#lotf aged up

[fukia]

More on my approach towards depicting the LOTF cast (idfk how many of these I’m gonna make), including “signature” looks

• Jack: popped collar, sometimes goes for punk, sometimes goes for classy, messier hair, slightly more roughed up, his relationships with everyone is somewhat balanced; that is to say in general, he dislikes his enemies as much as he likes his friends with Ralph-Piggy-Roger being exceptions, can be surprisingly generous if he so chooses

• Ralph: bracelet, short sleeves, knows how to pose! Stands relaxedly but exudes confidence and authority, his expressions give a small sense he’s holding some of his emotions back for the sake of others (however, Jack brings them out full swing), occasionally hangs with Maurice one-on-one for similar tastes in media, kinda protective of Simon & Piggy

• Simon: some grunge, some industrial look (bracelet, necklace), short sleeve and waist-tied or unzipped cargo/utility jacket; a bit messy but in a charming way, somewhat similar to Roger style-wise but while they have the occasionally friendly interaction, Roger always says something to purposefully ruin the mood

• Roger: I was originally gonna give him peekabangs on his beauty mark side but that’s a lot of facial intrigue on one man, track boots, oversized tops, longer sleeves to better cover bloody hands - think Ichimatsu but “slutty” lmfao, he blanches a bit quicker than he tans, somewhat clingy towards Jack (and Ralph if Jack isn’t there)

• Piggy: casual but groomed, higher socks, rarely overdresses, occasionally dons contacts, gives the vibe that he feels he’s surrounded by idiots, hates both Jack & Roger of course but Roger gives him more room to fight back because it’s more fun that way, doesn’t admit how much he still seeks Ralph’s approval despite acting as if he has matured since

• Maurice: never wears short sleeves, just long-sleeves rolled up, I feel like he and Bill had a short-lived thing once that they refuse to talk about, with the latter not particularly pleased about Maurice’s allegiance to Jack (nor interactions with Roger who’s purposefully a home-wrecker in spite of Rice ignoring it)

•Samneric: raglan, occasionally wears different clothes from each-other and they are conflicted as to what this means for them as twins, one of them might be experimenting with jewelry and the other with hats - dunno which ones, both resent Roger for reasons, one resents Piggy and seeks to be Ralph’s second in command, one resents Simon for being Ralph’s spiritual/emotional center

[cxmembert]

This instantly happens when Jack takes off his hearing aid to sleep

[lord-of-the-irrelevance]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

SUPER LATE HALLOWEEN POST FROM THE BOYS HI GUYS 🙏🙏

More versions under the cut!

[quackoyesyes]

Maybe don't make a dating game? If it's LOTF they're 6-12 year olds and aging them up for the purpose of dating is weird. IK your a minor so it probably doesn't seem as weird, but still.

I really should have made this clear but it’s not really a dating game, I don’t want to spoil but things don’t end well and the most I can say is this was supposed to be a ddlc au (still is I just added more stuff). This au doesn’t include… romantic stuff because they’re minors and that’s disgusting, it’s just innocent love, the love where you go shopping together, watch movies, go to prom and just mess about, that doesn’t even happen until near the end, it’s mostly build up

I agree with the fact that making minors date is weird, and when I mean ‘dating’ for this au I mean buying ice cream and stroll in the park whilst talking about gossip at most, anything beyond that is just weird. I saw the stuff people wrote about the boys on ao3 and I swore to myself I would never write nothing close to that shit, not even kissing. And the whole point was for the (build up to the) ‘dating’ part to be a cover up for a twist, it’s a ddlc au after all.

On the topic of this if you have any questions regarding this au feel free to ask, and I hope this answer yours

[karaboutmyart]

snuffles do you wanna draw mauram, i ask everyone for mauram ILY 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

anything for u, bestie 🫶 here is them on a ice cream date gegegheee!!

