#i think we know what the common denominator between these characters is

[the-travelling-witch]

i’m so excited to write about these characters

and yes if you’ve seen that exact line up on my nsfw blog as well you’re right; i’m collaborating with myself on this one

[daiziesssart]

a humiliatingly long character analysis of lily evans

Someone sent me an ask that briefly mentioned how misunderstood Lily is, and before I knew it I was typing out this monster. I am. sorry. This is literally just me rambling about her, what I find compelling about her character, and why her character is so often misunderstood.

This is long as hell so I'm putting it under a read more lolol

Part of the reason I like Lily so much (other than my being ginger and projecting onto any redheaded female character I see) is that even though she isn’t explored as much as her other Marauders Era counterparts, we know enough about her to start building the framework for her character. And what I see is a girl who was incredibly interesting, kind, and flawed.

One thing I always think about in regards to Lily is that she was dealt with a pretty unfair hand. As soon as she receives her letter, she’s basically torn between two worlds, both of which have been less than welcome to her. On one hand, we have the muggle world that she’s known all her life, but once she starts integrating into the wizarding world, she likely feels a bit of a disconnect with that world. To twist the knife further, her sister- whom she loved dearly and grew up so close with- starts outwardly resenting her with such unbridled hostility that they likely couldn’t even be in a room alone together without major conflict. 

On the other hand, we have the wizarding world– a world she’s not as familiar with and one she soon learns holds a demographic of people who hate everything she is and would rather see her excommunicated or even dead. And even though finding out you’re a witch/wizard is probably such an exciting and life-changing moment, I can’t help but also take note of the difficulties, especially if you’re the only one in your family with magic. You’re essentially uprooted from the only way of life you’ve known at an already complicated age, and now you have to quickly become acclimated to this new world that you only just found out existed. Not only that, but now you’re suddenly attending a school with classes that are primarily focused on this world of magic (which is still brand new to you), and you have to work extra hard to play catch up in order to do well. Like, that all seems like… a lot for a kid to handle.

And then I remember how young she was when she was thrown into that mess. She was only 11, and kids that age desperately crave any sense of belonging. I mean, that’s something that still holds true for adults, but it’s especially critical for a developing child. So imagine Lily, ages 11-15, struggling to stay afloat in this weird purgatory between these two parts of herself, both of which have been the cause for major and traumatic experiences relating to rejection in her life.

(I say it was the “cause” even though it’s obvious that those things were never her fault at all, but when you’re a young kid navigating the world, the only thing you’re able to process is that the common denominator is you, therefore you’re the one who must shoulder the blame.)

So now we have this tween-teenaged girl who has a dysfunctional relationship with two major parts of identity and probably feels absolutely lost. 

This is why her hesitancy to end her friendship with Snape makes sense to me. Even though by fifth year he’s already well past toeing the line with the dark arts, Lily was willing to overlook some pretty egregious and troubling things in order to maintain the relationship. I kind of interpret that as her way of desperately clinging on to any sense of belonging she has left; her relationship with Petunia has already been poisoned, and now there are people who resent her existence as a witch; if she loses Severus too, what and who else does she have? And what tone does that set for her, if everyone and everything she’s come to hold close to her ends up turning her away?

It’s also important to note that not only is Severus one of her few remaining connections to the muggle world, but he’s also a wizard who grew up in the muggle world; he understands her, and I don’t doubt that he gave her some stability at times when she needed it (her finding out about her being a witch, her having trouble acclimating to the wizarding world, etc).

I see this as being one of her flaws and I can actually appreciate how relatable and realistic it feels. Lily is not a bad person; on the contrary, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone to describe her as such. Not to get all clinical and boring, but the interesting thing about (unhealthy) coping mechanisms is that it can actually be really hard to identify them in your own behavior. Unless you’re in therapy and/or are actively psychoanalyzing yourself, you likely don’t even realize how many of your common behaviors are born from self defense mechanisms put in place by your brain after past events.

To me, it makes sense why she avoided actually confronting the idea that Snape was too far gone. We know that she was aware of the path Severus was taking, but it almost seems like she was still convinced that she could save him, and could possibly steer him back in the right direction. It’s only when she becomes the target of his bigotry that she realizes that the Snape who called her a ‘mudblood’ was not the same Severus who was the one who held her hand and introduced her to this new, exciting world.

In a general sense, yes, it is selfish, to only take a stand when something starts affecting you personally. But I also think it’s important to note that it’s unlikely that this was a conscious decision on Lily’s part. In my eyes, it was easier to delude herself into thinking she still had a chance to save him before it was too late when she was able to separate him from his actions (considering, a lot of the time, she was only hearing about them after the fact, rather than seeing them firsthand). But the elusion is shattered once she sees that the Snape she grew up with– her friend, Severus– is, in fact, the same person who’s out there calling other students slurs, dismissing the malicious use of Dark Magic on others as just “a laugh”. There we see a Lily who is actually revealed to have been somewhat aware of Snape’s involvement with the darker side of magic, and genuinely feels pretty ashamed about her inaction.

Also, this is in no way me being a Snape-anti, and I actually could do an entire separate analysis on his character alone and why I find him so interesting.

Anyways, that moment in SWM is probably somewhat of an epiphany to her. It’s like a dam that’s been broken, and now she’s overwhelmed with the realization of exactly how much she overlooked in order to keep their friendship afloat. And for someone like Lily Evans, someone whom we know is opinionated and unafraid to call others out on their bullshit, that can be hard to swallow and feel pretty mortifying and shameful. And I think this was a huge turning point for her- at that point, she doesn’t have the luxury of avoiding uncomfortable truths anymore and now that she’s getting closer to graduating and being thrown out into the world on the brink of war, this was probably a really sobering discovery.

This is where we don’t have as much info to go off of, and a lot of it is up to interpretation. But we actually have little crumbs to go off of following her graduation and leading up to her death.

One of my favorite little tidbits isn’t in the books, and @seriousbrat's post reminded me about it. Here's the actual entry on Pottermore for anyone who's interested, but I'll summarize: after James and Lily began dating, Lily brings James to meet newly engaged Petunia and Vernon. Everything goes downhill, because Vernon is a smarmy asshole, and James is still pretty immature and can’t help but mess with him (which… fair, I guess). Petunia and Vernon storm out after Petunia letting Lily know that she had no intentions of having her as a bridesmaid, which causes Lily to break down into tears. I mention this because I also think it’s a pretty important aspect of her character; like we’ve seen in her past friendship with Snape, Lily seems more than willing to forgive others most of the time. Petunia is a bit of a complicated character herself, but she was objectively very cruel and unfair to Lily once it became obvious that she was a witch and Petunia was not.

Something that always stands out to me is just how desperate Lily is to earn Petunia’s trust and approval again. Even up until her death, she was more than willing to mend the relationship, were Petunia ever to consider. 

This is a detail about Lily that I feel is misunderstood quite a bit. I’ve seen a lot of instances of her character being reduced to a one-dimensional archetype with little to no complexity. And often, that archetype is “know-it-all, prudish, self righteous bookworm who is also a goody two-shoes with a stick up her ass”. What annoys me is that the reason for this is most definitely the scene in which she blows up at James in SWM for bullying Snape, and hurls quite a few insults at him directly after an extremely devastating and overwhelming situation for her. This frustrates me because we know for a fact that she’s the polar opposite of this archetype I’ve seen her reduced to. 

In actuality, she’s referred to as popular, charming, witty, bright and kind. From flashbacks we also are shown that she’s opinionated, bold, and not afraid to challenge others. With other context, like her interpersonal relationships, we can also see that she’s pretty emotionally driven and wears her heart on her sleeve. 

