#still cant believe this timeline happens because Light gets lais

[100prcntbitter]

[thoughts-and-all-that]

you gave me the best weekend of my life, you know.

my dad was going on a business trip in a state that was right next to yours, though i remember it still took you guys 5 hours to drive to the city, and 9 hours for me and my family. isnt it crazy how big this country is? we arent even on the larger half of it, either.

when i first saw you, i was scared. i was paranoid and young, and you were the first person from online i had ever met in person, despite my years of befriending people online. im glad it was you. it couldnt have ever been anyone else.

i was scared maybe i was lied to, that somehow it wasnt you, but i knew it was. i was a scared mentally ill kid and i was in the beginnings of something we both know got worse, and ill never stop being sorry for how i treated you when it did. you never deserved that, and it was never your fault. i shouldnt have done what i did, i shouldnt have.

i remember that first while was awkward, but itd be weird if it wasnt, right?

our first stop had to have been the bird sanctuary, i believe. so many birds of all kinds, and there was even bats! both of our favorite animals in one building, though i dont think the specific breeds we loved. that was okay. it was my first and only time seeing my favorite animal in person, it was amazing.

i remember there was a flying simulator in there, a both high budget and low budget game, if that makes sense. i mean, we had to lay on a t shaped person sized controller, which was wild! but the actual graphics of the cityscape we were meant to fly through were low quality. it was amazing. i remember you crashed, but i didnt. ive always dreamt of being able to fly.

and i remember that the penguin habitat had a dome in the middle that people could climb through a small tunnel into, and we were in there together, and looking at the penguins.

it mustve been that night that you came back to my hotel room, and we watched my favorite show on the couch, using my much too expensive laptop. i remember the deal we made that i didnt keep up my end of, where we watched eachothers favorite shows. im sorry i didnt like yours. i was glad you loved mine.

i dont remember if we saw eachother for most of the next day, i hope we did. the timeline blurs for me, but thats okay, because the timeline isnt what matters.

the boat ride matters. i know i wasnt originally meant to go on it with you guys, but i hope you think of it fondly like i do regardless.

i didnt like really any of the food they put in front of us, but thats not new for me. it only mattered in that single moment when it happened. when dinner was over and everyone was free to go about the boat, we mustve seen so much of it.

your mom and my mom were talking the whole time, trying to keep an eye on us, and taking pictures of us. i hope my mom enjoyed the boat ride, she didnt get to have many experiences like that the last few years of her life. i hate that that only happened 3 years before she died, and its been almost 6 years for me. time is a curse.

we kept trying to avoid them at the time, of course. we were teenagers on a trip away from our homes on a boat ride together down a river, we didnt want our moms watching us. we had to keep traveling about until they finally stopped watching, and it led us to sitting on the top deck, staring off of into the beautiful night lights of that mountain city.

i even remember that at some point the announcer pointed out an abandoned asylum against the river, and we thought it was one that was featured on our favorite ghost hunting show, though i now believe that it wasnt, as when i tried to find it later, i couldnt find that episode. i love the excitement we had, though.

we talked so much, in our special way. i remember i even asked you such a silly question, if people could walk on water when time is stopped. they definitely cant, but we made a whole thing of it.

we even kissed a few times.

at some point we traveled back to the main hall, and it was empty except for the guy in charge of the music. we cuddled together on a seat against the window, watching the city go by. i remember i had you ask if he had any songs from one of my favorite artists, though he only had her most popular song, which i guess makes sense.

i dont think my mom wouldve been upset if she had seen us, but i know your mom wouldve been. does she still not know youre queer? she doesnt need to know, anyway.

you had to go back home after that night, and thats okay. i missed you so much when you did, and all i did for the remainder of the trip was sit in my hotel room and play on my laptop.

maybe its simple looking back, maybe youve had better times since, but for me it was everything. it still is, but only because ive never had better.

i still think of you when i hear breakup songs and think of relationships, even though we never dated. never the angry ones, i promise.

i know youve moved on, and im glad you have. youve been with him for a while, and i hope that means he treats you well. you deserve to be treated well.

i havent moved on because ive been stuck in the past in so many ways for years. when you started talking to me again a few months ago, it drove me insane for the first few weeks, but ive gotten better since. ive been dealing with my past a lot lately, trying to heal.

not heal from you, of course. you never did really anything to hurt me, it was all me. there was only one thing you ever said, but it was my fault it even came up. i know you dont even feel that way anymore.

i feel bad for my future partners, i wonder if they can even top that, honestly. i hope they do, because it would be weird if i constantly compared them to a relationship i had when i was a teenager, but i just wonder. i also dont want to have peaked back then.

but really, regardless of all of that, im glad it happened. ive had good memories and ive had tons of bad, but you gave me my best. youre the person ive been closest to in my life, ever. we arent close anymore, and we never can be again the way we used to be, but thats okay. as long as youre happy, thats okay. i hope i can be happy too.

thank you. for everything.

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Comparing RWBY and YGO DM: The Handling and Evolution of Themes

Hey! Its been a hot minute since I last posted anything RWBY-related but Im laying in my bed right now and Im sick and bored so I guess we're doing this. Today I will do my best to analyze what I percieve to be the main themes and messages of both of these shows, or more specifically, how theyre handled narratively. Im mostly focusing on that part because, while these series do have similar themes and messaging, they are still a few things in which they are wildly different. And with that, lets start with this essay-post-thing!

1. Theres something we need to adress first

Okay so, before we can really talk about this, theres something I feel the need to clarify here: Neither of these stories was "planned from the beginning".

Now, I dont think a story being planned from the beginning or not nesscessarily makes the story any better or worse by default, however, it is still important to acknowledge because the way the story is planned is going to affect every facet of it. Things are not going to be foreshadowed properly, things are gonna be set up only for nothing to come of it, the story might drastically change directions, characters might act differently, etc, etc.

And, this is bit off-topic but, it's much better to just admit that the story was not planned than trying to pretend that it was. Like, there are a lot of reasons why I tend to be so forgiving towards YGO even though its not very good, but one of them is definitely the fact that, as far as Im aware atleast, the guy who wrote it isnt pretending to have had this big master plan all along and neither is the fandom. With RWBY on the other hand... yeaaaah, its kinda the opposite. From what Ive seen of RWBYs fandom, there seems to be this pretty popular narrative that everything was planned even though it clearly wasnt. Thats pretty bad and honestly lowers my opinion of the writers so much more than if they would just admit to not having a proper plan.

Like, I initially consumed YGO like this: Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh (aka Season 0), like, a quarter of the Yu-Gi-Oh manga (I still havent finished it)

In all three of these we have the character of Yami Yuugi, or just Yami. Broadly speaking, he is an ancient egyptian gamer spirit who lives in a magical puzzle that has not been solved for 3000 years until this highschooler named Yuugi Mutou comes along and solves it, thus setting him free and allowing him to possess Yuugi and have access to the vague magical powers of the puzzle.

In Duel Monsters he's perfectly fine most of time, morally speaking. There is an instance of him almost murdering a guy and its a bit unclear what exactly happens to those he mindcrushes but overall he's very much a pretty good guy. In Season 0 most of what he does is set up these games for bad people, where they will go insane no matter what they do. From how I understand this whole Shadow Game, Penalty Game stuff, if you lose a Shadow Game, you get violent and intense hallucinations and you will always cuz yknow, gamer spirit. But if you try to cheat, which most of the bad people do in this show, you get violent and intense hallucinations as a punishment.

Since the two anime are generally considered two different continuities, its perfectly fine that Yamis characterization is wildly different in both of them. But in the manga both of these characterizations appear, basically one after the other with no real arc or consequences, for that matter. Why is that? Simply put, someone thought it was a good idea to try to turn an episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror manga into a more traditional, more plot-driven battle shounen. From what Ive heard, it was apparently largely because of network interference or something, but the point is, it changed directions incredibly drastically with little planning and everyone knows this and I can understand that for the most part.

In RWBY we have the character of Blake Belladonna, who, in the first 3 volumes/seasons atleast, was this aloof, more toned down loner-type character with a pretty strong sense of justice. She's an in-universe marginilized racial minority and she clearly cares about racial injustice. The way its initially framed makes it seem like she had a very hard life and no stable support system, which is what eventually pushed her to join a Civil Rights group/Terrorist organization (good god, the Faunus subplot is so awful, I could write a whole essay about it but Im already de-railing rn so I'll just save that for later).

Then, in volumes 4-5 it turns out her father is actually like, the mayor or chief of this island-place called Menagerie and she grew up in this big mansion with multiple guards/servants. Oh and also, apparently "space is a commodity" on there, so theres that. She still retains large parts of her personality but she's kinda like, worse somehow I think. I cant really describe it in a meaningful way but I hope you get what Im saying anyway. Then in Volume 6 she confronted her emotional abuser Adam (sorry for not mentioning him sooner but yeah, he was like, her abusive boyfriend, which is something that a lot of people disagree with but I wont really say anything about it either way because I dont really feel any specific way) with her friend, Yang, and ended up killing him.

