#mo ran icon

[hyucklovely]

aerha icons!

like or reblog! ;)

[t-taxiansgf]

꒰ᒡ . . ᒢ꒱   ⠀⠀⎯⠀⠀𖹭 soft blue mo ran moodboard

[bingqiv]

somewhat obsessed with erha/2ha. read half of volume two today and i’m resisting the urge to consume it in one sitting. just the writing the pacing the characters

[yoondepity]

was reading the portrait drawing scene in erha and can I just say, as an art history student, mo ran is an icon. "face is a face" FANTASTIC descriptions 👏🏻😭

[itzmirasona]

Mystery on Bakerlon [CN SERVER]

I WILL FREAKING CRY

[ashedddaisy]

⛥ 2HA ⛥ 01 ⛥ 31. THIS VENERABLE ONE'S UNCLE. ⛥

Upon seeing this, Mo Ran was most displeased. Emperor Taxian-Jun had an inexpressible fixation on Chu Wanning's acknowledgement. He immediately asked for three servings of tofu as well.

And so, on the first day of the Yuheng Elder's period of confinement, all three of his disciples got the runs from food poisoning.

Chu Wanning glanced at the disciples in the distance; the young people were drenched through and through, but the smiles on their faces were bright and carefree. Chu Wanning knew that those smiles would vanish the moment they saw him. Thus, after thinking it over for a moment, he moved to stand beneath the bridge.

The translucent golden barrier covered Naihe Bridge and extended in full resplendence all the way to the main walkway of the disciples' quarters, thereby sheltering them from the rain the rest of the way.

"The Xuanji Elder is the best."

He held an oil-paper umbrella and as he gazed at Chu Wanning, he almost seemed to be smiling—yet also not.

One on the bridge, where leaves rustled in the wind; one under the bridge, where rain splashed in the river. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Both simply looked at the other.

Finally, Mo Ran laughed. "Xuanji Elder, you're getting drenched," he said teasingly. At nearly the same time, Chu Wanning spoke, voice chilly, "How did you know it was me?"

Mo Ran knew that Chu Wanning couldn't be bothered to put up a barrier for himself, but an idea popped into his head. He tossed the umbrella over. "I'll give this to you—catch."

Chu Wanning looked up at him. "Then what about you?"

All of a sudden, he didn't understand what he was thinking. If only his feelings toward people could always be either simple fondness or simple loathing.

The fan opened with a pop. The writing on the side facing others said: "Xue is Beautiful." But the writing on the side facing himself said: "Others are Ugly."

A pause, then he asked, "Oh yeah, Aunt, is this medicine bitter?" "Somewhat. Why do you ask?" Mo Ran grinned. "No reason." But he grabbed a handful of candy from the fruit bowl and stuffed it into his sleeve.

[retronation]

Chu Wanning really showed up to Yuliang Village dressed in white with Mo Ran and then proceeded to sit under a tree drinking water while (respectfully) ogling Mo Ran as he did all the work in the field harvesting.

What an icon. I love this man.

[web-novel-polls]

WN Weapon Tournament

[Please be courteous in the notes. Don’t make me block you.]

Chenqing - Wei Wuxian's dizi (MDZS)

Wiki Link

Hong Jing (TGCF)

Mod Propaganda: Snitch

Wiki Link

Jiangui / Ah! What the Hell - Mo Ran’s whip from 2ha

“There is only one person in this world who can open Ever-Yearning. This person is extremely important in your life; you must love this person dearly, and this person must also love you in return, and be wholly devoted to you.” - Ji Baihua regarding the Ever-Yearning box containing Jiangui

Mo Ran’s Holy weapon in his second life, Jiangui - which translates to “Ah! What the hell” due to Mo Ran accidentally exclaiming this when opening the Ever-Yearning box.��

Jiangzai - Xue Yang’s sword (MDZS)

Submission:

i don't know shit about swords but jiangzai can split into two swords and that's Very Cool methinks

Little Palace Mistress’s Whip (SVSSS)

Submission: Shen Qingqiu is whipped, and not just for Luo Binghe?

