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back2bluesidex · 6 months

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Afterglow - JHS

Pairing: Husband!HoseokX Wife!Reader

A follow-up drabble of Girl Crush

Theme: Angst, arranged marriage au, hurt to comfort au, little bit of fluff

Wordcount: 1.6k+

Request: "Afterglow with hoseok. Where the reader and hoseok had a fight, and hoseok walked out, which left the reader thinking about the argument. thank uu💓"

Summary: Hoseok looks at you, smiles at you, and makes conversations with you unlike Yoongi. Hoseok’s eyes are full of warmth and adoration for you unlike Yoongi. Hoseok feels for you, unlike Yoongi.

Based on Afterglow by Taylor Swift.

Warnings: angst, reader was previously divorced, argument, some annoying aunties, mentions of divorce, past relationship, broken marriage, that's all

Minors are not allowed in this blog!!

A/N: You guys are really persistent. Most of you wanted a follow up of Girl Crush. But I had 0 mind of doing so. So, I turned this request in a drabble and made it into the part 2. Hope you guys like it. And no more parts will be added to this.

If there are 100 people in this room right now, then 80 of them want to be at your place, in your shoes. But you would sign your soul to the devil to be anyone else other than yourself.

You are not being cocky, neither ignorant… you just can’t take it anymore.

Being rich doesn’t mean you are the happiest person in the world, but quite the opposite. At least in your case.

Being rich means losing your right of loving a person and being loved by them as you are nothing but a pawn that is to be exchanged at the right time through the right deal.

Being rich also means you will be traded again and again even if you are a worn out, old, rugged piece because there would be someone always trying to buy you at the lowest possible price.

That’s how you landed on your second arranged marriage (as if the first one had not broken you enough), your second husband and this is the second time you feel like you are falling and breaking, crushing your soul, exhausting your emotions to its extent.

Three years ago you got married to Min Yoongi, someone you loved and someone who loved someone else.

It’s been two years since you divorced Yoongi. It’s been two years since you walked out of his home with a broken heart.

Yes, your love life certainly didn’t gain anything out of your and Yoongi’s broken marriage but your father gained what he was promised with.

For a year, you tended your broken heart, your insecurities, you made yourself believe in the fact that you indeed deserved to be loved. Just because your first husband didn’t love you, doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.

Just when you were at the peak of your healing, your father decided to sell you off once again. This time to a larger empire, holding more power, more wealth and endless benefits for your company.

“It’s only been a year since my divorce, appa! How can you sell me off once again?” You had cried, screamed at your father for the very first time in 27 years of your life.

“Dal, Mr. Jung made the proposition. He said you have caught his son’s eyes! How could I say no?” he reasoned.

You didn’t say anything more that night. For once you contemplated running away somewhere far from all of this. But your rationality didn’t allow you to leave your old father embarrassed and helpless. So you stayed.

And, this is how you ended up here, tugged at the side of Jung Hoseok, your husband.

Hoseok looks up at you with apologetic eyes and you know he is sorry.

This is one of the thousands of differences you have found between your married life with Yoongi and your married life with Hoseok.

Hoseok looks at you, smiles at you, and makes conversations with you unlike Yoongi. Hoseok’s eyes are full of warmth and adoration for you unlike Yoongi.

Hoseok feels for you, unlike Yoongi.

But the question is do you feel anything for him? You don’t know.

Or maybe you do but you are way too afraid to start feeling again, to start loving again.

“But darling, why her? She divorced her previous husband within a year!” Mrs. Lee, one of the shareholders of Jung Group of Companies, exclaims in her high-pitched voice. Even though she’s trying to keep her voice as low as possible, or at least pretending to do so, you can hear her clearly.

The hold of your drink goes tight. Mr. Kang is complementing how good you are looking tonight but you can barely hear anything. All you can hear are the taunts that the old snitch is throwing at you.

“Mrs. Lee, it’s business.” you hear Hoseok saying and all of a sudden everything around you turns dark.

You whip your head to meet Hoseok’s eyes but he is avoiding looking at you.

Within seconds your vision starts blurring. So, the impromptu dates, the youtube recipes, the sweet gifts, that luxurious honeymoon, those late night beers.. Everything was for business?

You were wrong the entire time you thought you had seen love in Hoseok’s eyes?

All.. all of it was business?

Or was it pity?

Hoseok knows everything about Yoongi and you. Is that why he treated you kindly?

Your life feels like a lie and once again.. You see your hopes crumbling down like a house made of cards.

“Why?” you throw your purse on the couch and stand abruptly in the middle of the living room.

Tears stream down your face. You successfully suppressed your anger for the better part of the night but it is impossible to do so anymore. Since you and your so-called husband are alone now, he better answer your questions.

The tremble in your voice hints Hoseok that you are crying. He takes long strides and reaches where you are.

Placing a hand on your shoulders, he turns you around and murmurs, “Y/N? What-”

He tries to wipe your tears away but you swat his hand, “why were you always so kind to me? Why? Because it’s business or is it because you pity me?”

“Y/N.. No. it’s not what you think. I told her-” Hoseok tries to hold your trembling form with both of his hands but you push him away as harshly as possible.

“You told her because it’s true. All of those gifts and dates and dinners.. Everything, everything was a lie!” screaming at the top of your lungs, you break down.

Hoseok runs towards you, tries to hold you in his embrace.

“Don’t.. Don’t fucking touch me!” you seethe through anger. Hoseok retreats.

“Okay, I won’t.” He replies calmly but you can see his eyes filling bit by bit, “but just so you know, you were never business for me. Mrs. Lee only shut up because I said what she wanted to hear and she is not a family or a friend so I would have to explain the truth to her.”

“No- don’t. Don’t lie!” your voice comes out harsher than you intended to.

“You think I am lying because I said something insignificant to someone insignificant just today but what about everything I did to make you realize how I feel for you?” Hoseok’s voice trembles. And it hurts you but you are hurt as well.

“You don’t feel anything for me. And you, too, should know that I don’t and won’t feel anything for you.” your heart breaks at the lie you throw at your husband but the way tears run down his face.. It instantly makes you feel like a criminal.

“Is that so?” he asks, sniffing once, “then.. I should leave you alone.”

Before you can register what’s happening, you hear Hoseok walking out of the door and shutting it loudly enough to signify his departure.

And then you start wailing, loudly. Your cries fill the empty space of your apartment as you realize you are all alone once again.

Staring at the moon always brings you solace but tonight it doesn’t. Your mind keeps playing whatever happened a few hours ago and how hoseok left the house.

He has always been so kind to you, from the very first day you two met at a charity gala, some five or six years back. You didn’t really acknowledge his presence much as you were always busy admiring Yoongi from afar.

You remember Hoseok once saying that he looked at you while you looked at Yoongi. You were not sure what he tried to mean but that was the first time your heart took an erratic pace in a while.

A phone suddenly starts vibrating, pulling you out of your thoughts. But it’s not yours. Your eyes find the glowing object near by the door. It’s Hoseok’s phone, which he probably dropped on his way out.

When you reach the object and pick it up, the screen glows again. There are a couple of notifications, which you clear for seeing the background.

It’s a photo from your honeymoon. The photographer ajussi forced you to stand closer and place a sweet kiss on Hoseok’s cheeks. He blushed hard that time.

Sobs start spilling from your throat as soon as you realize what you have done, what you have lost.

You blew things out of proportion, you put him in jail for something he didn't do. You unloaded all of your insecurities on the man who only loved you.

Clutching his phone on your chest, you start crying again. It’s you who burned things down. It’s you who hurt Hoseok. And now you have lost him, really lost him.

The door clicks open, forcing you to look up from your crouched position.

“Y/N..” it’s him, it’s your man, it’s your husband, Jung Hoseok.

He walks towards you but then remembering something he takes a step back.

His eyes are red. You know he has been crying just like you.

“I- I forgot my phone-”

Before he could end his sentence, you leaped at him. You hold him tightly in your embrace. Hiding your face in his chest, you cry, cry and cry. Hoseok holds you back and starts sobbing with you.

“I love you. I fucking love you so much that it hurts, Y/N. It hurts when you don’t understand, when you turn blind eye.” He says as he strokes your hair softly.

“I- I was afraid, Hoseok. What if I was wrong again. What if- what if you didn’t-”

“I always did, Y/N. I have loved you for a long time. I loved you when you were a bachelor and I loved you when you got married. I loved you when you divorced him. And I loved you when we took vows. I still love you and I always will.”

“I love you too, Hoseok.” you finally confess and it feels euphoric. You must have found utopia where the person you love, loves you back.

Hoseok leans down, seals your lips with his and now you know… You have found your forever. You have found your afterglow.

#bts angst #hoseok angst #bts x reader #hoseok x reader #bts arranged marriage au #jhope angst #jhope x reader #bts fanfiction #hoseok fanfic #jhope fanfiction #bts jhope #bts

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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youtube

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

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thorraborinn · 1 year

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I have this kind of idea in my head that Odinn was worshipped more by the wealthy/warrior class whereas Thorr was the guy for the working class people of the viking age. I think I remember reading something about that, perhaps even on your blog? But I can't find much about it anymore. Is that true and how do we know it?

The main piece of evidence for this is the poem Hárbarðsljóð, in which the disguised Óðinn taunts Þórr like this:

Óðinn á jarla, þá er í val falla, en Þórr á þrælakyn.

'Óðinn has the jarls who fall in battle, but Þórr has the kindred of slaves.'

Interpreting this, especially in light of other evidence, is not easy. Clearly, the jarlar that Óðinn is talking about are the einherjar in Valhöll. We do get some pieces of lore about Þórr also having a place where people go in the afterlife, but not in detail, and as I'll discuss below, all of the most famous Þórr-worshipers are not slaves (though, let's keep in mind our sources for the religious beliefs of slaves is not good). Hárbarðr's taunt might be alluding to something like Óðinn being worshiped by a very specific elite, while Þórr was worshiped by people at all strata of society, including but not limited to slaves.

The idea is mentioned in recent literature pretty frequently, but some key articles are "How High Was the High One? The Roles of Oðinn and Þórr in Pre-Christian Icelandic Society" by Terry Gunnell (in the book Theorizing Old Norse Myth), "Pantheon? What Pantheon?" also by Gunnell, and to a certain extent also "How Uniform was Old Norse Religion?" by Stefan Brink (which is not about class, but about geography, which is a much stronger indicator). In "Cunning Intelligence in Norse Myth: Loki, Óðinn, and the Limits of Sovereignty," Kevin Wanner makes use of the absence of royalty in Iceland, and just within Iceland Þórr. Both of the Gunnell pieces are highly synthetic of other peoples' work, revisiting ideas that were already decades old in light of new evidence, and are full of citations to other resources you might find useful.

As an example of where it starts to break down, part of the evidence for this is the way that Þórr was widely recognized in Iceland (which we know about though place-names, personal names, and saga descriptions of people and their religious expression) while Óðinn seems not to have been (based on the same types of evidence; the most famous Icelander dedicated to Óðinn was Egill Skallagrímsson, who was renowned as a poet, and whose family did serve Norwegian royalty at one time).

But within Iceland, the people we're drawing evidence from were in many cases wealthy land-owners. People like Þórólfr Mostrarskegg were marginalized from formal power in Norway, but did become part of Iceland's less centralized, land-owning aristocracy.

We might even be able to say that, by comparing the highest classes of Iceland and Norway, worship of Þórr and worship of Óðinn respectively pertain to two different ideologies of wielding and maintaining power (Olof Sundqvist has written quite a lot about "religious strategies for rulership"). Though, we can also bring it back to the original question by framing Þórr worship in this context as "We are commoners who happen to have more wealth and power than other commoners, so support us, because we support you, because we are essentially the same" where Óðinn-worship might have been something more like "we rule because we are categorically above commoners."

We can find examples pertaining to worship of Freyr as well. So while there's a class dimension here, Iceland and Norway had different class configurations due to the absence of royalty in Iceland, and just within Iceland Þórr was worshiped by people of the highest class attainable. We also have reason to believe that Freyr was worshiped as a god of specific and exceptional importance by royalty (just not the particular royal culture that would eventually produce a great deal of written Norse mythology), so the fact that he was also worshiped by Icelandic farmers means that in his case too we can't really pin it to class in a general sense.

So basically, yeah, what you asked about is a real idea, and it may have been an idea that had currency already in the Viking age, but there was probably never an actual time or place where it was unambiguously true, and even if it were, even that was probably only true of a very specific subsection of people.

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

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Its years late for this nitpick and honestly the answer is probably just time constraints, but why didn't Ruby gather more attention when she was let in early to Beacon. Maybe not immediately but I imagine somebody would probably let it leak that a girl got in 2 years early to a prestigious combat school, there would probably be some journalists interested in getting that story. It would make Ruby's line about "normal knees" make sense too.

