I just want to remind everyone that Wallace is canonically the worse one to sleep in the same bed with.

Scott can be a bad roommate in every other aspect but GUYS Wallace is the one that canonically snores and kicks in his sleep.

Scott sleeps like a princess with his back against the sheet lying perfectly straight (and also taking all the covers) and Wallace sleeps semi-on-his-side and apparently just fucking punting Scott in the leg every so often (not to mention he talked in his sleep too) and I don’t know why this is important to me but it is.

Because when people draw them cuddling in their sleep it’s always Wallace being normal and Scott turning and snoring and shit but you’re missing out on sleepy-cuddly Wallace turning and snoring on Scott. Let that cringe-fail 25 year old be annoying. Istg.

I’m talking to the Mobillace people too btw. Not that I’ve seen anyone draw them cuddling in bed (which is a CRIME btw. Draw that. For me.) but like imagine how funny it would be: Mobile stays the night for the first time and the hot-weirdo is a bed-menace, snoring and kicking and tossing and turning and suction cupping for warmth and Mobile is like “I want him to be my boyfriend” THATS FUNNY! LIKE-

thoughts on ct's fighting style and her position in pfl because I can (utc bc it's long lol):

okay so I like to jokingly refer to myself as THE wash meta/analysis guy, but I also absolutely love ct if anyone wasn't aware (she's my 2nd fav character behind wash if you couldn't tell lol), but as much as I love her it's honestly pretty difficult to write any sort of 'objective' meta or analysis posts about her because we don't know shit about her. so while this is meant to be a companion piece of sorts to this wash post, I just wanted to make it clear that a lot of this post is going to be based around my personal interpretation of ct (though I will try and be as objective as possible where I can be).

so much like wash, I think ct is also fairly unique among the freelancers for a few different reasons. one of them is that she's one of the few freelancers to wear a unique set of armor instead of the usual mark iv, and I think that ct's armor can actually tell us quite a bit about her skill set and what kind of role she possibly held. ct wears the eod helmet and chest which is primarily designed for protection from explosives, but when it comes to ct the more important information is that the eod armor was designed with less available grabbing surface than other armor variants. she also wears the scout shoulders, which is a variant that is focused on stealth capabilities.

from this information, we can easily deduce that ct's skill set primarily revolves around be slippery and sneaky, and when paired with what we see in the show it's pretty clear that ct is an intelligence operative. I think that ct is specifically a cyber operations specialist, and that prior to being recruited for freelancer she worked in ONI's section one (the actual intelligence gathering sector of ONI that is used by other UNSC branches).

another unique aspect about ct is that she is the only freelancer to consistently arm herself very lightly, with her primary weapon(s) of choice being two M6G magnums, and her other weapon(s) being two combat knives. this goes inline with what I've said above, and due to how lightly she arms herself I believe that ct generally isn't involved in any heavy combat scenarios. this point is supported by team b's failure to retrieve the briefcase with the access code during the heist in s9 (seriously, who tf thought it was a good idea to put 2 snipers and an intelligence operative all together as one team for a smash and grab retrieval mission??).

now to actually break down the whole 1.5 fights ct has in s10, I think that she probably somewhat shares wash's more grounded and pragmatic approach to combat as a whole, with the exception of her preference for duel wielding (which I personally headcanon is a thing she chooses to do because it makes her feel like an action/spy movie protagonist).

in both of her fight scenes ct seems to rely very heavily on her ability to plan ahead and get the jump on her opponents to take them by surprise (dropping from the ceiling to take out the two marines when she met up with the innie leader in the scrap yard, and using her armor enhancement to conceal her real position which allowed her to pin tex's arm behind her back), and I think it's safe to say that she probably isn't the kind of cqc fighter than can mow people down left and right like carolina can.

as mentioned above, I think ct's main goal is to take her opponents out in the quickest, quietest, and most efficient ways possible, much like a spy or an assassin, and while her loadout is great when she is in ideal circumstances where she's able to sneak around and avoid unnecessary combat, I don't think it's very good when it comes to drawn out encounters. we see this in her fight against tex and carolina, as while she handled herself pretty well it seemed like the longer the fight lasted the sloppier ct ended up getting, and eventually she made enough minor mistakes that carolina was able to knock her off her feet and disarm her in a single move, and tex, who was now aware of ct's armor enhancement, was able to cut her down.

Hi!

A few words about me and this blog.

[but before we go any further... even though this is a blog dedicated to Voldemort and Harrymort, I don't support Rowling or her views; hate and bigotry of any kind will not be tolerated here.]

I've been a fan of the Harry Potter series since I was a kid, but I've never interacted with the fandom actively - I never created any fanart, posts, fanfics etc., I only consumed and shared them. So, this is my first attempt at sharing my own theories and any other weird little thoughts I may have on the subject.

Even though I am open to different interpretations and opinions, I know that many may not share this view and may not want to follow me because of it (righfully so), so I'm going to write some of my hot (or maybe not so hot) takes that are my primary headcanons and/or interpratations of the text.

I'm not a fan of the movies. I think the changes made in them distort the characters, the plot and the overall story.

I don't believe Voldemort is insane and/or badly written. I may write a charcter analysis based on the books one day when I'll have the time and energy... and if anyone will be interested in reading it, of course.

At the same time I don't think that HP and its characters (including Voldemort) are great and with no faults. I love the concept of the series and the world created, but I will also be the first to critique it and point out its faults.

Lord Voldemort is Lord Voldemort. Confusing, I know. What I mean by that is that I don't like differentiating between Voldemort (the insane bad one) and Tom Riddle (the brilliant good one). Recently, I started to become disconnected from the trend in the fandom of treating Tom Riddle and Voldemort as separate entities. At the same time, I'm not gonna go around telling people to stop characterizing them, or thinking about them, in whatever way they like! It's just something that I became sensitive to and don't subscribe to anymore. 

Harrymort is the only pairing I am single-minded about. Any other ship (that doesn't involve Harry or Voldemort) I'm very neutral about.

I am a fan of female Harry, but only because of one particular fic - the Historical Importance of Runic War Warding in the British Isles by samvelg. It's my all-time favourite fanfic, and I have as much, if not more, headcanons and thoughts about this particular HP AU rather than the original HP. (At the same time, I am aware why genderbending is disliked by fandoms, and I do agree that many genderbent stories are not great. Many of them erase the lgbt+ represantation, which is what I am not at all about.)

I don't have a set gender identity headcanon for Harrymort (trans, cis, female, male, nonbinary... they are all very much appreciated).

However, my preferred sexuality headcanon for both Harry and Voldemort is either bisexual, pansexual or asexual.

I am firmly a bi-racial/having Indian ancestry Harry headcanon fan.

Recently I started falling in love with Arabic, and a headcanon of bi-racial/having Arab ancestry Voldemort has began to cristalize in my mind. I've had this thought after reading this one post about how Harry is changed in fics but Voldemort stays almost always the same when it comes to ethnicity/race.

I have plenty of different AU ideas about this pairing (many modelled more as an AU of the Historical Importance AU) and would like to realise them at some point, but I'd like for my first posted work to be an original idea.

The reason I'm creating this account now is because Tomarrymort stories are some of the best I've ever read. No matter how much time passes, I always come back to them. I am a slow-burn hoe (slow burns and long fics are like… 90% of my fanfic consumption), and I appreciate the vast variety of themes and motifs that these stories are capable of getting into.

On a final note, I'd like to make a disclosure.

Any opinions I have are simply that - opinions. I don't think that they are the best or the most accurate or that they should be imposed on other people. Everyone has a right to like whatever they want to like, and to think whatever they want to think, as long as that does not evolve into attacking actual human beings.

It's fiction. It's fun. I appreciate people with different opinions so long as we stay mature and respectful to each other about exchanging them.

we all know by now that blue represents mike and yellow represents will but... i’m also a FIRM believer that red represents el. (and this is a good thing for byler!)

here’s why.

⚠️spoilers ahead for all of st but mostly s4⚠️

this is gonna be a long one, so, strap in. i promise i’ll make it worth your time!!

also, i’m sure someone’s talked about this at least a little already so i’m sorry if i end up reiterating someone else’s point!

i’m gonna be focusing mainly on season 4, but i wanna start by saying stranger things has always heavily utilized primary colors, aka blue, red, and yellow, for characters’ clothing, set design, lighting, and promotion. now, this doesn’t necessarily have to mean anything but things add up when we get further into it.

here are just a few examples:

in the poster, clothing, and even the background lights in the s3 mall pic, primary colors are the main ones used.

so... what’s with the colors?

if you’re here you probably know fellow delusional bylers have made wonderful analysis posts about the strategic use of yellow and blue to represent will and mike, and i’ll add some links if i can find them, but to summarize: will is most seen wearing yellow, mike is most seen wearing blue, and they often wear each other’s colors in elements of their outfits. here’s a couple examples from season 4:

anyway, these are obviously two out of three of the primary colors that stranger things loves to use so much, and mike and will could be considered two out of three of the main characters.

the third primary color is red.

the third main character is el.

i know this sounds like a reach, but hear me out, okay?

eleven is often seen wearing red. it’s hard to say if it’s to the extent that mike and will wear their own colors because of all the time she’s spent in her hospital gown or the sensory deprivation suit, but it’s definitely prominent. mike and will’s outfits also often have red in them, just as el’s outfits often have blue and yellow.

she usually doesn’t wear a LOT of red, it’s almost always an accenting color to the rest of the outfit. i’ll explain what i think the reason for this is later, and more on why i think it’s her color. this is just me establishing this notion so we can get into it.

what does the use of each color in their outfits mean?

mike, will, and el’s clothes often include each other’s colors, be it a whole shirt or a few stripes, as you can see in some of the pictures above.

from what i’ve gathered the use of each color indicates how much the wearer is thinking about the character it represents, or how important the character currently is to the wearer. this includes when they’re wearing their own color.

i think el beginning to wear more red than she used to signifies her becoming more of her own person, which could also be why she still doesn’t wear that much of it—her life since escaping the lab has been all about saving the world and obsessing over her boyfriend, she hasn’t had time to fully realize who she is as a person.

that, and the idea that the the colors they’re wearing correlate to who they’re thinking about/who’s important to them helps put the s4 ending scene in better context.

i believe (at least in this scene) that white symbolizes neutrality, as in either no specific person at all or maybe every person as a whole. i included her white sensory deprivation tank outfit because i think it encapsulates neutrality, because being in one of those makes it feel like you’re sort of floating in nothingness.

her outfit in the last scene of s4 is almost completely white with a little bit of pink on the bottom of her sleeves and the flowers in her shirt, and an even smaller amount of yellow and green as a part of the flowers. mike’s confession and max’s near-death might’ve caused her numbness and/or confusion, explaining the neutrality. pink is just a lighter version of red (or red + white) showing that her sense of self is still there, but dimming. then there’s yellow for will, and green for will + mike. there’s no blue at all—she’s probably just done with mike’s shit.

even though i’m focusing on clothes i should point out that all around her in the field are yellow, red, and blue flowers. from some camera angles yellow flowers are the majority which could be hinting at will becoming the main character again in s5. all of the flowers are dying as the upside down takes over their world, and the sky flashes with red lightning. el picks up a dead flower and you can’t tell at that point what color it was, but it might’ve been yellow based on the others in the bunch, which... i’m not actually sure what that means.

the dying flowers look a whole lot like the ones mike brought her in the airport and they’re even the same colors, suggesting a m*leven breakup.

the previous “person they’re thinking about” theory also goes for set design and lighting, but in terms of clothes, here are some of what are imo the most concrete examples of this in s4

in the top left, will’s waiting for mike to arrive at the airport and he’s SO excited to see him and give him his painting. his shirt is all blue, because his head is completely full of mike.

in the top middle, mike is having a serious argument with el but he doesn’t really care about it. he’s mostly thinking about himself hence the blue shirt, and thinking a little bit about will, hence the thin yellow stripes.

in the top right, el’s shirt is blue and the flannel over it has blue and red stripes, but the base of the flannel... is green. green = blue + yellow. to be fair, the brightness on that picture is significantly turned up and in the original it mostly looks blue, but there is undeniably green in there, especially in other pics. she wore this during her and mike’s fight and while being arrested when mike was telling her that he would fix everything. i don’t think she believed him. i think the green is her beginning to get suspicious.

in the middle, will is emotionally supporting el during her presentation and comforting her when she gets bullied, so his shirt is mostly red stripes. it’s very hard to see here but there are super thin lines of blue, yellow, and green between the red ones.

in the bottom left, el’s dress has big blue, red, purple, and green stripes with scribbles of yellow on most of them. once again green = blue + yellow, but the ones on her dress are leaning more toward blue. then of course, purple = blue + red, mike and el. the stripes on her flannel are blue with yellow on the edges. she’s excited to see her boyfriend for the first time in a while, and will’s tagging along, so she’s thinking about all of them, including herself, and her and mike as a couple.

in the bottom middle, mike’s hat is mostly blue and orange. orange = red + yellow, so he’s thinking about el and will at the same time, and blue means he’s thinking about himself. there’s also some blue-ish green and a few small red circles for el. he wears this when he first arrives in cali, showing that his mind is pretty much split on will and el even though he gives el all his attention.

lastly, in the bottom right is another shot of mike’s cali outfit with his t-shirt being blue and his over-shirt being yellow. this illustrates even further that he’s thinking a lot about will even when seeing his gf for the first time in ages and focusing on her! even his glasses chain is yellow! mike wheeler i know what you are.

so. that was long. but we’re not done yet.

does each character’s color have a deeper meaning?

honestly, yes, i think so.

i’m not some color theory (or film theory) expert and even the small bits i’ve gathered could be wrong, but here’s what i think:

will’s yellow represents the sun

mike’s blue represents the sky

el’s red represents the upside down

let me elaborate.

i’m mostly gonna go in depth for my thoughts on el to support my “red” theory, but i’ll start with will and mike.

