#even if from a distance

[gendrie]

the interesting about clash within the context of arya's arc is that its the only book - so far - that ends with arya fully embracing her identity. it ends on a, relatively, high note as far as that is concerned. which i would argue makes it feel a lot different from the rest.

in game her last chapter features ned's execution and arya's life is torn apart. her identity and future are both thrown into doubt.

in storm arya is left reeling from the aftermath of trw and she is flung further off course than ever when she sets sail for braavos

in feast she is blinded

in dance her last words are "no one" as she prepares to receive a new face

but clash is different. it breaks the pattern. which is why ive always felt it represents arya's greater arc on a smaller scale. when it opens arya is using her first true alias. over the course of the book she struggles until arya is doubting who she is and where she belongs. its at that point that the old gods intervene. they remind arya; her identity and her place ("arya of winterfell, daughter of the north") and of what matters most to her ("the pack survives") arya hears wolves howling from outside harrenhal again and again and again as these last few moments play out in clash.

arya grabs a hold of it with everything she's got. she smashes the broomstick over her knee. she gathers her boys. she steals supplies. she cuts thru the guard standing in her way. she gets her hands bloody. she is resolved to return to her life as arya.

i ALSO think arya's twow arc will mirror clash in terms of storytelling more than any of the other books so far. arya's clash arc is split into two equal sections: 5 chapters in the wartorn countryside and 5 chapters as a "servant" (pow) in harrenhal for a total of 10. twow will reverse this with x number of chapters as a "servant" in braavos to start and x number of chapters back in westeros @ war to finish. the ratio might be different but i think she will have a similar number of chapters in total.

when clash opens arya is forced into the identity of arry. yoren has done this to try and protect her from arrest and assault.

Afterward he told her that from there to Winterfell she'd be Arry the orphan boy. [...] "This lot, half o' them would turn you over to the queen quick as spit for a pardon and maybe a few silvers. The other half'd do the same, only they'd rape you first." (ACOK)

and we have arya's opening twow chapter

Mercy, I’m Mercy, and tonight I’ll be raped and murdered. Her true name was Mercedene, but Mercy was all anyone ever called her… (TWOW)

arya is once again using an alias and one of her first thoughts is that she will be raped and murdered. but arya is no longer the one in danger here. at least not from that.

arya's early clash chapters also introduce some key components that have already become relevant as of her first twow chapter. lommy greenhands, arya's traveling companion, is ruthlessly murdered by raff the sweetling which is echoed in mercy. arya makes raff beg for mercy. despite what was supposed to be 5 years of indoctrination she hasn't forgotten anything.

jaqen h'ghar is also introduced in arya's early clash storyline. jaqen is an incredibly mysterious character. when he first speaks arya is instantly reminded of syrio forel, her braavosi mentor. jaqen is a faceless men, but this is never directly stated in the text. his fake persona claims to be from lorath - the free city nearest to braavos. where this man was born will never be known but the assassin is a braavosi figure at his core just like syrio. which is reinforced when he sends arya in that direction as they part.

"You don't know what's out there, Arry. I heard wolves before." Yoren wouldn't like it if she fought with him. She tried to look afraid. "Wolves? For true?" (ACOK) Mercy looked down at her feet, so shy. “Izembaro said to please the lords,” she whispered. “If there is anything you want, anything at all…" (TWOW)

in clash we see arya have to start acting. she is in a dangerous situation on the road. she has to conceal her true identity. in mercy its official as arya trains with the mummers. she is playing a role within a role. her acting skills has improved, but arya does still show thru the mask.

I won't cry, she thought, I won't do that. I'm a Stark of Winterfell, our sigil is the direwolf, direwolves don't cry. (ACOK) “I would like to see a dragon,” Mercy said wistfully. “Why does the envoy have a chicken on his chest?” Daena howled. “Mercy, don’t you know anything? It’s his siggle. In the Sunset Kingdoms all the lords have siggles." (TWOW)

part of the routine is that arya is foolish and braavosi born. she pretends not to know what sigils are with mercy's friend daena despite arya's own sigil being the direwolf.

the biggest role arya takes on in clash is that of a servant. her secret girlhood is "taken" like everything else when her and the boys are captured. arya then becomes weasel - a serving girl. servitude is a major component at this point in her storyline as it has become again in braavos. both ask the same question: can arya forget who she is and submit to this?

the answer is no. arya reaches this conclusion in harrenhal as she prays before the heart tree. she remembers who she is and finds a way out of the situation that was causing her identity crisis. the situation in the hob&w is very similar. arya will remember herself and get out.

