#in nat the hunter and lottie the prophet

[terrainofheartfelt]

thinking about Nat and the group and this reaping ritual...

not that I expect logic to apply, but it is illogical, right? Nat is the hunter, she is the one with the skills to keep them alive and fed. and yeah, there isn't any game to hunt right now because it's winter, but what about when winter is over?

and Nat is the practical one. in the wilderness where the rest are seeing things that aren't there, she sees them for what they are. (when she says to jackie's remains that shit is gonna get a whole lot worse). she doesn't partake in the rituals because she doesn't see their worth, but she respects the others enough that she lets them do what comforts them, until it goes too far and there's a knife at her throat.

but she's the hunter. she is a good shot, and until winter came and the hunting dried up, she was crucial to the work of survial. and thinking about that has just got me thinking that, there is this tendency in religious sects...to value the ritual and the people who participate fully in the ritual, over the people who do the necessary, unglamorous work of survival. the yjs convince themselves that Lottie is necessary for their survival, meanwhile Nat has been quietly doing the work.

not that she wants praise for it, or even recognition, even in the dynamics of the team we see precrash she's less concerned about ego and more about keeping them working together. and maybe that's why she participates, but it's also why she tells shauna to look her in the eye.

[the-lonelyshepherd]

"fanon lottienatters please stay away from me" oh!! shots fired!! 2,000 dead, 10,000 injured!! BUT curious about your specific definition for fanon lottienat and what you dislike about it <33

ohhhhh okay... alrrrrrr

this is like. one of my biggest issues. im not like a shipper, never rlly have been until yj but i dont like engage in discourse bc thats stupid.

But basically? Fanon lottienat just kinda strips anything thats interesting about the ship away. and makes it like. punk x preppy. loser x popular. ive even heard black cat and golden retriever which makes me want to rip my eyes out.

And its not even accurate to their characterization? at all? like youre flanderizing them but like..... not even their main traits. like ive seen people say "precrash lottie would be like charlotte from status update (curse that movie btw. the things i do for u courtney eaton) which is just. like not at all.

first off lottie is not popular. yeah, shes rich, but shes clearly somewhat of a loner (WHICH PARALLELS NAT?? WHICH MAKES IT MORE INTERESTING???) even courtney has said this in interviews. she feels ostracized, and a lot of it can be traced back to the flashback scenes we see, esp those about her relationship w her parents and her supposed mental illness. the 90s, especially the 90s in a high pressure rich family, was NOT a good place to have schizophrenia (and yeah theres the "she wasnt actually mentally ill" argument but that changes nothing because atp in the story her whole family and probably herself believed she was.

Then we have the nat characterization. The fanon "grumpy" to fanon lotties "sunshine". guys canonically nat smiles more than lottie. girlie was always grinning while lottie was experiencing the horrors all of s1. ofc they both went THROUGH it but that specific stereotype pissed me off sm i had to address it.

also, nat gets shown a lot as masc?? which is a fine headcanon but like for her style like the whole punk thing? she acc dresses relatively femininely.those are little irks abt nat but they bother me idc. too tired to write more on this rn but feel free to ask!

so basically taking this stuff into account - fanon lottienat uses a gross mischaracterization of both characters, especially lottie (also that suspiciously align w stereotypes HMMMMM) to literally make the ship more boring. You are making it a stupid and lame trope. You literally have these two insanely complex characters who mirror each other. Theyre not opposites attract, they are the same character in different skins. They're both loners, one because of her punk/rebel nature and nasty rumors, the other because of her mental illness and lack of closeness to people. Theyre both loners because of their social status and their fucked up home life. Theyre both providers - nat the hunter, bringer of physical and real food like the deer. Lottie the prophet, bringer of hope and, through the teams eyes, the birds, the bear, etc. Lottie who begs to be a martyr but is denied nat who runs from it but shoulders it anyways. They're both bleeding hearts they both give soul to the team and are some of the most genuine characters but they present it so differently.

The fact that the majority of content grossly mischaracterizes them and is the widely accepted fanon just.. sucks tbh. and the fact that people get so up in arms about them, and literally attack fans of other characters (lottielee fans... travis fans....) for no reason?? all these other characters do is contribute to what makes lottienat such a compelling and fucked up and interesting ship. i love them so much but lwk most of yall are insane and dont even appreciate them for what they really are.

thoughts questions comments concerns hmu

[lesbians4lottienat]

travlottienat make me fucking feral.

lottie, the prophet, and nat & travis, the hunters, are all similar in a way. they’ve all been forced into this protective role for the others. the hunters must provide food and a firearm, while the prophet must see what will happen and do her best to prevent it.

there’s nat, who doesn’t believe even a tiny bit of this wilderness bullshit. it’s life. life is hard, and cruel, and kicks you when you’re down. she knows this better than anyone, what, with what happened to her dad.

on another hand there’s lottie, who’s been told she had a gift, who finally is being seen as a blessing as opposed to a curse. maybe she can use it for good. maybe she can help. maybe she can keep being a blessing, a prophet, as opposed to a mentally ill embarrassment to her family.

then there’s trav, the middle ground. does it make sense? no. life is hard, and cruel, and kicks you when you’re down. but there’s hope. there’s always hope, shining in the darkest of places. maybe it’s foolish to cling to the hope, but it’s there, and she’s not letting it go without a fight.

the hunters and the prophet; eventually (presumably) the antler queen and her two most loyal subjects.

