#this ask really did help a lot actually

[rockingthegraveyard]

Not a lore thought, but as a kid I was so in love with the Song of Healing that I would just wait there in the Clock Tower listening to it while leaving my N64 running and just contemplate the tragedy of Link's life. I remember thinking how unfair and lonely his life was. When I learned about the Hero's Shade while playing TP, I was destroyed 😔

That's so valid. There are many times where I would just leave a game running just so I can listen to it. Or, like, during a cut scene. I just won't progress the text so I can listen to the music for tht scene.

Zelda just has so much good music and they range for so many emotions. Song of Healing is such a good one to just sit and listen to.

[can-of-slorgs]

The other researchers are also here! (magical edition!)

[nibbelraz]

shang qinghua deserves to be a) squeezed like a stress ball and b) a god who kind of but not really lost control

And now I want to talk about how cool it would be if like uh uh the system and sqh were having custody battles over who has more control over the world and obviously its the system the system is really wierd and thats an entire discussion but qinghua is the author and that's really really important to me he should write stuff into existence I think but also last week I had an idea that went like uh sqh loses more and more power as he changes things, so when he's transmigrated in as a baby he loses a lot of 'power' unintentionally and then when mobei comes in there's a thing and when sy comes in he literally just loses it all and he knows this inst really his story anymore

Aahahaha it's 2am I'm gonna stop yammering now good luck on your future endeavors

Mobei is always squeezing Shang Qinghua like a stress ball but affectionately

I, on the other hand, squeeze him and shake him around like a chew toy

Your idea tho!!!! I'm very interested in that!!!

CUSTODY BATTLE OF POWERS a fitting description

It's kinda like, yeah he was a God of that world because he wrote it out and can change anything on a whim.

But once you're actually a part of that world, well it's a little hard to change it since you're living in it.

I'm really interested in Shang Qinghua slowly but surely realizing he's not really in his own story. Yeah he wrote it yeah he made the character but when does the line between "I wrote this character" and "theyre an in depth person with feelings and lives and to me they were only written in a second but here they're actually someone " blur

He spent his whole second life clinging to everything to live and worrying about that characters future and using everyone around him to save himself

When did he really see these people as...people

A one off character becoming his friend

A minor character dying to advance the plot, does he see the grief? Does he say they're characters to help digest what he's done? He never meant for any of this to be real, so how does he handle it?

Does he finally see everyone as real, or does he simply become a character as well?

[moeblob]

What Deacon thinks: what did that mean? did he want me to wear a collar too? why else would he mention my neck? i mean, if he /asked/ me i would wear one but he didn't so would wearing one be weird?

What Ymber meant: It's nice to be near someone who isn't tethered to this world to serve it with a physical reminder for all to see.

[daincrediblegg]

Nothing wrong with me

[problemswithbooks]

Do you think Cat was being genuine when she told Violet that Xaden is incapable of love? Maybe her gift let her see Xaden’s truest feelings? I think that was such an interesting part of the fight, and it seems to be overlooked by most of the fandom.

It's likely the author didn't mean it to be genuine, and only having it be Cat being an asshole. That or from Cat's PoV she does believe it, but that's because Xaden never loved her because she's a bitch.

The thing is, I always had an issue with how RY wrote Cat and Xaden's past relationship. I've come to realize that while a lot of men enjoy the trope of a virgin love interest, so they have no sexual competition, a lot of woman enjoy the idea of a man whose never loved anyone he was involved with before, so they never have romantic competition.

And, honestly, if that's what RY wants, fine, but I think she over did it quite a bit. It was really gross to me that Xaden said he was fine watching Violet kill Cat and stopped her only because it'd make Violet sad. I know Yarros has said Xaden's not the hero, but it makes Violet look stupid to not be concerned that he's so willing to watch her kill a woman who he spent nine months with and possibly knew as a child during the rebellion. He doesn't have to love her, but it's crazy that he doesn't even seem to like her at all. To me it's a huge red flag that he's so okay with his ex being killed. Sure, he loves Violet now, but if they broke up and he moved on would he be similarly alright with her being chocked to death?

