#in a way he was pushed into a similar ‘ultimate status’ by the way society began to treat him like one so he absorbed some of those

[makotonaegiunderstander]

going to tear my room apart thinking about how Makoto Naegi genuinely is a normal guy. Even more so in the games where he doesn’t quite have the same explosion he does in the anime adaption— he made up his mind before the trial even started that he wasn’t going to give up no matter what happened to him because his friends had given their last trying to live, and he had to survive for them. He didn’t see surviving but choosing despair as surviving, he wanted to do what they entered the room prepared to do, he wanted to fulfill the declaration he made when he survived his execution: as long as he was alive, as long as he was breathing, he wasn’t going to give up. He saw Junko, he saw everything she presented, and he’d already felt that utter despair. He had the chance to give in as early as Mukuro’s first trial, where he could have chosen to suspect Kirigiri. But he refused to be manipulated anymore, he refused to play the game, even if it meant everything he had, and that’s where he changed from hiding to fighting. When he made the decision to hide Kirigiri’s lie (he did NOT know he was going to die, actually!!! He thought they’d be able to work out the trap bc there was never a time limit before that trial!! That said it’s still incredible that he refused to break even when he realized it would cost him his life.) that was when he broke from his fear completely. That was when he officially bowed out of the game. He wouldn’t be subject to the game’s demands anymore, he was going to win no matter what. He chose to have reckless faith in his friends no matter what, he chose to pursue a truth that would end the game for good. It’s not entirely normal for anyone to do, for sure, but that doesn’t mean he was the only one capable. I’ve said that before in a previous post, that Makoto didn’t do anything that was impossible for any other person. Just like despair was innate in every person and everyone was capable of it, so was hope. That’s what Makoto brought out. But even he stumbled. Even he needed his friends there. And the other survivors are the ones that took Makoto’s prompt and used it to break free of Junko’s influence, Makoto didn’t force them to. He didn’t brainwash them or manipulate them or do anything to influence their thoughts any more than reminding them hope was still there for them, that it wasn’t over yet. They did the rest themselves.

And then they left, and the title Ultimate Hope got away from them all, into a world ideologically influenced by Junko’s despair, and in its absence after her death, it latched into the next powerful force one to replace what it has lost, but it needed a figurehead. So Makoto was chosen, as the one that refused to submit in the face of Junko. He was viewed as an ultimate, elevated, the world placed on his shoulders, and the same wave that brought about the Tragedy turned towards Makoto. People may have needed something to hold onto that felt as powerful as what they’d been facing, but Makoto wasn’t the only one that fought, and he wasn’t possessing some inhuman ability to always resist despair or anguish. Makoto is both exceptional in his determination and stubbornness to keep moving forward and being optimistic, and also not in the slightest, because it isn’t a talent. It isn’t an ultimate ability, it isn’t something no one else can measure up to. His uniqueness comes from his ability to choose that even if he’s standing alone. But, like I said, he’s not immune, he’s not incapable of falling. He will just do everything in his power to resist up until the end, because that’s the decision he made.

It’s weird how he’s Schrödinger’s normal. He’s the most normal guy in the world, but his view of himself as such is also flawed. He isn’t nothing. In fact one could say it’s abnormal that he’s so normal. And he DOES have something that is unique about him, even he can’t deny that fact despite trying to downplay it. He’s optimistic. He’s chosen to try and be positive or at the very least choose to keep going forward in life. That IS abnormal to an extent, despite not being some ultimate, or something no one else is capable of. It is abnormal to never entertain the idea of slowing down, getting bored, or giving up. But at the same time, Makoto DID have moments like that in the game. The only time he really stopped doing that was in the final chapter, when he was pushed to his absolute limit and those parts of him exaggerated themselves so that he could feel like he could survive. He’s the weirdest normal guy alive, I guess.

Anyway I’m rambling and this probably doesn’t make sense bc I pulled an all nighter for the final class trial but I’m losing my mind over Makoto Naegi all the time

[artpo]

!Man Suang spoilers ahead! Just spilling some of my brain's nonsense. I touched on sensitive topics as well so please beware

I will start by saying that in no way we can know the extent of how a worldview affected a person in the 19th century, I'm purely going off of what we have seen in the show.

In different parts of the movie we can see how Khem's beliefs impact his reaction or serve as one of the motives for his behavior.

In the conversation with Chatra on the tree, we get the glimpse into what Khem wishes for himself: freedom to exist as a person, as a dancer. Social inequality and his previous experienced push Khem to the realization that people see the world following a strict social structure, in which his value is merely measured by what he has to offer from the material or physical perspective. This motivates Khem to put everything at risk in Man Suang because he sees the chance for the at least a bit of the freedom he yearns for.

Khem jumped the second Jun, one of Whichiendej's men started attacking and belittling the courtesans. He identified with them due to similar circumstances he went through. Khem sees their job as what they do in order to make a living and also critiques men who sleep around, cheating on their wives. Intentional or not, he also presented the issue of gender inequality with rich, noble men as the main villains yet again. Ultimately, this indicates Khem would "want" the freedom and basic respect for courtesans.

His relationship with Wan is both intriguing and tragic. He tries to keep Wan safe and shows care for him in little ways and he picks up on his episodes as he recalls his sister's death. They're thrown in the mess together, and while Khem does wish for a better life for Wan as well, somewhere along the way the resolution of the mission becomes different in both of their eyes, for their own reasons.

Now, I really want to analyze their relationship more and I probably will, but coming to the tragic part of it, their ending. Khem's reaction is motivated by the moment and he didn't hesitate to save everyone and prevent Wan from burning Man Suang. Of course, many things which we can't begin to imagine could constitute such outcome. It was heartbreaking and it shouldn't be simplified.

The reason I'm bringing this up is that it really stuck out to me how Khem tried to reason with Wan that he can't label the whole group of people based on a small fraction of them who wronged him. Khem came to Man Suang because he had to, because his life was at stake, but he knew if he succeeded, he could only go up from the rock bottom he was at. During his journey, he met and lost people, and his interactions with them showed he tried to be on the side of humanity (even though the himanity failed him before) no matter the gender, nationality or social status.

All in all, it's very interesting how Man Suang provides a critique of the society through Khem's character, showing us many vices humanity is still trying to fight and rid itself off after all these years.

[thyandrawrites]

oh this is intresting

I wonder what exactly makes him "reliant on enji" 🤔. If the point is for him to figure out his identity separate from his father in a similar way shouto did, then him relying on enji for his character arc would go against that right? I'm also interested in how the scenario you presented with enji dying in the first war would play out. How would it affect the character arcs of the rest of the family?

Ok, I kind of walked into that one, didn't I? Alright, I'm gonna try my best to explain my feelings, tho they're probably going to be more jumbled and less thought-out than my meta (hence why I left that part to the tags, more as an inside-voice). I hope this makes sense.

When I say that Hori wrote Touya's as "reliant on Enji", I mean exactly this, that Hori purposefully wrote Touya's backstory so that Enji would have to play a role in thematically solving all the loose ends. While most of the role of actually saving Touya will fall on Shouto's shoulders, there are plot threads that only Enji can address, because Shouto simply isn't Touya's father and had no role in his birth (which is one of Touya's character hangups that needs addressing). And I think this is by design; Horikoshi wants Enji to be likeable at the end of this, so he's staging things to make Enji get an opportunity to prove himself.

While Shouto can restore Touya's hope and thus push him into an exploration of his identity and boundaries, what Shouto can't do is being accountable for staging Touya's birth as a business transaction. That's a responsibility that falls on Enji's shoulders, one that he has yet to fully acknowledge. Him and Rei both do.

And while I agree that Touya's eventual self-worth shouldn't be based on whether or not his father loves him or approves of him, what I meant is that Hori is using Dabi as a plot device to redeem Enji, instead of centering the writing of Touya's arc around the idea of healing and doing what's best for Touya.

Does that make sense? Idk. It's just the feeling I get. For a couple of arcs now "doing right by Touya" took the backseat and doesn't seem to be the direction Hori's going for.

As for why I said I wish Endvr had died in the war arc... I think Endvr kinda forces the plot to rotate around him, to accommodate for his stagnancy by sacrificing other character's arcs, and it only makes the story worse in the long run.

I could've seen Enji dying in the war arc if Hori wanted to write a story not focused on catering to Enji's pride but instead on the healing of the todofam without him. In that light, though, Dabi's backstory would've needed some reworking. Obviously, if Dabi killed him he couldn't get the closure I was talking about above. But it could've still been a viable path if Hori wrote the todofam plot from the pov of doing justice to the victims for the abuse they suffered. If Dabi had been allowed to kill Enji, then Hori could've framed it as a narrative where abuse isn't excused, where the consequences of society refusing to hold Enji accountable are not swept under the rug, but cause the fall of a corrupt idol and show everyone that this ideal of heroism simply isn't sustainable. It could've been a condamnation of the mentality that protects the status quo over its innocent victims, and it could've given Dabi room to redefine himself as someone who doesn't need Enji's approval to be worth something (if only it was written right).

But that's not something that works with the current set up; it's nothing more than an AU, or a wish of mine that will never see the light of day I guess. Ultimately, Hori's not aiming to write anything poignant about abuse. This is just a feels-good story about how hope and intent can move mountains and pave the way to a better future

[sasorikigai]

Art is the "greatest operating system," for it grants traumatized individuals like Hanzo Hasashi a metaphorical way of emphasizing the profound impact and influence which it can have on him and society. This term also highlights the way art operates in his human experience.

In my headcanon, Hanzo practices numerous forms of art, including sumi-e painting (in which he utilizes the strong contrast of ink on white paper brought together the harmony of heaven and earth with various strokes), poetry, journaling, writing correspondences through letters (both personal and diplomatic), etc. In his modern verse, he is an avid electric guitar player and can sing rather skillfully.

Communication and Expression: Art has the power to communicate complex ideas and emotions across cultural and linguistic boundaries. It serves as a universal language that people from different backgrounds can understand and appreciate.

Understanding and Reflection: Art encourages interpretation and reflection. Just as an operating system interprets and executes commands, art allows him to interpret and internalize its messages, fostering personal growth and understanding.

Cultural and Social Influence: Art has the ability to shape cultural perspectives and influence social change. Like an operating system shaping the user experience of a device, art shapes his human experience and worldview.

Creativity and Problem-Solving: Art encourages his creativity and innovation. It operates as a platform for exploring new ideas, pushing boundaries, and challenging the status quo — similar to how an operating system provides a platform for various applications.

Emotional Impact: Art has the power to evoke emotions and create a sense of connection. In this way, it operates as a system that interfaces with his human emotions and experiences.

Subjectivity and Diversity: Like an operating system supporting a wide range of applications, art accommodates his diverse perspectives and forms. It celebrates individuality and creativity, offering a platform for a multitude of voices and expressions.

The significance of art, for Hanzo Hasashi, is great and fathomless in the realm of human experience, expression, and culture. Ultimately, it helps to explore his consciousness, both seen and unseen worlds.

[aoawarfare]

At first glance, one may wonder why a podcast about asymmetrical warfare and colonial history is talking about a writer. The primary reason is a personal one: Abdurauf Fitrat along with Abdulla Qodiriy and Cho’lpon (who we’ll talk about in the upcoming episodes) sparked my interest in Central Asian history. Without them I would never have created this podcast, nor would I have worked with the Great War on their episode about Central Asia during the Russian Civil War – which you should check out.

The “academic” reason is these three men, similar to Turar Risqulov, were instrumental in crafting the modern states and identities of Central Asia and/or are the most recognizable faces of Stalinist repression in Central Asia. Since Fitrat was not only a literary giant and mentor to many Jadids, but he was also instrumental in crafting the modern state of Uzbekistan and so we’ll start with him first.

Before the Russian Revolution

Fitrat was born to a prosperous merchant family in Bukhara in 1886, where he received an education in a madrasa before traveling to Istanbul to further his education. He spent four years in Istanbul and was heavily influenced and inspired by various Turkic thinkers and the works of the Young Turks. Several of his pieces were printed in the newspaper Hikmet and some of his earlier works such as A Debate Between a Bukharan Professor and a European on the Subject of New Schools and tales of an Indian Traveler involved an outsider looking in on Bukharan society and commenting on its many failures. In these works, Fitrat would argue for the need of an emir who actually cared for his subjects and the importance of modern education, public healthcare, and the neutralization of the ulama, who he called were “the reason for the extinction of your nation” - Adeeb Khalid, Making Uzbekistan, pg. 226

World War I forced Fitrat to return to Bukhara where he continued to push for the recreation of Bukharan society and pressuring the Emir to listen to the Jadids and other modernizers before it was too late. The emir, however, was content with maintaining the status quo, even after the Russian Empire fell. For his part, Fitrat was distraught when the Bolsheviks took over, claiming, “Russia has seen disaster upon disaster since the [February] transformation and now a new calamity has raised its head, that of the Bolsheviks!”

Abdurauf Fitrat

[Image Description: A black and white photo of three men wearing turbans and long white dress shirts and robes. Two of the men are younger and are standing on either side of the third man who is sitting on a stool. The sitting man has a thick beard and mustache. There is a grey wall behind them and the floor is made out of wood slots.]

He may have hated the Bolsheviks, but he and other Bukharan Jadids were more than willing to take advantage of the disintegration of Tsarist Russia to implement changes in Bukhara.

In 1917, Fitrat still believed in the Emir with the caveat that Emir was a servant to the nation, not the other way around. He, along with other Bukharan Jadids, provided the emir with a list of reforms they believed was needed to modernize Bukhara. The Emir strung them along before eventually siding with the ulama and conservative merchants, ultimately chasing Fitrat and his fellow Jadids out of Bukhara. After the failure to implement reforms in Bukhara, Fitrat’s took his anger out on the Emir and the ulama. He claimed that the emir a traitor to his own people and

“that the cause of the descent of the Muslim world into such dark days are the tyrannical kings, our poets who heaped false praise on them, and our eshons and mullahs who sold our faith.” - Adeeb Khalid, Making Uzbekistan, pg. 227

He was most frustrated by the lack of urgency in reforming Bukharan society and the contentment with the status quo amongst the Bukharan political, religious, and economic leaders. Looking back in 1920, Fitrat would write:

“Many among us say ‘Rapid change in methods of education, in language and orthography, or in the position of women, is against public opinion and creates discord among Muslims…. We need to enter into [such reforms] gradually.’ [The problem is that] the thing called “public opinion” does not exist among us. We have a “general” majority, but it has no opinion…. There is not a thought, not a word that emerges from their own minds. The thoughts that our majority has today are not its own, but are only the thoughts of some imam or akhund. [Given all this,] no good can come from the gradualness.” - Adeeb Khalid, Making Uzbekistan, pg. 179

The Fall of the Bukharan Emir

When Fitrat fled to Samarkand in August 1917, he became the editor for the newspaper Hurriyat, joined the Young Bukharans (which were Bukharan Jadids repackaging themselves), switched from writing in Persian to Uzbek, and began to embrace revolutionary change instead of gradual social change the Jadids once championed. His thinking about Uzbek’s future and the influences it should pull from also changed. Before 1917, he was a champion for Turkish and British influence in the Jadid’s efforts to modernize Bukhara. However, after the Ottoman Empire shattered and the British carved up the Ottoman’s empire amongst themselves and the French and Tsarist Russia, Fitrat violently turned against any admiration he had for England. Between 1919 and 1920, he wrote that driving England out of India was “as great [a duty] as saving the pages of the Qur’an from being trampled by an animal…a worry as great as that of driving a pig out of the mosque.” (Adeeb Khalid, Making Uzbekistan, pg. 103). He also wrote two anti-colonial plays Chin Sevish (True Love) and Hind ixtilolchilari (Indian Revolutionaries). In True Love Nuruddin, an Indian Revolutionary poet, and Zulaikha, his beloved, who are murdered by the British police and a jealous rival for Zulaikha’s affections. In Indian Revolutionaries, Dilnavaz who loves Rahim Bakhsh is arrested by the police and Rahim joins a revolutionary group in the Afghan frontier to rescue her. Things end tragically. He believed that England, who were solidifying their whole on India and struggling to prevent Afghanistan’s own independence was the true enemy external enemy while the ulama and emir remained the true internal enemy.

