#it's meta and it's fascinating. and brave

[anderwater]

writing as therapy : taking back control of the narrative and making sense of it

I MAY DESTROY YOU (2020), created and written by Michaela Coel BABY REINDEER (2024), created and written by Richard Gadd

[nutcasewithaknife]

It's been said before a dozen ways but I still can't get over how stuck Di Feisheng and Li Lianhua are. Di Feisheng has been stuck fighting and surviving since the moment he was taken into Di manor. Li Lianhua has been stuck keeping himself unknowable, unreachable ever since he blamed himself for his brother's death and so much more. They are both people who clawed their way out of awful, hopeless situations by defining for themselves who exactly they wanted to be. Di Feisheng had decided long before the Donghai battle that he will be a man who cannot be used by others by becoming the strongest. In the aftermath of the battle, Li Xiangyi had to face that he never quite found his purpose, and finds it in keeping his distance from everyone else, enjoying the little things of life on the way to atoning for his past mistakes. So many thing challenge their perception of the world and themselves in this story, but they can't just change immediately. Their inflexibly strong sense of self is the thing that helps them live, but also the thing they can't let go of. Li Lianhua is as much a survivor as Di Feisheng is and Di Feisheng is as stuck as Li Lianhua is. Li Lianhua was always going to atone and leave, and Di Feisheng was always going to wait for a promised fight.

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

#when people say sansa is ‘ambitious’ and did/will sell out her family for power. ohhhh don’t piss me off #nowhere in the text does sansa show a hunger for power. she wanted to be a disney princess as a kid and now ppl act like she’s machiavelli #sansa’s desire to be queen was always a desire to be loved. and again SANSA’S DESIRE TO BE QUEEN WAS ALWAYS A DESIRE TO BE LOVED‼️ #show sansa is smth else but book sansa was only ever following the path she was taught would lead to a happy life where she is valued/loved #and she has learned that there is no path that guarantees that. so now she will be focussed on navigating towards that life herself imo #which naturally will lead her back to wf and her family where she has always found love and value (via @alaynestcnes)

#she's a girl who likes songs and stories and has been told that she is a perfect little lady #and perfect little ladies get romantic songs written about them and grand stories about their lives and she hasn't LIVED #makes the pomegranate scene even more interesting she rejects the fruit that would trap her in that story #she is learning some narratives aren't for her she will not be carried away for the winter (via @olympusrox123)

it is so obvious on a second (and adult) reading that sansa doesn't love joffrey but the idea of a prince and she doesn't have a crush on loras but on the idea of a knight and she doesn't want power (whatever that means for a teenager) when she dreams of being queen, she's just trying to insert herself intentionally into that story. what a fascinating, complex, meta-narrative well constructed character

[hollowed-theory-hall]

i read your horcrux post, its fascinating and very well done! im just stuck on one thing: while i agree that tom definitely has a good share of self-hatred, enough to cause himself pain and endure an agonising process to become immortal, doesnt the whole idea of "killing yourself" for the ritual seem very risky? like what if you actually die lmao then the whole thing was all for naught. i mean i can also see him being confident and arrogant enough to believe he COULD do it without mistakes, but still. seems like a big risk considering his whole shtick is avoiding death as far as possible. anyway thank you for all your metas they are very enjoyable to read and think about!!!

Thank you so much! 💕 I'm glad you liked my Horcrux theory, it's one of the earliest ones I made here and I'm still pretty proud of it.

As for the risk — yeah, it is incredibly risky, that's kind of the point. This is a ritual we know Tom was crazy to attempt multiple times, a ritual in-universe that even just doing it once is considered insanely risky and potentially damaging, not to mention multiple times:

‘Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction. ...’I mean, why mention it then?” she said impatiently, slamming the old book shut;

(HBP)

That was what you told me he said. ‘Further than anybody,’ And I thought I knew what that meant, though the Death Eaters did not. He was referring to his Horcruxes, Horcruxes in the plural, Harry, which I do not believe any other wizard has ever had. 

(HBP) - only part of the quote since the rest of Dumbles' analysis of Voldemort's character in the above section is questionable.

JKR stated in an interview there is a final horrible step that must be taken to make a Horcrux, something beyond just murder. Cannibalism, physical self-mutilation, or masturbating over the corpse (Yes, I have read this theory somewhere) don't make sense because then Harry couldn't become a Horcrux. It doesn't really leave us with many possibilities.

Additionally, Voldemort talks of how only he was skilled and brave enough to attempt it more than once, to go "further than anyone" ever had:

I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality. You know my goal — to conquer death. And now, I was tested, and it appeared that one or more of my experiments had worked . . . for I had not been killed, though the curse should have done it.

(GoF)

If there was no risk, more people would make Horcruxes and more people would make multiple Horcruxes. Voldemort himself calls it an "experiment". He wasn't sure it would work at any point but the risk was worth it for him.

when he asks Slughorn what would happen if you made multiple Horcruxes he already made two Horcruxes. He experimented with Horcrux when he had little to no information on them. He experimented magically on himself. Multiple times. (He also mentioned "experiments" in plural so I wonder if he had another method besides Horcruxes that he attempted...). This is not a person who cares about "risk" like a normal person. Riping your soul apart to make a Horcrux, even without my theory, is in itself, a huge risk — and he does so consciously 6 times!

Dumbledore, Slughorn, and Voldemort all talk of Horcruxes like an unknown magic, barely attempted by anyone throughout history. Even Magick Moste Evile doesn't give more than a mention to the concept of Horcruxes because no one actually makes them. (It's the spider georg meme: "average dark wizard makes 1 horcrux in their lifetime factoid actualy just statistical error. average dark wizard makes 0 horcruxes. Horcrux Tom, who lives as a wraith in albenia & made 7 horcruxes, is an outlier adn should not have been counted").

If you need to temporarily kill yourself to become immortal it would explain why not more people have tried it. I mean, Grindelwald wanted to be the Master of Death, so why not make a Horcrux, I'm sure he was familiar with the ritual?

Becouse the risk was too great for him to take.

I talked about this a bit here and @iamnmbr3 has this post about this, but Tom, for all that he is the heir of Slytherin, acts a lot like a Gryffindor. He is prideful, sure, but he is so incredibly brave. Experimenting on himself with a super dangerous ritual 7 times is incredibly in character for him. Yes, he's arrogant, he's sure he'd succeed, but unlike Grindelwald or (younger) Dumbledore, he is willing to take the ultimate risk for the sake of his immortality.

It also makes sense symbolically. Like, to become immortal you have to risk your life — to live forever you must be ready to go through death. It makes sense in a symbolic sort of way. It just feels right.

[welcometothejianghu]

Top 10 of 2024

All right! It's time to count down my favorite Asian media things I watched in 2024 -- and sure, most of them came out way earlier than 2024, but whatever, I'm slow. Longer rec posts linked where applicable. If you wind up watching one of these on my say-so, let me know! I'm always happy to know I've been an Influencer (ha ha).

