#something something they can't exist without each other and they have the power to destroy each other but they love and trust

[cryptiddeer]

Actually if your dual option protagonist is kept a vaguely blank slate as a way to ensure that the audience can project onto them then I'm going to take the small amount of information we DO have and craft them their own tragic backstory and also make them queer. My character now.

[based-bobcat]

Remember when Batman used to solve regular murders? Remember when Batman was fallible and could be beaten by a gunshot?

DC's writers don't.

I don't know if it's because writers only really write for trades more, but ever since new 52 every writer wants to be the O'Neil/Morrison and make it more epic than the last. I've lost count how many fucking times Gotham has been taken over and/or destroyed these last 5 years, but the fact that I lost count says something. There have been no civilian characters introduced since Tamaki's promising, but kind of mediocre, go at TEC.

They take his money away 'to go back to his roots' (laughable as Bruce has never been without his fortune), and sure you finally get him interacting with regular joes again, only for it not even mattering since he's gotten gear stashed everywhere anyway, not to mention that the next writer to throw it all into the garbage like a meal they don't like.

They reveal Batman's identity as if they're handing out pamphlets for a local political party; Including to Gordon, to Penguin, to Harvey Dent, to fucking Joker, but there is no consequence to that since Bruce's out-of-mask life isn't even a thing that exists anymore. When was the last time he interacted with someone who didn't end up clashing with/meeting with Batman? I sure as fuck can't remember it.

I had hope for Zdarsky's run, since his Daredevil run was a nice street-level romp. (At the beginning anyway, christ did he lose the plot in the end) but he writes stuff like;

That's just sad. Joker and Batman are not Gods or powerful beings like Clark or J'onn.

Th-they're just normal men.

And at the same time you have more and more influences that come from Wayne Family Adventures, which I like don't get me wrong, but these watered down fanficified versions of the Batfam is not what I want to read about when I open up a comic book. Just try reading Taylor's Nightwing without falling asleep and you'll get me.

I like these kinds of things as fan-art or fun covers, but not in my mainline comics.

The Batfamily used to be made up of people with the same goals, but with different approaches, ideals and moral boundaries. Which caused a lot of friction. (Barb and Bruce really, REALLY did not like each other during the early 2000s and that's putting it mildly. And they were co-parenting a suicidal gremlin at that time) They all respected each other, sure, but I can't see any of the family even slightly considering moving in with Bruce. Especially Dick, Barbara and Steph.

All this to say that I'm a boomer and miss the old days.

[powdermelonkeg]

But Mystra WASNT right to ask Gale to kill himself. She still told a guy who cared about her "hey. if you love me, destroy yourself for me"

You're right, she did do that. And that's horrible, and shows exactly how little value she places on Gale's life.

And that's the point. She thinks she's in the right. She thinks hurting him is worth everything else she would take out in the process. She thinks she's giving him the best option.

It's very hard, from a mortal perspective, to picture how the gods see things. You can throw analogy after analogy before them to try to comprehend it, but in the end, the gods have power on such a scale that we, as readers and players, do not have an equivalent answer to compare them to.

What we bring to the table, through Tav, is that mortal perspective: we don't care about the greater good of preserving Faerûn's Weave. We don't care about the grand battle between Shar and Selûne that's lasted since the beginning of time. We don't care about the balance of life and death. We're so far beneath eternity-spanning events like that that the here and now are what we care about most.

And that's what the Origins need most. That's what Gale needs most.

Mystra's perspective, what goes on in her head, is a measured, calculated list of facts, weighed against each other:

Gale would do anything for her.

Gale possesses a weapon that needs to be destroyed.

Gale is going to die of that weapon without divine intervention.

The Dead Three are a threat.

The Dead Three have Karsus' crown.

The Dead Three could kill her again.

The scope of her power is such that a single mortal life is worth very little. Ketheric was onto something when he said "We are copper pieces in their belts. Tokens to be traded for scraps." Because that's what Mystra's doing, isn't it? She's cashing in on Gale's devotion to her.

Mystra sees a problem. She realizes she holds the solution. She thinks she's making it right by offering eternity. She fancies herself as being patient and kind by letting that solution choose to work for her.

That's the divine perspective.

The mortal perspective, the perspective that matters most, is best summed up by two lines of Gale and Mystra's conversation in the Stormshore Tabernacle:

Mystra: You discovered what lies at the Heart of the Absolute—the Crown of Karsus—and you disobeyed my instruction. Why?

Gale: Because you had no right to ask that of me!

She didn't. She doesn't.

The divine perspective is the one that lacks love. It lacks the ability to see value in a person, for being a person. It quantifies what worth something has by what it can do for you. And it is dangerous, because it cannot be told it is wrong.

Gale and Mystra were always an unbalanced relationship. When he was young, she was his teacher: she knew things he didn't, withheld them until he was ready to learn them, and directly controlled his interaction with her craft.

When she was his muse, she was the font of his creativity. He made things in her name, for little but attention in return. He gave, and gave, and was wholly devoted to her. Such is the nature of gods that it's foolish to expect them to give back to you at all.

And then she was his lover. And she was untouchable. She cannot be told "no" definitively; the only guarantee that she'll adhere to a "no" is her own personal moral code, or lingering admiration for the person who says it. She can't give herself to someone. She can spend time with them, but she can never give equally. She is a god. She exists to be served.

Gale's life, before the tadpole, was defined by Mystra. He was destined for greatness, spoke personally with Elminster, wielded the Blackstaff—and yet, he says he had no friends, and few colleagues. He's had mortal lovers, but they barely get a footnote in the story of his life. His social circle was "the size of a pinhead."

Mystra, by nature of being a god, intentionally or not, isolated Gale from his peers. You could argue any number of reasons why—my own personal bet being that he was so enamored with her that everyone else fell to the wayside—but he is alone. Even Lorroakan, down in Baldur's Gate, knew about him, and defines him only by nature of his relationship to Mystra.

The nature of gods is that anyone they speak with is now worlds away from anyone once called friends. How do you hold conversations with people when you're everyone at the table's god's favorite?

Mystra's very presence eroded away Gale over time. His friendships suffered. His joy in mortal sides of himself withered. His outlook on his own merits was restricted to what he could do with the magic at his command—did Mystra only see value in that, or did his peers and former lovers only care for what she gifted him? Both are likely. Especially with this line in his romance: "To know you love me for the man I am, and not the magic I command—none have loved me so purely."

And that isolation tore him open after his claim of the Netherese Orb, because he locked himself in his tower for a year. He didn't have those connections to reach out and ask for help, because being a god's lover burned that all away.

And then, after silence, after her fury leading to his terrified misery, after he thinks he's going to die any day, she comes in with a double-edged sword, putting the Orb to rest, at last, while telling him to fall to it anyway. The power imbalance is on full display, here: her expectations are so unrealistic that it will destroy him, in the name of forgiveness. If he loves her, he should give everything for her.

And he is going to do it.

There's such a tangled mess of emotions that explode from that.

She stabilized him. She could have done that whenever. She didn't, because it didn't serve her needs.

A year of silence, Gale thinking she'd taken everything from him and Mystra not caring enough to explain otherwise, and the first thing she says is die.

He's a pawn. Literally. She wants him to go to the other side of the board and trade his life for the winning move.

He doesn't want to die. But he's terrified that that's what's best for the world.

The divine perspective is that he gets what he deserves. The divine perspective is that she's being merciful, because she's giving him a home afterwards with her.

The mortal perspective is that she's cruel. That this is cruel. That Gale is only worth what he can give to her. That his death is more useful than his life. That ending that beautiful man with all his wants, and hopes, and dreams, at the drop of a pin, is nothing to her.

If you explode Gale at Moonrise, the Sword Coast falls to the Mindflayers. Mystra is a god, she can see that outcome. But she is a god of magic, and as such, it's not her problem. Her problem has been dealt with.

Let me go back to Withers' question:

Withers: And so, I ask again: what is the worth of a single mortal life?

Tav: Each life is of infinite value and merits sacrificing everything for.

Withers: And thus, balance is achieved.

Mystra cannot answer this question correctly. A single mortal life could never be worth the sacrifice in her eyes. She uses people as a means to an end, because the ends justify the means retroactively to her. Dornal Silverhand's suffering and Elué Silverhand's death begot her seven powerful Chosen. Two people for the wellbeing of many. She'll continue to use people like this, because that's what she is. That's what godhood entails.

Gale could likely answer this question properly, though not act on it perfectly. If his Netherese blight could save people, even if it's terrifying, he would blow himself up. He has to be talked down from it. He doesn't realize that he is one of those lives of infinite value.

What about God Gale? Can he answer it?

Of course not. He wouldn't sacrifice his godhood to come back home to mortality. He looks down on mortal life. He thinks he's above it. He, a newly minted god, is a perfect window into the basis of how gods perceive things.

Mystra asking Gale to kill himself betrays her lack of value in him as a person. Like God Gale, she looks down on mortality, just much, much more subtly. He's a means to an end. All mortals are.

Pawn to Cleric Four.

[cyren-myadd]

Rant about Eywa theories

Eywa is one of the most interesting concepts in the Avatar universe, imo. The concept of an interplanetary consciousness that every native organism can "interface" with is so cool. One thing that really fascinates me about Eywa is how she goes about "protecting only the balance of life" as Neytiri explained to Jake. As of Avatar 1, Eywa did not react to the human threat mining and destroying the forest for several years, nor the genocide/abduction of the Sarentu clan, even though Eywa would've been aware of what was happening when the Na'vi shared their memories with her soul trees. She only reacted to the threat AFTER she was exposed to human memories of the destruction of earth when Jake interfaced with her via his avatar body, and then again when she interfaced with Grace’s human body. The reaction was similar to an immune response within a body attacking a foreign virus, with native fauna mobilizing to attack anything that registered as alien. One interesting thing of note about the immune response is that the animals were not physically connected to Eywa when they attacked, which means Eywa can somehow send commands to organisms “wirelessly.” This phenomena could also explain how the atokirina conveniently show up to stop Neytiri from killing Jake. Anyway, the immune response won the final battle of A1, in A2 we saw the immune response can't protect Pandora in its entirety. The recoms could get past the immune response undetected, and Bridgehead and the whaling ships didn't face an immune response at all.

