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ameliafuckinjones · 9 months ago

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The Astrology of ENGLAND (Arthur Kirkland)

There are many charts for England based on the many transformative eras within the country's history (such as the unification with Scotland), but for this exercise, I will be using the chart that is used by seasoned mundane astrologers, which is the one predicated on the ascension of William the Conqueror on December 25th, 1066 at approximately noon ( 12:00 pm) in London. The chart associated with this date is believed to have set the overall tone for England’s personality and identity.

People usually start their readings off with the SUN sign, but I will begin with the Rising ( or Ascendant) sign in England’s chart, which like for all birth charts, sits in the First House.

RISING

THE FIRST HOUSE determines your self-identity, or at the very least, the identity you project to the outer world as your outer persona. It is what people see at first glance when they meet you as a stranger. Your first house and the sign that falls in this house is the first impression, so to speak. It is the outer shell that encases the core of everything else in your birth chart and helps set the tone of your overall demeanor (including mannerisms and behavior). It also heavily influences your physical appearance from your face to your body. Whatever planet rules the sign within your first house, and thus the associated body part of that sign, will determine the most significant feature that stands out in your outward personality and appearance. One must also consider what I like to call the invading planet, which does not rule the sign; it simply sits in the house with the sign and can temper or amplify the extreme personality traits of that sign. The invading planet can also influence the features of the significant body part ruled by the sign by, for example, amplifying the body part's presence, subduing it, or adding additional features. Where the planet that rules your rising sign falls within your chart along with planetary aspects (such as trine, conjunction, or opposition to your ascendant or planet, etc.), is also of great importance.

ENGLAND

The Anglo-Saxons arrived on Britannia’s shores after the fall of Rome, invited by Briton leaders who sought to use the mercenaries as a defense against other hostile tribes (such as the Picts). Abandoned and quickly succumbing to darkness without the fiery beacon of Rome to guide them, the island was ripe for the taking, and they soon found their mercenary friends to be hostile guests with ulterior motives. The Anglo-Saxons styled themselves as kings and established the Heptarchy (which consisted of seven kingdoms known as Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Wessex). It took centuries before the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms united as one in the face of yet another invasion of the island, this time by Vikings. King Alfred the Great laid the groundwork, but England didn't coagulate into a single kingdom until 927 CE under King Aethelstan. And yet, this event did not give birth to England as we know it (or him) today. The England of today that exists in the continuity of England from the past came to be when, in 1066 (and on Christmas day), William the Conqueror ascended the English throne (which had formerly been held by the Anglo-Saxons whom he cast down) and began a new and long chapter of Norman conquest. Coronations were usually held sometime between the late morning and early noon, so astrologers use the time 1200 noon as the exact moment Norman-ruled England came to be.

This time puts Aries in England’s first house, which the planet Neptune influences. In plain terms, Neptune in Taurus is semi-sextile Aries in the First House, and Aries is ruled by Mars, which is in Aquarius:

Rising sign: Aries ( The symbolic Golden Ram, Fire sign, Cardinal sign )

Primary Ruler of Aries: Mars (the god of war, agriculture, and father of Rome, the planet of action, sexual ardor, assertion, and aggression )

Mars location in the birth chart: Mars in Aquarius stationed in the 11th house (Aquarius is the symbolic Waterbearer, an air sign, and a fixed sign)

11th house: House of Friendships or the House of Hopes and Wishes

Influencing Planet: Neptune in Taurus (Neptune is the god of the sea, water, and horses. Neptune is the planet of dreams, illusions, intuition, spirituality, and the subconscious. Taurus is the symbolic Bull, an earth sign, and a fixed sign.)

In Greek mythology, the Aries is represented by the Golden Ram, who was sent by the gods to rescue two children from being sacrificed, a plot devised by their stepmother. Though one child did not survive this rescue (having fallen into the sea as the golden-fleeced ram flew over the raging waters to the land of Colchis), the child who did survive sacrificed the Golden Ram to give thanks to Zeus. The sign Aries is ruled by Mars, the god of war, defender of Rome, and the father of Remus and Romulus, the founders of Rome. In astrology, Mars is the Warrior Planet, which governs aggression, passion, and desire, attributes that are heavily associated with Aries, one of the three fire signs and one of the four cardinal signs (cardinal signs are naturally driven and ambitious).

What does this mean for England? It means that his physical appearance, first impressions, and initial reactions to people and situations embody Aries/Martian characteristics. Again, it is what people see when they meet him and what he shows when he meets them. A snapshot, so to speak. What are Aries's physical characteristics? The Aries rules the head, so in terms of appearance, someone with Aries in the First House has strong and angular features such as a prominent chin, nose, or mouth. They can often appear younger than they are, with a baby face and youthful eyes. They tend to take on a reddish tint in their hair or skin. With red being one of the colors associated with Mars, the god of war, people with Aries rising/ascendant often favor the color and incorporate it into their style or personality. Think of the Red Cross on St George. The Tudor rose, or the infamous red coat of the British military. Aries risings usually have an athletic physique, broad shoulders, and slim hips. The Aquarian influence provided by the position of the ruling planet, Mars, makes the already angular features sharper than normal.

To summarize, England would physically appear to the world as a baby-faced (possibly red-cheeked) man with a strong, angular jaw, a sharp Aqualine nose, and hard-set, narrow lips. His hair, though blonde, would have reddish undertones, and he’d favor the color red, at the very least, in his military uniforms, if not his everyday wardrobe. He’d stand rugged and mighty (as Aries risings do) with broad shoulders and narrow hips in his favored form-fitted iconic scarlet tunic that has become known the world over.

In terms of Aries personality traits, England would first appear to strangers and define/introduce himself to the world at large as a direct and hot-tempered man with a pioneering and industrious spirit who moves swiftly through life with a quick walk, head leaning forward ever so slightly as though he’s racing against time itself. Much like the ruler of his sign (Mars), he lives for action, which can frequently translate to conflict (such as war and enthusiastic conquest in lands abroad, you know the whole Rule, Brittania! and the sun will never set on the British Empire thing) or other risk-taking pursuits (privateering against the Spanish Armada, treasure hunting on cursed ancient grounds in Egypt, trekking through the wilderness of Australia). He often struggles with headaches and sinuses and perhaps struggled with acne on his face and shoulders in his youth.

The planet Neptune in Taurus is positioned in the Aries-dominated First House, while Mars (the natural ruler of Aries) is posited in Aquarius in the 11th House.

Neptune represents dreams, hopes, and idealism. It can also represent delusion and illusions, what people want to see or want others to see, and their expectations in conflict with reality. Neptune is the disappointment one may feel when finally confronted with reality. Neptune is the spiritual longing for a reality that does not exist. Neptune is also the god of the sea and waters, and has many a tale of causing shipwrecks and earthquakes.

Taurus is a bull-headed creature who charges forward with stubborn persistence. It is associated with Zeus, who transformed into a beautiful white bull in a plot to abduct Europa, a Phoenician princess.

It is also sometimes associated with the Cretan Bull and the frightful Minator who roamed the infamous Labyrinth. Coincidently, the Minator resulted from Poseidon (Neptune’s Greek counterpart), who cursed the Queen of Crete to fall in love with the bull after her husband refused to sacrifice the bull to the god of the sea. However, in astrology, Taurus (an earth and fixed sign) takes on a comparatively gentler tone. Still bullish, stubborn, and persistent, but also practical, loyal, and patient. Naturally ruled by Venus, Taurus is a sign of love and beauty.

Neptune in Taurus, especially when positioned in the first house, can make one naturally inclined to aesthetics and romanticism. They are not effortless so much as they are simply natural in all that they do and have a strong tendency to take on responsibilities that others won't.

Neptune in Taurus aspecting the Aries rising in the First House makes England intuitively assertive. It gives him a dreamy warrior quality, like an Arthurian Knight from legend. It makes him a heroic, fiery crusader. It can also make him an overly aggressive, impulsive loner. Yet England has within him the ability to become the leader of any great cause. Like with the Allies during WWII or the Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps he even joined Lord Byron -one of the most famous figures of the Romantic era- to support the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire, a cause that both men would have been deeply moved by. England feels lost without a moralizing, idealistic crusade by which he can leap head first and devote himself completely to and thus define himself. He’ll burn himself out in pursuit of any cause that stirs his heart, the murky waters of Neptune eventually turning his Aries fire into steam. Failing to live up to the expectation of the heroic and honorable knight (by perhaps losing a war or a battle under the banner of whatever cause he was championing) can leave him with everlasting disappointment and disillusionment with the cause. Though before reality wakes him up from his blissful war-waging slumber, he is all rose-tinted glasses and shiny armored knights with magical swords on beautiful white warhorses. The Neptune aspect influencing his Aries (ruled by the god of war) also plays a part in his penchant for naval warfare and the once mighty Royal Navy that spanned the globe, given that Neptune is the god of the sea. Neptune + Aries Rising = Britannia Rules the Waves!

Mars in the birth chart naturally represents your drive, energy, and approach to asserting yourself, and with Aries as the rising sign, this energy is emphasized in the First House.

We’ve already discussed Mars but have yet to discuss Aquarius, where Mars sits in England’s birth chart. Aquarius is the symbolic water-bearer, Ganymede, a beautiful prince who Zeus fell in love with and abducted to be made a cup carrier to the gods. Aquarius as a sign is fixed, meaning it is inclined to stability and resistant to change, acting as a sort of anchor. Aquarius placements are independent, innovative, humanitarian, and idealistic. This means England's passion, drive, sexual ardor, and aggression are all geared toward independence, innovation, and idealism.

Mars in Aquarius in the 11th house -the house of friendships- enhances England’s ability to unite people around a common, humanitarian cause ( ex. the Coalition Wars against Napoleon, the Concert of Europe, formation of Allied Powers in WWI and WWII). It’s also an indicator that he is fiercely independent (Rebellions against the Norman Conquest, the break from Rome by establishing the Church of England) and isn't shy about going against the grain if the norm conflicts with his principles. This brings to mind the creation of the Magna Carta, the English Civil War, and the following Glorious Revolution, which all saw radical political reforms within a traditionalist system (the transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy). This placement also highlights his tech-savvy capabilities and innovation in technology, which makes sense considering that a significant amount of modern technology was either created by inventors in England or, at the very least, took inspiration from English inventions, especially in regard to computers/computing. As for sexual ardor? England is sexually attracted to the unconventional, the unique, the strange. He himself tries to appear unconventional, unique, and strange to attract like-minded individuals. Eccentric personalities are a novelty to him. He loves the unpredictable; he doesn't mind dabbling in the taboo out of curiosity and the spirit of experimentation. More importantly, he is sexually attracted to the intellectually stimulating and intellectually stimulates others to spark attraction. A true sapiosexual.

SUN

If one were to crack open the hard exterior of the rising sign, they would reveal the sun hidden within.

The sun represents life and one's purpose in it. It represents destiny and the style in which you pursue it. The sun and the qualities of the sign it embodies are the core tenet of your being. It is the personal constitution that you live, breathe, and die by. It is the ego, the heart, the vitality. The house it falls in also helps shape the core identity and influences how the energy will manifest in reality.

ENGLAND

The sun is in Capricorn for England, situated in his 10th house.

Sun sign: Capricorn (Earth sign, Cardinal sign, the symbolic Sea Goat)

Ruled by Saturn, the god of time and harvest, the planet of discipline and structure

10th House: House of Career and Public Reputation

Capricorns are represented by the Sea Goat (an incarnation of the Greek god Pan, who turned the lower half of his body into a fishtail) and ruled by Saturn, the god of time who consumed his children in fear of being overthrown (much like his Greek counterpart Cronus). Capricornians can usually appear to be thin and tall, with an air of gravitas and a face that reveals nothing. However, while the sun can influence the physical appearance, the rising sign has a greater impact.

Capricorns are earth signs: grounded, rooted, and sturdy. Like all earth signs, Capricorns value and uphold prudence, stability, realism, and pragmatism in their day-to-day life. They are more financially literate than most people and good at capitalizing on resources and managing people. This brings to mind the Industrial Revolution, the part England played in creating it, and the use of resources and people to generate capital in his colonialist pursuits in North America, Asia, and West Africa. Think mercantilism between colonial America and Britain, an economic policy aimed to benefit the mother country by ensuring a favorable balance of trade and accumulation of wealth through a controlled economy. A perfect example of England as a Capricorn using resources and managing people to produce positive financial gains in his favor. He was even willing to abandon his morals by bringing slaves to North America to achieve this as well (and later on, using Indians and Irish as indentured servants in the Caribbean long after the abolishment of slavery and the slave trade). Capricorns MIGHT become bad people and do awful things when they really want money. This, of course, isn't unique to Capricorns, nor is it unique to England. The difference, however, is the level of efficiency at which he executes his plans to obtain money (or any goal/desire, really), no matter how morally wrong those plans are. Especially if he abandons idealism in favor of his instinctual pragmatism. (Though his idealistic Neptune in his first house eventually came into play by way of England using the British Royal Navy to abolish and prohibit the Atlantic Slave Trade.)

Capricorns are also cardinal signs: naturally ambitious, industrious, and goal-oriented. Cardinal signs like the Capricorn are hellbent on achieving their objectives, and not much can steer them from whichever path they’re set upon. They are also born leaders, willing and eager to call the shots.

Capricorns stand apart from their fellow earthly and cardinal signs in that they are the builders of society, with the natural gift to plan, organize, and strategize their way into worldly accomplishments with dangerous efficiency. They are cool and self-contained, calm and reserved to a fault (to the point that it unnerves people who are the opposite), but beneath that hard shell, their feelings run deep, and their affections are best shown through loyalty to those that they love, a loyalty which they treat with the utmost importance and care.

What does this mean for England? As stated before, the sun represents the core of your identity, and the core of his identity is Capricornian. In essence, England is unwavering, like a firmly planted tree with roots a million years deep into the earth. Immovable, like a great mountain, he cannot be swayed. It is his sense of stability and order or, at the very least, his pursuit of stability and order that makes him so impossibly formidable. Even when faced with a crisis, he’s dauntless and stoic. He carries on with a stiff upper lip. There are few things in this life that truly make his spirit quiver in fear. He is a solid man with a solid heart, and this disposition comes with negatives and positives alike. This is not at all to say that he is completely made of stone. He is still capable of feeling. When he deigns to (and sometimes even against his will), he can feel that affectionate loyalty and camaraderie toward his peers while in the heart of strife. Capricorns are all about structure and the importance of maintaining it, and what structure is more important than the one that makes up the concrete foundations of a family? It is another thing that England values. In his mind, it is integral to stability and order, and he will do just about anything in his power to maintain stability and order in his family with a stern hand. How the family might feel about it is of no importance, and he believes that in time, they, too, will come to see that it was all for the greater good. His love can be a bit callous, but it is love all the same. A disciplined sort of love. He also values society because it offers that benefitted structure he prioritizes. His forte is organizing and building governments, kingdoms, businesses, and empires from the ground up. He is a worldly man who finds pleasure in being part of society and finds even greater pride in being the reason why society works. Status is another value that, like all Capricorns, England holds dear. Sometimes, he’ll linger about in each block of the societal pyramid, staring in wonder at the neat way people fall into the right category from top to bottom. He loves them all and finds that his spirit resonates with each one, from the working class to the aristocrat. In his eyes, there is beauty to be found in each facet, like the different cuts in a glittering jewel, yet his heart will always belong to the crown, which gave birth to the values that make up the cornerstone of his being. He is married to it, and this is a pragmatic marriage, to be sure. After all, the wooden skeleton of it came into being when William the Conqueror usurped the throne from the Anglo-Saxon kings (whose conquest of Roman Britain conceived him, and thus he sprung forth from his conquered mother's metaphorical womb), and the monarchy exists in continuity of that single defining moment. But England found love and intimacy in this marriage, and they breathe as one. England is the crown, and the crown is England.

