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hannahhook7744 · 1 year

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What if Villians were good parents part 2;

Summary: A look into what things would be like if Cruella de Vil was a good mother and aunt.

Trigger warnings; Offscreen Death, past child neglect, unhealthy coping mechanisms, adoption, and mental health issues.

Requested by; @profoundgladiatorbarbarian .

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Archer hadn't meant for it to happen…

That's what Cruella kept telling herself as she drove to the police station. But that didn't quell the anger she felt in the slightest.

Because now he was gone.

Her nephew was gone—dead because of a stupid trick shot that he had tried against her advisement.

Leaving behind his three year old son—Hunter—who had witnessed the whole thing and called the police like he had been taught.

Who had arrived at Archer's farm to find him dead with an arrow in his neck, his wife nowhere to be found, and said son in hysterics.

Cruella knew that it wasn't fair or smart to be angry at a dead man. But she couldn't help it.

She couldn't believe that her nephew had been so reckless.

So selfish.

So stupid.

Perhaps it was a way for her to cope with the overwhelming exhaustion and sadness she felt. Or perhaps it was just because she was so overwhelmingly pissed at the fact that she didn't know what to do.

Who to call.

What decision to make regarding what would undoubtedly be asked of her when she arrived at the station.

Cruella wasn't a stranger to the legal protocol of what was to be done with an orphaned child.

She was old enough to remember when her uncle, Malachi, died and her cousin, P.H, came to live with her family after all.

She knew that Hunter (if she was remembering his name right) would either be placed with a relative of one of his parents or in an orphanage.

She knew that his mother had no family. Or none that could be found anyway.

She knew from Horace and Jasper that orphanages often weren't the best places.

And Cruella, of course, knew her family well. Knew what could go wrong.

Her mother wasn't a caring woman even when her father was still alive and that hadn't changed.

P.H loved experimenting on people and animals—never bothering to ask if it was okay before he started—and always ate the unhealthiest things.

Cristian loved his booze more than ever she did.

Divus was in school trying to become a teacher and forgot to eat a good portion of the time.

Cecil was always on the move trying to hit it big and couldn't afford to take care of a child even if he wanted to.

Cotton was barely an adult himself and had a dangerous job, and an even deadlier fascination with fire.

And Cyrus… was dead…

Which left Cruella.

Cruella who knew that she was emotionally and mentally unstable.

Cruella who had always been firmly against having kids after basically having to raise her younger brothers when her parents were away.

She knew that she could refuse if asked to take the toddler she barely knew in. That she didn't have to take him in. That he wasn’t her responsibility.

But she also couldn't get the image of the wiggling newborn baby with her grandfather's hair and father's eyes that she had last seen three years ago out of her head.

The baby turned toddler who was now sitting alone at the police station waiting for someone— anyone —to show up and collect him from the strange, scary, unfamiliar place he found himself in through no fault of his own.

Cruella knew that if asked to take him that she'd say yes. That it was inevitable and she couldn't—wouldn't just walk away and let Hunter be shipped off somewhere else.

She wouldn't allow him to be shipped off to her mother and have the same lonely childhood she had.

He deserved better than that.

And she was going to give it to him.

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"Auntie Ella, where are we going?" Hunter, now nine, asked sleepily as she helped him into his jacket and searched frantically for the car keys in the dark of her mansion.

The clock read 3:00 AM.

Cruella didn't know what to tell him.

No.

She didn't know how to tell him the awful news.

How to tell him that his great uncle, Cotton, was dead because of his own stupidity and arsonist habits and that his three year old cousin, Ivy, was in the hospital with serious injuries. Mother nowhere to be found.

How was someone supposed to explain that to a nine year old who still had nightmares about his father's own death and his mother's disappearance from his life?

She didn't know.

But she knew she had to try.

"Ivy and her daddy got in a bad accident, and she needs us right now. We're going to go see her."

Hunter furrowed his brows. Taking a few minutes to process what she said as she passed him his shoes and searched for the keys.

"Oh. Is she okay?"

Cruella paused in her search for a brief moment. Not looking at him.

"She's… she's really hurt, darling. The doctors think she's going to be okay but they aren't sure and don't think she should be alone right now."

"Oh."

"I know. Now come on, get your shoes on and help me look for the keys."

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As she stared at her younger nephew, Diego, as he slept on her couch, Cruella couldn't help but wonder how she kept getting into these situations.

She had already taken in Hunter and Ivy, who were now 10 and 4 respectively, and now she was to take in Cecil's oops baby that he hadn't known he had until yesterday.

Why she had agreed to take the 3 year old in while his father was still alive, she didn't know. But it wasn't like she could revoke it now considering the fact that Cecil was already out of the country on another one of his shoots.

Sighing, Cruella grabbed a blanket from nearby and draped it over the sleeping toddler. Who furrowed his brows but thankfully stayed asleep.

She really didn't get paid enough for this.

Oh wait.

She didn't get paid at all.

It was a good thing she was rich.

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"Diego, darling, don't poke the baby" Cruella sighed tiredly as she strolled into the nursery at 1am to find her 4 year old nephew poking her newborn son.

Causing Carlos to wail louder than he already was.

"Sowwy Auntie Ella." Diego said, retracting his hand from the crib.

Cruella just ran her hand through his hair as she leaned over the crib to check on her son. Knowing that the older boy didn't mean any harm. "Why are you up? Did you have a nightmare?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shake his head. Causing his bangs to fall into his eyes.

" 'Los crying. Los sad?"

"No, darling. That's just the only way He knows how to communicate with us."

"Oh."

Cruella hummed in response, squeezing the squeaky dalmatian chew toy that amused her son for some unfathomable reason in hopes of calming him.

Causing his crying to cease as he stared up at her and the toy. Which he immediately reached for, cooing and clapping. Eyes lighting up.

Diego watched intrigued, so Cruella squeezed the toy again.

Exciting Carlos further.

And in that moment, Cruella allowed herself to smile despite her exhaustion—because she was doing much better at this than she ever thought she would.

And a part of her was much happier because of it.

#descendants #disney descendants #melissa de la cruz #101 dalmatians the series #101 dalmation street #101 dalmatians #cruella de vil #carlos de vil #hunter de vil #diego de vil #ivy de vil #descendants au #disney descendants au #descendants fanfic #descendants fanfiction #etc

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lucyghoul · 2 years

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sookie is such a Woman Character in a way because the show insists that they’re doing a look she’s nice and southern and believes in god and is a good neighbor but if you fuck with her or the people she loves she will fight back and you’ll regret it. and yet the show frequently sets her aside and keeps her out of the action. even when she is she’s accidentally blasting people or providing psychic intel or being told she should go back and be safe. jason and tara each reach a point where they’re wielding wooden bullets and generally fighting back pretty hard and yet sookies moments of triumph are often small (half an episode in fairy world) or come out of a specific relationship (rescuing eric or bill or jason, standing up to king bill on erics behalf, talking back generally).

and sookie’s relationships are obviously such a source of strength for her and yet they never give us time with anyone but bill. she rarely knows what’s going on with tara or jason, she and eric are separated immediately for a whole season when he gets his memories back and never speak of their relationship again, she and alcide get together offscreen and then he dies before we get a sense of them as a couple. i don’t know the refusal to actually give sookie many moments of directly navigating her relationships or directly solving a problem and then ending it all with a focus on bills stupid ass vampire aids masochism and the husband and kids ending… HMMMM

#relationship girl and yet her relationships are barely explored #even with tara and jason #obviously you can’t talk about true blood without talking about #how fucked up the treatment and disposal of tara was #both for her own sake and sookies #they’re meant to be the core relationship of the show and it is tossed so mercilessly aside #sookie barely mourns tara #tara and sookie never really reach a point of communication or clarity #on their two sides of the vampire debate #jason and sookie is way better but still #not enough #and i cant even speak about Eric that’s a different post

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linseedlings · 2 years

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ok I’ve been stuck in quarantine for 6 weeks and here are some jjk nuggets that I’ve been mulling over

I’m gonna talk about:

Mai and the weird tradw;fe bullshit the zenin clan’s got going on

The fact that Yuji used to have zero/zilch/nada friends

How i don’t think Gojo can leave Japan I literally just saw him in Kenya

Is Nobara in credit card debt?????

manga spoilers below, but this is mostly me speculating

Mai & being stuck in a fundamentalist hell hole

So we know that Mai was forced to attend Jujutsu Tech after Maki left. We know that she would have rather lived a quiet, domestic, and forgettable life. We know that she hated everyone that bent the course of her short life.

Her technique allows her to make something out of nothing, and it’s usually used as a last ditch effort. It echoes her character arc and it is very very sad.

Maki acted as a lightning rod for criticism. She worked the hardest, she wanted to be seen, and she had a lot to prove. But she wasn’t doing any of this for Mai’s sake.

I think that the rift between them formed gradually. The louder Maki was, the easier it was for Mai to sink into the background. Understandably, I don’t think that Mai ever intervened when she saw her sister being reprimanded/abused. She tried to help in her own small ways at first, cutting up fruit like their mom used to do. This didn’t last. She came to learn that avoiding Maki was the only way to preserve her social standing.

She remembers how the warnings her mother gave her; to never complain or scowl no matter how vulgar the boys get; to never upstage them during training; to show Maki up wherever she can; that her reputation would be ruined by the smallest scar; that her father’s reputation would sink if she couldn’t produce children of quality. Mai knows that her body doesn’t belong to her and she hates it.

Mai has never considered a reality where Maki leaves. When the rug is pulled out from under her, she falls. She barely has any skills she can rely on, and scrambles to catch up. All of her inadequacies are suddenly on display. People look at her differently, like all they’re waiting for her skin to mar and her value to plummet. But what can she do? Mai Zenin cannot be a proper woman and a proper sorcerer at the same time. She doesn’t really want to be either.

Utahime understands this, and Momo does too. They encourage her to focus on long range techniques; to stay out of sight and keep tricks up her sleeve. They meet up at cafes and talk about their futures. Mai doesn’t want to run away like Maki did. She just wants to graduate, meet someone nice with pretty hair, move far, far away from Kyoto, and never have any children.

Also has anyone else noticed the kids at Kyoto Jujutsu Tech are like…. A little extra fucked up. I feel like they should have a student union or something those kids are way too stressed out.

Yuji didn’t have any friends. Like none.

I’m paraphrasing some of the stuff i put in the tags of this post! It’s mostly talking about the first couple of chapters.

I’m not saying he was unpopular or anything, but I don’t think Yuji’s ever had a chance to form a deeper/meaningful relationship with someone before he got to Jujutsu Tech.

I know it’s a weird thing to say since he’s so authentic and outgoing, but he just didn’t have the time. He made his Grandpa his first priority, and really, truly felt a deep responsibility to make sure he was cared for and comfortable.

In middle school, I feel like people kept inviting him to things, but he said “no” so often that they eventually stopped asking. He doesn’t really harbor any resentment towards them though, which is kind of refreshing?? Like he doesn’t expect anyone to show up for him. He’s so used to being independent that he doesn’t even think to miss emotional support.

No one really calls him after he transfers schools either. No one checks up on him or asks him how he’s doing. I don’t think he remembered to give Setsuko and Iguchi from the Occult Club his number. If anyone could just up and leave to go to Jujutsu Tech, it would be a kid like this who doesn’t have anyone looking out for him. Thank god they got to him before the culling game.

I think that’s what made the whole Junpei situation hit as hard as it did. Yuji knows what it’s like to not have friends. He knows what it’s like to grieve alone, and he’s able to empathize when someone is lashing out in pain. To be honest I felt like they had the most genuine friendship in the series!! I’m never going to be ok!!!!!!!

Also one more tidbit: Setsuko and Iguchi are PERSONALLY escorted out of the culling game by Kenjaku. The kids who knew him for like what? Less than a semester?? It really goes to show that even the smallest interactions can have a positive impact on someone’s life. I mean they found the first finger so it could also be related to that but they were really nice to Yuji. Love them.

I really love Yuji’s character arc like… he’s just a good person. The Higuruma arc?? Relatable content chefs kiss I’m gonna reread it later.

I don’t think Gojo can vacation outside of Japan

Well, technically he could, but the thought of it makes him anxious.

He knows what his presence means to Jujutsu society. If he left for even a weekend the higher ups might get cocky and expedite an execution. A special grade curse could appear in the middle of Shimokitazawa. Someone he knows might disappear again.

He’s thought about experimenting with teleportation overseas - somewhere close like Jeju Isalnd in South Korea - but it’s a little risky. There are some variables due to Tengen’s barrier that might interfere with the technique. It might be fine both ways, or it might only work one way, or it might fail at the barrier’s border. He wants to avoid his teleportation failing over the ocean, or even worse, wasting 5 hours at the airport trying to get a flight back home.

However he DOES have a passport. He got it to create extra work for the higher ups. It’s someone’s job to check his visa status daily. When he’s bored he applies for travel visas just to fuck with them.

When someone (especially Nanami) goes abroad, he always asks if they brought him a souvenir. Surprisingly, they usually bring back some local sweets. They know that he doesn’t really go on vacation and they feel bad for him.

If he could go somewhere, it would either be India or France (for dessert purposes)

Is Nobara in Credit Card Debt???

Ok so I don’t know what they’re paying these kids but I DO KNOW what it’s like to move to a big city with a lot of designer stores. Sometimes I walk past them just to feel something.

I’m gonna guess they get a pretty high stipend, like $60k USD per year? And they don’t have to pay rent or tuition, so that’s purely spending money.

So, she moves to Tokyo from the country with a big ol paycheck. She’s gonna do some shopping, and buy some high quality basics like jackets, shoes, makeup, etc. If she walks up to checkout and they offer her 20% off to sign up for a store credit card, she’s going to say yes every single time.

Just don’t check your bank account it’s fine!!

Until she gets her first credit card statements in the mail. How did she sign up for 12 different credit cards? How did she spend $2000 in one week??? Why is the interest rate so high???

She asks Yuji for help, since he’s actually pretty good at budgeting. However, He’s never seen a bill with this many zeroes, so he called Nanami instead. He tells him to come immediately, it’s an emergency.

Surprisingly, Nanami really does treat this like an extreme financial emergency. (He also used to have a bit of shopping problem. When he started his job in finance, it was all designer all the time in an attempt to keep with with his clients. It took him a while to get out of that hole)

He consolidates all of the debt onto one good cashback credit card with a generous sign on bonus, and helps her come up with a plan to pay it all off. He also teaches them about the importance of investing in staple pieces, and warns them about the peril of lifestyle creep.

I wonder if they have like? Any sort of financial literacy courses for these kids to take? I’m so curious about what their daily schedule looks like. What’s the highest level of math they have to take?? Gojo is their only teacher right???