(I know Remus didn’t mention Lily much in the books, but I really love how he described her in the movies. He tells Harry that the first thing he noticed about him was not his striking resemblance to his father, but his eyes, the same eyes Lily had. He also calls her a “singularly gifted witch” and an “uncommonly kind woman”.

“She had a way of seeing the beauty in others, even and perhaps most especially, when that person could not see it in themselves.”

I know there are mixed feelings on whether or not the films count as canon source material, so take it with a grain of salt, but I personally cannot see a world in which Lily and Remus didn’t become close friends.)

Here we have a direct description of what she was like and who she was, corroborated by recounting of memories of her, and yet for some reason, this feels like the thing that is most commonly lost in translation.

I don’t think I can say why I think that is without mentioning the dreaded M word (misogyny- it’s misogyny), but I also don’t want to get too off topic so I’ll be brief: female characters are typically not given the same grace as male characters. When we have an undeveloped male character, he’s awarded the assumption that despite his lack of depth, there still exists a complex and multifaceted character– it’s merely just potential that hasn’t been tapped into. Whereas when we have underdeveloped female characters, they are taken at face value, meaning that not much exists beyond the little information we have of them. They are not presumed to have a life or a story that exists beyond the surface of what we know like male characters are. That’s why I think characters like Regulus, Evan, or Barty (just to name a few) are more popular than Lily, despite being less developed than she is.

(Before anyone gets defensive, no, I don’t think it’s an individual problem that you alone need to be shamed for. I think it’s the result of a deeper issue regarding misogyny in media as a concept; these are things that we’ve all unknowingly internalized and while it’s not our fault, we still have to do the work to deconstruct those learned prejudices.)

What I find really cool about her character is that despite how much she’s been hurt, she’s also still known as one of the most loving, kind, and considerate characters. There were so many times in her life where the love she received was conditional and ripped away from her– and I think that’s what makes her sacrifice even more poignant. She was able to protect her infant son from an extremely powerful dark wizard, wand-less, knowing that her husband was just murdered in cold blood, just from how much love she felt for Harry. Her love was a force of nature on its own, and I just think that’s such an amazing thing about her. 

I know I’m biased, given that she’s one of my favorite characters, but even upon delving into this, I still just find it so incredibly hard to understand how anyone can actively hate her (not indifference, but actual dislike). In my opinion (again, no one is unbiased, and she is a favorite character of mine, but trust me when I say that I’m trying to be objective as possible when I say this), she’s probably one of the most likable characters of the Marauders Era. I think perhaps a lot of people haven’t given her a chance or really taken the time to learn about her character, but it could be a myriad of other reasons that I’ll never understand. 

There's so much more I could say but this is long enough and I will stop myself

Lily Evans, u will always be famous to me

[lawyer-of-louis-de-lioncourt]

Fans of IWTV that are problems

People who want to put the blame on one character.

Like sir. Uhm. How do I say this? In a way that can penetrate your mind?

They. Are. All. Horrible. People.

But they are also: All Beautiful People With Love All Consuming.

Both can be true. Because IWTV is the extreme reflection of life and people.

There is this comment on a fan edit on YT that was literally posted a day ago that I found.

I think we've established Louis is the problem. He is the common denominator in all these toxic relationships. Even his and Claudia's was an unhealthy mess. [Image]

And before I go on, on why this sh*t brings the movement down and I don't and won't tolerate I just want to bash the thinking of this person.

Let me ask you, reader and watcher, if a person in an abusive relationship lands in another abusive relationship are they the problem? Are they seeking to be abused yet again? Do you think they like it? Do you think Louis du Point du Lac went into loving Lestat because Lestat showed anger issues? Insecurities? No. He saw the best in him. He still fucking does. He loves the guy despite his problems. Do you think Louis fell for Armand because he was a gaslighter? A liar? A betrayer and clear child killer? No. He fell for Armand's ability to be soft to be gentle. He fell for his understanding. His clear care and focus on what he wants. His endurance.

"Louis is the problem." The problem here is that there are lies and manipulation from all characters. Louis is a lost soul who is more impulsive than the rest of the characters. He goes through life always seeking, seeking, seeking not really knowing what he is looking for. He also has fucking depression and some deep self-resentment.

But to say he is a problem because he is a victim (and he is because even though he has his strengths in the events between the Big Lestat Drop and The Trial he has been most hurt from both events more than Lestat and Armand (if we don't count Claudia because she was the MOST VICTIM OF ALL OF THEM DURING THAT ERAS)) is disgusting. It's victim blaming. To say he is a common denominator of abuse is stupid. He is the common denominator BECAUSE he attracts powerful love interests who are unhinged.

There is a huge power imbalance between Louis and Lestat. That was unknown. A power imbalance between Louis and Armand that was known but put aside because Armand gave the illusion that he was giving Louis the reigns.

To say Louis is the problem is blaming a wife being beaten, divorcing her husband and then getting in a relationship where she is beaten again. Clearly she's asking for it. (That's how this post sounds like) And. I. Will. Not. Tolerate. It.

Okay. Now that is put aside.

Like I said before.

These vampires are broken. One could argue being beyong repair.

The purpose of the books is to show monsters in love. Monsters who act on humanity but still take it too far.

There's a whole quote that says something about Lestat loving first and how passionate he is but in that love the only way he can show it is through violence. To break it.

We see Armand who is so loving and so f*cking patient. So eager to be loved. So eager to not be alone. Because he has been so alone all these years and then he meets Louis. Louis with a daughter. Louis with a burning, eager heart to be free this time around. Louis who represents everything Armand desires. To be free of all chains. And in wanting Louis he loves only him. Sees Claudia as chain too. Because Louis broke free of Lestat. Because Claudia, to Armand, is an extension of Lestat. Louis' capturer, maker, abuser.

He loves so much that he sees this as right. To get Louis all to himself. He wants this so badly. He even says it. "I want you more than anything in the world."

Words with weight. Words he meant. Words he carried through. He loves wholly. Obsessively. He loves solely.

And then Louis. Sweet Saint Louis. A father, a brother, a man who cannot exist or see himself outside of others. He is father, brother, lover, companion, son before he is Louis. This man who cannot exist outside others. This man who because of his spiraling self-hate drags others so he can stop the self- punishment. To get a reprieve. To put this love onto others because he can only love himself by loving and caring about others.

Who cannot love himself. Who drags the body of a stranger's daughter to beg for one himself. Who self sabotages and then tries to fix it. Who loved someone who hurt him because he can't let it go. Who thought he could love a man with burdens and control that was spiraling. A man who he knew felt the loneliness he had too. Louis who begs, demands and pleads and manipulates to get this fix of love. To put it somewhere. Even if it destroys the person he loves. (Paul, Claudia, Lestat and Armand) Just a little bit. Who loves then bites the hand that feeds him. Who loves so much. So much. He gets lost in it. Then drowns. Drowns in his failures. And drags others into it.

(Lestat: You drag me into your gloom. Armand: Will I be on suicide watch for the next 1000 years?)

And it's true to sense. He can't preserve his happiness. And sometimes he goes out of his way to not. Destroys it. (The killing of Lestat. The harsh words in 1970s to Armand) Because he doesn't deserve it.

This is all what it comes to:

They are humans stuck to live forever with these woes and problems and nowhere to put it. No where to put their trauma. So they make it themselves and then try to love with these jagged pieces.

They are fleshed out and more real than any character out there.

They are real. In their monstrosity. In their humanity.

