#i know a lot of ppl haven't read the books so i also created a show poll

[nightcolorz]

Can I ask what was Armand 's time like with the original coven/cult? I haven't read the books but I have heard how he was forced into him and it seems like a terrible time. I get how it started but he seems to have spent centuries working for the cult, if you can call it that and I was wondering how was it like? Did he really spent all that time in a cemetery? The coven seems to form the largest part of his life and I have really been wondering what those years have been like to him.

omg good question!! Thank u for the ask!!

the cult backstory part of the vampire Armand is actually relatively short considering how much time he spent there, but we r given a lot of details that give us an idea of what it was like. U said u know how it started but imma talk about that anyway for comprehension sake lol. So when he’s seventeen (in the book of course lol, in the show he’d be much older when this happens) and he had been turned into a vampire maybe within the last month or so, very very young vampire, the “children of darkness” storm Marius’s palazzo with intent to kill him. The children of darkness are a vampire coven (that most ppl in the fandom call a cult bcus they r by definition a religious cult lol) that has existed for a long time, has multiple covens throughout multiple parts of Europe. and believes that vampires are part of gods plan as demon like servants who r put on earth to serve him by spreading evil that god can fight. They believe that goodness can only exist if evil exists to combat it, and by spreading evil they r working for gods plan. So the children of darkness think that vampires, as servants of evil, should live in cemeteries with the rats, bcus they are meant to be low lives, and to refuse any indulgences such as living in houses or having mortal friends. The logic is that bcus they r like devils, they must create their own personal hell, bcus Devils arent worthy of having nice things and shouldn’t be nice to humans. So that’s why they live in cemeteries lol, and don’t have clean clothes.

so Marius is not catholic lmao (all children of darkness members are), he literally is Roman and was born before the Christian god was created. And he lives in a giant palace and has a team of mortal servants and, yknow a prostitute child who he turned into a vampire recklessly. So the Children of darkness r a very big cult, and so they believe that they r the ultimate authority that every vampire should follow, and vampires who don’t follow them r heretics (basically like Christianity historically). So to punish Marius they kill him with fire, kill all his mortal residents and the children who r living with him as his painting apprentices. They obviously can tell Armand is a vampire lol, and for being a breaking of the laws in his very existence (a vampire who was made without authority from the coven and was made as a child, also a vampire who has severe mental illness that Marius acknowledges as a disability that will make him unable to function as a vampire), they plan to kill him, sort of for the same logic Armand kills Claudia and Madeline, bcus he will die soon anyway. They line all the children (who Armand considers his brothers) up in front of a huge bonfire and throw them in as Armand is being held back screaming and trying to fight them. They are about to throw Armand in the fire with them, but the leader of the coven Santino, who is an Italian catholic who u can tell is sort of resigned and non violent, believes in the coven but doesn’t take any joy in the cruelty, sees that Armand has a history of being very very catholic and sees that he has a learned servitude and learned helplessness that would make him a very willing part of a catholic cult. He knows that Armand’s devotion to god and willingness to debase himself to honor god (he used to be a monk as a kid) would make him a good cult member, but he also can see that living with Marius has buried those tendencies in him, and he’s much more secular now. So he decides to let Armand live and indoctrinate him into the coven, aiming to beat the cult member tendencies back into him.

Santino takes armand into the catacombs and Armand is very resistant lol, he’s like why do u think I would join u I hate u u killed my master and u killed my brothers. He’s being mocked by the coven members, one guy throws his brothers ashes on his face 😭 and Armand in retaliation violently kills the guy and rips his head off and throws it into the skulls lined on the wall. Santino is Like wow. This kid is strong, he has like genuine potential. So he becomes dead set on making sure Armand becomes a part of their cult.

Santino talks to Armand to a while and explains their beliefs, hoping to convince Armand to be complaint that way. He tells him he’ll kill him if he doesn’t join them, which still doesn’t get Armand to want to comply. Santino introduces Armand to a vampire named Allessandra, who becomes sort of a maternal and mentor figure for Armand while he joins the coven. To force Armand to comply Santino then locks him in a cage and starves him of blood for weeks and weeks on end. Since Armand is a very young vampire, and young vampires need to eat multiple times a night, he’s been reduced to an animal because of how hungry he is. It’s basically like when Louis is trapped in the coffin in iwtv s2. It’s described that he’s yowling and throwing himself at the bars, biting into his arms and drinking his own blood, going completely insane, hallucinating. (Alessandra sometimes comes to sooth him while he’s loosing his shit in the cage and calls him a poor boy, pleads with Santino to let him out, stuff like that, which I think is sweet lol). Eventually the coven vampires feed Armand, and they release a teenaged boy into his cage. Armand instantly attacks and kills the boy without thinking or seeing him, and after he’s already dead Armand realizes that he just killed his closest friend and brother Riccardo, who was kept from being killed in the fire for this purpose. Armand desperately tries to turn Riccardo so he won’t die, but he’s long gone.

This absolutely pushes Armand over the edge, and he’s forced to share his containment now with the corpse of his best friend who he just killed. He tears his corpse apart so he doesn’t have to look at his face, starts throwing his limbs outside the bars, insane stuff like that. Armand is then starved again for several more weeks, and when he is eventually fed he is given a scared orphan child. Armand kills the child in his starvation and then starts to hallucinate guilty visions of the dead child in containment with him. It’s implied that this goes on in similar fashion for a long time.

when Armand is eventually released the indoctrination has worked. The intent of the torture was to teach Armand that he was a monster who deserved to live in catacombs, and that he wasn’t meant to live a life of indulgence like his master. The torture was also intended to drain him of any fight he had and to drain any hope he had of escaping. Armand is so defeated and devastated that he doesn’t care about escaping, he just goes through the motions, he’s lost everything. The coven decides that Armand’s name can not remain Amadeo, bcus of what it represents, since Marius named him Amadeo and means it “beloved of god”. Alessandra renames Armand to well, Armand lol. Armand means warrior.

after this Armand’s time in the coven isn’t described in depth, but we r told that the daily routine of the coven includes going out and tormenting and violently killing humans, indoctrinating and kidnapping vampires, and sleeping in coffins and doing rituals in the catacombs. Pretty quickly into his time as a coven member Santino sends Armand to go rule a coven in Paris, which has been abandoned by its master and needs a new one. Armand is given this opportunity bcus of how strong he is from Marius’s blood, and bcus of how uniquely dedicated and obedient he is. Santino knows that Armand is strong and resilient enough to be a leader, while also being obedient and compliant enough to not abandon his position. Armand asks to bring Alessandra with him bcus he needs someone to guide him in this position he’s never had before, and Santino allows him to.

Armand falls into the role of leader easily, just going through the motions passionlessly. He’s never been a leader before, but he’s able to fall into it with the mindset of obedience he has taken when being a part of the cult. Armand is in charge as coven master of doing all the thing to others that he was once put through, he tortures and starves vampires, kills them for breaking rules, stuff like that. Armand doesn’t believe in the covens principles, he is only a part of the coven because he feel he has no other choice. Coven leaders often abandon their stations and live normal lives, but Armand doesn’t do this bcus he doesn’t know how to live without smth to devote himself to. He’s never lived independently, he was turned as a teenager 😭 a teen who was being abused, and that’s all he knows how to be. He daydreams often about Marius coming to save him, but obviously this never happens.

We are told that Armand’s life continues in this way in much the same low action, depressing fashion until lestat comes around, the only change being that Allessandra goes crazy from old age and depression and kills herself. Lestat is the only reason Armand’s life with the coven ends, it’s implied he would have lived that way forever if he hadn’t been stopped.

