#long post ts

[zumurruds]

talk about laurent the way laurent fans talk about damen

oh, this is going to be fun!

"i have to get this meta off my chest, because the way laurent fans interpet his character is upsetting - they want to erase his shortcomings and make him boring, when the only thing interesting about him is his flaws :/ first and foremost pacat wrote laurent intentionally as a white supremacist, and we're not supposed to sympethize with him. he represents privilege, patriarchy, prejudice, classism, feudalism, misogyny, narcissism, xenophobia, toxicity, abuse, mesopedia, colonialization, racism and in fact all the -isms you can think of. he's the ultimate white slave master archetype, and people who like and sympathize with him are doing it wrong. when we're first introduced to laurent, he's a parallel to the regent. they're mirror villains. they're both second sons who use their intellect for evil, and love wielding rape as a punishment. they both exist to uphold the systems of sexual abuse, patriarchy and white male supremacy, and sadistically relish in the control they have over others.

laurent fans love to forget that he is a blood purist: he hates all illegimate children, despite their birth being out of their control. the way laurent calls innocent children "bastards" throughout the books, and genuinely thinks they "curse the line, and sour the milk, ruin the crops, and drag the sun out of the sky" is horrific and backwards, and only furthers the harmful patriarchal ideals of blood purity and legitimacy. laurent literally prioritizes marital status over individual worth and i never see any of his fans talk about it. i love how pacat intentionally wrote laurent and all veretians upholding systematic inequality and social exclusion, unjustly burdening innocent children with shame and psychological distress. it really makes his villainous character so interesting and layered...

but burdening innocent children with pyschological distress isn't new to laurent, seeing as he unapologetically bullies and manipulates an impoverished, lowborn child (nicaise) who is being sexually abused by his uncle, and is ultimately responsible for his death. he also later tells damen that it is better for a veretian pedophile (the regent) to rape and sexually exploit nicaise, than to be a slave in akielos, where every slave in akielos is of age, and according to the author, consents to being in a "safe space for erotic escapism: the slaves are chosen because they have pre-existing submissive tendencies, and the masters are culturally bount to treat them well. [a slave's] desire to submit is in no way a pro-slavery argument." source, source. when laurent is crowned king, he does not abolish the pet system that victimized children like nicaise in the first place, further compounding his hatred for children and other victims of abuse. we love a villain who turns into the very thing that he feared most!

i also love the way pacat exposed laurent's misogyny in the series... veretian men aren't allowed to spend time with women becaues it's forbidden, isolating them from the opposite sex, which really manifests in laurent in disturbing ways. in prince's gambit, his misogyny comes to a forefront when he bribes a poor lowborn woman who cannot refuse a prince's order to give govart, a known violent rapist, oral sex, knowing exactly how govart abuses his "partners"... and then when laurent is hiding in the brothel with damen, he commands prostitutes to have sex with damen against his will, treating both the women and damen like sex objects without any regard for what they want or feel, reinforcing to readers that he's a sociopath with toxic masculinity due to his obsessive need to dominate and control others sexually.

laurent also wants to indescriminately annihilate every akielon off the face of the earth, playing a game of "kill all the Akielons and restore the old empire" with auguste as early as childhood. this deep-seated racism and prejudice informs the way he abuses, rapes and tortures damen in the books, and how he sadistically treats all the akielon slaves in the series. he doesn't give a shit about them at all, and is only coerced to help them after he is bribed to by damen. when damen confronts laurent's gaurds about letting govart rape erasmus, laurent's response was: "The Prince's Gaurd doesn't intefere with the Regency. Govart can stick his cock into anything of my uncle's he likes", displaying a callous disregard for the well-being and dignity of others, as well as a troubling acceptance of abuse and exploitation within his own ranks. it doesn't only stop in the first book, this is a patterned behavior that continues into kings rising, where laurent forces a poor slave, isander, to kneel and kiss his boots in order to humiliate him and anger other akielons, and then forces isander to serve and feed him against his will, establishing his white supremacy in the books.