[bisexualnatalies]

thinking about the conclusion of teen lottie and nat's arc this season. the skeptic and the martyr, the hunter and the prophet, the girl and the god. they're supposed to be at odds with each other, it's obvious. how could they ever be expected to find common ground? except .... nat's the only one that sees lottie's humanity (the girl inside the god) and lottie's the only one that sees nat's capability (the hunter that's keeping them alive). they both see exactly what they keep begging everyone around them to see in each other.

thinking about how lottie knows that nat needs a purpose to get through letting javi die for her own survival, so she gives her one. nat, despite not believing in the wilderness, despite never believing in the wilderness, despite knowing clearer than ever that the wilderness isn't going to save them, accepting that position. i think there's a part of nat that accepts that role knowing she's taking the burden from lottie, even though she undeniably takes it for herself too. she's good at staying calm, facing danger head on, making quick decisions. that's what makes her such a good hunter. thinking a lot about how lottie knew she had to give the crown up because the girls trust her, they rely on her. they'll respect her decision. thinking about lottie giving nat the crown because while she almost froze to death in the woods, nat found a deer.

thinking about nat taking the crown so lottie can be a girl again and lottie giving nat the crown so she can become a figure. being a figure nearly got lottie killed by one of her friends and being a girl who was hunted by her friends less than 24 hours ago might just kill nat. they take what they need, no judgement.

just !!!!! THINKING

[ladystoneboobs]

gah, natalie, who'd already witnessed so much violence at home, who already had survivor's guilt which likely affected her drug use pre-crash. natalie, who stopped them all from being murderers the first time they tried a ritual killing, when they could at least say it wasn't really them 'cause of the shrooms. natalie, who felt the most guilty about eating jackie and looked the most reluctant, then being the only one to take responsibility despite also being the only one with a legitimate reason to have a grudge against jackie before her death. natalie, who kept them all fed for the first months and kept trudging out for hours in the snows through winter and got blamed for the loss of game, almost dying trying to get that moose and being more upset about that loss of (non-human) food for the whole group than her own near death. natalie, who had to watch everyone hold up lottie as the true provider as they put her down, all bc of her weird power over that bear when all her rituals are made up on the fly and in rational, practical terms she should not be much more useful than jackie, certainly not more valuable than the actual hunter physically laboring for them for hours every day. and despite all of that she still cared for lottie and felt guilty when their dumb competition also killed her too. she had to watch shauna beat lottie to a bloody pulp after living through all of that with her father. she looked like she wanted most to intervene like she had against her father and the only reason she couldn't was lottie's own choice which the other girls all wanted to honor. and despite thinking it might be better if lottie just died from that beating she agreed to take part in a ritual meant to ensure that anyone other than the already gravely wounded girl, anyone other than the prophet they refused to lose, would be the next to die and be eaten. the only demand she made was for shauna to look her in the eye as she slit her throat, to take responsibility as nat herself would have. if travis, the boy whose life she saved who later transferred his loyalty to the girl who once ordered his death, had not intervened, she would have stayed there and left her fate in shauna's hands for the good of all the friends she'd always tried so hard to feed. she only runs once they all make the active choice to hunt her, to murder her as prey, not as willing sacrifice. even still, when javi falls trying to lead her to safety, she does not hesitate to stay and try to save him. even when the other girls are right behind her and she had to know before misty told her that they'd just kill her after saving javi. she had to know her danger before misty said it yet still all she wanted was a brief reprieve to save this boy who was trying to save her. this boy, whose death she once faked, mostly out of kindness. this same boy who was brother of the one who'd just saved her in the cabin. she only left that cabin after travis intervened and only let go of his brother after misty intervened, both fighting to stop her from self-sacrifice, making her culpable in the death of javi instead. another shared guilt out there on the ice, like at the snackie bbq feast, or inside as they all stood aside to let lottie take her near-fatal beating. always natalie the most reluctant yet the most guilty. self-sacrificing and self-loathing in every timeline. even in shauna's death-dream she looked the most reluctant to eat that dream baby! natalie, natalie, natalie!