[badninken]

He's been hauled around by so many people and animals at this point in his life that he's starting to rate them by size and comfort level.

He's literally bent over backwards on a horse ridden by three other men here. He's having this thought in the privacy of his own mind while frowning at the sky, still shot full of lead bullets btw. Peak Law moment.

Episode 690 at 20:54 (the voice acting for this line is amazing)

[an-established-butt-dent]

"What have they done to you,

Old friend."

Trapped in the fade, Solas comes face to face with the remnant of his spirit.

The Dread Wolf was his wisdom, mirror to his pride. In the wake of the wrathful Evanuris, it too, has succumbed to their taint.

Or, where I'm making wild plot speculations surrounding Solas trapped in the fade. while turning my brainrot into art pieces and gifs. I'M PACING MY ENCLOSURE. Looking for crumbs and scrabs of Veilguard. Please Bioware I'm begging, feed me. 😭

[marciaillust]

I added some colours to her :)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bonus 12: Beware the Grapes of Wrath.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[jyn-ehrso]

Andor S02E05 "I Have Friends Everywhere"

[evercelle]

2024 art summary! it sure has been a year

[antianakin]

I'm kind-of genuinely devastated that they decided to cut out the reveal of Perrin having known all along about Mon Mothma's rebel activities and was getting interrogated WEEKLY by the Empire and never cracked even once.

This would've helped answer SO MANY QUESTIONS about Mon and Perrin, and it could've easily helped answer the question of why Mon felt like she could just walk away from her family after making herself public enemy number one.

She goes to finally explain it all to Perrin right before she makes the speech because dammit she might not have trust him or even like him all that much but she doesn't want him DEAD and he deserves the chance to find this out from her and get himself to safety before she turns his life upside down, and he tells her he's known all along and covered for her this whole time and never once cracked or been discovered, even when she framed him for gambling and sold off their daughter to a gangster's son. He lets her know that he doesn't need to go to safety, he's not just going to run now because that'll just make him look like he was involved in it. He can continue to cover for himself when the Empire comes to interrogate him again, and he can do it well enough to ensure Leida doesn't get implicated, either. Mon's priority is the rebellion, her priority is her work and it always has been, even to the detriment of her relationship with her family, and Perrin understood that but it meant that HIS priority had to be protecting and taking care of Leida in the absence of her mother. So Mon has to go, but Perrin has to stay because their daughter needs him now more than ever.

And it just makes the choice that Mon has made so clear, the sacrifice she chose to make for the sake of the rebellion, and she can't back out now, she can't make a different choice because she tells herself she's doing this FOR Leida, to try to make a better world for her daughter to live in, but in order to give Leida that world, she has to leave Leida behind.

But she realizes now that she CAN trust Perrin, she could've trusted him all along, so she chooses to trust him now. She trusts him with their daughter, she trusts that he can take care of himself and Leida in her absence once more.

This helps Mon's arc SO MUCH, and I honestly love it, and as Bissell says it's technically a non-canon thing now because it clearly never even made it into the script really let alone got filmed, but it's pretty easy to slot it into what we DID get to see, so as far as I'm concerned, this is my canon. This fixes so many of the problems I had with the end of this arc for Mon and makes it so much more emotional and almost tragic. Mon made her choices and you can argue that some of them were mistakes if you want, you can argue that it made her a bad mother if you wanted to, but it's so much more complicated and nuanced than that, and I love that this finally makes that so clear. Mon made her choice and her family paid the price a long time ago, long before Mon was willing to acknowledge that she'd made that choice.

[whoreiorcats]

Mark S they could never make me hate you. Helly they could never make me hate you. Gemma they could never make me root against you. Helena they could never make me root against you. Ms Casey they could never make me forget you. Mark Scout I have some notes.

