#supposedly having killed himself even if she doesn’t believe it

[wrightandco]

franziska is a teenager who loses her dad, then loses her brother, then travels to america and loses her perfect record to the same guy who she blames for the loss of her brother

she’s burdened by the cognitive dissonance of pushing forward with loyalty to her upbringing when it has led to her ideals of perfection crumbling around her all at once and she literally has to deal with that all alone

[itsphoenix0724]

Promises (Rhysand x Reader)

Summary: You don't argue with your husband often, and never anything as serious as this. However, some things may be too hard to come back from.

Warnings: ANGST, mentions of Rhys' trauma from under the mountain

Word Count: 1.7k

Part 2

A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first time writing for Rhys, but I apologize; this isn't the happiest thing! This takes place during ACOMAF, and I tried to keep it canon accurate. I may have diverged a little though! I really just needed to get some angst out from first week of school stress lol. If you ever want to interact with me my requests are open! As always constructive criticism is very welcome! I tried to makes this a realistic portrayl of real feelings and emotions. I hope you all enjoy even if it stamps on your heart a bit <3

You’re sitting at the dinner table in the Townhouse, nursing a glass of wine, when you feel your Husband’s power rumble into your bones. It normally feels comforting to you, but now all it does is further the knot of anxiety growing in your stomach.

It’s been a long week. 

It was the first time that Rhys had called in his bargain with Feyre. You’ll always be eternally grateful for what Feyre did for your family, for your court, and the entirety of Prythian. It still didn’t stop the ugly jealousy that clawed at your insides at Rhys spending the week away from you with her. Especially after you learned about the dancing. You knew why it had to happen, you really did. He had explained everything to you in the tearful reunion after he returned from under the mountain. 

You hope Amarantha burned in whatever hell she crawled out from. 

“How was your first week,” you take another gulp of wine, trying to drown the spiders crawling up your throat. 

“I think she’s making some progress. Tamlin isn’t even teaching her how to read! Can you believe that? Even after he saw it almost kill her and his supposedly beloved emissary.” He rubbed out the crease forming between his eyebrows, maneuvering around the kitchen as he poured himself a glass of whiskey. “She was paper thin and so so pale.” he shook his head as he knocked back the liquor. 

“You didn’t come home the whole time.” You tried your best to keep the venom tamped down in your voice, you weren’t even really angry just confused. Judging by the way the muscles in his back tensed your endeavor had not been successful. 

You knew he would have to call in this bargain eventually you just didn’t expect him to ignore you the entire time she was here. He could’ve taken you with him, you had even expressed interest in meeting Feyre. You had wanted to thank her personally for everything she did to you and extend an olive branch for her time in your court. Rhys had shut down the idea immediately because he thought she might have been overwhelmed. 

“What is that supposed to mean?” he turned around and looked at you from his spot leaning against the counter. You didn’t look at him, staring straight at the grooves on the table. You sensed the defensive tone immediately. Rhys almost looks like a cat with all the hair raised on its back. Feline eyes sizing you up like he’s about to pounce on you.

“I just don’t understand why you couldn’t have come home to even sleep. When I tried to reach you mind to mind your shields were up.” Your nails dig into the wood, leaving crescent marks in the pine. Rhys doesn’t have an answer for that when you meet his eyes. It almost looks like he’s looking through you instead of at you. 

“I didn’t want to leave her alone in case she tried to jump out a window.” He says the answer matter-of-factly. It’s the same tone you heard him use during the conferences he held with the citizens. He wasn’t exactly brushing you off, but it didn’t feel like he was listening to you either. 

“Why couldn’t you have just told me that?” Your voice cracked. You have been married to Rhys for almost one hundred years. You could tell when he was being shifty, and you couldn’t shake the feeling that he was hiding something from you. Judging from that regretful look in his eye you were correct. 

“I thought you would react poorly. Clearly, I was correct.” The clipped tone is enough to send a white-hot bolt of anger through your body. 

“Do not blame your poor communication skills on me Rhysand.” The glare you fixed him with could have brought the monster that lurks in the bottom of the library to its knees, but Rhys just met your eyes with a steeled look of his own. 

“She needed help. She was begging somebody to come rescue her. She was withering away in the Spring Court! You know how many times I’ve been pulled from bed because she’s vomiting during the night-” Rhys sounded exasperated. But you were tired, so tired. 

“You’ve barely come to bed since you’ve been back.” Your voice was hardly more than a whisper, but the deafening silence that followed your words made it sound like an explosion. You knew it was a low blow. Rhys sometimes couldn’t stomach sleeping in your bed after what Amarantha did to him. After he was startled awake one night a bolt of his power shot your sleeping form out of the bed because, in his nightmare-filled haze, he had mistaken you for her. He had felt awful, and now mostly slept in one of the guest rooms in fear that he would cause serious damage to you. You had tried to convince him, but he knew how powerful he could be, so you relented. 

“You don’t get to throw that in my face right now.” The growl that came from your husband sounded like cold black death. “She needs to be trained. She needs help-” all the pent-up emotion started to boil over inside you. Your airway got smaller, white noise was sounding through your head, and your eyes couldn’t focus on a spot infront of you. 

“I DO NOT CARE WHAT FEYRE NEEDS!” the boom in your voice surprised even you. Rhys took a step back, you rarely even raised your voice, let alone yelled at him. His eyes widened, but his flood of emotions quickly matched yours. 

“SHE SAVED ME! I PROMISED TO KEEP HER SAFE!” The way Rhy’s voice ricocheted off the walls made you flinch. The pure night-kissed power had stolen the warmth from the room and all the air from your lungs. 

“You made promises to me too. Do you remember that?” your voice echoed out with calm fury as you slipped your ring off your finger and held it up to the light. “Do you remember the promises you made to me when you put this ring on my finger?” You didn’t even know where the rage was coming from, You weren’t angry, but it grabbed ahold like cold unforgiving ocean waves and kept pulling you farther into the eye of the hurricane. “You pledged to me your undying loyalty, your faithfulness, your honesty.” That last word coated your tongue in acid. 

It burned you and Rhys as it left your mouth. 

“Do you truly believe I have been unfaithful to you?” his voice grated out like shards of glass. However, in your current state, it seemed more condescending than questioning. 

“I believe you are not being honest with me. I have been married to you for practically 100 years, and have known you even longer. Do you think I don’t know when you’re not telling me something?”  You shot up from your seat and slammed your wedding ring on the table. His violet shield slipped for just a moment to see the hurt flash in his eyes. You haven’t taken that ring off since he gave it to you. 

“You are being irrational.” Rhys tried to step towards you, but you only backed away from him, shaking your head as tears welled up in your eyes. 

“Why are you being so secretive about Feyre? She is engaged Rhys-you took her from her wedding. If she truly needed help why not bring her to Velaris? Why not let her meet me? Why not let her be happy with Tamlin?” The questions kept pouring out but the protective growl Rhysand made at your last statement had you recoiling. He had given himself away. He obviously knew it too, as he tried to step towards you. The tears kept pouring out as you shook your head. “You need to tell me what’s going on. Right now.” Rhys finally hung his head in defeat as he slumped into one of the chairs. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands as he stared at your trembling figure from the other side of the table. 

“She is my mate.” Your eyes widened in horror. It felt like the dinner you made earlier tonight was going to make another appearance on your kitchen floor. “She is my mate and I don’t know what to do.” 

“What do you mean you don’t know what to do?” Your voice was shaking with scarcely contained fury as you stormed up to the table. “I am your wife. I am your people’s queen. What more is there to think about? I thought you loved me.” A new wave of tears washed over you, and you swear you could hear your heart breaking. It was so loud. You wonder if Rhys could hear it too. 

“Of course I love you!” he looked at you with desperation and pleading in his eyes. “It’s just more complicated.” You shook your head at him as your sobs finally flowed out of your body. 

