#EXCEPT CREDENCE ALSO KNEW HE HAD MAGIC???? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ourgreatergood · 1 year

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I posted 545 times in 2022

That's 450 more posts than 2021!

20 posts created (4%)

525 posts reblogged (96%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@cinnamoncountess

@yumbledore

@folklorealbus

@love-arrogance-naivety

@lemon-drops-and-acid-pops

I tagged 82 of my posts in 2022

#grindeldore - 38 posts

#gellert grindelwald - 24 posts

#fb - 22 posts

#nicolas fantastic fanfiction - 21 posts

#hp - 18 posts

#albus dumbledore - 18 posts

#fantastic beasts - 15 posts

#tsod - 11 posts

#nicolas ordinary life - 9 posts

#tsod spoilers - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 67 characters

#i posted this on 4th of july 2019 and just stumbled across it again

My Top Posts in 2022:

I wrote a little something inspired by Heaven (from the OST of Secrets of Dumbledore) - of course it’s about Albus and Gellert.

It may contain some spoilers for Secrets of Dumbledore, though, so beware!

33 notes - Posted April 9, 2022

if you take angstier prompts: perhaps something with Dumbledore actually being seriously hurt after his battle with Credence/Aurelius, and Grindelwald having some weird angst session about it? (like he still was the one who sent him after Dumbledore with the intent of Dumbledore dying, but when it now becomes a real possibility, he realizes that he really doesnt want him dead?)

Thank you very much! So, I changed the set up a bit because it gave me a reason to explore a theory of mine concerning Gellert’s intentions with Credence, but I tried to capture the gist of Gellert’s angst session! Hope you enjoy! (Also yes, I tried to keep the technicalities of all the magical aspects very vague here bc it would’ve turned too long and honestly I have no idea how everything’s going to work out, either, don’t mind that.)

It was funny how Sight and reality could deviate. When he’d set up the boy to combat Albus he had done so with the conviction that Aurelius would never actually be able to harm Albus. Not clever, powerful Albus. Not Albus, who could shake the world with a flip of his wand. That was exactly why he’d set Credence up to do it.

Hurting Albus physically, magically was almost impossible. (Except for himself, Gellert knew.) But there were a million other ways to hurt a man and Gellert knew all of them and then some more for Albus, simply because he knew him so intimately.

Set up a boy he cares about to fight him. Force him to relive the moment they’d all lost control, yet Gellert was the one to be blamed for. Force him to hurt the boy. All that would do more damage to Albus than any spell ever could, he’d been sure of it.

Of course, he knew that Aurelius would never stand a chance against Albus, despite his vision. Admittedly, he had been curious about how it would play out. How Fate would fit in with the reality he was creating.

He had not expected this, though.

As always, he had forgotten about Albus’s stupid noble heart. Perhaps it was because he could not even imagine the kindness Albus was willing to show that he always underestimated this part of the equation, but once again it had literally blown up in his face.

How in Merlin’s name should he have anticipated that Albus was willing to die for that stupid boy? How could he have imagined that Albus would take the whole blow of the Obscurus and some strange magic Gellert had never seen before but that he was sure Albus had come up with, with the help of Scamander?

Now that his plan had worked out (it hadn’t since this had never really been his plan to begin with) and Fate was seeming to get her way, he realised that he’d been wrong once again. The fear he’d felt, when he’d had that vision was not because of his opponent. It was the cruel, cold fist of fear that was now squeezing his chest at the sight of Albus, pale and motionless and bleeding, lying on the ground, his friends and his brother rushing towards him.

Aurelius, perfectly fine, probably even better than ever before sat on the ground not far from them, dumbstruck at what had happened. It was Aberforth – of course it was – who dared to call out to him and ask if he was all right and Gellert was uncomfortably reminded of a similar afternoon, a lifetime ago it seemed, only that Albus had slipped his hand in his and asked him in a shaky whisper to please, stay and let me explain.

Albus wasn’t moving now. Theseus Scamander was steadily casting Renervate at his chest and Eulalie Hicks was cushioning his bleeding head on her cloak, but nothing happened.

Even from the other side of the plaza he’d felt Albus’s magic vibrating in the air all around them, before. It had been so distinctly familiar that it had almost driven him crazy, but now there was nothing. His own magic was searching, almost desperately, for that familiar trace, for the strings so intricately connected to his own but came up empty.

A feeling unknown to him, like a dark shadow surfacing from the depths of his being, began to rise in his body, constricting his lungs and throat, squeezing his chest, replacing his blood with ice water.

He was constantly surrounded by death these days, he’d told the members of alliance time and again that Albus was the greatest danger to their cause, when he’d been angry, he’d imagined hurting him, but now the prospect of Albus, the only person on this damn earth that it was really worth talking to, the only one, who’d ever been able to understand his mind, the only one, who’d ever known him – gone?

No, he’d never wanted this. He didn’t want this. That stubborn fool couldn’t leave him alone in this shameful world!

If he refused to see how brilliant they could be together for the rest of his damn life, fine, but he couldn’t leave him for good! Albus couldn’t just take his only connection away like that by dying.

He only noticed that his body had started shaking from the tension in his muscles, when Vinda touched his arm, muttering: “We should go.”

“No, wait,” he told her, still observing how Albus’s friends were trying to breathe life back into him. He knew they wouldn’t let him approach them and he couldn’t be seen helping Albus Dumbledore, but all his impulses were pushing him to stride over and pour out all his magic and remind Albus’s blood that it was still bound to earth, bound to life.

“The Aurors will be here soon,” Vinda said. And she was right. They needed to be gone soon, but he couldn’t as long as he wasn’t sure that Albus would live. He watched as Aurelius slowly, carefully stumbled over to the group of people surrounding Albus and for the second time that day he witnessed magic he had never seen before. (He wasn’t sure anyone had seen it before; they were definitely pushing the boundaries of known magical territory.)

He would never understand what it was with phoenixes and the Dumbledores but for a moment he did not care. There was blinding red and gold like a flame and then he could feel the familiar presence of Albus’s magic filling the plaza again, no matter how weak it seemed, and the next moment a dozen Aurors apparated all over the place.

Vinda’s eyes had already widened with fear, when he finally gave her permission to go, following with merely a last glance at Albus’s slowly moving form.

37 notes - Posted March 5, 2022

Promise

This is for @darkangelis, who requested: They meet in secret throughout the war because they can’t stay away from each other but Albus feels so guilty about it he starts to suffer from panic attacks. They normally happen after Gellert has left but one time Albus can’t stop one coming on while he’s still there. Gellert comforts him through it.

I absolutely LOVED writing this, it was very therapeutic and I do love making Albus suffer, so thank you very much for this! I hope you enjoy it!

TW panic attacks

Albus was wondering time and again how he got into all the comfortable hotel rooms in various countries on the continent and in the end he always came up with one simple answer: He wanted to.

He wanted to, even though he knew it was wrong. He wanted to, even though he knew that no decent man would’ve ever done it. He wanted to, even though he despised himself for it.

He never told anyone about it, naturally. Who could he tell? Nobody would understand and the shame he felt over it was so overwhelming that it sealed his lips tightly shut. Perhaps that was the reason for the increasingly severe sessions of discomfort that had started to follow those encounters with Gellert. (Perhaps discomfort was not quite right considering that his throat was so constricted he couldn’t breathe and his body was shaking so much he wasn’t even sure it was his own anymore.)

Back when he’d been eighteen and broken after that summer Nicolas had told him that speaking about it, no matter how hard or impossible it seemed, would relieve him. He’d been right. He’d poured it all out one night, fully expecting Nicolas to tell him what he already knew: that there was something wrong with him. But Nicolas had done no such thing. He’d been kind and understanding and encouraging and somehow that had saved him.

But he wasn’t eighteen anymore and none of this could be blamed on youthful carelessness, on accidents or ignorance. He knew perfectly well who Gellert was and he knew perfectly well what he was doing. Not even Nicolas could tell him there was no shame in that.

He forgot about all that, the moment Gellert kissed him. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, no matter how much he’d tried to suppress it, his heart was longing for it. He was suddenly reminded that his whole being wanted nothing more but to be with Gellert. He remembered everything he’d dreamed of as a boy, of Gellert by his side, of them growing old together. He certainly hadn’t imagined it like this, but if this was all that he would get, he had to take it, no matter how much it hurt him, no matter how wrong it was.

In the beginning a small part of him had hoped that perhaps, Gellert would change his mind, leave his path and return to him, but their irregular meetings continued for more than three decades now and if anything Gellert had become only more determined with his cause.

They weren’t meeting very often, they couldn’t afford it and Albus suspected that the long breaks were doing nothing for his emotional stability. It was always enough time to let him get over the dark pit of guilt and shame and contempt he fell into right after such an encounter. It was even enough time to let him forget how much it hurt every time Gellert left, every time he had to beat himself up afterwards. It was so much time that his heart started missing Gellert again, despite everything. So much time that, when he made a fascinating magical discovery, he instantly thought of sharing it with Gellert until the second passed and reality crept back in that he could not simply tell Gellert about it.

Sometimes this downward spiral was delayed when he heard especially atrocious rumors about what Gellert and his Alliance were doing and he was forcefully reminded of all the blood on Gellert’s hands but even that could not deter him, whenever he found himself faced with a chance encounter or one of Gellert’s subtle invitations. (It was the only dignity he could retain: He would never ask for a meeting, although lately he wasn’t sure anymore if it didn’t make him more pathetic that he came running each time Gellert called.)

Now, though, he found himself once again in a hotel room in a small French village near Versailles (of all places, of course!) with his robe on the floor and Gellert’s hands all over his body.

It was what he would’ve dreamed of at eighteen. A cozy room, a warm summer breeze toying with the curtains leading out to the balcony, a rich country. Foolishly, he’d not imagined a war, he’d not imagined the most powerful wand in the world to have drawn so much blood just the day before Gellert was running it up his leg, vanishing his undergarments.

Gellert’s teeth were grazing the crook of his neck and he felt the thrill of it running through his body, but it was oddly distant. Gellert’s hands and lips on his skin, which had been fire before, emptied his head and had him craving more were suddenly obscured by numbness. Before he knew what was happening, before he could try to do anything about it, his breath was coming in shallow gasps – not of the good kind -, he desperately tried to fill his lungs with oxygen but not air could reach it, his throat was constricted. He could feel his body shaking and tears escaping his eyes, running down his cheeks of their own volition.

“Albus?” He could hear Gellert’s voice, could even recognize the concern in it but he couldn’t speak. His body had forgotten how to obey him, how to do anything but shake with the uncontrollable feeling of dread and doom that was filling out his chest.

“Albus!” Gellert’s hand found his and he could squeeze it, so tightly he was almost worried he could hurt Gellert, but he couldn’t let go. Once his hand had closed around it, it refused any commands his hazy mind might make.

“It’s all right, Albus. Breathe. Slowly.”

Uncontrollable, embarrassing sobs were escaping his mouth as he desperately tried to do as Gellert told him. He tried to get a hold of his breathing again, tried to suck in air slowly.

“Albus. You’re safe, you’re all right. Breathe in and out. In and out.” Gellert was squeezing his hand back, while he was slowly succeeding in slowing down his breathing. “Hey, do you remember the first time we met? You had the tale of the three brothers memorized… There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight.”

“In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across,” his mind supplied automatically. He could feel the tears subside and his body stopped shaking. “However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water.” He could feel Gellert’s hand in his again, the room came into focus again and with it Gellert’s face. His body was listening to him again. He loosened the grip on Gellert’s hand and drew a few shaky but controlled breaths before he slowly sat up.

Gellert pulled the sheets over them and leaned back against the headrest of the bed, while Albus ran his hands over his face and tried to collect the rest of his sanity.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. He felt drained like all energy had been plucked from his body. Here he was now, in a hotel room in France, naked with Europe’s most wanted man next to him and all he wanted was to be somewhere else, to be someone else. He could feel tears rising in his throat again and closed his eyes. It was embarrassing enough to have been so vulnerable in front of Gellert once today, he could not bear a second time. But Merlin, he was sure that this war, that Gellert, that his own despicable traitorous heart would break what he’d tried to put back together years ago.

“Don’t be. Did I do anything – ?” Gellert asked.

He took the hands from his face and shook his head and he almost had to laugh. “No.” He turned his head to look at Gellert, who was watching him curiously (he even imagined there was still a concerned spark in his eyes). “No, it was nothing you did. This just – happens sometimes.”

Of course, it was everything Gellert did outside of this room, outside of this bed. Of course, it was everything Albus didn’t do. It was everything he did do with Gellert. He leaned back against the headrest as well. They wouldn’t be doing a lot today, at least.

“It wasn’t always this bad,” Gellert said and he was right. When he’d been younger, there had been occasions when it had been hard to breathe, when he’d felt similar dread take over his body and he’d taken to recounting magical laws and literature in his head to get through it, but it had been controllable.

“No, that is a recent development,” he sighed.

“Why do you think that is?”

See the full post

40 notes - Posted March 6, 2022

if you take anon prompts, how about Gellert realizing his feelings for Albus? Perhaps he previously though he only wanted to manipulate Albus to make him stay, but suddenly he realizes that his feelings actually are real ones.

Thank you very much! I am taking anon prompts, always feel free to send them! :) this turned into a bit of a character study for Gellert, but I do hope you enjoy it!

It was fascinating. Albus was the most brilliant person in the world. His mind was sharp and precise like a razor blade, yet vast and creative and unconventional. He was the only person really worth talking to, if one was to ask Gellert. And he was so magnificently powerful, too. The way Albus did magic, felt magic was the most beautiful, intriguing spectacle Gellert had ever witnessed. Magic flowed through Albus like blood, he directed the matter around him effortlessly, he altered the earth with a flick of his wrist, he took the most ancient incantations and made them his own.

Albus was everything he had never dreamed to find. An equal in mind and might. Someone he’d never thought could even exist.

It was dazzling, thrilling, that he had chosen a path of fate that led him right to Albus. It was exactly what his plans had needed, without his knowing. What the world had needed.

And yet Albus was so different. He had a warm, noble heart and a kind soul, so much that Gellert sometimes wondered how a mind like his could bear the confinement of his virtue. For all his brooding and rightful bitterness that came with the duty of caring for his siblings, he sternly refused any talk of abandoning them. Albus was patient with even the most dimwitted of people (Gellert was sure that Aberforth was the only one to ever successfully push him into losing his temper.) and he tried to see light in even the darkest of people. Muggles had ripped his family apart and yet, he did not harbor any intimate rancour against them.

Gellert would have thought it foolish if it hadn’t been Albus. He could not say that he agreed with Albus’s gentleness, but he knew that he didn’t have to, anyway. Their plans remained the same and he was more than happy to let Albus care for the muggles in their scheme, while he cared for wizardkind. That’s what they did after all - complement each other. That was why they would change the world for the better, they would create a world for all of humanity. They bore that responsibility together. For The Greater Good, as Albus had so fittingly put it.

He had to admit it took him a few days longer than it usually did to notice the way Albus was looking at him. Not because Albus was very good at hiding it. He was not. Actually, for such a private person, for all the secrecy he’d lived with since he was a young child, for someone with such rhetoric skill - he was exceptionally bad at hiding his affection.

No, he merely had been so caught up in his own admiration for Albus that he hadn’t realized what the faint nervous flutter of Albus’s magic meant, whenever they were especially caught up in an intense debate. Or the lingering stares or the more frequent excuses to touch, however innocently. It was by accident (almost) that he discovered Albus was a lot more lenient with his more forceful suggestions, when they were touching while discussing them (even if it was only their knees brushing, or his arm on the headrest of Albus’s chair).

He respected Albus more than anybody else, so he was reluctant to use this advantage too often. And he was also aware that while Albus was even more willing than usual to see brightness in him, where he was sure was only dark, Albus was no fool and would not simply be played.

He had to admit it sent a very pleasant rush of power through him to have the single other most powerful wizard of their time at his fingertips, willing to be pushed, surrendering control to him. He was sure, Albus was inclined to do anything (almost anything) he would ask of him.

And yet, he had to wonder, why he was so reluctant to play those strings of Albus’s heart whenever the opportunity arose. He’d discovered that a simple kiss could make Albus forget about a lot of admonitions and yet he had rather spent an evening discussing the morales and necessities of the Imperius curse.

Later that night in bed, he examined his uncharacteristic hesitancy and all he could stumble upon were Albus’s crystal blue eyes that shone with so much warmth and affection that it sent an odd sensation right to his stomach.

He had never considered… any of his feelings, really. He got angry sometimes, furious, so much that hot rage was the only thing to fill his body and he had to act on his impulses then. He felt dread when he could feel a vision nearing and often even afterwards. He felt excitement and triumph, when he accomplished academic goals or succeeded in overcoming a particularly difficult problem. Rarely, he could even feel his pride, most prominently, when it had taken a blow.

But apart from that?

He knew that Albus had fallen in love with him, but he had never stopped to consider what it felt like to be loved by the only human he admired.

He thought of Albus’s warmth again. Of the twinkling of his eyes, of the tenderness with which his fingertips had traced the lines on his hand only yesterday. He thought of the pleasure of being so thoroughly understood that he sometimes felt like his mind was directly connected to Albus’s. He thought of the strange new desire that had overcome him to feel Albus’s lips on his the other day.

He had never felt like that for anyone.

It was an early evening, when he realized that, despite his certainty that love, which had been oustandingly absent from his life until then, was not for him - perhaps, Albus would show him yet another kind of magic.