laurent fans love to erase the fact that he's a black-and-white thinker, possibly the most black-and-white thinker lacking any nuance in the whole series. he genuinely believes someone being killed in battle means they were murdered in cold blood, and not defending their country. he believes anyone who does this deserves to be raped, tortured and killed, despite the fact that he and auguste have also killed people in battle, and by this logic, deserve to be raped, tortured and killed by those fallen soldier's family members too. he's a hypocrite, and his fans who try to pretend he's a "good person" are completely missing the point of the series, which is a critique on the white, mediocre, blond, evil character trope like lestat, draco, etc.

laurent fans love to focus on his "trauma" and make it his entire personality, which is annoying because he doesn't really have trauma, he's just spoiled and privileged. in fact, he actually loved the regent and enjoyed their relationship, and only started hating him because the regent left him for a prettier person. stop being petty laurent! i also find it amusing how laurent keeps playing his uncle's game and believes he won't kill laurent despite years of his uncle openly trying to do just that... laurent's blind trust and love for his family is a huge character flaw that should definitely be held against him. he's super dumb and the most oblivious character in the series, like seriously a kindergartner could see that the regent is bad and would try to kill him.

it's so obvious that pacat meant to write laurent as a villain who has gone off the deep end, and must attone for his crimes against damen and others by attempting to kill himself in king's rising, and when that is foiled by damen's heroic efforts, makes laurent promise to atone to damen for the rest of his life in the summer palace because that's the only way to rehabilitate and redeem a character like laurent whose sole purpose in the books is to offer a scathing critique of white supremacy and toxic abusers.

anyways, i obviously love laurent and understand his character better than anyone else, and it's really weird that his fans try to erase his flaws because they are doing laurent a disservice and making his character boring, because his villainy is the only thing that is interesting about him. in fact, if you write any positive post about laurent and DON'T preface it with how much he is a villainous slave-owner and bad person, then you really don't love or understand laurent, and are endorsing every bad thing he does. muah send post xoxo #meta #characteranalysis #villainlaurent #canon."

the way laurent fans would be shitting bricks, puking, moaning, crying, etc if damen fans posted "character analysis" like this under the guise of "loving his character" every 5 minutes in the tags the way they do about damen is hilarious. they'll put genuine effort into trying to undestand laurent's background and motives, and give laurent endless grace and approach his character with nuance, but with damen they're hellbent on twisting his character, motives and background with the intent of villifying him and making him out to be something he's not. the amount of victim-blaming, bad faith takes, mental gymnastics, and full-blown racism i've seen laurent fans engage in while making these "analyses" of damen is genuinely disturbing, moreso because nobody in their own circles are willing to call it out. instead, they try to gaslight everyone and deflect by claiming its canon and attack anyone else who doesn't share the same toxic hive mind. anyone can write bad faith takes, but it certainly doesn't make it valid.

every single damen fan i've met likes laurent, but every single person who makes loving laurent their only personality trait seems truly resentful and bitter towards damen's character and constantly feel the need to willfully misinterpret his character to make up for laurent's flaws. instead of enjoying both characters separately, they turn it into a competition of morality, attempting to make damen out to be the ignorant bad guy who needs laurent to rehabilitate him, while portraying laurent as the true voice of morality, compassion and modernity in the books. the old fandom trend of trying to make the "noble, heroic" character (pacat's words, not mine) really the bad guy of the series, and laurent the "true good one who must teach damen right from wrong" is so tired and boring. do better, guys.

[stillsolo]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN. respond to the prompts out of character !

