#wonderful person but terrible king tbh

[toknowthatimatter]

My personal headcanon is that since Viren obviously didn't grew up very privileged, if not straight up poor, he might actually know what real hunger feels like. Which is why Viren (unlike Harrow for some reason??) knows/keeps track of how much food Katolis has, why - according to the novel - he's disgusted that Harrow refuses to not let the people of Katolis suffer from hunger instead of protecting them from it and why, after consulting Harrow about it and being shut down, he's apparently the only person who's actually dead set on ensuring no one has to starve at all, while everyone else is just like "welp, we tried nothing and we're all out of ideas". Because, let's be real, a) he was never tasked with finding a solution to all of this, it's not his job and b) neither he nor his children would have to starve, just like Harrow and his family wouldn't have to. Viren doesn't have to do any of this. Don't get me wrong, I think he would have at least tried to find a solution regardless of his past, but the entire thing seems more personal to me. Like, look at him :C

[imaginarianisms]

more asoiaf comparisons, parallels & antiparallels to the first dance of the dragons vs the second & final dance of the dragons (& possibly the sixth blackfyre rebellion): the blacks being daenerys i targaryen's supporters, the golds being aegon vi targaryen's supporters, tommen baratheon being a close equivalent to gaemon palehair & his mother essie & sylvenna sand which may be interpreted as a parallel with queen cersei lannister & taena merryweather of myr, trystane truefyre being a close equivalent to aegon/young griff & perkin being jon connington & the shepherd being the new high septon the high sparrow, dalton greyjoy being euron i greyjoy's ancestor & the latter surpassing him, alyn waters later alyn velaryon resembling aurane waters later aurane velaryon & finishing what their ancestors started. history repeats itself.

[bonefall]

i was wondering, how different are BB!Windstar, BB!Riverstar, and BB!Shadowstar in Modern Starclan than they were alive? Esp compared to BB!Skystar and BB!Thunderstar.

Windstar is waaaaaaaaaaay different. Modern cats have completely forgotten that she was kind of a bitch. Of all the founders, I'd actually say that she's the most different. They de-girlbossified her.

Her revelation from Gray Wing the Wise was that she had a taste of battle and choked on it; ergo, she should expand her horizons. She spent the later half of her leadership doing just that, encouraging her cats to trade, forming alliances, and collaborating heavily with Shadowstar on technological advances. She was so loved that ShadowClan constructed a cairn at her burial-- a mound of stones around her body.

In life, she never lost her intensity. Though she took the revelation to heart, she often held grudges, took part in skirmishes against the others, and displayed a lot of bias within her heavily-hierarchical Clan. She could even be cruel and unfair in her judgements. Moth Flight personally experienced this in life, as The Wind Runner held her parentage against her before she'd proven herself useful.

In BB, Moth Flight is the daughter of Cloud Flight and Wind's terrible ex-mate, Branch. Windstar's kittens are Morning Awakener and Dustiest Muzzle.

(note: Names still might change. Park cat names are titles, three words at most, which are collected over their lives. Traditionally, a king bestows these titles, but in WindCo it's their parent. I feel like it fits her to have three kits called Big One, Middle One, and Little One tbh, lmao)

In death, these less savory aspects have been filed down by the sands of time. She's remembered as intelligent and jovial, loud and singsong. Her real build was lanky and wiry, but she's imagined to be as fat as a rabbit thanks to her trading and innovation. She gets associated with the matriarch doe that runs a warren.

(Gorselike Fur is depicted as harelike.)

The stories give her a king-like air to her. Most of the post-battle WindClan tales open up with her being approached in her camp, describing the kittens that took over after her death as 'heirs,' because the Wind Coalition didn't have deputies until Riverstar's death and a succession crisis.

In contrast, Shadowstar is actually the least changed founder. Her revelation was that she had failed to break her own legacy (remembered through history as failed to be compassionate, as her "legacy" of being the descendant of Broken Shadow is forgotten) and someone else would be broken for her. That turned out to be her nephew, Sun Shadow.

After winning a staring contest with One Eye, Sun Shadow won the right to become the God of the Sun. It is said that if someone else wins a staring contest with him, THEY will become the next god, so Sun Shadow defends his position viciously.

At night, he must rest, and his aunt is there to shelter him. This is why there is day and night-- as Shadowstar allows him to sleep in her embrace.

(Post-Lake there are actually arguments between River and Shadow "philosophers," who fight over if Sun Shadow is actually laying down to rest in Riverstar's embrace instead. Blood has been spilled. Average college professor discussion.)

So, as a patron, she's associated with shelter, safety, rest. Sanctuary. It's something that ShadowClan heavily values about itself at various points through history. So Shadowstar is seen as gentle, protective, and pragmatic. Someone who deeply regrets how she lost sight of the value of life, and will now fight to defend the cats under her charge.

Not all too different from who she was in life.

[creatingblackcharacters]

I want to submit three!

1) Ares from Supergiant Games' Hades

I actually have lots of Thoughts™️ on Ares in general, and this is one of my favorite depictions of of him. His personality in this game is *chef's kiss*, especially in comparison to a lot of typical portrayals. He unfortunately has 'white man painted Black' syndrome, though I wonder if his skintone in particular is an artistic choice, considering Dionysus and Patroclus in the same game have much more realistic ones. Or maybe it's just lighting? Idk. I haven't really seen any fanart of him giving him more Black features, but if I had I would have included it!

I'd also love to hear your thoughts on how he looks, especially considering that he's canonically mixed.

2) Sogolon from the Dark Star trilogy, by Marlon James. This one doesn't really have any official art and I don't think there's any fanart of her either. She's a woman who grew up in several shitty situations and took back control in her own way. One section of Moon Witch, Spider King (the book focused on her) in particular has her killing men who abuse their wives (and daughters I think). Great character, 10/10.

3) Wyll Ravenguard from BG3

He's such a Disney Prince of a man. So sweet. Done so wrong by Larian AND the fans for different but related reasons. His romance might legit be my favorite because you don't have to have sex with him and I'm asexual. The dance you have with him is fantastic. Needs to learn how to be a little selfish at times but we all have our issues. Deserves more than he's gotten.

