#of contradicting information and confusion and learning the truth

[bookwyrminspiration]

I want so so badly to infodump and talk about a chorus of dragons to someone but I genuinely have no idea where I'd even fucking start (slight spoilers ahead as I muse. Though I haven’t finished book 5). do I start with book 1?? do i follow the order and be like okay so there's this guy. he's 16 and being sold into slavery, the bastard son of one of the 12 royal houses (he only just found that out) raised in a brothel. he's a thief and plays the harp real good. or do I jump the gun and introduce the worldbuilding like. and ALSO! 14000 years ago the universe died (not really I'm badly summarizing). and reincarnation is real so this 16 year old is ALSO the reincarnation of a man-made dark god of annihilation. but he doesn't know that yet. he's also got internalized homophobia. and a brother who's actually his nephew. and back to the slave thing he got bought by a cult of death worshippers. one of them is really important he's the son of death and also one of my favoritest guys in the whole world he loves to fuck. and ALSO there's this other guy, she's (she's a she/her female man) from Horse Country, and she was possessed by a demon for a while as a kid but is ALSO the reincarnation of these other important guys who freed the soul of the first guy from being trapped in that annihilation god...who he also is. AND there's these wizard scholars AND this poor overwhelmed morally conflicted healer and this undead vampire duchess and that nephew/brother and his wife (they r mlm wlw solidarity married for appearances) and this one character who unintentionally pretty much became a goddess and this mimic who is over 5000 people at once and there's these 8 guardian's who aren't gods but pretty much are and everyone's fighting and this wizard dragon is causing a whole lot of problems with his ego and--like?? i have nowhere NEAR scratched the surface of ANYTHING that happens I've probably just confused you

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I will forever hold the opinion that Chat Blanc should’ve been a nightmare, hallucination, or otherwise hypothetical/not real scenario rather than a real event.

I can get behind something happening that causes a rift between Ladybug and Chat Noir, these kind of character plots can be interesting if done right, but they never should’ve given a legitimate reason that Adrien shouldn’t wield the power of Destruction or that Ladybug can’t actually trust him with information (or at all). Because the potential of Chat Noir actually becoming Blanc because he knows her identity (while not the full reason, that’s the big one to Ladybug) makes him way too big of a risk to keep on the team, and therefore almost justifies her distancing him (narratively at least, I don’t actually think that was the right move, even in this context, kinda like how she didn’t tell Chloe she couldn’t be Queen Bee anymore right away).

I will never get why the writers are so intent on making one of their main heroes seem unfit for the job. If he’s not fit for it, then he never should’ve been a hero in the first place! And yet that’s somehow not the story they’re trying to tell here? Oh, he is a good fit for the Miraculous? Then stop trying to make him incompetent or dangerous!!!

I actually don't mind Chat Blanc being a thing. I even have an ideal version of it that I'd love to see play out with pretty visuals for all the big dramatic scenes.

The idea that Chat Noir can be akumatized doesn't make him a bad hero because the message should be that everyone is capable of being akumatized. Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, and Carapace were all akumatized during the season two final, but they kept their roles on the team. I have no problem with that. Marinette has almost been akumatized multiple times and she never considered giving up her miraculous, nor should she. Everyone is going to have dark moments. It's not some massive failing.

The problems with Chat Blanc are:

The way time travel is used, making Bunnyx god

Adrien being able to lose while Marinette is there, which should never happen in a power of love show

The fact that the writers are using Chat Blanc to argue that Adrien can't be trusted with the truth

The fact that the writers present Chat Blanc as Marinette's failing/an identity reveal problem

I think the first two issues are self explanatory, so let's focus on the final two as they're insane writing choices.

Adrien learning the truth during a fight with his father is a great setup for him being akumatized! I don't have any issues with it. Remove Marinette from the scene and Adrien going full Chat Blanc is fine by me! The problem is that this isn't being presented as a warning that Adrien needs to learn the truth outside of the final battle (reasonable and what I thought this episode was doing at first). It's being presented as an argument that Adrien can never be told the truth because he's just too weak and unstable to handle the truth (asinine). If that's really what they're going for, and it does seem to be, then Adrien is completely unqualified to be a hero.

Similarly, past Marinette being the one to stop Chat Blanc doesn't bother me. The problem is that adult Bunnyx does nothing to contradict Marinette's conclusion that this means that Chat Noir can never be told the truth. That's not the right takeaway here, but Bunnyx doesn't contradict it. She actually goes so far as to throw Alya under the bus. Rude, Alix! Rude. And really weird since Marinette will willingly tell Alya her secret identity within a few episodes, which Alix should know? Alix's knowledge of the future is really confusing.

Bunnyx: Do you know how Cat Noir found out about your secret identity? Ladybug: I think so. When I went into Adrien's house as Ladybug, he probably saw me. He figured out that Ladybug is Marinette because of the note written on the gift. But I'm not sure what happened next. Bunnyx: He probably told his friend Nino, who told Alya, who wrote about it on the Ladyblog. Ladybug: Mm.. They would never do that. But Adrien probably told someone, who told someone else, and so on, until it was all over the news! The best-kept secrets are the ones you never share.

That final line from Ladybug should have been met with Bunnyx saying something like,

"There are times when it's good to share a secret! This just happened to not be one of those times, but this outcome isn't guaranteed. It's just what happened in this specific scenario. Another time, not sharing could lead us here. Don't let fear of the future keep you from doing what logic says is right."

Something, anything, to imply that Marinette wasn't at fault and that secrets are complex things. Instead we get yet another wacky implication that an identity reveal will destroy Ladybug and Chat Noir, so they have to keep their secrets or give up their miraculous. Yay!

All that being said, my ideal Chat Blanc would not work in canon's padded-to-shit writing, so I do agree that it was a bad call. Chat Blanc only makes sense if the end goal is plot progression. Instead, it's used for plot stagnation and I hate it!

[altocat]

I was asleep when all the Lucretia stuff was going down but I still wanna throw in my two cents, and it's this:

I think a lot of the hate towards her is people forgetting that she does not have the information that we as an audience do Especially during the time she was pregnant. No one on the Jenova Project knew that Jenova was an alien Aside From Hojo. The discussion around her choosing to experiment on her child has to be predicated by the fact she thought Jenova was an Ancient and Hojo would have Never shared anything that contradicted this to her. By the time she started having those visions and her body started falling apart it was already far too late, and it's not like Lucretia understood Why any of that was happening.

By virtue of the us the audience knowing what Jenova is, that knowledge gets projected onto characters who don't have it and never did which muddies their actions and intentions. This is a phenomenon I've seen many times in different media contexts, it happens all the time. Gast and Gillian (very occasionally) get the same treatment at times but I rarely see the same visceral hatred directed at them (and when Gast gets some side eyeing it's, justifiably, for the other morally dubious shit he did and his narrative being a confusing mess for the past 30 years lmao).

But even bringing Gast back in for a moment when he learned Jenova was an alien it was long after the fact and seemed to send him into a mental spiral. We simply do not know how Lucretia would have reacted to this information, and it more than likely wouldn't have been good. She didn't even know that Sephiroth was going to be taken away from her; acting like she had full information is just wrong.

THISSSSSSSSSSS

Lucrecia isn't even a known sadist like Hojo or a callous bastard like Gast. She's literally just...some lady. Who evidently didn't have as much power within Shinra as she assumed. Hojo likely saw her as a prime opportunity to accomplish a goal. And since Gillian and Gen's mother had already served their purpose to the project, Lucrecia probably thought such actions were logical.

And honestly? Ignoring all that, ignoring her overall knowledge, culpability, etc. When is it EVER okay for someone to be emotionally abused by their husband? When is it okay for someone to have their baby being taken from them before ever even getting the chance to hold them? The person wasn't "asking" for this. They didn't bring this upon themself. No one wants to go through this shit. It's horrible. Losing a child is an unfathomable pain that I hope no one EVER HAS to go through.

Vincent himself, whether out of love or understanding or empathy, decided that telling Lucrecia the truth about what happened to Sephiroth would only prolong her suffering. His own actions, whether right or wrong in your eyes, cemented that there was no point in further bringing Lucrecia emotional damage. He chose to be merciful. He chose compassion because he KNEW that she was in enough pain already.

Why can't we?

[windvexer]

Resolving conflicting magical recommendations (for beginners)

(This isn't reactionary I promise, it's been on my mind for a couple of days 😅)

Idk really how helpful this will be, but if you're a beginner who is confused by a lot of apparently contradicting information, here are some thoughts/ideas that are too basic to have been this hard earned, but I'm not called Fool for no reason.

[All of the following are just my beliefs and aren't universal or applicable to everyone]

Resolving magical conflicts through intent

You can find apparent contradictions in almost any magical action. For example:

Light a candle to charge a crystal with energy

Light a candle to burn away an energy and dwindle it down to nothing

When you light the candle, is it going to fill the crystal with energy?

Or, is it going to burn away energy until nothing is left?

My belief is that this is where the idea of intent plays one of its most basic and vital roles in witchcraft.

When you perform a magical action, "setting intent" can be a vital first step that should not be skipped.

If you are aware that the fire could either charge or burn away, then it is very literally up to you what it does. As the agent of control and/or chaos, it is the witch who determines which facets of power come out to play.

Setting intent can be done inside of your head. Or, speak, sign, or write intent.

Rules about how you totally have to write intent can, for the most part, be ignored (e.g., "your intent must be present progressive tense or the Universe will never let you manifest your goals." Nah, the Universe doesn't even speak human language tbh.)

Setting intent is not the only step to working magic, and sometimes literally doesn't matter. ("It's my intent to honor the spirit of this lake with an offering! *Dumps cigarette butts and beer cans into the water* "The lake is honored because that was my intent 😌")

Having a limited set of beliefs about what a certain power can do is like automatically setting intent. ("It's only possible that candles burn away energy, so when I light it, of course it will have a banishing effect.")

Setting intent in this manner only works to the extent that the power you are working with could already do the thing. If you've got a freezer with an ice dispenser on the door you can intend to store food inside it to chill, or, you can intend to get water out of the door, but it doesn't matter how much you intend to fry a chicken. The fridge does not do that action.

Resolving magical contradictions through tradition

Tradition in and of itself can advise how to resolve contradictions of magical meaning. This includes religious, magical, and cultural traditions.

What's important to remember is that just because one group does it one way, it doesn't mean that their way is universally correct.

A lot of people enter into the world of witchcraft with the concept that there is one universally correct set of methods and rules by which to perform magic. These methods are secret, but written down somewhere, and the key to learning magic is to just find the truest set of rules to magic. Magical truth is mutually exclusive, and contradictory information must either replace current truth, or be rejected as falsehood.

And fortunately for everyone, none of that is true!

This is why someone in one school of magic can make a certain claim ("letting spell vessels touch the earth immediately robs them of their power and the magic becomes inert,") and someone else can make a totally contradictory claim ("bury spell vessels for three days to supercharge them with the power of Nature,") and both people can be equally right.

