#and when the whole work is complete | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kaladinkholins · 4 months

Text

We all already know Mizu and Akemi are narrative foils. But you know what? Lemme just say it, here's what I think:

Taigen and Mikio are foils.

Not necessarily to each other as individuals in the way that Mizu and Akemi juxtapose each other, but mostly in the contrast between their relationships with Mizu.

I've covered specific parallels between Taigen and Mikio in other posts I wrote; but as the number of parallels I'm noticing between them keeps piling up, I'm compelled to just compile them all in one post. So! This is, thus, the post in question.

First of all, let's look at their similarities.

1. Their status in society is the same. They are both samurai who lost their honour and have dreams of reclaiming it.

2. They are also both diligent as they strive to achieve this goal, they both care deeply about their work, but here as they begin to contrast, as the work in question and way they go about their goals is different:

For Mikio, his work is in taming and rearing horses; in order to prove himself, he must tame Kai—a willful and strong horse—and present it to his lord. For Taigen, his work is in sword fighting and martial arts; in order to prove himself, he must kill Mizu—a willful and strong swordsman—and present her dead body to his lord.

In the parallel above, not only are Taigen and Mikio contrasting each other, but Mizu and Kai are placed in comparison as well. And of course, Kai is Mizu's horse, and represents her. Which is why, when later, Mikio sells Kai off, it represents the way he is tossing Mizu (and their relationship) aside.

From there, the rest of the details of their character begin to contrast and juxtapose each other more clearly. So let's look at those differences, shall we?

Their backstory:

Mikio was a great samurai who was banished. A somebody to a nobody. Taigen was a fisherman’s son who rose to the top. A nobody to a somebody.

2. The first time we meet them on-screen:

Mikio is an adult. An older man. Mizu's superior in age. He is Mizu's to-be husband. A love interest. Taigen is a child. A young boy. Mizu's peer in age. He is Mizu's bully. An antagonist.

3. Their maturity and growth:

Mikio is mature, but stuck in his ways. Taigen is immature, but capable of changing and learning.

4. Their overall attitude:

Mikio is generally relaxed, easy-going and unfussy. Taigen is uptight, irritable and severe.

5. How they talk to and conduct themselves around Mizu:

Mikio is aloof, soft-spoken, and serious. Taigen is obnoxious, brash, and sarcastic. Mikio is quiet, speaking only when spoken to, even when Mizu turns to smile at him and shows openness to be near him. Taigen is loud, talking while others are silent, even when Mizu turns from him and shows no interest in conversing with him.

Mikio doesn't show much of who he is to Mizu throughout their marriage, despite their growing affection. Taigen openly shares his traumas and life story to Mizu during their brief alliance, despite their mutual antagonism.

6. Their external vs internal selves:

Mikio is calm, gentle, and considerate on the outside. Taigen is hot-headed, rude, and selfish on the outside. Mikio is cowardly and deceitful on the inside. Taigen is brave and loyal to a fault on the inside. Mikio tells Mizu that he wants to know and see all of her. But he scorns and betrays her, the woman he loves. Taigen tells Mizu that he wants to duel and kill him. But he endures torture to not betray him, the man he hates.

9. Their hair, a symbol of their honour:

Mikio's topknot is untied by Mizu during their spar. This humiliation occurs in private, the two of them alone in a rural location where no one can see them. Taigen's topknot is cut off by Mizu during their duel. This humiliation occurs in public, the two of them being watched by many others in the Shindo Dojo.

10. Their power dynamic with Mizu:

Mikio believes he is Mizu's mentor. He teaches her to throw knives, how to ride and care for horses, and about the tactical benefits of using a naginata. Taigen believes he is Mizu's equal. He views Mizu as a samurai like himself who received all the same teachings he did, and who possesses the same values.

11. Their perceptions of Mizu:

Mikio sees Mizu's feminine side first. He sees her as sweet and gentle, but also clumsy and incompetent. Taigen sees Mizu's masculine side first. He sees her as terrifying and deadly, but also strong and skilled.

12. The way they approach sparring with Mizu:

Mikio only spars with Mizu once. As the fight progresses and she is beating him, he tries to put a stop to it. When she teases/provokes him, he starts taking the fight personally and seriously, finding no enjoyment in it. Taigen spars and brawls with Mizu all the time. No matter how many times Mizu beats him, he doesn't back down. When Mizu challenges him with a chopstick, he is eager to compete with her and gladly rises up to the challenge.