Longcheng / Dragon City - Xue Meng’s sword from 2ha

Since Xue Meng could not receive a holy weapon from Jincheng Lake, he used Longcheng, a high-quality scimitar from Taxue Palace. From what I remember, Mo Ran gifted him the Wangshu Crystal from the Carp Essence that was requested by Song Qiutong to help him cultivate/add to his sword, making it something similar to a “heavenly weapon.”

Shuoyue - Lan Xichen's sword (MDZS)

Submission: The sword that stabbed through Lan Xichen's best friend, Jin Guangyao. Tragic sword.

Wiki Link

Suibian - Wei Wuxian's sword (MDZS)

Suibian is Wei Wuxian’s sword that sealed itself after his death. Its name translates to “Whatever” due to Wei Wuxian’s inability to think of a suitable name and telling Jiang Fengmian to name it “whatever.” This is, in my opinion, the funniest thing Jiang Fengmian has ever done in his life

Taerang - Alberu Crossman's divine item (Lout of the Count's Family / LCF)

Wiki Link

Fantasy gun rights

Xuan Su - Yue Qingyuan’s sword (SVSSS)

Mod Propaganda: Xuan Su is Yue Qingyuan’s iconic sword that is only drawn twice after he suffers from a qi deviation bonding his life force to Xuan Su. 

Yan Zhen (TGCF)

Jun Wu’s Virgin Detector sword

Wiki Link

[danmeichael]

Tell me about both<3 UwU

i can't exactly give you anything substantive about either if you want both, they're tonally disparate and have very different themes and narrative goals despite having similar key points of identity porn and the inherent comedy of being a streamer. they're like, entirely different universes.

vtuber hbn au is more or less a dark-comedy au that isn't very developed in terms of hard plot. hua binan is also the popular and well-known vtuber shi mei. shi mei's brand is being extremely cute and sweet, doting on his followers and doing whatever fanservice he can get away with without ruining his naive virginal femboy persona. his number one fan is the incredibly cringe kaneki-icon having taxian jun who is extremely parasocial but his main cash cow. he drops multiple akasupas per stream, and hbn needs that money... to send weird kink-related gifts to chu wanning, who hbn probably met at his day job or something, and who is also in the top three of tetris players in the world.

sisheng agency au has a full post about it but tl;dr, cwn was originally a hot boy vtuber under rufeng but got terminated for mysterious reasons. unrelated, there's a totally new vtuber on the scene now under the new sisheng agency called xia sini who sounds super familiar... weird! eventually mo ran and shi mei end up getting wrangled in, and are then promptly locked in eternal combat to be their oshi's (xia sini) favorite.

[minsarasarahair]

Saw this in Xiaohongshu and it felt weird to see Lou Zhu together with popular Danmei's gong characters lol It says Long haired beauties??

Xiao Chiye (Qiang Jin Jiu), Lou Zhu (You Yao), Luo Binghe (SVSSS), Lan Wangji (MDZS), Hua Cheng (TGCF), Mo Ran (2HA)

Others: Husband material Gong who's physically strong and can fight. Will protect their shou at all cost and suffer together with them.

Meanwhile Lou Zhu (that merchant guy with iconic glasses and fan): Don't know any martial arts or cultivation but a schemer. A hedonist with questionable morals lol He protect his shou through his intelligence network and wealth. He's pretty much useless without it. He's funny tho and beautiful.

If he fought with these gongs, he'll die instantly. I'm not joking. Its canon that he died twice instantly in You Yao. First is he got hit by a car and second is food poisoning.

[xiaolanhua]

ok, so here are my thoughts about Till the End of the Moon:

First of all, i really enjoyed watching the drama, there were some things that i didn't like but it doesn't determine if is a good drama or not, just my personal preference.

Visuals:

Among all the xianxias i've watched, they really brought one of the best visuals and cgi. The photography and cinematography were also on point. One of the best things about the drama!

Characters:

I'm so glad i got to meet Tantai Jin, he is a complex and intriguing character played VERY WELL by Luo Yunxi, he definitely was the star of the show. The man really gave us the most unhinged, sad, pretty and mad human (or devil) being while using the most thin and neat eyeline and he's so iconic for that (he and dongfang qingcang would be besties, i feel it!)

