#he just happened to be born when a typical evil dragon was around
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The Abyssborn Part 6.5: Tannim
His adapted being...is a bit of a doozy yet straightforward. I kept saying a fire dragon and that is not incorrect. However, there is a bit more about this guy. This dragon was called Akriloth and he was every bit of a savage and brutal dragon as people feared. But he was also so powerful that the Avatar of Fire (whom is basically a god of one of the elements that make up this realm) was destabilized by his presence out there wreaking havoc. He had gone dormant for reasons no one knew and had been sporadic until going full raze world mode when Tannim became an adventurer. And Tannim and Noita killed him. So Tannim is technically stronger than the being that he adapted from not that he'd ever think of it like that.
As for what Tannim got from him, he's basically why Tannim will always clock as a dragon. Akriloth had a strong influence on Tannim's abilities since he was young. Tannim had an innate understanding of draconic--the language of dragons where he is from--and a natural kinship to dragons and any other evolutions of them. This honestly caused more strife in his life than good until he was an adventurer but hey, it was there. Tannim, unsurprisingly, has an affinity for fire.
Fire of any kind, under most circumstances, cannot harm him. The exception is emotional turmoil and/or being where his most human and then being burned. He can manipulate any flame that is already present and he conjure it himself. Fires of hell, mystic origin, etc also do not hurt him. If it is a fire of any type, Tannim cannot be harmed by the fire part of it (the other aspect of those flames, maybe). His control does extend to where he can manipulate what the flames can burn. So he can target others to be excluded from being burned but he has to have visual range/be aware of their positioning. He can also intensify the flames without the need for prerequisites for feeding a flame (like oxygen or fuel) as well as quell them by the same measure. He does have to wrest control against someone else that is using fire. Such as someone that conjured fire and is spreading it, Tannim does have to grapple against their hold on the fire in order to allow it to do what he wants it to do.
He can also turn into a dragon. He claims not as large as Akriloth originally was, which is like...a kaijuu huge but....like a large creature. His scales are red and gold like Akriloth and he does possess horns. However Tannim doesn't like it because of three reasons: 1) Akriloth was a bad dude and his form is VERY reminiscent of him and Tannim doesn't want to scare people with it (note: this is mainly in his original world), 2) the incident that led to Akriloth being slain was VERY trying time for Tannim and so he associates it with that and 3) in this life time, Tannim had been used for dragon resource farming and THAT traumatized him. Can he do the dragon thing? Sure. He can. He just doesn't do it for long and gets nervous of a lot of people being around unless Noita is also present (because they would never let anything bad happen to him).
He also has Akriloth's weaknesses which are dragonsbane, which is a mineral in his world that is harmful to dragons. It can kill them but in the quantities Tannim has experienced, they are like an allergy. They make his scales flair up on his skin and he can get sick from them. He has also been stabbed by a dragonsbane weapon (both parties didn't know about the dragon bit yet) and it ended up giving a wound that would not close until the bane was rinsed out.
The other weakness is ice. Not like you throw an ice cube but like a whole torrent of ice, Tannim will get hurt by it. Just like how his fire should do just as much harm to an ice being. This weakness extends to staying in tundra and otherwise very cold and icy terrains, Tannim is actually more vulnerable here and his healing factor is reduced immensely. Staying long enough, it will start to affect Tannim's health as he is basically in ice all the time. So he will not stay in these areas for long unless he HAS to. Irony is that we have seen what happened as when Tannim was a child, he was put in a land that was right next to/in the tundras. As such Tannim was a runt, had breathing problems and generally weak physically. But being moved from there, Tannim thrives immensely.
Besides this, Akriloth has been more of an unconscious influence on Tannim. Because Tannim, who is known for being a non-violent person and the kind of adventurer that will never kill purposely, likes fighting and combat. To an immense degree. And it's a bit contradictory. And it is. But this is a little of Akriloth that enjoys battle. Tannim is nowhere near as vicious as he is but he does enjoy it to a point he would even smile during it because it's fun to him.
But the place where Akriloth is most domineering and really where Tannim comes into conflict with him is in regards to Tannim's own emotions. Tannim is the type that suppresses his own negative feelings. His original timeline, he was regularly abused by his 'parents' and ostracized by his village. But because he was aware he had power that would hurt others (his supernatural strength) and he was belittled, Tannim tended to push down his feelings of rage and sadness. Noita used to call it 'creepy' as it meant Tannim merely worn a smile despite circumstances being very clear he should be in a different mindset.
Because of this, when it would inevitably burst, it was big, it was loud and it was destructive. Akriloth thrives on Tannim's anger so his personality seems a bit 'off' amidst when he goes off. He's more callous, standoffish and violence is more of an answer. Of course he can get shocked back but it does bring a lot of shame and guilt to Tannim for it. Ironically making him try to lock his anger even more in the desperate hope he won't cause trouble again. And thing is? Tannim is never aware of this being Akriloth's attributes being copied onto him. He just thinks he's just a very destructive person when his anger gets the better of him. And he's terrified of hurting someone because of it (and knows he can because he did injure Noita when they were snapping him out of his vengeance fueled rage).
#{The Abyssborn}#this ended up being shorter after I took it from the other post#but you know what#it's fine#this is fine#Tannim is overall a sweetheart#he just happened to be born when a typical evil dragon was around
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Miltown Numerology and the Study of Spatial Distribution (Top Image: DHMIS)
111 (Scene 1 - MFKZ) : Emotional interconnectivity felt between living beings through vibrations in the heart, body and shared perception: We are all children of the sun, moon, stars and the planet from which we were born and we were given senses to harmonize and make the world better. We were not only given eyes but hearts, and gravity affects everyone on the planet which allows us to have a gut instinct due to our hearts being vibrationally effected by gravity. This is why the moon’s tides on the ocean has an effect on the water in our bodies because we are 60-70% water.
3/33/333 (Scene 2 - Omi, Xiaolin Showdown): Light and Dark aren’t to be confused with good and evil; It is very obvious that even when distorting the colors of Omi when he enters the Yin Yang realm causing him to be a black shadowy figure he still is exactly the same character. The Yin Yang is a symbol derived from the ancient texts of the Tao Te Ching which helps people unlearn what they were taught by others so that they may find truth based off of their own first-hand experience. It is no secret that our education system lies, as we have seen this first-hand with the teachings of Christopher Columbus and other attacks on people of color. The English language is written in a way to make “good and evil” and “light and dark” synonymous in order to confuse and segregate our culture. Just because two concepts can be identified to be opposites, does not mean that the world is binary. Up and down is not the same as forward and back.
39/139/309 (Scene 3 - Boondocks): Your karma matters and what you do in this life will affect what happens to you later. Not just in this life, but in the next one. You’re not just a ping ball in a machine that’s being bounced around for the entertainment of the universe. Everything you do matters, and even though the public consensus seems to be that nothing matters, eventually everything comes full-circle and you get to be the protagonist of your own life and be the coolest person you’ve ever met. If you get deja vu while reading this, great! Heed my instructions and become everything you’ve always wanted to be.
23/2030 (Scene 4 - Rise of TMNT): Balancing the different areas of your life in order to make your aura the energy signature that you want all starts with your diet and what you pay attention to daily. What are you consuming on social media? Television? Who do you spend time with and what information are you feeding yourself? Pay attention to what habits you have that lead to any anxieties or other troubles you may going through mentally. Make sure you’re feeding your body fruits and vegetables so that the healthy cells in your food can regenerate throughout your body. Make sure that what you do on a daily basis is what you actually enjoy doing and you’re not just working off of auto-pilot. Make sure that the decisions that you make lead to the results and the reality that you want.
707 (Scene 5 - Dojo, Xiaolin Showdown): A lot of people assume that the medium of animation isn’t for adults and only for children. Art, and animation as a whole is overlooked when in reality it helps evolve consciousness. Not only is animation great for storytelling, but it also helps to convey expressiveness of concepts in a tangible way that is typically only short-lived in the realm of dreams. Art and animation helps expand upon the world of dreams by analyzing these concepts and building upon them. Here we have a dragon flying through a jungle and using magical abilities, pushing the boundaries of what seems unlikely in our reality but is normalized in this space.
56 (Scene 6 - Sonic Adventure 2: Battle): Certain people like to push the narrative that men and women to be polar opposites with completely different purposes in life by pointing to the differences in body structure and religion to be the main evidence for why this is the case. Games like Sonic Adventure 2: Battle have you play as a variety of different characters that all look different in the main single-player story mode and pushes gender boundaries by having you play as both men and women in order to complete the game. Instead of being seen as a sexual character, Rouge the bat is- well, just as normal as everyone else. Her and Knuckles have near-identical gameplay styles and functionality and can be played against each other in versus mode. Rouge in the game pushes the idea that guys can play as a girl character, and girls can play as a guy. It’s inclusion, rather than separation. This goes for anybody really, everyone at their core is just someone that wants to have fun and be loved and acknowledged and included, just like everyone else.
14/1414 (Scene 7 - Teen Titans): You probably know that despite what they teach us in school, our entire experience with life is not just the result of some chemical in the body manufactured to create your every waking moment. The public school system likes to make it seem like we’re robots that miraculously came into existence but if you’ve gazed into the light you know that everything is more than coincidence. Notice the time clock in this scene. Starfire jumping into the past caused the entire timeline to shift leaving the titans to go twenty years in her absence before undoing it while fighting the time thief.
And finally 254 (Scene 8 - The Owl House): The study of patterns alluding to a shadow of the world beyond human perception. There are a lot of trends nowadays that like to lock people in a mental prison and throw away the key by telling them that they’re the only person that exists and that this is just a virtual reality simulation or a dream. Pay attention to anything that surprises you, and pay attention to patterns that go unchecked or unnoticed by your typical conscious algorithm and see how the world is so much bigger than people make it out to be. The world isn’t small, and neither are you. You matter, and your life matters.
Alright that’s it that’s all I’ve got thanks for reading. Also if you’re new to Tumblr and/or migrating from Twitter, welcome. (Bottom image: Proud Family)
#dhmis#mfkz#xiaolin showdown#the owl house#sonic adventure 2#cartoon network#gamecube#dreamcast#mutafukaz#proud family#sa2#toh#teen titans#sonic#teentitans#yellow guy#333#twitter#tumblr#proudfamily#rottmnt#rise of the tmnt#boondocks#the boondocks#sa2b
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Developer Insight #4: Character Stories (I) - "Vigilant Yaksha" Xiao (Part I)
Greetings, Travelers!
It's been almost five whole months since Genshin Impact went live, and the time seems to have flown by! We do hope you're all enjoying a smooth journey through Teyvat. Since the game's release, we have received a great deal of feedback and suggestions from Travelers and we've systematically recorded each one for the developers. We deeply appreciate all the time, energy, and passion everyone puts in to these suggestions.
In the midst of this, many of you have expressed an interest in learning more about how some of Genshin Impact's characters are created. As it happens, one character who has received an especially high amount of attention is Xiao, who has now entered the live game with the release of Version 1.3, "All That Glitters." So, for this issue, we've invited colleagues from the Creative Concept & Writing, Concept Art, and Animation departments to explain a bit about the thought process behind everyone's favorite Vigilant Yaksha.
1. The Vigilant Yaksha Is Born: A Character Woven From Cultural Symbolism
Hello everyone, my name is Zhongyuan from the Creative Concept & Writing department of miHoYo.
The first part of the process when designing characters for Genshin Impact is to pin down who the character is at their core. In this step, we need to establish the features that set this character apart from other characters. Besides ensuring that this character will make a strong impression on people, these features are used to evaluate what this character's position in the world of Genshin Impact will be. Characters are not just lumps of rock that we can place anywhere we want in the environment; they are autonomous individuals, each one with a complex set of past, present, and future interactions with the world of Teyvat. Their core features, then, represent their initial points of contact with the world. They are the guiding principles behind all the character's actions and how they live their life.
Xiao was one of the first Liyue characters we came up with. He began with our colleague CiCi's proposal for a young warrior character, which everyone involved in the character evaluation process approved of. The Art team envisaged him as a young man of great beauty, while colleagues in Creative Concept & Writing hoped to position him as a beautiful adeptus. Both sides were on the same page, and thus Xiao became our very first character planned with the identity of "mighty and illuminated adeptus."
Although this is somewhat tangential, I'd like to take a moment here to give a little more detail on the adepti in the Genshin Impact universe, given that so many players have expressed an interest in this topic. The adepti are based on the idea of demigod-like "immortals" (仙人 xianren) in Daoism, and are referred to by the honorific title "sanyan wuxian" (三眼五显), literally "three eyes and five manifestations" (but localized in English as "mighty and illuminated"). The adepti are classed as non-human, based on the notion that "All who have nine orifices can achieve immortality through self-discipline," a line uttered by the "Monkey King" Sun Wukong in the Ming-dynasty novel Journey to the West. This means that animals are also capable of achieving adeptus status. However, humans have a higher purpose than adepti in the world of Teyvat, so for this reason, only those of non-human status can be referred to as "adepti" in Liyue. The "three eyes" part of the adepti's title refers to the "third eye" possessed by those with the ability to manipulate elemental energy, which for humans takes the form of a Vision. For adepti such as Cloud Retainer and Mountain Shaper, the human understanding is that they must have an "inner eye" that serves the same purpose as a Vision. Xiao, however, typically appears in a human form, so he dutifully wears a Vision to comply with the expected norm.
After the character's fundamentals are established, the next step is to design their Constellation and refine their cultural background.
Outside of Genshin Impact, the term "sanyan wuxian" can be traced back to ancient Chinese texts and also appears in supernatural fiction from the Late Imperial period (c. 1368–1911 CE). In both cases, it typically describes the Daoist deity Huaguang Tianwang (华光天王, "Heavenly King of Radiant Light"), also known as Ma Lingguan (马灵官, "Numinous Official Ma"). Huaguang Tianwang is a well-known guardian deity, who appears in the Ming-dynasty novel Journey to the South, in which he has an altercation with Sun Wukong. Research into folk culture also shows there is precedent to connect deities known as Wuxian (五显, "Five manifestations" or "Five Named Xian") with a group of malevolent deities known as Wutong (五通, "Five Powers" or "Five Named Tong"), which includes the one-legged, people-eating, mountain-dwelling demons known as Shanxiao (山魈, "mountain demon").
So, at the most hidden but fundamental level of this character's core, we decided on the name Xiao (魈) and the identity of a guardian-adeptus. The name Xiao is used to hide his past, but also embodies this character at the innermost part of his soul. It is the starting point for all further character development and cultural embellishments.
Another dimension of Xiao's design was that he wields an Anemo Vision and has a fleet-footed and agile combat style that includes the unique ability to propel himself through the air. To stay true to this, we decided to design his Constellation and skills around the idea of the yaksha in Buddhism. This meant we were conflating ideas from different sources; nevertheless, the yaksha had become a well-established figure in Chinese folk legends by at least the end of the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). The yaksha element ended up being a crucial part of Xiao's design that really helped us flesh him out in terms of his image.
The two archetypal stories of "guardian yaksha" and "numinous official's redemption" both involve a malevolent spirit on a path towards goodness, which was consistent with the general direction of Xiao's character core. Furthermore, his physical agility matched very well with another term for yaksha in Chinese, "Swift and nimble spirit" (捷疾鬼 jieji gui). Through further development of the yaksha concept, we arrived at the decision that the other fundamental aspect of Xiao's identity would be his role as a guardian yaksha in service of a monarch, or in this case, an archon.
One detail is particularly worth mentioning here. There is a well-known group of guardian yakshas in some Buddhist denominations known as the Twelve Heavenly Generals. All but one of them correspond to different animals in the Chinese zodiac, while Mekhila, who would otherwise correspond to the rooster, is instead associated with a bird deity, the golden-winged Garuda, a figure from various Indian religions. The story goes that this golden-winged bird deity was a fearsome predator who ate only evil dragons, until one day the dragon poison he had consumed became too much for him to bear, and he burned to death, leaving only a crystal heart behind. This story seemed to resonate with aspects of Xiao's character. Furthermore, the Chinese name Jinchi Peng Wang Niao (金翅鹏王鸟, "Golden Winged Great Peng") embodies a history of evolution — it represents a convergence between Garuda and the Peng, a Chinese mythological bird, showing that some adaptation occurred in the process of his adoption into Chinese religion. After much consideration, we decided to use the Golden Winged Great Peng as the basis for Xiao's Constellation. In English, Xiao's Constellation has been localized as "Alatus Nemeseos," in reference to the bird deity and Xiao's role as the nemesis of evil.
Finally, we conducted an overall review of Xiao's character profile. During this process, we noticed that Xiao's origins were very complex: Some aspects of his identity were based on folk legends while others drew on religious stories. From mountain demon, to Daoist deity, to guardian yaksha, to mythological bird, this was a uniquely rich character formed from the convergence and refashioning of many ideas in one place. More importantly, all these elements were consistent with each other at the narrative layer, creating a strong and cohesive impression of who this character is and adding clear, nuanced substance to his story. This degree of complexity gave Xiao just the depth and appeal that we were hoping for with this character: we hoped to create something entirely new through the convergence and fusion of various cultural elements, and we hope that the end result, Xiao, possesses the power, aesthetic value, and maturity to become a true cultural icon.
The next step was shaping the character's personality and behavior.
After close consultation with Concept Art colleagues, Creative Concept & Writing further fine-tuned the details of this character's content. To pick one example, we all felt that the distinctive image of a young warrior was an important one that we wanted to keep. This begged the question: if Xiao is a warrior, who or what is he waging war against? We quickly got to thinking about a war between the gods. (See section 2 of this article for how Concept Art developed the mask design based on this idea.) One of the basic rules of the Genshin Impact world is that gods cannot be completely destroyed — even if a god's physical form is destroyed, its will and power live on. The remnants and the wrath of the defeated god will remain in the world, waiting for opportunities to cause chaos. To keep Liyue safe from this threat, somebody has to go and keep them at bay.
The decision to release Xiao at Lantern Rite was to tie in with the Chinese custom of driving away evil spirits at the new year, since Xiao's role in Liyue is that of a protector in precisely this capacity.
During festivals, people offer up incense and pray to the adepti for their protection.
But they do not pray to Xiao.