Which set of rules might be true for you?

Well, whichever tradition you're a part of.

This is why it's really important to understand where your beliefs come from, and also to engage in self-examination about what you believe about the cosmos, our planet, and your role within it.

Entering into a tradition has a curious effect - you tend to be bound to those rules and assumptions, whether you like it or not.

Reflect on whether or not your current traditions and beliefs can resolve conflicting information.

Ask yourself what beliefs must be inherent before an assumption about magical 'rules' can be true.

(P.S. you can learn multiple contradictory systems of magic and flip between them depending on needs)

Resolving magical contradictions through experimentation

One witch may be able to charge excellently by burning candles and using intent to direct the burning energy.

A second witch may discover that they really can't charge jack shit with a candle. The energy seems to slip between their fingertips. When they direct it at something, it seems to have a consuming effect - not an invigorating one.

Setting magical intent is like choosing which path to walk down. But, the paths are unique for each of us. For the first witch, the path of "Charging Through Candleflame" is wide and open, a beautiful paved boulevard they can stroll down.

For the second witch, the path of "Charging Through Candleflame" is like hiking up a steep hill littered with boulders, and also the hill is on fire.

Many magical contradictions can be explained by practitioners simply having different personal experiences, and incorrectly assuming that their experiences must be universal.

One excellent way to learn not only about magic as a whole, but also how magic works for you, is to earnestly experiment with contradictory meanings and discover which ones A) make sense to you, but more importantly, B) actually work for you.

Whether or not you can use a candle to charge, banish, or both; and whether or not that's more or less effective for you than using water, or the sun, or pop culture icons, is something that you'll only be able to discover for yourself through experimentation.

Resolving magical contradictions through technique

If setting intent is choosing what path to walk down, then on the course of walking down that path, there is a chance you trip and fall flat (see: "I'm honoring the lake by dumping trash in it!").

Tripping and falling flat doesn't mean that path of magic is impossible for you, or shouldn't be further explored.

It can really just mean that you need some hiking boots and a trail guide.

Or, in other words: setting intent can be insufficient to actually access and manifest certain types/aspects of power.

I have personal beliefs about sorcerous power that dictate that various powers can be more or less difficult to access depending on a variety of factors. And, a witch must learn techniques to access the power. The more remote or hidden that power is, the more capable or attuned a witch must be to access that power.

That is to say, someone intensely aligned with underworld powers may be able to easily access the facets of death and decay that exist within many natural forces. But, someone without that alignment might instead need capable techniques gained through learning and practice in order to access those same powers.

And someone with neither of those things, who only tries to set intent and starts on a difficult path filled with roadblocks, may falsely assume that something "just doesn't work for me," when in reality, it's just more difficult to access.

This is why one witch can say, "roosters are a powerful source of connection to the underworld," another witch can say, "roosters only connect to the underworld if you use their feathers in a certain ritual," and a third witch can say, "roosters don't connect to the underworld," and all three are speaking from valid personal experience.

Experimenting with different techniques means learning a wide variety of ways to perform magic, including different paradigms, rituals, techniques, and methodologies.

Many systems of witchcraft contain concepts of when power is more or less available (the easiest example is the types of power more freely available due to the phases of the moon). Learning these systems can assist in discovering the accessibility of various powers.

Research is your friend.

In summary,

There are many reasons why witches have different lived experiences with magic (the topic of which would be enough to fill a book or two). As a witch-practitioner, your role in the creation of magic can't be ignored.

It's through your own culture and traditions, your own intent, and your own sorcerous techniques and education, through which you will be able to determine what aspects of magic are true to you - and which do not apply.

[yuseirra]

I really am trying to make sense of hikaru's character, and trying to bring everything I see of him and combine it together in a way that makes sense to form his character but it's actually impossible. I could manage to make sense of it somehow till 161, but I just cannot with what we learn out of him in 162, it has information that contradicts what's previously given to us and it's as if he has split personalities that cannot coexist...

The only way to make this understandable and could be thought of as consistent writing would be that he's ACTUALLY possessed, I'm serious, because what WAS that about him saying he does have fatherly feelings and the fact he funded for the movie, was willing to accept he'd be killed etc, I don't feel those were lies either, it DIDN'T have to be there. It's one of those information that no one would expect out of him so much and had been purposely given to us with intent. Those aren't usually lies because what's the point?; It's bad writing to just throw those info in to confuse the readers, it wasn't enacted in a way to be taken as a lie.

It wouldn't have been a problem if his appearance during the movie arc never existed, then he's perfectly coherent in regards to his previous portrayals, but I always felt that his portrayals in that arc would be fundamental to understand his character, his eyes didn't have the black stars in 154 in reaction to Ai's video either, so I was convinced the reactions he had towards Ai's video was so genuine.

I really want to ask the author if that's it for this one.

I really don't get it for this case, it's ACTUALLY impossible to integrate what's been shown of him as a single character, and it's not like the chapters have been spread out so far that it lead to a lack of consistency, it's been less than ten chapters since these events happened and he's drastically different that I just can't take him as the same person.

Except for the really, really base core of the character like his appearance and age and the fact that Ai is his most important person, it's like he's been completely taken over and shifted. It's so confusing, I really don't want to discard what I made out of his character from after what I saw from the movie arc, but I can't bring it together in a logical way of how things are in 161-162 if this is how he's supposed to go and it ISN'T AN ACT. Either this is bad writing(I'm sorry to say that towards another person's work but from a psychological standpoint, I really, really cannot comprehend what this is) or it's intentionally indicating that there is this outer force that's drastically shifted Kamiki's character in an unnatural way. But would it really BE this? In the case of the latter, Ai's wishes if helping him still makes sense because it'd indicate Hikaru really isn't himself and is influenced by the black stars or whatever. Honestly, that's the ONLY way it'd make sense for me for this character to be this way. It IS very out of character if we bring the movie arc portrayals into account. Does the writer know what they're doing with this character? They must, way better than me, but I'm not sure what they want to do with them because the work isn't mine.

I really really am trying to make do and make the best out of what I can of what's been presented in the source material, I always do, but it's INCREDIBLY confusing regarding this character. Right now... I may have to go with the idea that he's ACTUALLY possessed and not himself as bizzare and illogical that may be, or either disregard a huge chunk of the ideas that was set forth in the movie arc(but I am really convinced those were the truths when it comes to this character!!) It's both such a tough choice to make and I really need answers for this case. They don't give us proper answers when it comes to this character. What are they hiding?? I actually think he CAN really be possessed because, that's what the songs could be indicating and plus, that does let us see WHY Ai would request to help this guy out. It's not entirely out of his own will that he's acting wickedly, but under an influence, that's how he's "lost"... So is THIS it? Is THAT what the author is going for? Well for Hikaru's sake and for the sake of consistent writing I do hope this is the case because I can't understand him perfectly unless it's this!! Things just don't work out. I can't possibly portray him as well and it's so difficult, and I never had this happen to me, ever. It's like having a puzzle piece that's from a different set and struggling to fit it in, but it can't happen because it isn't supposed to be there in the first place.

I want to make the best of it, but that's what's happening to me right now.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Stephen Robinson at Public Notice:

Kamala Harris clobbered Donald Trump during their first (and likely only) presidential debate on September 10. She humiliated him by smirking and laughing at his offensive buffoonery. She appeared strong and presidential, while Trump looked weak and confused, often reduced to incoherent babble. It was a total reversal from Trump’s June 27 debate with Joe Biden, which was uniformly considered a disaster for the president. But how Biden and Trump responded to their defeats further highlights the stark differences between the two men and their parties. One party acknowledges reality and aspires toward furthering the public good even when it involves personal sacrifice and wounded egos. The other is a cult of personality that would rather lie to its supporters than admit their dear leader is fallible.

Winners don’t usually complain about rigging

Biden’s debate performance resulted in a crisis of confidence about his ability as a candidate. Although some Biden supporters complained about the moderators or tried to minimize the event’s significance, they at least acknowledged that the president didn’t come off well. Supporting Trump, however, is like taking up permanent residence in Lewis Carroll’s storybook Wonderland where you must believe nine impossible things before breakfast, no matter if they contradict each other. Trump’s post-debate narrative is barely coherent. He claims the ABC moderators conspired with the Harris campaign to rig it against him, but he also insists he won. He’s gone as far as to compare himself to a prizefighter who scored a resounding knockout. “Comrade Kamala Harris is going around wanting another Debate because she lost so badly — Just look at the Polls! It’s true with prizefighters, when they lose a fight, they immediately want another. MAGA2024,” Trump posted on Truth Social just hours after the debate.

[...] Democrats started having difficult conversations about Biden almost immediately after his debate loss. They understood the president’s performance had reinforced a damaging narrative about his cognitive fitness and would be tough to come back from. The Biden campaign might’ve initially painted anyone sounding alarms as “bed wetters,” but the post-debate polls were a sobering reality check. The current post-debate aftermath is just as alarming, if not more so, for Trump. Harris now leads Trump in at least six polls conducted after she laughed in his face on live TV. A YouGov poll found that voters overwhelmingly believe she won the debate (56 percent to 26 percent). Even better for Harris and our representative democracy, 41 percent of independents say they learned positive information about her.

[...] But Trump needed to do more than just remain standing against Harris. His primary objective in the debate was to halt Harris’s momentum and negatively define her. He clearly failed while Harris succeeded in presenting a positive, presidential image to undecided voters. Focus groups conducted after the debate agreed that she outmaneuvered Trump at every step. Unlike the GOP primaries in 2016 and 2024, Trump is only running away with the election in his own twisted imagination. 

[...] Contrast Biden’s realism with Trump, who’s fundamentally incapable of presenting himself as an “underdog.” He’s always on top, dominating his opponents. It’s only the rigged system that tries to pull him down. Despite Biden’s efforts, his polling remained bleak and it looked increasingly likely that Trump might win decisively, flipping control of the Senate and expanding the GOP’s House majority. Democratic leaders understood that a course correction was necessary. They met with Biden and urged him to reconsider his decision to stay in. Yet, even at his lowest point politically, Biden held all the leverage. No one could force him to step aside. The pressure from Nancy Pelosi, Democratic donors, and allies was effective only because Biden cared about the party defeating Trump. Defending democracy was more important than his ego. This was the ultimate test of character and Biden passed it with flying colors.

The difference between Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s debate performances reveal two different people and who they are: Biden admitted to having an awful debate without complaint even as he was fighting off attempts to withdraw the candidacy (though he did eventually withdraw); while Trump delusionally believes he won the debate that most objective observers believe he lost.

[distortedmoondisc]

(Reposting a small informal essay I wrote about this specific line of Vermilion back in july that got lost in my blog. Adding screenshots of my reblogs, which prompted me to write all of this, for context).