Another interesting thing about Eywa we learned from the original script for Avatar 2, is that she is confirmed to have caused Grace’s pregnancy. Norm describes Kiri’s birth as “parthenogenesis,” which is a biological process in which an egg produces viable offspring without sperm from a male. (idk if the script needs a spoiler warning, so I'm putting one just to be safe) Based on the fact that Jake describes the pregnancy as “a mystery,” we can assume parthenogenetic birth isn’t something normal to the Na’vi’s alien reproductive cycle. On earth, parthenogenesis is only found in invertebrates and some plants. Assuming that Na’vi reproduction is somewhat similar to earth animal reproduction (which I think we can safely do since the Sully children clearly have inherited different traits from their parents, implying that they get half of their DNA from each parent just like on earth, but they are aliens so I could be completely wrong here), Grace would’ve had gametes inside of her avatar’s reproductive system, which are cells that only contain half of the genetic material to produce a viable offspring. A complex, multicellular organism like a Na’vi couldn’t exist without a full set of genes, so in order to produce a zygote (a new cell with a full set of genes that can grow into an embryo), the other half of the genetic material must’ve come from somewhere else, and the only place it could’ve come from is Eywa herself. This means that Eywa, to some capacity, can create or at least copy and reproduce genetic material. Since Kiri is so similar to Grace, it’s possible the other half of her genes are just a complete copy of Grace.

From all this we can conclude some things about Eywa.

We know she is not:

All powerful

All knowing

A “god” in the traditional sense

We know she is capable of:

Storing memories, including memories of the deceased from the last time they connected with her

Making decisions to react to threats based on those memories

Interfacing with an alien’s nervous system

Commanding fauna

Sending signals to organisms without physical contact

Creating/changing genetic material

What is still unclear is how Eywa’s consciousness works. Is she:

A sentient individual?

A hive mind of the deceased Na’vi?

An amalgamation of consciousness built from memories?

Something akin to a biological artificial intelligence?

Now that we’ve established the things that are confirmed about Eywa, I want to get into some speculation about what else she might be capable of. Note that from this point on I’m being purely SPECULATIVE and I’m not saying any of this is for sure possible in canon, I’m just coming up with hypotheses based on info we already have. After the end of Avatar 2, it looks like Jake and the Na’vi are planning to make their stand against the RDA, but if they want any hope of winning against the RDA’s superior technology, they’re going to need a combination of a Na’vi war force and divine intervention, just like in Avatar 1. The question is, how will Eywa help them? The one form of defense we’ve seen from her is the immune response, but that can only go so far. It can be fooled by avatars and recoms, and it is not strong enough to attack a heavily fortified base like Bridgehead. Eywa is going to have to step up her game, and I’ve created three theories on how she might do that.

📢potential spoiler warning for the last theory!📢

Theory 1: The 880 Virus

Project 880 is a screenplay James Cameron wrote in 1995 that eventually morphed into the Avatar we know and love today. One element in 880 that never made it to Avatar was the counter-viruses. For every earth virus the RDA brought with them to Pandora, Eywa created a counter-virus that would stop it, protecting both native organisms and the humans from getting sick from the viruses ever again. The RDA was even planning to create vaccines using the counter-viruses and sell them back on earth. At the end of Project 880 when the RDA is forced to retreat, Jake tells them that if they ever come back, Eywa will unleash a deadly virus that will wipe out any human that dares set foot on Pandora again. Even though Project 880 is not canon, I could see James Cameron revisiting his old idea to help the protagonists shake off the RDA forever. The problem is they’d need to find a way to protect the friendly humans like Spider and Norm.

Theory 2: Avatar Kiri

Between the parthenogenetic birth and Kiri’s ability to control vines (seen in The High Ground comic) and anemones (seen in Avatar 2), the movies are clearly setting up for there to be something special about her. In both the comic scene where she controlled plants and the movie scene where she controlled the anemones, the characters around her expressed confusion that she could do so, from which we can assume those are not normal abilities of a Na’vi. Since Kiri is also established to have a deep connection to Eywa, it is possible she is meant to act as an “avatar.” In the original context of the word, an avatar is a manifestation of a deity in mortal form, so Kiri would act as an avatar for Eywa. Since Kiri is a person and not a… whatever Eywa is, she can make her own decisions and react quickly to problems without having to absorb memories first. There’s no more information to speculate about what other abilities Kiri may develop in the future, so unfortunately, there’s not much else to discuss here that we can base on any evidence.

Theory 3: If you can’t beat em, join em

📢Here’s where we’re getting into potential spoiler territory.📢 In the BTS footage for Avatar 2, there were some scripts accidentally shown which described some very interesting scenes: Spider, breathing without a mask, and Kiri confessing to Mo’at that she caused it to happen. There was also some concept art shown in Las Vegas that depicted Spider with a neural queue plugged into the underwater spirit tree with Kiri. Full disclaimer, it’s entirely possible these are scrapped ideas and will not be seen in the Avatar franchise, but for the sake of this hypothesis, let’s assume they’re legit. I’ve seen a lot of people asking the question of HOW would this happen, but I haven’t seen anybody asking an equally important question: WHY? I’m very interested in the HOW and maybe I’ll make a discussion post on it later, but for my hypothesis let’s just talk about the WHY. Even though Kiri claimed responsibility for it, I don’t think this is something she could do without the help of Eywa, since Na’vi aren’t established to have the ability to radically alter other organisms. So why would Eywa want to give a human kid the ability to breathe the Pandoran air? Sure, he’s Kiri’s friend, but Eywa has never intervened to save an individual’s life just because people cared about them before (otherwise we’d still have Neteyam RIP). As Neytiri said, “The Great Mother protects the balance of life.” Eywa did not intervene to stop the destructive mining or protect the Sarentu, she only intervened AFTER Grace’s memories showed her that the RDA could potentially cause planet-wide destruction like on earth. So if she gave Spider this life-saving ability, there must be a bigger reason for it other than just Kiri wanting him to survive. My hypothesis is that Eywa has realized what a massive threat the humans pose to Pandora, and that her immune system response is insufficient to protect her biosphere. Her solution is to behave like a virus and weaponize the humans against themselves. When a virus infects a healthy organism, it “hacks” into healthy cells and reprograms them to attack uninfected cells and produce more viruses. Eywa will “hack” Spider’s biology the same way she “hacked” into Grace’s nervous system to interface with her, and will “reprogram” him to breathe the air and have a neural queue. Spider is already loyal to the Na’vi, so she doesn’t need to do anything further to him, but what if she repeated the process with other humans? Any human who gained a neural queue would be able to experience tsaheylu and the connection between all living things. Humans who are already loyal to Eywa would be able to fight back better with their new abilities, and it would give Eywa more access to more memories to gain a better understanding of the enemy. Humans who are loyal to the RDA would be more inclined to switch sides after experiencing Eywa’s consciousness, much like Jake did. I’m aware this final theory is a bit more out there than the others, but it spawned from me trying to answer the question of WHY would Spider get the ability to breathe the air and I felt like there had to be a bigger reason than just Kiri wanting to save him. Unlike Kiri, there’s not some special significance about Spider (other than his connection to Quaritch, but I don’t think Eywa would care about that) that would make him vital to the fight against the RDA, so I thought, what if he’s not special, he just happened to be the first piece of a much larger plan? And the result is this theory.

What do you think of my theories and do you guys have any of your own to share?

TLDR: Eywa is really cool, and in the future I think she could possibly defeat the RDA by unleashing a deadly virus, giving Kiri special powers, or "converting" Spider and other humans.

[teenandbeyond]

Hello! I was wondering if you would want to write for Beerus? I was thinking what a courtship would be like between him and a goddess of creation? :) hopefully you're doing well during the midst of everything that's going on in the real world! Best of wishes! -A

Beerus x Goddess of Creation. Reader

I like the alternative idea. Despite this, I plan to make the personality different! Edit: I'm doing okay, just busy with schoolwork. Best wishes to you, too! I hope everyone who reads this is doing well too, or if not, this can cheer you up a little!

Want more from me? Masterlist

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

🥢Création et Destruction🥢 (DBS or Dragon ball Super)

Warning(s): Fluff

Although destruction and creation contradict each other in meaning, one can not exist without the other...They must coexist to truly make the universe hold the beauty it possesses.

✨✨✨✨✨

You and Beerus are total opposites.

He destroys.

You create.

He is much more relaxed.

While your shoulders are stiff with responsibility and proper etiquette.

When you met, you hadn't expected him to flirt with you on the spot.

"Huh. My first time meeting the Goddess of Creation, can't believe I've been missing out on such a cute Goddess."

"I—That-that's very unprofessional..."

You didn't understand him. You were taught to always be polite and respectful, to always hold your tongue, to always be professional, and to hold your temper.

He hardly did any of those things.

And he could really test your temper.

He easily broke that elegant, put-together wall you had up.

And he enjoyed every minute of it.

"Why are you taking a nap when you have responsibilities. That's so improper!...Ahem-"

And with time, he broke you down completely.

Noticing you were always tired and stiff and showing you what's it like to relax.

"Just because we have responsibilities doesn't mean we can't relax once in a while. We have to do this for millenniums, might as well catch a few Z's in between."