Li Susu/Ye Xiwu are kind the kind of character that you love or hate or both, and honestly, i'm going with both. Really felt mixed emotions about her but i understand her character and why she behaved like that, Bai Lu once again did a great job <3

Also, shoutout to my favorite secondary characters Pian Ran (my beloved fox, i miss you so much), Qing yu (a cutie), Bai Yu (a puppy who loves his master so much) and my bad b*tch Si Ying (r.i.p baby you were mean but slayed).

The couples:

The main couple were not a "healthy" one and i acknowledge that but Bai Lu and Yunxi's chemistry is off chart, i'm glad we had another drama with them giving us all kinds of feels because they are really great with that. Also, if you want to watch them being one of the most funny and healthy couples of dramaland, i highly recommend Love is Sweet, it has "corporate" plot but they make it worth it.

Pian Ran and Qing Yu deserve the title of "second couple", they were fun, cute and had great chemistry (the writers did they dirty 🤬)

On the other hand, unfortunately, this drama has one of the worst "second lead" characters/couple (bingchan/mo nv and xiao lin/ji wu). I didn't like them for a bit and could erase them in any timeline/plot, very weak and with nonexistent chemistry :(

Costumes:

You can really tell that they spend efforts with the costumes and i appreciate it so much because the dresses and accessories (specially Ye Xiwu's head pieces) were stunning!! The team responsible for the costumes deserve a raise.

Plot/ending/editing:

Yes, it's a xianxia, and yes, i knew what kind of drama i was getting into and i'm not a "sad ending" hater or whatever, but i feel like the mass cutting and re-editing for the drama to be broadcasted really downgraded the overall quality of the drama.

Who directed also made a mistake choosing to release too much scenes that weren't really needed and then fast forward scenes that were important to the plot, you guys know what i'm talking about? yep, the dream arc/bo're life.

The dream arc indeed was important, specially for character development and to understand about the ancient gods and the battle against the former devil god, but how they prolonged when it could be done without taking almost 9 episodes is really frustrating.

There's a tiny detail that really bothered me while i was watching that how they used the same location/wardrobe for multiple scenes. Like, they put the actors on a place and made them record different kind of scenes that were put on the drama and you CAN tell they did that because the editing didn't help. I don't know if they did that to cut expenses but is just a thing that throws me off.

Now, about the last episode: i was meh... the ending was more bitter then sad. And, yes, i'm totally angry because Tantai Jin did not deserve the ending he got 😭🤬 like, would it kill to explain better if he was gone for good ??? because that last scene was confusing

OST:

I admit that i only heard the OST when i was watching, it was great but not memorable :(

-

well, i think this is the larger post i've made about a drama and i'm sorry if something sounds confusing or is written poorly, english is not my first language (i know, is such a latino thing to say sorry about having a "bad" english 😬)

rating: overall: 8.2/10 acting: 9.5/10 visuals 9.5/10 plot: 8/10 editing: 6/10

[t-taxiansgf]

⠀✉️ㅤㅤ— mo ran icons ♡ 🪷

[livingformyotp]

nothing will be more iconic than getting Chu Wanning and Mo Ran married in the very first few chapters of 2ha. 350 chapters, excluding the extras, and theyre been married since. u wish ur faves were them.

[holygroundgone]

2ha Plushie Review and Preorder Speculation

I'll be judging all the 2ha plushies that I am aware of by several different metrics: Face, Body (referring to shape and design of nipples/symbols), Clothes, Overall Aesthetic and Availability (as of 3/10/2024) My judgements in these other than availability will of course be subjective and graded along my own tastes and preferences, listed in no particular order:

Omodoki 0.5 20CM

Face:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾🐾🐾 (body embroidery unknown) Clothes:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Availability: (Zero paws out of five)

Starting off with my white whale, my unattainable first love, beloved moonlight dazzling beauty and perfection...