They knew each other three weeks now, of which they had spent every possible second in each other’s company and had filled their absence with a steady flow of letters. He felt like he knew Albus inside out and the only topic he had ever expressed reluctance for was divination.

Yet, when Gellert collapsed in the middle of his room, in the middle of an animated discussion with a vision, that was so forceful he had no chance to control it in any way, Albus caught him.

He didn’t ask stupid questions. He didn’t try to stop him from shaking with dread after icy fear had been the dominant theme of his vision. Albus didn’t doubt him, not even for a second.

He held him until the shaking stopped and listened to what he’d seen with a very serious, very thoughtful expression.

“What do you think?” He asked, perhaps a little harshly and Albus blinked. He knew he’d dragged him out of a very complex thought process, but Gellert knew that Fate and Sight did not work systemically as he’d liked it and he didn’t need Albus trying to figure out what could not be figured out yet.

“I think that I want to be there, whenever this happens to you again. I hope I can be there,” Albus said, squeezing his hand, almost as if he was making a request.

Something shifted then. It wasn’t magic, at least he thought it wasn’t, but he noticed clearly that strings inside him vibrated and wove together that he hadn’t known before. Somehow his chest was filled with emotions that wanted to spill out of him and the only one that he could recognize was relief. He hadn’t even known he’d feared Albus’s rejection of this part of him he knew he would understand the least. But now that Albus was looking at him only with love and worry and a little bit of wonder, the overwhelming desire to kiss him, overcame him again.

Kiss him, drown in him, become one with him. He’d never felt the urge to be so close to someone before. He’d never felt his heart beating like that before. He’d never felt so complete before.

And he knew that he wanted to be with Albus for the rest of his life. He simply, purely wanted it for the sake of his beating heart.

47 notes - Posted February 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Okay, since I wrote that long rant about how I imagine Albus being neurodivergent (more specially autistic and suffering from anxiety) and how it’s always prevalent in my mind, whenever I write him, I’m also sharing it on here:

‪I think it’s especially apparent in his relationship with his siblings (apart from the whole world calling him “eccentric” multiple times), but I always imagine that Aberforth (who I imagine to be incredibly empathetic) is very good with ‬Ariana bc they’re just well neurotypical kids (until Ariana’s incident) and Albus is - well - not. Always caught up in books, which to me, read: hyperfixation, which other kids consider weird and which adults consider adorable up to a point where he seems to be almost anti social bc he is so caught up in his mind that he doesn’t play with the other kids (I magine Kendra to be very ambiguous here too, very proud of her ‘gifted child’ but also at dinner she’d say things like “don’t you have anything else to talk about but that fairy tale?”, “you should go and play with the other kids more often” and he’d say “yes mother”, but really he’d feel very much like an alien in his own home) and Aberforth is just accepting him the way he is, he’s the one, who punches other kids, if they make fun of his weird brother, he’s the one, who listens to Albus’s ramblings about the three brothers even though he doesn’t care about it

And then Ariana is attacked and everythings falls apart and Aberforth is so good with Ariana bc he is just good at accepting people the way they are and Albus is terrified bc even with healthy people he always seems to say the wrong stuff at the wrong time, how is he supposed to interact with Ariana, who seems to have a breakdown at the littlest thing?

And then he goes to school and he’s brilliant and admired and suddenly his gift and power outweighs his eccentricities and he is kind and friendly and polite enough that people like him and his friends are nice and also he’s learned that people don’t want to hear hour long deliberations about fairy tales or dragons or magic, no matter how fascinating he finds it, he has learned the technicalities of lying, of keeping secrets, of holding back, not only because Mother told him to, but also because not revealing his true self was usually the best option, bc no matter how nice people seemed, they still made him feel alien one way or another, wether that is because he talked a little too much about transfiguration, because he can’t stop his leg from bouncing bc he doesn’t even notice but other people do and they find it annoying or simply bc as much as they don’t understand him, he doesn’t get what they’re on about either with their parties and ever changing love interests and gossip, but he learns to seem interested

I also imagine him learning legilimency initially in hopes to understand the people around him more, to connect with his family more, but it ultimately ends up (mostly) with people being annoyed bc he’s looking into their heads

And Aberforth, obviously also very much burdened by the fate of the family and angry about pretty much everything bc what are they even doing? Does love his brother and he knows how he is, but he also needs his older brother and he really has zero nerves to spare and Ariana needs his care while Albus seems to be sufficiently great at school and he really doesn’t understand why it’s so difficult for Albus to be good at school but not good at home, when they all love him

And then Mother dies and Gellert arrives and Gellert is the first and only person, who doesn’t make him feel like an alien, he actually likes to hear Albus’s thoughts, even for hours on end on the same topic (the Hallows for one, Gellert can talk about just as much, so he doesn’t even feel guilty or like a burden, bc he can actually believe he is not too much for Gellert) and how incredible is that? And Gellert is understanding, Gellert knows how his mind works bc his is the same! And what he’s feeling for Gellert is amazing but also so overwhelming and he really cannot focus on his siblings’ needs, which are a whole different can of worms (here comes in anxiety bc how in the name of Merlin is he supposed to manage that? And change is hard anyway and he’d just planned this whole tour and it should have been him shining and all, how everyone has always predicted and he really doesn’t want to be responsible bc he also not good at it, but magic, that’s what he’s good at)

48 notes - Posted March 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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crimsonchaos · 3 years

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So taking stock of the Kaldheim story so far...

- Kaya took a job from Totally Not Sus Mystery Walker to go to Kaldheim

- Vorinclex is there for reasons. Evidently traveling across the planes burned away his organic components, which lends credence that the Planar Bridge is involved, which given Tezzeret’s track record would not be a surprise. Anyway he’s been basically using the local wildlife and hunters to rebuild his body and also probably the usual Phyrexian shenanigans

- Kaya is hunting Vorinclex, but also stumbles on Tibalt’s shenanigans

- Tibalt wants to cause problems on purpose. Somehow he is very close to succeeding for once, and also now has a sword made of magic World Tree sap that opens paths between Kaldheim’s different realms. Also managed to trick the mtg equivalent of Loki to be sealed up by a zombie king and is going full ham impersonating the god to stir up trouble all over the realms

- Tyvar runs into Kaya, who figures out he’s also a planeswalker except he has no idea what that means hilariously, and just thinks that the other planes he went to were just other secret realms in Kaldheim. He can also apparently move freely between the realms, while the other planeswalkers struggle to do so without special means. Anyway, Tyvar offers to help Kaya out given the circumstances, and Kaya (begrudgingly) accepts

- After a series of shenanigans involving a god, a viking pub brawl that went out of hand, and trapping a valkyrie in one of their mirrors, Niko gets roped into going all the way to Starnheim (mtg Valhalla) to warn the valyries about omens of mtg Ragnarok, only for giant Cosmic Snek Koma to bust onto the scene soon after. Obviously the valkyries had no idea what to do about this despite being basically super powerful angels, which left Niko to lead them into luring Mega Snek back into the cosmic void

Overall this is shaping up to be one of the better storylines we’ve had in a long time and I am here for it. Eldraine and Ikoria were okay, ZNR’s story was kind of dull in the end. WAR’s story was an absolute joke in its handling, but we all knew that. I will at least say that, regardless of how it was distributed and the fact that it came out much later than when it was relevant, Gathering Storm was very good. Not perfect, but good nonetheless. My soul still hurts about how THB’s story was torn to shreds and pretty much forgotten about :(

#mtg #spoilers #kaldheim

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autumnblogs · 3 years

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Day 5: Imaginary Friends and Repressed Subconsciouses

https://homestuck.com/story/836

We open to Dave having the shit - and the softness - beaten out of him by Bro.

https://homestuck.com/story/838

These are exactly the sort of things a void player would say. This page lends itself to the interpretation that Rose is inverted and acting more like a Witch of Void than a Seer of Light, exactly the same way that Jade is acting like a Seer of Time. (Of course, Rose is either being sarcastic or placating herself. The reality is that, as she pretty much immediately demonstrates, she can’t help but pry for the true underlying meaning of what Jade is saying, grasping at information, and with it, power over her situation.)

I’ve already called attention to the dearth of conversations between these two characters - they’re not going to talk a lot between now and when Rose goes Grimdark. I think it’s just a shame. I wonder if it’s because Rose feels like Jade has her life under control, yearns for that, and in typical Rose fashion, decides that Jade is judging her for her lack of control? She is remarkably cool toward Jade, and I expect that to at least some degree, it’s because she feels inferior to her.

@volatileleporegina and I had a discussion on Discord where they guess that this is like, the dichotomy between Seers and Witches.

Rose probably envies the fact that Jade has her shit together. Witches are at their best and their happiest when they can go apeshit, seize control of a situation, and act completely on instinct. Seers are at their best and their happiest when they have inner peace, control of their situation, and control over their emotions.

More after the break.

https://homestuck.com/story/845

More speech patterns here. John does not use a lot of prepositions, and his language is very hesitant - he rarely asserts anything important, and has a pretty strong tendency to use phrases like “I guess, I figure, I think, I might” and so on and so on.

John also talks like he’s from the west coast of the USA, at least in a caricaturish way - he uses a lot of old school surfer slang that got co-opted into generic cool culture, like rad, although not nearly to the same extent as later parody character Latula.

https://homestuck.com/story/855

As a character who will eventually be revealed to be a Hero of Hope, Grandpa Harley dwells in the realm of fantasy. While he fills the mould of the idealized adventurer-hero - a true Pulp Fiction Macho Genius Archaeologist in the mould of Doc Savage or Indiana Jones, his relationship with other human beings is more... theoretical.

I wonder if it says anything about Hope in general that all of the Heroes of Hope in the story are practically incapable of having positive relationships in their lives? Before I tended to chalk Jake’s failure up to being a Page, and simply needing more time, but Eridan and Cronus sabotage all of their relationships as well.

Perhaps I’ll come back to this train of thought in the future. For now, Grandpa and Jake alike are characters who I consider wretches, and pitiable wretches at that. I have far less patience for Grandpa though. More of that as we go.

I should be open about the fact that, while I’ve been a bit more forgiving with Mom Lalonde, the fact is that, with the exception of Dad Egbert, I consider all four of the Beta Guardians to be abusive parents; Nanna is an exception as well if she is counted to be one of the guardians). Their conduct in raising their children is at the very least inexcusable, although if they demonstrated any repentance, it would perhaps be forgivable; in all their cases, by the end of the comic, it is too late for that (although they get another lease on life through the Alpha Kids, which if you don’t mind me showing my hand, I think is the entire point of the Alpha Kids from a storytelling perspective- reconciliation of the parents with the children.)

https://homestuck.com/story/859

One thing I have always liked about Jade is that she does not negotiate with terrorists. You go girl :)

https://homestuck.com/story/874

Rose lives in either Ontario or Upstate New York. I think someone found that the coordinates of her house are in Rainbow Falls.

It seems odd to me for no reason at all that Rose would be a Canadian when all of the other characters in the comic are ambiguously American, and there are a number of other reasons it would fit for Rose to be from upstate NY, not the least of which is that it is a part of Lovecraft Country, and the home of the principle madman from HP’s “Beyond the Wall of Sleep,” a story about a hick from Upstate New York who has insane dreams that he cannot express with his limited vocabulary. It turns out that this unassuming crazy person is actually a mortal manifestation of an extra-dimensional star-god, and he forms a friendship with the viewpoint character, an intern at the hospital where he has been institutionalized. While the magic dreams ultimately prove to be too much for the mortal frame and give him a heart attack, he contacts his friend the intern via a dream to express to him that he dearly hopes that the two of them meet again one day beyond the wall of sleep.

Another reason is that I’ve always viewed Rose as being an extremely affected person. Nobody talks the way that Rose talks - her words are all extremely deliberately chosen in a way that doesn’t fit the pattern of the other characters’ more stream-of-consciousness writing styles. Rose thinks in Prose, whereas her friends all write like they talk. I like to imagine, for this reason, that Rose has a transatlantic accent like Katharine Hepburn, which is to say, a learned accent. Back in old-timey times, actors, newscasters, the wealthy, and so on would take classes to learn how to pronounce words in a sophisticated way that nobody naturally spoke in - a bit like Received Pronunciation on the other side of the pond. It’s long since died out, but it fits the sort of affected, stuffy, faux-aristocratic manner that Rose styles herself with. It’s a blend of Manhattanite and Londoner pronunciation, and I think it suits her.

Anyway, there you go. There’s something that you just learned about my inner life and how I think way too much about tiny details like “What would Rose’s voice sound like?”

https://homestuck.com/story/876

Dave lives in Texas. For this reason, I have decided that he sounds like a cowboy. No particular cowboy, just some cowboy.

Jade lives in the Pacific Ocean, and I have a very specific head voice picked out for her - Anna Paquin, particularly young Anna Paquin who portrayed Sheeta in Castle in the Sky, although I’ve always imagined Jade to have a much broader kiwi accent.

https://homestuck.com/story/879

I wonder if Nanna’s oven works at all like Biscuits’?

https://homestuck.com/story/893

Nothing ever really came of Dr. Brinner’s mail. Law of Conservation of detail tells us that he might be one of pipefan413′s coworkers (maybe fedorafreak?) but we’ll never know.

https://homestuck.com/story/905

It’s not totally clear to me exactly what’s going on here, but I have a couple of theories.

Theory #1: This is Mom Lalonde’s childhood room from when she grew up. It makes sense to me that the Lalonde House and the Lab might be a package deal, especially since we see Roxy growing up in a similar setting, but with far more prolific modular structures.

Theory #2: As theory #1, but this is also Mom Lalonde’s current accommodation. Tea parties and tea seem to be shorthand in Homestuck for immaturity and avoidance in particular - characters like Nepeta, Mom, and Grandpa use Tea Parties to retreat into childish fantasy instead of confronting the real, hard problems they have to deal with.

https://homestuck.com/story/919

Jade’s strife with Grandpa might lend some credence to the idea that she uses imaginary friends (who are also us, the audience!) to cope with her loneliness.

https://homestuck.com/story/926

Even the extraordinary cynicism and antipathy of Rose Lalonde can’t resist adorable kittens.

https://homestuck.com/story/935

Jaspers’ secret seems to be the genetic code of a First Guardian, although whether Rose actually got it from this mysterious kitty-cat, or whether it was buried in her subconscious all along is probably a coin flip. (I would put my money on the subconscious thing.)

https://homestuck.com/story/938

For all her pretension, Rose Lalonde is a sad thirteen year old girl whose mother spends too much time sozzled to help her make sense of a confusing and chaotic world. It would be nice for her to be able to make sense of the world and get some sense of constancy, but then part of the point of Sburb is to teach its players that nothing in life is constant.

https://homestuck.com/story/949

Resolving some of the uncertainty around his Dad will allow John to consciously perceive the graffiti he’s been subconsciously scribbling around his room. You knew that already, but it doesn’t change the fact that this is a big deal for him. I’ll take a stab at why this is the case - one of the recurring motifs in Homestuck is characters avoiding uncomfortable truths through avoidance and stagnation - if they don’t want to think about something, they really really don’t think about it, to the point of not being able to perceive it at all. Here, John magically gains the ability to see some of the graffiti drawn by his dream self by being confronted with the truth about his Dad. For other characters, I think, it will be less magical.

https://homestuck.com/story/965

Calling attention to John’s lexicon again, I feel like it’s an overlooked fact that he uses turn of the decade hacker slang a lot too - just peppers his language with it.

https://homestuck.com/story/980

Jade, like John, actually has two separate Guardians - her deceased bio-parent, and this devilbeast. The terminology for these white-and-electric-green monsters, First Guardians, suggests that from a mythological perspective, they function as Ur-Parental figures, raising a civilization to adulthood so that its members can go on to play Sburb, participating in the reproductive cycle of the Universe.

https://homestuck.com/story/988

The fact that Mom Lalonde’s “Room” is full of booze supports my hypothesis that she still lives in her little girl’s lab bedroom.

Rose doesn’t make a big deal out of what’s in her Mom’s bedroom the way that John is, but I think that her exploration of the laboratory serves as effectively a long-form version of the same experience that John has just had. They’re both learning plenty about their enigmatic guardians.

Rose is a smart girl. She’s figured out what is going on, even if she hasn’t thought about it at the surface-level of the narration yet.

https://homestuck.com/story/1004

John Egbert is a young man who does not really like himself very much.

https://homestuck.com/story/1023

The very first time Rose shows genuine vulnerability to pretty much anyone in the comic. “Maybe I am just being a friend?”

https://homestuck.com/story/1028

Dreams in Homestuck are material events than can have material effects on the characters’ reality - but on the other hand, spending loads of time dreaming can prevent you from having a meaningful effect on your session.

Homestuck is a little ambivalent about dreams but I think it’s safe to say that something close to is stance would be to say that what goes on unacknowledged inside of your head is still a part of you even if you can’t perceive it. Characters who spend all of their time in dreams though, paradoxically won’t make all that much progress toward actually understanding it. Tavros and Jade both spend loads of time in their dreams on Prospit, and while Jade does it because she has Vriska-induced narcolepsy, I think we’re supposed to draw a line from one to the other.

