#they literally defeat gods with the power of friendship

[terezis]

belos is the most villain of all time. i’m obsessed. who is doing it like that guy. “upstanding christian man” who becomes so twisted by delusions of grandeur that he becomes the literal devil and he still thinks he’s the good guy. he possessed the corpse of a god. he is made of goo. he carved and scarified magical glyphs into his own body. he bit raine. when he was defeated he tried to lie his way out of the loss by pretending the power of friendship saved him and then proceeded to get curb-stomped to death by an amputee, a non-binary band geek, and a raccoon. what a fucking mad lad

[cassandraclare]

Rhea asks" Is Kit going to be like super super powerful? Because I'm rlly rlly rlly excited abt his powers and I'm literally picturing him being like super super powerful (more powerful than like Magnus, Tessa, Clary, Ash, Jace ect. but only once he meets full power obviously). I'm just so so excited!! Also Kit and Ty doing necromancy is going to have major consequences in TWP right? I'm so excited for all the drama when the rest of the Blackthorns find out ect."

Well, the problem with super super super powerful characters is that nothing is really much of a threat to them. You see it in superhero movies where the more the hero powers up, the more his opponent has to be like, THE GALAXY PERSONIFIED. Also it makes the small conflicts of daily life a bit silly, like if you have the power of a god, you don't spend much time worrying about catching the bus.

Not that I want to write a book about Kit being worried about catching the bus. I do like characters with power! — often because what will always remain a challenge to them is other people. Love, friendship, those always remain issues they don't have power over and can't control. Which is fun!

I suppose all that is to say Kit may well be very powerful. But he will also need to be clever, and also need to work with others as a team, if he wants to defeat the fairly enormous evil they have to face in TWP.

And yes, there are always consequences to necromancy!

*if a question doesn't have a tumblr username it probably came in through my website or was posted on Instagram

[moipale]

wish craft uses seen/referred to in-game:

at the favor tree

the king's use of time craft / the island gone / the colors gone

siffrin asking the "change god" for blessings

siffrin sharpening the keyknife

the way that siffrin carves their artwork

the default defeat of the king

hear me out on that last one.

what we know of wish craft is that it requires both a wish and the "correct" ritual to enact. but siffrin's talk about wc in the secret library reveals that "correct" is kind of a wobbly concept—repetition is a key factor, but the amount of repetitions is about "what feels right" rather than any concrete, correct amount. the rest of the details he describes are somewhat favor tree-specific, but we get a general idea that, for a wish to be enacted, you need to: make the wish, create a link between yourself and the universe, and tether yourself to your wish. this leaves a lot of room for what a ritual could actually be, in a concrete sense. (reference for wish craft details here)

thus brings me to defeating the king.

in the canonical ending, the king is defeated when mirabelle reflects his own attack back at him with a mundane use of shield craft. this freezes him in time, and as a side effect frees vaugarde, since (one can assume) he can no longer tether his own wish.

in the default ending, the saviors repeat the word "disappear" five times (once per party member), mirabelle uses some unspecified craft attack, and the king... disappears.

as fun as it would be, i think we can all agree that mirabelle does not have the capability to literally obliterate him on the spot, even with the power of friendship at her side. so! i posit that what actually happened was some accidental wish craft.

my idea requires that we reorder the steps of wc that siffrin lays out in the secret library, so i'll just say that upfront, but given the wobbly nature of "what feels right," to me this makes sense as something that would be viable: that you can switch up the order of the ritual as long as all ritual components are present/all conditions are fulfilled. that's the premise i'm operating under.

so. what happened?

five saviors came together for the singular purpose of defeating the king & built and pursued this intention through a stretch of determined weeks or even months (goal as representation of self/making a link to "what you're wishing to"). in the House, they enter into physical combat with the king (touching & tethering selves to the wish). and at the end of the fight, they verbally speak the same desire, one after the other, their leader/impetus the last voice to speak (making & repeating the wish).

they wish that he disappears. and he does!

the connection between the party & the universe is probably the flimsiest of what i've laid out here, but... i still think it makes sense. all that time on the journey + all that time of wishing, hoping, praying they'd be able to see the journey through and save vaugarde, all that building of desire/determination... for people who don't know about the universe, that feels like as close as they're going to get to it. and for a god whose followers no longer remember how to reach out... maybe it would be more inclined to listen.

[anna-the-undertaker]

Im playing with an incorrect quote generator and I'm sharing them here. They are cracking me tf up.

Belphie: So I can either do something dumb that could very well get me injured or I can listen to MC and not do the thing, Belphie: Well there’s a clear right answer here. Belphie: *proceeds to throw five packs of mentos into a barrel full of diet coke*

Satan: I woke up and chose VIOLENCE. I WILL COMMIT ARSON AND BURN EVERYTHING TO THE GROUND!!! I AM ANGRY- MC: Awwww, you’re so adorable! Give me a hug~ Satan: Wh-What? nO, yOURE SUPPOSED TO BE SCARED OF ME! TREMBLE BEFORE MY WRATH- Lucifer, recording: This is so cute.

Beel: sSSSHIT- I BURNT MY LIP- Belphie: …Why the fuck would you even drink coffee with a METAL STRAW in the FIRST PLACE?? Beel: BECAUSE WE WERE OUT OF THE PLASTIC ONES!

Barbatos: Look, Satan, if you can fit your head down the gun’s barrel, you can assume it doesn’t have a non-lethal setting.

MC: Yes, I'm adopting Satan and you cowards can't tell me no!

Lucifer: *running towards Beel with open arms* Beel: *moves out of the way* Lucifer: Hey, why'd you move?! Beel: I thought you were going to attack me. Lucifer: I was going to hug you! Beel: Why would you hug me? Lucifer: WHY WOULD I ATTACK YOU!?

Levi: The best way to gain someone's undying loyalty is by saving them from a perilous situation. Barbatos: So you're just gonna wait until MC is in danger and save them? Levi: Of course not, I'm going to create a situation that puts them in danger and then save them. Barbatos: … Barbatos: You're insane.

MC: We’re going to defeat you with the power of friendship. Belphie: We’re not friends. MC, holding an axe: We’re going to defeat you with the power of incredible violence.

Lucifer: You’re starting to look like me more and more every day— Satan: *Bursts into tears* Lucifer: Why are you crying? Satan: You’re ugly! I don’t want to look like you! *sobs*

*Satan and Mammon are texting* Satan: Who are you? Someone changed the names in my phone. Mammon: What did they change my name to? Satan: Chosen One. Mammon: Don’t change it back. Satan: BUT WHO ARE YOU?!?! Mammon: I’m the chosen one.

Mammon: "What are you into?" is such a broad question, like do I reply with a TV series or choking?

Belphie: Sorry I can’t be emotionally vulnerable with you it’d ruin the mystery.

Asmo: I don’t think the therapist is supposed to say ‘wow’ that many times during their first session with a client, but here we are.

Mammon: What happened to your nose? Satan: I used it to break some guy's fist.

Mammon: Would it be discrimination to only hire employees at my doughnut shop who have the same name? MC: Legally, I don't believe that breaches any discrimination laws. Morally though… I don't know. Mammon: I believe god is on my side when it comes to Duncans' Doughnuts.

Mammon: Would anyone know any good vendors for professional-quality brass knuckles? Asmo: I know you’re serious, but you say the scariest shit sometimes.

Mammon: look Levi, I'm not slut shaming you but… Mammon: Actually yeah, I'm TOTALLY slut shaming you.

Lucifer: I am the left brain, I am the left brain. "I work really hard until my inevitable death" brain. You've got a job to do, you better do it right and the right way is with the left brain's might. Mammon: I LIKE OREOS AND PUSSY-

Satan: My expectations were low but holy fuck.

MC: *Texts a selfie to the group chat* Hey besties!! Mammon: *Texts a selfie clearly parodying MC's* hey besties !!1! MC: I literally hate you so much.

Satan: What's this? MC, hugging Satan: Affection! Satan: Disgusting. Satan: …Do it again.

Lucifer: I am going to need you to swear- Diavolo: Fuck. Lucifer: Lucifer: …swear as in promise.

Mammon: Pardon me, but it sounds like you’re questioning my authority! Lucifer: Not at all, Mammon. Merely your primitive methods.

MC: *cocks gun* Go to Bed. This is no longer a request, This is now a Threat.

Levi: Wait a minute, how did this happen? We're smarter than this! Beel: Apparently, we're not.