Omodoki 20cm Taxian-Jun plushie in his full glory, with husky ears and his mian guan and elegant shoulder pads and most importantly (in my heart) golden haitang pin from his initial manhua design. His impetuous and insouciantly fanged childish expression is charming and precious, wielding the immense and unavoidable charisma of the emperor of the two realms, he is truly perfect in all ways.

I mean no offense to the omodoki 20cm Chu Wanning that is his counterpart, the headpiece, hair and clothes are all good, face shape is also good, but in my heart I want to see CWN with golden eyes, so my interest is diminished.

Unfortunately, demand for these is high and supply is low. I have searched many sites in states of unattractive desperation- just about every permutation of carousell, taobao, mercari (US and japan), reddit, discord servers, individually messaging danmei merch sellers..... I have suffered buying him on aliexpress only to be told that he was given a wrong address... and would be Destroyed by the post office. In a fit of rage and tears I went to the post office at my soonest possible hour only to find the seller had sent an empty slip of plastic (scam). This post is also a call for help. If you own him I will spend many dollars and also my soul to possess dear precious sweet Taxian-Jun. I will write you anything you want, draw anything you want, give up my dignity to see him in person with my own eyes 🙇

As of right now, if you want to own these plushies, give up all hope and dream for a reprint.

Omodoki Wedding 20CM

(not pictured- CWN's wedding veil)

Similar to the 0.5 dolls, the wedding dolls are similarly difficult to find in terms of availability, though I have not seen as much hunger and desire to own them from others and myself.

The clothes and headpieces are quite nice, however in my eyes the faces leave something to be desired. I'm even less invested in blue eyes Chu Wanning (though from a canonical standpoint wherein the only description I remember is black, blue as a common and iconic portrayal of white cats makes sense. However I repeat that golden eyes Chu Wanning is my favorite, mirroring Tianwen and the color of his spiritual constructs as well as being a perfect complementary color to Mo Ran's purple) and Mo Ran's eyes are also looking somewhat on the blue side as well.

These dolls lack charisma.

Face:🐾🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾🐾🐾 (body embroidery unknown) Clothes:🐾🐾🐾🐾 🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾 Availability: (Zero paws out of five)

Midsummer Night 20CM

Face:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Clothes:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Availability: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

I actually own these- excellent clothes, excellent clothes and accessories (if you buy both you get the collar and leash!) excellent concept... To me they are perfect. Charming expressions, charming faces, hair embroidery...

The clothes are very high quality and come with wonderful details such as Mo Ran's clothes resembling a maid uniform decked out in cute little bells that jingle- provocative and inspiring of what might cause such bells to jingle raucously. It's peak boytoy outfit hours, giving the sense that the designer was intricately fantasizing about the midsummer night's dream in question as they designed it.

The body embroidery is exquisite-

Nipples AND intricate and gorgeous flower womb tattoos? Sign me up, brother. But they also come with a secret:

Their cute little plush butts bear the pawprint of the other's color. Truly the most intimate and erotic plush dolls that have been made yet.

And the best news? They're incredibly available right now as far as I know- ebay, aliexpress, anime/danmei goods online stores. Grab them now before they're gone!!

The only reason I can imagine to not buy them is that you're not into the bdsm subby Mo Ran vibe going on here, to which I say... Buddy, whose midsummer night's dream do you think this is?

That being said, they're not necessarily representationally perfect in terms of portraying the characters in terms of wearing more modern clothes that aren't the same as outfits from the novel. Also, I think I saw something implying that they're meant to be 2.0, and if that's the case Mo Ran is just as milk pale as Chu Wanning, which is mid from that direction.

For fun, I put him in a maid dress 💖

MOFANS 20CM

Face:🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾🐾🐾 (body embroidery unknown) Clothes:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾 Availability: 🐾🐾🐾🐾

Taking a bit of a dive... I'm not certain if these dolls are more available due to possibly still being in print (mofans seems to reprint more often/better availability than omodoki) or if they're just not particularly popular.

I'm not a fan of them myself- this type of hair in particular is incredibly unattractive to me, though someone might enjoy brushing it (?) The faces aren't horrible, though Chu Wanning's pout is a little awkward. Not particularly charismatic.

