#i'm not that interested in narratively punishing people for their pasts

[calder]

Released in 2010, Obsidian Entertainment's Fallout: New Vegas actively concerns itself with the realities of gay existence, and is widely recognized as a noteworthy work of queer science fiction. New Vegas extensively examines social attitudes towards homosexuality among the game's major factions, and primarily conveys this lore through gay and bisexual characters describing their own experiences. It also allowed the player to mechanically set the Courier's sexual orientation. By taking both available perks, the player character can be bisexual. By choosing neither, the player can opt out of seeing flirtatious dialogue options.

Uniquely, Fallout: New Vegas explores homosexuality in the context of wasteland societies, and touches upon related issues. The core theme of New Vegas is that the desire to recreate the past is driven by irrational nostalgia, and any endeavor to manifest past glory is dangerous and doomed. The social issue of homophobia is used as a demonstrative example. The resurrection of corporate and military power structures presents new avenues for Old World problems such as institutional homophobia to reemerge. One of the many issues that divide the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion is the latter's open persecution of gay people. The NCR is described as tolerant and even accepting of same-sex relationships, though acceptance tends to fall off the further one moves away from the developed, urbanized core of New California. In recent years, the Republic's rapid economic transformation has led to an unforeseen erosion of the humanitarian ideals which it was founded to serve. In practice, to recreate America was to take on its shortcomings and its sins. As subsistence scavenging has dried up, the people of the NCR increasingly turn to wage labor, entrepreneurial venture, or military enlistment to keep their families fed. Meanwhile, their government enacts morally corrosive imperialism (narrative verbiage), their dominion expanding indefinitely as their infrastructure crumbles from within. This has led to a profit-based imperial monoculture which must conquer, consume, and coerce to perpetuate. As personal politics and service labor grow in importance, people find themselves more inclined to present as "normal" in the interest of financial stability and political expedience. A loading screen visualizes this culture of artificial social normalcy: the portrait of President Aradesh on the NCR 5$ bill neglects to depict his unibrow, earring, and facial scarification, overall portraying the once-chieftain so cleanly-cut as to be unrecognizable at first glance. He also appears to be wearing a collared shirt or suit as opposed to the robe he wore in Fallout.

In the Legion, Caesar has mandated that every legionnaire take a wife and produce children, citing high infant mortality rates and the constant need for soldiers, and going as far as instituting child quotas. He treats human beings as a resource to be exploited for war. Ostensibly in this aim homosexuality has been declared a capital offense punishable by death. Historically, routine demonstrations of violence towards women and gay people are a deliberate feature of fascist societies, the only logical cultural conclusion of a government devoted entirely to war and control. In Forlorn Hope letter 9, an NCR soldier wrote wrote the following to his boyfriend:

Dearest Andrew, Writing this seems pretty morbid, but tomorrow we march into the no man's land between our camp and Nelson, which is crawling with Legion. The Major insisted I write this damn "if you get this, I'm dead" letter so here it is. What a crock. I have the luck of the devil and your love on my side, so I'll be home soon. Keep the porch light on for me. We'll party in New Vegas when I get back. I love you. —Devin

Devin believed he would prevail over the Legion because his love would keep him safe. He was found dying or dead on the battlefield, the letter was found on his body. In a post-release patch, the injured soldiers were removed from the battlefield for performance reasons, and never re-implemented. Driven largely in reaction to the Legion's hyper-masculine posturing and misogyny, rumors persist across the Mojave that gay male relationships are not only common within the Legion, but condoned. These rumors are repeated commonly in NCR society. A closeted NCR Major mentions that the Legion is "a little more... forgiving" about close male "friendships," speaking in a hushed tone to avoid suspicion. At the same outpost, the player can encounter Cass, a bisexual civilian woman. She may flirt with a male Courier, who may imply they are gay, prompting her to imply gay men are more common in the Legion. Even as gay men fight and die in the name of love under his command, NCR General Oliver may remark to Courier Six at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam: "If you think after all that's happened, I'm going to grab my ankles and take it like the Legion..."

This writing pertains to institutionalized homophobia which manifests in practice though power structures and social interactions without being written into law. Simply put, in his derogatory remark, the general expresses to his army that military surrender is gay, much like their gay enemy. From the brevity and bluntness of this remark, it's clear that this sentiment is already well understood among his ranks. Logically, to project strength in the eyes of such a leader, one might also project homophobia by scrutinizing and harassing one's peers and subordinates. In this atmosphere, the expression of homophobia is not only normalized, but materially incentivized. For the ambitious, it becomes a tool, and a way of casting shame upon rivals. For the closeted, homophobia becomes a survival tactic, hoping to throw scrutiny off oneself. This is why Major Knight is immediately frightened when a male Courier flirts with him. He is so profoundly alienated that he romanticizes life as a gay man under the Legion. The Legion punish homosexuality with death, and yet Knight characterizes them as more "forgiving" than the NCR. Through these apparently disparate events, the audience can trace how a distorted perception of gay people emerges among insecure men in a military environment, and subsequently becomes ingrained in the corresponding civilian culture. At the 188 Trading Post, a lesbian from the Brotherhood of Steel named Veronica also wryly remarks that she believes legionaries have gay sex about as often as straight sex. She also notes that this only applies to men, as women have no rights whatsoever in Legion society. In this aside, she conveys a pre-existing frustration with lesbophobic social norms. Veronica also mentions that the people of her bunker would rather she remain on the surface. The Mojave Brotherhood of Steel has no official policy prohibiting homosexuality, but an implicit attitude among its dominant members that their limited numbers require everyone to have children to avoid extinction. Numerically, this may seem logical on the surface, given their reluctance to recruit outsiders. However, given their tiny population, this is an ineffective countermeasure, as they do not have nearly enough members to maintain genetic diversity for more than a few generations. This approach is not universally supported by all family units within the Brotherhood, but every individual is ultimately at the mercy of the elder. Veronica was in a lesbian relationship, but they were quietly separated by Elder Elijah, due to the dominant culture of enforcing heterosexual pairing among their population.

Caesar's law has not ended homosexuality within his domain. Despite the obvious risks, some legionaries have continued to pursue relationships behind closed doors, especially given their access to slaves. So long as members complete their societal obligations and fulfill the child quotas, they are able to pursue romance with other men in secret. Homosexual relationships in the faction are noted as being relatively equal compared to the average Legion husband and wife, in a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" sort of open secret policy. Gay legionaries must always make sure to keep their activities hidden. A centurion was once almost caught fraternizing with the teenage boy he had chosen to tend his tent. Despite previous "romantic" intentions, he quickly resolved to dispose of the slave to dispel suspicion. Had they been caught together, the centurion would have been charged with homosexuality and sentenced to death. This story is only known because the enslaved young man, Jimmy, managed to escape execution. Further illustrating the cruelty intrinsic to Legion governance, it's stated that homosexuality was the crime, and not the rape of a young slave; in fact, it seems Jimmy was forced to contribute to the child quota despite being a gay teenager, and the experience left him traumatized. He has resolved to never have sex with another woman, as the very notion triggers memories which fill him with disgust, and (in his own words) makes him feel like a slave all over again. The Strip is indifferent to gay people, viewing them as another opportunity to make caps. Both the Gomorrah and the Atomic Wrangler are interested in maximizing profits, and their prostitution services cater to clients regardless of their orientation. The openly gay Jimmy works at nearby Casa Madrid, but there is some tension among his peers due to his co-worker Maude's blatant homophobia. She supposes he's "okay, for one of those," and if propositioned by a female Courier, Maude will direct them to Sweetie for such "perverted" services. Pretty Sarah must regularly intervene to keep the peace among her staff.

The Followers of the Apocalypse, well-read punks who seek to embody healing through anarchistic values, are not concerned with gender. Most are openly and casually sexually active. Upon meeting Courier Six, Arcade Gannon offhandedly makes his gayness known, unprompted. The audience must face the fact that Arcade's apprehension of the Legion is far from abstract; under Legion law, he would be put to death. One possible ending gives further insight into Caesar's hypocrisy: should the player sell Arcade into slavery and leave Caesar alive, he will keep Arcade as a personal physician and philosophical advisor. They intellectually spar at length, and Caesar grows singularly fond of him. Accordingly, Arcade imitates the historic suicide of Cato the Younger by disemboweling himself. The Legion's remaining medics attempted to save his life, but none were Arcade's equal. Caesar understood his doctor's final gesture of contempt, and mourned him for months.

New Vegas ventures further into themes of healing from the trauma of sexual violence, from the perspective of a lesbian character. Corporal Betsy, an NCR sharpshooter, is a rape survivor, and suffers with PTSD from the incident. Her unprocessed trauma has manifested as a maladaptive tendency to aggressively and explicitly proposition the women she encounters, in an effort to reassert a sense of control. This defensive hypersexual impulse has negatively impacted her ability to connect with other women. A male superior officer notes that her behavior is inappropriate for anyone of her stature, but abstains from disciplining her out of sincere concern for her mental health. The Courier can help her begin to recognize these problems, and convince her to seek treatment from Doctor Usanagi at the New Vegas medical clinic, which proves helpful to her as she processes and heals from her trauma.