After all that, she pretty much lost the rest of her personality, as well as her arc about all the Faunus stuff. She just kinda became the meek, generically nice, recovering abuse victim. Why? Well, the actual reason is that they didnt plan out shit and are just kinda flying by the seat of their oversized clown-pants and if they and the fandom just admitted it, I would have less of an issue. I still wouldnt be as forgiving towards RWBY as I am towards YGO because the crux of the issue, for me, is just that I dont particulary like RWBY but also like. Do you really expect me to take MKEK seriously as writers after admitting to not have a timeline because iT wOuLd CaUsE pLoThOlEs?

However, since they want us to believe that everything was planned out from the beginning, the explaination would be.... Idk, they deliberately butchered one of their main characters?? Because.. they hate her?? Maybe????

So yeah, that was quite a detour however, I would like you to keep this mind going forward.

2. Themes of the Early Series'

First, what do mean by 'Early Series' for both of these shows respectively? Well, for YGO that would have to be Season 0 or if youre reading the manga, everything pre-Duelist Kingdom. Basically, the part of the series thats a episodic, very slice of life-y light-horror series.

For RWBY that would be the first three Volumes, also known as the Poser-Era. Back then it was just kinda an action series that took place at Anime Warrior Academy (also known as Beacon) with some pretty bare minimum worldbuilding, character-driven plots and developments but now its more of an epic high-fantasy story with more of an emphasis on plot as opposed to just action.

The themes and messages in Early YGO are kinda vague, very confusing to me and if you were to follow any of it literally that would be pretty bad. For now Im just gonna say the main themes are Friendship and Identity and mostly focus on the Identity aspect.

Now, it took me a little while to figure out RWBYs deal but I think the main themes for Volumes 1-3 are also Friendship and Heroism. Once again, I'll mostly focus on Heroism and touch on Friendship more briefly later.

I dont have much more to add to YGOs themes right now, so I'll briefly go over Heroism in RWBY.

In RWBYs setting there are these man-eating monsters called Grimm that have basically infected the planet. In order to deal with that, they have people called huntsmen and huntresses that kill them and protect people. Theyre trained at special academies like Beacon and go on missions there and stuff like that. Our four main characters, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, are training to become huntresses and one day they go on this mission to clean up a grimm infested city block with one of their teachers. Obviously, that takes a long time so they have to camp out in one of the empty houses. Weiss, Blake and Yang cant sleep because theyve been thinking about this question that their teacher asked them when they were fighting grimm: "Why do you want to become a huntress?"

They have a heart to heart and we find out about their motivations; Weiss wants to bring honour back to her family, Blake want to distance herself from the White Fang (that terrorist organization I mentioned earlier) and as an extension from Adam, Yang wants to have a life of adventure. They also talk about why Ruby wants to be a huntress and it turns out that she judt wants to help people. Unlike the others, she has no motivation besides that. We're meant to listen to that and look at her as a sort-of personification of Heroism: kind, but not naive, strong and most of all, selfless. The others on her team are not portayed as bad for not being like Ruby by any means but we are clearly meant to admire her the most out of all of them.

Okay, now comes the part Ive been looking forward to the most:

3. How did these themes evolve in the Modern Series'?

Alright, before we can really delve into the way they evolved in YGO I'll have to give you a brief summary of the character progression. At the start of DM, during the Duelist Kingdom arc, Yami Yuugi is just that; A darker Yuugi. Hes more confident, bolder, his voice is deeper, hes somehow taller, more ruthless, all that good stuff. Notably, he doesnt actually seem more skilled than Yuugi even at the start of this story, but he's still dependent on Yami. Yami on the other hand, has no identity of his own or even hints at one at this point. He's just The Other Yuugi.

Then during the Battle City arc, they find out that Yami was actually a pharao prior to being sealed in the puzzle, he just didnt know because of amnesia, I guess. So now they need to find out his real name and then send him to the afterlife because hes meant to be dead, but not before saving the world from being swallowed by darkness, which is also a thing they have to do now.

Then we finally get to the Memory World arc, where Yami, Yuugi and the rest of the gang astralproject to ancient egypt via puzzle magic. Yami is trying to figure out what the hell is going on and who all these familiar people are, while Yuugi & Co are trying their best to help him. Then some weird shit happens and it turns out that all of that is not just Yamis sealed away memories, but also a giant D&D Shadow Game that will destroy the world if Yami loses. So now theres Pharao!Yami who is still clueless on the metaphorical and literal playing field and Player!Yami, who is kinda controlling himself now? I guess?? Yamis opponent, The Spirit of The Ring, has something similar to that going on where hes both controlling and properly participating in the game. So Player!Yami is now fighting against Player!TSoTR, Pharao!Yami is now fighting against Thief King Bakura (who is like, the human, ancient egyptian version of the Ring Spirit) and Yuugi is now fighting against Yami Bakura (who is like, the human, modern japanese version of the Ring Spirit). Yuugi gets Yamis real name, he and the gang go over to Pharao!Yami and tell him his name, meanwhile Player!Yami is also somehow helping as well and they defeat the Ring Spirit, thus saving the world. Then they travel to modern Egypt, the Ceremonial Duel happens and Yuugi wins, sending Yami to the Afterlife where he can finally rest and that was the series!

I originally wanted to recount the stuff that was going on with the Ring Spirit and his host as well because they parallel eachother, but this summary is already far too long and I think youll get the point without me needing to explain any more.

My point here is, that the story went from being vaguely about Identity, maybe? to being very clearly about Self-Discovery and Learning to Be Independent. I think this is a very good way to evolve the messaging of your story. How does RWBY track on that?

Well, uh... its not great. I will acknowledge that they have tried to introduce new themes and ideas since, even though I wont really be talking about them in this post. But yeah, the whole Heroism thing really regressed.

Like, I didnt explicitly say it when I was explaining grimm earlier, but theyre not going away. The grimm have always been there and people who sign up to become huntsmen and huntresses are effectively signing up for a job that will never truly be done, no matter what they do. Characters like Ruby and even more minor ones like Phyrrah have shown us that that doesnt matter when youre a hero. No life isnt worth saving, no grimm isnt worth killing, no criminal isnt worth arresting. Then, in volume 6 they find out about Salem. Salem is the Big Bad of the show, shes immortal, controls the grimm and is supposed to be very powerful.

What do our heroes do? They give up. Sike! They were just mindcontrolled by monsters or some shit, of course they didnt give up their mission (which is to bring an Important Macguffin to a city called Atlas, sorry I didnt mention it)!

But then they arrive in Atlas (which is llike, a city thats floating over another city called Mantle) and yknow, they do some plot stuff thats not really important right now until the city gets invaded by Salem and this big grimm army she has.

What do our heroes do? Well, Ruby, Weiss, Blake and some side characters are chilling, drinking tea in a mansion and Yang and the B Team were actually trying to do something, but even those efforts seem incredibly minimal.

Oh wait, I also forgot to mention that Ironwood (a fairly minor, vaguely antagonistic character up until now) wanted to lift Atlas even higher to save Atleasian civilians from danger while leaving Mantle vulnerable to Salems invasion.

What would be the most heroic thing to do?

A) Let Ironwood lift Atlas, get as much support as they can down to Mantle and save as many Mantle civilians as they can from the invasion

B) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas but then split up in order to protect both Atlas and Mantle civilians

C) Prevent Ironwood from lifting Atlas and then dont do anything else

Congrats! If you choose C, you think exactly like the writers!

And I just

This is so mindboggling to me, I feel like I shouldnt even have explain how this is bad. And like, it wouldve been so easy to actually make them seem herokc through their actions, to make it seem like they did try but no.

I have never seen a central theme be this botched, how in the world did they do that? Why did they think it was a good idea for Ruby "The Embodiment of Heroism" Rose to sit in a mansion doing nothing, no planning, no organizing just ..... God, how are they this bad? Like, this doesnt even have anything to do with it being planned in any way, this is just straight up incompetence

4. Very briefly touching on friendship

The friendship is awful and its not solely because they all have the same opinions. They barely interact with eachother outside their designated pairs which leads to it all feeling incredibly hollow. Theyre also practically indistingushable from one another now, which is a shame because it wasnt always like that. Like, I dont think the characters were that well-developed in earlier volumes but they were very well-characterized. But now we've gotten to a point where you can literally copy and paste one characters dialogue onto another and literally nothing changes, it really sucks.

5. Some closing words

Damn, this took way longer than I thought it would and now Im pretty exhausted. I have no idea how yall always write these but props to you! I feel like this ended up a bit rambly but overall, Im pretty proud.

Please let me know what you think of the points I brought up! Id also really appreciate some tips on how to get better at these longer posts because I am planning on writing more in the future (not the near future, probably but yknow).

Thats all I have to say for now, thanks for reading!