I grant extra points to the clothes for having two separate outfits available- basic brocade robes and the more done up robes in the picture, complete with cute little cat purse for Chu Wanning. However, especially in comparison to the omodoki 20cm 0.5 outfit for Mo Ran, his outfit here leaves something to be desired, especially in absence of his mian guan.

If you like them, go ahead and get them, they're available in most places, even on mercari last I checked, but personally I have no interest in adding them to my collection.

(I don't know the source) 20CM

Face:🐾 Body: 🐾🐾🐾🐾 Clothes:🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾 Availability: 🐾🐾🐾🐾

Similar to the last dolls, these can be found fairly easily. However... Why would you want to? Sold at roughly the same price as the above dolls, the quality is just not there. Cheap looking clothes, cheap looking but admittedly fluffy looking hair, and while Chu Wanning's face is passable Mo Ran is an uncomfortable abomination.

If there's one thing I can praise, it's that they apparently have little butt marks-

and normal heart nipples and paws on hands and feet, but it's just not nearly as endearing as the midsummer night dolls' body embroidery.

Plush Wonderland 20CM

Face:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾 Clothes:🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Availability: 🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

Just recently becoming available with full photo proofs, the plush wonderland dolls are ones I ordered but haven't received yet!

I'm being somewhat strict on clothes, first of all, because these are not clothes that were designed for the ranwan dolls, rather I believe they are clothes available on taobao and made by cosmile? Not fully certain, but it's clear that the effort hasn't been put in in that regard, so I'm somewhat disappointed, especially having bought the clothes before having seen them. I'll definitely be spending more money on aliexpress looking for suitable clothes for them...

Furthermore, when it comes to the body embroidery...

I'm not a fan of the weird and incongruous animal symbols. No nipples? No belly button? I feel like it'll look weird if they're in outfits that show the chest. However, the paws are good, uniformly pink.

With my criticisms aside, the other particulars of these dolls are excellent. The hair embroidery in particular is some of my favorite, especially for CWN. The faces are adorable and lovely, the little sparkles in their eyes are very precious, good charisma. Mo-Zongshi having a slightly tanner skin tone is good! And the fact that you can get all three is absolutely everything to me, unbelievably satisfying and pleasing, thank you for giving me life.

And when it comes to availability, they're available right now! In addition, I don't know how Plush Wonderland is when it comes to reprinting, but I have a feeling that these will be some of the most readily available ranwan plushies yet. And can you really beat that with the price they're at? You can even buy them with skeletons included.

(unknown) 20CM

Face:🐾🐾🐾🐾 (projected) Body: 🐾🐾🐾 (projected) Clothes:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 (projected) Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 (projected) Availability: (preorder)

Only just recently becoming put up for preorder on taobao and aliexpress as a design without proofs, it's difficult to foresee how they'll look without said proofs. However, the design is certainly appealing! A point deducted from face for Chu Wanning's face lacking character, though the gentleness might be enjoyed by some.

Also, I prefer nipples instead of these chest symbol type designs. It remains to be seen!

Kadokawa 20CM(?)

Face:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Body: (body embroidery unknown) Clothes:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Availability: (0 paws out of 5)

So unavailable I can barely even find information on them from googling, I have the luck of having bought them through japanese mercari (they're still in a warehouse waiting to come home🥹)

They gain an extra point in clothes despite the basic outfits looking just a little cheap because these dolls also had available fluffy kitty and husky outfits with little purses!!! come on!!!

I'm ambivalent towards CWN's black eyes here, however his expression and everything going on with Mo Ran's face are so adorable with their little eyelashes that it doesn't even matter.

Despite being listed as 20cm, they look smaller than the 20cms I've seen in person, which is not a problem for me but should be noted regardless

Omodoki 13CM

Face:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Body: (body embroidery unknown) Clothes:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Availability: (0 paws out of 5)

Another omodoki plushie that cannot be found outside of split second secondhand purchases... 🥹

10cm (and adjacent sizes) hold a special place in my heart for their extra cuteness due to being smaller than the 20cms. These in particular have very cute faces, though the blue eyes Wanning is certainly a drawback for me.