Okay, so I'm gonna try to organize my thoughts, since you asked:

1) I hate to do this to you, but I've always seen Ares as a white man with black skin 😭. So it'd be a design choice, as you said. Athena, with the same concept, I can see coded as Black due to her features. But Ares... nah. Dionysus is ambiguously Brown, and while I claim Patroclus (my own blorbo, in fact!) as Black, they designed him terribly in terms of "is this supposed to be a Black man". Very much white man with ashy brown bucket. But I do thoroughly enjoy Ares in the game, and I hc that the roar of rage that you hear when he shows up is Achilles'. So I love the pick! And if you do find art that shows him as Black, by all means I'd love to share it! Tbh, when it comes to Black character design, Supergiant is extremely hit or miss, with misses unfortunately more often.

2) she sounds 10/10. I'll always support narratives of assassinating abusers 🤷🏾‍♀️

3) MY MAN WYLL! he and his voice actor deserve far more. Fandom racism and the power of whiteness in media and promotion is incredible.

[soulofamy]

as someone who loves classic literature, i really love how much it feels like each character in soulcalibur's story is influenced by the literature from the culture they come from. the japanese characters, especially mitsurugi and yoshimitsu, were probably the ones writers spent the most care with but i LOVE how much you see it in the european characters too. sophitia, cassandra, and aeon are all characters that feel like they were plucked out of a greek tragedy, and you can see so many echos of storybeats that many greek tragedies had. i guess its not hard to feel like that when the greek gods are so intertwined with their stories but still, it honestly feels so well thought out. to avoid being repetitive, im linking an in depth analysis from @laikaflash that talks about this right here

but i think my favorite example of this is raphael and amy tbh, but mostly raphael. as someone who so enjoys classic french literature, i cant help but see bits and pieces from the different stories i love laced throughout raphaels story. the fact that he was the head of his house at the beginning of his story and is in good standing with the king, but is then framed for conspiracy and has his life ruined, reminds me so much of what happened to edmond dantes from the counte of monte cristo. dantes had a much more humble beginning than raphael but still, that undeserved fall from grace at the hands of someone who was jealous of him, forcing him to be on the run from the law, i see that parallel.

then we have the fact that he adopted a little orphan girl while on the run from the law, and then was able to lie his way back to the top with the hopes of raising and protecting her, which makes me think of jean valjean and cosette from les miserables.

but i think the thing that gets me so excited thinking about this is that they chose not to give these storybeats to a character who is meant to be viewed as heroic, they gave them to someone who is objectively a terrible person. they flipped these stories from classic french literature on their heads, which i think makes it very exciting to try and speculate where his story will go from here because he as a person is such a departure from dantes or from jean valjean. it also makes me wonder what else they will take inspiration from for him going forward (minus the dracula stuff because that all feels more aesthetic than anything. then again ive never read bram stokers dracula so i could just not know what im talking about)

anyway im curious to know which other characters take inspiration from their country's classic literature. i know siegfried is literally named after a knight from legend, i know groh is supposed to be based on the knights of the round table, xiba is based on the monkey king from journey to the west, im not sure if kilik is either. but still, i would love to know about talim, about the koreans, xianghua, honestly everyone on the roster

[megamuscle885-blog]

So, warhammer fantasy? Plus Worm. Lets brainstorm a bit. A non-exhaustive list of who would become champions of chaos, or be chosen by the chaos gods to become their heralds, in no particular chronological order.

Khorne: The Butcher XIV aka Quarrel.

I can see The Butcher turning rabid one awful night. Howling about an infinite ocean of blood. Slaughtering the unpowered members of the Teeth. Killing those who try to reason with her. Infecting others with her madness somehow. Most of the Teeth capes flee north to Boston and Spree's clique when they're told to run by those Teeth that were there for the slaughter. Of those that were present, maybe half maybe more, flee to the New York Protectorate, begging refuge, begging Legend to kill The Butcher before she breaks free, something like that. Incoherent babbling about how she's slathered herself in blood and is killing indiscriminately - Villains, Heroes and civilians alike - piling the skulls of those she beheads in one spot and sits upon it like a gory throne. The Teeth are reforged in The Butcher's charnel house, quenched in blood. The World Eaters. She aspires to wash the entire east coast in blood, a massive sacrifice that will bring daemons through in their millions, and she'll begin in the largest city in north america.

Nurgle: Nilbog aka The Goblin King aka James Rinke.

A particularly terrible winter's night, cold and frigid in Ellisburg, NY, James is holding one of his favourite creations, Polka III, as she dies from disease. He's trying to tell a bedtime story to the rest of the creatures, all sharing their body warmth as best they can, but the cold is making his puppet shiver and he's constantly interupted by a cough that rattles his ribs and won't go away no matter how much he clears his throat. He's in tears over the sorry state of his garden. A like-minded figure sympathizes with his plight. He begs the empty air for something to save them. Something comes. The acrid, infertile land around Ellisburg, stripped of nutrients to create his fantasy creatures suddenly begins to spring to life all around him. Strange and fantastic new fruits and berries curl out of the ground. Caramel-sweet rivers start to form. Everything is verdant and green and hot wherever he walks. His cough doesn't seem to go away, but it doesn't bother him much anymore. Polka III is alive and well. And he's suddenly struck by so many new and wonderful ideas. He goes to the carcass pits and begins to create and create and create. And his Grandfather looks on with paternal joy.

Slaanesh: Jack Slash aka Jacob Black, the Slaughterhouse 9.

This might not click for some people. Personally, I think a man for whom every new terrible torment needs to be more thrilling, more horrible, more impactful than the last fits perfectly here. I'm not entirely sure how to write his first moments though. Broadcast nudges him one way, Slaanesh nudges him another. He starts to indulge more and more. A little less careful. Broadcast's balancing act starts to slip as Slaanesh's prodding throws the relationships of the Slaughterhouse 9 into new dynamics. I might have to come back to this one, but it was one of the first I thought of.