what made you pick up the current muse(s) you have? oh, where do i even begin?  well, i suppose i should start with how long sw has been in my life.  ANH was the first movie my mother ever saw when she visited the USA; she saw it with my grandmother ( and subsequently developed a massive crush on harrison, so indiana jones became a huge part of my childhood too lol ).  for this reason, my mother introduced my brother and I to sw when we were actual babies.  then, when the prequels came out, it’s all me and my brother consumed.  from the movies themselves to the original clone wars cartoon to the PS2 games to the novels/book series.  we watched it on a tiny portable player for every trip, and every time my relatives needed us to go away to let the adults talk lol.  it also helped our comprehension of english so much. i can’t recall a time in which sw hasn’t been present in my life! before i joined the tumblr swrpc, i kept to myself in the prequels community, wrote fanfic, and rped anakin on skype.  he’s always been a character that hit a little too close to home in one too many ways.  the main parallel i have with him (that doesn’t relate to his mental issues haha) is his love/devotion/attachment to his mother.  it’s difficult for me to explain without getting into the aspects of my culture (孝順 / filial piety), but in short, i am cantonese; if my mother asked me for my thumb tomorrow, i would give her my arm today.  anakin’s love for his mother, his determination to free her from slavery at an early age, was very touching.  EPII has been memed to oblivion, yes, but the pain i feel when anakin doesn’t get to hear his mother tell him she loves him one last time before she dies, and knowing that it haunts him for the rest of his life (eu), makes me want to throw myself out a window lmao  i have an extremely close relationship with my parents; this sort of pain is absolutely gutting for someone like me. anyway, when i joined the tumblr swrpc, writing han solo was never the plan.  i originally wanted to write luke but ended up changing my mind at the last second.  I’d written well over a dozen fics with han at that point, but was nowhere near confident, so i thought of it as more of an experiment. guess that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, because if you really think about it, since the day i started writing him in fics, he hasn’t stopped butting into my brain.  in fact, he’s been harassing me ever since—to the point that i even switched from writing luke to him… lol given my upbringing and my mother’s love for him, han has always been my childhood hero, as well as my brother’s.  our dad was our han solo.  the nostalgic and familial associations run so deep, it’s difficult to articulate.  we share many traits, right down to his universally agreed-upon zodiac sign (sagittarius); i know han solo like the back of my hand—and it’s probably because i wanted to be just like him when i grew up.

is there anything you don’t like to write? character death.  if i have to say another, it’s when people conflate harrison with the character he plays and then decides to address that in a thread.  harrison was a ladies man back in the 80s, and that’s fine, but that doesn’t mean the same for han.  i hate seeing the conflation between the two.  not sure if this happens as often anymore, but there was a time when fics/threads/even han rpers would lean into it, by default, thus totally destroying his character in my eyes.  i mean, write it as a storyline, that’s cool and fine, but infidelity has never been inherently part of his character.  i will die on this fucking hill.

is there anything you really enjoy writing? most unpopular opinion ever: action sequences.  critical situations, fast paced action, thriller scenes featuring immediate, life-threatening circumstances.  i love writing that which exhibits a sense of urgency and tension, with sprinklings of emotional depth and contemplative introspective moments.  scenes with internal conflict combined with aforementioned external events.  even evading enemy forces, sustaining minor/major injuries, dressing wounds.  dunno why those are always the most fun to me.  aside from that?  romance/romantic angst.  i’ve had many writing partners over the years, and each one thought they could outdo me in writing romantic angst.  sometimes, the psychosomatic pain of heartbreak isn’t far from feeling like you’ve lost a limb in battle.

how do you come up with headcanons? by being the most annoying, meticulous person ever.  i’m extremely detail oriented; when i see incongruities in my own work, i perish.  so, when i come up with headcanons, i have to consider all factors that may affect the outcome of whatever question i’ve posed in my mind and feel the need to justify my choices, for whatever reason, by tying it back to XYZ.  my headcanons must align with my muse’s personality, their environment from childhood to adulthood, their current circumstances, and if it’s an AU, how it mirrors canon events.  canon/eu is everything imo, because they are their own choices; it’s what shaped them into the character we know them as.  ofc, this is my process and opinion, so make of that what you will.

do you write in silence or do you play music? no music, no tv.  sometimes people talking is too much for me.  i have adhd and my medication only helps so much.  i will absolutely start writing down the conversation or lyrics playing in the background lol

do you plan your replies or wing them? plotting vs planning replies is different to me.  plotting gives me a foundation, but it can’t be too confining.  to plan a reply is to block out each moment.  if you trap me, i will always deviate; so i wing everything, even when i have a foundation.

