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aros001 · 3 years

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First time read through light novel vol. 17. Random thoughts.

Alright, from Shield Hero to Goblin Slayer to Re:Zero and now back again.

“As of this day, you shall lead our nation as the queen of Melromarc. You shall henceforth be known as Melty Q. Melromarc.”

Wait, that's what the Q stands for? I always just thought Mirelia had a weird middle name. So what was Melty's middle initial before this? The wiki says Malty's is S but what does that stand for? Second-in-line? Spare?

Right off the bat I love Naofumi and Melty's back and forth. He really does feel like the older sibling she never got to have. It's a reason I don't think they should be married (beyond the fact that she's a literal child and he's a grown man). She can act her age around him because Naofumi genuinely makes her feel safe enough to.

“If you don’t desire to marry Hero Iwatani, I have someone else I might like to suggest to you, Queen Melty.” The old man was looking at Fohl as he spoke.

Wait, Fohl? What?

“Huh?!” Fohl froze as though his spine had turned to ice with Trash’s eye upon him, and then he visibly recoiled. So he wasn’t up for it. I could understand that.

Wait...hasn't the implication been that Fohl and Atla might be the children of Trash's sister? I mean, I get that incest wasn't exactly uncommon in old royal families but he jumped on trying to set up his daughter with her cousin pretty quickly. You'd think he'd be a lot more protective over his youngest daughter but I suppose maybe his mentality is that a husband could help ease some of the burden off Melty and give her someone who could definitely protect her like Fohl or Naofumi. ...Doesn't make it that much less creepy. Again, Melty's, like, 12.

“No need to worry about that,” Trash responded. “Melty is quite capable of carrying a child.” So she was quite an early bloomer . . . Trash, hold on!

“Why do you know that?!” I retorted.

“There was much about Melty written in my wife’s diaries,” he explained. He almost made it sound like a good thing, whimsical and sweet. The queen had known about Witch’s virginity, after all, so I guess she would know about Melty too.

Mirellia: "Dear diary, I had a bit of false excitement today. My shadows informed me they witnessed Melty disrobing while she and the Shield Hero's party slept around the campfire. I thought my dear little girl had finally awoken an attraction for the opposite sex and was about to make her move. But alas, it was merely to sleep inside the feathers of his pet Filolial (Note to self: Once I clear Mr. Iwatani's name, find a way to bring up casually that I would like to try sleeping inside the Filolial also). Oh well. I suppose there is still plenty of time for that later. Still, it is the one and only area I feel she could stand to take note from her sister. The shadow I have assigned to the Spear Hero's party is very descriptive. I think I should consider switching in another shadow to replace her for a bit. She may be a little too into her job."

Back to reality, while I get why she would do that and why Trash would check, that was still more than I needed to know about any of that family. NOBODY GO HAVING SEX WITH MELTY!

I was now basically engaged to Melty. That might look like a Lolita complex from the outside. There were lots of women around me with adult bodies but who were actually quite young too—Raphtalia, Filo, Shildina, Keel, even Atla. From that perspective, it did start to make me feel a bit strange.

Wait, when did Filo get an adult body?! I thought part of Motoyasu's obsession was because she was going to be a near eternal loli. Or does adult body to Naofumi just mean Fitoria-sized?

“What? I mean, Naofumi, don’t you play for both—” Ren started.

“That’s enough. Say no more!” I cut him off. I really needed to nip this in the bud. It was true I tried to sleep with Fohl—just once—but there were all sorts of context to that encounter.

Raphtalia: "Was I the only one he didn't try and sleep with?!?"

“Ren,” I said.

“What?” he eventually replied.

“She’s not the sharpest when it comes to matters of the heart. If such a situation actually came about, she might change her mind. If you get lucky, the one you confess to may then start to take notice of you. It’s too soon to give up,” I told him.

“Okay, okay. I get it,” he said.

“But you also need to read the room a little. If you confess to her right now, I don’t think she’ll give you the nod. You need to get closer to her first and then let her know how you feel. Maybe even get the elation right after we save the world to give things a push,” I advised.

Raphtalia: "...F**k you, Mr. Naofumi. I love you but f**k you, you observant yet oblivious walking paradox."

In all seriousness, I like that Naofumi and Ren have been becoming good friends. I don't think Naofumi would have asked Motoyasu or Itsuki in the same way what they planned on doing after the waves.

Is it weird that of all the demi-human characters, Ruft is the one I don't want to grow up too fast? I want him to stay Naofumi's raccoon son.

A weird thought occurs to me. When Naofumi and the other three first arrived in Melromarc, would their clothes have had any stats? In most games even the very basic starting clothes will give you a +1 in something. I'm just curious because, as we see in the trips to and back from Kizuna's world, certain equipment doesn't function outside of its original universe and shows up as just scrambled text in the menu. The four would have just come from a different universe with their clothes/"equipment" still on so did the same effect apply but they never noticed because there's so little protection a shirt and jeans gives?

“Up you go! Up you go!” I said, lifting her up in the air.

“Little Naofumi?” Sadeena looked at me in bemusement. Wasn’t that what you did with a child? I’d done the same thing with Raphtalia when she’d been smaller too.

When?! When the hell did broody, depressed, recently framed for attempted rape Naofumi play "Up you go!" with child Raphtalia?!

I complained in my vol. 16 post about Naofumi and Raphtalia being separated again. Again, I knew even then it was a nitpick but I am still glad how quickly they were reunited after he returned to Kizuna's world. You never want to feel like a story is playing keepaway with you.