MOFANS 10CM

Face:🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾🐾🐾 Clothes:🐾🐾🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Availability: 🐾🐾🐾🐾

Recently reprinted and available once again, these precious little babies can be yours! I recently bought my own and am planning to get them tiny little maid uniforms, as well as another little Mo Ran for non-display cuddling.

There are small details here and there that prevent them from being perfect in my mind- no paws on the feet, Wanning's hair making him look particularly unwanninglike, their silly little dudous (?) looking somewhat like diapers (offset by their adorable little cat and husky bibs) and now that I'm thinking about it mofans seems to portray cwn with a non haitang peonylike flower which is disharmonious... However, they're so cute that I can't hold it against them, the faces are particularly adorable.

They're soft, they're fluffy, they're sweet little babies.

Omodoki 10CM

Face:🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾 Clothes:🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾 Availability: 🐾🐾🐾

With somewhat sporadic availability (though they seem to have restocked on Plush Wonderland), these tiny squishy little things had a glow up for me when I realized they didn't just have grey little bodies- those are dudous.

Rest assured- they have cute little plush butts. (photo from my boy waiting in the warehouse for his daddy to pay child support (shipping costs))

They're very simple in terms of face and body, which I wouldn't consider much of a plus or a minus however compared to other entries on here it feels somewhat lacking. In addition, it's blue eyes CWN, so personal deduction from me.

(unknown) 10CM

Face:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾🐾 Clothes:🐾🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Availability: (preorder)

A preorder available on aliexpress and taobao that just recently got a proof photo, these sweet little boys are adorable. The clothes are just little bibs, so there's not much to say there, and it's surprising to see a Mo Ran with a middling eye color compared to his Wanning counterpart- they look somewhat on the blue side, but I know I'll be preordering these when I have the money.

(unknown) 12CM

Face:🐾🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾 Clothes:🐾🐾🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Availability: (preorder)

Another taobao/aliexpress preorder, this time without proofs, I'm not the biggest fan of the (presumably) printed on little caped dumpling body type plushies as opposed to full bodied nude with clothes plushies, but the designs for these are cute enough for me to want to preorder.

@half_som 10CM

Face:🐾🐾🐾 Body: 🐾🐾🐾 Clothes:🐾🐾🐾 Overall Aesthetic:🐾🐾🐾🐾 Availability: (korean interest check)

Recently posted here for an interest check (the demand survey specifies that it's for domestic korean purposes and that there will be a US GO demand survey, however as far as I know there is no GO as of right now and so I'm planning on buying with a proxy service for now)

With very simple cute design, I'm the most excited and interested in getting all three CWN TXJ MZS together, especially pleased with MZS's tan skin.

[phaltu]

Very silly question, but who's the character in your icon!! For the longest time I thought it was Luo Binghe but I just realized that what I thought was his demon mark is actually a tassel from his crown!

omg now I am filled with desire for a Luo Binghe drawn in this manner.... this is Mo Ran/Taxian-Jun from 2HA!! specifically from the video game art for a Chinese ghost story

[outeremissary]

Top 5 Traitors

oh fuck yes

5. Kas the Bloody-Handed

Legacy pick (only one to make the final cut). You have had some contact with tabletop roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons, so you may be familiar with the tale of Vecna: once upon a time, a powerful lich was betrayed by his trusted vampiric lieutenant, who cut off his hand and carved out his eye. Vecna is the most famous figure of this story, but as a kid reading through the relics in the 3.5 and AD&D books in the house, I was always fascinated by the vampire. Without Kas, the most iconic aspects of Vecna simply would not be: the Hand and Eye became the symbols of the lich's power in godhood and the clash between the two created the greatest myth of his existence. And Kas was related (at least in 3.5) to a wicked item as well- the Sword of Kas, a sentient blade dripping with its former master's malevolence and waiting to take control over its new wielder. Kas has a longer and richer publication history than just this (especially in 2e), but the bare basics of my pre-internet youth were enough to set wheels turning in my head. I was so fond of the idea of Kas and Vecna, former allies and now bitter enemies over some secret quarrel, that I made the focus of the campaign I ran in high school their history. We never quite got to Vecna, but the vengeful spirit of Kas did make an appearance, where he served as the party's mysterious and ominous adversary (and occasional ally).

