#i know i skew form canon a bit but thats because i know the truth. this is a middle aged man doing his best but god he is so tired. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

probably-haven · 3 years

Text

after binge reading i have come to a new revelation: I’m not a fan of most Xiaoven fanfics

Don’t get me wrong, I love the ship and its one of my favorite to think about.... but most of the fanfiction for the ship just- doesn’t sit right with me for a number of reasons.

Disclaimer: these are personal opinions from my own taste and are in no way an attack against any authors out there, because frankly fanfic authors are great and not like i could do better lol. As these are personal opinions, I acknowledge here and now that a number of people disagree and that they are under no obligation to change their opinions in any way as it is not and never will be my intention to tell others what they should be thinking That said- read at your own risk if you want- meh, anyway-

time to share some opinions that have been on my mind lately

The biggest reason.... is how they handle Xiao. And I don’t even mean mischaracterization because Xiao is such a complex and yet simultaneously simple character that as long as you’re somewhere in the range of “Xiao vibes” it’s really hard to write him out of character because of his complexities. What I mean is something that i actually completely agree with as being accurate to his character. In nearly every single fanfic I’ve seen, there is some element of idolization that Xiao has for Venti, or for the sake of reference, Barbatos. He tends to think himself beneath Barbatos and/or indebted to him, whether that be because he’s an archon, because he saved him, or simply because of Xiao’s tendency to dehumanize(yes i see the irony in that word usage) himself. This by itself isn’t an issue but its often how this trait of his is treated.

Imma just list a few ways I’ve seen this be handled within Xiaoven fics. - It isn’t handled, it’s just there and accepted as a part of who he is in the story - It isn’t handled but his trait is treated as source of humor within the story - Venti(and others) roll with it (finding humor in it, just cant change it, encouraging it, making jokes about it, etc.) - Venti takes advantage of it(whether accidentally or purposely) - it’s actually addressed(by Venti or someone else or the narration- can go a number of ways, but just- even a brief reference to the fact that its not a good mindset fits in here) - savior!Venti(Where venti disagrees with it but the way it’s written gives off “god among mortals” vibes- like he’s just being humble and truly is above him in reality) - its the focus of the story - not directly addressed but shown to be destructive. - they chose not to not include this in the story’s characterization of Xiao(just saying that this is valid ahead of time) Theres others but i have a lot already. Note that I tend to read more ‘serious-toned’(idk if that makes sense) fics so that may skew my perception

Now there’s a few that i have issues with on their own- both instances of it not being handled, Venti(and others) rolling with it, Venti takes advantage of it(purposely(and without good intent)), and savior!Venti. Xiao not only has this trait, but he is unfamiliar with what is normal in relationships or emotions as a result of isolation and inexperience. He is also either not aware of or not concerned with what is considered strictly “healthy.” Combining these makes for a rather dangerous combination and just accepting it as “oh he’s just like that, it’s who he is” or making it out to be something funny- It’s not wrong or bad by any means necessarily, and I could still possibly enjoy it to an extent depending on a series of different factors, but its- not as often. Even in the case where I do enjoy reading it however, I would still feel uncomfortable sharing it with or recommending it to others because in the first instance it feels like normalizing a destructive and dangerous mindset, and in the second case it does the same while simultaneously making a joke of it. It’s the same deal with Venti or other characters rolling with it, but that’s probably gonna be mentioned later too. Not to say that this is a “wrong” way to handle it, that it makes the fic bad, or that authors even are normalizing anything by doing so, just that in my specific instance- not a fan.