the sun and the sky go hand-in-hand, you can’t have one without the other... kinda like two boys we know. they’re also (at least to me) the most obvious blue and yellow “duo”s i can think of, and there’s lots of symbolism of them that fits mike and will as a duo.

i can’t think of a lot of examples for this off the top of my head, but notice the pictures of will being hit with direct sunlight while mike’s in the shadows beside him. also a picture of el during her fight with mike in nearly the same spot as the pic of will next to it, but no sunshine is on her. this could be meant to show us how mike views will vs how he views her.

mike is the vast, never-ending sky and will is the giant, warming star that lights him up.

okay, now for el. this one’s important.

el opened the first ever gate to the upside down—this is one of the most crucial plot points in the entire show, let alone for just her character. el sent 001 to the upside down and he created his own area of it to keep his victims in. el bleeds out of her nose when she uses her powers, and out of her eyes and ears if she overworks herself.

in general, she has a connection to the upside down and vecna different from any other person in the show.

all of these things are red.

are you convinced yet?

what do their colors mean in relation to each other?

as i just mentioned, will and mike represent the sun and the sky, some of the most basic symbols for the universe and the earth out there. the sun and the sky are worldly, natural, supposed to be there.

here’s where things look up for byler.

i wanna preface this by saying i absolutely LOVE eleven. she’s always been one of my favorite characters, and i’ve been watching since the beginning. i’m not trying to say she’s unnatural or not meant to be with the rest of the group, hell no. this is just my interpretation of what the show has given us and what it could be for the future of mike, will, and el.

el’s red represents the upside down, which is quite literally the opposite of worldly, a dreadful mirror of the natural universe. this isn’t to say el’s from the upside down because she’s not, she just happens to be connected to it not of her own volition, and opened a portal to it without knowing what she was doing.

this blatantly separates her from will and mike. their motifs are embodiments of the universe and go together effortlessly, while el’s motif is, well, basically the anti-universe. sorry el. love u.

but, is there any other significance behind the use of primary colors besides them being the “main” colors and these three being the main characters?

well...

i don’t know about you but this looks awfully like a triangle to me.

it’s love triangle symbolism, everyone. pack your things, we’re going home.

besides the obvious that there’s nothing going on between el and will because they’re siblings... there’s a clear love triangle between the three of them regarding el dating mike while will has a crush on him, and the fact that mike will inevitably have to choose who he wants to be with if they continue the storyline they’re on.

they’ve given us some pretty blatant imagery of this in s4. will is in the middle or on the sidelines of basically every m*leven scene this season (and they want us to root for him!)

additional primary color imagery

there’s a few more things i want to point out.

had anyone else noticed they’ve shown us three different versions of the upside down with three different colors?

i’m gonna be real and say i have no idea what this could mean. i’ll leave that up to you. what i do know is that the top one, the yellow upside down, is the untouched version of it before vecna altered it. the middle blue one is the current version of the upside down, BUT it does have lots of flashes of red lightning. the bottom red one is... honestly i don’t even know, but vecna takes his victims there.

one more thing i noticed before i go:

this season 4 poster that uses the three primary colors and... green.

we all remember that green = blue + yellow, so.

this could very well just be a graphic design choice, because green is usually what’s added to the other three if another color is needed, but... who knows.

in conclusion, we already knew that mike and will are blue and yellow, but i’m also positive that el is red.

byler endgame is in our sights!!!

if you read this entire thing, first of all, wow. second, THANK YOU SO MUCH!! i hope you found this interesting :)

So I was doing a rewatch (yes another one, and yes I am obsessed) and I got to the collar scene, now usually I just skip over this scene because my poor girl Alina having to go through that is awful, not ok Aleksander. But this time I actually watched it again and I noticed something...interesting, I guess you could call it. See I always assumed that Alina didn’t know that having the collar put on her would take her powers because she seemed so horrified when Aleksander did take control of her powers after the collar was put on her. The other thing I always assumed that she didn’t know was that the amplifier would be fused into her collarbone. But when watching again I realised that actually she did know both these things before the collar was put on her. Which made me wonder why she seemed so surprised by it. I mean it could just be down to continuity errors in the writing I suppose but if its not, then what other reason could she have for reacting the way she did? 

In regards to the collar, like I said, I figured she didn’t know it was going to be fused to her because she says to M*l earlier in the episode that she would ‘wear’ the bones which implies its something more similar to what was in the books and its like a necklace. But then in episode 3 the apparat tells her that the amplifiers work by ‘melding a piece of it into their bodies’. This wording does very much describe how the collar was melded into her, so this is information she had. On top of that Ivan was standing right behind her and obviously she has spent a lot of time with him by this point and you can see his own amplifier, the bear claw, is fused into his hand. I mean I guess its possible that Alina just forgot that was how it worked, or my best guess is its a case of knowing that its going to be fused into her and actually experiencing it being fused into her are two very different things and so there was just no way for her to be prepared for it. I mean it was a rather large piece to be melded to her collarbone. 

Then there’s the whole knowing that it was going to transfer her powers. Again I totally missed this the first time around and thought she was so upset because she didn’t know he was going to take her powers from her. But rewatching the scene I realised he tells her that’s what he’s going to do. At the very start of the scene she asks why David is putting the collar on her when Aleksander was the one to kill the stag, that its his amplifier and he gets its power. Aleksander replies ‘you asked for this yourself, when we met. To transfer your gift to someone who could use it.’ What’s funny is I remember the line, I’ve even talked about it in my Darkling analysis post but for some reason never made the connection that this would mean she knew what the collar would do. But anyway, I actually think her reaction is less shock that he’s taken her powers and more something else. The part in this scene that was interesting to me is that Alina in the beginning (as she often is with Aleksander) is being very confrontational and her primary emotions seem to be hurt and anger at him for lying to her. As he approaches her she does show some wariness and kind of flinches away from him, but to me I didn’t read this as her flinching away in fear, more that she was putting her guard up against him because she knew he was about to try and manipulate her and because as angry as she is with him she still feels that draw to him and so she’s wary that he might be able to break down her walls and manipulate her again, she’s worried she’ll fall for it again. What is also interesting is Aleksander reaction to seeing her flinch from him. He kind of pauses for a moment and then lowers himself down to her level. He puts them on the same level and makes his speech about all the things they can accomplish together. You can see Alina struggling with herself throughout the whole conversation where she really wants all the things he is saying, she wants them to work together to end all wars, she wants to be at his side and to work together to make ravkans and grisha safe and she wants them to work together to destroy the fold. She wants to believe him. You can see the moment she sort of surrenders to that desire, right after he says they can do anything. In that moment she chooses to trust him and she takes his hands and stops her struggles. Now I just want to be clear here that I am in no way insinuating that she consented to have the collar put on her, I mean for one thing her hands were in shackles and M*l was being held captive, for another she didn’t know what Aleksander was planning to do with her power once he had put the collar on her. But it is still interesting to me that even knowing that it would transfer her power to Aleksander, she choose to once again trust him in that moment and believed him when he said they would do everything together. Which again brings me back to that question of if she knew it was going to transfer her power to him and she had decided to trust him, why was she so shocked and hurt when he was controlling her power? 

Well like I said up until this point Alina had shown that she was hurt and angry and that she made the decision to trust him and after making that choice she seemed calm. But the fear came in when Aleksander looked away from her. This is something he’s only done before when threatening M*l. I think she knows him well enough by now to know that him looking away is because he is about to do something that he knows will hurt her, that will upset her. This is what makes her afraid, seeing him look away from her. This is when she starts to feel confused and starts asking what is happening and saying she doesn’t understand. It’s not that she doesn’t understand what the collar will do, she just doesn’t understand why he isn’t able to meet her eyes. I think this is further exacerbated by the fact that David also looks visibly upset. She’s realised that Aleksander is hiding something from her and isn’t being entirely truthful and that in turn is making her afraid. I do think that she takes some comfort from Aleksander’s eyes, throughout their whole relationship they had a thing about eye contact, right from their first scene together in the tent in episode 2. So when she seeks out that eye contact for reassurance only to find that he is avoiding her gaze it unsettles her.

 Another thing I noticed is that when Ivan slows her heartbeat at first I thought it was to stop her from struggling, but then I realised she wasn’t actually struggling by that point, she was asking alot of questions but not struggling. It might still have been a little to keep her under control but right before moving away from Alina he looks first to Ivan and then David to indicate to them to carry out the plan. So I think Aleksander arranged with Ivan to slow Alina’s heart rate more as a sedation, I think Aleksander didn’t want Alina to feel pain or fear when the antlers were fusing to her. Of course that doesn’t make what he did to her ok but it does show that he had some level of care for her that he didn’t want her to experience pain, unlike if he was a full on villain who wouldn’t give two hoots if his victim was in pain.  

I also think her shock after the collar had been placed on her, whilst some of it is the horror of feeling the antlers fused into her, its also because she once again trusted him and I think whilst she knew it would transfer her powers to him and that he would be able to use them, I think when she choose to trust him she did so believing he wouldn’t use her powers against her will. She believed him when he said they would do it together. So in my opinion it is less shock that he has access to her powers like I first thought and more betrayal that he is using them against her will, if that makes sense. If he had kept to what he said in his pretty little speech about doing it together and used her powers through the connection but only when she gave permission, and whilst keeping her in the loop of what was happening and what they would be using her powers for, if he stopped when she said she didn’t want to do something, then she would have been ok with it. It’s the realisation that doing it together is not his goal, that despite all he told her he is the one in control and that he isn’t treating her as a partner but as a slave and as a tool to be used in his grand plan no matter whether she wants to help or not. Once again he has tricked her and once again she is left feeling betrayed and like a fool. I think this is why she doesn’t believe or trust him later during the make me your villain scene when he is pretty much pleading with her to understand him, which lets be real is probably a conversation they should have had before he forced the collar on her, maybe then Aleksander wouldn’t have felt that action was necessary and they could have come up with another solution together that didn’t involve making Alina a weapon against her will.       

Anyway think I have waffled on long enough. So there we go end of random thought dump. 