[toddreblogslotf]

This is a dif person asking, but wouldn’t that still be weird because Jack (the character we’re going with in this hypothetical scenario) would have kids and that would literally mean sex right? In their time period the chances of alternatives like adoption or sperm donation are pretty slim. So wouldn’t that still be sexualizing? It still implies children were conceived by sex, and sex is, well, sexual. Genuinely asking!

i more so view it in a way as the anon asking if jack in theory, in a fic, was to grow up into an adult and in theory, in an adult life, was to have kids, would that be wrong to write about. which i personally don’t see an issue with! i believe that the line is crossed when the conception of the kids is the focal point, because while it does imply sex, something as benign as that in jack’s adulthood life WITHOUT it being the focal point of the fic, i’m not quite sure it would be too much of an issue (as in the author would not intentionally be sitting down and attempting to sexualise the kids! it would be a hair to split imo).

personally, i don’t think it would be intentional sexualising, if sexualising at all (albeit, not something i would personally write), if written in the scenario it was proposed in! i do think that it’s a funny situation because i’m not quite sure why anyone would want to age jack up and give him kids, but i dont think it is inherently wrong to do so in nature in this particular situation. there are a lot of situations where the author makes it very wrong, so it’s a thin line to walk along, i completely agree with that!

[thatsgazebo]

Lotf community, how would you feel about a discord server for younger people in the fandom(~13-17)? I remember that age gaps have made people uncomfortable in the past, and I was wondering whether a smaller community server would be helpful. (Idk how long I’ll keep this up, I’m just not sure how to reach this fandom atp)

[patsypsyop]

Okay this is more of a serious post (not really) because it talks about psychology. It's about how Roger from Lord of the Flies shows certain traits found in people with Conduct Disorder, and compares how he acts to the DSM-5

Below the cut is a long explanation

First off, I need to make two things clear

1) Conduct Disorder (CD) is different from Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD). ASPD is for adults/older teens, CD is for children. This is because many traits of ASPD are common in children who have not met certain developmental milestones (lack of empathy, not being social, etc).

2) CD does not make someone a bad person. Roger commits terrible acts throughout the book, that is not why I think he possibly has CD. I simply want to explain certain actions/traits. CD (and ASPD) is caused by childhood trauma and can be corrected with counseling.

Keep in mind that I am not a professional!

Okay! I will be going through the DSM-5 and comparing what’s in there to quotes from LotF. If you believe I missed something, please put what it is and a quote in the comments, and I’ll add it!

“Aggression to people and animals”. Roger throws rocks at young children and killed Piggy. The hunting scenes could be viewed as killing out of necessity; they needed food.

“Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry― threw it to miss.”

“High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever… The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee…”

“Often bullies, threatens, or intimidates others”. Roger throws rocks at littluns (see quote above) and says something intimidating to Robert.

“You couldn't stop me coming if I wanted."

“Often initiates physical fights”. No sign of this in the book.

“Has used a weapon that can cause serious physical harm to others (e.g., a bat, brick, broken bottle, knife, gun)”. Roger used the boulder with Piggy and the sharpened stick with Simon. Direct quotes either have been used above, or only imply Roger’s involvement.

“Has been physically cruel to people”. Roger is heavily implied to have tortured Samneric.

“You don't know Roger. He's a terror.”

“Has been physically cruel to animals”. The hunting scenes could be an example of this, but I believe they needed food. I won’t deny that they were cruel to the pig, but hunting itself is often cruel.

“Has stolen while confronting a victim (e.g., mugging, purse snatching, extortion, armed robbery)”. Stealing Piggy’s glasses was entirely Jack’s idea. Roger shows no sign of doing this in the book.

“Has forced someone into sexual activity” No sign of this in the book.

“Destruction of property”. Destroying the conch shell wasn’t something done on its own, it was more of a secondary thing compared to Piggy’s murder. (And it was a symbolic thing)

“Has deliberately engaged in fire setting with the intention of causing serious damage”. It is not clear in the book who’s idea it was to set the forest on fire. I assume it was Jack’s, although some belief it was Roger’s idea. Up for interpretation in the novel.

“Has deliberately destroyed others’ property (other than by fire setting)”. Same argument with the Piggy conch. Up for interpretation in the novel.

“Deceitfulness or theft”. No sign of this in the book.

“Has broken into someone else’s house, building, or car”. No sign of this in the book.

“Often lies to obtain goods or favors or to avoid obligations (i.e., “cons” others)”. No sign of this in the book.

“Has stolen items of nontrivial value without confronting a victim (e.g., shoplifting, but without breaking and entering; forgery)”. No sign of this in the book.

