#you can in fact respectfully disagree on certain points

[blackswallowtailbutterfly]

Can I ask when the last time “dick worshipper”, etc. has actually been used by a radblr woman? Not a black-pill orbiter; they’re awful to everyone and don’t tend to last long here. I mean from someone in radblr, claiming to be a radical feminist or supporting radical feminism. I know it used to be fairly common years ago. So did political lesbianism, which pissed everyone off for different reasons. Most of those people either left or just don’t show up in my circles anymore, and those that do again don’t last long. So where is this coming from? I see it referenced but no recent examples. I am seeing a hell of a lot of recent homophobia from women in radblr though. Every woman I’ve seen addressing the homophobia has stated the misogynistic terms aren’t okay, again, even though from what I’ve seen it hasn’t happened for a long time. Whereas I’m seeing a ton of defensiveness and doubling down in regards to the homophobia. And there seems to be this demand of all lesbians and non-lesbian pro-separatist women to denounce the “dick worshipper” type comments, and it’s like, A) they already have and B) if they’re not the ones who said it can you stop conflating pro-separatist arguments with that shit? Again, this is just what I’ve seen. Maybe the “dick-worshipper” comments are all over some areas of radblr, but they’re not from anyone I follow or have seen on my dash for years. I’d say for the last four or five years the only time I’ve seen it is from women asking not to be called that--which, I agree, I don’t want to be called that and I don’t want to see other women called that. It’s just, I haven’t been called it or seen it for a long time, so something’s not adding up.

[itsmoonpeaches]

On Greek Mythology and its darker topics and how modern audiences view them, an essay for some reason.

For further context on my thoughts on a similar topic, please see my post, "ATLA fandom and other fandom spaces have been ruined by purity culture, an essay."

First, for those of you who are new here, let's define what I mean by purity culture.

Purity culture in my own terms can be defined as an extreme obsession with purity, particularly in Western (but mostly American) audiences which is a culture that seeks to make everything positive, pure, and acceptable. Not to be confused with how some religions view purity culture as abstinence.

Please note that before you attack me, I am a person who encourages and champions progressiveness and openness in media. This is not an essay to chase away notions of continuing to represent difficult topics respectfully in modern pieces. Simply, it is to point out something that troubles me, especially in communities that tend to consume modern retellings and the more ancient stories centered around Greek Mythology and other mythologies.

Purity culture and modern Greek Mythology retellings

To put it simply, there is no purity culture in most modern Greek Mythology retellings. There are modern storytelling structures, maybe more kid-friendly ways to put things into perspective, but generally speaking, I have not seen much of a culture in which authors, playwrights, and other kinds of writers have watered down myths into something wholly unrecognizable in which none of the darker topics exist. Instead, they are either retold in a way that fits the target audience, reframed into something that fits the context of the story, implied or not covered because maybe the audience is too young, or outright said because the audience is old enough.

This is not to say that inaccuracies are not a problem. Disney's Hercules exists. (I wouldn't be the first to say that the film is a fun time though.) But completely covering up dark topics is not something modern retellings seek to do.

The Broadway musical, Hadestown, does not shy away from the true ending of Orpheus and Euridicye's story. Jorge Rivera-Herrans' Epic: The Musical does not brush over the atrocities war and desperation bring. Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, while written as a book series aimed at children, does not hide the consequences children have to face when forced to fight for the gods, including what it's like to grow up under neglectful parents especially. Netflix's Kaos, a show I haven't even watched yet, is aimed at adults, and from the clips I have seen it does not back away from telling the mortals just how messed up the gods are.

So, with all this in mind, it begs the question: Why are audiences so fixated on watering down what Greek Myths and their retellings are?

Purity culture and how modern mythology fans view retellings

This is definitely a controversial opinion, but I don't think that it's beneficial to anyone to have too much discourse over the darker topics present in ancient myths. The fact is that ancient myths were not written for us, they were written for ancient people to explain the unexplainable.

Audiences now tend to view certain aspects of myths as problematic. And yes, they are. I'm not disagreeing with those of you who will argue this point. The problem is that many are viewing these aspects through a purity culture lens through which they don't want to see these topics portrayed at all. (Remember, these myths were not written for you.)

[Trigger warning ahead for mentions of assault.]

The most common mythological characters I've seen argued about are Medusa and Calypso. The common theme between these two characters? Their stories revolve around sexual assault.

Ovid's version of Medusa has her assaulted by Poseidon, while the original Greek version has Medusa already born with her curse. Calypso in The Oddessy is an immortal nymph cursed to live alone on the island of Ogygia because of her association with the titans, namely her being the daughter of Atlas. However, she fell in love with Odysseus (or should I say, potentially obsessed with him), and forced him to remain on the island with her and sleep with her.

In fan spaces, I see these stories argued about a lot. For example, whether they should be talked about at all, whether these women are problematic or not (or if the gods are etc.). And while the point is often made that there were victims in their stories, it's almost as if when audiences find out the truth of their ancient origins, they are in denial.

This Tumblr post in particular comes to mind:

Link to original here.

While the original poster does realize in the tags that this was a topic that had to be reframed because of Riordan's target audience, it reminded me that there are others who find this truth all too jarring.

People forget or fail to realize that Greek Mythology and other mythologies are not pleasant stories. So, it's only to be expected that modern versions of them or stories that use their characters have written disturbing things too.

In Calypso's case, I often see her character canceled in a way only fictional characters can be I suppose. She's not a great person. She forced people to stay with her. Yet, she was cursed to do just that.

It's also interesting that sometimes Calypso is called out because she's centuries old and Percy was 15 if we're going from the retelling perspective of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Yet, Odysseus was also a lot younger than her. Not to mention many of the gods had affairs with mortals an X amount of years younger than them in myths. I don't have to remind you of Zeus' many trysts. The hyperfixation on age difference is something born out of purity culture as well, even if sometimes that difference is only a few years. The gods and immortal beings, however, do not and should not work out the way humans do, but I digress.

Calypso's story is a whole cycle and it is disturbing. There is no use in denying that this is her character, however. Just how it would be the same as denying that fairytales had dark origins. (Remember how Cinderella's stepmother sawed off parts of her biological daughters' feet just so they could fit into the glass slipper? Or how birds picked out their eyes?) The modern Disney-fied versions of fairytales is a whole other topic, but it stems from similar beliefs under purity culture. It's just that there isn't the same kind of audience for fairytales as there is for Greek Mythology, is there?

Purity culture and themes in Greek Mythology, or TLDR

There are common themes in Greek Mythology including betrayal, death, consequences of actions, hubris, loyalty, and overwhelming greed. Gray morality above all, fits into the puzzle that is mythology. Nothing is black and white.

Purity culture has colored the way even themes in Greek Mythology are viewed. Purity culture makes things black and white. In reality, the world is not so. Themes in myths are now too abhorrent to talk about, or too nasty to reproduce. Especially in fandom circles, topics can't be talked about because they are too taboo. People get angry. There is discourse. Suddenly, everything in a myth can be fixed if everyone just had access to therapy.

But, these myths are ancient. These dark topics are common. While many topics are triggering for people, perhaps it would be more beneficial to the art of storytelling itself to simply not engage. Or, better yet, to never try to change the narrative to fit your own personal beliefs.

Ancient people still had the same problems as we do. Watering down what is the truth serves to cover up what looks ugly.

It should not be a surprise that with Greek Mythology comes darkness, and darkness in fiction or in myths should not make anyone angry.

Perhaps if you cannot accept that there are and will always be dark, disturbing topics in stories inspired by mythologies, you should not be part of an audience that consumes them.

[zeroducks-2]

i understand that you didn’t have any harmful intentions when it came to your reblog about the mature filter, but that post was specifically about the mistreatment of trans women and how they are the ones most heavily impacted by the staff, whether they post actual mature stuff or not. you probably didn’t mean to, but your addition seemed to minimise the harm that transfemmes are put through and it most likely would have been better if you had made your own post instead of derailing another.

If you're the same anon who sent hate before, I'd appreciate you started out with an apology and I am not really inclined to talk to you, but since I care about the subject I will give it a proper response.

I respectfully disagree about how my reblog minimizes the harm that trans women are put through. Trans women are included in the queer community, and tumblr censors (or anyway attempts to) posts about the queer community in general - point which I think is worth considering while we talk about how posts about trans women get censored. We can have both the conversations at the same time.

It's like with the current politics in the US, UK and in many other countries: the main focus is on trans folks at the present moment, but truly what these people hate (these people: bigots, fascists, neo-nazis, right-wingers in general) is queer folks. Scratch the surface and everything comes out: the groups pushing for the erasure and criminalization of transness are against abortion, divorce, gay marriage, drag, otherness of any kind, and this is an important conversation to be had not because it's about taking the focus away from trans folks, but because it's about reminding everyone that we either stand together or we fall.

Tumblr's bigot tendencies reek of this. Posts that mention trans women get labelled mature, posts that show two men kissing get labelled mature, pictures of men in tasteful lingerie get labelled mature, and posts mentioning mlm or wlw love get labelled mature. These are all the same thing: queerphobia, so while we have a conversation about how tumblr censors posts about trans women, it's worth mentioning (mentioning, not overriding the original topic) that tumblr also censors other types of queer content, which demonstrates further how it isn't a bug (as staff tried to claim), it isn't any kind of fluke and it instead it's something embedded in the website's policies and in how they handle certain kinds of content in general.

That being said, I also don't think the post got derailed in any meaningful way. My followers (which aren't by any means a significant number by the way) know my stance in regard to trans issues and know that I myself am part of the trans community, and they're aware of the fact that I care personally about the topic. I have gotten a few likes on that post, maybe one or two reblogs, and the focus kept being on trans women's posts as it was meant to be, as in fact my addition meant to only be a reminder that yes, staff does this, they do target queer content, this is not a coincidence or a one time thing.

I might understand the contempt if I had said something like "actually it's not trans women, they're fiiine - the point is everyone else". But I haven't. What I'm saying is that yes they indeed do this to trans femmes, they do this all the time with queer content, we are not misplaced in our feelings of outrage. There is LITERAL PROOF that they do this, so we should recognize and be aware that when we engage with this site we also engage with a bigoted, transphobic & queerphobic staff.

There was no need to send me hate over it, either.

This is the post with my reblog, for reference.

[hiraganasakura]

Mantle evac asker again: thanks for a well-crafted response and apologies if I put you on the spot. TBH I'm not even sure Ironwood *needed* that semblance explanation for his unraveling (or a semblance *period;* a fair number of capable RWBY characters don't have one) with his pre-existing authoritarian tendencies and post-Beacon PTSD in play. Feel free to expand on Robyn if the mood hits, 'cause ye gods could watchers be giving her & the H-Huntresses a fairer shake.

Hi anon! Sry for the late reply, I've been busy

Yeah, true, the Semblance thing works to reinforce what we already understand. Honestly the primary reasons I wish it was talked about in-show is bcus the only reason we even know what his Semblance is is bcus the writers talked about it at some panel, and it could contribute another layer to Ironwood's character

According to the RWBY wiki's article on Mettle (link), apparently they wanted to explicitly state it in V7/V8, and had it in mind while writing Ironwood, but couldn't find a way to work the reveal in without damaging the flow of the show. I learned that just now and found it interesting

I just think it's cool to see negative aspects of Semblances tbh. They're meant to be the manifestation of a person's very soul and while they're usually shown in a positive light seeing the bad side of it is an interesting perspective. Like we see Qrow struggling with self-loathing (and the closely connected depression and alcoholism) due to Misfortune, in After the Fall/Before the Dawn Yatsuhashi fears his own Memory Wiping Semblance, etc. Seeing Ironwood have similar struggles I think would humanize him a bit while still not excusing his actions. It'd make him even more interesting imo. Does that make sense?

But now to the main point, yay, I get to talk about this! I only just had this realization as I was answering your previous ask

Ok so. Some ppl [nobody here] claim that Blake and Yang trusting Robyn with the info on Amity was "dumb" of them bcus they didn't know for certain if she was trustworthy at that point in time. Which, I can get why ppl may think that, but I respectfully disagree. I don't think "dumb" is the right word at all; in fact, I think the fact that Blake and Yang were even willing to try this shows a lot of how their characters have grown

Think about it: these two have rly bad trust issues

I mean, Blake was abused by Adam and faced harsh discrimination as a Faunus. In the early volumes of RWBY, she struggled to even trust her team for a while, hiding her cat ears under her little black bow until the truth came out completely on accident. And when she was finally able to trust them, the Fall of Beacon happened, her trauma with Adam came rearing its ugly head, and, blaming herself for Yang losing her arm, Blake left for Menagerie. (You can see in little details how high alert she is thru a lot of V4 and maybe even V5; off the top of my head, in the first V4 episode we see with her, when the captain of the ship to Menagerie approaches Blake, her immediate instinct is to reach for her weapon.) She didn't even trust herself for a very long time, and due to the horrible stuff she's seen, also had a hard time trusting other ppl

Then there's Yang, and gosh, she's been thru sm too. After she lost not one but two moms, her trust issues seem to manifest more in a fear of abandonment. Near the start of the show she was largely motivated by her search for Raven, hoping to understand why she left—but when she meets Raven in V5, she almost instantly sees thru most of Raven's lies. When Blake left after the Fall of Beacon, Yang had a harder time than the rest with it (see: the whole "Why isn't she here for me?" conversation she had with Weiss in V5), and even had a harder time accepting her return (the awkward air between them for the majority of V6 was palpable)

When Blake and Yang killed Adam and defeated some of their inner demons in the process, not only did they feel able to fully start trusting one another again, but I think it may have helped them to start trusting others, as well

Iirc Blake and Yang were talking about Adam right before they spoke to Robyn about Amity. Now I'm wondering, was that just a coincidence? Or was it a suble acknowledgement of their character development together?

Of course they didn't know whether Robyn could be trusted with that info, but the fact that they were willing to give it a shot demonstrates a lot. And I don't think it's stupidity, or naiveté. I think it is an amazing point in the development of Blake and Yang, a mark of their willingness to trust in the world again

And in hindsight, we can say it was a generally good choice. It was a little rocky at first, with the damage it caused to Ironwood's trust in RWBY. But for a wonderful fleeting moment, it led to James Ironwood and Robyn Hill (of all the ppl who could work together!), once diametrically opposed, standing in unity to help the ppl of Atlas and Mantle...

