An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. > Revenge of Others (2022)

its my personal opinion that it will be arya that ends up killing dany and jon killing the king of the white walkers. a lot of reasons towards this idea is that d&d fliped around the ending that grrm showed them and the fact that arya has more plot and relevance with slavery and jon has more relevance with white walkers. also i believe jon will uploaded neds beliefs of sparing dany leaving it up to arya to actually killing her to protect her family and the north

The theory definitely has merit! Arya training with the Faceless Men and then assassinating Dxny when she sits the Iron Throne a-la-Maegor style is very compelling. Dxny apparently being killed by a blade of the same Iron Throne she had been running after her whole life is such smooth storytelling. It is something that we have foreshadowing and compelling evidence for as well. Not to mention Robert thinks of sending one of the Faceless Men as assassins to slay her in the first book. A Faceless Man ending the act to its true satisfaction is a well written storyline if I know one. Moreover, it would be such a rich conclusion to the story arc that Dxny has slowly started on since the end of AGoT and is more apparent since ASoS & ADWD.

However, I have been recently thinking that Dxny dying in a fire would also be interesting. It would form a parallel with the first book wherein she emerged from a fire, literally rebirthed with her dragons. She might trigger the wildfire in KL and die in it as a crazy twist to the adage “fire cannot hurt a Targaryen” which we all know is untrue. It also aligns well with her tragic antagonist status. She is someone who tries her best to solve a situation only to find herself in a sticky situation of the same making, or worse. So I believe that if she (accidentally, unknowingly, not knowing better, thinks is for the good) sets off the KL wildfire, that would be very in-character for her. Not only will the wildfire take down the Iron Throne with it (which will 100% not exist by the end of the series), it will also burn down Kings Landing, which also is foreshadowed to not survive the ending by way of getting burned down.

I don’t believe that Jon will leave it to Arya to kill Dxny in any capacity simply because he doesn’t have that authority over her. More than that, I don’t think Jon & Dxny’s arcs will intertwine as much as they did in the show or even enough that Jon will think it a personal duty to eradicate Dxny. Although, I do think that the show very obviously exchanged Arya and Jon and Bran’s endgame. It definitely makes more sense for Bran and Jon to be ones to defeat the Others - the Ice Threat- finally (though there is no Night King in the books, which is sad because I miss my frosty man :,( sigh anyway) and Arya to defeat the Fire Threat given her training and motivations. Idk what d&d were thinking, seriously.

But what can I say, some of my opinions are still crystalizing and shaping as I reread the books and interact with other meta.

I'm sorry for asking but

What do you think of this?

I honestly think it BS buuut

Idk man 😐🤧🤧

I think they might benefit from doing some research on ghouls, and supernatural creatures, folklore myths around the circumstances of their creation, n brushing up on their history. For example: Strigori in particular have at minimum 7 ways they can be created "Living a life of Sin" and "Dying Unmarried" are two such ways. This could be applied to Bee, if we keep in mind that "Sin" in this case is relative to societal norms of the era. Bee's only 'sin' might be she enjoyed a night on the town, which was frowned upon by her peers. (By modern standards that's not sinful at all. In Annabel/Lenore's era it would be scandalous n off to the Asylum with thee.) We don't know anything beyond the fact Bee can and is willing to defend herself. No idea where ''Bernice is shifty'' is coming from. I don't read Bee as shifty, but a playful/mischievous woman who lived and learned to survive during 1920's prohibition era NYC, buts that's my own reading of her As for the overall designs of their manifestations, each Spectre bares the marks hinting at their cause of death and their alignment. Eulalie was burned to death, hence the ''katara painted lady strips'' I believe they are referring to, she died giving her life whilst comforting children so she's appears like a soft cute Baku that devours nightmares, ya know something that would be appealing to children. Morella died protecting someone, so appears as a guardian angel. All the malevolent spirits are some form of monstrous. Bernice's life was taken from her, as was Ada's = malevolent spirits: Where Ada's attacker chopped her limbs off, they are held together with string. Bernice was hit so hard her teeth were knocked out, hence the teeth appearing where her body took the most trauma. Read any folklore myth about White or Grey Ladies, and the one repeating theme ''they are beautiful and tragic, and deadly" Monty is a full on freaking devil with pierced nipples ffs, Will is a straight up mannequin and we have yet to glimpse what lurks beneath Prospero's outfit. As for Duke....

... the perceived shiftiness

.... has all been foreshadowing building up to Chapter 72 and the reveal of Duke's past life.

He's an god damn escape artist! Once again, this boils down to patience, and allowing a story to unfold, and a little media literacy. The only person we have straight up confirmation is a criminal of sorts is Lenore ''be gay, do crimes'' Vandernacht.

I'm torn with Claudia. The humane part of me wants her to stop walking her dark path before she destroys herself completely and find some measure of peace. The fucked-up part of me wants to watch her to lose it and go on the warpath and cause lots of chaos. Is that last one wrong to hope for?

Not at all! I do think we'll see her warpath arc next season, since as Ezran stated/foreshadowed

We all want peace and we all want love. But violence tests us. In a twisted way, it converts us to its cause. Because pain and loss feel so terrible inside, you want to hate. You want to hurt someone else.