Neither of them is in an emotional state to tough out the process of digging up what’s beneath the surface, and resolving the tension between what’s inside of them and what’s outside of them.

https://homestuck.com/story/1049

This creepy little guy is here because Gamzee sent him. I’m going to pay careful attention to the sequence of events that leads him here, because I have a hunch that John’s weird clown fixation somehow leads to Gamzee’s.

https://homestuck.com/story/1064

The fact that the Joker only has two holes in his punchcard suggests that clowns come very close to being elemental in the Homestuck universe.

That is not a surprise.

https://homestuck.com/story/1069

We’ll conclude the day with John’s alchemy session, and come back tomorrow where I’ll finally get around to stating another one of Homestuck’s major throughlines. For now though, I’ll point out that pretty much everything John has created here has some kind of Dad imagery or another (Although all the Cosby gags have aged incredibly poorly, don’t forget that at one point he was America’s Dad!)

With the possible exception of the Bunny Wizard hat which combines some Rose imagery with some John imagery! No wonder she thought it was as cool as he did.

For now, Cam signing off, something something not alone.

#commentary #liveblogging #homestuck #katharine hepburn #anna paquin #tea parties #dreams #perception #subconscious #dads #guardians

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imagine-effed-up · 4 years

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If you could write something along those lines, that would be lovely! Imagine: Being forced to serve an Evil King. One day, he calls you to his bedroom and tells you that you caught his interest and that he decided to make you his concubine. He then proceed to have sex with you, pleasuring you until you can't think of anyone but him, putting you under his spell (figuratively and/or literally) I'm mostly thinking about Ganondorf with that prompt, but it can work with a generic Evil King. Thanks!

Hello anon, mod crow here, thank you for the excellent prompt. I didn’t use Ganondorf, but he was an inspiration in how Large I made the evil king.

Also I wrote way too much worldbuilding for this so Lord Archos, his faithful concubine, and their servants may reappear? Potentially?

I can hear mod flint laughing at me.

In His Grasp

Ship: Reader x the Lord Archos (OC)

Rating: Explicit

CW: mind control, world building, sex, dubious consent, magical mind control, mod crow’s obsession with Large Men

Archos had seized power suddenly, his strength both mundane and magical so overwhelming the original ruler had never had a chance. As the adult heir to the throne, you had expected to be summarily killed, but instead you had merely found yourself confined to the palace and its interior grounds. He even allowed you to write letters, though you had no doubt that he (or someone in his employment) read them.

He wouldn’t find anything of note if he was, you thought, as you sealed your most recent letter to an extremely close friend. You were smart enough to know that you, untrained and with very little talent in magic, stood no chance against such a powerful sorcerer. Instead, you took your pleasures where you could, and spent most of your time in the easternmost library and the central gardens.

A little subversion here and there, however, never hurt anyone, and whoever read your letters would be too distracted by what you were describing to read between the lines. It helped that you really had been quite close to this friend, lending credence to your passion.

Archos spoke to you occasionally. He even—rarely—asked you for advice, as by his own admission he was not as familiar with the functioning of “this world” (whatever that meant) as he would like. In all, you had a courteous relationship with the man who had usurped your throne and aimed to keep it that way for as long as possible.

A quiet knock on your door interrupted your musings. Rapping your knuckles on the stone that signaled you were decent, you sat back down in your chair as the door swung open. One of Archos’s servants, the inhumanly gorgeous ones in the all-black clothes that simultaneously covered everything and yet nothing, bowed to you. “My Lord wishes to see you,” they said.

With care that would hopefully not give your thoughts away, you placed your finished letter on your writing desk and stood back up. “I see,” you said.

As you made your way to the audience room, you heard the servant following you. “I know the way,” you said, trying not to sound irritable.

“To his chambers?”

You felt your back stiffen. His chambers? He had never called you there before. You hurried after the servant, hoping they didn’t notice your face burning bright red, certain they had anyway.

They did not knock when they arrived. Instead, the door opened on its own, and they gestured you to enter.

“Is this where you tell me he doesn’t bite?” you asked, trying to soothe your nerves with a small joke.

The servant made a brief hm sound and turned away.

“Only with your permission,” a low voice rumbled. You looked up, startled to find yourself staring at the broad chest of Archos himself.

“My lord!” you said, startled. You dropped into a bow. He was so tall, in a way that never ceased to astonish you.

“Please, come in,” he said. You obeyed quickly, only flinching slightly when the door shut quietly behind you.

“Why—” You swallowed your question, distracted by the room you found yourself in. It was… messier, than you expected. Covered in books. It would have been almost charming, if he wasn’t the evil magician who had usurped your throne.

“It will not surprise you to know that I have been reading your letters,” he said. That was, somehow, less embarrassing than where you were. “It seems you have quite the prurient interests.” You followed him, almost without realizing it, into the innermost room. A large bed took pride of place, but a magical fire burned in the hearth and the walls were decorated with myths from Archos’s homeland. He was comfortable in this room. It was, well and truly, a place of his power.

You nodded. “I was close with this person before my confinement, you must understand that distance has not slaked my lust.”

He smiled. “Well,” he said. “I certainly have no problems with your lust. You are quite attractive, princess, and do not think I have not noticed. I may not be human, but I am more than capable of appreciating them.”

With gentleness that took you completely off guard, he cupped his large hand under your chin and lifted your face so that your eyes met.

“I don’t understand,” you said, untruthfully.

“Oh,” he said, his laugh curling in your gut. “I think you do. I have much more use for a concubine than a captive princess, don’t you think? A pretty mind in a pretty body, all mine to command.” He kissed you, not unkindly, his lips burning against yours.

You gasped. “My lord,” you said, but you could say nothing else as he pulled you into his arms as though you weighed nothing. No thought of resisting crossed your mind. He was overwhelming, both physically and by sheer presence, and as he laid you out on his bed, you could only stare at his eyes, which pulsed with inhuman, captivating light.

He made easy work of your clothes, despite the layers required by your station. Soon, you were naked below him, your body open to his eyes. You were, and you knew this absolutely, a thing for him to consume, to fuck, to take. You were his, and this had been truth since the moment he had arrived.

Archos’s hands were rough against the skin of your breasts, and you cried out, legs falling open just slightly as he rolled a sensitive nipple between his fingers. You were already shaking and desperate, somehow. He had barely touched you, but his gaze had never left your body, and his eyes filled your mind, emptying you of anything except his will.

His cock, like every other part of him, was just a little bit too much, and you cried out in true pain as he entered you. You felt like he had stretched the core of you, and that was right. It was good that he was filling you with himself like this. You spasmed down around his cock, drawing a grunt out of him.

“Please, my lord,” you begged, finding your words despite (or perhaps, thanks to) his gaze. “Take me, take everything.”

He placed a finger on your lips. Another shock of pleasure cored through you with each of his thrusts. “I already have, pet. You. Are. Mine.”

The truth of his words that might as well have been written in your very bones sent you reeling, sheer pleasure overwhelming you to the point where you were nothing except a vessel for him to pour more and more pleasure into, your trembling body his, and only his.

There was no room inside you except for perfect obedience, and all was as it should be.

#dub con #non con #evil king #evil king x reader #reader x #self shipping #second person #mind control #magical mind control #hypnotic eyes #obedience

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unwiltingblossom · 4 years

Text

juminhan4ever replied to your post “juminhan4ever replied to your post “juminhan4ever replied to your...”

Your “facts” are based on your own interpretation of the chats and other little things. There are more than one variation of interpretation and you shouldn’t say it like you know the biggest secret :) He could have a girlfriend when he was at school or in university with V. Also V told Rika that Jumin is kinda “bad guy”. He knew he’s into some strange things. So THERE’S possibility. Especially after this phone call. Moreover RFA obviously can’t know his private life. They just make assumptions (Seven and this stupid rumor Jumin is gay). And Jumin don’t find such discussions appropriate, so he stay silent.

I...

what?

I’m objectively telling you very important and significant character traits, alongside an extremely well known meme that’s used repeatedly. This isn’t little things, nor am I acting like I know ‘his biggest secret’ (his biggest secret is that he sort of kind of loved Rika). If you had a character who constantly complained about growing hair on his palms and people warned him he needed to be careful because his eyesight might be going, you would know the game is hinting that this character uncontrollably jerks it, but in a PG setting.

Constantly making jokes about him shooting fireballs and becoming a wizard/being into black magic is the same thing, except that it means he’s a virgin who’s getting old, like a more explicit version of calling a girl a christmas cake. Neither of these things are ‘little things’, except that the references aren’t as clear in English, because we just call 30 year old virgins ‘losers’ instead of making jokes about how they gain super powers from their decades of repressed sexuality.

Consider what you’re trying to argue, here. Based off of a throwaway line in a phonecall, which as I told you is more than likely referencing Rika as that’s the only thing ever followed up on, you are positing that Jumin Han, a man who is extremely conservative, who disdains his father’s womanizing ways to the point that it is just thinly veiled hatred of it, who thinks that all women (except Rika) are the same - ie; gold diggers, women only interested in his power, looks, and money - and who has had this opinion since childhood because his step mother creepily tried to hit on him as a child

either

1 - had a girlfriend in high school or university, which I’m pretty sure would also coincide with the time he meets Rika and feels she’s the first woman not like the other women, and the first person who actually understands him, and no one ever mentions this girlfriend, not even Chairman Han, and she had zero effect on his opinion on women

2 - had random flings with women whom he borderline detests, in direct violation of his ethics, despite the fact that he is disgusted with his father for that very behavior

or, possibly,

3 - would risk his company by having sex with prostitutes, a scandal that could potentially ruin C&R, given that the majority of the investors are more conservative than he is, and Chairman Han merely having a third marriage was enough to rock the company.

There is no possibility that Jumin Han had another girlfriend, nor that he is nonvirginal. To suggest otherwise requires you to disregard vital portions of Jumin’s character and established lore, and furthermore ignore all of the input from other characters including Seven (who absolutely can and would pull up Jumin’s ex flings if he had them, just to tease him, because he has no boundaries) and the subtext provided by the game’s in-jokes.

Yes, it is true that Jumin finds the subject distasteful, but that doesn’t mean he’s hiding ex flings. The very fact that he refuses to even discuss the subject only lends credence to the fact that it’s against his sensibilities to have casual sex, which is the only possible sex he could have had.

I don’t know why you’re married to this headcanon that he’s non-virginal. You can have it if you want, it doesn’t really matter, but it is canonically inaccurate. And that’s not opinion.

#juminhan4ever #jumin han #mysme #mystic messenger #long post #meta

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wildcardwriting · 4 years

Text

Courage in the Face of Adversity #1

[Legend of Zelda]

Next Chapter | Read on AO3

Summary: The time Link kept a lot (tons) of secrets and left everyone else confused.Or not everything is solved by the defeat of Ganon.Post - BOTW(Features Champions back from the dead. A Hylian Princess at her wit's end, and a certain Hyrule Hero who is apparently a ninja in his free time.)

XXxxxxXX

Chapter 1:Doubt and Innocence

XXxxxxXX

Wisdom grants otherworldly knowledge, and how to use it efficiently, but at the cost of their personal freedom as royalty, and as a descendant of the goddess Hylia. Creation.

Power grants strength used to protect people, but on its own will consume the holder eventually leading down a path of destruction if it cannot be reined in. Destruction.

Courage grants the ability to tap into traits from other species, but at the cost of happiness and eventually sanity if the Master Sword is used. Balance.

XXxxxxXX

When Link wakes, he can hear a song playing in the background. It takes a minute for him to recognize it, but when he does he grows sad. Saving the world once should have been enough, but sitting in this pool of water and blood and wherever else leftover from the final battle, he knows this isn’t the end.

It can never be with the Song of Time playing in the background.

Getting to his feet, his wounds pain and prickle him as the simple act of standing seems to be more than his battered and wounded body can take. If only he had an ocarina with him, he could heal himself a little, but he knows he doesn’t. In this life, he was born and raised to be a knight, and learning music was exclusively for the enjoyment of nobility, a talent useless for a knight.

Reaching for the Master Sword lying next to him, he uses it as a makeshift cane as he staggers forward inching himself away from the destruction that once was Hyrule castle grounds and the slowly dissolving body of Ganon. He has to find the Princess Zelda of this time and make sure she's okay before he does anything else even though all he wants at the second is to sit down and not move for another hundred years.

As he makes his way past the burnt remains of the trees near the front of the palace garden, he sees Princess Zelda kneeling in the dirt, her prayer white dress in tatters. The sight of her nearly makes him lose his grip on the Master Sword. For all his affection for his charge, there had always been a little bitterness in him when he thought about the bloodline. Even though he knows this incarnation had nothing to do with his curse, he can’t help the anger he feels for Hylia. Her love was a curse more than it was a blessing, and living over and over again was damaging.

Pushing the confusing mess of emotions to the back of his mind, he drops to the floor next to her a little confused about why she’s still praying. He knows Ganon has been defeated for this generation and reaching out to his Triforce, he can feel Power going to sleep.

Looking back to Zelda, he notices her eyes open and on him.

“All this time, I’ve been keeping watch over you…I’ve seen your struggles to return to us, and the battles you fought.” She whispers, her voice quiet but sincere and much more different than most of his memories.

“I always believed that you would find a way to defeat Ganon and you have.” She says reaches out to his face, and Link struggles not to finch. He has far too many painful memories of creatures reaching out to him. It’ll be a while before he’ll be okay with anyone coming too close to him.

She gasps.

Apparently, he didn’t hide that finch as well as he thought.

“I’m sorry. Please don’t move. That looks really bad!” She whispers catching sight of his wounds, blood finally having bled through his layers of clothing and armor. Her hands are moving to his shoulders in an attempt to help him stay sitting up but this time she’s actually pressing on wounds.

He tries not to whimper, but the pain is starting to grow and even as he looks at her, he can’t hear much beyond static. He sees her starting to panic, and he feels a slight pull against his waist as she reaches for one of the last elixirs at his belt, pulling it off quickly, but all she does is add to the pain he's already feeling.

“Drink this,” She says carefully helping the elixir up to his mouth. He doesn’t fight her, and in his condition, he doubts he could have drunk it by himself anyway. His arms are like lead, heavy and immobile as they ignore him. As it is he is clinging to consciousness by a thread.

The Master Sword is lying on the ground next to him, and even as he attempts to voice this out to the Princess she is far too distracted with his wounds to actually listen to him. His wounds although painful and varied are minor in the grand scheme of things considering all he needs is some proper bed rest, but she isn't listening to him or to Wisdom even as Link attempts to speak to her through Courage.

Instead, she slowly tips the contents of the bottle into his mouth carefully, as to not spill a single drop. Link feels his wounds slowly starting to close. Some painfully. Some not. Except for all the wounds healing leaves him feeling exhausted. It was part of the reason why he ate hearty foods instead of taking elixirs. Even though food had a lower, slower healing rate compared to elixirs, they didn’t make him tired. He feels his limbs sag with pain and fatigue that he finally realizes that the dull ache in his back wasn’t just a pulled muscle but a physical wound as he feels the injury stitch itself back together. Apparently, he was far more injured than he thought.

He sees the darkness from the edges of his vision start to cover his view, overwhelming him. He sees the ground rushing towards him and he hears yelling and the heaviness of feet running before everything vanishes into the void as he slips into sleep and dreams.

He dreams of the moon falling onto a town, of Impa whisking Princess Zelda away, of the darkness stripping Ganondorf’s mortality away to reveal a monster. He hears the first song being played, while a world sinks into despair. He changes from one to four and he's forced into the form of a wolf. He remembers the chains around his neck and the burning of lava on his skin. Zelda's lullaby is playing in the background and—

A woman in white steps out and holds out a sword to him. She crying, begging for forgiveness and even though Link wants to forgive her, he can't.He can't. He sees tears falling from her eyes, and as she falls apart, she reaches out towards him even as a red puddle—blood grows underneath him. He can see her eyes pleading with him for forgiveness but he's just can’t give that to her. He's been through enough.

He's tired.

Let him sleep.

His eyes are heavy and there is screaming in the distance and he wants to give up but he isn't allowed to because everything depends on him. He's the Hero and the Hero isn't allowed to give up and it’s so unfair. Everything else has been taken from him anyway.

Why can't he be allowed anything?

Why can’t he be allowed to give up?

Why can’t he rest?

Hadn’t he done enough?

He'd rather sink into the void and not have to wake anymore. He's tired of being alone and fighting over and over again for people who will never know him. He’d rather stay here in the darkness of the void. No one can find him here—

A small hand reaches out to him in the darkness. He wants to look up to see who has come near him, but he doesn't want to. He feels like if he does, he will come to hate another person. He's not sure why though.

The person, a woman holds him and although his eyes are on the ground he can see the green of her dress and hair. She seems familiar, but the why or how's escape him. Why does she feel so familiar?

She pats his head and comforts him in the way a mother might, but he can't be sure. He's never had one.

"Dearest child," She says into his ear, but also through his Triforce. "We don't deserve to be forgiven. Even Din's chosen is allowed peace," She whispers to him before pausing. Link can't help but feel marvel at hearing the voice with both his ears and his magic. He wonders if perhaps she is Farore, but doesn't ask because the answer will only cause him more pain. He hates enough people, and he’s jealous of far too many people, its better he doesn't know.

He feels some drops of water on his shoulder and knows that she's crying too. He pats her on the shoulders, hoping to offer some comfort even while he envies her. He wishes he knew how to cry. It’s been too long.

