#which is why most writers are very very reluctant to kill him off. they like writing him. he is fun. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

navree · 2 years

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What’s your biggest issue with the writing for HOTD? Is there any storyline or plot point that really weighed the rest of the writing down?

I really didn’t like the reconciliation PLUS the prophecy. I thought it under-minded 1) Alicent’s totally legit fear and terror (even if Rhaenyra is accepted as queen, no way would the rest of Westeros accept her sons - the future heirs - given their illegitimacy, not while Aegon and his siblings live.)

2) it also messed with Aegon’s arc imo. I know they’re not following the book to a t but what is his arc if not a reluctant king who took the crown not because of a prophecy, but because he wants to protect his family? That’s his tragedy, the family tragedy.

3) sometimes it feels like they’re writing from the end to beginning, so they make characters do things that don’t make sense. Why is Otto planning on killing Rhaenyra right off the bat? I’m sure he doesn’t particularly like her but his problem was never really with Rhaenyra. They have tradition on their side, Rhaenyra’s children’s illegitimacy that points to treason, and most importantly Daemon. Nobody wanted him near the throne that’s why Rhaenyra was named heir. Killing her is just asking for Daemon to retaliate. Otto’s not dumb.

And then, like you mentioned, Cole’s writing.

My biggest issue with the writing of the show overall is that, as I've mentioned previously, the writing is incredibly inconsistent. There are times when it does not feel like the writers are on the same page, especially when it comes to character traits and motivations, and that whoever is meant to be in control just isn't, and can't stop writers from doing their own thing episode to episode. This is largely because, again as mentioned, the writer's room for HOTD is sooooooo much larger than GOT's, and that's a detriment. For context, here is a list of every "written by" credit for Game of Thrones season 1:

As you can see, it's D&D, D&D, more D&D, Bryan for one episode and Martin for another (makes sense, he's the creator), and then more D&D. To contrast that, here is a list of every "written by" credit for House of the Dragon season 1:

Here, Ryan wrote the first two, then it goes off the rails with a veritable cavalcade of writers before Ryan writes the last episode. And that means writers are just doing their own thing and it's very jarring as a viewer when things just do not stay consistent in terms of who a character is and what they want from one episode to the next. Eileen Shim clearly doesn't like Aegon as a character and chose to introduce him in a very bad way. In the next episode, Sara Hess likes Aegon a lot more and wants his family to love him more too (and said smth remarkably stupid about how aegon's assault on dyana was analogous to a college kid being wasted and not understanding the concept of "absence of no is not a yes" which???? ma'am what????? but i digress). So that's the big overarching issue for me, and it was something I literally guessed at because it just felt so messy and then lo and behold, I was write, large writer's room.

In terms of specific storylines and plots, the prophecy tie-in is my nemesis when it comes to this show. I think it's just dumb in general, and part of a small pattern of dumb generic shit this show does (the White Hart is my other nemesis but that's not a plot that's just a stupid scene), but the one thing I hate is that it makes no sense. For one, there is zero connection between the Dance and the eventual invasion of The Others and the Battle for the Dawn we're going to see eventually and already have seen in GOT, and it makes no sense to try and connect the two at all when they are not going to come into play in any pivotal manner. For two, in case the writers forgot, this is a prequel to Game of Thrones. That's the reason why you're reusing key images and designs and sets and whatnot, because it's the same universe. And you know what? In that universe, the prophecy is meaningless! A Targaryen was not seated upon the Iron Throne! No prophecy mattered at all what mattered is that some random chick learned the pole vault and had a fancy knife (which somehow got from the Targaryen kings' weapons room to the hands of a man from a very very minor House? The prophecy isn't even a good tie-in because of how badly GOT fucked everything up.

And more importantly, it's just a dumb choice. Game of Thrones ended badly. It ended really really badly and everyone hated it and D&D are virtually unemployable and all their projects got cancelled including the racist ones and I don't even know if they've done any public appearances since it ended and GOT and all subsequent fandom and discussion vanished from the Earth because of how put off everyone was and it became immediately irrelevant and synonymous with a show that crashes and burns to the point where Lost or The Walking Dead or whatever looks like genius storytelling by comparison. That makes HOTD a show that needs to succeed in spite of its originator show, not because of it. It needs to make us all forget how godawful GOT was and remember what it was like when we enjoyed it and get that feeling back (probably why they reused the theme, which I'm less mad about than other people cuz franchises do that all the time, Star Wars is built on it). And they're making it a lot harder on themselves if they keep reminding us of stuff that only became relevant to the show when the show was already speedrolling downhill and just about to crash and burn. It's dumb. It's so dumb. It's not so dumb it's brilliant, it's just dumb.

I also have a some of issues with what they did with Aegon, and as you said anon I think I also would have preferred if they'd hewed closer to the book in the idea that Aegon didn't want to be king (still have him be vehemently against it and try to run and all that), but that he eventually agreed to take it when reminded that he has trueborn Targaryen children, Targaryen sons, and they won't be safe so long as Rhaenyra's on the throne with her bastards next in line. I'm more fine with the rapprochement between Rhaenyra and Alicent than some because a) hashtag rhaenicent and b) relationships aren't linear, and I think it's good drama. I like the idea that these two have spent sixteen years just in this cold war and being really petty and thinking low of the other, but there's this one moment after a while where maybe...just maybe...it could work out the way it might have before...And then it all comes crashing down (plus it's be good character work for Rhaenyra if they choose to develop it, leaving Alicent thinking that she's warming up and things might be okay and maybe they'll get some form of friendship back and then the next she hears Alicent stole the throne from her and put her son on it and then kept people locked up until they acceded to her demands to bend the knee only for Aegon and fight for Aegon and not her, @ HBO my hourly rate is like a penny I'm available!!).

Other things are smaller, and more along the lines of things that I personally would like to have seen or changed due to my own preferences and what I happen to enjoy (would developing daemon and laena's romance more have added anything or been necessary or useful in any way? no but i like them so i wanted more of them). But in terms of the big things, it's mostly just the prophecy plotline that I really hate, with some gripes about some of the things they did with Aegon. But hopefully someone scales down the writer's room and the big things are less of an issue.

#personal #answered #anonymous #yeah if you just look at the differences it's insane #got at it's peak just had d&d and martin for an episode mostly #(cuz we all know the peak ended when martin stopped being involved after season 4)

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amplesalty · 2 years

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Halloween 2022 - Day 9 - Hellraiser (2022)

Well, at least Clive Barker is willing to put his name to this one and not claim it came from his arsehole...

Congrats to you, Hellraiser 2022, for tying the record for quickest time in appearing on this blog at only 2 days. I’m jumping way ahead in the franchise here but, at the rate I was going, I wouldn’t have been watching this one until 2026 so I figure I might as well skip ahead for now so I can get in on all the discourse whilst it’s fresh. I think I’m still a little while off where the series truly goes off the rails with Revelations which was the one cobbled together in two weeks so that they didn’t lose the rights. In the meantime I still have Deader and Hellworld to look at, the former staring Kari Wuhrer and the latter taking place in an MMORPG? Well, I’m intrigued about those two at least.

Much like the plans for Ghosbusters III, the idea of a reboot of Hellraiser has existed for quite some time, being passed from pillar to post in terms of directors, writers, producers etc before finally settling in the hands of director David Bruckner who has horror pedigree in The Ritual and The Night House (hey, I see he follows the ‘The’ trend as well!) as well as several contributions to anthology films. Including ‘Amatuer Night’ from the first V/H/S which I remember being okay? Now, give me the director of that cult segment in the 2nd movie and then wer’re talking.

Of course, the big elephant in the room is that Doug Bradley didn’t come back again as Pinhead. I suppose there was some hope he would now that the thing is being taken seriously again and they have Clive Barker involved but due to worries surrounding COVID and what seems to be a bit of reluctance from him to pick up the character again, the role was recast. The guy is nearly 70 years old so I suppose he can probably do without all the long hours and makeup.

That recasting though went to Jamie Clayton who is a trans woman and, whilst I was reluctant to make a big point of this, naturally the angry white men have been out in force voicing their displeasure. I touched upon this last year whilst watching Hellseeker that it seems like a very odd hill to die on given that I doubt most people have ever watched past the 3rd movie at best and critical reception falls off sharply after the first movie so this is hardly some grand and beloved franchise being dragged through the mud.

I’ve only seen second hand reactions where most of the noise seems to come from people dunking on the guys with their “Hollywoods LGBT agenda strikes again!” takes but I never understand this kind of thing. By all means go dunk on someone like JK Rowling, challenge her opinions because she has power and influence. Granted, she’s not going to listen and if anything you’re just going to be amalgamated into a story about her being ‘cancelled’ in the same way that Taylor Swift writes about her exes but what is the point in giving a platform to Dave4170890456 who is telling his 3 followers about how Woke Hollywood has ruined Hellraiser. This guy that’s been doing the rounds today has 98 followers and even a bunch of them he probably gained after his tweet blew up. Why give him the attention he wants?

If anything, I say good on you Hollywood. It’s good to have this level of representation out there, now little girls all over the world can growing up knowing that one day if they work hard enough that maybe one day they too can become a demonic Hell priestess now that Leviathan has abolished his glass ceiling policies.

Speaking of which, and getting to the actual movie at last, Leviathan is back for what must be the first time since 2. It’s part of the wider story where the Lament Configuration is just the first step, with the welder of the cube required to go through several phases before they can claim their prize which is to meet God essentially. I think that’s like one of those later Highlander sequels where they have to kill all the other immortals in order to meet God. So the little puzzle box can end up in all sorts of interesting patterns and you don’t even have to be the one to actually open the thing. Hell, it’s shown that it’s in your best interests not to do it because the thing has a nasty habit of springing a hidden blade out of it which marks you for death. The Cenobites no longer interested in merely who opened the box, just who gets shanked with it. For all these people are screaming BETRAYAL at the casting, why is no one running with this angle of them changing the fundamental aspects of the series?

It does lead to an interesting moment where the group are pretty much forced into needing to mark 2 extra people for dead and they just stab one of the Cenobites. It’s as if the whole movie stops for a second to consider the mechanics of that and whether or not it counts before shrugging it’s shoulders, saying ‘eh, fuck it’ and promptly quatering said Cenobite with chains.

The movie centers around recovering addict Riley whose boyfriend encourages her to join him in a break in on an old workplace of his. There’s an old shipping crate that never got claimed and no one ever bothers to check on so he figures it’ll be full of cool shit they can sell. But the only thing they find in there is the puzzle box. From there, Riley is lead down the rabbit hole of misadventure that inadvertently ends up hurting the people closest to her. Which, coupled with the way the box now requires you to mark others, seems like a very unsympathetic portrayal of drug/alcohol users. I dunno how much tough love they go in for in those recovery programs but this just seems like a very big finger pointed at her saying ‘YOUR FAULT’.

Going back to Jamie Clayton, she doesn’t do a bad job or anything but it feels like she’s barely in the movie which is about par for the course when it comes to Hellraiser movies. But she doesn’t have that same presence that Bradley does, obviously you’re going to have at least some presence when you’re walking around with a hundred needles in your skull but something about his body language and voice especially just made it feel like some serious shit was going down whenever he was around.

I’m not really sure where I stand on the movie as a whole, it’s a perfectly serviceable movie and you can’t make any complaints about the effort that went into it. People actually did work on this thing, people invested money into this which again like Hocus Pocus 2 is a little odd considering it’s been released straight to streaming. But this isn’t some quick cash in to try and profit on the name or keep hold of the licence, all the visuals, effects and sound are top notch. It’s very visceral, just the raw sounds you’ll hear of flesh being torn and mutilated...nasty stuff.

I guess it just feels very formulaic? The way it’s changed to be that you have to inflict the punishment on someone else rather than it being on you makes everything feel like a slasher movie which is how the latter half of the movie plays out. Goes against the whole ethos of the series as well, that hedonism gone wrong aspect of the quest for sights and sounds unimaginable leads to unfathomable pain and horror. Now you could just conceivably go around stab a bunch of homeless dudes and be done with it. Kinda feels like a big comedown as well to this relative normality, as normal as a Hellraiser movie can get at least, when you’re coming off things like Hellraiser in Space or Lynchian nightmares. But hey, this is just the establishing remaking, maybe they’ll go off the deep end from here...

