#or when a villain and a hero have the same goals for separate reasons or different reasons for the same goal

[somer-writes]

What's your favorite trope? Like ever. If every story you read/wrote for the rest of your life had to contain this one trope, what would it be?

oh man oh man oh man

i almost said enemies to lovers but really, it has to be crisis of faith

nothing tickles me more than a character having their entire reasoning for doing anything or moral compass laid at their feet. maybe their deity doesnt exist, maybe it does. maybe there is no reason for mercy and cruelty, maybe those things are entirely out of their control. and what becomes the point of anything if they start to believe that their life was never theirs to command??

i love this trope bc it breaks down what makes someone them. like at the end of the line, on deaths doorstep, if they leave anything behind what would it be?

it gives characters a new motivation. sometimes it makes them better, sometimes it makes them worse. i love when no matter good or evil it causes some kind of ascension in them.

even more when it effects a greater world! dead gods are still gods. why are they still being worshipped if theyre gone? why not worship them if theyre alive? how does an atheist align their viewpoint with a world that hinges on deities like a lot of fantasy worlds or how does a theist grapple with this being all there is?

sweet sweet angst in a good old fashioned existential crisis but so much oomph in a character finding out theres no point and making their own instead or perhaps a character choosing their own path to a predetermined destination

[rewrittenmha]

I'm gonna be completely real... I feel like BNHA should've been more about the LOV fighting to change a corrupt system instead of what we got.

They're way more interesting than the cardboard heroes and that they actually had a point in how things were and wanted to change that.

And that the ending would've been something similar to the ending in the DLC We All Fall Down from We Happy Few. Where now the people hate them, with time others will start to realize that they really did the right thing.

I like the idea of them meeting somewhere in the middle.

Because when you think about it, the heroes suffer a lot of the same things the villains do. Hawks and Nagant were exploited children raised to be assassins and used to do the HPSC's dirty work. Izuku, Shoji, and Monoma faced discrimination. Shoto was abused.

Someone, forgot the name, made a good point a few weeks back. That MHA is the only series that pits victims against each other instead of the abusers. And in a lot of ways, that's right. Because other series do that, but in a way that it's obvious and supposed to be something that's called out and amended.

A great example of this being The Hunger Games. The Districts are pit against each other to keep them separated and foster animosity so that they won't rise up against The Capitol. That's why some Districts are kept in poverty while others prosper. The only way to resolve this is to unify the Districts by making them realize that the true enemy here is the corrupt system.

I was waiting for the LOV to start to actually be the ones to teach Tomura this because let's be real, he's sheltered. What he knows about heroes was a bad experience one night and everything AFO told him. The other members actually lived through and faced corruption firsthand. Tomura didn't actually have a plan in the beginning; he wanted to destroy heroes but he didn't actually know why. Not until he formed the LOV. But the majority of the LOV's goals didn't align with Tomura's in the beginning, they aligned with Stain's.

Spinner, Dabi, and Toga even explicitly state that they were only joining the League because of its (fake) connection to Stain. Spinner because he wanted a world with justice and equality. Dabi because of his detestation for false heroes. Toga because she felt a kinship with Stain due to their quirks and wanted to find people like her after being outcast and shunned for so long.

And if we take these goals/motivations for what they are, they aren't bad at all. In fact, I would even say that they're reasonable. I barely counted Spinner as a villain until the Final War because he believed in true heroes and wanted equality for people like him, he even saved Izuku from Magne. Out of all of the LOV, he would have been the easiest to redeem.

(Yes I'm still mad that Horikoshi ruined him leave me alone)

The problem is, those goals were undermined by their actions later. They were either completely disregarded (Dabi), simplified (Toga), or contradicted (Spinner). Horikoshi basically said screw their established characters, they're one dimensional mustache twirlers with no substance. Every character who points out the flaws of society is demonized to justify the status quo.

And this is actually why I take issue with the whole every character having a villain thing. Because this shouldn't be a case of Hero vs Villain. We shouldn't be looking at the LOV like obstacles to defeat, or even to save. We should be listening to them. The goal here should have been to make a better world where what happened to them doesn't happen to anyone else.

My Hero Academia should have been a story of change, not war. And I think that's going to be the heart of this rewrite

[pikahlua]

What are your thoughts on Deku's whole arc about wanting to save Shigaraki? I am a little confused on what his goal was, as it seems he was okay with killing him if he was left with no choice. What exactly did he mean by 'save'?

This is actually a big piece I've been pondering over for a while, and I've got a sort of work-in-progress reading on it.

The person that triggered Izuku's instinct to save was Tenko crying inside one of Tomura's memories. Tenko is the one he wants to save. The thing is, Tenko doesn't exist anymore. Izuku is too late to save him, whether it be in that traumatic moment where he killed his family, or the person he has grown into by the time Izuku comes to this conclusion. AFO has already fused with Tomura. The entity into which they are fused is no longer Tenko, and thus no longer savable (or at least not 100% savable).

It's like the piece of Shirakumo inside Kurogiri. Shirakumo has been used as an "ingredient" in a sense and merged into Kurogiri. There's no separating the spliced people that went into Kurogiri. There's no undoing the programming. BUT there is a small, unfused sliver of Shirakumo that can "muddy the waters" when you poke it hard enough.

Still, Izuku wants to save Tenko, even though he's too late. The only thing he can do to save that memory of a crying child IS to go after the memory. Consider: before MVA, Tomura didn't have that memory of killing his family. He blocked it out. His ascension into a "monster," the "greatest villain," at the end of MVA was a process triggered by the resurfacing of that memory. As Tomura regained that memory, he framed it as a piece of his identity. He didn't want to face the tragedy of his past and the hurt he experienced because it was too great, so instead he justified the memory by believing it was always in his nature to destroy. He believes he is a destroyer, which is rooted in that traumatic memory, and that explains everything he has gone through. It justifies the destruction he wants to wreak as well. This internalized framing is core to his motivation.

The only chance Izuku has of stopping Tomura's destruction is to reframe that core memory. So he goes into the memory and does that. He tries to save Tenko, he tries to hold his hand and be there for him as he cries, and in doing so rejects this idea that Tenko's very nature is just to destroy. Izuku unearths the other feelings that were core to Tenko before his trauma--his desire to help others. This is the proof that Tenko was never a destroyer by nature, and it frays the existence that is Tomura Shigaraki.

Izuku cannot ACTUALLY go back in time and undo all that happened to Tenko, but he CAN change Tomura, who was birthed from Tenko's suffering. He does so by changing the way Tomura perceives that core memory of Tenko's. This is the way in which "Tenko" is saved. Tomura acknowledges Tenko was just a child who was hurt and needed help. This is likely what All Might was referring to when he told Izuku he saved Tomura's heart (or soul or whatever).

HOWEVER, Tomura himself is not undone by this revelation. The Tomura we see in the end that destroys AFO and bids Izuku farewell is one that has regressed back to his unfused state. This is the Tomura who sought to lead the League of Villains--or in other words, this is the Tomura who destroyed to save people. This is the Tomura who wished to be a hero for the villains, and he refuses to be "saved" from being that person. If left alive, he would go on destroying to save those people all the same. He would just do it for a different reason than to justify his identity. Tomura himself has never professed any interest in what happens after he destroys everything, so his ending was always one of instability. He wouldn't build anything upon the ruins of what he destroys, he would likely end up destroyed himself and leave the rebuilding to others to do. Because he is committed to this path, he destroys AFO, the source of everything about his life he hated and always professed he wanted to destroy, and in doing so destroys himself as well.

