#whitewolfofwinterfell

[charmedslayer]

hey everyone, really didn't wanna have to do this but everything is so expensive these days and i'm struggling and my laptop is now broken and needs fixing. i finally created a ko-fi so if you can donate anything it'd really be appreciated. it's gonna cost £450 to fix so that's my goal i guess but even like half of that would be a huge help. and even sending just $1/£1/€1 my way could help if enough people contribute. (edit: unfortunately there have been transaction fees from paypal and £1 ends up being £0.67 so i've decided to change the ko-fi tip to £2 i hope that's okay)

ko-fi

goal: £173/£450

signal boosts would also be much appreciated <3

@phoebehalliwell @buffysummers @slayerbuffy @mulderscully @whitewolfofwinterfell @wearethecharmedones @haydenpanettieres @narliee @whatisyourchildhoodtrauma @sulietsexual

[hocuspocusblr]

♫ It's been 30 years, right down to the day, now the witch is back, and there's hell to pay ♫

Hocus Pocus (1993) came out 30 years ago, so we figured that deserved some celebration! However, you can of course gif either/both movies for any of these prompts. Do as many or as little as you want! You do not need to be following this blog to participate!

The event will be held from October 25 to October 31.

Prompts:

Day 1 (Oct. 25): favorite movie

Day 2 (Oct. 26): favorite quote(s)

Day 3 (Oct. 27): favorite character(s)

Day 4 (Oct. 28): favorite scene(s)/moment(s)

Day 5 (Oct. 29): spooky vibes

Day 6 (Oct. 30): color(s)

Day 7 (Oct. 31): free choice

Go forth and gif your favorite moments and characters from these movies and don’t forget to tag #hocuspocusblr and #hocuspocus30th

SIGNAL BOOSTS are very much appreciated.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to send us an ask!

@buffysummers @whitewolfofwinterfell @phoebehalliwell @whatisyourchildhoodtrauma @slayerbuffy @wearethecharmedones @sulietsexual @xenobites @spookys @mcblings @witchesnet @femalevillains @thedisneyhub @disneyfilms @bob-belcher @filmgifs @dailyflicks @dailydisneysource @fyeahdisney @thebabysitter @bitchys @disneygifsdaily @disneyfilmsdaily

[nikkiruncks]

Talk to us about why you love stelena and what do you see as their main similarities and most important personality differences?!

Ooh this will be fun!

For starters, they have such magical chemistry. Just impeccable. Even if I didn’t ship them, I’d respect them for their chemistry alone.

And they just have a beautiful story, with two dead souls bringing one another back to life. Tho Stefan stalking Elena, even for valid motives, is weird to me.

I love that they have common values and how they bring out the best in one another. It’s clear they were best as individuals when they were together (to me at least).

Also I just love how they fight for one another and no matter, they just can’t give up on each other no matter what.

As for their similarities, @zalrb made a really good post talking about their similarities as vampires here. And both their parents died and for a while they felt dead inside, both of them feel very deeply ( @whitewolfofwinterfell mentioned this here) both are compassionate and forgive people who hurt them, and are flawed yet 'good' people (Stefan can be a little...tho).

Their differences, to me, are that Elena is less 'broody' than Stefan lmaoo. Ans she's a little more willing to go out and have fun, and is more extroverted than Stefan.

And I think that's it.

[dear-indies]

hi! I was wondering if u wouldn’t mind sharing a tutorial on how to add subtitles to gifs?

clubgif

kylos

arianagrandre

whitewolfofwinterfell

itsphotoshop

resoucres

iridescentides

kurtsies

rizahawkais

the-necessary-unnecessary

tim-lucy - subtitle PSD

elenafisher - subtitle PSD

tesb - subtitle PSD

Here you go!

[sulietsexual]

Within the narrative of the series and the dynamic of the sisters, Piper is the heart of the Halliwells. Phoebe Halliwell, however, is the heart of the entire series. She is easily the most liked and relatable of the sisters and many fans find her easy to identify with and relate to, and those who don’t still find her to be an appealing personality. If you like this video, please like, comment and consider subscribing!