He is not humorless, either. Though his humor, like most Capricorns, is dry and witty.

England’s Capricorn sun sits in the 10th house, which is quite remarkable because Capricorn is the natural sign ruler of the 10th house. The 10th house represents ambition, success, and authority, amplifying the Capricorn's instinctual ambition, drive, and desire for authority and respect. The 10th house makes the Capricorn even more materialistic and instills within him the need to prove himself to the world, to elevate himself to the highest social status attainable. To him, there is nothing more important than his image and the respect that image can garner. As a result, he becomes authoritative and competitive in pursuit of his desires, yet he is the embodiment of professionalism.

This spirit drove England to challenge the Spanish Armada to establish himself as a dominant force to be reckoned with. This spirit drove him to North America’s shores, eager to get a solid foothold in the new world before the rest of the European powers. It is this spirit that made him build the largest empire the world has ever known.

MOON

The moon itself cannot emit its own light. Without the sun, it is covered in complete darkness, but when gifted a few rays of light, it illuminates what was once hidden. In a sense, the moon is a mere reflection of the sun, held up against it like a mirror so that the sun may see itself from within. All the aspects about oneself that cannot be gleaned when blinded by the sun's pure light are revealed on the moon's reflecting surface. This is essentially what a moon sign is: a portal into the inner self that exists in tandem with the sunny core. The moon sign represents how you go about dealing with the emotions you might or might not allow to the surface. While the sun sign can be you at your most resilient, the moon sign is you at your most vulnerable. The moon sign is the subconscious, the intuition, the dreams, and the memories.

ENGLAND

England is a Pisces moon situated in the 12th house.

Moon Sign: Pisces (the symbolic Fish, water sign, mutable sign)

Ruled by Neptune, god of the sea, the planet of dreams and illusions

12th house: House of the Unconscious or House of Secrets

Pisces is the symbolic Fish, a set of two fish who represent Aphrodite and Eros, who transformed themselves to escape the monster Typhoon. It is ruled by Neptune, the god of the sea, who represents dreams and illusions in astrology. Pisces is also a mutable sign, meaning it is adaptable just as much as it is restless.

Pisces are the dreamers of the zodiac. People with the moon in Pisces fall completely in love with a fantasy world of their own creation. They view life through rose-colored glasses and are often given to flights of fancy. Yet individuals with the moon in Pisces are perhaps some of the most compassionate and empathetic human beings. If they find it within themselves to truly care about you, then your joy becomes their joy, and your pain becomes their pain. It sometimes becomes hard for them to differentiate between their own feelings and the feelings of others. If they’re truly connected to someone, they’ll drown beneath the waves of their partner's emotions. Yet their astute perception allows them to understand human nature in all its nuances and subtleties.

The 12th house is by far the most spiritually intuitive and mysterious area of the birth chart. It is the ruler of the subconscious, vivid, surrealistic dreams, psychic abilities, and dark secrets kept hidden. With the moon already in Pisces, the empathetic nature of the Pisces moon only becomes more emphasised in this house.

What does this mean for England? It means that he is a highly intuitive person. It means that he is dreamy and imaginative. After all, he loves nothing more than his fairies and his unicorns. It means that he is spiritual and mystical, dabbling in the dark arts and other forms of magic. It means that he is prone to self-sacrifice, willing to place himself in the line of fire to help those more vulnerable and weak. It means that he’s an escapist who finds solace and true peace in his own imagination than he does in the real world. Yet he understands the world better than most, all of its sharp and uncomfortable edges, and he understands people, how easily wounded they are by those hostile edges. He’s empathetic toward their pain, even if sometimes he is the cause of it, and will go out of his way to alleviate it or, at the very least, show remorse. To put it simply, in his heart of hearts, beneath the fiery aura of his Aries rising and the hard exterior of his Capricorn sun, he truly is a compassionate man, oftentimes silly and odd but capable of genuine kindness. He is a natural-born philosopher and artist as well and uses his ethereal nature to craft dreamy melodies and poems that sweep people into a misty daze (in a practical and mundane astrological sense outside of fictional England, think the real England’s production of Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Tolkien and the Beatles).

He is poetic, mystical, and loves the arcane. He loves the magical.

ENGLAND SUMMARIZED

England, on the outside, is a fiery-tempered man, driven by intellectual ardor and romantic idealism, in a never-ending pursuit of philosophical beauty wherever it can be unearthed. At his core he is a man who stands tall and sturdy in the face of adversity, who finds comfort in building places and people alike, and who values nothing more than his reputation. Emotionally, he is capable of profound empathy and understanding, sometimes to his own detriment and perhaps even the detriment of others. He is pragmatic yet given to delusions. He is hot-headed and bullish yet as cool as a winter's breeze. A man of multitudes, a tapestry of contradictions, a creature of both the mind and the soul.

#arthur kirkland #hws england #aph england #hetalia meta #hetalia astrology #hetalia #might come back to edit later idk #this was a lot of work #sorry for saying what does this mean about England a lot 😬#though i enjoyed myself #there is so much more i want to go into depth about but then this post will go on forever and ever #historical hetalia #long post #a nation is a god verse

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radiance1 · 2 years ago

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Alfred Pennyworth has in fact, perhaps, in the slightest of chances.

Picked up his Master's habit of collecting children as if they were on sale.

He was spending his time on one of those rare vacations he decided to take, it was nice, to relax with only the vague overhanging worry of something going wrong back at the manor that he's gotten very good at ignoring.

Only to come across a child bleeding out in an alley, heavily injured.

He would not be able to live with himself if he didn't at least try to help them however he could.

Such is how he acquired a child he later found to be a meta who whished to learn the ways of a butler.

---

Danny had escaped from a GIW compound, after having been handed over by his family a while after his reveal. He felt, completely and utterly betrayed, when it happened. His parents, while hurt, he was at least capable of actually seeing them do it, but never would he have thought Jazz would do so as well.

They did it so happily, that he wondered if letting him go really was the greatest thing to happen to this family.

He chained, muzzled, all the ways to bind him they pulled all the stops too, knowing how dangerous he was. He wouldn't have even done anything then, too stunned by his families apart willingness at handing him over to the government.

He hated them.

He hated them so much.

The GIW facility was a terrible, cold, unfeeling place. One where they drilled thoughts into his head again and again until he found himself unconsciously repeating them when his head felt empty, one where his body gained a new mark day by day and pushed through tests, he had no clue of even hoping to comprehend what they would gain out of it.

It was a cold, unfeeling place. Placed in a cell of white and nothing else, with low walls and chains binding his body in place until the time came for another experiment.

It was a room he grew used to. One he even held some kind of strange, twisted affection for.

It was a room that held a tiny piece of safety, of rest. It was a room that taught him to hate.

A deep, powerful, disgusting, twisting hatred that crawled from the depths of his cells, corrupting his blood and carving itself deep into his bones. Forcing it's out of his pores until it practically oozed from his flesh.

It drowned his mind, tainting each and every thought, every memory, every dream, every waking moment until he could feel nothing but hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate.

When he was taken out of that he could feel nothing, with the drugs swimming their way through his blood that snapped the thin string keeping him between a person and an emotionless puppet.

He thinks that's what the GIW thinks he is.

And when he was placed back in that room, he could only hate.

It was a cycle. Stuck between feeling either nothing or hatred.

He hated feeling nothing, it made him feel like he wasn't real. Like it snapped the thread that held him between what a real person was and a dream.

So, he allowed himself to drown deep into his hatred. Until the white walls of his far to small room seemed to fade, until whatever sound he could have heard became nothing but dull noise.

Until the passage of time seemed to become just a blink.

He didn't know what day it was, when he saw it. Saw them. He didn't know the time, the date, the day, the hours. He knew nothing.

But he could recognize his family. Recognize one of the objects of his intense hatred that he forced his thoughts too. The people who willingly gave him up just like that and one of the causes for his current life.

He didn't know why they showed him them, he felt it some sick, utterly cruel joke. A joke he didn't know the punchline for, a joke the universe sent his way to make his life all the more miserable.

There were multiple of them. Multiple clones of his family. Som within test tubes, some being pulled out from the tubes, some walking around in lab coats. A waste of talent, they called it in his dad's case, a waste of intelligence in his mother's, and a waste of intellect in his sister's case.

His original family was already dead, he was told. Replaced by clones, clones that took over the legal decision to change his guardianship. Clones walking around twisting and desecrating his family.

'At least it was painless.' One of the clones said, talking with his mother's face. 'Far more than they deserved for having keeping a thing like him' spoken by his father's imposter.

The drugs pumping through his system to keep him calm, to keep him feeling nothing was suddenly pierced through by an intense feeling of horror, hate and self-loathing.

He should've known it wasn't his family. He should've done more! More to protect them! To keep them safe! The could've still been alive if he just knew.

In that moment, watching imposters speaking, walking, talking, breathing, with his families faces. He exploded. Exploded with a power fueled by nothing but his intense hatred for every. Single. Living being in this goddamn facility.

He killed whoever stood in his way. Managing to get his hands on relatively newly designed weapon, an ectoplasmic scythe (that also apparently could revert into an everyday item). Which he used to rip and tear throughout the entirety of the facility. He got injured, of course, he couldn't dodge everything, but he didn't care.

A body stuck between life and death, incapable of fully going one way or the other no matter what happened. Gifted supernatural powers fueled by wrath and twisting hatred and a weapon made by man yet in the range of the supernatural.

They didn't stand a change. He killed them all. No matter who it was, man, woman, clone. He didn't, couldn't care. He could only kill, only maim, only hurt.

And that's what he did.

It was then, when the facility was blanketed with silence tainted by despair, death and hysteria. When previously white walls were covered by blood, and the halls turned into rivers of blood and corpses. That he broke down, the overwhelming hatred he felt replaced by relief then sadness then self-loathing.

His family didn't give him up! But they were killed. Kill because of him. He couldn't stand being in this place, anymore. His body felt as if it were moving on unseen strings as it walked through the halls, the scythe shrinking back what it was when out of combat, his mind too occupied by thoughts and feelings.

It walked through a portal, one to the ghost zone, and then promptly into another portal and spat him out into an alleyway. Which he then promptly collapsed and curled into a ball, curing the shrunken scythe in his palm and he was out like a light.

A few days after he woke up, he found himself growing attached to the human that found him in that alleyway. An old man, maybe, but a nice one. He didn't want to meet anyone, besides that man, so he turned invisible when anyone else come into contact with him.

Alfred Pennyworth.

It was a name he clung onto mentally and a man he clung onto physically as well. He wanted to be like that man, someone so nice and caring, someone who didn't mind that he turned invisible at the sing of another person, who let him cling onto him both invisible and not whenever he wanted to.

He did panic when he heard Alred saying his vacation was over, and such that he had to leave. He didn't want to be left alone again, he didn't know what he would do if he was left alone again.

Until Afred said we were going home.

We. As in, him plus another. Alfred plus Danny.

Home.

Heat blossomed in his chest, seeming to replace the constant, low hum of hate sitting beneath him skin.

Home.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #dp dc #dp dc crossover #dcxdp #dc x dp prompt #dc x dp crossover #Danny has a scythe and isn't afraid to use it on anyone who even breaths wrong in Alfred's presence.#He also doesn't like meeting other people so he just turns invisible #So you probably wouldn't even know what killed you tbh.#Will Danny be brought out of his shell by the combined efforts of the batfamily?#Probably #Alfred saw a child in an alleyway while on vacation and pulled a Bruce Wayne.#Danny wants to be a butler because Alfred is a butler and he wants to be more like Alfred.#honestly I should be sleeping not making this idea #But MEH #Me tired so I slep now byebye gamers

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avelera · 3 months ago

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(Arcane Meta)

Ok, so we don't actually know when Viktor left the undercity for Piltover but I just had a thought that might give us an additional benchmark.

I think Viktor must have left the undercity before Vander's big confrontation on the bridge, the day when Vi and Jinx's parents died.

Here's why:

It doesn't even occur to Viktor, or Jayce, that mining equipment could be used for violence. I find this a laughable oversight on their part, but the point stands. Jayce's Atlas Gauntlets were designed to be improved versions of Vander's cast iron mining gauntlets. The same gauntlets Vi later uses in the failed Vander rescue attempt.

But, Vander was also infamous for using those mining gauntlets as weapons on the bridge. We know this, because when the Enforcers come sniffing around sometime in 1.1-1.3, he nods specifically to where those gauntlets are hanging above the bar and says as a threat that it would be a shame if he picked those up again.

So, I would argue, for Viktor to be so completely oblivious the potential of Zaunite mining gauntlets to be used as weapons, such that he would allow Jayce to build the Atlas Gauntlets and not even consider their use as weapons, it means Viktor would have to be pretty out of the loop for Vander's whole uprising and really not know about Vander in general at all, at least, not his reputation as a fighter.

(A few more thoughts on this:)

By the way, I find it completely plausible that, say, a studious kid who left the undercity for Piltover when he was anywhere between 12-17 to be would be out of the loop on politics let alone violent uprisings and their leadership. It's not like anyone was inviting Viktor to fight and he's exactly the sort of person who would probably steer clear of such fights out of self-preservation and/or would be kept away from them deliberately by anyone who was looking out for him.

On this note, I think this is another point of evidence in favor of Viktor not being particularly plugged into Zaunite politics or its revolutionary movements. As in, the fact that Viktor doesn't know enough about Vander to know he used mining gauntlets specifically as weapons indicates that the Silco/Vander revolution, such as it was, was something Viktor was very detached from before, during, and after. Probably because Viktor was already in Piltover and probably at a stage in his time there where he was too immersed in trying to establish himself to take a public interest in the conflict on the bridge.

Timeline-wise, Vi and Powder look to be about 5 and 8 when we first see them on the bridge, and they're about 11 and 14 during most of the events of 1.1-1.3. Jayce at the same time as those events are going on is canonically 24 and Viktor seems a little older than him, let's say 26, which would put him at about 20 when Vander's revolution happened. So, most likely firmly ensconced at the Academy and possibly even been there a couple years already, even further removing him from the years of the leadup to Vander's rebellion, and making it even less likely that he knew about Vander or Vander's infamous gauntlets.

However, this does further support the possibility I've raised in a few other metas that Viktor in general is fairly detached from the undercity and especially undercity/Zaun politics during his time in Piltover (he certainly seems surprised at how bad things have gotten in the undercity when he goes back there in S2, further implying that he does not go back regularly or that, when he does, his trips are fairly direct and don't involve exploring the more destitute depths of the city to see how bad things have gotten, but I digress).

#arcane #arcane meta #viktor arcane #vander arcane

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high-voltage-rat · 6 months ago

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Okay rvb gang real talk for a sec. I think y'all should put a little more thought into the way you draw and characterize Captain Butch Flowers. Specifically with regards to the widely accepted facecanon having native-coded features.

Facecanons in rvb generally fall under 2 categories: the ones based off of information about the person's race and background we receive in the canon, and ones that are purely headcanon, based on vibes. For example, we're told Simmons is Dutch-Irish, so it's common to draw him as a white redhead. Tucker being black is as close to directly stated as we ever get re: any of the reds and blues' races. But Sarge is often drawn as a white man despite no information being given about his race- it's usually chosen by the headcanoner based off the vibes we get from his behaviour.

