#royalty and classism

[wonder-worker]

people really do not know what they're talking about when it comes to Elizabeth Woodville's social status, huh?

[floralovebot]

I think Riven was poor in the show... I think Riven hated Sky for being a prince too. They're fighting was because of that too. Are you saying that Riven did not hate Sky because he is a prince? Riven said a lot that he did not like Sky because he is rich and rich people are unfair. Please share your thoughts for me.

I'm pretty sure this is in response to this post? But let me know if not!

Anyway, Riven coming from a poor or even "middle class" background isn't canon, it's just a really good headcanon. I say it's a headcanon because when it comes up, it's always a vague implication that could also be about something else. Like his mother abandoning him could definitely have led to him growing up poor, but it's also not an exact confirmation. His mother leaving for money could mean they were poor, but it could also mean she just wanted More Money. Darcy saying he has "a darkness inside him" is likely about mental illness and trauma rather than him being poor and taking it out on the others (also anyone who uses this as an example just know i am beam blasting your house so hard). Riven calling out nepotism and classism could definitely be more personal but it could also be an example of his very high morality and moral judgment. (like riven is extremely intelligent and stands up for people in less fortunate situations a lot.)

Like,,, it's never directly stated that he's poor and the implications that people usually see could very easily be about something else. Kind of like the headcanon that Helia grew up at RF or comes from a military family; lots of good implications, but not canon. Or s1 implying that Flora could be a lesbian or wlw; lots of implications, but not canon. On the flip side, there are tons of things about Riven that are directly stated or directly implied (like his trust issues, issues with administration, his mental health issues, and even his mother leaving him). But Riven coming from a specifically poor background is something that's more often than not just an implication that could be implying something else. I'm not saying that implication isn't there at all, but it can definitely be read in other ways (for example, I've seen people headcanon that Riven comes from a noble family and hates classism because he's seen it up close). But regardless, Riven being poor is just an implication because it's not stated or shown in canon.

Also, I should note that my post wasn't about shitting on this headcanon. I like the idea that Riven comes from a poor background. It makes sense within canon, I do think it's implied (even some of the weaker implications are still fun to me), and I often use it in other headcanons and aus. But again, it's not Canon and his rivalry with Sky and the other specialists had a lot of components that aren't related to classism. My post was specifically about how the Sky vs Riven rivalry wasn't just about classism. Riven absolutely does not like royalty or the idea of different classes in general. However, his rivalry with Sky was never just about Sky being a prince.

Riven calls Sky out for having advantages over them, yes. Riven calls out the other characters for not knowing something, for being privileged, for nepotism, etc, yes. But his dislike of Sky specifically didn't stem from classism. Like I said in that post, classism was absolutely a factor but it wasn't the Biggest Factor.

Riven had a lot of internal issues in s1 and all of them played a factor in his rivalry with Sky. Sky being a prince was the icing on top. It really cemented everything that Riven thought of Sky before, but it was never the First Reason, the Big Reason, or the Only Reason. Riven didn't like the specialists because they were constantly undermining him, constantly insulting him (sometimes in a direct insulting way and sometimes in a "playful/joking" way), always assuming the worst of him, and never taking his side in literally anything. He also has extreme trust issues, felt like he would be better off alone, and used everything they said and did as a confirmation of why. Like s1 Riven had a really bad case of confirmation bias and was constantly looking for reasons to hate them (Sky being a prince was One of those reasons).

Like I said in that post, the Riven vs Sky rivalry had a lot of depth and both parties played into it. In canon, it was never just Poor Boy Hate Rich Boy. Sky being a prince and therefore having a lot of privilege was absolutely a factor in Riven's dislike of him, but it was never the only thing or the biggest reason. If Sky hadn't been the prince, Riven still would've hated him. Like,, that's important! Riven didn't hate Sky Just because he's a prince. He didn't trust Sky, hated that Sky looked down on him (regardless of their class standing), and hated that Sky "saw better in him". He hated that they were both extremely stubborn, irrational pricks who took it out on each other. He hated that Sky clearly didn't like, trust, or respect him.

And again, I really do think his relationships with the other royal and/or rich characters back this up. If Riven hated Sky simply for being a prince, that energy would've been directed toward Brandon first and it would also be directed toward Bloom, Stella, and Aisha. But it isn't. In fact, Riven often shows that he respects and likes Aisha! Even when he does call the other royal/rich characters out, it's never with animosity. It's usually in this, "yeah you're rich and dumb and privileged here I'll show you how it's done 🙄" kind of way. With Sky, it's more "i hate you i hate you i hate you i hate myself fuck off i hate you AND you're a prince god could you get any worse???". Yknow?

[ligbi]

I want a movie that starts off kindof like parasite but in the big city with a job for a rich family in a tall building, normal guy trying to make a buck off the rich, but they start figuring out that most of the floors of the building are owned by this one family. And there are more people living here than they think. And they're hungry.

Rich people inbred urban nightmare horror movie when

[verdantmeadows]

I loooooove (sarcasm) how In Love With The Villainess is like, hey, here's our three princes, and here's Thane, the one who canonically has an inferiority complex, is overlooked, and the least popular of the three! And then we're going to ignore him and not give him character development or fulfill his character :)

[blossomthepinkbunny]

Watching Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss initially kinda feels like comfortably walking up a set of stairs until you stub your toe on a step and violently fall all the way down again.

Because these shows are perfect to watch if you turn your mind off and just watch colours flash before your eyes, but as soon as you start to ask one simple question or just think critically about it, it all falls apart.

How do businesses even work in hell when a monetary system is never established and it's said that no one (not even the leaders or royalty) cares about rules and a working system?

If no one does care then why are classism and these relationship issues in HB even a problem?

What even happens after sinners or imps die?

If we don't know what happens why should we care about whenever they're in danger?

Why should we care about the exterminations?

Why are there prisons and therapy centers in hell when it would be more efficient for the Sins if they'd just kill demons that piss them off?

Why aren't these demons just killed when apparently no one would care?

If Stolas would be in trouble for giving the grimoire to an imp, how can the I.M.P's just advertise their services out to the public like that?

And why has their business model even worked for them so far, when the people they kill can just get to them in hell?

Can every sinner make a contract with everyone?

If so, then why can't Charlie just make a new contract with Angel Dust that makes the one he has with Valentino useless?

Why does Charlie genuinely never do anything to actually help her people out?

Why does she desperately want to stop the exterminations but never does anything when Alastor kills so many demons?