[rachel-bloom]

🍓

godddd shannen, i don’t even know for how long we’ve been talking to and everything i’d say to you would just be a constant repeater of what i’m saying to you daily fsdjhfsd but in short i’m very grateful to have you in my life you’re an amazing person & friend ♥

send me a 🍓 and ill compliment u!

[sophygurl]

Hi! I was just browsing through my activity and noticed that after I responded to your ask about ships a while back, you reblogged and shared your thoughts about Spuffy. I'm so glad you were able to read my opinions and understand them, even if you didn't agree with them. I just wanted to stop by and ask what your thoughts and feelings are on Spuffy? I'd love to hear your perspective :)

Oh wooooow, you have no idea how happy you just made me! I feel like I talk about spuffy quite a lot but without ever really saying much of anything because inside of me it’s just a lot of (!!!!!>?>>?!!?!>fjhghhf?!?!?!?!!?) YKWM? Like feels central exploding all over the place and it’s really difficult for me to put into coherent words. 

But I’ve also been wanting and meaning to write some serious spuffy meta and kinda dissect what it all means to me personally, as a survivor, for some time now. And like. Especially with all of this purity culture stuff coming to a head, it feels like a good time to take the time to try and do it because, yea, shit not only doesn’t have to be pure to be helpful - but sometimes the darker stuff IS the Most helpful. 

And I really did appreciate your perspective about the relationship because you talked about the ways in which it did and didn’t work for you without ever shaming anyone for the way it does work for them? And I wish we could all do that more. 

So thank you so much for sending me this ask, and asking for my perspective because sometimes all it takes for me to finally settle down and write something I wanna write anyways is to be asked by someone else to do it! 

This is absolutely gonna get long so have a read more cut.

For context, let me start by saying that I didn’t watch Buffy when it first aired - it was, mmm, I wanna say about 10-11 years ago when I decided to try it out. And while I was watching it, I was also in the midst of doing some heavy duty therapy work on my PTSD stemming from childhood sexual abuse and then some further traumas in my young adulthood that happened because of poor processing of said abuse. I’m not gonna get into details about my personal traumas except for some specific ways in which they relate to the lens in which I watched and processed the relationship between Buffy and Spike. BUT, due to that lens, there very well may be triggery content in this post. 

My experience watching Buffy, in general, started out with me being really unsure what the draw was in season 1 and then slowly getting more involved in the characters and relationships and mythos as the series developed into a more mature and nuanced show. I was really hooked by season five, and season six is my favorite, with seven a close second. 

I liked Buffy, the character, okay in the beginning but it wasn’t until she started really going through and processing her traumas that I started to personally connect to her. So season six was like, my jam. She was raw and stripped down to the nerve, and cycling between like outright rage to pure numbness and just lashing out trying desperately to feel and to make sense of her experiences and I was like - yea, Buffy, same, Same. And then in season seven she starts really contextualizing her trauma and using the pain of it to give herself more power and then sharing that power with others and it was just … fuck, I can’t even begin to tell you what that meant to me. In that last episode, I felt her handing me back my OWN power - like I FELT it - it really … anyway. We’ll get there.

And then there was Spike, who I loved right away. I love me some snarky villains. I love me the bad boy who has hidden depths inside of him. I love the villain who doesn’t … really fit the mold of the other villains in-verse. I love the villain who doesn’t mind working with the heroes if it fits his agenda. Basically, Spike was fictional catnip for me right out of the gate.

I adored Spike and Drusilla together for a lot of reasons, but for Spike to develop beyond just Big Bad, he had to fall out of her orbit, so I was okay with that ending.

On the other hand, I was never into Buffy and Angel. Watching the series as an adult, it just felt creepy to me how this old vampire basically stalked a very innocent-seeming to me teen Buffy. Their romance reminded me of girls I knew who fell for older guys when I was in high school where the older guy seemed sort of dangerous and mysterious and I get the draw from Her perspective - but not necessarily his? I don’t know, I just personally never really bought them being truly in love - they were sort of practice relationships for one another? Her as a young teenager, and him as someone just starting to re-learn humanity. I never Disliked them together… I just never shipped it. The idea of them being one another’s One True Love’s was just sorta meh to me. 

So when Spike started having his crush on Buffy? I was so ready for that. Because it was so silly at first, right? It was not serious. It was creepy and weird and wrong. But in a way that appealed to me. 