Mammon: *Reading a letter* Satan: Well, what does it say? Mammon: It’s a confession letter. It turns out MC killed my pet rock.

Diavolo: Not to be nsfw but I want someone to hold me while I sleep.

MC: Who else is hiding in the laundry room trying to listen to Diavolo and Lucifer's convo? Asmo: Me. I'm in the laundry basket. Belphie: I'm in the washing machine. Barbatos: I'm in the closet. Asmo: We accept you Barbatos. <3 Barbatos: No I'm literally in the closet. Asmo: Love is love. <3

Belphie (brainstorming ideas for pranking Lucifer): How much would a serial killer mask possibly cost? MC: Well it’s hard to find a high-quality one made out of leather or silicone, but if you did find a good one like that it’d be a couple thousands of dollars. I can try to hook you up with one but I don’t know if I’d be very successful. Belphie: Huh, that’s pretty interesting actually- Wait, how the hell do you know that? MC: …I am very passionate about Halloween, Belphie.

Diavolo: I don't know, it's not my cup of tea. Satan: Well then whose is it? Diavolo, staring at a cup of tea: I don't know!

MC: What’s something you guys are better than Lucifer at? Mammon: Mario Kart. Satan: Yeah, video games. Levi: Emotional vulnerability.

Mammon: Can we talk about that mass email you sent? MC: Why? It was important. Mammon: All it says is, "I'm back on my shit". Diavolo, shrugging: The people need to know.

Mammon: Can you pass the salt? Asmo: Can you pass away? Mammon: Too much salt.

*talking on the phone* Mammon: Remember how I said that MC and I were gonna have a calm night out for once? Lucifer: Yeah… Mammon: Well, we’re in jail. Lucifer: *hangs up*

MC: Go to hell! Lucifer: Where do you think I come from?

MC: I see the red flags, I acknowledge that they're there, and then I completely ignore them.

Satan: We need a distraction. Lucifer: Is anyone here good at jumping up and down and making weird noises? Diavolo, whispering: My time has come.

Mammon: I don’t know, this plan seems complicated. Lucifer: You once said that about an orange. Mammon: They don’t make sense. Apples, you eat their clothes but oranges you don’t.

Diavolo: Mammon and I were crossing the street, and this man drove by and honked at us. Asmo: What did you do? Diavolo: They chased him to the next red light, and reached into his window, and- Mammon: *walking in* Who wants a steering wheel?

[notsohappynotsosad]

Emperor, Stelmane and Gargauth

Sorry I haven't been posting, I got hyperfixated on this theory. Drawings will resume from now

If you’ve completed the game, there’s a chance you know of the reveal that Emperor’s previous associate, Duke Stelmane, has been in fact his thrall. Upon further inspection you may gain some seemingly contradicting information and lots of questions with no answers. This post will be long, but I promise that at the end, most of these questions will be answered. Also, there are pictures.

TLDR: Emperor and Stelmane used to be besties before he enthralled her, but they couldn't defeat Gargauth with their power of friendship.

So, for the uninitiated, what are these questions?

Firstly, when the party enters Rivington and Dream Visitor is revealed to be the Emperor, he will tell us about his life, including that he was partners with Stelmane, though he doesn’t say anything about the thrall bit of course. At this point neither he nor the party knows the Duke is dead. As far as the Emperor is concerned, what he shared might greatly compromise him and he never shares such information when he simply could’ve concealed it.

If you poke around, other questions may arise, such as why was Stelmane’s condition improving after the Emperor's visits? Why was she asking for him? Why was she excitedly talking about him at the Tavern? Why did they hug? Why was she at Elfsong, where he could find her the most easily? Why did she drink wine, which he used to force her to do? Why didn’t she warn anyone about him? Why was she looking through people before the stroke? Why would the Emperor mind control her? Why does he keep her portrait next to his desk? Is he stupid?

Now that I have you hooked (probably), let's introduce our cast.

Emperor – The one and only, our favorite topic for daily arguments. Sluttiest waist in game.

Duke Belynne Stelmane – Gods’ most perfect princess. We all agree to fuck the Emperor for what he did to her (some of us literally). She used to be a member of the Council of Four[1] as well as leader of Baldur’s Gate branch of Knights of the Shield[2]. Had ties to Hhune patriar family, possibly even related. Low levels of waist sluttiness.

Gargauth – better known as the Hidden Lord, a powerful pit fiend imprisoned in the Shield of the Hidden Lord. His portfolio includes betrayal, cruelty, political corruption and power brokers[3]. The Shield has been kept underneath Baldur’s Gate for over a century, spreading corruption in the city due to his presence alone. Such is his influence, that on the condition he’s taken away from the city, the crime rate might drastically drop[1]. He is known to have been communicating through the Shield with a past leader of the Knights, providing him with valuable information and helping the order grow in power while trying to gain worship[3]. Only some of the Hhune family and the highest rank members of the Knights knew about his existence, though in the present day no one is aware of his infernal identity[2]. Gargauth will try to steer his current owner towards acts of cruelty and domination in hopes of condemning their soul to the Nine Hells[1]. In the “Descent into Avernus” ttrpg one of the baddies wants to use the Shield to drag Baldur’s Gate into Avernus in the same fashion it happened for Elturel, but a party of adventurers takes it away before this evil plan is realized[1]. No information on waist sluttiness due to being imprisoned in a shield.

Now that I established myself as a squid fucker and Stelmane as a leader of a devil-worshipping organization, I know what you’re thinking – I’m gonna say that the Emperor had to enthrall this evil cult leader to save the city. Haha, no. Keep reading. Here, have a meme so I don’t lose your attention.

I must begin by clearing some misconceptions. It’s easy to assume that because of the Stelmane scene, all the Emperor told us about her up to that point was a lie. It wasn’t. They had a functional relationship before the mind control took place. (If you already know this, feel free to skip to the next meme.) There are two notes in the game pointing us to that conclusion: a journal found in Hhune mausoleum commonly attributed to Stelmane and a transcribed conversation heard in Elfsong tavern.

This existence of a past relationship also explains the portrait of Stelmane that the Emperor keeps next to his desk and one of his dialogue options when the PC hugs him in act 2.

Later, in act 3, he also has some lines painting a vague picture of the relationship’s nature.

So she was beginning to trust him before he caused the stroke. This makes things so much more messed up.

There’s still one written document, which doesn’t make sense, namely Patient Log:

This is clearly written after the Emperor took mental possession of her and caused a stroke. Why then does he help her and why does she keep asking for him?

Have you ever gone into the Hhune mausoleum and saw this note?

After giving up on solving the puzzle and looking it up online have you wondered who is “HE”?

It’s Gargauth, the Hidden Lord.

In “Descent into Avernus” module the party may encounter an NPC who is a member of the Knights; she is kept by Vanathampur family as a leverage in case it transpires that Vanathampurs stole the Shield of the Hidden Lord from the Hhune crypt [1] – the very same mausoleum present in game. And it just so happens that the key to this very mausoleum is in the Elfsong Tavern’s Knights of the Shield headquarters, where Stelmane and the Emperor had their rooms.

That’s not all. When you solve the Hhune mausoleum puzzle, a secret wall will open, revealing a small room full of the Knights’ symbols. If the Shield hasn’t been stolen, the Hidden Lord would be revealed too, just like the note says.

And what is that on the table? It’s Stelmane’s journal I was referring to earlier.

Stelmane had access to the Shield. And if she did, the Emperor had too.

(Kudos, if you already know where I’m going with this.) Here’s my proposed order of events.

Stelmane and the Emperor meet. At the time she isn’t yet a Duke nor the leader of the Knights. Like any normal person she’s terrified at first, but unlike any normal person she’s willing to collaborate for the sake of the Knights and her own ambition.

Due to having an illithid ally she quickly climbs ranks of the Knights. She grows to trust him and vice-versa. Things are as good as they can be for a determined politician working her way up in a corrupt organization and a renegade illithid helping with this task.

They finally advance to the seats of power. Stelmane becomes a Duke and leader of the Knights of the Shield. Perhaps thanks to this position or due to Emperor prying into minds of the members, they become aware of the Shield of the Hidden Lord kept in Hhune mausoleum.

They begin speaking with the Shield. Neither of them knows the true identity of the entity within it and the Hidden Lord does everything to keep it that way. His information and advice is always good, so turning to it for guidance becomes a habit.

