#thank you finally a good analysis of the misogyny in this show

[birdiewrites78]

Dangerous Desires: Chapter One

This is Chapter One of a multipart series. The story includes violence inspired by Criminal Minds and touches on sensitive topics such as domestic violence, racism, and misogyny. If any of these topics make you uncomfortable, please refrain from reading. This chapter only briefly mentions racism, and each chapter will have specific warnings. Thank you for reading, and feel free to provide any feedback through my inbox.

This Chapter is dedicated to Isis because without her I would have never had the courage to finish writing. 

August 1, 2005, 6:03 am, Woodbridge, Virginia 

Natalie was out on what was shaping out to be the hottest day of the year; she would much rather be in bed trying to forget her nightmares or even in the living room that had air conditioning watching South Park Reruns. But dogs don't care about your feelings; they only want to go outside. So Natalie was watching over her small Yorkie, and as she used the bathroom, the sun was coming out in the distance. Once Bella was finished, the pair walked back to their townhouse. The small dog was clearly in a good mood, wagging her tail and sticking her dog out; the same couldn't be said for Natalie. Today was her first day at the Behavioral Analysis Unit. She wasn't a profiler or anything important like that; she was just the media liaison who was tasked with making sure that more people joined the BAU because many agents were lost six months ago in the bombings.

Natalie mindlessly walked, occasionally checking around her to make sure she wasn't being followed. As she was about to reach her townhouse, something drew her attention. She must have missed it earlier as the sun hadn't fully risen, but she could see it now that her neighbor had grown tulips. The pink blubs had fully matured and were undoubtedly beautiful. It had been a long time since she had seen tulips, and her day got a little better.

The rest of her morning consisted of changing into her work outfit, which was a white button-up with a white t-shirt underneath. Her pants were black slacks and a black suit jacket. Natalie searched through the jewelry box to find her pearls. Natalie didn't grow up rich; she was far from it, but her mother saved up to give Natalie pearls as a gift when she turned eighteen. Natalie blinked away the tears in her eyes and put on the matching earrings and necklace set. The rest of Bella’s morning consisted of getting Bella food and making herself some coffee and toast. After finishing up her breakfast, Natalie went to the powder room to check her appearance. She entered the small bathroom and averted her attention to the mirror. Natalie had inherited her father's darker skin and often had to hear negative comments about her complexion, so she became good at pretending that the comments did not bother her.

She studied her reflection, looking for any glaring flaws in it. She just saw her soft, doe-like, dark brown eyes, which were covered in dark brown eyeshadow. She made sure to check that her false lashes were on properly, next to her thin, arched brows, scanning for any extra hairs that were out of place. She checked her lipstick next; her lips were in the shape of a cupid's bow, and the lipstick color was a combination of blush pink in the center with a dark brown lining her lips. She smoothed down her long, pin-straight hair and made sure that none of her tracks were showing. The final thing she did was adjust her pink broach, which was in the shape of a ribbon.

The commute to work was dull. Natalie didn't bother to turn on the radio; she just listened to the sounds of the outside world. She slowly watched her surroundings change from the dense greenery to the industrial compound of the FBI’s headquarters. After going through security and getting her badge, Natalie made her way to the elevator. She was nervous but she couldn't let that show, she took a deep breath and started to pretend. She strutted into the hallway from the elevator, her So Kates making a small click on the white carpet floor with every step she took. Her steps were graceful but purposeful; she exuded confidence everywhere that she went. Her eyes were drawn to the receptionist's table, and she continued walking up to it, stepping carefully on the now-light beige carpeted floors. There was an older black woman with short black hair working the desk; she had smiled lines edged into her face; there were also semi-recently dark circles under her eyes. The receptionist looked up at the woman coming towards her, smiling brightly at her.

“Can I help you, dear?” The receptionist questioned the young woman.

Natalie  took a deep breath before she started, "Hello, ma'am, I'm here to see Agent Hotchner.”

The receptionist turned to her computer, and the younger woman presumed to have confirmed that Agent Hotchner had scheduled meetings.

Looking up from the computer screen, the receptionist asked, “What's your name?"

Natalie always dreaded this question because of the temptation to say the wrong name.

She cleared her throat and continued, “Natalie, Natalie Price, Miss, I am the new media liaison."

The woman smiled at Natalie and chimed, "Yes, Ms. Price, welcome to the behavioral analysis department; I’ll show you over to your desk, and Diane is just fine."

Natalie often felt that she had a resting frown, which often made her appear unfriendly, so she tried to smile frequently to overcome this barrier.

Natalie spoke up as Diane started getting up. ''Thank you, Diane. I'm excited to be here, and you can just call me Natalie.”

Diane grinned at Natalie's words; she fully stood up and ushed for Natalie to follow her. Natalie grabbed her light pink rolling bag and walked behind Diane through the large office. The thing that stood out to her was just how empty the office was despite this; the office was beautiful and definitely, the nicest Natalie had ever seen. It was covered in floor-to-ceiling windows, surrounded by metal desks with wooden tops. The walls that didn't have windows displayed old certificates and awards that the BAU won.

The agents that were there had piles of documents on top of their desks mixed in with empty coffee mugs. Except for the clicking of keyboards, the sound of pens writing on the paper, and the turning of pages of reports, the office was silent. Natalie noticed how the walls were a mixture of concrete and dark blue paint; there was an intricate pattern on the ceiling, with overhead beams that stuck out from the ceiling.

When Natalie finally reached her desk, what drew her attention next were the stairs with an attached metal railing. There was an imposing room on the second floor that was also covered in large windows. Natalie couldn't look into the windows, though, because of the large blinds covering it. Diane spoke again, which made Natalie slap out of her thoughts.

“Here is your desk, honey; once you get settled, just go up to the conference room up those stairs, and to the left, you’ll meet the team along with Agent Hotchner there.”

Natalie looked at her desk; it was the same as all of the others except for the fruit sitting on top of it. Natalie froze when she saw a note attached to it, and she felt panic surge through her.

Diane must have noticed Natalie's unease because she spoke again: 'You're not allergic to fruit, are you? Oh boy, I’ll get this cleared away. Sorry about that, dear.”

Natalie visibly relaxed at the revelation; she told herself that just to try to relax, he wouldn't find her again.

Natalie began to speak before Diane left. “No, I’m not; I just am not the best with surprises, but thank you, Diane; it's lovely.”

Natalie finished, trying her best to smile back at Diane. She knew she probably came off weird, but if Diane was thinking that her face didn't give it away,

“Well, I’m glad you like it. I should probably get back to the desk. Let me know if you need anything else, dear.” Diane concluded as she started to walk away.

“Wait, Diane, I just have one more question: whose office is that?” She asked while pointing to the large office on the second floor.

"Oh, that's Agent Hotchner’s office. He is finishing a call, but he will meet you in the conference room.” Diane replied.

“Oh, thank you,” Natalie responded, watching as Diane made her way back to her desk.

Natalie sat on her swivel chair and started to unpack her rolling bag. She made a mental note to get Diane a gift card as a thank you, maybe for a spa. She took out of her rolling bag what she needed most: her black Fendi spy bag, her silver laptop, and her planner with a pink pen attached. She reached inside her Fendi to pull out her silver compact. She opened it and looked at her reflection. She took one last look, smiled at herself, satisfied enough with her appearance, and shut her compact, putting it back in her purse. She moved her rolling back under her desk, then gathered up the things she put out on her desk, putting them under her right arm. She walked to the stairs, holding onto the railing, and took a deep breath before proceeding up them.

She walked to the left, just as Diane told her, and opened the first door that she saw. Unlike the rest of the office, this room didn't have windows in it. Natalie mumbled to herself a small mantra before she opened the door: “Don't let anyone make you feel inferior; you deserve to be here.” She opened the door and was greeted by a room filled with six people sitting around a circular table. They immediately looked up at her, in confusion, and said, “Hello, I'm Natalie Price, the new media liaison for the BAU.” She announced it to the group. She noticed a black man with a buzz cut and a goatee dressed in casual clothing smirking at her. He spoke up first. “Welcome to the team Price, we go back by last names for the most part here, I’m Morgan, that's Reid,” he said, motioning to a young man with brown hair touching his neck with one side tucked behind his hair. He briefly looked up at Natalie and gave a quick half-smile.

Morgan then motioned to a young white woman with long blond hair. “This is-"

The blonde woman interrupted, introducing herself: “I’m Agent Jennifer Jareau; you can call me JJ. I was the previous media liaison, so let me know if you need anything.” Natalie smiled at her, feeling a little more comfortable knowing that the previous media liaison was still working there. Morgan simply smirked and started again. “Would anyone else like to introduce themselves?” He asked for the room, but no one else spoke up. So he decided to continue. “This is Prentiss,” he said, motioning to a white woman with dark brown hair and bangs cut. Prentiss looked at Natalie and smiled at her. "Finally, last but not least, this is Agent Gideon.” Morgan finished pointing at an older white man in the corner with short brown hair that had sprinkles of gray; he wore a striped button-down shirt and black slacks. Agent Gideon looked up from staring at the small window overlooking the scenery outside to greet Natalie with a half smile.

Morgan sighed at Gideon's actions and muttered something under his breath. Natalie could sense a little bit of tension between the two. She decided to speak up again to clear the air. “It is nice to meet all of you; I am excited to..." Natalie’s sentence was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. In walked a white middle-aged man who had shorter brown hair, with pieces of it falling onto his face. It reminded Natalie of Leonardo Dicaprio’s hair in The Titanic. He had dark brown eyes that seemed to pierce into her soul. Natalie knew she would be working with profilers, but it never occurred to her that they would try to profile her. His face had a mixture of frown lines and wrinkles in his temple, and Natalie also noticed a beauty mark on his cheek. Natalie had only experienced what could be described as love at first sight; she couldn't deny what she felt when she looked at the man; her heart started to beat quickly, time came to a stop, and she froze for a few minutes just staring at him. He was so handsome that it hurt, she thought.

Aaron was having similar thoughts. He couldn't look away because Natalie was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She took his breath away and scrambled his brain. He was undeniably attracted to her, which terrified him because he had never felt this way. Sure, he had loved his ex-wife and felt an intense attraction when he met her as a teenager, but he had never felt anything quite like this. The man felt an urge to know everything about her and do anything for her. He had read about sirens in Greek mythology using their songs and looks to lure sailors into their untimely deaths, and he felt the same way about the woman. He wanted to do anything for her already, and he started to profile her. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by Morgan smirking and speaking up again. “Hotch, didn’t you say that we had a case?”

Aaron reluctantly tore his eyes away from the woman and looked at the team, who all had knowing smiles on their faces.

Aaron spoke in a commanding tone, “Yes, we do, and it's time-sensitive, so we should get started."

He paused before starting again because he would have to look at the woman again. “And you are?” He asked, looking back at the woman.

“I am Natalie Price, the new media liaison; I just transferred from Narcotics,” Natalie responded not looking into his eyes.

"Right, well, I'm SSA Agent Aaron Hotchner, but you can call me Hotch.” He paused. Normally,  he would reach out to shake someone's hand, but he feared that he would turn into a lovestruck teenage boy if he touched Natalie.

He felt frustrated by the hold Natalie already had on him, so he decided to be an asshole as he continued, “Truth be told, I'm not completely convinced that we need a new media liaison quite so soon.”

Natalie looked up to face Hotch with a condescending smile; she didn't appreciate him questioning if she was needed.

"Duly noted… anywhere in particular that I should sit?” Natalie quickly responded.

Natalie felt better that he was rude; it would be easier to ignore her feelings if he were.

Throughout his life, Aaron has often been described as serious. If his team had to choose one word to describe him, it would be "serious." They would also acknowledge that he was good at his job, but Hotch, as he was known, often felt like that was all he had. He was an absent father and an absent husband, and his frown seemed to be his constant companion. Despite this, Aaron had grown accustomed to his busy schedule and his role as a team leader. 

But for the first time in his life, he was speechless, Natalie did not seem afraid of him, and the monotony of his life quickly changed.

He responded slowly, trying to collect himself. “No, anywhere is fine; welcome to the team you are about to witness your first case.” He responded.

 He pushed his thoughts aside and decided to focus on a woman's life at stake, and as the boss, he had to remain professional. He cleared his throat before starting up the projector and directing everyone’s attention to the large screen in the office.

He started speaking. “Today’s Case is in Seattle, Washington. Before twenty-three-year-old Heather Woodland left for lunch, she downloaded an image with a time-delay virus attached; it left this image on the screen.” Hotch paused, pressing the clicker to show the next image.

The text read, “For heaven's sake, catch me before I kill again," repeated several times. Natalie felt a little sick. “At most, we suspect this woman will have about thirty-six hours to live, wheels up in 30.” Hotch finished his thought. The team grabbed the files sitting on the conference table and headed off to get their bags.

Natalie headed back to her desk, and with her stuff in her arm, she realized that her desk was close to Morgan and Reid’s. She grabbed her pink rolling bag. She was glad she decided to pack a week's worth of clothes, along with all of the toiletries and her medication, last night. She opened her flip phone and sent off a quick message.

Natalie: "I will be gone for about three days; please take care of Bella and don't burn the house down."

She felt bad about leaving Maria and Bella because they had rarely been apart for that long, but she knew what this job required when she took it. Natalie felt a ping in her hand, so she looked down to read it.

Maria: "Will you take care of the dog? I can't promise I won't burn the house down. You have renter's insurance, right?”

Natalie smiled. She felt lucky to have her best friend Maria in her life; she always managed to make Natalie smile even on her darkest days and was the one person she could never get tired of.

Natalie: “Yes, I have renters insurance, Maria, but if I come home to a burned-down house, I'm busting the windows out of your car."

Natalie laughed at her message and then put her phone, along with the things she took to the conference room, in her rolling suitcase.

Morgan must have noticed her smile from her texting Maria because he smirked as he spoke up, “Message from your boyfriend?'

Natalie looked up at him; he couldn't tell if he was curious or was trying to flirt with her. "No,” she stated, pulling her bag off of the desk and wheeling it.

"But you didn't deny you had a boyfriend.” Morgan inquired, and Reid spoke up next: “I’m sorry about him, Natalie; he was dropped on his head as a baby."

This made Natalie laugh as she replied to Reid, “Thank you, Reid, and no, I don't have a boyfriend, Morgan."

Natalie started to walk off in the direction of JJ and Prentiss, where she hoped to find the direction of the plane. Natalie was feeling anxious about flying; she had only flown once in her life, and she hated it. She thought maybe this could be a sort of exposure therapy for her. She went outside to the small runway, and as she walked on the concrete, she was happy at the sound her heels made. Natalie pulled her rolling back until she reached the outside of the large white plane. “This is it,” she thought. She pushed down the handle of the rolling bag and carried it like a regular bag; it was heavy, but luckily, her time in retail and dance made her strong and muscular. 

She touched the outside of the plane as she walked up the stairs, being careful not to fall, especially not on her first day. Natalie looked around the plane; it was glamorous, and JJ and Prentiss were already seated next to each other towards the front of the plane. The seats were plush and made out of leather, with ample leg room, and there was a beige curtain hanging leading off to the back area.

Natalie also noticed a large couch placed near the cockpit; she mentally thought about the taxpayer money that bought that. Natalie moved to the back, right by the curtain, opting to sit close to the aisle, away from the window. Natalie opened her rolling bag this time, taking out her laptop and her iPod; luckily, she made sure to charge them last night. She put in her headphones and put on one of her favorite albums, I Brought You Bullets, You Brought Your Love, by My Chemical Romance. 

She had somewhat of a scene phase back in 2002 when the album first came out; it helped her through losing her mother, so it became a comfort to listen to her. Derek and Reid filed into the plane, laughing to themselves about something; they sat towards the middle; Gideon came in next and sat towards the front; and finally, Agent Hotchner entered the plane. 

Natalie looked up for a brief moment and then went back to her computer screen. She couldn't handle looking at him at the moment. Agent Hotchner sat across from Natalie, which made her wonder if she accidentally stole his seat.

After that, the plane ride was mostly uneventful. Natalie kept to herself and started working on outreach to encourage people to work for the BAU. It used to be one of the biggest departments until the bombings that occurred six months ago. Natalie didn't know much about exactly what happened; she was on a need-to-know basis with Agent Strauss. There were discussions about the case, and the team bounced around theories about the profile. Natalie wrote down what was essential, but the rest she left to the profilers. Aaron looked at Natalie a few times and wondered what she was listening to, but after his comment, he felt like he had made a bad impression, so he didn't ask. Eventually, the plane started to land, which caused Natalie to grip the armrests. She hated this part the most.

The plane descended smoothly, however, and Natalie scooted over to the window in amazement. She was in Seattle for the first time. Despite the nearly 6-hour plane ride, there was still light outside because of the time difference, which was good for the case. Natalie put her things back in her rolling suitcase and followed after JJ as they walked off the plane. They were going to have to split up to be the most effective with the small amount of time they had to find Heather. Natalie was assigned to ride with Hotch, Reid, and Gideon to get a profile for the suspect, while the others were going to talk to Heather's family. Natalie followed the others to one of the black SUVs waiting for them. Natalie felt nervous that it would be her first press conference, and while it had been years since the last incident, she wanted things to go differently this time.

They pilled into the SUV, with Natalie and Spencer sitting in the backseats while Gideon and Agent Hotchner took the front. Hotch drove, and Natalie noticed a few times when their eyes met as he looked into the internal rearview mirror. Natalie decided to look out the window to take in Seattle; naturally, she wished that she was here under happier circumstances. Natalie couldn't get over how beautiful Seattle was. Natalie especially appreciated all of the greenery; her mother had instilled a love of gardening in her at a young age, and since none of her other siblings were interested in it, eventually it became their thing. Eventually, they reached the Northwest Field Office; the building was large and imposing and covered in windows. Natalie followed Reid out of the car and into the building. He held the door and genuinely seemed surprised when Natalie said thank you, probably because no one else did.

After they went through security, Natalie trekked through the halls to reach their office. Natalie was surprised when Gideon corrected Agent Hotchner to say that Reid was a doctor; she figured he was intelligent, but it made her have even more questions. When it was time for her to be introduced, Hotch avoided her eyes and simply stated, “This is Natalie Price, the media liaison for the BAU.” Natalie gave a small wave paired with a smile. What shocked her, though, was Agent Hotchner's dry sense of humor. While she wasn't a profiler, she could already tell from his frown lines that he didn't often joke. They went over the profile. Natalie made sure to write down the key details on her laptop. She was impressed by how quickly they figured out the profile, and she had a million questions she wanted to ask about how they figured it out so fast.

After delivering the profile, Natalie had a million questions she wanted to ask, but they had to leave. Natalie scurried out first after packing up her laptop behind the men, following them back into the SUV. She started to get nervous because it started to sink in her head that she was going to be on national television and be hounded by reporters. She used to be a reporter, so she knew firsthand how vicious they could be. Even though the team already had a few leads on the suspect, they needed to come together to discuss what everyone had found before they tried to narrow it down. Natalie decided to get her mind off of her anxiety and tried to strike up a conversation with Spencer. "Reid, how old are you?”

She questioned him, turning to him in the car. Agent Hotchner gave out a dry chuckle at Natalie's boldness. Maybe someone who didn't know Natalie well would think she was making a poor attempt at flirting. However, Natalie was very inquisitive and enjoyed learning about other people, and while objectively Reid was attractive, Natalie wasn't that interested in dating, and she preferred older men anyway.

Spencer smiled at Natalie's question. “I’m 23;  how old are you? And that is certainly an interesting question to ask.

Natalie gave a half smile at that. “23? I thought you just had a baby face or something and you were secretly like, How are you a  doctor?" Natalie skipped over his questions; she needed answers now.

Spencer laughed at this. “I suppose I am technically a genius; I have an eidetic memory and an IQ of 187, and I noticed you didn't answer my other question."

Natalie smiled again, looking back at Spencer. “I’m 25, but I turn 26 in a few months, and I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but I think that you are amazing."

Natalie responded to Spencer, and he in turn gave a genuine smile. Spencer could tell already that Natalie was very kind; of course, Morgan was his best friend, but secretly he knew that everyone would get tired of his random factoids and his tendency to ramble. But Natalie made him genuinely feel appreciated, and that meant a lot to him. There was no denying that she was beautiful, but he honestly felt a sibling connection to her, and he gathered she felt the same. Reid also gathered how Hotch gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, and his frown got a little bigger while Natalie said that he was amazing.

Reid smiled to himself at how his normally stoic boss was slowly becoming attached to Natalie. Natalie and Reid continued to talk until they reached a small white courthouse. There was already press swarming the area; Seattle was considered one of the safest places to live, so naturally, the deaths of four young women plus the kidnapping of Heather Woodland gained the attention of every news outlet. Police officers had to escort the team up the white marble stairs to the podium and microphone set up for Natalie. Her hands started to sweat, and her anxiety started to kick in. Natalie took a deep breath and took out her notepad from her computer. She touched her pin, which calmed her down. 

It almost felt like a touch from her mother, which made her more confident. The press swarmed her, which caused the officers to have to tell them multiple times to stand back. Aaron helped them control the press, which made her feel a little bit better as well. Some of the reporters gave her weird looks; she knew that they were probably used to seeing JJ, and they were naturally going to be tougher on a black woman, so she mentally prepared herself for any misogyny.

Natalie approached the podium, tapping the microphone to make sure it was on. She cleared her throat and started to speak, "Hello, I am Natalie Price, the New Media Liaison for the Behavioral Analysis Unit for the FBI. We are here to give the public some information on the suspended suspect and general safety advice for the women of Seattle watching.”

Natalie took a deep breath and continued, “We are looking for a white male in his late 20s, someone who could most likely blend into any crowd. This perpetrator is highly intelligent and most likely has a previous history with law enforcement. We believe that the suspect drives a Jeep Cherokee with tinted windows. Finally, we believe the suspect will mostly try to insert themselves into the investigation. If you have any tips for the FBI, please report them to Crime Stoppers, which you can do anonymously. And for the women of Seattle, we recommend reporting any suspicious activity, going out in groups for the time being, and being alert to your surroundings at all times.” Natalie took another breath. “That is all at this time, and we will not be taking questions."

