#it's a much better story with the whole context. a lot more complexity especially with lakshmi

[thefirstknife]

I want to talk about Lakshmi-2 again since her story came back as relevant, as well as touch on Savathun since she's coming back. So this is going to be a retrospective on their involvement in Season of the Splicer!

A lot of people weren't around for Season of the Splicer or maybe don't remember it as well. That season was a lot and one of the most important parts of it was that at the time we still didn't know about Savathun impersonating Osiris. SOME of us who dedicated a lot of time to figuring it out have speculated it and were pretty much 100% convinced that Osiris in Splicer was NOT Osiris, but this wasn't confirmed until after Splicer ended.

I think that the misunderstanding of this event has also led to misunderstanding Lakshmi and what she did in Splicer. The entire season's story takes on a completely different vibe if you know that Lakshmi was heavily manipulated by Savathun whose presence in the City had a major goal of destabilising leadership and drawing attention away from her own schemes.

This isn't a post to justify anything that Lakshmi did; her actions in Splicer were unambiguously bigoted towards the Eliksni. She used her xenophobia for personal political gains while putting a vulnerable population in danger with her words and actions. Lakshmi's xenophobic preaching resulted in direct violence against the Eliksni. There is no excuse for that, no matter what's the origin of that xenophobia. I want to make that clear before I dive into this.

What happened in Splicer?

Season of the Splicer was the third season in Y4 (Beyond Light). It focused on a mysterious phenomenon known as "the endless night" which wrapped the Last City in perpetual darkness. This was done by the Vex. Nobody knew how to deal with this, including every single Guardian and scholar in the Tower so out of desperation, we turned to the Eliksni for help; sacred Eliksni Splicers had means to enter the Vex Network and find a root cause as well as a possible solution to the problem. This is how Mithrax and his House of Light were invited to the City, in an unprecedent move for an alliance with the Eliksni. Splicers and Guardians together have the unique power to manifest physically in the Vex Network and deal with the cause for the endless night. Long post under:

Accepting the Eliksni into the City was tough. Most humans have experienced some form of violence at the hands of the Eliksni. Our past is filled with wars and battles against the Eliksni. The first big battle for the City, Battle of Six Fronts was against the Eliksni who wanted to breach the newly built wall and attack humanity. Battle of Twilight Gap was a final fight against united Eliksni houses that got close to conquering the City, only to be held off at the Twilight Gap as the last line of defence. This battle was saved, in part, because Mara decided to reveal the Awoken and stop House of Wolves from joining Twilight Gap which essentially prevented Eliksni victory, but spurned the Reef Wars which devastated the Reef; both the Eliksni and the Awoken. This is but a small selection of the biggest conflicts that show for how long this has been going on and how many people were affected by the wars with the Eliksni.

This is all after the Eliksni arrived to the system just as our Collapse finished and they wasted no time settling in a world just beginning to recover from the Collapse. Early human settlements were routinely entirely destroyed by the Eliksni who were stronger and better equipped than humans; until the Risen showed up. But even with the Risen, ordinary humans still continued to suffer to both the Eliksni and the Risen and their combined conflicts. Stories about Amanda and Safiyah are but a fraction of stories of ordinary humans who had to deal with Eliksni attacks. This also includes civilian Eliksni; many Eliksni were literally just survivors of their own apocalypse and had nowhere else to go, while dealing with unfathomable desperation about being abandoned by what they saw as their deity. Both humans and Eliksni were exploited by their leaders and pushed to constant wars.

This is important to understand because it gives some context to why some citizens of the Last City were somewhat reluctant to accept the Eliksni being there, on top of the growing paranoia about a City plunged in an endless night at the hands of the Vex. Humans didn't just wake up one day thinking "Eliksni are stinky!" there were legitimate reasons for being afraid. Mithrax's daughter Eido confirms this in her logs, telling us that the Eliksni are well aware that they were the initial aggressors on humanity. The same can be applied to Eliksni as well; many Eliksni have lived with the knowledge that at any point in time superpowered immortal humans can descend from the sky and start indiscriminately killing them. They have horror stories about this, most notably about Saint-14 who led a long crusade against the Eliksni, including against civilians who wanted nothing to do with the wars. Putting Saint-14 and Mithrax in the same City during a Vex-induced anxiety was a ticking time bomb.

Luckily, Saint-14 is a kind man who is capable of reflecting and being compassionate. Once Mithrax explained how the Eliksni view him, he got deeply ashamed of his actions and sought to atone for his past. It took a while, but the Eliksni accepted him and he became great friends with Mithrax and was willing to lay down his life for Eliksni who, at the end, he claimed are his people equally as anyone else in the City. At the end of the day, the leadership of humanity and the Eliksni decided to put everything behind and start anew, which was the right thing to do. Everybody suffered in the past, but nobody has to continue suffering in the future. Giving everyone a second chance is literally the core theme of Destiny.

The Lakshmi-2 Problem

On the other hand, there was Lakshmi-2. She was the leader of the Future War Cult, one of the City factions. Factions in the city were representatives of the civilians; Future War Cult, New Monarchy and Dead Orbit were the three that operated for the interest of the civilians. Lakshmi was immediately deeply against the Eliksni settling in the City. She proceeded to be a staunch advocate for their removal, broadcast weekly radio messages with anti-Eliksni sentiments and stoked the anxiety and paranoia of the citizens, directing it towards the Eliksni. At one point, the animosity towards the Eliksni turned to violence as well, and the Botza District, where the Eliksni were settled, was attacked and their settlement ransacked. Many Eliksni were harassed in the streets and some were attacked. Lakshmi's broadcasts were a huge part of this violence, which ended with her broadcasting about taking matters into her own hands which resulted in opening a Vex portal to the City (specifically to Botza District to attack the Eliksni).

The fandom immediately hated her for that and with good reason. A lot of people were confused because they didn't think it was right to portray her as a warmongering politician which was always strange to me. She was the leader of the Future War Cult. Her messaging was always that of political warmongering. It's in the name. Splicer just amplified this because the situation was happening in front of our eyes and for other reasons influencing Lakshmi.

Lakshmi was shown actively using the Device, a prediction machine owned by the Future War Cult since the Golden Age which was made back then by Maya Sundaresh who founded the FWC and invested into this Device which is a mesh of Vex technology. Maya called it a "mind-ship" and shown that it was capable of displacing one's consciousness, allowing you to see the future, past, other timelines, or possibly something else. The contemporary FWC found remains of the Device and continued to use it for the same purpose. Using the Device proved to be largely damaging or even lethal to those put in it. A lot of the "futures" that users saw would be that of utter Darkness, war and collapse so they decided to spread the message that "war is all there is" and that there will always be some fight happening in the future and that we must always be ready for it. Lakshmi used this to prove that this whole thing with the Eliksni is that fight; the inevitable yet another clash between human and Eliksni that endangers us all.

It's important to note that using the Device is not safe and it's not reliable. It often shows stuff that is hard to interpret or even completely false and based on what the users wants to see. This shows with Lakshmi with a lot of the visions she was seeing. Even her own fellow FWC members were distraught at her behaviour at the time with some deciding to resign, believing that she was becoming corrupted and going mad. This is relevant because it shows that her close colleagues noticed that she was acting strangely.

And she was. Because of Savathun.

Savathun.

At the time, Savathun was in the city, masquerading as Osiris. Before Splicer, she tried turning us to war with Caiatl, which failed. After that failed, she turned to the ace in her sleeve; Quria, the Taken Vex Mind she was gifted by her brother Oryx back in the Books of Sorrow days. Savathun instructed Quria to manipulate the Vex into creating the Endless Night in order to create a problem for the City that will destabilise its leadership, and cause panic and infighting. Savathun was the one who, as Osiris, suggested that Mithrax and House of Light be invited into the City, knowing full well that it will cause issues. She wanted those issues. She wanted a panicking anxious population on the brink of slaughtering each other, gossiping, spreading lies and misinformation. She needed it to keep her worm fed and she needed it to keep eyes off herself, while she schemed to figure out how to get the Light. She needed time to investigate archives and find materials and learn as much as possible so a little background chaos was perfect for that; nobody will pay attention to an old man who recently lost his Ghost when there's bigger problems at the horizon.

