#him + guts getting out of the eclipse no casualties

[metaldragoon]

[msfilmdiary]

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn–Part 2

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Nikki Reed, Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz, Jackson Rathbone, Peter Facinelli, Anna Kendrick, Elizabeth Reaser, Billie Burke, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning, Jamie Campbell Bower, Christian Serratos, Chaske Spencer, Mackenzie Foy, Rami Malek, Christopher Heyerdahl, Alex Meraz, Bronson Pelletier, Julia Jones, Booboo Stewart, Noel Fisher, Sarah Clarke, and Jodelle Ferland

Screenplay by Melissa Rosenberg

Directed by Bill Condon

Cinematography by Guillermo Navarro

I do not own any of the pictures posted. 

SPOILERS AHEAD 

Bella has just awoken from her human-to-vampire transformation and is introduced to her daughter Renesmee. The Cullens and Jacob stay nearby, and Jacob seemingly acts possessive towards Renesmee, and Bella learns that he imprinted on her. Meanwhile, Bella’s father Charlie has been trying to contact the Cullens for updates on Bella and her health. Carlisle soon comes to believe that they need to leave Forks to protect their identities, and Jacob, desperate not to lose Renesmee, visits Charlie to inform him about Bella. He tells him that Bella is alive and well, but had to change in order to get better. He also tells Charlie that he doesn't live in the world he thinks he lives in, revealing his wolf form to Charlie. Charlie then visits the Cullen house and meets Renesmee, and Bella and the Cullen family are able to stay in Forks. 

Carlisle is monitoring Renesmee’s rapid growth over the course of a few months. When they go to the woods for an outing, Irina sees Renesmee from a distance and assumes that she is an immortal child without asking any questions. Immortal children are vampires changed in childhood who often destroyed villages and towns because they could not be restrained or controlled. Immortal children were executed and outlawed, as well as the parents who created them. A bitter Irina goes to the Volturi to report what she has seen, and Alice has a vision of the Volturi and Irina coming to kill the Cullens and instructs them to find as many witnesses to vouch that Renesmee is not an immortal child. Alice and Jasper leave to try and find their own witnesses, while the others begin to summon various people to vouch for the Cullens that they do not have an immortal child. 

Some of these witnesses include the Denali family. Eleazar, a member of the Denali family, discovers that Bella has a special ability that protects her from Edward’s mind-reading. Even when she was human, she had a powerful mental shield protecting her from many vampire gifts, which translated into her being able to protect others from vampire powers now that she is immortal. 

Some of Cullen's potential witnesses are attacked, and Carlisle and Edward realize that they may have to fight Volturi. Their remaining witnesses agree to stand with them against Volturi. The Volturi soon arrive prepared for battle led by Aro, who is eager to obtain the vampiric gifts the Cullens have as part of his guard. Before any violence begins, Alice and Jasper approach Aro, and Alice shares her vision with him of battle, which would result in heavy casualties on both sides, including Aro’s and Carlilse’s death. Aro believes her vision, giving them both a chance to reveal their witness, Nahuel, who is half-human and half-vampire, just like Renesmee. Nahuel proves that he is not a threat, ensuring that Renesmee isn't either. The Volturi leave, explaining that there will be no battle. 

Now back at the Cullen house, Alice has a vision of the future, seeing Bella and Edward and Jacob together and a fully matured Renesmee also together. Edward reads Alice’s mind and is relieved to find that Jacob will always protect Renesmee. Now alone in the meadow, Bella pushes her mental shield away and finally allows Edward to read her mind, showing him every moment they spent together. The film franchise ends with Bella tells Edward that “nobody has ever loved anybody as much as I love you” and with that, the film franchise finally comes to a close, with Bella and Edward together forever in their own vampire universe. 

Breaking Dawn–Part 2 captured and finalized the Twilight saga, throwing a few twists and turns into the storyline. Now, I will admit, some of the dialogue seems a bit out of place when compared to the franchises previous films, but the overall feel remains the same. Breaking Dawn–Part 2, if anything, ties up the series without leaving any loopholes in an action-packed, bone-chilling way. 

We see the new Bella right at the beginning of them, which I believe is one of the best character developments I’ve ever seen. She’s changed, but not in a way that doesn't seem unrealistic (that is, if you consider vampires, werewolves, and hybrids of some sort realistic.) She, like the Cullens, can run from place to place instantaneously, sees nature in great detail, and has a daggering taste for blood. 

Vampire Bella is not someone I would describe in the same way I would describe human Bella. Human Bella is seclusive, insecure, and sensitive. Vampire Bella is more confident, and more herself. Human Bella is more of a daydreamer, and vampire Bella is more realistic, and excited to live her life as an immortal. 