This evolution in his thinking pushed him towards finding common cause with the Bolsheviks and he left for Tashkent in 1918. When he arrived, he styled himself as a representative of the Bukharan people and worked closely with the Soviets in Tashkent. However, the Young Bukharans had to compete with the newly created Bukharan Communist Party for the Soviet’s attention and support. Eventually, Red Army Genera Mikhail Frunze would force the two groups to merge into one communist party and they focused their efforts on generating support for his invasion of Bukhara. The merger did little to make the two groups like each other and the Young Bukharans remained disconnected from Communist thinking.

Frunze would overthrow the Bukharan Emir in the fall of 1920 and created the Bukharan People’s Soviet Republic. Several Jadids, including Fitrat, would serve in its government.

Running a new Soviet Republic

Fitrat served in several cabinet positions including minister for foreign affairs, education, waqf management, and chairmen of the national economic council with his signature appearing on the banknotes of the republic. He also oversaw the collection and survey of manuscript collections that could be found in the city. His goal was to create a cultural legacy for Bukhara.

Fitrat and the other Jadids used their new power to attack old enemies such as ulama. They had some killed, put others to work, and took their property and wealth when they could. The most complicated problem for Fitrat and the Bukharan Soviet Republic was the issue of waqf property, which is land endowed by wealthy Muslims for religious purposes and were a key source of power for the ulama. Under Fitrat’s reign the waqf remained exempt from taxation and all benefits remained with the mosque, but the distribution and spending of those benefits fell under the directorate’s supervision. A lot of this wealth was used to rebuild new-method schools, madrasas, orphanages, and funded the publication of newspapers, magazines, and useful books. This allowed the government to control who taught at the new-method schools and madrasas and push through Jadid type education reform they had been championing for at least a decade.

However, Fitrat’s greatest contribution while as minister was his language and cultural reform.

Recreating a Language and State Identity

As we mentioned, Fitrat stopped writing in Persian in 1917 and wrote in Uzbek instead. When he became a cabinet minister, he also made Uzbek the state language for the Bukharan Soviet Republic. The reason he chose Uzbek instead of Persian is because he was a proponent of Chaghatayism. Chaghatayism argues that Central Asia was the cradle of the Turkic peoples and its people were Turkic people and the only way to make progress was to reclamation this national authenticity. This also meant elevating the likes of Oghuz, Genghis, Temur, and Ulughbek as Turkic heroes. This left no room for people who claimed a Persianate heritage, like the Tajiks, or the Kazakh and Kyrgyz histories and national heroes. Clearly, a recipe for disaster if one was considered about uniting the region. Poor Risqulov put together an alliance of Kazakh and Uzbek intellectual leaders to avoid a schism, but it fell apart when he was forced out of the region, and the intellectuals went their own ways. This nationalization of local identity would contribute to the eventual creation of the modern Central Asian states which we’ll talk about in our next episode.

Coming from a Chaghatay perspective, Fitrat worked hard to modernize the Uzbek language, basically recreating it from scratch. His goal was to

1. Create an Uzbek language who’s literary quality wasn’t determined by its degree of Arabicness

2. Create an Uzbek language that had its own rules and didn’t borrow from other languages,

3. Create an Uzbek language that had more indigenous terms than Persian or Arabic words (although that seems like one trying to purge English of French influences…)

He even created a cultural organization called Chig’atoy Gurungi (Chaghatay Conversation) which focused on collecting Turkic works used in Turkestan to rejuvenate the Turkic language and enrich its vocabulary and literature.

When he wasn’t busy rewriting an entire language and updating spelling conventions, he was reforming poetry to better utilize the Turkic language. Cho’lpon would pick up this task and completely revolutionize poetry.

Fitrat was trying to prove that the Uzbeks had a language and history of their own, that they weren’t a mismatched people who needs other influences to be creative or contribute to society. The war and revolution had stripped the region of Tsarist and Emirate power. This created a vortex that the Basmachi, Bolsheviks, Jadids, and others were trying to fill. Fitrat believed a Turkic identity was the solution, even if it meant other peoples of the region were left out in the cold.

Nationalism vs Communism

Fitrat’s creation of a national identity was supported by other leaders of the Bukharan Republic who had little interest in the Bolshevik concept of communism or a federated state. The indigenous leaders of the Bukharan Republic wanted to create a centralized, modern state with full sovereignty and membership in the world order. They wanted to keep local control of the region’s resources so they could grow their own internal economy (as opposed to contributing to the bigger Soviet economy). They wanted to fight ignorance “championed” by the ulama by bringing Muslim institutions and Islamic activity under state control – not to destroy it but to regulate it-, and create a bureaucratic system similar to one championed by the Young Turks. They also wanted to have freedom to control their own foreign policy and even sent overtures to the new state of Turkey and Afghanistan.

This contradicted all of the Soviet’s goals and since the Soviets had the Red Army on their side, it was easy to bring the Bukharan Republic to heel. Flexing their muscles, they demanded the dismissal of four ministers, including Fitrat, and exiled them from Bukhara for the abuse of power, corruption and incompetence, and public drunkenness. This shattered the republic’s attempts to exert its independence and began a very dark period in Fitrat’s life.

Life In Exile

After being exiled in 1923, Fitrat traveled to Moscow where he seemingly had a crisis of faith. Since I am not a Muslim myself, I won’t be arrogant enough to try and analyze his relationship with Islam. I will just not that from 1923 onward, Fitrat wrote several pieces that dealt with core Islamic principles. Some of these publications include: Qiyomat (the Day of Judgment), in which a druggie experiences the Islamic version of Judgment Day and returns to Earth because Paradise is boring. Shayton-nin tangriga isyoni (Satan’s Revolt Against God) which is Milton-esque take on Shayton’s fall from grace and something I desperately want to read, and a rather unflattering story about Mohammed’s marriage to his son’s recently divorced wife. In terms of his own believes, Fitrat would claim:

“I was a proponent of religious reform, given over to the idea of separating religion from superstition. Precisely this path from religious reform brought me to irreligion. I saw that nothing remained of religion once it was separated from superstition. I came to believe that religion and science could never coexist and therefore I left religion and [began to] spread ideas against religion. My irreligion is well known to all Uzbeks and Tajiks. This fact cannot be denied” - Adeeb Khalid, Making Uzbekistan, pg. 253

However, that statement was made during the height of his persecution, when Communists and fellow Jadids were attacking him for being anti-Communist in order to bolster their own communist credentials, so this could have been a statement made to save his own life.

In 1924, Cho’lpon would travel to Moscow to study at the newly created Uzbek drama studio and Qodiriy would attend the Briusov Institute of Journalism. For his part, Fitrat taught where he could and forced on writing literature and literary criticism. He would be allowed to return to Bukhara a year later where he could face several attacks on himself, his Communist credentials, and his life’s work.

Attacked from All Sides

The balance of power was shifting in Bukhara in 1924 with the Jadids growing increasingly isolated and unwanted, replaced by indigenous actors who had stronger Communist credentials, (although this didn’t always protect them during Stalin’s purges). He returned just as the internal divides were heating up and he became a lightning rod for anyone who wanted to discredit Fayzulla Xo’jayev’s government and prove their own Communist credentials. First, Fitrat was attacked for being a Chaghatayist. His main accuser was Jalil Boybo’latov who was a Chekist assigned to tracking Fitrat since the early days of the Bukharan Soviet Republic. Boybo’latov claimed that Chaghatayism was a thin veil for Pan-Turkism, Pan-Islamism, and local nationalism and that Fitrat was a Sufi, Pan-Islamist, and pro-Emirate. Fitrat defended himself in the party’s newspaper (he was still the Soviet’s literary darling) but his Chagatay project was stripped from the Sovietization of the Central Asians states by the 1930s.

Fayzulla Xo’jayev used his political power to protect Fitrat from these attacks, allowing him to publish and work in academia. Fitrat continued to step away from political work and taught at several schools, but that didn’t save him from being labeled a political subversive amongst Communist circles. By 1937, the Communists felt strong enough in Central Asia to go after the Jadids, Alash Orda, and old politicians in Central Asia. Fayzulla Xo’jayev fell first, arrested in July 1937. Cho’lpon was arrested on July 13th, 1937, and Fitrat was arrested on July 21st, 1937. They were all accused of belonging to a secret society, Milliy Ittihod (which we’ll discuss in our next episode). The society’s goal was to break away from the Soviet Union and undermining Communism. During his interrogation, Fitrat “confessed” to be the leader and being “recruited” to organization by Fayzulla. He also confessed to helping organize the Basmachi to fight the Soviets and establish an independent bourgeois nationalist state.

Fitrat, Cho’lpon, Qodiriy, and other Jadids were executed on October 4th, 1938, the same day the Supreme Military Court of the USSR in Tashkent convene to announce their sentence. Fitrat’s work was banned by the Soviet Union and was not allowed to be discussed until glasnost. He wasn’t rehabilitated until after the Soviet Union fell.

References

Making Uzbekistan: Nation, Empire, and Revolution in the Early USSR by Adeeb Khalid

Reviewed Work(s): Evading Reality: The Devices of Abdulrauf Fitrat, Modern Central Asian Reformist by Edward A. Allworth

Reclaiming National Literary Heritage: The Rehabilitation of Abdurauf Fitrat and Abdulhamid Sulaymon Cho’lpon in Uzbekistan by Halim Kara

The Jadids in Bukhara: The Juxtaposition of the Reforms if Aini and Fitrat by Candice Mixon

[em-dash-press]

Types of Conflict in Stories

Sometimes stories get stuck while you're writing them. It doesn't matter if you sketched out your plot, drew character diagrams or felt more inspired by the idea than ever before.

The plot progression can slow to a halt, so what can you do to fix it? Although there could be many causes for your creative struggles (writer's block included!), it could be a sign that you need to define your conflict.

Conflict drives your plot, especially if you know how to define it.

These are the seven most common types of conflict you can start considering as you analyze your existing story or think of a new one.

1. Character vs. Society

Facing off against some representation of society is a popular theme in fiction. It could be a middle schooler clashing with their teachers or a heroic underdog breaking the law for a noble reason and hiding from the government.

Think Katniss vs. the Hunger Games. The games dictate everything from who stays in power to who rises or falls from economic classes.

2. Character vs. Character

People will always disagree with each other or actively work against each other to achieve their desired goals. This is Character vs. Character conflict. It's all over literature, movies, television and other types of media because everyone can understand and relate to it.

You've seen this conflict play out in things like Romeo and Juliet. Romeo has to fight Paris after Mercutio dies. It's Nick and Amy Dunne trying to stay one step ahead of each other in Gone Girl. It's Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's rivalry in Hamilton.

3. Character vs. Technology

The Character vs. Technology conflict genre can be big or small. You could write about your protagonist traveling forward in time, which forces them to learn how to use the future's technology while the plot pushes forward.

You could also make your character face conflict created by technology. Mary Shelley did that when she wrote Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein uses the technology at his disposal to create his monster, but his creation goes on to create problems that he didn't foresee.

Today's world is more reliant on tech than ever before, but that only makes people more aware of how technology can go wrong or complicate people's lives. It's another evergreen conflict that will remain important to readers (and publishers!) because we will never go back to life without computers, electricity, and technological inventions.

4. Character vs. Self

Battling yourself is another relatable theme in literature. It usually takes some kind of form similar to an angel and devil sitting on a protagonist's metaphorical shoulders.

Characters in coming-of-age novels often face themselves and either grow from the conflict by learning from mistakes or succeeding through good choices.

There can also be an inner debate happening within your protagonist that keeps this conflict moving through your resolution. Mr. Darcy grapples with his inner self in Pride and Prejudice. He's used to getting whatever he wants based on his status and wealth, so he has to dismantle that part of his nature when Elizabeth rejects his proposal. He insulted her in numerous ways during the proposal and has to learn to let go of that part of himself if he's going to admit his real feelings and get married to the love of his life.

You can also see this conflict happening in A Court of Silver Flames. Much of the primary conflict in that novel is Nesta healing from the many types of trauma that turned her into an angry, defensive version of herself. She makes good and bad choices that shift her inner growth into different perspectives, ultimately showing her that she's more than her mistakes and her past.

5. Character vs. Nature

Ah, the Moby Dick of it all. Characters battle natures to better understand themselves and the world. It can also result in them saving their loved ones or society as a whole—or not.

This conflict can put characters in a literal fight against nature. You could write something similar to The Day After Tomorrow, where people have to survive catastrophic natural events caused by human destruction.

You might write about plagues or apocalypses that change the natural world as your characters know it. They may have to battle zombies for the rest of their lives or rebuild their society after a virus sweeps through humanity.

Character vs. Nature conflict can also include illnesses. Cancer is part of the natural world, which humans have little control over starting or preventing in themselves or others. The Fault in Our Stars utilizes this conflict because the protagonists both fight cancer throughout the plot. Similar health conditions could also include dementia or Parkinson's.

6. Character vs. Supernatural

Supernatural stories are very popular with readers. It covers an extensive list of potential characters within this conflict genre, such as:

Ghosts

Gods

Demons

Aliens

Religious characters

Myths come to life

Supernatural characters always represent something beyond their physical or non-physical forms. Gods might make protagonists grapple with universal truths, like good vs. evil. Aliens challenge characters in their understanding of the galaxy and what it means to be human.

Character vs. Supernatural battles can be fun to read while covering dense topics. Picture the Odyssey, It, and even Stranger Things to see how this conflict plays out across media forms.

7. Character vs. Fate

Fate could fit within supernatural conflicts, but it can also stand on its own. Supernatural elements may help the protagonist avoid, learn from or accept their inevitable fate. It could also help them change it.

Frodo faces this conflict in The Lord of the Rings. His fate is to destroy the ring in Mordor, but he goes back and forth with accepting that fate based on how the plot makes it more difficult.

Sometimes characters don't even know they're battling their fate—but the reader does. While you're reading Wicked, you'll follow Elphaba as she chases her dream to defy prejudices and become the Wizard's partner. Meanwhile, the reader knows she has to become the Wicked Witch of the West.

Play With Your Story's Conflict

You might feel stuck in your story because the characters solve their conflict too early in your plot. The conflict may also prove to be too small for a long-form story, so you may have to introduce a second type of conflict that spins out from however the first type of conflict gets solved.

You can absolutely have multiple types of conflict in a story if you want to. Just be sure to follow each type through to their resolutions. Otherwise you risk finishing your work with loose ends and leaving readers unsatisfied.

[n1kolaiz]

The Six Realms

Okay, so I was pretty close to giving up on writing analyses but I'm back LMFAO plus I see we're close to 100 followers and I just want to thank you guys for being so very supportive <3

Alright, I'm not sure if anyone's ever written about this, but if an analysis like this exists, please do let me know because I'm kind of curious as to what other people think about this, too!

Remember that time Fukuchi spoke about bringing "about the five signs of an angel's death"?

I read a little bit more about it, and as a minor content warning: this analysis will focus on a few religious aspects (Buddhism + Hinduism). So if I get any of the facts wrong, firstly: I do not mean any disrespect to either religion, and secondly: please do correct me if I interpret anything in the wrong way.

Spoilers for BSD chapter 90 onwards + BEAST!AU under the cut!

So I'll start by talking about the Decay of Angels. As we all know, the members include Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Sigma, and Bram Stoker, and their leader, Fukuchi Ochi. After Fyodor's arrest, the Decay of Angels came into light with Nikolai murdering four government officials in a week. These murders symbolise the Buddhist cycle of existence, or otherwise known as samsara: the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

"We are the Decay of Angels—hiding here as terrorists, a 'murder association', five people who will announce the demise of the celestial world."

