#what we know about his appearance

[radicrow]

my fast un-dogged woofio

[egophiliac]

I saw comments that the new butler from Ridekamens look like Sebek

He...kinda does

I wasn't gonna say it, but. that was kind of my first thought when he was revealed. :') maybe this is what Sebek's older brother is doing these days? he ran off to buttle for secret agents at a superhero cafe? actually wait that would be rad as heck, I'll accept this headcanon

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

When discussing or analyzing Dazai, one thing I hope you will keep in mind when reading anything I write about him is that from my perspective, he is always, always both.

What do I mean by this? Well, I find there tends to be a general split among people who hold the opinion that "he's a manipulator and will always be manipulative" and "he's doing his best to be good and helpful and live up to Oda's last wishes for him", of which, neither is completely right - because he is both. But even among the people who hold to this dual-nature interpretation, I find that his individual actions and motivations still tend to be thought of in a dichotomous manner - is it manipulative, or genuine?

Again, I think it's always both.

Dazai has a very pragmatic view on a lot of things - he is always looking for the usefulness of things and people so that the situation turns out in his favour. He's incredibly adept at this, and his prediction and placement and careful reveals are all manipulation tactics to get his allies and enemies doing exactly what he needs them to. I don't think anyone can contest this since we see it over and over in the series.

But that's not all there is to it. He's not solely manipulative and he does, to some extent, sympathize with others - I think there are several instances of this in the series, but I want to stress that this has been apparent since Chapter 1!

For context, Dazai is recalling what Atsushi said to him a few minutes earlier, but it's very interesting that it should be this specific part of the conversation. He could've flashed back to the part where Atsushi said he had nowhere to go; no money, no food - he is about to trick him into joining, after all, and this is the key piece he uses to basically force Atsushi into the Agency. But instead it's Atsushi's self-deprecation that catches his attention, and it really does, because even during the conversation, he turns to look at him after he says this with an odd expression.

You could say that this makes Atsushi easier to manipulate, if that's your angle, but that can't be solely it, because in the later conversation with Hirotsu, we know Dazai was planning to bring Atsushi into the Agency and set him up as one half of the new Double Black the moment he met him. The panel shown there is the riverbank, set much earlier in the day than this scene. He was already planning to pair him with Akutagawa since he figured out he was the tiger, so what's with this reaction?

Well. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best.

He manipulated Atsushi into joining with the intention of utilizing him in his future plans. He also helped him and gave him a place to belong, and importantly, he likes this kid! It's both.

I think much of it might be that his brain just kinda works way too fast - he's such a natural at crafting these elaborate plots and seeing how things connect and gathering useful people like resources that it's practically automatic - though this is not a great means when you're trying to be a kinder person. There's an omake, I believe, that has him saying "I like using my head for justice", i.e. using these underhanded means to act for the better. Not great, but those are the kind of gifts he has. He's way more suited to exploitation, but is choosing to use these tactics to save people now, which is quite reminiscent of what he tells Kyouka. Kyouka's talents lie in killing people - when what you're good at isn't who you want to be, what do you do? Well, I expect you use what you have, even if it's not ideal.

Now, about the current situation with Sigma - I think he definitely likes him, and is intrigued by him and his situation. We did get a little thought bubble where the guy amusedly compares him to Atsushi, and you can't tell me he doesn't care about Atsushi (listen to the onsen drama cd, or read 55 Minutes if you somehow don't believe me). But also, it's undeniable that Sigma is in a very vulnerable position of being homeless and having had no one be genuinely kind to him before. His trust is very easy to earn, and with the latest chapter, Dazai has now saved his life multiple times. There is, as always, a practical purpose he needs him for. And I have to be somewhat amused because Dazai is quite literally telling Sigma everything he ever wanted and needed to hear. It's a brilliant means of quickly endearing himself to Sigma - but I don't think that's all it is.