I’ll get to the others when i talk more about Venti, but for now: It’s the focus of the story. I think I saw like... 2? where the story was like- focused on this and why its a problem which- power to them, address those real world problems like a boss- but also i wouldn’t actively seek it out or anything- like, good job, but doing so just leaves it open neutrally for other factors to decide how good a story i think it is.

not directly addressed but shown to be destructive. You’d think i wouldn’t like this- but frankly in fanfiction not everyone wants to address every character flaw verbally because it can through off story, narration, dialogue, and general flow to do so. This can be with an event, an action, a dialogue, a mere comment, making it actually fit into the it’s actually addressed category except that its- subtle enough to make its own category. plus i live for show not tell- in everything- its a thing. im- very much a fan of when the fics do this but the subtlety is easy to miss and its not common so-

It’s actually adressed- doesnt have to be a lot- just mention anywhere or imply anywhere that maybe idolizing someone as a god and savior and being in a relationship with them while having little knowledge of standards, emotions, relationships, or healthy behaviors in general- maybe isnt the smartest idea in the word. (”Call me Venti, not Barbatos” by itself is not enough to fit in this category tho as a note)

Now lets talk about Venti...

uh.... those who have followed me for awhile will probably already know this but... I have a lot of opinions on Venti and a pretty- “niche(?)” perception of his characterization that isn’t shared by a lot of others- so I don’t actually read as much Venti fanfic in general as you might expect because I often end up disagreeing with how writers portray him, which again, in no way is their characterization wrong, but- “their perceived truth” conflicts with “my perceived truth” and by extent so does the characterization, though neither is any more correct than the other from an objective point of view, if that makes sense... but anyways now that that’s said, moving on before this becomes a philosophy lecture, as fun as that would be for me. I’ll try to keep my “perceived truth” out of this for the first bit.

Venti’s response to this:

He rolls with it: this depends on the mood of the fanfiction. If they dont put a lot of stress on that trait of Xiao’s it totally fine but if the trait seems to be a major part of Xiao’s character, it seems like normalization once more. (more on this later)

he takes advantage of it purposely: if its an AU or something and Venti’s like a villain(i saw a few) then- villain venti isnt my cup of tea but i have no qualms. If they don’t portray Venti in a negative light while having him take advantage however that’s a bit uncomfortable to read for me because it feels like normalizing taking advantage of that mindset as well as the mindset itself. However, i did see a number of instances of Venti using it as leverage for like- self care- which i definitely have no qualms. Xiao: [insert probably destructive idolizing statement about being indebt] Venti: How bout you pay me back by actually sleeping for once smh or other variations are okay and depending on the vibe are actually a really fun dynamic as long as it doesnt turn into romanticizing or normalizing it, y’know?

Venti accidentally taking advantage of it.... I love angst- and in most of these theres a sense of guilt when he realizes- and i just think thats a lovely way of addressing the dangers of such a mindset for both sides. As long as it doesn’t keep repeating to the point of romanticization its totally cool to read in my eyes(not irl ofc). If Venti never realizes he accidentally took or is taking advantage it feels a bit like normalization, and if he does but just- doesn’t care thats- a rip.

savior!Venti...... i- i hate. the story giving off vibes that Xiao’s mindset is technically correct while Venti oh so humbly tells him to treat him as an equal like the wonderful and charitable person he is.... i just- no. of course thats over dramatizing it- I think the main thing that gives it this vibe is when Venti doesn’t seem either concerned, surprised, uncomfortable, or otherwise have a negative feeling towards Xiao’s mindset. Just- it makes the whole thing weird in my eyes when Venti doesnt really seem to have his own reason to oppose the mindset idk-

fact time!

Venti is the god of freedom. His backstory is freeing Mondstadt from a god’s tyrannical reign. His origin is a windsprite, just another breeze bringing changes for the better. His form is a nameless boy who played an instrument and then died, thus failing at his only dream and only ever accomplishing anything because of the help of others. He slept for a thousand years after the archon war to avoid putting Mond under the rule of yet another tyrannical god. He only even became a god because Andrius chose to let him. He wouldn’t have even had that chance if the nameless bard had survived, he’d remain just another wind while his friend ascended to godhood. Venti sacrifices his own power for his people’s freedom.

now that I’ve laid out a number of canon facts, time for opinions:

Venti has little to no desire to be seen as a god. He thrives in, comes from, and emphasizes a lack of superiority in quite nearly everything. The first Ragnvindir, who canonically turned his back on Venti after Decarabian’s fall, likely did so because one- he anticipated power would corrupt and Venti would soon become just another tyrannical god, two- he suspected Venti used the nameless bard in an attempt to rise to godhood, or three- idk insert other possibilities to acknowledge again that i could totally be wrong.

