#i think its kind of an extension of how interpretation of the canon tends to get policed

[a-court-of-moonlight-and-ire]

Idk why but i was thinking about the broader acotar fandom's attituide towards "crack ships" and how different it is compared to some other fandoms ive been in because most of the time what a lot of people call crack ships would be considered rare pairs or just. normal ships. Like, ive seen people call gwynriel a crack ship when gwyn is clearly deliberately set up to be part of a love triangle with elain and azriel which is to say, theres a real possibility of it becoming canon and imho thats not a fucking crackship, thats just a normal ass ship. Crack ships arent just non-canon or unpopular ships, theyre usually like shitpost ships that are funny because of how absurd they are and that most people dont earnestly ship. Thats why in ye olden days a lot of crackships were crossover ships from with characters from two very different pieces of media, like fuckin charlie bucket x aang from avatar or batman x sportacus from lazy town or whatever, it doesnt really matter as long as its weird and easy to make fun of conceptually

[little-de-vil]

hello again! do you mind going more in depth about the cutters and keepers (and the ideological divide between them)? you’ve already mentioned that propaganda has affected the keepers more- is that a purposeful thing done by the captiol? or something perpetuated by the keeper community themselves? a mix of both?

Hello, dear! I'm going to write this with as much neutrality as possible because the lore I have created is long and extensive and I don't want that clouding this response.

I want to stick to as close to the canon as possible and my interpretation of the canon without having what I created leech through [especially since it tends to get jumbled in my head].

Get ready for another long one, Backpacks!

I have always believed that post-Dark Days there has to be that separation between trade and industry, especially in a district that then has two principle industries. Prior to the Dark Days, there was much more community between the trades-folk of 2, everything was very unified and friendly to an extent, which is why Katniss mentioning the first rebellion and the Victor tributes holding has as a sign of unity between the districts mirrors that community and solidarity (CF, 258).

But war changes things in unbelievable ways. There were those who remained loyal to the Capitol of course, by way of taking their names that have Greco-Roman origins (Strabo, Sejanus, Cato, Brutus, Enobaria), and then there were those who remained loyal to their people and their trade, who saw the military industry as a disruption to their work and community and traditions. They were more aware of their slavery once the military entered their lands and held a stronger Capitol favor.

Gale had a point when he said: "It's to the Capitol's advantage to have us divided amongst ourselves." (THG, 14)

District 2 is one know for its strength in not just its manufactured, propagandized kind, but prior to that when it was full of stonecutters, mountain-miners, blacksmiths, etc. and that strength is just as strong if not stronger after the Dark Days among the trades-folk. Where before there was a healthy delineation between the natural trades of the district, after the first rebellion that bond grew stronger and closer among the working-class because of the military invasion. There was less care put towards whether people mingled between a hewer or layer mason (historically hewer masons [those who cut the stone] was a far more contentious and lucrative job than a layer mason [those who set the stone]) and more of an effort to maintain their community as trades-folk in the face of an oppressive military who wanted nothing to do with them.

So the clear divide between the two industries was done by the Cutters in an effort to steer clear of both becoming a part of the propaganda (in both industry and Games-realted) and siding with the new invaders. There was a high likelihood of ostracization among the Cutter community to those who became Peacekeepers once it was exclusive to 2—prior to the first rebellion, I think it was seen more like how Plutarch had explained it "[as] a way for their people to escape poverty and a life in the quarries. They're raised with a warrior mind-set." (MJ, 83). I do see that last sentence as being more appropriate post-Dark Days, but that's neither here nor there.

As for the Keepers, they are an oppressive, invading force that were not welcomed by the natives of 2 at large, but they are also amazing at brushing that off if it meant more of a chance of wealth and success within the district (and within the Games too, of course). They knew that they were in better favor with the Capitol compared to the Cutters after the Dark Days and more so because they saw themselves as better than the Cutters, still District and not Capitol, but at least they weren't Cutters. And those who came from the Capitol to be stationed in 2? Well, they were all kinds of high and mighty! But as I said in a tik tok breaking down District 2 and my love for it: "the loyalty of District 2 has always been in something that has been Capitol made." (1:42-149).

In regards to the propaganda having more of an affect with the Keepers, I believe it is a mix of both and it has to be. The superiority complex of the Keepers (as in: those born and bred for it, not Cutters who join) comes from sustaining the Capitols favor but it is because of that propaganda that is so deeply imbedded into the district. Once they came into the picture as the new Capitol favorite, they didn't flaunt it so much as usurp it once various military installations came about, like The Nut, that did away with various Cutter work. Maintaining that "warrior mind-set" works with children who saw that as a thing of pride and not a thing to do out of poverty and upper class mobility. I still am having difficulty distinguishing both a timeline and an explanation for how the propaganda becomes successful within the Cutter community because I simply can't see it as A Thing™ without an intense feeling of betrayal to both your heritage and your people*, but again, that's a question for another day.

By Panem, I hope I answered this well! I feel like I kinda dropped the ball on the Keeper bit, but then again, I'm in the minority & don't give them much thought compared to everyone else.

*Please ask me if you want me to talk about Lyme in regards to that sentence because OH BOY IS THIS ALL ABOUT HER!

Also I almost started this with an excerpt from my silly OC fanfic but a ficlet of a scene, only to realize that my open statement completely contradicts that! Anyway, here it is at the end so you can't say I didn't do it in the actual answering of this ask!

Because if the years of watching District 2 pairs reach victory has taught her anything, it’s that those from 2 are loyal to their community. Of masonry or military. And that it’s the worst part of watching The Games in District 2, how much the animosity grows amongst the crowd at even the slightest difference in trade or birthplace is put to question the chance of triumph as one tribute falls.  But is the answer so simple? A mere difference in industry? In home? The Cutters: hewer and layer masons, quarry-folk, stone and crystal miners, blacksmiths. The Keepers: soldiers—the common grunt and almost unheard of 2 born general—, cadets in schools, Peacekeepers stationed throughout the country never to return for 20 years, the hundreds working in The Peak*. The southern desert folk and their blunt nature, intrenched in tradition that mirrors what it was before. The northern mountain people and their river sweet ways, creating new rituals after living so close to their invaded neighbors.  No, nothing as simple as that. Their mutual destruction is not an echo of past rivalries, but of present vows.

*What I think the natives of 2 call The Nut since that name came about by the 13 rebels, not the natives

[shinozaki-ayumi]

whats ur opinion on the whole 'corpse party is just a never-ending constantly-remixing timeloop' thing? i personally appreciate it because it lets you view character developments not just between one game(and its sequels) but multiple versions of a game/manga.

take yoshiki for example, in the timeline from C-P -> Musume -> CPBCRF/BoS -> 2U -> BD and all its timeloops inbetween.

c-p yoshiki raises SO many red flags (for example the whole attempting to murder satoshi out of jealousy thing... in TWO separate endings) so to see him be... kind of the straight man now shows how The Incident, their experiences, and the loop melts and morphs them-- even though time isnt REALLY passing, theyre still growing and changing.

additionally its how i justify naomi and satoshi growing a bit softer and more timid (can you have PTSD if it hasnt happened yet? the answer is yes!!) and ayumi growing a bit more coarse (SHES SO SICK OF TIMELOOPS!!) yuka doesnt change lol she learns nothing ♡

idk sorry if this is outta nowhere or weird! but ive heard a bit about this theory and wanted to know ur opinions on it since i enjoy the way you interpret copa :}

Not weird at all I love talking about CoPa!!! :D

Long response so it's under the cut!

So I REALLY like this theory. I'm weirdly picky about how I interpret Corpse Party canon though, so for me, there's two versions of the story. One of them, and the one I tend to base my personal headcanons and general understanding of the characters on, is JUST the "correct" ending route of Blood Covered. That's the one I hold as the "real" story, I guess? I always liked how neat and tidy it wraps up, to the point that I don't even like to acknowledge the following events (aka Blood Drive lol). I think it works really well as a standalone, almost traditional ghost story (AKA appease the spirit and everything is ok, minus some Emotional Trauma).

BUT since Book of Shadows is a thing, time loops are baked into Corpse Party canon. So I have a second, alternative view of the series that functions similarly to what you described!! In which every wrong end in Blood Covered, all of 2U, and all of Book of Shadows actually happens, as a symptom of the time loop ending in chapter 5. I like to imagine that eventually, out of pure (subconscious) frustration, they push through it and only AFTER experiencing all the "wrong ends" do they get the "correct" ending and appease Sachiko, allowing them to move on to Blood Drive. They just don't know it on a conscious level lol. Granted this kind of breaks the rules set by the games (since Satoshi is aware of the time loop occurring in both Blood Covered and Book of Shadows), but uh...

What I hadn't really considered was adding in all the endings from Corpse-Party 98 and the mangas... While I think I still personally prefer limiting my personal "canon" to the PSP era onwards, I definitely think it makes sense to incorporate the entirety of the very extensive Corpse Party library!! CP98 in particular sticks out to me because I love a lot of the really dramatic endings in that game and I kind of wish they carried over to the PSP remake lol. And like you said, adding CP98 to the overall timeline really lends itself to interesting character development... Considering the ending in that game where Yoshiki disappears (or potentially kills himself?) after Ayumi dies to the anatomical model, my heart kind of aches at the thought that after seeing her die so many times over and over again he eventually becomes the ultra-protective version of him we see in the "canon" endings of Blood Covered and Blood Drive :')

So I think I may start at least incorporating the original game into my understanding of the time loop canon!

[laundrybiscuits]

Recent come alive in the neon light snippets have been gathered up, given a spit-shine, and dumped on AO3 as a new chapter! Also I added about 1500 words of sex scene, as promised.

I will now take this opportunity to talk a little bit about voice, because I can, and because this fic has been sort of my way of working through these thoughts in practical application. Warning that if you read below the cut, you may not be able to stop noticing all the ways I don’t manage to follow my own guidelines. I sure can’t! 

Steve’s voice is actually quite challenging for me, and I don’t think I’m all that consistent with it. The trick is giving him sentences that have a short rhythmic arc and don’t rely on a lot of abstract imagery, adverbs, or beautiful-sounding individual words. A really good Steve voice should be raw and punchy, and it should leave a lot unsaid: there should be space between the lines. He’s not the kind of guy to worry a thought to death, chasing down all its logical conclusions. Instead, he operates on a very visceral level, because he inhabits his body very fully. When he says things, it’s not necessarily because he’s chewed them over and really thought them through. Saying something is part of his process of thinking it, which is why he’ll throw in really decisive phrases when he reaches a conclusion. 

(Sample Steve line pulled from S4E1: “Maybe you need to listen to yourself. Ever think about that? I listened. Look at me. Boom, back in business.”) 

Both Steve and Eddie repeat concepts/phrases sometimes when they talk, but Steve is more likely to say things slightly differently on repetition because he’s iterating, it’s an active process. Eddie is more likely to repeat things exactly the same way, because it has a more dramatic effect and adds to the intensity. He keeps a much tighter rein on what he says; his default defense is to clam up rather than babble. 