Gargauth being Gargauth makes every effort to corrupt them; it’s not particularly hard. Keep in mind they’re not good people to begin with. She’s someone willing to collaborate with a mind flayer for the sake of taking over an evil organization and he’s one DC 20 persuasion check away from enslaving the city. The devil causes their worst traits to flare up and pitties them against each other.

This results in a power struggle which culminates in the Emperor dominating Stelmane and causing her seizure.

The Shield gets stolen and soon after taken away from the city.

Without Gargauth’s direct influence they (especially the Emperor) realize the fuckup, but the damage has been done.

They recognize the fiend’s influence in this transgression. Emperor starts treating Stelmane, maybe they try to make their relationship how it once was, though it might not be possible.

Emperor gets taken by Gortash and soon after is sent on the Astral Prism heist. Events of Baldur’s Gate 3 happen.

That’s all! Have a meme!

Here’s an extra bit for the interested.

The see-through people gaze is most likely caused by Gargauth’s influence. And before that Wyll says:

Sounds familiar? And from one letter in the game we can learn that Stelmane has a mansion in the Upper City, where the patriar families such as Hhunes reside[2]. Could she be related to Thione-Hhune?

Huge thanks for reading it all! What do you think? Did Larian originally plan to have this side-story of an aftermath of Gargauth’s corruption?

Sources in order of referencing (sorry, I don’t have a better system)

[1] “Descent into Avernus”: p.162, p.174, p.225, p.5, p.40

[2] “Murder in Baldur’s Gate”: p.36, p.51, p.39

[3] “Lords of Darkness”: p.151 (all the info)

[skyscrapergods]

Nono no. I love this au with heart and soul. And the lore and story is the kind of stuff I DO. it's amazing and refreshing seeing someone else do the same.

But I have to beg and pled for more sunburst/sunset content.

You made to things that made me question them

1: sunburst wasn't an accident, so he did something to earn godhood.

2: idk if you ment this in any literal sense but you said sunset was the child of the sun- like Celestia? It sorta makes me think she was one of the 'Flys' celestia interacted with.

Also as I'm here making the ask I'm wanting to clarify somethings like is shining armor and twilight still siblings because from my understanding they couldn't be.

First is was luna and celestia,

Than twilight

By twilight being a god Candace asends noting she's the youngest of the known gods.

And she still has flury heart.

But there's also the unaccounted sunset and sunburst

Which from the information provided I'm making the educated guess that sunset is older than Candace maybe older than twi.

But sunburst is the true youngest before flury.

This is not counting discord and the other mystery gods in the sea.

Sincerely-🐍oro

1: Sunburst was not an accident, nor did he earn godhood. 2: what makes you think Flies is about Celestia?

Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle are indeed siblings. The first alicorns were Celestia and Luna, they ruled together for a time, faced enemies and forged friendships. Then Luna was banished to the moon. Celestia ascended Cadance about 80 years before current events, so she was an alicorn long before twilight and Shining Armor were born. Nightmare moon returned, ascended sunburst, and was then defeated by twilight and her friends. Luna and Celestia ascended Twilight together. Then Flurry Heart is born.

There are others that history has buried. Forgetting is a powerful thing.

[mysharona1987]

Watching Princess Protection Program and Jamie Chung literally just agreed to turn over an innocent girl to an evil murderous dictator who has committed literal war crimes…just so she can be prom queen. That is very dark.

Thank God it was only a Disney Channel film and nothing too bad is allowed to happen to the protagonist. (massive but obvious spoiler: the teenage girls defeat the evil moustache dude through the power of friendship or something like that.)

But Jamie Chang’s character helped a dictator…simply to be prom queen. Regina George would be in awe.

But this movie is very, very ridiculous.

[radiance1]

A random au thought that I barely thunk up before splotching it on here.

So basically, Danny, Sam, and Trucker are doing some bullshit thing and somehow manage to create a whole ass world out of a tabletop game they were playing or something.

Basically DnD I guess.

But anyways, the three create this world so that they can play and do whatever they want. All three of them have legends about themselves from the npc's they's inhabited the world with.

Tucker is the Pharaoh of the night less desert, known as Duulaman. Freeing the citizens from the rule of the Tyrant god Abanoub and brought peace and prosperity to all across the land.

Sam is the Queen of Nature known as Terra, directly on par and sharing interests with Mother Nature. Her legend is that she freed the Forest of Vita and defeated a powerful void entity who sought to use the powers of Gaia to further its own ends for power. Joining forces with Mother Nature who almost fell to its corruption to end the void being once and for all.

Danny, known as Astraeus, unlike the other two, have two different aspects to his legend. Prince of the undead, and the constellation Star Child.

The first one as you should know, is basically Danny being the prince of ghosts, wherein in the world they made the ghosts (and extending too other undead), were disorderly and running rampant among the other races in the continuation of a war that should have longed ended. So, he rounded then all up and took control because the person who was originally supposed to be doing it was... indisposed.

(Cough, real reason is that Pariah Dark somehow got his ghostly hands on the world cords and was like "Hmmm, my son's world is awfully boring time to spice things up" and then shit happened.)

Which in turn, ended the eons long war between ghost kind and the other races.

Constellation Star Child is one he kind of got on accident, his friends made a joke about him being the spawn of death and time itself and being molded from a star. Which the npc's took seriously.

Also doesn't help that he goes out to explore the void and space around their world on numerous occasions to identify any threats that would require his attention (Which is literally just an excuse so he can go and explore space to his hearts content.). And whenever he comes back, it's like a shooting star falling down to earth.

So, after they've done all of their adventures and when it was time for them to just scrap this world and move on. They just, couldn't.

This world grew extremely on them during their time in it (Despite the unexpected inclusion of Pariah Dark), and they just didn't want to destroy it so they just, stayed.

Not like stay stay, more so they come back to it a lot more than they should. Fermenting themselves as these deities or god-like beings who protect and care for their followers or something.

They created a space for the three of them to converse, known simply as the council. A realm sitting on the plane of reality between the world and the void, basically heaven but not really heaven?

Anyways.

So, continuing on with this, the trio splits apart, a feud in reality carrying into their game world that caused Danny to just leave and explore the calmness of the cosmos so he can clear his head.

Sam went to Mother Nature to talk about it and seek aid about the recent crack in three's friendship.

Tucker just went to take care of his kingdom and confide in one of his trusted advisors, much like Sam.

This is when something unexpected happened. Danny never came back to that world, not as if he went back to his reality.

He just never came back.

Something is keeping him from going back, some powerful threat that he's keeping at bay with all of his might while out in the endless nothingness that is the void.

With the absence of his presence, a powerful void creature who managed to slip between the cracks of Danny's notice suddenly sees he's not there anymore for an extended period of time and has its sights on the core of the world, Gaia, and the two goddesses protecting it. Mother Nature and the Queen of Nature.

To distract the one known as the Pharoah, it managed to find what remained of Abanoub and gave him some of its power to combat Duulaman.

Abanoub worked behind the scenes, slowly rising back to his prime state of power and with the added power of the void entity, he managed to corrupt the roots of Duulaman's kingdom and sow discord.

Unfortunately for Abanoub, it couldn't exactly kill Duulaman, so it instead caught him by surprise and put him into eternal slumber.

The void entity who named itself Akasa, just like the previous one. Sought to use Gaia as a power source, but not just the core, but the two goddesses as well.

And with Duulaman and the Star Child of death out of the way, it was free to do so however it wished, though not to say it wasn't extremely careful when it enacted this plan.

Sam didn't know that Tucker was sent into eternal slumber, nor that Danny was never going to come back as soon as she hoped he would. So, when she went to the council and found that she was the only one there, she knew something was wrong.

Mother Nature was attacked while she was on a different plane, with such a coordinated attack on both her and Gaia by Akasa, Abanoub's army, and a recent addition, Chiwa the undead duchess' pawns. She unfortunately fell and became nothing more than power source.

Sam tried, oh she tried. But in the end, after a drawn out battle between her, Akasa, Abanoub, and Chiwa. She fell as well, with the added power Akasa gained from Gaia and Mother Nature, now with the added source of the Queen of nature. He was basically unstoppable.

That didn't mean all hope was lost, with the last bit of her power, she managed to seal all three of them to specific areas.

Abanoub, the Night less Desert. More specifically Tucker's throne.

Akasa, the realm between the world and the void. The council.

Chiwa, the blood lake of the eternal lady.