do you enjoy shipping? yes, absolutely!  i’m not sure why people tend to assume otherwise, but i’m more open to it than people think.  i’ve never cared about who you write, if they’re in the sw franchise, or even what era of sw etc etc  never given a shit about what people think; if our muses click, they click.  honestly, some of the best ships i’ve had with han, as in the most enjoyable and enlightening of his character, have been ‘crack ships’.

what’s your alias/name? vin, vince, vincent.  vincent van hoe.  trash bin vin.

age? 27!

birthday? dec 2!

favorite color? silver.  if that’s not a color to you, then blue.

favorite song? you can’t expect me to… well, ‘in your eyes’ by the weeknd has been up there for a long time.

last movie you watched? star wars: the clone wars (2008)

last show you watched? … the clone wars lol

last song you listened to? billie jean - MJ.

favorite food? my mother’s 番茄炒蛋 ( egg and tomato stir fry ), unagi, freshly baked breads, fresh fruit …

favorite season? i get mostly tropical weather, but i love a cold winter.

do you have a tumblr best friend? unfortunately, so many people have left the site over the years, but i'm grateful to call these people some of the closest friends i have in the rpc: @techniiciian @desiccation @vibraea @rcvanchist @sgterso @voxcrystallis

tagged : @debelltio thank you for thinking of me!! tagging : if you're still reading this, i tag you!

[usagimen]

Valentine's Day Application

Name: Amon Koutarou Age: 32 Do you like to cuddle?: "… Only with you, bunny. I like being close to you and holding you in my arms. Think we've already established that early on, but I'm more than happy to offer you plenty of evidence to prove my case." Can we make-out?: "When the mood is appropriate… ahem. It's a possibility, so I wouldn't rule it out just yet. That's for me to know, and for you to find out." A night in or dinner out?: "Think we can kill two birds with one stone, let's do both." Whip cream or chocolate syrup?: "… Is this for dessert? Both, I suppose?" Chocolates and roses?: "Well, I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise, would I?" The answer's yes, and with a giant bunny plush to add to the collection. What makes you a good Valentine?: "… I'm a committed partner, and I'm getting better at dancing." He feels somewhat awkward at having to advertise himself and fill out an application when they're already in a relationship, but he doesn't mind entertaining her and what seems to be a rabbit game. "You'd never have to worry when you're with me. Does that make me a qualified candidate for this holiday, or should I list specifics?... Is this an interview, baby girl?" Would you cook for me?: "I'd take care of everything." Even the hunting; she won't have to stain her pretty hands with blood anymore. Would you let me cook for you?: "Sure, if that's what you'd like. I'd want to help you out in the kitchen and with gathering the materials, though." Where would you take me on a date?: "… Somewhere you'd like to go? A trendy upstart restaurant with a dance floor and a good bar, and then somewhere more intimate where we can see the stars and slow dance underneath the night sky. I'll take you anywhere you want to go, just say the word. I'll make sure you feel safe anywhere and everywhere in this city." Who’s paying?: "-- Hey, don't worry about the money, alright bunny? I'll take care of everything." He's a gentleman who's adamant about never letting a lady pick up the tab. What did you get me for Valentine’s Day?: "Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, but I guess it's fine if I show you early." Matching promise rings with gemstones to symbolize their connection and commitment to each other, paired with a flower bouquet of her namesake and another giant bunny plush so the one he gave her for her birthday isn't lonely. It almost resembles him, with the same deep blue eyes and steady smile. "... Will all this do, Miss Sayuri? Am I the perfect fit for the position?"

     Mangled flowers && cheap blood wine, the smell of intoxicating masked with decay, isn’t it comical? A ghoul that wishes to know what love is, the affection of a heart that brims with nowhere to go. Her stained dress, the ripped fabric of light gossamer && silk bows, slices of meat with the smell of cigarettes - she hated this, loathed it, none of it served meaning but only temporary reprieve from the vacancy that lingered. To live among those that admonished their existence, playing games in order to blend in, youthful with nowhere to go - always hiding. The rabbit who tried to believe her destiny was being snared by the wolves, might as well forget everything else that couldn’t be. When did she ever begin to care? Coffee that was brewed with love, the epitome of an indomitable spirit or the false belief maybe the inherited past they sought to escape could be washed away in the lull of lazy music && simple chatter. A dove, she remembered the worried voices murmuring, he’s found way into her burrow. It would be easy, fool him with the deception that whoever had the information he sought was just another nameless head to claim. Lower beings that caused too much trouble, ruining their fun but instead, she found herself inquisitive.