Spending the last week and a half watching, reading, and analyzing Twilight and Twilight saga reviews, there is one thing that I’ve noticed. Bella, and Kirsten Stewart, who plays Bella, received generally negative reviews from critics. Stewart played Bella exactly how she was written, both human and vampire. Bella, as a character, is not very relatable or self-actualized, which is exactly how Stewart played her to be. 

Now, back to the film and the saga as a whole. Watching Breaking Dawn–Part 2 is thrilling, especially in the later part of the movie. I know what’s going to happen when the Cullens and their witnesses fight Volturi. Nonetheless, I was still at the edge of my seat and holding my breath for these characters. Watching many of these beloved characters die, but not die, even though I knew what was going to happen, was heart wrenching and thrilling. 

Overall, I believe this film to be the perfect and bittersweet ending to the Twilight saga. Built up from Eclipse, I think it gave many what they wanted in an ending. Twilight, I believe, will always have an important place in pop and teen culture, and will always be something that many, including myself, reminisce on. Now, I believe that it’s getting the recognition that it deserves because society has moved past the point of hating something because teenage girls love it. I think that it’s okay to like Twilight, it’s okay to like things that are not deemed as classical or “good” literature, and it’s okay to like something simply because it's enjoyable. 

Breaking Dawn–Part 2 perfectly closed the series, but I don’t think the series will ever fully be forgotten or deemed unimportant by societal standards. I think, in an essence, teenage girls, or everyone else for that matter, will always remember the gut-wrenching, thrilling, bone-chilling, and romantic, vampiric series that is Twilight. 

[rotworld]

9: Mistaken Identity

these are the moments that lead up to tragedy. a prologue to day 5.

->among us fanfiction. contains gore.

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Forward Base Gamma goes dark. The first recon team doesn’t come back. 

There’s a sick feeling in Dimitris’ gut as the all-terrain rover jolts and trundles its way into the lunar valley. From a distance, he sees some kind of wreckage; metal shrapnel and shredded insulation material. His atmospheric sensors pick up smoke. He tries hailing someone over comms again and gets nothing but white noise. The shadow of a passing asteroid eclipses him and he feels so painfully human and adrift beneath its vastness.

“Come in, Gamma,” he says again, uselessly. Static hisses back. “What happened? Is anyone there? Please respond. Red Team inbound.”

He scolds himself for saying ‘team,’ as if anyone but him would volunteer for this suicide mission. Force of habit. Cirvissia’s orbit has them out of touch with Mission Control for the next few hours but he’s sure they’d be cynical about the chances of survival for anyone out at Gamma. Easy for them to say, a whole galaxy away. He wasn’t about to do nothing. Chantal was at Gamma. Chantal, with her bright eyes and wheezy laugh and unending hunger for research. She had to be okay.

A few cycles ago, she’s told him something haunting. They’d had the same shift in medical, performing the last round of pre-landing assessments. “Acceptable losses,” she said. “Have you heard the mercs say that?” 

“Sure,” he said.

“Know what it means?” 

“Something awful, I bet.” Nobody liked the combat team. Didn’t trust them, didn’t want to get stuck in close quarters with them. Nothing good happens when guns are brought into space. 

“It means the number of casualties the mission can afford and still be successful,” Chantal said. Morbid as always. She sat on one of the infirmary bunks and took off her helmet, wiping the sweat from her brow. “Something’s got the mercs all freaked out. Guess there’s been some chatter lately about unusual accidents from some of the other ships that came out this direction.”

Dimitris rolled his eyes. “Pathfinding missions make everyone superstitious. All the mystique will be gone once we’ve mapped this quadrant.”

Still, she pressed, “What do you think the acceptable losses are for this mission? I’m serious, Dimitris. How many do you think?” 

“I don’t know. One from every team, at least?” 

“That’s not true,” she said. “Not every team is necessary for survival. I’m not necessary. It’s important to keep that in mind, in case things go wrong.”

“Don’t say things like that.” 

Chantal took his hand and squeezed it. He missed how it felt to touch without the gloves and suits and protective gear. He missed her warmth. “You’re too sweet,” she said. “You’d be terrible at triage.” 

Dimitris stops the rover when he sees the first body, his heart leaping into his throat. Dead, he can tell at a distance. A mission specialist or navigator, maybe, but it’s hard to tell when the suit is so badly singed. He kneels beside the body and winces. The corpse is unrecognizable beneath the smashed in faceplate, the face mangled and partially melted. The snaking trail of disturbed lunar soil and blood behind the body tells him the death wasn’t quick. A quick scan reveals broken bones and internal ruptures consistent with extreme blunt force trauma and the burns he expected, but also something else. 

There’s a hole in the back of the skull. As he stares at the black spot on the x-ray, he hears something move.

