#flawed heroes

[cafe-melanion]

🍰: What's something your OC counts as unforgivable?

Thank you for asking (and sorry it's taken me so long to respond)!

Neither Malady nor Talia are able to forgive those who harm the people they love. It's admittedly not necessarily a good quality and can be quite situational and (at times) absolutely hypocritical but it is what it is--even when the target of their disdain is themselves.

[joncronshawauthor]

The Morally Grey Character: Why We Love Them

In the murky depths of fantasy literature, there exists a breed of character that captures our hearts. If only because they’ve already stolen it when we weren’t looking. These are the morally grey characters. The ones who straddle the line between hero and villain with all the grace of a cat walking a tightrope over a pit of hungry crocodiles. But what is it about these dubious darlings that…

[liesmultixxx]

“Why did you leave me?”

can you hear me crying?

the way annabeth thought percy had abandoned her like everyone else

… girl he fell into tartarus for you, he would never leave you

NEVER

rick was evil for that

[squareblind]

Being John McClane: Translating Die Hard trilogy into a 90's videogame

By Neil Merrett Die Hard Trilogy, released on Sony PlayStation in 1996, developed by Fox Interactive and Acclaim Studios London Die Hard Trilogy on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn was able to give the players a 3D skyscraper, airport and basic city to blast around and have explosive action adventures in.  The games were perhaps less effective at exploring the appeal of John McClane as a…

[turtleblogatlast]

I love Raph and haven’t said that enough so to be more specific I love that Raph is a soft boy who loves bear plushies, a gross boy who eats an assortment of things that are definitely better left alone, a smart boy who is more than capable of taking down villains through planning and fortitude alike, a strong boy who is dedicated to training his muscles and fighting prowess, a teenage boy who loves his brothers but is more than happy to tease and roughhouse with them, an angry boy who sometimes lets his anger take a hold of him to cover the fear, a gentle boy who is generous with hugs and affirmations to those he loves, a capable boy who takes on more than should ever be expected of a teenager, a good boy who just wants to be a hero and slowly comes to realize the cost of that duty, a good boy who has no reservations about putting himself in the way of harm coming to his family, a good boy who’s a great brother and son and person and deserves only the best the world has to offer.

[valewritessss]

Many people say Annabeth getting dragged into Tartarus by the web around her ankle was a result of her pride but I feel like that was just a mistake?? Like, she didn’t not check her leg because she was sure of herself but because she honestly didn’t realize a web might be wrapped around it. Her ankle was numb from her injury and there were webs everywhere so it’s not that easy to spot. I honestly think it was just a mistake and not her pride

[moonlunee]

silly little traumatized hero family

[pjo-worshipper]

HELLOOOOO????

[avituses]

They all twisted fate together

Individual drawings under the cut!

[pythoria]

i don't think you can fully understand astarion until you do an origin run tbh, or at least watch a video of his dream and all the responses you can give. it's hinted at in the final dialogue with cazador with his "you've never forgiven anything", but astarion wasn't some indisciplined brat who "deserved" or "kinda asked for it". He would apologise and beg for forgiveness, he would mind cazador's wishes and schedule and be constantly anxious about it, and the only reason that he got the worst of his wrath wasn't because his personality is just abrasive and it angered cazador, it was purely for entertainment, because he begged the prettiest, he screamed the loudest, etc. You can make the argument that he was the most vulnerable of the spawn, the least powerful, the runt of the pack.

Sure, he wasn't a great person while he was alive what with all his magistrate bs, but he was young and a bit of a dick, not evil. When he was alive and kinda abused some of his privilege as a magistrate that was posturing, underneath it there was always weakness and self-doubt. And when he was stripped of that little power he had, he became his "truest" (or rather basest) self, which was a scared boy who wanted to make it big or impress his superiors. On some level I think he admired Cazador for all the power he had, and we know that at the ritual "he wanted to be just like him". I don't think he would ever purposefully anger someone he looked up to, even with all the shit he was forced to do. For 200 years he was an obedient puppet, and it was his shortcomings, not his defiance that earned him all the torture.

So when you meet him after the nautiloid crash, you aren't seeing a single genuine personality trait of his. Not until the love confession in act 2. All you're seeing for the majority of 2 acts is a mask, a character he created, as well as him in full survival mode. Of course he doesn't want you helping innocents, this might be his only chance to escape, he doesn't want that derailed. Honestly, you don't really see the "real" him until after you've killed cazador. For anyone who finished his quest, y'all know how different he acts in the graveyard scene. He's uncharacteristically soft, even nice, and yes he's angry and he can't undo centuries of suffering, but you've helped him come back to himself. By act 3 he already stops rlly dissaproving of helping people, and when talking to the gurs he's defensive because he doesn't want to get their hopes up and dissapoint them, not because he wouldn't give anything to help. Astarion at his core is sassy, sure, but he is undoubtedly *nice*. He's a good person, he feels so much guilt for what he's done and sympathy for his victims, and he *has* to push it all down lest the psychological pain alone kills him. He likes killing, sure, but more as a sport than a past time. And honestly i could go on and on but let's leave it at that for now.

