#he’s not evil he’s trying to save his entire species

[snow-dragon-rider]

Everyone—the people in Star Wars and the people watching Star Wars—is asking “Where is Grand Admiral Thrawn?”

And while I get that, I gotta say, I honest to goodness hope he’s just out getting some much-needed ice cream with Eli after saving the Chiss.

But then again, if Thrawn had saved the Ascendancy already, he wouldn’t be coming back to the Empire. He wouldn’t need them anymore.

So the Chiss aren’t safe—not yet.

[weebsinstash]

Just when I was chugging my Batfamily juice and was trying to nail down an idea for that, here comes season 2 of Invincible, "hey you wanna see an alternate universe version of Mark who turns evil like his father and when Eve rebels against him he literally PRACTICES AND PERFECTS how to non-lethally PERMANANTLY PARALYZE HER so he can stop her without killing her"

Like genuinely the actual psychotic yandere adjacent behavior and he's also gaslighting her the entire fucking time, like genuinely one of my favorite but most infuriating tropes of the "unwilling hero x infatuated villain" dynamic is when the villain is like psychologically manipulating their intended conquest with the whole, "I didn't kill your friends, YOU killed your friends when you recruited them to stop me/run away/save your planet whatever. sweetie i hate seeing you upset so why did you make me break your toys"

I know the clip is about Mark but I can just see Nolan and a human/hero darling and you're desperately trying to run away from him, break up with him, literally run away and disappear, and you've got all your friends and coworkers helping you literally like, leave the country, maybe even leave the planet, and here comes Nolan crashing in, reducing all of your friends to just PASTE and you're sitting there mourning and screaming and horrified and here's Nolan just tut-tutting at you, "why would you make me do something like that? You think I WANT to make you cry like this? You got a little scared and got your friends involved on some little scheme and now look what happened! Honey can't you see why I'm worried about leaving you alone? You need me"

It's like. It's like in Don't Worry Darling where the boyfriend would rather keep her completely helpless in an unfulfilling mediocre life when before she actually used to have significantly more agency and played a role in society but he thinks THIS is what's best for her, and inherently implying being his wife is all she needs. You could be like a molecular scientist or some shit and Nolan will think you're so cute and smart but it's in an "oh look at you and your little human tech, that's so cute, not anything like MY species though" infantalizing way. You could've been a scientist on the cutting edge of technology furthering your species and Nolan is just like, "but it's just human stuff" and thinks it doesn't matter because. I mean. He loves you but your lifespan is NOTHING like his, and your planet is already going to be conquered and Viltrum doesn't really need your work, so, just, settle into being his complacent little mate ok? Just focus on being his companion and, if you're able, he'd like to start on making a family--

I think it would be absolutely horrifying to find out you're pregnant and be trying to run away from this man with the baby because like. Fuck off if you think he'll let that happen. And in another twist, could you even imagine if you turned out to be a viltrumite hybrid or some kind of powered mutant too. Imagine being absolutely terrified and running to get an abortion and they can't even sedate you because suddenly your skin can't be pierced by a needle. Like actually on a conceptual level just, brine in the concept of not even having abortion as an option, knowing there is some inhuman hybrid growing inside of you that has now completely taken your body for itself, cannot be removed, holding you hostage like a malicious little parasite. Meanwhile Nolan is OVERJOYED because this is going to be his first baby ever and, obviously, the first baby the two of you are having together. The first of many, he hopes

I also think it'd be like. So fucked up if this is some twisted "something unrelated and unfortunate happened to Debbie" scenario where Nolan is raising Mark on Earth already as a single father and THEN Nolan falls for you because like. Imagine technically being not that much older than his son and the second these yandere aliens attach themselves to you, you've got a husband who you don't even know how old he is and a "son/brother" who's like. Maybe not even 5 years younger than you. Like can you imagine making friends with Mark and you're like hanging out and playing video games and suddenly it's just "Oh hey dude your father's been acting kind of weird around me, and-- wait what? What do you MEAN you guys want me to live here. What do you MEAN I could be like a big sister to you, bro we were just playing Xbox--"

You think of Mark as a buddy and friend and you eventually find out he and his father are straight up stalking you and starting to dig their fingers into your life and your business. You're at work running back and forth not knowing the figure floating and watching from however many hundreds of yards away amd scowling as you're worked to the bone. You grab a drink with a coworker and they kiss you at the door of your apartment and the next day they got into an accident that sent their car off the road, killing them. You vent personal private feelings to Mark because he's a good friend in your relative age group and he's running off, "DAD LISTEN--" "oh so That's why they've been like that. Huh. Good work, son." like the actual fucking levels of SCHEMING

And just when you think maybe you've gotten away and shaken them off, then you've got some third motherfucker suddenly showing up at the secret hideaway in another country you poured the rest of your money to. An old man with white hair and an unamused expression introducing himself only as Cecil as he not so subtly threatens you that he has Nolan on speed-dial and that the American government has an especially vested interest in you returning home, maybe or maybe not to pacify the not one but TWO extremely irreplaceable alien protectors of the planet, and then you've got Seal Team Six already shoving you in a duffle bag and dropping you off on the Grayson doorstep just in time for dinner

[sexygaywerewolf]

my new Ninjago OC!

more information ↓

I haven't come up with a name for him yet bc I suck at those but I've got a backstory

- He was outcast by his species before the merge because of a reason I haven't fully flushed out yet (thinking of making it so that he can't do any shapeshifting at all and making it an entire allegory), but he deals with a lot of feelings of inadequacy because of this and he thinks he's failed as an Oni

- he was outcast before March of the Oni and was lost between realms trying to find a way back home to the first realm without the power of the darkness to guide him. essentially the realm crystal is the EASIEST way to travel realms but it isn't the only way, and he spent a lot of years alone

-When the merge happens he's forced to live in a world he doesn't understand at all and a lot of people during this time are struggling to figure things out. He manages to find a job at Chen's Noodle House and starts to enjoy the life as someone who serves food so eventually he leaves with enough money saved up and opens up his own restaurant

- I like the idea of someone gaining weight when they're happy bc he used to be really emaciated and could barely eat even 3 times a week due to how hard it was to survive but now he's got a healthy relationship with food and his body and he's generally a pretty sound guy and pretty mature considering things. It doesn't look like he's fat in the image but from experience an apron will hide a lot of that lol

- He does a lot of introspection and his outlook on life is that "it's complicated and messy but at least it's life," and he usually looks at things from a realistic perspective while hoping for the best.

-He still gets irrationally angry at a lot of things though and often he'll find himself taking it out on inanimate objects and then he'll feel bad about it afterwards. He doesn't do it a whole lot in front of people, especially customers, but if he's comfortable around you you'll see him swearing and breaking things (usually with his claws on accident) a lot more

- Meets Lloyd a few weeks after the merge when he just started his job at Chen's and initially Lloyd is weary at first because yk he's an Oni and Lloyd had subconsciously associated Oni with bad and everything wrong in his life, but [name I haven't come up with yet] is essential to something Lloyd is trying to figure out so they need to interact and Lloyd figures out through sheer power of being exposed to something that HEY you dumb idiot your ancestry isn't evil or bad

- He had severe issues for awhile with meeting people's expectations and he constantly ran himself ragged trying to keep himself in multiple places at once. He felt like he had to depend on only himself for a while because of the fact he let down his Oni tribe and because of the fact he lived so long in isolation away from others. When he's hired by Skylor he burns himself out within the first week because he doesn't take a break except to go home and sleep.