“It shouldn’t be complicated,” you heaved out through the tears “You promised to choose me every day. If you can’t do that I can’t be here.” You turn from the table and march up the stairs. You distantly hear Rhys get up and follow you to your room as you shove clothes inside a bag. 

“What are you doing? You’re not leaving, are you?” His eyes widened in horror as he tried to grab the items out of your hands. “Darling-”

“Do not call me that right now.” You manage to sniff out the words behind the tears. “I just can’t be here if you cannot choose me. There shouldn’t even be a question.” 

“Where will you go?” He at least had it in him to sound concerned about your well-being. 

“I don’t know, anywhere but here.” You shoved the last thing in your suitcase and winnowed away without another word. You left Rhysand in your house, with your ring sitting on the table. He found himself sitting at the kitchen table for the rest of the night, nursing a bottle of whisky and running over the cool sapphire with the pad of his thumb. He didn’t know if you were ever coming back. He didn’t know where you went. 

What the fuck had he done?

[s3crificialbrides]

MUKAMI HOUSEHOLD HC’S

A/n: Long time no see!! Work and life got super crazy but I’ve been indulging in Diabolik Lovers again! Alongside that! For a few months I’ve been rewriting DL (more like my own au!!) just small tweaks and adding more realistic characterizations to characters I enjoy! So I decided to make a list of my headcanons for the Mukami household + Yui (she’s my beauty)

TW: slight mention and hint at abuse, mention of sexual abuse, mention of animal death

Take all of these at face value I’ve done my research to the best of my abilities and are basing this off of the things I’ve read, played, and watched! Plus my own little personal things!

- A quieter household. Each brother seems to have their own hobbies and tends to stick to themselves. This doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy each others company, they seem like the only group to like REALLY enjoy being around each other. Brother banter and all that nonsense.

- isn’t the safest but compared to the Sakamaki household Yui is in less danger. She actually spends more time pursuing schooling and smaller hobbies here without much backlash. Yuma and her garden often and Ruki helps her study. But of course this kinda stuff is paid back in blood so, you win some loose some

- Yuma will tease all 3 brothers for their height, I believe this may be canon? But it’s really Kou he has spats with over their heights. As an idol Kou is notoriously over dramatic and borderline narcissistic (and very full of himself) so he’s kinda pissy Yuma hangs his height over his head, but it’s all in good fun! (Usually)

-Yui and Ruki don’t really get along in the beginning. Which duh, but after a long period of time Yui began to get annoyed with being bossed around? I mean I would to, so he kinda grossed her out. Too much like an Ayato Reiji mix

- it’s mentioned either that in a CD or clip from more blood (the game) that Yui housed a kitten and was healing it back to health and Ruki killed it. This also kinda solidified their relationship into not being great. Yui believes very strongly in her morals and Ruki is one to oppose them. Meaning that in her eyes he’s cruel and in his she’s weak.

- Azusa is super interested in religions. Not like in them but he thinks the rules and regulations are kinda interesting to look into, he asks Yui a lot of questions about her faith and what it means to her.

- Yuma and Yui get along the best, the brothers were once human and I feel like don’t lack empathy to the extent pure bloods do. Course they will make comments that have Yui going “???” Because they are still entitled vampires

- The kinda group to have annoying ass orders at cafes. They don’t go out as a group much but when they get the chance they do. So when Yui joined she tagged along (of course they were like helicopter parents). Kou wants something sweet all the time so it’s either a milkshake/frappe nonsense, Ruki is the one who makes in super obvious he “just wants a black coffee. Black, no sugar or cream”, now Azusa’s order isn’t hard but he’s so quiet that it’s hard to catch it all so it’s usually made wrong on accident. Yuma sticks to the same thing but it’s a coffee with like 13 different steps that by the end it’s like a concoction of sugar, cream, flavoring, and coffee.

- Yui has an easy order, usually a tea. She avoids most coffee’s due to her sleep already being out of whack

- Yui has nightmares often due to the abuse she’s faced and she’s semi opened up to Azusa abt them in passing but tends to shut it down if pried.

- Ruki is stressed almost always. With the stress of being Adam kinda solely falling on his shoulders he doesn’t sleep often or even at all.

- this is supposedly canon but, Yuma likes bigger curvy girls in my mind :3

- Kou likes Kesha, Megan, and other female rap/pop artists. I also feel like Yui also dabbles with that kinda music but it isn’t her favorite

- Yuma’s the kinda brother that gives his brothers the faulty gaming controller :/

- Yuma and Kou smoke weed 100% idk I feel like they’d enjoy it, Ruki has a few times but usually just tells them off. Azusa has zero interest, Yui also has dabbled and she enjoyed it but getting high with like supernatural creatures can be… anxiety inducing?

- Ruki seems like one of those kids who’d have a super non trad kinda pet? Idk a snake or something. Not messy, loud, and chill

- Kou seems like the type to be sex repulsed often? He’s an idol and gets sexualized a lot in the limelight so bad correlation but even if he hates it he still does it to Yui

- Yui also is very sex repulsed

- yuma has a hard time coming to terms with his past with Shuu? It’s a weird grief thingy

- I feel like sometimes, only sometimes, they miss being human. I believe it’s semi mentioned already. But I feel like when Yui started living with them they started noticing that feeling more in an angry/sad way.

[river-of-wine]

I know I’ve been talking about Molly and Abigail a lot but I love them and people are way too mean to them, and when I see people blaming them for things such as the failure of the bank robbery all I can think is this. Do you really think that the game wants you to dislike Molly and Abigail? These two are portrayed incredibly sympathetically throughout the game, and it could not be made more clear that they are victims.

Abigail was a sex worker at seventeen years old, and she had a baby at eighteen. Her son’s father abandoned her in a gang with an infant to take care of while she was still a teenager, and he has been absent in his son’s life and refusing to accept Jack is even his son for four years. All she wants is for her son to have a better life than she had as an orphan growing up in bars and brothels, she wants John to be responsible for Jack and everybody else does as well, even Dutch of all people tries to tell John he shouldn’t abandon his own son. Literally all she wants if for her family to be safe, and that is not the unreasonable ask that people seem to make it out to be. She is a young woman with a traumatic past who loves her family, and who, in the epilogue, just wants a life with her son and her husband where they won’t be in danger anymore. Abigail is one of the biggest reasons why John ends up changing into a better man, why he goes from the deadbeat he starts the game as to who we later see him become for the better. Do you think that’s how the narrative would portray a traitor? How it would show Abigail to you if she were anything other than a desperate young mother trying to care for the people she loves?

Molly is a young woman in an abusive relationship. She is alone in America with nowhere to go and presumably no means to support or defend herself if she ever did leave Dutch, which is a hard enough thing to do in a relationship like theirs even when you are not an isolated Irish woman in 1899. She is completely alone in the gang, she has no friends and no one will properly listen to her no matter how hard she tries. She is in love and she’s worried about Dutch, she never asks him for more than the bare minimum of, as she says, “respect and affection”. She is not asking to be the only focus of his attention, she is not asking him to focus entirely on her instead of the gang, she just wants to be looked at, to be called by her first name, to not be ignored by a man who supposedly loves her. Molly is driven into depression and paranoia by her isolation from any support in the gang and Dutch’s abuse, and she ends up so desperate for somebody to pay her any attention that she says something she knows will get her shot. She is revealed to be innocent in one of the most important cutscenes in the game, the final plot twist that Micah ratted on the gang, and after this, but there is doubt before. Karen doesn’t believe her, Mary-Beth doesn’t believe her, Arthur himself is what keeps Dutch from shooting her and he doesn’t believe her. In the money ending, Arthur will plead with Dutch, telling him it wasn’t Molly and to kill Micah instead. Do you think that’s how the narrative would portray a traitor? Is that how it would show you a victim of severe abuse who wanted nothing more than to be loved?