Natalie finished. She stepped away from the podium, proud of her delivery, and walked to be escorted back to the SUV. The reporters naturally followed, asking a series of questions: “Does the FBI have any leads?” One woman asked, “Do you believe Heather Woodland is still alive?” Someone else shouted, as Natalie reached the car an older white man, with silver hair yelled out “Another Colored Person Taking away the jobs of white people. What's going to be next for an all-colored FBI team?”

Natalie just slammed the car door, she was seething she had felt so proud of herself but it was now tainted by some racist prick. But she refused to let her new co-workers see her cry. Hotch glanced at Natalie; he was going to speak up, but Gideon said something first: “Don't let that asshole ruin your day, Price. You did a great job."

Natalie gave a half smile at Gideon. “Thank you, Agent Gideon; I won’t.” Reid chimed up next, "I'm sorry that you had to deal with that.” Natalie appreciated how the team was trying to comfort her “It’s okay Reid, I’m used to it.”

 Reid frowned at that “But you shouldn't be, that wasn't okay.” 

Hotch chimed in. “No, it was not. I will make sure he is banned from all future press conferences when we get back to Quantico; you have my word.” 

He looked over again to Natalie, who was a bit surprised but ultimately grateful. “Thank you, Agent Hotchner.” He gave a head nod to Natalie. She decided to just look out of the window again until they reached a police station, where the other agents were waiting. JJ approached her first once she stepped out of the car. “Price, Congratulations on your first Press conference you did amazing.” Natalie smiled at JJ and responded, “Thank you, JJ; that means a lot."

JJ gave a quick smile back as the rest of the agents cross-referenced the list of suspects compared to the profile they had developed. Eventually, the team narrowed the suspect list to one person, Richard Slessman, and started to discuss the best course of action. “I can call over the SWAT team; they will most likely be ready by nightfall, and considering that Slessman lives with his family, hopefully, that means he won't put up a lot of resistance.” Hotch declared.

Natalie panicked at that thought. She suddenly spoke up, “No, you can't raid the house if children live there.” She realized speaking up so boldly on her first day wasn't the best move, and it aggravated Agent Hotchner. 

“Need I remind you Price, that you are not a profiler but simply the Media liaison, therefore you have no stake in this conversation.” Agent Hotchner harshly responded, Natalie was glad he was an asshole it made it easy to overlook whatever feelings she thought she may have had for him.

 Prentiss spoke up for her though “Hotch, there is no need to speak to Natalie that way, did you have a suggestion Price?” Natalie appreciated the girls on this team, she genuinely hoped they would become friends now.

 “Yes, I do, and while I may be the media liaison Agent Hotchner I would like to remind you that I came from Narcotics and, therefore have useful knowledge on raids.” She paused taking a second to think and then she continued “I suggest you lure him out, that way the children aren't traumatized and we avoid a repeat of WACO” Natalie looked into his eyes when saying this.

 She was pissed by how she was treating her but she couldn't deny how her heart skipped when she looked at him.

 “Very Well.” Agent Hotchner responded he was staring at her again with his jaw clenched. 

Natalie was right in her original assessment, this morning, it was a miserable day, and it was going to be a miserable year.

[yostresswritinggirl]

Tales of The Ghost Writer

“You met Xingqiu at Wanwen Bookhouse when delivering a batch of your newly-published book. But as a ghost writer, no one knew it was you that authored such books. Safe to say it was cute watching the noble bookworm fanboy about you in front of you.”

Pairings -> Xingqiu x Author!Reader

Word Count -> 3518

Theme -> Long Fic, Fluff

Series -> #Bonafide specials (100 followers event)

Warnings -> Xingqiu's name might be mispelled at times, also he rambles a lot

Entry Log # 645:

I’ve once again delivered the new batch of books to Wanwen Bookhouse today at 4PM, 30 new books in collection to be sold. That would add up to a total of 420 published books for Legend of the Lone Sword. Despite its old circulation, collectors and avid bookworms still seek out the volumes. In a spur of the moment thought, the 4th volume was finally rereleased for more readers to get a chance to read them. While on my rounds, I’ve met a particularly peculiar fan.

“4th volume?” You nod as you set down the stack of books on the counter where Jifang stood behind with a welcoming smile. “Thank you, everyone has been asking about it for a while now. I don’t understand how people keep missing out on the last volume like so.” There was an exchange of giggles between you continued your idle chatter, busying yourself with recounting the stack to make sure the order placed was exact. Yep, 30.

You picked one up from the top pile as Jifang enters the bookhouse to gather the payment. It wasn't that much of a feat to carry a pile of 30 books when it's only this thick, you thought as you opened the book in the middle and... buried your nose in it, literally. Archons, the scent of freshly printed books had always been such a stress reliever of a kind. The imprints were still fresh as you run your thumb over the pristine white page of page 75, the gravings of the letter bumping it in such an intricate and endearing manner. You suppose it should be prime time you get a copy of your own-

"Ah, the glorious scent fresh books offer are quite irresistible to everyone," your head whipped to the side in a hurry at the embarrassing display. Yet your new company only offered a light-hearted laugh, floaty and flowing swiftly past his lips. You find it enjoyable to listen to. "Fret not, I don't judge such honest guilty pleasure."

His smile was soft and respectful as you return it, watching his hand (wrists largely ruffled) pick up the next book on the pile, his interest shining the more he recognizes the the piece of literature. Such expensive clothing and poise, you thought as you continued to inspect. "I knew Wanwen had a schedule of new releases today, but I was not informed it would be the 4th volume of the Legend of the Lone Sword!"

"A fan?" You mused as you placed back the copy you took, leaning against the counter as you watched him quickly scan the lines of the book. He was intensely staring at every word with such a calculating gaze, that sometimes break when he reads how the character would sometimes reach an impasse, or when a new discovery reaches its peak. His ardent gaze was enough of an answer. When he took a break from reading to pass you his attention, you hadn't realize how red your cheeks had been out of embarrassment. "I've always wanted to get my hands on my own copy of the 4th, yet everytime all bookhouses in Liyue keep running out of stock. Is delivery normally this scarce?" He'd gestured at the not so looming pile.

You nod in response with a forgoing giggle. "Publishing could be running into some... shortness of funds?" Subtle, yet he hums in disappointment at the thought. His little pout, adorable, as he buries his face in the book again. I would gladly fund such glorious writing, you thought you heard past the leather back before the ornate doors past the counter finally opened again.

"Ah sorry it took so long, I couldn't find the exact pouch for the- hey! You again, you've read and been scolded dozens of times already," the woman angrily gestures to the notice board by the table, "Pay first, read later!"

You snorted, thankfully masked by the sudden cry of the caught culprit as he was smacked (hopefully gently) on the head by the owner, forcing him to put back the book to the pile. "Hnghh, but Lady Jifang! You didn't scold her, she was indulging herself with the book just the same," you breathed a fake gasp of astounded betrayal, before you three had laughed in chorus.

The oldest of your trio scoffed in amusement as she placed the bag of Mora unto your waiting hand. "What, her? Why would I scold her, she probably knows every word like the back of her ha-" her rambling was then cut off by a loud smack on her bottom, a book expertly finding its way back to your hand with a perfectly cut smile. Her yelp was not unnoticed by the male as he laughs at the display.

"Let him be, he's really been patiently waiting for the release!" Jifang scoffs at the word patiently as you came to the defense of blunette. You were never really aware of the norm in Wanwen, as you usually come by at a time where you would have been alone. This was a first.

"Quite so! Just the start of the volume had me hooked, setting for the peak of the story climax! The synopsis itself already hinted of another inclusion of a new element into the story I had not expected from this style of a book, surely such a writer would not tread such parallel territory without being an expert teller-" Jifang watched in amusement as her gaze lands on you at the start of the bookworm's rambling, watching the redness touch the tip of your ear with an abashed smile shyly gracing your lips. Behind it she can see the mirth and amusement, something she outwardly shows with her own expression.

"Wow," was the Liyuean woman's only response once the speaker has finished his lengthy speech. His dorkiness stands with pride at his examination.

You cleared your throat before you could mutter your initial words, finally realizing the time. "That was... quite marvelous of an analysis. A-Anywaysss, thank you for your partnership, I hope the books are all sold by tomorrow!"

And with that you swiftly made your exit, wanting to find a place to scream the embarrassment out. Or maybe squeal, just to be subtle.

Entry Log # 15:

As a distant relative to the Guhua clan, the (L/N) clan was not exactly known to be tied closely to the prestigious clan known for their expert martial. However, despite the impure connection, they carry with them still the honor of learning the arts to a meticulous detail.

Your family was one of the living practitioners of the Guhua Arts, twice removed, yet your spotlight was not that obvious as the name would carry. Your father wish to carry a new kind of prestige without relying on the powerful namesake and he had been adamant since birth to grind every teaching and form of the art into his immediate family.

"Misogyny nor feminism will not save you from battle, only your own strength." Something along those lines, was what he said.

Your eldest brother was his main point of reference when scolding you on not taking your lessons properly. A slacker he is, now he lacks not only a means of security but also financial stability, that's what you end up to if you don't treasure the arts of our family. You have no idea how martial arts brings you monetary security, but you can't really state to your own father that his logic was a bit skewed.

Daily during morning and the first touch of evening, you had resigned yourself into training under your father's supervision. As the eldest daughter of the house, you carry with you still a responsibility to be strong. No fraility was accepted, and your mother always argues about your father's ever so masculine lifestyle being imposed on you, a lady that should be taught other customs for means of living.

Yet after every session, at the end of the day under the caress of the lamp by your study table, your hands move with precision and calmness he would have scoffed at in the dojo. The beauty of words and their power to create new worlds effortlessly had drawn you in too easily, ever since you were young you had a knack for the books your mother reads to herself or to you.

Entry Log # 651:

The next time you'd met the Wanwen Bookworm (nickname you gave) was a rare moment when he'd finally looked at you more than the book in his hand. It seemed your little interaction from the bookhouse was attention-grabbing enough to make him seek out your person with a bunch of questions and wonder.

You gulped, patting down your blue skirt before accompanying him. The way he rambles was too dangerous, it was drawing something within you to also do the same, and you feared you may let out something you shouldn't. But a fellow 'reader' is good company, and with the little interactions you had with the same age group with the same interest makes this moment something you can't pass.

"Carrier to the Yae Publishing House?" You nodded calculatedly, after confirming you've said just the right information. "Quite intriguing, especially with such young age to be working in line with the greatest press house in Teyvat." Ohhh, he's surely smart despite the first impression of goofiness.

You giggled as politely as you can remember you should upon the scarce teachings of your mother. "I've always liked literature so I couldn't uhm let the opportunity pass, even if it's insignificant like that." Good, good, piling up the lies. You're grateful you haven't made some contract of friendship and happen upon the wrath of your nation's God. Or Qixing.

"Surely, you must have been in the presence of some of the wordsmiths during your rendezvous! So tell me," there was a dangerous glint in his eyes and you knew exactly what he's gonna ask, "Have you met the legendary Bob Ong?"

Oh goodness, you felt him caress and pat your back as you tried your best to breathe after the sudden choking on nothing, he was so spot on that you were horrified even if you had an inkling of what he was gonna inquire. "I uhm I don't really know what I'm allowed to say." In the inside you were goddamn screaming.

"You don't have to tell me anything about him, really! It's his mystery that makes his character just the most intriguing." You gulped down hard, this time without choking out of nothing. "I don't really know much about who he is since he's, you know, unknown? No clues whatsoever, he could be anywhere right now, maybe you've talked to him already or no. Yeah?"

He held a convincing hum before taking in the cryptic answer, content, for now you assume. "Not many avid readers of the book can place a name to the unnamed author, but how blind they were to see the cryptic signature at the back of the cover. Truly a wonderous act." Xingqiu, you finally learned his name, had took you out to lunch for the trouble and enjoyment. It wasn't really necessary, but you figured it was probably to keep you with him longer to converse about the books more.

A lot of his... analysis actually coincide with the messages that you lodged between the lines. He understands your way of narration more than you do at times, and you were left wondering just how much he had read of the fourth volume despite only having it for a few days then. When evening once again struck, you had bid each other farewell in the promise of another time to hang.

"It's a literature of love and freedom- disguised as a martial arts novel." Was his parting analysis, and you were left to wonder, was that really what you had projected into your works?

Entry Log # 32:

In your young and hopeful mind, you'd sent your first ever manuscript to Yae Publishing House. It wasn't your first work but it was the one you worked hard on the most, with weeks of furbishing and reworks. Your mother, although not directly informed of your whole plan, had provided you with great feedback and generous suggestions. And soon you created the first manuscript of 'String of Pearls'.

With a generous note and what you hoped is enough mora to at least publish a book, your package was sent to Inazuma.

You waited for days, of which turned to weeks, and then to months. You thought by the end of it all, you had been swindled but as young as you still hoped for the best of its outcome.

And then one day, as you were sweeping the outside of your gates in preparation for your father's return from some business in the harbor, a lone man of Inazuman style found its way to your humble abode. He calls himself Mr. Nine, and in his arms cradled two similar looking books, with a familiar envelope.

That was when you had been given the opportunity to write for the greatest Publishing House under the guise of a pseudonym. The great Nine was astounded by your ripeness paired with your prowess in writing. You hid behind Bob Ong, a protection from being belittled as a young child and a woman, to prevent being traced by your father if ever.

Yet you remained as subtle still. Even if your name was not written on the covers themselves, within your heart you were still the writers of those books. You've placed anagrams and mysterious puzzles revealing your name but it was part of the intrigue of the story that they had not thought much about it.

One day, you lost your book when you had gone out to eat. It was the second copy, as you carried the first one in your room, yet it still held a special place in your heart.

Xingqiu was a master novelist too, as you'd expect from someone so enthusiastic on the art of literature too. You'd long since become friends and found out soon enough his true identity. The heir to the Feiyun Commerce Guild, master practitioner of the Guhua Clan Arts, soon to be novelist. He was in every aspect the better half between you two.

One day in his daily reading breaks where he would happen upon you, he had found his eyes wafting over your notebook that you always carry. It was designed to look like a hard bound book specially tailored to your tastes, but it was nothing but mere keepers of your notes and musings.

Your newest page had in it a brand new draft for a brand new story you wanted to flesh out before the success of Legend of the Lone Sword diminishes. Mr. Nine still praised you for the success of your first major publishing and had assured you that there's no need to immediately compensate with another work so early, but your mind was already so eager to work. Your friend had never seen you so- flamed and passionate as the paper caves to the intense pressure your pencil places on it.

So he leans on your shoulder slightly (glad you were still distracted) as he quietly reads the words that articulates on the paper. The more Xingqiu reads, the more he craves, just the same vigor he felt everytime he had read his favorite works when each chapter invigorates him to continue to the end.

"Such a great outline," the blunette breathes out as he leans his cheek at the crown of your head. You let out a cute squeak when you'd finally come to, and turned your head to face him- "I didn't know you were into romance, my liege. Tell me, just where do you get such inspirations?" Your nose softly collided against the smoothness of his cheek, your lips ghosting over the line that is his jaw.

You scrambled backwards to direction opposite of his, yet with his body weight leaning on you, his center of balance quickly shifted on your weight like a net being pulled against the sides of a boat. You both toppled over.

"My, my, I didn't expect such abrupt resistance from you," Xingqiu's arms caged you as it holds him up against the grassland on either side of you. There was a certain mischievous glint in the ocean that is his eyes, which only meant one thing. "No need to be shy," you closed your eyes shut as his face leans in closer to yours, fanning over the frame of your face as he lets out a warm yet teasing exhale, "I'm sure we've gone past our personal bubbles in this relationship." You felt his chest against yours and braced for the inevitable-

as he finally licked your nose(?).

What.

"X-XINGQIUUUUU!" And then a cry of pain after a particularly harmful blow.

Entry Log # 659:

Xingqiu had always been a man of great words despite his chicken scratch of a penmanship. Vivid tales of his manuscript that I'm sure the Publishing House would take great value for, his years of memorizing numerous works in his arsenal. He told me that if I were to one day publish the manuscript, he wants to get the first copy and the first to get it signed. However Xingqiu has one glaring weakness when it comes to the art of words. When I asked him what would be a good title for the manuscript I made, he simply said, "Tales of the Writer!" And he sent a goofy smile. I thought he was joking, and I asked again, this time of what his work would be named. He replied:

"Why, Legend of Sword, of course!" He really sucks at titles.

Entry Log # 660:

Upon returning home with my new work ready to be shipped off for mass publishing, I've finally confronted my father. I had with me the final volume of my first work and offered it to him as first a gift of reconciliation, and my father took it with a mirthful glint in his eyes. He said he has been looking for the last volume of the series he'd been wanting to complete. I... I didn't know father was a fan.

The climax of my entire double-life ended so peacefully and tragically meh. I was expecting a martial arts fight of honor that will go down in history, but instead I ended up signing my own book as my father gushed about how nicely I illustrated the martial arts teaching we had during our sessions. I did not sleep well that night.

October 9th was a day celebrated by others more than the young master Xingqiu. The pavilion was mixed in with people from different walks of life and of faces he doesn't necessarily recognize. He lingers by the open window that shows the grandeur balcony, beckoning him outside. Today was a scheduled new release for Wanwen Bookhouse, and he had heard several chatters from the citizens that a new series would be published hailing from Yae Publishing House once again.

And the virtuoso of literature cannot attend such important matter himself because of his own birthday. How irking, you weren't even there to help appease his grumbling, you should have been here by now upon his invitation.

Suddenly the master of invitations bellowed out a familiar name, as his job to announce the entrance of the invited guests to the banquet. When he looks up, you were already walking down the grand staircase in your creme and blue Hanfu garb, accompanied by a tall man of a different wear—

"(Y/N), M-Mr. Nine-!" He bowed politely to the man as you curtsied at his presence. You looked absolutely dashing yet the man towered your form easily. "It's my honor to finally meet you, sire."

"Happy birthday, Xingqiu, I've heard many great things about you," the blunette opened his hands to receive the book gifted by the man. It had a familiar cover and title to it, Legend of Sword, "Great things, in fact, that there would too be great things to discuss later on." The Inazuman graced him a smile and he almost teared up at the implications, if not for when the author suddenly nudged you forward from your demure state.

Tales of the Ghost Writer

"X-Xingqiu, happy birthday! This is uhm, I've always wanted to- I wanted to give you this myself, I know you'd miss the first batch of releases," an unfamiliar book sits on his palm now. A plume and sword adorning its cover but no title, he shifts his hand to open it to the first page, "You said you wanted its first copy be signed, and I thought it appropriate to be given now at such a special occasion."

There in fresh print and ink he'd finally been revealed the mysteries he had long been searching for.

Against the translucent paper it was written and signed,

Tales of The Ghost Writer

Bob Ong, (Y/N)

@creation-magician @your-local-venti-simp @boxofteenageideas @indigodreamtime47

[hafanforever]

It’s Good to Be Bad

I’ve described in previous analyses that I have a strong affinity for villains in fiction, including those by Disney. But like any fan of Disney, there are villains that I love and ones that I deeply detest with every bone in my body. So for my last analysis of the year, I will discuss my five most favorite and five least favorite Disney animated villains, though I also want to list a couple of other characters as honorable mentions to explain why I like or hate them.

The reasons I have for liking my favorite villains are simple, if not somewhat shallow, because I don’t exactly have deep reasons for liking them. Regardless of how evil, sadistic, cruel, and ruthless they are, I like them primarily because they are funny or charismatic. But it’s so much easier for me to list why I hate my least favorite villains, which is largely attributed the kinds of traits they display (most of which I cannot stand in people), their motives for being evil, and how they carry out their evil deeds while showing their evil natures.

This essay has turned into a longer one than I anticipated, so I am adding the “Keep reading” feature. Before I begin, I want to thank my dear buddy and soul sis @minervadeannabond for coming up with this title. Here is yet again another analysis of mine for you to enjoy, sis! 😁😄😉❤️

Most Favorites

Scar - Since The Lion King was the very first Disney film I ever saw in theaters as a child, and the first one I remember well from my childhood, many of my favorites Disney things come from it, including Scar being my #1 favorite Disney villain. Yes, he is a sadistic, tyrannical, narcissistic, cold-blooded murderer, but I think it is because of his cunning, smooth, elegant, charismatic nature and how pivotal he is to the story, particularly with how much he turns out to be a dark reflection of Simba, is why I love him so much. Furthermore, his song “Be Prepared” is my favorite villain song and among my favorite Disney songs of all, further showing how much The Lion King has given me Disney favorites since I was a child. 😁

Hades - Another one I remember well from my childhood, Hades is undoubtedly one of the funniest villains from the Disney animated canon. Although he is as cruel, evil, ruthless, and sadistic as any Disney villain, Hades is also so fast-talking, sleazy, sarcastic, cheeky, and hilarious that it makes it hard for me to take him seriously as a menacing villain. And while he constantly goes into fiery rages and blows his hot-headed top when furious, these help make Hades far more a comical, rather than scary, figure. Heck, when I was a kid, I always laughed, rather than got scared, whenever he unleashed one of his temper tantrums (except when he blows up at Meg with “I OWN YOU!!!”). And James Woods’s performance, especially since he ad-libbed many lines, helps make Hades such an unforgettable and memorable, if not lovable, character. So yeah, Hades’s wisecracking, talkative personality made him a memorable villain for me as a child, and I’ve loved him for it ever since. 😆😂

Ursula - Much like Hades, Ursula is sleazy, scheming, and cunning, yet wisecracking and comical at the same time. Besides her dry sense of humor, Ursula’s eccentricity, flamboyance, and elegance have always been the traits that drew me to her, and Pat Carrolll’s performance of the character is pure excellence. 😉

Maleficent - Despite being an incarnation of pure evil, including with her self-proclaimed title as The Mistress of All Evil, to me, Maleficent is by far the coolest, most badass Disney animated villain of all! 😆👍🏻 Yes, she curses Aurora with no true motive whatsoever, and she’s sadistic, ruthless, blasphemous, and murderous, but her display of her ill temper and dark magic just makes her totally awesome, most especially when she zaps her minions for their stupidity and incompetence upon learning they were only looking for a baby during their 16-year search for Aurora. 😁

Ratigan - Again, Disney has an evil, murderous, sadistic villain in Ratigan, but I love him because he is very collected, calculating, sophisticated, and charismatic, not to mention Vincent Price delivers such a great vocal performance as the character. 😉 What I also love about Ratigan is the moment when he undergoes what is known as a villainous breakdown, which is when a villain snaps and goes utterly crazy. During the film, Ratigan has some moments of losing his cool, but just as quickly manages to become calm and regain his composure. However, upon seeing Basil and Olivia escape from him inside Big Ben, along with Basil having having foiled his earlier scheme to kill the queen and take over England, Ratigan finally snaps, turning from a formal, sophisticated, composed rat to a highly feral, aggressive, savage one. It is the moment when Ratigan reveals the monster within and looks like a true rat, with an aggressive expression, hunched back, elongated claws, and running on all fours. The fact that Ratigan’s breakdown juxtaposes what kind of rat he was for the majority of the film is why his villainous breakdown is my favorite of any Disney villain.

