#she grew so much and grew on everyone and showed people that redemption was something that could happen

[catoscloves]

so i googled rachel gatina's fate and.. fuck that? my girl deserves so much more

[clerifik]

Major Character Dissection: Alastor (Part 2)

(MAJOR SPOILERS)

Three: Alastor’s Way of Coping With His Deal:

Alastor knows that his deal is infallible and there are no loopholes to get around it, but he certainly knows he can bend the rules of his deal and take charge of his own fate. @ohbother2 made a good point about this.

Alastor always presents himself as cool, calm, and collected. It’s all a façade so he can make people believe that he always knows exactly what he’s doing, and make them believe that he’s always in control. This is shown when Alastor treats Husk like his “pet” when he threatens him. He knows he has more control over Husk and he takes full advantage of it. He hates being seen as lesser than the other Overlords. He wants everyone in Hell to know his name, he wants to be known, to be feared, and he doesn’t like when he’s dismissed. During the Overlord meeting where he announces that he’s back “I’m sure you’ve all been wondering”  The reaction he had after Carmilla dismisses him just goes to show how much he dislikes not being viewed as the big cool powerful Radio Demon.

With Lucifer too… Why does he instantly have a distaste towards him? Why does he instantly feel like he has to one-up him? Alastor knows Lucifer is more powerful than him, he easily outranks Alastor and that intimidates him. He also knows that realistically he will never be at the same power level as him… so he grabs ahold of something Lucifer can’t; a good relationship with Charlie.

Alastor is so incredibly calculated when it comes to finding others weaknesses, he’s had a lot of time to get used to it. He stings Lucifer where it hurts, and that’s how he gets under his skin. He mentored Charlie when she needed it, and was there for her when Lucifer wasn’t. He even claimed in the song that she could “call him dad.”

Why can’t he accept that he is powerful too? Why does he always have to be the best?

This abuse of power was shown once again in the hallway when Husk confronted him with, “big talk for someone who’s also on a leash.” His anger wasn’t cool, calm, and calculated. He wasn’t thinking, he was acting on a whim and it was shown when his jabs were personal against Husk which led him to also threaten to make him the next voice on the broadcast. There was nothing meticulous or collected about that response.

Everything about that response screamed fear. Alastor was fearful of his deal and fearful of the person he made it with. He wouldn’t have actually killed Husk, because if he wanted to, he would’ve already done so. Husk clearly serves a bigger purpose to Alastor, and Husk clearly knows a lot about Alastor, so I think that threat was genuinely to just shut him up… or to try and remind him that Alastor was powerful too. Alastor would hate if someone thought of him simply as a puppet bound to a leash.

Alastor is stuck at this hotel of redemption where he does not want to be, but where he has to be. He’s forced to follow Lilith's orders, he’s forced to deal with Lucifer who outranks him, so what can he do?

He can get Charlie’s soul.

And he did get Charlie’s soul. All it takes is a smile and some naivety and you’re already halfway there. He now has something to twist against Lucifer and Lilith. He has their daughter. This brings back some of his control. He finally feels powerful again.

Except for the fact that this stupid fucking hotel is growing on him.

He has been shown to protect the hotel, which simply is not part of his deal. He just has to be Lilith’s eyes, her camera. He’s to blame for his own attachment to the place. There is a scene where he admits to Niffty that he had grown accustomed to the place. He also assisted in the Extermination battle, and got Rosie to help with her Cannibals. He didn’t have to do that, but he chose to. He grew connected to the damn place and the damn people. He suffered because of it.

During the battle with Adam, the most daunting thing to him was slinking away and “cowering”. The last thing Alastor would’ve wanted to do at that moment is retreat from the battle. He had no other choice. It was losing, or death. Both of which are two important things to him. He was willing to take the sacrifice of his status over death. Knowing how much Alastor craves control, craves status, that shows you just how terrified he is of death. The wild look in his eyes too? Ugh.

If Lilith’s deal with him is centred around keeping an eye on Charlie, it makes sense why Alastor was absolutely horrified that he nearly died for them. He’s horrified at what the deal is forcing him to do, who it’s forcing him to be. When he originally made the deal there was no harm done, no real threat to him. But now he was sent to keep an eye on Charlie who was pissing off the entirety of Heaven and taking her father with her? Well, Christ. He really fucked up this time!

He had a panic attack in that damn Radio Tower, because he is absolutely fucking terrified. He’s losing control, everything that is happening around him is something he cannot control, and unless he finds a way around his deal, it’s not changing. He was literally pulling the hair out of his head because he couldn't believe what he was doing. It horrified him to no end.

To Summarize:

Alastor is a brilliantly methodically well crafted character. (Anyone who wants to say I’m looking too far into this, Alastor has been around since Viv was in high school so she has had a lot of time to let his personality and backstory cook.) He’s clever, and he’s powerful, but he’s also a little bit of a fool. He made a deal to gain control, and in return, it came back to bite him in the ass after a few decades. He knows he is nothing without his deal, but he also knows that his deal could ruin him.

He’s stuck in the most masterful way possible, and unless he figures out how to twist this all. Maybe use Charlie as his puppet? He’s going to continue to be a slave to his contract.

[universaln0b0dy]

rewriting miraculous- Marinette Dupain-cheng

[Note] Hey, hey! I wanted to start rewriting and designing miraculous for the fun of it. Please note that this is just for fun and giggles! I will try to keep the rewrite as close to the show as possible, at the same time I want to put as much of my ideas into it as I can. Also this is probably an angst au, because of my 3 am brainrot.

(Warning, if you are a fan of Chloe redemption arcs you might not like my rewrite as I plan on making Chloe the villain she has always deserved to be. And I mean that totally positive.)

Marinette Dupain-cheng

Of course I have to start with the problematic main character of the show. Marinette is far from perfect and her actions lack mind and consequences, but despite all of that Marinette is a great character that fell into the hands of a bad writer.

Like most characters in the show being kinda butchered for Marinette (they did Chat noir soo dirty), she was also butchered for the sake for being a main character. Marinette has a character that doesn't fit into a "kids show", maybe that's the reason they never properly executed it. But enough of me yapping! Lets start drawiting!

Backstory:

Marinette is half french, half chinese. I want to keep if that way, even her design mustn't change that much (more to that later). Something that bothered a lot of people is how little Marinette knows about/ is in touch with her chinese heritage, despite Sabine clearly still being chinese. But what a lot of people forget is that it's been hinted at that Sabine might not be as in touch with her past as she acts like she does. (For example changing her first name, I am not sure if that is something that happens commonly, but I don't think is.)

So one thing I will add is that while Sabine doesn't completely reject her culture, she has a strained relationship with it, not raising Marinette to be a part of it, without telling her why. No speaking mandarin, no chinese new years or other festivals, nothing.

So we already know that Tom and his dad don't have the best relationship and as far as I remember only one of Marinette grandma's visits, rarely. So in my version Marinette grew up only knowing about her parents, completely unaware of other relatives. Her grandma starts visiting when she is uhh 10? Which let her to be slightly an outcast.

You know how when children tell you all about the holidays, their aunts and uncles or grandparents? Or how even the teachers just tend to assume everyone has grandparents that you get to visit? Well Marinette had none of that. That means she was often confused or left out of conversations starting in pre-school.

Another aspect I want to include is the whole Kim/Chloe thing. It was often mentioned that Chloe used to bully Marinette to the point where she was sick of school and even starting her villain arc in a different universe. Problem is in the show this is a massive: "Tell don't show." I want to stop that, I want to have it actually seen and mentioned multiple times in flash backs, etc. Because with what we have at the moment I don't understand why all of Marinettes classmates hate Chloe so much.

With the worsening of the bullying I want to make another parallel between Shadybug and my Marinette. It is briefly mentioned that Shadybug doesn't have any friends in her universe and is constantly put down by Chloe, so what if because of chloe people avoided talking to Marinette in order not to become another bullying subject? This all changes when Alya (who actually in the start of the series was mentioned to be a new student?) decides to not give two fucks about Chloes status and defends Marinette, becoming her first ever friend.

About the Chloe Kim situation, I will use that as the reason (and Marinettes blatant distrust) why she became a stalker. Despite being bullied and all, Marinette develops a crush on Kim, because he was actually nice to her, like once. Her love quickly becomes an obsession because she doesn't know how to act around her crush, not having any female friends to tell her that the way she likes him isn't healthy and having a dad that cries wolf just as soon as she mentions a boy's name.

Marinette is during that time not as bad as she is with Adrien, her crush is unhealthy, yes, but he is sadly the last straw of hope she can cling too. Chloe notices this and decides to take advantage of Marinettes obsession by asking Kim to go out with Marinette. Blinded by his crush on the blonde Kim decides that would be a small sacrifice, ready to become Marinettes dream boy to please Chloe. He feigns intrest in design, art, baking and more simply because Chloe wants him too.

Marinette starts to act more normal around Kim, her obsession calming and her healthily starting to love him, until the scene in the swimming hall. Marinette is quite littarly shattered, her heart in pieces all over the floor, realising she had been bamboozled for 3 MONTHS. Her last straw has sunken and she swears to herself that she won't ever date someone again unless she knows that every little thing he has said was true.

A year later she finally meets Alya.

Her Personality

(start of season 1 to season 3)

Marinette is still kind, but in a way that makes her naive. After Alya fights with Chloe for her sake and the other girls in class also start to befriend her, she is willing to forgive and forget. Her friendship is build on trust and acts of service (Fixing clothes, building charms, doing homework) with Marinette giving and the others receiving. Sadly the others unbeknownst to even themselves take advantage of her kindness until Alya bursts in and calls out what their doing is wrong.

Clumsy. Insecurities can make you anxious and being anxious has an affect on the body. During the time she was bullied she would cower in fear only making small steps looking around as if something was going to jump at her. So scared of her surroundings she occasionally lost footing or dropped everything she was holding. It looks comedic but stomps from her damaged mindset.

Stubborn. What she says she will do, no matter if that is climbing the Eiffel tower or travelling to china in a day by foot, she will do it. Her stubbornness comes from the fact that she refuses to believe that what she is planning is impossible, stemming from the fact her parents kinda spoiled her and refused to tell her that what she was doing is impossible.

Crush is followed by distrust and obsession. This is something that plays a big part in my au. Marinette has trouble trusting people she is crushing on, it even happens with Luka, but the blue haired boy is a lot more obvious to this when Adrien. Marinette isn't really fine and probably needs therapy. Even Marinette doesn't understand why she feels so anxious about every time her crush says something, she blames it on her promise to herself.

Clingy and easily scared of rejection. Because of her being formally bullied Marinette clings to people she trusts, Alya doesn't mind, but that doesn't go for a few other people. Marinette doesn't like rejection (not taking stuff she made, not wanting her help etc) , occasionally she can either become pushy or completely reduce herself out of your life.

Easily jealous and occasionally selfish. This personality trait will be important for my kwami redesign. Marinette can't help it but be wary of people that also show interest in her crush or intrests, she grows jealous easily though she tries to hide it. Because she never had anyone to talk to about her jealousy before she met Alya, so she thinks that that emotion is just another feeling, that eats away at her until it explodes. Her jealousy blinds her causing her to act irrational even willing to humiliate people.

Optimistic but toxic . Well, she is a good liar and that includes lying to herself.

(As Ladybug)

Oho, Marinette as Ladybug is a surprising change, I kinda wanted add the fact to her that her personality changes when she becomes Ladybug.

Ladybug is the part of Marinette that was looked away for waaaay too long. After she gets used to being Ladybug she grows confident, she feels like she has a purpose in life. Ladybug is everything she wanted to be. Ladybug has no fear and no insecurities that is the reason why no one believes Marinette is Ladybug.

In my au Marinette gets so lost in the perfect version of herself she occasionally transforms just to escape her life. She has friends now, yes, but that doesn't get rid of her insecurities and Ladybug has no insecurities.

As a hero Marinette is a quick thinker and has a great memory (I mean, she was able to remember and find out adriens schedule for the next 50 years). She also knows where to get information and how.

She uses everything she learned as Marinette in her superhero job and as Ladybug she moves with more contraction and grace. No one would dare to laugh at Ladybug and that makes her stand up straight, make bigger movements and never loose her footing.

She is incredibly caring as Ladybug at the same time she isn't. She only is nice to people she as Marinette likes or has never met. Chloe is the person she even occasionally refuses to help, until chat noir mentions just how much of an asshole she would be for this.

(During season 3-5)

Because of the many hardships she faces Marinette grows as a person, her personality towns down and she deals with the consequences of her actions in a good manner. Even as Ladybug she became less of a selfish prick and someone to be idolized.

Smart. Marinette becomes smarter in many ways, one of them is people smart. She is able to start telling if someone is on the verge of getting akumatised, or if they are lying to her. She does better in school mainly because she stopped getting bullied.

Confident. Her straightened back is more than enough proof that Marinette has changed. She has found a balance between Ladybug and Marinette. She starts standing up to Chloe on her own and everyone else who bothers her. This confidence makes her cocky, but luckily her friends are there to help her turn it down a bit.

Mature. Marinette acts older than she is, especially after getting the miraculous box. She finally realizes that she won't be able to act as childish as she does forever. Her maturing also becomes part of her healing arc. She still has a crush on Adrien, but she grows less obsessive and is even able to see him have Kagami as a girlfriend without feeling like dying.

Drawing:

Don't mind this, I am still learning how to draw, so this will probably look akward. Soo I kinda wanted normal Marinette to look like she was styled by Disney, but not too bad. Her styling her clothes like she does is her way of showing she likes fashion, without showing she likes fashion. Her hair is supposed to be so black it seems blue under light, which is honestly a hair colour that surprises me.

Ladybug follows the concept of the more power you have, the more you look like the animal your kwami is based on. (More to this when I rewrite the kwami's)

I like the poncho I gave her and the wings! Also the Uhh... bug exo skin? She probably doesn't stand out as much as she should, but her costume is that one connection to herself as Marinette.

Soo here is what I tried to "animate", Marinette looks a lot more stressed and less "happy" and as Ladybug she has some slight arrogance and anger to her expression, though I might be reading into my designs too much. Please tell me which you like better!

So next is well, Adrien! Yay! Please tell me what you think so far and what else I should include during those rewriting sessions?

[most-datable-datable-bracket]

ROUND 1 MATCH 21

Victor propaganda:

No Victor propaganda :(

Mary propaganda:

“OK, to understand why I love Mary so much in Arcanum, you need to know that the entire story revolves around the MC, who was a complete asshole in real life. The MC lost her family in a fire, grew up in an orphanage and closed herself off from other people. She was a perfectionist and only cared about her job, everything else was disposal. And Arcanum is the story of her redemption (or not, the player doesn't have to get redemption points and can get the non-redemption ending)

Anyway, in the real world, Mary was distressed by something in her personal life and made a mistake at work (making bridge plans). The MC spots the error and fires Mary on the spot, without caring about the circumstances or giving her a chance to correct the error. She also talks some shit to Mary, but the MC was an asshole remember. The MC is such a confident and arrogant character who holds herself and everyone to impossible standards.

When the MC is transported to a fantasy world, where none of the people in her life remember her, she is drawn to Mary who is now more her equal than boss/employee. Even without memories, Mary seems to know and recognize the MC. And the entire crux and development of this relationship is the MC coming to terms with how she used to treat people. And how she wants to apologize to Mary, even though Mary does not have any memories of their real lives. And yes, the realization that she treated everyone like shit so she wouldn't be vulnerable. Growth, thank goodness. The MC and Mary meet in 3 different worlds, a fantasy world with a plague, a fairy world during a conflict with humans and a fairytale world. In each iteration, Mary's memories are reset, but they fall for each other over and over again.

Also show in a real world flashback, you see how Mary was at a low point after she was fired from her job, but she started to pick herself back up and became more confident in herself.”

[wisellamawerewolf]

Ok. So I've watched the entirety of the first season of Hazbin Hotel.

Messy and long review, proceed with caution.

It was really forgettable, if I'm being honest. Mostly because the pacing was just... bad. Not enough to not be able to follow the plot of the episode, but it's almost impressive how there's so much going on throughout the episode, but at the end you just feel like nothing substantial has happened.

I can't believe I'm going to say this as someone who adores musicals, but the songs here are a complete waste of time. Many of them begin too suddenly, it just feels awkward, not to mention a lot of them are here because they sound cool and that's it.

