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theladyrebecca2 · 5 months

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Stranger Things: The First Shadow (My spoiler-filled review and thoughts)

“Nerds, do you copy?”

Buckle up, because this is a long one! I've tried to remember as much as I can from when I saw the play on Dec 5th.

Disclaimer: This is in no way a complete recollection of things that happened. They really packed a LOT into it. This is just what I can personally recall, helped along by other reviews and recollections I’ve found online that sparked my memory.

If you don't want to be spoiled, don't read any further!

Act 1.

After an epic intro scene, where soldiers on a ship at sea get dragged off by demogorgons (more on this later), we’re shown the Stranger Things intro exactly as though we’re watching an episode.

Chapter One: The Girl from Nowhere.

Hawkins, 1959.

It opens with a young Bob Newby on air, talking on his radio show (the founder of Hawkins AV club! <3). We learn that he actually has an adopted sister, Patty Newby. She’s black, so she feels like an outsider (bear in mind it’s the 1950s/60s, so… yeah.) Principle Newby, their father and only remaining parent, is also very religious.

He’s also the pastor (?) at the local church, and often makes Patty go to the church with him. She admits to Bob that she only likes to go to listen in on people’s confessions (some of which are really juicy). She also enjoys the choir there (?) as she likes to sing.

Principal Newby doesn’t like that Bob and Patty read comic books. There’s talk about how some things are discouraged or outright forbidden because they involve sex (gasp!) and morally ambiguous behaviour. Patty in particular is looked down on by her father for acting rebellious. He disapproves of her answering him back.

Instead of praying to God, Patty prays to Wonder Woman.

One of the first sections in the show’s programme is dedicated to the impact of comic books and science fiction on kids in the 1950s:

[This has always been the way with fiction. Whether you are talking about adventure, fantasy or sci-fi, stories set in faraway places reflect the anxieties of the here and now. Just as the children in Stranger Things turn to a fantasy game to help them make imaginative sense of a dangerous world, so we escape to alien landscapes to think about ourselves. As South Africa novelist Lauren Beukes once said, “By imagining the unimaginable, it’s possible to make reality more bearable.”]

[As Patty in Stranger Things: The First Shadow is aware, however, whether male or female, superheroes were almost exclusively white. Unless you happened to get hold of a copy of All-Negro Comics, published in 1947 by Black journalist Orrin Cromwell Evans, Black children would not see themselves represented in popular culture.]

[... in this age of technological advance and political uncertainty, [comic books] provided the thrills, the escapism and the imaginative fuel that audiences, young and old, needed more than ever.”] - Mark Fisher

Next, we’re introduced to Joyce. She’s Joyce Maldonado at this point. She’s half undressed and trying to find her clothes, obviously fooling around with Lonnie Byers, who is already talking down to her in a very casual way, telling her she’ll never amount to anything and that she’ll never leave Hawkins like she dreams of. It was another example of only physical attraction existing between two characters - there’s little to no emotional compatibility there. I sort of had the vibe that the scene was effectively introducing Joyce and Lonnie’s unequal power dynamics as they are in the show moving forwards. Lonnie sits with his legs encasing Joyce as they both sit on a mattress, and she’s visibly vulnerable in her bra, listening to him say these casually demeaning things to her.

Joyce wants to direct the school play, although she’s pretending to Principal Newby that they’re doing Oklahoma. Oklahoma will serve as a smokescreen for the real play she wants to direct: The Dark of the Moon. This has its own page in the programme too:

[From the depths of Scottish folklore to the Broadway stage, the journey of The Dark of the Moon is as shrouded in mystery and intrigue as the contents of the piece itself. Over the course of several hundred years, the story evolved from humble beginnings (The Ballad of Barbara Allen) into something rather darker and more brooding than its simpler folktale roots.] [In its original versions, it seems to have been an innocent, if tragic, ballad about a young man who dies of unrequited love, only for the grief-stricken object of his affection to follow him to the grave. There, they become a rose and a briar respectively, destined to be intertwined for all eternity.] - The Creel House front door, anyone?

[In 1939, it had somehow become part of the Appalachian mountain lore of the north-eastern USA… [sometimes] with a central theme of divorce rather than death. But perhaps its oddest reincarnation is as a regular feature in the annual school play catalogue across the United States… retitled The Dark of the Moon, the play recasts Barbara Allen as a young maiden desired by a witch boy whose request to be made human is granted on the condition that she is faithful to him for a year. When that condition is tested to destruction, tragedy naturally (or unnaturally) ensues. The play is rich with allegory, including themes as knotty as religious fanaticism, demonic possession and mob psychology, and with its plot of star-crossed lovers meeting across the divide between this world and a mystical parallel one, it’s a kind of Gothic Romeo and Juliet.] -Michael Davies

In the next few scenes we’re introduced to a whole host of characters as they come into the high school, and eventually gather around for the casting of Joyce’s play:

Ted Wheeler, school jock, Mr Popular. Very much a ‘peaked in high school’ vibe. 🙈

Karen Childress, Ted’s popular cheerleader girlfriend. Ted and Karen are depicted as two teens who can barely keep their hands off each other. They constantly make out. It’s suggested that Karen is only dating him because he’s popular and um… well-endowed.

Walter Henderson (who must be Dustin’s dad) is a total dick. He’s openly racist towards Patty at one point, earning him glares and snappy remarks from both of the Sinclairs who are present at the time. Patty has a horrible nickname at school, “mystery meat”, because of her unknown origins. But it’s clear with Walter's comments that her race also plays a factor in her general ostracisation.

Claudia Yount (Dustin’s Mom). She has a cat called Prancer, and is dating Walter. I thought it was very fan-servicey to include Dustin’s parents at all, because we know canonically that Dustin and his mom only moved to Hawkins when he was 4th Grade. So I guess Claudia and Walter moved away, had Dustin elsewhere, then Claudia came back to Hawkins again with Dustin after Walter had left/divorced her??

Sue and Charles Sinclair. Again, it was a cute Easter Egg to include them, but all the parents of the OG boys being there felt very fan-servicey - especially with them all already being coupled up in high school. It felt too unrealistic and a bit jarring. I’m choosing to take this as they were literally intended as cute little Easter Eggs, and as prime opportunity for comedic relief (e.g. seeing Ted Wheeler as a total player, in total opposition to the Ted we know).

Alan Munson. He’s a little strange and quirky, a lot like Eddie. He has a rock and roll vibe, and sticks out his tongue and does devil horns with his fingers, lol. The others don’t seem to know what to make of him, but there’s no animosity or anything. He’s really funny in all his scenes.

And of course, Jim Hopper Junior. To me, Young Hopper was like… a weird mixture of old Hopper from the show, and Steve! The actor did a great job, but yeah, it was giving Steve more than Hopper in some places (to me, at least). I don't know if this was intentional.

Hopper has some dad issues - his father is the chief of police, and they don’t get on. There’s a whole scene later on in the show where they even have a physical fight in the police station (although this isn’t depicted super seriously, and is actually part of a larger comedic section that involves some of the other cops in the station getting involved for laughs. At the end, Hopper and his dad sort of come to an agreement.) It’s kind of slapstick. They’re all falling over each other, and there’s even a part where one male cop falls against another face forward onto a desk, and it’s pretty suggestive (one is sort of mounted behind the other). Idk if this was supposed to be a standard ‘gay joke’ just for lols, or if it was more that the cops had an unexpected ‘moment’ together (they take a while to part from each other, and then they avoid each other’s eyes, so… idk). Just something I noticed happening off to the side.

Anyway, back to Act 1. We’re taken away from Hawkins High to outside the Creel house, and introduced to the Creels moving into Hawkins, just like they appear in the show’s flashbacks. They’ve moved from Nevada, and the reason they’ve moved is because something had happened with Henry, and this is meant to be a new start - it’s left ambiguous as to what exactly happened, but there’s mention of a kid that had been ‘left in a wheelchair’.

At first, Virginia Creel seems somewhat loving towards her son, hugging and kissing him and trying to act ‘normal’, but she’s clearly unsettled by him. Henry is unpredictable, and almost seems to switch between different personalities: one that’s familiar, shy but friendly, and one that quickly rages and turns violent.

Whilst it’s not explained WHY yet, we clearly see that Henry is somehow ALREADY under the influence of the Mind Flayer - and that he has powers.

Virginia becomes more and more openly terrified of Henry as the play goes on. Meanwhile, Victor Creel is generally absent the whole time as he’s dealing with his own ‘demons’ (severe PTSD from the war). People in Hawkins think he’s odd and weird. Remember that nobody understands PTSD at this point in time.

Again, we get a spread in the programme about this: “These are the tranquilized fifties… the legacy of trauma in post-war America”:

[It is very likely that Corporal Victor Creel, 9th Airforce, missed the birth of his son Henry in 1945… Getting their bodies back to the US would be a huge undertaking… getting their minds home would be another problem, and one which no-one had thought to predict.] [Victor Creel is a familiar figure to us now: shellshocked, prone to outbursts, turning to alcohol to numb his trauma… what to do with the man who has seen atrocities - who is in himself a living testament to the fact that they exist, that they happen - who, in Victor’s case, may even have committed them himself? The answer was to bury him. Though shellshock was first given its name in the aftermath of the First World War… there was no widespread study of PTSD until after the Vietnam War, even though more than double the amount of American soldiers showed symptoms of PTSD during WW2 than WW1… Those suffering on the front were sedated and told they were exhausted… once they made it home, they were told not to talk about it: that they were lucky to be alive.]

[One response in particular would have been familiar to the Creels - the child who becomes aloof from their father, and who disengages from the emotional life of the family… Much like Jim Hopper and his father, there was often immense love between these children and their fathers, but they had no way to talk about the pain they were feeling.] -Beth Kelly

Henry is clearly lonely and feels misunderstood when he first moves to Hawkins. It’s like he’s aware that there’s a darker side of him that’s dangerous, but he can’t fully explain why he does certain things (e.g whatever he did to the kid left in a wheelchair). There’s a scene where he sees the smoke of the Mindflayer swirling around him in the void, and he yells, "What are you??"

He’s the new kid at Hawkins High. People at school think he’s strange. They’re not necessarily cruel to him, but they’re not really sure how to take him either. Joyce is pleasant to him. But the only person he really connects with is Patty Newby - who we know is also a bit of an outsider at the school because of her peculiar origins and skin colour.

It’s clear there is an instant connection between Henry and Patty. Henry in particular is obviously crushing on Patty, and acts awkward around her. They bond over their love of comic books, and decide to be friends.

Anyway - back to Joyce’s play. So the reason she wants to direct the play in the first place is to impress some visitors from a university, so she can achieve a scholarship to study theatre outside of Hawkins.

It involves “witches, satanism, religious allegory”. Lots of things that Principal Newby would definitely disapprove of (hence why she pretends that they’re doing Oklahoma).

Joyce talks about the overarching message: “That’s what it’s all about in the end, isn’t it? Whether love can conquer fear.” (paraphrased). I think that was perhaps a really meta moment, and applies to THIS play and even Stranger Things as a whole.

Also there was something like, “they’re witches, not lesbians!”/ “They were witches as well as lesbians”… “Does it matter?” (again, paraphrasing, I can’t recall the actual lines, and I think this was either said at this point by Joyce and someone else, or a conversation that happened earlier between Bob and Patty when they were talking about a comic or story they had read. I’m sorry, I can’t remember!) But I thought it could be a reference to the Fear Street trilogy, maybe. I was on the lookout for any kind of LGBTQ+ imagery or dialogue, and yet my brain still managed to forget details by the end of it all (Act 1 needed to be 20 minutes longer, seriously. They went through so much dialogue so quickly, it was difficult to keep up. I feel like I need to see the whole thing again to properly take it all in).

Maybe I was tripping, or maybe I misheard, but I thought there was also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it line about “the ending is happy and gay”. I wish my brain would have held onto those lines, but it happened so quickly. Something like, “the ending will be happy and gay”… “isn’t that what everyone wants?” Now, I’m certain they meant ‘gay’ as in ‘happy’ in the context, but I couldn’t help but side-eye that moment a little because it’s an outdated term in today’s language. It was, I believe, a quick exchange between Joyce and… I want to say Bob? Or possibly Walter? I honestly cannot remember. I'm begging people not to run away with this because it’s also totally possible that it was said in a derivative sense, like, “this story is dark, gothic and tragic... not happy and gay”, you know? "That's what everyone wants, right?" "Maybe, but this ends in tragedy." I really hope someone, ANYONE else caught these lines, and can give me their own two cents on it. (Curse my shit memory and also just how FAST those lines were coming at us during those scenes in Act 1… like guys, please slow down so I can actually take in what you’re saying!)

Anyway. Joyce is having trouble casting the main leads, John and Barbara Allen, as the two are lovers and will need to kiss, and nobody seems to have the right chemistry or is taking it seriously enough.

At one point, Karen (acting as the female lead) confidently and passionately kisses Bob (acting the male lead), who’s awkward and flustered afterwards (this is done for the audience lols).