Tzeentch: Taylor Hebert

Now who else would like to see Skitter but with birds? Fucked up mutated birds. Introducing the Raven God and his new magical apprentice. I feel myself running dry here, but I think as our nominated protagonist, Tzeentch is able to lend quite a bit of weight to Taylor's character, and her eagerness to grab onto an escape from her wretched life with both hands and take it to its extremes. Though one thing I will mention is that one of Tzeentch's aspects is as a God of Hope, and that'd be fun to play with I think. Though that's an aspect of his Fantasy version, and I tend to think of the Fantasy versions of the Chaos Gods as more interesting tbh.

[james-vi-stan-blog]

I feel the same way about the King‘s Assassin. I really hope Mary & George doesn’t disappoint with the ending and makes George poison James. I doubt they‘ll involve Charles in the poisoning (if it happens), and make it more of a team effort between Mary and George, but again I can’t for the life of me understand the motivation behind killing the person who gave them all their power. Praying they won’t go this route, but preparing myself for worst nonetheless. It would be such a lazy way to tell the story tbh.

I'm with you here.

What I think actually happened: James was physically a wreck, and all the talk about "George and Mary were interfering with the royal doctors' treatment" ignores the fact that early modern medicine was, like, completely terrible? Like you gave this man a dozen [tmi] and then he [tmi]s to death, why is this so shocking? (Yeah they talk about how the doctors expected James to improve and then he didn't, but why the heck do we believe the doctors...) Maybe the potion George gave him made him sick and hastened his end, but IMO his death is overwhelmingly more likely to be natural or accidental. Nobody else who tasted the potion or plaster(!) got sick.

What I think would work for the story: I don't want George to poison James. I can see it working as a story, but it's not my preferred one. The motive is that James is getting in the way of George’s military ambitions with Charles, and part of George’s recklessness and arrogance is his willingness to toss James aside for Charles. But I don’t like this. It's too straightforward, Depraved Bisexual™, the most simplistic read of a patron/favorite relationship. But it would still be possible to involve the specter of poisoning if George thought about it and didn't do it—wondered if he had in fact accidentally poisoned James with the potion, causing him to have his short breakdown after the king's death—and then later he gets accused of it before Parliament. Then he goes down in history as "the King's Assassin", this mantle and interpretation is foisted on him by history, as he himself is assassinated to great public delight.

What I think they're more likely to do: Mary and George scheme muahahaha to poison the king. Like I said, the motive isn't crazy. Puffed up with arrogance after their meteoric rise, they might think that Charles will be more tractable than James and that James has nothing more to give them. But this proves extremely stupid and ends very badly for George's political career. I'm also not really sure this makes sense as a motive for Mary, as IIRC (and I don't have any books in front of me so I'm going off memory), out of the Villierses, only George really survived James's death politically. Charles loved George but did not like George's brothers (whom Mary had devoted herself to advancing) and the second James died, Kit got kicked out. Dramatically, it would work for George/Charles to decide to do this without Mary's consent, as part of a breaking-free-from-Mother arc. But practically, Mary was involved in the preparation of the medicines. So IMO this has problems even in the fictionalized, we're-all-backstabbing-nobles version of events.

[jaskierx]

This is probably gonna be quite incoherent so bear with me lol. I see that your askbox has become a place to rant (and this one isn’t even gonna be about izzy!! But I need to get my thoughts out somewhere!! Sorry in advance!!)

Anyway it’s been a relief to see other people in the fandom whose least favourite episode this season was ep 6. I always felt almost?? Mean for not liking it as much as everyone else seems to?? (and it’s not even that I dislike it!! It’s just my least favourite!) cause I feel like there was just too much going on for a single episode, everything went by too fast.

Anyway this isn’t about that it’s about ep 7 which most people seem to dislike. And I understand where people are coming from when they say that, I didn’t like it very much the first time I saw it! but after rewatching it yesterday for the first time since it aired I actually gained a lot of appreciation for it! I love the start and getting to see Stede and Ed be all domestic together!! (I’m a sucker for that shit) And I actually really love their fight too, just cause it shows us how much Stede understands Ed! He immediately notices that Ed is panicking and he responds so patiently even after being told that Ed thinks their night together was a mistake. Yes they said some hurtful things to each other but somehow I think that’s the least important part of that scene, at least to me. And it annoyed me when people kept painting Stede as the one in the wrong in their fight!! (Imo neither of them were in the wrong but that’s just personal opinion)

Where was I going with this? Basically I feel kinda alone in not liking ep 6 as much as everyone else and I think ep 7 is kinda under appreciated. Ahdgags I hope that made sense I’m terrible at expressing my thoughts towards media.

Screaming in your askbox cause I don’t wanna get too involved in the fandom myself cause it scares me lol. Thanks for posting good takes tho as always :) it helps me feel a little more sane

no i agree, ep6 is definitely one of my least favourite episodes (covered this a bit in my last ask). i didn't HATE it but it seems to do really well in polls about 'which ep is your favourite' and i just. do not vibe with it in the way that a lot of people do

and i agree that ep7 is underrated and i think that's bc it's objectively not a very feelgood episode and even though djenks had confirmed they'd end up together at the end, when it aired i saw loads of people worrying that they wouldn't get a happy ending at the end of s2, which i think has coloured people's perceptions of it

it's not a bad episode. it's a great episode tbh! we get their breakfast in bed (with twine for flourish) and 'hehe we didn't pay' and stede's newfound fame and his earring and zheng being really cool and frenchie and the gang getting their grift on and everybody's new favourite dearly departed side character steak knife (fly high with the angels king)

the argument itself is also really well written and feels so real (which definitely contributes to why so many people felt some kind of way about it) and manages to cover a bunch of irl relationship issues while still feeling right in the context of them being ye olde pirates - it's a beautiful realistic depiction of poor communication between people who love each other but not themselves and it gave me brainworms so i wrote a meta about it

but yeah overall the Main Event in ep7 is stede and ed arguing and ed leaving, so i get why a lot of people dislike it (or at least like it less than the other episodes) given that from ep3 onwards every episode has a big positive edstede moment (mermaid scene in ep3, 'i love everything about you' in ep4, 'you wear fine things well' and their kiss in ep5, being protective of each other and having sex for the first time in ep6, and obvs two beach kisses and 'i love you. i love you' and moving into their inn in ep8) (i nearly cried writing that out if you were wondering whether or not i'm normal about them)

[mozart-the-meerkitten]

Time for me to ramble about The Wingfeather Saga to try and distract myself from my depression and the fact that I’m sick and miserable!

