#even when they're canonically horrible at bringing any story to life

[byerseason]

why byler is the only logical way to end stranger things: a personal opinion

long post incoming. i've been thinking about what else can they do other than canon byler or is there any logical way which would please everyone. but i genuinely can't find any logical ending.

first of all, let's see the options i heard from people who doesn't think byler is gonna happen.

not adressing will's love for mike, mike never finding out about it and will's arc simply focusing on supernatural part : well, we all know that's impossible. not after spending a whole season to show us his deep love for mike. also it's confirmed that an emotional arc for him is what is gonna tie up the story.

"his love for mike was for him to explore his sexuality, he's gonna have another boyfriend." : they could easily show it to us without bringing mike into it. the byers moving to california was a perfect chance for it since it's a place better than hawkins when it comes to LGBT, they could easily give him a love interest, include him to their journey to find el just like they included argyle and give him a good character arc in s5, just like robin in s4. well, they didn't.

"mike is gonna reject will" : okay, then what was the reason of making him fall in love with mike? did the writers want to write a horrible story for the only gay child in the group? especially after showing us how miserable he feels about mike and how much he loves him? no.

now let's look deeper at the character arcs. my biggest reason to think byler is the only logical way is: will byers

i don't think i have to mention how much will suffered throughout the show and how he needs the happiest ending. they left season 4 at a point where everything about that love triangle is unresolved and they're obviously going to do something with it.

we all know mike is the one who understands will the most. he always been, since the very beginning. we've been shown that their bond is different and special. in a scenario where mike rejects will, we all know this is gonna be ruined. will is not gonna magically bury his love and go back to being besties with mike. and for mike, it's not possible for him to ignore will's love for him and stay friends as nothing happened. it would ruin their friendship for absolutely nothing.they can't simply take the only one who understands away from him.

will said he wants to spend the rest of his life with mike for two times. even if he doesn't have any hope, he desires it. so why giving him a love that he will never have? in this scenario will's character arc is literally "the gay kid always thought he will never have love just because he is gay, he thinks it's wrong and he is a mistake, well yes, he was right! he will never find the love and just watch the other straight people have it. thanks for watching stranger things." will's arc should be an arc where he is proven wrong, where he understands it's okay to love, where he is loved the way he loves, purely. otherwise his character arc is gonna be useless. where did we leave will in s4? he was thinking there's no chance for mike to love him and he has zero hope-- he ripped off the band aid. if mike rejects him the character arc and all the build up in season 4 becomes useless. he was at zero, and he is still at zero.

like i said giving him an arc where he is loved the way he loves was easy to be done without mike but now it's too late. they made it super clear that will doesn't want to be loved, he wants to be loved by mike. mike hurts him yet he still thinks mike makes him feel like he's not a mistake at all. that's not a simple crush. that's pure love. as a writer of a show you don't spend too much time to sympathize the characters love to the audience -something you never did with your other characters, at least not as much as will- you don't show them pouring their heart to a gift, just to waste it, just to make the character feel the worst they can feel just to make the person they love happy. will loves mike such a way that he prioritizes his happiness over his. this is what is gonna pay off.

the second character whose character arc needs byler: mike wheeler

mike has always been the most complicated character of the show, but most of his actions have no explanation other than him dealing with his own feelings. the show introduced mike as the leader of the party and i think it's okay to say he was one of the main characters in season 1 & 2. what happened after s2? a crazy character downfall. the audience started to dislike him and think he is useless. he didn't have any character development in the past 2 seasons. why? why? why?

because we all just watched him struggling. dealing with something inside of his mind that we don't know.

let's talk about a scenario where byler doesn't happen. this makes all mike's arc about being a love interest since s3. no development, no explanation for his behavior in the past 2 seasons. of course mike is traumatized and never talks to anyone which effects his behavior a lot. but there's still an unanswered question. why is he distancing himself from will specificially? the writers showed us that they understand each other the best, they know each other the best and notice if somethings wrong, so why is he distancing himself from the person who he needs the most as a best friend?

this is where we start to think if the problem is will himself, for mike.

why did we make will fall in love with mike just for mike to distance himself from will for no reason and make will upset? did we want will to suffer for no reason or create an empty storyline?

if mike is not how we think he is, he is going to end the show with an empty character arc who is nothing but a love interest, a side character. if mike ends up how we think he is, he is going to be the best onscreen representation of internalized homophobia. people think he is useless or just an asshole but he will turn out to be a perfectly written character who has his own arc.

people love to say "gay people didn't exist in 80s, byler would be unrealistic." which is completely wrong. gay people DID exist in 80s and they DID find love. did they have peace? they didn't. this is why mike and will are gonna be a real representation. we watched all the real struggles they went through. even if we don't get to see them as a couple, they will know they love each other by the end and that's what matters. and there's nothing unrealistic about it.

[shadowshrike]

Astarion on Halsin Leaving

I can't stop thinking about Astarion's lines when Halsin chooses to leave your party, so have a fun mini-analysis. Note that this text is pulled via datamining because I don't have all the appropriate saves atm. Since the context of your personal story is everything in this game and can wildly change how lines come across, please take my thoughts here as a fun exercise with the text and nothing more.

I think the things that are needed to fully understand where my head is at regarding his lines are two fold:

1. How Astarion talks about other companions leaving

Shadowheart and Wyll can both also leave in Act 2. His responses are as follows.

Astarion: I don't see what Shadowheart got so upset about - it was not that nice of a temple.

For Shadowheart he gently deflects the crux of the matter. This isn't surprising because he is a master of minimizing other people's grievances when he thinks they're legitimate but inconvenient. Otherwise, he responds fairly mildly.

Astarion: So, that's how the legend ends. The Blade of Frontiers, cast down to the Hells. Hardly a fitting ending. But so few are.

Unlike Shadowheart, Wyll is forced to leave by being dragged to the hells. There's no justification he needs to rebuff for Wyll leaving the party's side, so instead, he uses it to double down on his philosophy that 'nice guys finish last and the world is a dangerous and horrible place.' Which, ironically, is not entirely unreasonable given the circumstances.

2. How other companions talk about Halsin leaving

The Good companions don't blame Halsin for leaving. Wyll even blames himself for not doing enough. Karlach also regrets the loss of another strong person around, reminding us once again that Halsin is physically imposing in the narrative, even if the stats say otherwise because of how D&D balance works.

Gale: Druids will always follow nature's purpose over any mortal threat. Halsin goes where he is needed, as must we.

Jaheira: Halsin long urged the Harpers not to abandon this land to the curse. I cannot blame him, for being unable to bear it a second time.

Wyll: I can't blame Halsin for leaving. We could have, should have, done more for him and for the cursed lands. They may never again feel the breathe of life on them. What a shame.

Karlach: Pity about Halsin. I was getting used to having an extra Strong around. He smelled nice, too. Like outside.

(Fun fact regarding Karlch's comment: Astarion has a line where he refers to Halsin as "musky bear-fellow" - musky is also the word used to describe the attractive smell of corpse flowers - and Halsin's underwear smells like an herb garden according to its flavor text. Apparently, the guy canonically smells really good?)

Even Shar Path Shadowheart expresses regret in losing Halsin. Not because she wants to end the Shadow Curse, but because Halsin's nice to look at.

Shadowheart: This land remains cloaked by Lady Shar's power - good. A shame it cost us Halsin as a travelling companion though. He may have been misguided, but I liked looking at him.

That brings us to...

Astarion's tantrum over Halsin leaving

Go ahead and listen to it yourself first, and then I'll dive into both lines.

Astarion: Just like that hulking bear to stomp off in a huff. I swear, druids care more about the plants of this land than the people.

"Just like that hulking bear to stomp off in a huff."

This first statement is not only indignant and deflecting, it's so factually false that it's laughable. Halsin is always calm and regretful when staying behind no matter how you treat him.

Player: You have to come - I need you. Halsin: This place needs me. I wish it were different - I truly do. As long as the curse remains, so must I.

Player: Do as you wish. Halsin: This isn't what I wish. It's simply the way it has to be - I'm sorry.

Player: The shadow curse was always your burden - not mine. Halsin: Yes, and so it must remain. I wish you success on your path. Had things been different, I might have walked it with you.

Player: Perhaps we can still do something to lift the curse. Halsin: No. If you linger, you'll only jeopardise your own mission. This is my burden alone now until either the curse is lifted, or I breathe my last.

Halsin is renowned for letting people treat him horribly and taking it on the chin. Him pushing back is usually related to calmly setting boundaries or expectations. The only times I can think of offhand where he raises his voice in anger is with Kagha, if you interfere with the portal, and briefly after certain parts of the Evil companion routes, though not as intensely (I might do a write-up on that later because his reactions are interesting). He certainly never "stomp[s] off in a huff", and he's not doing it now either.

However, the way this is worded gives me pause. Because "just like [him]" said so angrily gives the impression that Halsin has reacted this way to Astarion before. Given Astarion's habit of rewriting exactly how events went down to absolve himself of accountability, it makes me wonder if Astarion's tried to get a rise out of Halsin in camp and been shut down. Since Halsin is the only Good companion at that point who is also old and worldly enough to not get flustered by Astarion's cruelty, mind games, and flirting, it wouldn't surprise me if Astarion has built up resentment. Halsin refuses to be manipulated or confirm Astarion's cynical worldview, and Astarion isn't ready to consider changing his mind with Cazador on the horizon.

"I swear, druids care more about the plants of this land than the people."

This is, again, a false statement wrapped in a little more truth than the first. Druids are indeed infamous for putting nature above humans (see: Shadow Druids), and Halsin talks a big game about Balance and Nature. However, Halsin is probably the most people-oriented traditional druid we see in the game, going so far as to cause chaos in his grove by aggressively taking in refugees and personally traveling with an undead and servant of Shar because they need help. He chooses people over Silvanus' classic teachings so often that it's fascinating.

That aside, given what the shadow-cursed lands are doing to anyone on the way to Baldur's Gate, choosing to stay and attempt to lift the curse is hardly serving plants over people - the Absolute and the Shadow Curse are both significant threats to people. What Halsin is doing, however, is prioritizing his own problems over those of Astarion. He's setting aside the tadpole cause, not because he's selfish or duplicitous, but because he's not willing to abandon the other people he swore to help a century ago and has obsessed over ever since.