After hearing her beautiful singing voice (encouraged by Henry), Joyce decides to cast Patty as her female lead. Meanwhile Henry has unwittingly found himself in this room along with everyone, and accidentally gets involved in the casting process. Joyce sees that Patty and Henry have chemistry together, so she decides to cast Henry as her male lead too.

Henry and Patty grow closer. Henry tells Patty that he’s bad, and she should stay away from him. She doesn’t listen, and says just because someone has done some bad things, it doesn’t make them a bad person.

At one point they sit side by side by the confessional at church. Henry admits to her that he has powers. He tells Patty that he can hear what people are thinking - all the time. It drives him crazy (and says people are always ‘pretending’ to be normal. The vibe is very much in tune with his speech in Season 4 about how everyone is just in a silly little play, all playing pretend with each other, all trapped in these notions of living their lives in a way that society thinks is acceptable or desirable).

As an example later on in a separate scene, he points to Karen and Ted and tells Patty, “she thinks he’s an idiot, and he’s scared of her.” He points to more characters in this scene and says more about them (like Claudia and Walter, Sue and Charles, maybe even Joyce and Hopper?) but unfortunately I can only remember Ted and Karen’s.

Patty convinces Henry that his powers are not evil, and that he should be able to control them and use them for good. Henry then creates a "vision" for Patty, where she can freely sing with people listening, and everyone around her joins in and appreciates her talent (I think she sings "Dream a Little Dream of Me"? Unless this happens later on. There’s definitely a moment where she sings a bit of that song. Henry associates it with Patty.)

In this vision, even Patty's father is supportive of her and her singing, and it’s quite a funny moment how she imagines him dressed in a saucy red cape, dancing in a way that he *definitely* wouldn’t approve of in real life.

So it seems Henry is actually able to show people their dreams as well as their nightmares. It suggests his powers are his own at this point (at least to an extent), and not necessarily always controlled by the Mind Flayer.

Victor sees Henry talking to Patty at school, and mentions this to Virginia. He describes it as “harmless, just Puppy Love”, a first crush.

Virginia is still worried, and tells Henry to stay away from Patty (for her protection). Henry gets angry. We keep hearing his voice change when he changes, like a deep, monstrous voice. It’s creepy, like it’s not really him in those moments - it’s like the Mindflayer using Henry’s body, speaking through him.

While in the attic (his new favourite spot), Henry keeps becoming influenced by the Mind Flayer. He travels to the void frequently, from where he proceeds to start killing animals - the first of which is Dustin’s mom’s cat. It’s just like the Vecna attacks in Season 4, snapping their bones and blinding them.

Henry seems to be aware that he’s the one responsible for these killings, and he keeps on going back to the attic, and the void, to keep doing it - but it’s unclear just how aware or remorseful he is about all this, or whether it’s 100% possessed!Henry during those moments. It certainly seems like it’s the Mindflayer making him want to do those things. When he first approaches Prancer, he’s friendly, calm and softly-spoken. The attack happens very suddenly and afterwards, I think Henry sort of ‘comes to’ and cries out in distress/remorse?

Either way, Henry is definitely under the Mind Flayer's control at that point, and you can see the Mind Flayer smoke flying around in the void next to him.

After Claudia’s cat turns up dead, Hopper is immediately on the case, wanting to find the culprit. He starts questioning people, and ends up approaching Henry at school.

I want to clear Hopper’s name in something here! I saw someone say that, in the play, it’s stated that Hopper says he hates cats. Whilst this *is* something Hopper tells Henry at this point, it was clear to me that Hopper was only playing mind games in the way an investigator will try to get a suspected criminal to confess: ‘The truth is, I hate cats. So I actually just want to shake the hand of the person who did it - they’re a hero in my book!’ He’s totally bluffing, and it’s just meant to show that he’s already thinking and working like a detective. Regardless, the tactic doesn’t work, and Henry brushes him off. Hopper remains none the wiser.

When more animals start being killed in the same way, Hopper is the one who figures out that they’re all pets of Hawkins High School students who are taking part in Joyce’s play. He goes to her to request her help, and she and Bob both end up going out to look for clues with him (complete with torches, this gave major Season 1 vibes).

Joyce and Hopper’s relationship is mostly antagonistic, but it’s clear they like each other and they flirt a bit. Meanwhile Bob admires Joyce from afar, wanting only to impress her and to find the courage to tell her how he really feels. There's some love triangle imagery throughout with where they stand. (Note: Bob does eventually admit to Joyce how he feels at the end, but she casually rebuffs him. I'm so glad they eventually ended up together because Bob was just too pure.)

Henry continues to be haunted by images of a monster reflected back at him in a mirror. I think we’re meant to take that as a representation of Mind Flayer!possessed Henry. He’s clearly afraid of himself, and what he’s capable of.

The Mind Flayer appears to him as Patty, and taunts him by saying cruel things, like saying that he will end up killing her. In the vision, Patty starts pulling off her own hair until we see her brain. We hear a deep monstrous voice taunting Henry, saying he “will kill many, many more” - that they have seen it happen, and it is his destiny. (Time travel hints? The Mind Flayer can apparently see into his future, unless this was just an empty taunt that unfortunately came true, or a self-fulfilling prophecy).

[Evidently, there’s something deeply disturbing at the heart of the human psyche about the possibility of uncovering the horrific within itself. When that horror is externalised… it creates a symbolic representation of our own nightmares, perhaps allowing us to tackle them more objectively and overcome those dark, disturbing impulses within us all.]

[By investing fictional creations with the qualities we most fear - the horrifying, animalistic sides of our nature - we can, perhaps, face them more objectively and convince ourselves that we do, ultimately, have control over them… and ourselves.]

[... Perhaps the monster we fear most is the one we see reflected in the mirror. As Professor Mulrooney puts it: “The monsters in these tales are not necessarily the people we would call the monsters - Frankenstein’s creature or Dracula. The scariest part of these books is the humans.”] -Michael Davies

The real Patty then interrupts the vision, and asks Henry if he can help her find her mother using his powers. He’s wary of doing so, but agrees to help her. He says she will have to come with him to his attic.

Once inside, Patty tells him that it’s cold in there. Henry says he likes it cold.

When Henry enters the void, he successfully locates Patty’s mom. She’s a singer, a show girl, working on a stage in Vegas. Patty asks him what she looks like. Henry says she looks like Patty. That she’s beautiful.

Suddenly, he loses control, and is once again visited by the Mind Flayer. Patty’s mom morphs into a terrifying figure who chases Henry through the void… and eventually catches him.

We see the Mindflayer going into Henry inside the void, very similar to Will in Season 2 on the school field. (This happens either at this moment, or in a flashback at another point of the play. But it’s at some point!!) I think this was showing us that whoever Henry was, he’s fast disappearing into the darkness of the Mind Flayer, and vice versa - it’s like a fusion.

Meanwhile, Mr Newby learns that Patty and Henry have been hanging out together a lot. He’s greatly displeased by this, and decides to go to the Creel House to fetch Patty and put an end to the budding romance. Romeo and Juliet vibes be vibing hard.

Downstairs, he speaks to Victor Creel, who is having a PTSD related episode and acting strangely. He says his wife believes the house is haunted by an ancient demon, and with everything that’s happened (and by how the lights keep flashing), he’s beginning to believe her. He feels like his demons have followed him from the war.

Mr Newby then overhears the commotion from upstairs, and goes up to investigate. In the attic, Henry is holding Patty’s hand very tightly. He’s twitching and yelling as he fights against the Mind Flayer’s possession, and this frightens Patty. When her father walks in, he demands that Patty lets go of Henry’s hand. She tries, but he’s holding on too tightly. “I can’t!” Patty cries out.

Mr Newby is then attacked by Henry, controlled by the Mind Flayer. His body starts to rise up. Patty encourages Henry to fight back by telling him that she believes he is good, and that she loves him.

“Say it back!” she pleads to him. “Say it back!”

Henry responds and says he loves her too. Because of the love exchange, he manages to momentarily break out of the Mind Flayer’s control: Mr Newby drops to the floor, alive but badly injured.

Joyce, Hopper and Bob were downstairs at this point, having followed radio anomalies to the Creel House (which they did via a machine that Bob built for them). They freak out and run away, and all come to the conclusion that creepy, crazy Victor Creel is the one responsible for Mr Newby’s injuries, as well as the string of violent animal deaths.

[Joyce has some basis for believing Victor capable of violent crime, based as this may be in her own father’s war experience… When Joyce opens her copy of the DSM, first published in 1952, she will find no entry for PTSD… Instead, the symptoms she might recognise from her father were incorporated into depression or schizophrenia, rather than their own diagnosis. Short of a name for what they were suffering, traumatised veterans were left to find their own way through nightmares - through violence, alcohol or isolation.] -Beth Kelly (from the Stranger Things: The First Shadow programme)

After the commotion, Henry removes his blindfold. Patty's father has broken through the attic floor, and he’s seriously injured. Patty is very afraid and upset. After a brief time skip (to the next day or two I think), we learn that Patty is staying away from Henry, who is worried that he’s ruined everything. The Mind Flayer starts to creep back in. We see a possessed Henry back in the attic, and Virginia comes up to him and says that she wants to help him, but she doesn’t know how. She reminds him that he needs to stay away from people to protect them. She talks about Patty, telling Henry that he shouldn’t see her anymore.

Possessed!Henry smirks and asks her if she’s jealous. There’s something insidious and disturbing in the way he asks it. Virginia recoils from her son and her “everything-is-going-to-be-okay” facade crumbles. We see she’s absolutely terrified of who Henry has become.

Henry creates a vision, so that it appears as though his pet spiders escape from their jars, and they run all over Virginia as she screams. She flees from the attic as Henry’s dark taunts follow her.

Henry’s sister Alice comes to the mouth of the attic. "Where is Henry?" She asks.

Henry: "He’s right here."

Alice: "You’re not him."

At this point, it was like the Mindflayer had almost completely merged with Henry. The lines had become more and more blurred as the play went on, and now it’s becoming hard to separate them - the ‘real’ Henry is finding it hard to come through and fight the possession. The Mind Flayer is winning.

This really reminded me of Will and his own possession with the Mindflayer in Season 2. How they described it like a virus taking over, and how Will could have continued ‘disappearing’ until there was no more Will left.

After the incident with Mr Newby, and her terror with Henry in the attic, Virginia has finally had enough. She willingly hands her son over to an “interested party” who describes himself as a doctor (who we know is Dr Brenner). He vows to take Henry to Hawkins Lab, where he’ll be safe, and contained.

When he wakes up in the hospital, Mr Newby reveals to Patty that he actually stole her as a baby (?) in an effort to revive his relationship with his wife by having another child to care for - but it didn’t work, and his wife left him. He feels guilty about it, and wants to confess this to her after he almost died.

He tells her that he was attacked by a monster who made him relive his worst nightmares, and that “the boy”, Henry, actually fought back and saved him from death. He then draws the Mind Flayer on a piece of paper, hands it to his daughter, and tells her that this is what he saw.

After learning that Henry actually saved her father, Patty returns to his house to search for him, but it’s too late - Dr. Brenner has already taken him to the lab. However, she is able to communicate by calling out to him.

Henry contacts Patty through the void, where she is able to both speak and see him, despite him being at the lab. She tells him that she knows he is still a good person, and that he should return home.

———

Act 2.

On screen:

Chapter Two: Captain Midnight

So here’s the thing - the play paints us a totally different picture than Season 4 did in regards to Henry/Vecna.

Henry was not inherently evil, like S4 suggested to many people - he was actually just a regular boy until ‘an incident’ occurred when he was younger, which is what gave him powers and started his possession in the first place. The end of S4 makes us think that El sent Henry to the Upside Down, which is where he meets the shadow monster and morphs it into the Mind Flayer with his powers.

But that wasn’t Henry’s first time there, nor was it the first time he saw the Mind Flayer. That was all just a REUNION.

It’s revealed that Henry actually disappeared into another dimension (Dimension X/ Upside Down) for a period of 12 hours when he was just a kid. He got lost near some caves in the Nevada desert, and when he returned, he had "completely changed in personality".

He came back odd, ‘not normal’, and couldn’t socialise well. He also returned with dangerous powers, which he violently inflicts on animals. The Mind Flayer had clearly started possessing him from that early point, way before he even came to Hawkins.

Let’s go back to the very beginning of the play - to the soldiers on the ship. It was Brenner’s father and his crew that were aboard this ship, the USS Eldridge, which had accidentally travelled into Dimension X/The Upside Down as a result of electromagnetic activity.

This is based on The Philadelphia Experiment, or Project Rainbow, said to have taken place in the Second World War. The programme had a double spread on this:

[Allegedly, wartime experiments caused the supernatural disappearance of a US naval ship… Project Rainbow was based on Einstein’s research into unified field theory through which [he] hoped to create a single theoretical framework to encompass all fundamental forces, including electromagnetism and gravity.]

