#for example: swaine

[snowflakebottles-art]

heehee ive been playing ni no kuni bc i got the 2nd one on sale for 12 dollars instead of 80 (insane) and i was like ‘well i cant just play that without the first one’ so here i am

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Out of curiosity I must ask, what League of Legends champion do you absolutely loathe lore wise?

I don't mean that you hate them every time they're on screen and wish that Riot never made them, mind you. I mean they're good in design and execution, but if you were in their world, you'd punch them directly in the balls.

God, like... most of them? Yeah, most of them probably. Might be easier to count the ones I wouldn't get angry with.

Understand, most of these characters are people who wield tremendous power and who, out of the necessity of storytelling, makes really bad choices about how to wield it and wield it unilaterally over other people.

Like, Shen for example, good ol' mister Eye of Twilight, Keeper of the Balance and so on... also happy to just let people get Noxus Murdered because of spirit balances or whatever. Fuck that guy. Punch him in the dick. Nasus is too busy feeling sorry for himself in the desert to give a shit about helping the people he was once sworn to defend, Swain is a military dictator, Darius is the enforcer of military dictatorship, Garen and Fiora both aid and abet an ongoing genocide while Lux is a reprehensible centrist about it, Xayah and Rakan are terrorists targeting human civilians, Bard happily lets entire villages be slaughtered while he collects magic artifacts, Vex killed like hundreds of thousands of people during the Ruination... it goes on like this.

So yeah. Lillia is cute and good and deserves the world. Ekko and his crew have never done anything wrong, ever, and protect Zeri at all costs. Yuumi is baby. I'd try goat's milk to drink with Braum, and I'd love to share a campfire with Taliyah and her folks. Nami seems alright, Neeko would be fun to chat with, I wish to build a snowman with Nunu and Willump. Poppy is okay, but we don't know if she's on the mages' side yet, so, hm. Soraka is welcome at the party though!

And y'know what, Seraphine and Gwen can come too, they seem like they'd be baseline pleasant to have around.

EDIT: inb4 none of this means you're not allowed to like any of these characters or that enjoying them and fanjoying over them is problematic or w/e, please do not be weird about this

[incorrect-ninokuni]

Oliver: What is your biggest weakness?

Swaine: I can be uncooperative.

Oliver: Okay, give me an example?

Swaine: No.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

On your post about ex-Harvard president Gay-

This person cheated her way to the top. She took the place of someone who would actually be qualified. I’m certain Harvard has a no plagiarism policy, so she’s enforcing rules on people that she broke and benefited from.

Any other presidents who were/are found to commit the same violation should receive the same punishment.

When comments are made such as ‘this is meant to humble black women’ or that merit is an arbitrary standard, lowers the bar for the community as a whole. There are PLENTY of black women who are intelligent, strong leaders, highly qualified, etc, and she took that position from someone who worked for it and deserved it. To state racism as the reason for her stepping down implies that because she is a black woman, we have to overlook some merit items and academic violations. How is that not racist in itself? There are black women who can do the job competently without having cheated to get there and she took that spot from them. She is the ONLY person to blame for her downfall and to imply otherwise hurts people who could have succeeded in this role.

This is entirely correct.

They can't claim that "society is racist" as the reason Claudine Gay was dethroned, when that same society facilitated her rise in the first place. It's like thanking god for the good things but not blaming god for the bad things... only, sort of inverted.

One of the angry Tweets from Marc Lamont Hill was:

The next president of Harvard University MUST be a Black woman.

This is literally the same diversity-hire attitude that got Harvard into this mess in the first place.

But let's roll with this. How about Carol M. Swain? She's a black woman. She's one of the people Claudine Gay stole from, so if they liked Gay's "scholarship," what they actually liked incorporated Swain's ideas. Swain is also a conservative and a Xian, though. So, what are the chances? When they say "diversity," what they really mean is "ideological conformity."

Any other president would not have been so well insulated or protected. Bob Casten resigned as President of the University of South Carolina after remarks from one commencement speech he gave included plagiarized content.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/14/us/plagiarism-commencement-speech-south-carolina/index.html

The resignation of University of South Carolina president Bob Caslen for plagiarizing remarks in a commencement speech is the most recent example of the awkwardness faced by educators and school leaders when higher-ups find inspiration in the wrong ways.

Caslen resigned from his position Wednesday after admitting his commencement speech plagiarized portions of a speech given by the former head of US Special Operations Command, retired Navy Adm. William McRaven.

“I was searching for words about resilience in adversity and when they were transcribed into the speech, I failed to ensure its attribution. I take full responsibility for this oversight,” Caslen wrote in a letter to students obtained by CNN affiliate WIS.

One speech. Not even scholarship. Not research. A single speech. Not only that, but he took responsibility. He said, the buck stops with me.

Harvard was still backing Gay when the total accusations was up to 40. And Gay's resignation letter demonstrates no responsibility, and only entitlement and deflection. If you've seen the Roland Fryer video, this is completely on brand for someone as corrupt as her.

She was't outsted because she's a black woman. She was protected because she's a black woman. This is the gaslighting that they do. Gay and Harvard are the villains. As you mentioned, she stole a prestigious position from someone else. Could have been a black woman, could have been a white man. Doesn't matter. She stole a position someone else was more qualified to take.

And Harvard facilitated this fraud. And it was fraud. It's literally academic fraud. There were murmurs in corridors for years about Gay's scholarship long before it was ever exposed. But Harvard didn't address it, and when they were pressured to in this most recent blow-up, they faked an "investigation" that found only minor issues with quotation marks. It seems much more like not only they knew, but actively facilitated it. It's extremely hard to believe that, given this goes all the way back to her dissertation, they were completely unaware of this pervasive fraud, and much more likely they were not only aware, but colluded.

