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sidesteppostinghours · 2 months

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VOTE BLAZE FOR FHR TUMBLR SEXYMAN

now why on earth would i, a humble man, ask the people to vote for blaze over ricardo? what basis could i possibly have to convince you to consider him over (arguably) los diablos most eligible bachelor?? friends, i come to you with two simple arguments:

1. blaze shows a surprising amount of depth when you dive under the flashy exterior

2. i cannot stress enough how funny it would be to watch ortega lose in the first round

blaze is undeniably a suave, arrogant asshole who desperately needs somebody to kick his ass. hes a little prick to the puppet (if theyre male, if theyre female he switches his tune Damn Quick) and he somehow managed to fumble chen??? which is frankly embarrassing for him.

However. however. hes shown in both very small interactions when you meet him and during the actual fight to be a competent, strategic hero who cares about the people. as step points out, when the puppet stumbles over him his immediate reaction is to treat them like somebody who needed help. during the fight, he first takes the time to strategize, making sure to dial back his powers to make sure nobody gets hurt– to the point that he hinders himself. even chen says that blaze always had careful control, to the point where if you fry him in the meeting room, chen suspects somethings up.

hes also surprisingly reasonable about step, giving serious thought to what they say and do regardless of how cruel of a villain they are. yeah ok ortega has the 'sympathetic' villain relationship status but does that really do anything about his perceptions of them??? he still readily calls them a monster during the villain reveal. meanwhile it takes one(1) conversation with blaze to get him questioning his bosses, and it literally does not matter how many people youve killed, he ends up pestering alvarez about it anyway. i firmly believe that hes put a lot more thought about the problems in the system he works under, even if he puts more faith in it than he should.

anyway thats enough serious propaganda, heres the sillier ones: hes such a loser. like 24/7 nonstop. this man is utterly pathetic. i know i talked about how good he is as a hero but listen to me. he gets all dismissive about a step that has less than 55 infamy, but i have 9 steps (though i only talk about 4). i have lost to him by accident Once. i have to codedive so i can lose to him On Purpose for the achievement it is so bad. it is so funny watching all the ways he can eat shit during that fight. truly the pinnacle of bisexual failboy.

I ALMOST FORGOT THAT HE ACCIDENTALLY KINDA OUTS HIS CONNECTION WITH CHEN BECAUSE HE WAS BEING SALTY??? LIKE

POV YOU KEEP YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MARSHAL OF LOS DIABLOS SECRET FOR MONTHS ONLY TO POTENTIALLY EXPOSE IT TO A RANDO BCAUSE YOU WERE MAD ABOUT BEING EXES.

it has also come to my attention via @allens-chocolate-dreams that rat king can become his fan if step falls out the window again and this is extremely important to me.

can rat king be a fan of ortega??? no, because ortega is a loser whos immune to telepathy. very clear whos superior here imo. oh and im probably legally required to say that he has fire powers which makes him objectively hotter than ortega.

finally and most importantly,

if blaze wins i will draw ric dying in a glue trap.

#did i search up blaze sections within the code just to reread them and make points for this propaganda?#dont even worry about it #im. really really sorry this turned out to be more of a character study than a propoganda post for sexyman????#ig this is for the literary analysis whores #honestly my favourite scene is when he kills a civilian by accident and i Really wish that was touched upon more #because jesus christ. thats /messed/#i hope he becomes sopping wet in the next game about the horror of accidentally murdering someone #anyways yes #vote blaze fhr tumblr sexyman 2k24 #captain blaze #ortega #fhr #pulp speaks #fhr sexyman tournament

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quorras · 7 months

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every time i see someone call tron 'cyberpunk', i lose ten years off my lifespan

#note to self literally never read letterboxd reviews of movies i like i cant do it anymore kdjfgkdssd #say you saw the movie and the plot and visuals went right over your head without saying it #like. in what world is tron dystopic?? cyberpunk in itself is an offshoot of dystopian fiction. tron is not about an imagined future #tron is about an imagined PRESENT. thinking about our PRESENT relationship with technology in relation to the times each film was released #tron is in equal measures hopeful and critical about technology. that is NOT cyberpunk #the only CyberPunk that matters in tron is the Tron2.0 character of the same name #i will admit that tron's plot is cyberpunk derived but its. idk man its not the same thing #thematically its different. visually i think tron shares developmental artists with blade runner where the cyberpunk visual stereotype was #- established #but blade runner is more pure cyberpunk thematically than tron is. does that make any sense #and. and. listen to me. i am number one retrofuture fan. i love syd mead. i love moebius. but listen. just because they worked on tron -#- does NOT mean tron is thematically OR visually retrofuturistic either!! the visuals match the time it was made!! thats not retrofuturism!#thats normal scifi based on the every day!!!#tron is a sandbox and at the end of the day anyone can do whatever they want its all just for fun #at the same time. the entire story of tron is being severely misrepresented when labelled as cyberpunk. and it makes me sad #these are very shallow thoughts i just miss literary thematic analysis sometimes. my film studies classes cannot come soon enough #rex speaks

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captaincouture · 1 year

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Yeah the Captive Prince trilogy has a million and one different tragedies in it, ranging from death of loved ones to explosive racial prejudices, but to me the biggest tragedy is that not everyone has read The Training of Erasmus because it wasn’t included in all printings of the first book.