So while I was reading GtN and HtN I occasionally stopped to be like “Wow, it’s great how these can be just so gay!” And like. That is really great. Super great. I love that about them. But I also remember at least once stopping and going “Wow, it’s great that there’s no homophobia here!” And like at the time I just kind of nodded along to myself. Around when I just finished GtN, I remember being very fond of the bit after the book with like the guy explaining like. The deal with necro/cav relationships in The Media and throughout history and how actually none of these things have ever been romance. This is just a pure relationship, unaffected by naughty things like ROMANCE. WHY DOES EVERYTHING NEED TO BE ROMANCE?! shouts the author of this paper. And I laughed at this. Because it reminded me a lot of people who do this shit with queer love. They do it with history and just go “Why does Sappho have to be gay, why can’t she just have passionate feelings for her BFFs”. Which is mindbogglingly stupid to me and anyone who has so much as LOOKED at some of the poem fragments. But like people do say that shit. And they do this a lot over like queer anything in fiction unless it like punches you in the face with rainbows immediately. “Why do Bubblegum and Marceline have to be gay? They’re just friends!” is a take that I legitimately saw on the day of the finale. And not just once. I saw it a few times. And I’ve seen that happen over so many ships in so many things, whether or not the ships end up canon. “Why does it have to be gay?” and the specific sort of outrage over it I’ve seen in essay length posts is just common, and that sort of outrage reads very similar to the argument that dude made about necro/cav relationships. It reads like that and close enough so that I made a joke about it even. I didn’t think too, too much on this at first though because I mean. We have Abigail and Magnus. They’re right there. A man and a woman, a husband and a wife. So like I was able to simultaneously go “omg it’s just like those why can’t they just be friends WHY DOES IT NEED TO BE GAY people” and also “wow it’s nice that there are spooky negative queer experiences of SADNESS here”. Which has got me thinking. Ok. So we have that essay. Now what else do we have in the books? I suppose could point at the entirety of Gideon and Harrow’s just furious refusal to admit that they might actually be in love with one another. Even though it appears to be obvious to literally everyone else in the galaxy. And is obvious to the readers. Hell, Gideon even has a moment of feeling like she needs to tell Harrow something the day before she dies. Something which is heavily romance coded, I don’t know the word for it. But like a “Wow I feel a need to tell them something and it’ll be my last shot” before a death just kind of always reads “It was an ‘I love you’. They needed to say it and didn’t get a chance”. So we’ve got that and, specifically, we’ve got their outrage at the suggestions. Gideon stresses that she’s JUST Harrow’s cav. And she’s very fucking insistent on that. Part of the why is that she knows Harrow is in love with a fucking dead girl in a casket but like. It just hits a certain way. There’s also Harrow’s just repeated disgust she expresses towards the concept of necro/cav relationships. She needs to explain away to herself that like, well, Abigail and Magnus were ALREADY married before he was named her cavalier primary so maybe that makes it fine. And even then she’s not like super duper comfy with the idea. A taboo has been broken, Harrow feels, and she needs to get really rules lawery to find any comfort with that. Other small things that feel of note to me here are the nature of the ways we know that these two are gay outside of like. Their weird thing for one another. With Gideon we’re introduced to it basically immediately with her joke about titty mags. Harrow specifically makes a comment at some point that some of the magazines Gideon gets are very gross, yes. Her interest in women is explicitly made sexual from the get go, and the idea that The Gays are just weird sex fiends and there is no love there is a frequent one. With Harrow meanwhile we know because she says she’s in love with the girl in the Locked Tomb. Who is very much dead. A thing that is fucky enough that like there is an entire song and dance about “GIDEON THE FIRST IS MAKING OUT WITH A CORPSE??????” and how Harrow is a hypocrite for being so offended by that all. Also the girl is behind the door. She is something that isn’t supposed to be seen or known about or, heaven forbid, woken up. That is all the ultimate taboo and Harrow not only fucking broke that but she looked at the girl and went “Wow I’m in love” on the spot. So we have this collection of things that could be read as some sort of metaphor for like...The taboo nature of queer love. “Why can’t they just be friends?” and issues of purity and the lack thereof. And we have characters who are very clearly in love but who can’t just admit that because they think there’s something fucking wrong with that. Gideon’s JUST her cav and Harrow is also in love with a dead chick. We also have Magnus and Abigail around who are just like. Happily married and fine with things regarding their whole necro/cav aesthetic. Ianthe doesn’t seem to give a shit that Gideon’s into Harrow at all. There’s a fondness for necro/cav relationships enough that there’s an entire romance genre centered on them and like characters in the cast are fond of those, some of them. Things appear to be Fine, at least as far as their friends are concerned. Maybe the asshole writing the essay that kicked this pondering off would have an issue and a stuffy old grandma would pitch a fit. But like their friends don’t have a problem with necro/cav shit. But we still very much have Gideon and Harrow being “Well no. We’re just a necromancer and their cavalier. GOD.” Now part of what got me thinking about this is that I recently decided to start watching Bly Manor. Because fuck it we haven’t yet. And specifically part of why is I remember seeing an analysis of it done by Rowan Ellis which had this bit where like the argument that “Bly Manor proves you can do queer stories without homophobia being a part of it!” is brought up and like...Ellis is like “Ok but we very much do just lock a queer woman in a literal closet while she screams to be let out”. And lo and behold in the first episode we very much do just lock a queer woman in a literal closet while she screams to be let out. In an episode showing that she’s like just unable to go back home for...some reason. And that she has some sort of difficulty with her relationship with her mother. No, the show is not having the character literally go “Wow I sure am in the closet and I kind of fucking hate that woe is me I am so gay”. But figuratively? It’s all over the place in that first episode. I’m not sure about the others because I haven’t watched them, but it is there in the very first one. And that’s something horror does very well. It takes things that are scary and uncomfortable and bundles them up in shades of metaphor. It hides them from  you by showing you the thing cleverly disguised. Maybe you do not notice it the first time through perhaps. Maybe you felt that a certain thing like the closet scene resonated very hard with you and you’re not sure why. But you perhaps don’t consciously go “Aha! It is the horror of being closeted!” Upon looking back on it or back through it though you might notice it. And be like “Oh that was there. Holy fuck.” Now maybe you’re also someone who isn’t like. Comfortable. With straightforward depictions of specifically queer suffering. Maybe it’s just too scary. But with this show hiding it in a metaphor you got to sit through that. You got to be brave enough to sit through a very, very scary thing. And afterwords you go to think about it. This is the power of metaphor and it’s something horror has been very, very good at doing for ages. Maybe racism or homophobia or whatever else is too nerve wracking for you to look at face on in media, but maybe you can watch a movie or a show where the horror of those things are very much there but cloaked in metaphor. And so maybe we are getting that with Gideon and Harrow’s weird issues around how “taboo” their feelings are. Two people who are just unwilling to believe that it might be that thing, in part because that thing is “taboo”. Except instead of the taboo being literally “They’re lesbians, Harold,” it’s instead cloaked in a comforting metaphor of necro/cav relationships and some dude who is really fucking offended at people’s space ao3 fanfictions about his historical favs. Which is important because every fucking scrap of anything one gets is an argument. It can’t just be that they’re in love. It’s that you must PROVE it and some asshole with a degree or just a bone to pick is going to come by and be like “WHY CAN’T THEY JUST BE A NECRO AND A CAV” about it all. And like I’m someone who’s known they’re into other women for a long while now. At least half my life. We have conquered that hurdle. But we haven’t entirely unpacked all the weird little societal bullshit that is still in there. Hiding. Lurking. And that societal bullshit specifically frames that sort of love as something gross and taboo and “Why Can’t They Just Be Friends?”. With that last thing hurting a lot. I’ve constantly run across people going “Why can’t they just be friends?” or going “They just have a sisterly relationship!” about things I shipped. Even when those things involved shit like the characters kissing on screen or mentioning that they’ve been dating in a sequel series. I can’t simply like my ships. I can’t simply see myself in romance. Because my sort of love is so taboo that it is, in itself, a debate. Maybe being shown the thing cleverly disguised as another thing might help me unpack that. At the very least it helps me look at it. When it’s something that hurts a lot to this day.

What's 2 similarities & 2 differences U have noticed between Ozpin & Oscar?

Aaahh I was wondering if you were going to ask me! I’ve been seeing you around asking this question and the answers have all been interesting! So I’ll take on a response that people aren’t taking on then, yes? This will be a long post, so if anyone is interested in reading past the first analysis just click the ‘read more’!

Their Origins

Ozpin is at the core based off of two characters. One of those characters, Oscar is also connected to. There are obviously more characters and whatnot they reference, but for the sake of simplicity, I will only be addressing their clear initial inspiration. Ozpin is based off of The Wizard of Oz, also known as Professor Oz primarily in the Oz Book Series; but his full name is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, which he abbreviated to Ozpin Head. (Thank you @immortal-green-snom for this tidbit!!!) In the book series, after he had left in the air balloon in an attempt to help Dorothy get home, Professor Oz was revealed to have done a lot of slimy and heinous things to keep the throne of the Emerald City, and by extension, the Land of Oz itself. While he does get better in the latter books he reappears in, he was portrayed as being manipulative, a bit pathetic, but extremely intelligent and a master of illusions. I wouldn't be surprised if the writers of RWBY were trying to get that across in Ozpin's traits, but to be quite honest, they kinda failed at making him even a morally grey character, as a lot (not all, he isn't guitless, but again, a lot) of the arguments used in-show, and the FNDM itself, are all about things that were either not in his control, or something that was painted as being his fault/harmful, but was actually the opposite of the situation. The biggest example of this is Raven trying to trick Yang and Weiss into believing Ozpin had forced her and Qrow to become birds/have the ability to do so. In a lot of ways, Ozpin and Professor Oz are actually opposites of one another in terms of personalities, which may have in actuality been the overall intention CRWBY had, but we can only speculate. Professor Oz is extremely selfish, while Ozpin is selfless, even to a point where it actually becomes harmful to others. Professor Oz would have done anything to be in power, while Ozpin has done everything to relinquish himself of a position of power, which I find very interesting. This may be due to him even trying to somehow relinquish the burden the God of Light has placed on Oz as a whole, but is ultimately unable to give up that specific task. Even though, truthfully, he needed to relinquish that particular stronghold all along. Professor Oz is clearly a leader, and despite his negative traits, is actually a very good one. Ozpin...as much as I love him as a character, is not the greatest leader. He is, however, an excellent advisor/second-in-command. Professor Oz is only a mere mortal man pretending to be something more, while Ozpin is something bigger than a mortal man, but is pretending to be nothing but a man. Expanding upon this, they also are desperate to be the opposite of what they are. Professor Oz wants to be what he portrayed himself as, and for Ozpin, it's very much the same situation. There is a lot more I could say, but let's move on to Oscar!

Oscar Pine, like Ozpin, is based off of two characters at the core. Again, it is likely that he represents more than two, but for the sake of simplicity, let's discuss only the two. From the moment I saw Oscar, I knew right away that he was based off of my favorite character from the Oz Book Series...Tip. Tip, short for Tippetarius, was too a farmboy who longed for much more, who knew that there was more out there, despite being notably content in their lifestyle. The only difference was that Tip was a slave to an evil witch, but he escapes her in the second chapter with a companion. He is described as being just like any boy; rugged, mischievous, playful, and a lover of all things fun while still being quite shrewd. Unlike Ozpin and Professor Oz, Tip and Oscar are, in fact, extremely alike. Even down to their colors and appearance. Despite how Tip is colored, he actually has light brown skin (though considering the time period, we all know why this fact was dismissed), and black hair. And his treasured beanie cap was green and orange. His clothes also had a primary color scheme of brown, and were dirty due to the work he had done on the farm. Oscar and Tip have the exact same personalities, which was what affirmed to me that Oscar was meant to be his primary parallel. What got me the most was their sarcasm. Tip is still the most sarcastic and genuinely street-smart protagonists in the Oz Books. Not to say there were no other protags like that, but there was something to be said about how Tip was one of the few protagonists to actually act as a leader in the traveling group. Just like Oscar, Tip is also quite emotional, and they both have a sharp temper that they express not in loud outbursts, but by quips that you know could be quite hurtful if they wanted them to be. However, between the two, Tip is the loudest, should you put them in the same room. However, I suspect that as time goes on, Oscar might start becoming quite vocal when he doesn't like something, as I've noticed that the more he develops, the more he acts like Tip. Their behaviors are similar as well; when something personal is going on between two parties who clearly knew each other before him, both Oscar and Tip have a tendency to hang back and simply let the moment play out. They both start out as being sort of bystanders, just going with the flow while occassionally giving very good advice/strategies, but they start to become more of a leader as time goes on. In fact, leadership seems to be in their blood. There is actually a reason for this.

Ozma of Oz

There is a single thread that connects both Oscar and Ozpin, and that is the second primary character they represent. That character is the infamous Princess/Queen Ozma of Oz. Ozma, in many ways, is a lot like both Ozpin and Oscar; and may be the kind of person they become once the merging is complete. She is shrewd, but gentle. Sarcastic and blunt, but very elegant and fun-loving. They have a particular grace in how they handle their politics, but she admittedly gets into more trouble than rulers of kingdoms should. She is, ultimately, the perfect archetype of a ruler. And had completely reformed The Emerald City to be an environment that is very much like Vale's open-mindedness, with the advanced technology and efficiency of Atlas. Ozma, in the books, was actually revealed to be Tip; or rather, Tip was Ozma. After being transformed into a boy as a baby by a witch under Professor Oz's command, they were whisked away by said witch, and had been working under that witch until they had escaped as a young boy. Many speculate that Ozma was meant to represent the transgender community, and I know many transgenders see Ozma as an icon. Frank Baum was the type of guy that wrote things that were ahead of his time, and seen as very controversial by the few who could actually read the metaphors planned out. It was even implied in the later books that Ozma and Dorothy get married, and there were many illustrations made from the original novel illustrators of Ozma and Dorothy looking like a couple. What's even greater is that despite the change of gender from Tip to Ozma, she still very much contains her boyish traits despite the frills and queenly garb. As stated in one of the last lines in the second Oz Book;

"I hope none of you will care for me less than you did before. I am still the same Tip you know..."

When I realized Oscar was Tip, I knew Ozma was going to be put into the equation. I just,,,, wasn't expecting..... t h a t.

Oscar and Ozpin

Time to actually answer the question I was asked JSDJFDKDFKFK--

Oscar and Ozpin are different in one particular way: Trust. Ozpin trusts nobody. Truthfully, he doesn't even trust himself, I don't think, and that is likely why he didn't have much of a plan these days. He doesn't trust himself to be competent enough to complete the task assigned to him, he doesn't trust humanity to pass, hell, I don't think he even trusts the Gods to be capable of taking care of humanity considering the shit job they did in the past, and how poorly they have handled Ozma and Salem. In simple terms, Ozpin trusts too little. Oscar, on the other hand, trusts...a little too much. There, I said it. And I'm willing to say it again. Oscar trusts too much. Whether or not that will change after the end of V7 and what happened in V8 is left for debate. Oscar seems almost incapable of seeing the downside in some situations, like, for example, confronting a General who has completely gone off the deep end, unarmed and alone. And he trusted a man who needlessly beat the shit out of him for something that nobody, not even Salem, were truly at fault for. And while that trust paid off, unlike how it did in the past, it is a bit of an alarming trait that I genuinely think will simmer down either after all that happened in V8, or it will eventually when that trust truly bites him in the ass.

Another polarization between Oscar and Ozpin: faith. This ties in a little bit with the trust theme, but there is enough to talk about on its own. While Ozpin does believe that humanity is overall good, I think he has lost faith in their capability to work together long enough for there to be any sort of permanent peace. And, admittedly, he isn't wrong to think that. I think you would have to be very foolish if you genuinely think there will ever be a point where humanity will stop fighting amongst themselves; in other words, Ozpin is fully aware that the God of Light's task is genuinely impossible. And honestly? I think the GoL knows it is, too. Oscar has faith as well, but he views the dire circumstance in a different way that may be the key to solve the seemingly unending puzzle of Salem and their task. He gets faith in humanity not through the overall picture, but in the smallest things. Oscar likely believes that it doesn't matter if all of humanity is united, because he too knows that will never happen. But, he is certain that there is a lot more power in the smallest of unions and actions; a racist woman reforming and helping to comfort a faunaus child. A woman who helped a group of people tear down a kingdom realize the fault of their actions, and try to save another kingdom's people. A man who, while being genuinely wise, was so blinded by rage that he could not see past his own nose, change in order to save what little good has sprouted from something so terrible that he helped sow. The little things matter so much more, and unlike Ozpin, he doesn't think that they need to grow any further than that.

So, what makes them similar? Two distinct things. They both are very personal. Even if it is in different forms of expressing, Oscar and Ozpin are quite personal, especially when it comes to their advice. But they also really feel for the person they are talking to. And while Ozpin felt Hazel was too far gone, he felt for him and understood and even agreed with his anger. Their empathy is truly something else; and it is also their weakest point. Not to say that having empathy is bad, but their empathy leads into another trait that they have in common... They let people walk all over them. All. The. Time. To a point where it is actually very frustrating, and it even hinders their development as characters. Ozpin let Ironwood walk all over him, and never spoke in defense for himself. Ozpin let the council walk all over him, and never defended himself. Ozpin allowed for so much of the blame to be placed on his own shoulders, that it is extremely unhealthy, and something I wish the show would address, but have come to accept that it won't. Especially when this trait is reflected in Oscar as well. He blamed himself for failing to convince Ironwood, he allowed for Jaune to verbally and physically attack him, and outright refused to let Jaune apologize. They both brush off their wellbeing so often, that watching Oscar do the same only confirms to me the suspicions I had as to why everyone was genuinely so blind to figure out what was going on in their heads and when they were struggling. Because both Oscar and Ozpin refuse to acknowledge their own struggles and shortcomings.