For Xiao is no lucky star that promises fame and fortune — he is a demon-hunting yaksha.
After the lantern lights of Liyue have faded, the thankless battle to protect the city goes on unseen. It is an endless battle, and there can be no victor.
The Traveler's first impression of Xiao is most likely to be of a silent and brooding individual, a courageous and competent fighter, and someone who harbors great suffering. This suffering comes from within Xiao himself. One aspect is that the years of intense, never-ending battle against the remnants of defeated gods have led to him resigning himself to the fact that fighting is all he is good at. The other aspect is that the remnants have a negative effect on him, while the constant killing places a karmic burden on him, causing him mental and spiritual anguish.
This inner suffering is present in the design of his skills: when Xiao uses "Bane of All Evil," he dons his mask, which continually enhances his combat abilities but also continually drains his health. This demonstrates the great suffering he must endure as a consequence of using this power.
After the Traveler has spent some time with Xiao, perhaps they can sense that deep down, Xiao has a gentler side. Xiao is by no means a cruel and callous individual, he is simply reticent to show his emotions to others.
Xiao always keeps his distance from the hustle and bustle of human society. This is not because he doesn't care about humanity, but is due to his role as a protector. He must wage war against dark forces out of sight of humans, and endure a suffering that is incomprehensible to them. Despite this, he does not despise humanity. Humans are the foundation of his millennia-old contract with Rex Lapis, and the reason he silently fights to protect every living soul in Liyue.
The player's first offer to Xiao is to go to the Lantern Rite together to experience the atmosphere. Xiao instinctively refuses requests of this nature— not because he dislikes the idea, but out of avoidance. For Xiao, who has lived for millennia, the human world is a brilliant but fleeting flash of light; a wisp of cloud floating by; a firework on the horizon. And as the one tasked with defending this flurry of activity, he is like a caged beast circling the fire of a stove: fearful, but also full of curiosity. Having watched from a distance for so long, he would not know how to join in with the crowd even if he tried.
The lanterns rise up into the night sky, as if to shine along with the stars. Xiao watches this beautiful sight alone from a mountaintop, and just like anyone else, he senses the sentiment behind them, and he understands that the reason people craft these beautiful things is to remember those who fought alongside him in the past. As one who lived through the events of the past and remembers it all, he is, of course, able to appreciate the well-wishes that the lanterns represent. He understands kindness and gratitude, but doesn't know how to interact with ordinary people, nor does he know what his place is among all the excitement and noise. This lonely state of existence is the source of his melancholy. It has caused time to stand still, leading to him still having a very young mentality even to this day.
During the main Liyue questline, Xiao came to the Traveler's rescue in their moment of peril. In Version 1.3 "All That Glitters," we invite Travelers once again to experience a story that provides a glimpse into Xiao's seldom-shown gentle nature, as well as the trust, hidden deep within his heart, that he places in you.
2. A Young Adeptus: Detail-Based Design
Hello everyone, this is D and SS from the Genshin Impact Art team. We worked on the concept art for Xiao.
After the initial brief, we produced a first draft of Xiao's design based on the young warrior concept. As you can see, Xiao's expression in this version is far from the stern one he wears today. He has a gentler temperament and he is smiling. In this sense, he captures a more traditional notion of what a Daoist immortal (or in Genshin Impact terms, an adeptus) might look like. After more discussion with Creative Concept & Writing colleagues and taking more of his back story into account, we decided on the green version.
Xiao is an adeptus who protects Liyue, and in the course of his long battle against the remnants of defeated gods all over Liyue, he has become poisoned by their nefarious energy. Based on this background, Xiao's upper body uses white and green, which represent the adepti and correlate to his Anemo Vision. For his lower body, we used darker colors to represent the dark, malevolent power that exists inside him.
Based on these same principles, we gave him dark hair with highlights, and also created some interplay between light and dark in his attack animations. The darkness represents the destructive power of fierce battle, while the fragments and orbs of light that he gives off come from the fact that he is an adeptus.
Xiao may have the appearance of a young man, but his true age is something over two thousand years.
Fortunately, people do not tend to underestimate him on the basis of his appearance — one only needs to spend a short time with Xiao to recognize that he is not someone to be trifled with.
Xiao is a man of few words. He is highly dangerous, and has the most piercing gaze you've ever seen.
Given Xiao's true age and his identity as an adeptus, we decided to give him some jade jewelry to bring a sense of longevity and mystery. Accordingly, his legs, wrists, and shoulders feature decorative jade as well as various other objects bearing simple motifs. Meanwhile, to match his young appearance with striking good looks, we tailored his clothing (especially on the upper body) using a more modern design, displaying his vibrancy and agility.
On the one hand, Xiao is an immortal adeptus, while on the other hand, he is a young warrior. This is a great variance in image, and it posed a significant challenge for us from an art perspective. Traditionally, an immortal is imagined as a scholarly figure dressed in long, flowing robes with wide sleeves, who is fairly reserved in the movements of their hands and feet. But Xiao, as a master of the dance-like art of polearm combat and a fleet-footed yaksha, required clothing that offers both protection and freedom of movement. Furthermore, we also knew that there were strict limits on any flowing parts of his outfit due to the risk of clipping they would create after 3D modeling.
So we made Xiao's garments close-fitting and short-sleeved, put some light gauntlets on his wrists, and added some religious paraphernalia such as a censer and a vajra. Meanwhile, his streamers and the breechcloths around his waist are decorated with a cloud motif to add a sense of antiquity. In this way, we achieved a union between practicality and ethereality.
"Bane of All Evil" — the four words that sum up what Xiao has experienced over the past millennia, according to Liyue's rulers who know the truth about him.
In the design of Xiao's mask, we referenced aspects of the masks traditionally used in exorcism rituals as part of Nuo (傩) folk religion.
The main colors used in these masks are black, blue, and gold, the eyes are bright but not flamboyant, and in general the masks look solemn but also mysterious. The sinister-looking bulging eyes, fangs, and horns instill fear in the viewer. The eye in the center of the forehead represents omniscience and the flame motifs make it all the more imposing, the intent being to cause all onlookers to cower in fear.
Xiao's release coincides with the ancient festival of Lantern Rite. We would like to use this historic occasion as a chance to send our best wishes to everyone — here's to deliverance from the ills that plague the real world as well as those that face us in the world of Teyvat. To fans of Xiao reading this, we hope you feel that learning a little about the design ethos gave you the chance to better understand and connect with this character.
(Continued in Part 2)
#genshin impact#official#genshin impact updates#genshin xiao#xiao#xiao simps rejoice!#part 2 is gonna take a while‚ i got class in 15 minutes#but anyway this was super interesting to see :o#developer insight
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Thoughts on Lostbelt 2
Longpost ahead.
So.
Lostbelt 2. Finally played it after so long, and this will contain spoilers.
To make sure everyone knows what they’re getting into, I’ll give the thesis statement right here: Lostbelt 2 is bad.
The entire time I played through the story, I kept waiting for it to pick up. I kept waiting for it to shrug off the poor pacing, the deus ex machinas, the random things just happening for the convenience of the plot. I kept waiting for it to shrug off the poor characterization, the constant telling instead of showing, the moral myopia. It never did.
From nearly the very start to finish, Lostbelt 2 is bad.
We start off fairly fine! A desperate ploy to sneak through the Lostbelt to meet up with the allies we’ve learned about, the Wandering Sea, interrupted by a Lostbelt Servant attacking us with the intent of stealing the Paper Moon that allows us to perform Zero Sails. All of that is a decent setup!
And then we’re told how strong this Saber is. How incredible they are. How their swordplay surpasses anything else they’ve ever seen, how they desperately wish that Musashi was there, how no no, he didn’t use his sword, he only parried! Things that Sherlock Holmes observes, not Mashu, not the one who’s actually been fighting for two years now, so Mashu seems borderline useless. Holmes figures out it’s Sigurd because...he uses a sword in a Scandinavian Lostbelt, and he figured out that Holmes used magic because Holmes fire magic lasers at him. From this, Holmes is able to pinpoint Sigurd’s identity, and that’s just the setup for the rest of the chapter, really.
To be specific, what I mean is that we will constantly be told how incredible someone is with very little evidence, and the plot will bend and warp to make certain things happen.
The scene does exactly one good thing, which is the foreshadowing of Surtr. Coming into it knowing that aspect allowed me to appreciate little bits like Surtr talking about Heroic Spirits like he wasn’t one, and Surtr not being able to kill Mashu because Sigurd resisted it. But that’s about all that was good in the scene, and all it really does is set up a consistent thing of Surtr being one of the only good parts - until he isn’t, of course.
I’m going to shift here from specifics to characters, because otherwise I’d be rehashing the entire story and I don’t have the time or effort required for that. That being said, it is difficult to decide where to start, so I’ll go right to the very building blocks of the story, the themes.
Lostbelt 2 is, very obviously, attempting to have a theme of different kinds of love throughout the story. Part of this is because it’s very much set up like an otome game that the author Hikaru Sakurai would write, with Ophelia in the center, but it’s a more general theme too, with Skadi and the others all building up towards it. Now, love is an absolutely wonderful thing to build your themes around, exploring and examining it can be great for stories. Beasts themselves do that, examining different varieties of genuine, but toxic love that allow them to be well-meaning monsters.
The problem is that Lostbelt 2 does not engage with these themes on anything but a surface level. Skadi represents maternal love, so she constantly talks about how everyone is her children and how she’s their mother. No examination of the desire to see her children grow, the pain she feels when they fight, the struggle of forcing herself to cling so tightly knowing that it’s suffocating them and going to kill them before they reach 26.
Napoleon represents passionate love, so he flirts with every woman he sees. No examination of why he’s so passionate or what drives him to burn so brightly, beyond a token mention that for some reason when he’s summoned he’s driven to seek out a lover, another aspect of things happening to serve the plot.
Sigurd and Brynhildr represent true, romantic love, so they act mushy the entire chapter from the moment the real Sigurd appears. Now, don’t get me wrong, I liked their scenes a lot and I’m happy that they chose that portrayal instead of the one I was afraid of where it was yandere jokes day in day out. But there’s no engagement with the fundamentals of their love, nothing that tests it, even the existing complications with Brynhildr’s tragic summoning are swept away with a single line of “I can resist them better now maybe because my saint graph is broken”, so ultimately there’s no conflict whatsoever. And sure, that’s nice, but it’s not very good if you’re trying to build your story around a theme of love.
Next, Surtr, who represents obsessive, dangerous love. I honestly actually think Surtr’s done well, even if the love he happens to represent is the least positive one. Surtr is capable of only one thing, destruction, and when he fell for Ophelia in that moment where she saw him and he saw her, he decided that if he ever had the chance, he would repay her the only way he knew how: allowing her to watch as he destroyed everything. When he’s summoned, he acts basically like the possessive one in an otome game, constantly talking about how Ophelia is his woman, getting angry when Napoleon flirts with her, spending most of his time pushing things between them as far as they can go etc. etc. I’m not particularly a fan of how his desire to repay Ophelia battling against his singular purpose transformed him into a typical possessive bastard boyfriend, but it’s at least engaged with on a deeper level.
Finally, Ophelia. She’s the otome game protagonist here, born into an controlling family and finally freed, hiding a secret special power, beloved by almost all the men involved in the chapter while she’s harboring feelings for someone else, even has the typical friendship route with Mashu going on. Her love is a love that she doesn’t acknowledge, but that’s all it is. It’s never engaged with beyond the fact that she clearly loves Kirschtaria but insists she doesn’t, and her final scene as she dies is Mashu telling her that yes, she did love Kirschtaria. That’s all.
For a theme of love that’s supposedly woven into the Lostbelt, it’s barely examined at all. It’s not well written, and in comparison to Lostbelt 1′s theme of what it means to live in a world where the strong devour the weak and how deeply it examined and engaged with that, it’s a genuine disappointment.
Now, to move onto the plot, it’s...in the abstract, it’s fine. Chaldea is intercepted and forced to fight in the Lostbelt and ends up dragged into the overarching ploy by Surtr to release himself and burn everything. That’s a perfectly fine story, but the problem is that when you get to the moment-to-moment stuff, it falls apart completely.
Skadi is constantly talked up as this incredibly powerful true goddess, not merely a Divine Spirit, and we know she can see and hear our every move because of her snow. How does the story work around this borderline omniscience within her Lostbelt? Skadi just decides not to do anything about Chaldea with zero rhyme or reason. We need to sneak into the palace and avoid alerting the guards, except Skadi already knows exactly where we are, except that doesn’t matter because we need to sneak in for some reason. We get captured with no plan to escape, and it just so happens that not only was Skadi keeping a Divine Spirit amalgamation locked in the dungeons too, but that she can piggyback on you making a contract with Napoleon (pure dumb luck you hadn’t done it before) and force a connection with you too, and then cast spells to hide you while you escape. Skadi knows we’re trying to free Brynhildr, who is the sole threat to Sigurd and Skadi’s own Valkyries in the entire Lostbelt? She just decides to do nothing at all.
So much of the plot happens because either Skadi makes terrible decisions to do nothing, even though she knows Chaldea is there to destroy her entire world, or it happens because random shit goes on that couldn’t have been planned for like Sitonai. Shit like Surtr suddenly becoming Fafnir and being able to use the Evil Dragon Phenomenon to brainwash Ophelia somehow, like Ophelia’s Mystic Eye being able to do anything the plot demands, even when it explicitly goes against its existing capabilities like rewinding time on Sigurd’s wounds, like Bryn and Surtr somehow being able to resist the effects of her eye with no buildup or explanation. It’s poorly written in terms of the exact events that happen, and that all culminates in Skadi’s one cool moment, where she declares she’s going to kill the seven billion we fight for for the sake of her ten thousand...and then right after, it reveals that Skadi was going easy on us and refused to use her runes of instant death for no reason even though she was fighting for the survival of her entire world. The moment to moment plot is not good, and neither is what comes next, the worldbuilding.
In Skadi’s Lostbelt, half the world is covered in Surtr’s flames, while the other half is blanketed in Skadi’s snow. Where the two areas meet are the only places where life can grow, and so Skadi set up villages there. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough food for everyone, so she enforces strict population control: if you are not the mother or father of a child by 15, you are sent away to be killed by the giants. If you are the mother or father of a child, you are sent away to be killed at 25 instead. Through this tragic method, Skadi enforces a limit of 100 villages with 100 people, a total population of 10000. This is all fine.
But take a closer look at what we actually see, and this falls apart. First, the giants. The giants are immortal and never need to eat. They do nothing but sleep all day and attack any human that comes close to them. Later, it’s revealed that they’ll attack any heat source including Valkyries, except we know that’s not true. Giants never attack each other, they never attack and destroy any of the plant life around them, they never attack the Lostbelt tree seeds, they even fight alongside mass-produced Valkyries before it’s revealed that Skadi and the three originals can mind-control them! They exist only to destroy, but Skadi can control them with her masks and indeed uses them as labour, keeping them chained up in her castle to be brought out and controlled as needed, or using them to guard Brynhildr’s castle.
Worst of all, the first time we meet anyone in the chapter, it’s Gerda, who is sneaking out of her village to go to the massive liveable area close to Village 23. This area happens to be the only place she can go to get medicinal herbs that she needs or one of the people in her village will die in childbirth. This area is also full of giants, who have not destroyed it despite being fertile and full of life and heat, and who are allowed to take this place that could be used to grow more food for humans who need it, and simply stay there doing nothing.
Now, this is where I thought the game would engage with things. How Skadi, in professing her love for all her children, is actually being cruel and unfair. They certainly set it up in the conversations she has, where she casually mentions how humans must die for her coexistence to continue. Skadi chooses to keep the giants alive despite the fact that they are all braindead and can do nothing but kill and destroy the moment their masks are removed. She chooses to keep them alive even though it comes at the expense of the humans who must die when the giants never make that same sacrifice. She chooses to allow them fertile land even though they cannot farm nor do they need food, and in doing so deprive the humans of potentially living longer, having more supplies to do so. She makes these strange choices and then later reveals she can control the giants to do her bidding, and it all seems to fall into place.
What we see from how she’s characterized early on is that the system is unfair and Skadi is unwilling to change, because it benefits her tremendously. Gerda’s village didn’t have enough herbs to save the children forced to breed by 15, and despite Skadi’s omniscience letting her know that Gerda had snuck out and was trying to save a life, she did nothing. There was no system in place to beg a Valkyrie to get these herbs, and no indication whatsoever that Skadi would use her powers to control the giants to save Gerda’s life. The picture painted is someone who cares about humanity not out of true care, but simply out of obligation. Those who disobey her rules, even for good reasons, are left to die by the engines of destruction she keeps alive.
That’s not the story it tells later on, though. Skadi, portrayed from the start as this all-powerful goddess with complete control over everything, is revealed to be far weaker than we thought, and far less monstrous. Ignore all the times she did control the giants, she actually can’t do it all that well. Ignore all the times she declared she would not allow anyone she loved to be killed, but chose not to act to tell her Valkyries or her giants or anything else to save either Chaldea or Gerda. Ignore the evidence we see on screen that there’s more land that’s simply taken over by the giants, Skadi can only make those initial 100 villages and can’t make any more. Skadi is not bad. Skadi did the best she could. Skadi is morally right.
Please love Skadi, there’s no complicated moral quandary here, she’s just Good.
Comparisons to Lostbelt 1 are impossible to avoid. Both have the same basic cause, a calamity that was impossible to predict and impossible to avert. The stagnation that dooms a Lostbelt created by the kings in question in their desperation to survive. Ivan turned humanity into the Yaga and created a world of strength, where progress is impossible because everyone in his new world was too busy devouring each other to work together. Skadi created a world of weakness, where progress is impossible because she limited the population to avoid everyone dying out. There is, however, one crucial difference between the two. Not in terms of story, not in terms of characters, not in terms of themes.
“Your existence itself has already become a grave sin.”
That one line, spoken to Ivan, is the biggest difference between how the story engages things. In both Lostbelts, Ivan and Skadi did horrible things and made horrible choices because they had to, for the sake of survival. Ivan twisted humanity into monsters that lost capacity for mercy or empathy, while Skadi forced brutal population control and careless death on humanity because of her refusal to allow the giants to be destroyed. Both of them did horrible things, but only one is held to account by the story.
