#so I get attached to them and by proxy the characters I guess

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 47 Yaoibachi Posting

Hokazono-sensei really slammed the gas this chapter, man. No search and rescue mini-arc here- just going back to the series' roots by having our good guys slaughter nameless mooks in suits. Excellent decision! But goodness it feels like he's trying to rush through this set-up to get to what he really wants to say this arc. I trust the emotional impact to land so I guess this really is the Kunishige lore/flashback arc since that's where the narrative focus went.

First off, I got the official arc name wrong last post. It's actually The Sword Bearer Assassination Arc. So, uh, maybe don't get too attached to any of the guys Chihiro will be trying to save. Might be difficult though if they're all as endearing as Uruha.

This Fucking Manga, Man

I just can't even this chapter. I CAN'T. I'm sitting here drafting this on Thursday and I'm in awe of the spreads. Cover and color pages? Stunning. Fanservice? Immaculate.

Yes, we got onsen fanservice after all!

Now accepting bets on who Uruha will be shipped with more: his personal guard guy or Kunishige.

Of course it pulls double duty to give us insight into Uruha and, by proxy, Kunishige. I was right on the money about Uruha being a free-spirited dude with a unique perspective last week... but I didn't imagine he'd basically be a wholesome AF version of Sojo. The Kunishige worship from this guy is off the fucking charts (and so are the Hakuri-Chihiro parallels)!

"This blade suits you" from Kunishige is a callback to Hakuri's words to Chihiro in chapter 20. I love it when authors do this shit. Can we infer that Chihiro felt the same level of awe for Hakuri? Probably not, but he did need to hear that affirmation quite badly, so it's still significant.

You don't get to comment on other guys being weirdly obsessive over a Rokuhira on sight like that, Hakuri.

THESE DUMBASS GOOBERS. Poor Chihiro's still collecting weirdos while Hakuri has no self-awareness at all. I'm in tears this is just too good. Hakuri, I love you. You're perfect.

I don't wanna get hyped after just one chapter for something that probably won't be happening. I get just about everything wrong week after week anyway! But I wouldn't mind Chihiro and Hakuri's relationship being compared to and developed through Uruha and Kunishige, just sayin'... Please... Hokazono-sensei went through the trouble of making sure we know that Uruha is obviously meant to parallel Hakuri, so that won't go to waste right?!

TFW the light of your life dies and leaves you behind.

'Cause this feels like a set up... I don't know, man. It's impossible to guess how the story's going to go but I get the sense that Uruha is going to have a lot to teach both of these guys- Hakuri in particular.

Neither Hakuri nor Uruha put a lot of value on their own lives until a Rokuhira showed up to praise them. And they're both freakishly devoted to the image of their savior to the point that they're willing to fight and possibly die for them. So we could be exploring that aspect of Hakuri's mindset as a subplot while the larger machinations swirl around them, since it's a pretty potent character flaw and all. I need Sazanami "defend to the death" Hakuri being convinced to give a shit about himself so, so badly.

Goddamnit, please stop hurting yourself.

Hakuri's also unable to use Isou due to burnout, as expected. Still wondering if the Kamunabi knows he can use two sorcery techniques but I won't hold my breath on getting answers for that. It's not necessary for this to be addressed unless it would cause some kind of friction, after all. And for as much as I would like to see the council's reaction to Hakuri and his circumstances, I don't think it'll be relevant. We'll just have to assume they either don't know his last name or are completely fine with a Sazanami being included in the plans. I wanna be wrong though. I really do.

Contract, Powerscaling, and Naming Conventions

We learned some interesting things this chapter. One, the theory of the Lifelong Contract erasing a Bearer's innate sorcery is confirmed. So if we are ever going to learn what Chihiro's sorcery is, Enten will have to be an exception to the other six swords, or he has two sorceries and the contract only nullifies one. I'm not sold on the second one since Hakuri only overworked the storehouse but is limited using both of his, implying there's a common pool of spirit energy they draw from. Looking forward to more details on how this works!

It also seems that the Bearers weren't tucked away in "safe" locations until Kunishige's death three years ago. So they probably got to live their lives as they wished until the Hishaku ruined things... which would explain how Sushi guy ended up at a restaurant. I feel like each location could have special meaning to each Bearer so hopefully we see more about how and why they ended up where they did.

Hiyuki also wasn't lying about the Kamunabi's forces being spread thin. Just 14 talented sorcerers to defend each Bearer, and even then Uruha would have felt more reassured if Azami or Hiyuki was there.

Nice going, Azami! So we know you're hella strong since Hiyuki's the best fighter in the Kamunabi- the only one in the force who can contend with Kunishige's WMDs (ch. 18). I think a Bearer would know how strong an enchanted blade is, so we can assume that Uruha's assessment of Azami's strength is accurate. Azami can't be sent out on the ground like the rank and file as a higher up now, but I'm highly anticipating him demonstrating that fearsome sorcery of his.

We also got another name! Kuregumo's original bearer was named Misaka (巳坂). This is most probably a family name like Uruha (more on him in a bit). 巳 (mi) means "snake" for wisdom and intelligence and 坂 (saka) means "slope/hill" or "embankment" for steady progress, a peaceful life, security, and/or strength and resilience. We'll definitely learn more about them- it's just a matter of when. The upside of Hokazono-sensei being stingy with names is that we all know to sit up and pay attention when one gets dropped.

We also got Uruha's given name this chapter (Youji [洋児]) and the name of his blade (Kumeyuri [酌揺]). Strange names for a strange fellow, but that's expected of someone whose family name implies a free-spirited nature with a unique outlook I guess. 洋 (you) is a kanji that specifically describes the ocean in an expansive, almost foreign sense. Not just the sea in general, but vast waters extending far away from one's current location. It has a ton of possible interpretations, naturally: courage, ambition, adaptability, limitless possibilities, harmony, inclusiveness... on and on. 児 (ji) means "child" in a straightforward way and carries connotations of joy, hope, and potential. So Uruha Youji [lacquer feather ocean child] is quite the character in his name alone.

Kumeyuri's name doesn't really give us any insights into it's potential abilities or theme, unless Kunishige was drunk (or wanted to be) when he made it. 酌 (kume) is the kanji used for pouring sake and implies generosity, abundance, and celebrating joy. 揺 (yuri) means to shake, sway, or jostle and connotes a sense of energy, playfulness, enthusiasm, and fun. I'm getting a lot of entertainment value trying to imagine how a sword named after a shaky pour of sake works, let me tell you. Somehow it seems very apt for Uruha already though.

Dead Dad Trivia

So Kunishige himself requested to hold on to the blades- it's very certain now that whatever happened during the war changed him into the man we met in chapter 1. Seitei war flashbacks please, I'm dying over here! But keep up the layering and scattering of little details! Don't feed me too fast! Make me wait and get all impatient every week! Torture me-

Curious that many people who seem to have known Kunishige doubted his potential as a father. Whether they see him as a savior or a selfish prick, most of them scoff a the idea of him having a kid. Maybe Kunishige was just a guy with layers like his son, so only those who actually knew him well would believe he could be a decent dad. We saw him goofing off with Shiba and Azami when they were Chihiro's age in chapter 12 so it's not like he was a stoic since birth (he said himself that Chihiro inherited that trait from his mom). We're going to slowly piece together the real Kunishige this arc and I can't wait!

Also a bit odd that few people see the resemblance between Chihiro and Kunishige until Chihiro's passion shines through or they get a good look at how he carries himself. Won't hang my hat on the blood test showing that Kunishige wasn't his bio dad after all, but the groundwork is there if it does. Regardless of what happens, though, it's pretty obvious that Chihiro is Kunishige's son thanks to the ideals he took to heart.

Hishaku Theory

RIP bandanna guy you were too cool to live.

Yeah, "enemies of the state" isn't a term you use for a regular criminal gang, no matter how threatening they are. I'm more convinced than ever that the Hishaku are primarily a political threat to all of Japan (though still very willing to admit that I might be reading too far into things).

Kyora's conversation with an unknown Hishaku member in chapter 22 referred to "dissidents". That's also a very pointed descriptor for people with differing political ideologies, especially ones agitating against the "legitimate" ruling group.

Could Soya come back to finish what his dad started? Meh.

This implies that Kyora and the Sazanami clan were aligned with the Hishaku's goals beyond merely business. The Hishaku probably have sympathizers in and outside of mainstream society, and likely within the Kamunabi itself as well. And then there's the kiku flower -which has strong ties to Imperial imagery- in the vase that's shown up twice now, arraigned alongside other flowers symbolizing deep desire and patience.

So I think the Hishaku lost the war and have been plotting their comeback for a long time now. How does this tie into Chihiro's personal journey beyond the revenge mission? We'll have to see. John Hishaku's goals and methods are shrouded in secrecy right now, so I look forward to learning about why he needed to foster Chihiro's hatred to enact his plans. Cool job making the core plot hook so compelling, author-san!

HakuHiro Brainrot

I have to, I'm sorry. This chapter was a godsend.

Give me an inch and I'll run a thousand miles with these two.

Chihiro acknowledging that Hakuri is special! Feels like a very deliberate reference to the language used in Chapter 33, especially by Tenri. Makes sense since Tenri was a parallel of Chihiro's devotion to his father and his legacy.

"Hakuri- my older brother by a year- is different." would have flowed a little better, but it's a clunky sentence no matter what...

The reference was probably made in order to imply that Chihiro sees Hakuri as a brother (or family in general) via the Tenri connection. However, that won't stop me from shipping them romantically because I'm illiterate as fuck.

ANYWAY.

FOOD IMAGERY WITH HAKURI FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE ICE LADY!!

Hakuri's sharing snacks with Chihiro on the train- he feels so safe with his samurai! And this is the first time we've seen Chihiro accept food since he reluctantly (metaphorically) shared dango with Sojo in chapter 17! He's rejected Shiba's offers, provided one-sidedly for Char, resigned himself to connecting to Sojo to understand him, skipped getting ice cream, and missed the gaming session, but he accepted Hakuri's small gesture...! I'M GOING FERAL

Hakuri is canonically the only character Chihiro's accepted emotional comfort and support from since his dad died. On screen so far, at least.

