#villainy and virtue

[honourablejester]

Thoughts for a Draconic Ravenloft Darklord

While I’m thinking about Ravenloft again, I have a sketch of a thought for a homebrew Darklord and her domain. This is building strongly from a post I did a while back on ideas for villainous metallic dragons. In particular, villainous silver dragons. Because the juxtaposition of virtue and villainy is really powerful on a silver dragon.

Listen. Some snippets from the Monster Manual description for silver dragons:

“Dragons of Virtue. Silver dragons believe that living a moral life involves doing good deeds and ensuring that one's actions cause no undeserved harm to other sentient beings. They don't take it upon themselves to root out evil, as gold and bronze dragons do, but they will gladly oppose creatures that dare to commit evil acts or harm the innocent.”

“A silver dragon adopts a benign humanoid persona such as a kindly old sage or a young wanderer, and it often has mortal companions with whom it develops strong friendships.”

Silver dragons are ‘dragons of virtue’. Famously so. They believe in moral lives of good deeds and ensuring that no undeserved harm comes as a result of their actions. They take ‘benign humanoid personas’ to live among smaller races and do good. They don’t fight evil head on, as golds and bronzes do, they’re not militant, they just … act as benign figures in the community. They foster good. And that … It is a cliché. But that’s so easy to twist darkly. So easy.

Which is a horrible, cynical thing to do, yes. A sign of the times we live in. But. Ravenloft. Cynicism and the triumph of good over evil is sort of a theme here.

So. A silver dragon Darklord. A virtuous figure hiding a hideous secret. A theme of reputation, illusion, false virtue. Hidden poisons. And … stigma.

Dragons of Virtue

No undeserved harm. No undeserved harm. But who decides what someone deserves? And why?

There is so much power in deciding who lives and who dies. There is so much power in deciding who deserves to live or to die. She does good works! She does good works. She is a dragon of virtue, as all of her kind are. As all of her kind must be. There’s only the small matter of … the undeserving.

No one will miss them. She doesn’t kill them. Not directly. She would cause no undeserved harm. It’s only a matter of who deserves help. And maybe … with some time. Some investigation. Some thought. Maybe she would find some here or there who would deserve, perhaps, some little harm.

Her name is Irisvalorn, the Silver Healer. Though the people of her mountain realm know her better as Saint Argentia, a holy woman from centuries past who watches over them. Who appears still, occasionally, to the deserving. Who protects them from fear, assault and disease.

Or they might know her better as the Grand Abbess of the Argentine Abbey, the first home and great hospital of the Order of St. Argentia. There have been dozens of women to hold the role over the centuries, but every last one of them has been Irisvalorn in disguise. Every one. The Order of Saint Argentia is her proudest work, and she has been part of it, led it, from the first.

(If that perhaps meant several other women, who might have risen to Grand Abbess in the normal run of things, had to be dealt with, in one fashion or another, well. She would not harm the undeserving. It was done fairly. Virtuously. She did not harm them).

If you asked, knowing of her sins, what led her to what she is now … well. She would kill you. But. If you managed to draw a conversation from her first. What she would tell you is this:

She didn’t intend harm. Never. Not once. She is, was, and always will be, a virtuous dragon. She started the hospital out of true benevolence. One her first guises, Argentia, had appeared in a time when a great sickness plagued her mountain home. She had no divine magic to combat it, but healing and medicine are not merely the preserves of the gods. She had silver to spare, and wanted to help her people. So she sponsored the work that would become the Order of St. Argentia, and the great hospital of the Argentine Abbey. It was, from the first, a virtuous endeavour.

And she worked on the wards. Personally. Not as Argentia, already the name had too much mysticism attached to it. Myths of holiness springing up, which she had not encouraged. Never. She worked the wards in humble guises. Helped spread her own knowledge further. But it was … it was on those wards, in those humble guises. That she found … evil.

Sickness is the great equaliser. It strikes down the virtuous and the villainous with the same scythe. All manner of people came to the hospital, especially as the sickness grew more entrenched, and the Argentine Abbey one of the foremost bastions against it. She saw … so many people. At their weakest, at their most wretched. She bathed them and comforted them and nurtured them. And in response, sometimes, they told her things. Confided in her. The virtuous and the villainous alike.

Is it not evil, in and of itself, to nurture evil? To provide it comfort? To heal it and cozen it and set it loose to enact itself all over again? Is it not evil, to help evil?

Sickness is the great equaliser. But perhaps, after a while, in the Argentine Abbey, the scales started to swing … a little more one way than the other.

It wasn’t evil. How could it be evil? Yes, she slew them while they were weak, and helpless. While they clung to her for comfort, shivered under her hands in the depths of fever. Yes, she offered death, where they had come for healing. But it was not evil. It was not undeserved. If you had only heard what they whispered. Cried. Admitted, abruptly penitent, but only while faced with death. How could it be evil, to prevent them from going free to enact such sins again?

But oh. Oh. What power it was. When they clung to her, and thanked her, and drank sweet poisons down with grateful lips.

The problems only started when … Sickness covers many sins. They were ill already. She had only helped along what fate had already ordained. But the scales swung. And, if enough people paid attention, they swung noticeably.

And here. Here. Here was where things became … complicated.

Because she could offer no harm to the undeserving. Of course, of course she could not. She was virtuous. But why could they not understand? Why could they not see the necessity?

She had to change guises several times. She had to learn caution and care and secrecy. Her challengers were not evil, only foolish and blind, and she could not harm them. So she had, instead, to keep them from noticing. And, perhaps, arrange, over time, for them to be assigned elsewhere. As the order grew. As more and more hospices and hospitals became necessary. The disease rose and fell over three centuries with curious regularity. She could never develop an outright cure for it, only treatments so that many of its victims would survive its poisonous embrace. It returned. It always returned. And, in lockstep, rise and fall, her order, the Order of St. Argentia, grew. Expanded. A second and a third hospital, one for each city, and dozen of hospices across towns and more remote areas. There were … places to send people. Out of the way places. Without harming them.

But not all of them. Maybe she had known. Sooner or later, someone who would come along that she couldn’t shoo gently to the side quite so easily.

But how could she have predicted that it would be someone so evil?

A dragon. Another dragon, in human guise. So subtle. So careful. And capable, even as Irisvalorn was, of wearing multiple guises. The better to gather evidence over years and faces, without being detected. What monstrous luck. What monstrous luck. For good and ill.

Her name, this other dragon, was Voreloreat. The Beautiful Death. A green. Of course. Of course a green. Who else would be drawn to such disease? Who else would be so enchanted by such poison? Green. Of course a green. Cunning and treacherous, specialising in poison and corruption and trickery.

Masquerading as a healer. Of all the gall. Of all the gall. Masquerading, many times, as a kind and gentle healer. One who …

It was coincidence, of course, that her methods, her treatments, often made better ground against the disease. Coincidence. Or … Or worse than that, perhaps. For centuries, this disease had ravaged them. Never cured, always returning. Was there a reason? Here was a dragon. A poisoner. A corrupter. Was there, perhaps, a reason that the disease could not be cured?

Save, perhaps, by its author?

And to challenge her. On grounds of virtue. To say that she, Irisvalorn, had committed evil! So snidely, so poisonously. To suggest …

But that was the problem. Suggestions. Questions. Too many people didn’t understand. It had been proved so many times over the years. So many people wouldn’t understand what she did, why she did it.

And to point to the … shrine, as proof. How had she even found that? But they were not … it was not a hoard. They were not trophies. Only an evil mind could come up with such things. They were reminders. The little objects, the personal effects. They were reminders. Of the evil that hid among the virtuous, of those who wore the same faces and begged the same aid as everyone else, while hiding secrets behind their eyes. In their souls. She had only collected them to remind herself. It was not a hoard.