- Y y y es this is meant to be an OC shipped with Lloyd but they're both demisexual here bc I will always make my favs be on the ace spectrum no matter what

-Hes 21 when the merge happens and by the events of s1 he's 27 (2 years older than Lloyd). He was outcast by the Oni when he was 15 years old (around the events of season 1)

-fun fact, Oni still have pupils in my hc you just can't see them very well. they're kind of like the changelings from mlp where they do have pupils once you look closely but they blend in so well with their irises that you can hardly see them. most Oni eye colors are red, purple, or blue. some are occasionally orange, yellow, and pink. [name I haven't come up with yet] has purple eyes

- he has so much fur/hair (think kind of like mohair on a goat) that he has to stuff a lot of it in his shirt and then use pins to hold it in place and he spends like 30 minutes each day just combing it

- he works out every other day to help clear his mind and to calm himself down but Oni are naturally pretty big anyways and really strong

- despite the fact he knows how to cook he has the worst appetite known to man and will not hesitate to eat the nastiest things ever. I like to think that anytime Lloyd gets offered gross food (as he's somehow done a lot in the show) he pretends to "steal" it but he does genuinely enjoy every single food he comes across and it's not just something that comes from his life of being outcast it also comes from his Oni biology. Though, he seems to be a lot more inclined to eat certain things even for an Oni

if it's not poison, it's food!

- has abnormally large ears for most Oni and he can hear slightly better than most people. it's also another reason why he stretch himself too thin while working when he first started because he believed everything he heard needed his attention and he was constantly trying to get to multiple places and do many tasks all at once

okay now imma go to bed hehe this was actually really fun

-has a better work/life balance in the future at the very least lol so dw

-has digitigrade feet! they're not very exposed bc he wears baggy pants all the time but if you look down you'll see he's never wearing any shoes and his paws are just out

[errantnight]

Random Jenova Thoughts! (And an open writing prompt perhaps!?)

So there are possibilities swirling aimlessly around my head.

Did Jenova always intend to procure the Black Materia since its original purpose was a last ditch effort to destroy her...

Or did Jenova have to resort to that after Sephiroth was killed by Cloud and his body ended up in the Lifestream?

Cause hear me out, please give me recs if I'm wrong, I haven't seen any fanfics where Sephiroth didn't die and instead of trying to find the Black Materia he just used powers inherited from Jenova (probably given to him when he 'rescued' her from the Nibelheim Reactor) and did exactly what she did to the Cetra when she came to Gaia.

She used her powers of mimicry to copy people (that she had presumably killed) and convince people to trust her and lure people to their death which let her nearly wiping out an entire species.

SO IDEA!

I'm loving the idea of a Sephiroth who Cloud didn't manage to stop, who still takes Jenova's head so she can give him orders and teach him her ways. Whether he is in control of himself or a puppet being used by her is open to interpretation but just... the way he looks at her in Crisis Core and the fact that fucking Hojo gave him a picture of Lucrecia as we see in Ever Crisis... I really really hope that we get some POV of him in the reactor at some point and in his eyes Jenova looks like his mother, she 100% looks like Lucrecia to him, he doesn't see this mangled twisted corpse at all.

I prefer the idea of Sephiroth being hideously manipulated and twisted. I want him inside his mind screaming to get out. I'm just a terrible person like that I guess. I think it's less interesting if he's just evil and crazy and doing things on his own, personally.

I think Zack would be able to somehow get Cloud and escape, maybe this time with the help of Zangan when he is saving Tifa. Hojo and his team who were sooo conveniently on their way, see Sephiroth leaving town or even flying off perhaps with her showing him how to manifest his wing?! And so Hojo never goes all the way up to the reactor at all until way later to get the rest of Jenova's remains.

And Zack, Cloud, Tifa, and Zangan are the heroes of the story trying to stop him. Cloud learning from Zack and Zangan, maybe him duel wielding because that would just be super cool and Zack keeps the Buster obviously.

At some point the whole thing with Genesis happens - maybe they hunt him down to try and see if he ever had progress healing himself because Seph also popped a wing and went nuts. The whole thing beneath Banora still happens and Genesis gets cured and joins the team!

Them basically doing a heist but it's a person - stealing Aerith away right out from under the Turks' noses because Minerva said she holds the 'key' to stopping Jenova. Tifa is incredibly angry with Minerva because she says that Sephiroth is just another of Jenova's victims like the Cetra before him - convinced that she is his mother and being used by her.

That's as far as I've come up with, I seriously want to hear what anyone else thinks should happen in this AU!?

[in-tua-deep]

had some very plot-y dreams last night!

I was an alien who was disguised as a human. I think I had come to earth as some kind of invading force years and years ago - my lifespan was pretty long actually, so I was only about the equivalent of my early 20s still but I'd been on earth long enough that I looked more middle-aged.

Which was appropriate, because the reason I had bailed/was in hiding is because I had fallen in love with my beautiful wife. She had died, so I was raising our half-alien son by myself and was probably the definition of Overprotective Parent

I never saw what I looked like, but there was a point in the dream where my son was in his alien form. It was actually very beautiful - he looked like he was made of colorful gemstones or glass rather than flesh and blood

But the whole dream's plot hinged on me finding what was apparently some kind of like, alien rehabilitation program where they took someone and made them human and made them experience life as a human as some kind of penance/rehab?

And there was a dude who I recognized as like. a Big Bad species, that I was CONVINCED had a) no ability to feel remorse, b) would indiscriminately kill everyone, and c) was very very dangerous and also in the same town as my son

so I started like, hanging around?? To try and catch this dude being Evil and also making sure everyone was staying The Fuck Away from my kid, right? except this dude just kind of. didn't do anything evil. stone cold poker face and no showing emotions, but no like, killing or anything

at some point into this dream, we find out about a bomb that is under the chair of one of the group, which consists of me, This Guy, and some squishy humans. My goal is to make sure that if the bomb goes off, it goes off with the other alien bc his species is very invulnerable to things like that

long story short, I ended up with the bomb and driving away and got. really really hurt. and the evil alien? he ran over, covered my wounded body with his own, and someone transferred half of my wounds to him and in doing so he saved my life

so... not as evil (or as emotionless) as I thought, clearly

The rest is fuzzy, but I know I let him see that I had a son at one point, though I didn't directly introduce them.

Honestly the whole dream kind of felt like it had a vague enemies to friends to lovers plot going on as we both explored more of his background and history and emotions, and as we revealed the fact that I had once been kind of a bad guy honestly before falling in love with my wife.

something something, second chances

then i had an entirely different dream where I was a princess who accidentally defeated a dragon and bound him to me in human form lol

[laurelnose]

like. tfw you’re mathematically predestined for damnation and trying to make the utilitarianist best of it and then your ███ saves your life in a way that is so morally repugnant to you that you somehow end up shacking up with Mr. All-Caps I Love Genocide because he’s got an idea that will save your entire species from hell

tfw you’re the most senior scientist left because everyone else fucking died, including your boss because of information you gave him that turned out to be incomplete, and you’re struggling with a contagious infocancer with vectors that are opaque to you and one of your people is exposed, but she’s not showing symptoms yet and if you tell anyone they’ll fucking murder her, and you love her, and how far is too far to go to contain a threat like this?

tfw you’re isolated from your home and people and struggling to maintain a normal social life because of the trauma of something heinous you were forced to do as a child and an alien crashlands in your bathroom and tells you, we’re soulmates, serendura, our destinies are intertwined, I need to obtain a weapon that will save your species from enslavement and you’re the only who can help me because our souls match, oh btw mine is ontologically evil. jsyk.

