Re these prior musings / promises but speculation regarding the secret scene possibly being Claudia murdering Sir Sparklepuff got me wondering, so... let's talk about Rayla, Claudia, and symbolic to non symbolic notions of suicide.
Tw because this will mention / does talk about cannibalism, suicidal ideation, and suicide in passing. If you're not comfortable reading about those things in more detail but you still want the gist of this meta, scroll down to the TLDR that will have a couple sentence summary of the idea.
With that out of the way, let's get into it.
For a while now, I've been interested in the metaphorical mechanics regarding Rayla murdering Viren in 3x09. As we all know (even if Aaravos 'pretends' otherwise in 4x04), Rayla did successfully kill the man, retroactively achieving her earlier mission of killing a king of Katolis because he was responsible for both the death of the Dragon King and because he'd killed Zym (which Viren was in the process of doing).
However, Rayla kills Viren in the most Rayla-y of ways, as she does so without her assassin blades, while acting as the Last Dragonguard, and in a way that means killing Viren is not just an act of protection or revenge, but also something that meant sacrificing (killing) herself.
And this felt notable to me, since unlike either of the brothers, Rayla hasn't killed anyone else. Ezran would've burned people alive with dragon fire if not for immunity spell, and Callum blasted plenty of people off the side of the mountain and presumably to the Storm Spire. But Viren was the sole blood on Rayla's hands, even if the narrative has Claudia (and we'll get to her in a minute) resurrect him. Her one act of murder being something that also, as stated, required her to sacrifice her whole person, and is also in line with her assassin training: "I am already dead."
When Rayla rebuttals Ezran's assertion that "[You spared him] because you knew he was a person, just like you," you can read Rayla's assertion of "That shouldn't have mattered, I had a job to do," solely as her talking about the guard's personhood... but you can also read it, I think, as her dehumanizing her own personhood. She is a weapon and he is the target and that's all that should've mattered.
We can tether this thread all the way up to season four with Rayla's refusal to murder Callum, but put a pin in that, cause now I want to talk about Claudia.
Much like we can read Rayla's attempted dehumanization as twofold, I also think we can read Sir Sparklepuff's mimicry of Claudia as something with multiple layers. The first and likely most obvious one of course is that Sir Sparklepuff mimicking Claudia in earlier episodes is to setup later that he is her (magical, technical?) half-brother and one of Viren's children. Kind of like how we had Ezran and Zym mimicking each other in mid-S2 to set up their mental/emotional bond later that season.
And this implied connection likewise loops back around in the finale when Viren simultaneously refuses to sacrifice Sir Sparklepuff for his own survival while also lamenting that he's led (sacrificed?) his own daughter down a dark path (and perhaps regret that he sacrificed his son once, too).
Arc 2 has also ramped up Claudia's willingness to destroy herself further for the "good of her family" (and her own desires that often steamroll over theirs) in having her take on more and more animalistic forms when doing dark magic, blurring the lines between her de-personalization of magical creatures and also herself.
This reflects dark magic's cannibalism motif quite well, as Claudia carries on metaphorically cannibalizing her own body throughout most of s4 and especially s5: refusing to rest from Terry, using her own blood in spells, etc.
This all reinforces that while dehumanization was something Rayla struggled with for both her target(s) and to a lesser degree herself, it's something that Claudia has only continually excelled at. And we know, thanks to S4 with Rayla walking away from the drake in the woods ("We can't save everyone") that she's gotten better at it as well.
But what does this all have to do with symbolic suicide? Well...
If the secret scene is what a good deal of us have been speculating / that Claudia is covered in Sir Sparklepuff's blood in the teaser trailer, then: if Sir Sparklepuff is a stand in for Viren's innocent, made to be an asset, processing learned behaviour child - if he is a stand in for Claudia - then through killing him, Claudia is symbolically killing herself.
Now, there's no doubt in my mind that Claudia isn't viewing things that way, but we also know just how much she's willing to ruin herself for the people around her first hand, and how persistent that characterization has been: "Are you okay?" "You're going to be better now. That's all that matters." While Claudia also has some selfish, twisted self-preservation in there as well (she cannot or will not cope with the fracturing of her family, even when she really probably should), the self-destructive tendency that's led to her S6 spiral is well established.
This attitude of "it doesn't matter what happens to me, so long as other people are okay/safe" is something we see for many characters, of course, but I think is best embodied in Rayla's continual, emphasized thread of sacrifice / her tendency towards subtle but consistent passive suicidal ideation regarding her own safety and her own wants/desires.
R: Don't worry about my hand. The egg is all that matters. / It doesn't matter what happens to me. / I have to go after [Viren]. / It's agonizing, but I know our mission comes first.
This is important regarding her and Callum in regards to the possession plot line. As long as Callum is Callum (not possessed, or she has reason to believe he's still in there), Rayla likely won't be able to bring herself to kill him. This is from an emotional / characterization standpoint, of course, but from a thematic standpoint, we can see where it stems from Callum and Rayla continually being each other's main connection to their sense of identity.
As long as Callum is Callum ("you're the destiny is a book you write yourself guy"), he's worth saving. As long as Callum is Callum, she can be Rayla ("Rayla's brave. She saves people" / "Rayla. My name is Rayla, and I'm going home"). As long as she's Rayla, he can be Callum. Because if Callum isn't Callum, then he's dead, and if he's dead, she can kill him. And if Rayla kills him, if Callum is dead, then she won't be Rayla anymore. Because to literally kill Callum would be to simultaneously symbolically/emotionally kill herself.
Now of course, some of this is already differing wildly.