Nikolai Gogol, chapter 57

Samsara is described to be a concept beyond human understanding. According to Hinduism, samsara is the physical world where every being has its soul trapped into a physical vessel. The Hindus believe that everything has a soul, and due to a soul's attachment to desire, it is forced into a deathless cycle of being born, dying, and reincarnating into a different body. In Buddhism, the ultimate way to break free from this cycle is by obtaining nirvana.

Nirvana is a Sanskrit word for the goal of the Buddhist path: enlightenment or awakening. In Pali, the language of some of the earliest Buddhist texts, the word is nibbana; in both languages it means "extinction" (like a lamp or flame) or "cessation." It refers to the extinction of greed, ill will, and delusion in the mind, the three poisons that perpetuate suffering. Nirvana is what the Buddha achieved on the night of his enlightenment: he became completely free from the three poisons. Everything he taught for the rest of his life was aimed at helping others to arrive at that same freedom.

- TRICYCLE'S definition of nirvana

As Fukuchi mentions in the panel above, there are six different realms of existence. These realms represent every possible state of existence, but one cannot live in a specific realm forever. Depending on whether or not one's past actions were morally good or bad, an individual is born into one of these realms. Basically, the controlling factor of which realm a person is born into is dependent on their respective karma. The realms are separated into two categories: the hellish ones and the heavenly ones.

The Deva Realm: where beings are rewarded for the good deeds they have done. This realm is void of anything unpleasant. It is basically paradise— empty of unfulfilled desires, any form of suffering, and fears of every kind. Religious individuals, however, do not seek to be born into this realm since its attitude is more or less carefree.

The Asura Realm: where demigods are admitted. Asuras are driven by greed and envy, and may come in conflict with human beings since they are quite similar. They are powerful beings, but quarrel with each other quite a bit, making this realm quite undesirable to be reborn into.

The Animal Realm: where beings are given the form of an animal (you probably guessed that lol). Individuals here don't actually have good karma to take pride in, but rather, they are born into this realm to work off their bad karma (by being slaughtered, hunted, or forced to work, etc). Being born into this realm forces one to atone for their past sins by living out their life as an animal.

The Hell Realm: where one is punished for their evil actions. The most merciless of realms, where one pays for their transgressions through pure suffering, methods of which include: dismemberment, starvation, and psychological/physical torture. However, once a person's term is fulfilled in this realm, they are presumably promised to be reborn into a higher state.

The Preta Realm: similar to the hell realm, in which beings pay for their past sins (specifically: greed and stinginess) by having to survive through hunger and thirst. This realm is also known as the 'ghost realm,' because some pretas are psychologically tortured by being forced to live in places their past selves have lived in. They are invisible to human beings living at that time, which pushes them to face the depths of despair and loneliness. Your typical horror movie, really.

The Human Realm: the only realm where one's actions determine their future. The status (social ranking, physical wellbeing, and so on) of a human being in this realm is determined by their past actions, but due to the fact that a person has their own conscience to differentiate good morals from bad, the actions they commit in this realm have the power to determine which realm they are sent to next.

Okay, so now that I've got that out of the way, let's shift our focus to the Book. Very little is known about the Book, but the basic fundamentals of how it works is that whatever is written in the book will come into existence only if its contents follow the rules of karma. In addition to that, only a few sentences can be written into a single page of the Book, and it must follow the current narrative of the story.

If I'm not wrong, the first time the Book was mentioned was by Fitzgerald, who wanted it to resurrect his deceased daughter in hopes of restoring his wife's mental health. The next time the Book is brought up is when Fyodor's intentions to possess it are divulged; his goal was to decimate the global population of ability-users. And now, the current arc has the Book as its central focus, with a single page in Fukuchi's possession.

[ BEAST!AU spoilers ]

The Book acts as the central point of multiverses, with each character's lives differing from universe to universe.

Dazai committing suicide in this alternate universe stands in sharp contrast with how he decided to start up a new life in the main universe.

Oda staying alive to act as a mentor to Akutagawa in the ADA differs from how Oda uses his death to prompt Dazai to "be on the side that saves people."

And of course, the way Atsushi and Akutagawa have their positions switched in the two universes depicts how different their lives would be if they were given the chance to be mentored by different people— these are just a few examples of how the Book houses an endless amount of possibilities.

[ end of BEAST!AU spoilers ]

Hypothetically speaking, this kind of reminds me of the differing realms I mentioned before, where suffering is promised in some realms, and better things are granted in the rest, depending on one's karma, or the deeds they've done in their past lives. In this scenario, perhaps one's past life can be understood as one's current life in a different universe. That's just a personal opinion though. Take it as you will.

side note: Keep in mind that the person who is more or less impervious to the Book's effect is Dazai, with his nullification ability. I wouldn't want to propose any theories in this aspect (I don't believe I'm fully fact-checked ;_;), but I could use Dazai as a raw example of how your choices affect your future. If Dazai had decided to stay in the Port Mafia after Oda's death, or if he even decided to go through with his suicidal fixations, life would've been different for him in the root universe (obviously, ryley) I mean, you could basically understand that from how he ended up in the BEAST au, but imagine if he really did slip up in his decision-making in any of the universes.

Many analysts have proposed that he went MIA (early in his life) from the main universe for a while to figure out how the BEAST universe worked, whilst having the Book to his advantage. Perhaps his actions were guided? I'm not saying he's all-knowing, but he's sure as hell smart. I'm not sure if Kafka was trying to highlight the concept of karma when it comes to Dazai, but if he is, then I suppose you could say that Dazai is pretty much unaffected by the rules of karma, existing as the centerpiece of all the multiverses. No Longer Human is the namesake of his ability, but the book talks about disqualification from societal norms and generally, the world. I was talking about it with a friend, and they reminded me that Yozo (the main protagonist) was pretty strong in his views against society. Like he didn't speak out of total defeat, he spoke out of defense. If there was anything Dazai actually lost to, it was his guilt— "Living itself is a source of sin."

Then again, that's my personal interpretation since everyone has their unique perspective of his writings. In terms of the actual adaptation, you could translate the word 'disqualification' to 'insusceptibilty' when if it came to the Book's effects on Dazai? This side note is becoming really long lmao anyways I'll link a few theories which afflicted me with brainrot down below.

Another thing before I wrap up, the name 'Decay of Angels' stemmed from Yukio Mishima's book entitled 'The Decay of An Angel.' This is the final novel to the author's tetralogy: 'The Sea of Fertility.' The main protagonist, Honda, meets a person he believes to be a reincarnation of his friend, Kiyoaki, who takes the form of a young teenage boy named Tōru. The last novel of this series enhances Mishima's dominant themes of the series as a whole:

the decay of courtly tradition in Japan

the essence and value of Buddhist philosophy and aesthetics

Mishima’s apocalyptic vision of the modern era

Again, this could be referred to what Fukuchi goes on to say:

Some people view the concept of samsara optimistically, justifying it by saying that perhaps each individual is given a second (third, fourth, fifth, who knows) chance to refine their actions in order to be birthed into a better realm, with their karma being the independent variable.

On the other hand, other people, specifically the Hindus, view the cycle of existence as some sort of plague. To them, the flow of life and being forced to endure the suffering of mere existence in any form was somewhat frowned down upon. Some Hindus viewed samsara as a trap. Besides, having one's soul being limited to a physical body for the rest of eternity was not very appealing, especially since where they ended up at depended on the karmic value their past actions surmounted.

Even so, particular types of Buddhists don't seek nirvana, but instead, like the Hindus, they make an effort to be good people of society, building up their good deeds to increase the likelihood of being reborn into one of the better realms.

As mentioned before, the Deva Realm was the home of angels, the most carefree, gratified beings to exist. Fukuchi describes these angels as the people who don't get their hands dirty, the people who act as the puppeteers of society: politicians.

In terms of parallels, angels were the most fortunate and powerful, but they didn't have anyone ruling over them. A lack of supervision would lead to the abuse of power, which is what I believe Fukuchi was referring to. Deeming himself the Decay of Angels, he sought to prove himself as the 'sign of death that falls on the nation's greed.'

A few fun facts (okay, not really) about Yukio Mishima: he committed seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment) on the day he held a speech to voice out his unpopular political beliefs to the public. Mishima deeply treasured traditions and opposed the modern mindset the nation was advancing forward to adapt eventually. In his last book, The Decay of an Angel, he spoke about the five signs which complete the death of an angel:

Here are the five greater signs: the once-immaculate robes are soiled, the flowers in the flowery crown fade and fall, sweat pours from the armpits, a fetid stench envelops the body, the angel is no longer happy in its proper place.

The Decay of an Angel, p.53

The reviews about this series I've read so far describe Mishima's works to be quite complex; his writings demanded a lot of time to deconstruct and understand. They were highly symbolic, and he was pretty obsessed with death and the 'spiritual barrenness of the modern world.' I think you could attach a few strings from here to the mindsets of the DOA members. Of course, this parallel is completely abstract, but I'll go on rambling anyway:

He should have armed them with the foreknowledge that would keep them from flinging themselves after their destinies, take away their wings, keep them from soaring, make them march in step with the crowd. The world does not approve of flying. Wings are dangerous weapons. They invite self-destruction before they can be used. If he had brought Isao to terms with the fools, then he could have pretended that he knew nothing of wings.

The Decay of an Angel, p.113

I suppose you could resonate Nikolai with that excerpt. As much as Fukuchi takes the lead in this whole murder association, I'd like to believe that each member of the DOA plays an equally interesting part in whatever movement they're trying to execute. Fyodor feels it is his god-sent purpose to cleanse the world of its sins, his motto being, "Let the hand of God guide you." Sigma doesn't know where he belongs, since his origination comes from a page in the Book, and is fueled by the desperation to find a reason to live. Bram holds one of the most powerful abilities which is counted to be one of the "Top Ten Calamities to Destroy the World."

What I mean to say is that the DOA members are incredibly powerful, and they're not your ordinary antagonists (or I'm just biased). It's not just overthrowing authorities, mass genocide, and world domination— you could say that each individual is trying to utilize their purposes to their fullest expenditures, and the way they're trying to assert their plan into action is a little more passive-aggressive (framing the Agency, having a convo with a suicidal dude in jail, etc). They're the gray area between evil and good. As they framed the good guys for their own crimes, they're trying to conquer the bad guys for exploiting the innocent as they please.

This post would definitely age well if all hell breaks loose in the current arc (as if it didn't) and Kafka doesn't give us a happy ending.

That's all I have to say for now I guess! Thank you for reading, and once again, if anyone else something they wanna share, feel free to do so <3

sources (tryna follow Q's example ^_^) :

the six realms

samsara

the decay of angels

beast!au

the book

the sea of fertility

yukio mishima

theory: dazai’s emotional/mental state in beast!au

q’s theory: dazai being the protector of the book

theory: beast!dazai and the book

[linkspooky]

Who is it who really needs saving? 

is the question Dabi asked when Tokoyami came to rescue Hawks in the middle of the raid war arc. Dabi asks this question just after Hawks stabbed twice in the back with the justification that it would save people, despite the fact that Twice was also a victim too, and also someone in need of saving. Dabi’s question is especially poignant because it asks who is hero society invested in saving, a question that is repeated by Twice who believes Hero Society only saves the good victims, and Himiko as well who asks if Heroes save people, then was Twice not a person. 

I bring this up because chapter 299/300 end on another parallel between Dabi and Hawks. Both of them have their backs being shown, however, Hawks is already healing due to the nature of his quirk, whereas the permanent burns on Dabi’s skin has already gotten worse. Hawks and Dabi also have opposite goals at this point, Hawks to support Endeavor, and Dabi’s ultimate goal is to bring him down. However, Rei’s words over Endeavor’s panel add another layer of complication to this. “Those regrets and guilt, the rest of those have borne that burden much more than you have.” Endeavor is suffering, but he’s not the one most in need of saving. I believe next chapter rightly, Rei is going to point out that the ones most in need of saving are the ones who suffered the most because of Endeavor’s actions. Endeavor was never the one in need of saving, and in need of redemption in the first place, rather it was Dabi. 

1. Started From the Bottom Now We’re Even Lower

Hawks and Dabi are seeming opposites even from their origin points. Hawks was born in a poor household the son to a minor villain, Touya a rich household the son of the number two hero. Hawks family name basically means nothing to the point where the hero commission easily erased it, whereas Dabi’s family name has dominated his entire life. Touya from a young age was given everything he needed to become a hero and his father even encouraged him, while Hawks was on the run from the law and couldn’t even leave his small house without getting yelled at. 

At first, Hawks was born with a quirk that both of his parents disapproved of as they constantly asked him what his wings were even for, and seemed disgusted by his mutation. While at the same time, Touya was born with a quirk that his father was happy with, a fire quirk even stronger than his own which Enji thought gave him enough of a potential that he didn’t need to worry about finding an ideal hybrid quirk. He could pass all his techniques onto his firstborn son who seemed eager to learn. 

The only real similarity between both of them was that for both children, Endeavor was clearly their favorite hero. Touya was eager to please his father and train with him in order to inherit his hero techniques, and when Endeavor captured Hawks father, it convinced Hawks that heroes were real. 

However, both of them experienced a sudden reversal of fate. This is where circumstances for both of them flipped. Touya’s quirk was in fact revealed to be a very harmful hybridization of his parents two quirks, he inherited his father’s flames but even hotter, while at the same time inheriting Rei’s sensitivity to fire which made th overheating flaw even worse on him causing his quirk to deliberately harm his body. Hawks however, is an ideali hybridization of both of his parents quirks. His mother Tomie has a quirk that creates eyeballs and seems ideal for searching, watching and locating things, while his father’s feather quirks on his arms that could sharpen into blades turned into wings on his back that were both capable of searching and detection like his mother’s eyeballs and sharpening into blades like his father’s. 

At first it seems destined that Touya was ging to become a hero, while Hawks had no hope for him, but because of the nature of their quirks the opposite happened. When Hawks was young he was able to save a busload of people from crashing which got him recruited by the hero commission. While it’s implied that Touya kept trying to train on his own even after Endeavor stopped the training and abandoned him in favor of Shoto, and because of that Touya had his training accident at Sekoto peek and burned to death. 

Dabi and Hawks are seeming opposites, but they’re actually quite similar if you think about it. Both of them grew up in abusive households that are intentionally paralleled, they have controlling and physically violent fathers, and mothers who are coded as mentally ill, Tomie was unfit to take care of a child, and Rei was eventually pushed to a breaking point where she was unable to anymore and then forcibly separated and institutionalized by her husband. Both, also experienced a separation from their mother, Rei was hospitalized around the time Toya finally died, and the Hero Commission promised Tomie support if she cut all ties from him. Both of them also dreamed of becoming heroes, and tried their best to, even Touya after his father rejected him kept training on their own. 

The only difference between them is circumstances, Hawks was saved because he was born with a useful quirk, Touya despite his father being the number two hero was never saved. 

2. We’re the Heroes, Who Don’t Do Anything

In fact it’s implied that Enji intentionally looked away and forced himself to forget Touya’s suffering. For instance, the first time Touya trains with Enji he’s shown wearing a sleeveless shirt. Every time after that, Touya has long jacket sleeves on. When he’s crying to Natsuo, when he’s pulling out his hair, and the last memory from before his death, every time Touya is shown hiding his arms. We also know that Dabi, has burns that go all the way up his arms which is exactly where his flames emerge from. It’s also the place where Touya burns himself when Enji remembers training with him for the first time. 

It’s likely that Touya was walking around with burns up his arms from the training he was inflicting on himself, and Enji simply didn’t notice because his unreliable narrator status, he forgets everything he has done to other members of his family, or intentionally downplays the severity of it in order to avoid the guilt and consequences of his actions. Hence why he can say things like “I never meant to neglect you” to Natsuo, when we saw him call Natsuo and the others failures from Shoto’s perspective, because in Enji’s perspective he’s just a good father who went wrong somewhere along the line, whereas from Natsuo’s perspective he never really acted like a father towards him at all.

Enji only ever sees his own intentions, and not the impact his actions had on others. He only saw his heroic ambitions, and not the way he taught Touya that his only value was his quirk, and then completely tossed him aside as a failure and ignored all his suffering when Touya kept trying to get his attention. That he intentionally neglected Touya until either an accident or a suicide claimed his life. 