Most Hated

Gaston - I have stated this before in “Bride and Prejudice”, but I pick Gaston as my #1 choice as my least favorite Disney animated villain. And it’s not just because of his extreme vanity, egotism, chauvinism, and arrogance, which are the very traits I hate in people, but because of his inferior, sexist, misogynistic views of women. Gaston is THE walking definition of toxic masculinity, the fictional example of the worst kind of man, the epitome of what men should NEVER be! 😡😡😡 He thinks men are the superior gender and that women are inferior to men, with their only purposes being to serve men and be their sex objects. And since I am a feminist who believes in gender equality, I dislike men who have low, sexist opinions of women, and Gaston fits the profile of what I think is the worst example of such a man. I could go on and on explaining just why I loathe this monster of a man with all my heart, but you can just read the aforementioned analysis to find out more.

Lady Tremaine - If it weren’t for Gaston being my #1 pick because of his extreme sexism and misogyny, I would pick Lady Tremaine. She comes such a close second because her motivations for abusing, oppressing, and being so cruel to Cinderella are petty and stupid, ESPECIALLY because Cinderella never even did anything to deserve such treatment from her in the first place! 😠😡 Lady Tremaine hates Cinderella and is very jealous of her purely because Cinderella so much better-looking and kinder than her own daughters and herself. So they abuse her and make her their servant to make her miserable and unattractive so that they can look better than her instead. Additionally, Lady Tremaine has a deep-rooted obsession to be above Cinderella at all costs that she resorts to lying, manipulation, trickery, and cheating in order to stay above. I particularly loathe it when she manipulates her daughters into tearing up Cinderella’s dress just so that she can appear fair and keep her word regarding her side of the bargain (she says ”if you can find something suitable to wear”, and once it’s wrecked, it’s no longer suitable) while simultaneously making sure she doesn’t have to keep her promise since she never wants Cinderella to go in the first place. All that being said, do these sound like justifiable excuses for hating a completely innocent woman? I DON’T THINK SO!!! 😡😡😡

Claude Frollo - Now if weren’t for BOTH Gaston and Lady Tremaine coming first, Claude Frollo would come on top as well! 😡😡😡 Frollo is without a doubt in my mind the most evil villain in the Disney animated canon. Unlike most Disney villains, he is COMPLETELY devoid of any likable or redeemable traits, making me have nothing but feelings of pure hatred for him. Ruthless, cruel, blasphemous, racist, and evil to his core, Frollo holds a deep-seated hatred for the gypsies and seeks to eradicate them from Paris, making him not only murderous, but genocidal, especially since he seeks to kill them simply out of his own racism, supremacy, and superiority. Throughout the years in his quest to eliminate the gypsies, Frollo murders Quasimodo’s mother by violently kicking her, causing her to fall and hit her head on the stone steps of Notre Dame, then tries to burn Esmeralda at the stake, declaring that she must be killed because she has been practicing witchcraft. After killing the mother, Frollo even attempts to drown baby Quasimodo simply because of his deformity. What makes Frollo even more evil besides doing his deeds is that he is a judge with control over the city, yet he proves himself to be corrupt and hypocritical by violating the laws to accomplish his dark, sinister deeds. Perhaps what makes Frollo the most evil villain of all is that he is in complete denial about how evil he really is. He has a delusional belief that he is a good, religious man doing God’s work by trying to purge the world of evil, when all he really does is twist his “faith” and hypocritically use it for his own evil purposes. What’s worse is that Frollo never once takes an ounce of responsibility for his crimes; he makes excuses to justify his actions, painting himself as guiltless and his victims as the only ones at fault. So with Frollo being such a blasphemous, hypocritical, racist, genocidal, murderous, corrupt judge who never believes he is doing anything wrong and always lays blame on the victims of his misdeeds, I can’t say there is a single thing about him that I like, and I’m happy he met his death in a fiery blaze! 😡🔥

Mother Gothel - A character I see as being an amalgam of Gaston, Lady Tremaine, and Frollo, the reasons why I hate all three of these villains are also found in Gothel: vanity, narcissism, oppression, mental abuse, trickery, manipulation, dishonesty, hypocrisy, and flat-out cruelty. First of all, Gothel’s vanity, narcissism, and obsession with her own beauty makes her extremely insufferable and annoying, not to mention the fact that she hoarded the flower to herself for hundreds of years just to stay alive shows how incredibly selfish and possessive she is. And due to her selfishness, she kidnaps Rapunzel, hides her in a tower, lies to her about the outside world, and continually mentally abuses, manipulates, oppresses, mocks, and belittles her just to ensure that Rapunzel will never leave the tower and the flower’s magic in her hair will keep her (Gothel) alive and young forever. On par with her narcissism, Gothel is shown to be a very spoiled, childish, immature woman who seeks to always have things her way and throws tantrums or other emotional outbursts when she doesn’t get her way or what she wants, especially the very moment she wants it. Furthermore, Gothel possesses a martyr, or victim, complex, which is shown perfectly when victimizes herself and places all the blame on Rapunzel whenever any sort of conflict befalls their lives and relationship, especially when they argue. So with all these flaws in mind, like Gaston, Lady Tremaine, and Frollo, I can’t find any good reason to like Gothel at all. “Mother Knows Best”? More like “Gothel Knows Worst”! 😠😡 

Governor Ratcliffe - I said above that I hate Gaston because of his bigoted, low views of women, and prejudice is the main reason why I hate Governor Ratcliffe. However, his prejudice is in the form of racism, the kind of bigotry that I hate the most. Ratcliffe displays this attitude towards the Native Americans, considering them savages and seeing himself as better than them all because of his race, which makes him a white supremacist. Besides his supremacy and superiority regarding his race, Ratcliffe is intensely greedy and selfish since he wants to keep any riches found for himself and believes that the Virginia land and anything he finds on it is his for the taking. In relation to his bigotry, he is also quite delusional and self-righteous, which makes him believe that any theory he has is right and he refuses to believe otherwise or listen to reason. For example, Ratcliffe dismisses Wiggins’ correct assumptions on why the Indians attacked the settlers and John’s claim that there is no gold in the lands after Pocahontas tells him this. The hatred I hold for Ratcliffe is significantly less than the other four listed here, but the reasons I gave are virtually like those I gave for Frollo, so I’m confident with Ratcliffe and his place on my list.

Bonus Mentions

Hans - Hans is a villain that I place in the middle between my most loved and most hated villains, because I love him for WHAT he is as a villain while I simultaneously hate him for WHO he is as a character. I have said it to friends and some of my other analyses before, but one of the reasons why I love Frozen is because it took many of the traditional fairy tale elements and tropes used in their preceding films, and turned them upside down. So rather than having another prince as the heroic male lead in this film, Frozen twisted that trope around by making him the villain instead. And when Hans finally reveals his true nature, you realize that he has fooled not only Anna and the other characters who interacted with him, but first-time viewers as well! So while I love Hans for being a villain who keeps his true nature under wraps for the majority of the film and almost gets away with his crimes because of it, I also hate him because of how cold, cruel, callous, ruthless, and sadistic he really is. When he reveals his true nature and explains his plan to Anna, he mocks her intelligence, naïveté, and desperation for love while explaining just how easy it was for him to deceive and manipulate her into being a pawn in his plan to take over Arendelle. Throughout the whole scene, Hans smiles wickedly and sadistically, clearly showing the delight he is getting from tormenting Anna and watching her suffer while he explains his scheme and extinguishes all light sources to accelerate her death. It’s also easy to see his sadism when he announces his plan to murder Elsa, and that he will get even greater joy out of carrying out the act itself (which we see when Hans smiles widely while swinging his sword over Elsa’s head as he tries to kill her on the fjord).

Chi-Fu - While he is not a true villain, and not even evil at all, Chi-Fu is a very detestable character, one whose guts I hate completely because he has the same traits that make me hate Gaston: arrogance, conceit, egotism, bigotry, superiority, and misogyny. Prejudice against women is a main theme in Mulan, and Chi-Fu is the one man whose prejudiced opinions never change. While Shang and Mulan’s fellow soldiers initially hold views that women are beneath men, they learn to change them after Mulan proves herself a capable warrior in the army (even after her disguise is revealed), most especially when she helps save China from Shan Yu’s reign of terror. Despite the majority of his bigotry being aimed at women, Chi-Fu is also detestable because he shows it towards nearly everyone else, except the Emperor. As the second-in-command to the Emperor, Chi-Fu sees himself superior to almost everyone else around him, which enhances his pompous, elitist, arrogant attitude. Because of all these antagonistic traits, I loathe Chi-Fu while I don’t hate Shan Yu at all, even though the latter is truly pure evil and genocidal! 😠😡 It just goes to show that some people who are neither necessarily good nor bad can be even more contemptible that the most malevolent, murderous people.

[mexicancat-girl]

Ok guys, I can't take it, I’m seriously at my limit here.

Uraraka vs Bakuboi was a sham of a fight and none of it makes any goddamn sense.

Uraraka deserved her win, for multiple reasons.

Shout out to @bnhasalt, who’s post reminded me how indignantly furious this arc makes me.

More under the cut over both how salty I am, and how Uraraka losing against Explodo Kills makes absolutely no sense, even narratively.

(Warning ahead for a discussion on sexism, misogyny, forced fanservice, the blatant favoritism towards That One Specific Character even if unearned in the narrative, and the general incompetence on how to write female characters.

I call B/kugo “Bakuboi” in this analysis bc I don’t want to write his Actual Name out and have it pop up in his character tags. Also, heads up, I’m sorry for how messy and long this rant is )

First, can I just say that Horikoshi is uhhhh Bad at writing female characters?

Which I’m sure many female fans already have an inkling about, but goddamn is it never more obvious than in the Sports Festival Arc. Because hey, at least the female characters are THERE and PARTICIPATING and have their own time to shine! This ISN’T one of those arcs that just stars THE BOYS, so that MUST mean this arc is equal opportunity! Right...?

God, I wish. I wish...

See, the girls are the minority of the Sports Fest in general. It shouldn’t be this way. And quite frankly, the fact that the classes (and UA in general) isn’t closer to being a 50/50 gender split also makes no sense, considering all children are raised in a society that values heroism EQUALLY and almost half the population is male and half female.

But, okay, let’s say I actually believe in the most illogical character ratio imagineable of there being a 2 boy to 1 girl, like this is another round of Naruto But It’s Superheroes So It’s Different I Swear.

We all know that there is going to be an emphasis on Izuku, since he’s the protagonist and he wants to make All Might proud during the Sports Festival.

Pre-Festival, there’s the reveal that Uraraka wants to do her best, with her main motivation of becoming a hero to give her parents a good life. Iida also wants to make his own family proud, specifically his brother, because of his family legacy. 

Since these three are a trio, you’d think they’d all get some time to shine, right? Since they’re Izuku’s friends? And Izuku considers them his equals?

Yeah, no. Wrong.

This arc is dominated by Izuku, Shoto, and Bakuboi. That becomes clear very quickly. 

I knew I shouldn’t expect much, since these three are powerhouses and also the most popular characters of the entire franchise (just look at the popularity polls) but still. I’d thought at least Uraraka would get a chance to shine! Since we get some character development and motivation revealed from her!

But the female characters in general get done so dirty this arc, despite it being first set up as a perfect arc to let the girls have just as much opportunity to participate as their male peers.

The most significant part of the female characters all getting an ‘equal time to shine’ is when He Who Must Not Be Mentioned and Kaminari trick the girls into dressing as scantily-clad cheerleaders. Which is both Tiring and Unncessary.

(This scheme also shouldn’t have worked because Momo is Vice Rep and she is an intelligent girl, top of her class. She would be smart enough to go to a teacher and actually double-check to see if Class 1-A girls really needed to cheer in the activities portion of the Sports Festival. 

But noooo, Horikoshi can’t pass up a chance for FANSERVICE and forcing his underaged female characters to be uncomfortable for The Funnies! Thanks! I hate it!)

The female characters that move onto the final round of the Sports Festival, and thusly have the most attention, are: Uraraka, Mei Hatsume from Support, Momo, Mina, and Shiozaki from 1-B.

Wow, I sure wish these girls could like...show their worth. And maybe NOT get steamrolled and easily tossed aside in their matches because they’re facing Boys and Boys Have Strong Offense-based Quirks, That’s The Rules Folks.

(Before you come at me, I know that isn’t a rule that applies to every single male character in the series, but the strongest and offense-based Quirks tend to go to the male characters, while the female characters tend to get more support-based Quirks. It’s both sexist, but also an inherent trend in media in general. Please Just Let Women Punch Shit To Smithereens And Control The Elements.)

Yes, Mina and Shiozaki won their first rounds easily! And that’s great to see! But then we turn right around, and they're eliminated just as quickly in their second matches! Without even a fighting chance!

Good God, Shiozaki is literally PUSHED OUT OF THE RING. That’s it, that’s how she lost. Same thing with Momo in her match! And Mei straight-up forfeits because her character is based more on advertising her inventions/babies, so she doesn’t even fight.

So essentially, the female characters are shucked away if they’re not used to make the male characters look good, or there for fanservice, or there to show a shallow form of ~feminism~ so Horikoshi can pat himself on the back and say “See! Girls strong! I can write girls!”

And now we get to the meat of things: Uraraka.

Oh, poor Uraraka. Out of all the female characters, your potential was the greatest, and also the most squandered...

As a reminder, at the start of the arc, Uraraka speaks with both Izuku and Iida about how she wants to do well in the Sports Fest. They all promise to do their best. Izuku’s friends admit that they want to face him in later matches, because they want to be his equals.

Uraraka wanted to stand on the same level as Izuku and Iida, but she's the only one that doesn't move on past her first match!

And man, what an absolute bogus match it is.

Is it emotional? Yeah. Did I tear up when I watched it? Sure, every single time! But that's more because Uraraka is one of my favorite characters and I feel empathy for her and thought she deserved better.

The match gets to me because I also hate how Bakuboi is so fucking entitled and gets everything handed to him on a silver platter.

Bakuboi himself is written as, essentially, a Gary Stu. He always wins. ALWAYS. And even when he ‘loses’, he still manages to beat his opponents to the point that they need to be hospitalized (see Izuku vs Kacchan pt 1) or he makes his losses ALL ABOUT HIMSELF by twisting logic to fit his own narrative.

Remember how Bakuboi won against Todoroki in the final match? And was so pissed at him he was ready to Physically Assault Todoroki for him not being able to Get Over His Trauma to go 100% during their match? And even though Bakuboi LITERALLY won the entire Sports Festival, he’s so entitled that he demands a rematch because he feels like he “didn’t actually win”?

Not wanting a rematch for Todoroki’s sake, because Todoroki has been through a rough time and Bakuboi overheard Todo’s Tragic Abusive Backstory. Oh no, that would make too much sense and show too much character growth, we can’t have that! Bakuboi, even when winning the Sports Festival, demanded a rematch because he wanted to beat the shit out of Todoroki AGAIN to assert his dominance.

You see, Bakuboi is always rewarded in the narrative. Even when he loses it’s not seen as his fault. He’s never really punished for it, and he never learns any lessons from his losses.

Ah, and let’s not forget, Katsuki Bakuboi has the Best And Strongest Quirk Ever. Strong enough to even do the impossible and work to his advantage when it shouldn’t!

Like how he SOMEHOW manages to ‘beat the odds’ by breaking the laws of physics to win in Round 2. He manages to PUNCH THROUGH A QUIRK THAT CREATES A SOLID WALL from 1-B’s Tsuburaba in order to get back his team’s headband and move on to Round 3.

Or hey, his finishing move, Howlitzer Impact? Doesn’t make any sense either. It shouldn’t work as a...cyclone? Tornado? Drill thing? 

Look, the logistics of it shouldn’t work. Yes, this is anime, but do you HONESTLY think that a teenager YEETING himself in a fast spiral will somehow accomplish anything more than spreading out some explosions in a circle around him? You honestly think any other character would be able to pull that bullshit off WITHOUT upchucking their entire lunch?

But because it’s Bakuboi, it works somehow. Because Bakuboi’s Quirk is The Shining Beacon Of Quirks. 

Drawbacks? Sure, he SUPPOSEDLY has them. They’re noted in his character profile and everything. But very rarely do those supposed “drawbacks” ever actually come into play and actually, like, stop him. Or slow him down. Or, yknow, ACTUALLY WORK LIKE DRAWBACKS ARE SUPPOSED TO WORK.

Because apparently, human limits don’t exist for Katsuki fucking Bakuboi, nope, not at all!

One of Bakuboi’s "drawbacks" is supposed to be that he can't overexert himself or he can fuck up his wrists/his forearms will start to ache. 

Cool cool cool, except...This rarely slows him down or effects him at all. 

It’s actually astounding he hasn’t given himself Carpel Tunnel, because that would be a natural consequence to over-using his Quirk. Hell, he should be fucking up his arms almost as much as Izuku does to his own arms with a destructive Quirk like OFA! Explosions are dangerous and cause massive destruction, and that should be fucking up his arms SOMEHOW!

But, nope. Bakuboi is as fresh as a goddamn daisy. He can Never Have A Weakness.

(Another drawback is cold weather/Winter season is supposed to weaken his Quirk. Makes sense, since heat would help him produce more nitroglycerin sweat, and the cold would make it hard to sweat. But that sure as hell didn’t stop him during the Joint Training Arc in the future, and he didn’t struggle whatsoever to almost singlehandedly win that for his team.)

Not ONCE does Bakuboi’s Quirk ever effect him negatively and forces him to weaken! He keeps using his Quirk like it's nothing!!

And that’s the crux of the entire problem with Uraraka vs Bakuboi’s match.

Bakuboi apparently has “drawbacks” and “limits”, but he keeps somehow managing to break them without a sweat (ha) and without consequence, essentially PULLING WINS OUT OF HIS ASS.

Bakuboi was using his Quirk LITERALLY NONSTOP during Round 1, and kept using it to throw himself around in Round 2. Logically, he should’ve fucked his arms up and been at the very least SLOWED DOWN by the third round of the Sports Fest because he went past what were SUPPOSED to be his Quirk’s canonical limitations and logic!

It would've taught Bakuboi that he can't fucking steamroll through all his problems! He has limits! There are consequences to over using his Quirk! He’s a human being and he doesn’t have endless stamina like some sort of God!

Hell, every other character has these limits very clearly shown and outlined with their Quirks! Uraraka throws up when she over-uses Zero Gravity. Shoto, before using his fire side, would get frostbite. Iida’s Engines will stall after using Recipro Burst.

The other characters have limitations to their Quirks that slows them down, shows consequences for their actions, but Bakuboi NEVER HAS ANY.

THIS is why he’s a Gary Stu. THIS is why he won his match against Uraraka.

Not because of any logic. Because HIS QUIRK HAS NO FLAWS. And on top of that, THE NARRATIVE KEEPS REWARDING HIM, EVEN WHEN HE HASN’T EARNED IT.

Bakuboi SHOULD have been weakened from using his Quirk non-stop. Bakuboi SHOULD NOT have managed to pull out that “one final big explosion” that ruined Uraraka’s final attack.

Bakuboi was literally hissing about his arms hurting earlier, before their match started. And Uraraka forced him to use his Quirk so much that she managed to amass a ton of debris to knock him out and win the match. HIS EXPLOSIONS SHOULD HAVE SPUTTERED OUT, AND NOT SAVED HIM WITH THAT LAST-SECOND ASSPULL.

Like, I’m preeeeetty sure the entire reason Horikoshi wrote Uraraka vs Bakuboi in the first place was because he was attempting at writing Feminism.

See, Bakuboi Hates Everyone Equally, he’s not a violent misogynist for beating up Uraraka! It’s a Match, he Respects Women And Sees Them As Equals! The Crowd of Pro Heroes are the ones being Misogynistic and Judging The Match Early!

And look at Uraraka, she’s a Strong Woman! She keeps getting back up! That’s the Shonen Spirit! And she’s smart, too! Look at her amazing plan to win--

Oh, wait. Wait, nope. She didn’t win at all! :) Because our shining beacon of perfection Katsuki Bakuboi never loses!! :)) Look at all her hopes and dreams being blown to literal smithereens, because of Bakuboi’s ass pull, even though he shouldn’t have had enough time, sweat, and strength to muster up that last explosion!!! :)))

Can ya’ll feel my incandescent fury right now?

Because Horikoshi can NEVER write Bakuboi losing, Uraraka COULDN’T HAVE WON, even if her winning makes THE MOST LOGICAL SENSE.

This scene was supposed to show Uraraka’s strength. But it feels like Uraraka is being literally spit in her face, for even DARING to TRY to win against Katsuki fucking Bakuboi.