Eddie’s voice is challenging for me in a different way because I struggle to keep it from just being…my voice. He and I have a lot in common, linguistically speaking, although I suspect he should have a bit more influence from Wayne than he canonically does; he definitely strikes me as someone who’ll pick up phrasings and pronunciations like a magpie, sprinkled in among the chaotic mix of small-town Midwestern and the fucking weird things you say when you grow up spending more time with SF/F novels than people. Take it from me, a person who grew up amongst the cornfields and also had a teenage tendency to say undersocialized shit like “insisted on the matter, in fact.” (I also started as a DM when I was about 15, which Does Something to the way you talk. Can’t explain it, it just is what it is.) 

It shakes out as a kind of acrolect-mesolect hybrid. He’s got an extensive vocabulary and a knack for bardic cadence, but his fast-and-dirty communication style is unpolished and deliberately casual. He likes what language can do, and he revels in his mastery of it. That doesn’t mean composing poetic eddas, it means he says stuff like “super jealous as hell” which has a very pleasing internal rhyme and a nice little rhythm to the stresses. 

Even when he’s just talking one-on-one, he does all these cool things with the literal sound of his voice that just don’t translate well to the page. (“That Ste-e-eve Harrington…was actually? A good dude.” HOW DO YOU TRANSCRIBE THAT EFFECTIVELY) 

I could keep going, especially about the way that Eddie tends to pace his speech like he’s delivering oratory rather than having a conversation, but this has been 500+ words already and I have other things to do with my day.

Obviously these are personal interpretations and YMMV, and also I’m not taking into account things like the fact that JQ is not actually from the midwestern USA. So take it all with a hefty grain of salt.

Plus, when it comes right down to it, I honestly do not trust the writers to have put anywhere near this much thought into individual character voices, but…it’s fandom’s job to create coherence, sometimes whole-cloth. We spackle over plot holes, we tie up loose ends, we bend over backwards to make things make sense. It’s what we do!

[malviral]

Wesker's eyes / bioluminescence.

ANON  ASKED:  sheer crack, but important: wesker’s got the cat eyes thing goin’ on, so…does he do the giant pupils thing when he’s excited?

Actually,  its  not  even  entirely  crack  because  it  would  actually  make  perfect  sense  that  Wesker’s  eyes  would  function  similar  to  a  cat,  or  other  predatory  animals  who  possess  similar  vertical  pupils  like  vipers  and  crocodiles.  The  vertical  slits  signify  the  predatory  nature  of  the  owner, allowing  for  more  adapt  vision;  

‘Vertical pupils give highly focused vision and provide accurate distance vision to help the predator know exactly when to strike its prey. These types of predatory animals also usually hunt at night which means they have evolved an extra set of muscles to pull the pupil into a narrow slit shape during the day. This is to prevent the eye from being damaged or overcome by bright light, preserving vision and protecting the eye. Predatory animals with vertical slit pupils, like cats and many snakes, can maintain sharp focus across the horizontal field of view and more accurately judge distance to their prey. ”

So  yeah,  it  would  make  sense  if  Wesker’s  eyes  are  also  capable  of  contracting  and  expanding.  But  I  wouldn’t  say  they’re  exactly  like  a  cats  eyes  outside  of  the  visual  similarity  as  I  don’t  think  Wesker’s  eyes  ever  dilate   enough  to  appear  human  again  from  what  we’ve  observed  of  him / his  eyes  in  canon.  His  eyes  seem  to  be  more  focused  on  keeping  out  light,  I  think ?  I  have  a  lot  of  thoughts  on  this. 

What  Wesker’s  eyes  do  do  that  is  super  unique  is  maintain  a  steady  glow.  They’re  highly  bioluminescent  and   this  appears  to  be  linked  to  his  emotions  in  some  way.  When  experiencing  a  particularly  strong  emotion  his  eyes  tend  to  literally  light  up  with  a  temporary  bright / burning  sensation. Its  less  clear  why  this  is  a  thing,  I  mean  it  looks  extremely  cool  and  more  accurately  terrifying   from  an   in  universe  POV  but  there  def  has  to  be  a  more  “zoological”  reason  they  do  this  beyond  Aesthetic  TM.  

Wesker’s  entire  body  has  been  transformed  on  a  cellular  level  by  the  virus  to  make  him  an  adapt  killing  machine  so  here  are  my  ideas/thoughts  surrounding  whats  with  his  eyes  /  why  they  glow. ━  For  a  start,  its  possible  this  is  a  warning  to  other  predators  to  back  off,   similar  with  how  some  poisonous  animals  are  brightly  coloured  as  a  warning  to  fuck  around  and  find  out.  and  I  do  personally  headcanon  that  most  other  infected  creatures  avoid  Wesker  because  They  Know.

 We  know  infected  creatures  actively  prey  on  each  other,  so  yeah,  anything  with  the  animalistic  intelligence  a  lot  of  the  infected  animals  have  can  determine  that  Wesker  is  too  much  to  handle.  The  exceptions  would  be  creatures  who  are  particularly   programmed  for  certain  tasks  /  externally  controlled   or  extensively  brain  damaged  (like  common  T  infected  zombies) 

It  could  also  have  a  kind  of  “hypnotic  gaze”  effect  per  se,  giving  him  the  ability  to  temporarily  stun / paralyse   prey,  because  again,  from  an  in  universe  POV  Wesker’s  eyes  are  terrifying,  if  you  got  caught  in  his  sight  you’d  be  shook,  and  thats  not  even  with  witnessing  his,  y’know,  crazy  super-human  strength/speed  on  top  of  it.  I  actually  just  think  he  exerts  an  aura  of  danger  /  dread  that  most  members  of  the  “animal  kingdom”  pick  up  pretty  fast  and  if  you  don’t  get  it  on  vibes  alone  his  eyes  serve  as  a  more  explicit  signal. I  know  in  like,  RE0  for  whatever  reason  Wesker  can  shoot  lasers  out  of  his  eyes  which  I  kind  of  interpreted  as  a  kind  of  “physical”  representation  of  this  kind  of  concept. 

Personally,  I  think  most  of  all  the  glow  /  light  up  has  to  do  with  sharping  vision.  You  turn  up  the  brightness  of  your  phone/screen  when  you  want  to  see  more,  its  possible  the  “natural  light”  of  Wesker’s  eyes  has  a  similar  purpose  which  comes  back  to  the  cat  idea–  rather  than  completely  dilating  and  becoming  visibly  huge  to  collect  light  and  heighten  vision,  Wesker’s  eyes  simply  glow  /  exert  their  own  light   to  increase / sharpen  his  vision.  This  is  also  another  explanation  for  why  Wesker’s  eye  glow  seems  to  be  related  to  his  emotions.  Naturally  if  he’s  “focusing”  on  something  his  emotions  will  react  accordingly,  so  therefor  the  glow. 

And  to  add  to  all  that  the  continuous  glow  of  Wesker’s  eyes  may  also  be  a  reason  why  his  pupils  remain  in  the  vertical  slit-like  state  as  oppose  to  ever  dilating  to  an  extreme,  again  having  to  do  with  filtering  light   and  his  eyes  are  literally  producing  their  own  light.  Whatever  the  case  may  be   the  Virus  has  sharpened  Wesker’s  vision  extensively  and  I  mentioned  before  via  my  own  personal  HC  that  the  reason  his  eyes  are  the  one  part  of  his  body  to  actually  show  outward  mutation  was  because  of  his  impaired  eyesight / mild  photophobia/sensitivity  previous  to  infection.  

SO  BASCIALLY  while  I  don’t  personally  HC  his  eyes  to  dilate,  they  do  GLOW  and  thats  my  Logic  for  why  thats  a  thing.   Fully  support  Albert  Kitty-Eyes  Wesker  tho. 

Oh  ALSO  while  I’m  on  this  topic  the  glow  of  Wesker’s  eyes  is  also  directly  connected  to  the  virus  in  his  system.  Suppressing  the  virus  dulls  his  eye  glow  so  it  can  also  be  used  to  measure  Wesker’s  “strength”  in  a  way.

 Theres  an  implication  of  Wesker’s  vision  and  the  virus  being  connected  beyond  just  the  “aesthetic”  of  his  eyes  looking  like  that.  When  Chris  and  Sheva  “poison”  him  in  5  we  get  a  moment  where  we  see  through  Wesker’s  eyes  and  his  vision  is  fuzzing  out  related  to  the  virus  in  his  system  reacting  to  the  suppressant.  I  ALSO  think  its  interesting  to  note  that  based  on  this  he  SEEMS  to  see  in  a  different  like,  ‘colour’  pallet  to  normal  people  as  well.  The  world  through  “Wesker  Vision”  seems  like  it  has  a  yellowish/greenish  tint  to  it. 

[waloeders]

i have a bunch of fun tibids relating to that fic (so spoilers below for my own fic i guess??? and also ff16 spoilers LMAO) but i dont wanna clog dash so. readmore my beloved<3

this turned into an info dump abt so many things. enjoy?

- ok so fun fact #1: the use of Lord vs lord throughout is directly relating to how much barnabas' belief in ultima as a god/the god is wavering

- similarly, the use of mythos vs logos. in another fic set before this one that ive yet to post 🙈, clive (aka mythos, aka logos) makes a point to barnabas abt being logos not mythos, which ultima affirms. despite this, barnabas is still clinging to clive being mythos bc if hes logos, all the scripture n beliefs he has are wrong

- barnabas often mimics ultimas phrasings and sayings, even in game, including the use of Eikon names rather than the persons yaknow. actual name. e.g. shiva vs jill. kosmos vs ryder. mythos/logos vs clive etc etc

- barnabas n sleipnir have a. weird semi-spiritual bond. this is mostly hc'd from me bc we never see it super directly or stated in game/story? its implied that a dominant can sense when their egi is killed but not really expanded upon. where benedikta (garudas dominant) can sense her egi n refers to them as 'sisters', her egi arent nearly as human or as, well, sentient/alive as sleipnir is.

- im also taking the stance of sleipnir being originally an extension of barnabas (+odin) that he made to protect himself from his grief/loneliness. but over the ~50yrs theyve been alive + together, hes grown into his own being and does have traits/personality that barny didnt give him/doesnt have himself. hes very much his own person but cant die (permanently) unless barnabas does. he can also duplicate himself, change some parts of his appearance and still has this bond with barnabas that allows them to vaguely sense where the other is, what theyre doing and better interpret what the other wants/means

- im takin it to be theyve been in the worlds longest qpr while never actually really admitting it to each other. this is both good and bad for them (mostly bad for the world, they enable each other)

- fun fact!! canonically sleipnir and ultima never interact in game. sleipnir only ever interacts with some ppl from kanver at the start, hugo (titan), benedikta (garuda), barnabas ofc and clive. dude is not getting out and about nearly enough. but interestingly as an egi, he can be (physically) very far from where barnabas is! its also kind of implied that he can prime into his horse form without needing barnabas as odin?