In Old World Blues, the Think Tank are five floating brains in jars who express themselves by waving robotic arms bearing screens depicting facial features. Before the War, they were federal scientists who committed crimes against humanity in the name of weapons development. Each is stuck in some sort of neuro-bionic feedback loop which prevents them from moving forward with their projects, mentally binding them to their central laboratory. Walking through their homes at Higgs Village, it's clear each was deeply neurotic before they were transformed into floating brains. Now without bodies, they attempt to maintain the illusion that they are exempt from sexuality as purely mental beings, but each displays obvious interest in the human form. They have codified this shaming with the term "formography." Most of the men are obsessively defensive over their complete disinterest in penises, which they talk about constantly. However, the shameless Dr. Dala shows overwhelming interest in observing and recording any and all human functions. Already androgynous in her pre-War life, Dala has taken to self-identifying as a "gender neutral entity" (though she is not known to use they/them pronouns). Regardless of the Courier's gender, they may coquettishly scratch themselves, clear their throat, and stretch in front of Dala until her biomed gel decoagulates. Dr. 8 also responds positively to graphic masturbation advice from Couriers of either gender. The X-8 research facility is ostensibly a massive immersive shrine to Doctor Borous's hatred of Richie "Ball-Lover" Marcus, a long-dead child who bullied Borous centuries ago. He also clings to his resentment of one Betsy Bright, who refused to attend a dance with him, supposedly so she could "go smoke with RICHIE MARCUS." Clearly arrested in development, Borous has literally built a temple to the fantasy of torturing his adolescent romantic rival and feeding him to dogs. His frozen, static characterization of the jock Richie Marcus as a "pinko-commie" who "likes balls" reflects the shallowness, pettiness, and overall misanthropy underlying his patriotic identity. It remains apparent throughout Old World Blues that the Think Tank are all chronically sexually repressed, which is inseparable from the values of the violent and judgmental pre-War culture which created them. With time and isolation, this ingrained repression has manifested as various intense and deranged psychosexual behaviors, including rage-fueled homophobia, voyeurism, and the obsessive performance of puritanical pretense.

____

“Although I’ve been out for a very long time, I made a conscious effort to be out with relation to this project, as I wanted to be visible as a lesbian in the game industry. New Vegas itself is, I think, one of (if not the) best games out there in how we treat homosexuality – and all of that is very intentional.”

“If my work on FNV, if my being out has helped even one gay person, then I have succeeded.” — Tess “Obsidian’s Gay Cowgirl” Treadwell

____

written (with help from other editors) for fallout.fandom.com/wiki/LGBT_representation_in_the_Fallout_series criticism welcome

[harvey-guillen]

at this point it almost feels like joe alwyn was the one kept locked away for 6 years because the man couldn't fill up his car or get a haircut without getting stalked. the photos coming out now are at events where he has an opportunity to know it's coming, select his clothing and styling, wear a pin representing a cause that's important to him. he has control of his appearances now instead of gritting his teeth during pap walks for backgrid.

we know how ts feels when she feels the narrative is being pulled out of her control ("gaslit by an entire system"). a sense of control over one's own life seems essential for sanity and i don't think it's fair for people to gloss over the part where she agreed to the level of privacy he needed and publicly endorsed it during some of her media statements made during the relationship (which i applaud for being unusually restrained and mature at the time). extreme extroverts and extreme introverts can try to make it work but neither is wrong if it doesn't work (if the breakdown is specifically about that difference between them) and it's kinda crappy to couch it in terms of "being locked away" now. especially since some of the locking away was due to a global pandemic.

joe alwyn wasn't on my radar for most of the 6 years except 1) i felt her music entered a new era of relationship contentment and grown up sensuality that reflected late 20s/early 30s womanhood and then transitioned into a more literary set of albums (folkmore) that had a broader focus thematically and 2) i heard little about him and there was effectively zero romantic drama for 5 full years. what a break for her (and us!).

now i'm more impressed by him than ever. he's quiet in the wake of it all, focuses on his industry commitments and the work he's doing, and absolutely glows with newfound relaxed joy. i absolutely do not think women shouldn't be entitled to have strong, deep emotions and write about those experiences. her work is perhaps the strongest ever in terms of conveying a feminine quixotic, idealized romantic viewpoint and then the flipside of idealizing (it's giving BPD!!!) which is devaluation/disillusionment/disenchantment, resentment, feelings of being deceived or let down ("maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up" being the early and best example).

the way joe has handled this, though, has made his status in my mind go from "just some guy" to an example of stability and fortitude that interests me. I personally believe that not publicly suffering is not necessarily a sign of callous lack of empathy - sometimes it means maturity and perspective. sw*fties harassing her exes want/ed to see a public mea culpa/punishment/expression of suffering that they feel equals their idols' - it's giving fatal attraction from those fans. maybe we don't need our past partners to suffer. maybe processing feelings involves personal reflection and doesn't require another party.

i'll leave off with this to support idealization/devaluation (the classic bpd trend):

Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes

'Cause I can't help it if you look like an angel

Say you're sorry, that face of an angel

And I damn sure would've never danced with the devil

Dear reader, when you aim at the devil

He looks up, grinning like a devil

[distant-velleity]

“Now… Shall we share a dance?”

[SR] Sinner's Garb Yuhua is here!!! For @beneathsakurashade's fan event~

I. I lowkey think I MASSIVELY misinterpreted the event's rules but--- But------ If I was wrong just pretend it's an alternate universe where he got this role 🔥🔥🔥🔥 (School has fried my brain I am so sorry) I also just came up with the name for the card on my own so I'm also sorry about that OTL I'm really taking too many creative liberties

Anyway um you can tell I've fixated on Evillious Chronicles before so. Yeah!!! UI-less card and voicelines are continued under the cut as per usual <3

~

Summon: A tale of seven sinners and their punishments… Sounds interesting. 

Groovification: — LOCKED — 

Set to Home Screen: The stage is set, and the actors are in place~

Home Transition 1: “I haven’t yet told you that I love you…” ♪ Isn’t that tragic? All these sinners met pretty ironic endings.

Home Transition 2: I heard that there’s going to be a party after the musical. I might not go, though; parties aren’t always my… thing. …but they did promise refreshments…

Home Transition 3: The best actors are the ones who understand their characters. Like, hating your past self so much that you’d erase any trace of it… I get that feeling a little.

Home, after login: “Seven flowers dance and sin is now released / I cover the ugliness of my true self as I continue to drown in lust…” ♪

Home Transition (Groovification): — LOCKED —

Tap Home 1: Isn’t this role better for taller people? I lose any enchanting aura I could have had when you realize I’m short… Well, at least these boots have heels. 

Tap Home 2: Any performer worth their salt should be able to prevent personal feelings from interfering too much with their performance… in theory. *sigh*…

Tap Home 3: According to the duke’s story, the vessel of lust is a sword. I actually dabbled in swordplay for a year, so I’m not totally out of my element. 

Tap Home 4: If I had to assign myself a deadly sin, I don’t think it would be lust. But I guess that’s what makes this musical so fun—exploring the narratives of people who did give in and sell their souls. 

Tap Home 5: Aren’t you afraid of what might happen if you look into “my” eyes for too long? Haha~  

Tap Home (Groovification): — LOCKED —

~

taglist (ask to be added or removed): @thehollowwriter @theleechyskrunkly @elenauaurs @casp1an-sea @nahelenia

@skriblee-ksk @boopshoops @scint1llat3 @nyx-of-night @nemisisnemi

@the-banana-0verlord @kathxrat-01 @lumdays @twistedwonderlandshenanigans

[dimespin]

you're world-building is some of my favorite! I'm curious if there's already a comic or some narrative of the like that I may have overlooked? Totally fine if you prefer just to manifest in the way of sketches and descriptions- I am curious; if anything were possible how do you envision your world manifesting if any differently than presently?

No, I doubt you're overlooking anything.

I'm chronically ill, so my preferences are unfortunately not the only thing dictating my choices. I'd prefer to do graphic novels, and still want to, but I have learned from past experience saying that too many times publicly in a week gets me hate mail. I understand my work is in some ways a kind of mythological greek punishment (there is a reason my old picarto channel was titled "Like The Punishment of Tantalus"- I think this blog may have had that title too at one point I forget) - I can only hope most people enjoy what I show more than they hate me for what's missing.

If anything at all were possible I'd still want comics, I believe deeply in comics as an art form and I feel the kind of stories I want to tell and the visual element I want involved best suits the medium.

Animation interests me but mostly because I think some people could do interesting things with the wiggle room of adaptation - I wouldn't see myself as the captain at the helm with that.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

I am really getting annoyed with people said "loki is just narcissistic person, strange is just arrogant doctor, Wanda is just selfish crazy", okey they are lie that more than that but somehow everyone forgetting that they have trauma and pain(not justify bad actions but still) and they keep insist that they need getting more punishment.

Then we have stark, yeah we know him and if someone say he is just arrogant selfish billionaire other standard will say he ore than that and they said stark didn't deserve punishment what he did , really?

I am have to say I have one fanfic not Wanda friendly but I take theme in MOM because how I hate Wanda in MOM (thanks Waldron make me hate Wanda) from all her on screen MOM is in my hate list.

Also you can see how many Wanda, loki and strange got punishment in fanfic rather than stark, they justify his actions.

They never cared to humanize Stark's victims. We just had that woman in CW who was written horribly and to make matters worse, Stark was framed sympathetically in that scene. Go figure! And of course that scene is followed by him claiming the entire team has to be """held accountable""" (not just him, the team) and when some of them push back he's shown to be the rational one. What a joke.

With that kind of absolute narrative protection, is it any wonder so many people claim he feeling bad for 0.2 seconds is enough?

Whereas with Wanda we know the names of the people she hurt, we heard them speak and explain how much pain they were in. (I always laugh every time I see someone claim WandaVision was on Wanda's side.. lol no).

In Loki's case, his whole past and characterization were retconned and simplified by Waldron and Feige, and those around him were framed in a positive light while he was shown as an evil character who will always have to be paying for his mistakes. Odin, Thor, Sylvie, Mobius... none of them are held accountable so the difference in framing is even clearer.

And with Stephen, he's so unlucky that he got his own movie taken from him and once again his story was simplified for some reason I do not understand. His pain, sacrifices, his story are an afterthought in MoM and ironically enough, he was written miles better in NWH than in his own film. And of course, we got other characters telling him he's evil, he's selfish, he's a villain, bla bla.

In short: he's defined (negatively) by others. Just like Loki. Ever see them defining or defending themselves? Nah. If they defend themselves they're "arrogant" and "narcissistic" 🙄

So I'm not surprised those three are treated like crap by the fandom while Stark is praised to the heavens and back.