Now, I liked SOME of them, but they just wasted the precious time that could've been used for establishing character dynamics better and actually making them bond. The most memorable songs are wasted on less important subplots, which could've been shortened which actually would benefit the redemption/found family thing show is clearly going for.

Characters are so vaguely written, it almost felt like Viv was too scared to reveal stuff about them or the audience might get upset because it wasn't the same stuff they expected. It sometimes done to a such a weird degree it really clashes with the show's tone. It often felt like I was watching a children's cartoon that's allowed to say "fuck" sometimes.

Humor was just not funny. I guess it wasn't as bad as pilot, where every first line of Angel Dust was about sex, but still. 99% of the time there's no punchline, just swears. The only thing that made me laugh was a moment I was supposed to take seriously I think? It was when !spoilers! Sir Pentious was erased from hell by Adam. "Wow, that could've been ugly" just made me burst laughing for a moment, while characters on the screen cried. Don't worry, they were cheering for Charlie literally 3 seconds later, soo my conscience is clear here.

Villains were underwhelming, most of them were a set up for a second season and tbh the V's mostly just wasted time, same with Alastor who was a Gary Stue, until he wasn't. That leaves us with Adam, who just straight up broke the lore for a second. He's also such an asshole it makes you wonder why angels didn't just quietly kicked him out of the heaven.

Redemption. It wasn't handled well, mostly because writers were too busy showing literally ANYTHING but how our characters growed and progresses. It was bizarre watching Emily (or what's her name) side with Charlie because she said she saw how Angel Dust grew as a person? Expect he hasn't really changed? He behaved normally that night, that's literally it. He did stand up to Val, but like... If he didn't, would the heaven just be like "Lol look at that looser, couldn't tell his rapist to fuck off LMAO, Adam, send his ass to double hell"? That was fucking weird, you'd think they'd be more concerned about him killing people in the past, but whatever.

I guess I round this messy ramble with this: HH had potential, but the second you start to think about literally anything you have been shown your head begins to hurt. If you want to watch something and forget immediately, you can watch Hazbin. If you close your eyes on how the show handled a certain topics and just not think about it at all, it's just painfully average. The second you begin to question shit you end up going into an endless rabbit hole of "this could've been so much better" and "omfg what were writers thinking".

My undoubtedly professional rating of the show? 3/10. Can't wait to see the second season where it turns out Adam is alive and he became Charlie's step-dad, because Lucifer kept his promise.

Thanks to everyone who read this whole tangent, initially it was much longer, but I decided to save some stuff for the future rants that may or may not happen. Have a happy fucking day... On earth?

[namig42]

random OC ask: if your OC inexplicably had access to real-world media, what character would be their favorite? what character would they unreasoningly despise? why?

Alright, I'm gonna speed round their favorites, then I'll come back in another post with the ones they loathe.

Also hello, sorry I took forever to respond, I have been on vacation and also got a pretty ring from my new fiancee (I have been saying that word too much lol)

My OCs Favorite Fictional Characters!

Wyndolyn

Wyn would adore Zarya from Overwatch. She would see the badass buff babe who talks about hugging like Siberian bear and want to be just like her. (This is absolutely not based on real life experience.)

Helena

Mizu from Blue Eye Samurai. Helena would think that she's sooo cool and complex, finding comfort in someone who isolates themselves still managing to find connections in the world. She would also buy a sword and cosplay as her.

Dahlia

Aang from ATLA. She'd love Aang's goofy, playful nature and his whole character arc, from a kid running from his duties to a powerful bender that finds a way to maintain his beliefs, no matter the obstacle.

Dahlia would love the Avatar series, and since she grew up so sheltered, she'd have no idea that it's actually a super popular show that there's a huge community for. She'd definitely bring it up in conversation thinking that she's introducing something cool and new to people, then quickly learn how many people have loved the show for years and be pleasantly surprised that she can just gush with people.

Vero

Vero would be a big fan of musicals and classic films. She strikes me as someone that would resonate and admire Veronica from Heathers a lot, and when she learns about the musical version of Heathers? Forget about it. She's learning all of Veronica's parts in a day.

Sahed

Sahed is definitely a DnD and LotR nerd that has the lore memorized from both franchises. He has all the books and a bunch of art, posters, and figurines of his favorite character Smaug that would clutter up his room. Smaug would also inspire him to become a scaley, just sayin.

Sahed would also love the Fire Emblem series, and his favorite character would probably be someone like Tharja (practices curses on her own daughter) or Arvis (the main antagonist in FE4 who wipes out a whole army with one meteor shower).

Velora

Velora is a cozy gamer for sure. She'd love building her island to perfection in Animal Crossing and marrying every townie in Stardew Valley. Though she'd optimize her gameplay and romance everyone in town, her favorite character in Stardew that she would always come back to would be Shane. She likes being able to help him and earning his affection, since it always seems really genuine during his supports.

Gardon

Gardon would love a conflicted father archetype like Joel from The Last of Us. He would gravitate towards flawed characters who find some redemption in the world, and Joel is the epitome of that.

Lin'rai

Lin would love Marceline from Adventure Time and ship Bubbline so hard. Her dream girl is very similar to PB, and she sees a lot of herself in Marcy. She'd also be a Steven Universe fan who relates a lot to Pearl and simps over Rose Quartz, even though she knows how problematic Rose is. Mystery Girl from the episode "Last One Out of Beach City" would also be high on her crush list.

---

Okay, this took way more thought than I anticipated, but this all tracks pretty well.

My partner saw Vero being into Heathers and went, "really??" He didn't think Vero would be a Veronica/Heathers person, but when I asked what he thought she'd like, he was like, "I don't know, I just didn't get Veronica vibes."

Useless. I can't wait to marry this dingus.

[shiveringscarletsun]

The owl houses ended.. I have many thoughts

i finally got the courage to watch the last episode and my heart is racing and i cried for a bit and it’s an understatement to say it’s absolutely Perfect. The staff and dana did wonderfully trying to give us the best they can with the cuts that were made and everything they did shows how much they adore the show and love the fans and respect the viewers. I am forever grateful they made a show this magnificent. So here i’ll just talk endlessly about it because i realllyyy want to talk.

The collector

I love how they dealt with the collector. from the first time they introduced them i was genuinely shocked and amused that they had a kid be this powerful sort of “villain” because theres nothing harder to defeat than a kid who cannot be reasoned with.. the only way to deal with a kid is with kindness and mentoring.. showing them what’s right basically. However, since the collector is so powerful and had ruled basically everything it could’ve been possible to forget that they’re a kid and punish them or something.. but they didn’t and i respect it so much. Especially that their whole thing was that he was misunderstood.. Luz was also misunderstood.. they didn’t damn him just because he did bad things but went with him and showed him how good people can be. i love that. luz immediately understood them.. because she felt what they felt.

belos

i genuinely have never seen a villain this vile in my life. goosebumps all the time and insane audacity. them ending him without even luz actually killing him was genius.. the way he remained how he was till the very end, a manipulative scumbag. He was a Good written villain. a villain who had a vision, who knew his vision was opposed by all and made no sense to those around him so he sought power to enforce what “he thought was right”. exploited weaknesses and had no regard for anyone who wasn’t “useful”. the bit where luz told the titan what if we are like that too.. and how titan explained things.. it was on point and was perfect to mention it right then and there.

luz

luz was a wonderful protagonist. things weren’t magically just working out for her just because.. but it was all because of her very hard work and kind open heart. her magic was through her own work, when her friends saved her thats because she worked to make great friends who were there for her.. even the powers she gets at the end were due to the titan seeing who she was and trusting her.. knowing how dedicated and sincere she is. luz is like a tree that gives and stands through it all and i appreciate her. she started out a kid and got hurt after everything she saw, and they showed that, but she got back up because she is strong enough.. good people attract good people eventually and i loved seeing her grow.

everyone

i would love to mention everyone individually but i got tired. regardless.. the ending just shows that a good loving community will breed the most loving ,productive, and confident individuals. i love how everyone naturally grew into themselves, how trauma didnt define them and life treated them good. How those who were just naive and mean grew into their communities while those who actually hated everyone and were truly ignorant got left out because not everyone is actually worth redemption (like amity’s mom). hunter, amity, gus, willow and all the rest flourished when they were given the space to exist freely. A happy ever after isnt a single place in time.. but a life that one enjoys living everyday. i would talk forever if i could.

final thoughts

thank you for every single person that told this story and helped create it, and every person that shared the love from everywhere and dana. your passion flows and the love flows and you can get through anything.. A wonderful story, mesmerizing art, gorgeous designs and world building, heartwarming ending that is so well deserved. peace.

I wished to see more and more, but I’ll continue to cherish everything we already had.

[cjbolan]

7 questions: Charlie Beeston from Emily Windsnap

three facts about them from my personal headcanons

Based on my headcanon that Beeston used to be a siren:

He was about Emily's age the first time he grew legs. Probably felt really weird and awkward for him. Just fits perfectly with how similar these 2 characters are! Based partly on @orithereticent 's headcanon.

Also as a young man he was Neptune's only male siren. Because Neptune trusts him that much. Beeston has this way of charming people and luring them into a false sense of security. Which he uses to his full advantage, to earn positions of power. As Brightport's lighthouse keeper, and Chairman of the Board, and much more. Plus his mom used to be a siren. He had definitely had the skills, and probably the good looks for it in his youth. Maybe a good singing voice too.

When Mr. Beeston grew too old to be a siren, he began training Jake to take over his siren job. Which is probably how Jake and Mr. Beeston met. So imagine how Beeston must've felt, learning the merman he taught to lure humans to their doom, has instead rescued and fell in love with one. Based partly on @kisari-v 's headcanon.

a reason they suck

Everything he'd done in Book 1.

a reason they are great

His redemption arc. It was so gradual and just so heartwarming! Book 1 starts with him being a cold uncaring man who ruins people's lives, then ends with him feeling incredible guilty for it. As he should. Granted he was working for King Neptune hence he couldn't say no. I think what made him awful is him showing 0 remorse until the very end. Book 3 ends with him and Emily JUST STARTING to try forgiving each other. Book 4 has him offer a much-needed genuine apology for everything he's done, and starts helping out of the kindness of his heart, not because he's just following orders. Ultimately Book 4 the first time he makes his own choices. Book 5 has him finally earn Emily's trust and forgiveness.

All this makes him one of my favorite characters in the series. a reason I relate to them 

I love donuts! (what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character

Hmmm hard question. Mr. Beeston never has a love interest, nor has he shown any romantic feelings towards anyone. Given how loyal he is to the merfolk species, maybe someday he'll settle down with a nice mermaid or merman. Probably someone in King Neptune's court. five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened

He deserves a prequel.

Would love to see him and Jake work together, rather than just be told about it. We're told they used to be friends, so would love to see how and if they're still friends in the present timeline. Honestly I get a feeling that they're not. Despite working together.

Would love to see Emily sneak into his lighthouse at some point. Or look into his window or something like that. Because I always wondered what it looks like on the inside.

After Book 4, he should eventually show off his merman tail to Brightport. Would he do it the same way Emily showed her tail to everyone?

Would love to see how being a semi-mer affected his sense of belonging in Brightport. We're told he felt like an outcast in among the merfolk for it, did he feel the same way with humans in Brightport? Did he feel just as much an outcast in Brightport? Or did he feel more accepted in Brightport as humans there welcomed him with open arms? I think the only way to answer that, would be a story from his POV.

five people that character never fell in love with and why

King Neptune. Maybe a one-sided romance on Beeston's part.

Mary P. (too big of an age gap, and too much bad blood)

Jake (too big of an age gap, and too much bad blood)

Archie (too many conflicts of interest, they have the same boss)

Mystic Millie (again too big an age gap, also because he's much more grounded in reality than she is)

BASED ON THIS ASK MEME

[everythingsinred]

003 persona

ur bold for sending me this lol

How I feel about this character: little serio rei deserves love. he deserves protection. he was abused and mistreated and the way he grew up chills me to the bone. he suffered and he didnt deserve to because he was just a child. that being said PERSONA as an adult sucks. i hate that guy. years of emotionally, physically, and psychologically abusing his students for no reason is not something i can forgive. was it jealousy that they dont live in cages like he did? was it a way for him to let out his anger and despair? was it just bc the esp manipulated him? honestly, i really dont give a shit. i understand better than anyone that abuse can easily become a cycle but that doesnt mean im okay with persona's actions. being abused as a child doesnt give you a get-out-of-jail-free card for abusing more children. natsume is my son, my blorbo. i cannot tolerate the grown adult man who COMMANDED him to take his own life and told him that his only value was as the black cat. no thanks. no hate to persona fans, but natsume is my baby boy above everything

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: i ship him with therapy and staying far away from all children always since his he has a tendency to act violently whenever he sees one.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: THAT BEING SAID. izumi. ah. maybe if izumi hadnt died rei wouldnt have grown up to be persona and things would be better for everyone. ALAS. he must also be held accountable for his own actions. it cant always be about how the esp fucked everyone up. persona is a grown adult, not just a victim of circumstance... tho it seemed at the end like he understood that better than the narrative smh

My unpopular opinion about this character: hmm hmm hmm. i talked about this in the discord with someone but i think its very sus that persona is more easily forgiven than luna. it smells like misogyny to me. luna and persona have almost identical arcs: being groomed by the esp, purposefully isolated and manipulated so they align with him, abusing children only to regret their actions and change sides at the very last moment. i dont really understand at all why luna is somehow worse than him when theyre pretty much the exact same. in fact, i could argue luna was a little less of a menace than persona when it comes to their treatment of the kids bc she only started playing a role with students halfway thru the story as opposed to being an abusive teacher for years before the story even began. theyre both terrible but i dont understand why luna is treated more harshly when persona is NOT better at all. at least luna actually stayed away from the kids after her redemption.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i wanted so badly for natsume to punch him in the face or tell him off. we never got natsume saying ANYTHING about persona at the end which sucks bc out of everyone he deserves to and he shouldve gotten the chance. i choose to believe that natsume has socked persona in the face many times before the epilogue chapters.

Favorite friendship for this character: i dont think he has friends honestly

if you would like to send me an ask for a character/ship/show or you'd like to rb the original post yourself, heres the link!

[cloudenthusiast2]

To be a human - Scaramouche x reader - Part 7 (Final)

You knew committing to a relationship with Scaramouche would be no easy task but you loved him dearly and unlike others, you believed he wasn't evil. But as a mortal and the devoted protector of your village you were too much of a good person, too much of a human compared to him and your differences slowly start to show.

Previous: Part 6

Length: 4000 words

Trigger warnings: blood, mentions of loss

A. note: Scaramouche is my favourite character in the game and I really love him. But I couldn't help and feel awful when he said those words in Inazuma. Look, I don't think that Mihoyo is gonna let the huge opportunity slip and not make him playable (for which we need to have at least a tiny bit of friendship with him and well, right now mc straight up hates him) but in case that does happen, in case he doesn't get a redemption arc, I made one myself. I wrote this to redeem him in my own, and hopefully your eyes as well. I hope you enjoyed reading this story of that little bastard as much as I enjoyed writing it.

It was fair to say that Scaramouche was stunned by the sight of the local people.

Certainly not because he suddenly grew fond of them. It was rather because the way they appeared out of blue when little Yu gave them a sign. She let out three short whistles and the forest came to life in front of the harbinger.

Old men and woman, little children and whole families walked towards them. It was clear even for Scaramouche that they looked uneasy and hostile. They surely wouldn’t have appeared in front of the fatui if it wasn’t for Yu.

The sixth harbinger was astonished.

Because they would trust someone, especially a child so much.

Because there were so many of them.

He counted the people walking towards Yu. Way more than he’d thought there would be.

These people were injured, dirty and exhausted. But they were alive. And all because of one person.

‘Impressive’ he thought to himself.

Yu talked to them, explaining why the fatui was there and promising that they’re not in danger any more. The people seemed less at ease in his presence now but the harbinger still felt the piercing gazes. If looks could’ve killed he would have been dead in an instant.

He knew they all blamed him for the things that had happened. Maybe they even thought he was the one who made the abbys attack their village.

But Scaramouche got used to these types of glances during the years and he did not care about them any more. All that mattered was that they were able to help.

He stood behind little Yu who was still clinging onto her doll. Scaramouche stared at the bloodstains on the toy as she asked the people of Qingce to help find you.