[sailorshadzter]

You know the Jonsa trope where Jon goes south and joins Robb army. And when he isn't willing to trade Jaime for the girls he goes on his own and rescue Sansa. Well can you write it with a little change? Sansa convinces Shae to come with them to the north.

LOOOVED this prompt, so much! so thanks! though, i sadly forgot to include shae coming with them, but we all know sansa will summon her to winterfell eventually anyways :) 

also, lots of tweaks because i cant be bothered to remember timelines or plots + it felt more angsty to add one of the changes i did.  (also, i forgot i implied that ghost went with jon to king’s landing LOL so ignore that i guess)  ((implied? i straight up said he went, who am i kidding lmao)) 

so yeah!! enjoy!! 

send me prompts

"What do you mean, you won't go?"

He's staring into Robb's clear blue eyes, trying to understand the words he's only just heard him say. "I can't Jon, you know that-" he stops, sighing when he sits back in his chair, arms folding over his chest. For several long moments, there's nothing but silence between the two of them before Robb leans forward, fingers spread across the wood of the table he sits behind. "You know I can't abandon this war for another one."

"Then turn in Jaime Lannister!" Jon spits, throwing his hands into the air as he takes a single step fowards. At his feet, Grey Wind growls low in his chest, though with a touch of Robb's hand, the wolf returns his head to his massive paws. But his golden eyes peer up at Jon from beneath the table, as if daring Jon to take another step towards his master. Outside the tent, his own wolf paces.

"I can't do that, either." Robb says, bowing his head as if he cannot bring himself to look into Jon's Stark colored eyes. "He's too important of a hostage."

"She's our sister," Jon rasps, hand clencing into a fist at his side. "You'll just leave her to rot there a prisoner of the Lannisters?" He cannot believe Robb is saying this, he cannot believe he would do such a thing as this. "We can't just leave her there!" It's been several weeks since their father was murdered in King's Landing, five since Arya was last seen. They have heard the rumors of how Joffrey Baratheon runs his court and Jon has heard the whispers of madness that surround their boy king. He worries for Sansa, who he knows remains in the clutches of the Lannisters. Some nights he can't sleep for worry of what must be happening to her there.

"Cersei Lannister would be stupid to harm her," Robb replies with another shake of his Tully touched hair. Though not as prominent as Sansa's vivid red locks, Robb is a trueborn Tully, certainly favoring his mother more than his father. "Not when her lover brother is in my keep."

"Then I will go." Jon snarls, turning his back on his brother and striding towards the tent's opening, ever intent on rushing through it.

"Jon!"

Robb's booming call forces him to stop, forces him to slowly revolve on the spot where he stands so he might face his brother. He's risen to his feet, a fist clenched where it sits on the table top. "You will go where your king commands," Robb speaks sharply; he knows Jon will hate him for this, he might even desert him for this. But then... Perhaps then at least Sansa would be safe. "I have not bid you permission to go anywhere." He watches as Jon sets his jaw, those Stark eyes of his reminding Robb of his father.

"I won't leave her there." Is all Jon says before he turns and strides from the tent. He would risk the wrath of the gods and Lady Stark for turning against Robb, but he couldn't live with himself if he had left Sansa there alone. He knows Robb is stuck, he knows being king is more than a crown, but if he will not go, then it must be him. "Ghost!" He calls out to his wolf as he rushes towards the tent that he called his own. Once inside, he stuffs a few belongings into a sack and throws it over his shoulder, adjusting Longclaw at his hip. "We're going South, boy." Jon says to the white wolf, who's tail thumps loudly on the ground. He knows King's Landing is no place for the wolf, but he knows what feeling his red-eyed, white wolf instills in those who see him.

When he steps back out into the afternoon sun, there's a chill in the air that turns his heart to lead. For a single moment, he contemplates returning to Robb's tent, to apologize, to make amends. But then he again thinks of Sansa and he turns away, heading towards the stables with Ghost at his heels. I'll make amends when I return, he thinks, all will be forgiven when he sees her face.

And so he rides away, down the long path that would lead him to the King's Road, to Sansa.

[ x x x ]

"I only would like an audience with my sister."

Jon stands at the bottom of the dais, where upon the Iron Throne sits the golden haired king, Joffrey. At his elbow, Cersei Lannister hovers, much like the queen she still thinks herself to be. It is well known among even the commoners that Cersei rules through her son, though Jon has to wonder what would befall the realm if Joffrey Baratheon made any decisions of state. "It hardly seems like a ridiculous request," Jon goes on, raising his dark colored eyes up to fall upon the king's green. He knows he cannot reason with this king, cannot tug on any heartstrings. This king will decide and that is that.

"I do not think my lady would care to meet with her bastard half brother," Joffrey sneers, drumming his fingertips against the arm of his throne. He looks bored, green eyes rolling as he shifts, glancing up towards his mother for only a moment. "However..." He sighs, turning his attention back to Jon. "Perhaps it will brighten her spirits," he's smirking at a private thought and a rush of anger surges through him. "I will have you escorted to her rooms." This is a moment of generosity, or what Joffrey would call it. Jon doesn't know him and doesn't know that tomorrow, Sansa would wake to rumors of just why her brother went unaccompanied to her rooms.

"Thank you, your grace." Jon bows over his arm, though it sickens him to do so. There's hundreds of words there on the tip of his tongue- words he would dearly love to say, punches he would dearly love to throw. But, no matter what, Joffrey is still the king. And harming the king would do little for him and especially nothing for Sansa. So he keeps his dark thoughts to himself and instead, follows the man dressed in Lannister colors out of throne room and into the main hall.

Upstairs, a knock sounds on Sansa's door.

She's been laying in bed for two days now and she isn't about to get up now. It's Shae, of course, that strides across the room from where she had been sitting in the window seat to get the door. Sansa can't hear what's being said, but she notices it's a Lannister man at the door. Propping herself up onto her elbow, she peers through the hangings on her bed as Shae nods and backs up before she shuts the door. "You have a visitor," she says when she's pulled back the bed hangings, staring down at her young charge.

"A visitor?" Sansa parrots back, surprise widening her blue eyes. She can't imagine anyone coming to visit her, especially after all that has happened. So she can only assume it will be Margaery who comes gliding through the door, smelling of roses and draped in silks. Sansa isn't certain she can stomach such a visit today.

"Yes, it's your brother." Shae replies and at once, Sansa's world stops spinning.

"B-brother?" She chokes out, suddenly sitting all the way up, nearly falling off the edge of her bed in her scramble upright. "My brother?" She exclaims, uncertain if she was more surprised that her brother has come or that Cersei has permitted a visit. At once, she's recalling every terrible thing that's happened to her here and how she's wished over and over again for a moment such as this... Where Robb comes to rescue her from this nightmare, where he comes and steals her away, to return her to their mother and to their home.

Shae smiles, dropping down to her level, smoothing back a stray lock of red hair. "It is your brother, Jon." For a split second, Sansa feels let down, but only for a moment for there is a knock on her door and she knows he's there. Shae rises up from the floor and crosses the room, yet again opening the door to a man in Lannister livery. She nods and gives thanks to the man who steps back and it's as Sansa is rising up from the bed that Jon steps into the room.

If she's disappointed that it's him and not Robb, she doesn't show it.  Rather, her face lights up from the inside out, the smile that appears as dazzling as the summer sun. Jon has only a moment to brace himself before she's flung herself into his embrace, her weight soft and warm in his arms. "Let me look at you," he says softly, pulling back from her just enough so he can look her in the face. She looks down and Jon reaches out, cupping her chin into his hand so he can gently tilt her face back to to his.

There is a fading bruise at the corner of her mouth, her lower lip split open as if she's been struck with a man's fist. Her eyes are like that of a deer, wild and fearful, but so blue they must be clearer than even the seas. "He hurts you," he growls, the anger white hot and rushing in his veins. The hand at her chin has slipped upwards, fingers gingerly trailing across the bruise, across the healing injury to her mouth. Tears are gathering on her lashes and she draws back, shaking her head.

"Not him, his men," she whispers, wrapping her arms around herself; Jon only then notices that the pale blue gown she wears hangs from her body. For a moment, the anger flees and instead he feels sorrow. He cannot begin to imagine what she's suffered here. "A king must never strike his lady," she says, her voice bringing him back from his thoughts. "That's what he always says." Now he thinks of her cowering beneath the fists of grown men and his anger returns.

"I'm taking you from here," he says, lowering his voice, sparing a quick glance towards Shae who stands at the window on the far side of the room, pretending she cannot hear their soft words. "Is there anyone here you can trust?" Sansa pauses for only a split second before she gestures towards Shae, a slow smile spreading over her battered lips.

