#it's barely a theory and more just picking up on obvious foreshadowing

[demadogs]

this is random but what did you think about the mlvn r and j references? I personally think it's a case of Not That Deep (although if it is that deep, I don't think it's good for mlvn) but I was so irritated by everyone talking about it bc even if I think it was foreshadowing the end of mlvn in some way, I was still really bugged by people dumbing down r and j to being "a satirical critique of stupid teenagers" bc that's just. not what it is.

i dont think the romeo and juliet references are a stretch. i do see the connections and i’ll go into that in a sec but the thing that holds me back is that romeo and juliet really were in love. it was everyone else that were against them being together, not each other. star crossed lovers is defined as two lovers who cannot be together, again, implying that they really are in love but some external conflict is against them being together. these analogies honestly seem more applicable to a potential gay couple in the 80s. (also i read this years and years ago and did very basic google searches to jog my memory so plz let me know if you know the story better and disagree)

but the duffers do like to subvert plots so maybe theyre going deeper into it and that “external conflict” is mike being gay. the way mike explicitly said meeting el was “not fate its not destiny its just simple dumb luck” makes me think this is possible.

the script in s3 calls mlvn “star crossed lovers” after dustin was comparing him and suzie to romeo and juliet. thats kinda interesting but its just written in the script alone, which the main audience isnt even meant to see. the direct quote is “speaking of star crossed lovers, mike and el are purposefully lagging behind the rest of the group”. it could be possible though that dustins mention of star crossed lovers was also in reference to them.

argyle calling mike romeo at the pizza place doesnt seem that out of nowhere. that was pretty in character of him cuz he knew he was interrupting a moment.

the oven having “montague” written on it is interesting though. i just did some digging and there is an oven company called montague but their name plates dont look like how it looked in the show.

it still says montague but theres much more emphasis on the “hearth bake” so if they had kept the og name plate, i think it would be harder to pick up on the fact that it says montogue, which leads me to believe that they intentionally had that montague plate costume made.

another thing i found is that theres another big pizza oven company and their name plates look just like that montague plate. very similar font, all caps, and both with a red background. again, this makes me believe that they took inspiration from other vintage pizza ovens to costume make a company name for the oven that just says “montague” alone.

honestly i didnt really believe much about this theory until i looked into the ovens but now its suspicious knowing that they must have had to go through the effort of making a costume name plate. so now that im pretty sure its intentional im gonna try to figure out what it could mean.

also disclaimer, im fully aware that im indulging in confirmation bias right now. im choosing to see how it could represent/foreshadow the death of mlvn instead of how their love could be real simply because of all the other mountains of evidence for byler. if there was barely any evidence for byler i would look at this more from a mlvn point of view but i just cannot see how they would hint at endgame mlvn through a detail this tiny while theres blaringly obvious things for byler.

anyways so im thinking about romeo and juliet. romeo dies first after seeing juliet appear to be dead. he believes that shes really dead and poisons himself. juliet wakes up, sees that hes dead and then stabs herself.

i think that death scene in romeo and juliet is paralleled to mikes monologue because we see the montague name plate on the oven when theyre putting el on the table. mikes seeing el choking and not waking up and maybe thinking shes dying the same way romeo thought juliet was dead. the next part in r&j was romeo killing himself, but in st what happens next is mike telling el he loves her. i think him saying this essentially kills their relationship because he brought up her powers again and thats not what el wanted to hear. this is her face before and after he said “youre my super hero”. she looks mad.

next juliet wakes up and sees that romeos dead and kills herself. so i think this could foreshadow that el wakes up, realizes shes still unhappy, and kills their relationship or in other words, it foreshadows her breaking up with him.

idk though honesty. im kinda just spitballing here. another interpretation could be mike is killing his true self by saying he loves her when he is actually gay. which is very sad. idk let me know what you guys think of this.

[fermented-writers-block]

PART 1 of 6 of the Owl Deity Hooty Theory

[NEXT PART]

[OWL DEITY HOOTY THEORY MASTERPOST] (in development)

(TLDR at bottom of post)

Over several long months of research and analysis since March of 2020, I have been following an utterly fascinating thread of potential misdirection and subtle details throughout The Owl House, and today, I would like to start weaving together of what I believe could become one of the biggest and most cleverly disguised twists in the entire show.

To begin, let’s take a look at the B plot of Understanding Willow:

On first glance, it’s an ultimately inconsequential sidestory with the sole purpose of justifying an excuse to keep Luz and Amity in Willow’s mind, as well as providing some well-needed room to breathe and release tension after the veryemotionally charged confrontation with Inner Willow. After half an episode of Eda and King outdoing the other in ridiculous ways to win Gus’ vote and Gus running off in frustration at the end of the episode from Hooty’s inane rambling, it’s easy to laugh off Gus’ pick and assume that nothing/of value was said when he closed the door for the interview.

However, if one pays close attention to that very scene, Hooty actually canstill be heard (if faintly) underneath Eda and King’s grumbling, interestingly talking about how “It all started with a hunt. Blood red skies. That’s right, I was created-.”

Now, while it may seem silly to focus on dialogue from Hooty of all characters, this A) tells us that there was an event in the past involving blood red skies and a hunt of some kind, B) that Hooty had been created close to said event, and C) implies that what he knows but can’t tell as a story worth a damn is EXTREMELY important to be included and be hidden in such a manner.

For comparison, the only other instance of dialogue being tucked away in the background in the entire show is in Wing It Like Witches:

During the lecture at the beginning of the episode, the history teacher openswith lore on Belos appointing a head witch to each coven over 50 years ago, immediately cluing in the audience to try and decipher the rest of the lecture as it moves to the background. Adding to this is how the musical sting when Luz shows off her movie obscures what he says even further, making it even more of a intriguing puzzle that the creators clearly intended for viewers to pick up on and attempt to solve.

In contrast, the hidden dialogue of Hooty’s interview is much shorter and not as hard to decipher as the teacher’s history lesson, but at the same time, there are few to no indicators whatsoever in that scene to clue in the audience to even check for something like that. It comes at the end of an episode where most viewers would have been paradoxically tired out and driven abuzz by the revelations of Amity and Willow’s relationship, doesn’t attempt to draw much attention to itself, and frames itself as a comedic subversion of audience expectations with neither the “greatest witch who ever lived” or the self-proclaimed king of demons being picked by Gus.

Instead, he picks someone that the show portrays constantly as an oblivious and gullible idiot after being described as a “state of the art defense system” at the very beginning of the series. Someone who, despite it being played for laughs, is scarily capable of casually subduing Lilith offscreen one episode and then beating her and an entire squad of Emperor’s Coven members without even the slightest change in personality or temperament.

Someone who, due to being the Owl House itself, could be considered the titular character of the entire show, yet is taken for granted by those who inhabit him and barely gets any respect from even the cutely patronized King - including when Hooty could be interpreted as having potentially been full on DEAD for a time given the use of extremely cartoony X eyes and a lack of vital signs in The Intruder.

And someone who Eda at best tolerates and at worst abandons in personal interactions and only occasionally acknowledges him when he’s actually doing his job. Yet at the same time is so implicitly trusted beyondprotecting her home to the point where - when up against the closest person Eda has to an equal outside of likely Belos - the only actually recognizable spells Eda used in combat were 1) stereotypical energy blasts, 2) a single shield spell in Covention, and 3) a noticeably large reliance on imitations of Hooty above any other spells she could have decided to use instead.

In short, the show repeatedly tells us he is just an idiotic gag character through and through, but at the same time demonstrates he has immense power through both onscreen and offscreen demonstrations, implicitly tells us his importance ahead of time through Eda’s imitations in actually serious situations, and treats his interview and origin story as - if not even more- important to keep secret than a long lore dump about how Belos’ reign works.

After all, there being only two instances of hidden background dialogue in the entire season is already intriguing on its own, but for one to get plenty of clues to draw in people’s attention and for the other to be treated as just another gag about a “mere comic relief character” - aka a good way to draw away attention and lower one’s guard - heavily suggests a far deeper significance buried under layers of misdirection, comedy, and conditioned audience expectations.

I mean, when Eda bragged about being “a bad girl living in a secret fortress,” Hooty followed with a remark about how “I’m the secret.” While that line may sound like Hooty simply being confused as part of a one-off on the surface, it’s an odd dialogue choice for the writers to pick when you think about all the other reminders of his nature as the house itself throughout the season. With the precedent these moments set, it would have been much more appropriate for him to latch onto the “fortress” side of “secret fortress” AND it would have been just as equally funny of a joke about his awareness skills, but instead, Hooty broke away from the established trend to say something that would make people suspicious were it to come from anyone else.

In a way, this reminds me much of the many subtle bits of foreshadowing strewn across the show, like Luz unknowingly describing Amity in Witches Before Wizards and Eda burning a hole through Luz’s coven type quiz that coincidentally selected the same track she had taken at Hexside as “a punky potionist.” At the time of airing, these initially seemed like one-off jokes, but eventually came back in full force several episodes later with Amity’s hidden sensitive feelings and love for the Azura books becoming clear in Lost in Language, and the reveal of Eda’s school track in Something Ventured, Someone Framed with her school misdemeanor pictures.

That said, compared to these individual bits of minor foreshadowing, the jokes about Hooty in Understanding Willow appear to simply be the most obvious pieces in a giant puzzle, implicitly and outright telling attentive viewers that there’s a major mystery to be uncovered here.

In fact, I feel bold enough to say that we could be looking at a twist on a similar scale to that of the Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz and Stanford Pines twists in Steven Universe and Gravity Falls respectively, what with this particular puzzle piece coming from how Gus wanted to make THE greatest interview of all time, and how he was looking for someone who was “interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy:”

Note the emphasis on the ‘and’ here, as Gus had made a big deal that “people aren’t meantto be all those things” at the beginning of the episode, so as a result, stripping away all the comedic framing of his subplot leaves the intriguing implication that whoever - and, perhaps, what- Hooty is, they really are the most interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy person out of everyone.