Hakuri, who was deeply traumatized when he last tried to connect with someone, feels secure enough to do it with Chihiro...

Chihiro, who is only at ease with providing comfort, accepts it for the first time from Hakuri...

The first time we see them exchanging the comfort/security visual metaphor is while they're on their own...

And it's just so casual for them to do this...!

I sounded confident when I called Hakuri the heroine of Kagurabachi in that long-ass post I made a few months ago, but... I was actually right?! Hakuri is Chihiro's first and only emotional safe haven. He's got plot-related utility and can hold his own in a fight, but he's not going to be outshining the likes of Chihiro or Hiyuki any time soon. His faith in Chihiro has been his most valuable contribution to the story- even moreso than awakening to his storehouse ability. The only thing that's missing at this point is the chance of HakuHiro being canon! Seriously!

Alright void... thanks for letting me yap again. Definitely not going to go back to writing fan fiction for the first time in 10+ years because this stupid edgy sword manga broke me. Nope, never, not me...

[himawari-candyy]

Hi! What do you like about Hinako? (I don't remember if you've already talked about this or not, I'm sorry if you have)

*flexes my fingers* essay incoming

don’t be sorry, i don’t think anyone has asked me this or if i have ever written it down 😅 and if i have, i don’t remember

cat was the first mv that had come out after i got into milgram, and i actually remember feeling really indifferent about her at the time 😭 like she didn’t stand out to me too much and i thought her younger design was “meh” (how foolish i was…)

but THIS specific frame of her is so cute like. sometimes i’ll draw certain emotions toward certain frames of characters for some reason and this one got stuck in my head. i usually change my pfps after 2-3 months because i get tired of them but i have never gotten tired of this one, i’ve had it for almost a year now (on both pinterest and here). she’s such a litel tiepnsy 💚

anyway after that i just kinda got attached to her and i wrote MILLIONS of headcanons for her, like i have a whole google doc of all of them so that i don’t forget. i would share them but i’ve been reserving them for my ask blog so i guess they’re kinda considered spoilers (?). here are a few though. i kind of made her have “uhm akschually ☝️🤓” syndrome on accident

i think what made me love her so much was how much room there was for headcanons. as i wrote more, i’d have to fill in more blanks since there’s hardly anything about her, so i guess she is just this whole fully fleshed character in my head even though that’s not the case 😭 but it also made me form some headcanons for kazui as well, especially for his past with hinako, so i got attached to him too by proxy

i feel like it’s not too noticeable since i talk about her a lot, but i had to take a sort of “break” from writing her behind the scenes because i noticed that i was getting too attached. i wanted to kinda back off until i could be normal about her again 😭 (impossible task but at the same time it was a good idea because it made me refresh my view on hinako and kazui’s dynamic)

anyway there’s probably more but that’s the gist of it and i don’t want to write an overwhelming amount 💔 thank you for letting me blabber about my wife

[outlawssweetheart]

I submit Nitara and/or Reiko for the character ask game (but really if you want to ramble more about Erron and/or Skarlet, go right ahead !)

Oh, I would LOVE to talk about both Nitara and Reiko! 🥴

Nitara:

How I feel about this character:

She's my baby, and I love her. She deserves so much better. She is horrendously underutilized by NRS, the fandom doesn't appreciate her enough, and for fuck's sake, don't get me started on MK1! But I will. Megan Fox's voice acting is terrible, and her voice simply sounds nothing like how Nitara should sound; she sounds like a bored Cali-girl. Her face doesn't look right (like Megan, but not as pretty?), but I can look past that because at least she isn't ugly. And her characterization? Nitara is supposed to be neutral, and now they've made her a complete monster who wants to enslave other races, force them to breed (🤮), and use them and their children she forces them to have for food. They've basically turned her into one of, if not the, most evil and sick characters in the franchise!

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Erron, a bit. But only a bit. And I guess the idea of her and Reiko is amusing to me for the obvious reason.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

I... don't think I have one. 🤔

My unpopular opinion about this character:

She should be a main character! And I hate her original look. Her look in MK2021 was perfect, Idc.

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon:

I wish she'd been in MK11, I wish she had a real voice actor, I wish she hadn't been killed off after barely even existing in the movie, I wish her entire look was better in the games, and I want her to be a main character in my lifetime.

Reiko:

How I feel about this character:

I honestly didn't care about Reiko other than as a tool for Skarlet's characterization and Skarron's relationship for the longest time, but he has grown on me recently. Granted, I think I've attached myself to him recently because Nitara in MK1 is so disappointing, and neither Erron nor Skarlet are there, and he's a Skarlet proxy to me, but... yeah, he's definitely grown on me. And he's hot now, so there's that! 😏

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Skarlet, a bit. But only a bit. Mileena by a spec. And, as I said, Reiko/Nitara sounds amusing.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Shao, in the new timeline. I know some people ship them, and I'm cool with that because I'm a "Ship and let ship" gal, but it's just not for me.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

He should also be a main character. Or at least not a damn jobber. (Same for Nitara.)

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon:

Main character, or at least not a jobber anymore. And I wish MK2021 hadn't done him so fucking dirty. That was not Reiko! 😩

Give me a character, and I’ll break their ass down.

[neotula]

the problem with writing a story that’s evolved into a more frank/realistic take on the fanfic trend of “just slap polyamory on it” is that it’s so difficult to find accounts of polyamory online that sound reasonable to use as a sort of frame of reference for things I don’t understand.

I’m coming from the already odd perspective or someone who’s very nearly aro/ace, so it’s so hard to relate. I’m also very aware that I tend to dislike overly emotional descriptions of anything, so that’s hard for me.

I can understand polyamory as a sense of a deep genuine attachment to multiple people: that’s not hard, but I guess the disconnect for me is figuring out why other people would be cool with dating someone who isn’t wholly theirs. I suppose I just need to… invert The feeling I already get? But it’s difficult.

I can comprehend affection and love that isn’t the stereotypical norm—again, I’m asexual and nearly aromantic. I can see that some partners might want and need different things.

I don’t want this fic to come across as negative towards polyamory, either—I want it to just feel real: real issues with realistic ways of dealing with them.

One character in particular is the focus: she’s poly, and aware of that fact, but struggles with giving a certain partner the attention he needs, and in the process, neglects others by proxy.

Most of the other partners are… not okay with it, but understanding. She’s dealing with her own shit. She’s got her own problems to work through—but for him, it’s more of an issue. I absolutely don’t want to frame this as having a solution of “then break up if you can’t both handle it” but I’m unsure if either of the characters would have the emotional maturity to solve the problem at hand.

Said partner is also (not really the original) but the one with the deepest connection, so she’s struggling with that as well.

Given that the other partners are less relevant to the plot and less central to conflict, I have to ask myself, why poly? Why do I want this story to have polyamory in it?

My answer to that is honestly “why not?”

I’m as guilty as any other fanfic author for using polyamory as a not-so-thought-out bandaid, and I genuinely want to write something where it’s taken as a fact. It is what it is—an integral part of these people’s lives, and not something that even has to be central to the plot.

So I guess if anyone has tips, throw ‘em at me! Because I’m committing to this bit.

[teaveetamer]

This is a thought connected to my previous post but it didn't quite fit with that one, so it's gonna be its own thing.

For as much as people complained about Awakening making the series too much of a dating sim or whatever, the division between pre-Awakening titles and post-Awakening titles is really not as vast as some older fans of the franchise make it out to be. Awakening doesn't add new mechanics so much as it emphasizes mechanics that already existed in the series in other forms.

FE4 already featured baby optimization mechanics, and FE4+FE5 and FE6+7 feature a cross-generational story. Pretty much every non-remake game in the series, at least from Genealogy onward, featured create-your-couples mechanics to some degree.

The main thing Awakening did was place a more explicit player-proxy in the game for you to attach yourself to (where previously you were expected to view the lord or one of the characters of the game as your de facto proxy, but when you get to pick their hairstyle and change their name I guess it becomes cringe) and introduce extremely basic QoL improvements which made the series vastly more accessible to your average person. Most people who picked up Awakening did not pick it up and find an experience that was, at it's core, extremely different from anything Fire Emblem had done before.

(And yes I'm allowed to call them Awakening babies, as an Awakening Baby myself)

[softpine]

i literally can’t pick a favorite child fjksjds i think anyone who reads my story would be able to guess which characters i personally connect to the most, but that doesn’t always mean i love them more (actually sometimes it means love them way less lol). but the character i’ve had the longest is definitely rosie!! before simblr, i played a longgggg legacy family and rosie was the first child from like the 9th generation. i created a simblr just to share pics of the camellia family, but then i got attached and we all know what happened after that. but yeah, definitely rosie (and isa by proxy) 🥺

does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night chaaaanges

awww cute!!! it’s always good to see a deer successfully cross the road lmao. we have so many deer in the area and i live on a busy, blind corner, so it’s always terrifying when i see them cross

since 2018!! i’ve been writing original stories since i was literally 5, but in high school i mostly just wrote fanfiction, so it was really nice to be able to get back into my own universes and characters through simblr. i’m most proud of how much better i’ve gotten at writing fleshed out characters! and i’ve learned soooooo many new skills for this story. i learned photoshop, blender (poses and 3d modeling), general film-making / cinematography tips, etc. i actually made a post here where i shared some of my favorite things i’ve ever custom-made for my story!

@arrpegio​ omg thank you and i’m sorry 😭 that post killed me too, i just want her to be happy :( thank you so much for reading!! 💖

@minamill​ aww that’s so sweet 🥺💖 i love a good fireplace, i wish i had one

i actually still haven’t watched season 2 yet 😭 i really need to get on it because i’ve seen tons of spoilers already ugh. but i’m saving this message in my actual inbox so i can answer it when i do catch up!!