So when it comes to Flowers, let's think for a second about how the fandom generally interprets his character. In canon, we see him on blue team making his soldiers a bit uncomfortable with his overly familiar behaviour, having a cheerful and upbeat demeanour. We also see him in PFL working with Wyoming to do recon, then getting hit with a tomahawk, throwing it back at the enemy, and then using his grenade launcher to bring down a crane and kill chain guy and girl. Later he's in charge of choosing soldiers to place in blood gulch, where we see he has no problem feeding soldiers through the fodder machine and covering up for Freelancer- including essentially killing Jimmy. What we see in fandom, though, is a guy who is cheerfully menacing, casually hyperviolent, bubbly facade, likes knives, 'probably has a torture basement', etc.

So I would like us to think for a moment about why, exactly, people took those vibes, that interpretation of his character, with the more violent aspects overinflated, and decided to draw him with native-coded features. I would like us all to take a second and consider the connotations behind the pile of art out there where a brown man with long dark hair in a braid is splattered in blood. To me, this particular choice just feels like another "native s*vage" trope, and I think it has really not been thought through.

Indigenous headcanons in rvb are admittedly pretty difficult. Rvb is a problematic media through and through, and there's always going to be something offensive in the way a character is portrayed. I myself hc the Grifs as kānaka maoli, due to them being from Hawai'i and Kaikaina's name- but between Grif's laziness and Kai's hypersexuality, it definitely falls into some other offensive stereotypes about indigenous people, and particularly native Hawaiians.

But to me, the distinguishing thing is that these are facets of their characters that have something deeper behind them- there are reasons for these traits that are explored both by canon and the fandom meta. Grif's laziness is a result of his personal struggle with having to care for his sister alone, as well as his general disdain for the army as an institution. Kai's sexuality is her way of seeking fun and connection in her life, likely in part due to feeling abandoned by their mother, and then by her brother. In the case of the Grifs, fandom treats them well by taking these established character traits, and not overinflating, but contextualizing them, and treating them as part of a larger whole. Grif is loyal to his friends, he's clever and observant when he's willing to show it. Kai is independent, business-savvy, and assertive. These other character aspects exist in the fandom portrayal, so their depictions don't feel like a glaring stereotype. In the right hands, with enough care and love, their negative traits can even be used to explore the impact of colonialism- how the stereotypes are based off the conditions and circumstances forced on us by its influence.

Flowers, on the other hand, has a fandom portrayal that feels like an artificial exaggeration of a single aspect of his canon character. There's very little depth behind it, no real contextualization- he hasn't been fleshed out by fandom, he's almost been reduced by it. Naturally, contextualization is going to be harder because he's a minor character and we don't hear much- if anything- about his background. But it is still an active choice by people who make fan content of him to emphasize certain traits, and it's thus far been the traits that fall into some very harmful tropes.

So my suggestion, as an indigenous person, is this. You don't have to change your facecanon, necessarily- but put some thought into it. Whether you're depicting him as an explicitly native person, or just with native-coded features, consider the connotations. Reconsider exaggerating his violent side so much: technically speaking, we've seen him kill 2 people somewhat indirectly, in the same mission that North killed like 5 in a similar manner and Tex literally murdered C.T. with a tomahawk. Do you emphasize their violence in the same way? Why did you choose to do so for Flowers? If you want him to be unsettling, his enthusiastic facilitation of PFL's activities in blood gulch and lack of qualms about using and discarding sim troopers is there to work with- something non-violent but no less sinister, something less aligned with common harmful stereotypes when applied to indigenous people, and much more founded in canon as a distinguishing part of his character.

Just stop to think "is this portrayal a reinforcement of the "native s*vage" trope?", and "is this really that founded in canon?". Think about whether someone with no experience in rvb fanon would look at your content and see more than a native guy in mystery blue guy's armour doing gratuitous violence for no reason.

Consider the less explored but canonical aspects of his character, flesh them out with headcanon. Sure, he killed chain guy and girl, but he also yanked a tomahawk out of his arm after falling from height and kept fighting- explore his resilience, what drives him. His strategic mind, using the environment against his enemies, carefully balancing the illusion surrounding blood gulch and constructing specific social dynamics. Hell, even delve into why he believes in Freelancer enough to do what he's done without issue. Flesh out your portrayal, dial back the singularity of the vibes you give him.

Indigenous people aren't exempt from being awful, or violent, or complicit in corrupt systems- but if you portray a native character that way without any depth or reason behind their choices, you often end up reinforcing a stereotype.

...and if gratuitous violence is what you want, if you like that creepy knife-obsessed murder guy, then yeah. Maybe consider changing your facecanon. Cause I'm a little tired of seeing characters who look like my people always soaked in blood and acting like they have innate uncontrolled urges to kill. Depictions like that about us were part of what formed the justification for our genocide, so please try not to perpetuate that.

#something something swinging bat at a hornet's nest #this isn't about any one particular piece of art btw just a trend I've seen that makes me uncomfy #I'm not looking to start 'blue eyed tucker' discourse 2.0 but it has been. on my mind.#ali watches rvb #not video games #late nights with ali #red vs blue #rvb #agent florida #florida rvb #flowers rvb #captain butch flowers

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24kmagiic · 19 days ago

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The Masters of Good & Evil: A Detailed Meta of Klaus Mikaelson & Bonnie Bennett (Klonnie)

Hello Saints & Sinners!

I’ve shipped Klaus and Bonnie since Season 2 of The Vampire Diaries. While this ship was brutally snatched out of my cold, dead hands, I can still say today that Klaus and Bonnie were destined to be together, and if you stay a little while, I’ll tell you why I think so.

Grab a snack, I plan to yap for a minute.

Objective:

Summarize their backgrounds and explain how it shaped them.

Point out their similarities, differences, strengths, & weaknesses.

Explain how and why these work for and against them.

Remain on topic while being as concise as possible.

Origin Stories & How They Shape Them:

Klaus: Born in the 10th century to Esther and Ansel, Klaus believed Mikael was his biological father for the entirety of his human life.

After the death of his younger brother, Henrik, Esther stole a spell from Ayana Bennett’s grimoire and turned the entire family into vampires so that none of them would suffer the same fate.

Once turned, Klaus’s hybrid nature emerged when he triggered his werewolf curse, thus revealing Esther’s transgressions. He learned that she suppressed his werewolf nature for years with a spell, making him a target for Mikael’s abuse.

Seeing that her son was now a true abomination, Esther cursed him by binding his werewolf side. Klaus then killed Esther and framed Mikael for it before running away with his siblings.

Mikael’s relentless pursuit of Klaus for centuries compounded his trauma, fueling his paranoia and desire for power to protect himself and his family. This event became a foundational wound, fostering feelings of rejection, inferiority, and rage.

Bonnie: Born in the 20th century to Rudy Hopkins and Abby Bennett-Wilson, Bonnie was abandoned by her mother at an early age and emotionally neglected by her father, who traveled relentlessly for work.

She remained in the primary care of her Grandmother, Sheila Bennett, the alleged ‘town drunk’. While Grams did her best to care for Bonnie, she failed to teach her granddaughter about her family’s ancestry.

Bonnie descends from the oldest magical bloodline in the Vampire Diaries universe. Her heritage, initially believed to date back to the Salem Witch Trials, extends much farther and can be traced back to the 1st Century BC. Her ancestor, Qetsiyah, created the first Immortality spell, sparking the events of the series 2,000 years later. Her ancestors have been the catalysts in every supernatural plotline throughout the TVDU, and their magic and blood are often responsible for breaking curses, creating alternate dimensions, and creating creatures.

After discovering she was a witch, Bonnie was thrown into the supernatural and experienced the death of her beloved Grams early on, marking her hatred of vampires and the destruction they cause. She often received backlash from other characters, including the spirits, for her moral and magical obligations.

Her absentee mother briefly reappears, and Bonnie discovers that not only did her mother live a state away, but she was also raising another child who was not biologically hers. Abby's return reopens Bonnie's old wounds, and after being turned into a vampire, Abby disappears again, triggering more suffering and loss for Bonnie.

Bonnie is isolated from her friends and family while left to deal with the supernatural burden of being the only witch in a town that’s a magnet for destruction. As a result, she is burdened with responsibilities, selfless and loyal to a fault, has a martyr complex, and is often placed on a high moral pedestal. She is reserved, and though she is known to be ‘judgmental’, she is actually understanding when it comes to her friend’s decisions.

Whew. That was a lot, and I haven’t even gotten started. Brew some tea and meet me back here.

...Intermission...

This next part is partially borrowed from another Klonnie Meta I did, but this one is more in-depth.

Similarities:

There are so many commonalities between the two of them that make shipping Klonnie so fun.

Similar to how two siblings can grow up in the same house and face the same trauma but end up polar opposites, that's how I view Klonnie's commonalities (minus the sibling bit, obviously). They both faced similar traumas, but how they processed them turned them into different people. Klaus is the Yin to Bonnie's Yang.

Shared Traumas:

Parental Negligence

Bonnie: Rudy was negligent after Abby left and thus, Bonnie grew up alone with Grams, who failed to teach Bonnie about her heritage. (I'm aware it was against Rudy's wishes but I'm still side-eyeing lol.)

Klaus: Esther was negligent in keeping his father's identity from him and allowing her husband to abuse him. Also, she created the spell to weaken him for her own selfishness, thus putting the target on his back when it came to Mikael.

Abandonment

Bonnie: Her mother walked out on her for no legitimate reason. Her father was always gone, and Grams was an alcoholic (so they say). Even the people in her life were emotionally absent. Then you have her friends who left her to deal with the consequences of magic alone. Their absence, be it emotionally or physically, has taught Bonnie that love is very conditional and that if she can control the circumstances, she can minimize the pain their abandonment causes her.

Klaus: After killing their mother, he developed a deep fear of his siblings finding out and abandoning him for it. Therefore, he became obsessed with loyalty. His biological father was nowhere to be found until a thousand years later. Klaus’s abandonment issue shows up in the form of narcissism. If he can guilt his siblings and make them fear him, he’d never have to worry about them leaving him. (Spoiler Alert: It doesn’t work for either of these walruses.)

Internalization, Narcissism, & People Pleasing

Bonnie: Each time her friends are in trouble, she takes up the mantle to fix things. No one has ever asked, but she’s in-tune with those around her, so she thinks she knows exactly what they want. She then responds by ‘earning her keep’. This links back to her abandonment. To Bonnie, creating comfortable lives for those she loves directly translates to them staying in her life (not the case, but she believes it). She’s uncomfortable with others’ discomfort, and that is a major character flaw. She’s a grade-A people pleaser.

Klaus: This man sees every decision his siblings make as a direct threat to his person. He mistakes their boundaries and their desire to create their own identities outside of him as betrayal. Again, his abandonment issues make him respond with force, as he would with his enemies. And though he would never ‘kill’ them, he’ll cart them around in boxes for 900+ years. If Bonnie is a people pleaser, Klaus is the narcissist who can sniff her from miles away.

Shared Personalities:

Deep Emotional Capacity & Fierce Loyalty

Bonnie: Highly empathetic, Bonnie feels everyone’s pain and will prioritize it over her own suffering. We see this countless times with The Gilberts and The Salvatores. Because of this, she will go against her own morality. For example: The Gilbert Device debacle in which she risked the entire town’s jugulars because of Stefan’s love for Damon, she was willing to destroy the other side to bring Jeremy back for Elena, she tried to stop Elena’s transition at the expense of her Gram’s spirit being destroyed with aether.

Klaus: Despite his cruelty, Klaus loves his family and will destroy heaven and earth for them if necessary. Because of how deeply he feels for them, he looks for that same level of devotion in them and is often let down when they don’t return it with the same level he brings it. In his eyes, he gives more than he receives and this makes him paranoid about whether they truly love him or not. Mikaels abuse and manipulation causes him to second guess their loyalty often and so he does what he does best. Lashes out.

Klonnie: They both feel so deeply that they often suppress it to protect themselves. However, they both tend to ‘explode’. Klaus with his overreactive anger, and Bonnie with her willingness to sacrifice her life for the Mystic Falls Gang. They both make extreme sacrifices to protect those they love, even crossing moral lines to do so. Klaus will hurt his siblings to keep them safe, and in a way, so does Bonnie when she decides to die for them without their knowledge or consent. (Example: Klaus killing Elijah and Rebekah’s love interests, Bonnie telling Jeremy over the phone that she won’t survive the collapse.)

Survival & Isolation

Klaus: The World’s Only Original Hybrid (‘Life’)

Bonnie: The Last Surviving Bennett Witch (‘Death’)

Klonnie: I’ve touched on this earlier, but they’ve both experienced great pain and loss. They carry deep emotional scars, shaping how they see the world and interact with those they hold close. But let’s switch gears and talk about how their survival and power work against them. Their power alienates them, and because of it, they’re isolated. How poetic would it have been to have one of the world’s oldest creatures hook up with the last survivor of the very bloodline that created him!! The possibilities are endless. Klaus is isolated by fear, while Bonnie is isolated by duty. Them trying to kill each other is so romantic! My personal opinion: As much as Bonnie would try to destroy that bastard, Klaus would keep her around just because he’d like the idea of flirting with death. Being alive means nothing to an immortal creature. Throw in the threat of death, and life becomes so much sweeter. He’d never be able to get enough of her. Bonnie is often seen as life, while Klaus represents death, but the roles would be reversed in this scenario. Bonnie would be his cute little grim reaper. In conclusion, people either depend on them (Bonnie) or fear them (Klaus), but rarely do they understand them.

Growth & Redemption

Bonnie: People see Bonnie as a moral beacon that's full of light (and she is), but if you dig deep, Bonnie is a very dark character. She is the antithesis of evil, which does not always equate to what we define as 'good.' Bonnie's goodness is rooted in the way she masters evil, and she knows how and when to tap in (For example: Trying to kill Damon by fire). Most "good' characters we see in media today aren't actually good, they're harmless. Elena is a perfect example of this. Just because she was physically unable to hurt a fly doesn't mean she was a good person. Her selfishness placed Bonnie in ugly situations plenty of times, but it was brushed off because she ‘meant well’ and as a fellow black person, that is a very dangerous sentiment for our white friends to have. Additionally, our girl could learn boundaries, confidence in who tf she is, and how to put her desires over her sense of duty sometimes. She doesn’t always have to be the one to fix everything and everyone, and she could learn a lot from Klaus’s ‘selfishness’.

Klaus: If Bonnie is the antithesis of Evil, Klaus is… evil. One of my favorite sayings is “to be good, you must master evil”. I applied that to Bonnie’s character in the section above, but when applied to Klaus’s character, it’s so poetic and symmetrical to Bonnie. Klaus masters evil because he used to be good. Mikael and Esther showed him the worst in humanity, and because of their transgressions, they created a filthy, dark creature who, at his core, was a kind human being. The best villains once gave a fuck and Klaus is an example of that. Centuries of fear and persecution at the hands of Mikael created this dark, twisted, beautiful being, and if you flip Bonnie’s coin over, there you have Klaus. Additionally, this man could stand to be a bit more tender in his approach to love, and I think Bonnie would be the perfect person to remind him what tenderness feels like. His passion is overwhelming and suffocating, and while Bonnie can benefit from that, it would cause major roadblocks in their relationship. His control would stifle her and push her away, while Bonnie’s moral high ground would get on his absolute nerves. Especially when he knows she can be morally gray when necessary.

Klonnie: A fun little theory I’d like to mention is how their isolation makes them two of TVDU’s most touch-starved/deprived individuals. And Mwah. Imagine them in the sack. Their chemistry would be explosive because they both have what the other needs. Bonnie needs someone who wouldn’t play about her, and so does Klaus. Klaus needs someone whose loyalty he’d never have to question, and Bonnie is the perfect candidate. With a LOT of work, they’d both finally get the love they deserve and naturally, redemption (Klaus) and growth (Bonnie) would come to them, easily or hard won.