- this fic does have the least amount of kosmos introspective. wack. hes just going through the motions, okay? its not like hes been kidnapped n threatened by a god-like being before. their ass is not thinking 💀💀

- ultima uses this weird combo of we/us but when on the defensive, it speaks of i/me. im assuming this is relating to ultima being multiple beings of ultima-species merged into one hivemind-like being? and this idea/notion of being part of this larger whole but when afraid, feeling alone and like one being again. i also tend to use it over he for it partly bc i impart kosmos' perspective a lil n he views ultima that way and partly bc there was like 4 different he/him users there. guys. pls. invite some women to ur fights its not very feminism of u

- barnabas's mother is never named in anything. she doesnt even have voice lines when ultima turns into her in the game, despite it being able to mimic benedikta and hugo (also dead)??? like she is the epitome of fridged i feel so bad for her. but context is she is killed when barny is 18 for worshipping ultima n thats what causes him to prime as odin for the first time and create sleipnir (as an egi/person)

- but barny is the first dominant of odin literally ever so its like. sleipnir is part of odin (the eikon) and in my mind first shows up/is created as a guy when barnabas unprimes that first time. and theyve just stuck together ever since

- speaking of. sleipnir does worship ultima too, but largely bc barnabas does. they share a lot of beliefs abt ultima + mankind (esp. since its been them two for again, like 50yrs) but he draws the line at ultima hurting barnabas, hes sleipnir's #1 priority over anything or anyone else

- sleipnir literally has one line to kosmos in this and hes bullying them i 💀💀😭😭 it made me laugh so much i was like 100% he would watch and just throw in the occasional comment, the only reason he didnt comment in game when clive fights that thing outside hugos palace is bc he didnt want clive to know he was there i KNOW im right

- final sleipnir tibit is actually that in canon we never see if he has a semi-primed form? its assumed not since hes an egi, not a dominant but i decided that his armoured look is his semi-prime since thats true of barnabas + we dont see sleipnir change into his armour. its true to me

- ultima actually slips that kosmos is kin (as in also an ultima) in this but somehow none of the gang notice! com'on guys 😭

- the golden aether!!!!! aether is always blue in canon and i wanted it so that when kosmos uses aether/magick a) it to look cool b) for kosmos (the ultima being) to look distinct from ultima (hivemind)

- technically speaking. ultima is a non corporeal being, it doesn't have a physical body buuut since zantetsuken "severs" some shit in ur atoms, it works

- it is kosmos that teleports them away, not barnabas! prior to this, clive absorbed odin and altho ive not mentioned it yet, kosmos n logos have a weird connection - the more eikons clive absorbs, the stronger kosmos gets (as he is also getting the eikons). in a similar way to mythos og needing to absorb eikons so that ultima can possess clive long enough to cast the spell for the new world w/o dying, kosmos (the ultima) needs the eikons to both get strong (theyre like half dead prior to this) and to awaken (which is what happens in this fic). so yeah, he is the one using odins rift slip, not barny! :3

theres a bunch more stuff abt kosmos i wanna talk abt but also. i wanna write it out in fic form bc theres so much that happens its a slap

i have like at least 3 shitposts i wanna make regarding the fic too that are basically like.

---

barny: i would never betray you, my lord!

kosmos, glowing gold less than 5mins later: hi

barny: ....fuck.

---

sleipnir: can we sick this guy PLEASE can we please sick this guy can we have a fight can we have a figh- {etc}

---

clive: we got back as soon as we could jill, which way did they go??

kosmos n barnabas: *reappear in the hideaway after having the most traumatic, life-altering, religion-breaking moments of their lives*

cid: found them! :3 <- guy abt to get the hide n seek championship award

[convexers]

I saw that in your anon you said you have thoughts about why you think Grian doesn’t fit the eye. I completely agree, I think most people are attributing him to the eye because of the watcher! Headcannons they have from the Evo days. I find that so interesting since isn’t the point of most watcher fics is that Grian doesn’t want to be/doesn’t fit as a watcher? It’s almost like defeating the point of that.

Anyways this is just a long winded way of asking why you think the eye doesn’t fit? -V

thank you for the ask! i am going to preface this by saying there might be some Light Shade when it comes to fanon and fanon characterizations. that being said, people are entitled to interpret canon however they want and i'm just a fool on the internet who has her own opinions.

most of what we consider "watcher lore" is majority fanon; the watchers are never stated to be outright malicious and yet we characterize the watchers as purely evil beings... hm. this is used for griangst which wouldn't be a problem if the watchers weren't very ooc and people didn't push watcher!grian onto everything. this kinda thing becomes annoying as hell when it's affecting how people interpret canon characterizations (think familial sbi type beat).

now before we get to the next part i'm going to explain what the eye is as a fear. it is the fear of being watched, of your secrets being known. but it also manifests as the need to know, to learn, even if it destroys you. notice how interference isn't mentioned? because they watch, they do not interfere.

mkay lets get to the actual tma part of this. because of the name "watchers" and their role as the audience your immediate reaction is to go "oh! they must be eye aligned then!" but really the case is that audience stand-ins are hardly ever eye aligned. i said once "i dont think ive ever consumed a piece of media where the audience stand-in has been strictly the eye. maybe the muppets." i've also said "if anything. audience stand-ins tend to be desolation imo. like. we LOVE causing chaos."

i believe that the watchers are more extinction aligned. if you want a more in-depth explanation of the watchers as a extension of the extinction my siblings, solar arc, made this wonderful post! [link]

before we get to why i think grian doesn't fit with the eye and does with the desolation i'm going to explain the desolation! the desolation is the fear of mindless destruction, of pain and loss. jude perry (an avatar of the desolation) describes it as "the light with the comfort of fire stripped from it, leaving nothing but the terror of its approach." my friend @rocnix says, "the fear of a change for the worse, but you don't see it's a change for the worse because it's destroying you and you're enjoying the destruction too much to notice it's yourself being destroyed" that's a bit paraphrased but it was on a vc and i can't remember their exact words.

okay now to the actual grian part (finally)! you're right when you say that fanon grian almost never wants to stay as a watcher! he's always in the middle of it all, spurring conflict on. that is not what avatars of the eye do. avatars of the eye watch and record what they see, they hardly ever interfere. (i do not count s5 of the eye, i feel like it is ooc for the rules established in earlier seasons for the eye. you can also ask me about this if you want.)

it makes much more sense for grian to be an avatar of the desolation, it fits with his canon characterization. he was there in the civil war, the s7 elections, the turf war, the shopping shenanigans of s8, even the diamond tower conflict from our current season! he does not watch, it's no fun to just watch!

this is super long winded my apologies, i really love this kind of analysis of fandom and then... fixing it LMAO. again i'd like to mention, absolutely no hate to people who enjoy watcher/eye!grian. i've been known to enjoy a good eye!grian from time to time :) <3

[baya-ni]

SHADOW’s Queer Coding

I first started exploring this idea of Sk8′s implicit queer rep (as in stuff other than explicit same sex intimacy) in this post.

I know we like to joke that Hiromi is the Token Straight of the protag gang, but I argue that he’s as much an example of queer rep as any of our main characters, albeit in a less conventional and fanservicey way.

So that’s what this post is gonna be, an analysis of Hiromi/SHADOW as a queer figure, how his character fits the Jekyll/Hyde archetype as a metaphor for queerness and The Closet, the similarities between SHADOW as a skatesona and early drag, and how his character represents a larger problem of exclusion within queer fandom spaces.

The 1886 Gothic novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is the origin of the phrase “Jekyll and Hyde”. What I’m calling the Jekyll/Hyde archetype, refers to the same thing; it refers to duality, to a character who is “outwardly good but sometimes shockingly evil” (as described from the novella’s wiki page).

And the Jekyll/Hyde dynamic has also long been associated with Queerness. The antagonism between Jekyll and Hyde as two sides of the same person resonates with many people as similar to the experience being in the closet, and many many scholars have written about this queer reading of Jekyll and Hyde. Do a quick google search if you don’t believe me.

Hiromi experiences his own Jekyll/Hyde duality through his SHADOW persona, which seems to entirely contradict with Hiromi’s day to day personality.

Whilst Hiromi is sweet, romantic, and generally very cutesy, SHADOW is mean-spirited, sadistic, described as “the anti-hero of the S community.”  And though these two personalities seem entirely at odds, SHADOW doesn’t exist in a vacuum, he’s very much a part of Hiromi. In the show, this manifests as SHADOW’s sabotage moves being all flower themed, as Hiromi works in a flower shop, and how he’ll “step out” of character when playing babysitter to the kids.

Below is passage from an essay titled, “The Homoerotic Architectures of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” which reminds me a lot of Hiromi’s character, such that I think his character arc can be read as an allegory for coming out and self acceptance.

The closet, here, is a space not only for secrecy and repression, but also for becoming; it is the space in which queer identities build themselves up from “disused pieces” and attempt to discover the strength needed for presentation to the world. The closet is both a space of profound fear and profound courage—of potentiality and actualization. (Prologue)

Unlike the kid/teen characters, the show’s adult characters all lead double lives. When they aren’t skating, they have day jobs. Kaoru is a calligrapher, Kojiro is a restaurant owner, Ainosuke is a politician/businessman (but tbh his job is just being some rich dude), and Hiromi works in a flower shop.

But of the adult protagonists (so not Ainosuke), Hiromi compartmentalizes the most.

Kojiro leaves his face totally exposed such that he can be recognized both on and off the skate scene. Kaoru at least covers his face, but his trademark pink hair and constant use of Carla doesn’t make it very hard to connect the dots between him and CHERRY. He’s also always with Kojiro in the evenings, so if you don’t recognize him as CHERRY when he’s on his own, you certainly will when you see him interacting with Kojiro/JOE.

Next to these two, Hiromi seems the more adamant at separating his Work from Play.

Even when he’s been clearly found it, he still tries to deny that he and SHADOW are the same person. Miya even uses this to coerce Hiromi into helping him and the boys:

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the separation between Hiromi and SHADOW can be interpreted as a metaphor for being in The Closet. As SHADOW, he leads a secret life, one characterized by an tight-knit underground community with a vibrant night scene, where he behaves in ways typically frowned upon by larger society. He worries about being found out and judged by the people close to him.

But in Ep 4, the walls of his Closet begins to come down, or in this case is literally imposed upon by other members of his community, by its younger members, who don’t feel the same need to hide their passion for skateboarding or lead the same kind of double life.

We then see the line between Hiromi and SHADOW begin to blur.