[lucyfrostblade]

TRG yellowjackets au? please go on i love yellowjackets

it isn't the most thought out AU out there, and i generally don't like AU that are just a one-to-one with another piece of media but i do see some character parallels that i'd use as the jumping off point if i were to actually write it (no promises). also i have talked abt this a little in the fh fic writer support group discord so some ideas are gonna sound familiar if you're in there too

spoilers for yellowjackets and for fantasy high junior year (obviously):

buddy dawn & laura lee, both are characters that defined by their faith. worship of helio is so clearly based on evangelical christianity that it feels like an obvious answer. but another thing is that their faith cannot save either of them. the christian god cannot save laura lee from the wilderness, and helio cannot save buddy from being murdered in the name of ankarna. laura is definetly stronger in her faith, and i think given the entire bakarath thing, buddy would be on of the first ones to join the wilderness cannibalism cult but still. i imagine either dying in a situation similar to laura lee or being one of the sacrifices in the hunt.

kipperlilly copperkettle & misty quiggley, my absolute favorite serial killers. misty is much more clearly a loser than kipperlilly is in the team timeline but that's because misty quiggley thrives when she can hide bodies and abuse the elderly, two hobbies i think kipperlilly would be great at. but, to be serious, both of them capture different ends of the unlikeable unhinged teen girl spectrum. kipperlilly is much more controlled and calculated in her actions, while misty is more emotional and reactive. look at the differences in how they murdered their best friends. but they share the same loneliness and status as the outsider in the group. kipperlilly survives in this au, where none of the other rat grinders really like her but she's still the person they call when they need to hide a body.

ivy embra & natalie scatorccio, a parallel i am less confident in but can still see. mean girls who use it to hide how they really feel, who seem cool on the surface but underneath it all they are messes. they share a similar bravado, i feel, and i think there's something about ivy being a ranger and nat being the hunter of the group in a way that i am a little bit obsessed with but don't have any solid thoughts on yet.

lucy frostblade & lottie matthews. i understand that on a certain level that kipperlilly's narrative slot is much more similar to lottie's than lucy's is but lottie's the prophet, the one that understands the wilderness and the winter, and i cannot help but see lucy in that. lucy who was so strong in her faith that she died, lucy who was just a goliath before she became a frost genasi. she would accidentally start a cult doing her weird girl shit, would absolutely be the person who the rest of the rat grinders turn to when things start getting weird or scary in the absence of shatterstars mindcontrolling them. and yeah, i think, ultimately that lucy's understanding of the world as a harsh place where people are meant to be "the fire that warms" aligns with lottie's view of the wilderness.

that's the extent of the thought i have put into it so far but i come back to the idea a lot, it has it's own corner of my brain

[cdyssey]

Yellowjackets 2.09 Reactions:

Oh, boy. Here we go. 😭

CW: Cannibalism

I’m so nervous—I’m gonna be sick.

NOT “ZOMBIE.” OH, GOD GODDAMN.

Travis’s relieved Natalie has broken me, already in anticipation of what’s going to fucking happen next.

THE WILDERNESS CHOSE.

I’m so sick over Travis’s visceral sobs—that’s his baby brother. He just got him back, and now he’s gone. (Kevin did such a good job here. Hhhhhgh.)

Lottie about to go all in on the euthanasia tea, but everyone else immediately protests. It’s Shauna who talks Lottie down from the ledge.

SHAUNALOTTIE HUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH, BABY!!

Shauna giving the rest of the adults a wink, wink, nudge, nudge over Lottie’s shoulder as Lottie weeps. I feel for Lot so much. She just doesn’t want to be alone in feeling the way that she does. How much of her life has she been alone—the only one burdened by “visions,” sent to Switzerland for years, the teenage girl turned venerated prophetess??

“This is just about us.” It always has been. The six of them together. They were the power shakers in the cabin: the leaders, the butchers, the devoted worshippers, the hunters.

Shaunalottie handhold. <33 My superpower is that I can ship any configuration of the core six if they look at each other longer for two seconds.

“Yeah, except we got over it.” Natalie, ma’am, no, y’all, did not. <3

The makeup team is doing a stellar job in both timelines—the dark lines beneath Adult Tai’s eyes and Lottie’s injury makeup are really great.

Goddamn, poor Lottie.

“You started this. It’s done.” In the wilderness (and in the adult timeline as well), the girls are always looking for ways to foist the shame and responsibility away from themselves. Lottie started it. It chooses. Et cetera., et cetera. But they all became wrapped up in the darkness at some point or another. They all stood there silently as Javi disappeared below the surface of the water.

“Lottie is pleased with the wilderness’s choice.” Misty putting words into Lottie’s mouth. If Lottie is their deity or their priestess or saint or what have you, then Misty is a false prophet, spreading a malicious truth and sending the girls careening towards that gaping maw that they’ve all opened together. She’s the closer.