"Only Shae," she says softly, turning her eyes back to Jon's. She had forgotten just how much he looked like their father and it takes her breath away. He reminds her of their father, he reminds her of Arya and it hurts... It hurts so much. She knows Arya is better off, wherever she was, but she can only hope she's safe and warm wherever that is. "But Jon.. You can't..." She trails off, shaking her head. "They won't let me leave." Joffrey was set to marry Margaery in only a few days, but she was still his prisoner.

"At the wedding," he says after a moment of thought. The plan is clear, during the feast there will be drinking and dancing, a perfect opportunity for her to slip away. "I will come for you during the wedding feast." He takes hold of her arms, pulling her close to him again. "I swear it to you, Sansa, I will come for you." For several moments, there is nothing but silence and the rapid beating of her pulse in her ears. But then, for the first time in weeks, in months, she feels it... A little flicker of hope. Of faith.

And so she nods.

[ x x x ]

Jon hadn't planned on Joffrey dying, but it certainly had added a little flair to the day he hadn't anticipated. It certainly gave him the distraction he needed to smuggle Sansa away from the feast and he used it to his advantage.

He creeps along the stone pathway, tugging her along with him. The cloak he brought with him is draped over her, shielding from prying eyes her vivid red hair. He's borrowed Baratheon colored clothes and with the old cloak she wears, they look like a peasant couple running from the pandemonium of the wedding feast. In truth, no one pays them any mind at all as they escape down the stone steps to the docks, which have emptied out aside from the old man that sits on the dock beside a small boat. Jon has already paid this man to hold the old boat there and he nods to him gratefully before he helps Sansa onto the poor excuse for a boat.

With her settled across from him, he begins to row; his path leads them further and further from the docks, from King's Landing, until it is only a speck on the horizon. Sansa has sat silently there, her head turned away from him, but it's then that she lowers the hood of the old cloak and turns her blue eyes upon him. There's dozens of things he wants to say to her. "Your necklace... It's missing a stone." Why were these the words he's chosen? She blinks in surprise and raises a hand up to trail the pads of her fingers across each delicate bead until sure enough, her fingers graze her own skin rather than the bead that would have been closest to the back of her neck. She reaches around and unclaps it, holding it between her hands as she inspects the broken piece, a look of recognition settling into place on her face.

A moment later, she drops it over the side of the boat.

He holds her gaze steady when she looks up at him and for a moment, there is silence. "Take me home," she speaks softly and Jon can only nod.

[ x x x ]

When they land, Jon knows something isn't right.

"Put up your hood," he says as he helps her from the rocking boat to the dock, steadying her when she stumbles. She nods before drawing her hood up over her red hair, shivering in the chilly air, the stolen cloak from King's Landing far too thin for the cold of the North. Down the way, at the other end of the dock stands a trio of men. Jon approaches them, Sansa trailing just behind him, recognizing one of the men to be a relation of the Frey's somehow. When he had left Robb, negotiations with the Frey's had been underway and Robb was to marry one of his many daughters, much to his distaste. "Sers," Jon greets and the three men turn, their gazes dark and untrusting.

"I know you," the Frey man says, recognizing him as Jon had him. "This here is the bastard brother of the King in the North." He speaks plainly and the other two men laugh, the Frey man too dissolving into laughter. "You know... He named you heir, didn't he?" The laughter fades and it's right then that somehow, Jon understands. The three men have their hands on the hilts of their swords and Jon backs up a few steps before he turns and gives Sansa a shove, shouting for her to run before he too picks up his pace, the whistle of a sword in the air far too close for comfort.

They run until Sansa is crying with a cramp in her side; they're deep in the forest that borders the dock now and somewhere in the distance, he hears Ghost's long, mournful cry. "What... What did he mean?" Sansa asks as she fights to catch her breath, having not understood the men back on the dock. "Why did they attack us if they knew you? If they know Robb?" She asks, her hood fallen down and her hair that had once been done so nicely was a tangle of curls hanging down her back. "Is he nearby? Mother, too?" Excitement lights up her face, gives her cheeks color and Jon doesn't have the heart to tell her. Not yet, not when he doesn't know for certain.

"Our camp was not far from here, come on," he says, choosing to ignore her question about why they had been attacked. They walk through the falling darkness and yet again, he can hear Ghost howling, closer now, and they are just about to step through the cover of trees into the camp.

At once, Jon knows his fears have been confirmed.

The camp has been destroyed- tents have been torched, bodies lay everywhere, soaked in the blood that pools beneath them. Beside him, Sansa's sharp intake of breath is like a knife in his gut. "Close your eyes," he whispers, reaching for her hand to take, to guide her through the bloodshed and the death. But when he looks back, her glossy eyed stare reminds him that she's already seen these horrible sights. She gives his hand the smallest of squeezes and that's when Jon knows that she's beginning to understand. "We have to go," he says, keeping his voice low, his free hand perched carefully atop of Longclaw. She nods, silent and pale, allowing him to lead her down the path that would have led them to the main tent, where Robb would have been.

But now, his body lays somewhere among the chaos, torn to pieces and sewn grotesquely back together by his enemies. The rumors would bring enough images to last a lifetime and when he hears them, Jon is thankful that he and Sansa managed to avoid seeing their brother in such a state.

They walk on and on, never talking, but he knows she silently cries as they go.

They walk until they stumble across a small hut, long since abandoned by whoever had once lived within. When he's certain it is empty and they are safe, Jon ushers her inside and when the door is closed behind them, he pushes a table in front of it, ensuring that no one was getting inside through it. The window is locked too, though he double and triple checks it within the first ten minutes they're inside.

He strikes at the old wood in the hearth with the flint and to his surprise, it catches fire. A few logs sit to the left of the hearth and he feeds one more into the flame, the warmth and light quickly spreading through the small cabin. "Come get warm," Jon says, turning away from the fire to face her where she stands, still draped in the old thin cloak. She takes a few steps towards him and he can see that she's exhausted. Of course she was, after all they had been through. And so he holds out a hand for her to take and when she does, her hand is small and cold, a perfect fit within his. Jon draws her closer to the warm fire and with his own hands, pulls the cloak from her shoulders.

The lovely silk gown she was wearing was torn in several spots on the skirt and he reached out to pluck a stray leaf from her vivid red locks. There was a smudge of dirt on her cheek that was strangely reminiscent of the bruise she'd once worn only days before. "He's dead... Robb..." She whispers, tears clinging to her lashes when her lids sweep closed over her sapphire eyes. When she opens them again, Jon nods and a single tear falls, tracing along the curve of her cheek. "And my mother..." She chokes on the last word and Jon says nothing but rather he pulls her into his embrace, holding onto her as tightly as he dared. Her sobs were heartbreaking and Jon held his own sorrow in, knowing right then, she needed him to be strong.

Hours later, he's helped her into the bed that sits against the western wall, and now she sleeps soundly beneath the blankets. Ghost has found his way inside and has crammed himself into the bed beside her, the sight of her arm draped over his body enough to bring a smile to Jon's face. Though weary as he feels, he cannot sleep. Not yet.

Guilt seeps into his bones and sorrow twists at his heart. You never should have left, his brain keeps saying, over and over again. He glances across the room to where Sansa sleeps and his heart answers his brain without missing a beat. Yes, you should have. For some reason, saving Sansa had called to him more than anything else in his life ever had- making that choice was easier than any other decision ever had been. And though he feels guilt for not being there beside Robb when he needed him most... Guilt he will live with for the rest of his life... When he looks at Sansa, he knows he's made the right choice. If he was faced with the same decision again, Sansa or Robb... He knows who he would choose.

And she sleeps there in that bed, tucked against his giant white wolf.

[two-whole-vinegar]

So I think I had a memory??

This has been absolutely killing me all day so I feel like I should jot it down ;-; for my own sanity at least. My memory/astral dreams are known for substituting things we're familiar with in place of things that my host hasnt seen or experienced before, so something I've seen and experienced can sometimes get swapped with something my host has experienced. But over-all I feel like the person I dreamt of was Donna? But if it is, I'm trying to figure out how things fall into place with my timeline and such ahaha ^-^;

Heres basically what happened:

The dream started off as a weird sort of game. I had to collect 4 glowing purple crystals (they were called fragments) in order to "progress" onward. Once the 4 fragments were collected, the entire setting changed to that of a... hospital? I think?

A woman was walking rapidly down the hall demanding to see someone. There may have been a second person with her, I felt like there was another presence but I couldnt see him clearly, thinking back on it. (Diavolo maybe? Idk?)

The woman walked up to a person sitting behind a desk and demanded to see "him" (not referred to by a name) but the man just seemed astounded as he looked over papers on a clip board.

He kept saying things like "it's incredible, really" and "I cant believe it, it's nothing i could have expected!" Rather than answering the woman's questions. Finally she grabbed him by the shoulder and spat "if he hurt people, *where is he*!? I need to see him!" And the man finally seemed to register what she was saying. He took a moment to register her existence, then huffed and smiled and said "dont you see? This is absolutely incredible, it wasnt him that did this! I mean, it was him, but it was also someone entirely different! He hurt people, but he's not really being held accountable for it on account of... this..." and he tapped the clipboard.