Like so many readers only met Erasmus once he was already in Vere and subsequently considered him being sold to Torveld and going to Patras a happy ending for him. Like… the layers of symbolism and allegory to the idea that you can’t save everyone. It’s even more impactful considering Damens character arc has so much to do with learning about flaws in political systems and leadership and how it affects individuals like Erasmus.

Talk about a tragic story. Erasmus has this already doomed situation that screws with his view of himself and his life, yet has this tiny act of rebellion in his relationship with Kallias. And Kallias, who we only see from Erasmus’ POV, but who seems to at least somewhat understand how wrong their situation is and how much more they could’ve had in a different life. But then he shatters his relationship with Erasmus and any chance of ever seeing him again in order to protect Erasmus and give him a better life, knowing that Erasmus will probably never understand why he did it. Parallels to Damen and Laurent anyone?? Princes Gambit —> slaves gambit.

I could talk so much more about the those parallels between Damen/Laurent and Erasmus/Kallias, as well as Damens enslavement never being comparable to others because he never thought of himself as a slave if anyone is interested.

God there’s just so much tragedy and food for thought in the series, Pacat did such an incredible job on these books they will forever be some of my favorites.

I think Erasmus’ story hits a little harder because he never really gets that full circle arc like a main character would. We don’t really get to see him learning about himself as a person instead of an extension of someone else. Even if there’s that one scene where we see Torveld encourage him to care about his own well being/ not accept abuse done to him by people with more power than him. Being that Torveld is a prince and will always think of Erasmus as below him no matter how much he may or may not love/respect him, it definitely makes you appreciate Damens growth and understanding of his own position of power more.

I really wish Pacat could make an additional short story about Erasmus, maybe leaving Patras and seeing Kallias again at some point. I guess on some level that would take away from the impact of his story but I just really love his character and want to see more of him.

#captive prince #capri #captive prince analysis #literary analysis #the training of Erasmus #Erasmus/Torveld #Erasmus/Kallias #Erasmus captive prince #damen captive prince #character study #cs pacat #cs pacat I salute your genius

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mx-lamour · 7 months

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Printed a copy of I, Strahd that I won't feel weird about marking up, and now I'm going through that shit with so many pens. It will take me a decade, probably. Watch out.

This book is 30 years old and has a following half as numerous, but damn if I'm not entirely into it.

#gods i'm weird #i strahd #character studies #unreliable narrators #alek gwilym #strahd von zarovich #stralek #obscure research #one of many dracula adaptations I hope to do this to in my time #but for different reasons #curse of strahd #actually autistic #literary analysis #this is my life now #lamour dms cos

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thesoftboiledegg · 1 year

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People debate about whether canon is more important than fanon or which one gets the "final say," but I think it's pointless because it's all fanon. Yes, you watch a specific set of events unfolding on screen, but you insert your own interpretations while you're watching it.

We might THINK that we're taking the series as it is without inserting our own theories, but that's not true. Two people can watch the same episode and have totally different interpretations, each thinking that they're right. Look at all the fandom discussions about characters and their motivations. That wouldn't happen if everyone just blankly watched episodes without thinking about it.

Even people who say that they only draw or write about canon scenes aren't really doing that. For example, if you draw art for a canon ship, you're still drawing a scene that doesn't exist in the show. And yet, it feels equally real to you.

Likewise, other media influences the way that you view the series. If you watch a live-action adaption of a novel, you have different mental images when you read the book again. Someone who hasn't watched the movie wouldn't view the book that way.

No objective "canon" exists. Even the people who worked on the series (writers, directors, actors, etc.) interpret their work a little differently. A book written by one person might be the closest, but the writer can't control the mental images that each reader creates.

Canon doesn't matter. It's all imaginative anyway.

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cangrellesteponme · 2 months

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Genuine question after reading the mey-rin essay (which I love btw, the way you wrote it? Immaculate): do you think the writing of women in Kuro could improve if they had more focus? Like, with Lizzie i personally did a whole 180° on how I feel about her once her past was more shown during book of Atlantic. Mey-rin I already loved her and after her own "focus" my love for her increased even more, it felt like reading something more real other than just a stereotype or a trope. I feel like they would all be more enjoyable (tho I'm biased because I love them) if they had more time to shine. *pls Yana, Ran Map focus one day, I would love to know more*

hi anon, first of all thank you, i’m glad you liked the essay :))

short answer: yeah, no. focus is not inherently redeeming.

so, we all clear on my take ? good, good. let’s get into a bit more detail. (and into some proper capitalisation)

Now, focus is great and all, but there has to be a reason the new information we get is interesting. In the cases of Lizzy and Mey-Rin, it kind of is the same phenomenon: now that we have more of this background information, it recontextualises aspects of the character we might not have cared for before, and we gain a renewed appreciation for a character we understand better. This works well, and kind of is a requirement, because they both got very rocky starts. We’re turning elements readers have identified as “bad” into parts of a more complex, “justified” whole.