Why should we give a shit about demons being murdered when so far only a few demons actually tried to be better and the ones that don't try to change are shown to be the worst people ever?

How did Vaggie not know angels could be harmed when she literally lost her eye and her wings to an angelic weapon?

(I'm not counting explanations that weren't in the show, one shouldn't have to look up additional material to understand whats going on)

A show having a plothole doesn't necessarily make it bad. But Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel have so many inconsistencies not only regarding worldbuilding but also characters. These may seem like small issues but they all pile up to create shows with terrible logic. It's not good writing when a show can't withstand one point of criticism without opening up to a ton of other, even more destructive issues.

[inamindfarfaraway]

I would find Blondie Lockes very annoying in real life, but I love her in fiction. She's a genuinely good journalist in terms of both skill and ethical integrity, who only occasionally forgets to check the facts because she's fifteen and holds herself accountable when she does. She has incredibly high standards for everything and believes herself to be the ultimate authority on quality. She has magical lockpicking powers because her fairytale is about Goldilocks breaking into a house. She somehow completely ignores the story's moral that Goldilocks was wrong to break into the house, feels entitled to go wherever and help herself to whatever she's able to and cannot comprehend why people dislike this. She's been terrorizing an anthropomorphic bear family with her cheerful disrespect for privacy and is convinced that they love her. She has a non-anthropomorphic pet baby bear. Her motivation is dependence on external approval rooted in deeply internalized classism. She's desperate to be useful and important to those with higher social status and feels the need to lie that her family is technically royalty to fit in with her royal friends, even though they treat commoners like equals all the time. She positions herself as a conduit of true greatness; closer to it than the masses, but never the hero, always reporting on other people and evaluating what they've done. Because what she's done isn't enough to be worthwhile. What she is isn't enough. But this performative lifestyle makes her anxious about being judged as a fraud and an interloper, and ashamed of selfishly transgressing against social norms. Her microphone head looks like an adorable little bear head. That's one hex of a character alright.

[oversensitiveandoffputting]

I cannot stop watching the first four minutes of Apology Tour because it’s so well-acted and animated (especially Bryan Pinkham, oh my god he was told Stolas was a cunt this episode and he delivered).

Stolas admittedly got petty when he brought up Striker and reminded Blitz that Blitz wasn’t there when he was being tortured and was almost murdered. But I think he knows Blitz was prioritizing his child and while it may hurt, as a father himself, he doesn’t actually hold it against Blitz for not being there.

What I think is actually cutting him up is that the guy he’s in a situationship with and in limerance with (meaning intense, obsessive crush), never showed up to see him at the hospital and kept making excuses to to not talk to him after he was tortured and almost murdered.

Like, fuck man. That has to hurt. That has to feel like a stab to the gut. We know as the audience that Blitz is keeping himself at a distance because of his self-hatred and complicated feelings and guilt, but Stolas doesn’t.

And shoutout to @timkontheunsure for finding this:

To be very quickly followed up by Blitz admitting he already knew Striker was trying to kill Stolas, even if he didn’t take it seriously (I take it at face value that Blitz didn’t think of Striker as a threat to Stolas. He took the assassination attempt itself seriously but had no reason to think Striker would attempt a second time and especially be successful. He seemed genuinely shocked that Stolas could be killed in Western Energy).

So, from Stolas’ POV: you’re have this intense, obsessive crush on your situationship. The other guy does not take it seriously that you were badly injured, never saw you in the hospital, is avoiding seeing you after you get out of hospital, sent you pictures of your torturer’s horse as memes, and then admitted that he already knew your torturer had plans to murder you while calling your a racist. Stolas probably believes Blitz does not care if he lives or dies. And while we as the audience agree that Stolas has racial blindness to work on, I’m sure the first time he’s ever had to think about race/class dynamics being when he’s being tortured is not giving him any motivation to check himself on it. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole topic throws him into a PTSD episode. This is especially heartbreaking because Stolas is making an effort to hide an injury he still has from Striker, most likely because he’s royalty and royalty have to appear strong at all times.

Sometimes I wonder if Blitz knows if Stolas wasn’t a pacifist, he would have murdered him ten times over by now.

And Stolas’ little drunken speech at the end is so fucking sad. I think he’s being literal when he says he wants someone to care if he stays or goes, but also euphemistic. He wants someone to care if he leaves the morning after, but he wants someone to care if he’s fucking murdered or not.

My sad birb, the bar cannot be this low.

And I think it’s going to be another thing that makes things very complicated and vitriolic between them. On Blitz’s end, you have the racism/classism and the power dynamic. On Stolas’ end, you have the knowledge that your situationship only wanted to see you for your access to the human world (there’s no way he didn’t figure that out after months of being left on read, which he mentions in S1E1) and probably wouldn’t have known if you passed at the hospital because he had no intention of seeing you. And Stolas deserves to have that hurt acknowledged. All the birb wanted was a “hey I’m glad you’re not dead here’s a little kiss on the forehead and a horse movie to keep you entertained.” That’s it. The bar is so low it’s six feet under Hell and it still wasn’t met.

And Stolas’s response was to get a little petty one time when they were already arguing? My ass would be using this to win every argument from now until Armageddon.

“Stolas did you do the dishes?”

“IDK Blitz. Did you come visit me in the hospital after Striker tried to gouge my eyes out?”

[blackhairedjjun]

white peonies

pairing: choi yeonjun x gender neutral reader [reader is called "beautiful" once] | genre / tropes: royalty au, fluff, comfort, yeonjun and reader are engaged | word count: 1.25k | warnings: pet names (darling, love), mentions of classism

summary: the night before your wedding, you - a humble gardener who has won the heart of the crown prince - feel some doubts. fortunately, your husband-to-be is there for you.

author's notes: this is a spin-off to my previous multichapter fic, flowers of every color (specifically it is an epilogue to the good ending). but this can also be read on its own as a standalone oneshot!