Some fun implications

Given all this information, there are many interesting ways to read Astarion's language beyond a surface "he hates Halsin and/or druids" level (gotta love his charlatan background making almost every line capable of ambiguity). Some personal favorite interpretations of his feelings:

Begrudging affection towards Halsin. Astarion has no reason to get so angry and make such absurd statements if he didn't want Halsin to stay. He certainly didn't make such a big fuss about other companions. However, since Astarion isn't in an emotional place to be able to consider Halsin's worldview seriously now that he's staring down Cazador, that admiration gets bungled into a "well screw you, I didn't like you anyway" attitude, much like how he handles some partner breakups.

Resentment and fear of being left behind or rejected. Astarion is selfish. He's been fairly consistent that he doesn't want to help others, but he also hates when no one helps him. That self-fulfilling prophecy is a rather large part of how he moves through (un)life and can easily continue through Act III depending on whether your dialog choices give him an opportunity to express it. Seeing a good person that he truly believes is good choosing something else over him makes the 'truth' of this cynical, self-centered worldview sting harder, especially as he is at his most vulnerable heading into Baldur's Gate.

Guilt for not doing more. Halsin has been clear about his priorities from the start. He's one of the most straightforward, reasonable communicators in the whole game. That means Astarion knew he would leave if the Shadow Curse wasn't lifted, especially since Halsin doesn't have a tadpole and, therefore, has no reason to risk his life for them. Since Astarion is almost universally unwilling to take blame for his own actions or inactions, he's trying to push the responsibility onto Halsin by painting him as unreasonable for following through on his stated priorities rather than let himself feel bad about not helping Halsin.

I'm sure there are even more readings you can think of, too. Hats off to this hidden bit of dialogue, the incredible delivery, and how much depth it brings to a relationship which is easy to ignore.

[tofixtheshadows]

hi!! so there are a lot of improbabilities that make this hypothetical unlikely but: if kabru had met toshiro first & recruited him (toshiro being so passive + not with a clear goal would have helped there & kabru is ptsd-driven but very noble in his goals which can be explained) AND they got all the way down to the bottom (idk if i believe in them...but hypothetically!) would the winged lion find either of them to be a good target for next dungeon lord? one over the other? im thinking kabru has the intensity and complexity of desire necessary but i can't imagine what it would look like if he became lord of the dungeon. do you have any thoughts?

Good morning. This is a very fun thought experiment!

(side note: I got a second anon this morning with a very similar request? not sure if related. I'm gonna let this answer speak for both of them)

Toshiro sure would have had a different time of it if Kabru had gotten to him first, huh? On the one hand, Toshiro seems to like Kabru; I think it's sweet that Kabru seems to gravitate towards hanging out with him when he isn't with the rest of the main cast. So they probably would've been good in a party together.

On the other hand, Toshiro never would have met Falin and fallen in love with her. Even if she didn't reciprocate in the end, I don't think he regrets anything that happened. Even his difficult friendship with Laios was ultimately positive (for both of them!).

They definitely would not have made it to the deeper floors, I think Senshi is crucial to achieving that ... but this is a hypothetical.

I'm puzzling over the question of Toshiro, because he is a secondary character and there's only so much we know about his motivations. His big one in canon is to save Falin, even if it means all he can do is put her to rest. Without that, without her, what sort of desires does he have?

Toshiro originally came to the Island because of a demand from his father: for one of his three sons to find "something interesting" enough on their travels to bring back home that would convince their capricious bastard father to make them his heir over the others. So they're all off on their separate training journeys with their respective retainers with the added caveat that they can't return without something to impress their father. It's implied that after falling in love with Falin, Toshiro had wanted to bring back home a wife.

Since he's said to inherit the family after he returns home without her anyway, I've been assuming that the "thing" Toshiro ended up bringing to Toshitsugu Nakamoto was the story of the dungeon, the demon, and his friend Laios, king of a risen country and Devourer of All Things Horrible.

Anyway, the things we know about Toshiro's home life are kind of fucked. It's amazing he turned out to be so nice. He's always been a shy, sensitive person, and he was sickly as a child; Maizuru cared for him despite her spymaster duties and ended up filling a motherly role for him, even though Toshiro's mother is still alive. Historically, it wasn't uncommon for noble children to be raised more closely by their governesses/household retainers than their parents, so perhaps something similar was happening here (disclaimer that I don't know much about feudal Japan specifically).

We know that Maizuru loves Toshiro and dotes on him, but she's also very strict and frankly terrifying; she used the same Hag summon that she was monitoring Izutsumi with on Toshiro as a child just to keep him from wandering off. We also know that when he found out that Maizuru was having an affair with his father, it put a distance between them. Whether this is because he felt betrayed on his mother's behalf or because he dislikes his father that much, or something else, is unclear.

Toshiro was childhood friends with Hien, but as they got older, she had to take his place as one of his retainers, which seems to have severed that closeness. Canonically, he isn't close to his two younger brothers either. Toshitsugu literally bought Inutade and Izustumi (the latter as a drunken "gift" for Maizuru!). We see that Toshiro is uncomfortable with this, but doesn't know how to approach the issue. He lets Izutsumi go the second she's out of sight for five minutes, which implies to me that he really wanted the excuse to do so. Inutade is harder, because she loves being with the Nakamoto family and hero-worships Toshiro's father.

...all this to say, Toshiro has complicated relationships with his family and household. There's love there, but also a lot of coldness enforced by the upper-class need for propriety. Toshiro falls in line and acts as the proper stoic samurai, but he chafes at this; he envies Laios's gift for feeling and expressing things openly and readily. I think that's what the Winged Lion would prey on, given the chance.

I don't think he would be prime dungeon lord material, but if it came to that, I could see the Lion tempting Toshiro with a kinder vision of his life, one where he and his little brothers weren't pitted against one another, where his family was warmer, where there weren't barriers of class between him and his retainers, where he was allowed to be more himself.

Now ... Kabru.

Kabru is interesting because, since his ultimate goal is to seal the dungeon and eradicate monsters, I imagine that meeting a demon would be like a guy who's given a genie and wants to wish for no more genies. And if said genie is trying to take over the world via wishes, the genie is a bit screwed. I really think that Kabru is the character who would stump the demon(s) the most, despite his complex desires, because they are antithetical to the demon. Laios also had complex desires, but the Winged Lion lured him and set him up as the hero of a fake prophecy because a lot of Laios's desires revolved around monsters, so his wants aligned perfectly with the demon's methods. Oh you want monsters? That's great, they're the things I use to solve most of my problems anyway.

Even in the absence of prior knowledge of demons, I think Kabru's back would be up as soon as the Winged Lion tried speaking to him. Kabru's insight is almost preternatural, and he's well-versed in persuasive speaking thanks to his own silver tongue. He would mistrust the Lion immediately, especially considering its monster-like form.

Giving the demons bestial appearances is an artistic choice on Kui's part, so I don't think there's any indication that the Winged Lion & co can't look human, but the Lion might have been constrained both by Thistle's seals on it and the need to maintain the lie that it's just the innocent guardian deity of the Golden Country. If it could, I think it would try to look less monstrous, with Kabru.

Still, the point of the demons, I see, is that anyone can be tempted, anyone can be manipulated, because we are all full of buried desires that can be unearthed, and wanting things and having to defend them make you susceptible to manipulation.

Consider what Mithrun told Kabru: they keep the knowledge of demons secret because knowing the truth would not stop people from trying to have their wishes granted. After all, Mithrun was a Canary, but he fell for its temptation anyway. I've seen people characterize this as a sort of rock bottom decision, and maybe that's true, but I also pin it on his toxic inferiority/superiority complex. That's exactly the kind of thing that makes you think you're built different.

Would Marcille have stopped before unsealing the Winged Lion if Mithrun(/Kabru) had actually gotten to sit down with her for five minutes and explain why becoming dungeon lord would be a very bad idea? Maybe. Or maybe her desperation, and her own pride, would have made her decide that she knew better, that she'd be careful, that she'd go in with a plan and definitely get what she wanted with no dire consequences.

I think Kabru could be desperate enough to make a similar decision, even if his desires were antithetical to the demon. And the demons have an advantage over the aforementioned genie simile: their ability to eat desires.

If the Winged Lion were smart, it wouldn't let Kabru seal it away like Thistle. Given the opportunity, its best chance for dealing with Kabru would have been to immediately eat his desire to stop another Utaya.

I'm gonna plug this wonderful and tragic little one-shot someone wrote recently about the dungeon lord Kabru hypothetical: This place is not a place of honor.

[bloodyshadow1]

it's really weird that they didn't make Supercorp a thing, I say this as someone who watched season 2 and then stopped after the comiccon incident. maybe they refused to make it canon in the show because it was a middle finger to the toxic supercorp fans, and there were a lot of them. I wouldnt' even mind since the second crossover event made me leave the supercorp fandom in disgust, you know whne many of them cheered when and alternate version of Jimmy, a black man, was murdered by Nazi green arrow, because the writers had him get together with Lena, it was bad. Maybe there are other reasons but it's still just strange when you make their relationship the heart of the show and don't have them get together..., it's just weird.

Once upon a time was weird like that, their show had Emma, Regina, and Henry, Emma's biological son and Regina's adopted son, not to mention the fairy tale bullshit that connects the two of them, only for them not to get together.

But with Supercorp, it was something that developed naturally, neither of them had any chemistry with the men the writers tried to pair them up with, and it was horrible writing when they were together. Yet Kara and Lena's 'friendship' kept getting center stage in the series.

season 2 lena was abducted by the daxamites because she was brilliant and had been tricked into bringing them to earth. She's going to be forced to marry Kara's boyfriend because of his mother wanting her as a daughter

season 3 a huge part of the season was Lena and supergirl's relationship breaking down, though she was still friendly with Kara. She bought Kara's job for her and despite Lena getting together with James, the writers never tried to develop that relationship.

season 4 Lena is again a huge part of the story since Lex is the real big bad of the season. The big reveal of Kara being Supergirl to Lena is what was supposed to propel the next season's plot. After she shoots him he makes sure to reveal that Kara danvers is supergirl because he knows that nothing would hurt Lena more. You know her completely platonic friend lying to her is what sets her off the deep end to become a villain.

season 5 their relationship is what drives the plot completely now since Lena is going full villain mode. The writing isn't good, but the writers also couldn't stop the two of them from having chemistry.