He becomes less of an antagonist, and instead the audience sees him become a mentor and “mother hen” figure for the younger skaters. Later on in Ep 4, we see him casually interacting with the other protags in full SHADOW mode, not as an “anti-hero” but as a friend.  In Ep 6, he acts as a babysitter for the kids, and we see him totally comfortable appearing both in an out of his SHADOW persona throughout their vacation.

And I think that this gradual convergence of Hiromi and SHADOW will culminate in this tournament arc.

There’s something more personal that’s driving SHADOW to do well in this tournament. It’s not just for bragging rights or his pride as a skater, but the results of this tournament is going to have some kind of greater impact on Hiromi’s personal life. Personally, my theory is that Hiromi is using this tournament to prove to himself that he’s worthy enough to ask his manager out on a date.

Hiromi is no longer compartmentalizing, his two lives are overlapping and influencing each other. Recall the essay quote I cited earlier:

The closet... is the space in which queer identities build themselves up from “disused pieces” and attempt to discover the strength needed for presentation to the world... of potentiality and actualization.

This is exactly the case for Hiromi. Through skating, he is piecing together the disparate parts of him such that he can present himself to the world as a more unified and confident being.

And the show presents the very skating community that Hiromi has been working so hard to keep separated from his personal life- Reki, Langa, Miya, Kaoru, and Kojiro- as the catalyst for that becoming.

That, my dear readers, is queer coding if I ever saw it.

But there’s probably gonna be people claiming something along the lines of “But SHADOW can’t be queer rep because he’s Straight!” And I assume that’s because he shows romantic interest in his female manager.

First of all, Bisexuality. Also Ace/aro-spec people. And second of all, SHADOW is Hiromi’s drag persona.

And before anyone can say anything about how Hiromi can’t do drag because he’s straight (assumption) and cis (also an assumption) uhhhh no, fuck you.

Drag didn’t start with RuPaul’s Drag Race, that’s just how it got mainstream. And it’s also how it got so gentrified and transphobic. You heard me. But anyway.

Drag is, and has always been, first and foremost about exaggerated, and oftentimes satirical, gender presentation and performance. It’s about playing with gender norms through artistic dress and theater, not so much to do with sexuality or gender identity.

Literally, what’s the difference here?

SHADOW is a persona of exaggerated masculinity with a punk aesthetic. Regardless of his sexuality or gender identity, Hiromi’s gender performance as SHADOW is drag- that makes him queer representation, change my fucking mind.

Queerness is more than same-sex romance, and by extension, good queer representation is not limited to canonized gay ships. The very word Queer, in it’s ambiguity, is meant to encompass the richly unique experiences of everyone within the LGBTQ+ community.

In my opinion, Queer =/= Gay. I mean, they’re colloquially the same yes and even I use them interchangeably. But for the purpose of this post, they’re not the same, and that’s to argue that Hiromi/SHADOW’s lack of acknowledgement as queer rep illustrates a larger issue of exclusion within fandom.

I mean, this is something we all kinda been knew, but in the case of Sk8 specifically, there are a two main reasons why I think Hiromi is rarely acknowledged as queer rep.

1. He’s not shippable with another male character

Fandom favors mlm ships when it comes to what’s considered good queer rep. And the ultimate mark of good queer rep is explicit acts of romance or intimacy between two male characters. Unlike with any of the other characters in the show, we can’t point to Hiromi and automatically clock him as gay, especially because he expresses romantic interest in a woman.

So by default, he’s less popular, because “Ew Straight People” amirite /s.

2. He’s not attractive

This is really interesting, because like JOE, Hiromi is a beefcake.

But fans don’t thirst over him the same way they do over JOE. Granted, the show really plays up JOE’s muscles in a very strip-teasey way that literally encourages viewers to find him attractive. By contrast, Hiromi is pretty much covered head to toe and he paints his face in theatrical makeup- the point is to look scary, not attractive.

In essence, even though Hiromi engages in “queer behavior” through his SHADOW persona, his queerness isn’t palatable.

But I also think there’s some pretty insidious undercurrents of fetishization going on here, of both Asian people AND gay men. Which is... a whole other thing I really don’t have the capacity to unpack completely.

But basically, Hiromi doesn’t fit into any of the popular BL archetypes so he’s less likely to recognized as Queer. Relatedly, he’s also less often subjected to a fetishistic gaze as other characters. I mean...

So again, fans just don’t find him as appealing. Attractive characters are always more popular than ugly ones.

And I’m sure there are a lot of people who just don’t care for Hiromi’s personality, that’s fine, he does act like an asshole sometimes. But this post is meant to illustrate that queer rep takes multiple forms, and unfortunately I think a lot of media just tends to fall back on stereotypical portrayals of queer people for the sake of broader appeal. And by consequence, the fandom’s idea of what constitutes queer rep narrows to same-sex romance, usually between two cis gay men.

With the release of Ep 9, I know a lot of people queer people are going to find representation in the Kojiro’s whole “unrequited love” thing. But personally, I feel more represented by Hiromi, his journey of self-acceptance and subversive relationship with gender- that’s what resonates with me as a trans person.

And I think it’s important to see that kind of less palatable type of queer representation more acknowledged in fandom, and in Sk8′s fandom especially, because I know the demographics of this fandom lean heavily queer.

But that’s all for now, lemme know what you guys think :)

[wormstar]

ok gonna talk about windclan a bit

potentially the most important concept to me is the whole “windclan is the closest clan to starclan” thing thats mostly just author-said and barely textual. they do the whole sleep on the moor thing and the only actual dens that get built are the leaders med cats and the nursery....otherwise outcrops, dens, small caves and stable parts of tunnels are used as dens in cold weather alone. they sleep outside to dream of their ancestors and their communication is fairly legitimate

windclans particularly superstitious and they tend to point to a lot of things as being signs from starclan no matter how small...dreams are often a point of discussion between clanmates, cats are quick to call stuff like missed prey bad signs, leaders may look to starclan to decide what warriors should mentor what apprentices or what to do about trespassing patrols, whatever

to continue that lattermost thread another important distinction is that med cats (which im calling seers from henceforth) are revered to a near-equal amount as the leader, if not more so. i tend to characterise seers as much more dedicated to starclan than they are in canon (omens are much more common and seers are appointed specifically because they can read the signs starclan sends to all cats more effectively, dreams seers get that arent visions almost always include conversations with starclan cats, prophecies tend to come in parts and require physical exertion to discover, seers themselves tend to deem oneself as an extension of starclan, you get the idea) and basically all those points become even more particular in windclan due to their focus on their ancestors. and already their unique physical ties. beyond medicine and communication seers are often consulted for major decisions within the clan and often keep close to both their deputy and their leader. its not uncommon to pull in a windclan seer and have them find some sign about how to solve a fight or whatever. in short seers are regarded as chosen interpreters who have a large amount of authority due to having a much more unbridled direct line of communication with starclan

due to the importance placed on seers and how culturally significant the position is windclan seers will wait a long time before they pick their apprentices and will only do so with heavy consultation from their ancestors. in windclan its very rare for young kits to be seers first thing unless a significant omen pops up but more often than not warriors get pulled aside to become seers later in life (the position is negotiable ultimately and its up to the cat themself but seers are a sacred position and the majority of cats do find honor in the role) furthermore remedies and cures and the general nature of healing is kept secret between mentor and apprentice - most windclan warriors are intentionally unaware of basic herbs/usage due to the art ‘belonging’ to seers

last points i wanna make about starclan, windclan cats are remarkably uncaring toward the concept of death or at least become desensitised. theyre the clan that most often shares tongues with starclan at night and hence death is equivalent to a kind of retirement. they still hold vigils and all that but its more about ensuring the deads travel to starclan is safe. they hold the belief that as long as there are enough living warriors to pass on their traditions the clan is fine. its also deemed very worrying if a recently dead cat refuses to appear in anyones dreams which does occasionally happen and often leads to infighting. theres also a kind of huge folklore angle to them ill briefly describe as them preserving prophecies and other important signs in songs or poems. this extends to noble cats who were part of prophecies receiving epithets related to their prophecy (ex. tallstars called the wanderer crowfeathers called the sunchaser. cant remember other wc warriors with canon prophecies about them so i cant give any more tangible examples lol -_-) these names are expected to be used instead of their regular names but in private this may be excused. said names are also often made up by seers and elders

cant really get into this but i hc all the clans having different systems for warriors and having distinct categories of them as to make them more structurally different from one another. in windclan thats moor runners and tunnellers with maybe some other shit? but once tunnelling got discontinued post-heatherstar the focus drifted to distinct moor runners sorted by stamina and speed

cant think of any other differences ive made that are significant or arent just implied in canon so

[panharmonium]

I would like to add Gwaine to the list of friends Merlin had. Especially in the 3/4 seasons he really was ride or die for Merlin, they shared intimate details with each other, they truly trusted each other. There were instances where the show alluded that Gwaine knows about Merlin's magic and is fine with it.

hi there!  i’m assuming this is in response to the post i reblogged about will and lancelot being merlin’s only “real” friends?  

i’m actually happy to write about this, now that the question has been posed - it’s been a while since i wrote anything long about gwaine!

fair warning in advance: i don’t personally classify gwaine the same way i do will and lancelot, and that’s what this piece will cover in more detail, but these are just my own thoughts, and it is totally cool for everybody else to have different opinions.  my take is my take, but it does not have to be everyone’s take - if people wanna scroll past because this isn’t their vibe, i don’t mind in the slightest. :)

so, without further ado - i LOVE gwaine, and i have written extensively about how amazing his relationship with merlin is (some examples here, here, here, and here, if anybody’s looking).  he is the most likely of all merlin’s living friends to ditch arthur in the name of addressing merlin’s needs, which is super important, and he also has a much healthier friendship with merlin than arthur does (in my own personal opinion, of course, which nobody is obligated to share).  he definitely does go ride or die for merlin in S3/S4, i agree.

but my own thoughts on this particular point are still the same as they were in that original post.  i tend to hide my clarifications/explanations in the tags, so they might have flown by, but i’ll just copy/paste the relevant bit here for ease of access, as some background for the rest of this post.

re: will and lancelot were merlin’s only ‘real’ friends:

#what this does not mean: merlin has no other friends!  merlin doesn't have meaningful and important relationships with other people!   #what it does mean:  #every single one of merlin's other relationships is undergirded by the sickening knowledge that those friendships are conditional   #every single one of his other relationships is accompanied by the constant undercurrent of 'they would hate me if they knew'   #merlin knows his friends 'care' about him   #except they don't really; because it's not truly him they're caring about   #they care deeply - about someone merlin made up   #about a facade.   #in the most basic sense   #those relationships aren't Real   #the love merlin feels for the people in them is real   #but you cannot truly be 'friends' with somebody who doesn't even know who you are   #you cannot be loved without being known   #you certainly cannot be loved without being safe

obviously i suppose a person’s thoughts on this would be different if they headcanoned that gwaine knew about merlin’s magic, and that’s fine.  i personally do not believe canon indicates or supports that, but i’m not out to convince people to abandon their own fanon interpretations of things; i’m happy just hanging out in my own space talking about my thoughts.  me writing meta is the virtual equivalent of me talking to myself in my room - if other people have different conversations with themselves, that’s fine :)  i don’t mind if other folks organize their thoughts about things differently.  

in accordance with that - everybody please feel free to continue on with your own interpretations, and ignore mine if mine do not appeal to you!  if people are interested about how i organize my ideas on this, though, they are essentially as follows:

1) a cage fighter, a class traitor, and a fake sorcerer walk into a tavern

ok, to start with - here’s a graph.