“Serious violations of rules.” Murder of Piggy (see quote above) could be this. Not entirely sure what it means, probably means breaking serious laws.

“Often stays out at night despite parental prohibitions, beginning before age 13 years”. No sign of this in the book.

“Has run away from home overnight at least twice while living in parental or parental surrogate home (or once without returning for a lengthy period)”. No sign of this in the book.

“Is often truant from school, beginning before age 13 years". No sign of this in the book.

"The disturbance in behavior causes clinically significant impairment in social, academic, or occupational functioning." Roger's school life is never brought up, nor is anyone's opinion of him before chapter 11.

"If the individual is age 18 years or older, criteria are not met for Antisocial Personality Disorder." Roger is under 13.

“Lack of remorse or guilt: Does not feel bad or guilty when he/she does something wrong (excluding remorse when expressed only when caught and/or facing punishment). The individual shows a general lack of concern about the negative consequences of his or her actions. For example, the individual is not remorseful after hurting someone or does not care about the consequences of breaking rules.” Roger felt no remorse about bullying littluns, unlike Maurice.

“Maurice still felt the unease of wrongdoing. At the back of his mind formed the uncertain outlines of an excuse. He muttered something about a swim and broke into a trot. Roger remained…”

The rest of the DSM (linked here) is meant for trained psychiatrists. I am unable to compare Roger to the end section, as I am untrained, and we are never told when Roger began to act this way.

Feel free to say if you think Roger would be diagnosed with CD in 2023, I just want to look at it from the book. To really label him, we would need to see more on how he acted pre-island and post-island

[bowneckellie]

My ‼️unpopular‼️ opinion on lotf is that the relationships and dynamics are far more interesting when they’re not romantic and i was kinda disappointed when i looked into the community after reading it and seeing most discussions were about potential romance and how most characters were just boiled down to it. Generally no ships really interest me in the slightest but I don’t know what i expected when i went onto tumblr for discussions on lord of the flies but its such a niche interest that its the only active community i can find on it

(Another being how the fandom is always on the cusp of sexualising the characters and always finds ways to age them up which i find really creepy knowing most of the people doing this are like 10 years older than them)

[mccall-me-maurice]

Bro is throwing a fit Abt Lotf book spoilers... At your big age too grow up lol

i think it’s less about spoilers and more about quality of reading! also maybe don’t send these sorts of asks on anon bcs it gives you an extremely bad look. you just look like you’re ashamed of your opinions and opinions are not something anyone should be ashamed of imo. like this is something id gladly talk out with you!

anyways

she had a space where she was posting and creating content that she knew she could rely on to keep her away from spoilers. someone came into the space and ruined that for her. i’m sure if that happened to someone you really liked/was friends with, you’d be mad too? this transcends age lmao

i also dont think you realise how exciting it is to read a book for the first time. to have the thrill of not knowing what’s going to happen. especially a book like lotf, which was written to be consumed like that. many of us had it spoiled to us because of schooling or just a negative environment. why would you wish that for anyone else? why would you try and ruin what got ruined for you for others?

i just don’t understand and i’d honestly love for you to help me get there: what is the benefit in spoiling a book that someone is genuinely excited about reading? what is so fun about that? i thought it was so much more entertaining to engage with alana while she was reading. it was like reading for the first time with her, and i will defend ANY new readers the way i defended her

i think we forget a lot of the time that there’s people behind our screens. people who… in this case, had genuine feelings about not having the book spoiled to them. you really should learn to treat people like people as opposed to just a username or a blog on your device. i think it’ll be a good lesson for you

[lord-of-simons-ghost]

LOTF HEADCANONS >:)

This is going to be a list of my on-island/book time period headcanons (HINT NOT CANON). The majority are my own, and some are my "adopted" headcanons. Each section will be headed! Pre/post island headcanons will be done later since this is super long already

I'm sorry for any grammatical errors or inconsistencies

TWS: Mentions of character death, religious stuff, Implied child death

This is LOTF content, so expect it to be a little dark! Take care of yourself <3

Island/Time Period

- Took place in the late 40s/early 50s. Not during/post WW2 but instead during a new fictitious war caused by nuclear threats in Europe. This is why the boys were sent away from their boarding school in the UK (I'll elaborate on this in a bit).

-The island itself was decent sized with 3 beaches: The meetings/crash took place on the largest beach of the island, which faced West.

