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[tamtamho]

There's just something about how Astarion goes from thinking of himself as someone with only one talent, that he has nothing else to offer you and, inevitably, you'll find someone better and leave.

To someone who with his whole chest, heart and soul declares out loud without any hint of doubt that of course you like him simply for who he is, why is that so hard to believe?

There's just something about Astarion's personal quest having nothing to do with the main story line. How willingly walking into a vampire den to free him takes precious time away from what you actually came to the city to do. But you care enough to do it anyway.

And then he holds the power of 7000 souls in his hands, a power he's said he will share with you, something else he finally has to offer and would be proud to give you. But instead you remind him again he has plenty to offer without it, and in that moment he knows you truly didn't bring him to kill Cazador for Astarion to gain power but to gain freedom. And maybe that's the last piece that falls into place which finally makes him believe you when you say he is enough.

But I dunno.

[tamtamho]

Astarion and his lack of self-control

I suddenly realised that the first bite scene in Astarion can be correlated with the ascension scene. Finally free after 200 years of slavery, he struggles with his freedom — struggles to know where to stop.

When he first bite Tav, if he's not stopped, he could kill them.

That's why during the Ascension ritual, if he's not stopped, he won't stop — he'll take, he'll take, uncaring about how it'll affect himself and others. Because he's never be the one taking before.

[tamtamho]

Astarion: if a beautiful person disagrees with me, I will immediately change my views. I have no principles

Tav: well maybe you should have principles

Astarion: you’re right maybe I should.

[tamtamho]

Fans: Rip Gojo's shirt!!!! We want to see abs

Gege: no

Fans: RIP GOJO'S SHIRT!!!

Gege: no

Fans: Rip gojo's sh—

Gege: I ripped it

Fans: his shirt, right?

Gege:

Fans: ....his shirt, right?

[tamtamho]

No one:

Absolutely no one:

Gojo:

[tamtamho]

Enjoying the mix of thirst and panic on the jjk fandom rn

[tamtamho]

Why do I always fall in love with the main character's teacher whose power connected to their eyes and have their childhood best friend turned evil at some point

[tamtamho]

TOJI TKFFADHCDHJGF

— texting your jjk male bestfriend’s random ‘I love you’

— jujustu kaisen x reader.

[tamtamho]

PRECIOUS BOIS PRECIOUS BOIS PRECIO

now they match!

[tamtamho]

when drawing Alex's wedding dress, a lot of people tend to forget that she was disguised as Samirah, so the dress has to be hijabi-friendly. that means sleeves, a full-length skirt, no plunging necklines, no off-the-shoulder moment, et cetera. with this in mind, please rb this with drawings of Alex in her dress. i think it'd be fun <3

[tamtamho]

Adding a feral spider who picks fight w a 15 years old and have slutty waist and thicc butt to the list

No one:

My marvel bbygirls: a depressed super soldier with metal arm, a god of mischief that committed genocide, a mercenary with DID, a golden manchild, a literal raccoon

[tamtamho]

“Lie close,” Laura said, Pricking up her golden head: “We must not look at goblin men, We must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed Their hungry thirsty roots?”

A wolf goes for a walk in the woods and meets a dog for the first time

[tamtamho]

Spiderman canon events

1. Bitten by a spider

2. Death of lover/family

3. Death of captain close to them

4. Have juicy dumptruck

[tamtamho]

Loving this addition

Drax was never meant to be a destroyer, and we see it on GOTG 1.

He's the first one who pets rocket. The first one who give the Raccoon a gentle touch. He's the one who talk to Mantis and sympathise in GOTG 2 (in his own way lol) which resulted in her wanting to help the guardians. I guess he's always been a father-like figure.

[tamtamho]

not submission. I really hate the "My OC, my rules" thing. Cause like, no? Just because they are your oc doesn't mean you can do whatever you want with them. If you want to make your oc suffer and not like them get help, you deserve to lose rights over them. Especially if you only do that stuff to purposely trigger people. Once you do that, your oc no longer belongs to you. they belong to the public who will take better care of them instead

Making a comment to get this to post.