Mikio and Mizu's one and only spar is a friendly match; Mizu is smiling and having fun while he grows increasingly frustrated. Taigen and Mizu's last-seen spar is a playful wrestling match; both him and Mizu are having fun and laughing.

Mikio cannot deal with Mizu being better than him, so he scorns her and walks off, avoiding her thereafter. When Taigen cannot deal with Mizu being better than him, he follows her to observe her moves and continues training in hopes to eventually beat her. After being bested by Mizu once, Mikio leaves her and sells the horse he'd previously gifted to her. After many times losing to Mizu and fighting alongside her, Taigen commends her and admits she is better than him.

13. When Mizu pins them down in a friendly spar:

Mikio sees Mizu's whole face objectively. Taigen stares at Mizu's mouth and eyes.

Mikio gets angry when she kisses him, throwing her off of him and snapping at her, calling her a monster. Taigen gets aroused, apologising, so she pulls herself off of him.

14. Mizu's blue meteorite sword is a reflection of her soul. She believes most are undeserving to face it, let alone hold it. And on that note:

Mikio is the first person (chronologically) that Mizu fights against using her sword. Taigen is the first person (we see on-screen) that Mizu fights against with her sword. Mikio is the first person (chronologically) to ever hold her sword, as she passes it to him, letting him wield it. Taigen is the first person (we see on-screen) to ever hold her sword, as she passes out, and he picks it up and carries it for her.

15. Then, last but not least, in Fowler's fortress, when she is drugged and in pain, she hears Ringo's voice in the dungeon. She then follows it to an open cell:

Mizu first sees Mikio as a hallucination, the sight of him haunting her and causing her to lose her grip on reality. Her eyes glow a surreal blue to represent this. Her Mama appears then and says Mizu's name accusingly.

Mizu then sees Taigen, but he is real, the sight of him a relief and grounding her back to reality. Her eyes return to their normal blue colour to represent this. Taigen looks at Mizu weakly and says her name softly.

Then, later, when facing Fowler, her revenge awaiting her, she instead chooses to follow her conscience (represented by Ringo's voice in her mind), putting aside her vengeance for a time, in order to save Taigen.

So that's basically all the ones I've noticed so far, but even then, I feel there's already so much that forms a contrast between these two.

What makes it especially incredible about these juxtapositions is that Mikio was Mizu's husband, the man she had fallen in love with, the one person she had ever been intimate with, the man who made her begin to accept herself, to put down her desire for vengeance and instead live a life of peace and happiness.

So for Taigen to have so many parallels with him... Do you see what I'm saying here!

Not to mention that Mizu clearly already has some burgeoning attraction to him, as indicated by how she thinks of him when asked about her desires. And Taigen clearly has shown interest as well (see: him getting a boner after their spar, him holding her hand and telling her, "We're not done yet.").

And on the topic of speculating future possibilities of this relationship, this post by @stromblessed has pointed out yet another parallel between Taigen and Mikio:

Mizu promises Taigen to meet him for their duel in autumn. Mizu fell in love with Mikio and duelled him during autumn.

With all that said, I do believe Mizu and Taigen's relationship is definitely hurtling towards something. But whether they will actually end up together in a sustainable relationship and have a happily ever after? Well, that is a whole other story; we'll just have to wait and see.

#blue eye samurai #mizu x taigen #taigen x mizu #taimizu #taigen blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai meta #hope yall enjoy my thesis on virgin mikio vs chad taigen #this was written last night when i shouldve been writing the new chapter for my taimizu fic that i promised i would work on....whoopsies...#i will get to it eventually but i just have to get a firmer grip on characterisation before i can delve further into it yk #on that note. i kiiinda regret posting the fic on a whim!#my last longfic was written better because i had the whole thing complete and could go back and edit/polish/revise before posting #so it came out much more coherent and consistent ykwim?#this fic might suffer a bit for this reason 🤒#but its fine i have to remind myself im just doing it for funsies #anyway here have another long ass meta post from yours truly #meta dissertations.pdf #shut up haydar #fandom.rtf

439 notes · View notes

anistarrose · 1 month

Text

The thing about the "fridged" trope is that obviously you can't have a female love interest dying as a defining moment for a male character because that's not feminist, but you also can't have a male love interest dying as a defining moment for a female character because then she's just going to have an arc revolving around her relationship with a man and that's also not feminist, and you also can't kill off a love interest from a gay relationship or a relationship involving a nonbinary person because that's burying your queers, which is at least as bad as misogyny if not even worse, and now suddenly you can't kill off romantic partners at all in stories because no matter the demographics, it's going to be problematic somehow, which is... a pretty ridiculous limitation to impose on storytelling.