They are horrible, they are beautiful, they are guilty, they are innocent. All of this. All true. All at the same time.

"I could not prevent it."

"...Was a band aid for shitty marriage?"

"This fascinating boy."

"I HEARD YOUR HEARTS DANCING?"

"Let me go."

"I love you with all of myself."

"Come to me."

"But she didn't love you. Not like he did, not like I have."

"I hate you."

"I know, I know. She's calling me."

"You and me. Me and you. You and me. Me and you."

"PICKED ANOTHER ONE OVER ME!"

"He's...a lot."

"I love you too baby brother."

"I'm not asking Arun."

"Am I all I have endured?"

"THE NAME! UNUTTERED in our home for 23 YEARS!"

"Could you imagine me? Without the burden of her?"

"I want you more than anything in the world."

"She called me an angel. Me!"

"Saint Louis."

"Are your companions?" "Yes." "No."

"I had a hunch."

"He forgave me."

"Why do I owe you my one act of cowardice?"

"Armand preserves my happiness..."

"Claudia is my coven."

"It was never about me."

"Tell her she's beautiful every morning."

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[witheredoffherwitch]

I can't help but cringe when I see some people trying to push Aegon v. Aemond or Helaena v. Alys in these online spaces. Each character in the show has their own role in the storyline--and it's absurd to think they could be pitted against each other. It's just too weird.

Aegon v. Aemond isn't a thing because despite these two hating each other's guts, they fight besides each other till their last moment. Aemond fights this war in Aegon's name -- and despite him thinking his brother is nothing more than a drunken wastrel, this fool still offers this challenge to Luke by asking, "did you really think you could just fly about the realm trying to steal my brother's throne at no cost?" In F&B, the conflict is mainly panned out between Aegon v. Rhaenyra and Aemond v. Daemon. Helaena's role is much more passive all while being extremely crucial to how the Dance ultimately ends. Many are quick to point out that Lucerys' death was the catalyst that jumpstarted this whole civil war (even though in truth, it had been simmering since that Driftmark incident) but fail to notice that Halaena's end is what cements the final conclusion of the war.

I have acknowledged my hesitation in discussing Helaena-centric topics on my page because I have always felt like I understand her the least out of all the Green characters. But the way some of y'all go ahead and make assumptions about her relationships with her family -- and make up fake conflicts to justify your own crackship is truly bizzare.

I cannot even comprehend how stupid this forced competition between Helaena and Alys is. People really need to stop injecting Aemond into Helaena's storyline. Her loss, grief and trauma is separate from her brother's struggles -- and Helaena's tragic end is one of the turning points that change the tides against Rhaenyra. Infact, I suppose in this Aegon v. Rhaenyra clash (where Rhaenyra is unbashedly favoured in the show), Helaena's presence might be offered as a false positive for Team Black after the fall of King's Landing. Helaena's death comes right before the Storming of the Dragon Pit that ultimately sealed Rhaenyra's fate -- what remains to be seen is how the show is going to depict the events leading up to that point? In the book, Helaena is more or less a passive figure who is reduced to a grieving queen after the culmination of B&C. I had previously suggested that Helaena's role is going to be bigger than what was depicted in F&B - and given the fact that she has prophetic powers in the show, I assume she will be playing a much bigger role! Helaena is a seer who can see into the future -- and since the show is already exploring the 'song of ice and fire' (a la the long night), it needs to be seen how else are they going to use Helaena beyond season 1. Does she see her line ending after the Dance? Is she aware that dragons might cease to exist after the war? Does she see the eventual demise of her house? Does she see the Dance's conclusion as some sort of inevitable truth that must follow to achieve Aegon's dream?

Alys on the other hand has a completely different role all together. She is either Aemond's high-calling or his partner in chaos. Much of her story is shrouded in mystery. We don't even get a full account of how her story concluded; what happened to her and her child during Aegon III's reign. She becomes the witch queen of Harrenhal but for the next thirty years, we do not know what happened before the castle was eventually given to Lucas Lothston.

In conclusion, I will once again remind folks that each character serves a distinct purpose in this war. The common denominator between these character is unfortunately their father, Viserys -- and this story is essentially a run-down on how the prophetic king himself dooms his entire family (and eventually his house) into the path of self-destruction. For most of his life, Viserys' main aim was to ensure both stability and longevity for his line, and despite his efforts, he failed at that task quite remarkably. Each one of his kids possessed that distinct Targaryen 'trait' and yet this is a king who places his oldest daughter above the rest out of the guilt for killing his first wife. In the end, it was his choice that ultimately doomed his own house.

[famouscyclenerd]

🗣🔊🗣🔊Everybody gets a mate!!!!!!

But why though? Since mates are so rare?🤔

Well first of all Sarah really likes the soulmates trope... if you couldn't tell.. all her main pairings are mated. And that's pretty much why.

You also gotta remember that fae are more or less immortal. If you live longer - the chances of finding your mate grows, right? Especially if your mate is also fae and therefore immortal as well. Rhysand, Cassian, Eris, Mor, Azriel, Tamlin are all over 500 years old. That's half a millennium without a mate. Which is a really long time even for fae.

"Shit, Feyre - I'm not that old." - Lucien Vanserra (a 300+ year old sexy fae male, mind you) Even he thinks 500 is old af.

So what are the patterns for mated pairs? How, and why, and when a bond snaps for each individual differs.

We have Rhys who bascially knew it the first time he met Feyre, but it snapped for him the first time he saw her again after she was turned fae. While Feyre had an inkling, I guess, but she literally had to be told that Rhys was her mate to be able to comprehend it, though she was well aware of the concept of mates long before that. And therefore so were we.

Cassian had suspected it the first time he met Nesta, while she knew it for a while as well but refused to acknowledge it. The bond didn't form between them until winter solstice in SF however.

Kallias and Viviane knew each other since they were kids, but the bond didn't snap between them before they were well into adulthood.

Rhys' parents bond snapped instantly. There is little to know about them however, given that they're both dead. But if it didn't snap instantly, his mother's wings would have been clipped.

Lucien only reacted to Elain as she was pulled towards the cauldron (which to me hinted at a possible mating bond as it was remarked by Feyre several times before it was revealed) and the bond snapped instantly for both of them after she was turned fae.

Sarah is a storyteller. There is no clear pattern for mating bonds because Sarah decides how it develops. What works best for the greatest love story? She alone decides who will be mates based on personality and compatibility between the characters. She is no stranger to retconning stuff to make different romantic pairings work e.g changing Lucien's mate from Nesta to Elain (also changing his heritage because that would go well with Elain) and figuring out that Mor and Azriel wouldn't work as well as she initially thought.

A common denominator however (besides them being mates) is that none of the parings stories starts off with them already being in love. SJM always writes about the process of the pairs falling in love with each other. It's what I personally prefer as well. If they are already in love, then the love story is kinda over as well tbh.

Anyways...

If the patterns were the same, it would be boring and even more predictable. Had Feyre found out at the end of ACOTAR and at the same time as Rhysand, then there would have been no more speculation in anticipation for the second installment. Tamlin was still Feyre's main love interest at the end of book 1. It was probably obvious to many, but Sarah was leaving hints at them being mates all throughout ACOTAR and ACOMAF.

The bond snapped for elucien during the cauldron scene where Lucien whispered it out of shock because it makes the scene even more intense. *GASP* OMG THEY'RE MATES!!! BUT LUCIEN ALWAYS THOUGHT JESMINDA WAS HIS MATE AND ELAIN IS ENGAGED!!! THE DRAMA!!!! It also sets up a different kind of love story where both parts from the beginning are aware of their mating bond. Lucien longing after Elain while she avoids him is Sarah stirring up the most angsty love story full of pining.