However, I’m going to be very honest here, I think it’s stupid and doesn’t change the fact that the writing of women in Kuro is fucking horrendous.

It’s great for Mey-Rin: it doesn’t necessarily detach itself from previous characterisation and actually strengthens it (hence the feeling of it turning the stereotype more real), and causes no real change in the character. On top of that, the timing is perfect: right before a demonstration of pure loyalty, Yana shoves a big, red “THIS CHARACTER IS THE WAY THEY ARE FOR THIS REASON” sign, which associates the recontextualised elements with a virtue readers will absolutely love. All in all, absolute banger (with a few problems), let’s not write another essay.

But what the fuck was that with Lizzy? Don’t get me wrong here, I love writing about how awful gender is sometimes, but did we really need to do it… like that? In case what I mean isn’t clear, let’s do a quick recap. This very normal child with normal child behaviour (being girly, childish, emotional, and lowkey annoying, in a normal kid way) was very strongly hated (and. well. mocked by the narrative) for those traits, and her turning point is…? Let me check my notes. Ah, yes, the turning point is that Lizzy behaving like a girl is okay not because it just fucking is, but because it’s actually all a lie and deep down she’s a strong warrior who’s just acting like that because she was told to. Obviously you can’t just be both, silly! And yeah there’s more nuance to that, but I’m not writing a Lizzy essay, for a plethora of reasons. What bothers me is that the readers’ enjoyment of the character is dependent on the denial of her previous femininity, and it’s not just an unexpected effect – it’s how it’s written.

(and, sidenote: as a lizzy enjoyer i kind of hate the fandom’s general perception of her? at least with mey-rin it truly improved with time, but with lizzy… people still think of her the exact same way, they just spend a lot of time talking about how much they enjoy the “cooler” parts of her, instead of spending time shitting on the rest of it. anyway, no lizzy essay, i should keep my takes to myself before i end up in trouble!!)

So, based on those two examples: no, focus is not enough to let Yana show that she’s always been capable of writing women.

And as much as I love Ran Mao (which is a lot) I think I will have to deeply sigh at every single aspect of her character if we get more detail. I’ll take it, because I love her, but I will be even more acerbic in my criticisms. Because focus won’t fix her. If you pull a magnifying glass on shit it’s still shit. And the writing of women in Kuro is, in fact, very shitty.

so, anon, i hope my answer is at least interesting? obviously if yana somehow puts her head on straight and starts writing ran mao well i will be here for it but the odds are… not in our favour. as for the other women… well i’d love to see more of lady midford, but that seems unlikely, and i’m always here for more grelle, and her writing is… a complicated issue other people explain way better than i do. so yeah.

#kuroshitsuji #ota's ask answers #if i ever write another essay it would probably be about agni because yeah he's my favourite character #and it would be more literary. and actual character analysis. the mey rin essay was a lot of... fandom sociology?#which is not my field of study at all i'm a linguist #i have a pal in gender studies but that's about it for my exposure to that stuff

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percyverance · 1 year

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Contextualizing the Doll

“In the mythos of Bloodborne, a classic gothic horror video game from Fromsoft released in 2015, few things are ever outlined explicitly in the text. Playing this game while trying to piece together the story felt rather like an exercise in literary analysis - which should come as no surprise, given how heavily the game draws from Lovecraftian horror and other classic touchstones. This is why I believe it is so crucial to understand the literary, historical, and cultural context Bloodborne exists in to get a full appreciation for and understanding of the story. However, these theorycrafting discussions at times seem to neglect that key aspect. The purpose of this essay is to recontextualize Bloodborne’s story as it relates to the mysterious character of the Doll. I will be drawing on classical literature, the historical context the game references, as well as the modern context that Bloodborne was released into.”

Here it is! The essay from hell that’s been months in the making. It started out intended as a long post. Now it’s almost 40 pages. I figured a document would be an easier read. This is really a first draft, so to any brave soul who can parse all this, any comments or suggestions are welcome. You can find it here or on AO3!

#bloodborne #miss doll ily and i hope i did you justice bbgirl #plain doll #lady maria of the astral clocktower #gerhman the first hunter #and more but i aint tagging all that #i dont know why i wrote this lol i'm just autistic about history literature horror and bloodborne #character analysis #character study #literary analysis #historical analysis

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empty-blog-for-lurking · 1 year

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Villain enjoyer but not in a "i can fix them" way or "i can make them worse" way or "i can fuck them" way or "they did nothing wrong actually" way or combination of any of them but in a secret sixth way (i can dissect them under a microscope, write my thesis paper on my findings and then discard the remains when i am satisfied)

#this is most villains but specifically #philip wittebane #emperor belos #Like all of the reasons mentioned are valid for liking any character #But sometimes a character is enjoyable because of the stellar literary analysis essay you can write about them #A type of character you would have enjoyed studying and writing about in a literature class #Or atleast i would it's fun #Belos is one of the most intriguing characters i have seen in toh or really any piece of media #Like dude is an absolute bastard just all round terrible but man they went off when they wrote him #He's a symbol of evilness of conformity its victim and its perpetrator #and the show does not shy away from the damage he has done #empty thoughts #the owl house

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colorsofveraldwiz-official · 11 days

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Sep isn't a good guy, but he's not bad either. He's an Immortal human with flaws and unfortunate circumstances. He's doing what he truly believes to be right, and he's trying so hard to be good, not realizing how much damage he's truly causing.