And, like, it would be satisfying to have a solution other than "it depends on context if not straight-up vibes, and it's usually very reasonable for audience members to have a range of opinions on the execution of one specific instance," but. Yeah, you do kind of have to just vibe check it in a deeply subjective manner sometimes.

#thinking about a few things and characters here... but especially about amelia infinity train #when i watched book 1 the first time i was like “...hey wait her motivation all revolves around this One Man? idk about this”#but then watching book 3 and noticing the whole unwanted child allegory #plus a very good video essay about the historical feminist context #i've come around on it completely now. sometimes men do die and it fucks women up #and amelia's story is handled with care that gives her agency; plus traits outside her husband-centric trauma.#it works in my personal subjective and constantly evolving opinion is what i'm saying

289 notes · View notes

buglaur · 9 months

Text

she's live

now you can see what everyones height is in my head because i refuse to download height sliders. look at ass <3

#also works on mobile btw ☝️ !!#me successfully making this is proof you can achieve anything with 500 google searches #you should see my search history #html how to put image. html how to change image size. html how to put images in a row. html how to center a row of images. html how to #their pinterest boards are disabled at the moment because i need to make them look good before i share them #and most tags don't work yet because i'm too lazy to go back through my whole blog and tag almost 2 years worth of posts 😭#going to christen it by reblogging one of those dress up your sim prompt ask games #if i can find it #and then i'm going to get completely stuck into rufus and sawyers gameplay yessss i can't wait #leaving virgils gameplay forever i think because when rufus and sawyer have a kid i'm moving him in as the babysitter #would you believe me if i told you there is 0 cc clothes in this #i've fallen in love with maxis clothing recently idk what happened to me #besides roxys boots and virgils bag its a vanilla lookbook #thank you to everyone who voted on the poll yesterday btw #even though it was 50/50 the majority of the time it was up #it ended up 60/40 after an hour tho so i went with my fav macmahon lifestages instead of young adult stages!#goodnight <3

231 notes · View notes

yunmeng-jiang · 3 months

Text

that man does NOT think of wei wuxian as his gege

#jiang cheng #wwx #twin prides #i have a whole post about how they both think of themselves as having an older-sibling role #but even if that wasn't true jc still always calls him by his full name and the one time wwx tried to call him shidi jc yelled at him #their relationship is not that simple! it's a huge thing that wwx occupies a weird in-between role in their family!#he's definitely not a servant but also definitely not a full member of their family and that's super important to the story!#even if jc WANTED to think of him as his older brother he would need to get past seven layers of trauma to even realize he wanted that #and then he would have to admit it to himself and then work up the courage to admit it to someone else #and even then he probably still wouldn't say it to wwx's face #sure yanli calls wwx her didi but things are much simpler from her point of view #plus she's one of those people - like lxc - that can hold an opinion deep inside herself and be at peace with it even if it conflicts +#+ with what the world says and what she's been brought up to believe #jc is not like that. he internalizes way more from the outside world and if he feels conflicted he just kind of implodes #he's spent his whole life being told that wwx is not his equal and is someone to compete against #and also secretly believing that wwx is eventually going to abandon him because he doesn't think anyone truly cares for him #plus wwx treats him like a bff who is also a liege lord rather than a beloved younger brother #he would Not form a secure attachment to wwx lmao #it also really annoys me that when people write/conceptualize him as someone who thinks of wwx as his real gege +#+ they tend to completely erase jyl and minimize her importance to jc. he HAS an older sibling who he trusts unconditionally and confides +#+ in and takes comfort from! that person already exists! and they ignore her in favor of the protagonist #it also really bugs me when they have him mourning wwx those whole 13-16 years but don't put in a single word about yanli #this kind of turned into a rant about jyl... i have a lot of feelings about her especially since i'm the oldest sibling in my family #anyway. that man does not think of wwx as his gege #haterade #(kind of)

120 notes · View notes

michaeljoncarter · 1 year

Text

this makes negative sense, but to me, "oc" takes on a completely different meaning in the context of comics than what it means out in the wild. like there's new characters and then there's writer's ocs. being a writer's original character in the literal sense doesn't automatically make them that writer's oc, and actually, they don't even have to have been created by that writer to be their oc. it's all very diachronic

