#he makes so many people MISERABLE with his actions in the war and does not give a shit

[butwhatifidothis]

Ultimately, I think one of the worst things Hopes does wrt its writing of Claude is take out all of the complexities and contradictions that had made him so interesting to begin with.

OG Claude lies and manipulates people and closes himself off while still searching for the truth and wanting people to come together and be open with each other, because of how his traumas meld together with his dreams. He says that he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants and shows off opportunistic tendencies and then buckles at the first sight of innocents getting hurt, because no matter how much he wants what he wants he still prioritizes the lives of the people around him over anything else. He knows of people's capacity to hurt others for petty or illogical reasons - was raised with that knowledge beating its existence into him - and yet still dreams of a world where people of different lands and cultures can still be friends, because that is how tightly he holds onto his dreams. He's a kind person with the capacity for being a dick, and his contradictions add on so much to his character; they in large part are his character.

Hopes Claude? He lies and manipulates people and closes himself off... and that's it. He says he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants... and he does. He knows of people's capacity to hurt others for petty or illogical reasons... and has no real dreams of stopping it (or dreams of anything in the future really, by his own admission) and he indulges in that very behavior himself, seemingly without any awareness. He is untrustworthy, and manipulative, and opportunist... and that's it. What you see is what you get. And if this were a character unto themselves, if we're kind and we ignore all of the other issues with Hopes!Claude's writing, that would be a fun enough villain to follow around.

But it's not; this is supposed to be Claude. This is a character who has so much of his foundations be built on the idea that what he presents on the surface isn't all that he seems. That he's more than a character who is just "tee hee I'm only pretending to be nice but I'm actually eeeeevil evil evil evil evil evil evil," but someone who both uses kindness as a means to an end and embodies it genuinely. Warm yet calculated, a good man with real flaws - THAT is who Claude is. Hopes Claude is who Claude is if you strip him of any complexity - He Is Only Pretending To Be Good, But Actually He Is Bad.

He's just... easier to swallow, in a sense. Claude is a good person who is willing and able to do bad things, but only up to a very specific, very clear point, all for a good dream he's held onto for years and plans extensively to make a reality in the future; Clyde is a shit person who's willing to do everything short of bombing specifically whatever land he himself is ruling, all for what essentially amounts to no concrete purpose. There's no need to think about Clyde as hard, since he just does what he does because he's doing it and that's enough.

It's why I'm glad I am Dev-Approved to just fuckin' ignore Hopes entirely as a horrific fever dream, because Hopes does not understand what made Claude so lovable at all

[still-a-morosexual-help]

honestly tho om lucifer is such a comfort character

you know mammon's my all time all around favourite no contest but like

lucifer just hits different

he's so tired and he's so overworked and he loves his family so much it makes me sick he's willing to kill and die for them at any chance he made the misfits of the celestial realm his family despite being the perfect example of an angel himself he thinks his brothers are adorable he just wants them to have one quiet day

he's such a bastard he's arrogant and prideful and he'll willingly meow like a little kitty cat because his boybestfriend is sad

he's got daddy issues he's terrified he's traumatised his greatest fear is his father he spent years fighting a pointless war and never questioned his father about whether they ever even tried to find a way to end the war without just mindlessly trying to kill people who really aren't that different from them for a reason no one knows he's willing to be given piggyback rides by another high profile man in a public area

he's a dog person he's weak to puppy dog eyes from everyone he cares about he's constantly done with Mephisto's shit he gets jealous because one of his friends complimented their mutual friend's cookies

he's willing to villainize himself in the eyes of his family to keep them safe he's sadistic his first response to being cornered and scared is to kill anyone who's making him feel that way his love language with his brothers is being a little shit to them he's somehow connected to/the starting point of all the issues/trauma his brothers have he has empty nest syndrome even though all his brothers live at home he hasn't realised the extent to which his actions and words have fucked up his brothers and is constantly surprised and devastated by it when he realises

he has a son he pretends is his brother whom he only ever canonically acknowledged as his son twice which led to huge blowout fights one of his younger brothers bullies him into going to the pub with them once a week his son runs a club with his youngest brother dedicated solely to making his life miserable

he's sadistic he genuinely enjoys seeing people suffer he's so polite he'll allow himself to be poisoned by food he knows is bad he bought dinner for a whole restaurant because it was the owner's birthday he wore a silly outfit and worked at a themed restaurant as a favour for a friend he gets visibly more aroused when he's ordered around he insults his brothers but gets upset whenever an outsider does the same

he loves his human so much and he's so annoyed at them he's so frustrated with them he's so angry at them and he's so worried about them so protective of them so incredibly proud of them he has tried to kill them many many times

he's a borderline alcoholic he's immortal he's greying he gets migraines he forgets to eat and he sleeps at his desk he does the mom thing and orders takeout for his children when he goes out to eat without them he likes dad jokes his greatest wish is to visit a factory he likes good socks he's a grumpy old man

he's over 10 million years old he's an eldritch horror he's the personification of the sin of pride he needs glasses to read his childhood friend? ex-boyfriend? kind-of-brother? old coworker? brother in arms? calls him luci

he's a naggy paranoid perfectionist he removed the entire bathroom because one of his brothers forgot to clean it he had to literally be kidnapped to send him on a vacation he ripped out multiple sets of his own wings he doesn't like being seen shirtless he lectured jason voorhees about him not killing efficiently enough

he's a respected and recognised drag queen he believes love is love he's canonically so beautiful but no one ever makes a move on him because the whole realm thinks he's in a committed long term relationship he refuses to believe his best friend is in love with him despite multiple people saying so

he's the type of person you want to please the type of person you want to make proud the type of person you want on your side because you know no matter what he'll always have your back you're safe that as long as he's there everything will be okay the type of person you want to be held by while everything is falling down around you

he's even queer

[thealexandriaarchives]

If you're one of the people who haven't read the Dune novels or haven't read them since the Villeneuve adaptation brainrot set in, just a couple friendly reminders I haven't seen yet!

The scar on Gurney Halleck's face is from an Inkvine Whip, the same type used by (and possibly the same one as) Glossu Rabban when he was a slave on Giedi Prime.

Despite this killer backstory we don't get Gurney vs. Rabban in the book! Rabban dies offscreen in the battle and both we and Gurney are denied catharsis. Frank loves that.

But almost Not! Because you see, Muad'Dib was in full 'IDGAF about War Crimes' mode at the end of the book, and he'd promised his boy a present of equal or lesser value with the same name. Wrote him a little coupon. 'One Harkonnen to Kill in a Brutal and Humiliating Fashion, exchange for one Nuclear Warhead'

Which leads us to the final scene, where it turns out the only Harkonnen left alive is Feyd-Rautha and Gurney is really eager to remind Paul of what their deal was.

But as we know, Paul is the Duke, the Boy-Messiah, The Emperor to be, and he can absolutely take backsies on promised Good-Boy Points atrocities.

I'm not going to get into all the ways Feyd-Rautha is differently portrayed in the book and movies, but in what is either a 'cowardly move' or the Harkonnen thought process of' 'oh hell no this guy has a serious grudge against my family, I just got free of my uncle for 20 seconds, now I'm about to spend my whole Barony getting tortured-raped to death that ain't how I wanna go out', Feyd-Rautha invokes the ancient vendetta between the Atredies & Harkonnen clans that the Harkonnens put forward a claim to call off (in bad faith but on the record) while Leto on the Record sent back a reply saying 'suck my balls you snakes it's been 10,000 years, it's on sight', which means Paul has to fight him instead in 1:1 combat.

Of course in the Villeneuve adaptation there are many many minor and larger changes that alter Feyd's character for the better, but removing a lot of his more explicit sexual abuse and manipulative pleasing behaviors to survive means we lose a lot of his internal dialogue and his best actions. He is no longer the one to have the slave not be drugged at the fight, he doesn't get to try to kill his uncle with a harem boy that looks just like Paul Atredies and have it backfire miserably. But he does get to stand up and announce himself as the Emperor's champion when he doesn't need to, simply because he wants to and he has things to gain.