Dimitris freezes, surveying the silent landscape. Nobody but him and the corpse. The smoking ruins of Forward Base Gamma are just over the hill, still smoking. The chemical readings his suit gives him indicate that the base’s generator exploded, something that doesn’t seem possible. The engineering department did everything they could to make mission-critical appliances as simple to use as possible. “Idiot-proof,” they called them, absolutely impossible to destroy by mistake. Which can only mean it was done on purpose. 

He hears the sound again, an earthy whisper like shifting sand. Footsteps in the loose soil. Dimitris shuts off his scanning software, fully expecting to find one of the mercs creeping up on him. Bastards. Probably got bought out by some other research team with an eye on Cirvissia. He knew it, knew they couldn’t be trusted, knew they’d fuck everyone else over in the end.

He turns and it’s Chantal instead. Chantal, limping, wounded, reaching out to him. Alive. Dimitris has never moved so fast in his life. 

“You shouldn’t have come,” she says weakly. “That’s how I knew you would.” She falls into his arms and he works quickly but carefully, supporting her weight as he walks her back to the rover. 

“Any other survivors?” he asks. 

She lets out a ragged breath. “No. No, I hope not. Everything’s burning in there.” 

“What happened?” 

“One of the mercs. He was acting funny a little after we set up base. He’d escort someone to the observatory or the comm center and come back alone. We didn’t put two and two together until one of the bodies turned up. He’d already sabotaged our comm link. We couldn’t get through to anyone.” 

“Jesus.” Dimitris helps her into the passenger seat before climbing in, driving faster than he should across the low gravity landscape. “What about the merc?” he asks. “Did he get away? I saw someone outside who’d been shot in the head.” 

Chantal shakes her head. “I don’t,” she stops, shivers. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” 

“Okay,” he says softly. He doesn’t push. They’ll figure it out later, once she’s back safe and sound on the Skeld and he can get in touch with Mission Control. How far does this go? Are the other mercs in on it? Who can he trust? The medical team all know Chantal. They’ll believe her. They’ll help. Navigation is all by-the-book, though, they’ll want evidence, a testimony from the combat team. What does he have? The readings from the body he found, for one. That bullet hole.

He can see the Skeld on the horizon, and closer, the satellite medical station. “Almost there,” he says. Chantal makes a pained sound and he squeezes her shoulder. He checks the readings he took from the corpse earlier as he brings the rover to a slow crawl. Hopefully Gamma doesn’t completely burn to the ground before he can get someone down there to look it over. There must be bullet casings, maybe trace amounts of the residue used in the weapons, something, anything at all. 

But when he looks again, closely, he realizes he’s wrong. That’s not an execution-style bullet wound. It’s doesn’t look quite right. Splinters of skull fragments litter the cranial cavity under the skin, indicating an outward trajectory. This is the exit wound, not the entry wound. If he turns the 3D scan, he can follow a neat, surgical hole through the brain all the way through to the frontal bone of the skull, to another hole. It’s small, too small for the standard rounds the mercs use. He’s never seen anything like it. He transfers the file to his e-screen and tells Chantal to look, but she doesn’t, because she isn’t in the rover anymore. 

Dimitris looks around frantically and catches a glimpse of her purple suit disappearing around the corner of the medical station, moving too quickly to be as injured as she seemed. He hears a door open, and then screaming, and then silence as the door shuts again. 

He clutches the rover’s steering wheel, breaking out in a cold sweat. He thinks about Chantal. He thinks about strange accidents in deep space, where nobody can come to save them. About acceptable losses. How many people can they lose before the mission is a failure? She was always so much better at this kind of thing than him. Tears burn at the corners of his eyes and he can’t even wipe them away.

[spacepaladinranger]

Engame Spoiler-y Review

READ THIS ONLY IF YOU WANT TO BE SPOILED. I just need to let my feelings out because I’m a nerd who has nothing better to do.

I don’t think the MC can make another movie like this. That is not to say that the MCE will never be able to make a film bigger or more spectacular than this, because they might. But it will never top the emotional impact of this film.

The MCU has been criticized (justly, I may add) to be series of “junk food” films – full of spectacle, but low on character development. This film is anything but that. The film feels more like a love letter to the characters and the fans. The spectacle was there, of course, but this time it was eclipsed by the small, minute scenes that give insight to our beloved superheroes.Before that, here are the films you probably should watch. Although the references are easy to spot, you might want to brush up on your knowledge of these films.

Avengers (2012)

Thor: The Dark World (I know. They really reminded us the worst MCU film exists lol)

Dr. Strange

Age of Ultron

Capt. America: TWS

Capt. America: Civil War

Iron Man 3

(EVERYTHING AFTER THIS IS SPOILER TERRITORY PLEASE STOP READING IF YOU DON’T WANT TO BE SPOILED. I MEAN IT.)