That last bit is where things get hazy for me. AFO's "trump card" is the piece I haven't fully integrated into this reading, and I know I need to...[long-suffering sigh] go back and reread the Overhaul arc before I come close to finalizing anything. But it's been long enough that I feel I can start to share some of these readings I've been stewing on.

[moon-delia]

★ ៸៸៸ JEALOUSY ╱ post ❜ ✸ ៸ !?!

Along with many other emotions, jealousy is very complex emotion and requires you to break it down into tiny pieces in order for you to identify and write them.

It is very effective in writing as it helps a character realize what they really want and how badly they want it. It doesn't have to be central to the plot; it can be understated and supported by anger or fear.

It comes across in simple examples like a villain who is jealous of the hero, when two characters want one thing / have the same goal or when one character is more successful than the other.

★ ! THE TYPES ❪ 🎧 ❫ ៸ !?!

# ៸ sexual jealousy ― when a character's spouse or significant other displays or expresses sexual interest in someone else.

# ៸ romantic jealousy ― when your character fears the loss of a romantic partner or fears rejection from a potential or current romantic partner.

# ៸ possessive jealousy ― when he/she feels threatened by someone who could interrupt a friendship or relationship that they value.

# ៸ separation jealousy ― when your character has fear of separation or loss of a lover, partner, friend or parent due to their relationship with another person.

# ៸ work jealousy ― when your character feels cheated out of a promotion at work, or feels jealousy towards a specific person at work.

# ៸ friend / sibling jealousy ― When he/she feels inadequate when comparing themselves to their friends/family/siblings (they always try to one-up their friend/sibling).

# ៸ abnormal jealousy ― extreme psychological jealousy that results in or a combination of morbid, psychotic, psychological, delusional, anxious, controlling, immature and insecure behavior.

★ ! WHAT FUELS IT ❪ 🎧 ❫ ៸ !?!

There are many reason for someone to be jealous of another person. It could be rejection, confusion, frustration, powerlessness, insecurity, suspicion, loneliness or distrust. Choose the reason that fits the type of jealousy.

★ ! HOW IT EFFECTS ❪ 🎧 ❫ ៸ !?!

Do they have an increased heart rate or body temperature? Do they become angry and clench their fist, have verbal outbursts, stare downs and tensed muscles? Do they become quiet and have a dry mouth?

★ ! THEIR REACTION ❪ 🎧 ❫ ៸ !?!

★ make up stories/gossip about that person so that others will have negative feelings towards the same person.

★ feel overwhelmed and underachieve in every sphere of their life.

★ avoid the person all together.

★ take up a bad habit or addiction in an attempt to deal with their feelings.

★ become obsessed about something (like over exercising and dieting to beat their rival in a tournament or something more sinister like plotting another character’s demise).

★ manipulate others into feeling sorry for them.

★ over criticize themselves and everything they do.

★ harm themselves, their environment or others.

★ show a blatant disregard for the needs and desires of others to fulfill their own.

★ bully or intimidate the people around them to gain a false sense of power.

★ abuse others physically or psychologically.

★ flaunt their wealth (or fame, intelligence, status, beauty, etc.) to mask their own insecurities.

[coupleoffanfics]

How would Batsis! y/n become a villain?

I found this while trying to clean up my writing drafts. Not sure when I wrote this, but I decided to post it because why not.

Jerome Route

If she had no friends, that connection with Barbara, or relationship with Jeremiah then Jerome would have a considerably easier time charming y/n. The emotional neglect from the family makes her desperate for any sort of contention leading her right into the hands of Jerome.

The family would believe that y/n can be saved, but she sees them trying to save face. Trying to stop her from telling Jerome all the big bad Batman's secrets by saying they're sorry and that they care. She doesn't end up telling him about their identities because someone has to keep Gotham safe. She's with Jerome, but she doesn't agree with everything he does.

y/n might purposefully sabotage Jerome's schemes. It's not because she cares for the family, no. It's for Batman and his Robins to keep innocent people safe. She keeps the family and their personas separate. At least she'll try to see them as separate.

Her logic is backwards and hypocritical, but frankly she doesn't care enough anymore. All that matters is Jerome's love. Who needs friends or family when you can have Jerome?

y/n and Jerome probably argued over wedding ideas.. Jerome wants a circus theme with a replica of his mom as a pinata. While y/n wants a traditional, elegant wedding. They compromise by letting y/n have that traditional vibe with the ceremony and Jerome can go batshit with the reception.

Jerome never put so much thought into something before and he never wants to do that again.

The Batfamily was not invited of course. The family most likely hears about it or even sends wedding photos. y/n probably has Joker or some other villain walk her down the aisle. Bruce sulks about it for months.

Post-Spray Jeremiah Route

If y/n had no one else besides Jeremiah and her moral compass was cracked. Then of course she's almost going to believe everything he tells her.

There's no denying that Gotham is a modern day Babylon. Yeah, the world would be better without it. Maybe it would be a good thing if we do get rid of it. Yeah, we could rebuild it!

But she'll run into the same problem of not fully following Jeremiah's ideology. At least how he goes about obtaining the goal of cleaning up Gotham. The cult stuff freaks her out a lot. When his followers bow down to her and praise her, she'll tell them to stop but he orders them to do that.

After expressing her discomfort over the cult and the followers' behavior, Jeremiah will distance her from it. Having her become sheltered in the bunker or a manor hidden away in the woods. Meaning the only relationship she can have with anyone who isn't Jeremiah is Ecco. Even then Ecco is  just another follower that was trained to be a guard dog.

This version of y/n wouldn't be too involved compared to the Jerome route. But if Jeremiah was caught and sent to Arkham, y/n is sneaking in to break him out. It could be by disguising herself as a guard or forcefully entering it with full confidence.

The family would try to reason with her if only they could actually talk to her. Again since she's not hands on it's a rarity for them to see her.

The few times they've met face to face was when their hero personas. Jeremiah and Ecco were busy fighting off the others, giving them time to talk. If they try to convince her to leave him, she'll either ignore it or tell them about how he's all she ever had. The only family member that could possibly break through to y/n would probably be Jason or maybe even Barbara.

Jeremiah and y/n get offended when they're compared to Joker and Harley. They'll clearly be different because they have a healthy and loving relationship. People probably come up with the comparison because of his physical appearance and he hates it. They're not wrong when they say their relationship is loving, but it being healthy is debatable.

y/n is more than willing to kill or torture someone if they were to do anything to Jeremiah. Though once again her hands are off, but doesn't mind getting her hands dirty.

y/n is the type to write like love letters and put them into Jeremiah's pocket before he leaves. He's in the middle of fighting Batman and suddenly a pink paper with a red heart border falls out of his pocket. Seeing it makes him scramble to grab it and shove it back into his pocket. He'll read it later.

This y/n might live a more semi-normal life, but probably struggles with loneliness and depression. Since Jeremiah is often working and Ecco is Ecco.

Sprayed Route

The moment y/n realizes what is happening she goes to Jeremiah and contacts Barbara who informs the family. They'd probably find a cure, but for the sake of story and angst let's say they can't.

Everyone is just forced to watch y/n become what essentially a Joker lookalike. Or she could look completely the same, doesn't really matter because they'll all be horrified by the drastic change.

She'd use the knowledge of their identities against them. Dangling it above their heads, but it isn't long before they realize that she isn't going to say anything. Oh, but she's definitely telling Jeremiah all about this. Of course he swears to never tell anyone and he might start working with the family to lock y/n up.

Not only was she endangering herself, but others as well. The best thing for everyone is to lock her up.