(support by reblogging banner by @cafekitsune)

on the night before your wedding, the greenhouse is quiet. there’s no one else here but you, and you’re grateful for the solitude; the gardening staff hired to replace you have all gone to bed, and you can revel in your old life one more time. your fingers brush the petals of the newly bloomed white peonies on the greenhouse table and you smile. they’ve grown beautifully, their snow-white petals bursting out like fireworks, and they’ve been cut and arranged in vases and bouquets just in time to be put into position tomorrow. regret stings at you that you barely tended to them personally.

you’ve been told time and time again that you don’t need to do gardening work anymore now that you’re about to become the prince’s spouse and consort 一 and you’ve been too busy with new duties to do so anyway. still, you miss that old life, and the small garden plot assigned for “royal leisure” isn’t enough.

without even realizing it, you start checking each flower for signs of infestation or infection. you inspect the leaves, the petals, and the cut ends of the stems, searching for holes left by bug bites or parts that have gone mushy and brown. you examine the water inside their vases, making sure they’re clear and free of any debris. and when each cut flower is satisfactorily healthy to you, you move on to the next one; you walk slowly down the long table, examining vase after vase, caring for them as if they were your own. (they’re the flowers for your wedding; in a sense, they are your own.)

the task keeps you busy enough that the tumultous energy swirling in your stomach slows down just a bit. the solitude comforts you; it’s just you and the flowers, away from the prying eyes of the castle, of the royal council, of all the guests who will come flooding in tomorrow...

your inspection is interrupted by a creak in the door. as it opens, you jump back and start a response 一 i just want to look at them before i go, that’s all 一 until the dim greenhouse light illuminates the face of your groom.

your shoulders droop and relief washes over you.

“i thought i’d find you here.” yeonjun makes his way to you and wraps his arms around your waist from behind. he pulls you close and you relax in his hold, though your tumultous feelings haven’t been shaken off completely. he too can feel the hurried rhythm of your pulse.

“why is my darling still awake?” he whines, kissing the crown of your head. “you need to be well-rested for tomorrow...”

“i know, love.” you sigh and turn to face him. “i just needed to get my nerves out.”

“you always come here when you’re nervous. tell me, darling... you can tell me what’s on your mind.”

“i’ve already told you a hundred times, you don’t want to hear it.”

“but i do.” he pushes aside a stray lock of hair from your face and cups your cheek. even now the gesture makes your heart flutter. “i don’t care if you’ve told me a hundred times. if you’re worried, i want you to tell me.”

you’re quiet for a few moments. you turn away from yeonjun and glance at the peonies; even after admitting it to him so many times before, it never feels any less shameful.

“it’s tomorrow... all the dukes and counts and visiting royal families from other kingdoms... they’ll see me, and they...”

you trail off. yeonjun pulls you into a tight embrace, one hand coming up to run through your hair. he knows about this worry all too well after you’ve told him countless times throughout your engagement. he’s heard the gossip making its way through his circles of royalty and nobility. he’s even held several returned invitations from guests who have declined to come or even send a gift.

he’s a prince marrying a commoner 一 his family’s own gardener 一 and breaking tradition. many noble and royal families took the engagement as a personal slight that their own eligible offspring had been overlooked in favor of a common worker. others heard that the prince had turned down a powerful queen’s daughter for a love match and took the queen’s side, hoping to prove their allegiance. still others simply thought that he was being undignified.

but those whispers of disdain have little meaning for yeonjun. he holds you for as long you let him, slotting your face into the crook of his neck until your nerves have settled down.

“i know what you’re going to say,” you whisper into his neck. “you don’t care about any of that, they don’t see me the way you do...”

he chuckles and you can feel his breaths tickling your ear. “then you know that i mean all of it, right?”

“i know. but i still worry, i shouldn’t worry一”

“shhh.” he leaves another kiss on the crown of your head. “if you can’t stop worrying about these things, then at least let me carry the burden with you.”

“you don’t have to...”

“i want to.”

you nod and close your eyes, burying yourself in him; his hold on your waist grows firmer. you are reminded of how lucky you are to know yeonjun, to be in love with him, to be spending the rest of your life with him. the princely crown is a weight he carries with dignity, and the kingly crown he will wear one day is even heavier, yet he is more than willing to carry your own burdens alongside his. he proves it to you right here: instead of going to bed early like he should, he holds you close right before his own wedding — your own wedding — because you matter to him more than any duty.

what he knows is that he can carry his burdens only because you are by his side.

for a few moments you let him hold you, feeling your own heartbeat steady as it syncs with his. the tumult swirling within you doesn’t go away completely, but it does slow down enough that your mind feels clear again.

you give him a quick kiss on his neck right before you pull away. “thank you, jjunie.”

he smiles you see his ears turn red. even after all this time, you still have that effect on him.

yeonjun glances over at the white peonies lined up on the table, waiting to be positioned in the early hours of the morning. he purses his lips and tuts. “the ones you grow are prettier.”

“don’t say that! the new gardeners did a perfectly fine job. i looked at them and they’re all healthy.” your cheeks betray you anyway as they grow warm at his compliment.

“healthy, sure. but prettier? your flowers are almost as beautiful as you.”

now your face is a mess of red. “stop that! you’re making me一 i一”

“you know it’s true, darling.”

you shake your head but slip your hands into his. he gives you a teasing smile, but the redness in his ears hasn’t gone away.

“then will you convince the council to let me do more gardening once we’re married? or at least give me a real garden instead of that tiny plot?”

“oh, i’m already talking them into it.” he steps closer and brushes his nose against yours. “and if they don’t let you have it, then i’ll dig up one myself.”

notes: hehe happy holidays everyone!! i wanna give a special thank you to @doumachi - mey's prince yeonjun thoughts and letting me scream in their inbox inspired me to revisit this old world again and write this. i love prince jjunie so 🥺

bringing back the original taglist: @seosalad @lilplilplilp @yeonboy @pyuae @hyuneyeon @strawbrinkofdeath @yushiu @mazeinthemoon @banggyu0308 @shytubatu @kyaneosprincess @agustdiv1ne @whippedforbeomgyu @justineasian @skywithf1 @wrongbathroom @choizzn @bangchansbae @huskyhunny @catsyoon @flowerbe0m

[queenvhagar]

Can I get your personal thoughts and feelings about Criston Cole. I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about him.

My personal background is in sociology, so I'm really interested in social stratification and how different groups in society interact, as well as how intersectionality comes into play in societies. This comes into play for my media interests in that I find shows that explore sociopolitical issues to be most compelling to me personally. A side note is that I also studied medieval French society and concepts of chivalry and courtly love, so this also informs my perspective on how I view stories in medieval contexts.

Fire and Blood explores the history of the society in Westeros and tells stories of wide-scale societal conflict that impacts people of various social backgrounds. In this society, people are stratified by race, class, socioeconomic status, gender, ability, and more. When it comes to the adaptation House of the Dragon, one of my major gripes is that it's only interested in looking at one of these aspects of stratification, gender, and examining it on its own without regard to its intersection with race, class, socioeconomic status, ability, and other social markers that exist in this world. The show wants to explore sexism, but it does so in a vacuum without meaningfully and realistically taking into account how classism, racism, ableism, and other systems of power interact with and exist at the same time as sexism. The way the show handles the character of Criston Cole is a good example of how they fail to fully explore these aspects of world building.