I could go further and talk about why I suspect the mystery surrounding King’s origins, whether true or not, is partially meant to misdirect us from paying attention to Hooty, or how the TOH crew’s could be disguising legitimate clues to his nature among made up and highly meme-able joke answers in order to proliferate said concepts throughout the fandom - thus letting us do all the dirty work of getting ourselves used to the ideas and used to dismissing them at the same time - but to bring things to a close for now, I’d like to leave you all with a question that I’ll start answering next time:

What does it mean when both the most powerful and notorious witch on the Boiling Isles and the possible actual king of demons/the Titan itself/something don’t match up to a house? And what do you think it is that makes him so special to warrant such misdirection?

TLDR: Between Eda’s golem spells, the show stressing his nature as the titular house, his implicit strength, and the odd dialogue and structure of Understanding Willow‘s subplot in relation to him, I believe I have good reason to suspect the show has been giving us many hints towards Hooty being much, much more important than it would like us to currently believe or even joke about. Particularly, through clever uses of comedy to establish and enforce a strong audience bias against looking closely at him or unironically taking him seriously, and to potentially plant the seeds for something I will start exploring in Part 2.

[stillness-in-green]

When MVA/MLA Arc gets animated, what will you be looking forward to the most? What (canon-compliant) additions and/or changed do you want or think Bones should make, if any?

There’s--a lot.  Does that surprise anyone?  There’s a lot.

o  I have been foaming at the mouth for voice actor announcements for almost a year now, particularly for Trumpet, Geten and RD.           Trumpet’s superpower is literally his voice!  I mean, nothing about that statement requires that voice be particularly entrancing, but it certainly seems like it should be, right??             Geten is a boku-type in the manga, but that was literally the only hint foreshadowing his pretty boy face through 21 solid chapters of Pure Feral Gremlin.  Everyone was shocked by Geten’s face reveal!  How do you maintain that surprise value with an actual voice actor in the mix?  Do you not even try?  Do you play up the disparity--in which direction?  I can’t wait to see what they do.           And Re-Destro!  Re-Destro requires so much range!  From his peppy, silly businessman persona, to the urbane commander, from the overeager yes-man to the raving zealot--who on earth do you get to believably cover all that ground?  I can’t even begin to guess, but I am living in anticipation of that article going up on ANN or the official Twitter sources.

o  I’m also much looking forward to getting official coloring on Trumpet and Geten.  Skeptic seems pretty straightforward--black, black, more black--and RD and Curious, we have color art for, but I wonder if Trumpet will also be all black clothes, to go with that dignified politician image of his, or if he’ll get some color to pep him up a little.  What color are those tinted shades of his?  His eyes?  The wicked-cool Sevens Loud?           I assume Geten is all wintery shades, but it’ll be great to confirm which ones.  I mean, we all assume he’s white-haired to better annoy Dabi with family parallels, but what if he turns out to be platinum blond?  And are his eyes blue?  Gray?  White?  What color is that awful parka?           Also, Re-Destro’s stress powers.  Having been writing them as black since at least August--Rorschach test blots are generally black, after all, and they’re the clear inspiration--I would much like it if the anime would have my back on this.  They made Destro’s mask a dark cinnamon brown, though, so I’m prepared to be unpleasantly surprised in this matter.

o  Predictable MLA adaptational choices aside, I’m also eager/anxious about how they’ll handle Spinner’s narration.  What I really hope is that they actually straight-up hand him ALL the narration duties--not just the stuff he dictates directly in the manga, but also e.g. the name and quirk explanation material that Present Mic normally gets, or the previews that are always handled by Deku.           The opening and closing sequences are another big structural thing, of course--based on the flashed snippets of Hawks and Endeavor in both our current and the previous OP, I’m expecting we’ll see at least a bit of something referencing the upcoming internship arc (which I expect to close out the season), but I hope the villains just walk away with the closing entirely.  I want my slice of life villainy ED, dangit.

o  Another thing I’m eager/anxious about would be Kotarou, and the Shimura flashback generally.  There’s a brittle edge of to Kotarou that I really love, and I hope he manages to keep it in the anime, despite the anime being generally not so great at moments that I would describe as “delicate.”  For example, I’d like it if he doesn’t get a super deep voice, and if they could manage to keep his pretty face, and capture how deeply bitter and tired he looks in the scene where he’s reading the letter Nana left him.           Also, I hope they keep the little montage bits and, crucially, the changes of clothes the family goes through.  We see Tenko in no less than five, possibly as many as seven, different T-shirts through the course of that flashback.  It seems like a small thing, but it’s one of the factors that makes me skeptical that AFO gave Tenko Decay, when so many days clearly go by between the opening with the man at the door and the tragic end.  It’d be nice not to see too much resurgence on that just because the anime can’t be bothered to come up with more than one outfit for the Shimuras.

I have enough issues with the anime’s usual adaptation choices that I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high on the actual content of the episodes.  The staff is diverting too much of its major talent to the movies (BAH) these days for me to expect the whole season to look all that great, and it’s never been particularly creative or daring outside of its climactic sakuga-heavy fight scenes anyway.  I’ve also long had a bone to pick with its scoring decisions, and am already eyeballing the climax of the RD/Shigaraki fight and imagining the minor-keyed terrifying dirge I fear the anime will play there, at the moment that Re-Destro (and, shortly afterward, Spinner) are supposed to be experiencing something akin to religious awakenings.           There’s also the issue of the violence and gore--judging by how the anime handled the scene where Shigaraki and Compress maim Overhaul, I have some severe reservations about how much blood they’ll be allowed to get away with, particularly in the scene where the League brutally decimates that CRC group and, of course, Shigaraki’s backstory.  I’m looking at MVA to serve as a preview for how all the same issues will be addressed in the War Arc.

That bit of pessimism aside, as to what I’m hoping they’ll add or change?  Well, off the top of my head.....

o  I would love to get a full episode devoted to the time the League spends fighting Machia.  Not that first tussle, but the six grueling weeks in the mountains.  There’s so much you could add there for character building and atmosphere that Hori didn’t so much as montage through.  Where was their food coming from?  How’d they pick out places to pitch camp?  How much access to news from outside did they have, and how frequently?  What were the circumstances in which Gigantomachia “told them himself” about his great sense of smell??  Stuff like that!             I don’t think we’re at all likely to get this--honestly, the series of late has had enough of a problem with trimming bits and pieces that I’m as worried about what they might cut as I am hyped about things they might add--but the one thing that gives me some hope is the training camp arc.  Specifically, the moment 1-A first gets to the Pussycats’ forest, they get jumped by earth golems, a fight that the manga off-panels entirely, but the anime spends a modest amount of time on, giving the kids a little bit of time to show off their moves and such.  I’d love to get something equivalent for the League.

o  On a similar note, I wouldn’t turn it down if they fleshed out some of those running street fights a bit.  One obvious thing comes to mind: there’s a weird jump in the manga between Skeptic and a horde of his golems being all but on top of Twice at the beginning of 233 and then that fight just--doesn’t happen.  There’s no mention of it at all.  I think the suggestion is that either Machia’s appearance or the tower going down interrupted it--Skeptic breaks off from his fight the same way Geten and Trumpet do theirs, shifting focus to protecting Re-Destro--but it’d be nice to see the anime touch on it.

o  It’d be nice to get a bit of expansion on the nature of the bullying Spinner endured.  We’re told he was, but was it limited to verbal?  Did he get beaten up a lot?  Was there an online element?  Deku’s our only other reference point for “bullied kid,” and whatever one might think about the story’s development of Bakugou’s mentality, it’s been made clear in retrospect that there was a lot more too that than just the matter of Deku’s quirklessness.  I’d love to know how Spinner’s bullying looked in comparison (not least because of some of the theories about Spinner and Deku needing to come to some kind of accord to free Shigaraki from AFO).

o  Make the Villa (both here and during the War Arc) look more realistic.  By which I mean, I know Horikoshi is capable of drawing interesting and lived-in interior spaces--he has an entire chapter dedicated to it in the 1-A dorm room contest, after all--but he normally doesn’t bother much with it.  At UA, it’s not too distracting, because we know good and well that that whole building is probably maintained by Cementoss anyway.  Ditto places like Tartarus (intentionally, dehumanizingly barren) or the League’s post-Kamino hideouts (abandoned homes and industrial spaces).  But the Villa?            For heaven’s sake, it’s called a mountain villa.  It has a clear reception desk on the ground floor; it’s obviously some sort of high-end hotel, if not an outright resort or rentable retreat lodge.  Speaking as someone who’s worked in one, places like that don’t look as fuckin’ bare as the rooms we see there always seem to.  For fanfic purposes, I’m happy to go on telling myself that e.g. the pool and the bar and the restaurant(s) and the gym are in the building Cementoss doesn’t tear in half, but it’d be nice if the anime could class the whole place up a little, maybe put some real furniture and decor in the rooms that are in use.  (Yes, I know this is a ridiculous nitpick.)

o  This is less a change and more a correction, but for fuck’s sake, BONES, give us white-haired Shigaraki.  The climax of Deika is a solid time for it, given that it’s obvious in the manga that Shigaraki’s hair gets paler in Deika--you can see it in the way Horikoshi inks it (which is to say, the way he stops inking it)!  I think if we ever get white-haired Shigaraki in the anime, a somewhat better time as far as narrative justification goes would be when Shigaraki gets out of the tube in the War Arc; you could easily justify it as a side-effect of the surgery.  Still, I’d rather see it here.  I want white-haired Shigaraki, gleaming and brilliant through the scattering ash in that crater, a veritable angel of sacred destruction.           Honestly, more than anything, the crater sequence is the one I hope I love.  It’s probably my favorite single moment in the entire manga, as Shigaraki wins over Re-Destro, Spinner and Gigantomachia in the same moment, and finally comes into his own.  If they can at least nail that, I’ll consider myself pretty satisfied.

[silver-wield]

i was talking to a friend who is a ffvii fan since '98 about the LTD and and I thought you might be interested. He told me that it was dead in the Remake. And his points were 1. C not being interested in A and how he is with T (the most important tbh). 2. Sector 5 being about Zack (im not sure about that cause i didnt play CC). 3. Jessie. And here he said that everthing shippy between CA, happened with Jessie first so to him didnt feel special (like all the CT scenes that he said are unique). 1/

The playground was about Zack, the high five was sweet but then T and A were doing it all the time and in his word 'if h5 are proof then AT are more valid than CA' 4. Aerith and her resolution. He always laughs when he reads the CA takes and theories cause the ship is dead both CA killed it and Tifa has nothing to do with it. 2/2

Zerith 1

Zerith 2

Zerith 3

Zerith 4

Zerith 5

Zerith 6

Zerith 7

Zerith 8

Zerith 9

Zerith 10

Zerith 11

Zerith 12

Zerith 13

Zerith 14

Zerith 15

Yeah, so I'm not a zerith shipper, I just like Zack and respect canon, so I did all of these without any ship bias for zerith. I could've just ignored all the obvious things in the game that prove Zack is a big part of things but I didn't ignore them because it's stupid to pretend he doesn't exist or have an important role to play.