Yeah, even if the story didn't want to introduce a lot of outside conflict (via things like journalist), I would have loved to see this impacting Ruby's relationships more. We've got Weiss commenting that she looks too young to be at Beacon and... that's it. That's the extent of Ruby's age -- something that's initially presented as a Big Deal - having an influence on her time at school. Why not have Weiss specifically take issue with her as a leader because she's too young, rather than just the fact that it's not her getting what she 'deserves'? Why not have Pyrrha feel a kinship with Ruby, bonding over the fact that they've both been singled out as extraordinarily talented fighters at a young age? (Which would also go a long way towards creating an emotional impact when Ruby sees Pyrrha die. It's horrible for the audience, certainly, but fans have long pointed out that Ruby and Pyrrha barely knew one another.) Give me Jaune comparing Ruby to his little sisters, Blake shrugging at her age because outside the kingdoms no one cares how old you are, only that you can fight, a version of Yang who loves her sister, undoubtedly, but was also looking forward to striking out on her own and forming new friendships without a little sis tagging along (she does ditch Ruby for the shadow friends first chance she gets), more teachers like Glynda who are hesitant to bend the rules in such a manner, upper classmen who are jealous that this kid is landing assignments even they're not ready for, a Tai who lost his wife to grimm and is now seeing both his girls enter that profession at the same time, one of whom is still just a kid, and dear god he's not emotionally ready for an empty nest when what's outside the nest is so very, very dangerous.

It is a nitpick in the sense that we got a solid plot for Volumes 1-3 and the lack of all this (and similar ideas) certainly doesn't ruin the story, but it does reflect on how haphazardly RWBY has always been written. It's nothing new to say that RT didn't really know what they were doing with RWBY for a long time, resulting in a huge number of missed opportunities -- that first draft feel that's still influencing the story today. Often when we have broader criticisms, like Ruby's lack of character development post-Volume 4 (at least, that's when I personally think she stagnated), you can trace the problem back to traits that were introduced and then dropped. Ruby is a "most dangerous weapon ever designed" prodigy with a wealth of weapon knowledge and an ancient Silver Eyes power, getting into a prestigious school two years early after her mother mysteriously died in the same profession, but she lacks her mother's (implied) confidence and charisma, instead demonstrating a marked social awkwardness that, again, reflects back on her age. What a fascinating character packed with potential! Too bad Ruby's age was only a concern for the first few episodes, her love of weapons has disappeared, her social awkwardness was never an obstacle to making friends, her eyes were mastered in half a Volume, and her mother's death is mentioned once seven years into the series -- without her sister there to benefit from that emotional beat. It's nothing new to say, but it always bears repeating: RWBY is really good at introducing awesome concepts and really bad at doing anything satisfying with them. It's why the show thrives in fandom where others can play with those ideas and is struggling so badly in the canon itself. It functions best as a sandbox, not a show.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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a03-anxiousandafraid · 2 years

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WiP ask game: OnlyFandom. Give me something on the next chapter, please.

THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE!!!!! And for that cat gif oh my goodness that cat is adorable I can't- <3

I've taken way too long to get yall an update on this fic and I was floundering super hard on what segment to give so I decided to just hand you the entire first third of the chapter. I'm so sorry if it feels stale: I feel like I was writing myself in circles trying to get some of the moments to feel right and not cringe but I think letting you all see this much will help disarm the mental block :) I promise the chapter gets more dynamic as it goes on!!

⚠🔞 This fic is rated E:. There IS a content warning in the segment below:. It is marked with dashes for those who wish to skip it. Just scroll until you see "End of CW" and you're in the clear :) 🔞⚠

Ch. 18 Urbosa’s Assistant

When Urbosa said to come over early she had half expected the poor girl to arrive at her door a timid mess, incapable of breaching the topic without prompting and encouragement. If the persistent redness of Zelda’s face was anything to go off of, then it made perfect sense to prepare for a talk akin to pulling teeth. But Zelda wasn’t one to align herself to others’ expectations. Far from it.

What Urbosa got, instead, was a freight train barreling through her foyer a good five hours earlier than anticipated tossing around books on the “art of living well” and a whole dissertation on the theory of “erotic orientation development” while asking questions a mile a minute. It had the Gerudo’s head spinning. Had her utterly stunned and incapable of stopping the rampaging bear of a Hylian storming around her living room where the shoot equipment was prepped.

“-which I already know proper communication is important, but THIS book has an entire section on positions and I just can’t figure out what necessarily denotes difficulty? Is it perhaps a psychological thing or are there variations to accommodate flexibility? OH but there was a passage in here that mentions power relations with a heavy insinuation on wealth and THAT just sounds counterintuitive-”

“ZELDA!!” Her voice cut through the air like a knife.

Wide green orbs parsed Urbosa in mild confusion. Lips pulling back into a long, thin line, it was clear she was oblivious to the extent of her own ramblings.

“Holy Hylia, Zel are you quantifying sex? What is this?” Snatching one of the books from the coffee table, she scrutinized both covers before exhaling deeply. “Dinraal give me strength. Okay… Honey, screw this. We’re going to start slow. These books aren’t gunna help you right now.” Dropping the brick of a volume back onto the table, she opened her palms out to her friend and swept the air clear like a white board. “First I want to teach you some knots.”

The small Hylian gazed back unmoving. “…Knots?”

“Yes. Exactly. One sec,” Urbosa held up a finger and retreated into the other room. It wasn’t long before she came back with two ropes each the diameter of her pinky finger. “Here… You take one and follow along with me.”

“But what does this-”

“It will all make sense as we go,” the Gerudo interjected, “I swear.”

Zelda bit her lip and sighed. She couldn’t deny being a bit put out at being shut down by one of her best friends, but the butterflies in her stomach refused to let up and she’d be damned if she caused a scuffle now. “I’m just so nervous,” she fussed the moment the rope landed in her hand. Twisting it anxiously between her fingers, she continued, “My brain wouldn’t shut off last night and I just… I just don’t want to screw this up.”

Urbosa side-eyed her with mild concern. “Little bird, you’re just an assistant for today. Nothing you do needs to be perfect as long as you heed my instructions. Besides~!” A teasing smirk smeared across her face. “I think you’ll find this overall experience rather… enlightening.”

A cold shiver shimmied down Zelda’s spine. If the plethora of fantasies playing out in her head last night were anything to go off of then yes… today would be telling. However, that didn’t make this any less unnerving.

Sensing the Hylian’s unease, she gave her friend’s shoulder a firm squeeze. “Alright, I’m going to show you how to tie and untie a few different types of knots and then as you practice them relentlessly I’ll drill you about safety.” Her eyes crinkled in amusement as the look on Zelda’s face went from unenthused to calculating to determined.

It’s now or never. “Alright!” She puffed up her chest like a small bird and nodded with more vigor than necessary. “I’m ready.”

They spent the better half of an hour twisting and yanking their rope strands with various techniques. Zelda listened with rapt attention and, unsurprisingly, was quick to catch on. It wasn’t long before Urbosa brought out an old dress form for Zelda to continue practicing on as she ran through an extensive summary of safety guidelines and warnings.

“I know I’ve said this at least six times by now but do not forget: Consent and communication are vital. If at any point someone wants to stop, you do so immediately.”

“I understand,” Zelda nodded, eyes fixed on the half-hatch she was tying above the dress form’s tailbone. She gave the rope a firm yank and froze when a sudden thought crossed her mind. “Um, Urbosa?”

“Yes, Little Bird?” she asked, the edge in her voice replaced with something more motherly.

“Link doesn’t really… talk,” she began, absently picking at the fraying threads as she pieces her thoughts together. “And if his hands are restrained… how do you uphold proper communication?” Her gaze abandons her project to look to her friend and is surprised to be met with a smile as broad as the Great Plateau.

“Good question,” Urbosa coos before getting up from her seat and adjusting the knot on the mannequin to be more symmetrical. “We’ve been working together for long enough to have our own visual language but we also have a safe word. That way he only needs to mutter a few syllables at me to get the point across and if I feel like he is in a state which compromises his ability to do so, we stop immediately.”

“Our safe word,” Urbosa continues, fingers pinched on the rope, “is Hinox.” Punctuating the word with a tug, the knot unravels quickly. “It’s short and easy to spit out, simple enough to remember, and not something that would easily come up in conversation.” She takes a step back and gestures for Zelda to redo it.

“That’s…” she pauses and weaves the rope with growing ease, “…quite clever, actually.”

“Clever and necessary. Much like you, Little Bird,” Urbosa chuckles as her eyes scan the work before her. “In just a few hours you’ve improved dramatically. You’ll get better the more you practice, but for now I think you’ve earned a treat.”

Green eyes light up at the insinuation. “Oh?” Hands twitching towards her books on the coffee table, she can’t stop the excited jitter that flutters through her innards. Just as her fingers grace the cover, however, Urbosa swats her hand away.

“Honey, no.” Her face is deadpan. “Follow me.”

She leads Zelda into a familiar room full of boxes and plastic storage bins. Shuffling a few around, the Gerudo hunts down a black bin with a tape label reading “XXX” and slides it onto a nearby table. “This might be a little presumptuous but nothing about you is meek and I’ll be damned if you miss out on an opportunity you might like.”

“I uh… wait,” Zelda mumbles, shifting her weight from side to side trying to puzzle out her friend’s words. “What?”

A heavy sigh puffs from Urbosa’s chest. “I don’t need or necessarily want to know what you two do privately, but you should know there’s more to intimacy than penetrative sex.” She hastily tosses the lid off the bin and rummages around for a few items.

- - - - - - - - - - Educational CW - - - - - - - - - -

Oh Goddess Hylia… Cold sweat cascades down Zelda’s brow. An obscene urge to lung towards the bin like a starved animal itches within the layers of her skin. With what little self-control she has she stays rooted to the ground, keeping her rabid energy at bay until two large, phallic objects are brought before her. She almost chokes on her own tongue. It’s too much. Embarrassing and enthralling from the tips of her ears down to her toes, her emotions run wild while her eyes begin to bulge.

“Th-These are…” Zelda croaks. A small, nagging voice in the back of her mind barks to know more… to see more… to do more as the onslaught of fantasies fill her brain. She breathes in a stuttering breath. Reaching out towards one of the toys, her veins thrum with a feeling she has long since craved.

Power.

Power and control over her own body, her own pleasure, her own desires… Like a woman possessed, she curls her fingers around the pink instrument and gasps.

“These are just props for shoots but you can get one to use alone or with someone,” Urbosa explains a little too nonchalantly. She watches the blush spread across her friend’s face but is pleased to see her analyzing the item more like a scientist than a squeamish schoolgirl. “The one you’re holding is a personal favorite. It’s called a “rabbit’s foot,” hence the extension on it.”

Zelda nods blankly, still admiring the weight of the small device. It’s comfortable. Almost inviting with its tangible intricacies and velvet surface. She lifts a thin finger to give the extra bulb a light flick and watches it bob playfully in the air. Turning the device around in her hands, she observes its gentle ark and shivers.

“Nayru forbid,” Zelda almost sputters at the realization. “This is for… extra stimulation?!” Her friend gives her an unashamed nod that sets her inner furnace ablaze. “Goddesses…” She holds it like an artifact from an archeological dig. Stroking the material gently, she gives the toy’s texture more consideration. It’s just so smooth. Something between skin and velveteen. I bet it feels amazing.

Eyes closed, the image of her low-lit dorm room morphs into view. Zelda gulps against the lump in her throat as she imagines bringing the instrument to her core. A rosined bow to taunt strings erupting into a concerto of bliss- it reverberates through her veins like molten gold and before long her solo becomes a duet. Pleasure much like that night in Urbosa’s guest room permeates her dream as the instrument satisfies the ache for touch and stretch. But rather than watch a mouth and hand play her like a fiddle, she conducts this symphony herself. Orchestrates the ebbs and flows of the song until the music crescendos to the final note.

Before her musings can get too deep, Zelda falls back to reality. Surely sporting a scarlet flush, she hands her temptation back only to have the other device thrust before her. Trading it, she heaves a deep sigh and gives it a similar scrutinous lookdown. It’s weightier than the previous one, but not in a way that seems unmanageable. Thicker and lacking any extra extensions, but there’s something odd about the base of it.

“Some of these are made to vibrate, like the rabbit’s foot,” Urbosa ruminates, holding down a small circular pattern thus activating the toy. Continuing to click the button, it cycles through a few different vibration patterns before being turned back off. “The one you’re holding now should be one of interest for a different reason though.”

She’s ready to melt. Ready to die in more ways than one and unfortunately for her these damn toys are integrating into said ideas. Shaking the perverse thoughts away, she focuses her energy on Urbosa’s voice. Determined to listen rather than float off once again to the blissful land of daydreams.