Gay and Harvard are the villains. But this is the DARVO - Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender - that they do. You're supposed to feel guilty for noticing their malfeasance. You don't need to. And it's so blatant this time that I think this might even be a tipping point in some way. People are completely fed up with being manipulated. But that's "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion"'s entire game.

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten, MAG 4 Page Turner, Spoiler Free Version!

Spoiler free version of my analysis of MAG 4, Page Turner. Enjoy!

Facts: Statement of Dominic Swain, regarding a book briefly in his possession in the winter of 2012.

Statement Notes: Starting simple, I would just like to say that as a theatre tech, Swain is so accurate and so real. "Doing a little bit of everything?" Real. Trying to see friends work but you also work at the same time? Real. Work place romance? Real. Not being able to relax when you see a play because you know all the tech stuff that can go wrong? Really real.

There's some really classic cursed object horror going on here that I love. Swain tries to sell the book the whole episode, but calls it "his book" fleeing Mary. Additionally, he says that he thought about giving it away, but felt that "wouldn't count." Very similar to Do Not Open here and a lot of cursed object horror in that there needs to be some kind of debt or reciprocity established rid one of the object.

I also just love the line "walking felt as natural as falling." It really conjures the idea that he can't control himself, that he's stumbling to Mary's shop uncontrollable just as he would fall down the stairs: completely unable to stop. It's like the vertigo attacked Katherine had was multiplied for him here.

Character Notes: My biggest takeaway about Jurgen Leitner in this ep is that he doesn't spell his name with an umlaut like others. Why did Jonny include that detail. What does that for me.

I also love Gerard Keay so much. He listens to death metal, he paints, he goes against his mom, he burns books. Such a strange and unstoppable force of a person. That news article about his trial really makes you scared of him, but you also kind of want to trust him? Especially when you place him next to his really scary cursed-book-collecting mother. The contrast and the different kinds of nerves/dread you feel listening to their descriptions is just an example of great horror writing.

I think it's so weird that Swain couldn't find anything online about him, though. These books and Jurgen Leitner are clearly around, so wouldn't there be some kind of chat room or reddit post about one? Builds my theory that there is something controlling the stream of information about the supernatural in this universe. Something is trying to contain it all to the archive.

But of course, Jon. He doesn't believe in the supernatural, but is absolutely terrified of Leitners and is working on an "institute project" to eradicate them? I would love to know how this project worked. Was it just research? Was there a team dedicated to finding and collecting these books? What was the incident in 1994? Why does Jon have this job if he doesn't believe in the supernatural? Does he think only some of it counts?

Crazy ep, one of my favorites. Let me know what you think!

[mollysunder]

Everytime it Wasn't Swain

After rewatching Arcane, I decided to make a list for everytime Swain was almost there. You thought he was being alluded to, but he wasn't, it was actually something else. Or was it?

1. The Crows

Swain has ravens, not crows, there just happen to be a suspiciously large quantity of crows, for a port city, instead of seagulls. As the show went on, the arrival of crows became synonymous with Jinx's presence and vice versa. It's not hard to see why, crows are intelligent and naturally social birds that do well in urban ecosystems, they just have a mixed reputation as good and bad omens. On a narrative level, the presence of crows does have interesting implications. Crows and ravens are easily confused for the other if you don't know what to look for. And the more I read about Swain, the more I notice that he and Jinx (in Arcane) are similar in some regards. Not just the fact they killed and maimed their family members, that's not uncommon for League backstories for some reason. From a storytelling standpoint, they both serve as living embodiment of their respective nations, good and bad, that other characters have to react to. And it was their actions that changed the trajectory of their nations.

What's even more interesting is that crows and raven in real life don't get along, they're incredibly territorial and avoid one another. If they do cross paths, crows are more likely to pick a fight with ravens. Despite the raven being bigger, crows band together in large groups to fend off ravens from their nesting areas, sort of like they harass them away. Food for thought.

2. The Man Named Jericho but not Swain

This one was cute. It took me a while to realize that they both had the same first name, except Swain has a last name, which is Swain. The first time his name was mentioned was when Vi and Caitlyn were on the search for Silco, but Vi was really on the search for Jinx. Funny enough, Jericho's apron and pants looks like the Jinx's outfit. I know plenty of people wear pinstripes in Zaun, but the black triangle with the 'X' in the center was pretty on the nose. On one hand this shot could foreshadow the way Jinx's actions come between Caitlyn and Vi. On the other, that's not as fun, and I want to know if this makes Jericho a Jinx stan! Seriously, maybe it's another hint at the way Zaun and Noxus are similar threats to Piltover, just in different clothes. Or Swain's a Jinx stan too!

3. The Palette Portrait

I've watched Arcane more than once and never managed to see it before, and wasn't too sure it was Swain until I outlined the figure myself. There he is long white hair, red magic hand, widow's peak, and sharp profile. In context, this is part of the scene where Mel is aggressively painting while Jayce apologizes for leaving her alone in bed the night Viktor collapsed. It's the first time Jayce and the audience sees her paint, and is essentially one of the first moments we get to see a part of her inner life. In this exact shot she says, "There's a lot you don't know about me". I'd say pretty on the nose to say this is foreshadowing her past connections to Noxus. But there's small things that are off, for example, Swain is draped in red rather than a severe black. And his face is dark while he's a white man, the color choices actually fit Ambessa more than Swain. Another fake out? Or maybe it means that there's no difference between people like Swain and Ambessa in the grand scheme of Noxus' war machine.