~*Spoilers*~ for all the books

*

Okie so in the 3rd Wingfeather show episode Tink calls Peet old and I just. I just wanna address that for a second because it’s been poking around in my mind ever since. xD

So here’s what I think the ages of the adults in the Wingfeather Saga are as based on the kid’s ages, how long it’s been since Anniera fell and logic:

Let’s start with Esben and Nia. Since their kiddos were very little when Anniera fell (Janner was only three) it follows that they were also quite young, I’m gonna say mid-20′s, around 24-25. Nine years later that’d make them 33-34 years old, which seems logical.

I headcanon that Artham and Esben have the same age gap as Janner and Kal, so assuming Artham is only a year older than his brother that’d put him at about 25-26 (my age ;-;) when Anniera fell and 34-35 during the events of the series. That’s. That’s not old. Even if you headcanon him as several years older than Esben (say 3 or so) he’d still be in his 30′s.

(I’m not knocking Tink btw, he’s 11 and everyone’s old when you’re a little kid, especially weird guys with whitish gray hair that you don’t know are related to you.)

I don’t have any concrete idea of how old Podo is and it bothers me, Leeli in book 4 keeps saying he’s like, really old, but she’s also 9 so that’s probably not reliable. Assuming Nia’s in her 30′s during the books Podo is probably(?) in his mid-late 60′s. (Especially since we know he did a LOT when he was young, he ran with the Stranders, he was a pirate, and when he came to the Hollows he said he never sailed again until he traveled to Anniera for Nia’s wedding). I feel like Wendolyn was younger than him by maybe 5-6 years since she isn’t married when they meet, despite being an attractive and well-to-do young woman.

Mentioning grandparents, has anyone else ever wondered where the HECK Artham and Esben’s parents are? Like, they’re barely even mentioned in the books, I think we actually learn their names from a genealogy Janner gets from Oskar/the Great Library. And this is especially weird when you consider that Podo and Wendolyn are actively helping Nia and the kids escape when Anniera falls. That, and Esben is king already when Anniera falls and unless their parents had kids when they were older (which is possible) they won’t be that old and Idk why his dad wouldn’t still be ruling. Like, why pass the throne off to your 20-something son if you don’t have to? Why not train him more?

So here’s what I think happened to Jru and Nala Wingfeather: I think Bonifer killed them. Not Bonifer himself, of course, but I think he arranged their deaths in some way. It would be pretty easy, tbh, to have an “accident” where they died. All you’d need to do would be hire some pirates to attack a ship they’re sailing on, or sabotage the ship so that it sank once it set sail.

Bonifer would have several good motives for this, I think. First and foremost, it’s going to be much easier for him to trick Esben, a brand-new, very young, king into believing his lies than an older, more experienced, king and queen. Not that I think Esben (or Artham) was an idiot, but Bonifer has had a really long time to learn how to lie and be a terrible person, and the younger you are the more likely you are to fall for stuff like that (generally speaking, there are always exceptions. like, I don’t think Maraly would have been easily tricked by Bonifer’s shenanigans because she grew up with the Stranders who are a bunch of lying tricksters. Meanwhile, Janner was tricked because he grew up among trustworthy and loving adults. Same thing with Esben and Artham).

Second, it’s possible that Jru and/or Nala had learned something that made them suspicious of Bonifer or were close to finding something about Gnag/the Fangs that would have ruined their plans, so Bonifer had them killed. Again, it’s really easy to set up an “accident”, especially when sailing is involved.

And finally, Bonifer just. really hates the Wingfeathers. Because he’s got issues. So of course he’d try to cause them all the suffering he could.

So, yeah, that’s why I think Esben and Artham’s parents aren’t around/aren’t mentioned in the books. Also my headcanons about ages.

[anachronistic-falsehood]

SENDING THIS TO U BEFORE I FORGET FEEL FREE TO ANSWER WHENEVER U FEEL LIKE IT <3 talk 2 me about dstuck sam thief of heart and ponk sylph of mind the floor is yours king

OUGHGUGHH. OK. ALRIGHT. OK. UYEAH

okkk alright. csam. VERY heart player negative class vibes for me. like he’s more dirk strider than cwilbur is to me tbh he’s SOOOOO self obsessed but also hates himself. he’s surrounded by himself and reminders of himself constantly and it’s all self inflicted. he has all these different identities so he doesn’t have to face himself. the hotel and sam nook. the prison and the warden. the egg and sam bucket. he hates himself but he just doesn’t want to show it.

thieves wear figurative masks. meenah is a BADASS COOL GIRL!! and vriska?? i mean *gestures vaguely* LOOK at her. feelings?? what are those!!! thieves also have a self imposed lack of their own aspect, or at least feel like they do when they actually could have an abundance of it if they tried: meenah killed herself and the other dancestors, ridding themselves of their lives, and vriska insists that she’s the most unlucky person ever when actually!! most of her “8ad luck” is a result of her own actions!!! IT’S ALWAYS SELF IMPOSED!!! Sam brought ALL OF THIS on HIMSELF! he invested himself in the role of Warden and as a result did horrible things that he normally wouldn’t have done if he just remained as AweSamDude, your friendly neighborhood redstone guy!! (putting the rest under a cut bc SURPRISE!! this is getting long)

ok. Heart players. now the heart aspect has been very dirk-ified in canon so it’s easy to ignore the opposite end of the spectrum, which is represented by the Leijons. they’re very positive!! while they both have negative classes, Meulin with one that leads to a lack of the aspect in the player themself, and Nepeta with a reallocating class (takes and gives, so rogue or thief) but the way they handle these classes is so different. mages and rogues kind of provide others with their aspect in many ways. thieves…. don’t. thieves are black holes. they suck up their aspect and leave nothing behind in return. which can be good if you’re a thief of doom of something!! but a thief of heart??? girl you’re hurting everyone around you and it’s so so tragic.

and yet sam (and dirk!! and cwilbur!!!) still reflects some qualities of the leijons. he cares. he cares so so so much. the difference is that nep and meulin don’t let their hearts consume them. they work in tandem with their aspect. thieves and princes and bards don’t. they CAN’T. and that’s what differentiates a thief from a rogue. rogues give their aspects to other people and use their aspect for the benefit of others. thieves see their own detriment of their aspect and hoard it, never using it, never giving it away, until they’re buckling under the weight. for a thief of heart, they bear the weight of every single action they’ve done and take it to heart, convince themself that they’ve either a) done something so amazing and they’re the MOST WONDERFUL THING ON THE PLANET and become so self centred they end up tearing apart their session, or b) done something so terrible, so unforgiving, that they can’t possibly be anything but an irredeemable monster. that’s Sam. he can never redeem himself, so he might as well lean into the awful things he’s done, right? might as well play the villain. because if he can’t be good, what else is he supposed to be???