It may, with the rewrites, be the only time this version of Feyd-Rautha gets to make a meaningful choice about his destiny.

Plus, Gurney got to kill Rabban, so everyone got something!

[fizzingwizard]

I was genuinely looking forward to Lupin vs Holmes in part 6, but what a disappointment it was. Actually, disappointment is too weak a word. In my opinion, it was pretty much a disaster.

There were so many reasons to be hyped for that crossover. You've got Holmes, the greatest detective of his time, and Lupin, the greatest thief of his. They're both canny, eccentric, and always a step ahead of everyone else. They're also both independent and live by their own set of morals. Holmes picks which cases he'll take without concern for money, and lets people go even if they're guilty if his own convictions say they don't deserve punishment. Lupin always does what he wants, doesn't let himself get pushed around, and enjoys wreaking havoc among inhumane criminals just as much as he enjoys flouting the law.

They're even perfectly matched in the ways they're different. I was open to them either liking or disliking each other (though I feel convinced they'd definitely have respect for each other), because I can see either take making sense. Holmes is calculations with a pinch of chaos, Lupin is chaos with a measured dash of calculation. Holmes eschews relationships aside from a very few - Lupin enjoys social interaction (but prioritizes just a few). Holmes is functionally asexual. Lupin is never not horny.

Even the supporting cast was so promising! To tell the truth, from watching previous seasons I didn't really think the rest of the Lupin gang or Watson would have much to do. But I hoped they would because there was so much potential.

I mean Jigen and Watson are both war veterans in their own way. It's not the best comparison (Watson was a doctor, and got shot almost immediately... but he is also a "man of action" and does have a lot of fight and pluck, even if he's not going to be a match for Jigen in terms of marksmanship). And they're the right hand men of two pretty difficult geniuses... couldn't they spend a moment commiserating lmao.

It could have been awesome to see Fujiko interact with Holmes because her usual tricks wouldn't work on him. I admit it isn't unlikely the show would have been like "Ahh, but this time they do work on him, just like Irene Adler!" and totally ignored that book!Irene impressed Holmes with her wiliness and not her sexiness... But I'm talking about my fantasy here. And in my fantasy, Holmes would have had a similar reaction to Fujiko's manipulation and acting skills similar to how he did with Irene. It would have been pretty cool to see Fujiko interact with a man who was NOT into her, but was just as smart and brave and perhaps wiser than Lupin.

Even Goemon would have had something to do. He could have had a super cool kenjutsu vs baritsu ("what even is that?") battle with Holmes. Extra points if Goemon walks away saying "I respect the skill of that fellow warrior, even if he can't spell his own martial art correctly."

And of course Lestrade and Zenigata's shenanigans at Scotland Yard are a nobrainer. But serious bonus points if they both pine away with equal envy and admiration for their respective smart ass thorns in the side hahahahahahaha.

I mean. There was SO MUCH there. How, HOW do you mess that up???

(Answer: By knowing absolutely nothing about Sherlock Holmes to begin with and basing everything on your memories of inaccurate movies from fifty years ago x'D)

So instead we got: perpetually sad, somber Sherlock Holmes, who isn't working the job that he literally loves anymore in favor of looking miserable a lot and raising a child. And the child is Watson's kid, who Watson can't raise because he's fucking DEAD, and mom can't raise because SHE'S dead (just say Holmes is her mom. Come on. We're in the future. Just say it). Also Watson is dead because Lestrade killed him like WHAT. Of all the twists they could have gone one, they definitely surprised me with that one. Was it a fun surprise though? ... No, no it wasn't.

Add to that the extremely dull characterizations of everyone, the heavy reliance on the danger to a little girl who isn't even a canonical character but is very cute, and the slow, slow pace of the episodes... What a mess. It was memorable, sure, but for the wrong reasons.

Like the only thing I can think of that I didn't hate about the whole arc was Lily taking her first steps as Holmes's assistant at the very end. Fine, that's adorable, and makes me feel ever so slightly better about Watson being dead. And I'm desperate for something to like here so let's go with it.

("It's not really Sherlock Holmes anyway because of the generational difference, it's his great grandson who has his exact same name and job! Same with Watson and Lestrade and sexy Mrs Hudson and and and-" I'm gonna stop you right there we all know it's Holmes. Whatever excuses they make, no matter how they have to bend time and physics to make it happen, it is Holmes Prime in every way that matters lol.)

A melancholy sigh for the Coolest Crossover Ever That Wasn't. As a Lupin fan and a Sherlock Holmes fan, I'll regret it till the day I die.

[connecting-the-stars]

OKAY-Okay-okay….

That did hurt. I am hurt. WHY does the season 2 end like THAT!?

As someone who’s in a late crowd, I would be so seething in anger at the amount of time that’d I’d have to wait for all the shit to be solved in the next season. It really leaves such a dreadful note and kinda definitely depressing.

I’m over here like - yeah I know My Main Man Tech is gonna “kick the bucket” but I’ll be fine - I AM NOT FINE!

Bruh him sacrificing himself, Wrecker refusing to let him go, Omega being injured to have to remember his fall all over again, everyone is Big Sad and then Omega refuses to follow orders and tries to save Hunter and Wrecker to then have her be taken anyway! And Crosshair just lying unresponsive! It’s 28 minutes… My life was ruined in that span.

It’s definitely giving fighting a losing battle. Man, that was not an easy watch, everything just crumbles around them just as hunter has decided to go through with the plan to retire at Pabu too! It’s defeating in every sense of the word, but Star Wars is about hope persevering - (S3 please give me hope in the end!)

Seeing Cid have this regret about herself and I’m like “shut it! SHUT IT!” I guess it’s fine to show characters have remorse but she’s pouting as if the situation isn’t entirely her fault.

Seeing Wrecker in that neck brace and on his knees surrounded by the soldiers - my heart like sunk. The writers went after the character thats always been shown to overcome overwhelming amounts of soldiers and this time he can’t.

- I’ve seen some perspectives that point out that going on this mission to place a tracker on Hemlock’s ship was mute, like it was an excuse to give Tech his Hero Moment and kill him. But I don’t want to believe that the writers who put so much emphasis on his growth this season would make this his end. In the end, his actions prove Omega’s initial misassumptions wrong. “Doesn’t act like he cares.” He down write was the one to double check if crosshair was actually a prisoner, he fully supported the plan of getting his brother out. He reminds Hunter that Crosshair is still their brother, he has shown his care for Omega, and his growing connection to Phee - improving in places where his wealth of knowledge does not support him. I know the mission failed, that hemlock’s ship was never tracked and Crosshair is still very much a prisoner, but I don’t think it’s in vain. At least to me, his death almost certainly feels not permanent.

- Hemlock looks for Tech’s body and retrieves his shattered goggles, uses them as a tool to force Hunter to bend his knee. Use this emotional leverage to make hunter doubt himself and increase the fear of losing another brother. This ploy turns my head because hemlock has been shown to be quite determined and unshakable in his quest for completing his project for palpatine, of course he wants to capture Omega at any means, but he is also working with his unsightly experiments. The adult sized green tubes that held all sorts of people when Omega found Crosshair. I don’t find it hard to believe that he knew exactly how to pressure the bad batch in order to get them to surrender and he took a gravely injured Tech as his latest project. The head scientist in charge of this doomsday-esc lab facility on the planet that can’t be found, the scientist that brought back the Zillo Beast. He’s the one who seems to eventually be able to create clones with enough M-count for the emperor. If he got his hands on a member of a genetically enhanced clone group, it’s like a holiday present, of course he’d take them as another tool in his arsenal to ensure his mission and impose his control over the clones.