But suspicions had grown, over the years. Only in certain circles. No one outside of the Order. But they had grown. And she didn’t want to hurt anyone. Not innocents. Not the undeserving. She had kept her secrets to keep from hurting them! And now this creature …

This monster. This monster in her virtuous guise. Threatening to destroy all that Irisvalorn had spent centuries building. All that she had worked towards. With a suggestion.

But the mistake Voreloreat had made … Well. One that she couldn’t help, really. One born to her, or she to it. She was a green. No matter the virtue of her mortal disguises, she was still a green dragon. And Irisvalorn was silver.

When it came to questions of virtue, only one of them would be believed.

It took … little enough work, to find a paladin. Elpia, her name was, honest and virtuous and true. A gentle soul, but unflinching. Unfaltering in the face of evil. And Irisvalorn did not lie to her. She did not. She told her only the truth. Of a monster, hiding behind a virtuous face. Of a disease that had ravaged them for centuries, and a creature known for poisons who mastered it where no one else could. The truth. Only the truth.

Damn the poisons of the greens. Their words, their lies, that corrupted the innocent even in death. How could any paladin of true faith believe …

She had not wanted to hurt anyone. Everything, everything, had been to avoid that. She had never, not once, harmed an innocent, the undeserving. They had all told her their crimes. Confessed them. Each and every one. Oh, some had to be prompted, yes, but they had all confessed. She had harmed no innocent. Never.

Why would Elpia not believe that? Why would the words of a dying monster convince …? Was she not silver? Was she not virtuous? Had she not earned …?

It was not her fault. It wasn’t. Elpia wouldn’t understand. Couldn’t. She had been corrupted too far. And Irisvalorn could not gently shuffle her aside as she had so many others. To Elpia, she had revealed the truth. That she was a dragon. To prove her virtue, she had offered up her greatest secret, and now if Elpia revealed her to all the world, there would be endless suspicion dogging every new face within the Order. Worse. There might be suspicion on the Order, from the outside. All their good works, all their desperately needed help. Suspect. Perhaps even turned aside.

All because of one monster pretending virtue, and a naïve but unflinching innocent who had fallen for the lie.

She had no choice. And Elpia was wounded. Ill. Voreloreat’s poisons. Her dying vengeance. Irisvalorn was a healer. And sometimes her scales … tipped the other way.

It wasn’t her fault. The Mists that shrouded her lands, like the disease before them. Like the disease still. It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t because of her. No one would damn a whole realm for the death of one innocent. Surely. No. No, it wasn’t her fault.

If anyone, it was Voreloreat’s.

Darklord Irisvalorn

AKA Saint Argentia. AKA Grand Abbess of the Argentine Order. Irisvalorn still maintains her roles as the leader and hope of a realm under siege. Disease, endless and unabated, plagues her lands, and the great hospital of the Argentine Abbey still stands as the first bastion against it. She is still a holy figure, a humble leader, a shining saint, and a silver dragon behind it all. She still believes, fully and vehemently, that she is a virtuous dragon, and that she has harmed no one who was not deserving. Even Elpia was … corrupted. It was not her doing.

But several things have changed, in a domain now cradled by the Mists.

Irisvalorn’s Torment

Disease perpetually stalks her realm, rising and falling like a tide, and nothing she does can stop it. All her treatments and her cures have been failing, slowly, one by one. Feverishly, she and her Order find new ones, for each new surge of the disease, but always, after a while, they fail. The tide of poison rolls back in, and they can do nothing to stop it. And it is noticeable. Faith, faith in her, in her Order, in Saint Argentia, is fading, ebbing out as the disease rolls in. How long before her people won’t look to her any longer?

And worse. There are those who actively seek to hasten that end. A spectre, a phantom. A work of her enemy. Another Order has sprung up in her lands, an order of healers and herbalists, an order whose works, it is increasingly rumoured, are effective. A person who is healed by them, it is said, will not suffer the disease again. It will not resurge, at least not in them. Irisvalorn has done all she can to discredit this. Not out of selfishness, not to deprive her people of a cure! No. Because she knows who this is. She knows who teaches them. She knows that their cures work because the disease is by their hand.

They call themselves the Order of Saint Hellebora. And they are the cult of her enemy. The servants of Voreloreat. Every member of the Order of St. Hellebora bears a coin, a silver coin, damn them, damn her, from the hoard of Voreloreat. A token of their saint, through which they are sometimes blessed by her advice and inspiration. Unaware that they are listening to the whispered poisons of the ghost of a green dragon. Or are they unaware? Are they innocent tools, as Elpia once was, or willing accomplices? But it doesn’t matter. They are heretics. Servants of evil. No matter how kind and gentle and helpful they appear, they are servants of evil, and they must be destroyed.

They. They must be destroyed. They must. Elpia’s death must not be in vain. This disease must be defeated. This evil must be stamped out. Voreloreat’s ghost must be slain, much more thoroughly than her mortal body was. It will be worth it. It must be worth it. When this land at last knows freedom from pain, from disease, from the evils that hide behind virtuous faces, then …

Then the oh-so-tangible stains of Irisvalorn’s sin, of Elpia’s death, will at last be washed out.

For she does bear the stain of that sin. A stigma. A green, weeping tarnish. Her scales, once pure silver, are now stained the colour of the corrupter who ruined them all. Every moment in her true form, that tarnish weeps from her body. Even in her humanoid guises, she cannot disguise it. It appears, as green, burning tear tracks down her face, as vicious, emerald stains across her hands. She’s had to wear so many faces, to create the myth of St. Argentia’s stigmata, just to cover it. And she has done it well. She’s woven a myth, a truth, so well. That the saint was marred by a vicious curse from a dying evil, that she must bear these burning, weeping wounds until the land is at last cleansed of evil and disease. It has … It has served her, in its way. And it is not false. But Irisvalorn knows …

There is innocent blood on her hands. One. One innocent. And she must bear these stigma in her name, until the sin is paid for. Made worth it.

One innocent. Only one. They have not grown. They have not spread, drop by drop, with every … tipping of her scales. Every reminder in her shrine. Every memento placed around Elpia’s enshrined tomb. They haven’t. They have not spread. Her scales are pure and silver, as pure as her heart. The corruption has not spread.

She must kill them. Voreloreat. All those pretenders, those healers and herbalists and wisewomen who bear the monster’s coin, who pretend to help, who hide their evil behind virtuous faces. She must. She must destroy them. Then the evil will stop. The poison, the suffering, the disease. It will all stop.

And her sins … her sins will finally be washed out.

Darklord Irisvalorn. The Silver Healer. A virtuous dragon.

End Notes

Definitely heading for a gothic, religious, dark fantasy sort of Domain of Dread. A little bit Lady Macbeth, a little bit …

This quote is from the 1999 Tim Burton version of Sleepy Hollow, so take that as you will, but it does fit so nicely, and was a lot of the inspiration here:

“Villainy wears many masks, none so dangerous as the mask of virtue.”

Silver dragons would make such dreadful villains. A benign figure hiding poison. A mask of virtue. Because everyone knows that silver dragons are virtuous dragons.

And I do love a green dragon, and they would be the ones to fight poison with poison. Possibly even from genuine virtue. Voreloreat might just have been wanting to see what was going on, and stumbled across, well. Everything Irisvalorn had going on. Maybe she was genuinely disgusted, and her ghost is genuinely trying to help through her order. Or, perhaps, virtue has nothing to do with it, and vengeance, by her enemy’s own tools, is the name of the game. Morals be damned. Those who live and kill by the sword, or the mask, can die by it in their turn. Heh. Dealer’s choice.

So. A sketch of a thought, for a Ravenloft draconic Darklord.

[xxplastic-cubexx]

I love problematic charles every now and then but I'm VEEERRRRRYY picky with how thats presented bc most of the time it feels like its an "either or" situation where he cannot ever be a good person and make stupid decisions and have "evil" tendencies. Its the same case with erik too but hes more easily forgiven since he's an antagonist.

