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watching-sam-and-dean-again · 7 months

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Why This Doesn’t Mean Destiel: Part 2 - Dean Wrapping up Castiel's Corpse

Part 1 - Zepline Traxx - here

Okay, so I saw this take floating around Twitter and Tumblr again in the last week or so: if Destiel isn’t canon then why did they have Dean wrap up Castiel's body in 13x01? This obviously means they’re married became because this is a ritual for widows in …. You get it. Well, allow me to offer my rebuttals to this totally unbiased idea. Now, I know hellers will never listen or care because they have their heads buried too far in the Destiel quicksand to ever see the light, but honestly, I just like to argue against takes that show a lack of media literacy, or takes that deliberately ignore the rest if the text, especially when it’s easy to do.

Arguments and screen shots under the cut due to length.

First: Let’s go with the Wincest reasons, just for funsies, and because I know it would piss hellers off. Dean can’t be married to Cass because, in Season 8, he already married Sam in a hand-fasting ritual. In a church. In front of a witness (Crowley). And despite some rough times in Seasons 9 abd 10, they never did get a divorce.

And:

So, if we need to put romantic significance on a moment like Dean wrapping Cass' body up for burning, then we also need to put romantic significance on Sam and Dean exchanging promises of devotion in a church (wedding), especially when the later is a very popular Western tradition and Suoernatural does, in fact, take place in the Western world. "But they’re brothers!" I might hear you cry is disdain. Well, Sam and Dean are weird, so there is that. But, it’s true, they are brothers, so they aren’t technically married in a romantic sense. But, neither are Cass and Dean. Dean considers Cass like a brother, too (which he has said more than once). He has also never referred to Cass and himself like a couple, even in passing or as a joke. In fact, he’s taken exception to the very suggestion (10x05). Thus, it’s not a romantic gesture on his part, but a familial gesture, a brothers in arms gesture.

Second: if Dean wrapping Castiel’s body can only be read as romantic in nature then how do we explain all of these moments:

1) Is it Sam or Dean who are in love with their dad? Or did they prepare John for burning together? Or did they get someone else to wrap him up before they burned him, so as to avoid the primarily spousal burial ritual from another culture that would have implied incest?

2) I guess nodoby could have had any romantic feelings for Ellen or Jo because, seeing as they got blown up, and didn’t have bodies to lovingly prepare before the ritual hunters cremation. Sucks to be them, I guess.

3) I guess Dean had to be in love with Charlie, even though that idea is not allowed because she’s a lesbian, since someone had to prepare Charlie’s body. Or was it Sam? It certainly looks like both of them where dealing with her body. No wait! Maybe Castiel did it, because he’s an angel so it doesn’t count. But, then it does count, but only if Dean is doing it for him... ?

4) What about Asa Fox and the other hunters who died in 12x06? Who was in love with them?!! Asa's body was wrapped up before Jody got to the wake, and she was the closest to being in a romantic relationship with him.

5) Oh no, who's in love with Mary? Which of her deviant sons prepped her before cremation? Or did Castiel do it? But, again, that would mean he’s in love with her. If only preparing somoncy's body before cremation didn’t only mean a character was in love with them. But, it does, I guess … So many plot-holes about who prepares the bodies in this show. If only there were an easier explanation. Also, it doesn’t look like Dean is feeling too romantic towards Castiel at this hunter's funeral, and this came after his preparing Cass to be burned.

6) Finally, who prepared Dean's body? Surly, it couldn’t have been Sam, even though he were the only one present when Dean died and he was the person who loved him most, because that would mean … Wincest. Gasp! Once again, if Destiel is canon because of one particular detail, so is Wincest (only Wincest has more "proof"). It certainly looks like Dean was wrapped with a lot of care, but who could have done it since no one on earth was in love with him at the time?

I guess for the preparation for cremation argument to be valid, it only counts if we see the preparation on screen? Because that is the only time it matters. So, Castiel's death and preparation for burial mattered more than John's, or Dean's? That seems really unlikely.

Finally: Let’s take a look at the scene in context.