Hell, the writers had to be aware because the entire 100th episode was about Kara and Lena's relationship. The entire premise of the episode is Kara getting to see clips of what would have happened with her relationship with lena if she told her she was supergirl at different times or just stayed away from her. Almost every time Kara tells her, there's stress in the relationship and things get worse, but they're all about Lena, 5 separate timelines and Kara can't think of anything she would rather change with her life than try and make things wright with Lena. By the end, the episode is supposedly telling us that Lena is a lost cause, but I don't know it wasn't that good of an episode to begin with. It doesn't change that the writers decided to focus on their landmark episode to focus on Lena and Kara's relationship

By the end Lena realizes that she was tricked by lex and joins the good guys, Kara is pissed at her for what she's done, but they eventually can work together again. When lex sends Kara to the Phantom zone Lena is distraught, more than anyone else, even Alex who at least had Kelly for comfort

Season 6 is about getting Kara back and finishing the show. They kill off Kara's temp love interest and Lena is shown to be so desperate to save Kara that she's willing to go farther than Alex, her loving sister, to get her back. Even at the end of the series, the last scene of two characters on screen having a conversation of the series, is between the two of them at a lesbian wedding, where they're in tears talking about how much they mean to each other and hug.

it is bizarre that the writers didn't have the two of them get together given how much the series was driven by their relationship. Like I said, if it was a middle finger to toxic supercorp fans I would understand, but as an aspiring writer, not even a shipper, I feel insulted about how the supergirl writers just tossed aside the perfect natural relationship in the show.

I don't want to keep going much longer, but thematically Kara and Lena were one of the best relationships in the show. The actor's chemistry between the two of them was better than almost every relationship in the show, especially with any of either of their romantic partners. I dont' know, like I said I left the fandom pretty early and the shows been over for almost 3 years, but it still just baffles me.

[dykeyaoi]

something that's very interesting to me is that in almost any iteration of MP100 (but in this case specifically ageswap versus canon), certain characters (in this case whoever end up being the adults) have to fail miserably in their lives before they can even begin to interact with other characters within the story.

in canon, Serizawa has to grow up as a shut-in and not have any confidence in himself or his powers and get picked up by Claw as a result. Mogami has to spiral into being a horrible person and become the reason for his mom's death and become a shell of an evil spirit. Reigen has to grow up without friends and build up his persona and boister his fake confidence and become distant from his family and be a fraud. none of them could meet the kids and go through everything in the story that fixes them if they didn't fail in the things that they most wanted to overcome first.

in an ageswap AU, Teru has to never meet Mob and grow up thinking he's better than other people and never need anyone to actually like him because he lives alone and can just make them anyway. Mob has to suppress his powers and have no one to tell him things that he'll realize are wrong and not have a mentor and not do well in school and not rely on anyone because he's scared of what he'll do to them if he does. Ritsu has to be scared of his brother and they have to grow apart because they end up being wildly different and eventually he switches honorifics to Onii-san and kind of dreads talking to Shige because they both failed.

in canon, you watch Mob have every person who cares about him be taken away and his falling apart at the seams when they are-- expected, as he's the kid. but you also watch Reigen realize that he doesn't have anyone because he won't let people get close. you see Serizawa lose control when his umbrella is taken away because the president gave it to him and he needs that because god knows people aren't so constant!

in an ageswap AU, you can fix Reigen and Serizawa and even Mogami and Toichiro if you're really intent on it. in an ageswap you can have Teru meet Mob through business but you can also bring a shy, kind of self-doubting Tome to Spirits & Such because she hears a rumor about telepathy. she still wears aliens on her socks but finds the smallest incessant shame in it because her club got torn down as soon as it was made clear that she was the only one who cared about them. you can have Mob spot a grown-up, successful Tsubomi in the streets and freeze up and be too nervous to say hi to her. you can see Shou the struggling single father of a kid he doesn't know how to handle.

the adults all have to fail at first because the point of Mob Psycho is that you have to let the other people in your life change you. you have to let them in because feedback with a sample size of oneself is not enough to judge and base one's thoughts & actions on. they're the kind of characters that cannot exist without each other because they make one another into who they are.

[redwolf17]

Obviously without saying who they are because it would be too spoilerly, do you have any characters that at one point you considered killing off (like how you killed off Davos) but ultimately changed your mind? Soz if this has been asked before!

Hi there anon! Yeah, several characters had their arcs change from initial plan to final draft, and oops I wrote a lot about it xD

The specifics of the upcoming culmination of Jaime and Cersei's arcs have shifted a little over time, though remaining mostly the same in essentials. Buttons and Ser Pounce have always been safe, because they're based on my and my bf's cats.

At one point I considered an epilogue or prologue POV of a little bird killing Varys, which goes with one the TWQ themes being the importance of overlooked people, especially smallfolk, but I just couldn't make it work. When I discarded the idea, I straight up didn't have a plan for what to do with Varys, until I landed on the short and sweet concept of Cersei finally catching onto him and offing him.

I also changed my plans for Sandor Clegane. Early on, I toyed with the idea of him remaining with Cersei throughout Part IV, then being sent to kill Sansa with Ser Lyn Corbray early in Part V. Sandor would have turned on Ser Lyn, with both of them dying near to Sansa's camp before being found. The general concept was of a bad person/collaborator being able to make a good choice, in the end, even if he didn't get rewarded for it. Dying in a noble way would not redeem him, because one act cannot wipe out thousands of bad ones, but at the same time, it still matters. Much as I liked the idea, TWQ is already so crowded, and once I sent Sandor off to the Westerlands in Part III, I just didn't bother to bring him back. The choices we make and the importance of having the freedom to make them is still a huge theme in TWQ, as is exploring what redemption means, but I ended up exploring those concepts in other ways.

Shireen is incredibly sad and doomed in canon, and she was also going to die here. I ended up changing my mind, because 1) she almost ALWAYS dies in fics unless they're fluffy, and the poor girl deserves a life for once, and 2) my version of Stannis ended up being tragic and misguided, but not horrible enough to actually go through with burning Shireen. He flinched at the last second, and died in her place.

Myrcella and Tommen were originally supposed to live. At one point I considered Myrcella running away with Trystane, with her golden shroud being a wedding veil, and Myrcella being only metaphorically "dead" to the enraged Cersei, who disowned her. Ditto Tommen, who would have given up his crown in defiance of Cersei and then become a holy brother. I like the kids! I wanted them to survive, to defy the valonqar prophecy.

But. As the story went on, I reconsidered. The valonqar prophecy is central to Cersei, whose obsession with power prevents her from seeing that the way to avoid the prophecy could have been by giving up power. If her children didn't have golden crowns, perhaps they would not have golden shrouds, etc. Cersei's incestuous affair with Jaime was always going to doom herself and her children; they were born on a fraying tightrope, and their fall was inevitable. Their fate had to lie in Cersei's hands, because she sees her children as extensions of herself.

Letting Myrcella escape just because she's innocent and I wanted to spare her felt like a cop out. Further, given her and Trystane's youth and inexperience, a successful escape felt very implausible, and with feudal politics, there was no way in HELL that Team Aegon would let them marry. In ACOK, Cersei was willing to kill herself (and Tommen, in the show) rather than be taken captive and executed by Stannis. The more I thought about it, the more it felt right that Cersei might try to "spare" Myrcella similarly (while also trying to take out Aegon in the process). As for Tommen... well. Cersei's desire for power is so destructive that she (accidentally) destroys her last child, whom she loves, rather than allow him to surrender power and live in obscurity.

Lastly, the deaths of Myrcella and Tommen were necessary not just for Cersei's arc, but for Olyvar and Sansa's. There is no "nice" regime change, no bloodless invasion where the prior royal family gets to retire to a nice quiet little life because the new rulers are soooo good and pure and merciful. No, Olyvar and Sansa didn't personally kill either child, but their actions still led directly to their deaths, a mirror to the canon deaths of Rhaenys and Aegon and a parallel to the TWQ sacrifice of the decoys Jonquil and Gawaen.

There is always a cost, a price paid in innocent blood. Sansa saved Elia, and Elia saved her kids, but the decoys still died. Elia didn't intend for them to die, of course, but their deaths were a result of Elia's decisions, regardless of her good intentions. Good people can be selfish, good people can make mistakes. The "less important" kids died so that Rhaenys and Aegon could live, and Elia bears the blame and guilt for that, and for the subsequent death of Ashara Dayne. But awful as it is, Elia would still make that choice again, because the lives of HER kids matter to her more than the lives of Jonquil, Gawaen, or Ashara.

[lesbiansanemi]

If it’s cool asking, in your roleswap au, what exactly happened between zenitsu, kaigaku and the corps? Did this universe’s kuwajima have anything to do with the two and do Kaigaku and Gyomei still have a sort of connection? Also, what’s Kaigaku up to in the current events of the story, is he still being taken under the wing of Kokushibo?? He’s a demon(?) so he can’t possibly be being treated well by the corps.

Finally! Is there a reason as to why Akaza was absent during the two’s trial (besides to make him more redeemable lmao)

Personally, I feel like Kaigaku was the character with the most wasted potential in canon, considering the amount of connections he had with other characters and his entire circumstance what with being a slayer-turned-demon and still being a kid on top of that (I think he was 17 when he was turned (maybe even 16)) and I think it would have been nice to see a little more introspection from him at the end of it all, not necessarily to redeem him, I think it made sense for him to die. One of my favourite things about kny is how they handle their morals and always double down on the value held in each individual human life, (it always irks me in action movies whenever the hero brutally murders a bunch of goons and like never looks back on it, especially if they end up sparing the big bad, but I digress) but yeah, would’ve been neat for the guy to have a bit more nuance in the actual story.

It is absolutely cool, I cannot express how much I love answering these types of questions!