Honorable Mention: Heaven and Hell: Soul Exchange

This was originally going to be on the actual list, but a last-minute contender hopped in and bumped it off. Still, I loved this weird genderfucky body-swap murder mystery romp enough that I couldn't leave it out entirely. This baby sits right at the Hump of Compelling Mediocrity, where when it's good, it's good, and when it's bad, you can't stop thinking about how you'd fix it. I want an American remake of this so Bryan Fuller can rub his butt all over it. [full rec post here]

10. Hotel Del Luna

Did we watch this for Yeo Jingoo? You know it. And yet, we wound up falling for all the characters in this show about a bunch of dead (and one living!) people sending other dead people off to their afterlives. Meandering at times, it falls into a lot of K-drama tropes, but it still manages to pull of something special and occasionally profound.

9. 3 Will Be Free

Ah, here's the last-minute spoiler from Thailand! We showed up expecting something dumb, fun, and horny. What we got was something way smarter than it has any right to be -- but still fun and horny! A bisexual trio of incredibly sexy people (and some fascinating side characters) fall in love while semi-haplessly on the run from a whole bunch of people with guns.

8. Ayaka is in Love with Hiroko!

This goofy tale of dumb lesbians was wacky and fun from start to finish. How long can you keep up a gag about two co-workers each convinced that the other one isn't into her? Exactly the length of this tiny, funny comedy. And as a bonus, there's the manga, which is equally short and sweet. [full rec post here]

7. Story of Yanxi Palace

At 70 episodes, this (rather speculative) historical drama is not for those with short attention spans. Even so, it's a treat for anyone who likes period pieces, lavish costuming, and high-quality acting. Watch as a completely insane young woman leverages her insanity to become the most powerful pretty pretty princess in the Qing Dynasty! [full rec post here]

6. The Rebel

And speaking of well-acted period pieces! At the risk of quoting myself: Do you feel like watching a beautiful man have a terrible day for 43 episodes straight? Then this Republican-Era spy drama is for you. Zhu Yilong bounces off some gorgeous costars in a gripping tale of brave Communist misery. [full rec post here]

5. Legend of Fei

A great example of how a boilerplate YA story about a bunch of teens who save the world from eeeeevil adults can be elevated by leaning in to its inherent sweet, melodramatic goofiness. I wouldn't call it a comedy, but it's a very funny drama held up by delightful characters and charming romances. I have no idea what the plot was, nor do I care. I was too busy watching Yibo smile. [full rec post here]

4 Otoko Meshi

This show is silly. It has a completely preposterous setup: an injured yakuza boss moves in with an unemployed twentysomething, cooks him dinner, and teaches him life lessons. It has all the subtlety of a piano dropped from a great height. All the acting is completely over the top. And yet, it manages to be sincerely heartwarming? This ten-episode food-based comedy is entirely worth the effort you may have to go through to find a way to watch it. [full rec post here]

3. The Spirealm

Yeah, this one grabbed my ass good enough that I've made a whole meta-and-shitpost sideblog (@thirteenthdoor) for it. I will say, though, that the show wouldn't have done it alone -- my love for it is compounded by how I fell even harder for the book it was adapted from. Both of them together tell a gay-ass horror story about love and loss through several terrifying, deadly worlds. [full rec post for the show here; full rec post for the book here]

2. The On1y One

Just ... damn, man. What a piece of art. I was not expecting much out of a Taiwanese BL about two high-school boys falling in love, much less a beautiful, well-written, amazingly affecting tale of complicated family dynamics and gay feelings. It had better get a second season that concludes the story, is all I'm saying. [full rec post here]

1. Kinou Nani Tabeta?

I have now watched significant portions of this ... four times? Because I keep showing it to other people, because it keeps being that good. The slow, cozy, food-centric tale of the daily lives of two aging Japanese gay men makes you feel happy -- but when it rips your heart out, it rips it right out. I get that it's a little Too Real for a lot of people, but oh, it was just what I needed. [full rec post here]

What will 2025 bring? Who can say! I hope it's gay, though.

[ragingstillness]

Recently caught up on the Black Butler anime and manga and it just reminded me of how much I love the series. Also made me realize that the last time I caught up was so long ago that I’ve never written any meta for it and I have things to say:

Obviously the selling point of the series and what fascinates me the most is the relationship between Sebastian and Ciel (note: NOT a romantic relationship! Relationship as in a connection between two people). They have one of my favorite kind of relationships which is one that doesn’t really fit in any typical relationship boxes. It’s too nebulous, too flexible for it. Are they father and son? No not really. Are they siblings? Definitely not although they do occasionally fight that way. Hero and sidekick? Nope. Cousins? No. Teacher and student? No, they switch those roles around too much. The closest I can get is Bodyguard and Client but even that doesn’t fit. The only right word is partners but partners in what is not clear.

There’s multiple motivations on Sebastian’s side. He’s clearly intrigued by Ciel and by humanity in general, albeit not enough to feel anything about killing them. He’s hungry, eager to eat Ciel’s soul. He’s invested in Ciel and his goals because of this. But he’s also protective of Ciel and Ciel’s mission. Somewhere along the line that change occurred and imo we see that change confirmed during the Campania arc.

Ciel returns this new understanding when he orders Sebastian to rest after fighting zombies all night and comments on having never seen Sebastian injured before. The barrier of untouchable immortality between them has come down a bit. They have always schemed together but in the arcs that follow they seem to be working more together than working alongside each other.

Above all else, my hc is that Sebastian is bored, or was bored, with the life of a demon who quickly devoured souls. And Ciel, Ciel is interesting. He doesn’t act like the humans Sebastian has eaten before and he’s entirely unafraid of him, confidently striding into his own doom. That’s a new experience for him. It’s worth enough, adds some undefined richness to Ciel’s soul, that makes it worth the wait.

Ciel’s motivations for beginning the relationship are incredibly transparent. He was in danger and he cried out for help. He was weak and needed a strong ally. He was afraid and needed a protector. Over time that grew into having duties as the Queen’s Watchdog and needing an impossible secret weapon to wield.

Ciel’s motivation to continue the relationship and the way he reacts to Sebastian is more complex. He likes being the king, likes feeling invincible, and Sebastian’s presence gives him that. But at several points during the series he is forced to stand on his own. He faces down Madam Red alone, he destroys the circus’ “Father” alone, he utilizes social engineering to ingratiate himself to the other students alone, and he has to keep both himself and Lizzie safe alone on the Campania.

Of course Sebastian joins him eventually in every one of these situations but slowly Ciel realizes that he can’t rely on Sebastian to save him 100% of the time and begins to develop skills of his own. Of course this comes to a head on the Campania when he sees Sebastian get seriously injured for the first time and has to come to terms with his invincibility being fallible. At that point he’s faced with a choice, to give in to fear and lash out at Sebastian for not being perfect or to accept the limitations and resign himself to being scared yet charge forward bravely. He stops seeing Sebastian as untouchable and while he certainly doesn’t forget that Sebastian isn’t human, he begins to treat him more as a person who is working with him towards the same goal. He even reciprocates the protectiveness a tad, in asking Sebastian to rest and also in his taunts to Ronald that “his butler could never be so weak as to lose to him” (paraphrasing).