Look. The most honest moments we get in this series from Dazai are, interestingly for an expert manipulator, when people are at their most vulnerable. In spite of every pointlessly cruel act he inflicted on Akutagawa, his first meeting with him was open and transparent; much like the orphanage director, it seems he thought this treatment would make him strong and adaptable (he's wrong but that's not the point of this). He cuts Kyouka off in irritation and says "don't give me that" when she implies that she would fail the entrance exam. He tells Atsushi it's normal to cry after losing a father figure and to feel however you feel, even if that person caused you nothing but incredible pain and cannot be forgiven. He refuses to entertain Sigma's assumptions that Dazai sees himself as a superior being to him.

Selective honesty can also be utilized to great effect; Mori does this, and undoubtedly it serves this purpose for Dazai too. But I want to stress that I do sincerely believe this is all still honesty from him. Manipulation, or genuine?

Both. It's both.

[ryllen]

" ... as soft as talking to a new born, the voice you dream your children would hear during their bed time stories ... "

[beaulesbian]

Trigun Stampede s01 || Vash + the reflection on his glasses

(edit: added one i missed)

( @crazymadredfox​ thank you for the mention of this part!)

[anghraine]

I think it's interesting that when Gandalf describes Denethor's ability to "perceive, if he bends his will thither, much of what is passing in the minds of men," he ties it less to his wisdom or general insightfulness (though he possesses both) than to his difference from "other men of this time," his near total Númenóreanness, and as bolded here, the active exercise of his will.

Tolkien also attributes Denethor's resilience against Sauron (by contrast with Saruman) to not only his right to use the Anor-stone, but "great strength of will." He notes that Sauron had no servant with greater mental powers than Saruman or Denethor, and Gandalf remarks that Denethor was "too great" to be subdued to Sauron's will.

Denethor and Gandalf have a strange and unsettling silent confrontation, carried on by their gazes, yet it strikes Pippin as like "a line of smouldering fire" and "as if reading each other's mind." Gandalf afterwards says Pippin was stuck between two "terrible old men," lumping Denethor in with himself. Pippin also sees some kind of kinship between Denethor and Gandalf, as Sam saw between Faramir and Gandalf.

In his letters, Tolkien said that the ancient Númenóreans became barely distinguishable from Elves in appearance and in their powers of mind. In Unfinished Tales, he notes that they loved their horses, and when a Númenórean had a strong bond with a horse, it was said that the horse could be summoned "by thought alone."

In LOTR, Faramir—who has inherited Denethor's Númenóreanness/wizardliness—has a reputation for command over both animals and men. When everyone else is thrown by their horses upon being chased by five Nazgûl, he not only keeps his seat, but mysteriously gets his horse to ride back towards the Nazgûl. And during the retreat across the Pelennor, the soldiers in the city conclude that Faramir must be with the men who are managing to retreat in order, repeating Beregond's remark that he has some undefined command over both men and beasts.

Gandalf suggests that this is a result of Faramir pitting himself against the effects of the Nazgûl in some way, but his abilities (whatever they are) are outmatched. In the event, the effect of Faramir's Aura of Courage commanding abilities remains until he's shot and finally falls to the Black Breath.

Faramir also makes repeated references to perceiving or reading things in Gollum's mind. At one point, he describes Gollum's mind as dark and closed, yet unable to prevent Faramir from detecting that he's holding something back about Cirith Ungol specifically. Noticeably, this only happens when Faramir orders Gollum to look at him (which Gollum does "unwillingly"), and the light drains from his eyes as he meets Faramir's. It seems decidedly reminiscent of the later Gandalf vs Denethor duel-by-eye-contact.

Faramir's exact words about Gollum's secrecy are "That much I perceived clearly in his mind," in reference to his earlier questioning of him. He says that he can "read" previous murders in Gollum and Gollum cries out in pain when he tries to lie to him.