How do I explain? I guess, it had to do with all of the reasons that Spike was Not Like All The Other Villains/Vampires. Angel was always different but ONLY because he was cursed with a soul. It was a thing done TO him and when he reverted back to Angelus he was literally a whole different person and did not have any desire to turn back into Angel. When he was Angel, he was all brooding and guilt-ridden and terrified of his other self. 

But Spike was always different just because he was different. This didn’t mean he had a soul or a capacity for love or the ability to be a Good Guy. It just meant he worked a little differently than the other vampires. I truly think he loved and was devoted to Dru. I don’t think she was capable of returning that love in the same way. 

So, anyway, Spike is back and he’s split with Dru because Dru could just … tell … something was off and Spike was wanting to deny that but then suddenly - crush! Not love, not attraction, not lust, not desire - a freaking schoolboy crush.

But of course it was creepy because hello - soulless vampire who has never had a healthy relationship of any kind in his LIFE. But he starts doing these odd things, like wanting to comfort Buffy when he sees that she’s upset and being willing to take care of Dawn when no one else was available and HE doesn’t get it either, but somehow he’s becoming a slightly more decent person because of this weirdass crush? 

IDK, that’s appealing.

And let me clarify. It’s not appealing to me because I see myself in the Good Girl who can make a Bad Boy into a better person. That is never what’s appealed to be about these types of relationships. 

In large part because of my abuse, I see different layers of myself in each character. 

I went through a large portion of my life pretending very hard to be a Good Girl and then when I finally came out of denial about the abuse realized that was because inside I felt like a very Bad Girl and then as I pursued more recovery realized it’s all a lot more complex than that but really I’ve been more of a Decent Person who felt like a Bad Person trying really hard to be a Good Person. I hope that makes sense.

But the point is. I see myself in both the Good and the Bad characters in these sorts of push-pull love-hate dynamic relationships.

And what I love about spuffy, specifically, is that they’re both … both. Eventually. I’m getting ahead of myself. But yes, Spike suddenly wanting to be decent here and there because of his weird developing feelings for Buffy appealed to me - and especially to part of me that feels Bad. I’m Spike in this scenario, not Buffy. 

But I’m also Buffy, being really grossed by this Bad Person’s interest in me. When Buffy throws her money at Spike and says he’s not good enough for her - that’s me hating myself and saying I’m not good enough. But it’s also, strangely, me taking a stand and saying I’m worth better than the ways in which I was treated.

Gods, this whole abuse recovery dichotomy can be so confusing to explain because like. I never abused anyone. But the ugliness I feel inside of myself has to do with what happened to me, and also with what I know people in my family have done to others. So there’s this idea of Badness there. And the idea of there being forgiveness and redemption for that Badness is very very appealing.

And at the same time? There’s this beauty inside of myself that I always thought I was faking but that it turns out - is fucking real and precious and important. And standing up for that broken beautiful part of myself and saying no to being used and abused again is so powerful.

So in that scene? I’m the ugliness in Spike being hated by Buffy but I’m ALSO the powerful beauty in Buffy standing up for herself.

You can maybe see how this all gets even more tangled up the further we go, yea?

So Spike gets chipped and becomes a part of the team - all the while simultaneously reminding them that he’s still a Bad Guy AND slowly becoming a slightly better person because of his interactions with them and his feelings for Buffy. He’s not even close to redeemed, okay, he’s still a villain. He’s just a more and more intriguing villain, an anti-villain, even, eventually.

And then season six. And Buffy comes back. And she’s broken and raw and needing something that her friends cannot give her. She is needing to connect to the darkness inside of herself, and who is waiting there for her? 

And so yea, okay, hatesex is very appealing to me just inandofitself. It’s like double the passion and it’s animalistic and there’s something so sexy and gratifying about two people just using one another with equal force, yk? 

And Spike and Buffy are physically matched perfectly. She can take all her anger and pain and rage out on him without permanently damaging him. And she’s NEVER been able to let loose like that before. Her first time with Angel was a more tender and sweet moment and then - welp - turns out they can’t do the do. And otherwise she’s been with humans who she’s had to hold back with. There was zero holding back with Spike. 