Anyways thanks for reading this far! I hope you have a good day!!

#mai zenin #maki zenin #zenin family #yuji itadori #junpei #gojo satoru #kento nanami #Nobara kugisaki #jjk #jjk headcanons #sometimes i like to pretend I’m a staff writer #i love Nobara i hope geto brings her back soon #refusing to believe she died offscreen

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melis-ash · 3 years

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have you watched elite's season 4 finale already? what are your takes on caye and phillipe? no judgements here tho, just want to know your opinion on them

Hello, nonny! Yes, I did. My opinion about Caye and Philippe has several different aspects (which a litle bit conflict with each other).

Lets write long post.)) Sorry for mistakes and typos, English is not my first language and I`m not really good with grammar.

1) Caye and Philippe story is feminist retelling-reverse of the Beauty and the Beast, where main characters didn`t became couple and The Beauty left her Beast not for Gaston other romance, but for her own path. And their relationship helped the Beast to realize his past mistakes and make to want to fix it, even if it`s too late . Comparing with many other things in that season that storyline was not bad. Really. There MANY problems with s4, I think the best stolyline had Rebe and Mencia, it was really good, and in my personal opinion, despite many flaws, Caye and Philippe storyline is second one for me. Kinda it was not really good, but it had plot, idea, composition and message. Writers knew very clear, what they tried to say, and despite obvious lack of screen time, they handle it, and this story, despite it doesn`t connect with main plot, resonate with main storyline on the level of their ideas. (About it later.) I know, Georgina is feminist, so I wonder, could she give some advice writers? Kinda “it can work better if...” something like it.

2) Personally I`m very disappointed how OOC was Caye in that season and how few screen time she had. For me Caye from s4 feels like too much different person than in s2-3. I wanted character development for her, but something more slow and realistic. S4 Cayetana feels like all her character development happened between s3 and s4 (and partly in special, which really was very good), and I don`t believe in it. Caye from s4 is good character, but there is no real connection with Caye from s2-3.

I knew, she was very upopular character in s2-3, so maybe creators afraid to gave her too much screen time. But also they still wanted she was part of story and write redemption arc for her. And honestly, anon, these two thing can`t work together well. When you write redemption arc for well written nuanced character that Cayetana was in s2-3, you need give character enough screen time and nuances. But it seems, s4 writers don`t care enough about writing S1-3 characters in character. In s2-3 Caye was bad girl, but also she was comedy relief (but s4 has very few comedy moments), she had family (where the fuck her mother and granddad now? We know only that her mother cannot work in Las Ensinas, but don`t know, why), we saw, that she did`t sleep almost, because she learn in Las Ensinas, worked as janitor and still hung out with rich kids. (I think I began feel compassion for her, when realized it). It that seson she almost has not other scenes than with Philippe. OK, she was pariah in school during previous year, but if writers began that things with Caye and Rebe friendship, can they continue it. Rebe and Caye both had problem with their love interests and they never discussed it. Only time they speak about Philippe was in 402. Also Benjamin fired Azucena, and wanted to expel Samu and Omar, but Caye still works there? And Benjamin still protects her even? Why? I mean, after whole thing with scam in s2. Maybe it because protection of Polo`s mothers, but it never was said in s4 even. It seems, Benjamin knows things about her story with Polo (like he knows about Philippe`s past), and it could be really interesting possiblity to bring on scene that aspect of situation and Benjamin`s character and him and Caye interaction.

Also there is something with Georgina`s acting in s4, in most of scenes she acts as different character, so maybe it was and her (as actress) decision too. I wrote before, she is feminist, and maybe she wanted to bring more feminists vibes in s4 Caye, because it makes storyline works better? Given how few connection with previous seasons on script level her s4 story had, it make sense even, it`s just feel OOC for me, because Caye is not feminist at all. She is strong and ambitious, but she is not type of women what call themselves feminists, and when she said “I became my own Fairy Godmother” in s2, she meant that she was forced to do it. Caye was girl who wanted to be princess from old school Disney animation. In s3 she wanted to live and study on Polo mother money in London and was fully OK with it. When she refused their proposition, it was because thoughts, that Polo could be alive and even more or lesser happy in other school without those her messages, haunted her. Plus when Polo died, he thought Caye was with him more because his money than because Polo himself. I remember, in her first scene Caye read The Second Sex, but it was spectacle for her schoolmates. And when she spoke with them about her fake rich life, it always was “look how rich and glamour I am”. Partly she spoke in this way because she knew very few about rich people`s life, but also there were some of her dreams. She wanted to be rich and and be part of this glamour life. In s3 she became in some way, and she had a lot of possiblities to understand how many shit, pain and tragedies can hide for glamour facade. Theoretically she knew it before. But she was exctremely poor, so it was a little bit difficult for her to think about it too much.

3) So I think more mention of Caye`s story from s2-3 could make her and Philippe story better. Philippe himself have same problem as Polo in some way: he is rich guy, and his mother indulged him too much. Caye saw how Polo`s mother indulged him and saw where it ended. Not good for Polo and many other people. Marina and Polo could be alive and Samu`s family could live with him in Spain, if Polo`s mothers raised their son better. Even if Caye don`t care much about Guzman or Samu and she never knew Marina, she had enough time between seasons to reflect of situation. So with more s2-3 reference that “matter of education thing” Caye says to Philippe`s mother could sound not only as sort of feminist slogan, but as something very personal and painful for Caye. She was in love with boy, who was spoiled too much by his parents (like Philippe), and it brought a lof pain him, his friends, Caye. I don`t say there are not at all attempts include previous Caye experience in s4. For example, when Caye does google research about Philippe and finds nothings, she is still suspicious because she know, how easy money could erase some thing. Also that thing with Pilippe`s mother. I think after conversation with her,Caye realized that Philippe`s and Polo`s promblems had very much same roots. But such moments really have not enough space. Guzman had at least one scene, where he speak about his reflection on s1 evens (where he compares Mencia and Marina). I would like to see something like it with Caye.

4) Many things in Caye and Philippe storyline feel offscreen. We know they regularly talk in school, but see very few of it etc. Actors have good chemistry, and since they both like fashion design, it feels enough for beginning of communication, plus Caye had crush on Philippe long before they met, plus she was first who was really friendly with him in new school (in some way it`s repeat of Caye and Polo story, but with more positive vibes). But I want to see more illustration, why Philippe fell in love with Caye so much.

5) Now about Philippe himself. I saw many hateposts and hatecomments about him, and it`s really funny, because I constantly see how many people in this fandom love Polo and think he deserved better, despite Polo is murderer. Yes, he killed Marina out of emotion, but she is fucking dead. She will never resurrect. Guzman will remember till grave that his best friend killed his sister and then was killed by Guzman`s ex-girlfriend, because policy failed to handle their job well. Samu`s brother was forced to left Spain because it. But it took 2 seasons for Polo to understand he needs go to policy and confess he killed Marina. Caye didn`t understood how wrong her actions were till Polo`s death. I don`t know how long was Elodie`s rape, but at least Philippe didn`t need someone`s corpse to realize his mistakes. Inside standart of this show that guy isn`t hopeless. “Everybody deserve second chance” was important point in Caye`s story in s2-3, so now I wonder how writers will play this card in s5 in relationship between Philippe and Caye.

Also I want to say I was wrong, when doubted in Pol Granch acting, he`s good additon to Elite cast.

6) Caye x Philippe storyline and main storyline. In that seson Elite brings of scene, in additon of another murder and drug traid, sex crimes. Prostitution, rapes. It`s interesting, that connection here takes place through Ari, girl, who has serious problem with sexual behavior, when she`s drunk. She`s know it`s perfectly, but also she knows, that when woman says “no”, it`s means “no” and end of story. I really like her role in Caye and Philippe story and I hope in s5 there will be at least some scenes with her and Caye. Also interesting point were Ari`s word that she never report to the police without prove. It feels ambigous. She knows, Phillippe is not angel at all. But also there is other side of coin. I think, she also knows, reputation can be ruined very easy. During s4 there was subplot with discussion club. And Samu speak that ex-criminals cannot become somebody else, even if they wants. Their reputation in society was ruined. In final of Philippe story he sent Elodie his confession. So maybe writers tried to write about theme “can criminal, who admitted his mistakes, to became somebody else?” through season and I think they will continue it in s5.

Sorry if this all sounds muddled and too long. Maybe later I will make some additon into reblogs to this post, I don`t know.

#elite #elite netflix #elite spoilers #elite s4 #cayetana grajera #philippe florian von triesenberg #cayetana x phillippe #polo benavent #polo x cayetana #georgina amoros #pol granch #ari bianco commerford #elite meta #text post

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chaosoftheages · 2 years

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Stranger Things 5 Theories

Warning: A lot of these involve Dustin for a few reasons: 1, He’s my fav. 2, I refuse to believe Eddie died in his arms. And 3, HE IS A VERY PLAUSIBLE VECNA TARGET RIGHT NOW

Enjoy my zero brain cell theories

1. Eddie is still alive and will save Dustin

No I don’t think he’s dead. Either he’s turned into Kas the Bloody-Handed, or he fainted.

Imagine Dustin gets Vecna’d a second time and Eddie is the one who saves him and kills Vecna.

2. The Demobats somehow lived and will attack Dustin(And then El will resurrect him)

Although I think the Demobats died when Hopper decapitated the Russian Demogorgon, there’s still a chance they might show up. A slim one, but still a chance.

This could serve as Dustin’s ultimate sacrifice for Steve. El could notice Steve sobbing over the death of Dustin, and could resurrect him.

3. Vecna is controlling Max

We all know Max is still alive, but when El entered her mind, there was nothing. This could mean a couple things: One, she’s pretty much dead(Hopefully not), or two, She’s still in his mind lair and Vecna still has control over her.

Something I was thinking of is Dustin does what Max did in S4 and rescue Max or at least find her.

4. Eddie is Kas the Bloody-Handed and Dustin could save him(Or Killing Vecna could)

If Eddie did survive his Demobat attack, it’s possible he’s Kas the Bloody-Handed. If he is, it’s possible Dustin or killing Vecna could save him. Or kill him, we’ll find out.

If so, then something I would love to see if Dustin finds Eddie’s guitar and plays Master of Puppets to save him.

5. Vecna kills(or almost kills) Dustin, and in turn, Steve and Eddie kill him

Going back to Dustin getting Vecna’d, if we go down the “Eddie is still alive” rabbit hole, Dustin’s guilt over Eddie’s death could lead to his death, and Eddie’s revival, and Vecna’s downfall.

In that reality, we’d have two comatose Party members.

6. El resurrected Eddie offscreen

Basically similar to my “Eddie revives himself saves Dustin from Vecna”, only El found Dustin having a meltdown over Eddie’s body and saved him. Then we’d have an actual zombie boy among us.

7. Dustin could be the one to beat Vecna

Dustin is one of if not the smartest characters in the series. He knew excactly how to distract the Demobats(Though that kinda killed Eddie I’m not blaming him I’m just saying), knew Vecna’s body was ungaurded while the Demobats were distracted and Vecna was after Max.

Who’s placing bets that Dustin’s next “Operation Kill Vecna” plan is the one that destroys Vecna once and for all.

8. Vecna is controlling the Mind Flayer and could send it after the group.

We all know Vecna AKA Henry Creel technically created the Mind Flayer, so if Vecna pretty much controls it, what if he sends it after Team Kill Vecna(Mostly likely with Dustin)

I have many more but I’m too lazy to post. Besides I’m turning my theories into a fanfic rn and my cousin got stuck staying the weekend here so yeah

Later nerds!

#Stranger Things #st5 theory #dustin henderson #im to lazy to work #yeah #kay bye

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shrinkthisviolet · 3 years

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☕️ the media's need to ~always~ redeem an antagonist

Ohh boy, buckle up, and let’s get into it.

So generally, with redemptions, they can be done in three ways: dying for romantic love, dying for platonic love, or a grueling journey in which the antagonist earns their redemption.

Option 2 is done well with Darth Vader, who dies protecting his son. Notably, the narrative never excuses his actions or lets him do so–Luke offers him Option 3, and he refuses. Granted, he’s on the verge of death, and maybe he wouldn’t live long enough to actually fulfill Option 3, but let me tell you something about Anakin Skywalker. He doesn’t care about the odds. If he wants something, he will take it, screw the consequences or the odds of survival. It’s how he fell to the Dark Side in the first place. The choice to die here, to reject Option 3, to not burden the Rebellion with his presence...it’s a testament to how much he’s grown. He isn’t a hero, but he isn’t quite a villain at this point anymore. It’s why the Force allows him to be a Ghost.

Option 1 can be done well, possibly, but I’ve only seen poor examples, myself. A certain other Star Wars villain comes to mind, but I’ll just leave it at that–I think it’s self-explanatory.

Option 3 is done very well in Johnny Lawrence imo. His crimes are not comparable to Vader’s, but he too is an antagonist. In the first Karate Kid movie, he bullied Daniel LaRusso, beat him up a bunch, and maintained a warped perception of the whole thing (perhaps as a subconscious way to avoid responsibility. Emphasis on subconscious–it’s a very human thing to absolve ourselves of guilt, this does not inherently make him a bad person. His actions in KK1 are cruel, but the justification is a human thing to do). The narrative even calls him out for this via a character in S3, and it’s not just a headcanon that his story to Miguel in S1 about Daniel was heavily biased.

By the time of Cobra Kai, we see that Johnny’s fallen on hard times, and even throughout the series, we see him unlearning the Cobra Kai rhetoric that he’s known all his life. He reconciles with Daniel over and over, and each subsequent time goes better than the last–it’s progress, slow but sure. We don’t see an apology from him to Daniel, but we can believe that it will happen, either on- or offscreen (preferably onscreen, Cobra Kai writers!).

It also helps that Johnny isn’t the main villain (and neither is Daniel, so I better not see any replies or reblogs of this calling him that). That “honor” goes to John Kreese, the man who started it all. But my thoughts on this show could go on forever, and I’m trying to avoid spoiling too much, so feel free to send another ask if you’re curious about my thoughts on the show or any of its characters!

Now, the crux of the matter: I think media should invest in not redeeming its villains/antagonists. Because yes, it can be done well (see Vader and Johnny), but it can also be done poorly. And I can think of three candidates who are much better as unabashed villains: Azula, Yzma, and Loki.