If she learns about Jeremiah working against her. She'd be so heartbroken. Violently throwing and smashing everything in the room she was in before coming up with an idea. 'He'd never be against me, they probably forced him to work for them. It's all their fault. They always ruin everything, but I won't let them take him.'

Out of all of the other possible routes this y/n would be the most vindictive. She'll guilt trip the family with her sob stories of their neglect, their personas won't won't react. But she knows they'll be thinking about what she said hours later. She'll spit out insults and won't hold back fighting.

Her once passive and defensive fighting style has completely flipped to almost recklessly aggressive. The only way she'll stop fighting back is if they restrain or knock her out.

Arkham isn't hard for her to adjust to. She'll explain to her few visitors (Jeremiah, Barbara, and Alfred) that it reminds her of Wayne manor. But less lonely.

Barbara and Alfred are the only family members she'll allow to visit her. As she still has a bit of a soft spot for them. Will not admit it, but she's always pleasantly surprised when Babs visits her or Alfred sends her some of his cooking. It almost makes her tear up and feel immense sadness. Just almost.

Probably besties with Riddler or something. Most Arkham inmates know of the name Jeremiah Valeska by how much y/n will mindlessly ramble about him. They also know not to mess with him because they'll be put on top of her shit list.

Masterlist Here

[iamsonormalaboutninjago]

Another Harumi plot post because I’m so sad she gets portrayed in a psychopath/ heartless light.

TW: Mentions of Pedophilia and intense trauma.

An essay:

(TLDR at bottom)

Harumi is not a psychopath! Or a sociopath or a sadistic person fueled by genetic villainy and violence.

Harumi is actually a traumatized kid who’s found a way to cope with her trauma by trying to stop the carnage that faces Ninjago almost yearly. Her stated goal for SOG was to bring Garmadon back because he stopped the devourer. She didn’t wanna bring back a horrible person that would cause carnage and destruction, she wanted to bring back a protector who she saw as been more capable than the ninja.

She traumatizes Lloyd, yes, that’s obvious. Yet only because she sees him as being a narcissistic, ego child who doesn’t deserve to be seen as the grand protector that he’s portrayed as. Remember in her journal she states that she saw Lloyd, terrified, during the assault by the devourer. She idolized him incredibly before this, but after seeing him cower just like her she began to think that the ninja only portrayed themselves as being grand protectors, while actually taking credit for what others do.

She was stuck in a Palace for years! From S2-S8 she was trapped in the grand palace. She never saw the ninja defeat the Overlord, or Chen, or Morro, etc. As well, put yourself in Harumi’s shoes; if you only ever heard that your personal enemies are actually hero’s but never saw their heroics in action besides the time their incompetence killed your parents would you believe that they were actually being hero’s?

She hates the ninja and especially Lloyd. She had a Lloyd action figure that was either homemade or bought, both things that require money that a working class family doesn’t have, Lloyd was her favorite! And she saw him fail to save her parents!! It would be the same feeling as a favorite actor or YouTuber turning out to be a content thief or pedophile.

After brining back Garmadon she slowly became shocked and frightened by his ruthlessness and fear tactics. You can see her shock when Garmadon rips apart Mr.E in front of her. She didn’t think she would bring back a cold blooded killer and she never wanted to. She wanted to bring back the hero she remembered saving the city

She shows her true colors when the apartment building she’s in starts to collapse. A sea of traumatic memories would be going through her head in that moment as this is just like the day her parents died. She could’ve chosen to run down the stairs to save herself but she decided to help a family who could’ve been separated, instead of saving herself.

She only revived herself after death because the overlord promised her that he could be the protector that Garmadon failed to be. Her catered to her desire to help Ninjago like any manipulative person would’ve. He didn’t promise her self serving power or the opportunity to kill the ninja, he promised her the opportunity to be a savior again.

So I really don’t understand why people say she’s a psychopath dead set on hurting Lloyd. She’s traumatized, with good reason to be, but unlike a psychopath she realizes that when she’s doing something wrong she changes her ways. When she sees that Lloyd is a good person who only wants to help she realizes she still has feelings for him as he’s the protector that she’s always wanted Ninjago to have. When she sees that the Overlord is a force of evil that caused the death of her parents she defects and helps Lloyd and Garmadon finish him.

Harumi isn’t a villain for villains sake, or for revenge sake. She’s an anti-hero, who was misled and manipulated into fighting for the bad guys.

TLDR: Harumi is incredibly traumatized, saw the ninja fail, never got to see the Ninja be the good guys, and only saw Garmadon actually be heroic. She states blatantly that she wants to stop the yearly destruction Ninjago faces. She also shows herself to be empathetic, and heroic, saving the family in the apartments from being crushed like hers were. She only fights for a villain when they promise her, or she believes, that they’ll make Ninjago a better place.

[comshipbracket]

Antis DNI

Remember, you are voting for the ship you prefer, not the ship you find more problematic

Propaganda for both ships under the cut.

Moriarthree Propaganda (Incest - The three are Siblings)

"I'm going to start with the devotion. And the enmeshed boundaries. They create a persona, separate from the three of them, that is also all three of them. They cannot exist without each other. Louis flat out admits that his reason for living is William. He wants to be the same for William, and he's not enough. He begs to come along and murder people, to take the same stain that has been on his brothers' hands since they were children, because while William wants to save him from that fate, he sees no reason to live on in a world that doesn't include William in it. He wants nothing more than to be useful, and most especially, useful to the Lord of Crime, to the Plan, to William, to Albert. He takes on SO MUCH WORK organizing two households without other staff (read cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry) and they are LARGE HOUSES. MANSIONS. Because they have to keep up the appearance of being nobility. And Albert, who finds them both as children and is immediately struck by how angelic William is, how he knows he must have him."

"To have them both. How he invites them to join him, to become his family, since his father would like to adopt orphans for social reasons and so he can help cure Louis and give them resources to achieve William's goal. Kill the bad nobles. Albert for who the world darkens at the edges more often than not, sees nothing but light when William is around. Albert, who feels incapable of action if William isn't in his life. Albert who sits in jail feeling guilty -- not for his very real crimes -- but because /he asked William to become a criminal with him./ Because he was a reason for William to stain his hands with blood. Albert especially values cleanliness and order and so Louis ensures that he always has it at home. From their very first crime they have always shared in all things."

Snow x White Propaganda (Incest - The two are twins, Twincest, Codependant, ShotaxShota *NOT Underage, though)

"Snow and White are immortal two-thousand year old shota twins who are insanely codependent. One day, Snow decided that he wanted to experience loneliness, because he’d never done that before. White went ballistic and the two fought, with Snow accidentally killing White, but don’t worry! He keeps him tied to him as a ghost! Forever!"

""A direct wiki quote: ` Throughout time, they've never needed anyone to fill the roles of their `mother and father, sister or brother, friend or lover, hero or villain` as they've always been all of that and more to each other.`"

[mx-nii]

The following message is directed to darklina shippers, primarily those of which who have not read the books, those who excuse the actions of The Darkling in the books, and/or those who see the actions and simply accept/ignore them because “he’s morally grey tehe 🤭” or “he’s the same as Kaz Brekker” or “Ben Barnes is sooo hot”.

Let’s start this off strong: The Darkling is ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, BEYOND A SHADOW (ha) OF A DOUBT nothing like Kaz ‘Dirtyhands’ Brekker, and here’s why.

Kaz is a criminal, there is no denying it, and we love him for it. Why, you may ask? That’s because Kaz has two things the Darkling doesn’t.