“Do you remember what I told you yesterday in the café?”

Squinting in thought, Zelda worries her lip between her teeth for a moment. “About the… OH!” Her eyes grow wide with recognition. “About straps! …for… oh. Oh.” A moment of alarm shoots down her chest and she can’t help but hold the phallic object just a little further from her body. “Oh Goddess, Link bought this?”

“More or less,” Urbosa hums, holding out a bundle of leather straps. “This is the fun part, though: if you secure this on your body properly that device can just click right in and-”

Raw heat is erupting through Zelda’s head and screaming bloody murder in her ears. Threatening a nosebleed, her brain buzzes with images of Link’s intense, hungry gaze eyeing her down while she sports nothing but the strap on. Deaf and blind to the world around her, the images flashing grow more and more provocative until her knees grow weak enough to buckle.

- - - - - - - - - - End of CW - - - - - - - - - -

She slides to the ground with a heavy thump. Legs the weight of lead, her eyes pan up to Urbosa’s in a euphoric haze. “Nayru give me strength,” she mutters helplessly. “How are you so… casual about all this?”

The smile she returns is gentle. Offering her hands to help Zelda stand, Urbosa explains, “To me a body is just a body. Nothing about it is inherently sexual, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know utilize it.” Warm amusement seeps into the corners of her lips. “You do know things like bondage can exist outside the presence of sex, right?”

“Huh,” Zelda breathes. “I guess that should be obvious in hindsight but I never really considered it much.”

“Understandable coming from a naïve brat,” she sings in jest. Her friend merely snorts in response and can’t help but laugh. “I’ll be honest with you, Little Bird… I won’t take on any other clients of this nature.”

Green eyes widen in surprise. “So Link is the only…” she trails off, recalling her friend’s interactions on the subject carefully. “You said it makes good money?”

The Gerudo quirks a brow and smirks, “It makes good money because my client and I operate with a high level of trust and respect.” She watches her friend’s response. Eagerness to understand wells within her irises so plain to see that she can’t help but nod and continue. “I’m sure some people think what we’re doing is a dream job or a fantasy, but neither of us see it that way. Just because he can feel attracted to many doesn’t mean he’s attracted to any, the same way I don’t care for attraction yet understand what people believe is attractive.”

Puzzlement washes across Zelda’s face as she takes time to consider. Like the tides, her thoughts build and grow, weaving a web of memories and empathy to seek understanding. She’s still for a long moment.

“Do you remember, Zelda,” Urbosa coos, “when you went with me to that drawing event a few years ago?”

Like a fish dropped back into water, the Hylian gasps. “OH! Oh yes, the one where we sat in a circle with charcoal and paper around that bowl of fruit?” Her friend nods with a smile. She beams, “Yes, that was… fun but miserable?” Her breath is airy as she laughs.

“Exactly!” Cackling lightly Urbosa exclaims, “It was humid and stuffy and we left absolutely filthy from the medium! Sometimes those sessions have live models instead of fruit. Sometimes those models wear interesting costumes and sometimes their nude.” Shrugging nonchalant, she watches the light bulb begin to brighten in her friend’s head. “A nude model may sound sexy, but in reality you’re still stuck in a stuffy room covered in charcoal and probably witnessing someone next to you having an emotional breakdown because they can’t get the shading and proportions quite right on a leg.”

Humor creases the lines of Zelda’s face. “Does this mean you’re going to stick me in the corner of the room with some paper and pencils until I cry?”

“No, but that would be hilarious.”

The two women burst into laughter. Singing a song of pure delight, they collect themselves slowly as Urbosa hauls Zelda back onto her feet. Dropping her hands from her grasp, she straightens her back and breathes a deep sigh. “I will only do these shoots with Link because we both see this as an opportunity for art. For him, it’s a means to livelihood, and to me… it’s a safe way to explore expression through photography. We respect boundaries and that is what I want you to take away from today.”

Zelda nods. The furrow of her golden brow loosens as the words weigh upon her. “Thank you,” she breathes. “I think I understand. I never really reacted to things like this before meeting Link and I think… I think it all came on so strong I kind of forgot the bliss of a strictly studious desire.” Her eyes track to the dark bin full of props. “I’m not… changing too much am I?” Her voice strikes a somber chord as she looks back up to her friend. Once again, a motherly grin meets her gaze.

“Change isn’t always bad, Little Bird.” The Gerudo’s voice is soft and warm like the summer wind. “And I would never encourage anything that would hurt you. Speaking of… did you want me to show you how to put this on properly or-?”

“YES PLEASE,” Zelda practically spits.

#ask anxious #ask game #wip ask game #wip wednesday #zelink #zelink fic #onlyfandom #my writing #legend of zelda #botw au #please take note of content warnings #E rated fic #I'm so sorry for the delay #it's been really difficult jumping back into this fic but there's still more story I want to tell with it #I might go back and revamp the fic to be honest #make the writing a bit more consistent since it's been going for so long #I also think I need to re-integrate a chapter I had removed from the story #we'll see.....

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lmamp · 1 year

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Another day, another post. I am on a roll! Shall we?

I didn’t read the book from last time today, so I’ll be gushing about my favorite Webtoon Nevermore and Edgar Allan Poe (I swear they’re related). My profile pic is a screen grab of one of the main characters, Lenore. Just in case you were curious. I think it’s pretty.

Nevermore is a gothic romance set in a boarding school for those who have died. If you do well enough at Nevermore Academy (the name of the boarding school) and get enough merits, you get a second chance at life. Only one person is going to get that chance, however. Everyone else goes to the Land of the Dead. And, no one remembers who they were when they were alive. Once you start to remember, however, you have the potential to unlock a Spectre, which is basically a ghost that has powers. Students use the Spectres as a leg-up within the school. Simple enough of a premise, until you consider the characters involved. Enter Lenore and Annabel, two students who meet during the first episode. It’s very clear that they care for each other, for reasons that elude them until they start remembering who they were in life. The extent of their relationship while alive is still a mystery, but there is plenty of room for speculation. The subtext (and just the text in general) however, is clear: they were definitely close. Still, only one person can leave.

Thus begins the game the two must play. Annabel will keep the other students and the deans of the academy distracted so that they won’t target her or Lenore, while Lenore must find another exit out of Nevermore Academy. The problem is, while Annabel is great at games and plays them well, Lenore has mixed feelings about leaving the friends she has made while at the academy to lose themselves in the Land of the Dead. It’s made worse when the reader (and Lenore) is made aware that Annabel doesn’t really care about anyone else except her and Lenore and the life she believes they were unjustly taken from. This begs the question as to how exactly they died.

We know Annabel died on her wedding day because of her Spectre being the Lady in White, a woman betrayed on her wedding day. But betrayed by who? And why? We haven’t met Lenore’s Spectre, but we can assume they died around the same time based on their arrival at Nevermore Academy. So how did Lenore die? So many questions! I like mysteries though, so I love it.

The comic is kind of infuriating because it’s a brain worm. I swear I look forward to its Thursday night updates more than I look forward to Friday itself at this point. And it’s so pretty. I’ve already said this, but I can say it again, and again, and again. I’ll put some pictures on here too.

Okay, but how does Edgar Allan Poe fit in? Well, the comic is based on his poetry. There are a few excerpts from some of his work sprinkled throughout the panels. It’s caused me to read some of his works as well. It’s so delightfully morbid. I’ll put my favorite one below.

Cheers, dear reader!

lmamp (548)

Ah broken is the golden bowl! the spirit flown forever!

Let the bell toll!--a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river;

And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear?--weep now or never more!

See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!

Come! let the burial rite be read--the funeral song be sung!--

An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young--

A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.

"Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and hated her for her pride,

"And when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her--that she died!

"How shall the ritual, then, be read?--the requiem how be sung

"By you--by yours, the evil eye,--by yours, the slanderous tongue

"That did to death the innocent that died, and died so young?"

Peccavimus; but rave not thus! and let a Sabbath song

Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel so wrong!

The sweet Lenore hath "gone before," with Hope, that flew beside

Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy bride--

For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies,

The life upon her yellow hair but not within her eyes--

The life still there, upon her hair--the death upon her eyes.

"Avaunt! to-night my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise,

"But waft the angel on her flight with a Pæan of old days!

"Let no bell toll!--lest her sweet soul, amid its hallowed mirth,

"Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damnéd Earth.

"To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven--

"From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven--

"From grief and groan, to a golden throne, beside the King of Heaven."

Lenore, By Edgar Allan Poe

(I apologize for the quality of some of these. I swear the art is insane, tumblr may or may not deliver on that)

(Also they're so hot and cold. Very Katy Perry, very dramatic, very nice, I love it so much)

#post 2

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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youtube

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

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nyx-b-log · 2 years

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The Address Book by Deirdre Mask - Review

read: oct 2022

rating: 4 stars

goodreads link here

summary:

as according to the subtitle, what street addresses reveal about identity, race, wealth, and power.

opinion:

i said it a lot while reading it, but this was really interesting!

to some extent you can kinda tell it was converted (or at least started as) a series of articles for the guardian, with the writing style and the kind of scattershot approach.

but! i don't think this comes at any cost to the material. it's difficult to imagine the histories of house numbers, or street names (as a concept, not individually), or land planning being as strange and fascinating as they are, but the way this is written really bridges that gap between dry historical context/academic work and an engaging read.

the sections in the latter half of the book, which focus on the more sociological impact, are the highlight in my opinion, especially the section on south africa.

my one gripe with the book isn't really the fault of the book at all, and it may have been corrected in versions other than the one i had (which was borrowed from a digital library). but...the typos, oh my the typos.

i really hope the copyediting and proofing team on this are doing okay, cos this really needed another set of eyes on it. letters missing (off/of was frighteningly frequent), punctuation in odd places, it got to the point where the actual work started to suffer because i was so distracted. which is a shame! it shouldn't have that effect, but i found myself looking for errors, not just reading the text as is (maybe this is what some proofreading training does to you, idk)

again, i don't blame the editing team, i'm sure there's a lot more to it than what i've seen.

aside from that, it was a great book! the kind of book that introduces you to a topic and then makes you want to read five more just on these incredibly niche fields.

would recommend!

#books #book review #bookblr #address book #deirdre mask #i almost wanted it to be longer #a short review this time round #mainly because my thoughts were fairly uncomplicated!#scheduled

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shivorce · 3 years

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this is quite obvious i know but i think one of the main themes of succession is inheritance. the wealth aspect of this is probably the most apparent but the white fragility/culpability aspect of it all is even more significant. like to what extent are sins of your ancestors (both distant and immediate) yours to carry? did the roy siblings know about what logan and his buddies talked about in his study, and does it even matter? they’re so caught up in not feeling personally responsible that they fail to realize that that’s not even relevant. kendall squares the blame on his father and distances himself so far from accountability that he’s imagined himself into some sort of social justice champion. roman denies that logan was directly involved and reasons that even if he had been, someone else would have done the same thing and made a ton of money doing it. shiv for reasons we do not have time to get into right now would actually collapse into herself like a star going supernova if she stopped for even one moment of critical self reflection. connor has set up residence in la la land but that is neither here nor there. the siblings are so eager to inherit all of the power, money, influence. but what of the bodies buried along the way? are those not your birthright too?

their willingness to readily deny any connection to the ugly parts of the family’s past speaks to such a distinctly sinister quality of whiteness. their ability to sink back into a crowd of people pointing at a hot dog car that’s just crashed through a storefront and loudly ask “who could have done this!! they must be punished!!” all the while they’re wearing a hot dog suit

#GOODNIGHT #succession spoilers #also if that last bit makes no sense it’s from I think you should leave .

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commajade · 2 years

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it's funny you were talking abt ila and then abt bts bc it got me thinking abt how celebrities in korea seem a lot closer to regular people? esp comedians and actors, like ofc they're still selling a certain type of life but there isn't this sense of unreachable glamour, like they're just your friends who happen to be on tv a lot. vs some western celebrities that will do anything to pretend they're not regular people, and you have bts (and blackpink maybe) playing into that to an extent.