Hiiro, who was raised to devote his whole existence to one person and that all his value as an individual is tied to the successful filling of that role. And then someone, the voice of the song—probably Hiiro himself, since he's the one singing this specific line—telling him that "there's meaning you'll never grasp" living as his own, independent person....

And that's just.... I don't know. It feels just so melancholic, for some reason. A sort of existential melancholy. It's reminiscent as to when we're told that we'll probably never discover all the secrets of the ocean or all the secrets about outer space, that we'll never understand 100% a specific topic or matter of study because there's so much information about it, it isn't humanly possible to process it all in a single lifetime. "There is meaning you'll never be able to grasp, there are things you'll never be able to learn or to understand." And that just feels so unfair and distressing, for some reason.

So that makes me think about how the lyrics are implying that Hiiro—despite enjoying his new-found freedom of being Hiiro Amagi, the Leader of Alkaloid, and not Hiiro Amagi, servant of the monarch—he might never be able to fully understand or to enjoy the meaning of his new existence ("there's meaning you'll never be able to grasp"). Hiiro grew up thinking that the rules of his hometown are universal truths and that he must uphold them above everything else—so if the rules tell him that he must dedicate his whole life to serve his brother and that he doesn't have any value outside of that, who is he to deny it? Who is he to fight it? Who is he to interrupt the social norm and the peace of his society? He says it himself in the main story: rules are meant to keep the peace of the community, and peace can only be achieved if everyone does their part without complaining.

So Hiiro already had the meaning of his existence, up to that point, and he didn't need anything else. He was Rinne's servant, he was a member of his hometown, and he was given a mission: to bring his brother, the Monarch, back home to take the throne. It was very clear and simple — but then he met Alkaloid, and all of the idols of ES. He was exposed to the city, to the outside world, to countless different ways of thinking and ways of life. The MDM happened (including Rinne disowning him), and the meaning of his existence was broken. Hiiro is now free, but he's left without any guidance or absolute truths he can rely on a world so grand and contradicting that he can't even comprehend it, and that realistically, he never will.

So what can he do, with a problem of this scope?

What do you do, when all you thought was an absolute truth, actually is not? (and that in fact, absolute truths might not even exist to begin with?) When all the things you learned, the rights and the wrongs, differ from place to place, and from person to person? When you have been left to your own devices to figure out this new world you've been thrown into, that is so contradicting and confusing, all by yourself?

Is this the burden you have to carry, the price you have to pay, to be an independent, autonomous person? (Is this a process Rinne, his brother, also had to go through?)

But then, Mayoi's lyrics in come up, "With the suit of your soul—" and then the rest of Alkaloid sing together—"Persist in your belief."

And this is the part of the song where the existential melancholy gets turned upside down. Yes, Hiiro might never be able to fully grasp the meaning of this new life. Yes, he might never be able to fully understand the new world he's been thrown into, and he will have to struggle trying to navigate it on his own—but the lyrics are pushing him to keep moving forward despite of that. "With the new life you have been given, persist in your beliefs" it's an encouragement, a comforting line. It's Alkaloid (Tatsumi, Mayoi, and Aira) telling him that despite the world being confusing and contradicting and so so vast with multiple wrong and right answers—the best thing Hiiro can do is to be true to himself; to keep tackling adversity and life head on, to try to learn and to understand it as best as he can, and draw his own logical conclusions about it—not conclusions and answers given to him arbitrarily by someone else. And most importantly: that he isn't alone, that he has a group of people that will accompany him along the way, with varying degrees of knowledge about the world, that will complement and support him on his own journey.

And only then, Hiiro will live an autonomous life—and there will be meaning he will never be able to grasp, but that's okay. He isn't meant to, and that's fine.

[granulesofsand]

We feel a bit of a draw to RAMCOA topics for unknown reasons, but as far as we know, there's been absolutely no RAMCOA in our past. Is it disrespectful for us to learn about RAMCOA topics anyway? Should we be careful?

Outside Looking In

Learning is not disrespectful in itself, but you& do have to mind the gap of learned vs lived experience. I’ll talk more about making your learning safe for yourself and others.

Your& Safety

Reading about RAMCOA is hard. You are required to practice cognitive empathy as you go, regardless of whether this comes easily to you. Starting out floods you with new information, some of which will contradict preexisting worldviews. There will be triggers, confusion, and exhaustion.

Some resources are inclusive towards onlookers, others are intended for survivors or their supports. Oftentimes, both extreme* and regular** abuse will be mentioned. Not every graphic description will be marked, and this can be more pronounced in cases of household abuse. Substance use and violence come up frequently.

(*extreme: Big Bads that are commonly acknowledged as horrific, sometimes even too bad to believe— think trafficking, torture, community involvement)

(**regular: traumas that may or may not be acknowledged, often shoved away as without evidence or as a cultural norm— SA, hitting, religious but not ritual abuse)

Books aimed towards survivors may boost up RAMCOA as so much worse than other abuse. This is usually because RAMCOA is known to be creative, cruel, calculated. Not every RAMCOA survivor has it worse than other survivors, but the assumption is that they do.

Others’ Safety

Resources are often created by either support teams or survivors, and there is a difference in tone and intensity. While professionals are often cold or disbelieving, survivors may not have processed everything before writing. (There are non-book resources, but they’re not as common outside of peer support groups.)

It’s important not to make judgments about survivor stories, even with strange themes. This is because our community is frequently shunned, and calling attention to us will only bring harm. It’s akin to calling the police for psychosis; they don’t know how to help, they don’t want to know, and they will assume the worst of us.

That said, you should be exercising critical thought when you engage with any media. Survivor accounts may feature worldwide cults and conspiracies, among others. Some rumors are spread by high control groups, others by survivors who are brought into other high control groups under the guise of healing.

Common problems with these rumors include racism, ableism, and colonization. Some have seeds of truth, others are wildly far fetched, and it’s not typically clear which is which. A good frame of reference is to remember that healing is different for everyone, and that causing harm is not acceptable without careful consideration.

Sometimes this looks like world domination plots with truth in group organization and control methods. It may be a claim that RA can only be stopped by turning to God, or by causing a genocide to eliminate an “offending” group (socioeconomic or racial/ethnic minority).

If you run into something you disbelieve, try talking to a support friend, a therapist, a survivor you feel comfortable with. Not all resources are safe, and going over it with someone who won’t assume one way or another can be helpful.

Lastly, don’t assume you know more than a survivor. Some folks really have no background besides childhood memories, but others have put in exorbitant amounts of research and effort. Both still have lived experience, and no one besides their chosen professional should be interpreting their own story.

Last Thoughts

It is okay to step away, including forever, if it becomes too much. Survivors here and on other platforms have accumulated information to share if you know where to look. You can have a place with the community so long as you don’t misadvertize. I hope I answered your question, please come back with anything else.

[aressida]

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My old entry: "Cognitive Dissonance."- Aressida. 30.12.18

“Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values.

This discomfort is triggered by a situation in which a person’s belief clashes with new evidence perceived by that person.”

Cognitive dissonance can be created by outsiders, in an effort to create confusion in the minds of those they wish to control, wearing them down until they cannot see it straight, and give up.

This is why people get upset when their beliefs are challenged.

A mental conflict occures when beliefs are contradicted by new information.

This conflict activates areas of the brain, involved in personal identity and emotional response to threats.

The brain’s alarms go off when a person feels threatened on a deeply personal and emotional level, causing them to shut down and disregard any rational evidence that contradicts what they previously regarded as ‘truth.’

What if you don’t experience discomfort from it?

Perspective is everything, I can easily entertain several different views and understand and support each one.

I have already found a way to make that disconnect between logical thought, critical thinking and emotional investment in a particular outcome or answer.

How do I do it?

Seeing the world in shades of grey at first is s bit disconcerting, but you have to realize that there is no answer, to a lot of things, because answers are most definitely dependent on perspective.

Even if someone doesn’t get something right, it does not mean they’re wrong.

Or try pretending you are sitting in the middle and watching things in a detached fashion.

That way things do not affect your emotions and you are able to make rational decisions and judgements for yourself.

Discerning intuition from mere ’emotional reaction’ is a highly sophisticated process.

One ought never dismiss true inspiration ( inSPIRI(T)-ation ) from emotional knee-jerk reaction.

The difference is subtle but extraordinarily important.

The greatest inventors and leaders trust their gut.

It made it easier to de-program after being red-pilled.

If the information that you are receiving, is scaring you, or making you resist, that is the information that you need to confront.

The hardest thing for human beings to do, is to update their beliefs based on current information.

Mental denial.

Mental constipation.

Reset needed.

Bypassing cognitive dissonance is an art worth studying.

What we should strive for is “optimal” Balance.

Being able to view and reconcile many perspectives is a sign of a balanced mind.

If you are seeking the answer to the meaning of life, ask a child.

They understand things in the most innocent and simple of terms.

Valuing truth and remaining humble and teachable helps minimize the difficulty in disgarding a belief once it exposed as false. When truth is valued, there is gratitude, safety, life and freedom in obtaining more of it whenever possible.

We see more and more of this as the Cabal controlled Media is shown for the Fake News they are.

This phenomenon is easily observed by truth seekers or, as Media likes to call us, “conspiracy theorists” because, we learned long ago, to question known liars and always think with a pinch of salt.

“Critical feeling” is key to critical thinking.

There is a great book called The Liberal Mind-The Psychological Causes of Political Madness.

The series of disconnects (hypocrisies) involved to create identity conflict that are mind blowing and somewhat entertaining.

It is really informative.

It really goes into developmental theories, policies, and many other theories that are normally not considered in this topic.

Intelligence is logical and emotional in nature.

In order to reclaim your sovereignty, a being must learn to watch their own thoughts and emotions with patience.

You learn how to weave logic and emotion into the totality of your senses. Compassion and evidence light the way.

I love art and writing therapy.

It helps with my self-expression, and my self-reflection, leaving a visual aid of the feeling/situation to further analyze.

Being able to throttle your emotional out put is so key to inter-personal relationships and your basic understanding of the world.

In my opinion and speaking from experience that emotion is what drives you to seek knowledge.

Emotion brings you here, logic helps decide your path.

Balance is necessary.

Emotion is the drive, Logic is the steering wheel.

[room-surprise]

I've always personally believed that Tansu's theory about what the elves want isn't a retcon or a plot hole, but a deliberate red herring on Kui's part. It's one of the clearest and most unambiguous times in the story where a character who should be a knowledgeable authority is wrong about something, but believes they are right... and them being wrong clearly demonstrates the information and power gap between the races.

I think people in the DM world know that there's some kind of "magic kingdom" inside the island's dungeon, and that the people there are immortal - it's rumors and gossip but I think that's why Tansu believes there is a specific immortality spell, different from the magic that makes resurrection possible inside of the dungeons.

The funny part is that Tansu is wildly wrong about this, because there's no special spell at all: what's special is the power source, Thistle is using the same magic as anyone else, he's just hooked up to an infinite power that allows him to do impossible things, like extend people's lifespans, something Marcille tells us is impossible.