As far as my own headcanon, I say she did see his lack of care through her ability. I don't think she said what she did to warn or out of concern for Violet. I still think she was trying to get under her skin. But her knowing that Xaden never even cared anything for her despite months in a relationship and possibly at least meeting years before as young teens makes her actions make a lot of sense.

You could argue that she should be able to read him currently and see his love for Violet but I counter that he has really good shields, where he didn't before. So, unlike in the past, when Xaden was still homing the technique, she can't tell he loves Violet. If that's the case, it feels way easier to get him back--just be sexy and competent and he might decide she's a better choice.

Or if you want to be a bit less charitable to Xaden, you could argue how he feels about Violet doesn't look like love to Cat's Gift. In many ways you could say Xaden is not in love with Violet--he's obsessed with her. He does not love her, he needs her. He has said he'd let the world burn to keep safe--pretty much damn everyone, including all the Marked Ones who love him, just for her. And that's what he does in a way at the end of IF by turning Venin. It's love, sure, but it's a pretty over the top version of it.

So, in a way you could see Cat as correct--Xaden can't love anyone, at least not in a healthy way.

[katyspersonal]

I know we don't talk and there's stuff we may not agree with. But I am truly sorry you've dealt with a lot of drama over fictional crap. And I'm sorry if my posts in the past ever contributed to that. Hope you have a better day.

Hey... That's all fine, don't worry! After all, it takes a lot of time and Insight to realise that Gehrman is a very gentle and respectful man and Godrick is an absolute gigachad kdkdkshdffhhgfds /lh /lh

But yeah, on a serious note. It was quite frustrating to find out the real motivation under all that... mess was something so pathetic, but at the same time this is what happens when people make engagement with media and fandoms a moral, political act. Not necessarily a problem, after all, I was the one who concluded that the way a fan judges fictional characters and other fans will very well reveal how cruel they are to real people who do something bad, or how much they will forgive based on personal sympathies. And my mad ravings about caring about female characters! I think the problem comes when a fan is so insecure that they have nothing else besides this defence of ideals through fandomry. If your only way to assert yourself is to be a good guy punishing the bad guys, and that mad raving loredigger discovers there is NO bad guy, what is left of you?

This is why it is crucial to have passion for nurturing rather than for undermining! I think if you speak like this, you've found this truth too? This is true that I don't know you very much (mutual-in-law thing), but to be honest.. you didn't poison my fandom experience at all? I tend to never be aware about discourse until someone basically calls me for help fhdhgsdgdfs Can't scout the fandom tag regularly!

But not only it actually was a quite long ago I saw a "negative" post from you, but also I've seen through the posts that my friends liked or reblogged from you that you've actually became very eager person to defend people's passion and interests! I think the post that particularly got stuck with me was when you resented seeing someone's light die after some Redditor asshole "well aktualy"'d a thing they were excited about creating (not exact wording but maybe you remember too)? Like... you are fine, man. At that point I realised that you were a good fan and in the end valued people's creativity and passion over personal preferences. That you never wanted to be THAT guy, even if your interpretation could not be further from someone else's. Coming to terms with what actually matters in fandomry is very mature and I am happy to see this attitude!

I am still glad that you messaged me about this though; I did not expect this, but thank you! I think I will continue getting involved in fictional discourse because my autistic senses cannot ignore factually incorrect takes with a clear insidious motive, and.. eh, sooner or later, I'll piss off the wrong guy again. Don't feel bad for me when it inevitably happens :p I've accepted the shortcomings when I decided to be the debate guy. Simply laughing at some gremlin starting a discourse with the girls in DMs and not stressing over it is only funny until I realise that newer fans could get misinformed right off the bat.

[dr3amofagame]

ok i'll say this off anon (hi dr3!!!!!) um idk if this is a hot take but the bbh finale was awful. just straight up not good. the bit where it flips to the cutscene of him and skeppy on the dock...? dreadful. some of the egglore material in that stream was fun and interesting but not enough to justify how bad the more heavily scripted bits were.