When Faramir gives staves to Frodo and Sam, he says that a "virtue" of finding and returning has been placed on them, with zero explanation of what he means by that. He adds a hope that the virtue will not altogether fail under Sauron's power in Mordor. He describes the people who did the woodwork but not who placed the virtues (it doesn't seem inherent to the wood itself, given his phrasing).

We do know that Dúnedain can potentially embed enchantments into items. The Barrow-daggers carried by Merry and Pippin are specifically enchanted against the Witch-king of Angmar by an unknown Dúnadan of the North, and when Merry stabs the Witch-king, the dagger breaks enough spells for Éowyn's ordinary sword to finish the job.

Meanwhile, Aragorn uses his healing powers to help the city, wishing for the presence of Elrond, because he is their eldest of their kind and more powerful. Aragorn, also, has at least some part of this ability to actively exercise his will and mental powers, perhaps an equal share, though he uses it less often.

In the book, he doesn't physically attack the Mouth of Sauron, but instead holds his gaze (again, eye contact is important!). There's another silent struggle that involves no weaponry or any other contact.

He prevails in some way over the Mouth of Sauron (not a warped creature of Sauron in the book, but a cruel Númenórean who has "learned great sorcery"). The Mouth indignantly says he has diplomatic immunity and can't be attacked like this.

But, I mean, maybe they're all just smart and perceptive, it's really unclear.

[ni-kol-koru]

Opposite Personalities + Opposite Aesthetics = Siblings

This is how I see the Miyaji brothers 🧡🍍

[cawcawwitch]

Just finished dndads s2 finale and feeling very normal about all the characters

[meownotgood]

I think aki is strong but mostly lean, his shoulders are broad, and from fighting with a sword and training by boxing he's got strong muscles in his back and his legs. his arms are thin and aren't very muscular but he makes up for it with a lot of strength in his shoulders, he's powerful but he's more-so agile

[hydrachea]

Hi! Saw you talking about Wriowinne/Sigewrio in a previous post, and I would love to hear your headcanons or thoughts on them, if you have any! I have also gone through the same experience of labelling them as father and daughter at first but the archon quest changed my mind since it made them look more like partners in crime to me hahaha

Hi there! I see the archon quest has made several people rethink their vision of Sigewinne, honestly I'm really happy with what Mihoyo has done with her. It's nicely obvious that she's as mature as Wriothesley is, even Paimon says she feels like an older sister - she may look like a kid, but nobody treats her like one because she clearly isn't one.

As for wriowinne, as you said, they really feel like partners in crime! I wound up shipping them because they're clearly close, and because I am not immune to this kind of dynamic - scary-looking guy who's actually pretty sweet, and innocent-looking girl who's actually pretty off-putting. Sigewinne seems to have been Meropide's nurse for a long time, she knows exactly what kind of environment and what kinds of people she's working with. So I imagine the archon quest wasn't a one-off kind of event and Wriothesley involves her in his decisions and actions more often than not! She's someone he can trust with a lot. And he's someone who knows what she's like, so she can study human behavior all she likes around him.

(Though it's been a running joke with a of my few friends that Wriothesley is a bit of a weirdo and is very into what makes Mélusines seem off-putting to other people, so I'm sure a few of her results are skewed with him.)

Someone else I'll happily direct you to if you're interested in several walls of text's worth of headcanons is my own partner in crime @feroluce, who's been slowly losing their mind over these two and who I'm pretty sure only needs a single ask to unleash the flood of ideas they have for them!

[anominous-user]

it is so fascinating to me how ratio's character stories are all told from an outsider‘s POV and never his own

[pttucker]

[The constellation 'Demon King of Salvation' is looking at incarnation Yoo Joonghyuk.] Yoo Joonghyuk frowned at my message. "…Kim Dokja. Is your work finished?" [The constellation 'Demon King of Salvation' says it is still in progress.] "Still?" At this moment, a shadow of suspicion filled Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes. Yoo Joonghyuk stared at the Brash Swamp Predator and asked, "Perhaps… did this guy appear because of you?" The bastard noticed quickly. "…Kim Dokja?" He was filled with tremendous anger. I reached out as an apology. [The constellation 'Demon King of Salvation' has sponsored 100 coins to the incarnation 'Yoo Joonghyuk'.] "I don't need it!"

