#i had to go and write a dissertation

[heir-of-snakes]

Lots of interesting thoughts here - thanks for engaging. Another long post ahead because if there's one thing I am good at, it's talking too damn much.

To start, I know that Sel is a trope (and still, I'm not sure that this disqualifies a character from having depth). The second half of my response was pointing out that Nick is also a trope - which is something I felt was missing in your initial post. It seemed as though you were creating a comparison in which Nick was your preferred character because of his lack of adherence to a particular trope versus your perception of Sel. It seems as though your issue is less with Sel being a trope and more with him being a trope you just happen to not like. "I specifically remember Sel admitting that Bree was obviously a oblivious once-born and he can’t believe he ever thought otherwise once he spent time alone with her in the trial. Part of that is to save his pride, but if he was willing to admit it was foolish to focus so much on Bree as a threat, then I think we can too."

I think it's important to put this sentiment into context. He says this is the case after he's had the opportunity to closely watch her throughout her training, which makes him privy to information he did not have before. Then, again, he makes his intention to back off clear by stating he investigates threats as opposed to people like Bree who have powers he doesn't understand but still pose no danger to the Order as she can't control them (277).

This statement has less to do with acceptance of having willfully ignored certain signs and more to do with his conditioning to accept fault. He bitterly calls himself a fool for ever having believed her to be an uchel. We, as the readers, know that Bree was never a threat, but Sel couldn't have. I don't agree with the notion that he was foolish to fully assure himself that she was not a threat given just how little information he had to go off of. Taking his statement as assuming genuine responsibility for negligence doesn't take into account the role that shame plays in his character, his position as Kingsmage, and the specific conditions surrounding his upbringing and his birth.

"Sel's standards for his own behavior are terribly high, it's true - and they come at a terrible cost. I can't help but think of Sel's self-recrimination. His acceptance of Erubus's charges of negligence." Bloodmarked (208).

As for Sel continuing to hurt Bree - I didn't claim otherwise. I said he doesn't continue to try to kill her, which is of course a low standard, but if the threshold for a suitable romantic partner is set at someone not hurting you, neither Sel nor Nick make the cut. I'm not sure that anyone does, but that's beyond the point. Yes, he continued to hurt her for reasons depicted throughout both books, but I admittedly don't understand why someone hurting you diminishes your ability to communicate and decide for yourself whether it's a dealbreaker. This goes for both love interests.

I'm also confused about what the genuine issue is with apologizing for your actions - morally grey as they may be - and altering behavior afterward to convey sincere remorse once realizing you were wrong. Are we meant to permanently write Sel (or anyone) off as toxic with no path for redemption (this has limits, of course)? I offer no excuses for mesmering her to hide his visual process of succumbing to the blood. While wanting to hide the figuratively ugly parts of yourself from people you love is normal, doing so by manipulating their perception and infringing on their autonomy is not. Bad Sel.

However, when presented with this, Bree blatantly calls out the abuse of his powers and verbalizes that she deserves better than that. She asserts that she can't trust him or herself if everything is based on lies. She communicates. She is not some spineless, docile character who perpetually rolls over and takes whatever Sel dishes out without proper correction. But this scene plays out in a way that reveals the nature of Sel's shame that I spoke about before along with Bree's strength. He doesn't expect her forgiveness or her understanding. He is fully prepared to follow her order for him to leave and go off to find Nick should she decide to give it. While that order never comes, that doesn't mean she forgives him.

In fact, she states on 436 that she hasn't fully forgiven him and isn't sure how they'll ever be able to "repair that rift." She thinks forgiveness is possible when they are in a place of "protection and peace," but she explicitly states that they're not there yet. There is no part of Bree that thinks, "It's okay to love him even though he hurt me because he has valid excuses." She listened to his reasoning and understood it, but understanding is not synonymous with brushing it to the side. There have been numerous times in my own relationship where I have been hurt, taken the time to understand the reasoning/explanation, and still asserted that the actions weren't okay after opening lines of communication to promote healing and growth.

I'm not exactly sure what you meant by, "I actually think this excuses thing is gross." I'll refrain from commenting on that to avoid the risk of an uncharitable interpretation on my part.

As for Nick in Bloodmarked, his temporary decrease in importance can be explained in that his chief role in Legendborn was to be "Scion of Arthur," Bree's passage into the world of the Order. He doesn't have that role anymore and needs to identify his sense of self beyond it. Still, I think it's too early to make claims about the importance of his character overall, especially since it's been heavily hinted at that he will be a major player in the upcoming release. Even in Bloodmarked, it's clear that something big is brewing with Nick specifically as he develops an identity beyond the Order by seeing more of what's out there, so I don't consider my lack of seeing Nick as written off to be a "problem." I don't purport to know the plotline of an unfinished series, so it's something we'll have to see in March 2025.

Thanks for responding - cheers.

P.S. I sincerely hope my first response didn't come across as aggressive or rude as that wasn't my intention. Tone is difficult to gauge via text, so I wasn't sure if I was looking too deeply into some parts. I don't like for things to be vague and I thought it best to make myself clear.