"I won't ask for forgiveness or give excuses. We are to blame. Din's love started this tragedy, Nayru escalated it and yet you suffer. Yet know this, your pain will not be in vain. Every wound and every death upon your body will be paid back in full. The end is near." She whispers in his ears and hugs him once more before she vanishes into green dust.

He hopes she right. He really hopes so.

The wind surrounds him, leaving him alone and lonely before the darkness gives way to sound and pain.

The feeling comes back to his body a rush, pain biting into him one second where before there was none. He takes one shallow breath to get used to the levels of pain while his ears become aware of distant sounds.

His fingers move gently, slowly, almost like he was mimicking the notes for the Song of Time on the grass—except instead of grass he feels soft material. He’s not on the ground, so he knows he was likely moved. There is a clattering in the distance and the sounds of people moving all around him. It reminds him of a few memories he has in the castle, a place full of people in motion. Perhaps he is somewhere similar like in an inn or a townhouse?

A hint of herbs and the bitter scent of red potions give his theory credence and from the light steps of several people, he can just barely hear, he knows he is surrounded by the Sheikah. Perhaps he is in a makeshift infirmary?

It’s hard to tell with his eyes closed and as much as he wants to open his eyes, even this tiny amount of motion has exhausted him. He still needs more rest. Yet, he still wants to know what has happened. Straining his ears as much as possible he can barely make out some of the words from the conversation taking place near him. The tone is the first thing he hears instead of sentences, and even from the bed, he can hear the concern in the few words he can make out.

"...send word to the other races..."

"...your highness..."

"And...is hero...covering?"

"The battle was...difficult…wound..."

“…waiting…”

Impa’s voice is low and carefully measured. It’s like when she was speaking to him of his childhood, all soft tones, but with far more thought into every word as if she's afraid of saying too much and too little all at once. He’s never heard her so worried before.

Did something happen after the battle? Calamity Ganon's defeat should have lessened the effect of Malice across the land, reducing the re-spawn rates of weaker monsters but maybe there was something else he didn’t know about. Reaching out through the Triforce of Courage he doesn't sense anything strange or concerning from Wisdom but that might mean that whatever happened wasn’t physically painful.

Perhaps the Princess Zelda of this time was having nightmares or had some mental trauma after being stuck for one hundred years? He didn’t know but it would make sense. Magic, in general, was finicky, especially magic as complicated as space and time manipulation like what the Zelda of this generation had used would probably be even more difficult.

Though if that was the case, he won’t be much help to her as the holder of the Triforce of Courage, he was weakest of the three when it came to magic...

He struggles to keep his thoughts together as he felt his consciousness slipping as his body starts dragging on his mind. He needs more sleep and more time to rest even though he doesn’t want to. If only he had eaten instead of taking those elixirs, he would be fine...

He slips back into the void, somewhat surprised to discover color instead of darkness. He finds himself sitting on a rock near a grassy field. He's near a cliff edge by one of the shines situated outside Rito Village. He glances towards the east and he can see the sun come up over the horizon. He knows this place well. It's his place, the place he often went to in the real world whenever he needed a break from the rest of the world. Up here, surrounded by mountains and sparse with monsters he's alone. The Rito themselves rarely ventured to this spot on the mountain, instead preferring to sleep within the Village rather than rough it out near the mountain's peak especially since memories of Vah Medoh still lingered in their hearts.

He shifts on the rock, watching the sun climb the sky.

‘Perhaps this was better’, he can’t help but think.

If he had been walking around, Impa and the rest would have put him to work, likely as a messenger between the kingdoms or even as some wandering swordsman slaying monsters across the land. A task that while good for his skills was little more than stalling the enviable. With his duty officially done, he would only a burden upon the Sheikah to house him.

Rebuilding a kingdom demanded resources and manpower, skilled politicians, scholars, and so on and even if no one would comment on his presence immediately they would eventually.

He could particularly see the situation play out, had seen it a dozen times in other lands, during different eras. First, there would be celebrations and parties, notices would be sent out and the kingdom would set about restoring itself. It might take more time, in this era, maybe even years because of the amount of damage, but sooner or later the whispers, and politicking would start. Other races would attempt to bind him to their people, either through blood or marriage and accepting or denying or even doing nothing, would jeopardize his place with his own people. The Zelda of this time would try and shield him for a short time before she stopped, either because the Sheikah persuaded her, or she realized it was a battle she could not fight if she wanted her kingdom.

Having the Hero of the Sealing Sword was a boon when Calamity Ganon was on the horizon, but after the battle, he was a problem. Memories still lingered for the other races after the deaths of the other champions; his presence was a reminder of that loss. Some like the Gerudo would scorn him, and the Rito might ruffle their feathers about relying on him, but at the end of the day, all races had monsters in their lands far too dangerous for them to defeat. They needed him in their armies and if possible some of them would try and force him into their households either through marriage or parentage. If he stayed with the Zelda of this time, re-building her kingdom would be harder.

And yet...

Perhaps, this was an opportunity in disguise. Staying in bed, would give him valuable time to consider his options, and figure out what his next move might be.

Still, before he made any decisions he needs to take account of what he has. If he still has the Sheikah Slate then he has his collection of weapons and items, including several weather elixirs and any rupees he earned. If he doesn't have it...

He shakes his head, even from his dreamscape he can feel it near him drawing on his Courage to power itself.

He still has it...or at the very least it is near him. If he can get it before he goes, his journey would be easier. If he doesn’t have it, surviving would be harder and his ability to travel would be limited significantly.

But on the flip side, even if he did have the Sheikah Slate, he would need to limit the amount of fighting he did. The last thing he needed was to be tracked down and be found by either the Sheikah or any of the other races and be forced into their politicking.

But then if he didn't fight, what could he do?

He had that house in Hateno Village and even if he ran out of rupees he was an expert in scavenging for food. So that wasn’t an issue, but then would that be all he did? Hiding out in some frontier village and watching the world move on without him? It’s not like he could do some other profession. He had been the hero for so long that it was all he knew. He had very few life skills beyond taking down monsters, and he had never been to school let alone taught anything that didn’t require swinging a sword.

He felt an emptiness within him at the thought.

Like all those other times.

When the battle was over, did he still have a purpose?

Could he survive in peace?

He still didn’t know after so many lifetimes, and he wondered if he would ever know. Fighting had taken up so much of his life that whenever the battles were over and the war was won for his lifetime, he always felt directionless as if his entire life was solely for that moment and the instance the fight was over, his purpose was gone.

Shifting on the rock once again, he looked up feeling lost. The sun was shining overhead, and although he could see the Rito Village from his seat on the rock, the view didn't comfort him. People meant problems and now after Ganon's defeat people meant conflict.

What should he do?

Thinking back to his memories of other lifetimes he still found no clear answers.

In other lifetimes after fulfilling his role as the Hero, he had retreated to the furthest village in the kingdom hoping to fade into obscurity. It never worked of course. The Princess Zelda of that era was always looking for him, and even though she had never intended it she drew all the wrong kinds of attention. After all, royal knights of the court didn't just go around bothering random peasants and even though Link had tried his best to stay out of the limelight, it got increasingly difficult when people started asking questions. Often times the village would eventually figure out who he was and praise him for his deeds, but ultimately being found created the same problems he tried so hard to escape.

Zelda might promise to respect his decision to live a normal life, but sooner or later her hand would be forced. Maybe some powerful Lynel started nesting near the castle and her knights couldn't defeat it, or there was a stampede of Hinox's near the Zora's domain, or Molduga started attacking Gerudo Town, etcetera. The list was endless. He would once again be called into service and problems would start again. People would call for him to train guards or be part of the knights, and once again he would be chained down. The cycle was never-ending.

He had no problem helping people or running quests it was just everything else that he struggled with. He was more than just a weapon. He was just a normal person that wanted to be left alone and yet no one listened.

Something that seemed more and more apparent the more he reincarnated.

Even though he had settled down in other lifetimes it had been more about well…settling than because he wanted to. He would be forced to don the mask of a Hero for the rest of his life, and then he was never free. A hero was needed here, or there. A hero was needed to fight a war, or defeat that monster, and to be more than Hylian, to be goddess blessed so he was put on a pedestal so high he could never see the bottom. If he failed at anything, he was scorned for it. As the Hero, there was no room for being Hylian. He was supposed to be above it all. He wasn't supposed to have nightmares or show up at breakfast tired and drawn, it made people angry at him because it was a reminder that he was just as mortal as the rest of them.

No one could understand his struggles and triumphs and the less they understood the harsher they were. No one liked to see a hero give up—

Muttering in the distance, brought him out his bitter thoughts. Perhaps something had changed. It seemed rather odd that the Shiekah was meeting up with Zelda again. Straining his ears to catch even a few snippets of the discussion, he reached out to his magic to help him hear better.

“…our scouts have reported monsters disappearing from some of the hillsides…”

“…so peace truly upon us…”

His control on his magic waned and the voices vanished, as Link's emotions went wild.

It was like the floor was falling out from underneath him again.

He knew it was going to happen again, but so soon?

He was going to lose his place again. This time with pieces of himself still missing.

And yet, what would his lingering gain him?

He had been around the Princess Zelda of this generation and still, he was missing memories. Even those pictures she had stored on the Sheikah Slate were nothing more than copies of her memories. They weren't his memories. They didn't contain anything meaningful for him. All they showed was his time as a royal knight and later his term as the Hylian Champion, there wasn't anything more than that. None of his questions had been answered. So nothing was keeping him here. The Sheikah certainly wouldn't mourn him, and he had no one among the people here he could even call a friend let alone an acquaintance.

So leaving was really his best option. Besides the longer he delayed leaving, the harder it was going to be when he was forced out. If he left before it got to that point, he’d save himself some heartache and pain. Princess Zelda was back, and she was all the kingdom needed. She had the Sheikah Clan behind her anyway. What did one champion matter in the grand scheme of things? Surely the Sheikah would be better suited to guarding and advising the princess. They were after all highly educated in academics and politics.

It was better for him to start moving on.

His mind made up, he started trying to move. Thankfully, his eyes were no longer heavy and against the pounding of his head, he was able to get himself into a seated position before he slowly started trying to get up. It was a hard process because his first attempts nearly had him rolling back on to the bed but slowly he managed to get to his feet. It was like he had been fighting for days. His muscles and bones ached with each motion, and even when he thought back to other lifetimes he couldn't remember ever being in such pain even after his battles with Ganon.

Perhaps he was still too weak?

The thought made him frown. Being weak wasn't an option, because even with Ganon’s defeat, he knew there was always Demise to be worried about. He couldn't afford to be weak.

Hopefully, though it would come to that.

Demise shouldn't make an appearance in this timeline. He hadn't in the last lifetime, but there was always the chance. At the very least he could shore up the wards of the Seven Sages, to ensure nothing went wrong. Reaching to his Sheikah Slate, he re-equipped himself, taking a few moments to eat some hearty food he couldn't help but noticed the absence of the other Champions' presences. There was no background mutters, no hint of magic that symbolized he could use their abilities, nothing. It was strange but understandable. He had defeated Ganon, so there was no need for their spirits to linger any longer. He had gotten used to their odd and sometimes random words of advice, that now that he was alone, he felt lonely—

Pushing his emotions to the back of his mind, as he threw the leftover Kabob sticks into his inventory. He didn't have time to ponder on his loses. Soon enough someone would be checking in on him, and he'd rather avoid having his escape or his intentions known.

Pulling out the Shekiah Slate he clicked on the map.

According to it, he was currently in Kakariko Village, if he teleported to the Lakna Rokee Shine in the forest East of Kakariko he would be able to check Demise's wards. The seal would probably be weakened soon if it hadn't already, and if he went now he might be able to keep it in check for a while longer instead of having to fight it.

After all, now that Ganon was gone, Demise was likely to be temporarily weak as well, and if this time's Zelda was being guarded by the Sheikah. A few more hours wouldn't mean more in the grand scheme of things considering he wasn't going to be her personal knight anymore anyway. As was tradition, the Hero was released from duty after he defeated Ganon and given leave to do as he pleased. It was one of the few stipulations he always asked for any time he had taken on the mantle of a hero, and now that his duty was done, there was nothing to tie him down.

Besides the quicker he left, the more likely he could head off anyone trying to scheme him into marrying this Princess Zelda. As much as she had grown as a person, his memories were too tainted, for him to ever consider a relationship with what was essentially one of his children, even if they technically weren't related.

Pushing that thought from his mind, he tapped on the shrine and feeling himself go weightless vanished into the void.

XXxxxxXX

If he had been present, even a moment later he would have seen the chaos brought on by his disappearance.

XXxxxxXX

Next Chapter | Read on AO3

#legend of zelda #link #breath of the wild #fanfiction #courage in the face of adversity #ao3 #amerikaknight

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souberbielle · 5 years

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Lily Evans is Not a Bad Friend: A Closer Look at the Courtyard Scene

The courtyard conversation in The Prince’s Tale is not a scene I like. I hate the decision to set the Highly Amusing Murder Prank before the Snape’s Worst Memory incident, in my opinion shafting almost every participant’s character arc. I still hate that. That has not changed. But I also, and I am far from alone in this, hated what seemed to be Lily’s atrocious treatment of the boy she called her best friend, taking his bully’s word over his, and blowing off news that he nearly died. Except I’ve just examined it again, prompted by reading several essays and fanfictions based on that same interpretation, written by some of the snazziest people in the fandom – and I think we’re all wrong.

To come to that, from what I’ve seen, nearly universally-accepted conclusion, you have to assume that Lily and Severus have not previously spoken about the Prank, and that the version of events Lily heard came from James Potter. But neither assumption is warranted.

I had previously assumed, as a lot of people do, that this conversation was the first one the friends had had about the Prank since it happened. That doesn’t really hold up, though. It’s been at least a day or two – Lily says it took place “the other night,” not “last night.” Still, it’s possible they haven’t gotten a chance to talk since then. However, if what Lily heard about “what happened the other night” is the first clue she’s gotten that anything happened that night, you’d think she would open the conversation by asking him about it. Instead, she only brings it up when Snape himself mentions the Marauders. It’s not unreasonable that she doesn’t ask if he’s okay or for his side of the story; she already knows he wasn’t hurt, and he’s had his chance to explain. Her reproachful “I heard what happened the other night” is more likely to mean “I found out about that thing you refused to tell me about” than “I just learned something awful happened to you.”

Why wouldn’t Snape give her his own account? I don’t think he could.

In PoA, Lupin’s account of the Prank tells us that, following the incident, Snape was “forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody” about Lupin’s lycanthropy – and possibly about the Prank itself. This could mean that Snape simply made a promise and was expected to keep it or face punishment. Or it could refer to a magical gag order, perhaps something like the Tongue-Tying Curse put on Grimmauld Place by Moody to keep Snape from revealing its location. His incoherence later in the courtyard scene, attributed by the narration to his “bitterness and dislike” could potentially also be related to such a restriction.

If the only thing keeping Snape from telling anybody were his own honor, he would tell Lily. We know this because he is trying to tell Lily. Dropping heavy-handed hints about his werewolf theory is a clear violation of the spirit of Dumbledore’s injunction. If he could say, “Remus Lupin is a werewolf and he nearly killed me,” he would do it, so it seems he cannot.

Now, about that theory…

Lily responds to Snape’s leading questions about Remus as though they’ve been down this road before and she’s sick of it. “I know your theory,” she says. Which is odd. If this established, well-known Werewolf Theory of Snape’s predates the Prank, why would he knowingly go down a tunnel to follow a werewolf who is about to transform? The whole point of the incident was that Sirius knew the danger he was sending Snape into, but Snape didn’t. So, either the theory Lily is talking about is something other than lycanthropy (unlikely) or it’s a very recent development. The Prank happened just “the other night,” but Lily is already weary enough of the topic to call Severus “obsessed.” It seems like Snape has been desperately trying to get around his gag order. He’s probably been answering all questions about “what happened the other night” with werewolf hints. In his mind, he’s trying to explain in the only way he can, but Lily would see it as an attempt to deflect and avoid her questions, the way he really is deflecting and avoiding her concerns about Avery and Mulciber.

So, she gets the story from another source, one she apparently considers reliable enough that she presents their version to Severus as hard fact. Most people assume this story came from James Potter or his friends, either directly or through the gossip mill, and therefore criticize Lily for taking the word of the boy she calls “an arrogant toerag” over that of her best friend. But, again, that assumption doesn’t bear out.

For one thing, are the Marauders really likely to circulate a version of events that includes the fact that there’s a “tunnel by the Whomping Willow” and something “down there” that could kill someone on a full moon night? Sure, Snape’s Worst Memory shows they can be cavalier about discussing secrets where they might be overheard, but they have just been reminded of the dangers of a breach of secrecy. Are they really going to spread around the existence of the Willow tunnel, when that’s exactly the information that nearly got Snape killed? Do they really want people to pay close attention to who and what goes in and out of that tunnel? And do they want to be caught by teachers sharing this secret after what just happened with Sirius?

Additionally, Lily presents the information like it came from a trustworthy source. Considering her view of James Potter, she’s likely to give his accounts of his own accomplishments about the same credence as, say, Gilderoy Lockhart’s. If the tale came directly from him, she wouldn’t state it as unbiased fact. The same thing applies if she heard it through the grapevine. She would begin, “People are saying...” instead of “I heard what happened.”

Even if she were gullible enough to just accept gossip as gospel, her actions suggest the story isn’t common knowledge. She “drop[s] her voice” before introducing this new subject. Why doesn’t she want to be overheard? It can’t be that she doesn’t want people to hear her upbraid Severus, because she’s been doing that the whole conversation. It must be the content she’s worried about, which means it isn’t a story that’s already circulating.