Either way it’s a running theme that Endeavor hesitates when it comes to saving his own sons. Despite seeing himself as both a hero and a father, he completely fails in both roles to them. 

He froze when it came time to save Natsuo from Ending, and the second time when Shoto was begging Endeavor for help against Dabi, Endeavor chose not to do a single thing. In fact the only thing that moved him was Deku’s pep talk that exclusively stoked his ego and called him a good mentor, which caused Endeavor to finally move into action. 

Endeavor is a hero in name who has no interest in directly saving others, because his number one priority has always been to stand at the number one spot and feel like he’s accomplished something. He didn’t notice Touya was most likely continuing the training on his own, and was spiraling that badly until after Touya had died, and even after that happened he still continued the training with Shoto like nothing happened, even mentioning that Touya was a small mistake. 

When the wounds from Touya’s death were still fresh, it seemed like barely anything more than an afterthought to him. There are some people who even theorize that Enji only believed Touya was always alive because he had never truly faced the guilt of Touya’s death and his role in it, that it was a comfort to him to believe his son was still secretly alive out there. 

The signs were obvious that Touya was spiraling, but he was neglected so much that Endeavor the number two hero who prides himself on most cases resolved didn’t notice what was going wrong with his son until he literally burned himself alive, and even then that wasn’t enough to stop him from mistreating his other son and forcing him into painful training. 

Touya’s neglect is as much abuse as Shoto’s favoritism and training, that’s the point of the golden child / scapegoat dynamic, they are both being abused. Enji was the only parent in the household, and if his kid was burning himself, and injuring himself all the time and it got to the point where the child literally died because of a lack of adult supervision, Enji could be prosecuted for manslaughter in a court of law. There are cases where adults just, do absolutely nothing for their kids, and those kids sometimes die of neglect, starvation, because of their parents completely failing to take care of them. It’s just as sinister a form of abuse as physical abuse. In both cases a child’s needs aren’t being provided for by their parents. 

Dabi is someone who could have been easily saved by his father paying attention to him, and should have been saved by the man who prides himself as the number two hero, but he was left to rot. This is a running theme with Endeavor, he’s a hero who continually fails to save his family. 

Dabi’s situation is also a metaphor for hero society at large. Who are the types of people that Hero Society prefers to save? Those who are useful to it like Hawks. It intentionally turns a blind eye to cases like Touya, Tenko  or Twice. If Touya did have burns on his arms from training but was able to cover them up just by wearing long sleeves, and Natsuo was the only one who knew then that goes even further to explain Dabi’s specific obsession with discrediting Endeavor.

If Dabi’s father had just acted like a hero, or acted like a father then he would have been saved. If Dabi’s father had noticed the person most in need of saving was right next to him, the incident where he burned to death never would have happened. Which is why Dabi’s grudge is specifically against heroes who do not act like heroes. Heroes who, cannot save anyone because they are too self involved to perform the duty of saving. He shares Stain’s obsession with ideologically pure heroes, that only heroes who put saving others selflessly over everything else should be allowed to exist and the rest are pretenders to the title.

Notice how Dabi pulls on the scars on his face when begging the people to think about this, about who should really be allowed to call themselves heroes. 

Dabi’s entire arc revolves around this question. Who are the real victims? Who are the ones that really need to be saved? Dabi is a character of mystery and subversion who is constantly hiding his real feelings. 

Dabi is commented on being heartless about Twice’s death, but his actions contradict his words. Dabi goes out of his way trying to avenge Twice even after it’s already too late to save him, even burning up his own body to do so. He tried so hard we see literally there are new scars growing on his back the next time we see him Post-War Arc. 

I’d also like to bring up that while Hawks accuses Dabi of feeling nothing about Twice’s death, Hawks is the one who killed him, and who after the fact shows no regret in his actions because he’s completely justified it to himself. He even remembers Twice like he’s some kind of old friend he took inspiration from, and not a person he manipulated into trusting him then killed. My point is it’s a reversal, Hawks is set up as the one who cares about Twice as a friend, but really was only using him. Dabi claims he was only using him, but he’s the one who showed an actual emotional reaction to Twice’s death and made an effort to save him. 

If I were to say this is one more point of foiling between Dabi and Hawks. They both don’t see themselves as victims and because of that they deny the victimhood of the other. 

Dabi accuses Hawks of becoming a murderer because his father was a murderer. Hawks when he learns the truth about Enji, takes Enji’s side over Dabi’s, believing Endeavor being the true victim in need of help in that situation. This is because Dabi and Hawks both deny their own victimhood, and they project that on each other. Dabi denies his victimhood and pretends to be the villain instead, he’s the villain who is going to take down Endeavor and therefore he’s not suffering. Hawks denies his own victimhood and his abusive past and pretends to be a hero, he’s helping Endeavor become a better hero, so therefore all the abuse Endeavor committed is in the past so therefore he doesn’t have to think about it. Both deny themselves and therefore deny any similarity in one another. 

They’re also two people fatally wrapped up in their own circumstances they turn a blind eye to the suffering of others. Dabi assumes that Shoto is “good” and therefore, must have been raised with love and had it better than him and was raised with love. Whereas Hawks assumes that Twice is “good”, and therefore worthy of saving because he helps other people. In both cases, neither Dabi nor Hawks really understand Shoto or Twice, they’re just judging them by their own projected standards. Dabi only understands his childhood as Touya desperately trying to work for Enji’s attention, so Shoto who had Enji’s attention must have had it good. Hawks was saved because of the bus accident where he saved people as a hero, so obviously it makes sense he reach out to try to save another good person who just had bad luck. 

Despite the fact that both of them are pretty much emotionally dead and in deep denial of their true feelings. 

Dabi has also made a show of how little he cares about Natsuo, while at the same time his most famous line from the pro hero arc is “overthought things and snapped...” 

Dabi is also the only one who notices it’s dangerous to bring Tokoyami onto a battlefield. This is when he asks the question, who is it who needs saving. 

We learn at around the same time, the hope from the Pro Hero arc was intentionally a set up by Dabi to bring Endeavor down, and show everyone eventually that Endeavor hadn’t truly changed. 

These are all small details yes, but keep in mind we’ve really only gotten crumbs of Dabi’s characterization so far because his perspective is one that has deliberately been kept from us. We see his past through almost everyone else’s eyes but his own - because so far the focus has been on Endeavor.

Just like Dabi set up Endeavor’s earlier success only to bring him down, this might also lead to a reversal in the narratives. In 299, Hawks believed Endeavor to be the one in need of help. We are also as an audience set up to believe that the narrative arc will focus around Endeavor’s redemption. This is before the series revealed the circumstances of his son. 

However, Endeavor and Dabi are literal opposites. They’re inversions of each other. Dabi pretends he doesn’t care any more for his family and will go out of his way to hurt them, that all he cares about is revenge, but at the same his ideals are heroic. In his actions and ideals he’s the one calling for a better society. Dabi is the most independent and distant from the league it’s true, and so far he’s denied their friendship, but at the same time it’s Dabi who is the most idealistic of the league. Shigaraki wants to destroy the current society, Himiko wants a society that’s easier on her, but it’s Dabi who has the ideals for a society he wants, one where heroes are held to standards and act like Heroes. It’s dabi better than anyone else who makes the standards for mass appeal. Because, deep down Dabi still has heroic aspirations and drive even if it comes from Stain of all people he’s inspired by. He has some sort of ideals, a world he’s trying to create.

Whereas, Endeavor doesn’t have any heroic ideals at all. His idea of being a hero has always centered around fame, status and the ranking of number one. He’s a hero unconcerned with saving people, only defeating villains to prove his strength. Endeavor presents himself outwardly as someone who is trying to do what’s best for his family, and working towards being the best hero he can be but his intentions are revealed to be selfish, at the same time as Enji’s narration is revealed as unreliable. It may have been set up for an inversion all along, with the setup being that Enji is the one who needed to redeem himself, when Dabi was pushed to the background. Around this time Rei also tried to reassure others, that he was trying to carry his regrets with him. 

However, as soon as Touya’s identity is revealed, Rei’s stance reverses. Now she properly calls out that, Enji hasn’t been carrying his regrets at al.. Instead, he’s been forcing his family to carry the burden of it while he gets to go play hero in front of the public. 

As soon as Touya is revealed to be alive, it’s not Enji who is the center and focus of conversation but rather Touya. In 299, Hawks believes that it’s Endeavor whose in need of saving, but we’re shown that Endeavor only really seems to pity himself in this situation. 

It’s Rei who shows up to remind us, who really is in need of saving in this situation. Not Endeavor but rather those who have been burned the most by Endeavor’s actions. 

Which may be the ultimate parallel between Hawks and Dabi as well, Hawks can’t see himself as a victim so he can’t realize who the victims who need his help the most is. Whereas, Dabi in the future may receive the change of heart he needs to reopen his heart again and accept others, and therefore learn to accept himself. Dabi is set up for a reconciliation between his two selves, Touya the victim and Dabi the villain. While ultimately, Hawks will intentionally turn his back on Keigo the victim, because he can only ever see himself as a hero.

 I’m not suggesting that Dabi is good or Hawks is bad, or the other way around, not something as simple as that but that Dabi is open to change, and this will lead to him eventually opening up to others. Whereas, Hawks who is given practically every opportunity to change, and even escapes killing Twice with no permanent consequences, (his wings are growing back, and he even is freed from the hero commission) chooses to support Endeavor once again. It’s Dabi who calls others to think and reevaluate, and is actively trying to create a change in the world, whereas Hawks only interest is protecting other heroes and not the victims that heroes themselves create. Because in his mind heroes are good and that fact will never change. 

Because Dabi is the one trying to create change, while Hawks continues to cling to Endeavor I believe we’ll eventually receive a reversal for both of them. Just as the narrative around Dabi has changed from irredeemable villain to person in need of saving, we may see exactly what was foreshadowed in this panel happening. Dabi walking towards the light, while Hawks falls further and further into the shadows - because it’s Dabi who is looking for that light, while Hawks chooses to remain in the dark. Hawks was saved once, and now he believes that everyone who is good gets saved, unless they are unlucky like Twice. It’s Dabi who knows the truth, that there are heroes who don’t save people, and it’s Dabi who is at least trying to confront that truth head on and change it rather than just ignoring it. 

In a way Hawks is someone who has gone blind from looking too closely at Endeavor’s light, whereas because Dabi was failed by Endeavor and fell into the shadows he at least knows the truth about what it’s like for those who don’t get saved, and unlike Hawks can’t keep deluding himself that this is a world where everyone who deserves it gets saved. 

[s5anyu]

he is a terrible man. and yet amongst men, he is the most beautiful of characters.

Character Analysis for Askeladd of Vinland saga

On the surface, Askeladd is nothing more than a self-serving man. He is cunning, charming, and intelligent, qualities that no matter the disdain people have for his abrasive personality, have earned him respect amongst the Vikings, and beyond. Floki respects his intelligence enough to approach him to request the killing of a man who is regarded to be the strongest amongst all warriors. This being his first appearance is a solid testament to his ability to overcome any predicament – the basis of his development as a character throughout the Vinland Saga prologue. His men trust in all of his decisions, no matter how rash. They believe him to be as lucky as he is intelligent. His intelligence, wisdom and kindness complements the air of arrogance with which he carries himself. When hosted by his uncle Gorm, he laughs at him, before imparting wisdom on a young man who tells him that he would sooner die than live without pride. He says:

“Look. It’s terrible. The guy who’s a slave to money holds a whip and pretends to be the master of the slave he bought with his money. He just doesn’t realise it himself. Everyone is a slave to something.”

Such a sense of wisdom places Askeladd as a tool for Yukimura to present and explore the status of elders in Norse society. As an elder to Thorfinn, he guides him through different trials and encourages him to push his limits as a warrior, and become a better combatant. Regardless of whether or not life at war is the best option for Thorfinn, Askeladd always believes in him and his ability, and though he never expresses verbally his concern for Thorfinn’s wellbeing, he always shows an interest in Thorfinn’s safety and is always waiting for his return where the rest of his band do not care. To the other Vikings, Thorfinn is just another one of their men. Bjorn says of Thorfinn, “You trusted in his [Thorfinn’s] luck too much this time. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t lose anything.” This statement also reflects the stark individualism displayed by Vikings – although they may work together in bands of warriors or mercenaries or otherwise, they do so to serve their own interests – honour, valour, wealth, among many things. But to Askeladd, he is someone important - someone he cares for. When one considers the question of whether life at war is the best for Thorfinn the answer to this question evidences Askeladd’s selfishness. Despite knowing that life as a warrior is not the best for Thorfinn, he still uses him as a tool to further his own goals. In his own words, “It’s just easy to make use of an idiot who is not afraid of anything.”

There are, however, multiple occasions on which Askeladd appears to be straying from the typical Viking individualism of the era. The first example of this, is his kindness towards Thorfinn, as introduced in the previous paragraph. Amongst Vikings, such ideas of care and brotherhood are ultimately trumped by ideas of valour in battle and honour in death. One would not be greatly concerned with the death of one’s companions as long as they are assured that the departed are well on their way to the esteemed Valhalla – however the concern that Askeladd shows towards Thorfinn is evidence of his holding of attitudes that were unconventional for his time. This ties into the subtle revelation towards the end of the prologue that Askeladd does not believe that life at war is honourable, and does not hold the Viking people in esteem because of this; going so far as to disdain his own Norse heritage in favour of his Welsh heritage. His final actions and his final words reflect his sentiment from episode 10, Ragnarok, in which he declares:

"This is the age of twilight, Bjorn. Let’s go out with a bang."

In his final moments, he kills King Sweyn to protect both his motherland of Wales and the young Prince Canute. In this, he sacrifices himself to protect what is dear to him – and to protect King Canute who he grows to respect as a man with potential to be great in their short period of companionship. This is him leaving his mark on the age of twilight; this is him going out with a bang. He tells Thorfinn:

“In the future, after I die, how do you plan to live your life, Thorfinn? You haven’t thought about it, right? Move forward already. Don’t stay stuck in a boring place like this forever. Go far ahead, go beyond the world where Thors went. You’re Thors’ son. Go. That’s your real fight. Become a true warrior son of Thors.”

These last words reflect multiple things that are introduced at the beginning of the prologue and explored throughout it, the first being Askeladd’s feelings towards Thors. At the beginning of the prologue, Askeladd shows great respect to Thors throughout the duration of their battle. He outwardly expresses an appreciation for his strength, saying that he “could lead a whole army”. This statement shows that Thors is a man who is both physically strong and strong in character, and that Askeladd recognises this. He then asks of him, “why don’t you become our leader?” which shocks his men – as mentioned before they trust in him absolutely and are already surprised to see a man who can best him in hand-to-hand combat. However, none of them express dissent to this; whether this is out of shock or acceptance is open to interpretation. When he backtracks on this statement and says he’s only joking, one of the young men from the village try to attack Askeladd, to which he responds

“Damn kid. You should start valuing your life. You should be grateful to Thors. He was a man who was worth more than a hundred bratty kids like you.”

Askeladd greatly respects Thors and despite his decision, holds him in high esteem. The first part of this statement also reflects on his belief in – or at the very least respect for – Thors and his philosophy. He calls him a man of great value and he scolds the young man who he perceives as disrespecting the sacrifice that Thors made to keep him alive. “Don’t stay in a boring place like this” refers generally to the life of a warrior as opposed to their physical location of the king’s court. As detailed briefly above, Askeladd disdains the life of a warrior, and disdains the Vikings for it. Therefore, when he reminds Thorfinn “You’re Thors’ son”, he believes that Thorfinn Karlsefni has the potential to be as great as his father, if not more so. He believes that he can grow to become something greater than a warrior.