So! Zenitsu's backstory is functionally the same as in canon. He ends up getting swindled by a bunch of girls, falls into crushing debt, and the Corps buys it up. It's actually a pretty common thing for the Corps to do in this universe, the Kibutsujis love having people indebted to them, making it impossible for them to leave the Corps (like what happened to the Kamado family). Anyways! Zenitsu's debt is bought out by the Corps, and he's given to Kuwajima to train. Unfortunately for Zenitsu, this version of the Corps is not... very lenient with his intense cowardice and reluctance to fight. Even moreso than in canon, that is

Now, as for Kaigaku, he does still have a bit of a connection to Gyomei! Gyomei encountered him as an orphan, and would do what he could to take care of him without actually bringing him to the Infinity Palace, for want of him being able to grow up and lead a normal life without demons. But this makes Kaigaku bitter, as he wants the luxuries being favored by a Kizuki and Tamayo brings. When he realizes Gyomei is never going to "adopt" him in earnest, he goes to the Corps, reasoning that they'll offer some kind of reward for information on Upper Moon One. Unfortunately for Kaigaku, long term contact with a Kizuki, even as a kid, pretty much gets you labeled as a traitor to humanity to the Corps, and he's given the choice of execution or train to be a slayer. It's obvious which one he picks, and he ends up training with Kuwajima as well. His relationship with Zenitsu is virtually the same as it is in canon

To circle back to Zenitsu's progress in training being abysmal, the Corps sends both him and Kaigaku to fight a demon before they even go through Final Selection. The reasoning is that this will prove whether they're worth investing any more time and money into. Kaigaku's training has been going pretty well, but unfortunately for him, since he's training under Kuwajima at the same time as Zenitsu, they're a package deal. This is also partially to see if Kuwajima's still got it and isn't functionally useless to the Corps now, even as a trainer.

Unsurprisingly, the little "mission" goes fucking horribly. Zenitsu fucks it up in about every way imaginable, and Kaigaku can't do much to salvage it. The only reason they don't die is because Kuwajima steps in to kill the demon, as he's grown too attached to them to just let them die. This results in nothing good for any three of them.

Kuwajima is stripped of any titles, as well as cut off from pay from the Corps for not only failing as an instructor, but going against orders to save Zenitsu and Kaigaku's lives, while Zenitsu and Kaigaku are brought to their trial for it to be discussed what to do with them, as they are still indebted to the Corps. They're quickly deemed too useless (Zenitsu) and volatile (Kaigaku) to be used as kakushi, and they both have the world's worst luck.

Because the Corps has started looking into experimentation with "tamed" demons due to a certain sibling duo (Gyutaro and Ume), as well as Akaza and the Kamado family. Demons that fight demons would be beneficial, the Corps just has to come up with a reliable way to control them, and making their own seems to be the better option, rather than capturing them and attempting to force them to comply.

This also answers your question for why Akaza was not present for this trial! It has only been hinted at so far, but Akaza is of demonic descent in this AU. He is granted the title of Hashira due to his skill and extremely high kill count of demons, but none of the privileges. He's Muzan's favorite dog. His heritage is kept under wraps from most of the Corps, but the other Hashira are aware of it. His word isn't counted at all during meetings, and as such, he isn't even invited to them more often than not. Especially when they are discussing what to do with other hybrids, or tamed demons.

But anyways! It's decided that Zenitsu and Kaigaku are useless to the Corps as they are, but they can be used for these experiments! So they're given to Gyokko (who is the one in charge of said experiments), and are turned into demons. Afterwards, they are given to Kokushibo to "tame" and control. It's up to him to use them as weapons during missions, and report how it goes.

Zenitsu is fucking miserable and terrified during all of this. Kaigaku is enraged and blames Zenitsu for it, but is determined to be as good of an attack dog as possible in an attempt to get back in the Corps' good graces (this will never work, but let the boy dream).

Not long after this is when Nezuko stumbles across them, and manages to fight against Kokushibo long enough for Zenitsu to break free and run. Kaigaku is given the chance as well, but he stays by Kokushibo's side in an attempt to prove his loyalty. As mentioned in the current ongoing installment, this is what earned Nezuko her spot as Lower Moon Six, and is why Zenitsu is so clingy with her

So currently, Zenitsu is living his pathetic little life as a ward of the Kizuki being terrified of everyone around him, and Kaigaku is foolishly believing he can be obedient enough to get back in the Corps' good graces, as if he isn't muzzled and shackled and tailing after Kokushibo on missions to be sicced on random demons

Sorry about the wall of text, but I've had such a fun time translating Zenitsu and Kaigaku's backstory into this AU, and I have a lot of fun things planned for them in the character development department.

I also completely agree about Kaigaku! I wish we saw a lot more of him than we did in canon. Tbh I love everything about his story line, from his history with Gyomei, to constantly berating Zenitsu for being a coward, to becoming a demon due to his own cowardice. I just really wish we got to see a lot more of his own introspection on it all, rather than so much of his story through Zenitsu and Kokushibo's eyes, ya know? But yeah, he's a fun character to mess around with! Lots of potential for sure!

[rosalind-hawkins]

Mumbleshipping Friend-group & Exes

Duke and Ryou are friends with Yugi, Tristan, and Tea, but I wouldn't say they're terribly close with those guys. They'll all still do group stuff together, but not a ton of one-on-one friendships there. Ryou makes a point of hanging out with just Yugi every now and then though, as they're the closest the other has to someone understanding their experiences with sharing your body with another soul. The more Ryou heals after Yami Bakura is gone, the more comfortable he gets with Yugi (and the others).

I imagine that Duke's dated a few people and is generally on the more promiscuous side, but probably not anybody inside the friend-group. He would only date a friend if he was serious about it, not casually. He doesn't want to disrupt the group by dating casually and then having a horribly messy/awkward breakup that divides everybody. He's seen that happen before, and boy does it suck.

Marik and the Ishtars are good friends of Ryou, and in bringing them in, Seto and Ishizu develop a quiet respect for each other. They're both older siblings that have had to make difficult decisions in order to do what's best for their family, so there's a level of understanding there. They don't talk a lot, but they're comfortable together, and she's Kaiba's favorite Ishtar sibling. Ryou usually requests that the Ishtars be invited to the mansion for the holidays, and it's hard to say no to those big eyes when he decides to beg.

Maybe Marik dated Ryou previously before they were healed enough to make it work and they're just friends now, or Marik missed his chance at dating Ryou before Duke and Kaiba got him, so he's got a little bit of pining but he's getting over him and choosing to stay his friend (Ryou doesn't necessarily know about Marik's feelings).

Joey is friends with Duke mainly but Ryou too (shitty dad bonding and that applies to all four of them actually). Joey's had a shittier life than some of their other friends, so he's less judgmental and more understanding about a lot of things.

Kaiba doesn't bring any friends to the table, but I do imagine that Joey is his ex and they secretly dated for like 17 days and it was his first and it was horrible and chaotic and awful—BUT they both learned a lot about themselves from it and used that to grow a lot personally, so now they have this secret peace between them, but they still play up their rivalry like it's an inside joke in front of the others. Kaiba doesn't say quite as mean stuff as he used to and Joey doesn't let it get under his skin anymore, and it's just fun heckling between them. And if they ever seriously needed help from the other for some reason, they would ask and the answer would be yes, no explanation necessary. No, nobody knows that Joey and Kaiba dated, and even Ryou and Duke don't find out unless something happens (like that "seriously needed help") so before that, when they're trying to get Kaiba to participate in friend stuff, they're all "please be nice to Joey, okay? I need you on your best behavior" and he goes "*sigh* fiiine" but inside he's like "oh cool i get to see Joey again, i hope he's doing well."

Most of this is pretty specific to my canon for a certain fic, but these are generally the headcanons you're going to see me stick to anytime I write mumbleshipping.

Useless notes below the cut

In my original old Mumbleshipping fic (only on FFN and boy is it bad, but you can see that I was passionate about it and using the story as an absolute playground), Amane and Ryou's mom were still alive (their deaths were faked and they were put into witness protection) so once Ryou finds them, they become part of the regular "invited to the mansion for the holidays" crew. And then a love triangle starts between Marik, Mokuba, and Amane, and oh boy that part barely got touched on in the fic but it still lives in my head to this day with no resolution and will continue to haunt me until I give them some kind of ending. I was so down for every possible kind of drama in that story, it's insane.

[ladyandherbooks]

Hi @ladyandherbooks. Anon here. Hope all is well. Always love your blog. Keep being awesome, fam.💜

I honestly think it's still incomprehensible to me sometimes that some youtubers I've watched discussing TDP talk so harshly and so negatively about Runaan and his relationship with Rayla, that they don't see him as a father to her. While I admit that it's because there is a lot of important and critical information about the Moonfam backstory/flashbacks still missing or how Runaan and Rayla's relationship was like before the events of S1, with the exception of Bloodmoon Huntress, they continously see Runaan in such a horrible light and saying some things along the lines of like "why is Rayla crying over Runaan in S5E1, that they want Rayla to feel anger, resentment and conflicted with him, that it doesn't make her emotions real, that they were never even close, that Runaan didn't even care about Rayla in the beginning, why are the writers disregarding her emotions, especially since in the beginning of S1 he tried to kill her. Which obviously was never in Runaan's agenda and was never his intention to begin with.

While I think that it's a bit overkill, I truly believe that the writers would never ignore this. I really think that they will have some way of telling and confronting this on-screen because they know that Runaan will have a lot to answer for once he's freed, especially being confronted by some of those heartbreaking and damaging moments with Rayla, which he will have some apologies to make to Rayla.

It really makes me curious how they will bring the moonfam into the storyline. Of course, since Aaron Ehasz confirmed we'll be learning about Runaan and his important story.

I apologize for the long post. I just wish some of them would look deeper or be more optimistic about Runaan and the Moonfam.

Thoughts?

Hi anon,

Firstly, thank you, that was very sweet and very nice to hear that someone enjoys my theories and tdp posts so much.

Secondly, I tend to ignore youtube comments as they're often just wrong, ridiculous, over the top, take your pick. For example I recently saw someone comment on a clip of Kimdael's fight with Janai where the commenter stated that Janai was a much stronger and more skilled warrior than Runaan because she beat Kimdael. Which was confusing and wrong as Janai never defeated Kim'dael in battle and the only reason Kim'dael left her later was because her own life was on the line. Not to mention that it's also very hard to compare them as warriors given their very different skill sets and fighting styles.

