#narrative foils should KISS

[wnightingales]

“Jon Moxley you must have lost your mind.”

“You are the only person I have been thinking about since you left me in a pool of blood and took my International Championship.”

godddddddd orangemox need to kiss already

[sweatandwoe]

Me when I see a Gale/Astarion simp hating on the other: You FOOL they are parallels, foils, you cannot hate the one without the hating the other (I need blood/magic for nourishment or else I will die, they have a patron they are bound to, they are both bookworms, both can make terrible choices for the world, they have a magic the gathering homoerotic card art, both have the tsim just one is masked and the other is not, etc)

Also if you wanted a morally good man to romance, Wyll is right there.

[keyouix]

see nell totally understands sofia and why she did what she did (to be an independent woman in their society is to struggle and suffer endlessly) They were both married and now they're alone! nell had her father and sisters to come back home to but all sofia had was people who would just use and use and use her intellect for their own benefit. and she was fine with it! because she got to be left alone.

sofia's fear of life without that safety her status as the sister of a lord is what drove her the whole season (and a little bit of love for her idiot brother) and nell knows this (maybe not explicitly, but she Knows)

nell has been living in a holding pattern, she believed billy to be the spirit of her dead husband watching over her and in a way he is, because as long as she has billy she can keep on living in that idea that the man that gave her an opportunity to be herself is still with her and she can continue to live the life she wants. but she loses billy because of idiot boy whose name i forgot and sofia!

but! as soon as billy is back with her (which based on the last scene happens) nell is probably gonna care significantly less about her grievances with sofia (not her idiot brother though)

and on sofia's end once she's lived a life on the run and figures out her she is strong enough to live without the safety of her status than her grievances with nell will diminish.

like they are so ripe for enemies to lovers, sofia just needs some character growth first, which she is totally set up to get!

[tatney]

JONATHAN THE DOTS HAVE BEEN FUCKING CONNECTED

WEDNESDAY STARTS TO SEE COLOR IN HER LIFE BECAUSE OF ENID. WHAT IF I END IT ALL.

(there's a chance.....that they're going to be canon or mutual feelings will be confirmed......i'm not okay rn!!)

GIRLS WHEN SHE SEES A TOUCH OF GREY

[leafatlaw]

rolan and Rand telling each other to grow up, Rolan calling Rand immature vs Rand calling him lame

[lucydonato]

i’m starting to think we are the same person. the more i learn about you the more alike we are (like you are in florida and from washington and your mom is english and you’ve moved around a lot and have brown hair and similar interests and are bi etc…) anyways, you are awesome😂

self love 💗

[shizukateal]

cissiecassie!

I've only read like 5 chapters of young justice 98', so this will probably evolve as I read more, but those are enough for me to declare that my god are those bitches gay, good for them.

[starshipsandsuperheroes]

[Deep sigh] I’m a sucker for narrative foils and Andrey and Katya have me in such a grip right now.  Please enjoy my take on the two study scenes because they make me insane when I think about them for too long.

[ofrabjousnight]

reading so many queer books recently has spoiled me—i forgot that in non-queer books when the mc meets a hot, slightly intimidating person of the same gender they’re always just evil

[acheronist]

terror ship reviews now that i've had enough time to tell the scruffy white men apart

peglar/bridgens: canonical 'fucking that old man' unproblematic literature-as-a-flirting-tactic husbands. thank you so much.

jopson/little: admittedly perhaps the most 'they stood next to each other a few times' ship of all time. and yet!!!! genuinely an untapped goldmine of [ neither of us can fuck the captain but we COULD fuck each other as we die slow tragic unforgiving deaths, which is almost as good ] which i am unfortunately obsessed with

crozier/fitzjames: cishet bitter divorce to t4t loving marriage speedrun (scurvy acoustic remix) you do like to see it. They should have gone honeymooning in the Caribbean instead of doing all that

hickey/gibson: they're both so atrocious that theyre perfect for each other. real housewives of hms terror level psychosexual warfare going on there. great stuff.