The woman huffed and stormed into the room, where a boy (me, but I was seeing 3rd person at this point) was sitting shirtless on a bed. He was *scary thin.* like very obviously not eating, thin, and the woman huffed and walked slowly up to him. She asked if he was alright and he nodded a little. (For a very brief moment I thought I saw two bodies laying at the foot of the bed, but they werent there after the initial moment of the lady walking in so idk)

There was very brief but caring conversation, most of which I dont remember, but it was things like 'have they been treating you well' and 'you should have a bath today.'

At one point she hugged the boy, and it was right around this point I started to see from his/my perspective.

The lady hung around for a little longer before she made a mention of having to go for the day, and I remember very feebly saying "please dont leave me..." and she got this absolutely broken look on her face before cursing and muttering "I'm going to get you out. Hold on." And she stepped out of the room, presumably to make a phone call.

At this point, I assume it jumped forward in time quite a bit, because I was sitting on a couch in a very small living space, I'm guessing either a hotel or an apartment. The woman was seated on the opposite end of the couch than I was, and I believe there was a man sitting on a seat across from us. We were all watching something on a television, but I was mostly dissociating or something, I wasnt really focused on what they were super focused on. At one point something caught my attention and I looked over and noticed something on the wall.

And the only thing that went through my head was "there is going to be an explosion. It will happen on 25 seconds and it will be above you. It will be loud."

So I counted down until there was about 5 seconds left, then casually plugged my ears and counted the last 5 seconds. Sure enough there was an explosion that rattled the whole living space. It caused the lights to flicker and the TV shut off, and several things were super displaced throughout the area. The woman looked at me with super wide eyes and looked absolutely pale, and I honestly couldnt tell what the man was doing. I just could tell there was another presence in that room.

I looked at the woman and said "do you think we should evacuate? That sounded like it wasnt too far above us."

Almost immediately, smoke alarms started going off and the woman looked up, then nodded and we quickly ran outside.

When we got there we started at the building for a bit and watched smoke pouring out from some of the windows, and we were oddly calm for a moment, but the woman quickly started to come out of her shocked state and started to panic. I remember she dropped to her knees and hugged herself And looked absolutely horrified. I had a similar reaction, I was calm but it very gradually slipped into a panic. I remember thinking "that was meant for me... we were supposed to be on that floor but we moved... that was for me..." and I dropped to my hands and knees. At one point I started to desperately crawl towards the building again but someone was like "dont. Do not go back to the building." And as I crawled closer i just kept feeling heavier and heavier and moving became more and more of a chore, like it was an extreme effort to move myself even slightly

I woke up right about that point, but I'm writing this a day later and it's still vivid as all hell to me. This doesnt happen to me often and I've been shaken up about it all day :c

I dont know what the point of this post is, honestly, aside from venting it out or something, but yeah. I guess if anyone has any input or if any of it sounds familiar for any reason I'd be willing to chat more about it.

[kaialone]

I’m gonna ramble about Ganon(dorf) for a bit

Proceed if you’re interested (I wrote a lot)

Okay so I don’t even know how to start this, I’ll just go.

(note that I’ll mention the timeline in this, please dont think that I dont know that the timeline could be changed at any moment should nintendo feel ike it, I just like semi-going by currently established canon. Also please note that I got no problem with people who dont feel like following the timeline for any reason, to each their own.)

I kinda really like the fact that Ganondorf is said to be a reincarnation of Demise, because, idk, somehow the idea of powerful demons needing to reincarnate into human form for some reason, and then once they have this form and live that life they start having human feelings and emotions and start struggling with what they want to be and maybe end up becoming good guys, is just somethign I really enjoy.

(If that sounds weirdly specific, Great Demon King Piccolo from Dragonball is one character with that kinda arc that I love.)

And then of course, one of the most interesting things about Ganondorf, imo, is how in the three different timeline branches, you got one incarnation of Ganondorf who turns out very different in each branch.

Something I always like is to just kinda, look at the different “last words” Ganondorf has in each timeline branch, and what they really mean for each of them:

"The wind... it is... blowing."

“I am the Evil King, Ganon...”

“The history of light and shadow will be written in blood!”

(though this gets a bit muddled in the Downfall Timeline, as technically Ganon died in ALttP, but was revived in OoX,´, which I see as his true death for now, but then again we dunno if any Ganons after that where him revived or reborn so *shrug*)

But first we should talk about the guy that “grows up” to be these other three.

I mean, personally I think no matter how you look at it, OoT!Ganondorf did lots of bad stuff, and wasnt a good ruler to the Gerudo (I dont mind different interpretations at all though), but I do think his initial intentions were good like we hear him talk about in WW, but lets not get ahead of ourselves here.

OoT!Ganondorf doesn’t really end up helping the Gerudo once he actually takes over Hyrule (all the Gerudo are still over in the desert, cept for maybe Iron Knuckles) and its heavily implied all the Gerudo were brainwashed to some extent (The carpenters note that the Gerudo seem nicer, post-Twinrova’s defeat), and Nabooru, who was very respected among the Gerudo, was explicitly against Ganondorf, but then brainwashed into submission.

Like even if you think Twinrova did all that without him knowing, not noticing your parents brainwashing your people doesnt exactly make you a good leader.

Adding to that, if A Link to the Past’s backstory is to be believed (and the timeline is not said to split until Link falls in the final battle) then, Ganondorf entered the hiding place of the Triforce alongside fellow thieves of his, and ended up killing them all so he could have the Triforce for himself.

Buuut before you think I’m just gonna talk about how bad OoT!Ganondorf is, like, I still think he genuinely wanted to help his people (at first) and that everything WW!Ganondorf says does represent his true feelings, and that at some point, he just really wanted to do something good.

I think its interesting to think about why that presumably changed for a while, wether you think its the usual getting mad with power, getting to close to the “dark side” or whatever with all the dark magic going on, or being groomed into this role by Twinrova, or all of that, or something else entirely.

I mean, he definitely did some bad stuff before that too, but in the context of Ganondorf being a reincarnation of Demise, I wonder if it could be possible that either seeing Link and/or Zelda or laying eyes on the Triforce ended up having some effect on him, like awakening some part of Demise within him so to speak, contributing to him losing sight of his initial goals and getting more about power in general.

Notably post timeskip Ganondorf seems to use a lot more monsters/dmemons to do his bidding than before, but this could easily just be the difficulty spike for the player.

Idk if this sounds cheap to people somehow, but I remember a popular theory being that the Triforce of Power turned him evil so, its not that different imo.

Of course, in the final battle we see OoT!Ganondorf become Ganon, presumably for the very first time, but honestly? The transformation itself isn’t that important to me, as it just feels like a visual representation of the downfall Ganondorf had undergone already anyway.

And then, when he is defeated, he infamously curses Link, and ZELDA, and THE SAGES, vowing to kill their descendants once he breaks free from the seal and all...

...which leads into who is everyone’s favorite Ganondorf, and rightfully so, WW!Ganondorf.

Before going into the present day of WW, there is its backstory, which is very interesting to me, cause you just gotta think, how do we go from a guy like OoT!Ganon to WW!Ganon?

At some point after OoT but before WW, Ganondorf’s threat became reality, he broke out of the seal and tried taking over Hyrule once more.

But I cant help but wonder how it mustve felt for him. I picture him for years, decades, centuries maybe, sealed away, picturing his revenge, imagining how great it’ll feel to get free and eradicate the descendants of Link and Zelda, and finally making Hyrule his.

But when he was freed, he likely found a Hyrule that was different from how he remembered it. Notably, there would be no hero, nor descendants of his for him to exact revenge upon. And while we know that a princess seems to have had existed at the time, who knows if she was “a Zelda”, if you wanna call them that.

I just imagine it wouldve felt a lot less satisfying that he imagined, heck, probably wouldve felt more like he was robbed if his chance to take revenge.

And who knows what even happened to the Gerudo by that point? I know lack of them in Wind Waker doesnt mean they are extinct, but for all we know they couldve left hyrule altogether? (Like they seem to have done between OoT and TP, and mightve done post OoT in the Downfall timeline, if you dont think they went extinct)

Overall I could see what Ganondorf mightve pictured/wanted to be his most glorious moment, his long awaited return, mightve just ended up feeling kinda empty.

Not that I think he wouldve done a complete 180 already because of that, but I could see it leaving him in a bit of a shock.

Adding to that, now just as he is about to conquer Hyrule for real, the gods decide to destroy it, essentially. Or at least, thats how Ganondorf felt about the situation, given how he speaks of it in the game. Its like the gods are playing with him, everytime Hyrule is just within his graps, they take it from him.

The flood mustve felt especially terrible for him, cause the way he saw it, it mustve been something like the goddesses saying “we’d rather just end hyrule and kill all its people than have you be its ruler”. What a slap in the face, to put it lightly.

