#i sympathize with her

[thebluemallet]

Eloise- I thought Pen and I would be spinsters together forever!

Girl, she literally told you in your season 1 "not everybody gets to be a pretty Bridgerton" fight that she wanted to get married and have a family of her own.

[star--nymph]

Vivienne's fear being 'becoming irrelevant' isn't something that's linked explicitly to her pride, no matter what Solas says about her (and the irony of Mr.Pride himself saying that should not be lost on you), it reveals what and who Vivienne truly is.

She's a survivalist.

Because we don't spend as much time in the Free Marches or Orlesian circles, we don't get to experience what being a mage is in these cultures. In Ferelden and Kirkwall, a mage is a lesser being without freedom no matter what they do--but in the Free Marches and Orlais specifically, mages are commodities that are given freedom so long as they play an entertaining enough role. They can explore the world if they have a noble patron, if they catch the right person's eye. They are, in a way, two sides of the same coin--refusing mages agency and forcing them to relay on higher powers. Vivienne lucked out, as sad as it is, when Bastion fell in love with her; she found someone who was contrarian enough to recognize her as a full person and also someone with power that could help her rise through the ranks. This is not to say that Vivienne on her own wasn't an exceedingly talented and intelligent individual--by nineteen she was already the youngest full fledged mage in Circle history and she was skilled enough to make herself an enchanter. But, I can not emphasize this enough, none of that matters if she didn't also play the Game and impress enough people.

Vivienne could have been the most brilliant mage in the history of Thedas and it means nothing if she was overlooked by nobility.

So when Bastion made her his mistress, she gained not just a lover but also a means to an end. Now she can use her magic to protect herself. Now she can roam where she wants and not be question for it because she's Madame Vivienne. Now, she can walk into the Orlasian court and belong there.

And what happens? Celene notices her and makes her the Court Enchanter, a position that has always been the equivalent of a jester. Vivienne took that title, ignored that it was essentially a glorified insult to who she is, and made it a position of power. She made the Court Enchanter into an advisor, a political rank. She had done the impossible and made mages an actual political entity in the Orlasian Court, something that wasn't seen outside of Tervinter (not counting what players can do under very specific conditions if they made mages in DAO and DA2).

All that, however, only continues as long as the court recognizes her as something worth their attention. Vivienne needs to maintain her act as Madame De Fer, The Lady of Iron, the Court Enchanter, The Jewel of the High Court, because the second she just becomes Vivienne, it's over for her. The assassins coming raining in, her name gets devoured by rumors and gossip, and she'll be found dead at bottom of the stair case with a dagger in her back if she's lucky.

So of course when the Circles fall apart during the Rebellion, she clings to that Loyalist Mages to maintain that structure--of course she moves her pieces to the Inquisition, knowing that if the Circle DOES fall, she at least as another place for herself and mages latch onto--of course when she hears that Celene replaced her with a new Court Enchanter that appeared out of no where, she grows to resent Morrigan.

Like, Morrigan literally pops up out of thin air, makes herself invaluable to Celene, and then plants herself in the place Vivienne had to claw her way up to and create so she could survive. Would you not be resentful when your life's work is usurped by some random witch of the wilds because she happened to charm the Empress? Everything Vivienne strived for all whisked away because the court find a gem who glimmers ever so slightly more than Vivienne.

So yes, Vivienne fears becoming irrelevant because the world has made it so that irrelevance for an Orlesian mage means death.

[chironshorseass]

the thing is, we were never meant to sympathize with luke when he betrays percy. we aren’t meant to see his inner turmoil. we aren’t meant to see hesitancy, or regret. it’s meant to be a slap in the face. luke takes percy to the woods knowing full well what he’s about to do. in tlt kronos orders him to kill percy because he’s too volatile; kronos said so himself when percy hijacked luke’s dreams and began to figure out there were bigger things at play. the thing is, when kronos orders luke to kill percy, he doesn’t hesitate. that’s the point!!! it is essential that luke is so blinded by rage and vengeance for the gods that he will stop at nothing to get what he wants (the god’s destruction). percy accuses luke that kronos is using him, but he just retaliates that the gods do the same, and they do!!! but see, the thing is, luke’s whole point is that he’s so focused on the god’s injustices that he forgets what’s important. he goes for the “greater good” but he destroys his family, his life, in the process. by attempting to dismantle a system, he turns to another system that follows the same oppressive logic. THAT is why luke fails. THAT is why it’s so important he be blinded by rage, because it’s his inevitable, tragic end. he’s doomed by the narrative from the start. yes, we’re meant to be surprised by his betrayal because of how cold and calculating it is, but also it’s important to set the grounds for luke’s character to be this angry, vengeful boy because later on we come to understand why it is that he made those choices. we see annabeth’s side of things and percy’s side. we see luke’s side. we see many sides. we see a man who is too far gone yet comes to understand, in the end, that he’s been doing more harm than good to those he was supposed to protect (annabeth is the most obvious example). we get a complex character who won’t hesitate to kill but who also won’t hesitate to sacrifice himself so that he can save the family he has left.

the thing is, luke was supposed to be angrier in the show. percy was supposed to be angrier in the show. they’re both foils. luke is what percy could become, if percy lets his anger win. so, to change—even if it’s only slightly altering—their characters, is to change the point of the story. because luke tries to kill percy in his betrayal and later percy tries to kill luke but then percy starts to understand luke…until luke is gone and kronos is gone yet the gods don’t change but percy does. and percy’s initial anger is supposed to transform and he’s supposed to see what luke saw and the cycle continues. the thing is, it’s not even one of the worst changes the show made, yet it’s still so, so telling that they failed to see why it’s important to let your characters do bad things, to make mistakes, because that’s how a story can carry on. that’s how you give a story depth.