Dean is upset, no one is arguing against that, but he’s not only upset about Castiel (despite what certain fans like to claim). Castiel, however, is the only corpse available to prepare and burn. Sam is off supporting a new-born Jack while he pays his respects to his mother's body, something Dean certainly wasn’t going to get involved in when he hates Jack at this point. So, while Sam is supporting his new angel (a clueless child in the new world) because someone has to, Dean is saying a last private goodbye to his angel, a fallen ally. There is a clear parallel here, as well as a sunrise-sunset thing going on here, and unless Jack is in love with his mother, it’s more about saying goodbye to family than to a lover. Also, this is Dean, he needs to take action rather than sit around and watch, especially when he’s upset, so him wrapping up Cass makes sense, but it’s in no way is inherently romantic.

But, those arguing that the scene set up in this way just to show Dean is in love with Cass, or that he loves him more than anyone, ask yourselves what Dean would do if it was Sam who died. Would he be sharing preparation duties with Castiel? But, then, we don’t have to wonder. The answer is No. He didn’t even want Bobby around when Sam died. When Sam died, Dean was so distraught that he couldn’t even prepare Sam's body, but sat with his corpse, mourning him for days (2x22). Then when the guilt and grief got too much, he went and sold his soul to bring his baby brother back. He didn’t even do the same for either of his parents, Castiel, Bobby or anyone else. Or, Dean literally Romeo-Ed himself on the spot when he thought Sam died in Season 11, and it doesn’t get a lot more "romantic coded" than Romeo and Juliet. So, even if someone had to read the scene with Dean wrapping Castiel as romantic (you really really don’t), it still wouldn’t mean destiel is canon because there always has and always will only be one great love is Dean's life. And it’s not Cass. With Sam and Dean (canon Gencest or fanon Wincest), there is no room for anyone else.

#sam and dean #supernatural #anti destiel #spn meta #burying their dead #heavy sarcasm

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madrone33 · 1 year

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RotT ranting ‘cause I need to express my unhappiness.

JIM YOU COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOT!

There is a whole ass 20 min long ep in Trollhunters called ‘Unbecoming’ exploring the question/insecurity of “What if Jim wasn’t the Trollhunter?” The answer clearly shown in the episode is “The whole world will go to shit, and in the end Jim is the Trollhunter, Amulet or not.”

Ya hear that Jim? AMULET or NOT.

So why is it that the 1st thing young Jimmy does when the Amulet breaks is go, “Oh no but can i be a hero without the Amulet?😱” Bitch EXCUSE ME??

Where did all that character development go huh? Up Gunmar’s fat asshole? ‘Cause no way are the writers doing this arc again that they already did very well in a series explicitly dedicated to Jim alone, without the time limit of a movie and the need to include sixty million other main characters from the other shows and all their separate arcs.

But apparently, the writers collectively decided to have selective amnesia that day and completely forgot about the episode dedicated to Jim’s insecurities and doubts. Nice going writers.

And then. And THEN. They have the audacity to take Toby - ma boi TP - and make it so the only thing he can do to help is sacrifice himself for the cause, and then die. Yes, you heard that right. They kill off Toby for shock value.

What. The. Fuck.

Toby is so much more than just the support guy who dies to give the movie a dark edgy “deep” ending. He’s Jim’s best friend, the steady accepting rock that Jim is lost without. It’s not a happy ending if Toby’s not in it. Jim would be broken. But I guess that was probably the point, huh. “Oh no, one of the main chs died, this movie really does have consequences!”

Except it actually doesn’t, because they almost immediately scrap that. See, after Toby’s tragic death - which btw I legit didn’t see coming and was completely confused by. And this wasn’t shock or denial from grief, this was just plain scepticism and confusion. Huh? Ok so did Toby just… die? It’s not a fake-out for drama?

I just sat there for a few minutes waiting for the film to clarify. And then when I realised yes, they did actually kill Toby, I waited a bit more for the film to pull something out of its ass to retcon this. Which it did. And boy was it some retcon.

Time travel. Yep. You heard right, but I’m going to write it again anyway: They used time travel.

Now time travel on its own isn’t a show breaker. Hell, it’s used quite effectively in many stories and movies. Harry Potter PoA case in point. So time travel as a concept isn’t bad. It’s when the time travel breaks the timeline, already existing lore, character development, character integrity, stakes, suspension of disbelief, and makes you feel like nothing you watched mattered, that it becomes bad. Which RotT does. And it’s a dumpster fire.

