#ic analysis

[alagaesia-headcanons]

I genuinely love Eragon, I think he's a good person, but his attitude towards Murtagh specifically has this distinct, almost cold lack of empathy. And it's strange he feels like that in this particular situation because Murtagh's fate- his capture, his torture, his dragon used like a hostage, their enslavement- that exact fate in its entirety is bearing down on Eragon through the whole story. Because that's exactly what would happen to Eragon if he's ever captured. That fate is snapping at his heels; it gets close enough to draw blood. Yet Eragon tends to act like he's above Murtagh's situation. He looks on it with pity, but also disgust, all with an air of distance and separation. There's never a horrified realization that this is what's waiting for him if Galbatorix captures him.

For that reason, I think Eragon's lack of empathy for Murtagh stems in part from a rather desperate optimism. He refrains from considering the worst possibilities to avoid despair over what he can't control. But that leads to this jarring disregard for the suffering of a man he is irrevocably connected to. Murtagh is a mirror of Eragon, reflecting what would become of him if the king ever gets his hands on him. Eragon is not above this; he is, in fact, so terrifyingly vulnerable to it. Even as he fails to imagine himself in Murtagh's place and understand him in that way, Eragon is the one most likely to end up in that place.

That alone should warrant empathy, but Murtagh is more than just a mirror. Eragon's luck has not held out, he has not been fortunate enough to outright avoid what Murtagh fell victim to, and the singular reason he's been spared that fate is Murtagh himself. Three times. Once outside of Dras Leona when he rescues him from the Ra'zac, again in Gil'ead when he'd been captured by Durza, and a third time on the Burning Plains when he lets him go despite his orders. Murtagh saves Eragon from capture, torture, and enslavement under Galbatorix and he does it over and over. Murtagh simultaneously exemplifies the worst fate Eragon could suffer while singlehandedly protecting him from it. And Eragon never once acknowledges it.

[snowflake-owl]

I just realized this is how Simon sleeps when he's guarded up... he's taking care of Fionna and Cake. He's kept the habit since the days he was raising little Marceline in the post-apocalypse, excuse me while I cry.

[inbarfink]

Okay, so, I know this is kind of a Stupid Thing to Focus on but… I’ve been rewatching ‘Friends Forever’ (still one of my favorite and most complex and most heart-wrenching Ice King episodes) and I’ve been thinking about the bit where Ice King tries to research how to be smart…

We can see him reads from what very much seems to be part of Simon Petrikov's journals. Considering that it details the aftermath of the Mushroom War.

In addition, while the shelves are made of ice, much like the bookshelves Ice King has in his throne room, this is clearly a much... robust archive

which much more resembles Simon Petrikov’s library/research room.

The table IK uses also seems to be a match to the one in the research room. At least in terms of colors

So, it might be a different Room Full of Books that Simon placed in his Castle before he truly 100% lost it, or it might be the same one we see in 'Betty' but with a minor continuity error when it comes to what the shelves are made from. Either way, from the aforementioned journal, we know this library probably contains books Simon had personally written

But considering the Amount, probably not all of them. (Especially if you assume there are two separate library rooms). Maybe he came back to his old house to gather up all the prewar academic books he owned, but that still seems like an Unusually High Amount of Books. I think he probably kept gathering and writing books as he was slowly turning into Ice King. Like, by the time the show started he was basically totally gone - but a couple hundred years ago he’d have brief moments of lucidity and start writing again or searching books that could help him deal with the curse.

Which makes me wonder about this book.

I know that it’s just a silly funny joke, but…

Like, a Big Undertone of ‘Friends Forever’ is Ice King’s insecurities and frustrations with his own stupidity and lack of maturity. And with Simon’s library showing up in the middle of the episode like it did, it’s hard to forget that Simon used to have the intelligence and maturity needed to speak with all of these living furniture on equal terms, but his mental facilities have been eroded by the madness of the Crown and now he can’t and these frustrations manifest even though Ice King isn’t fully aware of that fact.