Even tho the children of darkness part is pretty short and doesn’t detail much of the long time Armand spent there, it definitely informs a lot about Armand’s character. It’s a massive influence on how he perceives life as a vampire and why he reacts with so much disproportionate violence and cruelty for seemingly no reason. The reason Armand kills Claudia is very cult based, bcus for him he sees her death as a necessary part of Vampire Law. And Armand continues for the rest of his life to see extreme violence and torture as a necessary, common aspect of life that some scenarios demand. The cult also changes his personality a lot, within a few months he goes from a rebellious strong spirited kid to a cold and wide eyed monster who moves through the world like a ghost. It’s only during devils minion that Armand starts to regain his ability to be a person and starts to find a life for himself where he isn’t submitting to a purpose or a leader, for the first time in his existence

thank u again for the ask!!! I hope I answer ur question + this is what u were looking for, lol

[zombie-bait]

Omg i just realized I have something tiny to add to the whole James Somerton debacle. I'm currently watching the hbombguy vid (as you do when procrastinating assignments) and I remembered something that stood out to me in James' old videos.

So I used to be a fan of his stuff. I am also a fan of Hannibal and IWTV. He made a video covering both so naturally I was very hyped. It was called 'The Gay Appeal of Toxic Love.' The vid itself was fine (I don't remember having any super strong opinions of it besides being excited to hear ppl mention Interview cuz I had recently become obsessed) but one thing did stand out to me. In the IWTV section he mentions Nicki and, naturally, his death:

"After becoming a vampire, Nicky becomes nearly catatonic, and eventually slips away from Lestat entirely. And after centuries of dealing with depression and severe mental illness, Nicky kills himself."

(sourced from this transcript: https://github.com/TerraJRiley/James_Somerton_Transcripts/blob/main/Transcripts/The%20Gay%20Appeal%20of%20Toxic%20Love.txt)

To anyone who's read TVL, I don't think I need to explain that Nicki had not, in fact, been around for centuries. "Nicki had lived to be 30" has been rattling around in my head since I first read it.

And like, obviously I don't expect every youtube essayist to read several long-ish novels to have a full grasp of the series' deep lore, especially when the focus was largely on IWTV and Loustat rather than the entire Vampire Chronicles. Still, it makes you wonder a bit about the quality of the research being done here. You can find the proper info in like, 5 seconds by just going on the fan wiki so I'm not sure what his sources were. And that's the issue at hand, isn't it?

At the time I felt a tiny bit smug recognizing the error but in light of everything that's been revealed, it's kind of telling. I'm not saying this part was plagiarized (I haven't found anything but others on reddit have found issues with different sections of the same video) but rereading the transcript it comes off as someone who clearly doesn't know much about Interview.... It feels like he's reading through a loose summary of plot points rather than analyzing a piece of media that actually means anything to him. It's very much Interview for people who don't know Interview which, one could argue is fair. Especially beyond book one, VC is a niche series and a lot of elements that are important to certain characters or plot lines cannot be summarized quickly for an audience unfamiliar with it. A good writer, who's done a lot of research about the specific topic they have chosen to make a video on, would be able to balance this. There is a LOT to analyze about queerness in VC and its a shame to see one of the more popular queer media channels half-assing it just to churn out videos heavily made up of other people's work. In retrospect he had several videos like that, where he would discuss things like manga/manhua communities while clearly having little knowledge on the nuance of those subjects. He was an outsider who presented himself with a strange amount of authority.

This was content created with the sole intention of propping up queer stories and history, yet it's built off stolen work from queer authors and doesn't actually care that much about exploring the communities it features. Vids like the IWTV one weren't really fact checked because it's only people like me who would might give a shit or even notice anything is off in the first place. There's a bit of a similar vibe in some of his other vids where he undermines the experiences of queer women because he clearly has not taken the time to learn about the nuances of representing queer women in media. These are things that irritated me when I first started to notice them but I put those concerns in the back of my mind because I cared about the topics he was covering and was excited to see these discussions becoming more mainstream.

The revelations of this evening have been disappointing to say the least.

(also for the record I know he made other more recent vids about IWTV but I haven't seen those and even if his account was still up I don't think I would lol

BUT

I did look at the transcript for his 'Vampires and the Gays Who Love Them' video (found from the same link I included above) and this quote about the IWTV AMC show is sending me: "Daniel has never grappled with the complexities of being gay"

Shoutout to straight, uncomplicated icon Daniel Molloy. Devil's Minion was a mass hallucination, spread the word)

[rogdona]

Hi rogi I have come back and i feel like sending a couple questions through one ask tho

Soo

1 from the new book “the lightning spawn” who is your favorite character you can go off looks if you haven't read or forgot the story

2 Could you draw jeremy? The sheep

3 how ya doing I've been gone for some time and i see that there is some drama still flying around

If you don't know something from the book i will be here to tell you as well

Btw i am asking about the new book now because when it came out i wanted to give it some time before talking about it but i forgot. Also the book was created due to a depressive episode striking me so i was just writing everything while at home and it helped a lot but that also led to me not wanting to bother people with it

HI ERICKKKKKK GLAD UR BACK HOWS IT GOING??💕🙌💕🙌

ive been good!! and yeah sucks theres still anons around, hopefully theyll leave ppl alone soon

i had read the story, and wanted to reread it to give u a full answer but im having trouble finding it through the tag system😭😭 ANYWAYS I LOVE EMIL!!!!! THE COOLEST EVER!!

and yesss!! here u go!!

[equalseleventhirds]

it is so late and i am so tired and i haven't even been online much lately, but i've been ruminating abt ttrpgs (as i have endless rumination time at work and on the train, which is 80% of my time anyway)

and abt the like, unreasonable mindset ppl get into abt dnd 5e due to Marketing and also Actual Plays. u kno, that it can Do Anything, that u don't gotta know the rules, that the dm should plan a conventional narrative and u gotta stick to it, that it's for cute queer found families, roleplaying rollplaying bullshit, etc.

and sometimes there's posts from ppl who are outside of that mindset like, wow try another game, but also pls don't bring that mindset to other games we love. u kno.

and maybe i simply spend a lot of time in podcast & streaming circles and also circles of ppl who learned ttrpgs from podcasts & streaming, but, crucially, i don't play d&d

so i meet a lot of ppl who have moved past d&d, right. but. still have that mindset abt their new favorite game(s).

like, 'oh unlike d&d this is actually a queer found family narrative' they say abt a heavily pvp game where u can be queer but it's not about queerness.

'oh unlike d&d you can create a real story' they say, as the gm ignores the handy Make Situations sheet the game comes with and plans a 5-act narrative years in advance.

'oh unlike d&d this game is about ROLEplaying not ROLLplaying' they say, ignoring the social mechanics of the game in order to draw out talky scenes. for character work. for realism. for the story.

'oh unlike d&d this one is so easy to learn' they say, not reading huge and relevant sections of the book until halfway through the session.

i could go on. once i played a kinda weird and poetic indie game with folks whose primary game was motw, and the amount of 'hey this weird and poetic mechanic doesn't make literal sense to me as a character action' haunts me.

and it is immensely frustrating, bcos like.... on the one hand, god i'm glad you're playing something that's not d&d!! that's so important!! on the other hand, you likely learned about this game through an actual play where they (hopefully) used the basic mechanics for stuff, but mostly ran the story like a 5e actual play.

like, i love the adventure zone, but my god you're gonna come out of amnesty or steeplechase with a WILD misunderstanding of the themes and story even a lot of the mechanics of motw or bitd. (both games i like very much. but don't play them like the mcelroys.) or like, god i'm glad the d20 folks are having such fun with kob-adjacent games. but do NOT learn kob from them.

and listening to famous ppl do that to a game i like is one thing. a frustrating thing, to be sure. but participating in a game like this, or even hearing my friends & acquaintances play like this? hateful. makes me grit my teeth and cry. makes me make weirder and weirder game mechanics, which hopefully i'll make into coherent games someday.

anyway, this is all to say, before you start your found family motw game where u will team up with the monsters to save everything and maybe also bigfoot is there, a. stop listening to taz amnesty, b. read, really REALLY read apocalypse world and get a handle on THAT, c. go reread motw and think hard abt it, and d. watch buffy and supernatural a bit. yeah i know they suck. think rly hard abt that scene in buffy where xander chooses not to tell buffy that angel will get his soul back so buffy has to kill her and then no one ever finds out abt that and i HATE that scene but also it's the kind of thing motw was built for, you see.

also play weirder games and adjust ur expectations but whatever.