-The center of the island was dense woods and heavy foliage. Pig runs ran throughout the entire center and led out to the eastern side of the island.

-Castle Rock and Fire Mountain were to the north, meaning shelters/bathing pools were on the southwest side of the island. Shelters were originally going to be built closer to the mountain.

-After the first fire, the northern side of the island lost the majority of the trees around the mountain. This is one of the reasons the shelters were shifted to the West.

-The island had amazing sunsets, so Ralph would try to have their non-emergency meetings around this time to have as many of the kids witness them as possible. Usually worked.

-Castle Rock was lower down in elevation than Fire Mountain, but it had a very good view of the whole island. It had a ledge above a part of the Eastern beach (where the pigs often lay. This is where Piggy dies. The feast took place in the westeast).

-The boys were on the island for 5 1/2 months.

The Biguns

Choir boys will be highlighted blue

Ages (oldest to youngest): Jack (13), Maurice (13), Roger (13), Ralph (13), Simon (12), Robert (12), Piggy (12), Eric (11), Sam (11), Bill (11)

[sorry if I forgot anyone, these are just the ones I have ages for. Choir has roughly 6 more members in my hcs. ]

-Took the choir a week or so to remember everyone else's names (-Piggy).

-Didn't really mind if someone stayed behind during hunts earlier on, but as time progressed, Jack and Roger would get more and more annoyed. Ralph, Simon and Piggy never joined but helped prepare the pig once or twice before roasting it.

- The majority of them, even Jack and Ralph, would have nightmares later on (think around the time Samneric found the parachutist) and it would put everyone on even more of an edge.

-Arguments would break out within the Choir boys frequently (mainly Roger and Maurice), and Simon or Ralph would have to mediate them. It became the norm until Jack overtook as chief.

-Roger was really the only biggun that wanted to join Jack in the end, even though Ralph kinda sucked. None of them really liked Jack OR Ralph (- Simon, Piggy and Samneric).

-Roger got the most into the final hunt, commanding everyone and instructing them how to hunt Ralph alongside Jack. They scared the littluns that were a part of the tribe and the younger biguns. Everyone enjoyed it in the moment, don't get me wrong, but like. Once that Naval officer showed up, they were INSTANTLY feeling guilty and horrible. (-Jack and Roger. They took time)

Individual Biguns

Jack:

- Kept his choir uniform throughout the duration on the island. Reminded him of when life was less complicated.

- Would still rehearse with the choir for the first month or so before everyone got too involved in the island to care. Jack would still sing whilst doing busy work, fire duty, or meetings to bring comfort to himself.

-Never hated Ralph. He felt very conflicted when interacting with him and was jealous of his authoritative role. He ultimately didn't want Ralph to abandon/hate him, and when this happened, Jack felt extremely betrayed. Even when hunting him at the end, Jack never felt hatred but rather power hungry.

- He and Ralph were friends for 3 or so months and would hang out often. They confided in each other and were actually really close.

- Suffered with anxiety episodes on the island.

- His hair grew so long to the point Simon showed him how to tie it into a bun with plants. He kept it like that for the rest of his time on the island.

- Watched the sunset with Simon, and they would hang out and rely on each other during the night. Jack didn't want to be seen with him during the day, but he would always pick him for hikes and stuff if he needed to bring someone else along.

- Speaking of Simon, Jack didn't realise it was him during the dance until it was too late to do anything. He grieved with the other choir boys and remained to feel guilty for a while. Jack (and sometimes the others) would go out to the beach where he died and make flower crowns, plant boats, stuff like that, and would send them into the ocean as a way to remember and say thank you to Simon.

- He and Roger are besties, and it's very cheesy

- Bathed a little more regularly than the others but not as often than he should have

- Rarely got sleep on the island and when he did it wasn't good sleep. Ran on adrenaline most days

- Loved being able to put on the clay mask because it covered his "ugliness"

- Lost a significant amount of his hearing during the plane crash/war and had a hard time navigating that on the island. Never really mentioned it to anyone until months after being rescued (this is partly @mccall-me-maurice 's headcanon and I love it so much)

Maurice:

- Gremlin, always caused problems and blamed it on Roger (I hc them as cousins)

- Smiled so frequently to the point it freaked Ralph out. The choir boys are used to it.