(...who tf starts a meta post with ‘here’s a graph’ lol i just drew a venn diagram for the first time since like...middle school...i LOVE fandom, man, this is RIDICULOUS)

anyway

this is a very rough interpretation of how i think about gwaine, lancelot, and will:

to address some of these elements individually:

lancelot and will give merlin something that gwaine can’t - safety, authenticity, the comfort of being known and seen for real, a respite from constantly qualifying every friendship with ‘they would hate me if they knew’

lancelot and gwaine, likewise, give merlin something merlin wouldn’t be as likely to get from will (if will were still alive, i mean) - an understanding of merlin’s devotion to the Crown, a supportive ally in the fight to promote arthur’s reign and keep arthur/camelot safe

will and gwaine, for their part, are more likely to tell arthur to go fuck himself, if it’s important for helping merlin, and that’s a different kind of support that merlin also really needs.

and will, on his own, gives merlin something that neither lancelot NOR gwaine can provide, which is a friend who isn’t connected to or even particularly interested in arthur pendragon (merlin has nobody in his life like this, not after will dies) - somebody who knew and cared about merlin before merlin had any proximity to arthur, before this whole ’destiny’ issue reared its merciless head.

everybody in merlin’s life matters to him and gives him something important.  gwaine is STUPIDLY important to merlin.  the love there is real.  but in canon, because gwaine is not in the know, gwaine is still one of the people from whom merlin feels compelled to hide himself.  gwaine is right up there alongside gwen, arthur, elyan, percival, etc - every other person who merlin loves, who merlin nonetheless constantly, back-of-his-mind fears, ‘they would reject me if they knew.’

the above is part of why i personally have never been too interested in ‘so-and-so knows about merlin’s magic’ canon-imaginings.  there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them, and i’m sure people must have tons of fun with them - and in an AU context maybe i would have fun with them too - but as hopeful interpretations of actual canon, they don’t appeal to me.  merlin’s near-total isolation and desperate, constantly-frustrated desire for real, honest love is an inalienable aspect of his character for me, one i can’t separate from who he is and why he does the things he does and why he eventually ends up in the place where we find him towards the end of the show.  

2) i just want someone to see me for who i am

i have seen a bit of sentiment out there along the lines of ‘merlin should have told (x person) about their magic’ or ‘(x person) obviously doesn’t have a problem with sorcerers,’ but i guess i personally don’t think it’s as clear as all that, and i think me saying it is would be doing merlin a disservice.

merlin’s desire to be seen/known/accepted is literally the most base urge he has.  if he truly thought he could tell somebody safely, he would.

i think merlin knows the people in his orbit well enough to know how they feel about sorcery, at least in a general sense.  and even if they aren’t bloodthirsty bigots like uther, they aren’t exactly welcoming magic with open arms, either.  at the most basic, elementary level, merlin understands something that we don’t like to think about: none of his friends ever challenge arthur on the sorcery ban or express any dissatisfaction with the political status quo, and, even absent outright bigotry, this fact speaks loudly enough in and of itself.  merlin’s friends might not be out clamoring for sorcerers’ blood, but they aren’t criticizing a society that criminalizes sorcery, either, and they are never shown to have a problem with the way things are, even though the way things are is wrong.

The Way Things Are is, in fact, unjust.  it’s oppressive.  and allowing that state of affairs to continue, unquestioned and unchallenged, when you have access to the king’s ear and aren’t personally in danger of being persecuted, indicates that you’re okay with the injustice.  that you’re comfortable with the oppression.  that you don’t see a problem with the status quo, and that you're unbothered enough by it to let it be.

it doesn’t matter that merlin’s friends have never straight-up said ‘boy, magic sure is evil’ onscreen.  they never say that camelot’s policies are wrong, and that delivers a clear enough message on its own.

3) it is not a crime to fight for your freedom

to bring this back to gwaine specifically, since that was originally the focus of this ask -

for me, for all that i adore gwaine, and for all that i think he was, for the most part, an INCREDIBLY sound, healthy relationship for merlin, the truth is that gwaine is as much a part of this problem as everyone else.  does that mean i personally think gwaine would have summarily dumped merlin if he’d found out merlin had magic?  no.  but i don’t think it’s as uncomplicated as maybe we wish it might be, and i think merlin has every right to be as uncertain of gwaine on this issue as he does of everyone else.

for one thing, like i said before, even gwaine, who used to have fewer qualms than any of the knights about pushing back on arthur’s BS, has never said a word about camelot’s injustices, or ever acknowledged that the laws of the land are unjust to begin with.  

for another, there are specific moments that kind of make you wonder.

5.05 (’the disir’) is a good example of this - when gwaine finds osgar in the woods, the two of them have this exchange:

you are a sorcerer, a heretic, and a murderer.  

the rhetoric of this sentence frames all three of these things as equivalent entities - criminal ones.  

to pick this apart more carefully:

a) sorcerer

it’s worth noting here that we’re never told osgar has done anything worse than evading arrest for the crime of being a known sorcerer.  when leon mentions him in the council meeting, the conversation consists solely of the following:

“as you know, a few days ago our garrison in the forest of breckfire intercepted the man who goes by the name of osgar.”

“the sorcerer.”

“the same.  they were trying to apprehend him when he used his powers to escape.”

and…that’s it.  osgar’s crime, as far as we know, was simply being a sorcerer (and then, after that, attempting to escape an unjust arrest, thereby killing a knight in the process).  there’s no mention of any other activities that would have warranted his arrest in the first place, other than the possession of magic.

but magic, even on its own, IS a crime in camelot - and gwaine levels the accusation at osgar as such.

b) heretic

that’s a hell of a word to throw around, if you think sorcery is chill.

“heretic” isn’t a mild accusation.  "heretic” has vitriolic severity behind it.  people are accused of heresy when they’re perceived to be in brazen defiance of what is (in the eyes of the accuser) unquestionably right and correct.  “heretic” is like…it’s like blasphemer.  the connotation is not just that something is bad, but that it’s sinful.

for gwaine, either osgar’s association with sorcery and/or his defiance of camelot’s army makes him a heretic.  and that’s not something a person who is down with sorcery or supportive of a magic-user’s struggle for freedom would say.

c) murderer

if gwaine were cool with sorcery, we would expect him to understand that a sorcerer who resisted arrest for the crime of being a sorcerer isn’t a murderer.  

it’s like kara said in 5.11 - it is not a crime to fight for the right to be who you are.

camelot has been killing sorcerers for decades.  osgar mortally wounded a soldier (not an innocent civilian, i might note) who was trying to imprison him.  he was resisting the armed forces of an oppressive state.  that’s not murder.

somebody who understands that camelot is an oppressive regime wouldn’t think of this as murder.  they would understand that it is not a crime to protect your own life when the state has literally been trying to exterminate your people for years.  and even if osgar had been engaged in rebellious activities against the state (which as far as we know is not the case - nothing like this is ever referenced!), they would understand that people with magic have long been overdue for a righteous uprising.  

but gwaine is a little more like arthur, in this moment - he sees the “wrong” that osgar has done (in the form of sir ranulf’s death) without seeing the thousands upon thousands of wrongs that camelot visited upon the magical community first.

4) you can’t go armed into a sacred place

the rest of this episode is similar.  gwaine pays just as little heed to merlin’s warnings as the rest of the knights, when merlin admonishes them that the disir’s cave is sacred.  gwaine doesn’t relinquish his sword or take special care upon entering the cave.  in fact, he is the one who outright interrupts the disir while they’re speaking - as they’re telling arthur a series of hard truths, that he’s persecuted magic-users, “even unto slaughter;” that he’s desecrated their space: “you come here, to the most sacred of the sacred, to the very heart of the Old Religion, with weapons drawn - trampling hallowed relics - treating our sacred space like you do your kingdom - with arrogance - with conceit - with insolence - ”

and gwaine cuts them off, pushing to the front of the group and shouting at them “enough!  you speak of the king!”  and that’s when the fight starts, when mordred gets stabbed.

someone who was fully accepting of magic, or who knew anything about it at all, would not have behaved this way.  they would not have bristled at hearing how arthur’s regime unfairly persecutes the magical community.  they would have known that it was true.

5) i just want to be myself

the above is just one example, but it’s a clear enough one to illustrate what i mean.  gwaine IS an amazing friend to merlin.  he does treat merlin well.  and merlin loves him to death.  but gwaine is NOT totally chill with magic.  i’m not saying he actively hates it, but he is not, from what merlin has witnessed, entirely safe.  merlin loves him, but he can’t be himself around him.

and i do think that pains merlin terribly.  all these people who he loves so much, and every time he’s with them there’s always that whisper: ‘this is a charade.  all the love in my life is a lie.  they only like me because they don’t know me.  if they knew who i really was, this would be over.’  

and we wonder why he never tells anyone.  we tell him he ‘should’ have told gwaine, gwen, morgana, arthur, like it would have been easy, or even possible, for him to ever consider putting himself in a position where he could lose what precarious, partially make-believe connections he has.

merlin, in the later seasons, when he worries about his magic being exposed, isn’t afraid of being executed.  he’s afraid of becoming even more alone than he is now.  and he has good reason to feel that way - even people who appear to put him first aren’t fully on board with the thing that makes him who he is.  and merlin knows this.  he’s seen it.  none of his friends are out fighting for people like him at court.  some of his friends shake their heads and assure arthur “you are a good and just king” when arthur expresses concern that maybe the disir are right, maybe he has indeed transgressed.  some of merlin’s friends used to buck the system in defense of the powerless, but now they defend the regime even when the accusations levelled against it by an oppressed population are true.

merlin knows that revealing himself is a kind of risk that could very plausibly end with him utterly disowned.  every single friendship he has is subject to this justified fear, this bitter knowledge.  merlin has every reason to doubt the soundness of his relationships.

and, circling back to the thing that started all these musings - the only friends who never made him feel that way were will and lancelot.

that’s all i mean when i say that will and lancelot were merlin’s only “real” friends.  i wish there were a better word to use than that, because i really don’t mean it like…as if merlin’s relationships with other people weren’t…valid, or important, or based on true love and care.  they were.  but there’s just not a better way to express that will and lancelot were the only people who ever even knew who they were friends with, who saw merlin for exactly who he was and said “i love you still.”  they were the only ones whose friendship was something merlin didn’t have to be afraid of losing solely for existing.

i always think of morgana’s line in 2.11 - ‘i don’t want to be brave.  i just want to be myself. i don’t want to be alone anymore.’

around everyone else, merlin has to be brave.  he has to keep up the pretense, which means even when he’s surrounded by friends, he’s completely isolated.

with will and lancelot, though, he could be himself.  with will and lancelot, he wasn’t alone.