#Techisalivetruther

Also it was uncalled for when they played “when do we ever follow orders” his last words to open the recap of season 2 for season 3. (This literally made me have some inhuman miserable noise escape me)

(Many have pin pointed this behavior and I agree) But this also give me pause because the bad batch DOESNT follow orders! Who else doesnt follow orders well? >:D

[vvh1sk3y]

Could I get price taking care of an injured reader? I sprained my ankle on campus last week and I’ve been so miserable and useless :((

aw no!! i hope by now your ankle is feeling better :(

character(s): john price, gen!reader

warning(s): mentions of unspecified leg injury

when you hurt yourself bad enough that you would be stuck at home for a while, price immediately jumped into action to take care of you during his time off from work

price does everything for you, like, everything. need to get changed? he’ll help you grab what you need. need to get up to use the bathroom? he’ll carry you there. want something to eat? he will cook you up the best meal you’ve ever had. he’ll help is very adamant about helping, even if you can do some stuff yourself.

speaking of price cooking… he will cook you whatever you want. the man never cooks a bad meal.

he is far more worried than he needs to be but tries not to show it, he spends a lot of time out in your shared living room or bedroom to give you some company and keep you entertained while you’re recovering.

even though you try telling him you’re okay, he’s worried sick about you. he hates seeing you in any pain or discomfort and wants to be there as much as he can to make you feel better.

you guys watch lots of movies together, i feel like price enjoys old westerns and war films, so you’ll spend a day in bed watching as many films as you can before one of you falls asleep.

if there’s any dressing or bandaging that needs to be applied/reapplied, price is your man. he’s taken care of far more injuries on himself than most people, so he knows what he’s doing.

[fireemblems24]

Golden Wildfire Ch 15 (Final)

Guys, I think this is finally it, the last chapter

MAIN STORY

We're . . . not going to get an answer about Shez, are we? Would I if I recruited Byleth?

Which, now that I think about it, that was really anticlimatic death.

Also, Claude wants Dimitri and Faerghus to survive, but Rhea to die. Edelgard doesn't want Dimitri and Faerghus to survive, but also wants Rhea to die. So why the hell is Claude letting Edelgard right Dimitri while he fights Rhea? What's stopping Edelgard from killing Dimitri and taking all the Faerghus land she desperately wants? He knows Rhea was only an excuse for her.

I guess just another "Claude is an idiot" point or the writers not giving a single shit about him or this route and only caring about Dimitri and Edelgard.

Claude is suddenly reading Dimitri's mind. He thinks Dimitri wants him to dissolve the central church. This is . . . beyond stupid. Claude is literally imagining the enemy wants he wishes the enemy would want. This is such a stupid thing to do in war. Dimitri has never showed signs of wanting the church dissolved.

Also, blaming all of Fodlan's problems on Rhea is so dumb and such childish thinking too.

They really were like, go Claude, we'll give you nothing! in the writer's room.

If I cared about Claude, I'd be livid. I doubt many Dimitri or Edelgard fans are upset though.

Man, the character list is so much smaller in this route.

MAP/SIDE BATTLES

So annoyed this one has a bunch of side quests. I'm sooooo close to finishing this game.

Aww, an Alliance NPC talked about how much she likes Seteth and hopes he survives.

Ouch! Yuri! When he questions the validity of Claude's plans, Shez assures him it's the only way to pave the future, and he has the audacity to say "I guess now isn't the time to be wondering who exactly is included in this future we're dreaming about." He's calling Claude out on his shit big time. Yuri just does not fit here.

Ashe keeps talking about Dimitri. He's miserable.

Hapi doesn't want to kill Rhea :(

Ohhh, interesting, so Raphael doesn't like how we've been fighting. Shez can agree or disagree. I agreed in both SB and GW. In GW, she says their actions are too haphazard, but in SB, she says they're being too brutal and not letting anyone surrender. Curious differences (ofc Raphael just wants to eat and party, that's what he disagrees with, it's Shez's perceptions that made me interested).

Gilbert and Dimitri talking. Dimitri arriving has boosted moral. But it's the same for his enemies.

Dimitri's concerned about Rhea and learns that they're prepared for battle. Dimitri can't help them :(

Dimitri ordered his citizens to evacuate because he's worried about what the Alliance will do, but isn't convinced Claude wants to destroy his Kingdom.

I love Dimitri doubling down on protecting his people above all else here. Gustave is upset about abandoning Rhea. Dimitri is too, but he's willing to be the bad guy if it saves a single life in Faerghus.

A side mission involved defeating Cyril :( And now Flayn :(

SHEZ & RAPHAEL A

Soldiers are happier. Shez can guess war turning in our favor or pay raise.

If you ever needed proof that Raphael is an idiot, he argues that wouldn't make sense because not everyone is motivated by money. Like, seriously, tell me a single soldier there who gives a flying shit about what some king says. The only route this wouldn't be true in is AG since they're fighting for their lives.

Anyways, it's actually the food.

Shez talks about how a good meal rather than scapes is a good motivator. And honestly, good point.

Raphael talks about being an innkeeper. Honestly, he'd be such a fun boss to have, but he'll need to hire someone to handle the logistics lol.

Raphael asks Shez to tag along. I can either be nice and agree or not make promises. Being mean to Raphael is basically bullying.

Shez either way still considers being a mercenary, but I love the idea of Shez and Raphael running an inn together.

LYSITHEA & RAPHAEL A

Wonder why they choose Lysithea of all people to reach A with Raphael.

She studied too long and is out after dark, so obviously scared. She tries to convince herself the weird noises is Raphael.

But it's not this time, bc he shows up and asks what's the creepy noise lol. Poor Lysithea.

Now she's properly freaked out. Poor girl.

It's probably just a cat, but she thinks it's a ghost.

Lysithea goes to investigate too or else she'll be alone.

I guessed wrong. It's a puppy, not a cat. Poor doggy is hungry, and Raphael knows the dog.

Lysithea is like, if you knew the dog, how come you didn't know that? lol.

HILDA & DOROTHEA B

A fan gave Dorothea a bracelet, and she appreciates the support. Hilda wishes she had one too.

Dorothea tells Hilda no one is better in the whole army at makeup and accessories.

The support addresses how Hilda makes her own accessories.

Dorothea talks about plant design trends. So like real life lol.

Hilda asks Dorothea about her makeup. She tries to stick for ones that are actually good for the body. Which, is really good considering what they used to use for makeup.

They want to keep chatting over tea.

Honestly, I love seeing two girls just chat about girly things without anyone putting it down.

It's nice, in general, how the Fodlan games don't put down the women who are really into fashion and the ones who don't care. Everyone is allowed to just exist, and it's great.

LYSITHEA PARALOGUE

Does she get her own because her paired up one is in SB?

She apologizes to Count Glouster for all the chaos Ordelia causes, but he apologizes for not taking care of it. She understands how important it is for him to protect the bridge.

Her father is buddies with Lorenz's father.

Shez comes with news about Ordelia under attack.

No one else can help. Lysithea says she didn't realize how Claude could be so cruel. Shez tries to defend him by saying she's all the way out here, and Lysithea claps back. Team Lysithea here.

Shez thought Count Glouster would we dead weight. She was right. Idiot almost died. Shez and Lysithea were fine.

He looks forward to the day both aren't leaders anymore so they can just be friends and thinks Lysithea would be a worthy heir :( Poor Lysithea, she faltered at that.

Glouster did nothing to help Lysithea's father because he led the pro-Empire nobles.

MARIANNE & YURI A

Yuri sees Marianne out late and worried that she was going to leave like she thought about, but she was just walking her horse.

Then we get the classic "..." and "..." response. Since the ye ole days characters have done that in FE supports.

Marianne is like, why were you worried, then goes off how she's just a burden, and Yuri is like stop that, now.

Yuri is allergic to horses and cats? :((( Poor guy. That would suck.

That's why he was always giving Marianne funny looks, because he was about to sneeze and she's always around horses, lamo.

It's nice seeing Yuri be nice. But if he was mean to Marianne, like how can you be mean to Marianne?

Yuri dreams of being able to spent time with the animals he's allergic too, so he accepts Marianne's offer to use magic to try to help. I hope it works.

HILDA & DOROTHEA A

Hilda is trying to figure out what's wrong with one of her accessories. She thinks it's missing something.

Dorothea offers to help out, and is really impressed with Hilda's craftsmanship. And honestly, there's a picture and it looks pretty.

Hilda likes Dorothea's suggestion.