[Carl Allen claimed to have witnessed a strange event in October 1943 involving the naval destroyer escort USS Eldridge and scientists who were working on highly confidential technology which would make ships invisible to the enemy by using powerful electromagnetic fields to ‘bend’ light around them. According to Allen, they succeeded in doing just that. In fact, Allen said the ship was also briefly teleported 275 miles away to Norfolk, Virginia, before reappearing in Philadelphia. …It’s been suggested that the Eldridge’s official logs could have been deliberately altered… with the whole of Project Rainbow moving beyond top secret clarification.] -Catherine Jones

Brenner’s father is the only survivor of this terrifying event. After returning from Dimension X and taken to a hospital, injured and dying, we learn that his blood type is now “unique” from any other human being. He won't survive a blood transfusion. His ravings about Dimension X before his death haunted and inspired Brenner for the rest of his life. Brenner started an experiment focused on finding and travelling back to Dimension X; his ultimate goal was to "create a gate" to reach it again.

Brenner enacted these experiments in the Nevada desert, where one day, one of his agents ran away with some of Brenner’s equipment near some desert caves. The agent was never found, but a Captain Midnight spyglass was - which was the exact spot where Henry went missing in Dimension X as a little boy for 12 hours. Brenner therefore began searching for the mysterious Captain Midnight comic-book fan who went to Dimension X and returned, watching him and keeping an eye on him. This is what led him to Hawkins: following Henry.

Brenner tells us that Henry’s powers emerged after he visited Dimension X, and just like his father, his blood type is “unique”. He collects several samples from him. He also tells Henry that his powers become stronger each time he kills, and that’s why he gets so much satisfaction out of it. Brenner also tells Henry that he would get even stronger if he kills human beings, rather than animals.

During one scene, Brenner uses special equipment to see into and hear Henry's mind. He pushes Henry to the limit so he can hear and catch a glimpse of Dimension X. We hear noises similar to the Mind Flayer in Season 2 when Will goes into the Upside Down on Halloween night. The shape of the Mind Flayer appears on the screen (or was it the head of a Demogorgon? It was definitely something Upside-Downy), while Henry convulses. After this incident, Henry asks Brenner, “Can you take me back there?"

Brenner also introduces the idea of anger to fuel Henry's power. On several instances he riles Henry up to get him angry, insulting him - and the result is always violence. He succeeds in getting Henry to kill a mouse/rat, which explodes into a bloody mess inside its cage, and then tries to convince him to kill a criminal who has been transferred to the lab with an agreement to be killed (he has a date with the electric chair later that week regardless).

Henry refuses. He’s been speaking to Patty in the void, who has convinced him that he’s good and that he should return home. Brenner is frustrated with this, and becomes sure that Henry has someone that is "holding him back". He vows to find and remove this obstacle. But after Henry leaves the lab, Brenner tells his agents to let him go. He cannot force Henry to kill. “It has to be his choice."

Brenner is shown to have significant influence over Virginia. He’s been providing her with medication/tranquilisers, and tells her that her son desperately needs his help. He encourages Virginia to tell him who the person Henry is attached to. She does. Brenner promises her that he will take Henry back into the lab and that he won’t leave again.

After Henry returns home, he reads his family's minds and learns that they are all afraid of him and unhappy with his return. He goes into his mother's memories and learns of the last interaction she had with Brenner, including that she wonders if he “may never have been good”, and whether "this was who he was the whole time." He knows that she was willing to give him up to Brenner forever.

This is when the Creel murders happen, just like they’re shown in Season 4. Virginia Creel and Alice Creel are both murdered at the dinner table - and we know Victor is going to be blamed for it.

Is this Henry’s own mind now, turned to darkness and hate, or is it the Mind Flayer intent on eliminating all of Henry’s attachments? A monster who’s made a monster. I think it’s all left open to interpretation on purpose.

After the death of his mother and sister, Henry goes straight to Hawkins High to find Patty, hoping to reach her before Brenner does. While at the school, he runs into Joyce, who voices to him her suspicions surrounding the animal killings, and what happened to Mr Newby at the Creel House.

At first, Henry thinks Joyce has worked it out, and that she knows it was him all along. “I wish you hadn’t done that…” he says, stepping closer. But Joyce clarifies just in time that she believes Henry’s father is the one who is dangerous, and that she believes he’s responsible for the terrible things that've happened in Hawkins recently. Maybe this is what gives Henry the idea to frame his father. Either way, he leaves Joyce alive.

Both Brenner and Henry find Patty on the stage rafters, up on a high catwalk, ready to perform her part in the play. She’s initially wearing a set of wings as a prop, which are attached to the rafter to be lowered. Henry unties her from these wings, pleading with her to run away with him. An argument ensues with Brenner, where he attempts to convince Henry that Patty is his weakness, and that he needs to kill her to let her go. Patty tells Henry not to listen to him.

During this argument, Henry loses control once more, and the Mind Flayer takes over. This results in Patty slow-motion falling from the rafters as the shape of the Mind Flayer overwhelms the stage. She hits the floor on her back, presumed dead.

(The stage effects for this particular scene were absolutely incredible, by the way.)

Henry is later seen back at the lab. He’s fully subdued, confined to a straitjacket, mouth gagged, and sat in a wheelchair. Brenner says the implant (Soteria) is in, about to take effect.

If we believe what Season 4 showed us, the play skipped the part where Henry appeared dead alongside his mother and sister (just before Victor is then blamed and incarcerated at Pennhurst Asylum). So assuming that Brenner played a part in covering up Henry’s involvement in the Creel murders, Henry is presumed dead by the town at this point too. Unfortunately the play doesn’t address this, as instead we see Henry run immediately from the dinner table murder scene, straight to Hawkins High to find Patty. It’s a big inconsistency which I guess they want us to explain away with Henry being an “unreliable narrator” in the show. I guess he gave Nancy the abridged version of what happened!

Anyway, it appears that Henry later finds Patty in the void, despite Brenner telling him that he killed her. It seems she has successfully left Hawkins and found her mother in Las Vegas, just as she always dreamed of doing. She uses a walking stick, but otherwise appears alive and well.

We hear and see static as Henry watches the scene unfold, and Patty glances over her shoulder, like she senses him. But then she turns her back and walks into the distance with her mother.

An alternative take that I heard from someone, was that perhaps Patty is truthfully still seriously injured and is actually in a coma (similar to Max). They thought that maybe the final scene of Patty with her mother was actually just something that Henry was creating for her in her mind, as a sort of last semblance of goodness and love. I don’t think that’s what was intended, but it was an interesting take that I wanted to include!

As the show nears its end, we’re presented with a series of newspaper articles relaying the tragic Creel Murders in Hawkins (possibly the same ones that Nancy and Robin find in Season 4). The Creel family all dead, Victor is blamed and sent to the asylum. The empty Creel House remains, a reminder of the horrors. It then shifts back to Hawkins lab, who are now recruiting pregnant women for experimentation.

Brenner introduces a pregnant woman to Henry (who is still bound to a chair and fully subdued) and explains to him that the "blood transfusion" finally worked on a subject. He points to the woman's belly and remarks, “One, meet Two!" “You are as much a father to them as I am,” Brenner says at one point. Then, “Come… meet your brothers and sisters.” Even though we know Henry is not in any way related to the lab kids, they definitely played into the father/guardian/creator metaphor in the play. If not family by blood, then by circumstance.

We see photos of the babies created in the lab, with their numbers underneath. We can recognise Eight as young Kali. Eventually we get to Ten, at which point the stage focuses on a now older Henry, wearing his recognisable Season 4 orderly outfit. He kneels beside a child with buzzed hair.

"Hello, Eleven. Come with me.” He takes her by the hand, and they walk into the distance together.

———

Some final thoughts:

Because of the incident with Patty during Joyce's play, we can infer that's why she is unsuccessful in her goal to impress the university, and remains stuck in Hawkins - just like Lonnie said she would.

Lonnie is awful, and I’m in two minds about how he’s handled in the play. They did a good job to show he’s always been a douchebag, and unlike what I’ve seen some people say, I actually think it was horribly believable that Joyce (who they establish likes 'bad boys') ends up going back to him and having kids with him. We know from Season 1 that there’s emotional abuse with Joyce and Lonnie, and to me, it makes horrible, horrible sense that it all ends up the way it does. I’m just not sure how I feel about Lonnie being used as any kind of comedic effect in the play (he makes a brief reappearance at the police station, where he’s been lying drunkenly handcuffed on some chairs the whole time during a scene... “It wasn’t me! I didn’t do it!" he says, or something to that effect). I feel like using him in that way diminishes how truly awful he is as a character. Maybe I’m just being too sensitive, but I’d much rather they had kept all the laughs and jokes for the other characters, and treated Lonnie completely seriously the whole way through. I don’t want to see him in any way ‘likeable’ or ‘relatable’ or ‘funny’, you know? Not even for cheap audience laughs. This is a guy who called his own kid son a f*g. Let's treat that with the gravity and solemnity it deserves, please.

Louis McCartney and Ella Karuna Williams as Henry Creel and Patty were great, and Isabella Pappas as Joyce was amazing. Dr Brenner was nicely emulated by Patrick Vaill (I personally think he was one of the most believable characters from stage to show). The best performance of all though was Christopher Buckley as Bob. Like, damn, give that kid all the awards! He was so believable as a young Bob, I actually forgot it wasn’t somehow a young Sean Astin on stage. *chef’s kiss*

As previously mentioned, all the parents of the kids are present in the play (and already coupled up). None of these characters are particularly fleshed out, and I think they’re mainly just there as fun ‘Easter Eggs’ to connect it with the show. E.g having Claudia own another cat that gets killed, seeing Ted Wheeler ironically as some kind of jock god who gets all the ladies (and cheats on Karen with, by the way!), Joyce holding an axe prop near the end mid-rant (“Why am I holding this??”) and Hopper making a remark about breaking his own foot (which he does in Season 4).

They definitely seemed to be going back on the whole ‘it was Henry/Vecna the whole time’ thing from Season 4: the Mind Flayer has been pulling the strings from way before El sent Henry to Dimension X/Upside Down. We even see the Mind Flayer in the shape of a giant eldritch spider during the play, way before Henry appears to ‘shape’ it in Season 4. However, I think it’s also possible that Henry DID actually manage to take control of the Mind Flayer the second time he arrived in Dimension X (as we see at the end of S4). At that point, he’s killed all the lab kids and staff at Hawkins Lab, so he will be much more powerful now compared to the Henry from the play. By now he’s completely embraced the Mind Flayer’s philosophy, and is acting in its stead entirely on his own volition. Honestly? I think they’re going to leave it ambiguous on purpose. I think that’s why the play is technically canon, but totally not necessary before seeing Season 5. I think Henry and the Mindflayer are 'one' (lol) at this point - I think that’s what Vecna technically is. He’s like an amalgamation of this terrifying eldritch being that we can never begin to understand, but at the same time also something that is still deeply, deeply human.

The Henry side of him seems to be lost, but in a way Brenner was right - his feelings for Patty, whether ‘Puppy Love’ or real - was his one redeeming weakness in his early teen years. Judging from the play, I think it’s possible we might see a tragic sort of redemption moment in S5 (which I personally have mixed feelings about). But I do believe the play is supposed to be entirely separate, and that it’s possible Patty will continue not to be mentioned or relevant in the show (I hope I’m wrong). I just can’t help but be cautious in assuming the Mind Flayer is still the one in control after what they set up at the end of Season 4 (especially with Will saying, “it’s weird to know who it was this whole time” re: his own kidnapping and possession). I think Henry has become his darkest self as Vecna.

Speaking of Will… there were noticeably a LOT of parallels with him in Henry. Henry wears pretty much exactly Will’s outfit from Season 4, yellow tones with beige and brown. Meanwhile Patty wears a blue cardigan and a blue dress - at least in Act 1. I’m not hugely into the blue-and-yellow thing in a serious way, but even I noticed there were blue and yellow motifs for Henry and Patty. She wears a bright yellow top with her blue cardigan at one point too. I think there was definitely a mixture of both Will and El in Henry’s character.

Meanwhile Patty had noticeable similarities to Mike. She’s rebellious, outspoken, loves comic books, and worships superheroes.

Seeing the play hasn’t impacted my beliefs or hopes for Byler in any way. I think there are potentially good things to be taken from the writing, and potentially bad things too. My current confidence has neither been raised nor lowered, but what I will say is that it’s undeniable that the Henry x Patty relationship mirrors both Mileven and Byler, but especially Mileven. Hentty is obviously a star-crossed tragedy, deliberately set up like Romeo and Juliet, which we know is NEVER a good thing. I do find it interesting that their love confessions were an exchange, unlike Mike’s monologue. Patty is the one ‘present’, whilst Henry is the one trapped in the void with his eyes closed/blindfold on. It’s a high stakes moment. Patty tells Henry in desperation that she loves him, but she follows this up by pleading with him to say it back. I didn’t see anyone else talking about this, but it really stood out to me.