           The curious being who would listen to him speak && laugh, nihilism entangled within the saccharine tone && champagne towers, what was this sensation that grew in the depths of her stomach? It was not hunger, she had not yearned to eat in years, neither was it the pleasant numbness that spread, dulling the ache of self loathing, it was warm - pleasant. Slowly, it grows as time goes by the actions that go against reaction, low snarls that start to transpire as kin mock her - just eat him, you feel only obsession, it will go away soon. Safe, he constantly says this where she shook && trembled, confessing she has never felt it, biting before she could be bitten. Like a great towering ghost, there she remembers, it burned again that same odd feeling rooted in the depths of her stomach - blooming, twisting, when she wished to slaughter him on the spot. Pathetically clinging to the regrets that she could never utter; stay here with me, I can protect us, why won’t you stay? Those who live solely for the entertainment that anchored itself in utmost debauchery were not meant to harbor such emotions, a life that was careless without regret, how distasteful. “You’re terrible” she finally laughs, meager && soft, unable to be deciphered if it’s amusement or scorn. Berry-stained, her bottom lip is tugged between her teeth. The fabric of a white sundress bunched in her grasp, humans love trivial things, don’t they? They like to flamboyantly express their affections, without knowing the reality of what devotion means.

            The pale ghost reaches forward, slender fingers, too worn && yet, gentle, reach to touch his jawline. Affection that bore itself as she took the lead, a shimmering beacon of temporary reprieve from the mundane, Koutarou - he never saw this. Illusions that she cast in order to escape the existence that was deemed wrong from the start, another runaway, seeking to find freedom when there was none. He granted her the ability to believe that it was possible, this raw thing she called a heart was not useless. It still bled && pulsated with the tenacity to live even if she couldn’t recall why. I love you, the first time she says it the air is pulled from her lungs, the second time, it no longer is caustic on her tongue, slowly morphing into ways to remind him; we can face this together. “Just like always, making me blush && unable to say a thing, you’re such a heartthrob, investigator” finally, emerald eyes crystal with a thin sheen. She reaches to embrace him, tight && firm, like a bastion that refuses to fall - how could anyone be so pure in their beliefs? Even when disillusioned, even when the same system threatened to eliminate such truths, he was unwavering as ever.

        “Already I can sense hunting is off the table, you’ll find everything before I could even oppose, still troublesome as ever” thin slices, tightly bound && placed on the counter, the savage gesture to kill for another was to proclaim; no longer shall you be alone, no longer shall you despair, this sorrow is now shared. “Still nostalgic for your salaryman days? You filled it out perfectly, Koutarou, there would never be a life that I wouldn’t choose you” sunlight, she saw it for the first time with him. The morning that came where she did not rush to escape, dwelling deeper into the darkness awaiting for the stars to rise, instead she listened to the birdsong that was long forgotten. Hope, burning like an inferno that refused to die, that was what she came to understand; the belief, there was more to this life than merely breathing.

        “Dance with me, in our home, till the stars come out && we can talk underneath the moonlight - just like before, but this time, there’s a tomorrow”

[bronzebtch]

thoughts + headcanons: on rhea and the royce's family tree. * subject to changes according to different portrayals.

the beginning: allard royce and his children.

rhea is a direct descendent of allard royce, who later came out against the tyrannical king maegor i and supported king jaehaerys i targaryen.

allard went on to have five children with his wife, ceciliana tully*: romulus, yorwyck, byron, lucille, and rita.

romulus did not survive infancy, and yorwyck grew up a sickly child, leaving many of the family to assume byron will lead the house.

as a desperate attempt to improve yorwyck's health, ceciliana entrusted one of her lady-in-waiting and longtime companion, selby mormont, to get traditional treatment in winterfell. yorwick then spent part of his childhood (since age seven) in the north.