He is very protective over you when you do relent and catch a nap, he'd be very tempted to destroy the planet of whoever interrupts you.

And he learned you hadn't really explored planets and introduced you to Earth and its cuisine.

Which really excited you.

"Cute..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

He liked that your presence wasn't rough as his, the feeling of powerful serenity you gave off was attractive to him. You were polite and fluid in movement, yet your power and knowledge were undeniable.

He wanted you.

So he courted you.

And you saw another side of him.

"Flowers?"

"Bulma gave me an earful and said something about them..."

"Let me guess, you weren't really listening?"

"Well...I want to get this right, so, I tried to remember everything I could. She mentioned something called a 'date' that I'm supposed to take you on..."

He was soft and wasn't afraid to show it...to you...

He noticed your hair was always getting in your face, so he got you fancy hair clips to hold the stray hairs away.

When your shoulders got stiff from playing your role, he learned how you give you massages to make you feel better, but not without cracking jokes the whole time.

He attempted to learn how to cook for you...

Well, actually, he wasn't terrible at that. The dishes he could make were just limited.

You liked watching the process, his frustration was adorable.

Cooking for you? Telling you 'good morning' and 'good night'?

He was whipped.

Undoubtedly.

He even lets you pet him, which you'll do if he gets a little riled up.

You save his dignity and refrain from doing it in public (if it's not necessary) since he purrs a deep rumble.

You do things together, like cooking and of course your roles as Gods.

But Beerus's favorite activity to do with you is definitely napping...or maybe eating...both? That's a hard choice for him to make.

You were really good for each other.

He destroyed your walls and the false personality you upheld.

You created a warmth in his heart that he cherished.

People wondered how you worked out so well, you were opposites.

But being opposites brought you together.

So what if he destroys and you create?

Destruction and creation coexisting can make something truly beautiful

And you two love every minute of it

[quasi-normalcy]

I know I say that modern Star Trek hasn't really introduced very many original villains, but that's not quite fair., So...

Comprehensive list of new villains offered by modern Star Trek (post 2017)

BA'UL

Why They're villains: They oppressed the Kelpiens on Kaminar for thousands of years and lied about their origins. Pros: Notably creepy design, and notably creepy technology Cons: They can't really be used as recurring villains because the Kelpiens overthrew them at the end of the episode; 900 years later, they'd become allies.

CONTROL(technically borrowed from the novels, but whatever):

Why They're Villains: Did that standard basic bitch evil computer move where they tried to wipe out all organic life in the galaxy. Pros: Um...at least the writers got it out of the way so that they couldn't make that particular aspect of the novelverse canon.

Cons:

CONTROL sucks.

Seriously, at their best, they're just like...Diet Borg. Fuck CONTROL.

Can't come back because Emperor Georgiou murdered it up but good, yum yum. Not that you would want it to.

HIGHER SYNTHETICS:

Why They're Villains: "Just ring us up and we'll come kill all organic life in your galaxy", lol.

Pros:

Tentacular

Introduces some cosmic horror to the Star Trek universe.

Cons:

Kind of a generic doomsday villain.

Too powerful to really use them again.

GELRAKIANS:

Why They're Villains: Turn hostile if you show them wood.

Pros: Umm...

Cons:

Completely obsessed with crystals

Not really prime "recurring villain" material

DROOKMANI:

Why They're Villains: Extremely territorial about their salvage.

Pros: So far, they're the first villains on this list who have actually been recurring

Cons: They don't really seem like a threat to any ship more powerful than California class.

BADGEY:

Pros: "I will burn! Your heart! In a fiiiiiiiire!"

Why He's a Villain: Daddy issues.

Cons:

Kind of a one-note joke.

Ascended to a higher plane of existence so he can't be come back.

AGIMUS & PEANUT HAMPER:

Why They're Villains: He's a tyrannical supercomputer! She's just kind of a bitchy robot! Together they're...legitimately just making each other into better people?

Pros: They're kind of adorable?

Cons:

They're not really villains anymore

Peanut Hamper shouldn't even be on this list since Exocomps were from TNG.

SPECIES 10-C:

Why They're Villains: Gravitationally dredging the Milky Way for dark matter.

Pros:

Kind of a cool concept

Not a type of alien that Star Trek has really done before.

Cons:

Not really villains.

Extremely unlikely to recur.

TRANSWARP CONDUIT ALIENS:

Cons:

Why They're Villains: They, uh, opened up a big-ass transwarp conduit in the middle of Federation space for some reason.

Pros: Umm. They gave Agnes something to do in the finale.

Blatantly just created at the last minute to justify the presence of the Borg at the beginning of the season.

By the writers' own admission, they never had any actual intent to follow up on them, even though they really ought to.

They're a complete blank slate; even more so than the Higher Synthetics. Who are they? Dunno. What do they want? Dunno.

Honestly I don't even care about them, I just want to see more Jurati-Borg

VAU N'AKAT

Why They're Villains: They blame the Federation for destroying their planet in the future.

Pros:

It's nice to actually have an original alien species as arc villains for a change

I like the aesthetics of their technology

John Noble and Jameela Jamil both have really pleasant voices; like, I could listen to them all day

Space Goths

Drednok

Cons:

There's only, like, a hundred of them who came back from the future so it's not clear how much of a threat they can be without their living construct jiggerypokery.

I'm sure that this will get fleshed out in season 2, but they seem kind of underdeveloped as a culture at this point.

I assume that they'll probably make friends by the end of the series, so they probably can't be recurring antagonists elsewhere.

SHEPHERDS:

Why They're Villains: Ancient fundamentalists amorally protecting a holy comet on its path.

Pros: It was a good episode.

Cons: Unless you run into that one specific comet, they'll probably just leave you alone.

MAJALANS:

Why They're Villains: You know The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas? That.

Pros: It was a good short story.

Cons: Aside from ritualistically torturing a child to death every few years, they're kind of upstanding citizens of a the galactic community. Not really villain material.

HYSPERIANS:

Why They're Villains: Their evil queen keeps trying to trick her asexual son into losing his virginity.

Pros:

Their ship is really pretty.

The concept of Ren Faire larpers getting together to make a real kingdom is kind of hilarious.

Cons:

They're just another type of human

They seem to mind their own business when they're not trying to interfere in the sex life of one specific Starfleet engineer.

KROMSAPIODS:

Why They're Villains: They have a undeniable biological need to hunt

Pros: Kind of terrifying design

Cons: Catch-and-release hunters aren't really threatening.

MOOPSY:

Why It's a Villain: The Moopsy DRINKS YOUR BONES!!!

Pros: Moopsy!

Cons: Moopsy!

[momentomori24]

Shadow, despite hating Nine with a passion, is the only person in this entire show that actually sees and understands him in any meaningful way. Sonic's attachment to Nine is based off his friendship with Tails and his inability to cope with the fact that his best friend is gone. In his eyes, Nine is just a gloomy, edgy version of Tails, not his own person with his own motives and desires. He's so used to him and Tails being on the same page, always having each other's back, that he didn't even bother to consider the fact that Nine and him would be any different, and his lapse in judgement is what lead to Ghost Hill being destroyed in the aftermath of Nine's betrayal.

Shadow repeats the sentiment ''they're not your real friends'' over and over in the show. Not only does he offer Sonic a mental out, a way to compartmentalize and stick to their priorities without any regrets weighing him down, it also rings very true to every character Sonic has met thus far. Rebel isn't Rouge, Renegade isn't Knuckles, Thorn isn't Amy and Nine isn't Tails. They're only pieces of their original's personality formed and twisted into their own people with their own lives and their own names. They're similar, but distinctly different, complete strangers in all but appearance. Sonic undoubtably cares about Nine and the others, but that care is built on an illusion, and Shadow recognized that immediately. And for me that's the most ironic and sensible part of it all. That it's Shadow of all people recognizing that so quickly. Shadow, the guy with a history of identity issues plagueing his legacy. Shadow, the guy who cares the least about these other people and made Sonic eat dirt for an entire episode just to sacrifice them one season ago.

And it makes sense. Because he knows first hand how difficult it is to seperate the past from the present, walking the line between being a protector and being a destroyer, his own person or just a weapon and existing as an entity for others to project on until he finally figured himself out on his own, he's able to sniff out Nine's confusion and resentment of Tails from his line ''This is the friend Sonic thought was like me? We're nothing alike'' when they encountered his ghost form before Sonic ever did. And because he doesn't care for him, he never associates him with Tails, giving him the ability to see Nine for who he really is. And Nine's troubled, selfish and volatile, and not to be trusted because his goals never aligned with theirs. He's everything Tails isn't, and that's why Sonic never acknowledged those traits. But Shadow sees Nine, and that's why he was so quick to distrust him.

It's also why he could easily deduce what the motive behind his actions were. Power. It's a motive he can certainly relate to. Something he can understand, but Sonic cannot (bless his heart). It was his driving force for the entirety of SA2. What he was after was the power of the Chaos Emeralds to inact Professor Gerald's revenge on the planet and was he believed to be Maria's dying wish, just like how Nine searches for power to create a paradise where he can live the life he always wanted surrounded by ''friends'' he never had. Both of them didn't think about the damage they caused or those they betrayed in that pursuit because they never factored into the equation in the first place. It's about power to achieve self-fulfilment, and what a broken, lonely, destructive and misguided guy seen by nobody and isolated by everybody will do to see it all through to the end.

Nine and Shadow can relate to each other. They can understand each other. They're can be on the same page when it comes to figuring out what the other person is plotting from eye contact alone (like Shadow immediately realising that Nine was going to use Sonic as his energy source). What Shadow wants from Sonic is to be heard, and what Nine wanted from Sonic was to be seen, and what they can't recieve from him they can give to each other. They're similar, they're compatible, they're both attached to Sonic despite acting otherwise and their mindsets are identical-- and that's exactly why they will never be friends.