So from Buffy’s perspective, there’s this amazing relief and release and yea, even, empowerment in being able to just freely let herself go in this way. 

From Spike’s point of view, it was about more. And here is where I feel for him because, at this point he’s still not really capable of love in the way we talk about it as being something from a soul. He’s chipped but not soul’d. He has strong feelings for Buffy that no vampire (besides cursed-soul Angel) should be able to have. But it’s not … quite … love. It’s passion and it’s care and it’s wanting and it’s even becoming something like friendship. But it’s not love, much as he thinks it is.

But he does Think it is. And he’s thinking it’s the same for her, but she just can’t admit it, yet. The hatesex to him … is just  … sex. And he fully believes he’s winning her over. And so her constant rejection of him as a fully human person with a soul and feelings guts him - even as he’s still trying to convince himself that he does love her and she does somehow secretly love him back. 

The fact that she keeps using him physically, and also keeps coming to him for emotional support, supports this belief and keeps him from understanding the reality of the situation.

Now, I think I mentioned than when I was watching this for the first time I was in heavy duty therapy mode yea? Well, there was another even heavier duty therapy mode a good tenish years prior when I had first admitted to the abuse I experienced and got really good and fucked up and made some bad personal decisions and here is where some of that comes to play because I saw myself in this scenario - again from both sides.

I am Buffy learning to enjoy the pleasures of my body and sexuality for the first time but also making really bad decisions about who to share that with because I am still so new to processing my trauma.

I am also Spike - longing for something more and better and being told (by myself) that I was not good enough, that I was bad, that I was not a full human person who deserved good things or good relationships.

(There, there, pastme - it does get better)

Back to first-time-Buffy-watching me. And I am enjoying the HECK out of the spuffy sex and I am feeling for poor pining Spike and feeling for Buffy who is hating herself for what she’s doing and also shipping them like WHOA because there is so much about their dynamic that is just sexy and fun and FEELS everywhere. 

But I knew Seeing Red was coming, because I did have a few things spoiled for me just by existing in the world for years without having watched the show yet myself. I really didn’t wanna watch it, or the rest of season six. So I got into a spiral of just watching the earlier parts of the season over and over - specifically the musical and through the 3 episodes of heavy spuffy sex. I did a LOT of processing during this time and then eventually girded myself to watch what I knew was coming. 

And Seeing Red is awful. Traumatic. Triggering. Terrible. But also, like, gods, did it make sense for where these two characters were at this point in time? I didn’t feel like it was contrived or somehow put in just for the heck of it. It made sense in the narrative. Spike legitimately just did not get it. He did not realize he was attempting rape until … finally … he did. 

And the horror of that, the horror of realizing that he almost did that to the ONE person in the world that he has ever cared that much about? Broke him. Sent him off on a magical quest to get his fucking soul back.

No one did that. Even Angel was Cursed with his soul, right? No vampire ever wanted to get their soul back - even had enough non-ensouled feelings to have the ability to want such a thing. Not to mention going through the trials of actually getting it back.

Season seven Spike is such a different beast. He’s messed up from the soul-thing, but I honestly believe Most of his messed-up-ness came from what The First was doing to/through him. Because … gods, okay.

When Spike goes through the flashbacks and recognizes what his trigger is? (Like the show legit uses PTSD terminology here - it was a Trigger) He processes his Own old traumas and he is able to tell Robin basically - fuck it, I know who I am. I know I did terrible things without my soul, but I can’t and won’t beat myself up for that (for example the way Angel does) because it wasn’t entirely my fault and all I can control now is who I am now and what I do now.

Now THAT spoke to me as a trauma survivor. Stop hanging on to all of this so-called badness inside, forgive yourself, and move on. WOW. Fucking powerful. 

And what he DOES choose to do is to be there for Buffy in any way she will allow him to.

Ensouled Spike is no longer creeping around her or making weird assumptions about her or trying to Get something From her. Ensouled Spike defends her when others attack. Ensouled Spike holds her all night when she needs it and gives her pep talks and asks what he can do to help and accepts when he can’t help and just stands there quietly willing to do battle With her. 

I just … phew… that makes me emotional. 

Because, again, I look back at some of those dysfunctional relationships I got into in my early 20′s and like. None of those fuckers would have done anything like that. 