“Actually, about that,” I said. “When I was on the verge of death, I met Atla inside something like . . . I guess you’d call it the world inside the shield. She was still very much herself, anyway.” I showed Raphtalia the shield, and the gemstone glowed. Was that Atla taunting Raphtalia from inside the shield? The light did look a bit mocking, if light could be said to do that. Raphtalia seemed to have noticed the same thing, and her brow furrowed.

Atla: "I was his first kiss AND got to be inside Lord Naofumi first. Take that, Raphtalia."

Naofumi: "I don't know what she's saying but I feel very uncomfortable all of a sudden."

“I see. That’s quite incredible. I can see the curse fading even as I watch,” Raphtalia replied.

“Even so, it seems to be rooted pretty deep. It’s going to need multiple treatments to fully heal up,” I said. After we worked out it had curse-healing properties, I had tried it on Motoyasu too, but it had done nothing at all to him. I wondered what was going on there.

Either the curse is rooted too deep because he was under its effects for so much longer than everyone else had been under theirs or Motoyasu might be resisting the curse heals because he doesn't want to change back to how he was. That or he's genuinely had a mental breakdown after all his experiences and even magic can't cure true insanity.

Takt hadn’t been worried about the waves either, I recalled. A common characteristic of these lunatics. Even Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki had only really considered the waves events to make them stronger for the future. I felt like I was getting to the heart of things. Now we knew that the waves weren’t a natural phenomenon. That cast suspicions on the knowledge of the heroes. When I followed that line of thought, the summoning of someone like me—someone with no knowledge of a game that played like this world—had allowed for the sharing of power-up methods to go much more smoothly. And yet they continued to summon people with game knowledge. That knowledge had proven a barrier to becoming stronger.

It was as though game knowledge itself was some kind of impediment.

Well, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki were the third options for their weapons, so I suppose one theory is that they were the ones most likely to accept the situation because of their exposure to the games but would also be held back by it, so it was something of a double-edged sword. Unless the force behind the waves or at least the vanguards is throwing in some interference or influence.

Itsuki being a bit down on his musical talent or not seeing it as much special makes sense, I suppose, given he comes from a world that basically has superpowers. It's one of the (many) reason Lex Luthor hates Superman and tries to convince others they should too.. Natural talent, intelligence, body-built muscle and so on don't feel like they mean much in comparison to bulletproof skin and the ability to fly. What does it matter how good you are with an instrument when others can play music just as good with no instrument at all? It can be hard to appreciate how good you are when you're surrounded by impossible standards.

“Eight, huh? Can you tell me all of them? Just in case. You’d better tell me about the four holy heroes too,” I said. We had the seven star weapons in the other world, meaning they had one extra here. I couldn’t quite explain it, but something felt off about all this. Like, maybe there was a secret eighth seven star weapon in our world too. When I was in the shield world, I had counted the lights and seen eight, if I recalled correctly, so the possibility seemed pretty high.

Now that's curious. Perhaps the eighth has some kind of ability to hide its existence from the world or erase any traces of itself, physical or in memory. I mean, it's certainly possible Raphtalia's world has genuinely just never discovered the eighth even though it resides somewhere in their world. The vassal weapons are strong and important but there's clearly more weight to the four Holy Weapons, so those would have been the priority, and it's not like they ever had any reason to suspect there were more than seven. Naofumi only suspects there's more because he's been to another world and interacted with the Shield's spirit world; two very unique experiences.

The hunting tool, the jewels, the blunt instrument, and the ofuda (cards?) are the Holy Weapons of Kizuna's world. I'm trying to think if there's any similarity to the Shield, Bow, Spear, and Sword. Maybe it's just a difference in culture, since Kizuna's world is more Japanese themed while Raphtalia is more old England, but KW's weapons feel a lot more random than RW's. RW's are a very basic collection of standard weapons you'd find in any old battlefield. But three out of four of KW's weapons seem very indirect in terms of fighting. The best theme I could guess that they have going for them is that maybe there's a wider variety of things they can turn into, while the Shield, Bow, Spear, and Sword can only be...well, those specific things. Then again the bow can turn into a gun so that theory is shaky at best. Maybe that KW's have a more openly spiritual side to them.

Kizuna's world has more labyrinths and Raphtalia's world has more dungeons. Maybe that's a factor in the weapon spread. Objects that'd help more in puzzle solving and exploration vs. more beat-em-up focus.

This

freakin' d-bag looks like a Batman villain. Like a New 52 "hip and edgy" Music Meister; not as memorable as the original. On topic, I really like Naofumi's words to Miyaji. Diplomatic but still with strength to them. It's good to show that Naofumi isn't just completely lacking in patience when it comes to people he doesn't like (which is a consistently growing list).

“They were trash, so I killed them!” he replied. That didn’t sound good.

“But why were they trash? Were they trying to take over the world or something?” I tried anyway.

“They were getting all full of themselves, thinking they were so strong. So I had to put them right.” He wasn’t making a convincing case.

...I kind of miss when Glass was the antagonist. The Demon Dragon Emperor too.

Oh well, at least there's a chance we'll see Witch finally get killed, since she's here too for some reason.

“Mald, that person standing at your side is the very one who took in that megalomaniac Takt and attempted to use him for her own ends. There’s no justice on your side,” Itsuki said.

“Takt? He was just a sacrifice to form the foundation of our justice. His violence was purely intended to prove that we are just. We had every intention of swinging that justice hammer, but then you stepped in,” Mald replied.

Those are some impressive mental gymnastics right there. "We aided and abetted this monster of a man to murder, torture, and take over a country in order to prove how just we are and it's okay because we were eventually going to betray him and take him down once we no longer had use for him." I mean, a thing that's been made all too clear in recent years is about the two types of people who support bad causes. One type genuinely believes the bullsh*t justifications they give or that have been fed to them, while the other type knows it's bullsh*t, they just don't care so long as they get what they want. Witch is definitely the latter. Mald I could see being either but I'm leaning towards the latter again.