90% of korean celebrities are literally just normal people that live in small apartments (just in more expensive parts of seoul) and go to the same restaurants and stores as everyone else. if u live in certain areas of seoul u just see ppl around. and they're normal korean people, which is a very solid tangible historical concept (민족). the amount of land is very small and 80% of south koreans live in seoul, everyone is 3 degrees of separation from each other and all celebrities are basically your neighbors. skorean public opinion tends to be very unified and fast changing and celebrity is just a kind of job that comes with the responsibility of facing public scrutiny and your career depending on how much the entity of skorea likes you. also skorea doesn't have like a huge system of credit and loans so there's no instant wealth it's all directly related to how much u worked, and korean celebs have to work a Lot to even build up to buying an apartment. ur right they're just ppl that r on tv a lot and everyone has an opinion about, it's neighborhood gossip for all of skorea. usually acting superior and living flashy will make the country hate u and could get the major broadcasting to blacklist u. the main 3 broadcasting companies that r the core of skorean media distribution r national companies.

another part of it is that the US culturally promotes itself as the land of freedom and opportunity and opulence when skorea is a US neocolony trying to culturally establish itself as an independent sovereign country. and it's kind of working, that's why hallyu has spiked so much anti-dprk/orientalist rhetoric and US mainstream culture is trying its best to subsume and integrate korean media products with so much anxiety. skorea is successfully promoting itself as a morally upstanding technologically advanced respectable first world country. we've only been a first world country since 1996. i think actors tend to live more private lives and idols r luxury brand models so they have to promote brands but comedians and variety hosts esp r just promoting non-impoverished "normal" lives most of the time, honest hardworking lives that were rewarded with nice housing and tasteful luxury items and time for hobbies.

EDIT: also disagree about bts actually they're kinda seen the way boa is but with the US instead of japan, they're out in a powerful foreign country and with a history of hurting korea doing a lot of hard work at a difficult job in uncomfortable circumstances to bring money and honor to the country. they're not rly partying it up.

#asks #kmedia

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teawaffles · 3 years

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Louis and the Aquaria: Chapter 1

T/N: Takes place after Chapter 11 of the manga (“The Hunting of the Baskervilles, Act 2”).

Aquaria.

Simply put, they refer to water tanks in which aquatic plants and creatures are kept as an indoor pastime.

Although aquarium technology had advanced rapidly in 19th century Britain, aquarists at the time were not as well-equipped as their modern counterparts. Hence, the management of the tanks was not necessarily an easy task.

And here, was someone struggling with that very problem.

At present, more than twenty small water tanks were arranged in the hall of the mansion. And before one of those tanks, that man was standing motionless as he stared fixedly within.

He was a handsome young man. On his right cheek, a painful-looking burn scar peeked out from beneath his blonde hair; but from his simple eyeglasses, and the atmosphere that surrounded him, one got the impression that he was a rather intellectual person.

However, his expression also exuded a deep exhaustion, so great it seemed to ruin his innately clever aura.

The fish swimming before his eyes appeared weak, and its fins were also drooping. From the way it simply drifted in the water, it wouldn’t have been surprising if it flopped onto the bottom of the tank any moment now.

At this point, he had done everything he could.

Now, all that was left, was to pray for a miracle——.

“Please, help him……”

Imbued with sincerity, those words fell from his lips — those of Louis James Moriarty, William’s younger brother by blood.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

The story began ten days ago.

“Thank you for tending to the garden, Fred. That will be all for today.”

“Alright.”

Now that he had completed his gardening duties at the mansion, Fred left for the streets; tonight, he would once again serve as the “Crime Consultant’s” point of contact. After seeing him off, Louis admired the flowers Fred had tended.

“With that, my brothers should be pleased.”

Without thinking, he murmured to himself.

For Louis, who obeyed William’s every word, it seemed what his brother valued fundamentally took precedence over his own opinions.

He looked over each of the flower beds Fred had carefully tended to, then exited the greenhouse — and saw the brother he so revered.

“Is something the matter?”

“Louis, I have a favour to ask…”

“Understood; if it’s a request from you, nii-san.”

Louis replied without hesitation, and William nodded happily.

“Thank you as always, Louis. The wind’ll be cold out here, so let’s talk inside.”

The two of them moved to the sitting room, and sat on opposite sofas with the coffee table between them. William sipped the Darjeeling tea Louis had brewed, and took out a photograph.

The man in the picture looked around thirty years of age, with flaxen hair, a sharp chin, and well-rounded cheeks. But from the distrustful look in his eyes, it was clear even from the photo how difficult it was to approach this man.

“——Who is this?”

“His name is Jack Stapleton. [1] He hails from a distinguished noble family, and hence owns a vast amount of wealth and land. Moreover, he’s also renowned in the field of natural history — it seems he discovered a new species of moth in the past, and presented at scholarly societies about it.” [2]

William went on to describe the man’s illustrious background, but Louis could sense the true intention that lay beneath.

“He’s our next target, isn’t he?”

Although William did not deny that, his expression turned a little troubled.

“Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he’s a candidate target.”

“A candidate?”

“Yeah. There are suspicions that he may be secretly engaged in human trafficking at his research locations, though we are yet unable to verify them.”

In order to avoid passing judgement upon innocents, whenever they received a request, William and their group would first thoroughly investigate their intended target. At present, it seemed William was in the midst of gathering information on Stapleton via MI6’s intelligence network, in order to decide if he deserved to be condemned.

“So we can’t get ahold of his tail even with MI6’s investigative powers — if he’s indeed guilty, that shows just how adept he is at protecting himself, doesn’t it?”

“Indeed. But I also wish to avoid dragging out the investigation any further; hence, I intend to make direct contact with him and find out the truth. It’s going to incur some trouble and expenses, but I think I have a reliable method of achieving that.”

“And what would that be?”

At Louis’s question, William took the photo in hand, and stared at the man pictured within.

“He’s known to be quite a misanthrope, and scarcely ever meets others in person, so it’ll be difficult to secure even one meeting with him. But as a natural historian, he possesses an unusual interest in flora and fauna. So, we’ll take advantage of his curiosity.”

William placed the photo back on the table, and met Louis’s gaze.

“——Well then, the introductory remarks have gotten quite long. But regarding this ‘method’, I have a favour to ask.”

“Please, tell me everything you need.”

That answer came without hesitation, even though the details had yet to be revealed. William continued in a hopeful voice.

“As for that: in order to attract Stapleton’s interest, I’ve arranged for some fish to be brought in from overseas. In the meantime, I was hoping you could care for them, Louis.”

Hearing that, Louis cocked his head slightly.

“Fish? I thought Stapleton specialised in insects, since you mentioned earlier that he’d discovered a moth.”

“Apparently, he’s a rather fickle character: just as one thinks he’s gotten absorbed in one field, he quickly tires of it and jumps into another one — it seems he has a tendency to do that.”

“So he’s interested in fish now, I see.”

“Particularly freshwater fish from the tropics. Hence, they will be brought into the mansion; until Stapleton takes an interest in the fish, and requests a meeting to either view or get his hands on them, I was hoping you could tend to them.”

After hearing that explanation, Louis finally understood why he’d been approached to do this.

William had his job as a mathematics professor, and Albert was also working at the universal trading company. Because of the nature of their duties, Fred and Moran often had to be out; and in order to maintain the secrecy of their work, outsiders could not be employed at their mansion. As such, Louis — who always remained at the residence — was the only person available to care for the fish throughout the day.

To some extent, it had been a process of elimination. But for Louis, who rarely had the opportunity to join in William’s plans, the fact that this was something only he could do merely served to boost his motivation.

Even as he was secretly pleased to be of use to his brother, a point of concern also came to mind.

“Since these fish are from abroad, I suppose the methods of rearing them have yet to be established.”

“In the event that some fish die, we’ll be able to replace them to an extent. I’ve already asked Herder to develop equipment for the water tanks. And if there is anything else you need, you only have to ask……. That’s all I had to say: do you have any other questions?”

Although this was an important step to determine if Stapleton was complicit in human trafficking, it was also a rather elaborate plan.

Even so, Louis’s response was direct, his tone betraying not a single hint of doubt.

“Not at all. I’ll definitely live up to your expectations.”

Hearing that, William smiled in satisfaction. And seeing that, Louis broke into an elegant smile once again.

That, was how Louis came to try his hand at maintaining aquaria.

Footnotes:

[1] Jack Stapleton is a character from the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles (Wikipedia), by Arthur Conan Doyle. He was in fact the culprit behind the case, and the owner of the titular hound.

[2] Scholarly societies are organisations that exist to promote some academic discipline or profession (Wikipedia). One example is the Royal Society (of London), of which Isaac Newton was a member.

Translator’s notes

The story title

The plural of aquarium can be both ‘aquariums’ and ‘aquaria’ (Wikipedia). I chose the latter because I think it just sounds more right, like how medium → media, and bacterium → bacteria.

#moriarty the patriot #yuukoku no moriarty #yuumori #english translation #a study in scarlet

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aegor-bamfsteel · 3 years

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Hi! I'm a fan of Dorne, a supporter of Aegon VI, so I don't see much reason to join the fandom, but I've spent enough time to find Aegon Blackfyre having horrible deaths. I often see R's attitudes justified, since then I think there's a lot more to rebellions than what's been presented so far. That said, how do you think Rohanne and Daemon's first date went? How did she feel at court? Or your wedding? The reaction to childbirth? Anything about both of them, please!

By the power invested in me as a member of the ASOIAF fandom (aka: none), I give you, Anonymous, the right to enjoy whatever characters you want to so long as you abide by proper fandom etiquette (don’t tag hate, don’t send anon hate, try not to vagueblog, etc). In all seriousness, just because you are a fan of Aegon VI and Dorne doesn’t mean you are obligated to dislike the Blackfyres. Personally, I like some aspects of Dorne (though I think its writing could be better) and I don’t think Aegon VI is a Blackfyre. We’re all different people, so the many characters of ASOIAF will impact us differently. If you feel that your fandom circle obliges you to hide your personal opinions of a character/setting for fear of being ostracized, then that circle has become toxic and I recommend you leave it. If you’re interested in reblogging neutral to positive content on the Blackfyres, you should be able to do so without reprisal. Discourse on fictional characters should never devolve to the extent that real people are harmed.

Now that the PSA part of the ask is done with, let’s get into your questions on Rohanne. I’m pretty excited you decided to ask me, because I don’t get a lot of asks on her since @xenowlsome decided to take a break from fandom, and she’s still one of the most interesting minor characters of the era due to her place in the story. She and Daemon seemed to have had one of the happier marriages in Westeros despite just 12 years together; I’ve previously compared them to Ned/Cat in how they were strangers when they wed, but had a successful political marriage in building their love “stone by stone” (tragic ending aside).

Answers to your Daemon/Rohanne questions under the cut:

How did Daemon and Rohanne’s first date go? A lot of my experience with ASOIAF fic comes from Jonsa, so a comparison to the Salty Teens AU—essentially two teenagers have to get married for political reasons but don’t get along at first, but are sexually compatible—seems reasonable. Daemon and Rohanne don’t have a lot in common (he’s a 14 year old martial prodigy and an unjumped illegitimate son of a corrupt king and an imprisoned Queen with a famous old lineage; she’s older—I headcanon 16–legitimate niece of the Archon and comes from a culture where the actual citizens don’t really fight and wealth is more important than birth), they don’t even speak the same native language (headcanon is they spoke High Valyrian to each other until Daemon learned Tyroshi dialect more throughly and Rohanne learned fluent Westerosi. They usually spoke Tyroshi at home, because they were worried about spies), they both had to get married because their powerful relatives wanted them out of the way (for Daemon because Da3ron II wanted him in a powerless position because he’d fear he‘d rebel; and Rohanne I headcanon due to her uncle wanting to punish her more ambitious mother and her father agreed due to an inheritance dispute), so I don’t think they hit it off right away. I think their initial meeting was probably formal and awkward, surrounded by relatives and courtiers; Rohanne was not impressed with this tall, seemingly endlessly cheerful boy and Daemon is intimidated by this seemingly elegant, severe older girl with the Tyroshi purple hair. It wasn’t until after the relatives were gone and they’re in either their new lands or Tyrosh (if you think that I did they lived there for a few years after the wedding while at least some lodgings were being built) that the two could let their guard down and start trying to understand each other. If I can borrow another early Jonsa trope, probably Rohanne’s pregnancy with twins brought them together by revealing their insecurities but also the desire to make the marriage work. So I think their first date was a night in, they brushed each other’s hair, maybe Daemon reads to her in Tyroshi, then she reads to him in Westerosi, both of them made comments about the material and the reader’s elocution, and they ate a plate of cold meat and olives washed down with soft cider. Maybe it wasn’t a grand date, but it was the start because each could tell the other was trying.

How did their wedding go? Probably awkward and formal. Both of them probably had emotional baggage regarding weddings and relationships. Rohanne’s family flat out forbade the bedding (Tyroshi don’t follow that custom). Daemon was upset because his siblings weren‘t there (although I guess Elaena was) to support him/say goodbye whereas Rohanne had her father and sister who weren’t emotionally equipped to deal with all these strangers and say goodbye to her. Possibly being married in the Sept of Baelor didn’t help either of them. But I think the consummation went better than the wedding in spite of the families’ expectations, partly due to them being alone but also having to rely mostly on body language. Daemon showed consideration for Rohanne’s personal space and Rohanne let herself be vulnerable. Canon seems to indicate they were compatible in this respect.