6) post-script

i really appreciate being given the opportunity to muse to myself about this in more detail - i actually needed to think through some things regarding gwaine anyway, for writing purposes, and this was actually really helpful in organizing my brain.  so thanks, anon, for the prompt!  

i know my answer probably runs counter to your own interpretation of things, but as i said, this is just my own personal outlook.  i typed it up because the message got me thinking, and because i know i have a couple of friends who might find it interesting, but my thoughts apply only to me, and i do not mind at all if folks think about these things differently!  nobody is obligated to agree with anything i write, or give it any further thought, or even read it at all - we’re all going to engage with this story in different ways, so if anybody finds that this isn’t their cup of tea, please feel free to scroll on by, and keep having fun with this show in whatever way makes you happiest! :)

[marchivists]

im sure this has been talked about extensively before but there is just something so refreshing and wonderful both about killua and gon’s relationship in canon AND how the fandom interprets that relationship and explores it in art and such. they obviously love and care about each other but their age alone makes that love unique. it is not romantic (at least not in the traditional way fanon tends to see romance; killua and gon might have crushes on each other bc kids have crushes but they are literally not capable of having a real romantic relationship) but it doesn’t seem entirely platonic either (at least not in the way the word is typically interpreted). there is something More there. not a romantic more, just More. i think it has something to do with how young they are; who else could love so quickly, so easily, so much, than children? their reasons for caring about each other are so simple too! this person is my age, we understand each other, we have fun together. they see the good and the bad in each other and accept it all as only children can: with absolute understanding and a “it doesnt really matter to me as long as we can still be together” mindset. like, killua kills and has killed people! gon has seen him rip the heart out of someone in the time it takes to blink! but this didn’t phase him at all or make him question his friendship with killua, which is absolutely incredible. he accepts killua for who he is and does whatever mental gymnastics is required to keep believing that he is a good person regardless of his potential (and sometimes very real) cruelty. i think i kind of lost the point i was going for but if u get one thing from reading this its that killua and gon’s relationship is the most interesting thing ive ever stumbled across and its so incredibly special BECAUSE of its lack of romantic love or intention. the end 

[nitewrighter]

What are like, your top 3 or 5 favorite universes to write fics about right now?

>I like writing for Overwatch because I have a kajillion fics for it so it’s kind of my comfort zone, and it’s fun to push outward and speculate from the canon available now and honestly I really do love the combination of Jonny Quest-style sci-fi globetrotting and explorations of characters as extensions of this world.

>I really like Destiny because I think it’s very beautiful just in terms of its themes and tones? Like, it’s at this great intersection of post-apocalyptic and hopepunk. Your character and their Ghost straddle this line of deeply lonely yet willing to do anything to protect life and hope, and I think that’s beautiful. Also Space Wizards are cool.

>Star Wars is really fun to tackle just from a technical level--I have a lot of nostalgia for it, but for me there’s always this question of, “Okay, how do I make this feel like Star Wars” so there’s this fun combination of plunging into research but also self-interrogating what Star Wars means to you and what you want out of it. I tend to focus on OC content in Star Wars more than like... speculating on characters. I just like inhabiting the universe. Also Space Wizards are cool.

>DC comics, like Star Wars, has a lot of nostalgia for me. I don’t write all that much fic for it because I’m a little intimidated at how widely different writers’ interpretations of characters can vary, but I love writing goofy dialogues between characters that somehow end up with me solo-shipping crack pairings (look, I’m just saying, Red Hood/Mother Panic could be both very dysfunctional and very hot. Disaster bi’s... ). One day I kind of want to cobble together a superhero team of my favorite picks from the DC universe... one day...

>A Song of Ice and Fire gets an honorable mention because it was the first fictional universe that actually got me into writing fanfic, though the GOT finale soured me on a lot of it, I do like writing it as an AU setting for Overwatch fics. Like, if you just pay attention to the books, there’s a lot of solid, excellent fantasy, and the books themselves taught me a lot about all the different ways you can like or hate a character for what they bring to the story and how a character’s relating to their world is, in itself, worldbuilding. So like... it’s rough having a finale so disappointing that like, it pretty much obliterated the mainstream fandom, but then again, it’s cleared away pretty much all of the Show-Only assholes so it’s mostly just BookFans now which... is kind of an improvement. Unfortunately, a lot of them are Jo/ns/a shippers so 🤢🤮

[fe8meta]

The War’s Legacy

As a volunteer archivist at a local historical site, I’ve worked closely with books and documents largely between 150~250 years old. (If you’re curious, mostly regarding the period between the American Revolution to the Civil War, plus the anti-slavery movement. There’s also more “domestic” stuff like agriculture, science, mathematics, and religion.)

It got me thinking: In Magvel, how will the war, and the people who participated in it, be remembered? Most characters have a good portion of their lives left to live after the war too, but for those who are remembered down the line, their participation in the war will probably be their biggest accomplishment.

To start things off: more likely than not, anyone who wasn’t royalty or an important military figure is probably going to get forgotten, especially if fighting in the war was their only achievement.

(From my experience as an archivist, I’ve noticed that a great deal of people who were seen as the big movers and thinkers during their time have been lowered to one-note and forgettable in some 150-ish years of history. That’s not a lot of time!)

I think the list of characters who are remembered decades after their deaths on a continental scale (some characters may remain important figures in their own communities) would be the royals, the generals (Seth plus the Imperial Generals), and the Demon King (plus his cult).

The Royals

Ephraim: Regarding the war, Ephraim will probably get his war strategies and accomplishments written about. I expect a great deal of historians (particularly Renaian ones) debating his decision to abandon his homeland and bring the fight into Grado, though his later decisions will probably receive praise.

Eirika: Honestly? I think she’ll largely receive praise from future historians. Despite getting tricked at Renvall and the blunder of losing the Sacred Stone (on her route), I think historians would agree that her calculations were solid based on the information she knew at the time. Even if she had Seth advising her, she had no formal training in tactics or the art of war, making her achievements even more impressive.

~ / ~ / ~

Innes: Like Eirika, I think he’d be validated by historians, particularly for being the only one to actually predict and prepare for a wartime scenario. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but based on what we know of him story-wise, he probably would go down as one of the best leaders of his time.

Tana: She’s gutsy and I think she’ll at least become a popular figure for young women. Some historians may lambast her earlier captures attributable to her inexperience, but hey, if she got out alive than it’s not too bad. I think later in life, being largely free to do whatever she wants (within reason), she’d continue onto a path of public service, which she can probably gather great acclaim for.

~ / ~ / ~

L’Arachel: I think a lot of attention will go towards her theatrics. If you go with the idea that L’Arachel doesn’t actually lead her country (see the Solo Endings JP vs. EN post for details), I think her relationship with the other royals and how she’s involved in continental politics will be the primary focus in biographies. (She also, perhaps not coincidentally, has supports with all the other ruling royals, discounting Tana as she canonically never lands in a leadership position.)

Joshua: Joshua’s reputation will be very, very mixed down the line. He’s still has wanderlust and a gambling addiction, and regardless of his accomplishments as a king and Jehanna’s glorious revival, neither of those traits are a particularly good look. Not to mention that he abandoned his duty as prince for a solid 10 years, and then left Jehanna to its own devices again while going to stop the Demon King.

Even in Joshua’s dialogue after the final battle, he talks about returning to Jehanna in an almost resigned manner; no doubt he knows full well that he might not be received with open arms.

~ / ~ / ~

Lyon: Oh boy, what to say about Lyon. There are a lot of different ways this can go, branching from 3 options: Lyon’s involvement in the war is revealed in full, Lyon’s involvement is revealed but doctored to paint him in a more sympathetic light, or it gets entirely covered up/omitted and he goes down in history as an unfortunate casualty of the war.

No matter how you slice the first two options, Lyon’s legacy would definitely be extremely mixed, leaning towards the negative side. Not only is he on the wrong side of history, he’s also forced basically half the continent into the wrong side of history and ruined their military and did some very amoral things (reviving his father to use as a puppet, and by extension lying to the public, etc). Even the best doctoring can probably only redeem Lyon’s reputation from “the deepest depths of the sewers” to “neck-deep in the sewers.”

In the case where Lyon’s involvement in the war is covered up, it’s still only a matter of time before someone figures out the truth. With enough time, it can be relegated to a highly plausible and hotly-debated theory, but even so, it’s simply a matter of time. For an additional dose of irony, in this scenario, perhaps Grado nationalists down the line twist Lyon’s war into something “assertive” and depict it as the “correct” thing to do, when it was really anything but.

Vigarde: He’s in the same boat as Lyon. It really hinges on how the royals choose to depict Lyon’s situation to the public, because that will directly affect how Vigarde is seen. There’s little doubt that puppet!Vigarde’s actions probably destroyed popular opinion of him during the War. Whether he is redeemed on account of his situation or not is up for debate.

(Because the game doesn’t delve into Fado, Hayden, or Mansel much, I don’t have enough input to say how they’ll be seen by future historians.)

The Generals

Seth: He’s going to go down in history as a badass, let’s be real here. Took an attack from Valter himself to protect Eirika, didn’t let the injury debilitate him from fighting on the frontlines, mentored Eirika in the art of war during life-or-death battles, guided the twins on their journey, and continued helping them after the war’s end. Guy got things done, regardless of his personal sentiment about failing to protect King Fado.

Syrene: Technically a commander and not a general, but close enough that I’ll consider her. She... honestly doesn’t do that much on-screen. Doubtlessly she’ll be best remembered (on the battlefield) for being overpowered by the remnant of Grado’s forces, but at least she lived and (by the player’s discretion) kept all the villagers safe, so that’s something. At the very least, a coward she is not.

Carlyle: He’s going down in infamy. Like, his story can be crudely summed up as “I was loyal to Queen Ismaire partially because I wanted to bang her.” Yeah, that is not a good look. There isn’t even any interesting speculation or interpretations to make of his situation. He probably ruined the reputation of the Jehannan Army while he was at it.

Honestly, the only thing that would salvage his reputation is the fact that everyone who heard his confession is dead by the end of that battle. (Technically the map was a Seize Throne and not a Rout, but let’s be real -- we killed those guards.)

~ / ~ / ~

Duessel: The only Grado general to make it out alive. He’ll probably get a mixed reaction; those who praise him argue that he made the morally correct choice and had the nation’s best interests at heart. Some may criticize him for not acting sooner, while others may very well despise him as a traitor to the nation.