The sadness in Shauna’s eyes. Javi adored her. They shared quiet moments of kinship together. He carved her a wolf, and she saved that boy once—told him to run and possibly prevented him from dying during Doomscoming. But she was complicit in his death, and now she’s going to fucking dismember and eat him.

Shauna’s shaking hand. The tears slipping down her face. Sophie fucking Nélisse.

The fact that it’s Tai, Shauna, Nat, and Van who are at the butchering. This is Javi’s funeral.

GOD, SHAUNA COVERING HER EYES SO SHE DOESN’T HAVE TO FACE HIM. I’M UNWELL, UNWELL, UNWELL.

Van to Tai: “Or if she is [sick], then so are you.” It’s a deep cut for Tai who has spent most of her adult life trying to hold on to her hinges and create a perfect facade of a normal life.

What’s Van trying to get Tai to do? 😭

THE SPLIT WALL BETWEEN NAT AND SHAUNA IN THE KITCHEN IS SUCH A GOOD DIRECTION. AND THIS NEEDLE DROP.

“Do you Google yourself a lot?” AKQKWKJDJDNS. Callie Sadecki, I love u.

Callie’s gonna get that gun by the end of the episode.

Jeff really thought he was sending Shauna to a spa WNWKWOWKDS.

The cops. 😭 Kevyn, I like you, but Matt can go fuck off.

Nat trying to protect Lisa. God, God, God.

“I appreciate you trying to teach me… forgiveness. It’s a nice idea.” JESUS.

IF NATALIE SCATORCCIO DIES, I S2FG

Ben’s momentary joy at seeing Shauna at the butcher’s table again, thinking someone bagged an animal.

THE LINGERING SHOT ON THE JAVI REMAINS JFC

Ben’s ready to get Nat and nope the actual fuck out.

“You’re not like the rest of these girls.” / “Actually, I’m worse.” […] “I let him die in my place.” God, it’s the way that Nat does have it in her to accept responsibility, how she shoulders it the most unflinchingly of the entire cabin.

“You’re a good person, Coach. You really don’t belong in this place.” Sick. It’s an echo of Travis telling Nat something similar last week.

Oh, this Travis-Van conversation is brutal. Van, the consummate survivor, is just happy to fucking be alive and she won’t feel shame for that.

We’re seeing a lot of manipulations in the cabin so far. Misty twisting Lottie’s words, and now Van rhetorically giving purpose of Javi’s death. Interesting roles for these two especially because they’ve been the “worshippers” and “followers” for the most part. But as we’re learning, that role doesn’t go without influence.

WALTER SINGING “SEND IN THE CLOWNS,” ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONDHEIM SONGS?!?!?! Elijah has a very good voice!!

Kevyn Tan is so hot. It’s sad that he’s a cop. :(

Hot cocoa… the drink Jackie drank in her death dream…………

I objectively know that Shauna changed her name to Sadecki, but it doesn’t feel real to me. She’s Shauna Shipman forever.

Jeff should have changed his name. <3

“You’re being awfully judgy about Mom considering this all started thanks to your lame attempt at blackmail.” FVFXCVGC. She’s such a mommy’s girl. <33

“The American family is crumbling, Callie.” WKWMSNSNWKWJSN.

Oh, God. I’m fucking terrified about Callie wandering around on the compound. If anything happens to her, I’ll be ill.

Jeff trying to take the fall for Shauna. “I did it to protect her.” God, I fucking love him.

WHAT THE FUCK KEVYN

GODDAMMIT

WALTER

I’M UPSET. THIS IS THE WRONG FUCKING COP

IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MATT

Walter: “Hiya, me again.” Jeff-Walter meet cute over a dead body. <3

“Jeffrey! Does anyone call you that?” / “Yeah, my mom. No, she… she doesn’t.” HAJDNSSJ.

I am really upset about Kevyn, though. Alex Wyndham did such a good job of imbuing him with a lot of emotional complexity for a fairly slight role.

Ben being unable to start a fire recalls Jackie in the last season finale!!

THE HEART?!?!!))2)$3&2&28182&3;$3

GIVING TRAVIS THE HEA R T

OH GOD HE HAS TO CONSUME HIS BROTHER’S FUCKING HEART??????????

THE LITTLE WOLF STATUE. GDI

FUCKING RAW

SICK SICK SICK

APPARENTLY, SIBLINGHOOD IS EATING YOUR KID BROTHER’S HEART RAW. I—

How does this boy go back to his mother and look her in the eye, knowing that he ate his brother? Goddamn

This needle drop as adult Lottie prepares for the hunt is stellar.

🎶 “God is afoot. God never died.”

NOT TAI AND VAN CANCELLING THE CRISIS TEAM. GIRLIES, ALL OF YOU ARE IN A CRISIS.

I’m utterly terrified.

The women standing around a fire preparing for another hunt… God, last night, they were dancing around a fire, reveling at the snow. And there’s so much tension now about who is playing pretend and who is actually gearing up for a slaughter.