How much more impactful would Uraraka’s breakdown have been, if she had moved onto the Second Round with Izuku and Iida? How she would feel ashamed that she couldn’t keep up with them, with how Powerful their Quirks are? Especially after seeing Izuku and Todoroki’s amazing match, and seen how destructive and close a match it had been?

How DEVASTATED she would have felt, beating BAKUBOI--one of the strongest of their class!--and then STILL managing to lose the Sports Festival?

That would have been SO much more interesting! And even SADDER!! C’mon!

Uraraka SHOULD have won her match! It would’ve provided both character development for herself, and for Bakuboi! Bakuboi would realize he has limits to his body and Quirk, and realize not to underestimate his opponents! Uraraka would realize that she’s strong in spite of her Quirk not being necessarily combat-oriented, but still has a long way to go in being a Pro Hero!

But, nooooo. We can’t have CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, can we? We ESPECIALLY can’t have THE FEMALE CHARACTERS IMPACTING THE PLOT IN SOME WAY, either! Or--what’s this? FEMALE CHARACTERS ACTUALLY HAVING THE SPOTLIGHT FOR ONCE? Perish the thought!

The only good parts about this godforsaken arc are 1) Mei Hatsume 2) Hitoshi Shinso and 3) Izuku vs Todoroki fight and Todoroki’s Tragic Backstory Reveal. Everything else is hit-or-miss, if not completely hot garbage.

Anyways, thanks for coming to my TED Talk, and for reading this entire thing! Four for you, reader. You go, reader.

[off-in-the-moors]

Joseph Kavinsky analysis, part 2

aka no voice and no dream pack

Warnings: spoilers for the whole Raven Cycle, mentions of: drug-use, abuse, death, s*cid, xenophobia

Part 1 // Part 2

Before starting, I wanted to thank for likes and support, not only on part 1 but also on my other posts. I was writing this more for the catharsis, after months of seeing and not really speaking about a lot of stuff. It’s nice to know, somebody read it. Some say, Kavinsky is their comfort character and, well, he will stay with me for a very long time. But enough of that. Let's talk about the point of view, xenophobia and the Dream Pack.

PoV

The running motif in TRC is, all antagonists get PoVs. No matter if they appear in one book (like Whelk) or reoccur (like the Greenmatles). The reader gets multiple chapters with their backstories, internal thoughts and goals. This move by the author is a double-edged sword, on one hand we get a better understanding of them but on the other, by knowing them better they become less effective antagonists and the air of mystery and surprise of what they're up-to/what they know is lost. E.g. In TDT we are first told about Colin Greenmatle and what is he capable of, making him a good threat for our main characters. But when we finally meet him in BLLB, with his attitude and scenes like dissing Ronan's Latin grammar or making cheese crackers while his wife is held at gun-point, he becomes more of a comedic antagonist than a villain to fear.

But here's the thing: I already lied to you. In TRC, all antagonists get PoVs, except for Kavinsky. It's a odd exception from the rule, considering Gray Man in TDT and The Wasp Demon in The Raven King, also got PoVs. But why? There are two things to look at. One I already mentioned. By giving a character PoV, the reader gets better understanding of them. By not giving Kavinsky one, Margaret didn't give anything to make K or his actions clear or understandable. By not knowing his motivations, K is left to pure interpretations, but how the reader will do it mostly will be influenced by his demonetization. Of course, not everybody will just accept what the book tells them without thinking for themselves but most fans don't.

"Bang", he said softly, withdrawing the fake gun. "See you on the street."

Alone, this single line can be interpreted in many different ways. Is it K being angry and threatening Ronan? Or maybe Joseph breaking inside because he was proofen, he really has no one? It all depends on the reader.

Second, when asked on her tumblr, if she'll ever write anything from K's pov (in 2015, before The Raven King was published), M*ggie said she won't, because: she already explored that type of character ("the thoughts and motivations of a powerful, suicidal, creative person with few inhibitions") in Sinner (2014, spin-off/companion book of her older series, The Wolves of Mercy Falls, 2009-2011 for the main three) with Cole St. Clair; that writing through PoV of such character is emotionally and mentally draining for her (which is understandable); and even if she wanted to explore it again in the future, she would through a different character's lenses than K's.

Let's talk about St. Clair.

The characters of Cole and Kavinsky have some similarities: both are drug addicts, who are rich.

That's where they end.

Cole was a famous musician, having the stereotypical rock-star life (drugs, alcohol and sleeping with fans included) with good family relationships, while K was a son of a mobster who tried to kill him and a mother who was a drug-addict herself. While their perspectives would have similarities, there is also other problems. Cole St. Clair already got PoVs in his series and a stand-alone book, Joseph Kavinsky got nothing and will get nothing. Cole had friends that cared for him and helped him, Joseph Kavinsky had his Dream Pack (which whom we don't know what type of relation he had) and his customers who we can safely say, only cared for what he can provide them with, he tried to befriend or start a relation with Ronan who rejected even the idea of it and no one even reached out to him. Cole got his happy ending and (hinted at) a girl he loved, K got rejected by everyone and committed public suicide. (Now, I heard a opinion that K didn't commit suicide, because the dragon killed him. Here is the thing, K could move out of the way multiple times, even Ronan shouted to him to move. But he didn't. He watched the dragon fly towards him and just said "The world is a nightmare.". He choose death.)

People wanted K's PoV, because they wanted to know, what pushed him to do what he did in TDT. But, in my opinion, even if M*ggie gave K pov, she would use it to further demonize him than to make the reader understand him more. She already did write a whole post exaggerating and straw-manning the canon, just to also say "Kavinsky has a very logical backstory that leads him to this place". A backstory we as the reader never truly see and one she forgot to write into her book. At the end, she truly cared only about Ronan.

Xenophobia

The Raven Cycle is a very flawed and problematic series, there are already many other posts taking about racism, misogyny, lack of diversity and many other issues with it, but in regards to Kavinsky, I'll only touch on the xenophobia. (I could talk also about portray of metal-illness, but I'm not the person to talk about it and I would feel comfortable with it.)

Kavinsky is a stereotype of a Slavic person, one we see in American media since the Cold War, especially in 80s movies. The Evil Russian trope. The son of the mobster, drug-addict, forger who can get you anything even illegal stuff, a thief.

When describing Kavinsky, one of the things Ronan mentions is: "refugee's face, hollowed-eyed and innocent". One could argue, "refugee" has many meanings, but boiling it down, is a person who came to the country to escape and seek a refuge. Many people moved to America to find a better life, in the believe of the American Dream, and many of them where driven to do that, especially from ex-Eastern Bloc countries. Kavinsky's Bulgarian, unknown if an immigrant himself or a son of immigrants, but the point still stands.

About Blue’s comment "import from somewhere else" I don't need to say much. First, obvious: You don't import people, only foreign goods, like cars. Second: this shows, he is "the other" in the eyes of the characters.

There is more to it, then just the physical description. We need to look at the outfit he wears. White tank top, white sunglasses, a small earring in one ear and a gold chain around his neck. This gives two images: one of a typical douche-bag, party asshole and the rich kid; the second of a Slavic stereotype, especially of a Russian criminal. If Margaret wanted to make K even bigger stereotype, she would dress him like a dress/gopnik, in a tracksuit.

The thing is: M*ggie could had saved the situation if she had subverted the stereotypes. E.g. K didn't wanting anything to do with the crime live, his family was forced into by circumstances or K being the guy to get stuff from, but he isn't doing it for any gain.

The truth is, K being Bulgarian doesn't add anything to his character, except for xenophobia. (Personally, I tried to find where the surname "Kavinsky" came from. It is Slavic, that much I can tell you for sure, but the rest is my speculation and searching. My best guesses are: Russian (it appears most commonly in Russian, after USA and a use in Russia set novel) or Polish (because it has uncanny simulates to the surname "Kawiński", if it was anglicized like e.g. "Kamiński" into "Kaminsky"). This isn't a common surname and with Peter from the To All the Boys trilogy and the musician, it's hard to find any information.)

But for now, K's portray is one of the many issues.

The Dream Pack or the lack of it

The Dream Pack is the unofficial name for K's group, with whom he parties and races (the canon name is "Kavinsky's Pack of Dogs" which is ugh). They're unfortunately, a non-characters. It's bolt to even call them background characters. Their portray, or again, lack of it, leaves them as props, their only role is to be K's followers and to show K as a leader on a equal ground as Gansey. We're lead to believe, they are like Kavinsky, yet another raven boys, and to make are main characters so “not like the other raven boys”. Problem rises in connection to the previous point, out of four members, only one has an English surname.

Prokopenko is a Ukrainian surname and for his description, we get "ears like wingnuts", "crooked shoulders" and his voice as "milky with drugs". It's said he had "recently attained official crony status", and was noted being in close desecrate to K for a while. Later we discover Proko is a forgery, a dream creature like Matthew and Aurora. It's heavily implied the real Prokopenko is dead, but if K had something to do with it, is unknown. He is the only character to "chortle", which Margaret said she hates and also "fratty boys and the chortling men they turn into". From this we can deduce, that not only the Dream Pack and people at K's parties but all raven boys (with the exception of the main characters) were writen like this on purpose as the personification of everything M*ggie hates. We are also informed, he drives a Golf.

Skov, who according to a deleted scene, full name is Blake Skovron, is polish (or at least anglicized version of it). In said deleted scene he's described as "major asshole, minor bigot" (unfortunately I couldn't find it to confirm it). The only canon stuff about him is: he drives a RX-7 (Mazda RX-7).

Jiang is Chinese, making him one of three canon Asian characters we see in the series (not counting Henry's father, because he's just mentioned, same goes for the Vancouver crowd). Like Proko, his role is a little bigger. In the Raven King, after Ronan finally returns to school after a long time of skipping, he tells him: "Hey, man, I thought you'd died". Ronan doesn't respond, but tells the reader he doesn't want to see Jiang outside of his car, racing. The only other thing we know about him: he drives a Supra (Toyota Supra).

Swan is the only one with an English name, but all we know about him is: he drives Volkswagen Golf, one that matches Proko's.

(For future writers: what car a character drives, isn't a personality trait.)

With the already minimal diversity, this shows the non-Americans as the antagonists or at least "the worst". On the opposite side, we have our main characters. Richard Campbell Gansey III, who has the whitest and British name I ever saw; Adam Parrish, born and raised in Henrietta, Virginia; Ronan Lynch, son of a Irish immigrant, whose Irish identity starts and ends on tit-bits; Blue Sargent, who is half-tree and ambiguous, but was drawn as white by the author multiple times (Yes, I am aware of the Instagram post, but Margaret herself said, she isn't confirming anything that isn't already written in her books. She couldn't even confirm Adam's hair color and made a joke out of it.) The only exception is Noah Czerny, whose surname is Slavic (probably Czech), but this bares no effect on his character.

The Dream Pack are the whole communities babies, created by head-canons and fanons, their relations with Kavinsky and themselves are explored, who they are as people, their appearance, their interests... This is beautiful how many different versions and interpretations of non-existing characters is there. (I, myself also made a version for a rewrite, based partly on the fanon.)

But at the end of the day, the fans did the author's job of creating believe friend group and in the end, their only function was to show, Kavinsky is a king, just like Gansey.

[readingsbylibramc]

birth chart reading for @baggable

hello! welcome to your reading. I’m gonna give you a quick overview of what I’m going to analyze about your natal chart. feel free to ask me anything if something isn’t clear, of course. you’ll find out your dominants’ influence on your persona, your physical appearance, impression on others and the way you approach the world; your ego, identity, the real you; your reactions, your desires, inner emotions; your way of expressing your feelings, your mind and ideas; your desires and approach to love; your energy tank, instincts and temperament; in-depth analysis of each house with their rulers and analysis of heavy aspects; love life + soulmates/karmic partners interpretation; your relationship with your friends; your family life; your approach to career and work in general + possible jobs suggestion; your style, fashion sense analysis; life purpose and past life description; basic transits’ analysis to describe your current mood and, last but not least, your secret skills, how to make the most out of your soul and manifest what you desire based on your birth chart.

🦋 chart shape, dominants

your chart is a seesaw shape. your life focuses on different ideals and interests, often constrasting between each other. from one side, this gives you the ability to be adaptable and find solutions easily. on the other hand, you may struggle with balance; for example, you might find yourself dedicating your life to your relationships, neglecting your ego or viceversa. you need to learn how to harmonize these energies.

your dominant planets are the moon, mercury and jupiter. you are a very genuine person, you always have good intentions and you're very altruistic, you always try to do good for others. you're very sensitive and empathetic, even though you could sometimes be quite moody and impulsive. you are also very intelligent, and you most likely have a great sense of humor.

your dominant sign is cancer. you seek emotional security in life. you need to feel grounded, you're most likely extremely cautious about the decisions you make. you're also very sensitive and compassionate of others, even though you could get slightly passive from time to time.

your dominant element is fire. you have a warm heart, even though it may be covered by your confidence and independence. in fact, you always strive for the first place. people may be intimidated by your presence, as you're a serious competitor. thanks to this competitive nature of yours you may be very positive and optimistic, making you a good and supportive friend/partner.

🌎 ascendant in virgo, 11° / 2nd decan ruled by mercury and saturn

you have a practical approach to the world. you’re kind of logical, it’s hard for you to improvize. you always want to keep everything neat and organized, at least in your mind. you could have a natural coldness to your face. you may seem a bit older than you are, or at least very mature and responsible, even though you may be more outgoing than you look due to your sagittarius and cancer placements. with your attentive eyes, you pay attention to every single detail you see. you’re a perfectionist, and you always want and try to be at your best state. I would say you’re quite competitive when it comes to your goals, but you don’t really do it to be above others. you do it because your obsession for details kind of stresses you out. improving and proving yourself is a way to boost your self-esteem, you feel fulfilled when you can achieve your goals. you are extremely intelligent and logical, you’re always up for a deep talk or simply for an occasion to gain more knowledge. you like being smart, you always want to know about everything. even the latest, trendy meme counts for you. your nature is very cautious; you’re rarely impulsive, you always think deeply about your decisions, as you don’t want to commit any mistakes. because of that, you can be particularly picky. not only with material things such as movies, books, food etc. but even with people. it’s hard for you to open up to someone you don’t know at all. you take things slow, both in friendships and in relationships, just to preserve yourself. you may come off as kind of snobby, but you’re just misunderstood. you don’t like flaky bonds, you need security in your life. physically, as I’ve already mentioned before, you have this kind of strict look on your face. your eyes may be almond-shaped, and you could have a natural feline gaze. overall, you have something smaller about your features; you could have thin lips, a small nose, small eyes… you could have a smaller frame with thin bones, and you don’t gain weight easily. you may be of average height, and I’ve noticed that most virgos tend to have pretty long legs? no matter if they’re tall or not, their legs will still be longer than their bust. you could also have some rounder features to your face or body, such as an apple body shape, plump lips or round, watery eyes

virgo ascendant square sagittarius moon: you may have troubles understanding others’ real feelings for you. you may feel as if everyone hates you, like everyone is talking behind your back when it’s the opposite. the sun being in cancer doens’t help either, as this aspect enhances its trust issues even more. you’re particularly sensitive about others’ view and opinion of you, you may get deeply hurt when people criticize you. you could have the tendency to act differently than you usually do, in order to preserve your feelings. this is obviously a toxic behaviour, that fills you up with your own stress and doubles it. due to that, you may become very moody and nervous, ending up hurting others yourself. or maybe, it’s the other way around; your feelings are so overwhelming that you can’t hide them, and that could put you in embarrassing, unpleasant situations. you may show all of your emotions on your face, ready to be read. the way to cope with this placement is finding someone similiar to you; someone who’s trust-worthy, and very sensitive and empathetic too. someone who’d never judge you for you think or say, and that would always help you becoming the best version of yourself. someone that understands you, without having to explain all of your behaviours and habits.

virgo ascendant square sagittarius pluto: you're aware that the world is too nasty for your honesty, hence you may have trust issues. even though you are friendly, you're very picky about who you decide to actually call your friend. you may constantly feel lonely, as if no one were willing to listen and understand you. you live with the fear that others may take advantage of you, hence you end up doing it yourself, unconsciously. you may be controlling, but your chart hints that it's not too much of a big deal. you may have the tendency to do it sometimes, but it's mostly a bad trait of your past life. the universe is testing you to see if you've learned your lesson or not. you have all the skills to avoid this type of behaviour now that you're aware of it.

🌞 sun in cancer, 4° / 1st decan ruled by the moon

this is the darkest, most intense cancer decan. even though you may not show it due to your heavy sagittarius and virgo influence, you’re actually very vulnerable and sensitive. you may be a crybaby, as crying is a way to vent your emotions. you may even overreact, and be considered too dramatic. you’re extremely moody; you could be all happy and relaxed with your friends, then suddenly you get sad, or even angry. it’s hard to deal with this, especially because your emotions are quite intense. this could make you argue a lot with your peers. even though it takes you a while to find someone willing to stay, when that moment finally comes you’ll embody cancer’s best trait: that is, you’ll become a ‘mother’ to your friends, lover etc. you have a very nurturing soul, you have a knack for affection and care, and you could even get kind of clingy, even though you may feel limitated to give your love to someone else. cancer is a cardinal sign, hence you may be the one to take initiative, yet you do it undirectly. you’re probably the passive-aggressive type, even though this may be mitigated by your dramatic and impulsive sagittarius moon. you most likely try to be patient, even though you could struggle with that due to your fire dominance. you may also hold a grudge easily; once someone tries to take advantage of you, it’s over for them.

🌙 moon in sagittarius, 9° / 1st decan ruled by jupiter

you're an outgoing and warm person, who always tries to make others feel at ease. I assume you try to be nice to everyone, but you can't help but be a little awkward around people you don't know. with your sagittarius moon, you go with the flow and don't shy away from challenges. they're moments to prove your potential and abilities. you are an extremely open-minded person, you rarely judge a book by its cover. you probably despise racism, homophobia, misogyny etc. with a passion (as you should tbh). you may also be into poetry, philosophy, and just anything that can stimulate both your mind and feelings. in fact, your mind is constantly wandering somewhere else, allowing you to travel with your fantasy. you're also probably attracted to foreign things, like people, music, fashion, languages, movies etc. you love learning about anything, and you may also have a good memory. in fact, it’s common for you to be the one who explains things and possibly even leads a group, and this could unluckily make you seem as a know-it-all. you do take pride in your wisdom, indeed. your deep way of thinking is also where your desire for freedom comes from, as you wish to be able to expand yourself through travelling and new experiences. when you get angry, you can actually get very rude and offensive, even towards authorities. you’re short-tempered, and you despise being told what to do. you’re also a good, loyal friend, and you’re the type to stand up for them and defend them during a fight. you’re friendly, especially with people you feel comfortable with, and you probably love talking. you’re able to put a smile on others’ face just by telling your stories, even though you never truly go in-depth. you're quite optimistic, as you see good in everyone. yet, while this is a good trait that allows you to be more at ease in relationships, you may also be fooled easily due to your blind optimism.

sagittarius moon conjunct sagittarius pluto: you’re way more secretive and cautious than most sagittarius moon people. you tend to preserve yourself, even though it’s hard for you to repress your emotions, as they’re too to intense to bottle them up. you absorb people’s feelings like a sponge, there’s no way that you won’t instantly understand their real emotions. overall, you tend to overreact a lot; you have cancer's sensitive energy on one side and pluto’s mysterious, almost scary vibe on the other. dealing with these emotional burnouts may be stressing to you, as you totally get caught up in them. even if it looks like you get to know other people often, you actually don’t let others know you. you’re the type of person to talk and socialize, but you never reveal your deepest fears and thoughts to strangers. you only open up to people you’re sure you can trust. when you’re angry, you can literally go as far as using violence; you need to let out your emotions by screaming, swearing… anything that can make you feel better. there’s a secret, sensitive side in you that needs passionate and romantic partners in love. yet, you can’t help but feel more attracted to the ones that may hurt you badly. you’re possibly quite sensitive to higher entities too, like ghosts, spirits and so on.

🗣 mercury in cancer, 29° / 3rd decan ruled by the moon and neptune

you don't really rely on logic. you're very emotionally intelligent, and you take in consideration others' feelings when you speak. even though you may be impulsive and blunt sometimes, you don't do it with malice at all. you may actually feel guilty after you realize that you've hurt someone. you may be sort of manipulative, as you're very observant of others' behaviours. because of that, you may be extremely good at interacting with others, since you know how to speak to people when you don't let your impulsiveness get over you. you know how to persuade others, even though you may not even realize it. if you manage to balance your moon and your mercury, I think it would give you great social skills. you'd be able to stand up for yourself, while also being mindful and conscious of the effect of your words on others. you may get defensive quite easily, and because of that you may become a bit secretive. that's because, deep down, you feel the need to be understood to fully convey and express your emotions. you want to feel at home with your interlocutor, otherwise you'll just be awkward. on the other hand, you have a nice sense of humor, you're able to light up the room with your jokes. your voice may be nasal, but pretty much very gentle and feminine as well.

cancer mercury square libra mars: this placement makes you slightly more aggressive with your words. as a result, it makes you look more assertive and almost bossy. you could often attack people with words when you get angry, and you can get quite provocative too, even though it may happen in a more passive way. you still have your cancer energy's kindness and diplomacy in you, after all. even though you’re quite controversial for the way you speak, you’re still very sensitive to others’ words. your self-esteem tends to find its base mostly on others’ opinion about you, and you always look for reassurance from your loved ones. to deal with this hard aspect, you need to think before you speak. if you have troubles understanding others’ feelings, just think about how you’d love to be treated. patience will just come naturally to you.

cancer mercury square aries saturn: this placement gives you limitations and lessons regarding the way you think and talk. it may be that you’re too shy to approach others and to say what you think, so you just don’t try. otherwise, if you actually take action and try to overcome this problem, you could get into troubles. that’s probably caused by the fact that you don’t really pay attention to your words. you’re quite straight-forward, and due to your mars energy you always seem as if you’re up for a fight. you may be particularly pessimistic, or maybe you lack confidence in social interactions due to these problems, which could be possibly caused by your parents, or perhaps interfer in your relationship with your family. in fact, you may argue quite often with others, and misunderstandings are also common. this is something that gets naturally better with time, but in order for it to happen you need to take action. you may for example start speaking with others more at work, anything that allows you to challenge your mind and voice, in order to make you gain experiences and become a master at it. many celebrities, once they mastered this hard aspect, got loads of success. you can do that too, you just need to work on it.