@morgynemberisagenderfluiddaddy​ thank you, that’s really nice!! luckily it seems like the spam has stopped, it only took like 3 straight days of reporting lmaoo

it’s hair 445 - 451 (all the same hair with different bangs variations, so i can’t remember which number corresponds to the exact hair i used, but it’s in there somewhere) !!

[triviareads]

ARC Review of Sinfully Tempted by Kathleen Ayers

Summary:

After being caught in a compromising position with the Duke of Ware, Lady Tamsin Sinclair manages to cling onto what remains of her reputation by agreeing to fake a a short-term relationship with duke. She and Ware will pretend theirs is an intellectual attachment for a few weeks to quiet the gossips, but to her surprise, she begins to fall for the duke...

My review:

I had a lot of fun with this book; Kathleen Ayers loves to write characters with interesting jobs or hobbies, and in this case, the hero, Ware, is an amateur entomologist. As someone who is squeamish around bugs, I thought I'd find it gross or weird, but it actually works! And what more, it works on a romance level— like, Tamsin and Ware's first meeting involves him trying to get a moth off her bare knee without telling he what's going on so she's punching him repeatedly (and then he kisses her thigh?!? bear in mind this is their FIRST MEETING) and they're caught in a compromising position which results in the sham "attachment" they both need to play up to save Tamsin's reputation (and more importantly for Tamsin, save her sister's reputation by proxy). And there's a lot of sly innuendo applied throughout the book related to bugs, and even some pretty damn romantic lines later on. Basically, when Kathleen writes an MC with a hobby, she goes all in.

And here's the thing about Ware: for all that Kathleen (and Tamsin) goes off about how big and awkward he is (sidenote: Ware isn't explicitly written as fat/plus-sized, but he is described as big and has think thighs and a soft stomach), he's actually a REALLY attractive man and when it hits you, it hits. He'll be nattering on about bugs and Tamsin will be snarking about how his hobby involves pinning dead insects into displays and then suddenly he's like "perhaps I'll pin you one day". That single-minded focus he brings to all things really pays off for Tamsin. As for Tamsin, she's an older (well, she's 26 but she's been through it, life-wise), jaded heroine, but she hasn't let society tamp down her spirit. That being said, a lot of the plot is her feeling like she's too improper to be a duchess (her mother was an actress) so she pushes away Ware for a considerable amount of the story until she can't anymore.

The sex:

I really wish there were more sex scenes in this book because what we got was excellent. I will say though, maybe there was merit to them holding off until closer to the end because Tamsin basically had to become half-crazed with longing (to the point where she was driven to drink) in order to admit to herself that she wanted Ware. Here's what I enjoyed most:

a) We love men who attempt to stifle their erection by reciting the Latin names for various insects

b) There was an over-the-clothes stuff moment where Ware is all "we're MORE than a fling bby" and that's always an enjoyable moment for me

c) If you're a fan of the gazebo scene in Bridgerton season 2, you'll love their garden sex scene which had big "don't stop" vibes AND unlike Kate and Anthony, they actually woke up together after falling asleep outside

d) Speaking of Kate and Anthony, there's SNIFFING

e) There is some half-virgin hero rep as well a heroine who is not a virgin

f) The greatest moment might be when he rips her drawers off her and puts them in his pocket while going "you won't be needing these anymore" and then in a scene WE WERE NOT SHOWN, it's insinuated he basically deposited them on her brother's desk and went "well I guess I gotta marry her now". Frankly, this is the one place I felt cheated.

Overall:

I'd recommend this book to any historical romance reader. It has a lot of heart, banter, and a great romance with solid sex scenes, and I look forward to reading the next book in The Five Deadly Sins series.

Thank you to Dragonblade Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.

[jenivi]

i think... ive become a figure collector

and i can’t go back

[fireemblems24]

Ao3 Ship Thoughts

To sate my desire to read Three Houses fan fiction and jump in on the shipping comments that have upticked recently, I decided to see what ships were the most popular on Ao3.

Some of it's exactly what I expected, and one in particular is just . . . what, why?

Ao3 is probably the closest you'll get to truly determining which ships are the most popular, or at least have the highest number of passionate fans. So I was curious to see who the top ships were. Here's the ones listed, in order:

Sylvain/Felix

Dimitri/Byleth

Edelgard/Byleth

Ferdinand/Hubert

Claude/Byleth

Dimitri/Felix

Dimitri/Claude

Felix/Annette

Caspar/Linhardt

Hilda/Marrianne

If I exclude the Byleth ships, Dimitri/Dedue, Byleth/Seteth, and Ingrid/Sylvain take up the three missing spots.

Byleth's Ships

I'm shocked. Really, truly shocked that Byleth/Lord is popular. Never wouldn't guessed. I am, of course, being sarcastic. If someone asked me to list who I think would show up in the top 10 most popular ships, the first three I'd list would be Byleth/Lord.

What I find more interesting is that Byleth/Seteth is the fourth option for Byleth. AO3 writers, I officially bow to your taste. It pleases me quite a bit that, if you're not going with one of the main lords, you all want Seteth. This I can agree with.

As for the Byleth/Lord ships, I feel kind of mixed on them. Every lord interacts with characters who have more depth than Byleth, but I still get the appeal. I'm going to deep dive into all of the lords relationships with Byleth later, but here's a quick summary.

Edelgard/Byleth is shoved down your throat so hard it's nearly impossible to ship Edelgard with someone else and even shortchanges her potential to have deep, non-romantic relationships because Edelgard puts Byleth on a pedestal that no one else can reach by her own dialogue.

Byleth's character arc works well alongside Dimitri's. While the relationship is pushed and fanservice-y scenes exist, the game leaves enough breathing room to see Byleth as a mentor/therapist/teacher figure, and Dimitri has no shortage of deep, meaningful relationships with others should you not want to do the whole self-insert thing. It's a good balance.

Claude and Byleth are the opposite of Edelgard and Byleth. They read almost more like friends than lovers. It's a breath of fresh air, honestly. Claude/Byleth seems like the healthiest possible romance for Byleth/lord because the lord in question here doesn't seem as dependent. That said, it lacks lacks romance and shipping fuel. I may complain about fanservice, but the Byleth/Claude dynamic does show why scenes of holding hands in the rain and teasing about badly drawn images might actually come in handy.

Edelgard's Ships

I'm not surprised, at all, that Edelgard has no popular ships outside of Byleth. Dialogue consistently shortchanges Edelgard's relationships with others by having her verbally, repeatedly put Byleth into a special "other" that no one else can reach for her.

Though, I guess I'm a bit surprised at the extreme lack of Edelgard/Hubert. I feel these two have a lot of shipping fuel and their supports left things unresolved. I've come across the sentiment in fandom many times that ship where things are tied off nicely with a bow leave less to explore and aren't as interesting, so I am bummed out no one seems interested in fleshing out Hubert/Edelgard more.

The outlook for Edelgard fanfic and me seems pretty limited. I don't like Edelgard/Byleth for various reasons beyond this scope of this post. I was kind of hoping there were some Edelgard/Hubert or Edelgard/Dorothea character study stuff that could help me get past how much Byleth gets in the way of Edelgard's character growth, but it seems fanfic writers only want to write about her and Byleth, which is a bummer.

On that note, I'm also surprised but also glad that Dimitri/Edelgard isn't a big thing. I thought it might be because tragedy of childhood friends turned enemies by events out of their control is popular. These two seem wildly incompatible though, so I'm glad people seem to agree.

Claude's Ships

Ok. Claude/Byleth. Expected. I'm feel positively towards the ship since they seem mostly good for each other even if it's not getting my heart all fluttering.

I'm surprised there's no Claude/Petra or Claude/Hilda. Those two are my personal favorites for him. I would've given Claude/Petra the edge given how they can uniquely relate to each other, but Hilda's scene in CF really gave Petra a run for her money. Even more so that Petra and Claude have obligations to two different nations and Hilda has no such complication.

But whattttt???? Claude/Dimitri? It's in the top 10?? More people ship Dimitri with Claude than Dedue?? I thought lord/lord might be popular, but I honestly thought Dimitri/Edelgard would take it, not Claude/Dimitri. They never really talk. So I'm a bit confused about this one. Though, intrigued by the idea.

Can I take a wild guess this partly stems from Claude having no real other viable M/M ships outside of M!Byleth and fics that plays up the chapter I'm about to play in AM (Dimitri saving Claude) or "what ifs" VW routes where Dimitri doesn't . . . you know.

I am really curious about this dynamic though. Because I like Claude - a lot. He's a character I want to get attached to. From experience, the fastest way for me to like a character is to give them a significant relationship I enjoy with a character I already love and the new character gets absorbed by proxy. So, fans, please, tell me more about this Dimitri/Claude. I am curious.

Dimitri's Ships

I am as unsurprised by Dimitri's being one of the biggest repeat offenders on here as I am by Edelgard being Byleth or bust. If Edelgard is written to fanservice the player by making the self-insert her one and only, Dimitri is fanservicing the player by being a shipping magnet. The writers knew what they were doing and who they were trying to appeal to with these two characters.

Dimitri/Byleth is a given. The game plays up the romance angle, but it's not at the expense of Dimitri's other relationships.

What I'm more interested in, though, is Felix/Dimitri. Between angsty CF stories, post-AM slow-burns, or fleshing out missing scenes from their shared childhood, there's just a lot to work with and a rich context to use their relationship - spun romantically - to explore each character. Felix and Dimitri's relationship is layered, complicated, heart breaking, and potentially healing. The fact they're two incredibly attractive guys doesn't hurt its popularity either, I'm sure. I'm not surprised it ranked that highly.

Claude/Dimitri surprises me. If two lords were going to get on this list together, I would've put bets on Edelgard/Dimitri. Since Claude and Dimitri's relationship is fairly unexplored, I'm really interested to see more about what exactly this is about. Don't get me wrong. I figured people would pair two main characters who are that good looking together, I just didn't think it would rank that high.

