#writing tragic characters

[k1d1c4rus]

thinking about how armand was turned bc he was dying from being stabbed by a scorned grown man who was in love with him. he nearly died from rejecting unwanted advances. its such a key explicit detail of his origin that teaches him yet again that what he wants is utterly unimportant and even deadly in the face of survival. everything about his character is informed by the fact that he adapts entirely to the situation he is forced into because that's the only way he can survive. he adopts the satanic doctrine for 200 years not because he believes in it but because he knows that is the only way he'll survive and as soon as lestat arrives he knows he can abandon it. for half a millenium he believes he can't get what he wants and also survive, he has to choose one or the other. God.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girl found dead in a hidden room.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[future-crab]

The thing about TMA is that if I think about Sasha James too much I will cry and if I think about Michael Shelley too much I will cry and if I think about Agnes Montegue too much I will cry and if I think about Jonathan Sims too much I will cry and if I think about Naomi Herne too much I will cry and if I think about Gerry Keay too much I will cry and if I think about Tim Stoker too much I will cry and if I think about Jane Prentiss too much I will cry and if I think about Martin Blackwood too much I will cry and—

[runningwithscizzorz]

Sacrifice of the flesh for freedom in the spirit

“M-May venom strike the evil from my broken heart, may a flood wash away my sins, may fire scald the demons in my skin. O, only in Death am I free…. I’m sorry, Umm, I’m so sorry…”

Incase y’all can’t read cursive

[brucewaynehater101]

I'm bad at math, but is Bruce theoretically 38 years old when he goes into the time stream?

Hear me out (and canon likes to fluncate their ages, so this is my best guess without trying to account for birthdays):

Bruce becomes the legal guardian of 9 year old Dick when he's 23. That's a 14 year difference.

Jason becomes Robin when Dick leaves at 18. Jason is 13. That's a five year difference.

Jason dies at 15, and Tim becomes Robin at 13. That's a two year difference.

The age difference between Tim and Bruce would thus be 21 years.

Tim becomes Red Robin to find Bruce at 17.

That means that Bruce had to be 38, right? Why was I imagining him closer to 50?

Adopting so many kids must have aged him

[macdenlover]

we don’t acknowledge enough how dee used to be a pageant winner when she was a kid and how much damage it did to her. she worked her ass off and got recognition for being pretty and talented at a young age and it was the only source of self esteem she could garner in a family that constantly berated and talked down to her. she sought after that external approval because it was the only way she could prove everyone around her wrong. her dream of being a performer didn’t come from a self-aggrandizing delusion— she genuinely showed a lot of potential when she was younger. but she went through an unflattering puberty and her spinal condition got worse and that natural talent she had as a kid plateaued way too early. the “former gifted kid” dilemma. she slowly lost the thing that promised her that she was good, but she was so desperate to keep holding onto it that she tried anyway. again and again and again no matter how much people made fun of her because it was always about proving them wrong. but after a while she couldn’t jump anymore without anticipating the way it feels when she hits the ground face first. self-sabotage became her way out, choosing to rather live in the fantasy of her own unrealized potential and blaming those around her for her lack of success, than having tried and crashed again. she’d rather buy lottery tickets over and over and never scratch off the numbers than to see that she lost. that self-sabotaging behavior bled into other aspects of her life too, from friendships to relationships to therapy. her own short lived success is what made her grow into embodying the cycle of failure.

[theinsomniacindian]

I will never get tired of the "If they're going to die, it's going to be by my hand" dynamic

[writeouswriter]

You ever come up with a story concept and think oh this is brilliant, this is so good, this is so clever, I'm a genius, people will love this, and you brainstorm and you outline and you create a whole host of details about it, but also you... don't want to write it, not in a "I dislike writing" or "I want someone/something else to write this" type way, but in a "I love and enjoy this concept and want to be the one to execute it if it ever comes to pass, and yet this story/genre just isn't really me" way, like this is good but I'm not the one to do it, but also I'm the only one to do it, it's mine

[jubileemon]

The Tragedy of Tessa Elliot

The fact that Tessa was not fully human, but a corpse possessed by Cyn was actually foreshadowed in the previous episodes before "Mass Destruction".