#1 lines he won’t cross. Kaz Brekker, a man who wants vengeance more than he wants oxygen, still has a hard limit. He’d never do *insert unspeakable things the darkling has done “for the greater good” (they were in fact NOT for the greater good but we’ll get into that later)*. And the reason for that is he actually cares about his friends, his crows. He CARES about their lives more than he cares about his vengeance. Even if he doesn’t show it, he’d never trade one of them for Pekka’s head. Instead, he’d work with them to kill him.

#2 he has an actual reason (now I know, I know: Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason- but he has one). We all know his traumatic history and how it affects him to this day. We know what happened to Jordie and how Kaz vowed to avenge his big brother. We’ve all read the same chapters, the same Kaz POVs. He was wronged and ofc, it’s a YA fantasy novel so he’s gonna kill the bastard, duh. He’s getting his pound of flesh, and some for Jordie too, and he’ll build his empire off of Pekka.

Now I know what you may be thinking: “THIS SOUNDS JUST LIKE THE DARKLING!!” but does it really? Think about it here. Point #1, lines that won’t be crossed. Kaz has proven to have mercy even when it would have served his plan better to not (that part in CK when he threatened to kill a kid); but has the Darkling?

Let’s start a list:

the fold (and everyone inside). Sounds like genocide and world destruction to me.

Novo Kribirsk - again with that genocide.

Alina. Everything Alina. This includes, but is not limited to: grooming her, putting a collar around her neck to steal her powers and enslave her, torturing her and her partner, kidnapping her, sexually assaulting her, attacking her (x a bajillion times), threatening her, etc.

Genya - put a (I believe) 9 year old in the hands of a KNOWN pedophile to retrieve information, separated her from other grisha so she felt alone, manipulated and groomed her, mutilated her, etc.

Killed Botokin and Anna Kunya, and held orphans hostage.

These are specifics I know off the top of my head and I could get more if I did some research, but just rapid fire here: deaths of countless grisha who stood against him, what he did to Zoya, Fedyor, Sergi, Nikolai (not a grisha but he counts), etc.

All of these actions were supposedly to get to his goal of “a safe place for grisha” (We’ll talk about how that wasn’t what he actually cared about later) and he didn’t stop at anything. Never hesitated, nothing.

The real reason this was all for was because he has a MASSIVE savior complex. He may have wanted (past tense) a safe place for grisha but now, what matters more to him is being the hero. He wants more to be the one who saves everyone than to have everyone be safe. It really reinforces the whole “make me your villain” line bc he doesn’t believe he’s the villain, he wants to be the hero so bad- but he’s not. And he never will be, because somewhere along the line, he lost sight of the goal and started making bad decisions and now we’re here.

Another thing I’d like to add, you can like Ben Barnes and not like the Darkling. You have to remember that it’s a ROLE. I love Ben and hate the darkling. Simply bc they’re NOT THE SAME PERSON. It’s actually quite genius that he was casted bc a big part of his gig was seducing people to his side with his insane looks and charisma so clearly it worked a little too well.

Now to get to #2. He didn’t have an actual valid reason- not that any reason could warrant his behavior but he didn’t even have a fucking reason. He SAID he was doing it all “so grisha could be safe” but it’s a lie. It may have been his reason a few centuries ago but I guarantee it’s not his reason now. If that was his reasoning for ALL THIS, he would not HARM grisha to get what he wants. He wouldn’t KILL grisha for his goals.

In short, the Darkling does what he does because he has a MASSIVE savior complex. He wants more so to be the one who saves everyone, than to have everyone be safe.

[dr-runs-with-scissors]

The Thad Thawne and Shigaraki rant

Gonna go and preface this with I'm absolutely sure some people will disagree with me and that's fine. Also gonna say there's probably a fair chance no one knows who tf inertia is so. Just roll with me I'll explain as much as my little brain can

ALSO I'm going to be referring to the OG run and Thad's kid zoom run and that ending. I've admittedly taken massive steps away from DC and I think there was stuff with his character post 2016 that I haven't read enough of. Clear? Okay.

Tw- gonna be a long post, mentions of abuse, creepy older men, spoilers for both series's

Thaddeus starts out his life as a clone of another character, Bart Allen and he's raised by his "father figure" president Thawne to just be a hateful little bastard really. Thad is a means to end for him and his only goal is to get rid of Bart - a lot of his initial characterisation in the impulse comics comes from his mission and relationship (or lack there of) to Bart.

Tomura was abused by his dad (to some extent anyway we can talk about that in a separate post) and after accidentally killing his family he's taken in by the story's big bad, All for one (AFO) who uses him as a means to an end, both grooming him to be his replacement body (we'll get there don't worry) and using him as the punchline to a joke with his nemesis. See tomura is the grandson of Nana shimura, the teacher and mother figure to All Might, one of the big damn heroes in MHA.

So already they're both starting strong with heavy connections to hero's and heroic families. They're trained and groomed by older men as a means to an end that ultimately isn't really their fight.

The next thing is a smaller thing, it's heavily implied that if That's were shown kindness and love he would have turned out well...not a murderous maniac but when he's offered that chance he ultimately declines, and that's in and of itself a nuances thing but ultimately he's never "saved". Tomura was left to the mercy of his family who he described as "rejected him" and when he kills them he's left traumatized and scared (he's only 5) wandering the streets and no one, absolutely no one comes to help, he's even more or less shooed off by a lady - it's all for one that comes to his rescue and takes him in, ultimately leading him down a hard track. Obviously there's differences here but the theme of needing someone in a moment and not getting it (too late in Thad's case and not a real saviour in tomuras) is interesting I think.

Last thing I wanna talk about and it's related to current events in MHA (as of ch374) so this might change but I doubt it.

Thad's story more or less ends with him dawning a new villain title 'Kid Zoom' - the sidekick for Zoom, one of the reverse flashes and after a series of reasonably complicated events he's eventually killed...by the other rogues from the flash's rogue's gallery. Which I always thought was super disappointing. In the end Thad ended up the same way he started - a tool for other villains and despite having what was a wonderfully interesting concept and potential he was reduced to yet another cog in the Allen's Vs Thawnes conflict.

Seem familiar? Yeah that's cuz Tomura is currently in the same position. Reduced to a means to an end in a longstanding grievance battle. All for One is possessing his body and it's looking like his only out is having izuku (the protag) save him which...just doesn't sit right with me like this for various reasons. MHA has increasingly become about the all for one Vs one for all conflict and tomura (and izuku) have become cogs in a conflict that wasn't even theirs. It's inherited. It's not a writing decision I'm a fan of, and people are more than welcome to disagree or argue with me.

Okay sorry for the rant but I'm sure I'll end up adding more to this as days go by

@multi-lefaiye this is your fault for enabling me (but thank you)

[cecenyss]

The best OCs fics can stand alone. When canon is nothing more than context for them, and their character has their own, individual story to tell.

This is always made easier in fandoms like the mcu or the arrowverse, which has a series of villains that are introduced and then defeated, usually within a single short show, season, or movie, and much more difficult with fandoms such as my hero academia, which has a singular “big bad” or “evil” organization of some sort that the main characters work together to overcome within the entirety of the franchise. The singular goal shared by all characters makes it more difficult for OCs to branch off and do their own thing with their own separate, personal storyline.

Of course, in something like a wartime setting this is also made easier without the separation of enemies over different installments, because there’s the understanding that this is a universal thing; something affecting millions of people across different countries or areas or wherever this war is taking place.

In stories with wartime settings, it’s also taking place over the course of several years, making it easier for your original character to go off, do their own thing, and then regroup with the main characters for the bit bad fight, usually the opposing force in the aforementioned war.