(hi!!!!)

mannn i feel u a little--i think they were in a really hard place tbh with the egg finale repeatedly delayed so many times and people really forgetting a lot of what happened since the red banquet and the limited amount of development the egg plot got after that (that being said, sam bucket was awesome)

i think the egg finale definitely like, did its best with trying out a different kind of medium and stream format and trying to do A Lot with A Finale in a relatively short amount of time and had a well enough contained storyline with the whole egg tempting people amogus plotline that was present, but a longer format that would've allowed all of that to be explored more in an organic way probably would've been preferable to me for sure

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads / storygraph

The Poisons We Drink

YA urban fantasy

a girl who brews powerful potions is coerced into making potions to interfere with D.C.’s most influential politicians in an attempt to stop a dangerous Witcher Registration Act from passing, and will do anything to protect her sister after their mother is killed

bi MC, nonbinary love interest

arc from netgalley

[dutybcrne]

Prior to The Confrontation, it wasn’t uncommon for Kaeya to ask Diluc to read over things for him, to correct it or because he couldn’t get certain words. It started because Kaeya needed a little help with his lessons and reading, then continued when it was clear Kaeya still struggled with certain things, especially when it came to paperwork and letters written in fancier script when they joined the knights.

[trans-xianxian]

I'm enjoying the fontaine storyline so far I feel like it's progressing the plot forward a good amount and we're getting some rlly cool and important lore info but I Am sort of like. can we solve an insane crisis now. can we have a boss fight please. I enjoy that we're learning a bunch of stuff but it feels like we're Only learning a bunch of stuff and not actually Doing anything of monumental plot importance we're just sort of watching all of the other characters do it

[sonknuxadow]

i dont even have an issue with humans having a lot of screentime in sonic stuff thats not the problem here at all its just. why wade... maddie would have been a much better choice for a human co protagonist for knuckles. and more than anything im worried that theyre gonna pull some copaganda shit with wade as a protagonist . which i shouldnt even have to worry about when the game series thats being used as inspiration for this stuff is super anti cop. what the hell

[deus-and-the-machina]

ffxiv garlemald discourse is so funny because people will go "ugh people just cant stand it when things aren't black and white" and then you look at how the empire are portrayed in stormblood and shadowbringers and its like hm. that seems like a pretty intense and accurate display of violent imperialism to me! Wow I wonder why people in this day and age may find it hard to feel sympathy for them or even hate them on principal. god its such a mystery.

the games like 50/50 to me on how it tackles these themes because I actually like the garlemald arc in EW, I think it has a lot of horrific and powerful scenes depicting how self destructive fascist propaganda and beliefs are, but I also think it doesn't go far enough on some fronts. the garleans' xenophobia is most notably and obstacle to getting them to accept the contingent's help, which is what they're there to do,

but there's never an admission of harm from any garleans on the uuuuuuuuh massive amount of war crimes the nations around them are still suffering from they're just kind of like "we misjudged you...but you actually wanted to help us all along" like yeah thats great now can we get you all some deprogramming because you keep talking about returning to your prime and glory days and I think we need to unpack some stuff you really SHOULDNT return to. im not even really talking about EW proper but the patches where things are a bit more chilled out and people are recovering.

It feels like they wanted to have their critique of imperialism and also have things end with the beauty of human connection and reaching out and these things just don't mesh well because hey a lot of your modern day audience is not gonna like having to treat people yelling xenophobic things at the cast and your character with kid gloves after you showed them hours and hours of the awful things these people's beliefs have done. especially in the present day hoo boy.

[cmonangel]

okay so i finally read a ballad of songbirds and snakes which led to me rereading the hunger games trilogy over the past week (SO GOOD i could make a whole other post) but then i thought it would be a good idea to watch the movies but then literally started sobbing from the beginning and started again every time single time they showed rue before the games even started or anything

[retrogradedreaming]

were you guilt tripped every time you asked for help growing up so that now as an adult you think you have to do everything totally independently even though community is necessary for human beings to thrive or are you normal

[ezraphobicsoup]

the car seat is headresting that’s for certain