ALRIGHT. CPonk my cponk <3 sylph of mind. yeah i picked sylph because of the fact that they’re canonically a doctor and that is SUCH A SYLPH THING TO DO!!! going out of their way to become the only person on the server who can help heal people should the need arise!!! sylphs fix things, that’s their whole schtick. they help, they heal, they fix. Ponk was one of the last people on Schlatt’s side in Manberg. they were so determined to help fix it and take care of Schlatt’s deteriorating health. sylphs are LITERALLY the definition of “i can fix him” IT’S INSANE. babygirl you’re trying your best but it’s at the determinant of yourself TAKE A BREAK!!!

“but WHISKEY wasn’t cpuffy a therapist?? why isn’t she a sylph???” I HEAR YOU!! but guess what?? Puffy knew when to quit. she shut down the therapuffy office because no one was using it anymore. she never saw much success from it from the get go. She focused her efforts on protection and defence instead of healing and help. Ponk stuck with it. And Ponk stuck with Sam, after everything. They confronted him multiple times about what happened between them but they still hung out with him. They still talked to him. They still cared, despite everything. They never stopped trying to make Sam see the error of his ways. They never stop trying to fix him, even when Sam insisted that the only way for him to atone for his actions would be for him to die. (Idk how much of Ponk’s lore you’ve seen, but there’s a scene after the prison breakout when Ponk confronts Sam again and Sam puts a sword in Ponk’s hands and tells them to kill him and Ponk refuses IT DRIVES ME INSANE. HI. THE TRAGEDY OF AWESAMPONK. AUGHHHH). Sylphs help others to their own detriment, Kanaya trying to auspisticize between anyone and everyone even though it hurt her, and Aranea trying to fix the timeline and accidentally sending it all up in flames.

MIND PLAYER. MIND PLAYER PONK. Ponk’s aspect ties in soooo well with their class. Mind players revolve around the consequences of the choices of people around them. Basically KARMA IS A BITCH AND HER NAME IS CPONK BABEYYY!!! Remember the fuckign banquet. That was cponk’s justice in a lot of ways. In a server that beat them down and hurt them when they tried to help, this was them trying to stand up and take something back, even if it was motivated by the egg. But still, they didn’t kill anyone. That’s the difference between a sylph and a seer, i think. Terezi killed Vriska because she Vriska hurt people, and she foresaw that Vriska would continue to hurt people. Sam’s actions hurt so many people, including himself, but Ponk tried to help him, and even their revenge ended up being nothing more than a scare that lead to the death of a person who hadn’t even wronged them, and they weren’t the one who brought down the blade anyway. Yes, Kanaya killed, but it was in defence. Sylphs rarely seem to kill for revenge purposes

Ponk is more often than not an observer. They stand by and watch people’s actions play out and. witness the consequences, and then step in when things get dicey. Ponk got their arm cut off trying to find out more about the prison, the corruption behind it and the way it functioned. They could tell Sam was getting consumed by the prison and his role as the Warden. it cost them a life but they were trying to dig into a suspicious corrupt system to help someone they cared about. A Sylph of Mind tracks the results of other people’s actions and tries to fix them. They try to build up the damage from its broken pieces, even if the shards cut their own hands.

[jennyandvastraflint]

Hi!! Coming to your asks like I threatened to talk about the one frog king movie I enjoyed!

It is the German 2008 Version with Sidonie von Krosigk. You can find it here for reference & in case you want to watch it. (you might need a vpn if you're not in Germany but then it should be free I think? Also, I am just assuming now that I remember correctly and you speak German?)

Bear in mind, the last time I saw it is like 10-15 years ago so my memory is definitely faulty. But I remember I liked a number of things a lot:

There were Sidonie von Krosigk and Marie Luise Stahl and I found that very exciting because I am a child of the 90s and love witches and was accordingly into the Bibi Blocksberg movies that they appeared in (mostly the second one that involved maths tbh)

It's less about the princess and more about a whole friend group of nobles living at the castle and I remember them being precious together

They have that amazing thing (like really WHAT happened there?) that one of the princes only speaks in acronyms. Even when he proposes, I think. 'PS' f.ex. is how he adresses 'Princess Sophie', the main character. Flawless decision making in the writers department - this is the kind of stuff I will still remember in 20 more years. Also, I mean, it was definitely because he was the super rich and powerful prince, but everyone in the friend group accommodated for him, translating for him and making his speech pattern work. So A+ for solidarity there

The princess is - as far as I remember - very aro coded and her relationship to the prince is rather platonic, more like "two people with the same interest (=travelling) have found each other". Maybe I am making this up in my mind to make the movie appeal more to myself but that's how I remember it. Didn't feel much like a marriage in the end and more like, so, we're besties now, goodbye friends, we're off to see Spain! Like, still risky from his perspective to choose HER as a travelling buddy but at least it's not like she can throw him against the wall anymore, human as he is. And she gets to have more personality than 'spoiled' in this tale. So it makes a little more sense for them to go away together.

And I mostly wanted to ask whether you know the movie because of that shared interest being travelling. That is kinda similar to what happens in your story. Not the same motives but the result stays the same, the couple goes off to travel with their servant(s). So I was just wondering.

Anyway the number of frog king related things I enjoy went up to 2 yesterday and I'm very happy for it :)

(That said, I have never watched the Disney version and I feel like I might like it? But I also feel like it has little to do with the original.