The thought to promise them money crossed his mind but the instantly threw it away. He just somehow felt that it would be very wrong.

These people won’t help him because he can pay them. They won’t help because Yu asked them to either. They will help because you had been guarding them for years.

Mentioning your name caused them to stir up, to get loud and the all of a sudden the whole crowd was ready to go and search in the mountains.

It was obvious how much they loved and respected you. Maybe even more than Scaramouche used to, he realized.

Yu turned to him and nodded.

‘I think we can go now.’

‘How are you going to search everything?’ the harbinger asked as he crouched down to the child. It wasn’t needed since he wasn’t much taller than her but it felt like the right thing to do.

Yu’s eyes wandered to the hat. She reached out and gently touched it.

Scaramouche normally would’ve ended the person who messed with his hat but when the child did it, he somehow felt no urge to do so.

‘It’s because so many people are watching’ he explained to himself. But it still felt a bit weird not being annoyed.

He cleared his throat so Yu would focus on him again.

‘We know this place well’ she answered, letting her arms fall back to her side. ‘We will split up and warn each other if we find something.’

‘My people are out too.’

‘Then call them back.’

The harbinger glared at the child. She really was fearless, wasn’t she, huh. First touching his hat and now disrespecting the fatui.

‘You know…’ he crossed his brows as he began to speak but Yu quickly cut him off.

‘Everyone is afraid of them. And they’ll just be in the way. They don’t know the mountains, do they?’

Scaramouche clenched his teeth together. But he had to admit that the girl was right.

He stood up and walked towards the agents standing by a nearby bridge. They were there since the people appeared to make sure they don’t try to do anything to their harbinger.

He gestured to bring them closer then stood and crossed his arms.

‘First, I want to know how a big group of fatui agents were unable to find anyone when there was a whole village hiding in the forest’ he questioned them with a glare.

The agents were bowing already but now they bowed even deeper.

‘F-forgive us, our lord!’ a pyro agent answered. ‘They’re locals and we…’

‘Spare your apologies, I don’t care.’

Scaramouche closed his eyes for a moment and let out a sigh. He really didn’t care, he only snapped at them to let out a little frustration.

‘Call back everyone from the mountains. And let these people do what they want. Anyone who disturbs them in any way shall be punished.’

‘But my lord…’

‘Do as I say!’

Scaramouche turned his back to them and the agents hurried away. He watched as the people of Qingce split up and began their search in the forest, around the destroyed village.

He looked up to the mountains. Clouds hid the most of them, they were so huge, so high. And there were so many places you could be.

Was is it even possible that you were alive?

Scaramouche never lied to himself and this was the first time he wanted to. He simply just didn’t want to accept the small chances of finding you. He wanted to feel hope.

‘You better be alive, Y/n’ he muttered to himself. ‘For your own sake.’

For his sake.

*

‘Have you taken a look around in that cave too?’

‘I haven’t but I can go if…’

‘Stay.’

Scaramouche climbed to the cave and looked into the hole. It was smaller than it seemed from below and inside it there was absolutely nothing.

He quietly let himself down. He jumped on a bigger stone on the path under him, the bells violently jingling on his hat.

Little Yu asked nothing. It was obvious from the harbinger’s expression that he found nothing.

The air began to feel a little chilly in the mountains. The sun was getting ready to go down and let the moon take its place.

They’ve spent their whole day with searching. They’ve found absolutely nothing so far.

There were a lot of traces left behind the abbys order and the monsters. It was also clear that the fight continued outside of the village as well. Corpses of dead monsters bordered the narrow paths.

But your body was nowhere to be find.

Scaramouche looked up to the sky. The first star had already appeared. And with that, their last piece of hope started to slip away.

‘We haven’t looked there yet.’

The harbinger snapped out of his dark thoughts and glanced at the child in front of him. She pointed at a smaller mountain nearby.

‘That’s very far away from the village’ Scaramouche claimed. ‘We’d be just wasting our time.’

‘Then where do you want me to go?’ Yu asked.

The man let out a sigh. She was right, they’ve already looked through every bush and searched every rock on this mountain.

He started walking towards the other one without saying anything, and Yu silently followed him.

In the valley below them, lots of figures were moving and changing places. The locals still haven’t given up even though it was getting colder and darker with every passing moment.

A red dot appeared. Then another. They started lighting torches.

Scaramouche felt like choking. He touched his throat and fastened his steps.

He tried to banish the horrifying thoughts from his head but his desperate tries were unsuccessful.

You’re dead. They’re only going to find a cold body and not you. You’re dead and it is his fault.

He shook his head to quiet the voices and to get back into focusing on his search.

This made him realize that he hadn’t seen little Yu in a while. Scaramouche stopped and turned his head to check on the girl.

She was behind him a few meters away. Her movements were too slow to keep up with the harbinger’s.

‘Are you coming or not?’ The man growled at her. ‘Hurry up.’

‘Sorry…’ She was out of breath, quietly panting. ‘You can leave me behind. I know I’m just slowing you down.’

Scaramouche rose his brows at the young child who was not even tall enough to reach the ground from a bigger rock. Was she really that aware? What should he do now? Just leave her here? He was willing to do that, to be honest. The sun was about to completely disappear.

Yu grabbed the side of the rock. She let her feet down, trying to get down safely but she was too tired – the little girl stumbled and fell.

Scaramouche didn’t even realize he was reaching out – but a moment later he found himself holding the child in his own arms.

They stared at each other, the sixth Fatui Harbinger and the kid from Liyue. It was impossible to tell who was more surprised, the one holding or the one being held.

But it was the man who found his voice first.

‘Don’t think I’m gonna carry you like this to the other mountain.’

‘I didn’t think that’ she answered quietly.

Scaramouche cleared his throat and opened his lips. But before any other words could’ve come out of his mouth, a sharp whistle cut through the air.

They both jerked their heads up.

The sound was coming from below, south to the village.

The whistle was repeated – two short, two long ones.

‘They’ve found her’ Yu said.

*

Scaramouche had no memories of how he got down from the top of the mountain.

All he remembered was the crazy pace of his heartbeat. The darkness invading his head. That terrific feeling clenching his heart, incredible, deep fear he’s never experienced before.

There were many people standing in his way in front of a big cave. He pushed them away as he rushed to get closer.

It was dark. Everyone stood with a torch in their hands. He heard the whispers but the words were incomprehensiblenext to the loud beating of his own heart. There were figures but they were blurry, everything was blurry…

Until he saw you.

You were laying on the ground. Your body completely still, your chest not rising nor sinking. Your clothes torn, bloody.

There was so much blood.

He stumbled and fell on his knees in front of you. A local turned to him and spoke but he understood nothing. His hand was shaking as he reached out to touch you.

You were… cold.

He forgot how to breathe and just stared down at your body. Your messy hair hid your face and that just didn’t feel right.

Why was this happening?!

Everything was supposed to become alright after they’ve found you!

How dare you be dead, how dare you not wake up to his touch, to his wishes, to all wishes around you…!

‘Balladeer!’

He snapped out of the blurriness when someone grabbed his arm. An old lady with a serious look tried to pull him back.

‘Let go of me!’ he hissed, pushing her away. He groaned when the grip became stronger instead on his arm. Pain in his heart and body blinded him as he shouted. ‘I said, let go of me or else…’

‘Please stay out of the way of my people’ the lady asked in a calm tone. ‘She needs serious help.’

‘What help can you provide when she’s dead?!’ he screamed at her in a hoarse voice. ‘You stay away from her!’

‘Please calm down. Y/n is not dead… yet.’

Scaramouche slowly closed his eyes. The words echoed in his head.

She’s not dead. She’s not dead. She’s not dead. Yet.

He took a deep, shaking breath. The cold air in his lungs cooled him off a little.

You were alive. But also, only barely. He finally understood what that meant. But he couldn’t let himself feel any relief nor fear…

He was a harbinger, he was part of the Fatui under the rule of the almighty Tsaritsa. He was Scaramouche, the Balladeer who simply could not allow himself to show any vulnerability in front of mere mortals.

Even if it was about you.

Even if he wasn’t the same person any more.

‘Bring a healer’ he said in a lower tone.

‘We don’t have any vision bearers among us’ the lady answered. ‘But we’ll do everything to keep her alive.’

Scaramouche nodded and stood up. It took a lot of strength to tear his eyes from you but he forced himself to do it and turned around.

‘Alert my people and tell them to give you all that you need’ he told the locals as he fixed his hat. ‘Tents, medicine, food, everything.’

The people stood there in silence for a few seconds, not knowing whether to obey him. They only moved when the old lady from before thanked him. Then they finally set off towards the village.

Scaramouche wanted to turn back and take a glance at you one more time to make sure you’re really there and not just a hallucination. But suddenly little Yu appeared in his sight and that made him stay.

‘She’s alive’ the girl whispered. The mask she had worn so far finally broke and her expression was an expression of a little child. She seemed tired, sad and a little happy. ‘I’m so glad… Scara.’

The harbinger nodded and closed his eyes for a moment. His heart was still beating fast with fear but those heavy weights on his shoulders finally started getting lighter.

He felt something touching his hand and he opened his eyes to the sight of Yu holding onto him.

This type of physical connection was very far away from what Scaramouche would tolerate coming from a human but he felt way too tired to resist. He just let the little girl clench his pinkie and they both watched silently as some helpers grabbed your body and moved it to a safer place.

*

You felt like something that had been sitting on your chest for a while finally moved. Something even bigger, a huge, scary type of darkness slowly left your body.

It left you with the first breath you were aware of taking in a long time.

You let out a small sigh. And opened your eyes.

There was a fabric cover above you.

You were in a tent, safe and sound. Alive.

The first thing you noticed was the temperature. It was warm, welcoming and comforting. Lot of soft blankets covered your body which hurt badly but the pain was dim.

You tried to look around but your head was too heavy. You could barely tip your head to the side.

But the sight was worth it.

Your breath was taken away one more time. You just stared in silence and you could feel your eyes widen in shock.

‘You’re awake.’

Scaramouche closed the book he was reading and looked at you with a straight face.

‘Finally.’

He put the book down with a slow movement.

Mixed emotions invaded you. You fell from relief to happiness to fright in a span of a few seconds. You were alive and Scaramouche was here with you, but – why did he seem so distant? Was he still angry at you even after everything that had happened?

You almost let fear overrun you. Almost.

But your gaze fell on his hands and he couldn’t hide his true feelings from you any more. His hands were visibly trembling as he still held onto his book.

Little did you know he could have not read a single word written in the last couple of hours. He just sat there and watched over your sleep, not dozing off for even a second himself.

The shaking of his hands became even more obvious and he couldn’t hold himself back any more.

He moved closer and placed his trembling palms next to the sides of your body. He looked down on you from above and as you stared back at him, you could clearly see something that wasn’t there before.

The usual cold, emotionless blur was nowhere to be found in his dark eyes. Instead, there was pain. And a lot of it.

‘How dare you do this to me?’

During the years of your relationship, he’s grown to be comfortable in your presence but he never ever showed any signs of vulnerability in front of you and you just accepted that it’s probably never going to happen.

It was shocking, almost scary seeing him like this.

The desperate expression on his face softened and he let his head plop on your shoulders.

‘Scara’ you whispered. Your voice was hoarse and dry but it was your voice. You were able to speak.

The realization of how unlikely your survival was suddenly hit you and your eyes teared up.

‘Scara, I… I really thought I was gonna die…’

‘Then you’re stupid’ he answered, speaking into the blankets covering your shoulder. ‘You should know that you can’t die without my permission.’

You laughed through your tears. They streamed down on your face, straight into your ears. But even that felt so good. Crying was a sign of being alive from the very beginning of life and you never understood that so much than at that time.

‘Don’t… leave me ever again.’

You didn’t event think, the words just left your mouth.

‘Don’t worry.’ Scaramouche finally got himself together enough to sit up and at least pretend that he was alright. ‘You have successfully proved you’re not capable of taking after yourself so now I’m definitely stuck babysitting you till the rest of our lives.’

His movements said otherwise though. The way he caressed your cheek to dry the tears up showed that he’s not just stuck. He wantsto stay.

Just what kind of thinks did he go through in the past days? – the question occurred to you.

To think about it… why did he even come back? How did he hear what happened? And your people?! Were they safe?

So many questions echoed in your head and you couldn’t even put most of them into words that made sense. So opened your mouth and quietly asked:

‘What happened?’

‘I want to know the same’ he said. ‘What happened? How did you get so far away from the village? How are you alive in the first place?’

You thought back to the night. Pain stabbed you instantly and you had to close your eyes for a moment to calm it.

‘I don’t remember much. But I think the abbys wanted to take me with them. Is that… possible?’

‘I heard all kinds of things about them’ Scaramouche nodded. ‘It is very possible. Continue.’

‘There isn’t much to say… Obviously I tried to resist but there were too many of them. They probably realized I would be just a burden. I remember a mage knocking me out. But they didn’t kill me…’

‘Well, given your injuries, they must’ve thought there’s not a lot of time left for you. It really is a miracle that you’re alive.’ Scara stated. ‘And you were in that wet cave for an entire day too. You were nearly dead when we found you.’

‘We?’

You stared at him and your heartbeat dropped.

‘You mean…’

‘Yes’ he sighed. ‘That people of yours.’

He went silent for a moment then rolled his eyes.

‘They helped me out… I guess.’

‘So they’re all alive and safe?’ you asked and couldn’t help but laugh in relief. ‘That is so amazing! Thank you, Scara!’

‘Thank yourself, idiot’ he snorted. ‘You were the one who kept a whole abbys army away from them after all.’

The harbinger shook his head.

‘I hate that you were so reckless to do that… but I have to say I’m impressed. We should spar again sometimes.’

‘Aren’t you afraid you’re getting your ass kicked?’ you grinned.

‘I compliment you one time and you get this cocky?’ he crossed his eyebrows. ‘I have to put you back into your place, I see.’

You laughed and as you were finally strong enough to move a little, you grabbed his hand. He had to oppress his smile with force.

‘And how did you know… we were going to be attacked?’

The question made his task much easier. The harbinger’s face turned back to being serious once again.

‘I have my connections’ he answered briefly. ‘But you don’t have to worry, the fatui had nothing to do with the attack.’

‘I would never think that’ you rushed to make your words clear. ‘I just… hope that my people feel the same.’

Scara shrugged. Then averted his eyes as he thought of someone.

‘I don’t know about the others but there’s one person who clearly does.’

‘Who?’

‘That girl… Yu or whatever her name is.’

You stared at him in surprise. You’d never thought the day would come where he mentions a child and doesn’t frown. And to think that it’s Yu as well! Yu who was normally wary of strangers and such a gentle child…

Just what happened to him? – you asked yourself again.

You searched for answers in his eyes but it seemed like there were things that even this new type of Scaramouche, this more vulnerable and open one wouldn’t tell.

But it was alright. Maybe you didn’t need to know. You were just happy to be there and experience it yourself.

‘How is Yu?’ you asked.

‘Alright’ Scara muttered.

‘Her mother?’

‘Oh, her… Well…’

He hesitated for a moment and that was enough. Every good and warm feeling was instantly replaced by cold ones and you found yourself sitting up in dread.

‘Please tell me… She’s not…’

‘Hey, don’t sit up! Lie back right now!’

When you didn’t obey, Scaramouche pushed you back with his own hands. He was right, your body started aching terribly from moving and the physical pain almost outgrew the pain in your heart.

‘Is she…’

‘Yu’s fine. Don’t worry.’

‘No! I need to talk to her!’

‘You won’t.’

You clenched your teeth together in despair and Scara flinched. He saw himself in you when you did that. Earlier this day his expression was still this full of pain.

‘Scaramouche!’ you said, calling him by his first name which he suddenly realized, he hated more than that stupid nickname. ‘I will go and talk to her and you can’t stop me!’

‘I…’

‘Just think about everything you felt while I was missing! I know you don’t want me to go away again but you need to understand.’

‘All I’m trying…’

‘Maybe I really am cocky to think that it was painful to you but if I’m not and it really was, then just imagine that Yu feels like that too right now. And on top of that, she has no hope whatsoever. She knows that her mother is dead and there’s no…’

‘Oh, to Celestia, can you shut up for a moment?’ Scara interrupted you harshly. Then he frowned and quickly continued. ‘What I was about to say is that under no circumstances should you get up with these injuries. But you can talk to Yu.’

