#i call this one Yet another post death interpretation | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

esther-dot · 4 months

Note

I was reading your comments about Jon's chivalry and protecting the vulnerable. This all brought to mind Jon's TV ending of stabbing Dany in the heart while kissing her. While we don't know whether or not this version of Dany's end is close to what will be the written version, it seems as though it's possible in part because of the Nissa Nissa legend. Jon doing that in the books (or something like it) would align with the Azor Ahai story, but in a warped sort of way, leaving events open to interpretation (as is usual with the prophecies and legends). But in any case, Jon killing a woman will be an act that is antithetical to so many of his values that it seems like it would come close to destroying him even if justified within Jon's universe. I wonder if Martin really plans to bring Jon this low, but also how it will be received. The optics of portraying such an ending for Dany given today's sensibilities could be viewed even more dimly than it would have been when Martin started writing the series?

(about this ask)

I'm so sorry that it's taken me this long to respond! I have finally reread some pertinent chapters to situate my thoughts.

First, I just want to acknowledge how upsetting this spec is to some, and remind everyone, no one wants this ending. We all think it's gross, we're just discussing the possibility, not merely because of the show, because it's an old theory. I looked around and saw posts about this starting in 2013 by Dany fans. So, the presence of this myth is substantial enough, even BNFs/Jonerys shippers felt like it had a strong chance of manifesting (although they believe Dany would willingly sacrifice herself) well before D&D committed their fuckery. I suppose all that answers your question. Man killing his lover is a gross trope, being forced to kill a loved one to save the world is overused, so now, I can't imagine anyone reading it and being happy about it.

In trying to look at the context in-canon Martin has created, he's taken it out of the strict man kills lover idea of the AA/NN myth, and is discussing the idea of sacrificing an innocent child to a god which fans have already compared to myth, Stannis & Shireen = Agamemnon & Iphigeneia. This sacrifice hasn't happened yet, but it's been confirmed as a Martin plot point. Stannis is already burning people alive, justifying kid killing, and Davos has already planted the Stannis=AA, kid=NN idea:

Davos was remembering a tale Salladhor Saan had told him, of how Azor Ahai tempered Lightbringer by thrusting it through the heart of the wife he loved. He slew his wife to fight the dark. If Stannis is Azor Ahai come again, does that mean Edric Storm must play the part of Nissa Nissa? (ASOS, Davos V)

Although, rather than this being a justified death, the fans will be horrified as we're meant to be. Davos' thoughts call into question the idea of killing another for your "magic sword":

A true sword of fire, now, that would be a wonder to behold. Yet at such a cost . . . When he thought of Nissa Nissa, it was his own Marya he pictured, a good-natured plump woman with sagging breasts and a kindly smile, the best woman in the world. He tried to picture himself driving a sword through her, and shuddered. I am not made of the stuff of heroes, he decided. If that was the price of a magic sword, it was more than he cared to pay. (ACOK, Davos I)

and Martin impresses upon us the value of each life:

"Your Grace," said Davos, "the cost . . ." "I know the cost! Last night, gazing into that hearth, I saw things in the flames as well. I saw a king, a crown of fire on his brows, burning . . . burning, Davos. His own crown consumed his flesh and turned him into ash. Do you think I need Melisandre to tell me what that means? Or you?" The king moved, so his shadow fell upon King's Landing. "If Joffrey should die . . . what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom?" "Everything," said Davos, softly. (ASOS, Davos V)

The talk of greater good/killing kids reminds me of AGOT in which Ned's story is inundated with the topic of child murder/protecting kids. We have Mycah, his memories of Aegon and Rhaenys, his promise to protect Jon, his guilt over his lies and treason bubbling up repeatedly, his fight against the assassination of Dany, his attempt to save Cersei's children from Robert...we all know, kid killing is wrong according to Martin, so we've already been told that this wannabe AA's actions are contemptible. The myth in which the sacrifice is happy to die, that sacrificing someone is heroic, it's being contradicted by what we're being shown in the Stannis storyline.

Now, while Stannis is being declared Azor Ahai, we're constantly being told he isn't. Jon calls the act a mummer's farce and comments on his cold sword and that is right before a Dany chapter, so the idea is, Dany is actually AA. @trinuviel is the first person I saw lay out the argument for that and contend that being AA is a bad thing (meta parts 1, 2, 3). People have said that Drogo kinda becomes her Nissa Nissa in that scenario. She burns him to get the dragons, and what are the dragons called?

"When I went to the Hall of a Thousand Thrones to beg the Pureborn for your life, I said that you were no more than a child," Xaro went on, "but Egon Emeros the Exquisite rose and said, 'She is a foolish child, mad and heedless and too dangerous to live.' When your dragons were small they were a wonder. Grown, they are death and devastation, a flaming sword above the world." He wiped away the tears. "I should have slain you in Qarth." (ADWD, Daenerys III)

That kinda makes us think, oh, the myth already has a canon counterpart, don't need to worry about it anymore. Only, we've also said Rhaegar impregnating a young Lyanna could be read as a play on Nissa Nissa, with him risking her life to get the prophecy baby, otherwise known as the third head of the dragon. And Jon is not only a kind of dragon, he repeatedly intones that fun little phrase about being a sword, and sometimes, that happens within an interesting context (for speculation purposes):

"I will." Do not fail me, he thought, or Stannis will have my head. "Do I have your word that you will keep our princess closely?" the king had said, and Jon had promised that he would. Val is no princess, though. I told him that half a hundred times. It was a feeble sort of evasion, a sad rag wrapped around his wounded word. His father would never have approved. I am the sword that guards the realm of men, Jon reminded himself, and in the end, that must be worth more than one man's honor. (ADWD, Jon VIII)

So, although there is one character that seems to be Azor Ahai (Dany), I am definitely open to the myth manifesting, or rather, being examined from multiple angles. IMO, that's what Martin is doing and we can use each variation to reassess what he's saying with it. We have Dany and Drogo (the official one/successful one), Rhaegar and Lyanna (not AA, but Jon is born), Stannis and Edric (denied), Stannis and Shireen (he will kill Shireen, but we don't know if he'll get what he wants and we do know he isn't AA)... lots of pics of a similar idea. To emphasize Stannis not being the dude and Dany being the "real" AA, we have that Jon passage and chapter transition:

Even though we have lots of contenders and commentary about this myth with the canon characters, none of it romanticizes human sacrifice, and all works towards the twist that what is said to be a hero/the weapon that will save people brings destruction. If we look back at it critically, Dany has a habit of accepting, or even causing, the suffering of others for her greater good, including sacrificing Mirri to get her dragons. We might even argue that Mirri is a Nissa Nissa for her, as Dany had taken Mirri under her protection before killing her to get dragons.

That being said, even though we're getting told this shit is bad in canon, the indictment of killing innocents and people who depend on you to protect them, it wouldn’t apply if someone were to kill Stannis or Dany. It isn’t on the same moral level as killing a child, or a spouse who loves and trusts you. It isn't the same as invading and then killing people who won't worship your god or accept you as a leader. It isn't the same as killing a slave, simply because, when their times come, Dany and Stannis will be guilty. After their actions, it would be justice for them to die. I think why other parts of the fandom entertain the idea of Dany as NN while also condemning us for entertaining it, is that Dany's vision does have her being grasped at by hands of her "children" and fans have this idea that she is sacrificing herself/her happiness for the greater good already, and in the AA/Nissa Nissa story, it does sound like she offers herself willingly for the tempering of the sword. So to them, it’s part of Dany’s heroism. Dany's death is inevitable to some, at the hands of Jon is ok, but her not dying a hero, that's unacceptable.

But thinking about how it's been discussed thus far, I can't imagine we're gonna get a romanticized version of the AA/NN myth in canon when so far, it's pretty dark/condemned. None of that precludes Jon killing Dany in what you described as a:

warped sort of way, leaving events open to interpretation (as is usual with the prophecies and legends).

which really sticks out to me as the important part of all this.

The idea that Jon might do it and characters recognize it as a tragic love story a la the myth, that fascinates me because of how Martin has written wild rumors into the story (rumors about Dany, Robb, and Sansa spring to mind), and some of us have written reality and what the public thinks into fic as two distinct things because it feels like a potential way the story might go. What is widely known to be true, like say, Jon being Ned's bastard, may not be the truth that we the readers come to know. There's no guarantee that Westeros will know what the readers know about past or future events. We may get a take on AA/NN, the characters in-world may not understand it the same way.

Jon is undeniably a hero, in a world where institutional corruption is rampant and ideals abandoned, he’s a standout in his values. We would expect, and we find, contrasts between him and these other characters (Dany, Rhaegar, Stannis), primarily, his practical actions that are about saving life/protecting life, even from Stannis, so the idea that he would abandon certain values, it's a tough one. The difference is, while Stannis, Rhaegar, and Dany were acting on these prophecies or visions or dreams, things we're repeatedly warned against trusting in the text, Jon would be taking action based on the fact that Dany is a mass-murderer, a threat to all of Westeros. It isn't a sacrifice to an unknown god for some promised mystical good, it's justice. The religious fanaticism wouldn't be a factor, the killing of an innocent wouldn't be a factor, killing a child wouldn't be a factor, killing to achieve a self-serving end wouldn't be a factor. All the things that have been criticized thus far aren't at play.

The moral quandary presented to the audience in AGOT is killing someone who might be a threat, but is a child at the moment, and Martin presents the sneaky assassination / child killing as abhorrent:

Grand Maester Pycelle cleared his throat, a process that seemed to take some minutes. "My order serves the realm, not the ruler. Once I counseled King Aerys as loyally as I counsel King Robert now, so I bear this girl child of his no ill will. Yet I ask you this—should war come again, how many soldiers will die? How many towns will burn? How many children will be ripped from their mothers to perish on the end of a spear?" He stroked his luxuriant white beard, infinitely sad, infinitely weary. "Is it not wiser, even kinder, that Daenerys Targaryen should die now so that tens of thousands might live?" "Kinder," Varys said. "Oh, well and truly spoken, Grand Maester. It is so true. Should the gods in their caprice grant Daenerys Targaryen a son, the realm must bleed." Littlefinger was the last. As Ned looked to him, Lord Petyr stifled a yawn. "When you find yourself in bed with an ugly woman, the best thing to do is close your eyes and get on with it," he declared. "Waiting won't make the maid any prettier. Kiss her and be done with it." "Kiss her?" Ser Barristan repeated, aghast. "A steel kiss," said Littlefinger. (AGOT, Eddard VIII)

which is all interesting context for Dany later being assassinated, especially because the first lesson Martin gives us on justice is one that Jon is there for, and then is reiterated in relation to Dany:

Ned had heard enough. "You send hired knives to kill a fourteen-year-old girl and still quibble about honor?" He pushed back his chair and stood. "Do it yourself, Robert. The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. Look her in the eyes before you kill her. See her tears, hear her last words. You owe her that much at least." (AGOT, Eddard VIII)

The convo about killing Dany with LF is about a bedding and before that it was presented in terms of a wedding gift, which makes me squint now knowing the AA/NN stuff:

Yes, it's awful, and I do understand, almost agree with you here:

But in any case, Jon killing a woman will be an act that is antithetical to so many of his values that it seems like it would come close to destroying him even if justified within Jon's universe.

but the way it might tie together the initial discussion of killing Dany and the eventual act weighs heavily with me when determining what Martin might do and why/why not.