tozer/little: they should fuck raw and nasty in the orlop narrative foils style while trying to kill each other

jopson/crozier: one of them needs to do bdsm or he will die and the other has chronic whisky dick + barely realizes his steward has a personality outside of polishing forks and sewing buttons

hickey/tozer: puppyplay where he gets taken out behind the canvas tent and put down like a sick animal (no aftercare)

armitage/tozer: puppyplay where he gets taken out behind the canvas tent to be kissed sweetly without prying eyes from fellow mutineers (with aftercare)

crozier/blanky: dudes rock + hell yeah brother

[unicornofthemidwest]

Girls will see narrative foils who hate each other but can never be separated and be like "they should kiss"

[homoeroticbetrayal]

Iconic Homoerotic Betrayal: Round 3

Poll Directory

Context:

Judas/Jesus

Summary by Clock

Judas sold Jesus to the Romans for 13 pieces of silver. He signaled the Romans and marked out Jesus amongst the disciples with a kiss. (He could have just pointed and said "that's Jesus" but he decided to kiss Jesus one last time.) He later hung himself, the 13 pieces of silver laid unspent by his feet.

Lelouch/Suzaku

Summary by Anonymous Contributor

szll is already iconic but I'm just going to list all their betrayals (and perceived betrayals) as a refresher:

(first, for context, one thing you gotta understand is lelouch, leader of the rebellion who believes ends justify the means, is also the discarded prince of the empire he's fighting against. suzaku, rising knight of the empire who believes means have to justify the ends, is the son and killer of the prime minister of the country being oppressed. this is PEAK narrative foils and enemies-to-lovers recipe right there.)

- lelouch and nunnally were sent to japan as political hostages. britannia takes over japan quickly after and lelouch, knowing how much japan means to suzaku, promises to destroy britannia. suzaku should be angry at britannia! lelouch will free them!! except years later he learns that suzaku is now WORKING for the empire? he's becoming a KNIGHT for the empire, betraying his own country and their shared hatred for britannia. what the fuck, what happened to principles, suzaku? this is lelouch's first (perceived) betrayal.

- lelouch (accidentally) kills euphemia, the only princess who's trying to make peace with the japanese, the princess that suzaku is knight of, the princess suzaku LOVES and lelouch adores. now yes, this was an accident, but lelouch ROLLS WITH IT and lets suzaku and the rest of the world believe that it was intentional, thus fully driving that knife deep. he never tells suzaku this was an accident. this is suzaku's most painful betrayal.

- suzaku finds out lelouch is zero, leader of the rebellion, and turns him in to his evil dad, emperor of the empire, in exchange for becoming a knight of round (the highest military status). now if you count akito the exiled as canon, this also means sending lelouch to be BRAINWASHED into serving the empire as a master tactician before R2 happens. suzaku monitors him all throughout, watching lelouch destroy nations and praise the empire against his own principles.

this is just season one of code geass. this doesn't even touch how suzaku is also forced to betray his own loyalties/principles sometimes whenever the "live" geass that lelouch condemns him with acts up. how suzaku would monitor lelouch and keep deceiving him that rolo is his beloved sibling, not nunnally. etc etc.

AND YET despite all of this, code geass culminates with them SWEARING LOYALTY to each other, with lelouch becoming the demon emperor and suzaku becoming his right-hand man, the knight of zero. lelouch becomes a tyrant that suzaku is destined to kill. lelouch brings peace to the world but will never be able to live in it. he will always be remembered as the dictator, the scourge of the world. suzaku atones for all his sins by being reduced to a heroic symbol, by being punished to kill his best friend and never becoming suzaku the person ever again. with the "live" geass, he is cursed to never die, never to escape, always bearing both of their sins -- the eternal punishment he has been seeking. and by killing lelouch, he is able to avenge euphemia in the end, and bring the peace all three of them desired.

code geass is a hot mess but there is poetry in their betrayals. they are thematically bound to live this tragedy, and that is why they are iconic. the ending of code geass is well-known and highly regarded as one of the most iconic endings ever, and it can only ever be so because it stands on the love and loss and betrayals of suzaku and lelouch.

See other descriptions of Suzalulu

[naranjapetrificada]

The first thing I should ever have said about Izzy and the last thing I intend to say until at least October 26th.

[Although I am not Her strongest soldier, so who knows if I will stick the landing.]