The second idea that this quote reflects is that of Askeladd’s care and concern for Thorfinn. He asks, “You haven’t thought about it, right?”. Askeladd has thought about how Thorfinn has been mentally since the passing of his father. Thorfinn has a stark hatred of battle and engages in it purely because of the hatred he has for Askeladd, and the proximity it gives him to his goal of killing him. Askeladd is aware of this. In his last moments, he could have been unkind and goading towards Thorfinn as he had been in the past – but instead he pushes him to seek something better. He knows that Thorfinn has been suffering emotionally and hasn’t known happiness from the day they met. Askeladd doesn’t appear as a man who wants to seek redemption – he wants Thorfinn to find happiness now that he has nowhere to direct the anger that has been his only motivator for the greater part of his childhood. From this, one could argue that Askeladd’s selfishness trumped his desire for Thorfinn to be happy. However, very early on in the prologue, Askeladd hints at his acceptance of defeat at Thorfinn’s hand.

"You’ve grown a lot. Well, time is on your side. You’re going to grow, and I’m going to get old. Someday, I’m going to lose to you. It’s only natural. Even the strongest dies someday."

Askeladd doesn’t attempt to dissuade Thorfinn from his desire for vengeance. Rather he tries to guide him towards the idea that vengeance is empty, and that any defeat he faces at Thorfinn’s hand is meaningless in the face of the natural order of the world. He knows that it is pointless to try and calm the resentment that Thorfinn harbours towards him; he knows the gravity of his sin and can’t tell Thorfinn not to hate him for it. From this, we can begin to explore the idea that Askeladd is similar to Thorfinn and sees himself in the younger man. Askeladd is just as full of hatred as Thorfinn is – as much as he is to a father figure to Thorfinn as a man, as a character, he serves as both a parallel and a foil to Thorfinn.

Askeladd is just as full of hatred as Thorfinn. His mother, Lydia, was taken from her homeland of Wales as a concubine to Olaf, and when she grew sick, she was of no value to him. She and her son were discarded and Askeladd grew to despise his father, and by extension his people. Askeladd, like Thorfinn, learned from the man he hated the most and sought revenge against him. Askeladd was successful in killing his father but his disdain for the Viking way of life and his bloodline led him to harbour resentment even into his old age. He is therefore a parallel to Thorfinn in that they both resent battle and war but tolerate it as a means to satisfying their own end. Askeladd, however, has seen and experienced first-hand the effects of Viking conquest on the innocent. Thorfinn has only seen it from the eyes of the oppressor.

Despite this, both continue to kill.

Askeladd’s ability to relate to Thorfinn’s anger is what makes him such a good father figure to him. He knows what it means to be so consumed by anger that you see nothing else, that you live for nothing else – to endure something you despise for the sake of vengeance. He knows that Thorfinn is miserable, and hurting, and lonely, because he is too. Such a sense of relatability is what puts him in a position to understand and take care of Thorfinn. It is because he understands how Thorfinn feels that he does not attempt to dissuade him from following him around in the hopes of killing him. He knows that Thorfinn cannot let go of the anger he has until he sees the recipient of that anger gone, because he too suffers from the same affliction. Therefore, it is not selfishness that drives Askeladd to keep Thorfinn around in his suffering – it is resignation; the same resignation he displays when he says that he will someday lose to Thorfinn.

Askeladd proves himself throughout his life to be ahead of his time. He is wise, caring, and understanding; but he is also cold, cunning, and ruthless. Man is not absolute, and Askeladd is no exception. But from those of his time, he is far above men – even with each and every of his nuances and flaws. he comes close to attaining the status of a true warrior as Thors was – and maybe if he had had more time, he could’ve seen his mother’s dream come true. The world is never that simple.

word from the writer:

When Askeladd was first introduced to me, he appeared to me as a terrible man. His intelligence and his strength is terrifying. A man who can kill for his own gain, without remorse. Such a terrible man. But amongst men he is the most beautiful of characters.

When I was writing this I wanted it to be a prelude to my upcoming essay on his relationship with Thorfinn. To some degree I’ve covered that here, so the next piece will most likely be on how Thorfinn views him and I would also like to talk about his relationship with prince Canute. Askeladd, despite not seeming like it, is a very fatherly man and I love looking at how he interacts with the other members of the cast. I hope you enjoyed this, and I’d love to hear what you guys have to say about this. my asks are always open.

Please look forward to the next piece in my Vinland Saga series.

[dovebuffy92]

Spoilers Below

The Gilded Age Season 1, created and written by Julian Fellowes, is an entertaining historical drama that wrestles with gender, class, and race. The period drama takes place in 1882 New York City, documenting the fight between new money, a.k.a. the Russell family, and old money represented mainly by the van Rhijn-Brook family. Matriarch Agnes van Rhjin (Christine Baranski) desires to keep the status quo of high society only consisting of those with generational wealth. But, at the same time, the younger Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) uses her husband’s money and intelligence to move up in the world.

While this series doesn’t fit within the realm of radical social commentary, it partly deals with feminism since it’s the women with a lot of societal power. Peggy Scott (Denee Benton), the young upper-middle-class Black writer, pushes the boundaries of her race and gender to gain a position as a reporter at a Black-owned newspaper. The Gilded Age shows that some 19th century Black New Yorkers were business owners and professionals but doesn’t negate the struggles they all went through because of racism.

Similar to Fellowes’ Downton, Abby, this series also shows the life of the “downstairs.” However, uniquely The Gilded Age explores both the Russell and the Rhijn-Brooke household staff. Along with reveling in the all of white New York city elite rather than just one British-based estate. In this way, The Gilded Age feels like a portrait of late 1800s East Coast “blue blood” society.

Feminism in The Gilded Age Season 1

Julian Fellowes doesn’t usually write political pieces, and The Gilded Age Season 1 doesn’t appear to be the exception. However, there is a bit of a feminist bent to the series. In most cases, the women have the ultimate authority in their households.

The most prominent example is Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon), whose husband, robber baron George Russell (Morgan Spector), ruffles the feathers of the “blue blood” business world. Bertha acts as the foremost authority in her household, deciding everything from moving into an elaborate Stanford White-designed mansion across the street from snobby socialite Agnes to when her daughter Gladys Russell (Taissa Farmiga) comes out to society.

George sees Bertha as his equal partner in taking New York city society by storm and becoming one of the wealthiest families in the United States. He doesn’t even attempt to control her. All the older women in The Gilded Age series are powerhouses who don’t bow down to anybody.

The younger women in this historical drama bend the rules of society even further. Agnes’ niece Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson) wants to work, but her aunts forbid her from seeking employment. Instead, Marian volunteers at numerous non-profits. If a socialite can’t work, she wants to help people. She speaks up for Bertha and Sylvia Chamberlain (Jeanne Tripplehorn), who are denied charity board seats.

Marian can’t fathom that a couple of scandals can keep somebody from doing good, especially if they are willing to donate lots of money. Sylvia’s affair with her now-deceased husband (when he was still married to his first wife) makes her a social pariah. Bertha’s only crime is being born into a middle-class household. She befriends the women against Agnes’ orders forming solid friendships.

Marian refuses to buy into the new verse old money battles. She sees everybody as an equal who should not be judged by petty standards like original class or profession.

Race and Womanhood

Peggy revolts against society’s constraints based on her race and gender. Against her father Arthur Scott’s (John Douglas Thompson) wishes, Peggy moves into the servant quarters of the van Rhijn-Brook mansion to work as Agnes’ secretary.

She needs the income to further her writing career, but Arthur wants his daughter to work for him at his pharmacy. He believes that women can’t make a living through writing. Arthur and her mother, Dorothy Scott (Audra McDonald), know that even upper-middle-class Black women can’t thrive in white society. Agnes could live in relative luxury at home with a maid who waits on her. Even with her education, Agnes lives downstairs with the van Rhijn-Brook servants, unable to enter her new residence through the front door.

She writes everything from articles to poems. She gains employment as a political reporter at The New York Globe, a prominent African American newspaper. Important people like the founder of The Red Cross, Clarissa Harlowe Barton (Linda Emond), treat Peggy with respect during their interviews.

Along with the fact, Marian and she form a genuine though complicated friendship. They listen to and help each other throughout the first season. Fellowes reveals the hidden history of New York, proving that some Black educated men and women gained real wealth by the late 1880s.

Racism in East Coast

Fellowes doesn’t pretend racism didn’t exist in America’s East Coast during that decade. Some van Rhijn-Brook household servants don’t even want to eat with a Black woman. The editor at The Christian Advocate refuses to publish one of Peggy’s short stories unless they can keep her identity as a Black woman secret.

White Southern readers might cancel their subscriptions if The Christian Advocate openly publishes an author of color. Even one of her closest friends, Marian, whose relatively progressive, attempts to be a white savior. She makes some racist assumptions about the Scott household. Marian brings some used boots to Peggy’s family home, believing that all Black people must be poor.

The fact that the Scott residence is quite large and luxurious shocks, Marian. Even an educated elite Black woman can’t fully integrate herself into white upper crest New York society.

Last Thoughts

The Gilded Age Season 1 is a fun, entertaining watch with some light social commentary for those who love Downton Abby or historical dramas in general. The creative team does a brilliant job creating costumes, styling hairs, and forming The Gilded Age’s art design in what appears to a novice as period accurate. In addition, both Fellowes, the directors, and the actors like Cynthia Nixon, who performs as Agnes’ sister Ada Brook, masterfully creates a way of speaking that transports audiences back in time.

So, what do you think of Julian Fellowes’ first significant foray into American television? Let us know in the comments below.

[feralphoenix]

HOWMST BELL THE CAT? - A treatise on one aspect of how the Pale King sealed the Radiance

sup hollow knight fandom, i’m back with the picante takes again after having Noticed A Thing.

as with my previous essays i’ll put this guy up on dreamwidth later for accessibility purposes, since my layout text may be too small for high-res pc users. i will attach that in a reblog at a later point.

CONTENT WARNINGS FOR TONIGHT’S PROGRAM: This essay discusses canon-typical body horror and bodily boundary violations, with some side mentions of colonialism.

all game screencaps are mine. the screencap of the wiki is from the “developer notes” (style guide) section of the “cut content” page.

ALSO: if youre from a christian cultural upbringing (whether currently practicing, agnostic/secular, or atheist now), understand that some of what i’m discussing here may challenge you. if thinking thru the implications of this particular part of hollow knight worldbuilding/lore is distressing for you, PLEASE only approach this essay when youre in a safe mindset & open to listening, and ask the help of a therapist or anti-racism teacher/mentor to help you process your thoughts & feelings. just like keep in mind that youre listening to an ethnoreligiously marginalized person and please be respectful here or wherever else youre discussing this dang essay, ty

HOWMST BELL THE CAT? - A treatise on one aspect of how the Pale King sealed the Radiance

We understand more or less how the Pale King’s plan was supposed to work. Stuff Radiance into a no-thoughts-head-empty and silent Pure Vessel to trap, isolate, and silence her, both putting an end to the Infection and killing her for good. Stick that vessel in the Black Egg, which harnesses Void BS to both keep the vessel alive indefinitely and to cover Hallownest (and its neighbors) in a time-defying stasis so that the Pale King could successfully hoard his favorite shiny FOREVER, threatened by nothing. Then put a seal on the Black Egg to prevent anyone from getting inside and harming said vessel while it’s strung up and helpless. And THEN, put protective seals on the anchors (the Dreamers) to the Black Egg seal to protect them from any external harm: The stasis means the Dreamers won't die of old age or starvation.

All in all, a pretty foolproof plan!

...except that the Dreamers are still vulnerable to having their minds breached with the moths’ magic... and the Pale King failed to take into account that his Pure Vessel was a person actually and the amount of toxic stress his training/upbringing put on them made them REALLY POORLY SUITED FOR THEIR JOB... and also that killing 99% of his million children and turning the Abyss into a landfill for baby corpses would take enough of an emotional toll on his wife and #1 enabler the White Lady that she would walk out on him, ensuring he’d only ever have one shot at this whole deal...

Basically it’s the sort of plan that an emotionally constipated, low-empathy sort of guy who pours all his points into INT and has a big fat zero for WIS might think is foolproof. It has big holes in it that the Pale King did not consider to be big holes until he got owned by the various consequences of his actions and fell down said big holes, making the shocked pikachu face all the while. Rip in die, my guy.

Anyway, there’s a lot of incidental information scattered about the game that gives us more insight into the stages of TPK’s plan. Looking at Monomon’s notes in the Archive suggests that she was probably involved in designing the Black Egg; the hidden room in the Weavers’ den points to their being the ones to blueprint the Dreamer seal; the White Palace’s hidden rooms reveal both TPK’s morbid fascination with the Void and his mea culpa wrt his motives and the Path of Pain is certainly suggestive of a lot of things. The White Lady tells us straight out that she walked out on the Pale King because she wanted no part in a second vessel batch, but how TPK didn’t handle that is only revealed via map design and some incidental dialogue from the Old Stag.

This stuff presents us with, if not a full picture, then at least a decent connect-the-dots of certain aspects of crater politics and Pale Court drama at the time, and how exactly TPK’s plan came together.

But there is still one glaring question that these cookie crumbs do not provide us an answer to:

Who shall bell the cat?

How did TPK et al manage to stuff Radiance into Hollow in the first place?

This is the subject of a lot of memes and jokes within the fandom because it's so absurd. Radiance fuckin hates that dude! She’s probably gonna be pretty wary of him considering how he stole her people in the first place! And considering the anti-colonialism slant of the writing - beyond the general sympathetic view Team Cherry gives of each indigenous bug society, Seer makes it very clear that Radiance has very good reason to take violent action against Hallownest - the answer is probably not something like “she’s just that stupid” or “she rolled a crit fail”.

Well... I have an idea of how TPK managed to get Radiance in there. It raises about as many questions as it answers, mind, but it may be someplace to start.

[desc: the hollow knight's entry in the hunter’s journal. top text/ghost’s comment reads: “Fully grown Vessel, carrying the plague’s heart within its body.” bottom text/hunter’s comment says: “The old King of Hallownest... he must have been desperate to save his crumbling little world. The sacrifices he imposed on others... all for nothing.”]

Here we have Hollow’s bestiary entry. Most of what we’re concerned with here is the top text, which says the seal has literally trapped Radiance inside their body. (First of all, ew, TPK.)

We already knew Radiance is literally actually inside Hollow, though: The Infection is leaking out of their body, and to get to fight Radiance, Ghost has to go traipsing into their sibling’s mind. So what’s significant about that here?

[desc: screencap of the outside of the black egg temple, post-infected crossroads. there are large infection blobs in the foreground and background, connected to each other by veins that come from inside the temple.]

The infection blobs are weird and get weirder if you kill enough Lightseeds for the Hunter to tell you their origin story, i.e. that the literal actual sun has been having a very long bad day and cried a lot, and some of the liquid coalesced into living flesh, and some of that living flesh took on a mind of its own to become Lightseeds. (Hollow Knight is a WILD place.)

Lightseeds are Radiance’s accidental children and share a lot of her traits: They are harmless creatures that try to avoid conflict if possible but if pushed will get creative and find ways to fight regardless of their physical limitations. (For the Lightseeds this involves hiding inside Broken Vessel’s corpse and puppeting it around to try to stab you.) They even have her same distinctive yell. And according to the Hunter, they’re born from the infection blobs. These enemies only ever appear in the Ancient Basin, which both Radiance and the Void have ransacked, and in the Infected Crossroads.

The infection blobs are connected to and sort of a weird extension of Radiance because the Infection itself is sort of a weird extension of Radiance. In the game’s internal style guide Team Cherry explains that the Infection started as an accident, not her original intention but what happened when Hallownest tried to block her out.

[desc: screencap from the wiki of style notes attached to seer that describe a sketch of radiance’s finalized backstory. text reads: “The moth tribe were (perhaps) descended from Radiance. However, the King convinced them somehow to seal Radiance away. I guess so he could rule Hallownest with his singular vision, as a god/monarch with no other gods. The moths sealed Radiance away by forgetting about her. Hallownest was born and flourished. However, the memory of Radiance lingered (eg [sic] the statue at hallownest’s crown) and soon she began to reappear in dreams and starting [sic] exerting influence. The King and the bugs of Hallownest resisted this memory/power and it started to manifest as the Infection. Thus the first attempt to seal Radiance failed, and the King had to try another method - the Vessel.” emphasis mine.]