Jim travels back in time, not to the moment before Toby’s sacrifice, which would have invalidated that sacrifice but might have been bearable. Not to the beginning of the movie, which would have been a bit weird but bearable. No. Go big or go home right? He goes all the way back to Trollhunters Season 1 Episode 1 ‘Becoming’. The beginning of the fucking series.

In case you don’t realise what a colossal screw up this is, let me lay out the situation for you.

So, y’know all those characters you know and love? Y’know how you love them because you’ve seen them grow from idealistic normal kids to responsible and dependable badasses? Y’know how you put your time into watching 88 episodes and 1 movie? Y’know how you witnessed 34 hours of these characters learning and growing and interacting together? Y’know all the highs and lows, the tears and the smiles, the laughs and the cringes, the heartbreak and wholesome? The journey these characters, and this world, has taken? The moments and episodes and people and places you know and have grown to care about?

Well. Take all that, wrap it up really nicely with a bow on top, sign ‘My Childhood’ on it, and then just kinda… throw it in the trash. And then crush it under a trash compactor. And then light the resulting piece of shit on fire.

According to the writers and world and lore and canon, those 88 episodes? They don’t exist. None of that has happened, except in Jim’s head. It’s kinda like the ‘it was all a dream’ stories, but almost worse because that dream is going to happen again.

We know what’s going to happen. Doing it again will feel cheap and boring and flat. Those characters we like ‘cause of character development? Not there anymore. We’re stuck with the simple boring normal versions of them again. And we’ll have to watch them go through the same things as if for the first time just to get to the characters we like. Only it won’t be for the first time. And we’ll know that.

Why would we want this? Writers? Hello? Someone answer me, because I don’t know the reason myself! Why in the everloving shit would we ever want to retcon 32 hours of viewing experience, just to do it all. Over. Again. There is no reason. Because we don’t want to.

Hell, even Jim probably doesn’t want to! The writers made it so he still remembers everything, so do you know how much trauma this guy probably has by now? Let’s see:

Bular trying to kill him, Draal trying to kill him, Goblins trying to kill him, Nomura trying to kill him, Gladys trying to kill him, the Stalkling trying to kill him, lightning trying to kill him, Strickler trying to kill him, lying to his Mom, Golems trying to kill him, Gato trying to kill him, Angor Rot trying to kill him, Pixies being pixies, his Mom almost being killed, Aaarrrgghh being killed.

The Darklands trying to kill him, Nyarlagroths trying to kill him, Gumm Gumms trying to kill him, Dictatious trying to kill him, Gunmar trying to kill him, the Gruesome trying to kill him, Usurna trying to kill him, the Deep trying to kill him, Vendal being killed, Otto trying to kill him, Trollmarket’s citizens being killed, Claire almost killing herself. Claire getting possessed and trying to kill him, Draal being killed, Merlin trying to kill him, Jim killing his humanity, the sun trying to kill him, Morgana trying to kill him.

The Green Knight trying to kill him, Arthur trying to kill him, Guards trying to kill him, Aaarrrgghh trying to kill him, the Arcane Order trying to kill him, Jim trying to kill his friends, Merlin being killed, Jim being killed. Nari trying to kill him, Numora being killed, Strickler being killed, Archie and Charlemagne being killed, the world being killed, Toby being killed.

Yeahhh. He’s got trauma. He’s got trauma for days. Hey, you know what’s great for someone who has trauma? Putting them back into the traumatic situation and doing it again! I’m sure their mental health won’t completely crumble under the stress. This is going to go great! Not.

And that’s not even the worst part. Haha ohhh no!

The worst part - by FAR - is that this stupid garbage excuse for a movie not only forgets about ‘Unbecoming’ once, but twice.

During the bulk of the movie, Jim struggles with feeling like he can’t be a hero without the Amulet. During the end of the movie though, after Jim’s successfully time travelled to the writers’ heart’s content, Jim forgets the other major lesson of Unbecoming, the part about what happens if Jim isn’t the Trollhunter. Don’t remember? Here’s a friendly reminder from before:

“The whole world will go to shit, and in the end Jim is the Trollhunter, Amulet or not.”