Their forces were still at large however, with the ghosts under Chiwa's command wishing to continue the war from eons ago. Abanoub's armies spreading across the world to take over their various kingdoms and be forced under his rule.

All two wished to free their master's, who in turn promised to free Akasa when they were free as well.

The rest of the races didn't take this laying down at all, immediately going to war and managing to hold their ground relatively well.

Both sides were at a standstill, with Abanoub, Chiwa and Akasa sealed they lost a signifcant portion of power.

Whereas with the Star Child gone, the Queen of Nature captured, and the Pharaoh of the Night less Desert sleeping, they couldn't push forward no matter how hard they tried.

So, what did they do?

They came together and summoned people from another world of course!

And who did they summon?

The Justice League.

[quitealotofsodapop]

So sonce Wukong is heavily associated with he earth and especially FFM, what if the mountain itself changes to fit Wukong's emotional and physical health? Like when he's sad, depressed, or hopeless it becomes more barren and cold, when he's hurt the earth itself cracks and plants wither and die, whe he's happy it's lush, warm, and beautiful like depicted in the show! It doesn't instantly change of course but slowly, the longer the time Wukong is in a certain mood, the more it affects the mountain. That'd also why the monkeys, who have EVERY reason to be distrustful of a stranger on the mountain considering literally everything in the book, are so quick to warm up to and welcome MK and his family into their midst! Because they make Wukong happy!

Ooo this is such a cool idea.

Wukong being basically the Te Fiti of Flower Fruit Mountain and the surrrounding country of Alolai.

When he ws young and unsure, the islands bloomed with new haphazard shoots and flowers.

When he jumped through the waterfall the first time, the rains came and watered the parched fruit trees.

When he travelled onto the mainland and trained with Sudbodhi, the air became heavy with the winds of his travels - A certain Macaque amongst the troop able to hear where exactly their King was based on how he sang to the breeze. Soon the skies became full of fluffy clouds so thick you could nearly walk (or rather Sommersault on them). It was one of the few joys his people appriciated whilst under the threat of the Demon King of Havoc/Confusion.

The night before the King returned, a great thunder rain occurred - startling all of them awake. A thunder of sadness and anger. But when their King landed home and cut the Demon's head in half with his new powers - the sun shined upon the island once more.

When the Brotherhood was made and friendships forged, the mountain bloomed with new life. Spider lilies flourished in the time the King had been whisked away to the Underworld, and lotus flowers sprang forth upon his return.

When their king lost himself as an attendant of Heaven, the waters in the streams became stale like a horse through, and fruits shrivelled on the branches like they had been dried for a dessert.

Oddly enough, when their King made havoc in Heaven; the most that the mountain experienced was a sudden unseasonable bloom of peach blossoms that dripped a heady dew.

When Sun Wukong was defeated and captured for the Furnance... the mountain Burned.

For 49 days straight.

They at first blamed the war god Erlang that had bested their King in the first place, but he and the rest of the brothers of Meishan rallied to save as many monkey yao as possible from the flames and the subsequent floods of murky ash.

When the Monkey King burst forth from the Trigram Furnace, it sent a volley of burning charcoal comets down to earth. Including onto the Stone Place itself.

And when the Buddha was forced to raise his hand? The island stagnanted.

For 500 years the razed island could not grow more than grass and ferns. No more fruits or flowers bloomed. The water was bitter and black with charcoal. And whats more, humans from the mainland beyond had discovered that the country of Alolai was ripe for the picking...

When their King returned once more at the helm of a fight with his religious master, the island rained for the first time in centuries. As he struck down each and every hunter he found, and saved and returned as many as his people as he could, the island seemed to Revive with the scent of blossoms and peaches.

When he left to rejoin his Pilgrim friends, the fruits and flowers still came, now just less sweet.

His subjects knew immediately knew when something terrible had happened with their King years on. The winds stopped blowing as if a switch had been struck. Stone fruit trees crumbled into dust as if they were diseased. The waters of the streams became salted as if with tears... it took a long time for the island to return to some normalcy after that. Though the plum trees never returned, no matter how ardent the efforts of those who keep mountains orchards.

A great bloom of golden flowers and fruits occurred the day their King had reached the home of the Buddha. The rush of life announced via a clap of thunder. The monkeys of the island hooted and sung for weeks at their King's return.

Many years later, fire broke out on the mountain's peak. Their King returned home with a haunted look upon his face but gave no explaination. They began to see less and less of the Western Horse-Dragon after that day... soon the fruits and waters became stale once more. The only flowers that bloomed were ones of mourning.

On a day, after many of arficially sweetened waters adn fruits, a great aurora of golden and purple lights broke forth in the skies above the island - distracting the King's subject long enough that they missed his wonder and conflict at finding a little stone monkey much like himself. The clouds rained heavy with seawater in the days to come.

And on the day a certain child appeared, the sun shone a hue so beautiful and happy that the subjects of the island just knew someone dear to the King had returned.

The plum trees returned some time afterwards, though the fruits were a little sour. They became sweet once more in the year after.

[kassuthehero]

my favorite riordan characters (just my opinion, don’t come at me)

Magnus Chase

I read MCGoA first (dont judge), so I have sentimental value over this series. I think magnus is literally so hilarious in a tired and confused way. It’s also so funny how Percy was so lost still like after 5 books but Magnus knows so much about the mythology already. Even after reading pjo i thought Magnus was way funnier and better main character than Percy. I think that was because Magnus is 16 in his series and Percy is just 12 in the lightning thief and I was already like 14-15 and liked more mature characters (Magnus is still a child and a dumbass). Magnus is also a very sad character if you think about it. He is basically an orphan bc his father wasn’t there and he witnessed his mothers death. Then he lived in the streets and was probably hungry, cold and scared almost every day. And then BOOM. Suddenly weird shit happens and he dies a gruesome death. Like seriously, a ball of melted asphalt burns through his body… He also never really had time to cope with the being dead thing bc suddenly he's supposed to save the world. Like wtf. Also I get the biggest gender envy ever (don’t ask why, he’s kinda pathetic xd). Best thing is that he’s fruity like I am. Magnus is also the healer so it is really interesting to get the healer's pov, a guy who isn’t your usual hero. Magnus also defeated LOKI, A GOD, with the power of friendship, which is hilarious. Magnus starts the show as a cynical boy who has lost everyone but by the end he has found a new family and moved on and I think that’s beautiful.

2. Will Solace

The absolute sass master. Of course Percy is still the sassiest ever but oh boy does Will come the next second. Will seriously takes no shit. I haven’t read his and Nico’s book yet but just from BoO and tHO I can say he has some balls. Like, one of the first things he does is calling Octavian, one of the biggest bad guys, an anemic loser. WHILE standing nose to nose with him. Like even Nico thought that Octavian was kinda scary but Will just marches right up to him and starts throwing insults. And then he proceeds to stubbornly make Nico rest and heal. He is so stubborn and bossy and I love him for it. Will also has a sadder side. He always puts everyone else before him bc he is the healer so it’s his job. He also was forced to be a leader way too young after he lost his older siblings. Still, he manages to walk around with a smile on his face. Will is so strong and his past is way overlooked. All the fans focus on Nico’s traumas and how Will helped him but never the other way around. Give Will some love, people.

3.Apollon (Lester Papadopoulos)

The most dramatic god ever, like omg. Apollo/Apollon has always been my favorite Greek god and Rick's version is just perfect. He is so annoyingly self centered and arrogant but at the same time he is so sad and vulnerable. I have never cried bc of Riordan's books but the hidden oracle made me sod like a baby. All the regret and pain in the stories about his lovers was heartbreaking. How his heart is stone bc he doesn’t believe in love anymore and how he takes responsibility for all the death he has caused. He is still an asshole but at least he notices it. I relate to him on such a deep level. He masks all his pain with humor and overconfidence just like I do. I haven't finished the trials of the Apollon yet but I can’t wait to read more of him and learn even more sad, funny and interesting things about him as a character.