There’s no real point to me saying this, I just thought it was interesting. Also I just read The Siren by emmagnetised and it’s fantastic. I love OC stories so much and I always think it’s such a shame what a bad reputation they get; the well-written ones are few and far between and it’s a shame, in my opinion.

There’s something about reading an individual’s own story from within a universe you’re already familiar with that’s so spellbinding to me and I love it. Adding new characters and introducing new ideas, altering canon through the eyes of an entirely new person. It’s like reading an entire novel, with all the thrill of getting to know the character it’s about, but you don’t need to trouble yourself with the world or the other characters. Less to keep track of because you already know everybody else and their dynamics; you just need to focus on this person’s.

It’s the same reason I like reading fics which introduce two characters who never got the chance to meet or write out backstories for people who never got their own canon one. Even just novelizing someone’s backstory when you already have most of the disjointed details.

I prefer pre-canon type fics to future ones or fix-it ones, because to me fanfiction is about expanding on the rudimentary details we’re given. World-building in an otherwise unexplored world. Even just tiny details about what it would be like to live in this world is just fascinating to me.

This ended up as a longer ramble than I thought it would. Read more OC fics and write more OC fics I think they’re cool.

(also I am taking OC fic recommendations for the mcu please and thank you)

[vidmains]

Link to the past gba with 1player 4swords

#Link to the past gba with 1player 4swords series#

#Link to the past gba with 1player 4swords series#

In a massive departure from the series formula, Four Swords Adventures plays out over a bunch of isolated levels. The familiar tunes, the old enemies reimagined in a cartoony style, the classic items this all feels like a title lovingly crafted to allow you and your buddies to share in something you love together instead of something cynically made to sell a stupid accessory. When played with a bunch of Zelda loving freaks, everything about Four Swords Adventures feels like fan service. While not the most original setup, it does at least give you a reason to pal around with your friends through familiar lands. This has the side effect of unsealing Vaati, thus spurring an adventure to save Hyrule once again. With no choice but to rescue them, Link grabs hold of the Four Sword (a mystical artifact that later gets explained in The Minish Cap) to save them. Just as they are about to do so, Dark Link steps out from the shadows and captures the maidens. Fearing the return of the dark sorcerer Vaati (a villain introduced in the previous Four Swords game), she and the six maidens set to reseal Vaati and prevent his return. Starting off in a gloomy storm, Link meets with Zelda and she sets up the goal for this adventure. While the sprites are borrowed from the original Four Swords, the locations and music come from the seminal A Link to the Past, widely regarded as one of the best entries in the franchise. Right from the beginning, you can see Nintendo is borrowing from the best when it comes to backbone of this title. From both a cooperative and competitive aspect, Four Swords Adventures hits every beat you’d want from a multiplayer take on Zelda with a dash of charm that will make any diehard fan blush. Despite Nintendo tinkering a few more times with the idea of a multiplayer Zelda game (most recently with 2015’s Tri Force Heroes), they’ve never done a better job than this. It was a highly unique idea and something way too ahead of its time. Controlled entirely with the GBA, certain segments of the game would force players to look at their handhelds to explore separate areas at the same time. Four players with four Game Boy Advance systems could connect to the lunchbox and explore a new version of Hyrule together. An expanded take on a bonus mode offered in its GBA port of A Link to the Past, Adventures made liberal use of Nintendo’s GBA Link Cable for GameCube. Continued abuse of our services will cause your IP address to be blocked indefinitely.15 years ago today, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures in North America. Please fill out the CAPTCHA below and then click the button to indicate that you agree to these terms. If you wish to be unblocked, you must agree that you will take immediate steps to rectify this issue. If you do not understand what is causing this behavior, please contact us here. If you promise to stop (by clicking the Agree button below), we'll unblock your connection for now, but we will immediately re-block it if we detect additional bad behavior. Overusing our search engine with a very large number of searches in a very short amount of time.Using a badly configured (or badly written) browser add-on for blocking content.Running a "scraper" or "downloader" program that either does not identify itself or uses fake headers to elude detection.Using a script or add-on that scans GameFAQs for box and screen images (such as an emulator front-end), while overloading our search engine.There is no official GameFAQs app, and we do not support nor have any contact with the makers of these unofficial apps. Continued use of these apps may cause your IP to be blocked indefinitely. This triggers our anti-spambot measures, which are designed to stop automated systems from flooding the site with traffic. Some unofficial phone apps appear to be using GameFAQs as a back-end, but they do not behave like a real web browser does.Using GameFAQs regularly with these browsers can cause temporary and even permanent IP blocks due to these additional requests. If you are using Maxthon or Brave as a browser, or have installed the Ghostery add-on, you should know that these programs send extra traffic to our servers for every page on the site that you browse.The most common causes of this issue are: Your IP address has been temporarily blocked due to a large number of HTTP requests.

[the-modern-typewriter]

Any advice on how to write enemies-to-lovers relationships? I have these two characters (one is a heroine/ protagonist and the other is an anti-villain/ antagonist) that I imagine to start off as enemies and slowly fall in love, but I am afraid that they’re incompatible/ the chemistry between them won’t work. And I don’t want their relationship to be forced.

I did a post here on writing conflict in a romantic relationship:

Much of what I say there applies to enemies to lovers and is a good way to start thinking about the characters you have.

If you know you are writing enemies to lovers from the start of your story, the way you set up and create the characters is typically different to when you just write characters who aren't intended to get along ever.

Background bits that are relevant when I talk novel advice

For background reading, generally, if writing a novel, I would recommend familiarising yourself with some common story structures such as The Three Act Structure, The Hero's Journey or Savannah Gilbo's romance-specific take on the Seven Point Story Structure.

Also, this thorough guide on character arcs by K.M Weiland.

I feel it's important to throw this in, because I'm ultimately doing a quick tumblr post, so my tips aren't going to do dig super deep. I'm just hoping to get you thinking about your characters/offer perspective and hopefully clarity.

Now onwards, to enemies and lovers...

I personally like to think of enemies-to-lovers romance characters (though, let's be real, also my protagonists and antagonist generally) as a set. They don't have to match, but they are designed to comment on each other - be that through reflecting the worst or best (in a happy romance, they reflect the best) of each other.

E.g. for me they are often narrative foils or mirror characters. This means that the characters contrast in a way that they highlight each other's qualities, be it how they are different (foil) or how they are the same (mirror).

A romance story in particular is often all about answering the question 'why are these two great for each other?' 'Why should they be together?' 'Why is it worth fighting for this love despite all the obstacles in the way?'

In an enemies to lover's story, one reason is often because they have a unique perspective/ability to challenge each other to reassess their own attitudes and stances (see where this is going back to foils and mirrors?) and thus further each other's character arc.

Foil route:

A simple version of this is, 'hero' character must learn to look out for themselves and not just other people, 'villain' character must learn to not just look out for themselves in order to be truly happy. Bam, collide, and somewhere in the middle of these two extremes you have an actual healthy approach to life, which they end up landing on through interacting and learning from each other. Thus, despite being fundamentally different, they both make each other better, happier people, and this is the basis of opposites attract. They complement each other flaws.

The mirror route:

The characters, despite having opposing goals, learn as they interact with each other that they actually have a lot in common, value similar things, and so a bond forms between them because of this as they realise that, oh no, they actually like each other. A lot. The internal conflict of the novel is reconciling their growing fondness for each other with their still separate goals.