But, to be frank, that is more of a writing issue than a character reflection, in my personal opinion. And I'll continue to see it that way until the show actively acknowledges that unhealthy behavior.

There ya go! My very very long analysis of Oscar and Ozpin; I hope I brought something unique among the batch of this question!

Bloody Crow of Cainhurst

I had a lovely bout of writer’s block leading up to New Years (a weekly occurrence for me), so I decided to play some Bloodborne for inspiration. Perhaps a comparison of the creatures in Bloodborne and the Lovecraftian monsters they could’ve been inspired by? An analysis on the downfall of Father Gascoigne, one of your first encounters with a hunter that has been consumed by his own inner beast? Maybe a look into the mind of Gehrman, the First Hunter, and how the reality of him being one of the people that began this nightmare has taken a toll on him? Nah, today we’re talking about the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst, personally my favorite fight in the game (although the other topics I mentioned might get expanded upon in a later post).

First, who is this suave gentleman? Well, there’s not much about him in-game unfortunately. All we really know from the main game is that he’s a Vileblood hunter that serves Annalise, Queen of the Vilebloods. Supposedly he’s gone mad with bloodlust, and Eileen the Crow has been tasked with taking him down. Things go south, however, and Eileen the Crow is badly injured, so the player Hunter (that’s you!) takes upon the task of silencing the Crow. As for any other information, it’s all purely speculation at this point.

Luckily, my main forte is speculation! Firstly, let’s just take a look at this bad boy:

 As you can see by this perfectly clear and crisp picture that totally isn’t just a rip from the Wiki, Bloody Crow is wearing all Cainhurst armor, all except the chestplate which is the Crowfeather Garb. Now, a very big question is “where the hell did he get this garb?” Well, with some hints given to us by Eileen we might be able to find out:

 Eileen is a Crow Hunter, a group that hunts other Hunters who have fallen to madness. So the prospect of her wanting to kill just another made hunter just seems like part of the job. However, Bloody Crow wearing the garb of a another Crow Hunter changes this statement. Crow Hunters have a tradition for recruiting new members, one of the biggest aspects being that it is done in complete secrecy. You don’t “seek out” the Crow Hunters, they seek you out and recruit you. This means it’s not that far fetched to say that Eileen and whoever recruited her had to become close, as they had to train her on how to be a Crow, while making sure she had what it takes to take the life of a fellow Hunter gone mad. Conversely, Eileen would be close to this person too, having to hunt along side them and have them as the only person whom understands the conflicting emotions Eileen would experience when it comes to the task of the Crow Hunters. So when Eileen says “it’s my score to settle”, it’s not just because Bloody Crow is another mark. Bloody Crow killed Eileen’s mentor, donning the Crowfeather Garb after the battle. This could very well be due to the nature of Bloody Crow himself, a hunter that collects trophies from whatever, and whoever, he kills (similar to the player Hunter). The main evidence I have for this being the reason is the gun that he uses, as well as his other utility items.

The Repeater Pistol is a devastating weapon in it’s own right, one who’s power gets cranked up to 11 when used by the Bloody Crow, but one thing it is not is a VileBlood weapon. Repeater pistols are used almost exclusively by the Hunters of the Church (and the player Hunter), which means that the only way for Bloody Crow to have received this weapon was from a previous victim. The same can be said about the Old Hunter Bone, a hunter tool that’s only ever found in the Abandoned Old Workshop, alluding to it only being used by Hunters who trained under Gehrman. This shows that Eileen’s mentor either wasn’t his first kill, or wasn’t his last kill, and both of those scenarios are equally as damning.

 Obviously there’s the possibility that the Bloody Crow isn’t actually VileBlood, and could actually have been Eileen’s mentor that’s gone mad, killing a VileBlood Hunter and donning his armor. I would say the biggest evidence against this is that with the exception of every piece of equipment I just talked about previously, everything Bloody Crow uses is exclusive to the VileBloods. Even his extremely lethal Chikage, or the primary consumable he uses, Numbing Mist, are things used only by Vileblood Hunters. If he really was another person, it’s a little strange to be using so many tools and weapons that you would be unfamiliar with unless you were a VileBlood. You know what isn’t complicated to use, however? A gun, simply point and shoot at what you want to be dead. Cloth armor, keeps you light on your feet and is especially useful when you’re on the run, and much better for longer journeys than a set of silver armor. This stuff can be used by anyone, even Bloody Crow.

Before I wrap this up, I did want to discuss one incredibly far-fetched theory. See, I believe that Bloody Crow hasn’t gone mad at all, and was perfectly sane during all of his murders. My only piece of evidence is his use of items during the encounter. Whenever a hunter goes insane in Bloodborne, it’s almost as-if they revert back to they’re most basic instincts of killing whatever is trying to harm them, and avoiding damage. This is true for pretty much every  hunter you fight that isn’t a boss. But watching Bloody Crow fight, he’s fairly calm during the entire fight. He utilizes the Hunter Bone in order avoid your attacks better, he occasionally throws Numbing Mist at you to ensure he can kill you. Hell, he even uses a Blood Vial during the fight because he’s very aware that he’s fighting a losing battle. Bloody Crow isn’t some mindless Hunter, he’s a cold and calculated killer who murdered other Hunters for his own benefit. He was killed by you, the player Hunter, and with him gone maybe Eileen’s mentor can rest a little easier (but probably not, because it’s Bloodborne and EVERYTHING is fucked).

That’s all I have for now! Obviously there’s the question of the motivation for all of his killings, but for that I find myself drawing a blank. Maybe he betrayed the Vilebloods, and set off on his own for.... reasons? Like I said, there isn’t much the game really gives us to work with. But hopefully someone will see this post and answer that question! I really do love the possibility of depth that comes with Bloody Crow, and I loved his encounter so much that to this day I still have my character using similar equipment to him (I use Gascoigne’s Garb instead of Crowfeather, because of the significance of using the garb of the first hunter I ever killed.) Credit goes to both Le_gris_No9 and Xuanhan Chen, who’s art I used to make this post pop! Check them both out!

Happy New Years Everyone!

Forgive me if I’m wrong but I was under the perception that the only extra scenes they added of jyl were the ones when she was attending the Gusu lectures? maybe I’m remembering incorrectly it’s just I didn’t see much of a difference from her presence in the novel and cql other than that change

Hi anon! You are most probably right, although my memory is spotty and I do not want to rewatch all the CQL episodes to be able to confirm this with certainty. MianMian’s added scenes were not that many either, in retrospect!

Ultimately my point with the post (which I’m guessing you are responding to) is more a tangent to the fac that CQL fans have argued the novel is more sexist than CQL because some of the female characters have more scenes than they had in the novel or seem to believe these added scenes come out of a genuine desire from the prod team to include more representation or develop these characters more fully. What I want to challenge is both this purely quantitative approach, which I think can only fail us, and this very naive approach to media analysis that refuses to consider the political economic forces that influence the production of series and movies. To ask questions like “are there marketing-related reasons and financial incentives for why a series would decide to increase the presence of female characters in a show whose primary target demographic were young women?” at the same time that we can ask questions like “did having JYL present during the CR arc add agency to her character or depth to her characterisation? Did CQL!JYL influence the plot in ways that novel!JYL didn’t? Did CQL!JYL become more important to thematic explorations that novel!JYL? Did adding JYL at moments where she wasn’t initially present bring more confusion to the story (personally I believe it adds a certain amount of messiness by having JYL spend more time with JZX but still having him act the same as in the novel)?”. 

If it is in regard to my comment saying that I was recalcitrant to do a JYL meta comparing her portrayal in CQL vs MDZS, like I did for MianMian, saying there would be too many scenes to watch closely, then I just want to clarify that this comment is more about the overall number of scenes she is in than how many were added. Close-reading CQL, comparing it to the translation and the original Chinese to see where slight changes might have been made, takes sooooo much time and I’m kind of lazy these days. 

Answerbox #128: The cruncylotusroot Edition

Okay, a lot of questions came in from @cruncylotusroot, many of which I answered, but conisdering they gave me so many questions, I thought I’d just consolidate and answer them in all one post.

So here goes.

"Hello I stumble across your analysis and kind of interesting. I just watching Inuyasha and reading the manga but a few things I couldn't understand. I will break down in few question and would like to know you thought on it. I could not understand why there is stake to throw around in manga and anime that Kikyo die following Inuyasha? Inuyasha is not dead, he is in fact being sealed and also Kikyo was pretty much wounded. So I don't really get the idea of Kikyo die following Inuyasha."

"What's your thought about Kikyo and Inuyasha mentioned and he owe Kikyo his life? Earlier in the Manga Inuyasha was saying that can't she rest in peace without him giving his life etc."

Okay I'll answer these two questions together.

Naraku was the one that pushed the idea of Kikyo following Inuyasha in death. While he was indeed there to see what happened, he was pretty out of earshot of what was happening. That and you generally have to factor in Naraku's jealousy approach, to him nobody does anything for a selfless reason.

And yes, we do indeed hear earlier in the series that Kikyo sealed Inuyasha away, she didn't have the power to kill him and that they were never meant to meet ever again.

It's actually amusing how it's one of the things that everyone takes at face value from him.

"Kikyo known as a powerful miko, if she wanted to free herself from duty before resurrection why she not wishes for shikon no tama to disappear instead of suggesting Inuyasha to turn himself human? She put the idea in Inu head it's appears that she did not know him well where Inu is showing throughout the series that he doesn't like in human form as he feel that is life is in danger."

Truth be told I don't think anyone ever thought of the idea of wishing it away, but at the same time we also know that the jewel tempts people. It “calls” to people, and when it gets into the hands of someone all that person usually desires is power.

Kikyo is one of the few able to avoid that temptation for herself. That said, her logic was a bit flawed as to Inuyasha's wish being selfless all around.

I'm not honestly a fan of how she coaxes him into it all things considered.

"One way or the other I feel sad for Kagome around the love triangle, i know kikyo present is necessary for Kagome development. If Inu is happy with Kikyo, I just wish Kagome to get better person for herself. What's your thought as why Inu not joing Kikyo during the quest and stick with Kagome? As Kikyo also could see the jewel just like how Kagome did. Iu want to protect Kikyo so much would not be better for him to travel with her instead?"

Kagome is him walking away from his past, while Kikyo is his past. When Inuyasha goes and meets Kikyo he's confronting his past.

He wants to be happy, but feels he can't be or he doesn't deserve to be. Honestly it's a pretty bad place for anyone to be in, hope and happiness is right in front of him, and Kagome is holding her hand out to him to grab so she can pull him away from the darkness, but that darkness is tugging back on him.

He cares for Kikyo, he wants to help her, but he's finally reached a point in his life, after years of abuse and rejection for most of his life that he can escape that, but now he feels trapped.

Situations like the Illusionary Death and Kaou, even when Kikyo tries to kill him) represent that point more than ever, all situations use Kikyo to drag him into darkness, and in both instances Kagome reaches out to him and pulls him back to the light.

"What's your thought about many comments posted on the internet that Inuyasha end up with Kagome by default because Kikyo's death?"

It's an odd thing to say though when you have one relationship (Kagome/Inuyasha) consistently on the forefront and developed on, and then you have a relationship (Kikyo/Inuyasha) built in the past and remaining pretty stagnant by comparison.

That or I'd point to Mt. Asuza where it was pretty explicitly stated Kagome learned more about Inuyasha than Kikyo ever did.

Honestly, I think for that to apply there would have to be even a chance that Inuyasha would die with Kikyo, and honestly I don't think that was going to happen.

"What's your thought of Kikyo plan to eliminate Naraku alone? I feel that plan has many flaws. She was saying that giving the jewel to Naraku will speed up the process, what different does it make to take the jewel to Naraku and combine with the one in Kagome possession instead? By doing so would that not also speed up the process too?"

I hate it, but I also realize that it was in heavy part for plot convenience as well. It was meant to toy around with the power structure, make Naraku more of a threat for Kagome, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, while bringing Kikyo up to the forefront.

In that way I actually understand it being around. As a plan? I dislike just about everything about the method that she took, but that all being said, the plan actually told us a lot about Kikyo's character. I'm pretty negative about it in general, but I can't help but like it because it gives us an interesting view into how Kikyo approached things, her agenda and characterization.

'Sorry to shower you with questions. Kikyo seems to be powerful but I have not find where she try to eliminate or kill Naraku by shooting the arrow or things like that. Was there an agenda behind it?"

Kikyo's powers can be debated, most of what carried her was her experience, but generally speaking she wasn't on the level of Naraku. She felt that helping Naraku with the jewel would actually keep her safe from him, when he turned around and attempted to actually kill her she had to find a way around that by using Onigumo.

She early on admits that Kagome is now a bigger threat to Naraku, after that she more or less did whatever she could to move her way up to make herself the primary threat. By all accounts, even her own, she couldn't do much of anything to Naraku.

"Inuyasha having rough childhood and struggle himself to survive. He deserve to be happy, it doesn't matter with who. Who do you think will be more happy with? Leading life as a human with Kikyo as be a# her is with Kagome? I notice he behaving differently around the 2 ladies, so I wonder which one is the real Inuyasha?"

If for no other reason, turning human would have been the death-kneel for any potential of a relationship.

Rumiko actually did this pretty brilliantly. She showed that being human for Inuyasha was one of the worst experiences of his life, he felt helpless. The she showed that him becoming a full demon could lead to an even worse experience in his life, again he felt helpless and now even fearful about the prospects. Staying the way he was, was the most obvious choice and really all he wanted was people to accept him, Kagome offered that, she then introduced them to others that did too.