If they would serve rejected mates, then Sarah wouldn't bother making Helion Lucien's biological father. It would have been set up a lot better, where we see them talking to each other, but it's telling that they don't work well together as they have gotten to know each other and there is no chemistry between them. Where they are actually indifferent towards each other, but you can cleary tell that they are intensely aware of each others presence. Lucien longs for Elain, whilst she feel some type of way about him and trust me, it's not indifference. Sarah deliberately decides to not have them talk nor confront each other about the bond because she is saving that for their book. You gotta properly know your mate before deciding to reject them. The what if's would haunt them otherwise.

WHICH TO ME SOUNDS FUN AS HELL BTW. I'LL EAT THAT SHIT UP!!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED FOR THEIR STORY, IT'S DIFFICULT TO EVEN COMPREHEND THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO AREN'T.🥺

So will Azriel get a mate? Knowing Sarah's preferences when it comes to romance, yes. Absolutely!

And I see no other romantic interest for him than miss Gwyneth Berdara herself. Az is a lucky guy!! :D

This is not confirmed, but in my (and many others) opinion, it was heavily hinted at in Az infamous bonus chapter that they are mates.

A headcanon that I've seen hopping around is that Gwyn is more aware of their bond than Az, which I like a lot. At least that she'll realize it before he does as he doesn't see himself worthy of a mate nor love in general, though he craves it more than anything. We haven't seen that before. FUN!!

He will walk around, unaware that what he desires the most is right in front of him. While simantaniously developing feelings for Gwyn as they spend more and more time together.

I'LL GOBBLE THAT SHIT UP, YE HEAR ME!!!

GODDAMMIT SARAH JANET GIVE US SOME NEWS😤!!! April is THE month guys, I can feel it🧘‍♀️

[purpleajisai]

Madara Week Day 2 - Christ/Antichrist

The Saviour of this World and the Christ: A comparative analysis of Madara Uchiha and Jesus Christ

It’s Christmas time. Christians all over the world are preparing themselves for what they consider one of the most joyful holidays in the year: the birth of the Messiah, He who came to redeem the world. Meanwhile, the Madara enthusiasts are making a countdown for the birthday of the man who tried to save the ninja world by sacrificing his very self. In this meta, I intend to explain the connections, similarities and differences between Madara Uchiha and Jesus Christ that I’ve found over the years. I would also recommend to read “Is Madara our Lord and Saviour?” by @al-hekima-madara-blog for another very interesting meta on the topic. This is my contribution to day 2 of Madara Week, hosted by @uchiha-event.

A quick note before I start my rambling: I will be using the Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible (Roman Catholic translation), but there shouldn’t be any problem for readers of Protestant background as the difference between the Bibles used by both denominations are in the Old Testament and our focus will be the New Testament.

“I am here to save the world”

Naruto Shippuden, chapter 677

For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him.

John 3:17

What is the purpose of Madara in this story? One would be tempted to say “because every shonen needs a villain”, but I think his purpose as a character was to expose the flaws within the shinobi system that ultimately corrupted a man who desired peace into someone whose sense of reality became so warped by the situations in his life that he started a war to achieve said peace. Madara didn’t make the Eye of the Moon plan to be evil and act dramatic, he made it with the final objective of launching an eternal dream that would guarantee no more conflict and the ideal life for anyone within it. He’s already been past judging the world, he wants to save it at the expense of himself. This is similar to how God is presented in the Old Testament compared to the New Testament: we first see a God who insists that his law is followed and that chastises those who trespass and disobey in several ocassions. But once we reach the New Testament, he becomes a loving figure that intends to save people from eternal doom in hell (”reality is hell”, anyone?). The point is that we have a man whose purpose in the world is to cleanse all forms of evil thorugh his being and who wants to bring salvation to anyone, regardless if the world agrees or not.

“I come here to bring you light and joy in a life that’s beyond this reality”

Naruto Shippuden, chapter 626

Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live.

John 11:25

What does Madara mean when he says that “you can’t see it”? After following the storyline we conclude that he’s talking about the Eye of the Moon plan. Let’s add some tangents here, the people who were directly involved in the plan and helped Madara one way or another. They had no clue about what would happen exactly but they were convinced by the prospect of a peaceful life free of their struggles. In a certain way, they believed in Madara. The exact same thing can be seen with Jesus, who promises eternal life beyond the death of the physical body. Nobody knows how Heaven looks like but the believers trust him on that promise.

“I bring peace”

Naruto Shippuden, chapter 661

These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world

John 16:33

Notice how Madara refers to the current state of the shinobi world as “Hashirama’s world”? In Christianity and the Bible, it is a common practice to separate “the world” and “the believers” as entities with entirely different mindsets and values. Madara sees the world as direct consequence of his nemesis, Hashirama, just as Christians see the evil in the world as the direct consequence of the sins of Lucifer. To “overcome the world”, when applied to Madara, refers to how he intends to use a power whose source is unknown (the power of the Sage of Six Paths) in order to end the paradox of Hashirama’s world. He is going to achieve peace to overwrite the current world and install his own world where the paradox is solved.

“I intend for you to acquire new identity within me”

Naruto Shippuden, chapter 665

If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new.

2 Corinthians 5:17

And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

I picked two of the letters in the New Testament in purpose, you may have noticed that the previous quotes come from the Gospel of John. Because the Gospel of John is a retelling of what Jesus did and said, whereas the letters (mostly from the apostle Paul) are reflections of the lives of the apostles after Jesus was gone. Similarly, Obito becomes Madara once Madara dies in the cave and walks in his shoes. Yesterday, I wrote a bit more about how Madara decomposed his humanity for the sake of his dream of peace. Here, we have Madara giving up his identity to anyone who embraces his goal, similarly to how Jesus signifies a brotherhood of believers. Madara also never writes down his autobiography or gets a space to present his POV, just as how all of what we know from Jesus is from the people close to him, not by his own word. In a sense, both become an entity for like-minded people to work towards a certain goal.

Thank you for reading this far, if you have any questions please use the ask box. It’s always a pleasure to have discussions and to talk about my favourite anime emo man.

[ifishouldvanish]

(sorry, one more bc it's been on my mind for a long time)

I worry though, about... the dynamic. Can someone really find and bond with another through their grief and loneliness, without this grim depression they share becoming *worse?*

For me, personally, whenever I think about them... I think there's going to be a level of catharsis. They have something that would be very hard to find in another living being, and a certain love for humanity and the past that would be difficult to find among vampires, and this shapes them into shattered pieces which fit together. But would they still be able to find happiness? It kind of feels like they're two damaged clocks that have coincidentally been stuck on the same minute and hour hand. Would they be able to heal and move time forward?

Okay so like!!!!

I see it less about bonding over the shared grief itself and more about what their responses to that grief have exposed in each of them. Like, in the beginning and on the surface level, yes. It is the grief and loss and loneliness that brings them together. But they are foils!!! I'm telling you!!! They can learn from each other!!!

I've mentioned probably all of this before in scattered pieces across all my posts at some point but!! I think the lowest common denominator, the core of their dynamic, lies in how they seem to have established their senses of self.

Alucard struggles with how not to define himself by his father, and then having to define himself in opposition to his father. "Slave to our families' wishes" etc. And when that chapter of his life closes he's like, "welp, guess I'll just entomb myself here 🤷" until Trevor and Sypha are like "what?? Dude no??" And he's like "oh haha I guess you're right, I can uphold the legacy of the best parts of both of my parents!!" And they're like "ya!!" But then a month goes by without anyone coming round to say "hey!!! Share that knowledge with me!! Fulfill the role you've given yourself" and he is just... so fucking bored and unfulfilled?