This also means that, for me personally at least, the two sides of your enemies/lovers romance need to be somewhat balanced. I.e. your antagonist cannot be unredeemable monster with no valid points to make, and nothing for your protagonist to reasonably attracted to in them. Similarly, your protagonist cannot be always right, completely wholesome or perfect or...what do they have to learn from the antagonist? What do they have in common?

Obviously, add attraction on top of this + specific reasons to be attracted to each other that fit your characters. Like, as many reasons as you can give why yess, these two, the better.

I don't know your characters, so I cannot tell you if they are incompatible or not. So take-away question, do your characters have the potential to support each other and make each other better? If not, then you may have great tension as a protagonist/antagonist dynamic and they may have sizzling antagonistic chemistry, but that does not necessarily mean they should be in a romance together.

[hello-nichya-here]

Imo Light can't be called a hero, in fact in the end he was getting so fixated with the idea of becoming the god of the new perfect world that he wanted every human on Earth to agree with, to the point where he started killing innocent people and was almost ready to kill his family. Manga Light could definitely be counted as a villain, anime Light at least reflected on his actions, maybe even regretted picking up the death note before his death. Seriously Light with his memories erased and the Kira!Light are like two different people...

But at the same time I'm so sick of people deifying L, saying that he's a "hero" with always good intentions. Like, L's goal was to catch Kira, to beat him in a game because he was bored. I'm not even sure that L really cared about Kira's true intentions. And to win the game, he also did selfish things that affected other people. If L was heroic, he would have solved more crime cases to benefit humanity, not just those that he was solely interested in. This quote describes the truth the best:

"Kira is childish and hates losing. I'm also childish and hate losing." - L Lawlight

And yet these two have the audacity to call themselves justice. What do you think about this?

I mean, that IS the point. Light and L are two sides of the same coin. Both characters:

1 - Show a disconnect from the rest of the world (Light has really shallow, basically performatic relationships with others, L has isolated him almost completely).

2 - Show little to no real care, respect, or affection to other people, with some exceptions (his sister and father for Light, Watari and Naomi for L).

3 - Are absolutely brilliant, and that contributes to their isolation (both because they can't relate to others AND because they see themselves as superior).

4 - Are VERY obsessive.

5 - Found something that allows them to get away with basically anything (L had money and influence, Light had his reputation and the death note, both had the fact that their crimes couldn't be connected to them).

6 - Did a few good things for completely wrong reasons (Light killed some truly awful people who would have hurted others if he had not killed them, L tried to capture a literal serial killer with a God complex).

7 - Did HORRIBLE things to try assuring their own victory.

These two are pretty much one in the same, that's why they got so fixated on each other. All the times they made the same monologue at the same time in different places were deliberate attempts at showing that the only thing that makes them different is circumstance.

Now, regarding regret and Light being a "completely" different person without his memories, we need to keep in mind that:

1 - The death note did NOT create Light's bad traits, it only intensified them AND gave him the means to get away with almost anything.

2 - Light was possessed by a "demon" (Shinigami) and that messed with his sanity. Like I said, it didn't change him COMPLETELY, but it did make him worse, and we don't know how things would have played out if he had the death note, but wasn't possessed.

3 - Both in the manga and in the anime, Light demonstrated some kind of regret/guilt. In the manga it is shown that he struggled to come to terms with what he had done once he started killing people, while in the anime he had that moment when he was moments away from being killed.

4 - L "joined" humanity when he accepted the fact that he was going to die. Light (in the manga) kept trying to separate himself from it by convincing himself that death would not be the end for him/that he was beyond being killed like a mere human, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He was STILL forced to join the rest of humanity, and to truly become one in the same with his rival because, in Ryuk's own words, DEATH IS EQUAL.

Fans might love to misinterpret the "I am justice" speech as making it about either Light or L being correct, or even about them being the "two extremes of justice" as I've seen people claim once or twice, but the real point of the story is in the name DEATH Note. Death makes everyone the same. It just so happened that Light and L were the same while they were alive too.

If you want to read me ramble about Light and why death was the ultimate fuck you to him, click the post bellow:

https://hello-nichya-here.tumblr.com/post/664420189770743808/why-was-light-yagami-wrong

[villainsandvictimsalliance]

My opinion on bnha 329:

You can check in here my opinion about chapter 328, if you want the context.

I'm glad Horikoshi solved many of the things I pointed out last week. And I'm glad that I'm correctly reading into the manga, at least at some extent.

Let's see what we got this week: (long post)

After a long building up of relating Spinner to common citizens, mutants, people with weaker quirks and in general, the audience or the general public, we finally see this being explicitly acknowledged. He's on the end of his arc now, because the people picked him as their voice.

The last point is really important because Spinner now has great power. This is a direct parallel to the way Uraraka took control of the megaphone and spoke for the heroes. Now, it's Spinner's turn to speak for the villains, but because people wants him to do so.

On another note, we got an amazing graphic parallel of Stain and Spinner. While Stain is in shadows, Spinner is bright. And unlike Stain, Spinner has been chosen by the public. He was not there to be a leader, but people recognize him as one. This is very interesting because it shows how much Spinner has grown and how he is his own character, with his own achievements.

We saw Dabi back in a forest. This is a direct parallel to the way he stopped being Touya and got to be Dabi. It's a graphic reminder that we're getting the end of his arc with the Todorokis. What is his last step? We know he has his own plans and we know he wants to make Endeavor suffer, so could he be on a solo mission to achieve his vengeful desires? In which forest is Dabi? Are we're going to get more flashbacks? Are we going to see him back at Sekoto Peak?

Please note that when they mention Toga, it's exactly the way Curious wanted it. Toga is in front of a black background. She's being inserted on a narrative by force and not by choice, because someone else is putting her there. Alternatively, the white background tells us Toga's arc is still lacking definition and scenario for its end. Her fate is yet to be defined.

There's A LOT to say about AFO. Please look how the League of Villains is broken. AFO is using them as puppets. When referring to Spinner, he talks about him like he's a "bodyguard", not an equal or a friend like Tomura used to do. AFO clearly doesn't care about them and he won't stop to consider what they want, unlike Tomura. He has his own things to do and anything else must be forgotten and put aside.

AFO is still hiding behind Tomura. Please note how Tomura is treated like any other nomu. AFO took the throne of the king (Tomura) and made Tomura into a war dog.

Now, I've written some meta before about how Tomura never had an own identity until he met the League. Kotaro denied Tomura being himself, so much that the hand of Kotaro was still making Tomura faceless long after Kotaro's dead.

After Kotaro, AFO took away Tenko Shimura and imposed a new identity: Shigaraki Tomura. Please note that Shigaraki is AFO username, which means that even back then AFO was planning on using Tomura as an extention of AFO himself. And by naming him Tomura he pressured the kid to never forget his anger and sadness, caused by the tragedy of his family. It was AFO who repressed further the kid, all the hands being a physical reminder of such act. The hands were covering his entire face and because Tomura was unable to touch, he was only able to listen, just like the nomus. That's why Tomura scratches his neck so much. He itches for having an own voice, an own personality, an own identity.

If you pay attention to the panels in bnha 329, you can see how Tomura is wearing both a suit that resembles AFO's clothes and a cloak that resembles the one AFO was using on the world where Deku could see the vestiges. Tomura even has the white hair like AFO now. His pose and clothes are a direct parallel to Deku, but in a way AFO is a parallel to OFA.

Tomura has been stripped away of everything that made him himself. He doesn't have the hands, he doesn't have his clothes, people calls him AFO now, he doesn't even have his friends around. He's alone, a weapon and nothing more. I wrote another meta about how Tomura had no identity analyzing a panel from bnha 328. This is the direct consequence of that.

