#the biting and staking???

[whalesfall]

btw. your search for the most morally upright and ethical piece of media that has the most correct “representation” will destroy your ability to find the most profound and beautiful and human of stories. and may even destroy the stories themselves before they are created. if you even care.

[raayllum]

like Callum made the right choice in 5x08 for his character and the thematic narrative. Thematically, Rayla cannot permanently die (she's too sacrificial) nor can she have a partner, honestly, who'd be willing to sacrifice her like that. Callum also cannot be willing to sacrifice her like that for the life of a stranger dragon he's never met, or not take the dark magic risk; not only is this how he's always clearly been ever since S1 ("But not everything [has changed]: I would do anything for you") but doing so would make him exactly like the worst of Viren: "If you have to choose between [the world] or your brother, pick the egg." Callum is having a dark path arc, but he's not having an antagonist or villain arc.

That said, there's a reason Callum is Chained Up when he gives the spell and locked in a damp dark brig and has to use the snake-chain spell specifically, because TDP loves its irony: what gets more ironic than freeing yourself from chains in order to free and save your girlfriend, when you know in doing so you're chaining yourself further and further to the main villain and his will in doing so? When you know that you would?

There's a reason 5x08 ends with Callum looking scared and sad and the shot of the snakes, because those aren't fun things (hi Ocean arcanum epiphany) to learn or fully accept about yourself. There's a reason that what characters justify with "I had no choice" or "this is the right thing to do" isn't always the literal case. "I had to, to save my friends" or you could've left it. You could've tried something else than dark magic. But you didn't, because you thought that was the one thing you could do in order to not lose your friend, so you did it; You Made Your Choice.

For example, if we're talking what happened in 5x08 in a "this would keep The World 100% safe" type of deal? Callum fucked up twice. He gave the spell and he didn't know Finnegrin would be dead or unable to use it by episode's end. He did dark magic — with no idea that it wouldn't let Aaravos automatically possess him in that moment — because a world where he didn't even try and save her was worse to him. But it was a risk! Both of those things were massive risks!

Just because they didn't amount to the extreme consequences they could have had, yet, doesn't mean that they won't, since soo much of TDP is just "this thing had unforeseen/unwanted consequences as a result of the choices you made" (the loss of Rayla's team, Harrow's death, Sarai's death, the possession at all, Karim's banishment, Zubeia's corruption, Claudia's 5 season long descent, and I'm sure going to the Starscraper next season, just to name a few quick examples off the top of my head). As Harrow says:

H: But I do know I will pay the price for the choices I've made. I've done terrible things. I thought they were necessary. Now I don't know.

Rayla thought she had to leave; she didn't. Rayla thought she had to find Viren, twice; that wasn't true. She chose to leave both times. She also chose to come back both times. She could've doubled down, but she didn't. Viren, finally, didn't.

Every step forward is a choice.

That's true for Every Single Character in the show.

To deny them that is to deny the agency they do have in the circumstances they find themselves in; Soren could've not stabbed his father, Terry could've chosen to tackle rather than stab Ibis, Viren could've chosen to grieve his son. That doesn't mean they didn't have good reasons to do the things they were doing, that doesn't mean their justifications weren't strong, that doesn't mean they were necessarily wrong to do so. But they made Choices.

So did Callum. And he chose what regrets, sacrifices, and losses he could live with, in order to save the person he decided he couldn't live without.

It's that simple, and that complicated.

[carnivalls]

hi everyone, long time no see! coming back to tumblr with a pitch that one friend rated 12/10, another 15/10, and no one less than a 10 (that i will be mentioning for the purposes of this post).

so basically me and my girlfriend are in our final year as university undergrads, and are fighting for our lives for stuff to put on our cvs / master applications that falls in line with our degree programs and interests (english literature for both). as much as i'd like it to, 'spending well over 80 hours mapping out dnd sessions' for some reason doesn't tend to appeal to employers or admissions offices.

this is where VULTURE CULTURE comes in.

we've laid out the principal tenets on the 'about' page, but a tldr for whoever is interested:

At Vulture Culture, we aim to take the works of people they may not necessarily feel the best about, works that may not otherwise see the light of day, and give them a ‘home.’ We believe that there’s no such thing as a story not worth telling. By not charging submission fees (be so for real) and keeping our guidelines few, we also hope to erode some of the traditional barriers in publishing, and create a more accessible space for all.