This was possible to piece together during Splicer, but Savathun helpfully admitted to it all in the season after, in Lost. Of course, she framed it to appear that she was being helpful, but we as players have more information so we can piece together everything she's done. Savathun infected both Lakshmi and the City with her viral song. Lakshmi's last broadcast detailed that "Osiris" aided her in opening the portal. Savathun spoke to Lakshmi on multiple occasions. We also have proof of this from the other side, from the perspective of Osiris who could see into Savathun's actions while he was being held prisoner. This lore was the POV from Osiris, from Lost (after Splicer) and it shows Osiris seeing through Savathun's eyes as she was actively influencing Lakshmi. Osiris didn't even know who Lakshmi was; she gained prominence after he'd already been exiled. But he saw an "Exo woman" with "vacant eyes" and Savathun's "true voice" humming to her.

Savathun, besides creating both of the main problems (Endless Night and Eliksni in the City), also worked tirelessly to fuel violence in the City by corrupting Lakshmi-2. Savathun whispered in her ear, running suggestions by her, enticing her day by day and ultimately being the one who made her open the Vex portal in the middle of the City. Lakshmi, on top of being already driven mad by the Device, was also being driven mad by Savathun who desperately wanted the City's leadership to fight. It got to the point of suggesting a coup against the Vanguard. Lakshmi-2 and Executor Hideo (New Monarchy) got as far as to try recruiting Saint-14 to help them with the coup; when he refused, Hideo feared that he will tell Osiris everything and snitch on them, but Lakshmi was convinced that Osiris will stop Saint from saying anything. Why? Because it wasn't Osiris. The "Osiris" that Lakshmi knew was actually Savathun who would indeed try to stop Saint from outing their coup plans.

I want to stress again that Lakshmi wasn't innocent in this whole debacle. She had her own bigoted beliefs, coming from trauma; at the end we learned that Lakshmi-2 survived the sack of London by House of Devils back in the Dark Age. She has personally experienced a traumatic event of Eliksni attacking and murdering humans and destroying their settlement. The problem with Lakshmi is that she didn't even attempt to deal with that trauma or solve it. Saint was also traumatised, as were many other Guardians and people in the City and they all decided to put it aside and work towards getting better. Lakshmi held onto her trauma and never got over it. She confronted the Eliksni (Namrask) who participated in the sack of London and told him to his face that to her, he will never change from a conqueror he was, despite his very honest attempt to do so. Namrask, much like Saint-14 decided to put his warring past behind and to change and be a different person. And as much as Saint, he has the right to do so. Lakshmi denied it from him and instead still held onto her original belief that Eliksni cannot change and cannot be good.

Unfortunately, Lakshmi also never got a chance to change, given that the moment this all started, she was roped in with Savathun who wanted a City leader to sow chaos. Maybe without Savathun and the Device, Lakshmi would've turned out better. Maybe she would've thought about it more, learned to forgive, learned to accept the Eliksni (much like Saint), but she never got the chance before Savathun corrupted her. I feel like people forget that, or maybe even don't know about it. It's much easier to just hate Lakshmi and call her racist and talk about how violently she should die. The nuance and tragedy of her story is often pushed aside or not mentioned at all.

This is even more tragic now. Lakshmi was violated, deeply, in a way that is truly impossible to comprehend. She died, erased, in proximity to an alien entity. In her body, a new identity was installed, a combination of Maya and other Exos that participated in the "chorus" with her as the "conductor." She did not consent to this and as we've seen from her research into Spontaneous Exo Reset Syndrome, she was at least somewhat aware that something horribly wrong had happened to her. She was directed by impulses that were not entirely her own. Her interest in the Future War Cult and the Device are both suspect now, given that those things were Maya's obsessions and Maya used Lakshmi as a proxy; a twisted way to create a "child" by imprinting a part of yourself into them.

And as if that wasn't enough, she was grabbed by Savathun, a master in manipulation, lies and corruption who didn't care about her or about the City or about the Eliksni. I hope people can also realise that it was Savathun who used the bigotry against the Eliksni as a tool with zero care for actual victims of this bigotry. Eliksni dying in violent attacks around the City were nothing but an accessory to Savathun; accessory to her plans to ruin us while she's looking for a way get rid of her worm with the Light. It was entirely selfish, through and through, with no regards to either humans or Eliksni. In this case, I would put more blame on Savathun than Lakshmi for any kind of bigotry towards the Eliksni; Lakshmi could've learned better had she gotten a chance, while Savathun had many chances and simply did not care.

Lakshmi was an incredibly interesting character to me since I first saw her. This is partially due to her VA (Shohreh Aghdashloo) whom I adore to death so just hearing her speak had me enchanted. But Lakshmi and the FWC were always my favourite faction and I didn't like how the community boiled them all down to just xenophobia towards Eliksni as if there was nothing else to them and as if they all agreed with what Lakshmi did in Splicer. At the same time, people ignored the same xenophobia first and foremost from Savathun who had zero reason to even remotely object to Eliksni being in the City, or even New Monarchy who also participated in Lakshmi's schemes. It was only ever Lakshmi, a woman whose trauma was manipulated against her by an entity known for toppling down entire civilisations with the use of manipulation and corruption. Savathun infiltrated many civilisations in the same way she did ours and they all ended up much worse than us: her infiltration of the Harmony led to their downfall and her corruption of Umun'Arath led to the fall of Torobatl. A lesser known example is told to us by Rhulk, of a species (Kalarahnda) he came to destroy but that destroyed itself upon seeing him because someone (Savathun) alerted them to him so they spent centuries preparing their entire civilisation for his arrival as per her instructions. When he arrived, they self-destructed their whole planet, believing they're fulfilling a great prophecy of mass sacrifice to ascend. This was Savathun's doing; instead of helping them escape Rhulk, she orchestrated their demise purely to take the satisfaction of it from Rhulk. Not to help those people, to spite Rhulk.

I'm adding this because I want to absolutely stress how much Savathun does not care for any lives other than her own. Entire civilisations crumbled into dust due to her manipulations. We've talked about this before due to some of the stuff writers said about Savathun recently and I feel like people simply forget this or want to excuse it, but are super quick to judge Lakshmi in a way they never would Savathun; the actual person who orchestrated her actions and ultimately her death.

I think they should both be judged, albeit in different ways. And I definitely think that the blame for what happened to the City during the Endless Night and specifically for what happened to the Eliksni should fall mostly on Savathun, not Lakshmi. It was Savathun who even orchestrated the endless night to begin with. Lakshmi was complicit and she had her own issues that she should've worked out in the centuries she's had to think about them. Savathun probably chose Lakshmi because she was an easier target; already with a problem against the Eliksni. A believable victim, someone that wouldn't take much to convince and corrupt. I'm also of the belief that, as Osiris, she also tried to do it to Saint-14, but he's a much more principled person than Lakshmi.

So they both suck. Both Savathun and Lakshmi were using the struggles of the Eliksni as a tool for their own gains which contributed to untold Eliksni suffering, but in the grand scheme of things, it was Savathun that forged it all from the bottom to the top. She made the Endless Night, she directed the Vanguard into going to Mithrax and the Eliksni for help, she orchestrated their settlement in the City, she spent time picking a target in the form of Lakshmi to spread propaganda and force people to be in a perpetual state of panic and misinformation for months, while she tended to her own goals of gaining the Light.

And once more, Savathun's attempt to put us at war with someone, ultimately led to another alliance. At the end of the day, compassion and friendship in the face of danger prevailed because Destiny is fundamentally a story about hope.

It's just something I wanted to recap and remind people if they aren't aware or don't remember. Because I feel like the new information will reignite the old "Lakshmi is racist" spiel with complete disregard of everything we know about her and with complete disregard of the actual culprit of the bigotry in Splicer: Savathun.

This doesn't mean that you can't dislike Lakshmi for what she's done. You absolutely can! We can't claim that all her actions were because of Savathun; as a matter of fact, she was chosen by Savathun because of how maleable she was. It's not easy to just turn someone into a bigot. The new information definitely adds to the tragedy of Lakshmi's life and to how much she was manipulated by those around her, but it doesn't remove her own fault for what happened.