[tamtamho]

On Apollo and fatal flaws

Vague question for my fellow apollogists out there: what do we think Apollo's fatal flaw is? I write this realizing that, in all five books of the series, all told from Apollo's point of view, we never actually have it explicitly stated, either from Apollo's knowledge and refusal to share (which, strangely, seems to me like something he would tell us), or from him not actually knowing, either.

Simply stated, a fatal flaw is any kind of weakness of a hero, god or mortal, that can be exploited and can cause the downfall of that character. That being said, we already know some that generally scope out the larger range of what they can be:

Percy: excessive personal loyalty

Annabeth: hubris/pride

Nico: holding grudges

Thalia: ambition

Leo: feeling inferior

Piper: low self-esteem

Luke: wrath

Jason: hesitation and excessive deliberation

And we are certain that immortals have flaws like these, too. Although it isn't explicitly stated in canon what Zeus' fatal flaw is, it's exceedingly obvious that it's paranoia and hunger for power, as well as his sexual infidelity.

I feel like we can easily knock some flaws off the list already:

Holding grudges is off the list for the main reason that, if there's one thing Apollo oozes, it's forgiveness, and the fact that he is always ready to give second chances to people who have wronged him and the world (Lityerses, Luguselwa, Meg, etc.)

For the same reason, I'm going to knock off wrath. Yes, he has moments of rage, but so does everybody else! It's human nature, and, as stated before, it's usually overshadowed by Apollo's choice to let go of that anger and choose forgiveness instead.

Ambition is an interesting one, but it's not at all something that really comes up in the series to the point where it ends up being powerful enough to be his fatal flaw. He rarely seeks power he didn't already have before, especially when you consider he is Zeus' most powerful son, and one of the most powerful gods period. Why would he need more power? Unless, of course, you choose to point out that one time he tried to overthrow Zeus, but I'd argue he was acting more out of a place of 'hey please be better at your job' than 'I want your title and position', which actually falls more under Poseidon's motivations in that myth.

Interestingly, there's a certain aspect of Apollo's character in the myths that totally screws the pooch in terms of this discussion, and that's the fact that Apollo, throughout the stories of Ancient Greece, is a typical example of perfection. Literally, he's written to be virtually flawless, the paragon of young men, and (in the context of Ancient Greek culture) doesn't have many moments of rage, selfishness, or paranoia, or at least, not as many as other gods (looking at you, Artemis).

HOWEVER, as much as the myths seemingly act like he doesn't have a glaringly obvious flaw, we as a part of Apollo's inner circle/audience know he's got one - I mean, look at him! It's in there somewhere, nobody's perfect, and I don't think anybody's pretending as such for Apollo. What irks me is that we know Apollo is not lacking in general character flaws, but there is one, beyond a doubt, that shapes his inner core irreversibly. And we don't know it.

Thankfully, though, we've got five books of content that might help us come to a conclusion.

The Hidden Oracle, being the beginning of the story and the beginning of Apollo's character development, is where we would get an inkling of what Apollo wants us to think his fatal flaw is. To us, Apollo appears vain, self-centered, and, frankly annoying. And he does these things on purpose. Or at least, he tells us these things.

That's the thing: if you look past all the fluff Apollo spits out to the audience throughout the first majority of the book, before his children are taken into the forest, you'd find that his dialogue, aka how the other characters of the story hear and see him, doesn't really reflect that. Most of the annoying, self-centered brattiness is only on the page, and not as obvious in his personal interactions (not saying they're not there, but it's so much worse in his internal monologue). So, what does this tell us?

That those aren't his fatal flaws. He's very good at pretending that they are, probably because, as I've read several other metas very cleverly explain, that this is what gods are supposed to be, and, Apollo, in his desperation be his father's golden child again (or, also to avoid his wrath, take that how you will) has built up a very elaborate mask for thousands of years, because that is what he is not. He's trying to be glossed over in the vast sea that is the gods, and it's not really working because, well, he got turned into a mortal. Again.

As we pass through books 2 and 3, we're still not quite past the whole "pretending to be petty and self-serving because this is what I am supposed to be as dictated by the laws of my immortal people and my father". That, almost certainly, doesn't come until the latter half of The Burning Maze. So it's further safe to assume that our best guess as to his fatal flaw probably coincides with his more honest moments with the audience, eg. books 4 and 5.