Take a nap. Tomorrow we fight another day.

...Intermission...

Or eat a sandwich and come right back...

Differences:

Strengths & Weaknesses

Moral Compass

Bonnie: Bonnie has a strong and almost fixed moral code. She is so rigid that she can’t bend it; therefore, she breaks it. She went from hating vampires to becoming best friends with one and even considered becoming one herself, which seems out of character, but again, she’s so rigid in her beliefs that she doesn’t always see when she’s… being a hypocrite. This is where I can see her and Klaus bumping heads because he’s more adaptable than she is, and her rigidity would annoy him and trigger his inferiority complex. Klaus, as fixed as he may seem to be in his anger, there is a method to his madness, and he has a reason for everything he does. He bases his reactions on past experiences, which I’ll highlight next. Bonnie does the same; only she doesn’t wait for evidence sometimes. She confronts you before the problem even occurs. She also uses her morality as a means of control for both herself and others. For Example: Planning to kill Klaus before the sacrifice (duh but, they could have attempted to come to an agreement our found a better solution), distancing herself from Caroline before seeing what kind of vampire she’ll be (though that had more to do with guilt than anything), and warning Damon that she’ll take him out if he steps out of line (assuming, correctly, he’ll fuck up soon).

Klaus: Regarding his family, I’d say he’s morally gray… on specific issues. Is he overbearing? Yes. Has he done things that I think they should disown him for? Also, yes. But he also goes to the ends of the earth for them, and that kind of devotion is rare (which is why they keep coming back to him). One of my favorite things to point out is how Klaus despises every man Rebekah brings home. In the beginning, it seems like Klaus is controlling, possessive, and at times, even incestuous lmao. But I always remember the flashback where he discovered he was immune to the daggers because REBEKAAAAH decided to fall in love with a hunter and nearly got them all killed/immobilized due to her incessant need for love and her incompetence when it comes to vetting her suitors. After seeing that, you understand why he is the way he is. His wickedness is his self-preservation, and his paranoia is what’s kept him (and his family) alive for a millennium.

Klonnie: These two are night and day, which is why they work. By the end of the series, Bonnie’s moral compass was frantically spinning while Klaus’s… well. His compass is pointing North-West (ish), and smashed into pieces beneath his foot. I think Klaus could learn how to make inclusive decisions regarding his family from Bonnie, and in turn, she could learn how to relax and realize her morality isn’t a weapon to wield.

Approach to Power

Bonnie: Sees Power as a burden and responsibility.

Klaus: Sees Power as control and longevity.

Klonnie: Klaus weilds power aggressively, and Bonnie wields it as a defense. She only operates in her power when she’s on the defense and never on the offense. This is the case with most “good” characters, which is annoying because so much could be prevented if you head off the problem before it becomes one, but… that’s when things become morally gray. Enter KNEEklaus. Though chaotic, he tends to play offense, which gives him the advantage in 90% of situations (like most villains). I haven’t figured out how yet, but these two could find a way to balance this perfectly. With many arguments and make-up...

Confidence & Self-Loathing

Bonnie: Underestimates her importance due to emotional neglect. Klaus is very self-loathing, and while Bonnie doesn't initially appear to be that way, she is too. Her strong moral code is just that, her way of torturing herself. For example: Constantly sacrificing herself for 'good' simply because she has the burden of wielding magic.

Klaus: Overestimates his importance to cope with rejection. Klaus is so used to being rejected that he expects it. That said, he’s spent his entire existence making sure that he is the answer to everyone’s problem… despite creating those very poblems.

Klonnie: Klaus hides his inferiority with arrogance, and Bonnie hides hers with humility and loyalty. Time and time again, we see Bonnie undervaluing her presence within the group by taking herself out of the equation because she was taught that her presence in her parents’ lives wasn’t necessary for them. (I want to bawl right now.) Klaus feels the same rejection from his parents, but he hides it with false bravado by wielding his status as the original hybrid who can’t be killed. They are both the ‘center of attention’ for completely different (negative) reasons. In conclusion, the confidence level for both of them is in hell, and while I think they could find a way to build confidence in each other... they’d need some serious help.

Interpersonal Style & Communication

Bonnie: Empathetic, supportive, and emotionally stable. She is exceptionally good at making connections with even the worst characters (Damon) and building trust. She has a way of growing on you even when you don’t want her to.

Klaus: Manipulative, controlling, and emotionally volatile. He isolates people through fear or force. He has a way of getting under your skin because, contrary to what most believe, the most manipulative people are also skilled at reading people, much like empaths. Klaus needs to control everyone around him to keep himself from getting hurt, while Bonnie refuses to be controlled.

Klonnie: Klaus pushes people away to protect himself. Bonnie pulls people closer, even when she’s hurting. That may sound false, but think about it. The more her friends distance themselves from her, the more she does for them. Because if she feels you pulling away, she sees that as you abandoning her, and if she thinks you’re abandoning her, she goes into full people-pleasing mode. For Example: When Elena wanted to stay behind on the other side while it was collapsing, Bonnie panicked and grabbed her to pull her to the other side. When she thought Elena would die as opposed to transitioning, she risked pissing off the spirits at the expense of her grams because the thought of losing anyone else terrified her. Klaus is the same way. Each time Rebekah tried to run off with a man, Klaus daggered her. He pushed Elijah away by doing the most amoral, irredeemable thing. For example: Telling the witches to kill Hayley and the baby and killing Gia (something I’ll never forgive!!!!!) In conclusion, Klaus lashes out, and Bonnie People-Pleases.

Romantic Expression

Bonnie: Can we call Bonnie’s canon relationship love? One was a ‘here damn!’ relationship and another was stockholm syndrome. (In my humble opinion, sorry Bonenzo girlies. Also, I recognize I stole a Bonenzo photo to make the edit above. So you can clock me for that.)

Klaus: It’s hard to peg since we haven’t really seen this man in love-love but I imagine it’s possessive, intense, and seductive. His romantic gestures would blur the line between devotion and obsession.

Klonnie: Klaus would use his love as a way to possess someone and anchor them to him while Bonnie awards her love like a hard-won gift. Even if it costs her something in return. For example: She gave up her love and freedom for Enzo, and revived Jeremy just to get cheated on. (My foot will remain cemented onto that lil boy’s neck.) At first, Bonnie would be disturbed (and fascinated) by Klaus’s possesiveness but as I said before, our girl could use someone that does not play about her. All he’d have to do is show her the man beneath the monster and she’d lowkey be a moth to the flame. They’d start off toxic of course because a people pleaser and a narcisist is never a good combo but in this case it would hurt so good. Because at their core, they’re good people. (Klaus’s is buried beneath centuries of trauma and stoicsism but it’s there)

In Conclusion (Or Denouement)

Klaus and Bonnie are both masters of good and evil, on the most extreme ends of the spectrum, and I think that’s the fun and beauty of this ship. The possibilities are endless, and there are so many different rabbit holes you can go down when it comes to them. Together, they could balance each other: Klaus learning patience and humility, Bonnie learning that power can be embraced, not just endured. As long-winded as this meta is, I’ve still barely scratched the surface so I’d love to hear what you all think about these two. What I’ve laid out for you here are reasons why I personally adore them.

If you’ve made it this far, you are a gem, and I wish you a lifetime of stocked refrigerators and Klonnie fanfics.

Thanks for reading!

-Nia

#klonnie #bonnie bennett #klaus mikaelson #klonnie meta #tvdu

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buddieism · 11 months ago

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tommy's character, bucktommy's inherent flaws, tommy & eddie as mirrors and buddie endgame; a (lengthy) meta analysis

honestly, what's really confirmed my feelings about tommy (and the imminent bucktommy bones -> buddie pipeline) is that there have now been multiple opportunities for the writers to actually make tommy a likeable/serious love interest for buck and they just…haven’t. because while fans are naturally going to overanalyse every little thing, the vast majority of the show's audience are regular viewers who consume the show at face value and don't think twice about it -- so if tommy was intended to be buck's endgame or anything remotely close to it, they'd absolutely want to make the most of his (very limited) screen time to present him in the best light they could. think about karen, the only non-main LI, and how she was introduced to us -- despite hen's cheating, we can see how dedicated karen and hen are to each other and how karen is a complex character in her own right who is immediately easy to root for and love.

comparatively, when we look at tommy's s7 appearances and specifically his interactions with buck, it becomes abundantly clear that there isn't really much depth to their relationship at all. which is fine! it's just... you know. fine. let's get into it.

following the cruise arc, we watch tommy through buck's eyes in 7x04 where he's basically wining and dining eddie -- flying him to vegas, getting them front row tickets to a fight, sparring with him in muay thai, playing pick up basketball with him -- tommy and eddie are so similar (which we'll come back to later), and we even get that line from eddie about how well they "click." as the audience, we are being subconsciously told to align tommy and eddie together -- and furthermore, we are told that tommy can easily make grand gestures when he wants to. now let's compare that to the bucktommy moments of the season.

bucktommy's first date: tommy makes a shady comment that would have outed buck if eddie or marisol caught onto it and then proceeds to abandon him on the sidewalk because he thinks buck isn't "ready" for a relationship with a man

i'll be objective here -- i understand in a show like 911 there's always going to be "unnecessary" relationship conflict for the sake of drama and i can also see how buck trying to play off their date as platonic to eddie might have put a bad taste in tommy's mouth. but we hear from tommy himself that he struggled with being open about his sexuality when he was at the 118 so he could have absolutely extended some sympathy towards buck for not wanting to come out on the spot to his best friend -- especially when tommy fully knows how important of a role eddie plays in buck's life. at the very least, he didn't have to leave buck alone on the curb. this isn't me trying to woobify buck because yeah, he's a grown man, he's fine -- but that doesn't mean it still isn't a bit of an asshole move.

the bachelor party: tommy doesn't dress up for the theme and dismisses buck when he's clearly disappointed about him doing so

tommy showing zero interest for the bachelor party buck planned is practically the writers waving a massive red flag in front of the camera -- him having to leave because he's on call is an understandable 'conflict' plot point but why not have him show up in an 80s themed outfit? it wouldn't have changed anything except that he and buck would have had a positive interaction; buck would have been happy that tommy cared enough to make that small gesture and it could have been a cute way to establish their relationship as one built on mutual effort. (btw, the bucktommy hospital kiss could be seen as a big gesture, sure -- but from a more practical viewpoint knowing how rushed this season had to be, it was also just an easy way for buck to "come out" to the rest of the 118 without having to spend too much episode airtime on it.)

the medal ceremony: tommy says 'enjoy it while it lasts' (which, LOL) and also is not shown reacting to buck receiving his medal. he also has a conversation with henren in a deleted scene.

again, i'm going to try to give tommy the benefit of the doubt -- i'm not saying he has to be sunshine and rainbows all the time and i have no issue with a character having a snarky/sarcastic side. but when his screentime is so minimal, every line of dialogue matters. and it's pretty damning that the writers aren't taking those few chances to give us something to appreciate about him. with buck, tommy makes a dismissive comment for literally zero reason, and with hen and karen, who are rightfully looking out for their friend, tommy refuses to take them seriously at all.

bucktommy's dinner in the finale: buck displays some vulnerability about losing bobby, and tommy... really doesn't seem to care.

honestly i refuse to rewatch this part of the ep because it really icks me out on another level but iirc: buck says he's glad bobby's okay because bobby is like the father he never had -> tommy says "your father's alive" -> something something joke about daddy issues. ignoring #that joke entirely, it's really insane to me that they have tommy even acknowledge the nuclear bomb that is buck's relationship with his parents. yes, we had a bit of a ham-fisted 'redemption arc' in s6 but that doesn't negate the buckley parents being absolutely heinous and the fact that buck verbalises how bobby played the role of the father figure because philip didn't -- all for tommy to basically deny that to his face -- is absurd. tommy has expressed on multiple occasions that he's jealous of the 118 family bond, so this line is just... very interesting to me.

now, let's recap all these events and bring eddie back into the mix!

post-bucktommy's first date, buck is more torn up about the fact that he lied to eddie than the actual date to the point that he has to vent to maddie about it. he then comes out to eddie, who is incredibly supportive (and oliver and ryan make some very curious acting choices indeed). eddie is reiterated as one of buck's most significant relationships.

pre-bachelor party, eddie is the one to suggest he and buck dress in matching (queer-coded) costumes. he then stays by buck's side at the party when everyone else leaves and although we'll never get to see it (tim minear i'm inside your walls👹), they sing an absurdly romantic karaoke song together. eddie is reiterated as one of buck's most significant relationships.

during the medal ceremony, when the camera pans to each member of the 118's love interest/family, it is eddie we are shown smiling at buck, not tommy. this is especially interesting considering we get buck reacting to tommy. i honestly can't get over how a reciprocated tommy reaction would have been an easy yet significant moment to cement bucktommy as a relationship, but they gave us eddie's instead (with chris in the background and marisol conveniently obscured, mind you). eddie is reiterated as one of buck's most significant relationships.

in the final episode, when eddie is experiencing his personal worst nightmare, buck is the one at eddie's side every step of the way. buck talks to christopher, buck reassures eddie (without judgement), and it's made clear that buck will be there for eddie, whatever he needs.

at every possible opportunity, we the audience are being implicitly told that eddie is buck's person. he is his place of support (buck having his more vulnerable coming out scene with eddie rather than his sister); he has buck's back (the bachelor party); he is his family (medal ceremony reaction), and ultimately, this goes both ways (finale).

some other things worth noting: when buck has his coming out scene with maddie, she tells him he's confused about his feelings in a way that seems to indicate she's talking about his feelings towards eddie ("if you there's something you need to tell eddie, you will"). in bobby's conversation with buck in the firehouse, he's verbally supportive of tommy and even asks if buck is going to see him, but buck goes to eddie's house instead. these were deliberate choices made by the writers; eddie has been consistently intertwined in bucktommy's relationship both overtly and subtextually throughout the entirety of s7. and let's not even get into the whole 'evan' thing, because that could be a whole other post in itself.

from the first moment we start to learn about tommy's character (beyond his... coloured past), we find out that he and eddie are practically mirrors. why not make tommy and buck share similar interests? why not give them something to bond over? why present tommy and eddie as almost identical in every way? because tommy is a placeholder for eddie. buck's initial bisexuality journey can't happen with eddie when eddie still hasn't come to terms with his own feelings. so, in the meantime, tommy is the "safe" choice in buck's mind because buck has nothing to lose with tommy whereas he's got everything to lose with eddie. buck can't confront what he truly wants yet because the risk factor is far greater and it's been repeatedly asserted that buck has an issue with people in his life leaving -- he would never do anything to jeopardise his relationship with eddie.

but ultimately (and in my opinion, fairly soon), we are going to get that moment where it "clicks" for buck and he realises that it is eddie he has feelings for. and when that happens, there's basically only one way it can go. we know buck can't keep secrets from eddie; we know eddie is going into s8 feeling "isolated"; we know tim loves making his characters suffer before they can be happy. in my mind, the narrative is going to go something like this: buck feelings realisation -> pining buck era -> eddie healing journey and a reevaluation of what buck means to him -> some insane life-threatening situation that really doubles down on how buck and eddie care more about each other than anyone else because it is 9-1-1 at the end of the day -> love confession induced by their dramatic near-death experience -> #BUDDIE_CANON !

when we factor in how there was a possibility of eddie having the sexuality arc this season instead, how tim has said buddie is one of his favourite dynamics of the show, and how supportive both oliver and ryan are of the ship, i really can't see how everything isn't building to buddie endgame. every other main pairing of the show has had seasons of development, of conflict, of bonding moments. buck and eddie have gone through that with each other time and time over (tsunami/lawsuit/shooting arc etc), which is why every other random love interest that's introduced for either of them falls flat in comparison. they quite literally are exactly what the other person needs; buck wants the stability of a home, a family, and unconditional love; eddie wants someone he can trust, a caretaker for his son but also a partner. buddie is the ship the audience wants to root for, because we know they work! now that we have canonically bisexual buck and eddie finally having to face his complicated feelings about losing shannon, buddie isn't just the logical conclusion -- it's the inevitable one.