Look me in the eyes and tell me Venti wouldnt trade godhood for his friend in an instant. His godhood was only granted to him because his friend died and could easily serve to constantly remind him of what could have been and what he lost. Venti takes no enjoyment from being seen as superior and in my opinion, I feel that it could actually make him largely uncomfortable when his divinity and abilities as an archon get involved-

also self promotion for my favorite posts- check out #archon war era venti if thats interesting to you

so anyway Venti rolling with it or making jokes about it just doesn’t sit right with me.-

Okay! enough talking about that mindset!

idk- i have... a few/lot of other gripes and stuff or just things that kinda throw off the vibe for me but that’s the main one plus my general personal pickiness when it come to Venti fanfics- but this has gotten long enough already-

idk i just felt like rambling about it and i haven’t done a long post in a while so-

again, I love the ship and its actually one of my favorites- just the fanfic isnt my thing..... that doesn’t mean i don’t still love it and come up with a whole ton of brainrot and ideas on it tho lmao

#genshin impact #genshin xiao #genshin venti #xiaoven #genshin barbatos #opinions #discourse #? idk ill tag it just in case #dont mind my constant backtracking and justifying and repeated disclaimers-#i just have a crippling fear of being cancelled lol

52 notes · View notes

wilted3sunflowers · 5 years

Note

Tell me everything there I to know about the bad prediction au

okay so

event 1: Sapphires prediction in the answer turns out correct, pearl and rose have been caught by blue diamond

2. Rose was poofed, and found by blue to be pink diamonds gem and so she got caught and so did pearl being her pearl. It’s a diamond cover up, all the homeworld gems know is that rose and that renegade pearl were captured, some believe it was just an old myth now from the early days of ‘new homeworld’ [aka earth, not new new homeworld but like imagine a state being called new york you know]

3. Pink diamond is punished with all her power stripped away, now just a figure head for the other diamonds to puppet through really. She holds no real power and pearl got punished for not ‘speaking up’ by white in this comic

4. not directly placed in the timeline but its early on after Sapphire goes back to homeworld and decides to ask our ruby to continue being her personal bodyguard and blue diamond would ablige, and well you know how things can go….secret fusing

5. Pink makes a plea for at least preserving the humans or trying to appeal to the diamonds in a last ditch effort to fill the zoo with as many humans as the gems could capture and put it into the zoo. So it must be expanded and now there are other agates from the diamonds overseeing and keeping an eye on things. Also yes the rose quartz are real in this and they get along quite fine with the amethysts

6. stuff, new homeworld gets completed, tons of new gems and resources available, amethyst still pops out a bit too late and is more scrappy and lone wolf type in the depths of new homeworld with some beta kindergarden gems [i dont know if i should tell you who they are but theyre popular few from the famethyst]. This is a big vague placement on the timeline because well certainly a lot of things went differently its just sort of homeworld doing homeworld, its a successful era 2 with a new major hub for a ton of new gems.

Not really a timeline point but i do have to say Pink and Pearl vastly drifted apart from one another after this, Pink felt bad for what happened to pearl and she felt it would probably be best to give her space and not bring this back up, barely speaking to her. Pearl has a lot of conflicted feelings about Pink and Rose and this whole mess, she does hold some resentment to pink diamond but not because of her voice. It’s an interesting thing i’d love to go deeper into but we gotta move on right now. Also quickly after Pink was caught she was assigned Jasper, Jasper has no idea what has all happened and is only given the task to ‘serve and protect her diamond’ and make reports to yellow diamond about anything of importance. Which is yellows sneaky way of trying to get Jasper to snitch on pink diamond if shes ‘up to anything’.