[stem-sister-scuffle]

STEM SISTER SCUFFLE: ROUND 1 MASHUP 9

Mercymorn The First (The Locked Tomb) vs GLaDOS (Portal)

Mercymorn The First is a Cryogenics Scientist and Anatomist!

GLaDOS is a Quantum Physicist and Behavioural Psychologist!

Why you should vote for each contestant:

Mercymorn The First:

"Scientist working on human cryogenics/necromancy. She's a genius in a codependent toxic polycule with God."

"Fits the criteria for STEM (science, tech, engineering, math (specifically science)), and also Quirky STEM (stabbing, tearing, eating, maiming). She was a scientist trying to save humanity from global warming, before one of her science buddies became a necromancer and killed the entire world. Now she’s the meanest lady ever and had a threesome with god. Also she got ultra exploded (also by god)"

"She was trying very, very hard to save humanity! She was aiming to preserve people for an interstellar voyage, so that humans could survive the end of the world. It didn't work out and the project got shut down, but after the world ended she pioneered the field of necromantic healing and was known as the foremost anatomical expert among God's Lyctors. She says ick! bleh! out loud when she's disgusted. Also she's much, much more ethical than most people in the series."

"She was a doctor that joined several of her friends, most of whom were other STEM people and a few who weren't, in trying to convince the governments of the world to make an active plan to save the world from climate change. This ended up with one of them destroying the solar system and everything in it, resurrecting it all, and becoming God. She was resurrected as one of his Saints, and continued to use her medical knowledge to become an anatomy specialist and as a key part of a plan between her and another of their friends to take down God for being a tyrant. She might have been an OBGYN but I can't remember if that's actually canon. Also, she has naturally "apricot-colored" (so, pink) hair."

"She was a Regular Doctor working to save humanity from climate change but got resurrected by her friend after he ended the world and became a powerful goddess-like figure. She uses her knowledge of human anatomy to do crazy flesh magic including making her hair naturally pink just for funsies (iconic). She doesn't put up with any bullshit from anyone, including the universe's ostensible god. I love her"

"It's not specifically described but she was the medical support in a cryosleep project, and she knows enough later to have artificially created a baby without either of the biological parents knowing about it

She's the worst and I love her. Here's a description of her in Harrow the Ninth:

You could press your hand to Ianthe’s chest, if you wanted—which you didn’t, naturally—and the blood-warm sternum beneath would gradually unfold for you. But it would take effort, and close contact, and you would need to know the sternum.

Mercymorn the First knew the sternum. Mercymorn the First knew the pericardial fat, the soft-tissue secrets of the mediastinum, the false-heart shape of the thymus. You might have to press your whole palm to Ianthe’s breastbone—doubtless—and take valuable seconds to search out the bone, and the things behind the bone, their characters, their locations. Mercymorn could pinpoint your pineal gland with the merest touch to the skull. This was not due to some Lyctoral power that she alone possessed, no honed necromantic theorem; as God had told you, she had simply memorised the body, by rote, over the course of ten thousand years. She had studied the measurements and their range of differences, and on the rare occasions when she needed to assume where something was or how it worked, her assumptions had the accuracy of ten thousand years’ experience. What Mercy didn’t know about the body wasn’t just not worth knowing, said the Emperor; if she didn’t know it, it hadn’t existed previously.

Over the dinner table you asked Augustine why, if it was simply a matter of memory, he hadn’t done the same thing. Ianthe choked discreetly on a forkful of boiled flour-paste shapes in red sauce. “Lord! I can barely remember what I had for lunch last week,” he said. “Besides, anatomy has too narrow an application.” Mercymorn opened her mouth, hurricane eyes promising a coastal lashing, and said, “Application!” but Augustine said, languidly— “One would only really need it to kill Lyctors, Harrowhark, and the rest of us never evinced any interest in that.”

That broke up the dinner somewhat.

This is her and I love her dearly

https://youtu.be/pvJOuUJNcx8"

GLaDOS:

"i’m not sure how to explain this one. she’s an evil computer who makes a woman do fucked up tasks that all involve a portal gun in some way. evil computer woman i love you :3"

"She's witty, fun, they had to restrain her intelligence and it didn't work-"

"She should be able to kill everyone forever. Anyways she runs aperture she loves science so much it transcended lives and identity. It’s just what she does"

"she kills people 👍 shes cool and i like her"

"…. I mean she’s categorically not but it would be funny to include her. Again, it would be Very Funny"

"mad scientist robot representation with a complex emotional arc through multiple video games"

"She might not know what the point of her tests are, but she sure is good at making them. Bonus points for being hot"

"Managed a massive and highly advanced scientific facility in which she ran tests and experiments long after the fall of human civilization. Chell/GLaDOS <3"

"She’s GLaDOS"

[nanomooselet]

Wraith V / Through A Glass Darkly

I admit to maybe being overly obsessed with this thing.

Because of (naturally) the colours (and the fact that at 100%, it looks like a flatlining heart monitor, as if we needed more indications this is a symbolic death). Vash in red/magenta and gold, Knives in blue/white and violet - until it's complete. Then Vash wakes up, suddenly all-violet, while Knives is left only with blue and teal.

Why would that be? Because Vash is at last consciously using his powers? Maybe. Likely.

But I, at least, would also like to believe Tesla has more to her story than forever remaining an objectified victim, though I know I'm probably deluding myself. (I'm interested to see just what, if anything, Orange plans for her. I've always felt there was more to her perspective.) I like to think she's present too, in her own strange way, and not simply as part of Knives.

What do you think her opinion would be of these events? Of her brothers?

What choice do you think she would have made?

I, personally, suspect Tesla would have had powers both to bring and to take, just like Vash. I doubt his personality being destroyed and his body brutally exploited to access those powers (never mind the purpose they're accessed to fulfil) is a plan she would want any part of, whatever her opinion of humanity. I think Knives had no idea what he invited upon himself making contact with the Core, something that exists outside of time. I think Tesla and Vash are both stranger and more existentially terrifying beings than even he imagines.

Knives baptised his brother in order to make him fit to receive divinity - and in Christianity, divinity comes as three parts in one. Not two equal opposites, as Knives conceptualises himself and his twin, but a singular whole expressed as three aspects. Parent...

Child...

Spirit.

His plan worked perfectly. He could not have made a bigger mistake.

Having been baptised, having received the spirit, the answer finally comes to Vash, and the truth.

Whose side are you on? Who are you?

See, it's made a point in Stampede, more than before, that the twins are almost physically identical. The resemblance is close enough for them to be mistaken for each other, something which Knives exploits. Even spending so much time so far apart, it seems inevitable that they influence each other. When one looks into the other's face, he sees his own reflection as in a mirror.

Though that almost never happens in the series. Knives and Vash almost never share the same eyeline.

They don't see eye-to-eye or face-to-face. Not until the very end.

The English dub, the finale, the question Vash asks as he finally begins to cry - "Who are you?" There's a reason he asks the question in those words.

Roberto said it in the first episode in the scene where we met Vash as an adult, hanging in the desert. "This clown's the big bad Typhoon? Vash the Stampede… who are you?" (The first time Vash gets called a fool or a clown, and not the last.)

Vash isn't quite sure... or rather, doesn't know who it is that he should be, if not what he is now. He's only ever been a counterpart, either allied or opposed, to his brother, and Knives has made it very clear what he thinks of any attempts to be anything else.

The question Roberto asks is the question the whole series builds towards answering because Vash isn't certain there is an answer, without his twin.

Until the moment he sees his brother, really sees him, and finally realises... that is not his reflection. He can't see himself in this mirror. There's something missing. And if that isn't his reflection, then who is he, looking? Who is Vash?

Whose side are you on? Who are you?

Human or Plant? Gun or Superman? Darkness or light? Yin or yang? Water or fire, heaven or earth? Are you a spirit, or a body? A machine or a living thing? Daydream or nightmare? Monster or angel?

Both? Neither?

The answer he ultimately gives is... not choosing an answer. It's looking beyond the question and the assumptions that it carries; being truly free. Knives has no right and no means to dictate who it is Vash becomes, and he never did. The question he asks is meaningless, and the dilemma he presents is false.

There's no choice.

'Cause I'm Vash the Stampede.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

(1 Corinthians 13: 12-13)

The only true struggle is the struggle against oneself. And, at least in that moment, love wins.

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

Since Eclipse is back how would things go out in Automaton Heart Au?

I could see Eclipse pretending to be Solar but imagine this. Moon and Solar are dating but didn't tell anyone yet even though it's very obvious. Not to Eclipse though, he just knows they understand each other well.. And wants to take that as an advantage to get into Moon's room as he pretends to be Solar, Moon pulls him aside to talk to him and give him a peck. Eclipse is in total shock while Solar comes back only to see his "clone" and Moon is confused.

Hahahahah

I find that prospect so amusing, because in Automaton Heart AU, Eclipse IS alive.

He's been hiding under Sun's bed.

Yup This whole time.

(slightly related IZ gif cus I couldn't find the specific one I wanted)

And yeah, Sun knows he's there. He just hasn't told Moon exactly about it yet. They have an arrangement.

I guess I'll say some juicy details while being tumblr-appropriate. XD

Sun's room we know exists in the show, as it's been mentioned a few times, but it's never shown. (likely cus they can't think of anything in VR that makes logical sense)

So we know Sun's room is the only place that doesn't have any cameras.

In Automaton Heart AU.

Eclipse didn't die.

He believed to by Solar, and Moon because the blast that destroyed the star in his chest cavity. That would have destroyed nearly anyone.