Each have their own flaws in addition to this, but that’s because they, like the men that are so highly praised within the fan base for their brilliant writing, are complex characters. They are three dimensional characters with personalities and wants and needs, who make decisions or react in ways we might not understand because they are their own people in their own impossibly difficult situations. Just think about the actual storytelling of the game, because nothing is done accidentally. There is a reason for every narrative choice made because it was all written down and performed with the intention of telling the story properly. There is a reason why no one questions that Molly was innocent after it is revealed and why her arc ends with that cutscene, and it is because she was innocent. There is a reason why John changing his ways for the sake of his family, both because of Jack and because of Abigail, and finally listening to his wife for once is shown as a good thing, and that’s because it is. Have whatever opinions you like about a character, but don’t pretend the game is telling you they are something that they’re not

[guzhuangheaven]

I'm rewatching Ruyi, and all I'm thinking is, "Why is Yanwan such a stupid person?"

She is surviving and thriving because of luck most of the time. How is it that her mother murders his child and Hongli thinks that maybe she is not evil because her mother didn't confess Yanwan's part but he spend over a decade hating on Yuyan because of an accessory and her ambitious son.

I feel the writer faltered and could have made her a more subtle and clever villain. Her only becoming a Consort because Hongli wanted to piss of Zhen Huan, I think sucked the most.

See, here’s where I think the writing is genius in terms of human psychology, because it shows just how utterly narcissistic both Qianlong and Yanwan and how much they see themselves in each other. Yanwan panders to Qianlong’s narcissism, so he literally willfully tells himself that a woman he favours can’t be that bad, to the point that he actually believes it. He wants to always forgive Yanwan whenever she pisses him off, because he can’t admit that he likes or gets turned on or whatever by someone so despicable, because what does that say about himself?

In the situation with Yongjing, he would rather believe astrology nonsense that Ruyi’s vibes killed Yongjing than consider there was foul play. He gets so hyped up with the idea of Yongjing being a good omen that when Yongjing dies he feels like he's losing face to ever have hoped so much. Face is a huge deal to a person like Qianlong, he can't deal with losing face like that so he turns it on Ruyi instead. Later he would rather deceive himself that yes somehow Yanwan’s mother can miraculously pull all off this huge feat of paying off midwives and people both inside and outside the palace to endanger Yongjing and frame Hailan in the process, than admit the obvious that she couldn’t possibly have done all of this without Yanwan’s will or involvement. And some people really are just so narcissistic that they would believe these excuses they tell themselves rather than think that they might be wrong.

Yanwan says it very succinctly in the end, he chose her, he raised her up, if she’s horrible, then what is he? That’s why he can’t ever admit to Yanwan’s worst actions until he can’t be in denial anymore, when it’s all shoved into his face in the end.

Yanwan basically spends her entire time as consort failing up because her benefactor (Qianlong) is too narcissistic to admit he was ever wrong and has the ultimate privilege to get away with that mindset. This happens in real life…

Anyway, I think while Qianlong is aware of Yanwan’s ambition from the beginning from the way she approaches him, and he nurtures that ambition to use her as a weapon against the empress dowager and Ruyi at times, he doesn’t see Yuyan (or do you actually mean Luyun and her hairpin?) in the same way. We see the Yuyan’s scheming private moments but I think for Qianlong, she’s just this plaything gift from a tributary state with a sharp tongue, and she is the equivalent of a sexy lamp to him. So he is blindsided when that toy dares have her own goals and uses her son to push her own gains.

If you mean Luyun, I always thought it was a perfect concoction of coincidences that sets up Qianlong’s suspicion of Luyun, from Langhua suddenly recommending Luyun as the next empress on her death bed even though she hasn’t shown any preference for Luyun before, after Qianlong just learnt that Langhua had supposedly done all these evil things, and then Luyun’s hairpin being found at the wrong place, then suddenly Luyun showing desire to compete to be empress that she didn’t have before and both Yongzhang and Yonghuang who were raised by Luyun acting up at Langhua’s funeral. With his tendency for paranoia of course he would be suspicious of her and he can continue to hold a grudge because Luyun isn’t a mirror to him the way Yanwan is.  

[destroyerofnations92]

I always find it funny when those who support the Greens cling to Daemon’s (supposedly) evil acts and atrocities committed, to justify them overthrowing the king’s chosen heir, while also completely ignoring their own side.

Aegon is a proven rapist and frequent child abuser, who might even be a pedophile as well, depending on how you interpret the comment that he prefers the more “unsavory” brothels. He has bastards, whom he has fight in fighting pits. He is an absolute monster.

Helaena is an innocent victim. I’ll give you that. I feel bad for what is to come for her.

Aemond is a kinslaying psychopath. I don’t get those who seem to look forward to him and Alys. He killed her entire family and then took Alys, a prisoner of war, into his bed. Sounds like rape and a war crime to me. His actions cause so much pain. Burns the Riverlands, killing thousands, and his actions are the reason Jaehaerys is brutally massacred.

Daeron is an unknown entity, though he doesn’t seem evil, just a dutiful young man and another victim of his family’s misplaced ambition.

Alicent is a terrible person. She sneakily crept into the bed of her best friend’s father, not even six moons after his wife died in the birthing bed. I’d be surprised if the birthing blood had dried yet. She raised her sons to be hateful little monsters, and inspired their base and disgusting behavior. She was abusive and an all-round horrible mother. Every bad thing that will happen to her family is because of her. She hides behind her false piety, while she is out here allowing dudes to wank one out over her feet the day her husband died. Alicent is no victim, she hasn’t been one in a very long time. She could have had Larys seized, but she didn’t because she wants him working for her and not her father. Manipulative and disgusting.

Larys is a kinslayer of the worst kind. No problem with the foot fetishism, to everyone their own. Though I do find a dude called the Clubfoot having a thing for feet a little on the nose.

Criston Cole is truly an incel. He had one whiff of pussy and upon being rejected started spouting every incel/MRA talking-point out there. He is just a sad and pathetic person wearing a mask and clinging to his false Faith and his white cloak, pretending to be someone he is not.

Otto is a jealous little troll, who did everything in his power to destroy the House of the Dragon. I am a firm believer in the Oldtown Conspiracy, and that the Faith, the Citadel and House Hightower conspired to overthrow the Dragonlords and install Hightowers on the Iron Throne. He cares for nothing but himself. He is an almost one-dimensional villain.

That said, while the Greens are shit, they wouldn’t have been able to pull this off if not for two people: Jaehaerys and Viserys.

Jaehaerys was no conciliator, he was a capitulator. He kneeled to the Faith, was a shit father to his daughter, clearly a rampant misogynist, and allowed these “lesser” Andal lords a say in the governing and succession of the House of the Dragon. His entire shtick about Targaryen exceptionalism was thrown out the window the moment he didn’t want a woman on the throne. He is the root of all evil. Alysanne was a far better queen than he was a king.

Ah, Viserys the Peaceful. More like Viserys the Fool. The only reason he even sat the throne was because his brother assembled an army for him. Well, that and because his grandfather was clearly a deep-rooted women-hater. He was a moron. I saw someone describe him as using his kindness and peaceful nature to cloak what hides beneath: weakness. He was so easily manipulated and his actions led to the death of the dragons.

It is no coincidence it all went wrong for the Targaryens the moment the King wed an Andal. You can disagree with Daemon's Valyrian supremacy all you'd like, but he was right. The moment they "bred" with lesser beings, it all went to shit. They should have kept it to the Velaryons, Celtigars, Baratheons or the bastard Valyrians from the Free Cities.

The Greens’ treason caused the death of the dragons and was the reason the Seven Kingdoms were unprepared for the Night King and his armies.