Given that Rayla cut off her leg and the trio cost her the chance to save her father's life (since if/when Viren survives, I don't think Claudia will know for a while), I think she'll start chasing Revenge. (Which may lead to even more fracturing with Terry, as "I always believed in you because you had a reason" but we shall see...) And then maybe Soren and Viren will work together to try and bring her home, but maybe only in s7 - so who knows?

But yeah, I don't think ever wanting characters to go through "negative character development" or "fail" means we don't like them or don't understand/sympathize with them. Too often, I think, fandoms can have a tendency to moralize, well, everything, but in this case the choices writers make regarding their favourite characters, i.e. "This Bad Thing happened to Character A so therefore the writers hate them / are punishing them."

And don't get me wrong, I've definitely seen shows where a writing team just did not know what to do with a character, so they just heaped tons of pain on them and/or under utilized them, and who is shown on screen with discussed/processed trauma vs who isn't is definitely a discussion worth having, because none of that exists in an apolitical or aracial space.

However... by no means is the "punishing" angle what's happening all the time, either. What I think it comes from is like, some base assumptions and also a lack of literary understanding for some key aspects I'm gonna do my best at articulating clearly:

1) Operating under an assumption that if you like a character you should only want 'good' things for them, and for them to be a 'good' person, because you are also a 'good' person. This doesn't seem super moralized on the surface, but it explains a lot about "how could anyone like that villain" or offense to "how could anyone want that character to fail" and it's like, idk how to explain that failure and therefore conflict and tragic figures are Just Interesting, Brenda, even if they aren't your personal cup of tea. (I say, as a diehard Macbeth and literary Judas enjoyer lmao.)

2) Ignores catharsis and tragedy as elements of storytelling / as its own desirable genre. Sometimes, you want to watch a thing where you know the whole time everything is going to go horribly wrong for certain characters, or all the characters, and that's what's fun about it. The desirable outcome for every story or character is not a happy ending, nor are all characters or stories built for a happy ending, either. It can be upsetting, of course, when a character we like doesn't get the (happy) ending we hoped for, but that isn't necessarily always the same as a bad ending, y'know? Substantially bad things happening to a character doesn't always mean a narrative hates them; a focus on them is still a focus.

All of this to say: I don't think it's wrong at all to want, or be interested in, Terrible Things happening to a character. It's a thought experiment like any other, and pushing characters to their limits, revealing how they respond under intense or painful experiences - whether than pain is physical, emotional, or something else entirely - is fun and interesting. There's a reason there's are entire genres for Horror and Drama and tearjerker films after all.

Like I've been waiting and wanting for Claudia to snap and become a fully fledged villain since S2 because it was very clear to me just how much she was already Skewed in S1 and S2 made it clear to me that, unlike her brother, she would not be getting on a better path any time soon. Sometimes mess and hurt and mistakes is more interesting than healing, and sometimes it's the opposite (and those things aren't mutually exclusive either).

Like going into S6, I want everyone to Fail so badly (except, arguably, Claudia - who still isn't going to be getting what she actually Needs - and Aaravos, who's going to get exactly what he wants). Watching how characters and their relationships can fall apart, how their own consistent flaws and patterns, can lead them to make awful but understandable mistakes? That's my shit. And getting to see how they do, or don't, come back from that in the season, and in season 7? Chomping at the bit, I'm so excited.

I also don't think that hoping for another end, though, is worse than being excited for a tragic end, because while tragedies are about sadness, they are also - at their core - about Hope that maybe it won't end badly this time. If a tragedy cannot provide catharsis to a viewer, for some reason, then they are still fulfilling their purpose in nurturing hope and indignation in the face of perceived unfairness - that a character could try so hard and still be doomed; that we ourselves often take on tasks that feel insurmountable, that we can take on what looks like a losing battle and still, somehow, win. And maybe we don't - maybe they don't. But tragedies, if nothing else, teach us resilience and the merit of telling a story when you already know how it ends, and the skill of it lies therefore entirely in the execution (sometimes literally).

Basically: hope for whatever you want for whatever character you want, even, or especially, when it's 'bad'. It's what we've always done for a reason.

Rating Various Companion Exits in Terms of How Objectively Sad They Are

because if we do my personal opinions it'll just be donna donna donna bill rose jack everyone else

Least: Martha

i don't think it's an unpopular opinion that martha's exit was the least sad. like, she retires to take care of her mental health and for her family's sake, gets her doctorate, continues being an absolute badass who is also in touch with her emotions and super nice. she finds a partner who sees her for how incredible she really is and appreciates her.

personally i do believe that she and the doctor clear the air at some point–though i don't think martha holds anything against him still–and she'll just call up the TARDIS when she's having a bad day and one of various doctors will come do a girls night with her and paint their nails and talk about the wild shit they've each been up to lately.

(i don't think martha ever stops being in love with the doctor a little bit. but it's not a tragic kind of love–it's a comfortable one, the kind of love you can have once you understand that love will never be perfectly symmetrical and it can be nice without being reciprocated. in the same way that the doctor loves their companions in a way that they can never fully return for how vast and unending and universe-ending it is, martha can love the doctor in a small and quiet and steady way that never fully goes away even when she does hate them.)