‘I can…?’

‘Yes, idiot. I’ll call her over.’

You stared at him in silence.

‘You’d… do that?’

‘Yes.’

‘So… you won’t mind if she stays with us?’

‘I guess not?’

‘Not even for a long time?’

‘I said no, stop asking these stupid questions.’

You were speechless and just gazed at him without saying anything for a long time.

You had mixed feelings about the Scara you woke up to so far. But this had finally convinced you that he really has changed into something better.

A slow smile formed on your lips. It grew bigger and bigger and it completely lit your face up.

‘You’re grinning like an idiot’ Scara claimed but nothing, not even his salty remarks could take away your happiness any more.

‘Scara, I really love you.’

‘You better do.’

He stood up and turned away as quickly as he could to try and hide the blush on his face. He knew if you saw that, you’d be teasing him about it till the rest of your lives together.

You were still grinning “like an idiot” as he was rushing to leave the tent. But even though he was in hurry, before he’d stepped out, he made sure to turn back and say:

‘I’ll be back.’

[most-datable-datable-bracket]

ROUND 2 MATCH 11

Linhardt propaganda:

“Submitting anti-war Nap King Lindhardt for this round too. He just wants to sleep! Or sometimes he wants to research something so hard he forgets to eat and sleep.”

Mary propaganda:

“OK, to understand why I love Mary so much in Arcanum, you need to know that the entire story revolves around the MC, who was a complete asshole in real life. The MC lost her family in a fire, grew up in an orphanage and closed herself off from other people. She was a perfectionist and only cared about her job, everything else was disposal. And Arcanum is the story of her redemption (or not, the player doesn't have to get redemption points and can get the non-redemption ending)

Anyway, in the real world, Mary was distressed by something in her personal life and made a mistake at work (making bridge plans). The MC spots the error and fires Mary on the spot, without caring about the circumstances or giving her a chance to correct the error. She also talks some shit to Mary, but the MC was an asshole remember. The MC is such a confident and arrogant character who holds herself and everyone to impossible standards.

When the MC is transported to a fantasy world, where none of the people in her life remember her, she is drawn to Mary who is now more her equal than boss/employee. Even without memories, Mary seems to know and recognize the MC. And the entire crux and development of this relationship is the MC coming to terms with how she used to treat people. And how she wants to apologize to Mary, even though Mary does not have any memories of their real lives. And yes, the realization that she treated everyone like shit so she wouldn't be vulnerable. Growth, thank goodness. The MC and Mary meet in 3 different worlds, a fantasy world with a plague, a fairy world during a conflict with humans and a fairytale world. In each iteration, Mary's memories are reset, but they fall for each other over and over again.

Also show in a real world flashback, you see how Mary was at a low point after she was fired from her job, but she started to pick herself back up and became more confident in herself.”

[ouatsnark]

I’ve got 99 problems... with this Captain Hook hate blog

Per a special request, I was sent a link to this Killian Jones hate fest!

Now, you are free to hate Killian Jones all you want but one thing I will not stand for is the amount of reaching that goes on to say that he can never be redeemed because of his past. How very biased, really. Out of all of the villains on this show, it is Regina and Rumple that commit heinous unforgivable acts of sexual violence and child abuse but they are both praised in the above hate blog. I wonder why?

As usual I am going to preface this by reminding everyone of something:

Killian Jones was consumed by and being manipulated by a dark force made up of an army of dark ones seeking their own agenda and using him to do it. Regina Mills was never consumed by darkness. She chose evil and her heart turned black because of her evil deeds. So she is accountable for her crimes while Killian at least has an excuse while consumed by the darkness especially since he overcame that darkness, shows remorse over his weakness and never seeks the power again.

Also keep in mind that this is all said because Killian Jones does show a change in character and had a complete redemption after sacrificing his life, showing remorse, owning his crimes and facing his victims. Because of that, his past mistakes has no bearings on the man he has become.

With that said lets get into this!

Red Flag Claim #1: Killian Jones went from good guy to evil in 60 seconds

First off, this is an ensemble show so not every character is going to get the backstory treatment they deserve and since Killian's backstory did not involve the Charming Family and the lead up to the casting of the curse... it is logical, though unfortunate, that they didn't spend that much time on what happened between his brother's death and him finding Milah.

It's also not that surprising that a man that grew up as a child slave would turn from Navy officer to Pirate after suffering another betrayal at the hands of the King. His father had betrayed and abandoned him. Now his King had betrayed him which resulted in the death of a brother he loved and hero worshiped. His brother was the one who pulled him out of drink and dice and helped him make a respectable life for himself in the Navy. It makes perfect sense to me that after trying so hard to do everything right and suffering more loss and betrayal, that he would seek to destroy the very greed that brought him to this.

But that doesn't mean he was as vengeful as we see him after Milah's death at that very moment he decided to go against the King.

CLAIM: but but but we saw Regina's build up to evil

Regina was a grown woman imagining strangling a child after learning said child was manipulated by her mother. That is pretty evil as it is so she went from “innocent” to fantasizing about murdering a child in 60 seconds. So Regina's potential for great evil truly came out of nowhere.

CLAIM: but but but we saw all of Regina's stages of grief

Calling Kilian toxic because we didn't see every stage of his grieving is so disingenuous. As I said, his backstory only really involves him. So comparing Killian's lack of backstory with Regina's is not fair. Because Regina's past is directly tied in with Snow, Emma, Charming and Rumple so of course we saw more of her. Never mind that his stages of grieving is irrelevant when it comes to his stages for changing his ways. Which this "hate blog” I am referring to completely erases but we'll get to that later.

CLAIM: but but but Hook didn't direct his anger at the source of his pain so he’s toxic!

Yeah. He did. And everyone doing the King's bidding.

"Our kingdom is corrupt and immoral.  They took my brother from me, and now I'm gonna take everything they've got..."

Remember why he killed David's father? Because David’s father had the King's gold.

Did he hurt innocent people? Yes. He was a villain. But if you're gonna hate a villain for doing villain things at least get it right!

At least Killian isn't blaming an innocent child for the actions of an adult... something that Regina is never held accountable for. So if you’re going to compare Killian to Regina lets be fair here. If past misplaced anger is a “red flag” against future relationships, platonic or romantic, then lets call out Regina because it is Regina who left more bodies in her wake than Killian and her target truly was not the source of her angst… it was an innocent child.

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 1 red flag due to her targeting an innocent child & fantasizing about murdering that child. Probably never should have never been allowed around children since she goes on to abuse quite a few including her own illegally adopted son. She also falsely accused Emma of ruining her life with Robin when it was her evil deeds that caused the whole Marian fiasco. Regina also blames Snow, Rumple and the book for all her mistakes.

Rumple: 1 because he blames Milah for “creating him”. No, that was your own decision buddy.

Killian: 0 cause this was in fact a false claim on him. His lack of backstory doesn’t mean he will flp back and forth between good and evil after his redemption (the only time he did was when consumed by darkness). A lot of this was made on biased assumptions of things happening off screen. Besides, he has never accused an innocent person of doing wrong against him or blamed someone for his actions.

So the real red flag here should be blaming an innocent person for your own actions which does not apply to Killian Jones.

Red Flag Claim #2: Hook made pimp jokes & played a part in adultery!

Lets make something clear here. When Rumple boards the ship looking for Milah and Hook says what he says to him… Hook is CLEARLY baiting Rumple to see if Rumple will defend Milah. It is a test. A test that cowardly Rumple FAILS. Which in Hook’s mind means that Rumple does not deserve her because “a man unwilling to fight for what he wants deserves what he gets”. So with that in mind, he sails away with Milah.

I really do not like that neither Milah or Hook thought about Bae. Or maybe they did? It isn’t shown. But obviously Milah sought Hook out and marriage vows were broken and a child was left without a mother… something that Hook obviously regrets later as we see him trying so hard with Bae. So at least we know that Hook is capable of realizing when he is wrong. I say this to point out that obviously there is still some good in Hook to where he can change.

“Hook: You're wrong. I was the villain in that little drama, Swan. He was a good man trying to keep his family together. I took this cutlass and put it to his head and taunted him. I was the only one there who's changed for the better. He became an evil, manipulative killer.”

Killian Jones readily takes responsibility for his role in that which shows that he has changed from the man he was. Has Rumple? No. Of course not because Rumple thinks being a coward was the right choice and then making the decision to give away their second born without asking Milah was pure cowardly genius. All three had a role to play in that marriage falling apart.

Because I very much dislike cheaters and if I thought for one moment that Killian Jones would cheat today I would be done with his character. But I believe that people can change and the moment Hook paid off a pre-paid hooker because he was too much in love with Emma is the moment I knew this man would never look at another woman ever again the way he looks at Emma Swan. He didn’t expect to ever see Emma again but his heart was lost to her and her alone. So again, his affair with Milah has no bearings on the hero he became.

Also what about Regina and her affair with Robin? They believed that to be his wife. Regina was PRAISED for sleeping with Robin while they believed his wife was in mortal danger. And no, Regina sending them across the town line because she had no other choice does not overlook the fact that she wanted Marian dead and never told Robin she was the cause of his wife’s death and disappearance.

Regina’s curse also had Snow having an affair... an affair Snow was actually vilified for. And what about the couples that were separated and sleeping with other people? Regina’s curse actually created instances of adultery. David and Katherine are another example.

So if having an affair is a red flag for Kilian then it was for Regina because intent matters... never mind that she also tried to sleep with David. Lets not leave Rumple out either since Rumple kissed the sEQ in S6. Which I am only bringing this up because the hate blog mentions Rumple and Regina as being better than Killian a few times when in reality... Killian is an angel compared to those two.

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 2 for the curse creating multiple accounts of adultery & for her affair with Robin (intent matters) & it being shown as something positive. She’d obviously do it again if she felt entitled to the man.

Rumple: 2 for his involvement with the serum Queen

Killian: 0 Red Flags because this was Villain Hook. He repented and we know that he would never do this again nor would he cheat on Emma & he was honest about it.

Red Flag Claim #3 & 4: Hook promotes Rape Culture

But let me guess… Regina doesn’t? Or Rumple? I have done an entire thing on just how all of this can be applied to Regina and is actually more damaging to culture (because she suffers 0 consequences) so spare me the clutching of your pearls.

The only rape culture that truly exists is the culture where a person is blamed for being raped or being told they wanted it or saying they should have liked it because the rapist is hot. That is the true negative culture we have when it comes to sex crimes because it makes stopping the rapists so much harder because this toxic culture silences victims. Sex jokes, innuendo or flirting are NOT threats of rape. Making everything said or done you don’t like into being a predatory behavior trivializes actual threats of rape. Maybe stop looking for more ways to make victims out of people and focus on the real crimes.

This show lets all of the other villains get away with actual acts of sexual assault that are never addressed and therefore romanticized by many in the fandom:

Regina raping Graham & never owning up to it or being confronted about it. No one knows about it. Because of Regina’s looks and seductiveness, many say Graham was lucky or wasn’t raped at all.

Regina’s mind rape of an entire town. She took people’s memories and had people sleeping with other people they’d never consent to if they had their memories. She does not regret this because it got her Henry. Then her victims are forced to accept her because she illegally adopted Henry and her abuse of him was swept under a rug.

Rumple raping Belle in the S4 AU & posing as Hook to put his hands on her after her rejecting him. The fact that he had the author rewrite her as his wife against her knowledge or permission is never addressed. He is then rewarded with getting Belle back.

Zelena raping Robin and getting to raise his child.

Neal getting an underage Emma pregnant and shouting at her for not telling him he had a son when he was the one to abandon her. He never apologizes he just kind of assumes they should get back together once his fiance is dead.

Regina threatened to rape David in the EF and plotted to rape David in Season 1... nothing is ever said about it

Wish Hook plotting rape and murder is somehow justified because suddenly he’s doing it for a child. He is then seen as a good guy.

Killian has never committed sexual assault. Yet he is the one you all continue to cry “rape culture” over. Imagine that? That is what makes this so absurd.

Also the fact that Hook is a 200 year old pirate is completely ignored. Stop trying to box him into todays “me too” standards where innuendo is no longer allowed. It doesn’t work! And it takes the fun out of it. He’s being a 200 year old jack ass and Emma is kicking his ass! It’s hilarious! It is also pretty good scene when Charming defends his wife. 

And that’s the point. We actually see Hook getting what he deserves. He is the only one that has real time consequences for his actions and is called out by the other characters. I would say that is the opposite of promoting “rape culture” because we see the consequences of his actions. We see that his actions are wrong in the moment he is doing it.

But do you want to know why Hook being wrong doesn’t effect his entire character development? BECAUSE HE TRULY CHANGES!

What inappropriate sex jokes do you hear him make after he decides to work on being a better man? When does he invade the space of people after leaving his piratical ways? Hell, even as a pirate how does he ultimately treat women? Because he made Milah his equal and took orders from Cora and Emma. And it was Regina being the sexual aggressor between them in the past but you never hear a peep from people about what she did to him!

CLAIM but but but he sexually intimidated Belle

Regina uses her sexuality to make Hook uncomfortable but no one wants to talk about that! She uses it against David too when she locks him up in the Enchanted Forest. And what about when she first meets Graham? But I am hearing crickets about that. Why? Because women can’t be abusers? Newsflash: yes they can.

So if you’re going to make a big deal about what you claim is sexual intimidation with Killian you sure as hell had better be mentioning Regina.

CLAIM but but but he admitted to getting women drunk to have sex with them

NO HE DID NOT! Where in this line are those words?

“If I didn’t know any better, Swan, I’d say you were trying to get me drunk… and that is usually MY tactic.”

I could keep reiterating this until I am blue in the face but some just will not get it through their thick heads. So this is what I wrote on my “When SQ takes stuff out of context” post!

We see him matching Emma drink for drink (or so he thinks). He thinks she’s as drunk as he is. We see him drinking with other females. The show portrays him as someone who likes to drink and drink with other people. This is not a crime. He DOES NOT say he remains sober and gets women drunk. In fact…

Women and too drunk for sex while I’m sober is not in that line and is not what is being portrayed.

An off handed comment like this is not an admission of rape nor does it equal rape.

We see Killian walking away from Milah when they first met. We see Killian give Emma a couple of chances to back out. He isn’t forcing anything.

He paid off a pre-paid hooker… to be honest … if the show wanted to portray him as a rapist they did a pretty lousy job.

STOP MAKING EMMA OUT TO BE A RAPIST ENABLER! If that is what he was implying Emma would’ve killed him then and there!

So if two people are getting drunk together… are they both rapists or is it just the man cause you’ve decided to blame all things on men?

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 4 because she commits acts of sexual assault and gets away with it.

Rumple: 3 his is seen as true love

Zelena: 1 gets to raise her child

Wish Hook: 1 claims its for his child & it gets brushed under the rug

Gothel: 1 the act is ignored

Neal: 1 assumes he’ll get to have Emma once he’s ready

Killian: 0 because this was in fact a false claim. He never commits an act of sexual assault which is the only “rape culture” that actually exists.

Red Flag Claim #5: Hook hits on Emma’s mother

... sigh. They weren’t even together yet... He was still a villain... like what do you want? He is a smart ass 200 year old pirate and David hits him for it!

You know what’s an actual red flag? Insulting someone’s loved ones.

How about we look at how Killian helped Emma patch things up between Emma and her parents?

Red Flag Claim #6: Hook has so many red flags cause he’s a villain that didn’t show loyalty!

YES. He is a villain? So what? So was Regina. Will I find a post about her red flags? Likely not.

Oh but he has so many because his loyalty is in question? Yes, he was a self serving pirate. However… when he was teaming up with Emma he was sincere. She used her super powers on him, remember, but due to her feelings being an issue she wasn’t sure she could trust that she was right about him. Killian confirms she was.

Here are some examples of how Killian Jones loyalty is no longer in question:

Hook could have easily turned on them and joined Pan so he could get Emma to himself and out of Neverland once again. But he did not. He is no longer that same villain. And that matters.

Hook could have taken Hades deal and gotten him and Emma out of there but he didn’t… he didn’t even write Rumple’s name on a headstone and he’d be well within his rights to do that! But he didn’t.

Hook could have left Neal to rot in that Echo Caves but he did not. He helped saved the boy he cared for but wronged so many years ago.

Hook overcoming the darkness and sacrificing his life for all of them showed his loyalty to them. He knew it should be him and wouldn't even suggest Rumple or Zelena taking the sacrifice.