[o0anapher0o]

Miss Lily and character stereotpyes

I’ve been re-reading @halo4life2017-blog's rewatch blogs and the discussion we had about Miss Lily and about how Lestat might at some point tell us he only killed her because she was actually planning on blackmailing Louis or something like that, and I had some more thoughts I need to get out.

The thing about Lily as Louis presents her is, she’s a stereotype. The ‘whore with the heart of gold’ is a common trope. It’s a cliché the same way the though, street-hard, black pimp is, or the rich European genteel who is abhorred by American racism, the stately southern matron who saves face at all cost even if it means waving off a guests outburst with a comment about the weather, the sassy little sister who supports her gay brother and only wants to see him happy, or the religious zealot who is really a gentle angel when he’s not possessed by the holy spirit. All those are sterotypes that Louis uses when he introduces the people in his life to the story, ways he tries to shape the narrative perception of them. Or maybe lies he tells himself about them.

And all of these stereotypes get dismantled within the first episode: Louis is really a sensitive baby gay who likes to read and cries at the opera. Lestat is a terrifying vampire, who we can rightfully assume has never cared about how black people are treated anywhere prior to meeting Louis, and really still doesn’t.  Florence is an emotionally abusive bitch who happily unloads her own grief on her child, Grace is mommy little princess who deserts Louis when he needs her most to side with Florence and Paul is a condescending brat who shamelessly uses his mental illness for the liberties it gives him (we don’t talk about it enough because mental illness is tricky and Paul is a great character, but the way he acts towards Grace’s fiancé and wedding, and how he talks to the priests when he goes to confession are on a level of entitlement that’s breathtaking. And that’s instances when he’s supposedly ‘right in the head’. My favourite is ‘I wasn’t being rude”, like, yes, you were. Just because the voices in your head told you to say it doesn’t mean it’s not rude to say it and the fact that you’re trying to justify it tells me you know that.).

You could probably make a similar case almost all other characters, Bricktop, Tom Anderson, Levi, all of them are initially presented in a very stereotypical way and later we’re shown they are not quite what they seem at first (Fenwick might be the exception here, he’s always a horrible racist pig). Except for Lily. She never gets the chance to be shown as more, because she gets killed off-screen and is never brought up again.

But we do get hints that everything isn’t as Louis presents it with Lestat’s throwaway comment on her wretched life, or the fact that it takes Louis two weeks to even notice she was dead, which tells me they weren’t as close as some people seem to believe. (Yes, he was a regular customer, one she might even have liked but they definitely weren’t friends.). So yeah, I won’t be surprised if we do learn about some nefarious goings on she was involved in. That’s not to make Lestat look better btw, he did kill her and the main reason was no doubt to get a reaction from Louis and/or to dismantle his support system, but I do think there was more to it than that just ‘she was a poor substitute’. And just as a side note: since we tend to treat Louis as an unreliable narrator (justifiably so) if and when the time comes we certainly need to look at Lestat’s story the same way, because I’m pretty sure if anyone is trying to make Lestat look better, it’s going to be Lestat.  

[innocentimouto]

One thing I’ve noticed is that most people in the atla fandom aren’t invested in discussing any trauma experienced directly by war and tend to value “more commonly known trauma”. 

Zuko getting burned? Being unloved? Having anger issues due to it? Desperately wanting his father’s love?

Everyone understands this in the fandom and explains all his behavior through these lenses.

Iroh losing his son. Sokka wanting to prove himself to his father and be a leader is relatable to many kids trying to grow up and fill shoes expected of them. Toph wanting her parents to understand her.

These are all things many people relate to in some way. Without having to have lived through war.

It’s why most Mai haters don’t even hate her for supporting the Fire Nation. Many don’t recognize that’s a problem. They hate her for how she acts around Zuko. Another relationship issue that can exist outside of a war situation.

Sometimes I get the vibe that people hate Mai for supposedly NOT being loyal to the Fire Nation (apparently calling her selfish and uncaring for her own people).

It’s why people have difficulty understanding Ty Lee also participated in taking down Ba Sing Se and harming many people in the process. And why it’s severely problematic that she just joined Suki.

It’s why Zuko’s racist and sexist lines throughout the show get tossed aside because he had a “redemption arc”. You don’t unlearn things you were taught to believe your whole life that quickly. Even the most sincere person would stumble and say something harmful or unwittingly carry harmful and racist beliefs.

It’s why his pathetic apology to Suki for burning her village is glossed over, like actual people couldn’t have died then. Like it’s so easy to forgive losing your home like that.

It’s why Iroh losing his son is so important and connects to his relationship with Zuko, which apparently makes Iroh good. Yeah, Iroh did bad things whatever those were, but it’s all good now. Anyone who is angry at him just lost their way and needs some tea and wisdom. Anger is not the answer.

His actions in the war are an afterthought. Other characters will get headcanons stretching any action in the most negative light:

Azula burning a doll

Aang kissing Katara without permission

Mai not giving in to Zuko’s every whim

Jet wanting Zuko to join the Freedom Fighters

Notice again, none of these things are exclusive to war. Even when people write Iroh negatively, it’s more on how he doesn’t help Zuko or doesn’t offer any help to Azula.

No one questions why he met dragons and still continued to conquer land. Few people discuss how very not wise it was of him to finally stop supporting the fn after his son died.

Even when people say he was indoctrinated and that’s hard to get out of----

then why do you hate on Azula? Why is it not hard for her?

Because she lied to Zuko. Because she worked for Ozai who abused Zuko. This is why Azula is at times more hated than Ozai. It’s not because of her actions in war. It’s because Zuko views her as this big obstacle that he agonizes trying to beat.

Again, not fully related to war.

Zuko and Azula and Ty Lee and Mai worked to conqueror BSS? Azula is the evil one. 

This seems less like the suffering of the victims are being prioritized and more like a character who’s already hated is facing even more hate.

Jet floods a village. People still hate him more for manipulating Katara. To them he’s not horrible because he flooded a village. He’s horrible because he used Katara first and then he flooded a village.

Jet is seen as the abusive and manipulative boyfriend. Or an out of control angered teenager “whose prejudice killed him”.

There’s little discussion on why he would flood Gaipan. The most common is that he was angry. Or he wanted to spread pain. Nothing about facing actual danger or who was living there or that maybe the Fire Nation could decide to burn the forest if they got fed up.

His trauma is vaguely acknowledged and only to further show how dangerous he is to others. Being suspicious of Zuko is deemed as stalking. Stealing from the ferry is labelled as evil and proof he didn’t change from Book 1 despite being given to other refugees. In fact Jet is the only one seen giving out food.

Jet grew up an orphan in a forest with other orphans under him and a very common take is that he’s like a cult leader trying to get more people to brainwash. He can’t let go of the war because of anger and extremism. His trauma makes him dangerous and not uwu and in need of help and love like Zuko’s.

People think Katara could forgive Zuko easily but not Jet. Because Jet manipulated her. And Zuko just tried to kill her and her brother and capture the Avatar thus taking away hope for winning the war...

These are on entirely different levels. There is also the fact that Zuko invaded her home and made her experience what happened when her mother died all over again.

But that’s okay because Zuko apologized and he was traumatized, and Katara has a big heart. But bring Jet into the equation and it’s not even whether he apologizes or not; most decide Katara would never forgive him. 

Again, trauma and consequences of war are devalued. None of Jet’s trauma beyond anger is acknowledged and still it’s only to condemn him for hating the fn. Which would be entirely understandable if people looked at it through the context of war.

The same way Azula hate would lessen if people were to recognize everything she did was because her nation expected soldiers to. She wasn’t a singular evil, reveling in Zuko’s suffering. She was following orders from her leader and serving her nation.