Dorothea also offers to buy the accessories for the opera, and use that to advertise them too.

Hilda is more than happy with that suggestion.

Hilda actually wants to open her own school to teach people craftsmanship, and thinks she can partner with Dorothea on that too.

MARIANNE & IGNATZ A

A pegasus that Ignatz was helping said "bring me more hay, four eyes." to Ignatz, Marianne interpreted. She rightly called it rude lamo.

Ignatz used to ride pegasus with his mother, she used to be a pegasus knight. I wonder if that's why he wants to be a knight.

He was really impressed with the view, understandably.

It made him want to become a pegasus knight, but they're sexist lol. Women only.

That's why he wants to help with the pegasi so much, it's the closest he can get.

Marianne is like "I can feel your feelings in the paintings" and Ignatz freaks out until she keeps going and saying she can tell how much he loves pegasi. I wonder what he was so worried about . . .hmm . . . Liking Marianne just proves taste though.

Marianne thinks that maybe the pegasus will accept Ignatz. But I don't think it went well lol. She grabbed his clothing with her teeth, not on her back. OMG, poor Ignatz.

It ends with Ignatz begging for Marianne's help lamo.

MAIN (& FINAL) BATTLE

Alright, guys, this is it. 2/3 done once this battle is over. Sadly, I'll probably have to kill Rhea though. But who knows, she got to be the hero of SB in the end, maybe GW too, or is that asking too much?

Rhea's like I should've killed these bitches years ago (rather than protecting them after turning her genocided family into weapons, poor woman has seen some shit).

Rhea thinks she'll have the goddesses' protection. Too bad Sothis is dead :(

It seems like Rhea is expecting to die. She's telling Seteth and Flayn to run. And saying her time is at an end.

It's funny that Rhea also thinks she's fighting for the future and humanity because she thinks she knows what's best. She and Edelgard (and Claude in this route) are really the same. Then there's Dimitri, the only sane one who doesn't have a bloated ego that thinks he knows best for every living soul in Fodlan, in some case, without ever even talking to some people from a particular country (looking at you, Edelgard, ding dong thinks she can rule Faerghus better than Dimitri without ever even having bothered to TALK to someone from Faerghus).

OK, so why did Edelgard only get 40 points, but Claude gets 70?

OMG, one of Claude's tactics is to burn the enemies alive (elite archers turn enemies into ash, not sure how else to see that).

I don't want to kill Cyril two times in one night :( Thankfully, he retreated.

Great, now Alois is here, claiming he'll fight to the death, which seems major OOC even with Rhea under attack. This game really forgot that he had a family, didn't it? I think he, Claude, and Caspar got the biggest downgrades in writing.

Oh, shit, he died for real. And he mentioned his family this time.

I had to fight Seteth too, but he retreated, thankfully.

DON'T MAKE ME KILL MERCEDES!!!!

Oh, fuck, Cyril died :((( God.

Jeritza came to save his sister :(((( So he turned against the Empire in GW. That's kinda touching, much better than in Houses. Seems Mercedes is now flipping, better than having to kill her like poor Cyril and Alois.

Now I have to fight Flayn :( Thankfully, she withdrew.

Now I have to fight Seteth and Flayn again, but on the upside, Rhea did badass magic and took away my captured strongholds.

I'm not clear if Flayn died or retreated, but Seteth is pissed off at me.

Oh, thank God, they're both running away.

Time to kill Rhea :(

Cut scene time. Wow, Claude, that's rich. He's telling Rhea to go walk away. But, to like where? The guy's been hell bent on killing her and blaming her for everything from racism to arranged marriage this entire game?

Why the random flower getting crushed? Usually that's a sign of crushed renewal, not a brand new world like Claude's been blowing smoke about this whole route.

Lololol Idiot just realized Rhea's the Immaculate One.

Lamo, even in the final battle Marianne's not convinced Claude not coo coo for coco puffs.

More cut scene. Shez and Claude killing Rhea. Shez turned into Arval. Wonder what happens if you recruit Byleth.

This was such a watered-down version of SB's final battle. They both had Rhea as a final boss, but SB got Thales too and it was A LOT harder because of that. Either that or Lorenz is really that silly stupid good.

Another abrupt, non-ending.

Claude wanted the war to end, and shock of all shock, killing Rhea didn't work!!! The idiot. All those people died, for nothing. I also predict greedy assholes will still enforce hierarchies and be racist, even without Rhea.

This ending may have been even worse than SB's? Because at least Edelgard still has a goal she's working towards, it just cut off mid-way. Claude accomplished his and nothing changed - he only made the world worse.

Are either GW or SB better endings if you get Byleth? I'm betting that's what happens. Because that can't be the real ending, lol.

MVP time. Wonder when it'll turn into the Lorenz show. As soon as Ch 5, pretty much no one but Lorenz got MVP. He's just absurd, but in a boring way. He's invulnerable to damage, but doesn't play very fun. If I ever did GW again, I'd main Lysithea. She's a unit type I like way more, hella strong and fast, but low defense. Lorenz made GW super boring to play since I didn't have to think at all. He's that good of a unit.

It's funny seeing nothing but Lorenz's face on an endless scroll (except paralogues or like, women units only battles)

I can't believe I'm getting a letter from Lorenz. If I knew I'd get a letter, I would've picked a character I actually liked, like Marianne. Hubert's letter was better. Lorenz's was really generic.

Still pissed there's no paired endings.

And these endings are so bad, wtf. I'm glad I did this twice so I know AG is also just going to randomly end.

xxx

[bracketsoffear]

Anti John Hunger and pro John Gaius propaganda:

The Hunger in TAZ is, as the name suggests, all-consuming and total. If Extinction is The World Without Us - the element of horrific transformation/degradation being as important as the annihilation aspect - the Hunger leaves neither a World nor an Us in its wake. What's more, the despair and big-picture nihilism that drives it is, to my mind, more of a mixture of Lonely and Vast than anything else.

Meanwhile, John Gaius was terrified of what his world was becoming. That fear drove a lot of his worst decisions, at least before his big finale killing and resurrecting the Earth; after that, the worst has already happened, and his anger and stubbornness push him to pass his fear along to those his empire threatens. It's very easy to characterize John as a plainly evil Bad Guy, but I think that does a disservice to a) the complexities of his character and b) the Locked Tomb series itself, and its exploration all the different ways individual people can both fight against and be complicit in imperialist/fascist systems.

The thing about John Gaius is that, for all his genuinely malicious actions, he also just fucks up, a lot. When he starts getting his necromantic abilities, he's really scared of what he's becoming, until he reaches his breaking point and embraces his status as a Creepy Death Wizard. When he gets his nuke, he swears up and down he doesn't intend to use it and that it's only meant to be a deterrence, just like so many IRL world leaders espousing brinksmanship and Mutually Assured Destruction. Pre-Empire John desperately wants to Do The Right Thing, but he doesn't always understand what that actually is, and the real trouble comes when he doubles down on his bad decisions instead of turning back. In the real world, one way to view climate change/nuclear threats/any other Extinction anxiety is as the culmination of a lot of fuck-ups by ordinary people compounded by a few key people refusing to change.

And as for John after he ends the world and resurrects it into something that's a whole new kind of fucked-up? Not only does the imperialist force of the Nine Houses spread his warped, twisted world ever outwards, but John himself is constantly pursued by the Resurrection Beasts, horrific eldritch beings manifested from the planets he killed. I've personally always interpreted the Extinction as partly a fear of consequences; an ordinary person couldn't be blamed for, say, a nuclear war, but the polluted wasteland of the Extinction domain in MAG175 speaks to people worrying that a climate catastrophe would be, at least a tiny bit, their fault. The consequences of John's actions are rather bigger than those of most people's, but he'll never truly escape them, and his actions trying to do so make people more miserable and frightened across the whole universe.

.