[iatrophilosophos]

Hey, do you have any info or tips on diy medicine? I've always been interested but haven't found much success

Medicine is just problem solving. IME it's important to take nothing for granted and get as granular as possible with what you're trying to achieve, because that opens more doors.

Re: that point, diy med is being a medical researcher. Very rarely is work done for you, so there's a lot of fucking around and finding out--how much risk you chose to take is up to you in experimenting; but I'm pretty gung ho and I can still count on one hand the number of times I've tried something that carried more risk than over-the-counter acetaminophen.

Read voraciously--coming from someone who can only get thru about three books a year. It's fucking hard but it is so beyond worth it to work at it, however much you can. Read until you know enough to have questions and then read to find the answer to those questions and/or figure out how to determine an answer for yourself.

Bad sources can be just as educational as good ones--western medicine has a bunch of fuckshit in it and having strong, grounded analysis of why you think an approach, treatment, whatever is bullshit will help you in finding something better.

Anecdotal evidence is useful as FUCK. Western medical practice is regulated formally and informally by legal anxiety and profit motives (ergo an unwillingness to produce anything under a certain statistical bar of effectiveness) but for a LOT of anecdotal home remedies and experimental treatments, risk factors are p minimal and if you feel comfortable trying it based on a realistic risk assessment...you can just try it, lol.

I really want to stress that diy med doesn't just have to be about trying to get a sub-par approximation of western med. Sometimes what we can do for ourselves is limited or less effective, sure--but we are also capable of doing better. There's pros and cons, right, but autonomous medicine gives the opportunity to try something that a doctor never would--sometimes because of risk, but more usually it's about legal anxiety and state restrictions. I remember hearing someone I knew who worked in drug development talk about how stupid it was that their team was having to reinvent the wheel instead of using THC in a drug; even though there exists documentation that THC has the property they were after, their program got federal funding so no marijuana.

Personally my entry point was herbalism and it's not a bad route to go. It can do a LOT, it's very accessible, and unlike a lot of medicine it's less gatekept & there's a significant population of writers creating resources specifically for laypeople with a focus on autonomy and self practice; plus rad community spaces exist and ofc like any scene they're full of bullshit (transmisogyny and gender essentialism in lefty alt health is a huge current, unfortunately), but they can be a good place to like. Network until you actually find the other ppl on the fringes of the scene who you might actually click with. An herbal background also gives you a LOT of directional freedom--lots of sources will combine western medical information on top of traditional and anecdotal practices, which cumulates in a lot of lenses you can apply to try to solve a problem; plus a lot of drugs are or can be plant-derived and having a skillset to identify/grow, harvest and process plants is really useful even if western medicine is the primary lens you want to use (tbh ur basic herbal preparations are often the first step in more exact drug isolation procedures). It's also just essential imo to have more than a western medical perspective--take time to read less immediately practical texts about medical history, other medical systems, and other conceptualizations of illness and the human body. One of my hotter takes? Miasma theory is still relevant and useful. There's a lot of fuckshit everywhere, both within and outside of western medicine--treat no source as authoritative and every claim as a thought experiment! But seriously, take the time to see what's out there. Accumulate as much raw information as possible to build your toolkit.

Some herbal resources I like for beginners (all books on LibGen.is)

Rjwhelan.co.nz -- aoteroa based medical herbalist who presents a really wide range of info from historical/traditional to western scientific. He's got some interesting (read: bad) takes but is a solid writer and information aggregator.

The herbal medicine makers handbook by James green -- good intro to herbal preparation with a range of procedures from simple folk methods to more measurement and chemistry heavy. Also got some weird opinions. That's just kinda how it be.

Wild remedies by rosalee de foret and Emily han -- cute basic introduction to herbalism

The psychopharmacology of herbal medicines by Marcello spinella -- says it right on the tin. useful reference.

The Earthwise herbal (vol 1 and vol 2) by Matthew wood -- listen. I fucking hate this man. I kind of hate these books (organized alphabetically by latin name...come the fuck on) BUT. It is still a pretty ok reference book with a similar approach to Richard Whelan's work and it has herbs that I've had trouble finding in other texts.

On working with others and sharing information: it's important to not play doctor. I strongly encourage folks to help out other people, but in an assistive capscity--not a prescriptive one. Share your sources, explain your opinions! The goal is to offer as much information as possible for someone else to make their own decisions. If you're in the US, this is a pretty good rundown of the legal positionality of herbalists (/health consultants generally) but I strongly advocate for going further than the law in this case on ideological autonomy-focused grounds.

Finally: medicine is not a solitary undertaking. Having a group of friends or even just acquaintances with different needs, priorities and viewpoints will get you much further in a few months than you could on your own in years. And it's slow going at first. It really is. You'll fuck up, you'll go around believing something for years to suddenly realize it's bullshit, you will grow and change. But you'll get there.

[dairy-farmer]

Sorry if you've already touched on this, but what are your thoughts about the discourse/discussion about Tim in the comics and Tim from the lens of A03/fan fiction?

For example, I hear a lot from old comic fans about how the series with Tim dating Bernard was doomed to fail bc 'the writer wrote him like her fanfiction version of Tim and not the real character'. There was a lot of discourse with canonical announcing Tim as queer, and that's kinda all these older comic book fans seem to keep coming back to. Idk, there just kinda seems to be an underlying feeling of misogyny towards the female writers and anti lgtbq vibes that it's hard to hear like a real arguement against the series.

I guess as a long time a03/Fandom person, I'm so used to just creating another little reality for the things I disagree or want to explore with a character, that it's strange to see people so upset that Canon doesn't flow the way the want.

it's no problem!! and i haven't really touched on the newer comics all that much mostly because i also don't particularly like them, not for any specific reason-they're decent enough but i don't really think they're 'tim'-but i do know what you're talking about. on twitter and tumblr i see a lot of different takes regarding tim and how he's written in this newer robin series.

for starters: i get what you're talking about where criticism of the comics might partly because of anti-lgbt attitude. especially since tim getting confirmed to be bisexual made A LOT of people mad (including ppl who arent homophobic but are mad that it wasn't THEIR favorite robin who got confirmed queer like dick, jason, or damian etc). comic bros and even casual comic fans who had never even heard of tim or even gave a shit about him were now furious. and while there might be ppl with genuine critiques- some of hatred of the way tim is written in the newer comics you really have to take it with a grain of salt because it very well could be comic bros hating because "robin isn't gay".

same with the writer, meghan fitzmartin. in general, women DO have an uphill battle when it comes to working in comics because it is very male dominated. and it's no secret that a lot of comic fans are opposed to women writing in comics. so misogyny, and even jealousy also plays a role with how much criticism is ACTUALLY warranted. but that doesn't mean a woman in comics isn't allowed to be criticized if they do a bad job or do a botched execution when their job is supposed to be making good, enjoyable, stories that do justice to the characters. i do think meghan may have some decentish ideas but whether she genuinely has the writing chops to deliver on those big ideas is well...iffy. but then again i genuinely don't keep tabs on comic writers or they're projects so maybe that will change.