I am, slightly sad, that Dimitri/Dedue isn't a bit higher, but happy it seems to have some steam. I get it though. Dedue's not as flashy as some of the others on the shipping list and their relationship is so full of fluff by their A support it lacks the angst Felix/Dimitri and Dimitri/Byleth can draw out nor is as much of a play around with "what ifs" as Claude/Dimitri is.

Non-Lords/Main Characters Ships:

This list, more than anything else, shows AO3's penchant for writing M/M and F/F works for better or worse. Whether this phenomena stems from lack of representation, fetishizing by the fanbase, deeply ingrained gender roles making fictional M/F ships either less appealing to many fanfic writers, or M/F romances often getting assumed leading to less substantial writing compared to friendships - I don't know. Probably all of it.

There are a few surprises here for me. Felix/Sylvain is that popular? I figured they'd make the top 10, but #1 is surprising. Though, looking through the first page of the tag, it's true Felix/Sylvain have fics just for them, but it also seems like a common pairing in Dimitri/Byleth and Dimitri/Claude fics. It's the same story with Caspar/Linhardt, who I honestly didn't expect to see. They had a fair number of their own fics, but it seems many CF fics put them together rather than focus solely on them. Felix/Annette also balances being the main focus and an adjunct pairing. Marianne/Hilda seemed to have less fics where they took center stage and more they were one of many ships listed.

Ferdinand/Hubert having a lot of fics isn't surprising. I don't really care too much for it personally, but I can see the appeal of it.

I'm surprised Catherin/Shamir is nowhere in sight. Likewise, Rhea is absolutely nowhere. Kind of sad by the lack of adult characters in general. Especially Rhea. I think it's a pretty big sign of how the writing's treated her that such an important character is totally absent in this list.

Not surprised at all to see Felix also get so many ships. He, like Dimitri, seems designed on purpose to ship with many characters. I do really wish Dorothea and Seteth would get more attention though.

What do you guys think? Anything that surprised you? How do you feel about any of these ships and there popularity or lack thereof? Are there characters/pairings you wish got more attention? Any popular ships you despise (spill that tea)?

[localfanboyofcheese]

Oc-verse x Creepypasta au

As you can tell, I am not great at writing....but this was a gift/concept for Nightmare to play with, I don't really know I thought it was cool 😅🥲 I also tried my best with Addict's character because honestly I have no idea what I'm doing. I'll make something for Addict as soon as I learn more about her character and general au! 😼😸 you can send me asks as well

@insane-horror-movie-addict @nightmareeffect

Addict's wrists were tied by the strength of a scratchy rope, and she swore she'd get back at Zalgo for this. It wasn't uncommon for Zalgo to randomly kidnap her while she was casually on a mission, but that didn’t make it any less annoying. She assumed Vince would eventually come for her anyways, so she didn't really mind .

" I'm so tired .. " She yawned tiredly as she leaned against the wall behind her . Her eyes widened slightly as she saw another girl being thrown into the room . 

The girl looked no younger than 17 years old , and it was bizarre to see someone so young being apprehended by Zalgo.

Addict had almost wondered what that god planned to do with her, it was much more than strange ." so why did he capture you? " Addict started the conversation as the younger girl with yellow eyes looked at her quickly .

" I don't know .. " The purple-haired girl frowned " i just hope he doesn't get hurt.. the poor man . " Addict's eyes widened , her mouth agape from the suprise of the girl's statement . That was the first time she had heard someone unironically feel bad for Zalgo ..

" why do you even feel bad for him ? he kidnapped you ! " Addict said suprised, eyes widening slightly. She was still suprised that someone would ever say something like that !" My sister.. " The girl started " She gets really aggressive whenever someone hurts me in the slightest, she's … very violent and would probably kill him once she gets here . I just hope he gets a painless death .. "

" Zalgo is a God , I doubt he'll go down easily . You don't  need to worry about it if you're that sad about it " Addict leaned against the wall more, her eyes glanced back at the girl  to examine her more .

The girl seemed to be a demon … but like no other, yellow eyes, purple hair, and a single horn attached to her head . A small tail wrapped around her body as she anxiously tried to think about to say next , but the girl locked eyes with her for a moment .

" I don't belong here … I'm not sure how I even got here . " The purple-haired demon started, " but where I live… the world isn't as beautiful as it is here . My sister is a God as well, to be specific, she hunts them . I'm trying to teach her better, and honestly I'm seeing progress , but all that progress goes out the window went it comes to me .. I hope this 'Zalgo' you speak of is as strong as you say . I don't want him to die .. "

" you'd be the first . " Addict laughed " nobody likes Zalgo . "

" well that's not fair .. ! has anyone even given him a chance ? " the girl seemed saddened at this and Addict even got more confused . What was this weirdo on about.. ?" anyone who tried has died . " Addict laughed , and the girl's cheeks started to darken with blush " ohhh … now I understand . I still wanna befriend him if he survives my sister ! "

The demon's face sparked with determination as her lips turned into a bright beaming smile, the smile was so warm it would put the sun to shame . " speaking of befriending people , may I ask your name ? "

" It's uhm … Addict. I'm a proxy of Slenderman , I wouldn't be here if I wanted to do, but I guess I'm kind of lazy to leave . " Addict leaned back, kicking her legs up onto eachother as she relaxed. " i'll just wait for my friend … to come and save me . "

" oh what a loyal friend ! you must be a wonderful person to have such a good friend , I am glad to have met you ! " the girl smiled warmly .

" everyone who works with me wouldn't agree with you , I'm not exactly a saint you know . " Addict shook her head, pulling her knees to her chest. " the people around you don't define who you are . I can tell you're a good person, in fact, a special ability I have can tell me all about your memories , if you'd allow me ? " the girl asked quietly ." sure… it wouldn't hurt I guess . " Addict shrugged, scooting closer to the demon as the girl smiled at her invitation .

The yellow hued girl takes her hands , and a little glow starts to swirl around their intertwined hands as the demon closed her eyes .

Several minutes passed by before the girl abruptly opened her eyes , little tears seemed to well up in her eyes ." oh dear.. you've been through a lot, haven't you ? and yet… you're still a good person . From the memories, I'm guessing you're psychically strong , but make no mistake , the strength in your mind is the strongest abiltu you can ever have ! " The girl smiled warmly once again , " also.. would you like me to punch the one named 'Varrick' for you ? He seems like a jerk .. "

They both started to laugh for a moment, the atmosphere becoming warm and bubbly all around as they shared a few smiles together . Addict felt herself slightly warming up to the girl , it was strange how comfortable and happy she felt alongside a random demon of all people . Just as Addict was about to say something else , a explosion sounded off .

The girl's eyes widened , " uh oh … my siblings are here . Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you . Follow me . " Addict got up, and went alongside the demon as they watched from the window . Addict spotted Hoodie, Toby, Masky, Vince and Varrick outside, probably to get her . Her eyes shifted and noticed two extremely short demons jumping out from a portal, twin sisters to be exact . All Zalgo's subjects gathered to watch them .

" Hey ! Clear the way, let our queen through ! Or all you unimportant bastards are going to get killed if you don't ! " one of the twin sisters laughed maniacally as they carried a scythe ." Show some respect ! Down on one knee ! " The other twin threw her hands up in there as she smiled , " Now, try your best to stay calm ! You will be killed on sight if you try to go near her ~ " The other giggled as they sliced one of Zalgo's guards who attempted to get in their way . A shitload of demons started to arise from the portal , in suits of armor Addict had never seen before and they all killed every last one of Zalgo's guards . What the actual fuck was happening ? A tall blue-haired demonic man jumped out from the portal, with armor equipped . He smirked, winking at everyone he passed .

Addict noticed the prominent scar on his mouth ." What the fuck … ? " Addict did not know how to respond to whatever the fuck was going on right now . She had experience with portals , but whatever was happening right now was just … crazy . 

" Those twins are my younger sisters…Apollo and Artemis and the flirty douchebag with blue hair is one of my brothers, Raven. If you think they're bad, wait till you see my older sister .." The girl rolled her eyes and sighed . " They love making entrances , and being the center of attention while they cause ruckus… especially when they're saving me . Where I come from, this sort of thing happens a lot to be honest . I get kidnapped a lot once they find out who my older sister is . "

" I'm afraid to ask, but who is your older sister ? " Addict asked hesitantly and the girl shook her head slightly.

 " you'll see .. "Another demon arrived from the portal, although he seemed annoyed about was happening . He rolled his eyes , and marched on with the crowd, Addict noticed the way his hair completely seemed to be completely purple, resembling the girl right next to her.

" That's....her . " The purple-haired girl pointed at a woman with a black dress, a black veil covering the entirety of her face as she stepped out of the portal .

All the demon guards that jumped out from the portal immediately bowed down , and the crowd went silent as she quietly stepped towards Zalgo's castle . The twins laughed with joy as they held hands, and started to twirl with eachother in excitement . 

" She's here everyone, make way, make way ! " The twins excitedly yelled as they started to throw flowers in excitement . " the one and only , the demon better than any other , the bride of Lyon ! I present to you, our fablous queen ! " One of the twins fake fainted, and the other quickly caught her as they both giggled .

" We heard your God was bold ! Where is he ?! " The twins said in union as they both scanned the area searching for Zalgo and look as if they wanted to scavenge him alive .

" anyways … I'm sorry for what they're doing , I didn't mean for this happen .. " The girl sighed , " By the way, my name is Flare . I am pleased to be here with you, " Flare smiled .

Can you guess who was under the veil?

[bonsai-babies]

CK and narratives

I do believe the Cobra Kai series is one of the best easy examples of narrative framing for all of us who enjoy studying Storytelling. Among many things that are taught during the learning journey, POV and emotional manipulation are both big parts of the craft that aren't really evil, but simply tools that an author can use to tell the story they want to tell, in the way they want to tell.

A basic exercise is to imagine an event and write it from the POV of three different people. No one should have the same impression or opinion of the same thing. It's an effect of natural bias. But as the author, you must develop each personality and use the character's bias to tell the event.