"Kikyo said that she trust Inuyasha so much, but it seems to me that she doubt Inu capability and keep saying that he can't eliminate Naraku and she will be the only one could do it. I thought Inuyasha wounded Naraku in the castle when fighting with Sesshomaru.

I don't believe that Kikyo actually believed for a second that Inuyasha wasn't capable of doing it, the fact that she says it to his face is really discouraging, but I believe that was the idea. I full believe she understood that Inuyasha and Kagome could defeat Naraku, both came extremely close on numerous occasions, but think about that. Why try to discourage potential threats from going after Naraku?

Kikyo's plan actually had a two-fold effect, it made her more of a threat to Naraku, but it was equally making Naraku that much harder for Inuyasha, Kagome and Sesshomaru to take down. Her telling Inuyasha that she would be the one to defeat Naraku and he could not was an attempt to discourage him from even trying.

What is the one thing that Inuyasha can do to “repay his debt” without having to give up his life in the process? Killing Naraku and avenging the death of Kikyo. If he actually achieved that he wouldn't feel that he owed Kikyo.

Okay, it’s time for some deep nerdery to speculate about Overwatch 2

Overwatch 2 has 30+ characters. That’s one hell of a large ensemble. If Blizzard had any brain cells, they would probably try and take a similar approach to how Marvel handled their large cast in Avengers: Infinity War.

Remember Infinity War? It functioned as a movie by keeping its groups of characters small (at most five people per group) but also by choosing ‘main characters’ that it focused most of its emotional energy on (most notably, Ironman, Dr. Strange, Vision, Thor, Thanos, and Gamora). The main characters were the ones with emotional arcs and therefore had the most screentime. The rest of the cast was quite static. Also, characters in different groups rarely, if ever got to interact with any characters outside of their group, with the rare exception of a quip or two.

My suspicion is that Overwatch 2 is going to do a VERY similar thing. This means that the roster of Overwatch heroes are going to be divided up into groups and assigned either main character or side character status.

So who’s going to be in each group? That I can’t tell you. As Marvel has shown, characters are grouped up not based on character compatibility, or even arc potential, but instead on what would best make the plot go forward. (For example, raise your hand if you predicted that Ironman, Spiderman, and Dr. Strange would team up with Starlord, Mantis, and Drax for the climax. No one? That’s what I thought.)

What I can predict, however, is whether each Overwatch hero is going to be given main character status or not. My predictions are going to be based on lore importance and current emotional arcs that have been set up the Overwatch continuity. Unfortunately, fan favoritism or previous screen time is not a good indicator (again, as shown in Infinity War.: raise your hand if you predicted that Captain F*cking America would have less than fifteen minutes screentime?) and therefore will not be counted in my evaluation.

NOTE: It is assumed that the plot of Overwatch 2 will be the plot that was introduced in the Zero Hour short, along with the gameplay trailer.

I’ll go tank/damage/support, alphabetically through each section.

D.va- Oh, poor D.va. Unfortunately, I think she’s just going to be a side character. Being so unconnected with the rest of the cast is a death sentence for plot importance. The only way I can see her being a major player is in an indirect way- if Blizzard decides to focus on the “Omnic From the Sea” they teased at in the short Shooting Star.

Orisa- Orisa is not so cleanly cut. Given that she was created to defeat Doomfist, she has potential to be the one who takes him down. They’re narrative and thematic rivals (an analysis of which could be a whole other post) which made me finally decide that she’ll be main character status. I know that seems like a cop-out, but given how Doomfist is the main face of villainy, her connection with him makes her important.

Reinhardt- I’m going to be massacred for this, but I don’t see any universe where Reinhardt is a main character. His character is static, his connection with old Overwatch is the most flimsy out of the oldies, and most of his backstory has already been explored. He’s going to be a side character, relegated to a mentor to Brigitte.

Roadhog- Nope. Side character. He and Junkrat fall into the same boat. Not being a part of Overwatch and having no connections to any characters in Overwatch makes more than passing screentime impossible.

Sigma- OUR BOY SIGMA is going to get no screentime, calling it right now. He’s going to be firmly relegated to side character status. Why? Although he might be a serious fan favorite, his lore and the conflict it introduces (the cosmic horror of the universe) doesn’t really apply to the rest of Overwatch. We know he’s affiliated with Talon, but more like a weapon than a character. He’s got serious redemption potential, but the arc would be very. . . simple. As soon as he gets to Overwatch the arc would be over. 

Winston- MAIN CHARACTER. Our mans is currently the driving force behind the majority of the plot (that isn’t whatever Talon’s doing). He’s the one who recalled Overwatch. Enough said. If he doesn’t get an arc about learning how to be a leader, I am going to be shocked.

Wrecking Ball- lol side character. Given how Blizzard hasn’t made any attempt to treat him more than a walking gimmick, he’s going to be such a side character that he might blend into the background.

Zarya- This is another character that makes me hesitate. At first glance, she’s in the same boat as D.va in that she has no personal connections with the lore or the main cast. HOWVER, she’s directly involved in the conflict of Overwatch 2 because she is currently fighting Omnics in Russia AND has been trying to track down Talon on her own for a while now. Plus, she also has a very juicy potential character arc: she’s racist towards Omnics. Her comic touched on the fact that she has the potential to outgrow her prejudice. This leads me to believe that Zarya is going to be one of the main characters, if a more minor one than the rest.

---

Ashe- Side character. Her connection to McCree ensures that she’ll get some juicy interactions, but not enough to be considered a main character. More than likely she’ll be contacted to help out with the plot conflict, but she’s not going to have any sort of arc or emotional connection with other characters beyond snarky one-liners.

Bastion- . . . I hate this, but I don’t trust Blizzard to give Bastion the relevance they deserve as a character. Don’t get me wrong, I think Bastion will be important to the plot of stopping the rogue Omnics, but I think Bastion themselves will be treated as a McGuffin. They’re mute and prone to acting naively, which is not conducive to character agency. I’m going treat McGuffin as a third category to my predictions.

Doomfist- literally the Thanos of this conflict. He’s going to be a main character, but I doubt he’ll get any character development, because that’s what Reaper is for.

Echo- Main character. It’s pretty much guaranteed by the fact that McCree sought her out in his animated short and that she was once the payload of Route 66. The Overwatch narrative also treats her as the “sPeCiAl OmNiC” that’s somehow more advanced/better/more sentient than the rest of the Omnic cast. As much as I think the role that they’re going to give her would be better suited for Bastion or Zenyatta, I just know that Blizzard is going to give her the full main character treatment. She’s going to be the magical bridge between Omnics and humans. Count me mad about it.

Genji- I love our ninja boy, and he’s an honorary mascot of the game, but as far as arcs go he just finished his. He’s finally found inner peace. That’s not a good sign for main-character-ism. However, he has tons and tons of connections to the rest of the cast and the lore. . . but I don’t think it’s enough. I think he’s going to end up as the character that other characters are able to bounce off of. Everybody knows him, so they’ll be talking to him a lot, but he isn’t going to drive the plot with his own struggles. He’s a side character. His brother, however. . .

Hanzo- As one of the two people in the Overwatch roster actively undergoing a serious life crisis, I suspect that Hanzo is going to be a main character. The fact that he and his goals are not connected to Talon or Overwatch is a detractor, but his emotional turmoil as established in the short Dragons is too important too ignore. His decisions, however reckless and hot-headed they will be, will significantly impact the plot. Why? Because his potential for redemption is such juicy story bait. Also, he could bring in an entire other faction, the Shimada Clan, into the plot, and that could be a game-changer.

Junkrat- Side character. The same reasoning for Roadhog applies here. He’s not connected in any way to the cast. The only potential mystery about him is the ‘treasure’ that’s been alluded to over and over again. If he has this story bait, why am I calling him a side character? Unfortunately, it’s because his ‘treasure’, whatever it is, is going to be a McGuffin. Junkrat’s going to be lucky if he avoids the same status.

McCree- A side character, but an important one. This decision was a difficult one. He’s got the lore and the connections to the other characters but not the internal character arc. He was an active player in unleashing Echo, but it’s also hinted at that he isn’t going to join the recalled Overwatch, instead striking out to do his own thing. That’s not conducive to being a major player in the story. However, his connections and conversations with other characters might, in the same way I’ve predicted Genji’s might, motivate other characters to drive the plot forward.

Mei- Side character. Nothing much else to say. Her focus on climate science isn’t going to be super relevant to the Omnic plot. She’s got only a very loose connection with other characters in the form of her Overwatch membership.

Pharah- I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, but she’s going to be a side character, calling it right now. She’s got so much potential because of her relationship with her mom, but that’s about it. Ana is her only connection to the rest of the cast. It’s important that they reconcile, but their reconciliation has nothing to do with any other plot point. It’s isolated. That’s not a good sign for her screen time, especially considering that she’s not looking for Ana and Ana is not looking for her.

Reaper- MAIN CHARACTER. You should have seen this coming. As the primary instigator of the plot (aka the reason Winston recalled Overwatch,) it should be meta-textually obvious why he’s going to have a lot of screentime. He’s directly responsible for a significant chunk of the unresolved lore conflict within old Overwatch. In order to resolve it, we’re going to be seeing him, a lot.

Soldier 76- Main character, for exactly the reasons listed above. As Reaper’s foil and the person who’s hunting him down, Soldier is going to be pretty important in concluding that unresolved conflict. It’s destiny. Like in a murder-soulmates kinda way.

Sombra- Tricky, tricky, tricky. . . it’s difficult to say. It all depends, I think, on the amount of emphasis Blizzard places on her conspiracy. If she’s the only character who knows exactly what’s going on, that could set her up to be very plot relevant. However, her relationship with other characters and to the rest of the Overwatch lore is shaky at best. I’m going to leave this one blank. There’s just too much we don’t know.

Symmetra- Here we have the other person in the Overwatch roster that is actively undergoing a serious life crisis that I alluded to. Symmetra might at first seem unrelated to everything- the lore, the characters, etc, but Blizzard has set up a surefire redemption arc for her that needs to be resolved. She is going to realize that Vishkar and Talon are connected, and she is going to make the decision to either go full villain (unlikely) or to turn over all the information she knows to Overwatch. Either way, she’s going to get involved, and she’s going to grow as a character. Main character material.

Torbjorn- Torbjorn, oh Torbjorn. Here’s a case that makes me upset. For all intents and purposes, he should be a main character. He’s the one who helped develop the Omnics, and he’s got an active character arc where he’s trying to undo the damage Omnics have caused. This ties him pretty damn directly to what we know of the plot of Overwatch 2. However, Blizzard lately has refused to treat him with respect, reducing him to a joke character because of his height and accent. Not only that, but they diminished his importance in the lore with the invention of Mina Liao and Echo. I could write and entire post about how the Mina Liao/Echo introduction was made to replace Torbjorn and Bastion’s importance in the potential plot, but all of three people would read it.

Tracer- As the literal face of Overwatch it’s pretty damn obvious that she’s going to be a main character. If you need a reminder, look at the London Calling comics and then the cover art for your copy of Overwatch.

Widowmaker- Widowmaker has literally zero character agency and only very very very loose connections with the lore/characters. HOWEVER, she does have the potential to be redeemed by death (I could make a whole other post on this) but it’s not enough to bring her into major character territory. Side character.

---

Ana- Side character. Given that she’s avoiding her potential emotional arc by avoiding Pharah and the rest of recalled Overwatch, she’s flat out of luck for main-character-ism. She’s going to be very important to Soldier 76 and Reaper but she won’t be the one instigating any plot points. Unfortunate.

Baptiste- Another tally for the side characters. The fact that it took him a year to even get voice interactions with the rest of the cast reflects this. His arc of leaving Talon is already done, the idea of Mauga being added to the game is history by now, and he has few connections with the current cast and plot. Big F, my dude.

Brigitte- With both her dad and her mentor being important former Overwatch members, it makes sense that she should be a main character, right? Right? Unfortunately, I think she falls into the same pitfalls as Reinhardt. Her backstory is already mostly explored and her dad is better at any plot-relevant mechanics that might be needed. She’ll help her dad, no doubt, but she’s a side character.

Lucio- I really want Lucio to be a main, really, I do, but he’s a side character. He suffers the same exact problem that D.va does. He has very little to involve him with the rest of the main caste. He’ll join Overwatch, sure, but I think it’ll be more of a decorative declaration than anything. His connection with Symmetra is his only saving grace, but even that just relegates him as a side character in her emotional arc.

Mercy- I think she’s going to be a side character, because all of her current content has her separated from everyone else and unsure about going back to recalled Overwatch. I don’t see the narrative following her inner emotional turmoil about this decision very much. She also doesn’t add anything to the potential plot.

Moira- Okay, Moira is tricky, so hear me out: her lore importance is off the CHARTS, and she’s a lot like Doomfist in the aspect that she is quite clearly villainous. She brainwashed Widowmaker. She turned Reaper into what he is today (physically, mind you,) and she probably has something to do with manipulating Sigma. But is being a villain enough? She’s not the one directly orchestrating Talon’s plan, like Doomfist is. And she’s not so directly connected to the fall of Overwatch like Reaper is. I hesitate to call her a main. Narratively, she’s going to get her comeuppance, but. . . (I’m going to leave this one blank.)

Zenyatta- The only true wild card on this list. Sure, I’ve left Sombra and Moira blank, but Zenny boy? He’s literally got nothing. There’s nothing to base predictions off of. No lore to speak of. We know that he mentored Genji. We know that he knew Mondatta. We know that he defends Omnics’ rights to exist. However, I doubt Blizzard has the nuance to tackle his perspective on the impending Omnic war in Overwatch 2. He could be a seriously major player if he was treated with the respect that his character deserves, though! He could potentially have an active role in trying to figure out what’s making the Omnic uprising occur and stopping it in its tracks! There is so much potential there! It’s all in Blizzard’s hands. It’s all about how Blizzard chooses to finally flesh out his character. . . IF they flesh out his character at all.