Also, Shield Demon King. You'd think rule #1 of fighting an enemy you despise would be to not give them an awesome title like that, even if you are trying to make yourself look like an even bigger bigshot by taking them down.

“Seriously . . . you could have just let that excitable womanizer kill you. You made things so inconvenient for me. You are so persistent, so annoyingly persistent! Just seeing you makes me want to throw up,” Witch said.

“Right back at you . . . In fact, due to my hatred of your very existence, I can comfortably claim to dislike you more than you dislike me. We have to stop meeting like this—and I intend to make this the last time. So be ready to die,” I told her. Her very existence disgusted me to the extent I could be sure my hatred for her face exceeded any malice she bore toward me. I was going to eradicate her from this world as painfully and horribly as possible . . . No, I was going to shred her very soul.

That was the only way to avenge the queen.

“Do you know these two?” Glass asked.

WHAT THE F**K DO YOU THINK, GLASS? I guess that old saying about couples starting to resemble each other holds some truth because that feels like something Kizuna would say.

“You must have grasped that we have suppressed your holy weapons. But you don’t understand how, do you? To put it plainly, we have captured all of the holy weapons in this world and used a technique to suppress the power of any opposing holy weapons—nullifying the holy weapons and techniques from other worlds,” she patronizingly explained. She had distinctively said “our.” That suggested this wasn’t something Miyaji had come to on his own, but something he had been provided with in order to contain us.

“The medium is the dragon hourglass. It suppresses the holy weapons. This was apparently a defensive mechanism for this world, created by the spirits of the holy weapons. It was to be activated if holy weapons were ever used in an invasion. Of course, it only works on holy weapons, magic, and techniques. It wouldn’t be worth using if it stopped us as well,” she continued.

I've noted it a few times throughout the series but I like how this was kind of set-up prior, so it doesn't feel like a Deus ex Machina that the villains can just shut down the Shield and Bow. We already knew that the Holy Weapons typically couldn't cross over into other worlds and that the worlds had precautions taken against each others' weapons. Witch and crew are merely exploiting a system that was already in place. While it doesn't do it as often as Goblin Slayer, I really like how often RoTSH sets things up and has them come back in major ways, like the Rucolu Fruits or defense rating attacks, making it feel more stratifying.

“Curse you, Shield Demon King! Only a coward would resort to illusions!” Miyaji bellowed.

But voodoo and curses are perfectly fine.

“I’m getting a handle on this now. Things aren’t going to go your way again! Jason Murder IV!” Armor put on a hockey mask that suddenly appeared in the air and started to swing his axe wildly.

What? What? What? What? WHAT? What? ...You know, if that's a reference to Friday the 13th part 4 being "The Final Chapter", then that's actually kind of a clever name for a finishing move (especially for one Armor kept on repeating and didn't actually finish off anyone).

I'm glad Itsuki was granted the Musical Instrument weapon. It how I feel about a lot of series where I don't mind the MC being special, but they shouldn't be the only one allowed to be special. Naofumi is important because he's the Legendary Shield Hero but the other three are still supposed to be his equals. So it's good that the Book weapon passed over him while Naofumi got the Mirror, not because Itsuki was unworthy, but because the Instrument was a much better fit for him. Naofumi shouldn't be the only one who can use the vassal weapons in an emergency situation.

A statue of Kizuna, standing like some temple effigy, with a fishing rod out in front of her. Was this really Kizuna? Not just some carving? The fishing rod looked accurate, but I didn’t really like the design overall.

You think they did that because she wouldn't stop pestering to them about wanting to go fishing? I'm sure it was probably the best way for the villains to keep Kizuna from being teleported to the waves but I like to imagine her just annoying the sh*t out of Witch and Miyaji.

This was all coming from the mirror’s power-up method. I still didn’t really understand why, but eating food now increased a new level that was separate from regular levels—it might be called the “food level.” It felt a bit like the system that Itsuki had described once. Eating food I had prepared caused experience to be earned and a separate level and status to increase. It looked like the type of food that was eaten changed the status that increased, but I still wasn’t sure how that all worked either.

I think Konosuba had a similar level-up method too. I'm not a huge gamer but those I've played tended to only give EXP for cooking food, while eating it only gave health and temporary bonus effects. I can believe it does exist in other games, I've just never personally experienced it.

“To be honest . . . I didn’t have the bravery to say that I was wrong and you were right, Naofumi,” he finally told me. His pride wouldn’t let him accept me, even though inside he knew the truth.

...

“I did something really horrible to Rishia. She was struggling with her low status and wanted to become a hero . . . but I looked down on her, just like so many had looked down on me. I thought it was only natural that I be praised and respected. I saw my past weaknesses in Rishia and so I discarded her,” he muttered, his voice full of regret, eyes downcast. “I have to spend my life to make amends to Rishia and stop Mald and the others. That’s the punishment for my sin.”

...

“In the past, I would have thought anyone opposing me was evil to be defeated. I don’t know how many times I’ve judged people simply based on one-sided opinions,”

Like with Ren, and with Trash last volume, this is definitely what I needed with Itsuki to be more on his side. Not just being able to understand his situation and why he did the things he did (which is still important, don't get me wrong) but have him actually acknowledge his wrongdoings and make efforts to atone for them. It's more meaningful now that he's in his right mind as opposed to the fried, near mindless state his curse had left him in where he'd do whatever anyone told him. I've harped on it before but that's what holds Motoyasu back for me somewhat. Yes, he's funny and yes, he's helping now, but he's also out of his mind. His redemption isn't really redemption because there has been not reflect and deliberate atonement for his actions like Ren, Trash, and now Itsuki have. He's just doing better than he was because of the curses' lingering effects on his mind and because he wants to get in Filo's pants.