All in all I found three times Swain's presence was almost confirmed, but instead was something or someone else. There was always one or two details off to make it so. Each time there was an "almost Swain" connection, it was usually in association with Jinx or Mel, a cast member actually from Noxus. Swain, or at least the concept of Swain, seems to haunt the Mel's past and Jinx's future.

[arcanefandomweek]

From the 6th of November to the 3rd of December!

In honor of Arcane's first anniversary, we're running a month long fandom event!

Our beloved show is turning one year old! The fandom might have calmed down, but it's still going strong! To celebrate it turning one, and all its magnificent blorbos, we will offer 4 themed weeks for you to create any fan content you want!

Fics, art, from doodles to Gif sets, through cosplay or song playlists, all content is welcome.

Nov 6 - 12 will focus on pre-Arcane canon

Nov 13 - 19 will be for works set during canon

Nov 20 - 26 is all about post season 1 speculation

Nov 27 - Dec 3 will be AUs time!

Each week will come with a set of daily prompts you're welcome to use, but all content is accepted. If you want to do your own thing or pair up with another November prompt event, you're welcome to do so!

The specific prompt lists will be released later in the week along with the official event # tag and AO3 collection details. We'll also make a post detailing our tag system to help content creators who want to follow it.

Rules & Guidelines

Fanworks created for this event should be focused on Arcane character(s). LoL characters are welcome as supporting/side characters, but not as the stars of the show. So "Mel and Jayce try to resist as Swain's forces take over Piltover, aided by Machine Herald Viktor" is a-okay, but "Swain takes over Piltover and has a chat with a captive Mel as he finally wins the city" is not. Reader inserts and original characters are also allowed, so long as canon Arcane characters remain the focus.

NSFW or potentially triggering content, even if canon-typical, must be properly tagged with any applicable content warnings. We trust you to only submit NSFW works if you are 18+. Make use of the read-more bar to hide sensitive content, or host your work on AO3 or Twitter.

This event allows all ships and themes so long as everything is appropriately tagged.

All types of fanworks, including fic, art, moodboards, podfic, playlists, meta, embroidery, and more, are welcome for this event.

Racist, queerphobic, ableist, misogynistic, or otherwise hateful or bigoted behavior or fanworks will not be tolerated. Your work may include aspects of bigotry and oppression so long as they are properly tagged. For example: A fic that features a character facing ableism is allowed with content warnings; a work that includes ableist tropes as part of the narrative or erases a canon disability is not.

If you are submitting visual work, please consider writing an image description!

We're so excited to see the works you guys will come up with, whether you do one piece or a thing per day, crazy nano style, we'll be thrilled to see and share it!

Warm up those wrists and if you have any questions, check our FAQs or send us an Ask! Don't be shy!

EDIT : Link to the masterpost.

[spncontips]

Hi, I was wondering if you don’t buy any of the extra activities (like jewelry making for example) if there is still stuff to do at the con. I’ve never been to one and I have gen admission ticket and a photo op with Misha. Sorry if this is a dumb question I just want to make sure I’m not standing around for hours with nothing to do.

Hi there

There are panels through out the day which keep you busy. The vendor's room is always open and Louden Swain often do impromptu performances in that room. Also, there are activities in the auditorium between panels. Auctions, vid competitons, trivia that kind of thing. You won't be bored.

Have fun!

-sweetondean

[noxianwilled]

i know i said i wasn't going to talk about it.... but hear me out...

the trifarix was established to ensure a weak leader wouldn't doom noxus, as stated in the above piece from principles of strength. "there will always be two others to hold any rogue third accountable" — which sounds very similar to what swain is doing by surrounding himself with people who he can trust would end him for the good of noxus, should raum become a problem. the comic establishes katarina as one failsafe among those when he says "which is why noxus needs an assassin who can get to anyone, be it a tyrant, a king, or even me. whatever i may become."

furthermore, i think the comic shows in many ways katarina is fit to represent guile — not as someone who'd play political games and excel such as leblanc, perhaps, but definitely cunning throughout her mission, be it in deceiving those she meets along the way or in how successfully she evades not only capture and death but recognition when assassinating the king of demacia. her own, personal story in the comic also contributes to that — katarina is never ten steps ahead, and she clearly can be deceived, but she makes sense of things on her own. she figures out what she has enough context and information to figure. she also shows she has leadership qualities with the fact she doesn't follow her orders blindly, but rather adapts and chooses according to her own judgment of what would be most beneficial to noxus (as shown in her decision not to assassinate lux, for example)

i think there may have been? someone else as the faceless before (even in the comic, swain does talk about rebuilding the trifarix etc and at that point she's clearly not it and i guess that's the weakest point in the theory). but i also think her end there points out to her assuming that position (why or who occupied it before i don't know tbh)

in proclamation of the trifarix, it's said swain reconciled with the assassin guilds, and that the faceless would be their representative "to protect the empire against even the most insidious threats from within" (which, again, is not too dissimilar from what swain says noxus needs an assassin for). later, it's said in truth swain gained their support and proceeded to dismantle the power structure that supported them and "Though the full repercussions of this remain to be seen, it is likely that many nobles have been driven into alliance with his clandestine enemies, and eventual rebellion." which seems to be the case with marcus as presented in the comic — he supported swain, but eventually learned of his involvement in what happened to soreana, beyond caring for his house before noxus, which led to him acting with the black rose.