The other suggestion is that Arya kills Dany. If having dragons is Chechov's gun for KL burning then Arya being a trained assassin feels like a Chechov's gun for killing Dany. But in that scenario, there is no conflict. No inner struggle. We spent so much of AGOT weighing the morals of killing Dany, it's hard for me to believe when the time comes, it's presented without any moral complexity. Arya is already able and willing to take a life, even when it isn't justified. It doesn't feel right to me that killing Dany would be a presented without an inner struggle, that it would be done easily, as easily as Arya now kills. TBH, it removes the drama if someone other than Jon does it because it will be so highly necessary and just when the time comes. Jon is really the only character who can make it squeamish because of the guy killing a woman thing and because it will be kinslaying.

There is a lot of talk about poison, so I think it's totally possible Arya tries to kill Dany with poison first, but I think Jon is more likely to be the one to successfully kill her, and in a way that calls to mind Ned's opinion on it, See her tears, hear her last words. That would allow Martin to make sure we see it as just/moral, bring home the Targ v Targ issue, and it shades Ned's decisions and values in a very interesting way.

After s8 fans said Ned was wrong to fight against killing Dany in s1, but Martin thinks he was right to object to killing children, so for the two Targ children he was protecting in AGOT (Dany and Jon) to come face to face and one kill the other prevents the conclusion that Ned was wrong. It was the same mercy, the same refusal to see the child of an enemy as an enemy, that saved the boy who will in turn save Westeros. IMO, it's a way to uphold the belief in mercy. I tend to think it’s also Martin’s way of addressing one his questions about his beloved LOTR (what about orc babies etc).

If another person ends Dany, we still get dead Dany, but it doesn't say anything interesting? Killing her wouldn't be a sacrifice on anyone else's part, she won’t be loved and she has to go. But, Jon, who so desperately wants to have honor, if he kills her, it's right as well as an egregious "sin." Ned dishonors himself to protect Sansa (and obvy was committing treason to protect Jon), it feels like coming full circle for Jon, who so wants to be worthy of being a son to Ned to follow his path there too. Also, one thing I expect we’ll keep tracking is kinslaying. Kinslaying comes up with the AA/Nissa Nissa issue in the Stannis storyline, so I do expect that to be addressed in Jon chapters:

We have the whole baby switch to assure us, Jon values human life a great deal. All the same, that involves a moment of cruelty on Jon's side, so Martin isn't interested in keeping him perfectly pure. He likes those moments where doing the right thing is very difficult, even compromising in some way. It's why, while we say Ned committing treason for Jon is a no brainer, Martin writes Ned tortured by it. He likes the inner turmoil over decisions, placing a societal good (honor) against another obligation or ideal and asking what is right.

I wonder if Martin really plans to bring Jon this low, but also how it will be received. The optics of portraying such an ending for Dany given today's sensibilities could be viewed even more dimly than it would have been when Martin started writing the series?

Despite all the ways I think it makes sense, yes, I def think this is one of those areas that if he had finished the series as quickly as he'd hoped, would have gone over better. Dany has dragons, therefore, she will be an overwhelming threat to Westeros, so it isn't like Jon will just randomly kill a woman, yet it's distasteful all the same. Martin is looking at things from the context of his story and the ideas he’s already introduced/talking about though which is why I can wince but kinda understand it. There are other issues where my sensibilities diverge from his, so didn’t like it on the show, I don’t like it for the books, still think it’s probably gonna happen. 🤷🏻‍♀️

#dot chat #anti daenerys #anti jonerys #azor ahai #jon snow #asoiaf speculation #anti rhaegar #anti stannis

59 notes · View notes

no-light-left-on · 3 months

Text

Let's talk about the Chaos System in Dishonored

“Your actions affect the city. A high number of deaths results in more rats, more weepers, different reactions from your allies and darker final outcome.”

The most important thing to note is that we need to distinguish between chaos and morality. A lot of people interpret Low Chaos as Good and High Chaos as Bad which is… not inherently correct. At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that while non-lethal takedowns of key targets result in lower chaos, they are not the only thing that contributes to the chaos rating of a mission. I highly recommend reading these two posts [1] [2] by the lovely @kirtlandswarbler who looked into the science behind the chaos system.

It is perhaps easiest to imagine as the DnD alignment of Lawful to Chaotic. Low Chaos aligns with Lawful, the player character going after their targets and not dragging bystanders into their mess. All the takedowns are tactical, some might even say deserved – the Lord Regent hanged for his crimes, Campbell branded as a heretic that he was, Hypatia cured of her madness caused by the serum, Delilah locked in a painted world she desired so. The achievement for completing the game with non-lethal ways is even called Poetic Justice in DH and In Good Conscience in DH2. If the game is completed in a self-serving, bloodthirsty, anger satiating way, the chaos ends up being high – or plain chaotic on the alignment chart. But that is what the chaos means for the playstyle.

Chaos within the world is, in short, the way the world reacts to the player’s actions. The good and the bad, but every move the player makes in the world is a choice, and the world responds accordingly.

Let us set the scene, first, in general terms. In both games, the Empire is at a point of heightened anxiety. In DH it’s the plague, in DH2 the Crown Killer. Both games deal with brutality citizens face from the City Watch/Grand Guard, religious anxieties and terror from the Overseers, gang activity and a tyrannical regime from the Regent or the Duke respectively.

This is the world we walk into as Corvo, Daud or Emily. Everyone is uneasy and somewhat distrustful, and the player character then descends into the streets with a blade in hand, carving their way through a crumbling city to reach their goal. Loved ones go missing. Fathers don’t come back from work, cousins stop responding to letters. Even the elite in their palaces aren’t spared, slaughtered in cold blood with their loyal guard lying close by, staining the expensive hardwood floors. This is the world the player creates in high chaos – a world where no one is safe, and the few survivors live in terror, afraid that every breath they take might be the last. They see no reason to trust their neighbours, become more selfish, angrier- even your allies become more cynical, watching you slaughter your way back to the top, and why are they helping you again? To replace one tyrant with another?

In low chaos, however, the people remain safe. The civilians are allowed to continue going through their day to day life, however harsh it might be. The guards and overseers are spared, for the most part, and the nobles and rich that might go missing? That is their problem. They never cared for the smaller people. Both games open with a large shift in the political landscape – the assassination of an empress, a coup that seats a witch on the throne. And yet people still die of the plague or to the bloodflies. If a couple more members of the parliament die, that is, at the end of it all, just politics. It is among those who meddle with political issues, and not the business of the rest of the world.

The chaos is calculated by the absolute body count, along with a few special actions that the player can take. Most of them make sense. The chaos is higher if Daud blows up a slaughterhouse, killing many in the process, harming an industry, terrifying people who only hear of the event. Saving a young woman and her brother as they are harassed by the overseers over witch crimes they never committed lowers your chaos, because Corvo helped people in need. It’s a balance of the good and the bad you do, in total, rather than the simple distinction between killing and not killing the key targets. The overall chaos remains low even when all the key targets are taken down lethally. However, even if they are all spared, if the player killed every guard in sight just to reach these targets, the chaos will be high.

Something that I see (wrongly) be brought up is that killing key targets grants you a High Chaos ending, while the non-lethal takedowns result in Low Chaos ending. As mentioned above, that’s not true – they do count towards your total body count, but their deaths do not have a greater weight towards High Chaos. The non-lethal neutralization thus helps maintain lower chaos, but it does not necessarily mean that these choices are the right ones to make. The best example of this is probably Lady Boyle, which is oftentimes brought up as “oh but the morality of this game!!” critique. Death vs. poetic justice has little to do with morality in these games. After all, the protagonist (not counting DLCs) is out for revenge, to an extent, on people who have wronged them and caused them to fall on hard times. Just because a character lives does not mean there are not fates worse than death – like handing a woman to her stalker under the threat of death.

Morality and lethality in Dishonored are two things that don’t necessarily overlap. Lobotomizing Jindosh is, most definitely, a horrible thing and Jindosh ends up begging the MC to rather take his life than let him live without his intellect. There is no doubt that he is a horrible person, and many people tell you so during the game, but is this really the right way to go about things? Is an existence without the one thing you truly value about yourself worth it? On a similar yet completely opposite side of things, when you overhear one of the guards talk about how they have fun killing people who break curfew, is it truly a bad thing to kill them? One or two more deaths won’t affect your chaos all that much. It gets even more worth considering with the special actions that decrease your chaos which involve saving people from getting murdered by overseers or the guard. These actions are often difficult or impossible to perform without killing the attackers (like the guard harassing the girl that worked for Bunting).

These actions then reflect on your surroundings – the more corpses litter the streets, the more weepers and rats there will be, the nastier the bloodfly infestation. With a killer on the loose, there have to be more guards around. Mind you, the special actions that cause your chaos to grow are not enough to tip you over into high chaos alone. And as you, and Corvo/Daud/Emily by extension, grow more cruel, your allies grow more cynical. The Loyalists see Corvo butcher the city, and, well, it’s working. So why shouldn’t they get more cruel to achieve their goals, too? Emily is the most impacted, in Low Chaos growing to be Emily the Wise, the beloved empress of the Isles, asking Corvo innocent questions, while in the high chaos she talks about executions, asks how many people he's killed. Some grow to despise you, like Samuel, seeing the growing corruption and wishing for the quest to be done because they now see that the person they were helping was as much of a monster as the ones they are opposing. If you are cruel, the world will be cruel back, and the world involves those you might hold closest, like your daughter or your second in command.