What Ivan did was evil, and the story recognises it. It doesn’t accept the excuse that it was all necessary for survival, because that’s irrelevant. It’s evil regardless. This same sentiment should have been expressed with Skadi, but it’s not. Ivan is condemned, but Skadi is absolved. She had no choice. She did the best she could. After building her up as all-powerful, the end of the story instead destroys her agency and power in its haste to prevent any kind of responsibility falling on Skadi’s head. Even to the very end, where she declares that she’ll kill all seven billion lives we fight for for the sake of her ten thousand, she holds back and allows us to win, despite how it butchers her character.
The biggest irony in all this is that Ivan’s world was worse than hers in ways. There was no way for the blizzards to stop, no meat besides for the demonic beasts. Crops couldn’t grow, and instead of living in peace, the Yaga were constantly tormented and killed by the Oprichniki. There were no liveable areas like there are in Lostbelt 2, no merciful ruler that sees all, and controls the greatest threats, no peaceful villages where food can be grown. There’s far more justification for Ivan to claim he had no choice and that he did all he did for survival, because it’s hard to see what his choices were. But Skadi? Skadi intentionally does not act and intentionally allows suffering and pain to come to her children, both actively by not saving Gerda, and passively by allowing the giants to take land they don’t need. Despite this, Skadi is absolved, because the story desperately wants her to be a tragic waifu that you love.
There’s lots more I could talk about. How Sitonai was pointless and existed only for a pathetic FSN reference. How Gerda was a cowardly and manipulative piece of writing compared to Patxi. How Ophelia’s story of always being told what to do is resolved not by her taking the step to freedom herself, but being told to free herself by someone else. The constant repetition that plagues the chapter, the weirdly prevalent sexism that everyone gets in on when it comes to Ophelia’s love life, the nonsense of the final battle itself, the absolute nonsense of Skadi being Scáthach-Skadi. I could even talk about how I’d fix the chapter, because boy howdy there’s a lot there.
There’s lots more I could talk about, but this is already very long, and I think it speaks for itself. Obviously asks are available if anyone wants me to examine them in more detail, but for now, I’ll finish off with one last reminder.
Lostbelt 2 is bad.
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Creatures from Folklore: Slavic Region A-D
You ever need different creatures to base things off of, or just want some legends for a setting? Or heck, you ever just want to chuck a creature at someone and say you’ll figure it out? Well, do I have the posts for you. This one will focus on the Slavic Region but I’ll make more at a later date
Ala are considered to be demons of bad weather in several folklore, including that of Bulgarians, Macedonians, and Serbs. Their main purpose is to lead thunderclouds that produce hail towards fields, vineyards, or orchards to either destroy the crops or to loot and take them. They are very voracious and really like to eat children. Though one shouldn’t assume they limit their tastes to Earth, no. They sometimes try to devour the sun and moon which lead to eclipses and if they succeed it means the end of the world. People who encounter one may find their mental and physical health as well as their lives at risk. It is, however, possibly to gain her favor by approaching with trust and respect. These good relationships can be very beneficial since she (the ala) can make those with her favor wealthy and save their lives if they are in danger. Ala can take on many different forms: black wind, giant creatures with no distinct form, a monster either humanlike or snake like witha huge mouth, a female dragon, a raven, various human and animal shapes. Ala can also possess people’s bodies. They live in the clouds or in lakes, springs, hidden remote places as well as caves, inhospitable mountains, forests, or even a huge tree. Usually hostile towards humans, they have powerful enemies capable of defeating them like the dragons.
Alkanost have an incredible voice, capable of making anyone who hears her song might forget everything in their search for paradise. A creature of good who resides in the garden of the gods or whatever version of heaven required, the alkanost has the head and bust of a woman and the rest of the body is that of a bird. Sometimes this creature lays eggs which assist in the changing of winter to spring. Basically she wouldn’t sit on her eggs just dump them into the Ocean-Sea and when they reached the bottom the weather would turn fair. Though i think that takes her out of the running for parenting awards.
Anchutka is a small malevolent spirit, residing most often in water or a swamp. Even without wings, it is capable of flight. One of its nicknames is the one without heels. This is a common theme to look for, as oftentimes evil forces have a limp. Though in some storied this spirit has lost their heels because they got bitten off by a wolf. This spirit is often a sidekick to a water spirit called Vodyanoy, and as such you should never say its name aloud since it will always show up.
Aspid, a type of dragon with a beak and other birdlike elements, resides primarily in the mountains, preferring solitude. When it invades a region, nearly always it caused universal devastation.
Baba Yaga: I’m pretty sure a lot of people know about Baba Yaga, the witch who lives in a hut with chicken legs and goes around in a mortar and pestle. She does carry a broom though, but she only uses it to sweep away her tracks.
Bannik is a spirit who rarely does any good for anyone. A mischievous spirit that has the appearance of an old man with long claws, he’s a spirit that inhabits the banya (steamhouse). Whenever people bathed in the banya, they would always leave on the third or fourth session to let Bannik have his privacy. They would leave him offerings of soup and regularly thank him. Bannik had the power to tell the future and if asked a question he would softly touch the askers back if it was a good future or flay it if it was a not so good future. Oh and Bannik, when angry, would claw off the skin of those who annoyed him. The banya was also the place of Russian childbirth, so there were measures taken to keep him from interfering. Part of the midwife’s job was to keep him away. And with good reason. Legends say that he ate or flayed children. So therefore the midwife would dip stones in the water and throw them in the corner to distract the steamhouse spirit.
Bauk hide in dark places and holes and abandoned houses. There they wait to grab, take away, and devour their victims. They have a clumsy gait and can be scared away by light and noise.
Babay, possibly the same thing as the bubak, isn’t often described so children will come up with what is most terrible for them. But despite this, Baby has been described as a black and crooked old man. When he is descibed he tends to have some traits such as muteness, lacking arms, or walking with a limp. He carries with him a bag and a cane. Baby lives in a forest or a swamp or a garden only to come out at night to walk the streets and scoop up the children he meets. He will walk close to windows and watched the children sleep. If they aren’t he’ll scare them with noises. Or sometimes he even hides under kids beds to take them away if they get up.
Błędnica is a forest demoness, who leads people astray before leaving her victims alone in the midst of the forest to die of starvation or be eaten by animals. She is usually described as a young and pretty girl. The only way to chase her away is to use strong spells or to sacrifice something at home or during your hunt.
Blud is a fairy in Slavic mythology. An evil deity who causes disorientation and leads a person around and around aimlessly.
Bukavac lives in lakes and pools, coming out at night to make a loud noise. A six-legged monster with gnarled horns, it would jump people and animals and strangle them.
Bubak is often represented as a scarecrow with a skeleton as frame, which is connected with darkness, it is a type of boogeymen used to scare children. The skeleton often is describes as wearing a heavy black coat where it hides the children it steals.
Cikavac, a mythical creature from Serbian mythology and it kinda feels like a basilisk but way weirder. This thing is a bird that has a long beak and a pelican-like sack. You can acquire one at the low low price of your sanity and clear face. For you see, in order to get one, you need to take an egg from a black hen which a woman now needs to carry under her armpit for 40 days ( is now a good time to note that chicken eggs hatch after 21 days or so) and one cannot confess, cut nails, wash their face, or pray. After that the cikavac would suck the honey from other people’s beehives and suck milk from other peoples cows and then bring it back to their owner. It would fulfill its owner’s wishes and it would allow its owner to understand the animal language.
Chort, a demon or a humanlike spirit in Slavic folk tradition. They are not exactly evil characters. Yes they try to trick people into selling them their souls in exchange for useless gifts. Yes those people are carried off into hell. But they are sometimes tricked into doing such things as building castle walls in a day. Sometimes is depicted as trying to bring evil characters to hell. A small, hairy man with a tail, horns, and one or two hooves. But due to shapeshifting abilities, the chort is able to appear in nicer forms and tries to trick people while in them. Though these transformations aren’t and can’t be complete, so there’s a way to know if one is dealing with a chort whether it be by small horns in curly black hair or a hoofed leg hidden within high boots. Though they share similarities, a chort is not the devil.
Čuma, aka kuga, is a personification of the plague in Serbo-Croation myths. Typically appears as an old woman wearing white, though in some cases has been depicted as a young woman. Direct mention of them were avoided and were usually referred to by godmother or aunty. According to belief, they lived in a far away land where they came from to infect people. Due to their hatred of dirtiness, if they found a dirty household they would be eager to infect it. Due to this, if a plague appeared,every house and its occupants must be thoroughly cleansed. In addition one could make offerings to of food, clean water, basil, and a comb.
Domovoi are household protectors, generally seen as kind spirits though they would harass the family they protect if said family was rude or unclean. This usually took the form of pulling small pranks until the family corrected their behavior. While domovoi are shape shifters, most depictions show them as small, bearded masculine creatures which are reminiscent of hobgoblins. In order to complete his chores and to fulfill his duty of protecting the house, the domovoi would assume the shape of the head of the household, sometimes working in the yard while the real head of household was asleep. (Guess spirits don’t have to worry about identity theft charges). They were also capable of turning into animals, rarely taking the form of a dog or a cat. Another facet of the domovoi was their ability to act as an oracle. Predictions are as follows
Dancing and laughing= Good fortune would come
Rubbed the bristles of a comb= a wedding would happen soon
Extinguished candles= Misfortune would fall upon the household.
Dziwożona, a type of female swamp demon from Slavic mythology, sometimes called Mamuna or Bognika, who lived in the thickets near rivers and streams and lakes. Thought to appear with foul weather around trees and swamps, they are known for being malicious and dangerous, and usually were previously living humans. Several types of people would be at risk of turning into one after death, such as: midwives, old maids, unmarried mothers, pregnant women who die before giving birth, and abandoned children who were born out of wedlock. Some depictions include an ugly, old woman who had a hairy body, long straight hair, and I quote “breasts so huge she uses them to wash her clothes”. I don’t know what that actually means and I don’t want to find out. She also wore a red hat with a fern twig attached. In case she wasn’t weird enough, she’d watch women with their little children. Just chilling around making the kid sick and making schemes to get the mother away from the kid when she’d replace the kid with one of her own, a foundling/changeling.
#i spent 5 hours on this#you better appreciate me lookigng through a bunch of stuff only to find exactly what was on wikipedia#info post#not a prompt#Creatures from folklore vol I#that's what im gonna call this part#part 1 of...idk 3 4 or 5
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Yugioh Ep 35 S4: Raphael Joins the Pile of Dead Bodies
Ah 2020, thankfully we have one trashfire somewhat behind us, but I’m still avoiding social media for so many obvious reasons because of all the other trashfires that just never seem to stop burning, so lets talk about Yugioh with all of this newfound time.
Ah, card games. Card games that go on for 6-7 episodes. Lets see how they pad it out:
In a lot of ways, Roland really is just padding for the show, and that’s OK. He’s doing his best, by doing literally nothing but stand outside and check the time.
Inside the dusty soul chamber, Tristan has decided to do us the favor of recapping what happened last episode, which included the return of our four dead friends, so that they could die...again.
Seto’s reaction to seeing these dead people suddenly alive again was very “guys...I went nuts like years ago, I’m just going with it at this point.” and he’s still 100% positive that this is all a hologram and that no one will ever die.
Whatever it takes for Seto to get out of bed in the morning, I guess.
(read more under the cut)
One of the big mechanics the game is that you need to stay level headed, or the Orichalcos just kind of slurps you up. This explains a little why Dartz is so freakin chill basically all of the time, just the Bob Ross of evil over there. It also is sort of funny because Pharaoh and Seto are the least chill people to have ever lived so he’s just kind of waiting it out to see whom between Seto and Kaiba gets the most angry first and completely botches it.
Yugi has to do literally nothing and for the first time in his life this is the right choice.
I’m so glad he gets to use his big brain move of “If I don’t play, no one dies!” from S1. Glad it came back to serve him for once instead of just make everyone else really annoyed.
Yugi just...not moving means it’s now Seto’s turn to put down some cards, and he kinda looks over at Pegasus and goes...well you know what’s gonna happen next.
I have no idea why he didn’t attack Pegasus. Like this episode is kind of weird because we got these flashbacks of Pegasus being like “you’re my only hope, Yugi!” and it’s like wtf, Pegasus trapped you on a murder island and tried to kill you multiple times. He abducted Mokuba and turned both the Kaiba brothers into cards.
yo did Seto and Pegasus get back together in between seasons or something? Was there a whole character development where these two have fun brunches in San Fransisco now? Because I would watch that anime. I would watch the anime where Seto and Pegasus are co-hosting Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and just destroying every unsuspecting local restaurant they brunch in.
But are we just assuming that the eyeball did all that evil stuff from S1 and that otherwise Pegasus is a good person? Because like...he was a mess before he got possessed. He’s kind of a Yugi, he’s kind of a Bakura, he’s kind of a Marik...in that there’s a mess in that bean, and getting possesed just only amplified what was already there.
So, with his smug as hell grin, Seto surprises Dartz by only barely getting affected by this inescapable moral dilemma and Seto just very quickly deciding to do a murder. And then we get a little blimp throwback to S2 (S3? I don’t even remember at this point, since we’ve been stuck in S4 for an entire year. Thanks 2020.)
If blocking the shot when Marik did it in S3 or S2 or whenever that was, didn’t get Mai to like Joey, then it shouldn’t work if you do it a second time.
But hey, I guess it’s better than letting her perma-die. Although this show desperately needs to figure out how to use Mai if they’re gonna keep her around, youknow?
Like all ships are fine and valid here, ship whatever you want to your hearts content: I don’t ship at all, as you know, but I hope one day they give Mai a personality that is consistently likeable. I do want to like her because she’s like...good at what she does when she plays cards and can be that can be a fun “hey I’m a girl but I’m not a freakin ‘gamer girl’ you male chauvinist assholes” type of character. But, the show just...the show doesn’t know what they want outside of a little romantic tension that they legally can’t follow through because of a 5-6 year age gap with a teenager.
This show actively tries to destroy this ship, and then turns around and is like “oh shoot this ship is all we have.” This show tries to lift up Mai as a feminist icon one season, and then tears her down for being “too” feminist the next season when she decides to--youknow--kill Joey Wheeler because he made her feel weak or something when he saved her life.
Like the show does a lot to explore weakness and strength, and how what we see as weakness is actually strength, and how what we tend to attribute as strengths is actually weakness, and how our modern career/school/success expectations set us up for failure, but I think they explored that way better with Seto than they ever did with Mai.
Could’ve been cool Mai, you could’ve been cool.
Anyhoo, that was my spicy commentary on a 10+ year old anime, good to get it off my chest.
Seto and Yami have the typical problem they have whenever they play cards together, where one goes completely rogue. Except this time, the one going rogue isn’t Seto, it’s Yami. He’s just like...I’ll make life for Seto very difficult and I will lose this game and I don’t even mind because I’m already dead, deal with it.
So honestly this is an episode where it’s just Seto demanding we kill a bastard, and Yami being like “but not THAT bastard” and Seto just shrugging and saying “I have to kill A bastard, Yugi! Just CHOOSE one!”
That actual line in the show (I forget what it was exactly) does infer that Seto thinks Joey holds him back, and that implication speaks miles about Seto’s insecurities.
HOW THOUGH..........what are you jealous of, Seto?
You’re better at cards than he is, he’s never beat you at anything. It’s not about who’s best friends with Yugi because...Yugi’s possessed so Yami is always going to take first place...
......so what could it possibly BE?
Seto doesn’t attend school anymore, is it about that? Is it because Joey is likeable? Is it because Joey pretends he has a much older girlfriend? I mean hypothetically, Blue Eyes White Dragon is WAY older than Mai so...that can’t be it.
.....what IS it???
Does the “friendship” he have with Joey make Seto too soft? Is that what’s holding him back? Because Seto doesn’t actually think he’s friends with these people and says that Yugi and co are “Mokuba’s friends” so like....
.....what are you talking about, Seto???
Is it because you’re addicted to cards again? Because that’s...sort of Joey’s fault because he was the one who told you he needed a ride to Jacksonville, and then let slip that the “King of Games” title was up for grabs, is that it?
Are you just tired of Joey asking you for a ride?
Not like it matters, because Joey survives, and Seto gets to feel like a complete asshole about it.
As Raphael (who is this purple blur here) motorcycles into the dome of souls, Rolands last words were
“You can’t go in there!”
which was the weirdest thing to say to a guy you just saw fall down a 50 story building a few hours ago. Raphael not being dead should be the thing Roland fixates on, but instead he’s seen so many people die and come back to life, that he’s only concerned that Raphael will get in trouble for trespassing.
Again, Roland is the only Kaiba that hasn’t died yet, and it’s because he’s the only Kaiba that hasn’t broken the law.
Dude. What if the reason Roland is standing outside is because he’s been politely looking for the doorbell to be let in?
...the players asking for death...like clockwork...and me asking for the end of this freakin game...we played...1 turn this episode...
This episode was 1 turn!
And you may ask...well what else could possibly happen to stretch this out and well...
Raphael dives in on a motorcycle to save the day. Which is an aesthetic, by the way, this huge man covered in like a dozen belts, doing a wheelie jump into a chasm of 1 million souls. that’s an aesthetic.
So he shows up, gets off his bike and I was like “Oh good, someone to maybe save Yugi saving Joey saving Mai?” And instead, I was...not given that.
Mostly Raphael is here because he ALSO wants to kill Dartz, and is like “can I join? I know you’ve only played like 1 round, just deal me a new hand, it’ll be fine.” and it’s like...we already played the Orichalcos Raphael, this is not a game of Uno, you cannot just jump in.
Dartz is sort of obsessed with how everyone around him has potential for evil except for him, the chillest human to ever be born, and I gotta say...when he’s in this room...Dartz has a point.
+++++++++++++RANT ABOUT BEING PERFECT FEEL FREE TO SKIP++++++++++++++
It is sort of nice to have the concept of an older generation (in this case 10,000 years older) fighting with a younger generation. To have the older, more typically wiser generation say “Listen, I kinda screwed the planet and the war economy and the prison system...and I’m gonna keep doing that...and you can’t stop me because you’re a bunch of hypocritical dumbasses.” and then the younger generation say. “We don’t care if we’re a mess, dude. We aren’t the problem here.”