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Total tally out of 32

Main characters: 11

Side characters: 17

Undecided: 3

McGuffin: 1 (poor Bastion)

And that’s the results! It’s important to note that I am far from infallible and that these are just my opinions/speculations on the future. Please please please argue with me in the tags/reblogs. That would make my day.

Ok so ur Taylor Swift Zukka playlist is *chefs kiss* and I need to add that my tears ricochet is 10000 percent about Zuko’s relationship with his family and no one can convince me otherwise

FIRST of all, thanks for listening! 

SECOND of all, thanks for giving me a platform to ramble even MORE about this!

THIRD of all, about my tears ricochet.....

I know you said that no one can convince you otherwise, but have you considered the possibility that MTR is not about Zuko, but rather about Azula?

Because what is MTR about? It’s about stooping low, refusing to take the high road, and instead vowing to take revenge when someone you love, and someone who claims to love YOU, has hurt you. this is very in-line with Azula’s mindset around the time of the final Agni Kai against Zuko. 

I think MTR fits much more with Azula’s perspective than it does with Zuko’s for three main reasons: 1) Azula’s attacker (Zuko) claims to act based on selfless motivation; on the other hand, Zuko’s attackers (Azula, Ozai) never claimed to act out of anything besides self-interest; 2) Azula’s attackers (Zuko, and to some extent Ozai and Ursa) claim to view her in a positive light, whereas Zuko’s attackers (Azula and Ozai) do not claim to view him that way; and 3) Azula lashes out against Zuko and the other people close to her out of anger and a desire to inflict pain and instill fear; Zuko is only the aggressor when defending himself or pursuing what he views as a higher moral ideal. 

ANALYSIS UNDER THE CUT CAUSE THIS GOT LONG 

1) Azula’s antagonists claim the moral high ground. Zuko’s do not. 

Consider the following lyrics: 

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace And you're the hero flying around saving face

I think this lyric really serves to capture Azula’s state of mind following the final Agni Kai. Zuko, after taking the throne, is the “hero,” pretending to save the Fire Nation from its past. Obviously, Azula fails to see or to accept that this motivation is genuine, because to her, being the Fire Lord is personal. It’s not about pursuing a higher ideal; it’s about securing power for herself (which in turn is a way of securing the affirmation she desperately craves from her father). 

On the other hand, it’s highly unlikely Zuko would ever characterize Azula or Ozai as acting like a “hero.” He sees them for what they are, and they see themselves that way, too. 

Additionally: 

You had to kill me, but it killed you just the same Cursing my name, wishing I stayed You turned into your worst fears

You HAD to kill me. You had some moral OBLIGATION to kill me. Zuko’s abusers never felt the need to extinguish him, and this is borne out by the fact that they never actually did. He was never dangerous or important or powerful enough. But it’s different for Zuko - he HAS to put a stop to Azula’s reign, or countless people will be hurt. Thus, I think this line makes a lot more sense coming from Azula’s perspective, speaking to Zuko. 

Also, Zuko doesn’t think Azula turned into her worst fears. He thinks she became exactly what she wanted to be, a dictator with unlimited authority. But Azula thinks Zuko became HIS worst fears by becoming an arbitrary, power-hungry leader, one willing to take out his own sister to get what he wants. 

2) Azula’s antagonists claim to love her. Zuko’s do not. 

It’s likely that Azula would disbelieve or mischaracterize Zuko’s mourning of her, as Taylor does in the following lines: 

And if I'm dead to you why are you at the wake? Cursing my name, wishing I stayed

When Zuko defects from the Fire Nation, he has no expectation that anyone in his family will be “wishing he stayed.” There is no genuine mourning of the loss of Zuko, and he doesn’t think there will be. Neither Azula nor Ozai ever make any sort of public claim that they wish he stayed, not after Day of Black Sun. 

On the other hand, Azula likely does hear Zuko mourning her loss, post Agni-Kai. I think we can all imagine that after Azula is committed for treatment and Zuko has ascended to power, Zuko will likely make clear that he is remorseful for what happened to Azula and expressly wish that things were different. And if you’re Azula, the person Zuko is “mourning” after he beat her and took away what was rightfully hers, how would you react to that? You would think it was disingenuous. You would ask, if I’m dead to you, why are you at the wake? If you’re the one who finished me, how can you despair that I’m finished? 

And you can aim for my heart, go for blood But you would still miss me in your bones 

In case it isn’t clear without the context of the song, in this line Taylor is basically saying: you can hurt me, but you’ll regret it, because you’ll be hurting yourself, too.

Now, after Zuko defected for the last time from the Fire Nation, I don’t think he has any fantasy that Ozai or Azula will be “missing him in their bones.” He has come to recognize their family dynamic for what it is, one based on manipulation as opposed to love. He doesn’t think they’ll regret the hurt they’ve caused him, and he accepts that. 

But at the time of the final Agni Kai, Azula hasn’t had this revelation yet. She DOES think she will be missed eventually, either by Zuko or by Ozai. She does think that time will tell, and Zuko will come to regret hurting her, that he’ll miss her in his bones. And honestly, that’s probably an accurate assessment to some extent! 

And you're tossing out blame  Drunk on this pain Crossing out the good years

Azula sees Zuko as “crossing out the good years” of their childhood friendship, whereas Zuko has come to realize by now that there were no good years, not really. Thus, this line makes a lot more sense coming from Azula’s perspective. 

Finally: 

And I still talk to you When I'm screaming at the sky And when you can't sleep at night You hear my stolen lullabies

When Zuko has given up on his family, I don’t think it can be said that he’s still reaching out to them (”I still talk to you”) or trying to make himself heard by them (”when I’m screaming at the sky”). Nor does it seem like he expects for them to haunted by his memory (his “stolen lullabies”). It’s more likely he believes they will be apathetic. 

On the other hand, I think it’s likely that Azula would continue lashing out at Zuko after she’s locked up - even if it will never really reach him. Even if it’s just screaming at the sky. And more importantly, I think that she would hope that he would be kept up at night thinking of what he did to her. She would want him to hear her stolen lullabies when he can’t sleep. She would want him to be haunted by his memory. She would EXPECT him to be. I don’t think Zuko ever wished anything like this on Ozai or Azula, and I don’t think he EXPECTED this from them, either, because he doesn’t believe either of them ever truly cared about him at all.

3) Azula's motivations are personal. Zuko’s are not.  

THIS, the idea of taking revenge against a lost love who betrayed you, is at the core of my tears ricochet. And that’s the primary reason why I think this song fits Azula so much better than it fits Zuko. Zuko doesn’t fight Azula because he wants revenge; he does it because it’s what he thinks is right for the Fire Nation and the world as a whole. Azula is objectively dangerous and needs to be incapacitated for reasons that are not personal to him. On the other hand, consider these lines: 

And if I'm on fire You'll be made of ashes, too

and

I didn't have it in myself to go with grace And so the battleships will sink beneath the waves

Both of these lyrics refer to the decision to commit a violent act, not to pursue some higher ideal (like ending a war), but out of anger for an act committed against oneself. I find that both of these lines go a long way to describe Azula’s mindset DURING that final Agni Kai, when she forfeits the fight and decides to aim for Katara instead of Zuko. At that point, Azula knows she’s losing. She knows Zuko has KILLED her, metaphorically, and maybe a literal execution is soon to follow. And what does Azula do in that moment? She doesn’t have it in herself to go with grace. She doesn’t accept that she’s lost. Instead she fights dirty. She makes it personal. 

Zuko never goes there. Azula does. AZULA’S tears ricochet. Which is why I will always, more than anything, associate this song with her. 

And if I'm dead to you why are you at the wake? Cursing my name Wishing I stayed Look at how my tears ricochet. 

LISTEN FOR YOURSELF AND DECIDE.

I remember not too long ago, I had read an analysis on Kösem and Ahmed’s relationship, namely its development and whether or not it was truly healthy. I remember the sudden development of Kösem’s feelings for Ahmed were ascribed to stockholm syndrome, which as you dissect it further, even later in the series after Ahmed has passed away, makes total sense. However it made me wonder, why stop at Kösem/Ahmed? Truthfully, I think stockholm syndrome, trauma response and survival instinct were the primary factors in all of the sultanas “love” or attachment to the sultans. Hürrem, Mahidevran, Aysë, Halime, Handan..all of them. Hürrem had initially thought her fiance was murdered when she came to the palace, and within what looked like a couple of months if even, she was shown to be totally head over heels for Suleyman. No one can simply discard their former love interest so quickly unless trauma was a catalyst..and even when Leo came back to the palace that whole time period where he was in such a close proximity to her visibly caused Hürrem so much pain mentally and emotionally. Or with Handan and Kösem going on to fall in love after their sultans had died..it makes me think of when Handan was confessing her love to Dervish and called being a member of the royal family “her prison.” None of these women were truly in love with their sultans, nor do I blame them for it. Love is what develops when there’s no consequences, no strings attached, which is entirely untrue in the harem’s enviornment. Even with Mahidevran’s arc way back when Hürrem was first introduced and she started to feel like she was losing Suleyman. It looked to me Mahidevran ultimately feared lonliness rather than losing Suleyman himself. Harem rules wouldn’t permit her to fall in love with someone else if Suleyman lost interest in her. He was pretty much her only confidant and the only person she had been intimate with and likely from a very young age, unhealthy attachment is bound to develop due to those curcumstances. We all feel so sorry for royal borne sultanas when they’re forced to marry men they don’t love..but this courtesy is seldom extended to their mothers. It’s all very sad when I think about it. How do you feel about this perspective?

(~Fun fact: I got yours and the last ask in the same day and they are both somehow related to Kösem and Ahmet!!~)

Anyway, I have also read that analysis and it's really nuanced and awesome, Joanna always does such an amazing job with her blog and these posts! <3 It gives an amazing perspective to the nature of Kösem and Ahmet and makes us think hard on whether there are more relationship cases in the franchise where Stockholm Syndrome can be applied and how many women there are in the harem that aren't so in love with their sultans.

I also fully believe that, just like motherhood, love in the harem can't not be toxic in a way, because the environment itself won't ever let healthy dynamics happen, thanks to its very roots. And while mothers of children still have the small chance to forge some kind of a relationship with genuine affection despite of the toxicity, we have a totally different situation with the sultans who are basically on the top of the system that brought them in this mess in the first place. It's not easy to let go of the people you loved and it's even harder to get to truly love a person you not only don't know at all, but one you know you're supposed to at least try to win over by sheer force.

Survival instinct plays a lot into this, because sooner or later you see that you don't have a choice. You do what you have to do or else you'll either rot in this palace with everyone always bossing you around or be done for. Something I see some viewers forget is the way Hürrem was ultimately "convinced" to try her luck out with Süleiman. She wanted to get out of this place and let it burn in hell until Nigar told her what it took to win the game. Keep in mind that she hadn't met Süleiman yet back then and that faint was merely an act she pulled to gain his attention and she gained some kind of an affection for him only after some time had passed. This sheer pragmatism could've turned into something more eventually, but the beggining was precisely this survival instinct that was kept intact throughout the entire relationship and the birth and living of Hürrem's children. I think she had let go of Leo by the time when she met him again, but that letting go pained her so much, as seen by all her breakdowns when she saw him and lost him completely. It's something she knew she had to do; notice how she kept telling him to leave for "his own good" and for "the good of both of them". There is this looming, prevailing fear that if they had escaped, the consequences would be severe and Hürrem had already planted roots in the dynasty: as if she gained attachment after attachment she felt the need to protect. She's now responsible for these children and can't leave them behind for her own possible desires to get out of the system. Ibrahim did threaten the children in front of Leo and Hürrem in the S01 finale and that's a big reason why she decided it would be for the best to lose him in this particular situation, no matter how much it hurt afterwards. Hürrem already had a set goal to fulfill in the dynasty and letting go of Leo became the only plausible option for her thematically and narratively. Everything these women do in the harem they do is to survive, adapting to their circumstances and forging some kind of relationships with their sultans is the peak of it. A healthy dynastic is far from one where you have to be opportunistic at every turn. Even the favored women have to be as careful as ever, because a mistake can cost everything. They have to make sure they always have his approval and be in his good graces, behaving like he wants them to behave, not the way they actually are. The goal they have set for themselves in the harem is tightly linked with their love for the sultan. He isn't only love, he's also power, prestige and reassuring. The Sultanate of Women are probably even the most affected by this, because they are the ones who want to break the boundaries of power and by doing that they have to put the leg work to make him happy and pleased. These relationships need so much work and decisiveness for their flourishment, with the women having to be mindful of the sultan's moods and unpredictable nature. (especially when you have an unpredictable, very short tempered sultan like Murat!)