And my attraction to the Fictional Bad Boy with a Hidden Heart of Gold was never about expecting any of them to. I was with them, unconsciously or even some cases consciously, on purpose to punish myself or to work out past traumas with or just to Feel Something. I never expected or even necessarily wanted deep love from them.

So, here’s the thing. None of those fuckers would have done anything like that for me. Nor I them. 

So Spike slowly gaining his redemption through his willingness to become a better person because of his love of Buffy? Fucking spoke to me.

And Buffy slowly accepting the darker parts of herself through her willingness to let Spike into her orbit because of her feelings for him? Fucking yes. 

And when she hands him the - shit it’s been a long time - that medallion meant for a champion? And he doesn’t think he’s worthy, but she says she knows he is. Fuck!!! That is ME accepting ME, okay? All of myself, the good and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful, the messed up and the slowly healing. All of it. 

And when he sacrifices himself in the end??? When that’s how she’s finally able to defeat The First? All that power sharing with all of the other women was *chefkiss* but it also took Spike. Spike who stormed on the scene in season two with snark and a twisted sense of love and no desire to ever be a hero? That Spike!? Sacrificing himself and STILL NOT BELIEVING BUFFY LOVES HIM. 

Because by then, let’s be clear, she did. Maybe not the same way he loved her, but she did love him. And he doesn’t believe it, can’t believe himself worthy of that love. But he sacrifices himself ANYway?

THAT Spike? Is no longer asking anything in return. He gives all of himself and won’t even accept her statement of love in return. “No, you don’t. But thanks for saying it anyway.” Just AUGJH?!? You know??? 

That was me … redeeming me … for me…. 

So anyway. 

I just want to add that AS I WAS WRITING THIS OUT, I got another ask in my inbox stating “People who like problematic or villainous characters are apologist for shitty people and should rethink their life because they’re shitty people.”

And this is the exact WRONG time to come for me like this because I just poured out my entire traumatized abuse surviving soul into the internet to explain why watching a problematic villain evolve and learn to do better helped ME to contextualize and process my fucking trauma. So fuck you. People who write anonymous hate without knowing the full story are being shitty and should rethink their actions because they’re shitting on actual REAL LIFE COMPLEX INDIVIDUAL PEOPLE. 

The end. 

[sunsetsover]

whitewolfofwinterfell replied to your post “Hey I'm enjoying all your analysis posts. I can't believe how little...”

Interesting thoughts. Personally my biggest concern is that they’ll abandon the Callum/Ben SL completely before it’s even had chance to get off the ground. A couple of years ago A LOT of time was invested in a Mick/Whitney emotional affair & it didn’t really go anywhere because Mick chose Linda. I feel like the same could happen with Callum choosing Whitney in the end.... but I REALLY hope not. Not even cos I want Ballum, but because Callum will never be happy with Whitney

i only just saw this now, im so sorry 🤡 

but just judging about how much media attention this sl is getting ee, and how the actors/producers are talking about it makes me doubt that they would just abandon it. the show, the actors and the media all seem pretty invested in it (granted i wasn’t really paying attention to the mick/whitney sl so i don’t know how that was treated), so it would be a weird choice on the shows part to have it go nowhere. plus, to me it’s not really a sl about a relationship rn. it’s more to do w callum’s sexuality, and that’s not something they can really just gloss over. so even if ben and callum went nowhere as a couple, i don’t think they could get away w just moving on and acting like this thing never happened, bc callum isn’t just gonna stop being gay just bc ben isn’t in the picture you know?

i think maybe the initial burst of content we got at the beginning of summer may have been ee testing the waters and seeing the audience’s reaction and figuring out how to go about ben and callum’s relationship in the future based on that, which would explain why there was such a big gap of no ben/callum content until recently - a buffer period, basically. and by now they would have realized that this storyline is getting fans and people are really hyped for it and enjoying it and talking about it, people are buzzing on social media, it’s getting old viewers (like me) back, getting new ones in - basically i think it would be a shitty business decision to have it go nowhere, if nothing else. and if recent spoilers show anything, it’s that it’s at least going somewhere for the foreseeable.

but at the end of the day this is a soap so like. literally anything is possible lmao

[alexisrosemullens]

For your favourites from TV shows - Top 5 shows, Top 5 characters you most relate to, Top 5 ships and Top 5 favourite episodes :)

Thanks for the ask! This was really fun and also really hard trying to narrow down my favorite episodes and Ships. 