And this book, I know that the title just playing directly into Ice King’s insecurities is just the Joke but also…

I’m thinking about Ice King/Simon when he was a bit more lucid. Aware that he’s going mad and it's getting harder and harder for him to think clearly and that makes it so much harder to find a solution and expressing a lot of that same anger that Ice King expresses outwards towards the Living Furniture - inwards.

I’m wondering if Simon specifically sought out that book because he felt like he was ‘turning dumb’.

I’m wondering if Simon could’ve written this book. Some sort of last final act of impotent rage against the person he was turning into, frustration at his growing inability to think like he used to, even though he couldn't even remember his own name anymore - only that he was the 'Smarty McBrainypants' part of his old identity.

That would explain why it’s such a worn and rugged book...

[greenqueenhightower]

Going back to episode 3 and the scenes at the camp you can see the end of an era in Alicent’s life. The end of her childhood and innocence and the beginning of what will turn out to be constant worrying about her children’s future. It’s her son’s second name day ffs and she is sidelined by everyone, including Viserys. She feels excluded from the political talks that directly involve her son and she is treated like an ornament that compliments Viserys’ life and reign, that maybe makes it prettier somehow, but has to match the rest of the furniture. You can see that she looks melancholy and sorrowful in that scene. I also like the costuming detail showing how she tries to dress in the Targaryen colors, how she tries to blend in, but at the end of the day no one pays any attention and she only manages to match with the curtains. :(

[flying-ham]

I got bored at work this afternoon so I decided to find out the breakdown of male vs female povs in asoiaf by wordcount. so far I've found affc to have the greatest proportion of female povs with 60.76%, and adwd to have the smallest with 25.68%.

full breakdown:

agot - 45.01% female, 54.99% male

acok - 41.35% female, 58.65% male

asos - 39.66% female, 60.34% male

affc - 60.76% female, 39.24% male

adwd - 25.68% female, 74.32% male

total series - 41.24% female, 58.76% male

I'd like to play around w things more when I'm not tired of reading in data BUT that's what I've got so far lol

[novaricewrites]

If Magic Chooses-

So we know the magic in Prythian ties the land, Courts, and the High Lords and can be vaguely sentient (as with the Cauldron).

It's unclear how it chooses the High Lords but the magic seems to be deliberate and adheres faithfully to whoever it chooses. Even Amarantha couldn't fully access it despite all that she did - she could only prevent the Lords from using it against her.

So imagine if this was explored.

E.g: The time when Feyre and the IC stole the Book of Breathings from the Summer Court as guests - literally committing a crime worthy of a magical death sentence. This then left the Summer Court open to Hybern's invasion, further enabled by what Feyre did in the Spring Court.

This didn't just harm the High Lords. It harmed the Courts in a major way. The very land and the people living in there were devastated by it. And it must have caused mass turmoil that even the magic sensed.

So imagine because of this intricate connection to the land, the people and the High Lords - it caused Feyre's bond to the Spring and Summer magic to become hard to control or even the magic rejecting her.

The kernels of magic are technically still the High Lords'. They're not Feyre's magic but were gifted like handing her a scale off their essence. And it would make sense if the magic reacted to the state of the High Lords (and deeper the courts themselves) if they experienced deep, visceral emotions & damage thanks to Feyre.

Magic being fickle about who wields it would sort of suit the capriciousness of Faeries. It would also require Feyre to use her wits and sense to navigate situations instead of resorting to the Feysand tactics of Lie, Steal and Justify.

It would give actual consequences and gravity to her actions, and add depth to why her being a Made Fae is a big deal. She is now attached via these kernels of magic to the land in a way that she can't run from. Just as High Lords (even those reluctant like Tamlin are).

Just the plot potential and character development. And the internal conflict over actions that we never got.

[biceratops7]

Victor nikiforov and empathy:

Following my fifth (?) rewatch I found yet another reason to be completely in love with Yuri on Ice, and that is Victor being a wonderfully accurate and non-demonized example of someone with low empathy. Seriously as someone who’s autistic and can’t relate to the influx of “actually we’re all super in tune to other’s feelings and have the MOST empathy!”, watch these scenes because this is what it’s like.