The manga bears this pattern out, with the two of them sticking closer together than before when they go into the forest, seeking treatment together, not spending time alone, sticking close for the idol arc and partnering up for the current arc. Some of that closeness is fear, but it’s also an acknowledgement that they work better together than independently. There’s less of Ciel as a damsel in distress and more fighting together, tricking people together, discussing mysteries together.

And even still, the relationship is impossible to pin down. Partners in crime implies a similar skill level and a similar age (generalizing) which is certainly not the case here. Sebastian can do pretty much anything Ciel can, except for the things that only Ciel can do, such as leveraging his peerage and making connections based on human emotions, which Sebastian doesn’t have and doesn’t understand. The differences in age, in socialization, in levels of empathy, in species, in opinion, they are too tangled to come up with a single label and I love it.

I could gush about all the other reasons I love this series but it’s late and I have work in the morning so I’ll cut it here for now. Anyway, would love to hear people’s thoughts.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

hello hello! can i just say, i love your takes so much. it feels like you’ve read my mind on how katara would actually react in certain situations. currently myself, im rewriting the structure of the show in a way that makes more sense (aka, getting rid of kataang altogether and focusing on actual growth for each character including aang!) and im struggling a bit on aang actually!

we know how brykke basically stunted aang’s growth because of their weirdness. but what if aang never had a crush on katara? what if he sees katara as the big sister he always wanted instead, making their relationship more wholesome than weird? i think he’s such a centralized character, but when i develop the others beyond the show, aang feels like he’s left behind.

maybe that’s part of it too! he is a boy out of time, and now more of a concept than a person as far as anyone else outside of his immediate group knows. in this au where i intend to age everyone up, i’m just curious to see what kind of man aang would grow up into if his motivations for katara was never there. i see him as trying to hold onto his lost childhood and then having to come to terms with the fact he can’t. but i’d love to hear your thoughts. who is aang outside of that? his journey has the opportunity to be so fascinating, but brykke kind of said hey! let’s not get into that! let’s make him a creepy god boy who gets whatever he wants!

(also to note, this version of aang is meant to be with azula and while i love the meta ive seen about taang i do personally hc her as a lesbian but i do like them but yeah!)

also sorry if this is too rambly i’m just very excited!

hi! This is such a nice message, and please never apologize for rambling! My blog is a safe space for all ramblers. Your fic sounds like a very exciting project!

I definitely agree with you that he’d try to hold onto his childhood & have a hard time with his grief; coming to terms with the depth of his loss would be an exceptionally interesting arc. His people were victims of genocide: his culture and his loved ones were brutally murdered. Nobody can replace that community, not even his chosen family of the Gaang, and certainly not a romantic partner.

But Aang certainly is somebody outside of all that tragedy too. I think his cheerfulness and optimism, his playfulness, his resilience, his reluctance to assume responsibility, and his prodigiousness are all important facets of his personality.

Here's my piping hot take: Aang is James Potter with a more tragic backstory and less of a cruel streak. Think about it: mischievous, funny, adventurous, brave, enjoys attention, popular, devoted to friends, prodigious, entitled when it comes to love interests, morally inflexible, dedicated to Good, can be too arrogant to recognize his own faults. We hear that James became a pretty decent guy, so there's plenty of potential for growth for Aang, especially if he doesn't get his forever girl at age twelve.

Aang has a big heart and stringent morals, but is still a bit of a trickster. Not in a malicious way, but in a “I have a zest for life way” that gives him a little bit of an edge beyond just being a sunshine boy. You can see this even in ep 1, when he sacrifices himself so that the village would be left alone, only to haul ass out of the Fire Nation ship as soon as they’re safe. You can also see it in The Great Divide, where he straight up just fabricates history lmao. Lying is not an issue for him at all, which indicates it’s not really part of his moral code.

On the other hand, he obviously feels very strongly about taking life, which indicates a black and white approach towards morality that is not uncommon in kids. I could see an older, more mature Aang being led to question his own approach to morality, particularly by someone like Zuko, who probably finds violence a lot more palatable than lying. I think there are very interesting cultural differences that can be explored here, which doesn’t necessarily mean that Aang will change his opinions, only that he’ll have greater respect for how other cultures see right and wrong, and that he can keep Air Nomad culture alive without taking on the burden of being the manifestation of that culture. He has the innate impulse to try to see the best in people, which is at odds with his black and white morals sometimes. Related to that, he really struggles with morally grey characteristics in his friends. I think that if he had a fleshed out opportunity to properly disagree with his friends, he may not necessarily change his own mind, but he might grow to value his friends' freedom of choice over imposing his own values on them, since one of the cornerstones of Air Nomad philosophy is apparently about freedom. I think his pacifist voice is an important contribution to their ragtag group of overpowered pre-teens and teens and I love it when that aspect is explored in fics.

I've seen some really good depictions of Aang-not-obsessed-with-Katara in fanfiction (Southern Lights has my favourite one; in fact it's my fave characterization of basically everyone except for Mai). I see most of his flaws as things he can grow out of, but only if he encounters difficult situations and learns to grow. Have fun with your fic, and please do share in any relevant tags once you start posting!

[tenrousei-kuroi]

Since we got a Sirius Black meta, may I humbly ask for your thoughts on Regulus Black? Although we only have scraps of canonical information about him, I find these little details fascinating, especially in contrast to how most of the fandom seems to view him. For instance, the sign on his bedroom door that hints at an assertive personality—or at least a touch of teenage rebellion—his apparent attachment to a house-elf when most other characters in HP don't care much for them, the note he left for Voldemort, and even the way Sirius speaks of him in Order of the Phoenix

Oh, what a tricky task!

🐍 Reggie is so much more difficult. I mean...I've kind of already screwed up, haven't I? Do we even know that anyone ever called him "Reggie"?

Sirius was difficult because it's a 50-50 split with him on characterization. Half of the time we get to somewhat directly see his actions and half of the time we're hearing recollections from friends or enemies. With Regulus it's more like a 0-100 split, lol.

After all, how much of even Kreacher's recollection can we trust? He certainly viewed Regulus as very brave and kind, but he's also a literal slave. Does he read kindness into every act that isn't hostile? Did Regulus really love him, or was he merely not awful?

There's a middle ground there. I see a lot of fics that portray Regulus as enormously kind and hugely sympathetic to house elves, and it doesn't seem quite right to me. Especially when it's presented as Regulus advocating for all elves, and not just his own. Just like how Sirius was horrible to Kreacher but "kind to house elves in general" I find it more believable that Regulus viewed elves as beneath him, but singled out the one he lived with as somewhat special.