Therefore, once Killian joined team hero and decided to become a better person his loyalty was to that of the greater good and it did not waver.

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 5 because she claimed she was on their side then went over to Team Cora and instead of apologizing she snapped at everyone for wanting to leave her sorry evil ass behind! However. Since she has since permanently joined team hero I will reduce that back down to 4.

Rumple: 4 because he continually stabbed them all in the back

Killian: 0 because he is no longer that villain

Red Flag Claim #7: He has no problem walking away from a woman being tortured

CORRECTION! He has no problem walking away from a person THAT JUST TRIED TO KILL HIM and was plotting to kill everyone else.

You gonna mention why Regina was about to be tortured by her victim? You gonna mention that Regina was 10x more evil than he and was plotting to murder everyone? Oh, no you’re just gonna glomp onto the fact that Regi is a poor whittle woman?  

Oh and if this is about sexism... I do not want to hear anything from the crowd who worships a queen that murdered innocent women and children but downplay the vileness of what she did to CHILDREN. Never mind that Killian was an equal opportunist villain. Meaning his victims were women AND men.

Ok. Whatever. Moving on

CLAIM but but but Regina was going to save everyone!

So Killian saving his own skin means he can never become a hero but Regina being forced to join team hero because her plans to kill everyone has been foiled is a perfectly acceptable path to heroism? Are you kidding me?

Neither Killian nor Regina are heroes at this point but both still had the potential …. you know if they’d actually had Regina admit to her crimes, say she is sorry and sacrifice her life but that never happened… Regina cleaning up her own mess because she and Henry were going to die doesn’t make her any different than Hook leaving and deciding to come back. The only difference is that Regina is a woman and Hook is a man and “man bad” & “woman good”.

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 6 because she let the Charmings face her evil self when Regina should have done everything, even sacrifice herself, for the people who gave her a 999 chances she didn’t deserve. She was suppose to be redeemed here. And I gave her another one because she had no problems using the dagger against Emma knowing how much it physically and emotionally hurt her.

Rumple 5: because he had no issues leaving them all to die in the shattered sight curse

Killian 0: because this is in fact a false claim & because we know he wouldn’t let an innocent suffer. See what he did for Morgana in the Underworld, Neal in Neverland, David, Aurora’s heart, sheltering Belle from Rumple, coming to Milah’s rescue...etc

So the real red flag here would be letting people who saved you die in your place and that red flag belongs to Rumple and Regina.

Red Flag Claim #8, 9 & 10: Hook saving David for Emma is bad bad bad and also manipulative & selfish

I am sorry but I do not believe that it’s a bad thing if Emma is a reason for inspiring Hook’s change. Actually I think it makes a lot of sense.

Killian didn’t decide to turn to pirating because of his father selling him into slavery. That certainly played a part in his potential to choose evil but that is not what pushes him over the edge. Killian loved his role as a Navy officer. He looked up to his brother, the captain, and wanted to serve his captain and his king. But his loyalty to the king was betrayed when the king lied to them and that lie resulted in the death of his brother. Now it makes perfect sense why he is drawn to Emma. She is a leader. A good one. One that he trusts like he trusted his brother.

Killian needed to find his way back to the hero that he was in the Navy. He finds this in Emma’s leadership. Emma was a leader that gave him a chance to be a part of something bigger than himself just as Liam had done for him. Killian was getting a second chance to reclaim the man that he was and was always meant to be.

So Killian doing things for Emma isn’t only because he’s fallen in love with her. He sees her as a true leader and he wants to be worthy of being a part of her team. He just needs to find his way back.

Anyway, that is my perspective on Killian’s reasons for doing what he does.

Back to the hate blog.

CLAIM: but but but it was just to get into her pants

No, no it really wasn’t. As this hate blog I am debunking has pointed out, Hook was into the ladies. Why would he put so much effort in for one woman if his feelings for her didn’t surpass a “one night stand” kind of thing? I mean I get that Emma is beautiful but she is not the only “fish in the sea”. He was not there to add another “notch to his bed post”. As he says “he wouldn’t risk his life for someone he saw as loot” and him being in Neverland aligned against Pan was definitely risking his life.

An important part is always left out of this argument. Hook tried to stop David from giving him credit. Hook never meant for them to learn about the true purpose of their mission.

So one might want to take the whole “I’m not doing this for you mate” as Killian being cocky and not caring about David but I offer you up another explanation. Killian is just beginning his journey and he has his own walls and reasons for hiding behind an act of bravado. He’s been rejected by his father and even by Neal. He wasn’t ready to be vulnerable in front of them and show that he cares. But also he did not want to see Emma suffer and, yes, it was the right thing to do.

“Hook:  Doesn’t mean I’d leave your father to perish on this island.”

Who says he is lying there?  Love is a powerful motivator…. it can also heal and change minds and hearts. I think it is wrong to look down on romantic love as being a good motivation to being a better person. Killian wanted to become a better man deserving of Emma but he was only able to achieve that because that is what he wanted and he worked for it.

Besides he knew Emma’s past. He of all people know what its like to lose a parent.

Claim: Hook wanted a reward for saving David and Emma was weak and gave him one

Stop treating women, especially Emma, like they do not have the ability to think for themselves! He was teasing her! She wanted to kiss him and she did! If she’d walked away without kissing him he’d have let it go just as he walked away from Milah when Milah first said “I can’t” and when Tink said “no” to a drink.

Trying to say that Emma felt pressured into kissing him or did so to shut him up is absurd. What would kissing him or not kissing him do? Nothing. Literally nothing. There is nothing forcing her to kiss him other than her own desire to kiss a devilishly handsome man.

CLAIM: but but but there was no lead up no eye sex or brow lifts or coy smiles or moving in closer together

I’m sorry but what? I present to you evidence about how so very wrong you are.

I also do not know what people expect from Emma… if they think she should have been more outwardly expressing her feelings for Hook? How? When love has left her abandoned and scarred? She is scared. She’s built walls. If you think Hook should have just left her behind those walls forever well 1) that’s sad and 2) just no. There WAS tension between them.

And if you don’t think Emma wasn’t moved from that kiss then you really need to take off your Killian hate goggles and watch it again.

CLAIM: but but but she was grieving Neal … a man she still loved!?

Was she really? This blog rambles on about their own opinion of what Emma is feeling but it does not match up with what we see. When they meet up with Neal, she tells him that she hoped he was dead. When Neal re-entered her life he’d abandoned her a second time and gotten a fiancé. He’d also mocked her and refused to listen to her (compare that to Hook who was following her lead and believing in her).

Emma was also not acting like a woman grieving for another man so to expect Hook to realize your head-canonned feelings you’ve decided Emma should have is absurd. It’s also absurd to think that her “I hoped you were dead” was because she “didn’t want to go through the pain of losing him again”. What about the pain of abandonment and betrayal? Neal had caused her so much pain that she wanted it to be over. But since he is the father of her child her connection to him, for that reason, is essentially forever in some capacity. But to imply that she was still in love with Neal and wanted to be with him is not true. If she wanted to be with Neal then she wouldn’t have rejected him and stood him up.  And remember what happens when they do find Neal and get back to Storybrooke? Hook backs off!

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 7 because her adopting Henry was purely for selfish reasons & she put her curse before his welfare. Really she should not be allowed around children! She then made Emma risk her soul to bring Robin back not caring what it would do to Emma because Regina couldn’t lose HER love then vilified Emma for trying to save hers. Also her thoughts about Marian were pretty damn selfish. She used manipulative tactics against Emma in S1 to turn Henry against her.

Rumple: 6 because he is in fact the most selfish since he puts himself first even before Bella (S4 shattered sight, sleeping curse, S6 curse, locking her on the Jolly etc etc)

Killian: 0 because this is in fact a false flag. Doing something for someone else is not selfish & he was not expecting a reward. He never manipulated Emma. He waited for her to make every decision on how their romance progressed.

Red Flag Claim #11: Acting like a school boy

Supposedly Killian showed no consideration for Emma who was only looking for her son...

The man literally flew his pirate ship back to a place he hated so she could rescue him... I am pretty sure he is taking the circumstances into consideration.

“The only thing I have to choose is the best way to get my son back.” ”And you will.” ”You think so?” ”I have yet to see you fail. And when you do succeed... well, that's when the fun begins.”

AW look at that. He takes the time to encourage her. And we know this is sincere because from the start he has called her “Amazing” and been quite willing to follow her lead without complaint.

Yes, Neal and Hook acted like immature school boys and goodness knows no human is perfect but I guess when you’re a 200 year old recovering pirate you ought to be? Give me a break. Stop labeling everything toxic.

What they did was ridiculous but it doesn’t cross the line. You know where the line is? Their behavior would have crossed the line if they’d demanded an answer from her then and there and then got violent when she didn’t respond or made a choice one of them didn’t like. THAT is toxic.

You know what is a bigger red flag? Neal saying “well she has me now” just after his fiance died. It was as if he was only ready for Emma when it was convenient for him.

You know what is also a big red flag? Striking someone out of jealousy. Regina does that to Emma over Graham.

CLAIM: Emma became weak shell of her former self in S5 and abandoned Henry for Hook

So the only evidence they can provide for Emma abandoning Henry for Hook is S4 because Henry wasn’t sure about Emma dating Hook as Henry PUSHED EMMA TO MAKE THE MOVE! Like you guys… really? What child is ever okay with their parents dating a new person? Henry has had Emma to himself for…what? 2 years in Once time at this point? I don’t remember the timeline but that doesn’t matter. Emma is his mother. Seeing your mother date anyone is weird, awkward, etc etc. And here you are making a point that Henry believes dating Hook will make Emma happy! Because it does. And why does it? Because Hook has proven himself and has proven that he truly cares for her and isn’t here to just “get into her pants” because if he was he’d already have given up that chase by now. Get real.

By the way, it was Regina who abandoned Henry for a man. Once in S4x02 and again in S6.

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 8 for punching Emma over Graham (a man she was sexually assaulting) & for being a crappy mother & for being degrading over Emma’s leadership capabilities

Rumple: 6 though if I were doing a true breakdown of characters he should probably have a lot more at this point... lets make it 7 because his poor behavior red flag should be when he killed Belle’s fiance & never told her and snapped when she confronted him on it. So count is 7.

Killian: 0 because he backed off and let Neal have his chance if that is what Emma wanted

Claim: True loves kiss never worked for CaptainSwan so red flag!

Are people who hate Killian Jones and CaptainSwan capable of critical thought?

Did True loves kiss work for Charming when he tried on Snow when Snow didn’t remember who she was? No it didn’t. Gee I wonder why. You think maybe the whole memory thing is the issue here!? Geez.

Or are we talking about during Dark CaptainSwan? Try keeping up, luvs. Emma hadn’t given into the darkness fully yet nor did she want to get rid of the power. True loves kiss didn’t work on Rumple either when he didn’t want to let go of the power.

And it didn’t work in Storybrooke either because unknowingly to Killian, he was cursed as well. You can’t break your own curse, dearies! If you could then Snowing would have been able to wake each other up in Season 6.

Red Flag Claim #12: Hook delighted in Emma’s pain

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad to hear that.” “You’re glad to hear I had my heart broken?” “If it can be broken… It means it still works.”

I actually had a discussion about this It Still Work scene.

So the way this hate blog takes it is not how I took at all.. but of course when you hate Killian Jones you’re gonna look for the negative side of everything.

Love is what drives Killian Jones. And I think he feels that love is worth any risk. A heart closed off and without love is a sad future indeed…

This response was the best:

“Second, anyone who looks at Killian in the first pic can see that he is not delighting in or gloating over her broken heart. I always took his line as encouraging her that her heart would heal. It was acknowledging her pain, which was true and legitimate, but also pointing her toward a future where her heart was whole again. A future that, I think, he was letting her know he would be a part of. That he wouldn’t leave her. That he would always be there for her. Whether she saw him as a romantic partner or not.”

Everyone downplays Emma’s fear of abandonment. Killian recognized that in her as he had also felt it. Killian Jones declaring that he would always be there for her and then proving it was essential in helping Emma break down those walls.

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 9 for actually causing Emma physical and emotional pain (trying to kill her & her family, over Marian, over the dagger, over her wishParents). For the mental anguish she put Henry through for 10 years subjecting him to a curse town then gaslighting him just so she could keep her curse.

Rumple: 8 because he delighted in causing everyone pain when it benefited him

Killian: 0 because he never wanted to cause Emma pain. He only ever wanted her happiness.

Claim: Hook trading his ship for Emma is toxic … because he did it for Emma!

I love this one! I’ve heard it so many times before. It’s honestly hilarious.

Killian Jones giving up his ship for Emma was a grand gesture of love and selflessness. A gesture he didn’t tell Emma until she asked which is so significant.

Remember when he said he would win her heart not because of any trickery but because she wanted him? He had several chances to do so but he waited. He didn’t use that gesture to sway her opinion of him. He let her find her way to him on her own.

So if Hook was intending to use his grand gesture to win her… he’d have told her this the first time she asked which I think was in NY Serenade. The fact that he waits is so significant. He waits until she’s had time to realize that he is there for her. He is going to be the one person that is never going to walk away. That he will be there to dry her tears and offer encouragement. That is what she discovered during their journey back in time.

Red Flag Claim #13: Evil Killian is controlling and manipulative!

Killian Jones is so controlling that he let Emma kiss him first, let her ask him out first then waited for her to ask him to move in. Geez someone stop this man from moving too fast!

So I am over halfway through and now I do know for a fact this is a Regina stan and probably an OutlawQueen stan. How do I know this? Emma and Killian get the blame for Regina’s broken heart… Regina is cast in the victim role and they come right out and say its Snow White’s fault Cora ruined Regina’s life. Cora ruined Regina’s chances with Daniel but it was Regina that ruined her own life. Not a ten year old child. Regina ruined her own happiness with Robin because she was a murderous tyrant.

CLAIM but but but “It was the darkness acting like a devil on her shoulder saying come back Regina, it’s easy here, comfortable, you have been here before…”

REGINA DOES NOT HAVE DARKNESS IN HER HEART. Her heart is black because she chose to do evil things. She is not consumed. Good grief people!

CLAIM but but but “Give Regina her credit, she didn’t succumb to the darkness and seek revenge on Emma. No, Regina fought her darkness!!!”

You’re not going to mention that her first instinct was to make sure that a little boy lost his mother again so she could have the father? You’re not going to mention that her “fighting it” boiled down to “if I do this they’ll know it was me”? Of course not. Cause you’re a Regina apologist.

CLAIM but but but Killian grabbed Emma’s arm and made her stay and not go console the poor little evil murderer

Again, Emma has a mind of her own. If Emma wanted to go after Regina then Emma would have ignored him and gone after Regina. How do I know this? Because he warned Emma about bringing Marian back and Emma disagreed and he consented. He tried to stop her from fleeing when her powers were going haywire but she ignored him and everyone else and ran. Do I need to go on?

No one makes Emma Swan do something she doesn’t want to do. Emma Swan does things when Emma Swan is ready to do them. Giving someone advice is not controlling someone. Giving an opinion on a situation is not controlling someone. Do you even know what controlling someone is? He isn’t demanding or telling her there will be consequences if she goes against his suggestion. He gives his opinion and she agrees. She stays. Stop looking for things that aren’t there!

CLAIM but but but he guilts her over not wanting to spend quiet time with him

Because whether you like it or not she is sending mixed signals. They were just making out the night before. And now Emma is doing what she does and is hiding behind her walls.

And for crying out loud not everything is about Regina or not everything should be about Regina! Especially this. This is the biggest issue I have with the show because of people like this eating up what the show presented: the little murderer Regina as the ultimate victim and Emma, Hook & Snow as the true villains. Emma owes Regina NOTHING and Killian understands this. Emma should not be feeling guilty over Regina since we know Regina has never felt guilty over any pain she’s caused Emma!

And by the way, Emma was pulling away from Killian because she was afraid of losing him. So it was not just about Regina.

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 10 because Regina never apologizes for her bad behavior toward Emma. She also gives 0 thoughts to Roland. Not when Marian returns and not when Robin dies.

Rumple: 9 because he moved Belle’s life around like a chess piece

Killian: 0 because this is a false claim. He has never manipulated Emma.

Red Flag Claim #14: Killian stumbles on his journey… that’s it someone burn this ship down!