tfw you and your best friend since childhood start an organization to do extrajudicial murder of people who will never face normal justice together but he does way more extrajudicial murder than you thought he was going to, so you expose him to his wife, your other best friend from childhood, and she dumps both of you forever, so now it’s just you and him, locked together, you hate him, you love him, you can’t let him do anything as evil as that ever again, don’t think too hard about the part that you did

tfw an alien shows up in your office and says do exactly what I tell you or I’m destroying the entire fucking planet, and you’re like, well, fuck, okay, I may have to commit some true atrocities, but there’s nothing that can possibly be worse than the extinction of humanity, and it never even occurs to you that you could have bargained with him before selling out Earth until it’s almost too late

[daiki98]

been playing honkai starrail and im so much into this shit already and I needed to do a recap by advertising the game in my way

spoilers ahead

oh, wow! you were just born! do you remember anything besides hot mommy kafka putting a bomb inside you? nothing? well then, let's throw you into battle right now!

let Herta Space Station welcome you by using your newly aquainted powers to beat up a bunch of monsters and save the station. also, befriend the diligent, shopping-addicted Asta, the one puppy man she can't resist, and kurukuru with her boring simulations.

when you're ready, hop on the astral express and start a journey of miracles and madness to save worlds and seal Stellarons, chase the Stellaron Hunters, and simp for characters that do not exist in real life! starring the insuffering Pom-Pom, Manic Pixie Dream Girl with no memories of who she is, the silent-but-deadly traitor of the Xianzhou Loufu, Himeko (alive this time!), Otto's worst nightmare, and you, the Trailblazer!

set foot on the freezing lands of Belobog and flirt with the most beautiful of trash cans! but don't try to get too comfortable: you'll be welcomed by a enormously pleasant order to arrest you and your companions after you've just woken up. run from the Silvermane guards, get drugged&dragged into the Underworld by the the hottest&shadiest, blue, tall and most handsome of conmans and search for infos about the Stellaron; go around playing hide and seek with a cute deadly kid, help big booba do- Natasha with her clinic, negotiate with an ancient robot who only listens to a little girl in red who walks FOOTLESS on the FREEZING GROUND and also witness a true lesbian enemies to lovers trope come to life! oh, no! one of the lesbians' mother is actually evil and, under the influence of the stellaron, is dedicated to erase the current world to create a new one! Well, it's time to make another child an orphan!

(Do not worry, your adventures in Belobog aren't over! You'll get to run errands for kids, do a minecart puzzle like 100 times, make a grave in the snow, manage an entire museum, help families reunite, track down criminals with a nerd twink, and witness Serval get over her manic ex!)

get a call from the hottest of criminals and get persuaded by her to stop at the Xianzhou Loufu while one of your companions dreams about his ex-husband stabbing him! this is just the beginning of your adventure at the Loufu, where you'll be welcomed by the hottest of furries and dragged around by her. meet the one and only hotshot general who tells you to track down Kafka, who gets brainwashed by the most annoying and arrogant pink twink (who has the smartest of subordinates, i love you qingque) and tells you that you and your friends are just pawns obediently following the destiny a random guy named Elio chose, that you guys are here to get the Loufu in debt with you so they'll help us when we'll have to fight the literal god of destruction! Witness an insane group of immortality-seeking maniacs resurrect a forbidden tree from the ground while your friend Dan Heng decides to come looking for you with a girl, her chicken and Otto-but-not-him because he knows his ex is up to no good! shocking news! your totally normal friend is actually the High Elder of the Vydiadahra, a long-life dragon species which reincarnates over and over till the end of time. he has insane powers, can part the waters and gets to beat up a child with his ex husband and reunite with his other husband. Also, the hot furry is actually evil and dies in a very hot way, revealing that the immortality maniacs used the Stellaron to resurrect the tree, only to learn that they were being used by the Antimatter Legion and one of their leaders aka EVIL BOOBS to destroy the entire Alliance! how cool is that!

Meet up with Dan Heng and have absolutely NO REACTION about him being a dragon and help the pink diviner twink&the hotshot general kill EVIL BOOBS and save the world once again.

make friends along the way, spend money on stupid banners ans get the best relics and light cones just to have your favourite character not crit. it's all in the name of honkai star railing those bitches!

[rubyprototype]

Infinite thing™️ idk how to start actually saying:

Probably will turn into rambles! I just like him a lot and think about how his story is shown to us;

I don't think he ever had like a 'normal' childhood, or life for that matter. Considering he had a squad composed of the same species as him, who look very similar to him;

(sorry jackal fans I do NOT think they would all realistically look near exactly the same unless they were related, like look at the differences between the hedgehogs).

I think he was born into this, maybe not born into being a mercenary but at the very least he was born into being nomadic. But at one point or another it either became unviable ; or people got greedy and wanted to try for more, thus leading them to be mercenaries.

I think it's safe to say that he very clearly already didn't like the world, due to being raised oddly. (even if he wasn't, you don't just become a mercenary for fun; they needed money for some reason), so when he views his idealized version of the world and it's literally a barren wasteland..

I don't view it as inherently just for like. Evil purposes. (Though I'm not denying him being evil, he very clearly is)

The point I'm getting at is when this comic released and I kept seeing people be like "oh i can't believe he just left his squad-" HE DIDNT..... okay.... and this line specifically kinda tells you that.

They say "Don't be tempted, we'll be fine" OKAY. So the worry here, is that they WILL die. He doesn't want that! Why would he? What Infinite's being given right now, in his eyes, is ultimate power, and the insured safety of his squad. Sounds like a win-win on his part? And there isn't much room to negotiate.

People comment on this panel a lot; where he's seemingly nonchalant,

But I imagine it's him partially playing to cool, as to not worry his squad, or seem too desperate to Eggman. He believes what he's saying here; as established he doesn't like the world as is. Again, win-win situation. He didn't "ditch his squad" he saw a way to protect them and be given power the world literally has never seen....

That's also why I really hate the weak jokes people make about him, after taking a risky move he couldn't avoid, his entire squad gets killed off, then he is immediately told to 'clean up the mess they made' and go fight THE GUY who killed them

He literally says they're ANNIHILATED. Infinite does not get time to grapple with this at all before he's told

That his squad was USELESS. His family was USELESS. And now he has to face the person who killed annihilated them, without a second to process; and then after being beaten by THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM. Is instead, spared, called weak, then told to never show his face again. His breakdown wasn't "Wash shadow called me weak :(" his breakdown was, "my entire family was just killed by this guy and now he has the audacity to call me weak, and then he's upset because, to him, he IS being weak.

He is THE ULTIMARE MERCENARY !!!! He did not expect the right to go the way it did, shadow literally teleported around him... with a title like that he had to be extremely skilled, and with the jumps he does in Episode Shadow right before the fight, I'm willing to believe that!

Fear clearly isn't an emotion he's used to feeling, and with his family dead, and his pride crushed now, it stacked and led into his breakdown. The rest of Episode Shadow is literally him talking about how he 'threw away his old self', the one who couldn't hold his own, who couldn't save the people he cared about. And, with nothing left to care about; he continues on with the war plans.....

I started rambling I simply think it's unfair to say he 'ditched' his squad, and it's unfair to just call him weak for a haha funny because he literally. Isn't? And never was in any capacity. And when people reduce him down to just 'guy who hates being called weak' it really just ignores all the interesting tidbits he does have, and that forces DID get to show us... even with minimum digging he has a personality that reaches beyond how I see him often portrayed.... he is so cool and I love him so much thanks

(I don't feel like putting a DNI on this but be normal....... thanks....)