I think Kreacher's opinions of Regulus may be the most biased of them all. Sirius calls him "soft", yes. It's clear he probably didn't have the stomach for horrible violence or cruelty, but that's a far cry from civil rights martyr. After all, Kreacher hero-worshiped Walburga Black, as well, and Hermione deduces that the woman was "kind" to her elf, but I think we'd be vindicated in assuming that "kindness" didn't extend to any sort of respect or true love. She held such deep bigotry for fellow humans, it seems obvious she'd also view elves as beneath her.

I think a lot of Regulus's person was still in development. Had he lived longer, he may have matured into someone who truly saw Voldemort's regime for what it was, and the enslavement of house-elves as one of the foundations of that ideology. But at the time of his death he was only seventeen, and I find it more likely he was in that perilous middle ground, having realized the true evil of Voldemort without quite yet working backwards to the point of being "fully good". Sirius mentions that his whole family "got cold feet" when they saw that Voldemort was willing to torture and murder to get what he wanted. And if that's how he regarded his parents, then his "softer" little brother probably grew disenchanted even sooner.

Which circles me back to my original question: did Regulus truly love Kreacher? At first glance his sacrifice in the cave make it seem so, and a lot of fics present it as though Regulus sacrificed himself in Kreacher's place, but...I'm not so sure. I don't know if Regulus loved Kreacher enough to have died only for him. It feels more like a convenient coincidence. Like he cared for Kreacher but had other reasons to want to die in that cave.

Regulus clearly didn't want to be a Death Eater anymore, and may not have thought he had anywhere to safely run. From his perspective, death was probably inevitable and he didn't want to be found out by Voldemort, which would have been torturous and also a risk to his family.

A short-sighted opinion. But remember...seventeen, lol.

Hermione does a lot of the heavy lifting in the "Kreacher's Tale" chapter, and since JKR has multiple times admitted to Hermione being almost an avatar for her own thoughts, plus Hermione being the character most attuned to the emotions and reasoning of others (a skill that goes hand in hand with her author-insert nature), I think we can trust Hermione's judgement. Hermione asserts that Regulus sent Kreacher back under orders to not tell anyone of what he had done and to destroy the true locket, specifically to protect his family. If he just disappeared, he'd be assumed dead and if his parents think it was an Auror who did it, they won't rock the boat and attract trouble form Voldemort.

We do have proof that Voldemort never even suspected Regulus's betrayal. In Goblet of Fire, in the graveyard, Voldemort groups Regulus into the missing Death Eaters "dead in his service".

(Incidentally, this was one of the clues that made me suspect Regulus was R.A.B. before it was revealed, because we have Voldemort blaming his death on Aurors and Sirius blaming his death on Voldemort. If both sides think the other did it, then neither did it, and his death is probably a mystery to become important later.)

So no, my final read on Regulus's relationship with Kreacher is that he did care for his elf, perhaps in the way an old-fashioned rancher cares for their working border collies. Remember, Regulus did send Kreacher off with Voldemort the first time. Intending for him to suffer? No. But not questioning his ultimate control over his slave? Yeah.

Much like how I mentioned Sirius getting shoved into that "pure evil" or "lovely angel" binary split, something similar happens with Regulus. Because canon presents him as betraying Voldemort and ultimately not being a heartless monster, people tend to swing so far in the other direction, presenting him as the most selfless and heroic person, defender of the downtrodden. And all nuance kind of goes out the window.

Voldemort is ugly. And a lot of his cohorts are ugly. But some are only bad. And when 10 year-old me asked my mother what happened in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, she told me "the good and the bad have to team up to destroy the ugly."

(Now it turns out she hadn't seen the movie in decades and was horribly misremembering its themes, lol. But that idea of people who are "good" and people who are "bad but have limits" often falling on the same side of a fight against someone horrifically worse has stuck with me.)

So our little Reggie was a "bad" one, teetering near that edge of "good". And the unmasking of the ugly might have been enough to push him right into his brother's arms...if he'd only lived a little longer.

Now I love Regulus Black, and I'm very sympathetic to him in my works, but I do think in canon he had a selfish streak. He valued his place in his family and society more than what was morally right for quite some time. And I don't necessarily think that selfishness was a permanent trait. Most people are selfish when they're teenagers. For our poor Baby Black, his selfishness just had more serious consequences. At age sixteen I parroted a lot of my parents' conservative values, too, but they weren't quite so far off the deep end as to offer me an opportunity to join the literal nazis lol. And I got to live to the age where I'd seen a skosh more of the world and could calmly walk away from values I no longer (and never truly had) held.

Me dead at age seventeen would have been such an embarrassment to my ghost, lol.

But Regulus didn't get that chance. His teenage stupidity got him caught up in something really dangerous that he regretted. It's embarrassing to have to admit you were taken in by something. Not everyone has the maturity as an adult to admit that not only have they been had, but they've caused real harm to others as a result. And a teenager? Forget it! At that age, the idea of making right for his mistakes must have seemed insurmountable, and in a way, he took the easy way out.

It's the most tragic aspect, really, that help did exist, but Regulus was unaware of his options. Short-sighted by youth. Too ashamed to ask for help. Depressed in that way that only someone who's entire world and everything they'd ever believed just fell apart in front of them can be.

This is where I think Regulus and Sirius actually show that they're brothers. They both go ridiculously all-in on their reactions to emotional upsets. Sirius's behavior after the Potters' death and Regulus's after learning of Voldemort's horcruxes are both the same: Fuck it all, throw my whole life away.

Regulus is a Slytherin, though, and his self-destruction was a bit more drawn-out. He took the time to do research, to make a fake locket, to write a "screw you" note and ultimately to walk off to his death relatively calmly. Whereas Sirius's reaction was a bit more in the moment.

A small detail that I love, which I completely forgot to include in my Sirius ramblings is that in Deathly Hallows it's specifically mentioned that Regulus's bedroom was smaller than Sirius's.

Now if I put my wild extrapolation hat on, here's where my logic goes: Sirius's animosity with his family was his own making. Not that that was wrong of him, he had the right idea to not want to be so racist. But if Sirius automatically got the larger room, then his family likely at least started out favoring him. Then he pushed them away.

"A much better son, as I was constantly reminded" is how Sirius describes his brother, and he does so bitterly. Disillusionment with his family or not, he was still upset that he'd "lost" his position as the favorite. I think that this puts Regulus in a very uncomfortable position.

Because now we have fear of conditional love. Further proof (alongside a family history of public disownments) that your parents will not continue to love you if you don't work for it. He's not safe as the favorite if Sirius was also once favorited similarly.

And if Sirius was really so poor at handling emotions in his youth as I've assumed, then he likely wasn't very supportive of his brother either. I think it is unlikely that Regulus would have thought he could "run away" to Sirius.

I know a lot of fanfics go the opposite route, with Sirius trying to save his brother, "come away with me", "I'll protect you", "they don't really care for you, but I do" kind of stuff. And I kind of doubt that happened.