Some fans have posited the blobs as deposits of pupa juice, but given Team Cherry's description of the Infection’s origins I don’t know how likely that is. Since the Void also sticks its squamous tentacles into things via veiny looking things and the Nightmare’s Heart has similar veiny nonsense in the Nightmare Realm, I wonder if it isn’t just a Meddly God Shit thing in general.

Whatever the case, the blobs are very much connected to/a part of Radiance.

And when you’re hanging around them, you will notice two things: They pulse like they’re part of a circulatory system, and you can hear Radiance's heartbeat emanating from them.

[desc: screencap of the game’s title screen with the infected menu theme in use: a glowing orange ball at the center of a lot of black tendony webbing.]

Let’s also think of the Infected menu theme, which you unlock after getting either of the endings where Ghost takes over from Hollow and absorbs Radiance out of them. Ghost is infected and then sealed inside the Black Egg in Hollow's place. It’s suggested by the animation’s staging that Radiance briefly struggles to get out of Ghost after absorbed but is ultimately stuck in them, at which point the seal is reestablished.

If you haven’t used the Infected menu theme yourself, the... interesting thing about it is that it moves organically. The light ball expands and contracts - y’know, sort of like a living organ - and so does the black webby stuff around it.

Also, Radiance’s heartbeat is included in the theme's ambiance.

[desc: hollow’s bestiary entry again]

To cut to the chase, this part of Hollow’s bestiary entry that says “the plague’s heart”? I don’t think that’s just Ghost/Team Cherry being poetic. I think there’s a good chance it’s LITERAL.

I think TPK is the sort of person who could cram a native woman’s literal living beating heart inside his own child’s body so they can use it as... say, a focus to absorb and trap her mind/spirit inside their body, too. Mr. No Cost Too Great is capable of a lot in the name of keeping other people’s claws off his Big Shiny kingdom. This is kind of his whole brand.

But also, like, yuck.

This fits the worldbuilding too; generally speaking Hollow Knight is Body Horror City. Also there’s the case of Grimm: While he and Radiance are loose counterparts at best with WILDLY disparate outlooks and ethoses, his existence serves as precedent that a Higher Being’s heart specifically can be separate from the rest of them.

As I said before, though, this DOES raise as many questions as it answers. If this is another piece in the puzzle of how TPK belled the cat, we’re now left wondering how he got Radiance’s heart to use as Hollow's focus to begin with.

We know he has access to the Dream Realm because that’s ultimately where he hid when Hollow’s seal failed, but who did he send to do the stealing and how did they get away with it? (TPK certainly wouldn’t have gone; his own life’s the one cost too great for him to willingly pay.) Was Radiance’s heart separate from her like the Nightmare’s Heart, or was it a part of her body? (I think the latter is more likely just from her personality; Grimm’s hidden heart makes sense because of how he keeps even his own servants at arm’s length emotionally, whereas Radiance is all heart all the time. I think this makes more sense with their equal opposites schtick too. But this would make for a WAY riskier mission.)

I can imagine all kinds of possibilities. None of them are definitive, but the thing they have in common is that they are all Awful... and how on-brand that is for Hollow Knight as a whole is, maybe, the most persuasive argument for It’s Literally Actually Her Real Physical Heart there could be.

[amedetoiles]

pls tell me your thoughts about the potential for wwx-jgy friendship? i just like the idea of them having similar experiences as like: poor street kid/poor brothel kid, would kill god for the people they care about, made of knives, incredibly charming and personable. i feel like they could have Seen each other and understood each other really well, and like, things would have ended up better maybe?

Gosh. Ok, so full disclosure before I answer this: I am really not the most sympathetic towards Jin Guangyao. I am just not a fan of him in any universe where he is complicit if not directly responsible for the death of his own child to protect his own reputation (up for debate, but nonetheless Jin Rusong fucking deserved better), gaslights his wife / half-sister into committing suicide, and has a monologue meltdown about how difficult his life has been to his own orphaned and bullied nephew whose childhood he had a hand in destroying. I am glad he got kicked down the same stairs twice, and I am glad Nie Huaisang beat him at his own game. All in all to say that my thoughts on him might be colored by this. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But let’s get into this! Jin Guangyao is a great character foil to Wei Wuxian. The circumstances of his life that shaped his morality (or lack thereof) and the choices he makes in response are tragic and understandable. I definitely think Jin Guangyao could have been a different person, a better person, if his father wasn’t such a trash heap, if society hadn’t been such a gigantic dick about his mother, and if he hadn’t needed to claw his way into achieving everything he did. Wei Wuxian says himself that he doesn’t consider Jin Guangyao a villain.

However, I hesitate to say that had they struck up a friendship, Jin Guangyao and Wei Wuxian could have understood each other easily and that this could have changed things. Don’t get me wrong! I can definitely see how influence could have been made where a friendship between these two would have fixed it all. Or at least improved things. Especially in association with Wei Wuxian, Jiang Yanli’s nonjudgemental kindness (under the condition that nobody hurts her little brothers) would have been extremely refreshing to Meng Yao.

But I also think the differences between Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao would have made it difficult for them to truly understand and agree with each other. And it’s these differences that ultimately decide each of their fates.

I will try to organize my thoughts on this. First, the discussion of privilege.

1. Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao are not on the same privilege level.

While both Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao are scorned in some way, shape, or form for their parents’ statuses, Wei Wuxian is still the son of cultivators. He is still the son of Cangse sanren, a disciple of a famed immortal. His pedigree and legacy are undeniable. Jin Guangyao, on the other hand, is the unwanted son of a lecherous sect leader and a sex worker. In a society where hierarchy and reputation is everything, this places Jin Guangyao in an entirely different pedigree in a way that Wei Wuxian wouldn’t be able to understand.

Wei Wuxian is also brought into the Jiang sect and given a chance to cultivate at an early age where Jin Guangyao doesn’t. Wei Wuxian can punch the heir of a rich sect leader, leading to the dissolution of his sister’s political marriage alliance, and still get nothing but a slap on the wrist because boys will be boys. He can interrupt important post-war celebration dinners to tell that same rich sect leader to fuck off with his marriage proposal and then promptly skip away without any real consequences. He can accidentally send his friend’s little brother into a murderous rampage, and his own little brother will apologize on his behalf and offer to pay reparations.

Wei Wuxian may not have the same privilege as sect heirs like Jiang Cheng or Lan Wangji, but he has far more privilege than Jin Guangyao and Su She. This is important because it is this privilege that Wei Wuxian sacrifices later in order to the protect the Wens. I am not saying Wei Wuxian doesn’t suffer. He does, a truly horrendous amount, but even without his golden core, even when his self-worth is at an all-time low, he is still supported and protected by his status in the Jiang sect until he gives it up to do the right thing. Despite Lan Xichen and the Nies, Jin Guangyao doesn’t have this same kind of backing.

(With that being said though, Jin Guangyao does become Chief Cultivator, so there is only so far one can fall back on their disadvantages in society when they have already reached the top. Being marginalized is not an excuse to be a jackass to your nephew whose parents you had a hand in killing, just saying.)

One can argue that had Jin Guangyao been raised in the Jiang sect while Wei Wuxian continued to scrape for food on the streets, their outlook on life would have been completely different. But even taking into account Jiang Yanli’s overwhelmingly positive influence on a young Meng Yao, I am still inclined to disagree because of my next point.

2. Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao are fundamentally different in how they respond/cope with public gossip and ridicule.

Wei Wuxian, for the most part, lets these comments roll off his back. This is not to say he doesn’t care or that they don’t affect him. They clearly do, and his actions, his self-perception, and his increasingly arrogant bravado as the story progresses reflect the deluge of verbal abuse he’s face with, largely at the hands of Madam Yu. But he copes by being loud, by being talented, by becoming even more outrageous and more unorthodox the more people criticize him. So what if people don’t approve? So what if people look down on his father and gossip about his mother’s supposed relationship with Jiang Fengmian? As long as he is true to himself and his moral convictions, he can walk this dark single plank road alone and without regrets.

Jin Guangyao, on the other hand, desperately and reverently wants to be included. He wants to be accepted, to be liked. He wants to be in the room where it happens. He takes every single comment to heart, carries every disdainful remark on his back like an open scar. He is both someone who loves and respect his mother and who hates her for the constant shadow she casts over him and his place in society. He will build a Guanyin statue in her likeness, in her honor. He will wear a hat because she once told him that a gentleman always wears hats. And yet, he will spend everyday of his life trying to rid himself of his connection to her.

Where Wei Wuxian recklessly cares too little about appearances and what people think of him, Jin Guangyao cares far too much. Wei Wuxian doesn’t give one flying iota about politics, about status and acclaim. He was perfectly fine with being a lotus farmer on a mountain. Even if Wei Wuxian had never been taken in by the Jiangs (and managed to survive the streets), I genuinely think he would still have been largely the same – a child who is kind, open, curious, and holds few grudges. I am not sure I can say that even under the best circumstances, Jin Guangyao wouldn’t have . It destroys him. .

This ties into my last point.

3. Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao have completely opposing priorities and beliefs on the worth of others.

Wei Wuxian will throw himself in front of anybody if his moral compass tells him it is the right thing to do. He is a genuinely open-hearted person who cares deeply about others and thinks it is morally corrupt to do nothing when something can be done. He is idealistic and optimistic, oftentimes to a fault. Jin Guangyao, as a result of his childhood and circumstances, is incredibly pessimistic and cynical. It is every person for themselves out here. The world is a crooked shitshow, conflict is inevitable, and he has to come out on top no matter what.

This leads to him sacrificing pretty much everyone in his life in order to maintain his own reputation. Like I do genuinely think Jin Guangyao truly cared about Jin Ling! I think he also in his own way cared about Lan Xichen, Nie Mingjue, and Nie Huaisang! But I also think a large portion of that is because he enjoyed how they made him feel. He enjoyed being liked and being depended upon. And we see clearly what happens when those benefits cease. Whereas Wei Wuxian would rather throw himself off a cliff than hurt any more people he loves, Jin Guangyao would rather push his own people off the cliff if it means his reputation and appearance remain intact. And if that’s not possible, he would rather set them on fire along with him.

This has become an entirely too long rambling essay to say that while Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao share similar experiences, their primary priorities are so different and opposing that it is hard for me to come up with a way in which a friendship between them could have changed things. Sure, Jin Guangyao could have benefited from Wei Wuxian’s unabashed and staunch defense of his friend. Anyone who talks shit about Jin Guangyao’s mother will get punched in the face, and it would maybe have made Jin Guangyao feel less alone in the world, less like he only had himself and his manipulative ways to seek acceptance.

But what happens when Wei Wuxian being Wei Wuxian runs around causing social and political uproar to do what he thinks is right? Is Jin Guangyao going to help and support him, or is he going to throw Wei Wuxian under the bus to protect his own reputation? Personally, I think the importance he places on public perception would ultimately be too great. It destroys his relationships, and it destroys him.

[lumilasi]

Finished her pretty quick, I just got an idea surprisingly fast. Also this confirms Ryuu has a type: Redhead, intelligent, wears lot of black and red lmao. Also her pose is a bit wonky, but eh. it shows her outfit well enough.

....This reminds me, I should rewrite Reidou’s bio somewhat, I don’t quite like her BG story yet. 

Anyway, further info below:

Age: 27 (she was 20 when she met Ryuu)

Sexuality: Bi

Ezuko’s QUIRK EXPLAINED

BASICS (Pros in normal, cons in bold)

Quirk name: Living ink

Ezuko is able to create ink-like substance into any surface she touches, basically allowing her to create tattoos and art pieces without needing tools. She just needs to imagine what she wants the picture look like, or have a reference to look at. She can also turn liquids into this inky substance.

Ezuko tends to need more time and proper focus if she wants to create larger and more intricate designs. For her to create these images or change a liquid into ink, she does need to be touching the object/liquid.

TATTOOING/ILLUSTRATING

She can easily create tattoos for people with her ability that is pretty much pain free, or graffiti or even basically change the color and design of an entire building, piece of clothing, etc.

The image she’s made, she can shift and change and make move however she wants, even after a long time. She can use these moving images to even temporarily blind people by making the image shift around their eyes.

The process in some cases take even longer than doing the same tattoo traditionally would take, at least if the image is complex and large, and she doesn’t have proper references for it.

For her to be able to make the pictures move, she usually requires having been touching the object/person minimum of five seconds.

Her quirk ultimately is not meant for combat, and she can’t really use her drawings in a fight, only disorient them to either flee or find a chance to use her liquid shifting ability.

LIQUID SHIFT

Ezuko’s ability to change liquids into ink can allow her (accidentally or on purpose) to turn a person’s blood into ink and basically poison them to death near instantly. 

She can neutralize liquid based attacks as well by turning them to her ink, which will automatically start to listen to her commands.

She is immune to most acids and poisons (non-digested ones) because she automatically turns these things into ink when they touch her. It’s not her quirk being passive however, but rather a survival reaction she has developed. 

In order to do this, she needs to be able to touch the liquid she wants to change, which means in a case of a fight, she needs to either make the person bleed (or get them to spit or whatever, she prefers the blood as its “easier.”)

PERSONALITY SUMMARY

Ezuko tends to be fairly blunt, no nonsense type of person. She’s mostly pretty calm and level headed even in tight situations, but when her temper flares it can be pretty bad. She’s gonna let you hear where you screwed up exactly, in other words. 

Ezuko tends to not like people with “strong” quirks by default, because the whole obsession over quirks let to her family disowning her for not having a “good enough” power and wanting to do something else than be a hero or have some other profilic career. She can change her mind about you (like she did with Ryuu) once she gets to know you better, and sees you’re not putting all your value as a person on your power. 

She’s quite intelligent and enjoys reading and learning about a lot of different things, partly because it helps her imagination run wilder and thus makes it faster to create her images. 

BACKGROUND STORY (A quick summary, details may develop)

Ezuko was born to parents who were all about status, and quite disappointed to find out her quirk wasn’t suitable for heroism. They then tried to push her for something else that could rise their wealth and standing in society. Ezuko herself didn’t want to do this, dealing with a lot of arguments and abusive language from them, up until she moved out at age 18, heading to study arts. After that her family basically disowned her, refusing to even answer her calls. Ezuko quit trying to reach them, figuring she’d be better off without.

Then, when she was doing an apprenticeship in a tattoo parlor, she ended up having to deal with an abusive customer one evening, where he started harassing her. In a panic, she ended up discovering another, unfortunate side-effect of her quirk, where during the struggle she managed to make the guy bleed, and then swiftly turned his blood into ink, killing him near instantly. Some local residents came to see the commotion, and instead of asking her side of the story just automatically began to call her a murderer as the customer was a regular, forcing her to flee the scene. 

The local press and everybody around there started to exaggerate her temper and further paint her in a bad light, forcing Ezuko to flee the place altogether. She tried to reach for her parents for help, but they refused to help her, believing the media that she’d done it on purpose.

Sometime during her runaway spree she ran into Ryuu, who’d only recently gained lot of notoriety, though the girl was unaware of this. He helped her in a fight against some thugs, and she brings the injured Ryuu into her hideout to fix his injuries. They stick together for a bit, and Ryuu even brings her to a person he knows that generally tends to help out with people like her - a broker named Giran. Giran let’s her work in his bar, also making sure that everybody knew not to bother her as that’d be a bad idea. He even helps her to get a place to stay in eventually. Sometime during these years, she hears rumors about “Frostbite” having potentially died, which makes her a little sad initially, though Giran cheers her up be stating that there was probably more to the story than that.

Some years after that, she finds out about Ryuu being alive through Giran, as he sends her to bring something to “an old acquaintance” as the man put it. This said acquaintance turned out to be Ryuu.