4.Percy

Of course I have to include our best boy. During the HoO I just kept waiting for Percy’s POV just bc his thought process is the most entertaining in my opinion. He is so unhinged most of the time. Like, everyone is scared of Nico, no, you guys should be absolutely terrified by Percy. Like bro is so close to losing it. Few more inconveniences and he will kill everyone. but at the same time he likes eating blue food and doesn’t know half of the myths the others do. He just does what he feels like doing. My favorite moment was when he and Annabeth were in Tartarus and Percy was about to kill Akhlys by drowning her in her own poison. Like bro is insane. It’s also so sad that he and Annabeth have been in the front lines of war since they were like 12. It’s always them. Like there had to be other heroes right? Or like why couldn’t some minor god handle the situations? I have always loved characters who insult the enemy while fighting and Percy is just like that. At first, I didn't think he was any special but as he grew older, I started to like him more. Probably bc I could relate to him better when he was closer to my age. He also got more serious as he got older. I’m kinda pissed that he gets again a new series even tho Riordan has other characters that have potential. (I MEAN MAGNUS! LIKE PLEASE RICK! PLEASE!)

[the0retically]

The Suckening #13: Breaking Dawn:

What a great finale, that was incredible :)

- “Would you like to know what’s in the center? It’s a baseball diamond” CHARLIE WHAT

- “I land and say ‘I love baseball’” ok Arthur

- Manbat???

- “I say ‘slay’” ok Arthur

- ARTHUR HAS A SNIPER RIFLE NOW??

- I’m crying this is so funny to me

- “I didn’t get to bat” ARTHUR PLEASE

- PLEASE MANBAT BROKE THE MASQUERADE BY ORDERING UBER EATS??

- Manbat going between animal and human is so funny

- HES TWERKING HES THROWING IT BACK OH MY GOD

- CHETS BACK

- I really hope he stays alive

- I love how defeated Charlie sounds when Condi does something smart

- Condi wanting to press a button from the ceiling but Charlie being like “I don’t understand how you could possibly press a button”

- PLEASE?? CONDI’S DOING THE BUTTON PRESSING THING AGAIN LIKE IN PD

- FUCK EDWARD KNOWS ITS EMIZEL

- oh now we’re back with Ben and Shilo :(

- A SHARK WITH SPIDER LEGS AND MACHINE GUNS?????

- HI WEYLINS!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU BOTH!!!!

- but oh god?? Why is this here with Ben and Shilo??

- “Ben it is my fault you’re in here” “no I think I just wandered…it’s ok you said you’re going to walk me home” this is so so sad

- “This is horrible” “yeah it doesn’t end well” “I know…but maybe?” God bizly you sound so hopeful that it could but I really don’t think it will

- Arthur’s theme, it’s so good, I cannot wait for the soundtrack to come out I love it

- Oh? Arthur what are you up to?

- …………..Emizel? Huh??

- THEO!!!!!! ITS THEO HES HERE YES YES YES YES YES YES

- HE GOT IN!!!!!!! HES IN THE CONTROL ROOM LETS GOOOOOOO I LOVE HIM

- ……ok it’s so weird them chanting theo like hi that’s me??

- BUT LETS GOOOOOOO I LOVE THIS ITS WORKING!!!!! THE PLAN IS KINDA WORKING

- awww they’re rolling together I love that—Oop they rolled bad

- Another series of roll offs again??

- WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT NO SAME BIZLY AND GRIZZLY? I—WHAT?

- THEO RESISTED DOMINANT???? OH GOD EMIZEL HAS TO DO THIS AND THEO DOESNT

- NO NO NO NO NO EMIZEL NO NO NO

- I’m literally going to start crying he does not have to kill Theo

- “I need you to attack Theo like he killed your best friend” oh god

- “I should mighty blowed, I would’ve totally blowed him mightily” OK??? WHAT????

- HE JUST TAKES THE DAMAGE WHAT????

- “You look really feral right now” PLEASE?

- “He told me to kill you and I just had to” “well don’t do that man” PLEASE?????

- He just ran into the wall and couldn’t do anything?? Theo nooooo

- “Think about how sexy it is to dash across the room and smoulder” ……ok bebo

- “He has dude with a dream” OH FUCK HE JUST CHOPPED THEO’S ARM OFF????? OH MY GOD???

- “Don’t give me sad baby girl eyes” “I don’t like what’s happening” “you’re the one DOING THIS??” Charlie Charlie please it’s Theo come on it’s Theo

- WHAT?? THEO GRABS HIS OWN HAND TO BLOCK IT????

- “I didn’t realize how attached I was to Theo until now, this shit sucks” YEAH IT DOES CHARLIE DONT KILL THEO

- Yeah Edwards awful I hate him

- This is so—:((((

- Emizel botched, please theo get out of there

- “Hey Zoolander!” YES THEO PERFECT

- NOOOOOOOOOO EDWARD DODGED

- THEO IS CRACKED I LOVE THIS

- CHARLIES YELL FOR THEO OH MY GOD

- THIS IS CRAZY THEO IS AO SO COOL

- THE DICE ARE TELLING THEIR STORY THIS IS CRAZY

- NO NO NO NO NO DONT MAKE EMIZEL FORGET ABOUT THEO BUT DONT PUT THEM IN THE GAMES NOOOOOOO

- WHAT?? EMIZEL WHAT???

- HE STANDS BACK UP WHAT THE FUCK??????? THEO LETS GOOOOOOOOOO YES!!!!!!!

- How is Theo still alive???? What the fuck??

- “I have the power of a god and he’s just a boy” YEAH BUT HES DOING GREAT!!!!

- He just has to leave Theo?????? Oh god this is not good

- “I really don’t want to look like a bat” PLEASE OH MY GOD

- Awww void is here :) I love her

- Cradle Manbat ok Arthur

- “And a new hope is another” “nope that’s Star Wars” PLEASE

- “You suck somebody’s soul out and you say POGGERS??” Oh my god perfect

- Charlie is having such a hard time with this map oh my god broooooo??

- “Definitely talking to Viv about that one” I love their friendship so much

- :((( shilo and Ben

- “Penguins are not birds” OH GOD????? YES THEY ARE??? WHAT????? WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THIS CONVERSATION GRIZZLY WHAT?

- Shilo finds the receptionist now??? Oh god this is horrible

- Oh god, grangle is now here

- “What do you mean bait shilo” GOD CHARLIE THIS IS SO SO SAD I HATE THIS

- This is heartbreaking, Charlie please

- “Oh god what was her name, I don’t remember” “you don’t even remember” CHARLIE PLEASE BIZLY IS TRYING

- like bizly truly is having the worst time out of all of them

- GABRIEL??????? WHAT???? IS THAT HIM?????? HES BACK????? IM SO!!!! OH MY GOD??????

- HES HERE!!!!!!! HI GABE!!!!!!

- Oh god……..it’s been announced to everyone

- He just immediately kills him oh my god

- WHAT GABE JUST BIT HIM BACK??

- A SUCK OFF??? HUH??

- CHET NOOOOOO CHET NOOOOOOOOOOO

- TAYLOR YES!!!!!

- “Another nameless, I’m slipping the more I look at you, tell me: why should I stop?” Arthur :(((((( please :((((

- BOOGIE BOMBED????

- “Ok Ben we’re going to go this way” “just looks at you” “you can—“ :((((((((((((((( shilo :(((((( nooooo this is so sad

- It’s between Ben or the body :( shilo is just trying his hardest

- Charlie this is devastating why are you doing this

- Shilo is just trying so hard to save him

- Shilo got no successes, please Charlie just let Ben speak

- Charlie what the fuck, “he sees a bird :)” nooooooooooooooo nooooooooooooo

- I hate hearing how sad Bizly and Charlie are because this is horrible

- “And Ben goes home” CHARLIE PLEASE

- bizly…..bebo…..Zach, it’s full name time, that last memory is so sad oh my god

- This is—god

- Ok but Arthur and Shilo have reunited at least

- “I shouldn’t have PLAYED THEIR GAMES” :((( shilo

- “Can you just tell me what to do?” Shilo please :(

- They’re all reunited but god they’re all so defeated

- TAYLORS HERE

- THE WEYLINS!!!!! THEYRE BACK!!!! HI HI

- I love that they are just constantly cutting the cameras when Taylor’s there and doing something

- God Grizz just has banger monologue after banger monologue

- “What about fighting the beast and about holding on?” “Yes.” “Can-can you not just hold on?” Oh :((((( that’s absolutely devastating “I’ve been holding on for a long time and there is too much I have still get to find.” Arthur :(((

- Bizly is a fantastic actor holy shit, man’s popping off I adore this

- “The rules were clear from the beginning, we just never thought to look at them” damn emizel, yeah you’re so right

- “I’m beginning to understand your mother” :(

- Arthur please don’t let this be goodbye

- Found a cave but “finish the show” FUCK ME

- Now they have to fight each other, god damn it

- Arthur please go for Edward

- YAY HE GOES

- “You kinda want to kill shilo” oh my god?????? No no no???