when it comes to the critique of tim being written like a "fanfiction" version and not a "real" version of him i do see what they mean.

when I think of fanon tim I think of all the mischaracterizations that have been popularized. a coffee obsessed gremlin that doesn't sleep who is deeply insecure and agonizes over his place in the family, thinking he doesn't belong. people LIKE that tim is portrayed like that (in fanfiction) otherwise that characterization wouldn't be so pervasive in fics (there's also the possibility that a lot of ff writers DON'T know any better because many don't read comics but they do read fics and so they base their portrayals solely off what they read in fics resulting in this racoon eyed, coffee loving character who they believe to be an actual portrayal when it's really just someone's idea/exaggerated interpretation of tim).

i really don't see a lot of that in meghan's writing, the issues with tim's writing with her are different. if anything WFA is the one that really have the 'written as a ff character' vibe. but that series is also SUPPOSED to be deeply unserious as a fun slice of life universe where nothing goes wrong for anyone ever as a soothing balm for the oftentimes depressing stories in batman comics.

but in meghan's writing I also don't see a lot of what i consider to be core tim values. is she the best writer for tim? no i don't really think so. but there is a certain degree of understanding for his character. I see the comics and I can recognize that it's tim. so it's not offensively OC.

a lot of complaints seem to stem from his relationship with bernard being too much of a focus. people say how tim does too much thinking about him when...he was a lot worse in the 90s with steph. I remember getting so irritated when entire comics of robin would be narrated by steph or about her, i'd be like 'I want to read about ROBIN and his adventures, not steph, why is she even relevant?'. but tim's relationships to other people are a core part about him so you just have to take it.

the part that i think is justified in critique is in talking about whether her writing of bernard dowd is good. that is a much easier thing to answer. and its that its not good writing. in fact it's a pretty bad, inaccurate portrayal of him given how he was written when we first knew him. he's sort of been...sanded down? kind of remade into some new, almost unrecognizable character that fits into what she believes would be a nice, wholesome, gay partner for tim. which is an issue for me because we have seen and know what tim is like in relationships. tim had tension with, disagreed with, got annoyed with, fought and argued with his other partners like stephanie and ariana. but he also enjoyed himself and was happy with them. there was a balance there of good and bad because tim's unique situation of being robin made it so there had to be good and bad. with bernard it's all very passive and easy. they don't argue, they don't really fight, or have any struggles in their relationship when trying determine compatibility. avoiding tension in the relationship when tim has a track record of it makes it almost seem like she's afraid of the risk of portraying a gay relationship in anything less than a golden light. which is not good writing. BUT it is also very NEW. so maybe that will change (but there's a similar problem with jon kent and his bf so idk)? i personally believe kon would've been a more ideal partner with their shared history, chemistry, tension, the fact that fans have wanted it for decades, and the fact that it would've been such a good addition to the arc of self acceptance for kon's character. and many of the issues that tim being with bernard wouldn't be a thing because tim and kon famously don't see eye to eye 100 percent of the time and so their relationship would struggle and grow as they go from friends to romantic partners.

ultimately in my opinion to write a truly good tim drake you need to be able to accurately portray the thing that made him such a great robin: his heart of gold. tim cares about doing the right thing SO much. he cares about helping people. he's not some cold, unfeeling calculated computer who uses people as pawns and abandons his morals at the slightest inconvenience or seduction to the 'dark side'. and he's not some coffee drinking hacker man that is 20 steps ahead and smug about it.

tim worries about people, he's upset at injustice, feels guilt at not being able to save people, is judgy, sometimes a brat, sarcastic, gets angry at people for throwing their lives away, gets very invested in things that catch his interest, is too curious for his own good, nosy. he lies through his teeth and then bats his eyes in sweet as pie innocence. will think VERY rude thoughts about people but will bite his tongue because he's a nice boy👼 but sometimes things slip out. he is somehow simultaneously able to be the 🥺 and 😈 emoji at the same time. his odds of making bad decisions increase by 100 fold if in the company of other stupid teenagers.

now i write tim as a very exaggerated version of that core self. that's what a lot of ff authors do. they choose a handful of traits they like best about him and spin entire fics about it. i don't think writing tim as a fanfiction version of himself is a bad thing because some fanfic is genuinely better than the source material and that comes from being very good at understanding the character. the tim of today can't be written the same way he was in his golden age, the 90s, because a lot of his struggles and hurdles that he dealt with in those comics are over. they're done. tim can't be 30 years old and still wondering if he's doing a shit job as robin. tim IS a good robin and he should be able to acknowledge that (funnily enough one of his clear acknowledgements of that is often wiped away by fics- that being the titans tower scene where jason asks if tim thinks he's the better robin and tim, without hesitation, says yes) a lot of older fans are clinging to problems that tim has already resolved. he's not thirteen and insecure about his abilities. he's not on his first relationship with someone (but he is in his first relationship with a boy). he's not still learning how to navigate his relationship with batman and the rest of the family or struggling to come to terms with his civilian and caped life. do some of those things still trouble him on occasion? yes but they're not the main focus anymore.

tim has to have new problems, new challenges, new growth.

i had some hope for new tim comics.

would i like to have seen more tim centric material or at least good stories. and often times in the new tim comics tim was exactly the same at the end of the issue as he was at the beginning. tim struggling with his identity is something that made an appearance in 90s comics a lot but I think for the newer ones that it would've been better received/more interesting if it were...written better?

idk. i don't know a single comic fan that loved every detail of their fav's comics. was it the best run? no. but it was okay enough i guess. it was lukewarm, not standing ovation worthy but also nobody should be throwing tomatoes at the performers either, it just earned a polite clap of acknowledgement which i don't think is a very bad thing but still i hope we get something better!

[eshtaresht]

guys how are we feeling? in pain, devastated, or screaming crying throwing up, what's the consensus here? spoilers for ep 11 under the cut (and minor spoiler for manga)

first things first, my theory from the last week is proven wrong. still don't know what the red plants were for (safekeeping? protecting from the last run?), but nai ain't gonna exploit them to "fix" vash. instead he EXPLOITS HIM AND SUBJECTS TO MENTAL TURTURE AND WIPES HIS MEMORIES CLEAN TO ACCES A HIGHER DIMENSION and create more independent babies ig

(yep the plant mpreg moment is sure a thing... for the next week, get ready for mass abortion)

finally, a gate that's an actual GATE. I think the plants lore was pretty self explanatory, but I'm so happy we're getting it and it's much more comprehensive that the manga, even(and 98' anime basically didn't explain anything and I had to spoil myself through fandom wiki to understand who vash and knives were). like, it's changed A LOT but it's in the same lane

this knives is so capable, holy shit!! everyone was already joking that he would put kniveses of the past to shame, and it's so true... he knows what he wants and how he wants it done and when he just goes ahead and does it. what a giga chad, honestly

I'm a bit disappointed they didn't keep the manga version of knives pre-tessla (that was softer than vash and wanted humans to like him), but it's definetely better than the old anime. like, he's colder due to him being the stronger twin, but he's still playful and doesn't hate ppl. he kinda distrusts rem, but they fucked around out of curiosity rather than malice. also, and I can't be the only one who noticed, his file name said "kni"? mmm ok interesting I'll have to think about it

that probably was the sequence code knives was talking about in ep 8, he used it again for the great fall. I wonder what it said, had to be something important to rem that vash could guess. geranium? their birthday?