returning at age five-and-ten, it was clear that yorwyck's health has more than improved, and his role as allard's heir is regarded more seriously.

this turn of event left byron spiteful.

yorwyck married winona stark, one of his closest childhood companion during his recovery in winterfell, (who wrote to him incessantly once she turned an eligible age to marry that she will come to the vale just so he could take her hand) and had three children with her: yorbert, yohan, serena.

byron had two of his own: gunthor, and herbert.

lucille, the third of allard's child, did not survive childbed fever after giving birth to her first and only babe, morris; she died in her old childhood room a year later with lady ceciliana grasping tightly to her hands.

rita married a handsome smithy whom she met during her visit to the riverruns. they had five children together, and she kept letters with her parents and brothers up until her eventual death of old age.

the middle: yorwyck and byron's children.

while winona was a strict mother and yorwyck too carefree, yorbert and yohan grew up with a fair temper, and a generous outlook on their roles as heirs of runestone. serena, in the meantime, were said to always be "more stark" — stern and serious — though she grew up loving the vale.

byron, though bitter that his expectation as heir was dashed with his brother's health improving, went on to become one of yorwyck's best council; a respectable trait he did not extend in fatherhood.

this, in turn, made gunthor ambitious to exceed his father's expectation while his younger brother, hubert, went the other way. becoming far more careless with his drinking and womanising, despite the fact that hubert has had great potential in swordfighting all throughout his youth.

yorbert eventually marries posey arryn*, lord rodrick arryn's sister.

though it was a political match and posey is older than yorbert by five years, their union was decent and they produced three children together: brahm, rhea, and jovina (lovingly called "joy").

yohan went on to marry lady redfort, birthing gerold, willam, friedrich.

serena travels to winterfell and married one of house stark's vessels, producing two daughters: teressa and themis. she will outlive two of her brothers.

gunthor married bianca florent, though the marriage prove barren as they had no children.

herbert was rumoured to father many bastards, though his trueborn daughters are called dinah and memphis. he later fell deeply for a whore and had two recognised bastard sons with her, roland and silas stone.

morris married a fine lady in the vale and had alyssa royce.

present times, and future.

(a) yorbert royce's children

brahm passed from the shivers at age ten.

rhea became the heir of runestone at age eight because of it. at five-and-ten, she was prince daemon's wife.

joy, four years rhea's junior, married a respectable nobleman. she had four children with one dying from infancy. her first child, ruben, is rhea's heir — something she declared since his birth.

joy's other children are as followed: ruben, timon (†), francis, yorbert.

(b) yohan royce's children.

gerold became rhea's sworn shield, especially after he blamed brahm's death on him. (because he thought him sneaking brahm out during one of the nights he was sick while it was winter was what made brahm sicker; to clarify - they were both children with gerold being two years older than brahm was.) — this is the cousin that 'confronted' daemon targaryen in the tv show.

willam will fight for rhaenyra as apart of The Seven Who Rode. he will die.

friedrich will follow gunthor in supporting arnold arryn. there's nothing wrong with him; he just always seems to be at the wrong side of history (easily influenced).

(c) gunthor

will support arnold arryn's claim during the vale's civil war.

he tried contesting rhea's succession because he believed his father, lord byron, was the rightful heir as he studied far longer to be runestone's lord — and thus, the succession should fall to him.

his claim is refuted because many support yorbert's claim during rhea's early reign.

i think he did however successfully rebuke rhea's heir, ruben, and became lord of runestone — or, at the very least, he was successful to rally royce house to support arnold arryn the mad's claim for the seat at the eyrie.

(d) morris

his one and only daughter, alyssa, was presented to king aegon iii at the maiden's day ball, and told the king she had come all the way from runestone to be with him.

other headcanons * these details can be altered with each different portrayal(s)

from ceciliana tully, rhea has tully blood from her great-grandmother.

from winona stark, rhea has stark blood from her grandmother.

from posey arryn, her mum, rhea is related to aemma arryn (they're first-cousins).