The play’s themes and messages still reflected what I believe the show to be about: rejecting forced conformity (it dealt with people’s ideas about what it means to be “normal” to fit in, about sex not being taboo, harmful black and white morality, and the damage that can occur from enforcing religious dogma)... and of course, like Joyce said, that love will ultimately conquer fear. Over and out!

[This kind of introspection throws up unsettling and complex ideas about the nature of human morality. What does it mean to be human? Who gets to decide who is “other”? How do we treat those who are different from us? These are huge issues, and far too esoteric for most of us to deal with in abstract. So the way we choose to explore them is in stories.] - Michael Davies

#stranger things: the first shadow #the first shadow #st: tfs #tfs #tfs spoilers #spoiler #spoilers #stranger things #byler #< target audience #personal

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herebecritters · 7 months

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Welcome to my HTF blog, I have lore and gore all for you to enjoy.

What’s goin on here?

Well I make a Happy Tree Friends Au called Be Brave that delves into why htf is the way it is. Why is everyone dying all the time? Why won’t they stay dead? Why do I love laughing at their misery? What’s up with those weird little stone idols?

Well wonder no more…unless you have your own headcanons. That’s fine too. But if you’re hankering to hear my take, here’s a quick disclaimer and some convenient links to make navigating this blog a wee bit easier.

DISCLAIMER

This story and this blog is NOT intended for a child audience. There will be violence. There will be gore. There will be foul language. There will be sexual humor and adult jokes and topics. Consume at your own risk.

Ocs will play active and important roles in this story. This includes many of my friends ocs. If this is a problem then oopsie poopsie, aw well. Cry me a river.

Shipping is a thing. FlippyXFlaky is my main canon ship and it will be explored in this story. As well as a bunch of oc ships. A few other canon ships may be mentioned or shown as well. If any of this is also a problem then too bad, too sad.

Harassment is not tolerated. I am not afraid to block. I’m old and tired and I give no fucks. The real world is already enough of a stressful nightmare, and Auntie Critters needs their wine and story time to unwind. Just don’t be a dick. It’s as simple as that.

Be patient! Again, I am doing this for fun. But I want to be able to share that fun as well cus I really love the stuff I’ve been cooking for this. However, making content to convey all these ideas I have to an audience is a LOT of work. And I am doing this on my free time. So do not expect there to be a set schedule and understand that I am unfortunately a slave to the whims of my hyperfixations. But I will do my very best to deliver all these stories to you 😤

Now onto the fun stuff…

———

Quick links!

Origins of a curse series:

* Dino-Sore Days Lore

* The First Civilization (coming soon)

* The 300 Year Colony (Coming Soon)

———

Be Brave: An comedic adventure comic with notes of horror and existentialism sprinkled throughout. Follow Flaky as they are roped into saving the Isles and everyone trapped on them from an ancient and evil curse.

*To start reading the Be Brave comic, click here

———

Other links!

* Character References for the God Trio

* Lore Tag

— Paleo Files —

* Cro and Dumuzi Paleo File

*Geshtu Paleo File (Coming Soon)

*Nergal Paleo File (Coming Soon)

*Kyle the Mononykus File (Coming Soon)

*Splash the Plesiosaur File (Coming Soon)

— Tales of the Ancient Past —

* Cro and Dumuzi Backstory (Coming Soon)

* Nergal Backstory (Coming Soon)

* Geshtu Backstory

* Meeting Kyle the Mononykus (Coming Soon)

* For What it’s Surf (Coming Soon)

#happy tree friends #htf #htf ocs #htf cursed idol #flippy x flaky #htf Fancomic #htf lore #htf be Brave #htf Nergal #htf dumuzi #htf Geshtu #I have almost all these stories written #just gotta draw em #but this should make things a little more organized here #may add new links n stories in the future #a living document

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lil-oreo-crumbles · 3 months

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Wanna share those headcanons?

YEAHHH ABSOLUTELY!!! TOFFIPSA/P HEADCANONS LETS GOOOOO♥️💜

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Toffee and Eclipsa Friendship Headcanons✨

Disclaimer: These headcanons are heavily skewed toward my specific interpretations of young Eclipsa and especially young Toffee, along with being specific to fitting into my AU, so I don’t know how “general” these are and can be taken. These also aren’t even all of them just the ones I’ve come up with just a lot of the non-angsty and non-spoiler ones💗

These also come with childhood Toffee and Eclipsa best friend headcanons, their dynamic in their current adult stages is different lol and even more skewed toward my AU than these are (and way more spoiler-y)

╚═════ ☾ ₊˚⊹ ════╝

୨・┈・┈・୨ ୧・┈・┈・୧

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Eclipsa gave him the nickname “Toffee.” Toffee isn’t his real name, and Eclipsa was the one who nicknamed him.

She gave him the nickname because, in the lighting, she mistook his eyes as having a more carmelized color. It was only later that she realized they were actually gold (YES this is inspired by the super cute fic and accompanying comic, sue me!)

Eclipsa loves playing with Toffee’s long hair. Whether it's brushing it, braiding it, decorating it with leaves, flowers, or ribbon, or simply just playing with it with her fingers. She always remarks about how weirdly soft it is

Going along with the last one, Eclipsa was such a bow girl. She LOVES bows and wore exclusively bows in her hair until she transitioned to hats. Argo, she loves putting bows in Toffee’s hair. He isn’t the biggest fan of it, but enjoys making her happy.

Eclipsa loves crafting and making things like flower crowns. While Toffee appreciates the gesture, flower crowns are serious reminders of his late mother, and seeing it hits the wrong way sometimes.

Contrary to popular belief, and no matter how smiley Eclipsa can be, Toffee is “the smiley”

Eclipsa loves chocolate while Toffee can’t stand it. If he eats chocolate it’s exclusively dark chocolate. Otherwise, he’s much more of a strawberry-flavored guy. Eclipsa fundamentally doesn’t understand why he doesn’t like chocolate, specifically Snookers

Eclipsa is fascinated by the Septarian’s regenerative properties.

She helped Toffee get better at regeneration faster than his peers because she kept accidentally slicing his limbs off. She always cries about it no matter how much he assures her that he’s fine

Eclipsa taught Toffee how Mewmans dance and Toffee (at least tried to) teach Eclipsa some traditional Septarian dances.

Toffee specifically requested to not be included in Eclipsa’s chapter.

However, Toffee IS the Septarian Eclipsa “dated” in her chapter. Despite the two not having romantic feelings for each other at all he agreed to the date for her research purposes. It was one date and neither took each other seriously and laughed and giggled the whole time.

Toffee eventually hooked her up with another Septarian to date instead since he had a hunch she’d be a tad biased.

(She was biased. That 9/10 was for him.)

Going along with the last one, Eclipsa illustrated what she headcanoned Toffee would look like as an adult. Toffee asked her, very confused, “Um… why did you draw me like that…?” (Little did she know how accurate she kinda was)

Toffee has tried to get Eclipsa to read some of his books (like the bookworm he is), but her short attention span pevents her from finishing the first chapter

Toffee helps Eclipsa with her magic training, holding the book open for her and helping her by reading off spells. He’s practically read the entire book up until Eclipsa’s chapter.

(Yes, this includes all of Solaria’s chapter. Yes he has read what Solaria has said about Septarians. Yes it terrifies him that someone like her exists.)

Eclipsa told Toffee all about the Butterflies, magic, the magic wand, and The Whispering Spell. Being the chatterbox she is, she couldn’t contain any secrets from her best friend. (She is the source for a good portion of Toffee’s information on the Butterfly Family and magic.)

Along these same lines, Eclipsa showed him Butterfly Castle’s secret tunnel system and other secret passageways she constantly uses.

Eclipsa and Toffee make up hypotheticals sometimes. One of those hypotheticals was about what a Mewni without magic would look like, since Eclipsa figured out magic was the source of a lot of monster’s hardships. They never really took it seriously as an option at the time

Despite all of Eclipsa’s attempts to bring them together and have them meet, Toffee and Globgor have never met

They’re the type of friends to come in a “package deal”

Eclipsa jokes about her trauma a lot to cope, Toffee does not.

Eclipsa, dramatically standing in front of Toffee: HE ASKED FOR NO PICKLES

Eclipsa tries to bake (and fails) but Toffee eats the (very burnt) sweets anyway with a smile on his face.

They make music together 🎶 Eclipsa plays the guitar and Toffee has this tambourine

୨・┈・┈・୨ ୧・┈・┈・୧

If I got into the angst ones we’d be here all day.

I’ve spent the better part of the last few days compiling as many as I can think of from my memory bank. I love these two, I’ve had them headcanoned as childhood best friends since Battle for Mewni came out. These headcanons are 7 years in the making so there’s probably a few lost to time that I’ll remember as I write about them more.

Their dynamic is overall similar to Star and Marco’s (Season 1 pre-romance), just with their own little personalities. It’s not a 1:1 ratio, but it’s akin to them.

Now I wanna do the video compiling all of the evidence for a canonical connection between these two… *sighs and puts it on my to do list*

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gayrogues · 8 months

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after seeing many posts over the past year or so about what level of murder and violence is in-character for the riddler, and changing my own opinion on it so many times, i’m finally writing my own take about it. i’m gonna preface this by saying i’m not writing this to hate on anyone’s interpretations, nor am i vagueing anyone who’s posted their own takes on this recently - i don’t think there’s a “correct” interpretation here, actually! i’m just here to infodump :]

first things first, the riddler does in fact kill people, we know this. but, i do think i know what comic contributed most to the misconception that he’s never killed anyone back in the early days of his character, and to the interpretation that he’s just a little guy whose crimes are mostly harmless:

(from when is a door, by neil gaim*n - censoring his name because he’s on this website and i’m afraid of somehow summoning him)

i often see this page cited by people who think the riddler should be a silly harmless guy, and it very much shaped my own cringey sanded-down interpretation of the rogues before i got deep into comics. but how true is it? (disclaimer, i know that “when is a door” is about nostalgia for the silver age/batman ‘66/etc. era of batman media, not neil gaim*n claiming that this is how every batman comic has been before a certain point - i'm not trying to actually disprove anything that was said in this page, and a lot of the examples i'll be mentioning were published after this comic.) first, let’s look at his pre-crisis appearances.

right from the riddler’s first introduction in detective comics #140, he puts some dude in a puzzle death trap. in many of his following appearances, he tones it down and mostly just sticks to stealing shit or trying to kill batman, with no civilian casualties. (not always, though - there’s a few issues here and there where he kills a random guy or tries to blow up the city, like batman #292 and detective comics #362.) there are very few issues where his crimes are almost entirely harmless, like the brave and the bold #68. this statement from jim gordon in batman #362 sums him up, for the most part:

things start getting more inconsistent in the 80s/90s part of the post-crisis era, which was when the previously mentioned “when is a door” was published. you have the question #26, which implies that the riddler has been very harmless up until this point - gordon states that the only person edward is likely to hurt with his crimes is himself, and he’s considered such a minor threat that they let him go free because prosecuting him wouldn’t be worth the effort. then there’s dark knight, dark city, where he happily tries to kill a whole bunch of people including babies for the sake of a scheme. then there’s showcase ‘94 #4, with this comment from jeremiah arkham:

then there’s the batman chronicles #3, where he’s back to casually shooting people to death. then there’s the long halloween and dark victory, where he’s some pathetic guy who kinda just shows up sometimes and isn’t enough of a threat for batman to send to arkham. you get the idea. of course, there’s more within these issues than what i’ve mentioned - in the question #26, he’s pretty on board to start killing people despite his previous harmlessness, while in dark knight dark city, both his henchmen and batman comment on his bloodthirstiness as being out of the ordinary for him. (not to mention that it’s debatable how much control he had over his actions, because he was kinda being possessed by demons.)

unfortunately i’m not going to keep going down a timeline of every riddler comic because there’s still so many i haven’t read, and this post was mostly meant to analyze his 40s - 90s appearances as many characters began taking a darker turn after that point. i have a few more screenshots from the 2000s onwards pointing to a generally harmless riddler, but there really aren't many:

(i don’t remember which one this is from, sorry)

(catwoman lonely city #2 by cliff chiang - i feel like i maybe shouldn’t include it because it’s an elseworld, but it did influence my own characterization of edward back when i interpreted him this way. i recommend this comic so much btw)

i don’t really have a conclusion for this post, or a specific interpretation i'm arguing for - i just wanted to analyze how accurate this somewhat-common fanon portrayal of him is, based on the era of comics that i think a lot of fans are drawing from. thanks for coming to my riddler ted talk :]

#my own take on him is somewhere in the middle he's killed before and would kill again but it's not often his main objective #i used to be like aughhh i hate edgy batman rogues because i read one bad day: the riddler and i hated it so much it's unreal #but i've pinpointed exactly why i hate that characterization so much and it's not because he kills #it's because it's no fun! he's not having fun with it there's no gimmick no uniqueness no panache #like. compare with audio adventures joker where he does super fucked up shit but he's still undeniably The Joker #okay enough rambling [explodes]#dc #riddler #ransom.txt

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why-so-serious-lucifer · 5 months

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K-pop Discography Deep Dives: WJSN

A Disclaimer: I was planning, when I first started Tumblr, to be a lurker, but then I began an office job and needed something to listen to to keep myself occupied. And then, I started going through entire K-pop groups’ repertoires, album by album, and jotting down my thoughts. And then, I stumbled into K-pop tumblr and decided, you know what, there’s at least four people on this hell site who would read in depth rants about these discographies and at least five who wouldn’t read it and then get mad because it’s kind of our job as K-pop fans. My lukewarm takes should be taken with an entire silo of salt and the knowledge that this is completely for fun and occupying my very bored, very neurodivergent brain. All this to say, for the love of god, I’m a sleep-deprived student and I don’t have time for internet hate, so don’t kill me. With that being said, enjoy!