the tessla sequence was quite short, but DAMN. status: alive. after all they've done to her. they put her on ice in this condition so they can keep studying her later. and the twins made her come alive. I'm gonna be sick it's so much worse..... no comas or suicide attempts this time, but these kids were still traumatized as hell (vash looks worse, like he haven't slept or probably eaten in a couple of days)

it was a serious moment but when nai revealed he was reading THE BIBLE I can't ahajakahajajahah... like, NO WONDER HE STARTED A RELIGION omg... pls put that book down you've got the message wrong

and or birthday boy vash... oh babygirl I'm so sorry. when I said I wanted to see him going through this I didn't mean a literal mental torture gaslight dimension!!! like, it's SO crucial to his character to REMEMBER all the good and terrible things he went through.... to have it taken away while he can't do anything, even when he clings to the memories as hard as he can, knives still takes EVERYTHING away from him, until he's the only thing tying vash to this world.

again, any other knives could never! and even before tearing apart all those memories, he gaslights vash even further, saying that he did the fall for him (which is true) and so it's basically his fault (which is very much not true)... and this BREAKS him quite literally... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

on a brighter note, loved that goofy meryl & nico interaction, remember, when we could still laugh? now it seems like meryl is gonna manage to reach vash in his infinite soup of despair, and that breaks his gate?? I'm so thrilled for the finale it's not at all like I imagined already said this in my previous post, but the flowers are a consistent theme for stampede instead of angels and, like... it's just makes sense for a plant to be a plant, yk. also it's pretty. july is already being destroyed by the roots, I wonder if that's gonna be it or there'll be a big kaboom (in this case it would be hard for meryl to survive, but potentially vash could make a root cacoon to protect her)

also this ep gets bonus points for showing what's going on in the city with the police guys and civilians, 'cause usually stampede isn't great at background and side characters

now making theories about the (potential) second season. amnesia aspect is getting established rlly hard rn! the only question is whether vash gets to remember key moments (like rem, meryl, wolfwood) or if he only retains the vibes of "someone important who said I shoud protect ppl". because it's gonna be interesting if he forgets everyone completely and when nico and meryl (and milly, fingers crossed) eventially find him, he''s like "hi, have we met?"

oh, the POTENTIAL! I think he's gonna get his 98' characterization as super goofy, borderline annoying, because he just doesn't remember all the pain! at least, he doesn't remember the details and fills the blanks with astonishing amounts of cope. and when he's finally able to remember, oh boy, he's gonna crumble.......

[ca-suffit]

How do you rationalize the violence of the characters on this show? Imo, it's easier when it's self defense or when they're just killing to feed, specially the latter since most are just extras and we don't get to know or be attached to those characters. But there are more complicated cases, including physical and psychological abuse and literally everybody has been the abused and the abuser at some point. Not to/with each other, but definitely other people. There is power imbalance in all of the dynamics. Some may forget that since they keep jumping through timelines where things are perfectly okay or they're closer to making amends and making up. And also because the actors are friends and have chemistry on screen (speaking about the whole cast, not any duo in particular). But technically all main characters have abused each other. Nobody is "safe". So, where to draw the line? Psychological abuse? Physical abuse? The severity of the action (like continuously torturing someone who can't respond or match your strength is definitely worse than one punch, for example)? The frequency of the action, like, as long as it happened once it's okay? When a character is still redeemable/forgivable giving the fact they are immortals, so, in theory, they have eternity to better themselves and see if they can make it work? Or should they all be narratively punished (end up alone, suffering, locked up, dead etc)? What are your thoughts? Btw, I'm genuinely asking. I've become obsessed with this show recently and I haven't been able to talk about it with a lot of people, but I have these questions in my mind. Personally, the more I think about it, the less I know, tbh. It's part of why I love the show and I'm asking, btw. I want to see if I reach some conclusion lol. P.S. I understand if you can't/don't want to answer and I'm sorry this got too long. And if you do answer, feel free to make it long as well if you want, even if you want to make comparisons, add interviews etc. I love reading people's takes hehe. Anywa, thanks!

I don't try to rationalize it tbh. I think that's a goal of the show and the original books as well. What are u supposed to do if u have to "endure" each other forever? What still holds meaning if ur all immortal, how do u have relationships, hobbies, not get bored? Especially when everyone is born from trauma and sometimes that trauma was yesterday and sometimes it was 1000 years ago or 5000 years ago from a society u don't understand at all. How do u bring together so many ppl like that and not erupt on each other?

Trauma and mental illness and whatever else is not always pretty. Violent reactions to things are common and, at least in a society where punitive justice is the norm, we get used to putting these things in these boxes. "u did this bad thing so now ur going to jail / hell." The eternal question of the VC books is where do vampires belong, anyway? Where do they go when they die and for what reasons? Anne Rice never gives a v clear answer on this and it's not just bcuz she wasn't a good writer, the point rly is to just ask the questions. We don't have these answers as humans now, we can't confirm or deny if there's an afterlife and whether these things we do matter for a "soul" or not. We create social rules for many reasons but even those are not actually built on the back of "justice" the way ppl are made to think they are.

I don't think these stories are asking u to find a true "good" or "bad" character or characters. I think we're just meant to watch their choices and reflect on them, reflect on our reactions to them. The fandom's desire for Louis to have done something to "deserve" the drop is all about racism and nothing else. They blame Claudia for "manipulating" Louis into killing Lestat bcuz a black girl is never allowed to be a victim either. She's not even a girl to them anyway, adultification of black girls is another angle they use all the time ("she doesn't look 14 to me!"). They'll say look what Louis did to goad Lestat into fighting him more but they'll never say look what Lestat did to hurt Claudia and push her to that point, as someone who was acting as her parent for most of their lives together. That's always "ooc Lestat." What's happening on screen is a rorschach test for us as the audience and as individuals.

Like I wrote, I don't believe in punitive justice, so I don't think long term these stories are going to focus on that much. The trial was a sham to begin with and Lestat was never "rly" dead or meant to be gone forever. They're going to hurt each other and isolate each other in different ways, but if the show wants to focus on any real character growth, it needs to focus on ways the characters can learn to understand each other instead of banishing / killing each other. Relationships take real work like this too. Anne Rice could never write any of this but I'm hoping the show does. Seeing Lestat have awareness of the pain he caused Louis and the reasons he did it fr was a step in the direction I was hoping the show would go. The big question *is* how does a relationship recover from that? For immortals? How will it make others feel too, particularly Armand, if Louis and Lestat get back together? Will Armand reflect on his own abuse too? They all have a lot in common and they all want to be loved. If that's brought out into the open and treated with kindness and understanding, then the desire to maim and kill each other will greatly diminish tbh. Everything these vampires do to each other originates from a place of personal pain, feeling unlovable. "love is a monster" is one of the taglines for a reason.

[tasteofyourblood]

Tag Game To Better Know You! Send this to people you'd like to know better!

tagged by @lovingpoet (hi bestie! 💕💕)

what book are you currently reading?

just finished On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by ocean vuong last week!! and kinda started albert camus' The Plague (and by kinda i mean like.. 2 pages)

what do you usually wear?

love me a good oversized jacket, high waist wide pants, and currently layers of turtleneck & sweaters y'know how it is but the keyword to my style is Loose

how tall are you?

5'6 i think, average female height which is HATE, god i wish i was tall

what’s your star sign? do you share a birthday with a celebrity or historical event? 

aquarius & don't think so? (just googled, alicia keys that's interesting)

do you go by your name or a nickname?

nickname which started as like internet privacy thing but now it feels kinda weird even having irl ppl know my full name

did you grow up to become what you wanted to be as a child?  