LOTTIE BRINGING A REAL ASS KNIFE.

CALLIE’S GOT THE GUN.

Fucking Matt the fucking cop.

The women’s haunted reactions to the queen card. They all remember what actions—what horrors—they committed by its name.

“I’d like to shuffle those some more.” The tremor in Shauna’s voice. Even if she thinks it’s fake, the trauma is absolutely real.

Van’s not trying real hard to deescalate this situation, huh?

I’m gonna need parallel GIFs of Van not drawing the queen and Tai’s reaction from both timelines. 😭 So, so good. The difference between them. Relief vs. Realization

“Is this what you wanted to happen?” Tai gets it, horrified. Van has always been a true believer.

“Because you know what happens if you do.” OH, GOD, IF THE GIRLS DIDN’T DRAW, WERE THEY AUTOMATICALLY CHOSEN?!?)$2!:$$:$2&3

MY HEART IS IN MY THROAT

OH, GOD. THEY’RE GONNA KEEP GOING AROUND THE CIRCLE UNTIL SOMEONE IS CHOSEN. SICK SICK SICK

THE FLASHES TO THEIR TEEN SELVES. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

NOT MY SHAUNA. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

AND SHE WAS THE LAST SHUFFLER TOO. OH GODD

THE MASKS. OH GOD. AND IS DARK TAI HERE.

YEAH, THAT’S GOTTA BE HER

JESUS

THE WOMEN HAVE ALL REVERTED TO THEIR PRIMAL SELVESS AAAAAA

“YOU CAN SUBMIT OR YOU CAN RUN.”

OH GOD. WAS THERE SOMEONE WHO JUST FUCKING SUBMITTED?????

“So you’ve all actually lost your minds.” THEY HAVE. JESUS.

“You know there’s no ‘it,’ right? It was just us!” / “Is there a difference?” WEEPING. VOMITING. GNASHING MY TEETH. NO, THERE’S NO DIFFERENCE.

“Oh, fuck off.” BABY GIRL, I LOVE YOU.

GOD, how is Shauna the most sane of them all right now?!

Lol, the close-up of the Adam case is so… clunky AKDKWJDNS. Lmfao.

And God, I really hate that the Adam/Jessica murders are going to be pinned on Kevyn. He was a decent dude. He was a good dad. He was soft on the Yellowjackets. He deeply cared for Nat. And now he’s collateral damage in the trauma spiral the survivors are on.

CALLIE SAVING SHAUNA. HELL FUCKING YEAH.

“Callie!” The ungodly terror and disbelief in Shauna’s voice.

“She’s so powerful.” The awe and reverence in Lottie’s voice. Callie’s got the wilderness in her too.

And we’re also indirectly reminded of teen Lottie’s obsession with the wilderness baby here.

Shauna pleading with Callie to put the gun down. Oh, God. Oh, GOD. Mere episodes ago, she could barely put the gun down herself.

“But she was going to kill you.” I’m so fucking unwell about traumatized mothers and their traumatized daughters.

Shauna’s feeling of betrayal at Tai especially—both of them have severely fucked up each other’s trust lately, and that scars them deeply.

“It was Van’s idea.” YEAH, TAISSA TURNER, BUT YOU WENT ALONG WITH IT!!!!!!!! ANWKDKWKDJ

“She’s like this because of us.” HHHHHHFHGFDG. THEY MADE THAT TEENAGE GIRL THEIR SAINT.

The girls hugging Lottie. 😭 Mari being so happy that she’s okay.

Van being the storyteller, oh, God. And she’s clearly recounted the plots of old movies to them before. That’s so precious.

Lottie: “I never wanted to be in charge. It chose me, I think… because I was the only one who knew how to listen.” Heartbreaking. I love the emphasis on hearing/listening here. It’s the sensory element that the wilderness seems to be most associated with along with sight (or the lack of it). “We hear the wilderness, and it hears us.”

NATALIE LEADER. NAT ANTLER QUEEN?!

Misty and Van on either side of adult Lottie, bandaging her wound, holding her—her most devoted followers.

“You were always its favorite.” And Nat just coming undone.

AUGHHHHHHH!! LISA?!??!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO BACK INSIDE. THE WOMEN ARE BEING INSANE

“We tried to kill you. And it wouldn’t let us.” God, what a line. The fact that Lottie implicates herself in it, even though she literally had nothing to do with the actual hunt. She’s accepting responsibility and blame for it anyway. She’s taken Misty’s words to heart.

LOTTIENAT HAND KISS. GAYS WE’RE WINNING

Akilah’s little curtsey was so cute.