So this blog assumes that Killian is already redeemed by early Season 4. No, no he is not. His journey is just beginning. So most of this diatribe is already off due to that.

No one should expect someone trying to recover from something to never take a misstep.

I don’t think I have ever said that Regina joining forces with her mother in Season 2 was a point of no return. I wasn’t even shocked. What makes me upset about that is that it’s overlooked and Cora and Regina are turned into the victims when they were they villains. 

But if you’re going to criticize one villain trying to reform for making mistakes along the way & acting like it means they can never change... then you have to criticize all of them!

 CLAIM: but but but some stuff about alcoholism

Look. Killian should not have gone to Gold. Killian should not have let Gold get into his head. I would not be surprised if Gold lied about cursing the hand. But it doesn’t matter. Killian has always been open about his weakness. He has never denied it. But apparently if an alcoholic slips up once then you should write them off because.. because... bad man is bad.

I would say this whole thing with Gold and Gold taking his heart was another lesson for him in his journey. I am guessing this person missed how humble, self loathing and regretful Killian was that he let Gold get to him? I am guessing so because the blog continues on to praise Regina’s journey as if she actually had one.

CLAIM: but but but but “When we compare Regina to Hook, she took the time to look deep within her soul, to figure out what was right and what was wrong, what was a healthy behavior to express anger or emotional pain and what was not, she started to take other people into consideration, she then started to open up her fragile formerly dark heart and letting people in.

All of that is a complete lie. After Regina’s S3 redemption, she continued to belittle Emma, cut her down, vilify her over Marian, hurt her with the dagger, torture  her in S6 and just in general be a total bitch to her.

If you want a real comparison between Regina and Killian then check out my  

“Killian Jones vs Regina Mills - How they treat Emma Comparison“

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 11 because when Regina stumbles no one knows about it. She plotted to have Marian killed & no one knows. She also wanted to destroy Emma’s happiness (rip Hooks throat out) and had to split herself in two to “like doing good”. That is NOT the marks of a changed person.

Rumple: 10 because he stumbled and stumbled and was rewarded with his HEA

Killian: 0 because he owned his mistakes. He comes clean. And he shows remorse.

Red Flag Claim #15: THE EMOTIONAL ABUSE CLAIMS

So let’s look at what emotional abuse can involve (please note that you don’t have to tick off each one and have them all for emotional abuse, it can be just one or a couple of things on the list.  But the more you tick it’s likely the abuse is intense).

I love this. “oh he ticks off one of these in an obscure way! HE IS ABUSIVE!” That is not how this works! Emotional abuse is a repetitive behavior and done to gain submission. You can’t point out someone’s bad reaction to one thing and just label them an abuser. That is so not helpful and is in fact wrong.

SIGN 1: Getting angry when you want to spend time with your friends

CLAIM: Hook – When she wanted to apologize and support Regina after bringing Marian back

REBUTTAL: False. He was not angry. Also Emma asked for space and he gave it.

Real Sign of Abuse: Regina hurting Henry to drive a wedge between him and Emma because she was jealous. Regina showing jealousy over Emma’s relationship with Henry.

SIGN 2: Isolating you from friends and family

CLAIM: Hook, nope I don’t think he is guilty of this per se, but he does show jealousy and disdain as far as Emma spending time with Regina

REBUTTAL: What even? He never did that.

Real Sign of Abuse: Regina sure as hell tried to keep Henry from Emma though. She is also the reason he does not have any friends. And yes, that counts, seeing that Regina illegally adopted Henry and was abusing him.       

SIGN 3: Putting you down all the time, using names like ‘frigid’ or ‘slut’ to control what you do, humiliate you and destroy your self-esteem

CLAIM: Hook = Guilty “washed up… pretty blonde distraction… you’ll always be an orphan.” 

REBUTTAL: He said the first while a villain and right after her betrayal and when they weren’t together and the last two was while he was actually consumed by darkness. What about the times when Killian was his true self?

Real Sign of Abuse: How about Regina?

SIGN 4: Threatening to harm you or to self–harm if you leave them 

CLAIM: (not if she left but he threatened that he wanted to hurt her like she hurt him… selfish prick she saved your fucking life you ungrateful swine!)

REBUTTAL: Again… being controlled by ultimate darkness. He later dies for her.

SIGN 5: Demanding to know where you are all the time

CLAIM: the sheer number of times he yelled her surname looking for her, 

That is the biggest reach I have EVER SEEN!

CLAIM CONTINUED: and was so pissed he couldn’t find her that he then decided to emotionally manipulate her into showing up that he jumps off a building purposely knowing she would have to turn up and save his life

REBUTTAL: Can we look at the context around this please? It’s not like he was worried she was off cheating or having a drink with her fiends. They were in the middle of a crisis. She was keeping something from him that was effecting them all… it wasn’t something trivial. It was life and death. Literally, actually. This is taking a big situation involving magic and different realms and reducing it to a domestic dispute when it wasn’t. Please stop you’re embarrassing yourself.

CHARGE: Rumple when Belle wouldn’t do what he wanted he placed a band on her wrist to track her.

SIGN 6: Monitoring your calls and emails, threatening you if you don’t respond instantly

CLAIM: Not really, though he was agitated when she couldn’t pick up and he was trying to warn her that Rumple had been controlling him and he lied to her in the process. But I am guessing the situation was pressing and caused that, however he should have just told her Rumple’s plan and done the honorable thing by being honest and truthful.)

REBUTTAL: This is such a reach. This is what trying too hard to make a square peg fit into a round hole looks like.  No one is denying that Killian made mistakes but pretending like him owning up to it wasn’t part of his journey is just disingenuous. He owned his mistakes and tried to correct them. He later showed remorse and guilt for his failure. That is what counts.

He never once threatened her during this really sad example which just shows you are grasping at straws to try and make emotional abuse fit when it doesn’t.

SIGN 7: Blaming others for their problems or feelings

CLAIM: Guilty.  He blamed Emma for the darkness. 

REBUTTAL: Dark Hook blamed Emma for the darkness and why not? She made him a dark one against his wishes! Why not look at what he says after the darkness has left him?

CLAIM CONTINUED: If Emma could fight it so could he.

REBUTTAL: Are you seriously trying to compare Killian to the savior? Emma was the only one that could fight it! Her light magic and the goodness inside of her gave her an advantage!

CLAIM CONTINUED:  Rumple never told Belle she was a pretty distraction, washed up etc so how much was actual Hook and how much was the actual darkness?

REBUTTAL: Killian Jones was NEVER verbally abusive to Emma so therefore we know it was the darkness. But you’re going to sit there and say that Rumple never abused Belle? He threw her in his dungeon, shook her, forced her to be his servant and was disgusted when Emma let it slip that he “falls for the hired help”!

You’re a complete joke now. Congrats.

SIGN 8: Being verbally abusive

CLAIM: This is the same as putting you down but also incorporates hostility in tone of voice, shouting, getting right in someones face and shouting etc

REBUTTAL: NEVER HAPPENED. Also we already covered this.

SIGN 9: Using threatening behavior towards others

CLAIM: Guilty.  Threatened her family.

REBUTTAL: As Dark Hook. Regina did for two seasons but I am guessing that is OK? Heck, Regina’s evil half, which is still Regina, was threatening Emma and her parents and Regina let her! The only time Regina put herself at risk was to save Zelena.

SIGN 10: Getting really angry, really quickly

CLAIM: Guilty – the hand incident, and when Emma was sucked up in the vortex of evil he snapped at everyone but his biggest snap was at Regina… why??? Oh I don’t know, maybe it was because Emma made the ultimate sacrifice for Regina and absorbed the darkness instead of letting Regina take it. Emma never made that sacrifice for him.  That’s why he was so snappy with Regina especially.

REBUTTAL: This is nothing but a head canonned biased opinion that has put thoughts into Killian’s head. Emma made the sacrifice for the town. Killian is not jealous over Regina. The man who stands up for Regina when Emma is doubting her (after Robin died) is not jealous of Regina. 

Also... really? You’re acting like he doesn’t have a reason to snap? This “sign” should be prefaced with “getting really really angry FOR NO REASON” which isn’t what is happening here! There is a reason. Emma was missing and was in danger and Regina had given up on her!

Killian was not the bad guy here. He was only trying to come and help Emma.

Real Sign of Abuse: If we’re going to make stuff up why not agree with what Killian said? Maybe Regina was liking not having Emma around so she didn’t have to share Henry. 

SIGN 11: Using force during an argument

CHARGE: Regina Mills throwing Emma Swan down her driveway.

CHARGE: Rumple for locking Belle on the Jolly

CLAIM:  And he was a douche.  He was unknowingly dark all that time and managed to control himself to a certain degree and as soon as he was told that he was a dark one, everything changed. 

REBUTTAL: You realize that the Darkness can’t control you if you don’t know its there… right? Of course you don’t know that because you don’t care enough. You just want to hate Hook for whatever reason..

SIGN 12: Threatening to spread rumors about you

I’ll just leave this here:

Red Flag Count:

Regina: 12 because she emotionally abused Henry for 10+ years and her treatment over Emma due to Marian had Emma doubting herself. Regina never would follow Emma’s lead, often making Emma's ideas seem stupid. If anyone is abusive it is Regina.

Rumple: 11 definitely an abuser

Killian: 0 because he was never abusive toward Emma and any wrongs he committed he owned, apologized and showed remorse.

Claim: Regina’s abuse is actually good!

I wish I was kidding.

CLAIM: but but but Regina only did it once!

She cut Emma down so many times… what the hell? I’ve already posted some references of that but OK take some more.

CLAIM: but but but if Regina hadn’t gotten Emma angry then she wouldn’t have lit the fire besides she gave her a cutesy friendly grin!

Are you for real? Regina was proud of herself for abusing Emma into lighting the fire and taking credit for Emma’s work. How would you explain away Regina claiming Emma can’t get the map to work, snatching it away from her, then breaking Pan’s rules and nearly getting David killed? Geez.

I’ll just leave this here

Claim: Kilian’s sacrifice wasn’t good enough!

CLAIM: but but but Killian cleaning up his own mess doesn’t make him a hero

But Regina cleaning up her mess in Season 2 did? You see the hypocrisy in this claim? Oh you do because this hate blog claims that the curse wasn’t Regina’s mess at all. But oh yes yes it was.

And it further ignores the fact that Killian Jones was consumed by darkness at this point! This wasn’t villain Hook nor was it the Hook that was just dating Emma! It was a Dark hook being manipulated by the Darkness to do the darkness’ bidding.

Furthermore, it wasn’t his mess! It really wasn’t anyone’s except for the darkness who was pushing for these events to happen. Remember, the dark ones wanted to “live again”. Emma even admits that turning Hook was a mistake. But how can you blame her? She’d suffered so much loss in her life she didn’t want to suffer his. She thought they’d be able to do it together... and guess what...she was right! They did! Or would have if Rumple hadn’t double crossed them again.

Kilian was only able to break away from that darkness when he it was hurting Emma.

CLAIM: but but but but He sacrificed himself knowing that Emma is a sucker for the grand gestures and his so called love for her would be forever immortalized.

What a bunch of opinionated garbage. Before Emma made him a dark one he was ready to die for her to be rid of the darkness so that she could have a future.

“Our future is now. Reunite the blades so I can see them before I go.“

"But our future... “ “I'll just be happy knowing that... that you have one. Aah!”

“Just promise me one thing. If I helped take off that armor, don't... put it back on just because you're gonna lose me.“

Sounds to me like he is only concerned for her future happiness! I do not believe for one moment that he didn’t want her to move on. Also, he died thinking he would never see her again. So no, Killian Jones sacrificed himself to save all of them FROM THE DARK ONES and to rid the world of darkness forever.

CLAIM: “Evil doesn’t always look evil.  Sometimes it can be staring right at us and we don’t even know it.  Just because a pirate is pretty and masks his darkness, doesn’t mean to say he isn’t dark or has truly found redemption.”

Just because an evil queen shows a lot of cleavage and cries about her own happy ending doesn’t make her redeemed. Just because she masks her feelings behind sarcastic remarks you find funny doesn’t mean she isn’t a bully. 

To Summarize:

1) I reject the idea that Killian Jones is a “Rape Culture” icon due to the fact that he never commits an act of sexual violence or threatens it. Also his actions have consequences in the form of the physical or being called out for it. We are shown that things he says and does is wrong. Sometimes a joke is just a joke.

2) If prior bad behavior is a reason that someone can never become a better person then we are all in trouble. Because the conclusion of this “hate blog” I debunked is pretty much just that. Killian Jones was a villain. Villains are bad. They do bad things.

3) Killian Jones DID become a better person. He showed remorse and paid for his crimes. He treated Emma so well, respected her, and loved her. And in the end that all that matters to me.

Also the biggest trait of a toxic person is inability to admit when you are wrong. KILLIAN ADMITS HE IS WRONG ALL THE TIME. He feels he is unworthy and still has a long journey ahead of him. Regina blames everyone else for her actions and expects to be rewarded for her good deeds. Rumple admits who he is but he just doesn’t care.

[inhonoredglory]

another character based question - how do you feel about mikasa? a lot of fans dont like her, im curious about how you feel! - armin anon

Hellooooo Armin Anon. OMG it’s been forever since I had the time to sit down and do a proper meta, and I apologize.

First off, I finished the manga!!! (So, spoilers ahead for anyone else reading this.) I had to lie down after reading 139. It’s a tremendous story and I’m still taking it all in. The set pieces and personal/emotional stakes of everything that happens is just astounding. If it’s one thing Isayama does good, it’s the gut-wrenching personal anguish that underlies the action. I’m absolutely floored. My favorite bit was probably the timey-wimey stuff in Paths and Eren. That blew my freaking mind. But onto Mikasa!!

A Cruel Yet Beautiful World

I remember way back when I started the anime that I started liking Mikasa first out of the group. I liked how sullenly silent and no-nonsense she was, and I liked her loyalty to Eren. Her emotion, especially when Eren died in Trost, was palpable and terrifyingly beautiful. Her grief was incredibly realistic––rushing off with a death wish that even she couldn’t succumb to in the end, because of the drive to fight that she got from Eren. In a world like SNK, her relentlessness breaking through her grief was incredibly moving. And her philosophy is basically the driving theme of SNK: “This is a cruel world, and yet so beautiful.”

This is the same moral message she gives Eren when he can’t find the strength in him to fight Annie––and gives him that warm, understanding, inscrutable smile that allows him to finally accept his own monsters, fight Annie, and save her and Armin. (One of my favorite panels of her from the manga, actually.) Mikasa is basically the first character we meet who embodies this contradictory morality, which grows to engulf SNK and other characters as well (Levi, Reiner, and Armin especially come to mind). Which could be why I was drawn to her at the start, since the complex moral outlook of SNK was the primary reason I fell hard for this story.

(And gosh, it’s tragic to realize that it’s teaching moments like the scene above that made Eren into the person who could influence his own child self to murder, the person who could wipe out so much of humanity, the person who could take Ymir’s challenge to free her by destroying the love of the person who cared the most about him. I’m still processing yo.)

Acker-parallels

I started really analyzing Mikasa when I had to defend her from a friend of mine who accused her of resenting Levi (for beating up Eren) and that’s why she attacked him so violently in the RTS serumbowl. Because of my research into rebutting that, a lot of my affection for Mikasa now comes in seeing the little ways in which she cares and trusts other people, including Armin, Levi, Gabi, and Jean. And her quiet sensibility that goes beyond her love and protectiveness of Eren.

With Levi in particular, I find a lot I like about her. Because you can definitely see her annoyance at him, but she also trusts him more than anyone else in the Corps outside of Armin. After Levi’s violent encounter with Historia, she was the only one who implicitly trusted Levi’s judgement, backing up Armin’s more reasoned logic. She sees beyond her own emotions and even moral feelings and realizes the world is cruel enough that sometimes people have to do dark things to help others and survive.

This is very much the same statement Levi made to the 104th when he had asked them to follow Erwin’s orders when the commander’s plans were questionable on the surface: “Do you trust him? Those dumb enough to say yes… come with me.” These two understand each other on a moral level, and they ask for their comrades’ loyalty without demanding it, because they each know that everyone’s conscience is their own.

There’s a clear parallel between Mikasa and Levi, not only because of their Ackerman heritage and sensibilities (loyal to a fault to their chosen person, impossibly strong, quiet and grim), but their frustration when they cannot protect the people they are responsible for. They both know they are the strongest around, and if they cannot fulfill on that power, a lot of people will die.