among the characters we know, katarina is the one who fits better the position imo because she does believe in the noxus swain (and darius) are building. she comes from a lineage of assassins, but she fully supports dismantling the nobility. the comic really solidifies it from the start. it opens with her saying "noxus has changed for the better." the divide between her and her family gave her a very different outlook on things, and solidified her loyalty to noxus first and foremost.

there's the bit where she says "this city, this empire, built upon a simple idea -- strength thrives without prejudice wherever noxus stands. it's beautiful. and despite everything it's cost our family... it's still worth it." that i think really encapsulates it beautifully. change was costly, perhaps even personally so, but she stands by it. she loves noxus and what her noxus is. her conversation with lux is so very representative of it, too. when she ask "what about your family? this could destroy them. what about your country?", and lux replies saying she has to stand for the demacia she believes in, that's what gets to katarina because she sees herself in that. because it's what she does for noxus.

by the end of the comic, there's a two month timeskip. in soreana's letter, it's said swain reinstated katarina as rightful head of the du couteau assassins guild, and perhaps more importantly, that "his quiet war with the noble houses and the guilds will get much louder" — considering katarina fully supports what the new government is doing, that's understandable but i also like that it draws attention to the fact despite her noble background, she's not in good terms with nobility, she's seen as the opposition that she is. and then, when jared says "your fate, swain's fate and the fate of the empire itself are decided", her reply as she stabs him is "not by you. that's my job now." which honestly? seems to imply a bit more than being head of her house?

on top of that, if principles of strength is after she's the faceless, i think what we have of them there suits her really well. the fact swain calls them out for needless risk in the way they go about dealing with the situation most definitely seems in line with what we know of katarina, who's so prone to risky moves (and that might just be my personal bias, but her being the faceless and swain knowing it - because i think he would know who the faceless is, especially considering he has the demon of secrets with him and all that - would imo add to why the grand general makes that commentary; it's the mentor-like relationship of it and cautioning someone he'd know to be reckless against it)

last but not least, i just think it makes sense for the trifarix to be all aligned with swain instead of one of them being an infiltrated black rose agent. with how swain opposes them, hunting down the people associated with them and all, letting one of them occupy such a high position seems like a huge oversight, and not being in the trifarix doesn't undermine the black rose's power when it's spread all over and operating in the shadows.

i also think thematically and from a character point of view it'd be fascinating development for katarina to go from someone so eager to be seen and acknowledged to occupying an important position in noxian government by doing the opposite, making herself unknown and unrecognizable. a huge theme in her arc is the lesson of putting her nation before herself, as well as finding her own path beyond her father's shadow. and i think it'd be particularly delicious development considering marcus himself was hypocritical and placed other things before noxus, while katarina truly and wholeheartedly committed to the empire. and i feel especially with all that's presented in the comic, she's mature and committed enough to have left behind the desire to be acknowledged and the desire to rebel against her father's teachings for the sake of it, which makes her a lot more suited to that position now. also she knows about swain's demon shenanigans and that feels very relevant.

[yanlei-a]

tell us about zed in modern au .. does he still go by zed even

— @windchaser

teehee thanks for the ask mars mwah

modern verse zed is a martial artist who has a dojo and all too often picks up troubled kids in dangerous situations to teach and give them a healthier environment and something to dedicate themselves to. sometimes that ends up with him adopting them, still (although i do think modern verse zed is... a lot better with outright having adopted and being a father to the kids he picked up on the street aksdnfajsd). kayn, of course, is his son (but i wanna say at least the shadow assassin girl from the lor card is also his adoptive kid, i'll give her a name and make my oc idc).

a lot of his background is similar. his father left when he was a kid, he didn't have a good relationship with his mother (although, without the kinkou, i think he remained with her until he was of age to live on his own). i do keep the idea kusho still preyed on zed, seeing in him someone easily manipulable and intending to shape him up to be a successor of sorts in kusho's shady shenanigans his family probably doesn't know about.

eventually, though, zed started doing his own thing. it may have started as a gang of sorts, and he made it into a little criminal empire of his own, not for power or greed, but to initially to keep his corner of the city safe when the authorities failed to (or did not care, because that would involve going against powerful people; i actually like tying it up with swain and co murdering irelia's family and no one daring look into it because the people behind it were powerful. so basically this sort of thing started to happen and zed decided if no one was going to do something about it, he would do something about it, even if that required getting his hands dirty and becoming a criminal himself). he definitely does fucked up things for power, if he thinks power is necessary for his goals.

i imagine the yanlei are a mafia-esque organization of sorts, and because of what i said above, he bothers with keeping what he considers his people safe while being ruthless to everyone else unless he has reason not to be. the criminal leader part of his life is something secretive though. for all intents and purposes, he's just a Normal guy who has a dojo and has a soft spot for helping troubled kids.

given the real nature of a lot of what he does, he isn't always around the dojo, but he did train his kids personally, and they do know what he really is (kayn was still raised to be his 'heir', too). but yeah, he's not famous, he's not really... around the celebrity circles except for the few he'd know (like irelia probably if we consider her dating kayn for example, and hm, some other people perhaps).

as for the name! i think the way zed ties into it is that, in his shady business, that's probably the name he'd go by. most people would know him as usan though c:

[twistedtummies2]

Good & Evil - Sympathetic Villains

Welcome to Good & Evil: A Study of Heroes & Villains. I’m discussing different forms of heroic and villainous characters, different types of protagonists and antagonists, and providing examples of them each from various sources. Last time, I talked about Flawed Heroes: ultimately heroic protagonists who don’t necessarily always do the right thing at the right time. So it seems appropriate I follow it up with what would arguably be their antagonistic mirror images: Sympathetic Villains. When I talked about Villains (“With a Capital V”) I mentioned that I would be sparing Sympathetic Villains for a separate category, and that is this one. While straightforward Villains are essentially evil characters usually for the sake of being evil, with little to no redeeming values, Sympathetic Villans are villainous antagonists with a deeper twist. While some Villains have an empathetic side, Sympathetic Villains are characters we not only can understand, but at times even feel sorry for. They are evil people with a good side to them; not rotten to the core, but not in the right with what they do either. Even though they aren’t all bad, we recognize that the extreme measures they go to in order to get whatever they want make them ultimately the villain of the story, and while we might pity them or even, on some level, agree with their reasoning, we understand they are taking the wrong route to wherever they want to go.