But back to Itsuki, I'm glad I was wrong earlier about Naofumi only being able to have the post-waves conversation with Ren. Staying in the world and travelling feels like it fits Itsuki. He's not completely different from how he was before but he is on the track that'll help him grow as a person. Having him face Armor, his former party member, and have this growth be somewhat as a result of that is a really nice touch. Just like Atla sacrificing herself showed Naofumi the pain that'd be cause to those he'd leave behind if he did the same, sometimes a person really needs to see how they look from the outside. It especially works for Itsuki since Armor was someone he'd once considered an ally and a true believer of justice, so he was having to face off against basically what he had been to others.

Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/shieldbro/comments/kbxwzk/first_time_read_through_light_novel_vol_17_random/

#rising of the shield hero #random thoughts #reddit repost

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mermaidmafia-official · 5 years

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“she was tied to the moon by long threads of red tangled blood. she moved like a woman tied to the moon… it enveloped her and it opened her to an absolute night without dawn.” —anaïs nin

Name: Violaine-Iris Chatelet

Title(s): Queen of Iphis, Violaine-Iris, First of Her Name

Age: 21

FC or Features: Lauren de Graaf … but if she were terrifyingly gaunt from constantly poisoning herself, making her face a lot sharper looking and dark circles under her eyes; gold inlay protection runes etched into the enamel of her teeth (all on inward facing except for her canines). Everything about her is angular and sharp.

Likes: placing bets on gladiators, garnets (colour and gemstone), brushing her own hair, tormenting Maladroit ‘playfully’, candied rose petals (possibly to hide the stench of her rotting gut from poison abuse), musing in the bath, the flickering of Tenebris’ tongue in her ear, floral teas, incense, ensuring that something is out of order if she enters a room before Popa has (or, if she knows Popa will frequent), generally being the centre of attention, the smell of fresh blood, dancing, making other people uncomfortable, propagating the rumour of Popa’s blood drinking

Dislikes: being a diarch, how uncomfortable it is to sit on a throne for extended periods of time, wasting time watching fights in the arena (at least until there’s considerable bloodshed), Daphnis’s poor attempts to sway her decisions by flirting (Tenebris is more of a flirt), court singers, whispering, knowing someone has been talking about her before entering a room

Goals: To convince her betrothed to join her plot to eliminate her sister(s) / to shuffle Popa off the mortal coil sooner rather than later / to completely immune herself to the effects of every known poison (by slowly poisoning herself) / to be THE ONLY QUEEN OF IPHIS no more sharing of throne

Fears: everything Popa does; a disagreeable prince; being poisoned by a sister or someone else/being dethroned, the lycanthrope disease, the rising rumours of the werewolf queen in the north

Rumours: the skull of her first husband sits in her chambers on a pillow and she speaks to it sometimes, especially of late (true) / Vitalion and Violaine-Iris were more … intimate than siblings ought to be (questionable, but never denied) / Violaine-Iris made a passing comment about Alexon’s *interest* in the lycanthrope prince to Popa in hopes of riding the family of the male Chatelets completely (unfounded, but never denied) / delighted by the discovery of a hermaphroditic servant in the palace and made them her personal servant (partially true – Maladroit is more of a grotesque than anything) / she used her poisoned claw rings to strike the eyes out of someone who greatly displeased her/she thought was plotting against her in the name of her brother and/or sister(s) (untrue, although it pleases her to hear this rumour creeping around every so often as it has persisted for several years) / Tenebris is a rare venomous snake given to her by her late husband as a wedding gift (true, although Tenebris’s venom is not as deadly as everyone thinks) / that she gave birth to a stillborn child and went into hysterics when they interred the babe in the royal tomb, screaming for a metal cage to be placed over the small sarcophagus for fear that the child would come back to life as the babe was believed to be born of incest (partially true – Violaine-Iris did give birth and the babe died very shortly after taking its first breath, however she was not present for the interment. Oddly enough, a cage has since appeared over the very small marble block that houses the child) / she poisoned Thalestris by turning everything her mother had taught her about poisons against her (very true)

Scale of 1-10, how likely is your Chatelet to kill a family member: 11.5, depending on the hour and her mood

- Typical -

Wardrobe: often wears thick choker-like necklaces with heavy jewels and gold (to protect her neck for fear of knives in dark places); (golden) claw rings (frequently coated with or dipped in poison); either draped in velvet or muslin, all of which has been styled with the appropriate emblems and symbols of protection; Tenebris often curled around an arm or over her shoulders; pomander; when the occasion calls for it, robes for sacrifices and other pieces for performing rites

Places most likely to be found: in the throne room, her own chambers (particularly a secret chamber inside her wardrobe room in which she spends time preparing her poisons), sometimes in her personal garden or reptile house (although you’re likely to find Maladroit scuttling about)

People mostly likely to be with: Maladroit (dogsbody and handmaiden); Daphnis (lady’s maid trying to style herself as a vizier to Vi, barely trusts); Tenebris (pet snake, small, pure white with golden protection markings along its body); other various (unnamed) servants and handmaids, sniveling courtiers

Strongest character trait: fairly maniacal and paranoid

Mannerisms: tends to drum her nails slowly when thinking; tends to smile at the wrong things; languid; tends to be vague on purpose mostly for her own amusement (tends to throw people into a panic trying to figure out what she means or wants, also makes it easier to pick on or punish someone later when the mood strikes her)

- Relationships -

[if anything doesn’t gel with what you loves have for your characters, let me know and i’ll change it!]