The film begins before the infamous Thanos snappening, with Hawkeye. The first scene itself was telling to what the movie aims to be. It was emotional and reminded us of the stakes – of what the heroes are fighting for. It was a good mood setter and on the get go, separates itself from Infinity War. If Infinity War was Thanos’ journey of gathering the Infinity Stones, then Endgame is the journey of the original six Avengers in their goal to undo Thanos’ handiwork. Now finally, I understand why this is not called Infinity War Part 2 – because it is not. The structure of the film itself is vastly different from IW because the focus is shifted from the plot to the characters themselves.And this was a tall order. We are talking about a decade long franchise of 20 plus films, all with their own tone and structure, and weaving them together into a coherent film with a solid plot and development is difficult. The Russo brothers, luckily, shine in this kind of storytelling. There is something so enticing with the way they handle the arcs of these characters without it feeling overly dramatic or feeling like a caricature. My second favourite emotional arc was Natasha/Black Widow’s story. Arguably, she had the biggest role to play in the Avengers’ success in the film.  Her sacrifice in Vormir to get the Soul Stone was gutting. I literally cried partly because no one expected her to die – she was never in anyone’s death prediction list – and partly because you expect a spy like her to be anything but self-sacrificing. Her fight with Clint/Hawkeye on who between them should be sacrificed to get the stone was hard to watch. They are bestfriends who are willing to die for each other; but they understand the necessity of the sacrifice because they are also heroes who have to do whatever it takes for them to win. Their dialogue was the best of the film, and Natasha’s “I don’t judge people on their worst mistake” is a sober reminder that these two go way back and has been each other’s strength and support all throughout the film franchise. It’s devastating to see Natasha plummet to her death, but it served an indispensable push for the heroes to succeed.

My favourite arc was Steve/Cap (SURPRISE! Lmao). Steve’s role was noticeably reduced in IW and this film made up for it in a major way. Let me just get this out of the way, but the styling team really did god’s work in dressing up Steve this film and the Russo brothers’, bless them, choice to have every outfit of Steve showcased is the very definition of fan service. It was gratuitous but honestly, I am not complaining. There was a running joke about Steve’s butt being “America’s Best Ass”™ (Thank you Scott Lang for that) and having Steve himself recognize it was not only satisfying to watch but also the truest, realest thing that has been uttered in the film. LolKidding aside, Steve’s journey was the most important. People argue that Tony was the foundation of the Avengers but it was Steve that kept them together. And Steve kept them together. It’s more than just him giving rousing, inspiring speeches – Steve has always served as the moral compass of the group. Somehow, Steve always knew the right thing to do, but it never felt deus-ex-machina esque, instead it always felt like it was coming from a place of wisdom and compassion. It’s not that Steve knows what to do, it’s just that Steve sees that there is something that can be done, and actually does it. Steve has always been a hero. That was the journey that was set-up for him since his first outing in the MCU, and Endgame paid that off big time. When Steve wielded the Mjolnir, I tell you, I screamed loudly. It was so satisfying to see this straight-laced hero being recognized as someone worthy. His toe-to-toe with Thanos was amazing to watch and really reminds you that Steve’s physicality and fight scenes are some of the best in all of the MCU. So when Steve returns to Infinity Stones in their proper timeline and decides not to come back to the present to, in his words, “live life”, I shed a tear. It was well deserved. This man who has been fighting wars all his life deserve a life of peace. Steve doesn’t die, but he gives up his mantle and gives his shield to Sam/Falcon. It was a good way to bookend his journey. And I am excited to see how Anthony Mackie handles this huge role in the future.

Tony Stark is the first Stark casualty this April. After his rescue from deep space, we find out that Tony and Pepper got married and have a daughter. When the daughter came to the screen, I knew immediately that Tony Stark is unlikely to survive. Tony dies a hero, sacrificing himself so that Thanos is defeated. It was Tony who wielded the stones to snap Thanos and his alien army out of existence, and his death, although emotional to watch, was really not surprising for me. Tony came to us first being this selfish, brash, genius billionaire and his journey ended with him making the sacrifice that deals the final blow against Thanos. 

Scott Lang shined in this film. His funny one-liners provide a welcome reprieve from the heaviness of the film. And he was actually instrumental in the Avengers winning. Nebula was also a stand out and played an important role in moving the plot forward. Who knew a robot had so many conflicting emotions lol. Kudos to Karen Gillan for bringing complexity to her character and I cannot wait to see her in future MCU films again. All the ‘dusted’ characters come back. All of them. And not just them everyone in the MCU almost made a cameo. Hoping this film rakes in billions because it’s probably expensive having so many of the cast in the same scenes. Haha.