I may be putting some recent topical STUFF into this mold here, but it is a nice little analogy that they made even someone who is such a human disaster as Yami and Seto “morally good” enough to fight Dartz. You don’t have to be a perfect Harvard Grad to fight the system, you don’t have to be an entirely problematic-free savior, you can be even as problematic as Seto Kaiba--just get rid of the dumb assholes trying to destroy the world. That’s all.
Like this concept is strangely prescient because in 2020 we’re in a weird time period where if you aren’t perfect, you’re not allowed to have opinions. You’re not allowed to make content. You’re not allowed to make change. This is mostly an online problem in places like twitter, but it’s a real problem--because in the end what you’re left with is no one that wants to step up to the plate because they know that they, too, are flawed.
And like not even just as a political thing, even as a creator, as an artist, I see this problem more and more with kids. Kids who are like “I am afraid to draw because what if I do it wrong and I get dragged on twitter years later?” or “I want to make a story, but I’m afraid to get cancelled because my fantasy story has problematic stuff in it? Am a bad person for wanting to write it?” And it’s like...what are we doing to young creators right now? Did we all fail humanities? How have we failed art and literature SO badly that we’ve come to this point that people are too afraid to even learn how to do it right?
Anyway that was a tangent, but like...you see the similarities, right? That if you really were as perfect as Dartz either politically or creatively, you’d be a freakin monster and would probably just tear down everyone else around you on twitter rather than lift other people up. It’s a stretch but eh, it’s been a while since I went on a good Yugioh tangent and like
---it’s not like I can say this on twitter---
+++++++++++++++END OF THAT RANT+++++++++++++++++++
So it’s at this point that Dartz turns to Raphael is like “I mean...we weren’t really doing anything else, and Yugi and Yami are playing so slowly...I guess I have time to bust your nuts” and decides to bust his nuts.
Oh hey, I was right.
And yeah, that’s still effed up. Dartz killed his Raphael’s family, left him on an island, and then adopted him later after forcing him to dig up their graves. Like...Raphael, that’s effed up.
He also did the same thing to everyone else (and for Valon he just kinda glazed over that really fast because we had to edit his backstory out of the English version)
PS at this part Mokuba started sweating bullets and Tea leaned over and was like “Is this true, Mokuba?”
And Mokuba was like “...yes.”
Because, I don’t think Mokuba can keep any secret from Tea. Like for reals, Tea may be the most dangerous thing to all of KaibaCorp if she wasn’t so distracted by Yami’s endless string of problems. Mokuba is constantly telling them all of Seto’s deepest darkest secrets and there is like nothing Seto can do about it.
The animation of Gozaburo turning into a beautiful Dartz was just a simple fade to white, but man--imagine if they had dome some crazy effed up animation where Gozaburo just whips back his head and he has ass length blue hair and long, luscious lashes?
Imagine.
Anyway, this was enough for Raphael, who was already our most gullible and unstable person on this show, to just flip that switch and go lime green like all those other minibosses before him.
Really glad we built up Raphael for him to just die at the door hahaha.
That was so freakin random.
OK then. Thanks for nothing, Raphael.
I guess we go to the next episode to see if we finally play another turn? We can hope for good things. But if we don’t play a full turn I will NOT be surprised.
https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono
#ygo#yugioh#Yu-Gi-Oh#Yami Muto#Pharaoh#Seto Kaiba#Tristan Taylor#Rafael#Raphael#Dartz#Tea Gardner#Mokuba Kaiba#Orichalcos#I will never spell that right#Yugi Muto#Mai Valentine#joey Wheeler#Maxamillion Pegasus#S4#Ep35
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Prince Sky Headcanons
He’s Prince Charming. The Golden Boy. The Hero we all need.
(I’m trying so hard to not be sarcastic dudes...)
Meet Prince Sky Grant of Eraklyon, The Future King. (Probably. We’ll see.)
(All of these are headcanons based on my main fics... But if you like them, by all means, borrow them. He’s so bland.)
-Prince Sky doesn’t exactly have a… Typical princely story. At least, not with how he came to be born. (There was no sweet prince fell in love with a princess story. His parents were arranged to be married… And found a little late that there was something they couldn’t do as rulers…)
-So they hatched a plan with Samara’s willing older sister… A secret surrogacy. (Sky is Erendor’s son… Just not Samara’s. Well, not biologically anyway.)
-But to keep up appearances and to keep others from finding out, Samara faked being pregnant so that no one would no any differently. (Even with his blonde locks, she could just say he inherited it from his grandmother… Which wouldn’t be a complete lie. Her mother was a blonde.)
-Sky grew up pretty sheltered, not allowed to leave the castle grounds until he was enrolled into Eraklyon’s Preparatory School. (Alongside Diaspro and her older brother.)
-He had a few other ‘chosen’ playmates, mainly children of nobility and his older cousin Thoren. But the only friend he was truly close too was Brandon.
-(That friendship was actually an accident. Brandon’s mother is one of Samara’s guards and his father works the main stables.)
-(Young Sky, about 8-ish, had went to check out the stables by himself because he was so sure he could do anything his guards could. He ended up running into Brandon who basically showed him how to saddle a horse and how to make friends with them, not really knowing that Sky was Prince Sky.)
-(Erendor was upset that Sky had left his lessons, but had been impressed that he and Brandon worked so well together and seemed to genuinely enjoy each other’s company. So with Brandon’s parents’ blessing, he made Brandon Sky’s squire and personal body guard. Putting him into school with Sky and putting him to training.)
-Sky really does enjoy horseback riding, something he seldom gets to do after he starts to really dig into his prince and warrior training. But whenever he’s home, he does try to take his favorite horse for a ride. (Her name is Delma, after his favorite childhood movie hero.)
-He’s fluent in about 13 languages and conversational in 2 others. (He really enjoys speaking Solarian. It makes him feel a bit more, airy and relaxed.)
-Yes, he’s trained in most traditional dances. No, he doesn’t enjoy it. (Yes, it does have a bit to do with Riven’s shit-talking.)
-Sky and Diaspro actually used to be friends as kids. They knew they were arranged to be married, but it didn’t really matter to them at first. That all changed when Diaspro left for a summer with her mother and came back… Very different. (Sky did worry about her, but he had his own issues to deal with.)
-Those people who came after Layla on Andros and who threatened Radius and Luna about Stella? The leftover Ancestral Coven members? Yeah, they sort of started targeting Sky after he turned twelve.
-He and his older cousin Thoren were having one of their adventures away from the palace, (something Thoren hated to do because he hated seeing his uncle pissed off, but Sky couldn’t be allowed to just run off like that).
-Two elementals showed up and started to attack the boys. Thoren’s weapon wasn’t much of a match and Sky was just starting to really get into training. They were nearly killed.
-In fact, if it hadn’t been for Thoren’s quick thinking with a smoke bomb, he and Sky would have died. He told Erendor about it, and that put Sky on lockdown. (He still blames Thoren for that, even though he now realizes as an adult that he would have been no match for a Coven trained assassin.)
-This was when he got Lady from Samara. Normally she hated having animals around inside the castle, they’re so messy you know, but for her son’s sake… She felt he needed a hound that could protect him. That was Lady.
-(Which is why Lady went to Red Fountain that first year with Sky and Brandon… And why Brandon and Sky had their switch.)
-(Honestly though, Red Fountain almost didn’t happen for Sky. He had to beg and reason with Erendor for two years straight before he and Brandon could go.)
-(His reasonings? “Think about it, Dad, I’ll learn different survival skills. I’ll learn combat, about different weapons and vehicles. I’ll learn how to be an effective leader with others from different realms. And I’ll be able to learn first-hand about other cultures, which could come in handy during diplomatic situations. And I’ll learn a bit how to take of myself, which is something we all need to learn, right?”)
-He got to go, but Saladin and his teachers were instructed to keep an eye on Sky and to send progress reports back to Erendor. (Any missteps, and he was supposed to be sent home.)
-Sky thrived at Red Fountain. He managed to make friends with people other than Brandon. (Not that he doesn’t love Brandon, but sometimes he needs other people’s opinions… Not someone who sort of follows him into the depths.)
-Timmy was one of the first friends he made. The two really bonded over the weaponry tech Red Fountain had and different tactical plans. (And Timmy introduced him to video games… Which was so much more fun than he had imagined them being. He loves co-op games the most, and has a thing for RimSky, an rpg game that lets him be a real hero.)
-Riven was… Challenging. It was great having someone who could actually (and would at every step) challenge Sky and his approach to situations. He really made Sky have to think things through and up his game when it came to training. (And Riven may have been the one to introduce extreme sports… And old fashioned’ alley fighting. And they both have a thing for their dragons and levibikes. You just have to get passed the surliness.)
-When Helia joined, Sky was unsure how he’d fit into the group. But he knows without a doubt Helia has their back. (And if Helia gives the best romantic advice? Who has to know…?)
-Nabu helped Sky learn to challenge his own teachings. Nabu, a prince like Sky, made a point to remind Sky that they are their own people too. That they way they’ll rule will not be exactly like their parents and that they need to learn and embrace their own styles of ruling. (“What legacy do you want to leave behind Sky? One of greatness or one of strife and hatred?”)
-Out of the girls, aside from Bloom, he hangs out with Layla and Musa the most.
-They’re both down to try new sports or new foods, and they are fantastic workout buddies. (When Musa bothers getting up on time…)
-He does identify hard with Layla and Stella though… It’s the royalty and expectations thing…
-At Red Fountain, Sky quickly realized he had a lot of unlearning to do.
-Like, he had to realize that not everyone views Eraklyon as the best place ever to live. Yes it stung. And yes, finding out why people felt the way they did about Eraklyon also stung. But it helped him open his eyes to the truth.
-(It’s a bit of a more… Controlling realm. And they are always looking for ways to expand/colonize in other places. Usually while looking through loopholes in the Council’s mandates.)
-He also had to unlearn prejudice against dark realmers/people with dark magic. All his life he’d heard about the Ancestral Coven and how evil all dark magic is… While at Red Fountain, he had to learn that it’s the people who make magic evil, not the magic itself.
-(And he sort of had to unlearn that he’s entitled to certain things because of his royal heritage. That was a bit hard, considering he grew up a bit spoiled…)
-His favorite classes at Red Fountain had to deal with tactical maneuvers, combat training, and beast taming. (His dragon from season 1? Yeah it’s at Eraklyon. His name is Bruno and he is Sky’s baby. Okay?)
-His skills with a bow and arrow suck and his blaster aim isn’t much better, but damn does he know how to work a sword.
-(Saladin says its because he’s Erendor’s son. That blades remember who wields them best.)
-Sky isn’t a good cook. Period. But he does enjoy trying foods from other places. (And attempting to try and recreate foods he loved best… Usually in disaster and with Brandon giving him the ‘seriously dude?’ look.)
-While he may seem like a goodie-goodie… Sky has done his fair-share of pranks in the Red Fountain halls. Usually against other squads. And with prompting/backing from Riven.
-Pranks he was part of: the Great Caffeine Heist (which they promptly fixed because of Timmy), the Great Egg Swap, the Gryphons’ Great Escape, the Simulation Switch, and the Great Bubble Wars.
-(In retaliation, Sky has had his fair share of punishments… Including one where some of the school’s wizard students cursed his hair to become like a mood ring for a whole week. And one where the other squads pretended that his squad had missed a whole weeks’ worth of lectures.)
-After graduation, Sky had started on his transitional lessons/responsibilities from Prince to King. However, they were put on hold after he left for Earth. (Which Erendor allowed because Bloom and the realm of Domino were wanting to help with the Last Fairy situation and he felt he owed them that much considering how he fucked up in the war.)
-(Sky had a huge moment of culture shock with Earth. Like who the fuck still uses gasoline-based vehicles? Or lead using guns? And the homeless and sick people? The education disparities? Like yeah, Eraklyon has a class issue, but even the lowliest people on the Eraklyon hierarchy gets a good education with new books and supplies. How behind is Earth?)
-(But thanks to Codatorta’s medieval vehicles’ training courses, he and the guys can handle this.)
-Also, he really does enjoy getting to see where Bloom grew up and learning more about how Bloom became who she is.
-(Yes there was so much he screwed up about in the beginning… But he’s doing his best to make up for it with her.)
-Sky just… he wants to be a great ruler and change the direction he sees Eraklyon headed in. He wants to be a better person than his father and be a more understanding King. He just hopes he isn’t too late.
#winx club headcanons#winx club au#winx club sky#winx club prince sky#winx sky headcanons#golden boy
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sooo... pip and emma headcanon?
So, I had to put some thought into this one - behold my result.
The Princess Dragon and The Dragon (better known as Pip & Emma)
There are few ‘true’ siblings on the railways - engines not only related by class and proximity, but also age. Sodor has three such sets - Donald and Douglas, Skarloey and Rheneas, and Pip and Emma.
They were close from birth - they were built right after each other, numbers 43017 and 43018. They were outshopped the same day, and each were the first locomotive they saw once ‘born’.
‘Close’ does not begin to begin to describe the two. From their introduction to service in the 70′s, they were kept as a pair, working trains all over BR’s network as a matched set - where one went, the other followed. Attempts to separate them in order to meet trainset needs typically ended poorly - both units operated well below norms when alone, and often exceeded those same norms when together. By 1983, a notice had been put into BR’s computer system to ensure that they wouldn’t be separated.
Such close proximity is nothing new to engines (look at Donald and Douglas), but with Pip and Emma there was a new twist:
Ask most diesels about being a trailing unit - one that is controlled by the lead engine via Multiple Unit (MU) controls - and they will say that it’s a necessary discomfort. (To sum up many different opinions: It feels weird, and not in a good way. )
Because the HST sets were supposed to permanently run ‘top and tail’ on their trains, BR did design them in such a way as to make MUing more comfortable, and most class 43s have no strong opinions on being MUed.
The key word there, is most.
Pip and Emma - who had spent most of their lives connected to one another in just about every way, including mechanically - began to exhibit some form of telepathy with each other as early as 1985, and by the early 90′s had basically stopped acting as two separate entities.
While they remained two (interconnected) minds, they became basically one body - totally aware of what each other was seeing and feeling at all times.
[They can also sense each other’s thoughts, but wisely have kept that on the down-low, and have said little on exactly how close they are.]
-(They’re totally drift compatible, btw)-
-
Now, after decades of basically living in one another’s heads, the sisters are capable of sensing each other even when disconnected, which has caused no small amount of shock for bystanders when one of them is in for maintenance, and the other one is miles away on a train, but they’re still talking to each other.
-
They originally gained nicknames back in the late 70′s, when a cracked exhaust manifold caused Emma’s engine to roar loudly at idle. Pip’s somewhat demure attitude at the time quickly gained them the nickname of “The Princess and The Dragon”.
This nickname lasted almost three whole years, until Pip learned what a dragon actually was, decided that they were much more exciting than princesses, and began referring to herself as ‘the dragon’ as well. Emma, being an enabler, agreed with her sister totally on this point, and the two of them essentially gaslit members of staff at BR into believing that they had always been referred to as “The Dragon and The Dragon”. This nickname has stuck ever since - including after their move to Sodor, but nobody on the Island knows why they’re called that, so it doesn’t get as much use unless they’re feeling quite ornery, at which point they become insistent on being called by their “titles”.
Also, in the 1980′s, some true Agent of Chaos in the Western Region taught Pip how to growl and roar like a “real” dragon. Naturally this meant that Emma learned that skill as well, and the ‘Dragon Sisters’ have occasionally expressed their frustrations by roaring into the night when they think nobody is around.
On more than one occasion, this has absolutely scared the living daylights out of some poor shunter parked just out of sight.
(It’s a ridiculously accurate sound too, and isn’t helped at all by both sisters having seen ‘jurassic park’ enough times to be able to mimic the t-rex’s roar. When coming out of two little express engines, this sound can and has startled bigger engines off the rails)
-
Moving to Sodor happened in the 90′s. The newly independent North Western Railway wanted a diesel express service for running into London, and The Fat Controller (the Third) found an agreeable pair of West Coast Main Line HSTs in London.
That agreeable pair was promptly killed less than a week later in the Southall Rail Crash, forcing Stephen Hatt to go back to Great Western Trains for a different set.
GWT, now down a pair of 43s, wouldn’t sell him any more, which forced him to go to GNER, where he found Pip and Emma, who jumped at the chance to go back to the strange island full of steam engines that they’d visited before.
Their arrival on Sodor doesn’t go perfectly, as some engines who shall remain nameless *cough cough* Oliver, Douglas. *cough* are still opposed to new diesels - *for somewhat* understandable reasons. (It’s 1998 guys - stop stereotyping. They’re not all evil.)
However, Pip and Emma really don’t help avoid suspicion when they intentionally act “evil” and “scheming” whenever certain engines are about.
BoCo and Bear, who are always down to psychologically torment idiots, get involved too, and the prank goes wildly out of hand when everyone on Thomas’ branch line (except a very unamused Daisy) starts panicking about ‘soul stealing, mind reading, red-eyed, diesel electric monsters!’
The prank is eventually brought to heel after an embarrassing incident at Kellsthorpe road station involving tinfoil, Annie, Percy, and one of the engines from the Electric Branch. The Fat Controller - once he learns all the facts and can speak without laughing, is merely glad that Pip and Emma are integrating well to the railway.
[Note - this does totally ignore RWS book 42 “Thomas and his Friends”, which states that Pip and Emma arrive on the island in 2011. This is because that book is dumb. The last time any main line engines are mentioned in the RWS before then is in 1995 in “Thomas and the Fat Controller’s Engines”. There is zero reason for the NWR to have waited almost 20 years to buy an HST set. It makes no sense. Also, it ruined a very good Railway Series fanfiction on the Sodor Island Forums, which had to be taken down because it defied continuity. So I say they showed up in the late 90′s. Deal with it.]
-
In 2007, Pip pleads/threatens the paint shop staff at the works, and gets herself and Emma a Christmas present: A giant, fire-breathing dragon painted on both of their cabs. The works’ paint shop staff consists of a bunch of guys who customize old cars in their free time, and a bunch of young apprentices who play D&D in their off-hours. The resulting Dragons are some of the most amazing vehicle art ever applied to something that isn’t a 1970′s Chevy Van, and actually win several awards from hot rod magazines.