Here are my credentials: unusually, for a girl group, I have very few. I’ve listened to WJSN before, and I know a decent amount of title tracks and a couple b-sides. I would say I know them best from my half-watch of Queendom 2 (I’m a fan of Loona and Gfriend, so I was more focused on them), which WJSN did win. I was impressed with them there, and I decided that I wanted to learn more about them.

WJSN was formed in late 2015 as a Korean-Chinese collaborative between Starship Entertainment and Yuehua Entertainment. The members are divided into four units, one for each letter. First is Wonder, with Cheng Xiao, Bona, and Dayoung. Second is Joy, with Xuanyi, Eunseo, and Yeoreum. Third is Sweet, with Seola, Exy, and Soobin. And fourth is Natural, with Meiqi, Luda, and Dawon. After these units were formed, a 13th member, Yeonjung, was added as well. After being on hiatus since 2018, the three Chinese members, Xuanyi, Cheng Xiao, and Meiqi officially left the group in early 2023. Sorry, that was a lot of names, so deep breaths and let’s do this.

They officially debuted in 2016 with MoMoMo, which is one of the most bubblegum-y bubblegum songs I’ve seen in a while. It’s basically a k-pop stereotype at this point: lots of aegyo, completely coordinated school girl clothes, short skirts, childish love, and very poppy beats. I associate WJSN with more ethereal pop, so this was a (somewhat unwelcome) surprise for me. As often happens to me in k-pop, while I did appreciate its comic book style animation and humor, the excessive aegyo made me uncomfortable (see my review of TXT’s Cat and Dog or LOONA’s Hi High). This isn’t the song’s fault; it’s exactly what it’s supposed to be, but it does mean I won’t be listening to it again.

I’m unsure if Catch Me is also a single or just an opportunity for a dance practice, but it embraces the other side of k-pop stereotypes: a sort-of anti-drop, girl-crush, uncomfortably-sexualized…thing? that tries a bit too hard to be cool. WJSN’s talent elevates it, but even they can only do so much with a song that doesn’t have any character.

The 1st EP, Would You Like?, starts with an intro, Space Cowgirl, that I actually liked more than MoMoMo, and I wish more of its self-assured, smooth synths carried into the song. I liked parts of some of the songs, like the twinkling piano and extended bridge in Tick Tock, but most of them sounded very similar to other songs I’ve heard, and so didn’t stick out to me all that much. I could name at least five exactly like Take My Breath.

Secret begins the sound that I know from WJSN, still drawing on the poppiness, cutesiness, and high vocals of MoMoMo, but pairing it with more toned-on synths, more pointed voices, and more poised dancing, a combination that would become their staple in the next few years. It’s quite interesting to see it here feeling a little less polished. I totally get why they gained the nickname “Cosmic Girls” now, with all the space inspiration here, and while the song itself is nothing groundbreaking, I really liked that lead-in to the last chorus.

The Secret, the EP, has a couple songs I liked. BeBe leans a bit too far into aegyo for me personally, but I enjoy its boundless energy and catchiness. Also, that harmonizing in the last chorus? Sign me up. I also enjoyed the frizzy electronic background of Robot, which reminded me a bit of an f(x) song, although it felt more restrained than one of theirs.

I Wish has a slightly more funk-inspired opening than Secret, and while it still has the roots of aegyo, I’d say it follows the pattern of their songs slowly getting more mature. Still got the schoolgirl outfits, though. The chorus and its “tell me why” is pretty catchy, I will say, and I appreciated a lot of the MV’s visuals in the social media posts, floating lanterns, and emojis.

From. WJSN’s Say Yes caught my attention with its finger-snapping background and slightly Latin-pop-esque warm acoustic guitar. I thought it provided a good contrast to their very electronic synth-heavy music, and made me appreciate their vocals a lot more, especially Yeonjung and Dayoung. The “juseyo, juseyo” is stuck in my head now, and I’m not mad about it. It makes a great addition to my sleep playlist.

Kiss Me’s intro had me intrigued right off the bat, with its fun surf guitar background, and its continuing through the song made this one stand out. I also liked the harsher hand-clapping percussion mixed with the pop, and that the chorus felt like a much more natural progression of the verses and pre-chorus. Still not a fan of the rapping, which comes out of nowhere, but overall this was a great summer track and it got stuck in my head.

Happy is a return to the bubbly, kind-of sporty concept of MoMoMo that was so popular in mid-3rd gen (Red Velvet’s Happiness, TWICE’s Cheer Up, or Fromis_9’s FUN, for example), and I’d be lying if I said I was as happy to see it as the song wants me to be. I definitely liked the humor and the ultra-saturation of the music video, and ended up laughing a good few times. But overall, I’m not a fan of this concept or this type of song, and this song does nothing to change my mind. Also, I feel like the chorus, though it’s pretty good, doesn’t fit in with the rest of the song. I think it’s the sudden tempo change.

Happy Moment is a full album, so there’s a lot to talk about. I liked the bubbly distortion in Miracle, (honestly I wonder why it wasn’t a single, because it really feels like one), the vocalizing in Mr. BadBoy’s choruses, the minimalistic background of Babyface’s verses, the roller skating rush of Geeminy, and especially the lovely musical catharsis of Closer To You (damn, Yeonjung, what a note to end on!). Again, though, what I really liked were parts and besides Closer To You, I didn’t like any song enough to consider it a hidden gem. I know that Happy leans very much into aegyo, but the names of a lot of these songs felt a bit too babyish even for that, and I don’t think that the album needed to be so long, because so many of its tracks felt like filler. I would rather have a five or six track, great-all-the-way-through EP like, say Sunmi’s Warning or SEVENTEEN’s Haeng-Geurae, than a half-as-good album twice that long.

Dreams Come True, I’m happy to say, builds on the good that both Kiss Me and I Wish started, working in more interesting percussion and more ethereal synths. Funnily enough, it goes so far into understated that I didn’t realize the chorus had started until it was almost over, and while it’s got a good base, I think that it needs a stronger, more obvious hook to turn into a classic. I did really like that delicate bridge, though.

Dream Your Dream, the EP, starts strong with Love O’Clock, which doesn’t bother with a drawn out build-up, instead rushing forward right from the first moment. I liked the harmonizing, the strong drumbeat, and the catchiness. I also enjoyed Renaissance’s swirling and soaring vocals (another b-side that could’ve been a single) and Thawing, despite its odder sound effects, charmed me with its earnestness.

Save Me, Save You was the first WJSN song I heard, and is probably the one that best sums up their style. It starts soft, almost not there in the first verse, then tiptoes its way through the pre-chorus, and with a couple drum beats, that magical chorus takes over and suddenly you’re floating. As mentioned, their songs are often a bit too bubbly or understated for me, but I can acknowledge when a song does its style well, and this one absolutely does. I didn’t even mind the rap! I like the setting of the magic school and the incredibly fast shifting in the eyes between the bridge and the last chorus, but I wish it drew itself out more, to make the best use of that excellent vocalizing.

From WJ Please?, the EP, I really had a good time nodding my head to You, You, You, especially during its bridge and last chorus and I added it to my roller skating playlist. I also enjoyed the hints of flamenco and layered strings in the background of I-Yah, a surprisingly lovely sound for the title. It really reminded me of I Knew It by Sonamoo, one of my favorite Latin-pop inspired K-pop tracks. Masquerade also has a great use of strings, this time combined with a gentle piano, and Hurry Up uses a brightly jazzy beat to add some contrast. These four together absolutely make this my favorite EP so far, which is pretty funny, as all these songs are better than the title.

La La Love’s Carnival setting is interesting, and is the decision to have a pre-chorus that leans into sing-talk. The choice mostly works and doesn’t interrupt the good flow that the song has, and I like the high vocalizing that twinkles around the chorus. On the whole, the song is pretty enjoyable and gentle, but, like I usually do, I wish it had more of a hook that would make it stick in my head. Completely different from the last EP, I didn’t have a hidden gem for this one, though I thought 12 O’Clock was nice.

With how much I liked their last summer comeback, I was excited for Boogie Up. The song is pretty upbeat and on the whole, reminds me of a much more bubbly version of Red Flavor by Red Velvet. It’s catchy, but it has a bit too empty of a chorus for me, and doesn’t innovate on a pretty tried-and-true pop formula enough to stand out. I do like the fun instrumental and the bridge, though. Their bridges are almost always pretty great.

From the EP For The Summer, I honestly really liked the song For The Summer with its bright and flouncy energy (though as I often do, I thought the rap was unnecessary), and the horns were a nice touch. Let’s Dance follows in the stead of WJ Please’s great, Latin-pop inspired b-sides, though I don’t think it’s quite as unique as those.

As You Wish has a very bouncy beat from the beginning, and its excellent electronic sound draws from disco. Its pre-chorus build is great as well, and the chorus delivers, making it both one of my favorite titles so far and what I’m sure will become a fixture on my roller-skating playlists. Its last chorus is delightfully bright, but my favorite part is absolutely that outro, which brings together the vocals and the instrumentals perfectly and should’ve been so much longer. From the EP, also titled As You Wish, I liked the vocal showcase and twinkling piano in Lights Up, and the drumline beat of Don’t Touch.

Butterfly is another song I already knew by WJSN, and its bubbly energy works surprisingly well for me. I think this is the first of their title tracks that has a deeper meaning than an average love song, and I’m very happy to see it. There’s never enough songs about freedom and being yourself, in my opinion. The last chorus’ vocalizations, as often in WJSN’s singles, elevates the song greatly, and its fizzy instrumental brings everything together. The visuals of flowing white dresses and puffy clouds are a great addition too.

From Neverland, while I enjoyed the back and forth, rushing energy of Hola and the string-led instrumentation of Where You Are, my hidden gem was absolutely Pantomime. I first heard it while watching Queendom, and though I do definitely prefer the more 20’s jazz-inspired, more theatrical version from their stage there, there’s still a lot to love here. I especially enjoy how clipped and off-beat it is, setting it apart from WJSN other’s b-sides.

Unnatural is a bit of a darker counterpart to Butterfly, also about not quite fitting into normalcy (hence the title). I really liked the rap in this one, and how well it fit into the tempo. Also, the way the pre-chorus pulls back and then rushes forward is great. I like the more minimalistic instrumentals and how they let the vocals flow and speak for themselves. Overall, I think it’s one of their strongest outings. From Unnatural, the EP, I really liked the mix between WJSN’s high voices and the self-assured tone and beat in Last Dance, though I wish the instrumental was more distinctive.

Last Sequence is, at time of writing, WJSN’s most recent comeback, from a year ago. It also falls into the more minimalistic electro-pop synth style of their last few singles, which of course I’m in favor of. I do feel like the chorus needed more of a lead-in than it has, but besides that, I do really like this one. As always, its bridge is great and so is the lead-in to the last chorus (the yeongwohni, yeongwohni, yeongwohni is stuck in my head now). I didn’t have a hidden gem for this comeback, as it’s only a 3-song single.

I’m glad I did this! Like I said, I didn’t know much about WJSN before this review. But, I’ve learned that they were an important part in making what I now consider a very classic 3rd generation K-pop sound, and their music became the blueprint for many groups afterward. I’ve watched some interviews and had some good laughs, and even seen a couple compilations of their best performances on Queendom. I definitely liked their later music more than their earlier, though, and after hearing their work, I’m sad that they don’t come back nearly as often as they used to.

My Top 5 songs are Butterfly, Last Sequence, Kiss Me, I-Yah, and Hurry Up, with Pantomime as an honorable mention . WJSN gets an 8.25 out of 10 from me. I think that on the whole, their songs are pretty good and there were very few I actively disliked. The biggest issue I face is that I listen to and analyze So. Much. K-pop. (probably thousands of songs by now) and because of that, only the groups that do something unique or innovative, have incredible voices, self-produce, or consistently discuss important subjects in their work really stick with me. WJSN is very talented, but while they have a niche, they don’t really add anything new to what’s been done time and time again.

Next time, I have a very special soloist review coming up, that’s going to come out on December 18th (a day late). If you know your k-pop and my blog, you can probably guess what it is. It’ll be a bit different from a usual review, but I felt like it was time. Tschüss!