After that, getting sealed away again, and all the stuff I mentioned above, probably gave him time and opportunity to reflect upon his life so far, and the future too.

I dont think that in WW, Ganondorf was just “going through the motions”, and just trying to finish what he started because he had no choice at this point. I do think he still genuinely wanted to try and conquer Hyrule, its just that he has had some time to think about it, a bit more about why he wanted it, and about what he did wrong before, and regretting those mistakes.

Like for example, he really doesnt seem like he wants to harm Link and Zelda anymore, if he can help it. He could be hating them, still furious for what happened during OoT, but he doesnt seem to be.

One of these days I wanna talk about all the contrasts and parallels WW seems to draw to Zelda games that came before it, especially OoT, but for this bit I just wanna mention this one thing.

How in OoT you confront Ganondorf, who smugly plays his leitmotif on the organ, the sound of which growing louder the further you approach his chamber. His back pointed at the entrance which he knows the hero will emerge from. Zelda, encase in a crytal, hangs above him like a trophy, like the hero bait she is to him at this point.

And then in WW, his leitmotif plays in his final dungeon, but actually grow more quiet the closer you get to him. That already makes you feel like, while it invokes OoTs atmoosphere, it actually turns it on its head. And then, when you do cofront him, “Zelda” is instead peacefully sleeping in a bed, (presumably Ganondorfs bed?) with him calmly sitting by her side, watching over her. He doesn’t face Link directly as he enters, but isnt completely turned away from his either.

Of course this scene still has some creepy atmosphere to it, especially when he starts reading her mind, but maaaan, the contrast to OoT (and games that came before it) just GETS ME everytime I just think about it.

Ahhh, I could go on and on like, you all know this stuff, you all thought about him in this game so much, didnt you?

I really hope nintendo will choose to give another Ganondorf this kinda depth, and maybe even just play with the idea of Ganondorf taking on a different role than “final boss” in a Zelda title. I would love that.

Now, let’s turn the clock wayyy back to when Ganon fought Link, and talk about the timeline that occurs when Link is actually killed by him.

To me, this is kinda of the “original” timeline, for various reasons, but I don’t wanna distract from our main man here too long.

In this version of the events, Ganon manages to actually aquire the full Triforce in the final battle of OoT, and causes quite a bit of misery before the Sages finally manage to seal him away in this version, too. But because he is so powerful with the Triforce and all that, it ends up costing a lot more lives to finally get to that point.

Now from that point on, this Ganon seems to just kinda rule the Dark World, a twisted “evil” version of Hyrule of his own creation. And of course most notably, either because of this worlds properties, or his general state of being, this Ganon seemingly always stays in beast form from that point on.

Sadly this one doesnt talk too much (though he is very much capable of doing so), so we dont get much of a grasp on his character.

To me, ALttP!Ganon feels like somewhere in the middle when it comes to Ganons. Despite his bestial appearance, he doesnt seem as blind with power and rage as TP!Ganondorf, maybe cause he doesnt call himself a god or something. But he of course is nowhere near WW!Ganondorf in terms of reasons and having reflecting upon his past.

Either way, it is clear that he is not happy with just ruling his very own personal Hyrule, filled with damned people that have become monsters like him, as in ALttP he does attempt to break his seal and go back to the World of Light

This might just be out of greed, but you could also imagine he might simply be unhappy in this demonic world, or even scared? Given how we see that some inhabitants of this land lose their humanity to such an extent that they’re turning into things like trees, maybe even completely losing their sense of self?

One of the more curious things about ALttP!Ganon is his relationship to Agahnim. No one is entirely sure what they are to one another.

In some of the mangas, Agahnim is portrayed as a human who gets possessed or turned by Ganon in some shape or form, and this portrayal is popular from what I’ve seen.

But in the actual game, Agahnim is described as being Ganon’s alter-ego. The term used in the japanese version is “bunshin”, which can mean a lot of things, including alter-ego or even reincarnation, but in the context of the Zelda franchise, there is another part in the series where it is used. In Phantom Hourglass, Oshus is described as being the “bunshin” of the Ocean King. So, if we assume Agahnim works the same way, his consiusness would have to be exactly Ganon’s, right? Of course that doesn’t mean other interpretations can’t exist, I myself am not even sure what to think.

The usage of the word bunshin does imply that to some extent, Agahnim literally was a part, or offshot of Ganon. So froma  certain point of view, we could add his character to Ganons, if we wanted to.

Something that intrigues me though is that in the Downfall Timeline, we never see Ganon in human form again. Could this be related to Agahnim? Maybe not exactly literally but symbolIcally?

Did Ganon split the humanity he had left off of himself, because that was the only part of him that could exit the Dark World before the seal was lifted?

If so, did Agahnim dying have any effect on him? Or did whatever Agahnim was in the end just return to him?

So much to think about here, ahh.

Of cours, ALttP!Ganon then gets killed by Link in their battle. Not sealed away, just flat out killed.

Normally this would probably be the end, but of course OoX happened, in which Twinrova tried to revive him, but didnt quite succeed.

Ganon is revived as a seemingly mindless beast, only actualy talking in his final moments, which is the quote from earlier.

In the japanese version, this quote is written entirely in katakana, which can indicate that its pronounced weirdly somehow, in cases like this likely because he had a hard time forming the words at all.

He also refers to himself as a Demon King in japanese, but that term hadn’t caught on in the english versions of the games yet.

Okay so, as I kinda mentioned above, this Ganon’s story gets a bit muddled from this point on.

Sometime after ALttP, but before ALbW, ALbW’s backstory (which is not ALttP) occurs, during which a hero fights a Ganon, who is then sealed away by him, the princess and the sages, but we dont know if this Ganon is the same, just revived again, or an entirely new incarnation.

But you could argue that it hardly matters, cause he barely does anything in the game, essentially acting as a power boost for Yuga...

However, there is a theory that he might do more than that actually.

So, according to this theory, Yuga actually was completely loyal to Hilda, and its only by fusing with Ganon that he starts wanting to betray, due to Ganons influence. The theory is nice in the sense that it makes Yuga more of an opposite of Ganon than he seems if you take the game at face value, and gives Ganon more to do. Depending on your interpretation, Yuga might just be influenced by Ganon, or they literally fuse into a being that is just as much Ganon as it is Yuga.

But of course that is just a minor theory, and you dont have to like it, naturally.

After that we get HF and AoL!Ganon, who is said to be more of a mindless beast as this point, no trace left of the human he used to be.

A rather sad fate.

Again it is unclear if this is the same Ganon, revived yet again, or maybe (anotehr) reincarnation.

But if its the former, you can only assume that, even if you dont think Agahnim dying had any effect on Ganon, just forcing him to ressurect over and over instead of letting him reincarnate properly, must’ve done quite the number on Ganon.

Somehow thinking about this version of Ganon in particular makes me think about the cursed boars in Princess Mononoke, who where lost to their anger. Especially the moment when the Wolf faces the Old Boar, who we have seen slowly lose his self at this point, and she almost pitifully says “Can’t you even speak anymore?” to him.

It almost feels like Downfall Timeline!Ganon is cursed by fate, in a sense. Not really in-universe either, but out of universe too!

History is already written (the first two games are already out) and thus Ganon has to follow the path that is already set for him, become what he will be in the future (what he is in the first two games), a frightening monster that terrorizes this kingdom of Hyrule for the sake of power, with no humanity in him (him having been human wasnt part of his character at the time the first two games where released)

I wonder if the demons failing to get Links blood in 2 will mark the end of this Ganon? (I hope not)

It was kinda nice to see BotW seemingly do somewhat of a modern take on this kinda idea of Ganon, something that has become little more than destruction of Hyrule in pyhsical form. I could see people place BotW as post- AoL for that reason, even.

And well, rolling back time yet again, we go to the last way OoT!Ganondorf turned out, which is TP!Ganondorf...

....who, compared to the others, actually has a bit more of a complicated “set-up” that kickstarts his character.

When Link gets send back in time at the end of OoT, his Tiforce of Courage breaks apart into the pieces we find in WW, presumably because Link was literally removed from that reality as he possessed it?

Then upon his arrival in the new Child Timeline, Link immediately gets the Triforce of Courage of THAT timeline, presumably cause he is in a state of being where he is meant to have a Triforce Piece of Courage?

Well, regardless of what you believe to be the cause, this is what happens, and as a result, the other two Triforce pieces choose Zelda and Ganondorf to bear them and end up residing in them. Thats how the pieces ended up with the three without the Sacred Realm being entered in this version of the events.

Link ends up warning Zelda and the king of the events that will transpire in the future, and thus Ganondorf loses the trust of the king and is unable to set his plan from OoT into motion.

Its a bit vague, but sometime after that Ganondorf starts a direct attack towards Hyrule, but gets captured and put on trial.

And as you know, as he was about to be executed, the Triforce of Power activated and saved him from death.