Criston Cole is Dornish in a medieval, feudalist monarchy where Dornish people are looked down upon and discriminated against. He is lowborn in a society that values highborn people and royalty above all else. As he is not born to an important family, he lacks resources like money and land that could allow him social mobility. However, he does have skill at being a knight, a role highly mythologized, idealized, and romanticized in medieval contexts. Knights operate with honor and abide by a code of chivalry, and it is viewed as a noble and honest pursuit and means of living that any boy in that world could dream of embodying. It is Criston's skill with the blade and other knightly abilities that allows him to pursue this role and begin to rise in status and achieve upward mobility.

At the tourney for the heir that Viserys throws in anticipation for Aemma's birth of a son, Criston stands out due to his skill and due to him surpassing expectations of a Dornish lowborn man at a royal tourney. His performance and appearance lead him to be selected by the princess for Kingsguard, the highest position a knight could rise to in this society. Now, Criston finds himself as the highest of knights in service to the realm and particularly the royal family who rules it, the members of which who stand at the top of social hierarchies in this society: Valyrian race, royal blood, immense riches, power, and privileges available to them. And, of course, access to dragons, the ultimate weapons and safeguards of power in this world.

As Criston says himself, his position as Kingsguard is something he worked for his whole life and it's all he really has to his name and legacy, due to his birth and his family's position in this world. As a Kingsguard, at least early on, he takes his vows seriously and performs the job as he thinks an ideal knight would.

One night, the princess, the who promoted him to Kingsguard in the first place, reveals her attraction to him and pressures him to break his vow, and she does not accept multiple refusals as an answer. He implicitly cannot refuse her request, as she holds authority over him. Despite the fact that, yes, she is a young woman of 18 and he is a young man in his early twenties, it stands that she still holds an exceptionally higher amount of power than he does: she is a Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyria, a dragon riding princess, daughter of the king, and heir to the throne that grants the best absolute power her father holds, while he is a knight from a lowborn family of Dornish background. In this instance, on a whim, the princess knowingly or unknowingly uses her power to take sex from him without considering what might happen to him as a result. The consequences of this event are potentially severe for him while relatively minimal for her. As it stands, if anyone found out, the consequence for him is to be slowly tortured to death. For the princess, if anyone found out, there is ultimately protection from the king. Criston would die an agonizing death, but at the very worst, she is disinherited, but only if her father wishes it (and she still retains her name and her dragon to help her survive in the world). Following this event, the princess tells him that she expects him to be fine with being used for sex whenever she wants, despite the severe risks to safety and well-being this poses to especially him.

Criston becomes disillusioned with the world he knew. He did everything he was supposed to do - endeavor to improve his position in the world through the righteous means of being a knight - yet now, everything he worked for is potentially crumbling before him. He tries to rationalize her decision to take advantage of him - maybe she truly loves him and that is why she would not accept his refusal? But the reality is that she views him as a plaything. His whole life of work to achieve upward mobility and make a name for himself in the world, and on account of his race, class background, and relative position of powerlessness, he is simply used and treated like an object by royalty. What purpose does he truly serve, if it is not to be a sworn knight abiding his vows and serving the realm and the royal family? Criston's grasp on his identity and purpose waver. When interviewed by the queen, he confesses his guilt and asks for a quick death. He accepts that his life may be over and that everything he suffered through in his life meant nothing. At the princess's wedding, he is threatened by someone he perceives as attempting to expose what happened, which would result in a torturous death. He snaps, killing the man to silence him. Having taken this life, resigned to death himself, he retreats to the weirwood to commit suicide. But it is there that the queen appears to stop him, and in Alicent, he finds a renewed sense of identity and purpose. In Alicent, he can relate to being thoughtlessly used by members of the royal family. In Alicent, he can believe once again in the idea of being a knight serving a queen who saved his life when it would have been easier for her not to. In Alicent, and in her children, Criston renews his identity in knighthood and his purpose in protecting the royal family. This time, though, these royals are not just using him without consideration and will not take him and his sacrifices for granted. Criston once again buys into the mythologizing of knighthood and royalty, which gives him identity and purpose in the world once more.

At this point, I'll address that many viewers and readers see his dislike of Rhaenyra as evidence of him being a uniquely misogynist man in this world where gender is heavily stratified. While sexism does exist at large in this society, there is only evidence of Criston disliking one single woman who used him and then discarded him at great risk and harm to him personally. In this regard, him hating Rhaenyra is logical given their past. He does not seem to be more exceptionally sexist than any other character in this story, yet fans focus in on him in particular for this. The "why" of it all likely has to do with the framing of the show: the writers emphasize the perspective of the royals and those with the most power in this world, and from their perspective, anyone in proximity to these royals should be grateful for it, despite anything that happens, because they are the sympathetic main characters. This is especially true for someone like Criston who apparently should be happy that despite his low birth and inferior (in this world) racial identity, the princess still offered to have sex with him and this is the best thing he could hope to ever achieve in his life. Once again, the show hyper focuses on sexism in Westeros but does not explore other systems of power that exist in the world and/or their relations to one another and the result is a skewed view of how the world really functions and who actual holds power relative to who. This, combined with the shows insertion of certain 21st century politics into aspects of the show when realistically no such things existed in historical or fictional medieval feudalist monarchies, results in fans insisting Criston is an incel, showing fundamental misunderstanding of the world of Westeros and also apparently the term incel itself, as Criston is tied for the character with the most sex scenes so far at 3 separate scenes so clearly he is not involuntarily celibate.

Post time skip, decades pass and Criston continues to fulfill his roles as knight and protector of the royal family until finally the day comes when the king dies. Then, he works with the Green Council to take action to protect his faction of the royal family from the perceived threat of the other and becomes "Kingmaker" by personally crowning Aegon. Following the murder of Jaehaerys by Daemon and Rhaenyra in retaliation for the death of Lucerys, he advocates for stronger, strategic military action in the then inevitable war while Otto Hightower insists on sending more ravens. This results in Aegon making him Hand of the King instead. His plan with Aegon and Aemond to trap one of the Black's dragons allows the Greens to take Meleys out, but it also allows for Aegon to become injured and bedridden, necessitating that Aemond take over in his stead as Prince Regent and Protector of the Realm.

