#i don't know!!

[rosehathaways-sidepiece]

Further thoughts: the absence of the famous "what do you do if you see a strigoi? You run" is endemic of a larger issue of the adaptation than simply not including that scene/plot point.

It's the same issue that exists because they cut Rose and Lissa's time away from the academy. Rose sucked ass when she got back to St. Vlad's. She was not good at fighting. Mason kicked her ass in practice, which is why she needed Dimitri's help. Rose was always made of raw talent, not finely honed skill. The erasure of that supports a version of events where everyone and everything is more "badass" and the moroi are more "glamorous" and that glamour and badassery means the story is no longer grounded or relatable, really. Not the way it was before. Rose literally climbs her way up from the bottom of the barrel in the books, from total disgrace and comparative lack of skill due to her time away from the academy to a top novice because of her real world experience that separates her from the rest of the novices. This real world experience comes laden with drawbacks--mainly the trauma she suffers in the aftermath of saving Lissa in book 1 and suffering captivity and Mason's death in book 2. This is my philosophical gripe with the adaptation: everything is more glamorous and everything is more heroic.

Running from strigoi? Notably unheroic. So we cut that. Sucking at fighting? Unheroic. Let's do away with that. Failing to save Mason? Committing self-harm? Suffering serious trauma that doesn't just go away? Unheroic. Unheroic. Unheroic. We're going to cut all that.

Rose isn't terribly heroic, is the thing, particularly in the first three books up until the battle at St. Vlad's. She's a certified fuck up. She's not top of the rankings until she puts in a hell of a lot of work with Dimitri. She can be small-minded and shallow and difficult and cruel (to Christian specifically). The show feels like it wants to smooth over those sharp edges of her and of the genuine darkness of this story to make everything more idyllic and flat and conventional. At least, that's how it feels to me.

I don't know if I'm phrasing this all perfectly, but I know I would have preferred this to be set in Bumfuckville, Montana where the fanciest thing Rose and Lissa do is go to a mall an hour away in Missoula and the most heroic thing you can do when faced with certain death is to run for your life

[kuripon]

Pakidge?

….

Gasp!

Pretty.

Open?

Open.

GASP. ✨ PRETTY ✨

I’m so so so so SO excited to start reading. @a-kind-of-merry-war​ I’m so excited to dive in!!!

[missgrelle]

is grelle a silver girl or a gold girl? 🤔

[grandmagbignaturals]

it's such a struggle to be into so much media with huge sweeping casts and to also have absolutely no memory for names because nobody ever is making posts about their favourite character by calling them "the one who did [x really cool thing] that one time at the [place]"

[universalfanfic]

haunting game of 'am i writing these characters with actual chemistry or will people cringe on this?'

[berryicet]

Building up to scenes is the hardest thing ever

"thing happens" "ok but how does it happen?" "..."

[bayleymania]

Baysexuals against MJF

Should I?

[incendiorum-arch]

this is the most important thing about io

[lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar]

why do i accidentally fall in love with bands that refuse to let others tell them what to do

[bonesandthebees]

one of the most infuriating things about becoming an adult is when you realize that it actually is 10x easier to solve problems by making a phone call vs literally any other communication method

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[charlesoberonn]

Tell me you know nothing about history without telling me you know nothing about history

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The math just adds up!

[nouverx]

"I want to eat you" is their love language and you can't change my mind

[theartofangirling]

I heard someone call barbie disappointingly heterosexual and I've never disagreed with anything more strongly in my life