My guess is that she heard it from the faculty, most likely by eavesdropping on teachers’ private conversation, but possibly by asking Slughorn, who has been known to share behind-the-scenes Hogwarts info with his favorite students. Information from a teacher wouldn’t be inherently suspect the way student gossip or Potter’s boasting would, and the story fits with her interpretation of Severus’ behavior. Since she has no reason to think the Werewolf Theory has anything to do with the Tunnel Incident (because why wouldn’t Severus just say so?) it does look ungrateful of him to hide the fact that James saved his life by making up nasty rumors about his sickly friend. She didn’t mention it until Snape forced the issue himself by harping on Lupin, in the same way that she didn’t bring up Petunia’s letter to Dumbledore until Petunia insulted the world she’d been so eager to join. (The similarity of these incidents – she even lowers her voice both times – may be another indication that Lily found out both secrets by snooping.)

So, contrary to popular belief, Lily Evans is not being a bad best friend to Snape in this scene. She’s just fed up with him distracting her with Scooby-Doo mysteries when she’s trying to hold an intervention.

((It’s possible this is old news to the fandom. Apologies if that’s the case. But I’ve literally never once seen this interpretation anywhere, and I’ve read a lot of Snape and Lily fic and meta. People have varying views on whether Lily’s behavior is justified and whether it’s intentional on Rowling’s part, but I’ve always seen it presented as a given that she is condemning her best friend on the word of James Potter, without giving Severus a chance to defend himself. Until one hour ago, I believed that too. So, I’m sharing my revelation.))

#severus snape #lily evans #lily potter #harry potter #harry potter meta #this is a mess #my apologies #(and now back to not being on tumblr)

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triciaisonline · 5 years

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THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE MISGUIDED & THE BIZARRE.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.

THIS ISN’T A FULL REVIEW, JUST MY IMMEDIATE THOUGHTS AND REACTIONS UPON SEEING THE FILM

THE GOOD

almost every performance in this film is well done. i felt there were a few small characters that were not the greatest, like the auror who gets the job offered to newt, the circus guy. but the main cast delivered.

this film looks beautiful. colleen atwood’s costumes look beautiful. special notes to everything worn by leta lestrange, the woman who follows grindelwald & brings queenie to meet him ( did she get a name? i swear they never named her... but there are so many characters in this movie... it’s impossible to keep them straight ). i love tina’s Parisian haircut. it suited her really well and served as a good reminder of passing time between this and the first.

i do like seeing other wizarding cultures, even if they didn’t really show us french wizard culture as much as i would have liked. especially since fleur delacour, beauxbatons are already areas people are interested in... it would have been nice to see more but i liked what i did see.

i liked that leta lestrange wasn’t the dark bellatrix type figure / temptress people were fanoning her out to be after being mentioned in the first film. i actually liked her character so i’m really mad that she was killed. i liked she had complexity, even if some parts of her will be brought up in other sections.

i forget it’s name, but i really like that giant cat creature. it’s cute. i love it. i want 5 for myself.

i liked seeing queenie get overwhelmed on the streets, because she’s a legilimens and all those thoughts would be overstimulating to her. i just thought it was a nice touch.

bunty telling newt to take off his shirt to go swimming was a mood.

i liked how jude law incorporated the manipulative parts of dumbledore, but it wasn’t in a obvious way. it was so well done, i really love it. it showed the morally flawed nature of the man really well. basically everything jude law did was perfect. including how he was the only one that seemed to subtly implicate that gellert and albus were gay. it’s not perfect, but i think he actually read the books before hand and knew whom he was playing really well.

i know we don’t like him, but i do like how gellert addressed the rally. how he talks to people. reasons with them. how he rarely does the horrific acts himself, its always his followers. it’s chilling and really clever. it brings to mind cults, extreme right groups, dictators trying to induct and enforce their beliefs on the mass.

THE BAD

what the fuck was with queenie? don’t get me wrong, i’m not against queenie turning to gellert’s side or her heart being what gets used against her... because that has the making of good conflict. what i’m against is how it was done. queenie is in a total of five-six scenes in the film. one is a plot dump for what we have missed off screen, one-two are her looking for tina but they are the same narrative thread they basically count as one scene just spliced within other scenes, she meets the french lady whom i swear never had her name said... then grindelwald then she’s at the rally where the ending of the film happens. she turns so fast. the film covers maybe a couple days? and you don’t even see the full conversation with grindelwald. so not only does she do nothing in this film, she turns to the bad side on a dime for what feels like cheap and unearned dramatics at the end of the film, but they are overshadowed and never even really acknowledged by the other characters because leta has her sacrifice right after, and credence has his conversion and that one is more plot driven then queenie’s which just feels like an afterthought. honestly all of queenie felt like it was added in last minute. she just doesn’t fit the rest of the film. she looks for tina, never finds her, tina never even asks or wonders about her. we dont even see her REACT to her own sister JOINING GRINDELWALD. newt forgets about her, jacob talks about her a bit, but other than being funny to watch, jacob also really doesn’t have anything to do in this movie. ironically, jacob feels more validated as a component because at least he’s helping newt as he looks for queenie, over queenie the reason jacob is there in the first place...and who is meant to have this big shocking “plot” if you told me that this was all added in a final draft, after seeing queenie and jacob be so popular, i wouldn’t be surprised at all. so really, queenie’s betrayal not only made sense, but it literally didn’t even matter to the plot of the film or any of the character arcs.

i also didn’t like how she just essentually drugged jacob with love potion which has literally been likened to date rape drugs and everything in earlier canon and analysis but here it gets hardly any response outside of “oh that queenie.... drugging jacob again to make him marry her”. i felt at least newt should have had a stronger reaction to it. especially when a big plot point later is someone having magic used on them to essentially do the same thing and cause all this family drama for the lestrange family. i think it’s suppose to be foreshadowing, but it’s not really handled well.

this one is kind of unimportant, but i also felt like queenie’s hair colour really looked off this time. i don’t know if it was a different wig or dye or if the colouring just didn’t flatter it... but it really made alison sudol look washed out in scenes and looked the wrong shade in others. i really don’t know but it bugged me a bit.

i’m really mad that they killed off leta lestrange, she had so much build up... and she was actually more interesting than other character plots... but then they just... killed her off. and she really didn’t need to die... like its framed like a moment for newt to finally join the war properly and he sorta starts to connect with his brother again after, but i feel the entirety of the movie was enough to get him involved. so really, we just killed off a really interesting female character ( a woc character too ) just... for the sake of a male’s plot. wonderful.

on the subject of leta lestrange, i felt that whole scene with her, her brother, credence, tina and newt to be weirdly paced and shot. like so much information dump happened and people kept revealing things and it was hard to keep straight.

there are so many plots. too many plots. so many micro-plots, not subplots. but smaller. the whole movie is micro-plots that result in everyone at the same place for the climax of the film, which would be cool except many of these characters, places, etc get little to no explanation or build up. just “i’m here now’. and there is no resolution.

on that note, THERE IS NO RESOLUTION. THE MOVIE JUST STOPS. it feels like this movie either was meant to have an extended ending that got cut.. or they filmed and wrote it like it was the first part in a two parter, except it’s not. its a film in a series but its only one part. so it’s just a movie that ends abruptly and awkwardly with no kind of wrap up of anything. like yeah you want plot threads to fuel the next film, but literally nothing gets any kind of ending or closure. unless you count newt and thesus hugging? but that is all relied upon throwaway lines and its really ( again ) unimportant in the long run.. so it doesn’t count.

so in the end, credence gets a wand and grindelwald tells him he’s actually a long lost dumbledore because in 2018 joanne rowling doesn’t even know her own canon and the fact he only has two siblings. and i mean, i get its meant to be a secret surprise brother, but when so much of the deathly hallows FOCUSES on his backstory with gellert and how it intertwines with his siblings, it feels really poorly thought out. the dumbledores and grindelwald’s backstory is pretty set in stone from the deathly hallows as told by both rita skeeter’s book, aberforth and even dead dumbledore himself. how it destroyed their family, and all of that is the set up for their conflict now.. so throwing in a surprise brother after all of that feels kind of cheap and lazy at this point. and again, no build up. no set up. just... “here’s a wand. i made this bird a phoenix. you're a dumbledore. end movie’. nothing foreshadows it. just “you're a dumbledore, credence.” he’s like the worst version of the hagrid meme.

THE MISGUIDED

lets talk about nagini, i’m not the high most authority on the subject as a white female, but from my understanding of the controversy from people much more informed than i am, the fact that nagini turned out to be basically a nothing almost feels worse than when she was framed like this big controversial focal point for the film. okay so, nagini literally didn’t need to be nagini. at all. she’s a snake once, and it’s in such an obvious “look its nagini from harry potter”. moreover, she literally didn’t even need to be a snake. its such a irrelevant part of the story. which just shows how much this nagini thing was just slapped on the character to create controversy to sell tickets and get people talking about the movie. WHICH JUST MAKES IT EVEN MORE WORSE, when you factor in that nagini is a nothing character on top of this. she is essentially scenery. she does nothing contribution wise except be there with credence until he goes to grindelwald and then stands with the heroes at hogwarts at the end for some reason, she just tagged along i guess. AND ALL OF THIS MAKES THE CONTROVERSY FEEL SO MUCH WORSE, because it’s literally an insensitive & thoughtless character created for the purpose of nothing. there isn’t even a big plot reason, nothing is contingent on her. you could remove her from the film and it changes nothing. which makes this the second woc character to get the shaft.

okay so the first film set up that there was a love plot of some kind involving newt and leta that would be explored in future films. and it’s not that it wasn’t there. you saw that with leta and newt; but what isn’t explained is how 1) she ended up with his brother, 2) how she got him expelled, 3) how that affected things between them, and 4) where is his brother in all of this? and they killed leta... so are we just done with that now? because it was set up that this would matter and it really didn’t. not that i didn’t like that her whole character wasn’t around a love plot... but i also kind of want answers? but also don’t think i didn’t notice how her whole plot was related to men in her life. i liked her, but she wasn’t perfectly written. truthfully this film is held together by amazing design and actors. zoe kravitz brought this to life.

i didn’t mind the flashbacks... but it was weird how they didn’t really do any camera or editing tricks to differentiate between present day and flashback. more for the hogwarts one, its edited so it looks like the movie just changes to another movie for like fifteen minutes ( its a long flashback you guys ) and then cuts back. it was just really weirdly edited.

so, when did we stop calling MACUSA... MACUSA? it was just called american ministry of magic this time and since it had a name that was a huge part of marketing for the first film and was used a lot in the film as well. it just felt weird that they dropped it. also, they dropped the no-maj thing except for once when grindelwald uses a bunch of terms to describe muggles in his speech. i mean, i know we all mocked it.. but once you establish a universe, its jarring when the rules of it suddenly are changed because of focus group testing not liking it.

i briefly touched upon this with queenie’s note, but jacob really felt like he was added just because he was popular in the first one. like in the first one, he’s essential to the plot and the character arcs of the main characters as well as a good character on his own. but... he felt shoehorned into the film. like he had a good ending, and the implication that he found queenie in the end felt like a good solid ending to his story. but this time, he’s just there. he helps newt a bit, has funny lines... but again, if you cut him out... you lost nothing. actually, you could cut queenie out and the film would progress as normal. they were entirely subplot and background noise.

i know we wanted to build up tina and newt, but its been 9 months. they havent seen each other since new york... this whole bit felt forced and was essentially the “misunderstanding trope”. and again... there was hardly any reward or pay off for that time. the whole thing is dropped by the third act and become irrelevant again. because the movie just... ends.

THE BIZARRE

there were a lot of dead babies for a wizarding world film. like two babies are killed/murdered in the plot of this film and that felt.. kind of dark for this series. its like they want to be edgy but can’t commit to it so they do it in small bursts but then the rest f the movie is madcap adventure. so it really stands out.

the cast and crew went out of their way to state that the gay stuff wouldn’t be a thing in this movie. the bullshit reason being “everyone already knows so why bother”. and yeah, this is a clear case of insincere representation --- but then you have jude law over here giving lines deeper meaning with his acting... the blood pact having them entwine hands and fingers and framed intimately when shown on screen.... and i swear, while not heart shaped, the blood pin thing that newt steals from grindelwald invokes the idea of heart shaped jewelry... and even if its not.. its worn on his chest above his heart? so it invokes the idea that way. which makes me beg the question, if it was going to be subverted anyway... and EVERYONE HAS KNOWN FOR 11 YEARS.. why oh why was it being treated like a hush hush secret ‘ gay but not really gay’ thing. just fucking let them be gay. let them be shown to be former lovers / someone dumbledore used to love. even if they don’t say it to characters, there are ways to convey that visually. and the mirror scene isn’t enough. i’m sorry but its not. like calm down. its 2018. it’s not a secret.

in the beginning, grindelwald looks a bit like haymitch from the hunger games

thesus looked like percy weasley in a lot of scenes.

I’LL HAVE MORE COHESIVE THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS LATER ONCE I PROCESS IT ALL MORE. BUT THESE ARE MY INITIAL REACTIONS AND THOUGHTS UPON JUST SEEING THE FILM FOR THE FIRST TIME.

OVERALL, THIS FILM HAS WAY TOO MUCH GOING ON. DOESN’T FOCUS ENOUGH ON THE IMPORTANT PARTS, NEEDS TO FLESH IDEAS OUT MORE.. A LOT OF THINGS HAPPEN BUT ALSO, NOTHING MATTERS TO THE STORY. IT FELT LIKE A LOT OF SCENES WERE CUT OUT FOR TIME. THE MISMATCHED NATURE OF PLOTS FELT MORE LIKE TV EPISODES RATHER THAN A FILM. BUT THE ACTORS REALLY GIVE THE FILM SOME CREDIBILITY AND MAKE THE RIDE AT LEAST ENJOYABLE TO WATCH, BUT I’M NOT ITCHING TO SEE IT AGAIN. A LET DOWN AFTER THE FIRST FILM, BUT I HOPE FOR IMPROVEMENT. ALL IN ALL, JUST STOP LETTING JOANNE TALK / WRITE. SHE MAKES BEING A HP FAN IN 2018 SO HARD; AND GOD BLESS JUDE LAW.

#fantastic beasts spoilers*#fantastic beasts #fantastic beasts: crimes of grindelwald #wizarding world #crimes of grindelwald #fb spoilers #newt scamander #tina goldstein #queenie goldstein #leta lestrange #albus dumbledore #gellert grindelwald #jacob kowalski #thesus scamander #tricia talks.

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kallypsowrites · 5 years

Text

The Crimes of Grindelwald and how not to write a mystery (spoilers)

Hey. J.K. We need to talk about this latest movie. I know you’ve been getting a lot of flack about the nagini thing, the trying to introduce too many new characters in one movie thing, the implying that weird ending where you implied Grindelwald wanted to stop the Holocaust. Weird stuff. But really I want to talk about the twist. The Aurelius “Credence” Dumbledore twist. I...I hesitate to even call it a twist because that implies that “who is Credence?” is a question any of us were asking at the end of the first movie. Like...he could have been his own character. But no I guess he...had to have a recognizeable name. Cause if there’s anything your books have taught us: it’s all about the family you come from. That’s what makes you powerful.

Anyway, the real problem is: this was a terribly constructed mystery. Which is really odd because mystery was what you used to do best in the Harry Potter books. Maybe writing for film posed different challenges for you or maybe you just give yourself too many toys to work with, preventing yourself from fully constructing this mystery but...whatever the case, I want to go back to your books.

The thing about the Harry Potter books was the mystery was always high stakes and figuring out the answers determined whether or not Harry would live or die. The mystery was directly connected to the plot, and therefore we cared about solving it.

So in book 1 we ask the question: what is in the vault? It’s the sorceror’s stone, which can make people immortal or revive them from the brink of death. This is important because it seems Snape is trying to get it for Voldemort to help resurect him and we care because both Snape and Voldemort seemed to have been out to get Harry all year. So when we get into the vault and find out SURPRISE! It’s actually the unsuspecting, stuttering proffessor Quirrel who has Voldemort on the back of his head. This is satisfying because it’s unexpected but also the hints were dropped throughout the books. And it raises the stakes because Voldemort is LITERALLY on the back of Quirrel’s head. The sorceror’s stone itself is more of a plot device, but what makes it significant is that it COULD have brought voldemort back if Harry hadn’t stopped him.

In book 2, we get an even better mystery. Something is petrifying muggleborns and Harry think it might be Malfoy. Yet again, we have a red herring in the mystery. First it was Snape. Then it was Malfoy. The whole book revolves around the creature, it’s master, and the location of the chamber of secrets. Once again, the location of the chamber of secrets is just the plot device. What makes it significant is that finding it enables Harry to find and save Ginny. And, of course, it reveals that it was Voldemort all along, this time trapped in the memory of a diary. More upping of the stakes and the introduction of an element (the horcruxes) that will come back later.

In book 3, we hav ethe mystery of Sirius Black. Why did he betray Harry’s parents? Surprise! He didn’t. It was a red herring. The real culprit was Peter Pettigrew who supposidly died on that same night. Harry has been seeing Peter’s name on the map and we wonder why. it turns out he faked his death! And Sirius was innocent! This ups the stakes because the whole climax revolves around saving an innocent man from a cruel fate.