More concerningly, the dragons do not appear to be stationary, as multiple pictures taken by trainspotters show the dragons on different parts of the engines at different times. Pip and Emma have not been asked, but one can assume that the Dragon Sisters might have more than just flashy paint, they may actually have real dragons now.
#ttte#ttte headcanon#ttte pip#ttte emma#ttte pip&emma#sodor#headcanon#ask response#dragons#all of this happens before Game of Thrones is aired#both of them answered to Daenerys#They hated the end of the show - just like everyone else#I wrote this for like me and two other people at most#trains#thomas the tank engine#extremely specific headcanon
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Teaser for “Hop, Skip, and a Jump”
A Bellamione fic that explores what happens when the Department of Mysteries duels end in Hermione taking Bellatrix down with a whip, which leaves an impression on Bella when she's sent back to Azkaban. Luna invents a longer-range time turner, Hermione is lonely after divorcing Ron, and the Black sisters were just legendary for getting up to gay nonsense...
https://www.patreon.com/posts/48881466
Harry is thrashing in Remus grip, refusing to believe it and trying to dive through the Veil. Hermione takes in the other members of her merry band of child soldiers.
Ron's a mess. Black eye. Split lip. Bloody knuckles. Dark red staining the tips of his sweaty ginger hair where it dips against a cut on his forehead. Looks like a soccer hooligan after a riot. Made excellent use of that table leg when he lost his wand, though.Full marks.
Ginny displayed raw elemental force with wind, cold and lightning that her tiny body shouldn't have been able to contain and reflexes none of them could keep pace with.
Luna was bloody terrifying. She nearly killed a man with an origami dragon made out of interdepartmental memos. Hermione nearly threw up after her first real curse connected, after the first time that she did magic that truly harmed another human being. Yet Luna simply cocked her head and looked curiously at the dragon and was about to pet it when it dissolved.Creativity and lack of inhibitions are useful in a soldier, Hermione supposes.
Tonks is badly hurt, but she's breathing at least. What the fuck was that curse? Dumbledore has been letting her read up on Dark Arts, supervised, and she's never heard of those elements being combined. If there's a person spending their rainy Sundays with a notepad working out new ways to use dark arts, it's probably Bellatrix Lestrange.
A magically amplified voice rings throughout the room.
"I killed Sirius Black, I killed Sirius Black, I killed Sirius Black!"
Harry slips out of Remus' grip and then he's gone.
Fucking invisibility cloak. One of these days, I'm going to hang him with it.
-----
Never used an Unforgivable Curse, have you, boy?" she chuckles.
The dark witch's hand is not far from her own wand. She's taunting Harry about having to mean it when he does dark magic.
Pathos versus logos, one French scholar decided when studying the topic. Someone can do ordinary magic emotionlessly, acting out just an idea. Not dark magic. Dark spellwork takes raw emotion and blood magic and dark rites more so.
Which also brings her to the disturbing realization that Bellatrix is not nearly as broken as everyone thinks, and at the same time, she's so much more broken than anyone realized.She's never seen Harry this angry, or this torn up, and he can't summon a cruciatus for a woman who really deserves one.
Bellatrix can let one drop from her lips like its nothing, ten seconds after telling a joke. She's not cold. She's not empty or numb or hollow. Bellatrix Black Lestrange is just too much. She's always boiling over.
She's not dangerous despite being insane because it's not a handicap. Bellatrix is dangerous because she can use her own insanity. Uses her instability as just one more weapon. To be able to do the things she does, to channel wildly different emotions on a moment's notice like that...
-----
Hermione spots a bit of velvet rope on the ground, not far from one of the entrances.
"Accio rope," she whispers, calling it slowly into her hand.Bellatrix's fingers are curling around that clawed wand of hers. Any moment now, she's going to make use of the fact that Harry's standing there, barking out curses he doesn't understand the mechanics of, his lip trembling. She's going to kill him.
"Flagellum ingis!" Hermione shouts and the rope in her hand catches fire. Crimson, bloody-looking flames. What had been a few inches of fat velvet is now a thirty-foot coil of nasty-looking black leather. The frayed end becomes a hard metal handle.
She swings and, by some miracle, connects.
-----
Shacklebolt stares at her for a long time, like he doesn't believe her.
There's a knock on the door.
"Enter," he calls over his shoulder. It's Tonks, wobbling on crutches with an expandable sack under her arm. Her typically pink hair is a messy gray and her metamorphagus skills seem to be trying to shift her dislocated jaw back into shape, against the bracing charm the healers put on her.
"Tonks!"
"Wotcher, Hermione," she chuckles.
"Get it?" Kingsley asks.
"Kreacher wasn't happy about it, but yes."
She tips the sack upside down and drops a huge book on the table. It's bound in crimson silk and black lace. No title on the spine, instead two words.
Tojous pur. Always pure. The motto of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black.
"Looks a bit like fancy knickers, don't it?" Tonks jokes.
-----
When the Black Grimoire teleports itself into Hermione's lap, no one's laughing. Arthur Weasley goes white as a sheet and Remus's eyes flicker gold momentarily and she could swear she heard a canine's whine.
"Hermione," Remus says, his voice scratchy and small. "Please. That's..."
"Dangerous," Arthur fills in.
They're all looking at her like she's Darth Vader, suddenly. Like she has to be talked down. Like she's suddenly the most dangerous person in the room. She looks at the book. What spells are in this, anyway, that it being in her lap makes the entire Order of the Phoenix flinch?
"I don't want it!" she protests.
The book teleports itself again. Where it goes, none of them can figure out.
-----
The book comes back again the night before the battle. She asks Tonks over to try to get rid of it.
"S'not something to be afraid of, little devil," Tonks says. "Doesn't have to be."
Little devil is Tonks' nickname for her, after finding a photo of Hermione gothed-out at age eleven, a few weeks before she got her letter. She's stopped using it around others.
"I'd think you'd hate the Blacks," Hermione mumbles.Tonks sighs, shifting her skirts out of the way and sitting down on the bench beside her. Hogsmeade is empty. Cleared out so fast that everyone left almost everything. They've been eating like kings, and it helps. Tonks especially is thriving. Crazy bitch decided to put the witch-or-wizard debate to bed for all time by rejoining the war nine days after giving birth, slinging spells while leaking milk into her clothes.
"I think that'd be like using a time turner to kill my grandparents," Tonks admits.
She puffs at her hair, which goes pink, then blue, then green, then turns to something rather like glass.
"Being a Black gave me this ability.”
"Let's take a look, shall we?"
Tonks squeezes her hand tight, and together they open the grimoire.
"I'll keep you safe."
-----
She's staggering out of the Great Hall. Bloody. Aching. Alive.
Before she can find a banister to lean on, Tonks slams into her. Hermione wails.
"Sorry," Tonks squeaks.
"Just ribs," she grumbles. "What is it?"
"Page two hundred seventeen. Knowing what that curse looks like? Saved my life. Remus' too."
Hermione huffs."Next time you're trying to thank me, let's talk, all right?"
The Grimoire appears in her trunk on the way back to Hogwarts to re-take her seventh year. This time, it won't leave, even when ordered to.
-----
Everything is pain and exhaustion. But Rose is gorgeous. She's everything. Hermione fumbles for her wand, gathers the birth blood into the air and then whispers out an ancient curse with her lips pressed to her eldest's tiny, sticky head. Not all curses are meant to hurt the one at the center of them. The Mother's Curses are darker than night and because of the blood linking caster to target, far more powerful than ordinary spells.
------
They split after Hugo's born. It's more to do with her campaign for Minister, which she loses by a hair, than the 'neglect' of Hugo who she keeps so close she thinks that Molly would have blushed.
As divorces go, it's bloodless. Pureblood-muggleborn marriages can be rocky, of course, and she produced heirs for the Weasley line. So from the traditionalist point of view, the muggle divorce and the Gringotts paperwork don't mean much. The same ceremony showed that their children's blood bears more of her magic than his. For that reason, or some other reason, Ron never bad-mouths her in public. She never moves to have their names changed to merely 'Granger'. She hears 'mudblood' whispered for the first time in a long while.
-----
On one side of her desk, the plaque bears bold green letters that thrum with sorcery.
Hermione Jean Granger, Minister of Magic
On the other side, visible only in the presence of a Dumbledore's Army coin, she scratched a second marking in one of Tolkien's half-right, half-wrong scripts of Elvish.
here sits a servant of the elves
-----
"WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR, A BLACK?" a woman shrieks outside her office.
Hermione groans, dropping her fork back into her takeout container.Harry chuckles, glancing up from his case file.
"Your damn fault," she mutters."You needed the help, old friend. Be a shame if paperwork killed you after all this."
"It'd be the most evil thing that tried, so it makes sense."
She flicks her wand at her office door.
"In here, both of you!" she barks.
-----
"Sarah?" Hermione asks, desperate to hear a human voice across the shuffling of papers.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Something's been bugging me about...the incident."
Missy stiffens.
"What?" she asks, flipping another sheet face down."You said, what do you take me for, then added the word Black."
There's a polite throat-clearing so familiar sounding that has Hermione scrambling for her wand and leveling it at a sixteen-year-old girl.
"Right. Sorry," she mumbles. "Sounded a bit like..."
"Umbridge," the girl laughs. "Professor Longbottom and Professor Abbot complain too."
"I keep telling her that's going to get her jinxed," the boy next to her huffs. "Interrupting people who that lunatic tortured in mid-lecture rather than just raising her hand."
"Shut up, Ballard."
"Go on...uh...""Myn," the girl chirps, offering her hand. "Mynara Wallsworth."
Hermione shakes it and then bows.
"Enlighten us, wise one."
"It's just that the Blacks are notorious. There's a bunch of scratches on the sixth-year Slytherin dorm's walls. Hard to tell with fading, but at least twenty. According to legend, it's one mark for each girl who got a hat trick."
"A what?"
"Each girl who snogged all three of the Black sisters during school."
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Defeating an overwhelming antagonist…again..:
A problem with any ongoing story is the need for escalation. Every conflict need to be greater than the previous and while there are a number of different ways to do this (I’m partial to an emotional element as opposed to greater risk), the easiest is simply to up-the-ante.
The Star Wars prequels went from a single planet to the entire galaxy; superheroes frequently go from the villain of the week to saving everything; romance such as Kimi ni Todoke (which I’ve written about previously) starts with the lead trying to talk make connections and ends on trying to keep their friends, partner and life goal.
Every genre will have different requirements. Heck, if pornography has ongoing stories then they’d have the same problem, although don’t count on me figuring out how to deal with it. More participants? Dunno.
I personally love a good action story and it can be dumb like Dragon Ball, goofy like Gintama or serious like Bleach, and I deliberately named manga as examples as that’s the area I’ve chosen to write about today. Why manga? Well in my experience the scale of escalation tends to be somewhat more extreme and far simpler.
I think I’d like to also write about escalation in other genres such as romance, slice-of-life and sure, comedy, and how they might, and often do, intermingle. But for now I’m gonna talk about the action genre’s Overwhelming Antagonist.
Again.
Sorry.
I’m going to provide three examples this time, all manga that I loved (at one time at least) and while I’ve only just finished one of them, another has recently had a confirmation for its finale being animated. Going from bad to good: Bleach, Naruto, and Gintama.
So we’re starting with Bleach. Hmm, what do you need to know to understand this? Well after writing this out once already I figured all you actually need to know is why the antagonist sucks.
The antagonist in question is- uhh, f*ck it. His name is “Yhwach”, but screw figuring out the pronunciation for that, I’m calling him Deus (even though this will influence the SEO of this article, but whatever). Deus is quite possibly the worst example I can think of for a bad antagonist. His unique superpower, The Almighty, is to know everything that will happen, that can happen, and to freakin’ overwrite any future he doesn’t like!
Like seriously! I can only think of one power that is harder to overcome and that’s the one that’s been floating around online about controlling probability. It’s the epitome of bullshit, and the overwriting-futures-he-doesn’t-like bit only comes out after he should have lost, and that’s what bothers me the most.
If he had lost right there, it would have been a very satisfying end brought about from the hero’s, Ichigo Kurosaki’s, efforts, working alongside allies and previous antagonists and with some actual tactics; satisfying despite the nonsense of literally everything else in the arc until that point (contradicting established lore and generally making no goddamn sense-). Instead he whips out this Diabolus ex Machina (the villainous Deus ex Machina) so that something the writer included earlier (but hadn’t really established) could finish him off instead.
This is all quite terrible, but what makes it so egregious is that Bleach had two, two, separate and very much ideal chances to end, but kept going. But basically Deus simply chose not to die, rewriting reality to do so, but couldn’t overwrite his actual loss? Care to explain that to us, upcoming anime?
SECOND! Naruto.
Naruto is also pretty interesting to me because I didn’t enjoy it at all for like, 50 episodes (and still watched it? why?) but it eventually became my favourite manga (for a time anyway). Me and my friends were worried about how well it was possible for a 15 year-long story to end, especially after that Bleach debacle, and we sort of didn’t want it to end just to avoid the inevitable tragedy.
But it was good!
I know that many people don’t like it, and for some of it I can understand why. The big bad was Madara Uchiha- scratch that (the author did), the antagonist is the up-until-now unknown Kaguya. Yeah, she hadn’t really been established, or even mentioned, up until she appeared and yeah, that was a problem. I think the reason why I gave it a pass was that her appearance was also connected to the origin of the culture of that world and was really quite fascinating, so I let it slide.
Oh, and I liked her design. That goes a long way.
Anyway, after a long and drawn out fight against the established (multiple times as-it-were) villain Madara, Kaguya is reincarnated through what can be summarised as the end result of Madara’s hubris and becomes the threat. She is an odd antagonist for an action manga, and not just because she’s a woman.
Kaguya isn’t strong in the same way as all the other characters, punching and shooting lighting and such, but instead she’s powerful like a deity. She drags the heroes through dimensions and such while still getting her bearings, and I’m pretty sure she is defeated while still half asleep.
Kaguya’s sudden appearance is the bad, so what’s the good?
The heroes, our titular Naruto Uzumaki and his best bud the brutal murderer Sasuke Uchiha were, through some situation, gifted a power that they were using to try and seal Madara away like an evil genie, but this sealing power works just as well for Kaguya (if I remember correctly then that’s why she needed to be reincarnated in the first place).
It all works on established lore and isn’t a stretch in any way.
And finally, Gintama.
I really would not have expected this from a manga filled with so many scatological jokes that any metaphor would just bring unwanted images to mind, and whose very title is a dick joke.
The antagonist here is Utsuro, an honest-to-god immortal. Over a thousand years old, heals from anything, dead inside (according to him “utsuro” means hollow), all Utsuro wants to do is destroy everything. I know, what a 2D character, right?
Actually no. Being immortal, Utsuro has gone through the whole loneliness thing that stories about immortals tend to include, only he’s also had to deal with persecution on top of that. He may heal but he still feels it when his village burns him alive, or stabs him, or locks him away in a prison where he starves until the lock rusts away… the author doesn’t give him the typical “oh woe is me” flashback, but gives us plenty of reason to empathise with him.
So fighting an immortal, and without the superpowers of the previous two entries, how does our hero Gintoki Sakata defeat him? That requires a bit of a history lesson; history in the manga.
How many of you know of the Life-stream from Final Fantasy 7? That seems like a solid analogy. It is mentioned a number of times that the planets (plural as Gintama is a sci-fi) have some energy called Altana and while its uses aren’t really explored, we do know that one effect of it is that some people are born of it (also not really explained; planet sex? virgin birth?) and that these people are immortal as long as they have access to this energy, and that right there is the crutch of things.
One of our leads is an alien whose mother was one of these immortals who left her planet and slowly died because the Altana of another planet won’t help. Utsuro is actually almost killed off of Earth and retreats back- oh, but if he’s only vulnerable away from the Altana then how else can he be beaten?
In the end it comes down to a couple of factors, both of which are established previously; the time he almost dies, it’s because someone rams a foreign Altana crystal into his chest and our heroes go into battle equipped with these. Secondly, using characters and lore set up and forgotten a long, long time ago, the flow of this Altana is regulated by a small group who, with great difficultly, are able to staunch the energy during the fight.
With small amounts of the harmful Altana being absorbed into his body through super-healing and no access to his literal life-force, Utsuro is able to be defeated and this is why Gintama is king. Gintama literally used what seemed like throwaway, not at all serious storylines and thoroughly established lore to exploit a weakness in this immortal.
Compare this with Deus from earlier who has no such weakness and the only thing that can apparently defeat him not only hasn’t been set up, but should have been foreseen and avoided because that’s his power! That’s literally what he does! But Utsuro has this flaw and time was taken to establish a way to take advantage of it.
#first puffin#opinion#writing#action#manga#anime#Kimi ni Todoke#Bleach#Naruto#Gintama#deus ex machina#thosetagswilldofornow
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Name: Lucian Zoltán Xurxo Edu Faust
Meaning of Name: Lucian: Light, Zoltán: Life, Xurxo: Farmer, Edu: Wealthy Guard, Faust: Fortunate One
Nickname(s): Luci, Freak, Cian,
Age: Unknown
Birthday: September 14, 1494/1990
Species/Nationality: Hybrid between a Gold Dragon and an Elf, A Fantasy Realm called Aseara.
Accent: Yes
Language spoken: Elvish, Common, English,
Powers:
Dragon Physiology
Elf Physiology
Metal Dust Manipulation
Graphic Vision
Chemical Breath
Gamma Radiation Manipulation
Fire Breath
Ninjutsu
Dark Elemental Attacks
Weaknesses/Illness/Allergies: No
Pet: Spider Monkey named Sparrow
Occupation: Strip Club Owner/Pirate Captain
Faceclaim: Xavier Samuel
Description: His hair is short and black, with natural gold and blue flecks of hair/feather sticking out here and there. His iris are a blue purple color, and the rims are naturally blackened with the edges of the whites of his eyes tinted in a golden color that fades the when going in closer to his iris’. His fingernails are black. He has scars on his left shoulder , they are thick and puff out from his skin, and are an natural color from the rest of his skin. He is tan with scaled elbows and knee’s, the scales are black. His ears are pointed, with black tips that fade into blue farther down. He has fangs, both on the bottom and the top of his mouth.
