#in case this isn't obvious I love caesar

[calimera62]

Astérix (mais surtout César) text posts

Joyeux anniversaire @istadris 🎉

[doubleddenden]

Can I just say as someone who is regularly made self conscious about his writing because of bullshit tumblr posts who criticize every little choice made for stories:

If you aren't making an uwu coffee shop AU, it's fine to have conflict, and especially death of characters. Like I know tumblr is on this kick like IF YOU KILL YOUR CHARACTERS YOU ARE PROBLEMATIC but like. No you're not?

Like sure, sometimes it's very tasteless. This is in no way defending meaningless deaths (we don't support "bury your gays" in this house, thank you), but there's something you have to remember:

None of this is real

The character is not you or someone you know personally

Characters in a sense are more or less literal plot devices

What this means is that you can't get worked up every time a character you like dies.

When a mentor dies, it's meant to be a passing of the torch and a moment for the mc to overcome emotionally and show they will carry their spirit. Case in point: Peter Parker in Into the Spiderverse, Jiraiya in Naruto, etc

When a parent dies, it's meant to be a moment that forces the character to grow up, overcome adversity, meant to test their resolve, meant to show their love for their child and just how far they are willing to go for them. Minato and Kushina, James and Lilly Potter, etc

When a friend or rival dies, its supposed to test their resolve. Do they give into despair? Or do they avenge their friend's honor or do what needs to be done? Caesar Zeppeli and Joseph Joestar, Naruto and Neji, Maes Hughs, etc

Sometimes it's just to show how terrifying or fucked up the villain is. Seriously, Maes Hughs is a huge example of this.

Sometimes its redemption for a character that has done terrible things. Darth Vader remembering the light side to save Luke is a powerful moment, because in his final moments of clarity he decides to try and atone for some of his sins. Vegeta sacrificing himself to save Gohan from Cell or to obliterate Majin Buu (and fail) is HUGE finally starts a path of redemption for him.

I think it has to be said that especially for stories involving fictional war or survival, there has to be adversity to overcome, sadness or anger to drive the plot forward. There has to be danger, and gonna be real? If everyone lives, there's no sense of danger or a threat. When a character dies, especially a beloved one, it means shit is getting real, people can actually die, this isn't an UWU COFFEE SHOP EVERYONE LIVES au. It means holy shit, if this guy is dead, shit is real.

And yes. Its supposed to hurt. You cannot say it's bad writing just because it's a character you got too attached to or because you missed obvious death flags. That character was most likely always planned to die as a means of helping drive the plot forward. If it hurts, then that's good! That means they weren't a shallow character and something was done to make them stand out!

If a character sacrifices themself, that's not a middle finger to you specifically. It's an act of love for the people the character cares for. If they revive, then great, it was a close call, but if they don't, there's finality to their act of love. In their final moment, they chose their friend, child, lover, pupil, comrade, whatever, and it's a sad but noble decision.

Now sure, senseless death doesn't make sense. Attack on Titan is boring as shit because it's always randos that get destroyed to bloody bits. When there's no death flags at all to warn you, then yes, that's bullshit and done for dramatic effect, often times just to incite reaction from the audience because the writers or producers are bored. And yeah, I'm not going to say I'm particularly happy seeing pets die.

But honestly there's good uses of death, and to just outright label it all as bad is childish if not boring. Risk, adversity, sadness- its sometimes necessary to drive home the sweet reward of a happy ending. Like if you prefer happy shows with little to no risk, that's perfectly fine and I'm not faulting you for it, but at a certain point some of y'all have to stop taking the writing so personally.

Its important to keep it for multiple reasons tbh. Like it or not, the people we love and care for will not be around forever. A lot of people especially need to see the surviving character associated with the dead character grieve and find the strength to move on. It isn't just a senseless act when there's a lesson that can be taught to the viewer, and sometimes it's a hard damn pill to swallow. However it is necessary because it's an unavoidable fact of life. Not only does it give the viewer sort of a reference for how to deal with the grief (often times the best thing is to see the character stand back up and move on), but it really reminds you to treasure those you love. There's a reason it's so prevalent in storytelling since... well, caveman times. Shakespeare used it, Homer used it, Stan Lee used it- it's not something that needs to be banned, regardless of how you feel about it.

Again, if it happens to characters that happen to represent a minority or group, yeah, that's bad, feel free to criticize that choice when it's been done time and time before and especially if it seems like those particular writers target very specific people.

But other than that, y'all seriously gotta just let people write what they want. You can have your Everyone Lives tm AU's or your comfy shows where nothing bad ever happens, that is perfectly fine and valid, but something like FMA wouldn't have NEARLY the depth it does without the deaths or chances of death of particular characters to drive plot or motivate the characters. Peter Parker or Batman wouldn't be half the heroes they were without the stinging reminder of Uncle Ben or Bruce's Parents to remind them what they fight for. Naruto becoming Hokage wouldn't be possible without Jiraiya's death to push him and force him to surpass the legendary Sanin. Trunks wouldn't have gone super saiyan without Gohan dying- permanently mind you- which would lead to him surpassing THAT Gohan, his own father Vegeta, and come back to the future to stop the androids, his version of Buu, and eventually Zamasu. Fuckin Luke Skywalker couldn't have become a Jedi Master without the deaths of Obi Wan or Yoda to really force him to man up into his destiny.

That's my piece.

[prayingmantisfolly]

That's why I say you're reaching too far. Caesar isn't that complex. He died too fast and never had any chance for a character development. You're putting pieces together that don't fit because that's all you have, bits and pieces that don't match, yet you're still trying to find correlation. Maybe you should go outside more because you're way too invested in a show that's meant for entertainment. You act like those Steven universe fans man. It's not that deep.

The irony of an anon constantly telling me why my interpretation of a character, that I already said isn’t crucial to them but important to acknowledge none the less because anyone using basic logic could realize it’s true, is wrong and that I should go outside as if I’m the one obsessing over it when I literally only brought it up because someone else was saying they didn’t care for Caesar, is palpable. You’re right, it’s not that deep: it’s blatantly obvious. I gave you evidence, all your argument comes to down to is “you’re guessing based on all the available data”, which is what anyone would do in this case. The conclusion sucks, but that doesn’t mean you should just deny it like it’s absurd to think about.

True, had Caesar lived, he’d probably be ashamed to have been so easily persuaded like most people, but that’s a moot point. I’m not going to keep arguing the obvious with someone who doesn’t realize they’re the obsessive one. Sorry that your love for Caesar makes it impossible for you to objectively evaluate him.