Stephen, Wanda and Loki are not perfect. But the thing is... they don't need to be. In fact, they shouldn't be. That's what makes them so interesting, it's what sets them apart from the clear-cut heroes. What we should be getting about them is the why they're not perfect + the circumstances behind their actions and beliefs, those are crucial when it comes to morally grey characters. Otherwise we just end up with "they did x so they're y" bullshit writing.

[lej222]

Hlw! Would love to see your analysis on if jisu likes miae romantically or not. Hope u'll do that sometimes😊don't feel pressured tho it’s just my wish❤️

Sorry for the late reply, but here is a long post about my thoughts about Jisu's character arc, including spoilers from episode 147 (these are just my ramblings, my word is not gospel :D)

Does Jisu like Miae romantically?

Now, this is a hard question to answer. And I will try my best to break down what we know about him so far.

We only have two fragments of the time when Jisu and Miae were classmates. The first one is when Miae called out Jisu's bullies and she asked him the same question Jisu repeated years later to her (important!) about scolding the bullies. The other memory was Jisu's transfer to another elementary school. He was forced to write a letter and mentions how he liked Miae the most and the whole class, including Miae, cry their heart out. Jisu remembers how hard Miae sobbed and Miae can also recall someone telling her they liked her, but doesn't remember the boy's face or name.

Years later after moving around, Jisu ends up in the same school with her again in the spring semester in 1998. He is surprised, even more so when they become classmates in the following year, but doesn't care enough to interact with Miae. Coincidences keep happening - her pencil landing at his chair, they get sent out to the corridor, they become folk dance partners, he finds her name tag and uses it to avoid punishment, they get detention the same time. And Jisu still doesn't care about the whole situation, not until their actual detention week starts when he initiates conversation for the first time. This is when Jisu concludes their random encounters are fun and Miae is an interesting person. (Edit:: I'm rereading the story, and actually the turning point of their relationship is when Miae tries to save him from the teacher when they ruined the plant. It's possible Jisu doesn't let anyone close to himself and was intentionally petty towards Miae in the beginning until she decided to help him. We see that Jisu is greatly speechless in that scene and decides to flip over the plant. My best guess is that he might have realized Miae is still the same person as she was back then and she's still brave so Jisu becomes active for the first time for her and takes the blame. It is probably also the moment he concludes being around Miae is fun)

Based on these alone, I'm inclined to believe that even if Jisu loves her romantically at this point of the story, he's not aware of it. For him, being around Miae is exciting because she is fun. She doesn't remember him at all, but she's still the same person as she was years ago in elementary school so Jisu feels comfortable around her which didn't go unnoticed by their homeroom teacher or Jisu's mother. Miae probably doesn't understand why people keep emphasizing his unique personality and connect the dots, but we readers can easily assume Jisu was bullied because of his difference. And it is something he shares with Miae so he might feel like she understands him, or rather, she doesn't treat him differently because of it. It's a situation that can easily bloom into love with time, even if he's not there yet.

But why is Jisu is important in this story?

One thing I always see people complaining about is Jisu's plot relevance. However, it is a much more complex narrative choice than just a simple love triangle.

I have said this before, but memories and fate are intertwined in this story. There are just too many clues that support this. Miae doesn't remember Cheol at the beginning of the story, she even has trouble recalling his name. As the plot progresses and we see more of her memories, fate keeps throwing them together and they develop a friendship that turns into romantic love. In fact, it's a recurring point in the story that Miae keeps forgetting important things. Her dreams, things she must do, Jisu's entire presence in the past.

Which takes me to my next point, the unidentified higher power in the story. It's been always present, at first only giving small signs of its existence in the form of phone calls or changing the weather. Let's remember that lots of times Miae and Cheol had a moment it started raining (Miae's dream about Cheol, when he helped changing the light bulb, when they wanted to take a photo together). However, the unknown presence's voice gets more and more active as thes tory goes on. Not only it starts interacting with Miae in her dreams, she can also hear it in certain situations and wonders where it came from. In fact, when she is talking to Cheol's shoe in one of the very first chapters, she has a weird feeling for a second and we get a close up on the shoe. This supernatural (?) power has always been involved with Miae, but it starts to be more aggressive.

Not only it tells Miae that she's too late and it tried to warn her, in the newest chapter it floods every scene with car ads that are about changing one's car. So the mysterious entity clearly tries to intervene, giving chance encounters to Miae and Jisu while preventing Miae and Cheol's relationship (like how they cannot have a photo together).

Okay, so what does it mean?

It is something I obviously cannot answer as I'm not the writer.

BUT let's not forget that someone like Jisu in this story, who was shown to have exceptional cognitive skills (like knowing every person's name whom he's ever met, being first in the school and likely is on the spectrum), also has excellent memory. And what did I say about memories and fate? That they are seemingly intertwined! Jisu is writing his own fate, he appeared later in the story because he chose to not get involved until that point! He is the character who is aware of everything in the past and present. While Miae has trouble with her memories, and what do we see? Fate aggressively trying to steer her.

At the end of the day, we have two routes that are possible:

Miae is fated to be with Jisu, fate/the stone deity/the universe knows it and tries to warn Miae her time with Cheol is short so she shouldn't have any regrets. In this case, the story is about how Cheol and Miae helped each other in a certain period of their lives, but had different fates set in stone.

Miae was fated to be with Jisu, and the higher power knows it, but Miae will change her own fate to be with Cheol instead. In this case, in the remaining chapters we will see her fighting against her own destiny and win in the end.

At this point, I feel like I have to mention I've studied philosophy for quite a few years, and I highly doubt we can get a satisfactory explanation of any of these possibilities. But rather, it will be a simple:

even though we were not fated together, I cherished our time together

or love overcomes destiny itself

Other interesting idea

This is just for fun, but the comic Miae reads is a clear symbol of her relationship with Cheol. They have almost every cliche in the book (with sometimes a little twist) like troubled boy meeting childhood friend, becoming neighbours with their windows facing each other, accidentally seeing the other's body, falling on each other first kiss, etc. This is your typical 90s shoujo manga which makes sense because the story takes place in the 90s.

On the other hand, we have the chaotic meetings of Jisu and Miae who bond over trash, don't get the accidental kiss trope, etc. And whether it's meant to illustrate that they will only remain friends or it's meant to be a contrast to Miae and Cheol's comic book romance, I don't know. Depends on the ending the author wants to convey. I would be fine with either possibilities as long as Jisu won't be used as a plot device.

Plus, Miae&Jisu and Cheol&Miae parallel each other a lot. Just coming from the latest chapters, Miae has interacted with Jisu's mom, but not really Cheol's parents. Cheol has interacted with Miae's parents. Miae is bothered by Jisu. Cheol was bothered by her. Cheol saying the same thing Miae said to Jisu. These are all definitely intentional.

As usual, please don't take my words seriously, this is just all for fun.

Edit: there's one other interesting thing to consider:

Jisu is aware of the coincidences and thinks they are fun. He's been saying this for a while. Which means if there's indeed a higher power in the story, Jisu is accepting of fate.

Miae, on the other hand, willfully rejects her own fate. Let's say Miae and Cheol's meeting was bound to happen - it was also their destiny. She acknowledged those coincidences and even wondered how strange they were. So the higher power was content. But what if, according to their fate, their time together is indeed short? Because Miae rejects her coincidental meetings with Jisu, saying how she hopes she won't meet him again, only for the higher power to be more aggressive and take on an active voice. In the last chapter, she even kicked the flyer away about changing one's car, only for her to end up with a bubble gum in her hair so she was forced to get a haircut from Jisu's mother. Jisu's question last chapter is more than just him asking to play together - it's a chance for Miae to go into the direction the higher power wants her to be.

The real questions:

Is fate something one can overcome? Are certain things bound to happen and we can only decide how to deal with them emotionally? Is the narrator/higher power omnipotent and omniscient? Because if it is, can Miae still decide what's the best for her? These are the truly complicated questions that we cannot answer because there are no answers. So I'm excited to see what Soonkki will come up as the resolution.

[mutsukiss]

Reading the first book is actually insightful on the last episode because without it the whole "you're so boring!!!!" rant comes very out of the blue. In the show Louis is SUPER tame about himself as a vampire and vampires in general because he reduces himself to this weird self flagellation cycle of "oooh I'm so bad and evil I kill people how will I ever live with myself *becomes a serial killer*" and he doesn't have much,, care? Love? Appreciation? For himself and his life. He's just stumbling around and being a victim of the narrative. Things happen to him and sometimes he's an active participant, and that's it.

In the book Louis is SO eager to go and learn to be a vampire and do vampire things and explore what being a vampire is. He makes references constantly about how his first experiences were rushed and messy and got him this extreme high he searches for everywhere, and is immensely frustrated because Lestat is instead reduced to someone who is solely focused on his own damaging cycle and has no desire to enjoy the trip, just to chase the high. Show!Louis engages in hobbies and has his own opinions and boundaries and makes them know but he also doesn't ask or suggest or even demand a lot of times, specially/specifically with Armand. He says "this is how I'm going to go through this thing, you are free to take it or not but I'm not following after if you decide to not agree" and it puts people in a position. He's paradoxically giving others the freedom to follow their own rules, but by creating a punishing situation. Don't come to see me if you want me to join the coven, we don't need to put a name to our relationship, ignore that I imagine Lestat when I'm with you. These are mostly understandable requests knowing his background and context that still put Armand in a difficult position and he's not really given any wiggle room around them. Armand attempts to get into Louis' world and enter him in Armand's, but Louis isn't really interested in anything outside of what he finds comfortable or familiar and doesn't have a lot of drive to go and pursue new things about him nor others around him unless he's accompanied or pushed by another character, the being exception the interview in the present.