[fatetcrn]

Gereon Alexius things: ( a.k.a: the long incoherent ramblings about Felix’s father I found gathering dust in the drafts of my old blog )

- Gereon Alexius was the son of the head of the House of Alexius of Asariel, a wealthy coastal port city roughly a two days ride from Minrathous. He is from a long and distinguished line of extraordinarily talented mages who had a fair amount of political influence across Tevinter. However. there were more than a few in his ancestry who had a history of delving into the darker more forbidden magic arts. Including his own father.

-  Was Alexius a good man? At one stage, yes. Very much so. In many respects, Felix inherited his father's moral compass and incorruptible decency. It was this decency that Dorian admired He was a man Dorian would compare to all others, an impossible benchmark to be measured against. That is until Alexius lost his wife and in many respects his only son. Grief changed him. He became relentless and desperate in his search for a cure and this lead him to eventually get involved with the Venatori.

- Alexius valued the pursuit and sharing of knowledge over personal power and gain and was a loving husband and father. Alexius Snr., in contrast, was arrogant, merciless, cold, calculating and highly ambitious at the cost of all else that stood in his way. ( I mean you had to be a REAL ASSHOLE to want to kill your own grandson ) He hoped that giving Alexius his seat on the Magisterium would inspire some political ambition. It did not. Everything Alexius did was to try and improve the Circles and provide quality higher education for the Soporati. He was a vocal advocate for more funding for Circles , in particular towards learning and research, rather than throwing coin at the war against the Qun. Aside from that, he pushed the boundaries of known magic on a daily basis focusing on the manipulation and control of time.

- Unconventional and eccentric, Alexius not particularly concerned about society's expectations. He married for love instead of status and politics ( and possibly wasn’t even planning on getting married, to begin with. ) Livia became his raison d’etre / his muse / the absolute love of his life. They were an intellectual power couple, greatly respected across Tevinter. He studies temporal magic and Livia would study the effects this had on the Veil. The Veil being her area of expertise.

- Alexius was so proud of his son who had inherited his intelligence and curiosity. The extravagant amount of tutors were not only to compensate for the lack of magical talent but to satisfy the boy's insatiable desire to learn. Felix excelled in everything that he set out to accomplish except for the one thing that mattered Magic to Felix is like that one subject an otherwise straight A student gets a C- in. ). However, for a long time, Alexius continued to push Felix to develop his magical talents even though it put a great deal of psychological and physical strain on the young boy who desperately didn't want to disappoint his father. Felix’s grandfather hinted numerous times that Alexius should consider alternatives ( wooo blood magic ) or, in failing that, to dispose of the family embarrassment altogether ( though not in such direct terms ). He believed that the Alexius line would end in embarrassment and Mathematics. Arguments that surrounded this often involved him calling Felix a Soporati along with various insults. Often within earshot. The attempted assassinations only began when it was known that Felix would be going to go study in Orlais of all places ( an insult added to injury ) and would be inheriting his father’s seat on the Magisterium.

- Alexius had encountered many exceptional young mages ( and there were many clamoring for his apprenticeship ) but none of them had impressed him nearly half as much as the one conversation he had with a drunken Dorian in a house of ill repute. He saw smothered potential, a blazing intellect and a young mage who would one day greatly surpass him. Alexius never took on any other apprentices before or after and grew to love Dorian as if he were his own.

- Alexius and Halward were in tentative communication during Dorian’s apprenticeship. Correspondence was vague and centered around Dorian’s well being and his progress and successes which were many. Alexius was not very forthcoming on any details, especially those concerning Dorian’s personal life. Halward was simply trying to keep tabs on his son and Alexius felt it enough that he knew Dorian was doing well and that he should be proud.

[keirahknightley]

Costume appreciation series: Barbie (2023) dir Greta Gerwig

Costume Design by Jacqueline Durran

[livebloggingmydescentintomadness]

i hadn't gotten around to watching staged 3 before good omens 2, and now i can't get over how great michael and david are together

[eddiediaaz]

Oliver Stark about Buck/Eddie on the Zach Sang Show (04.19.2024) [x]

[imironstark]

I think it's you that's changed. How so? I think I know why we still meet here, century after century. It's not because you want to see whether or not I'm ready to seek death. I don't think I'll ever seek death. By now, you know that about me. So, I think you're here for something else. And what might that be? Friendship.

