#their worldviews and what they've been taught; etc...

[moonlayl]

The Stark and Hargreeves siblings have a special place in my heart because it’s so rare to find characters in western media that have more than two siblings, and even rarer where they’re all relevant to the plot and so widely different. 

[weirdwyvern]

Reading your thoughts on TWSITD and I can’t help but agree that the fact they’re presented as this unambiguously evil monolith instead of like, an actual cult/society/place where people actually LIVE is a missed opportunity. My kingdom for a storyline where there’s an Agarthan parallel to Edelgard and Claude—a revolutionary who knows their people could be so much MORE but the current system needs to burn so they can build something better.

yesss that would’ve been so COOL, there’d be so much room to play with all the complications of taking down a cult/similar. Plus, it grants the opportunity to introduce a wonderfully complex character to the mix—an Agarthan who not only wants their people to prosper, but who recognizes that the Agarthans are being kept from prospering due to their leaders.

Imagine them trying to convince their friends/family to help them in their endeavor (“We don’t have to keep following them, we can leave, life can be so much better for us”) only to be met with mixed responses. Some think they’re out of their mind or just being disastrously naïve, some understand their reasoning but aren’t willing to take the risk (“This life is already good enough, it has to be – it’s safer like this”). The Agarthan character cares about these people, a lot of them are folks they've grown up with; they can’t just lay them all upon the altar to achieve their dream.

Maybe the Agarthan is someone who snuck out of the underground on their own out of curiosity, or maybe they got lost while on an aboveground mission—point is, they started noticing differences between how they’d been taught to view the aboveground world and how it really is. Like a “damn, we’ve been missing out on all this?” sort of revelation. Making some aboveground friends would also be a good way to help change their worldview, get them a glimpse into outside cultures, etc.

Obviously they’d have a lot of internal back-and-forth on whether it’s actually worse Out There, trying to figure out how much they’ve been taught is true, all the while being fed the same propaganda and discouraged from questioning it. The actual topic of leaving would be even harder to work through, especially if all Agarthans have access to some sweet tech like what we see in Shambhala—a lot of them might not have many skills they could use to make a living in outside society. Once the thread’s been snagged, though, there’s little else to do but unravel.

The topside isn’t nearly as dangerous as it’s been made out to be. So why does their government keep saying it is? They’re supposed to be fighting to topple the Church so they can reclaim the surface, but there are already plenty of people up there—some who aren’t familiar with the Church, some who don’t even care. So why do they have to stay underground? Why do they have to keep fighting a battle that is slowly seeming less and less necessary?

Rotating in my brain at a very fast speed is the idea of this hypothetical Agarthan interacting with Rhea, Seteth, and Flayn (assuming they know they’re an Agarthan). Flayn is pretty compassionate and probably the most willing to get along with them of the three, but like…damn, there’s still a lot to unpack there. They might be able to appeal to Seteth a little through a “I don’t want to fight you, I just want to make things better for my friends/family” sort of reasoning; Flayn means the world to him, and though he’s not inclined to trust a descendant of the ones who put them through so much, he can at least empathize with wanting the best for your loved ones. As for Rhea…ngl I don’t see it going well under most circumstances. They would probably need Seteth, Flayn, and Byleth on their side for Rhea to be anything other than 100% paranoid.

Interacting with the three of them would probably be good for the Agarthan, though, considering how Nabateans seem to be viewed by them at large. They go in thinking about all the times they’ve heard the Children of the Goddess described as monsters, how they can’t be trusted, how they’re a blight upon Fódlan, but…dude. These are just people? These are just people. Sure sure they can turn into dragons or whatever, but [waving arm at Flayn] that is a CHILD?

sorry for the ramble but man, that kinda storyline would’ve been both excellent and very compelling considering how well it ties into the overarching theme of “good people can still find themselves on opposing sides of a conflict”

[unstatedmartini]

i am loving all this carlos meta today! granted we don't really know but i feel like it's safe to assume that carlos grew up in a religious household. and even if maybe as an adult he isn't involved in the church anymore it's hard to let go of what you've been taught what a relationship looks like. carlos has always struck me as someone who is fairly conservative in behavior and when combined with his anxiety it means he struggles when situations are messy and not to plan

yeah, that's a good point! through S2 there wasn't really enough to say, but in S3 between andrea at the hospital and carlos wearing the cross necklace so consistently/prominently i think they've clearly established a religious background for carlos. that can't help but inform his worldview in some ways, although we don't know exactly what he was taught and how much of it he still believes

and, in terms of what he was taught about what a relationship looks like, it’s fascinating to me that when he and tk break up he’s so ashamed of how he ‘failed’ to maintain a serious relationship with someone his parents approved of that he puts their imaginary disappointment over his actual need for comfort and support. that’s bonkers! and i think it circles back to how his parents aren’t actually uncomfortable with his sexuality, don’t actually think he’s too soft, don’t actually care that his relationship ended, etc, but their silence over the years has created a space that his anxiety fills with the worst possible assumptions

so yeah i really love his ongoing journey to accepting that the mess and the stress are okay, that nobody secretly hates him, that everybody actually adores him and thinks he’s wonderful and deserves to be happy 😊