Aerith spent all of chapter 8 pretending Cloud was Zack, and didn't like it when he got sarcastic and rude about it because her Zack isn't like that, but Cloud didn't care and just wanted to go home.

LTD destruction

Your friend is right about the scenes. This link is hilarious with how many parallels there are between Aerith and Jessie, and some with Wedge, too.

Unique scene isn't anymore.

Cloud canonically ditches Aerith in both OG and Remake.

Cloud ditches Aerith.

The devs made that rooftop scene less unique to Cloud's pov. He already crossed a bunch of rooftops in a more exciting way. He also still canonically ditches Aerith, and he does that several times.

Remake vs OG slide scene.

Remake slide analysis

Death to the LTD 1

Death to the LTD 2

Death to the LTD 3

Death to the LTD 4

Death to the LTD 5

I mean, if the evidence wasn't there then I couldn't list this much. Aerith in the JP for her resolution basically declares Cloud for him, then rejects him and he says how one sided that was. Because he was basically a prop during that. Same as in the language of flowers. He barely speaks or reacts and we don't get enough shots of him to establish he's participating in the conversation.

In the eng version of the resolution he asks if he gets a say because it's a callback to all the times through the game that Aerith ignored him. It's not him saying he loves her. It's asking if she'll even listen to him. Which she ignores, so that's his answer. And the JP says that heroic line is basically the same as picking up a friend from the airport. The eng gives Cloud the line because he wants to be thought of as a hero, even though he's a total dork.

And he's also in love with Tifa, so that puts paid to anyone else being with him. Not to mention Aerith has foreshadowed her death several times.

From her memories of you, and we know she associates the sky with it having taken away her loved ones. At the same time, it symbolises Zack, so she's conflicted in her feelings. She wants to move forward, but can't because she still loves him. So, she doesn't try and keeps on loving him. And we can see through the game that Aerith is unhappy because she gets teary eyed a lot.

She's hiding her grief behind a smile, while Cloud and Tifa are just doing their own thing separate from Aerith, because their relationship isn't threatened by Aerith being around.

Tifa and Aerith are friends. Cloud isn't interested in Aerith, and wouldn't be because he's all about Tifa at his core and Aerith is Zack's girlfriend. Cloud isn't a pos who'd go after his best friend's girl, and more importantly, Cloud is all about Tifa.

Remake is making things very clear.

Aerith loves Zack, who is currently listed as missing in the ultimania.

Zack obviously loves Aerith.

Cloud is still all about Tifa. His last concern in ch7 was her safety and the conversation between him and real Cloud involved her too. Not to mention everything else he does for her. And that real Cloud hugged her and wanted to before the event.

Tifa shows us she's more outgoing in her feelings to Cloud. She has the two scenes in chapter 7 and 17 that show her developing feelings for him. She won't let him down and doesn't want to lose him.

She can recognise him by the way he sits and they also have a ton of matching dialogue, poses, battle callouts, ability moves and even their limit breaks utilise their similar grace and fighting style. Hell, they even have similar walks.

It really is hilarious when people try and argue Cloud and Tifa have nothing when there's a mountain of in game proof saying otherwise, not to mention the Remake ultimania backs up the claims.

The narrative canon, which means we got alone at last which makes that narrative canon as well. So, this is the choice and Tifa's resolution is the main one we get. But of course they all occur, but in terms of which is more important to Cloud, it's this one.

Because Tifa.

[adverb-slut]

KOTLC Tag Questions

Wow, it’s been ages since I’ve done anything KOTLC related and I barely consider myself part of the fandom anymore, so thank you so much @cherrychapstickkiss​ for tagging me in this!

How long have you been in the fandom? | Since I was 12!  I read the first book when it came out back in 2012.

What is your favorite book in the series? | Hands down Exile.  First of all, the cover is gorgeous, and secondly, it’s the first time MY SON Keefe actually plays a large role in the series.

What is your least favorite book in the series? | Flashback, hands down.  Why the everloving fuck is the book like 600 pages and half of them detail Sophie bedridden in the Healing Center staring at Wonderboy?

Who is your favorite character and why? | I WORSHIP ONE IDIOT AND HIS NAME IS KEEFE SENCEN.  I love him so much.  I’ve always found his dialogue and personality hilarious (except his current humor leaves much to be desired—one can only take so many we-should-put-that-on-a-tunic jokes), and I enjoy how complex he can be.  He takes up so many burdens, and for someone who’s been through so much, he handles it pretty well (sometimes).

Who is your least favorite character and why? | Tie between Lady Gisella and Mr. Forkle.  Mr. Forkle has honestly tired me out as a character with his rules; I hate when Sophie doesn’t follow them, but I hate the fact that he imposes them in the first place even more.  And I hate Lady Gisella because HOW DARE YOU HURT MY SON????  I guess technically he’s her son, but who cares—I’ve adopted him.

It’s hard to pick just one favorite, I know.  Pick your top three favorite characters, now. | Keefe—I literally just explained why, Gethen (I know he sucks as a person, but strangely I find him so interesting), and Grady (really wish he started getting more pagetime)

What is your favorite scene in the books? | Omg, literally nothing in the books has been able to top the Keefe-running-off-to-the-Neverseen and the whole Sanctuary business between him and Sophie before that.  Like, sure, I was sad at the time, because my son what are you doing you absolute fool, but I really loved how it was written.  I remembering rereading that scene oh God, so many times.

What is your least favorite scene in the books? | When Alvar was proven still evil in Flashback.  Fitz seriously pissed me off so many times with him and Biana muttering about not giving their brother a totally undeserved, admittedly, second chance, and I seriously despised the fact that he was right.  Despised.

What is one thing you wish to happen in the upcoming books? | Sophie stops being so fucking dense.  Like, I get it, she has other things to worry about, but how the hell can she be so perceptive to tiny details in said other things but not notice that OH FUCK THREE TWO BOYS LIKE HER AND MAKE IT SO FUCKING OBVIOUS THAT LITERALLY EVERYONE NOTICES (AND TRIES TO TELL HER) BUT HER.

What is your favorite thing about the series? | Ummm ... I don’t know!  I love a lot of things.  I love the worldbuilding and the imagery that goes along with it, to be honest.  

What is your least favorite thing about the series? | THE RANDOM FUCKING ASSPULLS IN THE PLOT.  Seriously ... OH LOOK YOU KNOW THE NIGHTFALL WE’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR ALL THIS TIME?  GUESS WHAT THAT WAS THE WRONG ONE THERE ARE ACTUALLY TWO NIGHTFALLS.  OH NO MR. FORKLE DIED SIKE NOPE HE ACTUALLY HAS A TWIN BROTHER THAT HAS THE SAME MEMORIES AND EVERYTHING AS HIM ‘CAUSE THEY SHARE EVERYTHING.  I hate it so much ... so much.

What is a headcanon/fan theory that you’ve basically accepted as canon, and why? | Erm, this has been said a million times but ... I totally accept that Jensi’s brother is the Phaser in the Collective.  By the WAY, Shannon, that is how you properly foreshadow things (seriously, I applaud this) and not randomly pull plot points out of your ass.  (No disrespect though, I love Shannon’s writing; there’s literally no way I would keep reading this series if I didn’t.)

What is a character that you wish got more pagetime? | My son Keefe Prentice.  Literally, they hyped him up so much, and when he’s finally returned from Exile, he’s mostly comatose or barely conscious and doesn’t do anything for God-knows-how-many-books.

What is a character that you wish got less pagetime? | Ummm ... Marella.  Never really liked her as a character, save for the first book.  I totally get why she drifted away, but that doesn’t mean I gotta stan her.

Gah, I don’t do KOTLC stuff anymore so I don’t know anyone, but I guess I shall tag the lovely @tplv-forever and whoever wants to do this!

[toboboby]