with Anxélica: Due to the eldest’s “exile” to the coast by their mother, Violaine-Iris remembers very little of Anxélica, all tinged with the fog of childhood memories. Since Thalestris’ death, Violaine-Iris has become more aware of Anxélica’s visits to the palace and with whom she visits. What she doesn’t know, exactly, is what goes on at the Duchess’s residence. Since the eldest Chatelet has shown little interest in being a queen, Violaine-Iris tends to oscillate between thinking of Anxélica as a non-threat (categorized with Otrera) and thinking that the Duchess of Macar is amassing an army at her estate to overthrow both she and Popa to claim the throne as rightfully hers.

with Sabela: Considers the Serene Lady to be the weakest of her sisters due to her docile nature, therefore not a threat. Yet. Violaine-Iris is also somewhat convinced that Sabela is whispering conspiracies and rumours about her into the ear of Otrera to turn her against Vi and make the child a queen. More worrying, her closeness with Anxélica. She sees Sabela as no queen, but a potential queen-maker. For now, her watchful eye is upon the Serene Lady, but no action is taken.

with Popa: Currently wary of Popa, Violaine-Iris has been on high alert every time her sister queen’s name is mentioned, every time she walks in a room, sits on the throne next to her, when her servants pass by in the hall … Popa has become Violaine-Iris’ most recent obsessive fixation for her paranoid delusions. There might have been a time when Vi and Popa were on somewhat friendly terms, but Violaine-Iris’s ascension to the throne and Alexon’s death has dramatically altered this. Vi is often the butt of Popa’s jokes and barbs, which Vi takes in ‘good humour’ in a public setting, but often will return calmly to her chambers to smash several things (often an antique or two because the shattering is just so satisfying~ and she feels as though her anger is reverberating straight through the core of their ancestors)

with Otrera: Though a child, Violaine-Iris watches her closely. She’s convinced that Sabela is whispering things in the child’s ear about her. She has considered poisoning Otrera on and off as the mood strikes her (but has typically decided against it mostly on account of the legion of nannies that appear out of thin air), but wonders if the Treasured Lady would be a better bargaining chip if it came down to it.

Maladroit: Typical master and servant relationship. Maladroit is wholly devoted to Violaine-Iris (who both tolerates and abuses this devotion) as she is probably the only person to not wrinkle her nose in disgust or shudder every time Maladroit comes near, for which Maladroit is grateful. They’re also grateful that Her Radiant Highness hasn’t seen fit to throw them into the arena for an afternoon or children’s showing.

Daphnis: There’s days when she’s like nothing more than to skewer Daphnis, but she’s also the person who has known her the longest that is not a sibling. It’s a tenuous friendship at best, if you can call it that.

- Bio -

Violaine-Iris is a scary figure among the Chatelets for the simple fact that she sits in a seat of power but can sometimes lose her grip on reality and act on unfounded paranoia. Strikingly beautiful as she is often unhinged, she’s the only one of her sisters who has been married and is set to be married again in the following days. Her first husband- an unremarkable noble- she feared was poisoning her meals, and in a fit of terror, she knocked him from the balcony outside her chambers and he ended up quite expired on the stone of the courtyard below. This new soon-to-be-Prince has yet to arrive in the Iphian palace despite his wedding date visible on the horizon. Most within the palace expect a bad ending. As Popa said (loudly) on the day the new engagement was announced, “This one will be dead soon, too.” But Violaine-Iris’ suspicions lie elsewhere these days- with none other than her sister and co-ruler Popa. Violaine-Iris has never believed in the need for a diarchy, but she’s largely kept that to herself. She would like to be the sole Queen of Iphis, but Popa, she (rightly) believes, would kill her first- that, in fact, Popa is trying to kill her first. Driven by this delusion, she’s hoping to recruit her new husband into solving the problem for her. But, perhaps, it’s only a matter of time before either Queen ends up like the poor courtyarded Prince.

- Extra -

Playlist:

Mistress – VIXX

Power is Power – SZA, the Weeknd

Can You Find Her Place – Lydia Ainsworth

you should see me in a crown – Billie Eilish

Bravado - Lorde

Kingdom Fall - Claire Wyndham

The Hunt - Johnny Greenwood

Headcanons:

Has always been somewhat paranoid with violent outbursts, but this has increased tenfold since the deaths of Thalestris and Vitalion (both of which she was directly responsible for)

As queen in residence (as opposed to Popa’s warmongering and preference for military action), Vi has taken a leaf out of her mother’s book by taking up the mantle of the mystic/spiritual queen (which tends to add to everyone’s fear of her). She performs every ritual and rite to ensure the protection of the queendom and the people. She never used to believe in any of the rites or took with the beliefs of the Iphian people, but since the death of Thalestris she’s become more… spiritual. Vi says all the right prayers with the most solemn face, performs every ritual dance with as much fervour as she can muster, and takes great delight in making sacrifices, especially blood rites.

It was normal for her to talk to the skulls in her rooms, but now she keeps seeing Vitalion hanging about in corridors

Wants to employ spies, but ultimately does not trust them and is fairly certain they’d be working for Popa anyway

She surprised herself with how much she enjoys the ritualistic dancing, how swept away she becomes. Her worries slide away and she just keeps dancing, working herself further and further into a frenzy until she feels like she’s being unmade

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#sac: violaine-iris #sac: bio #semp's writing #c o m p l e t e #i think?#if anything doesn't work with someone else's character let me know so i can fix it!

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eichy815 · 6 years

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Swarming Samantha Bee

In the past two weeks, political wasps from all across the spectrum have been buzzing about Samantha Bee. During the May 30 broadcast of her TBS late night comedy/satire show, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, she called out First Daughter Ivanka Trump for being insensitive to destroyed families who were separated from their children at the U.S./Mexican border. After Ms. Trump had posted to Twitter a photo of herself affectionately holding her son, Bee used her TBS program as a platform to quip aloud:

Let me just say, one mother to another, do something about your dad’s immigration practices you feckless cunt!