- Taylor’s back!!!!! AND HES DYING TO FIND EDWARD WOOOO

- this is batshit oh my god

- I love how all of them are like “yeah I don’t care if Taylor is the one who kills him go for it”

- EMIZELS GOING FOR EDWARD LETS GOOOOOOO YAY!!!!!!!!

- Arthur and Edward being friends in the past is something that is so odd to me

- Oh?? Arthur?? What??? Arthur’s pulling a Harlem Shade

- Edward just runs away???

- Oh god and Shilo is back there too

- “You know what they say in my home country? Fuck it we ball” YEAH SHILO!!!!

- oh and he just botched oof

- Shilo??

- WHAT?

- EDWARDS BEAUTY IS RIPPED FROM HIM??? HOLY SHIT FUCKING HELL SHILO LETS GO????

- “They’re watching Edward, they’re disgusted by you” oh my god

- “And you can replace it after this session” ……..is this not the finale?

- “You ruined your mothers life too” WHAT THE HELL EDWARD??

- What do you mean you’re not leaving emizel??

- No scar? Huh?? Nooooo it wasn’t really him

- Oh :( he’s going to hug Arthur :((

- Only emizel could say “I’m gonna die here…see you guys tomorrow”

- They all hug :(

- Oh he’s thinking of Theo as he waits for the sun :(

- :(( Arthur thinking about how he failed the twins :( Arthur you deserve peace!!

- Shilo what goes on in your mind “vampires fucking suck” yeah fair enough

- Pile of ashes and a note

- He’s at 4 lives now

- “There’s no going back, but maybe there’s going forward” oh I love that quote

- AWWWWW LAZARUS!! “now those are my boys” HE!!!!

- FIRST SEASON??? HOLY SHIT!!!!! THE BOYS ARE STAYING!!!! YAYYAYAYAYAYYYAYAY

[where-i-overanalyze]

Soul Eater characters and their MLP Gen 4 equivalents

i will be disregarding all ships and familial relationships for this purely because it would make it WAY too complicated and this is my silly little haha. i already put too much thought into it, i cannot burden my mind with the restraint of familial and romantic relations.

first up, the main 7 characters. starting with the one who inspired this all:

Maka as Twilight Sparkle

she's got the wings, she's got the book smart, she's got the power of friendship on her side, it's perfect. this was all started b/c while rewatching the anime, we joked that Maka's dubbed voice sounded like Twilight. this one is the strongest comparison, it gets worse from here.

Soul as Spike

no offense to Soul, but he's usually secondary to Maka most of the time. snarky, sassy, and often asking questions. also, his name is Spike, Soul's got spiky hair, it makes sense.

Black☆Star as Rainbow Dash

cocky, proud, super strong, fast, and blue!! a lot of their development revolves around like valuing other people (Black☆Star is more about like,,,, becoming his own person but y'know) also they both have scratchy voices.

Tsubaki as Fluttershy

calm and mild mannered, but also on occasion has the ability to go apeshit. befriends someone who is quite strong and obnoxious that most characters find annoying.

Death the Kid as Rarity

obsessive about appearances and has a particularly fancy way of talking. pale?? distinctive hair. makes sense.

Patty as Pinkie Pie

no explanation necessary.

Liz as Apple Jack

older sister figure! blonde and realistic, kinda tough and used to having to work for stuff (though Liz doesn't have to do it too much anymore now that she and patty are chilling w/ Kid) also, AJ was the only one left of the mane 6 lol.

Crona as Princess Luna

obviously the moon connection, duh. dark aesthetic, doesn't understand other people, and gets kinda possessed by madness!! which leads into my next choice

Kishin Asura as Nightmare Moon

evil!! but also because they were a bit misunderstood. spreads their powers across the entire world. possesses someone who is also part of them. lives on the moon.

Lord Death as Princess Celestia

tall and a god figure, but also kind of royalty? super OP but also we barely get to see them fight or use their powers ever so that our lovely main characters can be the ones to defeat the big bad. questionable morals at times.

Stein as Discord

crazy ass bitch!! tall and a slightly concerning amount of people simp for them. looks stitched together, stuff sticking out of their heads.

Marie as Princess Cadance

Ox as Snips

weird hair,,,,,,,,,,

Harvar as Snails

tall?? Harvar's a spear so he's tall by default. he's also gold-ish when he's in weapon form so that counts, also pointy b/c unicorn and spear.

Jackie as Octavia

Jackie has to be Octavia b/c her name is based off of cellist Jacqueline du Pré and even though Jackie doesn't play cello, this is who she must be to fulfill her destiny. also, they both have dark hair.

Kim as DJ Pon 3 (Vinyl Scratch)

gay. unicorn, so she has magic like a witch

Kilik and the Pots as the Cutie Mark Crusaders

there's three of them and they are inseparable. do not separate them. Kilik can be Sweetie Belle b/c he's standing in the middle.

Sid as Big Mac

man of few words. super strong and ,,,,,,, angular?? idk they're both kinda blocky. sad eyes,,,,,,,, UNDERRATED.

Naigus as Zecora

doctor!!! also if i was a pony, i would have a crush on Zecora. i have a crush on Naigus. this is my reasoning.

Medusa as Chrysalis

evil. weird and confusing hair!! dark aesthetic with one accent color. insanely manipulative, undeniably slaying.

Arachne as The Storm King

this one comes as a suggestion from Tumblr mutual (and my literal current college suite mate) @xaltiide she says that this guy is "the big bad" but isn't doing Most of the bad stuff in comparison to the other villains.

and finally, my grand finale

Giriko and Justin as Flim and Flam

they suck!!!! they suck SO BAD!!!!!!!! and they're evil. HORRIBLE.

anyways, happy April fools everyone. i finished the last half of this post while an edible kicked in on a Friday night and i feel like that probably shows in what i have created, but i will stand by this.

[toghrahkunok]

Come play the Starfinder 2nd Edition Playtest!

We have:

The Twitch Streamer (Envoy)

With abilities such as

- "mods, kill that guy"

- networking

- diss track

- The leader, the plan guy, the silver-tongued schemer that may or may not have shot first

The Power of Friendship (Mystic)

With abilities such as

- no literally a direct quote from the class is "You defeat your foes with the power of friendship and overwhelming firepower."

- psychic life bond between all of your mutuals

- the universe has a soundtrack and by god you're hijacking the aux cord

- A tremendously powerful spellcaster that forges metaphysical connections with their friends and the universe at large

Bond Name's the james (Operative)

With abilities such as

- what the fuck why are you so good at killing people

- there's literally a feat called 360 No-Scope

- shoot the gun right out of their hand, or the grenade right out of the air

- A tactical, deadly class that's better with gun than you are at breathing

Space Magic Bullshit Knight (Solarian)

With abilities such as

- zero-waste usage of every stage of a star's life cycle

- destiny 2 supers/overwatch ultimate abilities (supernova go brrr)

- at-will wormholes my beloved

- An in-your-face fighter that wields light and gravity to mulch things like their stellar inspirations do

Tea-For-Two Heavy Weapons Guy (Soldier)

With abilities such as

- you are heavy weapons guy

- more of a mobile artillery platform than a rifleman

- 410,757,864,530 expended shell casings

- The closet thing you can get to playing an anthropomorphized tank, with insanely bulky armor and a specialty with the heaviest weapons in the game

The... uh, the. wait. hang on. The- (Witchwarper)

- YOU SHOULD NOT EXIST

- YOUR MERE PRESENCE HERE STANDS AGAINST THE VERY FABRIC OF THE UNIVERSE

- (you can aquire an ability that straight-up removes an entity from reality)

- A class of impossibility within quantum fluctuations, you exist via a Paradox of varying implication and thus must also have an Anchor to the world

[tsuchinokoroyale]

I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on JJK. Admittedly, I’m not well versed in shonen, so I never even considered that it was trying to subvert the genre.

P.S. Thank you for the consistently thoughtful takes and hot ass 😘

Ooooo boy I hope you’re ready for a whole ass essay 😎😎😎

Shonen as a genre has changed over time as any art form does, but it is still mired in tropes that can be traced back to the classics. The shonen genre is thus named bc its target demographic is boys to young men, for our discussion we’ll say teenage boys. While it obviously has big appeal for other demographics, it is mainly designed to both appeal AND communicate life lessons to that crowd of impressionable kids.