Azula...is complicated. She’s a 14-year-old abuse victim, but she also committed numerous atrocities in the name of her country and was toxic to her two best friends (yes, both of them. Mai wouldn’t have chosen Azula over her brother if she wasn’t afraid of Azula). Could she be redeemed? Of course, she’s 14 (tho I will leave my thoughts on that at “Option 3 or nothing at all”). Does she need to be? No, she doesn’t. Her contrast with Zuko, and her contrast with Katara, means that narratively, she’s most powerful as an antagonist.

Yzma and Loki are purely agents of chaos. Giving them a backstory is one thing, but excusing their actions? Hot take, but I find the Loki in his new show much more compelling than the one we got in Infinity War. I know that Loki was mind-controlled in Avengers, but even if we excuse all of his actions, he just...doesn’t suit the hero role imo. If anything, he’s an anti-hero. The Avengers would bore him quickly if he were on their team, and honestly, that’s for the best. Just let him be villainous! Same for Yzma.

TL;DR: Villain/antagonist redemptions can be done well if done carefully, but they aren’t mandatory. In fact, I’d argue that an unabashedly evil villain/antagonist is much more compelling.

Send me “☕️” and a topic and I’ll talk about it!

#marvel #mcu #loki #emperor’s new groove #yzma #cobra kai #johnny lawrence #daniel larusso #star wars #darth vader #avatar the last airbender #atla #azula #spilling the tea ask game #tea ask game

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tanoraqui · 4 years

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okay I have to do this today because even I wouldn’t do it after the godforsaken finale airs, and it’s basically my specialty and I did spend like an hour thinking about it last night while washing dishes. Definitely partly inspired by @words-writ-in-starlight‘s insightful post on everything Supernatural did wrong, and apologies in advance to all the characters for dragging them into anything related to Christian mythology:

Wei Wuxian’s parents die in a house fire when he’s 6(? I refuse to look anything up) months old

Jiangs are a hunter family I guess? That whole disaster of a family dynamic, except WWX dips out at some point to be idk an environmental activist bc at the time, that seems like the larger threat to the whole world. “Mom and Dad went on a hunting trip and they haven’t come back”, “bitch” “jerk”, 2 brothers in a beat-up old car, you know the drill

Jins are also an old hunting family, but more Men of Letters energy - they have a fancy bunker and do research and avoid getting their actual hands dirty. Jiang Yanli ducked out of the active hunting life a few years ago to be happily married to her peacock and settled down with a baby and she’s fine. We’re not going to bother Yanli. She’s safe and happy and doesn’t need to involved in any of this

so, WWX is the demon blood child developing exciting new abilities like telekinesis, mind control, exorcising demons by sheer force of will...etc, and Jiang Cheng is the Righteous Man. Lucifer, Michael, etc.

s1-3 probably proceeds more or less as spn canon...which I more or less remember...by the time they find their parents at the end of s1, Jiang Fengmian is...ugh, we probably shouldn’t kill him offscreen, I mean, we should probably meet him before he dies. I guess. Madam Yu lasts longer because I’m way more interested in her. But we do know that both Jiang parents are totally inclined to fling the boys into a metaphorical or literal escape boat and go hold the line for as long as possible, so...that’s spn energy...

Xue Yang is the one who’s like “fuck yeah, demon powers” and opens the gates of Hell, because I want him to have nice* things

*nice for Xue Yang

from characterization rather than memory, I’m 90% sure that Dean tried to hide his crossroads deal from Sam, but Jiang Cheng does it...better. I think it does come out, though. Right before the hellhounds do.

here’s where it starts to go farther off from spn canon. Jiang Cheng crawls his way out of the grave, gets stalked by a menacing presence that explodes windows for an episode, incidentally can’t find WWX...*Lan Wangji voice* “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition” (a baller line then and a baller line now)...and then the next episode starts with them all awkwardly standing around, and JC is like, “ok well let’s go find my brother then”, and you think there’s going to be an mdzs-riffing JC+LWJ Roadtrip To Find WWX...and they’re immediately attacked by like a dozen demons

in fact, the first time we see WWX in s4 is here, wherein he goes toe to toe with an angel and...holds his own. that’s new and terrifying! also is leading a squad of demons??

because here’s the thing: for the last 3(?) months, there’s been war in hell

because unlike Some People Mooses, upon finding out that his brother’s soul was legally nearly-owned by a crossroads demon, heir-apparent-to-Satan!WWX went, “actually fuck that” and kicked open the door of Hell (metaphorically, not loosing any demons this time) and was like, “who do I have to beat the shit out of to get a specific crossroads contract around here”

this did not work, obv. He didn’t know until it was too late, Lilith had already snapped up the contract, etc. etc.

obviously he also tried to offer himself instead, and got rejected for some reason

Since Jiang Cheng died, however, there’s been a war for control of Hell. Leading one side, Lilith, the Original Babe, who wants to break all 666(?) seals keeping Lucifer bound and in the meantime, break the Righteous Man so Heaven won’t even have Michael’s destined host ready for the Final Battle. Leading the other side, Wei Wuxian, infamous upstart, who wants to rescue the Righteous Man and restore him to life, tear Lilith’s guts out through her nose, and also stop her from doing the Lucifer thing because Wen Qing explained that yes, that’s a Thing, and it’s Bad.

Wen Qing! I’ve decided to combine Bela and Ruby’s roles and let WQ be both the cool badass example of how demon deals can go Bad and the demon deliberately leading our heroes astray for most of s3-4. Wen Qing is a very new demon; she used to be some sort of herbalist/witch but then she sold her soul in a crossroads deal to cure her brother of some lingering illness. 10 years of happiness and then boom, hellhounds. WQ is so obviously competent, though, that they (Lilith, I guess?) immediately offers her a job, with the promise threat that gee, that’s a nice brother you’ve got there, even with his Designated Chronic Health Condition getting all relapse-y. It’d be such a shame if something were to...happen to him...

we find this out at some point in last s3 I guess? some Monster of the Week case involves WN as a witness or something, or possible next victim, and WQ shows up to be A Normal Amount Of Invested In This, while desperately trying to avoid actually interacting with her brother (who thinks she’s dead). YES, the truth comes out; YES there’s a tearful reunion

now in s4, Wen Ning is fine actually, health-wise, bc he maybe made a crossroads deal with Wei Wuxian personally, and Wen Qing may or may not have admitted that she’s supposed to be working for Lilith to get WWX ready to host Lucifer? Or potentially that comes out later, idk. Either way, she’s 100% his top lieutenant in this exciting Hell War they’re waging

[insert whatever the hell (ha) happened plot-wise in s4 of supernatural]

we obviously mix up the relationships, too, bc it’s like, *LWJ internal monologue* I’m too young to remember my brother Lucifer as he was before he Fell, but surely Wei Wuxian is his Heir and Destined Vessel in truth, for he is Charismatic and Charming and Makes Me Feel Things, with his Clearly Feigned Righteous Drive and Compassion for All God’s Creatures and - why does heat keep pooling in the lower abdomen of my vessel when I look at his lips, which I am definitely doing a Normal and Not-Weird Amount - I’m just keeping an eye out for the famed Silver Tongue, and not in any way wondering how it would feel in my own mouth -

it’s actually DEFINITELY plausible for Lucifer to still be released even if our designated Heir Apparent is using his demon powers to his full potential and no one’s lying to each other about their motives. You just need to let Lilith be more scary too, and especially bc by “no one” I mostly mean Wen Qing; the angels are still totally hiding the fact that they, too, want to jumpstart the shit out of this apocalypse. LWJ decides at the last minute that that’s a bad idea actually, gets himself discorporated to send JC to intercept WWX because he accidentally releases Lucifer, etc. etc. Oh yeah, the boys were def fighting before this, bc JC has actually fairly reasonable concerns about the sort of things WWX is getting up to in his quest to become King of Hell...

...I neither know nor care what happens in s5

it does end with both Lucifer and Michael locked in the cage probably, bc I rather liked that solution. Fuck both of ‘em, basically.

I was toying with the idea that WWX also found Madam Yu in whatever hellish torment she was suffering after making a deal so her idiot son(s) would survive, and she was leading forces for him in the war against Lilith as well. If she came back to life somehow, body and all, it’d probably be compelling if she offered her own body to Michael - bc it’s her lineage! - and we’re all led to believe that she’s, uh, being a bitch and actually wants to risk destroying the world in order to destroy all demons...but then she seizes back control and flings herself/Michael and Lucifer into the Pit, because she’s just That Hardcore?

which means we’d actually have had her around and having characterization for most of s4-5, too, which would be fun

More importantly, it ends with newly crowned King of Hell Wei Wuxian appointing Wen Qing as Queen-Regent and ditching to go on an indefinite honeymoon with his new angel boyfriend (they’re going to fuck for like three weeks straight, then roll up their sleeves and go conquer Heaven in the name of free will), and Jiang Cheng gets to live out his hitherto-unknown-to-himself life’s ambition to be the sugar baby of the Queen of Hell. It’s very Hades/Persephone, except he goes back down to the underworld at least once a month. He gets his own demon squad whom he trains up in all the hunting techniques and it’s gr9. Wen Qing is reforming the crossroads deal process to make it more fair to the humans.

the end

Addenda:

it should go without saying but Jiang Yanli is definitely a recurring character, like, at least once a season there’s a filler episode where they go to Jiang Yanli’s for dinner and have to get along as a family, and also do the much easier job of defeating some sort of terrible demon that gets loose in the bunker and turns the evening into a horror movie. She’s their main research/emotional check-in person, a la Bobby, more often appearing in later seasons when there’s, uhhh, more to emotionally check in about.

Jin Zixuan is actually a perfectly competent hunter; he’s just a priss and we don’t Like him

we like Mianmian, though. Oh, I guess the official Hunter’s Guild or w/e tries to declare WWX a public enemy on account of the whole “King of Hell” thing and she’s like “actually what if you’re morons and assholes?” and joins hte team in s4 or 5? Yeah.

idk how the 3zun disaster happens in this ‘verse but I do encourage it to be happening in slow motion as a recurring subplot for several seasons. NMJ is a hunter, LXC is obv an angel, and JGY is...I wanna say one of the more human monsters, like a vampire? Or, you know, something that could be born from JGS sleeping with someone/something he shouldn’t have

#mdzs #the untamed #supernatural #ficlet #my fic #spn #ugh it'll probably fuck up hte bullet points again

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littlepenguin21 · 4 years

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My notes/complaints/hope? on the end of SPN

(This was written the night of November 19th) My list of grievances against the last episode of Supernatural 1. There is absolutely no way on Jack's green earth Sam didn't look for Dean. When Sam got a dog and didn't look for him, Dean was so angry and sad that I refuse to believe Sam wouldn't at least try to bring him back, especially since Sam had no way of knowing a)where Dean went (Dean was even a little surprised to see he was in Heaven), b)about Heaven's reform, or c)whether that was what Dean truly wanted (he's lied before, remember?) It almost makes Sam look like a bad guy who just doesn't care about his brother as much his brother cares about him. I will acknowledge Dean's final wish was to not be brought back, but I still think Sam would've like investigated the afterlives to see where Dean ended up.

2. Cas's sacrifice was completely meaningless. Cas was always happy to bleed for the Winchesters, but his final time hit the hardest because he wanted Dean to lived so much that he admitted to happiness and caused his own death to save Dean. And then Dean dies. Like three weeks later.

3. Dean, the greatest hunter in the world, the man who killed Hitler gets impaled on a piece of metal and thinks, "yeah, this is how I wanna go out." There's no way that that's an outcome that Dean would've accepted so easily. Being killed in a vampire's nest that they already half wiped out. He could've prayed to Jack, or taken his chances getting to a hospital. His death had no purpose, other than to forced Sam to move on without Dean.

4. Why didn't Jack bring Dean back? I get that he wants to be hands-off, but he brought Cas back, and if I know anything about Cas, he wouldn't want Dean dead/separated from Sam. I'm going to choose to believe that Cas, Jack, and Dean sat down together and discussed the pros and cons of bringing Dean back.

5. The dog died. We didn't see it happen, but it did.

6. Only Bobby is seen. If they're in Heaven, and almost everyone (I see you Kevin, living your best afterlife) Dean knew and loved is there, why doesn't he go see them? All the people he couldn't save or that he couldn't say goodbye to, and he just leaves it at that? What about Ellen and Jo, Dean? You're not even going to check on them? Pamela? Jess? No one?

7. Dean rides alone in the car. Even though his best friend, his son (Jack, not Ben or someone), his mom, his other friends, and both his dads are in Heaven (and closeby), why doesn't he take any of them along for the ride? Sam gets to raise a family, but Dean can't have a road trip buddy? Even if the Covid restrictions and stuff didn't allow Misha or Alex or another guest to come back on set, you'd think they could've put a body double for Cas (or whoever) in the seat for a couple of minutes. It just makes Dean's life seem less important than Sam's because Dean has to wait for Sammy, while Sam's free to hang out with others and socialize. Even if time works differently in Heaven or something (like 40 years on earth was only 2 minutes in Heaven), Dean could've found somebody to tag along instead of just being a loner.

8. Sam's wife isn't established to be Eileen. If Sam had like signed to her in ASL or something, or we could've had some clue as to her identity, that would have been wonderful. Instead, she was just a nameless means to an end (getting Dean II).

9. The beginning of the ep establishes that there are very few monster cases. So, does that mean Sam gave up hunting? Apparently not because his son has an anti-possession sigil tattooed on his arm (even though with Rowena in charge, those tattoos are super unnecessary). Sam hunting could've been another moment that would've been okay to see.

10. The ep had a noticeable lack of inside jokes. Normally tuning into a series finale means you're going to hear callbacks to other episodes and be able to reminisce on the past. Besides the pie part, I don't think there was much of that. No jerk, no bitch. Did Bobby even say Idjit?!?!

11. For an episode that supposedly was written to resolve their family arc, the boys were barely together, and their created family was almost nonexistent (other than Bobby and his mentioning of Cas and Jack).

12. The show forced family to end with blood. Dean drove off to wait for his biological brother, while leaving Bobby (and apparently Cas) behind. Sam, on the other hand, marries, has a kid, and lives a full life, but too doesn't have his family network outside of his nuclear family. There are many living friends that Sam has that we don't see him visit because all the time is spent on his raising of his son so that his death can parallel Dean's (someone the care about tells them it's ok).

13. Jared doesn't really look old.

14. During his death, Dean wouldn’t have wanted to Sam to be left alone. They were in a vamp’s nest, and Dean just decides that he’s gonna allow himself to die with no guarantee that Sammy is safe. There’s no way Dean would do this.

15. Gay love didn't pierce through the veil of death and save the day. Instead, Dean died and we all got was a lousy existential crisis. DISCLAIMER: I'm only writing about what happened in the ep, not what could have happened. Like, Sam could've had dinner with Jody and the girls every weekend and Dean could've made out with Cas offscreen, and I would be non the wiser. I'm going off of what I saw and heard in the episode. This was written on the 20th 15. Dean died young.