In general I think it would be best for you to just ignore these commenters and fellow tdp fans as I suspect that these seemingly anti Runaan fans are probably not going to be happy with whatever happens to him in the next 2 seasons, especially in regards to his relationship to Rayla, especially if they can't understand how much Rayla loves him and how much he also canonically loves her too. They'll never be satisfied with any reconciliation, forgiveness or heartwarming moments between them, not when they've convinced themselves that Runaan is the bad guy who's never truly loved Rayla.

Just stay or create a little pro Moonfam bubble for yourself and block, ignore, cut out anyone who doesn't also love the Moon fam and want good things for them.

As for the Moon fam being brought into the storyline I have 2 ideas for you.

1) Runaan knows who Aaravos is and knew about his mirror so he must know some important info and possibly even be descended from someone who helped to imprison him.

2) I do think that at least the Moon family and Dragang will be staying in the Silvergrove at the end of season 6, the timeskip between seasons 6 and 7 and at least the beginning of season 7. It would allow a lot of characters to stay in 1 place, safe and hidden from Aaravos and his allies etc and would also allow for the conclusion of the Kim'dael arc as we now that she also lives in the Moonshadow forest. Plus it would be nice to see things switched up, where instead of Rayla staying with humans, the humans now stay with Rayla and her fellow Moonshadow elves.

I could also see some other characters, namely Janai, Amaya, Gren, Corvus and Kazi also staying there too, especially if Karim triumphs in the Civil War. It would also ensure that Janai could also face Kim'dael again after their last encounter and perhaps even some drama regarding her knowledge of the Bloodmoon Huntress and her family's inaction when it came to stopping her from killing and at the very least, the decision to not tell the Moonshadow elves of her existence and home.

[theskeletoninthegarden]

Another rant about my blorbo of a Baldur's Gate character

Quinntav lived in the circus for about a decade, and during that time in order to deal with their dark urges they would lock themself up at night. This cage was made for them by the leader of the Circus of the Last Days, but was only effective at night essentially for a specific window of time. This means that if Quinn wanted to sleep otherwise, they would have to incapacitate themself, thus immobilizing their other half as well.

They could never sleep or over indulge in anything that could potentially cause them to lose consciousness, and this meant they couldn't risk being around anyone in the Circus in this state without risk of potentially harming them.

Within the Circus they were especially close to two bards, Glingo and Medrash. For the purposes of world building, these two are husbands in my story, and worked closely with Quinn throughout their time with the Circus of the Last Days.

Of course this means they bring up the two of them alot.

While on the road in my current fic, this is brought up between Astarion and Quinn.

Astarion: "With the way you speak of these husbands it almost seems as though you would have been the third wheel to their little ride if given the chance."

Quinn: "I...I'm not sure really. Between Glingo teaching me how to walk the wire and the both of them working with me in music, it's possible. But with the Durge present, I guess I'll never know."

Astarion: "If they truly felt that way I'm earnest they would have discovered something. You're not the problem in this, it's them."

I'll not say that Astarion is correct in this in the black and white way that it comes off as, no one can be faulted for not wanting to risk their life being so close to Quinn, but I'll provide some context.

At this point in the story Astarion and Quinn are very close, Quinn using their hemopathic skills to help Astarion resist Cazador's thrall as the two travel to Waterdeep. But as that same ability proves to help ensure Astarion isn't killed by the Dark Urge (this isn't canon in every version), the vampire finds that they can be in the cage without being harmed. He doesn't need to be, he can feed and then leave them for the night. But as time progresses and Astarion begins to offer the physical intimacy, the sort provided by simply being near to someone, in order to repay Quinn for their protection of him and their continued donation of blood, the vampire discovers the appeal of such a bond on his own. It's not recognized, privately acknowledged, and then admitted out loud to Quinntav for some time, but Astarion does what everyone else before has not: he stays.

It took a moment for Astarion's words to sink in, but when they did a surge of emotion hit them hard enough to keep them from breathing. Quinn didn't want to agree, they didn't want to think that anything their friends could have done was selfish or in any way not the wiser route to have taken. But never would they have expected anyone to have said otherwise. It wasn't conceivable.

Quinn has a terrible martyr complex, to the point that it becomes a point of contrition between themself and Astarion in every one of my stories several times. Their acceptance that they have no choice in having a partner and an actual home of their own is so cemented that they never once feel or even think to feel bitter towards any one about it save for themself. It takes Astarion saying that, basically, someone who has known them for all of several months has taken the time to find a loophole in their curse, and so what of the rest of the world? What of these people who they spent a majority of their known life with? What is their excuse? And though Quinn still can't find it in themself to be angry with anyone in the Circus, they finally recognize that their situation is horribly unfair. They finally allow themself to grieve, to actually begin the process of healing.

Quinn doesn't cry often. They're a grin and bear it through every sort of situation sort of person, unless it involves the pain of a friend, or finally breaking under the strain of their own existence, which is brought on by dealing with their inheritance, something they have to physically fight not to succumb to every moment of their life.

In my other stories that these excerpts weren't taken from, Quinn has Wyll, Gale, Lae'zel, and everyone else present and supporting them in their struggle in a positive but affirming way. But Astarion is the first one to tell them that they're allowed to feel angry, indignant, all of the above, and there's something about letting yourself feel some honest to god negativity that results in its own sort of catharsis.

Anyway I wrote all of this after making my purple baby Tiefling darling cry and I feel terrible.

[michael-aftons-nonbinary-lover]

FNaF Rant #3

-(⚠️TW⚠️@b4$3)-

Sorry not sorry, I fucking hate it when people who haven't been abused, specifically physically, make William a horribly abusive asshole to his kids. The Afton kids show signs of mental/emotional abuse, yes. That's canon, and I won't argue with that. But none of them show any signs of physical abuse throughout the whole fucking series. And don't bring up the goddamn books, I'm so sick of people pulling those books out of their asses for that ONE SPECIFIC THING, only to bury the books for every other piece of lore they've given us. Because the other pieces of lore "aren't convincing", or whatever. Literally stfu, pls. So many of these posts don't have warnings for abuse either, or the warnings come after the abuse/mentions of abuse have already been shown. So many people could be highly triggered by that and other people don't care because their dumbass headcanons come before survivors' experiences.

And I already know someone is gonna try to bring up the books or something so,

1. where in hell were Michael and Crying Child? Did William just not have sons? Is Elizabeth his only bio kid? Even though Michael is a near carbon copy of him? Did he just pick them up off the streets or something?

2. The books have fucking canon mpreg, please do not use these as an argument as to why your headcanons come above someone's personal trauma, you will look like the dumbest person in the room, I promise you

3. The books show us what was(most likely) in the FNaF 4 box, robots can bleed, remnant has the consistency of molten metal, and how illusion disks work, and the only thing you wanna talk about is the book's version of William hitting his kid? Really? There's so much more interesting stuff there, and you continue to bring up something that can be extremely triggering for so many people?

This is also not aimed at people who have been physically abused. Idc how survivors of physical abuse choose to headcanon William, because I know that if a specific character reminds you of your abuser, that will probably never leave your brain. Also, sometimes people just need to vent, and a specific character is good for that. This is aimed at people who haven't been physically abused and continue to decide that they need William to be even worse than he already is in canon.

Another thing I wanna point out. If Michael were even close to half of the "edgy teenager who doesn't give a fuck about anything and hates his dad" as so many people make him out to be, he would have left Hurricane the moment he turned 18, or shortly thereafter, and never gone back. Ever. For anything. Dead children be damned, nothing would have dragged him back there. He had nothing left. No siblings, no mom, probably no friends after the bite. Nothing could have convinced him to go back to Hurricane and do what he did throughout the series. Henry would have had to act by himself. Someone else would have gotten scooped. Michael would have turned to therapy, dr4g$, or religion. Michael's story would have been cut down to FNaF 4, and maybe some cutscenes of his life once he hit adulthood. He also would have had a shit ton of panic attacks, flashbacks, self-doubt, self-blame, and told himself at least once that nothing bad happened/what happened was normal and wasn't bad, and we see none of that throughout the entire series.

Seriously, why do so many people hear the word 'abuse' once in a series and run it into the ground? You guys are honestly draining at this point, and it's getting old. Half of the descriptions of abuse aren't even fucking accurate, and that's how you know that they're putting headcanons above trauma. Just stfu, please.

(another note before I leave, this one is purely a rant/vent thingy, so I really don't wanna fight anyone about this. Plus, William is a fictional character, this shit isn't worth fighting over with people online anyways)

[gregorygerwitz]

Pls pls pls tell me about 9×03 and the mouse centric viewpoint so I can watch this show through you lmao

Okay, I've definitely been thinking about this and like... nothing else, for the last... ~5 hours? I could check message time stamps but honestly, that's not relevant. I just had a little thought spiral about this today, and I'm gonna keep going through it.

Prefacing this entire thing with this: I know why the Knox story is relevant in s9. I know why it went where it did, I know what purpose it serves for the Jay&Hailey&Voight storyline where it went. I just have a lot of thoughts about Mouse at all times.

Warnings: mention of death and murder, references to addiction, I swear one time

This babble brought to you the fact that Mouse was an army Ranger for 4+ years, and just because he looks innocent and calm on the outside 95% of the time, it doesn’t mean he isn’t still very capable of fucking some shit up if pushed. The Intelligence unit is very lucky that he chooses to use both the fact that he’s a trained killer and his tech skills for good and not evil.

To TLDR the episode's purpose in the narrative, just to give you the gist: bringing Knox into the story and getting into his shared history with Jay is used to highlight Jay's loyalty even in horrible circumstances. The quick version (because I hate it, actually) is that, when they were overseas, Knox killed civilians as "revenge" for one of their unit members, and Jay didn't say anything about him being the one who did it (which could be another entire essay, don't let me write that, I have notes and sources and a bunch of nonsense to babble about but it would start fights within the fandom and I don't want to do that thank you). It's presumably used to show why he spends the rest of the season standing by Voight despite everything that he does.

So, I do understand why it went where it went, and yes, to some extent, season nine is where this story and therefore this episode belongs. But I'm really tired of everyone standing by Voight when he's shown time and time again that he doesn't deserve it, and that's even the point of the rest of the season - Jay tries to get Voight to work with him instead of handling things virtually alone, and then Voight goes against the one thing he said he was gonna do and doesn't let Jay in.