Some stand-out moments:

1. Thor’s beer belly 

2. Wanda/Scarlet Witch and Thanos rematch (Thanos got beat, BTW)

3. The all-female team-up of Capt. Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Okoye, Pepper Potts, Valkyrie, and Mantis

4. Thor double wielding Stormbreaker and Mjolnir

5. Stephen Strange having like one line and being a badass

6. Spider-Man being… Spider-Man

7. Peter Quill being kicked in the balls by Gamora

8. Everytime the camera pans to Steven Grant Rogers

9. The close-up of Steven Grant Rogers’ ass

There are flaws to this film. But honestly, I leave that to the actual critics. It gave me what I wanted to see and showed me things I did not expect to see. It was emotional. As a fan who has watched all the films multiple times, as someone who obsessed over the details and made theories, as someone who holds these comic book characters close to my heart, I truly enjoyed this film. It was worth it.

[bthump]

sobadpink replied to your post “Before reading berserk people often told me how evil Griffith is and...”

Miura has his shortfalls but he’s definitely the ace at making not character automatically “good” or specifically “evil” (except the godhand, just human characters) Tbh the only horribly evil thing Griffith did was rape Casca. Everyone seems to have it out for him because of the sacrifice, but the way I see it, and the way Griffith appeared to reason with it, is that the mercenaries of the Hawk were more or less ready to die for him on the battlefield ANYWAY. All at once or over the course of- Years for his dream actually makes no difference.  They were all willing.  Until it was a hellish nightmare and not the jolly battlefield- but it was a means to and end they literally signed up for.  Most of them, if any, were going to live long enough to see Griffith reach his end goal anyway.  It was a shortcut, but Griffith is not evil for taking it

Sorry for the wait, I ran out of steam last night lol.

Yeah I pretty much agree. The Godhand, including Femto ofc, are basically pure evil, because they’re like, fantasy entities essentially created from the evil in the hearts of men etc. They’re meant to be representations of the absolute worst aspects of humanity, rather than complete complex people that contain multitudes. So yeah the Eclipse rape is meant to be a one dimensionally evil act through and through, unlike the sacrifice itself which is much less clear-cut.

And yeah one of Miura’s biggest strengths is definitely how well he writes morally grey characters, at least main characters (like I don’t think it’s a bad writing choice not to give minor villains like Donovan or rapey bandits or w/e depth lol), give or take when he falls back on sexual assault cough guts cough.

But yeah as for the sacrifice, I pretty much agree, in fact I think the sacrifice is meant to be kind of ironically appropriate as an end to the Hawks lol. The Hawks risked their lives with every battle at least partly for the sake of the brighter future Griffith’s dream could grant them.

“They’ll get to see great things.”

And all the Hawks who made it to the Eclipse are the ones who believed in Griffith strongly enough to live for a year as fugitives, dying in raids, in the hopes that if they rescue him he’d be able to lead them back to glory.

Yeah it’s Corkus, but the point of this outburst is that he’s saying what they’re all thinking - as we see when his words are placed over the other Hawks looking devastated.

The sacrifice is kind of the darkest logical endpoint to a story about people who risk their lives in battle, fighting for future glory. They help make Griffith’s dream a reality when they die in battle and when they die during the Eclipse. The story itself is kinda set up to ask: what’s the difference?

And it’s even better from Griffith’s perspective because he cares so much about the Hawks who die in battle for him. And because he cares he gets really, really good at burying his feelings of guilt and self-loathing and continuing on the path to his dream anyway. And because he cares they’re all useful sacrifices according to the spiritual logic of Berserk’s universe that require ppl to sacrifice loved ones. And because he cares he prioritizes the deaths of tens of thousands over the lives of 40ish Hawks. It’s because he cares about everyone, even the dead, that he doesn’t see a difference.

(I mean that’s an exaggeration, he obviously does see a difference, hence why it took a fuckload of guilt tripping and manipulation and despair and torture and agonizing feelings he wanted to escape before he was able to say yes to the Godhands’ offer. But ykwim. We see the rationalization, and it’s thoughtful and interesting and morally complex and I love it.)

Like lol this is why it bugs me so much when people think Griffith was evil from the start, because the sacrifice is SO GOOD as an example of a well-intentioned act of “evil,” that readers are meant to understand and empathize with. Like for all that people who call Griffith evil claim to love Miura’s writing they sure miss the actual highlights of it.

I guess to be fair if Griffith’s dream had gone according to plan all the Hawks at the end of the 100 year war would’ve seen his dream come to fruition, so idk that it’s quite accurate to say most of them wouldn’t live to see it (I assume you meant “wouldn’t” instead of “would” there). Griffith was pretty good at minimizing casualties. Tho I do wonder if most of the earliest Hawks lived to see the end of the war.