(and if you keep to canon with mickey as her husband you get some fun angst about that! okay, martha digression over.)

Second-Least: Rose

look. i know this is an unpopular opinion. i know the doctor is haunted by rose leaving and the narrative is haunted by rose leaving and everyone and their grandma is haunted by rose leaving.

but. girl got sucked into a parallel universe. she got to say goodbye to the doctor, even if he had a stick high enough up his ass that it kept him from saying he loved her. she moves to a different world to retire in a mansion with her mom and her dream guy and has a baby and spends the rest of her life being awesome and cool and saving the world.

yes it is sad that she left. but her method of leaving itself is not sad. she gets a happy ending and the doctor knows about it and no one dies! so i think maybe that's my hot take. first of a few.

Third-Least: Clara

idk how unpopular this is but i'm not entirely certain it's correct because.

look. clara does technically die. the doctor watches her die and spends four billion years smashing diamonds with his fists to save her. as pissed i am that those two episodes basically made her retroactively superfluous before getting rid of her, i can admit that that's a pretty epically tragic way to go out.

but the thing is, she spends the rest of time running around the galaxy with me in a TARDIS, and the doctor only forgets her for, like, seventy years and then he's fine with it again.

so her exit is sad but it's undercut by the fact that she gets at least a bittersweet ending and also that she should have left a season before she did and also the episode after she dies establishes that the doctor hasn't needed her for a while.

so worse than martha and rose who have a happy end and don't die, but better than everyone else.

Third-Most: Amy and Rory

this is why i wasn't sure where to put clara, and i'm sure this is not a popular opinion but. i don't think amy and rory's exit was so sad.

like, i can acknowledge that the course their story was going to take was amy having to choose rory over the doctor. i get that now. i understand that.

and their exit is sad! it is! it is mathematically engineered to be sad. but. and i don't want to go cinema sins about this. is there a really the doctor couldn't have picked them up and brought them home a year later? like, the year is the problem, yes?

and maybe if i didn't have spoilers and also had no media literally or ability to understand foreshadowing i might have been more affected by the real death right after the fake-out death, and the doctor running across the bridge to the book is a nice scene and the bit with river is excellent but.

i just think it's missing something. i think it feels like it's designed to put them in an impenetrable plot prison in a way that was totally unnecessary because they want to leave anyway. it feels like it wants me to be sad–and then move on right away.

Second-Most: Bill

first off! bill dies! because if you really think about it. nearly none of the nuwho companions do? and bill technically becomes space oil yes but

a) the entire downslope of world enough and time and the doctor falls is so fucking sad. she dies and she wakes back up and she has to live in a body that is clunky and awkward and painful and doesn't fully feel like hers and is slowly failing her and that everyone treats as not having a chance despite the fact that its doing its best. and eventually even that gets taken away from her and she is being slowly deconstructed, everything that makes her who she is sawed off piece by piece until she can't even get angry because it's too dangerous, and everyone is scared of her, and she is clinging to the edge of herself because the only thing worse than being a walking rotting weapon is hurting her friends.

b) the doctor only like, 50% knows that she survives as space oil. the glass people don't fully know, so he might not trust them and from his perspective she's dead and he got her killed.

c) no other companion's death affects the doctor's next regeneration so deeply. thirteen throws herself between people and guns, she drops the monologues and the arrogance because her overconfidence is the reason why bill died. what the fuck is that. insane.

anyway bill is so high up and it's been weeks since i watched world enough and time and i'm not over it. bill potts my beloved you made me so happy and then crushed my heart to bits.

Most: Donna

i mean this is just canon. what can i say here that has not already been said.

the doctor has to take donna in his arms, donna who is finally seeing how brilliant she is, who saved his life and her life and the universe, who is brilliant and ruthless and burning.

her takes her in his arms and he kills her while she's begging him not to, begging him to let her go because she'd rather die as herself than die knowing that (from her perspective) the shallows cruel, self-hating voice in her head will replace her and talk like her and look like her only she'll be dead and that will be all that's left.

donna knows who and what she is without the doctor, without her memories, and it is her worst nightmare. and the doctor sends her back to that because he can't bear to lose her, because she is donna even if she doesn't show it, because he thinks that she will figure out how to do so again–and it's so easy for him to make excuses for the fact that he cannot stand by and let her die in his arms when he can do something about it.

god.

what are your thoughts on arya and cat i mean just like their similarities and connection and reunion bc idk arya’s asos arc in particular drives me insane. the chapters AFTER the red wedding are some of the bleakest ive ever read. its so interesting how cat’s death haunts arya so much more significantly than the others. i also wonder what an AGOT interaction between them wouldve looked like and why george didnt include it if he knew stoneheart was gonna be a thing.

the fact that we don’t have an interaction between arya and catelyn on page (and never will!!!! lmao!!!!!) is truly one of my biggest gripes. esp bc it was so avoidable all grrm had to do was draw arya i out for a couple more pages and then we wouldve had at least one scene to serve as a counterpoint for arya and lsh’s meeting if nothing else. its even more frustrating bc we know in grrm’s earliest imagines of the asoiaf he intended for arya and catelyn to have a prominent relationship. they were supposed to go to KL, escape to WF, retreat to the wall and beyond it - together! i mean:

Ned will be accused of treason, but before he is taken he will help his wife and his daughter Arya escape back to Winterfell.