This also doesn't mean that you have to hate Savathun. Just be aware of some of the more heinous stuff she's done and don't ignore it or view it as not important. Savathun's actions should be condemned as much as Lakshmi's, if not more so, but I'm not here to compare who's a worse bigot. They've both done horrible things to humans and Eliksni in a situation where we needed to stay united. And in the same way we can discuss the complexity and tragedy of Lakshmi, we have to acknowledge it for Savathun as well. She was a victim of manipulation as well, someone who took millions of years to realise that those she swore her life to are liars. She will eventually have to reckon with that.

Luckily, the outcome was ultimately in our favour, although not without consequences. Many Eliksni were attacked and died. Lakshmi died and the rest of the factions were exiled. We now can't simply ask Lakshmi about the new revelations, we can't get more information from her or the FWC, something that might be able to help us understanding and defeating the Witness. There's still a chance to find out in some way, but it would've been so much easier if we could simply ask someone who is in the City.

Splicer was a really good season, I highly recommend going through the story of it if you haven't played. DLV has everything in the playlist I linked and the official channel has just the cutscenes. Being there was truly a whole special experience because of the stuff with Savathun and Osiris. I cannot stress enough that the majority of the players did NOT believe that Osiris isn't Osiris. The theory was out there but it was largely not listened to. Some even used lore tabs that explicitly confirmed the theory from Splicer to claim it debunks it. It was a wild time. The wildest of all was the ending where people were genuinely saying that the ending to Splicer changed their mind to NOT believing it was Savathun. It was one of the most mind-boggling time in Destiny for me and I think that the misunderstanding of that whole plot made a lot of people either forget or not properly understand Savathun's involvement with the events of Splicer. If one played through the whole thing believing that was actually Osiris, Savathun's actions may have eluded them, especially if they didn't engage with a retrospective of the season. I believe that understanding how Savathun manipulated Lakshmi is important for understanding Lakshmi as a character, especially now with these new reveals (and possibly directly because of the new reveals; perhaps Savathun also targeted Lakshmi because of her origin). But at the end of the day, Lakshmi is still someone who couldn't let go of her xenophobia which made her the best target for Savathun to manipulate. That one is on her, regardless of all of her origins and trauma.

[yinyuedijun]

end notes for 'translation' (spoiler warning!):

hello <3 if you're here then it means you read my cursed aventurine fic about cultural loss and the fear of being understood. thank you for sticking it out with me! much appreciated.

i wanted to add some notes here to explain my intention with some of the details in this story, because it touched on some very sensitive subjects and I don't want to be misread:

I do not believe that dialects or any type of language variant born from displacement, genocide, or diasporic communities are somehow lesser than the “original” dialects. However, I do think first/second gen speakers that lose their language (especially for political reasons or displacement, etc) can experience a lot of anguish over it, and that’s reflected in Aventurine’s narration.

Aventurine did not believe the racist Avgin stereotype he brought up (nor would I write a narrative where such a stereotype were true). However, the stereotype happens to overlap with some of his survival traits that he hates about himself, hence he used it as part of his power play. The interaction also has some relation to the way that marginalised persons sometimes weaponize or internalise the stereotypes they need to endure, as well as what it means to be the only representative of your race, but that's a whole other subjectivity in this narrative that I will choose not to discuss.

I think this will be obvious to multilinguals so this is a note directed at monolinguals: I don't think enduring abuse in a formative language necessarily “ruins” the language and turns it into a “dialect of abuse” in the way that having a second language being violently forced upon you will. In my experience, a mother tongue is a mother tongue, and it will always hit you in a sensitive way, particularly if you are experiencing cultural loss—which the MC has, in the context of colonialism and displacement (only vaguely implied in the story but it's relevant context). Nevertheless, the MC has a much more complex, adult native-speaker relationship to their mother tongue than Aventurine does with Avgin. This is what those ending passages were getting at.

Finally, I am aware the relationship between the MC and Aventurine is unhealthy, and I hope that this would have been obvious from the narrative. I don't condone relationships like this and I think both characters should get some therapy instead of routinely gaslighting gatekeeping girlbossing each other (and themselves). But for better or worse, that is a narrative I will not write for this couple.

[tamelee]

What do you think of itachi? Do you think he was good or bad? As a brother? As a person, character?

I think a whole lot about Itachi, but I don’t have a strong opinion that leans either way nor do I think it can be so easily categorized. The story explains Itachi’s actions, but there’s a lot of criticism right? People feel like Kishimoto didn’t stay consistent or changed his mind on Itachi too suddenly. Personally, I don’t think ‘a change being sudden’ is really the problem, but there is lack of foreshadowing deeper-seated feelings Itachi may have had about certain situations. A little sub-text to refer back to after the revelations later on in the story would’ve been nice. (And uh, well, there’s the system issues.)

I’m referring mostly to this scene:

In storytelling, stakes are crucial as they provide all the motivation a character may have to make a decision (especially the drastic ones) and I feel like Kishimoto hasn’t done that as much as I know he could’ve with Itachi. He didn’t truly show, nor prove, how disastrous it would’ve been if Itachi decided differently. Especially since the aftermath of the complete annihilation of the Uchiha aided in a repercussion (Obito’s plan for example) which may be more consequential than “a possible civil war”. There shouldn’t be any room for “it may not’ve been necessary” in this scenario. But in some of these cases the stakes of Itachi's actions are muddied by alternative possibilities (a tricky thing, writing) and so… it weakens the narrative impact Kishimoto tried to create imo. Both regarding the system, as well as Itachi’s intentions towards Sasuke and the way he went about it. Also, because Sasuke demonstrates throughout the story how perfectly capable he is to develop his abilities and pursuing goals that he prioritizes in every moment. (Hence, Naruto and Sasuke could’ve really been in each other’s shoes.) As well as the whole reincarnation thing that dilutes the stakes because some alien-guy with a staff comes in later to power-boost their asses anyway. 

(Personally I would’ve loved to see the story delve more into Itachi’s internal struggle with war, how he felt growing up and the topic of 'sacrifice' to put less focus on ‘duty’ and Shinobi being ‘tools’ or the meaning of a clan since the Hyuga weren’t treated the same so yeah what is a clan anyway then, but imo that applies to several more characters.)

Hm’ many conversations about Itachi often revolve around justifying or condemning his actions. However, I think (and I don’t say this often because I’m a strong Kishimoto-defender lol) that the valid criticism regarding Itachi could’ve been corrected with a few tweaks within the story itself. (Even a few panels tbh, just to provide the necessary context or clarity.) Despite issues, I don’t think Itachi is a poorly written character. I enjoy morally-grey characters, I just think in this case, it’s not sufficient enough for what it was trying to be… if that makes sense at all? 

Tbh, it’s a lot more satisfying to measure a character like Itachi through Sasuke’s perspective. His journey provides the necessary lens to determine whether to agree or disagree. I feel like many pro-stans project their own feelings about Itachi onto Sasuke, but whether they align or not, he has his own conclusions eventually. It's what the story shows is 'right' not what you personally think is 'right', yeah? The complexity is what makes Itachi a good character to me, but story-wise as a person I don’t agree with his actions and I think Kishimoto could've presented things better to suit the narrative he's going for. 

[midnightstargazer]

Why did Regulus join the Death Eaters?

Note: Regulus is my problematic fave, and I love him. I'm starting with the assumption that he did genuinely support the Death Eaters at first, and was not forced to join. However, I'm also assuming he was a bit more complex than the average Death Eater and had some positive qualities, based on the ways Sirius and Kreacher describe him and the circumstances of his death.

under the cut because it's pretty long

Reasons I don't think fit:

Aside from what I've already mentioned, there are a few other potential motives, seen in other Death Eaters, that I don't think fit Regulus at all:

He was willing to turn against Voldemort, so I don't think he had the sort of deep personal loyalty to him that Bellatrix and Barty Jr. had.

He doesn't come across as especially bloodthirsty or prone to cruelty; Sirius and Kreacher's descriptions both suggest quite the opposite. I'm sure he did unpleasant things as a Death Eater and probably rationalized them as being necessary, but I doubt he joined mainly for an excuse to torture and kill people.