Not that he wouldn't have wanted that, but I don't see Sirius as being emotionally aware enough to accurately communicate with his brother, and Regulus not being able to read between the lines. He probably felt he had parents who might disown him at the drop of a hat and a brother who was indifferent at best.

So what's a thirteen year-old Slytherin to do when the indifferent brother takes off? Ruin his relationship with his parents to run off after the other boy he's not even sure cares about him? Or stick with the family he's familiar with and who--at least for now--consider him "good".

I think in one of my ancient fics from the FF.net days, I presented Regulus's acceptance of his family's preferential treatment as him assuming that Sirius would "get it". Ie: that in his mind Sirius should have known his parents' favoritism of Regulus was 1. Completely conditional and 2. More about making Sirius--the important one--jealous than it was about actually loving Regulus.

Spoiler alert, the Sirius in that fic did not "get it" lol.

I think the openness of Regulus's character is what leads to my own inconsistency in writing. When it's time to write Sirius/Regulus slash fic #741, how do I characterize the younger Black? Is he conniving and controlling? Weak and vulnerable? Codependent? Was he truly forced by his family into danger or was he merely gullible? What role did Sirius play, was he just indifferent or did he bear more responsibility for his brother's actions?

Sirius and Regulus are like one of those puzzles where each piece is the same shape. They fit together perfectly in any direction and the only way to know if you're doing it right is to look at the picture.

I really like the plaque on Regulus's door. I think it's a great humanizing element. Regulus might have been a lot of things, but at the end of the day he was a teenager. Or in other words, a brat. 😆

Years ago, shortly after the seventh movie came out, my sister and I had a pretty long conversation about Regulus Black, and after I'd rattled off all my reasons for why Regulus sacrificed himself in the cave (bravery, regret, remorse, self-hatred, kindness towards Kreacher, etc.), I remember she cut me off and pretty succinctly added:

"I think there was some pride there, as well."

[snowberriesromanoff]

Oh my god can you please share your reading recs for Rose? 🙇🙇🙇 Ideally if it's possible i'd love to see your thoughts on:

-your personal favourite arcs/stories, what you consider essential readings

-if there's a mini/short arc you think characterizes her great and is a good standalone (i.e. for fic writers who want to do her right but don't have time to read a whole rec list)

-some rose meta if you got it? Your own or someone else or you can just yap about her rn i'm curious and invested!

Also I'm curious if there's any fan artist on tumblr who does a great Rose you wanna give a shout-out to?

Sorry for the tall order, feel free to ignore me/just answer whichever you want!

Rose!!! She is my favorite of favorites I would love to answer this

If you're looking for a comic that does her justice to give you an idea of everything she has going on, you want Knight Terrors Ravager. It's just two issues, it's focused on her dynamic with her father and a projection of her childhood self, it's beautifully done and for a current event tie-in comic it has a lot of surprising deep cut references to her canon.

That said. Content warning for *very heavily implied* CSA and on-page abuse in her comics, including Knight Terrors, which means I'm going to be treating both as canon when I talk about her and is why the rest of this is under a read more

Rose suffers from a lot of her core appearances being in Geoff John's Teen Titans run, which is...not good comics but it is the point where she went from "background daughter of Slade who is also Lian Harper's nanny" to having her own storylines. @/roseworth has a more complete breakdown of this era

Ravager origin (Teen Titans 7-12): Rose is manipulated by Slade into taking up the Ravager mantle, drugged by him, they fight the Titans, and she ultimately stabs her own eye out trying to win his approval, there's another short arc where she and her father are working together but they're not the main focus.

After the One Year Later Timeskip, Rose ends up as a core member of the team. She forges a deep friendship with Eddie Bloomberg (Kid Devil), a rivalry with Cassie Sandsmark that gets very catty because it's Johns writing, and wrestles with both the team's distrust of her and her distrust of herself. I hate her writing in most of this. It's all very hypersexual trauma victim by way of a writer who's not remotely equipped to tell that story.

Noteworthy Rose arcs

Note that all these arcs are after Johns left the book and mostly written by McKeever, with Winnick and Wolfman involved in the Deathtrap crossover

The Teen Titans Deathtrap Crossover: Rose and Joey crossover arc that starts in issue 69 of Teen Titans and continues into Titans and Vigilante. Joey is going through an evil phase here.

Ravager Fresh Hell (72-82, with a brief pause for a blackest night tie-in that's also worth reading): this is essentially a Rose solo series focusing on who she is when she's alone, what she fights for, and her inner demons

Rose & Mia friendship arc (99-100): they have a lot of great interactions in these issues, they also interact at Lian's funeral in Rise of Arsenal but I only recommend that issue if you're desperate for Rosemia content

Nightwing 112-117 (Renegade arc, Devin Grayson): this is the 'Rose leaves her father with Dick's help' arc - it's essentially the connective tissue between Villain Era Rose and the Rose we get after OYL

Post reboot

Deathstroke 2016: I recommend at least trying the first arc which has Rose and Slade interacting. This book is messy but it does fascinating things with Rose, her trauma, and her parallels with Tara and Joey. CW for very heavy CSA themes.

I've enjoyed a lot of her post-2016 appearances as well including Brave and the Bold/Wildstorm, Robin/Shadow War, and Man Who Stopped Laughing.

Honorable mention to DCeased, Future State, and the Primer comic as they're Elseworlds but interesting nonetheless.

For backstory completionist purposes

Deathstroke vol 1 issues 0, annual 4, 15, 42-55: scattered early Rose appearances throughout her father's first solo, hard to get through but this is the most Lillian and Rose mother-daughter content we get and I love Lillian Worth.

Titans 26-39: pre-Ravager Rose living with Roy Harper, babysitting Lian, billed as 'a master of the martial arts'

There's a lot of art and meta in my 'rose rav' tag.

My thoughts:

Rose is interesting because the narrative spends a lot of time telling people she's unstable and aligned with her father and a killer -- and for that matter, that she's sexy/horny -- but if you look at what's actually on the page the character's "villain arc" is mostly contained in early issues of Teen Titans 2003, the Renegade arc of Nightwing, two issues of Cass Batgirl (and some not great nu52 arcs). What's actually on page is Rose as a member of the Titans (or currently Stormwatch); a fairly reliable ally to various Bat characters (Jason, Damian, Dick, Cass - I got another ask about her dynamic with the Bats and I'm going to put further thoughts and reading lists for those relationships there because this got long); and a person with an exceedingly complex relationship with her family including her half-brothers (Joey/Jericho and Respawn), dead mother, and shitty dad who she deeply wants to believe in but who keeps letting her down in genuinely horrifying ways.

Rose and sexuality: Rose spends a lot of time flirting and throwing out innuendo, but (a) the people she flirts with don't usually take her up on it and (b) in Deathstroke Rebirth it's repeatedly stated that Rose *isn't actually interested in changing that* (she calls it owning her sexuality and Slade mocks her for it); in Gotham War Red Hood when she tells Jason she'll "lick his wounds" she isn't upset when he says no but instead says she expected he wouldn't. I read her as using hypersexuality as a defense mechanism to prevent people from looking deeper.