#if you made it all the way to the end of this mammoth post... thank you!#very curious to know what u guys think and if u agree/disagree #buddie meta #buddie analysis #buddie #buck x eddie #buddie theory #911 meta #anti bucktommy #<- not like... dramatically. but my stance is pretty clear!#eddie diaz #evan buckley #911 on abc

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picaroroboto · 1 year ago

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For the past couple days, I've been unfortunately cursed with thinking about Zenos yae Galvus. I don't even particularly like him - not that I dislike him either, Zenosfuckers you can put your scythes down - but it seems to me like a lot of the fandom either greatly misunderstands him, or doesn't even care to try to understand him, which from an objective standpoint as someone who cares deeply about writing in video games kind of pisses me off. But I'm more pissed about the fact that I'm apparently going to keep thinking about this issue until I actually write a character analysis of him.

Q: "But, what even is there to analyze with him? Isn't he all about wanting to fight the WoL and nothing else?"

Well, you wouldn't be wrong with saying that. That motivation is at the forefront of his character, and even if you look closer, everything about him comes back to either "violence" or "lack of understanding of others". But there are more meaningful sides to his deceptively simple character. That question of meaning is what I really want to look into - what does his character mean, what symbolic or thematic role does he play in this story?

Q: "Better question: why are you posting this on your art blog/Fate meta sideblog?"

Good question, with a stupid answer: I have all of 6 followers on my FF14 sideblog, and around 150 here. Let's go under the cut so they don't have to read a wall of text, unless they want to.

When you look at and compare FF14's villains, you can see a very clear change, no doubts thanks to the change in main writers. ARR Gaius and Thordan are more or less two-bit villains - Gaius's memeable iconic Praetorium speech gives us insight into how fascists try to justify themselves but little into Gaius's actual personality, while all Thordan gets as far as depth of character is an NPC in a sidequest remarking that he wasn't always a bad person and was probably doing what he thought best for his nation. Nidhogg is a little more understandable, since revenge is a relatable motivation to anyone who's been hurt by others. In Stormblood, Zenos and Yotsuyu are both presented as deserving of pity even as they do terrible things. Come Shadowbringers and Endwalker though, the story takes a greater interest on why villains like Emet-Selch and Elidibus do the things they do, and the player is allowed more options to try to understand them and see how similar they are to the WoL. Hell, Hermes and the Endsinger are barely "villains" at all, with the level of sympathy the story shows them.

What I'm getting to here is that Zenos, with half his arc in Stormblood and the rest in Endwalker, is sort of caught in the middle of this shift. He played the role of the rival character in Stormblood really well, but come Endwalker, he's standing on a stage full of heroes and villains with grand causes and deep motivations, as the guy whose sole motivation is fighting for pleasure.

It seems he's not unaware of this contrast himself - when Jullus confronts him for ruining Garlemald for no good reason, he retorts with "Would you be happier had I a good reason?" Zenos makes no attempt to justify his own actions and doesn't care that his reason seems incomprehensible and unforgivable to others. Yet in that same cutscene Alisaie hits him with the fact that if he keeps living solely for pleasure, he'll die alone. When next we see Zenos, he's alone at the Royal Menagerie waxing philosophical about what he really sought in the battle with the WoL.

See, what really motivates Zenos isn't just the thrill of battle - this guy has gotten Battle High and the joy of human connection confused. Really.

Even before he gets so perturbed by the idea of dying alone, there's other suggestions, like his proposal of friendship to the WoL when they fought in Stormblood, and then later his dying words in which he explains that he never understood others - at his core, he's just lonely. I know there's an official side story that tells it, but you don't need to know the exact details to glean that he had some sort of tragic backstory. Sad, but not a surprise, considering he's the prince of the Garlean Empire, raised to take the throne and continue the Empire's legacy of violence.

At his core, he's a very lonely person, but also a thing of violence, raised using violent methods for the purpose of causing more violence. Violence is how he lives and breathes - the only way he gets any sort of connection with others in a world of hurting and being hurt is the brief connection warriors dueling as equals can sometimes find. Don't deny that this sort of connection exists - FF14 is great at making fights that are both fun and tell a story. Hence, why he goes crazy for the WoL, but also refers to them as "friend". In their fights, he senses (or thinks he senses) similarity between him and them. Beneath all the madness is a pure, genuine joy in seeing the self reflected in the other...but he also instantly gets on the train to projection-town, population Zenos, and assumes the WoL is exactly like him, ignoring or failing to notice that they also fight for deeper meanings. The worst part is, he doesn't even notice that what he's actually seeking in fighting them is connection until Alisaie's aforementioned callout.

So he goes and angsts for a while, then turns into a dragon again and flies across the universe to help us kick the Endsinger's tail feathers, then issues his challenge for that duel he'd been longing for. But what's changed is that he starts with a question - "Such pleasures you sought for their own sake, and for no other reason, is that not so?". Dying after the duel, he's full of questions too: "Was your life a gift or a burden? Did you find fulfillment?" Alisaie's suggestion that he'd die alone actually spurred him to realize what he actually sought in the WoL, and now he's asking all these questions in an attempt to, for the first time in his life, genuinely connect with another human being.

The questions aren't important just because they're a sign of how Zenos has changed in Endwalker - they're actually the thematic heart of Endwalker! ARR may have had "Answers" as it's theme, but EW is the expac of questions. Namely the biggest question of all: What is the meaning of life? Different characters have different answers to that, leading to the grand-scale symbolic conflict being the Endsinger's despair - her belief that there is no meaning in life - versus whatever reasons the WoL chooses to live for, left, as always, up to player interpretation.

When you look deeper, Zenos isn't actually as out-of-place in the symbolic conflict as he first seems. His depressed worldview - that metaphor about drowning in a swamp again - seems to align with the Endsinger's view about life being meaningless. But he aids the WoL in defeating her. In that way he serves as part of the answer to her question about the meaning of life. He may have resented life at times, but he still found meaning in chasing pleasure. Not the strongest or most beautiful reason to deny oblivion, perhaps, but it did enable him to help the WoL triumph. I think of Zenos's philosophy as being connected to the concept of "Amor Fati"...largely because this quote explaining it sounds like something he'd say, or at least agree with on some level:

"and if our soul has trembled with happiness and sounded like a harp string just once, all eternity was needed to produce this one event—and in this single moment of affirmation all eternity was called good, redeemed, justified, and affirmed."

So he does have a meaningful role in Endwalker, as the "Amor Fati" against the Endsinger's "Memento Mori". I think that in this the story shows that his reason for living, while somewhat shallow, is not necessarily a morally wrong thing in and of itself (setting aside for a second all the people he hurt in his pursuit of that). It's just that, since it is a lonely pursuit that denies everything except for his target, it still feels empty. The core of the counterargument against the Endsinger's despair is that both pleasure and fulfillment are necessary to live a meaningful life in a meaningless universe, and that's why Zenos is here in Endwalker. Why he even exists in the story in the first place.

Even if you're one of the people who deeply hates Zenos...well, you probably wouldn't have read this whole thing if you did, but I still think it's important to read into characters you dislike, because every character in a story is written for a reason. Plus, trying to understand even their worst enemies is one of the WoL's key traits as of ShB and EW. With his last breaths, Zenos was trying to understand the WoL too - carrying this understanding of him with you as we move into our next adventures is the least you can do for your "friend".

#ff14 #ffxiv #zenos yae galvus #zenos viator galvus #endwalker #ffxiv meta #endwalker spoilers #meta posting on my art blog #god why did i spend my afternoon on this all this proves is that I need to be put in an English class again purely for enrichment purposes

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anim-ttrpgs · 3 months ago

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Sorry if it's a silly question, as I'm still reading the book and haven't gotten to the full scope of the Narrator's job yet, but how 'long' are Eureka! games designed to go on for in-world wise - and more importantly, how alive are Investigators supposed to stay, generally? For context: I'd like to do multiple smaller investigations that are part of a larger conspiracy, individual mysteries that may fail or succeed at being uncovered, that give out pieces of what's actually going on. And, because progression (level-ups, new toys/weapons, etc.) are a big part of what appeals to my players, I think they'd prefer to keep their characters relatively alive to enjoy the benefits, and not replace them through multiple investigations. Is Eureka! able to be played like that? A broader campaign with "meta"/character progression for not being brash and getting yourself killed?

Like most TTRPGs they are billed as “highly lethal,” the truth is that Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is really more “potentially lethal.”

Every character has 5 Penetrative HP and they die instantly if this hits 0, and any bullet deals 4 Penetrative Damage. The most common handguns in Eureka are capable of firing up to 4 bullets in a single action, so yeah, PCs can die pretty easily. They can also kill pretty easily, and it is up to them, not the GM, to make sure they don’t get killed.

Despite this, having played Eureka myself about... 15 times maybe? I have never once personally seen a PC death.

A good number of PCs have died in other people’s Eureka games that I know of, but off the top of my head it feels like around a third of those were killed by other PCs.

The thing is, when the players know the game is lethal, and the PCs know what they’re doing is dangerous, they both tend to be very careful, and a good lethal game will provide lots or mechanics that allow PCs to mitigate the danger. For instance, Eureka is primarily about investigation. The chances that the PCs will get involved in a shootout in any given session is very slim. Most Eureka adventures end up having between 0 and 2 instances of violent danger across the entire adventure. Additionally, that combat is mechanically deep. It is this depth that allows the PCs to make smart and informed decisions that make them less likely to die. For instance, cover mechanics and incremental range penalties that make those 4 bullets each a lot less likely to hit.

As for in-world length, that really depends of course, but we find that many of the game’s mechanics are best suited for adventures that last about 2-14 in-game days. The stuff that characters do in Eureka is usually a short, but extraordinary period of their lives.

That doesn’t mean that they can’t return for another aventure later, it just means that if you’re going to try to run a real big mystery, running it as several smaller mysteries is definitely the best way to do it. Just make absolutely sure that no one of those smaller mysteries needs to be solved or completed a certain way, or in fact needs to be be completed or solved at all, for anything about the larger mystery to work. In Eureka, success is never a guarantee.

This is a good thing, because it means that accomplishments are real, but also, Eureka is deliberately set up so that there’s entertainment value in seeing the PCs involve themselves in and be affected by the mystery, regardless of if they succeed or not, or even if they survive.

Another thing that you as GM I’ll need to do to run this kind of campaign is to make sure you know ALL the facts of the mystery before it starts. This is not something you can make up as you go along. This doesn’t mean coming up with the plot or how the PCs will solve the mystery, in fact you as GM shouldn’t interfere with that all, but you need to know exactly what the bad guys have done, are doing, and will do, and what evidence their doing has left behind. This means you’ll be prepared for whatever the PCs start snooping about, and if they do ask a question you didn’t anticipate, you’ll be able to answer from a place of knowledge informed by the existing facts you did write, rather than making something up completely.

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raayllum · 5 months ago

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The 'Dark'!Callum Inversion scenes Meta

Because it was Everything to me from a characterization standpoint, extremely interesting and satisfying, and I just have all the feelings, so let's talk about it!

First off, symbolism set up!

Before the scene in the forest begins, we're treated to reflection motif with Callum seeing a corrupted version of himself in the water of the Moonshadow assassin lotus pond, which was previously a place associated with shame, loss, and failure (3x03); as well as love and goodbyes (3x03, 6x09). The first batch is what Callum is feeling, with the second batch being what will influence his future choices in the coming episodes.

We also get Callum talking about how he (inadvertently) freed Aaravos, then dons his symbol of freedom (wings) in order to get away. Then Callum brings out a far more complicated symbol for himself: the cube.

A few things right off the bat:

The cube since S4 has explicitly represented Callum's inner turmoil and connection to Aaravos, and we see that come out further here in both areas.

Just as Karim looks to direction from the Sun ("What would you have me do? Where would you have me go?" in 5x04) and his sister ("And what would you have me do?" in 7x03), Callum quasi-looks to the cube for direction.

However, the runes being emphasized (upside down star for Aaravos, the Ocean rune) foreshadow that the choice of what do do next is already made, as the Ocean rune was also emphasized in his original dark magic dreams in 2x08, and foreshadowed his choice to do dark magic again in 5x08. We'll return to the rune emphasis again later.

I also want to talk about dark!Callum (DC)'s appearance as opposed to the form he takes in 2x08. The cloak is back, which in 2x08 was their main distinguishing feature. Now, 7x06's is joined with corruption around the eyes (which was present in Callum's 6x03 nightmare) and the white streak, which is new. 7x06 DC therefore seems both less menacing than full corruption leering grin DC (earlier in the pond; 2x08's true form) and simultaneously more honest. He's not covering up his appearance at all, is presenting more of a middle man of what Callum could become, and yet is still deeply loathed.

The rune emphasis continues even once we get DC shows up, with the Ocean rune continuing to be highlighted, as Callum unlocked the Ocean arcanum due to realizing/accepting his lack of control on "To love is simply to know this: the tides are true as the ocean is deep [...] The Ocean arcanum is accepting that there are depths you can't see, parts of yourself you can't understand..." It was inextricably linked due to him realizing he would go that far with dark magic again, even if he hated it.

Then we get into what is probably my second favourite line in the whole scene, which is, "You didn't create me with dark magic, Callum. I have always been a part of you." Although DC is demonstrated through dark magic indicators, it is not exclusive to dark magic use. This too is reflected in what Callum says about the ocean arcanum, explaining, "The ocean arcanum is about accepting there are depths you can't see, parts of yourself you can't understand, and things you can't control".

This aspect of everyone having both dark and light inside them (as Aaravos lays out in 7x04) is reflected in 7x06 "Inversion" as well through the metaphor of the half-moon. Not only is there dark and light within all the main cast that they have to confront this season (Ez and Rayla, for example, both accept and understand the circumstances under which they'd murder someone) but it also comes back to the half-moon as well: "Consider the half moon. Light only falls on half its face right now, but that doesn't mean the other half isn't there" (2x02).

So this dark side—this willingness to go this far and in this way—is a fundamental part of who Callum is and who he's always been ("But not everything [has changed]: I would do anything for you"). Again, we love it here.

Then, the scene starts stacking metaphor upon metaphor / symbol upon symbol. First, we had DC, evidenced through dark magic corruption and a darker doppelgänger self; then we had the Ocean rune to invoke the last time Callum did dark magic, and why; finally, we have DC bring the two together into one of the other main symbols of the series: fate vs freewill through the idea of writing your own story.

"So how's your book?"

Previously, Callum had though that choosing who he wanted to be was exclusive to being a dark mage. He could choose to exert and maintain his agency OR choose to give into a pre-written destiny ("your destiny is already written, all you have to do now is accept it"). This was only enhanced by his struggle in earlier arc 2 seasons, as the dichotomy between "you can be a dark mage or a powerless human" become reconciled to "you are a powerless human because you are a dark mage," manifested in Aaravos stripping him of his power through possession/control because of his dark magic use.