[narrativelysignificantturtleduck]

📓

put "📓" or some other version of a book emoji into my inbox and i'll explain the plot of a fanfiction that i haven't written but daydream about

piandao and jeong jeong visit the southern water tribe! i have a tiny bit written but there are so many different characters and plotlines i want to include that it's definitely become more of a daydream playground

it got long so bear with me

plot #1: hakoda/piandao enemies to lovers

hakoda and piandao do not trust each other at first. they've heard of each other from sokka, and they're being polite for his sake, but hakoda is skeptical of some fire nation guy taking an interest in his son, and piandao worries that sokka's self-esteem issues come from his family - usually, when students latch onto him as a dad figure, it's because there's something missing from their actual dad.

(he's not totally wrong. but we'll get to that)

so they're being polite and friendly but secretly they're sizing each other up, making sure the other is being a good dad to sokka. piandao and jeong jeong offer to help out with chores, and hakoda appoints himself piandao's guide - to keep an eye on him, of course.

but over the course of spending time together, they start to get to know each other. piandao learns that hakoda left his kids to go fight in the war and that that put a strain on their relationship, and he suddenly feels Very Guilty, like yeah, sokka maybe doesn't have the best relationship with his dad, because of the war. the war your country started and that you fought in. and as much as "teaching piandao water tribe skills" was a convenient excuse to keep an eye on him, hakoda is finding that piandao actually does seem to want to learn, doesn't seem to think of the water tribes as lesser. and he does genuinely care about sokka. and honestly, they kind of just vibe. there's a reason they both see themselves in sokka, after all.

and maybe they start to notice little things too, like the way hakoda's arms flex while doing chores, or the skillful way piandao uses his hands, or how they both have these wonderful crinkles around their eyes when they smile.

and maybe they need to talk to their partners about exploring something new.

plot #2: jeong jeong and waterbending

so jeong jeong wants to go to the water tribe to see waterbenders in action. he doesn't care about hakoda & piandao's weird little dad-rivalry and isn't super interested in getting to know the family. he's got one thing on his mind and he's going to go for it.

however, while katara is cool having him sit in on a class, lots of waterbenders (and water tribe members in general) are understandably Very Uncomfortable with a firebender nearby. like, piandao's presence is kind of awkward, but he's a non-bender and Sokka-approved. jeong jeong is a real unknown quantity, and people are wary.

jeong jeong gets it. he does. but that's the one thing he wanted to do gone, and even though the scenery is lovely and he'd enjoy a nice walk (they're visiting in spring/summer) he doesn't feel like he can leave the chief's igloo without people staring at him. he's miserable and trapped inside.

up til now, kanna has been solidly ambivalent about the fire nation people in her house. she's not going out of her way to be friendly, but she did agree to let them stay there. it seemed like the most reasonable option. but now she's stuck with a depressed firebender, and she is not going to take it lying down. "if you're going to be moping around here, you might as well make yourself useful". she presses him into service helping her out with household tasks, and honestly, he's grateful to have something to do. he and piandao did promise to be helpful guests. plus, he knows how to sew a bit from his time in the military, he cooked for himself when he was living in the woods, so it's actually not all that unfamiliar. he actually kind of likes it. doing "women's work".

they develop a sort of...understanding. not quite a friendship, but a kind of peaceful co-existence. two old ladies, sitting in opposite chairs by the fire, working on their sewing projects. sometimes one will get up to stoke the fire, or one will point out a flaw in the other's work, but mostly they sit in companionable silence.

jeong jeong does eventually get to see the waterbending demonstrations she wanted. when she asks katara what made everyone change their mind, katara shrugs. "gran-gran told them you were harmless", she says. and jeong jeong can't help but smile.

plot #3: bato and sokka having wildly different experiences

sokka is having a great time. all his dads in one place! he and piandao are hanging out and practicing swordplay or painting, he gets to show piandao around his village, it's great. piandao even seems to be getting along with his dad!

bato is not having a great time. there are fire nation people in his house, and his husband has some weird rivalry with one of them that will probably end with them making out, which is fine but he wishes they'd get to it already and stop making things awkward. the other fire nation guy is moping around the house because nobody in the water tribe likes firebenders (cry me a river, colonizer) and kanna's making him help with household tasks. seems fair enough, but he's being a real downer. bato can't wait until they're gone and things can go back to normal in their house.

...

and now that i write this all out it might actually be 2 or 3 fics in a series. oops

[specialagentartemis]

*running into heavy traffic again* hey if we're doing nonromantic relationships... bingo meme for snavid and naomi 8)

OPENING THE FLOODGATES

The thing is, "double murder sibling-in-law reacharound" doesn't really have its own square. Neither does "I fucked your husband as revenge for you fucking my brother" or "you are kind of the only person left alive who actually understands me" or "we're both terminally ill and I'm spending my last remaining weeks making that your problem while also saving the world behind your back".

I think in another universe where it WAS Philanthropy who broke Naomi out of prison she could have been a strong ally and she and Snake could have eventually had many deeply uncomfortable emotional conversations where they came to understand and respect each other. They didn't, though. It was Ocelot, and Naomi and Ocelot were playing double-cross-chicken with each other because they both had the same ultimate goal but didn't trust each other to actually carry it out. It was actually the same goal Snake had and I'm screaming tearing my hair out at Naomi making Snake's last days alive a collection of spiteful jabs while also solving the Big Problem He Dedicated His Life To Solving for him. She blames Snake for her brother's death, but her brother died saving Snake, so she can't kill Snake without denying her brother's memory. Snake meanwhile is an incredibly compassionate person and pities her, and I think she resents that, but also he DOES understand her and lied to her about Fox's last message to her to make her feel better.

However I am 100000% convinced she was planning to kill Otacon out of spite, but then she saw Sunny, and Sunny is just like her at that age (a war orphan, parents killed in conflict with the people who then adopted her, raised by lifelong soldiers apart from Normal Socialization) and I think Naomi saw that what she was doing was just continuing the cycle she had fed into and was now trying to break. She was trying to destroy the Patriots and their war economy, but was double-orphaning another little war orphan girl the way to do it? Was it really? Otacon only survived MGS4 because Naomi didn't want to make his daughter sad, and her revenge on Snake by not-killing-him-but-making-him-miserable was ultimately less important to her than the goals of burning down the world order that made her and letting something new grow in its place. Because at the end of the day she agrees with him professionally even if she doesn't want to forgive him personally. And he's dying and she's dying and god what is any of this for if we're just gonna keep killing out of spite.

Fox forgave Snake. Snake forgave Fox. Snake forgives Naomi. Naomi cannot understand any of this and can't forgive--can't forgive Snake and can't forgive herself--and I think that's part of why she marked herself as part of the Old Order that needs to be wiped out for the world to grow back healthy.

(*the reference to plastic dinosaurs is that when I was a kid I would have epic multigenerational battles between dinosaur factions and every time a dinosaur died the toy would be repurposed as a child born into the new generation who would continue the blood feud war. This is how I feel about these two)

As you can see the 'highly specific situations' is this extremely specific construction of her actions and motives that bears only a dubious resemblance to what was actually portrayed in the game. It's truer, though.

[bitchfitch]

The old manor had been his family's home for five generations now. It's walls held more secrets than Ensio would ever be able to count, but that was part of its charm he supposed. So many past misdeeds we're tucked away between the floorboards and behind doors that had been locked longer than he'd been alive that the ones he knew he would be adding would hardly make a dent on the overall character of the place.

He slipped his wedding ring from his finger, tucking it in his desk drawer beneath a pile of receipts he still needed to go through. There was guilt to that action. A vague malaise that made his throat feel tight with phantom bile. He had good reason to hide it where it would not be found by accident. There was no shame in trying to protect his husband from one of the most shameful secrets this house held. Ensio's foot steps echoed as he made his way out towards the back door. He and Peregrine had moved in less than a week ago, and much of the decor they brought from their old home was still packed and pushed up against the walls to keep it out of the way while Ensio's father's belongings could be sorted and sold or moved.

The early fall air still carried the heat of summer when he stepped out onto the old dirt path, but the harsh breaze was happy to provide warning of the upcoming winter.

He made a note to buy a new coat for Peregrine. The poor man was from a beach town that never got anywhere near cold enough for snow. He's going to be absolutely miserable in the even the mildest of winters here.