You’ve noticed so far that every mystery has had a red herring, but hints placed throughout for the true culprit. And it has a plot device that more or less serves to raise the stakes. Nicely enough, the plot device is all in the book title for us.

In book 4, the mystery is: who put Harry’s name in the goblet of fire? Red herring: Karkaroff or Snape again. True answer: Barty Crouch Jr. Does it actually matter who set up the goblet of fire? Not really. It’s really just a way to up the stakes more by having Harry witness Voldemort’s return.

In book 5 the mystery is: way more nebulous. There’s the question of why is Harry seeing through Voldemort’s eyes and what does it mean? Voldemort starts manipulating their connection to get Harry to pick up this prophesy. It’s kind of interesting but the REAL purpose of going to find the prophesy is to rescue Sirius and then raise the stakes when he dies, leaving Harry once again without a treasured loved one.

In book 6 the mystery is twofold: what are horcruxes and who is the Half blood prince. The answer, you guessed it, ups the stakes. Horcruxes hold pieces of Voldemort’s soul and to kill him, they must be destroyed. And the identity of the half blood prince? Satisfying because it comes after Snape killed Dumbledore.

In book 7, the mystery is finding the horcruxes and also the deathly hallows. Though the deathly hallows are far less significant than the horcruxes. The ressurection stone serves a thematic purpose more than anything. And the point of the Elder wand is that Voldemort was never it’s owner. Harry is supposidly the master of death and so it’s more tied around that theme. The horcruxes are more central to the plot as finding each one enables Harry to ultimately kill Voldemort. This book is like a bunch of mini mysteries, but the mystery, once again, isn’t the point. It’s all leading up to the final confrontation with Voldemort which Harry wins with this really powerful speech and conversation.

So J.K., if we review, we see that your mysteries are well written with excellently placed red herring, sprinkled with plenty of hints to make the twists legitimate. But, at the end of the day: the answer to the mystery isn’t the point of the story. It was a vehicle to raise the personal stakes for the characters (though still tied very closely to the plot).

So...Aurelius Dumbledore. Let’s talk about that, shall we?

First of all, you try to set up the Lestrange family as a red herring. Except...we know nothing about the Lestrange family at all. When you introduce the idea that “he might be a Lestrange” our only thought is...Oh. Cool. What does that mean? How does that have any bearing on the plot? It’s also clumbsily introduced because we’ve only just met Leta Lestrange. And found out she had a brother who died. And that people think it could be Credence. But it’s not like...we’ve spent time with this character and gotten to known her sorrow over her brother’s death. It has to be TOLD to us. The whole backstory has to be described in order to have any weight. Leta’s half brother (who we don’t care about) describes Leta’s history for no reason as if to say “haha, HERE’S the answer”. Only to be like “ACTUALLY JUST KIDDING IT’S NOT THE ANSWER! YOU were FOOLED”.

No we weren’t. We had no context. We had no ability to guess this twist. This is the equivalent of “You’re a vampire Harry” “I’m a what?” “Haha, just kidding. You’re a wizard. Fooled you.”

So, whatever. The red herring is thrown in there for no apparent reason. They try to make this a mystery when it didn’t need to be. But surely the answer...the reveal...matters? Right?

Haha, guess again. Here’s a question, J.K. What does Credence being a Dumbledore change? Why does it matter? Are you saying that because he’s a Dumbledore, he’s more powerful? Because that sounds like some pureblood bullshit right there. I could have sworn the whole point of Harry Potter was that blood ties didn’t matter and the strength of someone’s magic was like...personal or some shit. That’s why Hermione is powerful, right? You’re surely not saying that coming from a good family is what makes your magic strong right? So Credence being a Dumbledore shouldn’t be what actually gives him the power to face Albus.

Does it raise the emotional stakes? Not really. Dumbledore never knew this brother. This isn’t a Leta Lestrange situation of “I had a brother and he died”. Dumbeldore doesn’t even know Credence exists so he has no reason to care yet. This reveal effects NO ONE, except for Credence himself. It does not advance the plot. It does not raise the stakes. It is little more than a fun fact. Credence could have just been a really powerful wizard because of how he was able to suppress is obscurus for so long. He didn’t need to be special.

It’s as pointless as the Nangini reveal. It’s just...trivia. It’s a twist to be a twist. It doesn’t effect the plot. Lord knows Nangini does FUCK ALL in this movie. At most, it gives Credence an excuse to go with wizard hitler, and that’s just...so weak. He wasn’t concerned about where he came from in the last movie.

I just...he could have just been a powerful wizard. This movie has so many answers to questions I never asked: the history of the Lestrange family, Credence’s identity, Nangini’s backstory. No one needed or wanted these things. And what’s weird is that this involves so much retconning of Harry Potter canon. Weird how this whole “Dumbledore had another secret brother” thing was never mentioned in previous books or histories. Weird how there were NO HINTS in the original books about Nangini being a cursed snake. Weird how APPARENLY LETA IS THE LAST LESTRANGE BUT YOU JUST KILLED HER SO WHERE’D BELLATRIX’S HUSBAND COME FROM?

The mystery could have been removed and not made a difference. And the film treats the reveal like it’s some big deal. It’s not. It does not raise the stakes. Grindelwald himself raises the stakes by actually convincing some good people to join his side. I guess maybe a movie called Crimes of Grindelwald should have been focused on him right? And the other characters? And not bloated with this pointless mystery?

J.K. I know you can write mystery. I’ve seen you do it. A good mystery is made from keeping it simple, building in hints naturally, including well established red herrings and making the actual mystery drive the plot forward.

This...was an after thought. A way to distract from meaningly developing your five million characters and a sorry attempt to try to keep to the formula that you don’t seem to know how to execute anymore.

(Final note: I enjoyed parts of the movie. I thought the ending was over all strong and I actually loved Leta’s character. Also, shockingly, Grindelwald was one of the best things about this movie and I thought I was going to hate Depp’s performance. It’s a shame that so many of the characters had nothing to do because I bet they could be interesting. So, you know, what a mess. There are good parts but they don’t fit together to tell a cohesive story

#Harry Potter #crimes of grindlewald spoilers #crimes of grindelwald #fantastic beasts #fantastic beasts and where to find them #gellert grindelwald #leta lestrange #j.k. rowling #credence barebone #nangini #albus dumbledore #dumbledore #spoilers

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ourgreatergood · 2 years

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He had not expected this, though.

Albus wasn’t moving now. Theseus Scamander was steadily casting Renervate at his chest and Eulalie Hicks was cushioning his bleeding head on her cloak, but nothing happened.

No, he’d never wanted this. He didn’t want this. That stubborn fool couldn’t leave him alone in this shameful world!

He only noticed that his body had started shaking from the tension in his muscles, when Vinda touched his arm, muttering: “We should go.”

Vinda’s eyes had already widened with fear, when he finally gave her permission to go, following with merely a last glance at Albus’s slowly moving form.

#grindeldore #gellert grindelwald #albus dumbledore #fb #hp #nicolas fantastic fanfiction

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loonymarauders · 5 years

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Thoughts & Opinions on the Crimes of Grindelwald

SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE MOVIE AHEAD OBVIOUSLY

(also spoilers for the review: I didn’t like it, which I am explicitely stating here so you don’t need to read this if you don’t like what I have to say! Don’t wanna ruin the movie for peeps who enjoy it! Also warning nr. 2 I was pretty annoyed when I wrote it so I’m sorry for being aggressive oops)

- I mean we all knew that Dumbledore was not going to be explicitly gay, but after seeing the movie I was even more annoyed. There were multiple scenes where just implementing a simple “I love(d) him” was so freaking easy. To someone who knows Dumbledore is gay, or even a queer person, the queerness in these scenes is very tangible. To people who do not fall into one of these categories though, Dumbledore’s queerness will still not be picked up on! I am so tired of movies who put in these types of scenes but are too scared to say the words. I only hope that the next few movies will explicitly state that Dumbledore is gay. It. is. not. enough. now.

- Dumbledore waiting for Newt on a rooftop is the gayest scene of the movie tbh. Extra™

- Got a laugh out of Dumbledore still giving vague orders to his favourite students without actually going out to do things himself. The man never changes does he?

- Now to address Queenie and Jacob’s relationship. What. Kind. Of. Manipulative. Bullishit. Is. THis? WHY DID THEY ROMANTICISE THIS? I cannot believe. I am so confused. How can you write Queenie putting Jacob under a love spell, totally under her control, totally unable to give any consent might add, and expect us to find it ROMANTIC? Why does Jacob still lover her after this? HOw can you write this scene and think it is even a remotely healthy relationship? Not to mention that you are J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, and you yourself physically wrote the chapter in which Merope continues to feed love potions to Tom Riddle, creating the horrible person that is Voldemort to, you know, point out that feeding someone a love potion is WONG?!? Also was she not aware of the parallel between this and that scene at the end of the movie where Leta’s dad puts her mom under the imperius curse to keep her in his control and basically rapes her? No one is seeing the parallel? No? We’re just gonna pretend that this was a romantic scene??? I am pissed off.

- There were so many house-elves doing magic in this movie. And it’s not exactly wrong, because we know they can do magic without wands and that they are allowed to perform magic with permission from their masters, but still. Their magic was so similar to wizards magic. I always imagined it to be more crude, like their loud CRACKS when they disappeared etc. idk.

- ONE. CANNOT. APPARATE. INSIDE. OF. HOGWARTS. GROUNDS.

http://veraleroi.tumblr.com/post/71689148311/2-seconds-later-they-forget

- I actually loved some scenes in that Hogwarts flashback. Mannn that friendship between Leta and Newt. I love it. They’re such highly stereotypical depictions of their house. Leta is such a slytherin and Newt is such a hufflepuff, and I am so here for slythering-hufflepuff friendships. They’re the best.

- McGONNAGALL love her. Iconic. Idk if she was Minerva or not but ya know

- Whyyyyyy is Dumbledore teaching Defense Against The Dark Arts?? I am annoyed. Why does it have to be defense against the dark arts? It’s that one class we keep seeing. Just let him teach Transfiguration. Let him be. Stop changing what is established in the books. Ugh.

- The magic throughout this movie was wayyy too powerfull again. Like I have accepted it at this point. Yes it gives some nice visual effects. But it takes away so much of the tension. It’s so nice in Harry Potter that you get a magical world, but you always know the boundaries of it. In this movie anything seems to be possible

- I need a crack video of that first Thestral scene where Grindelwalds head keeps popping up through the windows. It was hilarious.

- WHYYYY is Johnny Depp playing Grindelwald. I am so done with watching his face.

- Ooooh I loved the creatures (except for those library cats they can go away) in the movie. The Kelpie was 10/10, also thought the Zouwu was dope.

- FUCKING NAGINI. WHY WAS SHE EVEN THERE. SHE LITERALLY CONTRIBUTED NOTHING TO THE WHOLE MOVIE. LITERALLY NOTHING. SHE HAD HER ONE SCENE WHERE SHE CHANGED AND THEN SHE JUST KINDA HUNG OUT ON THE BACKGROUND. HOW MANY LINES DID SHE HAVE? LIKE THREE? IDK MAN I AM SO ANGRY ABOUT NAGINI. THERE. WAS. NO. NEED.

- Can we talk about that stupid back story for Leta, Yusuf and Credence??? I don’t even know where to start? They just wanted to fuck with some family trees or something. But it was just so bad man. Stealing a wife with the imperius curse and having a baby? ugh I hate all of it. It’s so weird. And then for some reason Leta and Corvus have to be on a boat, because you know. Magical transport doesn’t exist right? And of course the boat has to be sinking. But more importantly, Leta gets annoyed with baby Corvus’ crying and her first response is: let me swap this baby with a quiet baby. Yes perfect. Finally some peace and quiet. WHO DOES THAT? Who’s first instinct when dealing with a crying baby is, ah lets swap it for a quieter one??? This whole backstory is just completely ridiculus.

- This bloodpact thing between Grindelwald and Dumbledore can either be interesting or not. If they just made a bloodpact when they were young and this is the reason Dumbledore cannot fight him, it takes away so much of the emotional plot. Dumbledores reason for not fighting Grindelwald has always been that he loved him once (or even still kinda does idk?) and he cannot get himself to do it. It gives so much controversy to his character and makes the story so much more emotional (and gay). And if it is just bc of a stupid bloodpact, you take all of that away. However, if they made this bloodpact at a very difficult time, for example after Ariana’s death or something, then it has the same emotional value, because Dumbledore then knows Grindelwald is bad, and still does not want to fight him.

- Yeah. that ending. I am so done with everyone being related to some important character and that making everything exciting or something. I don’t care. Why should I care about Credence being a Dumbledore. What does it add. I am tired.

#crimes of grindelwald #fantastic beasts #fantastic beasts 2 #fantastic beasts and where to find them #fantastic beasts the crimes of grindelwald #the crimes of grindelwald #review #spoilers #spoiler #harry potter #my post

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kuro-gossips · 5 years

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Splashes of Colour

Chapter 3: Shades of Orange

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Newt blearily blinks his eyes and is immediately greeted by Theseus’ and Leta’s faces, anxiety and concern plain as day on them.

“Newt!” Leta’s expressive chestnut eyes soften as he comes to as she inquires about his health. “How are you feeling?”

“W-what happened?” The former Hufflepuff questions, confusion gracing his features. He doesn’t need the other two to explain because his memories come flooding back: he remembers Theseus and himself arguing about the upcoming war, he remembers feeling lightheaded and exhausted, and then he remembers succumbing to that exhaustion.

Theseus’ brow is furrowed, his voice is quivering slightly when he speaks, “You passed out and we brought you to the Ministry’s infirmary. Have you been eating regularly and sleeping enough? I know you’re prone to forgetting these kind of things, Newt…”

The freckled wizard replies, indignantly, because for once, he has been taking proper care of himself, “I have!”

Theseus just gives him a look that says that he doesn’t believe a word coming out of his brother’s mouth. The mediwitch chooses this moment to enter the room, returning with a diagnosis on Newt’s well-being. The three of them stare expectantly at her, to which the brunette can’t help but sigh. She glances at the clipboard she is toting and starts to read from it.

“It’s not exactly clear why Mr. Scamander fainted. The most likely explanation is acute fatigue from overworking yourself.” The witch discloses and the Head Auror sends a knowing and smug expression to Newt.

“Of course I was right about this.” Leta rolls her eyes in exasperation at the Scamander brothers’ antics. These two always have a complicated relationship, no matter how old they are.

“As of now, I would advise Mr. Scamander to get some rest and to abstain from strenuous activities.” With her job done, the mediwitch excuses herself from the room.

“You heard her, now you have to join us for dinner, okay?” Theseus declares, leaving no room for argument. Newt decides it’s time to graciously admit defeat and assents. After his discharge papers are filled and filed, the trio head back to Theseus and Leta’s place in London.

Newt inquires if he can help with anything, but the other two are adamant about him being not only a guest, but on medically-advised rest, so he arbitrarily thinks about what’s going on in his life, while he is seated on their couch. The dark-haired witch moves gracefully around the kitchen, wand in hand, and casting spells to prepare a meal for them. Theseus is busy setting the table and aiding where he can with dinner. Several minutes fly by and the meal is complete. Theseus sits himself at the head of the table, leaving Newt and Leta to awkwardly face each other; although, they try their best to avoid any semblance of eye contact. The blonde Auror attempts to make small talk, but it quickly goes nowhere. Leta grabs ahold of Theseus’ hand, soothing his uneasiness, and her fiancée offers her a sweet and loving look. Theseus never ceases to be amazed with the witch’s ability to understand his underlying feelings at any given time.

The younger Scamander brother can tell that the two of them are deeply in love and he knows that it is the soulmate bond that ties them together even closer, so he has to break the silence by asking, “What is it like to be soulmates?”

Soulful brown eyes turn towards him and after a beat, she retorts, “Why, Newt, you’ve never been one to fancy hearing anything about soulmates.”

“Ah, well,” She has him there, but Newt thinks quickly on his feet, “I came across a pair of Graphorns a couple of months back -- the last breeding pair, in fact -- but it is said that they are creatures that mate only once and for life. I just wanted to see if I could draw some parallels between humans and Graphorns for the second edition of my book.”

Naturally, Newt would raise a question that pertains to his love of magical beasts. Theseus muses. The two lovers exchange a brief glance, before venturing on.

“How to explain it…” Theseus ponders, “It’s like a missing puzzle piece has finally been found or--”

“-- or you never have to voice your insecurities because your soulmate simply knows already.” Leta finishes. The engaged pair nod in agreement and continue blabbering on such niceties about being in a reciprocated soulmate relationship that Newt actually feels sick. He wonders why he couldn’t have had a less difficult soulmate -- Gellert Grindelwald of all people!

A particular portion of the conversation catches his attention, “-- we’ve noticed the strangest phenomenon recently. It feels like we’ve grown stronger, in a magical sense. And when we’re physically too far apart for too long, we can feel it dampening.”

In an abrupt realization, Newt’s dilemma regarding his health makes sense. No one knows that the world’s most infamous Dark wizard is the magizoologist’s soulmate and so undoubtedly, no one has made the connection. His deteriorating strength and weakening magical abilities can be attributed from being geographically isolated from Grindelwald. Hence, after they’ve concluded dinner, Newt makes a hasty retreat back to his house, muttering excuses about how he needs to rest, but he needs to escape from the lovesick couple and the newfound answers he’s discovered. When he’s finally in the warm embraces of his bedroom, he curls up in a fetal position and weeps. He doesn’t want this.