[drift-compatible-poll]

Preliminary Round: Kingdom Hearts

Sora and Riku vs Sora, Riku, and Kairi vs Larxene and Marluxia

Propaganda for Sora and Riku: "Look. I know that the kh fandom isn’t powerful enough to make them win but I swear they are perfect for this. They worked out like all their issues in the first game through weird villain betrayal arc bs and ever since then, they’ve been hopelessly in gay love and perfectly in sync. As soon as they had their whole reunion in KH2 the game entirely shifted to “let’s demonstrate how close Sora and Riku are in the most blatant of ways”. I’d highly recommend footage of their fight against the final boss Xemnas as proof of this, along with footage of their special duo Limit attack “Eternal Session”. There are multiple point at which they effortlessly hand their keyblades, special magic weapons that manifest from one’s heart, to each other in attacks. Apart from their synchronization in combat, they’re also extremely close as friends/possibly more. Riku is the only one trusted to dive into Sora’s heart to save him at the end of Dream Drop Distance, and in that game he also did the absolutely insane thing that is uh. He subconsciously changed his species to Dream Eater (lil magic dream creatures) (but Riku still looks human) because of his innate sense that Sora was in danger. Riku seems to have a sixth sense for Sora’s emotions in general because he once noticed Sora was crying before Sora even started crying (that was weird. Birth By Sleep) and noticed he was upset without looking (KH3, Keyblade Graveyard take 1). Sora also seems to consider Riku his first priority a lot, even choosing to keep looking for him to save him at the end of KH1 rather than to return to their home islands with their other friend Kairi (who is usually positioned as love interest, but it’s really lackluster and barely happening at this point and she’s just absent a lot and lacks characterization, and Sora seems to think a LOT more about Riku than he does about Kairi) and be safe. Riku’s dedication to Sora is kinda unhealthily dependent at times because he straight up spent a year once being depressed and fighting off possession while working himself to death trying to wake Sora up from a coma and recover his memories. And then spent another year later leading search efforts for Sora when he disappeared after KH3. Lastly, I am of course obligated to mention the Gayblade (no official name, move summoning it is called Nightmare’s End/Mirage Split), which is a special giant keyblade with heart decals and a paopu fruit (fruit that supposedly intertwines people’s destinies when they share one) and it’s like half light and half dark and is just straight up made from the two of them basically combining their hearts, which… if that’s not being in sync, what is? Sorry for ranting. Anyways, Soriku Endgame Actually, and please consider them for your poll."

Propaganda for Sora, Riku and Kairi: "Their Hearts are so connected to each other in so many way that more than once they brought each other back from death, in various combiantions. Also have you seen their combo finishers? They're so good."

Propaganda for Larxene and Marluxia: "(writing it down as Marluxia and Larxene for the sake of the poll runner's organization but let it be known that i also mean them as Lauriam and Elrena) You are not partner in crime for multiple millennias and multiple realities, finiding each other even after being separated by death, without being drift compatible. Also Sterlizia is with them in spirit, since it's her death that brought them together. Fight me on that." "Real ride or dies. They befriended each other while trying to find their missing sister/friend respectively, had to go to the future and (presumedly) lost their memories, and joined an evil organization. Upon meeting again, they decided everyone else sucked and the two of them attempted a coup. It failed and they kinda died. For whatever reason, Marluxia decided to rejoin afterwards and Larxene, who very clearly hates everyone else involved, follows along just to stick with him."

[lightdancer1]

Also it was not, in fact, until the Disney canon:

That Tusken Raiders actually became characters, as opposed to Orcs with Gaddafi sticks, er Gadderfi sticks. At the time when Anakin killed them the intended vibe was 'massacres bad even when the victims are always-evil mindless marauders who at bare minimum tortured your mother to death', not 'Anakin killed a sapient species who had choices on what to do and elected to capture someone to torture them to death for fun.'

The way in which the analyses of Anakin Skywalker's toxicity neatly skips past just what happened to Shmi prior to the massacre and where making Tuskens fully sapient beings who casually indulge in torture to pass the time ala Tolkien's Orcs makes them even worse, not better is.....fascinating. It's like they cannot admit that the entire point that people may be barbaric monsters in behavior but murdering them is still murder just slid past them, much as the great moment of the original trilogy was not, in fact, killing Darth Vader.

The reasons Anakin ultimately falls in the Prequels amount to wanting to save his wife's life after visions he'd had of his mother's death very much did happen, and because he listened to the advice of the Jedi Order he arrived too late to save her. Stripped of Lucas's clunky prose and the painfully bad acting as a result of his unfettered hand, those are the reasons he fell.

He was an utterly unsympathetic rabid golden retriever garbage fire of a man, but he embraced the Dark Side and Evil for entirely understandable, all too human reasons. Neglecting that to play up his whiny suckbrat behavior that Luke Skywalker very much inherited from him oversimplifies the narrative. So too that the Jedi Order and Yoda, specifically, clearly did know something happened and the alternatives are incompetent bungling (entirely probable given the rest of the Prequels) or that they literally kept it a secret in the interest of the Jedi Order for realpolitik (also probable given everything with the expanded universe from that era).

To claim the Jedi Order's dogmatism had nothing to do with the fall of Anakin Skywalker is silliness, claiming that this justifies their near-extinction is also silliness, because the reality is that if the Jedi Order were this flawlessly right hyper-competent thing some of the fandom and the fanfiction keep trying to make them Sheev Palpatine falls onto a lightsaber around the time of the military creation act as his obviously evil mannerisms would have given that away.

[tomsfoolery]

born to make maps forced to 5,000 word essay (I’m an English major)

map for my oc lore :] the continent (or two continents idk one flood and that little strip is GONE) is called Deoskrotia

rip the korosian empire you wouldn’t have loved the 30 year war over oil between you know who and Norway (I love my lore)

I’ll add the capital cities when I actually name them LOLZ

But korosia’s capital was called Vriqal Spires and it’s mostly abandoned now

and Corvus’s is called Auratovus

ramblings v

uhh Korosia operated under the belief that their land sat atop the slumbering body of a great dragon (save me vaguely dragon shaped continents save me) so they were very environmentally conscious which is why Corvus magically nuked them and destroyed their environment

Belraine used to be a part of Korosia but they broke off thanks to my bg3 durge who is also in my oc lore bc…yeah…and Vael happened to be like the vessel of a god (not Bhaal) so the empress at the time decided it wasn’t worth fighting the god she worshipped over belraine so

Korosia & Belraine are almost entirely inhabited by tiefling/tiefling-like individuals, Korosia has a lot of dragonborn and half-dragons as well tho bc dragons are very important to them which is ALSO why Corvus stole the dragons as their symbol

Dragons & any draconic or reptilian species are very important to Korosia so they have a lot of respect the more scales or wings you have so…y’know

ummm the whole deal between them is Korosia worships the creator god (who actually made most of the stuff) Ilya and Corvus worships Sycorlan, who is also a creator god but didn’t make as much. Ilya & Syc had a falling out over a misunderstanding and Syc basically rewrote history to paint Ilya as evil bc Ilya represents a lot of life cycles n stuff?? Like death must happen to make way for new life n stuff, so Syc used that against him and then beat him so bad Ilya basically died and is forced to reincarnate into vessels that are growing increasingly independent of his wishes. Which is where the lore picks up?