When I think of Sympathetic Villains, one of the first characters I think of is Count Dracula. Now, Dracula in the original Bram Stoker book - and many earlier interpretations - is NOT a sympathetic villain. He is really a straightforward bad guy with little to no great pathos. However, starting in the 1970s and lasting well into the modern day, Dracula has been reinterpreted frequently as a more tragic figure. Probably my favorite sympathetic version of Dracula is the one in the Castlevania franchise: in the Classic games, just like in general, Dracula started off as a simple Villain, but as time went on and the lore of the series evolved, the character became more layered and complicated. He developed legitimate reasons to hate mankind, and had a son he truly cared about and loved. While his actions could be repugnant, and the threat he posed was real, it became hard, therefore, to truly loathe him. This carried over into the animated series (as well as into the “Lords of Shadow” reboot, where the character was turned into more of an anti-hero than a true villain): the Count’s mixture of personal isolation and tragic losses in life, in all these versions, make him just as much a figure of sorrow as sinister villainy.

Comic books have many sympathetic scoundrels. Much like Dracula, the Batman villain Mr. Freeze didn’t start off especially sympathetic, but as time went on, more and more layers and tragic elements were added to the character. Even from the beginning, the character was something of an outcast: his “power” was really a handicap, preventing him from existing properly in the normal world. He could no longer experience simple pleasures that most people take for granted, as his need to remain in sub-zero temperatures hindered him greatly. This was later compounded with the addition of making Freeze a lovelorn swain, as he was revealed to have a wife - named Nora - suffering from a terminal illness. In some versions, it is Freeze’s desire to save Nora that leads to his evil scheming, while in others, the loss of Nora drives Freeze totally over the deep end. In many cases, it’s a mixture of both. Regardless, the tragedy of Nora and Mr. Freeze has become so integral to the character, many people forget that it is a relatively recent addition to the villain’s established background. The idea of isolation and lost love brewed together makes Freeze one of the most lonely and depressing villains in the DC canon, and many consider him one of the saddest antagonists in comic book history.

Marvel has their fair share of villains too, and one of the most iconic of this sort is Magneto. Magneto is what you might call a “noble villain,” which I personally consider a sub-category for the Sympathetic Villain archetype. While one rarely feels SORRY for Magneto, one can understand his agenda and why he is the way he is. Magneto believes that the human race is a barbarous and base species, while Mutants like himself are the superior species. All of his plans revolve around conquering, eradicating, or “evolving” the human race, putting Mutants in charge of everything. Given Magneto’s past, you can hardly blame him for his bitterness towards mankind: he’s not only a Mutant, meaning he frequently faces prejudice just on that front alone, but he’s also a Holocaust survivor. He has seen how depraved mankind can be, and he has had little shown to him to convince him humanity can be saved. Ironically, his “Mutants Over All” ideal can be seen as him coming full circle, in some ways. While his actions can be cruel and vicious, we understand where he’s coming from, and he’s not a villain without standards: most exemplary is his relationship with Professor X, who is both his arch-nemesis and his best friend at the same time.

Speaking of friendships between heroes and villains, sometimes a Sympathetic Villain doesn’t have to have a tragic backstory or deep, compelling motivation and goal to BE Sympathetic. Ultimately, they simply have to show us that they have a good side to them, somewhere deep down. A common way of managing this is having the Villain show they legitimately care about someone, and making that element a focal point for their character. One of the most classical examples of this is Long John Silver, the main antagonist of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” Silver is a villain, plain and simple: he is a treacherous and manipulative crook who has no compunctions killing and threatening innocent lives to get what he wants. What he wants is not an especially sympathetic goal, either: he obsesses over finding Captain Flint’s long lost treasure, and not for any particularly noble reason, just because…well…he’s a pirate, and that’s a lot of money to be had. The primary thing that makes Silver a sympathetic and interesting character is his relationship with the hero of the story, Jim Hawkins: in the book, Long John comes to care about Jim, developing a sort of fatherly or big-brother-like relationship with the young Cabin Boy. He’s protective of young Hawkins, and while he threatens Jim and his friends a few times, and has no problem killing the others on the ship, he is totally sincere when it comes to making Jim stays safe and alive. It’s the mixture of his rascally nature and his genuine care for the boy that makes Silver not only an intriguing antagonist, but also an unpredictable rogue. You’re not always sure if he’s going to do something good or bad, probably because he’s not always sure, himself. It’s telling that, much like Dracula, there are several takes on the character that make him even more sympathetic than he already is in the story, turning him into a more anti-heroic figure.