So to start with, I was a "late" arrival to the show. I knew it existed of course, but I only occasionally saw things that reminded me it existed. The first time I saw a mention of "grumpy/sunshine" it was with a picture of Ed and Stede, so I guess on some level I knew there was shipping going on, but that was literally all I knew. I didn't even know it involved Blackbeard lol.

Which is all to say that I first approached and watched season 1 removed from basically anything anyone had to say about it. I think what actually got me to watch it wasn't anything anyone had to say either, it was from youtube recommendations? Like I think I had watched a couple Taika interviews or something and ofmd stuff started showing up? So after catching a few clips and intentionally spoiling the kiss for myself (life is too short to be queerbaited) I watched it in April/May 2023, and was Changed by it the way so many other people were. It grabbed me so hard I started looking for fics, and when fic grabbed me even harder I became a regular tumblr user for the first time ever in June 2023.

What I didn't do, before the second half of 2023, was care particularly much about Izzy Hands.

I remember describing him as psychologically fascinating to the first IRL friend I talked to about the show, and joking that he just needed a good dom. As much as his decision to call in the navy was a threat to Stede's and Ed's lives, I saw his actions as part of a thing needed for the story, and while I knew he was one of the season's villains there wasn't really any heat behind that assessment.

For me he was there to set things in motion, and to serve the narrative in certain ways, to be a foil, more storytelling tool than man. That doesn't mean I didn't think Con did an excellent job adding layers to him, he absolutely made Izzy take up space and feel more present and textured than he otherwise might have. But when I began to zoom out and consider things on meta level, Izzy existed to do a certain thing or occupy a certain place in relation to the narrative and other characters more than anything else. And that was fine.

Then I started reading meta here, and found myself surrounded by passionate conversations about Izzy from many directions occurring with an intensity that I couldn't wrap my brain around. I saw people tying themselves into knots to justify and excuse the behavior of a textual antagonist, and I was baffled and because I still saw Izzy for what his role in the narrative was, it literally made no sense to see his behavior explained away. In the framework I brought to the fandom when I first arrived, trying to explain away Izzy's behavior would be like looking at a forest fire and trying to explain away processes like combustion and oxidation. Or if you'll allow me to borrow another extended, nature-based metaphor from a fic in an entirely different fandom:

Again, because from where my head was at, it didn't make sense to look at Izzy's morality as a zero sum game because in this metaphor, he was functionally just a brackish body of water. I'm not saying the morality is brackish, I'm saying the morality was literally not the point because like an estuary, an antagonist "must exist" because antagonists exist for specific reasons directly related to storytelling goals.

So there was no real heat behind my feelings about him or his actions, beyond the natural emotional reactions we have to characters and their behaviors before we zoom out. I was of course upset with his treatment of Lucius, which was targeted compared to other members of the crew. I was annoyed with the way he talked to and about Ed. I laughed when his plans had the equal and opposite results of what he intended, which you could argue happened with every single plan he made for the entirety of season 1. And yes, especially as a Black person living in the US, I felt the fear and betrayal that comes from seeing someone call the cops (which given the show and its writers, it does not feel like a stretch to describe calling the navy that). I wondered if there was any coming back from a choice like that, which is a big overriding question for the series as a whole.

I'm not here to debate any of the points in the previous paragraph. I know how I feel and you feel how you feel and there's already been so much said about the morality of it all by people who have explained themselves well, so let them convince you or not. Instead I've been trying to talk about the two sides of my experience before and after getting into the fandom with Izzy.

Before: Izzy Hands, Narratively Useful Antagonist Portrayed Compellingly And Effectively by Con O'Neill.

After: Izzy Hands, Unfortunate Avatar Of The Sadly Common Tendency For Certain Fans To Hyperfocus On A White Antagonist Or Secondary Character When There Already Exists A Protagonist They're A Foil Of (And Also It Looks Bad TO Do That When The Protagonist Is Someone With A Marginalized Identity).

I'm not here to argue the merits of those assessments either, because that's not the point. The point is the vast gulf between them and how the latter does such an incredible disservice to the Izzy we were given and that so many people claim to love. The latter comes from a place where morality is the focus, which I'm sorry y'all, feels like it originates with people who refuse to countenance Izzy's role in the story as well as his characterization.