#something about the collaborative nature of comics makes it so like...#it's not that originality is a bad thing obviously #but when your ch or take on a ch is so new & unrelated to everything before that it requires scrapping all of history to make it work #why are you even putting them in this story at this point #it's like... not 'original character' in the literal meaning but 'original character' as in 'literally nothing about them meshes #with this story/world and they're feel like an original character that's been pulled out of a completely different original universe'#does that make sense?????#like you could say that's juts like a fave/bias/whatever when it's about an existing character #but also NO because it's so specific to comics #because it's more than that when there's an established canon you should be sticking to #but you instead just decide to make up a bunch of whole new shit out of nowhere #both in terms of the universe around them and their place in it #and/or how that character specifically has been written for their entire history #and that a lot of the time directly conflicts w & erases huge portions of the story instead of adding to it #they will just make up a whole new character and slap an existing character's name & face on it #as if the aesthetics of the character are what people have been reading for all these years lol #sir that is your oc committing identity theft

289 notes · View notes

nguyenfinity · 1 year

Photo

[slams this on the table] HAPPY MOTHERS’ DAY

Extra:

#when i said i'm taking y'all down with me. i goddamn meant it.#enstars #mamagi #niki shiina #hi if you're new around here yes i am aware mother amagi has passed in canon this is just my fun little delusion #y'know if the amagis actually had something nice in their lives #the file for this was created april 28th so you can imagine how long this has been on the backburner #i don't think she's. completely innocent in rinne's childhood trauma (if that's the right term for it)#but she definitely regrets not doing more for him #she loves her boys #and her boys' boys #if rinne has a habit of adopting little brothers she has one of adopting sons sorry #i would've liked to make this nicer but working on things a little too long makes my skin crawl sorry #i love her tho #also read bean's fic. 'safe and warm a loving embrace' on ao3 you know you wanna #also is this the mamagi and niki hug you wanted mutsu. remember when you asked for that. i had this whole thing cooking before you did.#heheheheheheh #MY BAD IT WAS COOKIE WHO ASKED FOR THE HUG #I'M SORRY COOKIE #HOPE YOU LIKE IT THO

199 notes · View notes

m00ngbin · 4 months

Text

TFS TUESDAY! BUT ACTUALLY TUESDAY THIS TIME!

#last chapter was a lot #IN A GOOD WAY #a lot in a good way #it kills me how if they would just TALK TO EACH OTHER this whole thing could have been completely avoided #but thats not how people work. especially not kids and also toichiro is gonna do everything in his stupid power to keep them from being #friends again #i know im cutting it close its almost wednesday #BUT THE KEY WORD IS ALMOST #ITS NOT WEDNESDAY YET #where i am its not #SO CLOSE but not quite #fun fact that alien stuffed animal is something i won from a claw machine second try and when i got it i kid you not i fell to my knees #because i was so shocked #i shouldnt have touched the floor though it was probably gross #i just noticed tome's hair in that picture is longer on one side than the other and its going to bug me forever #typing all of this is keeping me from reading it so i'm going to shut up for a minute and get to the new chapter

52 notes · View notes

decarbry · 1 year

Text

a frequent visitor

#boku no hero academia fanart #Yabureme Aizawa AU #nomu aizawa #shouta aizawa #principal nezu #this is a response to an anon but it had a second prompt so I didn't want to answer it and then forget about the second one #but ya Nezu is one of the faculty that comes by super often when Yabureme is in Tartarus #there's always been a powerful mutual trust between these two before he was taken and Nezu only wants to help #the first time Yabureme is in Tartarus he is completely unresponsive but Nezu visits him every few days anyway in an effort to get #a response out of him. it doesn't work #but during his second stint in Tartarus he's more lucid and Nezu becomes a huge comfort as Aizawa is rediscovering himself #he's the reason Aizawa eventually relents and agrees to see his class again. he is totally resistant to the idea bc he knows he hurt them #MULTIPLE times. plus he was barely their teacher so he shouldn't be that big of a deal to them right? they knew him for like a week #when Yabuzawa is his own free agent again Nezu helps him bear the weight of his trauma and they bond over shared experiences as experiments #canon Nezu and Aizawa are cute and funny and wholesome bc of the whole cuddle-in-the-scarf thing but it's way deeper than that #Nezu is one of the only ones that Aizawa knew respected him for his abilities as a teacher vs just his useful quirk. Nezu gave him his job #and believed in him so much that he let him do whatever he wanted in pursuit of teaching students who would live longer #and less foolishly. Nezu/Aizawa are friends and value each other a great deal thanks xoxoxo

330 notes · View notes

hussyknee · 11 months

Text

cant put my finger on it, but Taylor Swift feels like walking racial microaggression