Which isn't even really the point of this post, I'm just saying, I see what the writers were doing, I just personally think there was a more interesting story that could have been told with a slightly different cast (and I really miss Mouse)

But, because of the fact that Mouse has been gone for five years by this point, he's not there for the Knox storyline. He's not even mentioned in an episode specifically about someone from their time in the army who he would have also known but I'm not bitter I'm fine I'm totally normal about it. If he had been there for this, I'd like to think the story would have nothing to do with Voight or the secrets he kept from Jay or any of the story we got in canon, if that makes sense. Instead, it would be more about the different roles that Knox and Mouse played in Jay's life.

Plot twist, this has way less to do with me missing Mouse and almost everything to do with how much I love narrative foils.

Because the things is... Mouse and Knox are very similar. They're both former army rangers who dealt with substance abuse issues when they got back to Chicago, who had trouble forming strong connections, who turned to crime to make money to stay alive when the government failed them. They both have felonies records. They're both, for the most part, alone in life - Knox after his divorce, and Mouse after being pushed away by his parents.

The key difference between them, the only difference between them, is that Mouse had Jay.

Jay was there to help Mouse clean up his criminal record and take care of the felony theft. He was there to help him with the pills and be there through the rough patches. He was there to answer the phone at three in the morning on the worst nights. He was there to help him get a steady job to set a regular routine. Mouse had a support system, even if it was small, even if it started out as just Jay.

The episode, had it taken place during Mouse's era of the show, could have been a fascinating exploration of these two relationships that Jay has with former members of his Ranger unit - Knox, who he hates and resents so much that he didn't even want to give him a second chance, and Mouse, who he loves, whether it's read as platonic or otherwise, who he's willing to give a million chances to, who he's given money to so he could buy drugs.

And, look... it's not like Jay and Mouse didn't do shady shit overseas. Maybe they didn't, you know, kill civilians out of a righteous idea of revenge, but we never did find out what extenuating circumstances meant from back in 3x03...

[stxleslyds]

What do you think about the theories that Jason was sexually abused as a child? Or even possibly while he was comatose after his resurrection?

Implications of this theory include his conversation with Mia (Speedy) and Bruce's message (Battle for the Cowl). In addition, when he was Robin he expressed what was then considered uncharacteristic rage towards the perpetrators of sex crimes.

Garzonas - unrepentant rapist who got no consequences

When a woman killed her sister's rapist and murderer (because Batman's evidence was not admissible in court), Batman said that she went too far with murder. Jason's disagreed with "Good riddance". Good for you, Jason.

His recklessness when dealing with a child sex trafficking ring.

I highly doubt that DC would ever confirm this theory. I would rather they leave it ambiguous because I don't trust them to not botch Jason... much less respectfully address the subject matter.

I have read so many thoughts on Jason that they're starting to blend together. So I apologize if you've already answered this before.

Hello friend! Aside from the fact that I took way too much time to answer your ask, this was also a hard question to come up with an answer to, I wanted to remain respectful of the subjects at hand even though I don’t second this headcanon. But before we keep going, let me put some trigger warnings in this post.

trigger warning: mentions of sexual abuse, child abuse, rape.

First, I would like to bring up these two concepts because I oftentimes mix them up when talking about these “ideas”.

Theory: a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something; an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action.

Headcanon: Headcanon generally refers to ideas held by fans of series that are not explicitly supported by sanctioned text or other media. Fans maintain the ideas in their heads, outside of the accepted canon.

I think the idea of Jason having been sexually abused at any point in his lifetime is a mix between a theory and a headcanon. Why I am saying this? Because as you have put in the ask, there has been instances where fandom has found pieces of information that they have considered the base of this idea.

So, if we say that there is a piece of text that might support that idea and they build from that to justify a course of action we would be looking at a theory. In this case Jason having been abused would the reason as to why he acts in that strong and violent way towards cases of sexual abuse/harassment.

In the other hand those pieces of text might not support that idea so fandom headcanons that idea in order to build another layer to a character, in this case Jason having been abused would also justify his actions towards certain criminals.

The “text” (panels, issues, mentions) are most of the time ambiguous, which makes readers have different perspectives in what is being written and what then is made into a theory or headcanon.

Personally, I don’t like this theory or headcanon for various reasons (which I will explain later in the post), and I have read and understood those moments mentioned as Jason just having survived Crime Alley as something general, I don’t think he suffered that kind of abuse but I think he was made aware of that type of behaviour every day that he spent alone in the streets and that why we saw Jason in Batman #408 saying that he had “graduated a long time ago from the streets of crime alley”.

Having said that, I do understand that some of the moments mentioned can be seen as ambiguous and that’s what leads people to theorize/headcanon that idea, because of that I would like to show the panels mentioned in your ask so everyone can read them and make up their own conclusions and then I will talk about the reasons why I don’t like this particular theory/headcanon.

As Robin:

Batman (1940) #422

In these panels we can see Jason as Robin jumping in to defend a woman that was being attacked by a man. There I only see Jason acting like a vigilante would, maybe he was hitting too hard or whatever but Batman has hit people as much as Jason was doing it this time around, plus I, personally, don’t see any kind of problem with Jason beating a man that was harassing and threatening a woman with death.

Right beside we have Jason being on the side of the woman that killed her sister’s attacker. He didn’t see any problem with that woman seeking justice for her sister on her own when the police, Batman and himself couldn’t get the job done.

Here I see Jason having a big problem with authorities and justice system, which is not something new, in Batman #408, Jason says very clearly that he doesn’t trust the system in Gotham (the police, social workers and such), and he was also shown in that comic talking very fondly about his mother and about how much he cared for her when she was at her worst. Let’s remember that Jason loved his mother, he took care of her and resented his father for being abusive towards her and even introducing her to drugs.

Instead understanding these panels as Jason having been abused himself, I see it more as Jason having a humongous understanding of how much women and others suffer in Gotham due to the justice system’s lack of action. I also see Jason as the kind of boy that respected all women and could not sit and do nothing when people were hitting and abusing women just like his father did to his mother.

Batman (1940) #424

This issue starts by saying that Jason jumps into action as soon as he hears someone scream but that he wasn’t going to be prepared to see what was happening. This is the issue where all of us meet Felipe Garzonas, the abuser and rapist of many women. At first Jason doesn’t know what Felipe was doing but after he and Batman “defeat” Felipe, he goes to the room where he finds Gloria in a bed badly hurt and scared. Jason is shocked when he first finds her and after hearing her story in the police station, he becomes more and more happy about the fact that by having caught Felipe, he and Batman would be able to offer some peace and justice to Gloria after he goes to jail, but that doesn’t happen.

They had all the evidence to put Felipe in jail and the police could easily see that Gloria was the victim but because Felipe had someone to back his made-up story up, he was able to not be arrested and jailed.

Jason once again is baffled at the lack of action by the police or simply justice not being able to be made in favour of the true victim. Batman even says that he has noticed that Jason “had become to emotionally invested with the case” which could favour either idea (Jason having suffered sexual abuse or not), in my case I see this once again as Jason not being able to remain calm after doing everything to keep that woman safe and the justice system not being able to do it themselves in a more permanent way (jail time, or whatever).

But that’s not all because Jason being too emotional with that case was brought up as a way to show that Jason couldn’t see that Felipe had been under the influence of drugs, which is something that Jason can see in people very well (do to experience with his mother and his training with Batman). So, Felipe is now a rapist, an abuser, he does drugs and he also has a market for it.

Because Felipe was allowed to go back to his “normal” life he had Gloria be killed, and he kept abusing drugs and women, when Jason finds Gloria’s dead body and that Batman still seems to abide the justice system he snaps. He goes alone to see Felipe and that’s were this iconic panel comes from. The moments before Jason made his first kill and felt no remorse about it. I know this is kinda soft topic because Jason was a teenager, but good for him, kill that bitch. Gotham doesn’t need more people like him.

Batman (1940) #226

This is the issue where Jason attacks the men that were involved with some very nasty stuff involving children. Batman narrates and says that him and Jason had been working on this case for three weeks. Jason jumps into action suddenly and “recklessly” even though Batman considered their investigation wasn’t over, he also says that he thinks that Jason had been “acting oddly” and that he was very “moody, resentful and reckless” and that that attitude could “get him killed”.

This could be used as to add more proof of the abuse idea but I actually see it as build up to Jason’s death, that happened two issues later. Let’s remember that Jason found out of his birth mother and was desperate to find and save her from Joker, because he was a good son but also because he didn’t feel like Bruce loved, cared or appreciated him anymore. Ever since Jason made it clear that he didn’t see the world and justice in the same way that Batman did back in issue #422, Jason and Bruce’s relationship suffered, they just couldn’t see eye to eye on some subjects and Bruce’s neglect or lack of care for what Jason believed in drove Jason to act the way he did in the case involving his mother and the Joker.

Jason obviously has major issues with kids being abused and put in dangerous situations, he as the Red Hood (Winick’s Red Hood) is the same, he really wants kids to be taken far away from drugs so they cannot be manipulated, used and abused by Gotham’s Drug Lords. Here I can see some of the same thing, Jason being protective of those kids and getting fed up with how much time he and Batman had to wait to do anything about the subject, along side it I bet Jason wasn’t seeing the police or the justice system doing anything about the whole thing so that could have probably fuelled his desperate attack of those horrible people.

As Batman/Red Hood:

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3

Battle for the Cowl… yeah I am going to be brutally honest about this, if anyone thinks that this is someway or somehow proof that Jason had been abused in the past then I think we have very different ways of thinking how survivors must be treated or written in comics and other media.

This to me is pure bad writing, this is some of the worst things I have seen being written in comics. Whether or not this implies Jason being abused or not, Bruce’s message is absolutely disgusting and not at all helpful, it is even worse when you realise that Dick, a canon sexual assault survivor, is the one playing the message to Jason even though Jason explicitly said that he didn’t want to hear it again. That Book, issue, page and panel are extremely badly written and is one of the most terrible Jason and Dick characterizations ever.

So, I don’t really care if this panel is supposed to offer support to that theory or headcanon, I really dislike that speech and if it is actually referencing Jason as being a survivor of child abuse, then Tony S. Daniel needs to make an apology from today to the day he dies.