This line at first seems to be Yakov thinking that Victor is arrogant, but Yakov knows him extremely well. He knows that Victor has a hard time viscerally placing himself in another’s shoes, and that’s a major obstacle as a coach.

Victor has trouble understanding what to do in situations that are highly emotional for Yuuri. Instead of being able to directly consider things through Yuuri’s perspective, we see him rely pretty often on environment cues, behavioral cause and affect, or straightforward commands.

He gets his habit of scolding yuri after a routine from Yakov because that’s what he’s familiar with. It’s not something Yuuri responds to particularly well, but it’s only when Victor pays attention to how others react when Yuuri finishes skating that he changes tactic. Victor sees how the crowd is going wild at the (Japan nationals) and it’s only then it occurs to him that Yuuri’s confidence may be jeopardized if he chooses that moment to criticize his performance. This is something he likely would’ve realized much sooner if he could share Yuuri’s stress easier instead of merely observing that it’s happening.

Then later on in episode 7, we get to the scene that actually inspired this post.

At first Victor approached the situation almost like an experiment, trying out cause and effect to disastrous results. When you have a much lower threshold for being able to experience another’s feelings second hand, it’s difficult not to think of other’s negative emotions simply as problems that need to be solved. Problem: Yuuri won’t perform well because he’s too anxious, he will only be MORE upset if he loses, and Victor has already tried to reduce his anxiety to no avail. Idea for solution: raise the stakes and see if increased pressure can replace his nerves with resolve, causing a good performance. Afterward, Yuuri will be proud of himself and happy again. Execute plan, observe results, adjust accordingly. When comfort doesn’t come naturally, this tends to be kind of the default. From experience it comes from a genuine place of caring even when it backfires (and it actually doesn’t at times), basically trying to actually fix the thing upsetting your loved one instead of play acting feelings you don’t get.

… however Yuuri was COMPLETELY within his rights yelling at Victor because regardless of intent he picked the worst thing on planet earth to say in that exact moment. I mean I’ve had my fair share of “oh crap someone is upset and it’s my responsibility” fails but my fuck-

He’s shown to be pretty shit at comforting Yuri/ detached emotionally from the situation, but he is neither coldly unbothered nor strategically hiding it. It may appear callous to bluntly say “I don’t know how to help you” to a loved one who’s crying, but as someone who’s been there, that’s an insanely vulnerable thing to admit. “I don’t feel your pain, I don’t get it. But I love you, and just because I’m not feeling it myself doesn’t mean I don’t care that you’re hurting.”

When Yuri finally just straight up tells Victor what to do, he is relieved and simply does it. Things are different between them after this episode because Yuuri finds the power to communicate his needs clearly and effectively. Victor doesn’t speak “subtlety” well. Yakov and Yurio both speak their mind to him directly regardless of if it’s polite, Which is quite telling because they’re the two characters he has the longest history with. It shows us the kind of communication style Victor is accustomed to and needs to navigate interpersonal relationships.

I’m not making a statement that Victor is autistic or even disordered per say. I feel his unusual circumstances provide enough explanation, but I really do see that he consistently struggles with empathy in the same way I do. He’s probably the only character I’ve been able to see that aspect of myself in with scenes that aren’t played for jokes.

[mega-ringsandthings-world]