16. The forehead thing was a little weird, ngl

17. Sam didn’t even try to pray when Dean was dying. Did he believe that Jack just wouldn’t listen? His dad was dying, there’s no way he would’ve left him to die. And Sam would’ve tried anything. Why did he think their (Cas, Dean, and Sam’s) son wouldn’t want to help?

18. Sam burned Dean’s body by himself. No friends.

19. Chuck got to live his life, while Dean didn’t.

Pros, I guess? 1. Sam does get a dog.

2. Dean really wasn't okay. He wasn’t coping well with Cas’s death and Jack’s leaving. That’s the only explanation for why he’d be willing to die. He was depressed, or at least hopeless.

3. They're all together at the end, even thought it isn't shown. And by all, I mean all: Jack, Cas, Bobby, Rufus, hopefully Ellen and Jo...

4. Dean likes Kansas

5. Dean finally got a kid named after him.

6. The Hunter Corp. Sam and Dean are somewhere, living their best lives.

7. The movie is possibly happening in 5 years

#spn #supernatural #destiel #spnfamily #spn 15x20 #15x20 #dean #dean winchester #sam #sam winchester #castiel #cass #cas #jack #jack kline #i may come back and add more later

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

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thehollowprince said: I am looking forward to seeing how this all unfolds, because its a great premise, though I don’t know if I would have attempted to juggle all the chimeras the way you are. Although, speaking of chimeras, where’s Theo? I have a hunch he’s the one “helping” Hayden’s sister, and I’m curious as to what happened to the other chimera? The big one with the Garuda talons? Belasko?

Belasko is long dead and gone in this, he was a willing accomplice/minion of the Dread Doctors and official in-story fate for him is that he thus eventually died from incompatibility with his ‘donor’ material the way several of the other chimeras did in canon and Hayden was going to without Scott giving her the bite. The reason the chimeras are all werewolves here is because as Corey briefly alluded to while he and Lucas were investigating the creepy Fae Murder-House, they WERE chimeras created/experimented on by the DD just like in the show.

And when Scott and his core pack of Malia, Aiden and Ethan plus the surviving members of Satomi’s pack who escaped Kali with them like Brett, Carrie and Lori, like....when pre-story, they tracked down the Doctors’ most recent lair in the hopes of finding Theo, who Scott, Malia, Aiden and Ethan hoped was still alive even though they believed he died in their original escape from the Doctors, they found the other chimeras and took them with them instead. Eventually, of course, some of them like Hayden started dying because of their chimera natures, and since the Scott of this AU has different issues with the bite and his werewolf nature because of how things went down here versus how they happened in canon.....one of the ripple effects of that is here he’s less opposed to offering the bite when it seems needed, and so he offered and they all accepted rather than risk the poisoning fate that they had no way of knowing whether or not it might happen to them all at some point or not.

The not in-story explanation for the lack of Belasko is I simply said, with feeling, “Oh FUCK no, that is NOT remotely what a garuda is, Davis you freaking hack, Garuda isn’t even something you can freaking pluralize since he’s a being not a supernatural species, and I already oh fucked no this with Hayden and your nagual shit and oh fucked no this with your wendigo and skinwalker shit and I just effin’ refuse to oh fuck no this again so y’know what, Belasko’s dead, he died, oh no, much sadness, no more ‘garuda’ chimeras. And what the fuck was even up with his plot vehicle of a power anyway, like why the fuck did you even decide that ‘garuda’ was the best and only match for ‘a supernatural being that takes other peoples’ powers.’ Like, we get it, you made the chimeras to be the X-Men story nobody was ever going to pay you to write, but Belasko’s no fucking Rogue, and know what? Now you did it, I just decided in fact he’s just dead. You only have yourself to blame. Shouldn’t have made him suck, then maybe somebody would give a shit.”

Ahem. Anyway. Yeah that’s the backstory for the lack of Belasko. In shorter news, Donovan also died offscreen simply because I was fucking sick to death of everything said about him and that stupid shoe-horned ‘schism’ resulting from his canon death so I just made the executive decision to just nope him out of existence and just Not with him instead.

The only other remaining chimera was Noah, the berserker chimera played by Jordan Fisher who as you know, I very much like and felt was wasted by the show, so he’s still very much around and kicking, as was briefly mentioned when they were talking about Hayden’s sister.. He accepted the bite the same as the rest of the chimeras, but he still had a home and family he felt missed him and was worth going back to, so he went home with Scott and the rest of the pack’s blessing and well-wishes. That was very much laid in there as a Chekhov’s gun of a plot point to pay off later. (Hayden of course misses her sister a great deal, but she suffers from some insecurities and doubts pre-existing from her and Val’s parents’ deaths that made her feel that going home would just mean danger would follow her there, much like the reason Scott left and stayed away from Beacon Hills. Whereas Noah doesn’t have similar reasons or Peter-related issues for feeling this way and mostly was just sure if his mother could hear him expressing such a sentiment, she’d ground the shit out of him for even thinking that was an acceptable explanation for staying away. He was always meant to show up eventually though).

ACTUAL SPOILER-Y SPOLERS I guess, if anybody is concerned on that front at this point, lmfao:

And yup, Theo is absolutely the ‘anonymous source’ behind Hayden’s sister suddenly deciding out of the blue that there was some clue to be found in New York. He did survive and has been playing a longterm game of his own all along, because I stan a villainous Theo who isn’t an inherently just evil or irredeemable character, but one who has believed himself to be the only one looking out for his best interests and used to doing so for long enough that he has as of now convinced himself he can explain or justify most any actions he takes for this reason, at least enough to satisfy his own conscience. I just find Theo incredibly more compelling as the teenage version of canon Peter to act as a foil to Scott, as opposed to the teenage version of fanon Peter to act as a victim to Scott, y’know, the way most everybody decided to view him as.

The spoiler-y part is that like Aiden and Ethan briefly mentioned to each other when they first showed up in Beacon Hills, Theo was one of the original DD captives in this universe, along with Scott, Malia, Aiden and Ethan - a werewolf being experimented alongside the other four by the Doctors, for their ‘unique’ traits. (Malia and Theo’s full-shift abilities, Aiden and Ethan’s ‘twin connection’ and Scott’s seemingly greater-than-average resistance to magic like mountain ash circles, with this of course actual being an indicator of his future status as a True Alpha. The one and only difference I made to Theo’s backstory here is that he’s actually a werewolf and not a chimera here. He was changed by a rogue Alpha’s bite at one point, much like he’d claimed originally on the show). Anyway, at one point, the Doctors’ experiments finally triggered Scott’s ascension to True Alpha by essentially pushing at his protective instincts in regards to the others.

But while this was something the Doctors were aiming for, having their own uses for a potential True Alpha’s power/nature, there was an unexpected side-effect they hadn’t planned for, given that there wasn’t much data for them to go off of when it came to True Alphas because of how rare they are (at least by the time the Dread Doctors came along, though that wasn’t always the case, as Alberich expressed to Lucas and Corey).

What they didn’t account for stems back to that long as fuck meta I wrote ages ago about how I view ‘the shape you take reflects the person you are’ in canon, and True Alphas. Basically, my take has always been you either are a True Alpha or you’re not. There’s no ‘level-up’ process, no ACTUAL ‘ascension.’ To me, TA just means like.....a werewolf who is ALWAYS more of a leader than ever a follower, since even other Alphas like Derek, Peter, and the Alpha Pack have demonstrated that at least before they were each alphas, they were all more than capable of and willing to exist as betas to another alpha, even if that alpha was just their direct predecessor and a born relative. Scott’s unique-ness within the Teen Wolf universe ultimately comes down to one thing and one thing only for me.....no matter how his personal views and morality evolved and changed over time, the one thing that was a constant was that no matter what, he was never willing to follow anyone he didn’t believe had a ‘right’ to lead him or command him, and he wasn’t swayed by the usual arguments of why a werewolf like him, a seeming beta, SHOULD view someone like Peter or Derek having the ‘right’ to command his allegiance.

Because even though he wasn’t technically an Alpha until 3A......Scott by Derek’s own admission was never really a beta or an omega. To be a beta, he would have had to ACTUALLY accept Peter or Derek’s ability or right to command his allegiance, which he never actually did, and he was never really an omega either, because as Derek said in S2, he realized the reason he had so much trouble convincing Scott to join him was he was already the alpha of his own pack. Since, like Scott’s later pack always included non-werewolves, there was never actually any reason why Allison and Stiles COULDN’T have been considered his pack all along.

The only reason IMO that Scott wasn’t a True Alpha from day one, is because he came into the werewolf world not having a clue what the ‘rules’ were, and from day one, every single person to fill him in on what the rules were, did so according to their traditional/more common views of how ‘things worked.’ He didn’t immediately reveal himself as a TA because he didn’t realize such a thing even existed, or it was even possible to be one, and so for a time it kinda existed....in flux, as it were. He wasn’t truly a beta or omega because neither was in his nature - he was very much a social creature, a pack entity more suited to being surrounded by others than a loner, but he was also not remotely someone willing to set aside his own views, beliefs or goals in order to follow someone else’s, even if the price for that unwillingness was being essentially outcast as far as both ‘normal werewolf society’ and normal human society viewed things. He simply reflected the IMAGE of being a beta or an omega, gold eyes and all, because as far as he knew, as far as he’d internalized as of that point, that was who he was supposed to be or all he COULD possibly be.

What changed this for him wasn’t just being made aware that True Alphas were a thing, albeit rare, like in 3A when Deaton first mentioned it. Because after all, the only REASON Deaton brought it up, was because Scott and others were ALREADY confused by the occasional flickers of alpha red they witnessed his eyes showing, like in the fight with Ennis, and technically, going all the way back to Night School in S1, where his eyes flickered red when he defied Peter’s efforts to mentally exert dominance over him and make him kill the others. Basically, just like when he matched Ennis blow for blow, even if just briefly, even though as the bigger, stronger, and more experienced and ALPHA werewolf Ennis should have swatted him aside like a fly, not just knocked him back a few feet......the flickers of Alpha red showed up just when Scott seemingly defied the ‘rules’ of werewolf nature and refused to give way to an Alpha’s dominance the way that most other betas and omegas typically were seen or believed to.

IMO its as simple as ‘at these times and others, Scott SHOWED that he was simply NOT a beta, he refused to follow any convictions MORE than his own, and he was consistently SHOWN to never truly be an omega, because how can someone be packless when someone has people already willing to follow HIM’.....and thus, he was a True Alpha all along, simply because Alpha was the only word left to describe him, even if he never inherited the ‘power’ from another Alpha or ‘stole it’ by killing one. The only thing that ever actually changed for him, was that he existed as a werewolf long enough and in enough defiance of ‘the way things worked’ that he just stopped ACCEPTING that beta and omega were the only two options that existed to define him, and he just for the first time fully internalized his own belief that he didn’t NEED others to define him, that it was enough that he just exist as he already was. His own self-image, self-WORTH, was all that he needed.

And that’s why the pivotal moment in which he ‘ascended’ to True Alpha once and for all, was basically when he was once again saying ‘fuck you’ to the ‘rules’ when he broke through Jennifer’s mountain ash circle, something he shouldn’t have been capable of. He was able to do it, and manifest fully as the True Alpha he’d been all along, because in that moment, he deliberately and with INTENT, like with full conscious awareness of what he was doing, that he was fully attempting to accomplish what everyone else claimed was impossible, he basically said “the rules don’t matter to me, the fact that everyone believes I SHOULDN’T be able to do this doesn’t matter to me, the only thing that matters to me is I’m going to do it whether anyone else believes I can or not. Only I and I alone get to decide who I am and what I’m capable of.”

THAT in my opinion is what True Alpha always meant, and its why Scott was the only one we saw on the show....because his narrative, deliberately from day one, was ALWAYS one of self-determination above all else.

So basically, the same logic and reasoning all applies to LC and his ‘ascension’ to True Alpha there....it was the same thing. He was one all along, but only became one when his conscious AND subconscious reflection of ‘the way things worked’ gave way to his stronger self-determination and refuses to just ACCEPT the way things work. And because here the Dread Doctors, like most everyone else in universe, like except for those like say, Alberich, because they just innately didn’t understand the real nature of True Alphas and what made someone one and WHY they’d become so rare (essentially, it became like a self-fulfilling prophecy - the more rare True Alphas became, the less of them there were because the less new and young werewolves believed let alone ACCEPTED that there was an alternative to following those they didn’t believe in, if they simply....refuted it enough via their own self-image).....but because the Doctors didn’t fully GET that Scott wasn’t just a potential True Alpha, but was already kinda a....True Alpha in-cocoon so to speak....they didn’t fully realize all the potential repercussions of them trying to PUSH him into manifesting as one the way they were.

And so the thing where it was mentioned that the twins, Scott and Malia all kinda ‘share’ each other’s unique traits now, with all of them able to full-shift, all of them sharing a lesser degree of the same psychic connection the twins do, and Scott’s seeming greater-than-average resistance to magic....that happened all on its own, the second Scott ‘fully’ became a True Alpha, and its the part the DD didn’t prepare for and didn’t understand. Because by not getting that Scott had already been an Alpha the whole time, they didn’t realize that these shapeshifters they’d been keeping in close proximity to one another, in shared predicaments, and clearly developing bonds because of it....like, just as Scott was already an Alpha by then, they were ALREADY a pack by then. They just didn’t know it, because well, a pack needs an alpha and they didn’t realize they already had one. So basically, they already HAD a pack bond, and thus when that combined with the Dread Doctors’ actual experiment and the kinda.....magical reaffirmation of Scott’s own self-image and alphahood rippled back through the suddenly VERY REAL and very CLEARLY real pack bond all at once, like it’d simply magically sprung into existence instead of just showing what had already been there in a different shape or form.....this all added together to kinda create this supernatural compounding effect. And thus, pretty much by accident, the Dread Doctors managed to completely unintentionally create a REAL throwback to the werewolf packs of old, like Alberich and the other Fae had ORIGINALLY ‘designed’ them to be.

Because just like the power of a werewolf comes from essentially being the supernatural embodiment of their strength of self, of their inner power, who and what they really are....(and why the shape an Alpha takes in the show varies so tremendously based on how the various Alphas viewed THEMSELVES and their own power)....