There's a really good web weave I reblogged recently that pulls together the panels where Slade is talking about her as his daughter compared to the panels about Tara Markov (whom he canonically groomed in canon when she was 15) and Cass (who he canonically drugged and abused) and the frankly disturbing amount of parallels. If you add Tanya Spears (Power Girl II) and Amy Allen (Bombshell) to the list you get at least 5 on-page situations involving Slade Wilson and teenage girls in canon (I believe there's a 6th with a character named Pop Rocket but I haven't read that run). DC struggles with acknowledging this because they go through periods where they want Slade to be a Noble Mercenary Dad but being an abuser has been part of his character since the beginning, and that's core to understanding his dynamic with Rose, Rose's visible trauma responses, and why it genuinely upsets me how quick various characters in-universe are to dismiss her as "like her father" or "a bad girl who can't be trusted." She's one of the Bad Victims of DC, caught in the constant cycle of looping back to her father (all the way from Teen Titans to Dark Crisis) and then being held responsible/distrusted for it. She's a good girl now, as she says in her OYL first appearance as a Titan, but no one -- not the heroes, not her, not DC itself -- seems to be fully able to take her at her word.

[vacantgodling]

Happy STS! I'm a big toponymy nerd, so can you tell me a bit about how you decide on names for places? Lathsbury, for example, meaning "loathsome + fortified town" in Old English, or Argos meaning "shining/bright" in Ancient Greek, do these hint at what those places are like to live in? Does it describe something in their history instead? Do the linguistic roots help give an idea of the kind of cultures/clothes/food you'd find there? Or is it more how the names look/sound on the page? (all valid and interesting reasons for naming a place)

happy (belated) sts! this ask ended up getting done now because it was a long answer and so i couldn't finish it in one sitting when i first got this ask so eosdj thank you for asking sm and making my brain churn <3

i quite love etymology in general SO i totally get where you're coming from and i'm happy to answer for a few of the major places that i (currently) have in the extensive world of terrae :> (i was gonna do all of them but then these explanations started getting long asf and depression is turning my brain to shit lmaooooo) but, 2 caveats before i start rambling: (1) i've had this wip since i was 12, and this is relevant to my second point (2) as i've gotten older and continued to flesh out this story more and more i've kept some things the same (such as place names) and retroactively added explanations after as to why things are the way that they are lol. because of that, some of these won't be as "deep" and thought out--or seem like they don't make much sense BUT with many of these names, it was child-vacant taking the reins on what was being named and now it's adult-me's responsibility to make it make sense LMAO.

but anyway, without further ado, have the toponymy of 3(ish) major places in terrae:

LATHSBURY

i'm actually very fascinated as to where you found the definition of lathsbury because in all my years of having this wip, i've never been able to stumble across any succint meaning like that - its really cool! but, to be fair to myself, lathsbury is more a story relevant name and not much real world consideration was taken in naming it (meaning that this is one of the place names where kid me named it and now adult me is like, how do i make this name make sense lmao)

as to why i decided this should be the place name as a kid--genuinely i couldn't tell you. it was one of things where i thought of it, it sounded good, so decade and some change later, its still stuck.

the IN WORLD explanation is that both the people themselves (the Lathsburians) and the main kingdom of this world (The Kingdom of Lathsbury) are named after the Guardian of the first age, Lath of Argos, Guardian of Valor--as he directly helped save their ancestors from certain extention in the years before the creation of The Labyrinth (though funnily enough in a meta sense, i chose lath's name as lath because the city was already named lathsbury lmao). anyway, to learn the backstory about that, i made a handy little powerpoint about it HERE (and i have yet to make a part 2 about The Nomads specifically, but those will become the Lathsburians tm).

regarding the actual meaning; because i have a whole system of how i go about naming people in this wip (which is a conversation for another day), when i went looking for name etymology for lath, the meaning i found that i enjoyed the most was "lion" (though the bamboo meaning is also nice bc that can tie into perserverence or relentlessness)--and so to tie that back to everything regarding lathsbury, and the lore and all of that the technical toponymy of Lathsbury would be (the) Town Fortified by Lions; Lathsburians pride themselves on being "Lion People" as they model a lot of their behavior and vaules on the attributes of Lath: fearless, brave, relentless & working for the greater good of their people (as lions have prides and they work together and all that shit).

EROS & ARGOS

the citadel of Argos was the first city ever constructed in Terrae and was the one safe haven that Terraneans had before The Day of Fissures (see afore-linked powerpoint lol). i mostly picked the name Argos because Eros as a city already existed; and i liked the fact that the names are similar (because of their Greek origins they have similar sounds /shrug) because essentially, these two cities cannot exist without one another (in modern Terranean history tm). in fact, the two cities used to be combined under one banner in the years after The Day of Fissures & before The War of Lathsburian Succession--in that couple hundred year period, Eros/Argos were referred to as "Aegos" which is essentially a combination of the two city names (by adding the 'e' for Eros as all the other letters are p much the same) & this is also why some characters - as a tidbit/fun fact, have the surname Aegos (ie: Lady Illiana Aegos).

because of that coinjoinment the people from Eros/Argos call themselves Aegean even to this day--and in their world Aegean means something akin to "first people" -- this is because of its relation to Argos being the first city of Terrae, so thus, the Aegeans are the First People. so Argos doesn't necessarily mean shining/bright in this context--though you could argue that the attitude of Aegeans (generally) make them feel as though they are the shining light of the Terranean people and that the rest of the mainland has gone astray from their true purpose, which is liberating Argos from the clutches of chaos and restoring the old capital to its former glory. tm.

edit: also also, eros means “love” and shit. so eros existing is sort of “for the love of argos” because they want to reclaim it. tm.

HYTRÖTH

last one i'm gonna do for this giant ramble lmao. tl;dr this is a name that i also picked as a kid by throwing random letters together and adding an umlat on top bc i thought it looked cool, but then in retrospect i realized that little me was really onto something with this and i literally didn't even know it. let me explain.

so, Ö has a sort of "ouh" sound, with more of an emphasis on the uh. this makes the name of this place sound more like "High Truth" instead of "High Troth" (though if you call it either its literally fine lol, i misprounounce my own shit allllllll the time just look at he who smites the sun anyway tho)

the reason High Truth is REALLY genius is because Hytröth is considered to be the birthplace of the goddess MUINENS--who, among other things, is a goddess of justice (she's kinda similar to Athena if you want a sort of real-world comparison though of all the gods she's the only one with a specific inspo in mind and even then as i've developed this wip, she's grown so much as a deity. i should also mention generally speaking that its the proper way to refer to deities by putting their names in all caps unless they're minor deities such as Palanthia, The Lady of the Mist, or Nitarr and so on). so her birthplace being known as "high truth" you can see why i think that's really fucking cool.