Steven Universe spoilers ahead

(Sorry there's no pictures for visualization/evidence and for the long post.) Alright, I usually keep my opinions to myself when it comes to theories, but the question "Who shattered Pink Diamond?" is a topic of interest given the new episodes and bOY HOWDY HAS IT GOT ME THINKING. I'm gonna get this out of the way right now and immediately say that it wasn't Rose Quartz. After the ideas and evidence presented in the trial (provided helpfully by Zircon, whom I absolutely love), it's extremely difficult to believe that Rose could've defied so many different aspects of what had to happen in order to shatter a diamond. The sapphire's future-vision, her inability to hide in Pink's entourage as a soldier and the fact that's she's the most wanted war criminal in the galaxy; there are too many bits and pieces that provide evidence against her being the culprit. True, gems can shapeshift, so Rose could've changed how she looked to try and get close to Pink, but again, the sapphires are looking specifically for Rose Quartz and any signs of her future attacks. They would've been able to see Rose going in for the kill and warned Pink, which we've learned didn't happen. No one saw the killer coming. Not only that, but we know from Bismuth that Rose's sword can't shatter gems. It's made to strike through the body and poof gems without barely a fight, but it cannot break them. Rose fought a war, but she didn't cause casualties. Moving on to the next candidate; White Diamond. I'm considering her next because we know close to nothing about who she is. We've never seen her on screen, she's never been spoken about. Heck, the only reason we know she exists is because of a mural and the diamond insignia. It's possible she could've been the culprit, but we don't have nearly enough evidence to support it. All I've got is that since she owns homeworld (as we know from the planet she holds in her hands in the mural and her silhouette creating some kind of statue or building on homeworld in Off Colors), she might've gotten power-hungry for earth too, but even that's a stretch. If she wanted Earth so badly, wouldn't she have played a bigger part in the war? Wouldn't she at least been mentioned? Wouldn't she be the main threat against Earth instead of Yellow or Blue? For now, until more evidence arises, I'm gonna say it wasn't White Diamond either. I also don't think Pink killed herself. She was just getting started, with her one colony of Earth. What reason would she have had to break herself? As with White Diamond, we don't know enough about her situation to try and guess what she might have done. There's also the eyewitness of Eyeball to take into account, and even though she's been easily tricked before, her word as well as the words of many other unnamed gems say someone else did the deed. Even if Pink had it ordered secretly, again, what reason would she have to do so? For now, suicide doesn't seem to be the case. Blue Diamond is an interesting culprit, and there are a lot of factors against her shattering the gem she's been mourning for hundreds of years, but there are some things I want to bring to light. As we saw with Navy, it's very possible that the whole mourning facade could just be one huge act to direct attention away from her when it comes to who shattered Pink. And of course this is just speculation, but what if this was correct for the sake of debate? If she truly didn't care, why would she have kept the zoo and all of the Rose Quartz soldiers? We know that she and Yellow don't get along well. We know that compared with the idea of Yellow being the culprit, who would suspect poor sad Blue? We know that she disagrees with much of what Yellow does. What if Blue is keeping up this act, keeping the Rose Quartz soldiers, because she wants to start her own rebellion against Yellow? Rose had the ability to heal. What if that wasn't specific to just the Rose we know? Wouldn't it make sense to have an army of gems that could heal each other? Not only that, but all of the healing gems to prevent enemy armies from healing? Yellow has already asked why Blue kept all of these Rose Quartz soldiers, and why would she? If she's so sad about Pink's death, why would she keep every gem of the type that killed her "sister"? Wouldn't she want to get rid of them, so that the same thing couldn't happen again? We don't know her relationship with Pink Diamond, but we don't know Yellow's either. Only that they cared somewhat about her. Maybe killing her was the only way for Blue to get the army she wanted. Maybe there's backstory we don't know about between them. Again, most of my evidence for Blue Diamond being the culprit is just speculation; all of this could be easily written off as grief. But certain things about what she has or hasn't done raise some questions that I don't think should be ignored. Now onto the most popular culprit I've seen so far; Yellow Diamond. With the nonchalant way she acted during the trial and her lack of emotion for Pink's shattering, she's easy to pick on. But think. Remember at the end of "What's the Use of Feeling (Blue)" when she said she missed Pink, too? Her expression? That was true loss, grief for the death of a sister. At one point, she felt just as awful as Blue did, and just because she moved on doesn't mean she isn't still sad. All of you who have experienced loss and pressed forward anyway must understand this. It's not a lack of emotion; it's a pushing away of emotion so that you can keep living. Besides, why would she do it? Like I mentioned earlier, we don't know her relationship with Pink. We don't have any other reasons. Doesn't mean we won't get some soon, but so far, there really doesn't seem to be much going for her being the culprit. However, the biggest problem with the idea that Yellow did it is that it's too obvious, too sudden. The crewniverse is known for foreshadowing and subtlety. What clues have we gotten to it being Yellow before the trial? None. Nothing except a disliked personality. Without any foreshadowing, Yellow being the killer seems more like a distraction from the actual culprit. Which brings me to the gem I believe actually committed the crime. I've seen this around a lot, so I'm not taking full credit for the idea, but Pearl shattering Pink has a lot more evidence than I originally thought. Why would she shatter Pink Diamond? Simple. For Rose. Everything we've ever known her doing has been for Rose, and before that, it would've been for her master. Pink needed to be out of the picture in order for Rose to defend Earth properly and keep it from harm, but we know that she wouldn't/couldn't have done it (see above). I do think Rose told Pearl to do it, since Pearl being polite and not wanting to put Rose in danger isn't new, but it also gives more of a reason as to why everyone thinks it's Rose. With Pearl and Rose working together, Rose would've wanted the blame on her, but the actual kill would've been Pearl's, disguised as Rose as to not put anyone else in danger. Next question; how would Pearl have done it? This is a lot harder to prove if we don't know who she served, so who did she serve? It could've been a random sapphire or agate or something, but again, the crewniverse foreshadows. The Pink Diamond in the middle of her space suit. The extra outfit during her reformation that currently has no origin. Her backstory being kept completely in the dark. Pearl being Pink's pearl has evidence scattered all throughout the series. If she was Pink's pearl, then that easily answers the question of how she did it. The sapphires are looking for Rose, not for the diamond's loyal pearl. And who else could've made up a story to get Pink out of her paladin away from the scrutinizing gaze of her entourage? It would've been simple to change form and cut her down quick, either shapeshifting to look like Rose or playing innocent loyal Pearl and putting the blame on the leader of the crystal gems. Of course, that's if she's actually Pink Diamond's pearl. Her gem is white after all, which would indicate her being White Diamond's pearl if we're following the pattern presented so far. But there's still another pearl in the mix, whether she be White or Pink's, and we have no idea what she looks like. Blue and Yellow Pearl could easily just be the color they are because of coincidence or preference. Pearl might have been temporary until Pink got a "proper pearl", evidenced by Pearl's oval-shaped gem. There's a lot of factors and evidence that indicate Pearl being the one to shatter Pink Diamond, all of which could come toppling down if we learned who owned her before the war. But for now, Pearl being the culprit is the most plausible theory out right now. All of this is just theory and speculation, and even though I very much think it was Pearl, I wanted to bring up my thoughts on others such as one of the diamonds being the one to shatter Pink. We also haven't seen enough to be able to tell anything for sure, so none of this is 100% my opinion. Just ideas. Besides, we might not know the culprit yet, now that we've been introduced to the entirety of homeworld. Maybe Steven will end up meeting the killer there. Who knows? That's what's so fun about theories. Mostly I just wanted to try and pin it on Blue.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Episode 3/4 Line-Up Theory

Update: So, what follows below is a theory I posted pre-season 8. The gist of it is that we hoped Beth would show up in S8, which she obviously didn’t. So overall, what I posted here was kind of a bust.

But I was reading back through old theories and found this one, and I encourage you to read what I originally wrote. Because while Beth didn’t show up in S8, so the 8s I talk about here obviously weren’t pointing to that, they may have pointed to the 8 year gap between Coda and where we are in the narrative now. So while I was wrong about what I originally theorized, I think I was still picking up on real symbolism. So go through and read what I wrote and I’ll update it at each juncture.

Let me preface this by saying that I’ve talked with several people about different aspects of it, usually my FB peeps. So a great big shoutout to them for always nourishing my theory-addicted TD brain. Also, to @wdway bc it was a convo with her that gave me the idea to actually do this post.

She made the comment after we talked about the possible 8x03 behind Daryl in the trunk 

that if this clock behind Beth is meant to read 8x03, 

then it would be interesting because it would parallel with 7x03 where Daryl was imprisoned and cut off from TF at the Sanctuary.

Update: Once again, the 8s may represent 8 years passing before Beth returns to Daryl. But I also once theorized that the 8 clocks = death because we see them in the rooms of several dead patients at Grady, just as they actually die. So this may also be some iteration of the 8:20 clock. The 8 or 8:03 clock may represent that this is the “death” phase of the story. The 8:20 clock represents the resurrection phase which, for Beth, is yet to come.

That REALLY got me thinking. So go with me on this. All the way back to S4. The season of the Great Foreshadowings. This is the part me and the FB peeps have hashed out before.

Check out this scene in–yes–episode 3. The virus is running rampant and Beth has been quarantined with Judith. Here’s the convo she has with Maggie.

Beth: Things okay out there?

Maggie: Glenn has it.

Beth: Maggie. We don’t get to be upset. We all got jobs to do. That’s what Daddy always says. Daryl and Michonne will get the meds. You and Carol and Rick will help everyone ‘til they get back. And I’ll take care of Judith. Just focus on what you have to do. No matter what happens, we’ll deal with it. We have to.“

So notice a few things: Beth is cut off, isolated, separated from TF. Obvious foreshadow of her Grady arc. 

But the other super-significant thing to me about this is that they talk about Glenn. We have Maggie talking to Beth and being upset because she’s afraid Glenn will die. And a baby (Judith) is involved. 

Now fast forward to S7/S8. Maggie is upset because Glenn is dead, and there’s a baby involved (Glaggie baby). Actually, I believe it was @boltthrutheheart who posited that Beth’s voiceover in Inmates talking about Lori’s baby being due soon was a foreshadow of Maggie’s pregnancy being a think when Beth returned. I think the same is true here. This is a foreshadow that Glenn will be dead, Maggie will be sad about that, and there will be a baby involved, when Beth returns.

Another thing: Notice that Beth says Maggie, Carol and Rick will help everyone until things get better. I’m sorry. Who are the leaders of the communities in S7? 

Okay, it’s really Ezekiel more than Carol, but we didn’t know Ezekiel at this point in the story, so Carol is a stand-in for him. He’s part of her arc and she’ll help him lead the Kingdom. So this foreshadows the three of them leading the three communities. I’m going to come back to this idea in just a minute.

(And once again, Daryl in S4 was going off to be separate from them for a time.)

Beth also tells Maggie not to be upset, but to focus on her job/what she has to do. Folks, that’s EXACTLY what we’ve seen Maggie do in the wake of Glenn’s death. She mourned for him, of course. But she doesn’t sit around moping and feeling sorry for herself. She focuses on what she was to do. What her job is. Leading the Hilltop.

My point is that this was a major foreshadow not only of Beth’s arc, being separated from TF, but also of when she would return (Glenn’s death, Maggie’s pregnancy, Maggie’s 'job’ at the Hilltop).

Now, though it wasn’t part of this theory originally, I knew Maggie and Beth talk again later after Hershel goes into the sick ward with the tea he’s made. I wanted to take a closer look at that convo as well. Here it is:

Beth: Maggie? Daddy’s gone. He left.

Maggie: I know. Did he tell you where he went?

Beth: No, but…I know.

Maggie: How?

Beth: Dr. S. is sick and… we all got jobs to do.

Maggie: We’ll deal with it, right?

Beth: We don’t get to get upset.

Then Beth starts to cry.

Okay, so I’ve always seen Beth’s final line followed by her crying as part of the theme about her not crying anymore. She says that all the time, but it’s kind of a load of crap. She says it but she still cries because she’s human and saying it is just her way of trying to be strong. (It also shows that the "I’m glad I didn’t say goodbye” is a load of crap too, btw.)