How did she feel at court? Rohanne was probably not liked by most of Da3ron’s court because of her status as Daemon‘s wife, her “low birth” in coming from a non-Valyrian family without a surname, and her refusal to convert to the Seven (considering no Essosi woman ever converted to marry a Westerosi man before, so I don’t think Rohanne did). Then she starts having many children very quickly, which freaked out the “Daemon is going to rebel any minute” crowd. I imagine she was treated similarly to Larra Rogare, except she didn’t have the advantage of a crown Prince as a husband or several influential male relatives close by (and Larra was still miserable). Instead of being able to hide how she felt behind an interpreter, or bury her feelings in the latest fashions (no shade on Larra here; just pointing out the class disparity), Rohanne had to work with a much smaller income and probably had to face the hostile court without Tyroshi allies. Daemon was probably a big help; even though he learned to brush off “bastard” insults before the age of 10 with a smile and a joke, it’s part of the knightly code to defend women so I can’t imagine he’d take slights to Rohanne (especially if she brought them to his attention) very well. Aegor too understands what it’s like to be an outsider and not want to socialize with the court, and at the very least won’t fault her for not fulfilling all the social obligations (I see them as good friends and allies due to being introverted but passionate). But many of the court spaces were sex-segregated, so she’d have to look for female allies. If there were any Tyroshi women at court (some of the Dornish in the MUSH RPG married Tyroshi), I could see her seeking them or their daughters out. I headcanon Redtusk as a Summer Islander exile (he‘s got Tusks, so to me this is obviously an elephant hunter. Crakehall!Redtusk doesn’t seem right due to Da3ron’s Kingsguard Roland Crakehall), so she was at least familiar with his wife Princess Xiwani. Another option is Princess Elaena, who was good with money, so I can see her having a relationship with a mercantile-minded Tyroshi woman. Maybe Elaena’s daughter Jeyne was also a friend (particularly if she was a Blackfyre supporter). The Butterwells are also looked down on for their origins as dairy farmers, so Ambrose Butterwell’s daughters before they wed might’ve been companions (maybe she helped arrange their weddings? At least the Costaynes seemed faithful Blackfyre supporters, and one of the daughters married Lord Costayne). And of course, she was grateful to the Velaryons. Any families with young children probably got at least acquainted with her and her pack of kids. I don’t think she was ever fully comfortable with the ethos of the court or even some Blackfyre-supporting men (thinking about House Peake due to their proud lineage and Fireball), but she learned how to stop treating many of them as potential enemies (the ones who she felt deserved it).

What was her reaction to childbirth? Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, the mother of 17 children, seemed to have easy labor pains. There’s a story that she was so devoted to work that she gave birth at her desk and, after the baby was dried off and sent away, kept writing! I figure Rohanne’s experience with childbirth was also relatively painless, given how many children she had and how moontea was always an option. The simplest in-universe explanation is that Rohanne just really loved children and wanted a houseful of them. I headcanon she grew up as the child of separated parents (yes, they allow easier separation in Tyrosh) whereas her other aunt and uncle had a big happy family, so she wanted to raise give her kids the Happy noisy childhood she didn’t get (the tragedy being that after Redgrass…) I think her naming her daughter Calla—in real life, a Greek word that means “beautiful”—speaks to her delight at having a baby girl. She loved those children and treasured them all. That’s why losing them was so painful for her.

Thanks for the ask! If you’d like to talk about any of your own Daemon/Rohanne headcanons, my ask box is always open. Don’t be afraid to create the content you’d like to see.

#ask #asoiaf #asoiaf headcanon #daemon blackfyre #rohanne of tyrosh #daemon x rohanne #fandom critical #memes

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ghostiewriter · 3 years

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AJSKDJLES you’re so nice!!! I was 100% using my birthday to manipulate you into giving us more headcanons lol but I wasn’t expecting you to actually get to it today! 🥺🥺🥰 take your time and no pressure but I definitely wouldn’t say no to hearing more about them making wild melodramatic accusations to make each other laugh in public because I can 100% see it. And I can totally see it starting on the surf trip because no one knows them so they’d just like try and embarrass the other? Amazing.

Sorry it’s a day late but I hope you had a great birthday bestie and enjoy the chaos of this wee blurb😂tbh I love this headcanon for them because it’s something they would totally do! But happy late birthday and I hope it was an enjoyable one!!❤️

Word Count: 1.6K

It started of a silly little game.

Keeping true to their word, the second they had graduated from high school and had those diplomas in their hands, JJ and Kiara wasted little time in planning the logistics of their surf trip around the world. So many places to go, waves to surf, sights to see—it was impossible to choose a place to start. However, thanks to Pope and his intense need to create a plan so his two best friends wouldn’t be thrown into the world as they “go with the flow”, he had organised a proper scheme.

JJ didn’t think it was necessary, and Kiara knew they wouldn’t stick to it. But they let Pope continue with it regardless.

Against their better judgement, his route and itinerary around Europe was insanely helpful for the couple as they ventured through the countries, excited to see places they could only dream about. Especially for JJ, it felt absolutely surreal that he was leaving the island, let alone travelling the world with the love of his life at his side. It was something he would never fully believe, but cherish in fear that he would wake up from this perfect dream and return to a shitty life in reality.

But as he turned to look at Kiara, her hair swept back by the breeze and her eyes watching the glittering city below in awe as they stood at the top of the Eiffel Tower, JJ knew that no matter how many times he pinched himself that this was his reality.

“If you’re about to make some cheesy joke about how the view is pretty but you’re prettier, I will throw you off this tower.”

JJ only grinned in response, shaking his head as he finally shifted his attention to the city view. They had just witnessed the sunset and it was one of the most breath-taking views either of them had seen, without a fucking doubt.

“Well now that you’ve stole my thunder and ruined it…” He trailed off with a sigh, but his smile only widened when he heard the soft giggle that escaped her lips.

“Whatever.” She muttered, her features softening as she leaned against the railing and took in the sounds of the streets of Paris.

“I can understand why so many people propose up here, it’s beautiful.” He admitted after a few moments.

Kiara only scoffed.

JJ turned to her, eyebrows raised. “You don’t agree?”

“Because there is nothing more romantic than having a bunch of other tourists watching one of the most intimate moments of your life whilst horns are beeping down below and the wind is blowing hair into your lip gloss.” She deadpanned.

Kiara was a romantic person when she wanted to be, but some gestures were even too much for her.

“Well when you put it like that, it’s no fun.” JJ muttered with a small chuckle, though he could see her point. “Does this mean I should keep the ring in my pocket and scrap the proposal?” He asked with a grin on his face.

Kiara rolled her eyes but she smiled. “Sorry to break your heart, babe, but if you got down on one knee right now, I would have no shame embarrassing you in front of all these people.” She said with a brief glance at the other tourists standing up here with them.

But JJ’s eyes gleamed at the sight of the challenge.

She didn’t have time to question him when he slipped one of the rings off, holding it in his palm before he cleared his throat and got down on one knee.

Her eyes widened as she looked down at him in confusion. “Jay, what are you doing—”

“Barbra Gertie Stonehend,” He started in a loud, boisterous voice to (successfully) catch the attention of the other tourists. “We have spent years together, helping each other through many hardships. I have been there for you since your bed wetting days when you were twelve, I have been there for you since you got your braces stuck in the railing at the zoo, and I have been there for you since your pet piggy was tragically knocked down by a bike. But now I ask that you do me the honour of being there with me at the end of the aisle by the alter?”

He finished his obscene speech, now holding his ring between his fingers and looking up at her with a faux hopeful expression. She pressed her lips together to hold in her snickers as she glanced around, seeing all eyes on them as they awaited her answer. And when her gaze returned to JJ, there was something quite smug shining in his eyes.

JJ had always been the best liar from them all, the way he would so easily be able to spout out nonsense at the drop of a hat. But she was just as competitive and determined as the blond, and willing to challenge him at his own game.

“Oh Bernie…” She sighed, hand placed on her chest as she looked down at him. “How could I ever marry a monster like you! Marge told me everything, I cannot believe you would expect me to marry you after you were the one that killed my pig!”

A few gasps could be heard from the crowd around them.

JJ urged himself not too laugh, though his eyebrows were raised in silent appreciation.

“Boo-Bear, it’s not what it seems! I didn’t mean to kill Vincent!” He urged, reaching out to hold her hands in his own. “I am more than a cold blooded pig murderer, please give me a chance!”

“I love you, my snookums, but I cannot!”

“Please, honey-bunch, don’t listen to Marge!” He cried out as she ripped her hands from his. “She is just jealous of what we have!”

“Then why are you having a child with her?!”

Kiara could’ve sworn she heard someone utter ‘holy shit’ under their breath but urged her face to remain neutral.

“It’s not mine!”

“Then who’s is it?” Kiara demanded, her hand clutching her imaginary pearls.

“My twin brother’s!”

“No!” Kiara gasped, feigning utter shock as she took a few steps back. “It cannot be Bobby’s…because he is the father of my child!”

Another series of gasps echoed amongst the landing.

“You…you were cheating on me with my twin brother?” JJ asked, finally standing up as he looked at her with a look of betrayal.

“I’m sorry, Bernie…” She whispered but JJ dramatically turned away.

“I can’t believe this,” He muttered before heading towards the exit. “I’m taking the dog and going home!”

“BERNIE, NO—”

“Goodbye, Barbra, enjoy your life with Bobby and his stupid exterminating company!”

Whispers murmured around the group and Kiara urged herself to keep a straight face as she waited a few moments before following him down. Once they reached the bottom, it took one glance at each other before they burst out laughing, tears streaming down their faces as they clung onto each other and walked back to their flat.

It was the start of an odd game they played for the rest of their trip. In the most random places they would play out insane scenarios, the aim to be as dramatic as they possibly could until one of them had to physically leave the scene before they burst out laughing. It was just a wee game to spice things up when they were out in public, plus it helped knowing they would never see any of these people again.

The word ‘Eiffel’ just had to be said and the game would begin.

And boy, was it entertaining.

There was the time they were in Austria visiting a vineyard, when suddenly Roberto was just sick and tired of holding back his secret affair he had been hiding behind his wife’s back. Little did he know his wife, Carla, had been sleeping with his secretary too.

Or the time they pretended to be spies on a mission whilst walking through a museum in Australia, pretending to mutter things to one another and even went to the extent of buying walkie talkies so they could suspiciously communicate from opposite sides of the room. That one kind of backfired because they did end up being thrown out by security.

Or the time they were in a small village in Turkey when it was suddenly revealed that Topanga would be leaving her fiancé, Johnny, for a prince that promised her wealth in power. However much to her shock, the prince she had been talking to was actually Johnny catfishing her.

Or there was the time they decided to re-enact the whole plot of Mamma Mia in Greece to see how long it would take people to notice how familiar the whole situation felt. It turned out it took people a tragically long time.

It was a stupid game that they adored and it followed them through the extent of the surf trip and even sometimes when they would returned home. Not to the same extent as they did in the past with fake identifies, but sometimes just odd scenarios to really fuck with their friends’ heads and keep them on their toes.

There was just something so satisfying about turning to each other, matching grins on their faces as they sat at the kegger and listened to some random touron talk about how nothing interesting ever happened on this island whenever she would visit her grandmother.

Ideas racing in their minds and all the possibilities of how they can make this night one to remember were jumping at the possibility to put on a show. With his eyebrows raised, JJ turned to his girl.

“Eiffel?”

“Eiffel.”

“HOW COULD YOU?! THAT GOLDFISH PIZZA MEANT EVERYTHING TO ME AND YOU JUST ATE IT AFTER EVERYTHING WE’VE BEEN THROUGH?”

After all, it started as a silly little but it always ensured chaos.

#ask #jiara #jiara blurb #surf trip #outer banks

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that-house · 3 years

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Viego Rant (villainy and character design and tragedy and all that jazz)

Introduction The more I think about Viego, League of Legends’ newest character, the more enamored I am with him as a villain (unrelated to his general sexiness, though that does tie in with what makes him such a good villain).

I’ve seen a lot of complaints about his design. The Ruined King, one of the greatest threats in Runeterra, the progenitor of the Shadow Isles, the lord of the undead, is finally released as a playable champion and he looks like this:

People were expecting another Mordekaiser (who is similarly an undead king with a ghost army), a lich-tyrant clad in iron, decayed flesh peeling from an aged face. What we got was an angsty anime prettyboy, and it was infinitely better than the alternatives.