...aaand I just remembered there are actually 3 frog king things I enjoy bc there is also a children's book about an unhappy prince and a frog is like 'I'm an enchanted princess, kiss me and you'll be happy and a king and we will have a thousand riches.' So he does and turns into a frog and they are happy together and rule the kingdom of the pond and have a thousand little frog kids together who are their greatest treasures. I liked that one, too. The art was gorgeous.)

Also I feel like I might just get my sister to rewatch the movie with me now. Very risky to do that with things you remember fondly from childhood (also I already remember the animation of the frog to have been terrible so there's that) but it might be fun? And I kinda wanna know how faulty my memory actually is.

Sorry, this is a lot of rambling now but maybe you enjoyed it? It all came up bc of your fic at least :)

I hope you'll have a good day today <3

First of all, hiii :D

I do actually know that one, I think I've watched it when I was younger! (I'm Austrian, so yes, I know German XD) I might have to rewatch it then!

The Disney one is quite nice! I haven't watched it in ages but I think it was one of the Disney films I enjoyed most.

Glad to have provided something happy for you to read!! (shameless self promo but if you enjoy Fairytale retellings - vague and closer to the original - I have one that's vaguely Beauty & the Beast inspired, and one that has a curse and mermaids XD Technically I have a plot for a Sleeping Beauty one but due to hhhhh work I haven't been able to finish any other fics to have time to write that yet. Herm, lots of fic ideas, there's also one with a Minotaur and the labyrinth :P) Tush, enough self promo! I'm glad you enjoyed my fic!

I realised btw that you're the Mels Zucker/Doctor Jones fic that popped up on my Tumblr a few times, and I'm so intrigued by it. I hope to be able to pick up reading it soon👀

Wonderful day to you too!

[madqueenalanna]

i am so sick of hearing people argue for team green/team black over which side commits fewer war crimes in the opinion of whoever is currently speaking. i'm sick of hearing "making aegon a rapist makes you think he shouldn't be king, it takes away some greyness and is bad writing" NONE OF THEM SHOULD BE KING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

they're all terrible people. they murder each other's children, daemon gelds peasants, shacks up w a 16yr old when he's almost 50 (i have no idea how the show is gonna handle nettles), grooms his niece and tries to force her father to let them marry by lying about having had sex w her, everything about blood and cheese. aegon is a rapist who watches his bastard child fight other children to the death while his brother unleashes a nuke on an envoy

the fact is that from a watsonian perspective, you know who should sit the iron throne? RHAENYS!! a daughter comes before an uncle, rhaenys was the only child of jaehaerys's firstborn son and therefore was higher in the line of succession than baelon or his kids. after her, now that her kids are dead, it works out that laena's eldest is engaged to "laenor's" eldest, jacaerys and baela. the throne is theirs. but fine, okay, viserys was king, can't undo that. he chose rhaenyra, the great council says no girls allowed, it's all stupid and it should have been codified into law or something bc there is no "well the law says" bc jaehaerys already fucked that. it's a free for all now. viserys you fully beefed this

but beyond that, "aegon is a bad person so he shouldn't be king" is a stupid argument. if he's the legal heir, it doesn't matter if he's a bad person. in fact, that might be a problem with hereditary monarchy and absolute monarchy! the power of the entire world goes to some shithead just cause he was born first, this might be bad! i wonder if george is saying something w this! and beyond that, this isn't a meritocracy. too bad he's a bad person. i don't want any of these people on the throne (i don't want anyone on the throne period, tbh). that's not what the show is about. "which war criminal deserves to use their nukes as a threat against the entire western world" is a stupid argument. learn to read

[devotioncomplex]

what if i asked you EVERY SINGLE NUMBER ON THE WEIRD ASK GAME...HAHA...

unless?

bet.

who is/are your comfort character(s)?

*** **********, Will Graham, ***** ***** (you don't need to know), Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks, Akira Kurusu from Persona 5 (i’m brave. Brave), *** ****** AND i’m gonna list off my blorbos (yes there’s a difference): Jonathon Sims from The Magnus Archives, John Reese, Harold Finch, Matt Murdock, Roman Roy from Succession, The Narrator from Fight Club (tbh), David Ward from I Am in Eskew (have you caught on with my horror podcasts illness), Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, and many more but these are the ones I feel brave enough to say 😵‍💫

lighter or matches?

lighter. my brother told me i was a pussy for not using a lighter. this cannot stand.

do you leave the window open at night?

when the room is stuffy or the hot is intolerable just a Tiny BIt, then yes, yes i do. the only bitch of it is that the only window in my room is kind of creepy at night 0(-( i can't live.

which cryptid being do you believe in?

answered

what color are your eyes?

brown eyes solidarity

why did you do that?

WHY did i do that

hair-ties or scrunchies?

hair-ties

how many water bottles are in your room right now?

none

which do you prefer, hot coffee or cold coffee?

iced coffee yesss <3 but if that's not that type of cold coffee this question is referring to then hot coffee obv

would you slaughter the rich?

yes

favorite extracurricular activity?

answered

what kind of day is it?

uneventful. veered to teeth-grinding, back to uneventful. Sigh

when was the last time you ate?

noon yesterday ^_^

do you love the smell of earth after it rains?

answered

are you a parent? (all answers qualify)

yes omgomgomg our SON. our beautiful little boy who's so pure and sweet…JONATHON.

can you drive?

i'm taking lessons! i'll be da king of da highway in seconds. watch

are you farsighted or nearsighted?

answered

what hair products do you use?

L’Oréal. sorry but these questions are my weak points and i’m a basic bitch!!!

imagine we’re at a sleepover, would you paint my nails?