As for season 2 additions and changes from the source material, I always saw Criston's relationship with Alicent as one of courtly love, and so far in the show the motivations of each character regarding a sexual relationship have been confusing at best. How did it even start? When? What does it mean for their long term relationship and how it's grown? How does it impact each participant's view on the world and knighthood and royalty and honor and loyalty? The show seems to not care to explore any of this beyond trying to paint the two in a bad light. I could maybe buy a sexual relationship if it was well-developed, but there was basically no set up or narrative reason for its addition beyond making the characters look worse and deflecting blame from Blood and Cheese onto them. In the case of a developed romance or sexual relationship, I would say that Criston's relationship with Alicent has grown for over a decade into one of loyalty and trust, and a physical relationship might come from that once the king died, although some amount of moral conflict would likely still occur for each character.

As for the plan at Rook's Rest, it doesn't make much sense for Aegon to be left out of the loop, just as it doesn't make sense for Aemond to willingly sabotage his own side of the war by taking out Aegon and his dragon, especially over something like bullying when the stakes are so much higher than that at this point. If anything, the animosity between the brothers should be about how Aemond's actions indirectly lead to the death of Aegon's son (if the writers allowed Blood and Cheese to have any major impact on the story, but their goals are instead to minimize Team Black's involvement and lessen Team Green's reaction to it, so it remains obscured and in the background).

In general, I might be interested in the writers potentially wanting to explore in season 2 Criston's relationship with his vows and honor and even showing some hypocrisy while highlighting the conflict between his righteous ideals and less than righteous means of accomplishing his goals. However, it's clear that their intent with Criston and Team Green is to point fingers and label them as dysfunctional, morally reprehensible villains in contrast to a righteous Team Black and that's all they're interested in. There is no meaningful exploration of character or growth to be expected from Criston Cole. Unfortunately fan vitriol will continue to focus on Criston above other members of Team Green for the reasons listed above, and the writing will likely only continue to add to that.

[hapalopus]

People who can't read books about royals/heirs/etc without complaining about classism are boring to me. All fantasy books about royalty are actually secretly about being an eldest daughter. And I love them.

[nyerus]

Hi! I would love to hear your thoughts about classism in TGCF, but specifically regarding XL. It surprised me to see people hating on XL for not knowing or doing better during his teenage years of luxury as the crown prince and making XL a complete villain because he didn't take down classism and restructure society despite still being a kid himself. It struck me as odd that the fandom is well aware of his 800 years in poverty but also not really addressing the fact that XL, too, is a victim of classism albeit a little different from someone like MQ.

Hi there! So sorry it's taken me this long to get to this ask, I've just been in sort of a funk for a few days haha.

But yeah, this is definitely a topic that comes up from time to time, with lots of discussion about. It surprises me that despite that, there are still people (maybe just newer fans? idk) who still hate on Xie Lian for his naive views as a 17yo. Especially since, despite being a naive 17yo, he still really wanted to help people less fortunate than himself. He didn't quite understand how to do this in the most effective ways (because he was a teenager), so it came off as somewhat patronizing as he was a person in a position of power compared to everyone else. Yet his desire to help people was genuine, and he didn't personally think of "common folk" as being any lesser than "royalty" -- even though in this case, there kind of literally was a difference. (E.g. when Lang Ying goes from being a commoner to a king, he gets a "kingly aura" that protects him!) So it's honestly kind of incredible that Xie Lian is willing to say things like "I think people are equal, even gods and humans, and if the Heavens disagree with me, then it's the Heavens that are wrong" with his entire heart.

I imagine a large part of the hate Xie Lian gets from certain fans is jealousy or resentment, due to the fact that Xie Lian was "born privileged." But on it's own, "privilege" is not "the great enemy" -- it's what said privilege means in the context of society, and what someone does/doesn't do with it that merits judgement. Xie Lian doesn't fully understand the privilege he had until he loses it (again: because he was 17!), but he still understood it enough to use it to protect and help people. That's more than many other characters can say. Him starting out as a prince doesn't automatically disqualify him from class struggles or the horrors of poverty. It's nonsensical to think so, when this is a character who literally spent almost 800 years busking for scraps, while sleeping in dirt outside and eating garbage….

On the flip side, as you mentioned Mu Qing -- yes, he was a victim of classism. But he's a very strange figure to use as the poster boy for that, though he often is by people who are critical of Xie Lian. This may be a controversial take, despite it being something I think that makes the character of Mu Qing really interesting: but he's a very "typical" guy within the concept of classism. He's someone who started off with a bad lot, but then ended up ascending to the highest point you pretty much can in that world/society. Which is great! He did that through hard work, and it paid off! But now, since he got his "happy ending," that's kind of it for him. He doesn't do anything to materially improve the lives of those less fortunate, especially those he has no personal connection with. This doesn't make him a bad person -- it's not really his job to that, even as a god. He's a martial god, so he's there to subdue threats and all that. Yet you can clearly see, that's exactly the type of person society values because such "rags to riches" stories give legitimacy to the whole system, and because they don't rock the boat once they're on top.

So then it's odd to be angry at Xie Lian but not Mu Qing (or others) for the lack of some "grand revolution" that some readers seem to want.

Ironically, Xie Lian used what power he had to try and help people -- and he was worse off for it. If he had done nothing, he would have been able to live a happy and carefree life. He would have lived and died as a rich prince/king with no troubles. Like, that's the point! The societies we live in punish those who want to broadly help others or make meaningful change, while rewarding those who quietly play the game for themselves -- because it helps keep the wheels turning. It doesn't matter at "what end" of the spectrum you start out on, the rules apply the same way. If you go against the establishment, there's a price to be paid.

Throughout Xie Lian's long journey, he learns this lesson the hard way. And the fact that in order to change it, he would somehow have to change the hearts and minds of pretty much everyone -- which is an impossible ask. How is he even supposed to that, or restructure society as a whole, without vast amounts of collateral damage? In the end, Xie Lian discovers that he was not wrong in his desire to help people, even if he cannot help everyone. He can still help people he meets in whatever ways he can, and that is still important. To show kindness, mercy, and empathy towards your fellow man is worth it. Helping your neighbors or complete strangers you meet once and then never again -- all that is still worth it.

I wish I had the time to sit down and really talk about this in a more organized way, but these disjointed thoughts are all I can manage at the moment! I hope it was still valuable to you in some way, and thank you for sending in the ask!

(Also, I recently reblogged a post that talked about something similar if you wanna check it out, Anon. It's right under the manhua highlights I think!)