#it's not even the fact that she let herself become a white supremacist idol without telling them to fuck off #and when asked why she didn't she said she was from Nashville where the Dixie Chicks were a cautionary tale #meanwhile she had no qualms calling out sexism in the industry #but white supremacy was too far apparently #but leaving aside all of that‚ she's so fucking aggressively mediocre #and her 'girl gang' is just rich thin white women #let's not forget that racist Wildest Dreams video shall we?#she's talented and worked hard yeah but her parents are rich and connected as hell #also Swifties are some of the most obnoxious fucking people in music fandom #who get mad when WoC queer women and leftists can't stand her #the whole private jet thing was just icing on the cake tbh #Casey McQuiston had one throwaway line in RWRB where the MoC and Jewish girl dissed her #and half the white queers took that personally #Jesus fuck #let people hate rich thin white women #I mean heck I like Ed Sheeran's music but I don't take it personal when other people don't #then again I don't get idolising celebrities #just because I love someone's music doesn't mean I give much of a shit about them as people #these are objectively complete randos no matter what you think you know about them #anti Taylor swift #people with T-Swift hate blogs also dni #this post is about casual white privilege not whatever weird obsessive shit you got going on #white women #racism #white privilege #knee of huss

171 notes · View notes

tonberrykins · 9 months

Text

It's funny to me that so many people are insistent on "fixing" Astarion. It's not as if he is entirely devoid of sympathy for one, and it is clear that even with his more violent and selfish tendencies traveling with a more good aligned PC, as well as his other more good natured companions, does have a positive effect on him ESPECIALLY when he finds out that he is genuinely CARED FOR. So what is this fixation with "fixing" him? What is broken in him--his sense of self, of personal agency--becomes repaired to a degree organically through conversation and action of the PC, if they so choose. Some people are naturally more selfish and we love them anyway. Some people can't be arsed to bother with grander problems beyond themselves and we still love them anyway. And neither person is any less valid than someone else, but we're always going to be biased based on our own experiences with people and whether or not we know them personally. There's something there, something in that, and it bothers me because it smacks of wanting to change who he is at his core because you like the package but not the whole product. It feels like saying he is only TRULY worthy of love and acceptance when he falls within certain expected and "respectable" social parameters, and that just doesn't sit right with me.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #this is just me talking about what I've seen in various places #and I've not completely done his whole questline bc yanno still playing #but having gotten to wyrm's crossing and met two of the “siblings”#like why should I have told him to stop?#in the grand scheme of things Cazador is as great a threat to the populace as what we're facing storyline wise #so why does Astarion need to be “fixed”#when he is working on taking back what was taken from him?#y'all just need to learn to accept that in fiction you can like what you like #without having to have some moral high ground to stand on

90 notes · View notes

sysig · 7 months

Photo

He was a human pirate, which you wouldn’t think you’d have to specify and yet (Patreon)

#Doodles #SCII #ZEX #The Captain #This isn't even a sci-fi pirate adventure anymore this is just straight up human pirates lol #How many layers deep can we go until it's unrecognizable! Next up is Pirate AU!Helix! (Kidding. For now) Lol #There is something funny about it all to me as well considering how in-line it fits with the research I was doing for a Vargas fic concept #All these bodice-rippers coming home to roost lol ♪#Which is also interesting 'cause I hadn't thought about this particular fic from that perspective before but it also fits! It works well!#Yet another angle to approach it from on a reread haha ♫#ANYway lol - human!Pirate!SCII specifically finally lol #I do love just how openly attracted the Captain is to ZEX as a human haha - his attraction/disgust to VUX-ZEX is wonderful of course #It's just so silly and cute how honest he is when ZEX is in a body that he's aesthetically attracted to haha #And ZEX recognizing and utilizing that! But it still not quite tipping him over to being completely sold on the whole kidnapping thing lol #''I don't understand it! I look beautiful and I /know/ he's attracted to me! What could be stopping him from sleeping with me???" lol #Keep trying ZEX I'm sure you'll get it at some point haha #Finishing off with an idea of ZEX having to deal with a hostile and still not quite trusting the Captain not to run away #Or risk him getting hurt! ZEX can handle this! Let him protect you!#But the Captain also wants to help! And/or escape y'know whatever's most convenient haha #He's proud <3 And he does have an affinity with ZEX at this point - he knows he can be useful! But that's not what's most important to ZEX #Also being scolded and blushing a bit hehe ♪ Given just a bit of pause to be told by such a pretty face to ''Behave'' ♫#I do really like ZEX with the coat and braids hehe <3 Handsome