The original Karate Kid was framed from the POV of the victim, the outcast. And in a twist of fate, the series picked the bully's POV to tell the audience. We get a deeper understanding of Johnny's motivations and all that pushed him to become what he became, and even when he does little to get better, we still are tricked into cheering for him, because our emotions are now attached to this specific journey.

To cause such a change of perception takes time. A script must be willing to focus on a character so that the audience has enough to grasp and connect with. And that's the key. A lot of what made Daniel relatable in the movies is what makes Johnny relatable now. Because Johnny too was a "loser" in a difficult situation as a kid. His home struggles and betrayal from his sensei are concepts everyone can empathize with because it's painful.

Then comes a second habit of the brain. That is to pick a villain and focus every emotional frustration on them. Daniel was that for Johnny, so Daniel became that for the audience too (and the rest of the LaRusso's by proxy).

I'm aware the point I'm trying to make might've been discussed plenty of times. But every time I see intense reactive answers in my favorite character's tag, it reminds me of how powerful Storytelling techniques can be.

Not everyone will be fooled by these techniques, but it isn't easy to see past them because the narrative doesn't give many options. The narrative isn't always right about what it says, though. No matter how great feelings it causes. And I guess it's important for us to always remember that.

[qqueenofhades]

So this is probably a dumb question and there is probably something wrong with me but I’m going to ask anyway. Have you ever fallen totally, madly, and deeply in love with a fictional character and all you do is think about them and it hurts to think about them but you really just want to talk to them and tell them things and hear their take on things? And you then form a weird attachment to the actor, who you are not in love with because you love the fake character, not the actor, because the actor is kind of a jerk, but since the actor played the fake character and you think they are hot now you are semi-in love with the actor by proxy since they played that stupid fake character that you’re aching to talk to/be with and they also look like them. So now you are in this stupid place where you are both in love with a fake being and in by proxy love with a jerky actor and you are hyper-fixated both on this stupid character that isn’t even real but you have real achy pains of longing for them AND the hot disaster mess that you clearly are because you’re in love with a fake character. Meanwhile, you need to get out more and make friends but you can’t because now you have a sort of real broken heart over a pretend nonexistent romantic relationship with a made up person and a proximal, nonexistent, your face is hot relationship with the sack of skin that played them. Does this ever happen to other ppl or is it just me?

Okay look. I have NOT for the life of me ever been able to find this post again, or remember the name of the category (I think it starts with the letter i, but that is all, and my attempts to Google search for it have, of course, turned up nothing but porn). But some while ago, I read a definition of a subsidiary sexual orientation called something like "ideosexual" or "imagosexual" that turned me into the DEFINITION of "I came out to have a good time and I'm feeling so attacked right now." Because the list included, among other things, experiences/feelings like:

Being primarily attracted to fictional characters, celebrities, or other people who don't exist in real life or exist only far away from you, so that you're fantasizing about them from a safe distance rather than engaging them as a real person/actual relationship;

Enjoying fictional depictions of sex/smut more than you're drawn to seek out actual sexual experiences in real life, no matter your primary orientation or the gender of the people you're attracted to;

Being mostly satisfied in experiencing these imagined or idealistic relationships, and finding fulfillment in them.

This fell somewhere on the demiromantic/asexual spectrum, where you felt sexual and romantic attraction, but for a person who was not somebody you ever expected to actually be with or who might not even be real. You enjoyed fantasizing about them and experiencing fictional sex through them, whether of the written or visual medium, but didn't really feel particularly drawn to do so in real life. As a strongly ace-spec queer and fairly nonbinary person who has a very complicated relationship with my body/a dislike of close physical touch/no particular need to have a real partner of any kind, I was a bit like... wow, that sounds a lot like me. We've all had deep crushes on characters before, we're all aware that boundaries in fandom can get confused, some people write fanfiction about real people/actors (which I find.... deeply off-putting and mystifying, to say the least, but you know, each to their own, they have their things and I have mine), and it in general creates a semi-fictional erotic space that relies heavily on personal fantasies and curated imagery. But all people do this. Even people who aren't in fandom do this. You fantasize about strangers or you watch porn or you find a celebrity hot and have an intense parasocial crush on them. Humans are inherently visual creatures who LOVE stories. It's no surprise that sex, one of our other big preoccupations, is one of the chief sources for this.

Anyway, that is to say: there's nothing wrong with you, most people on Tumblr can probably relate to this experience in some way, and the fact that you're able to set clear boundaries (this is the character, this is the actor, this is real, this is not real, this is what I feel for one, this is what I feel for another, I recognize this is confused and mixed up but I'm not sure what to do) is a very good sign. It would be much more of a problem if you weren't able to make all those distinctions, and while it absolutely does suck, the upside is that a fictional character (especially one that you have extensively created through your own headcanons) will always be with you. Real partners come and go, and this isn't to say that you only ever need fictional characters, but you don't need to completely disavow them either. If that's a secret thing you have and which you really feel, it's okay. We've all cried buckets over fake people, whether for happy or sad reasons. We all have that one character death we'll never get over (or several). And you know, I like that. The fact that we can get so invested in fake people (in a way, frankly, we should get more invested in REAL people) shows our empathy and our willingness to engage with others apart from ourselves, and that is rather lovely.

The age of social media has allowed people both to freely share their personal fantasies and private thoughts, and to be judged for them, which is a bit of a mixed bag. We're all here on Tumblr reminding ourselves that these are technically our blogs (and they are) and we can say or enjoy whatever we want, but we're all wary of some random jerk coming along and judging us for it, since we have put it into the public sphere to be consumed. This is the case even though it's placed/framed in a way where we are supposed to understand that is just one's own personal opinion. There are some truly miserable people on the internet who are on an apparent never-ending crusade to serve as the latter-day Comstock Police, but those people have existed throughout history, and they just have more tools to do it now. And guess what? I'm pretty sure those people have secret fantasies too, but they can't talk about them now because they would likewise put themselves in a position to be judged, and they don't want that.

Anyway. There's nothing wrong with you, and you're not dumb. This is a deeply normal experience for many people, and that is the truth. <3

[oumakokichi]

hello! could you talk a bit more about the original (as in jp, not localization) ouma's personality and speech patterns? you've mentioned that he tends to trail off or speak more softly when it is implied he is speaking the truth, etc. and how he is not so loud/intentionally obnoxious. //btw when does he call himself a fairy? that's so cute

I got a couple of questions asking about the fairy line Ouma has, so I don’t mind sort of rolling them both into one! And I’m more than happy to talk a little more in-depth about Ouma’s speech patterns and personality in the original game, too!

Since I’ll be covering some late-game spoilers, I’ll put the bulk of this under the cut, so be careful when reading!

First off, I cannot stress how much I recommed playing ndrv3 with the Japanese voices enabled. If you’ve already played through the English dub but never experiened the original voice acting cast, I promise you won’t be disappointed. The Japanese cast are all fantastic, incredibly talented VAs who, unlike the dub, were hired specifically for these roles and not just re-casted from previous DR games.

Hiro Shimono as Ouma gives an absolutely incredible performance. The localization might still have many flaws in its translation and omission of certain lines or punctuation, but you can still very much get a feel for how Ouma’s character was intended by listening to Shimono’s performance. Re-playing the game with the Japanese voices will definitely let you hear how soft and tonally different Shimono’s performance is in places from the English dub, and compare it to the way in which many lines are written and punctuated as if Ouma’s yelling at everyone.

That isn’t to say that Shimono’s Ouma is never loud or excited: Ouma is a character whose moods and façades are all over the place, and therefore his performance requires a voice actor who can similarly change moods and intonation on a dime. Ouma is very much loud and haughty and deliberately annoying when he’s supposed to be, but his voice is also low and ominous at other points when he’s trying to be scary. And again, it’s soft and hesitant in places where he’s considering divulging some of his information, or when he’s insisting that all the things he does are for everyone’s sake, because he cares about them and doesn’t want anyone to die.

These moments feel so much more genuine in the Japanese version of the game--because they’re meant to be. As fantastic of a liar as Ouma is, it’s much easier for us, the player, to tell when he’s lying on a re-play, knowing the information from chapters 5 and 6 that we do, and looking at cues like his sprites (often his blank-faced ones) and, yes, his delivery of certain lines.

This probably sounds like me just gushing about what a fantastic voice actor Hiro Shimono is, and in part that’s exactly what it is, but I want to stress that pretty much every single voice actor in the Japanese cast is just as fantastic and that they all do their jobs incredibly well. With all that gushing out of the way, I’ll move on to talking about some of Ouma’s actual speech tics and the way he refers to other characters.

Like most things about him, Ouma’s speech patterns are sort of an interesting mix and even seem a little contradictory at times. He uses the very masculine pronoun “ore” (オレ), but he also refers to nearly everyone (with only a handful of exceptions) by their surnames and the much more childish honorific “-chan” (i.e. “Saihara-chan,” “Akamatsu-chan,” “Amami-chan,” etc.)

The use of “-chan” is very interesting. Honorifics in Japan are extremely complicated and tend to mean different things depending on who is using them. Typically, “-chan” is seen as a very feminine way to refer to someone else, commonly used in close-knit friend groups among school girls.

There are, of course, a few notable exceptions to this however: often times, middle-aged or elderly people will call a child “-chan” regardless of gender, as a way of showing they find them cute and endearing. And sometimes, people will use “-chan” to refer to other things they find cute, such as pets, or even to refer to themselves in a sort of informal, tongue-in-cheek way.

The fact that Ouma uses “-chan” as an honorific to refer to nearly everyone in the game stands out quite a lot: by and large, boys don’t use this term to refer to other boys. Using “-chan” to refer to anyone you’ve just met or don’t know very well is already somewhat frowned upon, but a boy using it to refer to other boys is especially rare. This helps set Ouma’s character up as someone who is both incredibly casual and informal with others (not to mention, you know, quite coded). Considering childishness and lightheartedness are traits Ouma values, and how much emphasis is put on him having “a very innocent, childish streak that’s hard to hate,” it makes sense then that he would talk like this.