***

The day has just turned to evening and the sky is overcast, clouds gathering as a storm brews. Newt stumbles through the crowded streets of non-magical London. He notices that Theseus is indeed right about the Ministry assigning a tail to him. He hates the idea that not only could they prohibit him from travelling, but also to add surveillance. His innate reaction is to cross the street, just in time for line of sight of the Ministry’s employee to be cut off from him as a car rolls by, and he ducks behind the corner of a building. He peeks out and whispers, “Ventus.”

An overwhelming gust of wind propels said man back, even as he tries to resist by opening his black umbrella, garnering weird looks from Muggles passing by. Newt smiles, not quite a smirk, and feels the tap of a finger on his shoulder. When he looks in the opposite direction, he catches sight of a black leather glove waving. Then, it gestures to the top of a building, where he can see a tiny figure brandishing the top of their hat at him. Newt shakes his head as he grips the glove and is transported to the rooftop. He steadily makes his way across narrow ledges to where a middle-aged man with greying auburn hair and a full beard is waiting: Albus Dumbledore. The curly redhead presents the glove back to the Hogwarts professor as he greets him with amusement in his voice, “Dumbledore. Were the less conspicuous rooftops full, then?”

Dumbledore doesn’t turn to look at his former student from the sight before him, but he fondly states, “Well, I do enjoy a view. Nebulus.”

Fog descends over the city in front of them and the two of them Disapparate to Trafalgar Square. They stride past the landmark lions as they converse.

“How was it?” Dumbledore inquires and at this Newt frowns, before he responds.

“They’re still convinced that you sent me to New York.” He’s referring to the three wizards he had the displeasure of meeting during all five of his appeal hearings.

“You told them I didn’t?” The other retorts, but the former student seems disgruntled with his reply.

“Yes, even though you did.” The author scrutinizes his professor’s face, looking for changes in facial expressions as he continues with his deductions, “You told me where to find that trafficked Thunderbird, Dumbledore. You knew that I would take him home and you knew that I’d have to take him through a Muggle port.”

The Hogwarts teacher digresses, “Well, I’ve always felt an affinity with the great magical birds. There’s a story that’s passed down in my family: a phoenix will come to any Dumbledore in desperate need. They say my great-great-grandfather had one, but that it took flight when he died, never to return.”

Newt looks at him with incredulity, “With all due respect, I don’t believe for a minute that’s why you told me about the Thunderbird.”

There is a noise behind them as a figure of a man appears through the fog, causing the two to Disapparate away again when they spot him. When they reappear, they have relocated to a bus station and board a parked, empty bus.

“Credence is in Paris, Newt. He’s trying to trace his real family. I take it you’ve heard the rumours regarding who he really is?” Dumbledore reveals, leaning forward from his seated position. Newton is very much aware of the first part, but the rest is news to him.

“No.”

“The purebloods believe he’s the last of an important French line, a baby whom everyone thought lost…”

“Not Leta’s brother?” The younger wizard interrupts, briefly, surprise written all over his features. He hasn't heard much about the Lestrange’s long lost son, except that he was taken out of Europe in fear of his life. Not to mention, he hasn't been in close contact with any of the Lestrange family in general.

“That’s what they’re whispering. Pureblood or not, I know this: an Obscurus grows in the absence of love as a dark twin, an only friend. If Credence has a real brother or sister out there who can take its place, he might yet be saved.” A beat passes, during middle-aged man's account. “Wherever Credence is in Paris, he’s either in danger or a danger to others. We may not know who he is yet, but he needs to be found. And I rather hoped you might be the one to find him.”

Dumbledore conjures a card with a glowing golden symbol on it and the Hufflepuff examines it with confusion, “What’s that?”

“It’s an address of a very old acquaintance of mine. A safe house in Paris, reinforced with enchantments.”

“A safe house? Why would I need a safe house in Paris?” The magizoologist sputters, raising an eyebrow in question, mouth slightly agape.

“One hopes you won’t, but should things at some point go terribly wrong, it’s good to have a place to go. You know, for a cup of tea.” The wizard’s blue eyes sparkle in amusement as he says this.

“No, no, no -- absolutely not.” Newt vehemently refuses. A Muggle enters the driving compartment, forcing them to depart and they Apparate on to a bridge and Dumbledore spells the bright lights that line the bridge to darken.

“I’m banned from international travel, Dumbledore. If I leave the country, they will put me in Azkaban and throw away the key.” Newt deplores, like he can’t believe that his former Professor is asking him to do such an insane task.

“Do you know why I admire you, Newt? More, perhaps, than any man I know?” Newt is caught off guard by the flattery, but the older wizard persists nonchalantly, “You don’t seek power or popularity. You simple ask, is the thing right in itself? If it is, then I must do it, no matter the cost.”

He watches through his fringe, green eyes cautious as he counters, “That’s all very well, Dumbledore, but, forgive me for asking, why can’t you go?”

“I cannot move against Grindelwald. It has to be you.” The Hogwarts professor pauses, taking in Newt’s face. The younger’s face contorts into despondency because Dumbledore is requesting that he partakes in the fight with the rising Dark Lord. The other doesn’t realize that Grindelwald and Newt happen to be soulmates. Even if Newt hates the circumstances that are wrought upon them, he isn’t completely sure he can fight his soulmate while he feels so utterly powerless at the moment. “Well, I don’t blame you, in your shoes, I’d probably refuse too. It’s late. Good evening, Newt.”

Dumbledore disappears with a snap of magic.

“Oh, c’mon!” Newt exclaims, throwing his arms up in defeat. The older’s empty glove returns with the the business card in hand and tucks it into his breast pocket. The auburn haired man is irked to say the least and manages to grumble, “Dumbledore…”

***

The freckled man returns to his humble abode in London. After the ordeal with the escaped baby Nifflers and addressing the Kelpie’s wound, Bunty and Newt hear a crash from above the basement.

“What was that?” His assistant’s voice shakes with fear as they gaze upwards, the faint echoes of footsteps wandering around upstairs.

A pensive look on his face, the magizoologist answers, “I don’t know, but I want you to go home now, Bunty.”

“Shall I call the Ministry?”

“No, I want you to go home now. Please.” Newt sneaks up the stairs, careful not to make any undue sounds until he is able to see who has decided to drop in on his house uninvited. He’s not sure what to expect when he pushes the door leading to his living quarters open.

Jacob Kowalski and Queenie Goldstein are standing in the middle of his living room, suitcases scattered on the floor next to them. His blonde friend has an air of nervousness mixed with excitement, whereas Jacob seems to be inebriated and is currently bumbling about with the broken pieces of a vase that originally decorated a table close by.

The younger Goldstein sister is fluttering around her beloved, trying to retrieve the damaged parts so she could fix them with magic, “If you could just give it me… Just give it to me, sweetie. Just hand it over. Oh!”

The couple notice Newt’s presence as they spot his head peeking around the corner. Jacob blurts out with undisguised elation, dropping the remnants of the vase without a care, “HEY, NEWT! Get over here, you maniac!”

He flings his arms around a delighted, but surprised Newt. Queenie gives him a grin, looking sheepish at their sudden appearance.

“We hope you don’t mind, Newt? We let ourselves in; it’s raining cats and dogs out there! London’s cold.”

The redhead barely shrugs before he faces the stocky man and says, “But you were supposed to be Obliviated!”

“I know!” The Muggle says, but his features show no sign of shock or disbelief.

“So-- but--” Newt fumbles for the right words to say in a situation like this.

Jacob is quick to break the awkward conversation with his account, “It didn’t work, pal. I mean, you said it, the potion only erases bad memories. I didn’t have any. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I had some weird ones. But this angel… this angel over here, she filled me in on all the bad parts, and here we are, I guess?”

“This is wonderful!” He looks around for Tina, but doesn’t find her. “Where’s Tina?”

“Oh, it’s just us, honey. Me and Jacob.” Queenie tells him.

“I see.”

The room descends into silence before the blonde witch’s sweet voice tears through it, “Why don’t I make us some dinner, huh?”

“Yes!” Jacob shouts, loud and unruly, almost causing Newt to flinch back at the volume. The younger Goldstein observes the dark circles underneath Newt’s normally brilliant green eyes and his slightly sunken in cheeks; his face is more angular than she remembers when she last saw him in New York and it seems like his clothes don’t fit quite as well. The blonde witch notes this in the back of her mind to bring up later.

Once the woman finishes preparing a meal for three, she abruptly states, “Tina and I aren’t talking.”

“Why?” Newt glances up from his meal, making momentary eye contact with her, before looking to the right.

“Oh well, you know, she found out about Jacob and I seeing each other and she didn’t like it, ‘cause of the ‘law.’” Queenie imitates her sister’s voice, mockingly, “Not allowed to date No-Majs, not allowed to marry them. Blah, blah, blah. Well, she was all in a tizzy anyway, ‘cause of you.”

“Me? Why would she be in a tizzy over me?”

“Yeah, you, Newt. It was all over Spellbound. Here: I brought a copy for you.” She summons the magazine titled ‘Spellbound: Celebrity Secrets and Spell Tips of the Stars!’ and Newt’s face is plastered on the cover. The headline reads: ‘BEAST TAMER, NEWT, TO WED!’ The magazine flips open to a picture of Theseus, Leta, Newt, and Bunty standing side by side at his book launch. In the photo, Leta is standing close to him, a hand resting on his shoulder with a soft smile spread over her full lips. Queenie points at the magazine and reads, “‘Newt Scamander with fiancée, Leta Lestrange; brother, Theseus; and unknown woman.’”

“No, no, they got it wrong. Theseus is the one marrying Leta, not me.” He denies, still observing his non-magical friend’s odd actions.

“Oh! Oh dear… Well, see, Teenie read that and she started dating someone else. He’s an Auror. His name’s Achilles Tolliver.” Newt fails to see how Tina’s dating life is pertinent to him, but he doesn’t interrupt his female friend. Jacob and Queenie trade a look before laughing at the man’s last name. A pregnant silence ensues, but then Newt wants to talk about Jacob’s tumultuous behaviour: eating sloppily, humming to himself, and then attempting to drink from the salt shaker. Queenie quickly proceeds to cover for him, snatching it, and replacing it with a glass.

“Anyway… How have you been doing, Newt? I hope New York isn’t still haunting you. You don’t look so well, honey.” She confesses, forehead wrinkled in concern.

“I’ve been well, everything’s good.” Newt brushes off her concerns with a dismissive wave of his hand, but the blonde Legilimens is unconvinced, even if she chooses not to press. She attempts to delve into his thoughts, but they are in such a disarray that she gets a headache from trying to sort through them. Instead, she is only able to feel the most prominent emotions -- despair and confusion. Her immaculate brows pull up further, but a look from Newt tells her not to go further with her line of questioning. Queenie respects his judgment.

“Okay, well… We’re real excited to be here, Newt. This is a-- well, it’s a special trip for us. You see, Jacob and I, we’re getting married!” She showcases her engagement ring and Jacob tries to toast with this cup, but ends up pouring the beer all over his head.

“I’m marrying Jacob!” The man bellows and there is no doubt in his mind now that Queenie has managed to bewitch his friend and he levels her with a fierce glare. He knows she is capable of reading his mind and he uses this to his advantage, You’ve enchanted him, haven’t you?

“What? I have not.” She replies as she hears the first coherent thought pass through his consciousness.

“Will you stop reading my mind?” Newt says aloud, but he is still speaking to her mentally.

Queenie, you’ve brought him here against his will.

“Oh, that is an outrageous accusation. Look at him. He’s just happy. He’s so happy!” Queenie is affronted by the implications of his thoughts. He returns her statement with a disbelieving look.

Newt draws his wand out from his pocket and points it at the dark-haired male, “Then you won’t mind if I--”

Queenie jumps in front of Jacob, trying to shield him from his line of sight. “Please don’t!”

“Queenie, you’ve got nothing to fear if he wants to get married. We can just lift the enchantment and he can tell us himself.”

Several painful moments elapse and at last, she moves aside, her gaze downturned in a sense of shame.

“What you got there? Whatchu gonna do? Whatchu gonna do with that, Mr. Scamander?” Jacob teases, a grin stretching his face wide.

“Surgito.”

Jacob reacts as though a bucket of cold water has just been poured over his head, shaking, and a cloud of pink smoke forms into the shape of a heart above his head, still wet from the beer. He comes to his senses and glances around, confused.

“Congratulations on your engagement, Jacob.” Newt announces and Jacob’s wide brown eyes stare at him.

“Wait, what?”

Newt looks at Queenie and Jacob turns to see his beloved standing adjacent to him.

“Oh no.” He realizes he has been taken against his will. Slowly, he gets to his feet and she reads his mind. With a sob, she runs to close her case, but her lipstick and a fragment of torn postcard fall out. She then proceeds to flee the apartment. “Queenie!”

Jacob glances back and forth between the departing witch and his close friend, debating on who to address first, “Uh, it’s very nice to see you. Where the hell am I right now?”

“Oh, um, London.”

“Oh, I’ve always wanted to go here!” His voice carries infinite amounts of frustration, before he stomps out, chasing after Queenie with another cry of her name.

***

Queenie dashes out of Newt’s house and down the street, tears streaking her cheeks. Jacob runs after her, his face red and livid, and it colours his tone as he asks, “Queen, honey. I’m just curious, when were you going to wake me up? After we’d had five kids?”

The blonde whips around and nearly growls uncharacteristically, “Why is it wrong to want to marry you?”

“Okay--” Jacob attempts to butt in, but the woman barrels forward.

“To wanna have a family? I just want what everyone else has, that’s all.” Her eyes are shimmering with more tears, such a beautiful blue, despite the dim lighting of the street. They stare despondently at one another.

“Okay, wait. We talked about this, like, a million times. If we get married and they find out, they’re gonna throw you in jail, sweetheart. I can’t live with that. They don’t like people like me getting married to people like you. I ain’t a wizard. I’m just me.”

“They’re real progressive here in England and they’ll let us get married proper.” She is shaking as she explains how the culture and laws in Britain are not as backwards as they are in America. The man approaches her and wipes a solitary tear from her cheek.

“Sweetheart, you don’t need to enchant me. I’m already enchanted! I love you so much.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, but I can’t have you risking everything like this, you know? You’re not giving us a choice, sweetheart.” Jacob counters, almost pleading her to understand how tough this is for him as well.

“You’re not givin’ me a choice. One of us had to be brave and you-- you were being a coward!”

“I was being a coward? If I’m a coward, you’re a--” The Muggle cuts himself off, but it’s already too late because Queenie has read his mind.

“-- Crazy!”

“... I didn’t say it.”

“You didn’t have to…”

“No, I didn’t mean it like that, sweetheart.”

“Yeah…” Queenie is forlorn as she responds, “You did.”

“No!” He tries, but she has shifted away from his reach and is almost running away from him. He can hear the pain in her voice as she says her next words.

“I’m gonna go see my sister.”

“Fine, see your sister.” The mustached man is exhausted from proving his case and he gives in.

“Fine.” There is a sense of finality in her tone and Jacob instantly regrets everything he’s said as Queenie vanishes from the streets of London.

“No, wait! No, Queenie! I didn’t mean it… I didn’t say nothing…” But he is alone on the street.

***

Newt is conflicted, miserable at causing such a ruckus, but he catches sight of a torn up postcard. He crosses the room to pick it up and then mutters, “Papyrus Reparo.”

The ripped pieces come together and mend; it shows a beautiful landscape somewhere in Paris. The neat handwriting on the back says:

My dear Queenie, What a beautiful city. I’m thinking of you, Tina X

He can only imagine that the reason Tina is in Paris in the first place is because she is looking for Credence. Just like so many other people are and he can’t help but be concerned for the boy’s well-being. As soon as Jacob arrives back at his residence, the two pack up and head to Paris as well.

***

Only moments ago, Grindelwald has procured his new hideout in Paris, after killing the occupants of the house. Following the months of his imprisonment, he hasn’t felt quite up to par to his usual self, but it’s nothing that affects or worries him all that much. The pale platinum-haired man has spent much time fascinated with the seemingly weak magizoologist -- the one responsible for his capture -- but after the events in New York, he knows that appearances can be all too deceiving. An uncontrolled vision hits him as he is contemplating how to go about approaching Credence at the circus.

He Sees Newt sitting uncomfortably at a table, fumbling through a meal, with another man who resembles him in some ways and a dark-skinned female, pretty and elegant, but wholly not his definition of beautiful. He is sure this witch is known as Leta Lestrange. Grindelwald only catches the tail-end of their conversation, but he can tell that they are discussing soulmates.

“-- we’ve noticed the strangest phenomenon recently. It feels like we’ve grown stronger, in a magical sense. And when we’re physically too far apart for too long, we can feel it dampening.” Leta explains, gesturing wildly, and it is easy to put the situation Newt and himself in perspective after hearing this. There is a white flash of light, subtle and delicate, and then, his vision changes to Newt conjuring up his Patronus to send a message to someone. The thing that captivates the Dark Lord’s focus is the fact that the animal that is invoked is not some common, non-magical beast, but rather an extraordinary Kelpie. The curly haired wizard speaks in soft words, mentioning someone called ‘Bunty,’ before the Kelpie lends him a nod and bounds off to deliver the message.