--

i'd love to do more of these sometime in the future but like i said earlier, i just kinda don't have the brain for it. but if you (or anyone) were curious about the naming process for any of the other major places in terrae have a little handy list:

Lathsbury, Eros & Argos, Hytröth, Snake's Canyon, Mordiga (Diisai), Kiskkaddon, Marthveil, Easthollow, Koss, Kingsburrow, Silverkeep, Bass Landing, Ubwyn (The City of Sorrows) & Wish of Palanthia C:

[brw]

It's fascinating that comics insist to me that Simon is straight when from a very clear meta level, he will never compare to Vision? His relationship with Wanda fundamentally only exists because of Vision. It has nothing to do with their chemistry as characters or whatever balance they may have, and it has everything to do with Vision being the connecting feature between them, and because of that Simon will just never measure up. He will never, ever be as important to Wanda as Vision is, because Vision is the person Wanda chose to marry and have children with, and Simon is the person Wanda chose because he was convenient and there.

Similarly, with Carol, there's never any sense that they are endgame. Simon is never treated as a serious romantic option compared to her other options. She even says "I love him like a brother", and the only time she actively seeks intimacy with him is because he's just... there, and convenient. He's an attractive body who happens to be there and is somewhat nice and emotionally dependable, and that's the only reason why he's there as a romantic option, but he is never ever going to be the serious main relationship. He's the placeholder while you wait for something else.

Even with Tigra, their relationship is just... Simon is vaguely nice to her and he's handsome, so that's good enough. And that's the most genuine Simon romantic relationship, where it's not affected by Vision having a past romantic entanglement, and Simon doesn't act like an absolute demon. And still Simon is vaguely a placeholder while Tigra has much more genuine emotional, romantic and sexual connections with Hank Pym and Marc Spector.

He's just not someone who is ever seriously a contender in his relationships with women, and there's a very clear reason for that but no writer is brave enough to answer the question.

[solar-nightengale]

Hi, I’m new in this tag kinda and new to meta-writing overall, but not only is the August brain rot really strong but one particular part of his entire character has been on my mind for a whole weekend. Please take this as mostly an offering of very spilled thoughts cause I couldn't keep them to myself anymore, LMAO. Particularly the thing that's on my brain is his guilt

I would also like to make note of and thank @ lizardthelizard And her glorious set of tags here for setting off my spiral tonight and also when she first sent them because my goodness this is truly an eye-opener. Thank you, buddy 💖

Gosh though, August’s guilt and self-criticism of himself and his actions is something that really fascinates me personally, and just thinking of it being the cause of what turns him back to wood is both mind-blowing but it just makes so much sense. He may be real because of magic but who’s to say it’s just the magical conditions that are holding him back and not the high as heck expectations that he feels were set for him and he set up for himself.

When it feels like you can't mess up sometimes it can feel like you're stuck in place Or that your screw ups means you can't change, that you're not good, that maybe you don't deserve to be considered good and that your various flaws are all that others would see you FOR!!

Maybe it's different to anxiety but idk it’s what caught my attention about him even more than what his character already offered up in s1!

He was given this like 

Idea that he needs to be "Brave" and "Truthful" and "Selfless" all the time or else he cannot be human 

Does it work like that? no, there's no human on EARTH that's all three of those things all the time, we've all had moments of weakness and gave in 

But what does he know? Most of his life he spent on his own and as a puppet, he was expected to understand the ways of being a human and GOODNESS knows how short a time he was with his dad before he was THRUST into a world and forced once again to stand on his own two feet and expected to just, you know, know how to act once again 

He's followed by expectations that he finds himself struggling to meet because he doesn't know what the limit is or how to meet them, and sometimes if not all of the times the temptations are just better and easier 

And it's expected!!!

He stepped into TLWM as a child with no idea of what he’s getting into with no prior knowledge, no adult, no nothing.

But omg, he drags himself down so much about it because he can’t meet those expectations the way he would want to and because of that because literally who did he have to tell him that it's all okay? That you can make mistakes and move on from them? That you can make up for your mistakes and forgive yourself for them?

Did he have anyone at all? Cause The show sure didn't show him having anyone

We see one woman in Thailand but even after he discovers he's turning into wood she's no longer around, so like she's probably about as fleeting of a relationship as anything else

Imagine going 28 years at first ignoring all your problems and then the horror and thoughts that you’re not good enough catch up to you one morning and the more you see yourself a failure, the more you sink into that spiral the harder it feels to breathe.

[fuckyeahladybug]

For the "love your fandom" ask game: 3, 5, 16?

A character that fandom has helped you appreciate:

Ooh, that’s a fun one. I have to shout out @flightfoot’s Alya meta here to start. I adore Alya in her own right (hence the profile pic) but sometimes other fans notice details I don’t.

Speaking of details I don’t notice, I love Plagg much more for having read countless fans’ analyses of tiny “throwaway” details in canon that establish his past and hidden depths.

And there’s Nathalie, of course. I would be obsessed if I watched ML alone in my home and never spoke of it to anyone, but all the regular posters in the Gabenath and Eminath tags have my whole heart for their depictions of her character. I have to shout out @stopaskingmetowearthatwig and their comic “Please Take Me Dancing Tonight.”

I’ll be cheeky and say that a specific subclass of @miraculoustakes anons have helped me appreciate a new side to Rolland as well 🫡

Something you see in fics a lot and love:

I’ll read just about anything that has Marinette teach Adrien to cook and/or plays with the idea that he might have lingering trauma/difficulties around food. @sing-in-me-oh-muse does this well. I’m also an absolute sucker for transfem Adrien, though all trans/genderweird Adriens have my whole heart.

I also love every writer who’s bravely asked the question: “What if Adrien, Marinette, Nino, and Alya all lived in the same apartment/building/college dorm and had Roommate Shenanigans?”

A tiny detail in canon that you want more people to appreciate:

I’m not going to be able to find my screenshots rn, but in mid-S5 Adrien and Marinette have a picnic in the same place as the picnic where Gabriel presented Emilie with the peacock brooch and carried her off, presumably to conceive Adrien.

I’ve talked about this before, but the Gabriel/Marinette parallels in the show fascinate me. It goes beyond fashion design and into the ways they relate to the people around them, react to stress, and handle power. It’s always felt fitting that Marinette alone was with him as he made the wish and that their identity reveal was mutual. In Gabriel’s last moments, he and his enemy see each other wholly and completely, as they truly are.

Here’s the game if you want to participate!

[therealvinelle]

I've just seen your reindeer post and braved the site translation, at one point the calf is referred to by "crab" but it seems to hold up surprisingly coherently and well.

There's just one part I'd ask to know what your translation would make it out to be (under the Nature Gives and Takes final section):

"It had probably been alone on the mountain among predators next to its dead mother for three to four days. The calf had been eaten, probably by the eagle, and had several injuries."

Is the second sentence suggesting that an eagle ate only part of it during that time the intended takeaway?