INSTANTLY SUSPICIOUS

And correct

"Something bad is happening to me and Dokja is here. Experience has taught me these things are not coincidental."

Dokja, you had an entirely separate task to complete in an entirely separate area and yet somehow Joonghyuk still ends up suffering.

You're lucky you aren't the one being spanked.

[moonchild-in-blue]

Can someone please either validate me or send me to the Corner of Shame? This is very silly but I'm wondering.

So. I was talking to my sister the other day about movies and such, and she told me of one she recently watched with this one actor. And I casually mentioned how much I hated him. Not in a "he's a bad actor" or "he's a bad person" way. Nothing to do with whether I find him attractive or not. Just in a "he looks the most punchable guy on earth and I have this irrational rage against him" way, to the point that I just can't watch movies with him without being annoyed.

My sister looked at me like I was crazy because, "what do you mean you hate the guy". And I told her yeah? That's normal? Don't you have at least one person you can't stand for no reason?

Sister was like 😬😬😬 No??? Which is wild to me, because I could easily name 50 (which I did - not 50 but we were getting close to 20 before i got too annoyed lmao).

Now she thinks I'm slightly insane (/j) (I made myself angry and may have referred to a few individuals as "stupid" and "obnoxious"), and I kinda don't believe I am the only person alive who feels this way. But also she's an incredibly empathetic extrovert, while I'm a very low empath socially anxious creechur so. There's that?? I guess ?? Idk.

Can anyone relate to this? Or am I the weird one?

Also wait. Little disclaimer: I am not generally a violent person AT ALL. Do i get annoyed and angry easily? Yeah. Do I feel like bitch slapping someone right across their stupid face? Yeah, sometimes, sure. Do I do something about it? Not really.

I can be real bitchy and extra sarcastic and petty SURE, but that's the most I'll do if I am legitimately angry. Mostly I just go to my room and cry 🥺 (crying when angry yes it me). So yeah. Before yall think I have unsolved anger issues.

[storm-driver]

gonna become a square enix executive so i can get exclusive access to kh4 stuff, and when the marketing team starts splicing together the worst trailer in the world to show you guys, ill whisper "psst don't watch that it'll be full of so many spoilers" and ill make my own trailer of all the shit i got to see instead without revealing the most important and plot-heavy stuff

[thenwethrowitonthefire]

Shout-out to everyone who survived a "fun" easter with the family

[justsomeoneunordinary]

Okay, the thing about Tobirama is that he comes off like quite a pragmatic person, which is why it’s a fair assumption that the markings on his face are some sort of seals. Except, we just… never get to see that? The markings are never explained? They’re definitely not clan markings, that much we know. But if they were some sort of seals, it makes no sense for him to not make use of them during the fourth war. Sure, he’s just a minor character at the end of the day, and Kishimoto clearly didn’t put all too much thought into him, but still. He did put lots of thought into the whole fight, so if those were seals/sage mode makings, he would’ve shown that. But there’s no explanation for them, they’re not even mentioned upon, which means, they’re just there because… they look pretty?

Same with his fur. No one else of the Senju clan has a fur and Tobirama doesn’t use it to fight either. I though he’d maybe do the spikey jutsu Jiraiya did with his hair, but nope. It doesn’t seem to be a ninja tool at all, and it’s not armor either since fur can’t protect his neck from a kunai lol. So it’s just. There. ???

His happuri seems to be a preferred choice too since no one else in the warring clan era wears one either.

So what I want to say with all this, is that despite Tobirama being such a pragmatic person who seems to see himself as a weapon to be wielded, his appearance is all about personal choices that have no practical reasons (except for the happuri, I guess, but a headband would work just as well, so..), which means, in conclusion, Tobirama is totally a

✨ Fashionista ✨