But it knocked parts of him back. A majority of him was destroyed, but a torso, a hand, and a head/faceplate (with the rays/spikes blown off) managed to lodge deep into the ball pit.

When Moon traveled back to his own dimension, away from Solar's (After Solar yelled at him and punched Moon for not letting him sacrifice himself) Eclipse got teleported back to the main dimension along with Moon.

Waiting at the bottom of the Ballpit.

He wasn't biding his "evil time" or whatever.

He was completely knocked out and his systems failed. He was dead for all intents and purposes.

A few Days later, as Sun is disinfecting the Ball pit, he nearly trips over something.

Sun and Moon never noticed him, because they openly admit on the show to have their Olfactory sensors off, because they're working with Stinky Kids all the time. So they didn't even notice the smells of burnt metal deep within the ballpit, despite parent complaints because they just thought it was "Karen's being Karens" or them having issues with Fazbear or something.

Sun disturbing the charred broken frame of Eclipse (back to SolarFlare's body, because the Eclipse Body was entirely on star power. Just without the head spikes, a torso, and a pretty mangled hand with half his fingers missing) The machine whirrs to life.

Something that Sun is terrified of and didn't think would be physically possible.

Eclipse is motivated simply by anger and spite. As if he was his own ghost in the machine possessing his very being. He is 100% motivated by spite, as he is in all aspects of his life. He has nothing left to give. And he crawls toward Sun, weak, barely able to keep his head above the pit.

He wants to hurt them. He wants to kill them. They did this to them. It's all their fault. It's always been their fault hasn't it?

Eclipse lacks his proper monologuing skills. His voice box is charred. He can't speak but garbled sounds. His mind is too fractured to think properly. All he wants is to cause harm.

He collapses, his damaged claws tearing the edge of Sun's slipper.

And Sun doesn't know what to do.

He could just... Kill him again, but Eclipse is like this now. Sun doesn't even know how the fuck he survived any of that.

He could just kick him into the pit and have the Computer send him to another dimension...

But that doesn't sound right to Sun either.

He could tell Moon, but Moon would just like... find a gun and shoot him point blank at this point. Like putting down an injured animal.

That also doesn't sit right with Sun.

(Sun's Bloodmoon hallucinations/intrusive thoughts are going rampant as he tries to make a discission.)

Sun decides he'll figure out what to do with Eclipse later, and locks him in his room, away from the cameras and away from Moon.

He will tell Moon....

Eventually.

Sun and Eclipse reach a mutually beneficial agreement from this... as Sun agrees to fix Eclipse and give him a new body, as long as Eclipse plans to not hurt his family anymore.

Eclipse hated this, but he "agreed" his logic being that, since he can't make a verbal agreement, he can double cross Sun and kill them all once he's fixed.

But, it takes a long time for Sun to repair him and get parts.

It would go faster with Moon, since Moon has the more logical mind....

But Sun doesn't exactly want to tell his brother yet, as Moon is distracted with Solar, and he seems happy for the first time in a long while. He doesn't want to ruin that by saying "oh you didn't kill Eclipse by the way"

Also, Eclipse Also agrees that he doesn't want help from Moon.

Cue Slowburn in the background of Sun, tenderly taking care of Eclipse. And warming Eclipse on the idea of second chances.

Cue Eclipse not understanding why Sun is bothering with a lost cause of him at this point...

The two actually listening to eachother and enjoying eachother's company.

They don't talk about the past.... not yet.

Eclipse certainly can't...

but he is forced to listen, he can't move... and have someone genuinely caring and looking out for him....

and then they kiss.....

[yennas-stuff]

elriels seem completely incapable of making any arguments for their ship on a meta level. like all of their arguments always rely on picking apart the text in a very literal manner, misrepresenting the text out of context, or just straight up biased takes on what the characters are thinking/desire (like idc what elain wants.... she's a character walking in whatever direction SJM wants). never in all my time lurking have i seen a single compelling meta argument from them outside of "elriel has already been set up", and "it would make no sense to casual readers if elriel didn't happen", and my favorite outright false claim that they love, "sjm said the series is about the archeron sisters".

idk how they champion so hard for a ship that they can't even make a good narrative argument for--because it doesn't make any sense from a storytelling perspective and they either know it or are too ignorant on the technicalities of writing a novel to understand that.

they take people's arguments like mine (saying idc what elain wants) and misdirect people's attention by calling it misogyny or whatever other stupidity they spew, and COMPLETELY miss the point everyone's making that it's not that we "don't care about elain" and "hate elain" but that we understand that narratives need to have a little something called dramatic irony, which only exists if characters are in opposition in some way (elain resisting the mating bond).

elain is not a victim of people's misogyny, she's a fictional character who some people would find less interesting if her endgame romance was as simplistic as "she likes azriel so she's going to end up with azriel", and all the drama for the book has to come from outside factors like Rhys keeping them apart... and... what? Breaking the mating bond before they can be together? Even though they already were happily going to touch each other seemingly without any regard to the mate bond/lucien being around? The book would be as big of a disaster as CC3 because it would rely completely on external plots... but that's just my biased opinion on a different topic, anyway.

It just doesn't make sense and it would be completely random for them to end up together, narratively. I know they argue the opposite but they just can't back it up with any logical arguments. I think that's why it confuses me that there are so many of them... i guess lotssss of people really read at a very surface level depth

First of all, thank you for the message!

Agreed about their theories. They also never make sense to me and seem to be based more on vibes than anything else. I could see how, to some people, their aesthetic can be appealing, but personally, I don't enjoy soft girl/bad boy trope. But it doesn't matter much since it's about what sjm enjoys and gravitates towards... and the whole point of the series is LIKE CALLS TO LIKE. It's about choosing a partner to match your energy, to help you meet your fullest potential.

We HAVE enough evidence to say that Azriel wouldn't let Elain do much about her powers. He speaks for her. He wants to duel her mate, which shows us he doesn't understand her on a deeper level. Elain also couldn't help Azriel heal and get better mentally. He wouldn't share his darkness with her. He doesnt plan any future together.

Is that the forbidden romance they are fighting so hard for? Lucien is so far away, respecting her boundaries. Rhys has already promised to keep Elain safe if she decided to reject the bond. So, who would they be fighting? What's forbidden about it?

You are so right that it reads very surface level. Their possible plot seems to be rejecting the bond, and what else ???? Koshei is connected to Lucien and BOE. So they would completely destroy Lucien and their connection to human lands. He will not just get over it and be with Vassa (lol). Mating bonds are a serious business. ONLY THE IMPORTANCE AND INEVITABILITY OF MATING BONDS HAD 4 BOOKS OF BUILD-UP. Not their ship.

Do they want the repeat of Nesta's warrior training arc? How would spy training look like? Didn't Az himself say it's boring? You just sit and observe...

Elain's visions seemed to be connected to Lucien's closeness (coz acowar). Also, Cassian's presence grounded Nesta and helped her out. Wouldn't Lucien be needed for Elain to wake up her visions back? Az would just sit in the corner and silently fume and spiral about not being her mate...

It's just... how can they not see that they are fighting for the losing side. And what for? Some smut scenes? That's what ao3 is for, babes. And they will get canon Azriel smut. They dont need to worry. Just not with Elain. (Gwyn seems more likely to keep up with his stamina. They do work out a lot, lmao.)

[blaque-honeyy]

*sigh* I have so much to say about The Bear S3.

I think s3 exists in this type of limbo where there are soo many things happening but none of it is really moving the story forward. My confusion lies in not knowing if this was intentional or not.

I feel dissatisfied, but I'm slightly okay with it (?) knowing that we were told some of these events were going to happen and it wouldn't be authentic if these problems were resolved within the season. Whether or not I remain okay with the events of this season depend on figuring out what the purpose of s3 was.

There is this parallax effect happening throughout the entire season: where Syd & Carmy start out AGREEING to go through this together but once Carmy starts slipping into old behaviors, their perspectives on how to get to that goal become different. Opening the restaurant was supposed to be a big point of unity and fulfillment for them but it has only created more distance and promoted an unequal power balance between them. They are stuck and it feels like chaos moving in slow motion.

The silence between them is so damn loud it's unbearable. Watching the individual descents of both characters is so rough and exposes the toxicity of trying to create something new without addressing unhealed wounds.

I think the restaurant is a toxic relationship for Sydney. She loves and admires Carmy so much, and doesn't want to walk away from something that she's put so much effort into, but there's only so much compromising you can do before you start losing yourself. Syd is rightfully scared that she will forever live in Carmy's shadow.

Carmy is spiraling, blinded by tunnel vision to reach "success", and has lost the fucking plot. It was so interesting to see flashbacks of his career and seeing how compassionate and nurturing his mentors were and instead of trying to embody that, Carmy, DEEP in his trauma, is actively imitating the one man he accuses of destroying his physical and mental health.

Of course he still cares about Sydney. He wants to make her happy, give her the star she wants. But in his obsession to gain that success, he has completely pushed her (and everybody else) aside. His mission to prove himself individually (based off insecurities around his competency as a chef/business owner & not being able to provide for his friends & family) has taken precedence over his commitment to her. As painful as this evolution of their relationship is, I do like the direction and I think it was handled pretty well.

Points of contention for me:

I couldn't give two shits about Claire–sorry. The fact that they retroactively added soo many scenes from when they were together seems contrived and looks like another bid to put another relationship above Syd & Carmy's. Neil telling Claire "you're the peace"???? DON'T PISS ME OFF.

Is this The Bear or The Fak Show? There were a lot of Faks introduced in this season and their banter seemed like it was created to fill in dead air. It was very annoying at some points. (John Cena was great though I can't say anything bad about that man.)

Adding too many tertiary characters. The Faks, the old employees of The Beef to help Ebra. Adding all these characters instead of fostering interactions between the core group.