The overzealous, identity-missing, heartstruck Armand; in all of his own manipulative and calculating skills and habits, agrees to Louis roaming around to cruise and drug, fuck, kill and get high from 128 !! persons in the 70's only, cleaning after him, and we are given the image that he has never complained about this ever, not ONCE. We see Armand giving in to whatever Louis says, having kind gestures to him, spending time with him, having what I believe is infinite patience. I dont think these are difficult or unpleasant tasks for him, i dont think they are tasks at all. He is courting and ¿dating? someone and these interactions are obviously pleasurable to him. Armand says if Louis wanted for him to go away he just had to ask, and even after we are made aware of him tampering with Louis' and Daniel's memories, i believe that had Louis asked him that he would have complied. So WHAT is Louis looking for that he couldn't ask Armand for and have him agree to. If what he is expecting or wanting is resistance, HOW does that make Armand boring. How can Armand refuse Louis when that implies a complete negative, a total refusal of future positive interactions. What more was there for Armand to do in that situation?

Ultimately I think Louis is coping as best as he can and he has realized he is resorting to harmful behaviors and attempting to recreate past toxic dynamics, and that it won't make him happy because it didn't make him happy in the past, but that he is equally unhappy now even when things are supposed to be "fine", whatever his defintion of fine is. And this is something that would have been incredibly more clear if Show!Louis had been given Book!Louis' wanderlust and eagerness to learn and do new things, because with that in context, the conversation in the flat makes complete sense to me, even if it's still unfair for both parties, but it's something that may feel so sudden and out of the blue for show only viewers.

[t00thpasteface]

I forgot if I've already asked you this question, but who is your number one favorite Fictional Antagonist from Media? Rules are as follows; feel free to ignore:

If you want to choose a recurring villain like Bowser or The Joker, you have to choose a particular incarnation of this character. Like Alan Moore's Joker or Paper Mario 64's Bowser.

Specific Characters/Entities Only. You can't say, "Haunted Houses that aren't haunted by, like, a single ghost or anything in particular" like my mom wanted to. She settled firmly on "The Overlook Hotel" and she's a stronger person for it.

Villainous Duos like Boris & Natasha are accepted.

People have a hard time picking a #1, so you're allowed to list as many runner-ups as you like. Listen to your heart.

Protagonists who are their own worst enemies don't count!

Villainous characters who are protagonists in their story are very begrudgingly accepted. Whether or not George Costanza (A Villainous Protagonist) or Detective Columbo (A Heroic Antagonist) count is beyond the scope of this paper.

Thank you for your time!

hmmmm!! that's a really interesting question to chew on actually.

i'm not usually drawn to villains or villain-driven stories, outside of games that necessitate it as a gameplay mechanic or genre staple a la mario games or your standard JRPGs. and i wouldn't call a glorified game mechanic a character if they really don't do much besides throw barrels at the player to jump over. porky and giygas are exceptions but honestly not much; they aren't very complicated characters, even though they're snappily written, and most of where they shine is just the fact that they're one well-placed load-bearing piece in a larger cohesive narrative. they don't really capture my attention outside of their gameplay role.

i'm overall much more compelled by Romantic with a capital R stories about internal, oftentimes more abstracted struggles. i mean, i don't have to tell you that my favorite books EVER are "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Great Gatsby," both of which play with deuteragonists as foils to the narrator that inevitably spiral and leave the reader with something of a thought exercise regarding the intersection of nature versus nurture, intent versus action, past versus future, et cetera. the characters themselves are symbolic of sociological concepts so much larger than themselves, and because of that, they can't truly be classified into "hero" or "villian", because the topics those books grapple with are so incredibly messy and morally-fuzzy that the characters who exemplify them must reflect that same complexity and nuance.

as soon as a story starts to veer towards "all our problems are caused by One Guy who we can remove from the equation forever," it usually loses me, or if nothing else it just makes me zone out when the villain and his evil army of doom is on screen until we're back to introspective character-building moments between the protags, deuterags, etc. i'm the boring guy who likes slow, dialogue-driven things more than flashy show tunes.

ALL THAT BEING SAID......

villains really only shine (for me) if they're funny as fuck. that's the one way they can really get my attention as a character that has, by definition, been written into a unilaterally negative role that must be booed. they get to be FUNNY! and they get to be my favorite kind of funny: insane slapstick funny. i like seeing cartoony villains get absolutely pulverized, thrown around like wet dishrags, set on fire, flung off cliffs, you name it. the zanier the better. so here's my own elite 4 in ascending order:

fourth is 2012 avengers movie Loki. very hammy, very showy, extremely puncheable face, and he takes SO much physical punishment and writhes like a worm the whole time. super fun.

third is pokemon's Archie. emerald is my favorite game but archie SHINES in alpha sapphire. he's such a huge personality and he takes hits with a smile. and then he gets a big fuzzy redemption at the end because this is a game for kids, but even that is so over-the-top cornball that i just laugh and smile the whole time instead of rolling my eyes. a good wholesome time was had by all.

second is Mr. Burns in the simpsons. let me preface this by saying i really don't watch anything after, ehhhh, i'd say season 8 or 9, because that's about where my box sets ended growing up. any episode where Mr. Burns gets some slapstick gags about his incredibly frail body that runs on pure evil is a good episode. i especially love "the springfield files," "homer the smithers," "homer at the bat," and "who shot mr burns" parts 1 and 2.

and my favorite is undoubtedly Sheldon J. Plankton. similar situation as simpsons; i don't watch anything after seasons 1-3 and the first movie. he commands every single scene he's in, which is especially impressive given that he's literally just a single tiny copepod. he's got the best villain laugh EVER. he's even a delight in the game "battle for bikini bottom"... you GOTTA check out BFBB Rehydrated if you like the spirit and snark of the early seasons. i love him in "walking small," "F.U.N.," "the algae's always greener," and of course, the movie. he's evil! he's diabolical!! he's LEMON SCENTED!!!!

[bees-tes-blog]

Wokestone here. :) Arisen #1, Arisen #3, Arisen&Pawn #14, World&Story #5

questions from here!

Arisen - Whether they remember or not, where are they from?

dd2 jesse grew up by the sea under the harve village chief(at the time)'s roof—his birth parents died when he was too young to remember them. when he was barely an adult, the man who raised him died one night protecting the village from a monster raid. it was eventually decided that jonas—the current chief—would take his place. naturally, tensions were high for a very long while between the son of the chief and the piece of work that replaced him, and it was no one's surprise when jesse, still grieving, ignored orders for the last time and was banished. he ended up in melve where he befriended ulrika and in time decided to stay, though it didn't last long. and you know the rest.

Arisen - Do they ever get their memory back; if they do, does that change how they interact with the narrative, and if they don’t how do they feel about that loss?

jesse begins to piece together what little he can of his history guided by his instincts and the rare clue he picks up, but he gets his memory back. rather unfortunate, since finding a way to restore what was taken from him is his main motivation for pursuing disa's plot in the beginning. its loss troubles him deeply, especially at first—with no memories, no heartbeat, only an inexplicable drive towards something he can't yet identify, he's barely more than a puppet.

Arisen & Pawn - What do they bond most over?

for both jesse, who often suffers the consequences of being more blunt than he means to, and mati, who's usually preoccupied with the expectations he places on himself as a pawn, sharing a bond where they both feel free to speak openly is a relief. when they're more comfortable with each other mati becomes one of the few people jesse can truly rely on and be candid about the weight of his charge with. jesse is the only one mati ever begins to drop the formalities around. mati gets used to the idea that he can ramble about whatever topic's grabbed his interest and jesse will be glad to listen, and he won't be punished for his private little gibes about interesting individuals they've met. they're kind of little haters together.

World & Story - What does the ending and its aftermath look like for them? 

this is something I'm still pondering myself, but I've spoken about it a little here and there, so this is a good opportunity to put the bits and pieces in one place. my take is that with the help of his pawn, jesse succeeds in killing PF for good, freeing the world of their influence. but as he plummets to the bottom of the sea, through his will he chooses to continue the cycle and go through it all again (albeit without PF's interference) just to allow his world and the people in it to persist. he's come to love the world "too much to leave it behind" : ) mati returns to the rift to regenerate his proper form and wait patiently for his master's call, something inside him knowing jesse is not gone. but when he is resummoned, the arisen before him remembers nothing of their bond, nor the journeys they shared, nor the sacrifices they both made. jesse can't understand right away what comes over him when it's time to select his pawn. but as they begin to rebuild their bond, he gets the feeling this familiar stranger really means it when he says they've been here before. and mati will wait for him to remember their past lives no matter how long it takes. they're in a purgatory of sorts—one of their own choosing—but in every cycle they experience, the people they care about get to keep living their lives and they get to stay at each other's side. they'll keep choosing it every time.

[fatheriimaginedyoutaller]

(SCRIPT PREVIEW)

Hey ya'll. Hope you're all having a great afternoon! I'm here to bring you a little update about this post.

After watching some video essays for inspiration, I began developing a draft for a script about Robin: Son of Batman (2015). Analyzing the story implications, themes and motifs! :)

And because ya'll been so supportive of my nerdy endeavours, you guys are getting a special preview of the aforementioned draft! (criticisms accepted of course!)

Part of the script avaliable under cut

tagging in: @fancyfade @fluffykitty149 @cleoeatsit

The first issue of the comic run starts with Damiam returning some sort of cultural artifacts to their rightful owners; an order of monks in mainland China.  So, immediately, we got this Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones kind of plot point.  

(Man I sure hope it doesn’t get abandoned halfway through and pivots to portraying  the replacement of an autocracy with another autocracy where the head of state its not even from the country as a good thing)

ahem…

He gets interrupted by League of Assassins members which he fights off with the help of his pet, Goliath the Bat-dragon. He wins said fight and is lavished for returning the sacred object by the locals

All while a masked figure is observing the scene while saying: 

“(...) there cannot be redemption for the year of the blood”

This introduction to the comic is interesting because it highlights the main narrative theme and framing device of the whole story: The Quest for Redemption.