#Halloween 2022 #Hellraiser #Hellraiser 2022

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baltears · 2 years

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ok. didn't like c/rse of the white knight however i am still obsessed with sgms jarley vision

#harley being the joker's biggest enemy bc she saw parts of him that he hated and tried to hide so he was ready to just kill her. iconic #if im being honest i don't super love j's bifurcation into two separate characters bc i find that trope very boring #(would much rather have 1 extremely messy person who is on substances and/or mentally ill)#but hey listen respect for actually killing him off. i don't want to read anymore bc of that but i respect it!#btw hot take but the reason joker immunity exists is because the joker is fun. the story is less fun without him there #which is why most writers are very very reluctant to kill him off. they like writing him. he is fun.#like i Guess if he is gonna get killed off this was an ok way to do it but i found it a little annoying how like. he had no arc #Jack had an arc... kind of... i guess but he was very out of focus in curse vs the first white knight #ANYway. i love knowing nothing about comics and organically reacting to things without having to care what other ppl think :)#fight starting portion of dc fandom come get this ass #dc #harlequin and columbine

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moonjosjongwoo · 3 years

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okay so we know moonjo and jongwoo are similar in the fact that they’re both capable of and willing to kill, but can we talk about how they differ and why that brings them together so well???

let’s start with the differences first:

to start off with, we have yoon jongwoo. upon introduction into the show, the first impression is that something bad happened to this guy who, as the first episode progresses, just seems like your normal dude who just happens to be down on his luck. he’s moving to a new city on his own, has a girlfriend, and is starting a seemingly normal job at an up-and-coming graphic design company founded by his senior. you’re kind of given the impression in the first episode that everything unfortunate happening to jongwoo has nothing to do with himself. for the most part, you’re right.

but then we move on into later episodes and you get to see what these different unfortunate situations bring out inside of him. understandably, he’s reluctant to have anything to do with the people living in the residence, until he happens upon moonjo. he’s an aspiring writer, so he gets noticeably excited when someone wants to know more about his work, but the focus here is how much he hones in on the murderer character. how passionate he is about it.

and then as the show progresses, we see through fantasies and memories that jongwoo is actually very volatile, and despite the posture that gives off an air of timidness, he is not to be fucked with.

he left busan with a warning from his mother--that hell is other people--and i think with the scene where he’s acknowledging this in the bathroom at work, he’s realizing that he’s not so different without actually realizing it. at the end of the day, yoon jongwoo is paranoid, unpredictable, and very willing to choose the path of violence once that path becomes clear to him.

his relationship with jieun is important as well. min jieun isn’t inherently a bad person--she was just so caught up in her own situation with work that she dismissed a lot of the things that were happening to jongwoo. this unfortunate behavior sort of gave viewers a set in stone realization that jongwoo was very, very alone during all of this.

which brings me to seo moonjo. depicted initially in the show as your local handsome, friendly dentist who just so happens to be good with kids. he comes off as ever the good samaritan, willing to stay after hours to help a local police officer address a situation in need of immediate attention. but you already know something’s not right with him. even before you learn that he’s going to be staying in the eden residence, something’s not right with him.

and then he kills kihyuk, upset that the guy had killed someone so impulsively. ‘what i do is art’, he says, ‘not just murder’. following that sequence, we see him introduce himself to jongwoo, and he immediately seems interested in getting to know him better. by the end of the conversation, it’s obvious he’s set his sights on him. we as viewers know this show is going to have a lot more of the creepy dentist in it because of his interest in jongwoo’s murder story, and the line about how he got the feeling jongwoo was one of his kind.

everything with moonjo following that operates based on some sort of unspoken plan. something he has worked out among everyone, and especially ms. eom. everyone seems to be afraid of him. he speaks almost coldly to most of the others, but also politely. it’s obvious moonjo is very refined, and it’s also obvious that those around him do not matter to him. in fact, the only one he seems to care about is jongwoo.

i’m not going to go into detail about how he pops up everywhere in the show, because the only one that can truly be said isn’t a hallucination before the last episode is when junghwa sees him while she’s out with her dad. but it is obvious in plenty of other ways that he’s a stalker.

do i need to touch up on human meat at this point? if you know you know.

moving on, how this ties them together:

there’s been discussion in the tag before about how ‘jagiya’ translates directly to something like ‘oneself’. the differences aren’t important at first glance, but how they connect to lead to the one big similarity is important. jongwoo is paranoid and doesn’t trust people. he’s lonely, and he feels like he can’t get out. he feels trapped.

and moonjo, obviously using this to his advantage, has a handle on this. despite the fact that he downright terrifies jongwoo, he’s the one person in this entire situation who has jongwoo’s back. he understands where he’s coming from. if jongwoo would let him, he would listen. he’s good at listening, even. he’s patient. he’s probably gotten more attached to jongwoo than he intended, even if he’d known from the start he was going to fall in love with his own masterpiece.

the point i’m getting at is that these two were fated from the start. they’re both depraved in their own way, and they’re unique characters, but they also come together so well that the only way they can not be together at the end is for moonjo to not be alive. and even if he is dead, he’s still there, because jongwoo has become all-but an extension of him. or rather, because that part that was always moonjo is awakened within him.

they are, quite honestly, two halves of a dark, twisted, but somehow perfect whole.

#long post #strangers from hell #hell is other people #jongmoon #yoon jongwoo #seo moonjo #i rambled a lot #i've been really in my sfh feels lately

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swans-recs · 2 years

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INFLICTED DESIRE

THIS PIECE IS NOT MINE!!! I was asked to reupload this by my friend @jexnrey as she no more wishes to be part of the writer community but she still wants people to be able to read this. PROOF

DO NOT ASK ME FOR PART 2'S FOR THIS OR THE SORT, BECAUSE I DID NOT WRITE THIS AND THE REAL WRITER DOESN'T WRITE HERE ANYMORE!!

If you're interested in my Kaz stuff, it can be found here.

pairings: kaz brekker x fem!reader, platonic!nina zenik x fem!reader

warnings: the normal six of crows shenanigans.

summary: you were simply a crow and nina's closest friend, but kaz doesn't understand why he feels the need to be near you or protect you when you can protect yourself; he is closed off and unreadable, and he couldn't articulate his feelings properly, until you were hurt on the job.

author’s note: kaz is so hard to write—forgive me for this i tried so hard 😭 i read soc carefully & read fanfics about kaz to take some inspo, but enjoy this trash cus i don’t! do not translate or paste this on another platform strictly everything belongs to me, do not claim it as yours, do not plagiarize, thank you.

word count: 2.1k

KAZ BREKKER DID not make mistakes. He was a thief, not a fool, the Dregs’ leader, and Ketterdam’s most notorious man. He had a sharp intellect and was astute; no one ventured to cross him out of fear, or they were rational enough not to.

His plans were meticulous, and if something went wrong (which was unlikely), he had hundreds of backup plans ready to go. And everything went well, but there was a glimmer of realization that Kaz had made the biggest mistake of his life. It was bothering him, and he had a nagging feeling of uneasiness.

If he had merely noted when he met you—charming and intriguing—when he visited the House of the White Rose to inform Nina about a job; he should have simply ignored you when you passed him in the hall without a second glance, but Kaz had been effectively intrigued.

Nina told him that you were her closest friend and the one person in the White Rose who kept her sane. Nina was cautious, with a guarded gleam in her eyes and a reluctance that could get you killed in Ketterdam, when Kaz inquired whether you had any skills.

Nina had given Kaz a sharp gaze and said, “Recruiting her in the Dregs is dangerous.”

“Nina dear,” Kaz drawled. “It’s dangerous everywhere in Ketterdam. And I think your friend would appreciate getting out of here every now and then.”

Nina told Kaz about your bewitching qualities with a little more trepidation. You were charismatic, a pretty face and a cunning smile that could tempt wealthy merchants to give you kruge and a wise convincer. Nina also mentioned that you had good combat skills. Kaz Brekker had smirked at the time, his thoughts racing. He was well aware that he needed you on his team.

That was his very first mistake. You were good at your work—you did a brilliant job and Kaz knew you were a terrific addition to the Dregs—but as the days passed, he began to have an underlying feeling inside him that he quickly dismissed whenever you were there. Kaz often wondered if he should have heeded Nina’s advice about not recruiting you in the Dregs, but he’d been blinded by his curiosity, and he bitterly regretted it.

He recalled one mission in which they were meant to spy on a handful of Pekka Rollins’ men. Kaz remembered how meticulously he had prepared for this; he had gone over blueprints over and again until his eyes were weary, but he would not rest—never. Kaz was scrupulous with his plotting especially since it involved Pekka Rollins.

When there’s a lovely girl around and they’re inebriated, men are simple to seduce. So, of course, your main task was to play the inquisitive girl, allowing men to reveal their drunken secrets while you sat, looking pretty. Despite the fact that you were skilled in this vicinity, Kaz didn’t like the plan, but he needed Inej on the roofs and Nina by the door, so you were left as an option.

As he saw you woo one of Rollins guys, he felt a prickling sensation inside him. You were dressed in a velvety white dress that accentuated your contours; you stood out in the darkness of Ketterdam, and you shone brightly. Kaz may not believe in Saints, but he was convinced you were one by the radiance of your smile and dress.

He despised seeing you sitting on a drunk Dime Lion man’s lap, and Kaz noticed you looked uneasy, so he fought the impulse to smash the man’s head with his cane until his skull cracked satisfyingly. He reminded himself that this was a job, and he needed to do his part. Despite your unsettled expression, he could see your ears perk up, and that’s when Kaz recognized the man had begun to speak.

Kaz watched you giggling and touching the man’s forearm while drinking your drink; you were playing your part wonderfully as usual. And it all happened very quickly; when the drunken man leaned close to you, another man approached him to stop him, and Kaz realized the man knew who you were.

The man had said something to the inebriated man, and the latter had suddenly sobered up, and Kaz realized chaos had occurred. Because of the drink you drank, you appeared tipsy, but Kaz could see how your eyes flared in terror and your gaze immediately darted to him.

Kaz had set out on foot to get you, but Nina had beaten him to it. Nina had grasped your wrist and pulled you away in alarm before the man could grab you. Shots were being fired, and Kaz could see Jesper rousing his revolters to fire back at the men who were shooting at you and now at Jesper.

Kaz was so concentrated on the men and the bullets that he missed you limping in Nina’s arms as he pulled his own gun. Nina wore a worried expression on her face and was essentially bearing half your weight. And Kaz could see it: there was blood on your abdomen that was obvious and evident through the white of your dress. As Kaz focused on you, gunshots faded into the background, and he was startled out of his reverie when Jesper told them to leave.

He didn’t normally listen to Jesper because he was the one who gave the directions and commands, but now his feet followed Jesper’s, his leg jerking in pain as he hobbled, yet his step was swift. He remembered the blood on your adobem, the way Nina’s eyes widened, and he was filled with dread. It was terrifying. Since Jordie, he hasn’t felt like this in years.

Kaz knew Inej was close behind him, quiet and concealed like the Wraith she is, as his Crows hurried to the Slat. As you limped beside Nina, Kaz could see you being held by her, and he turned to Jesper, a sensation inside him that he didn’t want to convey.

“Run after Nina,” Kaz ordered coldly. “Help her with Y/N.”

Jesper didn’t need to say anything else as he ran to Nina, and when he caught up with both girls, he grabbed your waist and helped half of your weight as Nina and Jesper carried you to the Slat. Kaz despised hearing a hint of fragility in his voice, but Jesper didn’t seem to mind.

···

It didn’t matter to Kaz if Nina could hear his rapid heartbeat. Kaz saw that the others were watching him as his eyes swept you laying on your bed with Nina mending your wound. Even though your face was pale and your breathing was unsteady, you were alive, Kaz was not soothed. Despite her concerns, Nina had been firm, requesting medical equipment from Matthias, who had followed orders.

Kaz isn’t concerned about the Rollins information right now; all he wants is for you to be alright. He remembered your eyes widening in panic and searching for his first. He swallowed a lump in his throat and shook his head, focusing on you instead. And there was so much blood, Kaz gripped his cane tightly in his fist.