[queenbeekb13]

AU where Simon does go with Edwin to escape Hell and Edwin convinced him + crew that he should stay on with them. After a few awkward weeks Edwin and Simon eventually become friendly (Edwin has someone new to infodump to who is clearly attentive and also someone who understands what’s it’s like to be displaced from his specific time) and maybe Simon even gets brave and a lil flirty now that he knows he and Edwin ARE the same (gay) and that Edwin has forgiven him since the whole murder WAS an accident…..

Meanwhile Charles is perpetually in the background absolutely seething bc that’s the boy who’s responsible for his best mate ending up in Hell (and also he’s super jealous)

[dykedvonte]

I know realistically fallout 4’s cast of companions would destroy a settlement if they were left alone there for too long together but I think it’s even funnier if they are aggressively playing nice because they are all connected 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon style through the Sole Survivor.

It’s like they are all collectively dating this one person who happened to just bag people from like every possible political opposite but ig they won’t try and shoot each other for the day cause it makes SS smile when they see them getting along or whatever.

[greenbirdgreen]

this is what happens when WOLF NOOBS play wolfquest i bet they dont even know what BARK BARK means

[dykeboyy]

just finished playing the new archon quest

[bawdza]

-🔈🔉🔊

Violet TWDG they will never make me hate you

[jeeliebeeliegoomiebear]

On Isolde and Many Doors (and One Key)

Thinking about Isolde and how she feels like she is constantly trapped in a small cramped room full of 1 million doors. Each door represents a presence that haunts her, an identity that lives inside her that calls to her from beyond the grave, a new mask to dawn.

If every person in the world were to have a room, most would have just one door, their own. But not Isolde.

Isolde feels like an empty vessel who is only there to serve as a point of entry for other people and their spirits. She has been forced to become so repressed by her environment, upbringing, and her nature as a medium that she finds it easy to forget herself. Her “self” is not someone she has ever been allowed to know.

The room grows increasingly smaller, claustrophobic and strangling her with pressure as the amount of doorways in it only increase, every new person she meets a new doorway she is plagued with, a new voyeur who has granted themselves full access to her life and her body. Something she is now willing to let them do. It is easier that way. Easier to let someone else command her vessel, something that never solely belonged to her to begin with. An escape from all the pressure, the expectations, the perfection demanded from her. It is something she should do. The duty of someone like her. Something to hide her wretched face from view, to give the people what they want, to uphold her family’s legacy. A performance that was never allowed to end. Each new door lead right back to that.

The only exception is Kakania. The only person Isolde believes has ever really seen her as more than a host for other identities or something to mold into shape, prop up as a set piece. A perfect lady. The star of Vienna. A tragic heroine. A dangerous hysteric witch. A curse manifested. The only one who was ever interested in finding Isolde’s door and that door alone. When she is with Kakania, a new door does not appear in that ever shrinking empty room, although at first she expects it to. For the first time she meets someone and is not greeted with a new ghost to haunt her. Not a door. But a key. A key that Isolde knows can unlock her own door, even when she herself cannot find it.

[starphenie]

whenever i think of how nikki's personality has changed from her first game to her latest i get so emotional.. bring back silly lazy genki girl nik </3

[queerjesusthelord]

How come there were zero gifs with Sandra from The Sympathizer? Well, I have some thoughts but made a few edits anyway. I wanna be her cigarette…

[willowthewiisp]

I just can't fucking shut up about this because everyone else is pissing me off calling Marika an unu poor baby she was justified bs as if genocide against any race is justified if they hurt you first. Look at real world examples.

Anyways.

Godfrey was banished not because he conquered all that could be conquered but because he fundamentally disagreed with Marika. I'm convinced she asked him to carry out the genocide against the hornsent society but because they hadn't attacked or given any reason to be attacked ( because the genocide came AFTER the banishment because messmer knows what a tarnished is AND was an older brother figure to radahn.) Godfrey refused because he's just a Chad like that and Marika stripped him of his grace and sent him on his way and instead gave messmer the grace and blessings to go crusade against the ones she needed to be rid of.

Why were the hornsent not exterminated the second Marika became a god.

Why did she run from the lands of shadow and not stay to save her people.

Because she ran.

She ran away because she had connections to the hornsent as an empyrean. The only reason she genocided them so late in her rule was because the hornsent did not submit to her religion and ideals of the golden order they were graceless and heretics to her, who spat in the face of her erdtree and worshipped the concept of the crucible. Why would she need to hide this war if it was for a good reason. I mean, if she used they oppressed my people and are a threat to the golden order why would she need to hide that, seems like as good of a reason as any to attack someone.