in other words, GIVE US YOUR LEFTOVERS.

we are a literary magazine that will accept anything that exists in the mid range of what you love and hate. have you ever wanted to be published but where do you even start? here. are you unsure what to do with that old work that's been sitting in your drafts forever (it's good enough to post, but not good enough to be picked up by anyone of significance)? hi.

our first issue theme is NEW BODIES, and we are just as curious as you to find out what that means. deadline is march 1st, 2024.

come help us be employable or whatever. also in return you get to clear up some draft space and see your name in print. together, love wins 🏆

[rosalinesurvived]

Kunikidazai is a galaxy-brain ship obvs but but i need a fresh out of the PM Dazai viewing Kunikida as like the Ultimate CumulationTM of both Oda and Chuuya, the people who loved him, one Dazai left and the other who left first, I need Kunikida terrified of Dazai not because of any PM suspicions but because Dazai’s everything Kuni could be if he skewed to the right: the sucide obsession, the dangerous morality, the lost ideals, the general bizarreness–what puts Kuni off of Dazai is that he’s everything like Kuni and at the same time nothing like him, surely and that has to Fuck You Up, being stuck with your distorted image day in and day out.

“You are everything I could have had,” Dazai thinks towards Kunikida

“You are all of the horrors I could become,” Kunikida thinks of Dazai

[goaliekisses]

sid wanting to spend the zombie apocalypse with dumo. doc NOT wanting to spend the apocalypse with geno. kris letang, sassy debate captain. (THANK YOU @suiheisen for the recording 🫶🏼)

[liquidstar]

the funniest thing about arc 8 is it has all the fans walking around saying "nachuki subawu" in serious analysis posts

[theartofdreaming1]

Happy Halloween from Catherine & Henry! 🧡🖤🦇🧛

I like to think that these two would have fun going as vampire and vampire hunter

[dani-luminae]

Early D2 concept art by Thomas Zenteno, and a real interesting look at the og look for the yacht (including some of the stained glasses), Mal's original dragon design, and also Uma clearly before they cast China Anne McClain.

[yuri-is-online]

I’d let him bite me <3 <-Most normal Idia fan

lmao

I'm pretty sure all the pointy teef boys have fans clamoring to be given a little nibble. Just a tiny cronch, maybe draw some blood idc

[pupstim]

Okay all honesty I do kinda hope Badboy goes hog wild. I hope he goes full down the federation hole. I hope he embraces becoming the Federation so deeply on a level that the new people coming to the island would never have known he was Anti Federation before. Every time they see him they can only think of the Federation, not like the other islanders who might think back to the early days of when Bad was protesting and doing his best to fight back. I hope he makes the Federation so efficient, so cutthroat, so deadly that he overshoots the target and just burns the world down!

And I hope that the islanders know Bad enough to maybe realize that he's being a bit of an silly and knock some sense into him.

If that can't happen can at least it be that the Federation finds out that Badboyhalo didn't sell his soul to the Federation, but it was the Federation that sold it's soul to Badboyhalo.

[marsafter-dark]

Fussy Wizards and How to Tame Them

Otherwise known as the completed version of Bloodweave being freaks for each other 🔞 (ascended astarion edition)

[thosewildcharms]

we don’t talk enough about how amazing and sexy it was seeing rick smoothly jump and slide across the table while simultaneously taking down beale

oh I can assure you it's all I think about.

[dice-n-antlers]

I’m fuckin’ WHEEZING It’s already funny when Astarion looks down his nose at the taller races, but the animation is so exaggerated when he’s looking at a shortstack

(looking at Zephyr the halfling druid here)

THIS is the look of a thirsty man eying down his next capri sun

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

Watching short one gaming get into the thick of trial 6 is so wild because Im just watching Allison's brain break into pieces as each new reveal happens and I Genuinely cannot tell if she is enjoying it or Actually finding the trial infuriating

[glassphinix]

i've been a busy boy (spoken w the same vibe as that one garfield 9/11 comic)

[svtskneecaps]

i still haven't gotten real baghera and rivers interactions have i........... like the barest of interactions......... a drought........... i was so fucking curious...... i am still so curious............ twenty minutes of conversation and i would be fed forever............ i'd never ask for anything again.... baghera wasn't even there when bolas was doing the whole hostage situation she was off doing her own thing.......... i'm so curious........... i want to know..... what would the dynamic be........ how would they interact............ i'll never know.............. crying...........