The world, then, behaves in the way you mold it. Chaos reflects it, the destruction or kindness that you leave in your wake. Of course the murder of a noblewoman on a party she hosted, guarded by tallboys, will cause people to worry. Of course panic will spread when civilians are murdered in the streets. The general population of Dunwall will worry when the medicine that was meant to cure the plague suddenly turns everyone into weepers. But just the same, if people are shown kindness by a stranger without having to ask, they will be soothed. A cruel political leader being executed for the crimes he committed will make people excited, hopeful even. When Emily switches the Duke for his body double, the common people won’t notice. There is no need for fear, with the non-lethal takedowns. Not for those who are not directly involved.

Chaos, at the end of it all, dictates how the world evolves from the brink of collapse. The Outsider says it best, in one of his many speeches. “I have to wonder whether you're going to give if that final nudge, or pull it back from the edge.“ You have the power to tip the scales with your actions. Your choices matter, the big and the small, each life you save and each life you take, because at the end of the game, you are the one that has shaped the world that you will rule.

#dishonored #dh #li.txt #essays tag #YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT THERES MORE COMING YOUR WAY #yes there is an essay about the lack of chaos in doto coming #indirectly inspired by all the videoessays that talked about low and high chaos 'outcomes' of missions in a 'but this is not Good :(('#basically what Im trying to say: yeah chaos is about how fucked up you are. but from the perception of OTHERS #Im really tempted to write a full length analysis of all the games on their own and how chaos impacts the world #especially after dakota's hard work #which again massive thank you for answering all of my questions and actually tearing the game to shreds for this info

32 notes · View notes

the-primordial-archivist · 1 month

Text

Another TOA Read Riordan update I was too lazy to ss

LESTER’S “DARK” PROPHECY

The words that memory wrought are set to fire,

Ere new moon rises o’er the Devil’s Mount.

The changeling lord shall face a challenge dire,

Till bodies fill the Tiber beyond count.

Yet southward now the sun must trace its course,

Through mazes dark to lands of scorching death

To find the master of the swift white horse

And wrest from him the crossword speaker’s breath.

To westward palace must the Lester go;

Demeter’s daughter finds her ancient roots.

The cloven guide alone the way does know,

To walk the path in thine own enemy’s boots.

When three are known and Tiber reached alive,

Tis only then Apollo starts to jive.

This was one of several prophecies delivered to Apollo during the time he spent on earth as a mortal named Lester Papadopoulos. As a god, Apollo was no stranger to the power of prophecies and how they shaped Olympian politics for centuries. But as a mortal tasked with saving the world from a trio of evil Roman Emperors, his relationship with prophecies changed dramatically.

This one, provided by the Oracle of Trophonius and spoken by Meg McCaffery, was dubbed the “Dark Prophecy,” but internally, we often refer to it as the “Too-Long Prophecy.”

Prophecies such as this give us a lot of potential information to interpret. Maybe too much? Gods and demigods alike can drive themselves nuts analyzing each and every line, combing for possible danger and destruction.

Our advice? Don’t sweat the sonnets. Prophecies over a dozen lines long essentially tell us that our fate is fully out of our hands. Just buckle up and enjoy the ride as best you can.

I -----------------------------

Since when did we call the Dark Prophecy the Too-Long Prophecy???? Did I miss something?????? Also I miss one Lester so I posted this </3

#lester papadopoulos #trials of apollo #toa apollo #toa #apollo #pjo apollo #meg mccaffrey #read riordan

22 notes · View notes

ewesless · 3 months

Text

I have nothing nice to say tonight.

Edit: this was a quick rant with a brief explanation. It's not meant to go into depth on any subject matter and has a hostile tone throughout, including the notes. I ignore men and politics in real life, I have no desire to learn about them or explain anything beyond the post's scope. This is drawn from when I had a passing interest in learning about the diseased male thoughts. I've clarified and expanded the original post.

Barbatos does have the admirable Sigma traits, but he is just as hopelessly in love with the player character and panders just as much as the other males in the game which is only one of many ways that negates a self-respecting Sigma 😂

I honestly hate that words like Simp made it into Obey Me. In a sexual context it has been appropriated from incels and MGTOW language. It's 'reclaimed', redefined and is used unironically again everywhere, but it is still completely sexist bullshit. Women can't even get basic respect and sympathy from a man without this type of men degrading, jeering at and insulting both.

It's a term heavily used in this fandom so I can't really fault the writers. They use catchy slang to stay hip and contemporary, especially with Levi and his jargon. It's in awful taste to use a misogynistic term FROM a character who is identifiable as an incel, towards a character meant to represent anyone, in a game and genre specifically intended for women.

I doubt that anyone who uses the term on themself cares about the implications or origin of trendy labels. The term Simp, used in a sexual context such as this, is from the Manosphere (Far Right, Masculinist, Anti-Feminist, Anti-Woman and LGBT-phobic "Movement".) It is an acronym that means "Simpletons into Mediocre P*ssy". For Levi to call himself a Simp is to specifically refer to MC mediocre pvssy. These are characters meant to represent idealized fantasy men and yet the writers decided to invite concepts from men who violently oppose, objectify and hate Women and LGBT?

While it's believable that Levi could operate out of this belief system, they shouldn't have actually done it. 🙁 OM runs absolutely counter to Masculinism, the character are PROUD "SIMPS" that aggressively pursue, "paypig"/throw money, gifts, fawn over, pander to and compete against one another in hopes of getting attention from someone who can be interpreted as a woman. The characters are "pathetically" obsessed with gaining favor, monopoly over and a romantic and/or sexual relationship with the player. It is ANATHEMA TO THE MASCULINIST CONCEPT. Masculinism is, in other words, male supremacism and a call to arms for "oppressed men" to reject progress towards equality, retake full patriarchal control and force everyone else to submit to their ideology and social order and accept the "inherent worthlessness" of equality, the female sex, non-whiteness, LGBT, Liberal/Left and those that disagree with them.

OM promotes a progressive and LGBT friendly stance while remaining solidly as the otome genre's woman oriented escapism + power fantasy, romance game. That isn't to say OM players/Otome/Joseimuke players aren't also literally Simps who paypig for mediocre prick, but this game is supposed to be about "good men" and romantic fulfillment.

It's ridiculous 😂

There will be no tolerance for "Not All Men" or "Not Just Women/Female Players" on my post. This is about specific men and their ideology that specifically attack women, their lives, safety and futures in horrific, vile, life ruining ways.

Edit: you know the trendy phrase of "death of the author" and how viewer interpretation trumps creator intention? Yeah, this is that.

Edit 2: I know I'm acting "butthurt" and being "sensitive about no big deal, it's just a localized, foreign, gacha game" but that's just part and parcel with any form of protest and activism. Why else is anger the primary, force driving, motivation?

#obey me #obey me nightbringer #obey me barbatos #obey me leviathan #sexism #useless writing

23 notes · View notes

aanylah-101 · 1 year

Text

ZDINARSK HEADCANONS FULL PACK

FULL PACK OF ZDINARSK HEADCANONS AND CANONS

Enjoy Angels! 🕊🤍

HUMAN FORM HEADCANON

I don't have much to say about this but when Quaritch is watching the video of himself or his little memory card you can see a woman getting In of a link unit, here's the conversation, I got this off a website where I watch the movie so I will depict everything from what the subtitles say

Human Quaritch; "You're a recom now, Colonel..."

Human Quaritch; "Loaded with my memories and my charm"

Human Quaritch; "What you won't remember is my death...because It hasn't happened yet, and it aint gonna"

Lyle; "Damn right"

Possibly Zdinarsk; "Hell yeah"

NOW I THINK this HAS to be Zdinarsk, why? Here's the second conversation, this is when Tysireya calls an ilu that's swimming by and swims away on it, and then the POV goes back up to Quaritch, Zdinarsk, Mansk, Kiri, & ofc Tuk.

Quaritch; "We can still get this done"

Zdinarsk; "Hell yeah"

LOOK ME IN THE EYES AND TELL ME THATS NOT ZDINARSK oh right! YA CANT

GUM CHEWING / EMOTIONAL EATING & EMOTIONAL EATER

So a while ago I saw something where there was a headcanon about how Zdinarsk chews gum as a way to calm herself down? And how she's an emotional eater, I actually love this one and credits to @roxynmae & @fictionsonmymind for this since they're like 10000% responsible for it.

HEADCANON LINK <333

Here's an Idea! How about with her being an emotional eater she eats what she feels y'know? Maybe a sad food for her could be like something soft or simple to eat. Like soup or oatmeal, something like that!

I looked this up afterward and look-

Maybe a food for when she's angry could be maybe a hot food, not steaming but not warm either.

Maybe she chews her gum hard sometimes when she can't get to crunchy or tough foods,

Z being an emotional eater suits her, and her liking sweet things is cool too. She most likely chews her gum so that way she has a way to calm herself and maybe something to keep her busy.

Also, her having anxiety could be a possibility, maybe she gets jittery so chewing gum maybe overwhelms the feeling that she has to move around.

ADHD maybe???

I can relate because when taking my state test or whatever It's called I couldn't stay still when sitting down for nearly 4-5 hours. Sure most wouldn't like that but trust me the person behind me was probably so p!ssed with me moving every 5 seconds lmao.

Later on I did fall asleep and woke back up when testing was over,

ZDINARSKS FIRST NAME / NICKNAME

Once again this was inspired by a post I saw with headcanons/canons of the recom's names

I sadly lost the @ for this headcanon but If I find them I will update this and put their user!

CREDIT LINK BASE - INCOMPLETE

like her first name! It's cute and her name has a meaning in Arabic!

COPY AND PASTED!

Origin: Arabic. Meaning:Date palm; date. Tamara is a feminine Arabic name meaning "date palm" or "date." Derived from the Biblical name Tamar meaning "date" or "palm tree," this sweet moniker is symbolic of the beauty and fruitfulness associated with this tree.

She is definitely fruity alright lol, for nicknames she already has 2.

Z-dog and just Z

Z-dog is clearly heard when Lyle is telling reassuring him his squad by their names,

Z is heard near the end of the movie,

Lyle tells Z to go to another part of the ship.

She looks so pretty In this scene to omfg

TATTOOS

This one is confirmed completely so this is canon!

Zdinarsk has many colorful tattoos on her arms, neck, and chest. They include:

A chimera on her neck.