Before we even know exactly what Damian is doing and why he's doing it. We know he's looking to mend a rift. To make a past wrongdoing right. And then we find out someone wants to stop him…

This forms an interesting parallel with real life survivors of schoolyard abuse aka bullying.

Now, hear me out…

 Many kids (especially those with conditions such as autism) are manipulated by their bullies into doing bad things to other children. They generally do this by preying on their loneliness and desire to be accepted by their peers. And so said kids carry out acts of hazing to other children, perpetuating a cycle of harm.

A cycle which is hard to escape from. Because if you hurt someone, regardless of if you were manipulated or not, that person will probably not trust you after the fact. And if you add into account the environment of a school, where rumors spread like wildfires, there's a high chance you develop a bad reputation. Cause other people have no way of knowing you did it while being threatened into being a social pariah. It's a no win situation.

Damian's story is simile to this. Sure, the acts he carried out were far more extreme and he was not manipulated by an outsider but by his own grandfather, Ra’s Al Ghul.  But the effects of his psyche, development and public perception are all the same.

Think about it: His claims to being either the Blood Son or the Grandson of the Demon  are basically him trying to justify his existence  to a family that, for all he knows, could abuse him again. Which leads him to having a thought process where he has to be the best of the best in the room, cause the only other alternative is death. and for that he’s punished. Even though no one ever bothered to teach him the normal social protocols for a boy his age. 

So when you make that reading of Damian, and put into the context of a story where he, by his own volition, decides he’s gonna try and reverse all the harm he caused while being essentially groomed. You get something really powerful.

Well…kind of…

There’s a few things that stuck out with the framing of this arc. The most glaring one being: this arc takes place after he comes back from the dead. After being trapped in hell for the better part of a year after being killed by his own clone.

By making Damian’s journey for redemption take place after he’s been through literal Hell, there’s the subtle implication that he’s not doing it out of his own free will, but to avoid some sort of celestial punishment.

And that’s not a bad idea per se, if the comic acknowledged that implication. Because it does put an interesting question into the table. “Does it matter why we do good things? As long as we do them?” Does it matter if Damian doesn’t kill anymore because of “selfish” reasons. After all, why would an orphan he saves from a fire care if he used to be bad or not? Should that matter to anyone?

That last part is a testament, I think, to how much better executed some ideas that writers at DC have would be if they played them straight. If they acknowledged the implications of their writing instead of just doing something because they thought it would be cool or dramatic. 

[generalsmemories]

i am kindly asking you to please elaborate your discussion about dan heng's past bcos it's really interesting

Oh bestie buckle up then-

Dan Heng's past is very complicated. If we only go from the character stories from Dan Heng's character screen we get to know that he was on the run since as long as he can remember - and that he was essentially born in prison - That is the past that Dan Heng REMEMBERS.

But if we want to dig deeper, we go to inner turmoils and dipping down the very essence of Vidyadhara's - which is the route I'm going here.

Here's an overview that I'm going to go explain about Dan Heng's character as a whole:

An explanation of the short animation: "Ichor of Two Dragons" which can further explain the last point below:

Dan Feng and how Dan Heng is a continuation of Dan Feng. As in: Dan Feng is Dan Heng's past, but Dan Heng is Dan Feng's future.

literally settle down and grab some water while you read through i'm pretty darn sure this is going to be a long one although i'll try to just say the main points - if there are anything within this post that confuses you do ask me and i'll elaborate further!

A few things you should know before continuing: I will most likely mention leaks and I will talk about religion (buddhism in particular) So this is in no way spoiler free so read with own caution, thank u <3

I hope we can all agree on the fact that Dan Heng is a chinese character with heavy buddhist themes. As such I do want you to read through this post with that thought at the back of your mind (speaking from a buddhist myself, the way how hoyoverse incorporated the various aspects of it with the Vidyadhara and to that extent, Dan Heng is very beautiful)

As such, the saying that: "Dan Heng and Dan Feng are the exact same person." and "Dan Heng and Dan Feng are two completely different people," are takes that misses the point of his entire story and thus also downgrades his final resolution as well.

That will be all from what I personally want you do to, enjoy the rest of this HAHA

1. Explanation of the animated short: "Ichor of Two Dragons"

The animation starts off with the High Cloud Quintet drinking together, this is inherently Dan Feng's memory re-experienced by Dan Heng. This memory is something he actually accepts without complaint, even smiling like he's personally there experiencing it.

Conflict however soon breaks out between Dan Heng and Dan Feng - which marks the start of Dan Heng's internal conflict - thus all of his fears, traums and doubts resurface in the form of his past self.

NOTE HOWEVER: that the Dan Feng portrayed throughout this entire animation isn't actually Dan Feng. It is instead a reflection of Dan Heng's own thoughts and beliefs that causes him inner turmoil.

It's not meant to be interpreted as a literal battle against Dan Heng and Dan Feng.

Everything that "Dan Feng" says up till the point where they clash are Dan Heng's own thoughts and what he's been taught to believe since his rebirth in the Shackling Prison - where he was subjected to indoctrination about Dan Feng, his past life's sin and the punishment he must bear.

Which also in hindsight does tell a LOT about how Dan Heng himself perceives Dan Feng: An arrogant and unfeeling person - and thus is so different from himself. Dan Feng is to Dan Heng the very reason everything bad has happened to him in his life, and as a result fiercely wants to detach himself from him.

It's understandable really, when you were taught that your very existence is a sin in itself because of the narrative surrounding Dan Feng is that of a villain - and then your very own identity feels threatened because it's associated with said "vilain."

This line in particular tells a lot about how Dan Heng is very much aware that he can't keep running. It's a reflection of the harsh truth that Dan Heng himself is aware of. Joining the express while not having a clear aim or destination of his own is never a permament solution for his desire to escape the past.

Speaking of said clash, a direct fight doesn't happen before Dan Heng asserts the fact he is not Dan Feng.

This is the obvious instance that Dan Heng rejects an integral part of himself, and it's the very same rejection to said identity that generates both chaos, conflict and inner turmoil that takes the form of a fight. A fight that goes on until Dan Heng eventually gets submerged by Dan Feng's waters and the dragon after he's told he has nowhere to run.

"Nowhere to run" is mentioned a lot throughout Dan Heng's story. The saying itself is a reference to Dan Heng's karma that he refuses to confront the consequences of. Karma in this instant is something that transcends the cycle of rebirth (samsara) and in thus reflected in the line of "a past life's sin must be repaid in this one"

NOW. A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T LIKE THE LAST SENTENCE. CAUSE HE'S A NEW PERSON, WHY MUST HE REPAY HIS PAST INCARNATIONS' SIN IF HE HIMSELF DIDN'T DO IT?

Let me tell you! From the perspective of a buddhist!

In modern times, the usage of the word karma has really wilted down to saying that "Karma will come back to bite your ass" etc. In a way saying that if you don't try to fix a fuck up that you did recently, you would get consequences for it later DOWN THE ROAD.

Meanwhile, in buddhist tradition, karma refers to actions driven by intention. Samsara and karma are so intregrated that the karmic intentions and accumulations of the actions you've done in one life wil be the determining factor in what kind of rebirth you will have in the next life.

Karma will come to bite you in the ass yes, but especially in your next lifetime if you continue doing actions with ill intent - going as far to being the one determining factor if you're gonna live a peaceful, nice life or be reborn as a bug.

Why should that matter, you ask?

You remember Blade telling Dan Heng that he has NEVER experienced death? Because it is indeed true. The Vidyadhara molts themeslves to essentially fix their bodies and enter a new rebirth cycle - as such, avoiding death.

It's a different body, but the soul - their essence is still the same.

I'll come back more to this later, but for now let's continue explaining the animation.

It's ONLY when Dan Heng asserts the fact that Dan Feng is right that a change happpens. In the english translation given he says: "You're right. You are my past, but you won't follow me into my future!" it's only when he accepts that fact that he's able to stop being suffocated by the water - even embracing the same thing that tried to drown him and using it as his own power, able to manipulate it and even turn the dragon back on its first caster.

Now, the most vital part (and also in my opinion, the most beautiful one) is the fact that the fight doesn't end with Dan Heng striking down Dan Feng.

It ends with Dan Heng passing by Dan Feng and dispersing the dragon into rain instead. It ends with Dan Heng accepting that past. Accepting Dan Feng as a part of himself.

Now, a thing I realized with the english translation is that it goes a different way than what both the chinese voice and jp dub had said. I listen to the JP dub, and I do have better listening comprehension to the spoken language than written. While the english version goes with the: "You are my past, but you won't follow me into my future!"

Both the chinese version and jp version says something more akin to: "You are my past, but you are by no means my future!" It's slightly the same, but this final resolution said in that way instead holds a lot more weight and nuance.

The fight starts with Dan Heng rejecting Dan Feng, but ends with the opposite. Dan Heng is accepting that yes, he was once Dan Feng - but he's not going to let that define him entirely as a person or let that define his future entirely.

Another difference in translation that english has compared to the jp dub that I noticed (can't speak for chinese voice here) is the ending with Welt, March and the trailblazer appearance.

While ENG Welt asks if Dan Heng is alright. The JP version rather asks: "Did you remember something?"

In ENG, Dan Heng responds the question with: "Mm. Just reminiscing," in JP, he answers something along the lines of: "Something from long ago."

(i would like to also point out that march noticed him smiling and wasn't just like: "GIVE ME A SMILE!" out of nowhere to ease him, but more like: "Oh you're smiling! How rare, hey do it one more time!") ( ´ ▽ ` ).｡ｏ♡ oh my dear express family.

In a way, phrasing a memory from your past self in that way just holds a lot more weight with Dan Heng's acceptance of his past, by referring to Dan Feng's memories as memories from long ago rather than labeling it as something separate.

In conclusion, the animated short is only the start of Dan Heng's story (as I very much hoped it would be) and not a conclusion. With this animation, it has established Dan Heng's goal as a character and sets the stage for the future of his character (AND THUS MORE DEVELOPMENT YEEHAW!) It's a great starting point for Dan Heng to find a way to reconcile the past and the present to finally be able to face his future.