Few more extra details;

- She’s the only person out of the people around Kain who actually understands his more scientific talk. They can end up having long conversations about a subject that none of the others have a clue of.

- Her name translates to “Paint” (Pandoru that she pronounces as pandora) and “illustration lake.” (Ezuko)

- The world she lives in is based on my fic Reanimate, which basically means there’s no league of villains, as Tenko never became “Shigaraki.” Giran is the only important member (outside of afo) that is still a criminal in this AU. Because of Kain’s dimension hopping ability, this doesn’t mean she doesn’t get to interact with the more villainous versions of the gang, though. 

- Ezuko made Ryuu’s dragon tattoo as a thank you for helping her.

- Her surname is bit of a pun, as it’s written as “Pandoru” aka paint, but after leaving home and her parents behind, she began saying it as “Pandora” referring to Pandora’s box as a bit of a darker joke about her choosing to go against her parents and thus unleashing a lot of bad things into her life. This proved to be even more accurate after the parlor incident. 

- Her parents wanted her to either find a way to become a hero with her quirk, or go into some other highly respected profession for status and money, when Ezuko just wanted to do something artistic.

- Ryuu actually didn’t start crushing on her until after they met again years later after their first meeting, when he and Kain returned from another eventful dimension hopping trip to visit their little sanctuary corner and friends, Wasabi and his mums. Up until then he’d seen her just as a friend/acquaintance

- Wasabi digs her a lot because they have similar hairstyles.

- The vine tattoo represents her quirk and spreads around her arms and shoulders more when using her quirk. When using it in extreme amounts (Like turning a large body of liquid into ink for example) her skin around those parts gets so covered it looks like she just has one large pitch black tattoo covering those areas, and you can no longer see the vine details. 

Also, the ref sheet base was made by yourultraarchive as usual

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Beastars S2, Episodes 10-12

In which I mull over this show’s confusing shonen turn, Legoshi and Riz duke it out, and Louis’ return brings everything to a strong finish.

Guts and Glory

It really is funny how analysis works. Sometimes, all you need to do is find that one answer you’re struggling with and everything clicks into place. Ever since I realized Beastars’ second season was transforming the story from a shojo into a shonen, the evidence is everywhere. Forget just training arcs and an increasingly unwieldy cast of side characters (Hey, remember that weird snake that showed up at the start of the season and then vanished forever?), we’ve even got a freaking power-up system now! Apparently, eating meat gives carnivores actual status buffs, upping their strength and speed and toughness like they’re going super-saiyan. Oh, and also eating live insects brings you into a weird dreamspace where a spectral moth lectures you on the importance of respecting life and teaches you not to take for granted the beings you consume. That’s a thing that happens in this show. And listen, if Beastars had been this way from the beginning, that would be one thing. Plenty of series have weird, unusual power systems, so this kind of animalistic predator/prey give and take would be a cool way to build battles around. But Beastars wasn’t this kind of show at first. For all its complex metaphors, the in-universe world was incredibly grounded and nuanced and based in realistic, tactile stakes. But now we’re turning those natural, physiological interactions into something that would feel more at home in One Piece, and it just feels so weird. How can I square this show’s former naturalism with the fact that eating bugs makes all your hair grow back overnight? Yes, I’m glad Legoshi’s back to his usual fluffiness, but my god did we take a weird path getting there.

Well, regardless, this is the direction the story’s gone in. I don’t really get it, but it is what it is. And at the very least, there’s a powerful conclusion waiting at the end of all this nonsense...

One-Sided Love

Can carnivores and herbivores coexist? Is it worth trying to live as a single, unified society when one half of that society is biologically disposed to prey on the other? That question is at the heart of Beastars, the driving force behind pretty much everyone’s personal journey. So it makes sense that Legoshi’s long-gestating clash with Riz isn’t just a matter of striking down a dangerous devourer. Riz is so much more than a mindless threat; he’s a walking, talking antithesis to the idea that coexistence is possible. The only way he could process his feelings for Tem was by eating him, turning their mutual bond into a one-sided feast. This, in his mind, is the only way carnivores and herbivores can become one. Only by giving into their natural instincts and devouring each other can these two groups truly claim to relate to each other. It’s a selfish, self-serving perversion of love, even if Tem ultimately accepted his fate and accepted Riz’ monstrous side. And it stands in direct opposition to Legoshi, who believes that different species can understand each other through emotional, interpersonal bonds. On one side, you have a wolf who believes his fangs and claws are meant to protect the people he cares about. On the other side, you have a brown bear who believes his fangs and claws are meant to devour the people he cares about. You couldn’t have a more classic duel of ideological opposites if you tried.

But there’s one way in which they are similar: both Riz and Legoshi believe the path they walk is one they must walk alone. Riz may have eaten the one person who truly understood him, but Legoshi has pushed away the people closest to him in pursuit of challenging Riz. He believes so strongly in the power of love, but he’s pushing himself into solitude just like Riz because he believes there’s no other way to do what needs to be done. In the end, fear and self-loathing binds Riz and Legoshi together in their loneliness stronger than Legoshi’s comfortable admitting. He sees a lot of himself in Riz, and he wonders how close he’s come to following him into the darkness. If he had given into his instincts and devoured Haru when they first met, he’d be no better than the opponent he’s facing now. So in some respects, it’s very understandable why he’s tried to pull so far away from Haru over the course of this season. Even though he’s ostensibly fighting for herbivores, his internalized self-loathing has made him pull away from herbivores, separating himself from them even as he’s trying to integrate with them. In an ideal world, this wouldn’t result in the fracturing of this show’s most compelling relationship, but I’ve already complained enough about that. Just let it be known that the fact they still haven’t made up by the end of this season is irrationally frustrating to me. Haru’s such an amazing character, and she deserves so much better than what this season saddled her with. She even confessed to him back, for fuck’s sake! And he still pushed her away! Come on!

End My Curse

Still, while Haru remains agonizingly sidelined all the way through, at least one bond is restored by the end of this season: Legoshi and Louis. Ever since he was humbled at the end of season 1, Louis has been able to see himself in a new light. He’s acknowledged his weakness, his frailty, his mistakes, his inability to live up to the shining beacon he tried to be. It’s been so overwhelming that he’s gone completely to the other extreme, believing himself doomed to live in darkness just as he once believed himself destined for the spotlight. But Legoshi’s constant prodding has made him realize something he’s been trying to repress for the entire show: he loves carnivores. He looks up to these terrifying, dangerous beings with the strength to take on the world. The power he’s always sought is the power these carnivores already have: the power to protect what matters and defeat whatever evils come their way. Louis has always walked a rickety line between stereotyping and fetishizing his fellow animals, but only now is he able to understand them- and his relationship to them- on equal terms. Carnivore or herbivore, animals all have the potential to be whoever they want to be. A deer can lead a group of lions into a new age of prosperity. A lion can grow to care for a deer and lean down to meet him at his level. A wolf can choke down his bloodlust and fight to protect those weaker than him. We are not bound by the chains of biology: we have the power to choose what to make of the tools we’re given.

And holy shit, I thought the gay subtext was laid on thick last session. I was not ready for Louis to muse “Maybe I’ve loved carnivores all this time” as images of Legoshi flash in his head. Good lord, this guy’s got it bad. He abandoned the Leo Group and left behind the life of darkness he thought he was destined to follow all because this one sexy wolf boy in a female burlesque outfit said he wanted him to bear witness to his life (Also, holy shit, Legoshi had way too much fun with that bit and I am cackling). He even breaks down crying in an incredibly powerful scene, letting himself be vulnerable and grieve for the people he’s lost for the first time in front of someone he trusts to see him at his lowest. Louis was always the one pushing Legoshi the hardest to give into his instincts; it’s only fitting that here at the end, he’s the one who helps Legoshi overcome them instead. Legoshi eating Louis’ foot isn’t just the first and last time he’ll ever eat meat; it’s the formation of an unbreakable bond of trust between them. A bond that acknowledges their nature as carnivores and herbivores, but refuses to consider that an obstacle to their closeness. A bond that says yes, even people like us can be together and push each other forward. At long last, Louis has accepted that who you are doesn’t have to define who you’ll become. And the same carnivorous fangs that cursed him as a child of the dark market now free him from it just the same, free to be vulnerable and strong and self-determining all over again.

I can’t think of a stronger note for this season to end on. It brings closure to the series’ longest burning question and its longest simmering plot point, proving Riz wrong and pushing Legoshi and Louis into self-actualization at last. If anything, I’m baffled where the story could go from here. All of the big character and story arcs are basically resolved at this point. If Legoshi had just stopped dicking Haru around and said, “Okay, sorry, can we try a normal relationship this time?”, the story would be over. Where could things even go from here? I guess we’ve still got the question of who will be the next Beastar hanging over our heads, but considering how ill-defined the role of Beastar still is, that’s not much of a hook. I know there’s more manga to go through, but honestly, this series feels complete. I’ll still watch a season 3 if it comes out, but for now, I’m more than comfortable bidding Beastars farewell.

Odds and Ends

-”I’m a furball of lust!” kjhsdf Legoshi please

-”Stop feeling up my hand, Legoshi.” HARU OH MY SHIT STOP BEING AMAZING

-”COME, DEATH! I HAVE NO FEAR OF THEE!” Alright, my respect for Pina has jumped up tenfold.

-”If you were just a simple villain, I could despise you more.” But life rarely is that simple, is it?

-”I guess I sound pretty cringey when you say it aloud.” sdkfjshdf just a little

-WAIT HOW DID IT GROW HIS FUR BACK WHAT THE FU

-”What? No, just give him to the police.” Louis, I appreciate you.

-I do like how Ibuki respects those who try to live in the light. He’s embraced darkness, but that doesn’t mean everyone has to.

-”Please never come back. If you do, Ibuki will have died for nothing.” Well, shit. The Leo Group really grew on me.

-Oh my god he’s seriously trying to talk no jutsu his way out of this

And that’s it for Beastars. Expect my closing thoughts later tonight, as well as what show will take its place!

[misstrashchan]

Since @im-the-king-of-the-ocean did a post about what TMA fear entities the RWBY characters are aligned/avatars of, I’ve been itching to do one myself because as a result of overlapping hyper fixations I think about this A LOT

The basic concept is that avatars in TMA become what they fear most or embrace a fear they have developed the most complex relationship with that plays into their motivations and drive as a character. What negative impulses they have to constantly fight themselves on, the shape of the monster that lives in their heart.

To quote the RWBY song Fear, “But our greatest fear will be realised, if we fall and lose ourselves to fear, we’ll become what we’ve feared all our lives” yeah that’s a very loose definition of what becoming an avatar is.

Since MAG s5 has proven that you can be an avatar of more than one fear, (Like Martin serving both the Eye and the Lonely) some of the RWBY characters might have more than one, but I’ll try to limit it to two to avoid getting complicated, but at the end of the day it’s all fear soup, we might categorise them according to Robert Smirke’s 14, but they all bleed into one another, like Gerard’s colour analogy in 111:

GERARD

I always think it helps to imagine them like colours. The edges bleed together, and you can talk about little differences: “oh, that’s indigo, that’s more lilac”, but they’re both purple. I mean, I guess there are technically infinite colours, but you group them together into a few big ones. A lot of it’s kind of arbitrary. I mean, why are navy blue and sky blue both called blue, when pink’s an entirely different colour from red? Y’know? I don’t know, that’s just how it works.

And like colours, some of these powers, they feed into or balance each other. Some really clash, and you just can’t put them together. I mean, you could see them all as just one thing, I guess, but it would be pretty much meaningless, y’know, like… like trying to describe a… shirt by talking about the concept of colour.

O-Of course, with these things it’s not a simple spectrum, y’know, it’s more like –

ARCHIVIST

An infinite amorphous blob of terror bleeding out in every direction at once.

GERARD

Now you’re getting it.

ARCHIVIST

Like colours, but if colours hated me. Got it. 

Ruby Rose: The End. The fear of death itself, uncaring and unstoppable. Man this was hard to think about but I have a lot of Big Feelings about this one. Initially I really, really wanted to give Ruby the Eye simply because “can laser beam monsters with their eyeballs once they become powerful enough” and there is a fascinating overlap in how the Beholding powers and Silver Eyes function in the same way, (especially in how Cinder being exposed to the Silver Eyes fills her with an overpowering fear and reopens old wounds from trauma that have never properly healed; which is VERY similar in the psychological affect Jon’s has on his victims when he Beholds them) they’re both direct enemies/opposites to the Dark that expose their enemies/victims true nature and destroying them in the process at times. Only one feeds on fear and the trauma of others while the other feeds off of hope and love (Gerard says there’s no such thing as an avatar of hope and love, clearly he’s never heard of Ruby). 

But nope! The fear and nature of the Beholding just doesn’t really match with Ruby at all. She isn’t driven by a need of knowledge, nor does she fear being watched, followed or having her secrets exposed. The End though? Death itself? Ruby outright states that’s her biggest fear in volume 5 to Oscar “It doesn’t matter if you’re standing in Salem’s way or not. She’ll kill anyone. And that, scares me most of all” to me Ruby’s fear of death itself is projected onto Salem here, I think. It’s uncaring, unstoppable, it doesn’t discriminate, and it could come for the people she cares about at any time. What matters though is the context she says this is in explaining her motives to Oscar. Her whole life has been shaped by her inability to process death, her relationship with grief, all starting with the tragic and abrupt death of her mother Summer as a child. She’s also surrounded by a lot of death motif too, the hooded cape, mostly wearing black, the giant grim reaper scythe. She’s the End. 

Of course, her being an Avatar of the End means having to imagine the worst version of Ruby, one that is fully consumed by that fear. Avatars of the End are not malicious or destructive in nature but instead are… very apathetic. They don’t need to seek out victims to feed off of, nor do they have a ritual, because the End comes for all. And that fits with what Ruby would be like if that fear fully consumed her. It’s more or less established in vol6 during the apathy arc when she tries so hard to fight against their influence and how horrified she is when everyone around her falls prey to it. Giving up, not caring, accepting the inevitable demise of everyone and yourself? Ruby was terrified of that. And when looking at the vol8 opening where we see Ruby being dragged down by what looks like the arms of the apathy? She fights the hardest against it because it’s what she’s most afraid of, but because of her inability to process her grief properly is ultimately what will make her the most vulnerable to it when she’s pushed to her limit. All Salem needs to do to break Ruby is to remind her of Summer’s death. Not even what actually happened to her or how she died, just the death itself. Hell, the first time we see Ruby in the Red trailer, she’s at her mother’s grave, the first verse in Red like Roses that’s about Ruby “Red like Roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest” in which we come to understand that the “Red like roses” lyrics in both part one and two of the song is referring to Summer’s abrupt death which Ruby apparently dreams about, which brings to mind Oliver Banks, our most prominent Avatar of the End, whose first statement to The Magnus Institute in 011 (underneath the fake alias of “Antonio Blake”) is concerning how he started dreaming about the deaths of others, which he didn’t begin to take seriously- until it was his father that he saw in his dream. Upon which Oliver realised how terrifying death really was and that fear began to consume him. 

Okay I’ve probably gone off long enough about this but yeah. Ruby is the End. I mean, she also just got a song in the v7 soundtrack called Until the End 

Weiss Schnee: The Lonely. The fear of isolation, of being completely cut off and alone or disconnected from the rest of society. I don’t really have to go too deeply into this one. It’s pretty cut and dry. “The loneliest of all”? And the Schnees basically are the Lukas family. Actually thinking about it the Lukas’ are actually somewhat better? They were the only ones in the whole of TMA that understood to raise a child to be an heir/avatar of their fear they needed room to reject it or actively choose it, even if that had an 80% success rate. Both are still awful though. (Damn, I can’t believe Jaques is an actively worse parent than an eldritch fear avatar)

When Weiss comes back to Atlas in v4 she’s more aware of her loneliness than ever, feels more aware of how she and atlas high society as a whole is disconnected from the rest of the world and its struggles. Whitley commenting on her being in her room for months implies she’s purposefully been isolating herself during this time as well, in order to avoid her family members “A pleasure to see you out of your room for a change” (sidenote; the fact that whenever Whitley shows up it always catches Weiss off guard, like she didn’t even notice his presence until he wanted her too. That’s. That’s a BIG Lonely thing. Given Peter’s siblings eventually ran away and he was the only heir I can imagine Peter being what Whitley would end up like if no one intervenes)

I’d say they might also be an possibility of the Stranger due to her struggling to find her own identity and inability to recognise oneself, but that can be an aspect of the Lonely too, as we see when Martin is in a house that is a domain of the Lonely in s5, and is unable to recognise himself in the mirror or recall who he is.