❤️ venus in leo, 18° / 2nd decan ruled by the sun and jupiter

with leo venus you're very picky, as you have high expectations for your future partner. you always try to be at your best state, and you want those who surround you to be perfect too. it's hard for you to fall for someone, as you take everything in consideration: personality, physical appearance, fashion sense... it may look like it is too much, but once you find the right one that truly satisfies your standards, you're in for a long ride. you'll want to travel, live your life in the best way possible with the person you love. you look at them as if they were the brighest star in the sky, and you want to be seen like this as well. you may even be a bit clingy, but your partner needs to be aware of that. they can't repress your need for affection. you see love as a way to revive your inner child, you feel younger when you're in love. even though you want someone fun and outgoing, you also need someone ambitious, hard-working and generally serious when it comes to committing. there's no room in your life for flaky people.

leo venus square taurus saturn: you feel unable to love someone. this placement usually brings fear of committing, causing the individual to be flaky. there are two possibilities; I assume you directly avoid to get into relationships. your mind may unconsciously repress any thought about an eventual crush or love interest. it is caused by your insecurity, especially regarding your looks. or perhaps, it’s the other way around: you literally jump into relationships, resulting in you getting hurt from time to time. you could feel pressured to be in a relationship, even though it’s not your priority. generally, when saturn affects venus, it indicates that you're only going to get into satisfying relationships in your 30s, so it's recommended to get married after your saturn return, which happens around your 27/28 years.

☄️ mars in libra, 27° / 3rd decan ruled by venus and mercury

there’s this stereotype that libra mars people are passive-aggressive. it may be true, but only partially. in fact, you try to avoid conflicts exclusively when you’re in public, or maybe with someone you don’t know well. in that case, you can eventually try to avoid the problem. with people you’re close to, you’re pretty much the opposite. you may say the worst of things that you probably don’t even feel, you may even have the istinct to throw hands. you’re driven by a strong sense of justice, and you probably were the class’ snitch during daycare/primary school. you also strive for equality, hence you may get very defensive when it comes to proving your innocence, or just really anyone’s. overall, you’re a fair person with strong morals, who acts based on the situation you’re in.

libra mars opposite aries jupiter: you easily come off as more assertive and arrogant than you actually are. you say things impulsively, and sometimes you’re too blunt and hurt people’s feelings. you don’t do it on purpose, though, there’s no malice behind your acts; it’s just your natural way to express your opinions. you’re also very competitive, and this may make you look selfish. on a positive side, you probably have a naturally nice body (or maybe you react fast to diet/workout). you’re a risk-taker, and if you’re not you should try breaking the rules sometimes (obviously not doing illegal stuff lol). in fact, it’s when you’re both physically and mentally active that you’re able to come up with even better ideas, as you’re full of creativity. to cope with this placement, you can try doing something fun to challenge your mind, basically get out of your comfort-zone. of course you don’t have to overdo it, but it would be beneficial.

🏡 houses

your 1st house is in virgo. you appear as someone intelligent, possibly judgmental and critical. in fact, you’re a perfectionist, and most of the time you appreciate it when someone takes care of themselves just as much as you do. you’re also particularly pessimistic, and this could be annoying for those around you. you’re very logical, even though you probably don't lack intuition thanks to all the water energy in your chart. you’re very pragmatic, and you may even be judgmental, but this energy is probably mitigated by your cancer and sagittarius dominance, which makes you more open-minded and sensitive. the ruler of the 1st house is in the 4th house: you come off as a very private, yet mature person. you may be quite secretive, or at least you only prefer to share your persona with those around you. you probably love your family, and you also want to build your own family in the future.

your 2nd house is in libra, with also your mars placed therr. you find beauty and aesthetic in material things; you most probably love clothes, art, music… anything that isn’t exactly a priority in life, but that allows you to express your personal taste, which is very refined. with this placement I’d suggest that you should pursue a career that allows you to express your creativity, as arts and beauty allow you not only to make money, but also to increase your security and confidence. you could also spend money in venusian things like clothes, make-up, decorations and anything that involves beauty and aesthetic. with mars placed in this house, I feel like you may be very fond of money. you could do something just to earn material things from it, like money or any other good that satisfies your wants. you may be quite materialistic, you enjoy the finer things in life, or at least you want to be financially stable. you like the idea of saving money, but ironically you may be too impulsive when it comes to finances and spend money in random things you may not need.

your 3rd house in scorpio. you probably love witty jokes and sarcasm. you’re extremely honest when you think and speak, and most of the times you have no problems expressing your opinions. you could possibly be very good with words and be good at convincing and manipulating others. usually this placement makes someone kind of mischievous when it comes to words, but I think that with all the jupiter influence in your chart, you’re able to control this in order not to hurt others. your mind is very deep, you’re probably not really into small talks. you may also love anything that is considered taboo, like astrology, horror, nudity, death… you’re also quite secretive, you’re seen as an enigma. you don’t want to share much about you. last but not least, you value honesty above all. you only speak the truth, and hence you also want it back. you may as well be into conspiracy theories, science and anything that can expose what’s behind the universe, the government etc.

your 4th house is in sagittarius, with also the moon and pluto placed in this house. you could come from a foreign place, or perhaps you moved houses a lot during your childhood. perhaps, you have someone in your family that is from a different culture or religion from yours, or perhaps they’re able to speak more than one language. your parents could have been very successful at school, they could actually be professors. you might’ve always been a smart kid, you could’ve grown up learning more languages and you were most likely good at school too. you also got to make lots of experiences during your childhood, you might have travelled a lot. your relationship with your family is most likely very good. it could be that there might have been a few misunderstandings between you and your parents, but nothing too serious. maybe, they could have been a bit distant, it could be that they had to travel a lot for work and hence you felt lonely; or maybe, it's the opposite, they were a bit too affectionate and overwhelming, possibly possessive too, and you may have been babied or spoiled a bit too much. yet, this didn't really affect your growth and mentality, so it's probably nothing important. in fact, you also have the moon placed in this house, which indicates that your family is your comfort-zone. you feel comfortable with them, you're allowed to express yourself the way you want without being judged or repressed.

your 5th house is in the sign of capricorn, with also your neptune placed there. capricorn usually brings a feeling of seriousness to the house it’s in. I don’t think it’s your case, though. in fact, neptune, is also placed in this house. you could be a bit more introverted, probably you’re not the type to frequent clubs, parties, etc. you’re more serious from that point of view. your hobbies could actually drain your energy for you; let’s suppose you’re into videogames. you could literally spend the whole day playing videogames, as you take your hobbies very seriously. you’re not the type to start a project and then leave it, and it could be helpful considering that your sagittarius moon gets bored very easily, you’re very resolute. also, you most likely have 'mature’ hobbies; you could be into politics, economy, history… you could be into slower types of music, for example, or perhaps you like reading about world issues. with your children you may be quite strict, as you see them as a responsibility. also, you may often be attracted or attract older or more mature partners. you’re most likely a very romantic and artistic person, you may be fond of music, dancing, singing, acting… anything creative that stimulates your senses. yet, you may be a bit picky when it comes to hobbies; you probably only like reading specific types of books, you only listen to a certain music style, and so on. you may also be into spirituality such as psychology, astrology, law of attraction, yoga, mediation, etc.

your 6th house is in aquarius, uranus is also sitting there. people with aquarius in their 6th house need to change their routine throughout your life. probably, when you were you younger they taught you things that aren’t healthy for your body and health. you may have to change your diet, your medicines… also, you may sometimes procrastinate in your day-to-day life. I don’t think you do it too often, but it may still happen due to your virgo and mars dominance in your chart, but for example you wouldn’t mind skipping a day of school or work to play videogames. this placement also indicates that you may often come across unpredictable events in your daily life. you may often see strange, unordinary things, or perhaps it’s your routine that is like that. you may lack consistency when it comes to diets and health, for example; you may start a diet and keep it for a month, then you get tired and drop it all of a sudden. you could also develop unexpected diseases. you may pursue a career that looks unexpected for you at first, something that you never thought you'd do. it will most likely be a creative, artistic job. it will be a very pleasant job, it won’t even feel like a duty to you as you’ll choose a job that you like and that you’re passionate about. regarding your health, throughout your life you may often come across sudden health problems, illnesses may come out of nowhere.

your 7th house is in pisces. with this pisces descendant, you attract people that are pretty much very intuitive and soft; they could have pisces placements, or at least they’ll be extremely artistic and emotional. yet, you may as well surround yourself with 'broken’ people. that is, people that aren’t exactly in the best state of their health, whether physically or mentally. neptune, the ruler of this house, is in the 5th house. you could meet them in a fun situation, like a party, a vacation, a night out… any situation where you’re supposed to be chilling and having fun, you may meet your future spouse there. also, in a relationship you probably hate feeling suffocated. while your pisces descendant may make you enjoy skinship, you may sometimes also need your space, you still need your freedom, especially since your moon sign is sagittarius. also, pisces makes you idealize your crushes/partners way too much, to the point that you create an image of someone in your head that turns out to be the opposite at the end. you ignore your partner’s flaws, as they seem perfect to you.

your 8th house is in aries, with also jupiter placed there. generally, people with aries in their 8th house are very confident when it comes to taboo topics; they have no problems showing their interest in them, especially with people they're intimate with. thanks to jupiter's presence in this house, you're not afraid of darker topics and embracing them. for example, you could have lots of sex drive. you constantly try to improve yourself by coming up with new projects, you love challenges. they help you growing up into the person you want to become. you may come across some hardships regarding yourself, your identity. but, when you face those fears and start loving yourself, you’ll naturally become more mature and 'transform’. last but not least, this placement can also indicate that you're going to have a peaceful death, you're going to die later in life.

your 9th house is in taurus, with also saturn sitting there. with this placement, I feel like you may use your intellect to gain financial security and material possessions. while this is a good thing, as it helps increasing your confidence, don’t forget that your intellect is more important than money or any other thing. don’t underestimate it. you’re totally capable of learning and understanding things by yourself, hence don’t wait for others for help. you should start dealing with your own experiences alone, without anybody else’s help. this placement can also be someone a little close-minded; in fact, you're probably very stubborn and firm about your beliefs. you hardly ever allow others to change your mind. saturn here could make it hard for you to step out of your comfort-zone, you may be shy and therefore you could often miss out on important opportunities in your life. luckily, you're going to get more assertive as time goes by, and you will feel free, you just need to grow more mature.

your 10th house is in gemini, with also your sun there. you may actually pursue more than one career throughout your life! you’re very flexible and skilled at multi-tasking, so you probably wouldn’t feel stressed about it. perhaps, you could alternate a creative profession with a more logical career, like working in an office for example. also, your suitable jobs should include communication and creativity at the same time; you could be a writer, for example. or perhaps, you could keep these two things in two separate jobs. what matters is that you use words in both of them, and hence you could even be a judge, a singer, a translator, etc. you may also have to interact with other people in your job, I don't see you working from home for example. you could even work as a teacher, or even professor since your jupiter is strongly placed in your chart. you may also be very popular on your work place, and you may even be in the public eye for your job.

your 11th house is in cancer, with also mercury placed there. this placement indicates that your friends, they’re your comfort-zone. you feel understood when you’re with them, they’re pretty much like a family to you. you can tell them anything, you put all of your trust in them. or at least, if you haven’t met anyone like this yet, you’ll surely meet a friend that is like a soulmate to you. they’ll also be very important for your growth. in addition, it could also be that you’re still friends with someone from your childhood or even high school days, and hence you could literally grow up together. you could also have some step-siblings. you have a very distinctive way of thinking and speaking. you don't like being like others, you don't follow trends. you're probably the trendsetter, and you may find confidence and pride in your ideas and opinions. some may even define you weird, but you have very strong beliefs that could actually be helpful for the world. you're quite 'ahead' of others from this point of view, you're able to find beauty in things without being influenced by others. for example, you may follow a fashion trend before it gets viral. you are able to come up with very innovative ways of solving problems, you're extremely creative. you may even be the type to invent your own words, or perhaps you love learning and reading new words, you have a wide vocabulary. you're also probably interested in science and any darker or logical topic, you want to use your words and theories to change something in the world. you want to leave an impact, maybe even help others through your mind. you have a very witty sense of humor, you most likely speak fluent sarcasm and you're also very astute.

lastly, your 12th house is in leo. this is kind of a tricky placement, as leo rules the self, the ego, and the 12th house rules fears. you could be afriad of being too confident, of feeling worth it, or even just by being in the spotlight. perhaps, you have stage fright. this fear of embracing your persona makes you very insecure, even though you probably don’t show it. also, since your 12th house is the house of dreams, you could often make dreams that involve yourself. you hardly ever dream of someone else, and if you they’re probably your lovers, possibly your friends. you may also make daydreams or sleeping dreams of creative, utopic scenarios. venus is also sitting there; you most likely have lots of dreams, that could even predict the future, and generally they're not too violent or turbulent. you’re hopelessly romantic, to the point that you almost look naive. you’re not simply looking for a partner or spouse, you’re looking for a soulmate; someone you can literally communicate with just using your eyes, someone that knows how to make you feel even messier on the inside. you like to nurture and feel nurtured in a relationship. your ideal lover would be sensitive and empathetic, yet still with a sort of rebel vibe to them.

❤️ love life, soulmates

in love, you attract pisces, sagittarius, aquarius and scorpio placements. your future spouse will most likely have some of their planets in scorpio or aquarius; they’ll be well-balanced, with a stable job and finances. yet, they won’t be too much of a workaholic, as they’re also most probably a chill individual who loves relax and vacation as well. they could also be foreign and very open-minded. yet, they could be quite impulsive and chilidish at times. your chart points out that this relationship will be kind of unordinary; you may meet them abroad, most likely at work, or even during a simple trip. they’ll also be very spiritual, perhaps religious, or even psychic. your children will have aquarius placements: they’ll be extremely open-minded and intelligent; they could be a bit rebellious, but in a very woke and revolutionary way. they'll be very creative and quite sensitive too. also, this placement indicates that you may get pregnant unexpectedly, so be careful to that.

👶🏻 family life

your mother was probably very outgoing, sociable and open-minded. she was probably very intelligent too, and she could have been a successful student. she was basically the perfect, nurturing mother. yet, she probably was too emotional, she could have even been quite possessive or moody. she probably has sagittarius, scorpio, gemini, leo and / or cancer placements in her chart, as well as 9th, 8th and 4th house placements. your father, on the other hand, was probably less strict than your mother. he had a complex personality, he most likely used to act different based on the situation he was in. but you most likely used to play a lot with him, you had fun together. he could have been very sociable and intelligent too. he may have gemini, sagittarius or virgo placements in his chart, as well as 3rd and 6th house placements, perhaps even 9th. if you have siblings, they have scorpio, libra or aries placements in their chart, as well as 1st / 7th / 8th house placements. you might have fought a lot when you were young, there were many control issues and your bond is very intense. yet, you're still very affectionate, and your bond will probably get better as time goes by.

📊 career

as I've already mentioned above, your future career will most likely involve communication of any kind; you could have to interact with other people, and hence you may work in a place that allows you to communicate with others and that can get quite crowded, like a shop for example. you'll most likely start from these small jobs, like working in a cafe for example. yet, your gemini midheaven indicates that you can handle way stronger careers; above all, communication and creativity are the most indicated fields for you to be successful. you would do amazing as a writer for example, or perhaps you could even become an amazing teacher / professor. yet, you may even choose to pursue a more complex career, like a career in the med field. you could become a nurse for example, as it allows you to both help and communicate with other people. you will start from simple things, but as time goes by, you'll be able to become more independent, maybe even a leader. you probably won't have to depend too much on other people.

👚 fashion sense, style analysis

keyword for your wardrobe: black. every leo venus loves black, it's probably my favorite love story. after all, it's such a versatile color! it can be both badass and classy, how can I blame you. you may also have a thing for anything that looks luxury and high quality; you probably enjoy wearing designer brands, especially in your belts and bags. you may also like wearing fitted clothes, even just simple skinny jeans or tight tops. aside from black, you could as well use white and bold colours like gold, hot pink etc. also, you may as well be into pastel colors, and you could like following fashion trends.

👁 past life, life purpose

in your past lifetime, you used to put your spirituality aside for a while to focus on finding out your identity here on the earth. you learned how to be responsible, healthy and stable on the earth. you know your values, and they’re already very grounded, you’re very mature from this point of view. in this lifetime, you now need to get more in touch with your spirituality. you need to get close to your higher self, and you may actually be quite skilled at it; probably you may interpret your dreams, you could be interested in religion, what’s beyond the world, and you’re most likely also interested in astrology and other occult matters. you’ll finally be able to reach happiness and fulfill your soul when you start having awareness of your soul’s purpose. since you’ve booked a reading, I’m sure you’re already on the right path, so keep going this way.

🤔 major transits analysis / june 18th

a few unpredictable, possibly painful events may occur in this period of time, as transit saturn is in your 5th house conjunct your natal uranus. there could be an unexpected loss of money for example, a sudden breakup or argument or even death. something will happen that will surely change your view of things and will help you have a major transformation, in order to leave toxicity behind.

🧿 manifest what you want, secret skills

the best way for you to manifest is idealizing and acting at the same time. you have both energies combined in your chart, which is great actually! I’d suggest you to first picture what you want in your life, and then do something concrete to manifest it. for example, let’s suppose you want this gucci bag; first, think about it deeply. then, you could try going into a gucci shop and just walk around, maybe even touch that bag. you’ll get results if you believe it! it’s also great to write and read/listen your own positive affirmations, such as 'I love my gucci bag’, 'the gucci bag my mom gave me is amazing’ and so on.

and this is it! thank you again for booking a reading, hope it resonated with you :)

[sometimesrosy]

Hello Rosie, I really like reading your analysis. And I have so many questions in mind but there has been one for some time that has concerned me, you may have already answered, in which case I haven't seen it, my favorite character is Bellamy and i love his evolution over the seasons, I like to know what people think, and even if we aren't all agree, I respect their opinions. There is one that I see a lot of appearing: [1/4]

[2/4] it's the fact that " Bellamy doesn't have his own storyline, each time it revolves around Octavia and Clarke". And I don't know I'm mixed because I think he has changed a lot, with Octavia he learned to detach from her, it took time but the development is there. With Clarke it's different but I don't see why it's bad that he wants to protect her given the importance she has for him. The same for his protectiveness towards others.

[3/4] He matured, he had a pretty good arc in s3 ( for me ) and it's the continuity of s4 where he tries to repair his faults and understands that he can't save everyone. In s5 he's mature, makes thoughtful decisions, and even if he tries to reason with his sister, he clearly takes opposition to her. With s6 it's also a continuity of that, their relationship is at its lowest but it tended to improve at the end.

[4/4] And yes he spent most of the time trying to save clarke, but i think that is one of the decisions where we understand that he makes this choice for him first, because he needs her . If it's not having his own storyline, then I didn't understand anything, and i'm a bad Bellamy stan. What do you think about all of this ?

++

Thank you @wardasmo 

When they say that Bellamy doesn’t have his own storyline they are absolutely, 100% incorrect. It’s a ridiculous statement for the character who is the secondary protagonist and has had MULTIPLE storylines focused on his development as a character and a hero.

They are simply wrong. They have an agenda, and they create a story to back it up, whether that fits with canon or filmmaking or storytelling or what have you, doesn’t matter to them, because they only want to be right, to stan what they stan, and say there’s some sort of injustice there that makes the story wrong and them right.

And it’s ALL BULLSHIT.

And you know it. You have already stated his storylines, which is the opposite of not having any storylines. You are right. They are wrong. But they’re so certain they are right and will allow no subtlety of discussion, that they make you think they must know something you don’t.

They don’t.

You’re the one whose following Bellamy’s narrative, character development and storylines. They are not.

Stan/antis are NOT good at understanding story, because they erase whatever they don’t like and focus only on what they do like. They aren’t INTERESTED in the story. They are interested in the communal activity of worshipping whatever it is they love. 

You have already explained some of Bellamy’s storylines. I can add more.

season 1. Bellamy faces his mistakes, after a life time of protecting his sister, and learns to share the. burden, and also gains freedom and power he never had before, dealing with the high price of that.

season 2. Bellamy, after losing his delinquents, is afraid to take power, and gives it away to Finn, disastrously, before deciding to take matters into his own hands and saving the delinquents himself.

season 3. After the trauma of MW, Bellamy refuses to lead and instead gives his power to Kane. He is retriggered by the destruction of MW and Clarke’s betrayal and then gives his power to Pike. S3a is a fight for Bellamy’s soul between Kane and Pike. Octavia and Clarke are not a part of it. 3b he’s finally accepted his own power and leads the mission and promises to do better to make up for his mistakes.

season 4.  Was about learning how to let go of the need to save everyone, to allow himself some happiness, to trust himself.

season 5. Was the season where Bellamy Blake became a hero. He learned from everything that happened and saved EVERYBODY’S asses. He used his head AND his heart. He refused to take responsibility for his sister’s actions. He told everyone what to do and he was right.

season 6. Ahh see, now. Bellamy’s hero’s journey is over, and NOW he’s that hero, and he gets a love story. He’s been separated from his true love for many major reasons, and he’s willing to sacrifice that love to do the sensible thing and stay with Echo, but when he almost loses Clarke again, he is no longer okay with not having Clarke and he goes after her and admits that he needs her, that he loves her, that he can’t let her go.

And YES. That means season 6 was about a partner, a girl. Clarke. Bellamy Blake has a romance story. This has actually been his romance story the whole time. And it’s finally coming to fruition.