Well... Until the Black Queen arrived. But we covered that already

Also I totally agree with you that certain corners of the FNDM do the Happy Huntresses dirty. I mean, disagreeing with their methods from a political standpoint is whatever, but like... don't mix them up with the bad guys. They're rly not. They looked at the blantant inequalities between Atlas and Mantle, said "We won't stand for this", and started working for change. I'm pretty sure it was even said that they were all graduates of Atlas Academy that theoretically could have joined the military and done well in it—but they chose not to. Bcus they felt protecting Mantle was more important than upholding the Atlesian status quo. Bcus they too were hurt by the toxic culture of Atlas and decided to make it so that the ppl of the future didn't have the same struggles. (And honestly I think they made the right choice. Look what obeying the status quo did to the Ace Ops. Half of them are dead and the other half are super traumatized now, if they weren't already.) Good for the Happy Huntresses

Also briefly circling back to the Semblance conversation! I love Robyn's Semblance from the whole "manifestation of the soul" outlook bcus I think it fits her as a person so well. I mean, Lie Detection? For someone who is so unbending in her pursuit of the truth? For someone who will always stand up for what she believes in no matter the scorn she may receive? YES, I love it! And it even checks the boxes of having an additional layer of a setback: When empathizing with Qrow in V8, Robyn explains that having a Semblance that could detect lies led to it becoming difficult to make connections in her childhood bcus ppl were scared she would sniff out their secrets. Lie Detection is probably one of my favorite Semblances, despite its simplicity, purely from a storytelling pov

[slytherinsnekxvii]

let's talk about lily evans and the marauders, aka moony, wormtail, padfoot and prongs. given that i didn't use their actual names, i think you can figure out where this is going. it's also long as hell, so. canon vs fanon, marauder edition, except snek is sleep deprived.

now, before we begin, i don't dislike the marauders. or lily, tbh. if I'm being perfectly, genuinely honest, i still go back and forth sometimes but they've been growing on me for a while now. the canon versions, at least. fanon does them real dirty, and that's part of why i'm writing this, because i'm genuinely tired of it. it's an injustice.

you can at least make excuses for james and lily, who were so undeveloped that jkr practically dropped a fill-in-the-blank sheet of character information in our laps, but sirius, remus and peter were around long enough for y'all to get real acquainted with them.

in canon, sirius black is an unhinged mf. genuinely. this isn't to say he's a bad guy, in fact, we see that he's still capable of doing good things, still capable of love, still capable of all the things that prove he's actually not bad at heart, just,,, severely traumatised and very steeped in negativity from his time with the dementors. what i'm saying is that this man is absolutely, no questions asked, no holds barred demented, and how could he not be? the guy sat wrongfully imprisoned in azkaban for twelve years, a good portion of which he spent as a dog in order to protect himself from the dementors. he certainly wasn't completely insane, but you cannot tell me that he was all there. he got out of azkaban fuelled almost solely by the intent to get revenge on pettigrew, tried to commit murder in front of three witnesses who were also children—one of whom was his godson—ate rats and was also malnourished, which i'm certain did not help the situation any. this man is off his goddamn rocker, and you know what? you love to see it. good for him.

oh, but, snek, that's what he's like as an adult. what about when they were at school? before azkaban? my guy, the reaction he has to grimmauld place is not the reaction of someone without trauma. i don't believe that walburga and orion were the type to physically abuse their children, but whatever happened in that house helped to fuck him up enough that he skipped the joke of part of practical joke, and pranked snape by telling him how to meet a werewolf that he knew would be fully transformed and dangerous to humans. more than that, the werewolf was remus, whom he's friends with, and who—best case scenario—would be facing a trial if james hadn't stepped in. you can say that maybe he didn't think about or understand the gravitas of his actions, but at the end of it, that's not how properly sane people react to people they dislike, and that's not how they treat their friends. if anything, it reads like he was in the middle of a breakdown and absolutely losing his shit and he wasn't thinking at all.

my guy went through some serious shit, and was in no way completely mentally stable. we can see pretty clearly that he's got a serious dark side to him that probably would have gone unbridled had he not disagreed with his family, and yet, fanon took one look at him and went, "teehee, uwu bad boi go vroom."

fanon said padfoot is a pretty boy with nice hair who is tastefully traumatised from his horribly abusive household. sirius rides his motorcycle and plays jokes and flirts with anything that moves, but he can do no real wrong and always comes back to his soft, bookish, chocolate-loving boyfriend remus, who will laugh about his lycanthropy and quietly disapprove but secretly laugh at his friends' antics while hiding his smile in his cardigan.

respectfully, what in the absolute fuck.

i'd put that meme in here if i could, the one that's like, "well done, you've broken _______ down to its bare essentials," but no. i can't bc it doesn't even apply. this isn't a meme, it's theseus' fucking ship.

fanon broke it down, and replaced the pieces one by one until we got to this point, where we need to sit down and ask ourselves, "is this even the same character?"

the answer is no, by the way. it isn't. when people talk about woobifying characters—you know, taking away every flaw they have, romanticising everything they do and making them only capable of doing good, wonderful, lovely things?—this is what we mean.

and it'd be one thing if it was just the one character, but, no. fanon went all in and made them all squeaky clean and boring, especially peter, who draws the shortest of the straws.

remus got fucked, too. not just because fanon insists on sticking him into a relationship with sirius. which, we'll tackle wolfstar in a bit, but that's not even the worst of it. here, we have yet another example of blatant, rampant woobifying. again, is he a bad person? no. we know he's a good guy, we know he's generally kind and well-mannered, we know that he wants to fo the right thing but hey, fun fact. did you know that you can be nice and a coward? did you know that you can be benevolent and good and kindly and have the greatest of intentions and still be shady as fuck? no? ask dumbledore. the man played people like chess pieces when he needed to, and he was a twinkly grandpa. these are things that can coexist.

teenage remus is a coward who, understandably, does not stand up to his friends, likely for fear of being ostracised, and doesn't uphold his prefect duties as he should and takes part in their bullying of snape as a result. he lets them romp with him in werewolf form while they are in their animagus forms and then, he lets them continue to do so even after they have multiple close calls, which, again, had anything happened, would have resulted in a trial in the best case scenario.

grownup remus is still a coward, he tells no one that sirius can move about the school in his animagus form despite wholeheartedly believing that he's a mass murderer, he tries to run out on his wife and unborn kid. he isn't deliberately making attempts to harm anyone, but he's content to sit back and let things happen to him and around him so he doesn't rock the boat, although he is capable of action, which we see when he is more than willing to help sirius merk pettigrew in the shack. he can be careless, he runs out to the shack knowing he hasn't taken his wolfsbane and ends up transforming in front of the students he, as a teacher, is meant to be protecting. of course, this doesn't negate his good qualities, it just bears repeating that his flaws do exist, and they're pretty serious.

fanon moony is always pleasant and kind and soft-spoken and bookish, and he always has to have his chocolate. he knows when to tell off his friends, and he'll do it, even if he's secretly amused by everything they do and laughs about it with his best friend, lily evans, who coincidentally spends all her time with them so he and sirius can go on double dates with james and lily and no one has to remember peter exists.

why. theseus' ship 2.0. does the actual character still exist or is this something entirely different thing bearing the same name?

as for peter, who needs peter pettigrew, the actual, legitimate, fourth marauder when you have lily evans? canon pettigrew is opportunistic as fuck. he's latching himself to the biggest bad on the block and he's going all in. for teenage peter, that was james and sirius, and for adult peter, that's voldemort. canon peter is good enough at transfiguration to master the animagus transformation, just like his friends, and he's good enough at potions to brew the potion that gives voldemort a body. and honestly, you can't say he wasn't brave. he could've run off somewhere and died, or changed his identity or something after he faked his death and framed sirius, but, no. he goes and resurrects voldemort. that's fucked up, yeah, but it happened and honestly, i respect that it. he stuck to his guns.

fanon wormtail is lucky if he exists beyond being a spineless sycophant for james and sirius, or an evil conniving little rat who's looking to toss his entire friend group to the wolves at eleven.

of course, this isn't meant to negate his bad qualities, he still murdered people and framed sirius and sold out the potters to die, but his good characteristics do exist, and james, sirius and remus genuinely were his friends.

and now, we get to lily and james.

we have hardly any information on either of them. they're a pair of cardboard cutouts that we can paint and stick flyers to and colour outside the lines however we want. we can do whatever the fuck, as long lily is brave and smart and somewhat kind and james is brave and willing to die for his family. we were essentially handed a pair of ocs.

and yet.

what little bits of canon we have are thrown out of the window regardless.

james is privileged and rich, and he throws hexes for fun. he's willing to hex lily when she disagrees with him, and then, he goes behind her back to continue hexing snape after she believes that he's stopped doing so. and that's all we know about him until he dies for his family at twenty-one years old. once again, say it with me: this does not negate his good qualities. he definitely had them, he took sirius in when sirius ran away from home, he became an animagus to keep remus company as a wolf, and he saved snape in the shack, thereby saving remus and sirius by extension. him having flaws does not make him a bad person.

fanon prongs is a feminist. he fights for equal rights for women everywhere, and he constantly treats his girlfriend, lily, like an absolute queen. he's the hottest boy in school and everyone claps when he walks through the halls. mcgonagall and dumbledore are always patting him on the back and making jokes with him. he has a built-in dark detector that helps him sense when someone is a evil and needs to he punished.

give me a break. the dude's cool and all, but was the gary stu treatment necessary?

...oh, he needed to match fanon lily? right, right.

canon lily is a contradiction unto herself. she's supposedly a great friend, but since we see her at a point where they were already drifting apart, we see her putting little effort into keeping their friendship afloat. she victim blames based on rumours, she doesn't seem to care over much about what snape has to say about the people who have been tormenting him since day one. and she's justified, of course, she doesn't have to stick around. canon lily is a bit of hypocrite, she says that snape calls everyone of her birth mudblood, but then that begs the question why she still hangs around with him if that's the case. he calls her mudblood, she retaliates by calling him snivellus, and finishes up with a dig about his underwear, which, sure, it's kicking a man with a rusty spoon and pouring salt in the wound, but she's, again, justified. i get where she was coming from. and then, of course, she dies for her kid after marrying the guy who relentlessly bullied her quote-unquote best friend for their entire school careers. but, like i said, canon lily is, in many ways, a contradiction.

lily is basically a plot device. she pushes everyone's narrative but her own, and does little else.

of course, this trend would continue in fanon. fanon lily exists to be the perfect girl who gets really angry over the slightest injustice, and of course, she gets to be one half of one of the oldest enemies-to-lovers "it was just sexual tension" cliche pairings in the book. she's just,,, a mary sue. in so many fics, so many headcanons, she's just pettigrew's stand-in, a girl to form a gang with marlene, mary and dorcas—who happen to be more undeveloped ocs who also get the woobify mary sue treatment—to parallel the marauders. there is nothing compelling about her character when she's presented as a saint, and even less when she's supposedly the other moral compass for the marauders that doesn't actually work because she thinks that james is cute.

and this brings me to the next topic. jily. what, why, how. this was supposed to be a healthy, happy relationship that would have lasted in the long run? absolutely not. even for its time, i can't say that i see it lasting.

first of all, jkr presents james' crush on lily as just that: a crush. a mildly obsessive one, but a crush nonetheless, which she tries to liken to the pulling of pigtails. and then, we see that james' way of getting her to go out with him consists of blackmail, and when that doesn't work, he resorts to threatening her. this could have been set aside if he had actually, genuinely changed when they started spending more time together, but as we're told by sirius and remus, he didn't. he just got better at hiding what he was up to. and it has to be that he hid it, because if she knew, this further damages the character that she's set up to have and paints her out to be either unable to stand up to him or an enabler.

regardless, they get married. and while i have trouble believing that it was out of genuine love, there are scenarios that could make some semblance of sense. it's wartime, after all, and maybe lily is worried about her stability in the wizarding world, so why not marry into an established family whose son is already showing interest? or perhaps, she falls into the trap of every bad boy cliche ever, and she thinks to herself, well, i got him to be better then, maybe i can get him to do even better in the future. or maybe, she doesn't get into a relationship with him immediately and sees him on and off, until eventually, she accidentally gets pregnant and they scramble to have a shotgun wedding so as not to leave lily alone at nineteen with a baby. or maybe they marry each other because they're there and sure, neither of then is ready and they don't know what love even is but what else is there to do when there's a dark lord about? anyways, the point is, they get married.

and then what? if we count pottermore into canon, he goes on to further damage her relationship with petunia and vernon, to the point where she ends up crying. if we don't, she fades into the background enough that nobody has anything to say about her. she's harry's mum, she's james' wife, lily potter, she was kind and smart and brave and that's it. her agency is gone, anything else we have of her personality is gone.

jily just,,, wasn't built to last. and, yeah, this,,, this is a hill i'll die on.

same with wolfstar, honestly. there are so many reasons why it wouldn't work, but fanon has made it so fucking prevalent that it's literally everywhere no matter where you look.

first of all, i've said it before and i'll say it again. sirius is more likely to get with james that he is to ever end up in a relationship with remus. their chemistry is just,,, underdeveloped. net zero for a relationship.

secondly, sirius instigated the werewolf prank, and lupin would have paid the price for it. this could have been overlooked, but he doesn't seem the slightest bit guilty about any of it when it's brought up in poa. he could have been responsible for lupin losing the security of his place at hogwarts in the best case scenario, and in the worst case, his life. and he seems to look forward to full moons, even though they clearly aren't pleasant for remus, which,,, yeah, you're going to have fun, but like, maybe be concerned about the fact that your friend undergoes excruciating pain and it isn't a pleasant time for him? read the room, my g.

thirdly, they don't trust each other as much as fanon seems to think they do. they were both willing to believe each other the traitor before ever suspecting pettigrew. sirius thought remus gave away the potters, hell, he thought remus was a spy for voldemort, and remus was convinced that sirius was a mass murderer. neither of them needed to be convinced.

fourthly, maybe i'm reading too much into it, but like. sirius had money. remus had no money, since, yk, he was a werewolf and struggling for cash and still, sirius,,, did not leave him any money. i feel like if you had money to spare, you would give to your friend who is literally poor. but, again, maybe i'm reading too much into it and this isn't as valid a point as i think it is.

and ehh, the fifth reason is that it's,,, actually very much not the representation for the ltgbt community that fanon says it is but y'all aren't ready for that conversation.

anyways, just,,, even when you set the couple shit aside, the power dynamics between everyone here is fucked. like, james and sirius are clearly at the top of food chain calling the shots and egging each other on. then there's lily, who isn't even a marauder, but is always ever-so-slightly above remus but still not on their level, because, well. neither of them actually listen to her. remus is the novelty friend, the friend who's,,, alright, i guess, but you keep them around specifically because they're funny or they can dance or they have something that you can either show off to other people or keep as your little inside joke, your little secret, yk? and peter is just sort of there. like, yeah, he can do what we can but does that make him as good as we are? no. does he have a funny little something about him that we can exploit? nah. therefore he sits at the bottom. and like, yeah, james and sirius are on the same level, but james is yanking sirius' chain, not the other way around. anyways, like i said. power dynamic's fucked and it bothers me that we were given all of this, and fanon decided to take it all and throw it away so they could give us flamboyant!badboi!sirius black x softboi!motherhen!remus lupin going on double dates with feminist!trustfundbaby!james potter and saint!lily evans while ignoring peter pettiwho?

theseus' fucking ship, indeed.

anyways, this needed to be said. it might not make as much sense as i want it to, considering it's 4:12 in the morning as i'm posting this, after taking a break from writing to do some research and coming across way too much content about fanon marauders, but it's here and it still makes enough sense that you can read it and understand what i mean. and like, at the end of the day, you can go ahead and headcanon whatever you please, you can write fic and make art and do whatever you like, just,,, remember that they're exactly that. headcanons. stop presenting fanon as canon. please. i'm literally begging. we actually have evidence against it. just,,, acknowledge that they're headcanons and stop putting them forward as though they're able to fit into canon. please.

[stxleslyds]

What do you think about the theories that Jason was sexually abused as a child? Or even possibly while he was comatose after his resurrection?

Implications of this theory include his conversation with Mia (Speedy) and Bruce's message (Battle for the Cowl). In addition, when he was Robin he expressed what was then considered uncharacteristic rage towards the perpetrators of sex crimes.

Garzonas - unrepentant rapist who got no consequences

When a woman killed her sister's rapist and murderer (because Batman's evidence was not admissible in court), Batman said that she went too far with murder. Jason's disagreed with "Good riddance". Good for you, Jason.

His recklessness when dealing with a child sex trafficking ring.

I highly doubt that DC would ever confirm this theory. I would rather they leave it ambiguous because I don't trust them to not botch Jason... much less respectfully address the subject matter.

I have read so many thoughts on Jason that they're starting to blend together. So I apologize if you've already answered this before.

Hello friend! Aside from the fact that I took way too much time to answer your ask, this was also a hard question to come up with an answer to, I wanted to remain respectful of the subjects at hand even though I don’t second this headcanon. But before we keep going, let me put some trigger warnings in this post.

trigger warning: mentions of sexual abuse, child abuse, rape.

First, I would like to bring up these two concepts because I oftentimes mix them up when talking about these “ideas”.

Theory: a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something; an idea used to account for a situation or justify a course of action.

Headcanon: Headcanon generally refers to ideas held by fans of series that are not explicitly supported by sanctioned text or other media. Fans maintain the ideas in their heads, outside of the accepted canon.