Kosorvo was the ATTEMPT between Korosia and Corvus to get along but Corvus pressured them w/trade embargoes into allying with them so

Nuevas Cantaras isn’t actually a country anymore, but they used to be a very long time ago. Back when the gods Ilya created were still in power Nuevas Cantaras was a huge hub for worshippers of the fire snake god Feu-Ra, however aftee Ilya’s fall he could feel his power corrupting and his control slipping so he trained the daughter of the new fire god to take his fang and slay him which created the Eye of Fire that’s been passed down quite a lot to the other main character in my story (who cannot tie his shoes)

Ilya, after spending several eternities having his name slandered and countless wars, is not nearly as benevolent or kind as he once was so his vessels usually aren’t happy.

Vaelkas is actually the only one of these vessels to break himself away from Ilya and still be alive and it’s because Astarion (yes I yoinked him) found a way to drain him to where he’s almost dead and simultaneously perform a ritual to expel Ilya.

Vyserion was the vessel prior to the one in the main story, he died during the final war between Corvus and Korosia that got Korosia eradicated. Tbh he just wanted to retire and go live on his estate in peace. Now he’s a ghost who bullies/advises the new vessel occasionally and also is currently trying to stage a coup in hell!

Aaaand the current vessel is named Ser and he was rushed to be made (?) bc Ilya wanted him to be the child of the lady who killed Vyserion just to make her go insane so naturally that childhood went very well for ser

And naturally he grows up during a war between Norway & the U.S. over oil reserves (blah blah his “mom” moved from Deoskrotia to earth blah blah) so what better way to avoid being the tool of the god than to be the tool of the military!

Ser is struggling so hard trying to live with a foot in both worlds he is losing his mind thank goodness he has a loving husband (he gets kidnapped) (and slowly falls out of love with Ser bc man’s cannot find his marbles)

[mahvaladara]

I don't like Baldur's Gate III endings...

Spoilers.

You literally have to pick the lesser of two evils.

Either you side with Orpheus or you side with the Emperor. So either Githianky or Mindflayers.

And honestly? It's Stormcloaks vs Empire all over again!

The Githianky are inteligent and driven, but they are arrogant, aggressive and evil. They kill their own young to cull the weak, treat every species as inferior and will enslave them (Lae'zel when interacting with other Gith literally describes the party as her slaves), are destructive and warmongering and will kill even harmless innocents (like they did with the monks) to take over territory. Like, they have a whole ass mountain and still chose to slaughter a temple full of monks.

So why would my character ever side with Orpheus to save the Gith? Only reason I haven't yeted Lae'Zel to another plane of existence is because she makes me laugh. The only reason I see Khalil (and he's doing a chaotic good run) interested in helping the Gith would be so he could get Vlaakith off his back because I'm sure he telling her to fuck off will come to bite him in the future. Or if he believed Orpheus could reform the gith.

When there's no more Ghayk left in the astral plane to kill, who do you think Gith will target next? Yes. You.

Another problem I have with siding with Orpheus is that i do not know this Gith. I have no proof he's not like Vlaakith. I have no proof he will not lead his people down the path its in. Secondly, how will he even move his entire people, who are as fanatical as Lae'Zel proves to be until we show her her queen's lies, will ever side with Orpheus when they been indocrinized to believe him a traitor?

On the other end we can not free Opheus and trust the Emperor. The mindflayer Emperor. And... it's a mindflayer. Do I need to explain? Yes, he has a sexy sultry voice, but this dude most likely has been mindcontroling us and manipulating us the entire game and we haven't even realized it yet.

The Emperor's loyalties don't entirely lie with us. The moment we free Orpheus the Emperor turns against us (though I don't know if that's just he loosing his protections against the absolute or not). And we know the mindflayers aren't turtworthy either. They are invasive , warmongering and destructive. They are evil. They conquer worlds by any means. They experiment, torture and manipulate every species in the world. They are also arrogant and dangerous. In a way, the Gith are much like them with less psionic powers. So, by siding with the Emperor we might just be giving another monster means to come after us.

In the end... It neither feels like siding with the Blades or sparing Paarthunax. Now that is an 'open-ended' ending that feels grand. if you side with the Blades, you end with an army to aid you protect the world from dragons and the thalmor. If you side with Paarthunax, though you will loose the Blade's alliance, you feel you made the right choice and you know Paar will try to reform the dragons, you even find friendly dragons after that.

Kinda hoped siding with the Emperor would result in that, in leaving with the feeling that you had a Mindflayer ally that would try to protect the world from them.

This ending just feels... awful. It's no grand ending. It's not the end of a great campaign where the heroes feel they did it. Maybe my party members feel that way, but my MC? Khalil? He will come out of this alone (maybe with Halsin) aware he picked the lesser of two evil and with a lot of shit to deal with in the near future. If he picked the Emperor, he will leave with the looming dread that he might have a new 'Absolute' to rise. If he picked Orpheus, he will leave feeling he will have a new "Vlaakith" to deal with eventually.

Even the companion stories don't feel good...

Astarion turns back to a vampire and you never see him again.

Karlach either has to return to Avernus or dies or becomes a mindflayer...

Gale still has a bomb on his chest.

Lae'Zel either joins Orpheus in his fight against Vlaakith, joins Vlaakith and gets eaten, or becomes a heretic and exhiled from her people.

The only ones that get an okay ending are Shadowheart who can remain a devotee of Shar or become a Selunite, and Wyll who depending on your choices can join Karlach in Avernus and help her out.

And then there's our char if we decide to go Dark Urge who can either be spared of the DU, or go on a murderous rampage...

Even if Khalil comes out spared of the DU, saving the world, he comes out either dooming the Gith to Vlaakith and the world to the Emperor, or dooming the World to Orpheus and/or Vlaakith. Or comes out a mindflayer himself...

What the fuck, Larian. I know D&D has dark humor but this isn't dark humor. This sucks.

[nicosavior456]

Adventures of Chika Hanabusa: The Restoration of Earth

Disclaimer: This book follows the events of Percy Jackson and Heros of Olympus fanfic, this fanfic will not include Trails of Apollo, The Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase.

Chapter 24: Gaia’s Guilt

Chika PoV

I went to sleep after the reunion party after Nico dropped the both of us back to my home even though it was the afternoon. I felt myself going back to the unconscious realm. The field is still full of different flowers and plants. I never thought that this place could be pretty. Guess who decided to appear before me, it’s the same being that terrorizes innocent people. Gaia seems to be wearing jeans with a green tank top. Her humanoid form is about 7 feet tall with brown hair similar to tree roots and she does have the hugest bust I see. I'm not going to lie, she's super attractive.

“Oh, why to thank you, demigod, for the compliment, I’m glad that you found me appealing. By the way, I heard everything from this reunion party” Gaia stares at me with tearful eyes. Oh no, she can hear my thoughts. Wait why does Gaia look sad than flight out evil or angry? She suddenly pulls me in for a hug and kisses my cheek. Wait what is going on, last time she was all like 'I hate humanity'? I think Mother got her crazy mood swings from Gaia, that's what makes Gaia scary. It's the fact that I'm dealing with a rated-R version of my mother.

"You poor children, I never know your godly parents are nothing but deadbeat failures. This entire time, I just victimized another species that were harmed by those golden-blooded idiots. I honestly just assumed your kind are nothing but a bunch of glory-seeking idiots like back in classical times like Achilles, Hercules, and other selfish heroes." Gaia kept hugging me to her chest, which was surprisingly comfortable.

“I wish you give demigods a chance before you start another war," I say in an annoyed tone. Gaia holds her chin as if she is rethinking her strategy in some checkers' game. Gaia just decided to give me another cheek kiss and kept on hugging me to death. What is with the Earth being very bipolar? Gaia is super confusing; Well, I guess even she is more alien than the gods themselves. Sometimes nature can be warm and sweet like a sunny day with birds flying everywhere and suddenly earthquakes and tornadoes happen the next second.