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rriavian · 7 months

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Part 2 of this post from an ask from @altair214. So. Battle tactics! I must also add a disclaimer that I’ve never read the art of war, but it fits and so I’m gonna quote it. Also this got very long, as always, and I have to admit I feel a little arrogant for writing meta about my own fic. But! Hopefully will be an interesting read <3

I've realised that I mainly use differing combinations of three specific tactics when I write. So in terms of the accidental alignment of my writing to Dream’s comic brand of subtle manipulation we have the following:

Manipulate what your enemy views as orthodox and unorthodox behaviours. By feigning orthodox behaviour, you set your opponent up for attack through unorthodox action. Eg. Appear weak when you are strong.

I’m a fan of subversion. I like unconventional ways of approaching things. I’ve always been fascinated by how a comparatively smaller action can have a lot more weight than a larger one depending on how it’s framed.

Like one TV show might have a dozen or so sex scenes that make you yawn, but another has one person holding another’s hand and you just about die because it’s so powerful.

One of the reasons why I love Dream is because he's a character that is so often the opposite of what is expected. He’ll let someone’s assumptions of him act against them, play into them to a certain extent. It’s applicable to what vulnerability means to him too. Weirdly it’s more accurate to say that when Dream seems vulnerable it’s someone else that is actually in trouble. Prime example is him meeting with Lucifer in hell, Dream is not at all bothered by the disrespect of the exchange because he’s secure enough in himself not to be, and he’s more than willing to take advantage of the view to achieve victory.

I saw something recently about how Dream could have chosen to make himself taller in this fight, but doing so would have been akin to a kitten puffing their fur to seem more threatening.

Lucifer would have loved it.

Dream didn't need to do it here, but I think he would have if he'd gone into hell at full power and wanted to seem weak...again, that subversion I love mixed with the unorthodox/orthodox actions. The example you used of the question asked by Odin and Dream’s response is such a perfect illustration of this. Dream is not going to let someone else cheat so easily by telling them what he is.

Or giving them a hint at how they should see him.

It’s not something reserved for enemies either. He has a moment with Lucienne where she’s upset and hurt by what she sees as her work being dismissed, and it could be argued Dream leans into what contrition is expected to look like. It’s the most overt display of ‘oops’ we’ve ever really seen in Dream, his solemn mannerisms put aside for the moment. Not because he’s lying, not that he isn’t regretful that he hurt her, but because he is willing to use her view of behaviour to ensure his response translates properly. He uses that perception to make his feelings visible, to put them in the context that is most accessible to her.

You could say he does similar with Johanna when she mentions Burgess, though I don’t think he alters his behaviour here, just lets her respond to it. Then when Hob accuses him of loneliness Dream does absolutely nothing to hide how nope he is about that. And while it might seem like it breaks my theory on vulnerability because of how extreme a reaction it was, what Hob said was actually an equally extreme insult.

And Dream’s reaction to it resulted in Hob running after him, displaying his own desperate vulnerability, panicked at losing the only constant in his immortal life. Perhaps at having the gift itself revoked.

And he's lured to it because the power in that interaction very much remains with Dream.

While Hob clearly spends time ruminating over that meeting, Dream is very interestingly nonchalant the one time we see him reminded of it, in the scene when Death asks if he’s going to see Hob. There's more to say on this but I will skip to the end of my thought. I bet that if Dream hadn’t been caught by Burgess he’d have turned up to their meeting 100 years later and gotten an apology. Or skipped that meeting just to prove his point.

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

Your analysis of Dream making a deal with Loki aligns with this. It seems to me that Dream used this idea in a very unorthodox way to get what he wanted, knowing Loki as he did, and predicting that he’d kidnap Daniel as a way to force Dream to waste his debt. Loki thinks he’s been given the tool to defeat Dream, thinks he’s the one acting in a way that’s unorthodox, but he’s completely misunderstood what victory even is for Dream. He doesn’t actually know what Dream wants. As Odin highlights, it’s unclear whether Dream is victim or manipulator, and this inability for anyone to really know what they are fighting and what his motives are makes Dream so difficult to attack.

In reverse Dream is astounding good at getting the measure of people and using their in character actions for his own ends without even manipulating their behaviour.

In canon he knows Rose will draw the arcana together, knows her search for her brother will lead him where he needs to go. And he's secure enough in his assessment of the threat she poses to let things continue. So in Baiting the Trap Dream uses everything he knows the Corinthian is to assure his victory, achieves it just by letting the Corinthian do his own unhinged thing. As you said, Dream knew right from the start that he was going to win.

The only way the Corinthian could have won is if he stopped being himself.

That’s how Dream fights his enemies – he tailors your defeat to be a road you will always walk. He finds your fatal flaw, your hamartia, and he makes defeat inevitable. Dream gets you to choose it. Again, bringing this back to my point about Orpheus, Dream seems to ultimately arrange this very same thing for himself. He uses his own fatal flaw, his own unavoidable prophesy, and engineers both his defeat and his rebirth.

The most effective trap is always the one you don’t see coming until it’s far too late. The one you only see at all because the victor has allowed you to know you’ve lost. But it’s also one you willingly walk into, even fight to walk into.

A large group striking a small group is not held in high esteem, but a small group striking a larger force is.

There are canon examples of this—such as Dream’s way of dealing with Rose, and his missing creations—but I’m going to focus on BTT so this doesn’t get too long. This point really explains why I’ve always presented the Corinthian’s desire to provoke an extreme reaction as a way to get Dream to show weakness. It’s also why Sweetening the Deal had to be what it is.

It’s essentially point 3 in sex form.

It isn’t strength to throw all your power around when you don’t need to. There’s no achievement, no satisfaction, to be found in defeating a far weaker opponent. It’s why Dream is so expectant of victory, why he takes it as just a matter of course, takes pleasure from it for sure but doesn’t act like it was difficult. He plays fair enough to still brag a little though, handicaps himself enough that it's satisfying, because Dream and the Corinthian are both approaching their relationship with exactly the right assessment of their enemy.

They use exactly the right tactic to match what they are up against.

In the show the Corinthian doesn’t engage at all until he has too. In my series he's finally is forced to engage, goaded to it, thinks he’s facing destruction anyway, and his method of brute force/going all in against Dream is exactly what he’s supposed to do to fight something so powerful. Dream’s relatively measured response—his tendency for non-engagement, his avoidance of a fight—is exactly what you’re supposed to do when fighting something weaker. The Corinthian is so incensed by it because Dream’s tactics prove inequality, prove what he’s being assessed as, and he’s trying to goad him into fighting/engaging with him as an equal.

Trying to find a weapon that will make Dream treat him as such.

The series spun out from a canon divergent idea of what would happen if Dream decided to engage in the way of ‘I will give you exactly what you want and you’ll still lose’. And that's so frustrating to the Corinthian because on the surface it looks like surrender. But it’s an enemy that surrenders at full strength—lays down all arms and smirks at you across the field—undermining the strength of the assault by rendering it meaningless, revoking the right to really test it for real because they won’t let you try and beat them. Won’t let you prove that you can.

So Dream, in a lot of ways, actually flips the dynamic by presenting what he fights back with as the weaker force and taking the 'prestige' out of the Corinthian's victories. It’s why the Corinthian likes to stage/arrange a bit of a fight. Imagine a struggle. And it’s why Dream likes to get him to ask for what he wants (ask when the Corinthian wants to just take) and is very strategic with when and how he indulges him in the staged/arranged fight.

Previously I mentioned vulnerability and this adds another layer to that. When you fight against something so much weaker than yourself with full force it looks like fear. It looks like vulnerability. Perhaps incompetence. Inefficiency. It’s insecure. It’s what you do when you’re not sure you can win, unwilling to risk a test of more even footing, overwhelming with numbers rather than skill. You punish a threat that way.

It lets an enemy know they’ve made you flinch.

(Though I must also add that if you wanted an enemy to think you were scared coming at them full force would be a good way to do it.)

Dream is very obviously goading the Corinthian into positions where it's easy to make this mistake while effortlessly holding back from doing it himself. He is always tempting him to leap at the chance for guaranteed victory—in the first fic, then in the binding etc—luring him with a display of vulnerability in the throne room. Getting him to try and strike when Dream seemed emotionally unstable. But also very powerful, luring with the prestige of what it would be for a smaller force to overtake his larger one, revealing just what a prize there is on offer.

The Corinthian has been learning the balance throughout the whole series. He is still going all in but not being stupid about it, not pulling his punches but definitely not wanting to give the impression of a lack of skill. Assessing what Dream is setting the board with and what level of strength is required from his own responses. I could have written the Corinthian doing the most nasty fucked up sexual stuff to Dream—he definitely indulges but for all my work is explicit I remember being like ‘is this too vanilla for them?’—but for me it would have overplayed the Corinthian’s hand. Overplayed determination and intellect into desperation. I didn’t want to take the power out of what I was writing.

Guess I’m using these battle tactics on my readers too haha because I definitely manipulate the view of unorthodox/orthodox behaviours. I will layer them in different ways, weight an encounter differently depending on how I'd like it to feel. As I said earlier…I’m a fan of subversion. And I will usually write something in exactly the opposite way of what’s expected.

The binding circle was the culmination of the first ‘arc’ of the series and it’s essentially a combination of all three of these different tactics. An unorthodox action, strength shown as weakness, Dream seemingly handing the Corinthian the means to beat him, allowing him the chance to attack him from a position of strength.

It evened the field yes. But it's also an example of when Dream presents himself as a 'weaker' force.

It made the Corinthian the larger army in a position to strike at a smaller one. The Corinthian realised that and didn’t attack with overwhelming force. He very much indulged but he was still strategic. He could have done some very nasty things to Dream in that binding circle (believe me I had a lot of imaginative ideas). It’s all about balance and flow for me, where my gut tells me the equilibrium needs to be. And there’s loads of character quirks on both sides that balance that.

(Especially since these little 'battles' are essentially a love language as much as a power struggle)

So the series is shifting the Corinthian to a more measured approach. Fun little skirmishes. Enjoying the game of it…the stages of the battle. In a way, Dream is very much teaching the Corinthian to play by the same principles I use to write, to play chess with him properly—testing his ability to do it—to come at him from an unorthodox position, to use his weakness (Dream allowed him the Binding Circle, then gave him further examples in CtK). To perhaps not be so stressed at not being engaged with (though this is shifting in the next arc because the Corinthian has definitely earned it), Dream not using full force for a reason. The battles able to have some equality because of that adjustment.

Anyway. That’s how I write power (and that leads into how I write explicit fic too because, yeah, I feel like you might start to notice some battle tactics influencing all of my prose).

It’s why as much as Corintheus could call for some delightfully dark stuff, I will probably never write that unless the scenario is exactly right. (I have planned/considered what some of those scenarios might be). For me it can tip things too far. It’s the question of is this actually showing power or is it just disproportionate brutality? Is it a hammer instead of a scalpel? Also I agree with you about explicit fic—for all I’ve written so many of them! this is my first, and only, series of explicit works—and Dreamling was also one of the first ships I read for, though I am quite particular about it.

(It's also really really lovely to see someone share my love of Dream! So if ever you want someone to ramble excitedly with I am always ready to talk about how much I adore him!)

#part 2 of an ask #dream of the endless #the corinthian #corintheus #sandman meta #technically fic meta too #sandman comic spoilers

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seek--rest · 5 months

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Curious why you think Tomdaya going public contributed to fandom going down. Thanks for your thoughts.

Let me first give the total and complete disclaimer that this is just my own thots and opinions, based on observation and interaction with the spideychelle fandom for the past four years. If you love tomdaya and think I’m wrong, that’s fine! I’m not your mom. I literally cannot control what you think so, remember that before any of you come in and start sending me death threats.

That being said, heres why:

when I first joined this fandom, I was told by several others who were around much longer than I that some if not all of the OG writers (and readers!!) were hardcore tomdaya fans first, Peter and MJ fans second. Their love for Peter and MJ was not just inspired by the actors that play them, but was directly related. I thought this was an exaggeration because surely Peter Parker and MJ— some of the famous comic book characters— weren’t JUST beloved because of who played them.

Only to then later find out that a lot of those same OGs dipped when the actors (presumably) broke up. But w/e, still didn’t put a lot of stock into it.

Fast forward to the lead up of NWH. Fandom is at a FEVER PITCH. Almost everyone is a Spider-Man fan. THOUSANDS are in love with Peter and MJ. Immediately after it’s released there’s so much fic in tag it’s— for the first time in my four years— overwhelming to try and keep up.

HOWEVER

It is no secret that the ending to NWH was— to put it mildly— devastating for large swaths of spideychelle fans for reasons I harshly disagreed with then and STILL do now

Namely that it’s so depressing and sad because it’s fandom, who gives a fuck about canon if you hate it. Write something different. It’s not like all of fandom just agreed with the identity reveal. I didn’t then and still don’t now get why people didn’t just ignore the ending en masse.