"Heartbeat" has the Absolute Solver call the drones their "cute little puppets". Tessa referred to the drones as such a few times.

"Home" has J close and block the ballroom door, meaning that Tessa couldn't have gotten out. In the end, Tessa constantly messes with Doll, who can supposedly crush her like a tin can. That's because she knows she is immune to the Absolute Solver.

"Dead End" shows that the Sentinels can be controlled by humans. Her access was denied because she isn't a real human. The Sentinels are also confused by her disguise, not knowing if she is a human or a robot. When she is bitten, she shrugs off the pain rather quickly and isn't worried about the damage to the suit that is supposed to protect her from the environment. Her photo is also censored due to digital manipulation. She even bleeds a lot more than a human should be able to handle. She also positions her arms like Cyn multiple times.

[slyvester101]

Donut remembers how Caboose was back in Blood Gulch, even if everyone else forgot.

He remembers when he's snark back to Church's and Tucker's digs, always surprising everyone with his clever comebacks. He remembers when nicknames were said with affection, when Private Biscuit was a light-hearted tease instead of a sign of forgetfulness. He remembers when it felt like the only person in the world who could understand him, who he felt like he could actually talk to without getting made fun of or bullied, was Caboose.

He remembers when Omega came and fucked up Caboose's head, remembers watching Caboose slowly loose himself as Omega tore through his head in a rage, unsatisfied with the mind he decided to inhabit. He remembers the first time Caboose looked at him and asked what his name was again, remembers feeling choked up at the idea of all the days they spent together, all the jokes they made, was wiped away.

He had smiled and given his name again, voice forced to stay steady as he reintroduces himself to his best friend.

Donut remembers never getting that relationship back, remembers Caboose slowly slipping further into his memory problems, injury after injury jostling his brain until there's barely anything left of Donut in Caboose's head. He remembers the sting of realizing that he was never getting Caboose back, that as close as he could get to him, it would never be the same as Blood Gulch. He remembers feeling guilty for missing a version of Caboose that will never come back.

He remembers missing him anyway, hiding the ache in his heart with a big smile whenever he stands next to the man he once knew like the back of his hand, that he could read with a single look, who knew him back just as confidentially.

He remembers it all, even when Caboose doesn't.

[weepinglavenders]

I did it! Newtmas board based off of Sailor Song (I couldn't fit all the lyrics on 😭)

[invinciblerodent]

These days I kind of can't stop thinking about how much I enjoyed the possibility of being from Orzammar in Origins, specifically because just being who you are put so much of the early game in a wholly different context.

Like, a dwarf from Orzammar has, by definition, lived literally under a rock their whole lives!! They've never left the underground, and yes, while that also makes their ignorance of surface squabbles (the mage issue, the Ferelden/Orlais conflict, everything with the city elves and the Dalish, etc.) make a lot of sense, it also comes with so many interesting new angles that I'm honestly so surprised still that I've never really seen it mentioned very often, if at all. (Even though we even get an explicit moment to reflect on it, when leaving with Oghren.)

In Origins, the moment a dwarf first steps out through the gates of Orzammar and begins the game, is a profoundly life-altering experience. Dare I say, even more so than it is for an elf or a human. Because stepping out, for the first time, they are entering an entirely new world, and for the first time, in front of them is a vast expanse of nothing but air.

The end of the prologue, it's not just a fundamental personal change that awaits you, it's also a displacement so complete, that it's absolutely dizzying to even think about.

That first time a dwarf feels the sun on their skin, they are made sun-touched, a surfacer: stripped not only from caste and kin, of identity, but also faith and memory, any favor their ancestors may have still held for them, and any possibility of ever returning, as far as they know. (Aeducan may even have a bitter little chuckle over the irony of how they could very well have just one day before shrugged off the concerns of their surface brethren completely, only to be made one of them now.)