Not counting Monokuma and the Monokubs, the only characters who Ouma doesn’t refer to with “-chan” are Gonta and Kiibo, who he simply calls by name. This also says some interesting things about his character.

Gonta is easily the character who Ouma interacts with the most often, as well as the charater he hurts the most in the end. Ouma’s choice to exclude Gonta from his usual way of calling people is, I think, a testament to how much Gonta really wanted to be friends with him, even if their friendship was never exactly on equal footing.

Meanwhile with Kiibo, I feel the choice to exclude him from his usual way of addressing others is indicative of how much Ouma tried to remind himself that Kiibo “wasn’t human,” and therefore how suspicious he found his presence in the killing game. We know Ouma suspected Kiibo and likely even had an inkling of his role as the audience proxy/camera in the game, due to how Kiibo’s picture is one of the only others set aside on his whiteboard besides Saihara’s, with the word “weird” written next to it (he also clearly guessed about the cameras after Gonta’s line in chapter 2, as we see from how he commissioned Miu for the bug-vac).

Ouma clearly enjoys teasing Kiibo a lot, and their banter reads very much like a manzai comedy duo; I feel like Ouma often tried pushing himself to remember that Kiibo “wasn’t human” on purpose in order to not get too attached to him or too distracted from his goal of ending the killing game. I don’t think Ouma’s decision to exclude Kiibo from the way that he very particularly referred to most of the rest of the group was just an accident or a coincidence.

Honorifics aside, Ouma also refers to several characters in interesting ways. He often uses “daisuki na ___-chan” (大好きな) to refer to some of the other characters, a phrase which more or less equates to “my beloved.” He uses this phrase with Saihara more than any other character of the game, but there are a few other instances where he does use it with Amami, Momota, and (if I’m remembering correctly) Kaede. Pretty much every single instance where the localization put, “because I love you” or “because you’re my favorite” whenever Ouma was talking to Saihara was usually a point where he would specifically call him “my beloved Saihara-chan.”

In chapter 4 during the scene where Ouma is alone in the parlor of the VR world, he also specifically, exclusively refers to Saihara as “suki ni natta hito” (好きになった人), literally: “the person I fell in love with.” This line was changed in the localization to, “when there’s a person I like,” which is more or less literally correct--however, the phrase “suki ni natta” is much heavier and more loaded with explicitly romantic implications than “suki” would be on its own, as it’s often used in Japanese love songs and shoujo manga love confessions.

Worth noting in my opinion is the fact that this is the exact same phrasing Maki uses to describe her romantic feelings for Momota. Since Maki’s feelings for Momota are considered canonically confirmed because of this, Ouma’s feelings should be considered equally canon, but a lot of people don’t know this because, well, it’s sort of been lost in translation.

And now, on to the fairy line! Ouma calls himself a fairy in chapter 3, when he pops up in the middle of Saihara and Korekiyo’s discussion of the katana in Korekiyo’s lab. Full of enthusiasm, he decides to touch the sword and examine it for himself; Korekiyo starts to object, but Ouma interrupts and says:

“Come on, it’s not a big deal! I’m like a fairy, so it’ll be fine!”

I’ve always really loved this line and thought it was super adorable, both as a nod to how fairies aren’t supposed to be able to touch steel in most fae mythos, as well as the fact that fairies tend to also have a love for mischief and pranks and lies. The localization apparently didn’t like it so much though, because this line is simply changed to, “Come on, would I lie to you?” instead.

One final thing I can think of as far as Ouma’s speech tics go is that his laugh in Japanese is romanized as “nishishi” instead of “neeheehee,” as this is closer to the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound horses make--but I actually don’t mind this localization change at all! “Neeheehee” definitely looks a lot closer to the word “neigh” and helps capture that horse joke in a way that I feel like western players can more easily understand.

All in all, while I still definitely feel people can like and enjoy Ouma’s character from playing the localization alone, I still stand by my opinion that listening to the original Japanese voices helps give a much better picture of how the character was intended to come across, and really shows how much depth Hiro Shimono put into his performance. He’s quoted in the official ndrv3 artbook as saying that he believes Ouma is someone who’s actually “really meek if you take away his strong wish to outwit everyone” (credit to @kaibutsushidousha for the art book translation), and I think this interpretation of Ouma really shows through in so many of his lines.

Thank you both for the really fun questions! I hope I could provide some more interesting information about Ouma and the translation!

[whaleofatjme1920]

Letters to those you hold dear, Fandom: Creepypasta/Marble Hornets Character: Tim/Masky Relationship: Romantic~

Dear Tim/Masky (whoever gets the letter),

How are you, love? It's been quite a while since I've heard from you. I am guessing work has been busy, same here for me, studies are..whack. Have you eaten yet? If you haven't by the time this letter is in your hand, you better do (or I will head to where you are and force you/jk) I've been..ok? It's in-between 'been better" and "haven't been better". Is that even a thing? The good thing is that now I have the time and passion to eat lunch. Usually, I would just skip it. So, on 'normal' days, I just eat breakfast and supper. I rarely skip dinner but it depends usually. How was your day? Did anything weird happen lately or is it still just obeying your boss. I feel like sending a letter to that man, ranting about him in Japanese so he won't understand. Unless he can translate it then...no way am I writing to him haha. Last night was one of the best. I received my favourite chocolate from an anonymous sender. (It was for valentines btw) They sent 10 of them X] And they're all dark chocolate. I'm sending you one with this letter! Also, a polaroid pic that my housemate took. There was a baby snake in the kitchen this morning and it was adorable~ I wanted to pet it but i was too late. It slithered away to its mum in the backyard. Now, I know what you're thinking. Call 911. Hell nah. I went to pet them but again, they slithered away. Andd,

Happy Valentines Day 💕🌹💖

Sigh, I can't even spend this with you. It's fine, work is life or...a living pain- pfft- lol- Anyways, kisses from me! When you come back to me, expect some muffins with 'I love you's on them and most probably a 2-course dinner (i've been cooking a lot of things lately). Muahah, also a teddy bear. Maybe we could have dinner or something at least. Or just send each other chocolates. I'm looking forward to your reply <3 貴方の愛 Kayte.

[sent with a bar of Belgium dark chocolate and a blurry polaroid picture of Kayte falling down the stairs head first ^^] [AND THANK YOU ELSIE <3]

[Disclaimer: Letters To Those You Hold Dear (Valentine's Edition) is a special event I'm holding from February 13th - February 23rd 11:59 PM. Find the guidelines HERE so you can send a letter or two to those you hold dear <3]

[Putting the AN up here because I don't think it warrants a full letter format from me, yes ofc!! np!! Glad you enjoy <3]

Hey there sweetheart,

I did eat today! We went to some super sketchy diner and got some brunch. Currently writing this because Smile coughed it up in the parking lot and well, Brian is talking to one of the waitresses. Don't know where Kate and Toby went though, so it's just me sitting here at the table. It's nice to catch up with you though, I've really missed hearing from you. It's better than falling downwards, y'know? I wish I was there to hold you though. It's been a while since I've actually seen you and I miss you.

He'd know. One time, he got so angry at Jeff, he started screaming at him in German! The operator's proxies span every country. But I don't know, it would be kind of funny to get some weird anime dub from him for a moment or so. Maybe you should just to see what happens. You know, fuck around and find out. Who gave you Valentine's shit?? Should just be me-. Speaking of, I have some things headed your way that I'll leave as surprise for now, but I'm attaching something sweet for you here too. Saw it earlier and it made me think of you.

You sound like Toby, wanting to pet snakes and stuff. We have to physically wrestle him to leave the raccoons and opossums alone. Do I need to do that for you too, baby? I should hope not.

Anyways, happy valentine's. We should do some baking when I get to see you again! Baking, movies, maybe a romantic dinner? Whatever you want really. What makes you happy makes me happy. And please be more careful... I saw the picture.

Yours,

Tim

[Attached to the letter are a few freshly plucked wildflowers alongside a chocolate bar that has cartoonish hearts on it. There's also a sticky note that read "I love you!" in Tim's handwriting.]

[twdmusicboxmystery]

TWD 11x06: On the Inside - Analysis

Okay, how did everyone like this episode? I loved it! It might be my favorite episode of the season so far. Partly because of all the horror movie vibes and jump scares. I thought that was delightful. And Lauren Ridloff did an amazing job. But more than that, it's because of all the symbolism and what I think this represents. Seriously, I think I might have like fifty-six theories come out of this one episode, LOL. Not brand-new theories, but just connecting symbols in a way I haven't before. For now, let's talk about the broad arcs here and what they mean.

***As always, spoilers abound below for 11x06. Don’t read until you’ve watched! You’ve been warned!***

Basically, we’re following two storylines in this episode. The first is Connie and Virgil. The second is Daryl, Leah, and the Reapers. I suppose you could call Kelly and Carol looking for Connie a third story line, but given that they're searching for Connie, it's really just a subplot of Connie's arc.

Connie and Virgil:

There are a lot of people saying that they might be setting Connie and Virgil up as romantic partners. I think that's probably the case, for a lot of reasons. They were very purposely put together in this house. After the episode, Angela Kang talked about how Virgil basically had to suppress part of his heart in order to get through the death of his family. That's why he seemed a little bit villainous when we first met him with Michonne.

Actually, we're seeing a major theme here that we've seen with other characters. Near the end of the episode, Virgil tells Connie, "I lost myself for a long time." It's very reminiscent of what Michonne said to Carl in 4x14. It's a theme we see where the character goes through some kind of trauma, and the aftermath of that trauma is very much a PTSD thing. They lose themselves to insanity for short time, but then someone is able to bring them back. We see this with many characters over the years. And this is something they're doing with Virgil. So this was Virgil kind of coming back to reality. Michonne gave him the chance to come back first, but he also says that her giving him that second chance led him to Connie and he sees that as Providence.