Okay. I know the general consensus is not this, but if Catelyn had been told the truth about Jon from the get go, she would have treated him better. Relatively. Like, she wouldn't have gave him shit for being a bastard or been ice queen bitch stepmother to him, but uh. there would have been other issues. Just think about how having Catelyn aboard the hide-Jon-train would go for one second. For one second. Okay? We are talking about Catelyn fucking Stark nee Tully. And we are also talking about Catelyn fucking Stark nee Tully before the other four kids came along. Just her baby Robb and Ned and Ned's nephew. (and if you don't think that Ned saving Jon from under Robert's nose on a promise to his sister wouldn't make I-released-the- king-slayer-to-bring-back-my-daughters-Catelyn fall so hard in love with him her head is still ringing fifteen years later you are LYING to yourselves) So think mother gothel. She would have micromanaged the shit out of Jon's life and upbringing. Ned is pretty lax so as security measures go in terms of Jon, but Cat? Winterfell would get turned into FBI headquarters. Vibe checks at the door and retina scanners and Jon and Robb have a praetorian guard on their cradles. Yeah she'd be cool to Jon in public as he grows but in private she's frantically brushing his hair every night looking for whites. Holding him up to the light to check for hints of purple in his eyes. As they get older she namedrops bastard a lot but secretly actively fosters a relationship between Jon and the other kids because Catelyn-Sansa-will-be-queen-of-the-seven-kingdoms-Stark nee Tully knows about the pact of Ice and Fire and having one of the last Targs bouncing around is tickling the politician in her. That being said she institutes a book ban on Targ history and is always on Ned's ass about them playing dragons. When Arya is gets old enough she makes it a point to put her and Jon next to each other at all times. Jon getting a direwolf are goddammed holy blessing to her. When Robert's dump ass comes to visit she's having a conniption about Jon being recognized and nearly locks his ass in the crypts until he decides of his own free will to sit in the cheap seats before she blows a gasket. She hates the Wall idea because who the Fuck is going to watch this kid as well as she's been doing for the past fifteen years? WHO? If she had found out about Aemon being up there she's have blown up castle black. Jon, who has had to deal with this shit since attaining spatial awareness tries to get Benjen to let him take his night's watch vows at Winterfell's weirwood. Man wants OUT. He can't deaal with tiger mom ass no more. When he comes to visit Bran she slips and says something cryptic and weirdly affectionate and it puts his ass in a tailspin all the way to the Wall.

Like, I know people think it'd go more downhill if she knew about Jon but why? Boring. Uninspired. Booooo. Get fun with it.

[anodymalion]

ok I am in fact using this as an excuse to make a long post about this thank you thank you asjksdjfaljdf

---

Interpreting Yuri as asexual is my very very favorite type of headcanon, which is one that 1. is compellingly coded in the source material (even if that wasn't the creator's intent), 2. is thematically relevant to what the piece of media is Trying To Do as a whole, and 3. just means a lot to me, personally, because I said so.

Coded in the source material

Yuri’s short program is “eros”, aka desire (you can interpret what “eros” means in various ways, but YOI itself explicitly refers to sexual love, at least in the English translations). Yuri struggles with this. Hard. He can’t come up with an answer when asked what eros means to him. His big revelatory moment about desire is that it’s how he feels about wanting to eat his favorite food (omg… boy). Even as the season goes on and the way he views the Eros program changes, the program doesn’t ever really embody the idea of eros as sexuality or romance (which was how the other characters expect him to interpret it) but rather as a desire to keep Victor in his life.

Like look. I’m obviously not going to say that the creator intended any kind of ace subtext to be there. I kind of doubt it was her intent. But goddamn is the subtext there.

2. Thematic relevance

The central theme throughout YOI is “love”, and especially loving people in a way that inspires you both to be your best selves: Yuri learning that the people in his life truly love and support him; Victor finding someone who makes him feel joy about skating again.

Like, Yuri’s whole skating theme for the Grand Prix is literally about him exploring what love looks like to him, even when it takes a form that other people don’t totally understand. Viewing all this through a lens of him being ace is really compelling. It adds depth to the idea of learning how to express the way you feel love even when it looks different than what other people expect. I think it’s a really delicious layer that adds even more nuance to what the show is getting at.

Besides, it’s an interesting way of viewing the criticism of the show that occurred for it not being 100% explicit about them being a couple (aka people getting mad because the kiss in ep 7 is blocked by Victor’s arm lmaooo). Like, ok, did you see the ending scene of ep 9? Did you see ep 10??? They definitely, definitely love each other, in whatever way that means for them. Their relationship takes a form that’s pretty different than the other way people in the show are going about romantic relationships, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real for them. That is very much in line with the main themes of the show.