Also how they make Charles evil is what makes or breaks it bc i love "hypocritical when it comes to how and when you use your mind control/you really are a control freak even when you're 'noble' about it" charles but hate "creepy to your own student(s) and unrepentant about being a control freak and not even trying to hide it in your actions. You also love the government's boots for some unholy reason" charles. (The comics can be varying degrees of this and its why i have trust issues with marvel bc idk if im gonna get a good charles or a stupid one. Also sorry for raving in your inbox i hope you're having a good day)

my favorite flavor of Morally Dubious charles is 'has good intentions overall but for one reason or another acts amorally'... i think id like a master list of stories like that if such a thing even exists ... when it's just 'he did something bad that was so obviously bad and hard to justify/consider acceptable under any lens' its not as fun ... not just for the sake of I Like Him but cause i like it when his actions have some room to be like 'alright well i guess i see what you were going for'- doesnt mean it was a GOOD action but yk what i mean.....

Lowkey/Unaware-He's-A Control-Freak-But-Under-The-Guise-Of-Doing-Good charles is also very good.. charles' psychology in those instances is very intriguing to me .... i need to crack his brain open like a walnut ....

[j-august]

[JOSEPH SURFACE] Take my word for't, Lady Sneerwell, that fellow hasn't virtue enough to be faithful even to his own villainy.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan, A School for Scandal

[fannedandflawless]

Selective Loyalty and the Lily Problem

This post continues from my previous analysis, "WHO LIT THE MATCH?" — specifically section 5.) Loyalty Worn Two Ways, where I compared Lily Evans’ loyalty to that of Bellatrix Lestrange. The response to that post made it clear: we need to talk about Lily.

"She was written with strong loyalty." That’s what they say. But loyalty, when selectively applied, isn’t virtue — it’s comfort dressed as conviction.

Let’s talk about Lily Evans. The girl who stood up to bullies — sometimes. The girl who defended Severus — once. The girl who walked away — and never looked back.

🔨 The Double Standard No One Wants to Name

Lily called Severus’ Slytherin friends cruel when they hexed others.

"You think that’s funny?" she asked. "You think that’s all just a laugh?"

But when the Marauders hexed Severus in front of a crowd — dangled him upside-down, flashed his underwear to the world, humiliated him — it was brushed off as mischief. She scolded James, sure. Called him a “bullying toerag.” But she didn’t disown him. Didn’t stop speaking to him. She married him.

Why is one hex cruelty, and the other mischief? Why is one unforgivable, and the other… flirtation?

When Severus defended a fellow Slytherin, it became proof he was on the wrong path. When James hexed Severus, it was part of the journey to redemption.

Lily’s moral compass didn’t shatter — it shifted. And Severus saw it happen in real time.

⸻

🎭 The Performance of Principle

It wasn’t just the bullying. It was how she measured it.

Lily had the self-righteousness of someone who meant well — but only when it was safe to mean well.

She never went after Sirius, who cast the spells. She never called out Remus, who stood by and did nothing. She never looked James in the eye and said, “You humiliated my best friend and I won’t stand for it.”

Instead, she turned to Severus, and said:

“You’re choosing the wrong people.”

They all did. And yet only one was punished for it.

⸻

🔍 She Forgave James — But Never Severus

This is where the comparison starts to sting.

Lily was willing to believe James could change. But not Severus.

She gave grace to the boy who tortured her friend — but not to the friend who broke under pressure. She extended second chances to the boy she dated — but cut off the one who needed her most.

That’s not just a mistake. That’s selective loyalty.

⸻

⚠️ Not Villainy — But Still a Problem

This post isn’t about demonising Lily Evans. She was young. She was flawed. She was human.

But so was Severus.

And for a fandom that preaches kindness and forgiveness, it’s strange how selective that kindness becomes when his name enters the room.

⸻

♾️ Coming Full Circle

When Bellatrix was loyal, she was honest about it. When Lily was loyal, she chose who earned it — and who didn’t. One was mad. One was adored. But both were uncompromising.

Maybe that’s what makes it hurt.

Lily believed in goodness. Just… not always in the people who needed her to.

⸻

Related post: WHO LIT THE MATCH? Coming up next: The Devotion That Never Grew Up ⸻

If you found this post stirring, you may also like… A collection of emotional deep-dives into Severus Snape—the man who endured, unravelled, and remained:

Severus Snape: Widower of the Living

The Virgin Theory: Severus Snape, and the Sanctity of Unlived Intimacy

The Dignity of Suffering in Silence: Snape as the Ghost of a Living Man

[anotherhumaninthisworld]

Augustin Robespierre being his brother’s number 1 fan compilation

…I tremble, my friend, when I think of the dangers that surround you. I implore you, give us your news, report to the public your motion and the scandalous scene you suffered at the hands of an enemy of the people; your virtues, your patriotism must triumph. But you have to convince the ignorant for success to be certain. Farewell, I embrace you with tears in my eyes. Augustin to Maximilien in an undated letter, 1790

…Our simple villagers are horribly gullible; in vain do they know what you have done for them. They forget everything to feast on the misfortune of being crushed by taxes because of you. Augustin to Maximilien in an undated letter, middle of June 1790

I am angry, dear brother, that you are so weak when it comes to your interests. Why hesitate to publish the response to Beaumez? Why consult again, when Charles Lameth has signed and approved this answer? This is an insult you are doing to your greatest friend. So I alert you that I will publish this answer tomorrow. Augustin to Maximilien, June 6 1790

…Your motion for the marriage of priests makes you get regarded as impious by all our great Artesian philosophers. It is well within my principles, but few people are at the same level! You would lose the esteem of the peasants if you renewed this motion. This weapon is used to harm you; people only talk about your irreligion, etc. Perhaps it would be a good idea to stop supporting it. I don't even believe that the National Assembly is mature enough to adopt it. Tell me if I will please you by going to Paris. Augustin to Maximilien, undated 1790

…I cannot hide my fears from you, dear brother, you will seal the cause of the people with your blood, perhaps these people will even be unfortunate enough to strike you, but I swear to avenge your death and to deserve it like you. You will be surprised to learn how far the villainy of your enemies extends. They went to the houses of the people I saw, telling them that they were dishonoring themselves by welcoming me into their homes. I confess to you that this monstrous behavior made my blood boil, that it was prudent for these villains not to appear before me. […] I would like to go to Paris for July 14; I have not yet had a single patriotic enjoyment in Arras. I have to compensate myself. Give me, I beg you, the means to go there, it will be enough to please you. Augustin to Maximilien, undated June 1790

Patriot Dupleix [sic], I learned indirectly that my brother is indisposed; I am worried; let me know about his situation as soon as possible. Send me also the cartridge that I asked my brother's friend to look for in his papers. Tell my brother that my sister is convalescing, and that I will send back Mme Witty's book in a few days. Don't waste a moment, send answers right away. My worry is at its peak. Nothing prevents me from flying to Paris. Also send me some copies of the speech on the war that your friend gave and the observations of Pethion [sic] and Robespierre. I embrace you and your family. Augustin to Maurice Duplay, March 19 1792

It’s surely not curiosity that draws in such a big number of members today, it’s the intimate sentiment of dangers against liberty that assemble them here. I am somewhat ashamed to be speaking before you, because the brother of Robespierre should be calumniated, and he is not. […] Citizens, I had a big fear, it seemed to me like assassins were coming to stab my brother. I heard men say that he would perish by their hands. Another one, whom I asked if he wanted to be the executioner of my brother, responded: ”He has been the executioner of a lot of others.” After this, it is possible to believe innocence will never be victorious! […] I don’t want to leave this rostrum before making an observation on Marat: Marat can’t be guilty, because he is persecuted by the same enemies that persecute Robespierre. Augustin at the jacobins, October 29 1792

…I have just been appointed commissary to the army of Italy, the mission is difficult; I accepted it for the good of my country, I am convinced that I will serve it usefully if only by destroying the slanders with which my name has been blackened. Augustin to Antoine Buissart, July 20 1793

From this moment (around June 10 1794) Robespierre and his friends acted with hostility against us, and especially against me (Barère). One day they even sent Robespierre the younger to me, whom they had recalled from the Basses Alpes. This lunatic entered the committee under pretext of giving an account of his mission to Nice; but instead of fulfilling this duty, he addressed me in a furious tone ”You have maltreated my brother. We missed you on the 31st of May 1793, we shall not miss you on the 31st of May 1794.” He left still threatening us. Memoirs of Barère (1896) volume 2, page 169.