This might be a hot take but they spent WAY too much time on Nat's pregnancy before the birth. Also, she had this baby and NOBODY but the Faks came to see her in the hospital?? BYE.

Things that I solidly liked:

T's episode! Her struggle with unemployment, losing hope, and then meeting Mikey was easily the most endearing moment of the season for me. Then watching her start to develop her own ideas and creativity in the kitchen was just 🤌🏾🤌🏾🤌🏾.

Again, although I'm team SydCarmy, I like this stage of their relationship. Exposing the flaws, and exploring ways they need to improve for themselves and for each other. I WANT Syd to leave The Bear because 1) it would be good for her health and to see how a good restaurant is supposed to operate 2) I firmly believe that will be the catalyst to making Carm get his shit together. I want him to PANIC. I want him to BEG. I want him to CRY. 😊

As you can see, the latter list is not long enough. There were plenty of things I didn't touch on but that would make this post 5x longer.

I can see how s3 could be the low point of the series. A lot of these episodes would be considered fillers in plenty of other television shows. I appreciate the change of pace but would like it more if it was handled better. And I'm mad that I have to wait a YEAR to get REAL story development after this.

[descendant-of-truth]

The data characters in Coded are endlessly fascinating to me because like... they're so much like the originals. But everything is shifted just enough to the left that they feel different, and a little off if you think about it long enough.

Probably the main thing that stands out is that they all start out with different "base memories" from each other, if you will. The only thing Data Sora knows is that he grew up on the islands with his friends, but Data Riku has an encyclopedic knowledge of everything that happened in KH1. Data Namine knows what happened in CoM, and Data Roxas remembers up to the end of the KH2 prologue.

None of them are caught up to the present. The events of KH2 don't exist to them, because those events are written in a different journal.

But you can't even say that Data Sora is "just" Sora from before he started his journey, because almost as soon as the game starts, there's something wrong with that picture.

It's a little hard to explain, but Sora seems... remarkably unconcerned with his surroundings. He accepts whatever Mickey tells him without a second thought, even if he admits (still much too casually) that he doesn't understand what's going on.

(Not to mention that the giant, eye-catching blocks around him are things he doesn't even acknowledge until prompted by Mickey to "look for anything odd.")

But probably the biggest difference between the two Soras when they're starting out is that the journey isn't personal for Data Sora. He doesn't dwell on the islands being lost, and more importantly, he isn't looking for his friends. He doesn't even think about his friends. The first time Riku's name comes out of his mouth is when he literally shows up in front of him.

The early parts of Coded really make the "data" part of Data Sora apparent, I think. He's kind and brave like Sora, he has his mannerisms down, but he feels a bit hollow. There's nothing that's really important to him yet; he just goes along with things as they happen to him.

And then he loses the Keyblade and Riku at the same time, which is the first event to prompt genuine distress from him that he doesn't quickly bounce back from.

This is when Data Sora goes from a passive protagonist to more of an active one - something that the original Sora was from the start. He finally disobeys a request from Mickey, going to Hollow Bastion by himself in order to save Riku.

It's only there that he finally starts to process what having friends means, though, courtesy of Donald and Goofy's guidance... which the original Sora had ever since Traverse Town, by the way. Mickey wasn't a bad mentor to Data Sora, necessarily, but he was a lot more objective-focused, and thus didn't do a lot to help foster a deeper understanding of certain things in him.

Another thing I find interesting - the original Sora lost his Keyblade before going through Hollow Bastion, too, but the way they each get them back is different. Sora makes a rousing speech about how his friends are his power, and his conviction in that summons it back:

While Data Sora summons his back in a moment of fear, and a desire to protect his friends from being crushed:

He even fights a possessed Riku like Sora did, but the dynamic between them is much different on both ends. Originally, Sora was really fed up with Riku, and didn't know the full extent that he was being manipulated. (Also Riku stole the Keyblade and his friends by extension from him, so he's understandably kind of mad about that)

Meanwhile, Riku's villainous sass was on full display, mocking Sora for having a weak heart and saying he would get destroyed by the darkness. This was probably the worst terms they've been on with each other.

In Coded, there's no bad blood between them, and Data Sora knows exactly how much Riku isn't acting of his own accord. So his tone becomes one of unambiguous concern, while Riku wants so much to not fight Sora that he asks to be destroyed instead.

And because Ansem just... doesn't seem to exist in the datascape, Sora is able to bring Riku back with him much faster than the original could, so the motivation that made CoM and KH2 possible in the first place is gone entirely.

Data Sora's journey leads him to the same places as Sora's, and the story beats are similar, but his experiences are unmistakably different. Which is what makes the way Data Riku talks about things especially fascinating.

He makes a lot of references to the original events of KH1, and talks like he and Data Sora are inextricable from it. "I always seem to give in," "you once turned into a Heartless," "you would have saved us." He never completely separates the events of the datascape from those in the real world, treating Riku's failings as his own, saying that Data Sora lost his heart and doesn't remember it.

Data Roxas and Namine are the same way - it's actually Sora who's the odd one out, who doesn't give his original a second thought most of the time. It's only when other people attribute Sora's experiences to him that he, somewhat mistakenly, adopts that information into his worldview.

(No, Sora, that's not your Heartless. No, you weren't on a journey to find Riku and Kairi. That was a different guy. You don't even know Kairi for some reason. Add him to the list of people that live in Sora's shadow along with Roxas and Xion)

I don't know what the conclusion is here exactly, just that there's something about the way the data characters are so different but similar at the same time to the people they're based on that's really engaging to me.

I mean, one of Sora's biggest fears seems to be turning into someone else, or just being a copy of another person, as we saw in DDD. Data Sora is a Sora who's a copy, and he's kind of just... fine with that. He's content with what he has. Even when his memories are a complete mess by the end of the game, he accepts the situation as it is and keeps moving forward.

Anyway I could keep going but for now I'll leave it at "and that's why the data characters should show up again in future games"

[alice-angel12x]

Life + Death is a Balance

Death Au + Origin Au

In the beginning, there was only Time and Space. Space created a realm for them to exist in, but Time was not satisfied with just that. Time asked Space for Something to Happen, but she was content with simply existing and sleeping. Time was tired of the unchanging darkness, so gathered some of his power and poured it into a small being.

The antlered being opened his eyes, revealing emerald pools.

"W-what am I?" the new creation asked Time.

"I shall call you... Life. And you will fill this void with anything and everything. Whatever your little brain can imagine," Time said simply.

Life looked around and saw nothing about empty darkness. So letting their magic flow for the first time, Life focused all his power in one spot. When suddenly it exploded and created a Big Bang!

And light filled the void for the first time. Space awoke to the sudden brightness, and questioned Time what he had done.

"You would not entertain me, so I made my own entertainment. I promise not to bother you anymore. As long as Life is around and all that he creates," Time bargained with a smirk.

For a while, Space didn't see anything wrong with this arrangement. However, as things went on the Void started to fill with all of Life's creation, and Space complained to Time about the tight space.

"Well I can't stop him, I guess you're just gonna have to make more Room," Time said simply.

"Can't you control your own creation?!" Space growled.

"Well, I wouldn't have had to make him if you did more with your energy. So do what you were meant to do and Expand," Time said coldly.

So she did just that and made more room, but Time made no attempt to retrain Life. So the young begin kept creating, forcing Space to create more room. Soon Space had to make dimensions and an alternate universe to contain everything.

Space eventually had enough and decided to do something to something to get back at Time. So she two made something. Something stronger than Life.

"Who am I? And what is the purpose of my creation?" The new being asked.

"You are Death, and You are going to destroy all Life," Space ordered. "Destroy everything."

"Of course," Death bowed.

And thus the long war between life and Death. Death would senselessly destroy all life World by world. At such a rate that Life couldn't keep up. So much room was reclaimed, finally giving Space time to rest.

Life had enough and laid a trap for Death. When Life finally got Death where he wanted them, he sealed away a large portion of Death's power. Death could no longer destroy the world in one blow like they used to.

With Death's power weakened, they had to become smarter. So they created the pledge, Monsters, and disasters. But to really spit in Life's face, Death twisted Life's creations. Animals began to eat one another, and humans and other intelligent beings turned on each other.

Life had enough of Death and planned to finish this war once and for all. The two fought, destroying things around them in their battle. Sadly a small elf caravan was unfortunate enough to be in the line of sight of the beings.

Death saw them in the distance, and Space's words echoed in their ear. Death with all their might shoved Life to the ground and pinned them with their sword.

Life noticed what Death was about to do, and cried out for the Elves to run. He begged For Death to leave them out of their fight, but they slaughtered them all without an ounce of pity.

Life watched with pure horror as Death ripped through the mortals. "Your A Monster!" Life cried out in sorrow and rage.

Death Just stared down at Life and ran off to cause more Havoic. But Life would not just let this go, so he cursed Death to be feared and hated by all things that live. So to spite Life, they created the underworld. To hold all the souls they collect and take from Life.

Life tried to create other godlike beings to aid in the fight with Death, but it did little to help. Other than serving as eyes for Life, they mostly liked ruling over the mortals of their surviving worlds. Some even ally themselves with Death, some by choice and a few for other reasons.

With some helping hands, Death was able to spread destruction at a faster rate. So in one final attack Life, managed to trap Death and impression them deep and a lifeless planet. Of course, this also greatly weaken Life too, as he retreated to his home to recover.

Time didn't want his fun to end, so after a while, he weakened the barrier just enough. As he did so, he whispered promises in the underworld gods' ears, that they could become the strongest if they could take Death's power. Only one Underworld god did not buy into those words, and that was Hades.

But when the others freed Death, the god immediately attacked the weakened Death. Luckily, Death managed to escape but was left badly hurt and vulnerable.