He's desperate. He's lonely, he's scared, he's hurt, he's hit rock bottom and he doesn't know how to climb out. He doesn't know if he can even stand up, but he tries, even when it hurts him.

He's fighting against himself and trying, so desperately, to love and be loves. He's wrestling with demons of his past and demons of his future. His shield is breaking, and he doesn't try and repair it because he's so tired. Eventually, he gives up as his life falls apart.

He is loved. Ky and Reagan see him, and they love him, but it's not enough. They have to decide between Sep and keeping themselves safe from Sep.

Sep is not the villain. He's not a hero, either. He's someone who has been burned too many times by himself and others. He has so much grief from Victor, to the world, to his mother, his father, everyone he has seen live and die and everyone who has looked up to him.

He's not some psychopath. He's someone who cares so much that the only way to deal with his pain is to lock it up until it comes bursting out, attacking those closest to him.

He's not the villain; he's in pain. He doesn't mean to hurt anyone, and he doesn't want to hurt anyone and he can't forgive himself when he does. How many times has agony turned someone against the world? The world hurt Sep, and Sep hurts the world in return -- his world.

#colors of veraldwiz #original character #ocs #schizophrenia #schizophrenic character #sep my beloved #i need to write #I want to write some character studies for my child #he's so hurt #Sep is living with untreated schizophrenia so in his own little world #he may be perceived as the villain as many of his actions are similar #but then what is the definition of a villain?#Sep could be categorized as a villain because he hurts other people and he desperately wants control #but he doesn't intentionally hurt others #and his desire for control is a coping mechanism from how unstable his world is #idk I just needed to explain Sep a little bit #literary analysis #of my own work

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joncronshawauthor · 4 days

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The Evolution of the Assassin Archetype in Fantasy Literature

In the shadowy recesses of fantasy literature, where danger and intrigue brew as richly as a witch’s potion, the assassin archetype has undergone a remarkable evolution. From mere background dagger-wielders to complex main characters with their own moral compasses (however askew they might be), assassins in fantasy have truly come into their own. From the Shadows to the Spotlight Historically,…

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#antihero journey #assassin archetype #assassin character study #Assassin Protagonists #assassins in literature #character complexity #character evolution #complex characters in fantasy #dark characters in fantasy #dark fantasy elements #evolving literary tropes #fantasy antiheroes #fantasy books with assassins #Fantasy Character Development #fantasy genre analysis #fantasy literature #fantasy narrative evolution #modern fantasy trends #moral ambiguity

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apostate-chic · 8 months

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Idk why it irks me so much but i swear to god if i see one more comparison post between the bitey racoon man and the da crew i'm going to scream

#maybe bc of the repetitiveness?#maybe bc i've studied literary analysis and yeah big shocker there are only so many ways you can vary a character #sorry for being weird about this

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pushkincore · 2 years

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Funny how I can write about great art history monuments basically from memory but have to google every small thing about how the catholic church works

#i was brought up around catholicism i'm baptized for the love of god #and now i'm here googling when exactly you need to pray the rosary lmao #it's for a book i'm writing i have one devout yet skeptical catholic in the cast and i guess i need to know this stuff #to nail the character you know #he thing is my mom didn't want for me to go to bible study because she's like a pretty devout atheist i guess #but my grandma insisted i go so they made a compromise #so i went to bible study exactly once and decided i didn't want to continue with it #so that was the end of my catholic experience #for better or for worse? who knows #but it would be helpful to know some of this stuff if not for anything else for this novel for literary analysis and for art history #anyway yeah

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fresne999 · 7 months

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Half way through the journey of our analyses

I feel like roughly half of the analysis I'm reading about OFMD S2 is folks who clearly fixated on a character (it's Izzy, it's always Izzy that inspires this kind of analysis) write analyses that cause the 2nd response of, "Um…did you ever study literary analysis in school."

Now I come at this from a slightly odd place in that I did study literary analysis in school (30+ years ago) where I learned it's possible to interpret anything about any way, because we're all bringing different lenses to the analysis. Which isn't to say that an author can't have an intended interpretation.

Dante in Canto V of Inferno (Divine Comedy) would still like folks to understand fixating on the two damned-lovers and ignoring the details that the artist is putting in there for you to catch about how they are damned because they won't change the toxic patterns that got them there in the first place. Also, they can't because they are in hell, and hell is like that. That Dante-the-writer had Dante-the-character swoon over those same two damned-lovers (because Dante-the-character is on a journey of moral correction) is hilarious, but doesn't make it any less the point of that section of the work, but I digress.