An eagle on her back with the Latin motto "AUT VINCERE AUT MORI" which means "conquer or die". It also has the number 33 which is known as an "angel number" that calls for people to cleanse their life and mind of negativity.

Her right arm has a skeleton reaper on the bottom and an angel on the top.

Her left arm has a snake wrapped around a skull with "DEATHLESS" on it. The bottom portion is the most difficult to interpret as it looks very Hindu in nature with many strange symbols.

CONCEPT DESIGN

On the ATWOW fandom website on Zdinarsks page there is an art gallery of her character design

There is also another concept design, I believe It was called the art of avatar book.

Ok so from the OG design of Zdinarsk, her tattoos didn't change, but something very noticeable is that

She has cargo military pants but In her approved design she has shorts instead. She acuatually changed pants 3 times in the movie, when she is first seen you can see her in the mirror when Quaritch first wakes up she has on the same pants as everyone else, it has Project Phoneix on the side but shortened to Phnx I think.

Also with this design she has a hat, sunglasses, I LOVE how her sunglasses sit on top of her hat it's so cute.

In the second concept design photo her shirt is shorter than the first concept photo and her official design,

she has on gloves as well, And for some who didn't know Walker has gloves attached to her pants as equipment, cute detail right?

In the trivia section of her page, It says that James Cameron asked for her to look like this!

So there it is! Zdinarks hair is a mohawk!! I never minded her hair but something to know Is that the Na'vi DO NOT have those fades you have when getting a buzz cute or etc, but Quaritch does?

ANGER ISSUES

So It was silently agreed that Zdinarsk had anger issues, but when she is angry she will never take it out on people purposely. I'd like to imagine that when Quaritch started swinging after he woke up Z was worried about him. The conversation:

Lab lady; "Get security!"

Zdinarsk; "Grab him!"

IN THIS PART THERE IS SO MUCH RUKUS IM NOT CONFIRMING THIS FAR DOWN!

Zdinarsk; "Put him down!" OR "Hold him down!"

Zdinarsk; "Colonel! Calm down!"

She sounded so worried and scared when he started swinging, and how when Quaritch said he was alright she was the second to let him and before losing contact completely.

A mini side-note is when Quaritch goes to punch his ikran, when he fell Spider, Lyle, Alexzander (or brown), & Zdinarsk were the first to run to the edge of the cliff

"Thats becuase everyone was farther back"

I DONT GIVE AF IT EVEN SAYS IN HER PROFILE THAT SHE WAS A LOYAL SOLIDER WHO STUCK BESIDE HIM SHE CARESSS

SEXUALITY & GENDER

Everyone knows Z HAS to be gay, I mean LOOK AT HER

Definitely Lesbain, I would say Masc but I don't see that part in her honestly.

Maybe Alpha lesbain? heres the meaning -->

COPY & PASTED FROM WEBSITE

Top of the lesbian food chain and don't they know it! With their razor-sharp jawlines, and buckets of s$x appeal, alphas manage to turn heads wherever they go.

Of course, this is just ‼️another massive stereotype‼️. And while it might seem that alphas have been blessed with a gift from the gods, truth is, anybody can be an alpha.

The secret to being an alpha is confidence. There is nothing more attractive than someone who's comfortable in their own skin and knows what they want.

WEBSITE- FR CHECK THIS SITE OUT ITS COOL

IKRAN DESIGN & COLOR

I found images of Z's Ikran ITS RAINBOW!!!

I LOVE this detail! You can't tell me she's straight now

RELATIONSHIPS & DATING

This has 2 sections so enjoy yourself

TOXIC RELATIONSHIP

If Z was ever In this situation I feel like depending on who the person was or how she felt about them she would either be p!ssed off and be like "Whatever btch" and just push that person away. Or she would maybe be sad about how the person becomes different and she gets sad.

THINGS NOT WORKING OUT

Zdinarsk would completely understand, she would maybe still ask If you two could be friends though or check up on the person. BUT If you are being difficult she won't care.

For example, If you are going through something and refuse to let her help you (and let others help you) she would get mad and try her best to help you but If you are pushing her away continuously she might just break up with you or grow distant.

You better PRAY to ewya btch that she doesn't start talking to somebody else cuz If she does you can kiss her goodbye. If she even lets you lmao

(Hope this isn't to toxic...)

Thats kinda it lol

Last thing I wanna say about Zdinarsk is her body shape and the way she looks, she is so beautiful and pretty. Like look at her body view

I want to touch her thighs respectfully

Thank you for reading! And credit and sm love to the people I took Inspo from <333

This was so fun to make and I'm not even done talking about her

Friends; @dyingofcookies @multiversebaddie

#zdinarsk #Zdinarsk headcanons #Z-dog #miles quaritch #lyle wainfleet #Lesbain #awotw #avatar

65 notes · View notes

renegade-skywalker · 5 months

Text

I stopped posting updates to my fic here but I was feeling oddly proud of my interpretation of the scene where Kreia invades Atton's mind at Atris' academy so here we are🙃:

—

Atton was beginning to think that he’d unwittingly been thrown into purgatory. To have escaped death so many times only to end up in yet another cell, well, Atton wasn’t sure if he was lucky in the eyes of the universe or just the butt end of an inside joke it had with destiny.

Either way, the last place Atton expected to find himself in was another prison. And consoling someone other than himself while confined there, no less. “Take it easy, will you?” he uttered for what felt like the umpteenth time as he watched Bao-Dur hold his horned head in his hands. “Not much we can do in here for the moment, though trust me, Eden will get us out.”

Where his sudden optimism came from, he wasn’t sure. Though his unwavering faith in Eden was without question. Uttering her name outside of her presence almost felt sacrilege, though, and he didn’t know why.

“It’s not that,” Bao-Dur muttered, a quiet anger seething through even the force cages that separated them. “I was over this, I was getting past it. But then first it was Czerka. And then those mercs. And now… this.”

Atton could only shake his head, exasperated, as now it seemed it was Kreia’s turn to look at Bao-Dur with tired ire.

“You did what you had to do to be rid of that place,” Kreia said with some assurance though it came across more as annoyance than anything else. “You protected your work as well as your hide. Not many are capable of such feats.”

Atton wasn’t sure if Kreia was truly doling out accolades or simply expressing her own surprise. As usual, the old woman was hard to read and Atton wasn’t keen on reading between her lines.

“The Jedi were supposed to help us,” Bao-Dur continued, his voice faraway and hollow. “How could one hole up here and call it a mercy when the rest of the planet still suffers?”

“It does not do to dwell on whatever image the galaxy holds of the Jedi,” Kreia said flatly. “It matters not, for one. But to be offended by some ideal fiction is a waste of energy entirely.”

Bao-Dur only laughed weakly, his head now between his knees as the man sat despondent on the floor of his cell.

“It’s not that,” he said. “I was at Malachor, I know what evil the Jedi are capable of doing. Of asking. And of me, no less. But I promised myself - not again. No: never again.”

Bao shook his head more fiercely now, as if not only fending off Kreia’s words of warning but whatever inner demons also plagued him.

“It’s too late for that,” Bao-Dur continued. “There’s no amount of sage wisdom in the ‘verse to soothe my self hatred.”

Atton heard the words, clear as day. Only… Bao-Dur’s mouth had not moved.

A shiver ran down Atton’s spine at the realization, wondering just how long it had been since he’d last eaten something, since he’d last had a sip of water. He wasn’t sure, but he also wasn’t entirely certain he was imagining things, either.

“There’s no use in blaming yourself,” Atton muttered, annoyed but more so at his own muddled mind than he should have been at the present situation, trying to get a grip on it as he glanced about his new cell. “You did your job. The Ithorians’ work is safe. And that’s all you should care about right now.”

He wasn’t looking at her, but he could sense Kreia cross her arms over her chest, watching him. Though why, or for what purpose, he did not know.

“Like I said, Eden will see us out of here. And once she does, I know she’ll be just as incensed as you are. She’ll set it all to rights.”

Kreia leaned back on the one non-plasma charged wall of her cell and watched him, though whether her gaze moved at all between him and Bao-Dur he was not sure. Atton hoped it did, because he squirmed under the imagined weight of her gaze, feeling none too much like himself with her watching.

“Sure,” Bao-Dur said with a nod, actually speaking this time. Atton noted the movement of the man’s mouth and the gesture of his head. Bao-Dur’s pale amber gaze met his and he nodded. After a moment - of both registering the action and realizing that it was, in fact, reality - Atton nodded in kind. “Eden will help set things right. She always does.”

Even if Malachor went sideways.

Atton kept his gaze on Bao-Dur even as the man looked away, certain he heard the words again but now absolutely certain that the Iridonian did not utter them.

It was what we planned, maybe. But the aftermath…

Atton felt himself lean forward, yearning to follow the unspoken thread of thought further but instead found himself yanked back. Both mentally and physically. Just as he was looking at Bao-Dur, he was suddenly thrust back-first into the hard stone of the uncharged wall of his cell. Then his mind clouded with endless dark and billowing thought - none of it of his own making.

He opened his mouth, words poised on his tongue.

What’s happening? Was the first to cross his mind, panic shooting through his every limb and every corner of his consciousness. What are you doing?

Atton could not move or speak. It was just as he’d felt when the half-imagined HK drugged him and waited for him to drift off to sleep before slaughtering every other living thing in Peragus’ paltry medical bay. Before, he’d still hoped it was just a fever dream. But now he knew that the memory was all too real, and worst of all that it was happening again.

Stop struggling, Kreia’s voice entered his mind, slipping between his own thoughts and slithering between them, as if swatting them away in order to make more room for herself.

His vision grew dark, everything in his periphery clouded by a shadowed curtain as if he were on the brink of fainting but unable to succumb to the sickness of sleep, unable to collapse and release his fear into the darkness of unconsciousness. Instead he was pinned to the wall and painfully aware of everything.

Bao-Dur remained on the floor of his cell, head in his hands, frozen in time. Blissfully unaware of it all.

Let me follow the current, Kreia’s voice continued, though he could hardly call it a voice. He knew the words were hers but the words almost felt like his own, as if his own mind were thinking them and listening to them at once, but her essence remained stamped on each sentiment as if sealing her intrusion in wax - setting herself apart from Atton’s own thoughts yet imprinting just the same on his mind as if she were welcomed there. Deep, deeper, to its source…

No numbers, no hyperspace routes, no power couplings came to his aid. His mind was blank, empty and just as pinned to the proverbial wall as Atton’s physical body was in the flesh. He could not move, but he also could not think - instead a helpless onlooker, unable to do anything other than observe in abject horror.