I also can’t help but notice the doctor reference thrown in, especially bc Dr. S was a very small character we barely knew before the virus took him. So could simply be a foreshadow of all the doctors on the show dying. Or…of something else. ;D

But here’s the thing, guys. This is a foreshadow of Hershel’s death. “Daddy’s gone” = Hershel’s death. The next time we see Beth cry after this is at the prison right after the Governor beheads Hershel. In that scene, right after the bus takes off, Maggie even says to Sasha and Bob, “We’ll figure it out.” Kind of like “we’ll deal with it” here.

So that’s not part of the episode 3,4 stuff I’m about to go into, but it just goes to show that these conversations foreshadow a lot of the major arcs that come up after 4a.

Update: Okay, this is what I mean about picking up on real symbolism. Even though Beth didn’t return directly after Glenn’s death in S8, I still think this works. I had to sit down and think about the actual situation going on at the prison in this episode. Where everyone was and what they were doing. And here’s what occurred to me:

Glenn and Hershel are both in cell block A. Glenn because he’s sick and Hershel because he went in to help the sick. But remember they told us very obviously that cell block A had been used as Death Row. So, while neither of them died at this point in the story, in a way, that symbolizes death for both Glenn and Hershel. Both of them being in there was a foreshadow of both of them dying at some point. 

And this is super interesting because we have Maggie and Beth talking--even having a mini reunion, if you will, because Beth has been in isolation--after Glenn and Hershel have gone into cell block A (death row). To me, that represents a reunion between Beth and Maggie after Glenn and Hershel’s deaths. And, from what we’ve seen in the show thus far, and what the GA understands, Beth definitely did outlive Hershel...but not Glenn. See what I mean? This suggests she will outlive him in some way and speak with Maggie again. 

Also, Sasha got sick and was in cell block A with Glenn and Hershel, and she’s deceased as well in the current timeline. Also also, Beth is taking care of JUDITH.

Just saying.

But that is not all, my friends. No, that is not all.

Because of @wdway’s comment, I decided to look at all the episodes 3 in each season. Obviously in S5, Beth’s big episode was episode 4, not 3. See, it kind of works and kind of doesn’t. I’m gonna say that episodes 3 and 4 are always entwined and in many ways interchangeable. Let me illustrate.

In season 4, we had the above in ep 3. Ep 4 featured Daryl and co. going to the veterinary college for meds. Also the gas station labeled “hell." 

There were SO many Grady parallels and even golf club callbacks in that episode. (Bob’s alcohol, plus books in the Grady-ish place called “New Dawn” and “The Pathology of Fear.” Also this is the episode where Daryl randomly finds green jasper and spends the rest of the episode looking at it like it’s his soul mate.)

So we had the foreshadow of Beth’s arc and return in ep 3 and then more of her arc’s foreshadowing in ep 4.

In season 5, episode 4 was Slabtown, so I don’t have to explain that. Ep 3 was Four Walls and a Roof. This one’s a little harder to pin down, but we have the church being turned into a slaughter house. (Perhaps church = Beth and blood of the Termites = her being shot?). We also have Bob’s death (Beth proxy) which kicked off Sasha’s anger arc, which we just saw wrap up in 7x16. At this point, neither Beth, Daryl, nor Carol are present. They’re all off entangled in Grady arcs on their own. 

And then there’s the fact that Maggie and Glenn don’t take part in the killings. Not sure how to tie that in, but it’s always seemed significant to me. In fact, the only person who helped kill the Termites who is still alive is Rick. (Others were Sasha and Abraham.) Then, at the end of the episode, Daryl, who had disappeared without a trace in TF’s eyes, suddenly reappears.

Now let’s look at S6. Morgan’s Big Episode (6x04) had massive parallels to Slabtown. There were tons of details, but on a macroscopic level, it was him, isolated from TF and an episode that was only about him. Only one major character in the entire episode, in a new community that really belongs only to him.

Now, the fact that it’s ep 4 also mirrors Slabtown. But we also know that originally episode 6x01 was supposed to be 5x16, but tptb changed it. If they hadn’t, Morgan’s episode would have been ep 3 which would have mirrored the foreshadow in 4x03. Of course, it’s always possible that they changed it specifically to mirror Slabtown more closely.

Also keep in mind that ep 3 of S6 is Thank You, which has major Grady parallels in the pet shop, and also kicks off Glenn’s death fake-out. You know, the one he came back from four episodes later?

Then in S7, ep 3 is all about Daryl, cut off from TF and imprisoned in the Sanctuary. Obviously that mirrors Slabtown and Here’s Not Here, but again, it’s episode 3, not episode 4. See what I mean about them being interchangeable, but VERY important?

So I know this is a very loose, all-over-the-place theory, but now we have this clock that may point to 8x03. And Gimple saying the first 4 episodes of S8 will melt everyone’s brains.

Update: Okay, here’s what I’ll say about this. I feel like I have a little more of a grip on this than I did back before S8. I think the ep3/ep4 sequence is real, but I think in most cases, ep 3 = death and ep 4 = resurrection. Sometimes it’s shown literally, and other times it’s more of an emotional or psychological thing.

So in S4, 4x03, Isolation represents death. I don’t think anyone in particular dies in this episode. Perhaps a few people at the prison but no major characters. The death here is represented by the isolation. They’re all split up into groups and can’t be together because of the virus. 

4x04 = resurrection because we see some things getting better. This is where Daryl and co go to the gas station (replete with Beth symbolism). They find and reconstitute a car battery, using water, get the car started, red and green wires, an Michonne especially gets to a more healthy mental place about the governor. I also just want to point out that this is where Daryl stares at the green stone he found on the way home. 

Season 5:

5x03: Four Walls and a Roof = Death. I probably don’t have to explain why. Lots of gory stabbiness going on. Death of the Termites. But I also want to say that this happening in Gabriel’s white church is important. It probably foreshadows the white church they tried to bury Beth in. So what I said above about it representing Beth being shot was (sort of) true. Either way, this episode = death.

5x04: Slabtown = resurrection. Now, I know that may seem counter intuitive as this wasn’t the most life-affirming episode, but it confirmed for GA that Beth was still alive. (Remember, lots of people theorized she died at Terminus at the end of S4.) We also saw her fighting back against Dawn for her freedom, so it represents her being reborn as a tougher character.

Season 6:

6x03: Thank You = Death. Again, pretty obvious as this was Glenn’s death fake out and Nicholas’s death.

6x04: Here’s Not Here = Resurrection. This was Eastman bringing Morgan back to life emotionally and psychologically from the state of mind Rick and Michonne left him in during S3. He was semi-crazy and not really living, but Eastman helped him change all that. 

7x03: The Cell = Death. Super depressing episode where Daryl was in a super dark place after Glenn and Abraham’s deaths. And if you pay attention to the sequence, you can see his evolution. At first, he’s reaching for the light, but not really trying to get there. He accepts what Dwight gives him without question. But later, after the very Beth-ish song that Dwight plays for him, we see him perk up, start caring about his own well being again, and trying to escape.

7x04/7x05: Resurrection. I think it’s actually a combination of these two episodes. While they’re still doing what Negan wants, I think 7x04 is where we see the first spark of Rick starting to think about fighting back, especially where his relationship with Spencer is concerned. Then in ep 5, Maggie smashes the musical Gremlin with a tractor. So the resurrection in this season is all about them starting to fight back against their oppressors. 

8x03/8x04: Without going into details, because AOW is all over the place, let’s just remember that these two episodes included the resurrection of Morales and a mini death fake out for Zeke, which Carol saved him from.

I’ll stop there because S9 gets even muddier with Rick’s departure. But I think you get the idea. I think they use sequences of episodes within a season (or the 8-episode framework) to show their themes. So they often have one episode where everyone is sad, dying, separated from one another, etc. And then follow it up with one where there’s more hope, they’re fighting back, and coming back together. That’s really the whole point of this theory.

Thoughts?

[anjibooks]

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (Book Review and discussion)