“Heal her,” he murmured.

Nina gave him a cold stare. “I’m trying, Kaz, but there’s just too much blood.”

“I don’t care,” Kaz said icily, his gaze matching hers. “Zenik, heal her.”

Inej had left, but not before praying to her Saints for you to be well. Jesper walked away as well, noticing the gloom in Kaz’s voice and Nina’s gaze. Matthias was retrieving more medical supplies, creating a tense atmosphere with only a feverish Kaz, an anxious but indignant Nina, and an alive yet barely Y/N.

“You should leave, I’ll get to you once I’m done,” Nina remarked as she resumed working in your wounded abdomen.

Kaz stood firm in his position. “I’m not going anywhere.”

With a shake of her head, Nina replied, “Your heartbeat is distracting me.” Kaz noticed her hand quivering. “I can sense your nerves, Brekker, and it doesn’t help that I’m worried about her as well.”

He was terrified; he had shown vulnerability, and Nina had noticed. She knew he cared about you, and he had never experienced anything like it with anybody else. When Inej was stabbed, Jesper was shot, or Matthias, Wylan, and Nina were hurt, Kaz’s heart didn’t rush as rapidly. It was always you who made his heart race with nerves and a need to protect you if you were harmed.

When Kaz glanced at your hand, palm up, he felt compelled to grasp it. Not Jesper, who had brought you to the Slat, or even Nina, who stroked your hair away from your face every now and then, but he should be the one holding you and aiding you. But Kaz knew that idea alone was impossible; he couldn’t think about it without shivering with distaste, so he stayed, a safe distance away, with a tremendous desire to hold you.

Nina fixed her gaze on him. “I assume she’ll be a little hazy when she wakes up, so don’t ask her any questions about the information.”

“I don’t give a damn about the information,” Kaz remarked indifferently.

Kaz despised the mischievous glimmer in her eyes as she shot him a shocked glance. “Kaz Brekker not caring about the information that’s about Pekka Rollins? Somebody pinch me.”

He gave her a skeptical look as he rolled his eyes. “Keep her alive by doing your work, Nina dear.”

Nina shrugged her shoulders, but her eyes were gloomy. “She’s not dead Kaz,” she said with a shake of her head. “Since the blood loss, she’ll be unconscious, but she’ll be fine—she usually is.”

Kaz nodded in agreement. What Nina said was right; it was not uncommon for someone in the Crows to be hurt—it happens all the time, especially during heists and jobs—but the jobs were mostly successful, and Kaz had been blunt in assigning you the safest task (charming people) because a selfish part of him wanted you to be in the middle of the job so he could keep an eye on you.

But, despite his composed demeanor, he seemed to crumble everywhere around you. Perhaps you had charmed him, as you had charmed so many others, by bewitching him with your entire being, causing his black heart to seek you out. When you were around, there was always an inflicted desire within Kaz, which he had always disregarded until now.

Kaz wanted to kill the man who had touched you, as well as track down the person who had shot you. He remembered your bright eyes dampening in fear and a brief tremor of despair as you realized you’d been caught, then blood splattering across your white dress and Nina’s worried expression as she carried your limping weight.

Nina snarled, “You’re doing it again.”

With his dark eyes, Kaz looked at her. “What?”

“I know you love her and all, but I need to focus, and your heartbeat is incredibly distracting right now,” Nina rambled.

Kaz stilled as he heard the word he didn’t want to associate himself with. “In Ketterdam, love is neglected; it is reserved for the weak.”

Nina surprised him by laughing. “What are you doing right now? Whenever Y/N is hurt, you appear weak—you’re in your vulnerable form.”

Kaz wanted to kill Nina by saying things he knew were true, but he was ignorant and stubborn to accept it. Nina gave him a knowing look as she cleaned, healed, and wrapped a cloth around your wound before kissing you on the forehead and leaving Kaz alone with you.

Kaz strolled over to where you were laying after a few moments of contemplation. He examined your flawless face, which, despite seeming pale and near death, was nonetheless lovely. Kaz paused for a while before raising his gloved palm to your cheek and tucking the errant strand of hair away.

He sat down near your bed, putting his disgust aside. Despite the strong temptation, he did not grasp your inviting hand. Kaz had stayed by your bedside the entire night, never leaving your side. Nina had stopped by every now and then to change your bandage, but she had said nothing about Kaz’s overstaying or even asked him to leave.

When Nina was treating your wound, she had said, “You should rest, Kaz.”

Kaz gave her a sidelong glance. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Nina may have been right, but she was also wrong. Kaz did not believe he was capable of love, yet he had a great desire to be with you. To be in your company, to receive your gorgeous smile, and to simply be in your presence. And this time he wasn't going to ignore it.

---

And again, this piece is not mine! It was written by my friend, read the info above the fic. Do not ask me for part 2's or ask to be tagged into my Kaz taglist etc, I did not write this and the person who did wishes to not be part of the writer community anymore, but the original piece has been deleted with her deactivated blog so she asked me to reupload.

#kaz brekker x reader #six of crows #kaz brekker imagine #six of crows fanfic #kaz brekker #shadow and bone #jexnrey #oneshot

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heniareth · 3 years

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I was really curious about what your opinions on the DAO companions are :) I know we have talked about some, but I'd love to hear more and about the others as well :D I hope it's ok to pose this as an ask :)

Sure! That sounds like a ton of fun. This might be a long one tho. Mind you, this is not the finished version of the answer. I'd like to link stuff and add a cut, but rn that's not possible. I'll update it when I can.

Edit: I have updated it ^^

Let's go alphabetically bc why not.

Alistair:

Sweet guy. So sweet. There was a moment when I was hard pressed chosing between him and Zevran (alas, Zevran won). Also, he's weirdly tall according to the wiki? How did I not notice that before?

Let's get a bit more serious now, Alistair is a great guy. The only reason he's not the hero of the story is because he doesn't want to. He has all the qualities of a leader: he's good at dealing with conflict (as evident with the conversation with the mage at the beginning. He gets where he wants to get without antagonizing the mage, but without allowing him to trample all over him). He's a solid tactitian and knows how to make allies (he suggests to use the Grey Warden treaties, after all). I bet if he was in the leadership position, he'd even not bicker with Morrigan. His moral code is pretty tight; some might say too tight, but I think it's less about the moral code and more about learning to judge people by their actions, not by the labels they fit into (Morrigan is a proud apostate and therefore bad. Wynne is a humble circle mage and therefore good). He also has a bit of a black-and-white way of seeing the world. I empathize a lot with Alistair, especially with his experience with the Chantry and his subsequent reluctance to deal with it. I really wish I had gotten to know more about concrete experiences he had during his training as templar, but he seems reluctant to talk about it (gee, I wonder why).

Since I've only played the game once, I haven't really picked up on Arl Eamon's abuse towards him, which apparently exists (Isolde, however... I mean, even if he were Eamon's illegitimate son, he's a kid, ma'am, he didn't exactly get to chose his parents. So that's so not okay). Alistair's way of speaking about them both, however, is either sign that he has not come within a hundred miles of acknowledging how much it hurt him, or that he's already gone through the whole process and has decided to forgive them. The latter shows a very strong character; yes, he relies on the approval and leadership of others, he has his issues, but he's already started working on them.

That being said, irl Alistair would be like a little brother to me. I'd tease him relentlessly (all in good fun and I promise to stop if it makes him uncomfortable, but he's just so teasable). I still wish the videogame gave him the chance to take important decisions for himself. But that, of course, would somewhat defeat the point of the game.

Leliana:

Another sweet, sweet person. Her singing voice is amazing. Her belief in the Maker inspires me (I'm a religious person and seeing religious characters represented in a positive light is Very Cool. It's also sometimes a source of discomfort, because the Church has done a lot of very messed up stuff and positive representation can sometimes veer into apologetics for things that should not be excused, but that's a whole other can of worms. The bottom line is that religious characters sometimes work for me and other times don't and Leliana works for me very much bc she's an outsider inside the Chantry).

Leliana is best friend material, tbh. I'd love to get to know her irl, discuss theology and philosophy and maybe even politics? She makes mistakes and has prejudices, but, tbh, so do I. And I do get the feeling that she tries her best to learn. From the times she intervenes in a conversation between the Warden and an NPC, she shows herself to be compassionate and open to the needs of others. What I get from her character is that she genuinely wants to help, which is something that I adore of her. I suspect that she sometimes has a hard time deciding wether she's a good person or not. She has killed and seduced and worked for a morally dubious person, and she doesn't show the same nonchalance about it as Zevran (though they both do discuss their line of work in very... professional terms). This is, however, more of a headcanon than actual factual canon.

I also very much enjoy her girly side, like her interest in shoes and dresses. She's one badass woman who also looses her cool about the latest fashions in Val Royeaux. I like that. Between her and Alistair, a non human noble Warden has as good a help to navigate the Fereldan court as they're going to get. Leliana is also, I can't forget that, clever and insightful. It'd be easy to write her off as the innocent chantry girl, but she's so much more than that. Her kindness is paired with foresight, I think. She knows that taking on the trouble to help now can go a long way in the future. I just have a lot of respect for her.

Loghain:

This one's gonna be short bc I didn't recruit him. He's an amazing villain and would probably be a great Warden as well. He reminds me of Denerhor from LOTR; once a hero/stewart of his people, ambition and desperation have driven them both down a terrible path. I have also only little idea about his past. People say he lost a lot, and I believe it wholeheartedly; it doesn't excuse the fact that he plunged the country into a civil war in the middle of a Blight. I don't have a lot of sympathy for short-sighted politicians. I wish he hadn't made himself regent. That's what I take away from his character.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention that really impressed me was his death. I had Alistair duel him (that was a rough duel), and then it kinda just jumped to a cutscene of my Warden nodding and Alistair executing him. That didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to kill Loghain, and less so in front of Anora. But what impressed me was that Loghain just accepted it. That takes a whole lot of guts. Compare that to Howe's death, and how he screams out that he deserved (more, probably, or anything but death) and it's crystal clear who the more noble of the two is. Loghain strikes me as very lawful neutral, and any neutral alignment has the particularity that it can be dragged towards good or bad, sometimes without the characters noticing it (which is interesting from a DnD perspective; neutral is often concieved of as just as stable as good or evil, but that may not be true. But that's a different post). Anyway, Loghain's death was impactful.

Morrigan:

I could kick myself for not maxing out her approval in the first play-through. I got to enjoy a bit of her friendship by the end of it and boy was even that little bit worth it. Friendship with Morrigan is something that is hard-won. It's all the more precious because of that.

Morrigan is full of paradoxes, I think. She's incredibly wise in some ways, yet also very short-sighted (”just kill them, don't solve their problems”. Morrigan, dear, I'm not going to gain a lot of allies if I kill everybody who poses a problem to me). She is so intelligent, but emotionally... not so. She knows so much about some things, and very little about the next. She's incredibly wilful and knows what she wants, but follows Flemeth's orders all the time through. She hungers for power and independence, yet craves closeness, but won't allow herself to have it. She asks you to prove yourself to her and is extremely critical of your actions, I think, because she's afraid. She bites the hand that feeds her because it might hit her next.

Like with Eamon, I haven't managed to catch the undercurrent of abuse that seems to permeate Flemeth's relationship with Morrigan. Except there are signs, because there must be something Morrigan is scared of and who has instilled all that rage in her, and that's Flemeth. Also, she clearly hates/does not care about her and wants her dead (unless killing Flemeth was part of Flemeth's plan as well? Hm.)

Morrigan is that one person who you are nice to, continuously, because nobody else is. And suddenly she becomes less cold. And then friendly. And suddenly you're asking yourself why everybody hates her, because she's a really good friend! I just wish the other companions came to a similar conclusion, especially Alistair and Wynne.

Oghren:

They did this man dirty. He has such great lines and I'm convinced he was a great person before Branka disappeared. He has that dwarven warrior spirit, and while he looks like Gimli, some of his most impactful lines remind me of Dwalin or even Thorin Oakenshield himself. He could be so noble had he gotten some character development, damnit!