Now I am not sure if this is true, but I think up until that point, Ganondorf didn’t even know he had it.

But wether he discovered he had it now, or the moment it fist came to him, one thing I am sure of, he mustve felt so great for it. Cause he has no idea that a time travelling Link caused this to happen, right? From his perspective, the power of the gods just came to him like that because he is that great! And then, he cant even die as a result of this? He is literally immortal? Well, he must be the dang chosen one, right?

No wonder he got all god complex in this one!

Something I´m kinda interested in is how this guy spend years, likely centuries, in the Twillight Realm, and if his form in there is any indication, not exactly in physical form either, I mean isnt it implied he HAD to mae use of Zant like that in order to be able to have a physical form like that?

Ultimately TP!Ganondorf just is a lot like OoT!Ganondorf if you think about it, just kinda taken to a more extreme. He is no longer just human, but has transcended humanity much further than OoT!Ganondorf has, and feels superior to everyone because of it.

He is absolute in his own eyes, he is a god, his eventual victory is certain, his battle with the hero just a formality at this point.

And he sticks to that mindset until the very end, even as he is stabbed and fatally wounded by Link. It only makes sense, he couldnt be stopped by this before, why would it stop him now?

Of course the events that follow are rather vague, and people argue about what it means to this day, but I think it ultimately boils down to Ganondorf biting of more than he can chew, overestimating his own power. Or rather, what he thinks is his own power, cause its not even his.

From the moment he was impaled by the sword of the sage, Ganondorf has been a dead man.

He has only been kept alive afterwards through the power of others, the gods, and Zant as well.

This power was not his, and thus it could just leave him just as quick as it came to him.

The imagine of Zant snapping his neck, to me, either just refers to the fact that with Zant dead, who acted as Ganondorf anchor of sorts, Ganondorf himself dies as well, or it refers to the fact that Ganondorf, who saw himself as a god and superior to everything, was ultimately just as much of a mortal and simple being than the very person who worshipped him as a deity the most.

Yes, you could call Zant the very person that made Ganondorf a god in the first place, in more ways than one, so without him, Ganondorf is a god no more. And he dies just like any mortal would.

Ultimately this Ganondorf story feels like a story of hubris.

Simple, but neat.

(Its interesting like, its almost like, TP!Ganondorf was a human who longed to be a god, and WW!Ganondorf was like a god who longed to be human?)

But, do not think it ends here...

We’ve looked at all the people that OoT!Ganondorf grew up to be, but that isn’t all the Ganons there is, the story of Ganon actually continues further down the Child Timeline.

Yes, this brings us to FSA!Ganon, or as I sometimes like to call him, Ganon II.

I understand that most probably never played this game, and I probably won’t blow your minds if I tell you Ganon doesn’t actually do much in this game but, I still like to think about him.

He’s actually a proper reincarnation of TP!Ganondorf, folowing the latter’s death at the end of TP.

From some dialouge in-game we know a little bit about his past. Like his past life, he was a boy born to the Gerudo people, and was named Ganondorf.

Interestingly, in this game, the Gerdudo dont actually say that every 100 years a male child is born, they that every 100 years a “special” child is born, and of course Ganondorf was that special child. They still mention the “only man” part, but it doesnt come up with the “every 100 years” line.

Notably it also doesnt seem that Ganondorf was supposed to be their king, and it doesnt seem like they ever treated him like a king, they only mention he was supposed to be the protector of the Gerudo people and the desert.

This is just speculation, but perhaps, after what happened to the first Ganondorf, the Gerudo people decided it wasnt a good idea to treat the sole male like a king just because.

The Gerudo in the game tell you that the older Ganndorf became, the more twisted and obsessed with power he became, and eventually he started breaking their laws, too.

When he entered the forbidden pyramid, the Gerudo basically considered him banished from their tribe, but also didnt think he would ever survive in there and presumed him to be dead.

The Gerudo in this game really only talk badly about Ganondorf, which probably makes sense if he really just did bad stuff to them, but its a very stark contrast to OoT where the Gerudo seemed to just let Ganondorf get away with everything, kinda.

Something I wonder about if maybe like, Ganondorf wasn’t exactly treated well by the Gerudo, out of fear of him turning out like the old Ganondorf, or if Ganondorf just turned bad all on his own. Or maybe a mixture of both?

What is sorta interesting is the story of how this one came to be Ganon, which is that within the pyramid, he found a certain Trident, which is implied to have caused him to “awake as Ganon”, so to speak, as he picked it up. This is the inscription found with the Trident:

“Seek...you...the world? Seek you...power? Does your...soul...despise peace and...thirst for... more? Does your soul...cry... for...destruction and... conquest? We...grant you...power to ...ruin...the world. The power of...darkness. Evil...spirit of magic trident. You are...the... King of Darkness.“

The trident feels like it has more out of universe meaning than in-universe (though I do headcanon it to be a reincarnated ghirahim somehow, because I can). The trident being a weapon that franchise-wise is heavily associated with Ganon, and notably Ganon only, as Ganondorf is never really seen wielding a literal trident.

This Ganondorf picks up the trident, and with it the legacy of the interpretations of Ganons that came in the games before this one, so to speak.

I´m sorry for this part being so unstructured, but interestingly, Ganondorf is this game is referred to as “ancient demon reborn”, or something like “instrument of evil reborn” in japanese, hinting that even at the time of the game’s release, this Ganon was probably intended to be the reincarnation of a previous evil, likely a previous Ganon, of course.

What I wonder about is how much this Ganon is aware of that, though. When he grew up, becoming more and more twisted, did he know? Did he know he was the reincarnation of a villain that had previously plagued Hyrule? Did he feel his hatred? Did he know whose it was, or did he consider it his own? Or was it simply his own?

And when he picked up the trident, and transformed into a demon beast, did he understand what this meant? What he was? Did he ever obtain any memories of his past self, even?

Something that hints that this /might/ be the case is Shadow Link.

Now Shadow Link is not actually created by the dark mirror from the evil part of Link’s heart as the english localization suggest. Instead its created from the evil part of Ganon’s heart, using the dark mirror. It is said that through the mirror,the hatred and evil of Ganondorf, throughout time, took on the shape of Link. Likely because the hero is a major subject of Ganondorf’s hatred.

The fact that this happened when FSA!Ganon used the mirror, despite himself never having met Link up until that point, hints that he might, at least subconsiously, harbor the memories of his past incarnations?

But really, as usual there is a lot open to interpretation.

I´m just so intrigued, like in this timeline there is a “second Ganon”, a Ganon that came “after”, someone who had to take on this cruel legacy.

And, with that we have now talked about all the Ganon(dorf)s that have existed in the franchise to this day, not counting stuff like BS Zelda and the CDI-Games.

If you stuck around until this point, thank you so much, you’re too kind!

But also thanks to everyone that just skimmed this or looked it over briefly, I hope this wall of text did something for you. 

(Sorry for any typos I... type too fast when I get excited about a topic.)

[partlycharlie-archive]

gender? who is she? (they???)

chapter two: hey, uh . dad? link to prologue link to chapter one

summary: papa,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, oooOoOoo,,,,,,,,didn't MEAN to make you CRY (thaaaaank fuck i didn't!!!!!!!) word count: 1,796 warnings: coming out a/n: yeet yeet comin out bois

read on ao3

[SUNDAY; 10.21.18]

  harry? (SumayaPotter), luna! (LunaLovegood)

 [14:06] harry?: luna luna luna

[14:15] luna!: hello harry! what is it you wish to talk about?

[14:16] harry?: i think im gonna come out 2 dad

[14:19] luna!: oh wonderful! i wish you the best of luck, harry. do you know if you will come out to your mother, as well?

[14:20] harry?: oh shit [14:20] harry?: nah i dont think so [14:20] harry?: im a little more scared abt her than i am abt dad [14:20] harry?: idk y lol

[14:21] luna!: okay! that’s perfectly fine, harry. you only have to go to the limits that you are comfortable with! <3

[14:21] harry?: tyyy <3

 ---

 “Hey, dad?”

“Yeah? What’s up, Su?” James settles into the chair across from his daughter, who is sitting (with the worst posture ever - he really needs to start reminding her to keep her back straight, even if that’s the only part of her that’ll ever be straight) slumped over the table. As he speaks, she props her head into the palm of one hand to look him in the eye.

“Do you know what the word nonbinary means?”

He raises an eyebrow and frowns, considering. “A number that’s not a power of two?” he tries, offering a cautious smile.

She snorts with a quirk of her lips. “Close, but not quite.” She starts to pull out the pins holding her hijab together, placing them in a small bag in front of her. The layers of the scarf unravel around her face.

“It, uhm, well. It kind of means someone that doesn’t feel like a girl or a boy? I guess you could say that nonbinary people are, like, in between being a girl or a boy, even though I’m pretty sure some people don’t feel like that? Like agender people, y’know? I mean, I’m pretty sure they fall under the term of ‘nonbinary’ or ‘genderqueer’ or whatever, but they don’t really have a gender? I guess? Yeah.”