4. Goro Akechi

I am told it is "very unsurprising" I am an Akechi fan. I really don't think anything else needs to be said about this one.

3. Alcibiades from real life

If you aren't familiar with the Athenian Alcibiades, he is my all time favorite historical figure. I think due to Assassin's Creed a lot of people know him now (fascinating choice with the white hair in that game), but he's a person so interesting he altered the trajectory of my life. Alcibiades was a younger contemporary of the famous Socrates (this is relevant. put a pin in it), living at the end of what many consider the Classical period of Ancient Greek history. He is one of the most famous students of Socrates, but he wasn't a philosopher. No, young, noble Alcibiades, nephew of Pericles, was a politician. Famous for his wild hedonism, keen intellect, and blinding charisma, he became a major populist leader in Athens in the early years of the Peloponnesian War and won a fairly significant command in Sicily. However, shortly before he was set to leave for Sicily, Alcibiades and peers were accused of defacing the hermai, protective statues of Hermes distributed throughout the city, rendering the hermai impotent in their function (two common beliefs about how they were defaced are that either the noses or penises were broken off- both prominent features on the simplistic phallic statues). The defacing of the hermai was a major act of impiety and an ill omen for the campaign.

Under scrutiny in the wake of these grave accusations Alcibiades ultimately decided to flee justice and defect to Sparta- if you're not familiar with the Peloponnesian War, it was fought between Athens and allies (many unwilling) and Sparta and allies (somewhat less coerced?). Up to this point, the war hadn't been going too poorly for Athens despite significant setbacks due to a plague in the early years and the death of Pericles. As an informant and strategist, Alcibiades turned the tide. Athens was put on the defensive and it seemed likely that Sparta had the edge needed to actually win against its wealthy foe (and as a side note the Sicilian campaign ended in disaster- some speculate that Alcibiades could have averted this if he had retained his command). Unfortunately, in the midst of these giddy successes Alcibiades fell out of favor with the king of Sparta when it was suspected that he had seduced the king's wife; some accounts go so far as to say there were rumors that King Agis's son was actually fathered by Alcibiades. In a bad position, Alcibiades fled once more, this time to Persia; the historian Thucydides claims that under new patronage Alcibiades embarked on a campaign of political and economic revenge against Sparta by ruining its relationship with Persian allies.

With both Sparta and Athens now in a disadvantaged state, Alcibiades persuaded the leaders of Athens to welcome him back and give him military command (as well as the curb democracy in the city-state and make him a part of the oligarchy). Once more, the war seemed to shift. Sparta stalled under wishy washy leadership while Athenian efforts saw some success thanks to the excellent leadership from now two time traitor Alcibiades. At the height of this, Sparta attempted to petition for peace and was denied. But it was the man's nature to be dogged by scandals wherever he went: ultimately political upheavals resulted in the installation of a less friendly government and he was driven from the city by enemies yet again after a major defeat. After that, he wound up an exile in the Achaemenid Empire once more; at one point he reportedly attempted to offer advice and aid to Athenian troops he recognized as being in a poor position, but was dismissed (these forces were annihilated by their foes). Ultimately he played no further significant part in the war. Athens lost and a Spartan puppet state was installed.

However, there was one final part Alcibiades had to play in history! You may recall in paragraph one I mentioned Socrates. You may also know that Socrates was condemned for corrupting the youths of Athens and compelled to drink poison to carry out his own execution. Well, as it happens, one theory about what exactly was happening with that charge is that Socrates was specifically scapegoated for teaching Alcibiades, a dangerous enemy of Athens. Whether or not this is true (Socrates was an unpopular asshole in other ways) I feel that when you read Alcibiades as written in works like Plato's Symposium you can feel the tension of Alcibiades' ruined post-war reputation and how it reflected back on his acquaintances. The Alcibiades of the Symposium is vivacious, careless, sexual, and dangerously defiant of social order. He delivers the final speech in the work and when he finishes his followers cause the entire dinner party to collapse into disorder and be broken up. And at age 18, I was so enamored with this bizarre ending to the work that I decided I had to study Ancient Greek history to understand everything about the world that produced that scene. When I wrote my honors thesis to complete my bachelor's degree, Alcibiades provided the frame of my introductory chapter: even though I had planned not to center him, in the end he became my mission statement.