Grindelwald returns to reality, slightly befuddled from the experience as he usually is. A Patronus that appears in the form of magical creature is so exceedingly rare that he thinks, How interesting this soulmate of his is.

#grindelnewt #gellert grindelwald #newt scamander #fanfiction #fantastic beasts #fantastic beasts and where to find them #fanfic #theseus scamander #leta lestrange #queenie goldstein #jacob kowalski #soulmate!au #soulmate!au where you see black and white until meeting them #let the angst continue #grindelnewt fanfiction #crimes of grindelwald #splashes of colour

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toooldforfandom-liveblogs · 6 years

Text

RWBY V6 OP Thoughts

I usually try not to speculate too much since I’m not sure how much people like that but since it’s the OP I wouldn’t be able to say much without doing it. So, be prepared for a lot of dumb shot-per-shot theorizing.

Full disclosure: This is not a blind liveblog, mainly because I believe the OPs benefit a lot from having a bit more time to think about them. I’m also writing this _after_ liveblogging the first episode but it’s 99% spoiler free other than a couple of small details.

Right away we’re hit with the most noticeable difference, RWBY is back _and_ they are all looking forward in the same direction. V5 had them looking forward but only towards their own goals, now that they are together again they all share the same goal.

The moon through the OPs:

V1: Full moon in all shots except in Blake’s.

V2: The moon appears full in all shots except Cinder’s.

V3: It appears once and it’s shattered.

V4: The moon is nowhere to be found.

V5: The shattered moon gets a small cameo in the title screen.

V6: The moon is the focus of a shot again _and_ it gets shattered.

This is probably a big reach but I think the moon can symbolize both conflict and the RWBY team (the moon getting destroyed also appears multiple times in the soundtrack and it’s always in the context of things going bad).

V1 and V2 have a whole RWBY team so they have a full moon, and Blake and what Cinder represents end up being the finale conflicts.

V3 has the biggest conflict so far _and_ the RWBY team ends up being separated so it gets one big shattered moon.

In V4 the RWBY team doesn’t really exist anymore so there’s no moon in the OP.

In V5 RWBY is slowly reforming so the shattered moon is back but it’s shown pretty small compared to the other seasons.

What could all that mean for V6? This is the first time that the moon changes states in the same shot. RWBY is back so the moon is full again _but_ there’s either going to be internal conflict (there’s a couple of possibilities here) or external conflict (a big fight).

Interesting to note that it’s a scythe what breaks the moon. Hold that thought.

Just an establishing shot to remind us they exist. About the only thing of note (other than Qrow having his eyes closed) is that Oscar reading an “Atlas Mechanics” but who knows what that could mean other than “yeah, we’re going to Atlas this season”. Also Nora and Ren seem to be finally “together together”!

Ruby and Weiss being playful, I love their smiles!

Ruby is _chasing_ Weiss. If you remember the first shot of the OP, Weiss also appears directly in front of Ruby there, so they are really emphasizing that bit of symbolism.

I really like this shot. While Weiss and Ruby seamlessly went back to being partners (probably even better partners after Weiss’ perspective shift), Blake and Yang are obviously having a lot more problems. They _are_ sitting together so they are trying but there’s something holding them back.

Blake’s bravado in the finale doesn’t mean she’s over what Adam did to her.

This is interesting because of what it implies. They both seem discouraged but _why_ if they are all together again? There’s a hint in the first episode at least for Ruby but not to the point this shot shows.

For a two-second shot there’s a _lot_ of interesting things to talk about.

Maria’s (sorry, the woman’s name is the one spoiler from the first episode) eyes are fully covered. Since eyes are so important in the representation of magic of the show, without seeing anything else I’d be inclined to think she has something to do with that.

But it’s immediately followed by a close-up of Ruby’s silver eyes so I’d guess she either had silver eyes (and lost them) or still has them but she hides them.

Also, Ruby’s close-up shot is a reflection in her glasses. So Maria either sees herself in Ruby and/or viceversa but there’s definitely a connection there.

Ruby gets a slight smile so Maria gives her a bit of hope back.

Maria also gets a tender look in her “eyes” when she looks at Ruby. This could be for a lot of reasons but a couple of guesses are that she ends up getting close to Ruby after training her how to use her eyes or she knew Summer (maybe she taught her?), or maybe both. There’s a third possibility related to the next shot.

This doesn’t need a lot of speculation to reach the conclusion that Qrow is either going to die or get incapacitated badly because of his alcoholism.

Remember the scythe that breaks the moon? Who’s the _one_ person that uses a scythe, that Ruby has never doubted and that she has always looked in hope every time that there has been a problem?

If Qrow dies Ruby is going to get hit _hard_ and that’s going to cause a lot of problems for everyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if this season is the start of an emotional arc for Ruby. The mentor dying is a staple of the hero’s journey after all.

Maria could help Ruby a bit after it happens, but I doubt she’ll be the biggest factor in Ruby’s recovery, that’s going to be someone else.

(This is RT saying “YOU WANTED MORE RUBY DEVELOPMENT? CONGRATULATIONS, YOU JUST KILLED QROW.”)

Ruby is fighting the exact same Grimm arms that pulled Qrow into the darkness. This can be literal (there is going to be a Grimm like that) and/or figurative (the arms could represent depression and while Qrow lost his battle against it, Ruby is still fighting).

In V5’s OP they used something similar with the tentacles both showing Leo being threatened by them (which ended up being literal) and how Salem’s reach was all encompassing.

She’s also carrying the relic which as of the first episode hasn’t happened yet. But there are a couple of shots in the OP that suggest how that could happen though.

Recreation of my reaction when I first saw Roman’s hat: OH MY GOD NEO IS BAAAAAAAAAACK!!!

Cinder reacts in alarm to Adam’s sword but doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to meet this season, it could just be a cool transition.

Just a couple of establishing shots for the villains. Emerald being the only one not smiling is probably the most interesting thing here.

Salem is _pissed_. It could be because of how the Battle of Haven went, the disappearance of Cinder or something related to the next scene.

We’re finally getting some Ozpin backstory. I have no idea who that woman could be (besides more drama for poor Oscar) but that statue seems to be the second to last Ozpin incarnation, the one with blue robes. If he has a statue he was obviously important so it lends credence to the theory that Ozpin was the King of Vale who stopped the war.

The weird thing is that it has been only 80 years since that happened but Ozpin is in his third incarnation since then. Did they all die in their 20-30s?

Back in my post about the V5 OP I wrote:

Jaune is obviously somewhere else. Not only is he still not over Pyrrha but now he has to deal with knowing _why_ it happened.

I wonder if we’ll get some sort of confrontation with Oscar considering Ozpin is responsible for… well, a lot of it.

It looks like we’re finally getting that confrontation. I hope Ozpin doesn’t say “toodles” leaving Oscar alone.

An internal conflict between Ozpin and the rest also explain why Ruby is the one carrying the relic. Another explanation to that is that Ruby is being self-sacrificing to avoid risking anyone else dying.

Action shot establishing that they fight in a train. :v

Cinder is back and she’s fighting a mysterious someone who’s wielding a pink umbrella. Which makes a lot of sense. Ruby was just defending the school and wasn’t even the one who actually killed Roman. But Roman and Neo were only there because Cinder ordered them to.

It does leave open the possibility that they’ll join forces next volume if Cinder is able to convince Neo that Ruby is the cause of everything bad that has happened to them.

Obligatory action shots. They are working as a team _and_ Ruby is being supported by Weiss’s glyphs which gets reinforced again next shot.

Weiss literally picks up Ruby from the ground and helps her stand up, joining everyone at glaring something unknown.

Weiss and Ruby’s relationship gets a lot of focus this OP. If I have to make a guess, it’d be that Qrow is going to either die or get removed from the picture, Ruby is going to be at her lowest point due to this and Weiss is going to be the one that helps her the most.

It works as a big contrast to Yang and Blake who are facing away from each other in this shot. They also don’t get a lot of screen time in this OP, which makes me think that the show is going to take the repair of their relationship very slowly and if anything happens it’ll be towards the end of the volume.

And... I think that’s all. I think this is one of the most spoilery OPs so far but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was on purpose to mislead us. In any case I’m very excited to watch the volume so it worked!

Until next time!

#rwby #rwby v6 #rwby liveblog #v6 op

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skeptic42 · 5 years

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Breaking this off the original thread.

Me:

This is what happens when people are given a little bit of knowledge, yet not taught to think critically.

When @ace-pervert says something like:

Yeah as long as you have things which can test them

He’s right in that not everyone has a LHC lying around the garage to just fire up and test for the Higgs Boson. However, it is possible to get an education specializing in the right field and get access to a particle accelerator. And run some tests.

But then you get worried when he says,

You almost never get the same result twice when testing something

This shows a complete and total lack of understanding in science and how it works. If nature was as chaotic as he implies, then we could never know anything. And before he whips out with the whole quantum universe thing, there are tests that we can conduct and repeat experiments. Plus the quantum universe thing is only applicable below the atomic level.

What we can know can change. Science doesn’t collapse and all knowledge disappear when we discover something knew. Theories (that is not guesses or speculation, but testable, repeatable ideas supported by evidence through getting the same results no just twice, but hundreds of times) are adjusted. It’s only when they are totally proven false, like cold fusion, that they get scrapped. Relativity supplanted Newtionian physics, but we still use it because it works for things here on earth.

But you have to be worried when you read,

it took so long for us to succesfully [sic] prove that the sun revolved around the earth

I’m hoping this is a typo.

provided you can demonstrate it exists to begin with which is impossible when it comes to things like intelligence which cant be tested directly but are assumed to exist but in truth are only hypothetic in nature and therefore not demonstratable.

First, there’s a difference between the abstract, like the mind, and the physical, like the brain. Now, we know intelligence exists, we are currently using devices that result from using intelligence. It also helps to actually define intelligence. Being smart like Einstein and being a con artist like Trump. Not the same thing, but some people can’t tell the difference.

We might not understand something, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Consciousness is a good place to start. It does exist. It can be tested. It’s as immaterial as intelligence.

Next we have @chillimanjaro:

“There are dozens of aspects of reality we don’t understand, including other dimensions. We don’t fully understand things like quantum mechanics or even physics. Not fully.”

Other dimensions may exist, but so far only in mathematical formulas on paper. We understand quite a bit about quantum mechanics and physics. We don’t know everything, sure, if we did, we wouldn’t study it. Our knowledge is expanding all the time. We’re developing new tools and building more powerful ones.

As for “something beyond this reality,” it makes for great fiction and fun speculation, but if it can interact with nature then there would be a way to test it. Just because there are wavelengths of energy that can’t be seen doesn’t prove that every other thing we can conceive of could exist. We can conceive of a wizarding boy that goes to a magical school, but I think lending it credence instead of relegating it to fiction isn’t the best way to go about thinking about things.

That’s the great thing about curiosity and science, we keep looking for more answers.

Response:

chillimanjaro:

I’m not saying lack of understanding is proof of God existing. I’m saying that you cannot reasonably dismiss the concept of a diety just because you personally have not observed him. That regardless of what you or I say about a god has no impact on whether a god exists.

It’s not a matter of not observing or feeling a god, but understanding that all gods were created in the minds of men.

I could sit here and say I have felt the presence of God in my life. I could do that, but I know me saying that I believe I have felt God, that I’ve heard his voice, that I’ve had a religious experience is my anecdotal evidence and will be dismissed as such.

Very true. People have felt a lot of stuff and been entirely wrong.

But I’d rather say that the dismissive nature of saying well I can’t see it, I’ve never felt it, I’ve never had that experience is not a proper way to address the question of Gods existence.

Again, it’s not a matter of not seeing. I did give an example of something we can’t see, yet we know it exists.

You lack any faith in God existing because you’ve never seen anything to attribute that to the world and that’s all well and fine but that still wouldn’t determine the existence of God.

Nor would feelings or being able to conceive of a god. Just look at history, all the gods were human or animal or hybrid, things people have seen, yet none existed. The box you open has your god in it, yet no other gods. Why? Why is your god the one true god, but none of the other gods? There may very be some super powerful being, but the idea is pointless. god needs to be relegated to mythology, with the rest of them. In the other box where you put all the gods.

To dismiss the possibility is just simply not reasonable.

To dismiss evidence is unreasonable. To believe is unreasonable. The possibility is not worth the effort or the time, except in fiction.

It’s as just as unreasonable as seeing the infinitely expanding universe and saying the only place with life on it must be our planet.

This is actually a very reasonable statement. Is there life elsewhere in the universe? Possibly. Given the law of large numbers, it’s very likely. Where the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe and the possibility of a deity existing differ is in one single point:

We know life exists in the universe.

And since it exists here, it is actually very probably it exists somewhere else in the universe with hundreds of billions of galaxies with hundreds of thousands of stars with trillions of planets. It like the lottery, the chance of one ticket winning is microscopic. The chance of a ticket winning is extremely likely.

I’m not saying that you must believe God exist because the chance is there that God does exist.

The greater chance is that god was created in the minds of men, like the 5,000 some odd other gods.

I’m saying very simply that that you can’t just say, nope not possible at all.

The possibility is a moot point, nor does it increase the likelihood.

All I can really say is that if you seek God, not to prove existence of God for yourself, but if you SEEK GOD TO FIND GOD you will find God.

Yes. When you really want something to be true, it is all the easier to believe it’s true when you don’t and can’t prove or disprove it concisely. It’s even easier when that god is invisible, untestable, unobservable. unprovable, and exactly what you conceive.

Also comparing the Bible, and more specifically the gospel of Jesus Christ, to Harry Potter is not a valid comparison.

They’re both fiction, and mention real places.

Harry Potter has been stated by its author to be fictional and is not that old.

Yes, we know it’s fiction. However, the Iliad and the Odyssey are much older, yet we don’t believe they are real. The Sumerian flood myth is even older then the bible, yet we know that wasn’t real either.

Something that has stood the test of thousands of years,

What test? People being forced to believe it?

has the most original copies of any documents in the ancient world

Do you mean the thousands and thousands of fragments? You do realize that copy means not original. Some of which prove they’ve been altered (like the addition of the last several verses of Mark).

(and I’m talking ancient documents dated around the time that it is claimed Jesus did what he did) especially when it was widely persecuted with crucifixtion, prison, and being burned alive at the time it began and still faces persecution in many parts of the world has a bit more value than that.

This seems a little odd, like you’re running at least two ideas together. I’ll try to pull them apart.

The only documents about the existence of jesus are the gospels. Everything else was derived from that or from the people who believed it. There are no original accounts (and the gospels are full of contradictions, read Bart Ehrman).

We do know that crucifixions happened. Doesn’t prove jesus existed. It just proves the writers used that along with the OT to fabricate the jesus story.

I’m not sure how people being persecuted today proves the bible true. I think your working toward the logical fallacy known as appeal to popularity (many people believe it, so it must be true).

If people did not believe Jesus came back from the dead then they would have renounced their faith in him under scrutiny especially when faced with his same type of death.

Called it. People believe because they wanted to believe. Belief in gods was rampant at that time. Many religions sprang up and had instant followers. christianity happened to survive the ages, not through fact, but belief.

If they didn’t believe in the miracles that they claimed to have seen and were just saying so then they would have given up, not given their life.

That doesn’t follow. Just because people gave up their lives for their beliefs doesn’t prove anything except they gave up their life for their beliefs.

No one actually saw anything. (Why are there 4 different accounts of jesus talking to Pontius Pilot that differ in almost every way and yet none of his followers actually witnessed any exchange?) We have 4 canonical and numerous apocryphal accounts, all created at least 30 years after the supposed events. Yet somehow, no one wrote down anything at the time, only 30+ years later, during an age of illiteracy, rife with supposed gods, with many wandering illiterate itinerant apocalyptic preachers. Jesus was a common name, derived from Joshua, a Jewish hero. The practice of giving your children great names hasn’t changed.

No one is out there dying for Harry Potter (except JK Rowling lol) but people refuse to give up their faith in Jesus and die for it plenty to this day.

I hope not. But if people were, that wouldn’t suddenly prove Harry Potter is real. There however is a possibility that J.K. Rowling wrote about real events, but due to the magic protecting muggles and keeping them out of the wizarding world we are completely unaware of this unseen world around us. Rowling may have even had these events transmitted to her mind so as to foster further disbelief in the wizarding world and protect it from discovery.

I’d really recommend looking into Lee Strobel if you’re interested for more answers. They actually have a movie based off his book on Netflix last time I checked. It’s called The Case For Christ.

Wow. Talk about coincidence. (But when I think about it, it’s actually a very likely coincidence.) I just read about his book. Now I’ll have to go back and reread that article again, so I won’t address it here.

I’d also recommend that you actually read the New Testament of the Bible, not necessarily the whole thing but the first 4 books give a clear understanding of Jesus Christ.

I have. I used to go to church. Been baptised, believed it because everyone else did. But when I started to develop critical thinking, questioning things, I began to realize that I didn’t believe it.

I recommend you read it as well, but read it in parallel. Find the stories that overlap. See how they are different. Read Bart Ehrman, Jesus Interrupted and Misquoting Jesus (I think that’s the names). He’s a top NT scholar. I don’t agree with everything he wrote, but he is good.

Another good one (though I will tell you that not everything between the pages of that book has the same value) is What Time Is Purple? It’s very short, shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes to read at max.

Maybe. I have like 2,000 other books to read.

I recommend How to Think About Weird Things. I’ve just started Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, it promises to be excellent.

#christianity #religion #atheism

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