110 notes · View notes

greenerteacups · 12 days

Note

What do you think as Hermione's career would be post battle of Hogwarts? To me her being minister for magic really doesn't make sense. She does not have patience or tact to wade through murky waters of politics 😭😭

So hard to say! The Trio are so, so young when we leave them, I find it almost impossible to project their futures farther than a few years out. The job that suited me at 17 would be radically unsuited to me now. That's why of all the Trio, Ron's ending strikes me as the most realistic — he jumps straight into the save-the-world business again, burns out, realizes he's actually Done The Fuck Enough, Thanks, and pivots into a low-stress career where he gets to see his family a lot. Feels accurate! The others are weirder to me because they do seem to just... pick a lane and stay there.

With Hermione, you could spin her a couple ways. You could say that she leans into her bookish side and does research or teaching, which is not my preference for a couple reasons (namely, I don't think Hermione would like academia as a profession; she finds her classwork interesting and enjoys intellectual validation, but she'd be stifled and wasted in a DPhil program, and she'd be infuriated by the administrative politicking of your average higher-ed faculty). You could say that she gets disaffected with politics and ends up as a barrister or a lobbyist of some kind, but if anything that requires more political finesse, because you don't actually have institutional power, you're just handling the people who make decisions and trying to persuade them of your goals. This is not Hermione's preferred method of influence. She's not even particularly good at persuasion, she just happens to be smart enough (and right often enough) that people take her ideas seriously.

Or you could say her brashness fades with the years into a softened flavor of tell-you-like-it-is honesty, which some politicians actually do successfully trade on; as we see in British politics today, you don't have to be all that charming or clever to get ahead, you just need to be really driven and well-connected (which Hermione completely is; she fought shoulder-to-shoulder with the first postwar Minister and her bestie, the Literal Messiah, runs the Auror Office.) But I don't know if Hermione especially wants to be Minister, after the war. She's just watched years of horrendous bureaucratic incompetence plunge the country into a violent civil conflict. She's had not one, but two Ministers of Magic try to bully or shame her friends into complicity with fascism. Her view of government is... likely extremely dark.

But Hermione also isn't the kind of person who sees her life as a quest for happiness. Babygirl has a savior complex that makes Harry look selfish. (She basically kills her parents — yeah, obliviating is a form of murder, #changemymind — "for their own good," and justifies every batshit, vindictive, mean-spirited move she ever pulls on the grounds that it "helps" one of her friends.) She is a mean, lean, dragon-slaying machine, and she needs a dragon. After Voldemort, the Ministry is the no. 1 threat to muggle-borns and non-wizarding Beings. As a war heroine with basically infinite political capital, I'd be surprised if she didn't try to do something there. That said, Hermione is so vivacious and dynamic that she could potentially grow in a hundred different directions; it's possible that all of this, while true of her at 18, becomes completely inaccurate by 22. That's why I'm not too fussed about any particular fanon interpretation.

#greenteacup asks #sidebar: I know Minister “of” Magic is an Americanism but mea culpa #Someday I might actually bite it and pay someone to britpick Lionheart but I can't do it now #because I have a ban on editing published fic unless it's finished. Otherwise I'll never get around to writing the actual ending #I have a Process #is it the best process? likely not! but it makes the words go. so here we are.#I also think the fact that JKR is Gen X makes a difference here. careers worked differently in the 80s and 90s than they do now #i.e. we have the gig economy and a lot more mobility and EXPECTATION of mobility in your early life #that means career changes & professional pivots through your 20s and 30s are increasingly normal #and in fact have always been normal — but the image of the 'true' or 'ideal' career has changed #so we look at those careers and go hm. really? none of them changed?#none of them even went to uni? do wizards... just not?#but again. I believe the epilogue was written almost completely without consideration as to what happened between the BOH and then #I really believe that JKR did not know what happened to Harry except a wedding and 3 kids. because that was the whole point #I don't think she even knew what his career was when she wrote that scene #It existed to marry everyone off and do a quick munchkin headcount #because of the understandable temptation as an author to keep your hand on the wheel. but it didn't even matter!#the epilogue changed NOTHING! it was the most useless chapter in the series! I just — GOD #you can absolutely accuse me of being sour grapes about my ships getting nixed. I AM sour grapes. I AM a hater.#AND I have plot/theme/craft reasons for disliking it.#I'm not objective. I just want credit for being a sophisticated hater. my grapes may be sour but they're still artisinal.

35 notes · View notes