How's he faring up after all this time? Who? Hob Gadling? Hmm. I don't know. I was forced to miss our last appointment. Well, I'm sure he'd love to see you.

THE SANDMAN 1.06: “The Sound of Her Wings"

[sersi]

THE BUCCANEERS (2023) 1.03: The Perfect Duchess dir. Richard Senior

[inthat-lavenderhaze]

[galedekarios]

seeing a post that basically confirmed the obvious disparity in content made me think more about a scene i would have liked to see with gale and that i've been thinking about for a while now.

i always felt a bit sad that his condition is so often treated as a joke by the fandom and to a lesser extent by the game itself. i always thought that this is partially down to the fact that we don't truly get so see gale actively be in pain due to his condition, other than brief glimpses and hints:

we do hear the urgency in his voice when he explains when and why he needs an artefact and the relief in his voice when the protag chooses to help him.

we see it, too, when he is afflicted by the arcane hunger condition:

we get glimpses of it when he consumes an artefact:

he mentions it, too, in his dialogues, but it's very much downplayed by gale or phrased in such a way that is meant to overplay it with humour, or perhaps even to distance himself from it by using metaphors:

that is until we actually get to see it through his eyes, if only for the briefest of moments:

*Its teeth, its claws, it's unstoppable as it digs through and becomes part of you. And gods, it is ever-hungry...*

gale also has an idle animation where he--quite often--reaches up to touch the orb, perhaps because it flares with pain, like an old wound is wont to do:

(gif by @bladeofavernus)

from the last conversation we have with gale, and after catching all of these little moments of things he says or does with how the orb affects him, we learn that consuming the magic from artefacts no longer has any effect at all. the only solution that tara and he were able to find no longer works:

it would scare him and imbalance him, and it would finally destabilise the orb, make it more volatile.

but what happens in the game after that? the orb becoming volatile enough for the artefacts to no longer have an effect has no consequences at all: you are able to do the tiefling party, all quests in the underdark, the entirety of the grymforge, and, should you choose to do so, the entirety of the mountain pass and rosymorn monastery without an incident at all or any mention of the condition itself/any discomfort or fear it might cause.

there's no urgency here, no follow-up, to what the narrative set up... and then we meet deus ex elminster and the orb is stabilised, and the urgency that came before literally is handwaved out of existence.

what i would have liked instead to happen--or at least to bridge the gap between the artefacts no longer working and elminster stabilising it to be used on mystra's behalf--is the following:

i think it would have been nice to have a scene with gale where we do get to see--on a much smaller scale--him losing control over the orb, have the protag and the companions see what he is trying desperately to keep contained within himself, what gnaws at him, what continues to haunt him.

it could happen perhaps after a particular gruelling and intense fight--and there are enough of that in the underdark and at the mountain pass. it could have been a ! conversation, providing both friendship and romance content.

have the orb act up after expending so much energy to manipulate the weave to the fullest of his abilities, have gale manage to reign it in, but barely, show that it takes a lot of power and effort for him to do so.

that it hurts, with none of gale's metaphors to hide behind or jokes to play it off.

have the audience truly see the gravity of what he is going through.

[that-was-a-bit-stupid-of-you]

the issue with ttpd personally is that I love some of the songs but sadly I've been force-fed her personal life so much, these details keep coming and leaves a bad taste in my mouth

You can't say "1830s without the racist" after writing an album about matty healy

"So high school" is a cute love song, but it's about our xenophobic racist king tk

"I can fix him" have some elements I like but it's about mh and her getting offended she's being held responsible for her problematic actions

"guilty as sin?" is one of my favs, but it reads very different when you know (unfortunately) the context

"so long, london" is amazing, but just like "renegade" she blames joe alwyn for having mental health issues, but also out them to the world which is the worst part of it all

wishing I didn't know the context, but it is practically impossible to engage in any taylor swift space without knowing