Did you catch that first part? Ahem.

“THE WHOLE WORLD WILL GO TO SHIT.”

If Jim is not the Trollhunter, if he does not pick up the Amulet and stop the Bridge from forming, and kill Bular and Gunmar and Angor Rot, the whole world goes to complete, absolute, no holds barred, shit. And what does Jim do at the end of the movie, having seen in terrifying detail exactly what that kind of future is? Why, he makes Toby the Trollhunter of course!

I- I can’t. I just can’t with this movie. How-? Why-? Just why. Why do this? Jim, you remember what happened last time you refused the call, right? You- you do remember, right??

Killahead opens. Bular is still alive. Gunmar and the whole Gumm Gumm army is free. Arcadia’s population of humans is eaten alive. Trollmarket is overrun. There are Changelings and Goblins and all kinds of Darklands creatures everywhere. No-one can kill Gunmar because the Amulet is broken, which means no Eclipse Armor.

Merlin’s staff is most likely taken by the bad guys, since the Amulet can’t lead any GGs to it first. Merlin is crushed to death without waking. Morgana is freed. The Eternal Night is upon us. Humanity is eaten. The Arcane Order turns everything back to the Stone Age with no one to stop them. The Arkiridians land on Earth and are probably killed. There goes Arkiridian-5’s royal family. General Morando becomes Gaylen and battles the Arcane Order for ultimate supremacy over the Universe.

This is the Bad Timeline. Everything sucks.

Jim. Jim buddy. Buddy ol’ pal. Jimbo. Why in the everloving fuck would you do this? It’s official, I think the writers have amnesia. They forgot that whole episode, apparently it wasn’t there.

And wait a minute- who ever said Jim could give the Amulet to Toby in the first place? It’s not, like, really his choice? Sure he rejected it in ‘Unbecoming,’ but that was mainly Merlin’s choice to make Draal the Trollhunter instead of Jim to teach Jim a lesson. Key word: Merlin’s choice. Because it’s Merlin’s Amulet, and he chooses who the next Trollhunter is.

Why would Merlin choose Toby just because he sacrificed himself in the future? Toby is, no offence Toby, not a logical choice to be Trollhunter. At this point in the story he’s not very fit, doesn’t seem to want the kind of adventure Jim does in the first episode, and he doesn’t have any fighting skills.

It’s only Jim’s expertise in cooking that lets him live in that first battle with Bular. Toby doesn’t have cooking skills. He will die on the first night, and then the Amulet will choose Jim again, but this time he’ll have even more added trauma.

And let's put aside the plot relevance of how much of a horrifying choice anyone who’s not Jim having the Amulet is for a sec. Plot aside, Jim as a character would never in his LIFE give Toby the Amulet. Because it’s not just a glowing amulet with cool armour and a sword for someone who’s worthy.

It’s a burden.

It’s a burden and a responsibility. It’s a lifelong commitment to putting others first. To making hard choices and having to live with the consequences of them in the aftermath. To giving every part of yourself, to sacrificing everything you are, so that someone else can be saved. Two worlds on the Trollhunter’s shoulders. Human and Troll.

That weight is something Jim has not wanted so many times. He’s admitted or complained or sighed or yelled that sometimes he wants to get to be a normal kid, live longer than high school, not worry about someone trying to kill him or someone else all the time.

The Trollhunter doesn’t get that luxury. Rule number one: Always be afraid. The Trollhunter can never stop being afraid. Their whole life from this point until DEATH is dedicated to this destiny of fear and hunting and protection.

Jim, who cares for and loves his best friend as a brother, would never ever push that kind of life and responsibility onto Toby and call it something good. The sole reason Jim went back in time at all was to save Toby. There is NO universe in which Jim willingly and happily then takes Toby’s life and shoves him into the path of Bular, and Strickler, and Angor Rot, and Gunmar.

And the icing on the fucked up cake is that the only way Jim managed to kill Gunmar was by turning into a troll. By giving up his life as a human teenager with a human family. By becoming a species with a lot of instincts and traits most others would label as monster. By giving up his life in the sun. By giving up part of his humanity.

Jim would NEVER force Toby into having to make that kind of choice. And I am ashamed of the writers who thought that he would.

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