I think the idea of Jason having been sexually abused at any point in his lifetime is a mix between a theory and a headcanon. Why I am saying this? Because as you have put in the ask, there has been instances where fandom has found pieces of information that they have considered the base of this idea.

So, if we say that there is a piece of text that might support that idea and they build from that to justify a course of action we would be looking at a theory. In this case Jason having been abused would the reason as to why he acts in that strong and violent way towards cases of sexual abuse/harassment.

In the other hand those pieces of text might not support that idea so fandom headcanons that idea in order to build another layer to a character, in this case Jason having been abused would also justify his actions towards certain criminals.

The “text” (panels, issues, mentions) are most of the time ambiguous, which makes readers have different perspectives in what is being written and what then is made into a theory or headcanon.

Personally, I don’t like this theory or headcanon for various reasons (which I will explain later in the post), and I have read and understood those moments mentioned as Jason just having survived Crime Alley as something general, I don’t think he suffered that kind of abuse but I think he was made aware of that type of behaviour every day that he spent alone in the streets and that why we saw Jason in Batman #408 saying that he had “graduated a long time ago from the streets of crime alley”.

Having said that, I do understand that some of the moments mentioned can be seen as ambiguous and that’s what leads people to theorize/headcanon that idea, because of that I would like to show the panels mentioned in your ask so everyone can read them and make up their own conclusions and then I will talk about the reasons why I don’t like this particular theory/headcanon.

As Robin:

Batman (1940) #422

In these panels we can see Jason as Robin jumping in to defend a woman that was being attacked by a man. There I only see Jason acting like a vigilante would, maybe he was hitting too hard or whatever but Batman has hit people as much as Jason was doing it this time around, plus I, personally, don’t see any kind of problem with Jason beating a man that was harassing and threatening a woman with death.

Right beside we have Jason being on the side of the woman that killed her sister’s attacker. He didn’t see any problem with that woman seeking justice for her sister on her own when the police, Batman and himself couldn’t get the job done.

Here I see Jason having a big problem with authorities and justice system, which is not something new, in Batman #408, Jason says very clearly that he doesn’t trust the system in Gotham (the police, social workers and such), and he was also shown in that comic talking very fondly about his mother and about how much he cared for her when she was at her worst. Let’s remember that Jason loved his mother, he took care of her and resented his father for being abusive towards her and even introducing her to drugs.

Instead understanding these panels as Jason having been abused himself, I see it more as Jason having a humongous understanding of how much women and others suffer in Gotham due to the justice system’s lack of action. I also see Jason as the kind of boy that respected all women and could not sit and do nothing when people were hitting and abusing women just like his father did to his mother.

Batman (1940) #424

This issue starts by saying that Jason jumps into action as soon as he hears someone scream but that he wasn’t going to be prepared to see what was happening. This is the issue where all of us meet Felipe Garzonas, the abuser and rapist of many women. At first Jason doesn’t know what Felipe was doing but after he and Batman “defeat” Felipe, he goes to the room where he finds Gloria in a bed badly hurt and scared. Jason is shocked when he first finds her and after hearing her story in the police station, he becomes more and more happy about the fact that by having caught Felipe, he and Batman would be able to offer some peace and justice to Gloria after he goes to jail, but that doesn’t happen.

They had all the evidence to put Felipe in jail and the police could easily see that Gloria was the victim but because Felipe had someone to back his made-up story up, he was able to not be arrested and jailed.

Jason once again is baffled at the lack of action by the police or simply justice not being able to be made in favour of the true victim. Batman even says that he has noticed that Jason “had become to emotionally invested with the case” which could favour either idea (Jason having suffered sexual abuse or not), in my case I see this once again as Jason not being able to remain calm after doing everything to keep that woman safe and the justice system not being able to do it themselves in a more permanent way (jail time, or whatever).

But that’s not all because Jason being too emotional with that case was brought up as a way to show that Jason couldn’t see that Felipe had been under the influence of drugs, which is something that Jason can see in people very well (do to experience with his mother and his training with Batman). So, Felipe is now a rapist, an abuser, he does drugs and he also has a market for it.

Because Felipe was allowed to go back to his “normal” life he had Gloria be killed, and he kept abusing drugs and women, when Jason finds Gloria’s dead body and that Batman still seems to abide the justice system he snaps. He goes alone to see Felipe and that’s were this iconic panel comes from. The moments before Jason made his first kill and felt no remorse about it. I know this is kinda soft topic because Jason was a teenager, but good for him, kill that bitch. Gotham doesn’t need more people like him.

Batman (1940) #226

This is the issue where Jason attacks the men that were involved with some very nasty stuff involving children. Batman narrates and says that him and Jason had been working on this case for three weeks. Jason jumps into action suddenly and “recklessly” even though Batman considered their investigation wasn’t over, he also says that he thinks that Jason had been “acting oddly” and that he was very “moody, resentful and reckless” and that that attitude could “get him killed”.

This could be used as to add more proof of the abuse idea but I actually see it as build up to Jason’s death, that happened two issues later. Let’s remember that Jason found out of his birth mother and was desperate to find and save her from Joker, because he was a good son but also because he didn’t feel like Bruce loved, cared or appreciated him anymore. Ever since Jason made it clear that he didn’t see the world and justice in the same way that Batman did back in issue #422, Jason and Bruce’s relationship suffered, they just couldn’t see eye to eye on some subjects and Bruce’s neglect or lack of care for what Jason believed in drove Jason to act the way he did in the case involving his mother and the Joker.

Jason obviously has major issues with kids being abused and put in dangerous situations, he as the Red Hood (Winick’s Red Hood) is the same, he really wants kids to be taken far away from drugs so they cannot be manipulated, used and abused by Gotham’s Drug Lords. Here I can see some of the same thing, Jason being protective of those kids and getting fed up with how much time he and Batman had to wait to do anything about the subject, along side it I bet Jason wasn’t seeing the police or the justice system doing anything about the whole thing so that could have probably fuelled his desperate attack of those horrible people.

As Batman/Red Hood:

Batman: Battle for the Cowl #3

Battle for the Cowl… yeah I am going to be brutally honest about this, if anyone thinks that this is someway or somehow proof that Jason had been abused in the past then I think we have very different ways of thinking how survivors must be treated or written in comics and other media.

This to me is pure bad writing, this is some of the worst things I have seen being written in comics. Whether or not this implies Jason being abused or not, Bruce’s message is absolutely disgusting and not at all helpful, it is even worse when you realise that Dick, a canon sexual assault survivor, is the one playing the message to Jason even though Jason explicitly said that he didn’t want to hear it again. That Book, issue, page and panel are extremely badly written and is one of the most terrible Jason and Dick characterizations ever.

So, I don’t really care if this panel is supposed to offer support to that theory or headcanon, I really dislike that speech and if it is actually referencing Jason as being a survivor of child abuse, then Tony S. Daniel needs to make an apology from today to the day he dies.

“Of all my failures, you have been my biggest” “You were broken and I thought I could put the pieces back together. I thought I could do for you what could never be done for me. Make you whole” “What happened to you as a child… the terror, the pain, the horrors” “You needed repair and instead I gave you an outlet to act out on”

Absolute garbage writing. Me, as Bruce is number one hater, know that that speech is even out of character for Bruce. Listen, if Jason had been a victim of sexual assault or just being a kid living alone in Crime Alley, no one should leave a message like that, telling a victim that they were broken and needed fixing, what the hell? No, thank you, this issue proves nothing except that Battle for the Cowl was a mistake as a whole.

Green Arrow (2001) #72

Judd Winick is clever I will always say that, and while I do see why people think that Jason is making the “child abuse idea” canon I still think that the way that he talks is still fairly ambiguous if not just him playing mind games with Mia.

I know it sounds wrong, but hear me out, Winick, in this arc makes Batman say that Jason distracted him and Oliver just to take Mia as a “hostage” because that was Jason’s way to mess with him. This arc happens right after UtRH and Jason is a bit more unhinged than ever. But he doesn’t harm Mia, he just talks to her, he tries to make her see why he acts the way he does and to do that he talks about how much he sees of himself in her. Do I believe that Jason suffered the same things Mia did? No. Do I think that their past is similar? Yes.

But Jason doesn’t only use the fact that they have similar pasts to make Mia rebel against her “no killing ways” and Oliver like he did with Bruce, but he also brings up the fact that their past is incredibly different to the lives of Bruce and Oliver, and that those differences are of importance.

Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t see Jason bringing Mia’s past for anything other than manipulating her and kinda make her see Oliver in a negative light the way that he does Batman and Bruce. Jason was at a point in his life where all he wanted to do was deliver the same pain that he had gone through but he didn’t do it by physically harming anyone (Mia was left unscratched), he was just out there trying to play mind games so he could break more havoc in Batman’s name.

Mia’s past is just way too different to whatever we have seen in canon from Jason’s past. Maybe I am wrong, after all, I only read about Mia in that arc.

-

With all that having been said I think it’s pretty obvious that I just don’t think that Jason’ having been sexually abused as a child actually happened, and I also don’t like to think about his past in that way. His canon suffering could have made him act that violently against criminals involved with sexual attacks and drug-related crimes, but I also think that’s just how Jason was, he really disliked the justice system in Gotham and saw how much it failed to protect victims, so now that he had the training to help those who couldn’t do it for themselves, he tried his best to bring criminals to justice.

And when that didn’t work, he grew more and more frustrated with Batman’s methods which led him to be more unforgiving and violent.

I also don’t like the theory/headcanon as a whole because I think its one of those things that Fandom comes up with just for that extra angst factor in their favourite character’s story so they can make him suffer more and because of that no other Robin or character as a whole can ever understand his pain or whatever. In this fandom there is a lot of “competitive trauma” going on and I honestly dislike it a lot.

About Jason having been assaulted while he was in a coma, I don't really know, he was at a hospital for what I believe were six moths, maybe that idea comes from real life happenings but I have never thought of that happening in Jason's life and I would rather not give it much more thought.

Also, I believe that DC just like fandom would have never been able to handle the subject of Jason having been a sexual assault survivor with the respect and care that it actually needs. We have seen DC treat sexual harassment and abuse as nothing but a side plot or bringing it up in an extremely disturbing way. In Fandom some (very few) people end up glamorising or romanticising these subjects so, I don’t believe the comic world was or is ready to treat a backstory like this with the respect it needs.

Maybe I haven’t even treated the subject with the respect and care that it needs and if that’s the case then I am truly sorry.

I had never answered a question regarding this subject before and I really appreciate all the questions you send my way; they do make my brain happy. I am really sorry it took me this long to write an answer to you but I hope the post is good enough for all the time I made you wait!

I hope you have an amazing week!

[0aurelion-sol0]

Yo~

What's your opinion on the Will Byers DID theory? If you like it, which version do you like better? Both interpretations seem cool to me, though I personally like strangertheory's version better ^.^

Hi!

That's a very interesting question. I want to start by saying that I am a singlet, so I don't have DiD or OSDD. My knowledge of this condition is primarly known through medias I consume or some more "advanced" psychiatric documents or researches.

DiD is a condition that hasn't been always best represented or accurately represented since this condition varies from people who have it and so while there are similarities, the experience of it is very much unique and personal. It is also something that in a fictional setting with different genres, themes and tones is very hard to pull off or represent unless you go for the very realistic take on it.

It is bound to be, like many other things in fiction, dramatized. And speaking from a singlet perspective, who also had particular problems represented in fiction, I think it's okay as long as it's done right, in the setting, tone and genre it is in.

For example, we have today a lot more LGBTQ+ representation and like everything, unless you go for the fully realistic route, it's going to be simplified and dramatized. There's so many gender identities and sexual orientations today, you have to simplify it. And that goes for many other things that people care about in media, it has to be done right, but the writers still have a story to tell and unless that subject is the focus of the story, they're not gonna always spend their time talking about that. There is a story to tell.

Secondly, if it is the main focus of the story, that is where people have to do their research and really represent what they are talking about. Not some half-baked representation with dull arguments and points that come from a capitalist and conservative worldview. (Looking at you Disney.)

Now what you are referencing are @strangertheory 's and @kaypeace21 's theories which are about the show being about a DiD system where we see different alters evolving in said story with the host being Will Byers.

There is a lot of evidence pointing towards it, I'm gonna let you go see their posts and read it.

But their theories are very different in the way that they see the show portraying DiD, I have actually find quite a great way to describe the two takes.

@kaypeace21 's take is that elements of the DiD system have been externalised through science-"fictional" or supernatural means. Similar to Legion from the Marvel universe.

(David is a powerful mutant with DiD where each alters, if I remember correctly, has a different power or powers. (Which to this day is still one of the most BADASS thing I have ever come across though it must be quite terrifying for David.))

@strangertheory is an internalised POV on the DiD system existing in the show. She believes that what we are seeing right now is what is exclusively happening INSIDE the DiD system and that what we are experiencing is not our standard definition of the "real world". As in the physical world we all know. This would be in very vulgar terms happening inside Will's self, head, mind or brain. In a sense, it would be a more accurate representation of what DiD is about. A Shyamalan twist if you prefer.

(Though right now I don't have any word for word examples of such take, there is a show called MR.ROBOT that fits a bit of this description since there are moments in the show that we are seeing are only happening in the DiD system itself.

I recommend this show A LOT. It still is a bit dramatized but from what I know the DiD representation is quite accurate and pleased a lot of people with DiD. Also some people on the Stranger Things crew worked on that show.)

Now do I love the DiD theory ?

Heck yeah, I fucking love it! And with a big L! (Am I right "The First I love you?").

And I Love both of the takes and I think each one works at explaining the mysteries of this story. I even think that in some ways both could work well together.

I believe that DiD can be, without the meaning of being used, like many things a powerful storytelling "device" since it is connected to so many themes and other writing tools and is linked literally to the psyche, emotions and personalities of the characters.

I can understand why some people like both or one or respectfully and logically dislike both or one of the takes. But it is close to my belief about what the show is about or were even before I came into this fandom or on the internet, not as complex and thought out as the theory itself but pretty close in the overall themes and aspects of it.

(Though it bewilders me how much people lack imagination or are scared of such twist when I have seen so many of those types before whether it's done well or not, accurate or not.)

Now both @strangertheory and @kaypeace21 are intelligent people with very nuanced takes. And they had their fair share of completely unjust controversies coming from either rabbid ignorant shippers, far too sensible people or downright ignorant stupid people, most of the time 16 year olds. I am not saying that they are perfect, no one is, but the hate they have received is completely unjust.

And I am gonna lay it down right here, they are begging for an accurate representation here, they are not doing this because it just sounds cool and is edgy, they are actually wanting that The Duffers pull this off well. They would be very mad if they use all the imagery just to make it look cooler or scarier.

They are not bringer of truths, they are just like us. They are theorists, they believe in something that they think can explain the story they love and are experiencing. And so far, they have a pretty damn good track record.

They are analysing, dissecting the show because it's what they want to do and they believe in it and they believe the Duffers wants them to do that (I mean how come no one believes it when watching a show like that set in the 80's with so many references ?).

It is also supposed to be fun. Have fun for God's Sake! You can disagree with it but calling names and being disrespectful because somehow they don't agree with very basic, lazy and cliché theories (and no it's not being hypocrite, a lot of people barely do the work.) or are not on board with your creepy projection over the characters IS not okay.

And no, they aren't supporting p*d*philia as some people have claimed. How can you read these theories and come up to that conclusion ?

Most people haven't even read the DiD theory or have gone all the way through with it because they are lazy, easily bored people who don't have the time to just relax, process and think.

Stranger Things is not a kids show, some dumb teenage romance drama show with cool monsters! It's a very mature show, with real problems that are treated, out of which is trauma and mental health. Kids are killing people and even dying on this show. There is sexism, racism, abuse both physical and psychological.

It is a very mature and dark show. And you are being disrespectful to the Duffers when you say they are not that smart or that isn't that important. They are putting a lot of thoughts into this and the fact that no one really recognises this annoys me.