What I do have to say about this is it’s pretty interesting considering at this point in the show Weiss’ relationship with loneliness is actually somewhat healthy and something she can use to relate to and help others. She understands other people’s loneliness, that Blake in v5 needed space and in time she’d come back, and Weiss would be ready to be there for her when she did. And she also understands Yang’s loneliness in the same volume and that she needed someone there to support her.

“But you’re right. I don’t know loneliness like you do. I have my own version. And I bet  Blake has her own version too.” 

Speaking of Blake…

 Blake Belladonna: The Stranger, I Do Not Know You. The fear that you cannot trust the perception of yourself or of others. The creeping sense that something isn’t right. I considered the Spiral, but the Stranger and the Spiral overlap more than any other two entities so I’m just gonna go with the Stranger. Especially with her semblance being a metaphor for disassociation, a coping mechanism for the abuse and gaslighting from her relationship with Adam being kind of the biggest thing here, since the Stranger and Spiral deal with that a lot. She literally creates false copies of herself, shadow clones which she uses to feint, distract and evade. As well as statues/mannequins when dust is involved, which the Stranger is known for manifesting. Her fighting style centres around misdirection, stealth and fooling people’s senses. She also used to be part of the White Fang, known within Sienna and Adam’s faction to wear the masks of monsters, appearing anonymous. And she literally disguises her identity as a Faunus in order to escape the White Fang and enroll at Beacon. Blake at first was hesitant to trust and rely on the others in the earlier volumes, to let her guard down, and when she finally did, the worst happened and her fears were proven right. In s2 Jonathan becomes more paranoid due to being marked and in close daily proximity to the Stranger (as Not-Sasha), much like how Blake in v2 becomes far more paranoid and less trusting of her team. She also does seek knowledge or answers even at the cost of her wellbeing, which is an Eye thing, but Blake’s desire for knowledge and answers isn’t really consistent or important enough with her character and motives beyond vol2 for me personally to consider her an Avatar of it, but I do think she is Eye aligned. 

Yang Xiao Long- The Eye. The Ceaseless Watcher, It Knows You, as well as The Hunt. For the Eye, the first time we see Yang is her trying to find information on her mother, and we see Raven in bird form at the beginning too, as she has followed Yang her whole life, never actually interacting or doing anything for her, just… watching her. We learn in vol2 that her search for answers surrounding her mother has been a part of her entire life, almost overwhelmingly so to the point where in her childhood she and Ruby nearly lost their lives to the Grimm when she decided to journey to a shack in the woods she thought would lead to clues in finding her mother. She is adamant because of that experience to never let her need for the truth and answers control her, but it is a need that is always there. When she finally meets Raven, she’s encouraged to “start questioning everything she knows” which, she does. Questioning and knowledge is a big part of Yang’s character, even now. She’s the one who questions Ozpin the most, as well as Raven herself, and in the recent volumes is the one who challenges and questions Ruby’s leadership the most. There’s also a moment in vol7 of her drawing parallels between herself and Robyn and relating to her when she says “I won’t stop until I find out the truth” Her being the one to take the relic of knowledge is hugely significant in this too, especially given the context that she acquires it right after confronting her mother, getting the answers she’s searched for her whole life, holding an artefact possessing infinite knowledge, and she sinks to her knees and cries because there is no sense of closure, that anything is better because of her knowing who and what her mother is, and that her choosing this path might have cost her ever having a relationship with Raven (which is more Raven’s fault of course, and Yang knows that, but that’s not how she’s feeling at that exact moment). 

For the Hunt, this one’s a bit simpler. The thrill seeker aspect to Yang’s character and motives in becoming a huntress and enjoying the chase and fighting in of itself. There’s another element in that as most Avatars of the Hunt start out as monster hunters who then develop the need to hunt and kill monsters, and gradually what qualifies as “monster” starts to blur more and more as they become consumed by the need and thrill of the chase and hunt itself. I bring this up because in vol3 Blake draws parallels between Yang and Adam after she is disqualified for attacking and injuring Mercury, worries with how familiar this all feels and that Yang might turn out the same as him (and just for the record Adam is a full blown Avatar of the Hunt, and the Slaughter too most like) 

 “I had someone very dear to me change. It wasn’t in an instant, it was gradual. Little choices that began to pile up. He told me not to worry. At first they were accidents, then it was self-defence. Before long, even I began to think he was right. This is all just… very familiar.” What Blake describes is… kind of similar to Basira’s relationship with Daisy with how Daisy, an Avatar of the Hunt, would justify to Basira and explain away how the violence and murders she committed as being for the greater good. 

Also just one more, because I have to

 Pyrrha Nikos: WebwebWEBWEB. Hoo boi Pyrrha is the Webbiest of Web Avatars as they come. Her whole character’s themes surrounding destiny, control and agency, feeling like her whole life had been decided for her, the fact she’d been blessed with incredible talents and opportunities meant she was supposed to be a huntress, the fact her talent as a world champion meant she was placed on a pedestal without her realising, becoming separate from the people who placed her there in the first place, that Ozpin and his inner circle tell her she has been chosen as the next Fall Maiden, but the method in which she must become so might result in the loss of her identity, that though they ultimately leave the choice to her do pressure and manipulate her into it. The idea of destiny being a predetermined fate you can’t escape is Pyrrha’s greatest fear, and rejects that idea in that she will not let her life be manipulated but will be the one to take control it instead, which is manifested in her having a semblance that she uses to subtly control and manipulate her surroundings. As Cinder puts it, “People assume she’s fated for victory when really she’s really taken fate into her own hands”.  

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. Imagination without skill gives us modern art.

- Tom Stoppard, Artist Descending a Staircase

Sir Anish Kapoor’s ArcelorMittal Orbit tower was completed in 2012 at a cost of £19 million ($27 million). It was intended to be a permanent lasting legacy of London's hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, assisting in the post-Olympics regeneration of the Stratford area. At 376 feet (114.5 metres) it became the UK’s tallest public artwork.

London Mayor Boris Johnson put into motion a design competition that was held in 2009 and it called for designs for an "Olympic tower". A 9 panel commission made of the great and the good was set up to recommend to both Johnson and the government. It received about 50 submissions. Boris Johnson had said that his early concept for the project was something more modest than Orbit, along the lines of "a kind of 21st-century Trajan's Column", but this was dropped when more daring ideas were received. Boris Johnson was believed to want something like the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty what he and the government settled on was something completely different with Turner-Prize winning artist Sir Anish Kapoor in partnership with Cecil Balmond of Arup Group, an engineering firm.

Kapoor said that one of the influences on his design was the Tower of Babel, the sense of "building the impossible" that "has something mythic about it", and that the form "straddles Eiffel and Tatlin". Balmond, working on the metaphor of an orbit, envisaged an electron cloud moving, to create a structure that appears unstable, propping itself up, "never centred, never quite vertical". Both believe that Orbit represents a new way of thinking, "a radical new piece of structure and architecture and art" that uses non-linearity – the use of "instabilities as stabilities." The spaces inside the structure, in between the twisting steel, are "cathedral like", according to Balmond, while according to Kapoor, the intention is that visitors will engage with the piece as they wind "up and up and in on oneself" on the spiral walkway.

The Independent described Orbit as "a continuously looping lattice ... made up of eight strands winding into each other and combined by rings like a jagged knot". The Guardian describes it as a "giant lattice tripod sporting a counterweight collar around its neck designed to offset the weight of its head, a two-storey dining and viewing gallery". According to the BBC, the design incorporates the five Olympic rings.

Upon its launch Johnson said "It would have boggled the minds of the Romans. It would have boggled Gustave Eiffel." Nicholas Serota, a member of the design panel, said that Orbit was a tower with an interesting twist, with "the energy you might traditionally associate with this type of structure but in a surprisingly female form.”

When Anish Kapoor’s commission for the Olympic Park in London was unveiled no one really noticed, as most viewers thought it was still under construction.

Orbit confused viewers for sometime, but when they realised that the twisted metal structure in place was indeed an artwork they were up in arms. It was soon slammed by critics and citizens alike.

Overall reception to Orbit was mixed, but mostly negative. With regard to its potential as a lasting visitor attraction, The Guardian's Mark Brown reflected on the mixed fortunes of other large symbolic London visitor attractions such as the popular, but loss-making, Thames Tunnel; the Skylon structure, dismantled on the orders of Winston Churchill; and the successful London Eye. When plans were first reported for an Olympic tower, the media pointed to a manifesto pledge of Johnson's to crack down on tall buildings, in order to preserve London's "precious" skyline.  The Times criticised the idea as a vanity project of Johnson's, with a design "matching his bravado", built to "seal his legacy", surmising it would be compared to other similar vanity projects such as the "wedding cake", the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II built in Rome, or the Neutrality Arch, a rotating golden statue erected by Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov, while comparing Johnson to Ozymandias. Art critic Brian Sewell said "Our country is littered with public art of absolutely no merit. We are entering a new period of fascist gigantism. These are monuments to egos and you couldn't find a more monumental ego than Boris."

The Times reported the description of it being the "Godzilla of public art". In October 2012, ArcelorMittal Orbit was nominated and made the Building Design magazine shortlist for the Carbuncle Cup - an award for the worst British building completed in the past year, which was ultimately awarded to the Cutty Sark renovation.

Jay Merrick of The Independent said that "[Orbit's] sculptural power lies in its ability to suggest an unfinished form in the process of becoming something else", describing how its artistic riskiness elevated it above the banal artworks of the public art movement that have been built elsewhere in Britain's towns and cities. Merrick was of the opinion that it would be either loved or hated, being a design which is "beautifully fractious, and not quite knowable".

Jonathan Glancey of The Guardian described Orbit as "Olympian in ambition" and a "fusion between striking art and daring engineering", and said that, the Aquatics Centre apart, it represented the architecturally striking Joker in the pack, given that the rest of the landscaping and architecture for the Games "promises little to get excited about". He believed it would become a "genuine eyecatcher" for the Olympics television coverage, with its extraordinary form being a "strange and enticing marriage of sorts" between the Eiffel Tower and the un-built early Soviet era Tatlin's Tower, with the biblical Tower of Babel as "best man".

The Times writer Tom Dyckhoff, while calling it "a gift to the tabloids" and a "giant Mr. Messy", questioned whether the Olympic site needed another pointless icon, postulating whether it would stand the test of time like the London Eye and become a true icon to match the Eiffel Tower, or a hopeless white elephant. Suggesting the project had echoes of Tatlin's Monument to the Third International, and especially Constant Nieuwenhuys' utopian city New Babylon, he asked whether Orbit was just as revolutionary or possessed the same ideological purpose, or whether it was merely "a giant advert for one of the world’s biggest multinationals, sweetened with a bit of fun".

Rowan Moore of The Guardian questioned if it was going to be anything more than a folly, or whether it would be as eloquent as the Statue of Liberty. He speculated that the project might mark the time when society stops using large iconic projects as a tool for lifting areas out of deprivation. He questioned its ability to draw people's attention to Stratford after the Games, in a similar manner to the successes of the Angel of the North or the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. He also questioned the piece's ability to strike a chord like the Angel, which he believed had at least "created a feelgood factor and sense of pride" in Gateshead, or whether it would simply become one of the "many more unloved rotting wrecks that no one has the nerve to demolish". He postulated that the addition of stairs and a lift made Orbit less succinct than Kapoor's previous successful works, while ultimately he said "hard to see what the big idea is, beyond the idea of making something big".

Fellow Guardian writer John Graham-Cumming rejected comparisons to icons like the Eiffel Tower, which had itself not been intended to be a lasting monument, only persisting into public acceptance as art through being useful; he also pointed out the Colossus of Rhodes collapsed within a few decades, and the Tower of Babel was "constructed to glorify those that constructed it." He suggested that a future mayor should reconsider whether it should be pulled down. Questioning its corporate role, he believed that meant it looked less and less like a work of art and more like a vanity project.

Even Sir Anish Kapoor acknowledged the criticism and said of its clunky features,“It’s an object with all its elbows sticking out and it is slightly awkward, but I think I made it for that reason, I wanted it to be slightly awkward.”

After the 2012 Olympic Games, the Orbit tower was used as an observation tower, running at a loss of £520,000 ($884,000) in 2014–15, according to the BBC—or losing up to £10,000 ($17,000) a week in 2014, according to the Guardian newspaper.

Amidst the rising clamour of the costs matched only by the disdainful disinterest in the massive sculpture, something had to be done.

To appease Londoners, ex-London Mayor Boris Johnson brought in Carsten Höller to add a slide to the 376 feet tall artwork, making it the highest slide in Europe.

Kapoor later said he was pushed into the high profile collaboration by Johnson. Kapoor would later say that Johnson’s request “felt to me as if it was turning the whole thing in the wrong direction.”

“It was not always my thinking. The mayor foisted this on the project and there was a moment where I had to make a decision - do I go to battle with the mayor or is there a more elegant or astute way through this?,” he told the Guardian.

“I knew of Carsten’s work so I thought, well, who better than a fellow artist to join up with and make this a positive story rather than a negative… Luckily, and thankfully, Carsten was open to it, so we found a way round this,” Kapoor explained.

Judging by the unforgettable success of Höller’s slide installation at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, it’s easy to imagine what made Kapoor click and extend the invitation to the Belgian-born Stockholm-based artist.

“One makes artworks for other reasons than profit,” Kapoor told the Guardian. “I understand this is run as a so-called attraction, which I have problems with personally… I want it to be slightly more highbrow than that, without wanting to be pompous about it. There’s a difference between a fairground ride and art,” he added.

Höller, meanwhile, took a more lighthearted approach, urging people to embrace “the amusement side of it.”

“A child might be here purely for the slide, while the serious art lover might see this in purely formalistic terms. I personally like the confusion, that you don’t know what it is but it still creates a very unique experience,” he told the Guardian.

 The ArcelorMittal Orbit re-opened to the public on 5 April 2014. Since then it has done below average business in attracting people to come and visit it or try the slide.

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), which runs the park where the sculpture is located, released numbers revealing the sculpture’s sizeable debt and a steep drop in visitors. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal had provided a £9.2 million ($11.2 million) loan to help pay for the original construction of the sculpture, but this loan has ballooned to £13 million due to the accrual of interest.

Ticket sales to the observation platform and a tunnel slide designed by Carsten Höller were meant to help repay the loan, but low visitor attendance prompted a £58,000 ($70,000) loss in 2018/19 alone. Visitor numbers have dropped from a high of 193,000 in 2016/17, when Höller’s slide was introduced, to 155,000 in 2018/19.

It’s not just an artistic folly but a commercial one too.

It's not wholly fanciful that such artistic scuptural landmarks can help lift places. No one can put a figure on jobs created or investments made in Gateshead thanks to the Angel of the North, but it has at least created a feelgood factor and sense of pride. The Bilbao Guggenheim of 1996, still the archetype of such town-boosting, certainly placed a relatively obscure city at the centre of attention.

Buildings can't do it alone and if people find their attention has been drawn only to a wasteland, they will go away again. The Guggenheim worked because there were also dull practical things in Bilbao such as new transport infrastructure and business parks.

But the most important ingredient of a successful icon is that it works artistically. It has to strike a chord, sound the right note, catch a mood, win hearts and confound sceptics. In other words it has to be aesthetically pleasing because it’s good art made by equally by great craft and graft.

The ArcelorMittal Orbit has become an unloved rotting wreck that no one has the nerve to demolish.