HAH! i wanted to be a fashion designer so No but i am finally exploring clothesmaking as a hobby!!!!!!!!

what’s something you’re good at vs something you’re bad at?

good - languages & memorization. bad - planning aka impulsion (basically all the necessary precaution stuff for sewing & making clothes i Don't do and then suffer the consequences)

if you draw/write, or create in any way, what's your favorite picture/favorite line/favorite etc. from something you created this year? 

did a lot of glitter edits this year gkdfnfn and the first one i made for saw 2004 is still my fav 👌 exquisite (oh! also knit a cardigan, first even knit project! and started a dress project just last month)

dogs or cats?

cats, smth about cat content just Hits more than dog content for me.. Oh also!! my black cat Bean and the 4 stray cats that constantly visit my door now

what's something you would like to create content for?

i really really really wanna write a merlin fic someday, it's been on my mind for years but 1. i hate writing and 2. haven't had an idea that Sticks yet (ALSO WANNA MAKE A BEAUTIFUL BIG RED KNIGHT OF CAMELOT CAPE WITH THE DRAGON SIGIL AND ALL SOMEDAY)

what’s something you’re currently obsessed with?

not obsessed but just spent the last 2 months slowly binging seinfeld and just finished the finale this morning so (tis good 👍)

what's something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

social event at work that turned out to be really awkward for me BUT! the 2nd one I went to ended up being a lot better :D

what’s a hidden talent of yours? 

words? idk i love long words so all that memorization during sat & gre studying i still remember And the word floccinaucinihilipilification that I learned from a child genius competition show probably back in 2014 or smth

what's something you wish to have at this moment? 

beautiful natural fiber fabric (preferably wool & linen AND LACE!) and all the knowledge of clothesmaking in all of history, PLEASE

tagging @inkmaze @mlentertainment @safodebuenosaires @eyeldritch @katealot @human-sweater-vest @lilmoonlad @meat-wentz and every other little molecule on this plane of existence 🪷🤙

[nfumbewalk]

More Muerteria

I've got Muerteria & it's great! There is no similarities between Muerteria and African paths or paganism. Believing in God is preferred. Can you be a pagan and practice Muerteria? If you please, but know that some beliefs in Muerteria may not fit with your pagan beliefs. We're more monotheistic. Meaning one God. Some of us like Saints and angels too. For instance, my favorite Saint/Archangel is Michael. P

What can you do to tap into Muerteria? Set a small table with a two glasses of water, three white candles, incense, a vase of white flowers, and a small mirror that can sit upright on the table. All of these items create a powerful surge of energy. The mirror is the catalyst for the muertos to come into our world for a visit. It can be creepy with the mirror. If its that bothers you, try a dark mirror or obsidian. If you want a muerto to stay, you'll have to use a vessel.

I have to screen ppl who come who come to me for Muerteria, but it's not a test or background check. I interview you via email or phone and consult my divination. I just want to see your motivations and goals for this path. After you go through the introductory reading on Muerteria. Keep in mind that this practice is still being channeled, so it's not complete.

Muerteria is not secretive, but we do keep our practice quiet. I don't think the general public would understand it. Though it seems like ppl are interested in muertos nowadays. My old coven mate loves what I've sent him. I can tell that he may possibly start practicing Muerteria when he gets the chance! He just needs the information from me. Muerteria is going to change necromancy! It won't just be for weirdos and high magicians. It will be accessible to those with sincere interest. And Muerteria has built in faults to trip up dabblers. Seriously!!! 💀

I have also looked at the term "Sciomancy" to see if I want to use it. While not a bad term, I will not use it because it muddies up the waters. And a person from my past used it interchangeably in her necromancy books. Along with stupid misspellings of the word necromancy itself! Nygromancye? Come on!! Durrr, I have a wooden spoon! Durr! (Waterboy - Adam Sandler?!!) Don't misspell necromancy, it's fucking stupid!! 😂 Thought she was smart. Apparently, not as much as I thought!

So, when I refer to the word necromancy, it means a bit more than just talking or divining with the muertos. To me, it's also practicing with them. There's really no other word for this either. There may be some secrets but I don't lock people out of getting knowledge. If you're sincere about this practice & really want to learn & grow within it - I won't hold anything back. I don't believe in rank but I do believe that the student has to be ready for the knowledge & the tasks.

When I train someone, it's not rote or mechanical. If they learn better this way, I'll do it, but it's not my preference. I did that myself when I studied medicine, but this is not the same. There's no big words with Greek combining forms. Muerteria is, shall I say - spiritual in nature. When you put faith inside this practice, it changes the dynamic quite a lot. Why haven't I mentioned some kind of religion with Muerteria? Because it's for you to decide, not me.

I don't practice a religion. I'm monotheistic in nature, not polytheistic. I'm definitely not pagan or pantheistic either. As I've aged, I realized that I cannot handle all those gods anymore. My Muerteria practice is plenty for me. I do believe in God, but no church for me. Other believers can suck it. Lol!!

I am open to helping a few ppl learn basics of Muerteria, but there's a few requirements: 1. You need to be serious & want to learn. 2. It's nose to the grindstone or nothing. 3. You need to be available often for email and text messages. All lessons are emailed. 4. My material must not be reposted, it needs to be kept to yourself. There is a privacy agreement.

That's about it if a few ppl want to contact me. I am available by E-MAIL ONLY. I don't do tumblr messages. My address is stick.priestess@gmail.com. Put "Muerteria" in the subject section, please. Please, be over the age of 21. Thanks!

[bumofthewild]

i remember you mentioned you were reading the HDM books at the same time as shadowbringers, do you have any thoughts on the similarities?

omg yeah i had just recently finished it before i got to shb and it's likely a coincidence bc it's not necessarily that the concepts at their most fundamental haven't been used before but it really was like. idk were they inspired or something

really really big spoilers for both his dark materials and shadowbringers:

i'm trying to remember what it was that really struck me bc i didn't take notes on this or anything. im thinking it was def seeing the sin eaters for the first time and the way they essentially made travel or life impossible for the population. they really reminded me of the spectres--those ghostlike shimmery forms in hdm that suck the dust (i think.. dust was also largely metaphorical at times for other things) out of adults and leave them as these permanently lifeless-but-still-alive shells of their former selves. like is that not what being struck by a sin eater did as well...they exist solely and single-mindedly to consume.. and mindlessly gobble up aether within people the same way spectres gobble up dust (so like this horrible/perverse consumption of some life-sustaining essence) and leave them essentially without spirit/energy/life so theyre just husks. like in shb the explanation is a bit different.. i don't have the best feel for what dust was supposed to be exactly (in the sense that i don't think it was meant to be exact, and kind of just something to rotate around in your mind like things like consciousness, emotion, the soul etc as is what ppl do w those concepts) bc it encompassed so much but without it people just aren't people. and in shb i think the nebulous concept of what makes a person a person was approached in its own way (much like it is in many other stories) when the scions were trying to find a way to get back to the source--how they realised it wasn't just soul but memory that needed to be transported back. that's kind of a tangent though lol but in regards to becoming a husk i liked shb's version a lot. i think it was one of the most interesting concepts introduced to me maybe in the game itself: how an abundance of light aether leads to stasis... like i think that's really cool.

it was also the way the world felt so desolate bc of the sin eaters. it was similar to citagazze where it was mostly just random settlements about the place in this seaside town and kholusia was where i went first so i was like what da hell....desolate seaside town. nobody can get anywhere or walk around freely etc. also the fact that sin eaters are as a result of humans' actions (the hero's causing an overabundance of light) and how the spectres are a result of humans' actions (the creation of the subtle knife and then every time it's used a spectre is created) all just feels like a sort of religious punishment for the actions of humans. so i was just getting very similar vibes from shadowbringers while i was playing it.