There are many moments in which Mikasa puts aside her personal feelings to do her soldierly duty, from leaving Eren to help with the evacuation of Trost to leaving Eren and Armin to fight the Colossal Titan alone in Shigonshina.

And then there’s the fact that Levi’s the one who could break past Mikasa’s headspace and distraction so that she can do the right thing. He understands her strong emotion, he respects it, but he also knows when that has to be put aside for the greater good. But he doesn’t put her down for having those emotions, either.

Strength from Eren, Humanity from Armin

Mikasa’s love and loyalty to Eren challenges her tremendously after the timeskip and her sorrow at Eren’s change is what really stands out to me about her character in the Marley arc. The absolute grief in her eyes when she tells Eren what he’s done is devastating, and it shows just how much goodness and compassion she does have.

And yet she longs to understand Eren, to trust him, to believe there can be something redeeming, and not merely jaded and tired, in what he taught her so many years ago––to fight, to win, to live.

There’s such a difference between these same words said here by Mikasa, so many years later, after so much heartbreak, to the anger and flame that were in them when she first heard them, back when she realized that this was the way of the world. That death and killing happens in the natural world everyday and that’s how you survive. That the world is both cruel and beautiful.

And yet as the years wore on, as Mikasa grew closer to others, found purpose in protecting others, sought a life with Eren… as she wandered further into the forest of life and society and relationships, she lost some of that simple injunction... to live is to fight, to fight is to win. She, like so many of the 104th and the others on this journey, found that it’s not enough to just fight and live and be satisfied. We really want it all to mean something, to have our actions be redemptive. To allow ourselves to believe that we do what we’re doing because we’re not just saving ourselves, but saving others, “saving the world” like Yelena points out (in the forest therapy session pfff). And it’s that drive for something bigger in our actions that grieves her so much with Eren, because as she wants her own actions to be fundamentally good and selfless, she wants his actions to be moral as well.

So while Eren is the person that frustrates Mikasa and motivates her to become stronger and braver than she ever was, Armin is the person who humanizes Mikasa and allows her the space to be gentle and vulnerable. She comforts Armin, confides in him, puts her faith in him, and puts her life in his hands.

She trusts Armin with Eren, and she values Armin’s intellect and compassion, qualities she doesn’t have in nearly as much quantities as he does: “There are only so many lives I can value. And… I decided who those people were six years ago. So... you shouldn’t try to ask for my pity. Because right now, I don’t have time to spare or room in my heart.”

This bit from her confrontation with Ymir and Historia was a defining moment for me with Mikasa. It’s honest and realistic in a way that few of us care to admit about ourselves, and it’s just super chilling and badass coming from her, too. It also shows how much she fights for Armin and Eren both. They are the two people she loves the most in the world, and she never gave up on saving either of them––from death or from themselves.

I’m looking back on Trost now and finding so much irony with the ending to SNK. In Trost, she was the one to give up on Eren, telling Armin that it was hopeless to try to extract Eren’s personality from his Titan form. And yet, like in the end, it’s always been between Armin and Mikasa to try to salvage Eren’s humanity. In Trost, Armin tells Mikasa to leave––to go do what she’s good at (saving lives)––and to entrust Eren to him.

It’s a huge expression of both Mikasa’s trust in Armin, and her belief in Armin’s abilities and friendship for Eren. And in the end, it’s the two of them again debating on if there’s any humanity left in Eren. The bond they share is intimate and deep. With all the military doubting Eren and scheming to take away his Titan (with even Jean and Connie unavailable to them emotionally), it’s only Armin and Mikasa against the world––the only two people who can truly consider Eren’s actions and hold off on judging him. And you can feel their love for him even as they doubt him.

And like back then, it has always been Armin who understands Eren most, the one who recognizes his own evil and Eren’s and finds a redemption in having others stop you, because you cannot stop yourself.

And that’s the thing I really take away from SNK and from Mikasa’s journey, that we all have devils inside us, and yet there is still beauty to be found, within us and in the world––from the natural wonders that Armin dreams of, to the comfort of purpose and companionship that Mikasa has in Eren. Love and wonder is what redeems us of our devils. And yet love itself is complicated, and can turn ugly in its obsession. That giving up that love is what makes the love selfless and beautiful, what absolves us of the selfishness within us. That’s what Mikasa learned. And in the end, she was able to release that love for the good of the world.

So I guess to sum up, I really love Mikasa. I can see why her dogged loyalty to Eren might annoy some fans, but I think there’s a lot more to her than simply that, and in fact, her journey and growth is heart-rending and one of the most symbolic arcs of SNK and fundamental to its entire theme. She’s a badass with a lot of emotion and depth behind her cold mask.

[s5anyu]

he is a terrible man. and yet amongst men, he is the most beautiful of characters.

Character Analysis for Askeladd of Vinland saga

On the surface, Askeladd is nothing more than a self-serving man. He is cunning, charming, and intelligent, qualities that no matter the disdain people have for his abrasive personality, have earned him respect amongst the Vikings, and beyond. Floki respects his intelligence enough to approach him to request the killing of a man who is regarded to be the strongest amongst all warriors. This being his first appearance is a solid testament to his ability to overcome any predicament – the basis of his development as a character throughout the Vinland Saga prologue. His men trust in all of his decisions, no matter how rash. They believe him to be as lucky as he is intelligent. His intelligence, wisdom and kindness complements the air of arrogance with which he carries himself. When hosted by his uncle Gorm, he laughs at him, before imparting wisdom on a young man who tells him that he would sooner die than live without pride. He says:

“Look. It’s terrible. The guy who’s a slave to money holds a whip and pretends to be the master of the slave he bought with his money. He just doesn’t realise it himself. Everyone is a slave to something.”

Such a sense of wisdom places Askeladd as a tool for Yukimura to present and explore the status of elders in Norse society. As an elder to Thorfinn, he guides him through different trials and encourages him to push his limits as a warrior, and become a better combatant. Regardless of whether or not life at war is the best option for Thorfinn, Askeladd always believes in him and his ability, and though he never expresses verbally his concern for Thorfinn’s wellbeing, he always shows an interest in Thorfinn’s safety and is always waiting for his return where the rest of his band do not care. To the other Vikings, Thorfinn is just another one of their men. Bjorn says of Thorfinn, “You trusted in his [Thorfinn’s] luck too much this time. It doesn’t matter. I didn’t lose anything.” This statement also reflects the stark individualism displayed by Vikings – although they may work together in bands of warriors or mercenaries or otherwise, they do so to serve their own interests – honour, valour, wealth, among many things. But to Askeladd, he is someone important - someone he cares for. When one considers the question of whether life at war is the best for Thorfinn the answer to this question evidences Askeladd’s selfishness. Despite knowing that life as a warrior is not the best for Thorfinn, he still uses him as a tool to further his own goals. In his own words, “It’s just easy to make use of an idiot who is not afraid of anything.”

There are, however, multiple occasions on which Askeladd appears to be straying from the typical Viking individualism of the era. The first example of this, is his kindness towards Thorfinn, as introduced in the previous paragraph. Amongst Vikings, such ideas of care and brotherhood are ultimately trumped by ideas of valour in battle and honour in death. One would not be greatly concerned with the death of one’s companions as long as they are assured that the departed are well on their way to the esteemed Valhalla – however the concern that Askeladd shows towards Thorfinn is evidence of his holding of attitudes that were unconventional for his time. This ties into the subtle revelation towards the end of the prologue that Askeladd does not believe that life at war is honourable, and does not hold the Viking people in esteem because of this; going so far as to disdain his own Norse heritage in favour of his Welsh heritage. His final actions and his final words reflect his sentiment from episode 10, Ragnarok, in which he declares:

"This is the age of twilight, Bjorn. Let’s go out with a bang."

In his final moments, he kills King Sweyn to protect both his motherland of Wales and the young Prince Canute. In this, he sacrifices himself to protect what is dear to him – and to protect King Canute who he grows to respect as a man with potential to be great in their short period of companionship. This is him leaving his mark on the age of twilight; this is him going out with a bang. He tells Thorfinn:

“In the future, after I die, how do you plan to live your life, Thorfinn? You haven’t thought about it, right? Move forward already. Don’t stay stuck in a boring place like this forever. Go far ahead, go beyond the world where Thors went. You’re Thors’ son. Go. That’s your real fight. Become a true warrior son of Thors.”

These last words reflect multiple things that are introduced at the beginning of the prologue and explored throughout it, the first being Askeladd’s feelings towards Thors. At the beginning of the prologue, Askeladd shows great respect to Thors throughout the duration of their battle. He outwardly expresses an appreciation for his strength, saying that he “could lead a whole army”. This statement shows that Thors is a man who is both physically strong and strong in character, and that Askeladd recognises this. He then asks of him, “why don’t you become our leader?” which shocks his men – as mentioned before they trust in him absolutely and are already surprised to see a man who can best him in hand-to-hand combat. However, none of them express dissent to this; whether this is out of shock or acceptance is open to interpretation. When he backtracks on this statement and says he’s only joking, one of the young men from the village try to attack Askeladd, to which he responds

“Damn kid. You should start valuing your life. You should be grateful to Thors. He was a man who was worth more than a hundred bratty kids like you.”

Askeladd greatly respects Thors and despite his decision, holds him in high esteem. The first part of this statement also reflects on his belief in – or at the very least respect for – Thors and his philosophy. He calls him a man of great value and he scolds the young man who he perceives as disrespecting the sacrifice that Thors made to keep him alive. “Don’t stay in a boring place like this” refers generally to the life of a warrior as opposed to their physical location of the king’s court. As detailed briefly above, Askeladd disdains the life of a warrior, and disdains the Vikings for it. Therefore, when he reminds Thorfinn “You’re Thors’ son”, he believes that Thorfinn Karlsefni has the potential to be as great as his father, if not more so. He believes that he can grow to become something greater than a warrior.

The second idea that this quote reflects is that of Askeladd’s care and concern for Thorfinn. He asks, “You haven’t thought about it, right?”. Askeladd has thought about how Thorfinn has been mentally since the passing of his father. Thorfinn has a stark hatred of battle and engages in it purely because of the hatred he has for Askeladd, and the proximity it gives him to his goal of killing him. Askeladd is aware of this. In his last moments, he could have been unkind and goading towards Thorfinn as he had been in the past – but instead he pushes him to seek something better. He knows that Thorfinn has been suffering emotionally and hasn’t known happiness from the day they met. Askeladd doesn’t appear as a man who wants to seek redemption – he wants Thorfinn to find happiness now that he has nowhere to direct the anger that has been his only motivator for the greater part of his childhood. From this, one could argue that Askeladd’s selfishness trumped his desire for Thorfinn to be happy. However, very early on in the prologue, Askeladd hints at his acceptance of defeat at Thorfinn’s hand.

"You’ve grown a lot. Well, time is on your side. You’re going to grow, and I’m going to get old. Someday, I’m going to lose to you. It’s only natural. Even the strongest dies someday."

Askeladd doesn’t attempt to dissuade Thorfinn from his desire for vengeance. Rather he tries to guide him towards the idea that vengeance is empty, and that any defeat he faces at Thorfinn’s hand is meaningless in the face of the natural order of the world. He knows that it is pointless to try and calm the resentment that Thorfinn harbours towards him; he knows the gravity of his sin and can’t tell Thorfinn not to hate him for it. From this, we can begin to explore the idea that Askeladd is similar to Thorfinn and sees himself in the younger man. Askeladd is just as full of hatred as Thorfinn is – as much as he is to a father figure to Thorfinn as a man, as a character, he serves as both a parallel and a foil to Thorfinn.

Askeladd is just as full of hatred as Thorfinn. His mother, Lydia, was taken from her homeland of Wales as a concubine to Olaf, and when she grew sick, she was of no value to him. She and her son were discarded and Askeladd grew to despise his father, and by extension his people. Askeladd, like Thorfinn, learned from the man he hated the most and sought revenge against him. Askeladd was successful in killing his father but his disdain for the Viking way of life and his bloodline led him to harbour resentment even into his old age. He is therefore a parallel to Thorfinn in that they both resent battle and war but tolerate it as a means to satisfying their own end. Askeladd, however, has seen and experienced first-hand the effects of Viking conquest on the innocent. Thorfinn has only seen it from the eyes of the oppressor.

Despite this, both continue to kill.

Askeladd’s ability to relate to Thorfinn’s anger is what makes him such a good father figure to him. He knows what it means to be so consumed by anger that you see nothing else, that you live for nothing else – to endure something you despise for the sake of vengeance. He knows that Thorfinn is miserable, and hurting, and lonely, because he is too. Such a sense of relatability is what puts him in a position to understand and take care of Thorfinn. It is because he understands how Thorfinn feels that he does not attempt to dissuade him from following him around in the hopes of killing him. He knows that Thorfinn cannot let go of the anger he has until he sees the recipient of that anger gone, because he too suffers from the same affliction. Therefore, it is not selfishness that drives Askeladd to keep Thorfinn around in his suffering – it is resignation; the same resignation he displays when he says that he will someday lose to Thorfinn.

Askeladd proves himself throughout his life to be ahead of his time. He is wise, caring, and understanding; but he is also cold, cunning, and ruthless. Man is not absolute, and Askeladd is no exception. But from those of his time, he is far above men – even with each and every of his nuances and flaws. he comes close to attaining the status of a true warrior as Thors was – and maybe if he had had more time, he could’ve seen his mother’s dream come true. The world is never that simple.

word from the writer:

When Askeladd was first introduced to me, he appeared to me as a terrible man. His intelligence and his strength is terrifying. A man who can kill for his own gain, without remorse. Such a terrible man. But amongst men he is the most beautiful of characters.

When I was writing this I wanted it to be a prelude to my upcoming essay on his relationship with Thorfinn. To some degree I’ve covered that here, so the next piece will most likely be on how Thorfinn views him and I would also like to talk about his relationship with prince Canute. Askeladd, despite not seeming like it, is a very fatherly man and I love looking at how he interacts with the other members of the cast. I hope you enjoyed this, and I’d love to hear what you guys have to say about this. my asks are always open.

Please look forward to the next piece in my Vinland Saga series.

[inmyownlaine]

Hi,love your writing and was wondering if I could request a John Murphy fluff/angst based on season 2or3 where the reader and him get in an argument about him ‘being with Emori’ but he likes the reader?

John Murphy x Reader: Promises

*Absolutely! Thank you for the suggestion. Also, let's just act like I haven't been MIA for literal months :)

GIF//

Warnings: None to my knowledge!

Word Count: 2078

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“Don’t go,” you begged, grabbing Murphy’s hand as it swung carelessly behind him. When your fingers touched his skin, Murphy stopped immediately. He inhaled heavily through his nose, trying to control the sadness and desire that you sent rippling through his body.

“Murphy, please,” you whimpered.

Murphy’s shoulder dropped as he let the single strap of his backpack slide down his arm. Your eyes lit up, hoping that was a positive sign. Hoping that you were enough to make him stay.

“I can’t.”

“You can,” you said assertively. “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” he replied, apologetic eyes looking at you between half-closed eyelids. He was right. You didn’t understand. He had nothing to apologize for. He didn’t have to prove himself to you. Or ask for your forgiveness. None of the things that his blue eyes seemed to convey.

“You don’t need redemption.”

“But if I go now, maybe when I come back-”

“What?” you interrupted. “Everything will suddenly be different?”

“Is it so wrong to want that?” he questioned softly, a shaky sigh leaving his body. You tightened your grip, white knuckles against red calloused ones. Just another casualty of his bad temper.

“Of course not. But you’re not going to fix anything by leaving. You need to stay. Stay and show them who you can be. Don’t leave and prove them right.”

Murphy dropped his head, fixated on your two hands intertwined. There was a lot more going on than the surface discussion. You danced around being in love by using double meanings and knowing glances. This wasn’t about him leaving to find himself. It was about him leaving you.

Glassy eyes meet together in a flurry of uncertainty and passion. The pit of your stomach churned as Murphy leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on your lips. They barely touched before he pulled away, eyes closed. It was a kiss that you never wanted to experience, especially being your first.

You knew he was leaving.

“Don’t cry,” he told you, hearing a sniffle escape. His eyes still rested, he quietly spoke, “I will be back. I promise. I have something to come back to.”