“Perhaps I should have, but I still want your kind to stop damaging and polluting my domain.”

“Of course, I do want to save the Earth from pollution, but I'm not going to kill demigods or humans to achieve that," I say assertively while Gaia just pats my head.

“We don’t need to do that anymore. Besides your kind burned me for it, so I learn my lesson" Gaia laughs at her joke while I facepalm.

“I’m not sure what to feel about you Gaia and I know that you are not sure about me. Maybe we can try to form a partnership. We need to trust each other; I don’t want to go through that scenario when you possess me to eat gods.” Gaia just starts sitting in front of me and staring at me, but it’s not in contempt. She looks deeply ashamed and remorseful about it.

“You’re right, we do need to trust each other. I’m very sorry that I possessed you to consume Nyx’s kids that day and that I won’t possess you again. This will be a very slow process.”

“You’re right, it will be a slow process. I’m willing to forgive you for that day, but I don’t want to go through that again. Please swear on the river Styx that you will never possess me to harm others again.” I bowed before while she still stared at me.

“Whatever you want mortal, I swear on the river Styx that I will only help you if your life is in danger and by your permission to do so.” Thunder strikes between us, signifying the pact between Gaia and me.

"Now then mortal if you are serious about your goal, seek the current Lord of The Wild, Grover Underworld. He has taken Pan's spot, and you must help him on his mission.” Gaia says in a low cracking tone that sounded like tremors.

“I will seek him, thank you for the meeting.” I still bowed while Gaia walked over to me and held me up like a little kid. She is super strong; I would not want to get into a fistfight with her.

"Now go mortal, I hope you are better than the others. Help me restore my realm. "She said and suddenly I woke up on Reyna's chest while she was sleeping on the couch. She must have taken a nap as well. I have no idea how I ended up sleeping on Reyna's chest. I guess the party took a lot from us. You know what, I'm still going to lay on Reyna's chest because Reyna looks super peaceful while she takes her nap. Plus, I don't want to be an annoying jerk to her, I proceed to lay my head on her boobs and try to fall asleep again. Gaia and I are still at an uneasy truce for now but maybe our relationship will improve with time.

[quaranmine]

tumblr book report time

okay, I finished Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams earlier today! I did say in the post a few hours ago I only had about 40 pages left. I also reread about another 80 or so pages that I read last year just to refresh my memory. So, I'm now going to do the (potentially) depressing task of listing out the endangered species features in this book, and seeing if any are still alive. I don't know yet how depressing or exciting this post might be.

Madagascar

This part of the book is from a trip in 1985, where they went to try and find the aye-aye lemur. I am pleased to report that the aye-aye is still alive, although still endangered. Woo-hoo! The aye-aye is the world's largest nocturnal primate, and is so unique it has no taxomic family (no related species.) They are considered evil, or harbingers of death, in folk belief, so they face danger from being hunted and killed.

Indonesia

In this chapter, they travel to the island of Komodo to look at the Komodo dragons. Komodo dragons, thankfully, are still alive, but still endangered due to the fragility of their habitat. They're at risk of volcanoes, earthquakes, habitat loss, fire, tourism, loss of prey from poaching, and illegal poachnig in general. Climate chane and sea level rise also threaten their habitat. There are 1,380 mature individuals left in the wild and 3,400 total.

Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaïre at the time of the book's publishing)

In this chapter, they end up seeing two animals. They traveled to the country to see the northern white rhinocerous, but also ended up seeing mountain gorillas too because, as Adams says, "It is very hard to go all the way to Zaïre and not see them." Mountain gorillas, although listed as endangered, are still around. The World Wildlife Fund lists their population as just over 1,000 individuals. The specific area that Adams and Carwardine visit in the book, Virunga National Park, has seen an increase in population. When they visited in the late 80s, there was a population of 320, but as of 2010 there were 480.

Here's where my post actually gets sad. The animal that Adams and Carwardine actually planned to visit in the DRC was the northern white rhinocerous. In 1988 at the time of the trip (or perhaps 1990 at the publishing of the book), there were 22 individuals left in the wild, all in Garamba National Park. Twenty two. Douglas Adams writes about the sad state of their population, and compares it to the success of the subspecies the southern white rhino. He ends that section of the book with the sentence: "The point is, we are not too late to save the northern white rhinocerous from exctinction."

Feeling very energized after reading this, I had set down my book and pulled out my smartphone to google the northern white rhinocerous. The bad news is, the northern white rhino is functionally extinct in 2023. There are only two left in the entire world, and both are female, mother and daughter. Garamba National Park has suffered years of turmoil from politcal unrest, wars, insurgents, and poachers. In 2008, there were no northern white rhinos left in the wild and only 8 left in captivity.

There's some tentatively good news. Before the last male died in 2018, his sperm was collected. The remaining two living females cannot carry babies anymore, but the daughter's eggs were gathered. There's a team of scientists trying IVF, and since 2019 they've managed to get 24 embryos from one female and two males. They're planning on using another southern white rhino as a surrogate. Will this save the species? Who knows. Any babies that result will have to be inbred--either siblings or half-siblings. No genetic diversity remains in the subspecies. But it is interesting to me since this sort of thing used to not be possible at all for endangered species.

New Zealand

The first birds mentioned in this chapter is the Kea, which is also endangered, but this chapter isn't really about them. It's about the Kakapo. The Kakapo are probably my favorite animal described in this book, because they seem so silly. It's a wonder they never managed to go extinct at any point in history. I love them. Fortunately, there's good news for Kakapo: they're doing better!

Actually, I saw a tweet about them literally earlier today:

They're still considered critically endangered, but this is good news. As of 2023 there are 248, which is a significant increase in the ~70 that existed when the book was written. Yay, kākāpō! They're very cute.

China

Here is where the post gets sad again. In this chapter, Adams and Carwardine visit the Yangtze in search of the baiji river dolphin. It has been 21 years since the last confirmed sighting of the baiji, and 17 years since they were considered extinct after no trace of them could be found. I find this particularly sad, because part of the chapter in this book has Adams and Carwardine visiting with the Tongling Baiji Conservation Committee, and their construction of a nature reserve on the river. The end of the chapter seems hopeful based on this hard work, so I also feel quite sad for all these people in 1989 who cared so much and were still unable to save these animals :(

Mauritius

This is the final chapter of the book, and covers quite a few animals. The original intention was for them to be looking for the Rodrigues fruit bat. These bats are endangered, but with increasing population. By the time of the book's publishing in 1990, the population had just passed the 1,000 mark. The Philadelphia Zoo website says with breeding programs, there are now 20,000 left in the wild.

Another species mentioned is the Mauritius Kestrel. In 1974, there were only 4 individuals left. Now, thanks to breeding programs, there are about 400 left in the wild as of 10 years ago. That's amazing, but it is a bit worrying still--in 2005, there were 800 in the wild. So there was a wildly successful reintroduction and now the population is dipping again. But if they survived it once, I think we can help them survive it again.

Another bird mentioned is the pink pigeon. As of the publishing of the book in 1990, there were less than 10 in the wild. Now, thanks to conservation efforts, there are approximately 480. They've suffered some loss of genetic diversity, though.

Finally, the echo parakeet is mentioned. As of the time of the book's publishing, there were less than 15 remaining in the wild. I am happy to say that as of 2020 there are more than 800 birds left in the wild, and their status has been moved from endangered to just vulnerable--a step up!

That brings me to the end of my tumblr book report. I was actually mildly surprised and happy to see that only two of the species mentioned in the book are extinct/functionally extinct, and that the others were saved from the brink. I seriously thought while googling some of the birds at the end that they would be gone, but fortunately they're still around.