So too, is the power of a werewolf PACK the supernatural embodiment of the idea of the pack in full....the idea that the whole is GREATER than just the sum of its parts. Which is why the more werewolves get added to a pack, the more EACH individual pack member’s strength, healing, etc, increased as a whole. And thus here, that was true, but in addition, these various unique shapeshifters also ended up sharing the same traits that made each of them ON THEIR OWN fairly distinct....which actually is the way it was always intended to be, and once had been true of ancient packs.

(As of now, only the core pack of Scott, Malia, Aiden and Ethan share in this ‘level’ of their pack bond, but as for why that is, the answer is actually in the above explantion, lol).

So yeah, Scott manifested as a True Alpha, instant pack bond whammo, and reacting pretty much on instinct to the surprise this created for the DD, they escaped, largely by instinctively pulling on EACH OTHER’S individual gifts...because while the way the DD held them captive took into account their respective gifts, like say, Malia’s ability to full-shift, it DIDN’T take into account the possibility of all of them suddenly being able to full-shift without warning.

And then Scott, Malia, Aiden and Ethan escaped and spent the next several months wandering, stuck in their full-shfit shapes because they didn’t entirely yet understand what had happened or how, and so with that and the trauma they’d endured, it took them awhile to like....remember how to shift BACK, essentially.

At the time, the four of them all believed Theo had died in their escape attempt. But after they eventually got free of Kali and Julia, and had added the surviving members of Satomi’s old pack, they decided to try and track down the Dread Doctors in the hope that Theo was still alive....because now, with a better understanding of what had happened and what they were capable of, they were convinced they could still feel Theo through their initial pack bond.

Instead they found the chimeras and no sign of Theo, and with the urgency of at least getting these latest prisoners of the DD safe and sound, they kinda accepted that maybe they were wrong and it was just wishful thinking that they’d been so sure they could still feel Theo.

Or at least, Scott and Aiden did. Ethan and Malia, not quite.

You remember when Josh, Tracy, Lucas and Corey met with Malia in the park at night while Lucas and Corey told them about meeting Alberich and everything he’d said and hinted at, and the ‘offer’ he’d asked them to take to Scott? And how Malia firmly shut that shit down and all but ordered all of them not to say a word, because as she said, Scott absolutely would take Alberich’s deal without a second thought, to keep the rest of them safe, no matter what it meant for him? When they asked if that meant not telling the twins either, and Malia said yes because Ethan would agree but Aiden never would, and Lucas asked if this meant she and Ethan HAD ever before kept something from Scott and Aiden specifically and she said yes but refused to elaborate further.....this is what that was referencing.

Because when they went back for Theo and found the chimeras instead, Ethan and Malia ended up on their own at one point, and this is when they discovered that Theo had been a plant all along. Yes he was a werewolf in this AU, but he’d still ended up working for the Dread Doctors in exchange for getting away from the Alpha who’d turned him. They’d put him in with the others under the guise of him just being another experiment, in order to utilize him as a kind of control variable to nudge the others in ways and at times they expected them to be resistant to just going along with the Doctors’ latest experiment.

At the time, they didn’t find any proof that Theo was still alive after all, just this, so Malia and Ethan did still very much believe that he was dead at this point, same as Scott and Aiden now.....and so they felt that there was no point in telling them this and disillusioning them with Theo’s betrayal/complicity the way they felt betrayed by this information, and that it would just make things worse. They honestly felt they were protecting them by doing this, or at least Scott as he was the one they were concerned would take it the worst given how much responsibility he feels for everything and everyone.....but they also agreed not to tell Aiden as they didn’t think he’d agree to keep it from Scott. As Aiden in this AU is extremely ride or die from Scott and hates subterfuge as a general rule (but also, because hiding the info about Theo and this deal about Alberich is absolutely doomed to bite them in the ass, and Scott needed to have at least ONE of the inner circle who wasn’t hiding anything from him, specifically BECAUSE they knew he wouldn’t agree to it, just like Josh is of course, Very Not Happy about being asked to hide this stuff about Alberich and his offer).

So yeah, Theo of course did survive the original escape attempt and escaped himself and decided to stay that way and that he’d had enough of the Doctors’ ‘help’/employment.....

But also in no small part because he’d ended up getting hit by/included in the pack bond the same as the others when it manifested, and considering he was as clueless why as any of them at first, he had no doubt that if he stayed in the Doctors’ reach, they’d be quite keen to use him for all their experiments into why and what it meant regardless of his ‘allegiances.’

Ever since then, he’s kinda been on his own doing his own thing, and he had no plans to go after the others or do anything more to them at first, as this Theo DOES still have a conscience and while he believes in looking out for number one, it DID still at times ping while lying to the others.....but that kinda changed once he worked out for himself a little bit of what it meant that he still could ‘feel’ the others, as well as being more resistant to magic now than he’d been previously. Because to ACTUALLY partake in the pack bond that’d been created, that meant that at least some of the bond he’d ‘faked’ creating with the others actually HAD been real. It wouldn’t have been enough for just THEM to believe it’d been real, and him to benefit from getting their portion of things as a result, like he’d originally tried to convince himself. Because see, once he did track down the others and observe them from afar, just to test his own theories, he found out that just like him....Scott and the twins now could full-shift into coyotes, like Malia. That, after all, was what they’d all gotten from her.

But, they - and Malia - ALSO could full-shift into wolves. Just like him.

And that, they could have ONLY gotten from HIM. The others didn’t get just a full-shift ability from Malia....they got the ability to shift fully into BOTH their wolf selves, and a coyote version of themselves, due to how closely related wolves and coyotes are, and thus they just sort of manifest slightly different selves via that shared family connection. It probably wouldn’t have worked the same way if Malia had been like a were-bear shifter or something, but another canine, yeah. They don’t use the other shape much at all, because for Scott, Ethan, Aiden and Theo, the wolf is what FEELS most like ‘them,’ whereas the coyote feels like a comfortable, well-fitting disguise they can slip into from time to time, while for Malia its the same in reverse, but its still something they each have.

And thus while the others could make the assumption, given that they thought Theo was dead or dead and a fake the whole time, that both full-shifts came from Malia’s ability just combined with the wolf nature of the other three.....for Theo, there was no denying that the reality was that the wolf full-shifts came from him. From him - unknowingly or not - ACTUALLY offering it up through the pack bond....something that only could have happened as something he GAVE, not that they just TOOK. Something, that was proof that somehow, without realizing it, the bonds he’d formed during that initial time had actually become a lot more real than he’d convinced even himself.

And Theo does NOT care for that realization.

Because see, if ANY of that was real, on his end, that gave those pings of his conscience from way back then renewed life and intensity, and frankly, he doesn’t care too much for his conscience. Its loud and annoying and inconvenient, and he’d quite like it to go suck a dick when he’s being comfortably amoral and doing whatever he damn well feels like doing for no other reason than because he feels like it. But now the thing’s always peskily droning away in the background reminding him its there, and Theo unfortunately tends to make some of his worst decisions when he’s testily trying to prove to his conscience that you’re not the boss of me and bitch, I do what I want.

Plus there’s the fact that on top of this, the very idea of MUTUAL pack bonds gives Theo very icky feelings of things like...obligation, and concern, and other four letter words that he very much just does not fuck with, thanks ever so much. With the cherry on top of his “I Did Not Ask For This, Please Take It Back To The Kitchen But No Not The Added Powers Too, Those Can Stay, I Like Those” Pie being that, well.....like I said, the reason none of them or the Dread Doctors realized ahead of time that they were already a pack, is because a pack needs an Alpha.

Which in time, makes Theo realize, that if on some level, he’s actually and still actually PACK, in his own subconscious as much as theirs.....then this by extension means....on some level, he views and accepts Scott as his alpha.

Theo: OH HELLLLLLLLLL NO.

Which, to my mind, is why Theo was always the perfect foil for Scott. Scott is a True Alpha who THINKS he’s okay with following but in actuality is never truly comfortable allowing another’s will to supersede his own, and would rather be on his own than with someone he’s uncomfortable following. Theo is a lone wolf who THINKS he’s okay being one and would never follow anyone but himself, but in actuality, he’s never truly been comfortable alone and he’s willing to allow others’ will to supersede his own if they offer comfort that outweighs his discomfort with the idea.

So Theo’s around making moves in the background because he has his own agenda for Fixing This and making things more in line with how he’d like them. There’s definitely an end game for that but I wouldn’t say its total redemption-oriented as he has absolutely Fucked Stuff Up before this point and will continue to do so, and with gusto, because he’s kinda his own worst enemy, but neither is it outright vilifaction and death and/or total ostracization/exile-esque. Its more...Theo is very much still in flux, somewhat like Scott was between being bitten and ‘becoming’ a True Alpha, and nothing that doesn’t go smoothly is totally without consequences. Its just.....Theo’s complicated, and he’s going to remain so, but what that means exactly tends to change over time. But like, Malia is also complicated, and so are Ethan and Aiden, and so is Scott, and they are all very different versions of complicated, so.......basically all I’m saying is I don’t think I could ever write a Theo that’s fully a ‘Good Guy’ but as much as I detest show Theo, like the twins, its because he could have been written a lot differently and been a lot more compelling for it, all without ever being a ‘Good Guy’ and so I’m not actually all that interested in writing him as an out and out no holds barred villain either.

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seadramonster · 4 years

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Why some cats aren’t in the DF

Since the beginning of the time we learned where certain cats went, a lot of people have been asking why certain cats went to StarClan or the Dark Forest. The most popular examples being; Thistleclaw (before Spottedleaf’s Heart), Ashfur, Rainflower, and Appledusk.

A lot of people seem to be under the impression that the Dark Forest is where all the bad cats go, no matter what. But that’s not what we’ve been shown in canon. Let’s take a look at all of the Dark Forest cats to see what they did that made them go to the Dark Forest and use the information to figure out why the cats people think should have gone to the Dark Forest went to StarClan instead.

NOTE: I’m only going over the cats in the Dark Forest whose crimes we know. Cats such as Houndleap, Maggottail, and such who we barely know anything about will not be discussed, since we have no idea what they did. Although we can assume it was something similar to everyone else in the Dark Forest.

Antpelt- Antpelt chose to join the Dark Forest because "These are my Clanmates more than WindClan ever was. Where else would I go?". He could have been in StarClan, but chose the Dark Forest instead.

This shows us that a cat can, if they are capable of going to StarClan, choose to go to the Dark Forest instead.

Brokenstar- Heavily broke the code by training kits too young, killing them and his own father (perhaps even others offscreen), exiling elders, and driving out another Clan

Darkstripe- Attempted to kill a kit by tricking her into eating poison, betrayed his Clan not once, but twice by leaving to join Tigerstar and then joining BloodClan immediately after.

So why is Darkstripe in the Dark Forest for being a traitor and other cats who left their Clan not? Well, aside from attempting to kill a kit, Darkstripe was never loyal to any Clan, just Tigerstar. And when Tigerstar died, instead of fighting alongside his new Clan, he instead betrayed them, too.

Cats who leave their Clan for another usually do so with good intentions and are either loyal to their new Clan, or end up returning to their old one and are loyal to that one now that they realize it’s where they belong. Even if the decision was selfish, it was never done so to harm others. Darkstripe just wanted to be on the winning side, and once Tigerstar was gone, he had no one left he cared about except himself.

Hawkfrost- He just wanted power and wasn’t afraid to turn on his own Clan to obtain it. It’s heavily implied he struck up a deal with Mudclaw to help him take leadership from Onewhisker, he talked Ashfur into luring Firestar into the fox trap, and then tried to kill Brambleclaw when Brambleclaw refused to kill his own leader.

Mapleshade- I know a lot of people have pity for her and all, but like. She was a literal serial killer. She fell in love with a cat from another Clan, had his kits, lied to her Clan about the father of her kits by letting them believe it was the cat her mate had accidentally killed, made the stupid decision to take her kits across a flooded river in the middle of a storm, and it got her kits killed. Then she killed a medicine cat, the cat who she had manipulated into believing Mapleshade’s kits were her brother’s, attempted to murder a pregnant queen, and killed the father of her kits. Mapleshade was a victim, yes, but so was everyone she killed. She was not forced to go across the river, she chose that path herself. More on Appledusk later.

Redwillow- Joined the Dark Forest in the final battle against the Clans and was killed by Blackstar. Pretty clear why he ended up there

Thistleclaw- The big one. Spottedleaf’s Heart confirmed he chose the Dark Forest and this is all but confirmed in Crookedstar’s Promise already when he reveals he thinks StarClan are weak fools. While he was loyal to his Clan, he was also incredibly bloodthirsty and made it obvious that he wanted to destroy the rest of the Clans. A medicine cat had a whole prophecy saying he would bring unnecessary war and bloodshed as a leader. He also nearly had his apprentice murder a kit and attempted to kill the deputy of another Clan. It’s possible he may have killed cats from other Clans or from outside the Clans offscreen, but as far as we know, he didn’t kill anyone from his Clan.

Tigerstar the first- I don’t think I need to explain this one

So what do we know about the Dark Forest from this? What qualities does a cat need to have to be in there? Well, they.

Need to have betrayed their Clan maliciously and have little to no loyalty whatsoever, even to their new Clan if they have one,

Needed to have severely broken the code by either murdering cats without good reason or attempting to kill an innocent kit,

And/or could have gone to StarClan, but chose the Dark Forest instead

The Dark Forest is an extreme punishment for cats who were never loyal to their Clan, or who killed others without a second thought. It’s not meant to be the place where bad cats go. It’s meant to be the place where traitors and serial killers go. Cats who are bad people but never really did anything wrong still go to StarClan, because at the end of the day, they were still loyal to their Clan as a whole.

So now it’s time to go over some cats people think should have gone to the Dark Forest, but didn’t;

Ashfur- This one was the subject to heavy debate. Here’s what I think. Ashfur may or may not have known what Hawkfrost was doing exactly. It’s possible he didn’t know Hawkfrost’s entire plan and thought Firestar getting caught in a fox trap wasn’t part of it and ran to get help. Or, maybe he decided he didn’t want to go through with it after all and chickened out.

As for what happened with the Three... Well, he did attempt to kill his Clanmates, but again, nothing came of it. He chickened out again. And it should be stated here that like. The three were adults. They were not harmless kits! They knew of their powers at this point! Nothing was stopping them or even Squirrelflight from just grabbing Ashfur and hauling him off the tree or throwing him to the fire. Especially Lionblaze whose entire power centers around him not getting hurt in a fight. It would have been a four on one fight if everyone fought him off. They could have easily stopped Ashfur at any time, but they didn’t, because the plot demanded they didn’t. They were never going to die there, not without a fight. Maybe if Ashfur had died there, he would have ended up in the Dark Forest, but he didn’t. He never actually killed anyone, never actually physically attacked anyone himself, and even warned the Clan that his leader was in danger. He was just focused on getting revenge against one specific cat, but we never saw him treat the rest of the Clan poorly. And for StarClan, his loyalty and the fact he never actually killed anyone was enough to let him in on a bullshit excuse.