Adding in a glib incest “joke,” she continued:

[Your father] listens to you! Put on something tight and low-cut and tell your father to fucking stop it.

Unfortunately for Bee, she committed this faux pas one day after Roseanne Barr found her sitcom revival canceled in the aftermath of posting a racist tweet against Valerie Jarrett. Conservatives were just looking for the opportunity to skewer a liberal pundit...and Samantha Bee gave them that gift on a silver platter.

The very next day, Bee officially apologized on Full Frontal:

...for using an expletive on my show to describe her last night. It was inappropriate and inexcusable. I crossed a line, and I deeply regret it.

TBS followed suit, issuing a statement:

Samantha Bee has taken the right action in apologizing for the vile and inappropriate language she used about Ivanka Trump last night. Those words should not have been aired. It was our mistake too, and we regret it.

Of course, the predictable apologism (on Samantha Bee’s behalf) spilled in from certain segments of Hollywood. Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart challenged the selective outrage at Bee from right-wingers, citing how the Far Right frequently tries to play the victim while simultaneously being the bully. Oscar winner Sally Field said:

I like Samantha Bee a lot, but she is flat wrong to call Ivanka a cunt. Cunts are powerful, beautiful, nurturing and honest.

With all due respect to Sally Field (who I usually adore) and Jon Stewart (whose comedic chops I admire) – they are wrong, here.

I also would like to point out how, back in September of 2017, when I wrote a piece excoriating the “performance art” of conservative pot-stirrers Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopoulos, one of the pundits whom I’d name-dropped as a potential future leftist counterpart to Jones and Yiannopoulos was none other than Samantha Bee (as well as Bill Maher, whose own ancillary vice I’ll address momentarily). Unfortunately, less than a year later, Bee is now causing my words to become outright prophetic.

Here’s the biggest gripe I have with Samantha Bee’s apology: I don’t think she actually meant it. Upon what do I base this suspicion? Well, as discussed by TownHall writer Guy Benson, a follow-up “apology” from Bee on her June 7 broadcast contained loads of contrite subtext.

First, Benson pointed out that Bee’s follow-up mea culpa for using the C-word contained no reiteration of a personal apology to Ivanka Trump herself (even though Bee apologized to women in general who may have felt offended). This suggests that Bee’s (earlier) original scripted statement apologizing to Ivanka had been a mere coerced formality. She also – during this two-minute monologue – made it a point to say:

Many men were also offended by my use of the word. I do not care about that.

Then, Bee lamented how her use of an obscenity had distracted the conversation away from President Trump’s abhorrent immigration policy itself. As Benson rebuts: perhaps if Bee and TBS hadn’t made that calculated decision to air the uttering of that particular word (directed at Ivanka), they actually could have motivated the general viewing audience to more critically dissect Trump’s treatment of undocumented families.

Essentially, Bee’s “non-apology” was an intentional doubling-down of her original toxic sentiments...to which her live audience reacted with hearty applause and cheers, of course. Which, eerily enough, was conceptually similar to Roseanne Barr’s own post-termination Twitter meltdown.

Yet, it isn’t just elite segments of the Hollywood community allowing Bee to get away with a double standard.

Jen Chaney of Vulture objects that criticism of Bee is simply an attempt to silence voices on the Left via some faux-outrage over perceived misogyny. After all, Chaney brings up, no one had any problem with it when Bee used the C-word to describe Woodrow Wilson during a comedy set back in April of 2017. The other difference, according to Chaney, is that a figure such as Jemele Hill was calling out someone’s racism (in that case, President Trump’s) whereas Roseanne Barr had used Twitter to exhibit racism herself.

Jen Chaney is performing some pretty spry mental gymnastics. She tries to write off Bee’s critics as applying a false equivalency argument:

Maybe Bee shouldn’t have used that specific word. I’ll concede that she could have been less crass, even though she’s used the same language in the past and no one said boo until Barr got fired. Bee’s larger point was to criticize Ivanka Trump’s insensitive and tone-deaf photograph. The point of Barr’s tweet, in as much as it had a point, was that Barr thinks Jarrett is both an Islamist and an ape. Saying that both women deserve to be fired suggests their offenses are identical. They are not.

Then she goes on to state:

Now, Bee has been forced to go on the defensive, even though her transgression is not nearly as egregious, offensive, or cruel as what Barr did. Even worse, the biggest offender of all still sits in the Oval Office, tweeting and saying whatever he wants. For those who are genuinely concerned about nasty profanity being spouted into the cultural ether, I suggest you pick up the phone and check your caller ID. The worst rhetoric of all? It’s coming from inside the White House.

What Chaney is missing here would be the reality that critics have the ability to equally take Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee and Donald Trump to task for their individualized words and sentiments. She’s right that many conservative critics are applying selective outrage to Bee while giving Barr and Trump a free pass. But, conversely, many people who oppose Trump’s agenda are downplaying the vile invective wielded by Bee...presumably because they agree with Bee politically.

They just don’t want to admit it. They want to bestow upon Samantha Bee the same “celebrity privilege” exemption that some liberals and progressives feel should have been likewise given to Al Franken.

Apparently, if an offender shares your ideology, then mental gymnastics are wholeheartedly encouraged and embraced.