YESSSSS i don't like painting my own nails because ugh. who cares. but i would gladly paint for anyone. i can be bad at it but you will Not complain ok rn we're giggling

do you say soda or pop?

soda. what's a pop. i'll slaughter.

something you���ve kept since childhood?

barnie. that scary-looking barnie plushie across the living room. one of the saving graces of moving houses is that i'm now rid of these barbie dolls. good god man. sorry ik this was meant to be sentimental but that's. all i have. i Hated them

what type of person are you?

god knows. but what i do is that i’m the type of person who would take a personality quiz just for this question (i kid you not. and all of them sucked!!!) hmmmm i AM a sham and pretty mellow tbh idk don’t ask me that question again

how do you feel about chilly weather?

answered

if we were together on a rooftop, what would we be doing?

omg rooftops!! i think we'd look at blocky cloud shapes and figure out with of them look more alike to Jonathon. or we can sit in contended silence ^_^

perfume/body spray or lotion?

men's deodorant. i don’t go out outside of academic duties alright i just hope for the better

a scenario that you’ve replayed multiple times?

nah i'm not saying one scenario. there are Multiple. it mostly has me being in a very terrible situation. a car crash, assault, getting canceled, etc. it's weird. i also imagine scenarios where i just. scroll thru tumblr. literally. it happens when i’m in the process of still fully waking up so my mind just conjures up posts and I’d be scrollin mentally (potential case of the chronic online?). also scenarios where i wonder how a chat would play out had i said something differently. stuff from yeaaaars ago. and obv fictional scenarios for the blorbos they’re My Barbie dolls

about how many hours of sleep did you get?

i didn't have to bring a grocery bag to store today

do you wear a mask?

until now, Yes. sometimes. even when i'm not sick or the cases decreased. why have i never considered wearing them before the pandemic…i can sit there and nobody would know what face i'm making or that i made that weird remark. god bless masks.

how do you like your shower water?

i need to feel it Scalding Hot, you feel me. i need to feel my back getting flayed.

is there dishes in your room?

my dad calls kept going on that if i were biologically male i’d grow an uncared-for beard with doodles & paint everywhere on my jeans. my man, those were just TWO DISHES. alas, he’s honestly not even the least bit far off. :pensive:

what type of music keeps you grounded?

psychedelic & shoe-gaze!!! and probably other genres that i don’t remember. these genres can have sounds that can be so big and almost overwhelming………i’m in the process of making a shoe-gaze-only playlist because!!!!!

do you have a favorite towel?

no. they all feel bad on my skin

the last adventure you’ve been on?

i trekked the desert. climbed a mountain. went sand-boarding. y’all don’t have it in you

is there a song you know every word to by heart?

nah :(

what’s your timezone?

Eastern European Time

how many times have you changed your url?

6 times for my main blog alone! if you count all of my previous sideblogs, then that'd be 13 times.

someone in your life, other than a relative, you’ve known for 10+ years?

this is sad. because. well. i Do know people from my high school days since a decade, but i wouldn't call them friends. </3

a soap bar that smells good?

probably Lux

do you use lip balm?

my lips are drier than the Sahara desert but i'm up

did you have any snacks today?

no

how do you take your coffee?

anything as long as it keeps me caffeinated. for function. BUT i'd kill for a coffee with milk and sugar.

an app you frequently use besides this godforsaken site?

notes app. for taking notes during lectures.

what’s your take on spicy foods?

i rlly like spicy food.

you get a free pass to kill anyone, who is it?

to match Ana’s answer, PUTIN.

can you remember what happened yesterday?

i don't know really since every day is a blur of a blur of a blur of the previous days hmmm sorrie

favorite holiday film?

holiday films are not my thing 😭

what was the last message you sent?

“you’re gonna love season 1 vit i just Know This” (hannibal disease hannibal disease)

when did you first try an alcohol beverage?

NONE

can you skip rocks?

i’ve never tried it

can i tag you in random stuff?

ABSOLUTELY. i'm bad at responding yk this BUT YES ALWAYS

let me tell you, i’ve never in my whole life overshared this much

[ofglories]

*the door creaks open

|| I’ll try to keep this brief, because there’s a LOT of characters I interact with. I’ll hit the important ones:

Arthur - He’s… so sweet. Like a puppy. I want to ruffle his hair and pinch his cheeks. You hit the good notes wherein he’s following his own principles, and still shadowed by the past actions of his father. I’d like to see more of his insecurity or uncertainty, but you’ve got such a firm grasp on his character that it’s fine. Merlin adores him in all the AUs, and his desire to make Merlin happy by any means necessary is v. endearing.

Emrys - No joke, legit thought Emrys was an actual, canon character. It wasn’t until talking to a friend that I was like ‘Oh… he’s an OC?!’ You carry his character really well, molded and threaded into the story as if he was a genuine person from legend – you had me fooled! Merlin can’t say anything though, he’s biased therefore his ( correct ) opinion is irrelevant. I am so desperate to see him react to Uther and everything he’s done ( even if it would never happen ).

Uther - You ever met a man you hate? Not even beloathe but straight up hate? Look no more, Uther is here. The way you keep the tyrannical side just on the side of believable without leaning too far into cartoonishly evil is certainly commendable, tbh. I’d like to see if there’s something – a material possession, a person, something that would make that side of him crack, but it seems unlikely. ( Merlin isn’t available for comment. We know how he feels on the matter. )

Taliesin - I WANNA KNOW HIM MOREEEEE. God I love everything about Taliesin and I perk up every time I see him cross my dash. Such a cryptic and delightful bard. He gives me a “whimsical but can still kick your ass while being pretty about it” vibe and I want to scooch Merlin more towards him at some point bc I wanna see what happens 👀

|| How's my portrayal? ; accepting!!

Aaaaaaaaaaa thank you so much!

I'm honestly so glad to hear this and don't worry I do have Plans to explore more of Arthur's insecurities and uncertainties, and not just with Althur as the catalyst. There's a lot to explore with him that I haven't yet because he's genuinely deeply wounded by events in his life that affect him both as a Servant and as a living person that I can't wait to explore more. I'm definitely biased because, much like a certain OC of mine, I grew up with King Arthur stories and he's my favorite boy in Fate because of it so I try so hard to do him justice. He's very sweet, but also has a mischievous and recklessly stubborn side too that I'll have to dig into more.

Emrys is so much fun for me so I'm glad you like him! It was a challenge for myself when I first made him to take someone with so little information and presence in the legends as Ambrosius Aurelianus and flesh him out into a proper character, so I'm genuinely happy you say I've done well enough for him to properly feel like he belongs since he's really only mentioned by Geoffrey of Monmouth like...three times. Eventually he's going to have to face the facts of what Uther did and there will be an Event with that.

God, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that about Uther. He's a muse I'm deeply insecure with since I don't really write villains but I wanted him to be a believable evil tyrant. Someone who does terrible things without leaning into cartoonish steals candy from babies territory. He's a self-absorbed, self-obsessed violent jackass and is entirely unrepentant about it. I do wonder that too, though I have some personal doubt from my own admitted bias against him dkjfbjmhs

Oh my god thank you!! Taliesin is such a fascinating figure since he's simultaneously fictional and real so I worked hard to make him the way he is. You should absolutely throw Merlin at him more, Taliesin welcomes new students and he'd definitely view Merlin as one! He's an old man even with his pretty and youthful features-

[swimmingferret]

Orys baratheon is the only good baratheon (I love my stanny but it's the truth) like every other baratheon is a terrible person one way or another

Yeah the dude was a good Hand (and tbh the way he dismissed himself was hilarious when he got a hand cut off) but I never really got why he married Argella when she proved to be an arrogant idiot. 'We'll die to the last man and I am storm queen!' when Rhaenys is parked outside on Meraxes and this was after Harrenhall happened, like little wonder her men told her to stfu and threw her outside.

Only other Baratheons I remember is that idiot Borros during the Dance, who broke his oath to Rhaenyra and then didn't even help the Greens cause he was too busy fighting bandits and then later on got his ass bet by Kermit Tully. Also the idiot couldn't even read when he was a lord. (also his wife ignoring his dying wish to name his son after Aegon and instead she named her kid after her dad lmaoooo)

Then there was Lyonel throwing a fit 'cause that Duncan Targ wouldn't marry his daughter (tho lets be real all of Egg's kids were shitheads who undermined him so bad, bunch of A-holes) and then promptly got beat up so bad by Duncan the Tall

Then there was Robert Baratheon who just turned into a drunken, abusive dick of a king 'cause he couldn't get over his teenage flame who didn't even like him, and Stannis and Renly who are just lol as well. Whole House sucks, Shireen is the only decent one left

[tsintotwo]

(Part 1/4)

Like a lot of us, I've been going through Tom Sturridge's filmography since watching Sandman on Netflix. I've watched a good amount of stuff so far, and I have Thoughts™ . Writing a few lines about him in each of the projects (because apparently this is a Tom Sturridge fan blog now??)

Now, you watch Tom in interviews and he is the DEFINITION of a cinnamon roll, so you would never think this- but this man has been absolutely wildin for over a decade. The projects he chooses? The roles he takes on? Half the time it's as if he's like 'if it's not excruciatingly dramatic, absolutely insane, and/or heart-poundingly, breath-chokingly sexy, don't even bother'. Also something else I think I figured out from watching these and Tom's interviews- it's possible that in his mind, wild/dangerous = seductive. So, anytime he's playing a character of that sort, he turns it on and immediately has intense sexual tension with everyone in sight. It's mind-blowing.

This is what I've watched so far:

Like Minds/Murderous Intent (2006)- Eddie Redmayne's first movie. Tom plays Ed's boarding school classmate, a psycho. He was 20/21 in this, unbelievably pretty, and nailed the 'devil with an angel's face' character to a tee. The chemistry with Ed is, predictably, insane. He says and does some seriously disturbing things in the movie. This was so early in his career too! It's possible that Tom's always been a 'choose the interesting project' person vs 'choose something that might make me a popular sweetheart' person.

Waiting for Forever (2010)- I have to say this first, I legit loved this movie so much. It strikes just the right balance between soulful and real, and the whole effect is incredibly sweet and touching. They don't make movies like this anymore. Tom's character is a very innocent type: naive and clueless to the extent of disturbing, but full of hope and belief. Tom is SO good in this. He plays it a bit slow and spacey, and captures the wide-eyed wonder and confusion of the character perfectly. *chef's kiss*

The Hollow Crown s2 (2012)- This was a series of BBC adaptations of Shakespeare's historical plays based on English kings. Tom was Henry VI, and I was fkn depres*ed for a week after watching this, no lie. Henry VI on screen is spineless, pathetic, and being manipulated left and right by every single person in his vicinity. The politics is nasty, the murders are brutal, and King Henry, 17, doesn't want any of it (but is still too much of a wuss to give up his crown so he clutches on religion instead). Tom, with his young face, long hair, gray cloak and his rosary that he desperately hangs onto, speaking of hope and heartbreak in Shakespearean lingo, just made me feel lots of emotions - terribly angry and frustrated with the king, then sad and horrified for him. It was draining. (The series overall is fantastic tbh.)

On The Road (2012)- Based on Jack Kerouac's novel, this movie is all sorts of nasty- drugs upon drugs, lurid sex, people treating other people terribly. Tom in this is sensitive writer boi in unrequited love with a fuckboy, and his personality is "we can take sexuality out of it, just hold me, man". I pray for the gays who will see this movie now because they won't survive Tom in this. (I mean I'm straight and I barely survived). The messy hair? Thick black-framed glasses? The hurt glances? Manic-pixie smiles? Teary-eyed, swollen-lipped monologue? (Edit: Scene) I'm f*cking deceased. (No kidding tho, I can't take movies that are so on-the-nose seriously and I skipped through it, and still Tom with his limited screen time managed to make me genuinely feel for his character. He was amazing.) Fun fact: The scene of him being bodily carried away for a threesome and proceeding to break the bed (literally) lives rent free in my head. No, I am not all right.

Far From the Madding Crowd (2015)- Adaptation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel. Tom plays Sgt. Francis Troy (opposite Carey Mulligan) and is a regular no-good rake. Listen, you'd think Tom with his sweet mouth and wispy facial hair couldn't pull off a moustache. You'd be wrong. He looks great. And he has that charisma that makes you wanna drive off a cliff for him even though you know he's an asshole. They made his character halfway decent tho, Troy is worse in the book. (EDIT: No they did NOT! I was skipping thru the movie and missed a scene lol. But I've watched the whole thing now and, yeah). And Tom switches vibes from sinister to emotional without missing a beat. What a goddamned treat watching this man is.

I'll stop now, and do the next installment on another 5 Tom projects (I guess Remainder, Mary Shelley, Sweetbitter, Irma Vep, Sea Wall/A Life? We'll see.)

(Edit: Part 2 , Part 3, Part 4, Part 5/ Bonus)