When Winterfell burns, Catelyn Stark will be forced to flee north with her son Bran and her daughter Arya.

Abandoned by the Night's Watch, Catelyn and her children will find their only hope of safety lies even further north, beyond the Wall, where they fall into the hands of Mance Rayder, the King-beyond-the-Wall, and get a dreadful glimpse of the inhuman others as they attack the wildling encampment. Bran's magic, Arya's sword Needle, and the savagery of their direwolves will help them survive, but their mother Catelyn will die at the hands of the others.

this is a significant amount of plot they shared. but things ran away from grrm, the story moved at a much faster pace than he anticipated, characters took on life’s of their own, the plot was tweaked here and there and everywhere, ect. in that process arya and catelyn got lost. they were “ripped apart” and then the opportunity to have them interact on page disappeared. in the end, they only had that tragically small window in agot (a mere 8 chapters?) before bran falls, catelyn has her breakdown and arya leaves winterfell. to his credit grrm is on record acknowledging this and regretting it [x]. 

so, we didn’t get that arya and catelyn interaction in her first chapter, but there is the line foreshadowing arya pulling catelyn’s body from the river via nymeria. even as the series was evolving that still made it on page bc catelyn becoming undead appears to be one of the oldest intact plots points. which is a major reason i am so convinced that arya and lady stoneheart have always been destined to meet. 

but its everything. the red wedding most of all. told thru arya and catelyn’s alternating povs, mother/daughter, one inside and one outside, surrounded by this slaughter that will seemingly be the end of it all. catelyn not caring what happens to her if she can only save robb, arya’s “we have to get my mother.” (honestly, i don’t think the fandom even appreciates the fact that arya was literally at trw. like its the most horrific event in asoiaf that haunts the entire narrative mostly wrt the north and house stark and arya was there. she is one of the very few survivors.) the way it ends with arya and catelyn both losing consciousness - one killed, the other knocked out but......they both wake up. 

arya’s reaction is the sum of everything pulling her down into the depths of depression. i think catelyn’s death being the hardest for arya to cope with is because she just wants her mother’s love and doesn’t think she has it. that hurts so bad. its like this open wound that can’t heal. which is why i neeeeed to read lady stoneheart’s monstrous undead hands touching arya’s face. she’s not catelyn anymore. catelyn stark was betrayed and murdered. but mother merciless’ last bit of humanity can be reached by the girl who was her daughter. its terrible and its beautiful and im going to cry about it. im really hung up on arya giving catelyn a proper funeral too. idk how realistic it is but regardless its high on my wishlist. like............please grrm.......the tullys drew their strength from the river and it was to the river they returned when their lives had run their course.

i could go on about the connection between arya and catelyn for a decade (oh wait, i have been lol) but this post is already long enough so i will just say i love the depth of feeling i get from both their characters and i like that they’re very active in the narrative - fighting for what matters most: family. thats the greatest similarity between them imo. 

fic recs

some of my favourite pieces of literature (i noticed while putting this together that none of these are particularly happy,,,)

emotional anguish for when you really need to feel something (my holy trinity):

the common thread to be found within these fics is that they’re all quite intense. they can get pretty uncomfortable at times. none of these have outright sad endings though! 

ninety one whiskey by komodobits

supernatural; destiel; ww2 au; ~400k

this fic is my roman empire and im not even in the supernatural fandom

here’s to the glory still to be by foxfireflamequeen

yuri on ice; age regression; ~12k

this fic is really just a crisis of morality wrapped up into 12k words

reject all loses by heartslogos

genshin; kavetham; ~51k

heartslogos is just a genius and any of their fics are wonderful. like genuinely this is a marriage proposal pls ily. but this fic is like a character study and a high stakes action plot rolled into one experience

sad, sad, sad:

mcd, sad endings, generally melancholic vibes. for when you just need a good cry

soldier boy, tripping over himself to win my praise by thissupposedcrime

yuri on ice; otayuri; ~44k; incomplete

it hasn’t been completed yet but the foreshadowing and feelings of doom is just vibes. this fic is tragic and is my favourite characterization of yura to date

the sky at 10:15AM by dustshells

skz; 2min; mcd; ~12k

this fic just really hurt me a lot :(

bite sized heartbreaks:

1k fics that cause permanent trauma 

orange by gwendee

honkai star rail; yanqing & jing yuan; mcd; 1588

short but idk if i would call it sweet because i cry everytime i think of this fic. the tragic father-son relationship between jing yuan and yanqing make me scream cry throw-up

blowing kisses to hurt you by thissupposedcrime

otayuri; breakup fic; 1015 

same author as soldier boy so you know i love the characterization. there's no death in this but this separation is just as tragic. like come on, the fic starts with “they tried"

So one critical trap I see people falling into in their writing and role play is wanting to skip ahead and keep the emotional impact

Which, vibes. I have absolutely written scenes out of order to get to the good shit, it’s great. But the thing that really really matters, especially in rp where you’re building the story live is going back to fill in the in betweens

You know exactly what you want for a scene and how you want it to feel; great! This is important! And if you want other people to get there with you, there is a bare minimum build up you need to do

Note: not everything needs much, or even any build up, especially if you’re just scatting or posting prompts! You can only do the scene you care about!