As a career, I am very aware that folks love to misinterpret what is meant to be very clear instructions. Of course, I'm writing policies and procedures, which is a bit different from writing fiction, and is worlds away from creating a t.v. show. But that's the life experience that I always bring to literary analysis. Frequently, people choose their interpretations to fit what they want to see, and that's part of being human.

I've seen a fair number of folks interpret Izzy's redemption arc in S2 as one of a queer man struggling with disabilities and mental health issues whose struggle is made meaningless by his demise. Which sure, you could interpret it that way and in that it's coming from I'm sure an emotional place, I get it. And hmmm… I might give this interpretation more credence if I hadn't read a lot of Izzy analysis for S1 that was wildly different than the text.

So let's take a step back.

First, know the rules of the literary universe: OFMD is a show where the reality is not ours. It is either the Core Universe or something very close to it. BTW: If you've never heard of Core Universe or read the seminal BtVS+HtLJ "When Hellmouth's Collide" (https://www.ltljverse.com/index2.htm), a Core Universe is one where everything lines up. Row boats are magic, and where there is a Badminton, he will accidentally stab/shoot himself.

Terminology more befitting of that fancy literature degree might be to say that OFMD functions along the logic of Magical Realism. Characters will appear briefly for the purposes of the story and then disappear not to be mentioned again (Nana, Calico Jack, Mary Read & Anne Bonny). Things align because they are meant to align. It is a universe where the Gravy Basket is a real place, and meant to be taken seriously. It's also a universe where a man may become a seagull, because he loves the sea. You change for love, but the ways you change may be positive or toxic.

They can result in a bird that never gets to know rest. Always flying over the sea. Or they lead to becoming a bird, who can float in the sea or land on a unicorn's leg.

Transformation.

Anyway, S1 - Stede commissioned a ship with secret passageways. It did not have a buxom mermaid on the prow, nor something more befitting a ship named the Revenge. He commissioned a unicorn prow and went off to become a pirate.

A not particularly violent pirate. But a pirate who didn't have a problem with the violence of piracy. See Stede telling Lucius (hardest working man on the ship in S1) to take notes during a violent raid where the show's logo was literally carved into the chest of a dead man.

BTW: The tone about violence is darker in S2, but the violence was there in S1. It was just presented in a more whimsical way. The nose jar was full of noses in S1. We heard about Blackbeard's violence. A man was skinned alive off screen, but we focused on the Prussian (but also sort of French) party.

What Izzy needed to be redeemed from was established in S1. The problem is that folks who interpreted Izzy as a) the central focus of the show and b) a put upon manager just trying to do right by his crew (or as one Tumblerina referred to him as the man/father of the family going out to hunt - excuse me while I vomit - and support his family as men must do), are not going to understand what Izzy's S2 arc was all about.

Ed and Stede are the main characters in a romantic story. There are other characters with their own arcs, but they are the main characters.

In S1, Stede created a safe space where characters had a chance to breathe for the first time. Possibly ever, and as a result revisited parts of themselves they'd lost. Wee John got back in touch with his roots as the son of a seamstress. Frenchie got back to what he loves, scamming the rich. The Swede sang like a siren of the sea, because it doesn't always have to be scary.

Ed had his first good time in years. After expressing suicidal ideation to Izzy because of his terminal boredom in S1.E4 - Discomfort in a Married state, Ed found himself some balance. Some sweet marmalade.

Ed and Izzy were in a toxic relationship that only reinforced their toxic behavior. And yes, I'm going to overuse the word toxic. While piracy is a place where you can go be yourself and shag whoever you want (whatever happens at sea stays at sea), it's not a place where you can be soft. Gentle. Emotionally open. Available.

Ed's only path out that he could see at the time was to plan to skin the face of the man who built a ridonculous boat with a unicorn on the prow and wear it for the rest of his life. A plan to send Stede to Doggy Heaven.

BTW: This is why Izzy uses the line in S2.E3 - the Innkeeper, that they put Ed down like a mad dog, so that Stede could reply that they sent Ed to Doggy Heaven. Reiterating this concept of piracy as violence, as taking away faces / identity / lives, but also losing one's own. Forgetting even what day of the year it is. Also revealing that Stede knew about Ed & Izzy's plan to murder him, send Stede to doggy heaven, and had moved on.

This is also why the respite in S2.E4 - Fun and Games is so critical. Mary Read/Anne Bonney are portrayed as direct parallels to Stede/Ed. They are selling what are, no doubt, the spoils of their piracy. But they've chosen a remote location with no community, but each other and a life where they are not actually communicating. Which on its surface is where Ed and Stede end up, and yet…the Revenge can sail back. They are on the shore facing the sea, not in a jungle lost from a clear view. I'll quote the relevant Dante in just a bit, never fear.

Ed and Stede's new inn has the potential for a solid foundation, because the unicorn has been planted firmly in the ground, and if we get an S3, I firmly expect the unicorn leg to have transformed into a tree, because I've read a lot of medieval literature and that's how that sort of thing works.

Well, it could be a penis tree (this was a thing in medieval marginalia), but somehow I don't think it will be.