Stop, stop, stop, he wanted to think, and yet the word escaped him. The feeling did not, but he could not will Kreia away. He could not banish her from the domain she’d already violated.

Ah, a sigh fluttered through him, satisfied with a nauseating triumph. With the fear is mingled guilt…

Flashes of memory flit before Atton’s eyes, from birth until now. It took only an instant as well as an eternity. He not only saw them, but relived them, the reactionary emotions inspired by each roiling within him like a sudden sickness.

It squirms in you, Kreia’s voice cut through his thoughts like a knife. Like a worm.

Few images stayed while others faded. All that remained were faces. Those of his mother and father - the dark hair and the disdain he received from his mother, as well the dark eyes and the thrill of the chase he inherited from his father. Then there was Corr Desyk’s crooked smile and sense of adventure, of absolution in the face of utter despair. But among them was also Darth Malak as he stared Jaq down and assessed him, eventually recruiting him to Revan’s cause, an imagined version of the woman herself appearing in his mind’s eye afterward even if he’d never once met her.

And then there was her...

And the why… ah.

Atton’s vision hadn’t clouded entirely, and from the depths of his shadowed sight he saw Kreia smile wickedly from across the room.

And there is its heart.

Of all the faces that stared back at him from his past, the one that shone brightest was hers. Hers. The Jedi that almost bested him. The Jedi that opened him up to the heart of the universe. And the Jedi he slaughtered in cold blood because she had.

He hadn't thought of her face since that day. Atton had blocked it entirely out of his mind. The memory remained, but the image stayed as if behind a curtain, intentionally withdrawn and hidden from him as to save him from something. From what, who knew. Perhaps only himself.

You surprise me, Kreia thought inside his mind, oddly somber. But I should have known.

Bao-Dur remained still on the other side of the room, time not affecting him as it did Atton, living a life’s age and then some within the small confines of his unfortunately still-living brain.

I could not feel it before, Kreia commended, her admiration clear in the intention. Your feelings are a powerful shield indeed.

If Atton could, he would have laughed. Not powerful enough.

The half-thought of his sarcasm sparked and sputtered before Kreia’s dominating mind. He could feel her laugh within his consciousness in his stead.

Do not worry, Atton. If she is a Jedi, she will forgive. And if she is not…

The pause that followed was palpable.

He knew she meant to insinuate Eden. A woman who both embodied and defied everything he ever knew about Jedi. But that wasn’t the part about her that bothered him. Well, it did, but it wasn’t what worried him most.

If she is not, then she will not care.

Kreia asserted this with some finality, as if both for herself as well as for Atton.

“You can’t tell her,” he managed to whisper with a gasping breath. “I’m asking you - no, I’m begging you. I don’t want her to-”

Whether Atton actually spoke these words or merely thought them he was not certain. What was real or imagined was now both one and the same. But he felt the effort in his chest as if he had spoken, the urgency of his words surprising even himself.

Think less of you? Kreia finished his thought for him. She tsked audibly within his mind. I hardly think that’s possible.

Kreia affirmed it with such poise, such confidence, that Atton feared she was telling the truth. Even if he preferred, and suspected, that she wasn’t

Still, there is no shame in what you ask. We all wage war with the past, and it leaves its scars.

His scars remained visible before his mind’s eye in a myriad of memories. Each one lingering longer than he would have liked.

I will not speak of yours, Atton, Kreia continued. But there is a price for such things.

“Price? What price?” he asked as if gasping for air. This time, he felt as if his voice were his own, choking on his own words as he spoke them.

There are those who wage war, and those who follow them.

He thought of Corr and he thought of Malak, each of them men he’d once looked up to and both of them men he’d also seen break in the wake of the same willed woman. And then he thought of Revan - both the woman he imagined her to be as well as the monster he knew she was.

You know your place, Kreia said, as if looking at his memories alongside him. You are a crude thing, murderer, but you have your uses…

Just as Revan’s kaleidoscope persona faded from his vision, he thought of her again. The Jedi who gifted him the world and all its secrets. The Jedi he killed viciously out of fear of her blessing.

You know how important this woman we travel with is, even one such as you can feel it.

The feelings he had about Eden said nothing less. When he met her, she’d been his savior. His undeserving patron. And in repayment, he owed her the universe. If only because he deserved so little of it.

So you will serve her… until I release you.

He never learned her name - the last Jedi he’d killed. And yet her pale face gave way to Eden’s in his imagination, as if remembering them both as one and the same.

“And what if I refuse?”

Kreia laughed.

You won’t.

Atton thought of Eden’s face in the stead of the woman he slaughtered, blood bubbling up from beneath Eden's cracked lips, a satisfied smile on her pallid visage despite the death fast becoming her.

He shuddered, and yet still could not move.

If you do, then my silence will be broken, Kreia warned, the voice inside his head growing tenfold, as if Kreia spoke with the throat of thousands. And then, Atton, you will be broken.

The image shattered - the imagined one as well as the memory. Both dissolved into unending blackness, disappearing into the dark of the void Atton sometimes felt himself longing for between conjuring up hyperspace coordinates.

Whatever fear you hold of the Jedi, know that if you disobey me, that my punishment will make you beg for the death that has long hounded you.

He knew Kreia meant it as a threat, and yet part of him found solace in her promise. Wondering if he were truly so far from the edge or merely toeing the line.

Wipe the fear from your mind. You will not find blind obedience a difficult master… you chose it once. You will learn to embrace it again.

And then all at once, time resumed. Atton found himself gasping for breath just as Bao-Dur raised his head and spoke again, continuing his thought from earlier only to be met with deaf ears. Whatever he said was lost on Atton, and presumably Kreia as well who only sighed, looking pleased with herself.

“Did you say something, Atton?” Bao-Dur asked, his face innocent despite the man’s still roiling inner anger.

Atton shook his head, glancing at Kreia only to find that the woman was no longer looking at him and appearing as if she never had been.

“No,” he coughed, his throat sour and his mind sick. “Not at all.”

#kotor 2 #atton rand #kreia #star wars #my writing #when was the last time I posted something for this fandom here even??? hello???#(if anyone is wondering about the fic itself it's called Out of the Abyss and it's linked in the pinned post on my page)

22 notes · View notes

dotjretion · 6 months

Text

My thoughts on Romeo F. "Bedman" Neumann Guilty Gear

SPOILERS FOR: Guilty Gear Xrd, Guilty Gear Strive

At the risk of sounding too nerdy, I have some predictions not just about Romeo (alias Bedman)'s current state of affairs after his death in Xrd and his young sister taking his place, but also for his potential return as his own character separate from the Bedman identity in either future Strive DLC or a post-Strive installment of Guilty Gear.

Based primarily on what I have been able to gather from Xrd and Strive's story modes, as well as the arcade mode for Happy Chaos in Strive, it is very strongly implied that Romeo is not in fact dead as it's presented on its face.

In his conversation with Axl, Romeo had mentioned that his sister was lost to the dream world long ago, meaning that she didn't even have so much as a physical body in the material world. In his final scene in Xrd Revelator we see his body straight up turn to stone and crumble to pieces. On its face, he would appear to be dead, right?

[COMICALLY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER]

You would be wrong! In Guilty Gear Strive's arcade mode while playing as Happy Chaos, if you beat I-no on stage 7 without dropping a round, Happy Chaos discusses demi-humans and their ontological implications with I-no. In doing so, he offhandedly mentions Romeo. Specifically he says, and I quote:

"Did you know there was a guy named Bedman who managed to delete his own ID and became a multi-dimensional being?"

Entities in the Guilty Gear world who lack IDs (usually vampires or werewolves, i.e. demi-humans) exist in all parallel universes at once, and Romeo is a rare example of a multi-dimensional being who is (barring his unusual psychic powers) an ordinary human. While Happy Chaos does talk about him in past tense here, all other multidimensional beings we know of (e.g. Slayer, Nagoriyuki) are functionally immortal and I see no reason as to why Romeo would be an exception to this rule.

Now, what do I think happened? I figure that Romeo saved Delilah's life by switching places with her in the dream world, which as is confirmed in his conversation with Axl and his arcade mode in Xrd, is connected to the Backyard. Much like her, he lost his physical form and now exists as a disembodied consciousness who at most has remote control over his mechanised bed. It would also fit in with some of the lyrics in Bedman?'s Strive theme.

"Pitch black, pure white, all the same!" could be interpreted as meaning that where Romeo expected to find death, he found yet another dream. This is corroborated by how in Xrd his dreams are mostly represented as being a white void, as well as a common interpretation of death being nothing but empty darkness going on forever.

"But I can't find you with access to the back of my eyelids." implies that he still has some source of agency and isn't actually dead, but that he's in some kind of sleep, also tying into the idea that he's trapped in a dream with no body to wake up in rather than just full-on dead.

While the circle that's mentioned throughout the song can very clearly be referring to the cycle of death and rebirth known as saṃsāra, songs don't just have one intended meaning and the same symbolism can refer to multiple things at once. For example the circle could also be a way to refer to the physical world that Guilty Gear takes place in, in contrast to the Backyard which is a plane of abstract data. When he says he's on the border of the circle, it could in fact mean that he exists trapped in the Backyard, on the border of the physical world.

Now, how can he come back? If he's trapped in the Backyard, there are only really two people with the power to bring him back as of right now: Asuka R. Kreutz and The Original/Happy Chaos. Asuka would be able to as he's the one in possession of the Tome of Origin, which is the Backyard's physical manifestation in reality. He can glean all information from it, and thus if Romeo tried to call for help, Asuka could very plausibly find him. In addition, Asuka has made physical vessels for people in the past. He created Jack-O' Valentine as a vessel for Aria Hale's soul, and the planned Happy Chaos unit was a vessel to be made to house I-no's soul so she could live a normal life (though it was never finished). Nothing I know about Guilty Gear's lore precludes Asuka from making a physical vessel for Romeo's consciousness to inhabit to save him from the Backyard. As for now though, it seems Romeo's only connection to the physical world left is his old bed, where he silently watches over Delilah while he can say nothing to comfort her or reassure her that he's actually there.

tl;dr Romeo's trapped in the Backyard and only Asuka or Happy Chaos can bring him back. His only connection to reality left is his old bed.