- Smiled as a way to mask since he hated talking about his feelings and felt if he smiled no one would ask if he was okay (mecore)

- Not very helpful but did what he was told....sometimes

- Didn't get along with the littluns (stupid sandcastles) and would tease them/stick his tongue out at them.

- Hyped up Jack's ideas but also listened to Ralph when he was chief

- Extroverted

- Didn't really put on a mask when hunting since it inched his face but he would paint his body to blend in better.

- Stinky boi

- Friends with the biguns and felt a little disappointed Ralph didn't want to join Jack's tribe

Roger:

- Quiet (unless he's being snarky) when in large groups but would become extroverted around Jack/Maurice

- Got bored so often he just caused chaos

- Had a hard time communicating his genuine thoughts into words so Jack would help him talk to the other boys.

- Sarcastic and kind of a smart-ass, especially to Ralph and Piggy

- Always mixed up the twins and started just pointing and calling one of them "you"

- Middle-child syndrome.

-Felt he did everyone a favor when he dropped the Boulder on Piggy.

- Friends with Simon, but they really only interacted pre-island (Kinda like with Jack, didn't want to be seen with him becuase he thought it would make him "batty")

-Perfered to do things in solitude or duos

- Had a very dark way of thinking about things and people. He still longed for authority and normalcy but thought of people as evil, and only a select few were "good." It's very contradicting, and Roger has a hard time navigating his thoughts.

- Always had intricate paintings whenever the group would redo their masks.

Ralph:

- Saw the beach and was all like "So much room to do cartwheels"

- Would watch the sunrises with Simon

- Got really bad migraines often and would have to be out of commission for a few days. Jack would take over and make a small army

- Always thinking about how life was before, what his family/friends were up to, etc...

- Didn't actually want to be chief and hated it for a while but grew to enjoy the authority that came with it

- Stole all of Piggy's ideas and would act like they were his own

- Would help the littluns but never enjoyed it

- Slept like an egg 🥚 (curled up in a ball almost)

- Would go on walks frequently to try and clear his head. Overthought everything, often stressing himself out over it and needing to then take another mental break

- Loved loved loved watching fire burn, even in the end

- Friendly towards everyone (on occasions) but only considered Piggy and Simon to be his friends (+ Jack for a few months)

- Felt really hurt that Jack turned on him. Ralph hated him for a bit but got over it eventually (like waaaaay post island)

Simon:

- Loved catching critters/bugs and showing them to Ralph. He would tell him their species, what they ate, etc

- Nocturnal. Literally was up almost all night just roaming the forest, doing fire duty, helping littluns, stuff like that

- Helped paint intricate designs on the choir boys the first time they proposed the idea to him because he wanted to paint something.

- Would make patterns in the sand, let the sea wash them away, and repeat the process

- Very calm and quiet. Didn't hate anyone

- Had a crush on Ralph but tried very hard to hide it. (Worked pretty well!)

- Loved the littluns with every bone in his body because they reminded him of his younger siblings. Did everything in his power to make sure they were comfortable.

- Despite being "friends" with Jack, Simon never agreed with his morals/ideas and found Ralph's more sensible. However, he didn't like either in an authoritarian role and thought they all should have been in charge and involved in making decisions.

- Knew he was going to die that night but wanted to warn the others/see them one last time

- Poetic. He would tell poems to anyone who would listen

- Calmed down fights, anxiety attacks, etc....

- Epileptic and hypoglycemic (constantly growing faint, so he tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible and take breaks when needed)

- Thought that the Lord of the Flies was God punishing him for his sins (he literally had none)

- Prayed often to bring comfort to himself

(I have literally no headcanons for Robert ;-;)

Piggy:

- Actually 🤓☝️ (I'm joking I swear)

- Got his feelings hurt easily but tried to hide it when he was sad

- Always thought of what he was going to bake with his Auntie when he got home

- Constantly came up with actually good ideas but never got to share them since Ralph kinda blew them off

- Had a few asthma attacks on the island (like 2 + the Canon one) and Simon and Bill would help him out

- Got very overwhelmed by the littluns but tried to keep them accounted for and safe