Ensio followed the twisting path through the trees. Even after a decade away the familiarity of it all still lulled him into old memories made warm by years gone.

He thought of his mother in her large skirts that made it difficult to hold her hand while they walked when he was young, and his father with his limp from a war Ensio would learn about in school, and his older by an hour brother.

Valko with his wolven face and cruel bite Ensio still bore many scars from. The beastly secret he would do everything he could to keep away from his beloved.

Ensio heard the plodding footsteps behind him, felt the monsters eyes on his back.

"Valko, pleasure to see you again," He said.

"And you as well," Valko's voice sounded hoarser than it had when they'd last spoken. Like disuse was making it weak.

"Keeping yourself well out here?" Ensio didn't stop walking but slowed just enough to allow Valko to catch up and so that they may go together.

"As well as one can," Valko shrugged, "The hunting's good, the garden grows well, not much to complain about."

"Does that hunting still involve much of your less tasteful prey?"

"Rarely, few are stupid enough to come into the woods anymore."

"And you've been staying within them? Even now that father is gone?"

"Aye, not much use in leaving. I know there's nothing for me beyond those gates," Valko hesitates, "Nice of you to visit."

"I'm here for them, not you."

"I know, and it would make them real happy for you to. Mother always said she wished you would visit more. Father never said it, but I knew he was thinking it."

"They never said anything of the sort to me."

"They were worried you might actually visit."

"And be consumed by the wolf in the woods?"

"Yeah."

Silence fell between them as they approached the small family grave yard. Ensio was glad to see it carefully maintained, all the stones kept cleared of dirt and the dirt clear of weeds. He sat on the old stone bench beneath the tree at the center of the yard, leaning back against it and sighing to himself. Valko hesitated but soon sat beside him.

"Do you ever wish things could have been different for our family?" Ensio asked.

"Do I ever wish we both weren't cursed and we're able to grow up as proper little boys who could make their parents proud instead of two monsters playing at being people?" Valko scoffed.

"I meant, do you wish we'd found a way to live with it?"

"Of course. I wish and wish and wish that there had been some loophole we could've found to escape this. That I could leave these woods and find a life that isn't just being your shadow, or for you to not have to fear what I represent more than what I am."

Ensio nodded rubbing his hands over his face, "Sorry,"

"Not your fault."

"It was a dumb question."

"It was worth asking," Valko sighed, "I met the witch last year."

"Really? Was she... You know, what you'd expect?"

"She's not what I expected. She was beautiful, and not nearly as mean as I always imagined she would be. Seemed downright apologetic, but not enough to fix this mess I guess."

"Did she tell you why she did this to us?"

"Yeah. You're not going to like it."

"I know."

"Father... Well, he wasn't, not ours, not by blood at least."

"What?" Ensio sat back, "That is Ridiculous why would he have been such a good father to us both if he wasn't ours? Do you think he just didn't know?"

"He knew. He knew we weren't his sons and that mother cheated on him with the witch's husband."

"No!"

"Yes. That's why she cursed her. Said they were best friends. Sisters by everything besides blood and Mother still did that to her."

Ensio didn't know if it was shock he felt, or anger, or numb resignment. "That's why the curse is what it is, isn't it? That you would always covet what I have?"

"And it's why she made me look like this. I'm the eldest, but it is your name they left everything. The witch made Mother forsake me to save face and so ensure you would always have something worth taking."

"Did you kill her when she came?" Ensio had never liked the side of him that bit and snapped and called for blood, but for once he agreed with it at least.

"No, I may be something worth fearing, but she's still a witch and I'm not enough of a fool to attempt to win that sort of fight."

"I'll do it then. A witch she may be, but I've never heard of witches being bullet proof."

Valko laughed, "I wish you luck with your hunt, maybe it will bring us both peace."

[specialability]

Andor Ep 12 Rix Road

It's amazing that Andor has been so good for the entire run that the finale isn't even my favourite episode. But it's still very efficient storytelling.

We don't need anyone to say that the residents of Ferrix have been planning this funeral and protest action for a long time. They just show us a boy building a bomb. They don't have to say that the community is united, they just show an immaculately turned out marching band and a silent march of people. Everyone moving to the same beat, doing a funeral the same as all the funerals before, everyone who isn't a local is clearly out of place. It's very like the Alhdani Eye event. Many of the Ferrix locals are wearing brightly coloured, if worn, uniforms against the stark black, white, and grey of the occupying forces. The bomb only had such a large effect because of improperly stored ammunition in front of the hotel, which might have been cleared away if the funeral procession hadn't intentionally started early to catch the Imperials off-guard. Syril, once again, tries to be a hero and fails miserably. But he does get to save his damsel in distress, who is not particularly happy about it. Thank god he doesn't try to kiss her. Cassian does successfully save his damsel in distress and doesn't stick around to be thanked. Mon making up the story about her husband gambling to cover her own money issues, knowing that her driver is listening, obviously throwing Perrin under the bus for later. And then reluctantly introducing her daughter to some tween twerp, her daughter clearly more into it. Playing the game.

More:

Brasso

Brasso hitting a guy in the head with Maarva's funeral stone

Brasso passing on Maarva's message to Cassian

Bee slowly rolling up to the front of the procession and playing the message :(

Bee's excited "Cassian!" when he sees him and Bix coming towards the ship

The score!!!

I honestly was kinda meh on the idea that the prison camp was working on death star parts, it seemed a little too on the nose, but it really is appropriate for the levels of dark irony this show has tried to show. (There's a brief after-credits scene if you missed it)

I don't have anything articulate to say about the show as a whole yet, because I am very tired and low brain mode, but I did finally actually see my first tv ad for it - on the sports channel in between World Cup stuff. They advertised it as yanno highly rated, the best star wars ever quotes, lots of flashy scenes that poorly represent the show as a whole, "watch all the episodes now". Bah, Disney. But I sure hope we as a fandom aren't going to be assholes to people who find the show "late".

The part of the manifesto that we hear drags me back to my Intro Western Philosophy class many years ago: "Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains" from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's The Social Contract. But it really just makes me think I need to read more. Anarchism is, of course, all about freedom from authority.

[dwarfseatrocks]

Angles and Debils

For this setting, we don’t have the framework ordinarily assumed for most D&D settings. This does prevent some published stories from being run in it (such as Descent into Avernus), but that’s fine. If my players want to do that, we don’t have to make another setting to play it in, we can just do it as the books says. Anyways, where does that leave some of the key supernatural figures if we don’t have these?

Angels - Almost always played out in the Abrahamic framework of divine goodness versus infernal evil, even if there is none of the set-up to it. Instead, our angels will be morally neutral. They take the place of daimones in Greek religion, being intermediates between the immortal gods and the mortal humans. In a sense they are minor gods. Not worshiped, but still possessing immense power. Each angel serves either a god or a specific purpose. Borrowing from the real world, Iris (the messenger of the gods in the Iliad), would be an angel in this context. She is a semi-divine being that works for the gods. Some may not work directly for a god. They might just do something they need to on their own.

Angels are not inherently good or bad. The line between angel and devil is therefore blurry. In general, devils are punishers who carry out the dirty work for a god. Of course, the exception to this are the "destroying angels". The line between angel and god can also be blurry. Angels are minor gods, so they could be the children of greater gods who don't receive worship. They could marry gods and be elevated.

One thing I'd like to borrow from various Abrahamic folklores is that angels are immaterial. They have no physical body; they're closer to spirits. The functions they serve are often more supernatural than material after all: polishing the chariot of the sun, delivering prophetic dreams, whispering inspiration into people's ears. They only take a material shape when necessary. Almost all of them have wings, not because they need them to fly, but because they are symbolic of their purpose as messengers and servants to the gods. They represent their ability to traverse great distances. Humans will not see them. The only way an angel can/will be seen is if they wish to reveal themselves, or someone uses an ointment of revealing on their eyes (taking the place of the ethereal oil).