#Guilty Gear #Bedman #Romeo F Neumann #guilty gear strive #guilty gear xrd

45 notes · View notes

vashtijoy · 1 year

Note

probably a silly question, but i was under the impression that mental shutdowns can either kill or put someone in a coma, while psychotic breaks make the victim abandon all societal norms and whatever inhibitions they had. sort of like. it will make them act like their worst self and desires and intrusive thoughts but it won't kill them. is this wrong? :0 i guess even in my interpretation a psychotic break can make someone act in such a way that will cause them serious body harm or death. but can a psychotic break kill on its own?

You have it right, anon! Definitions again:

psychotic breakdown—more literally something like "mental rampage", this is the result of Akechi using Call of Chaos on someone's shadow. The game implies (with statements like "once the chains on [their] heart are broken") that the things people do during a breakdown are things they can't admit they want to do; the things they repress down into their shadow. These result in "accidents and scandals", and (probably?) won't kill you directly.

mental shutdown—the result of Akechi killing someone's shadow, this is haijinka, more literally "cripple-ization" or "making someone a human wreck" (thanks so much, y'all)—note that 廃人 haijin is derogatory and "should be used with caution".

Here's Japanese Wikipedia (via Google Translate bc I'm both lazy and busy this morning) on haijin:

When people are generally called "haijin", most of them refer to cases in which sociality is significantly impaired compared to healthy people . Because of the particularly strong discriminatory elements, it is used when the mind is destroyed or activity is hindered due to congenital (or acquired) mental disorders, or when normal social activities are difficult.

Note that, while these are two very different things, with very different effects, the localisation typically muddies the water by saying shutdown when it means breakdown, or vice versa. Or by turning "shutdowns and breakdowns" into one or the other. Or by describing something else entirely as a mental shutdown—the cases in that post are breakdowns, but they're a specific subset of breakdown. So when you hear these mentioned in English, think about what they're describing, and which definition it meets. The characters are often validly confused about what's going on, but the terminology is also usually muddled, one way or another.

how fatal are they tho

Using @cincosechzehn's original spreadsheet as an indicator, we see five mental shutdowns in canon, as part of the plot: Wakaba, Kayo, Kobayakawa, Okumura and the SIU Director. Out of these five, the only five we see onscreen, four of them die and one recovers.

Those are bad odds. Those are really bad odds. That's an 80% kill rate. Like, the SIU guy and Okumura may not be in good health, but by their nature mental shutdowns are going to tend to target older people in power. Wakaba and Kobayakawa may just in the wrong place at the wrong time—but that's still 40%; going brain dead in the real world is not safe.

On the upside, the only person we hear about having a mental shutdown and not dying immediately does begin to recover in the medium term. But Sae (a reliable source, unlike the TV news) tells us people "lose consciousness, never to recover"—which likely makes those odds a bit worse.

Based on this, I would be really hesitant about saying "mental shutdowns aren't fatal". 80% fatal is essentially "only not murder because I missed". Additionally, it looks like Shido and the SIU Director may sometimes send the Cleaner in to "clean up", when a shutdown victim doesn't die first time—for instance, he may have been responsible for that truck that hit Kobayakawa. Not sure about this one yet.

what about the psychotic breakdowns?

Again, a psychotic breakdown seems to make you rampage and do something you secretly want to do, but are usually restrained from by little things like morality and not hurting others. They often seem so targetted (Akechi gives X a psychotic breakdown to make them do useful thing Y) that I think there must be an interrogation element—like he talks to the shadow to see what it wants to do, and maybe has to take time to find one that will serve his purpose. For instance, if he wants a flashy subway accident, he can't CoC a random train driver who it turns out just wants to slam on the brakes and jerk off.

So the breakdowns are described as "accidents and scandals", because sometimes they're devastating, but sometimes someone just loses their mind and does something weird. Or they start swinging a knife around on a train.

And here we need to get into intent. Akechi doesn't have a death note, after all. He can't just write down "this guy smashes his train through several stations at top speed, eventually derails it with catastrophic effect, and nobody dies." He sends the driver in knowing the likelihood is that the result will be a lot of dead people.

Because that's what happens. Akechi starts the ball rolling, probably with a rough idea that it will serve the purpose he was assigned, and then he has to let it roll and see where it lands.

This is why almost the first thing that happens in the game is that we get told about a "rampage accident" that is fatal:

(I figured this list really deserved its own post.)

Here's the top item on that list again:

バス暴走死傷事故 basu bousou shishou jiko reckless bus driving accident that caused injuries and deaths

This is a really interesting choice for the top item in the list. It's a case of 暴走運転 bousou unten "reckless driving", sure. But Japanese players are going to get very used to that word bousou, very quickly, in the context of the 精神暴走事件 seishin bousou jiken—the psychotic breakdown cases.

This is an explicit link between the word bousou—Akechi's word that describes his unique signature skill and his effect on others and ultimately his combat style—and a fatal accident. And it's right up at the front of the game, when about all we know about "psychotic breakdowns" is that some girls were talking about them as a spooky occult thing, on the train into Shibuya. Like, they could have chosen almost any of the things on this list to make fatal. But it was this one, and IMO that's important. The subway train derailing may not have been fatal, but the first thing the game wants us to know about psychotic breakdowns is that a. that people are terrified by them, b. that they can be extremely dramatic, and c. that people die from them.

To address your question again, specifically: no, people (probably; see below) don't die just from having a psychotic breakdown. But nobody "just" has a psychotic breakdown. The point is to make them do something—and the thing they do may well be devastating, and cause devastating injuries, up to and including deaths. Or it may just be personally devastating.

but then there are the chats and news stories

There are a lot of in-game rumours about psychotic breakdowns, and a lot of what appears to be misinformation, mainly because the difference between psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns is not clear.

One rumour is that breakdowns lead to mental shutdowns: "those people end up going brain dead", "they become haijin during interrogation". Another is that "you suddenly pass out ... [and] die in a lot of pain". Well, rumours are rumours.

But we also hear that "the news is saying the [train] driver couldn't even speak when they tried asking him questions". Of course, we know the news is controlled... but then we have to ask ourself what else they aren't reporting on.

doesn't akechi give himself psychotic breakdowns

The quick answer here is no. You could maybe argue that he does when the only example we had was the engine room, but in the third semester we get his Showtime, when he uses it repeatedly to put himself into a berserker rage. It looks like it gives him a bit of a headache afterwards, or makes him dizzy.

Call of Chaos just doesn't seem to work the same on Akechi (or, for that matter, on the two ordinary shadows he casts it on) as it does on people's shadows, when it goes "up the chain" and controls them in the real world. The immediate thing I'd point out is that Akechi doesn't drool blood (that I've noticed, at least) and his eyes don't roll back in his head (you can see his irises, albeit tiny and extremely crazy). Akechi can still speak, though he doesn't make much sense. He's not entirely out of control (despite being in, seemingly, a blind killing rage, he never attacks Joker in the Showtime—and there's a plot bunny for anyone who wants to pick it up and run with it.)

He is not experiencing exactly what his victims do—though he's experiencing something very similar: a lifting of his "chains", his inhibitions. It really seems like a true psychotic breakdown may be something that lingers with you, that lasts a long time, that probably leaves you in ruins. I'm not sure we ever hear of anyone who had one and was fine afterwards, though I can't swear to this.

#asks #persona 5 #p5 meta #goro akechi #call of chaos

64 notes · View notes

redcloverf3y · 1 year

Text

This has probably already been mentioned but i am SO UNWELL /pos over the perfect parallels of the two balcony scenes this ep.

The first one is dim and cold. The apartment is dark, and the only little source of light they get is the distant city lights.

Kazuki and Rei are sat facing opposite of one another for basically the entire scene, with Kazuki looking back towards the house that doesn't really feel like home anymore, while Rei is looking away, looking forward.

Rei is the first to make a move towards their separation, saying that he's going to move back in with the boss after new years has passed. Kazuki doesn't fight it, just accepts it with a dismissive "Not like there's much reason for us to stay together now". (To my interpretation, I'd see that as Kazuki not seeing it as a point worth arguing anymore, since, with Miri out of the way, he doesn't see why Rei would have any reason to stay. This mentality likely ties into not only Kazuki's previous experiences with losing loved ones but also into the whole "people like us don't deserve happiness/we can't change" ideas that they've kind of fallen back into once now that Miri's gone)

The scene ends with them more or less going their separate ways, Rei being the first to leave while Kazuki lingers behind, pondering the so-called 'parting gift' he was handed (I have many thoughts about that damned lighter but none of them are coherent enough for this post)

In contrast, let's now look at the second balcony scene.

Once again, we are starting with Kazuki and Rei facing opposite directions, yet this time the positions are reversed. Kazuki is the one looking forward, at the distant city, while Rei is looking back towards the house.

The setting is also quite different; as opposed to the previous scene, which was dark and cold, this one is brightly lit in warm colors. Not only that, the light is coming from inside the house.

Following with the looking forward/looking back pattern, this time it's Kazuki who pushes for their separation. The difference? Rei fights against it. He opens up about how Miri has changed him, how being part of a proper family changes him. And that reaches Kazuki, to some degree.

(Kazuki doesn't really want to give Miri again either, really. He's still stuck with that mentality that they "don't deserve" to have Miri in their lives, and Misaki's death only served to really nail home how dangerous it was and still is to have her around given their livelihoods.)

For the first significant time, Rei and Kazuki are properly facing each other. Nothing and no one to separate them, an argument ended by a simple conclusion that is exactly what both of them needed to realize.

"We can change."

The scene ends with them leaving the balcony together, called back into the light of the house by Miri.

Man. I'm so normal about this show.

(Also, isn't it ironic how Kazuki was willing to put Miri through an orphanage/the system while having gone through that himself and acknowledging how much it fucked him up?)

#buddy daddies #this episode did a lot of things and not all of them were good but the ones that were are GOOD #kazuki kurusu #rei suwa #kurusu kazuki #suwa rei

91 notes · View notes

horizon-verizon · 10 months

Note

They yell about dragons being nuclear bombs but at the same time stan the characters who do use them as weapons of mass destruction (Aemond and Daeron) while hating and despising a character who locks them away to rot after one of them kills a child.

A response to this post, which responded (I think) to this post.

(btw, the post all this is came from was written by a clear Rhaenicent fan who called dragons nukes, minimizes the white stag moment and the stag meaning that Rhaenyra was the rightful leader [according to the text of the show itself], says we can't take anything at face value in F&B at face value [which is true but doesn't mention that we must analyze the language and context to reveal subtext which is how people interpret anything even UnReLiAbLE texts/narrations, calls the textual and societal misogyny against Rhaenyra "latent", and writes that HitD is doing a good job of bringing that to life....)