(Although you might wanna at least sketch anything you need to have happened before to make the bit work)

And honestly, if you don’t wanna put thought into the whys and wherefores, you can deadass just lampshade it a lot of the time with something like “because of The Reason” or “idk why on we go” because that gives a level of honesty, and brings us with you on this instantaneous emotional journey

It tells us the idea isn’t fleshed out, isn’t done, and isn’t meant to be, and I respect that one fuck of a lot more than a vague hand wave

Cuz this is something one of my players had a LOT of trouble with in sessions too

They had scenes they wanted to do, and they wanted to do them the second they thought about them

Whether it made sense for the game or not, whether they’d even mentioned anything similar before or not, whether it directly countered their own backstory or not

They explicitly closed themselves out of the main action and group scenes in major moments because they wanted a specific Alone And Tragic scene (and it works super duper well if you’re gonna miss a session! Free excuse for absence!) or “the character wouldn’t do that”

(I fucking hate that phrase it is so lazy just say “I don’t wanna think about it”)

But the thing you really need to remember, and I’ve mentioned it before:

If you want other people to go on the emotional journey with you, you need to build the moment

If you’re presenting a finished lil chunk of writing, you’ve gotta finish it. You’ve gotta go in between the first cool scene you want and the last cool scene you want and actually flesh out the middle some

Cuz the readers can tell when you don’t care and didn’t think about it and just slapped sentences together

When you’re roleplaying and want a really impactful scene, every single time you gently foreshadow it you can add to the emotional impact, and when you just slap it down out of the blue? People are gonna be confused, not whatever you’re going for

Writing is hard, improv is hard, and there’s nothing wrong with admitting you’re not interested in a chunk and avoiding it when you’re just fucking around

You’re just also not gonna get the same impact you could get by taking the time and building up the moment

And if you want that impact, if you’re gonna be hurt or upset or confused if you don’t get the response you’re going for, holy fucking shit you NEED to build up the moment

WAIT OMG-

been reading intrinsic warmth for a WHILE and your writing is top tier!! i always wondered to myself every time i’d read a chapter why the writing just STICKS, yk? i’m a MAJOR book girlie, i read 24/7.

AND THEN IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I READ ONE OF YOUR TAGS THAT YOU PUT UP ON ONE OF YOUR POSTS WHERE YOU WERE ANSWERING A QUESTION FROM ANOTHER LOVELY READER AND I SEE THAT YOU TOOK AN ENGLISH A LEVEL?

first of all (not 100% sure on this) but i’m pretty sure only british ppl take gcses, a levels, etc. YOU’RE BRITISH?

i feel like i’ve met my other half rn over something so tiny but yeah. IT LITERALLY EXPLAINS WHY YOUR WRITING IS SO GOOD:

i could point out the NUMBER of times i’ve seen juxtaposition, symbolism, foreshadowing in your fic to someone if they’d asked me to point it out for them. at first i thought you might’ve done it unknowingly, and then i decided that nope, bc foreshadowing is such a BIG writing technique that it simply couldn’t have been by accident.

it’s one thing to know about a writing technique and another to actually be able to SUCCESSFULLY incorporate it into your writing. if it isn’t clear enough, i’m saying that you did it AMAZINGLY. you’ve got a natural talent and i’m envioussss (in a supporting way ofc 😭).

you should really look into making your own book, and i think you EXCEL at the supernatural aspect of plot in stories. your writing is so unique and different yet so warm, it reminds me of autumn (my favourite season).

idk how to end such a long message, ultimately i don’t have a reason for typing this up and shit. ik you have tons of people probably saying the same thing and it might just get repetitive for you, but i wouldn’t feel comfortable not being part of said bunch-of-ppl-probably-saying-the-same-thing.

oh! and take your SWEET TIME updating. it’s your story, your fic, your writing. the ONLY thing we readers can give you as a payback and thanks is time, patience, and understanding <3333

RAHHH BRITTANIA 💪💪💪💪

Agh. Yes—I’m British (English to be precise, sweet sweet caroline etc), hence the use of ‘u’s in words like ‘colour’ and ‘humour’, and also why everyone’s parents are their ‘father’ or ‘mother’ and not mum/dad. ‘Mom’ feels too American but ‘mum’ feels too rah engerland, yk? I’ve mentioned previously that I’m looking forward to writing fics where the characters are actually from England and where I’m actually allowed to write them the way I talk, mostly. Good lord am I excited.

And yes lol I took English for an A-Level. Bloody smashed it too, if I get to brag, mwahaha. Didn’t take it any further (I’ve also previously said that I’m a # woman in stem uni student, which is true), but I still write a killer essay imo. Give me 10 minutes to do a refresher on ‘Othello’ (it’s been a while okay) and I can talk for donkeys about his tragic fall and how much of a wanker he is. Which he is! I’m a Desdemona defender for life.