Now, I know a popular common answer to this whole question is that it's his ego and his pride. But here's the thing: as we move on to the second half of the series, we get an interesting revealing of Apollo's perception of himself. To put it plainly: Apollo is not a narcissist, as much as he pretends to be (see the above points). Honestly, he might actually hate himself and what he's become as he learns to take a more critical view of himself as the series goes on. Drawn in direct antithesis to his moments in the first two books, when he tells us that he assumes that anybody he meets is willing to help him, after the peak of his development (marked by his promise and Jason's subsequent death), this isn't the case. That's why I'm pretty okay with putting pride and ego towards the bottom of my list of possible fatal flaws for him.

Honestly, if I didn't know any better as we reach the end of the series, I'd say Apollo's fatal flaw might fall somewhere closer to poor self-esteem, insecurity and self-doubt, but for some reason, that doesn't quite fit. I'd argue that a lot of those feelings probably stem from being stuck in the inadequate body of a mortal with a tiny fraction of his usual power - of course he's going to feel like that. That, and it's almost the direct opposite of what his flaw is perceived to be by other sources, so it feels like too large a leap to me.

I'm deliberating from my point, which is this: I still have no clue what his fatal flaw is.

It's not:

narcissism

pride

OR on the other side of the spectrum:

low-self esteem

self-doubt

OR the list of things we knocked off earlier:

holding grudges

wrath

ambition

And when you compare to other characters he might also be like, I would argue he's a totally different animal. The only character I could see a similarity with is Percy. But, again, it's just not the same. Percy's flaw, excessive personal loyalty, still doesn't really fit because, while I'd argue that Apollo's never really put in a situation where he's had to choose to save the life a mortal friend over his task of restoring the Oracles, I do believe he has a strong sense of duty. No, I don't think he would sacrifice Meg's life to do that job, but it's not something we see him forced to pick between (that I can think of, at least). I like to think that, on one hand, Percy would flat-out refuse to do his duty to save the life of a friend out of principle, whereas Apollo might find a clever loophole to save the friend, do the duty, and end up doing harm to himself. If anything, while Percy would be ready to burn the world to save a friend, Apollo would be ready to burn himself first.

That, I think, is our biggest indicator. Apollo loves his friends and the world. He wears his heart on his sleeve, this is something the Triumvirate exploits to no end.

Athena tells Percy something in the PJO series (the Titan's Curse, I think?) and says that the most dangerous fatal flaws are the ones that are good in moderation. And, of course, Apollo is a main character, so naturally his fatal flaw will fall under this category.

I think Apollo's fatal flaw is of the same breed as Percy's, but isn't really the same creature. I'm sure there's a more eloquent way to put this, but it seems to me that his fatal flaw has something to do with his tendency to be self-sacrificing, easily forgiving, and empathetic. He's been stabbed in the back several times and every time chooses instead to show trust and camaraderie, to see the best in people, and give them another chance to prove themselves: with Meg, Crest, Lityerses, Luguselwa, Meg's adoptive siblings, and many, many more. That seems very dangerous in the wrong situation, yes? Especially someone in Apollo's position - there are plenty of bad people who would be ready to take advantage of this.

And what is a story if not the hero learning to overcome their fatal flaw? And, really what is the Trials of Apollo all about? How do we end? What choices does Apollo make for the future at the conclusion of the Tower of Nero that directly contradict his overwhelming urge to choose forgiveness and let others try again?

The Tower of Nero, Chapter 36

At the end of any good epic story, the hero learns to overcome their weaknesses and flaws and do the right thing regardless. For Apollo, this comes when he refuses to forgive one person: Zeus. Apollo ends his pentalogy with coming to an understanding of himself and his relationship with his father, learning to overcome that tendency see the best in everyone, and realize that not everyone can choose to change for the better like Apollo has.

[tamtamho]

Wanted to do something based on an AU I've been working on.

I have multiple different story ideas so I may start posting stuff for those ones as well as the Tiny To-Bean Series I've been bombarding you guys with lol.

Also what the fuck is my drawing style?? It's not consistent at all... I do like the new brush I'm using, though! <3