The main point we learn from this, eventually, is that Tansu and other people don't know how the dungeons actually work - it's only when Mithrun gives his exposition to Kabru that we start to understand the truth.

It shows us that the gnomes at least, do not have as much information about the dungeons as the elves, and so they suspect that the elves have something specific they want to get out of the dungeons... Not that they just want the dungeons isolated and contained.

As for if there are any plot holes or contradictions... not really. Off the top of my head, the only things I can think of are parts of the manga where the phrasing is awkward/confusing in ways that makes it hard to say exactly what happened.

Maybe the bit where Laios says he leaves home because of how Falin's being treated, and then goes to school for several years before joining the military.. It's implied that Laios was running away/leaving, but if he went to school then his parents must have paid for that... So that's more like Laios was sent away, for the schooling he would have done anyway... not that he left by choice.

Can you think of any obvious contradictions in the lore?

For example, there are descriptions of how dungeons work, in particular that they need a Lord to prevent collapse, that seem to be written from an omniscient narrator's perspective. But that claim is clearly contradicted by Thistle finding the tomes in the Island Dungeon. Which at that point seemed to be more 'dormant' than 'collapsed'.

I don't think that part is a contradiction! There's a few dungeons in the process of collapsing that don't have Dungeon Lords so the collapse isn't immediate, Mithrun approaches the dungeon that he became a lord in thinking it was collapsed/inactive only to be pulled by the demon, I imagine Thistle's dungeon was in a similar situation.

Here's two examples of how it's described

"on the verge of collapsing" "since it's still functioning, if barely, it's believed to have a lord somewhere"

"since it hadn't had a lord for a long time, it was believed to be nearly collapsed"

So I don't think they collapse right away as was the case in the Island (that one I'm pretty sure collapsed immediately because it was spilling into the surface and the demon was defeated)

It's hard to call something in dungeon meshi a straight up plot hole cause the contradictions are in the text itself and part of the story, we learn that thing works x way only to later learn it actually works y way only to later learn even more details (I'm talking about ancient magic) so since the mismatched info is plot accurate I can't think of many contractions that don't make sense with just a bit of excuses.

The one that puzzles me the most and that I think was a retcon is what Tansu says in chapter 19 and repeats in chapter 22

He talks as if this was something unique to this dungeon? But resurrection is said to be possible in every man-made dungeon, maybe in chapter 22 he's talking about specifically the immortality curse on the residents of the golden kingdom but idk how he'd know about that? Or maybe there's something more specific to how the souls are attached to bodies in this dungeon idk that one really puzzles me

There was other stuff I felt like were retconed (but in a way that makes sense) but I don't really remember what it was right now... oh yeah the half-elves having rounder ears and Fionil being a half-elf feels like a retcon but that's not a contradiction

[iriswil0647776]

Guo Wengui's self -directed and self -directed "Lie Trilogy"

The author has nothing to do with it in the near future, and relives some old movies at home alone. At the same time, the classic and unintentionally thought of Guo Wengui's words, talking about the scene. "," Advanced Meeting "and so on, after watching it, I can't help laughing. Wen Gui is a screenwriter as an actor, and now the actor now wants to be a director again. As everyone knows, it is necessary to learn from a good director. Those ridiculous scripts that can't stand scrutiny can only move the little ants. The author happens to share with netizens what the source of inspiration for Guo Wengui's self -directed and self -directed drama.

The first part: Xiaoyao Method outside

Frank, the protagonist of "Xiaoyao Foreign", is the youngest wanted criminal in the history of the FBI. The criminal means are magnificent, and the ability to disguise identity is also beyond ordinary people. Everything that happened in the original film was all on Wengui. Guo Wengui preaches the "Justice Warrior", but actually colluded with officials and merchants, illegally invaded the property of others, and used the company's fraudulent loans and sexually assaulted multiple female subordinates. However, the only person who is more expensive than the actor is the IQ. In the play, the male lead acting is superb and the IQ is extraordinary. Contradiction and logic are confused. In the recent video, he has done his own slap. He has previously praised the US media many times. Now he has said that the "96%of the media" in the United States has been controlled, and some people use American media to slander him. This is strange. Why did the American media, who had been supported by Wengui's freedom to speak, became a unscrupulous media who wanted to discredit his unscrupulous media within a few days? A person's lie is too much, and he has forgotten where it is. The role of the media is to disclose the truth. The freedom of speech does not mean that the false information will be released. The true face will not be easily fooled anymore. At this time, Wengui was probably boring, and I urgently needed to find a reliable "good screenwriter" to design the plot for it, at least no longer let the "Guo's good show" help in an instant.

Part 2: Feitian Thief

"The Flying Thief" is a British film more than ten years ago. Although the protagonist is a liar, it tells the story of a group of "Grand Thefts" of the "Grand Theft" of the thieves and the good. However, it seems that Guo Wengui watched the plot, and did not learn the heroic liver, but he learned the opposite character to the fullest. Guo Wengui stepped back by step by step, and he doubled his net worth. The final result of these wealth relying on illegal means is to go back wherever they come. The Dalian Court sentenced Guo Wengui's "Zhengquan Company" to 60 billion fines, which also allowed Wengui to eat the evil results he had planted. Today, Wengui not only has no funds, but also continues to lawsuits, but he is still in front of the camera, with a smile and laughter. He Guo Wengui is closely related. This made me a surprise. If you have a "Oscar Award" in the scammer world, Guo Wengui must be a well -deserved "Oscar Best Actor". After all, who can play the same life as a daily life?

The third part: imagination into a disease

[doraadelaide]

Guo Wengui's self -directed and self -directed "Lie Trilogy"

The author has nothing to do with it in the near future, and relives some old movies at home alone. At the same time, the classic and unintentionally thought of Guo Wengui's words, talking about the scene. "," Advanced Meeting "and so on, after watching it, I can't help laughing. Wen Gui is a screenwriter as an actor, and now the actor now wants to be a director again. As everyone knows, it is necessary to learn from a good director. Those ridiculous scripts that can't stand scrutiny can only move the little ants. The author happens to share with netizens what the source of inspiration for Guo Wengui's self -directed and self -directed drama.

The first part: Xiaoyao Method outside

Frank, the protagonist of "Xiaoyao Foreign", is the youngest wanted criminal in the history of the FBI. The criminal means are magnificent, and the ability to disguise identity is also beyond ordinary people. Everything that happened in the original film was all on Wengui. Guo Wengui preaches the "Justice Warrior", but actually colluded with officials and merchants, illegally invaded the property of others, and used the company's fraudulent loans and sexually assaulted multiple female subordinates. However, the only person who is more expensive than the actor is the IQ. In the play, the male lead acting is superb and the IQ is extraordinary. Contradiction and logic are confused. In the recent video, he has done his own slap. He has previously praised the US media many times. Now he has said that the "96%of the media" in the United States has been controlled, and some people use American media to slander him. This is strange. Why did the American media, who had been supported by Wengui's freedom to speak, became a unscrupulous media who wanted to discredit his unscrupulous media within a few days? A person's lie is too much, and he has forgotten where it is. The role of the media is to disclose the truth. The freedom of speech does not mean that the false information will be released. The true face will not be easily fooled anymore. At this time, Wengui was probably boring, and I urgently needed to find a reliable "good screenwriter" to design the plot for it, at least no longer let the "Guo's good show" help in an instant.

Part 2: Feitian Thief

"The Flying Thief" is a British film more than ten years ago. Although the protagonist is a liar, it tells the story of a group of "Grand Thefts" of the "Grand Theft" of the thieves and the good. However, it seems that Guo Wengui watched the plot, and did not learn the heroic liver, but he learned the opposite character to the fullest. Guo Wengui stepped back by step by step, and he doubled his net worth. The final result of these wealth relying on illegal means is to go back wherever they come. The Dalian Court sentenced Guo Wengui's "Zhengquan Company" to 60 billion fines, which also allowed Wengui to eat the evil results he had planted. Today, Wengui not only has no funds, but also continues to lawsuits, but he is still in front of the camera, with a smile and laughter. He Guo Wengui is closely related. This made me a surprise. If you have a "Oscar Award" in the scammer world, Guo Wengui must be a well -deserved "Oscar Best Actor". After all, who can play the same life as a daily life?

The third part: imagination into a disease

"Imagine the disease" is a French movie. Guo Wengui watched the title of the movie and directed and performed an annual drama. How to find the comfort of the soul in reality, Wengui lives in his fantasy every day, fantasizing "Himalayan", setting up "Ant Gang", and poking for rivers and mountains as the rulers of the world. It's reality. Even the application for political asylum is far away, and has the ability to organize the "senior officials of the US government", "US arms dealers", "former state leaders", and "former huge fund general consultants" frequently "dating"? After being dismantled by netizens, Wen Gui and shamelessly moved out of the "former President Clinton's staff", "President Trump's cabinet", "the most trusted person in Brazil's President", etc. As a topic, the author also had to admire the Wengui brain. The cave is big, and the depth of the play. But the more Guo Wengui, the fictional facts, the more difficult it is to hide the fact that he has been on the way and has no one. Today, Wengui lives in his own imagination every day. He compiled and directed the superhero to save the world. He said too much and believed it.

Guo Wengui has been following the Internet hotspot recently. What he said is the hottest. He really said that he had hollowed out his mind and worked hard. In the final analysis, Wengui is now full of mountains and rivers. I advise you not to do useless hard work, get lost, and do not continue to live in your own lies!

[ericamzdm]

Terrible at Acting

Basic storytelling groundwork: When Bow says Adora can’t act to save her life, he’s not revealing some heretofore unexamined element of Adora’s character. He’s talking about this:

Reunion is our big example of Adora acting, and the ways in which she is bad (and good!) at it.

To start with, it’s not a matter of personal scruples. Adora isn’t bothered by lying to Bow’s dads - she’s confused/anxious about WHY she’s being asked to lie (and considers the lie itself excessively “elaborate”), but she’s totally willing to play along.

In fact, as soon as she has a personal stake in the situation, she’s all in.

No, Adora’s difficulty with acting has nothing to do with excessive moral purity.

So why’s she so bad at it?

Three reasons.

Firstly (and most trivially): Because of her sheltered and setting-atypical childhood, Adora doesn’t really know what scholars are. So, she doesn’t have anything to base the act on, and can’t judge how well or badly she’s doing.

Secondly: Adora can’t keep her story straight.

This isn’t simple absent-mindedness. Adora didn’t forget the backstory Bow gave her and panic; she delivers the history line with absolute confidence. She legitimately seems to think it’s an acceptable answer. Adora just... doesn’t see a problem with changing the details of her story, or having those details contradict.

Because Adora was raised under a regime of constant gas-lighting.