[thisnameisnotspokenfor]

Another chapter snippet

@yurikalonesome Ceph if he was a school teacher I guess lol

“Good evening! Has everyone been enjoying the party?” she asked as Mrs Alina translated her words, eliciting a cheer from the crowd. “Good!” Lady Allard called, clasping her hands together. “Now as many of you might not know, it’s a tradition in Ischanian culture, that before the start of each celebration, there must be a story! Do we have any volunteers?”

A low murmur passed through the crowd as several people exchanged glances.

“Anyone?” Lady Allard asked. 

“I volunteer-,” came a voice from beside her as silence fell over the crowd and several pairs of heads turned, searching for the source of the voice seated next to Asha.

“Cepheus?” she stammered, as the smiling star examined the silver-colored trees he’d sewn into the cape. “You’re going to tell a story?”

“This I’ve got to hear,” her grandfather grumbled as he seated himself a few feet away. 

“Hey, aren’t you Asha’s acquaintance?” Edda asked as the children began to gather around.

“No Edda,” Asha cleared her throat as she shut her father’s journal. “Cepheus is a friend.”

“Friend?” Edda repeated before suspiciously squinting at her. “That’s not what you said last time-,”

“What kind of story are you gonna tell us?” Thatcher interrupted, which promptly earned him a glare from Eda. “It's not some lovey-dovey fairy tale with kissing is it?” 

Cepheus shook his head, laughing “No, it’s just an old nursery tale that takes place in a forest.”

“Are there any unicorns there?” Phoebe shyly asked as she held her doll close.

The star smiled, “I don’t see why not, after all, it is a magical forest!”

“A magical forest?”  Diego asked, looking somewhat interested. 

“Yes, and it begins like all good tales do, with a child in this forest. Now no one is quite sure of the circumstances that brought this little boy to the forest. But what they did know was that he’d lived in it for as long as he could, teaching himself to survive and terrorize all those who came across him -,”

“Was he a prince?” Eda interrupted.

“I- excuse me?!” the star stopped this time looking mildly offended.

“I asked if he was a prince,” repeated Eda as if she hadn’t been speaking to a being that could easily erase her existence. “Most people don’t just leave their children in the middle of the forest if they’re not some kind of royalty.”

“Hansel and Gretel would like to have a word with you-,” Asha interjected as Eda scowled.

“She’s right,” Cepheus nodded. “You don’t have to be royalty to be stranded in the woods. And as such, for the sake of my story, our main character is not royalty.” The choir of groans that followed from the children was nearly astounding as the star’s eyes widened. “Goodness, the classism is strong with all of you. Why must the protagonist be royalty?”

“Because the royals are always the ones who get the cool powers and adventures!” Kelsie excitedly exclaimed.

“Just like the king!” Diego added as a choir of agreement arose from the crowd. 

“Yeah!” Thatcher nodded. “How else do you think he got to slaughter all of those sta-,”

“Thatcher!” Asha and her grandfather scolded in unison. She’d glanced at her grandfather, partially shocked at his interjection before the crowd’s murmurs began to increase in volume once more. 

Nervously she’d glanced at the star, doing her best to gauge his reaction. She’d expected swift retribution, or worse, but to her relief, neither was apparent on the star’s face.

His lips had been pressed into a thin line as he placed his sewing needles down and blankly stared.  There’d been nothing particularly threatening or emotional about his stare, but it had been enough to make everyone excluding her grandfather shift uncomfortably.  “May I continue?” he asked quietly as the children nodded. “Thank you.”

[forestdeath1]

do you think james bullied snape because he was poor? do you think it had anything to do with classism?

Nope, I don't think so. When I first heard this version, I was really surprised. I think it comes from fanfiction? Some authors use the detail that if a child is rich, they will always bully the poor. That's not true.

We don't see any evidence that in the relationship between James+Sirius (why do they always forget about Sirius? He was very harsh verbally towards Snape and did it without much reason in his head) and Snape, there's anything related to Snape's poverty.

Here are a few reasons:

1. Sirius doesn't like the trappings of his family's wealth; he despises it. He's intentionally shown as the complete opposite of Lucius Malfoy (even their appearance, black and white, the most rebellious of purebloods and the most sycophantic, the one who values wealth and money and the one who despises it). Do you think he would love and be friends with someone who bullies others because of... money?! No way. It's actually pretty demeaning for the person themselves to brag about how much money they have. Considering how proud Sirius is, I doubt their bullying had anything to do with Snape's poverty.

And I think this Sirius's pride is partly seeded by his family. Because…

2. I think the Malfoys narratively were a bit the opposite of the Blacks in general. Their moneyed arrogance and bullying from Lucius and Draco - that's a pretty specific case, very similar to how some people think their money solves everything and defines who they are. The Malfoys are raised like that —they believe just having money makes them better than others. If we're talking about the old style upper class —it's not about thinking money makes you better, it's about how you're raised, what family you're born into, how you live, how you grow up – that's what makes you upper class, not your money. For wizards – their blood purity and loyalty to pureblood ideals. They might not even have much money, but they'd still be proud. Meanwhile, you might become rich, but you'll never become upper class. And it's pretty odd for this "class" to bully others based on money. The way the Malfoys do it is pretty crude and demeaning for themselves. In canon, it's well shown that the Malfoys are fixated on money. Whereas the Blacks aren't about money, but about their status. For the Blacks, it's all about status and primarily about blood purity. The Malfoys marry half-bloods, while the Blacks disown their children for wrong marriages.

3. I don't think wizards really have classes based on wealth.

(Also it’s pretty obvious but just in case, wizards don't have aristocracy in the traditional sense. After the introduction of the Statute of Secrecy, wizards don't have titles. Titles are purely a Muggle construct. Before the Statute, they existed, we know the Malfoys came with the Normans and were given lands. We know about the Bloody Baron. But there's no indication in canon of these aristocratic arrangements among wizards after the Statute (which, by its nature, implies service). The only lord among wizards was Voldemort. Because he called himself a lord. The fact that wizards deliberately don't use titles, even though the Malfoys had it, speaks only to one thing — the very idea of calling yourself by such titles is abhorrent to pure-blood wizards. It's a connection to Muggles and Muggle royalty. And being an aristocrat isn't just a privilege, it's also a duty.)

I think their upper class is pure-blood wizards. Their nobility is blood nobility. Their nobility was based on blood purity and loyalty to blood purity. They have a book called "Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy." So all their nobility — it's natural, inborn, blood, or rather pure-blood. But it's nowhere regulated, except in the minds of those pure-bloods. Their society is inequality in minds, where some consider themselves better than others.