Or people only think it's important when it is only about the things they enjoy in the show. (Which is more hypocrite to me.) OR people are very stupid if they truly think that or are just jealous, bitter that two women have more imagination together and individualy than all of them or that person alone.

Color and costume choices, subtext, context, camera angles, directing, VFX, music, editing, sets, props, script, acting and editing are very important. All must be carefully done or you get very bad or generic stuff if you don't. If you love and you are passionate about the work, you put all the details you can into it.

And the Duffers and all the people working with them have already referenced those sort of things AND the practice of what we do on the internet. They are aware, they know because they have been in the same place too. They grew up with stories too, they made theories too whether it's on the internet or not.

At the end of the day, it is just a theory. An explanation of what is unfolding, may unfold or may have unfolded. I believe in it, I think it is reasonable, it has logic and it makes sense. It also has a lots of elements backing it up.

And the Duffers don't even have to go with DiD or mention it. Will creating some of the characters and supernatural events from his trauma is also similar and more accessible to the masses. But a Shyamalan twist can also work if it is done well.

And I am also open to other possibilities and theories, if they make sense and have enough elements IN THE SHOW and everything connected to it backing it up.

If the Duffers write something completely different but it is as good and also explains even better than this theory than I'll be okay. I love being wrong, it makes me learn new things and enhances the way I approach stories in the future.

If the Duffers only used this as some very inaccurate and disrespectful scary/abstract subtext without commiting to it. That is where I will have a problem.

Or write something completely incoherent with the rest of the show with a bad plot twist catering to the main public masses to sell the story even more and just make money so that they are safe with a fallacy of a work of fiction. Because they are cowards who didn't know how to manage themselves and baited entire audiences or listened to some crappy executive who didn't understand shit about the story. (wink wink, looking at a certain something...)

So yeah, I do love the DiD theory and both of it's takes and if it happens and is done right, with of course my perspective on the thing and PRIMARLY the perspective of people who have DiD or know a lot about it, I'll be pleased with it and I think it could be something very important for stories, people, the world and "art" in general.

Thank you for the question it was really fun! I hope I described the theory and the condition in the right way @kaypeace21 and @strangertheory and also the people who are concerned or know about it if I didn't let me know. Also, if you disagree with what I said, the way I said it or the subject itself let me also know IF it's respectful of course.

[kendras-stingbulb]

For this portion of my series about Ronodin, I am avoiding the topic of his back story. Because as of right now, we can only theorize what it is, and I am only using cannon facts for my conclusion. But there will be a part soon where I theorize about his backstory.

Update: I still don’t think his backstory changes much, but I will eventually make a full post regarding his backstory.

Morally grey?

Disclaimer! Morally grey is a broad concept, but there are a few things that a character needs to have to be morally grey.

I am just going off of the textbook definition. And many other sources and the most common morally grey defining qualities.

There are many morally grey characters, but I picked out the one I think most people feel Ronodin is.

Feel free to respectfully disagree in the comments, but anything mean or negative will be deleted. I will have all the sources I used for the research linked when they are mentioned.

I would also like to say that the research I did into understanding what morally grey is, is why this post took too long. So be respectful, I put a lot of time into this. And I know Ronodin is a topic people can get heated about.

I’ve seen some people refer to Ronodin as morally grey, and it always rubbed me the wrong way. I always thought to be morally grey you needed morals, which I do not see much proof of Ronodin having.

So I did some research and came up with this: a morally grey character is not someone who is mean but has a few redeemable qualities so, you like them or makes bad decisions but, they are hot so, it is okay. That is the Bad Boy trope, not morally grey. A morally grey character is not someone who doesn’t pick a side or switches sides often.

Morally grey characters often have a goal and a strict set of morals that they do not stray away from. They often think the end justifies the means and understand what they are doing is bad but feel they still need to do it for the greater good. A morally grey character is someone who has good intentions but does terrible things to fulfill their goals.

I read this article from Summit News:

https://summitpsnews.org/2021/02/11/morally-grey-characters-walk-the-fine-line-between-good-and-evil/

I highly suggest you read if you want to understand morally grey characters more than what I will go into in this. From that article, there is this quote:

"A villain is someone who is purely, just purely evil. They’re probably selfish, in a way, with no good intentions. Whereas a morally gray character understands their flaws"

Ronodin does not think he has any flaws and always finds a way to justify his actions, even if they can not be truly justified. Ronodins actions speak more than his words in a lot of cases. And his actions show he only cares about himself. So there are not any good intentions there unless the fate of the world relies on him, it doesn’t.

When he says he cares about certain groups of people or beings it is only to manipulate people into thinking what he wants them to.

An example of this is in Master of the Phantom Isle,

[Excerpt from Mater of the Phantom Isle page 176-177]

“I don’t like the idea of anyone ruling over somebody else,” Ronodin answered. “No one should be oppressed.”

In the next book Ronodin becomes the Fairy King, ruling over an entire side of the magical community a little hypocritical, don’t you think?

Not to mention the being's light, which he is forcing to turn dark. Seems a little like oppression to me. And I am not saying dark creatures are not oppressed in ways, I’m just saying Ronodin is a hypocrite. It shows the “good intentions” people might point out are purely for show and manipulation.

So throughout the series, we see Ronodin claims he wants “freedom for all” (not an exact quote) but also throughout the series we've seen that isn’t true. Yes, Ronodin did free multiple beings of darkness that you could say were wrongfully imprisoned but then in Master of the Phantom Isle we see him turn the phantom Dezia is to a slave, does that sound like freedom? Truly we do not know anything about his motives. His actions always contradict his words. So, as I've said, Ronodin’s actions speak louder than his words.

Let’s take the Everbloom as an example, if Ronodin had been able to manipulate Seth into taking The Everbloom, the volcano Baga Loa would have been destabilized and many ecosystems would have been destroyed. Many of which I assume the small dragons that didn’t leave when the preserve fell still lived, and most likely dark beings as well. Ronodin did not care about them, he only cared about what he wanted.

“Performative activism is a pejorative term referring to activism done to increase one's social capital rather than because of one's devotion to a cause. It is often associated with surface-level activism, referred to as slacktivism.”

Ronodin got a sort of allyship with Celebrant by helping with the dragons, but we know that Ronodin only helped them because Celebrant had information about one of his horns. And releasing the undead of the Blackwell was only to get another of his horns from The Underking, or at least information about it. So he doesn’t actually care about liberation, he cares about his interests. And saying he cares helped him get what he wanted. Performative activism at his finest. (In a fictional setting at least)

There is also this YouTube video that I watched it is a great video, so I HIGHLY suggest you watch it because a lot of what I would have said and what I do say is in there.

Video link:

Dear Authors... Morally Gray Characters [CC]

I think that video explains morally grey very well, and mentions another trope I think Ronodin fits, The Bad Boy trope. But you can look that up to find the definition because I’m not going to focus on that trope very much.

Morally grey isn’t someone who does terrible things but had a few redeeming qualities and is hot, so it’s fine. That’s the Bad Boy trope, not morally grey.

“Lean into the bad but, also lean into the good.”-Merphy Napier on YouYube (video linked above)

This is how I see morally grey characters, and I don’t see Ronodin leaning towards good anything. He says he is, but then why doesn’t he stick with it? Maybe if he was doing bad things to protect his family instead of throwing them in jail and handing them over to demon kings, but he’s not doing that, he’s actively harming his family and only protecting himself.

Most morally grey characters have a strict moral code they follow and won’t break. We don’t know if Ronodin does have a moral code, we only see that he’s going to look out for himself over all else. Even people he’s partnered with. We haven't seen him fighting towards a goal other than causing pain and chaos.

Morally grey characters have a strong moral code that deviates from the norm.

On a surface level, that fits Ronodin, but that’s only looking at what he says he cares about, what he says he wants. When if you think about it, all Ronodin wants is to gain power and cause chaos, that’s a villain not morally grey.

What other people said:

Quick disclaimer I don't think a lot of poeple have gone indepth

@/VanessaSantoroFanclub/Cayla said: I would say he isn’t morally grey but likes to be perceived that way.

This is something important I forgot to mention. More often than not morally grey characters don’t enjoy causing harm but feel they need to for the greater good. I don’t see that behavior with Ronodin.

After I asked a few of my friends I asked people who follow me on Instagram what they thought, here are some of the answers I got:

“Yes. He isn’t on a specific side, he’s on his side of the whole conflict and helps the side he thinks has more chances to win. Also, he’s a unicorn so he used to be a creature of light but became a creature of darkness. I believe it happened because he was somehow hurt and he didn’t want it to happen again, so he seeks the best possible ways to avoid it.”

“No. Ronodin has not values that hold interests in the lives of others. He’s just plain bad.”

“Yes. I think he’s morally grey because he doesn’t serve a particular side, he’s only really allied with himself. I feel like he has goodish intentions but he’s not very subjective and is only after power...but I love him for that!!”

“No. I feel like some of the fandom simps over him and makes him seem better than he really is.”

“No. He presents himself/his morals as somewhat like The Sphinx, but in truth, the real intent would probably be to rule the light kingdom, and he has helped the dragons but I don’t believe it’s with good intent.”

If you want to see me talk about these answers you can get out my youtube video about this blog post.

So no, I don’t think Ronodin is morally grey. Maybe if to books were from his POV I would see it differently but I don’t.

Have a magical day fabled friends! I’ll talk to you soon!

[ahwait-no-yes]

Let’s talk about if Saihara hated Ouma

So lately I’ve actually seen a bit more comments on how Saihara doesn’t actually like Ouma and people have gone as far as saying he hates him and idk why people genuinely believe it so here I am about to refute that (I’ve been waiting ages to make this post just so you know so this came out as a horribly unstructured ramble more than anything oops)

some notes beforehand:

I have an obvious bias as I do ship saiouma. although i’ll try to be neutral on what I say here, I can’t hide my bias. I have tried to include what people that hate this ship believe to counter them though, also if you ship other things that’s totally fine?? don’t think of any of this as an attack at your ship and I’m not saying Saihara loved Ouma, I’m just tired of people saying Saihara hated him.

You’re allowed to respectfully disagree as long as you don’t berate me or say I don’t know the game when the majority of the screenshots in this are from my own gameplay, lmao. 

and massive whole-game spoilers! Don’t read this if you’ve not finished DRV3!

Glad to know you made it under the cut! now I can begin with where I think people got this idea that Saihara hates him from- the infamous “You’re alone Kokichi and you always will be” line.

I admit this was very cold and still breaks my fragile saiou heart, but to base Saihara’s entire perspective of Ouma on this one line he said while he wasn’t thinking straight is just.. no.. It’s unrealistic. we’ve seen how Saihara is able to adapt his views and grow (I’ll come back to this later), he’s not stubborn in this regard like Momota or even Ouma is, so even if he did mean it 100% (which I doubt because when *anybody* is angry they will say or do things they may regret had they been calmer), it’s not like his view on Ouma from chapter 4 was his final view on him. And that’s what people fail to realise. 

So, how does Saihara view Ouma then?

well, I’d say he’s been interested in Ouma as a detective from the moment he met him with his curiosity piqued at Ouma’s claims of leading a secret organisation.

and he remains curious about Ouma throughout, always questioning why Ouma says certain things, what Ouma is lying for, he just wants to figure him out- and this doesn’t just apply to free time events either

I think you get my point there, now, I think if I didn’t ship saiou and read this, I’d argue these are all pre-chapter 5 and before the breaking line so he may have been curious before but not after- that then brings me to my next point

Saihara was confident- dare I say believed- in Ouma, especially after Chapter 5.

how bold of me to say ikr, but this ties in to Saihara’s ability to adapt his views. He’s sort of like a mixture of both Kaito and Ouma honestly, because naturally as a detective he has to be suspicious and think logically as Ouma does, while at the same time Kaito taught him to believe in his friends which has also helped him to advance in trials. I think he might have extended this belief to Ouma, because he trusts that Ouma is doing what he does for a reason.

In fact, I’d argue he’s the only one of the remaining group who wouldn’t readily accept pinning Ouma down as a villain. If anything, it’s the opposite- Saihara fought to clear Ouma’s name, and never stopped trying to understand whether or not his intentions were true or false

i’ll just drop this screenshot here (that i named THIS MAKES ME SO HAPPY.png in case you were wondering)

this is what I mean when I say he wouldn’t accept it as fast as the others and would second-guess it, bear in mind this is the moment Ouma “admitted” to being the mastermind. and it’s not like this doubt was sudden or anything, cause I can recall this moment (that I actually didn’t catch on to on my first playthrough)

which gives me the idea that hadn’t Ouma purposefully messed with everyone and built up his bad reputation, it would’ve been so much easier for Saihara to disprove him being the mastermind at the point he said it. 

Anyway, going back to my point- excluding Kaito (cause Ouma directly told him), Saihara is the first to bring up Ouma’s innocence, and this is what I mean when I say Saihara believed in Ouma

note that I say believed in. believing Ouma and believing in Ouma are different, it’s like how loving someone and being in love with someone are two different things, so don’t argue that by saying “he didn’t trust him” because ik that and that’s not what I’m trying to say.

but he did believe that Ouma had his reasons, and he tried to discover and understand them. I mean, take this for example

he’s already on board lool look at him go, but no really look at the confidence

he’s both confident in himself and in Ouma not lying here, then goes back to being curious about his intentions

oh and let’s not forget who it was that searched Ouma’s lab to find clues to prove he is a remnant of despair. Why do you need to search for evidence for something you (and the others even more) think is irrefutably true? the answer is obvious- he was doubtful of it from the start, and needed evidence to convince himself it was true, but then as he found nothing to prove it (and even evidence against it), he had to convince the others of it too- and prove Ouma’s innocence

(the last screenshot was from Hikkie’s playthrough on Youtube) 

But as you can see, he’s clearing Ouma’s name as the leader of the Remnants of Despair. 

Now, I bet someone would argue that this only proves Saihara was determined to find the truth in general, because he’s mister detective, so I’ll raise you the fact that Saihara didn’t need to try figuring why Ouma does the things he does- he could leave it at just knowing the truth and if he really didn’t like Ouma like people say then there’s not much merit to it. 

“So what if I know this now? I didn’t care about him, it’s pointless” he could’ve thought something like that, but no

(I also think the “you’re lying again kokichi, there’s a method to your madness” moment fits here too)

Not only this, but there’s also how Saihara learnt from him.

honestly im still kinda mindblown from this ever since I first realised it, but when you think about it, Ouma hinted to Saihara in his FTEs how to win the game.

(those 3 screenshots are from justonegamr’s kokichi’s FTE video; random fun fact this was the playthrough that i watched while first getting into drv3)

But if you think about it, Ouma tried this again in his own trial in his attempt at ending the killing game and then Saihara also used this to actually end it

Not only that (which personally i think is pretty powerful in itself), but Saihara also tries to take Ouma seriously and picks up hints he leaves and uses them later

as well as

et

(and generally just)

generally, Ouma will hint and then Saihara will pick it up. it’s been like that for the whole game- why should Saihara give any extra thought to what Ouma hints if he dislikes him?? really, he could’ve just ignored him the same way he did at the end of chapter 4- but again, he didn’t “”hate”” Ouma enough to keep ignoring him, he considered him a friend in the end anyway.

and the end is what I’ll talk about now, too.

first- can we just acknowledge this?

he doesn’t ignore Ouma at all here. even though he didn’t trust him, he was sad to have lost him. 