"Remember you are a wolf. And you cannot be caged." A Court of Wings and Ruin, the last book in the fantastical A Court of Thorns and Roses Trilogy, and easily my most anticipated book of the year. Last year, I was blown away by the second book, A Court of Mist and Fury. That book captured my heart, so much so that I now consider it my favorite. Saying A Court of Wings and Ruin had a lot to live up to is an understatement. The last book in a series, especially a trilogy, is always hard to write perfectly. I've read very few finale books that I have read and felt completely satisfied with. Then again, I'm the type that will never be satisfied (haha Hamilton, anyone?). I'd like to start this review off saying that I absolutely adored this book. It was a truly transcendent experience. This is not a series I will ever forget, or ever stop rereading. While I did love the book, I'll be the first to admit that it did have its flaws. I'll go into those flaws with detail, and I just really want to express that I did truly love this book. It was amazing, it just wasn't everything I'd hoped for-- which was a lot. Do I still highly recommend this series? Of course, it's still one of my all time favorite series, and has my all time favorite book in it. Do I still love this series with all my heart and soul? YES. Like I said before, it's extremely hard to write a last book in a series, especially a trilogy, that leaves the reader feeling satisfied and happy. For one, it's saying goodbye to that specific cast of characters. Two, the reader always wants more, if it's a truly good series the reader can never get enough. Three, The reader's visions, expectations and hopes are often very different from the author's. Sometimes finale books in trilogies feel rushed, like all the information is crammed in. This is one of the issues I had with A Court of Wings and Ruin. "Do not get distracted. Do not linger. You are a warrior, and warriors know when to pick their fights." Like many books before it, and many books to come, A Court of Wings and Ruin falls into the pit of rushed trilogy endings. I don't see the appeal of trilogies to authors, especially when it seems like the amount of information crammed into the last book always seems like enough to spread out into another, if not two more, books. A Court of Wings and Ruin was strange in the way that the beginning felt a little... slow, while the end? So many things that seemed like they had lead up to a big conclusion were rushed through. And a lot of the BIG SHOCKERS in the end, didn't even have enough time to impact the reader before they were resolved. This book didn't feel as well thought through and edited as its predecessors. My theory on that is that Sarah is writing A LOT these days. She's been banging out these gigantic books, and has less time to go over them, which is unfortunate. There were a lot less moments in this book where you just go "OH that's what all those subtle little foreshadowing bits that I barely even noticed lead up to." That was something Sarah's previous books had been so good at-- dropping random little things that you don't even notice, until you see the outcome and it seems OBVIOUS and just feels right because of all the hints towards it. Instead, this book had rushed scenes that didn't seem to fit correctly, and then also scenes that had big lead ups and then lasted for only a few paragraphs. The pacing of this book just felt off. "They took what is ours. And we do not allow those crimes to do unpunished." While I absotleuly love the first person narrative, it's the one that I chose to write in, it didn't exactly work for this book. While it worked brilliantly in the previous two books, that was because those two tracked the internal progress of Feyre growing into her own self. In this book, Feyre has found herself and the character building arcs are really supposed to be concentrated on others. But it felt... awkward trying to show these huge character arcs through only Feyre's eyes. Not that I'm saying I think the book should'be switched to third person, because that would be weird and out of tone for the series, but I just wasn't a big fan of how the other character arcs were portrayed through Feyre's eyes. Sometimes scenes were just stuffed in to be there, and I don't know. It just felt off and weird. There were certain, very important characters, that just disappeared for a really long time (yeah, a character I love just dropped off the face of the book for a good half before turning up randomly again-- it didn't feel like the good, smooth transitions Sarah usually writes.) And then there were just other characters, doing really important things in the background, but we have no insight into it because Feyre has no insight into it. And then they just pop back up after having done this really big task, that causes disconnect between the reader and the character. I didn't see what they were up to, so their big reveal at their great deeds doesn't seem quite as important. For instance, there's a character that we haven't seen since the first book that just turns up with this big surprise and I couldn't exactly bring myself to care when they were put into danger. Why? I don't know them, I don't know what they'd been up to. I had no real connection to them. "You do not fear. You do not falter. You do not yield." The plot itself was pretty interesting, there were just some holes that I was really expecting to be filled in before the end of the book... And they weren't. YES I am aware that there are more books coming set in this world. But this was marketed as the conclusion to this specific story, to Feyre's story and the issues going on with her.... It really didn't feel like the end. I think Sarah might've been trying to set up too many things in a book that was supposed to feel like a conclusion. There were just so MANY things that she set up that it didn't feel like a conclusion at all because of all the holes, and questions unanswered, not to mention that all the time spent setting up other books didn't leave quite enough time for a big, satisfying ending. "There are many types of strength beyond the ability to wield a blade and end lives." Now to talk about the characters. Feyre, her storyline was not, this will sound weird, but not the main one of the book. She was a bit of a bystander to the main characters arcs going on. A Court of Mist and Fury had been Feyre's big story arc of finding herself, now she gets to watch others do the same. Sure, Feyre was involved, but her storyline was not nearly as BIG as others, because she didn't change at all. I loved Feyre in this book, but she just wasn't quite as interesting in comparison to the other big changes happening in other characters. "But this is war. We don't have the luxury of good ideas-- only picking between the bad ones." Rhys, one out of the many of my favorite characters from this book, seemed to be a bit of a disappointment. I was excited to see my lovely, sassy most powerful high lord again. Instead, similar to Aelin in Empire of Storms, he's burdened and has very few quips. Sure, war is a very big burden and can do a lot to serious a person up... But this Rhys didn't even feel like the Rhys I'd come to know and love. He almost felt like a supporting or background character instead of the male lead of the story. Like I said before, he's one of my many favorites and still is, I just wasn't convinced by his portrayal in this book. He felt rather out of character. And then there's the fact that he kind of let Feyre walk over him a bit. I get that Sarah's trying to hammer in that Rhys is not like Tamlin, he lets Feyre do as she wants, even if it puts her in danger. In previous books though, he walked the line of letting her do as she wants, but if it put her in too much danger, he wouldn't let her go alone or would do what he could to protect her. In this book? Feyre basically just goes off and does whatever and Rhys is just eh. There, I guess. It's hard to explain. You'll see what I mean when you read the book. "I figure it's time for the world to know who really has the largest wingspan." I really did love seeing more of the inner circle, even with them falling apart from each other a bit. Or should I say especially? They couldn't have been stuck together for 500 years with those different personalities and not argue at all. Cassian, always a favorite, played a lovely role in the story. I think we all know who I ship him with, and his interaction with that character was perfect. It was anything but instalove. And seeing as I hate instalove... Anyway, I loved seeing more of Cassian, especially as we get to see how he felt about the events at the end of the last book. You really get to see how loyal he is, and how much he cares for his family. UGH. I can't express how much I love Cassian. Then there's Azriel and Mor. Azriel, we get to see more of him in this book. And it was really cute seeing another side of the brooding shadow singer. Though, people have started a new ship with Azriel and I AM NOT ON BOARD. Sorry to all you people on that ship, it's just not going to happen. I ship that person with someone else. Mor, her part in this book felt somewhat lacking. She kind of faded in and out of the narrative, being there but not really doing much. And then there's this big reveal about her, and I just didn't really feel convinced about it. Like... yeah sure, but the way it was portrayed/ how it was described didn't feel convincing to me. Nesta and Elain. It was really interesting to see how each handled the transition. Well, at first I was kind of along the lines of NESTA STOP BEING SUCH A COLASSAL BITCH, but then as she mellowed out (as much as mellowed out as Nesta can get), I started to like her again. Especially with her dynamic with Cassian. That was just *sighs* absolutely perfect. As mentioned in the previous book, the Cauldron made Nesta something new, something powerful. I was really disappointed with the route Sarah took with that, I just didn't feel like we got enough of it. If I had to stand to guess, I'd say we'd go deeper into it in the next books, still though, it was important to the storyline and we didn't really get to see much of it in action, or even understand what her power really, truly was. Then there's Elain, wonderful sweet Elain. Lucien's mate. Wow, these two deserve the world. I enjoyed the sweetness and innocence of her character, and yet I could not become fully attached to her. While she was a vital player in the story, she herself didn't really have much of a big part in it. Since I mentioned my love, I might as well get into my thoughts on his portrayal in this book. Lucien. I was really looking forward to seeing more of him, especially since we barely saw him in the previous book. Lucien was easily my favorite character in A Court of Thorns and Roses, and I was excited to be reunited with him. While Feyre was in the Spring Court, I enjoyed the progression of his and her relationship, but after she left the Spring Court, I wish Feyre still remained involved (not in a romantic way) with Lucien. Despite having new friends, Lucien was her first friend in this world, and he... He just deserves the world. And I really hope he gets it one day. If I had to guess who the next (or at least one of the next) book was about, I'd have to say Lucien. Why? So much was revealed about him in this book, and so much was left unresolved. One of those really unsatisying plot holes left in the story. Now that we've mentioned Lucien, I can no longer avoid Tamlin. Where do I stand on him? Well, I think we can call him a tool, after all he proved that he actually does have some use. He did have a bit of a redemption arc, though, there was an action after that that still proved him a tool. *slight spoiler* I wished there was a scene where he and Feyre sat down and talked, but it never happened... *spoiler over* There were a plethora of new characters introduced, and I have to say, I am interested to see more of these characters in the coming books. I am especially interested in seeing more of the high lords, they all have been hinted to having a complicated back story. Then there's Eris, Lucien's older brother... I saw a hint of redemption in him, and I want to see more of him. Then there's a new character named Vassa, whose description is extremely detailed... A little too detailed for her part in the story actually. Like for me it was another one of those "set ups" that just took up too much space when there wasn't enough space for actual important plot points. I didn't really care much for her, I have a feeling when the book comes out about her, I'll be very into her (she was Celaena reminiscent). ​ Not to be super repetitive, but I really need to hammer in the point that I ACTUALLY DID REALLY LIKE THIS BOOK. It's just a whole lot easier to pick out the criticisms over the amazing perks, I guess. I think once we get into the spoilery discussion, you'll see that yeah, I actually really did love this book and was fingerling 99.99% of the time whilst reading it. Hopefully my score of the book will also hammer in the point that it was really good, despite its flaws-- 9/10 stars. Yeah it was that good. Sure, not perfect, but really there are few books that are. Anyway, I hope you read the book and tell me what you think! Do you agree or disagree with my points? I, like so many of these characters, am a dreamer, and these books will stay with me forever. (And I'll be forever be rereading them as well.) Synopsis: Looming war threatens all Feyre holds dear in the third volume of the #1 New York Times bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses series. Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin's maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit-and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well. As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords-and hunt for allies in unexpected places. In this thrilling third book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series from Sarah J. Maas, the earth will be painted red as mighty armies grapple for power over the one thing that could destroy them all. ​Now for the discussion... (SPOILERS BELOW FOR A COURT OF WINGS AND RUIN) By far, the best scene in the entire book for me was when Cassian and Azriel showed up to save Feyre from Eris & the other Autumn Court Princes. Just... That had to be the best scene ever. I'll never forget my excitement. Seriously, just thinking about it has me squealing in excitement. Cassian flying down from the sky, and smashing into the ice looking all dark and warrior like with a burning anger in his eyes? Swoon and faint because OMG I was so excited. A little disappointed Rhys wasn't involved, but hey, the scene was still phenomenal. I'm not really sure how I feel about the whole Spring Court take down. It wasn't what I'd expected-- I'd expected to see her take them down from the inside and then reveal herself before Rhys comes swooping in and they just winnow off together or something. That would've been brilliant, but what actually happened was pretty brilliant as well, the subtle take down. I was a little disappointed there was no big reveal, but whatever I guess. Tamlin really did show how much of a bad partner he is through his jealousy to an extreme when Feyre was with Lucien. Another thing I'm not really sure how I feel about-- the way Feyre treated Lucien while they were in the Spring Court. She was using him, when he really didn't deserve that. It was really obvious that he felt remorseful for not standing up for her more, and even though he suspected her story wasn't true (my clever baby), he still protected her. Then Feyre still uses him... I liked that they kind of grew closer, but still she was using him and I didn't like that. I loved when they got the Bogge to go after Brannagh and Dagdan, though, it was fantastic. I was laughing so hard when Tamlin was freaking out at them and they were both like eh, they deserved it. Then there's Brannagh and Dagdan... These guys were one of those instances where the idea was introduced, and it was intriguing, but there wasn't quite enough time for them. This seemed to happen a lot in this book-- like with the other high lords, but that's getting a little off topic. Save that for later. I was actually really interested in these twins, their relationship, their powers etc. It seemed like there was a whole gigantic storyline that they were going to be involved in, but no... They actually got killed off pretty quick, before you even really got to know them well. A good villain is one you understand and can almost sympathsize with... I'll be the first to admit that this series doesn't have the best big villains. I was also surprised that they were able to be killed off by Lucien and Feyre-- babies compared to them. I dunno, guess I'm just a little disappointed that they weren't used for more when they had so much potentional. As soon as Feyre and Lucien left the bodies behind I was like OMG don't do that, they're just going to be brought back through the cauldron and be blood thirsty. Yep, nope. They were gone for good. When Feyre was sneaking off and she caught Ianthe with Lucien, I was just. ANGER. I mean seriously, we already all hate Ianthe, but this book just magnifies that hatred times two million. I didn't even know that was possible. Like the way she... on Lucien... NO. JUST NO. No one gets to do that to my baby and get away with it-- and she didn't. *laughs evilly*. I'm so morbid, I enjoyed that hand smashing wayyyy too much. But then when Lucien wanted to come with her, I didn't entirely believe it. I guess his and Tamlin's relationship was strained, but I didn't believe that he would just leave, no message, no nothing. I get it, the mate thing is strong, but still... Lucien knew that would ruin his relationship with Tamlin and still left. And yet, I loved this slight bonding time for Feyre and Lucien, when they had to huddle together and he put his cloak over her *squeals* he's so cute. And that is exactly why I ship Elain and Lucien and NOT Elain and Azriel. I'm sorry, I see a growing group of people shipping Elain and Azriel and I just... can't. I know not all mating pairs are right and it actually extremely worries me that they talked about that A LOT in this book, but... I've been shipping Lucien and Elain ever since A Court of Mist and Fury, and I'm not about to let that go. I can just see it, Lucien's gone through so much, Elain could be the light in his life, kind of like how Feyre is the light for Rhys. They're just... AH perfect. I can see Sarah starting to create a love triangle, and NO! I'm not feeling love triangles, especially not here. Elain and Azriel can be really good friends... but Elain and Lucien forever. And for all y'all shipping Lucien with Vassa... How? How has this ship come about? They've been shown talking for like five seconds and suddenly there's a ship for them... Ha.. It's almost like we're all back in middle school or something (or my high school). I felt a little bit weird about the way Feyre and Rhys were reunited... Like first off, it's very Rhys style to have a big entrance, and he doesn't exactly have that. And secondly, the first thing they do is have sex. Like that seemed really forced, they haven't seen each other in a long time, and they just go at it. I don't know, that left me feeling weird. A lot of the sex scenes actually felt kind of forced to me in this book, while in a Court of Mist and Fury it was perfect. There was so much buildup, there were just sex scenes splattered randomly around the book which left me feeling like... what was the point? Once Feyre gets back to the Night Court, she just basically drops Lucien, I get it, her other family is there, but that doesn't really give her the right to forget about Lucien, who really does care for her and is a good friend. Then Lucien just disappears for the second half of the book and reappears at the very end... That felt choppy and weird. Like I don't know, it didn't seem right to have him disappear completely-- that's an example of how the first person was a bit of a disadvantage in this book. You don't get to see what's going on with Lucien, which is actually kind of vital to the story of the war, and you don't get to see anything happening with Tamlin. Yeah, guys don't murder me, but I kind of need a story from TAMLIN'S POV through this book, when he realizes Feyre has betrayed him, and then still deciding to turn on Hybern and then deciding to bring Rhys back.... I need Tamlin's views on it. Like when he saves Feyre at the camp, too. There's just so much open space there, I need to see what was going on in Tam's mind. While he actually had a redemption arc that I enjoyed, it was a bit erased when he didn't forgive Lucien at the end because Lucien was wearing Illyrian fighting gear. LIKE LUCIEN HAS BEEN YOUR COMPANION FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS YOU DICKWAD. I'm expecting to see a scene between Lucien and Tamlin at some point. Especially since I'm expecting at least some of these spin off books to be about Lucien-- you can't just reveal his father is Hellion and do nothing with it. While some of the tension between the inner circle did feel a little forced, most of it I appreciated. Like I said before, it shows their flaws which makes everything feel all the more realistic. Though, I know there's a ton of controversy about Mor coming out, and here's my stance on it. I totally accept that Mor's bi, I have nothing against that. What I'm a little bothered by with is the way she came out with it. There's just something about it that feels weird to me (if you haven't noticed, I'm having trouble putting a lot of my feelings about this book into words.) I guess it felt like it was thrown in as kind of a hasty afterthought. It didn't feel carefully worded and thought through like a lot of Maas' other works. I'm also kind of upset that Mor and Azriel are never going to be a thing now... Especailly since that makes Azriel open to Elain. Cassian and Nesta. *Sighs* now that was fantastic. I love how he constantly teased her with Nesta just angrily snapping back, but you could feel it. The tension there. And then when Nesta was constantly worried about him, but not willing to admit it, after he'd been fainting. *Cries* those two deserve the world. "Why should I be scared of an oversized bat who likes to throw temper tantrums?" HOW CAN YOU NOT SHIP THIS? IF YOU DON'T YOU'RE LYING TO YOURSELF. "I'm a warrior. I've walked beside Death my entire life. I would be more afraid for her to have that power. But not afraid of her." LOVE GUYS, LOVE. Just, I don't understand how everyone can't be absolutely in love with Cassian. Like he's just... perfect. It killed me when he was talking to Feyre about how he felt with her sacrificing herself. “Because … because as his mate, you were still … his to protect. Oh, don’t get that look. He’s yours to protect, too. I would have laid my life down for you as his mate—and as your friend. But you were still … his.” “And as High Lady?” Cassian loosed a rough breath. “As High Lady, you are mine. And Azriel’s, and Mor’s and Amren’s. You belong to all of us, and we belong to you. We would not have … put you in so much danger.” ___ “This is between you and me. And trust me, Rhys and I had … words about this.” ___ “You didn’t think you were essential. You saved our asses, yes, but … you didn’t think you were essential here.” ___ “I’ll never forget it, you know,” he said, blowing out a breath. “The moment when he spoke to us all, mind to mind. When I realized what was happening, and that … he’d saved us. Trapped us here and tied our hands, but …” He scratched at his temple. “It went quiet—in my head. In a way it hadn’t been before. Not since …” Cassian squinted at the cloudless sky. “Even with utter hell unleashing here, across our territory, I just went … quiet.” He tapped the side of his head with a finger, and frowned. “After Hybern, the healer kept me asleep while she worked on my wings. So when I woke up two weeks later … that’s when I heard. And when Mor told me what happened to you … It went quiet again.” AHHH Cassian... just my perfect baby. The whole tension waiting to see who would die... Ah it killed me. I was entirely convinced Cassian would die, so every battle I was just crying inside, waiting for the killings blow to take my darling out. And then I knew Rhys would die, because he said a ton of things like "we'll both survive this" and like "I'm gonna live" and then the whole stay with the high lord.. .Yeah. His death was obvious. Though, I knew he was going to be brought back. I don't know how, I guess it was from the suddenness of the death, that I knew there was no way he was dead for good. I like the whole full circle idea of Feyre getting the other high lords to bring him to life after he got all the other high lords to bring her to life, but that ending felt SO rushed. Like I didn't even have time to mourn Rhys before he was alive again. Same with Amren. The scene that actually impacted me the most during the final battle was Cassian and Nesta against Hybern. Just AW. He knew he would die but was willing to die protecting her... What? I'm not crying. I just have a book in my eye... Then when he told her to run and she stayed with him? AH. They kissed and I just died. Cassian and Nesta are just about the most shipable ship in this book. Rhys and Feyre? Of course I ship them, but they're already together so... CASSIAN AND NESTA FOR THE WIN. I was actually a little disappointed by Ianthe's death... Like, could we get an extra scene of her dying in detail? Haha. But seriously though. She killed the Suriel... After that I was sooo ready for her to have the absolute worst, most painful death ever. The Weaver's death also felt a bit rushed to me... Like she's an immortal GOD and she dies from getting her neck snapped and then her body being eaten by dogs... Okay then. The mirror, sorry this review is so choppy, I'm just bringing things up as I think of them. I was so disappointed by everything with the mirror, like that was one of the best RUSHED examples. There was so much lead up to that mirror, and then only a few paragraphs were actually dedicated to looking into it. I actually really liked that Jurian was actually good. Like that was a great twist and I actually ended up wanting to see more of him. I didn't really get why Miryam and Drakon still disliked him after they found out he was on the good side... like why? It's not like he actually wanted to hunt y'all down and kill you. Vassa, I'm sure some of the spin off books are going to be on her. I mean, she was described in too much detail for them not to be. The big BAD keeping her though, that has to be the Weaver and the Carver's brother, right? I'm pretty sure... Anyway, thanks for reading! I'm always up for more discussion so feel free to comment. I love talking books! Love y'all... Anj