Outfit/Accessories/Jewelry: Swords,
Height: 5′9″
Weight: 134
Body Build: Slender/Athletic
Backstory/Background:
Past
Lucian was born a long time ago, on a night of a full moon. In the middle of winter, to an elven mother. She had been banished from the elven kingdom just after becoming pregnant with Lucian. Being viewed as a curse who would bring an abomination into their world. After her exile she had been hunted. Dragons and demons alike wanting her dead, or to capture her in order to obtain the child she was carrying.
After one such attack seventeen months after becoming pregnant, the elven woman finally went into labor. Though prematurely for her kind, as well as for the dragons, even more so. Being stalked into a cave, she collapsed and started to feel immense pain, her body lighting up in pain. Before she could contain herself, she was found. She was captured and her head chopped off. Still pregnant with Lucian at the time, her body was tossed into a nearby river.
The body floated for several days then, before washing up on a beach miles and miles away from the site of the elven woman’s execution. Several days after this, a pair of scavengers were walking along the beach, searching for items to sell at the local market. Spotting the body they run up to it, hoping there was something of value in it. Upon finding nothing, one of the scavengers kicks the body in the stomach, hitting something solid.
Curious, they cut the body open, and fine an egg, not just any typical egg, but a golden colored egg. Taking the egg to the market, the pair easily sell this rare egg for riches that should of lasted them for months, possibly even years to come. Though they were probably going to end up spending it all on stupid things. The egg sat at the market for some time. For the most part, the shop owner didn’t even want to sell the egg.
Years passed, and the egg sat waiting, but for the longest time, no one came for it. And it from shop owner to shop owner, each one finding it hard to part with the strange egg, it was passed. Often times falling into the wrong hands, but it was never used for anything but decoration.
Present
Lucian currently owns one of the most popular strip clubs around. It has quickly become a mythical being hotspot for more than just it’s strippers. Lucian’s fame stretches from the mythical all the way into the human world. There are many stories about his origins floating around. But no one knows exactly where it was he came from, or how he got where he is now. Many of the beings who know of him have an innate fear of getting on his bad side. But Lucian has never given anyone a reason to think of him as an evil presence. Lucian cannot remember much as his memory erases every thirty years, due to a curse that was placed on him by another creature hundreds of years before now.
Each time his memory is erased, he starts over as if his previous life hadn’t happened. It has been ten years since the last time his memory erased itself. Lucian is unaware of the curse because of it’s nature. Those who have claimed to know him after his memory is erased often find this annoying and often don’t want to be his friend anymore because they think that he just is being an asshole. Lucian over all isn’t effected by it and continues to find success in his life, going down different paths every thirty years.
At some point he comes to fight a creature that could teleport. Soon they were both transported to the natural world, where seemingly no one has power or features the same as beings from Aseara. There he came across a young woman during the fight which had almost been killed by the teleporting creature. Lucian however protected her from the monsters attack but lost his chance to return home, back to Aseara in the process. Stranded now the Woman, who had been at first frightened of his appearance, since he had been in his dragon form, initially tried to flee. When he reverted back to his more humanoid form she had however changed her mind and decided to help him.
It took some time before they became comfortable with one another. The woman most of all. She had seemed often far too gentle. Lucian was not used to many like her. Along with being in a strange world he had certainly felt out of place. However the two grow closer, sometimes even being attracted to one another. Lucian had come to learn that the woman was the personification of what is known at the Astrological Sign of Cancer. Also learning that not all these Human’s are the same as they looked at times, in the process. That even in a world so seemingly devoid of differences there were the subtle ones.
At some point Lucian and the young woman part ways and eventually Lucian moves on to find a way back home to Aseara once more. Hearing about another being who had been lost from their world named Jax, who was working on a portal to cross dimensions.
Future
Lucian finds Jax and travels with the other trying to return home back to Aseara.
Sails a ship called Eternity.
Finds out he’s a Dragon Prince
(Work In Progress)
Personality:
Absent-minded, Adrenaline Junkie, Audacious, Bad Liar, Clumsy, Gullible, Idealist, Idiotic, Ignorant, Naive, Reckless, Timid, Ungracious, Unlucky, Unsophisticated, Courteous, Multi-leveled, Incorruptible, Punctual, Gracious, Adaptable, Upright, Humble, Neutral, Solitary, Glamorous, Noncommittal, Irreligious, Cute, Determined, Intense, Abrasive, Escapist, Argumentative, Careless, Nihilistic, Insulting, Odd, Demanding,
Quirks/Savvies/Other: Plays the drums, Startles easily, Prone to stumbling, Smells things, Accidentally breaks things often, Nibbles on peoples necks and ears, Flicks at people, Easily distracted by baubles or treasures,
Likes: Food, Music, Magic, Cooking, Crafting, Leaves, Clean (Warm) Clothes, Mud, Rain, Riverbeds, Cinnamon, Grapes, Peaches, Banana’s, Water, Wine, The Moon, Tea, Chocolate with Rainbow Sprinkles, Chocolate, Summer, Nighttime, Carving pumpkins,
Dislikes: Puns, Vegetables, Taller people, Philosophy, Being inside, Gossip, Monsters, Scary Stories, Grapes, Bats,
Fears: None
Personality Tests:
Other: Virgo
Parent(s):
-> Father: Unknown(Dragon)
-> Mother: Unknown(Elf)
Sibling(s): None
Starters
Chat’s
Para’s
Face
Stuff
Information
Asks
All
Alternate Universes
Lost Twin of Enzo (From Plush, Book/Movie (Fissarsi)) AU
Academy AU
Neko AU
Collar Colors: Grey, Black
Collar Charms: Wizard hat, sword, microphone,
Bell Color: Gold
Vampire AU
Doll AU
Greek God AU (Chrysus)
Lion King AU
Power Rangers AU (Green/White Ranger)
Alien AU
Zodiac AU
Harry Potter AU
Divergent AU
Pokemon AU
Hunger Games AU
Planet AU
Boogeyman AU
Phantom Family AU
AUs
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Can I get more Fujin centered HCs in general if you have any? Perhaps, some extended details about the relationships with his older bro? :v
Tell me what you want me to write a headcanon (or more headcanons) about! Let me know what part of my Muse interests you. || @sonxflight || accepting
The Elder Gods were the ruling deities and creators of the universe, only being overshadowed by entities such as the Titans or the One Being. Unlike Titans, whose powers are linked to the governing laws of reality, such as time, the Elder Gods' powers are more related to physical concepts such as life/death and the elements, such as fire, water, wind, earth, etc. Whereas other Gods only have jurisdiction over a single realm and typically represent an element, the Elder Gods are more ethereal and have power in all realms in the universe. The natural born Elder Gods have blue-gray skin and a humanoid appearance. In their purest form, the Elder Gods resembles the Mortal Kombat Dragon logo.
The exact extent of their powers remains unclear, but they do not appear to be as omnipotent as they seemed in the early games in the series, as they are capable of being defeated nonetheless. Regardless, they remain the most powerful class of beings outside of the Titans, with only the most exceptional of mortals or lesser gods even hoping to challenge them (like Scorpion with Raiden in MKX comics).
Technically speaking, Shinnok is one of the highest-ranking gods of all time, but he still often gets beaten down by lesser gods and even mortals like Johnny Cage. Obviously, it seems as though one's divine status does not immediately equate to combat prowess (contrary to one's assumptions). But it also appears that there's a reason for this minor quirk in the Mortal Kombat series' logic. Not only does it explain all the non-canon matches that happen when one player picks a human and another picks a deity, but it lets NetherRealm build up the Mortal Kombat lore and involve more characters in the stories of their games. After all, there is actually a set hierarchy of gods that the games don't always flesh out.
Raiden and Fujin are presumably the lowest of the low when it comes to fully-divine entities, and to express this, NetherRealm started referring to them as demigods in MK11. However, this is strictly to denote hierarchy. It has nothing to do with them being half-god and half-human, as the tradition use of the would would convey.
Another key aspect of the MK pantheon to understand is that each level of the hierarchy comes with specific responsibilities. Obviously, the One Being is busy embodying all of existence at once, while Titans tend to embody the most abstract forces that exist in the universe. Kronika, for example, embodies time. Meanwhile, Elder Gods are about lesser qualities, such as life and death. Finally, the demigods always embody base natural forces, such as thunder or wind.
Here are character descriptions for both Raiden and Fujin;
Immortal God of Thunder, Protector of Earthrealm. Raiden has saved Earthrealm time and again by rallying the bravest and strongest warriors of the day to defend it. After centuries of kombat and bloodshed, he fears unintended consequences for humanity, and himself.
The God of Wind, Fujin serves the Elder Gods alongside his brother, Raiden, as Protectors of Earthrealm. Affable and lighthearted, he’s adept at inspiring peoples’ innate capacity for goodness and heroism to conquer forces of hatred and tyranny. Fujin believes Earthrealm’s best days are still to come, and he fights to ensure that bright future.
For my portrayal of Fujin, Raiden and Fujin did not ascend from their mortal status; just as Cetrion and Shinnok were ‘birthed’ from Kronika’s being, not giving ‘birth’ like the mortals would, but merely creating them out of the Titan’s need, both Raiden and Fujin were ‘created’ by the Elder Gods, to serve at the Pantheon, to serve the humanity at large. Despite their own trials and tribulations, even with their immortality, they face such relatable vices, as Raiden does with his own darkness, as he would take no qualms of risking his being to be consumed by the forces of evil in order to get the work done. Fujin would NOT ever blame Raiden for it, because it’s the consequence that they both are risking.
Even when Fujin suffers severe exsanguination via impalement and near-death because Raiden had been corrupted by Kamidogu, Fujin would never hold against his brother, for he’s witnessed multitudes of times how humankind could subjugate easily into darkness and vices, and make them blind.
Ever since Fujin’s creation, the Storm Brothers have been strenuously training at the Sky Temple, keeping in check with their elemental capabilities and up-keeping the Jinsei Chamber. They frequently train the Earthrealm warriors, not limited to White Lotus, as they both get hands-on with both Shirai Ryu and Lin Kuei, specifically both (as Raiden’s intro suggests, and Fujin’s friendship with Hanzo).
While Fujin is a natural when it comes to the emotions of others, his own feelings can be a bit different. It’s challenging for him to really processing his own feelings a lot of the time, since he is so used to tending to the needs of others. When it comes to his inner emotions, the Wind God can feel rather uneasy about really processing these feelings. It can make him nervous when he has to dive into his own emotions and try to understand himself better in this way. Raiden, despite the inhibited essence of his own emotions, is one whom Fujin will rely on with no qualms whatsoever. They are so natural and can also use the emotions of others to deflect from focusing on their own feelings. Because of their roles as Protectors of Earthrealm, they can become so caught up in caring for those around them, and so actually tending to their own feelings can be challenging and confusing.
Being used to caring for others causes Fujin to feel stressed when someone wants him to focus inward, unless he is intimately closed and linked with such in trust and devotion. This is foreign to him most of the time, and can feel selfish as well. When it comes to really diving into his own feelings, Fujin can feel like this is selfish and will try to avoid it as much as possible. For him, it is more comfortable to tend to others and so he can be deeply hesitant when it comes to his inner emotions. It can be confusing for him sometimes when he is forced into self-reflection, since this is new territory for him (but people like Raiden, - because of their close proximity and eons of time spent with one another - Jax Briggs and Hanzo Hasashi definitely help him to contemplate his own emotions, without feeling too guilty).
When it comes to being able to empathize with others, Fujin finds this rather natural and easy. He has a strong sense of the emotions of others, and are easily capable of putting himself into their shoes. He wants to be able to connect with people and understand them, and he enjoys getting closer to people he cares for and likes. When it comes to empathy, Fujin often has this in abundance, sometimes it can actually be overwhelming for them. He gets a strong sense of the emotions of others, and when people are upset, Fujin has a hard time just ignoring this. He is extremely perceptive when it comes to Raiden’s status - not only through the physical and tangible abnormalities - but his mental stability as well. They both know when each other is unhappy and want to do whatever they can to help them.
Fujin doesn’t like feeling discord or tension and so he spends a lot of time trying to create peace and make others happy. For him, it is hard to just ignore when he can tell someone is upset, no matter the circumstances. This sense of empathy can be difficult at times, since not everyone wants him to be aware of their feelings and struggles.
#✗ obsessive cathartic (headcanon)#✗ unwavering wind of celestial might (fujin)#✗ be calm before the storm (mk11)#(subjected to be added more)#sonxflight
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Fic summaries - YGO Big Bang 2020
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Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
DM1
Pairings: Puzzleshipping, hints of Puppyshipping and Angstshipping
Characters: Atem, Yuugi Mutou, Seto Kaiba, the rest of Yuugi's squad, Ishtars
Content Warnings: Mental disorders; Self-Harm; Suicide attempt; Hallucinations; Light gore; Throwing up; Sexual assault
Summary: Triggered by the last wordless encounter after enduring months in his own personal hell without Atem, Yuugi decides that he is ready to give up. His mental stability continues to deteriorate, and even the care of his friends can not make him feel any better. When his grandfather’s health is teetering on a knife’s edge, Yuugi, trapped in his own delusional mind, makes an important decision that might change his life forever.
Meanwhile, Seto made his way to the afterlife to challenge the ancient Pharaoh, not expecting the imminent appearance of a god to ask him for a special kind of duel with life-threatening consequences. Losing it would mean losing everything.
Could this duel be Atem’s only way out of the afterlife? And what if he is too late to save his aibou?
Rating: Mature
Art needed:
+ 2 (two) completed art work OR 3-5 (three to five) panel complete art comic
DM2
Pairings: Seto Kaiba/Yuugi Mutou/Yami Yuugi (Atem)
Characters: Seto Kaiba, Yuugi Mutou, Yami Yuugi (Atem), Joey Wheeler, Ryou Bakura, Tea Gardner, Marik Ishtar, Ishizu Ishtar
Content Warnings: Depression, Major Character Death, blood, graphic violence, dark themes, Smut, grieving, horror
Summary: After Mokuba's death, Yuugi and Seto’s lives slowly fall apart. In order to salvage any part of it, Yuugi decides to buy an old manor in a small town a few miles from Domino City. It’s haunting-free (Ryou and Yuugi checked) and is ripe to be turned into a cozy bed and breakfast.
However, soon after settling in, strange occurrences begin to happen all around them. Items go missing, dishes move on their own, and Seto seems to be hallucinating about hands and… rats? Maybe moving into a seemingly perfect home in the midst of a strange town wasn’t the best decision Yuugi's ever made... Nor the decision to let whatever is in their home actually connect with them.
Rating: Explicit
Art needed:
+ 2 (two) completed art work OR 3-5 (three to five) panel complete art comic
DM3
Pairings: Tendershipping
Characters: Ryou Bakura, Yami Bakura
Content Warnings: Mild horror themes, Shadow Magic, Shadow Games, canon-typical injury and violence, chain, drinking games, frotting, blow jobs, anal sex, happy ending
Summary: The gods rescue Bakura's soul from the Shadow Realm before Zorc manages to consume that last of his being; however, there isn't enough of his soul left for Judgement. They decide to return his soul to earth to see if he can learn to love, but need someone strong enough to look after him so Zorc doesn't recapture him. The god Set has the perfect candidate, and the perfect plan.
Rating: Explicit
Art needed:
+ 1 (one) completed art work OR 3 (three) panel greyscale sketched comic
+ 1 (one) coloured sketch OR 1 (one) greyscale line art OR 1 (one) graphic banner OR 3-5 (three to five) panel inked comic OR 5 (five) panel coloured sketch comic
DM4
Pairings: N/A
Characters: Main cast
Content Warnings: N/A
Summary: People grow up. Sometimes they grow together, sometimes they grow apart. The gang deals with some of the consequences of growing older as graduation looms ahead of them.
Rating: Gen
Art needed:
+ 1 (one) completed art work OR 3 (three) panel greyscale sketched comic
DM5
Pairings: Platonic Wishshipping (Joey Wheeler and Yugi Muto)
Characters: Yugi Muto - Joey Wheeler - Yami Yugi - Tristan Taylor - Solomon Muto - Ushio - Hirutani
Content Warnings: Violence - drugging - kidnapping - strong language - possession
Summary: Joey Wheeler has been a knight for a long time, working himself up the ranks. He's looked out for himself, and made a few enemies along the way. But a wrench is thrown in the works, as he meets a bright-eyed sorcerer named Yugi, and finds himself quickly becoming attached and even becoming friends.
Or a fantasy Yugioh au showing the friendship between Joey and Yugi
Rating: Teen
Art needed:
+ 1 (one) completed art work OR 3 (three) panel greyscale sketched comic
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
GX1
Pairings: Jesse Anderson/Johan Andersen x Yubel/Hell Johan
Characters: Jaden Yuki/Judai Yuki, Jesse Anderson/Johan Andersen, Yubel/Hell Johan,
Sheppard/Samejima + Fonda Fontaine/Emi Ayukawa (last two very minor)
Content Warnings: the fic itself is extremely angsty and gorey. it will have multiple triggers so please, PLEASE be weary of what you're getting yourself into. cannibalism, rape, and torture with a sad ending as a small tldr. gore artist bait
Summary: He never asked for consent. Never bothered to care. And now, fusing would solve all their problems to make their story a happy-ever-after. Simple, and so very, very easy.
Or maybe it would all take a little more realistic approach.
Rating: Explicit
Art needed:
+ 1 (one) completed art work OR 3 (three) panel greyscale sketched comic
+ 10 (ten) 100x100 icons OR 1 (one) moodboard OR 1 (one) greyscale sketch OR 3-5 (three to five) panel coloured sketch comic
GX2
Pairings: N/A
Characters: Sho Marufuji, Ryou Marufuji, Kenta, Katsuya Jonouchi, Ryou Bakura, Mai Kujaku, Marik Ishtar, Rishid Ishtar, Seto Kaiba, Daichi Misawa, Cronos de Medici, Judai Yuki, Jun Manjoume, Original Character(s)
Content Warnings: N/A
Summary: In his last year of middle school, Sho is forced to confront his future while he navigates tumultuous relationships with his friends, family, and a particular card that his brother gave him.