Because of this dual function you get this really odd genre full of super powerful special boys who love their friends but have no qualms about slaughtering their enemies. They typically espouse lessons about the merits of hard work, sticking to your beliefs ((so long as your beliefs are beneficial to society at large)), of goodness and friendship triumphing over evil. Look no further than DBZ and Naruto which can broadly be divided into Battle Arcs and Training Arcs, upping the ante for our special boy main protagonists until we literally have them fighting gods as the logical extreme of continuous escalation.

The Standard™ Shonen formula has a boy main protagonist who’s got some sort of motivation that is so ideologically pure that he’s basically impossible to defeat. Goku loves to fight, Naruto wants to be hokage, Tanjiro wants to cure his sister and slayer all the demons, etc. He forms/joins a band of merry outcasts with their own tragic backstories and sets out to defeat whatever villain appears for that arc. If they win, arc is over move onto training arc, if they lose, they train, fight and win, then train some more. The fun of the genre comes from the colorful side characters, and the little twists that come with each battle system, which brings us to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

At the time JJBA was being published, the big influence on manga was big beefy male led 80s action movies and Fist of the North Star, a manga about a beefy martial artist named Kenshiro going around beating baddies in a post apocalyptic world. Battle systems in Shonen were usually incredibly soft, most tied to physical combat enhanced by some poorly defined life force energy that could be called upon to even out fights and give big climactic finishes, like Ki from dragon ball and their iconic kamehamehas. Even JJBA starts off this way, with our beefy boys learning Hamon/Ripple and duking it out with vampires, til my man Hirohiko Araki was like “mmmm this is kind of limiting. Time to Change Everything~” and he came up with the concept of Stands, incredibly limited psychic/magic abilities that manifest as furries or sexy robots or a Lego version of the White House (?). You can see this idea really grow and expand within the part it’s introduced, going from “fire furry” and “robot knight with sword” to “guy whose stand turns into a ball that immediately erases anything it runs into but he can’t really see what he’s attacking since he has to be inside his stand in order for it to work also his name is Vanilla Ice and he’s a vampire in a thong.”

You can FEEL the impact this had even to this day. Stands became Jutsus in Naruto, quirks in MHA, Nen in HxH, Cursed Techniques in JJK. And part of what made it fun was that it added strategy to the mix! Str8 physical fights are hard to strategize bc it’s basically just a numbers game, right? Like bc his power level is over 9000, it’s going to be a tough time until some plot contrivance and/or training occurs to drive *my* power level over 9000. But now there is an additional layer of *how* these powers interact.

My ability is to blow bubbles and his ability is to turn a single person who comes into contact with bodily fluids into a mindless zombie? Create bubble shields so they can’t splash blood on you. My ability is to fold anything into origami and if you touch the origami you begin to see one object as something else and his ability is an automatic tracking stand that hunts me down by creating face shredding tornados when I breathe? Make a city bus look like my dad ((part 8 is fucking nuts)).

As you can tell, JJBA really burst open the dam on creativity, but as per the examples I’ve given they can often feel very… silly and contrived. The Serious Anime Fan™ will complain and say those fights are full of asspulls, which they are, but that’s very much part of the fun of the series. BUT because diversity is the spice of life, you also get artists who are less interested in adhering to the Rule of Cool and more interested in making things explicitly “logical” which is how we get Hunter x Hunter.

While JJBA dabbles in using stands for characterization, HxH goes HARD into it. Nen abilities are ((usually)) manifestation of their user’s idea of power, creating a direct link between who that person is and what they can do as a result. This is balanced by people having innate Nen types which means the kinds of abilities they can use are limited, though there are rules restrictions and exceptions to this as well. We know all of this bc mangaka Togashi literally gives a college level lecture on Nen in the story, describing how it manifests, how it works, what it can and can’t do, and how individual rules can supersede the basic set of rules and the rules for doing that. I call this style Erudite Shonen, bc bitches be TALKING. In erudite Shonen, powers usually fall on the complex side, even Bungee Gum, which has the properties of both rubber and gum, can be used in insane ways like ricocheting bullets, gluing minors together, and/or cheesing a game of dodgeball and it’s all both shown AND told.

Now where does JJK fall into all this? Listifying the common Shonen tropes we have A Special Boy main protagonist with a pure motive, a crew, goodness triumphing over evil, prioritizing bonds and community over selfish gain, and the winning power of hard work.

Early JJK fits the mold pretty well. Yuji Itadori starts off the series special, with superhuman fitness before he ingests sukuna’s finger at which point he becomes a Naruto analog, where he is strong because he has a powerful spirit trapped inside him. He has the rather off kilter but still acceptable goal of “dying a proper death”. His squad of mentor Gojo, Fushiguro, and Kugisaki is established by episode 3. The villains are cursed spirits who want to eradicate humanity, the good guys are the jujutsu sorcerers who say “no u” to that. Yuji wants to gain power to protect others instead of just becoming powerful himself. And there’s a training arc! Sure, it happens after Yuji gets his heart ripped out, but he’s not even dead that long. Even the powers in early JJK present themselves as pretty simple, Fushiguro does shadow summoning, Kugisaki does hammer and nail resonance, panda, Inumaki does cursed speech.

It wears its darkness on its sleeve however, presenting Junpei as a potential future team member only to shockingly kill him. The whole star plasma vessel incident casts an unflattering light on Jujutsu society. But none of that COMPARES to the shitshow that happens in Shibuya, where JJK finally shows its real hand.

Over the course of the Shibuya arc, we watch our protagonist mount an offense against the villains that have been building themselves up over the course of the show, sacrificing so so much just to ultimately… lose. The Shibuya arc subverts not just idiosyncratic plot beats but story telling traditions as well. “The strongest” loses, multiple fan favorite characters are either taken out of commission or outright killed, the story progression slams the fast forward button as Yuji goes from having ingested 4 out of 20 fingers to 15/20 resulting in mass civilian casualties because his version of the 9 tailed fox is an actual monster, and ((meta-narratively)) worst of all, Yuji doesn’t even get to defeat his arch-rival, Mahito. Instead Mahito is unceremoniously absorbed by other big bad Geto/Kenjaku. It’s supremely unsatisfying and the weight of the tragedy is so immense you wonder how our heroes are gonna come back from this.

And thus begins the “deconstruction” phase of JJK. Cuz they just… don’t. As dark as Shibuya got, a standard Shonen would then go on to give the heroes a big fat W, some sort of come back after all that. But not JJK! Bc JJK is subversive 😏 this means the fact that the story is super unsatisfying is like, the point mannnn. This isn’t the worst thing that can happen. Chainsawman is also a story of major L’s and minor W’s and it’s my #1 favorite modern manga series. The difference is in intent, however. Chainsawman works as well as it does bc at its core, it loves Denji. He REALLY goes through the ringer, but it’s all in service of understanding what life is like for someone trapped on the hedonic treadmill and how one can ((attempt anyways)) to break out of it.

And then there’s JJK. It truly feels like the manga is designed to tear Yuji’s self sacrificial mindset to shreds for the sake of making him suffer and for the reader to feel bad for ever feeling like good has to triumph over evil. The real problem is, it feels as if the series is bending over backwards to make this shit happen.

Part of the change over is what was a previously simple-ish battle system goes full Erudite Shonen. There were hints that cursed energy could get more complicated, what with domain completion competition and guaranteed hits and simple domains and that one guys FPS ability I can’t explain. But we go FULL HxH level afterwards. All of a sudden oxygen delivery to the brain becomes important to cursed technique, there’s domain range and boundary fidelity and incomplete domain properties, disruption of somatic components becomes a factor, and… it honestly feels like utter nonsense at times.

Complexity isn’t bad, like I mentioned I LOVE HxH and could probably explain the chrollo-hisoka fight if you gave me a few hours to study, but I could not tell you all the new rules for cursed energy that seem just kind of invented on the spot in random chapters during this back half of JJK. Bc they involve concepts never really mentioned before, it feels like an asspull, like this was something made up to force the situation at hand. Thing is, more of those situations only benefit the villains. You get shit like a character winning a battle at the end of one chapter and then starting the next one to find they were killed off screen moments later, actually. It’s just like yeah it’s subversive, but the reason stories aren’t told like this is bc this shit sucks lmao. I think out of all the plans the heroes make like only a handful of them are actually successful, and even then they get so unwound by the next step in the plan that they may as well have not happened. It doesn’t help that the abilities are so complicated now you’ll get a chapter dedicated to explaining what one guy can do just to have him wiped off the face of the earth the next one.