Even beyond not being forced to join, I find it hard to believe that he would have joined out of fear, or out of a pragmatic "he's going to win and I want to be on the winning side" sort of sentiment. I mean, come on, he literally chose to die a horrible death rather than keep working for Voldemort once he had turned against him. He was many things, but not a coward.

With that being said, there are three main factors that I think led him to join the Death Eaters:

Accepting his parents' ideology without question

This is literally the first thing we're told about Regulus. When Sirius mentions him to Harry, here's what he says:

"Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically royal... my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them..." (OotP, ch. 6)

This is repeated again in Kreacher's description of him:

"Master Sirius ran away, good riddance, for he was a bad boy and broke my Mistress's heart with his lawless ways. But Master Regulus had proper pride; he knew what was due to the name of Black and the dignity of his pure blood." (DH, ch. 10)

In both cases, the two brothers are contrasted, and Regulus's conformity is mentioned in the context of Sirius's rebellion. Orion and Walburga were not Death Eaters, but their views aligned with the Death Eaters' goals, even if they didn't personally get involved in the war. So, by embracing his parents' ideology, Regulus ends up (mostly*) agreeing with the Death Eaters, and by rejecting it, Sirius ends up opposing them.

*I say mostly because, I don't know where Regulus got the idea that Voldemort was going to "bring the wizards out of hiding to rule the Muggles and the Muggle-borns" (DH, ch. 10), but that's not standard Death Eater ideology. The Statute of Secrecy is not something they actually talk about much. Regulus's long-term goals would've probably made him better suited to be a follower of Grindelwald.

An "ends justifies the means" mindset

I said before that I didn't think he was a cruel or bloodthirsty person. This comes mainly from Sirius, who describes him as an "idiot" who "got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out" (OotP, ch. 6). Of course, he doesn't know the whole story, but he does know what sort of person his brother was. They grew up together. Sirius thinks he would've been hesitant about the Death Eaters' more extreme actions, and I see no reason not to take his word for it.

There's also the potion. It's hard to imagine the average Death Eater drinking it themselves, given the option to have a house-elf do it instead. Or an Imperiused Muggle, for that matter. Regulus either didn't consider those options or decided against them.

On the other hand, he knew the Death Eaters were violent terrorists when he joined them. His collage of newspaper clippings showed what sort of things they were doing. It couldn't have come as a surprise; it must have been something he was willing to accept.

So I don't think he enjoyed the Death Eaters' methods, but what I do think, is that he was able to excuse and justify them to himself. Including the stuff he participated in. He believed in their ideology, he thought they were going to change the world for the better, and he was okay with using violence to get there.

Personal ambition/desire to prove himself

When Dumbledore talks about Tom Riddle's school friends who became the first Death Eaters, he describes some of them as "the ambitious seeking some shared glory" (HBP, ch. 17) - this is the same sort of mindset that I think made the Death Eaters so appealing to Regulus.

He was in Slytherin, and I don't think that was a mistake. As courageous and self-sacrificing as his death was, it also shows great cunning and ambition. When he realized he was no longer willing to serve Voldemort, he planned out carefully when and how he was going to defy him to cause the most damage possible. If a few things had gone differently - if Kreacher had been able to destroy the locket and it had been the only Horcrux - then his actions could have made a huge impact on the war. And clearly, he wanted to be remembered, or he wouldn't have left a note.

As a younger sibling, Regulus was likely overshadowed by Sirius during their pre-Hogwarts childhood, and when he became the favorite, it was because Sirius had become too defiant and rebellious. He would likely have felt that he had something to prove, as the spare-turned-heir and the brother of a blood traitor.

He's also compared to Percy, who - despite being a Gryffindor - is one of the most ambitious characters in the series. Specifically, the note that he put on his door is described as something Percy might have done. I think this suggests that Regulus's relationship to Sirius was a bit like Percy's to the Weasleys: not completely devoid of affection, but something he would set aside in favor of his own self-interest and ambition. (of course, Percy eventually reconciles with his siblings, which has interesting implications for AUs where Regulus survives his betrayal of Voldemort, but that's another topic)

I imagine Regulus being desperate to prove himself, to live up to his family's expectations and even achieve more than they thought possible. And I think the Death Eaters in his life (Bellatrix, Lucius, possibly his school friends) could easily have used that desire to persuade him into joining.

tl;dr

He did it voluntarily, and not out of fear or pragmatism.

It also seems unlikely that he felt a strong personal loyalty to Voldemort.

He was taught a similar ideology at home and accepted it without question, while Sirius rejected it - leading them to end up on opposite sides of the war

I don't think he was necessarily thrilled with the Death Eaters' methods, but he was aware of them before joining and was willing to accept them, most likely with an "ends justifies the means" mindset

There are hints in canon that he was ambitious, and he likely felt he had something to prove after Sirius ran away and became a blood traitor.

Just my interpretation, but hopefully it makes sense.

[anulithots]

So I found this on bird app :

"i only like ge/go when it’s doomed and they have no longterm future

same with go/ge. they’re about the same to me but i think gojo bottomed more and was a total pillow princess about it in their teens. as adults they probably switched equally. i can see gojo developing his experience more with topping as an adult

either way they’re better as exes. gojo deserves more from a partner than someone who would leave him to start a cult "

Can I ask your thoughts, please?

………… I don't ship them sexually. Because I'm not comfortable with it.

(I have aroace spectrum satosugu headcannons I'm quite fond of. So basically I ship them queer platonically and semi-romantically and flip flop between the two.)

Sorry about that!

But in terms of are they better off being okay with being apart, or if they should stay together regardless…

Complex answer. Depends on the context really.

They loved each other a lot. And I disagree with 'Gojo deserves a better partner than someone who left him to start a cult'. Like… he does but also… that's not the entirety of the situation?

If Geto loved Gojo, why didn't he try to recruit him? by @ellionwrites

How much Geto canonically loved Gojo by @ellionwrites

These two analysis's explain it very well. Also there's a fanfic called Carry me home that is just 100/10. Character analysis interwoven and it perfectly explains this part of Geto's motivations.

Geto COULD NOT go on for much longer without coming to a breaking point. His cursed teqnique requires him to go through painful experiences over and over and over again. The very coping mechanism he prided himself on ('I do this to protect non-sorcerers') has fallen to pieces and Gojo isn't there (for his own reasons). He's grappling with his entire sense of self and it's been repeating in his head for A YEAR.

And Geto did not want to confront Gojo during the whole 'kfc breakup scene'. (Again, analysis above explains it really well.)

Shoko called him there. For good reason. I don't think either Shoko or Gojo had a good idea of just how bad it was getting because Geto (a) didn't tell anyone (b) Gojo was doing 'okay' (he wasn't) and (c) Geto's strong in morals and in resolve. He'll be okay.

(Gojo especially believes this. Strong sorcerers stay safe. Especially Geto. I have… a lot of posts talking about how Gojo depends on Geto to be around him when interacting and just… existing in general.

Gojo gets so fixated on being stronger so he wouldn't make the same mistakes like with Riko. He isolates himself to do so. ~~~ Backstory ~~ explains this.

The Gojo clan isolated Gojo, told him he's the strongest, and gave him rules and responsibilities for that - along with safety and confidence. So - in Gojo's mind - the only way to get stronger is to double down on these things. More responsibility. More isolation. He'll be able to take care of things once he gets stronger. )

LONG STORY SHORT -

Geto's ideal was fixing the world - partially for Gojo as the strongest, partially for himself because he was struggling and didn't have any foothold.

And… listen… sometimes you have to take priority over your partner. I don't think the way Geto went about it was right, by any means, but… at least he did something, he had to.

At the end of the day, the system is to blame. It's the system that drove them both to this and it's the system that let it perpetuate.

But let's say they met right before JJK0-ish and decided to forget the world for a little while and escape from it all together.

It would be… strained to say the least.

Because they are canonically soulmates. A pair. Do not separate. But they have and it's been going on for ten years despite the fact that they both very much still love each other.

Gojo just couldn't leave the society that gave him meaning (other reasons too), Geto couldn't leave the thing that gave him meaning.