Finally, some villains can be sympathetic by just…well…being people, so to speak. I can think of no better example of this than Pokemon’s infamous Team Rocket Trio: Jessie, James, and Meowth. Much like Silver, these three have no noble-but-somehow-twisted goals or complex, poignant motivations for what they do, but they are characters we come to like, regardless. Not only are the three funny villains, with a great deal of humor to them, but over the years, we’ve come to see other sides to Team Rocket besides their evil deeds. We’ve seen them work with the heroes to stop bigger threats, or even secretly play the good guys behind the scenes by bringing a different perspective the heroes never consider. We’ve looked into their backgrounds, and seen how they became the thieving rogues they are, we’ve seen them form relationships with other people and Pokemon alike, and we’ve seen them move in-and-out from being treated as serious, dangerous criminals and more just annoying nuisances. Their many rises and falls, their comedic capabilities, and their very relatable qualities when they AREN’T concocting diabolical schemes endear these characters to us greatly. They aren’t sympathetic because we feel sorry for them, but they feel…human.

“Human.” That is the word for a Sympathetic Villain. There seems to be a growing belief that villains HAVE to be sympathetic, in some way, in order to be interesting; this is completely untrue, of course, but I think it’s telling that, as time has gone on, we’ve come to demand more humanity from our villains. These types of antagonists serve a double-purpose in storytelling. They teach us, first of all, that evil is rarely born, but usually created. They show audiences that, underneath every wicked smile and cackling laugh, there might be someone crying deep inside their heart. They prove that even the rottenest egg in the bunch can have a good spot deep in their center. They help us recognize that evil people are still people, just like us. However, Sympathetic Villains also serve effectively as cautionary tales. All of them are recognizably human and understandable, perhaps even people we want to help on some level…but, importantly, they help us recognize that - no matter how justified they may be in their anger, pain, or sorrow - they are still in the wrong. They teach us that we must be careful how we manage our emotions and beliefs, lest we take the same path into darkness they have.

In short, Sympathetic Villains are characters who force us to ask a tough but simple question, every time we see them: if we were in that situation…what would we do? Would we give in to the madness, or would we fight it at all costs? This, above all, is what makes them so compelling.

[blackrosesmatron]

🎶Do they have a type?

||

YES, this woman certainly has a type, and it's hot and dangerous people! No, seriously. She can go for women, men and people who doesn't identify as neither. She doesn't mind even if they are humans or not (as long as they are sentient beings). But they need to be hot (to her standards) and they need to be powerful and dangerous people.

Inteligent, good tacticians, ambitious are also some of the characteristics that often catch her attention.

Examples of people she has interest on: Evelynn, Vladimir, Elise, Swain, plus Silco and Mel to a small level. I include Nami on this list, but restricted to the Coven universe.

[vixtionary]

✒️ + talk about his relationship with darius...

SOURCE || OPEN

General Darius is a decorated veteran and respected warrior all across the Empire. In him Jericho Swain sees the ideal Noxian soldier; not solely because of his physical prowess ( which... is quite impressive, admittedly ) but more so for his spirit & devotion to the Empire.

Things haven't always been this way, however. When Cyrus first took the blood brothers under his wing, the majority of Generals held a low opinion of his decision. It was even mocked among the higher rankings. The first time Jericho briefly met Darius, he had thought him a little slow, for he was very impressive physically but obedient to a fault.

That was, up to the point when he heard word of his achievements in the Dalamor plain. Swain was deployed in Shurima at the time, at the height of his military career, and word reached him in passing. To take such initiative was an unexpected turn for the boy he had met back then. Darius would not occupy him much until his eventual return to Prime, after Darkwill summoned him for deployment in Ionia.

Then, his idea of the man once again was culled when he accepted the title of Hand, for Swain had already been prejudiced against Darkwill and saw the Hand as an overglorified lackey of his; however at the same time he recognized Darius' devotion to Noxus, which was an admirable and attractive quality in his eyes.

By the time Darius returned from the northern front post coup d'etat, the two had not seen each other in a while. Darius had last witnessed Swain getting dishonorably discharged in front of the entire Legion, and it is safe to say he would not have expected the turn of events. Swain, on the other hand, had now completely changed his mind on Darius. Where once he would question his loyalty to Darkwill and regard him as naive at the least, he now saw in him a potential protector of the Empire that would set an example for generations to come. Darius represents what Swain wants Noxus to become; in spite of his humble origins he earned his title and privileges. And he proves his devotion to the Empire every day, still.

In that, Jericho sees an expression of his personal ideal. It is true that Darius still rarely argues Swain's points and he is, in general, obedient. But in the Trifarix he, too, has the right to voice his opinion and Swain has made sure to encourage him from day one, respecting his take even if sometimes it is not as well articulated (Jericho understands they come from different backgrounds and did not receive the same education. Sometimes he interferes to "rephrase" what Darius says, but it is mostly to de escalate situations nowadays). He no longer thinks of him as a brute, having had a glimpse of his ideas and true spirit.

Needless to say, the few times they did argue, it was like the Audience Chamber froze over. Even the Faceless must have felt awkward in there. Darius may never know it, but those times sufficed to establish Swain's respect of him as an opinionated man and a warlord. Even unbeknownst to the Might, his mere presence in the council of three is often a determining factor for how, when or even if Swain will present a proposal.

[snugglyporos]

@infinite-xerath Honestly it's fairly simple: if there are people, Noxus wants to conquer them. It doesn't matter how bad the environment is. It also helps that Noxus doesn't seem to know about the literal gods and Eldritch horrors waiting for them, beyond probably dismissing them as local legends. It is telling that the Shadow Isles are apparently the one place that even Noxians want nothing to do with.))