Lore Viego isn’t a conquering king. While his combat abilities are indeed badass, his personality is far from it. He’s a whiny brat and that’s incredible. He isn’t bent on world domination. His character arc revolves around just how human, how fallible he really is. For those unfamiliar with his lore, I’ll paraphrase it here:

Viego was the second son of a great king. Overshadowed by his brother and with no expectations upon him and near-limitless wealth, he wandered around being an idiot fuckboy for the vast majority of his formative years. Disaster struck when his brother died in an accident, and Viego took the throne with no training, no experience, and no desire to be king. He was a shitty king. The worst king. Just all-around apathetic. Gave zero shits. Can you blame him? It’s a lot of responsibility to be thrust upon someone who isn’t much more than a child, and with no preparation. He didn’t care about anything, that is, until he met Isolde. She was a poor seamstress, but he fell in love with her upon their first meeting. Together they ruled the country but it was really just them staring longingly into each others’ eyes. His allies were kinda fucking pissed about that, and one day an assassin came from Viego. The assassin fucked up and stabbed Isolde instead, and the poison on the blade made her fall gravely ill. As she lay in her bed, slowly dying, Viego went mad seeking a cure. He ravaged the land seeking any knowledge that might help, pouring all of his money into finding an antidote. He failed. As a last resort, he brought Isolde’s body to the Blessed Isles, a place rumored to be able to resurrect the dead. It worked, to an extent. Isolde’s wraith, confused, afraid, and angry at being ripped from the peace of death, unthinkingly stabbed Viego in the chest with his own magic sword, creating basically a magic nuke that turned the Blessed Isles into the domain of the undead. Viego resurrected as the king of the Shadow Isles some time later, having totally forgotten that Isolde killed him. He controls a big-ass ghost army, could probably beat up any living thing in a fight, and has evil ghost magic. Now this stupid simp wants his wife back and if he has to kill every living thing on Runeterra, well, anything for his queen. He’s even a tier 3 sub to her Twitch.

Music His musical theme isn’t some heavy metal anthem or intense cinematic piece (unlike the Pentakill song named after his sword, Blade of the Ruined King). It’s mostly sad and slow, almost sinister, with a piano and a music box. It has its loud moments featuring violins and choral bits like any villainous music, but the song is mostly subtle. It is a banger though.

youtube

In the comments section of this video, someone pointed out that the music reflects his story from beginning to end:

Everything about this champion is so well done. Riot Games really outdid themselves on this one. Bravo, encore please.

Motivation While the Mordekaiser circlejerkers on r/LeagueofLegends won’t shut the fuck up about how powerful Mordekaiser is, Viego is the better villain. Mordekaiser may be a bigger threat to all life on Runeterra, but Viego is a better character. (There’s a guy on my League discord server who won’t shut up about Mordekaiser so forgive me for being pissed at Morde stans).

Mordekaiser is motivated by a desire for control, to rule the world. Viego is motivated by obsession and misplaced love. There aren’t a lot of Mordekaisers on Earth. Supervillains are rare in real life. But Viego’s motivations are a lot closer to home. People in positions of power that they don’t deserve can do a lot of harm (for example: Trump).

He’s a grieving husband who was never prepared to deal with anything more difficult than choosing what wine to drink with dinner, who is trying to get his wife back because the world had always complied to his every whim. He’s a funky mix between a truly hopeless romantic and a spoiled brat throwing a temper tantrum.

Obsession is scary. It’s a real-world emotional state that’s been the cause of a lot of murders over mankind’s history. In contrast, Mordekaiser’s cartoonish Genghis Khan XXL schtick isn’t something that we encounter often. Of course a superpowered ultradictator would be worse for the world, but if you give ultimate power to a random person, you’re more likely to get someone like Tighten from Megamind. Or, more relevantly, Viego.

Design His design is sexy and stupid, just like him. He wears an open shirt into battle and wields his sword like an idiot (I’ve seen all the rants about how that’s not how that sword is meant to be used) because he was never really a warrior. Even at his most violent, right before the end of his mortal life, he didn’t do much combat himself, leaving his military endeavors to his underlings. Even now that he’s essentially a god, he still has a colossal wraith army that causes far more devastation than he ever could personally.

Despite his slim build (by League of Legends standards), he easily wields his colossal sword because of the strength of his state of undeath. Like his political power when he was alive, his posthumous magical and physical powers were never something he sought out, they were just given to him by circumstance.

The big cool-ass triangle hole in his chest where Isolde stabbed him is the source of the Black Mist, which is evil ghost mist that ebbs and flows from the Shadow Isles, bringing with it hordes of the undead. The sadder Viego is, the more Mist he creates. Poetically, his invasion of the world is inspired by his sorrow at his wife’s death and enabled by his wife’s reluctance to return to him. His story is perfectly reflected by his design.

Isolde Isolde’s spirit took up residence inside a young Senna (who’s another League champion, not particularly important here). This led to some Black Mist-related shenanigans and at least for the time being, Senna uses Isolde’s power to fight off the servants of Viego which threaten all life on Runeterra.

It seems pretty clear that whatever love Isolde felt for Viego is gone by now. Whether or not she ever loved him or was just unable to say no to the king is up for debate, but I’d like to believe there was something there. In my opinion, Viego’s story hits harder if they really were a great couple at first, torn apart by circumstance and obsession.

Much like the Maiden of the Woods in that one comic that circulates around here, to whom the knight gave his heart and she was like “yo what the fuck i literally never asked you to do this,” Viego went a little too far in trying to save her. They may have once been happy, but the Ruined King ruined his own life, too.

Unless Isolde is a lot less morally decent than we’ve been led to believe, I doubt she can forgive all the massacring that her husband’s been doing lately. In the recent cinematic, she was shown to be pretty anti-Viego. Maybe she’ll get a bastardization arc, but it certainly seems unlikely.

All of Season 2021 is based around Viego, Isolde, and the Shadow Isles, so we’ll just have to see what comes next. It’s possible that we’ll get Isolde as a playable champion, which should clear a lot of things up.

Final Thoughts Unlike so many villains, he’s not fueled by rage or hatred, but rather by sorrow. He’s stuck in his past, unable to move on. He regrets the actions of his life but is set on his course now. The sunk-cost fallacy comes into play here; he’s put so much time and effort and blood into bringing back Isolde, that turning away from it would feel to him like an insult, not only to her but to the innocent lives he’s taken in her name.

His tale is a tragedy, a love story gone horrifically wrong. Viego has suffered throughout his thousand-year life. Despite this, he’s undoubtedly the villain. His permanent death would be a net positive for the world. In has rage and grief he’s destroyed multiple civilizations, and will burn down the world to get Isolde back.

His heart may be in the wrong place, but it’s in a very human place. I don’t think he’ll get the ending he’s looking for, but I hope he finds some closure in the end.

#League of Legends #viego #i swear no one's gonna read this #even if you dont care about League i tried to make this interesting #even if you don't like League as a game the lore is pretty fucking solid

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maddiebiscuits · 3 years

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Personal Opinions on FFXIV Villains (in general order of appearance)

As a note, I will not be including any pre-A Realm Reborn villains (as I did not play the original Final Fantasy XIV) nor will I be including any one-off primals, raid bosses, etc. I will be trying to focus on villains as they appear in main or side storylines, in cut scenes, that have some over-arching influence on the story they participate in with something akin to a clear presence - Garleans, Ascians, and so on. Also SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS.

Rhitahtyn sas Arvina

Rhitahtyn gets the shaft out of Gaius’ three main players in A Realm Reborn. A conscript from a Empire-conquered land who rose to power and respect, directly honored by Gaius himself, and possessing an even temper and noble ambition really helped to level out Nero and Livia’s general nonsense. Unfortunately, Rhitahtyn is provided almost no screen-time, development or exploration, and as years have passed, his in-game 8-man trial can now be completed in a regular synced party in mere seconds. He deserved a lot better than what he got, yet remained too sidelined to really leave me feeling invested in wanting to see what sort of story this character could be used to tell.

Livia sas Junius

When first playing through A Realm Reborn my feelings on Livia were...tepid, but optimistic. Of Gaius’ three main players, Livia was easily the most active and ruthless, lacking the shady “long game” and self-serving ambitions of Nero or the more honorable, measured personality of Rhitahtyn. Suffice to say, the dawning (and then confirmed) realization that Livia’s sole motivation seeing the plan of the man she loved through to completion by any means, to the point of tunnel-visioned, murderous intent, was...disappointing. Add to that Livia was raised by Gaius in her backstory, the man being a father figure to her, and the romance motivation becomes even more unhinged (especially since it is largely considered to be a reciprocated romance, at least physically, by Gaius - barf)

Nero tol Scaeva

Nero has become a fan favourite character over the years, thanks to his continued development into Cid’s boyfriend foil rather than outright villain of the main storyline. This development was easy to spot early enough though, as it was clear Nero’s fealty to Gaius was largely self-serving. He didn’t care much about conquering Eorzea or felling primals/eikons - he just wanted to show that he possessed the brilliance to build weapons capable of doing so. His speech/squabble with Cid during the Praetorium sequence paints that picture even more clearly if the players missed the not-so-subtle implications for Nero’s character already. The man lived, breathed and seethed with inferiority when compared to Cid, and in the end he did ultimately prove his engineering mastery, even if the Warrior of Light took it (and him) down. Ultimately though, Nero serves as a much better supporting and “redeemed” character than a villain, so I do have to rank him pretty low.

Gaius van Baelsar

Aside from whatever...weird...thing was going on between him and Livia (again - barf), Gaius in A Realm Reborn was a pretty solid villain, with clear-cut motivations that I actually understood, and begrudgingly agreed with to a small extent. As legatus, Gaius was still the tyrannical arm of the Garlean Empire, but a level-headed one who was more interested with the purging of the primal/eikon threat from Eorzea than subjugating other peoples. Further development of this character into something of an anti-hero and glimpses of how other characters viewed him in flashbacks in later expansions ends up providing his A Realm Reborn rendition with more strength in retrospect. The heads of the three city-states deciding to accept Gaius off to willingly join the Empire is a pretty good sticking point for the validity of his plan as well. Ultima Weapon is...you know, pretty impossible for Ul’dah, Gridania and Limsa Lominsa to face down if they refuse, but more enticing is its ability to, indeed, single-handedly defeat primals/eikons - something the city-states desperately need at their disposal, having been plagued by such threats constantly, for years and years.

Gaius cuts a pretty direct swath to the truth of the Twelve as well - they’re no different than the primals/eikons he seeks to eradicate, and the more stock Eorzeans put into them, the more empowered they become should someone ever try to summon one, making Eorzeans no better than the beastmen and their ‘gods’. Join the Empire and have protection from such powers, and put faith into the leadership of man, versus that of fictional deities that can be given terrifying form...in the world of Final Fantasy XIV, that’s not a terrible proposition. But it would still subject thousands of people to the Empire’s tyranny, so even if Gaius has the oft-coveted ‘Point’ that most villains wish they had, he still must be stopped. Eorzea will simply find other ways to endure the primal/eikon threat rather than bend the knee, and I like that defiant angle the Warrior of Light represents to counter Gaius’ character. Also, Ascian meddling and Hydaelyn shenanigans, sure, but I don’t feel that takes away from the core conflict that Gaius presents. He was a good villain, and I’m happy to see him return and go through the motions of penance for his past deeds and aid the supporting cast now, elevating him even higher into a good character, in general.

Lahabrea

I admit I have a soft spot for Lahabrea, only because he seems to be a universal punching bag for heroes and villains alike in Final Fantasy XIV. He lacks the more subdued, long-term planning of Elidibus or the explored nuance and sympathy of Emet-Selch - he’s sort of the odd one out between the trifecta that make up the unsundered Ascians. Just a blindly-tempered zealot of Zodiark, seemingly more enthused by the ancient primal’s return than the promise of the world being set back to how it was before The Final Days. Even the other Ascians don’t seem to like Lahabrea that much - Elidibus seems keenly aware that Lahabrea has gone off the deep end, constantly needing reminders and wrangling-in to keep the plan in motion. But I will admit, he serves his purpose well enough, and the additional side-story that reveals that Lahabrea was a brilliant scholar unmatched in the Amaurotine field of ‘phantom creation’ was a nice touch to explain why he’s pretty dang good at getting people to try and summon primals and conjuring or corrupting monsters himself. By no effort of Square Enix themselves, I sort of feel bad for the guy. He really was just Doing His Best, and getting no respect for it. His end was also anti-climatic, but by the time it happened, there were far more interesting characters and stories to tell, and he was unnecessary - it was just better this way, Lahabrea.