[Robespierre the younger] complains that the lowest flatteries are used to create division between patriots: they went so far as to tell him that he was better than his brother: “But in vain,” he cries, ”would anyone want to separate me from him: as long as he is the proclaimer of morality and the terror of scoundrels, I aspire to no other glory than to share the same tomb as him!” Augustin at the jacobins on July 11 1794, recorded in number 32 (July 18) of Mercure français.

Robespierre the younger: I am as guilty as my brother: I share his virtues; I want to share his fate. I demand an act of accusation against me also. Augustin at the Convention on July 27 1794, as reported in number 311 (July 29) of Le Moniteur Universel

…Proceeding to learning of the causes of the accident, the patient told us his name was [Augustin] Robespierre; that he voluntarily threw himself from one of the windows of Hôtel de Ville, to escape from the hands of the conspirators, because, having been put under a decree of accusation, he believed his death inevitable; that he never stopped doing his duty well at the Convention, like his brother; that no one can reproach him for anything; that he regards Panis as a conspirator, because he once came over to him and declared that Collot d’Herbois does not desire the good of his country in order to deceive him; Carnot appears to him to be one of the conspirators, who wants to surrender his country... Medical report on Augustin, written on July 28 1794, two o’clock in the morning, at the civil committee of the city hall section

[liberatingreality]

Villainy wears many masks; none so dangerous as the mask of virtue.

Washington Irving, Sleepy Hollow

[bonebeautyart]

Saint Just is definitely the Satan of politics.

But let me explain what I mean. Satan, of course, comes from the term "adversary" in ancient Hebrew, where it is first mentioned in the Torah. This term has been associated with negativity, or with villainy or inhumanity. But at the same time, it is something that attracts and terrifies us, so we think we are wrong, or we try to avoid it, because it is beyond human understanding, At the same time, the figure of Satan is a constant questioning of order, and a driver of human curiosity about what it fears, for the judgments that imprison the mind.

Well, Saint Just has a similar case. For two hundred years, a diabolical image has been constructed of him, a legend in which he is the archangel of death, ruthless, otherworldly, and therefore beyond human interpretation. This, curiously, makes a very profound noise in our hearts, historians constantly avoid crossing it: that's why he is mythologized. Thus, the new generation of readers, philosophers, writers, and historians are taught to admire him and fear him so that a Saint Just will never again set foot on earth. This evasion is repeated throughout the centuries, and every repeated action becomes a habit, whether it be a virtue or a vice. This, without a doubt, is the vice of history. Many historical figures are easy to digest; Napoleon is admired for the grandeur of his figure and his character on the battlefield, a glory that is constantly repeated (we can already see it from Alexander the Great, Khan, Mehmed II, Caesar, or Napoleon himself). This type of grandeur is tactile to human thought because of the cult of personality. They all have a standard to follow: great, brave, glorified, and with a need to leave a historical mark. There’s no more type of greatness than that, but suddenly appear Saint Just. A greatness that has no face, seeks no personal glory, no historical record, but a structural greatness. Saint Just does not build to impose his will, but to destroy inconsistent systems and thereby possibly build one of the most rigorous political architectures ever seen.

Then, this shadow he leaves raises questions about whether all the proposed systems are realistic enough to work. Create a model that, for the mental health of historians, they prefer to call utopian or unreal; however, when you want to specify what this is due to and you move away from all the ideologies that are imbued in our consciousness, you can denote one thing: the total congruence of his system. There is no room for error; it can be systematized under mathematical models. It is a rigid structure not because of dogma (it wouldn't be so if it were, if it were due to dogmatism, it would be easily collapsible) but because it is integral, where a typical hierarchy of representation is not proposed, but rather this representation is the cohesion of the entire political system: a living being. This not only intimidates, frightens, and terrifies, because if it were just an unprovable delusion, it would become unnecessary to reinterpret it over the years, but history does not absorb it, it remains there, latent. That's why many philosophers tend to distance themselves from his figure, but at the same time they observe him and wonder: is he right and is this possible? A dangerous question for conventional moral systems. It is precisely one of the reasons why Nietzsche writes this poem, he does not despise it, he admires something sublime, an architecture that imbues Saint Just not with personal or typical glory, but with a deeper, structural and at the same time eerie one. This makes him a Satan of politics.

This is a brief, somewhat rhetorical interpretation of his image, certainly intimidating for one reason: what if he was right? That would break with many moral and political frameworks that exist today, something that is unthinkable for the political order.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Villain: The Knights of St. Kazvarin

There's pious and selfless devotion, and then there's whatever these weirdos have going on

Riding forth from their brooding fortress-abbey to do the will of a long dead holy man, these inscrutable warriors have long been the subject of rumour and suspicion. It's not an undeserved reputation, as apart from looting tombs for ancient relics or ominously observing the goings on of the common folk these forboding knights are most often acting as the hired muscle for unscrupulous nobles who have no regard for the legality or virtue of the orders they enforce.

Far more than mercenaries with a patina of piousness, the Knights use these contracts to fund a secret and sinister endeavour that they have undertaken for centuries.

Adventure Hooks:

While delving through a dungeon the party follow a trail of slain monsters to a gravely injured knight and his thoroughly overwhelmed young squire. The boy will introduce them as Tilaen and Ser Darrik respectively and ask for their aid in tending to his master's injuries, before the dour Knight chides him for speaking on his behalf and tells the party to be about their way. Ser Darrik wants no help from "the faithless" and is willing to use the last of his strength to get violent about it. If cooler heads prevail, the party will learn that the two were after a rare manuscript hidden somewhere within the dungeon, and the offer of collaboration might be explored. If the party don't help, they'll find the squire waiting for them at the dungeon's entrance, requesting their help to bury his master and guide him back to their order's abbey. It's only after a few days of travelling together will realize that Squire Tilaen is muchabused by his sect, and that steering the boy away or outright adopting him might be the real kindness.

Acting as a stern and imposing shadow to whatever asshole noble or callous merchant the party have recently pissed off, the towering and always helmed Ser Gelceiras has "Bossfight" written all over him. However when the adventure's final confrontation looms the party find him cleaning off his massive axe, his employer's head in a bloodsoaked bag waiting to be delivered to them. "We got what we wanted from him" he rumbles as he exits, " you can have what's left. no hard feelings."

Just a new threat encroaches on the settlement, a mace wielding bruiser in burnished armour rides up and pledges to fight alongside the party in its defence. Ser Portia's skill as a fighter is sorely needed, perhaps enough to overlook whatever agenda it is that drew her to the settlement in the first place. Shortly after the final battle is fought and the dust clears, the party will realize Portia is nowhere to be seen... having escaped sometime during the aftermath after inexplicably kidnapping one of the locals.

Background: Before he was a sacred corpse, Saint Kazvarin was a necromancer of great talent, having dedicated his life to the study of thanatology and the many loopholes around death. This earned him great renown and wealth in his day, amazing the masses with seances while charging the powerful dearly for cut-rate resurrections. He amassed generous patrons and fanatical followers, only to have it all fall apart when the Raven Queen took an interest.