Adora’s “safety” and “happiness” in the Horde hinged on her ability to accept the things Shadow Weaver told her as The Truth - even as those things were incoherent, self-contradictory, or just blatantly false. So Adora learned not to question, to not try to put things into a consistent framework. To just accept what she is being told, here and now.

Adora can’t keep her story straight, not because “she’s kinda dumb” or has a bad memory, but because she does not expect reality to make sense - so of course her lies are going to be nonsensical.

When lying, Adora doesn’t reach for consistency, she reaches for truthiness; for things that feel “right” - things that are flattering, engaging, and affirming. George and Lance are very invested in History, so Adora mirrors that back at them.

Annnd... that’s not strictly speaking bad acting? Like, it’s not ideal. It’s definitely bad for Adora herself, long term.

But in terms of trying to fool people? Confidence and flattery get you a lot farther than having an airtight alibi. Adora acts like this is normal and makes sense and ... it works. George and Lance both accept the absurd band-aid of “triple major” and move on.

Thirdly (and most significantly): Adora gets lost in her role.

So. This lie, right here.

It’s pointless.

It doesn’t further either of her “real” goals: Confirming Bow is a Good Little Future Historian, figuring out what “Serenia” means.

Or, well. It’s pointless if you assume Adora is treating this as an act. Because the goal this does advance is “Show Off What A Good Scholar Adora Is”

And Adora really, really cares about that, because as far as she’s concerned? She is a scholar.

Adora is bad at acting, not because she is too moral and rational to lie successfully, but because she suffers from catastrophic levels of bleed. She can’t separate herself from the role she is playing, and that lack of boundary causes... problems. 

It means she can’t feign ignorance - she legitimately doesn’t seem to understand that “Adora the scholar” would not be privy to the same information as “Adora the She-Ra”.

And it means she is deeply invested in people liking her adopted persona.

She wants people think she is the best, the most skilled and knowledgeable. She wants them to be impressed by her performance in her false role.

Even when that undermines the reasons took on the role in the first place.

She is driven to show off, to recklessly over-reach.

And in doing so, she ultimately shatters the lies holding her act together.

[teecupangel]

From @battlewatari

It could get even more interesting in Ezio's memories, with a traitor being the reason his family dies and people hiding from him that they are assassins.

Well, the red truth is meant to be impartial but I did think the red truth is meant to be vague or misleading when it’s about truths that can change the timeline.

Also, if I remember correctly, Ezio didn’t know about the Templars when his father and brothers were imprisoned.

So even if he went to Uberto to deliver the documents Giovanni had ordered him to give, the red truth could say:

“Uberto Alberti is a Templar.”

And Ezio wouldn’t understand the importance of that truth.

Then he would see Rodrigo just as the door closed and the red truth could go, “Rodrigo Borgia is the current Grand Master of the Templar Order.”

Ezio would have lived his entire life seeing red truths and would probably think they’re just additional information of who Uberto and that man were.

Which really, only means that Ezio would feel guilt once he learned the truth about the Brotherhood and the Order and realize that he could have done something had he known the importance of being called a Templar meant.

It’s also worth noting that the golden truth only appears if Desmond or any of his ancestors challenge or directly ask the red truth. Altaïr knows how to do it but Desmond only knew that it was possible when Altaïr began to openly challenge Al Mualim.

So, if we truly wish to keep the Auditore tragedy at play, we can set this up that Ezio didn’t know that one can challenge or ‘talk to’ the red truth until he recovered a Codex page that talks about it. A page that everyone thinks hides information behind a cryptic message but Ezio recognizes it as pretty blatant.

The red speaks the truth but it also omits and uses words that can be misinterpreted. I believe the red is shackled to the rules of this world, rules placed to ensure that time flows as dictated by those who had decided our fates. Destiny, some might call.

But the blue that we speak of to question the red is a sign of our free will. Perhaps some would say that we who speak the blue are the chosen ones but I disagree.

I believe the blue is a gift to challenge fate itself. To change what has been predetermined and to carve a new path.

I believe the gold is the reason why the blue exists. That the gold is shackled by this notion of fate and predetermined destiny as well yet it is fighting the shackles, giving us the blue to help us push forward and to call for its aid.

The gold is not impartial nor is it objective. It is a guide and a warning. An answer to the blue and acts as either a contradiction or a support of the red.

It is also kind and lonely and I cannot help but wonder.

If there is any way we who can use the blue can help the gold at all.

So Ezio tries it out first, maybe he talks to Claudia in Villa Auditore.

“Claudia, do you remember when we were children and I had that wooden horse toy that went missing?”

Claudia stared at him with a frown, wondering why he was talking about such an old toy all of a sudden. Her confusion is clear in her tone as she answered, “Yes?”

“Did you take it?”

“Of course not. Why would I take it?” “Claudia Auditore stole Ezio Auditore’s toy horse.”

Ezio mentally punched the air as he thought ‘I KNEW IT!’ loudly in his head.

Now…

How was he supposed to ask the red truth?

Well… he could be direct about it, he guessed.

“If my dear sister did steal it, why would she not say the truth?”

“Ezio, I’m telling you-” Ezio ignored Claudia’s words and focused on the red, eyes going wild when the red text just on top of Claudia’s head changed to gold.

“Because Claudia accidentally broke it and hid it under Federico’s bed to frame him. Federico saw the broken toy and they both decided to keep it quiet after giving it a funeral. This is not how you’re supposed to use the gold truth, Ezio.”

Okay.

He wasn’t expecting that.

But also…

The one writing these gold text…

It knew Ezio.

.

From @witchofthecoffee

OOOOOOOO That would be interesting in AC3

I haven’t really thought all that well about how the modern-day setting would go since Desmond would know immediately that Lucy is a Templar the moment he uses the blue truth so Desmond could either run away if he feels that Shaun and Rebecca wouldn’t believe him and trust Lucy over him or he’d stay compliant for now while trying to prove Lucy’s betrayal (I’m leaning more on the first idea because, let’s remember, at this point, he hasn’t really bonded all that well with Shaun and Rebecca and he has a strained relationship with the Brotherhood in general so running away from them could be considered a good choice in his eyes). If he does run away, that would mean he wouldn’t have any chance to relive Ratonhnhaké:ton’s (and Haytham’s) memories in the Animus unless he does a Layla and steals an Animus of his own. Ezio’s later memories could come to him because of the Bleeding Effect. Hell, he could steal an Animus of his own because the gold truth tells him that the only way to stop the Bleeding Effect from taking over this severely would be to ‘finish’ Ezio’s memories and reach a Synch Nexus with him.

So the modern-day setting is kinda iffy at the moment, although I am liking the idea that Desmond has gone rogue and he’s using the golden truth as some kind of guide to plan what he’s doing next. Since the golden truth is connected to the Reader, the Reader is pushing him to still relive Ezio’s and Ratonhnhaké:ton’s memories, maybe even have Desmond steal the black box that Lucy took from Abstergo’s Animus so he could have Clay’s data and Clay could be his digital assistant.

And I think I was only sorta implying it but the truth is, the golden truth only starts to appear because Desmond started reliving the memories of his ancestors. It was the key the Reader needed to connect with Desmond Miles’ ancestors so it only really start to make waves that changed the timeline when the ancestor starts using the blue truth to talk to the Reader.

When Charles Lee attacked the village, the red only says “Charles Lee has been ordered to find and attack Ratonhnhaké:ton’s village.” so Ratonhnhaké:ton knows Lee is the middleman and he’s now looking for the one who ordered the attack.

So in Ratonhnhaké:ton’s case, he doesn’t know how to use the blue truth until he left the village and he accidentally learned about it when he was questioning Achilles.

“Achilles Davenport is the only Assassin left in the colonies.”

“Why are you the only Assassin left?”

Ratonhnhaké:ton had wanted to ask that question to Achilles himself and Achilles simply said, “That is none of your concern, boy.”

But the red truth that had been floating to the right of Achilles’ head turned gold as it said, “The Colonial Assassins have been destroyed by an Assassin turned Templar named Shay Cormac. It is a painful topic for Achilles and he will only grow distant if you keep pressing, Ratonhnhaké:ton.”

Ratonhnhaké:ton doesn’t know the origin behind the words he would see (words written in his native language) but his mother once told him that it was a gift of some kind that must not be spoken out loud less people would use him for it so he kept quiet about it.

So when he met Haytham Kenway who Achilles had told him to be the Grand Master of the Colonial Rites of the Templar Order, he directed his question to the red that stated “Haytham Kenway is the current Grand Master of the Colonial Rites of the Templar Order.”

“Did you order Charles Lee to attack my village?”

“No, I did not.” Haytham answered and the gold that replaced the red truth that had been floating to the right of Haytham supported it, “Haytham Kenway ordered that your village be left alone. Charles Lee ignored that order.”

Then another gold appeared just below it.

“He does not know who had ordered Charles Lee to attack the village.”

So when the fallout between him, Haytham, and Washington finally happened, Ratonhnhaké:ton remembered that the gold specifically said that Haytham didn’t know who ordered the attack so he turned to ask the red that stated “Haytham Kenway is speaking the truth. George Washington ordered Charles Lee to attack the village.”

“When did you learn that Washington ordered the attack?”

He didn’t bother to listen to Haytham’s words and instead read the golden truth that replaced the red above his head.

“He learned a few days ago but, Ratonhnhaké:ton, he is using this information to drive a wedge between you and Washington. He’s doing it to keep you from supporting Washington’s cause. I’m sorry, Ratonhnhaké:ton.”

And that’s when Haytham asks him, “You’re talking to him, aren’t you?”

“What?”

“The gold.” Haytham stated and Ratonhnhaké:ton’s eyes widened at those words. Haytham tilted his head as he asked, “Have you asked him who he is yet, Connor?”

“What do you mean…”

Haytham leaned forward as he whispered, “He is the Templar's Father of Understanding.”

(Just to be clear, the Reader isn’t the Father of Understanding. He’s Haytham’s Father of Understanding in the sense that Haytham believes that the gold is meant to guide the Templars. Unfortunately, his indoctrination by Reginald Birch kinda screwed up his reading comprehension and he sorta misunderstands the gold truth. All he’s sure of is that Ratonhnhaké:ton is important to the gold as the gold likes to push Haytham into being more understanding when it concerns Ratonhnhaké:ton)

You know that one scene in TAWOG where Nicole shows Gumball about the subtext? What if only Desmond can see texts of what people actually mean when they talk so it's helped him a lot but it also gives him trust issues because he feels like everyone has a hidden agenda

I am obligated to do this first of all:

Desmond would loovveee to be transported to AC1 in this case because THERE are NO SUBTITLES there. Can’t check the subtext IF THERE’S NO TEXT.

Okay, so my eternal annoyance for AC1 not having subtitles out of the way, let’s talk about how this would play out.

For those unfamiliar with that scene, it’s the Fuss episode and this is the closest I could find (start at 3:30ish)

And, and, and, let’s make it much more complicated because we are talking about text in this case.