Viewers who were willing to see Izzy as an antagonist, who don't view the word "antagonist" as a value judgement in and of itself, who don't think that finding an antagonist charismatic or compelling means anything about their own morality, those people can look at the show we were given and take it for what it was made to be. I'm not saying that it's only the Izzy stans (not enjoyers, not jar people) who start fights or that people who understand that Izzy is an antagonist don't also have deep morality related feelings about him and his actions in the first season. What I am saying is that sanding off Izzy's rough edges and trying to make him into something he isn't poisons even the possibility of having a discussion about him because people enter the conversation with two completely different understandings of reality. If you cannot accept the job that season 1 Izzy was given to do to move the story along, well you might as well have watched a completely different show for how much that fanon Izzy has anything to do with the canon one.

This show deserves better than that. The writers deserve better than that. Con O'Neill deserves better than that. Israel Basilica Hands deserves better than that. We all do.

[nimblermortal]

@athingofvikings

Above all, the Sámi were people of the drum - the sacred instrument that was the primary tool of their noaidi, or what anthropologists would call a shaman. Their spiritual beliefs and practices were deeply connected to those of other circumpolar cultures, and differed markedly from those of the Scandinavians. In the early modern period when missionaries tried to convert the Sámi to Christianity, often by brutal force and the intentional destruction of their ancient spiritual values, a word was coined to represent the rapidly fading past of the old ways, encapsulating traditions that went back to the Viking Age and beyond: goabdesájgge (in the Lule Sámi language), the 'Drim Time'. Throughout the narratives of this book, it should always be kept in mind that the time of the Vikings was also the time of the drums.

...

There are also aspects of the monumental burials that raise other questions, as some of the great boat burials contain Sámi tent covers made of birch bark with the characteristic burnt decorations. These were used to swathe some of the funerary ships; from the Sámi perspective, this would turn the whole vessel into a burial wrapped according to their practice. It is hard to know what this means - perhaps a diplomatic gift, like a foreign dignitary laying a wreath at a modern politician's funeral, or something more interactive? A close relationship between the Scandinavians and the Sámi at the highest levels nevertheless seems established.

...

In many of the hals, archaeologists have found tiny rectangular foils of pure gold, wafer thin and stamped with images. There are human figures, alone or in pairs, making formal gestures - pointing, an embrace, a kiss - or with their arms in such specific positions that they must mean something. The figures are usually in profile but occasionally are seen from the front. Their clothing and hairstyles are minutely depicted, an important source for our knowledge of fashion, gendered dress, and social signals. They carry staffs, weapons, horns, and cups. The figures stand within borders of beaded gold, or amidst interlace patterns. A few figures are not on foils at all, but are cut out freestyle like paper dolls in precious metal. Even fewer are very clearly not human, or divine, but something else entirely: strange, swollen shapes - monsters, perhaps, or beings of another world. The foils tend to cluster round postholes for the uprights that supported the roof, and would probably once have been fixed to the posts themselves with resin or some similar adhesive.

On the few occasions where the stamp matrixes used to mass-prodce the foils have been found, it is evident there were particular motifs for individual hall complexes; in other words, a specific design denoted a single place or its people. Perhaps the foils were high-end business cards, or ambassadorial tokens, presented by visitors and then affixed in place in the host's hall. Multiple repeated foil images on the posts indicate return visits, and thereby a generous reception. The greater the variety of foils in one place, the more renowned the lord to have welcomed guests from far and wide. In the fire's glow, the foils, too, would have glittered, the towering roof posts appearing through the smoke as pillars of shining golden light.

[ithinkdogshouldvote2]

Your favorite dndads ships and what they say about you (teens edition):

Gothcleats (scary and Lincoln): You believe in the inherent eroticism of sharing a hobbie. Simultaneously enabling each other and driving each other to improve. Of offering patience and understanding. Of knowing that it's not words that matter, it's actions. And of understanding truths about the other without them being spoken. Also, you don't know how to express your feelings.

Swiftli (taylor and Lincoln): You believe in the inherent eroticism of guys being dudes and that a rock solid, ride-or-die friendship is the best foundation for a relationship. You have at one point been in love with your best friend.