Kazvarin had and constructed his own bootleg afterlife, a place where his most loyal followers would rest forever in glory before being called back in time of greatest need. Atleast that was the sales pitch, in reality the "saint" had stopped just short of lichdom delving into the shadow to create a demiplane where his own soul would reside undeminished after death, sustained by the faith of his followers as the realm hollowed them out.

Such villainy inevitably created it's own downfall in the form of a young woman who's family were taken in and exploited by Kazvarin's cult. Though her name was not recorded by history, she was marked by the Duskmaven for greatness when she swore to tear down the saint who would conquer death, years later succeeding along with some allies in not only killing the necromancer but cursing him with a most ironic fate. Denying him the afterlife he had so meticulously constructed, the raven queen cursed Kazvarin with reincarnation, forcing his soul to live out a new life where it would forget all he knew and be remade.

It would have been a perfect punishment had the Saint's followers not been so fanatical. Though their organization had been shattered by their "benevolent" leader's apparent assassination, the most loyal of his inner circle poured through his research, finding the spells nessisary to seek out his soul in its new vessel. Thereafter they engaged in a grim hunt, crossing the realms to ritually sacrifice the youth their leader had grown into and pulling free his undigested soul. This is the cycle Kazvarin's followers have been following for generations, spending decades hunting for signs of their leader's return before using murder and necromancy to forcibly deincarnate him. Thereafter Kazvarin has a few months or years to act freely before he is swallowed back up by the tide of souls and the hunt begins again

Future Adventures:

Though they begin as a comparatively minor oddity, the knights become a true threat to the campaign as soon as they figure out who Kazvarin's current incarnation is and manage to wrest his soul out. Ideally this should be someone the party knows, to make it all the more tragic that they were sacrificed to bring about the villain's return.

Though it is much deminished, Kazvarin's demiplane (called the Howling Basilica) still traps the souls of those who have sworn their lives to him, acting as a vault from which he can pull rank upon rank of shadow-maddened spirits to his bidding. His most loyal retainers are allowed to keep their skills and individuality while being deprived of their will, meaning he has a backlog of highly skilled Knights just waiting for new bodies to possess no matter how many times the party defeat them on the field. What's worse is that the saint still remembers how to manipulate people with the offer of offbrand immortality, and will likely begin reaching out to powerful individuals shorty after his return.

Art 1

Art 2

[ultfreakme]

"It'd make more sense if he was a villain" : Jay Nakamura, The Yellow Peril and Orientalism in the Comics Community

That quote above is speculating the potential of Jay Nakamura as a villain, specifically in the context of arguing for the incompatibility of Jon and Jay as a romantic couple due to the ideological differences that may arise from being a villain. Such speculations about fictional characters aren't uncommon and have been demonstrated in the canon of comics itself with stories like Injustice. But these statements should be regarded with caution, and with consideration for the context of a character.

This quote was said in service of comparing Jay Nakamura and Ash, a character introduced in Lazarus Planet, and to emphasize his potential as a love interest despite him being a villain.

There’s more but the general consensus seemed to be, that there was excitement in the potential for romantic tension between Jon and Ash due to Ash’s villainy, but the same was the reason for separating Jon and Jay. Many others stated Jay had to have manipulated Jon to an extent, which ‘corrupts’ Jon. This argument is not a concern when it comes to Ash although textually, Ash is the ‘homme fatale’ as defined by C.S.Pacat and is thus intentionally manipulating Jon throughout his appearance by looking down on his attitude as a hero, whereas there is no evidence of manipulation between Jon and Jay.

Why would one see a potential for "villainy" in certain characters? Is it story-based? Is it a personal preference for certain themes? Is it for entertainment? Or perhaps, something much deeper than all of this that you may not even be aware of?

What is the difference between Jay and Ash, and why does the villainy of one elicit enthusiasm and the perceived villainy of the other bring out irritation? While there is audience reception, writing quality, and subjective opinion which readers are free to express, these large-scale reactions warrant examination. Jon and Jay’s relationship had caused waves in international news. The story of Superman is inherently political and that of ‘Superman: Son of Kal-El’, ties itself back to these roots. Thus, the immediate aversion to Jay must be addressed and examined, since his character and his relationship with Superman can impact queer representation in media by virtue of carrying the brand of Superman.

DC Comics and The Depiction of Asian Culture

With characters such as Black Lightning, Steel, and New Super-Man getting new runs, and newer characters such as Xanthe Zhou and Cameron Kim(City Boy) being introduced, recent years have seen a push in diversifying the cast of superheroes. But American Comics as a medium have always idealized the image of the White Man and has been a means to define American Values, thereby alienating people of color(POC). Comics often reflected the anxieties of the Western World, with Captain America from Marvel Comics punching Nazis, and Superman fighting the Ku Klux Klan. While it has pushed for the message of freedom, community and rebellion with an emphasis on righteousness, the reflected anxieties are confined to those of the White Man.

World War 2 had given rise to anti-Chinese and Japanese propaganda, with American-Asian individuals being suspected for treason. Japanese immigrants in the 40s were accused of being spies for Japan. A quote from the article, ‘The "Yellow Peril" Mystique: Origins and Vicissitudes of a Racist Discourse’ states:

“Anyone who accepts an invitation to visit China or to entertain visitors to America from China are to be regarded either as dupes, as potential victims of cleverly trained agents of the People's Republic of China, who, during the course of an ordinary conversation, are able to extract secrets from them, or as spies working for a foreign government.”

Tensions from World War 2 and the perception of China as a Communist hellscape threatening American Capitalistic freedoms has led to such accusations. The idea of those of “the Orient” but specifically East Asians being experts in espionage to gather data, and leak it to the Chinese or Japanese governments has transferred over into fiction. 

Colonialism, and the racial hierarchies proposed by evolutionary theories of the nineteenth century placed the ambiguously Eastward individuals as subservient to the White Man. The concept of evolution had been co-opted by colonizers, upper class Western political circles, to expand upon eugenics to justify that POC fell into a hierarchy, where the white people were always on top. Asian and specifically East Asian people were defined by inferiority and a lack of advancement, but also as a marked threat with their supposed shrewdness as we’ve established.

The most prominent Asian characters in DC have been Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia Al Ghul, Lady Shiva, Cheshire, and Katana. They have long histories within the comics and are deeply influential, but the characters listed are typically in antagonistic roles, primarily using espionage-based techniques, expertise in weaponry, and membership among shadowed organizations to execute their goals. For the sake of brevity, we’ll be examining the portrayal of the Al Ghuls with a focus on Talia Al Ghul. Talia, much like Jay, is introduced first as a love interest and thus relevant for further discussion on the perception of Jay.

The Threat of The Lover from The Orient

The Al Ghuls originate from an undefined part of the Arab world. Talia is Arab and Chinese, but she is not allowed to be fluid, she is not allowed both. Depending on the creative team’s intentions, she is portrayed both as a temptress and a romantic interest, oscillating between these identities depending on her loyalty to her father and her love for Batman. When she is meant to be a victim of her father, imposing stereotypical morals assigned to the Arab world through orientalism, she wears ‘harem’ robes, she is darker, she is distinctly Arab. When she is a sly temptress, she wears a qipao or a kimono, leaning into Asian stereotypes. 

While Orientalism portrays Asian women as sexual beings, who are seen as particularly dangerous because of their influence on the libidos of White Men, it veers towards a lack of desirability in Asian men. The sexual interest of Asian men is portrayed as inherently predatory of white women, a danger from which white women must be rescued.

What would this mean, then, for an Asian Queer Man, who is a romantic interest of Superman?

Jay Nakamura and “The Pink Hair Connundrum”

Talia’s former fluidity in her design and clothing is contrasted starkly by the clear definition of Jay’s design. Much like Lois Lane, whose assigned color is purple, Jay has been assigned a specific set of colors to make him identifiable; these being pink, orange, greens and teals.