3. Means a lot to me

In the final scene of the penultimate episode, Yuri tells Victor that they should end their coaching relationship after the Grand Prix ends. This is because he thinks he’s holding Victor back, that Victor would be happier being free to go back to skating on his own instead of being Yuri’s coach. When I watched this (and, I’ll be honest, this is completely me projecting here) I REALLY interpreted this as an ace thing. I think it’s pretty easy to internalize the idea when you’re asexual that you just won’t be… enough, for other people. In my case I ended up a strong impulse to self-sabotage relationships because I would rather be the one to end things than to let someone else tell me that who I am as a person is fundamentally lacking. Yuri destroying a connection he desperately wants because he thinks there’s something about him that is holding Victor back from a life he’d be truly happy with? Oh yeah. I can fucking relate to that.

Also: YOI came out in 2016, which was the absolute peak of hostility to ace people I was seeing on this site. It was bad here. At the same time Tumblr was going wild over this show. Everyone was watching it. Seeing a whole site of people absolutely adore a character I very deeply in my heart believed to be ace? Extremely vindicating.

---

In conclusion Yuri is asexual because it is fun and interesting that way, and also because of this:

[givehimthemedicine]

🍦I just got the elmax ice cream thing

ok El's ice cream has been bugging me and I finally have the answer to a question you didn't ask

as I and many others have said, Max suggesting the trade was sus given how much more of her ice cream cone El appears to have eaten already. even if Max likes strawberry and vanilla equally, she's taking a significant loss in this deal in ice cream volume.

while that's true, I want to note that El hasn't eaten any more of her cone than Max has of hers. they both look almost the same as when they received them:

Steve didn't seem to be charging them, so budget wasn't an issue, but Max's order is a modest single scoop of strawberry. El's order is vanilla with extra whipped cream and sprinkles.

now I know this is totally subjective and no offense to vanilla as a flavor but... girl, this is the weirdest, blandest ice cream order. sprinkles look fun but have no taste. whipped cream is good but not hugely flavorful, mostly a volume filler. is this some kind of all-flash-no-substance metaphor, I wondered?

stranger still, El's cone is barely even filled to the rim in the first place. and "extra whipped cream" means probably most of the contents of that cone is whipped cream, not ice cream. is not Max's cone what a 1 scoop cone looks like? El could only have a half scoop at most? she must have asked for it to be that way, but why?

Steve doesn't announce this part out loud, but look at their cones. Max ordered a sugar cone, El ordered a waffle cone.

ha ha, El and waffles, yes, but keep going.

waffle.... whipped cream.... sprinkles... negligible amount of ice cream despite it being an ice cream cone. do you see what happened here?

El walked into Scoops Ahoy, saw the words "waffle cone," and ordered an Eggo Extravaganza, not knowing that's not a thing.

Max and Steve had to help her reverse engineer what that meant, and it turned out that it didn't even involve ice cream. Steve was probably like "well, this is an ice cream place, don't you want a little ice cream in it? what do you want, like... vanilla?" and she was like, sure fine? Scoops likely didn't offer Hershey kisses, jelly beans, or Reese's Pieces as toppings, so sprinkles had to suffice.

so: Max asking if El wants to trade cones (not "let's trade" not "trade me" but "you wanna trade?") is actually a symbolically important detail!

El doesn't look unhappy with her order at all, but Max, aware now of the Eggo Extravaganza origins, wants to give El yet another opportunity to branch out and try something new, at Max's own personal loss.

it's another subtle shedding of Hopper and embracing of new things. and then she dumps Mike a minute later holding that cone. Not Hopper, not Mike, you! 🍦

PS El did like strawberry and part of it is it reminds her of Max. she's wearing the strawberry festival shirt for the El / Max RUTH transition <3

[alagaesia-headcanons]

I don't have the entirety of this concept articulated yet, but as I've been mulling over character analysis, I find myself continuously returning to this idea. The ways that the needs of individuals and the needs of a larger cause arise and are engaged with is very integral to defining the characters and shaping their interactions and relationships. I felt the need to make this to visualize the core of the concept. I left off the characters who had these qualities less clearly demonstrated and/or these qualities were less relevant to their stories. And in a few cases I left off characters who showed a lack of care for both individuals and a cause.