Appledusk- A shitty, shitty person. But overall, loyal to his Clan. We never saw what Appledusk was like to the rest of his Clan offscreen. All we know is that he was cheating on his mate with Mapleshade (who Mapleshade clearly had no idea was his mate). That’s basically the only crime we’ve seen him commit. Is he a bad person? Yes. Yes, he is. But he never murdered someone, and admitted to his Clan he thought his relationship with Mapleshade was a mistake. As far as StarClan was concerned, that’s all it was. A mistake. He was a loyal warrior who died protecting his real mate and their future kits from a traitor, and had likely proven his loyalty in other ways offscreen.

Rainflower- Another case of “terrible person but ultimately loyal to their Clan”. Rainflower never killed anyone as far as we know, or even broke the code. She treated her son horribly, but I don’t remember her ever being rude to anyone else. And even if she was, as we’ve seen, being a bad person isn’t enough to land you in the Dark Forest.

Mudclaw- He may seem like he belongs in the Dark Forest, but here’s the thing. StarClan was never against Mudclaw’s leadership. Tallstar made the decision by himself. For all we knew, Mudclaw would have made a better leader than Onestar or been exactly the same. Tallstar changed his deputy last minute on his deathbed and didn’t do the ceremony correctly. The only cats who saw were cats of another Clan, and the one he was making the new deputy. Mudclaw had every right to challenge the decision when it was announced. From his perspective, another Clan was lying about their friend being chosen as the new deputy. Of course he was going to feel wronged, because in a way, he was. It’s possible StarClan may have even rejected Onewhisker, if Mudclaw had not revolted at the time he did. I don’t think Mudclaw’s death was divine intervention, either. Not every bad weather event that happens in Warriors is StarClan’s doing, even if the cats think it is. I think it just Mudclaw being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was still loyal to his Clan, he was just trying to get back the position he thought had been stolen from him.

Oakstar- Oakstar is the one who exiled Mapleshade and her kits and everyone thinks this means he belongs in the Dark Forest. I. Disagree with this. Yes, he exiled the kits, but that isn’t actually against the code? The only codes about kits are that they can’t be apprenticed before six moons and no cat can neglect a kit in pain or in danger. (an extra rule is they can’t be out of camp without a warrior) You probably can’t throw out just a kit on their own, but Mapleshade’s kits weren’t alone. The kits were with their mother.

A single mother in the wild can and will raise kits on her own. Will they all survive? It’s unlikely, but there’s no guarantee they would survive in the Clans, either. Not being in a Clan does not mean these kits will die, just like being a Clan doesn’t mean they’ll all survive. There was a good chance at least one of those kits would have survived to adulthood. Oakstar probably thought Mapleshade would take them somewhere safe, or, if she did take them to RiverClan, that she would use the bridge that led across it up by fourtrees instead of the flooded stones. He only told her to the leave the territory. He never told her where to go. Mapleshade is the one who chose to take them across the river in the worst spot possible.

Let’s look at it from Oakstar’s perspective; Oakstar had just lost his son and an apprentice in a big battle. His daughter is still grieving for the loss of her brother, and it’s likely Oakstar is still grieving, too. And then Mapleshade becomes pregnant and the Clan mistakenly lets them believe that Oakstar’s son is the father of her kits. Only for them to later discover the cat who caused the deaths of Birchface and Flowerpaw, a cat from another Clan who they all believe killed Birchface on purpose, is the real father. What else was Oakstar going to do? The Clan wouldn’t have treated those kits or Mapleshade fairly. Their lives would have been miserable. Think of what happened with Tawnypaw and Bramblepaw, only the entire Clan is against them, not just a handful of members. Exiling them was likely the merciful thing to do.

As for the “no neglecting a kit in danger” code, the kits weren’t in danger until Mapleshade herself put them in it. There was no mention of foxes, badgers, or anything else in ThunderClan’s territory. The only issue they had (the snakes), had been dealt with already. No, they couldn’t have known it was like that in other places, but as long as they were in ThunderClan’s territory, those kits were safe. And there was no reason to think they’d be in immediate danger in other territories either.

The Clan territories are actually rather safe, all things considered. Threats like foxes, badgers, and the like are dealt with quickly. The only real threats in another Clan’s territory are the cats who own it, who would probably not attack a queen just passing through with her kits. If anything, if she had met with ShadowClan or WindClan first, they might have even allowed Mapleshade to stay, once she explained everything to them. At least until the bad weather had passed.

So, yes, all of the cats above were terrible, but they never actually did anything wrong by StarClan’s standards. They were loyal members of their Clan who made some mistakes, but ultimately never killed anyone or severely broke the code. Just being a bad person isn’t enough to send you to StarClan. As long as you’re loyal and don’t actually kill anyone, they don’t care.

#Warrior Cats #StarClan #The Dark Forest #StarClan is inconsistent in a lot of ways #This is surprisingly not really one of them

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mittensmorgul · 5 years

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Faith on the tnt loop (which, full disclosure, I slept through oopsie, so I pulled out the blu ray because this is NOT one I can skip).

Post 14.20, this episode is... extra-amazing, honestly. I’ve always felt that this episode was unwittingly (possibly, at the time it was written) a window into what this story could potentially do. When I first binged this series, this was the first episode I finished where I had to stop and completely reevaluate what I was actually witnessing. This was the episode that took me from casually consuming a fun lil monster show to 100% invested in this grand narrative. Even without any knowledge of what the ensuing 6 1/2 season (that existed at the time), I felt like I had my first glimpse of a much bigger picture in store for me. This was the first episode that, after a break to absorb what I’d just witnessed, I went back and immediately watched it again. Turns out I wasn’t reading too much into it... in fact, I wasn’t reading nearly enough into it...

The episode begins with Sam and Dean hunting a monster that we’ve only ever seen once more in the entirety of canon-- a rawhead, which earned a mention in 14.01 after an off-screen hunt for one went wrong enough to have left a tooth behind in one of the AU hunters. As if the monster in this case has been rendered doubly irrelevant, by virtue of the fact it practically dies offscreen in 1.12 while Dean's defeat of it and his own actions and choices in defeating it are the actual inciting incident of all the relevant action to follow. And in 14.01, all that remains of the rawahead was a tooth that's extracted from a wound and likely a wild hunter's tale.

Dean explains the use of the tasers they're using to take down the rawhead (specifically that the electricity is deadly to it and each weapon is one use only, "so make it count"). Dean takes his shot, and misses, but they find the children the rawhead had been holding captive. Dean tells Sam to take them outside to safety, and Sam hands over his taser to Dean, leaving Dean alone to face the monster (who we learn in 14.01 moves a lot faster than expected, and fast enough that we never even really see it in 1.12). Dean is literally backed into a corner, on the ground in a puddle of water, with the monster looming over him when he chooses to take his shot. It's not like he had much choice, right? So he shoots, and thanks to the water he's lying in, he electrocutes himself as well, damaging his own heart to the point where the doctor gives him a month to live.

He could've made a different choice, could've rolled out of the water, could've tried to fight off the rawhead (probably ineffectively) but perhaps enough that it would've given up and escaped to hunt children another day, but Dean took his shot, in a circumstance where he felt it was the right thing to end this monster and prevent it from hurting anyone ever again, even when it hurt him in the process. Not that he knew it would necessarily kill him to do it, but he was fully aware of the power of the weapon in his hand and what it was capable of, and accepted that it would hurt him right along with the monster he'd aimed it at since they were “connected” through the puddle of water.

Can anyone else say Hammurabi? Equalizer?

All of this has happened before.

But that's just the beginning. Because Dean survived, even if mortally wounded. This was the first time, though, that they were motivated to defy death, and that brings us to the true Monster of the Week-- Sue Ann LeGrange. Yes, I know it's technically "a reaper," but operating under Sue Ann's control and on her orders. She was the one who chose who lived and who died, based on who SHE thought was worthy, or unworthy in the case of her chosen victims. She was "playing god," deceiving her husband after saving HIS life with this dark magic (which required at least TWO sacrifices on her part-- one to make the altar and talisman to bind the reaper in the first place, and one person to die to save Roy, unbeknownst to him), and letting him think that he was miraculously granted the gift of healing by God.

And Sam decides to look for a similar sort of miraculous cure for Dean, even when Dean had accepted his own apparent fate:

DEAN: Look, Sammy, what can I say, man, it's a dangerous gig. I drew the short straw. That's it, end of story. SAM: Don't talk like that, alright? We still have options. DEAN: What options? Yeah, burial or cremation. And I know it's not easy. But I'm gonna die. And you can't stop it. SAM: Watch me.

Sam isn't about to go committing human sacrifice like Sue Ann, but after a tearful phone call plea to John for help, which goes unreplied to, Sam takes matters into his own hands, just as Dean checks himself out of the hospital having accepted his fate:

SAM: You know, this whole I-laugh-in-the-face-of-death thing? It's crap. I can see right through it. DEAN: Yeah, whatever, dude. Have you even slept? You look worse than me. SAM: (Helping DEAN to a chair) I've been scouring the Internet for the last three days. Calling every contact in Dad's journal. DEAN: For what? SAM: For a way to help you. One of Dad's friends, Joshua, he called me back. Told me about a guy in Nebraska. A specialist. DEAN: You're not gonna let me die in peace, are you? SAM: I'm not gonna let you die, period. We're going.

(aside to lol at John’s friend being named “Joshua,” namesake of the one angel God continued to talk to after supposedly abandoning Heaven and Earth, the angel who told Sam and dean in 5.16 that God refused to step in to help stop the apocalypse, and the angel killed in 12.19 by Dagon before fetus!Jack hijacked Cas to kill Dagon in turn... and even after his death it was Joshua’s amulet in 14.17 that enabled him to summon Chuck back into the story... funny that this hunter we never hear about again was the one to point Sam in the direction of this healer...)

And I'm sorry to just keep pasting in chunks of transcript, but this all goes to Sam and Dean's respective outlooks on pretty much everything, and the Grand Manipulation of Chuck in the entire narrative as we now understand it post 14.20:

DEAN: I mean, come on, Sam, a faith healer? SAM: Maybe it's time to have a little faith, Dean. DEAN: You know what I've got faith in? Reality. Knowing what's really going on. SAM: How can you be a skeptic? With the things we see everyday? DEAN: Exactly. We see them, we know there real. SAM: But if you know evil's out there, how can you not believe good's out there, too? DEAN: Because I've seen what evil does to good people.

Sam has faith, Dean's a skeptic. Throughout s14 we saw what it would take to break Dean to the point where he would accept the word of God without question. It literally took the entire season, more than half of it revolving around his possession and complete loss of free will and self, building him up when Michael left him again and giving him a false sense of security to begin to feel comfortable building emotional bridges to his entire family (including Jack), only to tear it all down and lose himself to Michael again on a whim, losing Mary again, losing Jack to soullessness because of his own failed choices (in his estimation, at least). This process of showing Dean how little power and control he has over his own existence was furthered by Billie presenting him with the supposed singular solution to save the world, which Dean interpreted to mean the most horrifying iteration of self-sacrifice the show has ever presented to us-- an eternity spent at the bottom of the ocean, locked with Michael in the Ma'lak box. Ironically, just as he was beginning to think of himself as something more than just a weapon, the parallel can't help but be drawn to the First Blade, which Cain had thrown to the bottom of the ocean in a similar fashion. Which should only serve to remind us that even that's not a permanent solution to any problem. And I think THAT was the lesson Billie truly wished Dean to understand. Jack is the one who ends up making the true sacrifice (his own human soul) to kill Michael once and for all, and Dean is left with the guilt of that.

But several other important incidents in s14 tie directly back to this, too. 14.08, playing with life and death, learning about what truly matters in someone's destiny after death, and what the Winchesters are willing to do to save a loved one. Ironically, in the process, Cas is backed into a corner, making a deal with the Empty Entity for his own happiness in exchange for Jack's soul.

Nothing ever comes for free. The Winchesters have been juggling these horrific choices and sacrifices their entire lives, and nothing is ever just as simple as an uncomplicated win.

Which is a key element of 1.12. Dean's skepticism, his feeling of "wrongness" after being healed by Roy, uncovers the larger truth. Sam desperately wants Dean to just let it go, accept it as a miracle, and move on:

SAM: Look, Dean, do we really have to look this one in the mouth? Why can't we just be thankful that the guy saved your life and move on? DEAN: Because I can't shake this feeling, that's why.

A miracle isn't enough for Dean, and the truth is darker and more horrifying than Sam can accept. As he uncovers more and more of the facts of just how Roy is supposedly healing people, he tearfully apologizes to Dean, and they work together to find a way to stop it from happening again. Someone is controlling a reaper, literally trading one life for another. Chuck must've LOVED this episode of his favorite show. It nails all his favorite themes:

DEAN: You never should've brought me here. SAM: Dean, I was just trying to save your life. DEAN: But, Sam, some guy is dead now because of me. SAM: I didn't know.

Ignorance of the truth didn't stop them from becoming entangled in this mess, though. Just like it hasn't stopped them from becoming entangled in every other cosmic mess they've stumbled across over the succeeding 14 seasons. Sam believed it was a miracle, and his faith had blinded him to the truth-- or at least made him want to believe, motivated by the results at Dean's miraculous healing. It's the same faith that led him in early s11 to want to believe his visions were coming from God, that maybe his visions that had plagued him in early seasons were being used for good now-- and with the intervention of Billie in 11.02 when those visions began, it's interesting how the solution that actually saved his life in that circumstance technically came from what she said to him about being "unclean in the biblical sense."

Reapers and their powers and limitations (clean hands!), and their knowledge of the Bigger Picture that Billie herself won't be able to see until she dies and is resurrected with the mantle of Death, have their beginnings in the mythology right here, enslaved to the will of a mortal woman who believed she could make choices about who deserved to live and who deserved to die based on her own corrupted sense of morality.

Even when the concept of Death is introduced in 5.10, he's presented as "lesser" than what he truly is by virtue of Lucifer having bound him to his will for the purposes of the apocalypse, and as merely one of the Four Horsemen equal to War, Famine, and Pestilence. In 5.21, we learn what he's "supposed to be." Practically an equal to God, with the power over all life and death. It's not really until 13.05 that we learn the truth about just how powerful Billie has become, and yet what her limitations still are. We begin to see one side of this massive cosmic chess match, all leading up to the biggest revelation of them all in 14.20.