You say ‘natural talent’. PLS. No!! God no. Not at all. I wish—that would’ve made it a lot easier, but whatever I can do rn is down to bloody years of toiling away on my shitty little laptop, I promise. I’ve got another anon ask that asked about some writing tips so I’ll do the bulk of them there but my number 1 will always and forever be to practise. Whatever skill I have now has been earned over the many years. You don’t even want to see some of the stuff that will never grace my ao3 page (atla had me in a chokehold through covid and I have never been the same).

But you are genuinely so complimentary: this is so so lovely of you. Thank you?? It’s really weird being someone who writes and also someone who enjoys analysing literature; you’re right, half of the ‘techniques’ are intentional (the number of times I’ve flicked through some chapters’ drafts and thought, ‘fucks sake none of this makes sense, I need to add some decent foreshadowing or none of this will make sense in two chapters’), but also so much of my writing is just thinking, ‘hmm, this doesn’t really feel right. No no, I don’t like the vibe of this. I want this to feel more GRAAHHH and less lalalala. Lemme change this up a bit’. Whether that leads to the whole, short sentences->speeds up the pace of the reader when reading the section->increased tension, mimics actual fight encounter, etc etc (all the stuff you blag on about in eng lit), then maybe that counts as intentional? And maybe not.

Making my own book? That’s lovely of you to say but I also really don’t have any ideas for anything non-fanfic’y! Lol. I love a good bit of canon compliance, that’s my issue. That being said—hey, another eng a level reference—I’ve made multiple references here to being the world’s #1 ‘Atonement’ hater. Unfortunately, it also lives damn rent free in my head and I’ve got the bare bones of a WW2-era, perhaps epistolary, longform fic buzzing around. (Fandom: Marauders. I’m a disgrace but here we go). I’ve written nothing for it and maybe I never will, but that’s one of the only things I can see as being more standalone from original canon. Anyway: it’s the fanfic life for me. Ali Hazelwood’s life is but a distant dream.

But anyway! Thank you again for your lovely words. The next IW chapter will take a very long time, I have to be frank, so thank you for the reassurance that that’s not absolutely disgraceful lmao T_T Thanks again!! <3

pt 1 tdc liveblog: let's death this cure before it deaths us too

there's pathos in seeing dead phone lines. like these wires used to carry millions of people's voices & conversations and now they are Silent

both tst and tdc start with these rly wide shots, whereas tmr is the exact opposite, starting dark and cramped and personal. interesting 🤔

are those?? the ones newt was wearing??? brenda :( you've already stolen his bf not rly tho don't steal his glove as well

the loving gaze of impending father-daughter chaos

i can ALMOST forgive them for losing the pixie cut for the way her hair blows in the wind here 😘

so.. where's bertha in all of this? ig either she suffered a tragic demise, or they knew this was a truck-destroying kinda operation

spare tire

presumably they've come some distance then bc if a tire blew during the rescue operation i don't think a spare would do them much good 😂

ahahahahhhah foreshadowing amiright

see the spare tire isn't much help here

did they name that one teresa aha

im sorry im sorry

oh nvm these are different fingerless gloves not newtie's. istg idk who has the coolest hand protection gear in the series i want all of these ✨

'don't die' she IS stealing minho's line tho TOO SOON BRENDA

so if they'd had time,,,, they could've looked,, through the windows n seen minmin

then again we did need to rescue aris and sonya ig that's all i think about when i see this scene, otherwise it makes me too sad

he liTERALLY COVERS HIS ASS IM -

no! >:( that is the maze runners' line only :(

brenpan MOMENT of all time

they collaborated in the last city too :') ig they realised they make a good team

Okay, so I finally watched Across The Spiderverse and I have at least 2 hot takes that will get me hated and cancelled, probably lol.

The first one is that I really disliked the animation for this movie. Idk, about everyone else, but I felt the animation was too fast paced, colorful, weird and confusing. It was pretty eye straining which I did not like at all. That and coupled with the characters talking really rapidly, it didn't mix well with the animation at all, if you ask me. Anyone else feel the eyestrain was real for this film?

Anyways, for this film I was most excited about Miguel O'Hara because half Mexican! I was hoping for, but from the trailers, honestly not holding my breath for some good representation. Because of this I'm weary of the film and where the sequel will head.

Like it's really great to see more Mexican characters, but I feel that this itself is the problem. It seems like Miguel is written in a way to be a morally grey character and in a way that he will be seen as a villain by the majority of the viewers. Now, I haven't really looked at the fandom because of spoilers, but from the little I I've seen, it's either you hate him because of his behavior and views or you you love him because he's hot. At least, these seem to be the two extremes. Now, as an indigenous Mexican myself, I hate how Mexican characters are portrayed stereotypically in films and/or are only shoved into grey areas/antagonistic roles. It's very tiring to see. Atsv has great Afro Latino representation, sure, but with Miguel it feels really iffy to me. Idk. Miguel just seems to have this negative air to him and not just because of the loss and pain he's lived through and experiences that has led him to behave the way he does and see the world as he sees it. I just don't want more Mexican characters who are 'mean,' or seen as villains, or just portrayed as being wrong, you know.