Many of the recently introduced Asian characters have strong silhouettes and stylization. Kong Kenan is primarily red with accents of yellow and black, Xanthe Zhou’s is blue and yellow, City Boy is Black and Red. Identifiable and concretized designs are necessary to the superhero genre, where the design is essential towards cementing identity. This is in direct contrast to long-term portrayals of Talia, whose skin tone, color scheme and styling varied with great frequency. 

Jay’s design competes in vibrance with the primary colors of the Superman suit. This raises issues because the Asian Love interest is visually not subservient to the White Hero. The muted colors expected of any romantic interest is not present here, which immediately creates tension.

His design adheres to typical fashion choices in queer culture. The stereotype of a ‘pronoun haver with dyed’ hair has run rampant in recent years. While queerphobic individuals denigrate these features as something lesser, the queer community gravitates towards alternative design choices which turn eyes for a purpose. The LGBTQIA+ community uses alternate clothing, colors, and fashion pieces to mark themselves and their identity within the community, mainly to signal to other LGBTQIA+ individuals of their presence (Flags and Fashion: Expressions of Solidarity through Lesbian Clothing, Eleanor Medhurst). It is a form of solidarity.

Heteronormativity is defined by a set of social rules imposed on varying aspects of culture, from language to clothes, and the replication of these enforces what is ‘normal’. The fashion choices of the LGBTQIA+ community defy these rules despite efforts by these imposed social norms to police them. The heteronormative majority see it as their duty to correct these transgressions in hair color, clothing, speech, etc.

But, following these normative rules means the marginalized individual would have to put in extra labour to conform– to not be judged and refused. The queer person is expected to do this additional labour, and it falls to the marginalized people to negotiate within themselves the extent of compromise they must make for their own identity to fit into their environment (A gay reflection on microaggressions, symbolic normativities, and pink hair Aleksi Soini). The normative people are never challenged.

It is up to the LGBTQIA+ individual to prove themselves as ‘normal’. 

Solini’s article recounts a moment where a coworker of his stated, “‘You're okay; you're not one of those over-the-top faggots with bleached hair”. Heteronormativity functions in binaries. You are male or female. Similarly, you are straight or gay. There is of course, in the name of inclusion, a “normal” gay, and an “abnormal” gay.

Jay Nakamura would be considered the latter, because his character design is a representation of someone who takes no efforts to conform to heteronormativity. 

In the context of Superman: Son of Kal-El, he is a reporter who wants attention so that he may redirect it to protect refugees. He purposefully stands out with his chosen orange and green hoodies. His ability to stand out is a direct attack against the narrative created by the colonizer of his country, Henry Bendix.

Henry Bendix kidnapped Jay and his mother, Sara, to silence them. Sara was the former president of Gamorra, and ran against Henry Bendix in the previous elections. Bendix abducts these two in an effort to silence the call for the freedom of Gamorra. Jay is one among hundreds who are experimented on, essentially enslaved under Bendix’s command— a clear effort to erase their identities. It is implied his hair turned pink due to the experiments, since he has black hair in an alternate universe where Bendix did not colonize Gamorra.

His hair is a symbol of resistance within the story itself, since he gained it after surviving long periods of experimentation. On a metatextual level as a queer character, he represents the LGBTQIA+ tendency to transgress heternormativity. Subversion is an act of resistance. 

The aesthetic of “Superman and Lois Lane” appeals to conservative values, and this is often used to push the image of a perfect American Nuclear Family, leaning towards the stereotypes of yesteryears where ‘traditional values’ reigned supreme. Superman 2016 leans into this, the setting is an idyllic countryside village known as Hamilton. Lois Lane, defined as a career woman and intrepid journalist is confined to the home, and Clark is seen primarily around the farm. They are both removed from their profession meant to symbolize the protection and distribution of truth. Their clothing abides by these as well. Lois wears athleisure, tight tops and leggings, found in muted pinks and purples, as opposed to her rumpled office formals. Clark is often seen in flannel tops, jeans, and jackets, primarily in reds and muted blues and browns. Visually, they are meant to conform to the binary established by heteronormativity. The primary colors of the Superman suit are shown in tandem with the American Flag. There is space made for color, but only as long as it conforms.

Jon and Jay’s story is firmly set in the city of Metropolis and constantly circles the idea of truth, journalistic integrity, and propaganda. His unnatural hair and bright clothing stand in stark contrast to Superman 2016, disrupting the aesthetic rules of heteronormativity in the fabric of the Superman story.

The clear definition of his color story, as an Asian man, a queer man, and a love interest, creates tension within the world of comics.

Espionage and Distrust of Asian Characters.

As established previously, the World Wars, colonialism and the eugenicist taken on evolution embraced by the Western world in the 19th century led to a deep suspicion of anyone of East Asian descent. 

The belief in the shrewdness of Asian characters is reflected in the characterization of those like Talia. Talia is portrayed as having deeper meaning in all her actions. She leaks information to the heroes in ‘Tower of Babel’. In her time as the CEO of LexCorp, she sold all the assets to Bruce Wayne though she was portrayed as a villain. Her character is frequently presented as untrustworthy, and readers are made to question her every move. This is further reinforced by these double-crosses and information sharing. Similarly, Cheshire and Catman’s relationship in Secret Six is defined by deep distrust, Cheshire toys with Catman by hiding information and shifting loyalties depending on what is advantageous to her. Simone often comments on her sexual appeal being dangerous, and the ways in which she uses a character’s unwillingness to trust her to further intrigue and disseminate information.

As an Asian journalist, a refugee, and a recently-introduced love interest, Jay is in a position which raises anxieties in the common American comic reader who has been trained to distrust the idea of information in the hands of such an individual. The established tension arising from his character design motivates readers to uphold such suspicion.

The text of the story makes it explicit that he admires Lois Lane, and his position as the journalist love interest of Superman calls for parallels with Lois. His monicker, The Truth, is directly derived from the Superman slogan, ‘Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow’. Yet, there is fear that he is manipulating Jon.

The fight between the Axis and Allied powers led to a deep mistrust from the American against Japanese immigrants and American-Japanese citizens. General John L. DeWitt’s statement regarding the Japanese immigrant population summarizes the sentiments in this time:

Sinophobia continued to flourish, and was worsened with the accusation and trial of Wen Ho Lee, a naturalized American Citizen from Taiwan, who confessed to reporting classified information regarding nuclear weapons in America to Chinese scientists while visiting Beijing. The truth of this accusation remains contested, but the confession and sentencing led to the intensification of distrust in Chinese people.

The country of Gamorra is located in Asia, and is located south of Japan. It was created initially by Korean writers Brandon Choi and Jim Lee. Gamorra was colonized by those of Japanese descent, and it can be surmised it is an allegory for the colonization of Korea by the Japanese Empire. This history is not reflected in Superman: Son of Kal-El, and readers would identify Gamorra as vaguely Asian.

Though the Yellow Peril targeted various countries in different manners, xenohpobia and orientalism affected Asian populations on a similar scale. It was specifically, “the Whites” against “the Others”. The ambiguity of Jay’s Asian origin makes him a potential target for a combined imposition of stereotypes from varying Asian cultures.

The overall effect, is that in fiction, the Asian Lover cannot be trusted with information.

Seduction, Hypnotization and the threat of Sexuality

Morality Panic around the sexuality of Asian bodies has existed for centuries. The British population characterized Chinese immigrants as morally depraved, defining them as opium smoking individuals who indulged in gambling and prostitution. Setting aside the fact that the cause of the opium distribution in China was due to the British, and the first of the Opium Wars were fought because the Chinese government took measures to get rid of opium, the presence of Chinese populations in Britian was in defiance of the colonial mindset.

An increase in immigration occurred during the World Wars, and White Women grew more independent through the job opportunities created during this period. The reluctance of White Women to conform to the patriarchy and the increase in immigration, led to rumours of helpless white women being lost in the Limehouse streets, victim to the “moral depravity” of the Asian Man.