Oghren as he is written is somewhat disgusting. I hate the lechering comments and the drunkenness. And still, I don't hate him because of those amazing lines he has when he's actually sober. It's frustrating and I'll give him that character development myself if the game won't. I strongly associate the song Whiskey Lullaby with him, bc that's how he would have ended up if the Warden hadn't taken him along (warning: the song talks about suicide and alcoholism). Like I said, they could have done such cool things with his character. As he is written now... it's just sad. Moments of lucidity drowned in alcohol and creepy jokes. As you can see, I don't blame the character for either. The alcoholism happens all too often irl. The creepy jokes... I put that one on the writers' tab.

I actually think Oghren could have been a great mentor figure (I know, I shock myself as well sometimes). Next to the Grey Wardens, the ones who know most about fighting darkspawn are the dwarves because they have to deal with them constantly. Especially a warrior caste dwarf like Oghren could have brought a lot of that invaluable knowledge to the team, especially since there are no Grey Wardens in Ferelden but two extremely green recruits. Next, you get the chance to give Oghren the command of the teammates you leave behind in the battle of Denerim with the reason that he has lead men into battle before. Where did that suddenly come from? Oghren should have been right up there telling my Warden that they were doing this wrong, that they needed more food (and booze) and a confident leader to keep the armies they've called together going. Oghren should have been able to tell my civilian city elf who got recruited into the Grey Wardens a six months ago how one leads an army. How one presents oneself to inspire confidence, how one doesn't crack under the pressure, how one gets the leaders of said armies (some who hate each others guts i.e. Dalish elves and humans) to work together. And, last but not least, Oghren could have had a great story about grief. This is a man who has lost most of what made him (and what he hasn't lost he's spilling down the drain with every mug of ale). This is a man who, if you take him into the Deep Roads, has to see what his wife did to his family, how his wife got absolutely obsessed, and can be forced to kill said wife or watch her die. All Wardens loose their home and families at the start of the story. It would really have rounded the whole narrative out if the Warden and Oghren could have recognised their grief in each other and hashed it out somehow. Such as it is, Oghren is a depressed drunkard and there is nothing we can do about that. I find that frustrating.

Rascal (a.k.a. Dog):

Best boy. 100/10. I wish we had gotten to see the reaction of the different origins to the mabari (because elves probably have a whole different experience with them from mages or humans. And dwarves just... I think they straight up have none? XD). Other than that, no complaints. The name Rascal was the one I gave my dog because you have to be a right rascal to survive what he did and play the pranks he plays. Smartest breed in the world indeed.

Shale:

Shale is one of those characters that I recruited rather late in the game, so I haven't had the chance to explore their personality and worldview, really. I didn't even get to take them to the Deep Roads (this will be ammended in playthrough nr. 2). As such, I don't have particularly strong opinions on them (or her? The wiki refers to Shale as 'it', but that sounds weird). But, because I know so little about Shale, I have a lot of questions. First, what were they like before they were a golem? Shayle, as she was called then, was the best warrior of her time if I remember correctly. Why did she become a golem? Was it to be able to eternally protect her people? Was the sarcasm the golem Shale exhibits also part of the dwarven warrior Shayle or did that come later (if for thirty years you have nobody to talk to but yourself, you better be entertaining. And I can imagine how it could make somebody terribly jaded as well).

Next, how attached is Shale to their golem form, exactly? According to the banter, they infinitely prefer it to a squishy fleshy form. If that is the case, however, why go to Tevinter to try and become a squishy dwarf again? It's not like that process could be reversed if they wanted to become a golem again; if Shale survives to the end of the game, the Anvil of the Void is destroyed and Caridin is dead. Was the whole spiel about their indestructible form a façade? It might have been, but not because Shale actually disliked their form. I think it would have more to do with the loss of their memories and with the very invasive experiments and alterations of Shale's body made by the mage Wilhelm. The loss of memories means that Shale is unable to remember life as a fleshy creature. They might be deflecting by pretending that they didn't care for that experience anyway because of the superiority of their golem form. The modifications made to their form by Wilhelm would have alienated them from their body. In light of this, it's significant that Shale asks the Warden to decorate their form with crystals.

All of this is, of course, pure speculation. I may have easily missed or forgotten details that would disprove the above thoughts. All in all, I like Shale and I hope we meet them again in DA4 (given that it's mostly set in Tevinter). It's a liking from a respectful distance, because Shale is tall and made out of rock and also way more experienced than I will ever be (they are literally the oldest member of the Warden's little Blight fighting squad).

Sten:

Sten is another person I'd keep a respectful distance from physically. That seems to be the what he would prefer, at least. I've enjoyed his character a lot, especially because he seems pretty clear-cut at first, but slowly lets the nuance of his person show (gruff and stoic, but then he has an eye for art, a sweet tooth and he likes cute animals). It's also very interesting that there's no moment when you learn "the truth" about him the way you do with Zevran or Leliana. There's no big reveal about his life under the Qun before coming to Ferelden. He says he was sent to monitor the Blight, but honestly? If neither Ferelden nor Orlais knew there was a Blight, how could the Qunari know? I think he's lying, and he takes his secrets back with him when he leaves Ferelden. And yet I think I know him enough to say that a Warden who has become friends with him has nothing to fear from Sten.

One thing I find very interesting about Sten is how he thinks. His conversation about how women can't be soldiers has been analysed a lot on this page I think. He seems to be arguing based on a different paradigma than the one the Warden has. He also seems to have a very clear-cut view of the world. What is fascinating to me is that, when arguing with the Warden and learning about their culture, he is not necessarily becoming more lax about his worldview. I think it's more likely that he is expanding his paradigma, the structure of thought through which he understands the world. I don't think that he is now convinced that women can be warriors as well. I think he rather understands that, in Ferelden, the relationship between occupation and gender is different than under the Qun. Which of the two he thinks is more right or more agreeable, I have no idea. I'm also not very interested in that. But I find it fascinating how he always seems to be looking on quietly, gathering data, classifying it and trying to fit it into his understanding of how the world works. I wouldn't be surprised at all if his original party was a scouting party to see how vulnerable Ferelden was at that moment to outside forces. One thing I don't understand with all of this is why he urges the Warden to meet the Blight head on. No smart soldier would suggest that, except if they are foolishly proud (and Sten doesn't seem like that kind of guy tbh). I get that the Warden takes way longer to gather allies than expected because they first have to solve all of their allies' problems. But surely Sten sees the need to have allies? Is he just that impatient? Does he have a death wish (à la, I lost my sword and am without honour, better to die sooner than later and in glorious battle)? Was he his group's previous commander and is he now having trouble following somebody else's orders? Or maybe it's his way to make sure the Warden knows what they are doing? To push them into becoming the self-assured commander their allies will need once they're all gathered? I really don't know. I like the last option best, however.

For me, Sten is my fellow, more experienced soldier. Like Alistair, he can potentially be the Warden's brother in arms, but he's definitely the older brother here. He probably doesn't take kindly to tearful confessions of how hard everything is, but I feel like he's otherwise a solid rock to lean on. I feel like the Warden can trust him to do what is necessary and count on him no matter what, especially after they get his sword back. His devotion from that point on is honestly so powerful.

Wynne:

Wynne was such a support for my Warden (except with the whole conversation about love vs. duty and that she may have to choose between Zevran and ending the Blight and that she should therefore break up with him. Wynne had a point. Astala was so not willing to sacrifice her relationship with Zevran. But the whole conversation came at a point where she was already so disillusioned that she blew up in Wynne's face (”can i please just have one (1) nice thing????”)). But all in all, Wynne is great.

She has a lot of flaws. She was very marked by her life in the Cricle and, for all her age, she has little experience living outside of it. She is also a conformist despite her strong moral core. In a way, her ability to find peace with her lot in life impresses me deeply because it speaks to a lot of strength of character. Sadly, however, strength can be ill applied and used to suppress. I think she has convinced herself that the Chantry is right under (almost) all circumstances to be able to rationalize the life that mages live. She's had her son taken away from her as a baby and an apprentice killed. Her reaction seems to have been to convince herself that this was right, or for the greater good (and now I'm thinking about the Guardian's question at the temple of Andraste's Ashes; are you wise or do you just repeat what others have told you? The answer is not as clear-cut as it might be). This is why she is so irritated by Zevran and Morrigan. By aligning herself with the Chantry, she is, in her eyes, good. Zevran and Morrigan are not; they do not conform to Chantry morality and they defend themselves tooth and nails against somebody who would try and convert them. This is something Wynne never allowed herself to do; she always did the "right" thing and it has cost her so much. I'm not saying she was right (it would probably have done her some good to rebel from time to time, and to trust her own gut instinct more), but in light of this, it hardly surprises me that she's so judgamental. She has to be, or she would be forced to confront all the evil she has not fought against all those years and all the hurt that has been caused to her by the very institution she protects (and thank God she only tries to argue and can appreciate it when people have found a good life outside of her comfort zone. If she tried to convince by force or, for example, drag her former apprentice back to the Circle... boy oh boy that would get ugly). If you think about it, Wynne really is a good example for what happens if you live by a philosophy of always choosing the lesser evil.

Something that I keep forgetting over her grandmotherly and dignified character is how damn powerful she is. She has escaped the carnage at Ostagar; HOW!? She protected those mage apprentices in the Circle tower for God knows how long. In the battle of Denerim, she wades through an army and comes out alive on the other side. The wiki lists her age at 40, I think, but that doesn't make a lick of sense unless 75 years of age are the Fereldan equivalent to 100. This lady, about whom people make grandmother jokes, did all that. It's impressive.

Zevran:

You know, I would really love to know what Wynne thinks about the events at Kirkwall in DA2. It might be a disaster for her, or it might pave the way for one last bit of character development. She certainly didn't want to return to the Circle after fighting the Blight. That may be an indicator of some change in her stance on the Circle of Magi.

Edit: I forgot that she is what the Circle considers a literal abomination! Holy cow, how could I forget that?? Anyway, her conversation about what being an abomination means is so... heartbreaking, actually. It's so tentative. So careful. "Am I an abomination? Am I the same thing that has killed my students? The same thing as Uldred? Am I lost and damned? Did I invite this spirit in? Is this my fault?" Like wow, Wynne is going through something huge right there. I love it. I have to continue playing the game to see what it ends up as, but it's fascinating and such a huge thing that she allows the Warden in on that.

Ah, Zevran, my beloved (he has stolen my heart so much it's not even funny anymore). He's funny, he's charming, he's so so loyal and it breaks my heart. Zevran is the one about whom I've read most meta: these three wonderful posts for instance, as well as this one about his possible lack of scars, and this one about his lack of freedom. All of these have influenced my opinion of him and they are great reads.

I have talked about Zevran with you before, so I'll just skip to the new stuff. I have come to conclusion that Zevran is an artist at heart. This is totally not biased by the fact that I also do art, but hear me out. One of his preferred gifts are bars of silver and gold. While those have the obvious utility of basically functioning as money (they can be sold to any silversmith or goldsmith and their value is pretty stable through time and in different countries), there's also this from his codex: "Zevran shows an affinity for the finer things in life—hardly surprising for an Antivan Crow—but his appreciation can be more poetic than he lets on. A simple bar of refined silver or gold, uncomplicated by a craftsman's hammer, is elegantly valuable." Tell me that is not an artist's eye that sees that gold and sees the beauty in it. Then, there's also the meta about Zevran the Seducer which I linked above and link here again. It talks specifically about how he lets himself enjoy the target and be seen in his enjoyment. Tell me that is not an artist's eye that beholds the beauty of something he is set out to destroy. Even his talk about his assassinations show this. He talks about it as an art, the way somebody would talk about the brutal intervention in stone that produces a sculpture. Yes, it's a rationalization of the act of killing and yes killing is still wrong. But he doesn't go on about it on a moral tangent the way Alistair or Wynne would (”this person was bad, killing them was necessary”) or even through the argument of survival like Morrigan would (”it was either them or me and it sure as Hell wasn't going to be me”). He talks about the pleasure of a job well done, of the satisfaction of striking the precise point and executing a plan to the perfection so as to minimize chances of discovery and to make a clean death possible. And pleasure in seeing and in doing, this I firmly believe, is absolutely fundamental for an artist.

My favourite part about my Warden and Zevran as a pairing is that Zevran precisely brings out that ability to take your pleasures as they come and to really savour them. Fighting the Blight is tough; it's so important to find good things amidst the chaos to stay sane. If Astala saves Zevran from himself by offering him a place to stay and a purpose, Zevran saves Astala from herself by keeping her from running herself into the ground trying to save the world.