AND— that it was “fan service” for all the wrong people/reasons or that it wasn’t the Peter and MJ they loved or that it was “disrespectful” to tear apart their “great love story” To me, again— this is silly. Peter Parker in the MCU is not and has never been this bumbling sweet innocent boy nor did Peter and MJ ever actually have a relationship on screen. I think people just genuinely read too much fanfic and forgot what kind of movies actually existed.

(I can say this because I’ve literally written hundreds of fanfics so I’m not just being a hater lmao)

You might be wondering: how does that tie-in with the actors dating irl???? Well. My theory is that people were right: most spideychelle fans, they were Tom and Zendaya (and/or Tomdaya) fans first, spideychelle second. They might enjoy the characters or like them, but push comes to shove, they’re not here for the characters in and of themselves: they want to see Tom and Zendaya.

(Which also speaks to the kind of tropes people want in fic and the type of material they want in canon, 80% of which doesn’t make sense for spider-man)

When canon was disappointing/not what they wanted, it was a lot easier to get over it / leave because the true object of their affection (the actors) was still there and PUBLIC. There wasn’t any need to write or want to read fics about Peter and MJ in ANY scenario because? They can just project, discuss and dissect the paparazzi photos, appearances, discourse of the real life actors. That was the main draw anyway so the spideychelle “ending” being disappointing in NWH, in this viewpoint, just helped cut out the middle man.

You might be saying “seek, that’s wildly speculative” and it is! But it’s based on years of observation…… and I’ve also deadass seen commentary and reblogs from people who basically said as much, preferring “spideychelle” stories that were no-powers or had very little to do with spider-man and that they were glad tomdaya is “real” now anyway lmao

It’s just a theory, and likely isn’t true for everyone. I have strong feelings about how people objectify and stalk the actors so maybe that influences how I see it all but! There it is!

#seek speaks

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mortallychaotickingdom · 1 year

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Artemis: Behind the Legacy chapter 4

As always some links to the previous chapters:

First chapter

Previous chapter

Next chapter coming ””””soon ”””” 👀, this time for real guys, December will be a busy month so idk when I’ll be able to post the next one 😔

⚠️ As always x2, little disclaimer ⚠️

This chapter includes MAJOR SPOILERS of the prequel trilogy (!!!and movie!!!) so if you didn't play it yet I recommend you not to read this, I would feel too guilty by ruining you one of the biggest plot twists of the series with my trashy comic eheh

💖 As always x3 a big thanks to @narumitsu-lawlu , @edns and @targentis , without the support of these amazing people not only we would have��horribly written dialogues but also I would probably have given up on this project a long time ago, so thank you so much!!! 💖

I think I said everything I needed to say, finally you get to see the very first reference to the canon series and most importantly I love how convenient it is that I get to post this in the middle of my Des propaganda for the sexyman-thingy, I promise it wasn't intentional though, I've been working on this garbage for over a month ahah

Alright, enough talking enjoy the chapter!!! 💕

#pl #professor layton #professor layton spoilers #azran legacy spoilers #professor layton oc #Artemis: Behind the Legacy #fan comic #jean descole #pl raymond #oswald whistler #eternal diva #eternal diva spoilers #abtl #chapter 4 #*collapses on the desk*#also last night I didn't sleep so if you notice a few mistakes just know it's because of that!!!#4/25

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frodo-with-glasses · 2 years

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More Reading Thoughts: Minas Tirith

(So I would like to start this off by saying that I’m writing this from the perspective of having already finished the chapter a while ago and had a couple days to chew on it. This is not a live-blog; this is a recap. The reason for this disclaimer will become clear below. ;-P)

I want to say something about these portions of Pippin’s ride with Gandalf, but nothing I say will really do it justice. There’s just something dreamlike, spell-binding, nostalgic, melancholy, and longing about it. The whole world whirling by under Shadowfax’s hooves while Pippin slips in and out of sleep.

People talk about the strange, extraordinary feeling that the scene at the Grey Havens gives them, but I can actually kind of identify that feeling, because I’ve thought about it a lot. This, though? I can’t even identify what emotion this is giving me. It’s like waking up and yearning for a dream you can remember less by the second. Wow.

“Sleep again, and do not be afraid! For you are not going like Frodo to Mordor, but to Minas Tirith, and there you will be as safe as you can be anywhere in these days. If Gondor falls, or if the Ring is taken, then the Shire will be no refuge.” “You do not comfort me.” Hahahaha there’s Tolkien’s bathos!

“He wondered where Frodo was, and if he was already in Mordor, or if he was dead; and he did not know that Frodo from far away looked on that same moon as it said beyond Gondor ere the coming of the day.” Hnnnngg my heart TT-TT

Hahaha the way that Pippin takes offense to being called a man AND being called brave X’-D

Bruh I dunno how people can read the description of Minas Tirith and actually picture in their heads what it looks like. I can see it now, because I’ve seen it in the movie, but it’s no wonder that this description made Little Me’s head spin.

I’m glad the movies took the comedy route here because Gandalf giving Pippin a long list of Things You’re Not Allowed to Talk About is very funny

Broooo Denethor’s face reminds Pippin more of Aragorn than it does Boromir 8-O Something something noble lineage and dramatic parallels…

Pippin immediately stuttering as soon as Denethor asks him a question is a huge mood

Movie!Denethor when you meet him: Grumpy. Grieving. A few crayons missing from the box. Easily not somebody you’d ever want to be around on purpose. Book!Denethor when you meet him: Serious. Level-headed. Shrewd. Asks intelligent and uncomfortably probing questions. A little bit manipulative. Still not somebody you’d want to have over for lunch, but someone you have to respect even if you don’t like him.

“[Denethor] turned his dark eyes on Gandalf, and now Pippin saw a likeness between the two, and he felt the strain between them, almost as if he saw a line of smoldering fire, drawn from eye to eye, that might suddenly burst into flame.” This is literally the same comic book effect that I used in these comics what

Speaking as a normie who also doesn’t have this stuff memorized, I find Pippin wondering about Gandalf’s age to be absolutely hilarious. “Well, my boy, to understand that, you’ll have to read this little thing called the Silmarillion—”

“Was it so, or had he only imagined it, that as he spoke of the Stones a sudden gleam of his eye had glanced upon Pippin’s face?” Ohohoho, foreshadowing??

(This is brilliant because at this point you could just write it off as Pippin’s overactive guilt from looking into the Palantir a couple days ago, but I’m also fairly certain we’re gonna find out later that Denethor has one of the Stones too, so?? Maybe he saw Pippin too?? Who knows???)

Denethor calls Pippin “my liege”, “half kindly, half mockingly”. I don’t really have a comment on this except that I find it fascinating he’d refer to Pippin as a superior, even sarcastically.

I can’t even paraphrase Denethor and Gandalf’s rap battle without making it less concise and biting than it actually is. Denethor says “let your wrath at an old man’s folly run off, and then if you’re going to come back, let it be to my comfort” and Gandalf says “BOI don’t even start with me, you can’t use your grief to hide, I see your game and we both know you’re no old man yet; when you’re a dotard, you will die!” SAVAGE—

“I am also a steward. Did you not know?” I’m sure Gandalf is just talking about the free peoples of Middle Earth being under his care, but my first thought went to, “I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Arnor…”

“Yet in the wizard’s face he saw at first only lines of care and sorrow; though as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy: a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, where it to gush forth.” Bro there is something INCREDIBLY Biblical about that, I can’t even. The utterly overwhelming wellsprings of joy in a being powerful enough to see beyond the present grim circumstances into a bright and glorious future. “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God…”

“Indeed you did your best, and I hope that it may be long before you find yourself in such a tight corner again between two such terrible old men.” Gandalf’s self-depreciation is genuinely making me feel better. Pippin isn’t even full-grown yet, and I’ve been a kid before, so I know getting stuck between the grown-ups when they’re arguing is TERRIFYING. This little bit of encouragement is badly needed.

“Well, there is no need to brood on what tomorrow may bring. For one thing, tomorrow will be certain to being worse than today, for many days to come.” First of all, mood. Secondly, I think that’s a good role model for how to deal with times like these. “This is gonna suck! Now let’s get out there and do what we have to do.”

Pippin’s first concern, the instant he’s left alone: “I want breakfast :-(”

(Okay so here’s where the recap disclaimer comes in. I’ve had a couple of days to think about it, and after much careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that Beregond is my new husbando.)

(NONONONO LISTEN. SHUT UP, STOP HECKLING ME, LISTEN. Look, I didn’t REMEMBER about Beregond until rereading this, okay?? I’m fairly certain I skipped through the Gondor and Rohan bits pretty quickly—because kingdoms of Men looked a LOT the same to Little Kid Me—and Beregond is NOT in the movies, so there was nothing to make him stick in my mind. BUT. HOLY COW. HE IS THE BEST(TM). So I’m gonna be keeping a counter of Beregond Being A Dreamboat for the rest of this post. Ready? Ready. Okay.)

Pippin has been left alone. Gandalf left on business, and now he’s stuck in an unfamiliar place with no idea of what to do. He sees a man coming up the street and makes up his mind to say hello because he’s lonely. He doesn’t need to! That man comes right up, introduces himself, welcomes Pippin to Gondor, and offers his hand to shake. He doesn’t gawk at Pippin. He doesn’t spend too much time interrogating him about who and what he is. He’s just like, “Hi :-D You’re the Halfling, right? I’ve been sent to show you around.” He’s so friendly and laid-back and easy-going I love him <3 DING!

Gandalf is gone for all of two seconds before Pippin almost blabs about Aragorn to somebody. Can’t take this fool of a Took anywhere.

Beregond asks good questions. He asks for clarification of terms, like “who is Aragorn?” and “what is a Hobbit?”. That proves he’s paying attention, and that he’s intelligent and curious and attentive and genuinely interested in what Pippin has to say. DING!

Beregond: “Is there anything you would like to know?” Pippin, hesitantly: “B b break fast? ? 🥺”

Beregond laughs so easily. I freakin’ love him. He asks Pippin “you haven’t eaten anything today?” and Pippin says “I had some wine and a white cake or two, but I had to answer questions for an hour and I’m hungry >_<” and Beregond laughs and jokes “at the table small men may do the greater deeds, we say”, clearly thinking of children—OF WHICH HE HAS ONE, so he’d know! DING!

And THEN he says “sounds like you’ve had as good a breakfast as any of us soldiers get around here” and when Pippin’s face does a “D-8 !!!” he laughs AGAIN like “nonono it’s okay I’ll find you some food, don’t you worry!” He’s kind and understanding AND he’s got snacks!! DING!

And then! When Pippin says “wait, Gandalf asked me to check on Shadowfax,” Beregond says: “But come! You shall make me acquainted with this good horse. I love beasts, and we see them seldom in this stony city…” LIKE HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THIS MAN, HE LOVES ANIMALS, HE’S SO EXCITED TO SEE A HORSE, I’M— DING!

I love that Pippin talks to Shadowfax like you’d talk to another person—and even better, that Shadowfax seems to understand, and lets Beregond pet him.

Shadowfax can neigh loud enough to shake a stable. Noted.

“Then they took their leave, seeing that the manger was well filled. ‘And now for our manger,’ said Beregond.” DAD JOKE DAD JOKE DAD JOKE— DING!

The way Beregond vouches for Pippin to Targon the Food Guy is the funniest thing. “He has had sore labor this morning,” not “he was sitting and talking for an hour”. Love it. DING!

Beregond learns a lot about the Shire and Pippin’s adventures, and apologizes for assuming Pippin was just a kid that Denethor took on “as a whim”. But there are two factors here: 1) he apologized proactively, before Pippin even had any reason to feel offense, and 2) he treated Pippin so well that there was no need to feel offense in the first place. I imagine his thought process must have been, “The lord has taken on a page, and I’m supposed to teach him the passwords? Sure, I’ll take this as seriously as I take any other duty I’m given.” No talking down to Pippin, nothing to make him feel any less than welcome.

Why is this important? 1) Because anyone who is quick to apologize is a person of humility and integrity. DING!

2) Because it says good things about his personality that he’s willing to accept what seems like a ridiculous situation with good humor and complete sincerity. DING!

And 3) Because if that’s how he treats someone he thinks is a kid, that means he treats kids really, really well. DING!

“And there were always too few children in the city; but now there are none—save some young lads that will not depart, and may find some task to do: my own son is one of them.” And it was at this moment —at this exact moment—that everything made sense.

You wanna know why Beregond immediately knew to treat Pippin the way he did? ‘Cause it’s ingrained. Him’s a DadTM. He saw Pippin and the paternal instinct in him immediately went—

—and now, even despite knowing that Pippin is nearly full-grown, he can’t shake it. Mans is warm and nurturing and attentive and an excellent teacher because he’s had practice and I absolutely love him. DING!

Also ohhhh he has so much reason to be invested in how this battle turns out. He’s gotta make sure his kid has a future that isn’t in death or slavery to the Dark Lord. That’ll motivate ya.