“Murphy, I-”

“I promise.” He now faced the reality of the situation, confronting his fears head on as he stared into your bloodshot eyes. There was no way he would ever be the cause of this again. He just needed one chance to make you proud. To clear his name.

“I promise.”

────────────────────────────────────────────

The taste of dirt and sweat caused you to gag as you were manhandled into the unknown. You had no idea why you were the target of a kidnapping. If anything, you laid low and kept to yourself. Regardless, you followed the directions given to you, fearing what would become of your life if you didn’t.

“I’ve brought you some company!” the voice behind you bellowed. You jumped at the sudden noise, interested in the way he practically sang the announcement.

“Who?” another voice asked, seeming alert and slightly panicked. You knew this voice anywhere and it quickly became clear why you were here. Even still, you obeyed the commands given. If you spoke a word, made any noise, it would be the end of your life.

“Worried, are we?” The man started to laugh heartily as you continued to walk. Every thundering step matched the beating of your heart. What would happen when you finally stopped?

There was no response, so the man began to speak. “Someone who wouldn’t shut up about you. Scared for you. Desperate to see you.”

As if being captured weren’t enough, this was just plain humiliating. He didn’t have to recount all the times you pined after Murphy while he was gone. You lost track of the months it had been since you last saw him. This was not how you wanted to reunite.

“Who. Is. It?” Murphy asked yet again. It was dark and menacing. A resemblance of a person that he used to be. You knew that would always be a part of him. Especially when it involved people that he cared about.

“A girlfriend?” the man guessed. You cringed hearing that word, tormenting and taunting you of what never was. But how Murphy replied was even more heartbreaking.

“Emori?” The man began to cackle once more as Murphy cursed and threatened his life. It was terrible to hear the intensity of his love. How much he cared for someone else while you turned others down, waiting for him.

The man gave you one last shove, causing you to fall to your knees. Through minute gaps in the woven sack over your head, you finally caught an amber hue of light. You groaned in pain, trying your best to stay upright with your hands tied behind your back.

There was a brief moment of silence before another outburst broke out. This time, you heard the scuffling of feet against the floor. Fabric harshly rubbed against a scratchy surface. It sounded like an attempt to escape.

“Let her go!” Murphy yelled.

“Why would I do that? I have everything I need, now. Except for the information.”

“Just let her go and I’ll tell you, okay? I’ll tell you everything,” Murphy frantically said.

“But I’m having so much fun. Maybe just one...little…” A cold blade touched your neck, causing a shriek to escape your throat. He put an ounce of pressure against your rapidly thumping artery.

“I swear to God if you hurt her I will kill you!” Murphy’s voice was full of anguish as it broke here and there. It was a frequency in which you had never heard from him. It was harrowing to witness.

The knife was removed from your neck. In a series of exchanges, Murphy gave him the answer to every single question he asked. When the interrogation was over, you were picked up and moved to a new area. Here, you were tied once more around my stomach.

Then, without warning, the bag was removed from your head. You could barely take in my surroundings before Murphy called your name. Tears fell from your eyes as you saw, for the first time in months, John Murphy. Though you had to admit, he looked worse for wear.

“Murphy,” you cried back, wanting more than anything to be able to touch him. To hug him. To take in his scent. You had been without this man for way too long.

“That’s sweet,” the man, who you could now identify as Titus, interrupted. “But I’ve got what I wanted. For now.” And with that, he turned on his heel and exited the room, leaving you and Murphy alone.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” Murphy asked immediately.

“I’m fine,” you replied. “But you don’t look good at all.”

“Yeah, well, being tortured does that to a person.”

“He tortured you?” you questioned, breath leaving your body. Picturing someone hurting Murphy made you sick.

“A few times,” he shrugged.

You wanted to be happy. You wanted to ask him about his trip. You wanted to know if he discovered himself. If he found who he truly was. But you couldn’t get past the fact that he said another girl’s name.

You never claimed to be anything more than friends, but you thought it went without saying. A person doesn’t just kiss someone before they leave. Or promise that they would come back to you.

“I hate that I have to see you like this,” Murphy finally said, breaking the silence. “I always imagined coming back to camp with Jaha’s group. We just saved the human race, or something like that. But it didn’t matter, because I was looking for you.”

“Not Emori?” you mumbled, mustering up the courage to be so bold. Murphy’s eyes grew wide as he avoided your haunting gaze.

“Look, it wasn’t supposed to- she just- we were,” he tried to explain, slumping over in the process.

“I waited for you. Every day,” you admitted. “The last thing I did before I went to bed was look out the gate for you. Every morning I woke up with the hope that it would be the day you came back to me.”

You started to sob, recounting the loneliness that you felt. And the fear of not knowing Murphy’s fate. Were you holding out for someone who was dead? Was it hopeless to wish that he would keep his promise?

“I turned people down. I kept faith in you. I told everyone how proud I was. And then to know that you weren’t keeping me with you at all. I wasn’t even a passing thought.”

“It’s not like that,” Murphy said.

“But it is. She’s your girlfriend.”

“I don’t- love her,” he said softly, swallowing hard enough to make his entire throat bob up and down.

“Then what?” You were at the tipping point with Murphy. Exasperated with his short answers and frustrated with the secrets he was holding. If he wouldn’t be honest with you now, there was no way you would ever be with him in the future.

“I’ve been through a lot. More than I expected.” He stared into the distance, seemingly void of emotion. It was like he was lost, trying hard to remember something that he pushed away. “I was trapped. By myself. 86 days. You know how I spent that time?”

You shook your head in response. He was still burning holes in the wall, but somehow knew that you replied. He smirked slightly before saying, “I thought about you. And how good it would feel to see you once I was out. Granted, I went absolutely crazy in there, but you kept me as sane as I could be.”

You couldn’t help but to chuckle at this. “I can’t imagine you any more psychotic than you are now.”

“Is that so?” he bantered, catching you out of the corner of his eye.

“You’re a freak,” you teased.

“Why? Because I’ve killed a few people?”

“Yeah, that probably contributes.” The two of you shared a smile, falling back into old patterns. You missed having a person that you could shamelessly be yourself around. The quick wit and sly comments were always absorbed and thrown back by Murphy. No one else stood a chance against you.

“When he said he had someone,” Murphy carried on, “you’re the first person I thought of. But it seemed impossible until I saw you. I don’t know what came over me. I- I was blind with rage. I tried to fight my way out. Because if he hurt you-”

Murphy couldn’t bear to finish the sentence. You didn’t need him to. You knew what was left to say. You heard the distinct difference, the silence that fell, when he realized you were the captured person and not Emori.

“I know that doesn’t make any of this right, but I just wanted that feeling of safety that you gave me. And Emori was there. I misplaced it. And I’m sorry,” Murphy apologized.

“What about Emori, then?” you pressed.

“She’s a good person, and she will understand. I just couldn’t live with myself if I left you again.”

“You mean that?” Murphy simply nodded, outstretching his fingers in your direction. Even though you couldn’t hold hands, the sentiment remained as you reflected his actions. You were two people trying to make your own light in the darkest of situations.

“I love you,” you managed to choke out, taking in the dried blood on his hairline and the bruises on his skin. His pant leg was ripped at the cuff and his hands were caked in dirt. You needed him to know that no matter what happened, now and forever, that he could carry this with him. Even after death, if fate so decided.

“I love you, too,” he said, without hesitation or a second thought. It was something he wished he had told you the night he decided to leave. The only thing he regretted once he left the compound.

But he had the chance to fix all of that. And in that moment, he swore that once you escaped, he would always be there to protect you. He would always console you and your wondering thoughts. He would love you the way that he should have a long time ago.

He promised he would always find a way to come back to you.

He promised he would never leave.

He promised.

**Hey, it's Lainey. Slightly embarrassing but I am back from the grave! I hope you all enjoy this and still love Murphy as much as I do <3

[seyaryminamoto]

As someone, who's favourite character is Zuko, let me just say that your analysis about the Southern Raiders is spot on. Something about that episode (especially the way Zuko acted) always felt a little... off to me. And I could never figure out what it was exactly and considering the fact that discussion about this episode centered around the Kataang vs Zutara, I thought I was the only one who felt that way. So, I guess thanks for putting my thoughts into words.

Oh, I really feel ya, anon. If you actually don't look at the episode from a shipping point of view, which seems to be the focus of most the fandom, a lot of unpleasant things really start sticking out. I'm personally neutral to the Kataang vs. Zutara debate, I see good points and drawbacks to both ships, and no one's going to convince me that this episode proved the superiority of either pairing, especially when the shipping interpretations have never been important to me when analyzing this episode. People can say Aang is right in the end, they can say Zuko understands Katara's plight better (which, considering Aang has lost even more people he loved than Zuko has, he certainly should have understood Katara's suffering quite well too), but focusing on whether Zuko or Aang are the angel or the devil on Katara's shoulders practically blinds everyone to the very glaring and mindboggling flaws in this episode's writing, imo.

In general, the concept of Zuko's life-changing field trips with the three Gaang members he'd wronged the most is fine and fun for most people, but from the first time I watched the show it felt like the production team knew they were pressed for time and needed some veeeery quick and effective solution for Zuko to gain acceptance in the Gaang ASAP despite all the bad blood there. I can imagine a lot of people love these episodes, but admittedly I wouldn't rank any of them among my favorites because, as interesting as some of their concepts could be, if executed right, my immersion certainly wasn't as strong as with the rest of the show due to the nagging feeling that this was all for the sake of redeeming Zuko in the eyes of each Gaang member... and not necessarily in the eyes of the audience.

They get away with it, of course, because by this point in time, the audience is 100% conditioned to love the Gaang and Zuko, and if you see them getting along, you should be rejoicing in their team-up... but if you put some emotional distance between yourself as a viewer and the events of these episodes, their writing leaves a lot to be desired, especially in the concept of giving Zuko a quick whitewashing in the eyes of Aang, Sokka and Katara, one after the other, so they can genuinely accept him as a teammate and friend. If we'd seen similar trips frequently or occasionally in the rest of the show, with two specific members of the team taking off on an adventure by themselves, it might not be so glaringly obvious (and even... artificial? I guess?) that they're trying to quick-redeem him for each of them here, but on top of it happening thrice, it's literally happening one after the other, too. There's no episodes in-between, it's just literally a four-parter arc of "let's help Zuko become friends with these three".

The plotlines to be dealt with in these episodes are basically catered to each Gaang member, tailor-made life-changing field trips based on whatever they'll value the most, all of it conveniently possible and doable in the span of time they have between Zuko's joining of their group and the show's finale. Aang needs to learn firebending, Sokka needs to save his dad, Katara is permanently grieving for her mother's death. And so, Zuko to the rescue! If he helps them with their personal character quests, he gets 50+ approval points! :'D Honestly, I'm absolutely not against the notion of Zuko befriending them, obviously not, but the methods through which they chose to make it happen simply might not be the finest...?

Zuko loses his ability to bend because he "lost his rage", but he's still angry pretty often, the show even spoofs its own writing by showing him losing his patience at Sokka... while at the same time trying to sell that Zuko "isn't angry" anymore? Zuko helps break out random prisoners from the Boiling Rock without taking a single moment to actually learn who they are, why they were locked up, and without pondering if they deserve to be helped or if perhaps they're genuinely dangerous? Zuko gives Katara every possible tool and information she needs to take revenge on Yon Rha, because, loosely quoting his own words, he "cares what she thinks of him"...?

How about if we'd seen Zuko trying to connect with Fire Nation people, to help his fellow Fire Nation citizens, especially the ones who were living in dreadful conditions, like the ones in the Jang Hui river village? How about if we'd seen Zuko saving lives rather than threatening to take them? How about if we'd seen Zuko actually reasoning with his anger, and either working his way out of it, or repurposing it consciously, or making legitimate, personal efforts to find a new source of strength for his firebending through self-reflection, above all else?

We didn't really need sudden one-on-one field trips to teach Aang, Katara and Sokka to trust Zuko: we needed Zuko to prove himself worthy of that trust, to show how much he has changed, to literally contrast his new behavior with the old, to actually see that the guy no longer jumps into violence-mode 24/7, that he's willing to listen to other people's opinions or wisdom, that he wants to learn better when he knows he's misguided or misunderstanding something or another. Would he have become BFFs with any of them in four episodes if this had happened? Well, it definitely would have happened with Aang, the other two would have been trickier, but they definitely would have been more willing to accept him if they actually got to SEE that the changes in Zuko weren't skin-deep. Katara can be as thick-headed and stubborn as she may want to be, but I have no doubts she wouldn't have been able to hate Zuko as much as she used to if she'd seen him helping people, much like she often wants their group to do. But instead, they don't get to see the actual changes and growth... they just get their biggest goals and wishes satisfied, and that's enough to decide Zuko's trustworthy, no matter whatever sketchy behavior he displays in later episodes.

I absolutely appreciate the worldbuilding context we gain for the raids on the Water Tribe through The Southern Raiders, but I don't think this was an organic way to tell the story of how Zuko became friends with the Gaang. If pressed, I'd even say that Zuko's overt desperation to be their friend is OOC, to a degree: if this guy actually knows how dangerous his father's plans are (and he's supposed to :'D), how isn't he focusing on that side of things, when he's always been such a go-getter? It's not like he grew out of this sort of ends-justify-the-means behavior, seeing as he's absolutely obsessed with stopping his father ASAP, by any means possible, in the finale, when there was no such urgency to be found ever since he joined the Gaang. How isn't he more worried about stopping Ozai than about becoming best friends with the Gaang? Immediately sharing everything he's learned about Ozai's intentions of destroying the whole world might not make them friends instantaneously, but it would certainly get someone like Sokka to take his information seriously and immediately begin strategizing how to counter Ozai's plans. Instead, Zuko spent all those weeks, over a month, even, teaching Aang firebending, going on field trips and hanging out with his new friends in Ember Island. Once you have all the cards on deck and you actually look at all of them at once, doesn't it feel like there were so many more ways to achieve what the show was going for, far more effective ways than through the "let's be friends with Zuko" arc?

Ultimately, there's very little display of growth, in my opinion, in this small arc, on Zuko's side, despite the most obvious and reasonable way to earn the trust of the Gaang would be by outright showing them how much he's grown. I won't deny I appreciate that the writers respected his personality and didn't just warp him into the perfect good softboi the way the fandom apparently interprets him, but even if Zuko was going to be cranky and speak one-liners like "I'm never happy", it wasn't impossible to write better situations for him to connect with the Gaang's members and gain their trust. Even if the writers were set on having these episodes happen exactly as they did, they absolutely could have been written in a much better way, to create an explicit and direct contrast between Zuko's early behavior and the new Zuko's behavior when it comes to things that matter (most the parallels I've seen the fandom drawing are things like "oh look he hated tea before but now he brews it for his friends! So much growth!"... would've been nice to see the growth when it came to a lot of other things, too, if the growth really was there? Am I rite...?).

I may just be influenced by other redemption arcs that focus mainly on characters having common goals and working together to achieve them, then becoming friends in the process... but I really don't see how Zuko's character benefited from these episodes. Yes, bridges were built... but they absolutely could have been built in a more organic way that didn't make people like myself (and a few others) question if Zuko had learned or grown at all, considering the way he behaves isn't all that distant from the Zuko we've seen and known throughout the rest of the show. And the fact that he really seems to have learned nothing in The Southern Raiders once you reach the show's finale... you're basically asked to take for granted Zuko did learn a lot of lessons because he says he did, to assume he's going to put them into practice sometime in the future despite he has chances to do it during the show itself but never does, simply because they drop the ball upon every opportunity to show how much he's changed.

I really don't blame his character at all, when it comes to these shortcomings... it's seriously, genuinely, a problem with the writing department. Take a look through the fandom and you'll see thousands of people who claim Zuko's character arc is the most touching, complex and beautiful writing they ever have seen... and why? Because we're in the face of tell-don't-show :'D most people's perception of Zuko's character are based not so much on HOW Zuko displays his growth, it's strongly based on him stating he made progress, even if there's too many instances where the growth simply seems to have fallen to the wayside or gone forgotten for the sake of a plotline or another. Zuko absolutely could have been written far better than this, he could absolutely have the redemption arc his fans are sure he does have, but for me... there's way too many gaps in logic, too many missed opportunities, to truly think his growth was as extraordinary as a lot of people are hung up on saying it was.