Not to mention the way he thinks about lying at the end of Chapter 6. (like, please this is just-  *chefs kiss*)

IMAGINE Ouma was alive to hear him say that omg but Saihara could (and probably would) extend what he says here to Ouma himself- y’know, the ‘embodiment of lies’

by thinking about lies in a different angle instead of at face value like this, he gets a more neutral view on them rather than just thinking “they’re bad!!”, why wouldn’t he be able to do the same for Ouma? especially now that he knows Ouma was innocent and actually hated the game as much as they all did. I mean hey, even after chapter 5′s trial he sort of already thinks about lies differently

and throughout this post, I’ve tried to avoid talking about his free time events or his salmon mode ending because people always say “well they’re not canon” and to that I say not canon to the plot, yes, but still canon to the characters. so yeah, I don’t disregard any of them.

from this point onwards these all technically happen before chapter 5, so it’s not entirely relevant to my point that saihara still liked ouma even after the end of chapter 4, but it’s still something that shows he liked him beforehand at least. I mainly just wanna ramble though haha

one thing I’ve always thought was interesting was how Saihara easily lashed out at Kaito in his own free time event

and Kaito is undeniably Saihara’s best friend who he holds in high regard. If Saihara having backbone means he doesn’t like someone then damn bye bye momota have a nice trip in space

in terms of ouma and saihara though 

how about the fact that Saihara willingly sat there and played rock paper scissors (janken pon!) with Ouma 100 times?? bruh I got bored playing that with my brother after 8 rounds yesterday how would Saihara manage 100?? would you really have the patience for that when you don’t even like the person you’re playing with?

how about his third free time event too?

(from justonegamr’s kokichi fte video)

Saihara wanted to spend some time with Ouma, that’s- its literally written there I don’t know what you want from me the guy wanted a nice time with someone he supposedly doesnt like

what I love about this is how “reaching out” could be taken both literally and figuratively. Wanting to understand someone and trying to find a way to but them being too unwilling to trust anyone.. damn 😔👊 also shuuichi either wanted to handshake or hold hands, what else do you do when you reach for someone’s hand come on

oh yes and how about that he’s content with the refusal because it allowed him to figure out a small thing about Ouma? understanding that Ouma has a different way of being reached out to? mhm please think about that for a bit

that parallel in the salmon ending too...

he considered how it’ll be like with him after they get out and how he’ll learn about him, then ultimately decided when ouma reached out to him that he does want this, and even comments on the warmth of his hand... afhskfdlj

his blush when ouma mentions how his lies didn’t bore saihara was also a very cute moment

ooh and what about the love hotel???

there’s that one line “I know i’m meant to be Kokichi’s ideal in this fantasy but when he tells me he loves me I feel like he means the opposite” or something like that- i’d argue it’s because he’s cautious of Ouma for one but also am I getting something wrong here or is he talking about how he, Shuuichi, thinks Ouma doesn’t like him?  because I see people argue this is proof saihara doesn’t like ouma but all he’s really doing is just doubting ouma loves him

well in any case

WHY would he want him to stay in a love hotel of all places if he disliked him?! I know I’m just a broken record at this point but I can’t think of anything logical for it. they didnt even need to include that line in the scene at all but they did like they could’ve easily said something to do with realising where he was instead but nah. even after the event’s over, he says to himself

doesn’t he sound disappointed by it? and the fact that he even questions if it was a dream- okay  

ooh, something i’ve realised while writing this as well: it kind of seems like Saihara might not want to like him but does anyway; he quickly ‘smothered the thought’ of staying with Kokichi, didn’t want to admit that Ouma’s lies never bored him, and I also thought about how in one of Kaito’s free time events he says to himself “I shouldn’t be talking about another boy like that”- well, maybe it’s similar for how he thinks of ouma? it’s not like Saihara didn’t care for the others’ opinion on him (probably the opposite ngl if you mess up in class trials he says something along the lines of“Ah I screwed up! They probably think I’m a fraud”) and considering nobody else liked ouma (except for maybe gonta) I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt shame for liking him, thus repressing that feeling (especially around the others, there’s that part in trial 4 where he’s trying to convince kaito he isn’t siding with ouma cause he knows by doing that could damage his friendship with his bro)

I mean this is something I only thought of just now, but it could be plausible (i hope?)

One last thing- I find it incredibly funny how in chapter 2 when ouma is literally on top of saihara he doesn’t freak out or scream and everyone else in the room is also completely chill with it and unquestioning. no really they’re just standing there.. and how long was ouma even in that position for??

Now, I think that’s all. So to finish off, I’ll just say

People get the idea that saiouma is bad because some don’t realise Saihara can still like a person without idolising or putting them on a pedestal. Idk if this is gonna sound controversial or not, but I honestly do think he did exactly that to Kaito and Kaede- which doesn’t make what they have with him toxic or bad at all, I just think his view on Ouma is a lot more realistic and less clouded. Heck, if Saihara canonically liked Ouma as much as he does with the other two I don’t know if I’d ship saiouma as hard as I do (it is fun to imagine though).

If you actually read through this then.. wow? I’m surprised you got through this unstructured mess? I hope you can agree with me for some of my points at least but I’m not here to convince you or anything, this has just been on my mind for weeks now I needed to get it out somehow.

I said it at the start and i’ll say it again now too- i didn’t intend on attacking or comparing saiou to any other ships so I do apologise if I seem like it, i’m just terrible with my wording (lmk if something genuinely offended you, i’ll probably change it) but you’re free to ship whatever you like cause at the end of the day it’s just a bit of fun. that being said, I don’t want to actually argue on this so please don’t haha, i’ve contemplated just deleting this but I’ve put a lot of effort into this post even though i cant analyse for 💩

I hope you can enjoy the rest of your day!

have the kokichi gaygun as a farewell present

[talkfantasytome]

I think Azriel is Elain's mate. I think this is all because the cauldron favored Elain, and at that moment Azriel could die, so that's why it didn't choose him.

Also why is Azriel the only one who can smell the bond? Why he was the only one who knew when she was wrong, do you remember what the healer said?

"If anyone can know what is wrong, it is your partner"

Hi Nonnie,

I'm really not trying to engage in any "ship war". I've shared my thoughts, I'll answer asks as respectfully as possible, but I never go into other people's ask boxes to try and convince them otherwise or explain why they're wrong. I don't seek it out, and I tag my posts very specifically so that it's hidden content from those who don't want to see it. It's a respect I try to provide others, because we're all allowed to have our own interpretations and opinions, and I will support others' right to that, even if I disagree with their opinion. All I ask is that people don't seek me out for that.

Personally, I'd rather my ask box simply be used for fan fiction requests that will take me over a month to get to cause #slow. And those fun games I reblog too often. But when people ask, I will answer.

So, out of respect, I will not respond in an attempt to change your mind, despite the fact that Az and Elain being mates directly contradicts the canon we have. You are welcome to your beliefs and interpretations, as is everyone else, and when Sarah gives us the answers, I will neither be throwing a rage fit if I'm wrong or rubbing it in other's faces if I'm right. All I ask is that, until that time, I am offered the same respect I show others and am now showing you in not attempting to prove you wrong. If you are actually curious about my thoughts on those points you made, you can come back and ask it in a way that shows a curiosity, not in a way that makes it sound like you just want to convince me I'm wrong. But I will not directly respond to asks like this, that only seem to be trying to engage me in an argument that will never end because we're both set in our beliefs.

My opinion is my opinion, and just like you, I have the right to my own opinion, especially because I am respectful about it and I don't try to shove it the faces of those who don't want to hear it. Please offer me the same curtesy, it's all I ask. I will not ask others to change their minds. If they choose to read my posts, which I've tagged correctly (I hope my earliest ones are, but I'm fairly certain even then I stayed out of specific tags), then that's on them, but I do not push it at them, nor would I do so at you.

In the future, please respect me in this way as I promise to respect you.

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

Respectfully, before u start ragging on the horrid Younger Queers for not wanting to bring an inaccurate term with negative connotations about their identities (‘transsexual’) back into the mainstream lexicon, maybe reevaluate ur own opinions abt the queer community considering ur only claim to authority is being older & u still seem to think that prefacing the aphobic manifesto u posted a month ago with ‘ace ppl belong in the community BUT’ somehow negated the fact that u had nothing to say but vitriol against ur fellow queers.

like, ppl are allowed to not want their community to suddenly start using inaccurate, uncomfortable, or negative words as mainstream descriptors :( and the fact that you specifically single out ‘younger queers’ who need to shut the fuck up for disagreeing with you, rather than the percieved problem itself is… not a good look

okay I think I need to correct things.

1) you are definitely not being respectful so pls fuck off with that shit.

2) I'm not "ragging on" any "horrid younger queers". I think younger queers have an experience that is by and large divorced from most older queer folk just by dint of there being... relatively FEW older queer folk, compared to the number of younger queer folk. I understand to a degree why they don't like certain terms.

however.... 3) calling "transsexual" an "outdated term with negative connotations" in regards to people who actively identified as transsexual is... really insulting? Like, this is a term that actual queer people have and do identify as, so like... calling it "negative" feels kind of insulting? Just because it's something negative to some people doesn't mean it's negative to everyone. Much as how some ppl don't want to be called "queer".

4) I love how you have ignored the entire context of the "ace ppl belong in the community" post, which was a post saying "if you are willing to fight for ace ppl to be included in the queer community, can you please also be willing to fight for poly ppl to be included in the queer community?" It's quite telling that you basically erased the entire point of that post, which was not in any way saying "ace ppl don't deserve to be in the queer community" and WAS saying "please fight as hard for poly ppl as you do for ace ppl to be part of the community"

5) You call this terminology "inaccurate". Inaccurate to WHOM, precisely? Because it's still accurate to me. It's still accurate to MANY trans ppl. I'm singling out "younger queers" because they're the ones who don't largely acknowledge elders who are more than a couple or three years older than them, whereas my elders were largely a decade or more older than me. I'm not saying they're BAD, I'm saying I wished they were more accepting to queer folks who came into themselves with different terminology that maybe is not acceptable as a community-wide term but may still apply to individual queers.

6) you are clearly trying to start some shit. I'm hoping that this response has shut down most of that shit, but please be aware that I don't normally bother with this kind of shit. I've gotten shit like this before and mostly I just fuckin delete it, I'm only answering this specific ask bc I just posted something related to it.

You've clearly been stalking me trying to find something to harass me about, and that's not a great look compadre. Maybe consider getting a life offline and allowing older queers to identify with terms that maybe aren't mainstream anymore without harassment.

[azuregard]

How Rhea Views Edelgard in Crimson Flower

Word Count: 2,296

I’ve been thinking about how Crimson Flower portrays the Edelgard/Rhea conflict. In the route itself, Edelgard is clearly not a fan of the archbishop, but Rhea seems much more concerned with Byleth. While I do plan on analyzing how effective this decision was, I felt like it would be a good idea to offer my two cents regarding the way Rhea views Edelgard first.

When it came down to it, I figured it would be better for me to present the less-opinionated piece first. Unlike the other piece, where I point out what works and what doesn’t, this piece is more focused on analyzing certain quotes in an attempt to make sense of this decision from an in-universe perspective.

One more thing I want to mention before I start is that the analysis is largely looked at from Rhea’s PoV. As such, the language I’m using to describe Edelgard might come across as somewhat harsh. A lot of things tend to get lost in translation on the internet, and I will admit I’m not the best at expressing myself, but I figured I’d address this now just so you know that this analysis isn’t an excuse to attack her (and as someone who likes Edelgard, I have no intention of doing so, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t think there’s any room for improvement).

With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this dumb little analysis.

The Flame Emperor Unmasked

“You have disappointed me, Edelgard. To think that a descendant of House Hresvelg would dare betray the holy church…”

—Rhea (White Clouds Chapter 11: Throne of Knowledge, Event: Fateful Farewell)

If you chose to teach either the Black Eagles or the Golden Deer, this first quote occurs after you defeat Edelgard at the Holy Tomb. To explain the context of this quote, Edelgard has led the imperial army into the tomb to plunder the crest stones contained within. While Edelgard isn’t aware of what the crest stones are, Rhea is, and given that they’re the hearts of slain Nabateans, the archbishop is justifiably not happy about it.

That said, while Rhea is obviously furious with Edelgard in this moment, she also expresses her disappointment that a member of House Hresvelg betrayed the church in such a manner.

“Professor, kill Edelgard at once. She is a danger to all of Fódlan. Such a rebellious heart cannot be allowed to keep beating.”

—Rhea (White Clouds Chapter 11: Throne of Knowledge, Event: Fateful Farewell)

Rather than perform the task herself, Rhea orders Byleth to kill Edelgard. While this might not seem strange at a glance, anyone who has played Ashe and Catherine’s paralogue is likely familiar with the following quote:

“Lady Rhea is going to personally execute the bishop. I have been appointed as her guard. I want your help protecting her. So what do you say? Will you come?”

--Catherine (White Clouds Paralogue: Falling Short of Heaven, Before Battle)

As you can see here, Rhea is not above executing heretics herself. Unlike Lonato and the Western Church members from chapter 4 (and Seteth and Flayn’s paralogue), the bishop in Ashe and Catherine’s paralogue is the one leading the Western Church. Like that bishop, Edelgard was the one leading the charge against the church at the Holy Tomb. That, combined with her high status, would probably make one assume that Rhea would be the one to personally take her life.

Rhea ordering Byleth to kill Edelgard makes sense when looking at it from an out-of-universe perspective; what with this being the catalyst for the player choosing between the two women, at least if they chose to teach the Black Eagles. That said, when looking at it from an in-universe perspective, it seems odd considering the above Catherine quote. Rhea wasn’t hesitant to execute the western church’s bishop, but she isn’t willing to do the same with some girl who led the imperial army to defile a holy place and, in doing so, likely caused her to relive a traumatic moment in her life.

“To flee is futile, wicked girl. The Church of Seiros will raise its entire army against you, until you have been captured and punished! You have defiled the Holy Tomb, dishonored the goddess, and humiliated your brethren. That crime will never be erased, even if you burn in the eternal flames, and spill all of your blood into the goddess's soil!”

—Rhea (White Clouds Chapter 11: Throne of Knowledge, Event: Fateful Farewell, Azure Moon/Verdant Wind/Silver Snow)

Again, Rhea vows to make Edelgard pay, but she doesn’t specify that she will be the one who will punish her. In fact, she states that the church will raise its entire army against Edelgard, which seems to imply that someone in that army will be the one to perform the deed. This comes to fruition in every route where Rhea utters this particular line; Byleth ends Edelgard’s life in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, while Dimitri is the one to strike her down in Azure Moon.

The Fall of Garreg Mach

“No matter your reasons, I cannot permit you to go on living any longer!… You must know what a fool you are! The greatest of sins is to make an enemy of the goddess herself!”

—Rhea, to Edelgard (Crimson Flower Chapter 12: Outset of a Power Struggle, Battle: The Battle of Garreg Mach)

Edelgard and Rhea’s pre-battle quote is another interesting one since it’s a lot less hostile than it ought to be. Edelgard’s actions in the previous chapter amounted to not only her defiling a holy place, but also in Rhea experiencing a pseudo-Red Canyon Tragedy. Yet despite this, Rhea and Edelgard’s pre-battle dialogue isn’t nearly as heated as the one-way dialogue Rhea has with Byleth.

“You... How dare you betray me... You worthless piece of garbage... I will punish you myself!”

—Rhea, to Byleth (Crimson Flower Chapter 12: Outset of a Power Struggle, Battle: The Battle of Garreg Mach)

Rhea’s pre-battle quote when Byleth approaches her is much more hostile compared to what you would get if Edelgard was the one to do so. She is in no mood to entertain the idea that they had a reason to turn against her, and she makes it clear that she will be the one to punish them for their decision. While she mentions that she cannot permit Edelgard to go on living, she doesn’t explicitly state that she will be the one to end Edelgard’s life the way she does with Byleth here.

“So you have sullied yourself by joining with the rebels? I hope you came prepared to breathe your last.”

—Rhea, to units who aren’t named Edelgard or Byleth (Crimson Flower Chapter 12: Outset of a Power Struggle, Battle: The Battle of Garreg Mach)

Rhea’s generic pre-battle quote is a middle ground between the two unique ones she has with your lord and avatar. She’s not as hostile as she is with Byleth, but this dialogue strikes me as her being willing to kill the unlucky unit you picked to stand against her (at least compared to Edelgard).