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

Back in S1, the plan to murder Stede and take his identity broke down despite Izzy trying to perform an intervention to get Ed back into the toxic soup, and ended with Ed curled up in a bathtub and opening up about murdering his father. An image the show chose to flash on the screen multiple times in S2 just in case folks forgot that this was a traumatizing event for Ed, and was itself the culmination of years of traumatic abuse at his father's hands.

Just as Stede kept flashing back to the moment his father tells him what it is to be a man, and kills an animal, the blood splashing on Stede's wee little face.

That this is the point of the show. Transforming past trauma. It's there. You always carry the scars. Sometimes, you decide to tattoo yourself with the image of the thing you fear, and then the thing you fear is always there, but you've got to keep moving forward. To stay in one place, to stay trapped in the same emotion/action, is hell. I've read a lot of lit crit of Dante's Inferno. Trust me, it's the same thing.

Izzy's redemption arc is firmly based in the events of S1E6 - Here Dragons Be, because it's where the pustule of his relationship with Ed breaks. His attempted intervention fails to get Ed to kill Stede, so Izzy tries to kill Stede. Not realizing that a) Stede is a main character and b) this is a Core Universe show. Where it's possible to win a duel by being stabbed in the left side of your gut and stay there for many hours and not die. So he loses the 1 thing that defines him, his job.

Izzy's redemption arc is firmly based in the events of s1E8 - We Gull Way Back, where he enlists Calico Jack to lure Ed off the boat (with all the toxic masculinity that entailed) so that the British could show up and shoot the head off the unicorn, and kill Stede. So Izzy can crawl back into his old patterns / job / life.

Izzy's redemption arc is firmly based in the big drama confrontation in S1E10 - Wherever You Go There You Are, when as a person whose entire identity is tied up in being Blackbeard's First Mate and after realizing that he couldn't cut it as a captain on his own, he does whatever the f- he can to get Ed back into the toxic soup so he can get his old role/job back.

This isn't to say that Ed's off the deep end actions in S2.E1&2 aren't his own choices. He is a main character. His emotional arc is one of the driving forces of the show. But they are the choices of a man who wants to die. After a lifetime of violent action that had been increasingly drowning him, he wants to die in the violence of battle, but the enemy are never good enough. He wants Izzy to kill him, but Izzy won't. Until he does…sort of. He wants to die in a storm. He's carving notches on his wall hoping to lure Ned Low to him so that he can die in pain. But Ed is the devil and does not die.

Except Ed's not the devil. He doesn't have a head made of smoke. He's a man. Not a fisherman. Not a fisher of men, and what an interesting attempt to go Christ himself off into the wilderness only to be fired for not being that good at it, and then receive his letter from the deep.

Because in a show full of magical realism, the bottles with messages will reach the intended recipient eventually.

"In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself in a dark wood for the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to say what that wood was. So savage and harsh and strong, that the thought of it renews my fear. It is so bitter that death is little more so. But to speak of the good that I found there, I will tell of the other things I saw…and like one with laboring breath comes forth from the deep onto the shore, who turns back to the perilous water and stares, so my spirit still fleeing turned to gaze upon the pass that has never left anyone alive." Dante, Canto 1, Inferno.

Instead of dying, Ed goes not to Purgatory (sorry I'd quote the opening lines, but Inferno actually works better here), but to the Gravy Basket, where he confronts the spirit of Hornigold. Dead spirit. Aspect of Ed's self. Both. Neither. Hated. Self. Unkillable.

Is saved by a goldfish incarnation of Stede.

But just as the imaginary as Stede's vision of what / who he thinks he needs to be for Ed, this is not true. Life being what it is, Ed and Stede rush when they need to go slow. They break apart because they are saying words, but the other person is hearing based on their own interpretation.

BTW: The clue Dante-the-writer gives the reader in Canto V of Inferno is how one of the damned lovers, Francesca, explains how she hooked up with her brother-in-law, Paulo. She describes reading an Arthurian romance. She and Paulo kissed when Gwenevere and Lancelot kissed in the story. Except the version they are reading (and Dante tells the reader which version this is) was intended as a cautionary tale. Also, Paulo and Francesca were real people who were murdered by Francesca's husband when he caught them together. So there is that too.

I always like it in fiction when characters misinterpret each other because they hear based on their life experiences and don't hear the things that are said/unsaid based on the life experiences of the other person speaking. That's good writing. It's also how we end up with wildly varying interpretations of works of fiction.

But I digress.

Izzy's S2 arc is that he must let go of his relationship with Ed and turn to others. He must learn to let go of toxic masculinity and let in softness. Not weakness. Water is not weak, but it is soft. Calypso, goddess of the sea, is not weak. Her birthday is whatever day you need it to be. She is vast and deep and soft and relentless.

In Ro-sham-bo, it's a shame that there is not a gesture for water. Because it is not paper that defeats stone, but water that wears away the stone. Of course, scissors wouldn't do much to water either, so that would sort of break Ro-sham-bo, so I suppose it must stay as it is.

It is through a craft's project that the crew of the Revenge find healing. Turn Izzy into the unicorn. A unicorn that Izzy's own actions caused to be decapitated with a British cannon ball in S1. That Izzy rendered legless (drunk). But the Revenge is a boat. They just need to swim/sail. It is through a craft's project that Izzy is able to offer healing to Lucius, who in turn is then able to turn their art away from fixating on Ed, and the trauma that he's been through and back towards love, and Black Pete.