Yeah, anon, the sense is not sensing. Misogyny never senses. Their hatred against Daenerys' altruism while believing Aemond is "just a boy/young man who makes mistakes" or Daeron similarly justified for burning down two towns (and one in stupid needless revenge) and letting troops rape 8 year olds is astounding.

Daeron was 16 when he died so he was about 15-16 when the Tumbleton disasters happens and when he moved against the town at Bitterbridge, thinking that Lady Caswell was responsible for his nephew Maelor's violent death (or so he claimed was his reason). Aemond was 18-19 in the beginning of the Dance. He destroyed an entire house and flamed many villages, towns, etc in the riverlands after he was tricked into leaving KL vulnerable for Rhaenyra's and Daemon's taking. And in the show, Aemond is supposed to be around 16 (if we actually do the math, not take the writers at their word) in the beginning of the Dance because they made Alicent younger/her kids younger for the sake of Rhaenicent. He is still older than Dany is, even with Daeron being the same age in the show.

Canonically, both are older than Dany and by show lore, Aemond is older than Dany, yet Dany has the sense and compassion to not allow rape and punish rape, murder, theft, even punish her own scaly children when a child is killed during their hunts (as told). These dragons she literally breastfed after awakening them with magic and her will during a critically low and vulnerable moment in her life that transitioned into one of her greatest triumphs. Why in god's name should I Stan any Targ man over this woman, and do any of her female ancestors compare to her? The closest are Visenya I, Aegon V, Rhaenys I, Aegon I, and Daenerys II in terms of impressiveness and/or moral character.

*Dany isn't a woman except in her own world, so when I call her a "woman", I mean "active female participant/mover in society".*

Another rant's end.

#asoiaf asks to me #the evil targaryens #asoiaf dragons #fandom critical #fandom misogyny #daenerys stormborn's characterization #daenerys stormborn #Daenerys Targaryen #character comparison #book vs tv comparisons #asoiaf

50 notes · View notes

tarnishedinquirer · 1 month

Text

Case: The Stormfoot Catacombs

From the Church of Elleh I spotted a strange figure on a nearby hill

When I got closer, I realized it was just a freaky statue. But when I touched it, it started projecting a light in a straight line.

Pulling out my trusty telescope, courtesy of Kalé, I was able to spot a small door in the nearby cliff.

When I got closer, I found a bunch of nobles digging around near what I at first identified as gravestones. Closer examination made me doubt that. I noticed the weird way they stacked on top of each other. Made me think of crystals, how they make regular shapes but the shapes just pile up. Couldn't read the runes, but I did notice that only the "carved" rocks have this golden lichen on them. I can't imagine anyone actually carving these shapes, so I'm just gonna chalk this up to "one of those things."

At any rate, I found the door and went into the catacombs, only to be greeted by a ghost in a chair.

He told me that true death means returning to the roots of the Erdtree, and I shouldn't be so hasty. Now, ghosts this thin aren't typically good conversationalists. They generally have one thing only to say, so anyone who walked into this catacomb might get the same lecture.

On closer examination though, I noticed the ghost was one of the long-necks. It's hard to make out on its hazy form, but it appeared to have a large block of some kind hanging from its neck. Guess that explains the depressed shoulders and extended neck. Like a garden vegetable growing under a fence post.

The catacomb itself was crawling with these fucking godsdamn gargoyle imps. They were fast, they were tough, and they hit like a truck. I'm not too proud to say, I died several times and had to retreat several more. They love to attack from weird angles, clinging to walls or lurking around blind corners. I'm more situationally aware than most, and for every ambush I anticipated, I'd miss two and end up in a fight for my life.

In the first room I found a dead noble with some root resin on him, which the voice helpfully informed me came from the roots of the Greattree, which once connected to the Erdtree. So if I interpret that right, whatever roots are down here no longer connect to that big shiny tree outside.

Bit further in, behind a flame trap, I found another noble with a strange toy whistle that sounds like a deep voice saying "hello."

"one of those things"

Speaking of flame, something occurred to me. I hadn't really thought much about it in the tomb I started in, but coming in here with a torch and seeing the flame from the trap made me realize something's strange about the flame here. Can't say I've ever seen white flame before, and bringing my hand near just made it colder. I couldn't find a way to douse it, otherwise I would've sampled the dark sludge fueling the flame.

Found yet another dead noble, this one clutching a burning butterfly. Not the first time I've found one of them, but the way he clutched it, like it was somehow precious to him. As for me, I was finally able to put Kalé's crafting kit to work and created a fire pot with that strange regenerating jar.

At the top of the catacomb, I found one last dead noble. At least, that's what I thought. Slumped against a large stone sarcophagus, he held in his hands a box of ashes. Ashes of other nobles. I'm really starting to notice a theme here.

Finally, I opened the way into the main chamber of the catacomb. There I found a creature that the voice called a "Burial Watchdog" but looked more like a cross between a cat and a monkey.

Seemed to be of the same construction as the stone imps, and just as much of a bastard. When it died, I found another spirit ash, this one holding the soul of a noble sorcerer who failed to achieve much at a place called Raya Lucaria academy.

Interesting name. An old name, that tickles the back of my brain. I've heard it before somewhere. Not here, but back in my old life, whatever that was. I'll see if I can jog my memory.

With the guardian dispatched, I got a good look at what it was guarding for the first time

Gods. I don't know what I was expecting when the spirit said "Erdtree burial" but it certainly wasn't this. Not to be culturally insensitive but how the hell can anyone think this is okay? Add a little fire and this is what I always thought Hell would look like. Maybe it wouldn't look so bad if the roots weren't cut off from the main tree, but as it stands, I had to turn away and retch.

Conclusion: The wandering nobles were searching for a place to die. They found it alright, but not how they hoped. The guardians made easy work of them, and they were ultimately denied even the grotesque burial they were hoping for. Only one of them made it through to the main chamber, where he gained the honor of being burned to ash by the Watchdog. A miserable end no matter how you slice it.

Some lingering questions:

Are all the nobles searching for death?

What's with the pale, cold flame?

What is the Greattree?

#elden ring #elden ring lore #in character #in character blog #in character post #elden ring tarnished #journal #let's play #walkthrough #Greattree #erdtree #deathflame #catacomb imps #wandering nobles #spirit ashes

9 notes · View notes

thatvalvefanatic · 2 years

Text

Miss Pauling from Team Fortress 2 is confirmed to be a lesbian! A lot of people still don't believe it though so today I'm gonna show you guys all the information about it because I think it's cool :]

Cw: nudity (from Zhanna and Soldier in the TF2 comics, as well as Scout's mom in Meet the Spy (you'll see why that's important). Its not graphic but I thought to give a warning anyway just in case.)

The most direct acknowledgement of this is the fact Jay Pinkerton, a writer at Valve, said it in response to a comment on Pauling and Scout, saying Jay had a better idea for her, which was to make her a lesbian, but there were no female characters to ship her with yet.

Now you may ask "What about Scout? Didn't she date him?" After Expiration Date they may have gone on a "date" (date being Scout going on random jobs Miss Pauling has), but you can see in the comics that take place afterwards, they were never actually romantically involved.

It also comes off that way in Miss Pauling's voice lines towards Scout. (These are taken from the official TF2 wiki)

"Hey Scout. First, 'No' to whatever you're about to ask. I've got a job for you."

"Scout, Pauling here. Wrap up whatever you were bragging about and look at this."

"Scout, it's Pauling. Whatever stupid thing you're doing, stop it. I've got work."

"Scout, it's Pauling. I need something done quietly. Scout? Quietly."

"Engie, it's Pauling. Is Scout there? Cough if he's there. I've got a job for you. Not him."

Then there's the Teufort Reader, a page on the official TF2 website. It has ad listings from different characters. Both Pauling and Scout have listings for dates, but Scout enforces that the caller should be a woman while Pauling keeps who she is looking for genderless, meaning it doesn't necessarily have to be a man who calls. (I edited both listings onto an image, so that's why it's wonky looking lol.)

More examples (which is mostly my interpretation) of her possibly seeking future female partners (and ignoring male advances) is in her Tough Break voicelines. In some, she talks about going to many woman events which could be a hint at her sexuality, others she rejects male related stuff. Once again I copied these from the official TF2 wiki.

(whispering) "Hey, it's Pauling here. I'm at the Teufort Ladies Book Club and I'm the only one who hasn't actually read Belinda...so it's just about relationships, right? Guy meets girl, love stuff, happy ending? It's a good thing, right? I'm gonna tell everyone how it really, really brings the two as a couple."

[Scout: Oh, oh, and...(dice clatter)...not too shabby!] "Pauling here. I'm trying to teach Scout Gargoyles and Gravel. [Yeah!] Ugh, no Scout, there's no such thing as a Muscle Wizard." [Yeah whatever.] "No you can't beat an Orc by doing push-ups at it. Look, please, please put your shirt back on. Scout, stop flexing. Scout. Scout! Stop flexing."

"Hey did you know a gun show's a real thing? I'm at one with Heavy right now." [Heavy: Is perfect, this is gun.] Oh wow, what's the gauge on that? Yeah, Scout's been saying he's going to take me to one for years, but all he does is shove his stupid arms in my face. Anyway, I've got something for you."

"Hey's it's Pauling. Sorry for the noise, it's Ladies Night at the Cap Point, and I misunderstood what that meant." [Hey what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?] "I'm trying to get someone killed for money. Can you give me a second? Sorry about that. Anyway, take a look."

"He-hey, sorry about the reception, I'm on a ladies safari in the middle of a forest. Listen, a contract came in..." [I'm being mauled to death by a tiger! Ahhh!] "Lady, would you please keep it down! I'm on the phone!"

Another small example, once again more of my interpretation, is on a TF2 blog post from the website where the Administrator starts reading one of Miss Pauling's gun themed woman magazines. The blog post says:

"I found the answer, in all places, in one of the insipid gun-themed women's magazines Miss Pauling leaves lying around, where I stumbled on an article about self-improvement."

You could tie this to a historical context because the 60s and 70s had a rise in LGBTQ oriented magazines, many lesbian ones created in 1971 and running through the 80s. It's quite possible that Pauling would read them as Team Fortress 2 takes place around 1968 to 1973.