Devils - The counterpart to angels. As said before, there is no divine war between fiends and angels, or demons and devils. Taking cues from Egyptian and Mesopotamian religions, devils are the servants of the gods. Gods are not inherently loving, they will send plagues and disasters against humans that deserve them. These are the devils. They exist to punish and ruin. This is where the division between angels and devils is located. Devils will preform malevolent actions against malevolent characters as a supernatural or moral punishment. To reflect this, they have frightening or disturbing appearances. This is, to an extent, what we see as well in the earliest Abrahamic stories. There, Satan (or the many satanas) worked in the pocket of God to test and punish human beings. In the story of Job, Satan was sent to test the titular character by making his life miserable, to see if he would remain faithful to God. No mention of Hell, being ripped from Heaven, or being eternally excluded from His love is mentioned.

Being the counterparts to angels, they take some cues from them. They are similarly immaterial at most times, but when needed, or summoned, they will become physical entities, at the risk of death or damage. Devils are summoned a lot more than angels. This is probably due to their independence; angels work as the right hand of a god, but devils work a little more on their own. As spirits they may travel great distances and be privy to knowledge mortals could not possess.

Where do devil lords come in to this? Archdevils tend to take names like Beelzebub, Dispater, and Geryon. Which are the names of gods, or god-adjacent entities. In that case, these beings are gods themselves, but ones that people do not worship. At least anymore. Gods are part and parcel of societies, and so they evolve with them. A god like Baal might take the position of king of gods one century, but be forgotten the next. Rather than become lost and forgotten, the older generation of god sitting in their ruined temples forever, they may take the opportunity to evolve in a nastier direction. They maintain relevancy at the cost of being feared rather than worshiped. Archdevils are worshiped in a sense, but it's to divert their attention rather than attract it. Saying their names may be a taboo, as it may make them aware of you. In this case, the Greek Hades would be an Archdevil. Aside from this though, they are still gods, and may even rub shoulders with them.

Demons - If angels and devils represent the tools of the gods, what about demons? Demons are the miscellaneous pile. They are closer to giants and titans than devils; being primordial agents that exist in opposition to the gods and humanity. They are comparable to the Hindu/Vedic rakshasa, who are also lumped into the title of demon.

What especially separates demons is their diversity. They range from forming enormous armies to antisocial, able to bring fights to the lands of the gods to little more than a supernatural bedbug (see: succubi). They all simply want to do harm to the gods and humans. One would think they would find themselves allied with the giants, but this is not the case. Demons are beings of envy. They want and want and want, but they will not share. The demons want to usurp the current world order for one where they occupy the space of the gods. Demon Lords take the place of gods, but are not necessarily connected with them. They get their titles by being the biggest bullies and pushing their way to the top.

Because of their nature, demons are very physical creatures. They are born, they age, and they eventually die (though it takes thousands of years for this to happen). They need to eat and excrete, but what exactly this is depends on the demon in question. Vrock can subside on corpses alone, but hezrou are closer to humans in their dietary range. They aren’t natural creatures that evolved to be this way, but are also not spirits in the sense angels and devils are. To fulfill these requirements, demons live in physical spaces. These are usually subterranean otherworlds inaccessible to humans. Ordinarily. Heroes can, of course, do whatever they fuck they want.

[edgygayguy]

Nobody who follows me on here gives a shit about literature but I just finished Morphin by Szczepan Twardoch and I need to be heard

I started reading around may, one of my polish teachers told me to read it since she assumed I'm "interested in narration". This book is singlehandedly responsible for 3 large breaks in my reading habits, the biggest one being literally all of vacation untill now. I read 50 pages a day and to remedy what this book caused me required dusting off a lot of fucking audiobooks.

I hate the book but I have to say it's objectively pretty damn good. Because I took such long breaks and didn't want to read it most of its meaning and themes probably escaped me but idgaf, I just want to move on with my life.

If you want to read it stop here because now I'll be writing down all the shit I remember from it so I may better remember it later.

The book takes place in 1939 Warsaw, just after the Nazis took over. The hero is a miserable shadow of a man guided by a mysterious female voice, which interrupts the narration. The voice isn't that prominent at the beginning and end of the book, but it's very on display for most of the middle.

At first I thought the voice was his anima, maybe his daimonion. Then I thought she was some sort of Goddess. But in the end I believe her and her sisters represent what another polish writer, who came close to getting his hands on the Nobel prize award for literature, Witold Gombrowicz calls "Form".

Form is a complicated thing, but the most basic definition is "situations which, once set in motion, have to unravel a certain way and cannot be interrupted, mostly because of social norms". So a mini version of the ancient Greek fatum.

The hero is being guided by the voice thought the book, his actions directly chosen by the female voice who keeps vigil over him.

The big theme of the book is personhood and identity, who am I? At first the hero is a half baked shadow of a man, so he is a slave to the voice and form. Later through a confident woman's actions he realizes that he isn't the things he likes, his nationality, his interests, his relationships with people. He simply is. He breaks free of the voice and is able to slowly begin his journey as a fully fledged human being. Though it's interrupted by his childhood friend who's life he ruined by sleeping with his wife many times. He shoots the hero and the voice takes control over him, now finding another empty man. In the end the voice and form win, it's a parasite that found a new host. The last line of the book is "I need to pay the driver", the hero at his last moment is worried about being embarrassed, commiting a social faux pas.

The theme of the voice and form is wonderfully realized here, at first I thought the setting being war torn Warsaw was just to cash in on Polish people's obsession with world war two and romanticizing it, but the setting does well to show what kind of man our hero is; with the added benefit of being the most hopeless place I could think of, it also plays into the theme of form.

I could analyze this more but everything above probably makes no sense, so here's some extra thoughts:

The strong woman in question, Dzidzia (weird and probably significant name choice) is the most interesting character in the story, mostly defined by her role and the horrible end she will eventually meet.

The hero during his youth before the war outs two guys who bullied him at school. They were gay, and they were having sex at the school in the Janitor's closet. He ruined their lives and I was so blinded by the shock I didn't even attempt to analyze what the fuck was going on there, what purpose did it serve. Maybe the writer is homophobic, who knows, I don't. But I'm not willing to assume, we're past the point of that .

If you read it thanks, and sorry, because I didn't even go back to re read all the shit I wrote.

[worlds-best-sippycup]

ASOIAF CLASSPECT ANALYSIS THE THIRD AKA LIFE, DOOM, AND THESE FUCKING BARATHEONS ISTG

<<part 2 part 4>>

In HS proper the Time aspect was linked to Lord English and doomed/alpha timelines. The Space aspect was linked to the development of the universe frog. Now, obviously that isn’t going to work in ASOIAF, and so I also took the liberty of stretching the definitions of two aspects to fit Planetos. U fuckin wU.

Doom applies to the growing threat of the apocalypse; the white walkers and long night bearing down. It isn’t just death, it’s suffering, destruction bearing down on all below. Inversely, Life is the political plot, the war and plunder down below and the festivity, power and wealth up above. Thus-

STANNIS BARATHEON – Prince of Doom

*sips tea* This was the first one I thought of, and I stand by it.

Doom is the aspect of pain, and Stannis understands life through a philosophy of pain, of gritted-tooth duty and service, of being denied and having to deal with it. The doombound are called ‘life’s chosen sufferers’ but like how much of Sollux’s suffering in HS (that wasn’t in his calling as a living battery) came down to his own mental illness (his bipolar disorder), largely the reason Stannis is so miserable all the time, all the time, is because of (a) trauma, (b) his own childishness, (c) probably mental illness as well, idfk.

The Prince is a destroyer class, and Stannis seeks to destroy the Long Night/the Others, which I have already associated with the Doom aspect. Yet still as the active destroyer class, Stannis as Prince of Doom would only destroy himself, though his seeking of that magic. And then there’s Doom’s other meanings – it’s about empathy, about understanding and embracing those parts of the world that Life ignores – the ugly, hungry, mundane, deathly truths. And Stannis was not always the selfish P.O.S. he is by present day – remember Proudwing, remember Davos – but he will destroy that in himself.

(Plus I think Prince of Doom = Destroyer of death is a vibe, and I wanted to give it to a character I really like)

MELISANDRE – Seer of Doom, for similar reasons.