So basically, A.K. is saying that Virgil lost a big chunk of his heart when his family died, but he's rediscovering it here with Connie. And that's very important. I can't imagine them saying that, or him having this kind of arc, if there isn’t going to be a romance between them. Which, for the record, I think is cute. I totally ship it. (Totally objective over here. As always, of course. ;-))

But the big question is, what does this foreshadow? I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count.

I think this is a foreshadow of Beth and Daryl. I'm sure you're shocked to your toenails. I'll give you a moment to recover. Good? Okay.

A lot of us got Alone vibes from this episode. Just the two of them in house together. The undercurrent of possible romance between them. There's even a hug at one point.

Actually, the white, plantation style house with the white pillars immediately struck a cord with me. Back when they were filming the missing scenes from S5, they filmed in a house just like this one. it wasn’t the “white cabin” as we always refer to the house Emily was seen going into. But it was next door to that one and had a sign up about not mowing the lawn because it would be used for filming. 

I don’t know if this is actually the same house, but I’m willing to bet that this will end up having parallels to something we see when we finally get those missing scenes.

Once they get inside the house, we see Connie holding the door shut against walkers. It's very reminiscent of Daryl doing that at the funeral home in Alone.

The thing is, I don't even think callbacks to Alone are the big cheese. (For the record, we also saw them around Kelly, but I'll get to that in a minute.)

Because more than being a call back, this is a foreshadow. It represents some time in the future when Beth and Daryl will be together inside the CRM and trying to escape. Remember that “No Exit” sign in Beth’s cell?

We have a situation here where Connie and Virgil are trying to get out and there's literally no exit. All the doors are locked, they’re being trapped everywhere they go, they get separated. Even when Connie is in the wall, looking at Virgil, she wants to warn him of things, but she has no way to get into the room with him. There's literally no exit for her.

There are so many parallels to Beth and Daryl.

They emphasize the fact that Connie is lost. After getting out of the cave and walking around for walkers for so long, she clearly lost her bearings and doesn't know where she is or which way to go to get to Alexandria. It puts me in mind of the scene from 6x10, where Carl was talking to Judith and said if she was ever LOST and needed to find her way HOME, she should use the North Star. This is another way in which Connie is being paralleled to Beth. She's lost and needs to find her way home.

Virgil talks about wanting to get Connie HOME. To get her back to her family (which just so happens to be her sister). Of course there's the undercurrent of romance.

I also couldn't help but notice outlets throughout the episode. This house is very dilapidated and dirty. There's grime and rust and darkness everywhere. But we can very clearly see the outlets on the walls, as though they’re brand-new. I believe that's to draw our attention to them. Outlets suggest power, which suggests lamps or batteries.

Remember how I said that the whole battery theory is about resources and that it indicates the CRM? This is why I think this house represents the CRM. And I'm not at all saying that at some point, we’ll see Beth and Daryl running through a house together, as Connie and Virgil do here, trying to escape some threat. I think this represents a much bigger arc of them being inside the CRM and trying to get out. It will probably span a lot of episodes, maybe even multiple seasons.

At one point, we see a red coda pendant hanging in the window behind Virgil. Remember that, via the Matrix theory, red represents the outside world that TF is currently unaware of, and of course Coda suggests Beth. That’s a big part of the evidence for this template being a foreshadow of Beth and Daryl.

I’ll go over all the background details tomorrow, but pretty much every detail I found suggests what I've laid out here. I'm going to do completely separate post on the awake/asleep theme as well as the mailbox theme. That one stemmed from last week's episode (11x05), but I haven't gotten a chance to post it yet. And of course we saw the mailbox feature prominently in this episode as well.

We also have a situation where Virgil basically tells Connie to go on without him and that it’s very important to him that she gets home. And then he gets stabbed, and she not only saves him, but pulls him out of the house. We’ve always said that we think there will be a time when Beth will save Daryl. I think this is a foreshadow of it.

I think we'll have a situation (again, much bigger than what we see here in the single episode) where Daryl will be willing to sacrifice himself, his life, to get Beth back to Maggie. Of course she's not going to allow him to do that, but he'll probably be hurt very badly.

(And for the record, I think we've seen foreshadows of this and other arcs. Daryl getting hurt when fighting Alpha was probably a foreshadow of the same thing. I'm sure we could identify others.) I think he will be hurt and Beth will save him, and that will happen as they’re figuring out how to get out of the CRM.

To touch on Kelly’s side of things, we see her find a camp that Virgil and Connie had previously been at. She finds Connie’s stuff there, and the orange backpack that Virgil must have left behind. The thing that jumped out at me here is that, in the foreground, we saw ropes around the camp with cans attached as an alert system.

That was featured very prominently in Alone, both because Daryl set up something like that at the funeral home and also because the other half of that episode was about Maggie/Sasha/Bob and they did the same thing in their camp. So again, major callbacks to Alone, and to what this is probably foreshadowing.

But my favorite thing about this was connections that I made. Things that kind of confirm events we’ve suspected in 4B, but have never been able to prove. Let me explain.

First, there’s the reunion between Connie and Kelly. And this really jumped out at me. Not only because it's two sisters reuniting, but because of the way it was shown.

When approaching Connie, Kelly is crying and says, "I'm sorry." And that's out of character or out of place in any way. She’s sorry that for what happened to Connie and that it took them so long to find her. All that is completely understandable. But at the same time, Kelly has no reason to feel bad about what happened to Connie. It wasn't her fault, and she's been a dutiful sister looking for her intensively ever since.

But I think the “I'm sorry” will make a lot more sense if we hear Maggie saying it to Beth, given everything that's happened, and especially what happened in S5. I mean, Beth did get left behind.

The other thing is that when they see each other and then hug, the background music almost sounds angelic, like a choir. I mean, they really wanted this to be a big deal, the reunion between these two sisters. And not that the Kelly and Connie's reunion isn't a big deal. It's very sweet, but I feel like this a foreshadow something much bigger. And what other reunion between sisters could qualify for something like that except Maggie and Beth, who didn't get the reunion in season five?

We’ve always said that Connie was a proxy for Beth, and that the cave-in, followed by her being missing was a parallel to Beth’s arc. So, this arc ending in Connie finding someone she’ll eventually have a romance with and then finding her sister is makes me very hopeful for what we'll see when Beth returns.

I have to say that this is kind of a relief to me. Because of Daryl's line back in Still about how, "you ain't never going to see Maggie again," I’ve gone back and forth about whether Beth and Maggie will actually get a reunion. Yes, there are plenty of ways to explain away that line, and I don't disagree with any of them. But I’ve still been really back-and-forth about whether this is going to happen. After seeing Connie and Kelly really reunite, I have no doubt that eventually will see a Beth/Maggie reunion. Yay!

Next, is the fact that Virgil and Connie talk about how the people living in this house lured them into a trap.

This is talked about very much anymore, but was always but what happened in Alone was always so wonky to me. I know it was supposed to be, but the whole thing felt like it was orchestrated somehow. I mean, what happened to the dog? We hear barking, but we didn't actually see the dog again, because when Daryl open the door all the walkers were on the porch. But how did that many walkers get up to the porch without them hearing it?

When Beth and Daryl sat in the kitchen staring at each other, they heard the cans rattle and then at the dog bark. I think that the idea was that Daryl thought it was the dog moving the cans and that's why he was going to open the door and get it to come in. He didn't understand that there were walkers there. But why didn't they hear the walkers? More importantly, why would that many walkers go up to the door if they couldn't see any humans on the inside? It's completely weird behavior for walkers. And then when Beth leaves the house, she just happens to be picked up by a car?

Like I said, I just always felt like the whole thing was really orchestrated, but even at Grady, we were never told that it was. Gorman suggested to Beth that they happened upon her accidentally. Of course, Gorman is the opposite of trustworthy, but we also understand better now the way that these episodes are often approached. We sometimes see things from one character's point of view over another. Clearly, Slabtown was seen from Beth’s point of view, so if she couldn't see the truth about what happened, that's why we couldn’t neither.

My point is, in this episode, Virgil says that he and Connie were herded there like prey. These feral people apparently went to the camp (Kelly says the left in a hurry and something was very wrong, and I think she's right. Given that Virgil and Connie left all their stuff behind; Connie would not have left behind her slingshot on purpose). Which means the creatures came to their camp, scared them away, chase them toward the house, herding them that way, in order to eat them.

Now, I'm not saying that's specifically what happened in Alone, but I think it kind of proves that what happened was an orchestrated trap that was set up to capture Beth.

And we do get the sense from what Noah told her that Grady purposely left the strong behind and took the weak. So, I'm not sure if Beth and Daryl were actually herded toward the funeral home. From what we saw, it really was more like they happened upon it. But I'm wondering if once there, someone observed them, or observed them approaching, and decided that they would be optimal targets. Given that Beth was injured (which they would have known if they saw Daryl giving her the piggy back) obviously it would always be her that was taken, while Daryl—obviously the more survival-oriented of the two—would be left behind.

And I love this connection because it proves (as far as we can prove theories 😉) that there are things they haven’t shown us, not just in S5 with the missing 17 days, but reaching all the way back to S4.

The other thing that's just kind of cool to consider is that, as I said before, the other half of the episode was about Maggie/Sasha/Bob, right? There are a lot of things that their sequence foreshadows as well. And in the episode, Maggie is specifically looking for Glenn, not Beth. However, given that this episode with Connie and Virgil also featured Kelly, Connie’s sister, looking for her, it just doesn't seem like it could possibly be a coincidence that the other half of Alone was Maggie searching for someone. What I’m saying is that both Alone and this episode, 11x06, foreshadow what will happen when Maggie and Beth reunite. I'm sure I could go into the details of Alone find a lot of connections, but I don't have time to do that right now. Maybe during the hiatus. Maybe. ;-).

Daryl and Leah:

Okay, I guess we need to talk about Daryl and Leah’s part of this episode as well. I don't have as much say about the symbolism for them. This is really more about where this is going.