He needed they-who-shall-not-be-named to come along so he could fill that role, needed Greta to come along so he could fill that role. He tells Greta about how rescuing others sort of fills a void for him/gives him purpose, which is honorable, yes. But like... It's also so sad imo?? This comfort in denying his sense of self? "I don't know what to do with myself, just gimme a shout if the world ever needs saving again"?? Like Alucard, honey, babygirl, sweetheart... you need to learn to live for yourself 🥺

Olrox on the other hand is... not selfish exactly, but he knows what he's about and he refuses compromise himself. You killed the only man I ever loved? Okay, then I'm killing you, and no, I don't care if your nine year old son witnesses it. You want the juicy story of why that boy is terrified of the big bad vampire? Okay, but you will learn about my humanity first so you can sit with your cognitive dissonance about it later. You think I'm just going to throw myself at your feet because you promise us all eternal night? How about you kindly go fuck yourself? You happily stump for Erzsebet because she promised you that she'll create a world that will allow you to relive your glory days? Couldn't be me!

Like obviously we have a much more limited viewpoint for Olrox because we know so much less about him and his past, but this is not a guy who's waiting for someone to give him a purpose. He acts alone, he doesn't play nice with others, he has his own agenda, and is even a little bit of a hedonist: investigating the relationship between the abbot and Erzsebet? Might as well fuck a hot monk while I'm at it. I said eat the rich, but I might as well look good doing it. You hate/fear me cause I killed your mom? Get over it already. You think the opera singing night creature is annoying? Well, I'm familiar enough with opera music to know he's actually reading you all for filth, so I think it's great!

I think at the end of the day, Alucard is a character who defines himself by others, not understanding why he still feels so empty and alone. And Olrox is a character who defines himself by his own terms, but in being caught between both human and vampire worlds has learned to push people away because he thinks he is better off that way. But by the end of the season, his worst fear is realized: I cannot do this alone. I am at the mercy of someone else's help.

But Olrox isn't like anyone else Alucard has rescued before. He's a fellow vampire. He's a fellow immortal. He's going to be around for as long as he is. And maybe, in that time, a little bit of that ego can start to rub off on Alucard. Maybe he can learn to live for himself without apology, without feeling like he has to atone for the sins of his father. Maybe, just maybe, he can learn to exist outside of the role of the mythical savior.

Because Olrox doesn't want one of those—heaven's no. He can take care of himself, thank you very much. But what if he could learn he doesn't always have to? Who better to restore his faith in the world than the guy who has his mother's conviction that all of this mess is worth saving so deeply ingrained in him that it's been the primary source of his identity for centuries?

I'm starting to ramble here so I hope this is coherent, but in conclusion: they would be so restorative for each other and look so hot together and that is why I believe in Alurox supremacy 🙏

[barnbridges]

On Denomination Semantics, Church Authority, Bunny, Marion and Julian

I'll say that much, the Greek class is predominantly Catholic, with it being noted that Richard is a non-denominational Christian and Bunny being an Episcopalian.

"Bunny’s family was Episcopalian, and my parents, as far as I knew, had no religious affiliation at all; but Henry and Francis and the twins had been reared as Catholics;"

This established dynamic is a setup to a later conversation in the book, where Julian questions Richard on the changes in Bunny's behavior, attributing them to a possible conversion of either Bunny or Marion, wherein we learn she is a Presbyterian. All fun and good, we just learn that Bunny is so panicked Julian thinks he's having a mental breakdown, right? This is just foreshadowing to Bunny writing the confessional letter to Julian, right?

Upon closer inspection... why would we need to know, in particular, the specific denomination that Bunny holds, when his social status as a Protestant has already been established, and even less so Marion, who Richard doesn't even know?

Well, that is because the confessions are a metaphor for the structure in their lives.

The Roman Catholic Church is one of the three major divisions of Christianity in the Western World. It has a known structure, and it bases its belief both on the Christian Bible and the Papacy, with the structure of the Church as important as the religious text itself. It is a very rigid structure, and it is indeed, as Julian says, "a worthy and powerful foe".

Episcopalians on the other hand, are seen as a "halfway" point between the structure of the Catholics and the relative interpretative freedom of other Protestants. While the Episcopal Church is a Protestant denomination, meaning it does not hold the Pope as any authority, it has structures of authority (mainly, bishops and cardinals) and holds different views on sin as opposed to Catholics (as Francis ironically points out in the Epilogue).

The motto of the Episcopal Church is "Protestant, yet Catholic!", I kid you not. EDIT: The phrase "Protestant, yet Catholic" has been associated with the Episcopal Church and their beliefs.

Not relevant to the theological discussion, but the Episcopal Church also was founded in the US and is a very American phenomenon, being one of the most common denominations for American Presidents and wannabe DC political larpers as well.

A noteworthy detail is also that... the central book of Episcopalians is The Book of Common Prayer... Which Charles desecrated at Bunny's funeral service by using it to kill a wasp. This shows both the particular lack of respect the other characters have for non-Catholic tradition, but also their lack of connection to the gravity of such an act. Charles desecrated a religious text in a church, and it was a comedic moment. They are very in touch with reality /s.

"Charles had killed it with a resounding thwack from The Book of Common Prayer."

Presbyterianism is not a church, but rather a set of beliefs and principles. It is one of the most reformist of Protestant beliefs, and does not at all recognize the need for any religious authority or church to practice. Presbyterians believe in a personal relationship with God rather than a need for a house of worship or sin to practice. Presbyterians are also stereotyped as low class, again as our judgemental professor puts it "

"He had a habit of attributing all of Bunny’s faults indirectly to her—his laziness, his bad humors, his lapses of taste."

What this primarily means for interpreting our characters and their morals, is that Bunny finds himself at a middle-point between the strict hierarchy of the Greek class and the personal freedom afforded to him by decentralized beliefs. He has all his life existed in a state of "in between" authority and lack thereof, and Julian is questioning if the main force in his life that feeds the "contrary" impulse in Bunny is gone with Marion's hypothetical conversion.

This speaks mostly to that... our Julian was probably reared Catholic himself (calling it The Church... yeah he totally also was Catholic at some point), but has turned his back on the particular beliefs of the faith to where Richard finds him today. This also implies that of his 6 students, ironically enough, Bunny would be the one that has a relationship to religious authority most similar to Julian's own, and that has been since he joined the Greek class. This contempt would only grow larger as Bunny engages with people who care even less about religious authority than he does, which Julian might not like or respect, but certainly affirms Bunny as... uniquely able to challenge authority, and certainly the most "liberal" of his students on matters of authority. Bunny is the only one of them who indeed, has a girlfriend. A girlfriend that has been a problem to the Greek class that they simply do not want to even address her at all, to the point where Francis goes into prayer that she leaves Bunny.

It's also quite a touch ironic that after Bunny's death, the next one to question the hierarchy of the group, Charles, is coincidentally the one most influenced by Marion herself. Symbolically, Marion represents the "normalcy" and "gateway" from the Catholic-like structure of the Greek class, and Richard, Henry, Camilla and Francis' disregard and mockery of her presence is just a sign that they are quite far removed from any notion of leaving the cult of Julian or challenging why the belief in Classicism needs Julian for a God and Henry for a priest.