Rating: Teen
Art needed:
+ 1 (one) completed art work OR 3 (three) panel greyscale sketched comic
+ 10 (ten) 100x100 icons OR 1 (one) moodboard OR 1 (one) greyscale sketch OR 3-5 (three to five) panel coloured sketch comic
GX3
Pairings: Spiritshipping
Characters: Jaden Yuki, Jesse Anderson, Syrus Truesdale, Zane Truesdale, Aster Phoenix, Alexis Rhodes, Atticus Rhodes, Jim Crocodile Cook, Shirley, Tyranno Hassleberry, Bastion Misawa, Dr. Crowler, Sheppard, Thalonious Viper, Yubel, Neos, Rainbow Dragon
Content Warnings: Initial amnesiac protag, slow burn, destiny stuff, good vs evil, Jaden and Jesse being adorable, Jesse is constantly yet subtly flirting, Crowler is such a dad, a little Rhodes family angst, bamf!Alexis, bamf!Chazz, Jaden is literally such a dork, they're all just a dysfunctional family, love, somewhat fantasy au, blood, violence, kidnapping, dubverse, half blind Jim, nobody's having any fun
Summary: Born from the power of the celestials that dwell among the stars, Jaden Yuki awakens in the kingdom of the ninth dimension with no memory of himself or his past.
Unsure of who he is or the grand purpose he was created for, Jaden must travel through the twelve dimensions to discover his true identity and uncover his destiny. Meeting many allies along the way he must brave the cruel nature of the hands of fate and defeat the ultimate evil before the universe itself is brought to an end. Even if it means destroying himself in the process.
Rating: Mature
Art needed:
+ 2 (two) completed art work OR 3-5 (three to five) panel complete art comic
Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL
ZEXAL1
Pairings: Mizael/Kaito
Characters: Kaito Tenjo, Akari Tsukumo, Mizael, Orbital 7
Content Warnings: Musicals, Theatre, Blackmail, Double identities (Kaito pretends to be a world famous actress), fluff, humor
Summary: Threatened with an unsavory article about his escapades with Yuma and friends, Kaito is forced to stage a musical for all of Heartland to see.
Unfortunately, the only musical he knows is ‘Manhattan Sweep,’ a story about a southern belle going up to the big city. The requirements of the deal also states that he has to play the lead role. With some thinking, Kaito announces that a foreign actress by the name of Arabella Kelinski will be taking the role of the titular protagonist.
The thing is, though, Arabella doesn’t exist.
Yet.
Join him on his adventures as a budding musical director, actress and singer, all rolled into one.
Rating: Teen
Art needed:
+ 1 (one) completed art work OR 3 (three) panel greyscale sketched comic
Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
ARCV1
Pairings: Marufuji Ryou x Mizael
Characters: Marufuji Ryou, Mizael, Yuuri, Chris Arclight
Content Warnings: People getting carded, characters of Zexal & GX who weren't in Arc-V doing things in Arc-V
Summary: Losing a duel always has sparked changes for Marufuji Ryou. Doing so against one of the Heartland City resistance duelists isn't any different at all.
Rating: Gen
Art needed:
+ 2 (two) completed art work OR 3-5 (three to five) panel complete art comic
Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
VRAINS1
Pairings: Slight Datastormshipping, Implied Aiballshipping, Platonic Piushipping
Characters: Ryoken Kogami, Yusaku Fujiki, Ai, Roboppy, Spectre, Shoichi Kusanagi
Content Warnings: Contains abuse in a flashback scene and also some violence in the climax
Summary: Yusaku has fallen into a coma due to a virus he got inflicted while he was in Link VRAINS, so Ryoken, along with Spectre, (And Ai and Roboppy who followed them because they want to save Yusaku), goes inside Yusaku’s server to find the virus and remove it, but what if they have stumbled upon Yusaku’s memories before the Lost Incident and see how Yusaku’s life was before their very eyes?
Rating: Mature
Art needed:
+ 1 (one) completed art work OR 3 (three) panel greyscale sketched comic
VRAINS2
Pairings: Yusaku Fujiki/Ryoken Kogami
Characters: Yusaku Fujiki, Ryoken Kogami, Takeru Homura, Kengo Dojun, Ema Bessho, Spectre, Kusanagi Shoichi, Aoi Zaizen, Miyu Sugisaki, Kiku Kamishirakawa, Kusanagi Jin, Minor Characters.
Content Warnings: Major Character Death, Blood, Injury, Poison, Sex Scenes, Alcohol Mention, Gore.
Summary: Yusaku, an Elven witch who has been researching the dark art of arcane magics, has his way of life suddenly challenged when he meets a dangerous, nearly fatally injured Dragon in his human form by the name of Ryoken.
Yusaku, ridden with a kind heart, is unable to turn the dying creature into the Hunters that are searching for him to kill him. Instead, Yusaku decides to help Ryoken, who then enlightens Yusaku to a realm of Magic that Yusaku has never seen before. Yusaku’s heart grows fonder for Ryoken, leading them down a dangerous path of forbidden love that threatens both of their lives.
Rating: Explicit
Art needed:
+ 2 (two) completed art work OR 3-5 (three to five) panel complete art comic
Yu-Gi-Oh! Only Crossover
YGOX1
Series: Zexal with a touch of 5D's
Pairings: N/A
Characters: Barians, Yuma, Astral, most of Zexal II characters, Crimson Dragon, Signer Dragons, Past Lives of Signers
Content Warnings: graphic description of transformation and characker deaths (temporary)
Summary: With the change of one past life, everything changes and now the Seven Barian Emperors consist of six Barians and one dragon.
Rating: Gen
Art needed:
+ 1 (one) completed art work OR 3 (three) panel greyscale sketched comic
+ 10 (ten) 100x100 icons OR 1 (one) moodboard OR 1 (one) greyscale sketch OR 3-5 (three to five) panel coloured sketch comic
YGOX2
Series: Zexal/Arc-V
Pairings: Zexal II/Hope Zexal, Zexal II/Vector
Characters: Zexal II, Hope Zexal, Yuya Sakaki, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, Zexal III, Dark Zexal, Zexal, Vector, E'rah, Thomas Arclight, Zarc, Eve
Content Warnings: None exactly
Summary: “There are beings in this world simply called Magic Girls and Boys. Normal people don’t know much about them, and only see them as protectors of the city, if they even know of them at all. Who they are is unknown, and some wonder if they take up rolls as normal citizens, while hiding their activities from the eye of the common man.”
---
Saaka and Fuusa are seen as nothing more than average high school students, but at night they watch over their city as the Magic Girls Second and Fourth. Follow their story as they take on the ancient Goddess E'Rah, the defunct Puppeteer IV, Vector, who obsessives over Second, Eve the illness stricken time traveler, and The Supreme King - Zarc. Along the way they also get some help from Magic Boys in training Yuya, Yuto, Yugo and Yuri who they team up with to protect the City of Heartland.
Rating: Teen
Art needed:
+ 2 (two) completed art work OR 3-5 (three to five) panel complete art comic
Crossover
XOVER1
Series: YGO DM/Revolutionary Girl Utena
Pairings: Yami Yugi/Atem/Yugi, Anthy/Utena, Thief King Bakura/ Mahado
Characters: Yami Yugi, Atem, Yugi, Anthy, Thief King Bakura, Mahado, Seto, Dartz, Akio
Content Warnings: Major character death, rape (discussed & implied), Incest (implied)
Summary: Yami is a young knight of the rose order, who’s kingdom is preparing it’s forces to take down the wicked king of Esmia. But there are more sinister forces at work and the honorable knight might find that things are definitely not what they seem… takes 9 years after The Witch King. A fantasy AU that's a sequel for the story I did last year; includes dragons, magic, transformations, and love triangles that end in a threesome.
Rating: Teen with discussions of serious topics
Art needed:
+ 1 (one) completed art work OR 3 (three) panel greyscale sketched comic
+ 1 (one) coloured sketch OR 1 (one) greyscale line art OR 1 (one) graphic banner OR 3-5 (three to five) panel inked comic OR 5 (five) panel coloured sketch comic
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We typically assume people who claim God spoke to them are crazy - why don’t we think that of prophets?
This post got way longer than I thought it would. I’m sorry. But I really, like... I really swung hard on this one.
I get what you’re saying, it’s like: where do we draw the line? I mean, as Muslims, the line is pretty simple in that we believe that The Prophet Muhammad is the last Prophet of God and no other messages will come after him.
As far as who is a Prophet, The Qur’an is actually pretty clear not only that God has given every people a Prophet, but that God has not mentioned all of them in The Qur’an:
And, indeed, [O Muhammad,] We sent forth apostles before thy time; some of them We have mentioned to thee, and some of them We have not mentioned to thee. [40:78]
So, frankly speaking, we only know of those who God enumerated in The Qur’an, otherwise, we do not know. So there’s that.
But I think the bigger issue here is that we need to understand what exactly a miracle is.
Let’s start with Ibrahim (Abraham). His people hate him because he’s telling them “yo, worshiping these idols makes no sense, they can’t do anything for you, they’re just statues!” So his people decide to show him, make an example of him, so what do they do? They throw him into fire, because that’s the most destructive thing they can think of.
God shows His power over all things, by ensuring that the fire does nothing to Ibrahim and he just gets out.
But today, if you see someone on youtube or whatever get on fire and survive, you’re not going to lose your mind. You’re going to be like: “he has a fire protective suit and he has that gel, and I’ve seen that in like 5 million movies, whatever.”
But that miracle was for those people, because that was the craziest thing they could think of. But to you and me? That was nothing.
Then there’s Musa (Moses) and he’s up against Pharaoh. Pharaoh wants to prove to Moses that he’s the most powerful, I mean, Pharaoh thinks he is a god. So how does he challenge Musa? With magic.
Now, that sounds ridiculous to you. And to me. But at the time? That was how you did things! Remember, these people believed like dragons made nighttime, so yeah, MAGIC!
So Moses takes up the challenge, and when Moses throws down his staff, the magicians of Pharaoh, knowing when they have seen a real trick or not, freak out, because the staff turned into a real snake. What do they do? They throw themselves down into prostration and exclaim that they believe in God. They know a trick. They’re the best magicians around, and they know it’s not a trick.
Now, what does Pharaoh say? He says (I’m paraphrasing 7:123) “Did I give you permission to believe?” Look at the arrogance of Pharaoh. He thinks he should control everything, and the funny part is, he’s the one who setup magic as the way to prove who was right and who was wrong.
What Pharaoh shows us is that, if you do not want to believe in God, no sign will convince you otherwise. Pharaoh literally challenges Moses all the time. Pharaoh sets up everything, what will be a proof, what he needs to be convinced, and even when he’s proven wrong, he’s like “nope!” The point here is that people will believe what they want to, regardless of the facts that are presented to them. Belief in God is a choice, it’s not some destiny that God gives you and denies others, because in The Qur’an, God specifically says that He will help you in whatever it is that you want. If you want to believe, He will help you in that. If you do not want to, that will be your choice.
But it’s also important to remember that Pharaoh is not evil because he was born that way, he’s evil because he wants to be. He’s evil because it is easier for him. It allows him to continue the way the world works, and it suits him.
Pharaoh is terrifying because he is something that we can become, he’s a warning of what happens when we subvert our ego against what is truth.
But the miracles of Moses, are like, magic? But that miracle isn’t for you or me. When you see David Blaine or whoever do some magic trick on TV, you’re not thinking “WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?!” You’re thinking: “what trick did they use for this?” So that miracle is like, weird, it’s like, not impacting you.
Let’s fast forward to Eisa (Jesus). So at the time of Jesus, the Romans are all about medicine. Their physicians were competing with each other over who could do the most stuff. Awesome, right? The problem was they were not doing it to benefit people, but to benefit their own personal status.
The proof of this was lepers, who the Romans kicked out of the city, and made them live off away from society. This is why when Jesus goes to the lepers, it is such a significant act. He is embracing the people that society have deemed beyond their scope of acceptability, which is ironic, since this same society marveled at medical efforts, right?
So what does God gives Jesus? He allows him to cure the lepers and the blind, showing God’s power over what was considered impossible at that time, because that was what that society felt to be the coolest.
But today, leprosy can be dealt with relatively easily. No one is freaking out about transplants of corneas or drugs that bring down fevers which seemingly killed everybody back in the day. So, those miracles aren’t really for us, either.
Now we come to The Prophet Muhammad. If Ibrahim dealt with fire, and Musa with magicians, and Jesus with the healers, what does The Prophet deal with? Poets.
Arabs loved poets and poetry. If you could spit out poetry, you could be seen as the coolest. Why? I dunno. They also thought orphans were the worst, so they obviously had terrible priorities. But poetry was like, THE BEST!
So, The Prophet, who is illiterate, who isn’t known to be some poet himself, comes against these poets and drops this beautiful, perfect, Arabic that... drops the mic (look I’m hip!)
But that’s not really the miracle, The Miracle of The Qur’an is that it is ideas. The Qur’an shows you the power of ideas, how they impact your world, your perception, what choices you will make.
Pharaoh’s ideas allowed him to justify killing people for his power. How many dictators and despots have utilized racism, xenophobia, and various other ills constructed by humanity to oppress, to kill, and to destroy the world only to protect their power?
The Qur’an shows you the power of ideas, how the ideas and mandates of God can overcome oppression, not just of kings and countries, but of individuals, between friends, between foes.
The reason The Qur’an is the greatest of God’s Miracles is because it is the one that has the most power. It is a miracle that you and I can hold in our hands. Those other miracles are for those people, for their time, but The Qur’an--and the concepts and ideas of God--are timeless, and they are the ultimate proof as to what a true miracle is, that is why God has left The Qur’an as God’s last Miracle onto Earth.
So why do I believe God spoke to The Prophet? Because I have God’s words in my hands and I can judge whether they come from God or not. They are there. The proof is in my hands. It is in yours, too. The decision about whether you want to believe is your choice, but it’s not belief in the abstract, it is belief in the most lasting aspect of the human experience: of an idea, of human memory and experience, and of what we choose to learn from those experiences. Will we become better or will we slink into what is comfortable and easy?
What ideas will we uphold and which ones will we discard? That’s the challenge of The Qur’an, of what was revealed to The Prophet, to us.
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I don't know who to blame for this, but I've fallen in love with my joke dragon/human romance au and now it's taken over my life! And I can't fully explain why because of spoilers...but my daydreams all revolve around Kyriakos' and Lysis' new dynamic, to the point my original plot is compleyely useless and needs to be rewritten!
See, in this world seers are a rarity and no one has been able to figure out why certain individuals are born as seers, but they are so few in number they are very valuable and practically a form of currency in onto themselves
Even more concerning, all seers are virgins and the moment they're deflowered they lose all their powers. This is so concerning for the council that all seers are forbidden from forming any personal attachments with any gender and live a life of celibacy.
And for further insurance all the guards tasked with protecting seers are eunuchs! Kyriakos, just so happens to be the personal guard of said seer is a eunuch, which gets very complicated later on in the story as these two slowly fall in love!
Kyriakos is dealing with his own issues as he was the previous guardian of the seer before Lysis, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and Kyriakos has been shamed for his failure to protect said seer ever since. So, he is in a very frustrating position as he loathes Lysis for being a constant reminder of his greatest failure, but has also made a vow to protect her with his life in order to reclaim his honour.
Whereas Lysis is very promiscuous and does not come across as a typical holy woman, and would like nothing more than to escape from the title of seer. She has her own motivations and goals during the story, which always inconvenience Kyriakos someway, but she is slowly helping him heal from past loss, and even saves his life.
Which is the pinnacle moment when Lysis realises she has a crush on her personal guardian and makes a selfish decision that has dire consequences for everyone around her.
And without revealing the circumstances of how Kyriakos ends up the way he is, he undergoes a transformation and becomes something not quite human (but technically not a dragon either), to the point he becomes hyper focused on Lysis and protecting her from an evil force wanting her powers.
He sees Lysis as his in every sense of the word, to the point he struggles to contain the beast in him and must resist the urge to claim her whenever she's near another man, even though her scent alone sends him into a frenzy. The only thing keeping him in check is his self control and the mission he needs to complete.
And Lysis, who has been broken down over the course of the book and used by everyone around her, decides maybe she doesn't want be a seer anymore and even tries to tempt Kyriakos. Which he can't do because her power is very important to resolve the conflict, so she's a constant temptation he has to keep at arms length for her own good.
But he loves her and would gladly ravish her if it meant everyone would stop trying to take what is rightfully his!
There's even a goddamn scene where he's in a frenzy from his curse and has Lysis pinned to the floor, not sure if he wants to kill her or fuck her, and she has to gently talk him down while trusting him not to hurt her!
(Deep breath)
Ok, I'm done. Rant over. Goddamn these two and their sexual tension that can never be resolved!
#i need to take a momemt to step back#and let it sink in#that I've dedicated a good chunk of my original writing time#to a transformers human au between cyclonus & Lickety-Split#WHO DOES THAT?!#i homestly don't know why i chose them#over any other ship#it's weird
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The Tarly Troubles
Sansa’s main objection to Daenerys before Jon left to Dragonstone was that she was an unknown element. Daenerys had just arrived from Essos, and while it was possible stories of her adventures had become known to the North, her personality would not have been.
However, Daenerys is her father’s daughter - the man who burned their grandfather alive and made their uncle watch.
While they could trust Tyrion more than most people in Westeros, Daenerys was coming to Westeros to conquer it, including the North. That made her a de facto enemy to the Starks.
The problem in this situation with the Mad King isn’t just that the Mad King was evil, but that the Starks were part of the rebellion to overthrow the Targaryens. The Starks benefitted from the demise of the Targaryens.
Daenerys is well aware of that.
The Starks have their own experience with traitor families.
Even though Jon pardoned Ned Umber and Alys Karstark and allowed them to keep their castles, this was considered an unusually merciful action. Sansa would never have executed them, but she did worry that the same advisors responsible for helping the previous Lords of the house would continue to advise Ned and Alys to act against the Starks.