Because there was no good reason.

It's clear the hornsent weren't a warring culture by the time of the crusades if the dancing lion is any hint (that's not to say they weren't in the past, they had to have come to power somehow but as of the genocide the lion dancers were just that, dancers, that basically became guardians and fought during the genocide). They were caught off guard they were surprised and betrayed by Marika who they didn't have any bad blood with personally. If Marika truly was driven by revenge and hate over the shamans why didn't she slaughter them as soon as she became a god. Because she left them on neutral terms. She wasn't their enemy and they had no reason to attack her. What happened at the divine tower was the original sin. That's why messmer shrouded it so no one would know what Marika did to become a god. Massive sacrifice of hornsent AND shamans were needed. I'm almost tempted to say the hornsent got the idea to use shamans in their saint jars because of Marika. They saw this numen, this shaman, ascend into godhood. Marika used the blood of shamans, the flesh of shamans to become a god. They tried to replicate it in the jars, turning criminals and sinners into something that could become more. Maybe the shamans willingly sacrificed themselves for Marikas ascension. I would believe that. But the hornsent saw this and their zealotry drove them to hunt the shamans, so they could recreate what they witnessed at the divine tower. We see something similar in nokron. The nox attempted to birth their own lord to usher in an age of stars.

Marika returning to her village long after the shamans were gone REEKS of guilt. Because she didn't save them. She didn't avenge them. She left them to suffer and die. That's why she's fucking guilty. Messmer was the only one that seemed to care about them, and even then there was nothing to be done. Even IF the hornsent tortured and harvested her people and hurt Marika personally, that doesn't change the fact Marika waited until Godfrey was gone and radahn and messmer were old enough to be brothers to each other (almost implying it happened when Marika and radagon married but that's a stretch) to attack them. She waited an age and a half. Through her age of plenty and into the age of order. Why.

Why did she forsake her people. No wonder the black knife assassins did what they did. If they truly were close to Marika, they'd want revenge for what she did to their people in the lands of shadow.

Anyways.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

This election day, I'm thinking of my Nana.

I'm thinking of how as a young woman, she fled political violence in her native Colombia to build a new home in a more stable country. I'm thinking about how she lived a long life, but not long enough to see her home country elect its first ever progressive president (just a few months ago!).

Coincidentally, I was living in Colombia at that time (in the very city she grew up in), and I was able to witness what felt like a miracle. A very conservative country, suffering from the violent inheritance of colonization and catholic invasion and the war on drugs, against a backdrop of the dangerous global rise of the far right--this unlikely country managed to elect one of the most progressive heads of state in the world, in 2022. That's a pretty big deal.

And I'm thinking about this, this election day, because that election was won by a very thin margin. I'm thinking about how it almost didn't happen. I'm thinking about how it was only possible thanks to the highest voter turnout in 20 year. And I am thinking about the countless number of voters who chose to vote for the first time. I am thinking of the poorest and most disenfranchised citizens who showed up at the polls. I am thinking of the indigenous women who rode 12 hours on public buses to vote at the 'nearest' polling stations. I am thinking of all the money and corruption that went into preventing minority citizens from voting, and I'm thinking about how they showed up in the millions and voted anyway.

I am thinking that I would like to see a miracle like that in my own home country.

So if you're on the fence about waiting in line today to cast your vote, I hope that you will think--about the country you want to live in, the future you hope will unfold, and about all of the people it takes to make a miracle.

Because history may deem us nameless and faceless, but when we show up en masse, we are the ones who make history happen.

And yes, maybe also spare a thought for my Nana. Who was in fact a very angry and judgemental woman who supported the republican party for 50+ years, and who would be turning in her grave right now (if the family hadn't had her cremated). Think about the mean angry ghost of my Colombian grandmother, who very much wants you to not show up at the polls to support abortion and other sinful progressive values. Think about her. Do it for her. Do it for Nana.

[m-v3nus]

Im kinda so very much out of the vivziepop helluva boss loop since its been a while since I watched anything of hers (And because spme of the writing and some of her...choices character design wise turned me off from interacting further) but one thing I will never not have in the back of my mind is how they portrayed striker* as being unreasonably petty and angry at the mistreatment of imps and that his agenda was misguided hatred.

When from what I get in lore from what I remeber that imps systematically are treated like shit and so infantilized by higher-ups that they are treated as pets so I honestly I dont blame him for being a hater as well as not understanding why anyone would--esp an imp would wanna be in cahoots with these infamously elitist classist set of assholes.

[hunybody]

helena diaz voice it was so hard to raise three children by myself and i parentified my son out of necessity and i feel horrible about it. you know what will help? if i offer no sympathy to my son who is now also a single parent. and do not help him. and take his child away and imply he is an unfit parent multiple times. no i'm not a hypocrite

[skeletood]

These are old as hell but I have a lot of thoughts about the dynamic of these two. :]

This isn't ship art.