#right or wrong?

[girl4music]

GABRIELLE: “I never thought I’d see this.”

XENA: “What?”

GABRIELLE: “You washing blood off my hands.”

XENA: “I never thought I’d see it either.”

The inclination for Xena to lie and fashion fantasies to save Gabrielle in ‘Legacy’ is something I could spend hours on thinking and writing about. Of course she won’t let Gabrielle near her if that’s what she plans to do because Gabrielle would outright refuse to lie. Her actions and choices - she knows she must own up to them. But Xena… Xena would spend eternity and the next serving the greater good in retribution for all her past sins… but not when it’s Gabrielle that has to pay for her own crimes. In that case she’ll go against the grain. She’ll even go against it if Gabrielle didn’t do it.

Because as she said… Gabrielle is more important to her than the greater good. Than her own moral code.

Mostly because she’s HER greater good. But also because she believes she doesn’t deserve to face any consequences to actions - even if they are her own.

And it wouldn’t make much sense for Gabrielle to be the opposite. To put Xena second. Only if it’s herself - which is something I feel like ‘Fallen Angel’ got wrong.

But this is it though. This is what it comes down to. This is why these final Season 6 episodes make sense.

The greater good is only put first if it’s themselves. Each other? Not a chance. Not even if it’s just once. You can’t make them pay for their crimes with each other. That’s something they will not allow to happen.

I’ve wrote about this extensively before but it bears repeating again. Xena and Gabrielle were true heroes. Meaning they weren’t about self-gain at any point. But first and foremost, they were heroes to each other and if for any reason one of them made a mistake or had a misstep somewhere in their actions, the other will do anything possible - regardless of how dangerous or even morally wrong it might be - just to save them.

Now ‘Legacy’ is interesting because obviously the audience is going to be on Gabrielle’s side just as Xena is. Not just out of bias but because they’ve seen the full picture of what happened. They see how much of an accident it was. But nevertheless, it was still going to be murder in the eyes of everyone else - even those that worshipped them and would be biased based on that alone - because they didn’t see the full picture.

They didn’t see that it was an accident and they wouldn’t take Gabrielle’s word for it that it was. So Xena feels she has to lie because how else could she ensure Gabrielle’s survival? And once Gabrielle tells them the truth, she feels she has to betray them all to the Romans. She doesn’t care about what’s morally right because it’s Gabrielle that’s caught in the fire.

Not her.

Then theres ‘AFIN’ where even though we, as the audience, know Gabrielle would do the same - it’s still shocking to actually hear her say it. That she doesn’t care about what’s morally right. Different situations and circumstances aside - it ultimately doesn’t matter about that because it’s Xena that’s caught in the fire.

Not her.

It’s like what I explained in that post talking about WayHaught and the trope of doing crazy things for love or doing the selfish or immoral things for love.

When you’re more important to each other than the greater good - you’re going to go against the greater good to save one another or to keep one another alive.

UNLESS the other requests or pleads for you to not to.

And this is the major striking difference with Xena.

Xena’s only stipulation to the moral code of serving the greater good is Gabrielle. That would be true even if Gabrielle herself requested it the way Xena did in ‘AFIN’. Not even Gabrielle’s choice would deter her from saving her or keeping her alive. From protecting her. Keeping her safe. And it’s up to you whether you consider that to be a good thing or not. I find it quite selfish because it makes Gabrielle seem more like a possession to Xena than regarded as an equal to her.

But that’s Xena. That’s how she operates. You see, she gives up her happiness in ‘AFIN’ in that she lets her go on without her. But only because she’s the dead one.

Were it Gabrielle that had to make that sacrifice.

Nope. It wouldn’t happen. And ‘Legacy’ proved it.

So ‘Legacy’ is interesting because it’s a compelling confliction they face and would own up to the consequences of - of which we know would only be true if it was themselves rather than each other. But even more so on behalf of their own request - of which Gabrielle acquiesced to. Xena did and would not have.

Was the show about the greater good? Mostly…

I’d rather put it as it was about the greater sacrifice because what’s good about sacrificing with your own end? And if there’s someone that goes beyond or above that for you,… how do you deal? Because you’re not sacrificing with YOUR end. You’re sacrificing with THEIRS. What if they specifically ask you to let them?