Yes, but trying to conquer a frozen wasteland is leagues more difficult than trying to take over already developed territory. I know that in universe it was probably sold as 'oh we'll just go and beat them and they'll join us' but conquering a wasteland after you just sued for peace in two other conflicts strikes me as a tad unwise?

Because while I am not particularly up to date on my Demacia or Ionia lore, I am fairly certain there are things like roads and farms and the like, an ability to live off the land, so to speak. You take it over, make it yours, and then put it back to work doing what it was already doing.

The Freljord seems to survive on raiding? Mostly? And the things and places that don't are not particularly easy to get to?

To use a real world example, there's a reason why the vikings settled where they raided and not the other way around. There's a reason why the romans only made it halfway through Britain and to the Rhine, because at some point the ability to sustain a population of a certain size is impossible without endless amounts of moved materials.

Basically, you could probably station the entirety of Noxus' army in say, Demacia. Demacia has farms, the population that was fighting is now not fighting and replaced by Noxians who are in those jobs. But you could not do the same thing in the Freljord, because the Freljord has no way to sustain a giant army like that if it's just sitting there. It can't live off the land, the land is barren. It can't extract tribute, everyone can just get up and leave to other parts they don't control. They could try to build permanent things there, like roads and garrisons and the like, but those things are entirely dependent on aid from Noxus proper and if that doesn't come the whole thing falls apart?

And there's no way Darius, being a war genius, wouldn't know all of this? Unless his entire plan hinged on defeated the Freljordian armies in battle and capturing their leaders and making them submit. Or, it's an invading russia in winter situation, where there's just... endless expanses of nothing for hundreds of miles and it never gets any better.

Here's the other reason I can assume that either LeBlanc or Swain wanted him dead: not only was Darius defeated, he was captured, as was his son, who died against Sejuani's forces.

So Darius is defeated and captured, his son died there, and basically every time they lead an expedition into this place everyone dies horribly.

But the thing is, it's this endless attrition and stalemate that causes Darius to return and end up part of the council that now rules, because the Freljordian conflict is such a catastrophe. And yet, even still, he sends more expeditions to try and reclaim what little they built there, only now all the various scattered tribes are united either under Ashe or Sejuani.

So as far as I can tell, the opinion in Noxus should be that the Freljord is an icy deathtrap with nothing of value in it, except snow and angry tribesmen. Darius of all people should know that, he couldn't win against them and lost his son to them, and he apparently thought so poorly of the conflict that he turned him to overthrow the leadership with Swain and Leblanc.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that Noxus can't admit it got beaten by tribespeople and poros and beast men. So it has to say the conflict is ongoing so they don't lose face. But this is clearly not a conflict Noxus is winning, mainly because they destabilized their entire country in their biggest attempt at victory.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Aaron Sibarium

Published: Jan 1, 2024

Harvard University president Claudine Gay was hit with six additional allegations of plagiarism on Monday in a complaint filed with the university, breathing fresh life into a scandal that has embroiled her nascent presidency and pushing the total number of allegations near 50. 

Seven of Gay’s 17 published works have already been impacted by the scandal, but the new charges, which have not been previously reported, extend into an eighth: In a 2001 article, Gay lifts nearly half a page of material verbatim from another scholar, David Canon, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin.  

That article, "The Effect of Minority Districts and Minority Representation on Political Participation in California," includes some of the most extreme and clear-cut cases of plagiarism yet. At one point, Gay borrows four sentences from Canon’s 1999 book, Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts, without quotation marks and with only minor semantic tweaks. She does not cite Canon anywhere in or near the passage, though he does appear in the bibliography. 

Beyond that, Gay’s first two footnotes are copied verbatim from Canon’s endnotes.

Canon, like several of the scholars Gay has quoted without attribution, insisted that she had done nothing wrong.

"I am not at all concerned about the passages," Canon told the Washington Free Beacon. "This isn't even close to an example of academic plagiarism."

Though Harvard's governing board, the Harvard Corporation, said in mid-December that it had reviewed Gay’s published oeuvre and found several cases of "inadequate citation," it did not identify any of the examples described in the new complaint, which was submitted to the school’s research integrity officer, Stacey Springs, and obtained by the Free Beacon. 

The discrepancy raises troubling questions not just about the scope of Gay’s plagiarism, which appears to afflict half of her published works, but also the thoroughness and seriousness of the Corporation’s probe, which the board described as "an independent review by distinguished political scientists."

The review was completed in just a few weeks—far less time than the 6 to 12 months typical of other plagiarism investigations—and the Corporation has refused to disclose the names of the academics who conducted it. A Harvard spokesman, Jonathan Swain, did not respond to a request for comment about whether the school has reviewed all of Gay’s work, and, if so, how it missed the examples unearthed on Monday.  

"The board’s review of Gay’s work was too brief to inspire confidence," the complaint reads. "So we now know for certain that the board’s investigation was a sham."

The allegations filed Monday also include more material from Gay’s dissertation, which has already received three corrections. In one of the new examples, Gay, who works in quantitative political science, lifts a full sentence from her thesis adviser, Gary King, to describe a mathematical model. She does not cite King in parentheses or put his words in quotation marks.

While some of Gay’s defenders have claimed that technical descriptions do not require attribution in the social sciences, since there are only so many ways to explain a method or a formula, a Harvard handbook from 1998—the year Gay completed her dissertation—says otherwise.

"Citing tells your readers that the strategy or method isn’t original with you and allows them to consult its original context," the handbook states. King, who has downplayed previous charges against Gay, did not respond to a request for comment.

