook prepares a sumptuous meal, that person offers you a small taste to tease your taste buds. When you're at the movies, you're shown a series of movie trailers called coming attractions. TV commercials often show a trailer for a new show. 

Podcasts also promote themselves via trailers. Sometimes called Episode Zero, these trailers are a valuable tool to market a new podcast or an existing podcast advertising a new season.

Trailers also offer value to the podcaster because they force the podcaster to communicate what's new, exciting, and ear worthy about the podcast.  Want to listen to a superb trailer? Try the trailer to Digital Folklore. It's immersive and creepy, and my lizard brain is craving more. 

 Given how integral trailers are to podcasts and podcast listeners, it's natural, and wildly creative, to develop a podcast that showcases trailers.

Welcome to Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast, which is a podcast that showcases podcast trailers. Whether those trailers were made and then abandoned, were made as creative proof, are part of a larger body of work, or were created just for fun, the podcast creators exclaim, "they're welcome here at the park!"

The premise of the show is simple: Submit a podcast trailer to the podcast to be reviewed on the podcast. Why would any aspirational or experienced podcaster do that? Simple. Feedback from professionals is critical to success. The creative process needs the oxygen of collective assessment to survive and thrive.

Have an idea for a podcast? Create a trailer and submit it to Trailer Park and get direction and feedback from the pros.

The co-hosts on Trailer Park are Arielle Nissenblatt and Tim Villegas. The co-hosts boast strong, up-tempo energy, balanced chemistry, and years of expertise.

Tim Villegas has been writing on topics ranging from education and music to productivity. My work regularly appears on Think Inclusive and The Weeklyish and has been featured at Edutopia, The Hechinger Report, and Noodle. 

"After spending 16 years in public education as a special education classroom teacher and district support specialist, my communications habit turned into a full-time career," Says Villegas. "I’m the Director of Communications for MCIE, and the founder of Think Inclusive, the official blog and podcast of MCIE. I’m working on a narrative podcast called Inclusion Stories and a book about my experience as an inclusionist despite teaching in non-inclusive school systems.

Arielle Nissenblatt is famous in podcasting circles. In today's fragmented media world, there are TikTok celebrities, Instagram influencers, and YouTube stars that are unknown outside their media universe. If you've been involved in podcasting in any way over the last few years, you know Arielle Nissenblatt.

"I've been working in the podcast space since early 2017 when I started a podcast recommendation newsletter called EarBuds Podcast Collective,"Arielle notes. "Since then, I've managed podcast studios, worked as an in-app curator, gone to school for audio production, produced several podcasts, run successful marketing and PR campaigns for several dozen shows, have organized podcast communities on Twitter, Discord, and Slack, and much more."

Arielle confesses to "love working in and around audio because it's my favorite way to consume content. I want to help more people find their next favorite podcast."

The first episode played a trailer from a new podcast called Neuroversity, which is about neurodiversity with a purpose to expand our understanding of what that term means, elevate the life experiences of the neurodivergent, and advocate for a more inclusive and informed culture. Neurodiversity (for those, including me, who didn't know) is defined as

the range of differences in individual brain function and behavioral traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population, used especially in the context of autistic spectrum disorders.

The trailer, submitted by the host and podcast creator Jessica Kidwell, offers listeners a three-minute sonic spa treatment, with a soothing voice and reassuring tone that sparks listeners' psyches. Listen to Arielle and Tim diagnose the trailer and discuss the podcast. 

In podcasting, it's the discovery process that is critical to success. There are so many podcasts (so many good podcasts) that quality is not a guarantee of download wealth and maximum visibility. That's why trailers can act like Dorothy's ruby slippers, granting an aspirational podcaster's wish for attention, listeners, and luminosity.

So if you're new to the podcasting space, develop a two-to-three minute trailer and submit it to Trailer Park. You can submit or simply learn by listening to others. 

I've always wanted to create a podcast, and I am thinking of a few teaser lines for my trailer. Let me know what you think.

Teaser # 1: "I want the truth. You can't handle the truth!"

Teaser # 2: "There's no crying. There's no crying in podcasting."

What do you think?

While you're thinking, listen to Trailer Park: The Podcast Trailer Podcast and submit your own trailer.