This is similar to Callum's more optimistic but simplified view in 5x08 that "so long as we protect each other, so long as we love each other, you can never control us." By the end of the episode he's realized that's not true, and by the end of season 7 he likewise realizes his previous view of dark magic and himself is also not true.

Like Viren, Callum is realizing that it's not so much a choice between agency or dark magic in his life, so much as it is taking responsibility and acknowledging that he's Choosing to do dark magic for something he thinks is worth it ("Every step forward is a choice" / "That's the destiny I choose"). A character just giving up dark magic is not enough to make them a 'good' person (hi Kpp'Ar) or truly change their path (6x04 Claudia) without recognizing that dark magic itself wasn't necessarily the problem, but what it brought out in them and how they coped with it (Viren blaming Soren for his own actions, etc). Simply put, there is no 'or'. There is only 'and'.

The true heart is a gift of childhood. For a few wonder-filled years, we each have innocent eyes to experience the world’s beauty in a simple way. Terrestrius, you were lucky and held that innocent wonder longer than most. I have seen generations of humans and elves accept the darkness that lurks in all of us beside the light. There is no black and white, only shades of gray. We must all carry complexity. But please believe me there is beauty in this burden. Your heart will be a little heavier, but now there will be no more half-truths, Terrestrius.

[Side note: if you're interested more in the idea of knowledge as a burden in TDP, please check out this meta.]

As indicated by Aaravos' speech, this process of reconciling dichotomies into singular dualities is part of growing up and accepting that things are complicated shades of grey, just as Ezran had to learn in his 4x03 speech: "To give them that, we have to hold pain and love in our hearts at the same time," with reconciling dualities permeating much of arc 2, particularly season four.

So what does this process look like for Callum emotionally, with this scene in the woods? Well, there's a few different stages.

The first involves ideas of trust, which TDP comes back to time and time again. Whereas before DC kept himself very separate from Callum in 2x08 outside of a couple of lines, here he refers to them more routinely as one entity / person, emphasizing:

which Callum reflects even before we get there, even if he backtracks:

Furthermore, we return to the concept of parts of ourselves, not only in terms of fragmentation and brokenness, but also in terms of reality. DC states that he has always been a part of Callum, and the Ocean arcanum's "parts of yourself you can't understand" furthers this as previously noted, but so does Lujanne's statement from 2x02:

Real trust is accepting the dark parts we will never know.

But more on 7x09 in a bit. For now, part of how DC attempts to get through to Callum is in line with him being a more honest presentation of Callum than his prior manifestation in 2x08, and that begins with acknowledging Callum's feelings, but also the facts:

I get it. You hate me. But we know the truth too. Only I can save them all.

Now there will be no more half-truths. Dark and light brought together in understanding and acceptance, even if it is painful and complicated. DC posits, then, that Callum is someone who can and will "sacrifice [his] sense of right and wrong" and do dark magic again. This would, in addition, mean sacrificing his own life and his life with Rayla, as the plan involves being killed so Aaravos cannot use him further. (It does not, noticeably, involve sacrificing Rayla herself; in fact, it's rather the opposite, but again, more on that in a bit.)

Callum's capacity and willingness to do so is called out openly by DC, who reminds Callum of another truth and of his own doubt:

Taking the coin feels especially noteworthy since, when Callum did so, everything was seemingly fine. He'd cleansed himself of dark magic use and therefore possession, and believed/'knew' that the prison pearl was safely at the Starscraper, hundreds of miles away from him or anyone who would ever seemingly get to it. Yet he took the coin anyway, because to quote one of my friends, "Callum will see something and go man that's fucked up and file it away for later," and boy, he sure will. This tendency to preventively 'take', particularly for objects of perceived/potential power, also goes back even earlier: he doesn't just chain Claudia, but also steals her primal stone (1x03, 2x02: "You stole her primal stone"); in 4x07, he is unable to let go of / attempt to destroy the cube ("if you're so sure, why did you save it?"); and rather than having the self-awareness I'd assumed off screen to burn all of Viren's dark magic books, he read all of them instead (5x08).

So Callum plans for contingencies, yet has reservations about the plan DC—himself—is making. Fair enough. It would cause him to do "sacrifice his own sense of right and wrong," i.e. something that he considers vile and dangerous, and morally reprehensible. It'd mean dying and sacrificing his life. Does he bring any of these up as to why he doesn't want to, or can't, follow through on the plan?

No, because the singular reason he gives is this:

I can't. Don't you get it? Rayla loves me. She believes in me. This version of myself.

"You hate me" versus "Rayla loves me."

He doesn't say that it's wrong (2x08; which seems to be something he's relinquished partially by 6x03 anyway) and he doesn't even say that it'd kill him. The sole objection he gives is that Rayla would stop loving him, and implicitly that he'd be letting her down. I don't think I have to say why this is a little bit crazy and codependent, but I do love it, and it tracks with what Callum has said in the past, ie. 4x07's "I'm not afraid that he'll hurt me. I'm afraid that he'll use me to do awful things or hurt people I care about." A big part of 5x08 and the Ocean arcanum was realizing if it's a choice between doing awful things or his loved ones being hurt, he'll choose to do the awful thing, and 7x06 here takes that one step further: is doing an awful thing worth it to save your loved one, even if they hate you for it? (The answer to him is yes, but again: we're getting there.)

At this time, Callum still has hope that there's another way through that lets him defeat Aaravos and still have Rayla's love — I mean, not die, stating, "There has to be another way. Another way without you."

The immediate episode starts poking holes in this through Aaravos' conversation with Ezran: "It is the nature of children to think that the world must be one way or another." Callum has created a binary of "use dark magic to defeat Aaravos but sacrifice myself / Rayla's love" OR "defeat Aaravos without dark magic and keep Rayla's love". One option, or another. He's going to find out that that binary isn't true, but again, not quite there yet. For now I want to detour briefly into 7x07, specifically:

AARAVOS: There is great affinity between your brother and I. Callum sees the world as I do, understands the need for compromise [corruption]. Very soon, your brother will embrace dark magic to save those he loves. EZRAN: Oh? I suppose you've seen that written in the stars. AARAVOS: No, no. I've seen it written in his eyes. EZRAN: You're lying. Callum would never do that. AARAVOS: I never lie, Ezran. In your heart, you know this already. Callum will walk down that dark road.

So Aaravos knows, episodes in advance, what Callum is capable of and what he's willing to do. So does Ezran. So does Callum. And so, eventually, does Rayla.

But why is he willing to do this? Unsurprisingly, it's time to talk about my favourite part of the scene, or what I'm going to call

The Narrowing

Now, there's no denying that part of Callum's motivation here is to save the world. This has always been true; Callum loves the world. He cares about the greater good, and he's been willing to sacrifice himself for it before (3x01). Him being willing to use dark magic to save everyone, including Rayla and Ezran, is not news; it's inordinately in character. We've yet to see one of their lives be pitted against the greater good, wherein I think his choices would change, but Callum being willing to sacrifice himself / a life together in order to keep Rayla alive? That was always my prediction going into S7 that he'd do dark magic again and do it no matter the personal cost (losing the relationship, losing his life, etc) so long as it kept her and/or Ezran alive. And here we are.

With that out of the way, I want to talk about the specific narrowing we see, as DC proposes the same plan and according rationale behind it three times in 7x06, but it gets more specific each time (+ specific rune placements to boot):

"Them all," to a greater emphasis on Ezran and Rayla, to just Rayla.

Now, part of this is to reflect Callum's objections, which as we've gone over were exclusively centred on not wanting to lose Rayla's love (which Callum probably associates having her love as synonymous with him being alive, but Ezran did it first with her being alive in 4x01, so. yeah). That's what he wants to maintain, that's what he cares about. But DC points out that Rayla loving him, and him wanting that, should be secondary to keeping her alive. It's not about his wants. It's not about him.

It's about her.

After seasons of Callum's "I would do anything for you," we finally verbally get the second piece:

VIREN: But if it's love, then nothing else matters. Do what you must. (6x06)

While other characters discuss Callum's motivations in other ways—Runaan says "He will do whatever it takes to protect this world" as the man who's prepared to take him out to do the same, and as fits within Runaan's worldview like a perfect puzzle piece—most of that is publicly around other characters who share that worldview. Callum says "I have to, or everyone will die" and Aaravos' "So the hero dies for the greater good" in the final battle, where everyone—Rayla included—can hear (remember, privately, with Ezran how Aaravos framed the matter instead). Callum and Aaravos have an incentive and need for Rayla to accept and understand this—Callum wants her to take him out, and knows this'd be more effective than "I'm doing it for you" or she'd flat out refuse (6x03, 6x05); she needs to be Callum's 'false' safety net for Callum to be willing to corrupt himself again, on Aaravos' end—nor does it make it untrue. That is what Callum is doing something vile and dangerous for, and it's worth sacrificing his life and Rayla's love for him if it means saving everyone, including her. If it doesn't, or didn't, well, that remains to be seen...

But we all know what I'm saying for future events. Where we leave off story wise now is a Callum who willingly re-corrupted himself to save her and the greater good, a Callum who fully knows and accepts that in many ways he has sacrificed his sense of right and wrong in order to do so, and is aware that now and in the future he will "do anything, however dangerous, however vile" to protect the people he loves. The nice thing is that he also knows that rather than the false dichotomy set up before, sacrificing Rayla's love for him in order to save her life, is not something he has to be concerned about any longer, because she still loves him, and always will.

He became the person he hated, the person he was terrified to be (he carried out the exact same plan DC posited for the exact same reasons as posited) but not in the manner he expected, because he's still a person that Rayla loves. That's why the white streak is different. He can trust himself in this way, and knows that she can too.

She loves, accepts, and trusts this part of him, all of him. The thing he was most worried to lose is what he didn't have to lose at all, and I think that's pretty beautiful.

In conclusion, the scene in the forest was everything, the white streak and bridge scene in the finale was everything, we love a little snake boi and his prime enabler, TDP is kissing me on the mouth characterization wise always, god bless; thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.

#tdp callum #tdp meta #the dragon prince #tdp #analysis series #analysis #s7 spoilers #s7 #callum #tdp spoilers #7x06 #snake boi callum #and his prime enabler #predictions achieved #characterization #the key of aaravos #7x09 #multi #arc 2

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pastorfutureletthembe · 4 months ago

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I love YINGDU as it is

I don't think I'll read these interviews everyone is talking about :/ I thought hard about it, I've read the general points of it, but I don't think reading them will make me enjoy YINGDU more. Quite the opposite actually.

Me: thank you but no thank you. Later maybe. Love you, still.

I don't understand why they had to get interviewed to clear things up. By why, I mean, this situation is fucked up and I don't get how things got like this in this industry.

First. Can't the fans just wait and see? We're grownups, stop treating us like children who cried to get a lollipop. We'll still be here next year. Trust your fanbase.

Second... in what kind of world were the animators under pressure to the point they created plot holes and new timelines by accident? I'm extrapolating but, for real, how fucked up is it that they decided to rush a show that popular for the sake of airing it early? I'm sorry, was the money we spend on merch every few weeks not enough? I'm just mad at the production, honestly. Because they made a big mistake.

They're rushing in like bulls in a china shop. The character PVs were a mistake as well. They should have been released after YINGDU, to manage our expectations on characters that were yet to be introduced. I used to think it was an actual teaser, a window on how Lu Guang saw them or what they will become because of Lu Guang's meddling with the timeline. Now, I'm starting to think they needed strong marketing to get people's attention.

The whole thing makes my viewer experience less than optimal. So I'll keep writing meta but I won't take these interviews into account. 🧩Meta is for fun🧩, mere interpretation, only fanon, and that's okay. Meta is gamble. Meta is character study and theories on plot twists.

✨And that's okay✨

We're not suppose to write season 3 in advance. So it makes sense to me to keep having fun on what the show and the official content bring us. But as far as I'm concerned, the interviews didn't happen. It's not denial, just-

When I was studying cinema in university, my teacher once told me a very harsh truth: if you have to explain the sequence you filmed, then you didn't film it right. Sadly, in this context, production limitations were at fault but the lasting impression is the same.

Do you realize how insane it is that a creative team has to spell their work out to their fans? How humiliating it must be? There's revealing easter egg, teasing next season, spilling spoilers on accident, and then there is whatever that was. I feel for the creators and animators who worked themselves to exhaustion to bring something as beautiful as YINGDU to life. Because this season? It isn't perfect and it's inconsistent and different but no one can call it ugly. I would lick my screen because the image does look tasty lmao. My heart bleeds for all the people involved in this season.

Meta is trying to understand and noticing easter eggs, honouring the writers and animators' work X

Of course, that's only my stand on the topic. I might take different directions in my interpretation than others, that's all. Aaaaaand? Yes. That's okay 🥰

As an artist myself, I feel like the situation is kind of disappointing for the people who worked on YINGDU. That's why I'll take the canon as it is. I don't want to mourn what could be or should have been. I want to enjoy what is.

Meta is diving in the depth of symbolism X

As a fan, I get that we're happy with every nugget of information on what's coming next. The lore in Link Click is still blurry and while I honestly want to believe it is an artistic choice and will stay under control, I can't help but fear it's the result of bad writing. But. What if it is? Meh, I'm still here, enjoying myself. Because I love this show as it is, I see the flaws and the beauty in it. I'll be there.

Meta is love and each of us expresses it differently X

#the daily life of alice's hyperfixation #link click #时光代理人 #shiguang dailiren #director li haoling speaking #meta #is this meta?#this fandom feels like home

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cbrownjc · 11 months ago

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My thoughts about Devil's Minion right now after Rolin Jones' comments (spoilers):

A meta so thorough, that I first wrote in a post/reply elsewhere, I'm putting it into a separate post, (with some more added to it), just because. And especially since I know I've gotten a lot of followers over the course of Season 2 because of my Devil's Minion posts as well, and I want this all in a separate, individual post for quick reference, just in case.

Fair warning: if you are totally happy and fine about what happened -- i.e. how Armand turned Daniel -- then yeah, what I am going to say here isn't for you. I'm not trying to harsh anyone's vibe, especially if you are just happy that Daniel is a vampire now, okay? This is just about how I feel and see things about it at the moment (particularly regarding RJs comments about it). So if you're not up for criticism, critique, as well as speculation about Devil's Minion right now, then yeah. IMO, just skip this post, please.

Okay. So. Rolin Jones just gave an interview with The Hollywood Reporter and this is what he said about Daniel's turning by Armand:

Jones confirms that, just like in Rice’s books, Armand is the one who turns Daniel into a vampire. “Will we see that moment of turning? No, but Armand finally made a vampire and clearly made him out of spite,” he says with a laugh. “It looks like it was really not a great moment [between him and Daniel], but that connects those two characters. They will have scenes going forward, obviously.”

-- Rolin Jones, Hollywood Reporter, 06/30/24

Okay so, to start. For me, someone who has been waiting since 1995 (when I was 17) for Devil's Minion, for Armand and Daniel's relationship to finally be adapted in some way, I'll be honest. There are only two ways this can go now that I can see at the moment: either Rolin is lying/trolling to hide the truth about all of this, or he is telling the truth and this is truly the way they are going with this.

If Rolin is lying/trolling to hide something about all of this, then I'll forgive that lying/trolling instantly once it's revealed that he was. (Put a pin in this.) Having to flat-out lie or troll is sometimes par for the course when it comes to running a show and not wanting to spoil anything about what might be coming up in it. So honestly, if that's what's going on with what he said here? Meh. No skin off my nose.

If he is telling the truth, however? Then I'll have zero desire to watch the show anymore, once I see it 100% confirmed in some way with my own two eyes in some way on screen somehow. (Again, pin in this.) Because I have very much learned my lesson when it comes to TV shows and lazy writing/bad adaptations after Game of Thrones.