i think the other thing was the traveling to a different world and how that weakens your body over time. like the scions can't permanently be in the first bc its not their original world and in hdm you can't remain in a world other than your own forever either or you'll eventually just get very sick and die. it was ofc different in its particulars in either series and it's not like this concept is original to them either but it was a new concept for ff14 (maybe not final fantasy on a whole, i wouldn't know) and i was just fresh off of reading hdm so i was like omg?

i think by that point the overarching atmosphere was just reminding me of hdm. like the oppressive shimmering curtains of light in the sky vs. the (gentler, mystical) northern lights in hdm, the precarity of being in another world and stuff. aether also is like very scientifically and logically handled in ffxiv at times but its also used for just about anything, like they can do all sorts of things with it, and it has a lot of emotional and spiritual sense attached to it for sure so it was just making me think very vaguely about hdm and now that im putting it into words its like yeah hdm has dust for real. like when daemons die they burst into light and stuff. light! light! there's a lot of light in both stories

not shb but there is also a really offhand moment in the quest to unlock the optional hell's lid dungeon (stormblood) where the i guess portal or path to even get there in the first place like... you get told by soroban to unlock it using this random magical knife. like this is all withini one line of dialogue... like......it was just so random. path-opening knife.

i hope im not forgetting anything bc i feel like i would just randomly be struck by how much shb would remind me of hdm. oh well....

[malewifemanhunter]

thank you @headgehug, @emodennis and @sunnyontheside for the tag!!!! man i haven't done one of these in a whiilleee sorry it took me so long jshdjhd

name: Ohra, malewife, whichever is easier to remember

star sign: libra sun (sorry for being an emotionally imbalanced slut)

height: 175 cm, or 5"9' for my american buddies

time: 1:45 pm

birthday: das for me to know and you to find out. (lol tho to be fair i will post about it when it is)

favorite bands/artists: uuuhhh, like mitski, gorillaz, the beatles, deaftones. i don't really listen to bands, i care abt the music only

last movie: Romy and Michelle's high school reunion. really cute chick flick, and the fits are sooooo good

last show: sunny lol. more specifically season 7. fat mac has me by the throat.

when did i create this blog: in 2016 for kpop, but i didn't actually using it until January 2021

what i post: horny stuff mostly, 90% sunny stuff only

last thing i googled: google keep wont sync in. the notes app is being so goddamn difficult for some reason, and idk how to fix it

other blogs: qweerpeep - for face app gender bend edits and uuhhh catboyohra for depweshion shit. i don't really use it anymore, prefer to write in a diary, plus i feel better now emotionally, but you can go look or whatever. don't follow tho, if you do i'm blocking u sowwy

do i get asks?: sometimes my friends send me cute asks, and other times people dump their godawful takes on sunny

following: like 179 ppl, a lot of those blogs i followed when i first joined, and they're inactive now :'(

average hours of sleep: no clue. i think like 6

instruments: kalimba. and i used to play the piano as a kid

what i’m wearing: gray tshirt with mickie and minnie mouse and beige short shorts

dream job: no fucking clue. genuinely, never thougth i would make it this far lol

dream trip: i wanna see my online friends, i don't really care where. would prefer a beach tho. and i wanna visit japan, so so sooo badly, and see my friend there. she's so outside internet culture, and i truly love that for her

nationality: romanian (nobody say shit about andrew tate to me, i will kick)

favorite songs: like rn? the fruits by paris paloma, la luna enamorada, nathalie, rich friends

last book i’ve read: songs of achilles, haven't finished yet, sure hope nothing extremely sad happens :)

top 3 fictional universes i’d like to live in: sgahgsdhgahsd bro idk. sunny? i don't have that much of an imagination

i have seen this game a loottt on my timeline lately and i have ni clue who did it or not, so just in case, @officialbillhader, @twinkmacrules, @stglennfucker, @lets-dont-this, @allgaysunny, @macisnotajabroni, @citytwinkmac, @cutemeat, @cocklickerdennis, @nightcrawlerzincorporated, @trillgutterbug, @kardinalkalamity, @aanteater-nose, @katyasghoulfriend, @kathleenbrash27, @citymacs, @ratcoffin69, @bastardmanvibes, @sewerkingcharlie, @chrundletheokay, @gothmacbro, @lesbee-dee you wanna tho~ also anyone else that wants to do it but hasn't been tagged, i wanna read as many as i can lolool

[vanilla-villainsstuff]

Hey, can I complain about ppl spreading lies about Macaque and Wukong being brothers in the original JTTW? Yeah? Yeah ok:

I already went over this in my "ranking LMK ships" post, but I really need to get this out of my system because it has been frustrating me to no end. Seeing as I already went over how there's no evidence to support the idea that Macaque and Wukong are related, I'mma just quote what I said in my ship post:

"To all the dumb brains out there spreading misinformation about JTTW, lemme put this misconception to bed now... MACAQUE AND WUKONG WERE NEVER BROTHERS IN JTTW! Buddha stated that they're vaguely a part of the same species, but not brothers. Wukong and Macaque have precisely zero deeper connection to each other in JTTW, Macaque's birth was never even detailed in the book and Wukong doesn't even have parents. I have researched this topic for weeks, I've read parts of the original JTTW, I have even talked with actual Chinese people on this stupid ass issue, and as far as I can tell, this is just a stupid fan theory being passed off as canon by non-Chinese ppl who haven't read or even properly researched the original JTTW. Shut the actual fuck up, I don't want to hear it."

Now I know what some of y'all might be saying, "BUT-BUT I LOOKED IT UP ON GOOGLE AND I SAW A WEBSITE SAYING THEY WERE BROTHERS SO IT MUST BE TRUE!" Yeah...let's go over those sources.

The source ppl have been showing (on tik tok anyways) is this fan theory on Villains Wiki:

Key word: fan theory. The wiki never actually quotes the book directly and basically assumes that Macaque and Wukong were born the same way and also makes the massive leap in logic that them being born the same way somehow makes them siblings. Tell me, if two baby chicks are both hatched from different eggs, does that automatically make them siblings? No, no it does not.

Regarding Buddha explaining Macaque's background, this is what he actually says from the English translation:

"The Intelligent Stone Monkey" is obviously referring to Wukong, but wait, why is Wukong the "Stone Monkey"? The title of "Stone Monkey" suggests that being birthed from a stone is something unique to Wukong and the other spiritual primates were born differently. This tracks cuz the spiritual primates are very mysterious beings who have very little lore in the actual JTTW, so them all being born differently wouldn't exactly be strange.

But yes, Buddha never mentions that the four spiritual primates are all related. If they were, he would've mentioned it especially since he's an all-knowing being. He had no reason to keep information like that a secret when asked.

Some have also claimed that they've heard from Chinese people that they are brothers or are "culturally considered brothers", whatever that means. I, once again, cannot find any evidence to support this on the internet and speaking to actual Chinese people I know irl and on Twitter on this matter just confirms the opposite: that most ppl consider them to be unrelated. The only people I've seen claiming this are or seem to be non-Chinese, so I can only assume that they're either A. Cherry picking and/or exaggerating their sources or B. Made it the fuck up.

"BUT SURELY MACAQUE AND WUKONG HAVE A DEEPER CONNECTION CUZ THEY'RE BOTH MYSTIC MONKEYS RIGHT!?!?" Well, you'd think that but...no. Macaque quite literally shows right the fuck up outta no where in JTTW, commits identity theft and then Wukong fucking kills him. That's it, that's literally it. Macaque's only purpose in JTTW is to be a very on-the-nose metaphor for Wukong overcoming his rebellious past, Macaque is just supposed to act in a similar way to Wukong when he was younger. Another thing: a lot of ppl are also claiming that Macaque is a physical manifestation of Wukong's worst impulses or an alter ego of Wukong's. But no, as Buddha says, Macaque is his own separate, unrelated entity from Wukong.