But attachment is still attachment and that's where Stockholm syndrome comes from. They do their best to win him over, but with doing that for such a long time, they learn to feel something for him. There is so much toxicity in the dynamic, but they get used to it and normalize it in their heads. The concept of the harem itself succeeds to make their life revolve around it and it's not something they question anymore. I absolutely agree that it's not limited to only Kösem and Ahmet - everyone is somehow subjected to it, no exceptions. The relationships each woman of the franchise has with the sultan certainly differ from one another, depending on the different personalities and goals, but its unhealthy core remains the same: it's still a toxic, dependant relationship with a massive power imbalance and will always remain so in these castle walls and rules. The big attachment makes it even scarier for one to discover that they might be losing everything, that's why there is such a resistence from Mahidevran, Hürrem, Kösem, Ayşe, Farya etc. when the sultan accepts or outrightly begins to favor other women and I always roll my eyes when these women get accused of "behaving like that while knowing the rules of the harem" without it being understood from a narrative standpoint - even though they know the rules, it still hurts, because the attachment is ultimately more self-centered than anything: they want the sultan to be all theirs, to have him all for themselves, perhaps for a validation of their efforts to forge and preserve their relationships. When they lose favor, everything seems to be crumbling and falling apart and that is so difficult to accept, you can't face helplessness like that, you can't face vulnerability like that and I guess for that it took Mahidevran so long to get over Süleiman. As you said, she got destructively attached to the person that seemigly gave her so much for years. (she herself even said that she's like a little kid in front of him in the second episode) And her suddenly not being regarded in the same way by someone she thought was her family (I still adore that thematic note of her character and perhaps it's the reason why we didn't get any backstory from her.) was catastrophic to her emotional stability and it took her 46 (55, if we begin from her direct confession) episodes to accept that she has lost and even then she was still trying to achieve vengeance at the very least, by thinking of her rule of the harem as a battle she fought with Hürrem, a last helpless try to prevail over her. (E63: "I congratulate you, Hürrem, you won.") That's also why Hürrem almost killed herself when Firuze seemed to have taken away her Thursdays, without having any regard for the children. It's like a chain, of sorts, that women are stuck in, fighting to the end to be the ones next to him, to the point of wanting to end their own lives if they lose. If they lose, that's the end. If they lose the favoritism or the sultan himself dies, leaving them to rest in the hands of the enemy, that's the end.

That's why Mahidevran and Ayşe getting over Süleiman and Murat respectively and realizing that it was more or less an unhealthy dynamic is so important, because these character arcs help spread awareness of the toxicity of this grown attachment to the sultan and the struggle it takes for them to take account of said toxicity, because of their attachments. Ayşe had a rough path accepting that Murat was the way he is, trying almost until the end to make things right with him, both missing in the process and slowly uncovering his unpredictability. While this realization rendered her to do the inevitable in killing herself along with the kids, her letter to Murat indeed felt so eye opening in this regard, putting this whole deal into perspective. Mahidevran, conversely, also found out his true nature and detached herself from it, daring to openly call out a root of the attachment (E139: "He decides the fates of all of us.") and put the free choice of everyone into light and question. (E139: "God, apart from reason, gave people free will.") It's rare for someone to gain such awareness of the system and that's a valuable quality to have, but in a future where Mahidevran and Ayşe aren't as grossly mistreated, would all this be possible to happen? No, I don't think so. And even from the ones that aren't favourites who are more likely to find this out, there are still people out there that probably would stay trapped in the attachment forever. And favourites would be the least likely to figure stuff out, judging by the series' themes. (Hürrem, E134: "I am the soul of all the women in the world and my existence is hidden in the love of the conqueror of my heart." - this assertion is honestly self-explanatory.)

[Handan's arc also extends on the traumatic response one gives the system and I think this aspect applies to her the most. She's a person with no real attachments that is so traumatized by fighting, she didn't even expect the possibility to win over players like Halime and Safiye. She's trying to adapt to her new role as Valide, give "cruel" advice to Ahmet in order to ensure it and make impulsive decisions, dictated by the fear it would all come back to square 1 again, but when she met Derviş, it turned out that nothing about the system made her fit. Hence, she "adapts out" from it by finding true love and killing herself for that love, leaving everything behind.]

So no matter how much these women come to idealize it, no matter how much they begin to think it is actually love or a "fairytale", there still are so many signs that it's not quite like that and that prevent it from being that. That truly includes everyone in the harem, it can't be denied.

Critical Analysis & Tactics II (CAT-2): The Central 46 Trial Breakout

How strong is Yoruichi? That’s actually a very involved question. I’ve decided to create a series of articles detailing my thoughts on the matter by looking at military incidents and confrontations involving her. This is the second, and you may consult the others at your leisure:

CAT-1: The Hollowfication Incident

CAT-3: Yoruichi vs. Byakuya

CAT-4A & B: Yoruichi vs. Soifon

CAT-5: Yoruichi & Soifon vs. Aizen

CAT-6: Yoruichi vs. Yammy

CAT-7: Yoruichi, Kisuke, & Isshin vs. Aizen

CAT-8: Yoruichi & Co. vs. Yhwach

CAT-9: Yoruichi vs. Askin

Having established in CAT-1′s sections (05), (06), and (07) that Yoruichi was the primary backup assault force for the Seireitei’s expedition during the Hollowfication Incident, and thus must have had very strong offensive abilities compared to that force as a whole, her role in the Central 46 Trial breakout bears some scrutiny.

01. Let’s start out 110 years ago, 9 years before the Hollowfication Incident and at the time of Kisuke’s promotion, to gather some establishing information before we move onto discussing the aftermath of the Hollowfication Incident. What’s important to understand here is that Kisuke is still very much viewed as Yoruichi’s subordinate. He was promoted at her suggestion:

The narration casts him in a subordinate role to her as well:

Hiyori regarded him not just as an outsider, not just from a den of murderers and thieves, but also even more disparagingly as a clown, as a nobody from 2nd Division:

Shinji calls attention to the fact that he doesn’t know how to conduct himself as a leader yet:

(Also: consider Shinji’s advice here from Yoruichi’s perspective, given Kisuke is her underling, and her statement that there’s, “No need to thank me,” after she rescues him and Tessai. Also note that in this same conversation, Shinji will reveal his suspicions of Aizen.)

Jumping ahead 9 years to the night of the Hollowfication Incident, we see that it’s Yoruichi who gets Kisuke to calm down, reaffirming her role as his de facto superior in front of everyone else (note the use of his given name here):

And this point will be reiterated indirectly by Tessai by their shared connection to her. (Also take special notice here that Tessai is seemingly the first person to see through Kisuke on this night. The second will be Aizen when he declares that, “I see. You’re... the man I expected you to be.” And the third, which was actually the true first, will be discussed later.)

In other words, during this whole sequence, it can be readily understood that Kisuke is not viewed by the other high-ranking personnel as being his own man. He’s still seen as Yoruichi’s underling, because he still largely functions as exactly that. It’s inconceivable that if anything were to come of Kisuke’s behavior and actions, that anyone would believe that such activity originated with him. It is well understood that Yoruichi is “behind” him. This is important for understanding what happens later.

02. Not only is Yoruichi “in charge” of Kisuke, she already largely knew about what was going to happen that night. As I mentioned, it’s established that Shinji was suspicious of Aizen from the very start of his tenure, as he proves to us as readers by revealing that Aizen is listening in on his conversation with Kisuke 110 years ago. He reasserts this during the Hollowfication Incident by telling Aizen, “I knew it. It was you.” But Shinji had already shared his suspicions with Yoruichi, and we know this because she tells us as much after admonishing Kisuke with, “Why didn’t you call for me last night?”

Several points can be made here. First, Yoruichi is still giving Kisuke orders (“Get to work”), and note her no-bullshit expression in doing so. Second, Shinji had revealed his suspicions about the missing people in Rukongai and Aizen’s involvement to Yoruichi. (Earlier, before 9th Division had set off to investigate, we see Shinji and Aizen talking about these with Kisuke. Presumably, Shinji also told Yoruichi this before or after too.) Third, Yoruichi knew about Kisuke’s research into Hollowfication, which is established by her curiosity regarding what he was doing with setting up the SRDI and pulling prisoners from the Maggot’s Nest 9 years earlier, and knew that Kisuke would be drawn into and blamed for these events (“... I knew the worst had happened...”). Fourth, Yoruichi knew that Kisuke possessed and would try and use the Hōgyoku (“... And what your best solution would be”).

Kisuke, notably, is smiling when he says, “So you had it all figured out. You’re very sneaky,” even though most of his face is covered by a speech bubble. This is thus the third time he’s sussed out that night, although in truth it was the first. Maybe he’s chagrined, maybe he’s glad Yoruichi saw it all too. Regardless, Yoruichi knew almost everything. She didn’t know what exactly would happen or who would be caught in the crossfire, but she knew Kisuke would be blamed for it. And it was inevitable that she be suspected as being the one truly behind it.

(As an aside, this scene is also notable for demonstrating Yoruichi’s raw physical strength.)

03. This point is established in some interesting ways. The most notable is that it seems strongly implied that Yoruichi had Kisuke’s Hōgyoku for a time. After a post by @mysteriousshopkeeper​ about Kisuke’s footwear, @sphaeraa​​ noted these panels where Kisuke is passed out, seeming to clutch at something, only to wake and realize there’s nothing in his hand. This is a highly unusual way to sleep:

It suggests he fell asleep holding the Hōgyoku. So where did it go? I would suggest to you that Yoruichi walked in and took it from him. Notably, Tessai seems to have been awake this whole time (somewhere behind Kisuke) so he presumably saw this happen. Possibly a bold claim. But note that the Hōgyoku was never found by anyone searching the SRDI’s premises. (There is also another reason I’ll get into later too.)

Indeed, they only found “traces” of Hollowfication experiments. It’s almost like somebody came in and cleaned up the scene while Kisuke was unconscious. Also, the guy who’s reporting to Central 46 here? He’s Onmitsukidō. Just like the guys who arrested Kisuke and Tessai to begin with:

Just like the guys guarding the Maggot’s Nest:

And just like the guys who report to Yoruichi:

Isn’t it convenient that they only showed up after Kisuke had woken up, the next morning? Almost like Yoruichi delayed the investigation until she could retrieve the Hōgyoku and clean the scene, using her power as the Supreme Commander of the Onmitsukidō.

04. It kind of goes without saying that Yoruichi disabled Central 46′s entire security force without issue or exertion, but that shouldn’t be a surprise at this point:

It is, however, surely notable that the Onmitsukidō guy who was there to testify was suddenly missing by the time Yoruichi showed up to rescue Kisuke and Tessai. Another interesting convenience.

05. I had mentioned there was another reason it seems apparent that the Hōgyoku was not at the SRDI. Consider all this from Aizen’s perspective. Aizen knew that Kisuke had a Hōgyoku. Aizen also had a Hōgyoku. Aizen had been trying to feed souls to his Hōgyoku to no avail, to include part of Rangiku’s soul, because Aizen assailing her was Gin’s motivation to join the Gotei 13 in the first place, and it’d been at least 10 years since then. Aizen was surely already starting to suspect that he would need Kisuke’s Hōgyoku to complete his own. Even if he wasn’t, it stands to reason that having a second one would only be to his benefit.

Aizen can conceal himself from ordinary Shinigami (think back on how he was eavesdropping on Kisuke and Shinji) and create alibis using illusions (consider Shunsui testifying that he saw him while the Hollowifcation Incident was happening). Why didn’t he just walk into the SRDI and take the Hōgyoku?

Because it wasn’t there anymore.

But there’s an even bigger picture to be looked at here. It is only to Aizen’s benefit that Kisuke indeed be depowered and Tessai locked away in Shugo, because then they can’t interfere with his plans. The idea that Aizen could foresee Kisuke’s involvement in exile down the line with, say, Ichigo, is absurd. (Note that Aizen treats Masaki and Isshin as an experiment—there was no advanced plan there. He can’t see the future.) Letting Kisuke escape and run around in the wild was only a loose end.

Even if Yoruichi had the Hōgyoku, she would be politically isolated after the trial of Kisuke and Tessai, because both of them were obviously tied to her. It would’ve looked like she had orchestrated the whole thing and they had acted on her orders. If irregularities regarding the Onmitsukidō’s investigation or the scene at the SRDI came to light, that would only look even worse for her. Admittedly, her status as a Clan Head of one of the Five Great Noble Clans gave her enormous protections (note the comparative slap on the wrist she received in absentia after directly assaulting Central 46′s compound) but everyone would have believed her to be behind it.

This makes it obvious why she acted: she had nothing to lose. She would be seen as the orchestrator of these events either way, so might as well save her friends and salvage what she could of the situation. (And possibly gain her freedom and independence as part of the bargain.) But it does not answer a different question: why did Aizen allow her to do that?

And the answer to that isn’t that he foresaw that having Yoruichi, Kisuke, and Tessai in exile might benefit him decades down the line (because it didn’t at all). It’s that he couldn’t stop her. If he could’ve stepped in and prevented her from making her way into Central 46, by all means he should’ve. He didn’t, either because he simply couldn’t, or he couldn’t do it while maintaining any degree of secrecy. (This strongly suggests she was also never exposed to Kyōka Suigetsu, which is explored further in CAT-7.) She was beyond his ability to counter, which in turn retroactively also adds credence to estimations of her capabilities in CAT-1.

The story of the aftermath of the Hollowfication Incident is essentially the story of Yoruichi outplaying Aizen when both Kisuke and Shinji had failed to do so (albeit admittedly with the latter’s information). In the leadup to it, she was also fully aware as to the shenanigans Kisuke was getting up to at the SRDI.

On your series “All Stories Have Monsters”, you have an interesting, unique take on Joe and Nicky and their dynamic, with you exploring a Nicky free to stray and do as he whishes and a Joe who conveniently only has eyes for Nicky. And it hurts my heart to imagine Joe in such a seemingly unbalanced, unequal relationship. In this ‘verse Joe comes across as this almost otherworldly man, locked in the role of the perfect partner, endlessly selfless, willing to share Nicky with anyone Nicky may desire / love while Joe remains faithfully devoted, his world revolving around Nicky (and Nicky only), “incapable” (???) of falling in love with anyone else, not having other lovers to turn to like Nicky does. It’s such an advantageous / favorable situation for Nicky, with Joe making all the concessions without clear reciprocity and only Nicky reaping the benefits / rewards of their open arrangement, besides never having to guess at Joe’s loyalty, never having to share whatever there is of Joe’s affection / desire / thoughts and feelings, never having to face any man / woman who would challenge him for Joe’s love.

Ok, so, I understand where you’re coming from, and part of this critique is completely valid. You’re right to call out that I’ve centered Nicky a lot in that series, at the expense of exploring Joe’s perspective. That’s something I’ve been thinking about, recently, and something I will try to do better about in my fic in general.