Bellamy is the heart. I believe his story does in deed work around his relationships, and not only with Clarke and Octavia, but also Monty and Murphy and Echo and Raven and the rest. 

A character interacting with other characters and making connections that change them is NOT A FLAW IN STORYTELLING. Holy crap. What are they even thinking?

Let me tell you what my theory is about that theory that Bellamy doens’t have a storyline (ridiculous, he has more than anyone but clarke.)

I believe that is a theory built around the concept that Bellamy should be the star of the show, the main character. That Clarke should NOT. That Clarke is “the hero,” bothers them, because a woman should not be the heroic center of the show. A man should. Women are supposed to have stories about relationships, and families, and MEN are supposed to be the statesmen and saviors and warriors.

SO I think it’s internalized misogyny that is telling these Bellamy stans that if BELLAMY isnt’ the main hero and isn’t who the story revolves around every season then the story is wrong. Because Clarke SHOULDN’T be the hero. 

Despite Clarke being the hero. 

SO, since Bellamy has 25% of the storylines to Clarke’s 25% of the storylines, people feel like Bellamy is being shorted. Overshadowed. Ignored. Despite the season being ABOUT Bellamy’s emotions and character development HEAVILY. 

I think the idea of Bellamy being at the center of the romance plot line this season bothers them. He’s the romantic hero, and Clarke’s the action hero. And that is backwards for them. They’re jealous, and erasing Clarke as the hero in her own story.

I think it’s icky.

[hylialeia]

i feel you, I used to adore Sansa, now, thanks to her stans, I want to stay away from her, they make me hate her and all that is related to her, by how much they have attack me for even allowing to say things like she bullied Arya or that she looks down the people who aren't nobles

The thing is, I don’t hate Sansa at all. To be fair, I don’t like any of the show characters (not Daenerys, not Jon, not Arya or Sansa or Bran, no one); my defense towards them is only on behalf of their book counterparts. I lament their destroyed character arcs, their inconsistent writing, the wasted potential of their actors, and the fact that they were used to prop up a nonsensical and outright offensive narrative. But as actual characters? I legitimately can’t stand them.

The book characters, though, I adore. They’re complex, rounded, flawed, interesting, and enjoyable to read no matter what. Sansa in particular is one of my absolute favorite characters, as well as one of my favorite POVs. The thing that bothers me is the double standard surrounding Sansa, the one that guarantees any analysis that is remotely critical of her will receive a dozen comments accusing the OP of sexism or actual misogyny. 

And of course, I get the reasoning behind this. In the earlier days of the books and the show, Sansa was a punching bag for the edgy dudebros who claimed to enjoy the story, constantly called useless and hated usually for no other reason than her femininity. It was shocking how violently male fans loathed her, and even a lot of female fans couldn’t stand her on account of her lack of physical skill and I’m-not-like-other-girls-ness, as it were. Nuance died when it came to Sansa, and given this past history of unfounded hatred for her, it isn’t surprising that fans still get defensive when people try to discuss her flaws.

But the thing is, Sansa should be a flawed character. She would not be a good character otherwise. Pointing out that she has these flaws should not be treated as malicious intent (especially since she’s a fictional character, not an actual person), and it doesn’t warrant the influx of claims that you’re no different than those “fans” that hated eleven-year-old Sansa for not being the smartest person in a room full of politically savvy adults.

Finally, most of this comes up when criticizing her show version, who is not even remotely similar to the book’s anymore. This makes it more infuriating to me because the show’s characters are more than worthy of criticism, yet Sansa is expected to be the exception. No matter how well put your point is, how well cited or well argued or accurate, if it criticizes Sansa (even fairly), you’re discounted.

The Lindsey Ellis videos are a good example of this, as I’ve seen people suddenly pulling receipts that she’s “problematic” and ignoring the foundation of her argument, which is that D&D’s writing is lazy and bad and that it inevitably bleeds into the characters. The video would have been perfect, it seems, if she’d said it bleeds into the characters except Sansa, because in accordance with a steadily growing section of the fandom, no version of Sansa is allowed to be flawed or disliked.

So yes, this walking-on-egg-shells attitude often makes it difficult to interact with Sansa related content, and a lot of times feels like it can spoil enjoyment of her character. And I’m well aware that it’s not just Sansa who has these sorts of fans (Arya, Dany, and Jon come to mind), but the atmosphere I’ve described is most poignant when it comes to her. The truth is, if Sansa were genuinely as flawless as people want her to be, if she were constantly in the right, she would hardly be worth discussing. She isn’t your pure self-insert who’s mistakes are only ever other people’s fault; she is a genuinely well-written and complex character, complete with valuable skills and notable flaws, and I’m not going to apologize for acknowledging both.

[otdderamin]

Analysis: The hidden pain of Jester and Scanlan – CR C2 Ep76 and CR C1 Ep85

Spoilers for Campaign 1 through episode 85 and Campaign 2 through episode 76

One thing I really love about Critical Role from both campaigns is the way they show that the seemingly happy, jokey, funny, delightful people are really using that as a mask for a lot of pain and insecurity that they're either hiding or repressing and that can't last forever.

Scanlan was hurt and angry that no one asked about his issues seriously or asked what he needed, but he also buried everything and deflected when they did ask about him. He wanted to be seen and understood, but all he gave them was a facade of being fine. Until he broke.

Jester's playing with the same idea in a different way. She learned being seen is bad and her purpose is making other people happy. Her own desires aren't really important. She's afraid she'll disappoint everyone if she admits she's not okay (even to herself), so she buries it.

Both The Mighty Nein and a lot of the audience are kind of infantilizing her, largely ignoring her pain and complexity. Laura does not get enough credit for her roleplaying because I think that's the impression Jester is intentionally cultivating out of deep insecurity.

Misogyny is also a factor. She leans into a lot of ditzy, simple, girly tropes that are largely written off by men and many women as shallow. Laura is really playing with them to show there actually is a lot of depth there. But you have to be willing to deconstruct her to see it.

Jester wants to actively bring joy to people's lives because she's afraid that she won't be wanted if she doesn't. So, she's cultivated this happy, mischievous mask to hide behind and she's trapped herself behind it. She doesn't even want to see herself without it.

Just as much as Fjord trapped himself behind the faux-Vandran mask until he had a breakdown. Or Beau trapped herself behind the no-fucks-given mask she's been working really hard to set aside. Or Caleb trapped himself behind his bandages and bum disguise until his cover was blown.

But Jester's mask is harder to see around. She seems open and carefree and happy. Almost everyone in the Mighty Nein wants to feel that way and they're invested in the aspirational illusion. They really want one of them to be okay because maybe then they could learn, too.

 T: Full scene from Campaign 1 Episode 45

2:30:57 Vax: "How do you do it? You're risking your life as much as anyone in this group. You're almost dying every day. You're fucking smiling all the time. How do you do it?"

Liam: "I'm kind of asking as Liam to Sam, as well. But mostly as Vax to Scanlan."

Vax: "How do you do it? You almost died yesterday, as well. Or two days ago, fuck. Why do you do it?"

Scanlan, as if it's obvious: "Vax, I… I don't know. I mean, I just… I like you people okay. Everything before this was not as good. This is better, that's why. It's very simple. You had a shitty childhood, didn't you?"

Vax: "Yeah."

Scanlan: "You and the sister."

Vax: "Yeah."

Scanlan: "I think Grog had some troubles. We've all had our share of shit, before we all met. Now we're together. We're a family. This is better, that's how I smile. It's better than it was before. That's it."

Vax: "We're probably going to die in the next month."

Scanlan: "Yes, but it's fun while it lasts."

Vax looks at him in disbelief and bewilderment.

Scanlan gives a contented sigh.

Vax, dubiously: "Alright. I thought I might…"

Scanlan: "Glean some wisdom?"

Vax: "Yeah, but I'm just as confused as before."

Scanlan: "Listen, I'm older than you."

Vax: "How much older?"

Scanlan: "A bit. I've seen more than you have, and… it's all shitty, so it just depends on how you look at it. You can dwell on the shit, or you can just leave it behind in people's beds and keep going."

 But of course, Scanlan couldn't do it forever. He couldn't actually just leave all that shit behind him. He couldn't laugh all of it off. He reached the tipping point where he was too scared and hurt and angry to keep going.

Beau's started to see Jester's cracks and say something, most notably in episode 45 (4:55:48) and 46 (1:25:15), but she doesn't seem know how to address it without Jester pushing the concern away and deflecting, and I think she's scared Jester will pull away from her if she presses the matter. Beau might have the best chance, though.

Caleb tried to talk to her In episode 42 (1:08:49), but the conversation derailed almost instantly. She did express her fear she would never see her mother again, and that she was unsure about her feelings towards Fjord or his towards her, but again the conversation turned to other things fairly quickly. Still, it was more than she'd really shared before.

Jester actually showed her vulnerability and insecurity to Fjord in episode 72. but he was too up his own butt focused on his own rapidly spiraling break down to really notice or address it. Hopefully he keeps it in mind and circles back now that he's pulled through it.

 Campaign 2 Episode 72

2:49:51 Fjord: "I just feel like there's more out there. It's always more. Even Port Demali and before that, my world just got bigger and bigger and bigger, and more time goes on the more you realize there is and the more that we affect and the more we can be affected. And there's a part of me that wants to leave it all behind..."

Jester: "And just somewhere quiet and disappear, and hope that it never bothers you again?"

Fjord: "Yeah."

Jester: "yeah, I understand that."

Fjord: "I just don't think it will let me."

 Caduceus might be able to help if he understood, but Jester is baffling to him.

 Talks Machina for Campaign 2 Episode 50

0:51:24 Taliesin: "[Caduceus] hasn't figured out that Jester is an adult yet. He doesn't regard her as an adult. I mean, which is, he kind of, his whole thing with her is very childish and playful and is not really... [...] He hasn't figured out that she's probably got-- I mean, he's aware that there's other stuff going on, but he hasn't really gone looking for it yet, so... He's like, 'Aw, she's happy and fine. Good. Thank god somebody is.' And obviously that's not true. And he should know better, but he hasn't gone looking for it."

Dani: "He has bigger fish to fry at the moment."

Taliesin: "I mean, the angsty boys are very angsty, and they currently have one emo girl to deal with as well."

It appears from the last episode that Caduceus has finally figured out there's more going on with Jester and is trying to make up for what he didn't see before. He let her know he saw through her sadness. Maybe he'll be able to be someone she can come to when she's ready to talk.

Campaign 2 Episode 76

4:44:05 Caduceus: "You okay?"

Jester: "Me?"

Caduceus: "Yeah you."

Jester: "Oh yeah. I'm fine. I'm always fine."

Caduceus: "Well…"

Jester: "That's a lie."

Caduceus: "Nobody's always fine."

Jester: "That's a lie, Caduceus."

Caduceus: "You do a lot."

Jester: "Yeah."

Caduceus: "And I don't think you necessarily get as much credit as you deserve, as often as you should. You deserve… more pastries."

Jester, laughing: "Everybody deserves more pastries."

Caduceus: "Yeah, but you do."

Jester smiles sadly: "Thanks, Caduceus."

Caduceus: "Well, we'll be figuring out your Traveler Con soon enough, I'm sure."

Jester: "Yeah. We're gonna work- that's gonna be really cool, right?"

Caduceus: "You got a good crew for it, so…"

Jester: "Yeah."

Caduceus: "We're here for you."

Jester: "Thank you."

Caduceus: "Thank you. You've done… I don't even know how to tell you what this has meant."

Jester has been ignored in part because she seemed… not fine, but less of an immediate and impending disaster than the others. Now that things are settling down with everyone else, I think they're trying to do right by her and support her better. Time will tell if she lets them in.

No one in Campaign 2 is playing an easy character. No one is playing someone who's well adjusted and fine. No one has their shit figured out. At best they've learned pieces or ways of learning how to be more okay with the tumult. Jester is far come complex than she tries to appear.

Her arc is coming up soon and whatever happens will come with big growth and change for her. The big difference (or similarities) in how the stories of these two characters will play out will come down to how well their friends see behind the mask. Vox Machina didn't until it was too late. The Might Nein might be beginning to, and if they keep at it, that will make all the difference.

----------

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[tomakeitbeautifultolive]

Hi, first of all I really admire how much effort you put in your posts and answers as well as your insight and eye for details. I really could use your help, all the hate Dany gets lately is so tiring and imho unjust. Now even a friend of mine that always loved her started hating on her and I think she just doesn't understand Dany. Do you have some sort of character analysis on your blog or know where I could find one? Thank you in advance.

Wow, thank you! And anon, I could not agree more. Upsettingly, I’m having the same issue with a friend IRL too, having been told “Dany’s always been a brat”.

Regrettably, I haven’t really done much in the way of Dany metas… I’d say I have better luck picking up steam when I get asks, particularly since it gives me a sense of direction (and the influx of asks is a very new thing). Oh, I did write a little meta on her parallels between ancient Mother Goddess Danu!

While the vitriol for our queen is absolutely uncalled for… I have a theory that the way she is framed is actually intentional.

Jon Snow is probably something of a red herring. At least in the way that it’s presumed this story is really all about him ascending to power and coming into his throne. The prince that was promised. Azor Ahai. Rightful heir. All of it.

(That’s not to say he’s unimportant)

But his female counterpart/mirror, inarguably the most powerful character in the series, isn’t taken very seriously by casual fans, her enemies, the Westerosi, etc (she’s referred to as Daenela by some smallfolk, which oddly sounds a whole lot like the name the antis use to disrespect her character - Danielle).

And despite the fact that she and Jon share such similar story arcs (such as getting swept up into a foreign culture and having to adapt to survive) she is often interpreted as mad or verging on evil, even though Jon has shown the same capacity for ruthlessness. In fact, watch their beheading scenes again - Daenerys is trying to make a statement about law and justice, and Jon? He seems more driven by personal vengeance. But they made Janos look so bad that by the time he was begging for mercy, we were rooting for Jon.

Another difference in how they’re perceived is that Jon gets much more compassion when it comes to his childhood. Unlike Daenerys, he was still surrounded by family and had a stable place to call home. Meanwhile, Daenerys ran from city to city with a verbally and physically abusive older brother, and one of their caretakers, Illyrio, had to vigorously fuck a whore so as not to rape Daenerys, basically. I mean gods, what a brat!

In the books, it’s easier to realize Dany isn’t a villain because you get access to her thoughts and intentions. But the show? All we have is Emilia’s face to try to convey things to the audience. And if they don’t match the words she’s saying, it’s completely lost on them. Now, if you’re someone who ignores her past - then yes, in season 8, it probably looks like she’s power hungry, when in reality - her one security, Jon, is slipping away - so she’s reverting back to the one constant she’s had for years. The quest for the throne.

And excuse my language here, but this bitch is really bringing all of her resources up to the north - for nothing but her love for Jon Snow - and no one cares. She’s about to save them from certain death - hell, not just death - but eternal servitude to this creepy ice demon. And they’re bitching about how much food her armies are going to eat. You know, the ones there to die for their ungrateful asses? Anon, I gotta tell you… it’s really hard for me to even wrap my head around the audience response to Dany - or that somehow, it’s okay for Sam to be upset that his monster of a father was killed, but not Dany.

People who are already predisposed to dislike her can’t see the loneliness and vulnerability there, they can’t see she’s feeling lost, perhaps even regretful. They’re fooled by her queenly mask of indifference. The one that disappears when she is alone:

This is another good example. During the war council scene, Sam blatantly shades Dany by saying this:

“That’s what death is, isn’t it? Forgetting. Being forgotten.”

When the words “being forgotten” are said, Daenerys looks at Jon:

Considering the way Jon is ignoring her, it’s amazing that Dany is still there to fight his war. Just another reason none of them deserve her help. Without Jon she has no reason to be there. While everyone is upset that Dany is going to ‘go mad’ and ‘kill Jon’ - he’s been avoiding even looking at her for who knows how long in GoT time, and yet she stays.

And all the antis can say is that she’s “power hungry”. They so much as hear her say the word ‘throne’ and somehow see madness there, ignoring all subtleties of her emotional state. Yet, if Jon were to do a 180 and declare himself king - everyone would root for him, I’m sure of it. If the throne suddenly became a priority for Jon Snow, people would be popping open wine bottles in celebration. No one would call him entitled. No one would say he’s power hungry. No. I bet he’d ‘deserve it’.

It’s important to remember that not only is Daenerys one of GRRM’s favorite characters, he also identifies with her story:

“I came from greatness - like Dany! And I will take back what is mine with Fire and Blood!”

Further, the man’s a feminist (regardless of how he labels himself, now - more or less afraid to step on anyone’s toes by using the term as a man).

I can’t remember who pointed this out, but it’s hysterical to me, now, because in retrospect, it’s almost like he predicted her antis:

“If even half the stories coming back from Slaver’s Bay are true, this child is a monster. They say that she is bloodthirsty, that those who speak against her are impaled on spikes to die lingering deaths. They say she is a sorceress who feeds her dragons on the flesh of newborn babes, an oathbreaker who mocks the gods, breaks truces, threatens envoys, and turns on those who have served her loyally. They say her lust cannot be sated, that she mates with men, women, eunuchs, even dogs and children, and woe betide the lover who fails to satisfy her. She gives her body to men to take their souls in thrall.”

I think GRRM knew exactly what he was doing. Despite the fact he is a man, he’s lived through much uglier times for women, and he’s been aware of the female struggle for a long time. This is his legacy. A female hero with a storyline more powerful than any man in the series, who finds herself in precarious situations and has to make difficult decisions, sometimes exercising ruthlessness to assert her power and dominance.

She’s complicated, she’s unique, we haven’t quite seen the likes of a fictional woman quite like Daenerys.

She will be analyzed and discussed for decades to come - and there may come a point in the future that Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen might be viewed through the same lens. One in which critiques of Jon’s actions might be as harsh as the ones we see of Dany’s now, or that the ones for Dany become as lenient as the ones of Jon, now.

It might be too optimistic of me to think that even D&D know what they’re doing, here - framing Daenerys in a way that is not as easily interpreted by those who are predisposed to misogyny, all in an effort to expose it. And that upon rewatch, the culmination of her hero’s journey becomes clear as day for anyone willing to set aside their preconceived notions and finally see her for what she is.

                            A hero. A savior. A legend.

“That character, as a whole, is all about transformation and change. I feel like she is the divine feminine spirit. She’s there to change things rapidly. I have no doubt that a thousand years from this point, people will worship Daenerys Targaryen. That’ll be a holy name. This is the Mhysa. This is the woman that came and brought back dragons to the world and saved all the slaves.”—IdeasOfIceAndFire

For your final request. I wish I were more organized, anon, but here are the top blogs that come to mind when it comes to incredible Daenerys positivity. These bloggers post amazing metas and analyses, shut down antis left and right, and just generally spread the true word about our queen:

@rainhadaenerys @mhysaofdragons @oadara @khaleesirin @secretlyatargaryen @iheartdandelions @tatticstudio55 @winelover1989

I do have a small list of metas I’ve managed to gather on short notice:

Daenerys Targaryen: Master Post

Meta on the contention of Dany’s arc in feminist analysis

Dany III in ADWD again transitions to Jon & Tyrion

Why saying that Daenerys is nothing without her dragons is offensive

Daenerys - Books vs Show - Sexism and Bad Writing in the show

Daenerys Targaryen and “Madness”

A Dance with Dragons, or: Daenerys Targaryen Cares about Feeding her People

Daenerys doesn’t need to be a villain to be interesting

Arya Stark and Daenerys Targaryen Parallels

Daenerys as an anti-Cinderella?

I’m also a big fan of YouTube for GoT/ASOIAF content, and the few pro-Dany YouTubers who really seem to “get it” are GrayArea (this video, in particular, is amazing despite the misleading title), Lucifer Means Lightbringer and IdeasofIceandFire.

[go-diane-winchester]

SPN ending could be Misha's fault

When J2 decided to end SPN, most dignified individuals were very respectful of their decisions despite the fact that it hurt something fierce.  However there were those who were speculating as to why J2 finally decided to call it a day.  Jensen did give a potential reason during VegasCon this past weekend. 

The Budget

They got a question about what ideal location they would choose to shoot an episode if they had a choice.  Jensen went off on a tangent about shooting on the road, and then mentioned that if they had the budget for that, then they would still have a show.  So one of the reasons, was the budget

The Ratings

During a January 2019 interview with Deadline, Mark Pedowitz, CW president said the following: “As long as the ratings hold up and the guys (stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) want to do it, it’s really that simple. They have created something about these two brothers that actually transcends.”  Jensen also said, during the panels, that the show ending was a joint decision, as everyone involved with show did not want the show to fizzle out.  They wanted the show to go out strong.  According to Deadline, Supernatural was a potent ratings performer, ranking as the CW second most watched and highest rated among adults 18-49 series in Live+Same Day only behind The Flash.  However, if the show is such a high performer, why would Jensen talk about it fizzling out and what did he mean by that?  It meant, in my humble opinion, that despite the fact that the ratings were good, there was potential for it to lose viewership in the coming future and end disgracefully.  Perhaps, analysis of the rating chart was showing that in the future, SPN had the potential to drop too much in the ratings, and they wanted the show to end in a dignified manner rather than ''being booed off the stage'', according to Jared many years ago.   

So Jensen mentioned the budget and the ratings fizzling out as the reason for SPN's demise.  The joint decision was not to an easy one because, according to Jensen, they had discussed it for years.  So J2 don't want the show to end.  They need to end the show with dignity before its too late and they lose too many viewers.  I can understand that.

So whose fault is it that the show suffered from budget problems and dangerous future ratings?

Misha made a joke about SPN continuing without J2 and instead starring him and Richard, and Jensen gave a savage reply which I laughed at.  Unfortunately hellers assume that I cant understand the joke.  On the contrary, how do they know Jensen was joking?  If Jensen says the budget and the fizzling ratings are the reasons for SPN ending, and he is smart man, then he has to place some blame on Misha for the expensive and pointless spinoff that made a dent in the budget and contributed to the potential drop in ratings due to the lack in new material for SPN. 