Goodnight! I spent way too long writing this!

[tenebrius-excellium]

Hello there! I saw your posts about the httyd books and the conversations others had there, so I don't want to repeat their same points. I just wanted to provide some encouragment for you personally, because it seems like your interpretation of the books was due to less-than-hopeful feelings about our world.

Hiccup of the books has faith in his gods. He knows they have laid out a fate for him and he has faith that his personal fight for progress is in line with the fate they've decided. Think of the Lost Things finding him as if by magnetic attraction! You could argue that that's all due to his good choices, but that is the same thing as divine intervention if the gods have planned that fate for him. So Cressida DID write them into the story as Hiccup's faith.

Humans trying to find one final moral authority to deflect judgment to has always led to more social suffering, not more peace. And divine intervention cannot reverse global warming or stop deforestation or unpollute our waterways. At least not by any god directly reaching out a hand and righting it all. One could say that God has already intervened by giving us all the tools we need in order to fix the mistakes we've made. All the science and empathy is there, we have been taught about respect and how to spread faith and ideas. Now we need to use those tools to extend that respect to our fellow species (and to ourselves, since we are the victims of toxins and pollutants as well) and stoke each other's will to continue the work. Ecological evangelizing, if you will, alongside our social progress. And that's where Hiccup's call to action comes in! Cressida's goal is for every child reading to feel galvanized, to realize that since they are just like Hiccup, who changed the entire viking world, then they are not useless in this matter either! If he waited for the Norse gods to save him and the vikings and dragons directly, that would be a hopeless message for today's children. That they are helpless and small, that only an all-powerful god is powerful enough to save our society, all while ignoring and wasting their own potential that God created them with… I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

I'm not trying to be offensive or mean at all, it just concerned me to see your feelings about the end of the series, which is intended to be a peaceful and hopeful ending, and that you felt our only hope in real life is surrendering to divine intervention. I am religious too, and nobody can know what form divine intervention takes. Maybe God is whispering in all of our ears, encouraging us to not only care but to act, to inspire each other, to ignore the evil voice of complacency and defeatism, and to try to make a difference against any odds. Maybe He was whispering to Cressida when she wrote Hiccup's call to action, and maybe He whispered to me when I saw your post. We have no way to know! But I do know that religion has been co-opted by those causing the most harm in our society for their own gain, so those abused religious structures cannot be now used as a solution or rulebook. Our solution must be the pure core of religion: Faith. Faith that we have been given the tools, faith that mankind can continue to progress, and faith in our own abilities to act, just as Hiccup has faith. The nice thing about faith is that it is the same by any name, regardless of which (if any) religion is attached. They say that hope is the basis for faith, and I hope you come to see these books as inspirationally as I see them someday, even if that's not the case now, and that your springtime is filled with renewed faith. Look around for the dragons, they are there!

Hi. So this ask catches me at an interesting point in my life, where - as funny as the timing is - I am finding my faith in God again. I fell into a crisis when I misinterpreted something that humans did to me - the way I grew up, to be precise - as "God's will" and I had to relearn that. Not all of that was God's will and it's mad to think about just how much stuff is allowed to go on for a really long time under the reality that is called free will. Bad empires will last for centuries if people don't stand up for what is good and right. And so, in a way, yes you are very correct when you say that it is our actions that change the world for the better. Cuz bad empires topple through the cry for change from their inhabitants, and by them standing up for what they believe.

To a degree.

Ultimately though, it is not our activism that saves the world - it is the LORD changing hearts. Especially when you look at Christianity (religion can obviously mean a lot of things), the obvious point that humans have not been able to earn heaven on earth through their deeds remains. It is God who makes the final sacrifice, God who turns to live in each and everyone of us if we offer our hearts to be softened to change according to His perfect will, not ours.

If activism could save the world, if our efforts and tries could make the final difference, we would have reached the state of heaven by now, because that is literally what everyone yearns for in one form or another. Even extremists believe that terror will bring peace if they just eliminate everyone who has "bad" thoughts.

Humans are capable of doing INCREDIBLE things, and it's fantastic that the Httyd books show just how far a single boy can get the kingdoms of an entire archipelago if he has good friends and parents who listen to reason. But those people were already open for change because deep down, they knew what was right, they just lacked the revelation or the tools to act on it. If I remember correctly, people joined the companions of the Dragonmark for vastly different reasons. Hiccup had the conviction to treat dragons right from the start. Some other people were blind or complacent but joined the revolution fairly quickly when Hiccup opened their eyes to the dragons' suffering. Some tribes joined later merely out of fear of Alvin - not because of personal conviction, but because if the world as they knew and liked it was going to change anyway, the Dragonmark was the lesser of two evils. And Snotlout had to overcome his massive jealousy before he finally joined the good side.

So you see, people couldn't be coerced into being good by Hiccup saying certain stuff or by doing certain things to them/for them. There were a couple rousing speeches, sure, but each of the people had to come to the conclusion for themselves that enslaving dragons was not alright anymore.

And it's true that the King's Things seemed to find Hiccup via a sort of magical attraction, confirming him as the right fit for a king.

But what prevailed for me was Furious' lament that future times were going to change for the worse again no matter what Hiccup achieved in the present. That he already saw Hiccup's era pass into oblivion again before his eyes, as people would slowly grow greedy,...and selfish..., and complacent towards evil again.

The 12 Httyd books defeated Alvin, (and Excellinor of course), but not evil. And it is the failure to defeat evil which Furious mourns as he cannot even enjoy the present victory over the temporary injustice that had transpired. Furious and the Wodensfang and Hiccup are old souls. They look past the fleeting things and long for something lasting and eternal. However, they are locked within the confines of their time, where Evil has not yet fully been defeated by Good, and THAT'S what the real conflict is at the end of Book 12.

And THAT'S what doesn't get resolved and THAT'S what I'm criticizing.

That the ultimate main characters' goal is to create paradise but the books end on the notion that 'we're not there yet' and it's our actions that need to achieve it. We just didn't 'do' enough yet. No. Ultimately, it is not humanity that will save the world. We contribute by doing good, yes, but even Hiccup wasn't able to change Alvin's or Excellinor's mind. Some evil can't be defeated by human reasoning. And it is foolish to me that the books did not arrive at that conclusion, but remained in the pessimistic belief that 'we (or future generations) just need to try harder'. No. This creates panic, and more fear - the belief that the way the world ends is entirely up to us! What an impossible load to carry! What a crushing weight on our shoulders! It's not to be done: History has already shown it.

So to me, the books either need to be about defeating Alvin - but then the dragons could have happily stayed, because that goal was achieved in all its fullness - or they need to be about defeating Evil, which would have required to introduce a kind of final judge.

Instead, Book 12 ended with the worst possible take - at least for me: Between the two lines.

Humanity isn't going to get better on its own. Not without the help of a God who lives in each of us, whispering to us about what is right and prompting us with a supernatural conscience. Not without a God who works on our character if we let him, because we aren't even aware ourselves if the things we do are good or bad half the time. Not without a God who took the ultimate punishment for everything bad that happens in the world, so that we can stop punishing and getting revenge on each other because the price has already been paid.

So that...that's my take on it all. I'm happy that the books seem to have shown a great deal of many people what they can do to make the world a better place. And that taking action is not only possible, but extremely powerful if we choose it. It may have ripped some people out of an extremely nihilist and defeatist mindset by giving encouragement on the fact that what you do in life DOES make a difference. I'm happy for everyone in the book fandom who read this story as a child and it made them taller.