The Times-Picayne’s Tim Morris makes an astute point about this hypocrisy. He observes how, since TBS also chose to consciously apologize for allowing Bee’s obscene speech to air, the network is essentially admitting that it tried to get away with the offense...and got busted for it. Full Frontal is pre-taped and vetted for content by network executives. He summarizes:

Is it simply that Barr was fired for a blatantly racist slur while Bee was just being vulgar, which appears to be the state of comedy these days even on network television? Does it make any difference that Barr was ranting on Twitter while Bee's noxious words were planned, scripted and presumably reviewed and approved by others on her show and at the network? Will our public discourse ever improve if we don't condemn incivility on all sides?

Besides that, as Bee and TBS were surely aware, Chelsea Clinton came to Ivanka’s defense, tweeting how “It’s grossly inappropriate and just flat-out wrong to describe or talk about @IvankaTrump or any woman that way.” In his assessment, Morris further states:

Bee defenders will rightly point out that the White House has still not condemned Barr’s racist tweet and that Bee’s language is not that much different than what President Trump’s was in that Access Hollywood tape. But that seems to be the [very same] ‘whataboutism’ that Trump defenders are often accused of. If you think Barr was wrongly fired for what she said then it's inconsistent to argue that Bee should be punished in the same way for her comments. But if you endorsed the ouster of Barr then it's difficult to avoid the hypocrisy of not demanding some repercussions for Bee.

What it really boils down to is that Samantha Bee and TBS “apologized” purely for optics. Bee’s subtext was really, “I stand behind what I said, but I realize it made people uncomfortable and I’m sorry you feel that way.” TBS’s subtext was basically, “We knew exactly what we were doing, but we’re sorry we got caught.”

Christine Flowers of The Times Record writes how she used to enjoy watching Samantha Bee because of Bee’ s “mean-girl humor,” “her delivery,” and “her sass” – and due to having an affinity for Canadian-born TV personalities. However, Flowers has resolved to no longer watch Full Frontal, for the following reason:

Samantha Bee is a darling of the evolved liberal set, the ones who talk about how much they care about human rights. But that doesn’t give her, or any other progressive, carte blanche to slander Ivanka Trump. I’ve been called a certain word online and in emails, and while I don’t really get upset anymore, it is always revelatory how little respect so-called [‘]progressives[’] have for the women who disagree with them. And poor Ivanka didn’t even say anything disagreeable. She just posted a lovely photo of her child, and the gates of hell opened up on social media.

After acknowledging that ABC was right to fire Barr for Barr’s racism, Flowers also admits that broadcast decency standards are different on late-night cable than they are during primetime. But she continues:

You should not be able to say the things that Bee said and get a pass for being a [‘]feminist.[’] No woman who attacks another mother the way that Bee did is a true feminist. If you cannot show respect to people with whom you disagree, and if you can’t hold your fire when a young mother displays genuine affection for her child, you are the other c-word: Classless.

Samantha Bee’s problem is that she already has a history of neofeminist and neoliberal sympathies (much like Roseanne Barr had a track record for making other racist, sexist, and bigoted statements). Bee has proceeded to epitomize this reverence for “female exceptionalism” by declaring how she flat-out didn’t care what any males thought of her words. She keeps trying to divert the discussion back to Donald Trump’s obvious deficiencies, even though Bee’s own support for the corrupt Democratic establishment is a big part of what ultimately enabled Trump’s own rise to power.

It’s like the journalists who currently whine about how Trump is abusing his presidential powers...even though they’re the same ones who gave him all of the copious airtime and free publicity (back in 2015 and 2016) in the first place.

More mental gymnastics: Glamour’s Angelica Florio tries to excuse Bee’s behavior by saying how the C-word wasn’t necessarily considered offensive or obscene back in the medieval times, as it was often used as an emotionless synonym for the female anatomy (the same way we would use the word “vulva,” today).

She mangles the narrative by rationalizing:

The backlash against Bee’s use of the word “cunt” almost says more about the ways in which society views women’s genitals than it does about the invisible lines that Bee may or may not have crossed. The New York Times, for example, couldn't even use the word when reporting about Bee’s misstep! Instead, they alluded to Bee’s usage as a “crass insult” and a “vulgar epithet.”

Florio compares it to Donald Trump’s infamous menstruation comment about Megyn Kelly from 2015, and points out that some feminists have chosen to reclaim the C-word (much the same way some black people have chosen to reclaim the N-word). She implies how, consequently, the pearl-clutching in reaction to Samantha Bee’s speech could be considered a form of body-shaming.

Which is it, Ms. Florio? Is the C-word reclamatory or insulting? I reckon her answer would be: “women can use it whenever they want; but men should never be able to use it under ANY circumstance.”

Ted Diadiun, writing for Cleveland.com, acknowledges that the circumstances surrounding Bee’s and Barr’s respective controversies are indeed different. Nevertheless, he asks: why should either of them be lionized? As Diadiun puts it:

The only thing these two have in common is that they are both loud, annoying, crass and profane people who said – far from the first time – something offensive...Why does anyone care what Roseanne Barr or Samantha Bee thinks? Who watches these crude shows? I don't know. I've taken an informal survey, and thus far I'm happy to report that I haven't found any Bee or Barr fans among my friends (and if you are my friend and do enjoy them, please keep it to yourself).

So what should Samantha Bee have done (in the aftermath of her use of the C-word), instead? I will quote a follow-up post from Guy Benson, who wrote up a hypothetical SINCERE apology that Bee could have alternately recited:

Hi, I'm Samantha Bee.

Last week, I used an ugly word – a word that I’ve used before on this show, yes – but in this instance, I deployed it deliberately to insult Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and advisor. I didn't say it spontaneously, out of anger. I wrote it into my script because I was angry. I was angry about her father’s immigration policies. Doing so was wrong and exhibited poor judgment. I want to be provocative and honest on this show, but as I told the New York Times in an interview last year, I want to make sure that I strive for decency in what I see as a troubling political era. I told the Times that we need to seek out the humanity of people who disagree with us. So last week, I failed to live up to my own standards, and I’m very sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did. I apologize without caveat, qualification, or asterisk to Ivanka Trump and the people who love her.