There are some things I don't like about Zev. The incessant flirting, for example, sometimes makes me uncomfortable (it becomes enjoyable for me once the Warden and him are in a relationship, but before that? Nah, no thanks). I wish he would also leave the other female characters alone (and there's so many more shameless comments of his aimed at Morrigan, Leliana or Wynne than at Alistair or maybe even Sten).

---

And that's my take on the Origins companions (this was rather long. Whew ^^' I hope it was still readable and that you enjoyed it!!) Thank you so much for the ask!! It's been a joy thinking about this. I was worrying at first that the less prominent companions like Sten or Shale wouldn't get as much content but... well XD

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imperiuswrecked · 3 years

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Ok. So this is what I see a long-standing issue is with the X-Men and by addition lots of comic books. Now it is the nature of what they are less than the shortcomings of writers.

Magneto was not Magneto in his first appearances. Not the Magneto we know him today. I started reading from the start but have paused that venture. There in the first issues were laid the foundations of the character of Magneto and the themes which will follow for years.

Wanda and Pietro were supposed to be the same age as the X-Men kind of the opposite of the X-Men but also not.

So 1963 Magneto actions don’t meld well with post 1980 Magneto. Of course it is canon so to ignore it would create its own issue.

Do I think Magneto would have made the twins work for him always? Yes. Do I think he would have showed them the extent of brutal treatment that he did? Probably not.

We know that when he thinks he killed Kitty it destroyed him and started him on a redemption arch. It caused a visceral traumatic reaction. I do think they try and show how much Magneto connected with Wanda in Avengers Origins even the ending making it look like he is looking for them out of a feeling they’re family. Looking longingly at the photo of Anya and Magda.

So writers even fic writers are kind of in this situation where they need to keep this part of his character due to canon even though it doesn’t completely mesh with his now established origins/character.

It’s a hard job. I think a lot fic writers ignore that Magneto because they don’t know him especially if they only read the Avengers origins title. They like the 90s and those moments where the crux of the issue is that he chooses mutantdom over them. I think a lot people want better for the Mag Fam which is why the relationship is so hard to read. They want better for a family that have suffered so much.

They don’t want Magneto to be totally cut off from his children and they don’t want a Pietro/Wanda to have a Father they feel doesn’t love them. I am not a fluff fan and I think a Mag Fam central book is long overdue.

But I still don’t like HoM personally and what it did. My interpretation is that Pietro went to Magneto at the start because he thought he’d be the only one to do what it takes to save Wanda. I think there was a flicker in Pietro that no matter how much he may dislike/have disdain for him, he must love/care for Wanda enough to do anything.

There are many Magnetos and the first iteration of Magneto has not stuck. His villain role had its nuances but was still very Saturday morning special. Again I don’t think he would have been nurturing Father figure to them, don’t get me wrong but I don’t think he’d have treated children being persecuted the way he did.

I do think a lot of post 2000 X-Men writing of Magneto was down to the film and heck even post 1993/1994 Magneto was based around the animated series and the way he was portrayed there. His portrayal there was as a baddie still nuanced but a clear villain.

In the end navigating comics is hard but I struggle myself with the original plot points and how they play into the now established character.

This is a very interesting read and I agree with you on some points but on others I have to disagree.

First off, yes I agree there is a change in Magneto's character over the decades, most well rounded characters change and grow into fuller versions of themselves.

The intention behind Magneto's early appearances was very Silver Age villainy, he was meant to embody the opposite ideas of Professor X and though both are working towards the sme goal, they had different ways of approaching it. Meanwhile The Maximoff Twins were meant to be reluctant villains from the start, iirc there was an interview where Stan Lee talked about that. So right away we have them barely tolerating Magneto, the foundation from the start is unstable.

However I disagree that he would not have put the Twins through his harsh commands/actions if he had known because Erik was still in a place of a lot of emotional pain. The Avengers Origins: Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver was definitely an attempt to soft retcon the harshness of 60s/70s Magneto.

Magneto's slow transformation from all out villain to anti hero took decades, and usually Marvel likes to press the big old reset button on things like that like they do for Doctor Doom, yet Magneto's change is something that if today Marvel attempts to reset him back into the 60s era would be very jarring for readers but maybe something traumatic happening to him could possibly make it less so. However I think it would be extremely stupid of Marvel to ever revert him back to that era because it would make his character diminish in his richness and growth.

Magneto did not start out Jewish, it was something that was added much later, and it has a lot to do with his change.

I know not all the fans even read the comics, many fans like to take things out of context, or they are simply unaware of the context. Many fans re only movie fans but add in some comic lore because we don't have a live action Magnet Family, and I do not count that whitewashed mess of a character called Peter in the XMCU, nor those sisters he has. The MCU Twins are also whitewashed and completely divorced from their comic origins. So we have people pushing this very Fanon version of Magnet Family because it's more fun or easier to understand than their complex familial relationships.

The 90s is the era where the Magnet Family has the most interaction so even if comic fans ignored the Silver Age and focused on Bronze Age Magneto onward, we still have how his character acted in the 90s. He does choose mutantdom over them, Magneto: Dark Seduction #3

And we have the Twins clearly stating how they feel towards him.

Magneto: Dark Seduction #4

Magneto never treated his kids as being persecuted, he simply used them as he has others, to achieve his goals.

While I agree that Magneto has changed, and become more multi layered, to ignore his less than pleasant side/past is to ignore just how dangerous he was and is and can be.

As for your interpretation of Pietro, while I agree every fan had their own way of reading things, it is clear that he arrived at the Avengers first before the scene where he begs for Erik's help in House of M.

Avengers Disassembled #5

We know this because he mentions to Erik that he was just there and they are plotting Wanda's death which he only could have learned if he went to them first.

House of M (2005) #7

Polaris does not have as much baggage with Magneto as the Twins but she does have her own journey where she struggles.

And I agree, comics are very hard, and trying to figure out characters is like a puzzle, it's something I enjoy but I know not all fans are as obsessive over the details and getting the characters close to their comic selfs as I am. However the constant thing I see in fandom is how often all this soap opera drama is often ignored or downplayed by fans when it comes to character meta and I have seen people over the years try to force Magnet Family Fanon over the place of Canon or get upset when it's pointed out that in Canon they are not a close family unit at all.

Every fan is free to have their fanon and how they view the Magnet Family. Heck, they can even throw out whatever Canon they don't like to fit their fanfics because they want to. I never have issues with that of course. However usually when I do talk about the Magnet Family I take them as they are, the good and the bad, even if at time I have different aus for them in my fics.

I find this family so interesting and it's why I love to discuss them with others, so thank you for your ask!

#erik lensherr #magneto #pietro maximoff #quicksilver #wanda maximoff #scarlet witch #lorna dane #polaris #magnet family #long post #meta #imp answers

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missymurphy1985 · 3 years

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The Writer (part eight)

Warning - angst / kidnapping / character death

Taglist @queenshelby @margoo0 @being-worthy @peakyscillian @peakyciills @janelongxox @elenavampire21 @noctvrnalmoth @ysmmsy @cloudofdisney @lauren-raines-x @namelesslosers @misscarolineshelby @screemqueen @cilleveryone @peaky-cillian @misselsbells06 @datewithgianni @heidimoreton @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch

"Y/n.... Y/n wake up..." A woman's voice dragged you from the darkness. You were in bed. Thomas's bed. A tight grip on your hand and something gentle stroking your face.

"A shot..."

"Yes. But you're fine."

"I got shot?"

"No y/n, the shock made you pass out."

"Tommy?"

"I'm here. I'm fine."

Your eyes opened to find it was his hand holding yours, and his other one stroking your face. You smiled at him and his smile in return made your heart jump.

"What happened? Is Charlie safe?"

"He's in his room with Finn playing with his train set.

"Thank god... Lucille..."

"Dead. She didn't know I was right behind her with a pistol at her neck," Polly smirked. The relief flooded through you. Pulling yourself up slowly, with Tommy's help, he sat next to you on the bed, wrapping an arm around your shoulder.

"Gave me quite a fright. I didn't see Polly either, I just heard the shot and you go down - " he held you tighter as you relaxed into his embrace.

"I thought you'd been shot... I was so scared!" The door to the room opened and little Charlie ran in, standing at the foot of the bed. The boy was the image of his mother, but with Tommy's piercing blue eyes.

"Charlie, I'd like you to meet someone very special," Tommy patted the space in front of him and the boy climbed up, sitting in front of you. You held out a hand and he took it gently.

"Charlie, my name is y/n. I'm so happy you're home and safe!"

"Daddy saved me," the three year old gave you a big grin making you smile.

"Yes he did. Can I come and see your train set Charlie? I used to love trains when I was little?"

"Yes!!" He pulled your arm to drag you out of bed and you dutifully complied, allowing the little boy to lead you to his room. Thomas chuckled watching you, warning Charlie to be careful with you as you were still delicate.

You sat playing trains with Charlie for most of the morning - making small villages with his toys.

You could see his eyes growing sleepy, and right on cue Tommy appeared with a cup of warm milk, scooping his drowsy son into his arms. Charlie drank the milk and settled on his Dad's shoulder, happily being rocked to sleep. Your heart melted watching them - the love Tommy had for this small boy so clear in his eyes as he held him close. Small kisses to the top of his head, humming an old Romani song you recognised from long ago when Polly would sing it to Finn as a baby. Within minutes, Charlie was asleep, and Tommy placed him gently in his bed with another kiss to his head. He kneeled next to him, stroking his face and whispering words you couldn't quite make out. You slowly tiptoed out of the room to give them a moment together, and headed down the stairs where Polly was fixing some lunch.

"Polly, where's Frances?" You asked.

"She.. she was in the house y/n, but we'd got there too late. She was already dead when we arrived, her heart gave out from the stress of it all. She wasn't involved. We put the husband through his own personal hell before we took his eyes, he told us she'd been forced to collect Charlie and take him to the hall. Her family had been threatened with torture if she hasn't. Poor woman had no choice."

"Oh Frances... Tommy must be devastated..."

"He's experienced more loss in his life than anyone should have, love. Which is why I have to say this... If you don't feel the same as he feels for you, you need to walk away now y/n. He can't handle another heartbreak, it'll kill him."

"Polly, the things I feel for that man can't be put into words.. he makes me feel alive. Like I'm walking on air when he's with me. I feel so free, and happy. Like I can take the world on as long as he's by my side. It feels comfortable, like being at home."

"Very similar to how he described you, actually," she smiled and gave you a hug. "About time you joined the family, although I was sure it would be John, not Thomas!"

"No, he only had eyes for Martha and I only had eyes for Jack. Until.."

"Everyone is allowed to move on Y/n. Jack wouldn't want you to be unhappy forever, would he?" You shook your head, swallowing back the tears. As much as you were falling in love with Tommy, there would always be a place in your heart for Jack.

The rest of the day was spent playing with Charlie. Tommy was reluctant at first, he didn't know what to do and was thinking about paperwork he needed to complete, but the way you and Charlie looked at him through puppy dog eyes had him beat. Charlie loved the new attention from his father, showing him all of his toys. You ended up in the garden that evening, taking a walk around the grounds and letting him explore.

"Thank you." Tommy smiled, his arm over your shoulder.

"For what?"

"For this. For showing me there's more to life than paperwork."

"Charlie just needs you. Not the toys or the fancy clothes, he needs his Dad."

"I guess I didn't know how - Grace always took care of this side of it. Then Frances.."

"I know - listen, my flatmate is looking for work. She's amazing with children. Why don't I talk to her, see if she'll come help with Charlie while you're working?"

"Can she be trusted?"

"She's marrying my brother, and I've known her since we were babies."

"Then yes." You smiled and turned to Charlie who was fascinated with the flowers.

"What do you think Charlie, can we run faster than Daddy?" You laughed, hoisting the boy onto your back and pointing to a tree the other side of the garden. Tommy smirked at you, taking his jacket off.

"Not a chance!" He laughed.

"Daddy old - too slow!" Charlie giggled behind you.