[letadlock]

Psycho Pass

In the anime’s opening intro we see helicopters flying around a futuristic city as well as robots surveying the streets. Technology rules every aspect of this world, from making breakfast and creating room settings to surveying the public by camera virtually everywhere they go. Psycho-Pass exists in a surveillance society where, defined in our lecture by Professor Smith, people are visible and monitored in all their roles from home to work and the public. We learn more about this surveillance society in episode 2 where Tsunemori and her friends chat about the work structure. The Sibyl System determines each person’s job capability through a series of tests. One of Tsunemori’s friends even quotes, “What needs to be done is done by those capable. Such is the grace bestowed on mankind by the Sibyl System.” 

A clear issue with the society’s enforcement structure arises in the first episode with rookie detective Akane Tsunemori’s recognition that the Psycho Pass’s crime coefficient may be flawed. Labeled under a high coefficient, Tsunemori understands the hostage they’ve tracked is traumatized and tries to protect the shaken up woman from the denominator’s detainment and later elimination instruction. This scene questions the extent to which technology can truthfully understand human nature. Without human empathy can the Psycho-Pass system make an accurate judgement of threat? 

The society is under such advanced visibility under the Psycho Pass system that people start to lose their sense of justice. Foucault's theory of Panopticism allows for a relatively easy way of exercising power over individuals. Disciple is enforced internally under the potential of being watched but without complete assurance, leaving it up to the person themself to act in line. When a woman is murdered out in the open near the later half of the anime, people are so desensitized to the scene they merely record her but no one steps in to help. Under the visibility aspect of Foucault's theory, the majority of people in this society know they are being surveilled and act accordingly which is why they hardly react to the scene. It isn't something they would normally expect with cameras recording them everywhere they go.

In the last episode of the anime Kougami even jokes about how to bring Makishima to trial when their justice system has become near obsolete. Under assumption the Sibyl System would correctly deal with criminals, the skill to make just decisions became less and less common with judicial systems collapsing.

Oddly enough I came to view Makishima as the anti-hero of this anime. Makishima is one of the only characters that sees the flaw of the Sibyl System and the rejects the technology While I don’t agree with the way he killed people in trying to achieve his goal of destroying the Sibyl System I think his intentions of grounding people back to reality and away from technology were valid. Our society is not nearly as advanced but technological change has happened at a rapid pace. I see it day to day where social interactions that would regularly occur on the bus, between class, or walking around campus are primarily occurring now online over social media. Makishima may be the antagonist of this anime but in this dystopian society run by a bunch of "floating brains in jars" he appears to me to be the one of the only sane realists.

[incorrectcoldflashblog]

B, K, R, and/or X for the Alphabet ask game

Hi, friend! Thank you for the ask <3

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

I hadn’t really considered the platonic/friendship pairing between Len and Jax before I saw it in fic, because I didn’t remember them having that many canon interactions, but I do love the idea of Len being protective of Jax as the youngest member of the team and someone who, like him, came from humble beginnings.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

See, before season 6 of Legends I would’ve said either Sara or Mick but that season just kinda. Yeah. Was not great, lol. I still think Mick had some of the best character development overall.

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

The Sniblings, always. Sometimes I think about the kind of devotion you would need to have to go visit your abusive father in the past and not shoot him on sight, because your sister isn’t born yet and you’d rather risk facing a lifetime of abuse than live in a world where she doesn’t exist, and I just wanna set myself on fire (in a totally normal, chill way of course). The show gave us so little of them together and yet what we do know about their relationship makes me want to dig my nails in.

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Enemies/rivals to lovers for sure. I feel like that’s the common denominator for most of my ships. I thrive on dysfunction.

Alphabet Ask Game

[rahleeyah]

1.0 anon here. You encouraged me to keep checking in with my thoughts as I go.

Just started "Prodigy" (s3e13) and kinda swooned when Benson says "I speak a little Spanish and French. I can Mirandize in three others."

Love me a strong, brave, smart, skilled female lead character who's also got damage and baggage. YES. (Also love that they most likely gave Benson these language skills bc Mariska's got 'em. I hope we get to hear her use them eventually).

And unrelated, but in the previous episode (set in Dec 2001, aired Jan 2002) Cragen mentions "the attacks" in passing and it was kind of stunning that a show about NYPD cops let THAT be the so-far-only treatment of 9/11. I mean, The West Wing interrupted their whole episode flow to air a completely OOC script to allow their characters to process adjacent topics with a bunch of high school students, for a quasi public therapy process...

I know everyone had artistic decisions to make and it wouldn't have worked to make SVU swerve off track and become a terrorism show, but surely (1) SVU detectives would've at least known some of the cops who died in the towers, (2) even if they didn't they'd be traumatized and deeply saddened by all of it, (3) like just about everyone in NYC and the country at that point, they'd be talking and thinking about it??

Maybe this is just the difference between shooting and airing schedules and "the attacks" will have more visibility in coming episodes?

Oh I am very excited about this thank you lol

I find it interesting that while we do hear Liv speak a little Spanish in 1.0 we don't hear her speak Italian until 2.0, and Mariska was fluent in Italian the whole time, having spent time there growing up. But yes!!!! Love that they incorporated that into Olivia's character and I love too the insight it gives maybe not just into Olivia but into her mother; was Serena the one pushing Olivia to learn different languages? Did Serena want her to learn French and Italian, did Serena have books in those languages on the shelves at home, was it important to Serena that her dark haired little fae child be educated, be cultured, be sophisticated? Was Olivia ever enough of those things to make her mother happy?

Iirc the shows don't ever address a personal connection between our mains and 9/11 with the exception of the late reveal that Tucker worked the cleanup and got cancer from it. And personally, I'm kinda glad that they didn't, bc I don't think the show has the skill to handle that topic well. The national conversation about police, and religion, and war and the state, was so deeply, deeply toxic post 9/11 that I shudder to think what a police procedural might have done in that moment in time. Sorkin is a playwright and a man whose work has always had a sharply (white) liberal political bent, and he presented a one hour bottle episode homily that was moving, true, but also deeply informed by his personal beliefs. His audience wasn't lowest common denominator middle America; a lot of middle America hated tww. Some people resent the episode in question, think it's patronizing or over simplifying. L&O was supposed to be for Everyman. Gently teaching middle America about the concept of consent and shyly saying "maybe solitary confinement is bad actually", but even then doing it carefully. Presenting issues as conversations between characters who take up opposing sides, instead of preaching one view point (in 1.0; later when 💡 came on board the show became more preachy). At the time of the attacks SVU didn't have an especially political bent, and given how high tensions were, how emotionally raw the city of New York was, given that everyone involved in making the show lived in NYC (tww was filmed mostly in LA and DC) and how many layers there were to people's feelings.... that's a really delicate line to walk, and the ramifications of doing it badly would be a show killer. Sometimes no response is better than a bad response.

So while I'm interested in the idea of how Liv and Elliot felt as cops working in Manhattan during 9/11, I am glad we don't have Dick Wolf's personal take on it entered in the record, and can instead save this for personal musing, fic, meta and the like. There is a lot to unpack there.

[sokkastyles]

Hi,

Thank you for your response to my previous query. Hope you are doing well.

I wanted to ask about Azula and Iroh. I have come across takes that Iroh could have helped Azula, or the gift he gave her was wrong. I can't help but wonder, did Iroh have any sort of relationship with Azula, because maybe he could have helped her if he did.

I would like your thoughts on this, and I apologize if I made any mistakes in my question, I am not well versed on this topic.

We just don't know very much about Iroh's relationship with Azula. What we do know is that he felt positively enough towards her to get her a gift, and literally nothing else from his end until after she tries to kill him, at which point he says she's crazy and she needs to go down.