But it's not possible to see Izzy's S2 arc, if you didn't interpret S1 Izzy as needing to go through his own gravy basket.

That Izzy dies because his transformation is necessary. He can't leave Ed, and if he doesn't leave Ed, then Ed can't stop being Blackbeard. The kracken. He literally tells Ed this as he chooses to transform. To free the world of Blackbeard, so Ed can be Ed. Yet, I've read so many posts by folks saying, "But why did he have to die?" Which sure, you can choose not believe what the character says while dying.

Which is a narrative privilege. To get a good dying speech. "There he is" get to be transmutted from an attack to an actual seeing. The larger than life concept of a smoke headed pirate can waft away.

Stories are hard to kill. They live on long past us, and as long as someone is remembered, especially in a universe like OFMD, we live.

Though always reject the gift of a clock. That's someone telling you that you've only got so many hours left of life. If you are a character in a story.

Thus the other parallel in this season is Izzy to Auntie and Ed to Zheng Yi Sao. Auntie must allow Zheng softness. Izzy must go through a sea change to something new and strange. Also, this would be a case of Doylistically the writers needed to line up Olu with Stede for that to work, and thus the new configurations of Olu and Jim's relationship, which, shrug, could be poly. Could be friends to lovers to friends. Woulda, coulda, had more time, but that's on Max for not giving us 2 more episodes.

Prince Richard was trying to become a concept, but was too in love with the mechanics of it. Stede was trying to become a concept too. Found his fame, and all too quickly the toxic end of that particular route. Magical Realism was on his side until he tried to face down Zheng Yi Sao, the Queen of Pirates, and then the rules of the story weren't. Because those clocks were ticking. Everyone was in a very dark wood. The memory of blood splashed on Stede's face as a little boy was a warning. It was a reminder. It was the wrong lessons we take from our childhood and must unlearn to become whole.

Having the final shot of the show being Buttons landing on the unicorn leg as a reminder that this is a show about transformation. One thing becoming another thing. Somewhere the dead are dancing in Calypso's court. A dance below the sea and on the sea and with the sea. While the living keep sailing on their magic ship to do…I don't know.

Because the Golden Age of Piracy is coming to an end. They'll go create new worlds and new places to be. Transforming.

If we get no more of the show, this is a resolution.

Since I've been quoting Dante, I'm going to end this with the final vision in Paradiso. Because folks who haven't been reading my analysis for the last 30 years / read it, may not realize that the Divine Comedy (a story that begins in sorrow and ends in joy) ends with the vision of a 3 way rainbow.

"In the profound and shining Being of the deep Light, three circles appeared, of three colours, and one magnitude: one seemed refracted by the other, like Iris’s rainbows, and the third seemed fire breathed equally from both. O how the words fall short, and how feeble compared with my conceiving!…Power, here, failed the deep imagining: but already my desire and will were rolled, like a wheel that is turned, equally, by the Love that moves the Sun and the other stars."

#ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd season 2 #ofmd analysis #ofmd meta

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tortelette · 1 year

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It is god awful 4 am in the Philippines (insomnia growing worse due to worry) and I have one fucking theory on what fucking Demian said in the epilogue of Chapter 4.

Demian fucking returns to the presence of Dante as the Sinners took a feast for themselves at some restaurant and talks to them about the meaning and true purpose of technology and the morality behind it along with the concept of greed. One line took a fucking slap on me whenever I kept reading his dialogue.

This is...

A "The Little Prince (TLP)" by Saint Exupéry reference said by the Little Prince himself when he met the stranded pilot in the desert.

Back then when I was still studying religious literature and our main topic is TLP, there are many biblical references here and there from the snake who bit him down to the desert where the pilot has been stranded upon for some time. The sheep has many symbolisms back in my lessons, the common ones that I get to see are the spiritual transcendence of the prince, the representation of the truth, and the beauty hidden from reality. Mind you all that the story of TLP is quite imaginative and a sad one that gives the hopeful yet real life lessons of friendship, value, love, and loss. Hence many symbolisms are interpreted here.

Now that I mention those things... what does it have to do with Demian telling Dante to draw him a sheep like they promised to him? Judging from the structure of his tone, it appears that Demian knew Dante before Dante took their clock prosthetic.

Well my theory is that the sheep is the symbolism of "realization" or more likely "seeing the truth of humanity." Dante is a blurry yet blank slate when they saw that they lost their memories yet retained a sense of a trail of their true goal. Dante wants answers (an obvious reflection of decision for a person who knows nothing of the world) in everything around them and they are the ones who let's out the final decision to handle in everything with the Sinner's help. Hence, they take semi-control in seeing EVERYTHING and witness it along with them. So far Dante has saw the lives of four of their sinners (Gregor, Rodion, Sinclair, and Yi Sang) and see how cruel and unfair of the life they went through. Dante sees them all since they resonated as well with the golden boughs and sees a portion of their troubled lives. A normal happening of humanity in The City.