[c0smicdaisy]

What did everyone else got wrong?

This bothers me for some time now and it´s the answer to the question why I - more than ever - believe in TJLC.

Mofftiss said that they would do this show because everyone else got it wrong. But what exactly did they mean with that?

In series 4 we saw Johns wife as an assassin, haunted from her past. We saw them having a baby together. We saw a dangerous killer who messes with peoples memorys. We saw Redbeard aka Victor Trevor. And of course, Sherlocks crazy sister, Eurus.

None of this was mentioned (nor hinted but we´ll come to that) like that in the original canon. All of these facts could be something, everyone else got wrong. So let’s start from the beginning shall we? To quote a famous detective: When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. *puts tinhat on*

Mofftiss weren´t the first to put John together with a wife - it’s in the canon. But the assassin-part of her is new. In the books Mary was a lovingly wife, who didn’t bother too much about Watson going with Holmes on his adventures. I can´t see how her part in the book could probably be anything else than that. We don´t know much about Mary Morstan but she certainly is no assassin. So that can´t be what Mofftiss meant.

I agree that them having a baby is something that sounds a bit more logical. It’s something everyone could have gotten wrong. If you ignore the heavy subtext that pours from every line of the books then yes, it would have been reasonable to assume that the Watsons got a baby. But making television history with the birth of a baby? A sweet thought in my opinion but not very likely (especially considering the small amount of screen time Rosie gets).