[that-one-weird-cloud0]

Danny, dating one of the batfam:

Bat: *sighs dramatically while looking out the window* if only my boyfriend loved me

Danny, confused as they just had a conversation about who Danny’s favorite Gotham hero was: ??? I love you 🥺

Bat: *glances back at Danny* uggghhhhhhh if only my boyfriend loved me… 😪

[joncronshawauthor]

Welcome to the Ravenglass Universe Community - A World Beyond the Pages

Hello from Morecambe! Today marks a special day in the journey of the Ravenglass Universe – the official launch of our very own community! This is more than just a subscription; it’s an invitation to step into a world where fantasy meets reality, where your voice becomes an integral part of an ever-evolving narrative. What is the Ravenglass Universe Community? The Ravenglass Universe…

[ofswordsandpens]

Riordan: And the grand lesson that Percy needed to learn over the course of hoo, the culmination of his character arc of this series, the moment where the fate of the world hangs in the balance because of a single decision he has to make... is realizing when he needs to take a step back :)

Me:

[mmavverickk]

Percy cannot get along with war gods.

it's not a choice on his part. he'd love for a conversation to be short and respectful, so he wouldn't stand out, wouldn't be interesting, and the gods would leave him alone. but percy's fatal flaw is personal loyalty, and the wars he's involved in are all hurting the people he loves. percy is incapable of respecting the idea of a war that could injure or harm or kill his friends and family.

the risk that something horrible could happen to them outweighs anything else, any other thought or emotion. so when he's confronted with the embodiment of war? when he meets ares, with his bloodlust and superiority complex and his ego?

it is impossible for him to be respectful. it is impossible for him to be polite. he is incapable of taking any other attitude. war is hell. war is death, and destruction, and desperation, and despair, and Percy will not allow war to hurt his people. Percy will plant himself directly in harm’s way to save his friends and family every time, and every time his perception of war will change. every time, he will think surely, this is the worst the world has to offer. surely, things can only get better from here, and every time, every goddamn time, he’s wrong. it can get worse, it will get worse, and Percy will be stuck in the middle of it, acting as a shield and a sword.

[lastoneout]

ngl ALL of across the spiderverse was fantastic but that short scene where we got to see a disabled spider-person using a wheelchair and crutches while STILL kicking ass AND making jokes and puns about said mobility aids while doing so singlehandedly cured my depression and added 500 years to my lifespan <3

[gingermintpepper]

In my Zeus bag today so I'm just gonna put it out there that exactly none of the great Ancient Greek warrior-heroes stayed loyal and faithful and completely monogamous and yet none of them have their greatness questioned nor do we question why they had the cultural prominence that they did and still do.

Jason, the brilliant leader of the Argo, got cold feet when it came to Medea - already put off by some of her magic and then exiled from his birthland because of her political ploys, he took Creusa to bed and fully intended on marrying her despite not properly dissolving things with Medea.

Theseus was a fierce warrior and an incredibly talented king but he had a horrible temper and was almost fatally weak to women. This is the man who got imprisoned in the Underworld for trying to get a friend laid, the man who started the whole Attic War because he couldn't keep his legs closed.

And we cannot at all forget Heracles for whom a not inconsiderable amount of his joy in life was loving people then losing the people around him that he loved. Wives, children, serving boys, mentors, Heracles had a list of lovers - male and female - long enough to rival some gods and even after completing his labours and coming down to the end of his life, he did not have one wife but three.

And y'know what, just because he's a cultural darling, I'll put Achilles up here too because that man was a Theseus type where he was fantastic at the thing he was born to do (that is, fight whereas Theseus' was to rule) but that was not enough to eclipse his horrid temper and his weakness to young pretty things. This is the man that killed two of Apollo's sons because they wouldn't let him hit - Tenes because he refused to let Achilles have his sister and Troilus who refused Achilles so vehemently that he ran into Apollo's temple to avoid him and still couldn't escape.

All four of these men are still celebrated as great heroes and men. All four of these men are given the dignity of nuance, of having their flaws treated as just that, flaws which enrich their character and can be used to discuss the wider cultural point of what truly makes a hero heroic. All four of these men still have their legacies respected.

Why can that same mindset not be applied to Zeus? Zeus, who was a warrior-king raised in seclusion apart from his family. Zeus who must have learned to embrace the violence of thunder for every time he cried as a babe, the Corybantes would bang their shields to hide the sound. Zeus learned to be great because being good would not see the universe's affairs in its order.

The wonderful thing about sympathy is that we never run out of it. There's no rule stopping us from being sympathetic to multiple plights at once, there's no law that necessitate things always exist on the good-evil binary. Yes, Zeus sentenced Prometheus to sufferation in Tartarus for what (to us) seems like a cruel reason. Prometheus only wanted to help humans! But when you think about Prometheus' actions from a king's perspective, the narrative is completely different: Prometheus stole divine knowledge and gifted it to humans after Zeus explicitly told him not to. And this was after Prometheus cheated all the gods out of a huge portion of wealth by having humans keep the best part of a sacrifice's meat while the gods must delight themselves with bones, fat and skin. Yes, Zeus gave Persephone away to Hades without consulting Demeter but what king consults a woman who is not his wife about the arrangement of his daughter's marriage to another king? Yes, Zeus breaks the marriage vows he set with Hera despite his love of her but what is the Master of Fate if not its staunchest slave?

The nuance is there. Even in his most bizarre actions, the nuance and logic and reason is there. The Ancient Greeks weren't a daft people, they worshipped Zeus as their primary god for a reason and they did not associate him with half the vices modern audiences take issue with. Zeus was a father, a visitor, a protector, a fair judge of character, a guide for the lost, the arbiter of revenge for those that had been wronged, a pillar of strength for those who needed it and a shield to protect those who made their home among the biting snakes. His children were reflections of him, extensions of his will who acted both as his mercy and as his retribution, his brothers and sisters deferred to him because he was wise as well as powerful. Zeus didn't become king by accident and it is a damn shame he does not get more respect.