Which people could recognize if they think “Zuko got his scar from being disobedient” and “maybe the same could happen to Azula”.

“Azula is horrible to her friends” and not she’s the freaking princess they have to obey her by law she completely outranks them she is in fact showing a human side by allowing them room to treat her like a friend.

“Jet needs to let go of his anger” and not witnessing your family and home killed for no reason and seeing dozens of other children face the same thing and then having to fend for yourself in a forest because not even your own people want to care for you and no matter how much anger and grief you feel nothing happens and no one is coming to help you and now it’s your job to protect other children and you never asked for any of this and why won’t this stop and you have every right to be angry

I could go on, but this is also why many don’t relate to Aang. Yeah he lost his people but--

I’m sorry what?

Genocide is something plenty of people can understand and plenty of people don’t and unfortunately the people who don’t tend to make it hard for survivors to speak about it or be angry and want justice.

Aang should have all the justification to be angry. He should have all the justification to run away from his responsibilities. He is a child meant to save the world and everyone he loves is gone. His nightmares of finally facing Ozai are made into a joke about school to be more relatable to kids. Personally I think that even if many kids wouldn’t understand the genocide aspect, they could understand why Aang would be anxious.

Almost all of the fandom loves Toph because she’s always right and rough and amazing and again very few question her line of “not my problem” to helping in the war. Most don’t discuss how her wealthy life would have shielded her entirely from the war, making it difficult for her to understand any of the Gaang’s trauma.

One might say “it’s a kid show so they couldn’t show too much of war”.

They had Zuko burned and screaming. They had Katara about to kill someone in cold blood. They had Toph almost fall to her death. They had Hama in chains in a cell for years. They had animal abuse. They had brainwashing and women with no other role than to be puppets.

Even if they couldn’t show too much of war, they should have toned down the amount of humanization the Fire Nation got. 

Basically I feel like this stems from how people experience trauma outside of war and how it’s become more acceptable to speak about it, but people who have suffering from war and colonization still aren’t welcomed enough and aren’t heard in online spaces and it really shows in this fandom sometimes.

[littleoanh]

Helloo! I just wanna say that your blog is super pretty. I don't have a request, but if you don't mind can you please give me your thoughts on this brainrot with fem!Bonten Executive!reader?

Bonten hearing the news from their supposedly allied gang that the reader's dead due to poisoning and she's killed by someone from their gang. The gang intended to fight Bonten in the first place and they're just playing nice before revealing their true colors after having you killed. However, right after the messenger said that while laughing at Bonten, Sanzu received a call from your number. He immediately answered it and he's greeted by your voice.

"Hey Sanzu! I caught the leader of (gang's name) and he's all tied up! Do you want me to do anything?"

In reality, you already find the other gang sus and you decided to fake your death so that the gang will show their true colors in front of Bonten, and you also did that so that you can infiltrate the gang to find out their intentions and get their leader. Even better that you suddenly hang up and Bonten heard a knock on the door before it opened, revealing you and one of the lower ranking Bonten members carrying the unconscious body of the other gang leader.

A/N: Hello darling! Aww, you are too sweet (∩´͈ ᵕ `͈∩). Thank you so much! And of course I don’t mind giving my thoughts (ᗒᗜᗕ).

Man oh man, you best believe the other Bonten Executives are beyond help when they received the phone call of the tragic news. Being in Bonten, there will always be a risk of death, especially being an executive. But it never crossed their minds that you would be the first to be taken out. If Mikey is Bonten’s King, then you are Bonten’s Queen. Deadly and Fierce. The supposed allied gang (A/N: I am bad at coming up with names so no name gang for them lol) are in deep shit and this will end in a bloodbath. No mercy and no survivors.

Mikey 

He will handle the gang leader himself. Normally his executives are the ones who dirty their hands but this is personal. If wiping out the gang isn’t enough, he will order to go after their families too. 

Sanzu 

Serious Sanzu = they’re fucked, so they better leave the country and change their appearance and identity. Leave no traces behind because HE WILL find them. He’s not called the Mad Dog for no reason.

Kakucho

 Emotionless and empty, he is completely numb. He is always the rational one between Sanzu and him. He will blindly follow his murderous instincts and there’s nothing they can do to stop him.

Takeomi 

He won’t show it on his face but he is broken by this news. Though he doesn’t get his hands dirty anymore, he will be working behind the scenes. If he catches them getting away, he will bring them back to their executioner (*cough* Sanzu *cough*).

Ran 

Normally he takes care of business quickly, no need to drag things out. However, he wants them to toy with them and make them suffer. He wants them to feel the pain they have inflicted upon him.

Rindou 

In complete denial at first, Ran had to be the one to snap him out of it. Then it turns into rage, how dare they take you away from him? Just like Ran, he will make them suffer by crippling them before ending them in a gruesome way.

Kokonoi 

The only one who shows emotion on his face. He already lost Akane, now he has to lose you too? Like Takeomi, he will be working behind the scenes and will financially ruin all of them and including their families. 

Mochi 

They woke the beast. If they thought Kakucho’s brute strength was terrifying … they never saw Mochi’s true strength. His fists are scarier than guns and it’s strong enough to take them out.  

The one thing they all have in common is deep down, they are grieving and remorseful for not having your back. They should’ve known there was something suspicious about that gang. Blinded by rage as the messenger laughed at their pride and hung up. Sanzu receives a phone call, his eyes widened and immediately answers. It’s your phone number. The moment he hears your voice, his breath is taken away. Is this truly you talking or is someone impersonating you? 

They are dumbfounded when they find you coming into Bonten with your lower subordinates carrying the unconscious body of the gang leader. With a confident and bright smile on your face, the room no longer felt dark and empty. Kakucho orders your subordinates to take the leader to the torture room. You best believe they all run towards you and hug the hell out of you. Their Bonten’s Queen is home, safe and sound. 

Albie ૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

[fantasyinvader]

A thing that occurs to me is how Claude acts a foil to Edelgard. During a GD run, he realizes that the Agarthans tried to feed him information to turn him against Rhea and the Church. Considering the timing of his brother’s invasion in Hopes, they could even have members active in Almyra as well. As such, Claude in Houses begins treating that information as suspect, at worst he doesn’t defend the Church from Edelgard’s attempts to wipe them out despite his beliefs while at best he realizes he was wrong about the Church. You could even explain his actions in Hopes as him never realizing the source of his info because of the lack of White Clouds, and as such never questions what he was led to believe because the Solon reveal after Solon was caught trying to feed him info never happened.

Now compare this to Edelgard, who blames Fodlan’s ills on the Church and formed her own ideals because of what her father told her. But prior to the event where she reveals her source, Hubert has an event where he explains that the Agarthans were the ones who experimented on Edelgard, killed her siblings, and made her father their puppet.  Not the nobility, like Edelgard previously claimed backed by Ionius himself blaming Aegir, but the group that consists of the likes of Solon and Kronya. And that this group has it in for the Church. Cornelia’s dying words reveal that while Edelgard may be the ones manipulating them, she is acting in such a manner that TWSITD believe she’s their puppet doing what they wanted her to do. What’s more is that Hopes reveals that Edelgard ignored how much influence the Agarthans had on the Imperial nobility, but she still goes to war in order to conquer Fodlan.

So Edelgard supposedly knows that her source was controlled by the Agarthans, she knows the Agarthans are against the Church with Thales himself telling her why they experimented on her, she deliberately ignores how much influence the Agarthans have on the corrupt Imperial nobility, and her going to war against Rhea was all part of the Agarthans’ plan.

At one point, I would have argued that Edelgard may be so traumatized by the experiments that she has this compulsive need to be the good guy and ignores reality. But with Hopes having her work for PR and knowledge of her information campaign in Houses, that really doesn’t seem to be the case. Even the Japanese lyrics to the game’s theme song make it out that Edelgard wavers before deciding to go through with the war during White Clouds. It ultimately is that Edelgard could have walked a righteous path, but instead went down the path she did so that she could get what she wanted.