7. 6000 yrs later after that event, steven is born after pink really got to know and finally instead of pitying and playing along with humans she really got talked sense into by Greg, the zoomans are a lot smarter and still hold a lot of culture thats been mixed together over the long course of years. Stevens still 14 like in the canon series but hes a bit taller with his neck showing like in stevens birthday because he feels older than canon steven does considering he stopped aging at 8 yrs old, its been a serious environment and hes having to deal with everyone calling him pink diamond so much he basically just thinks of it as another name even though he knows hes not and pearl knows hes not.

8. Steven spends a lot of his time by the zoo and being cared for by pearl and the others in the nursery at the zoo when hes first born, and even the other pearls when the diamonds demanded to see ‘pink diamond’ for this or that. They’re just convinced pink is finally done being ‘good’ and trying to just act out a little but at least she isn’t doing anything legitimately horrible, just pretending to be one of those silly organics she loves so much. so they just shrug it off really. Blues a bit happy as he gets older that pink is ‘getting back to her old self’ of a sweet free spirit type.

9. Steven doesn’t know at all about the whole rose quartz fiasco, only whispers hes heard from the rose quartz and amethysts that quickly quiet down when they notice he’s around, some gems even are suspicious of the rose quartz cut as a whole due to that and so pink thinks its better they just get to be here in the zoo away from harsh judgement. The diamonds of course wouldn’t bring it up because 1. how do you without getting mad again 2. they want this whole thing forgotten. Now it’s only pearl and the diamonds who know the full truth of rose quartz. [also yes there is a rose quartz cult but they have her message quite skewed]

We think an accident by the cult [whether intentional or not] gets Sapphire and so Ruby too assigned as part of Stevens Entourage so Sapphire can predict and protect Steven with her predictions. Nothing major happened but you know you always want to protect your diamond. Steven, Sapphire and Rubys relationship grow and Steven actually opens up and recounts him fusing with Connie as a silly story [he doesn’t realize fusion is so hated by other gems but knows its not to be talked about but he figured if he opened up, sapphire would too] Which spur Sapphire and Ruby to trust Steven, their diamond, with ‘Garnet’ he absolutely loves her of course but they get walked in on by Jasper and shit hits the fan but Steven begs Jasper to not hurt Garnet and “please don’t tell pearl” He still does not understand the full situation and gravity of what can really happen. it’s also a moment for Jasper to make a decision on if she reports this fusion fiasco to yellow diamond. She doesn’t, at first to assure herself its because she didn’t want to be caught for leaving her diamond alone for so long for a “weapon” like that to get so close to her diamond, but also she’s really just grown soft for steven, its their secret now as Jasper chooses Steven in this situation.

10. Steven finally is able to convince the diamonds to let him go to New Homeworld, there he meets amethyst. Steven actually gets to meet a lot of new gems he never knew before and to be honest a lot of plot heavy stuff happens because this really kicks off where Steven gets to learn and grow outside of the diamonds and their authority. He’s been very sheltered but now he actually gets to explore places and really get into the quite literal depths of New Homeworld.

11. Pearl especially gets to grow in this time and reclaim at least a small sliver of her former renegade self in some part, she does tell off the cult [their reactions are still being decided on how they take it] and its sort of fun because she hasn’t quite stated that SHE was the renegade and so thats how she knows all this information but Jasper pieces it together and it really blows her world because she still doesn’t know about rose is pink diamond but she just is there thinking pink diamonds pearl was the renegade and she could have hurt her at any moment yet she was still kept around and jasper definitely confronts her about it and pearl really has to come clean to her about the whole thing and this is just when jaspers world shatters completely and her view of things get completely stripped. Jasper has to build herself back up and what she believes and thinks now.

12. We’re not really sure yet where we want steven to find out the full truth on the timeline yet but he finds out later after jasper knows, so its a bit interesting that Jasper so far is having to be the secret keeper for both Steven and Pearl.

theres more but this is really long….

we have sort of a ending i guess you could say, its more loose but we do want Steven and company to basically form a new resistance and like reform new and old homeworld and probably actually talk or fight with the diamonds if he has to so things can really get better not just for him but other gems and especially other organics aka humans or anything else living.

#ask #long post #bad prediction au #god this was a lot

771 notes · View notes