Do you ignore it? Or do you respect it? COMPELLING.

[blueskittlesart]

knowledge long forgotten

got really into reading item descriptions on this playthrough. anyway did you know the silent princess is one of the only raw materials with a cooking effect to not explicitly list that effect in its description

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[churroach]

Girlish whimsy indeed

[catmask]

hey guys when you say something is for the johto starters can you include me in that as well? the johto starters and tepig if it's not too much trouble thanks guys

[mummer]

not that i am against the concept of international trade nor do i think tariffs are based or whatever but what is interesting is seeing how much of the american reaction comes down to “but *i* dont want to work in a factory for pennies and *i* dont want my currency to be worthless and to have to pay one billion dollars for iphone” without even acknowledging your comfort depends on a global population who is forced to live under those exact conditions. right. like it or not, for the world to exist as it does, someone’s got to do it. someone’s got to mine the precious metals, someone’s got to forge the machine parts. someone’s got to ruin their body for slave wages, somewhere. the fact that you and i don’t is a result of winning a total genetic lottery and it is the exception not the norm and do what you want with that information but at least dont be callous

[floworence]

I need to get this off my chest before I go INSANE.

"You are not immune to propaganda"

This is the main thought I have when people are talking about Effie.

Effie is a clear example of that and people are kinda missing the point.

Suzanne take time to establish that not all Capitol citizens are pure evil, even if they're not rebels. We see it in Katniss' stylists, the girl in the lemon coat, countless kids that died in that bombing, people who died at the hands of both Peacekeepers and rebels alike.

We see it in Effie.

Over the course of the series, Katniss learns that capitol citizens are humans, ones that were put under years upon years of propaganda, with no knowledge on how to behave differently.

The whole message of the series is "remember who the real enemy is". It's the higher powers oppressing people, not common people living privileged life. That is why Katniss shoots Coin, that is why Games, of any kind, had to stop.

Some people focus too much on Effie being typical capitolite, and miss the crucial element of what she is representing. She is a picture of a person who lived their whole life under propaganda and could only break away from it when faced with real facts that contradicted it. Katniss and Peeta being reaped again, shattered Effie's view on Games, making her see through the propaganda.

It doesn't make Effie evil to change only after that.

Sotr also established that Trinkets are an ostracized family, one that is least likely to rebel since they'd be the first ones to go. They need to keep being in the system to survive, they need to comply or they die.

The difference between propaganda in Captiol and Districts is simple.

Districts are confronted with harsh reality daily, Capitol isn't.

That's why propaganda in the Capitol is more effective and why it's harder to break away from it. We cannot judge those characters as if they have access to all the information we have, since it's simply not true.

Effie is a woman in a situation where it's hard to break from the hold of Capitol, from the information that's being fed to her, you have to remember that.

[jackojpg]

TOXIC ✯♱✯☠︎︎✯♱✯ YURI

[artistic-cocoon]

Saw someone on twt say they wanted to see Percy drawn like Yusuf Dikec and I couldn't help myself

[sparrowlucero]

The greatest injustice ever faced is that I almost certainly started the still thriving "clown husbandry" tag on here, but any discussion about it (from a know your meme page to a youtube video with 500k views) says it's a joke of "unknown origin" or credited to this post, likely bouncing off of mine (which was actively circulating at the time with like 30k notes):

This is a tragedy for many reasons, most of all because it wasn't just an offhand joke but actually a direct response to some of the funniest online hate I ever got:

They're erasing the truest history of tumblr: its desperate need to seethe and argue over every obvious joke with more than 10 notes.

anyways here is the canonical pet clown. according to me

[hinamie]

mentor

[k4pp4-8]

I have never been satisfied with the way I draw usopp simply because I love him SO much does that make sense??

[neptunym]

these two make me ill

[brainrotcharacters]

the easy grip on the knife. the leg over the seat. the hand over the other seat. the sassy "come get it" move. you know the bitch is smiling behind that mask even as he said the line.

[limitedseries]

Severance— "Good News About Hell" (1.01) & "Chikhai Bardo" (2.07)