Edelgard rejects the truth for her own desires, whereas Claude amended his ideals at the end of VW as part of his character growth. Edelgard is still going to fight for the ideals installed in her by the Agarthans as part of their plot, meaning her victory sees Fodlan as a whole be reshaped in their image (just not under their control). It’s why the villains win despite them being wiped out in the end cards.

[strawjamberry]

(i jump around a lot sorry in advance. i just find q!mariana so tragic and i love her)

mariana is always viewed as the one in the wrong, which she gets, she’s made many mistakes, but everyone around her has started viewing her as the sum of her mistakes instead of her own person at this point. mariana also lost her daughter, but the island offers no sympathy. the expectations are way above mariana’s head and there’s no way he could live up to any of them, but that’s all anybody wants from him.

leaving and isolating himself is the only logical decision he can come up with. it’s the only thing that makes sense. she’s blamed and hated for this choice, but it’s not like they really wanted her around.

charlie was able to cope with gegg, who although was hated at the start, is now loved by everybody on the island. mariana doesn’t have that coping mechanism and she doesn’t even really have a support system anymore. even roier, somebody who was supposed to be his best friend, had started feeding into the rumors about him. charlie has the whole island, but mariana just has herself.

everybody knows slimariana as the toxic couple but still blame mariana for not wanting to stay for charlie’s sake. mariana takes the blame for all of their marital issues. slime pushes him away yet still expects mariana to solve all of his issues and just bear through it all. she’s supposedly at fault for ruining slime’s life yet she’s still expected to return and prioritize charlie while his own problems get pushed to the side.

people have become more sympathetic towards charlie, which is great, but with how much he slanders mariana, it’s been at her expense. people that mariana has never met before now have negative opinions of him. slime told baghera to hit mariana when she sees him, so everybody’s been developing a bad view of him and he’s not around to defend himself.

mariana is just viewed as charlie’s wife and juana’s failure of a mother despite actually having a great relationship with her. and i’d argue at times juanaflippa was more herself around mariana. he wasn’t the best mother by far, but he was not absent as people were led to believe.

mariana doesn’t know that he wasn’t at fault for juanaflippa’s death and the guilt has just been building inside of him, consuming his whole building. he can’t face the island without juanaflippa here. it would kill him to know about the glitch, and he doesn’t trust himself anymore after the accident

mariana isn’t even viewed as his own person at this point, the deaths of her daughter becoming the defining points of his life, all anybody thinks when they see him.

(off topic there’s this one fic where mariana is compared to la llorona and that idea just scratches something in the back of my brain i love it sm)

[heidi891]

If Emilie is back…

…then it’s really bad writing.

I love the show and I’m not trying to be salty. I generally try to understand what story the show / film / book is trying to tell instead of being angry that it doesn’t tell the story I want to hear. Usually even rather bad fiction somehow points to the direction the story is taking, so when it isn’t the case, I mean when the resolution isn’t somehow signalled before, I’d call it bad writing.

This is the case with Emilie supposedly being back in the finale. (I don’t think she’s back.)

The whole show is based on the premise that Hawk Moth is a villain. If Emilie is back, that means Hawk Moth’s goal was actually a good idea. And that means Ladybug shouldn’t have fought him. And that means Ladybug is in fact… a villain? That’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.

Even just before making the wish Gabriel manipulates Marinette and stabs her in the back, taking advantage of her kindness. Is that an action of a good, redeemed person?

In season 5 Adrien is considering making a wish for a few seconds (Passion). But he decides against it, because it would mean someone else would fall ill like Nathalie and become evil like Monarch. So again the heroes are shown to be vehemently against the wish and Monarch’s goal. But if Emilie’s back, they must be wrong, right?

In two instances when Adrien sees Emilie’s body (Chat Blanc, Ephemeral), he’s severely distressed. He misses his mother, but he doesn’t want to bring her back.

We’re also shown Emilie’s own opinion thanks to her recordings. She says Gabriel should accept her death and focus on Adrien. So bringing back Emilie goes against her own will. Why should we be shown this, if Emilie being back is the show’s goal?

It’s not just Emilie who believed that—we also see Nathalie, who was faithful to Gabriel to the point of risking her own life, changing her mind and listening to Emilie.

What’s more, we must remember it’s not just Emilie who’s supposedly back. Nathalie’s back for sure. Gabriel might’ve sacrificed himself for Emilie, but whoever fell terminally ill or died for Nathalie didn’t do it willingly. That means Gabriel killed someone to get her back. I hope I don’t have to explain how wrong it is.

If someone had to die for Nathalie, why shouldn’t Gabriel sacrifice someone for Emilie and himself too? What’s the difference? Why should he kill himself if he could live?

We are shown again and again that bringing Emilie back is bad, but there’s nothing that even in an imperfect way is saying that it might be a good idea.

If Emilie is back and in season 6 the heroes must undo it, it’s also very disturbing. Because Emilie isn’t guilty of the wish and Adrien would have to lose his mother again, as if his life wasn’t terrible enough. And do the heroes have the moral right to kill Nathalie to bring back whoever died for her?

And if Emilie is back and the show treats it as a good resolution, it means that Howk Moth was right all along and Ladybug and Chat Noir should’ve just given up their Miraculous in Origins. Sure, back then Nathalie wasn’t dying and Gabriel wanted to kill some random person to bring back his wife… but if both Emilie and Nathalie are back now, someone besides Gabriel still had to die anyway.

[a-smol-cosplayer]

Anyways here are some more of my wednesday opinions cause I need them out of my brain (spoilers obvi)

First? Why is everyone hating on the show?? Between the ‘both men where so bland I couldn’t tell them apart fuck love triangles’ and ‘this isn’t an Adams reboot this sucks they made this show horrible and so out of character’ y’all need to take some breaths. 

I found it super compelling and enjoyable!! I loved seeing wednesday grow from someone how hated people and emotions to someone who still hates emotions but has them and has a good relationship with both her new friends and family!

To address the comments above:

Okay maybe Xavier is slightly bland - angsty art kid however his use in the plot and the fact that we are seeing him from Wednesdays pov who obviously doesn’t like him that much and is only using him for her own gain really saves him for me and leaves him open for more development. Talking about the love triangle - I struggle to see one. Its mostly Tyler x wednesday and xaviers crush is one sided, there is no point in the show where she laments over which boy she wants or the fact that she likes both of them - I think we have mixed up what an actual cliche love triangle is in media and ‘these two attractive boys are both in love with the main character’. There might have been more rivalry between them but wednesday certainly wasn’t aware of it

Tyler deserves his own dot point to address the comment above cause HOW CAN U SAY THAT MAN IS BLAND. especially after the last episode. It switches the view on his whole supposedly ‘bland’ point of view and forces u to think about wether thats the real thing and the person in the last ep was an amalgamation of manipulation and grooming as well as deep seeded trauma or if he was playing us the whole time with this awkward clueless personality as he manipulated everyone around him which is such a cool way of looking at it. If u don’t believe me go rewatch the series as if Tyler is aware of everything and is willingly manipulating everyone - cures the ‘he’s boring to watch’ thing instantly. 