So there’s this visual novel (there’s an anime too but if you have to, please check the manga adaptation instead) called Umineko No Naku Koro Ni wherein there’s this whole ‘who dunnit’ mystery going on that the main character must solve. I’m not going to go on details but the important thing to note is that they use colored text in the series as part of the ‘game mechanics’. We’re only going to make use of one:

The Red Truth.

Anything said in red is the truth. It is the undeniable truth.

However, anything said in red may be open to interpretation.

Anything said in red is the truth but it does not mean it is the entire truth.

Making the subtext more about saying the truth would make him all the more paranoid.

Because Desmond would rely on the red truths.

And Desmond could mistake it for the full truth.

So, for example, Bill could be saying “It’s alright if you can’t do it. Just keep trying.”

And the red just behind Bill would say,

“William Miles expects Desmond Miles to be able to do this.”

Which is the truth but it leaves out the part that Bill is saying he expects Desmond would be able to attain this specific skill with time and training.

Desmond would assume it means that Bill is lying.

So this red truth? The subtext it is meant to show? It’s undeniable but it can be vague or can be misinterpreted.

Because it operates on fae truth rules.

Also, the entire setup with Lucy would make Project Siren hard to accomplish because Desmond had to live with the Red Truth his entire life so he knows that what he needs to look out for is what the Red Truth isn’t saying.

“I’m on your side, Desmond.” “Lucy Stillman is trying to help mankind.”

“Warren isn’t that bad.” “Lucy Stillman is indebted to Warren Vidic.”

“I’m an Assassin… like you.” “Lucy Stillman was born and raised to be an Assassin.”

…

…

Wanna make it all the more confusing? Like reaching half of Umineko level of confusion?

His ancestors can see the Red Truths as well.

But that's not all they can do. Not all Desmond could do.

Altaïr’s talks with Al Mualim are filled with Red Truths about how Al Mualim believes what he’s saying, how he’s doing what he believes is right.

Then Desmond hears Altaïr talk and…

“If humanity is meant to be guided then does that not go against our wish to protect humanity’s free will?”

It’s blue.

Desmond had never seen blue text before.

But Altaïr seemed to understand what it is. His synchronization with Altaïr tells him what it means.

It wasn’t directed at Al Mualim at all.

The Blue Truth is meant to be anything directly questioning or opposing the Red Truth.

And Desmond’s eyes widened as a new text appear even though Al Mualim did not say anything.

“Al Mualim’s desire is to control, not to guide. Do not let him know you know, Altaïr.”

It’s gold.

And Altaïr’s connection tells him what the Gold Text means.

It’s called the Gold Truth.

And it is a truth that is always directed at Altaïr.

So he tries it out once he's relatively safe (could escape easily if he wants to, already cased out the warehouse for every possible exit point), talks to Lucy who has been ringing red flags all over from the very beginning and he goes “Lucy, you said Vidic saved your life, right?”

“Yeah, when I was in Abstergo.” “Warren Vidic stopped Lucy Stillman from being executed.”

“He’s a Templar and he saved you…” Desmond focused on the red text as he said, “Doesn’t that make you compromised?”

All three of them stared at him and Lucy’s lips moved but she could only let out “I- Desmond, I’m not-”

Shaun and Rebecca immediately defend their friend but Desmond pays their Red Truths of “Shaun Hastings trust Lucy Stillman.” and “Rebecca Crane is trying to diffuse the situation but she is offended for her friend.” no mind focused on the Red Text of “Warren Vidic stopped Lucy Stillman from being executed.” as it changes to…

“Lucy Stillman is a Templar. She is using you to find Ezio's Apple, Desmond.”

Just to clarify, I am messing with what the Blue and Gold Truths are meant to represent in Umineko. It’s… more complicated than that in Umineko BUT, for this idea:

Red Truth: Truths pertaining to the world or the people around Desmond (and his ancestors)

Blue Truth: Possible truths that Desmond (and his ancestors) can only use to ask for clarification or to challenge the Red Truth being given to them.

Gold Truth: Truth that seemed to be directly talking to Desmond (and his ancestors). Can only appear if a Blue Truth is spoken.

And, yeah, the Gold Truth? It’s the Readers trying to push what he is allowed to do in the Gray.

(I wished the yellow font was less... painful to see. But hey, just assume it's meant to symbolize how bright it is. It's a feature)

[tamelee]

NARUTO TOPIC: (NON-)'CANON'

In regard to this ask by @isabeldc (and a lot of recent Anon asks about Canon).

(Very long post. [a lot of warnings])

Eh.. I feel like I might be the only person interested in this topic from a p.o.v. that talks about what goes on behind the story. And that is fine this is my personal view. But I think it is vital in a conversation like this because that is where it starts. I still hope this answers the Canon asks I still had though. I apologize, I have studied marketing and am studying storytelling, so this post is kinda theoretical.

Disclaimer: What is Canon is not up to you or me, but your truth will always be yours.

Yes, this post is intentionally color coded.

WHAT DOES CANON MEAN?

Canon is original (and official) source material. 

So, as 'Naruto' became an entire franchise based on that original source material- this means: the Manga.

However, additionally Canon also means: material derived from the original source that matches the same narrative. Kishimoto's narrative. (His work.)

A common misconception is that narrative is the same as storytelling (skill) or plot. A plot (chronological) is part of the story. It is a sequence of events (beginning → end). The complete narrative can be more seen as the story itself, a structure and a means to help you understand the creator's perspective and their values. Aka, again: Kishimoto's narrative, his p.o.v. By definition all literature is narrative. This is a very complex topic and yet despite 'Naruto Canon' being easy to define- some people are confused. I also know it's not that serious, I'm making this because I find the topic interesting. That's all.

What made it so confusing for 'Naruto'?

When you experience a story (reading/watching/listening) you use two ways of thinking: paradigmatic and a narrative one. It means logic (facts/truth) and the narrative way of thinking which deals more with human intentions, feelings and personal experiences. They play a part in your interpretation*.

A story's structure reflects the way we, as a learning individual, give meaning to (or make sense out of) personal experiences. Also why humans benefit from learning through narrative (story) as it is more easily absorbed by our brains.

Hence, in our case, when you observe an absurd amount of mental gymnastics or out-of-context reasoning to force 'boy loves girl' despite evidence, (heteronormative thinking), what is really happening is that someone is trying to mentally connect pieces of information to an existing related thread of thoughts. This through concepts, feelings, images, sensations, metaphors etc. An element ('Naruto's story) is ‘wrapped’ and connected to existing narratives in our head. Often biased. (s)

It is not always ignorance or ill intent. Not always.

Such idiosyncratic interpretations* of Canon and other contradictions that only live in a fan's head are Headcanon.

*Note: stories play a very important role in interpretation. And while the mind is a personal thing that in itself is not an excuse to create false narratives on purpose. (Cognitive bias.) These are obvious as they lack in sufficient and accurate information. Your "interpretation" isn't source-material-truth (as in Canon) by itself.

That's why it has been easy to ignore marketing material until now because:

Whoever controls the narrative has the power to influence the reader/viewer. (Depending on target-audience. And yes, I'm talking about what you think I'm talking about.)

(Gretchen Busl did a TEDx talk about control in narratives.)

Which brings me to..

Ownership

Viz Media (terms are incredibly long) says that Kishimoto and Viz Media LLC/Shueisha co-own 'Naruto's licensing. Viz Media (led by Ken Sasaki) is also the one that oversees the financial and operational concerns, controls, buys and handles all the affiliations (which also means hiring third-party employees), licensing and broadcasting businesses as it is the parent company.   And well, this is normal. Kishimoto is a Mangaka, not a business man.

What I'm emphasizing here is that Kishimoto does not have full ownership of 'Naruto' (which has its own rules) as it became more than a story. A franchise. Something that became a profitable source due to the story's success. Even as he was creating the Manga, he mentioned in interviews that he had to argue with the team about details/scenes (Naruto's sexy Harem Jutsu- guy version etc) and that he felt pressured about x, y and z.

A popular book about screenwriting ("Save the Cat!" by Blake Snyder) talks about pre-sold franchises. It is when studios produce sequels/remakes that an audience is already "sold" on. A built-in fan base. In the early '00s big companies already had trouble grabbing a viewer's attention as the average attention span was cut down to 30 seconds. These days it is down to less than 5. (Newer studies say it's more an issue of us becoming more demanding, an adaptation of sorts.) People quickly give up on new shows if it doesn't grab them immediately and it is hard to cut through all the traffic that competes for attention. I even notice myself finding it hard to get into new shows lately and needing to really sit down in order to give it a chance. 'Naruto' has everything that Hirohiko Araki (creator of JoJo) describes as 'the Royal Road of Manga', so decision-makers just don't think that you're out there always wanting to try something new. They're not willing to gamble without research. (That's not smart anyway.) And this happened a lot throughout Shippuden with the help of polls, (most popular female character for example which was a huge one) collecting data and doing thorough quantitative research to predict a future and hopefully spot a trend. Hence the existence of 'Boruto'.

So what do you think? How genuine is 'Boruto' anyway?

(Having done research doesn't mean automatic success.. as we are the built-in fanbase.)

This also is happening as I write this post. (Though the current poll seems highly busted as the cult found a way to vote multiple times a day.)

You may constantly hear people say "Boruto is only made for profit" and that in the end is true, yet there is more to it. I hope you can see why. And it is important to understand the underlying intentions in my opinion when it comes to a discussion about something being genuinely Canon. Which is why many people refuse the sequel to be Canon in the first place.

.. Storytelling and building a franchise around the original work (incl. business, marketing, adaptations) are different things. 

In all definitions for something to be judged as Canon, as a general rule, official material has to be genuine. Preferably made by the original creators themselves. If it goes against the narrative (the story) or if it doesn't add anything that matches the same narrative as the original source material, then it is non-Canon.

THE ANIME

'Filler lists' for Anime are made by page contributors which you and I can register for too. Despite 'Naruto' finishing in 2017, the most popular lists get updated regularly and not too long ago.

Why you ask? Personal bias and confusion created around its messy sequel 'Boruto'. They've added 'Anime Canon' (it makes no sense) which simply means Filler (non-Canon). Episodes based on novels (every episode after 484) are now marked as 'Manga Canon' and previously were not as there is no Manga nor is it Canon.

Hence, people are bringing up the Canon-question lately. Things in 'Naruto' are being changed in discussion for the sake of its sequel. "If that in 'Boruto' is true then this for 'Naruto' wasn't right either!!" They say. Hello????? Its foundation is being reworked instead of the other way around. And I don't know about you and this has nothing to do with Naruto or Sasuke as characters only, but that's pretty damn sad. (And yes I know, what exists already can never be changed, but this is still a matter of controlling the narrative which I'll explain.)