Because Armand turning Daniel out of spite is the antithesis of what Devil's Minion is supposed to be for both characters. It is an utter and complete misunderstanding of both characters and their relationship together. It's an utter downgrade of their relationship from the books, and I am not here for it. I literally do not care what "romance" they might later have planned for them if this is how Daniel was turned.

Look. If you are someone who only ever cared about Daniel just being a vampire, then this is all likely fine for you, and that's okay. But not me. Because Daniel being a vampire never was, or has been, the important part of Armand and Daniel's relationship. Not in my eyes and, frankly, not when it comes to the original story. Daniel becoming a vampire is not the important part of the Devil's Minion story. The actual love and romance before Daniel is turned is because it is during that part of it that the actual character development and growth both of them go through from it takes place. Especially for Armand's character.

And that only has any depth when Daniel is human and Armand is forever refusing to turn him because of his hangups about making another vampire.

And Armand finally turning Daniel out of love was a huge step that showed Armand beginning to move forward and heal -- from not only his time in the Children of Darkness cult, but begin his healing when it comes to his Marius issues as well.

Armand turning Daniel out of spite undercuts all of that. It undercuts the whole story. And flat-out guts some of the major depth of the relationship and Armand's character development overall.

Not to mention it makes Daniel no better than someone like Claudia wrt Armand turning him now. Maybe even less than her since at least Claudia got turned out of Lestat's love for someone else. Daniel doesn't even get that? The person who is supposed to be his eternal companion doesn't even get turned by him out of love, an important point to the bond between such Maker and Fledgling eternal companions, but out of hate and spite instead?

Yeah, no thank you.

This is not what I've waited since 1995 to see with these two and the fact their relationship may have gotten treated like this -- if this is true -- utterly astounds me how this show could get Loustat so right (and even upgrade them so beautifully in so many ways such as with Louis' turning) and utterly fail Devil's Minion so badly. Because yes, it's failing them. It's a terrible and, moreover, just a shallow adaptation of Devil's Minion if this is how it really all goes down.

Because there is way more to Armand and Daniel than them just Daniel being a vampire and them finally "getting together." Or at least there is supposed to be. And this ain't it.

(Pin!) Now, with that all said? The fact that Rolin flat out says that we'll never see Armand turning Daniel? Yeah okay, I'm sus on that one. Because really. The only reason not to show Armand turning Daniel next season -- and visually confirm that Armand did it -- is if because . . . Armand never actually turned Daniel in the first damn place.

Or, if he did, it maybe was not fully Daniel.

I mean, you're not going to ever actually show Armand turning his first-ever fledgling (who he's supposed to go on to have a romantic relationship with at some point) after making a big ass deal out of the fact that Armand has never turned anyone before? Ever?

See I know damn well that Armand is being framed as a villain right now. He very much has to be given how the end of the book IWTV and how the upcoming book The Vampire Lestat, goes. Armand is the main villain/antagonist in it. Even in the present day, it is clear Armand hasn't gone yet gone through all of the growth that he does from Queen of the Damned on. So he's still back in his villain-era mode right now. And his post-breakup with Louis mode in the present day. Which is fine, it's how his story -- and the story where it is right now -- goes. I am thoroughly okay with that.

And the very idea that Armand turned Daniel out of spite? Very much plays into that framing-him-as-a-villian state where Armand's character is right now. And will be for the majority of Season 3, which I've already before now suspected and said.

So here is where the speculation on my end of things comes in. Because yeah, not only can I not help myself but because -- until I see this play out with my own eyes -- I'm willing to be reasonable and look at the various ways this all could still play out that doesn't completely gut out the very heart of Armand and Daniel -- as characters and their relationship together. (Or at least not have it be so damn shallow by the end when they inevitably get and stay together.)

So as @nalyra-dreaming can confirm, I gave her a few scenarios that could be behind Daniel's turning weeks ago, when I first suspected it was going to happen (before the screener leaks about it started). In one of the scenarios, I said that if Daniel's vampire eyes are any color other than violet, then that is NOT Daniel's spirit/soul/consciousness in Daniel's body that has been made a vampire.

As the saying goes, "The eyes are the window into the soul." And am I really supposed to think this show got Lestat and Louis' eye color dead on correct but just missed Daniel's iconic eye color? Really? (Because no, I do not find it romantic that Daniel has his Maker's eye color, or whatever. Besides, vampire eye color doesn't even work like that -- the show didn't even do that with Louis and Lestat who are the main, grand romantic couple of the damn show.)

As I said here in this reblog, I stand by my opinion/theory that no way this show gets Daniel's iconic violet eye color wrong, even on accident. I said so weeks ago, before even seeing Daniel's eyes in that final shot in the season finale, and just predicting that he was going to get turned.

No way this show got Daniel's iconic eye color wrong when he became a vampire, not when they went to all the damn trouble creating those vampire contacts and gave Jacob's Louis green eyes to match book-Louis.

And yes I damn well know they could just have Daniel pop up with violet vampire eyes in the Season 3 premiere and there goes all of that, and it really was all just laziness, incompetence, and a mistake when it came to the color of Daniel's eyes in the finale. But right now? I'm treating Daniel's eye color as the equivalent of Rolin saying "Lelio is so boring!" as to the question of why Sam's Lestat was playing Harlequin and not Lelio in the Season 2 theater flashbacks. Something the show changed on purpose and for a reason.

Because we all damn well know that we are going to see Sam's Lestat as Lelio in Season 3, correct? Because we are.

And yes. I know some people really hate the idea of a body swap scenario regarding Daniel, but I'm sorry. At this point, it really is the only scenario out of this whole storyline that I can see right now, that will keep it anywhere close to retaining the heart of the Devil's Minion storyline, especially if Armand really did turn Daniel out of spite here (even though, again, we'll apparently never see that turning to confirm that in full. Uh-huh, okay.).

And two things that I think do set up the possibility are:

1.) Louis says Daniel was turned after he left Armand alone with him. But Louis actually wouldn't know something like that unless he was told since he wasn't there. All we can really assume at the moment is that Daniel told Louis what happened after Louis left the room. And as RJ and Assad said, we'll never see the actual turning. So who knows when the hell it happened.

2.) Raglan James, via those direct messages asking Daniel for "reciprocation" for getting him a copy of the script, with Armand's handwritten notes, of the trial-play. Between that request and the Talamasca publishing Daniel's book, that loops Daniel into the James orbit very much. And ties Daniel very close to any Talamasca going on even more.

And, quite frankly, I've thought since Season 1 that David Talbot's character was out and would be merged with both Louis and Daniel on the show. And Sam pretty much confirmed in his interview with Autumn Brown that some characters from the books will be merged together with others in the show. So, yeah. David's character is very much a character I always thought they were doing that with, and I know I'm not the only one who's thought it before now as well.

And honestly, I can much better deal with some type of scenario in which Armand maybe ends up turning two versions of "Daniel" -- and therefore technically having two fledglings, even though they are kind of the same person -- over what is being put forth about this right now. One turning -- in spite -- of Daniel's body without his true spirit/soul/consciousness in it, and the other turning -- out of love -- of Daniel's spirit/soul/consciousness inside a different body of some kind. (Which I won't go into now, as that is a whole separate long meta if I did.)

Because at least with that scenario then, in a weird way, Daniel being Armand's only fledgling would still hold. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Along with a few other things that can happen regarding Armand's character growth in between each turning.

But that is it. Because there is no way they can have Armand turn Daniel (as fully Daniel) out of spite -- as Rolin directly says he does in this interview -- and actually keep the heart of the Devil's Minion story and romance now. Not even if the Devil's Minion chase and parts of the relationship happened in the past IMO . . . another thing they are clearly avoiding talking about, btw. Which, at least right now, just tells me that, if we're lucky, we'll only -- once again -- get one episode that flashes back to that time in Season 3. Can't really be helped, since Season 3's primary focus will be regarding Lestat and Lestat's backstory. (As I've said before Daniel isn't even in that book. So whatever we get with him in Season 3 really will just be extra, added stuff.)

Oh, and something else I very much recognize is that Loustat shippers -- particularly book ones -- have gone through it these past two seasons, but now seem to be coming out of that darkness. Maybe now it's time for Devil's Minion shippers like me and others to face the same damn thing now. Because of something Assad let slip a few weeks ago about not getting Armand's full story until Season 4, I think that is how long we're going to have to wait to see the full of this play out.

But I advise right now that if some of you think you can't handle that and would just rather quit the show and binge things later, I totally get it. Waiting two seasons -- basically 4 years minimum -- is going to be a pain in the ass. I already know right now that there are some things I'm not going to have the patience for during the hiatus times in between, particularly this one. (One thing I can already say, at least right now, is that I'm not inspired to write any show-based Devil's Minion fanfic this hiatus like I did during the last hiatus).

But quitting the show altogether? No, I'm not there yet. Because yes Rolin does like to troll. Plus Hannah's tweet. Plus what was said about Devil's Minion at ATX Festival. Plus my thinking, long before now, that David Talbot was always out wrt the show, and the fact that Raglan James is here and Daniel's character has been heavily tied into The Talamasca plotline of the show.

And given everything I've seen this show do wrt it's writing up until now, I just can't fully believe they would really make Devil's Minion this damn shallow and devoid of its depth and heart. And just have Armand turn his one and only canon fledgling and immortal companion out of nothing but spite. When Armand loving Daniel and finally having to trust in Daniel's love for him, as well as his own love for Daniel over his own fear was a major point and culmination of the Devil's Minion storyline.

After everything I've seen these first two seasons wrt this show, I can't think these writers would miss such an important heart and point of the Devil's Minion storyline and romance so completely.

Not yet at any rate.

#Devil's Minion #The Devil's Minion #Daniel Molloy #Armand #The Vampire Armand #armandaniel #Interview with the Vampire #amc iwtv #iwtv #iwtv spoilers #iwtv Season 2 #iwtv Season 3 #iwtv speculation #writing #Rolin Jones

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themafiadebt · 2 months ago

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That Time When I Tried To Bring A Foot Long Knife In My Cabin Bag On An International Flight

You know flights. For at least a few generations already we have had a privilege of travelling through air, which is statistically one of the safest means of transportation, but when shit goes wrong, it goes wrong in a particularly spectacular manner and being the dumb fucks we humans are, spectacular failures (such as acts of terror) register as more plausible ones in our stupid monkey brains. This is a digression, but, as the title of the post suggests, not an untangential one.

In any case, there used to be a time in my life when international flying was just a regular thing for me, getting on a plane and immediatelly getting some monday-morning shut-eye even before the take-off to teleport a few thousand kilometers away was just a fact of life. Two of my russian-speaking (but also fluent in my mother tongue) team mates doing some contract backend web development for a foreign fintech startup with me as a "team lead" (in quotes, because we have always been egalitarian) were as accustomed to flying as I was. Security checkpoint, it seemed at that time, was something we knew intimately, not necessarily to the point when we referred to the agents by their first names, but rather we knew which shoes are going to have to come off and the exact amount of change to trigger the metal detector. It was, as we all understood it, a dog-and-pony show in a post 9/11 security theater where water in your belly was qualitatively different from the water in an unopened bottle, which is technically true, but it never even made anyone feel safer as a passenger or less safe as a potential criminal (like my white ass getting "randomly checked" five times in a row for "traces of explosives"); it usually went as a well-choreographed routine of retrieving a laptop from an easily-accessible part of your backpack, unbuckling your belt, taking off your coat, putting clothes, backpack and electronics into separate trays and proceeding to waltz through the SCARY GATE in a steady pace all the while smiling in a friendly manner to the agents, maintaining Just Enough eye contact to establish connection but not come off as challenging and refraining yourself from making any meta commentary throughout the whole ordeal.

Easy.

Imagine yourself in my shoes when my backpack comes out of the x-ray about 1.25 seconds later than usual. There's a warning light going off silently at the back of my head as I wait for my belt to come back to me so my pant's don't slip off my fat white ass as much, getting brigher and turning into a bangbang double exclamation mark emoji and starting to emit avionic warning sound as the security agent pulls the tray with my backpack aside.

"Sir is this your bag?"

"Yes, it is"

"It seems you have a knife in there"

At this point I am more amused than perplexed.

"Yes, that is true," - I say smiling incredulously - "but it never caused any trouble anywhere."

I'm thinking about my trusty pocket victorinox (with scissors that are incredibly good for trimming my nails on the go) attached to my RSA OTP generator.

"Oh." - the female agent replies dryly, putting the vynil gloves on - "may I please open your bag, sir?"

"Sure!" - "May I retrieve The Object, sir?" - "Please go ahead".

And I watch, with increasing horror, my eyes widening, as I see the very remotely familiar handle that stirs something in the depths of my memory, the blade emerging in slow motion and going oh-so-slowly to what seems like forever until the whole footlong thing is out, pinched between two fingers of the agent who looks at me as memories of a town several hundred kilometers away rush back to me: the hunger, the yearning, the NEED for a simple kielbasa-and-bun sandwitch, both kielbasa and a freshly baked bun in my hands in a middle of a shop with no way to cut neither kielbasa nor the bun and the footlong steel monstrocity being the only possible option of instruments capable of cutting. Did I unpack my bag or I simply throw it aside when I got home is a question with an answer so obvious it immediately unasks itself.

"Sir?" - a female voice brings me back to here-now. - "I said, shall I discard of it, sir?"

I struggle for a moment to regain control of my motor function and nod. I think my mouth is slightly agape and I have no control of my vocal cords. A single elongated vowel escapes my throat.

"Thank you" - she says, handing my backpack over to me. My colleagues also stand frozen, their eyes wide in disbelief. - "You may proceed, sir"

"T-thank you" - I stutter as I shuffle away with my backpack in one hand and my belt which I retrieved just prior to the whole incident in another, pretty sure I've gotten damn lucky once again.

I never bought another trio of bun, kielbasa and a big fuckoff knife abroad again.

#story #Berlin-saga

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maybe-boys-do-love · 9 days ago

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So @doublel27 pointed out to me today the wince Tamtawan makes in the flashback when Phi mentions both their faces being on the billboard.

And it started my wheels turning and speculating.

Does he already have his plans for his studies abroad in mind? Is it simply his interest in meaningful in-depth reporting and production over the idol celebrity-status?

Thinking about the KristSingto meta of it all (although I think the show seems plenty able to stand on its own without it), something I haven’t seen mentioned is one of the first things Singto did when he left GMMTV. He ordained as a monk for a week. It’s common enough in Thailand and among the BL actors, but the renouncement of worldly attachments, even temporarily, sets up quite a contrast with Phi’s luxury life.

The Ex-Morning screenwriter, P’Aof’s writing has consistently honed in on a particularly Buddhist view of semiotics—the relationship between the actual nature of things versus how a person perceives them. Singto has previously played a gay ghost for P’Aof who can only be seen and later touched by a gay boy who finds him waiting at his grave. His previous series was about literal blindness, and brought in with all the subtly of a hammer the quote from The Little Prince about seeing with the heart. He’s also dealt with communication and understanding across deafness in MLC. I did a quick write-up about DBK’s semiotic fascination after watching it and @chickenstrangers wrote a great cross-work analysis about the consistent role of photography for P’Aof in depicting or being prevented from depicting queer relationships and people. It’s a thematic obsession.

Director P’Lit’s no stranger to the topic, either. In SOTUS and its sequel, he helped write and direct Kong and Art to have their own fraught experiences around photography and communicating the truth of their feelings. The lineage between the SOTUS series’ motifs around those topics and P’Aof’s work that came later is the reason I insist that the latter was inspired by and building upon the former rather than trying to apologize or correct for early Thai BLs.