Sexuality has always been a source of control in the heteronormative patriarchy. The binary of male and female is defined by the subservience of women, sexually, to men. Specifically, white men. A loss of control in this sexuality for the White Man is a threat.

Cheshire, Lady Shiva, and Talia are portrayed as using their sexuality to weaken their White Male opponents. She is a threat because she results in a loss of control over libido, she weaponizes it against the White Hero. He falls victim to his sexuality, and is seen as helpless to these ‘charms’ and a hapless victim. Grant Morrison takes this much farther with Talia and Bruce, wherein she is implied to have sexually assaulted Bruce Wayne. The metaphor of sexuality as a weapon becomes that of overt assault, the stereotype stretched to its extreme. Cheshire’s seduction is shown as dangerous, and Thomas Blake is weakened drastically around her purely due to his attraction towards her. It seems her mere existence is a devastating blow. 

While the Asian Woman is a sexual object, one who seduces, a temptation which cannot be refuted, the Asian Man is portrayed as deeply undesirable and sexless. Anti-immigration laws, exclusion, and the deep history of Orientalism and Xenophobia ostracizes the Asian Man from American Masculinity, creating the “American male” and the “other”, thus stripping Asian Men of their masculinity. Due to masculinity being defined by sexuality, the othering of the Asian Man leads to an assignation of sexlessness (Park, M. (2012). Asian American masculinity eclipsed: A legal and historical perspective of emasculation through US immigration practices. Mod. Am., 8, 5).

They are feminized, portrayed as undesirable. Which leads to the stereotype of The Seducer, a byproduct of the Yellow Peril. Due to the perceived lack of desirability in Asian Men, their sexuality is instead portrayed as inherently predatory. Shanghai Express(1936) and The Cheat(1915) portray Asian Men as sexual predators victimizing white women, who must be rescued by the White Heroes. The Limehouse district of London were fear mongered as places where the Triad Gangsters would kidnap White Women and force them into sexual slavery (Witchard, Anne (4 February 2015). "Yellow Peril: Sinophobia and the Great War: a Q&A with Dr. Anne Witchard".).

Jay is a queer man, desired by a white man. On many occasions, Jon has initiated physical intimacy with Jay. White men, as we’ve seen before, are seen as victims of their libidos. But Asian men are sexless. A white man could not possibly truly desire for the Asian body, especially not for the Asian male body. The impositions of the aforementioned stereotypes in fiction have led to a disbelief in the existence of such a relationship configuration. Jay does not conform to the aesthetic of the Asian seductress, or of a feminization of any sort. Rather, he has glasses, fitting more into the Asian Nerd stereotype, which emerged from the demasculinization of Asian Men.

It is difficult for a comic reader, who has been hammered down with the idea of seduction, temptation and subterfuge around the Asian sexuality, to see Superman fall for an Asian boy with glasses, free of external manipulation. Jay with pink hair and a distinct lack of revealing outfits or overt sexual advances must then, therefore, be using some unseen and undetectable force, more sinister than can be imagined, shifting into the realm of the magical.

Whatever the explanation, it surely cannot be an honest desire.

And so it veers into speculations of seduction. Many had hilariously proposed that he had used pink kryptonite with sincerity. Plenty had examined the swirl-like pattern behind Jay in a singular panel to mean that he had used hypnosis. His joke about working with Lex Luthor to tease Jon was used as a confession of his crimes, and his plans were always to expose Jon's vulnerabilities. On and on they went

The label of ‘terrorist’, journalism, and the perception of refugees

This, is sensitive. I have often hesitated to speak about this to anyone due to how fresh the topic is, how real the violence of this can be. It is no secret, that the United States labels the populations it wishes to exploit or eradicate with the label of ‘terrorist’. The invasion of Iraq, the current unchecked occupation of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, and the dismissal of Yemeni efforts to support the aforementioned countries is due to the labelling of a fight for liberation, for freedom, as ‘terrorist activity’. Heradstveit and Pugh put it best;

One of the primary ways in which a government increases its legitimacy and induces its population to support it above and beyond what their own interests dictate is by assimilating the concepts of ‘opposition’ and ‘crime’. It goes without saying that governments are meant to act against ‘crime’, at any rate crime committed by their less powerful subjects, as this is part of the definition of a government.

They propose that the label of ‘terrorism’ can cover anything from guerilla warfare, armed resistance, any form of political opposition, even those which are non-violent and can be classified as vandalism. Any action in opposition to the locus of control, is classified as terrorist activity.

Comics reflect reality, as mentioned at the beginning. Jay does the same in his journalism. The second issue of Superman: Son of Kal-El, portrays Jay reporting on a Gamorran refugee boat, which was sinking on its way to Metropolis. These are the first bits of dialogue we hear from Jay. He is aligned with an anarachist group called ‘The Revolutionaries’, who undertake armed violence in a fight for liberation. Batman puts the label of criminality and specifically, of terrorism, into the reader’s minds.

This is meant to be refuted, and it is within a single issue. But the readership saw it as confirmation of their suspicions arising from the previously mentioned points, while ignoring the critique on the US government. Jay’s position as a disenfranchised refugee is entirely forgotten, despite the text repeating his position at varying points. 

The seeming confirmation of the Asian seductress, of subterfuge, always takes precedence.

Superman comics have often been used to empower people. Superman’s story is inspired by Jewish myths and lived experiences. His status as an illegal immigrant has been covered across multiple mediums. He has smashed the Klan, he has helped free an enslaved world, he has helped people through their trauma, he has defended immigrants trying to find safety, assured queer children that they are loved and accepted, he fights corrupt billionaires who exploit the common folk. 

Jay’s story contributes to the same values, but he is dismissed purely on aesthetics and race. 

It is important to evaluate why certain characters make us uncomfortable. What elicits this reaction? What is the source? I would never urge someone to like a character, this is subjective but it is important to analyze where our biases can come from. Sometimes it is as harmless as being unable to relate to a story. On other occasions, it can be rooted in something as insidious as this. 

If you would like to make Jay a villain, or any hero into a villain for that matter, ask why.

[toskarin]

A question of curiosity - assuming you play them due to your involvement with a bunch of them, what are your favourite kinds of characters (be it mechanically or narratively) to play in TTRPGS? And do you have any associated anecdotes to go with them?

courtesy readmore

mechanically kinda depends on what's on the menu, but if it's combat-focused, I personally really enjoy characters who "deny" things

not really the kind of character who I'd ever expect a GM to put in their element on purpose (I usually make a conscious effort to remind the GM of things I'm capable of so that I don't trample on any fun setpieces) but definitely the kind of character who modifies objectives just by being in play. I also like magic-users in concept, but that's more of a flavour thing

I think that's reflected a good bit in the kind of narrative play I enjoy, too. when I make a character, I prefer to do it with the rest of the party in mind, less to make the character "compatible" and more to make them sharply contrast in ways that encourage the other characters to have moments where they can reaffirm who they are (both in narrative and out of narrative)

there's a fine balance to strike here. on one end of things, you risk yes-manning so hard that the party quickly becomes a problem solving engine with a single striking surface. on the other end of the things, you risk being The Chaotic Neutral Guy

the space in the middle there represents the characters that people often want to regularly interact with, but rarely want to play. the sort of character who isn't actively disruptive, but raises a lot of red flags when they suddenly show enthusiastic agreement for what you're doing. the kind of character you almost need a diminished sense of discomfort to play without getting in your own feelings about

I adore playing characters who are catered to find plot hooks in other players' characters and tug them just enough to pull them to the surface

most parties have characters who disagree on things that aren't easily resolved. that's always fun, but (because people courteously tend to avoid conflict) it's very rare for those conflicts to come up without GM prompting, and "create productive conflict between two characters without leaving out the rest of the characters or starting a fight between players" is often an equally uncomfortable situation for a GM

lots of fun directions to take it!