“It is but the deep breath before the plunge.” Duuuude. That was Beregond’s line at first! I can definitely see why they gave it to Gandalf tho.

“It is over-late to send for aid when you are already besieged.” That’s…actually really good advice. Both militarily, and also in a lot of other circumstances. Cf. why I’m taking steps to avoid the clinical depression that runs in my family BEFORE it gets to the point that I need medication.

The way just witnessing a Black Rider immediately makes Beregond and Pippin become overwhelmed with despair until it leaves. That thing deals psychic damage just by existing.

And then, as soon as it’s gone, the mood passes, and both of them declare “nope, actually, I’m gonna hold on to hope, thanks”.

“‘Rightly said!’ cried Beregond, rising and striding to and fro. ‘Nay, though all things must come utterly to an end in time, Gondor shall not perish yet. Not though the walls be taken by a reckless foe that will build a hill of carrion before them. There are still other fastnesses, and secret ways of escape into the mountains. Hope and memory shall live still in some hidden valley where the grass is green.’” I just. I. Hjzzzg.

First of all, standing up and walking around to shake off the unwanted foul mood. I can see that in my mind, it’s so clear. Second, practical speech mixed with utter poetry. “Hope and memory shall live in some hidden valley where the grass is green”?? That’s just. Get out, that’s brilliantly evocative. And third: holding on to hope bare-knuckled, despite KNOWING the odds are stacked against you; despite realizing you might very well lose the fight, lose everything, even lose your life; despite having a family, and so much more reason to worry about what the world will look like on the other side of the storm; but stubbornly choosing to believe that light and song and goodness will endure, even if it’s after you’re gone. I just. I. HHHHNG. DING!

“I am no warrior at all and dislike the thought of any battle; but waiting on the edge of one that I can’t escape is the worst of all.” It’s interesting to see how much of this conversation was given to the conversation with Gandalf in the movies instead.

Beregond laughs again at the mere notion that he might be a captain. But he’s not the least bit bitter about his lower rank, and actually seems very proud of it. Humility and quiet confidence and still a good sense of humor. DING!

A rumor has already gone through the Citadel Guard that all the Riders of Rohan “each would bring behind him a halfling warrior, small maybe, but doughty”. They’re not right, and they’re not entirely wrong, because Merry, at least, is going to be riding behind Eowyn.

Pippin gets all the food and drink he wants and his only problem is keeping his mouth shut. Seems about right!

Aaaaand the final point in Beregond’s favor before we leave him for the day: Man loves his son. “But if you are lonely, as you say, maybe you would like a merry guide around the City. My son would go with you gladly. A good lad, I may say.” Can you imagine the twinkle in his eye when he says that?? Ugh, it’s too cute. DING!

I’m just imagining the thought process here. He’s getting to know Pippin and he’s like “Bergil would absolutely love this guy, he’s a hoot, he’d get a kick out of it”, and as soon as he knows Pippin pretty well he’s like “I’ll betcha he’ll like Bergil too, and I think he’d be a good influence”, and then he puts those two pieces together and sets up a playdate for his son and the hobbit he just adopted. Adorable.

People really do come out to stare at Pippin, don’t they?

Bergil is just. Written perfectly. His vernacular is much more polished than that of a kid nowadays, but the things he wants to talk about are EXACTLY what kids always want to talk about. “Hi! Who are you? How old are you? I’m ten, and almost five feet tall, and very grown up. Have I told you about my dad? He has the greatest job ever! Wow, you’re a grown-up already?? That’s so weird. Wanna wrestle?”

Also. One more point in Beregond’s favor. I love the fact that Bergil introduces himself with the name and occupation of his father. Is this likely a standard way to identify oneself in a culture without surnames? Yes, probably. Are kids usually proud of their parents’ occupations by default? Yes, if they’re allowed to keep that enthusiasm. Is it still very telling that Bergil draws himself up and puffs out his chest to proclaim whose son he is? Yes, yes it is. Beregond is a dad worth being proud of. DING!

I have nothing to say about the procession of reinforcements from the Outlands pouring into Minas Tirith, except that it’s a brilliant show of the diverse cultures Tolkien dreamt up for Gondor, and also FORLONG THE FAT

Also Beregond wants to hear all about his son when Pippin gets back. They’re so darn cute.

The lights are being dimmed in Minas Tirith. Somebody lived through the bomb raids in Britain….

“The Darkness has begun. There will be no dawn.” Dun dun dunn…

Final Dreamboat Points: 15

Results: Husbando

#peregrin took #pippin #gandalf #denethor #shadowfax #beregond #bergil #mention of:#frodo baggins #aragorn #boromir #lord of the rings #lotr #my writing #assorted thoughts #if beregond dies i am going to be. very upset.#please let the good dad live tolkien i beg you

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melancholypancakes · 2 years

Text

Disclaimer: all rights belong to DC comics and Neil Gaiman, this is pure fanon Ophelia is not a canon character and was created by only me.

I am not claiming my character is canon but just telling her story within the sandman universe as a character.

I’ve also never read the comics, I’ve only seen the show ( I don’t think I can read the comics anyway so please take the comic accuracy with a grain of salt)

This is my OC character for the sandman, I might draw witch Ophelia in darker themes for Halloween( TV show)

This is Ophelia but she different in the “TV show” and “comic” wise, in the comics Ophelia is a teenager (seven-teen year old) who is lucid dreaming and in a coma.

In the TV show she was just an abused twenty-six year old woman in Lucid dreaming, in a coma as well.

In the comic and TV show, Ophelia got ran over by a truck in unfortunately circumstances.

What the comic and TV show Ophelia has in common is they’re both selfless, kind, reckless and powerful ( at least in the dreaming realm)

In the comic, Ophelia abilities only have supernatural strength with astral projection abilities in the dreaming realm only.

In the TV show, Ophelia is a witch that is practicing magic, she has strength and astral projection only in the dreaming while in both the waking and dreaming she has magic.

( yes, in the comic and TV show Ophelia can go through walls and solid objects; it’s call “Intangibility”)

Ophelia friends in the waking world are her co-works at a flower shop in the TV show while in the comic they are just her friends from school.

Story ( in the comic)

Death came to her, it wasn’t what the girl excepted didn’t come for her soul; Instead Death showed the girl how to astral project but it came with a price.

Death came to Ophelia for aid, she needed the mortal girl to help her brother; an endless to defend the realms from evil.

Death gave her a choice to stay with her family but it would cost the fate of their world.

Ophelia was just a girl but if the world really was in danger, she helped in any way she could.

The girl didn’t understand why she was chosen but she would do anything to keep she hold dear safe from evil even if it meant leaving them behind.

When Ophelia met the king of dreams he wanted nothing to do with a mortal girl, he knew “all” mortals were selfish but the girl persisted anyways.

Ophelia begged the king, she really had good intentions and a brave heart, “ please, I beg of you my lord I only want to save those I hold dear I don’t want anyone to suffer” she pleaded.

The king looked at the mortal girl in the eyes, searching for selfishness but he couldn’t find any.

So, after reading the girl’s life in the book; the King agree reluctantly.

The King as stubborn as he was felt he didn’t need any aid especially from a little girl but since she was trapped in the dreaming realm.

He might as well give the girl a chance, Ophelia was the only cheerful being that resided in the dreaming realm despite the gothic realm.

Ophelia was very talkative towards everyone and listened to everyone when she was talking to them.

The girl seemed interested in anything, The King was shocked but amused he knew everything about her.

Dead parents, fragile aunt, sloth older brother and her little sister who was still growing up in the dark world she knew nothing about.

Ophelia’s friends in the waking realm trying to get through school without her, despite how worried for her comatose state.

In the comics, Dream and Ophelia relationship was mainly platonic (friends) as it goes on on Ophelia journey to save the realms.

Throughout Ophelia time in the dreaming realm, she only has access to supernatural strength abilities.

The abilities help Ophelia fight against foe’s during her journey with dream.

In the end, she awakens from the coma and loves her life but when she dreams she visits Dream and they talk how they’ve been doing and Ophelia always listens to Dream’s interest which was mainly gothic related things.

Story (In the TV show) this is my head canon for season 2

Ophelia is a grown adult woman, twenty-six to be exact. She is a witch practicing magic but she’s in a abusive relationship; her only happiness is in her dreams.

Ophelia had been lucid dreaming for awhile, her dreams were usually sweet with her falling into darkness but soon rainbow colors took over as she saw cute cats surrounding her.

Ophelia was usually wearing a bright color dress and pink choker with cute flat pink shoes.

Recently, however she’s been seeing a strange man while in her dreams, the she lucid dream the more she started seeing the man and chasing after him.

In the waking world, Ophelia running away from her abusive boyfriend and suddenly gets hit by a truck on the road.

The poor woman ends up in a coma with a few bruises and luckily her bones weren’t too broken.

Soon, Death ends up visiting the mortal and shows her how to astral project and Ophelia singing and dancing how she was finally free.

However, there was a catch Death had told Ophelia that there was an endless that in need of her aid to save all the realms that included her world.

Death gave her a choice to stay here with her family but disastrous consequences would be made to not only to her world but all the other realms.

Or the woman can go aid the King of dreams into saving it all, with no other choice in Ophelia’s mind.

Ophelia left her family behind to go aid a king…

Once Ophelia was in the dreaming realm, she met the King and stated her business.

The King and mortal knew each other from the dreams but never properly introduced each other.

The mortal woman purpose now, was to help the lord of dreams save the realms from Lucifer Morningstar.

The king was reluctant, in his mind he didn’t need any help especially from a mere mortal.

Mortals we’re selfish, cruel, impulsive and narcissistic. These were the qualities not only the king thought but his raven knew as well.

Ever since the King’s imprisonment 100 years ago prior, he never trusted a mortal.

However, the mortal woman pleaded, “My lord please I beg before you let me aid so I may be able to save our worlds and those I hold dear!” She pleaded on her knees before him.

The King was astonished, to say the least he’d never seen a mortal begged like that before or address him as “Lord” in a thousand years.

Needless to say, he didn’t want her to do that; Since she wasn’t actually his subject.

“Stand up, there no need for that…just call me Dream. I will…accept you’re request into aiding me.” He sighed.

The mortal woman was overjoyed and thanked the King profusely, The King thought she was very polite with her manners but he needed to know more about her.

“My name is Ophelia Miranda, you’re majesty” she said as she nearly bowed; the King already knew her name but told her there was no need to bow before him either.

So, The King looked into her book that detailed her life and he…pity the woman she’s been hurt by eight different mortal men.

No parents, fragile aunt, older brother that had sloth sin and a little sister barely into high school and couldn’t take care of herself.

Yet, she puts on a happy face despite being abused by her current boyfriend; maybe Ophelia would be happier in the dreaming realm…

Throughout Ophelia’s journey, she has abilities within the dreaming realm more powerful than the waking realm.

Ophelia has supernatural strength, powerful magic abilities and astral projection.

These abilities help Ophelia fight against foe’s during her journey with dream and her magic abilities prove to be useful for fighting and for telepathy.

Ophelia and Morpheus start to get close while on the journey into saving the realms, they slowly became friends to lovers.

Ophelia really cares a lot nobody the lord of dreams and tries to get him to eat and sleep since he does need energy whether he wants to admit or not.

He refuses to admit he loves Ophelia companionship and her care despite how reckless she can be.

In the end, instead of running away like a mortal would from Lucifer, Ophelia sacrifice herself for the realms and dream.

Despite, Morpheus tried to stop the mortal woman but it was no use. Ophelia was attack weakening her astral projection form.

Ophelia lay there smiling as she hold Morpheus cheek, “ you idiot…” she starts to fade back into the waking realm.

Ophelia had return to her comatose body leaving Morpheus in the rematch battle to defeat Lucifer once in for all.

When Ophelia woke up from her coma, her family and friends were so relieved she was okay.

She return to the waking world but in the dreaming she couldn’t see Morpheus.

Ophelia wasn’t lucid dreaming anymore but she’d hope all the friends she made in the dreaming and dream was okay.

Ophelia had opened her eyes already, she left her abusive boyfriend and decided to actually be happy in the waking realm.

Ophelia finally got the courage to wake up from her delusion fantasy land and see the reality that her ex never cared for her.

Ophelia was back to a normal life, she was at work helping with the flower ship, she visited her aunt and siblings to see how they were doing.

Then one day, Ophelia heard the door bell ring at the flower shop as was about to greet the customer.

She then paused smiling big seeing Morpheus…

Ophelia was surprised but very happy to see him again, when she went up to him Ophelia couldn’t wait to hug her friend again *cough* lover.

She truly did miss him and was glad he was alright, after their little reunion both Morpheus and Ophelia would eventually tell each other’s feelings.

#the sandman oc #the sandman netflix #morpheus x reader #the sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #i am a simp #lord morpheus #ophelia #the sandman x oc #morpheus x original character #morpheus x oc #disclaimer #my fanon #oc artwork #oc stuff #my oc story

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