In addition, Rhea doesn’t point out that the unit in question has a reason to turn against the church. As such, she doesn’t distinguish characters like Ashe (whose adoptive father and brother turned against the church and paid with their lives) from characters like Annette (whose father is a devout member of the church). This lack of distinction on Rhea’s part leads me to believe that their betrayal did not sting Rhea as much as Edelgard’s or Byleth’s.

Finally, given Rhea’s status as the map’s ultimate target, she doesn’t move from her assigned position. As such, you will probably only see the pre-battle quotes if you initiate combat, or place a unit close enough to Rhea that she feels the need to defend herself. This, combined with Rhea deploying the monastery’s strongest military force when she emerges, makes me believe that she was hoping that someone else might finish the job against Edelgard and anyone not named Byleth.

Return to Tailtean

“Mother... Oddly the rain has come to fall yet again. At this place, once again... I will fight to take you back... The one who keeps me from seeing you again... I will be sure to return them to the earth from whence they came. The foolish descendant of Hresvelg who bares her fangs at me will suffer the same fate…”

—Rhea/Seiros (Crimson Flower Chapter 17, Field of Revenge, Event: Field of Revenge)

While you could argue from this quote that Rhea is no longer hesitant to kill Edelgard, I have to respectfully disagree here. Even though Rhea states that Edelgard and Byleth will suffer the same fate (that being “returning them from the earth from whence they came”), there is a moment earlier in the chapter that makes me think Rhea isn’t as keen on taking out Edelgard as she is Byleth.

Dimitri: “There is only one person I am after. I have no interest in any other prey.” Rhea: “I will take you at your word. Erasing the other child's existence is my task, and mine alone. I will get you back, Mother... I promise…”

—Crimson Flower Chapter 17, Field of Revenge, Event: Preparing for the Final Battle

While Rhea mentions that Edelgard will suffer the same fate as Byleth, she never mentions that she will personally be the one to enact that fate. Given the dialogue provided above, I would argue that she is relying on Dimitri to do the job for her.

“King Dimitri! There is no retreat for the Knights of Seiros! Fight until none are left standing! Slaughter them all and send them straight to hell!”

—Rhea/Seiros (Crimson Flower Chapter 17, Field of Revenge, Event: Field of Revenge, if not defeated before Dimitri falls, pre-v1.02)

“No... It can't be... There is no retreat for the Knights of Seiros! Fight until none are left standing! Slaughter them all and send them straight to hell!”

—Rhea/Seiros (Crimson Flower Chapter 17, Field of Revenge, Event: Field of Revenge, if not defeated before Dimitri falls, post-v1.02)

The above two quotes only appear if Dimitri is taken out before Rhea at Tailtean. As you can see, there is little difference between the two besides 2–4 words. That said, I would argue that they aren’t all that different. On the surface, they point out Dimitri’s defeat; however, if you look at them with the final quote I will be providing, they could also be Rhea realizing that it’s becoming more likely that she is going to need to take care of Edelgard herself. She realizes that there’s still a way around it, that being if one of the knights gets there first, but the odds of that happening are decreasing.

“An ancestor of the Hresvelgs, who became Adrestia's first emperor... He saved me. Supported me. Gave his all to the cause of defeating Nemesis. That I should find myself here at Tailtean, striking down his scion…”

—Rhea/Seiros, to Edelgard (Crimson Flower Chapter 17, Field of Revenge, Event: Field of Revenge)

This is easily the most important quote that I provided, as it both reiterates the previous quotes and shows us the reason Rhea seems so hesitant to be the one to take action against Edelgard. First of all, it calls back to all of the times Rhea mentioned Edelgard’s noble house. Back in the eleventh chapter, Rhea expresses disappointment in Edelgard, a member of House Hresvelg, for betraying the church. This quote clears up why: Edelgard’s ancestor was someone Rhea clearly thought highly of, and as his descendant, Rhea believed Edelgard should have known better (hence why Rhea stated that Edelgard “disappointed” her).

Unlike Edelgard, who channelled Nemesis when invading the Holy Tomb, Wilhelm gave his all to defeat the crusty old bastard. In invading the Holy Tomb, Edelgard caused Rhea’s trauma to resurface; in contrast, Wilhelm likely served as a pillar of support for Rhea after she lost everything.

Edelgard’s actions from chapter eleven onwards were the opposite of how Rhea remembered Wilhelm, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she saw them as Edelgard disrespecting the memory of someone she cared for. Yet at the same time, given her motivations and relationships, she’s obviously still bound by the past. Rhea knows that Edelgard is doing terrible things that the Wilhelm she knew would never even consider, yet she can’t bring herself to punish her like she did the other heretics because of that connection.

Like how Rhea views Byleth as the closest thing she has to her mother, you could argue that Edelgard’s ancestry makes her the closest thing Rhea has to Wilhelm. Unlike Byleth, who becomes a new Nemesis when they take Sothis’ spine and heart with them upon siding with Edelgard, Rhea doesn’t have anyone else she can project onto the tiny emperor (at least that she’s aware of).

The latter half of the above quote isn’t filled with the determination you would find when she is pitted against Byleth in this route. Instead, she seems upset by the turn of events. In her mind, Rhea knows that Edelgard needs to pay for betraying the church and disrespecting Wilhelm’s memory. At the same time, Rhea’s fondness for Wilhelm makes her unwilling to perform the act herself, at least until she feels she doesn’t have any other choice.

After everything that’s happened, Rhea finds herself facing off against Wilhelm’s descendant at Tailtean, and she’s aware that Edelgard intends to kill her. As such, Rhea knows that she has to strike down the descendant of someone she cared about if she intends to live and reclaim all she has lost.

[ruby-whistler]

Am I the only one annoyed by the overall attitude in this fandom and the way it's become normalized to invalidate other people's feelings about certain characters just because you don't feel the same way?

The fact that someone else feels a certain way about or is biased towards a character is fine.

It's none of your business!

Feel free to point out logical errors in people's analyses! Feel free to be critical of a character you don't like, and express your opinion! Feel free to be concerned about many people misinterpreting things!

But I feel like whenever someone says they like or dislike a fictional character from the Dream SMP, they are immediately expected to explain themselves and defend their stance, as if their feelings were any less valid because other people disagree with them. And you know what? I'm gonna say it.

You don't get to decide whether someone else's emotions are justified or not!

You can't even scroll through the character tags without them being filled with untagged hate towards a character you might relate to or like on a personal level; and to top it all off, people constantly make posts mocking people's "justification" or whatever for simply liking someone!

It's tiring, being expected to provide objective and rational indisputable evidence to be allowed by the fandom to like a character. It's also just extremely stupid.

You don't owe anyone an explanation, and no one owes you one! Of course, you can respectfully ask someone to talk about why they like a character if you're confused, I'm sure most fans would enjoy talking about them - but don't attack people because you think they're "wrong" for literally being emotional over a fictional storyline that is meant to induce emotions towards the characters?

Getting attached to the cast is a sign of something being well-written! Being sad about someone's mistreatment by others despite their bad actions is normal, it's called being empathetic!

None of us are the same, and so we're not all going to like the same characters, but don't invalidate other people's feelings because of it!

Apologist discourse wouldn't be so bad for people's mental health, hell, it probably wouldn't exist if people didn't feel forced to apologize for feeling a certain way in the first place!

c!Dream, c!Tommy, c!Sam- every single character on the SMP has had struggles and has been through a lot, and sometimes people may relate to those things! I do! Just because you don't, that doesn't make it ok for you to say that someone else isn't "right" in doing so.

Everyone is allowed to have opinions and discuss opinions. But I feel like apologists often forget the people who they're talking with have emotions and attachment towards their favourite characters.

And I think mocking that is not only hypocritical and stupid, but also extremely harmful?

You shouldn't have to feel like you're in the "wrong" for feeling the way you do just because you don't have "logical proof" that would make it "justified" in the eyes of the rest. I can't believe I have to say this, but here we are.

And not to speak on behalf of the CCs, but no author would want this to happen in their community!

Art and storylines are all about having emotions and opinions. People having strong feelings because of their story is the end goal of every writer! Someone might perceive the story differently, watch from a different perspective, or focus on different characters more for one reason or another, and that's just fine!

The fans of literally every character are absolutely valid in liking them. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, and DON'T INVALIDATE OTHER PEOPLE BECAUSE YOU THINK THEY DON'T HAVE SUFFICIENT "REASONS" IN YOUR EYES.

We're biased and that's alright! We're biased and that's how it should be! Spreading misinformation based on said bias is what is concerning and we should try to avoid, as well as being a prick to people who don't agree, but that doesn't make the bias itself wrong?

The Dream SMP fandom threads a very thin line between not wanting to understand the other side at all and then condemning them for opinions they don't even fully understand.

If you want to understand and to learn more about the SMP from different POVs, good on you! If you come onto someone's post expecting to change their opinions or simply to tell them how "wrong" they are in liking a character, piss off!

Just accept the fact that other people have different opinions about a Minecraft roleplay. And you- feel the way you want to, make art, make analyses, have fun with it, because it's entertainment and NO ONE gets to tell you you're wrong for enjoying it the way you do.

[indiaalphawhiskey]

I respectfully disagree with your last post (as an author). I’ve been in this fandom for 6 years and noticed it’s a little bit toxic when it comes to certain issues that should be normal and obvious to anyone.

I don’t get the “I choose the people I want to take criticism from” part. Ok, so why posting your work on a public page for independent writers where every subscriber will be able to read it and comment on it? Just send it to the people whose opinion matters to you and have a discussion about your work with them. If you post your work on a public page made specifically for independent writers, you are automatically posting it for everyone on that site. And every person has opinions on things and feels invited to express it if that particular thing is public and comments are open (I’m talking about respectful opinions, not slurs and offending someone).

If it was only for you and the people you actually want to get feedback from then wouldn’t it be easier to create an “élite” group where you read your work and then discuss it together? Because your post sends a very negative and exclusionary message to people that are reading your work for the first time or without knowing you as an author. It really seems like you are saying “dear readers, your opinion doesn’t matter to me so unless it’s positive I don’t want to hear it because this fanfic was written for me and this list of people.” Then don’t post it. But why making people feel excluded or bad because they did something normal just because they didn’t know it wasn’t written “for them” as you said in your post. And constructive criticism is just an opinion too as long as it doesn’t contain vulgarities, you don’t have to listen to it. Other’s opinion shouldn’t change the way you feel about your work but you also shouldn’t make them feel uncomfortable and bad for expressing it in a respectful way on a public page.

I know that authors on AO3 aren’t paid and that’s just for fun, but that’s what every page like AO3 is about: putting your work out there for other people to read with the possibility to express their personal opinion in a respectful way (I mean, you CAN disable the comments). Why making it public and then complaining and making other people feel bad for expressing their opinion on it? It’s not a diary or a personal Instagram profile.

So, first off, thank you for saying you respectfully disagree with me. I appreciate that you’re trying to be polite. 

There are many different ways I can answer this ask, because there’s a lot to discuss here, however, I’m exhausted by this conversation and have tackled it many times before, so I’ll link things when I see fit and get straight to the point.

My question for you is this: What is the purpose of you posting negative  (even though well-worded, polite, and tactful) unsolicited comments on a person’s fanfic? Why do you do it?

That’s not a rhetorical question, I really want you to think about the answer, because, for something to be called “constructive criticism” (which is specifically what we’re discussing here, versus the opposite “destructive” criticism) there has to be a point beyond just the fact that “it’s a public forum” and therefore, you feel entitled to express your opinion, whatever it may be. (That reasoning, btw, is called entitlement. No one said you weren’t allowed to have an opinion, but if you’re saying it to the author with no constructive, bettering purpose behind it, then at worst, your intent is to hurt them, which is just mean, no matter how politely you word it, and at best, you’re saying your opinions and preference take precedent over the author’s own.)

There are three reasons that I assume one can have when posting constructive criticism on work/art:

1. You want to help make them be a better writer, both now and in the future. 

I, and other fellow authors, explain why this doesn’t work here and here, and there are more posts about it like this one, if you need to hear it from voices that are not from the Larry fandom (which I assume you do, since you said this is a little bit toxic here particularly.) 

I encourage you to read all those posts, to get a better explanation in context, but the gist of them is this: for something to be truly constructive (synonym: helpful), the source, the timing, and the tact is key. Let me demonstrate: There is a difference between telling a friend while shopping, “I wouldn’t buy that dress, it’s not the most flattering on you,” and saying, while you’re out at a club, “Oh, that dress isn’t the most flattering on you, I wouldn’t wear it again.” -- Both are honest, worded politely, and both will achieve the same outcome: she will not wear the dress again -- but only one of them will cause undue stress, embarrassment, and self-consciousness (under the guise of being helpful), and that is all due to tact and timing. At the store, she can change into something else, and won’t assume you think she looks awful the entire day while you’re out. At the club, the damage is done, there is nothing she can do to change it, and you’ve just ruined her night.

The same goes for writing. I have seen people gracefully and willingly rewrite their entire first drafts based on astute and even harsh comments on their work, by their betas. I have never seen someone take down a fic and edit it based on a piece of constructive criticism given by a stranger on AO3. What I have seen based on that scenario, is people taking that criticism to heart and reflecting on whether or not they ever want to write again, because when they made themselves vulnerable, some people looked at it as an opportunity to ask for what would cater best to their own tastes, instead of appreciating the work as a true product of the author’s personal feelings and experiences. That results in less writers for the fandom, less content, and a whole lot of undue discouragement which is not something we want (nor is it actually constructive).

2. You want to engage the author in a deeper discussion of their work.

This is in direct answer to this part of your ask:

It really seems like you are saying “dear readers, your opinion doesn’t matter to me so unless it’s positive I don’t want to hear it because this fanfic was written for me and this list of people.”

You feel passionate (both positively and negatively) about my work? That’s lovely. I say, start a discussion with me. Ask me questions. Learn why I made those decisions. A discussion starts with an invitation to have a conversation (two ways, you say something, I say something, rinse repeat). It doesn’t start with “I didn’t like” or “This could have been better if”, and it certainly doesn’t start in a public forum, like the comments on AO3, where the writer runs the risk of looking like a defensive asshole. 

But India, you say, what if I don’t have the means to have a private conversation/the writer doesn’t have tumblr/they’ve long since been inactive in the fandom? The answers are, respectively: leave a polite comment asking if they’re willing to discuss, if they are willing to discuss, leave a polite comment asking how to contact them, and if they’re no longer active, find other friends with which to discuss your feelings in private.

But India, that seems like so much work. It is, flat out. But if you really felt that strongly about something I wrote, you would make that effort to understand it. Otherwise, why not just walk away?

3. You don’t know better.

I found this part of your ask extremely interesting:

“But why making people feel excluded or bad because they did something normal just because they didn’t know it wasn’t written “for them” as you said in your post.”

The reason I found it interesting is because it means that there are people who assume that all work that is public was made for them, to suit their tastes, which is, frankly, a bizarre way to consume art. I do not go into The Louvre, look at the Mona Lisa and say “I don’t see the hype, it’s not something I would hang in my living room.” I look at it and think “What does this piece say about Da Vinci and his life? What has this brought to the world? How has this helped people/art/culture?”

(No, I am in no way comparing my talents to Da Vinci, I am not delusional. But, I don’t think my work deserves any less thought than that of a professional artist, simply because I’m an amateur and it’s on the internet and not in a gallery, and you have the superpower of anonymity.) You asked me what the point was in posting my work publicly if I didn’t want to hear every single person’s personal (negative) take on it, and the answer is this: I post what I write publicly, because I hope it helps someone. I hope my thoughts, feelings, experiences, loneliness validate someone, entertain them, help them through a tough time, bring them comfort. I post because I want to invite people to lose themselves alongside me, heal alongside me, dream alongside me. 