The folder Miss Pauling has in the Gun Mettle update is labeled "Scout's mom" meaning she has the nsfw of Scout's mom that Spy lays out in Meet the Spy.

Next section goes more into the comics. There are many panels that could imply Pauling's growing liking towards her new teammate, Zhanna. In this first image I think it shows where the liking began, from Zhanna talking to Pauling, making her blush in the last frame (which too could be embarrassment, but someone pointed it out to me as a possibility, so I decided to add it).

Next is towards the end of the comics. Zhanna and Soldier fight naked, covered in honey as a fighting strategy, and Pauling and Scout have caught them doing so. Scout is disgusted and leaves, while Pauling is interested and decides to stay and catch up later. Note how Zhanna is closest to them. Panels are edited to be side by side and cropped a bit for image space.

Next is towards later on when Pauling is calling the Administrator and Zhanna wonders what she's doing. Pauling then confides in her with her problems, afterwards saying she sees Zhanna as part of the team now after Zhanna gives her advice. She's comfortable around Zhanna.

A few pages later, Pauling's disgusted by Soldier and him being naked, meaning he was not likely who she was looking at.

Another thing is that people think that Pauling could've developed a crush on the Administrator in their time together over the years Pauling worked for her. She made comments on how Helen (Administrator) was not so bad when you got to know her and we also learn Pauling had trusted her the whole mission without knowing what Helen's plan was. Pauling was blindly following and trying to stay loyal to what Helen wanted because she thought Helen would have a place for her at the end.

In Richter Overtime's video on the possible TF2 comic 7 leak from 2018, there was a scene where Pauling allegedly kisses the Administrator. This is in no way canon, but just in case it is revealed that something like that is in the final comic, I just think it would be good to note.

youtube

Ashly Burch, Miss Pauling's voice actress, came out as pansexual in July 2022, noting that she has played many LGBTQ characters.

(Also she was a writer on Expiration Date. This means Pauling not liking Scout due to being lesbian could've totally been intentional! Along with her playing as LGBTQ characters, she's also written for them! Like Life is Strange and Mythic Quest.).

The Romana version of the official TF2 wiki has most of these points on Pauling being gay on it. I copied down the text from that section, but recently I found that Pauling's Romana page was removed from the wiki.

"According to a tweet by Jay Pinkerton, writer of TF Comics, Miss Pauling is gay.

This may be why she insists the Administrator is 'not so bad when you get to know her'.

Part of a voice line added in the Tough Break update has her discuss an interest in Ladies' Night while fending off a man: 'Sorry for the noise, it's Ladies Night at the Cap Point, and I misunderstood what that meant.' [Hey what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?] 'I'm trying to get someone killed for money.'

Another voice line excerpt from Tough Break, when she's at the Ladies' Book Club: '...so it's just about relationships, right? Guy meets girl, love stuff, happy ending? It's a good thing, right?'

No other Valve employee has either confirmed nor denied this claim to date (The tweet was made June 19, 2015), leading many to believe that Mr. Pinkerton's tweet was just a way to inflame the community. However, since Mr. Pinkerton is a lead writer of the comics and his word is trustworthy, there is no reason not to accept this at face value.

The tweet was made in response to a fan asking if Scout and Miss Pauling would become canon, and was preceded with Mr. Pinkerton stating he had "better plans" for her. This could imply that she may meet a love interest in an upcoming installment."

And finally, I'm taking this from someone else's post, but you can color-pick the lesbian flag colors off of one of Pauling's post cards!! (And bonus, you can color-pick the genderfluid flag off of her Halloween design!)

And that's it! That's all the information I have so far, compiled for everyone's viewing and reference pleasure :]

Please let me know if I missed anything and I'll add it! Thank you for reading, if you made it this far, that's awesome. I'll be updating this post occasionally to fix formatting issues, so don't be confused if things change! I hope I can be of help with your Valve lore and information. And if you haven't seen it, I have a list compiling all of Valve's queer characters!

#miss pauling #tf2 #team fortress #team fortress 2 #ashly burch #lesbian #lgbtq #queer representation #queer rep #lesbian representation #lesbian rep #valve #valve games #miss pauling x zhanna #queer #sapphic #lesbian coded #zhanna tf2 #administrator tf2

381 notes · View notes

j-ellyfish · 9 months

Note

https://www.tumblr.com/ellawritesficssometimes/170519291923/i-know-this-might-sound-like-a-radical-thing-to?source=share

Do you think germany is reincarnation of holyrome?

[Link to post]

Not exactly. I kind of disagree with the conclusions of that post.

In my opinion, Germany and HRE are two separate people, mind and body, but they share a connection.

First of all:

• If Germany and HRE look so much alike, they must be the same person or at least share the same body, right?

(X) Not necessarily.

Germania is also, fundamentally, Germany with long hair, yet no one would argue that Germania and Ludwig are the same person. It is very clear that they are not, despite their resemblance. Everywhere, it is stated that Germania is his grandfather, period.

Then why would that be different for HRE? Why can't they simply share a resemblance?

Hetalia Collezione hadn't come out yet when that post was written, but it contains a couple clues.

Obviously, the most blatant one is the line of text that was suspiciously taken away in the volume's "revised" version, where Germany is listed as HRE's younger brother. This was later changed in a way that no longer mentioned Germany but simply said HRE has many brothers:

This is pretty sus and I don't think it was a mistake but rather might've been retconned/hidden due to many people's reaction, but anyway, there's another clue that is still there and it shows how Germany and HRE looking alike is probably just the same case of simple resemblance between them and Germania:

[Source]

It seems that Himaruya just decided to make all of post-Germania Germanic characters more or less similar to Germania appearance-wise depending on how close he believes their heritage is to their ancient relative. In fact, this is mentioned also in Saxony's Collezione bio:

[Source]

Aaand, if we want to be super-super accurate, Germany and HRE don't share the exact same eye color. They don't in their early card and they also don't in the anime (sadly we can't make a comparison with newer material because as far as I know, HRE hasn't gotten a fully colored pic in quite a while):

HRE's eyes are typically depicted as a darker blue compared to Germany's.

•

That post also argues that this scene is a clue that they are the same person:

He’s wearing a nightgown…exactly like the one Holy Rome was wearing in chapter 187.

Yes, I’m aware that the nations are born in nightgowns, but there’s multiple ways of interpreting this. The nightgown/birth motif is definitely there, but… Look at the one German nation holding Germany’s hand. He’s crying. Now, put this into perspective. How would you feel if you thought your little brother was dead, only to find out that he’s been alive all this time?

This is, in my opinion, quite a reach.

The German Nations being excited, even moved to tears to see Ludwig for the first time, as well as Prussia insisting on calling him brother (like he used to do with HRE) can be explained by something else:

They are simply aware that HRE and Ludwig show a resemblance.

If you thought you had lost a beloved little brother to death, and then happened to find another little boy who shares a striking resemblance with him ... Wouldn't you feel instinctively drawn to him? Wouldn't you feel an innate sense of love and protection towards him, because you're projecting onto this boy the feelings you have for your late sibling?

It doesn't really need to be HRE to sparkle such an interest, he simply needs to:

Be clearly of Germanic origin, hence one of your kind, incarnating a Germanic territory (and they probably guessed he could be nothing other than the German Confederation, and was welcomed wholeheartedly because it was a sign that their unification project was going in the right direction, despite HRE's loss);

Look like him

That's it. The first point would resonate with the Pre-Unitary States' condition as Country Personifications: if a new sibling is born, at that time, it means that it's a sign of destiny, HRE didn't die in vain, and the German Confederation is meant to go somewhere, otherwise a new Personification wouldn't be born out of that patriotic belief.

The second point would resonate with the siblings' human side: as I said earlier, any human would also feel naturally excited and emotional if they crossed path with a kid that reminded them heavily of a late beloved, and they'd feel drawn to the kid and feel instinctive sympathy.

•

So, what's the connection between HRE and Germany?

Here's how I see it.

Much like how Germania shares a strikingly resemblance with HRE and Germany because they all kind of represent the same geographical area (more or less), HRE and Germany look very alike because they were brought to life by virtually the same group of humans.

After the idea of a German Unification took off, a growing group of (pre?) German humans, as well as at least a part of their State Personifications (Countries can also influence each other's existence, as it was apparently America's belief to turn Finland into Santa), began developing a sense of unity, of 'German culture' that united their States beyond politicall borders.

So, the generation of humans that kept HRE alive between the late 1700s and early 1800s, before France defeated him, is actually the same that blew life into a new, post-HRE, unifying German personification: Ludwig!

Once HRE came back from the Napoleonic War, he was most likely no longer a Nation, he had turned into a human and died because of the wounds and illnesses he had caught on the battlefield and accumulated through the centuries.

While he was struggling on his last years of life, the "spirit of Unity" that humans have for their land/culture and that blows life into their Personification, had left HRE, but took a new shape and was blown into Ludwig, who at the time was about to spawn into existence.

He was already around HRE's age because the 'German patriotism' was already mature enough, HRE's experience as a political entity didn't go to waste but served a purpose in how the German Confederation came to be.

Once Ludwig was found by the Pre-Unitary States, they realized his identity and crowned him as German Confederation.

•

I think, because they were brought to life by the same group of people, Germany and HRE share, at least partially, the same soul.

Germany has a body and a mind of his own, but his soul has very vague memories of a past life.

I think Ludwig occasionally has this very vague sense of deja-vu, the thought of something so old and blurry, too far away in the back of his mind to grasp, something he's not even sure is real. Might be the memory of a dream, or of a thought, perhaps the memory of a fervid childhood fantasy.

That's because his soul wasn't "new", it wasn't a blank canvas when he got it, and HRE's existence left a very faint trace on it.

However, I wouldn't call it amnesia, because I'm pretty sure Germany is unable to remember, no matter how many hints he's given.

It wasn't his life, in any way, and those memories are too fragmented and blurry to make any sense, or to be grasped even for just one second. And the more he lives on, the more new experiences he has, the further back and forgotten those faint memories will get.

... Also, not to promote myself but years ago I wrote a fic about this. Maybe the translation is not the greatest bc it was originally in Italian (though I translated+revised it directly in English a couple years ago so there's no longer a finalized Italian version, it's English only), and I wrote it before HWS so there might be some canon divergence but here's a link if anyone would like to check it out!~

[Birth of an Empire]

#hetalia #aph germany #aph hre #ask #ary spoke

23 notes · View notes