If it is that's more behaviour I'd expect from crows/corvids but fascinating.

Also, although I have no clue if it's information on your radar, is the likely species of eagle that it was immediately obvious to you via context?

This is obviously not quite a standard meta ask so feel even less pressure than you do for your normal asks if possible (as there's never any obligation naturally, well, unless you and theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin occasionally harass each other by sending asks you want the other to answer, then there could be pressure I suppose).

(The post that inspired this)

I completely forgot to answer this one, sorry.

Readmore for animal harm mention.

The translation is correct. The baby reindeer was partially eaten by an eagle, specifically a golden eagle, while hovering near its mother (as the mother's corpse had attracted vultures).

(For those not wanting to click the link: story ended happily! The calf figured out humans could help, and sought out a group of hikers.)

[presiding]

What is your favourite thing about Billie Lurk?

(Answers are obvious possibly but i love when people talk about her👍)

thanks for the ask!! YEAH ME TOO I love when people talk about Billie! I can't say I have a favourite thing specifically, but I can explain why she's my fav. apologies for not taking this qn literally, but -

short answer: she’s really cool

& you can stop reading there, or, for the maybe 2 mutuals who might have time to read this my thoughts on her as a character, her meta, and her character as raw potential...

long answer:

i considered making this entire thing a gush so you could read a gush about Billie. but, part of what draws me to her is that she’s not always well written, and in fandom she’s underrated for a literal protagonist.

since you ask...

billie is a cool character

when I played Dh2 (hadn't played Dh1), I was excited to see a black woman with disabilities who was captaining a massive ship by herself. wow.

then I discovered Billie’s backstory with Deirdre, the way she responded to that, then having to survive while living on the run, and her bisexuality. as well as her history with daud & delilah. fascinating!

she’s an outsider who has so much to lose, and knows what it's like to lose everything - having lost everything not once but three times - but nevertheless speaks truth to power. she's so brave! she went and helped Emily & Corvo and she must have known they might kill her! plus, she’s smart, she’s funny, she gets shit done, she’s gorgeous.

but... the meta

mild critique of fandom & arkane incoming.

skip this bit if you want - you've been warned twice now - jump to tired Hayao Miyazaki and read from there if you'd like my thoughts on writing her.

i thought Death of the Outsider was going to be amazing and then... well. *sad trombone* i've written about that before so i won't keep banging on. i figured others must be disappointed too, so I joined a few fandom spaces in hopes of finding camaraderie.

most people with complaints about DotO didn’t like how the Outsider and Daud were handled. which is valid & I agree. but it seemed like most paid no attention to Billie; when people talk about her it’s with respect to Daud, as opposed to in her own right. you could argue for fandom misogyny because people don’t talk about adult Emily Kaldwin that much either, but in Billie's case, it’s misogynoir (compare & contrast with the popularity of thomas, particularly the popularity of thomas portrayed as a white man for no particular reason that i've been able to discern - i keep asking around, is it in the books???).

i think this is a LOT better now than it used to be, which is fantastic. or perhaps i have found the correct echo-chamber? ha.

ultimately, The Fandom is a fraction of the entire picture, and not even the important bit since The Fandom is not who these games are made for. you can't make money relying on only your hardcore fans even if all of them spent a fortune on merch, this is true for any AAA game.

while it's true that Billie is underrated from a fandom perspective - but Billie as an underwritten protagonist is squarely Arkane’s fault.

it was reasonable when she was a side character - the lack of info in Dh2 makes perfect sense (if anything there was more lore in Dh2 which is kind of wild)-

- but as a protagonist in Death of the Outsider?

.... there’s lousy writing, and there’s whatever is going on with Billie Lurk, a black woman who mostly exists as a foil or saviour for light-skinned characters. In her own game there’s barely any of her own lore except where it's relevant to saving two dudes.

lore hints at, but barely touches on what race means in the Dh universe (xenophobia is stronger in Dh1; separate essay i guess), but Arkane has patted themselves on the back for portraying non-white characters, which feels like the same thing as the aesthetic of diversity we're seeing in advertising currently because it’s in marketing trend guides. it's self-congratulatory and it's a missed opportunity for deeper storytelling.

you can see an example of diversity at its most shallow in the way that Billie’s written: there’s little engagement with her as an entire person with history & wants & preferences, and the world she walks through in that game feels like it has nothing to do with her. you could make a case for alienation as a theme, but then, how do you handle the titular premise of 'Dishonored' without ever letting Billie make changes in an environment without a chaos system? it's disappointing from that angle too.

in my opinion, whatever it's worth, it was an accident Arkane created such an awesome character - they needed someone to betray daud. congrats billie.

all this said, it makes her an underdog as far as characters to enjoy & create art & stories for. it's nice to find so many like-minded, switched on people! <3

billie's character potential

she’s got a wealth of unexplored lore, being deeply intertwined with both Karnaca & Dunwall’s fates & criminal underbellies, as well as her connections to the witches & whalers, and three Empresses.

she’s lived a few distinct lifetimes and in the games we get to meet her at two peaks (KoD & DotO) & a low (Dh2 as Meagan).

her voice is very distinct, her dry & often dark humour is entertaining & fun to write. her perspective is really interesting - she’s had the widest variety of void-powers of anyone canonically, and she’s also lived through the highest highs and lowest lows.

she's got everything going for her :) i couldn't really pick a fav thing!

[thatslytherinauthor]

⭑༻ 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐌𝐘 𝐒𝐋𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍 𝐋𝐈𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐘 ༺⭑

"We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks." – Phineas Nigellus Black

🐍 Name: Luke 🐍 Pronouns: He/They 🐍 Fandom: Harry Potter 🐍 Age: 32 (No minors, this is an adult space!)

🐍 About Me: Slytherin through and through—cunning, ambitious, and a lover of complex characters. My heart belongs to the Malfoy family, not because they’re good people (they’re not), but because they are deeply flawed, fiercely loyal, and bound by love in a way that fascinates me. Lucius and Narcissa? 10/10 parents, fight me. When I'm not daydreaming about Harry Potter and Drarry in my free time, I work in a daycare.

🐍 What You'll Find Here: ✮ Malfoy family meta & appreciation ✮ Drarry headcanons ✮ My writing & fanfics

🐍 Tagging System: All my stories will be tagged #that slytherin author, so feel free to track or blacklist as needed!

🐍 House Rules: ✓ Be chill, be respectful ✓ Proship friendly – Fiction =/= reality ✗ No hate or discourse, I’m here for the vibes ✗ I do not condone JKR’s bigotry – This space is trans and LGBT+ inclusive

Now, come in, settle down—perhaps by the fire with a cup of tea—and let’s talk Slytherin things. 🐍Follow me on my other accounts : ✮ AO3 : ThatSlytherinAuthor ✮ Bluesky : SlytherinAuthor ✮ Twitter X : SlytherinAuthor Don't hesitate to ask me anything!