But yeah it’s still true that they’re knowingly putting their lives on the line for a nebulous future with every battle, and the Eclipse is basically just like, welp here’s the battle where you all end up dying for your awesome future. Have fun with that. I’ve talked about this before in a little more detail here too. But yeah I think it kind of goes hand in hand with Berserk’s particularly cynical take on dreams.

[alchemicalfiredancer]

nighthold pt 7: the betrayer falls

pt. 1 pt. 2 pt. 3 pt. 4 pt. 5 pt. 5.5 pt. 6

Two days. The siege of the Nighthold had taken two days, and now on the dawn of the third it would finally end. Naahma’s hooves felt like lead as she advanced on the teleporter; above them she could hear Gul’dan chanting, and it made her stomach churn. For Draenor. For Azeroth. For my home and children, you will die.

The warlock stood within a column of energy on a vast open dais; behind her she was vaguely aware of Percy freezing at the realization of how high up they were, and Reeta whispering a spell that—oh, that would be useful, it felt like an extended-radius gravitational slow. At least they couldn’t die by falling off the platform. Judging by the maddened look in Gul’dan’s eyes, he wanted to cause their demise directly; when he spoke, his voice felt like a saw through Naahma’s mind.

“Ah, yes... the heroes have arrived. So persistent, so confident... but your arrogance will be your undoing. Have you forgotten your humiliation on the Broken Shore? How your precious High King was bent and broken before me, and your mighty Warchief was stuck in the belly like a helpless piglet? Will you beg for your lives as he did, whimpering like some worthless dog? Your pathetic armies will fall to dust. In the end, death will inherit this world... and she will be waiting.” Gul’dan’s gaze slid over the Forsaken, and he smiled. “What a pity.”

“No.” Crusader Bladesworn’s voice was a horrified croak; as he stepped back, what Naahma could see of his eyes were wide pools of glowing yellow, and the wave of protectiveness it spurred in her made her growl.

Gul’dan’s smile grew, revealing even more fangs than Naahma thought possible. “Illidan’s husk will make a fine vessel for my master, and your world will burn—”

“Not if you burn first!” Light lanced down as Tanryn charged forward, rushing Gul’dan’s energy barrier. It didn’t even crack; she rebounded, shaking her head, and turned to the rest of the group. “C’mon, I bet we can…oh.”

Portals shimmered into existence all around the dais; Naahma only took a moment to register what looked like the entire Burning Legion pouring through them before leaping into the fray. The one upside of the Legion’s preference for massed assault was that it meant she couldn’t possibly miss. She felt the teleport they’d ascended by start to reactivate, but only realized that reinforcements were arriving when a burly elf Blinked past her and gutted an inquisitor. Thank the Light.

“Flamedancer, you’re far from your temple!”

Oh, no. She leapt to cave a fel lord’s skull in, twisting in midair to see where the horribly familiar bellow had come from.

There, in the midst of the fray, Tanryn was trying very hard to keep an Eredar focused on her, dodging around him and slamming her mace into his joints. He was older now, scarred and missing his facial tendrils, but Naahma recognized him. He’d almost been a friend, once. She felt the fire within her leap out of her skin in arcs of heat; unthinking, she wove her way across the battlefield towards him, leaving a trail of flame and charred corpses in her wake. Her voice rang out above the din as she lapsed into the dialect of their crèche. “I dance for Azeroth’s glory now!”

He snorted, swatting Tanryn’s blow aside.  “Foolish traitor, turning your back on the true rulers of this universe! You fight in vain, knowing that Sargeras will conquer all—”

Naahma swept in around Tanryn’s guard, whipped around the Eredar in a swift circle, and drove her fist into his kidneys. Lava erupted from her bare skin, eating a hole into his flesh; as he turned to strike back, she danced out of his range. The mace he carried could flatten her, and her best defense was simply not to be where it was. “Sargeras led me long enough!”

“You--!” Whatever he was going to say was eclipsed by a roar of pain; Tanryn had shattered one of his knees, and as he dropped she called down a gout of holy fire to finish the job. Naahma spared a moment’s attention to nod gratefully before striking down an imp that had been about to attach itself to her ankle.

“That barrier—”

Another wave of demons charged them, erasing Tanryn’s words. As Naahma moved (stab, kick, fling out an arc of fire, dodge incoming barrage), she called back, “Legion first!”

Her communication stone buzzed to life, and Reeta’s voice snapped through it. “The portals are down, we don’t have to worry about any more of ‘em!”

That still left a lot of demons. Even with the rest of their forces fighting alongside them, a quick glance around the dais showed nearly as many casualties on both sides, and Gul’dan’s felfire rain was much deadlier when you hadn’t grown up with it. Percy was focusing on a spell entirely too close to the oncoming impact; fear gripped Naahma’s heart as she charged across the battlefield to shove her out of the way. “Move!”