“Of all my failures, you have been my biggest” “You were broken and I thought I could put the pieces back together. I thought I could do for you what could never be done for me. Make you whole” “What happened to you as a child… the terror, the pain, the horrors” “You needed repair and instead I gave you an outlet to act out on”

Absolute garbage writing. Me, as Bruce is number one hater, know that that speech is even out of character for Bruce. Listen, if Jason had been a victim of sexual assault or just being a kid living alone in Crime Alley, no one should leave a message like that, telling a victim that they were broken and needed fixing, what the hell? No, thank you, this issue proves nothing except that Battle for the Cowl was a mistake as a whole.

Green Arrow (2001) #72

Judd Winick is clever I will always say that, and while I do see why people think that Jason is making the “child abuse idea” canon I still think that the way that he talks is still fairly ambiguous if not just him playing mind games with Mia.

I know it sounds wrong, but hear me out, Winick, in this arc makes Batman say that Jason distracted him and Oliver just to take Mia as a “hostage” because that was Jason’s way to mess with him. This arc happens right after UtRH and Jason is a bit more unhinged than ever. But he doesn’t harm Mia, he just talks to her, he tries to make her see why he acts the way he does and to do that he talks about how much he sees of himself in her. Do I believe that Jason suffered the same things Mia did? No. Do I think that their past is similar? Yes.

But Jason doesn’t only use the fact that they have similar pasts to make Mia rebel against her “no killing ways” and Oliver like he did with Bruce, but he also brings up the fact that their past is incredibly different to the lives of Bruce and Oliver, and that those differences are of importance.

Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t see Jason bringing Mia’s past for anything other than manipulating her and kinda make her see Oliver in a negative light the way that he does Batman and Bruce. Jason was at a point in his life where all he wanted to do was deliver the same pain that he had gone through but he didn’t do it by physically harming anyone (Mia was left unscratched), he was just out there trying to play mind games so he could break more havoc in Batman’s name.

Mia’s past is just way too different to whatever we have seen in canon from Jason’s past. Maybe I am wrong, after all, I only read about Mia in that arc.

-

With all that having been said I think it’s pretty obvious that I just don’t think that Jason’ having been sexually abused as a child actually happened, and I also don’t like to think about his past in that way. His canon suffering could have made him act that violently against criminals involved with sexual attacks and drug-related crimes, but I also think that’s just how Jason was, he really disliked the justice system in Gotham and saw how much it failed to protect victims, so now that he had the training to help those who couldn’t do it for themselves, he tried his best to bring criminals to justice.

And when that didn’t work, he grew more and more frustrated with Batman’s methods which led him to be more unforgiving and violent.

I also don’t like the theory/headcanon as a whole because I think its one of those things that Fandom comes up with just for that extra angst factor in their favourite character’s story so they can make him suffer more and because of that no other Robin or character as a whole can ever understand his pain or whatever. In this fandom there is a lot of “competitive trauma” going on and I honestly dislike it a lot.

About Jason having been assaulted while he was in a coma, I don't really know, he was at a hospital for what I believe were six moths, maybe that idea comes from real life happenings but I have never thought of that happening in Jason's life and I would rather not give it much more thought.

Also, I believe that DC just like fandom would have never been able to handle the subject of Jason having been a sexual assault survivor with the respect and care that it actually needs. We have seen DC treat sexual harassment and abuse as nothing but a side plot or bringing it up in an extremely disturbing way. In Fandom some (very few) people end up glamorising or romanticising these subjects so, I don’t believe the comic world was or is ready to treat a backstory like this with the respect it needs.

Maybe I haven’t even treated the subject with the respect and care that it needs and if that’s the case then I am truly sorry.

I had never answered a question regarding this subject before and I really appreciate all the questions you send my way; they do make my brain happy. I am really sorry it took me this long to write an answer to you but I hope the post is good enough for all the time I made you wait!

I hope you have an amazing week!

[saltwaterconfessions]

okay y'all i'm over on twitter here and i make quite a few mini threads about headcanons or things i'm thinking about, but i wanted y'all to have them too!! so here's the collection from this past month.

oh god. it could be canon or au. gideon who carries tissues or a hanky for harrow's stress/necromantic overload nosebleeds....... yeah 😭

working this hc into my fic but y'all..... harrow painting her nails, sitting on the floor, minding her business. gideon coming home & plopping down next to her, offering her hands. harrow likes to get a little fancy w her nails - she's grown them out, she likes dark jewel tones but for gideon she does a straightforward black. takes her hands, preps her nails, bites her tongue on a joke about how short she keeps them, listens to gideon's stories about her day as she applies the nail polish. gideon won't care if the paint's messy but harrow makes them neat and pristine, carefully wipes away any excess. her own nails are almost perfect so gideon's should be the same. nothing but the best for her best friend ❤ meanwhile she's viciously ignoring her impulse to lean up and kiss gideon's temple or cheek or jaw. it's right there and gideon is just such a stunning person. harrow hurts when she thinks about it. this is what they have and she won't change it for anything. but God, the empty hollow of her wanting is. it's hard to manage. she knows how to live with the ache, though. it's fine. she's fine. (gideon loves her, of course, gideon is made of love and it colors every relationship she has. she would do anything for harrow. anything, but especially keep her feelings locked down tight. this is what they have and she won't ask for more. that'd be a dick move on her part.)

it ruins my life that all harrow ever had to do was OPEN HER MOUTH. TRY TO TRUST SOMEONE. ASK FOR HELP. COMMUNICATE. her relationship with gideon blooms as soon as they leave the Ninth. gideon's capacity for loyalty was ALWAYS THERE HARROW JUST DIDN'T DESERVE IT. it ruins me. this is also so fascinating to me because it's a duality. at the same time that their relationship becomes something New and Lovely away from their trauma, gtn is also a corruption arc and the cav/necro dynamic that gideon sacrifices herself for IS AWFUL. HORRIBLE. EXPLOITATIVE. and honestly this deserves like, a whole fucking essay, but the capacity for duality in this series is. like it's so stunning to me rn and i think it's so valuable. the text has room for both things to be true. (ALSO!! i do want to write about this at some point but i need to sit with it and figure out how best to express what i mean!)

im sorry to be problematic but i think possessiveness is sexy. the idea of harrow HATING cytherea from the very first second she gets her hands on HARROW'S CAV. harrow wanting to rip that bitch apart the whole time they're at canaan. resenting the fuck out of gideon's attachment to her. knowing the cav is dead but not knowing For Why. not being able to express her fears or gain gideon's trust until it's way too late. finally saying STEP OFF BITCH as her and her cav bring hell. it's just so fuckin g TASTY.

muir's use of character voice just. like i KNOW it's a very basic aspect of her writing style but i'm so enamored with it. gtn vs the end of gtn. the 2nd pov of htn vs the canaan chapters vs the end of htn vs the epilogue. as yet unsent. the catnip of her writing- IT GETS ME!

i will and first love / late spring by mitski are griddlehark songs

honey by halsey is a griddlehark song and i'm not a woman, i'm a god by halsey is a Harrow song but Spicy. maybe even a Harrow Nova song. first of all, "i am not a woman i'm a god" feels like a Gender Mood for our local "best necromancer of her generation." good enough reason for me! but secondly, the chorus is defiant in a way that feels like a Harrow who would push back against the war crime of her existence. a Harrow who doesn't carry the obligation to her House and role as the Reverend Daughter.

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Namaste JWB!! Kaisan Ho??? How according to you Arnav let go of the truth of his horrible past and decide to move on his life with Khushi. I am not having any objections with his decision but would like to know how he and the other members of the Raizada family let go of their past and move on so easily. Also according to you what might have canonically happened in Arnav's past and can you provide a closure for the same. (peaceful one though😇)

Hum theek hai, aap kaisan ho Nandkisore???

Oh, these are interesting questions! So this is a two part ask that I'm going to summarize into:

1) How did all the Raizada's (Arnav included) let go of the past?

2) What happened in Arnav's past? (I believe the closure will be answered above)

Chalo, happy reading! (long post alert)

How did all the Raizada's (Arnav included) let go of the past?

In short: from the day the parents died until Arnav and Khushi’s second wedding, the whole family was working and reworking themselves to move on from the past. Be it celebrating events, talking about the dead parents, moving on from a similar event that Shyam caused and so on. When the first wedding happened, it was clear Arnav hadn’t even dealt - forget move on - with the past. But when the second wedding happened, everyone had a broader understanding of life, especially Arnav. 

We can see that the past has affected the Raizada's in several ways. It made Arnav bitter, Anjali religious (I believe her extreme, blinding faith in religion stemmed from the incident) and Nani more set in her ways. Since Akash, Mama and Mami were not that involved in it - I see them remembering the incident as something haunting but also moving on in life.

So, of course, there's a LOT to unpack here and I believe what was instrumental in figuring things out was the Shyam revelation post kidnapping.

We know that Arnav had an incredibly difficult time coming to terms with the whole misunderstanding because he went back to being the 14 years old traumatized child.

And for the family it was living the same trauma again. However, with Khushi in the picture everyone was forced to see the past in a different lens. Everyone knew Khushi, they knew she wouldn't do what Shyam accused her of.

Arnav literally saw in front of his eyes how Shyam switched from one lie to another to save his skin. And just like his mum, Anjali was faultless - but it made things even clearer that Shyam was a manipulative piece of shit who had two victims in his scheme - Khushi and Anjali.

Which is why Arnav slapped Shyam twice - for Khushi and Anjali.

And when Subhadra Devi brings in all the drama of the past on Arnav's wedding day - to avenge the past in her ways - she isn't aware that the Raizada's have seen things differently. They don't blindly believe the men of the house. Yes, Mami might agree on Subhadra's line of thinking that middle classed women seek out rich men - but even there she knows what's the truth.

Everyone is shattered. Mami doesn't hesitate blaming everything on Garima and Khushi because that is easier. Nani asks Garima questions she had pressed in her heart long ago. Why did Garima break the happy couple? Why did she not tell them anything? What was Ratna's fault?

And what I find most interesting is that Anjali asks one question to Subhadra - why is she telling them the truth now?

I don't think they're instantly over the past, but with the whole Khushi situation, Garima confessing no knowledge of his marital status and the whole loopy nature of past and present the family finds it easier to see the other side of the story.