If Claudia is going to kill Sir Sparklepuff, it makes the most sense for it to have already come to pass in 6x01, whereas Callum and Rayla's plot line would only come later on in the season. Claudia will presumably succeed at her symbolic suicide, but that doesn't mean she's not still worth saving / unable to be saved in the future (perhaps by her family). Rayla will probably fail at her symbolic suicide and succeed at sparing herself through sparing/saving Callum.
However, it's an interesting symbolic thread and potential foil contrast, and I thought it was worth pointing out. I hope you think so too!
TLDR below:
Due to Claudia's parallels to Sir Sparklepuff, if she kills him it holds a layer of her symbolically killing herself. In contrast, Rayla's symbolic suicide would be in killing Callum, as that would destroy her own sense of identity/life. For Claudia, this means likely being saved later by her family, and for Rayla, this means likely sparing Callum and herself simultaneously, thereby saving and sparing both of them.
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Hello.
This might seem like a silly question but it's on my mind. What's the deal with the whole "we're talking on a mobile but let's show the characters in the same room" thing. The first time I saw I think it was Gen Y with Mark and Kit even before the whole separation thing. Then it appeared in MSP. And now in A Boss and a babe. And I'm sure I've seen it somewhere else but I can't recall now. To be honest I don't know if I like it or I hate it but for some reason it's nagging at me that it seemed like it came out if nowhere. Again sorry if it's a silly thing .
Also, love your blog, love the color commentary and I too think it's all on purpose and meaningful.
Hiya, Anon! Thanks for the appreciation! Also, I've written this before, but let me repeat it here - There are no silly questions on Tumblr! People created an entire fake movie, and somehow the BL folks convinced others that KinnPorsche was the Thai remake of it.
Now to your not-a-silly question! First, let me list the shows from the past few years that I can remember doing what you are writing about:
I don't file this in my mind's storage room, so if I miss any, someone shout it out.
See You After Quarantine? - Sato x Bo Chun
Hello, Stranger - Mico x Xavier
Gen Y - Mark x Kit
Fish Upon the Sky - Mork x Pi
GAP - Sam x Mon
HIStory 5: Love in the Future - Hai Yi x Johnny
My School President - Tinn x Gun
A Boss & A Babe - Gun x Cher
Bed Friend - King x Uea
I'm going to make an educated guess.
Looking at the timeline, this didn't come out of nowhere, but came out of necessity - a pandemic!
Gameboys - Gav x Cairo
There was a two-year+ period where many of the globe couldn't touch their loved one. The only way to "see" some family was through calls, so I think directors are making a conscious choice to show people in the same space after many years of that not being a realistic possibility.
I'm sure this technique has been used before 2019, but I think it's more of a sentimental choice to reinforce the narrative - people want to be around their loved ones. Technology is great, but it doesn't replace the feel of people sharing the same space and after having to deal with that for the past few years, we want to see people sharing the same space even if they aren't.
I, personally, like it. In HIStory 5: Love in the Future, Hai Yi was in mandatory quarantine when he spoke to Johnny on the phone, and they had several scenes on the phone where they would appear in the same room, yet when Johnny finally saw Hai Yi in person, he was left in awe.
Both were instantly attracted to each other, and it was believable because even though they were just talking on the phone, we saw them interacting.
Another educated guess is these shows are telling us that meeting and talking through the use of technology doesn't dilute the connection between the two people, but makes it stronger. The physical aspect is pushed aside and the emotional connection is front-and-center. King in Bed Friend is showing Uea that he doesn't just want his body, but he wants his presence. Mork in Fish Upon the Sky wanted Pi to know that he had always valued him as a person regardless of how Pi felt about himself. In Hello Stranger, Xavier and Mico would have NEVER gotten to know each other the way they did without the help of technology. Who knows how @dribs-and-drabbles and I would interact in real life, but in these tags, I'm trying my damndest to get in an ethical non-monogamous situationship, and know that my mama didn't raise no quitter.
TLDR: Technology brings people together, and putting them in the same room reinforces that.
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Hi.....if you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be can be canon or non-canon)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....
I never have, this is a BL blog tho, so I'm sticking to my POV.
Top 10 Favorite Romantic Leads in BL
(in no particular order, I love them all.)
Togawa & Nosue - Old Fashion Cupcake
Ae & Pete - Love By Chance
JaeYoung & SangWoo - Semantic Error
ShinWoo & TaeKyung - Light On Me
Pat & Pran - Bad Buddy
X & Q - 21 Days Theory
Solo & Gui - Oxygen
Sato & BoChen - See You After Quarantine?
Le & Amber - DNA Says Love You
Guang & Qizhang - About Youth
I mostly picked ones who don’t have a ton of angst and willful miscommunication. Also I like couples where we actually see them together in a relationship. I like an on screen dynamic that has a physical component too. In other words i want to see good, caring boyfriends who actually want each other and are shown that way (and not just at the end, sorry Utsukushii Kare.)
Side Couple Favorites
Pick & Rome - Puppy Honey
Ram & King - My Engineer
Mark & OuWen - Love is Science
Khun & Kaow - Brothers
Pitch & Bank - Golden Blood
Touch & Daisy - SCOY
Copy & Nampu - Top Secret Together
Champ & Doc - TharnType 2
San & Aei - You're My Sky
Jack & Zhao - H3: Trapped
I picked specifically couples where I find their actual relationship as a couple both romantic and admirable. For example leads from some of my top BLs aren't on my list because they are often slightly annoying, as a couple, in some way or another that was used to drive the story.
(this post as of Oct 2022, not responsible for couples that come after)
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