Does that indicate that they do not love each other/shouldn't be together because they both value their respective ideologies? No.

(We're going to ignore Geto's whole 'kill the monkeys' thing for a second and pretend like it's just an opposing idealogology for the sake of the argument <3)

The circumstances, their respective coping mechanisms, and the system, very much the system, makes it so they went their separate ways. Just because their ideals got caught up in this thing and they went for their own paths does not mean they don't love each other and wouldn't jump at the chance to have a 'perfect world' with the other in it.

(the sunset scene, Geto's death scene… need I say more?)

If the society decided that "… maybbeee we shouldn't put all this traumatic pressure on children and say that the only answer is isolation and acceptance and instead give them the help and support they need" then Geto and Gojo would've stayed together.

But it wouldn't have been JJK then, would it? Without the friendship that haunts the narrative?

Sorry if I'm rambling, what I'm trying to say is - it's complicated. The story itself drove them apart and canonically they never got back together while mourning their separation the entire time.

And Gojo never moved on, never let go. If you wanted to - and this is something I played around with in my head - and if JJK miraculously got rewritten as a slice-of-life post hidden inventory, then part of GOjo's arc could be about letting go of Geto, as painful as that may be.

But honestly? Comfort people are hard to find. Geto and Gojo were specifically created to be a pair. Gojo was so detatched from the world that Geto tethered him to it. After Geto left, Gojo went on to be a teacher and do what the Suguru he remembers would've wanted him to do, and he 'doesn't feel lonely anymore'…

Gojo loves his students dearly, but he can't ask his students to understand him. And more than anything, Gojo wants to be understood and loved for it. The only one who fit that criteria was Geto.

(Gojo's whole sentiment about 'not as a human, but as a living creature' is Gojo saying that he (a) didn't feel human without Geto there (b) didn't let himself feel human and instead made himself a tool, gave himself the role of the strongest.

Because otherwise Riko happens all over again.

ANNNDDD I'm going off on a ramble.

Last point!

Narratively, should Gojo and Geto be a tradegy, where they never get back together? (AKA, as it is in cannon)

Yes. That is a huge part of their characters, along with being a huge draw to JJK in general. There's something about the separation exemplifying how much SatoSugu loved each other that gives it nuance and the possibility for lots of fix it fics.

So I can understand why the bird poster thought that SatoSugu works a lot as a tragedy, it does. But if SatoSugu had a well-written redemption arc, that would also be extremely compelling I think.

But alas, this is JJK we're talking about.

Thank you for the ask! This was fun to ramble about at 2am.

[timeofjuly]

First off. I had to remake my tumblr because I lost the previous account and I had been away from the Undertale fandom for a while. Your fic is the first one i have read under the trope "anti-harem".

I AM LOVING IT???? IT'S SCRUMPTIOUS, I read it in one sitting and also read the others surrounding that particular one, I AM IN LOVE???? my mind is racing with hcs and excitement and so many conflicting emotions.

Because I will say!!! I am more than usual, almost always taking the girl's side, no matter the context and during that whole read I was so ready to fight 8 men FOR MY WIFE (Electrician). Idc what anyone says, THEY DON'T GET HER LIKE I DO😭 (Quinn probably agrees)

And it makes me TICK in all the right ways reading about a more true neutral/chaotic good aligned Reader, BECAUSE I LOVE COMPLEX GREY CHARACTERS. I resonated SO MUCH when the electrician said "There is no such thing as a good person, I only care about being a better one than I was before" (rough paraphrasing) BECAUSE THAT IS SO TRUE.

It makes it particularly difficult to me to relate to someone with a doormat savior complex instead of someone who has had to crawl out of hell, fight for their place and with themselves as an ultimate expression of self love. To prove to themselves that they deserve a good life and community despite their brain fighting them every step of the way.

I love journeys like that, they always leave my heart full. Like, I need to make this short or I will start yapping about how much I see in reader so many of the things I love in popular mc characterization.

I hope your pillow is always cool, that your makeup alwags turns out symmetrically satisfying, that you get a raise, I hope birds sing to you every morning and that the people you love are always the last ones to pull away in a hug.

This is so kind of you, thank you so much! I’m so glad you’re enjoying RTC, especially since it’s your first anti harem fic! Welcome back to the fandom :)

It makes me so happy that the line the electrician says about being a better person than they were yesterday resonated with you, because it really did for me too. It’s one of the things I love about undertale, too; in every encounter we have in the game, we get to choose to fight, flee, or befriend and show mercy. There are so many opportunities to make that choice, and each choice actually matters. Every good thing you do makes a difference to the outcome of the story. Even if you fuck up, you get another chance to be better.

“It makes it particularly difficult to me to relate to someone with a doormat savior complex instead of someone who has had to crawl out of hell, fight for their place and with themselves as an ultimate expression of self love. To prove to themselves that they deserve a good life and community despite their brain fighting them every step of the way.” I feel the same way and I love this description of the electrician, you’ve phrased this so well.

Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to send me this ask, it means a lot. I’ve been feeling down about rtc lately (I’ve written the next chapter but I just do not like it, so I’m going to reassess and rewrite it) and it makes a big difference to know that the story has had an impact on you.

[rukimakino-heirofheart]

ZUN's Music Collection vol. 10: Mugen Noh of Tanabatazaka ~ Taboo Japan Disentanglement.

Getting a new Hifuu CD after so long is extremely exciting, especially when the cover looks like this (Maribel's design getting ever so slightly closer to her completed Yukari appearance) and especially when one of the arranged tracks is fucking AoCF Necrofantasia. The CD was fully uploaded and translated within 24 hours of the Reitaisai release — never change, RenMerry shippers — so I immediately went to check it out.

Track 1: Dawn Breaks on Tanabatazaka (Original)

Not very much to say about this one other than that it's nice and the soft instrumentation lends it an interesting tone.

Track 2: Tinkerbell of Inequality (Original)

Surprisingly heavy percussion and bass here. Unlike the minimalist Fires of Hokkai, though, this track has a complex "mechanical"-sounding drumline that feels more like something you'd hear out of Len'en. I like this a lot.

Track 3: Does the Forbidden Door Lead to This World, or the World Beyond? (HSiFS)

A hard downgrade over the original. I get what ZUN was going for — stage-1-ifying the song makes it more of a tonal fit with the album — but making it less punchy and softening the drums in the mix makes it sound kind of generic.

Track 4: Smoking Dragon (UM)

Mostly the same as the original but with a key change and a more complicated piano harmony. Not much to write home about.

Track 5: Mugen Noh ~ Taboo Marionette (Original)

ZUN rarely writes in 3/4, so this was pretty surprising. I like this a lot; the mood is tranquil but with plenty of drive at the core, and its instrumentation gives it DiPP/PCB-era vibes while still being unmistakably modern Touhou.

Track 6: Crazy Backup Dancers (HSiFS)

Woah. I like this a lot better than the original from HSiFS, the updated arrangement does a great deal here and the new section in the second half makes the track as a whole a hell of a lot less annoying.

Track 7: Yorimashi Between Dreams and Reality ~ Necro-Fantasia (AoCF)

Opening right off the bat with an original intro (is that 12-string guitar(?) patch a new instrument???), the long-awaited AoCF cover sounds fucking awesome in the newer style! Cutting down the mix to just the ZUNpet and one or two other patches for percussion texture is a fun technique and it's cool to see it deployed so well here. My only real complaint is that it feels like it should be longer.

Track 8: The Lonely Road of Hitachi (Original)

3/4 swing melody over an unswung 3/4 beat (with occasional 4-tuplets?), neat. The heavy arpeggio delay on the piano gives the track an "asynchronized" feeling that I like a lot.

Track 9: The Lamentations Known Only by Jizo (WBaWC)

The addition of the choir layer is a good choice imo, and the tone overall is more melancholic which fits its context in this album. Feels a bit space-filler-y but it's still solid.

Track 10: The Concealed Four Seasons (HSiFS)

This sounds pretty much the same as the original. Don't get me wrong, the original was a good song (if atypical for a stage 6 boss), but it's kind of disappointing that the arrange isn't very distinctive.

Track 11: Ghosts Exist Even When It's Not Night (Original)

A slowly-building staff roll-ish track that works nicely to cap off the album. I like it.