Top 5 Shows:

1. Charmed

2. Brooklyn Nine Nine

3. Shameless

4. The Office

5. Parks and Recreation

Top 5 Characters you most relate to:

1. Prue Halliwell

2. Leslie Knope

3. Amy Santiago

4. Hermione Granger

5. Tinkerbell- random yes but she’s so fiesty and always been my favorite Disney character

Top 5 Ships:

1. Ian/Mickey - Shameless

2. Piper/Leo - Charmed

3. Jake/Amy - Brooklyn Nine Nine

4. Leslie/Ben - Parks and Recreation

5. Zuko/Katara - Avatar: The Last Airbender. I will go down with this ship!

Top 5 Favorite Episodes:

Oh boy, this is actually hard. 

1. Stress Relief- The Office. The cold open makes me cry with laughter.

2. The Battle of the Bastards- Game of Thrones

3. Something Wicca This Way Comes- Charmed

4.  Charmed Again - Charmed

5. The Fight - Parks and Recreation. The scene in the club when they are all drunk on Snake Juice is one of the best scenes in history.

[itsclairefraser]

Hey! I saw your post about being disappointed with season 4 and was curious to hear your thoughts on why that is. What episodes did you like and why? And what is it about the season that made you dislike it overall?

The episodes I did like was 4x09 because that’s when Bree is reunited with Jamie and Claire and the episodes with Lord John Grey because I really love him. Overall, I just found the season not as amazing as S1-3 it just kind of lost something that I liked in S1-3.  

[charmedslayer]

list 7 comfort films and tag 7 people

i was tagged by @slayerbuffy thanks for tagging me charlie! (sorry for taking so long)

Back to the Future (1985)

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead (1991)

Adventures in Babysitting (1987)

The Parent Trap (1998)

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

D.E.B.S. (2004)

tagging: @whitewolfofwinterfell @buffysummers @phoebehalliwell @wearethecharmedones @mulderscully @spookys @summersblood

[nikkiruncks]

I would love to ask you about what you see as the personality differences between Stefan and Elena? They have a lot of important similarities, but what do you think are the differences? Maybe that Elena is more extroverted and that she reacts more openly/emotionally and gets almost too involved with situations while Stefan is more reserved/measured and can withdraw?

So like you said, Elena is a bit more extrovert and is willing to be social whereas Stefan not so much (I.e. Elena willing to dance but Stefan not so much). Honestly you stated all the reasons. I’m not super experienced in this stuff so I recommend checking out some of @whitewolfofwinterfell ‘s metas. I adore seeing how in depth she’s talked about it.

[bunnysrph]

not a request but what advice would you give for first time/beginner gif and resource makers? thank you❤️

the best piece of advice i could give is making sure you have some sort of photo editing software, whether it be gimp, photoshop or even ezgif (which is an online website for gifmakers). the latter option is, of course, not as complex, nor has it got a lot of stuff to do on it, but it is good for general things, such as: cropping, greyscale, brightness/contrast, mixing gifs together etc. i would also look into sites where you can convert hd video clips from youtube to mp4 (mov might work too, but 1080p mp4 is always what i recommend). the sites i use varies all of the time, and can be quite a pain to navigate without an adblock. there are also accounts on instagram that create scene packs, which are always helpful - megascenes being my favourite one atm. i, myself, read up on some amazing gif tutorials here on tumblr that i think will help beginners in making gifs, so i will list them below for you to check out too:

basic gif tutorial (photoshop) by arianagrandre

ultimate guide to making gifs (photoshop) by itsphotoshop

my gif making process (photoshop) by s-k-y-w-a-l-k-e-r

how i made & coloured this gif (photoshop) by rizahawkais

updated gif tutorial (photoshop) by whitewolfofwinterfell

how to make gifs on gimp (gimp) by dekaythepunk

gif tutorial (gimp) by dailynaruto

gif-making tutorial (gimp) by until-dong

gif graphic tutorial (gimp) by gimpblogging

[sulietsexual]

Hey Rachel! I saw that you listed Hayley Marshall as a character you used to dislike but now love and I was wondering if you could talk a little about why you like Hayley and the nuances of her character. In the TVD/TO fandom I always felt Hayley was misunderstood and unfairly hated so I’d love to hear your perspective on it 😊

Hey Shannen, sorry for the delay in response! Been a busy week! Nehoo, on to Hayley.