- Did the analytical jobs on the island and was helpful with counting supplies

- Enjoyed watching fish swim in the streams/ocean

- Constantly feared for his safety when Jack/Roger were near

- Didn't want to share his name in fear of being even more humiliated and ultimately forgot who he was other than "Piggy"

- Knew he wasn't coming back from Caslte Rock

- Bad at emotionally heavy situations

Eric:

- Enjoyed hunting even though he wasn't very good at it

- Always did the rough/physical jobs when possible since he hated feeling weak at home

- Corrected the others when they called him Sam

- Loves his brother but got annoyed with him frequently

- Didn't swim more often than needed because he was scared of sharks

- Wanted to protect Sam so he stayed close at all times

- Had probably the most fun out of everyone on the island because he had Sam with him

- Always eager to try new things/help out

- Seemed to get comfy quicker than everyone else

- Favored Jack and his tribe in the beginning but quickly changed up when Jack started going coo coo

- Had an attitude

Sam:

- Hated hunted. It grossed him out. He went anyway to stay near Sam

- Perfered to swim on the beach and hang with the littluns rather than helping Ralph with labor

- Loved the ocean

- Got annoyed with how protective Sam was of him since it made him feel small

- Enjoyed Castle Rock and the view that came with it

- Favored Ralph from the beginning and would do *somethings* that he told Sam to do. Was quick to suggest to Eric that they helped Ralph when possible

- Bird watched with Piggy and Simon

- Just overall a sweetheart to everyone

Bill:

- The only headcanon I have for Bill is that he was essentially the nurse of the island, and everyone would go to him for help. He learned all this stuff from his mom, who was a war nurse and just was super super helpful with keeping everyone from getting too badly hurt (this is also another adopted headcanon!)

Littluns

- Tried to start their own tribe and overthrow the older kids (didn't work)

- Has opinions about things and felt ignored most of the time

- Like 80% didn't make it off the island....

- Really just chilled in the sun all day

- Had fun throwing spears at Ralph in the end

- Really just did what they saw Jack do

- HATED RALPH

IM FINALLY DONE!! THIS TOOK A WEEK 😭

[fukia]

What have I done

Slight redesigns for my take on an aged up modern Simon. He’s also the type of guy your dad will tell you is bad news because of the way he appears despite being an absolute angel otherwise.

[cxmembert]

I had to

[finnsdumplings]

Important. Please Read!

Hello, my name is Finn and I would like to spread awareness about a certain AO3 author that has been on the Lord of the Flies tag.

This is the author I will be speaking about. Lately, they have been creating works on the classic literature book known as Lord of the Flies.

You may see this as harmless, but please let me show you the type of work they have been writing.

To not get taken down, I covered most of the gross stuff. If you can’t tell, this author publicly posts CP or smvt of minors/underage characters. (characters age ranging to 7-12 years old).

Not only they are supporting basically CP, they are openly romanizing about r@pe.

This author overall is disgusting. But it gets even worse because people are supporting them in the comments.

(Just to clarify: I did not read any of the fic. I only went to the comments.)

This is absolutely disgusting. The fact these people are well and fully aware that the boys in LOTF are children and supporting this kind of stuff makes me sick. I hate so much.

“Well, why should I care? The fandom has always been like this.” While it is true that the fandom has always been like this, we shouldn’t just brush off. Fiction can even affect reality sometimes. This kind of stuff even happens in real life and you decide to seem careless about it? Seriously, grow up. It’s 2023.

“Why do you only care about this one specific author though? Other authors are during the same thing.” I’m very much fully aware of those authors. We shouldn’t also support them. I’m even fully aware that this happens in other fandoms. For example, the South Park Fandom. If anything, block and report the accounts. It’s even better if you are these authors and tell other people (like I did)!

“Why should we care now?” If sometime in the future and the author makes other works, we should be aware of their bad actions they may have done in the past. This is because we don’t want to support those kind of people. For example, J.K Rowling. She has been transphobic for a very long time. Heck, even William Golding (the author) himself is problematic! We try to not support these people because they did bad things.

Thank for your time. I really appreciate it. Reblogs are highly appreciated since it spreads more awareness.

Have a wonderful rest of your day or night.

[magnetarbeam]

I've just been forced to face the fact that Legends fans are a minority and it's really depressing, so now I'm going to think about my ridiculously self-indulgent Rogue Squadron Vestara AU.