Anti hero (hero and taylor): you LOOOOVE when two mfs have stupid beef w/ each other. You think watching anime is like,,, a LITTLE bit sexy. You think they're both fucking losers and you wanna push them together like stuffed animals and make them kiss.

Gothweeb (Taylor and scary): you recognize the inherent eroticism of those boomer, "I hate my wife" comics and think that's a god teir dynamic and it would be soooo funny if they kissed about it. Also, you probably have read homestuck.

Marloak (Scary and normal): oh you fuckin HATE hermie unworthy. And you know what? Based. You think fucked up parallels and narrative foils could be turned into something to bond over if they would just give it a chance. You really just want them both to be fucking happy and really who can blame you?

Oakworthy (Normal and hermie): you REALLY just want normal to be happy. You probably think hermie unworthy is misunderstood/over-overhated. The will-they-won't-they is literally killing you. You are probably autistic.

Oakswift (Normal and taylor): You think jealously is just the first step to a meaningful relationship and that the least hygienic boys in the group should kiss each other far away from everyone else. Also I literally forgot about this one and had to add it in later so idk what that says about this ship but it says something.

Oakli (Normal and Lincoln): You believe in the inherent eroticism of two people with absolutely zero chemistry. You probably really liked Henry/Darryl and are trying to re-ride that high.

Kickworthy (Lincoln and hermie): You think one-sided hatred is hot and is just the beginning of an enemies to lovers arc. Also, you probably think Lincoln has enough of a backbone to not just put up with hermies shit like normal does so they'd be a better pair.

Drama queens (Hermie and scary): You think theater kids should bang because they're too obnoxious for anyone else to be forced to put up with.

[melonisopod]

I still really like the way DunMesh introduces Kabru's party. Where they're clearly set up to be foils to our main party but not in a way that the narrative is pointing at them and saying "These guys suck and you should hate them!" They could just as easily have been the main characters and have the Touden party introduced second and it would have worked just as well IMO.

Cause I think a 'lesser' show would have set up characters like them as unpleasant jerkwads that you immediately can't stand. Maybe Mickbell is like that but even then he comes off more like a "funny asshole" than a genuinely detestable person. But the show goes out of its way to show that Kabru is incredibly smart and perceptive and knows and trusts his crewmates. The fact that he stopped Rin with a kiss tells me the two must be pretty close (it was pragmatic but I don't think she'd have reacted that way if they weren't at least on good terms, her main gripe was the illusion magic making Kabru look like a fish).

Plus, even though his reasons for going after the Touden party are /wrong/, he doesn't know that, and has no reason not to believe they've acted maliciously against his crew. So even while his party innately has it in for our heroes they're not bad people.

There's less that we know about Shuro and his current party and so it's harder for me to glean exactly what's up with him, but I also don't think he's set up as a 'bad person we're supposed to hate' either. I think the fandom is a little hard on him for his one-sided crush on Falin too - for all the "she's just like her brother" jokes she really isn't, not "exactly" at least. Falin seems a bit better at masking than Laois and has a better gauge for handling people, which makes her more "tolerable" in their eyes, hence why more people are willing to "tolerate" her monster obsession.

I know that Shuro has/had feelings for her and that it didn't go anywhere but that's...fine? There's no indication he acts entitled or pushy or doesn't respect her feelings or boundaries, and just having a crush on someone isn't a morally bad thing. I haven't seen the "outburst" when he and Laois fight either so I dont' have a lot to say here, just that I relate heavily to Laois, but I dont' think Shuro is bad for not speaking up on his dislike of him either.

As much as I desperately wish more people would tell me when they have a problem with me, how awkward is it to have to tell someone that to their face? How do you even say that? "By the way, I find you really annoying and can't stand you, I just want to clarify that so you stop assuming we're friends," I would love for someone to let me know but also imagine having to be the other person. I wish there was a nice way of saying it (and Shuro DID have a "nice way" of "saying it" but Laios is too autistic to pick up on subtle cues)

I still kind of hold the opinion that every character in DunMesh is some degree of autistic, but it's possible Laios is like the one guy who never really learned how to mask beyond "never talking about his special interest in public".