________________________________________

After managing to escape to another world, Death sat down in a lone forest and winced in pain. But Death knew they were not alone. Though they knew they can't be killed, they were so weakened a mere human could overpower them in this state.

So they sat and glared as the bushes began to shake and rustle, only to stare in confusion as a human child stepped out. What Made Death even more confused was that the child wasn't frightened by them.

They were scared of something behind them, as the little girl ran and hide behind Death. Before Death could even possess what was happening, two vicious wolves appeared from the bush. The leading one jumped and bit down on Death's arm. Death glared and grabbed the wolf by the throat and used it as a club on the second wolf.

With a pained cry from the wolves the two beasts quickly ran, tails between their legs. the Little stared in awe as Death turned to look at this strange child.

"Your... So... COOL!!" The girl awed as she hugged them.

(Death.Exe has stopped working)

Death didn't know what to do, think, or say at that moment. The warm feeling in their chest was something foreign to them.

"Ah, your hurt! Don't go anywhere, I'll ask mommy for healing potions. I'll be back as soon as I can," The Little girl promised as she dashed off the way she came.

Death still hadn't said anything as they just watched in confusion.

"What...was that?" Death asked themselves as they placed a hand over their chest. the source of the warm feeling came from.

And as the girl promised she returned with some healing potions. Sadly before Death could even turn down the offer, the little girl shoved a bottle into Death's mouth. The girl smiled proudly as she believed she was saving someone, but Death eventually spat the bottle and the potion.

"Wha! No, You have to drink your medicine!" The little 9-year-old scolded.

"No," Death smirked as the little one huffed in frustration.

"I don't want you to die! Please take the medicine?!" The girl began to cry.

With a sigh, Death decided to be nice for once and pretend to consume the potion. The little girl smiled as sat next to them and began to talk about everything and anything.

"Oh, what's your name? Sorry I forget to ask sometimes," The girl smiled.

"I don't have one, call me whatever you like," Death said simply.

"Okay! Hmmm, I'll call you Y/n," The girl hugged.

And long after Death got better, the little girl continued to seek them out. Death watched as the little grow, and as her friend she showed everything the world had to offer.

For the first time ever, Death would down and smell the roses. And when the little girl would leave for the night, death would continue to explore and observe everything.

One day, the girl didn't come. So Death snuck to the edge of the village to see what was happening. As they got close they could feel a wave of sadness throughout the village. With little power, they recovered and transformed into a Nightingale. From the wall, they could see a parade of injured warriors.

The little girl later would explain how there was a bigger town nearby, trying to "Bully" them into giving them all their food. Sadly things got bad and now they were fighting. Her father went out to fight and died.

A heavy and cold feeling tightened inside their chest. Later that night the girl and Death walked along the hollowed grounds of the burial. Many know widowed wives were still at the graves, crying over the soil of their loved ones.

Death soon saw the little girl do the same. With a new pair of eyes, for the first time saw the consequences of what they brought. The wails and cries of the mournful filled Death's ears.

'Am... Am I ... Am I Evil?' Death silently asked themselves. 'My master said that this was necessary. She said to destroy everything.'

"What's wrong Y/n? Is your dad buried here too? Or other loved ones?" The little girl asked.

"Loved...ones?" Death asked. "No, I have no such thing. And... I don't deserve to be loved."

"Well!" The little one jumped up and hugged Y/n. "You have one know. And Mommy says everyone should have at least one."

Death slowly and hesitantly patted the girl's head, but the girl had to let go eventually. Cause Death had no body warmth whatsoever.

As the "little" Girl grew older, she would share her dreams and wishes with Death. Y/n smiled slightly as they watched her grow older, found a loving husband, and eventually formed the family she always dreamed of.

As Death wandered the forests, the once little girl called out to them. She had her newborn daughter with her. She said she wanted to Y/n to meet the new member of Y/n's loved ones. Death stared down at the new mortal, and the baby stared back.

Daughter-like mother, the baby laughed and reached out to death, wanting to be held. Death cringed a bit as they stepped back a step, but the girl handed the baby to Y/n. Death held the baby and was stiff as the baby reached up to them.

They were internally panicked when they felt a pair of tiny hands on their cheeks. Death looked down to see the baby smiling as examining them. As they stared suddenly their vision started to blur as something fell from their eyes.

"W-what is this," Death panicked as they handed the baby back to its mother.

"Oh my, I don't think I've ever seen you cry before," The woman gasped as she tried to wipe Death's tears.

"I don't understand what's happening?" Death gasped as they tried to get rid of their tears.

The woman just smiled and pulled Y/n(death) into a warm hug. This time Death was quick to reciprocate, but they did have one question.

"Why aren't you terrified of me?! I was cursed to scare everyone away?" Death sobbed.

"I'm not sure. It's probably My unique magic, which protects me from curses," the woman answered with a shrug. "And you could have hurt me all these years, but you didn't."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sadly Time had other plans. While Death was roaming the world, taking in the beauty of it all. When they suddenly felt a sudden large amount of flaming life being snuffed out.

Death tried to get back to the town, but a lesser being of the underworld blocked their path. Yet, Death made quick work of it and ran towards the town. As they got onto the familiar path toward the town.

"Y/N!" the woman cried as she ran, covered in soot and blood.

She was running with her child in her arms, fear in her eyes. But upon the sight of Y/n coming to her aid, she smiled as she reached out for them. When an arrow to the heart snuffed out her candle flame of life.

Death reached out and caught her and the baby before they could hit the ground. Death looked down in horror as the woman lay lifeless and her baby cried out for her. The soldiers that were hunting the two froze in their tracks at the sight of the stranger, a wave of terror washed over them as Death slowly looked up at them.

Yet before they could even scream, Death had finished them off. Sadly this was not enough to quell their blazing fires of wrath. They hunted down the enemy soldiers and went on to the village itself. When Death's wrath finally went out, nothing of the enemy village remained.

As Y/n returned to the woman's village, they saw the great damage to this once-peaceful town. The only survivors were the children of this town, whom the enemy was planning to enslave.

Y/n knew that they couldn't help with their curse as strong, and Life was never going to lift it. So they had no choice but to plead and beg to Time and Space.

Space simply chastised her creation for suddenly deciding to slow down on their purpose. She tells them because of this, the void is starting to fill again. So Y/n turned to Time and pleaded for his help.

Time uncharacteristically of him decided to help Y/n this once. So he made a pendant that would repress the curse for about 3 decades. Though once time is up, the pendant will need to restore itself for at least a century or two.

So with this tiny aid, Y/n quickly returned to the village and rounded up all the children. They helped them mourn by burying the dead and staying for the day.

But Y/n knew what would happen if they stay for too long. After some convincing Y/n managed to get the children to follow, and far away from the enemy and their allies.

And they found this place, which will later in the future be called Harveston. Y/n would stay with the children and raise them as best they could. Teaching them, raising them, Playing with them, and even giving the children each individual attention.

As the children and town grew, and Y/n's time was about to end, the woman's daughter, now 29. Meet with Y/n at the edge of the apple orchard.

"Y/n, you've been distant lately? What's wrong?" The girl asked.

"I'm dying?" Y/n lied.

"W-what! No, you can't die. We all still need you, I need you," The girl teared up. "Is that why you made Pierre mayor?"

"He is a kind heart boy, with a good head on his shoulders. I know he will do whatever it takes to protect you all," Y/n explained.

"We all lost our parents. And You show up, give a chance at life, and being a parent to us all," The said, getting choked up.

"I wish your mother was here. She was a good friend and dreamed of having a family, an amazing daughter," Y/n reminisce.

"What was her name?" The girl asked.

"Her name... Was Reine Felmier. So your full name is Marie Felmier," Y/n smiled.

"W-would I be everything she hoped if she were here?" Marie asked..

"You would surpass what she could have ever hoped for," Y/n said gently.

A week later Y/n "Died". Leaving the town's people devastated, but when the dust cleared Y/n quickly left the town. With 30 years of new experience, Y/n new things had to change. So the first thing they did was erase the underworlds, and either let souls wander their world, or turn them into stars to light up the night sky.

Life noticed the sudden lights in the vast darkness of the void, and could only stare in wonder. As he stared out into the void.

"Look Out! It's Death!" The Jerrys cried out for their boss.

Life gasped as he got into a fighting stance, but Death just stood, not even raising their blades. The Jerrys gathered the souls and ran away from the scene

"Sir Life, I have not come to fight. Simply to apologize and discuss some things," Death said, but Life quickly tackled them and pinned them down to the ground.

Sadly Life was not too keen on listening, not after the many time Death had tried to trick them in the past. He quickly began to press the end of his staff at Death's neck.

"Don't you dare attempt to fool me again!" Life growled. "And Even if this was genuine, I would never accept it. Not after all the terrible things you've done."

"I know. I corrupt your creations, I create things to make them suffer, and for I time I took without thinking. And I understand that you will never forgive, and I am truly sorry. I simply wish to discuss an important matter with you," Death tried to reason, but Life teleported Death far from his home.

Saddened but not surprised, Y/n was left with no choice but to continue on. And to attempt equilibrium, to sadly kill off to make room for new life. Yet this was difficult since Life just kept making more and more without restraint.

Space hated that her creation was becoming docile and soft. So she called to the remaining once underworld gods and granted them powers on pare with Life and Death. She commanded them to pick up the slack.

So the 6 gods turned their sight on the tree of Origin, at Life. So, like a hurricane, they stormed the home of Souls and Life.

---------------------

(200 years later

Life hung by his wrists as sharp chains of obsidian bound him to the ceiling. The gods of chaos stormed the tree, destroying the little souls that had yet to live. Captured life and dragged him to a long-dead world, deep in its cold core.