What we know from Azula's end is that she felt that her uncle was a lazy fatso who she wanted to die so her father could be firelord, that she burned a gift he got her simply because it wasn't what she wanted, that she mocked him as a quitter and a loser for mourning the death of his son, that she tried to imprison and kill him.

The problem with "Iroh could have helped Azula" is the same problem with saying Ursa could or should have helped Azula. First, we don't know that he didn't try, and second, before she tries to kill him, the only interaction we are shown is positive on his end (getting her a gift), so there's no reason to believe he felt negatively towards her unless you are looking for a reason to blame the victim.

Again, the only interaction we have between them before Azula tries to kill him is positive on his part. We know he thought enough of her to get her a gift. Just because Azula didn't like the gift doesn't mean Iroh is at fault for giving it to her, and it definitely doesn't excuse any of her actions towards him. To hear people talk about the doll, you would think they would have preferred it if Iroh got her nothing. People talk about Iroh giving Azula a doll like it was an act of abuse, and it's utterly ridiculous and pretty ugly, honestly. I wonder if the people saying this would treat their relatives in a similar way if they got a gift they didn't like?

And the fact that giving her a gift she didn't like is seen as this huge crime is one of the big reasons why I lean more and more towards thinking he couldn't have helped her, actually, and why, although I do think Iroh would want to help his niece, I don't think she would accept that help.

Someone who destroys a gift a family member gives them because it wasn't what they wanted is someone who is not going to want help from others if it doesn't validate them. Azula saw no value in the doll and didn't care enough about Iroh to have any sentimental value for the gift or at least pretend to, and indeed, felt enough hatred for him to destroy something he gave her upon the moment she received it. What do you think she would do if he tried to help her in a way that went against her worldview and conception of herself?

Just like with Ursa, the problem is that people are assuming that Iroh must have done something wrong offscreen to justify Azula's hatred and violence. Which is the literal definition of blaming the victim. It would be one thing if Azula's attitude towards Iroh was specific to him, but it's not. This is how she treats everyone in her life who is not Ozai. At some point, when people have to constantly insist that every other character except Azula is at fault for her badness, you have to realize what the common denominator is.

Often the excuse I see is that Azula is a child, but the thing is, we've seen Azula manipulate and hurt people older than her, including adults and her older brother. We've seen her manipulate her mother and lie to her face when she wants access to Zuko to hurt him. We've seen her try to manipulate Iroh, for the same reason. If Iroh were the type to make excuses for her, even in an attempt to help her, he'd probably wind up as one of her victims, too. Iroh is kind but he's also smart, and lived with a brother and father who behaved in the same way so he knows what it looks like when someone is not going to accept help, but is only going to be interested in taking advantage of you.

It is not healthy to feel an obligation to fix someone who destroys gifts you give them, insults you, and tries to hurt you, and it's definitely not healthy to insist that other people have to do that. And the people who insist Iroh should have helped Azula are all too willing to find fault in something Iroh did for her for me to believe that they actually want her to be helped. What they really want is someone to blame for her behavior.

Yeah, I've heard all sorts of excuses about the doll; that Iroh is horrible for enforcing gender norms on Azula, that it was only a gift of obligation and he didn't really care (again, do YOU treat your relatives this way? Do you teach the children in your life to treat their relatives this way?) But in the end, what is more likely, that a character who is largely a positive force in the narrative is secretly malicious in getting his niece a gift, even though the text evidence says otherwise, or that a character who is largely a negative force in the narrative who has absorbed hateful ideology from her father is, in fact, a person who does hateful things?

[dont-call-me-algernon]

Hello, hello!

May I request a falsepretensesshipping (Grimsley x Colress) ramble? :)

Of course!

As clunky as their Official Fandom Ship Name™️ is, I want to virtually shake hands with whoever came up with it because they hit the nail on the head! The common denominator between them, the one similarity that first led me to believe they would have a pretty interesting dynamic despite the lack of canon interactions, is indeed deception.

Grimsley is all but stated to be a gambler, someone whose occupation requires bluffing on the regular, and who's not above cheating against a literal child when he meets the player character in SUMO and challenges them to a coin toss. Colress, on the other hand, doesn't quite lie to the player as much as conveniently omit all the details that would lead them to mistrust him – namely, his connection to Team Plasma. Now, we don't know what happens to him right after Plasma disbands, but the fact that he's apparently roaming the Alola region just a few years later leads me to think that he either struck a deal with the police or is straight up on the run, both of which are likely to require some amount of twisting the truth on his part, be it to downplay his involvement in the events of B2W2 so that the Interpol would be willing to turn a blind eye in exchange for information or to reassure everyone he meets that he's just a harmless little researcher who's never done anything wrong, ever, no need to alert the authorities, really.

Personally, I'm a big fan of ships involving characters who, given their respective history and general attitude, are in absolutely no position to judge one another too harshly, and instead come to see what the rest of the world would deem a terrible flaw or a very bad habit (like, say, lying constantly for pretty selfish reasons) as a funny quirk, or even as something to be appreciated. Given they both have lied and cheated their way through life, or at least a portion thereof, Grimsley and Colress are the perfect candidates for this type of dynamic. I don't know, something about the odd sense of comfort provided by the presence of someone you know is just as bad and blatantly flawed as you...

To top it off, what I'm also a big fan of is ships involving characters whose superficial differences in personality and temperament conceal deeper similarities. You look at Grimsley, former élite trainer with his nice suit and his shit eating grin, then you look at Colress with his machines and lab coats and his almost stereotypical genius scientist antics, and you'd be hard pressed to claim they have anything in common. And yet! And yet, when it comes down to it, they get along splendidly thanks to their shared laid back approach to morality and the aforementioned penchant for deception.

[kyogre-blue]

Nahida story quest is done. Special thanks to AC for sticking with me, I would have needed at least two weeks for it (if not two months) if we weren’t doing it in tandem. 

Special shoutout to this story quest for having the most absolutely broken moral messaging so far. 

The overall concept is super basic: NCPs who lost loved ones become obsessed with dreaming of the dead to escape their grief, and this can all be traced back to one dude who is using them for dream energy in order to power his lost loved one dream. 

Since this is Genshin, the message toward why these people shouldn’t just keep dreaming and need to wake up is extremely muddled and poorly implemented, while also having jackall to do with any playable character, thus making it lack both impact and any meaningful characterization benefit. But the issue is actually that Nahida TWICE repeats that people need to stop doing this because, you see, they are harming others. They have families who are counting on them, they have jobs, they should be contributing to society! 

“stop being selfish, you could be figuring out how to cure cancer if you’d just stop being emo, won’t you think of all the little cancer patients you could be saving??” 

It’s SUCH a fucked up approach to people being so stricken by grief that they were directed to a mental illness specialist (because that’s why they were specifically targeted, and given that their grief is the only common point between them, that’s probably what they were getting treatment for). Nahida mixes in some other points too, but this is the direction she takes twice and what she uses to break them out of it when the antagonist gets everyone to turn against her. It’s her main thrust. 

It really highlights that, not only are Genshin’s writers too inexperienced to convey messages, but they also just do not think about their messages at all. They really just do not give a shit and don’t know what deeper thinking is. This kind of story happens a lot in anime, so if they just ape it, it’ll be fine, right??

Additional points: 

Nahida additionally suffers from this when she tells a dude who feels trapped by his difficult job that he should just decorate his hammer, so he’ll feel better about having no way out of the dead end capitalist hellscape he’s in :) She’s not meant to come across this stupid, but she really does seem to be utterly detached from basic thinking. 