Overall thoughts & story

Eight years since the last Hifuu CD, ZUN still has it. The worst it ever gets is "well that was disappointing" and the best it gets is fresh and exciting. The story is an interesting development while leaving plenty of room for future exploration — it explicitly connects the shared features of Okina and Yukari's abilities to Merry's use of time travel in CoSD, for one thing — and the choice to include Okina's narration stands out and has me curious what volume 11 is going to be like.

9/10 definitely worth it.

[jon-withnoh]

Hello! Hope this isn't a bother, but do you have any tips for thinking up plots? I mean for the whole story. Reading Nie Wirst made me want to try to write something longer, but I'm a bit lost since all I've ever written are short one-shots or drabbles. Again, hope this isn't bothering you, feel free to ignore it! Also, this goes without saying but I'm looking forward to the sequel if you do write it

Hi! I love this question, thank you for asking it 😊 I'm pretty sure you'd get a variation of answers depending on who you ask, so my way might not necessarily work for you. (I'm thinking of this as a fun Pick&Mix of things that work for me and might work for others.)

My strategies differ for different kinds of writing. When I'm working on a poetry collection, it sometimes takes years to accumulate enough individual poems that fit together for me to start working on the arc or through-line of that collection. This just for context, since you did ask me about prose.

Whether for fanfiction or original fiction, I've found that I can only keep up my motivation for a longer piece if I am absolutely obsessed with it. Was wird aus uns was born from the immediate aftermath of me seeing Rebecca in Vienna, reading the book and pretty much every single fic on Ao3 and just needing those two fools to be okay. That one really came out of pure obsession. Nie wirst Du was a lot more considered and since the plot is quite complex, I did plan things ahead of time.

I'm going to try and sum up some of the things that I need in order to sustain my focus for a longer piece of writing under the cut!

I need to be absolutely obsessed with the initial idea. No matter how interesting a concept or fic idea is in theory, if it doesn't have that spark of obsession I might toss it around in my head for fun, but I won't actually write it. If an idea doesn't grip me enough that I'm constantly looking forward to the next plot point I'm "working towards", then I'll get bored and abandon the piece. This is especially true for fic. For Was wird aus uns, the first plot point everything was moving towards was their first kiss. Then Christmas, and then, finally, Danny's collapse and the changes that it brought. With Nie Wirst Du, I was constantly hooked, tbh. It's a little bit like a soap opera in that it has many twists and turns, very complicated relationship dynamics and many big feelings. Some plot points I was working towards there were the tea party and the costume ball. Once I knew what the fallout from the ball was going to be, I had a much better idea of how things would continue to escalate develop.

I figured out how I need to approach plot. A friend of mine is a hardcore plotter with detailed outlines, diagrams and everything. I used to try and approach plot like that with the result that by the time I'd thought everything through, I was bored and didn't actually write the story anymore. The thing I do is apparently called pantsing. It means I know the inciting incident of the story, maybe a few major plot points and I have at least a vague idea of how I want it to end. There is an overarching structure, but it's loose enough that it keeps me interested. I can decide to add or take away smaller plot elements without having to do major rewrites.

There needs to be a drive to the story. I need a sense of movement when I'm writing. Even if a story is set entirely in one place, there needs to be some undercurrent of change or development. If the story feels static, I don't have any way of getting a character from point A to point B.

I write the things I want to see. If you find yourself looking through Ao3 thinking "I wish someone had written about xyz", then that might be a sign for you to write the fic you're looking for! For example, I needed a happy ending for Danny and Ich, so I wrote one. Then I became really interested in learning more about Rebecca as a character. Who is she outside of the stories being told about her? To find that out, I needed a story where she was alive and since I didn't want to write a prequel, the idea for Nie Wirst Du was born.

I hope this was somewhat help or at least interesting! It also really helps to have a person who's just as excited about your story idea as you are. They might ask you questions you hadn't considered and give you a whole new insight into what you're writing. Feel free to ask more questions about this if you want. This was really fun!

[justabiteofspite]

you said Henri writes and composes in private; I would LOVE to know what sorts of things inspire her pieces, and if her dark urge comes through in any of them?

Henri's discography (lol) is spilt in style and tone between the songs she'll perform in public in front of a crowd and songs that are only meant for her.

A strategist at heart, Henri is very selective as to when, where, and what she performs. She doesn't perform that often, so when she does, it's immediately a special event. The songs chooses to play for everyone aren't inspired so much as methodically built to enhance this reputation she's trying to build within the party of this cool, chill, confident leader who is worthy of their attention and praise. So they are very fun, high energy, and flirty but not particularly deep. She has been known to write up diss tracks for particularly nasty enemies that have wound up the party as a way to decompress, which is a lot of fun.

But when it comes to what she writes when she's processing her feelings, especially about the Urges, those compositions are her at her most raw. And yet, she still hides those behind the context of other stories and myths because she's so paranoid about someone finding those compositions and realizing what she's talking about. (I have Cherry Wine by Hozier on her playlist as an example. I can see her writing about the Urges like they're an abusive lover she loves and craves and claim it's actually a thought exercise from the perspective of a neglected bride of Strahd or something like that.)

A lot of her private material is disturbing but ultimately is so much better than the songs she performs. But she's more than happy to come off a bit shallow if it means none of it sees the light of day. (Also makes for a great ticking time bomb. Gods forbid someone in camp finds her private compositions, reads them, misinterprets what she's written, and gets VERY CONCERNED about her relationship with the vampire.)

Speaking of songs actually about Astarion, those can stay on the Do Not Play list forever as far as Henri is concerned. She thinks he'd see them as too sentimental and pathetic. Her lack of showcased writings about him eventually gives Astarion a complex as he's falling for her. Because while he will absolutely make fun of bards waxing poetic about his looks and will spare no insult to the class as a whole, he knows that songs and ballads are typically how bards show their affection for their lovers. So what does it mean that she hasn't?

But figuring that shit out is for another post!

[inchidentally]

I love it when you tag Lewis as king Arthur 😘

<3<3 what's wild is that I had that idea in my head before I'd even gotten into f1blr bc of my F1 obsessed family members - they've been die hard Lewis fans literally since I can remember and they still talk about him as like a young phenom and changing the culture of F1 for the better. so the 'king' part was always there (esp when he did the Wakanda Forever thing) and then in my head it developed that he's ushered in a Camelot era to the sport (or trying to) and was like oh man this is gonna be my Lewis tag.

I mostly get all my knowledge from my history nerd friend or movies and wikipedia so obv this isn't extremely literal but:

I've got Lando tagged as 'heir apparent' sometimes bc Lewis adores him so much and I think sees a lot of himself. it cracks me up when ppl try to stir up drama about them when both of them will remember how much the press and fans loved taking Lewis' unfiltered early comments out of context for drama. BUT he is absolutely not Mordred from the later stories, he'd be the extremely early version who was a brave but complicated nephew of Arthur's and also Gawain/George's cousin (that fits so perfect). I don't want to use the name for his tag tho bc most of the associations are bad. so I use heir apparent as Lando becoming more like a reincarnation of King Arthur himself when Lewis leaves the future of Camelot to him.

I also love that there's literally a Lord Percival in Charles and I especially love that he's the character who was originally said to have found the sangreal for King Arthur after enduring many trials - which drives me absolutely insane since Ferrari means he always dresses in symbolic holy/royal blood red. even il Predestinato like ?? it all fits

I know they don't interact much at all yet but Oscar was already tagged by me as 'Galahad' for his bravery, chivalry and love for being a knight above all else - and the lore was changed to have him be the one to discover the grail which I could also easily see.

I've got a real thing for possibly naming Fernando as Lancelot bc he charms the royal court and I could also see him bedding someone he shouldn't and causing absolute chaos asjgfljas (that's coming up next!!) also him being Oscar/Galahad's father makes SO much sense narrative wise. the son has so much of the father's power but without the flaws/complexities.

I've got a wild idea that Nico is Guinevere and Fernando seduced him away from Lewis and that nearly caused the downfall of Camelot. Nico took himself to a convent/Sky Sports for redemption and healing asflgjasgfsla. I even love that I can pretend Lewis tried to summon Fernando back to Camelot after the whole affair but Fernando refused.