Now here’s someone who really has suffered, and sees her actions as being justified in the face of preventing far worse suffering. Doom is also about empathy, which is present in her worldview, (with Jon and Davos and even trying to ward off Cressen from killing himself) even though it’s blurred by all the ~trauma~.

ROBERT BARATHEON - Bard of Life/Bard of Breath

Bard of Life was by original pick, to match Stannis’ Prince of Doom. Certainly Robert loves his Life-associated pleasures! And certainly he leads many around him to lose their Life and lives. (Sometimes by straight-up killing them) And he has gone to seed, thanks to all the prosperity at his fingertips… But also thanks to his freedom to chase it all. And that’s where Bard of Breath comes in. He certainly doesn’t value the people around him very much, and he imagines his youth – youth being Breath-associated – being utterly free. You could also say that he destroyed Ned’s freedom, by making him Hand.

BRAN STARK– Muse of Doom. He’s not a Lord, he must learn to move people below him. He’s probably the (main) character most intwined with the Long Night plot.

SANSA STARK–

Life is the aspect for Sansa. It’s pretty politically charged, suitable for the starkling most involved -willingly or not- with intrigue. It’s also associated with healing, which Sansa does a lot of (for both herself and others!), and needs to do even more. She is also very sure of her own superior worldview; and she sees the world, not only as a song as Brienne does, but as a place of excitement and festivity and romance. It’s not quite idealism, it has a lot more focus on wealth and beauty. Not sure about the classpect, but she does have a focus on healing; and Maid would be fitting. Sylph as well – a Sylph is an air spirit, and Sansa is often called a little bird…

[makeste]

I like Bakuguo but his attitude is starting to really piss me off. He's talking about Daku as if he's just ~crazy~ and as if he isn't partly to blame for Deku's toxic self-worth issues. It's infuriating to watch. If Bakuguo doesn’t admit out loud and in front of his friends that his bullying of Deku played a part in Deku's current destructive state and if he doesn’t verbally apologize and reaffirm Deku's worth then I can no longer like Bakuguo's character or Hori's writing.

tbh I don't really know why this is the discourse of choice for people all of a sudden, but this is already the second ask I've gotten about it, so I might as well address it lol.

I think fandom is conflating fanon!Deku and canon!Deku here again. fanon Deku is of course much more sensitive and woobified and has much shakier self-esteem. fanon Deku is the one that turns evil in so many AUs because of Kacchan's bullying. fanon Deku is the one that actually jumps off the roof in so many fics, as opposed to fishing his notebook back out of the pond a few minutes later grumbling about how Kacchan needs to think before he speaks or else he could land himself in serious shit one day if god forbid anyone actually does take his cruel words to heart.

and just to clarify before I get any further, I am not saying this to excuse Kacchan's actions in any way, because what he did was still completely terrible and unacceptable and WAY over the line, and what's more he knew it, too. the bullying was still shitty and horrible and awful, and definitely impacted Deku and made him miserable. I fully acknowledge that, and that Kacchan has a lot of atoning to do for it. this is not a "Kacchan did nothing wrong" post.

but that being said, I don't think canon Deku's reckless self-sacrificing nature actually has anything to do with the bullying. I think they're two completely separate things. canon Deku actually has pretty decent self-esteem in spite of everything Kacchan did to him. canon Deku doesn't think he is useless. canon Deku had a wholeass fight with Kacchan less than 10 chapters into the series in which he explicitly spelled it out for Kacchan that he had a lot of worth, and was going to prove it to him. canon Deku was persistent in wanting to become a hero and hoping and believing that he could find some way in spite of being quirkless. canon Deku never let go of that dream even when no one else supported it. I don't think he would have even given up on it after being told no by All Might, tbh -- we just never got to see how it would have played out because of everything that happened with the sludge monster shortly afterward. but he's not the type to ever give up on something that easily, and we've seen that. canon Deku never thought he was useless, but rather wanted to prove to everyone else that he wasn't.

the drive that Deku has to save and protect others even at the expense of his own safety is something entirely separate from that. he doesn't break his body for others simply because he has no self-esteem and thinks that his own life isn't important. he does it because he can't stand the thought of someone else getting hurt, and knowing that he could have done something to prevent it. it's as simple as that. like, Spider-Man has the whole "with great power comes great responsibility" thing, right? and he doesn't have low self-esteem; he simply believes that if he has the ability to help someone else, then he has a responsibility to help them. it's a personal creed. and Deku is based on Spider-Man. his philosophy is based on that philosophy, which was one of Horikoshi's core influences and is one of the core creeds in superhero fiction.

Deku is self-destructive not because he doesn't value himself, but because he is literally physically incapable of standing back and doing nothing if he knows that he can do something. he's the type of person who sees a car speeding towards someone and leaps in to push them out of the way. NOT because he wants to get himself fucking pancaked by a speeding car, but simply because he can't sit back and watch the other person get hurt without taking action. his body moves before he can think. and that's where the whole "doesn't take himself into account" thing comes in -- the fact that his thought process simply stops at "get them out of the way of the car", and never extends beyond that to "hey, and maybe I should try to find a way to do this that doesn't involve me getting hit in their place." to him, that's simply less important than the first priority, which is getting the other person out of the way.

and regarding that last part, while that may seem like a self-worth issue if he's prioritizing everyone else above himself, I think what it actually is just selflessness taken to extremes. like for instance, when a parent sacrifices themselves to save their child, them placing the child's life above their own isn't necessarily because they don't see themselves as having value. rather, it's that they love the child so much that they place their well-being even above their own. and that's what Deku is like as well. except that in his case he cares about EVERYONE, and so is willing to sacrifice himself for anyone. and that selflessness is his defining character trait, and simultaneously the most admirable and the most terrifying thing about him. it's both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness, which I think is fascinating to explore.

but anyway, so that's also why we never really see anyone thoroughly chewing him out for this behavior either. because the thing is, it is admirable how selfless he is. it's just that there's also a reason why most people are at least a little bit selfish. and that's because too much selflessness will ultimately and inevitably wind up getting you killed. at some point you either have to learn when to put the oxygen mask on yourself first, or else find yourself a loyal group of friends (or classmates) to watch your back, and make sure that mask gets on you when you need it. and maybe help you land the plane too while they're at it.

anyway so that was a lot of rambling, but basically it all boils down to three things:

when Deku berates himself for being useless (for instance at the end of the War arc), he's doing it out of frustration for not being able to push the others out of the way of the metaphorical car. that's the kind of uselessness he can't stand. the sitting-back-and-doing-nothing uselessness.

Kacchan's bullying was terrible, and it might have indeed played a part in Deku's choice of the word "useless" as a way of berating himself in these instances, but he is not the one who gave Deku this mindset of taking himself out of the equation. that's something that was already inherent to Deku from day one. (but that said, Kacchan has a lot of things to apologize to Deku for anyway, so if he wants to add this to the list I certainly won't stop him. he gets mad about Deku's suicidal attitude because it worries him, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't feel responsible for it. people underestimated his feelings of atonement before 284/285, and I think they're still underestimating him now.)

and lastly, one last important note, which is that Deku's current "saving" mindset isn't wrong, just as Kacchan's "winning" mindset was not wrong either. the lesson to be learned here is NOT that being selfless and wanting to save other people is bad. rather, it's the fact that he's trying to do it alone that's got him all fucked up right now. basically when you think about it, selflessness is really just selfishness on someone else's behalf. which means that in order for Deku to be saved, it isn't necessary for him to change his outlook or his selfless attitude, even if it is pretty crazy lol. rather, all he really needs is a good group of friends who are willing to act selfishly on his behalf in return. protecting each other through mutual selflessness lol. teamwork as self-preservation. hence why the U.A. kids are here now.

anyway so yeah, I think that's everything. sorry this got so long and out of control lol. this is just a very specific nuanced thing that's hard for me to express, but which I feel is very important when it comes to Deku's character. Kacchan didn't unleash Depressed Nomad Deku on the world (or at least not in this respect). but that being said, he and the others will hopefully be the ones to nudge him back on the right course again.