Of course, I still feel strongly about her father’s policies and political decisions. And I’ll keep articulating my views on this show every week. I absolutely do not apologize for that. But that’s not what this is about tonight – right here, right now. It’s about saying sorry after crossing a line, which I did. I’ve also heard from many women, in particular, who are offended by that word – that epithet – who want people with platforms like mine to lift fellow women up, not drag them down with terms specifically designed to demean women. I hear you, and I'm sorry. When we talk about civility – and we call out incivility – it's important to remember that ultimately, civility has to be about more than just using nicer words or sanitized speech. It’s about how we act, and how we treat each other. That applies to our president. That applies to how we treat immigrant families. And yes, that applies to me. I should have done better, and I didn’t. I hope you'll accept my apology. Now, don't worry: I'll be back next week, rocking the boat and pushing the envelope, as always. I’ll just do it through the lens of this clarifying and humbling mistake. Thank you for watching, and good night.

But Samantha Bee didn’t say any of that. Which tells me that she was blatantly PROUD of what she did and said...along with the way it all unfolded.

In addition, during a New York Times interview a couple of weeks prior to Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration, Bee herself had advocated “a broad coalition of straight-up decency” to find common ground with others in spite of our political differences. According to her, “some things will have to be off limits if we’re going to find the humanity on the other side of the aisle.”

Now, Bee’s words from a year-and-a-half ago ring hollow.

During a June 1 roundtable discussion of this controversy on ABC’s The View, cohosts Sara Haines and Paula Faris both agreed that Bee’s speech was disgusting...and there should be at least some consequences.

Sunny Hostin, a proven neoliberal and neofeminist voice on their panel (who, ironically enough, constantly complains about our nation’s “lack of civility” during the Trump Era), defended Bee by adopting the Jen Cheney position on how criticism of Samantha Bee is supposedly a deflective distraction from the sins of Roseanne Barr and Donald Trump.

Guest cohost Ana Navarro criticized Bee for playing right into the Far Right’s narrative, but she still believed that Bee’s apology was appropriate and genuine (wow, Samantha has really got you snookered, Ana!).

But Joy Behar took the most odious position of those on the panel that day. Obviously a fellow graduate from the Angelica Florio School of Hypocrisy, Behar declared that losing State Farm and Autotrader as sponsors was a sufficient enough “punishment” for Bee and Full Frontal. Acknowledging that the C-word has a misogynistic connotation, Behar opined that it’s much worse when a man uses the word than when a woman does.

Navarro agreed with that lattermost neofeminist sentiment of Behar’s. Conversely, Haines and Faris both said that no one should ever use the C-word.

And then, Behar invoked cultural relativism by arguing how the C-word is much more acceptable in the U.K. (citing the frequent usage of it by comedian Ricky Gervais), and that – as a Canadian-born person – Samantha Bee shouldn’t be held hostage to such puritanical American norms. Of course, Behar is also saying that those American norms should only apply if males try to use the C-word.

I wonder if Joy Behar would be as accommodating if Joni Ernst had used the C-word to describe Hillary Clinton? Or if Ann Coulter had used it to describe Meryl Streep?

But then, would Behar turn around and suddenly think it was acceptable if Clinton used it against Ernst...or if Streep used it against Coulter?

This is a rhetorical question. I suspect Behar – much like Samantha Bee – believes that “an exception” should be made if the accused party is someone with whom she politically identifies or admires. Behar, not surprisingly, is also amongst the celebrity apologists who wanted to let Al Franken off the hook so easily.

I’ll also point out that I had defended Behar, back in March of this past spring, when Mike Pence (and his acolytes) came after her for purported “religious insensitivity.” ABC forced Behar to apologize for comparing Pence’s beliefs to mental illness – and I found Bob Iger’s and ABC’s coercion of Behar to be absolutely ridiculous, since Vice-President Pence has clearly proven himself to be a religious extremist.

But, on the matter of Samantha Bee, I have to sharply dissent with Behar: she’s dead-wrong, here. Behar is enabling Bee’s own agenda to integrate neofeminism as an accepted social norm. And let me be clear: by “neofeminism,” I’m referring to the doctrine that females are inherently “superior” to males in most areas of life. This third-wave manifesto of “female exceptionalism” suggests that men (and boys) should be submissive and deferential to women (and girls), by default, a majority of the time in a majority of circumstances.

It’s sort of like how, during this past spring’s April 12 airing of The Talk on CBS, when moderator Julie Chen “joked” that pregnant women should be able to squeeze the testicles of their husbands (or their baby daddies) to relieve stress while in labor. Or how, on the May 22 episode slightly more than a month later – when discussing the allegations of Patrick J. Adams “bullying” a woman on social media after that overweight woman had body-shamed Adams in person (at Heathrow Airport) by telling him he’d looked a bit “chunky” at the Royal Wedding – Chen stated that males shouldn’t be able to call out females publicly in that manner...but, in her view, it’s fine (or “not as bad”) if females do it to males.

Samantha Bee is proving that either she desires to be a “performance artist” (in the vein of one of her recent defenders, Bill Maher, who’d declared how a hypothetical economic crash would be worth the trade-off of bringing down Trump’s presidency)...or, alternately, she has a serious intent to use “comedy” to normalize misandry within our social discourse.

Or maybe a little bit of both?

I really don’t care if Samantha Bee views herself as being above moral standards just because she happens to be a comedienne. If she continues to entrench herself within the Entertainment Industry as a misandrist voice of neofeminism, she *will* be held accountable for her hate speech.

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