So the crew is gone, our special boy is actually the most disempowered guy ever except for the fact that he can’t be killed for some reason, the good guys are NOT doing a great job standing up to evil since like 86% of their plans fail or have bad results, a gag character wins one of the most important fights in the story and it’s unironically the best thing JJK has done in a while, and it’s all just a very confusing slog to read. This is the danger of writing subversion for the sake of subversion with intent for contempt, kids 😮‍💨

Granted we aren’t at the end of the story yet so maybe I’ll be wrong and there’ll be like a reset button that fixes everything (( which would also suck )), but yeah. JJK wants what HxH did in the chimera ant arc but forgot that that story was possible bc it was fundamentally about humanity and love, not just the parts about how people suck and goodness can fail.

If you made it this far congratulations you’re entitled to one big kissy on ur forehead from me and barnaby 😚😚😚

[castlephantom]

Lament of Innocence things that I question myself (if I'm not alone 👀):

"They trusted each other completely, and they were bound by an old friendship."

The age gap between Leon and Mathias is literally 10 years. But that allows me to have some headcanon that Leon and Mathias knew each other because possibly their fathers were also knights or their mother had known each other.

"Rinaldo: The only person who truly understands it is Mathias.

Leon: If you are an acquaintance of Mathias, you are trustworthy."

Like how long Rinaldo and Mathias knew each other. Some think that they met few years ago but then is this line:

"Rinaldo: His family has a book of secret arts, originally handed down orally."

Which this gives me a theory that Mathias met Rinaldo when he was young. I can't exclude the possibility that Rinaldo also knew Mathias' father. I want to imagine that Mathias' father searched an alchimist and somehow he met Rinaldo.

"Succubus: Th-That old man... his own daughter..."

This really interesting aspect that Rinaldo's daughter, Justine, served her at one point if we take the comic, but I want to think that Justine was a teenager when she was turned by Walter and then was given to serve the Succubus. But then the alchimist says:

"Rinaldo: ... And at the center of it were the bodies of my wife and son... I could not believe my eyes... My daughter was there, laughing, blood dripping from her mouth..."

Justine was probabily outside before she became a vampire. After she was turned, she killed her mother and brother (and I think that she was the second born while her brother was the first born) and Rinaldo was in shock state.

The reason why Rinaldo didn't tell to Leon in the first place is because was uncomfortable topic after someone when really in hell and when he killed his daughter, Rinaldo cried about his family after he lost against Walter and stayed in the cabin, but want a revange for Walter had done to him.

"Rinaldo: Making the Philosopher's Stone is the ultimate goal of alchemy... It provides eternal youth. The two other stones were apparently created accidentally. No details of how they were made remain now."

So the Ebony and Crimson stones were creared accidentally? But if we look to create the Philosopher's Stone where were needed four stages:

nigredo, the blackening or melanosis

albedo, the whitening or leucosis

citrinitas, the yellowing or xanthosis

rubedo, the reddening, purpling, or iosis

This give a me a theory that the where other 2 stones besides the Ebony Stone (the weakest) and Crimson Stone (the strongest).

"Leon: I abandoned everything in order to save Sara! I could... I could never do such a thing."

At this point Leon was really in the most desperate to save Sara only to find out that Walter vampirized her. Leon didn't want to sacrifice her, but Sara felt that she would become a monster. Saddly, Leon made the choise that would bring the existence of the most iconic warpon: Vampire Killer.

"Walter: I see... It seems you have enjoyed the gift that I gave you.

Leon: Yes, thanks to that, I now have the power to defeat you."

Literally Leon was trying to say: Thanks for turning my girlfriend intro a vampire and now I have the power to kill you. (I didn't want to make joke about this, but this was probabily in Leon's mind)

"Mathias: That was my goal. It was my revenge against God!"

One thing that Mathias did this was because Elisabetha died and he was jealous of Leon that Sara was alive. But as I mention in the my post of cause of Elisabetha's illness, which I believe that was the real reason why she died.

"Leon: Is this what the woman you loved would have wanted? The Mathias I know would not have loved such a woman."

At first I thinked that "your wife didn't want you to become like this" but then something was in my mind that "do you ever thinked that your wife would be happy". Seriously Mathias. How selfish you could be? He uses Elisabetha as a pretext at this point for his goals.

"Mathias: Elisabetha was a kind, honorable woman. She was concerned only for me to the very end... That is why I hate Him! Am I wrong?!"

Are you sure, Mathias. I really think that Elisabetha is probabily felling sad at her husband's actions. Imagine if Mathias' parents watch at their son from afterlive and and be like: "... seriously son?! We didn't raises you like that!?". Also would be an argument between Leon's and Mathias' parents.

But imagine that after the events and Leon suddenly tells to Rinaldo about what happend:

Leon: Mathias is a vampire.

Rinaldo: Unfortunatly, he would become like Walter.

But after that tragedy, Leon married a woman that started the liniage so their descedents will hunt Mathias.

[feliciadraws]

*FINAL FANTASY XIV SPOILERS*

Well, that's it! I'm done with Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn! And what a wild ride that was! And I'm not even done, since I'm now moving on to the patch content and then the expansions! So, after the momentous battle with the Ultima Weapon and Gaius van Baelsar, none other than Lahabrea, or the Lahabrea-possessed Thancred, decided to show up to the battle, and in true anime villain fashion, went on to tell us that the Ultima Weapon isn't just a giant primal-eating mech monster, but it has something else inside it, something even the Allagans themselves didn't fully understand, something called the Heart of Sabik, which I have yet to learn about in my watchthrough but it sounds ominous. Lahabrea then divulged that he sought the life force of the primals primarily to "quicken" the core, which I assume is why he was working with the Garlean Empire, and he also spoke about his 'god', whose 'rebirth' he is working towards. And after his little anime villain monologue, he then unleashed the weapon's ultimate power, Ultima, an immensely powerful spell that was basically a freaking magic nuke that destroyed the whole area and everything within the blast radius except himself, the Ultima Weapon and of course the Warrior of Light. After the final destruction of the Ultima Weapon itself it was then a showdown with Lahabrea himself, with not just the fate of Eorzea but Thancred's fate at stake here, and in the final moments of the epic, mano-e-mano battle, Hydaelyn herself summoned the WoL and Lahabrea to the void where she dwells, and then urged the WoL to form a 'blade of light' from the aether crystals that had been collected over the course of the game, and, using the blades of light, literally BLASTED Lahabrea and YEETED him out of Thancred's body, leaving him vulnerable, and then (this part gave me actual legit goosebumps btw), using the combined spirits of all the Scions and the figureheads of the Grand Companies AND Cid and Alphinaud, all the friends and allies the WoL had gained over the course of the story, then came together and VANQUISHED Lahabrea using the power of pure light (and maybe friendship hehe), destroying the crystal binding him to Thancred in the process. Hydaelyn once again spoke to the WoL, praising her and hailing her as a true Warrior of Light, but also spoke of the 'Dark One,' who watches from the shadows, warning us of an even greater threat. I definitely have reason to believe that this 'Dark One' might be the 'god' who Lahabrea and the Ascians worship. After a mad dash out of the now exploding Imperial stronghold on our sentient magitek armour walker, the WoL made it back with Thancred and reunited with the Scions, and with that, we could finally celebrate a moment of peace. The Garlean Empire is defeated (for now, anyways), and the Grand Companies and their figureheads, Kan-E-Senna, Raubahn and Merlwyb ushered in the Seventh Astral Era, and of course, a realm reborn! But, things are far from over. The celebrations were interrupted by a massive roar, which could only mean a new primal had awakened, and elsewhere, it turns out we are far from done with Lahabrea, who appeared out of the darkness with his Ascian buddies. And we also saw this;

A crystal, just like Hydaelyn's but DARK...is THIS the dark one Hydaelyn warned about?

Ugh I am so SO invested in this (and I'm not even playing it), and that's me done with A Realm Reborn, so now I'm moving on to the patch content and eventually the expansions!

Oh and big BIG thanks to @mikanashii and @bamboorocket for getting me into this, because this is one of the best things ever.