Violet eyes went wide with panic. She wasted precious seconds glancing up before she managed to scramble awkwardly to one side. Naahma’s impact knocked her over; she yelped with shock, but fell clear of the blast zone. “Naahma—” A shimmering shield of fire wrapped around her.

It was the last thing Naahma saw before her vision went green. Felfire cascaded over her, and every inch of exposed skin drank it in like rain. She only kept her balance by sheer stubbornness, and took in a shuddering breath to inhale the fumes. This, this was power, pure fel energy coursing through her like her own blood. She could do anything like this; she could destroy the world like this. Kil’jaeden would be pleased.

The fire finished seeping into her bones, and she smiled. He will weep this day. She tapped her communication crystal. “I am doing the fire. Gather up and shield yourselves.”

Three separate domes of Light sprang up around the dais; as she watched, more appeared. It seemed that the other healers in the army had gotten the message as well, and the Legion’s forces instinctively recoiled from the Light searing them. As soon as they were gathered in tight enough groups, she took a deep breath, shifted her weight, and started to dance.

It wasn’t a real dance, of course; for such a small area, it was closer to the first few steps of a larger figure. With the first step, felfire sparked over her skin, a crackling outline over her horns. With the second, she flung her arms wide and slammed her tail down onto the stone; several spines snapped off painlessly, and she whirled to fling them into the joints of an advancing demon. With the third, the first bolts of felfire started to rain down. Demons screamed in pain, taken by surprise, and the army swept in for a counterattack.

Slowly but surely, the tide of the battle began to turn. Naahma had almost been drawn into a state of tunnel vision when Gul’dan’s horrible grating voice rang out. “Must I do everything myself?”

And then the infernals started raining down, and she was utterly unprepared for one to land in front of her and knock her into a support column. At first there was only the impact, and then there was agony. Bone cracked as her horn took the brunt of the blow, and she felt it splinter. Moving was an impossibility; for long, terrible moments, all she could do was lay there, try to breathe through the pain, and watch as Gul’dan turned his full attention back to the ritual. In another moment he’d shield himself again, and their opportunity to strike would be lost.

“Pitiful. Is this all the opposition you can muster?”

No. No, I have to—we have to fight… But there was blood on her face and she couldn’t get her hooves under her; the pain radiating through her skull brought a wave of dizziness when she tried to move, and so she had to settle for pulling herself into a seated position and flinging fire at anything that got too close. She could still hear Gul’dan chanting above the melee, and it made her snarl. “Someone shut him up!” Belatedly, she realized she’d spoken in Eredun.

“On it!” A blond blur in a purple tabard sprinted past her, gutted a doomguard, nearly decapitated a felguard, and dropped to one knee to dodge an Eredar’s strike; she had just enough time to register that Leo had thrown something with sharp edges before the felblood was moving again.

Gul’dan roared in pain. She lifted her head, gaze glued to the spreading patch of fel-tainted blood dripping from his shoulder. She’d poisoned Leo’s daggers herself, and it seemed the formula she’d devised really did work on everything; the orc’s arm hung useless, and he wobbled on his feet.

As she looked around, she realized there were far fewer infernals—and far less rubble—than she’d thought. The reason soon became clear; one took a single lumbering step towards her and immediately vanished, pulled back through the Twisting Nether by a trembling Persicaria. When she saw Naahma sitting upright, she called out, “Are you okay?”

“I will live!” Oh, yelling hurt. She leaned back against the column, blinking, and risked adding, “Focus on Gul’dan!”

“I’m trying…what’s Khadgar doing?”

Percy sounded confused, and so Naahma squinted at the center of the dais. A human in robes and a gathering of winged and horned Illidari were clustered around a crystal and doing something; there was a figure inside it, and its giant wings were rustling. A demon? Or…

In front of Gul’dan, a portal was opening; the netherwind blowing from it brought a scent of sulfur and an unimaginably powerful presence. As she watched, the edges wavered and crinkled, starting to fold in on themselves. The first hint of torsion in the matrix set off a chain reaction; Gul’dan cried out in horror as the portal faded out of existence.

And then the crystal shattered, and something—tall, hooved, horned, winged—stepped out and lunged for him. Gul’dan screamed, but the sound was short-lived; fel energy rippled through him from his assailant’s hands, consuming him from the inside out. As the thing turned away from the warlock’s ashes, Naahms saw that he was smirking. “You have seen what I’ve seen. You know what we face. Now…follow me into the abyss.”

One of the Illidari stepped forward; Naahma counted four arms before she realized demon and then shivarra. “We await your orders, my lord.”

So, this was Illidan, then. She’d honestly been expecting something more elven, but she’d seen more severe fel mutations—and she couldn’t be anything but thankful that his first act had been to see that Gul’dan was well and truly obliterated. Alurenor…Draenor, you are avenged. This world will not be another Argus today.