George's role keeps escaping me bc he's beautiful enough to be Lancelot but none of the rest of the narrative works as well as it does for Fernando. Gawain seems the most likely since he is Arthur's nephew and a powerful knight who also has a close friendship with Fernando/Lancelot and is cousin to Lando/Arthur's heir (2019 rookies brotherhood).

that's all I have so far!!

[septembersghost]

Thank you for your post. I don’t have a problem with Elvis being portrayed as a flawed person because he was and I don’t agree with everything he did, but I feel like there’s no such thing as nuance in regards to him. Like are we gonna disregard the great story Dionne Warwick told about him helping her sell her most records in Las Vegas because he had a toxic relationship with Priscilla? People are multifaceted and are different towards different people but I feel like with Elvis, he’s just painted as 100% all bad by people. That’s why Baz’s movie and Austin’s performance was such a breath of fresh air. I worry about a portrayal of him that’s mostly negative or unflattering, especially when his relationship with Priscilla already gets people so heated. Today people were pissed Priscilla spoke positively of him and said he never took advantage of her. We can disagree with their ages when the relationship began all we want but if she says he never took advantage of her and does not view herself as a victim, why complain about it?

it's infuriating that online comments refuse to defer to priscilla's OWN voice and perspective and remembrances of him - the fact that people won't recognize that shaming/pitying her and saying she's delusional is so much more misogynistic than listening to and accepting her words and her view of her life! she literally said today, "he was very kind, very soft, very loving" and that he respected her and kept boundaries between them, yet instantly we're inundated with takes about how he was awful and tabloid headlines about sex because that gets them clicks. it's so disrespectful of priscilla along WITH elvis. the refusal to treat him like a whole, multifaceted person with complete lack of context extends to victimizing her against her will.

there are such a great number of stories about how good and generous and thoughtful and supportive he was to others - from fellow artists to strangers on the street - we know those beautiful aspects of him to be true. he WAS flawed and had a temper and made mistakes, i don't agree with everything he did or every choice he made either, and simultaneously also wish he'd had better care around him, but this is because we are willing to see and value him as a complex man, not as only a symbol of whatever role we want to foist upon him.

one thing i will say is i do believe baz's film and austin's portrayal is what will remain in the culture through all of this. a LOT of other flimsy or less meaningful "biopics" have faded, but that one will be remembered and vital, especially given the soul of it being that sensitivity and the power of his music. which isn't me saying this film is worthless or whatever, but it's not going to have the same impact (and isn't meant to). i keep thinking about lisa and how moved and happy she was about the film and austin's embodiment of her father - nothing diminishes that, and it remains true.

some people just want to get on their high horses of judgement and complain, but that's honestly so tiresome and boring to me. finding the humanity of someone and the light to be kept there is so much more fulfilling. the people who are nasty about it, that's their loss. we know what the heart of this is for ourselves.

[waffleweirdo]

I just cleared Chapter 8 of Path of Radiance. I think I’m finally getting out of the tutorial and into the meat of the game so time for some initial thoughts:

Gameplay wise I really like it! It’s a nice level of complexity with mostly straightforward combat, but shove and rescue add just enough that it’s interesting! I haven’t looked at skills too much, or gotten to promotion yet, but it seems interesting! It’s also at a really nice difficulty level (for context I’m playing on normal), we’re I still need to be cautious and plan out what I do, but don’t need to do the exact calculations for every single move. It feels like I am more so being strategic than trying to solve an equation which I like!

As far as story goes it’s got a really good start! No one event has really struck me, but as a whole it is just really solid and I am excited to see more! I think it’s great to be playing as the Greil Mercenaries (story wise if that makes sense? It’s a narrative role that I think fits really well). In a series which I fully expect the parents to die it handled that idea really well, and the Black Knight is an interesting character. I’m also really interested in learning about Gallia and the Laguz. Other games that I’ve played like Awakening have somewhat featured them, but this story seems to be the first time they’re getting a narrative spotlight rather than largely sidelined! All of that to say I’m really enjoying it so far and excited to learn more.

I also really like how all the cutscenes happen with the 3d models on the battle maps, the animations and visuals are really charming.

I don’t really have a lot to say about the characters as of yet. But I generally like them! I just need to get to know them better first. I will say I really like the short info chats you can have with them. Especially in addition to supports I feel like they are great ways of adding characterization! … Titania’s first info being titled unknown and then just being Ike happening to see her hurt my heart in the best way.

Those are my rambling thoughts so far! I really like it!

[crescenthoax]

Hi I’m that anon who sent you the GOT quote and I just wanna say to this beautiful bit 😭 “As for Floris and Aemond I know [my] Aemond is not everyone’s favourite but I don’t know… I feel like the lore about them I think every night before falling asleep is too deep and complex to even begin with. I adore them, even though he’s terrible and she deserves so much better, and yes, I see everyone pointing out that he’s not exactly mourning her but I think he is in his own way -and I will write about it. Just because.”

GIRLLL YOU DONT KNOW HOW MUCH /I/ LOVED THEM. They weren’t the main couple but I feel like all your side pairings are so much full of intrigue and drip with life. But yeaaahh um I loved them, I loved the whole “they prefer to look at each other than touch each other” thing and how less physical They were, I loved their opposite personalities, and I loved how they kept their relationship to themselves and away from prying eyes of not just the other characters like Annika but to the reader as well (unfortunately I’m a nosy bitch who wanted to see) They also reminded sooo much of Joanna and Tywin “Only Lady Joanna truly knows the man beneath the armor, and all his smiles belong to her and her alone.” LIKE.. ugh my heart.

I definitely overromanticized them to a problematic degree in my head 😭 I’m an optimist but I was so excited for the Christmas au bc I thought they’d get the happy ending they’d been robbed of by the Caswells in the main verse, I thought starting with them being broken up meant that their arc would be them getting back together so imagine my surprise and heartbreak when I read part 2 😭😭😭😭😭

I definitely feel more than a little silly for misinterpreting their relationship so much and hearing that they don’t actually “belong” together in that way, Idk. I don’t hate your Aemond but I do want to shake him and scream that he needs to get his act together and BECOME BETTER AND BECOME DESERVING of her because in my head, she was all he wanted. Idk. It’s stupid but I wanted them to be happy together so badly. I still really ship them even after alla dat which makes me a little bit of a 🤡 but I LOVE pain if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have made it this far into Aegon and Annika’s story.

I think so many of the readers associated the found family with all three of the couples just being siblings together so it’s easy to forget how much Aemond loves our girl Annika, if he’s disloyal to his wife which I think is sad and a little unfair but a valid reading. I’m also not ready to let go of this familial dynamic, it was definitely my favorite. I just hope for the best for all of the Targtowers and their remaining wives especially Aegon and Annika, but I know whatever you come up with, I’ll be happy with even if I’m sobbing on the floor.

Jeez that Tywin and Joanna’s comparison was truly something.

And, to be fair, I don’t think there’s such a thing as 'misinterpreting them.' I believe you can interpret their relationship however you want and also perceive the characters alone as you please. That's what's fun and magical about reading. As a writer, I would never say, 'no, actually…' when someone tells me their views on a character or a pairing—unless you're saying something absolutely out of context, like when someone said Annika enjoyed being with Jacaerys or that she didn’t love Floris. I want people to feel a genuine connection to the story and perhaps find themselves in the characters, to relate to them. I also love to see how what I’ve written is interpreted because it helps me a lot to see if people understand where I’m pointing. So, if you think they were in love (they were, I just think that if it were up to him he would’ve never taken a wife at all), then it’s okay. Aemond is a complicated dude driven by duty and greed, but yes, he loved her, and he’s in pain right now though he doesn’t let it show. Modern Aemond and Floris, however… I don't know I feel like modern Aemond would be so insufferable about women. Love him though.

On a side note, of course he loves and deeply cares about Annika too. I think I already talked about this, but he cares about her as an individual and also as an extension of his brother’s honour. That's why he’s mad and upset about the entire baby situation, perhaps even more than Aegon. I think Aegon feels guilty, and he’s sick with worry thinking about everything Aemond is pointing out. But I believe we can all agree that we are all going to miss this family so much. I even have to confess that I wrote that Christmas au because I was too depressed about the main fic and I missed Floris and the six of them and I wanted Helaena to be happy lol.