Selena: Another set of mixed reactions, though inverse from Duessel’s. She remained loyal to Vigarde to the very end, but people will debate where a knight’s loyalty should lie. It would also invite much debate over the ethics of Vigarde’s recruitment methods and whether it was a thinly-veiled manipulation tactic that citizens from poorer areas will fall for because it’s the only way to improve their livelihoods.

Glen: He’s like Syrene, except he died without doing much. If someone is interested in finding out more about him before his death, at least they have Cormag to interview. Depending on whether his two adjutants survived against Valter’s goons, if someone tracked them down, they might get a story out of them as well. That said, his history with Valter would probably be of great interest to Valter’s biographers.

~ / ~ / ~ 

Valter: Historians, psychologists, and scholars will have a field day with him and his circumstances. From his upbringing to his descent into madness and subsequent exile, to his reinstatement and brutality during the war before his ultimate death, there is a lot to unpack with him. People tend to have morbid curiosities and oh, will Valter sate that appetite.

Caellach: Caellach will probably be praised for being good at what he did even if he was ultimately on the wrong side of history. Since he started off as a mercenary, I feel like people won’t judge him too harshly. His potential betrayal and murder of Aias will be an interesting chapter to write about, though, since historians may have access to more knowledge on their pre-war relationship that we players don’t have.

Riev: He’s ugly, a Demon King cultist, and directly responsible for Lyon’s (and by extension, Grado’s) downfall. He’s going to be reviled for sure, though he will spark some interesting discussion relating to his history with the Rausten Church. A lot of speculation on how he came to became an adherent of the Demon King... or not, depending how whether that kind of talk is suppressed.

After all, if a former bishop converted, it not only challenges the legitimacy of the Rausten Church, it would also pique the interest of those who want to see what made Riev change his mind. And should someone also adopt his ideology, the continent can’t take another Demon King revival attempt.

Which leads me to...

The Demon King

Now, this will be a little game called “How many generations will it take before the Demon King gets relegated to a legend that no one believes in again.”

It’s also pretty important that the Demon King is not completely destroyed; he just no longer has his huge menacing body to use and will have to make do with those fragile human flesh sacks. But his soul is still intact, and if nothing is done to get rid of it for good, it’s setting up for a Part 3.

Like with Lyon, how information about the Demon King is handled by the characters after the world will probably have a huge impact. Not to mention the many implications the circumstances around his possession of Lyon has. Dark/ancient magic will most certainly face a resurgent wave of discrimination, far more than seen before. (Magvel was, from what we could see, largely apathetic about dark magic before Lyon’s attempts to redeem its name. Ironically, his actions will rekindle hatred towards it.)

As aforementioned, educating people on the Demon King and how dangerous he is may help ensure that nobody tries to mess with him again. On the other hand, it may inspire copycats who for whatever reason want the Demon King to be revived. (The game also never followed up on the implication that there’s a cult that worships the Demon King; we killed Riev and Novala, and destroyed Fomortiis’ body, but there may still be more members lurking in the dark.)

Meanwhile, trying to bury information about Fomortiis can also backfire down the line, especially if people don’t learn what the Sacred Stone is for and one day crack the seal open for one reason or another. (And we saw how well keeping the true Stone hidden behind trinkets while keeping its wearer in the dark of its true purpose went.)

This is making me imagine Demon King apologists down the line that provide an “alternative history” about the war and how it’s all some ancient conspiracy to lock him away and he “isn’t actually bad, just misunderstood”...

Oh hey, isn’t that the direction Dragalia Lost’s main story is going in?

[dramionediscussion]

Thanks Lisa and Anon for answering! I don’t think I really disagree with either of you. I think, we share quite similar views, or at least something quite close to each other. Those answers got me thinking, and gave me a lot of food for thought. It’s not exactly the first time, I’ve pondering this. It always happens, when I am trying to find AU Dramione fics (semi-regular occurrence. I especially enjoy regency Dramione, which compliments HP and the pairing marvelously. As I see it, HP is unconsciously reminiscent of and models certain aspects of wizarding world after Victorian and Edwardian Great Britain). I just cannot help myself with stuff like this.

I imagine, there aren’t many people who find something like this riveting to think about or discuss, so thank you for indulging me. After all, people get by splendidly, without ever considering what is the formal definition(s) of AU. In almost anything people can operate exceedingly well by just going with their their gut instincts (kind like, I know what AU is, when I see it serves people well).

I’ve seen roughly three different main interpretations for the term AU, each with some internal variations and nuances. Differences are mainly on how encompassing they are, as they tend to overlap and include each other, because they are formed from common basic principles. They are just applied differently, or more accurately it goes from broader to narrower, but broad definitions also include narrower ones.  

Also, there are more possible definitions, which could be derived from same principles, if one would on look at them entirely divorced from how they are actually used anywhere in the fandom. Just by looking at the word AU totally atomized, and then forming principle from it, and applying deductive-logic.

The first principle is canon divergence. Whatever AU is, it’s clearly related to divergence and alterations from canonical events, characterizations, and universe. The differences are mostly about how widely or narrowly this is applied. Sometimes also what exactly counts as canon, or what is believably canon compliant. The second principle seem to be avoiding redundancy, though this is applied a lot more randomly, and its usage seems to based mostly on conventions and popularity of certain tropes.

By redundancy I mean, that certain more commonly used tropes and descriptors often don’t use AU, because they are well-established terms by their own right, and they obviously by their own definitions are AUs. Like mentioned 8 Year, EWE, time travel, Marriage Law, creature fics like werewolves and veelas, and many others. Sometimes all non-canon pairings intrinsically are omitted in similar manner, but sometimes they are not. Like said, this seems to be more up to fandom conventions and mimesis, rather than applying logic rigidly from first principles.

By using these foundations, one could establish quite many similar but slightly different definitions, depending how HP universe / canon is understood. People seem to go with mostly with 2-4, but logically one could use 1 or 5 as well, but it’s impractical for other reasons. First one is broadest, and fifth is narrowest, and first includes all others within it, second everything except the first, and so on.

1. All fanfics are AUs. If HP universe / canon is understood very stridently as single chain of events and singular universe, which is authored only by JKR. Every fanfic forms its own universe, which will be slightly different from JKR’s one, by adding literary anything what wasn’t already in it. Even if a fic doesn’t contradict JKR directly in a knowable way, but it still won’t be the same, because we cannot know if events or characters would’ve taken that exact particular path, or if any description or characterization would exactly match the one true timeline and universe. We can only asses whether something is more believable or likely to happen in canon, but we cannot ever ultimately confirm them, because the final reference point is JKR’s works.

As an example, saying that Harry Potter drinks a cup of tea at Burrow at midday 2.10.2015 might not be exactly contradicted by anything in canon, but the event itself isn’t canonical, and it is contradicted by saying that Harry Potter drinks a cup of tea at Grimmauld Place at midday 2.10.2015. Both are equally true and likely to happen canonically, yet neither is canonical event. They are differing alternate universes, despite being about equally compatible with canon. If canon is understood as single non-contradictory universe with single timeline with exact properties, then all fanfic is AU.

2. All fics which diverge from or directly contradict canon are AUs. In this definition antonym for AU is canon compliant, and every fic can be classified as either AU or canon compliant. This is quite common definition out there. It certainly is workable and there’s nothing wrong in using it. However, like with all definitions it’s not entirely free of problems and ambiguity, especially how it’s applicable and to what it fits exactly. Some say that adding anything to already covered timeline is AU, even if it could believably happen between gaps not covered by canon. So, in order to not be AU, it has to set before or after HP heptalogy*. You could say, that we cannot know anybody else’s inner-voice or mindscape except Harry’s, thus anything written from any other perspective is AU.

Most people can agree that certain events are canon, and that’s fairly uncomplicated (Sirius dies at the end of OftP, Bill and Fleur have their wedding at Burrow, etc), but almost everything else gets quite murky very fast. So, if this definition includes anything beyond those canonical events, like characterizations, descriptions and mechanics of how HP universe functions exactly, then it can be fairly difficult to determinate whether a fic is AU or not. As almost everything except those canonical events are easily contested and ambiguous to being with. Usually there’s multiple equally plausible interpretations for almost anything not covered explicitly or in great detail in canon (sometimes even when they are covered extensively).

Personally, I am not too found of this definition. Not because aforementioned difficulties, but because it’s too broad and encompasses too much. All non-canon pairings are AU as an example is just too large portion of fanfics, because we only use AU in context of fanfics, thus it’s better that the terminology reflects and helps us to distinguish and categorize fanfics. Multitude of fanfiction has grown so much beyond canon, and spiraled so far and wide, that terminology which is so pivotally anchored to canon is more detrimental than helpful.   

3. All fics which diverge or contradict canon in some major or significant way are AUs. This is something I see used a lot, and I believe this definition of AUs was what the person in Dramioneasks was referring to. Typically this means absence of some major characters, such as Voldemort or Dumbledore, or that major canonical events are changed, such as Wizarding Wars are have starkly different outcomes, or that golden trio never became friends, or main characters are sorted into different houses. Also, widely different characterizations (Evil Harry or Hermione, or good Voldemort) are counted as well.  

I found this to be quite solid definition, and this is my personal threshold of what I consider to be AU. Ofc, its not unproblematic either, because what exactly counts as major or significant is very open-ended. There probably is very strong inter-subjective consensus on certain matters, like everybody probably agrees that Harry, Voldemort and Hermione are major characters without any doubt. Also, they’ll probably agree that Oliver Wood is a minor character, but what about Draco, Neville or Luna? How about if or when Harry joins the Gryffindor quidditch team. Does alterations in stuff like that count as AU? Can many minor changes create a cumulative effect, in which the fic in question is so different from canon universe, that despite no major changes, it should still count as AU, because so many little things are different.

Quite a lot of characters, details and events fall into that gray zone, so often it can be quite difficult to determinate AU by this definition, because so many things fall into that gray area of what is exactly significant change and what isn’t, and from what perspective. The only way to really determinate something like significance is an inter-subjective consensus by the fandom, and that might be either uncharted or too arbitrary for some people.

4. Only fics which change canon or the established universe in some foundational or fundamental way(s) are AUs. These are fics, which are not set in a same timeline at all (at the end of the 21th century UK), such as medieval, regency, prohibition, and they might only have slight parallels to canonical events. Also if some common defining elements such as presence magic or muggles are entirely absent, or changed beyond recognition (everyone’s magical, or nobody is, or muggles are aware of wizarding world, and actively hostile towards it). No Hogwarts at all, or the entire wizarding world is modeled differently, etc.

I see this used quite a lot as well, and these tend to be automatically labeled as AUs by almost everybody. It’s quite narrow and specific, thus it’s not very problematic, except it borders of being too narrow or rare to be really useful. Personally, this is mainly what I am seeking for, when I look for AUs, but I can see that it doesn’t cover enough ground for many. This is what I am primary thinking, when I see tag AU, but I can see why including previous definition is necessary. Problems are quite similar as in previous, the similar ambiguity of what is foundational or fundamental, like in beofre. But I believe there’s way more common ground and shared understanding with this one. It’s very rare to see a fic, which would qualify as something like this, but what isn’t described or labeled as AU.  