MISTY MAKING NAT LAUGH. OH GOD GAYS WE’RE WINNING.

here’s how mistylottienat can win

VAN NUZZLING HER FACE AGAINST NAT’S HAND. HERE’S HOW MISTYLOTTIENATVANTAISHAUNA CAN—

Oh, God. Travis placing her hand against his heart. I’m so fucking sick.

That tortured Shaunanat head bow!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK yeah

Sophie Thatcher’s smile. My fucking God

MISTY ON GOD

MISTY ON GOD

WHAT THE FUC K

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

FUCK OFF SHOW NO

OH GOD NAT

NOT HER

NOT NATALIE’S DEATH REALM BEING A GODDAMN PLANE

MISTY’S UTTER GODDAMN HORROR

THEY’RE ALL SO DEVASTATED

WHAT THE FUCK SHOW

GODDAMMIT YELLOWJACKETS

JAVI JAVI JAVI

OH GOD, THE BOY SHE CONDEMNED AND HE’S COMFORTING HER

“I’m not supposed to be here.” SOBBING. SHE JUST FOUND HER GODDAMN WILL TO LIVE. SHE WAS GONNA GET SOBER. WHAT THE FUCK

SHE DIDN’T WANT TO DIE

“THIS IS EXACTLY WHERE WE BELONG.” OH GOD. A REVERSAL OF WHAT SHE TOLD BEN EARLIER IN THE EPISODE

“WE’VE BEEN HERE FOR YEARS.”

NAT SOBBING. I CAN’T FUCKING TAKE THIS.

TEEN LOTTIE????????????????????? PLACING A HAND ON HER HEART

“It’s not evil. Just hungry. Like us.” AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Misty fucking sobbing is ending me. Christina Ricci.

“I’m so sorry. Oh, God.” I’m not well.

NO. NOT THEM CHALKING UP HER DEATH AS A GODDAMN OVERDOSE. THAT IS SO CRUEL.

FUCK.

I’M SO FUCKED UP

GOD LOTTIE IS JUST.

SHE TRIED SO HARD TO SAVE NAT

“Walter, I killed my best friend.” I can’t fucking do this. Oh, God. Misty tried so goddamn hard to keep her alive too.

“It’s going to be okay.” / “Natalie’s dead.” No, it won’t be okay. That was their teammate, their leader, their goddamn friend. They loved her. They hunted her. They loved her. They killed her.

Vantai promising to visit Lottie. That’s kind of the girlflops, but God, Van’s plan to keep Lottie out of an institution failed anyway. And now Nat is dead.

“We have it what it wanted. It is pleased with us.” And she looks at Van: “You’ll see.” Jesus fucking Christ.

THE CLOSE UP ON CALLIE. THE LITTLE GRIN FLIRTING AT HER MOUTH THAT SHAUNA FUCKING SEES. AND IT’S DEVASTATING TO HER. She now knows that her daughter has it in her too.

Shauna rage-jealousy journaling AMSMSNMSD. She’s so petty. <3

BEN SET THE GODDAMN FUCKING CABIN ON FIRE?!!???$))))2&2@1@&2&2!3!3$3

SO UPSETTING

GOD, JUST. He condemned them because he thinks that they’re monsters, but what the hell has he become himself?

THIS SHOW

[rappaccini]

ok at this point i think the only way queen nat works is if this isn't the case of natalie being The One True Queen All Along, but of the whole concept of the yellowjacket queen being that the role isn't one person's for the entire duration of the stranding, and it changes hands.

if i had to guess, there will be four (technically five) total. one for summer, one for winter, one for spring, one for fall. one for diamonds, one for spades, one for hearts, one for clubs. one for each season of tv.

so.... let's think this out: every season, a different queen takes power, and we see her affect on the group, how her power wanes, the rise of her successor, and how she is replaced.

s1: jackie is queen, and inherited her position from high school hierarchy. she attempts to maintain it in the wilderness. she loses the group through her uselessness and unwillingness to adapt to the wilderness. her replacement, lottie, emerges as she embraces her delusions and finds confidence in them, and after humiliating jackie, taking her followers and attempting to hunt and sacrifice travis, she crowns herself. then jackie dies (sic transit gloria mundi = a phrase used in papal coronations. thus passes the reign of jackie, and the power of queenship into the hands of lottie).

s2: lottie is queen, having taken the position via doomcoming coup (but for some reason has regressed back into uncertain woeful reluctant prophet and is nothing but passive all season, i hate her characterization retcon in s2 so much), remakes the group into a cult. she loses faith in her abilities and doesn't lose control of the group so much as she throws it at natalie, who she crowns as her successor after having survived an intentional sacrificial hunt and cites her reasoning as the wilderness having Chosen Nat From The Start (which is clearly not the case).

now into the speculation:

(cut for length)

s3: natalie is queen. she'll be queen from the end of the first winter into spring/summer/fall, assuming s4 is the second winter. if it isn't, nat loses power faster.