There was a furious screech from Reeta and a flood of enraged-sounding Thalassian; Naahma blinked at the sight of her crackling with arcane lightning while her husband and Thammuz pulled her back. Evidently there was some history there. Carefully, each movement aching, she risked trying to pull herself into a more or less vertical position. Blood coursed down the side of her face, and she grimaced. “You alright?”

“Just stay right there, um—miss.” With blood dripping into her eye and the pain in her head, she hadn’t registered the advance of a shal’dorei in the white robes of a priest; his hand on her arm was gentle, but the look in his eyes was not. “You can talk to your friends after I’ve checked your wound.”

A single drop of her blood landed on his sleeve. It was bright, glowing green, and she felt her stomach drop. I’m an Eredar. He’ll raise the alarm; the entire army will know, I’ll meet the same fate as Gul’dan, there won’t even be ashes for my children to weep over.

But there was only cool silvery light washing over her broken horn. After a long while, when she could think again, she lifted her head and looked out over Suramar. The skies above the city were clearing, and the sun was rising.

[bthump]

though actually while i’m on this subject, I do kind of have a big issue with how this frames griffith.

cut bc this probably doesn’t really make sense lol, i’m rambling and i’m not entirely sure how to explain my thought process lol

like, if pre-eclipse griffith was a symbol of guts’ potential to have fulfilling relationships and find a place where he belongs, that guts then totally fucked up by “abandoning,” and post-eclipse neogriffith is a symbol of guts throwing away his potential to have fulfilling relationships by pursuing a stupid self-destructive dream, then there’s a bit of an awkward contradiction:

during the golden age, guts distancing himself from griffith was a bad thing that caused all his problems. after the eclipse, guts distancing himself from griffith is the narratively correct choice. this makes technical plot sense because in between griffith transformed into a demon lol, but thematically i think it’s unsatisfying.

griffith has essentially been replaced with guts’ protective relationship with casca. he fucked up and abandoned her, just like he fucked up and abandoned griffith, but now he’s making up for it by sticking around and protecting her - something he never got a chance to do w/ griffith. like, there was no magical cure to heal griffith, no long journey of personal growth, nada.

ignoring who could be blamed for what if berserk happened in real life, bc this has nothing to do with morals or literal interpersonal responsibilities, from a fictional storytelling perspective guts destroyed griffith when he made the wrong choice by leaving. griffith’s year of torture and then eclipse causing despair is the direct consequence of guts’ narrative mistake, and femto/ngriff is an antagonist of guts’ own making.

so to then say that the right thing for guts to do is to try to forget about him rubs me the wrong way. it’d be one thing if griffith was dead and there was nothing guts could do except try to avoid repeating his mistakes, but he’s alive and currently acting on the world in a capacity that is, at least by some standards, negative lol. the way stories work, that’s guts’ problem to fix.

so if the thematic takeaway is that guts should just ignore neogriffith and move on, and if he goes back to obsessing over him that’s bad, then... i’m not satisfied with that lol.

also like, if the manga decided to draw a very clear and explicit dividing line between human griffith and neogriffith, essentially declaring everything human griffith represented to guts as dead, that would also be one thing, but miura deliberately muddies the waters both by teasing the audience about his beating heart and by guts’ emotional conflict a la “the instant I saw him I’d forgotten my urge to kill,” and “longing,” and by continuing to utilize the light/dark imagery for their relationship, and having guts reminisce about original griffith after seeing him, etc.

so there’s this sense to me that neogriffith is simultaneously a symbol of guts’ self destructive dream (revenge, fighting stronger and stronger enemies, becoming griffith’s equal) and a symbol of guts’ mistake in pursuing that dream the first time - a symbol of what he threw away by leaving - and to me it feels unsatisfyingly contradictory.

and then on a purely emotional level lol it frustrates me that if the moral of the story really is that guts needs to move on and forget about the past and griffith and focus on the relationships he does have, then that means griffith was essentially a casualty of guts’ one step forward two steps back style character development. a character, from the perspective of his relationship to guts, who existed to be a consequence of guts’ mistake and teach guts a lesson through his destruction. and that just strikes me as unfair lol. idt guts should get to move on when griffith never had the opportunity - OR when griffith did take his opportunity ie the sacrifice, if we’re counting that, because then griffith moving on is evil but guts moving on is good.

and yeah maybe it’s a statement about moving on by suppressing your emotions vs moving on by forming new relationships, but griffith was railroaded by the narrative lol, he never got the chance to move on by forming new relationships, he was irreparably fucked the day after guts left. so if that’s the case then it’s weak.

but idk maybe i’m looking at this from entirely the wrong perspective. idk i’m just thinking outloud again rly. and until we find out what happens when casca has her mind back, it’s too early to draw any real conclusions anyway.