Daryl tortures Frost, which I'm sure some people are going to have a problem with. But A.K. said that this is really about Daryl wanting to stay on the inside with the Reapers. As I said after ep 4, Frost is smart and he understands what Daryl is doing. A.K. said he did exactly what Daryl wanted to do him to do here. Daryl wanted him to give them a basic location but not an exact one. In other words, to tell them the neighborhood but not the exact house. And that's exactly what Frost did. Angela says Daryl did this because he was trying to save Frost’s life. Unfortunately, by the end of the episode, we see that didn't work out so well. But he was attempting to save him.

You have to watch the details closely to pick this up, but the first house that Daryl, Leah, and Carver go to is not the house Maggie is in. That's why Daryl says they should stick around and look around for things, because he knew Maggie wasn't there and wanted to give her time to escape. But the second house we see them go into is where Maggie and co are hiding under the floorboards.

At first, it seems to be empty, but when Daryl comes downstairs, he sees the place where they might be hiding and slides the rug over it. In the end, Carver sees it and checks, but Maggie and the others have already made their escape.

I had to stop and think about that for a minute. Since Beth wore yellow and we think yellow equals life and escape, I would have thought the yellow house would be where Maggie and the others were hiding and then escaped from. That would've made more logical sense. But actually, the yellow house was a decoy.

It gave me a whole new insight into the meaning behind the color yellow in TWD universe.

I still think yellow represents escape, among other things. But it also represents looking for someone in the wrong place. Even if you think about Rick’s mini death fake out in 7x12, there was probably only 12 feet between where Michonne thought he was (right side of the screen being eaten by walkers) and where he actually was (left side of the screen coming out of the yellow carnival car) but still, she was looking for him in the wrong place and assumed he was dead because of it.

I also thought of the Glenn situation in S4. Maggie looked for him on the school bus (yellow). And in both cases, it was because that’s where Rick/Glenn were last seen, but what was UNSEEN was how they ESCAPED. So, TF was looking for them in the wrong place.

And I’m sure something similar will happen with Beth during the missing 17 days. It doesn’t really change what we believe happened with Beth, but it makes me want to re-examine every yellow reference we’ve ever seen on the show, which is probably hundreds by now, lol.

At one point, Carver is coming down the stairs and Daryl runs over to him and starts talking really fast. He says that they (Maggie’s group) will not to come back here, that it wouldn’t be smart, etc. The first time I watched it, I remember thinking that Daryl was being really obvious. It made him seem nervous and like he was hiding something. And he probably was somewhat nervous. The reason he ran over Carver right then, is because he didn't want Carver to see the hiding place where Maggie and the others were (because Daryl himself noticed it when he was coming down the stairs).

But the other thing to remember is that Daryl knows Maggie and the others are down there. He was using this to give them information. He talks about how the Reapers have walls and weapons, twenty people inside their town, etc. That is also him getting Maggie information so she would know what they're up against. It was actually very smart on his part, even if it kind of tipped Carver off.

By the end, they returned to Pope and find that Frost is dead. I thought it was super weird and creepy that Pope started laughing when Carver said they had lost Maggie's group. That's very out of character for him. Angela Kang said Pope was purposely playing mind games to make Daryl and Leah paranoid, but even so. That laugh was just maniacal.

So, not sure exactly where this is going, or what Pope's plans are. He kind of suggests that maybe Frost turned on Daryl and sold him out before he died. I doubt that's true, but Pope also strikes me as the kind of guy who, if he's decided Daryl is an enemy, doesn't actually need proof of it. So, we'll just have to see where this goes.

Okay, that's it for today. I'll do details tomorrow. How did you all like the episode?

[themoonlily]

Hi! I found your stories on a ficrec list for Eomer/Lothiriel and WOW!!! MUCH LOVE!!!!! I can't wait to read more wonderful stories from you! Can I ask what got you into this pairing, and what draws you to them? Also: any headcannons about them? (Physical/personality/hobbies/etc.)

Hi there! I am so glad to hear you like my stories. :)

I would say that I got to Éothiriel thanks to Éomer. I can't say I fell in love with him straightaway - I was your typical Aragorn fangirl back in the day (mind you, he’s still one of my favourite characters in the legendarium). I had always enjoyed the bits with Rohan in particular, and the more I watched the films, the more I liked Éomer, and once I had read the books a couple of times, I realised there was so much more to this guy. I loved his integrity, his unashamed passion, his loyalty and devotion to his family and friends, and how he strives to do better and learn. 

His arc in the books is such a fascinating one. He starts out as a scion of one of the leading families of Rohan (and is a son of a princess, no less), but is orphaned along with his sister at an early age, and then raised by the King himself. What kind of a trauma did that loss leave him with, and how did it affect his relationship with his sister? Were his teenage years very difficult thanks to this? At the time of the events of LOTR, he’s a fairly young man - among the youngest of the entire cast - and yet he has this hugely important duty as the Third Marshal of the Mark. He’s passionate but also ready to put himself and his own needs aside in order to do what’s right. The whole House of Eorl dynamics are just so fascinating, even though a lot of it happens outside the actual narrative of LOTR. What are his relationships with his uncle, his cousin, and his sister? How does this partnership with Théodred grow (to the point of Saruman seeing these two as the chief obstacle of the easy conquest of Rohan)? What does it feel like to watch his beloved uncle fall under the influence of ill-intended counsels (not to mention the threat of Wormtongue against Éowyn)? Éomer is portrayed as a fairly temperamental guy, so I can only imagine the fury he must feel at the situation. 

But then Théodred dies, the noose tightens around everybody’s throats, and one may just imagine the desperation and dread he must feel at this point. He’s still figthing and trying to do the right thing, even if that may now mean treason. But he’s still friendly to Aragorn and co. when they meet, recognising them as an opportunity to help Rohan almost immediately. 

He’s so loyal to his family that even after he’s been disgraced and humiliated by Wormtongue by the proxy of Théoden, he still knows where the true malice is coming from, and is ready to fight again for his uncle the moment he’s released. And he slips straight back to being the King’s lieutenant without even blinking his eyes. 

There’s also how Éomer becomes king. I’m fascinated with what it would feel like to him. I mean, he’s been second in line to the throne his whole life, so he probably always realised there’s a chance he’ll be king one day. But the circumstances he comes to the throne - the near ruin of his country, the tragic and violent death of his cousin he might have been able to prevent if not for Wormtongue, the brief time he has with his restored uncle, and then the whole mess of the War of the Ring... all that must feel pretty surreal for him. And, of course, the Battle of Pelennor’s fields, and his scenes in it... wow. Him nearly losing his mind over thinking his sister (and whole family) is dead, charging like a madman over the field, composing some pretty amazing poetry in the spur of the moment, and then just laughing in sheer defiance against what seems like imminent death. What a dude. 

And then there are so many other interesting aspects: how he must have felt over those long years (was he unhappy? was he lonely?), what he expected his life to be versus what it turned out to be, and what it did to him to watch his family leave one by one. I could go on, but then we would be here whole day. 

So, enter Lothíriel. Of course I was eager to know what happens to Éomer after the war is over, and fortunately, Tolkien had an answer ready - although he could really have told us more about them! Not that in canon there is anything to imply it was a love marriage, but personally, I don’t think that a man with a disposition like Éomer would submit to a loveless or faithless marriage (or that he’d risk his relationship with Imrahil by being faithless). I just can’t see it happening. Also I just want him to be happy, and find someone who brightens up his days, someone who won’t leave him. It’s nice to imagine him having a new start with her.  

Sadly, of her personality I can’t say anything that would be indicated by canon, but if we imagine her being anything like her father, then she might be a proud, strong and brave woman. Well, she would probably have to be courageous to leave her homeland for marriage (another reason I think it was a love union, because I want her to be happy, too)! I like to imagine her finding some unexpected, unimagined freedom in Rohan, perhaps even fulfilment of ambition in her role as a queen. Also, maybe with her background and if she had access to some kind of education, she’d be uniquely qualified to helping Éomer to rule and counseling him. Perhaps she even feels some personal pride over the fact that together, they are starting a new dynasty (or a new line) to rule in Rohan. Also, having a fairly big family, I think she would be well equipped to show him the love he has missed most of his life.  

I recall at some point reading the appendix about the House of Eorl, and that Éomer married Imrahil’s daughter, Lothíriel, and thinking yes, this makes sense. It’s just the sense I gleaned from the interactions and circumstances of the story. Of course Éomer would have strong feelings for Imrahil, since he was the one who saw that Éowyn was still alive and hastened her delivery to safety. Being a man of strong emotions, I think Éomer would hold Imrahil and his entire family in high regard thanks to this. Maybe it’s even a ground from which some attachment did grow between him and Lothíriel. Also, Rohirrim are a culture based on horses, and apparently the Princes of Dol Amroth also maintain a cavalry (the Swan Knights who, with Imrahil, took part in the Battle of Pelennor fields). So I see there definitely being a lot of points of connection! 

Of course, it also fits the socio-political frame we are left with at the end of the story: the new unity among the Free Peoples, the task of rebuilding after the war, and this new blooming of the friendship between Rohan and Gondor. On a purely logical level, it is reasonable that he’d marry the daughter of a powerful house like Imrahil’s. But for my purely headcanonish “aesthetic” (if that’s even the right word) reasons I do like the contrast these two make: their different cultures (and all that they entail from songs and poetry to foods and habits), their union as the union of earth and sea, his gold to her silver, the warrior and the lady... also this is purely headcanon/tropes but I definitely think of them as tol/smol and embodying the pair where A is the reason B began to smile again. (Tol/smol is at least half canon because Éomer is apparently as tall as Aragorn, like 6 feet 6 if I recall right. Since he’s also a professional warrior, he’s probably built like it too.)

So, yeah - I guess that’s already a lot of reasons for why I love this pair! There’s just so much potential there, so many avenues to pursue, and so much food for imagination. If you’re interested in more of my headcanons, you could try searching the tag “Éothiriel” in my blog - I’ve got plenty of posts about them! 

Thanks for the ask, and sorry for this answer being so long! I rather got carried away and Éomer deserves every bit of the love he gets, and so does Lothíriel.