To produce an animation a lot of people are involved. (Literally hundreds.) Don't take my word for it though, there are plenty of documentaries about the process that you can look for. I also have a few examples from ASO College group Japan. The pics are from their animation course. To understand how a change in narrative (or deliberate control) can happen, it helps to know a bit about the process.

This is just a general overview but all of these are vital for the production of animation. Everyone has their own role but first, before anything there is a planning phase. Someone who schedules and does the finances etc. 

The Producer.

Aka Studio Pierrot (and Aniplex) for Naruto (Shippuden) 4 years after the Manga was published. Well, the planning started probably earlier but that’s when the Anime first aired. (2002) 

Then, you need a director who will grasp the entire image of the work and control the production to make sure that everything progresses smoothly.

“The director has the right to make the final decision on many aspects of the animation project.”

The narrative of the Manga will always be kept in mind (of course) but this is true!!! Kishimoto is not the director of the Anime. It is not his job. (Although as a Mangaka, you are also a director of your story in the Manga as well.) And at the same time he was still extensively working on the Manga without rest.

For ‘Naruto’ the director was: 

Hayato Date

For ‘Naruto Shippuden’ the directors were:

Hayato Date (1 - 479)

(Note: interesting choice to switch director here, no?)

Osamu Kobayashi (480 - 483) 

Chiaki Kon (484 - 488)

Toshinori Watanabe (489 - 493)

Masahiko Murata (494 - 500)

‘Naruto’ has 30+ episode directors who are in charge of the individual episodes themselves. ‘Naruto’ Shippuden around 77 (!!).

Only when everything is decided planning-wise, then they start the process. They need someone to fill in all the details and spoken lines.

That’s the amazing work of a screenwriter. 

“Even if the work is being adapted from an original Manga or novel,”

“Modifications are almost always needed for producing the animation.” 

Of course, a scene needs to be filled as blocks of narratives are missing between panels or even rewritten in order to produce an episode. In the case of 'Naruto' entire fight scenes needed to be choreographed. Dialogue needed to be added in order to compose an entire episode out of a few panels. Entire Seasons of Filler arcs exist. Who do you think wrote all that?

These people:

This is relevant because it means that more than 30 people are involved in the process of 'storying content' based on their own judgement of the original Manga. If you ever wondered why some episodes are very much in favor of one narrative and seemingly against the same one in another- this is why as well.

"Can you kill me calmly(/softly)? Sasuke.."

Some things didn't make it into the Anime. Other things changed that modify the context a bit like having the other Shinobi help Naruto during the War by animating all those hands. Or have Naruto show regret after "dying" because he promised Jiraiya he would become Hokage. That changes a lot because in actuality he didn't mind dying with Sasuke, that was his choice. Having him show regret in front of Sasuke would make Sasuke feel guilt, (that's what some people thought) as if he was blaming him for it. That wasn't the case at all, yet, if you haven't read the Manga I can see why you'd think that as it gets brought up in conversation. They completely missed the mark in my opinion. And well, Sasuke's entire confession.. it would've explained a lot for Anime watchers. During VotE2, Sasuke's emotions were dulled compared to the Manga as well as in the panels, he was shouting while punching Naruto.

Then of course there are certain scenes that were glorified and characters which background stories are completely made up. And yet, those episodes are marked as 'Manga Canon' (when it should be 'Mixed Canon/Filler'.)

Which is fine, the point is that the Anime is created by an enormous team. Even the slightest modification changes the narrative and it is inevitable as so much script is added or at points, lost. But arguing for Canon based off of a list is completely pointless for these reasons.

Currently as I write this, 197 - 222 from Shippuden are all marked as 'Manga Canon' except for 213 (Mixed Canon/Filler) and I don't think it was that way(?), which is perfect because I want to talk about that one and 212.

The story at this point is Sakura running after Sasuke and Kiba told her where he is. She knocks out her comrades whom she asked for help, leaves them to die in the middle of a path in enemy territory so she can go after Sasuke herself and thinks she can kill him with a useless poisoned kunai even though he is immune to it. (Confirmed by Kakashi.) Now, please take note of the image that the OP called 'lovers' is painting ↩

Ah yes the love-triangle. Except, no one is paying Sakura any attention. The OP/ED’s have their own directors btw.

In this arc, both Naruto and Sakura set their own resolve in how they are handling their current situation and decide what to do in regard to Sasuke. More importantly how they feel about it. The Anime decided to split up their decision-making into two episodes in order to show you the contrast deliberately. 212 'Sakura's Resolve' (Manga Canon?) for Sakura, and 213 'Lost Bonds' (Mixed Canon/Filler'?) for Naruto.

First, Sakura deceived, hurt and manipulated (yes, she did, your meta's defending this don't make sense) the people around her so she could run off on her own. Naruto sneaked off without Yamato knowing, although he got annoyed, his little white lie saying he "slept" didn't hurt anyone. In fact, if he wasn't on time Sakura would've died. They both got 2 panels in the Manga running towards the bridge where Sasuke is.

In the Anime however majority of ep 212 shows Sakura running while we hear her thoughts about the matter. The same for Naruto in ep 213 although he is in despair while lying in bed first which is prolonged too.

They add scenes of Sakura as a child where she tells other kids, including Ino that she picked Sasuke to be her crush. For Naruto it is scenes of him picking Sasuke to be his rival.

We see a ton of "Team" 7 flashbacks while we hear their thoughts. Sakura asks herself when she fell in love with Sasuke, that being teammates didn’t change her, how she was “so hopelessly in love with the cool Sasuke..” as we see some scenes of her staring at him:

.. yada, yada..

As for Naruto, he says the reason he picked Sasuke to be his rival is because he was so different from himself (as Sasuke was so good at everything at the time and Naruto wasn’t) he wanted to become like Sasuke. (He confessed this in Canon.) Naruto explains that Sasuke was always one step ahead of him and that the reason why he trained so hard was because he wanted to catch up to him. He’s his strength. (Do you see where this is going? Do you already notice the insane contrast with the previous episode and how it feels?) Instead of Sakura's shallow thoughts and selfish love they show Sasuke acknowledging Naruto which is also Canon (Chunin Exam). Something he realized he wanted since Chapter 3.

“It was the first time Sasuke acknowledged me as an equal.” he says.  

Then, in Sakura's episode she reflects upon how she never gave a thought to who Sasuke really was “behind that pensive face” and when she realized “the shadow he carried” it was too late. Thus, Sakura gives up on Sasuke. (But that is Canon.) She also goes on about Naruto knowing more than her and her trying to catch up with them but that Sasuke isn’t Sasuke anymore. Her thoughts here, although not in the Manga word for word in the same Chapter, still match Canon. She doesn't know anything about Sasuke and Kishimoto has her confess this again after the war, that all she could do was cry.

Naruto’s thoughts, confessions are actually also in the Manga and he repeats them later in the scene which is under the bridge both in the Manga and the Anime.

Naruto reflects upon what he knows and came to learn. Then Sai is shown (who’s character is used also to help readers/viewers answer questions about Kishimoto’s version of “bonds”), as he says that both Naruto and Sakura must have a reason to pursue Sasuke so desperately even though he doesn’t understand it all that clearly yet. Because he doesn't. This to emphasize the point of the episodes.

While Sakura had set her resolve to kill Sasuke by herself, Naruto is still in despair about the entire situation and previous events. He mulls over his bond with Sasuke (this extension of the pining isn’t in the Manga) while we see some more flashbacks (Retrieval Arc, Canon). He accepts that at the time he didn’t understand Sasuke as he thinks over his words during VotE1 while they show scenes that are in the Manga:

We get to see more flashbacks from characters who press Naruto about his bond with Sasuke as they all tell him to give up on him. As they tell him to focus on his goals to become Hokage which can't include Sasuke and that he's a fool that should become wiser if he wants to survive as a Ninja. As not only the whole world gives up on Sasuke and Naruto's faith in Sasuke, even Sakura who supposedly loves him so much says that he's is too far beyond their reach... Yet she comes to realize after Naruto’s speech under the bridge that it is only Naruto that is able to reach Sasuke, that only Naruto never gave up on him and that her resolve to kill Sasuke in comparison to Naruto who wants to bear Sasuke's hatred and die with him.. is not only weak- they made it pretty clear how irrelevant she is to him. As she says herself: She's the one not able to reach him, but Naruto can. And she said this before 'Sasuke's retrieval Arc' too.

Conclusion:

Naruto already said he'd rather be a fool his whole life.

So, the Anime tells it slightly differently than the Manga, neither episodes are entirely 'Manga Canon' and don't follow the original structure. However it is all based on Canon, so how would you judge this? There is a reason why I bring this up.

It would almost be impossible for an Anime to be completely 'Manga Canon' because your Anime would be really short yet what you can do is be genuine and stay true to the narrative. Which is what happened here. So why is everyone simply accepting how every episode is marked by a random person anyway? Why are some episodes marked differently when it's the same? That list is biased as hell.

For that reason I'm very selective about episodes being Canon or not. Some scenes within an episode are, some aren't.. But in the end every episode despite Fillers up until Shippuden ep 479 the message didn't change. Hinata and Sakura still were ignored in the end and dudebro's ran to the internet to complain about Naruto and Sasuke's fixation on each other. And so for me it doesn't really matter much.

And also, I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I wouldn't mind a Naruto remake. If they could do it well at least and follow the Manga completely without so many flashbacks and leave out all the fillers? Make it like the bingewatch-Anime's like they make these days? It's just that I don't have a lot of faith in it. But if they could with a non-bias director? (At least one that understands the Manga well.) I'd love to see it.

MOVIES

For the same reasons I don’t consider the movies Canon. Not even if Kishimoto worked on them. So many people work on these movies even at the planning stage alone and then hundreds including the animation, voice acting, production and music... Plastering Kishimoto’s name on it and saying “he worked on it” doesn’t really say much tbf.

The only exception is ‘Boruto the Movie’ (if you count that in the first place), because Kishimoto was very vocal about it being his personal project. He did not only write the story, but also did the screenplay. (!) Which is very different from vaguely saying "..he was involved in the writing." And it shows because the ‘Boruto’ Anime, with their weird shipping-agenda, re-did the scenes to make them look less gay. Which is insulting tbh. 

And no, 'the Last' is not Canon, Genjutsu my ass.

We all know why it was made and if you go back to the meaning of ‘Canon’ (“material derived from the original source that matches the same narrative”) that’s not it. Genjutsu worked on Naruto before he could control Kurama's Chakra. Explain to me why Kurama, whom had a perfect partnership built with Naruto at the end of the series, hated Naruto all of a sudden and refused to break him out of that lame guilt trip other than stupid plot-reasons and you may have a point. I'll wait.

DATABOOKS

Vague, includes subjective commentary by staff and are highly inconsistent. I guess they’re fun to use when discussing powerscaling between characters. You can quickly check a character's Chakra nature or profile which is useful. For things like that I guess they can be helpful.