Okay getting to the second point - I completely see where u are coming from but like its called WEDNESDAY. Its about this version of wednesday not the whole family, they don’t even appear in it very much. when I seperated it from the previous versions of the Adams family it was super good (however I do get where y’all are coming from about the whole ‘crazy morbid loving family’ dynamic being destroyed but I liked the journey that wednesday and mortica went on and I think it added to her character so I am willingly ignoring it 

Okay now for the part where I rant about Tyler Gilpin cause I love that man with my whole heart and I am a Tyler apologist first and a human being second

MANS WAS MANIPULATED and has some super bad trauma. From the point where his mum died and his dad practically abandoned him and thennn the first person he thought he could trust to look after him and tell him the truth proceeded to turn around and groom and manipulate and USE HIM for her own gain and chained up a literal child whilst forcing him to change into a monster :/ people keep forgetting that he is literally at most 17/18 but probably 16/17 and has been left by every single adult in his child life. Cut my man some slack. 

second: he really did want to leave!! He had no control over his actions as the hyde - he literally says in the first episode how ‘at least one of them would be able to get out of this hellhole town.’ He was a manipulated child!! Sure he might have been slightly dark in his own right but he wasn’t going around murdering people for funzies and he probably only started to enjoy it as a trauma response :/ like what else was he supposed to do?? Go insane cause there was this woman who was forcing him to kill people. He couldn’t control himself as the hyde (u know in the last ep where he said ‘I wake up covered in blood and have no memory of what happened’ ect ect) so everyone saying he’s a murderer who doesn’t deserve wednesday (also wouldn’t a pscyo murderer be like the perfect fir for wednesday?  that scene where he admits to hurting Xavier and then trying to get better and wednesday saying she would have done something worse for the fun of it?? Bruh they are so perfect together and have so much chemistry but ill put that in another rant) anyways. Y’all are acting like he just went around murdering people for the fun of it completely aware are endorsing his actions (did we even watch the same show?) when the main point of Wednesday figuring out the master was a hyde was that there was actually another person controlling the monster in the woods and it wasn’t acting alone 

Also - I see lots of people being like “yeah but he basically assaulted Xavier y’all are ignoring it he’s a bad person 🙄💅” but like?? So was Lucas? 1 he was in the ‘friends’ who distroyed Xaviers painting as well, and he bullied Eugene and tried to fight/hurt wednesday just for being an outcast and used enid to get into the dance and ruined it for everyone and u don’t see people bashing him? People can change and realise that the stuff they used to do as a tween was bad and full of bias inherited from their parents/society :/ 

Anyways to sum up that rant - I love my slightly murderous and traumatised but yet awkward and soft hearted barista with my whole life and if he doesn’t get a redemption arch enemies to lovers, joining the gang (enid, Ajax, wednesday, Bianca, Xavier, Eugene and thing obvi), learning how to control the monster inside storyline next season I’m going to riot. 

Also antihero is totally Tylers song and I love it 

Imma be honest I didn’t dislike any of the characters - I think they are either already well fleshed out and interesting or have the potential to be and I loved the way the three seperate plot lines managed to organically weave and thread together into one whole point just viewed from different angles a lot. I absolutely love enid with my whole heart (I’m not stepping on wenclair at all I love the idea but I just really like the sunshinexgrumpy bestie vibes they have going on and I love Ajax to much to cut him out he’s so supportive and lovely) and she was such a good character with her own plot lines and the way she and thing interacted has my whole heart. Also the way that she got more understanding and wednesday got better at social cues and how to be friends/show emotions was really well done. 

Also low key if u apply my fav way to solve this said ‘love triangle’ which is they all just date each other meaning we get both tylorpe anddd these boys who love wednesday with their entire beings and supportive ajax and enid 👀👀👀👀 (yes Wednesday needs too grovel a little with Xavier she did not treat him well at all and Xavier maybe should get more interests than brooding and painting but we can work on it) ((I also approve of the fact that wednesday has two hands one for each Tyler and enid and ajax can share))

Im also seeing a lot of Tyler/Xavier hate but like,, can y’all not see wednesday isn’t the perfect character either? Like she’s a super morally reprehensible character and treats people hella bad some times. she literally put the only two people who she had managed to get attached too/have a connection too (Tyler and enid ((excluding Eugene love him too))) in danger for her own gain. I know thats the whole point of the show and I love her in that regard, it makes her character really interesting but like— she’s not absolutely perfect and these ‘mean bland boys don’t deserve her’ comments really aren’t helping her character development 

Okay thats it :) 

PLS BE NICE TO ME!! EVERY SINGLE POST IS SEE HAS PEOPLE UNDERNEATH IT GOING (ur opinions are wrong and ur a terrible person for shipping/not shipping this thing) (bc wenclair/wednesdayxxavier didn’t get together it was such a terrible show) (love triangles suck and if u like them u are a woman hating nazi) LIKE CAN YALL CALM DOWN ITS LITERALLY A SHOW CHILL OUT 

[lulu2992]

Hi! I had a question. In multiple audios and even in game, there’s a pattern that John is fixated on pain and even women’s pain (Joey, Mary May, and the young woman he mentioned in the collapse that he killed after a night out because of anger) and even he was being a big creep when Mary May saw him for the first time (she was 16-17 wasn’t she), “eyeing her like a piece of meat”. If you can believe the ages given to us, he’s clearly much older than Mary May, and the cults been there for 9-10 years, she’d have to be minor.

My question is, why do you think the fandom and people dismiss his violent urges toward women and he was fixated on minor but still demonize Joseph when John was clearly unhinged on his own?

Sorry if its all wordy and all over the place, I just love your takes and respect your thoughts!

Hi! And thank you very much for your appreciation :)

We know John has a fixation with pain because of the “freeing” experience he explains he had when he was young, and he hurts people for this reason, but I really don’t think he enjoys inflicting it on women specifically. It’s probably a coincidence that Hudson is a woman and was sent to him instead of Jacob or Faith. The game never suggests that he would have treated Pratt or Burke differently if they had been placed in his “care” instead.

Someone in Far Cry 5 says John is “obsessed with the people in Fall’s End, and with Mary May in particular”, but nothing clearly indicates it’s because she’s a woman. The way I see it, it’s because the Resistance is strong in Fall’s End and Mary May is one of its “three biggest pillars”, as John himself wrote. Evidence shows he’s also “obsessed” with Jerome and Nick for the same reason: they keep resisting and fighting back. Mary May is stubborn, refuses to sell her business to Eden’s Gate, continues to serve alcohol, and essentially keeps saying “no” to John, so I think that explains why he has taken an interest in her. By the way, during the Deputy’s Atonement, even though Mary May is there, John mostly focuses on hurting Nick and Jerome instead, so it doesn’t look like he prefers torturing women to me.

And we’re not sure how old Mary May is, actually. The only official age we have for her is revealed in Far Cry Absolution: 30 years old. I know the Wiki says she was born in 1993 (so 25 years old in 2018) but I think that sounds young… For what it’s worth, Tasya Teles, who played Mary May in Far Cry 5, was born in 1985. And in the novel, John is said to be about 40, which makes much more sense, mathematically speaking, than his age on the Wiki (32 years old). When the Deputy arrives in Hope County, Eden’s Gate has been there for at least 9 years (since August 2009), so if John visited the Spread Eagle in 2009 and the age provided in Absolution is accurate, Mary May was about 21 at the time.

As for the woman John supposedly murdered before Joseph found him… like every new piece of information “revealed” in the Far Cry 6 Season Pass, I think it should be taken with a huge grain of salt. The incident was never mentioned anywhere else before, and while there’s no denying that John is capable of violence and murder, I don’t think him losing control and killing someone while he was working as a lawyer makes sense. According to The Book of Joseph, John Duncan’s anger was strong but it was also “suppressed”, so I doubt he would have physically assaulted anyone at that time. He was “full of rage” but apparently never let it out when he was still “society’s very model of success”.