Back to 1.12 again... (sorry it's impossible not to be continually distracted by the theme spiral here). Dean also is uncomfortable for the first time over the potential for The Lord to be eyeballing him specifically, which is a feeling he's gonna truly grow into throughout s4 "I don't like being singled out at birthday parties, let alone by God," right up through the showdown at the end of 14.20.

DEAN: Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people, why save me? ROY: Well, like I said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart, and you just stood out from all the rest. DEAN: What did you see in my heart? ROY: A young man with an important purpose. A job to do. And it isn't finished.

Throughout the episode, they believe it's Roy controlling the reaper and making the choices about who lives and dies, but he was literally blind to the fact it was Sue Ann. He was as much a victim in all of this as the people he believed he was healing, that he believed he had been touched by God to impart new life to. But knowing the full truth, Dean has to stop someone from being healed that even HE believes deserves to be saved, to be spared the suffering of a life cut short by an inoperable brain tumor, after learning an innocent man would die in her place. No matter how much he might feel that Layla didn't deserve that fate, he also doesn't believe the man who'd been protesting Roy's healing ministry deserves to die just for that fact, either.

SUE ANN: I just don't understand. After everything we've done for you. After Roy healed you. I'm just very very disappointed Dean DEAN stares at her, saying nothing. SUE ANN: You can let him go. I'm not gonna press charges. The Lord will deal with him as he sees fit. SUE ANN leaves. The cops turn to DEAN. COP 1: We catch you round here again son, we'll put the fear of God in you, understand?

Once again, in text, Sue Ann is unwittingly labeled "God." It's not God's wrath Dean fears, but Sue Ann's, knowing his defiance has likely turned him from worthy of healing to unworthy of living. Now this has moved beyond idealistically wanting to stop someone from playing god with people's lives right back to the immediate need to stop them before someone else becomes the next victim. And all of their choices-- Dean not being able to walk away, not being able to look the other way, discovering the full horrific truth of how he himself had been brought back from the brink of death, led them to this juncture where it truly felt like they had no other choice but to stop the monster. It literally became a life and death matter for Dean.

I still find it fascinating that as a result of their actions and choices in this episode, the reaper who'd been enslaved to Sue Ann's will was freed when Sam crushed the talisman that kept him bound. I find that highly amusing in retrospect, that while Dean was literally touched by an incarnation of Death several times in this episode, Sam effectively committed services rendered to the Cosmic Order.

We've learned so much about all of this over the years, as well-- the need for balance, order in the universe, and so many of those lessons have come from Death directly. Dean learns some of this firsthand in 6.11, for example, when he takes on Death's job for a day (or at least the life-and-death side of his job, now that we know so much more about his knowledge and understanding of creation as a whole). We learn even more through Billie, and her constant reminders that what's dead should stay dead, and through Billie's reapers once she becomes Death. 13.19 reminds us, through a story about the consequences of killing reapers, just how tenuous the course of cosmic events can be, and what the universe does to self-correct when the balance tilts too far in one direction. It's a lesson Tessa began to teach way back in 4.15, in an episode where Dean once again saves the life of a reaper (not only unwittingly protecting the cosmic balance, but literally stopping the breaking of a seal and staving off the apocalypse for at least another day, and that entire episode, that entire case, only happened through the unwitting guidance of them to the case by Cas-- still operating under Heaven’s orders and pretending to be Bobby sending them to that town to investigate...).

It has always felt to me that the show has subtly revealed more about the truth of the cosmos through death and Death than anything else. And that's on full display now in 1.12. Sue Ann's lies of omission about Roy's "powers," her manipulation of circumstance and her ensnarement of a reaper to do her will, choosing who lives and dies and literally "playing God," is it really any wonder to find out that Chuck has attempted to do the same on the highest cosmic scale from the start? He is a writer, after all, writing the entire story of the universe even as the universe fights to tell its own story. It's only by looking to the center and seeing the truth of the entire picture that they can free themselves from that fate, break the spell that's held them captive to Chuck's narrative and this endless cycle of sacrifice.

Heck I still love this episode. So much that I’ve let the next three episodes play out in the background... This is the entire spiral of the story played out in miniature, wrapped into a single episode.

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nyctospoilers · 6 years

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hey so Ava is totally the girl Lea and Ïsa wanted to save right??

It could be, but honestly at the moment I’m leaning towards Skuld. Not because there’s more evidence for her, but because there’s more evidence opposing Ava. I’ll go over both!

clues we have about the girl’s identity:

She departed her home world with her four friends, but was found alone.

She was fifteen when she was found, she’s years older by the time she writes Recollections (KH3 report 1).

She lost her memory besides ‘four friends and a key’.

Xigbar one day carried her away from Ansem’s lab, we don’t know where to.

Her disappearance was a rogue act, not an order given by Ansem the Wise like Apprentice Xehanort assumed in his Notes on Subject X.

Case for Ava to be ‘the girl’:

The last time we see her:

We don’t know what happened to Ava, as she wasn’t summoned with the other foretellers in KH3′s epilogue. Before the Keyblade War in KHX, the last time we see her she’s in an argument-turned-battle with Luxu. During Ava’s confrontation to Luxu, Gula recites a passage from the Lost Page which I believe is referring to Luxu and Ava’s conversation and future:

“Unable to permit disharmony, you will be disappointed by fate, and lose sight of true strength… Misreading the truth, you will venture forth in secrecy….”

Sure enough Luxu tells Ava something off screen, and says it’s why the war is fate. Ava refuses to except it, and accuses Luxu of purposely twisting the Master’s intentions. Elsewhere, Gula goes on to say:

“And then with that one strike, a bell will toll for the final battle, and the battle will begin at last, and the time will be chosen…”

Ava jumps to slam Luxu, and the clash of their blades sets the Clock Tower to ring for the unions to gather for the war.

During the Keyblade War, when fighting player, she states “There are secrets no one should ever know.” before telling the player to join the Dandelions, then walks away. This is chronologically the last time we have seen Ava.

Ava’s own mission:

Luxu gives us one clue, albeit vague, about what happened to Ava. He states “Ava had her own mission, and she carried it out.” It’s interesting that he says mission here, as the ‘missions’ given by the MoM are referred to as roles in the epilogue and Back Cover. This leads me to believe that Ava’s mission was her own will, and not a role given by the MoM offscreen.

With the Lost Page excerpt “Misreading the truth, you will venture forth in secrecy….” written for Ava, this could possibly tell us that Ava secretly survived (or escaped) the War, either staying within that world, or following the Dandelions (without them knowing) to the new world. Doing this with a goal in mind.

Earlier I mentioned Xigbar carried The Girl away from Ansem the Wise’s lab/dungeon to a secret location. If this was Ava, then there would be no reason for Luxu to be unsure if she would come or not during KH3′s epilogue, I would think anyway.

I would think if Ava was found unconscious, suffered major amnesia for years, and was held prisoner for a period of time, that she could not have successfully carried out her mission like Luxu stated.

There is also the fact that the girl remembers departing with her four friends, but with the foretellers all being summoned besides Ava, it leaves us to think that she was isolated from them, and did not depart with them to… wherever the fuck it is foretellers have been this whole time lmao.

Case for Skuld to be ‘the girl’:

In all honesty, I have to be extra careful when writing this section because Skuld’s story isn’t over yet in KHX, so anything could happen and be revealed. Still, there are facts we do know, and hopefully they’ll stay as solid evidence.

The girl mentions “four friends and a key”. We can deduce this key to be No Name, as Luxu states he passed to one of the Union leaders before they jumped.

The girl was found unconscious in Radiant Garden alone, I doubt the other union members would leave her, so we’ll say she appeared alone in the first place. It is not known if she “landed” in the exact same time as Ventus though, who is our best anchor for comparison. Master Xehanort found Ventus at least four years before BbS (Sora was a ‘brand new heart’ when joining their hearts, BbS takes place 10 years before KH1, Sora is 14 in KH1). Apprentice Xehanort refers to her as “this new subject”, so we know she is found AFTER the events of BbS. So that is at least a four year difference between Ventus’s arrival and the girl’s. We don’t know when Lauriam and Elrena landed, and we don’t know if Brane landed at all. I don’t think Ephemer jumped at all, as he appeared spiritually in the Keyblade Graveyard, so I suspect he died there before the Union leaders jumped, or just possibly decided to stay behind with the rest of the Dandelions- as Luxu stated only the Five jumped the second time. Elrena landed though and she is not even a Union leader, so it’s possible she will take Ephemer’s place. I digress, though

No matter the case, Brane and Skuld are the only two of the five union leaders we don’t have a location on in the current world. But it’s difficult to say what exactly happens to Skuld as the full story has yet to unravel. I think there is conflict that Luxu left out of his reports, but I could be wrong. We’ll just have to wait and see!

#zedcorp #kh3 analysis #analysis #skuld #ava #subject x #long post

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clusterthoughts · 5 years

Text

My take on Avengers: Endgame **SPOILERS AHEAD**

To get the ball rolling, I’m gonna start with the bits I didn’t like just because overall I fucking loved Endgame and I’d like to end on a positive note. But just because I loved it does not mean I am not well accustomed to Marvel giving me holes to pick at. STEVE’S ENDING When I first watched it; it rubbed me up the wrong way. Now I’m actually mad about it. Don’t get me wrong - I knew they had to find a way to write out Steve Rogers but literally anything else wouldn’t have shit on years of character development. Fans: clearly Steve and Bucky would be the only natural romantic partners for each other Marvel: romantic love is not the be-all-and-end-all. Friendship is just as important Fans: okay well can you give Steve and Bucky solid screen time as friends? Marvel: sTEVE NEEDS TO BE WITH PEGGY THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE AND TO ABANDON ALL HIS FRIENDS FOR IT Fans: ...k I recognise that Steve’s trauma was that he felt like his life had happened without him and he had left behind the love of his life and honestly: fair. I’m Stucky trash all day long but I know the fucking company I’m dealing with here. I’d have accepted The Power Of Friendship with open arms. But a major part of both Steve and Peggy’s on-screen storyline was accepting that they needed to make the most of the life they had now and move on. Significant portions of their screen time was dedicated to that healing process. Steve created a life for himself in the future. He had a found-family (despite Marvel continuously found-family baiting us but I’m being considerate to their established shitehawkery here) he had friends and a purpose. But the main thing of note here is that Steve and Bucky’s friendship was constantly painted as the single most important thing to them. It was enough to pull Bucky out of seven decades of mind control. It was enough to make Steve drop everything (including Tony) to go and find him. They are with each other ‘till the end of the line. Steve Rogers is a man out of time but so is Bucky Barnes. Except Bucky spent the whole time being tortured and used as a murder machine. I refuse to believe that Steve would just leave him alone in the future. And he is alone because there has been zero suggestion that Bucky has a relationship with anyone except maybe Shuri and the Sam and Bucky being friends thing is just here now and we must like it or else (I love it but give me context damnit) And I know that Bucky knew what Steve was going to do because he told Steve he would miss him even though as far as they were concerned he was only going to be gone for five seconds but they, at the very very least, could have shown them having that conversation. The other parts of this that completely fly in the face of Steve’s character development: everyone lost someone. Everyone. Why does Steve get a do-over? Tony doesn’t get a future and Nat doesn’t get a future. Why does Steve get a new one? In what world would Steve comfortably accept either of those things? Peggy moved on and got married and by Steve re-writing how the timeline occurred he denied a women he respects and admires her autonomy. Finally, Marvel really expects me to believe that Steve ‘If I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it’ Rogers goes back to the 40’s and knows Bucky is alive and being actively tortured, knows HYDRA is in SHEILD, knows the Starks are going to be assassinated, knows Nat is in the Red Room and just... does nothing. The Russo Brothers wanted a Steve and Peggy ending from the start, and even when it became obvious that it wasn’t what the fans wanted, they refused to let go. Steve’s ending would have been very sweet if he was any other type of person but he wasn’t. It makes no sense at all to his character development and everyone involved deserved better. Speaking of deserved better... NATASHA’S ENDING This wouldn’t have left such a bitter taste in my mouth had Nat ever, even once, been treated with respect in this franchise. In terms of storyline I’ll admit it made sense. Someone had to die for the soul stone. It had to involve two people who loved each other. And I most certainly didn’t see it coming and the audible sobbing from the audience would back that up. It would have been heartbreaking had Nat been a well loved, well respected character. But she wasn’t. Nat was used as an eye-candy prop for Tony. She was the first person who really tried to be there for a struggling Steve. She was shoehorned into the role of Bruce’s love interest. She gave Clint his atonement. The five years where she worked through her grief were done offscreen despite them being recorded. Her skill set was not shown in this movie in lieu of giving her emotional depth. Yet she was left alone for years to believe that she was some type of monster who didn’t deserve nice things. That she had to dedicate her life, and then give her life, to redemption she no longer needed by any merit applied to the men of the franchise. If you consider the movie as a stand-alone it was a necessary evil but realistically Marvel never did right by her right until the very end. As much as I hate Marvel’s dedication to romantic love being the only motivator; traumatised women needing to sacrifice themselves to be worth anything at all is worse. Natasha’s story never belonged to her and that’s what makes her ending bitter as opposed to just sad. NOW ONTO THE THINGS I LOVED Tony and Nebula’s interactions were so sweet. It really just solidifies how much of a good guy Tony is and it’s nice to see someone treat Nebula like a decent person who just needs some love for once. I have seen a lot of people complain about Thor’s storyline but I actually agreed with the decision made. I am not necessarily thrilled with the execution - the ball was dropped because the Russo’s aren’t Taika Waitti so the humour was clearly a copycat attempt and the fat jokes were overdone. Also handing New Asgard over to Valkyrie I liked but it was really throwaway. The reasons I’m not including it in my Things I Didn’t Like List is: Firstly, Hemsworth specifically looked for Thor to become comedic relief because he didn’t agree with how stiff Thor had been presented in the beginning. Thor’s mother died. His father died. His brother died. His best friend died. His home was destroyed. Half his people died. AND THEN the snap happened. Thor felt personally responsible for everything. During the fight in infinity war, for everybody else is was prevention, but for Thor is was already revenge. Only for them to lose which, as far as Thor is concerned and for all that he’ll believe, is because he should have gone for the head. And people just??? Expected him??? To be fine??? Accurate depressive episode is accurate. And I’m so glad he got to speak to Frigga. Firstly because I love her and secondly because she was dead right. You’ll always fail at being the person you are supposed to be. Thor has to make peace with the person he wants to be. (On a side note: Frigga and my therapist would be friends) Also when he killed Thanos the first time I heard someone in the cinema say “they do know this is a 3 hour movie right?” And I was inclined to agree. Gotta give this movie props for never having me feel like I could guess what was gonna happen next despite me being able to guess what was gonna happen next. Brilliant writing. I love Scott Lang. I don’t have much to say about that. He is a great dad, super funny, blends well with the others, when he got super big I whooped. His reunion with Hope was actually perfectly sweet without taking away from the mission. This is a We Love Scott Lang Zone only. The scene where the push time through him was hilarious. I did not see the Banner/Hulk thing coming and equally did not realise how much I needed it. Super funny and good for him for embracing both. Tony! Stark! As! A! Dad! Jesus wept it was so much more wholesome than I ever could have hoped for. I can’t even pick out one part it was all perfection. I love you 3000, Tony Stark. Hawkeye. My baby boy. I love him to death and I am purposely ignoring his time as a big ol murderer. It was very very extra wrong but leave me alone. I was glad he was given more screen time in this movie. I recognise that Rocket isn’t strictly speaking a “real” “person” but I enjoyed him so immensely in this movie. Him and Nebula holding hands just knocks me every time. KORG!!! I would give this movie 10/10 exclusively because Korg was in it. I truly loved the scene where Tony figures out time travel and I’m also very glad that instead of Pepper putting the foot down because he had a family now and he promised so many times he’d give it all up she knows that he’ll never rest and he needs to do this whatever the cost (sob) Rhodey’s A1 time travel humour ~chefs kiss~ I! FUCKING! LOVED! EVERYTHING! ABOUT! THEM! GOING! BACK! TO! NEW! YORK! AAAHHH! Hulk and the stairs!!! I genuinely yelped when Steve said “hail hydra” that was genius spec!!! “You’ve got to be shitting me” STEVEN GRANT ROGERS!!! “I can do this all day” “yeah, yeah, I know” was fucking hilarious!!! “Bucky... is... alive” further yelping on my part!!! “That is America’s ass” and all Steve/Tony/Scott interactions about America’s ass were just great!!! Thor using the hammer to restart Tony’s heart!!! Loki where u gone!!! “Do you trust me?” “I do”!!! 1970’s WOO TIME-TRAVEL ROAD TRIP Hey, Stan Lee I just love Tony/Steve scenes (Civil War? Never heard of him?) they bring me true, unadulterated joy Everything about Howard and Tony’s interaction was so wholesome I think I need to take a shower in dirt to counteract it Peggy Carter you are an agent and you mean to tell me that 220lbs of Prime American Beef can just stand in front of you and you don’t even see it out the corner of your eye? LOOK UP, DAMNIT (If you have your reunion now the dickhead might not go ba- sorry, sorry. Where was I?) JARVIS!!! Can someone please for fucks sake give Nebula a break? Mediocre Natasha mourning is mediocre (sorry x2) YES BRUCE YOU BEAUTIFUL SONOVABITCH aaaaaand Yikes! (Poor Rocket did not sign up for this shit at all) (Gamora is too good for these fuckos) When I asked for someone to give Nebula a break I didn’t meAN FOR FUCKING NEBULA TO DO IT Everything about the Steve/Tony/Thor v Thanos fight scene was so ~deep inhale~ aesthetic but... *WHEN STEVE USED MJØLNIR I WAS READY TO GODDAMN RIOT. HOLY FUCK. WHAT A SCENE. WHAT A MAN. IVE HAD SEX THAT DIDNT GIVE ME AS MUCH SATISFACTION. I WOULD HAVE THAT MOMENT TATTOOED INSIDE MY EYELIDS IF I COULD. EVERY TIME I REMEMBER IT MY BRAIN MAKES THIS NOISE: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ~ahem~