Nabriales

This one-bit player served one substantial purpose, and it was to see an Ascian get obliterated permanently and thus provide the means and understanding to battle Ascians in the future. Except that the cost to do so was a throw-away villain, a throw-away damsel-in-distress 8-man trial, and turning Moenbrya, a character with a lot of potential to be great, into a throw-away character who has to make an untimely sacrifice because the script says so. Nabriales you’re boring, you’re bad, you’re a waste of time and your mutton chops are dumb as hell.

Ilberd Feare

You know what, I like this villain. I absolutely want to punch his face in, but I figure getting that sort of rise out of me on sight is intended, since, you know: villain. His motivations aren’t bad either, even if his methods are deplorable. The speech he gives at the very end of A Realm Reborn to rile up Raubahn is pretty effective too. Despite both being refugees of Ala Mhigo, Raubahn fought his way to wealth and status, and Ilberd was never afforded that chance, or at least never quite managed. Raubahn pledged himself more to Ul’dah and the Immortal Flames with his new privileges, however, and Ilberd was perhaps right to resent that, with Ala Mhigo still under the yoke of the Empire, and so many refugees left to flounder in The Black Shroud and Thanalan both, Raubahn seemingly unwilling to step in. Ilberd saw the opportunity to change the status quo and took it, and proceeded to rally others to reclaim Ala Mhigo. If the city-states would not help, then they would be forced to help, and for all his dirty tactics, punch-able face and Shinryu-summoning finale, Ilberd’s plan did work: he forced the hand of the city-states to fight against the Empire to reclaim Ala Mhigo, and did indeed remind Raubahn and other passive Ala Mhigans that there was still an important job to do. So, good job Ilberd. Gold star. Now perish.

Teledji Adeledji

I thought the politics at the very end of A Realm Reborn were intriguing, and Teledji’s heel-turn pretty fun, since of all the Monetarists, he seemed to be painted as the most reasonable. Though I found his game plan a bit...suspect. Yes, a poisoned goblet assassination attempt on the Sultana that he could frame on someone else, while usurping control of the Crystal Braves so he could make a bid for full Monetarist control of Ul’dah (with him at the helm) makes sense on paper, but I’m not sure why he sought to frame the Warrior of Light for it, and implicate the Scions either. While it’s true that the Warrior and the Scions would be an obstacle and want to investigate the death, and would prove tenacious foes, if you think about the scenario a bit more, it seems unnecessary. The Warrior and Scion efforts were likely going to start swinging towards Ishgard and the Dragonsong War, to better embellish the northern city-state’s relations with the Eorzean Alliance, nor are the Warrior or Scions people you’d want to make an enemy, especially with the Warrior being one of the only people who can defeat primals (a very active threat in Thanalan).

Framing Lolorito would have been a wiser idea, as he was already disliked and untrustworthy in the eyes of many, powerful and dangerous to compete with though he is. If Lolorito had been framed, Raubahn and the Scions may not have questioned it, and Teledji could have enjoyed planting himself in the eye of the power vacuum that was to come while the Warrior of Light focused their energy up north. Instead, Teledji bet on the wrong chocobo and paid dearly for it - his plan fell apart (and so did he) in more ways than he could anticipate, but on the whole? This was a pretty intriguing and entertaining storyline, I enjoyed it.

Lady Iceheart / Ysayle Dangoulain

I debated putting Ysayle on this list because by the first act of Heavensward, she’s not a villain - but, she certainly was in A Realm Reborn and going into Heavensward, so we might as well just keep representing how good Heavensward is and include her here. Aside from Minfillia, this is one of the only ever characters you meet early(ish) who shares The Echo with the Warrior of Light. Unlike Minfillia or the Warrior, though, Ysayle doesn’t really adhere to the call of Hydaelyn. Instead, her powers allowed her to hear and learn the truth of Ishgard’s history: that it was a lie, and that King Thordan broke the peace in a bid for power for Ishgard, turning Nidhogg to rage and setting the Dragonsong War into motion. Having witnessed Ishgard’s cruelty at a young age when her home was destroyed by snow and ice after the Seventh Umbral Calamity, and knowing what she knew and maintaining close bonds with dragons throughout her life, it’s sort of easy to see why Ysayle would be set upon the path she is. She wishes to end the war much like how Thordan does: ending it, with the dragons as the victors.

Her slap in the face is when she confronts Hraesvelgr though, her bid to sort of not only take the form of Saint Shiva but embody her memory being dismissed as a pale imitation. Saint Shiva wished for true peace, whereas Ysayle demands it through bloodshed - she realizes this, and changes her current course. This is why I debated to list her as a villain, because her gradual change into a supporting character and hero is a logical conclusion as she and Heavensward’s story develops. She starts a villain and dies a hero.

Igeyorhm

Full disclosure: I completely forgot this character existed. And I still don’t actually know why they exist. They’re a second to Lahabrea during the events of Heavensward, and is easily shut down by the Warrior of Light before being annihilated permanently by Thordan. Despite this, I don’t find their existence as offensive as Nabriales’, so...that counts for something.

Archbishop Thordan VII

When I first encountered Thordan (”pope grandpa”, if you will), I thought “oh, he’s evil”, because “church bad” isn’t exactly and uncommon trope and it’s apparent that Ishgard is a broken and unjust society, with this man sitting at the highest seat of power and consorting with Ascians. Yet to my surprise Thordan was...pretty reasonable. At least to start. He makes his audience with the Ascians known and seems unaffected by them and their schemes, is polite and cordial to the Warrior of Light...he doesn’t seem so bad. But the gut feeling remains, and slowly builds as Thordan’s true plan is revealed, becoming a primal-esque deity. And much like Nidhogg, I do get his motivations. Trying to broker peace with the dragons, to him, is just not going to happen - in fact, it’s insulting to ask dragons and Ishgardians both to make a bid for it, when so many people have died and live with the burden of hatred and grief. His solution is more direct: end the war entirely, by winning it for Ishgard.

After assuming his new form and powers, him and his Heavensward have the power to thwart any dragons that oppose them, perhaps even Nidhogg himself if the dreadwrym were to re-appear. Fueled by the generations’-worth of prayers from the Ishgardian population, Thordan was set on ending the war and ousting the dragons from the land, ushering in peace and prosperity. But the Ishgard he sought to protect and defend was built on a history spun of bloodshed and lies, and the dragons were not the true enemy and did not deserve to be put to the sword. Thordan’s plan would have worked in the way he envisioned it, and he made a good argument for it, even if it was ultimately wrong, and that’s a good villain.

Nidhogg

Having come to Final Fantasy XIV from World of Warcraft, a giant, scary black dragon that rants on and on about suffering and misery and pain and vengeance was something of a red flag for a Very Bad Story. Imagine my surprise when Nidhogg was given the screen-time to be properly fleshed out and explored, his motivations and hatred more sympathetically-human than his giant dragon body would have one believe, his presence menacing and well-paced, and his overall being representing the true, dark heart of the Dragonsong War: the cycle of hatred. For dragons, centuries are like days, and the pain Nidhogg feels is no less than what he felt when the Ishgardians brutally broke their pact. Because of this, with each re-emergence of him and his brood, the wheel of suffering turns anew, breathing new hate-filled life into the ongoing Dragonsong War, generation to generation. Time has no effect on his turmoil, and his existence ensures that no other Ishgardians will ever be able to move on from the war either, even as generations continue on.

I find Estinien being consumed by Nidhogg’s rage very thematic as well, Estinien truly embodying the countering hatred the Ishgardians feel towards the dragons, and it makes the final trial with Nidhogg bittersweet. He defeats Hraesvelgr, because as long as Nidhogg exists even the brightest hope for peace will be squashed under the cycle of malice and war. The Warrior of Light must put him down because he cannot be saved - but Estinien still can, and can choose to move on and pursue the peace that Nihogg strived to prevent and Ysayle died to see come to fruition. And he does, and it’s touching, and Heavensward is SO FUCKING GOOD I LOVE THIS EXPANSION.

Quickthinx Allthoughts

I don’t care much for timey-wimey storylines, but I found the Alexander plot easy enough to follow, and the timeloop it creates to be manageable. The truth about the Enigma Codex and the journal Quickthinx has isn’t exactly hard to figure out though once time travel becomes a part of the plot, and beyond beind a fun goblin with a cute kitty cat friend...there’s just not much in the way of compelling character writing here for this gobbo.

Diabolos

Big ancient demon is revived and wants to wreak havoc. Uninspiring, but its also not necessary for Diabolos to be anything more than what he is either. The heart of the Void Ark storyline is the tribulations of Cait Sith, the sky pirates and the history of the Mhachi, Diabolos just being an excuse to explore those characters and lore.

Regula van Hydrus

Regula deserved better damnit. This is the last Garlean villain with nuance and humanity before Stormblood turns everyone who is so much as associated with the Garlean Empire into a cartoonishly-evil, absolutely twisted, reprehensible confusing mess of a person.

Fordola rem Lupis

Stormblood has a lot of story, pacing and character problems. A lot. It has its moments and some people love this expansion, but I do not and its villains are a very large reason why that is. Fordola, for example, had the potential to be quite interesting. She was raised to believe in what her father did: that Gaius and the Empire were not all bad, and then watched her father die trying to protect her from angry, almost barbaric Ala Mhigans who decided that pelting a little girl with rocks because her parents were Empire-sympathizers and supporters was an okay thing to do (as the Garlean soldiers just watched on and let it happen without intervening because they didn’t feel like it - a fact that Fordola knows and remembers). You would think this event would have a sort of polarizing effect on her, feeling betrayed by both her people and the Empire her father believed in, feeling caught in the middle, in need of finding her identity and sense of self. Instead she...basically throws her entire stock in with the Empire, deciding that if she’s a good little soldier for the Empire, then Garleans will have to change their minds about Ala Mhigans and respect them because, see, look: an Ala Mhigan is a respected Garlean asset.

Except this backfires over, and over, her Ala Mhigan team nothing more than vicious dogs that never bite the hand that feeds them, turning their teeth on their own people instead. Fordola is constantly belittled and ridiculed for her heritage and even her gender by the Garleans, and at no point does she ever stop and go “wow maybe the Empire sucks hot ass and I’ve been terribly wrong about my motives this whole time”. And yet, no...Zenos offers her power in some magitek-aether experiment, she kills her own Skulls team, she finished the expansion jailed for her crimes, believing until the very end that the Garleans will win (they did not). She utilizes her anti-primal abilities once, and vanishes from the plot entirely, only to re-appear in a bad side-story where the Immortal Flames have her hooked up to some penalty-of-death submission collar so she doesn’t act out so they can use her synthetic Echo abilities to fight a re-summoned Ifrit.

Bad character, bad writing, and a waste of her new, game-changing anti-primal abilities.

Grynewaht pyr Arvina

This is such...a stupid character. His design, his voice and dialogue...I can’t tell what Grynewaht is supposed to be. Is he comedic relief? Because he’s not funny. Is he a character that you’re supposed to pity or despise? Because I felt nothing towards him. Is he supposed to be a rival? Because...no. I had to look up what his name was. The only thing I can clearly remember about him is that he was the final boss of the Doma Castle 4-man dungeon. That’s it. If you removed him from the plot entirely, nothing of value would be lost.

Yotsuyu goe Brutus

Between the two female villains of Stormblood, Yotsuyu is the more popular. It’s easy to see why: she has a cool design and a lot more screen-time and development, with a big 8-man trial to finish things off. But like Fordola, something is just off about her writing.

I don’t understand her motives or how she even came to feel the way she does about Doma, specificially. And anything bad that could happen to her, has happened to her. She suffered an abusive childhood under her adoptive parents, was sold off to an abusive husband, then sold off again to a brothel after her husband died to repay his debts. She later became a spy for the Garleans, rose in rank and was appointed acting viceroy of Doma, to keep the masses terrified and under her heel. At first, it seems pretty reasonable for her to turn against Doma, and lash out as she does on its people - her Doman upbringing left her used, abused and powerless, and with the Garleans she found power and strength. But this reading falls apart when you quickly realize that Doma was already occupied by the Garleans during the course of her upbringing, her family obedient to the Empire and her suffering just as much the fault of the Garleans. There’s an argument to also be made that not enough time was really spent portraying Doma as the disgusting place Yotsuyu sees it, as from the onset of Stormblood’s story journey into the Far East, Domans are only ever portrayed as a terrified, broken people, scared of the Garleans and Yotsuyu. I also don’t personally care for “character was abused, so now they’re sadistic and crazy” clichés either.

What does work well for Yotsuyu is the theme of power and control. Yotsuyu is a woman who lived a life not her own, weak and frail, until she obtained power. Now that she has it, her drive is to do anything to maintain it and survive - yet for some reason the story is written in such a way as to downplay this much stronger theme of her character, and play up this slightly confusing, all-consuming hatred for Doma instead. Her transformation into Tsukiyomi is also a bit odd (though decently thematic, with her ‘cold, uncaring and distant as the moon’ comparison), with not enough time paid to explore her understanding of Doman deities and why the mirror would trigger this change (and why would she even keep Doman deities in her mind, with her supposed hatred of Doma?)