So I don’t think the fandom ignores that John enjoys making women suffer, thought 16-year-old Mary May looked sexy, and murdered one of his lovers out of anger because these “facts” are all conjectures in the first place! If many people never mention those things about him, I think it’s simply because they know they’re not really canon and mostly come from the fan-created Wiki (which was also used as a source of information by Collapse’s writers). It’s undeniably canon that John is violent and obsessed with pain, but it’s not that he likes to inflict it on women specifically or that he committed murder as John Duncan, and Mary May being only 25 was never officially confirmed, either…

It’s true, however, that people tend to demonize Joseph more than his siblings and blame him for the bad things they do. He’s not innocent, of course, but John, Jacob, and Faith already had a lot of personal issues before they became his Heralds, and I disagree with those who say that they would have been better off without him. Things would have been different, yes, and maybe the cult wouldn’t have existed, but I don’t think their lives would have been better. In my opinion, they would all just have died sooner (and in poorer mental health)… In John’s case, considering he was on a self-destructive path and desperately trying to fill the void inside him, I believe he would have let “John Duncan” consume him completely and ended up drowning in his excesses.

So I agree with you when you say that John already was “unhinged on his own”, in a way, and that Joseph is often blamed for everything, even what he didn’t do. However, I wouldn’t say that the fandom dismisses the other things you mentioned because they’re not facts, just fan theories and interpretations not everybody likes or agrees with.

[mdhwrites]

Why the Name Belos?

So this isn’t entirely criticism with some research and more of a showers thought sort of thing but it started with me realizing that Belos could have foreshadowed something... And didn’t. I’ll reveal it after getting into what his name actually means.

So Philip genuinely is just a basic bitch, English name. It means Friend of Horses which we never see anything of. Wittebane is actually obvious if you think about it as yes, it does in fact translate either to ‘White Tormentor” or to “Witch tormentor” if the Wiki is right at least. That’s pretty standard and the like so *shrug*.

But then there’s Belos. The name he gave himself. Now there are three ways to interpret it. One that theoretically takes into account his background, one that fits the same way Wittebane does and one that I think fits both and is a lot more sly. First: Belos is from the New Testament to mean “Javelin, Dart, Arrow, a missile”. This is why it’s more just “This does fit for his background as a religious extremist but not really for deeper meaning.” He isn’t very direct or targeted in his methods after all. This meaning would be a lot better if he were a specter, assassin, or just did a lot more of his dirty work himself to reflect the single purpose and single target drive of the items it correlates to. One could claim he has the singular purpose but even that isn’t just about murdering witches as he does reveal his goal is as much about titles and fame that it will gain him back home or else he wouldn’t care when Luz gets the title wrong. Also he’s just really bad at his goal so that also hurts the case.

The one the wiki states and that a name definer relates it to is an Ancient Greek term for Lord or Ruler. It’s like when Toriyama named the god of his world Kami. It does work, even if bluntly (though I’ve used the same sort of trick to inspire names I’ve used before) and it is imposing and it fits his egotism. Kind of my only real issue is that while he does become the emperor... His goal isn’t conquest. It’s murder. Worse yet, it’s not like the people of the Isles would know what it meant so it means nothing to them and doesn’t have a double meaning except for making title “Lord Lord” and Belos doesn’t seem like the one to want his name to be a literal joke. Why not make it a sly warning then? Have the people call him what would eventually doom them all?

So here’s the third way: Phonetically what it sounds like. Belos is pronounced effectively the same way as Bellows. You know, those things you use to strengthen and stoke a fire in a furnace. Or a pyre perhaps? And this was the shower thought: Why wasn’t Belos’ big final move fire? It is his backstory that he is a WITCH HUNTER. Witches weren’t just shot or the like on the spot. They were burned. Or stoned admittedly I believe but famously they were mostly burned.

Why not burn away the Isles, with his power, influence, etc. like that as the bellows that helped stoke the fire that saw it all burn away? If you want to go more metaphorically, why not fuel the flames of rebellion? He clearly didn’t have the most amount of control over his lands despite being a tyrant, or told to us to be one since his actions don’t actually correlate with one, so he could have been trying to make a rebellion happen. Killing Eda, the most famous wild witch, and petrifying her could do both. Solidify the terror in believer’s hearts while also enraging those who believed this was too far.

Of course that would have required everyone rallying to Eda to actually make... sense at the end of S1? Like this isn’t a desire that’s unfounded due to S1′s finale very much so feeling like it’s setting up for the entirety of the Isles to rebel against Belos when that never happens. Of course, the claims even in the show are pretty fucking weak. Like for this crime to be unjust, Eda would have to not be a know, actual criminal who did do more, at least supposedly, than just being a wild witch. She would have actually had to have had allies and friends and not been a complete bitch to literally everyone she met, including Luz and King for the first half of the season, for the entirety of S1.

Again, as far as the name goes, it’s fine. Belos works as just being a cheeky reference to him being the Lord of the Isles and it fits the general naming scheme of TOH. King is literally a King of sorts. Luz was at the beginning the light of the show and looked like she was meant to bring light to a dark place which... Yeah, that’s a different blog. Amity is amicable (as well as maybe Amityville?) very quickly and that closeness feeds into her being the love interest. Even Willow is named after a tree that is known to look sad and pathetic while being actually really strong.

It’s just interesting to me that a witch hunter’s name coincidentally also sounds like something that helps fuel fires. You’d think that’d be on purpose or someone might have noticed, though admittedly I didn’t until today so *shrug*. Again, not the biggest deal in the world, just kind of started making my brain buzz a bit.

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[deanstudies101]

2x13, Houses of the Holy

Critical theory: Faith, miracles, and redemption. 

Discussion question(s): What do we learn about Sam and Dean’s characters in relation to their respective belief or lack thereof? How does this tie in with the themes and motifs as we have defined them thus far? How do we feel about the introduction of angels as a concept, knowing what we know about the direction the show takes in this regard [for Iga, mostly just that they exist, for Kai perhaps some more detail?]? 

Key quotes: Dean, “But angels? I don’t think so. [Why not?] Because there’s no such thing, Sam.”; Dean, “Mom used to say that angels were watching over us. In fact, that's the last thing she ever said to me… but she was wrong.”; Father Greygory “Some people need redemption. Don't they, Sam?”  

Discussion: Episode of all time. Such a rich episode. Obsessed. 

Dean doubting it so much at the beginning is so beautiful—he struggles so hard to believe there’s good in the world, because he’s suffered so much. The figures that were supposed to be watching over him didn’t, so he doesn’t wanna give this one a chance to let him down, to abandon him. Then he saw what he saw and doesn’t know what to believe, he’s shook. Could angels not just be the spirits of those who aren’t at rest? Gregory truly believed he was carrying out God’s will (and we're inclined to agree, he literally prevented pedophilia, rape, etc.). However, Sam was willing to kill a guy because the ‘angel’ told him to… and he’s supposedly so worried about turning evil. Killing someone before they do the bad thing is exactly what Dean is refusing to do. Or, he’s been trying to convince Dean to kill him before he goes evil, so maybe this is Sam’s way of putting him money where his mouth is, ie. convince himself it’s okay to kill someone before they do the bad thing, if you truly believe they will do the bad thing. 

Dean is so scared to hope, to believe there is good. He promises to save Sam, but who will save him? :) 

Re: belief or lack thereof. Juxtaposition of. Dean doesn’t trust good things, because he doesn’t want to be abandoned… because he hasn’t experienced good things. Sam has, he has experienced good things, so he can believe there’s good things out there. Makes it ironic that Sam is cursed with the demon shit, because Dean feels like he’s cursed. 

Star student: Iga, Dean doesn’t want to give God an opportunity to abandon him. Iga, Sam is “fated to be the fucking devil or something.”

Notes: Kai and Iga are going insane over this episode and they don’t even know the half of it. I am eating glass. We quite like Sam in this episode actually (Jared did alright). Great use of Knocking on Heaven’s Door. 

Further reading under the cut, contains spoilers for S5

"Father, that's Michael, right?" (@godsquad)