A couple things worth noting- *Elva is difficult to place regarding her inclinations specifically. She has a literal, magical inclination to help those who will be hurt because of Eragon's spell, but that's different to what I'm addressing. Because of her lack of experience due to her very young age, and her extremely inordinate connection with the suffering of others, Elva's character arc involves her learning to care at all about supporting both individuals and a cause. Because she's just beginning to settle into that understanding, it's hard to precisely pin down her natural inclinations.

**Roran is a very interesting outlier in regards to the way he actually acts, which was tricky to depict on the chart. He embodies a particular, unique balance where, through luck and circumstance, the needs of the people he cares about and the needs of the Varden's cause demand the same things from him. He's is able to satisfy both of them through the same acts. In his specific case, he considers the best way to protect and look after his loved ones is to devote himself to the Varden. The overlap allows his actions to simultaneously support both ends of the scale in almost every situation.

A couple other details bear mentioning, including the fact that this scale has the most significance in Murtagh's character arc. The way he shapes his choices around his notions what and who he should support is the most recognizable and has the most consequences. And those consequences drive him to realize the impact of his choices and motivate his change as a person. Secondly, it's notable that the widest shift between inclination and action is for Orrin, which is also vital to his character arc. The discrepancy is at the root of the ways he changes and begins to crumble throughout the duration of the war.

[stillmevalz]

I have absolutely no problem with ooc fanon content existing. I enjoy it too from time to time. What's bothersome is that some people forget what's fanon and what's not.

Example:

Fanon: Vash is submissive, helpless, and naive.

Canon: Vash is perceptive, a fighter & calculating.

Note that calculating in this context means he's all about precision and accuracy.

A great example in canon that showcases this beautifully is the Vash vs Knives fight in episode 12. While Vash is calculating and precise with his movements, Knives is erratic and impulsive.

[inbarfink]

After all these years, ‘I Remember You’ is still one of the great highlights of Adventure Time Storytelling. And not just in the basic ‘what???? Silly children’s cartoon does something SAD??? HOLY SHIT MIND BLOWN’ way. But with the execution of that Something Sad. How it manages to pack so many Complex Emotions into just 11-minutes of television. And especially the way it utilizes the basic Adventure Time format for that purpose.

So Adventure Time is a Board-based show. Each episode has an outline pitched and written down by the writer’s room, and then this outline goes to a team of (usually) two Storyboard Artists who develop that simple outline into a full story. And with the show’s art-style deliberately eschewing staying perfectly ‘on-model’ in favor of having the animators take direct reference from how the different storyboarders draw the characters

And the show being generally extremely versatile in terms of themes and tone - AT has allowed a lot of their Storyboarders to really express themselves and their unique artistic vision as part of the Big Collaborative Narrative that is Adventure Time. 

Now, the Boarders who worked on ‘I Remember You’ are Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar. These two were a Storyboarding Duo from the start of S4 and until Sugar left the AT Crew during S5, and they always struck me as a curious combination. I think really from all of the individual boarders working on AT during that time, these two really are the closest to having like… Totally Opposite Artistic Sensibilities as boarders. 

With Sugar favoring a style that is very loose and sketchy and also very rounded. Focusing on expressions and subtle body language and lighting. And being famous for going deep in depth into Big Moments of Emotional Catharsis

And Sanchez having a very clear art style that emphasizes strong silhouettes and clear lines that suggest flatness. Focusing more on major poses and the character’s positions in the space. And having just a really great eye for AT’s brand of silly humor.

Like, I almost kinda suspect these two were paired together so they can each cover for the other’s “weakspots” in writing ‘Adventure Time’. 

And there were a few episodes that did some really interesting stuff with this very contrasting pair - ‘Jake the Dog’ is another example. Giving most of the Farmworld scenes to Sugar and most of the Time Room scenes to Sanchez both plays to their personal strengths as storyboarders and helps to emphasize the strong emotional contrast between these two scenarios. 

And ‘I Remember You’ is actually kinda unique among Adventure Time episodes cause… Most episodes will have the two boarders alternate between working on the episode throughout it. Like you’d have Boarder A draw a bit and then Boarder B and then Boarder A again… But “I Remember You” is divided between Sanchez and Sugar… basically perfectly in the middle.