We had Culverton Smith as dangerous series killer, using drugs to mess with peoples memorys. In the books Culverton was a planter who wanted to get rid of Holmes because he couldn’t stop prying. Holmes finds him guilty by pretending to be ill and dying. Thats the reason why Culverton confesses his attempted murder on Holmes without knowing that Watson was hiding in the room as witness... Well tbh that’s the same thing Sherlock did in TLD! Culverton tried to kill him, Sherlock recorded his confession with Johns walking stick. Is this small plot change from Watson as witness to a recorder worthy to be called »television history« or something everyone got wrong?... No, I don´t believe it either.

Let’s talk about Redbeard then. As I remember in the canon was no dog mentioned that belonged to Holmes. He borrowed Toby, when he needed a sniffer dog. Unlike the dog, Victor Trevor had a much bigger role in the canon. He was Holmes friend back in college - his only friend until he meets Watson. So, if I understand this correctly: Mofftiss adopted the idea of Sherlock and Victor being friends but everyone got wrong that Holmes repressed his memory of his ex-best friend into a dog? Am I the only one to whom this sounds ridiculous?... No? Good. Victor Trevor was mentioned in only one story (»The Adventure of The Gloria Scott«). It was Holmes first case as a detective, it made him a detective to be precise. Trevors father was the first who pointed out the idea of Holmes being a detective. Before that Holmes didn’t knew what to do with his deductive powers. It was this case that made him a detective - something that Mofftiss didn’t pick up. They killed Victor and instead it was Eurus who made him. The memory of Victor was repressed to a dog… (i really love this show but mofftiss did loose it a bit didn’t they?) I also don’t see how we could read Victor Trevor from the canon wrong. In »The Gloria Scott« there was never mentioned a sister and the only dog that came up was Victors who bit Holmes (thats how they met). So how on earth was there foreshadowing for everything that happened with Victor in »The Final Problem«? Holmes remembered Victor in the canon, Holmes himself told the story to Watson who wrote it down. After that he was never mentioned again.

»I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to see a sister of mine apply for.« This the first and only clue to the theory that Sherlock and Mycroft have a sister. It’s a sentence spoken from Holmes in »The Adventure of the Copper Beeches« when Miss Violet Hunter asks him for advice whether she should take the offered job as governess a or not. (Caution: sarcasm ahead) But, yeah, I can barely believe that we didn’t see Eurus coming! I mean, it’s so obvious isn’t it?

He never mentioned a sibling besides Mycroft, nobody is even sure that Holmes didn´t mean this sentence hypothetically! So how could we get a crazy sister wrong, that Holmes probably never had?

If it´s nothing from the list above, that Mofftiss want to get right, then what is it? What remains?

I won't start listing all the gay subtext from the canon because I would probably quote 80% of the books. Just read »Decoding the subtext« from nekomuse or the »TJLC Explained« videos from rebs. Because that's what everyone got wrong since »A Study in Scarlet« got published. People missed that Holmes and Watson are in love for over a hundred years and still call Holmes a machine without a heart. I don't know why Mofftiss didn't took the last step in »The Final Problem« but nobody will convince me that this is the end of their story.

Feel free to add anything I´ve forgotten. Thanks for reading this and have a nice day :-)

[kinetic-elaboration]

February 9: Strange Fandom Space

I suck at sleeping at the right times in general but especially this week so I didn’t watch 4x02 until just now and I don’t have time to write up thoughts because like...work exists tomorrow unfortunately. I’m gonna just start indiscriminately closing order lines like whatever.

Wrote this earlier though so it’s kinda long but is not proof of me staying up late to ramble on tumblr I swear. Will write some sort of reaction tomorrow. Quick quick version: I liked 4x02 a lot. I’m quite pleased.

*

Yesterday when my mother was giving me her cryptic spoiler-free review of 4x02, I realized that the only couple whose canon status I'm waiting on is Bellarke. Like the only non-canon couple I both ship, and expect to be canon, is Bellarke. Which surprised me for some reason, though I don't know why. Maybe because I low-key ship so many people? I don't know, it probably shouldn't be a shock as I'm so out of step with the show romantic-pairing wise lol.  

(This came up because she said there was a romantic development I would like, and I guessed Kabby sex scene right away. We'd just been talking about Bellarke in a way that made me aware she wasn't talking about them, so I knew it had to be a development with an established couple. I don't have any not-quite-canon ships beyond Bellarke. And other convo had already made me aware it wasn't Miller/Bryan either. Thus the choices were really narrow.)

I just often feel like I’m in a totally different place re: thoughts/feelings on couples in the show, versus like the rest of fandom. And I think part of the reason for this is that I'm very used to using fandom to fill in gaps in canon. So, when the canon is giving me a couple, and giving me everything I want out of the couple, I lose a lot of interest in them, or at least a lot of fanon interest. I start enjoying the show (or whatever) in much the way that casuals do.

This plays into a larger theory of mine that I fall into fandoms particularly for the transformative aspects and thus don't get heavily invested in shows or other pieces of media that I'm perfectly content with—that fandom participation for me is basically a form of mixed adoration and criticism.  

This means that it's hard for me to understand a lot of things in, at least, this fandom, possibly current fandom trends more generally. For example, the focus on definitive truths, which includes expanding the sources from which definitive proof is found—for example, the idea that an interview could be canon. The more you accept as canon, and the more importance you give to canon, the less room there is for debate and interpretation because certain avenues are closed off even if there's nothing in the text to close them. Or the occasionally virulent hatred people receive if they question any aspect of the show, as if being a fan of something meant you cannot criticize it. Or even the weird way that people just like latch onto a random pairing because it's there and it's canon now and there's no room for saying a canon-ship doesn't make sense because it's canon lol so like you're obviously wrong. (Guess who isn't bitter about guess which mystery pairing.) (No one's ever said this to me I'm just bitter and paranoid.)

Or, perhaps most noticeably, the intense focus on whether or not something (usually a couple) will become canon. The derision fans receive if they like something not-yet canon. The ugly debates. The defensiveness (understandable given the derision though.) And just the investment in canon status.

On the one hand, as someone who's had a lot of non-canon OTPs I dearly wanted to become canon, I do get it. When you see all this evidence that A+B should be together, of course you want to see that come to fruition. Clearly. This happens to me a lot because  I (usually) need there to be some sort of canon-basis for a relationship in general to start shipping it. Very rarely do I ship people who've never interacted in canon, for example, and most of my big ships and OTPs are ones that I think should have been canon, given the evidence/foreshadowing.

But then on the other hand it's becoming pretty clear to me that, as I said, I lose interest in a couple in rough proportion to the degree that the couple is canon. Maybe it's because I've pretty much never gotten a canon ship before that I'm only realizing this now, but apparently when a Really Obvious Ship crosses the line from almost-there to actually-there, I start tuning out of the fandom.

For example, on The 100, I have followed along neutrally with some canon ships, like Finn/Clarke or Wick/Raven. (At some point I would have said I actually shipped Wick and Raven but...IDK fandom pretty much ruined that pairing for me and given that I didn't miss Wick when he was gone, I think in retrospect I was just having the sort of reaction a casual viewer would to it: I picked up the hints the story was giving me, enjoyed when they lead exactly where they were supposed to lead, but was never so invested that I focused on the couple in fanon or felt a loss in the show when they off-screen broke up). Even Lincoln/Octavia is probably in this category, as I enjoyed their relationship on the show, but never thought too deeply about it (because you can't, or it falls apart right away lol); I enjoy/ed them as a background couple in fics but have never sought out fic that features them as the main couple. That sort of thing.

I'd say I actively ship Jasper/Maya in the sense that I'm more-than-average invested in them, but again, the narrative gave me everything I wanted from that pairing so I very rarely spend any sort of fannish energy on them.

Miller/Bryan is a canon ship I actively ship (and have even written for) but they only had a handful of scenes in S3, we barely know Bryan's personality, etc. In other words, even though they're a canon couple, the narrative isn't/wasn't giving me everything I wanted about them, so fan works fill/ed the gap.

And Kane/Abby...they were never a big ship for me but I would say I pretty actively shipped them pre-S3. Now I passively ship them. I like them, I look forward to their scenes and their relationship developing, but a lot of my excited fandom feels just disappeared when they became canon.  

Even Bellarke is a little bit like this to me, only in the sense that I think it is super obvious they are going to be canon/endgame and I so trust the narrative on that point that I have no reason to ever think about their canon/not-canon status. It'll happen eventually. I'll enjoy it. But it really doesn't matter to me if it happens next week or next month or next season. Honestly, I really don't like feeling this way. I envy people who can get excited about their imminent canon-ness or even who can debate just how imminent it is. I just have no passion about it personally.

And...everyone else I ship on this show is very clearly in the Never Going to Be Canon category.  

I think there's sorta an argument to be made that canon Raven/Clarke could have been a thing... I mean IDK canon Cl*xa happened on less build up than Raven/Clarke had in S1 so I mean reasonable people can disagree I think... but not anymore. What with the damage in their relationship, the clear disinterest in the writers in developing even the friendship aspects, and the super bright signals that Bellarke is full steam ahead at this point, I don't see any room for R/C and in fact if they did veer off in that direction I'd be confused and annoyed even though I do ship them. Every other ship of mine is like...maybe if hell freezes over lol. In some cases, making a fanon-ship of mine canon would literally involve raising the dead but tbh even when both parties are still alive it's still just about as likely. And my point is that I'm okay with that.

I don't know what the overall point of any of this is except that being in this fandom is really making me re-evaluate the whole concept of fandom to me. What I want out of it, what other people seem to want out of it, and so on. My interest in the show itself is falling so low that sometimes I cannot fathom why I'm still in the fandom—I don't think I've ever felt like this about the source material before without actually leaving. I really thought S3 was bad, and I think S4 is better, so far, but if this were S1 I'd probably drift away before mid-season, it just doesn't match up with my interests very well. And yet I'm still here and I like being here, and it's because the core idea of the show, the universe, the first two seasons, the characters, and the stories I've put them in within my own head, are all so dear to me that I remain actively invested in something. It isn't the source material, isn't the community really (I'm an unknown that's all I mean, and I don't interact with people really bc I'm shy—this isn't an insult to the people in fandom). It isn't the fandom in the sense that stuff-that-concerns-the-fandom-as-a-whole doesn't concern me. And yet, for whatever reason, I'm still here. My very niche fandom interests keep me around. And it's just so bizarro to me.