Your mother was Muggle-born, of course. Couldn’t believe it when I found out. Thought she must have been pure-blood, she was so good.” (Professor Slughorn)

Even "not-biased" Slughorn was biased against muggleborns

They take a very harsh stance against "blood traitors". And true blood purists are much more tolerant of poverty if it's truly loyal to pureblood ideals (even families like the Gaunts). Blood is more important than money. The Black family tree has many marriages to different families, but not all of them are wealthy; it's impossible in their small society. I think, given how small wizarding society is, only three families were truly wealthy — the Blacks, the Malfoys, and the Lestranges. And I believe the Malfoys mostly gained their wealth from dealing with Muggles. Pure blood and being on the "Sacred 28" list doesn't make a family rich. Why if someone's in Slytherin, they're rich? Where did this wealth come from? In the Muggle world, this is understandable (but that's not always true either). But in the wizarding world? So it's a pretty weird trope that all Slytherins and pure-bloods are rich.

Wealth itself also doesn't make someone a member of the "upper class" in the wizarding world. No matter how wealthy you are, if you're a blood traitor or Muggle-born, then this pure-blood upper class won't accept you into their society.

Therefore, I believe bullying Snape had nothing to do with Snape being poor and classism.

There aren't that many rich people in the wizarding world.

Not everyone in Slytherin was wealthy. Their "upper class" is not related to wealth.

Sirius certainly didn't show any interest in wealth or judging people based on their money. The Blacks probably thought their blood was more important than any money.

James didn't show that either. Remus and Peter probably weren't rich, and they all got along fine.

All we know about James and his attitude towards money is this:

James was amused by Vernon, and made the mistake of showing it. Vernon tried to patronise James, asking what car he drove. James described his racing broom. Vernon supposed out loud that wizards had to live on unemployment benefit. James explained about Gringotts, and the fortune his parents had saved there, in solid gold. Vernon could not tell whether he was being made fun of or not, and grew angry. 

I don't see anything here that suggests James was intentionally trying to flaunt his wealth. It was a response to Vernon's assumption that they live on benefits. That wasn’t bullying. Sirius would hardly have said so, but James obviously didn't think talking about money was something embarrassing. But it's not bullying.

[verosikastrikerstellaexcuser]

I think what makes striker a supremacist is that he wants all goetia dead, and you know, you shouldn't kill a whole race/species of people

But also, we aren't really ever told this. Sure, he says he wants to kill overlords and goetia, but he never says he wants every single one of them dead

Like that could've easily been fixed by him telling Blitz, "and with you and me, we can take down and kill every goetia/overlord" during the harvest moon, cause then it'd actually show a supremacist side; like yeah, most goetia are dicks but o down think their all bad, Octavia doesn't show any signs if looking down on hellhounds/imps, considering how she and loona interact in s2 ep2

Not to mention him taking orders from a goetia, which makes it look more like he's just 'doing his job'

So I feel like they WANTED him to be a supremacist, and you can kind of see it, but, like with a lot of plot points, they failed to actually show it

Yea this is a really valid point. They could have set it up better with him wanting the entire goetia extinct and even killing lets say, a newborn goetia if they wanted him to be that kind of antagonist. But instead they just show him working for one to kill another to make ends meat. And they make him say stuff thats straight up true "all you royals ever do is try to talk over us" (note he says royals not goetia/birds/etc he specifically mentions their status). He wasn't wrong with that line, look at how the fucking butlers are treated in this show. If either of them killed Stella or St*las in their sleep as much as I love Stella to make up for the shows poor writing of her. I'd completely understand I have to be real 😭 they're borderline toys that can physically be thrown around at will.

Also though, beyond the show not setting up Strikers supremacy thing properly... I do question the motivation. Okay, you want a supremacist antagonist, that is specifically supremacist towards rich people/royalty that exploits the lower classes... hmmm, that feels a bit weird. Are you going to make him a kind of "resistance is valid when theres no other options, but don't go too far to the point you'll kill babies, after all a child didn't ask to be born royal" kind of portrayal? While still showing that the upper classes are bad for upholding an inherently oppressive system? And that even the nicer or more well meaning ones still benefit from it? Is he portrayed in a gray way? Is he intended to show theres different sides to resistance movements and often disagreements within them etc? No. No he is not for any of that. Instead, they make him a totally wrong meanie baddie while consistently making many sins and goetia innocent good guys who never hurt a soul!!!!! Its not their fault their rich!!!! Look how sad and gay they are!!!!! Like. Ok... but... they still benefit. From. You know, the oppression of hell hounds, imps, etc...

Striker exists for Stolitz drama, despite being a character that brings up the serious classism in the world he occupies. He exists to stand in the way and get beat up lately, instead of the writing exploring the world's classism properly. Its such a joke. The classism in general is only used when its convenient for drama that the show wants to focus on and not any of the drama it doesn't like how being upperclass was how St*las was able to sexually exploit Blitz, it feels very shallow.

And when you add in how this show prioritizes cis queer male identities over queer female identities and trans ones. Even though those groups tend to be the most impoverished out of all the LGBT, and given how race also interacts with LGBT and poverty status. U.S data:

Yea it starts feeling really fucking sketchy. I'm sorry but I just have to question it, why is this show so desperate to have a bunch of one of the good ones sweet wooby rich characters? St*las is straight up a protagonist next to Blitz at this point more than the rest of IMP. Why is it so desperate to make him a main character and to make him a poor misunderstood baby? While the poors are all just assholes who need to learn to be better? Something about it doesn't sit right to me. Its this sweet sanitized version of classism and class struggle where the problem isn't a complex system but rather its just that a few of the sins and goetia are a bit too mean >.<. I hate it. I find it very distasteful to try this sort of almost "equal blame" approach. There isn't equal blame, the upper classes are exploiting the lower classes and that needs to fucking stop. Being so eager to portray poor people as just needing to accept their station in life without any physical resistance to change it, like how Blitz was forced to for his businesses sake (and the sexual exploitation that happened as a result), yeah thats sketchy. The problem is that St*las shouldn't have servants in the first place, its not that poor people need to not be bigoted towards rich people. Classism kills. The lower class shouldn't have to miserably accept a system that harms and kills their very bodies via deprivation of resources etc.

The rich are not wooby babies that need sympathetic portrayals, making a show which portrays them in an elevated way as if their endless advantages in life don't exist and as if they're owed kindness from those their existence exploits is plain weird and sketchy.