The writers make the entire team seem very stupid by just... never going beyond the absolute lowest denominator during the “strategy meetings” inside the dream. Given that everyone we encounter is suffering from losing a loved one, we can guess way early that the core of the dream is... someone who lost a loved one. 

Traveler’s sibling is not used at all, which is just... Genshin, I guess. 

Scaramouche 4shadowing. 

[desultory-novice]

Compared to other Nintendo series (and possibly others if you feel like talking about them), how would you rate Kirby lore? While I'm aware that there are some other series with more groundbreaking lore, I feel that lore in Kirby is just as well-balanced. If anything it leaves us fans to crave more of it and with each game it gives us more answers as well as questions.

:hopes this shows up:

I was going to immediately jump to saying "Kirby lore is great! The best!" but then I realize I've never played Splatoon (I'm sorry! I have an aversion to online battle games!) and that series seems like it has lots going on in it. And I could spiral off into a dozen other franchises I'm not familiar enough to rate them against Kirby lore. (And the only Mario "lore" video I've ever watched was the Double Cherry off a cliff one. Which is probably my favorite Mario video ever.)

I do feel like Kirby has become famous in recent years because of its lore. It's almost sad, though...? Like, people prop up the lore (which IS great) as a defense against all the people saying Kirby is a kid's franchise.

(It is and has always been an "all-ages" franchise. To say "that's the same thing as saying it's a kid's franchise" is, imo, very narrow-minded.)

"Hey, it's got "plot" so you can feel safe playing it!" But you should ALWAYS feel safe to play Kirby, whether you enjoy it for the lore or the characters or the gameplay! (People who want to make you feel bad for enjoying Kirby are the real jerks. I don't have a very high opinion of people who just write it off for the lowest common denominator jokes, either - looking at you, Honest Game Trailers)

This reminds me that I was just in a conversation with my SO about the gameplay "hints" in GoW Ragnarok and how intrusive and annoying they are and comparing them with Kirby's "say nothing" puzzles that I'm very fond of! I mean, people don't have a lot to say about puzzles in Kirby because they are "obvious" but what they actually are is puzzles that provide the solution via observation. Do you know how hard that is to get right?! That's why modern games HAVE those side characters telling you want to do left and right!!

Err.... I got off on a tangent.

To be honest, I'm not sure I can say for sure "ground-breaking lore" is? Are we talking Braid, where the whole game is either a metaphor for a) abusive relationships that ignore your partner's will to put them on a pedestal or b) the construction of the Atom Bomb?

I think the bits we get with each Kirby game are worthwhile. Look at how much we've built up this far over the course of dozens of games! Squeak Squad may be considered the most lore-lite title in the franchise, but when you think that Daroach was an early reveal for the FL animal kingdom, it becomes more interesting! (And who knows! Kumazaki may revisit Dark Nebula down the line, ala Triple Deluxe rescuing Amazing Mirror's plot!)

In that sense, I do agree with you that it is well-balanced! I haven't been "in the fandom" for a long time, but it seems to me there's always been enough cookie crumbs so we don't have a long dry spell between games. One of the longest (I believe?) was Star Allies to FL, but Star Allies also gave us three years of content to talk about, so!

[nobody-xalidin8]

A is for Aquaman

A while back I worked for a comic book review website called Do You Even Comic Book that renamed itself Comics Horizon and lasted around a year. From my limited perspective the site was forged out of a movement of people from Twitter that wanted to combat the growing Comicsgate movement. To have a real voice amongst the hate, I mostly just wrote reviews. I made a lot of short lived but impactful relationships with those strangers on the internet. I don’t talk to any of them anymore, but that’s just because I’m an anti-social autistic person that struggles with people he knows in person. So, if I’m gonna start this blog I wanna thank them before I get started.

When I would get stressed out or overstimulated as a kid, I would say the alphabet in DC comics characters. A is for Aquaman, B is for Batman, C is for Catwoman, etcetera. Now I’m the sort of guy that loves Marvel, DC, and any other comic indie or mainstream that I think is good, but for the life of me I couldn’t do the alphabet in anything other than DC characters. At least, not on the spot. So, I thought why not do a blog about DC characters and since Twitter seems to be dying thanks to Elon Musk I thought I’d try here on Reddit. I considered Tumblr, but that never clicked for me and Reddit seems to operate in a way I can vaguely comprehend so here we are.

I also wrote some articles on that website, mostly lists and conversations between me and other wordsmiths, that was our working title by the way, which was awesome. One of these was for the upcoming Aquaman movie. I don't think it ever saw the light of day, but I wrote a little thought piece titled “Why do we laugh at a Man that talks to Fish?” Based on the notion that I thought there was no sensible reason people laughed at Aquaman. Granted, like most superheroes, he’s not sensible by design.

Aquaman was created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Nortis to imitate the Timely Comics character Namor, the Sub-Mariner. A lot of comic book characters were imitations of other comic book characters back then, in fact a lot of characters are imitations in one way or another. I don’t think that makes them unoriginal. As Aquaman would very much become.

Now as many of you may know comic book canon is an ever changing and shifting thing. What was true one story could be untrue by the next issue. That said, here’s the baseline of Aquaman’s origin in the modern age. Arthur Curry is the son of a lighthouse keeper with strange powers, in reality he is half-human half-Atlantean and heir to the throne of Atlantis. He becomes a superhero that protects the seven seas against such threats as the pirate Black Manta, his evil half-brother Ocean Master, the fifth dimensional imp Qwsp, and the deadly assassin Mera that would later become his wife and mother to his child. He was also a founding member of the Justice League where a lot of the best or at least most consistent portrayals of the character take place.

Now that’s not the whole story and there’s a lot of other versions and a lot of weirder stuff. Aquaman is a victim of this ever changing mythology of comics. His appearance, personality, and narrative have changed harshly with the shifting of creative teams over the years. This was mostly due to the fact that despite being well known, he was never a very popular character. Because people saw him as silly.

Aquaman was a joke that people saw parodied in cartoons, SNL sketches, and offhanded comments in years. The common denominator of this joke being the fact that he could talk to fish. As if commanding a shark to strike isn’t cool or terrifying, if that’s the issue why are we terrified of the movie Jaws?

The short answer is presentation, Aquaman, like a lot of Golden Age comic characters, was ridiculous. Batman was too back in the day, but he grew out of that, got a serious take that helped the character grow out of the funny. Not that there’s anything wrong with funny, Adam West’s Batman is arguably the best and even Kevin Conroy’s portrayal in the animated series had a good bit of humor. The problem was people weren’t laughing with Aquaman, they were laughing at him, for no reason.

Thankfully the success of Jason Mania’s Aquaman helped give the character some structure and the King of Atlantis got a good run in the comics starting in the ill fated New 52 relaunch, that was a mixed success. Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, as well as other phenomenal creative teams, guided the character in the pages as James Wan guided him on the big screen. This has lead to the most consistent Aquaman to date, but this might not last because the Aquaman movie will be hurt by the Amber Heard trial, which is only her fault, and sucks. Plus he’s currently “dead” during the Dark Crisis event so who knows how the character will land is a mystery. We’ll like see more of Jackson Hyde as Aquaman, who Young Justice fans may know as Kaldur. Which would be awesome.

Well that’s the most I can ramble about Aquaman for a sec, except when I was looking into where we first started laughing at the character it was during Super Friends. People thought his swimming animation was silly, which is weird because they thought the flying was cool and it was the same thing just out of the water. He also talked to fish, but that always looked cool to me.