Sansa appeared to get along well with Ned. He is a child who shares the name of her father, so perhaps that is part of it, but I imagine there is a different pressure to Ned and Alys’s continued loyalties given they are not the only Northern houses, but these two houses were the ones primarily responsible for aiding the Boltons in the Battle of the Bastards.
That makes them outliers - not the norm. Half of the Seven Kingdoms rebelled against the Targaryens, and the remaining families: Lannisters, Tullys, and Arryns, are also rebels of that rebellion. The Greyjoys are also included in that list, but Yara pledged for Daenerys long before she set sail, which resulted in Yara retaining her crown similar to Dornish princes.
Putting Sansa’s own experience with traitors to her family, it makes sense why she would be wary around Daenerys. Daenerys might think it prudent to strip the Starks of their lands in the North if she came into power. Daenerys might also strip the lands of the Lannisters, Tullys, and Arryns as well.
Sansa is not aware of Daenerys’s desire to break the wheel, but it is clear that Daenerys likely consider stripping the rebellious families of their lands.
Or, she could simply execute Jon after arriving on Dragonstone because he believed to be Ned Stark’s son.
This is what Sansa worried about before Jon left.
That didn’t happen, which I imagine does assuage some of the worst fears for Sansa, though it does not remove a fear which is certainly at the back of her mind:
Daenerys is Queen now, which means she can take away the North if she so pleases.
The only reason Daenerys was likely accepted into Winterfell wasn’t just because she was helping them with the White Walkers, but because Jon still lived.
As it stands, Daenerys is still an outsider - an unknown element, to the Northerners. They aren’t sure if she will respect their way of life should they all survive the war.
They had already lost their right to self-rule because of Jon, and history has proven that some Targaryens were insane and attacked their vassals.
That Daenerys would be Queen in the south would mean that she is removed from their influence. The Northern lords would not have a seat at the table like they do with the King in the North.
However, the current objections Sansa and the Northerners have against Daenerys is assuming she is a rational ruler now but that they fear for their future, either in her late rule or in her heirs.
Her father wasn’t always insane. King Aerys was once a beloved king for many years in his early reign, but his insanity gripped him and he even acted out on former friends.
This insanity is a known trait among Targaryens, and something which is described with a coin: when a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. That means there is effectively a fifty-fifty change Westeros will have a terrible ruler. An insane ruler.
But again, Daenerys is merely a Targaryen, not necessarily the worst of her family. She has freed slaves and done a lot of good. She is also helping the North fight against the White Walkers and she wants to overthrow Cersei.
The North hates slavery. They need help against the White Walkers. Cersei is also the devil incarnate to them.
All in all, the North should reasonably expect a positive alliance with Daenerys.
Only there are inklings she may not be a great ruler, and the North is very aware of that.
There is a lot working against Daenerys going into season eight. Some of it was in her control, and some of it is just her own misfortune.
She has not received an appropriate Westerosi education
Daenerys was pursued by Robert for much of her early years and was raised by her older brother who was barely more than a child himself. They depended upon charity to survive, and Daenerys was effectively ignorant of her homeland.
We know this because she latched onto Jorah and his gift of books on Westeros. He was like an oasis in the desert for her.
Upon arriving in Westeros, it is clear Daenerys isn’t fully informed on how to approach different families and cultures.
As an example: everyone in Westeros mocks the North for their severity. However, they are not unaware of what a typical Northerner is like.
Daenerys seems completely unprepared for handling the North and Westeros in general. However, I get the sense this miscommunication does not come across as naive ignorance, but willful disregard.
Northerners do not like pretense, but they know southerners still pretend.
Tyrion tried to reach out to the North in the Great Hall using Jon as the bridge. It did not work, but it showed sincerity Daenerys did not... because Daenerys does not know it is expected that she will try to bridge the gap between them.
She also appears to misunderstand the gravity of winter and the importance of the house structure in Westeros, given her own ill-prepared state going into the war and her dismissal of the importance of the Tarlys in the power vacuum of the Reach and southern kingdoms.
Jorah is at her side
I love Jorah Bear. He’s the best. But the Northerner’s wouldn’t think so.
On the surface, he appears to be a boon, not a detriment, but it is important to realize that Jorah committed a serious crime in Westeros when he sold poachers into slavery. He did not hand them over to face justice, but profited of their servitude. His wife’s expensive tastes were not an excuse... and he knew that. He fled Westeros rather than face justice himself.
His father, Jeor Mormont, actually abdicated his position as Lord of Bear Island to give his son an opportunity to lead the house... meaning his son had far more money that he would have had previously.
Combined with the fact that he became a mercenary in Essos, he likely has a very negative reputation even before his connection to Daenerys is considered.
And he is her longest-serving advisor and her closest friend. I’m glad she hasn’t abandoned him, and she shouldn’t, since he is loyal to her and provides pretty good advice most of the time, but it is clear his presence actually detracts from her influence in the North rather than helps.
She is a Dothraki khal
The Dothraki are the most hated people from Essos in Westeros. They live nomadic lives pillaging and raping everyone in their path. They are like the Ironborn, but worse.
Before Daenerys became an abolitionist, she was the wife of the most famous Dothraki khal. It was rumored that Khal Drogo was working with Viserys to invade Westeros. This never came to pass, but that Daenerys leads an army of Dothraki to invade Westeros is not in her favor when it comes to winning the hearts and minds of Westerosi.
Jon was killed for letting in Wildlings, and Westeros prefers wildlings to Dothraki.
Her dragons are monsters
Before even getting into what her dragons have actually done, it is important to note that dragons are considered the weapon of mass destruction in this universe. The Valyrians almost took over the whole world because of their dragonriders, and the Targaryens took over an entire continent with just three dragons.
Dragons themselves are animals that can burn entire armies and castles. They have voracious appetites and can be difficult to control.
They also have a mind of their own, which means they can go rogue and cause a lot of damage.
Daenerys didn’t come to Westeros with the most powerful army in the world - she came with nuclear weapons she intends to use on its people. She intends to keep those weapons to keep those people in line.
She likely intends to hatch more dragons and keep the symbol of her famiy’s power in tact.
And there is every sign in the world that bringing dragons into the world and keeping their requires bloodshed. The attempted hatching at Summerhall resulted in the death of most of the Targaryens even before Robert’s Rebellion.
Dragons, and everything connected to them, are very fatal.
She already lost a dragon.
Daenerys wants to help the North, but her help has already resulted in the war against the dead being more difficult than it already was.
The problem with creating weapons is that once something is in the world, it’s hard to take it out of the world. Nuclear weapons on Earth have proliferated, and it is an earnest fear of many governments and individual citizens that it may come into the hands of a rogue nation or terrorist cell.
That’s exactly what has happened in with the Night King.
Before the battle was a fight against a traditional army that happened to be undead. Now the battle is against an undead dragon that can cause just as much damage as a traditional dragon but is a lot harder to kill.
And that weapon has destroyed the wall - one of the greatest wonders in the world. Before the war had been about keeping the White Walkers on the other side of the Wall, but now they are past the wall and there is no way they can get the White Walkers to retreat and stay trapped behind it.
The North and Westeros have lost their greatest defense mechanism against the worst army in the history of the world - that is now a lot stronger because Daenerys lost control of her weapon of mass destruction.
All might have been forgiven if Daenerys was who she said she was and not who people feared her to be
The crux of the mistrust towards Daenerys by the North, and especially Sansa, is that Daenerys has a lot going for her and what goes against her can be forgiven by unfortunate circumstances or twisted in a favorable light for her allies.
However, this benefit of a doubt is given to Daenerys because she claims to be all her great titles in a positive and affirming way without being the Mad King that was her father.
But when Daenerys participated in her first real battle in Westeros, she did everything she wasn’t supposed to do and confirmed the fears of Tyrion by doing so.
She burned an entire army indiscriminately, and then burned alive those who would not submit to her.
This indiscriminate execution is the exact reason Robert’s Rebellion happened in the first place. Rhaegar and Lyanna running off instigated the conflict, but it did not happen in isolation of other events. Westeros was angry and afraid of the mad king for some time, and when Sansa and Jon’s grandfather went to King Aerys to demand justice, justice was answered with torture.
Not, "I’ll look into it guys” or even “Tough luck, I believe in my son” but murder. And a murder that everyone at court felt powerless to stop. The Starks weren’t even the first people burned alive at court. Nor were they the last. There were many other pyromanic executions at court.
While Westeros is unaware of it, Aerys also planned to burn all of Kind’s Landing down until Jaime stopped him.
That’s what happened on the Gold Road. Daenerys decided that the Tarlys deserved a painful death similar to the method her father preferred. This went against the advice of her advisors, and everyone watched in horror as they were unable to prevent an event very similar to what caused Ned, Robert, and Jon Arryn to raise their bannerman in rebellion in the first place.
Sansa fears that Jon bent the knee not to save the North, but because he loved Daenerys. Sansa also knows that love makes people blind - it blinded Robb and resulted in his death, and Sansa fears that Daenerys may just be a pretty Aerys.
There is not yet any proof of Daenerys being a mad queen.
But not for lack of evidence - the North just isn’t aware of what happened at the Gold Road yet. And once they know... it might change everything.
It will change the North.
It will change how the North perceives Daenerys.
It will change how the North perceives Jon.
Among the Starks, it will also damage the relationship between Jon and Sansa the most.
What happened to the Tarlys is a fundamental problem for the North in their acceptance of Daenerys that cannot be disregarded because it confirms all their worst fears about Daenerys.
It also confirms their worst fears about Jon.
When Jon left for Dragonstone, he did so against the wishes of his people. He then did not communicate his intentions or provide updates on his progress effectively. This lead to the Northerners believing he abandoned them when they needed Jon most.
They wanted to make Sansa their Queen.
Sansa is their rightful queen.
She turned them down because Sansa does not want to be Queen for the sake of power. She merely wanted to return home. She wanted to be safe. She wanted to be with her family. Jon was part of her family.
However, the Tarly Troubles present a different set of problems to the story for everyone involved. We know this because of what happened before Daenerys even arrived in Winterfell.
Once the North knows about the Tarlys... everything changes.
Daenerys becomes a threat, and so does Jon.
Why? Because Jon was incommunicado with Daenerys for a long time, and during that time Daenerys was burning armies and noble families.
Jon may not have known, but will the Northerners believe him?
I’m hard-pressed to believe that this is something that can just be smoothed over. They were already ready to depose him. Had Sansa been less of a person, had she loved him less, she would have seized power for herself.
So why would the North suddenly change?
The answer is they won’t.
Jon Snow is Jon Snow. They call him the King in the North whose name is Stark, but his name is not really Stark... is it?
And that’s before the fact he is a legitimate Targaryen comes into question and it looks like he is colluding with his real father’s family.
There are other Starks in the world... capable Starks in their mind. And she also helped lead the North against the Boltons. She was the one who brought a friendly long-allied army to their cause.
She did not leave the North.
Now we as fans know that Daenerys is not mindlessly evil and we know that Jon is loyal to the Starks, but the North isn’t so sure, and the Tarly Troubles will really put a light on those issues.
Going into this season, it is clear that a lot of fandom theories and are not only possible... but necessary to resolve the political tension in the story.
The best way to ensure the North is ruled by a Stark is to put a Stark into power. However, that political tension is not resolved by Sansa staying in the North and Jon ruling in the south.
The North never wants to be ruled by a southern leader again.
That said, it would be ridiculous to presume that Jon won’t redeem himself in the eyes of the North in a major way. The North will come to trust Jon again, though they will always have a nagging worry about his lineage.
The easy solution is one of two paths should Jon survive the end of the series: He never marries... or he marries the Stark the North realizes they want: Sansa.
Jon is not even nominally a Stark, even though he was raised by Ned and his cousins accept him. He was a Snow, and eventually, it will be revealed that he is a Targaryen.
That’s a problem.
It’s also not just a problem for the North - the southern houses will want to eliminate the legacy of the Targaryens, and Sansa has strong connections to the Riverlands and the Vale.
Remember: Catelyn was able to take Tyrion hostage in the Riverlands and have him tried in the Vale. This is important, because that is two kingdoms of which Sansa has potential influence in - two kingdoms that also hate the Targaryens.
It’s no mistake or coincidence that Sansa has been held up as the “key to the North” or that she has been seen as the second-coming of Catelyn Tully. That she also spent an impressionable amount of time in the Vale and is loved by Robin Arryn is also no coincidence.
Sansa is politically powerful. Arya and Bran are never held up to the same standard... because their role narratively is not to be the ruler of Winterfell.
But Jon and Sansa coming together is not just a matter of politics. When Sansa confronts Jon about bending the knee to a Targaryen queen, it is clear that she is personally hurt by his decision. She is, in essence, jealous.
Some people read this as political jealous while others believe it is personal jealousy.
Either way, there is a strong amount of jealousy there which suggests Sansa is not just ideologically opposed to Jon’s actions on a pragmatic level... she feels personally attacked.
That’s an interesting emotion given the fact we know Sansa chose to abstain from taking Jon’s power even when it was easy. Even when it was legally hers.
Even though Jon himself admitted she was responsible for winning the Battle of the Bastards.
But Sansa doesn’t see Jon as King of the North as being personally robbed. She was happy.
Sansa was not happy when Jon appeared loyal to Daenerys over his own family... over Sansa.
And the way Sansa’s jealousy is made clear is one of romantic intentions.
Sansa believes Jon bent the knee because Jon is in love with Daenerys. Not in love with her ability as a ruler... in love with Daenerys.
The Tarly Troubles confirm the seed Littlefinger planted in Sansa’s mind last season when he said that Jon and Daenerys might marry because she was attractive.
Throughout the last season, Sansa was worried because Jon left the North and did not communicate his intentions. When he returned, all her worst fears were realized:
He gave up the crown Sansa fought for him to keep because she loved him more than power.
He gave away the security of the North’s future post-Long Night even though Sansa didn’t fight for Winterfell for the coming war... she fought for it from the Boltons to have forever.
He didn’t tell her anything that was happening while he was away.
Sansa may think Jon kept the news about the Tarlys from her so that she would accept he bent the knee. People lie for the people they love, and if Sansa believes he lied... she will definitely think he did it for love.
So what Sansa and Jon need personally is to reunite on more equal terms. In this world, hierarchy is a powerful thing. You are either in power over someone, or someone is in power of you. This is true in the Stark family. Although Sansa jokes that Arya will need to call her Lady Stark, it is true that Sansa has a higher rank than Arya and they have a different relationship dynamic because of it.
Before Bran and Arya returned, Jon and Sansa were uniquely positioned as equals. He was King in the North, but Sansa was Lady of Winterfell. This is symbolically two halves of the same position historically, and both Jon and Sansa treated each other as equals. So too did the North once Jon had left - Sansa can step into his role when he is gone, and it is presumed that Sansa would have expected him to be Lord of Winterfell had she gone.
Their entire aesthetic is as a power couple: Jon is Ned Stark and Sansa is Catelyn Stark. Jon brings the military might of Ned, while Sansa brings the political savvy of Catelyn.
They needed each other to rule. They still do.
Sansa will never find an equal in Jon when it comes to a military commander. Jon will never find a political equal in Sansa when it comes to understanding the social dynamics of Westeros.
But they have temporarily split apart when Jon went south, and then forever split apart by Daenerys’s arrival.
The Tarly Troubles send them running in completely separate directions entirely.
However, is marriage alone enough to solve the personal break between Jon and Sansa?
No.
Ned and Catelyn were not on good terms at the start of their marriage. Catelyn had felt betrayed in a similar way that Sansa did. She had lost faith in Ned even though he was a famously honorable person.
It took years to build their relationship again. It’s even stated in the books that Catelyn knew men fathered bastards... but they did not bring them home. And Ned never admitted to Jon’s mother either. This led Catelyn to believe that Ned was in love with another woman. Catelyn was very jealous.
Catelyn only ever asked about Jon’s mother once... and she had been so frightened by Ned’s response she never asked again. She grew to distrust Jon overtime because she feared that Jon’s grandchildren would one day be a threat to her own grandchildren. Jon was always considered an outsider because of it.
Jon brought Daenerys home. Sansa never expected that. He also would not tell her the truth about Daenerys. And Daenerys was a threat to the future of the Starks in Winterfell... especially in Jon was in love with her!
Because you know - the Ned and Catelyn parallels are never exhausted with Jonsa! And nor are the Ned, Catelyn, and Targaryen child parallels!
But Ned and Catelyn did get married, and they did fall in love. And you know who represents the love of that union?
Sansa Stark.
She was the first child born after Ned and Catelyn’s fallout. She was the promise that the Stark line would continue.
Sansa has also been the promise of the Stark line since Robb died.
There is also a lot of show-related anxiety Catelyn had for not “loving a motherless bastard” which we were reminded of in the teaser.
It’s important that Sansa loves Jon more than anyone else as the symbol for Catelyn.
And it’s important that Sansa and Jon continue on as Starks, which they can only do together politically and personally.
Jon needs to feel truly loved by someone else. He also needs the freedom to love another person and have a child without the name Snow. It’s something he has wanted all his life... and what he has always secretly wanted is to have a child with the name Stark.
Which only Sansa can give him.
Likewise, Sansa wants to feel loved herself. She has been abused for so many years by the men in her life. However, all she has ever wanted was to marry a prince and have his babies... but then she realized that brought her pain, so now all she wants is what she has.
But she no longer has what she had before Jon left for Dragonstone, and the irony was that Jon, whom she had, was also a prince.
Jon was part of her family, and now she fears she has lost him to Daenerys.
I don’t think Jon not marrying Daenerys but then marrying another woman would ever fix that worry for Sansa, just as Jon marrying Daenerys and naming his child Targaryen would ever answer his dream of having a child with his name. Jon always assumed he was a Stark, and I don’t think he can shed that desire for the name for Targaryen. He might as well have been Jon Sand.
Jon and Sansa are uniquely the answer to all their hopes and dreams, and the pain both are experiencing at the beginning of season seven is because they have been pushed on different paths and that path is about to get more treacherous because of the Tarly Troubles.
Jon and Sansa don’t want to be separated. They want each other. They were reunited as a power couple to take back Winterfell because that is who they are and who they will be.
And the story can only end with them having each other.
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