"Sounds like a challenge to me, boy," Tommy smirked before setting off in a sprint. You quickly ran as fast as you could, Charlie's laughter spurring you on.

"We win!!!" Charlie laughed as you easily reached the tree first, even with Tommy's cheating head start.

"It would appear your Dad is too old for this!" Tommy laughed, laying down to catch his breath. Charlie's hands reached for him, and you placed him on top of Tommy's chest. He quickly nuzzled into him, his eyes growing heavy. You watched the two of them for a few minutes, your heart felt like it would explode.

"Come on little man, let's get you to bed eh?" Tommy sat up gently, lifting his son into his arms. The three of you headed back to Arrow House.

Once Charlie was in bed asleep, he joined you in the sitting room. You already had the whiskey and two glasses ready.

"I hope you don't mind, I wasn't planning on going home?" You smiled, pouring two glasses.

"I thought you said you already were home?"

"You listening into my conversations Thomas?"

"Did you mean what you said?"

"Every word. Want me to show you exactly how much I meant it?"

He sat next to you on the sofa and shook his head.

"I'm going to show you how much I meant it when I told Polly the same thing. Brace yourself, y/n. You're in for a very long evening."

#tommy x fem!reader #tommy shelby x smut #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby x reader #thomas shelby x smut #thomas shelby x you

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gra-sonas · 3 years

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Was the year time jump because of the pandemic? To sidestep making that too central to the plot, or was that always the plan?

JEANINE MASON: That was always our intention and it was just sort of a saving grace in that way. We also don't acknowledge the pandemic in real-time on our show. There are no masks and that was just so wonderful just to get work in that way and have that time where it was a little more normal. Also, that's just our show — we want you to come to us the way you always do, which is for nineties nostalgia, sexy Cowboys, brilliant scientists, you know? CHRIS HOLLIER: So we wanted to drop our characters in a year later, let them stew in their individual decisions that were made last season. We want everyone to root for our poster couple but we want to honor what happens in real life, which is sometimes you step away from that person, even if you are entwined with them in a very particular way. So we wanted it to be a real enough time and distance so that they could live a little life on their own.

With showrunner Carina Adly MacKenzie departing at the end of season 2, has much changed? Or are you still working with ideas she had in place?'

HOLLIER: It's a little bit of both. There are things that Carina and I built that live all the way through and then once the story got up on its feet, discoveries were made with our new crop of people that we were like, "Oh, we're going to bend it this other way."

Jeanine, how is Liz doing in her new life in L.A. when we pick up this season?

MASON: Well, it's been a year and at this point, her life is actually pretty great. She just hasn't taken a second to acknowledge that. She's doing what she does best, which is just full head in her work and trying to figure out what she could use of her discoveries and her brilliance to save Maria. She has a great job, a really nice place, and an awesome partner at work who is a good time and a real match for her in terms of intellect and ambition. He begins to ask her to recognize that and to maybe give something a chance that she's been reluctant to because of how drawn she is to Roswell and to Max. It's a fun first episode. It's sexy. It's fun to find opportunities for her. She's our hero so she's got a lot on her shoulders and anytime where we can find levity for her is always a real treat for the writers and for me.

And no Crashdown waitress uniform must be nice?

MASON: Honestly, I miss it quite a lot right now. I have a note in my notes with Chris, I'm like, "I gotta tell him we gotta find him more opportunities for it."

Should Liz and Max shippers be worried about them finding their way back to one another after he destroyed her work and didn't follow her to L.A.? Should we resign ourselves to a season apart?

MASON: This season really is about these characters having themselves mirrored to each other. Max and Liz need some growing and ultimately they can't do anything but be orbiting each other. We found so many opportunities to have such a beautiful language around the cosmic element of their connection. They're asking, "Is this our decision, or are we just acting off of a decision that the cosmos made for us?" It was so fun to navigate that. I always have such a good time with Chris Hollier and with Nathan Dean, just finding the little tiny notches, a tiny bit of movement towards where they're going next. I really loved following them. It's my favorite Max and Liz season to date.

HOLLIER: It's not a season apart. I'll tease that they, in an unexpected way, end up in front of each other relatively soon. But it's really about when am I ready? And what does it mean to talk to my ex? When someone makes such a big influence in your life, when do you know it's over and when do you know you should fight again? We tried to give them real grown-up lives.

Steven Krueger (The Originals) also joined the cast as Heath this season. What can you tease about his character?

HOLLIER: He's just an awesome human being. I know him from The Originals and we were like, "If we're going to have to be stuck with people in the desert, who do we want?" You want to be stuck with a handsome and lovely and charming Steven Krueger. So really this was looking at, "Well, what did Liz want and what does it look like when you start to give Liz versions of what she wants?" Heath is somebody that is beyond being just a lovely person, he is smart and wants to advance science and that's appealing to Liz. It becomes, "What does it look like when the man that I hang around with all day is also into the same things that I am?" MASON: I love him. Heath is just such a fun, whip-smart, fantastic character. His humor was so fun. We've been having a good time with kicking the humor up really through season two and in season three, we just took it up another notch. There are some moments that are like, "Is this a drama or is it a sitcom?" Looking back on it, he was such a fun partner to spar with. They're both such intellectual characters and I love that there's a real meeting of the minds. It makes it competitive and sexy. I know a lot of fans are so excited because they know him from The Originals and he's going to be a great addition.

Technically, Mr. Jones is a new character too. Can you tell us anything at all about him?

HOLLIER: I'd say he's a new character — and a fully-fleshed interesting new character. Mr. Jones has an awesome beard. At some point, he might lose that beard. A lot of people are asking me, "Is Jones good or bad?" And what I would argue is that's a perspective based upon who you are in the conversation that you're having with him. He knows a lot about our heroes' story and he knows a lot about home. He'll be able to answer questions for them. This season our heroes will get to learn why they ended up here on earth. One of the things I think that people will love is that they're going to get to see that home planet this year. We asked ourselves a lot about this whole season, "What have we set up for the past two?" We look at these first three seasons almost like a trilogy so a lot of things are going to be paid off.

Has Nathan enjoyed pulling double duty this season? Or is he just exhausted?

MASON: He's exhausted, but he's such a champ. That really is the beginning of this mirroring thing that starts with Max and Jones with him actually getting to look at himself to a degree and those questions that come up. The self-analysis that it provokes in him is really the beginning of what is happening to all of our characters this year; everybody's being confronted with themselves. I loved that the Max/Jones of it was also a real sci-fi element.

Did he really grow that beard or was that not possible if he had to go between the two characters?

MASON: That was a prosthetic beard and our makeup team killed it. He was not accustomed to early mornings, which, of course, all of us babes are. It was a lot of extra time in the chair for him.

Can Jones dupe Liz into thinking he's actually Max since she doesn't know he exists?

MASON: You're totally on to something. It's a real and pressing threat. I mean, she's totally in the dark and he looks like her cosmic lover!

HOLLIER: What I will say is that, Liz — beyond her being number one on the call sheet — is integral to this story in a way that she and none of our characters are going to perceive when they start episode one. We're bringing [the characters] to a new crossroads moment in their lives and they're getting, through Jones, a mirror into their own lives to decide what they're going to become next.

How's Rosa (Amber Midthunder) doing this season?

MASON: By the end of season two, Rosa really makes the decision to start taking care of herself. She really becomes an incredible asset to the Scooby-Doo gang. It's something that Liz is in constant adjustment to. As much as she's the younger sister, she feels very protective of her sister and Liz has had to make adjustments in her trust and faith in Rosa. I loved it because it just felt like a real personal, authentic thing that sisters would go through, but also that Hispanic sisters would go through. I think we sometimes, culturally, have a tendency to baby our women — maybe that's the wrong word — but just to underestimate their physical ability and what they might take on, and sort of 'queen' our women in a way where we treat them tenderly. I hate that. I'm a tough bitch and so is Rosa. So Liz has to confront that and go, "I'm an idiot to underestimate you. You've done nothing but prove me wrong."

What about Maria and her visions?

HOLLIER: This year I think Maria has the most complete arc of any season, as she recognizes things about herself that cause more questions about who she is, who her family is, how she's linked to this story. We dive into it in the present-day and we dive deliciously back in time too.

In the exclusive clip above we see her have a vision of a funeral, can you tease anything about who potentially might be about to die?

HOLLIER: Maria is front and center in driving the first half of the mystery for us. She's burdened with trying to figure out whose death she is seeing. It takes a few episodes to unravel and we use it to ask, is this linked to our supernatural stories or real-world stories that are going on politically? Is it bad luck? Is it herself? There's a whole gambit at play. We joke that we solved a past murder, now we're going to try to stop one.

Can Malex (Michael and Alex) shippers have hope that this might finally be their time?

HOLLIER: What I would say is that I think that Malex fans are really going to dig this journey. We, as writers, put them at the same level of importance as Max and Liz. So we wanted to really honor the next step in what they may or may not be. How did they grow up and how did they have those hard conversations just like Liz and Max are going to have?

Is Isobel going to continue to date women this season?

HOLLIER: Isobel is going to go on a more personal journey. You got to love yourself before you can love someone else. We lean into those possibilities by the end of who she might love. It's not something that is dropped all season — it is something that you'll see. We play some romantic comedy stuff with her character this year and with Maria that I think fans are gonna dig. There's a lot going on in the world and wanted to pump some humor and hope into it.

Will see more of Liz fighting to challenge the perception of the Latinx community?

MASON: I think that just by nature of it being one of such few shows that are led by a Latin woman, it's always going to be, to an extent, a protest or an assertion of the space that I get to fill and that Liz Ortecho gets to fill on network TV. I was really excited to just have Chris as a collaborator. Over our hiatus, before the season started, I was doing a lot of reading. I chronicled the books that play into Liz every season on my Instagram. I was reading some Sonia Sotomayor. Her book is just incredible. I was texting him screenshots of pages of the book with things underlined. Ten episodes deep into season 3, he's like, "Remember that page you sent me?" He's a real dream collaborator. I loved him for that. A pressing struggle for people of color is going through the ranks in these big corporations and then sometimes coming to find out that those corporations are purporting to support marginalized groups but actually aren't following through. So how do you, as someone who's having your success, your dreams become reality, navigate supporting the company and giving so much of your intelligence and your work — that they often legally own, especially with science — to a company that isn't going to be for your people?

Roswell, New Mexico returns Monday at 8 p.m. on The CW.

#long post is long #jeanine mason #chris hollier #liz ortecho #max evans #echo #isobel evans #rosa ortecho #malex #alex manes #michael guerin #rnm spoilers #maria deluca #rnm cast interviews #roswell new mexico s3 #roswell new mexico

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dontcallmecarrie · 3 years

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Hey, I vicariously live in my imagination to escape from the reality.

So, I have been wondering about the Rogues reaction to Tony defeating thanos, the IronSmaug, taking over the world etc...

Have a go at it, if you are interested.

It's also fine if you dont.

thanks, I really, really needed the distraction. it's been. an interesting week. not in a good way.

tbh, the whole 'what does Team Cap think about this mess?' thing in TWiFFON is...something I had originally been torn about, and everything that's been happening ever since means I keep finding myself going "do I have the energy to tackle this? lol no".

For some context, because you probably know my stance on this sort of thing but I prefer redundancy just to make sure we're on the same page: once upon a time, I honestly, genuinely did like the Avengers. All of them, and yes, that included Wanda [...for less than an hour, but still].

Back when I still had faith in the writers, I was constantly going "...okay, so when are these guys going to stop acting so OOC? Where tf are they planning on taking these character arcs?" and just being disappointed at each turn— but I stuck around because I liked the potential. Steve "what do you mean punching fascists isn't cool anymore?" Rogers, Natasha "my past is a tire fire and I'll just leave it at that" Romanov, Clint "where's Loki? Let me at him!" Barton and the rest of the group had their good points, and I gave myself a headache trying to figure out wtf was their thought process when the time came for them to do their thing in TWiFFON.

It wasn't fun, I only did it because it was absolutely necessary... and I still ended up receiving complaints.

Look: for me, character bashing is exhausting. I have enough going down in my life that I don't have any interest in writing it, and over the past few years I've seen more than one of the fandoms I follow/lurk in become salt mines that have me going "...okay, if you hate it so much, why are you even here?"