(Notice how I said “someone” and not “everyone”. How I said “someone” and not “an élite group that discusses my work”, because yes, I do hope that my work positively impacts someone outside of my betas, my friend group. Does that mean someone can leave negative comments on my work? Yes. But should they? That’s a different question.)

I know my work won’t be a positive experience for every single person, but my goal was never to be relevant to every single person. So, my question is, if I’m not relevant to you personally -- if my work doesn’t touch you personally, heal you personally, entertain you personally, why not just walk away and find something that does? Who does your negative opinion really help? How is it constructive? What is its purpose? Why do you do it?

I will apologize for this, though: I spoke on behalf of all writers, and maybe I shouldn’t have. Maybe I should have been clear that though many writers feel this way, not all do. There are some, such as, I assume, yourself, who do view negative comments on AO3 as constructive, whether or not they are solicited, and I’m sorry to have spoken on behalf of you. However, I do still stand by this, though: it is much better to be kind than be right, and that definitely goes for comments on fic.

[apiratewhopines]

Thanks to @teamhook for the artwork. Liam is so dreamy.

In the Offing

Chapter 15 — Red-Handed

Summary: In which our heroine is dragged through the mud

Chapter 15 on AO3

“When everyone

You thought you knew

Deserts your fight

I’ll go with you”

-My Blood, Twenty One Pilots

“What kind of sorcery do you have coursing through that beautiful body of yours, Swan?”

Of all the things she thought he would say to her now that he had her cornered, those were the last words she expected. “Excuse me?”

“David has been in love with Mary Margaret for most of his life. Although I can’t claim the same closeness you have with her, I’m fairly certain she has returned those feelings for at least as long. They have circled each other for years, neither moving on nor moving closer. Yet you’ve been here a month and one word from you has them skipping out the door, probably straight to their wedding,” he explained, shaking his head in wonder.

“Oh, that,” Emma chuckled as she relaxed. She could talk about their mutual friends quite easily. Especially if it kept them from talking about their relationship. “I”m not sure what David’s problem was but Mary Margaret only needed a little encouragement to step out of her comfort zone.”

“David’s a gentleman, love. When a woman tells you no, you back off,” Killian replied, dropping onto the couch and looking at her as she settled onto one of the stools in the kitchen area. “It disturbs me that you aren’t familiar enough with the breed to know one when you see one.”

She couldn’t stop herself from asking, “What are you doing here, Killian?”

“Being a gentleman, to my own detriment,” he added playfully. Becoming more serious, he said, “I am here to ask you, respectfully, if you are ready to talk.”

“We are talking,” she retorted, shifting uncomfortably when he groaned in exasperation.

“You’re right. The real question is are you ready to listen, Swan? I’m not the most patient man when it comes to you. I’ve made mistakes and I realize that I owe you an explanation although I can offer no excuses. Will you allow me the opportunity to do that now?”

He was being so formal that she wasn’t sure how to respond at first. She felt herself unraveling a bit and knew she was on the verge of falling all over again. The fear gripped her as she thought of what would happen if she let him in again. “There’s nothing to listen to, Killian. Yes, you kept things from me but I did the same thing when I came to town. So no harm, no foul. You can keep your apologies and explanations and I’ll admit my outburst was a slight overreaction. My only excuse is that it has been an emotional few weeks.”

“It wasn’t an overreaction, love. I was in the wrong and I hurt you. You have no idea how much I regret it. But I appreciate you trying to move beyond it.” Looking at her suspiciously, he offered, “So we can go back—“

Interrupting him before he could finish, she said firmly, “So we can go our separate ways with no hard feelings. We can be friends.”

“Friends...I see.” His expression was rigid and the muscle in his jaw ticked a few times. “You’re not even going to give us a chance.”

“I did. It didn’t work out,” she reminded him. “I didn’t come here to start a relationship, Killian. I came here to prove you didn’t hurt anyone. I still want to do that but the rest of this is too complicated.”

Jumping up and starting to pace the floor of the living room, he ran his hand through his hair raggedly. “Complicated? What the bloody hell does that mean? What’s so complicated about wanting to be with someone?”

“I mean you want too much. You want things that I can’t give you,” she admitted, jumping up as well. She held her hands out in front of her in a placating way. The last thing she wanted to do was wound him. Surely, he could see that they were a disaster waiting to happen. They hadn’t even managed a week without a complete meltdown.

“Is that right? And why can’t you, Swan? I know it’s not because you’re incapable so that must mean you don’t want to,” he accused. He faced her with fire in his eyes and she realized she had mishandled the situation cruelly.

“Killian, please. Don’t make this harder than it has to be. I fully acknowledge that there is something between us, something wild and barely restrained. Things like that don’t last. They burn out and I don’t want to be left holding ashes. I can’t do this with you.”

He watched her twist herself in knots trying to find the words to convince him to walk away without causing him pain. She knew she wasn’t successful but his bearing had shifted and he no longer seemed as angry. He was looking at her with calculation in his eyes. His next words were slow in coming but clipped when he finally spoke. “I never figured you for a coward.”

She winced but didn’t disagree with him.

“If this is truly what you want, Swan, I will of course honor your wishes,” he told her. Unhurriedly, he closed the distance between them. When he was close enough that their toes were almost touching, he paused and waited for her to bring her eyes to meet his. “When you change your mind, because deep down we both know that you will, you know where to find me.”

He was almost through the door when he turned back and said in a husky voice, “And if there’s any kindness in you at all, take pity on a man and be quick about it.”

—

Emma found that the dread she had felt about having a conversation with Killian quickly morphed into a different kind of dread. The kind that sprung from the certainty that he was right. She was a coward and she would crawl back to him eventually. When he walked out the door with his tragic, disappointed stare and desperate final plea, she almost stopped him right then.

Remembering the gut-wrenching misery she had felt when she found out he hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her the truth was the only thing that stopped her. If he could upend her life so thoroughly and still have her wanting to be near him, she needed to stay as far away as possible. Otherwise, when he left, it would be bad. Because he would leave. Everyone did.

Trying to distract herself, she unpacked her things and then took a long bath. If the water turned cold while she stared blankly at the walls and relived every word of her conversation with Killian, there was no one around to call her on it. Mary Margaret still wasn’t back and it was approaching nine o’clock. She could only hope that David didn’t stay the night. Not that she had anything against him or cared if they wanted to move their relationship to the next level. No, her concern stemmed entirely from the lack of walls and doors in the apartment. Being separated in the loft bedroom would do little to block out the sound of any midnight exertions. With a smirk, she debated relocating to Granny’s in the morning.

It was a couple of minutes later that she hear a knock at the door. Wondering if her impulsive roommate had waltzed out on her dream date without grabbing her keys, she hustled to the door without bothering with her robe. Surprised, she saw it wasn’t Mary Margaret who was waiting for her but the sheriff.

“Miss Swan.”

“Sheriff, what brings you here so late?”

With a slightly apologetic air, he held up a piece of paper. “I have a search warrant for the premises. I ask that you have a seat and allow me to look around without interference.”

Offering no resistance when he sidestepped his way into the apartment, she stared blankly at him. When her mind finally thawed from the shock of his announcement, she said, “Whoa! What do you mean? A search warrant for what?”

With a wary look, he sized her up. She knew she didn’t look threatening in her pink flannel shorts and matching pajama tank so she could not come up with the reason for his grim expression. “The weapon used in the shooting of August Booth.”

“I don’t understand,” she said simply, still trying to figure out when things had gone sideways. “Why would you think it would be here?”

“You mean in addition to you having a motive for wanting Booth incapacitated?”

“If by motive you’re referencing the fact he named me his POA and updated his will without my knowledge, then yes that is what I am asking. There’s no way that’s enough to get a warrant. What happened?”

“Miss Swan,” Graham started. “Emma. I don’t like this anymore than you do but I have a job to do. Someone called in an anonymous tip that the gun that was used is hidden in your bedroom.”

“My bedroom? You mean the room I spent one night in before going to Boston for the weekend. Come on, Graham, you can’t be serious.”

His looked at her with a stern expression and pointed to the couch. “If you please.”

She dropped without another word and watched as he climbed to the second floor. In barely any time, he walked back down carrying something in gloved hands. When he reached the living room, he sank in the chair and put it on the coffee table. It was a small lump wrapped in what looked like a set of dirty rags. He looked at her and shook his head. “I think we both know what that is going to be.”

“Graham I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with it,” she whispered, for the first time actually accepting this was happening. Someone took a shot at her when she came to town, she had the bad fortune of falling into a pit that had been undiscovered for decades, and now someone was trying to frame her for the attempted murder of her friend. A friend who had made matters worse by providing her a motive in the form of giving her control over his substantial finances.

“I know. But I have to arrest you, Emma. I found the weapon in your bedroom,” he told her. “Do you know your rights?”

A devastating sense of deja vu swept over her. She was eighteen and alone, taking the fall for something she didn’t do. Only now she had more to lose. Henry, her new friends, a place she was beginning to think of as home. Squaring her shoulders, she reminded herself that she was also more resourceful than she was a decade ago and she had a life worth fighting for now. With a shaky breath, she said, “Yes. Let’s get this over with. The sooner you eliminate me as a suspect, the sooner we can find out who is really responsible.”

“I promise that’s all I want to do, Emma.”

In the end, Emma only had to spend about eight hours in the jail cell. Graham stayed with her the entire night, gently questioning her about her whereabouts at the time of the crime. Throughout his interrogation, he had revealed as much as he could about the circumstances of her arrest. The gun was registered to Liam and had been in the bag that they had held when she came to pick up their things after the accident.

Once he had traced the gun’s owner, he went to the records room and found the documentation showing she had signed out their belongings. Small favor that it corroborated her version of events that the last time she had seen the bag it was in the trunk of their rental car.

The call had come in shortly after she had arrived back in town and simply indicated that if they checked the upstairs bedroom, they would find the weapon. He had followed procedure exactly and the warrant had been issued within a couple of hours.

It was no wonder she didn’t have a hard time convincing Graham that she wasn’t involved. This reeked of a bad frame job and he knew it. She listened while he called the lab and requested a rush job on processing the gun for fingerprints and analyzing the rags that had been used to wrap the weapon. He left a few minutes later, promising to return with breakfast.

Sitting on the cot in her cell, she racked her mind trying to figure out who would do this to August. And her. Was she the collateral damage or was he the one who got caught in the crossfire? Sure, she had pissed people off in her line of work but no one who would have gone to this level of intricate plotting to get revenge. The only thing that made sense was that she was a convenient scapegoat to take the blame for the attack on the real target.

True to his word, Graham came back with donuts and coffee. Plus he had a visitor in tow. Before Emma could say anything, Mary Margaret rushed over to the bars and reached through to grab her hand while the sheriff hung back to answer the phone. “I’m so sorry you had to stay here overnight. I thought you had gone home with Killian. I never would have left you here. Thank goodness Graham stopped by to let me know.”

Shrugging helplessly, she gave her visitor a weak smile because honestly how could she blame the woman for thinking she had hooked back up with Killian when that was exactly what she wanted to do. In hindsight, it would have been a much better way to spend the night on a variety of levels. “It’s okay. Graham has been very professional.”

The man in question made his way over to them and passed her a coffee and two bear claws through the bars. “I heard these are your favorite.”

“Thanks.” She was humbled by his kindness, especially considering she had been fairly standoffish in all her interactions with him up to this point. Now that she was at his mercy, it would have been easy for him to return the favor but he didn’t. He seemed to feel personally responsible for this failure of justice and upset at being used to carry out some twisted form of torture.

“Mary Margaret, I have a few forms for you to sign and then she’ll be free to go.” With an encouraging smile at her, Mary Margaret squeezed her hand and then followed him to his office. They spent the next several minutes going through the bail paperwork, outlining next steps and consequences if she failed to show up for her court date. When she heard that her bail had been set at ten thousand dollars, her eyebrows rose and she protested, “Mary Margaret, I can get the bail money from my boss.”

Shaking her head, the other woman smiled again and said, “I have money in my rainy day fund, Emma. I think this qualifies.”

Feeling undeserving of her unwavering support, Emma crammed half a bear claw in her mouth before the lump in her throat could force tears to her eyes.

—

Emma and Mary Margaret walked out of the Sheriff’s department a few minutes later arm in arm. As usual, it felt like the entire town was watching her as she moved down Main Street toward the apartment. Although this time, their gazes seemed to hold less curiosity and more judgement. Emma knew that word traveled fast among the residents but this was ridiculous. How in the world did everyone from the garage mechanic to the flower shop delivery boy already know about her fall from grace?

Arriving home, she followed Mary Margaret in, swooping down to pick up the newspaper on her way across the threshold before collapsing on the couch. With a groan she said, “Please don’t let anyone in today. I don’t want to talk to anybody in this town other than you.”

“Emma, no one who knows you would think you had anything to do with August’s shooting. Not to mention, you’re much too smart to hide the weapon in your own room. I’m not sure who wants you out of the way but they’re no match for us. We’ll figure this out.”

While a part of her wanted to shake the naive optimism out of her friend, the larger part was grateful that someone was standing by her. Seriously needing a distraction, she turned her attention to the folded paper that she had tossed on the end table. Pulling it open, her eyes widened and she sat straight up, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“What? What is it?” Mary Margaret made her way over with two cups of hot chocolate. When Emma didn’t say anything, she sat down next to her and peered at the front page. “Oh no.”

There in black and white was a large picture of her being taken out of the back of the sheriff’s car. While Graham hadn’t bothered to handcuff her, there was little doubt from the picture that they weren’t out for an evening stroll. The headline screamed, ‘Former Convict Suspected in Recent Shooting of Famous Author.’

The article went on to do a thorough job of retelling every stupid mistake and unfortunate decision she had made in her life. Glossing over her years in the foster system with a throwaway line about a rootless life and tendency to run away from homes that only tried to help her, the story went on to outline her unsavory history that culminated in an arrest for the theft of several thousand dollars worth of designer watches. Far from keeping a neutral tone, the writer included a high-handed recounting of the dangers of teen pregnancy and questioned the likelihood of people truly being able to be rehabilitated.

The end read like an indictment by a jury. Summing up her motive and opportunity in August’s attack, it seemed in the eyes of this community at least, she was already guilty.

“Well, I guess that’s that,” Emma sighed. Continuing to stare at the print with eyes that could no longer focus on the words, she asked quietly, “Do you want me to leave?”

“Absolutely not,” Mary Margaret declared. “Emma, don’t you dare give up. Your past doesn’t define your life now. Look at how much good you’ve done since you got here, at the lives you’ve touched. They are just trying to sell papers. But I assure you that I am cancelling my subscription immediately. Of all the reckless, irresponsible reporting...”

She wasn’t sure what she had done to earn Mary Margaret’s trust but she thanked her lucky stars that she had it. The other woman’s ranting about cancellations and honor and innocent until proven guilty bolstered her. Sure, she still wanted to curl up in a ball and mourn the loss of her privacy and the tenuous good-will she had fostered in the town but there would be time for that later. “You’re right. Someone at the paper obviously likes to sensationalize but they aren’t lying. I had a rough road to get where I am now but I won’t let this scare me away. I didn’t do anything to August and I’m going to prove it.”

“That’s the spirit,” her companion said. “How can I help?”

“You’ve already done enough,” Emma responded truthfully. “You’re giving me a place to stay and you bailed me out with what was probably your 401k or something. I need a day or two to regroup but I’ll come up with something. I always do.”

Exhausted, Emma forced down the hot chocolate and then went up to the bedroom for the sole purpose of trying to catch a few hours of sleep. Having been awake for over a day at that point, she knew she wasn’t firing on all cylinders. She laid there for hours, the words of the article mixing with the night she had shared her past with Killian and leaving her mind raw.

Why hadn’t he come? Or at least called? There was no way he hadn’t heard of her arrest by now. She knew she told him it was over and it wasn’t fair to expect him to come riding to her rescue. Or to her side at least, she could rescue herself after all. On some level she had expected him to be there despite everything. She thought he had meant it when he said he would fight at her side, even if she had practically thrown his feelings back in his face and told him they were unwanted.