2. Dan Feng and how Dan Heng is a continuation of Dan Feng. As in: Dan Feng is Dan Heng's past, but Dan Heng is Dan Feng's future.

Now, here is where some leaks actually comes in (Moreso one leak of Jingliu's voicelines-)

Remember how I mentioned earlier that we would come back to the essence of the soul and how Vidyadhara have different bodies after every rebirth, but the same soul. Yeah, WE ARE BACK TO THAT AGAIN TOO!

The clash between Dan Feng and Dan Heng in the short animation wsa an emotional one, it was a clash between Dan Heng and his inner turmoil that essentially ended with no true winner. Rather it showed Dan Heng's slow acceptrance with coming in terms with his own past and accepting continous nature of his identity.

Because if you look at it this way with the knowledge that the same Vidyadhara will forever bear the same soul - Dan Heng would be considered the cumulative result of all his past lives and his current one.

There is a continuity of identity as it undergoes the cycle of rebirth, where each new incarnation is an augmentation of the previous one. As such, in the world of Star Rail, identity is not fixed, but fluid. It changes, but it's still the same soul from the very first one.

The new identity changes and evolves with each incarnation, with information by the experiences of the previous one. Most Vidyadhara have belongings that their previous incarnation have left behind, notes left behind them - and the few I've met in the open world of Star Rail do also come to love whatever their previous incarnation loved.

And as mentioned in an older post (that i'm way too lazy to dig up at this point lmfao) A newborn Vidyadhara usually gets pardoned the sins of their past life - but Dan Heng is a special case because of the emphasis of a FLAWED rebirth - as such he more than anyone have gotten the treatment of a life's past sins must be repaid in this one because his very essence and soul is closer to a continuity of his past one than other Vidyadhara.

Again, I desperately want you all to view this through the lens of a buddhist and understand that Dan Heng is written from an asian perspective. The complexity of karma and samsara in buddhism is the fact that it's flexible, fluid and a dynamic process - There is no set linear relationship between an action done and its result. The effect of the deed is not solely determined by the deed itself as well - but rather by the nature of the person who commited the deed and by the circumstances in which it is committed.

Because Karma in itself is not a judgement imposed by some God, we don't believe in a god after all. It is instead the results of a natural process, a result of certain experiences in life which were the results of previous actions. Unjust behaviour can lead to unfavorable circumstances which makes it easier for the person to commit more unjust behaviour, but again. You're free to commit more unjust behaviour, but you're also free to not do so.

Which means that the journey of the soul isn't linear by all means, it's cyclical with each end of one being the beginning of the next cycle: The result of what happened in one life becomes the starting point for the next life.

Dan Heng's major character points is the struggle of identity. And the character stories from his IL form shows the evident struggle with identity again - Mind you, these character stories for Dan Heng: Imbibitor Lunae are just a recollection of important point in Dan Feng's life being dreamt about when he was forced through rebirth)

Jingliu's leaked voiceline about Dan Feng gives us the confirmation that to become the High Elder means losing your own identity to a certain degree - even to the point that your very physical appearance morphs to resemble the Primordial Imbibitor Lunae (the very first one)

I want to preface as to where we stand as of right now, the current perception of Dan Feng is of an unfeeling, aloof and arrogant person. Someone who caused suffering to his next reincarnation - But by doing Dan Heng's companion quest alone it raises so many arguments that's so far from the truth. (HECK EVEN BAILU MANAGES TO SEE THAT DAN FENG COULD'VE BEEN A GENTLE PERSON)

Because as much as the fandom want Dan Heng to be separated from Dan Feng because he's his own person, it wouldn't be wrong to assume that Dan Feng yearned freedom too, no?

What if Dan Feng also yearned for freedoom amongst the stars, maybe the reason why Dan Feng severed the High Elder succession like he did - maybe he wanted his future selves to not be bound by the same shackles like he was? It wouldn't be farfetched, right?

Dan Feng is indeed Dan Heng's past. His memories, experiences, abilities, powers and EVEN PERSONAL items were once Dan Feng's. It is now Dan Heng's, but again. Dan Heng was once Dan Feng too.

As such, Dan Heng is Dan Feng's future - a future where he's able to attain the freedom he wanted.

ANYWAYS. I FRIED MY BRAIN CAUSE I WROTE 80% OF THIS IN ONE SETTING, SOME THINGS PROBABLY DOES'T MAKE SENSE AT ALL BUT YEAH! DO ASK IN THE ASKBOX AS I'VE SAID BEFORE. IF YA READ THIS FAR AND STILL RETAIN YOUR BRAINCELLS THAN WOW

I APPLAUD YOU HAHA

[agentoffangirling]

I find it so interesting when Sylvie stans act like liking Loki is some sort of "gotcha", bc wdym they're on the same level?

Yes, Loki absolutely did terrible things; both the fanbase, narrative, and writers acknowledge that she did terrible things. If you had seen literally any other project that isn't the series, you would know that Loki was punished with a life sentence in Asgard and the only reason they got out is bc Thor did it for them. Majority of the fanbase knows that Loki did bad things and that some sort of punishment would make sense. The writers know it makes sense. The narrative demands it to make sense. 90% of Loki stans do not idolize Loki's actions in New York

However, there is a disconnect with those three groups with Sylvie. The narrative states that she did bad things, however, the writers claim it wasn't her fault, and there begins the trickle down into her fanbase with the idea "Sylvie was always right! She's innocent"

Look, I'm not here to discuss whether or not killing HWO was good or not, imo, I believe the multiverse should be free and that Sylvie did what she thought was right. But that doesn't mean she should avoid all responsibility once it turns out there were consequences to her actions

The narrative would demand some kind of recompense for what Sylvie did. Even if she didn't know at first, it would make sense for her to carry (at least some of) the blame. It would be fitting for her to have some sort of personal state into this and really show that she wants the best for the multiverse by actually helping. Hey, maybe even sacrificing yourself instead wouldn't be that bad of an idea

But the writers don't think this. They don't believe that Sylvie could be in the wrong. They don't write her to shoulder the blame, to right some wrongs or be punished in some capacity. It's one thing for Sylvie to not believe she's wrong, and it's another thing for the writers to think that as well, bc they are the people who are literally shaping everyone else's perception of her

So while Loki is literally giving life to the whole multiverse as some sort of weird and twisted "punishment" for his past actions (even though he already was punished on several occasions), Sylvie is not given an ounce of the same treatment. She is not being said to be wrong by the writers; the writing is not demanding any sort of blame onto her even though the narrative does

That's where her fanbase believes that she was always right. That Sylvie can never do any wrong. Why would she be punished if she was always innocent? The writing doesn't demand it, and so neither will they. There is a major disconnect between the narrative and the writers, an uneven platform that raises Sylvie as the savior when, if it were Loki in that scenario, we know that wouldn't be the case

You can stan Sylvie all you want, okay? I'm judging you severely in my little corner, but hey, so can you. But don't ever think she and Loki are comparable when one has been clearly dealt the better hand

[purplerakath]

MiyagiDo Karate and Protagonist Morality

So when I watched the first two seasons this bothered me and then last weekend I watched everything else (thus far)... and this still bothered me. So here we are.

Spoilers for all five released seasons of Cobra Kai (although I'll mainly be talking about Demetri, Sam, Danny, and Hawk).

Before I get started...

As much as I'm criticizing the writing of these characters, I don't think the characters are bad, or hate the show. I just think more could be done with them, or in the case of Sam they could have started the ball rolling sooner and she could be a better character than she is.

Except Demetri, they really screwed the pooch on his writing.

Protagonist Morality

So I guess I should explain this term. Protagonist morality is where a show doesn't question the behavior of it's protagonists, assuming that whatever action they've taken is morally correct (for the setting). In a video game, you know all those unguarded chests full of stuff for you. The ones all across the countryside and in towns and often people's houses? The ones you can loot freely and nobody cares or is concerned with all the robbery you're doing?

That's protagonist morality. If the game labels you a thief and you get run out of public spaces for your actions, then the game is labeling your actions as maybe less than a paragon of virtue, and giving you reason to think about it. (Then you do it anyway because it's really nice loot.)

So what about the ACTUAL protagonists?

Johnny, Miguel, and Robby are questioned and judged by the narrative constantly. They generally do things right for them, but not universally seen as correct. And generally the narrative is about them moving forward and making less questionable calls.

The whole point of the start of S2 is that Johnny realizes "No Mercy" is a bad motto, because it just gets people hurt, and changes his teachings to match this bit of character growth. Characters backslide, Johnny and Robby both crash spectacularly at the start of Season 3. Each needs to dig themselves out of the hole their in all through Season 3 (Johnny) and 5 (Robby).

So the show never treats them as not needing growth, as the show is all about their growth.

Daniel

Danny is a hyper-judgmental asshole due to unresolved trauma from his youth and it's a problem. But also the show would be a lot less interesting if he worked through all of this in a timely fashion. Primarily the issue is his reaction to "Cobra Kai" just being back at all, and how he never once gets pushed to question if Cobra Kai in Johnny's hands changed.

Some of this is miscommunication, which is the cornerstone of the Unresolved sexual Karate Tension with Johnny. But his absolute refusal to see good in Cobra Kai had a direct hand in breaking up Sam and Miguel in Season 1 and Danny... came out of it believing he was right.

And when he goes out of his way to try and destroy the S1-2 era of Cobra Kai, the narrative never once actively punishes him for his prejudice. He's also never forced to face why he's like this. It's kind of shit but very much a plot lodestone.

Sam

Like her father, Sam often rushes to a moral judgement on bad info and never goes back. Even if she's wrong. So much of her Season 1 behavior is swept under a rug so that other characters (Kyler, Yaz, Miguel) can be her personal villain. And the worst being Season 2 with Tory.