[unnaturalequilibrium]

Andor (TV Show) [5 good things out of 2022]

This fucked me over a little, but in a good way, in the way fiction should. I have been so over and done with anything Disney have done for years, especially in relation to Star Wars. And not to sound like an unwashed man!boy living in his mother's basement, but Disney has simply fucked over the franchise so badly I was pretty much willing to hand it over and surrender it to a generation that don't have issues with commercialism and MCU-standards of dialogue. I mean a wise woman knows when to move on. Then fucking Andor.

In a way I think the show suffered because it was a Star Wars, but on the other hand I love it more because it is. I mean this is at it's core a mature political spy thriller about resistance against and the many faces fascism takes on. As an abstract it had the same vibes as Black Sails or Deadwood, top notch dialogue, understated acting choices and a plot that never stopped yelling "resistance!" at the top of it's lungs all while trying to hang on to their unravelling humanity. This could have been a show people talked about along the same lines, but it's Star Wars so I think a lot of people who might have liked it if it never gave it a shot because of the context. On the other hand this absolutely rekindled my personal love for the Star Wars universe. The fairy tales I adored as a kid were given a mature continuation that I could love as whole-heartedly as I did the Return of the Jedi when I was twelve. It gave a depth to that childish love and allowed it to grow and become something more. For better and for worse.

Andor told complex and very current stories through beautifully rendered characters that occasionally skirted around Campbell's Hero Journey, but never surrendered as fully to it as the original Star Wars trilogy. Instead the characters got to represent big ideas, but never at the cost of feeling like each and every one of them didn't have a very specific and personal agenda for their resistance. And that kaleidoscope of reasons made it feel human and relatable in a way I can't really remember the last time TV or film did for me. It also cut me up worse than anything I've seen in years. I walked out of this experience with a new flame for the media of moving pictures, but with a dread and anger in me that it took weeks to shake off. I wouldn't call myself an idealist, but this shit stoked some embers in me that Disney of all people really have no right to stir.

[scalproie]

Haha. Kazuya. You understand.

one aspect about them i love

THEM TIDDIES

but fr he has his whole aesthetic on point. and I will say. him face. nice

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

HE'S A TRAGIC CHARACTER. HE'S SOOO DOOMED IN ANY WAY BC CHARACTERS LIKE HIM ARE MEANT TO BE PUT DOWN IN A SATISFYING STORY. HE HAS WINGS AT HIS STRONGEST BC THE MOST DEFINING MOMENT OF HIS LIFE WAS FALLING OFF A CLIFF. HE'S ON TOP OF THE WORLD, THE HIGHEST HE'S EVER BEEN, BUT HE'S NEVER TRULY LEFT THE BOTTOM OF THAT CLIFF. HE'S ALONE UP THERE. HE'S A CONTROL FREAK WHOM YOU NEVER KNOW IF HE IS ACTUALLY FULLY IN CONTROL (IF AT ALL) IF YOU REALLY STOP TO THINK ABOUT IT. HE'S SOOO COMPLEX BUT WE'VE NEVER BEEN ALLOWED TO DWELVE INTO THAT COMPLEXITY. HE'S A REALLY INTERESTING CHARACTER AND I DIE INSIDE WHEN THEY KEEP PUSHING HIM INTO THE "PURE EVIL" BOX WHEN EVEN WHEN HE MADE THOSE CHOICES HE STILL IS NOT!!! I FEEL LIKE AN INSANE PERSON WHEN I SAY THERE IS SMTH SO EXTREMELY COMPELLING ABOUT KAZUYA MISHIMA.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

- hes still alive in the tekken:tmp timeline since jun successfully "saved" him, and while the familial situation isnt the best it could be, its still far better than you'd expect with jun and jin

- he doesnt even consider himself fully human anymore but hes truly at his core Just A Guy. take the morning coffee. collect shoes. eat boring food. hes a very plain guy and its hilarious. what does he even do all day, the role of a ceo is to make connections and relationships and hes a shadow ceo. he is so painfully A Man In His Fifties that if you remove the tekken context he could grill a mean steak I know this in my heart, what do japanese dads even do for a bbq equivalent.

- kazumi styled his hair Like That back in the day and so he will wear that hairstyle for life

one character i love seeing them interact with

Apparently in bruce's t6 ending, hes speaking to his superior(?) about a mission well done but it's said he's reporting directly to kazuya, so even if who hes talking to is speaking in english I have to wonder if it was meant to be kaz at one point. Anyway if it is I love the casualness of this interaction.

Also jin! people say theyre tired of the mishima focus but NOT ME bc those dudes only interacted ONCE until t8 finally drops. Anyway their hostility toward each other is sooo obviously fabricated bc if the writers REALLY wanted to get into it, this father&son relationship would be so much more complex than that. Also in the first project x zone, devil kazuya is a boss fight and at one point devil and kazuya are fighting for control and for one (1) second, jin sounds concerned for his dad in the way that he wont be able to kill him while kazuya is himself. fun stuff. Their more neutral interactions as a tag team in pxz2 are a lot of fun too, especially when they team up to tear verbally into heihachi. Anyway like everything about kaz, his relationship with his son isnt explored enough.

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

Harada For The Love Of God Don't Fuck Up Kazuya's Interactions With Jun In Tekken 8.

I want to see fucking flashbacks man, how did it fucking happen. They had to have exchanged AT LEAST a couple words before getting to jin's conception and I WANNA KNOW. ITS THE MOST MYSTERIOUS AND INTERESTING RELATIONSHIP IN TEKKEN.

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

I feel like. if you stripped kazuya and jun of status and general opposite moral stances, theyre very very similar. I will wait for official t8 confirmation oh what they thought of the other but I feel they are two side of a same coin. People usually speak of jun making kazuya better but I like the other side of kazuya making jun a bit worse. In a very indulgent way I often wonder what it wouldve been like if they tried at all to make it work long term and I dont think it wouldve been that bad, especially compared to how the previous main mishima relationship ended up.

[blazehedgehog]

What would be your ranking of the best writers to have worked for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise?

I don't know if I like the idea of doing this. One, because I don't feel entirely comfortable taking on this task, given I don't feel knowledgeable enough about the issue to speak intelligently on who is better than who, because it's a complex web of who actually wrote what. Sonic games, especially in the last ten years, often have multiple writers because different people in different regions contribute to a single game.

But also because like...

As much as story matters to Sonic (and it does, I have weighed doing a whole video about it), I feel like a lot of writers for this franchise have just been, like, clumsy? And innocently clumsy, a lot of the time. Clumsy like a teenager dipping their toes in to publishing on AO3.

And on the surface there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, yes, there is, this is a professional product being sold for cash money in a franchise that is getting old enough to develop its own mid-life crisis (and we're already there).

But, man, I dunno, the more I think about the people who actually wrote these stories, the actual individual humans and not the blanket "Sega" mothership, the more I feel bad ripping into them mercilessly like some fans tend to.

Is their work bad? Yeah. Most of it's bad. Most of them are game developers where their primary talent is probably something that wasn't writing a story, but they were the ones on the team that were the least bad at it, which then got filtered through early 2000's Sega localization and equally clumsily translated in to English, and then a voice director who only spoke English as a second language gave actors a list of lines to say without any context or scene description. So now their lines are all screwed up and sound weird, the script is all screwed up and is written weird, and down and down it goes.

And that's just what I can personally think of. There are a lot of writers for TV shows (SatAM, Sonic X, Sonic Prime) I'd have to familiarize myself with more names-wise, there's stuff I haven't touched in a long time (or never touched at all, like Fleetway UK Sonic). There's so much to consider.

And I don't feel like I personally have enough of a handle on all of that to really say one way or the other outside of "I think Ian Flynn did a good job on Sonic Frontiers but it's clear the constraints of video game development did not always play nice with his strengths as a writer."

What you're asking feels like a very tall order for this kind of blog. And this is coming from me, somebody who writes more than necessary on the reg.