Huh… really interesting to read that you think Sel is more trope than character when it seems like that’s how everyone feels about Nick. I have always felt weird about not really being into Sel. We have seen the brooding, dark haired love interest a million times.

Exactly my thoughts. I never really liked that type of character to begin with. I think people don’t see Sel as a trope because 1. they eat that trope up and 2. they think being morally gray means a character has depth. They do not, in fact, have depth. They are all copy and pastes of each other.

I actually rolled my eyes when Sel was first introduced because these characters are so predictable. They all start off hated by the FMC (yet she always ogles him). They all hurt people, including her. But they all also do some nice things which makes them immediately forgivable in the FMC’s and audience’s eyes. For years I’ve been wondering why these characters are so popular in books made for girls in their formative years. Why are we trying to teach them to love men that hurt them?

About Nick, I think he seems like a trope because Deonn wrote him off in order to give Sel a romance arc. He could have had so much more depth than Sel with the identity crisis thing going on, but then the romance Deonn wanted wouldn’t have worked.

I try to write MMCs more like Nick. I will admit it is challenging to create a character who is both nice and compelling, but there are ways to make it work. And we need to make it work. We need more diverse storytelling than falling back on what everyone else is doing, and we need to move past the internalized misongyny that keeps making its way into books made for girls.

I hope the girlies aren’t too mad about this take.

[deathandnonexistentialdread]

did i make this just for the saint one? yes, yes i did

the prequel, the sequel

[ensigntilly]

culmets officially confirmed to be married in star trek discovery s5 i just collapsed onto the floor

[shimyereh]

Done with my sixth semester of grad school!

[lovesodeepandwideandwell]

Feeling the need to chart out my worries again and write through God's answers to all of them and wow it's been over a year since I did that

[ahalliance]

how do i turn qantoine’s spontaneous marriage proposal to qetoiles into evidence of his early-days fear of qfrench drifing away and keeping secrets from one another

[lauronk]

What song touches your soul from inside and out and makes you have chills?

i was about to spend ages scrolling through my playlists but that would have been useless because the correct answer is The Dance by Garth Brooks. i don't hear it often because his music is only on amazon music, but it hits me in the chest every time i hear it and it has since i was a kid.

[gingerbreadmonsters]

going out for dinner and a little walk to the shops FOR MY HEALTH. BECAUSE MAN CANNOT LIVE ON STRESS ALONE

[theinfinitedivides]

second My Dearest related post today but Only Skin from Ys and Divers from the eponymous album 🤝🏼 Ryang Eum longing for a man who will never love them in exactly the way they deserve

[twinktorturer]

urgh im screwing everything in university up lately and it has me feeling like such a fucking idiot

[eighteenoheight]

I don’t know how to feel. There are aspects I like… such as the buckles and the hoodie. It’s not giving ninja apart from the katana and the tabi shoe (the split toe part of the boots). The hoodie seems vaguely Asian inspired but not enough to say ninja. I guess it looks stealthy, kind of assassin adjacent. Put a gun to my head and I still couldn’t scramble to explain the devil horns.

Back to the hoodie though. I think the cropped part looks dumb. I’m not talking about sexualisation, my issue is more it’s not stylish and it’s just weird to pair this “urban ninja” getup with a bikini top. They could have done something a little more on theme, or just bring down the crop so we can see more of the hoodie design.

I can get over the blonde hair but the blue eyes? I’m my humble opinion Moira has the best eye colour of any RE character so why change it. It makes her resemble Sherry Birkin. Neither an insult nor a compliment I just don’t understand the need to change the eye colour.

Might as well do a little side note on the sexualisation topic even though I don’t have much to add. If it is a sexualised outfit and was intended to be so I’ll trust that judgement but I can’t see it past how silly the costume looks. Same with Claire’s western one. Of all the revelations 2 DLC costumes, Natalia is the only one I really like because it’s so adorable. The rest are kind of a miss for me. I’m guessing the aim was like a costume party or something? I don’t know for the only DLC looks we got it’s a little depressing.

I think I developed a bit of a disdain for this costume because of what we could have had.

Life is so unfair sometimes.

[mysticfemme]

I've just sat down to play Sims for a bit and I'm wholly on the verge of tears. I've been so busy and doing so much work the last few weeks and I'm just so fucking exhausted and I'm so terrible at looking after myself and I just want a kind butch to cook dinner for me and cuddle me and watch films with me and let me fall asleep on them

[starsspin]

im aware i probably write a softer version of qui gon. but i use the films as my base and pick and choose other bits of canon i vibe with. and yeah qui gon is kinda an asshole (affectionate) but i've seen whole essays about how he's some abusive asshole and based on the character we see in tpm that doesn't make sense to me

[javraghhh]

PLEASE

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[marciliedonato]

And then sometimes you're just expected to go on normally with your life and have to go do your work like you didn't just read some insane fucking chapters of something. Dear GOD.

[x-h3kk3ning-x]

Tried to watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt again; And, it still holds up to my dissappointment. It has some very good funny stuff in it. I fucking adore Lillian; But this weird, almost, compulsive need to constantly shove in a B plot bad bit about "Woke Culture" always ruins whatever well written main plot is happening.