I also take some issue with her “Tsuyu” arc, where she reverts back to the last time she was ever truly good or innocent, and has the personality of a child while still being an adult woman (and suffering amnesia). I find these infantilizing tropes pretty offensive, especially when Yotsuyu’s arc here is largely just to reinforce and reiterate what cartoonishly terrible people her family were, and provide Gosetsu with some development instead. Aside from killing Asahi and having a cathartic death herself, everything about Yotsuyu just baffles me. Every time I think I like something about her, athe bad writing twists it around.

Zenos yae Galvus

I don’t like Zenos, he’s a bad character, and I hate that Square Enix decided this limp-haired sullen-faced clown was going to be their poster-boy villain for Final Fantasy XIV.

What is the appeal of this character? Yeah, some people find him attractive. I don’t, but I also didn’t find Sephiroth attractive so, okay, whatever - like what you like I guess. But what else does Zenos have going on besides people seeming to think he’s their buff bishonen thicc daddy or whatever the kids are saying these days? His entire character can be summed up in one sentence:

“While the Warrior of Light was practicing empathy, Zenos studied The Blade.”

He’s a Garlean lordling with a bland and cold upbringing who likes katanas and blood sport. That’s it. He’s a sociopath, finding no joy or meaning in life for whatever reason: he just wants to collect Cool Swords and push his bizarre love-hate fight narrative on the Warrior of Light. Because they are opposites, you see: the Warrior of Light is a cardboard cut out of a Good Guy and Zenos is a cardboard cut out of a Bad Guy. He’s not even entertaining about it. He doesn’t want to watch the world burn, he just wants to fight the Warrior because the battle will make him Feel Something. Meanwhile, all I feel whenever I see him in-game, either in a cut-scene or when I’m locked in an unskippable “survive the drawn-out battle!” sequence with him, is a groan coming on. And sometimes villains who are evil just for the sake of it can be fun! But Zenos is not fun - he’s dull, he doesn’t get me hyped up for a fight...I feel nothing.

When he died after using his uber-synthetic Echo to possess Shinryu by taking his own life I thought, “well, at least that’s over” and I felt relieved. And then he came back, bigger and worse than ever! Yippee! I love confusing, unrelatable, boring villains who are recurring. Whatever Square Enix wants to do with Zenos, they need to hurry up and get it done. I care so little about him and just want to explore other stories and characters. I’m assuming he’s going to like, possess Zodiark or something, and then the Warrior will possess Hydaelyn, and there will be some big anime light fight showdown where Zodiark and Hydaelyn both shatter for good and Zenos dies and the Warrior lives another day and uuuugggghhh. How the hell did an expansion like Stormblood follow up Heavensward? Who let this happen?

Asahi sas Brutus

Bowl-cut twink hates his sister because he’s a Zenos fanboy and is angry Yotsuyu got all of Zenos’ attention instead of him. Filled with spite and piss, cartoonishly evil just like everyone associated with Yotsuyu or the Empire in Stormblood. Rest in pieces you little shit.

Varis zos Galvus

I’m lukewarm on Varis. He’s a better villain than Zenos, but that’s like saying a flat three-day-old glass of soda is better than sewage water. The bar is set very, very low. He’s ruthless, but not entirely unfair in his thought processes. Hell, he doesn’t even seem to like his own son (and really, if Zenos was my kid, I wouldn’t like him either). But Varis is a bit too...static, in my opinion. He doesn’t feel like a major player, and his batshit “let’s all just burn so the world resets and we can stick it to the Ascians” is pretty asinine and plays so transparently into the Ascian’s hands. I was originally bummed that Zenos killed him pretty unspectacularly, but...like with Lahabrea, it was probably better this way.

Omega

I don’t have much to say about this villain, really. The heart of the Omegascape storyline hinges on Cid, Nero, Alpha and the abstract concept of free will and accepting imperfection. It’s almost hard to say if Omega really is a villain, simply acting out a series of programs and statistics in a cold, robotic way, not really with malicious intent, so I think where Omega sort of shines is just as a being to build this sort of story off of, and provide a lot of fun boss fights as well.

Ran’jit

I had no strong opinions on Ran’jit for a long time, so I guess he improved for me as I now have An Opinion of him. He’s fine. He’s an okay villain. His Zenos-esque “survive the timer” encounters are annoying, but I find his persistence and presence more inspiring than any time crummy ol’ Zenos showed up. The biggest issue with Ran’jit is the lack of time devoted to developing him. This is a man who lost his home in the Flood of Light (which was the First’s equivalent to the Source’s Far East), and has essentially trained and raised numerous Minfillia reincarnations to battle Sin Eaters, just to watch these poor girls he saw as his own daughters die and die and die again. That cycle of loss would break down anyone, and make Vauthry’s postulations of paradise in Eulmore until the end finally comes appealing. Ran’jit pursues the Scions and Minfillia/Ryne not because he’s resolute in following orders, but because he just wants to bring this one psuedo-daughter back and keep her safe - something he could never do for the others who came and went in his tenure.

Naturally, this protectiveness leads to giving in to Vauthry’s nihilistic promises and stifles Minfillia/Ryne as a person. Thancred eventually learns to let the Minfillia he knew go so that Ryne could floruish into her own person - she was not ‘his’ Minfillia and it was terrible of him to ever impose that upon her. But where Thancred can move on and let Ryne develop into the wonderful person she is, Ran’jit cannot. And I’m disappointed this aspect of his character couldn’t be more at the forefront of his narrative.

Vauthry

If you ask me, this is more in line with how I figured Zenos might be. Vauthry lived a life or privilege and power, a child born of divine providence with no true regard for life, just his own desires. He’s spoiled and unreasonable, but his nihilism isn’t really nonsensical in the world of the First. All but a fraction of the world is destroyed, and Sin Eaters are a constant, devastating threat, so why not just relax in luxury, in the safety of Vauthry’s control over the monsters, and live in peace until the world truly ends? The battle against the Sin Eaters is exhausting and has no hope of victory anyway (until the Warrior of Light/Darkness arrives, that is). Even without the meol subplot, it makes sense why so many would flock to Eulmore once Vauthry takes over. Goofy as he can be, I do think Vauthry’s embodiment of just giving in to nihilism, hedonism and annihilation stands as a good thematic contrast to Shadowbringers strong themes of stubbornly striving for hope in even the darkest, bleakest hour. His trial is also fun and a slight swerve. All the Light Wardens up to that point had been monstrous, and Sin Eater transformations the thing of nightmares (Tesleen), so to see Vauthry take on the form of Innocence (ironically appropriate, as he truly believes he is blameless in all he has done) and become a golden-haired, angelic being of beauty - how he likely has always seen himself - is very entertaining, and defeating him feels great.

Emet-Selch / Solus zos Galvus / Hades

Ah yes. The Big One. Most people like Emet-Selch and his involvement in Shadowbringers. He’s sardonic, he’s entertaining, he’s honest, he’s explored, and he’s even sympathetic. The revelation of how Zodiark (and Hydaelyn) came to be, Amaurot and The Final Days is truly tragic. Emet and the rest of the Convocation were trying to save their world, and the cost was staggering - the lives of so many of their own, their minds, and eventually even their own world in the Amaurotine schism that followed. Being able to see a shadow of what Amaurot and its people were like really helps drive home the sorrow of it all, and Emet himself admits that he did try to learn to appreciate what the fragmented world had become. He’s also one of the most “successful” villains in Final Fantasy XIV - his intertwined association with death and masterful ability to raise up and lead empires like the ancient Allagans and modern Garleans to their self-destructing, Calamity-inducing downfalls (of which he was almost successful did with Varis and the Black Rose in the latter’s case) is pretty impressive as far as villainous plans and activity is concerned. Being forced to work alongside him in Shadowbringers because your goals are aligned while attempting to guard yourself from his inevitable schemes - which he’s pretty blunt about admitting he has - is an interesting way to develop him as a villain too. He spends most of Shadowbringers actually helping you rather than outright antagonizing you.

His conundrum is sympathetic as well, if not entirely relatable. If you had the ability to bring back your world, your friends and loved ones, at the cost of countless lives that are trivial in the grand scheme of the cosmos and start again, anew, in a better world that could repair and rebuild, would you do it? Tempered by Zodiark or not, Emet would, and while I don’t agree with him, I don’t entirely blame him either, for feeling how he does. Similar to Ran’jit and Vauthry too, Emet is nihilistic: he clings to something long-gone and will burn the current world down to get it back. To him, the Rejoining and Zodiark’s return is inevitable, and people like the Warrior of Light/Darkness are futile, frustating obstacles that cannot understand not only his plans, but just how he feels. They don’t remember what they lost. Emet does.

And yet in his final moments, Emet seems at peace. He seems to realize, as he is fading into oblivion, that the Warrior of Light/Darkness isn’t just the reincarnation of Azem, but what Azem believed in that made Azem part from the Convocation. Fractured life is still life, and Azem believed that the world and its beings was worth learning about, loving and protecting, capable of great things even when faced with insurmountable odds. The last act of good will Emet can do after requesting that the Warrior not forget about Amaurot, is to free the Warrior from Elidibus’ binds so that the last unsundered Ascian can be put to rest at last. It’s a very emotional throughline for Emet’s character, rather than a more logical one, but it works very, very well and really helps push Shadowbringers into that amazing high its story can get to.

Elidibus

I never liked Elidibus all that much for the longest time. It’s not that his character was “bad’, per se - he’s polite, diplomatic, and enigmatic, providing a much more leveled, intriguing villain to counter-act Lahabrea’s more active plays and cackling. But Elidibus’ long game always left me sort of wanting: I was never really sure what he was trying to accomplish expansion to expansion and how it related to the Rejoining that would bring about Zodiark. His plans also seemed to just regularly...fall through. Sending the Warriors of Darkness to antagonize the Warrior of Light in the Source ended up bringing about the halt of the Flood of Light on the First entirely. Picking up Zenos’ body and squashing Garlemald uprisings while nudging Varis to make and use the Black Rose was promptly halted by the true Zenos making an unspectacular return. I don’t know, I just feel like any plan Elidibus sets into motion gets stopped before it really gets started.

My opinion of him did change, however, during the course of the Shadowbringers expansion. Being the heart of Zodiark, manifesting as the First’s...uhh, first, Warrior of Light, summoning them from across the other shards to wreak havoc and empower himself, only to finally be put out of his misery not just be the true Warrior of Light/Darkness, but Emet-Selch’s last act of will and revealing that he had been an over-working, sad youth who just wanted to save the world he knew was...well, sad. And his first (and last) real gameplay with the various hero summonings was a pretty amazing set piece too, though it also tells me how devastating Elidibus could have been earlier on if he’d taken a more pro-active approach, access to the Crystal Tower notwithstanding.

Valens van Varro

Much like how I wanted to punch Ilberd, because Ilberd is a deplorable person but an effective villain with decent motivations, Valens is just...I just want to punch him, in general. He’s just Disgusting On Purpose. And since we still haven’t shaken Stormblood’s insistence that Garleans are Evil So Evil Oh My God Evil You Guys they’re trotted out a demented borderline sex-offender who forces his child wards to brand subjects who are out of line with red-hot irons. Valens is...entertaining, I guess, in that regard. And Valens does serve as an appropriate counter-part to Gaius in this storyline, the themes of which seem to largely deal with fatherhood and penance for past misdeeds. I just...really miss Garlean villains with nuance.

Fandaniel

Oh god damnit Asahi is back. Square Enix stop doing this, stop bringing back bad characters. Though it is unfair to say Fandaniel is anything like Asahi. Oh sure, he’s using Asahi’s body (and therefore the Brutus’ family inheritance to fund his machinations), he fawns over Zenos, and he’s cartoonishly evil, but at least this go around there’s a certain...goofy charm to it. Fandaniel is a sundered Ascian - he doesn’t care about the Rejoining or Zodiark, he’s aware that he’s a broken being and he is, quite frankly, loving it. He lays his intent out pretty plainly to the Warrior of Light/Darkness: he’s evil, he loves destruction, and he’s doing it because that’s just what he feels like doing. Don’t reason with him, don’t try to understand him, just fight back and cry about it. On some basic level I appreciate that brutal honesty, so much so that I’m comfortable writing my thoughts about him now because I don’t think they’re going to change. What you see is what you get with Fandaniel, and he’s just having such a good time. He’s a terribly-written villain but gosh darnit I just can’t bring myself to hate him.

#don't @ me zenos fans or i will always win need rolls on mount drops by one point in your queues #ffxiv

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