Sam rushed to 'all Cobras are evil' while in a plot trying to fix her friendship with her best friend, she instigated things with Tory, and blamed Tory for all of it without having to think about why she's following her father so readily. Of course, with the end of Season 2 it didn't matter what her behavior was prior, she had every justification to treat Tory as her own personal satan.

Fortunately for me, and everyone else who likes Sam, most of the later seasons focus real hard on having her grow as a person. Maybe not facing all of her personal failings, but she does grow past them in respectable ways. And while her behavior toward Tory is... still bad, Tory is her personal anxiety attack she's allowed it now. (Unlike someone else.)

She also unpacks some of the prejudice she learned from her dad. Sneaking off behind his back to learn Eagle Fang and figure out before Father Dearest that balance is better than pigheaded arrogance of your own greatness. Leading to the Season 4 finale and her mixed styles.

Demetri Hawk

Before I rant about Demetri, I need to explain why Hawk's narrative, regardless of his failures, is better. Eli starts the show with a clearly defined failing (confidence and courage), focuses hard on overcoming it (through Cobra Kai Karate), and turns him into someone new.

That new person is a loud abrasive asshole, but it's a growth arc.

When Hawk behaves badly, it's treated as a start of darkness. As he grows to love having the power his weaker nerdy self lacked. His acts of vengeance make sense as the flexing of power he's never had before. To the point he becomes the sort of bully he feared. His reactions are all overreactions and that's good writing. You understand why he beats Kyler's flunky to a bloody pulp, it's cathartic but also framed as an act of pure violence and destruction. He needs to live in his anger, his violence, listening to the whispers Kreese offers.

Season 3 is Hawk struggling to choose between good and evil, and in the end he chooses good. Leading him on the path toward balance and being better than either side of him before. Honestly of every character in the show his path is the best defined.

Now Demetri

Demetri is a anxious pessimistic leech. He feels he'll fail before he starts, and therefore doesn't try. He rides the coattails of his friends as they become cool and popular and Hawk was right to call him out. But rather than investigate that, he becomes the target of Hawk's new villain arc, and rushes to the arms of MiyagoDo.

Where he proceeds to never actually face who he was, and just... get to be a cool martial artist with a hot girlfriend as the show sweeps his negative traits under a rug and never touches them.

The narrative never confronts how 'it's fine for me to reap the benefits of your hard work' (start of season 2) or 'I can humiliate my best friend by spilling all his secrets then hide behind my badass martial artist friends' (late season 2) were bad calls, because at the end of the season he just... gets to beat up Hawk to establish the full defeat of Johnny's Cobra Kai.

Directly into Season 3 where he's just as aggressive and antagonistic as Sam is, while neither is treated as being 'over the line' by the narrative. Which is all before Hawk breaks Demetri's arm, meaning he doesn't have the extant trauma reason Sam has.

By Season 5 Demetri is a pretty cool person, but as there's no actual focus on how he got there, it feels cheap. Which really sucks.

What I'd Write-

I don't want to rewrite the whole show, and that makes Danny hard to fix. As so much of him is that paranoia of Cobra Kai. Like- best I could ask for is him going to therapy and trying to work past it (and just being bad at it).

Sam the easy answer is Aisha not forgiving her (at least during S1-2). Where Sam tries to get Aisha back, but every time she either says something about Cobra Kai, or Miguel, or Tory and Aisha points out Sam hasn't given any of them a fair shot, and that Sam has no room to talk after dating Kyler and being Yaz's friend.

Bonus points if Sam also gets taken to task for her going after Tory when Tory was working. Because Amanda already got Tory fired once, but she felt bad about it.

Demetri has a similar route of 'best friend does not forget.' A simple 'why should I ever trust you again' after Moon's party would go a long way to rub Demetri's face in what he did, how he was as bad as everyone who made fun of Hawk's lip at school. How Demetri, for one brief moment, was worse than Kyler.

I want all the characters to either get the kind of care in how they change direction that Miguel has, and failing that being absolutely perfect like Devon (the only person to join Silver's Cobra Kai and not turn evil).

[todos-quieren-ser-corsario]

Calypso's wedding

OK, so I'm out sick and have had time to do, um, maybe a few rewatches. And doing that has me bowled over by just how good this season is. So well-crafted and tightly narratively structured. Not only all the callbacks to S1, but all the internal callbacks within the season. Some of them IMO really adds to the understanding of the sex scene, hence another meta. 

There are so many incredible takes out there on episodes 6 and 7. (It’s a brilliant arc and narrative because the acting, writing, staging and lighting choices can be read many different ways and multiple things can be true at once). Ed and Stede's first time together didn’t happen under good circumstances. Things happened that they couldn't control, and it sent them crashing into that next stage in their relationship. Even so, their first time scene is set to not just an incredibly romantic song, but a song that's very much about long-term partnership.

I only know the French version, and I'm so glad they used that one. Others have written on this, but despite the title, the song is not about seeing life through rose-colored glasses, i.e. in an unrealistic way. The lyrics talk of how being in love and being in a committed relationship can make living easier and less lonely. For two people who both live with complex trauma and with a lot of guilt and shame, that's such a hopeful message. The lyrics even state that being in love is ‘une parte de bonheur’, one part of happiness, further underscoring the season’s themes that you need more than just romantic love to have a fulfilling and meaningful life. 

The song keeps going over the credits, i.e. the fade to black love scene, and includes this part: ‘It's him for me, it's me for him/He has sworn it to me for life’. Like, these are vows. These are wedding kind of vows.

This is a deeply romantic and necessary moment for them, maybe even unavoidable because they are so deeply attracted to one each other. They're being so careful around each other and the ways in which they touch and speak. But circumstances changed, the past intruded in punishing ways and so did the plan of taking it slow. The fireworks couldn’t wait because they are alive right now, one of them needs comfort and Calypso’s birthday demands to be recognized. And so the sex scene both foreshadows a wedding and is a deeply intimate wedding moment in itself.

There's been so much wedding imagery during the season, and it's interesting to see how episode 6 has many callbacks to the beginning of the season. Calypso’s birthday party is colorful, exploding with flowers, dressing up, music and song. This in contrast to the the joyless wedding raid and the bizarro wedding cake party on the revenge with a lonely Ed playing with his cake toppers. This last imagery is replayed in episode six, now in actuality and in golden light with Stede leading Ed around the room in a dance of desire to live music. The very brief screen time explicitly shows an exchange of question and consent. It ends by drawing the curtains, giving both the sense of a veil and allusions to a chuppa (a Jewish wedding canopy the couple stands under; this is important to me as someone who headcanons Ed as Jewish). 

Their morning after has something of a post-nuptial feel to it, with the lazy lounging in bed. (It also feels true to first-time early relationship sex and the new reality of bridging distances after you've touched each other so intimately). But Ed’s warm in his robe. He’s had fireworks-grade orgasms. He’s both made and eaten something for the first time this season after rejecting food as poison in the gravy basket. The food is shared toast and marmalade, a callback to the first night they ever spent together in which marmalade became both a symbol of comfort and the possibility of change. There’s even a morning gift, which is a tradition in Northern Europe at least: A husband is to give his wife something (usually jewelry) the first morning after marriage. Ed hands Stede a piece of twine with a present of emotional intimacy and vulnerability: His memory of mermaid Stede saving his life. 

I love how this arc explicitly thematizes the way sexual intimacy can be so much easier than psychological intimacy and emotional vulnerability. Ed and Stede spend the next day initially relaxing together. As others have said, the color scheme across this entire two-episode arc is deeply symbolic, going from the very bright colors of the party, the red flower between them symbolizing red love, the purple symbolizing Ed's love for Stede, to a golden light that fades into the harsher light of the next day which brings back the realities of the external world. Ed is content and relaxed, eating meals, sharing of himself. But of course the disruption of the pirate world they exist in keeps growing until it's too much for him.

The mermaid scene in episode 3 was brilliant on so many levels. One of them was allowing us to see Ed’s deepest feelings and love for Stede in a situation in which he is unguarded and fully himself. The love. The affection. The trust. The joy. The comfort. The genius of structuring the narrative in this way is that we get to know about it. We get to know that these are Ed's true feelings for Stede, while seeing how guarded he still is emotionally and how much communicating they still have to do. It makes the painful lack of casual touching and the physical distance in their body language this season easier to witness, because it's completely understandable that Ed needs to protect himself still. 

The twine is a callback to rope, to fishing nets, to the imagery of the gravy basket. Ed is giving Stede a morning present of a piece of twine as an offering, a gift, a piece of his most intimate self. However, a piece of twine is also a string, a part of the ceremony of handfasting, another Northern European tradition: The old practice of a betrothal or temporary wedding if you couldn’t afford an actual wedding yet. (It’s the reason it's called tying the knot). Ed is giving Stede, in a rare moment in which he’s taken off his rings, the equivalent of a wedding ring. 

[semper-legens]

58. How Was It For You?, by by Eve Smith

Owned?: No, library Page count: 294 My summary: Dungeons, whips, and dildos - the world of a sex worker is associated with the seedy underbelly of society. Enter 'Eve Smith', current dominatrix and former brothel worker, with her candid views on her part in the world's oldest profession. Tangles with the law, good and bad clients, and unusual requests; Eve tells all in an eye-opening view on the realities of sex work in the modern world. My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

Sorry about the fact that I keep taking unplanned hiatuses here and there - I've just got a lot of things going on, so I don't always have the time to write up books for this blog. Anyway, I'm back now, and with a really fascinating book to boot! So I saw this on the shelf at work and, with this fantastic cover design, I couldn't help but pick it up and take a look. While I, personally, am not interested in sex, I still have a bit of a fascination with the sex industry, both historical and modern. It's a backbone of society; one that often gets derided as being seedy or sleazy, but sex work is work the same as any job. My politics very much align with Eve's on this - while people can be exploited in sex work, that's the same as any other job, and the answer to it isn't to blanket criminalise sex work. If someone's been trafficked into sex work or is being exploited, they deserve the ability to go to the authorities without themself being at risk of arrest or imprisonment. With decriminialisation would come regulation, and more checks and balances to protect sex workers from harm. Anyway. Eve is a very eloquent lady, and here's her take on her experiences of sex work!