Their whole lives, they had always been able to see the opposite wall of the cave, or at least to know for sure that it's there, along with the miles and miles of unchanging, crystal-littered rock stretching protectively over their heads-- now all of that is gone. There's nothing between them, and the infinite and ever-changing blue, grey, orange, black of the open sky they've never seen, and in the distance, there's no wall-- just glorious, humongous mounds and spires of rock jutting up into the belly of the sky, the likes of which they've only ever seen from the inside.

Orzammar, despite no sunlight ever penetrating that far, is always lit bright, and it's heated by the lava streams and pools below. A dwarf has never known anything colder or warmer, brighter or darker, never seen seasons change... the biting winds and the frequent rains in Ferelden are completely new to them, not to mention the terrifying cracks of thunder that sound like the very Stone over them cracking in two, the bright flashes of lightning illuminating the night for but a moment, or waking in the middle of the night to what sounds like countless fingers pat-pat-patting the tarp of their tent, or the fact that animals -which are varied and plentiful and wholly alien- sometimes just randomly fall into the sky, like the rumors say! They might know academically that with birds, that just sort of tends to happen, but they've never seen one take off!!

Hell, all of surface flora and fauna are completely new to them-- it's likely they've only ever seen a tree or a dog in a picture book. Flowers, they've likely only ever seen as an expensive and frivolous luxury few can afford to have for a while, and even then, they are by necessity brought in removed from their roots, dead, wilting, taken from their natural place... while here, blooms just spring up underfoot willy-nilly, not entirely unlike mushrooms at the home which is not theirs anymore.

And... there must be something organic, something comfortingly animal to the scent of hundreds of warm bodies crammed into a sealed hole in the ground-- which is just gone now. The air is fresh, clean... empty, cold, lonely. No smell of spilled ale, piss, and vomit, no thick scent of the combined breaths and bodies of all their people... no scent of belonging, the air that moves their lungs now is no longer that which has moved those of all they've ever known, and every breath washes more, and more, and more of who they once were from inside their very body.

Being on the surface, it's like being thrust into an alien world, with which all just expects you to be intimately familiar. What do you mean the grass, the bugs, the birds, the leaves are strange? What do you mean you've never eaten leaves from this plant, fruit from this tree, the flesh of this creature you've only ever heard about? They laugh when you avert your eyes from the sky and try not to think about falling into it, or when you startle at the feeling of falling water suddenly hitting your skin, as if that was somehow funny, charming.

The night, which you've never before seen fall, is a comfort from all that endless, boundless seeing- but after the Joining, not even that is a relief.

Because if you're a dwarven Warden, all the dreams you've had in your life have been nightmares.

So you cope. You learn, and adapt, and endure.

Strong and immutable, like the Stone from which you were rent.

[doverstar]

actually I love Tentoo and he is the Doctor and it was the only ending for Rose that worked and it is a huge gift to be able to have the man she loves grow old with her, they were always heading for that, y'all be quiet. I 100% understand the angst but it's okay, they're okay, good ending-

[baldursghaik]

Not love, no. What I had with Belynne Stelmane was much more than that. It was... unique.

[hamletthedane]

The fact that Shakespeare implied an entire fraught backstory to Beatrice and Benedick’s relationship with only five words - I know you of old - is so genius. This play is so genius. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the cleverness and subtly of writing in Much Ado.

[pussyhoundspock]

I do think something the early seasons of Cobra Kai actually did show well was the cycle within a lot of alcoholics i know where there is a deep seated self loathing that is very selfish right very self absorbed and most importantly the choice to wallow in that self loathing/deny themselves forgiveness as punishments but that only results in keeping them further away from their kids, more reliant on alcohol and pushes them deeper into alcoholism and self destructive behavior. Like it enables them to fall worse into this cycle of self loathing leading to hurting and even failing those around them which is what I think is pretty clearly what's going on with Johnny and Robby and was actually pretty briefly portrayed pretty accurately & genuinely compellingly in those early seasons