5. Only fics which change some determined core component(s) are AUs. This is merely taking similar logic one step further, and saying that some specific element(s) is absolutely crucial and at the core of HP (like the presence of magic), and as long as a fic fulfills that condition, it isn’t AU. Nobody actually uses this definition, but I added it as more as demonstration of logic and principle, and how it can be applied further, exactly like the first definition (logically totally sound and sensible, but empirically mindless and useless).

Ofc, one could use this logic even further to either direction. Sort of logic ad absurdum, to a point in which, either every Harry Potter text out there (even those published by JKR) are actually AUs. or nothing is. Already not everybody considers everything JKR has said or published as canon, and by restricting what counts as canon one could get to a point that nothing actually written is really canon (something like real canon is what JKR intended HP to be, but failed to accomplish by her writing). Or that only one particular fic counts as AU, or that no fanfics are AUs, because by labeling them HP fics in some manner is meaningful enough to consider them just as a re-interpretation of multifaceted canon.

The first and fifth definitions are closing into the absurd territory, and I’ve not seen anybody using them. Words are more than stiff logical proposition, and there’s other considerations, which sometimes overrides internal logical consistency (reasons relating to things like aesthetic, social, and utilitarian concerns). Like the first definition would be totally unproductive and redundant. AU is always used in the context of fanfiction, in order to distinguish different fics from each other, thus a term which contains all fanfiction is tautological and useless for that purpose. Also, too narrow or specific terms are not useful either, because they pile on unnecessary accurate and too specific information, which ends up distracting people by cluttering them with overabundance of details and needless complexity (human mind is nothing if not finite after all).

*What are canonical texts of HP is can of worms I am not touching. Most agreed consensus is probably that at least HP heptalogy is canon, so for purposes of this that’s what I am sticking by. There’s some differing opinions about CC, Fantastic Beasts, her online commentary, Pottermore stuff, interviews, and QAs. I’ve only met one person who didn’t consider the whole HP heptalogy as canonical (because he was convinced that books 5-7 were written by a ghost writer, and they didn’t count). Everything else seem to be quite disputed.

[auntarctica]

I have a question on your interpretation of something. How powerful of a devil arm do you think Yamato is? It seems like Dante's constantly upgrading his own but Vergil only ever seems to need Yamato. It even stands against the Devil Sword Dante without problems and seems like it's always just as powerful or more than whatever Dante throws at it.

This is a really interesting question, and, like you, I’ve considered it a lot - sort of idly and in passing, but now more deliberately, thanks to your ask. So, thanks for the ask!So, I mean, I guess on a basic level we could go with the generalist meta premise that Vergil was initially minted to be “the cooler older brother”, and as such, he necessarily has to be overpowered and overskilled in the game, in order to make his defeat aspirational for Dante and provide him, um, motivation-- but if that was all, they could easily show the Yamato “leveling up” in a similar way (and arguably, they do show *Vergil* leveling up in various ways but I’ll get to that in a moment). I think it’s more interesting, as you have, to consider in-canon theories for why this might be.My personal thought on the matter is the difference between how Dante and Vergil fight, and what I tend to see as the implied difference between Rebellion and Yamato as weapons. Rebellion has powers for the user, Yamato channels the power *of* the user. Dante uses his strength to fight with items/devil arms that *have* or bestow powers, whereas Vergil uses Yamato as an extension of his will - and he has honed *himself* to control her - like an instrument - mastering his mind and powers even at the same time as he has mastered his swordsmanship.This is apparent in that even though Dante and Nero have the blood resonance to wield and use the Yamato, they are not able to use her to anywhere near the extent Vergil is, and the most they can do is rough approximations of a handful of his signature moves.Vergil “levels up” before Dante when he hits puberty finds his devil side first, so he starts out at an advantage. He levels up again when Urizen eats the Qliphoth fruit, which increases *Vergil’s* power, not necessarily the Yamato’s, except that she is it’s conduit, and what he uses to focus it.To match Vergil, Dante is forced to literally *absorb* the Rebellion, and take its external power *into* himself, essentially integrating his weapon into his own body.Anyway, that’s kind of my take. What’s yours?

[fantroll-purgatory]

hi!! this character is part of a set of 12 (encompassing all canon classes, blood colours, & aspects) i made over the past month or so in celebration of homestuck being a decade old. they’re all based on various vocaloid songs. (*rubs my evil little hands together* I don’t think you understand how excited I am for this. I get to combine all of my teenage interests together in one place!) (You say you’ve got 12 Trolls coming so I’m going to base all of my classpect comments on making your characters better fit the Titles you’ve assigned them!)

Alternia or Beforus or some type of AU?An AU Alternia! Same planet at base, entirely different backstory with different ancestors & different population & rules and all that jazz.

Name (preferably include how you came up with it and why): Cimova Vienne. “Cimova” is from The Czech word for “decimate,“ decimovat. "Vienne” is from the Viennese Waltz, the dance style!

Theme: she’s based on the song World’s End Dancehall! while it’s open for a lot of interpretation in regards to what’s really going on there, my own basic interpretation is simply “the world is ending, so instead of stand in terror, celebrate what life you have left and dance.” so that’s the interpretation she’s based on. (You even linked the lordxwillie video I’m getting flashbacks to being 13 right now god. WED Is still a bop and Wowaka is a genius though.)

Age:9 sweeps / 19 human years old

Strife Specibus:Spearkind.

Fetch Modus:Hop & Step. It’s essentially DDR or a real-life rhythm minigame of sorts – each captchalogued item is assigned a separate movement sequence; she has to repeat the steps correctly to get the item she wants. Enough screwups and it’ll eject her entire inventory (and she needs enough space to move about, too.)

Blood color: Tyrian!

Symbol and meaning:

it’s essentially a stylised line drawing of a person dancing! i prefer not to use the trollcall zodiac for my own trolls, so i tend to make my own or find them while researching lol

Trolltag:[DD] devantDenouement. “devant” is a dance term meaning ‘in front of;’ “denouement” essentially means “finale.” so essentially it just means she’s “in front of the end.” like it’s just in sight?

Quirk:Proper senNtenNce capitalizationN ~ Separates words with “~” inNstead of periods, doubles the letter “n” to give a sort of feeling of ascenNsionN ~

Special Abilities (if any):none! well, sort of – she gets vague prophetic visions on occasion, as explained in the backstory. but it’s not caste-related. (Classic Doom. Also remember that Tyrians have INCREDIBLE physical toughness and psychic resistance- they’re the only ones who can survive the Vast Glub.)

Lusus: An enormous sea monster! Sort of like a sea hydra, with multiple heads. Partly scaly in a pattern reminiscent of a leopard’s spots, with a ring of material almost resembling a lion’s mane at the base of the neck where every head meets. it’s inspired by the Beast of the Sea from the Book of Revelations!

Personality:Surprisingly upbeat because of her own personal philosophy that you should live every day to the fullest. If you’re bogged down by nothing but your own attitude and something happens, you’re going to die with only regret! So she goes out of her way to avoid that. She’s pretty lighthearted, loves to joke around (even if her jokes can have a bit of a meaner streak to them), and tries to extend as much empathy as her limited highblood understanding can allow, though she still slips up easily. It’s hard to catch your own tone sometimes. She’s also got a pretty short fuse despite her nicer demeanour and tends to crack easily because of all the pressure she’s under. (Positive Doom players are a rarity but this is definitely one of the ways to do it! I think a big thing she’s missing here is some fatalism. She’s a Doom player, a Seer, and a Prospit Dreamer, so her having a distinct idea of Fate as a thing you can’t battle against is definitely something that would happen.) (My suggestion here is to make her something of a positive nihilist? Like “We’re all gonna die someday- what’s the point in delaying the inevitable when we go and do whatever we want and have fun!”)

Interests: Dance (every & any kind, though she actually prefers studying & researching the various forms of Alternian dance to actually performing a majority of them. she likes actually dancing ballet & ballroom style), court etiquette due to her extensive amount of time in the presence of the Alternian court, treasure-hunting and deep-sea diving. She’s also got an interest in risk-taking and risky activities as a whole and does a lot of things for a thrill. The one (1) thing she is actively banned from is FLARPing, so she just has her friends tell her stories about that (and adores them, so it’s an interest in its own right.) (Why though? Because she’s an Heiress? I’m not finding much of a canon justification for her not being allowed to Flarp, but it’s been a while since it’s come up, admittedly.)  (Doom is associated with Coding and strict rules, but I actually think you could use her love of Dance as a Doom extension! She particularly likes Ballroom and Ballet you mentioned, both forms with rigorous training and technique and a colloquial tie to rigid society!)

Title:Seer of Doom (As a Seer, she’ll passively and fully comprehend the death and inevitability that will follow and haunt her for the rest of her life. This extends to rules and game design, so within Sgrub she’d be practically the ultimate rules lawyer! She’d know every particular innately, every weird rules interaction.) (This, of course, extends to the Inverse, the Witch of Life: Her incredible understanding would allow her to exploit loopholes for her and her team in order to change how the grow as people!)

Land:Land of Stairways & Dead-Ends. A maze of a land that leaves you climbing and descending with no real end or way to get around in sight, leaving the wandering consorts desolate and lost. Her quest would be to basically find a way through the land & clear out / map out a path from beginning to end. (Lands aren’t my forte, admittedly; these are hard to come up with!)

Dream Planet:Prospit

Backstory For Context: as one of last-hatched the Tyrian bloods that wasn’t a direct descendant to the current empress, she was originally raised with the expectation that she’d simply become a high-ranking member of troll society without getting any chance at the Alternian throne. However, in adolescence she started having vague, prophetic visions of doom, death, and unavoidably grim circumstances. Unbeknownst to her, this was her designated abilities as a Seer of Doom manifesting in a latent sort of manner. Through these vague, occasional visions and her distribution of warnings to the trolls involved, she caught the eye of the empress & her personal court, and was eventually granted the privilege of becoming her heiress due to this skill. Despite not being her true descendant, or really anyone hatched near said descendant’s birth. So she’s been getting used to the pressures of being raised as an heiress recently. (The one thing that’s confusing me about this is where the Fuchsia Bloodlust went? We know Feferi doesn’t feel it with quite the intensity Meenah does, but it’s a very big concern for your character who lives around other Fuchsias.)

(heeled shoe base made by fan-troll, everything else hand-sprited)

(some particular notes about her base outfit: for one she’s specifically wearing dancing shoes! and also because of her particular situation & status she’s pretty recognisable as-is, so within the AU’s allowances she just elects to keep her symbol stamped on the ankle of her socks.)