In The Ex-Morning, I’m so interested to see how the minds and their interest in understanding and depicting the nature of reality come together. The whole series is already built on cameras. Phi is passionate about the surface appearances—the graphics in the show, yes, but also the aesthetic beauty of his life, the luxury condo, the sports car, the expensive watches ticking with worldly time that’s slipping away. Being attuned to appearances, beauty, the finite time we get to spend with this reality isn’t some purely evil perspective. Those surfaces can only address part of life, though, and being overly-attached comes with its issues to how you relate to the objects and people around you. We know less about Tamtawan but we know he studied his craft while Phi was working to get the image of his face on the billboard. He cares about the depth of the stories rather than the images. If he’s on a billboard, he’s not interested in some pose that crafts a persona for the public.

The first episode initially didn’t capture me the way I expected and hoped, but I didn’t spend three months researching the four-act structure P’Lit seemed to utilize for SOTUS S to ignore how he might again subtly and slowly suffuse a story with a depth that catches me off guard. Thinking about all this got me much more locked in for what will unfold as The Ex-Morning progresses, and I’m excited to see how it all lies beneath the surface of this first episode.

#the ex morning #the ex morning the series #kristsingto #pathapi x tamtawan #phitam #phitawan #tamphi #aof noppharnach #lit phadung

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irrealisms · 8 months ago

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svsss and sexual violence pt. 1: shen yuan's realization of himself as a target

it's been a while (read: two months) since my last Big Meta so it's time for another one! this one is about my reading of svsss as in large part About sexual violence but it's gonna be in multiple parts; this one is about 1k, with a lot of quotes from canon, and is focused on Shen Yuan realizing that he has been put in a position where he is a target for sexual violence.

standard disclaimer at the beginning: i am not saying that this is the Only thing svsss is about, or that other readings are invalid; i am not intending to character-bash most of the characters here (while i will freely admit to thinking e.g. old palace master or qiu jianluo are pretty one-dimensionally shitty, lots--probably most--of the characters in this series who i mention as perpetrating SA are characters who do have depths & who i in fact like a lot! despite this meta, or perhaps because of it, my second-favorite character is luo binghe, and i am in fact a bingqiu shipper!); and, obviously, huge fucking CW for sexual abuse and adjacent topics.

(also: shoutout to @rooses40stepskincareroutine for motivating me to actually write all this out haha)

TABLE OF CONTENTS pt 1: shen yuan's realization of himself as a target (you are here) pt 2: gender and homophobia pt 3: non-bingqiu sexual violence pt 4: shen qingqiu's body pt 5: we live in a society

When we first meet Shen Yuan, he's oblivious to the idea of himself as a sexual object. He's attracted to others and at times has to deliberately be respectful and not stare, but he never considers the possibility that others might be attracted to him--much less that men would be attracted to him, and certainly not that he would be a target of sexual violence due to this desire. I could get quotes/proof on this but honestly I think this is pretty uncontroversial.

The first point at which this becomes interesting to me in the context of sexual violence is when Luo Binghe returns from the abyss. here's how the choking scene goes:

“During the day, Shizun was so intimate and gentle with Gongyi Xiao, and this evening you lit a lantern, waiting for Liu-shishu until late into the night. What sincere affection. Why, then, are you so distant when it comes to this disciple?” [...] Under the streaming moonlight, Luo Binghe looked even more peerlessly beautiful, as if his silhouette had been carved from ice and jade. He pressed very close, and he spoke with slow deliberation. “After so many years of separation, we meet amidst golden wind and jade dew, yet Shizun incessantly calls someone else’s name. That truly saddens this disciple a little.”

Luo Binghe is jealous of Shen Qingqiu talking about other people, so he "pressed very close" and starts choking Shen Qingqiu out. This is not explicitly sexual--yet--but it has some overtones. And I don't think this is accidentally sexually charged-- bingqiu is in fact our primary ship, which we are supposed to be reading as sexually charged! It becomes more and more explicit that Luo Binghe is jealous of SQQ's relationships with others not just in general but also on a specifically romantic/sexual level! And later in the same scene we get this line:

Luo Binghe looked at him, then said pityingly, “Shizun, that would require someone to believe you.”

I'll be talking more later about what svsss has to say about sexual violence being allowed and supported by society but right now I just want to really emphatically gesture at the above quote.

And then in their next interaction, in the water prison, the system (we will be talking more about the system's role in all of this later) progresses the scene by causing LBH to physically tear SQQ's robes, and we get this section:

That doesn’t mean you should tear my clothes! Shen Qingqiu clutched the remaining fabric tightly and indignantly said, “What are you doing?! Is this your only method of humiliating others?” “It was clearly Shizun who humiliated me first!” 【 Satisfaction points +50. 】 You can add points for that too?! Gross! Why does this feel so sick?!

But notably--even though Shen Qingqiu notices feeling sick and gross and humiliated about having his clothes ripped off--Shen Qingqiu, even here, does not yet recognize any threat of sexual abuse! Gongyi Xiao sees him and instantly assumes that Shen Qingqiu's been raped by Luo Binghe--the torn clothes, the panicked desire to get out and away from Luo Binghe--but Shen Qingqiu has no idea that this is the assumption being made; Shen Qingqiu is, in his narration, still primarily afraid of more physical threats from LBH, a la PIDW; he's trying to figure out why LBH isn't as good at getting wives as in PIDW, and a couple chapters later he's worrying that LBH is asexual. He's been flagged by the narrative (diegetically, even!) as a target of sexual violence--but he hasn't realized this yet.

this doesn't change for a while; while I have things to say about LBH and LQG fighting over SQQ's corpse under this framework, they're not relevant to my current point. SQQ becomes aware of his role as a sexual object when LBH sexually assaults him in the dream world--it's a kiss, so it's something that SQQ is unable to dismiss as a more platonic form of violence:

Shen Qingqiu’s worldview repeatedly collapsed and re-formed, collapsed and re-formed, cycling infinitely at the speed of light.

Suddenly, Shen Qingqiu is being made very, very aware that he is a target of sexual desire, and that people who desire him can force sexual violence on him. He tries to kick and push at Luo Binghe to get out of the kiss--he's described as "struggling with all his might"--but Luo Binghe, who is stronger than Shen Qingqiu and able to overpower him “even though their builds were similar”, keeps him trapped in the kiss. Shortly afterwards, we get this section, which is perhaps the most important section in the whole book for my reading of Shen Qingqiu's arc, which is SQQ interacting with ZZL:

That touch trailed downward until it was at Shen Qingqiu’s chest and abdomen. For some reason, the places he touched felt a bit better. Shen Qingqiu sucked in a breath, and he couldn’t help but say, “Eh, my friend, where…are you touching?” Even a few hours ago, he genuinely wouldn’t have cared where others (especially those of the same sex) touched him. They could touch wherever they liked, please go ahead. But ever since Luo Binghe had opened a series of gates to a new world for him, Shen Qingqiu’s worldview, which had been set for the past twenty-plus years, had suffered a heavy blow. From now on, he needed to look at this world with a new gaze and more sensitive attitude. Especially on the issue of befriending those of the same sex!

for twenty-plus years, shen qingqiu hadn't thought of himself as someone who could be sexually desired by men; for twenty-plus years, shen qingqiu hadn't thought of himself as someone who sexual violence can happen to. and for shen qingqiu, these realizations are the same. suddenly, he's looking at the world differently: he worries about (and imo is afraid of) being touched places where he is normally clothed, even touch that feels good. and specifically--he is touched in a way that he would have previously assumed was nonsexual due to being same-sex and he is no longer comfortable assuming that. which ties heavily into my later post in the series about gender & homophobia & how this interacts with his experiences here! but we'll tie this post up for now.

#svsss #scum villain's self-saving system #meta #my writing

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actual-changeling · 1 year ago

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I have written many meta posts and s3-theories, and read even more, but I got hit by an idea I have not seen before. (If there is another post, please link it!)

After vibrating for an hour and losing my mind in my dms, I have no scraped together enough brain cells to present what is probably my first actual 'main-plot meta'.

Welcome to another edition of Alex's unhinged meta corner, today with a title to honour Crowley's James Bond obsession and the possibility of another heaven heist.

I give you:

From Jesus with Love - You Will Live Twice

Now, let's get right into it.

I think Neil might have told us more about the main s3 plotline in the announcement article than we previously thought. We all got stuck on 'they're not talking'—for good reason—but it is the part before that which has been bugging me ever since then.

The plans are going wrong—and this time that is a problem for earth and humanity. Turning that around, it means that whatever that plan consists of would be the way to go and beneficial for everyone, the opposite of the main plot of s1.

"They need to prevent the Second Coming (SC)" is pretty much the only and most popular idea I have seen, hundreds of fics and metas and whatnot have been written about it, but I think there's a good chance we're wrong. If we're not, well, I will honestly just be happy to be watching season 3.

Whatever the Metatron is planning will have negative consequences for everyone, or as Michael puts it: "And so… it ends. Everything ends. Time and the world is over, and we begin Eternity… forever and ever."

It sounds very much like Apocalypse #1 - Same Old Plan, same expected result, yet if we look at different interpretations of scripture we find that the SC is not entirely about complete destruction and death for all of humanity—it is about creating a new world/migrating to the kingdom of God.

This is taken from the Wikipedia article about the SC

Resurrection and life in a world to come are a direct contradiction to the result Michael is explaining—total annihilation of humanity.

Now, I am neither religious in any way nor have I ever received any sort of biblical education. Luckily, Christians seem to love talking about the bible because there are dozens of bible website to wade through. If I get anything wrong, please point it out, I have never touched a bible in my life.

So, after reading many, many quotes by a bunch of different guys, I tried to create a somewhat coherent picture of what the SC might look like based on the assumption that the end result is positive. I will talk about how they can be interpreted more in-depth later, otherwise this would turn into a string-net very fast.

Additionally, we can also see where these points overlap with the statement Jimbriel gave in the bookshop in episode three.

What is Jesus' job description?

only God knows when and how exactly it will begin/happen, no one else does, including Jesus and the Metatron

a lot of different catastrophes are mentioned or quoted as something Jesus said, like earthquakes and storms -> Jimbriel mentioned a tempest and great storms

there is also the line "All these are the beginning of birth pains." Birth pains dictate that there will be a birth—birth of the world to come perhaps?

dead people will be resurrected/leave their graves so that they too can be judged (I'd say participate in it but that sounds like the Second Coming is a summer camp activity)

there are also mentions of stars and the heavens in general falling from the sky and the sun going dark -> Jimbriel also mentions darkness as one of the signs

great lamentations, as Jimbriel says, are also a part of many different passages, with humans mourning the world as it was

the Lord will descent with the voice of an Archangel and the sound of a trumpet/the trumpet of God; the grammatical structure of that sentence seems to be interpreted differently depending on who you ask, but the voices of angels/an Archangel and some sort of trumpet are common terms

once everyone is in heaven/wherever the 'main even' will take place, a judgement call will be made for every single person in relation to the book of life, which decides whether they will be punished forever or not (one passage talks about a lake of fire and mentions it several times in a row)

And this is where it gets tricky. To figure out what the SC looks like, we first need to understand a) what the Metatron's capabilities are, b) what he has to lose, and c) what exactly would be a threat to him.

If you ask me, all of this comes down to the Metatron wanting to stay and be in power for eternity with full control over angels so he can do as he please, aka keeping the system running as it is.

We know the book of life (bol) is a thing in the Good Omens universe, whether it does what Michael said is an entirely different question. So far, we have also only got confirmation that hell collects and tortures souls—in such large amounts that they are understaffed—while heaven looks completely empty.

The Metatron runs heaven as an institution, he seems to be the highest power any of the angels have access to and the one they defer to. He refers to himself as the voice of God and combines judge, jury and executioner, making him one great celestial dictator.

From what we know of hell, they do things a lot more democratically, having different councils, dukes, and ranks that are responsible for different levels of command.

We also know that that the Metatron wants the world to end, his goals can probably be summarized as the statement Michael makes, which would leave him in charge without any opposing forces.

We also also know that he sees Crowley and Aziraphale as a threat—why exactly remains a mystery for now—and that the success of his plan hinges on having a Supreme Archangel (SA) he can control. Gabriel decided to become princess of hell and Beez' sugar baby, so he was out of the equation, and after the Armageddon disaster, I don't think he wants to risk failing because of an unfamiliarity with earth (plus, y'know, getting our two idiots away from the plan).

It's interesting to me that right at the end, he says to Aziraphale "We call it the Second Coming"—call, not it is or it will be, CALL. We know that nothing Neil writes is a coincidence, definitely not with such an important line.

Just because you CALL something a specific name doesn't mean it IS what you call it, e.g. Aziraphale calls Crowley a foul fiend when we know he very much isn't.

The Metatron is selling his plan as part of the "Great/Ineffable Plan", so any questions can be blocked by saying it's God's will, it's ineffable. Whatever his plan is, he hides it behind the concept of the Second Coming, which angels know just enough about to understand the basics without having in-depth knowledge of what exactly it entails.

It is a good fucking strategy, I'll give him that, and it WORKS because angels—even if they have doubts—do not question. They simply don't; fear of punishment and millennia of conditioning have left them in a horrible place. When they encounter something unknown, their response is "I already knew that" as to not ask questions.

Crowley questions, we know that, and Aziraphale, ohhhhh, Aziraphale ALSO questions, but he does it in a less dangerous and obvious way. The Metatron is vastly underprepared for that.

(Side note: That alone would be its own meta post, but the gist is that he questions heaven's plans and then adjusts his assumptions of what God might want to what he WANTS God to want, e.g. Job, the Arch)

To summarize everything I just said, the Metatron wants to do what Armageddon failed to do—destroy earth and the universe—so he can be supreme dictator of all remaining celestial beings and gorge himself on power.

But instead of calling it his Big Evil Plan, he calls it the Second Coming, making everyone play along without resistance.

We cycle aaaaall the way back to the sentence I quoted—the ACTUAL plans are going wrong since the Metatron's would mean total destruction.

But what is the SC supposed to be if not the Apocalypse 2.0?

When I look at all the different aspects of the SC and assume a positive outcome, then the end result to me would be a new world that is pretty much like the old world, or maybe even literally the old world but with any destruction reversed. Heaven and hell get dissolved since now that everyone has been "judged", they as institutions are no longer needed, they have fulfilled their purpose.

No more judgement means there is no reason to keep track anymore, so why do you need to run celestial corporations whose only job is doing exactly that? You don't—and THAT is what I believe is the biggest perceived threat to the Metatron, losing full control over everyone and everything, losing his position, his title, and whatever else he has.

On top of that, Good Omens has told us again and again that God doesn't seem to give a fuck about good and evil anymore, and that without heaven and hell being all wrapped up in it, humanity would have 100% free will without any consequences.

Maybe the BoL is empty, maybe it isn't real, maybe Jesus stole it to straighten a wobbly table, who knows. There is a chance it is what Michael says, but I would admittedly find that a bit. too obvious and boring since it would boil the plot down to "they save their own asses again" and not "they save humanity at all cost".

Regarding Crowley and Aziraphale's role in this—I have Thoughts TM but those definitely need their own post. In short, they have to get the SC back on track, the real one.

If you have made it this far, thank you for working through what I hope are more or less coherent rambles. Any spelling or grammar mistakes are my own.

Questions? Thoughts? Corrections? Expansions and additions?

Feel free to add to this post however you like (and I can't believe I have to mentions this but if you clown on my post or behave like an asshole you will be blocked).

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