The rest of the new examples center on a 1996 paper by Frank Gilliam, "Exploring Minority Empowerment: Symbolic Politics, Governing Coalitions and Traces of Political Style in Los Angeles," that Gay repeatedly quotes without attribution, changing just a few words here or there. Those passages describe big-picture findings and do not include technical verbiage. Gilliam, now the chancellor of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, did notrespond to a request for comment.

The new complaint comes as an increasing number of Harvard students are speaking out against Gay, arguing that she has been held to a lower standard than the average undergraduate. One student on Harvard’s honor council, a jury-like body that adjudicates allegations of plagiarism and cheating, wrote in an anonymous op-ed that students are routinely suspended for doing what Gay did. Some students have called on Gay to resign, and others seem reluctant to defend their embattled president.

"President Gay Plagiarized, but She Should Stay," read the headline of a Harvard Crimson editorial. "For Now." The paper says the allegations of plagiarism are focused on "her PhD dissertation and two of her 11 published journal articles," leaving out the many allegations relating to articles that were not peer-reviewed.

The paper's qualified editorial position -- "for now" -- represents a shift in tone from the paper’s editorial board, which previously opined that—for the sake of a "free democracy"—Gay "must not yield" to "partisan attacks" in the wake of her disastrous testimony on anti-Semitism.

Gay’s most outspoken defenders have been her faculty colleagues. Randall Kennedy, a Harvard Law School professor, told the New York Times that the plagiarism charges were ginned up by "professional vilifiers" and "bad faith" actors—and went on to suggest the university may not cooperate with the congressional investigation underway into its adjudication of Gay’s work. 

Another Harvard lawyer, Charles Fried, was more explicit, describing the allegations as an "extreme right-wing attack on elite institutions."

"If it came from some other quarter, I might be granting it some credence," he told the Times. "But not from these people."

Harvard said in December that Gay’s "duplicative language," while "regrettable," did not constitute research misconduct because it was not "intentional or reckless," citing a policy that only governs faculty and is less stringent than the rules for students. 

But as more allegations have surfaced, some professors have begun to break ranks. A few told the Boston Globe in December that Gay’s treatment reeked of hypocrisy and double standards. And Omar Haque, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and a member of the university’s Council on Academic Freedom, said that the sheer breadth of the examples—especially those from the pre-word processor days—made it hard to fathom that everything was unintentional.

"Gay's alleged plagiarism in the 1990s may be more serious than in in recent years," he told the Free Beacon, "because prior to the use of computers to highlight and copy/paste text in seconds, plagiarism was more likely to be non-accidental and intentional and reckless."

Haque, who said he was speaking only in a personal capacity, added that it took "greater effort" to plagiarize with a typewriter. 

The blowback has been exacerbated by the Harvard Corporation’s feckless response to the allegations, which it initially tried to squash with a legal threat to the New York Post—and to the unnamed whistleblower who brought those allegations to the Post’s attention. 

Through the bellicose litigation boutique Clare Locke, Harvard said in October that it would sue for "immense damages" if the Post published a story on the charges. It also "threatened to use legal means to out who had supplied the comparisons," according to the paper’s reporting.

That person, a professor at another university, whom the Free Beacon has identified and granted anonymity, is behind the Monday complaint to Harvard, as well as a separate complaint last month alleging around 40 cases of plagiarism. While several Harvard scholars have faced plagiarism allegations since the early 2000s, none have seen such a large percentage of their work implicated.

Beyond outlining the new charges against Gay, the latest complaint -- 25 pages of which are devoted to outlining the various examples of Gay's alleged plagiarism -- argues that Harvard’s legal saber-rattling violated its research misconduct policy for faculty, which forbids retaliation against complainants. 

"At one point Gay and Harvard asked the Post, ‘Why would someone making such a complaint be unwilling to attach their name to it,’" the Monday complaint reads. "I was unwilling because I feared that Gay and Harvard would violate their policies, behave more like a cartel with a hedge fund attached than a university, try to seek ‘immense’ damages from me and who knows what else."

--

==

It is genuinely astonishing that this woman still has a job at all, never mind President of Harvard. This is why you never hire for diversity optics. When you don't make merit your number one priority, you have no idea if the person you're putting on is going to completely blow up your organization. And you can't get rid of them, because it looks like you're firing them because of their sex/race/etc., since you hired them for their sex/race/etc. in the first place.

[mollysunder]

Is Jericho a Jinx Stan?

I'll admit it, I cheered when I finally saw this shot. Like, there's Jericho from the back wearing his clothes in a way that looks like Jinx's pants and shirt in one go! It's such a fun way to show that maybe Jinx's more popular in Zaun than we think. That maybe there's people outside of Silco who are looking out for her but don't necessarily align with Silco.

The scene happened so fast it's like the artists wanted you to miss the hint. Seriously, I wondered why this endearing show of support wasn't on random extras or graffiti in Jinx's image. Instead the creators chose to use a character named Jericho to rep her colors.

And then I lost my mind because I remembered there's only one other character in League that has that name.

Jericho

FUCKING

SWAIN!!!!!!!

The grand general of Noxus himself. Idk what he wants exactly, I'm just gonna enjoy the fact that Jinx effortlessly endears herself to problematic old people.

Update 1: This all makes me remember the initial buzz around Swain's potential involvement in Piltover and Zaun's conflict. There was a lot of speculation that all the crows that began to appear were a sign of his presence. But that was more or less shot down as a reason because Swain employed ravens, while crows were more associated with Fiddlesticks. But now we have two examples of two things that rhyme with Swain but just aren't. There's the 'not ravens' and now, the 'not that Jericho', so instead of a red herring this is turning into a teaser.