That she wanted him there was beyond doubt. What a mess she had made of things.

Knowing that sleep was impossible with the chaotic stream of thoughts she was fighting through, she listened with vague interest to the occasional sound of visitors at the door. She could make out Elsa’s voice at one point and Ruby’s a little while later. There were other voices as well. It seemed that the news of August’s shooting had filtered to the world outside Storybrooke and now reporters from nearby cities were making their way to town and trying to get exclusive interviews with the man’s friend who had dramatically turned into suspect.

Mary Margaret was doing her job as gatekeeper and no one made it in but the noise was not conducive to rest. With no other recourse, Emma pulled her laptop out of her bag and decided that action would be her savior. Action would chase the feeling of abandonment away, it would keep her thoughts focused on the tasks at hand.

First on her list was transferring money from her savings to her checking so she could reimburse Mary Margaret. Never let it be said that Emma didn’t pay her debts. Her friend had been there for her in a way no one ever had, not even her own family. You didn’t leave someone like that hanging. With a sizable dent in her account, she pulled out her checkbook and wrote a check then and there.

Next she turned her attention to her emails. Apparently there were several business deals and decisions that had been pending since August was hospitalized and she did her best to make her way through what basically amounted to bill payments and book tour contracts. The final two emails from August’s attorney were a bit more unusual as they involved property acquisitions in Storybrooke.

With a kindling of curiosity, she opened the first one. It appeared to be the mortgage paperwork for the purchase of the former mayor’s home. Thinking of the stately white mansion she had scoped out her first week in town, she was baffled as to why August would be buying the property. Did he plan on staying in town after the publication of his book?

The second was even more surprising. It was a forwarded message from an auction house in Portland detailing the upcoming auction for land in Storybrooke that was currently owned by the church. The brief synopsis of the property included that it had been apart of the Blanchard family estate for decades but had been bequeathed to the church after the legal declaration of death was issued. Having no practical use for the land, the church had decided it was to be sold to the highest bidder in late July.

The pictures included in the announcement showed a variety of landscapes. Heavily wooded forest photos mixed with oceanfront views and the gently sloping overgrown lawn that led to a large and woefully neglected home.

Sitting back in bed, Emma stared at the ceiling. Why would the Blanchards have left the property to the church instead of their child? Did August intend to buy this property as well or was this more research for his fairy tales?

As seemed to always be the case in this cursed town, the more that she unearthed, the more that was hidden. One thing was for certain though. August was on to something and she intended to find out what.

[crowsent]

a fuckton of things i want in da4

a few words censored bc tumblr will swallow this in the void if i dont. long ass fuck list ahead

a romanceable dwarf

more romanceable elves/qunari

more elf/qunari/dwarf companions

consistent writing for once

more nb representation

good hair. please just give me good hair options. give me long hair. give me luxurious flowing locks. give me braids. give me good fucking hair options

let me shittalk the chantry

dalish elf npcs that impact the plot in unique ways

dalish elf companions that are proud of being dalish

if it is set in tevinter maybe uh. maybe address the issue of systemic oppression (and slavery) of elves???????

a return of the friendship/rivalry system in da2 but improved. maybe instead of a friendship rivalry sliding scale its friendship/rivalry/animosity sliding scale. bc rivalry is more like. two people pushing each other to be better than they were before. friendly competition. hes an idiot but hes my idiot kind of deal. animosity would be just regular disapproval. i liked the crisis cutscenes in dai so high animosity would be the same as low approval and might make the companion leave still, but theres more variety with high approval. high approval “friendship” would be the “were best friends and we share many opinions and agree on almost everything” while high approval “rivalry” being “we disagree on almost everything but goddamn it youre my friend and ill follow you into the fade if i have to” so you can have a high approval with someone instead of being a kissass

actions and choices having consequences again

multiple endings again (epilogue slideshows dont count)

dialogue wheels with descriptions that match what you actually say

characters from rivain, antiva, anderfels, etc

gifts. bring back the gifts. i want to give my companions gifts

maybe. maybe a focus of non-andrastian religion for once?

let me shittalk the chantry

i know its a stretch, but maybe. diverse skin colours. please?

nd characters that are written respectfully and treated w dignity

please bring back the talent wheel from dao and da2

more bi romance options

more wlw romance options

more mlm romance options

ace romance options

nb romance options

background romances

let me shittalk the chantry

far fetched but maybe a polycule?

i lowkey LOVED the fast-paced feel of da2s combat so maybe bring that back in some form? maybe improved to mesh with the tactics of dai to give players absolute freedom of playstyle whether they want to be like me and rush into every encounter or play more strategically

companions with unique companion abilities

would be nice to explore cities

would be nice if the open world were a little smaller so it doesnt feel empty all the gd time

more mage spells. mages felt like just another class of fighter to me in dai. they dont really have any awe-inducing wow factor like in dao or even da2. if the narrative wants me to believe that mages are powerful and dangerous and that it takes multiple templars to hunt down an apostate, maybe show that? give me strong mages

remove the jump ability. its pointless

a narrative that addresses the oppression that the chantry and templars perpetuated please

bring back the attributes

make the choices in dai matter. mages governing themselves? i wanna see that

let me shittalk the chantry

please bring back the healing magic for fucks sakes

multi-class system between rogues and warriors?

multiple specialisations that feel like specialisations and not just skill tree+

player-only skill trees

hardening

companion quests that affect their abilities and further dialogue

actual morally grey choices instead of this stupid mage freedom vs templar oppression narrative that is in no way morally grey but is presented as such and thus leaves the conflicts and narratives set up by dao and da2 to be fucking meaningless

bring back the tactics

would be nice to have an origins-esque prologue again. maybe one that would determine future events in game just to give your character better narrative cohesion with the plot

an approval/disapproval system but for companions with other companions. bringing certain companions together may bring them closer or make them pissed off with each other which affects banter maybe quests maybe combat

give me a fucking mabari bioware. give me back my fucking mabari

day/night cycle

a nightmare mode where you have to finish the main quest on a time limit. it is absurd that dai expects me to believe that i have all this time to do wartable missions that can take literal real life DAYS to finish and still thwart corypheus’ plans in time. bullshit

that said. no more wartable missions. waiting for a countdown to finish isnt very fun

let me shittalk the chantry

kal-sharok. ive been hearing about it since dao let me fucking see kal-sharok

dwarven politics

politics in general. my fav dao quest was the succession crisis plotline in orzammar/the landsmeet and wewh in dai

npcs i can talk to. even with generic dialogue like in dao. makes the world more alive

using the environment to your advantage. far fetched but i would love to be able to pull down boulders if were in the mountains or freeze water to get to places as a mage

home base customisation but the customisation choices you make actually. mean something. and do something. or at the very least give more companion dialogue/banter/approval change

laconic and ergonomic codexes. like. sorted by what kind of codex it is, etc etc but then you just get a brief summary of the codex and the option to read more about it so i dont spend eternity scrolling through cards looking for a specific codex entry. cool aesthetic dont get me wrong but real irritating to deal with. also. maybe. the pc making comments about the codex if you do read more about it? like a dalish elf saying “they got it all wrong” when reading a codex about dalish elves written by a human??? that would a) give character to the pc b) incentivise people to actually read the codex to see what was so wrong about it c) summarise the codex for people who want to learn the lore but dont want to spent the entire game reading text

maybe have the merchants in your home base close to crafting stations so you dont have to take a fucking hike if you miscounted the amount of elfroot you need?

let me shittalk the chantry

avvar companion maybe??? interesting lore right there

bring back stat requirements for weapons and remove the class restriction for most shit. obviously a dagger would be better for a rogue than a longsword and a mage would do better with a staff than a sword and shield but its not about efficiency. its about the roleplay. its about the options. give me the option to make a mage with wildly inappropriate stat distribution

bring back sustained mode abilities

traps. bring back traps. bring back the option to stealth into an area, trap the fuck out of it, and go from there

have the three available classes in kind of a rock paper scissors scenario. warriors do real well against rogues who do real well against mages who do real well against warriors. so you can plan your party depending on who/what youll face AND how much their approval will change during the quest you take them on

let me shittalk the chantry

actually resolve the plot points introduced in dai

a more threatening villain. the inquisitor thwarted every attempt made by corypheus in dai. he was not threatening at all

queer characters. background, companions, etc. queer characters

mounts were meh in dai. maybe. make them faster? or less cumbersome? or have your companions on mounts too so theres still banter?

i liked the armour tinting. let me have armour tinting from the beginning

i would really like mages to move and attack at the same time bc lowkey standing in one spot is uhhhhhhh kinda boring

let me check companions friendship/rivalry levels

would be nice if the narrative acknowledged that elves suffered greatly at the hands of the chantry and stopped victim-blaming them

more taverns. specifically like tapsters in dao where theres a dwarf just reciting something in a language i cant understand and if you look its a ballad/poet about dwarven culture and that was a real nice touch let me have that

dalish elf clan. dalish elf clan that does not get murdered please and thank you

meaningful quests. more cinematic dialogue

make found gear / quest reward gear more valuable than crafted gear

game modifiers like in dai were real nice. i want more

let me shittalk the chantry

quests that can be resolved in multiple ways. like connors fate in dao. and for those ways to impact further quests

companions with varying moral alignments

companions that are mutually exclusive (like alistair and loghain) but are both good companions so itd really make you think

a pc that IS NOT a “chosen one” vanilla da2 is my fav dragon age game for one reason and one reason only and that is because hawke is just some random refugee who escaped lothering. no chosen one magic at all. just an ordinary person who is a real good fighter. and that appealed to me more than this “you are the only one who can do it” narrative

let me meet more elvhen gods

if the setting is in tevinter, GIVE ME FUCKING ARCHITECTURE. give me the high spires, the archways, the buttresses, give me statues lining city gates and magic infused into the buildings. tevinter is a land ruled by MAGES give me magical architecture. give me floating buildings. give me fire floating as orbs above the streets like lamps. GIVE ME ARCHITECTURE

SHALE

let me shittalk the chantry

PIERCINGS GIVE ME FUCKING PIERCINGS BIOWARE

more main quests, longer main quests

if it is set in tevinter maybe. maybe address the fact that tevinter has been at war with the qunari for a while? on and off war is still war. and maybe give us the option to influence the outcome of that war?

more voice options. instead of just american voice or british voice, do the thing in dao again where there are multiple voices of different tones to further cement the pcs personality

more armour designs

biased but uh. can. can taliesen jaffe va a character?

i already said qunari companions but specifically saarebas companions

blood magic

FINISHING MOVE ANIMATIONS

please do not let it be as long as inquisition. inquisition was a SLOG in later playthroughs

body sliders. what if i want a tall but lanky qunari? what if i want a buff as shit elf? body sliders

more eye options

let me call out companions

btw bioware. if you really wanted cullen to be a good guy. maybe handle his fucking redemption arc a little better instead of retconning all the terrible and creepy shit hes done in the past k thx

can female walk/run animations not have. so much swaying hips? no one moves like that

personality dialogue that affects future dialogue like in da2 but meshed with the wider range of emotions introduced by dai

keep the race/s*x lock on romance candidates like in dai. keep the fact that some characters can only be romanced by certain races or s*xes

nb and genderqueer options for the pc

cutscenes of companions interacting

ngl i lowkey liked the random encounters of dao so maybe bring that back

my fav quest in dao is the landsmeet / orzammar succession crisis questline but you know whats my second favourite? the rescue mission if the warden gets captured and you have to play as your party members. give me that again

more creepy/dark shit. dai was too lighthearted for me esp after da2 and dao

let me shittalk the chantry

broodmothers. in hd.

red lyrium broodmothers. in hd

companions with different backgrounds. different faiths. different statuses. different families. etc

maybe make the pcs appearance make an impact on the story? like how bull says he likes redheads, but even if you are a redhead, he says nothing about it????? maybe keep track of which slider the player picks so that can affect the story?

i love my inquisitors but maybe. dont. bring the inquisitor in as anything more than an advisor/npc in this game? let me fall in love with a new pc???

if theres gonna be a homebase like skyhold where youre not in armor. maybe give us better clothing?

a kind of gear skin mechanic similar to ac:odyssey where you can change how the gear looks but keep the stats. so you can equip that higher level armour and keep the look and aesthetic of your old armour and you unlock the skins/looks of the armours you discover/make so you can be both powerful AND aesthetic

i enjoyed the nobility/underworld/arcane/etc knowledge in dai unlocking more dialogue options so maybe keep/expand on that but make it more accessible by side missions or companions or something that isnt the abysmal perk system in dai

let me shittalk the chantry

customisable walking animations. does the pc walk straightbacked? slouched? with a swagger? please

since there will undoubtedly be an obligatory fade sequence, maybe have an option for nightmare demons that ARENT spiders. thank you

slap on subtitles and conlang some languages. i want to hear elvish. i want to hear tevene. give me the languages

more dragons. esp if they look vastly different

more bard songs

i am completely biased here, but i would like to hear laura bailey as a va for a character. preferably a voice option for the pc

hey maybe have the true ending actually included in the base game and not in a dlc (tresppasser cough cough)

better val royeaux

please remove the had to do it to em idle animation tis distracting

on that note, more idle animations. maybe some unique to companions?

very trivial but. unique stair climbing/descending animation

bring back talking to companions on the road. maybe with some dialogue that can only be said on the road???

if banter is interrupted, make like rdr2 and pick up where the banter left off

more vallaslin designs please?

if theres another formal scene like dai maybe. give us. decent clothing. or better yet, decen clothing OPTIONS. i wanna decide how i look in a ball full of haughty orlesians

mage vs templar conflict resolved and addressed please. it is NOT resolved in dai. what we got was sequel bait and a slideshow. resolve it please

let me shittalk the chantry

a pro-mage anti-circle circle mage companion like anders

religious person who doesnt victim-blame elves in the codex or in game or anywhere please

characters more like leliana who question the chantry and acknowledge its corruption and greed

unapologetically sapphic companion

idc if its tevinter i dont want to fucking see queer people being disrespected

a true tal-vashoth companion, one who escaped from the qun

have quest decisions affect whether or not a companion will turn hostile to you or not

if IF solas will be redeemed, please do the redemption arc right

more horn options for qunari

an apostate mage who doesnt use me for their personal agenda whilst hiding something from me (morrigan, anders, solas) thanks

i really dig the whole “leader of an army” thing dai was trying to go for. but you didnt actually. lead. anything. would be nice to have that option. command soldiers. send them places that affect further quests. would even use the wartable for its intended purpose. planning wars. battles. like. you get sent word that there are bandits harassing villagers. you can set up an ambush with your soldiers or confront them headon, and theres a new mini-location on the map like the manor you meet vivienne in where you can go deal with the bandits and depending on your choices, there are actually soldiers with you in a field, or traps in a narrow pass, or even in a city. id rather the wartable shit dont return but if they have to, at least this way youre not just waiting real life time for a bunch of text to appear

i am real fucking excited for the possibility that da4 companions can just fucking die on you. good shit. give me that angst

missions that certain companions would refuse to go with you to. you know. so you actually have to use other members of your party instead of the same 3 (three) people all the goddamn time

disabled characters (i want a character who suffers from the same chronic bad leg disease as i do is that too much to ask)

kinda touched on by the da2 combat point but let me do close combat damage with the staff

no multiplayer. and if there is a multiplayer, dont tie it with achievements

let me fucking explore weisshaupt

(i dont think solas will be the endgame villain of da and i dont think da4 will be the last da game but still) again. for emphasis. resolve the plot points dai brought up

full-body scars and tattoo options

companions and npcs changing their opinions about things over time. eg: a pro-circle mage wanting instead for circles to be abolished after a specific side mission or a main quest decision etc

keep the multiple companion quests. and maybe change what kinds of companion quests are available further down depending on choices made in previous companion quests

please for fucks sake give us more characters of colour

let me shittalk the chantry