As for the rest of this... I think you meant this comment as a good-faith expression of your thoughts about this series, and I appreciate that. I’m going to try and respond as clearly and as kindly as I can, so please don’t think I’m attacking you or calling you ignorant or anything like that.

The conclusions you’ve come to are based on a lot of assumptions about what healthy relationships look like, and those assumptions are almost completely wrong. Now, I don’t know anything about you or your life, so I’m not going to make any guesses about your experience with relationships or polyamory, but, if you grew up in generally the same culture I did, I know that you’ve been fed a lot of ideas about compulsory monogamy and How Relationships Work, and internalised those ideas as fact. As someone who is in a loving, committed, open marriage, I can tell you most of those ideas are, at best, bullshit.

The thing is, people experience romantic and sexual attraction in different ways. You’re on Tumblr and you follow me, so I’m going to assume that’s not a new concept for you. In practice, what this means is that people who are in a relationship also experience love and desire diferently. Even if you have two people who are monogamous, allosexual, and alloromantic, their individual needs and appetites are going to be different by virtue of the fact that they are different people. This doesn’t mean one of them loves the other more or one of them enjoys sex more; it just means that some of the things they need and want in a relationship are going to be different, because that’s how people work.

The other thing that I really want to emphasize is that relationships don’t come with scoreboards, and keeping score in a relationship isn’t helpful or healthy. That doesn’t mean there doesn’t need to be balance and equity, but the sort of one-for-one reciprocity you’re talking about isn’t balance. For instance, I’ve been sick for the past few days, and my wife has been taking care of me. Does that mean that she gets to take time off from her responsibilities to let me take care of her so we’re even? Of course not. We take care of each other when we’re sick because we made a commitment to do exactly that. For added fun, my wife and I have different health problems and different temperaments, so we tend to get sick in different ways and need different things. Which means that me taking care of her looks different than her taking care of me. Does that mean our relationship is unbalanced? Nope. It means we’re different people with different needs, and part of being married means meeting each other’s needs.

So you’re probably sitting there thinking that being sick and having sex are two totally different things. Except that... they’re not, not really. Sex is one possible aspect of a relationship, just like dealing with illness, doing the dishes, going out, sharing finances, et cetera, ad nauseum. Sex isn’t a special, magic thing that has it’s own set of rules; it’s a thing people do together, sometimes there are emotions involved, sometimes not. The real point, here, is that different people have different needs and wants when it comes to sex, just like everything else, and every sexual relationship is unique, just like every friendship or romantic relationship is unique.

So what does that mean for an open relationship? Among other things, it means that one person sleeping with someone else doesn’t mean their partner needs to sleep with someone else to make things even. It means that how a person feels about having sex with their partner is not necessarily how they feel about having sex with people who aren’t their partner. It means that reciprocity and keeping score are just as bullshit when it comes to sex as they are in other parts of a relationship.

Now, let’s talk about Joe and Nicky and polyamory in All Stories Have Monsters.

Again, you’re right: I haven’t given as much time to Joe as a character as he deserves, and I’m working on that. But if you’ve read all 89,000 words of that series, to date, and you came away with the impression that Nicky doesn’t absolutely and utterly adore Joe with his entire being, then I need to re-assess my abilities as a writer. 

The subtext of The House in Sicily is that Nicky built a mansion out of love for Joe. The final punch of Joe’s speech in New Orleans, 1868 is “that he is just as devoted to me as I to him, that my comfort and pleasure are of greater importance to him than his own”. You sent me this ask right after I posted a story all about Nicky carefully and tenderly fucking Joe to a spectacular orgasm. Then there’s all the little moments of care and comfort, the casual touches, the easy companionship. I don’t really know what else you want with regard to expressions of love and devotion.

You refered to Joe making concession and Nicky reaping all the benefits, but it’s stated more than once that Joe enoys the fact that Nicky sometimes sleeps with other people, and even gets off on it. Likewise, Nicky makes it clear, both that he wouldn’t do it if Joe didn’t want him to, and that any other partners are a distant second to Joe. In Goddess of Victory, he tells Booker,  “Another man may touch me for a moment, but it is only a moment. I will never belong to anyone but Joe” and  “If he did not like it, I would not do it, but he does like it, so I do what I want”.

Ok, you’re probably thinking, but why does Nicky get to fuck around and Joe doesn’t? The simple answer is that Nicky wants to and Joe doesn’t, not because one of them is more faithful than the other, but because they are different people who experience attraction differently. 

It’s first implied and then plainly stated that Joe in this series is demisexual, which doesn’t AT ALL mean that he’s not capable of falling in love with or being attracted to anyone other than Nicky; it just means, in this case, that he needs to have a strong romantic connection with someone before he might want a sexual relationship. You can imagine a lot of reasons that might be tricky to navigate with the complexities of immortal life, and since he already has a passionate, satisfying relationship with the love of his life, there’s not much reason for him to look for anyone else.

Then there’s Nicky, who pursued sexual relationships with other men despite believing it was a sin, and who, like Joe, had never been in love before. For Joe, romantic love and sex are necessarily linked, but for Nicky they’re not. Sex is something Nicky enjoys doing; he definitely PREFERS doing it with Joe, but that doesnt mean it’s not fun with other people. Add to this the fact that Nicky having sex with someone else turns Joe on, and Nicky has at least one very compelling reason to seek out casual partners and few complications in doing so.

The thing with Booker... Honestly, that’s another entire novel of analysis, so I’m not going to get into it here.

The point is: having a committed, balanced relationship doesn’t mean having all the same needs and desires as your partner. It means, among other things, recognizing that you and your partner(s) have different needs and desires and making sure that everyone is fulfilled and satisfied as individuals. In a case where there is a primary couple with an open arrangement, it also means trusting that you and your partner are each other’s top priority when it comes to love and sex. Joe and Nicky have different sexualities, but they’re absolutely, unequivocally devoted to each other. Whether or not they have sex with other people doesn’t change that.

Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense.

A Comprehensive Analysis of Eustass 'Captain' Kid

I've been wanting to write this for awhile now as Kid is undoubtedly one of my favourite characters in One Piece. Also, I'm majoring in Psychology so I can't help but think about why I love his character so much.

Disclaimer: As we all know, Kid doesn't have much screentime so it's quite difficult to understand his character completely. So, whatever you read will be my own intepretation of his character (based on the little amount of scenes that he has). Of course, you don't have to agree with it but it might give you a bit of a different perspective!

So, withour further ado, let's begin!

*P.s I'll try to make it flow in but it might end up really messy so I apologize for that*

Note: NOT SPOILER FREE!!!

1. Assumptions

I guess I'll begin with some of the common assumptions of his character based on posts/videos I've seen about his character. They frequently refer to Kid as 'cruel' or 'heartless'. Basically, there are many negative remarks about his character that makes him seem like a total psychopath.

Their reasoning for this would be because:

- He mentioned that he would kill anyone would mocked him

- His high bounty = He's notorious & violent

- The way he acts makes him come off as a bloodthirsty pirate

From another standpoint, I can see why people might think that way about him. The way he speaks and acts does make him look villainous. In addition, his primary role in One Piece is to be Luffy's rival. (I'll expand on this point later.) So, one might think that his morals would contrast Luffy. Whereas Luffy is the kind and benevolent pirate, Kid is the 'bad guy' who is cruel and heartless. The question is, though Kid is rival character, why does that necessarily mean that he would be a bad guy? I strongly disagree that Kid is a psychopath and that he is heartless. Firstly, the term 'psychopath' shouldn't be used so loosely. A true psychopath would have no regard for other's feelings which is not true of Kid because he cares very much for his crew. On the other hand, Doflamingo would be a good example of a psychopath. Next, even if Kid WERE a psychopath, not all psychopaths are violent. So it'd be nice if people stopped misrepresenting psychopaths.

Now, if there is one thing I learned in psychology, is that people tend to make assumptions about a person's actions as part of their personal dispositions rather than because of situation. This would be the Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE). What do I mean by this? Let's take a look at Kid's scenario. He mentioned killing people who mocked his dream. Killing people would make people automatically assume that Kid is 'violent'. But here is a different perspective, what if 'mocking him' had meant that they tried to start a fight with him? Provoking other people repeatedly would cause anybody to get angry. There are many other characters who acts this way as well. Sure, Luffy doesn't go as far as to kill them but I'm sure that many other characters do because they are PIRATES.

In contrast, I think of this situation as Kid standing up for himself. He believes in himself and he would beat anyone up who tells him otherwise. If you think about it, Luffy is kind of similar because he ends up fighting anyone who tries to stop him from attaining his goal.

That is pretty much all the assumptions that people make about his character. It's sad how they don't delve deeper but fret not!! I still have more to say.

2. Pre-Timeskip vs Timeskip Changes/Growth as a character

During Pre-timeskip, Kid is seen as overconfident. I actually agree with this statement quite a lot. His high bounty was a result of his reckless behaviour. He could easily triumph over anyone before the timeskip. That was when he started to become a little too full of himself. Consequently, he suffered heavy losses. His arm was taken by Shanks, his crew was utterly defeated by Kaido (curse you Apoo) and his reputation as the top supernova was instantly lost to Luffy. His true character development was in the Wano arc where we see how he starts to take a step back and re-evaluate his situation. The most obvious evidence for this was when he got captured in Udon. He was quiet (before Luffy's arrival) and deep in thought. So many things had happened to him, you could even argue that he was feeling slightly lost and helpless (not depressed) because he was utterly defeated. The motivation and drive he had in pre-timeskip was shattered- Until Luffy arrived of course. When Luffy arrived, he was battered and bruised but he was still ready to fight. Kid, who saw how Luffy still had his fighting spirit, was somehow inspired to keep on fighting. It's almost as if Luffy is Kid's drive to be stronger.

So, what does this all say about Kid?

I think that this makes his character believable as it can represent real life. There are some points in our lives where we could be the greatest but, sometimes, life can be pretty cruel too. If you get too cocky or overconfident, the world will punish you. I saw a comment that says Kid is Luffy but without the plot armour. That is very true. Kid isn't perfect. He made tons of crappy decisions and dealt which the consequences. I'd say he's as reckless as Luffy, perhaps LESS reckless than Luffy but he suffers more than Luffy does. While Luffy could bask in glory, all Kid got was the short end of the stick. I think that is the reason why I find Kid such an appealing character- because its an accurate representation of real life. Sometimes you can try as hard as someone else but you won't always get the spolight.

The other appealing aspect is his persistence. He made mistakes and bad decisions but he knows that he can't undo them and has to move on. Kid isn't as lucky as Luffy because he didn't have someone like Rayleigh to train him so, he had to put in more effort somehow. The main point is, he had to learn everything the hard way. Yet, he still strives to be the best which is very befitting of a rival character.

3. interactions & Personality

Another thing I frequently see when people Kid and Luffy is that: People say that while Kid makes enemies, Luffy makes allies which is why he has so much support from others around him. I was thinking about this a lot and I can't help but disgaree. I saw another post where they mentioned Kid's MBTI personality is INFJ which made me think even more about that statement. From here on, I will include several headcanons about his character as well.

Let me offer you a different perspective. Perhaps Kid isn't good at expressing his feelings. The way he speaks may come off as cold which makes other people dislike him because they think he is rude whereas he simply doesn't know how to communicate with others very well. Luffy is no doubt an extrovert, seeing how he is easily able to interact with others. Kid on the other hand, if he is an introvert, it could be an explaination to why he doesn't have many interactions with others. I don't see him as someone who's very 'sociable'. So he could experience some difficulty when communicating his feelings. He's shown to be closer to his crew more than anyone else. He is deeply respected by his crewmates because he is sensitive to their needs as well. He isn't the tyrant that everyone paints him to be, he earned that respect by first respecting his crewmates. Also, he would essentially DIE for any of his crewmates. This part is quite self explainatory if you've read the chapter where they revealed what happened to Kid and Killer in Wano.

I just want to add that while Killer suffered so much in Wano, imagine how much it hurt Kid to see his first mate suffer and how he couldn't do anything about it. The expression on his face is perfectly the anger he had towards Kaido, Apoo and more importantly, HIMSELF for not being strong enough. Yet, people call him heartless though he would literally die for Killer.

But anyways, Kid is an excellent listener and he cares very deeply for people he is close to. I just think he's bad at communicating. Look at the way he talks to Luffy. In Wano, you can see how Kid actually does LIKE Luffy as a rival. He just has trouble expressing himself. Anyways, this is just a headcanon but I think that he's rather sensitive to other's feelings- Especially when it comes to his crew. I really like the idea that he's an INFJ because he seems more like the 'advocate' type of character. I still think he makes a very good leader but his approach would contrast Luffy's.

4. Intelligence

I could probaly go on forever about why I love Kid but this is another thing that I see about Kid and kind of annoys me. I'm not sure why everyone seems to think he's a dumbass. Like REALLY. I think he's pretty intelligent. He even kept tabs on the whole SMILE situation and Doflamingo and planned the alliance. He IS intelligent but his recklessness just makes him seem like an idiot.

Kid isn't perfect, he is flawed just like a real human being would be. By no means is he a GOOD person but I don't think he is as 'cruel' or 'bad' as people paint him to be. He cares a lot for his crew. He is very driven by his own personal values and he wouldn't 'change' for anyone. He believes in himself and if anyone tells him otherwise, he would simply beat them up. He isn't happy go lucky like Luffy, he is much deeper than that. He would consider his options and plan- to a certain extent because he is also quite idealistic. Hence, the reason why I feel like his character is such an interesting one is because there is a lot of opportunity for him to grow and stray away from stereotypical anime character traits. His character is believable because his personality is realistic, it could reflect a real human being.

TLDR: Stop sleeping on Kid.

With that, thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Anyways, that's it for now! I'll make a part 2 if I feel like I want to add something. If people like this, I'll consider making another analysis for other characters. Currently I have Law, Ace and Sabo planned in mind but we'll see how it goes.

Thanks for reading!