presumably she moved the group to the plane, and they held down the fort without a need to resort to cannibalism again in the first winter, bc it's a tv show and they need to save that shit for when the plot picks up.

what will her affect on the group be? presumably much more reasonable. she's the skeptic, the hunter, the level head. and the in-universe reason for there being no cannibalism after javi would probably be 'nat got shit done.' she steered the group towards pragmatism and rationality, and likely passed on hunting, tracking and survival skills.

also travis is probably her right hand. if she's getting pulled to the center of the group, he's coming with her. he's her one consistent ally, the only person she confides in, and the only one who protected her when the chips were down.

the group will be experiencing warmer weather/the return of game and foraging options (given that they're low on bullets, do they dig the pit to catch game originally?), so there should be no practical need for cannibalism, nor should natalie want to do it given her personality-- she's reluctant to engage in lottie's rituals, and was hunted herself. i doubt she'd ever want to do that when other options abound and it's possible to hike out of the mountains.

but the pit must be dug in s3. and unless s4/the second winter is one hell of a bloodbath, a lot of girls need to die and the ritual must refine. therefore, non-survival cannibalism rituals must ensue.

so: how does natalie's power wane?

because the girls want to keep cannibalizing even though it isn't necessary, and she doesn't.

best case scenario: most of the girls (lottie, van, tai, shauna, misty, mari, gen, melissa) decide to partake in ritual sacrifice without her consent. i could see this happening if lottie gets another 'vision', they decide to punish someone for breaking a rule (that card pull's gotta get rigged at some point), and/or on the one-year anniversary of their plane crashing in the mountains, the girls decide to throw a second doomcoming with the climax of the night being a new ritual hunt. [note that the first doomcoming was the first attempt at a sacrificial hunt; it just didn't succeed]

+consider that misty is at the center of each queen's loss of power. in s1, she causes the doomcoming shroomfest. in s2, she takes on a role as lottie's spokesperson. something tells me she'll jump ship for the next queen if nat proves too difficult to manipulate/she sees an opening.

+another potential contributing factor: the cultists have settled into the idea that they're meant to live here forever. natalie disagrees, and now that it's possible to hike out, she wants to focus their energies on a search for civilization.

+contributing factor 3: nat's a loner, and she's the girl with the gun. she needs to be off in the woods with travis hunting game. that means 1) there's a lot of time where she isn't around to make sure the girls aren't going off the rails again... or making alliances against her, 2) which they would: natalie isn’t beloved by any of the girls, and has always been an outsider. her strongest supporters are travis and now lottie. everyone else only kissed the ring because lottie said to. what’s to stop the girls from turning on her if both she AND her main ally/enforcer/confidante are away all the time? 3) and especially if she runs out of bullets this season and therefore loses one of her biggest claims to power?

+contributing factor 4: depends on how nat feels about ben. does she know he set the fire? how do the girls feel about him abandoning them? possibly, nat's fondness for ben makes her reluctant to go after him. or is she so angry at him that she seeks revenge? (+hopefully nat encounters ben at some point, and that could supply her with knowledge of where the cave is.)

point is: there's just no conceivable way natalie can stay in charge of this group for more than a temporary period. if she's The Antler Queen who guides them through to the rescue, and not just a queen, the writers lost the damn plot. that just does not feel right.

so: how is natalie replaced as queen?

obviously she isn't killed and doesn't die.

if lottie sours on nat or receives a 'sign' (delusion) that someone else may be worthy (... or if someone plants one with the intention of lottie interpreting it as such), the cult will follow her decree. nat's only queen because lottie crowned her and declared her to be Chosen. lottie's the pope, and the pope anoints the queen. she could just as easily unanoint her, and if she does, most of the girls will follow whoever she picks as the new queen, especially because they have no strong friendships with nat.

the most likely replacements: tai or shauna. both drank the kool aid, both led the previous sacrificial hunt, both are seniors who are well-liked and respected by the group, both want status and recognition, both are main characters. both are cool and unenthusiastic about swearing loyalty to natalie, and shauna even writes about her jealousy in her journal that night.

my preference is taissa. she (and van) started the sacrificial hunt ritual and led the hunting party after natalie. she has the strong support of van to back her up. she’s ambitious and always looking for ways to lead the group. she's ruthless enough to break a girl’s leg because she thinks she's not good enough to help her accomplish a goal. she has issues with nat already, and they stem to before the crash (see: the pilot; allie's leg. slutshaming nat and mocking her substance issues). she has fewer reservations about disobeying the leader when she disagrees with her.