The more think about it, the more I question how in-character it actually is for her to choose to do this. If the idea is to choose her own path, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for her to choose a path that still puts her in a specific defined command structure where she doesn't actually have much freedom. Then again, Rogue Squadron historically isn't known for being particularly disciplined.

I guess if all she's trying to do is find herself. In canon we don't get to see her piloting much, but as far as I remember she enjoys the first flight she takes in Ship. I don't think it's too much of a stretch for her to want to exercise her piloting skill more, especially since the Lost Tribe don't really seem to use any fighters, and the helms of those shitty old Corporate Sector frigates would more likely be reserved for at least Sabers.

She enjoys flying, it's not a skill she's had much of a chance to use - at least not in regular ships - and she's trying to explore herself in new ways and stuff. I think it makes enough sense.

In terms of strict command structures, I think it would make a lot of difference for her that in a regular military, everyone isn't constantly plotting to stab each other in the back.

And, like, at this point Syal's more familiar with treason and knowing when you need to defy the command structure than Wedge was at her age. All that LotF angst has to have been good for something, and I've already talked about some of my headcanons for what happened to her after she ended up among the Jedi in Fury.

I'm operating under the vague assumption that this story is supposed to be continuitous (if that's even a word) to Guiding Star, which is the theoretical story that details the events that Syal and Wedge and Tycho and Gavin went through while Revelation but mostly Invincible happened. An important part of her character in LotF is that by Fury, she's come to question her own judgement as much as she questions her superiors, and I haven't planned it very much, but I assume part of her arc in Guiding Star involves her resolving that, and that she now believes she has enough experience to determine for herself whether the current government is or isn't worth spending lives for.

(Side note: 44 ABY is the year Syal turns 27, which makes her probably the same age here as Wedge is in the first X-Wing book, and I love that symmetry, trivial though it is.)

I've been thinking of it as Vestara actually joining the Rogues three or four months after FotJ (on a ten-month in-universe calendar), so by now Ves has had plenty of time to gain experience with X-Wings, and learn from most of the best pilots alive. Also, at this point, Syal's had enough time to consider Wynn Dorvan's decisions as the next Chief of State and decide the GA under him is worth spending lives for. He is a genuinely good guy, FotJ just puts him in bad situations constantly.

According to at least Luke, Daala was doing a fine job until FotJ. Syal wouldn't have agreed with Daala's actions during FotJ, but in the timeskip, at least, I think Syal would have probably continued to lead the version of the Rogues that she inherited at the end of the Second Galactic Civil War.

(Second side note: I'd like some kind of story that actually demonstrates Daala having done a good job as Chief of State.)

The other pilots on Rogue Squadron at this point are a point of much questioning.

I'm going with the idea that there was another reorganization of the squadron after the end of FotJ, to update the roster. At least half the point of Rogue Squadron is political symbolism and representation and stuff, and there are some educated guesses to be made from that.

In addition to Syal herself, a convenient addition is Zueb Zan, the Sullustan who was her gunner when she flew Alephs. That's a relationship Syal already has, and what little there is to see of him in canon makes me like him enough.

The other canon character I can think of to add here is Drathan Forge, Inyri's great-nephew who shows up briefly at the end of Outcast, when they have to blow up the ancient artifacts beneath the mines of Kessel before said artifacts blow up the planet. In that scene, Drathan claims to be a skilled pilot, and says he has provisional Academy acceptance, and that he'd have to keep his grades up for another year. So the end of FotJ is about when he'd be getting in. If this is a few months after that, I'd find it acceptable for him to get into the Rogues on the basis of skill and family history. Hells, Inyri didn't have any formal training.

Anyway, the implicitly successful diplomatic reintegration of at least the major players of the Confederation during FotJ leads to the roster including a token Bothan and also a token Commenorian. The whole Treaty of Vontor issue results in a token Klatooinian or something. Syal herself is Corellian, obviously.

Drathan, I expect, is a representative of the various corporate enterprises currently operated by Lando. I think in Outcast, Lando has a line about how he's selling to the private sector since the SGCW (maybe before that), and if I recall correctly that implies that he's potentially enabling stuff like YVH droids to end up in the hands of enemies of the Alliance.