For Anjali nothing matters more than Arnav's happiness - and I believe the fact Subhadra chose her revenge above her grandson reduces her worth in Anjali's eyes. She's shattered - but I felt that brought clarity in Anjali. She knew Arnav and Khushi loved each other and she also knew those two had warned her endlessly about Shyam. Now hearing about her mother in the same position I think Anjali finds it easier to make peace with the past.

Coming to Arnav, he has the hardest time. It breaks his heart that Khushi is in the center of all of this and can't bring himself to the mandap when his wounds have been reopened, again, on what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.

Given that he had made a colossal mistake regarding Khushi previously, I really respect him for taking the time and assessing his feelings, facts and logic.

He loves Khushi. Khushi loves him beyond everything. In no way is Khushi responsible for anything.

Arnav forgiving Garima comes from his immense love for her. Previously he had put Khushi in place of the other woman, Anjali in place of his mother and his father in place of Shyam.

That night he did the opposite. Garima could be faultless like Khushi, his mother was as innocent and loving as Anjali and his father was as conniving as Shyam.

Also, Garima has been living in regret and didn't mark a fortune by herself with this affair. Her life post the affair has been honest and simple. Which helps the Raizada's in believing her and the version of events.

Arnav had seen what happened when he let past override his future. It was terrible. So he gives hope a chance. And even when he runs back to mandap, it's only Khushi in his head.

And it helps that the family sees Khushi's legit breakdown on Arnav not showing up at the altar. That strengthens their belief on this relationship. Even Mami quietens looking at Khushi's hysteria.

It’s a final test of time that the family withstood. 

What happened in Arnav's past?

Three things happened:

- His parents committed suicide

- Anjali was abandoned at the altar

- His uncle kicked them out of their home and seized all Malik wealth and property for himself

To narrate, it’s 20/21 years old Anjali’s wedding. The Maliks are a happy family. Ratna is devoted to her family. The Maliks associate with generational wealth, patriarchal society and status. 

Ratna sees her husband with another woman - Garima. Her whole marriage, and in a way life, shatters. Her 20-25 years of marriage crumbles beneath her feet. 

I believe that since Anjali’s wedding was a grand affair, everyone in Lucknow knew it. And that’s how Garima learns that her love for the charming, older Mr Malik has been a scandalous extra marital affair. He is not only married, he has a daughter old enough to be married herself! I think Garima confronted him that night on getting to know the truth and Ratna saw that. 

Mr Malik, having lost his lover and wife’s trust attempts to gaslight Ratna that whatever she heard and saw was false. Arnav - having seen his mother distressed - followed her and learnt that his father is a terrible human being. 

Ratna, hysterical and hurt, commits suicide. Mr Malik is shocked and unable to bear the guilt of being the man who he is to his children, and that he caused an innocent Ratna’s death - shoots himself to death as well. 

Arnav is traumatized because he saw his parents killing themselves over Mr Malik’s extra marital affair.

Considering the society the Maliks are in - I’m pretty sure Anjali’s in laws didn’t want to associate themselves to this scandal. It’s ‘inauspicious’ for the parents to die on their daughter’s death and Mr Malik’s lack of character would’ve reflected on their judgment of Anjali. From characterless to cursed - Anjali probably bore a lot of insults. Hence, she was abandoned at the altar. 

Only reaffirmed Arnav’s belief that the whole institution of marriage is a sham. 

Seeing the eldest Malik is out of the picture, the younger Malik - Arnav’s uncle - seizes the opportunity to grab the ancestral property and wealth for himself before Arnav turns 18 because - as I said, patriarchal, I don’t think he would’ve been able to take the house if the eldest child had a claim on it. And since Anjali is female, the eldest heir, and definitely above 18 - yet Chacha is able to throw them out of the house without Anjali being able to contest for it means that:

- Anjali might have been misled and given off the will and property papers to the uncle, or that she didn’t have the heart to fight her uncle (which is contradictory that she would’ve brought heaven and earth together to save her Chotte from going homeless), or

- The uncle was someone trustworthy and had the power of attorney which he misused to gain all wealth, or

- The property and wealth was passed from the eldest son per generation. So in Arnav’s dad’s generation it was only Arnav’s father who got everything rather than the uncle - which is why the uncle was greedy and wanted everything his older brother had. Also why Anjali didn’t contest for the property cause maybe she didn’t have a claim on it. (A lot of the show is shown as Arnav getting his house back and Anjali being reluctant on it)

And I feel the uncle was middle classed and didn’t have enough wealth in his name. Hence it fed into Arnav’s image of power/money hungry middle classed folks. The men would not wait a day for their family to die and similar women wouldn’t mind sleeping with anyone to get rich. 

It’s the frame through which he sees Mool Rajani and Khushi. 

Closure? His meetings with Khushi, a brush with the ill-effects of his own generalization and rash judgements, Anjali’s ability to look over the man who restored her ‘honor’ by marrying her and the whole family just rising above the concept of marriage, societies and traditions gives them their much needed closure. 

Phew, that was a long answer! Hope you liked this :)

Best, 

- JWB

[brokubroo]

bokuroo fanfic recs by an avid bokuroo enthusiast

if you're reading this, i assume you're looking for bokuroo fanfic recommendations and well, you're in luck! because i read that shit on the daily!

as bokuroo's #1 fan, i'm glad to share with you some of my favorite fanfics for this ship! i hope i'm able to give some new content for you all to read and enjoy and gush over, because that's definitely what i've done with these fics.

without further ado, let's get into it!:

there are a range of fics included below, some of which may be rated e (explicit), so please mind the ratings and the tags included on each individual fic, especially if you do not fit into the age-range the fic was targeted for.

☆ my sun in your sky by cachedoeswrite

It's been a while since they've hung out and Kuroo thinks about how it started, how it's going.

rated: e (18+)

word count: 13k

tropes: canon divergent, post-time skip

why i'm recommending it: the dynamic between bokuto and kuroo in this fic is absolutely seamless! the way the author wrote them falling into each other was like remembering nostalgic memories that have settled warmly in your heart. i'd say if you're not too concerned about relationships being defined and more into how people interact within a relationship with each other, you'll really enjoy this fic!

☆ Better Latte Than Never by freolia

"You know any funny, clever, single guys to match me with then?" Bokuto asked, a hesitant smile on his face which was just so sweet paired with all the muscles and the crazy hair. Single, gay, and a genuine sweetheart too? The universe had manifested Kuroo everything he could have ever hoped for, wrapped in rippling muscle like a Greek god. The universe had a horrible sense of humour, dropping someone like Bokuto on his doorstep now; a sweet, single guy who he got on with like a house on fire just when he'd lost all faith in his own relationships. And besides, Bokuto was asking if he knew anyone else. Not about him. Kuroo couldn't let down someone like Bokuto. He was asking for help from his bro. aka; Kuroo is oblivious, Bokuto is eternally hopefully, and all their friends are disappointed, but never surprised.

rated: t (13+)

word count: 16k

tropes: coffee shop au, college au, fluff, angst, matchmaking, mutual pining, friends to lovers

why i'm recommending it: this is a really good, funny, down-to-earth fic that i think most people would enjoy. it has a little bit of everything and has a feel-good tone to it, even through the minor angsty bits the author included. i think what really makes it special is how effortlessly the characters interact with each other in this fic. when you see how many characters and relationships are tagged, you might feel apprehensive, but they make for a great cast to bring bokuroo together! i'd say give it a shot even if you don't gravitate towards the tropes.

☆ amarillion by drifloon

“So you and Kuroo finally dating?” “What?” Koutarou said, sure that he’d misheard. “Dating,” Akaashi said again, leaning forward slightly, his frown deepening. “No, no,” Koutarou said. “Haha! What? No." Or, the story of how Koutarou falls for his best friend.

rated: e (18+)

word count: 12k

tropes: friends to lovers, college au, mutual pining, requited unrequited

why i'm recommending it: amarillion is the classic realization of bros figuring out they're actually in love with each other and i'm totally here for it! also: "'we don't have bad ideas'" and "'it's you and me, right? of course we were something'" get me every. damn. time! this fic is just a really good time and while it's one of the most popular bokuroo fics in the fandom, i couldn't just not recommend it!

☆ Strawberry-Chocolate Mess by KuriKuri

“I didn’t expect to run into you two here,” Kenma says, his gaze shifting to Tetsurō, and Tetsurō stiffens a little, wracking his brain for an excuse. After all, most of the times he and Bokuto get food together, they just end up throwing fries at each other across a plastic table at Mos Burger. “We, uh – ” Testurō starts, glancing over at Bokuto. “We’re on a date!” Bokuto blurts out.

rated: t (13+)

word count: 10k

tropes: friends to lovers, fake/pretend dating, mutual pining, post-time skip, college au

why i'm recommending it: this is such a sweet and fluffy fanfic! i swear, i've never felt more giddy reading something in my entire life. the good ol' fashioned fake/pretend dating au has always held a piece of my heart, simply because the mutual pining aspect is so enjoyable to read through! the side kenhina in this makes it all the more adorable, and the ending is just a gem to get to. i feel like those who like a good fake dating au would enjoy this, and even those who don't go out of their way to search for stories like this might like it as well.

☆ Baby Makes Three by novashyperion

“He's so small, Kuroo, I could hold him with one hand, but I won't cause I don't want to drop him,” Bokuto went on. “Oh man, do you think we can get Akaashi to get him a tiny Fukurodani jersey to wear?” Kuroo paused then. “First of all, you're not putting him in a Fukurodani jersey. He's wearing Nekoma or he's going butt naked. Second, we can't keep him. We barely know how to take care of ourselves. We nearly electrocuted ourselves with the toaster last week.” Bokuto finds a baby and brings him home to Kuroo.

rated: g (everyone)

word count: 22k

tropes: established relationship, kidfic, accidental baby acquisition, canon divergence

why i'm recommending it: this. is. so. cute!!! you'll never find a cuter fic. i dare you to find anything more precious and wholesome and wonderful. no but seriously, this is one of my favorite fics. it's super cute to see how bokuroo would take care of a baby hinata (baby hinata!!!) and it's both hilarious and amazingly, spectacularly charming. they're both so endearingly cute around hinata and i think anyone can find something to take away from this fic.

and those are the fics i have to recommend for anyone looking for something bokuroo! i hope you all found something new to read! let me know if you recognize any of the fics as well!