Eve is loud, opinionated, and articulate - and I don't mean any of that as a bad thing. It sounds like she's had a bad time of it in life, although she doesn't want to be viewed as a victim, which I can understand. The book is told in two alternating narratives - one, the story of her past, how she got into the profession, and her background; two, the more current story of her pregnancy up until the birth of her daughter. She met her boyfriend, 'Adam' (as she's still an active dominatrix, all names used as pseudonyms for privacy purposes) in a brothel and has now settled into what looks very much like an ordinary, mundane existence, aside from her job.

Eve lays it out clearly - she is passionate about the rights of sex workers and wants to have the same protections at work that others enjoy. She has brushed up against the law, having been arrested for her brothel work and had a sum of money essentially stolen from her by the police, and has a criminal record. Specifically for a sexual offense, too, which means she can't do most of the 'legitimate' work that she was doing - she wanted to be an actress, and has done work in children's theatre and with the elderly before. Her story highlights how backwards the law is when it comes to sex work. All it's really interested in is criminalising and punishing sex workers, not in protecting vulnerable people from oppressive forces. Why? What, fundamentally, is wrong with sex work? Nothing, is the answer. And yet, here we are. Eve's account is eye-opening and an argument very well made, and I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the profession and its modern-day implications.

Next, the Simpsons and the apocalypse.

[mahoushojoe]

hiii!!! as the authority on neji, I wanted to ask your thoughts on how you would've written the hyuga clan plot, because you actually have good opinions - where I struggle to reconcile it is how im stunned neji almost sent hinata into cardiac arrest and hiashi didn't like. kill him over it. I'm not displeased but it does surprise me!

HIYA!! first of all thank you for the ask hehe its very flattering when people genuinely ask for my (humble) opinion about neji stuff considering i am Just A Guy That Likes Neji so thank you 💖

hoooo boy how i would have written the hyuga plot. oh well okay. under the cut bc this got AWAY from me.

so first of all before all of that i'll answer your question about how neji got away with almost killing hinata. here's the the doylist interpretation of it: kishimoto just Did Not Care. there's a billion contradictions in just the way he wrote the hyuga plot alone bc he wrote it to serve a certain agenda and that was:

1) establishing neji as a powerful antagonist - an antagonist similar to sasuke in abilities and attitude and, maybe unintentionally, position within the shinobi system. making neji similar to sasuke is important bc in the context of shonen his Biggest rival at the time was sasuke, so setting naruto up against someone similar to him and having him win would be a way to (weakly imo) establish naruto's growth as a ninja and the ways in which he has approached sasuke in terms of skill or ability or power

2) establishing hinata as a....idk ally to naruto. character in a similar position to naruto. maybe even love interest for naruto. in any case, it was an introduction to hinata who would provide an emotional stake for naruto in the plot that leads up to naruto vs neji.

3) write the dogshit "fate vs free will" type themes he was trying to go through with. kishimoto needs naruto to smash the idea of being predestined to fail and what other opponent is better to have than someone whose fate is literally tattooed on his forehead?

4) provide worldbuilding for the hyuga clan, which, by the way, was intended to make us feel sorry for HINATA, chiefly, not neji. sure, we get neji's side of the story later, but that is more of an explanation for his behavior and not given as a reason to root for him. WE root for him bc we have common sense.

moving past all that, the point i'm trying to make is that the reason neji doesnt face consequences for what happened with hinata is that this story and this arc literally ISN'T about neji. it's about naruto, and, very peripherally, hinata. for us to know or witness whatever consequences neji faced for his actions -his cruel but PERFECTLY ALLOWED ACTIONS WITHIN THE RULES- we would actually be provoked into feeling bad for him, and, god forbid, taking his side, which kishimoto doesnt want us to do bc this arc's power entirely derives from hinata being the victim of this narrative and naruto being the one to avenge her. neji is genuinely, and i say this with love, a means to an end here. he is there to serve a specific purpose, and he does a lovely job of being shit at it.

but that's the doylist analysis of it. the watsonian analysis would be that neji DID face consequences, we just don't see them. what happened was a huge rebellion against the head family, i suppose, and assuming that there is any type of consistency in the way kishimoto set up the hyuga, he would have been punished with the curse mark at the very least. we just see the story from naruto's point of view, so we don't see it literally happen. maybe. people like to argue that neji wasn't punished because hiashi doesn't give a shit about hinata, and like, okay, fair, except even in a world where hiashi wouldn't bat an eye at his nephew almost murdering his oldest daughter, hiashi would still care that this prodigy from the branch family is running around seriously injuring head family members with impunity. its not about hinata here, its about neji. like, if this kid can literally attack and almost KILL the heiress of the clan and get away with it, what's to stop the rest of the branch members from doing the same? from the way the hyuga clan is presented, branch members do most of the actual physical labor for the hyuga clan- including protecting it of course- which means they're better fighters, which means there's only one thing holding them back from fighting back, which is the Brain Melting Curse Mark. which is why, in my perspective, neji totally got punished for it, just like his father got punished for just THINKING angrily about hinata all those years ago. it's not about hinata, it's about branch members rebelling and getting away with it. so yeah. i think neji did face consequences, we just didn't see them because kishimoto Literally Did Not Care and because it would have poked holes in naruto's free will spiel and it would have made hinata look like kind of an asshole. neji went on defying the hyuga anyway because he's a bad bitch!

why hiashi didn't KILL neji over it- hm. hm indeed. i think he could have. he'd have grounds for it, in the fucked up system they live in. and its frustrating because the story can't seem to decide on a correct characterization for hiashi. does he care about hinata or not? does he care about hizashi or not? does he care about NEJI or not? is he genuinely emotionally attached to him or is that just guilt bc of hizashi? i don't know. he could have easily gotten away with killing neji outright and it would have been a lot less trouble for him. im just gonna assume he felt like he owed his brother to keep him alive or something, or like, he was astute enough to realize that the whole situation was his fault anyway, although that implies that hiashi has anything resembling a conscience or backbone or common sense or self awareness or- whatever. hiashi didnt kill neji. yay. neji died anyway so its all wins for him in the end

now.... for how i would write the hyuga plot....oh, tumblr user jewchihas, the can of worms you have opened...

well, for the hyuga plot to go the way i want it to, a lot of things about naruto as an entire story would have to structurally change. we have two options to use with hinata here, but im going to go with making her someone sympathetic and not an annoyingly privileged artificial victim.

hinata could have easily been a great character during the fight with neji. and all it would have taken was someone mentioning the curse mark.

it was already established that hinata witnessed the time hiashi tortured hizashi for thinking angrily about her. she was hiding behind hiashi, but she saw it, and thus she knows the position of branch members relative to her and the means with which they are disciplined and prevented from harming her. she herself is a head family member, meaning she would theoretically be taught how to activate the curse mark herself - especially after it's established that neji's father held ill will towards her.

now, that presents us with a situation where, during neji vs hinata, hinata, being beaten to hell and back, could EASILY win the fight - and humiliate neji even worse than he was humiliating her- by just activating the curse mark. and yet, it needed to be shown that she Actively Chose Not To Because It's Wrong, and because she feels empathy for neji that hiashi didn't feel for hizashi. THAT is what would have made her character someone I could genuinely believe had a kind heart and a genuine desire to have a fair fight and improve. in reality, all hinata actually did was taunt neji about their differences in status, which just really makes it even more understandable why neji was so fucking pissed at her.

so, yeah. that would just be for hinata's character. not a lot of time is spent showing what actually happens to hinata hyuga-politics wise but i guess we could say that she learns about her privilege and works to make things equal. maybe even rejecting heirdom if it means being the heir to all this suffering. but whatever what do i know.

neji and hiashi's relationship needs to be more accurately defined. i dont know, like, how exactly does neji feel about hiashi? how does hiashi feel about neji? and if hiashi actually loves neji which is what is implied later in the story, how can hiashi just go on upholding the branch system? once these parameters are defined, we can go about actually having neji using that to poke holes in the hyuga system.

but the actual hyuga system can't fall on its own, because it serves konoha's purposes. the byakugan remaining konoha's exclusive property via the insular ways of the hyuga and the endless supply of cheap soldiers in the form of branch members it provides is too beneficial. konoha's leadership actually doesn't care about the hyuga people's wellbeing similarly to how it doesn't care about the uchiha's wellbeing- to them, they are an endless well of powerful ocular jutsus and nothing else, because that is how the dehumanizing shinobi system treats people's bodies, lives, and ethnic identities. the difference between the hyuga and uchiha's positions re: konoha politics is that the hyuga - at least the head family hyuga - aligned themselves WITH konoha's leadership whereas the uchiha aligned themselves, as whistleblowers (a job they were purposely marginalized and forced into, by the way!) against konoha's leadership. thus, in order to topple the hyuga branch system and keep it toppled, one must topple konoha's shinobi system, and neji and the other branch members (and hinata if she's a good person) must believe in this wholeheartedly.

i dont know how it would go down. it would require a total rewrite of literally all of naruto and i genuinely dont have the facilities for that 😅😅😅 all i can say is that it would be rad if neji and sasuke allied somehow, or if one or both of them led the branch hyuga into total revolt against the head family. the only thing we have to lose is our chains etc etc. naruto needs to grow tf up regarding the hyuga and realize that the stuff he said to neji was a bunch of horseshit. or, funnily, neji takes naruto's words to him in the chunin exams to mean "okay LITERALLY break your fate like literally get rid of those people lol". so yeah. i dont think neji should go full itachi im just saying that the branch family needs to run the show now and the head family wouldnt exactly lie down and let it happen. big mess. so um tldr as most of my naruto opinions go: neji was right, sasuke was right, fuck hiashi, fuck the hyuga, and fuck konoha.

i am so fucking sorry at how long this reply is by the way