[turtleblogatlast]

[ cw: death mention / sibling death mention / isolation / ]

Thinking about how Leo’s portal and teleportation powers have both directly (and in one instance, indirectly) been the cause of him being separated from his brothers at least four times now.

There’s that time in Portal Jacked, where his inexperience leads to his portal being messed with and his brothers ending up in Tahiti.

There’s the Bad Timeline, where Leo’s portaling led to them losing the Key, therefore indirectly leading to the apocalypse and in turn, ending with Leo being the last of his brothers alive (though just for a few minutes.)

There’s him teleporting him and Krang into the Prison Dimension, cutting him off from his family so wholly that the only way to fix this was a literal mystic miracle.

Then there’s the comic, where Leo’s powers act up again and make him lose months of time completely isolated from everyone and everything he knows.

Just, looking at all of this, it’s like the universe gave him the powers of distance on purpose to test him (and his bros), literally seeing if they can overcome unimaginable space and still make it back together. Imagine if it doesn’t stop here, and Leo has to learn to either deal with the occasional complete isolation or deal with time travelers coming back to stop some terrible event his powers (whether directly or indirectly) have caused, events that always lead to separation in some way, shape, or form.

It’s worth noting, too, that his portals often led to accidental separation, but his teleportation was the one power of his that was used to isolate himself on purpose…and was also the one that in any other scenario would have been the most permanent.

[luckyyyuusstuff]

Does anyone think that dating one of the demons or angels could be considered a "forbidden love" trope in some way?

With peace and power dynamics between the 3 realms being mentioned as fragile, exactly why Diavolo rejected the idea of marriage when asked in S3 by the brothers, wouldn’t it then be considered risky to, publicly at the very least, date the demon/ angel from the realm they reside in?

MC, the sorcerer that surpassed their master who is deemed the most powerful sorcerer himself, considered a powerful weapon, with an (unstable, without protection from the ring of light) immense amount of magic, in a relationship with demon/ angel could be considered they've sided with the realm their lover resides in.

The topic (and unused potential) of the tension between the 3 realms, how MC affected that during S2, and wether choosing a lover within a realm they don’t belong in would be a risky decision.

[novelconcepts]

Thinking on how the surviving Yellowjackets are present for one another’s deaths and talk themselves out of culpability. Thinking on how Lottie’s distraction contributed to Travis’ death, how she continued to believe and insist she didn’t kill him. Thinking on how Misty’s injection resulted in Natalie’s death, how she continues to distance herself from fault. Thinking on how Lottie is now dead. Thinking on how Taissa might have been there, but not in control, how that might feel like she wasn’t responsible even if her hands did the pushing. Thinking, thinking, thinking on how they learned this early. We didn’t kill Jackie; the cold did. We didn’t kill Javi; the lake did. We weren’t going to shoot Ben; the Other was. Thinking thinking thinking on how impossible it is to forgive yourself for heinous actions (or inaction) if you refuse to admit to it in the first place.

Thinking thinking thinking on how Natalie was the only one to fully accept the knife in her hand, the blood on her skin, the choice resulting in a man’s death. Thinking on how she came the closest to actually healing. Thinking on how she, from the start, refused the blinders the others need to survive.

[everwalldigan]

It’s hilarious once you realise that Dicks whole beef with Cass is that she out eldest-childed him and he will never be out eldest-childed again.

[gnomewithalaptop]

Rereading the Our Worlds at War tie-in again and God I miss their friendship every day

[sunlight-shunlight]

attempt to deter the herald of andraste from reading an inaccurate treatise on "the magickal art of dalish fresco" out loud.

5 minutes later, deterrence successful. no one is reading anything.

ouch. anchor malfunction after closing a rift.

two elves, standing 5 feet apart, because they're Emotionally Detached Professionals™

(uhhh pretend the vallaslin is on there, it's deeply annoying to draw on a small scale without ruining the facial expressions fjfsfhg)

[lilianade-comics]

desperately trying not to crash out and deactivate my Tumblr before the DP fantasy zine drops