Well, @kaitlyn7777 ​​, the spinoff was Misha's doing.  He badmouthed the show in 2013, during his panel, by convincing his own band on minions that SPN is a sexist show, and his top tier minions decided that having a female cast in a spinoff would be the way to rectify that grievous wrong.  The reason why he wasn't fired for that was because Bob Singer is his backstop.  Bob Singer is potentially the reason Castiel was brought back after being killed off in Season 7.  Bob Singer and Andrew Dabb, Misha's fan boys gave the following joint statement about the ending:  ''We’d like to give special thanks to Jensen, Jared and Misha for making this journey so special. It is now most important to us to give these characters that we love the send off they deserve”.  Every other person from Pedowitz to Jeffrey Dean Morgan credited Jensen and Jared.  These two bum boys had to mention SPN's most glorified part time actor. 

Since S7, Castiel has been doing nothing meaningful on SPN.  Season 8 to 13 could have easily been written without him.  Despite being Misha's bum boys, even they knew how talentless he is, so they kept him on the show doing just enough to not damage the ratings.  That is why despite the minion claims that Misha is pivotal to the success of SPN, he was never given lead status or more screen time.  Castiel never got his own spinoff.  That status has never changed because even the execs realize how unimportant this guy is.  Castiel is one of the expensive dents in the budget.  They are literally paying him to take up space.   

Anyway, his fans started campaigning for an all-girl spinoff.  The show execs, fearing bad publicity, decided to comply.  Dabb and gang started sharing their own budget, time and talents between SPN and the new project.  That is when Donna and Claire got written into canon so that they can move onto the spinoff when the time came.  SPN's own storyline suffered because the writers simply could not give it the focus it needed.  That would explain the ratings.  Only Misha's fans were doing any kind of campaigning.  The rest of us didn't think that SPN was racist, sexist, homophobic or whatever other accusation the minions wanted to fling at the show.  Because the minions and their sock accounts, gave the illusion of a majority, CW thought that launching a new spin off will secure a new batch of viewers for the next 3 to 5 years at least.  Just long enough to go into syndication. 

Unfortunately, the spinoff bombed in the ratings, because twitter handles can be faked but ratings cant.  And other casual viewers didn't want to watch a ''girl power'' show with lackluster, under talented young girls complete with forced femmeslash.  The spinoff was understandably canned and minions started to campaign for its comeback.  Mark Pedowitz announced the following:  “I’ll say it again, if there was a spinoff to be had, I’d love to have it.  That said, I’ve come to somewhat of a conclusion that the show is the two brothers.”  The fact that the President of a Network, who is in charge of many other shows, has to step in to shut down further talks of a spinoff for this one show, can tell you what an annoying group the minions are. 

With the spinoff in the crapper, SPN now had a bunch of characters they didn't know what to do with.  Characters like Jody, Donna and Claire.  SPN cant kill off these useless characters because girl power and misogyny and whatnot.  So they have keep them on board.  These people are expensive add-ons.  In order to make place for them, SPN initially got rid of other characters like Bobby, Garth and Charlie.  Now that SPN is stuck with them, more characters had to be removed including Crowley.  According to Mark Sheppard, he and Misha Collins were told to take a 70% pay cut and lose their series regular status so that SPN could secure Alex Calvert and Pellegrino.  Mark said no because the deal was insulting, but Misha said yes. 

Its funny that they wanted to ''secure'' Alex and Pellegrino so desperately, but don't know what to do with their characters now.  So the thing that makes me smirk is that I think they were hoping Misha will also say no like Mark did.  They wanted to get rid of him.  They cant fire him because Bob wont let them. They were hoping Misha will leave on his own.  Unfortunately for them, Misha shamelessly took the offer.  Plus, he needs Castiel for all his other ''projects'', so a pay cut didn't bug him.  He is making a killing from Gish, because whether you like to admit it or not, Gish is business.   

Because of that blunder on the part of the writers, now they are stuck with Alex and Pellegrino, in other words two extra expenses.  Then [I blame the shitty writers for this because it makes no sense] they started bringing unnecessary old actors back, including Felicia, Osric, Jim Beaver and Samantha Smith.  There is literally no reason for bringing back Mary.  The only necessary character for a few seasons now, was Michael.  All this character juggling happened because they didn't spend time and thought on SPN due to the spinoff that Misha wanted.  Why did he want the spinoff?  According to Ruth Connell, he wanted a new home for Castiel, just in case SPN shut down. 

Misha was like the parasite that ate the show he was already on, from the inside out, in order to secure a future for himself.  And I think Jensen knew about it all along.  That joke was a fantasy of Misha and Jensen saw right through it.  Misha would die of happiness if he had a show all for himself.  Why do you he pushed destiel so much?  Because it kept him close to Dean and therefore relevant.     

https://deadline.com/2019/03/supernatural-to-end-after-season-15-on-the-cw-1202581010/

https://deadline.com/2019/01/supernatural-success-and-spinoff-potential-cw-tca-1202547014/

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

oh my god do start the discourse about how much you hate the mythic interpretation, I’ve been SALIVATING

 Hi anon,

Thanks so much for this ask - I would probably would have written something this weekend anyway, but it’s great to have an excuse.

I didn’t find any of it very convincing, but that’s OK.  Other people’s song interpretations seldom are.  But there were four things about this particular post that made me go beyond ‘I guess that’s possible, but I’m not convinced’ (which is my usual response to song interpretations).  The first two are about the way the interpretation was made - the grand claims about the status of their interpretation and the treatment of Ever Since New York.  The second two are about the interpretation itself.

‘The’ Literary angle

The introduction makes pretty bold claims - including that the angle this post is coming from is ‘the literary angle’ as well as talking about ‘the mythic foundation’.  As far as I can tell - when they talk about literary traditions they are only talking about using women as symbolic figures and when they talk about ‘mythic’ they mean a ring structure (which as they acknowledge the album that exists does not follow - but more on that later).

Despite this hype - I think it’s a really badly done literary interpretation. Nothing about the interpretation was convincing to me - there was no effort to demonstrate that the claims were true - just statements that this is what the author thinks.  When talking about SoTT they say: ‘But I do believe this [1D’s early success] was at least the initial inspiration for this song. This is the interpretation that works in context of the album/story as a whole.’  That’s circular reasoning - they’re using assumptions they’ve already made to support their interpretation. 

There’s also some really sloppy arguing, which suggest a very limited worldview and lack of understanding of possibilities.  When talking about Carolina they dimiss the idea that the song could be about Townes: ‘If he’d liked her that much, he would have seen her again’.  As if it’s unthinkable that a one night stand (by a touring musician no less!) can include great sex and real connection.  When discussing Medicine, they make a weird detour to the possibility that Harry and Louis met at the Script concert (which I didn’t know that anyone actually believed) - because once they were living together ‘they wouldn’t have had to go out to hook up’.  As if the idea of a couple going out to a club together to enjoy each other in public doesn’t make any sense.

The post about ‘Only Angel’ suggests in passing that the song is a story of an abusive relationship and that the narrator is the one being abused.  Which is wrong and upsetting. 

None of this matters that much (except the Only Angel nonsense - that matters), and I’m not going to go into all the arguments and interpretations that I disagree with or I think are unfounded.  But the combination of the grand claims ‘the literary angle’/’the mythic foundation’ and the inept arguing does really get to me. 

The Treatment of Ever Since New York

The most ridculous part of the whole work is the declaration that Ever Since New York and Woman were in the wrong order, because the order they were in didn’t fit the interpretation this person was trying to make. It’s quite a vivid demonstration of exactly how bad of a literary analysis these posts are.  

But that’s not actually what bothers me most with the way Ever Since New York was discussed.  Because Harry has talked about some of the inspiration for this song and he’s talked about being in a pool with no water when he got bad news about a family member’s health.  Now I don’t think people have to include this statement from Harry in their interpretation of the song, but I think it shows how limiting (and dehumanising) the author’s view of Harry is.  According to these posts the only people and experiences that Harry could have any desire to express himself about in his first album are his experience in the band and his bandmates.  The exact things that the author is most interested in. 

I find it arrogant in general to assume that the only things Harry would want to express in song are parts of his life and feeling that we can access from watching him.  But I think it’s worse, because we do have a sense of some of the pain, loss and fear that Harry was dealing with in the year before the relase of his album.  This post left no possibility that experiences like Robin’s diagnosis or Matt’s death had any impact on Harry’s songwriting.  

The Western literary tradition of not writing about women as people

The Introduction claims “To understand the deeper meaning of this album, the most important thing to recognize is that not one of these songs is about a woman. Literary tradition has a long history of using female stand-ins and pronouns to represent a wide variety of life’s experiences”.

I am agnostic on the question of whether and in what sense Harry intended any of the songs on his album to be about a woman. And it is true that Western literary tradition long history of using female stand-ins and pronouns to represent a wide variety of life’s experiences. But that tradition is wildly misogynist and based in a fundamental denial of women’s humanity.

Ever since ‘Harry Styles’ was released fans have been arguing that the misogyny doesn’t count, because Harry was talking about cocaine, or fame, or his time in 1D rather than women.  That the virgin/whore dynamic of ‘good girl/feels so good’ and the angel who is a devil in the sheets or the nasty controlling elements of ‘Woman’ don’t count, because Harry wasn’t really talking about women.

These defences never spell out why it’s OK to use misogynist tropes about women if you don’t actually talk about women.  I would argue the opposite - the fact that it’s woman, and not men, who get used as a literary stand in for whatever the author actually wants to talk about, is in itself misogynist and denying women’s humanity.  I also think that it’s worse to perpetuate misogynist tropes as a way of communicating your true feelings about fame than just in a song about an actual or imagined woman.  There’s a second level of misogyny, because it means there’s no space in literarture for women to exist as people.

Or on a more fundamental level - does the impact that these songs have on the world suddenly change, because Harry didn’t mean them like that? Woman still normalises controlling behaviour by men for the vast majority of people who listen to it.  Women and girls are still hearing that they have to be both good and feel good.

What does this interpretation add to the work?

Finally, I disagree with the most fundamental of the author’s assertions - that the Harry Styles album as they imagine it is interesting. 

There’s a lot of claims, throughout the post, that this interpretation reveals what a great work of art ‘Harry Styles’: “Viewed through the right lens, it is actually quite an extraordinary piece of art—one that draws from ancient mythic and literary tradition to tell an emotionally rich and cohesive story.”

I disagree - I think the version of ‘Harry Styles’ that this person thinks exists is boring and basic.

[coldtomyflash]

What do you think about Killer Frost? Like the concept of her... of Caitlin becoming evil... maybe not what the show has done with her, per se, but... the idea of her.

Thanks for your patience on this one. I’ve been collecting my thoughts on it, because it’s a broad question that actually cross-sects a couple of seasons, different versions of a character, and there’s the issue of the meta-textual analysis of the character versus the within canon one.

I’ve broken them down below the cut, but the tl:dr for anyone who doesn’t want to read a full analysis: the metaphor for dissociative identity disorder that Killer Frost represents is ableist and bad, but the narrative for the character is unarguably the best she’s had and lends something to the team and the conflict. There are ways they could have navigated all of this better though, and them chickening out of making Caitlin into Killer Frost full time is where we lose the most in canon from what this story could’ve been.

Metatextually, I’m not sure I like what they’ve done with Killer Frost. This is largely because it’s ableist, and it’s sexist.

On the ableist front, Killer Frost represents the science fiction version of dissociative identity disorder. It’s pretty blatantly the case - she’s an alter who takes command and who’s actions Caitlin has little to no recollection of, though Caitlin is aware of her prescence and some of what she gets up to (e.g., that she went to Burning Man). She comes out to protect Caitlin more often than not, and when Caitlin ‘sleeps’. And she remembers all of what Caitlin does.

They are distinct identities sharing the same body, and not in a way where each has ever existed separately but where Frost explicitly developed out of Caitlin. 

It’s science-fictiony because it involves metahuman powers, hair colour changes, and isn’t really that in keeping with actual practice of people who have DID, and it’s ableist because it’s a very toxic representation of DID. Pretty much everyone who has DID has suffered typically pretty severe abuse and pretty much always in childhood. Symptoms manifest through that and over the lifespan, and not when a person gets magical (metahuman) powers. 

Also, representing what basically amounts to DID as evil and villainous and uncaring? Not good. People with DID are victims, not violent and cruel and cold-hearted. This issue is repetitive across most representations of DID in media, including the movie Split. 

So… I have issues with that, ultimately. Mostly in the “stop making mentally ill people evil” vein. Even if it wasn’t a perfect representation of DID, I know they’re basically trying to pretend it’s not DID - “she’s a metahuman, it’s different, that’s why it is this way”. Which to me falls a bit flat, particularly with how they’ve done it, but if she wasn’t evil then the overall connotations wouldn’t be so bad.

(And yes, she might be ‘less’ evil moving forward, but she started as a villain and it’s only because she has a ‘good’ side that she stopped hurting people and trying to kill them, so???)

And it’s sexist too. Why? Because The Flash has done this before, but only with female villains. Remember Magenta?

Basically the same deal, though at least they represent her storyline of abuse in a much more accurate and respectful manner. The DID likely existed before the powers, but her powers manifested largely through only one of her alters and gave that identity the power to fight back against the abuse instead of just suffer it. 

But guess when else we also saw this?

Anyone else sensing a theme here? Eliza’s (Trajectory’s) issues came about as representing an issue of addiction, but it seems like Velocity made her have hallucinations of an alternate identity that she became after she took the drug. Also just a really terrible and ableist way to represent drug addiction, hallucinations, and potentially alters.

Note that we’ve never seen any men on this show have quite this same pattern of issues. Like women, powers may exacerbate their underlying angers and resentments, but they don’t seem to manifest these issues on The Flash the same way that female villains do. And I’ve talked about this before with these three characters, but let it said again:

“…things like Velocity or meta-powers… make (in this case) nice and sweet women turn into demon harpies but it’s not “their fault, that’s not who they really are, it’s the drug/powers.”

Basically, it’s a tired trope, and given that they’ve only had it play out with female characters, it smells a little like “all women are [secretly] crazy/hysterical” misogyny.”

So that’s… one side of the Killer Frost coin. And of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, it’s definitely the Ugly. But a within-canon and narrative evaluation goes in a few different directions instead.

Within-canon, Killer Frost is the most interesting thing to happen to Caitlin and was narratively necessary to make her add to the story instead of being sidelined by it.

First off, Caitlin’s narratives were… floundering, before this. I don’t think I need to explain why rehashing her constantly finding love and losing it and grieving over and over became a very tired plot and ultimately made her character feel like she wasn’t even that secure on the team eventually.

Earth 2 Killer Frost was (to me) the most exciting part of S2 for Caitlin. An evil version of her, one who became conflicted, one who disavowed even her own name, one who saved the team but was still selfish. One who was so diametrically opposed to Caitlin as this intense foil.

This was interesting. This was fresh.

So when, in S3, they set Caitlin on the path to being Killer Frost, I was pretty excited. The team was (is) overpowered in terms of metas, and losing Caitlin and making her a villain was an exciting way to balance that out. Not to mention that she finally got a story that didn’t revolve around falling in love and grieving, but which was about herself and an internal struggle. While I still hate the “powers make you evil / powers gave her DID and her alter is evil” element they went with, the narrative balancing act gave her character more purpose to the main/ongoing story than she had had in a long time.

For the first time since helping find Ronnie in S1, Killer Frost as part of Caitin meant that she was driving her own story and driving the plot instead of helplessly strapped to whatever direction it took her.

And then, of course, Caitlin died, and to ‘save’ her, Julian stole her meta-dampener and caused her to go “full Killer Frost”. This isn’t just my idea, I read someone else say that Caitlin truly died at that moment, and I think that’s something to consider. 

The problem with the narrative moving forward is that this was a turning point for Caitlin and should have remained The turning point, the definitive one.

Narratively, I think it would be useful if we could conclusively think of this moment as the death of Caitlin and the birth of Frost, full stop and forevermore. It would take care of a lot of the DID stuff, to be totally honest. It wouldn’t be that Caitlin and Frost are two separate identities or that Frost is an alter of Caitlin, it would be that once the cold (her powers) gripped Caitlin’s heart, she was fundamentally altered and became different. Still kind of a “powers make you evil” story but that’s at least balanced out by how many people we’ve finally seen with powers who aren’t evil (though seriously, more benign metas, please).

This complete change into Frost wouldn’t have ultimately changed much in S3, if anything. We’d seen Caitlin use her powers for good ends, before becoming Frost, and we’d seen E2 Killer Frost use her powers to help the team and for semi-altruistic acts (well, mostly helpful revenge) as well as selfish evil ones. We also saw Frost help the team get Barry’s memories back, and hesitate more than once. It was often like she was trying too hard to be evil, to be ‘Killer’ Frost.

It was too much. Even Savitar knew she wasn’t truly evil.

So we could have accepted after the end of S3 that it wasn’t that she was evil, it was that she didn’t know what else to be or how else to live up to this legacy and navigate the powers she didn’t want and which changed her. This would be especially with all the anger and resentment she’s built up over years of job loss and grief and being used and having some post-traumatic stress from being kidnapped (thanks Zoom), not to mention not being fully in control of her own brain and body once she got powers, and then Julian disrespecting her wish to die without becoming this.

So this scene at the end of S3…

…would still stand. Everything pretty much stays the same until then, I would argue. The only thing I would add is that she would say that no, she’s not Killer  Frost. She’s never going to be her E2 counterpoint. She’s just Frost. And that would be her proper name moving into S4. 

So the major problem now is that Season 4 is missing the boat again with this character.

Because now we have Caitlin ‘back’. We lost her and thought she was dead and forever altered and now that’s been essentially retconned. Her saying she isn’t Caitlin and isn’t Killer Frost was pointless. That duality is back.

And because of that, we’re essentially re-hashing the S3 struggle between her and Frost, though Frost isn’t ‘evil’ per se at this point. Her and Caitlin manage to navigate their differences in a much better manner. But honestly? I don’t know they wrote it as there being anything to navigate. I don’t know why we saw this:

Cold without powers. What does it add? 

I mean, I understand: Caitlin is a team member, and there is sentimentality there. It’s a hard pill to swallow if she were truly ‘dead’. But it was the implication of S3. And the best scenes of her in S4 so far have been Frost. It’s been Frost interacting with other ladies in particular, but especially Frost interacting with Iris.

This shit, right here. I would have preferred a narrative where Frost listens to Iris and almost no one else, because Iris is the person who’s death she almost orchestrated and Iris is the one who killed Savitar and set Frost free of his manipulation in doing so.

Wouldn’t it be so neat to see Frost slowly become friends with Iris and make amends to her for that? To become genuinely close in a way that Caitlin never managed to be with Iris? To tell it like it is and have more cutthroat ambitions and comments than Caitlin did, not because Caitlin didn’t think them, but because Caitlin was too soft to voice them. Have it become more clear over time that Frost is so much of what Caitlin was, just without the inhibition. Have it become clear over S4 that Caitlin isn’t dead (but she is, but she’s not) because Frost is still her. 

Caitlin the bartender was dull. Frost the team anti-villain (antihero?) is narratively rich.

And can you imagine Cisco and Caitlin in this scene in episode 1 if she was still Frost instead?

Him basically saying “I know that you’re different, but you’re still my friend” and her accepting that yeah, okay, she is different, but maybe she can still help the team. Note, this wouldn’t be Caitlin saying it, it would be Frost. The identity, the person, who wreaked all this damage, acknowledging that yes, despite the cold in her heart, she is willing to help them.

And I mean… maybe Cisco wouldn’t go to her immediately, in that case. Maybe he’d wait until they unstuck Barry from the speedforce and he was unwell, and then Cisco would ask Caitlin to help him with that, to see if something was wrong with Barry that she could detect or figure out. 

And that’d be when she realizes that even though she’s hurt these people, she can also still help them. (And wouldn’t that say something more about culpability and about making amends and learning to be a better person despite your anger and coldness?) The rest of her arc with Amunet and everyone else would still hold true, it would just be all Frost all the time.

(Of course, in a perfect world such as this, Dibny wouldn’t be a main/recurring because Frost would already create enough friction on the team as-is, especially the first time she meets Harry. Not only did she help cause HR’s death, she’s also so much like the Killer Frost from E2 who helped Zoom, and Harry might have a Reaction to that. In my dream world we’d also still have Wally around but now I’m getting off track. I’m also super curious how Cynthia would respond to Frost, to be totally honest. See, there’s just so much potential!).

So that’s… all I have to say about that. :)

[serahne]

ive been seeing a lot of stuff saying how problematic and gross dr3 was but no actual descriptions, and since your analysis is thorough, evidenced, and trustworthy, i was hoping you could explain why dr3 is so taboo? thank you if you do!

So much pressure, haha. Well, my main reason for loathing dr3 is the terrible writing, the retcons, the plotholes, the characterizations of characters, the plot in general that runs on stupid, so not exactly the ‘problematic part’.

However, as always when writers didn’t care that much about writing something that makes sense, they didn’t care either about the subtext. That is to say, things that aren’t explicited by the plot or the characters, but are there not matter how you look at it. For a funny exemple of text VS subtext, I already made a semi-serious argument about Nanami being a sociopath in the anime.

As for the rest, I’m scared that I’m going to let my years in sociology take over…

             - The anime supports an ultra-liberal point of view when it comes to society. Which is a surprise, considering that dr1 and especially sdr2 were really clever at showing that human being’s behaviour has nothing do with some kind of ‘human nature’, and people just react to their environnement they are put in and the one they grew up in. This is not something revolutionnary, but it still asks the question of someone’s responsability in their own acts, and the difficulty to become someone you want to be despite the society putting you in a case.

Hope’s Peak treats his Students as Ultimates ( or Reserve Course ), and not as human beings, totally neglecting to deal with their complicated past, or their particularities. And the anime, by making the whole sdr2 classe completely cartoon-ish, by erasing these particularities ( everyone becomes despair for the same reason, none of their past is ever brought up… ) and by re-opening Hope’s Peak Academy at the end, the anime promotes the idea that it’s a good way to see things. That people being defined by the fact that they are talented is enough.