I'd buy the Alliance having someone who's from Kessel, another one of Lando's operations, in Rogue Squadron as an attempt to convince Tendrando Arms to be more loyal to them.

Anyway, Vestara's role in this is as both a token Jedi and a token ex-Sith. She's not ready to commit to the Jedi path yet, but if she doesn't fully leave the Order and instead is still being trained by Luke on the side, they might play her up as proof that despite the Jedi Order leaving the Alliance's authority and stuff, they haven't abandoned the Alliance completely. That would be especially important in the aftermath of the end of FotJ, and how I've decided the official line of the GA is that Abeloth was an instrument of the Sith. Especially, but not necessarily, if I decide to work this plotline into Voices of the Force, where her influence stretched far beyond Coruscant.

Also, the fact that Vestara used to be a Sith is useful too. Between Abeloth and Caedus, hate for the Sith is probably the highest it's been since... I don't even know. The highest it's been in millennia, maybe. Even Palpatine, as I recall, wasn't nearly as public about it in his life as Caedus was at the end.

If they can show people a former Sith who's been redeemed, the Jedi might prevent public opinion from going so far as to approve, for example, Kesh being glassed and its mostly innocent population killed. The Alliance doesn't know where it is, so that's not an immediate concern, but it is a concern nonetheless.

That's still only seven out of twelve.

I think Vestara's new girlfriend is someone in a position of a friend to the Rogues, but not actually in their command structure, because that way it won't get weird if one of them gets promoted.

Another headcanon I have is that the age of majority in the Galactic Alliance is 14, a relic of the strategic realities of the late stages of the Vong War, so theoretically there's no rule preventing people Vestara's age from having a position here.

[jasontoddiefor]

Saw your recent “drama” with the book lotf and some fanfic you posted about reading, and all I have to say is: I’m so done with chronically online people. Some fics out there are gross, especially the ones that outwardly show cp, but jeez not EVERYTHING is sexualizing minors

I fairly dislike omegaverse, but I read that one for the sake of seeing what the fuss was about, and I will say that it is extremely tame, it was definitely much more than just alpha/omega porn fic (especially since there wasn’t porn)

I’ve never read lotf so that could mean I’m biased. My advice is to ignore them. I don’t wanna go point by point into why I don’t believe it was sexualizing kids, but I think you get my point lmao. Hopefully they won’t start stalking your blog now over this. Speaking of which, if any of the lotf fandom users see this, move along, because we obviously don’t agree with your statements.

also you mentioned you had a main blog, could I check it out? thanks!

lol I've been through so much fandom drama, two people (who, going by tone, I'm fairly sure have never attended university-level media classes, most likely due to their age) commenting on a fic rec annoys me for two hours and then I'm done with it. I hope more that this doesn't have any bad repercussions for the author? Because honestly, like I said, I enjoyed that fic a lot.

and tbh - general thing here - I don't like calling any fanfiction "gross" or "disgusting" or anything like it, even if I personally dislike the matter it deals with, simply because the fic means something to, at minimum, one person, and I don't want to disregard that. What's that cinema wins quote about how every movie is someone's favorite for a reason? That. Also if you start with that, you end up with "please public share your top 10 traumatic life experiences so I can evaluate whether you deserve to post this tagged fic that personally offends me".

And like, I've written several fics that I'm fairly sure a lot of people will call me gross for, I know for certain that a person I was having a pretty great conversation with blocked me right in the middle of said conversation when they saw some of my other stuff on AO3. And like. you know what? Good for them! If engaging with me after seeing that is something they're uncomfortable with, they ought to block me. Curate your online experience and all that.

And, to open that can of worms, I am pretty sure most people have no idea what actual sexualization of minors is or they wouldn't use those words so liberally when discussing a fictional text. Shout out to my professor who sat my class down and made us research the government statistics on CSA. Very interesting seminar, made you feel absolutely terrible and terrified of becoming a teacher and being constantly on a lookout for students, who might be abused at home.

Anyway, I'm going off topic. I don't really have anything more to say on this.

And this actually is my main blog! I was just referring to when I was into a more "problematique" ship (shout out to obikin I still love you <3) and blogged about it constantly ("on main") here. My writing side blog is @loosingmoreletters, but that's mostly general writing stuff and mdzs fanfic rn.

cheerio that's my take on it.