She’s rambling, pulling the sleeves of her shirt down so that they wrap around her fingertips in that way she always does when she’s nervous.

Huh. She’s nervous.

He tilts his head. “That makes sense, yeah. Why bring it up? Is it part of your homework?” He can’t help but notice the way her shoulders noticeably relax when he confirms what she’s saying.

“No, but - uh. I think I might be? Nonbinary, I mean?” She curls in on herself, shoulders hunching in towards her chest as if she expects some sort of rejection. One of the layers of her hijab covers her expression.

He raises an eyebrow. “Okay, cool. What does this mean, then?” James’ tone is filled with relaxed confusion, and he watches with the tiniest of smiles as Sumaya lights up, breathing in deeply.

“Oh! Yeah, okay.” She cuts herself with a shaky hand wiping itself across her mouth. She starts fidgeting again, pulling at the strings of her scarf and rubbing the skin of her thumb and index fingers together.

“So, uh, maybe different pronouns? I can explain that to you later, hah. And- uh, I’ve been thinking about a new name, maybe? I’m not sure about it, but. Definitely a consideration.” The words fly out of her mouth like spitfire, each one landing in front of him as if she were afraid they’d burn her tongue if she didn’t speak fast enough.

“Huh. Okay. I mean - I get what pronouns are, no need to explain that, but I’m guessing you wouldn’t want to use guy pronouns-”

“He-him. That’s what you’d say.” She replies instantly; it sounds like a reflex. “Sorry.”

James smiles softly. “No need to apologize, love. He-him, okay - so you wouldn’t use that because you don’t… feel like a guy, right?”

Sumaya nods hesitantly.

“But not she-her, either, because you’re not a girl.”

Another nod.

James’ eyes flicker around the room as he considers this, and he misses the shaky breath Sumaya lets out. “Okay. So what pronouns would you use, then? Not ‘it’ or anything like that, right? Because that seems kind of, uhm. Dehumanizing.”

She laughs, just a bit, and her shoulders relax from the subconsciously hunched position they were in before. She pushes the remains of her hijab down so that they rest around her neck. “No,” she corrects with a smile. “That’s only for inanimate objects, I’m pretty sure. I would use they-them, probably.”

“Huh. That’s not… singular, though, is it? Correct me if I’m wrong, obviously, but isn’t that pronoun only used for a group of people?” She - they - laugh.

“Nah, it’s been used as a single-person pronouns since, like, the 1500’s; it just hasn’t really been recognized until recently. You can look up the timeline, it’s actually pretty cool. But, uh. Yeah.”

James scrubs his face with his hands. “Okay. It might take a little while for me to get used to it - feel free to correct me if I fuck up, pardon my French - but thanks for telling me, hun.” He smiles in a way that he hopes is reassuring, and Sumaya lets out a shuddering breath, looking vaguely like they’re about to cry.

“Whoa- whoa, what’s up, love? What’s wrong?” He leans forward in response to grasp one of Sumaya’s hands that lays, stationary, on the table. They shake their head quickly, breathing in another stuttered breath.

“No, I just. Fuck. I’m so happy, I’m sorry, I know it’s dumb, I was just so worried, god, I’m sorry, I’m just so happy,” she they ramble, using their free hand to wipe away the tears threatening to spill from their eyes.

“Aww, love, that’s okay.” He stands up, careful not to dislodge his hand from their tight grip, and walks around the table to envelop her in the tightest hug he can manage.

“I love you,” they whisper.

“I love you too.”

 ---

  harry? (SumayaPotter), luna! (LunaLovegood)

 [17:06] harry?: LUNA I DID IT OH MY GOD FUCK

[17:15] luna!: you did what, harry? [17:15] luna!: oh my goodness! congratulations, harry! i’m so proud of you, love.

[17:16] harry?: I CANT BELIEVE I DID IT SLFNEISLNFKESN FUCK [17:16] harry?: I CRIED BUT IT WAS OKAY [17:16] harry?: HES OKAY WITH IT [17:16] harry?: FUCK [17:18] harry?: fuck [17:18] harry?: hes [17:18] harry?: hes okay with it oh my god hes okay with it

[17:20] luna!: <3

  everybody but sumaya [longbottom (NevilleLongbottom), parkinson (PansyParkinson), weasley_2 (GinnyWeasley), lovegood (LunaLovegood), weasley_1 (RonWeasley)…]

 [17:22] lovegood: hello @everyone ! [17:22] lovegood: i would appreciate it if you all would send your congratulations to sumaya!

[17:23] weasley_1: for what ?

[17:23] lovegood: i’m afraid i can’t say, but rest assured the congratulations are deserved.

[17:23] zabini: bet

  blaise (BlaiseZabini), su (SumayaPotter)

 [17:23] blaise: yo congrats

[17:23] su: ????? [17:23] su: 4 wht

[17:23] blaise: idk bro just congrats

[17:24] su: ok

  tinychild (GinnyWeasley), onlychild (SumayaPotter)

 [17:23] tinychild: hey yo congrats on whatever just happened

[17:24] onlychild: ?????? thanks ??????????? [17:24] onlychild: wtf

[17:25] tinychild: i dont know

  ibelieveicanfly (SumayaPotter), ibelieveicantouchthesky (NevilleLongbottom)

 [17:23] ibelieveicantouchthesky: congratulations!

[17:24] ibelieveicanfly: what the FUCK [17:24] ibelieveicanfly: y r yall congratulating me ???????

[17:24] ibelieveicantouchthesky: i’m not sure, but i’m sure whatever you did was amazing.

[17:25] ibelieveicanfly: csdkjrhoewsdnck okay,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

  motherfucker (HermioneGranger), bitchass (SumayaPotter)

 [17:23] motherfucker: Hey why did Luna just ask me to congratulate you

[17:25] bitchass: IT WAS HER????? [17:25] bitchass: ofc it was that sweet hoe

  luna! (LunaLovegood), harry? (SumayaPotter)

 [17:26] harry?: luna

[17:28] luna!: yes, harry?

[17:28] harry?: !!!!!! [17:28] harry?: sry forgot abt that 4 a sec

[17:28] luna!: no need to apologize, harry!

[17:28] harry?: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [17:28] harry?: okay im fine [17:28] harry?: anyway [17:29] harry?: did u ask all of our friends to congratulate me

[17:29] luna!: yes! [17:29] luna!: even if they don’t know why they are congratulating you, i thought it would still be a nice feeling to have them be proud of you. [17:29] luna!: also, it is a nice demonstration of their trust in both me and you, harry. [17:29] luna!: me, because they trusted me enough to know that i was not lying! [17:30] luna!: and you, because i’m sure most of them said something along the lines of “i’m sure whatever you did was worthy of my praise” when you inevitably asked them why they were congratulating you for seemingly no good reason!

[17:31] harry?: omg [17:31] harry?: ilysm [17:31] harry?: god ur fuckin right too jfc [17:31] harry?: u absolute blessing u [17:31] harry?: srsly tho thank you luna tht was rly nice of u

[17:31] luna!: of course! [17:32] luna!: i love you too, harry. <3

 ---

  the Tea TM [f (FredWeasley), g (GeorgeWeasley), s (SumayaPotter)]

 [17:25] f: hey broski [17:25] g: hey . hey . hey .

[17:33] s: what

[17:33] g: congrats [17:33] f: also y is everyone congratulating u

[17:34] s: oh [17:34] s: luna told them to

[17:34] g: y tho

[17:34] s: i came out to my dad

[17:34] f: ?

[17:35] s: wait shit

[17:35] g: ur gay?

[17:35] s: no [17:35] s: kinda [17:35] s: its weird [17:35] s: thats not what i told him

[17:35] f: oh [17:35] g: whatd u tell him

[17:36] s: um [17:36] s: shit okay ig im doing this

[17:38] f: no pressure [17:38] g: NOSE pressure

[17:38] s: shut up [17:40] s: do u k what nonbinary means

[17:41] f: oh bet [17:41] g: yea man [17:41] f: uk charlies trans right??

[17:43] s: w h a t

[17:43] g: ya [17:43] f: well agender rly but ye [17:43] g: we all read up on a bunch of gender stuff when he came out [17:43] f: p legit [17:43] g: u got a new name or r u sticking w su

[17:43] s: god thats so wild [17:44] s: oh uh no [17:44] s: uh [17:44] s: harry i think [17:44] s: idk

[f (FredWeasley) changed s (SumayaPotter)’s name to h] [g (GeorgeWeasley) changed h (SumayaPotter)’s name to h]

[17:44] g: goddamnit fred [17:44] f: ;)

[17:46] h: welp

[g (GeorgeWeasley) changed chat name to ‘ mlk but better’]

[17:46] g: get it [17:46] g: bc our names go fgh [17:46] g: and mlk was mlk

[17:46] h: pls stop