             - More generally, the anime is a lot more conservative. The entire blame of the Tragedy is put on Junko, as if nothing bad would have ever happened without her coming to Hope’s Peak. Which is ridiculous, or Junko is just the match that lights up the oil that has been poured all over Hope’s Peak for years. She is the unstoppable force meeting a still object. She makes the thing goes boom, but she wouldn’t have succeed without the state of corruption Hope’s Peak was in.

Hi, girl you are literally describing any system where elites dominate the society. Eventually people who managed to take the ‘social’ elevator wants to keep their position and we assist to a elite reproduction, where elites are the ones who runs the systems and chose themselves the next generation of elites - which, again, encourages the corruption.

Going back to the subject of Hope’s Peak, the school was doomed, no matter what. The opening of the Reserve Course was probably a last try to sustain the elitist system from Hope’s Peak, but it blew up in their face. They created their fate, and they tried to avoid it by playing God, by creating Kamukura ( which is pretty funny, by the way : trying to go back to the way things were at the beginning by creating another ‘Hope’, as if themselves realized that something had been lost in the process ).

The anime is infuriating by trying to say that Hope’s Peak is the ‘good guy’ defeated by the ‘bad’ guy, Junko, and it’s emphazised by the ‘happy end’ where Naegi, elite from Hope’s Peak and FF, and Kirigiri, elite from Hope’s Peak and FF decides to re-open the school. Which the anime is trying to tell us is an happy ending. But will eventually fall exactly the same way, realistically.

           - The anime doesn’t recognize opression. This one annoys me a lot. I mean, yes, we kinda have Hinata and Natsumi being sad that they are in the Reserve Course Student, but we have nothing about the systemical opression that RCS goes through. Their motivations are always personnal ones ( Hajime wants to be proud of himself and to be Chiaki’s friend, Natsumi wants to be with her brother ) and almost… irrationnal. Again and again, characters who are portrayed as the ‘wise ones’ like Chiaki and Chisa - and who, unfortunately, are themselves opressors - claims that there is nothing bad with being a RCS, that it’s actually even better, and that it gives them so much freedom. Which is basically like someone being super wealthy talking to a homeless person in the street ‘damn, but at least you don’t have to work, you’re free to do whatever you want !’. Sure, jan.

Even when Hinata confronts Juzo and he is violently treated, we are always reminded that the Main Course is actually kind and nice, and caring and without any class prejudice, for the only reason he was rough with Hinata was for his own good, to keep him away from the building.

I’m going to make a point about sexism later, so I won’t stay on this one for too long, but Nanami being the Ultimate Gamer is problematic in itself, since we never get any hint of sexism being directed at her. In a similar way that Yuri On Ice! is a world without homophobia so straight fangirls won’t need to reflect on their behaviour in real life, Nanami lives in a ‘world without sexism’ where she obviously never met an annoying guy ever, who would put her down because of her talent. Fetishizing a cute gamer girl is okay, targetting the main audience for the anime ( straight gamer guys ) and trying to make them think about their behaviour in real life ? Nuh-uh.

        - Talking of homophobia, the way the anime treats it is… terrible. Everyone rejoiced when Sakakura was confirmed as gay but… at the end of the day, he was forcibly outed as supreme humiliation, and then went right for the ‘bury the gays’ trope. It’s not respectful. It’s not positive representation. It’s lame. Obviously, Komaeda and Tsumiki were given a shitty treatment too, with the anime going to hell and back to erase their sexuality/canon feelings. Komaeda being apparently… turned on by Hope ( which makes me think that the writers may have read too much fanfictions from the old fandom ), and Tsumiki only falling for Junko as a result of brainwashing ( when her ‘normal self’ would have been so much cuter with the Imposter, right ? ).

They also turned the little joke from the Twilight Syndrom Murder Case into… Sato being yandere for Mahiru I guess ? Ugh. All that while force-feeding literally any straight couples they could. In 24 episodes where we are supposed to get a plot somewhere we have 8 straight couples being teased. None of them being even remotely well-written (Ruruka and Izayoi is at least interesting but that’s it). The only gay couple being given some attention is Tokomaru in one (1) episode.

        - Finally, sexism and misogyny. Something that I’m honestly really tired of when it comes to Danganronpa, but that has never peaked as much as in dr3. where do I start off ? Maybe with the terrible treatment of Mikan someone who has been canonically emotionally and sexually abused and being turned into a joke, before being sexually humiliated and used for fanservice, again and again. Or the way female characters can fall into the ‘good girl category’, the category where girls have rosy cheeks, no personnality, and are devoted to their man, and dies for their character development because that’s what good girls do. These girls have to be very good-looking but absolutely unaware of it, for fetishized innocence and childish attitude is cute, even in a grown-up adult. Obviously

Obviously at the moment where they are aware that they are good looking, they become “bad girls’ who manipulates men, aren’t good waifus, and deserves to die, too, of course, but alone and in despair because how dare these girls having personalities and their own agendas ? Ruruka and Junko falls into these categories.

And uh… other females characters don’t really exist. Peko becomes a poor little thing for Fuyuhiko to protect, Sonia seems to give absolutely no thought to her kingdom, Ibuki is a comic relief, Mahiru lost all her temper. Asahina is bicycle for Naegi, I guess. They are 100% irrelevant for the plot, for only men are allowed to further it in any way.

[theleftpill]

1/2 One thing keeps bugging me though and I would really like to hear what people think. I've loved Sherlock's and Molly's dynamic since TRF and I think that for some time she's had a deep appeal for him although he didn't really understand it. Although it was being further explored since TEH I never expected them to become a couple because it's not that kind of show. That is why I was a bit taken aback by the inclusion of the ILY scene and the way it was played. Anyway, the sheer intensity of

Hello anon!  Thanks for your ask - can I just say that I love my anons??? Seriously.  Y’all send me the best thoughts and questions and really get me thinking about the show which I am absolutely here for.

OK tl;dr

1. ILY is almost entirely about Sherlock; its purpose & reason in the story is Sherlock’s progression and growth, and any romance really is secondary.  

2. Even though ILY is really Sherlock’s Big Moment, people want to know all about Molly because she’s a great character and we just didn’t get enough of her.

You’ve got two different topics going on here:

First is Sherlock (first is always Sherlock), and the idea that I Love You was a more important scene for him than for Molly.  First let’s acknowledge that the show is about him so that’s going to be the focus always, and move on to more fun analysis.  

I think “I Love You” was definitely more powerful and destructive for him than it was for Molly.  Molly has been present and wrestling with these feelings for years.  Literally.  She has had time to process and consider and work things through.  She’s already done the work.  So while the moment was intensely difficult for her, she has a groundwork to support her.

Sherlock was hit like a freight train.  He started the game knowing how difficult this would be for her; I don’t think he had any idea what it was going to do to him.  You’re completely right that he didn’t understand what he feels for Molly. He has spent those same years denying, suppressing, not even being aware of his feelings for her.  Think of all the times she has confronted him, think about the looks on his face:

He is always surprised.  He is always surprised.  Sherlock is always surprised by her reactions to him, and how they make him feel.  He doesn’t know that those feelings are there, and it always throws him off.  He hasn’t processed who she is to him, and that’s Eurus’ game: to make him confront those feelings.  Molly is collateral damage to her - but not to Sherlock, as he’s realized for the first time.

Which is why we have the explosive scene with Sherlock destroying the coffin.  He’s just had a bandaid ripped off that he didn’t even know he had; he’s been manipulated, exposed, just had to devastate one of his dearest friends, and through all that came to a realization he was absolutely not ready for.  Shoot the wall, stab the files, karate chop the fridge: that coffin didn’t stand a chance.  All those years of suppression and passion finally let go.

The second issue you raise concerns the audience, and our connection to the character of Molly.  (I am at a disadvantage because I haven’t yet read many reviews [still want to absorb the eps on my own for a bit longer] so I haven’t read reviewer comments for myself, but I can go by fan reaction I’ve seen on tumblr.)  I think people are focusing on her because she’s become a well-loved character.  This was a huge moment for her.  I mean it’s clear that the game is all about Sherlock’s progression, and ILY is a showcase scene for him - it’s the climax to act 2, fer pete’s sake - but we have an emotional investment in Molly by this point of the show.  Everyone else in the game so far have just been pawns, disposable physically and narratively - but we want to know what happened to Molly.  Because she counts.  She’s a dynamic, complex, and entertaining character.  She has her own story being told that, while secondary to the narrative, connects very strongly with viewers.  Molly is the one missing from the narrative, and we want to know what happened.

And it’s pretty much agreed, that regardless of shipping or romance, Molly was sorely underused in S4.  I think it’s a testament to how important her character has become for the audience that people are left wondering how she reacted to the phone call, what her experience was, and how their relationship resolves, rather than “oh that poor sad woman well I guess that’s over ok what’s next?”

I mean it could be just “oh that sad poor women all the misogyny” but I don’t know not having read the reviews.  If you send some links I’ll repost with some thoughts.  

I can see your take on Moffat’s annoyance about the outcry about Molly, that he would have been frustrated about the audience missing the point of his big dramatic scene.  But it’s true that something as big as ILY needs a resolution between those two characters, and this is a point where they dropped the ball.  My own personal conspiracy is that S4 is two series mashed into one because they figure they won’t get to a S5 any time soon, so they crammed six episodes into three.  I firmly believe she figured much more heavily in the story originally, but was sacrificed for time.  It would be easy to say “oh they just don’t know what they have in Molly” but I think Mofftiss know exactly how important she is - I mean, they made her that way - but that’s where the TV stuff intrudes in these characters’ lives.  There just wasn’t enough time to tell her story.  (That’s our job.  ;)  )

I also don’t believe, and I think you’ll agree with me, that Molly is “wrecked” from ILY.  Besides the Happy Shot at the end, Molly has shown way more fortitude in her dealings with Sherlock, both emotional and Sherlockian, that I’m sure she had a good cry and a good rant and gave Sherlock a good piece of her mind when he got home, and I’m sure even without the Happy Shot that she’ll be fine.  It’s Sherlock that ended up a mess from ILY.  

I hope all this answers your query.  I’d also like to hear others’ viewpoints on this - it’s a great question.

[wildwoodgoddess]

The Problem Finale: Thoughts on Sherlock “The Final Problem”

This is probably going to get long, but I don’t really want to split it into two posts, so just brace yourselves.

I’m planning to cover the following:

1) What TFP Got Right (in my opinion) 2) What TFP Got Wrong (also imo) 3) About Johnlock 4) Some personal thoughts on #3 and the series as a whole

You won’t find wank or hate in this post. Quite the opposite. And I’m hoping it will be accessible and interesting regardless of your opinions on Item 3.  

I’ll do my best to respond to any asks, but I am headed into a writing deadline of my own and need to switch my attention to that for the next several weeks, so I might be a little slow on replying. Please feel free to get in touch, though. Would love to hear from you.

So here we go…under the cut:

What TFP Got Right:

The entire show, as stated in ASiP, was aimed at showing Sherlock’s progression from a “great” man to a “good” one. In the context of the show, this meant becoming more socially aware and embracing emotions as good and healthy, allowing himself to love, to have a family.  

And it did that. I thought it was key in TFP that Sherlock flat out insists that John remain during Mycroft’s explanation of Eurus because John IS FAMILY. Compare that to ASiP where Sherlock is barely willing to acknowledge Mycroft as his brother.  

TFP makes it very clear that emotions, especially love (of all kinds) are the key to solving the final problem. Without understanding emotions, Sherlock wouldn’t have been able to avoid shooting Mycroft or John. It was his insight into Eurus’ own emotions that made him realize that threatening to shoot himself was the only way to get her to stop. And it was his own ability to show her compassion that allowed him to be able to save John.

That message is pretty hamfisted, in my opinion, especially in how Mycroft speaks, compared to how Sherlock reacts. But it’s there, and Sherlock’s ability to show Eurus compassion and grace is the culmination of that transformation.  

I did like that they had Sherlock “rewrite” his memories of his childhood friend because he couldn’t deal with the murder.  

And I really liked that the writers have said that these 4 series turned into a sort of origin story for how “our” Sherlock went from a cold-blooded faux-sociopath to a truly loving, caring human being that would be—if the show goes forward—more like the mature, good-hearted person in the ACD stories. I can get on board with that, and I think the 4 series did well with that progression.  

Other small things I liked: Eurus giving Sherlock violin lessons, Mycroft being disguised as the old man (paralleled TEH where John thinks his elderly patient with the porn videos is Sherlock), Sherlock playing with Rosie at the end, the fact that Mycroft had such a weak stomach when it came to shooting someone himself, Mycroft trying to goad Sherlock into shooting him by insulting John, Sherlock spotting that immediately, and making Mycroft sit in the client chair.

What TFP Got Wrong:

Where do I begin? *sigh*

A lot of people are talking about plot holes and implausibility. And in spite of the larger-than-life nature of the show itself, I think a lot of stuff in this episode does strain credulity, basically, because Eurus is—as another article said—almost comic-book super villain. The rocky island prison was practically Azkaban, and her abilities were nearly magic. I believe that the writers definitely intended it to be taken as in-world fact, but it did seem to be a bit much.  

I would have been able to accept it as plausible in this story world if Eurus had been a looming presence in some form over the course of all 4 series. The attempt to tie in Moriarty to her seemed a bit forced. Moriarty was set up from episode 1 as the arch-nemesis, and I felt all along that killing him at the end of series 2 didn’t make a lot of narrative sense. Eurus felt to me like an attempt to fill in that gap, but it would have been much more effective if there had clearly been a shadow presence even beyond Moriarty from the very start. The audience didn’t have any emotional connection to Eurus because she really only showed up for like 30 seconds at the end of TLD and then for TFP.  

And the analysis I read (and reblogged) about Eurus being treated like a Victorian woman put into an asylum because she was too clever was very insightful. I really like SO much of Moffat’s style of storytelling, but it’s pretty hard to defend him against all the charges of misogyny when he keeps stepping in it over and over.  

Because of the lack of build up to the Eurus reveal, the emotional arc of the episode felt rushed. Too much plot, not enough space for reactions. The fact that John was saved by being thrown a rope, and somehow the chain disappeared, and the immediate aftermath of that rescue wasn’t shown—not only were these plot holes, it was supposed to be the climax of the episode and it lacked strength and emotional resonance because it was rushed.

I am constantly telling my editing clients that they have to show the emotional response of their characters. It’s one of the most common writing mistakes that I encounter. And this episode made the exact same mistake—which is painfully ironic considering that the importance of emotions was the theme of the entire story.

But because the story needed so much flashback and exposition and plot, the emotional journey of the characters was glossed over, rushed. That’s another reason why it felt implausible. I strongly suspect that if the characters had been allowed enough space in the story to react, to respond to the plot, the plot itself would have felt more plausible, even if the plot holes remained. That’s how story works—if the story can show the characters’ emotions well enough, you will connect with them on that emotional level, and you won’t mind the plot holes so much. I think the story failed on that point because it chose to center plot over character.  

That may have been the fault of the writers, or it may have been the fault of the director/editor. Just keep that in mind—an editor can change the entire tone of a story just by removing space between lines or choosing one shot instead of another.  

I could probably nit-pick more, but I’ll stop there. I really wanted to like this episode, and I did to an extent, but I could have been completely transported by it, and I’m sad that I wasn’t.

About Johnlock:

I find myself in the truly wonderful position of having a lot of new followers in the past few weeks. And some of them don’t ship at all, others ship John and Sherlock, and others prefer other pairs. I love that I have such a variety—thank you to all of you for giving me a try.

With that in mind, I want to address the Johnlock people and then the not-Johnlock people.

First, Johnlock people and TJLC’ers: 

You weren’t wrong. You weren’t seeing things that weren’t there. I thought some of the subtext analysis was a stretch, but not all. Not by a long shot.  

I ended up joining Tumbler after TEH aired. It was the first episode I saw, and then I went back and watched all of S1 and S2. But what I saw in the flashback of the Fall made me think “are they putting John and Sherlock together romantically?” And that started me Googling, and that led me to Tumblr Sherlock meta, and here I am three years later.

I have repeatedly said that John and Sherlock’s relationship follows a classic romantic story arc. But I’ve also said that this formula can also be used for platonic friendships (The King’s Speech is my favorite example of that). It’s just not as common.

In this case, I think it was perfectly reasonable to suspect and predict that they’d get together. And I was disappointed from a story-telling standpoint because I think it would have made much more sense for them to go ahead with a romance.

First, they have explicitly demonstrated that neither John or Sherlock can have a romantic relationship with someone else because the two of them together just isn’t compatible with a trio. There won’t be anyone else for either of them.

Second, they’ve never given any good, compelling reason why they wouldn’t get together, other than John’s protestations that he isn’t gay (which, hello bisexuality) and Sherlock’s belief that he can’t have relationships because of The Work, which has been effectively destroyed.  

Instead, we are being presented with the suggestion that Sherlock and John live forevermore together in domestic 221B, totally platonic bliss, raising their daughter together.

That would work, I suppose, if Sherlock was portrayed as completely asexual as just his natural orientation. But he’s not. He’s shown as someone who suppressed emotions for the sake of reason (and now, because of the trauma he experienced at the hand of Eurus). But he’s changed now, and the show has gone out of its way several times to point out that romance is a lack in Sherlock’s life. Whether or not John is right that romance would complete him is debatable. And maybe even after Sherlock’s inner transformation, he simply doesn’t have sexual or romantic desires. But that idea rests completely on speculation. It isn’t addressed one way or another in the show itself.

So keeping them from being a couple does seem to be an unnecessary contortion.  

The only defense I can make of it is that I believe the show’s in-world truth is that John loved Mary in a flawed but real way. And TFP takes place not so very long after Mary was killed. John may not have been emotionally ready to begin a new romance, no matter how much he truly loves Sherlock.  

But it’s a pretty weak defense, and it just seems to me that since they clearly aren’t going to do another trio by giving either of them another partner, there really isn’t any good story-telling reason to NOT do a romance. I’ll let others speculate about why they chose not to, but I think it was a poor creative choice.

However, they DO end up together and happy—even if it’s in a way that feels a bit like a story-telling cheat.  

So for people who are sad, disappointed, angry, and feeling betrayed by this creative choice, please know that you weren’t totally imagining things.  

I also want to encourage you, as others have already done, to channel those emotions into positive and productive energy. Create the stories you are asking for—whether books, film, or other media.

If you can’t create, then find ways to support people who can. And not just Sherlock fan creations. There are web series worth supporting on crowd-fund sites, there are authors who would appreciate if you spent a couple bucks on their books. If you don’t even have a couple dollars, at least offer encouragement. Offer to beta read. Volunteer as a personal assistant to an author or artist who needs some administrative help. Be the loudest megaphone to help promote these works so that others who can afford to fund will do so.

To Non-Johnlock people: 

Be considerate. Please. I haven’t seen anyone on my dash being rude or mean or even gloating. That’s lovely. Keep it up. Understand and remember that a lot of people looked to the show to offer a positive reflection of themselves. A lot of people need to hear that not only are they ok, they are heroes. And if that is what you are longing to hear and have been getting hints of, to have that taken away is really hard. Have compassion.

Personal Thoughts:

Stories are important, stories are life changing. Even without John and Sherlock becoming a romantic couple, this show has changed my way of viewing stories. It’s made me more empathetic. Not so much because of the show itself, but because of the analysis and historical context I’ve gained from Johnlock people.  

No matter who we would like to see together, we ALL need more empathy and to understand different perspectives.  

And yet, at the same time, it is ONLY a story. It shouldn’t be your identity. It shouldn’t be what you live for. And it shouldn’t be something that ruins your relationships with other people—even ones on a blog site.  

Live for something that you can create for yourself—your own life, your relationships, your career, your passion. Enjoy the creations of others, but don’t let that be your foundation. Create—and live—your own story.

Don’t put creators on pedestals. But don’t be mean to them either. They are fallible human beings, just like the rest of us. Believe me, I know. We have things we don’t understand. We have biases. We sometimes fail to communicate clearly. We can be assholes. I really don’t think that anyone involved with the show intended to hurt or disappoint anyone. Why would they? There’s no incentive in that. They may have screwed up or disappointed you, but they aren’t evil.

I just want to say a big thank you to the Sherlock fandom—you’ve inspired me, challenged me, and taught me so much. You’ve helped me see areas in my own writing that I need to grow in—as far as representation, getting out of my own comfort zone, being more aware of the impact that the way I tell my story can have on my readers.  

And going forward, no matter what the Sherlock creators plan to do next, I can tell you what I’m going to do:  

I’m going to do a better job at representation in my books. I’ve been wanting to, especially with LGBTQ+ characters, for some time, but I knew there was a lot I needed to learn and understand first because I really want to get it right and my upbringing and younger experiences didn’t prepare me at all for that. I’m getting there, and you all are helping so much with that, and I’m very grateful.  

I’m going to keep learning, and I’m going to continue trying to find and then promote stories that offer the representation we all need to have. Marginalized people need to be represented. But I also need them to be represented, whether the diversity represents me or not. I need to have those stories normalized. I need it because I need to get rid of my own biases and misunderstandings. I need it because I need more empathy. I need a broader perspective.

This is what story is supposed to do—provide validation, challenge ideas, help people grow, inspire them, give them hope. Bring about greater justice and compassion and empathy.  

Time will tell whether or not Sherlock accomplished any of this, or even meant to.  

But I think we all can take away a few lessons from it that ought to be applied to real life as well as the fandom:

Compassion, not cleverness, matters in the end.  

Love—in all its forms—is more important than being right. 

Emotions, connection, relationships are life-saving, not a liability.

Forgiveness is healing.

Hugs and love to you all! I’ll be a bit quiet after this because of my writing project, but I’m not going away entirely, and I’m looking forward to where the conversation heads from here.