When I write, I try my best to emphasize the 'actions have consequences' thing I learned long before I hit puberty; but that doesn't mean I'm up for anything beyond that. Again, I used to like these characters, so seeing the levels of suffering canon— and some writers— put them through just has me stepping back for a moment.

But TWiFFON attracted a lot of people who were pretty far out there in terms of what they wanted, some of whom got very very pissy when it wasn't the story I wanted to write, which is...probably like 99% of the reason I'm still burned out on that AU. Apart from the recent personal life bs that means I am Not Up To Dealing With any hypothetical rando that shows up in my inbox, because normally I could not care less about what people think but my energy levels are. Um. Not great atm. Not sure I wouldn't bite anyone's head off if they wanted to start something right now, tbh, or just ragequit writing for a while because I have way better things to do with my time than deal with random internet assholes.

...apologies for the tangent, but now you know why that situation is one I'm normally kinda reluctant on tackling.

As for what I'd originally headcanoned:

Back before things hit the fan, I'd originally planned to have some little interlude snippets of what Team Cap's been dealing with. Mostly, it would've forced them to acknowledge that for all none of them liked or trusted Tony, he was basically just the personification of what the rest of the world thought of them.

Nobody respects them, anymore, or trusts them; Clint'd be in very hot water and sleeping on the couch for a while, and Hank Pym would never let Scott hear the end of his involvement in this whole thing because Hank hates the Stark name and the English language cannot concisely articulate just how pissed off he was that he had to publicly thank Tony.

Team Cap overall would also start to fall apart at the seams as more and more stuff came out and ey, turns out the leader they'd trusted and broken international laws for had lied to them.

By omission, sure, but honestly— do you think that'd go down well? The "oh yeah, I've known my brainwashed friend killed his parents since DC but I am not going to tell him unless I'm forced to" thing?

I don't know about you, but I for one highly doubt Sam Wilson would be okay with that. Or Clint, for that matter, and the list goes on because the more time passes, the more stuff keeps coming out of the woodwork and for the first time in years, they're forced to deal with it.

One of the things I planned to include in the sidefic can basically be summed up as "the curious case of Bucky Barnes": that is to say, what'd happen after he's taken into custody, and poke lightly at the clusterfuck we're unpacking here. Tony, feeling bad for losing control in the bunker, would basically go "shit I fucked up but I also never want to see him again but he's an even bigger mess than I am, that's a whole lot to unpack so you know what? I'm just throwing out the suitcase entirely here, have all the resources for support and help and if I ever see you again, it'll be too soon".

...to sum up, it's messy af. SI Legal would feature heavily because his particular case means he needs a team of lawyers, what with the 'former POW who's trying to recover from All The Trauma' thing, and the 'so I literally was just trying to buy some damn groceries when you guys dragged me into this', and Tony basically went "hey, so if anyone wants to help him, uh, I kinda have some interest in this one. Fair warning, dude probably killed Kennedy while mind-controlled, with our luck".

And along the way, there'd also be some of that one subplot I'd cut due to pacing issues: specifically, the one dealing with prosthetics.

Remember how Miriam Sharpe said her son would never walk again? Yeah, we'd be revisiting that: her family'd get a letter or something inviting them for clinical trials, and meet Rhodey in passing as he's using his own leg braces to get around because he's still healing. Bucky would get a few design offers for a free replacement for his arm, and it'd probably end up being a collab with Wakanda because T'Challa feels bad for his role in that mess as well.

So Team Cap would be seeing this, seeing how everyone's acting and reacting, and the way one of their own is getting all the help and support Stark Industries has to offer and realizing that yeah, they messed up. Big time.

...depending on my salt levels and how close we're sticking to canon, I was thinking this'd go one of two ways.

Either they'd double down and just go "ugh, Tony is a supervillain and we can't do anything about it!" while TWiFFON marches on and then later go "...you mean he did it by accident?!", or...

Well, canon's proven character development and continuity isn't really in their writers' vocabulary. So my original idea of 'they're forced to deal with the reality of the situation, acknowledge they messed up and slowly move on with their lives' would've been very unrealistic.

Again, most of this is intentionally vague, I had not been keen to tackle that mess in TWiFFON in the first place and the way things exploded on me means I really, really don't have the energy to do so now. Not when there's far better things I could do with my time, like mess around with AUs where people actually get along, or knit, or— well, the list goes on.

#The War is Far From Over Now #From the Other Side [A Terror To Behold]#thinking aloud #I got an ask!#Naught replies #replies #behind the scenes

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sam-t-a · 3 years

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Okay.

*Deep breath*

I think I’m finally calm enough to put into words exactly why I hated the finale and why I wasn’t completely surprised that I hated it.

(Heads-up: this is really long and pretty negative. If you disagree, I would of course appreciate your point of view and love to hear it, but just thought I’d let you know in case this is the kind of post you would like to avoid.)

To me, it felt like every character on the show got betrayed in some way or another, but the main ones are Han Seo (devastatingly), Chayoung (obviously) and Han Seok (bear with me).

Cha Young:

She started out as a solid FL who annoyed some people for sure, but who had so much promise as someone unconventional and bold. The way her mother’s death affected her and caused a clear shift in her personality was a super interesting plot point that really never got explored. We have no idea how she came to sacrifice her morality in joining Wusang, just that she wanted to spite her father, which is a very superficial exploration. She gets cute idiosyncrasies in lieu of an actual character and an actual character arc.

We also, halfway through the show, seem to forget that her father's death was the initial trigger. Cha young does not suggest bold ideas or intricate plans, she doesn’t fill the gaps Vincenzo is incapable of filling (because that would require that Vincenzo have flaws, and that’s not something the writers can abide), and she’s literally victimized in episode 19 and bedridden in episode 20, and that is IT.

Someone who started out supposedly as Vincenzo’s equal just became another piece in his chess set, no matter how important a piece she may be.

So her role as a badass avenger is trashed. That leaves her role as a love interest. Now, as Vincenzo’s love interest, she was supposed to get kidnapped in like episode 5 or 6 at the most if the villain has any brains whatsoever (Han Seok may or may not, more on that later). We need a reason for that not to happen too early. Cue villain is somehow in love with her for all of 15 minutes or so throughout a 20-episode series because a love triangle is inconceivable with the show’s current structure and for its purposes.

So, she spends 15 or so episodes making the first move on Vincenzo, every time, putting herself out there, creating cute moments, getting nothing in return, and then he leaves. No confession, nothing much, he wasn’t even going to say goodbye or give her the choice of coming with him.

I’m sure more chayenzo-oriented fans have already expressed all the necessary outrage over this, so I’ll move on to the part that I’ve personally been way more emotionally invested in from the get go: the Jang brothers.

Han Seo:

I was among the minority that hated the “Vinny hyung” angle from the get-go and I’ve ranted about it in another post, so I won’t get into it here in-depth, but basically it was because I felt like Vincenzo hadn’t earned it, so to have the last words Han Seo hears be “You deserve to be my brother” or whatever the fuck he was on about PISSED ME OFF. It’s VINCENZO who doesn’t deserve to be Han Seo’s brother and hasn’t done a single thing to earn it. He was a good ally. The situation he allowed Han Seo to be a part of was beneficial to him, but Han Seo’s attachment to him was neither healthy nor heartwarming, and it certainly wasn’t returned on the level he offered it.

Vincenzo’s disregard of his death didn’t strike me as odd because I never saw enough indications that this was a two-way street and Han Seo’s safety and well-being came second so often that I didn’t get the impression Vincenzo was doing much to keep him alive. This is what I meant when I said the show was glorifying a torture survivor’s trauma responses. Han Seo himself, as a torture survivor, meant nothing to them. He was just there to create one more contrived comparison between Vincenzo and Han Seok. Instead of recovering from the trauma, it’s simply employed to someone else’s favor. He doesn’t go to prison for Han Seok, he takes a bullet for Vincenzo, and we’re supposed to see that as so much better.

All of that might (JUST MIGHT) not have ruined the show for me if he’d died better. 1) It was narratively pointless and totally avoidable, 2) they could’ve framed it as heroic, but instead Han Seok’s hand patting his head is pushing it down, so he can’t even get shot with his chin up and his back straight, Taec’s already taller, so the angle’s fucked and the whole cinematography screamed “kicking an injured puppy” and most certainly NOT “survivor finally stands up to his abuser”. The final nail in the proverbial and literal coffin is that he is mourned by no one. They’re FLIRTING not 3 MINUTES LATER, it felt so tone deaf and left such a bad taste. As I said, I didn’t expect significant mourning from Vincenzo (gotta say, I didn’t expect no mourning, that was a shocker), and Cha young and the tenants had no real interactions with him and no reason to mourn him, which left only one person who could.

Which brings me to Han Seok.

Han Seok started out as a solid villain, clear goals, clear skills that help him achieve his goals and basically make him a villain worth defeating, and a very complex relationship with both his own psychopathy and his brother.

Let me get it out of the way: I do not believe Han Seok is capable of killing Han Seo because he had every reason and every opportunity to do so in previous episodes and couldn’t do it (I say couldn’t because a certain degree of reluctance is in itself inability). Han Seo’s danger far outweighed his material value the minute he shot Han Seok and then completely lost any value once he came out to the world as the chairman and it became clear that the prosecution would be going after him if anything happened, and not his brother. But time and again, he’s proven he’s all bark and no bite when it comes to Han Seo (killing-wise, specifically).

The scene where he asks him to beat Vincenzo to death could be interpreted as him wanting to give Vincenzo the “painful death” he would have given him, but honestly, I think he was way past that point. He just wanted him dead in the “You crazy? we have to kill him before he kills us” sense. To that end, killing off a key ally of Vincenzo’s, who betrayed you and almost got you killed a bunch of times, should take priority, but Han Seok’s priority is reclaiming Han Seo by forcing him back onto his side. Now, much like his “love for Cha young”, Han Seok’s keenness on not killing his brother was essential to the writers so that Han Seo can justifiably make it this far and still be useful to Vincenzo (he can’t help if Han Seok completely excludes him from all events, plans and management processes, so Han Seok needs to want to keep him on his side enough not to do that even when it’s more prudent).

All of this isn’t to say it’s unbelievable that he would kill Han Seo, but it’s DEFINITELY unbelievable that he would stay the same man after killing him. Someone here (I’m sorry, I don’t rememebr who) once said that Han Seo had become, over time, far more of a foil to his brother than Vincenzo was. To me, this means that Post-Han Seo Han Seok would be out of balance (tilted screen), unhinged in a way he never was before. The Han Seok we see shrugs and “oh, well”-s and moves on in a flash, not really any different from the villain he was four minutes and a whole brother earlier.

This is very consistent with the way the show has been de-humanizing him from the start. I’m not saying this to defend Han Seok in any way, he’s a serial killer, an abuser and a total maniac. But you can be all those things and still a human being. In fact, you can ONLY be those things if you’re a human being. The show used its villain vs villain idea to justify a lot, but in the end, Vincenzo had to be a protagonist. He had to follow up every “I’m a villain” with a contrived “but at least I’m not (insert something worse)”.

On the level of humans:

1) Vincenzo is supposedly different because he doesn’t hurt children or women (unless the women deserve it, and shooting a parent in front of their kid doesn’t count as hurting.)

But we never see Han Seok hurting women or children either. In fact, if we proceed with the “chayoung is the myung hee of the good guys” comparison, he hasn’t hurt any women nearly as badly as Vincenzo did.

2) Babel vs Mafia

Babel’s corruption is compared a lot to the mafia, with Vincenzo commenting repeatedly that the people are WORSE than the mafia...which is bullshit. Babel is a set of companies that provide goods and services, but use illegal means to maximize their profit, so they hurt/kill people in the process because they want more money and care about money more than ethics. The Mafia is an inherently criminal organization that functions PURELY on the basis of its criminality. Every single dime Vincenzo spends is blood money. None of it is clean. And while we’re on the topic, I find the whole “taking Miri under his wing” thing pretty unreasonable too because he tried to have her killed you guys, I cannot believe we’re just glossing over that. He had everyone who worked on that vault killed, just random fucking construction workers. And he’s not sorry. And the show tells you he shouldn’t be.