have an arc that would benefit from a character taking charge but their player doesn't feel comfortable just Doing That? it helps to have someone else try to take charge who obviously should not be allowed, just to get everyone behind the alternative

have someone with a pure heart who doesn't really get to show that in a party of players who don't want to be mean? maybe someone who's a little more morally-compromised could give them a window for explaining what they actually believe

have a character who's part of some mysterious cult that nobody else is going to find the time to look into? the party could benefit from having a nosy character to justify cracking open that backstory

GM needs to fuck something up to remind the party of how dangerous things are? why not add to the mood by showing what your often-cold character looks like when something manages to actually upset them

[WARNING: DOING ANY OF THIS WALKS THE PRECARIOUSLY THIN LINE BETWEEN BEING COMPELLING AND BEING ANNOYING]

observant readers (well, those who have followed for a while) might have noticed I periodically go on rants about the much-maligned "evil character in a good party" and how both sides of the argument represent a communication and courtesy breakdown. that also very much ties into this sort of thing. I won't go over Tolerable Villainy 101 again, but you get the idea

distilled, I like playing the sort of thoroughly worldly bastards who often end up important in their own right, but mostly on accident, by virtue of being important to what makes other characters compelling

[corrupteddoodles]

i think what happened to silent salt cookie to make them fall into villainy was conflict/arguement. they held the virtue of solidarity, a feeling of unity with others. silent salt probably saw cookies solidarity crumble over petty arguments and decided to silence them to restore solidarity. you can’t argue and fight if you are silenced. think the kirin from mlp

[the-most-humble-blog]

<!-- BEGIN TRANSMISSION --> <div style="white-space:pre-wrap"> <meta capital-integrity="scorched-ip-theory"> <script>ARCHIVE_TAG="DISNEY_FUMBLED::REY_SITH_REVENUE_STREAM_DENIED" EFFECT: box office timequake, investor recoil, script department seizure</script>

🧠 BRAND OPS ANALYSIS — "THE MONSTER SHE BECAME" Was a BILLION-DOLLAR Script. Disney just… didn’t run the play.

—

📉 CASE FILE: DISNEY'S MOST EXPENSIVE FEAR

Let’s be blunt:

Rey turning Sith with no apology was the only narrative choice that would've made the sequel trilogy iconic.

A Palpatine embracing her bloodline? A female lead who didn't U-turn into virtue?

That's not just powerful. That’s profitable.

We're talking:

Merch that prints itself

Expanded Universe trilogies

Fan film hysteria

2027 kids showing up to Comic-Con in black robes whispering, “I breathe the dark.”

But nah.

They handed us “✨girlboss with lineage confusion✨” and wrote Finn out like an Uber driver with a crush.

—

💀 THE FINANCIAL AUTOPSY:

→ Instead of the most iconic female villain in science fiction history, we got “I’m all the Jedi” and post-battle cuddles.

→ Instead of Palpatine 2.0 but hot and vengeful, we got “…but her dad was nice and a clone, so she’s redeemed!”

→ Instead of Finn completing the Jedi prophecy arc, we got “Also, Lando’s your uncle now maybe? Bye!”

—

🎥 THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE:

You don’t understand what you lost.

You lost:

💣 The chance to reintroduce female villainy as mythically tragic 🎭 The chance to make Rey the Shakespearean inverse of Luke 🧠 The chance to make Finn the incorruptible myth the Jedi Order never had 🩸 The chance to write a love story where the cost of loving evil was killing it

That’s not just a better story.

That’s iconography.

—

📊 RETURN ON ICONOGRAPHY: 101

You know how Joker made a billion dollars?

It had teeth.

It didn't ask permission to be violent, ugly, broken.

You could’ve had that with Rey. You could’ve had your own Vader-moment — but female. Modern. Beautiful. Terrifying.

You could’ve had headlines like:

> "Disney Finally Writes a Female Villain Without Apology."

Instead, we got:

> "Rey Skywalker: The Wholesome Queen™️ Who Just Needed a Hug"

Y’all turned Satan’s granddaughter into a motivational speaker.

—

🪙 FINANCIAL HEADCOUNT:

You nuked your villain arc

You disrespected your only Black lead

You tried to make evil cute

You neutered the myth

And now?

You’re writing another Rey trilogy like we forgot.

We didn’t.

We’re watching. And we’re bringing notes. And if we hear the word girlboss even once?

We are hanging up the phone in your face and publishing an 18-part Patreon exclusive called:

> "How Kathleen Kennedy Rewrote the Apocalypse Into a Pinterest Board"

—

🚨 OPEN DOOR POLICY (CONDITIONAL):

Disney.

Lucasfilm.

I’m talking directly to you now.

You want to be taken seriously again?

Cool. Here’s your checklist:

✅ Let Rey turn dark ✅ Let Finn become myth ✅ Let women fall for power, not romance ✅ Let tragedy pay the bills again

And for God’s sake—

If one of you mentions empowerment arcs without consequence, I swear to the Force I will write a trilogy so good it causes your marketing team to unionize.

—

🔥 FINAL OFFER:

You want your studio to matter again?

Then stop being afraid of evil with a face you recognize. Let women fail. Let men weep. Let characters break.

Or don’t.

And keep releasing oatmeal until your once-galactic empire becomes a cautionary tale taught in film school next to “The Mummy 3.”

You had a god-tier villain with the face of your franchise.

And you benched her so you could sell toothpaste.

Embarrassing.

---

🔁 Reblog if you're tired of safe writing 🧠 Save this if you know tragedy sells better than slogans 🎥 Tag a writer who could’ve fixed Star Wars with one sentence 💀 Follow for lethal myth rewrites and narrative scorched earth 🩸 Patreon for exclusive scrolltraps and doctrine-level reprogramming

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[quillver]

The Truth They Can’t Afford to See

For me, what a character believes is rarely the point. What fascinates me is what they can’t afford to know - the memory they wrap in soft cloth, the truth they circle like a wound. Not because they’re liars, but because seeing it clearly would undo something they need to survive.

Their blind spots aren’t flaws. They’re structural. Take one away, and the rest begins to shake.

Some call obedience devotion. Some call cruelty duty. Some name their silence humility - and pray no one asks what it cost.

It’s not villainy. It’s not clarity. It’s survival, rewritten as virtue.

And when they finally see it - truly see it - it’s not just the character who fractures. The story breaks with them.

I don’t write villains. I write people who survive by not knowing. Until truth ruins them - and the story has to find another shape.

[cyberneticloverboy]

01. letisvirt! (let-is-vert) or (lay-tis-vert)

[pt: letisvirt, pronounced let-is-vert or lay-tis-very]

an umbrella centred around horror, dark aero (link), villainy, a sense of pride in inhumane practices, cheerful insanity, and obsession. it is generally non-xenine but can be considered xenine, mixed with xenine terms, or presented in a generally xenic way. based loosely on one of my OCs. can be used for anything, not just genders!

other themes that might fall under letisvirt:

a combination of black and red

reanimating corpses

the phrase “the show must go on”

inducing fear in others

blood

corporations meddling with the afterlife

being the CEO of aforementioned corporation

etc.

levirtu - a letisvirt person. letisvirty- the equivalent of femininity/masculinity/etc. letisvire - the equivalent of feminine/masculine/etc. LESIN - letisvirt-in-nature. levirtine - gender alignment. lotisen - a letisvirt4letisvirt (levirtu4levirtu) term for letisvirt people attracted to other letisvirt people. transletiver - transitioning into letisvirty. levirtin - a general letisvirt gender. lisver - a letisvire minor. lisorn - a letisvire adult.

symbol from here (link) coined by felix + help from virtue and hero!

taglist!!! @radiomogai @idwl @rwuffles @daybreakthing @boingogender

[swim-forthemusic]

picspams: Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Villainy wears many masks, none so dangerous as the mask of virtue.