This is why I'm very weary of the sequel and not holding my breath either like I said.

Looking at how Gwen's father renounced from the police force, I imagine this means it's likely he won't die because he's no longer Captain. So, it seems that this is foreshadowing and indication that in the next movie, Miles will prove Miguel wrong that things aren't set in stone - and his dad will not die and he will save him. I feel like this is pretty tropey and I honestly hope this isn't the case. Don't get me wrong. I do love the messages and themes of saying fck you to fate and making your own destiny and changing things for the better and forging your own destiny, BUT for this franchise; I actually want to see the morally grey character who is seen as a villain and wrong by the viewers and who is cold because of his experiences to actually be right about things no matter how fcked up and tragic it is. Like give me THIS plot twist for once. Let Miguel be right. Lol. Though, I doubt this will happen and will be too dark.

Also, don't get me wrong (again) there's nothing wrong with morally grey characters and this does bring a lot of great complexity to them (which a lot of people don't understand or still dislike and hate them either way which isn't bad per say, people are entitled to their opinions) but again, shoving Mexican characters into morally grey areas [sacrificing one life for the many - and really all the cruel things Miguel said to Miles despite his anger stemming from his experiences and wanting to save the multiverse from collapsing and what not], shoving Mexican characters into villain/antagonistic roles (looking at Black Panther's Namor), is again, tiring to see so many times happens (e.g. especially with the stereotypical drug dealer/criminal roles that just happen again and again). Idk if this makes sense? I really hope it does because this topic of the portrayal of Mexican characters is really important to me.

And honestly me and other Mexicans shouldn't have to settle for any fictional Mexican characters we can get.

I'm not saying the writers are bad people or with malicious intent or anything, but again Miguel's characterization just comes across as iffy to me especially since he serves as representation to me, to Mexicans.

Idk. Thoughts?

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR JJK CHAPTER 222

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Do you have any opinions on Gojo dressing the exact same as Toji in 222?? The black shirt, white pants combo. I feel like there's something significant there but idk what and it's killing me???

HOLAAA!

Yah I'm like totally behind on asks. But yes! Totally. Gege seems to be hinting rather heavily at how this Sukuna x Gojo battle is fate in action.

More under the cut.

It's just that this is all coming full circle on multiple levels. For one you have Gojo dressing like the guy he killed some 10+ years ago who also happens to be the father of the person's body he's fighting.

On another level, this is the fated Gojo CT vs Zenin CT ultimate battle showdown and I wonder if this battle will highlight more information about ct and how they are metaphors for the sense of self.

You get what I'm trying to say, right? THAT MEGUMI HAS ALL OF THE POTENTIAL FOR GREATNESS IF ONLY HE BELIEVED IN HIMSELF!

Idk the clothing choice feels so weird to me that I'm wondering whether it is a red herring, or a red herring of a red herring. Lol. That's what jjk does to my brain. Total short circuit.

It's just that, because Gojo mentioned to Megumi this little fact about the Gojo and Zenin ancestors killing e/o, it has always felt like foreshadowing that such a battle would happen--I just always hoped Megumi would be the one to fight Gojo, not Sukuna in Megumi's body.

DAMMIT SUKUNA GO BACK TO YOUR BODY ALREADY!

So I guess we'll see if Megumi/Sukuna kills Gojo in a tragic twist of fate.

While I don't subscribe to the "cute dad Gojo" headcanon, Gojo is possibly the closest Megumi had to a father figure. So, to Megumi, it feels like Gojo represents an authority figure that he has to defeat in order to level up (the archetype of "self-consciousness" feels deeply entrenched in Megumi's character). But Gege could choose to execute differently.

I also don't want to say that Megumi would be avenging Toji because Toji was truly irredeemable, but it would feel like a total moment of cosmic retribution for Megumi/Sukuna to kill Gojo.

We'll see how Gege executes!

Anyways... I totally managed to turn this ask into a Megumi-related ramble lol.

Thanks for nerding out with me! Answering these asks has brought me back to life after the last 2-3 hectic weeks.

Angels Before Man || Rafael Nicolás

★★★★★

y'all i am fucking screaming

TW: OFF-SCREEN RAPE, VIOLENCE, BODY HORROR, BLASPHEMY

this book? 10/10, everyone needs to read it. i am crying as i am writing this and i love that for me. it is so good

I am gonna throw this under a read more just because of the content of the book as well as the fact that i've got a lot of things to say

Let's start off with the fact that this book is beautifully written. I was a little hesitant starting the book just because of the style of writing. There are a lot of longer sentences with a lot of commas in them, but my opinions has very much changed.

You see, this book is written about biblical content in a biblical style. In my classes we are working on translating the Acts of the Apostles, and this book is very much written with the same level of poetry and mysticism. I love it!

Then getting into the way the angels and God are written. I love, love, love the Hispanic take on these characters. The outfits are beautiful and the city is bustling with life! It is everything to me to see the personal touches of Catholicism through the lens of being Hispanic, it's not something we see often.

Now getting to the actual story:

First off, the book is split into two sections. The first half is a happy story full of love that tore my heart out. If you just want the happy story, you can end here.