3) Repentance

Han Seok says outright he won’t atone, and while Vincenzo says no such thing out loud he just...doesn’t repent, I guess. He keeps the blood money, he goes back to being a full-time mafia dude doing mafia things. He leaves the same man he arrived.

So, if on the level of harm inflicted upon humanity, Vincenzo and Han Seok are pretty much equal (and Vincenzo might actually be worse), then why should we root for Vincenzo?

Well, my friend, that’s where the dehumanization comes in!

I was initially very excited to see their portrayal of a psychopath because of the very interesting ways in which the informal moral code and official justice system surrounding a psychopath/sociopath/narcissist affect their behavior and their chances of not turning out rotten, and the show looked like it was looking at corruption in general.

But as the show went on, the villain vs villain thing proved not to be enough, Vincenzo has to be better in some way (or if you’re as obsessed with him as the writers are, then ALL ways), so it became a villain vs monster narrative. Vincenzo isn’t ethical or fair or in any way interested in having a remotely positive impact on society, but at least he’s A HUMAN BEING unlike SOMEBODY. So, the characterization goes to shit, Han Seok becomes a cartoon card-board cut out of a villain and emphasis is put on how pointless his violence is, as opposed to how purposeful Vincenzo’s is.

This is dangerous on multiple levels (and I promise this is the last point I’m making).

1) For people in general, dehumanizing abusers/murderers/etc. makes us very liable to forget that you don’t have to be “a monster” to cause harm, and it makes people complacent in their belief that they are “not bad people” since they aren’t total monsters. The Banality of Evil is a thing, and in this series, it goes completely ignored. No one is inherently incapable of good or inherently undeserving of humanity.

2) For victims of abuse in specific, it’s dangerous to portray abusers (including serial killer and non-serial killer ones) as entirely bad and unlovable, because it poses the dual risk of making victims less likely to acknowledge their abuse if it comes from someone who cares about or loves them on some level because the idea that someone cannot both love and hurt you is so stereotypical. Your abuser can genuinely want you in their lives and need you and, on some level, love you, and IT DOESN’T MATTER if that love doesn’t stop them from hurting you.

On the other hand, portraying the victims of abuse as capable of flipping an off switch and hating the abuser with no hesitation or second thoughts to the point of unapologetically and cheerfully helping someone kill them and having no mixed feelings about it sends the message that if you CAN’T do that, then are you really abused? Are sure you’re not complicit in your own abuse? Do you even want to get rid of them?

So this is basically why the way the show ended was so painfully disappointing for me. And the main reason it hit so hard was that it was initially so good and had so much promise. I really expected more.

#Vincenzo #vincenzo meta #vincenzo spoilers #not that mad anymore but still so disappointed #hong chayoung #jang han seo #jang han seok #so much it to fix #my brother says hi #he is disappointed too

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multimetaverse · 3 years

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HSMTMTS 2x08 Review

Most Likely To was the best ep of S2 so far and ended one ship while launching another. Let’s dig in!

Gaston was super fun, a very nice showcase for both Larry and Matt. This is the kind of energy that early S2 was lacking. Also feels like the first ep where East High might actually have a shot at beating North High. Covid restrictions played a role but we really needed to see more rehearsal scenes and scenes of the wildcats just being theatre kids. This also may be one of the last times we see EJ perform as a student in the musical so I’m glad we got this.

EJ has been criminally underused for most of S2, he’s marketed as part of the big 4 along with Nini, Ricky, and Gina and Matt Cornett’s name is listed 3rd in the credits but in the early eps of S2 you’d think he was guest star. Lately he’s started to become more important and tonight was an excellent showcase of why he’s such an interesting character. I’m not gonna check but this feels like it’s the most EJ screen time in a single ep that we’ve gotten all season long.

Of course, the main reason for EJ’s increased screen time is because of Portwell. I’ve been neutral on them but tonight they really won me over’ their scenes were so sweet that they warmed even my cold black heart. Matt and Sofia are good friends irl and that shines through in their easy rapport and great chemistry. Gina snorting at EJ’s joke was cute and I loved the shot of Gina accidentally walking into the shot for EJ’s confessional. As an aside, they’ve been doing some fun stuff with the confessionals lately which helps add a bit of the metaness that helped make S1 so great.

The real big Portwell scene tonight was EJ and Gina talking on the couch at Ashlyn’s. Lot’s to love there. Gina’s speech to EJ about what she sees when she thinks of him was sweet and her saying that EJ tried to do the right thing and often failed but kept trying echoes what she said of herself during her confession to Ricky. Also when EJ asked Gina if she understood the feeling of having her life mapped out she replied, ‘’not really’’ which is almost certainly the inspiration for Gina asking a question to EJ and him responding ‘’not really’’ in their pre S2 face time call on the hsmtmts instagram.

EJ is still wracked with guilt for the guy he used to be but Gina reminds him that he’s grown and is a good guy which leads to her slip up about her seeing him that way vs the rest of the gang hinting that she’s beginning to catch feelings for EJ. Which leads to EJ complimenting her and them having a moment that could well have led to a kiss if Ashlyn hadn’t come home. And they cap it off with Gina falling asleep and EJ covering her with his Duke sweater.

It’s been nice not seeing Gina upset over Ricky these past two eps and it’s a damning indictment of the poor writing and pacing of S2 that her story in the first 6 eps can be summed up as Gina being upset over something Ricky said or did. Not only has Portwell allowed EJ to rise in prominence but also it’s allowed Gina to escape the rut her character was stuck in pining for Ricky.

I hope after S2 is over that we get an interview where Tim explains how the Portwell plot came to be. The S1 finale set up some possible interest between them as did the pre S2 face time call but nothing came of it during the first 4 eps, they stood next to each other a lot but barely interacted otherwise. Notably in 2x01, which Tim himself wrote, EJ tries to grow a beard and tells Ashlyn that he says her as so young which is extremely jarring now that we know that EJ is crushing on Gina who is Ashlyn’s age.

Was Tim not set on doing Portwell until he realized he needed to give Gina something else to do other than hopelessly pine for Ricky? Narratively, it made sense after Rini got together in S1 to put the other two Big 4 characters together in S2 but did Tim not want it to seem so obvious to the audience so he deliberately kept Portwell apart until 2x05 where EJ’s feelings make for a nice plot twist? Was he just reluctant to plug EJ back into the love square due to how much more complicated it would make things but later felt he had no other options? Or was it just plain old bad pacing and writing?

Of course, I wish that there wasn’t such a large age gap between Sofia and Matt but there are no Gina ships that avoid that problem, there’s also an age gap between Sofia and Joshua, just as there was between Olivia and Joshua and Matt in S1. Depending on when they film S3 there’s a good chance that most of it will be finished before Sofia even turns 18 which is deeply unfortunate. There’s a broader issue of teen girls being cast in mostly age appropriate roles while their male love interests are older adults and in particular it often affects female characters of colour. Netflix has a really bad track record with those kind of age gaps but Disney has problems too as we’ve seen on HSMTMTS and on GMW where by the end of S3 they had 18 year old Peyton Meyer as the boyfriend of 14 year old Rowan Blanchard’s character (not to mention canon Joshaya which didn’t have such a bad age gap between the actors but was problematic regarding the ages of the characters themselves).

A knock I’ve seen on Portwell is that EJ is just gonna leave for university next year but that was never gonna happen, Matt’s under the same 4 season contract as all the other mains and he’ll be sticking around in some capacity much like Sharpay ended up doing in the movies. It is true that EJ will probably have to move on at the end of S4 while Gina still has her senior year left but that will also happen with her and Ricky since he’ll be graduating at the end of S4. It was a big mistake to make EJ a senior but it also may end up being a big mistake to make Gina a sophomore. It would have been too messy to retcon EJ to be a junior but Tim probably should have taken the chance to retcon Gina into being a junior in S2.

That Rini breakup was so sad (missed opportunity for gotta go my own way). They managed to get in a Troyella reference with the treehouse. This was inevitable they just have not been communicating well though now that we know that Ricky thought Nini left YAC for him some of his desperation to spend as much time together as possible makes more sense. I think Rini is endgame if the series has 4 seasons but it wouldn't shock me if we never seem them dating again and they only get back together in the series finale. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Nini never dates anyone else for the remainder of the series or at least not seriously.

We’re not even halfway through the series so it’s way too early to permanently slam the door on Rini though this time apart will probably help Joshua and Olivia move on from their own bitter break up before it bleeds too much into their performances. I do wonder if Tim really has a clue what he's gonna do with them for the remaining 24-28 eps of the series, assuming S3 and S4 have 10-12 eps each.

Roman Banks killed If I Can’t Love Her and the montage of all the couples or ex couples was great.

It was nice to finally meets some parents other than the Bowen’s and Salazar-Roberts’. Kourtney’s mom was played by Dara’s actual mother and their dynamic was great as expected. It seems from their conversation that Kourtney's father is dead which I don’t believe has been mentioned before. Cash Caswell.... well it gets what the character is about across. He really looks and sounds like a rich Utah republican, I bet he knows Mitt Romney personally. I liked EJ going to tell his father that he’s not going to Duke and recognizing that he wants to build his own life on his own merits.

We saw a bit of that S1 Miss Jenn energy tonight which was fun though I didn't like how curt she was with Seb nor did I like how rude Carlos was to Seb although we know that blows up in 2x10.

Jazzara rising! I really liked how Jazzara and Portwell are sort of mirroring each other and since Mazzara knows about EJ’s feelings for Gina it wouldn’t shock me if helping EJ out is part of him showing a softer side in 2x12.

Of course Ashlyn is VP of the Nostradamus society. It's clear her family has some kooky new age beliefs (her parents are probably members of some naturopathic medicine group on Facebook that doubles as a gateway into Qanon)

It was nice to see Big Red being such a good friend to Ricky and the return of Ricky’s infamous pillow hugs. Lmao at Ashlyn just chilling while Big Red is comforting Ricky

Also Miss Jenn saying sexy and Big Red referring to pillow talk, the writers are adding a bit of spice when cooking up these scripts.

Looking Ahead:

Looks like Gina may be wearing EJ's duke sweater next ep according to some posts I saw. Jack presumably is there to somehow help Gina decide what she wants with Ricky and EJ though him having wanderlust might also feed into Gina’s thoughts on settling down in SLC or moving with her mom around the country.

Let's see what mom of the year, Lynne Bowen, has up her sleeves. Ricky’s bedroom at her place in Chicago looks much nicer than the apartment Mike Bowen has so perhaps she makes a lot more money than he does.

Not looking forward to the Zoom portions of the ep but I guess it was inevitable.

There’s only two paths for Gina’s story to go in the remainder of this season; either she decides to move on from Ricky and give EJ a chance or she decides that Ricky is worth trying again and squelches her budding feelings for EJ. The former looks much more likely after tonight’s ep but either way it needs to be handled with care. Inevitably Gina and Ricky need to talk about what happened between them but if Tim really wants Ricky to continue being a viable love interest or even a good friend to Gina then he needs to really have Ricky apologize and show a thoughtful, kinder side of him that’s largely been missing this season.

What I think Tim is doing is setting up Portwell getting together in 2x12 but Ricky pining over Gina until Portwell break up late S3 and Rina get together in the S3 finale before they break up later in S4 and Ricky gets back with Nini near the end of the series. If I had Tim’s ear I would tell him that he should pick which ship he wants to do, Rina or Portwell, but don’t do both. He wants canon Rina? Great then end Portwell before it starts and have Rina happen in S3 and introduce other obstacles to them getting together rather than having to damage EJ’s character and make him lose another girl he likes to Ricky. He wants canon Portwell? Great then have Gina and Ricky’s conversation be closure for the both of them and have Gina and EJ get together and break them up without Ricky being a cause of it or waiting in the wings to get with Gina soon afterwards. Doing both will be a disaster and I truly hope that Tim Federle carefully thinks over his mistakes in S2 and really plans out the remaining 2 seasons of the series while there’s still time to prevent things from going really off the rails like GMW and AM did thanks to the bad decisions of Michael Jacobs and Terri Minsky.

Until next week wildcats.

#HSMTMTS #Portwell #Rini #Gina Porter #EJ Caswell #Ricky Bowen #Nini Salazar-Roberts #Kourtney Greene #HSMTMTS Reviews

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