FUCK OFF AWAY FROM THE SHEILD THANOS The scene where Thano’s army is charging in from the dark clouds and you can see Steve standing in front of the sun is so beautiful I’d marry it. I don’t have the right vocabulary for how beautiful that was but fuck me Sam: on your left Me: ~pterodactyl screech~ Honest to fuck it was a moment of sheer magic seeing everyone come back (I made grabby hands during everyone’s return) Next, I’ll quote a girl I met in the toilets after the movie - “If I marry the man of my dreams, have beautiful children, and die in my sleep at the age of 99 I still won’t be as happy as when Steve said ‘Avengers Assemble’” Girl, same. Fucking same. It was erotic and I’m genuinely fearful Marvel will never produce as magnificent a line again. TONY AND PETER I shed a tear at how sweet that was. I need back into the dirt shower. Their hug!!! Peter’s babbling!!! Tony’s whole face!!! CAPTAIN MARVEL. I’ve got to give this credit. I love Captain Marvel. I think Brie Larson is a god amongst men but I really didn’t want the movie to be about her and how she saves the day. That would really take away from all the years of hard work done by the original six and it really wasn’t her fight the way it was to everyone else. The amount she was involved and the way she was involved was truly perfect in my opinion. It was the edge they needed but no one was overlooked in the process. I was really very happy about this. The girl power scene was probably pandering but I don’t give a fuck I was well and truly pandered The team work for that fight scene was magnificent, the pacing was magnificent, the visuals were magnificent. BE-YOU-TEA-FULL When Thanos got the stones like honestly Russo Bothers you had me there. I fully panicked Doctor Strange’s lil finger. Remarkable. I’m gonna take this moment to say: the call backs they did to old scenes and old lines in the franchise were really tasteful and well done. This always felt like the accumulation of years of work and I’ve got to applaud it. TONY MOTHERFUCKING STARK, FRIENDS!!! You funky little maniac. I AM IRON MAN!!!!!! AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! But oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck I knew this was going to happen but that did not make it hurt any less. There was open crying at this point in the cinema. It was the perfect death for him, to be honest. If it had to happen I’m so glad it was like this. Full circle. Honourable. Surrounded by those who loved him. Part of the journey is the end and I LOVE YOU 3000 I am going to miss Tony beyond belief. His funeral was stunning. I am so glad literally everyone was there (HEY HARLEY). Great symbolism for it being a funeral for the Avengers as we know it, too. Also Happy’s interaction with Morgan was so soft I have melted. I am no longer here. And finally, Sam Wilson Is Captain America AS! IT! SHOULD! BE! I would like to thank the academy, Jesus, and whoever took over Steve Rogers considering the Steve we know would never have gone ba- SORRY X3

#Avengers endgame spoilers #endgame spoilers #a4 spoilers

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militant-holy-knight · 5 years

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Benioff and Weiss Were Always Hacks: You Only Noticed Now

Or why you should be worried for the future Star Wars movies made by them

(Disclaimer: this blogpost contains spoilers for Game of Thrones)

With only two episodes left for the series to reach it’s conclusion and the announcement for future Star Wars movies in the horizon made by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (henceforth referred to as D&D for simplicity sake), not many fans seem to be excited about it as they should due to the creative choices taken in regards to the final season of Game of Thrones. Speaking as a GoT fan, I used to enjoy the show a lot and I believe it reached it’s peak on Season 4 and started to go went downhill on Season 5. If D&D were in charge from the beginning what happened?

D&D’s job was always to adapt the book series by George R. R. Martin, which means any merit to the show’s writing can be attributed largely to Martin while D&D were only fit for it to make it work into a tv show - which is still laudable in it’s own right because there are things in the books that still wouldn’t translate too well into the show. In any case, they did their job well from Season 1 to Season 4 which adapted the first trilogy in the series. Even though there are still five books in total released at the time, Season 5 is where they started to run out of material to adapt because some storylines didn’t find their proper conclusion and they needed to come up with their own unique deviations.

Season 5 is considered by many fans to be the low point in the series because of it’s extremely low pacing and controversial liberties taken: the biggest ones have to be the Dorne subplot because that meant axing popular book character Arianne Martell, Stannis Baratheon turning irredeemable evil and paying with his life and Sansa’s marriage to Ramsay Snow leading to her rape, which is still a very hot button among the fandom to this day (and understandably so). Season 5 did have some moments like Hardhome which showed the strength of the true villain of the series, the Night King, the leader of the White Walker invasion who brings winter with him. He is the Thanos-like menace who is teased since the very start of the show with the very first scene opening with a White Walker killing some Night Watch’s rangers and warning us about the danger he represents.

Season 6 fixed some of these problems by giving a more dynamic pacing and build it up with the Battle of the Bastards as the climatic encounter instead of something completely anti-climatic like Season 5′s finale where Stannis Baratheon’s forces were liquidated by the Boltons offscreen. But still, it was an entire season wasted to fix another one’s problems and it still had some individual problems.

And then Season 7 came along and it all went to waste. I wouldn’t say it was as bad as Season 5 because at least shit happened and it wasn’t boring, but it was still full of groan-worthy moments like trying to force some romance between Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen which doesn’t work because they have no chemistry and they are related by blood, curing Jorah Mormont who has been infected with a dangerous disease that will turn him into a snow zombie by simply cutting out the infected area, and of course lest we forget the Wight Hunt in Episode 6 “Beyond the Wall” which broke all suspension of disbelief. Lemme sum it up for you what happens in that episode so you can get the idea and let me put up a map so you can get it from reference.

The heroes come up with the idea to capture an Wight and bring it South to convince Cersei to from a truce.

The travel by boat to the Wall from their base on Dragonstone.

After reaching the Wall, they walk into the land beyond it to find a wight.

They find one and send one of their members back to ask reinforcements having to sprint a indeterminate distance.

The team gets surrounded by the Night King’s army in a frozen lake for a indeterminate amount of time.

The allies at the Wall send a raven back to Dragonstone requesting help.

Daenerys summons her dragons to fly to the land beyond the Wall to rescue the heroes.

They are fighting to the last against the advancing horde of the Night King just before Daenerys arrives in a triumphant moment to save them.

And all of this happens like... Within a hour apparently. Several days should have taken place between this exchange but time moves at the speed of the plot, but D&D seem to be relying on emotional torque to get viewers to ignore all internal logic and be mindblown by the crowning moments of awesome. And this is the core issue with their writing.

D&D write their scenes the same way they film sex scenes apparently, hoping that the emotional moments will make the audience be carried over. Thing is... I realized this after thinking up about many moments in the past. Hardhome was one such example in Season 5 to make up for its abhorrent dullness and even Season 6 wasn’t safe from this. For example, remember how Rickon Stark died just so he could provoke Jon Snow to act irrationally and spur him into conflict? Why didn’t Rickon run in zig-zag when Ramsay began firing arrows at him? Why did he run into a straight line? Did these writers not watch Prometheus to learn their lessons from it’s mistakes? This problem was carried over in Season 8 and amplified a lot in the Long Night. Many people pointed out the several military blunders made by the protagonists when fighting against the Night King’s army.

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I could talk about the moronic choice to film everything in absolute darkness and make it impossible to see shit.

I could talk about how idiotic it was to waste your cavalry against the enemy bulwark.

I could talk about how they didn’t create trenches with tar or use fire for more effective manner against the undead.

But I’d rather talk about that moment.

Arya killing the Night King.

You know at first I was okay with that because:

I wasn’t being a fan of Jon Snow in a long time.

Arya wasn’t a Mary Sue, had skills that justified her, so I could buy it better.

But the more I thought about it, more I came to the realization that it was a wrong choice all along.

Arya never had any investment in killing the Night King. She was a character defined by a list of people she wanted to kill including the Freys, Cersei, Joffrey and others.

Arya was trained as an assassin yes... But her training in Season 5 and 6 was very lackluster. She spent some time doing menial works, impersonating some people and trying to spill some poison on someone’s drink. She never learned invisibility, teleportation or any other cool shit.

And most importantly... Melisandre predicting that Arya would shut down “blue eyes” way back when they met in Season 3. If she sensed she was always destined to kill the Night King why did she ever support Stannis? Why did she even support Jon Snow? She even referred to him as the Prince that was Promised. Some fans can try to spin this as much as they want, but it breaks the plot retroactively very hard.

The actress herself didn’t think she deserved it

Of course all of these things were ignored by a large part of the fanbase, more specifically the “woke” crowd because YAS QUEEN SLAY. Little did they know that the very next episode would force them to eat a real shit sandwich when “The Last of the Starks” seemed to turn the narrative against Daenerys Targaryen by turning her into the Mad Queen, killing her handmaiden Missandei and setting up Jon to be the next King of Westeros. Not helping matters is that a series of leaks not yet confirmed as of the time of writing were released prior to the episode (but I personally feel they were legitimate due to some specific things but that is not the point) which sent many Daenerys fans into panic mode.

Speaking as someone who really doesn’t like Daenerys Targaryen, I can actually sympathize with them at some level because this shift appears to be very sudden specially now that the authors favored her more until this very moment. Some viewers can argue that there were always signs like her burning the Tarlys for refusing to bend the knee, which I personally took issue with before but it never really came across as the sign of an insane ruler since she offered very valid rebuttals. It all seemed like the plot was tailored to take her side no matter what and I considered Dany a Mary Sue. But just because they seem to be turning her into a villain now, it doesn’t make me hate the story any less.

Now... I spent an inordinate amount of time bitching about Game of Thrones and if you are an Star Wars fan that doesn’t know anything about it, you might be lost to anything I am writing. Well I needed to give an proper context to both GoT and SW fans since those seem to overlap now and give you a warning because Star Wars seems to be more lost now than ever. D&D were never particularly good writers, they were incoherent about continuity, care more about spectacle over substance and seem to share a thing about subverting the audience’s expectations like a certain Ruin Johnson who succeeded in completely ruining a franchise like there was no tomorrow. The key difference between D&D and Ruin is that the duo doesn’t share the same flippant attitude or picking up fights with fans on Twitter - on the contrary, D&D understand the power of fanservice even if it means daggling the metaphorical shining keys in front of the audience.

As we come close to Game of Thrones conclusion, I have a feeling that nobody will truly come out satisfied with it should the story take the direction that we are really dreading. I’ve seen interviews about how Emilia Clarke sounds really sad and deflated, seemed like she was really disappointed with how the show ended. Whatever happens, the blame can be laid on the feet of Benioff and Weiss for their frankly baffling creative decisions. This season has been disappointing through and through with two or three episodes being needlessly long and filler to booth and to make matters worse, it was supposed to end earlier than 10 episodes. Why did they need to rush it and yet fill the series with so much dead air?

Now can you imagine a Star Wars movie made by them? With all these things I listed? The next trilogy is already dated, we don't know if it's D&D or Ruin Johnson yet. We are talking about a couple of writers that have no sense of realistic scale, continuity or logic, but rely on cheap emotional tricks to have the audience invested until they begin thinking about it. I would laugh until I was sick if this season turns everyone against those two fuckwads that Disney changes their mind about putting them in charge. If the world was a just place, this is what would happen at least.

#star wars #game of thrones #rants

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