As it happens, most of my relatives never read past that first chapter, so I'm glad he was lively enough to impress... At any rate, he's quite special to me. If I could meet any one historical figure this would be the one. Basic bitch answer, I know, but hey. He had a real impact on me.

2. Tristian

(Spoilers up to the end of the quest Betrayer's Flight)

Kingmaker has made something absolutely wretched of me, as any who have had contact with me in the past three years (yikes) can attest. Tristian has entirely, wholly melted my brain. Something about a treachery that's so vividly clear and predictable but you still can't believe because you just... can't reconcile the idea with the person you know. And then the added layer where there's nothing false about that initial understanding! Despite all the secrets and deceit, somehow Tristian is still exactly as they are originally met. All of that good intent and compassion and naive sweetness is real, every bit as real as the little bursts of pettiness and condescension and the fixation on performance as a servant of Sarenrae. It's such a heady mix of sincerity and selfishness. I am enamored with this character. You know I am enamored with him. Complicit in attempts on your life! Enabled mass murder! Willing to sink to the absolute depths to recover the comfort of life as some ideal self that never really existed! Dogged by guilt, but never enough to endanger himself or his goals until it's far too late to avert the most heinous crimes. And so many of the little sabotages and treacheries centered on one single person of personal interest... I adore the ways that Tristian contradicts and undermines himself while being so straightforward and undisguised. Such a unique character to me, and one I find... very personally relatable in some of the flaws and motivations. Not that I've engineered any bioweapons, of course! Anyway. I could prattle on endlessly about Tristian, and I think you've already heard much of it! So I'll let this be.

ACTUALLY coming back in with an edit that I will try to keep SPOILER FREE so I don't have to change the warning but the end of that companion quest line was a betrayal to ME PERSONALLY and I will DIE MAD and it is EXTREMELY RUDE to be abandoned like that!!! Fuck this guy. Fuck this guy. I'm feeling some kind of fucking emotion here.

Anthy Himemiya

I went back and forth on who should occupy the number one position on this list and was ultimately won over by the fact that in the famous "Top 10 Anime Betrayals" of memetic fame, Anthy is in fact listed as number one. Anthy is also my favorite anime character of all time. If you haven't watched Revolutionary Girl Utena, stop reading this and go watch it. Seriously. Watch the whole thing. Even the stupid bullshit and the recap episodes. It is the best anime I've ever seen.

Anyway. If you have watched it, then you probably already understand my reasons. Anthy is a captivating symbolic depiction of femininity under patriarchy, a woman who does not desire her own oppression but struggles even to dream of liberation. She is a victim of abuse and a perpetuator of the cycle: she casually destroys the vulnerable and ruins those who would be her allies. She is on a campaign of her own destruction. Anthy is not a good person, but she has born the blame for evils she was never responsible for as long as she can remember: she is the quintessential Eve figure. Her betrayal of Utena is shocking not only because the two have finally reached an understanding and earnest trust, but because it is a clearcut betrayal of her own desires (even if Utena wavered in a critical moment). And ultimately? Ultimately? Anthy isn't freed by Utena! Although Utena never gives up on her, she doesn't "rescue" Anthy, only passes on enough hope to allow Anthy to escape her circumstances herself- perhaps ultimately making Anthy the true heroine of the story. I laid on the floor for a few hours and thought about life after finishing this show.

I adore Anthy. She's such a subtly drawn character so dripping with nuance. She's not a heroic or villainous character, in contrast to Utena, and she can be truly vicious both in her service of Akio and pursuing her own petty vengeances. Although she is constantly cast as weak by other characters, she has endured unspeakable suffering and has found a form of power and agency even in her captive state. Anthy has a mystique that I could spend a lifetime thinking about. This is such a rich, complex story, but Anthy shines at the center of it and stands head and shoulders above the rest of an unbelievably compelling cast.