So the entirety of the first half of the episode was boarded by Sanchez

Until Ice King pushes Marceline and then leaves the room in shame.

And then, Sugar takes over.

And, like, even if you don’t know anything about the Behind the Scenes of Adventure Time or who Cole Sanchez and Rebecca Sugar even are - the Shift is noticeable. The shift in tone, in narrative focus, in the subtleties in which the characters are drawn. 

The entire first half of the episode has this thin veneer of just being a Silly Goofy Ice King Episode. Sanchez’s talent for Adventure Time’s brand of comedy is on full display… but there is also this underlying feeling that Something is Happening just under the surface. And these hints of the Big Emotions of ‘IRY’ expressed via Sanchez’s kinda goofy style really create this balance between putting the audience into a false sense of security that this is just a Very Normal Episode about two characters hanging out and the Tension constantly brewing in the subtext. 

And then it all comes to a blow.

And then the Shift happens. And now we are in Sugar’s court.

And this subtle shift in the artstyle and storytelling also coincide with Marceline finally openly expressing her feelings and the Reveal of Simon and Marcy's shared past. The episode changes focus from Ice King's silly antics to Marceline's feelings. Everything changes, everything in the first part of the episode gets recontextualized and... even on the most basic level, the episode is now Noticeably Different.

I would almost say that Sanchez’s half of the episode has Ice King define the tone, while Sugar’s half of the episode has Marceline define the tone. But more than anything it’s the catharsis. The reveal and release of those emotions that were building up so expertly through the Sanchez half of the episode. All of the Sugar-boarded scenes in this episode are really heartbreaking on their own, just through the tragedy of the story and Sugar’s expert knowledge of howto convey emotion in the visual medium - but it’s so enchanted by what came before it.

“I Remember You” is truly a great testament to how ‘Adventure Time’ could use every aspect of its medium to tell a great story in such a short time.

[greenqueenhightower]

Alicent finds solace in religion from an early age because:

she had a difficult childhood/upbringing

the death of her mother was traumatizing (and religion was probably important for her mother too)

she felt like a foreigner at King's Landing and this was a way for her to embrace her heritage and reconnect with her roots

she felt pride in the faith of the seven hailing from Oldtown the same way the Targaryens feel pride in the "blood of the dragon"

she yearned to be heard/understood by a higher power

she was looking for help and guidance in her life to deal with anxiety and her domineering father

she is haunted by the fatal flaw of self-loathing, as is evident from her skin-picking disorder

she uses religion as a way to escape reality: "you desire not to be free, but to make a window in the wall of your prison"

What a complex and compelling character for real <3

[misted-buttercup-enjoyer]

In "Too Young" when Princess Bubblegum talked about how she "never get to act like a kid" and how she wishes she "could stay like this with you, but..." I started crying. This poor girl grew up in the harsh world of early Ooo, she spawned from a living wad of gum and built a house for her brother, she tried to have a family but they betrayed her and she internalized that as "ignorance is bliss." Because shes intelligent, and she's sure not happy, and they were intelligent, and they weren't happy either, atleast Neddy is happy when he's just sucking on those roots and blissfully unaware of his surrondings. Homegirl didn't have any childhood at all, even Marceline had a more carefree childhood when she was with Simon, and she grew up in the literal apocalypse with three parental abandonments. Simon kept her entertained and cared for her, but PB was protecting Neddy and scavenging for resources, on her own, just to stay alive, her entire childhood. God. People dont talk enough about how tragic her childhood was, I feel freaking awful.

[jeyneofpoole]

I truly honestly believe that if weren't for the prophecy cersei and Tyrion would be frenemies. I don't know if they would be as close as Tyrion and Jaime were just because that was a love that transcended Lannister dysfunction until it DID NOT. but I think they would have always been scheming and scamming against each other but like as a love language and not in a killing sort of way. I would love to study the Lannister kids like bugs tbh but I just :( when I think about how they both revered and resented jaime for the suffocating shadow he casted while he did the same to them for not realized it also suffocated him

heartbreaking: the two worst people you know could have gone clubbing together if it weren’t for worlds evilest guy with sideburns