... and taissa's fugue state is feral, deeply connected to lottie's new faith, and so pro-cannibal she woke everyone up for the midnight snackie (and in the present, van seems more attracted to her. wonder how far back that goes). if that side of her takes over, a lot of bad shit could go down. (plus, third seasons, according to conventional tv structure, should be for exploring major revelations to questions posed earlier. the supernatural possibilities need to be explored in s3, and tai's at the center of them)

so: when the group gets fed up with natalie's leadership for a variety of reasons-- chief among them her reluctance to resume the hunts-- they overthrow her in favor of taissa.

preferably violently, because it's another devolution into feralness.

but if i had to guess, tai will want the group to put it to a vote. another democratic election in which she seizes power ... perhaps with some blood ritual maneuvering on her or her fugue self's part to ensure her victory. (aka tai's present-day election is both foreshadowing and an attempt for her to recapture that past glory)

preferably this will take the form of another misty-instigated sacrifice accompanying the exchange of power, since we’ve done that twice already (s1: misty dosing the group leads to an attempted sacrifice of travis, accidental death of jackie afterwards; s2: misty twisting lottie’s words and insisting the girls give chase leads to the attempted sacrifice of nat, hands-off-but-complicit death of javi during the attempt; s3: misty will be involved in the third sacrifice, which should probably be successful by now, or the replacement death should be a hands-on murder).

preferably before the end of s3, because (out of universe: i'd rather the writers err on the side of caution re the 5 season plan, and make s4 tight than try to stretch it to 5 bc we’ve seen them try to stretch plotlines and man was the adult s2 timeline a mess. in-universe:) nat doesn't actually have a strong chance of keeping them in line for long, and if the two-warring-factions plan is still happening, we need the two factions to develop before the second winter.

the first faction is queen taissa, main enforcer van, and the pro-cannibal yellowjackets.

and said second faction is nat going into exile with a few followers (travis is a given-- his love for nat is stronger than his faith in The Wilderness God or his fear of the group retaliating, and we know he and natalie remain together through the end; akilah is the best candidate among the named girls so far assuming she lives that long, and it seems like a given that some of the girls won’t like learning the sacrifices won’t stop even after they have other sources of food). if she isn't consenting to the crazy as queen, no way would she do it as a follower, especially when she'd likely be the next target of the group's violence, as The Queen Who Failed Us.

plus, adult nat's "travis never believed that shit" conviction still doesn't make sense... but it does if he and nat both disown the cult when the ritual cannibalism continues.

and we've already seen someone abdicate and hang around (lottie). to keep it fresh, ex-queen nat should take her hive and go underground to ben's lair... but now that winter's coming, it's too late to leave, they have no ammo for the gun, and they have to hunker down.

s4: taissa (and/or her shadow self) is queen, and was anointed after she overthrew natalie and exiled her. it's the second winter.

how does queen taissa/dark tai affect the group? probably for the worse. the feralness is at its peak. the cannibal hunt is in full swing and has been refined to pit girl tier effectiveness. if the two factions are happening, tai's group is at war with them and probably switching from endocannibalism to exocannibalism. no more card pulls, let's just torment and consume our enemies. no goals of making it to rescue, there will be no rescue, we will never leave the wilderness, we’re here forever now.

how does queen tai lose power? her conflict with her split personality is too much to bear; she becomes unreliable and indisposed as a result. potentially a breakdown of her relationship with van robbing her of her greatest source of support. and with nat out there leading an alternative faction that is less brutal, girls may begin deserting for it.

how is queen tai replaced?

... depends.

regardless, the new queen should be shauna. she desperately wants lottie to crown her (shottie best ship), but with shauna being the stealth protagonist of the series, it feels more meaningful if she becomes queen last.

so, replacement possibilities.

1) if they condense the 5-season plan into 4, shauna is crowned halfway through.

2) if they make the full five, tai makes it to the end of s4 and shauna rules starting with s5

2.5) (further variation: s4 potentially being the second summer/autumn, and s5 is second winter.)

for both 1 and 2, regardless, shauna is queen of the second winter, and gained this position after taissa became too indisposed to lead (likely anointed by lottie). maybe she takes over for tai and negotiates a peace/truce with nat's faction. maybe her becoming queen is one of the stipulations-- that way neither tai nor nat 'loses.' regardless, she presides over the girls at their most feral right before they're rescued, and has just enough wherewithal to be able to agree with them to leave the woods when rescue comes and convince them to keep everything secret.

OR:

3) shauna never gets the chance to rule in the past timeline. but she will in the present timeline.

ergo, tai is queen when rescue comes. she loses power because civilization overthrows her and her rule is replaced by society's.

[flem17ng]

Titles that I'd give to the yellowjackets🌈:

tai: the night crawler

van: the acolyte

Nat: the hunter

Lottie: the prophet

misty: the medic

Shaun: the meat mangler

Laura Lee: the priest

Jackie: the last of the sane

And me: the fa-

i love all of these but i kinda love shauna being “the butcher” because that sounds bad ass.

and let’s be real- they could all be called “The F@g” ✋😌

(they are all so gay it makes me sic-)