Dante has to draw a "sheep" to Demian, more likely... Dante has to share to Demian the "truth of humanity that they have witnessed through resonance with the Sinners in a refreshed look." In this chapter, it appears that Dante has to share their side of the truth to Demian about Yi Sang's life yet they appear to be at a lost as always. Just like a sheep that strays away from the shepherd's guidance.

Remember Faust's remarks when she stated on what would be Dante's reaction about their decision to suppress the bronze bull when they get their memories back? It is implying for me at least that Dante is a dislikable or negative character. I mean... look at them when we first started the entire game. Demian must have known this too and probably wants to get Dante to draw a sheep for him now that he can have a more "innocent" or understandable outlook about humanity.

In TLP, the sheep (if removing the more complex representations of various literary analysis) is a literal representation of one's ability to appreciate the beauty of all things through the heart despite the appearance. All of the sinner's lives are miserable in some way yet they are still "beautiful" for us because they manage to strive through their problems, they seek on the right of their belief, they live on to face their traumas, and to accept help from others in order to get back up. The disgusting experiences of humanity in The City is a facade that people always see, but the actions they have done that either support or combat those experiences is what makes it beautiful.

The truth of humanity, is the suffering that they have been through.

It would be interesting that Demian has the title of "The Little Prince" as a nod to it.

EDIT: How does my unhealthy insomnia theory get a lot of interactions- I... I am scared.

#limbus company #limbus company demian #limbus company dante #limbus company theory

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pomefioredove · 1 month

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Hi! not sure if u write for content that isn't a character x reader, if not, feel free to ignore this req!

but I'd like to req some timeskip hcs for the twst charas.. like what would they be after graduation? I could totally see Riddle being a lawyer but I'm not entirely sure for the rest of the twst cast 🤔

Thank you in advance! Take all the time u need !

ohhh actually speculation/analysis is something I write a lot of! I hail from a very literary fandom and these sorts of prompts are some of my favorites to do!

I could def give my thoughts, just based on what we already know + my own headcanons

➼Deuce: Deuce, to me, is a hands-on learner type. I could see him getting really into mechanics, but... my heart says house husband. tells his kids bedtime stories about Cauldron Deuce (with... um, better morals, we'll say)

➼Ace: professional moocher hmmm Ace is kind of a wild card (pun) to me. I can see his life going in a lot of different directions depending on how the story goes

➼Riddle: definitely something prestigious. we know his parents are doctors, it's likely he'd feel pressured to follow in their footsteps, with other high-paying professions close behind (such as lawyer)

➼Cater: trophy husband(/influencer)

➼Trey: takes on the family bakery. I can see him getting settled down relatively fast compared to everyone else. he just needs a spouse whose as weird as he is

➼Leona: professional moocher (for real this time). In an ideal world he would get fed up with his family and move out, either to another palace they own (you know how it is with royalty and their real estate) or to his own place. but that freedom might get him to really apply himself to something he cares about, independent of his family. would get married if the opportunity presented itself, would NOT have kids

➼Ruggie: Leona's little buddy. Leona assured him a job after school, sooo probably not much different from what he's doing already, but paid. sends fat checks home to his grandma every month

➼Jack: whatever it is, he's committed to it. I can't see him working a dead-end job with no hopes of improving himself, so nothing too academic. the obvious answer is athletics... but he could just as likely become a sculptor. just something that he can apply himself to and continue improving in

➼Azul: businessman. he just has a thing for it. he's running multiple restaurant chains and dabbling in retail before age thirty, and always looking for more opportunities

➼Jade: Azul definitely guarantees him a job, but I think he'd be more interested in staying on land and doing field work. mycologist... or anything that really captures his interest

➼Floyd: cliché answer, he can't decide. likely bounces between working with his brother and working with Azul. may just stay within the "family business" which is implied to be. mafia?

➼Kalim: do we even know what the al-Asims do. besides be rich. well whatever it is, he's doing that. definitely gets married fast, probably has a bunch of kids already. they're just as loud and excitable as he is

➼Jamil: oh Jamil :( please please have a happy ending. I can see him really enjoying academics, especially in positions where he can publish papers and get feedback. good for his ego. may start some insane academic drama, though (nothing he can't handle)

➼Vil: actor/model. confirmed! probably waits a while to get married, he's put off his career long enough

➼Rook: the fact that he wants to go into archaeology is so cute... being an ex archeology (now religious studies) major myself I think it's just so... Rook of him to be interested in history. I would love to talk to him about the Minoans. Or the Xia dynasty. can I marry him while we're at it? he eventually settles down somewhere in the woods

➼Epel: eughhrrggg can I say farming. sorry. I'm from a family of farmers and kinda sentimental about it. the connection to the land is very real and very emotional. but he does other stuff, too

➼Idia: [cue book 6 angst]

diasomnia fam is up in the air for now considering... *gestures to all of book 7*

➼bonus rollo: judge. because it would be funny.

#twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #tagging these for organizational purposes #anyway. I may be totally wrong I'm just going off of memory here. this was super fun tho!!

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