The Obsidian chains dug into his tan olive skin as ichor ran down his arms. The cruel beings tortured the god of life. They whipped and ripped at his skin, hammered off his antlers, and forcibly possessed his body. Forcing him to create an abomination of destruction, and releasing them on worlds.

Life could hear the horrified screams of the mortals as they are snuffed out. He tried to call for help from Time, but he never answered. Life hung his head as he tried to think of another way out, but the enchanted chains blocked his powers. The other gods turned their back on their creator. Wanted some sort of selfish gain out of his death.

His aids at home didn't have the strength to compete with beings like his captors. As he hung there a terrible and sad thought came to his mind.

'If I were to die, Time could simply make another... Another being of Life, so why waste his efforts. I knew Time only saw me as a tool for his own amusement. Space hated me, and never told me why when I asked her. Instead, she just created someone to destroy me. I'm valued by no one,'

As he was about to give up, the scream of bloody murder caught his attention. A god of chaos lay dead at... Death's feet. Death slowly approached Life, as he quickly shut his eyes waiting for the worst.

When suddenly with a crack, he felt his body fall. Only to suddenly feel a pair of cold arms catch him before he could hit the ground. Life looked up to his enemy, but black spots filled his vision as he eventually passed out.

____________________________________________________

Pt. 1 ends here

to be continued. Part 2 here

[brsb4hls]

Right, ok, philosophical meta time:

Loki had to do what he did!

Let's look at the last confrontation with HWR and go from there:

HWR: The coutcome to this equation remsins the same. You lose.

Loki: I know. I know.

HWR: Shake it off.

Loki: I'll change the equation. I'll break your loom.

HWR: But the loom prevents a brutal war. Where nothing survives. Not even the sacred timeline. Ok, let's try it this way: Every, every nonent of peace you've ever experienced was yours, because I was here. Alone. At the end of time. Keeping watch.

Loki: I understand.

HWR: If you're gonna break the loom, what do you think would happen to your friends?

Mhm, I made the tough choices, that's why I get the big chair. I keep us safe. Can't you see what I'm offering here is mercy?

Loki: For me? Or for you? No! I'll find another way.

HWR: OK. And around and around and around we go. Let's see. Make the hard choice. Break the loom and you cause a war that kills us all. Game over. Or kill her (Sylvie).

And we protect what we can. What are you gonna do?

So here's the dilemma:

The loom is actively killing branches, even if there is no tva, that steps in to prune. If no branches get pruned, the loom overloads and erases all the new branches. So with or without the loom, only the secret timeline exists.

HWR rigged the game in a way that Loki cannot win here. But something doesn't add up. If the loom overloads and deletes, there cannot be new Kangs emerging, even if Loki breaks the loom. With the loom acting as fail safe, there will only ever be the sacred timeline.

Because once broken, the loom destroys every branch and the sacred timeline just resets.

Meaning HWR incarcerated the whole universe, basically put it in a small corsett forever, and everytime a branch tries to break free, everyone on that branch dies.

Now, if Loki found a way to override the failsafe (which he did in the end) and free the universe, there is the danger of Kang variants showing up, destroying everything INCLUDING the sacred timeline.

So HWR's argument here is to better keep a tiny universe with a smaller amount of beings alive, then have no universe at all.

Which is also what Mobius argues for involuntarily (since he doesn't see the full picture at that moment).

He tells Loki killing one person and keeping others alive is the right choice, although it is hard and will scar you.

That' s one ethic approach. It's basically utilitarianism. The right choice is the one that benefits most.

Now Sylvie challenges that with another concept by telling Loki that he has no right to declare the sacred timeline superior to other lines, because lives on the sacred timeline can also be miserable and they are predestined. So someone who has a shitty life on the sacred timeline has no way of changing it ever.

Nobody can make a different choice, everyone is stuck. Loki for example, has to attack Thanos with what's basically a kitchen knife, despite being a powerful magic user and literal god, because that is supposed to happen.

The Loki that cast an illusion, hid from Thanos and survived, got pruned.

Apart from taking away people's choices, there is no new life, ever. Only a never ending circle.

So Sylvie argues, that instead of keeping a small amount of people safe, but basically miserable, let everyone chose their own destiny, even if it kills them in the end.

They would at least die being free.

Which is another ethical approach that values every single life and every choice.

And Loki choses freedom. For everyone but him. That's his burden.

But he is giving everyone an unimaginable gift.

He overrides the failsafe by powering the branches himself und ultimately defeats HWR. Which seemed impossible, given the scenario HWR set up.

Now for the Kangs that might destroy the multiverse:

That does not have to happen. The only thing set in stone is the sacred timeline.

HWR talks about the multiversal war in 1x06.

He says his variants kept peace with each other at first, then started a war, that almost

destroyed everything. Almost. Until HWR ended it by using the power of Alioth, the creature he discovered by chance, to built the tva and force the universe into the sacred timeline.

So can we really trust HWR?

No.

Why not?

1. He admitted to being afraid of his variants.

2. He did not plan on ending the war, it was a coincidence.

3. The war almost destroyed everything. It could have ended differently.

4. The war is only one possible outcome. There are infinite ways this could have gone.

5. If the post credit scene in Ant Man 3 referrs to HWR, he is the 'Exiled One'

An outcast. He could have exiled himself, like he said, or he is lying.

Look at all the possibilities in Endgame, where exactly one chance existed of beating Thanos, even if it seemed impossible.

How can we know (without a Dr Strange going through everything) that HWR offers the only option?

HWR cannot be trusted and the natural state of the universe is to be free and to expand indefinitely.

Free will is also a philosophical and religious core theme.

Free will enables people to make the wrong choice, but also to do right. It should be up to every individual themselves, otherwise they cannot evolve.

They're stuck.

And what does Mobius tell Loki his actual purpose was in 1x01?

To inspire people to become the best version of themselves!

And he did. But on his own terms and in a beautiful way.

[comfysofti]

Okay, hi people!!!

Glad my post regarding my fan princess incarnation got some(although small) attention, so gonna share some notes regarding her and voice that accompanies her chapters!!!

Starting of with Voice of Authority, aka voice that accompanies her chapters:

Generally speaking, other voices don't like him, and usually just argue with him a lot(he hates them, they hate him. Harmony). The only voices who doesn't hate him, is Broken(because Authority reminds him of Tower, hence him leaning to Authority, and siding with him in most cases. He's also just easy to influence in Authority's opinion) and Stubborn(he simply respects Authority in a way, and Authority himself shares the feeling because Stubborn is the only voice that he sees as he's equal in a way. Although the two have aspects that they hate about eachother, they still respect one another and make a good team)

Authority is all about having control over the player, and what they do with the princess. In his eyes princess is nothing more but a joke, because she's absolutely terrified of him, despite all those claims from Narrator that she's dangerous. And the player? He feels like they're something bigger than they are, so he's forcing them to kill the princess, aka, quote: "the obstacle in way of our true potential". He sees both other voices and the princess as something that's in the way of them(or the body) to get to their true, full potential. Their power as a god. You could also say that Authority can represent this selfish and power hungry part of being a god(in some cases!!!) when you only care about yourself, and getting more power not caring for anyone or anything else in your way. Although he's more leaning into side of having total control, despising those who are weak and can't even look at him without fear and respecting those on similar/higher power levels

Authority can be compared to Tower in terms of power(both can easily ignore Narrator and change the narrative to their liking, and both have full control of players body when they wish). Also, amongst all princess variants he would only like the Tower, because he sees her as someone more powerful than him. The power, they should be focusing on getting. Although im not sure if the two would get along, Authority holds respect to those who he considers he's equal or more powerful than him, and usually doesn't act aggressive with them, so again, he would deeply respect Tower, but wouldn't really let himself fall under her control

About the princess:

Both the Terrified and the Fragile, are perspectives in which player sees a princess as someone weak despite Narrator claiming otherwise, but not in the same way, it is seen in Damsel. While the Damsel is, well, a princess in trouble, kinda weak, the Terrified and the Fragile are paranoid, broken, traumatized kind of weak. And the voice of Authority, is complete opposite to her. While princess in those incarnations is weak, terrified, powerless, Voice of Authority is strong, controlling, powerful. While princess is thin ice in beginning of winter, easily broken by smallest leaf falling on it, Voice of Authority is sun's heat, easily melting everything in it's wake, no matter from what it's made

The Terrified, was trying to avoid seeing the player again, by trying to destroy the cabin, and then herself(using shards of broken glass to pierce her heart, and what not)which failed, leading to her cabin and basement looking like they'll crumble at any moment, but also abandoned, from the amount of time loops that had reset with each her death, but since player never reached her in them(from how quick she was being with her desperate attempts to end her existence)this is just a chapter 2, only one new voice, while princess kept memories of each of her failures to avoid meeting the player again, leading to her loosing her sanity

The Fragile, is made of glass, and as i mentioned in my previous post regarding her, some shards of her seem missing. Why? Because she was slowly crumbling from despair and pain. She made herself hollow, or at least tried to, but it just led to her self destructing, aka her body crumbling, leading to few shards of her body missing. And yes, played would find them laying around the basement

Those incarnations of the princess aren't bound by the chain, because player doesn't see them as strong or even the smallest of threat, so the only reminders of her even having shackle on her arm, is thin scar on her arm, where it used to be. It's prominent in Fragile, in a way, that the scar is made of red, thin line of glass on her arm, while in Terrified, she's constantly hiding it with her hand, or at least attempts to, but fails because it constantly bleeds, symbolising her trying to break the loop so many times, her body just stopped healing with time

Honestly, im pretty sure i don't have anything else to add regarding The Voice of Authority and "The Terrified" -> "The Fragile" so that's all, unless someone has questions <:33

Also, thanks for reading this <33