[minnaci]

sorry i know i am not a hellaverse blog but i just watched full moon and i felt so strongly about it that i got out of bed, opened my laptop, and logged into the tumblr website for the first time in months because i knew i would want a full keyboard for this.

disclaimers: i enjoy the show and especially this episode! i like all of the characters, including stolas. what i say is colored by my own experiences and perspectives (ie, i am biased and this is my opinion)

tldr; i find it hard to like stolas in full moon. i also find it hard to empathize with stolas, if i'm being honest, and especially when it comes to his relationship with blitz. warning for full moon spoilers and discussions of racism-adjacent classism.

within the hellaverse exists clear social and economic stratification between "royalty" and "imps", with stolas being the former and blitz being the latter. much like in real life, these social identities inform everything about these characters and the way they interact with the world and each other.

stolas, to put it bluntly, is rich, and blitz is not. stolas lives in a lavish palace with imps as servants. he is not shown to interact with other imps outside of this master-servant relationship. hell, even when they were children, blitz was quite literally purchased for stolas. blitz's first impression of stolas was being sold to him, while stolas was none the wiser.

this is not necessarily stolas's fault. he was sheltered as a child, and even as he grew into an adult, he remained sheltered, seemingly ignorant to the very real class divide between him and his newest paramour. from the very beginning of their reunion, blitz uses his body to provide a service to stolas in exchange for his livelihood, and stolas accepts it because that's the way stolas is used to interacting with imps. stolas continues to "hire" blitz, both as a bodyguard and as a sex worker, and while he understands that this relationship is transactional, he doesn't really see anything wrong with it until the shitshow at ozzie's.

there is no awareness of how uncomfortable this might be for blitz. there is no empathy for how blitz might react. stolas treats blitz as an object, a plaything, a living, breathing sex toy (at one point, stolas calls blitz his "impish plaything". can it get any more clear?). as long as stolas owns the grimoire, and blitz needs the grimoire to survive, stolas can leverage that for whatever he wants from blitz. it's coerced consent. it's been coerced consent from the beginning. there is no acknowledgement that stolas holds the only key to blitz's livelihood. not until ozzie's.

only after blitz says, to stolas's face, that their relationship is completely transactional, does stolas finally begin to scratch the surface of how large their difference in perspective is. where stolas has been playing at a fantasy of being in love, blitzo has been doing what he needs to do to survive. to keep his family afloat.

and full moon. god, full moon. one commenter on youtube described it as an "ambush", and i am inclined to agree.

blitz was prepared to do what he's had to do. sex for survival. he bought out nearly the entire lust district for it, because even then he could sense that something had changed, and that he'd need to really impress stolas for things to continue as they were-- for blitz to be abel to continue to make ends meet. what blitz had no way of knowing, though, was that stolas was re-writing the rules of the metaphorical game they were playing. sure, stolas gives blitz the asmodean crystal, thereby "freeing" blitz from stolas's service, but in the same breath, stolas lays down a new set of expectations. stolas is no longer willing to accept sex as a service. stolas now wants love.

it would be a lot for anyone to take in. imagine you enter your boss's office for your performance review. you think this boss is hot. you maybe have a big crush on this boss. but they tell you that you're being fired, effective today. but they're giving you a foot in the door at a different company because they care about you. also by the way they fell in love with you, which is why they fired you. honestly? i'd probably react pretty poorly to that.

and for blitz, who has gone his whole life being told, implicitly and explicitly, that he is unworthy of love and care, both as a product of his personal experiences and as a product of his socioeconomic class, that's a whole fuckton of shit to take in. it feels almost logical for blitz to treat it like a joke or some sort of performance, because what other explanation is there? stolas is royalty. and blitz... blitz is just blitz. blitz, whose parents cared more about fizzarolli than him. blitz, whose father sold him to some rich asshole. blitz, who, in his perspective, knows better than anyone else that his greatest assets are what he can provide for other people: sex, assassinations, and more sex. blitz, who, in his mind, has ruined every relationship he's ever touched, from his parents, to his friendship with fizzarolli, to his fathering of loona, to his disastrous fling with verosika.

blitz, who was given all of thirty seconds to process that stolas really does "care for him deeply" before stolas dismissed him and shoved blitz out of his life for good because blitz didn't respond (read: perform) to his satisfaction.

i am not saying that blitz is perfect or blameless, because hell knows he's not. he took advantage of stolas's naivete in a plethora of ways. he's a literal murderer. he does treat the people around him poorly. he has hurt stolas, and fizzarolli, and moxxie and millie and even loona. blitz is brash, rude, and emotionally stunted. but much of this can be at least in part attributed to his childhood and the scarcity mindset with which he was raised. when every interaction you have is transactional, even the ones you have with your parents, it takes a lot longer than the 30 seconds that stolas allowed blitz to process that someone genuinely cares about you in a way that is not contingent on you doing things for them or otherwise being useful to them.

all that to say, i feel for stolas, but feel for blitz more. i think this episode did a really great job of like... really digging into the crux of the problem in the stolitz relationship, which is their fundamentally different perspectives and life experiences, even if the finer points about class and socioeconomic status weren't explicitly discussed.

[canniballova]

Stolas Rant/Analysis Thing?

Soo, I said I'd write a Stolas one too, huh? Well, here goes then. Again, I'm still knackered so let me know if this ends up shit.

The first thing I want to point out about Stolas is he is a royal. Now I know that's obvious as fuck, but just hear me out now. Because of his role as royalty and a Goetia prince, he would have been raised a certain way in which would have developed internalized classism within him, and he probably isn't even really aware of it. Which makes a lot of sense, given him being a complex character in Helluva Boss.

Another thing, Stolas is a pacifist. He's not good with conflict, or confrontational situations. Hence why he didn't stick up for himself and for Blitz at Ozzie's, which Blitz took away as Stolas being ashamed of their 'relationship', so to speak.

But it isn't to say that he is actually ashamed of Blitz. He wants to be with Blitz, because he loves him deeply and dearly. But it has to be noted that both are deeply traumatised, and are very much yet to heal.

Stolas was also in a loveless, arranged marriage for at least seventeen years, with an abusive wife. Stolas doesn't know how to love, all he knows is what he has picked up from rom-coms and other shows in general.

He's a generally quiet and timid guy, and that's actually important.

Also, Stolas tends to force some sort of bond with Blitz although he's not fully aware of it because he's desperate to have him in his life.♡