But my point stands that if this causes you to take all the world's responsibility on your shoulders - if you think that it's YOU who has to save us - if you think that if you just do more, you're a better person - and if this spirals you into the panic that one of your mistakes might make the entire world crash, ... then I'd say nope. That's not a good mindset to live in. And the books should have ended on a clearer page of which villain they wanted to conquer.

Thank you for sending this ask, I've loved the deep discussion.

Love

Reddie

[zaceouiswriting]

Betrayal at a superhero: The judgement

Character: Steve Rogers x male reader, Bucky Barnes x male reader

Universe: Somewhere in Marvel

Warnings: None

Authors note: So I finally came to finish this little second part piece. I hope you enjoy.

Bright glowing Light, brought you from the darkness and the dimmer light of the earth before, were you just died, to a place in white.

A circle around you, caging you in surrounded by beings, some looking like you and others completely different from you. But those near to you, directly in your vicinity, where those who had created your species and you personally.

You knew every single one of them by name, which was hard, because your species had a thousands gods. The important twenty-four one, those holding everything together, were the ones around you. Sitting on benches, nearest to you. All other gods of your kind and all others, behind them.

„I believe you know, why we called you here?“, a soft, but stern voice asked you.

With a hanging head, you nodded almost invisible. You were too ashamed of what happened. This never should’ve happened in the first place. As a champion of the good that created you, to get happened something like this, was not only a shame, but deadly one, not only for you.

„Good. We came here together, to talk about your incompetence! Your future and the future of the human race, as well as their gods.“

Your head hanged even lower than before. Never in your life have you ever felt this humiliated. And it was your own fault, you trusted people, and got this in return.

Most of the trial, was not on your mind, your thoughts back on earth, with Steve and Bucky. The kiss you had shared with them, let you make feel warm and fuzzy inside. You knew it was right and that they loved and trusted you, as much as you trusted them. Only the end of the trial would be engraved in your brain forever. You did not even try to change their minds, because they already were made up. Not even the human gods, tried anything. They just took it as if were facts.

„(Y/N), with the power of the council of gods. We reinstall you as the guardian as well as guide for the earth and entire human race. To bring them into the future, to fight the evil with the rest of the universe. But you need to kill every single human, that had part in your capture as well as the stealing of your powers. Their souls need to be destroyed, so none of them could ever be even partial reborn again. Only then, you will be allowed to life fully again.“

Pain rushed trough your veins, letting you fall to the ground in agony. A slight whimper could be heard as you landed on your knees. Pity could be felt all around you. Just not from the one god that was speaking to you. The only one who had something to say in this matter.

„I will awaken you, (Y/N). If you are not able to fulfill this task, it will burn you alive, destroy your own immortal soul and the entire solar system you will be in.“ Just with the words spoke, the dull pain, was switched out with one of burning. Every single atom, felt as if it got stretched out and completely destroyed just to get bound together again.

Your skin slight glowing now, eyes in a deep green color. But as your awakening subsided, your natural look came back. „The Emerald Guardian awoke. From now on, your home is the so called „Emerald Isle“, protect it with everything you have and anything you do, needs to start there.“

Just with that, you got dismissed. With a feeling of violation throbbing in your head. To awaken one of your kind with force, never feels good. But this was especially brutal, because it was a punishment, for your weaknesses.

Steve mourned everyday. Not only for his inability to save you, but also for what he hadn’t realized sooner. His relationship with Bucky broke together, their friendship ended, after your death. He ended his superhero career and even threatened the government, if they ever even look in his direction, he would kill them all. They even tried to play your death down and after this hadn’t worked, wanted to tell that you became an enemy.

Steve, who still was the absolute hero, told the reality, that they had experimented at you and killed you in the process. Human rights organizations, broke the government almost down. The UN, had build a interstellar rights organization, for beings that are not humans, but life on the earth.

Six month have gone by, and the civil war, just had ended. The government lost and another was build up. Steve was elected as the supervisor, to make sure, that they could never misuse their power again.

Bucky on the other hand, traveled the world, searching for another meaning in his life. But at this moment, both of the men, saw you. You smiled at Bucky, standing on another hill, waving to him. While you stood for Steve on the other side of the road, shyly looking up at him. But just a second later you were gone again.

For six more month this happened almost every day. Until on your death day, they both came back to New York, where on the formerly avengers tower, now a specialized school, for humans with magical abilities, which came up, after your death, was now in. On the top of the school, was a stature in your honor. With the Phrase engraved, „Magic is a great responsibility. It is powerful and beautiful, but at the same time, the best way to really got on the nerves of other people.“

Your team got the short stick of this all the time. But not one of them, could remember anything else, than the last breath you took. Which Steve described in vivid details multiple times.

Directly in front of the statue. The two men after a year apart finally saw each other again. Neither talked to the other or even really acknowledge the presence of the other.

It was painful for you, to watch them, being so shut off, from one another but also most of the world. Never were able to get away, from the pain they felt deep inside of them.

Finally, your body materialized itself again. It took them fucking long enough for your taste. Carefully you walked to them, your feet almost silently, as you did it. Not wanting to startled them or even let them turn around too early.

But you did not even need to be careful. Because neither did anything. Just kneeling in front of your stature, which you must admit, was great work from whoever did it. You just kneeled between the two men, without either of them noticing.

Sitting there for minutes, you just needed to ask an question. „He is beautiful, isn’t he?“

„Was.“ Nothing else came out of Steves mouth.

You couldn’t even roll your eyes as wide back as you wanted at that, „At least, you are handsome Captain. A intelligence award would never be in reach for you.“ Finally after offending him, he turned to you. For you, he was only visible in the corner of your eye, but the look he had on his face. One of pure shock and he was paling pretty fast.

„But don’t worry, little wolf over there, seemed to be just as unable to think or hear as you. And he should go to a hairstylist or so, his hair got out of control to an extent, that is not bearable anymore.“

At this point, both men were looking at you, not moving but looking like, they would loose their conciseness any second know. „A bit unfair. I gave you a kiss, when I left but you would not give me one, when I come back? Im not happy with you two!“

You just stood up, turned around and were on your way to walk away. Where you finally heard the Captains faint voice, „Are you real?“, he asked almost unable to speak anymore.

„Took you long enough. I tried for six months to get you two to get together so you could reminisce my existence, just so I can get back. I was ready for six months!“, you called loudly in their direction, almost screaming in their faces.

„Come back? Are you really here?“ Now it was on Bucky, to have his first boost of intelligence.

„I could bite you, to show you, but I believe you would like it too much, little wolf.“ Teasing standing out in your words. You could see how his larynx jumped up and down, almost as if he was dehydrated. At least it sounded dry to you.

So you decided to play a little bit more, vanishing in their sight, just to let a finger ran over Steves impressive arm or let your breath tickle Buckys neck. For a few minutes you did nothing else, until you hoped, that they finally could work trough their thoughts, which was why you had stopped. For a second you looked at them from the top of the statue panicking. Believing at the end, it really just was a dream.

Just for you to reappear between them and finally to take one hand from both of them. Holding their warm hands, between yours, feeling their skin and the soft flesh under it was everything you wanted. To feel their hearts beating faster with you holding their hands.

Coincidentally the sun began to set, just in this moment. Given all three of you, the perfect light. „Do I finally get my kiss?“, you asked cheekily, extending your neck a bit, to get a little bit more to their height.

Instead of a kiss, you soon became the middle of a sandwich. A very muscular, good smelling sandwich. One of them crying and one lowly whimpering, it wasn’t hard to guess who did what. Your kiss could wait, as long as neither of them would ever let you go.