Now, if Wukong was created asexually and Macaque is completely unrelated to Wukong, why do so many ppl believe that they're twins? Because Macaque in the original JTTW is seen as anticlimactic. Yep, that's literally the reason. And I get it: Macaque, this mysterious powerful monkey the same species as the Monkey King, Wukong's equal, out to replace the Great Sage is... just some guy. He exists, and he has no deeper connection to Wukong outside of that. You'd think he would, but no. So I think a lot of ppl just automatically assume that they're brothers because them being completely unrelated just won't click for them.

One obvious reason is that ppl are genuinely being misinformed and don't want to question others because they're afraid of being wrong, which I completely understand and sympathize with.

Another reason could be that well...and this is going to be a bit controversial but- Maybe ppl are just trying to shut down discussions of queer romance or queer relationships? Now I'm by no means saying this is actually true, but this whole situation reminded me of something similar. Have you ever heard about Patroclus and Achilles? The two historically gay power couple who tragically died together? Well, in 2003's "Troy", the movie rewrites the two as cousins so they could write off all that pesky queer romance as "Just a couple of guys being dudes."

Am I saying that this is definitely a reason why ppl are claiming that Wukong and Macaque in LMK and JTTW are brothers? No. Am I saying it's a possibility to look out for? Yes. I absolutely hate this revisionist history of mythology, even when you point out that someone's wrong they just go, "Well, you must be disrespecting the myth's influence on culture! How dare you question my claims about the original story!? Are you saying that you don't care about Chinese culture!?" And it's like, slow your roll there bud. I've grown up on this story and done plenty of goddamn research on it, I like to think I know what I'm talking about. If the text says they aren't brothers, then they aren't brothers. Period.

But see, that's what I love about JTTW: small, insignificant details about characters can be left up entirely to interpretation, but the core message and story are still intact. That's why JTTW is such a popular story and why it's survived throughout the centuries, it's thanks to it's sheer flexibility as a story. You can give Macaque and Wukong any relationship you want, friends, brothers, the same person, it's all up to your imagination!

That's why I find it so annoying that ppl are barging in with their fan theories and claiming it's canon to the original JTTW, because not only is it just ignorant, but it completely undermines the original story.

Anyways, here's a picture that'll piss off the anti-shadowpeach bitches out there:

[bloodydeanwinchester]

i was tagged by @angelsdean 💕💕

rules: answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to get to know better.

name: jenna

star sign: libra (im actually a triple libra and i have to say that almost every time i read something that is supposed to be a libra personality trait i'm like yea actually that's me)

height: 5'6 

time: 7:39 am

birthday: oct 20

favourite bands/artists: the lumineers, hozier, lord huron, florence + the machine, lana del rey, rainbow kitten surprise, shakey graves

last movie: god i watch SO much tv and so few movies that i cannot for the life of me remember. i just checked my netflix history and i haven't watched a movie there since last october so i guess it was probably die hard which i watched with my family at christmas

last show: besides my supernatural rewatch, The Bear

when did i create this blog: i think it was like april 2012? honestly i never really used it all that much until like march 2022 when i joined spnblr

what i post: mostly spn...more destiel, castiel, and dean than anything else. i recently started making gifs/edits so a lot of my original posts lately have been those. i also will occasionally post about other shows that i'm watching too

last thing i googled: i just woke up so i haven't googled anything yet today but i just checked my history and it was “castiel cabernet" yesterday lol

other blogs: this is it 🙃

do i get asks: i've gotten like just a couple from anons. every once in a while i will get one from a mutual<3

following: 376. it used to be a LOT higher because i had just been following blogs based on whatever hyperfixation i was obsessed with for like 10 years but i recently purged

average hours of sleep: 7-8 usually 

instruments: none </3 i always wanted to learn one but never committed to it

what im wearing: grey tank top and black capri sleep pants...i just woke up lol

dream job: i've always wanted to be a published writer. also always wanted to be a librarian too but somehow ended up an accountant 🫤

dream trip: i really want to do like a big europe trip and go to edinburgh, paris, amsterdam, lisbon, london. also i would like to do a us trip maybe camping somewhere forresty. i live in southern california so pretty much everything here is either desserty or beachy and i would like to spend some time with some trees

nationality: american, unfortunately

favourite songs: this is always changing but currently its let me drown by orville peck, king by f+tm, what do it mean by lord huron, sunlight by hozier, the chain by fleetwood mac

last book i’ve read: if we're not counting fanfic then it was verity by colleen hoover (the only non fanfic book i've read all year lol) if we are counting fanfic then it was silver linings by foolondahill17

Currently reading: fenario by ftmsteverogers

top 3 fictional universes i’d like to live in: um this is hard. but i guess i'd say the raven cycle, spn, or the atlas six

ok like victoria i'm not gonna tag 20 ppl because that's just a lot and i have no idea who's already done this or doesn't want to do it so feel free not to<3

@sluttystiel @faithdeans @cruelsummercas @goatiel @dylfnatural @millicentmarva @sleepycas @blue-eyed-cutiepatootie @deanandkastiel @hermywolf

[farahswife]

Hey, can I ask you something? I just saw your post about how some of M*shkas writing is problematic and wanted to ask if you can explain (or maybe link a post that explains) it to me? I don't participate in fandom discourse much, just read the books, so I don't know what's happening right now. 😅 But since I come from a privileged position too I might haven't recognised what's harmful within the writing and I want to learn and be more critical about representation in media!

Uhm, if you'd rather not answer this to avoid rude messages it's totally fine, I understand!

Have a nice day :)

hi anon! sorry for the delay i’ve had no brain cells for the last week lmao

disclaimer: i love wayhaven. i care about the characters and the friends i’ve made through the fandom. that is why i am pointing stuff out. i am not trying to bully anyone

SO. trying to categorise wayhaven as ‘problematic’ isn’t the goal here at all. it’s about being critical of the media we consume as a whole, and being mindful of how it reinforces harmful stereotypes!

ie. f as the ‘sassy black friend’ stereotype, m as ‘predatory hyper-sexual brown person’, a as a ‘prudish demisexual’ (other ppl have addressed that one in far more detail than i have & fyi i’m not comfortable elaborating). one recent example was m being referred to as ‘animalistic’ and an ‘attack dog’ by mishka- which was eventually addressed.

fandom can also act as an echo chamber, pushing stereotypes further and further. in the end, mishka is a white cishet author, who doesn’t understand the nuances of being a poc and/or lgbt+, and fans rightfully have a lot to say on these topics, because for many of us these are our lived experiences. that doesn’t mean we expect mishka to relate - but hiring paid sensitivity readers for wayhaven would solve a lot of the tone-deafness.

another issue was hiding official skin tone palettes behind a patreon paywall, which created a biiiiiig whitewashing problem which still persists to this day. it took a long time for this to be addressed- a lot of poc noticed whitewashed art actively being reblogged by mishka/nai. even after they released the palette to the public on the 7th january 2021, mishka or nai have not reblogged ANY coloured art of unit bravo since 11th january 2021. like… at all.

today’s ‘insta post’ from morgan with a clearly white hand is the icing on the cake. morgan is canonically darker skinned- so unless that’s ava holding the lipstick (lmao) there is really no excuse. when you’re earning over 10k a month from your fandom, these details matter.

it can be difficult with IF bc authors have a closer parasocial relationship with fans, but that doesn’t absolve anyone from accountability. in the end, we should all want to be better.