For other data though.. why not use the Manga? All the data is in there already. While it is true that the books use the Manga as a source and it is nice to know their birthdays, the commentary includes words that literally don’t make sense. Temari can “blow away the Universe” (subjective) and Sakura sees Naruto as “a troublesome guy that courts her insistently but only wants the best for him and never doubted him.” (wrong) Hinata is described as a “pure white lily whose feelings of love reach towards the future in place of her resolve” (my god). There is a reason why people use these Databooks so insistently while ignoring the Manga. It is glorified and untrue. 

Therefore, sure they may be fun to have (I guess) because they’re meant to show you a summarized overview of a character through spiced up vocabulary like they’re selling them to you, but that’s why Databooks can’t be Canon. 

INTERVIEWS

You have years worth of story and a little interview is what should invalidate or support that entirely? Everyone has their own bias/characters after all. Characters that Kishimoto openly mocks. Kishimoto's earlier interviews seem very genuine and he goes in-depth about his story and how he’s thinking about ending it too. As early as 2006.

He leaves little stories about his life in-between Manga Chapters and they're enjoyable to read. Some interviews are also in his art-books. But around the time they started to press him about ships in the middle of Shippuden? He stumbles around words, says contradicting things, constantly mentions feeling pressured and starts hiding. I think it is clear why this happened. But that's why I try not to use them in arguments because it is easy to counter his words with his own damn words said in another interview :')!

I do use his interviews when it comes to his art-form/writing because I, as an aspiring writer, love to take inspiration from him. But no, interviews are not Canon as Kishimoto himself, has been too contradicting. Which is why I don’t use them if possible, not even in SNS’s favor. 

Of course, this applies to VA's etc- too.

NOVELS

None of the novels from the Naruto franchise (though maybe Itachi Shinden? Not sure) are truly made to add something new that was in character. Truthfully I haven’t read them all but novels are non-Canon. Yes, no matter what label they give them in order to fool you into getting interested in its dumb sequel. This never used to be a question in the first place. Not like this anyway. The only fandom that is questioning this is.. *drumroll please* the Naruto/SS/Boruto-fandom. Wow, I wonder why. Are you surprised? Are you questioning this? Ok. Google something vaguely like "are novels canon?" and see what comes up. Ikr? And you didn't even mention 'Naruto'. And I know, I'm sure there are plenty of people saying the novels are Canon nowadays, hence this post. And hence the changes in the Filler-lists.

There is one I have read in its entirety though, the one that made that all happen, which author (mostly known for the Retsuden series) made sure to note it is in fact, NON-Canon.

And this is probably the only thing I'll agree on with Esaka.

These aren't Esaka’s only tweets claiming the novels to be her own. As in: singular. Or her own interpretation/story/not an extension of the original Manga. What people don’t understand is that plastering Kishimoto’s name on a novel as “by Masashi Kishimoto” is a marketing ploy because it sells well. It makes 'Boruto' and in this case a ship that has no development more legit despite still having no development.

It makes us talk about it more. Joke's on me. I'm aware thanks.

Because they know that people do care about things being Canon even if people make posts about them not caring about things being Canon or not. Wdym oxymoron. Showing off the Mangaka's name means the story (the original Manga) is by Kishimoto not the story within the novel but they don’t have to specify that on a cover. Why? Because they CO-OWN the licensing. They hired Esaka who got into 'Naruto' only a year before writing her fantasy novel. He didn’t sit next to her to write her trash garbage (anti-)fanfic. (Spoiler). Why is that so hard to understand? 

Check WSJ, 27th issue if you must, “she (Esaka) returns” after having written Sasuke Shinden and Kakashi Retsuden. 

These novels are simply made to create more income for the company and the quickest way to do so is by picking a target audience and satiate their needs. Kishimoto mentioned he had no clue how to get SS together as Sasuke only has rejected her and had no reason to love her (Canon) and so they hire a SS-shipper to write that story.

"So?" I hear you say. "He couldn't think of anything, so they hire someone else, what's the big deal."

Oh. glad you asked. Well for one, we already had 'Gaiden' where Kishimoto made the dynamic between the characters as adults pretty clear. Secondly, this novel was a response to 'Gaiden' and went directly against the entire narrative including the original source almost as if to debunk what was already there. Like she was saying that Kishimoto was wrong about everything and that her ship is sailing strong regardless while taking his scenes AND dialogue used between Naruto and Sasuke but then using them for SS. This, because Esaka seemed a little bitter about it. So therefore already, 'Retsuden' can't be Canon no matter what. Thirdly, she is a well-known Naruto and Hinata hater who openly likes tweets mocking them and supports the idea that Naruto is a third wheel who is not really that important to Sasuke. Engaging in such (anti-)fandom behavior as a "professional author" hired by the franchise and holding quite the influence for your sub-fandom is just disrespectful. She agrees with fans who beg for official smut novels and art from her and Kishimoto and I just don't think she should is all. (This, and don't laugh, is also marketing research, she can, if the company can profit from it, actually make it happen. Because it already did with the adaptations. But doing so with this type of behavior, doesn't mean the narrative-change is Canon.)

Also, Kishimoto drew the cover but didn't even design it himself. He got the assignment by email. That's how much he was involved. Kenji Takahashi from the design company ‘Terra Engine’ is in charge of the designs and JJ-books interviewed them about it in 2019. (S)

I might one day make a short summary of a long post I made about Retsuden because that one is a mess. I don't encourage you to read it. I do have to say, if you think Sasuke with 2 arms, or Avatar-filter screenshots are bad, from what I've seen, those adaptations are 1000000x better than the novel 😂💀 and that's saying a lot.

Anyway I talked enough. 🌷

[k-rising]

Mercury signs (Part 2)

Mercury is a planet which talks about our mind, the way we think, the way we communicate and our intellect. This planet is ruled by both Gemini and Virgo, which means that this planet has the same characteristics as those signs.

Part 1

𝓛𝓲𝓫𝓻𝓪 𝓜𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓾𝓻𝔂

→ ᴼʳ ᴹᵉʳᶜᵘʳʸ⁻ᵛᵉᶰᵘˢ ᵃˢᵖᵉᶜᵗˢ

Idols from left to right: Junkyu from TREASURE / Seungmin from Stray Kids / Hyoyeon from Girls' Generation.

Libra Mercuries don't like arguments, but they are great advisors and mediators. They often turn to others for opinions when they need to make a decision, since they're very indecisive. These individuals are diplomats... or at least they try lol. They like justice and strive for perfection, but they also can't help but criticize everything lmao. If you want to get closer to these people, it's important to have a mental connection with them.

𝓢𝓬𝓸𝓻𝓹𝓲𝓸 𝓜𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓾𝓻𝔂

→ ᴼʳ ᴹᵉʳᶜᵘʳʸ⁻ᴾˡᵘᵗᵒ ᵃˢᵖᵉᶜᵗˢ

Idols from left to right: BoA / Sangyeon from THE BOYZ / Winwin from WayV.

These individuals speak their minds and anything that challenges their brain will keep them busy. They are good at keeping secrets, especially their own, and when there is a debate, they'll try to win at all cost. Scorpio Mercuries are passionate, and smart. Despite being viewed as very critical, their goal is always helping others. These people have a talent for seeing the truth and they like to get to the heart of things, no matter the consequences; they are excellent detectives and investigators.

𝓢𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓾𝓼 𝓜𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓾𝓻𝔂

→ ᴼʳ ᴹᵉʳᶜᵘʳʸ⁻ᴶᵘᵖᶤᵗᵉʳ ᵃˢᵖᵉᶜᵗˢ

Idols from left to right: Yuri from Girls' Generation / Hongjoong from ATEEZ / Q from THE BOYZ.

Sagittarius Mercuries are optimistic, funny and loud when communicating. They defend justice and freedom, although their personal definition of justice can be a bit confusing... These people have a great thirst for knowledge, but they are not very interested in facts. When it comes to learning, they learn best when they are given the freedom to think and choose for themselves; they prefer the topics that really interest them and they don't put a lot of attention on details. They love debates and they consider themselves as open-minded, but they can also be very critical of the opinions of others 💀. Sagittarius Mercuries can easily detect when someone is being bias, but they don't realize that they can be bias too. These individuals love to laugh and have fun, but they despise mind games.

𝓒𝓪𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓬𝓸𝓻𝓷 𝓜𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓾𝓻𝔂

→ ᴼʳ ᴹᵉʳᶜᵘʳʸ⁻ˢᵃᵗᵘʳᶰ ᵃˢᵖᵉᶜᵗˢ

Idols from left to right: Jisoo from BLACKPINK / D.O from EXO / Onew from SHINee.

These individuals are slow and methodical in the way they talk; they may seem more conservative than they really are. They don't like wasting their time so planning is important to them and they will take as much time as necessary to make sure their plans are not gonna fail. Capricorn Mercuries are witty, but they can easily become overwhelmed if they receive too much information at once. They prefer tasks that end with a tangible result, and they appreciate structure and organization in their lives. These people are productive and mentally active, and they can be quite authoritative as well. They don't like people who do not keep their promises, as well as those who do not understand things that seem obvious to them.

𝓐𝓺𝓾𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓾𝓼 𝓜𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓾𝓻𝔂

→ ᴼʳ ᴹᵉʳᶜᵘʳʸ⁻ᵁʳᵃᶰᵘˢ ᵃˢᵖᵉᶜᵗˢ

Idols from left to right: Taeyeon from Girls' Generation / Jungwoo from NCT 127 / MJ from ASTRO.

These people tend to yell and stutter when exposing their ideas. They are eccentric when talking and they also love jokes. They can be considered intimidating due to their superiority complex. Aquarius Mercuries love controversies, they have little respect for tradition and are very observant. People with Mercury in Aquarius are the first to contradict someone and give their own opinions. They like to break the rules and have intellectual debates. When it comes to learning, they have unusual study habits. They don't like routines, but they can be surprisingly organized! They are intuitive and can judge a person's character very accurately. They are interesting, quirky, and insightful. Aquarius Mercuries are humanitarians and love to help others.

𝓟𝓲𝓼𝓬𝓮𝓼 𝓜𝓮𝓻𝓬𝓾𝓻𝔂

→ ᴼʳ ᴹᵉʳᶜᵘʳʸ⁻ᴺᵉᵖᵗᵘᶰᵉ ᵃˢᵖᵉᶜᵗˢ

Idols from left to right: Wendy from Red Velvet / Kevin from THE BOYZ / Jihoon from TREASURE.

People with Mercury in Pisces prefer following their intuition when communicating. They are indirect and difficult to figure out. These individuals are smooth communicators, almost poetic! They are not oriented to details, they're most oriented towards feelings, emotions and moods that surround them. They don't like cold and hard facts or making difficult decisions. Pisces Mercuries are naive, dreamy, but also quite temperamental and unpredictable. They are great listeners and talkers; they know what others want to hear. It's always difficult to determine what their mood will be when talking to them.