But this is not a separate case. It is pretty normal, in fact. When a system fails, when an entire country dives on a crisis, it's normal for everyone to question their place in that society and their identities.

Deku had an identity crisis and his friends for UA needed to rescue him and reminded him who he was. Toshinori had a crisis and Stain needed to helped him with it. Uraraka questioned too her identity as a hero and from there her speech above UA was born. Endeavor got a crisis, Shoto got a crisis, Toga needs to decide as much as Spinner does who do they want to be, Dabi is facing his old identity and his new identity conflicts...

This is actually pretty good. The narrative around heroes and villains are being questioned.

Who am I and why am I that person?

Do I need to be that person?

What is my role in society? Why?

What are my goals and why? Are they worth all the consequences?

Do I like the identity of my society? If not, can I change it? Can I change all the things before?

Bnha inner universe is walking towards a redefinition. What is a hero, what is a villain, who are they, why they are heroes or villains, etc. These characters were forced into certain roles or they assumed they needed to play those roles, according to what society told them. And now, they are free to decide. Time and time again, in every journey of any hero, the problems of the identity and the self vs the others is vital, and it shows through the decision making system.

On a final note, I'm a little sad that Horikoshi made a female version of All Might to fight Tomura, instead of giving her a more original character design in general. Women in the bnha universe tend to be seen as replacements of previous existent characters, or they are used quickly to further the plot and get forgotten. They deserve a better treatment, being honest.

The kids will get there rest time, because not all the cards are on the table yet. I love that it's the turn of the villains to play, because the final result of the next battles are going to be partially determined by what the members of the League of Villains decide to do.

Spinner will probably betray AFO, because he's not loyal to AFO's ideals but to his own ideas.

Dabi has his own thing going and he's also going to get rescued by the Todorokis. I really want to see Hawks, Endeavor, Shoto and Dabi all in a same fight, because parallels are going to fly around and I bet we're going to found out more about Dabi's heart.

I think Toga is still going to interact with the UA kids and help them somehow. I hope she gets to talk to Deku and make some good friends.

And for Tomura... He needs someone to reach for him. He has lost himself. His determination is gone, the sparks in his eyes, his fire. He needs a reason to fight, a reason to believe. He needs someone to believe in him, someone to call out his name and make him exists. He needs someone to see him. He's the same lost boy who walked on the streets asking for someone to rescue him. He's the same kid that asked for someone to believe he could be a hero. If Deku gives him that, if All Might helps him too, if the League is there to show them their loyalty, Tomura will be able to snap out of AFO's control and break free.

Nothing like a good villain chapter to make me excited about the future chapters. Let's wait and see.

[dystopiandilfs]

The DreamSMP is told in different perspectives meaning the person you watch is automatically the hero and anyone they disagree with is a villain. That's literally the whole point of the server it's all about perspective. That's why it's interesting.

For example people who watch the members of the Eggpire see that the Egg is the villain, they're watching the victim and there's no real hero.

Watching Techno puts Techno as the hero Tommy and Tubbo as the biggest villains whilst Dream is a chaotic but trustworthy ally.

Watching Niki makes her the hero, L'Manberg the villain, Karl her biggest threat and Techno her ally.

The reason most people see Dream as the villain is because nobody sees his perspective which is how most superhero movies are. Nobody is actually a hero or a villain it's all about perspective and persuasion.

If you look from Dream's perspective he and his friends made rules and they all lived by these rules and everyone was fine, Tommy broke the rules was understandably punished for it then he turned that into Dream being a villain.

Interestingly Dream is the only consistent character. He's the only one who's motive has remained the same the only thing that changed was how far he was willing to go to get there. His motive has always been to be a big family, it's why the og rules were put in place, it's why he tried to stop people from separating, it's why he detached himself from everyone, he made everyone hate him so they all finally agreed on something. He told Tubbo and Schlatt that the biggest problem was nobody could agree with anything. He told Sam and Bad that the closest thing to a full server agreement was that people who did wrong got the correct level of punishment which is why he commissioned the prison. (This was just before the egg was discovered). He told Punz he just wanted a happy family again and that he was doing something that everyone would hate him for which is why Punz had to pretend to be against Dream. Then he blew up the community House which ruined the final relationships he had left with the og members and Captain Puffy as she'd given him the tnt (and the obsidian)

Even from day one Dream's goal was for the server to be a big happy family, he made deals with the strays like Schlatt and Techno, he created favours with the influential members, he destroyed everything that was separating and secluding people, he did all these big things to attempt to bring people together (For example Hbomb said the closest the server has been ever was during the rebuild of L'Manberg after Wilbur and Dream blew it up). After discovering that it wasn't enough he made himself the common denominator. If everyone hates Dream it was something they all had in common.

Literally everyone else has had multiple end goals. Techno's was originally to destroy governments but then made his own under the guise of it being a club. Essentially Techno got blinded by control and power, got overwhelmed and tried to leave only for the butcher army to reignite his thirst which is when he decided to blow up another government. He'd changed his mindset, he wasn't going to go after the new government but they went to him.

Tommy tunnel visioned towards Dream making him the villain after Dream stole his discs eventhough Tommy stole his and George's fish, nobody in L'Manberg saw Dream as their biggest threat until he made a deal with Eret even then they were more concerned about Eret. Just as Wilbur started to see Dream as the biggest threat instead of Eret, Schlatt came along and suddenly Dream was providing Wilbur and Techno with supplies, Tommy still saw Dream as the villain but was now busy with Schlatt. Once again Tommy's main goal was stopping Dream as the villain he created but constantly sidetracked to fight other battles.

Bad's perspective is interesting because a large chunk of it is down to manipulation and corruption. He was on Dream's side until Badlands was created that's what made him start to change. Before Badlands Bad didn't really have a clear goal (other than Be Gay Do Crime. /j) His new and more consistent goal is down to Egg manipulation but is the longest he's had the same goal in mind.

Ranboo tried to be neutral and not pick sides however that in turn gave him multiple enemies. All based on perspective. From Ranboo's pov he wasn't picking a side and was a victim to the voice, most people's perspective he was a double crossing traitor. Only Dream and Tommy knew that Ranboo blew up George's house and that was used by Dream to get Tommy exiled but to also get Ranboo away from the biggest defective person, the biggest rulebreaker.

Literally you can't call someone a villain on the DreamSMP unless it's Dream purely because it's based on perspective (and opinion) you however can't use Dream's acts on the DreamSMP as real irl things (that's just fucking weird)

Character apologists aren't a thing. You can be a sympathiser but not an apologist. However just because someone is defending their character it doesn't mean they're enabling it. If someone likes Dream and defends his character it doesn't mean that they're enabling abuse or terrorism. At the end of the day it's a bunch of teens, young adults and Philza having fun roleplaying on a MINECRAFT server with friends. They're not condoning anything that their character does, they're not excusing it. It's just a role. Let people defend their favourite characters. Let people have a different opinion to yours. It's literally the whole point of the SMP.

[an-aussie-button-masher]

The Best of the Worst: Five of Gaming’s Best-Written Villains

   Thanos. Darth Vader. The Joker. It’s no secret that a story is often defined by their antagonist - when thinking of memorable characters, a lot of the time, you’ll think of the bad guy. Good villains can make or break a story, and the best-written baddies are usually the ones that last in people’s memories. Of course, not all memorable villains need to have complex backstories and motivations - Bowser’s just been kidnapping Peach over and over for 37 years and he’s practically the face of video game villains. While there’s nothing wrong with such one-dimensional antagonists, there are plenty of more complex, engaging gaming villains as well. I’ve assembled a small list of them here; this is hardly a comprehensive list, but by the end you’ll see just how interesting these gaming bad guys can be.   Spoilers abound below!

Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)    “It’s cute that y’all think you’re the heroes of this little adventure, but you’re not. You’re bandits. You’re the bad guys, and I am the goddamn hero.”    You can’t discuss interesting video game villains without talking about the psychopathic CEO himself, Borderlands’ Handsome Jack. He’s among the most infamous gaming antagonists in the world, and for good reason; his charming and entertaining persona mixed with his horrifically twisted actions make him a classic “love to hate” kind of character. His popularity even led to being the focus of an entire prequel game detailing his backstory and plenty of references throughout the rest of the franchise and beyond.    While many villains tend to think their actions are justified and pretend they’re the “good guy”, Jack takes it a step further by being so deluded by his own incredible narcissism that he genuinely believes he’s the hero of Borderlands, and everyone in his way - including the actual protagonists, the playable Vault Hunters - are just filthy violent bandits. He thinks that summoning a godlike creature to commit mass genocide on a planetary scale is the heroic thing to do, and doesn’t think twice about imprisoning and enslaving his own daughter to further his goals!    All these abhorrent actions are done with a smile on his face and constant jokes and petty threats, as though the main characters are barely worth taking seriously. Case in point: one of his most famous monologues is about him laughing himself silly while scooping a man’s eyes out with a spoon, all while mocking the player and telling them to just “let the hero win already”. Nice guy!

Flowey (UNDERTALE)    “Did you think you were the only one with that power? The power to reshape the world, purely by your own determination. The ability to play God! The ability to SAVE.”    If you had the power to quick-save and reload the real world like it was a video game, what would you do? Try to fix your mistakes and right wrongs, or wreak havoc before reloading and getting away with it without consequence? In UNDERTALE, the main antagonist Flowey shows just how terrifying it can be when a villain shares the same meta powers as the actual player.    He initially seems friendly and harmless - the first character you meet, and he’s just a happy little flower, right? Well, it’s not long before he proves to be the most dangerous and sociopathic character in the game. He’s aware of the player saving and reloading, and calls you out on certain choices like saving other characters you’ve killed - or going back to kill characters you previously spared. Eventually he gains the power to save over the player’s file, deliberately crashing the game and saving over your own death just to show how helpless you (and any other video game character) are in the face of such power.    Most of his backstory is only found in the game’s “evil” path, the Genocide Route, so to really learn about him you’ll need to prove that you’re even more twisted than he is…and he won’t let you forget about it in future playthroughs either. 

Andrew Ryan (Bioshock)    “In the end, what separates a man from a slave? Money? Power? No, a man chooses…a slave obeys.”    “Would You Kindly” - a well-known phrase within the gaming community, one that accompanies a famous plot twist dropped by Andrew Ryan, one of the main antagonists of Bioshock. Throughout the game, the player is directed all over the fallen, violent city of Rapture by their “ally” Atlas, with no choice but to do exactly as he asks. This is pretty standard affair for linear story games, of course, but Bioshock gives this normally-ignored gaming rule a dark spin with just three simple words.    Andrew Ryan, the creator and leader of Rapture, reveals at the end of the game that the player’s character, Jack, is actually brainwashed to respond to the phrase “would you kindly”, a phrase that up until then had simply seemed to be a quirk of Atlas’ speech pattern. Future playthroughs are given a completely different feel after this reveal, now that the player knows Atlas is actually manipulating them for the entire game. I chose Andrew Ryan as the antagonist to write about here instead of Atlas because he’s still ultimately the reason behind most of the game’s conflict, and his final scene is one of the most harrowing moments in the series.    Shortly after revealing the player’s trigger phrase, he uses it against you - ordering you to run about his office in a cutscene, to really drive home how completely helpless you’ve actually been all game. After that, he even orders you to kill him! As the player whacks away at Ryan’s skull with his own golf club, it’s not so much a victory for the player as it is for Ryan, proving he was right all along: Jack, and in turn the player, is but a slave, with no choice but to obey. Keep that in mind next time you’re railroaded into following orders in any other story game…

Alister Azimuth (Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time)    “You ask all these questions, ask yourself this: how relevant is the past when it can be changed? Your father would have said not very.”    When a heroic character turns bad, it’s usually because their motivations have changed. They decide the villain is right, they decide whatever they’re fighting for isn’t worth it, that sort of thing. This isn’t the case for General Alister Azimuth, however; for the entirety of Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, Azimuth remains steadfast in his goals from start to finish, while it’s the main heroes Ratchet and Clank that change their minds.    Azimuth is initially a mentor figure to Ratchet, and blames himself for the exile of their species, the Lombaxes. He and Ratchet work together to find the Great Clock, a massive time-keeping device at the centre of the universe (give or take fifty feet), with Azimuth intending to reverse the mistakes of his past and bring back the Lombaxes - including Ratchet’s lost family. When Ratchet & Clank learn that the Great Clock is not a time machine, and that tampering with it will have catastrophic consequences, they decide against Azimuth’s plan. Unfortunately, Azimuth is so focused and single-minded on his goal that he ignores the duo’s warnings, and when they try to stop him he turns against them at the end of the game.    Azimuth is a very headstrong, reckless and aggressive character that believes he can brute-force his way through any issue - just like Ratchet was, before he met Clank all those years ago. Narrative foils often make for the most compelling villains! Ratchet likely would have ended up just like Azimuth had he not met Clank.

Lothar Rendain (Battleborn)    “Don’t you see? We needn’t all perish! We can save something! What value is life that is already condemned? What are you fighting for?!”    Doing whatever it takes to survive isn’t exactly an uncommon motivation - it’s a pretty basic demand of living, after all. When it’s the end of the universe as we know it and you take honour out of the question, however, it can lead to some not-so-heroic decisions. Battleborn brings us to a universe dying at the hands of the Varelsi, inter-dimensional horrors eating every star in space, and introduces Lothar Rendain: a battle-hardened military commander that has his species’ survival at the top of his priorities. So, what does he do in the face of seemingly unavoidable death? Make a deal with it, even at the cost of everything and everyone else in the universe.   Rendain’s motivations are at least understandable - in his words, he’s “saving something instead of nothing”, and it may as well be his own people. It’s just a shame he goes about it in the most despicable fashion possible. He’s sided his forces with the Varelsi and turned on the rest of the surviving universe, aiding the Varelsi hordes in exchange for them ensuring his own species’ survival once the last light winks out. After thousands of years battling an apparently unstoppable foe, you’d probably be desperate to figure out a different solution too.   Personality-wise, he stands out as a darkly serious villain compared to the more chaotic and gung-ho heroes, almost as if he was pulled from a different story entirely. He avoids all the usual mistakes of being the “bad guy” too; he doesn’t needlessly kill any underlings that fail him, he takes any advantage he can get in a fight (like siccing a dozen gigantic bosses on the heroes at once instead of playing fair), and he even gives them chances to join forces with him in the interest of saving his own troop’s numbers. All in all, he’s a cunning antagonist with reasonable motivations, yet still so completely irredeemable and evil that finally defeating him at the end is just as cathartic for the player as it is for the heroes of the game themselves. 

   All this goes to show that all the interesting motives and engaging characterisations doesn’t always make for a nice person. There’s hundreds of fascinating and memorable villains out there, far too many to fit in a single article. If you have any suggestions of engaging evil-doers that fit this list, feel free to let me know! Thanks for reading!