First off, I’ve only watched The Originals all the way through once and I’m currently about a quarter way through a re-watch, so I don’t know the characters all that well yet. That being said, Hayley is a character I came to love so much over the course of the series, especially given what a lacklustre character she was in The Vampire Diaries.

The Originals gave Hayley the chance to really grow as a character and develop many facets to her characterisation. While she was a very one-note character on TVD, on The Originals we really get to see the tough girl who had to grow up too quickly, who was rejected by her family when her werewolf side came out and who was searching for somewhere to belong and for a family to belong to. Her biological parents’ deaths obviously left a mark on her and we see over the first and second season that she has an emptiness inside of her because of this, that she doesn’t quite know where she belongs and that she’s searching for a home. Her touch facade hides a very lonely soul, someone who has never had anyone in her corner or ever been told that she’s loved and wanted. When Hayley shows her vulnerable side, it’s easy to see how affected she is by this lack of love, how broken she’s become because of it, and how she’s forced herself to toughen up and become harder and harsher, so the world won’t hurt her anymore.

Despite not knowing where she belongs, Hayley is a quite a self-assured character. She often knows exactly what she wants and goes after it. I love how she doesn’t take any of the Mikaelson’s shit, whether they’re trying to make decisions about Hope without her or leaving the werewolves out of the Factions, Hayley’s always there, telling them off and breaking through their self-imposed bullshit. I have to admit, there was a point towards the end of Season 1 where she was starting to veer into Creator’s Pet territory, but that was thankfully reined back in at the start of Season 2, and she became a more nuanced and layered character, with real flaws and struggles.

Hayley as a mother is also amazing to watch and a lot of her in-depth characterisation comes from her relationship with Hope. After her initial hesitation to carry her baby to term, she embraces motherhood and clearly adores her daughter. It’s heartbreaking when she has to drink Hope’s blood after being turned into a Hybrid after she is murdered, and you can see how much it hurts her to hurt her child, even if it’s the tiniest amount of pain. Giving Hope up to save her is equally hard on her and the way she escapes into her wolf form to avoid the pain is so understandable and helps to humanize her character and show her unhealthy coping mechanisms and that she isn’t always able to maintain her strong front. When she finally gets to be with Hope again, it’s amazing to see how much she loves her daughter, how she always puts Hope first and how strong she is as a mother. Given that she ended up having to raise Hope alone, she did an incredible job, and we see that Hope grew up happy and secure and strong, that her mother taught her well and helped to shape her into an amazing young woman.

I also love how selfless Hayley can be, especially when it comes to family. Her decision in Season 2 to marry Jackson so that she can share her power with her werewolf pack is an amazingly selfless thing to do, especially since her heart truly belongs with Elijah. I just love how Hayley embraces the werewolves, how keen she is to be a part of their pack, how they help to fill the hole left in her heart from her biological parents’ death and then her family’s rejection, and her willingness to share her power, even if it comes with giving up the person she is truly in love with.

Once I get to know the series more I’ll probably have more to say about Hayley, but I’ll end this by saying that her death was an atrocity and should never have happened. Not only did it cut short her journey and arc and make little sense to the narrative, it took her away from Hope and, as I said before, Hayley was such a good mother and such a stable influence in Hope’s life and the fact that the show runners decided to take that away from Hope is a travesty.

[rachel-bloom]

whitewolfofwinterfell replied to your post: rules: spell out your url with song titles and tag...

some of these are ultimate throwbacks!

funny you should say that my personality is 95 % nostalgia

[phoebehalliwell]

i was tagged in this post by @whitewolfofwinterfell but since the post is already quite long i figured i’d post my photo here <3

my dog from a hike we took together. her name is macy she’s a mini english bull terrier (spuds mackenzie/target dog/watler breed)

tagging @queenophelia @paigemathews​ @holyhalliwells​