The second half of the story is the fall, the tragedy, the horror. All themes that need a warning are in this second half. It is beautiful, it is horrific. It is the culmination of the Fall of Lucifer, which is good because that is what the book is about.

I was sobbing through the first half. There are foreshadowing lines through the first half that tore my heart out and crushed it every single time. I mean, knowing the story of the fall of Lucifer and knowing this is a tragedy, how could I not cry at:

"I could never deny you"

"But it'd be difficult to hate you. If someone asked me to despise you, I don't think I could."

"Creation as an act of love"

"All was as it should be, and they were happy"

There are so many more, but as my group chat can attest to, these were the hardest hitting. This book is delectably tragic. It hurts to read, but that is what I signed up for.

I have some words for Rafael (who really shouldn't be reading this but idk man, you do you. i know you follow my main lol). Firstly: are you gonna write another book? I need to read everything you have ever or will ever write. Secondly: what the fuck. Thirdly: are you considering doing a hardcover run? I would love to have a pretty hardcover edition on my shelf next to my annotated paperback.

I highly suggest everyone reads this book, it is an amazing book that will change you forever. It has earned it's place on my recommendation shelf and I cannot wait to go back through and fully annotate the book.

I am planning on writing little things like this every time I read a book just to help me keep track of them. If I don’t write down my opinions and thoughts right away I am liable to forget them. I am hesitant to call these a review because i’m really just not comfy with that lol I will do my best to make sure I appropriately tag and warn about topics. If I miss any please let me know!

tagged  by @matbaynton​ thank u ireland! love u!! 💖💙 

8 shows to get to know me better (under the cut)

tagging: @kokushibe​ @pchita​ @upperranktwo​ @elliejoys​ @akmu​ @desi-pluto​ @criticalroles​ @tanchirou​ (no pressure ok love u guys)

1. dark (netflix)

i love time travel stories and this is my favorite netflix original show!! i love all the characters and how everything is connected, foreshadowing etc!!

2. one day at a time (netflix)

this was so important to me!! elena having a supporting family made me so emotional i cried so hard, i love the characters sm!! it sucks that it didn’t have a proper ending but its still one of my favs

3. buffy the vampire slayer

god, the emotional baggage i got from this kjahfjahs it made me feel so many emotions and i miss it so much, even tho some stuff made me angst cry my eyes out akjghasjkh

4. fruits basket (2019)

i love almost everyone (i mean you shigure i hate u), the saddest, most tragic backstories i ever seen, the characters, the bonds they share, ughh!! its so dear to my heart

5. over the garden wall

THIS CARTOON IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME OMG i love greg so much and it helped me during depression ajgkhakshg (same goes for ‘we bare bears’ and ‘bee and puppycat’)

6. the haunting of bly manor

GOD!! I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH!! it has horror stuff, it has lesbians, it has a lot of drama and pain!! ajkfhajksh i never get tired of it

7. interview with the vampire

its a recently show but it became a fav so fast!! the way the characters are written, everything, IS AMAZING!!

8. how i met your mother

(okay alice havent finished yet so i wont elaborate much) even tho i strongly dislike the ending, its my comfort show and i always end up rewatching it religiously. i could talk about the characters for hous, i know a bunch of fun facts abt it, and i think its very realistic about life (waaay more realistic than friends i mean) and how things turn out not being what you wanted/expected, how you have to act “”normal”” even tho you have a broken heart or your life is falling apart.

wow idk if anyone read this far but thank u!!

Was mulling over CHET alternatives, specifically re: Ezran for a few different reasons

Ezran is the one textually compared to the previous holder of the Key, the Orphan Queen, as well as directly being her descendant, while Callum has thus far only been compared sub-textually. Right now he has more in common with the Jailer, who was a human mage and also helped construct the prison (assumedly)

Callum would of course hand the cube over for his brother and there would be some delicious irony in the Orphan Queen having the key only for it to be turned over on behalf of her descendant, the lengths siblings either will or will not go for one another being a prevalent point we keep returning to in the show, etc.

Ezran also is related to the game motif, albeit in a different way (connected only to hide and seek rather than the cube)

So like, why have I always leaned towards it being for Rayla > Ezran?

Well, for starters, Callum loves Rayla and Ezran equally. While his relationship with his brother is Callum’s cornerstone as a character, Rayla is very much his agent of change that pushes him to become someone new (and textually, more of himself: “When I could do magic, I finally felt like myself” --> “And then you called me a mage, and that felt right”). Callum himself compares the love he has for Ezran to the love he understands Rayla has for him as early as 2x03, stating “I couldn’t tell him. And I understand why you couldn’t tell me. When you are about someone, it’s hard to hurt them” and similar language is used to describe each language: “You’re my brother and you mean everything to me” (2x06) / “Rayla’s strong thin arms wrapped around him meant everything” (2x04, novelization). They are his two pillars. 

Thus, CHET is less about Callum’s particular relationship with Rayla from a structural standpoint, specifically (although that too but more on that later) as it is “This is the dynamic still in conflict, and it needs to be resolved”. CHET has always specifically been a finale theory - i.e. the last 2-3 episodes of a season - and a theory of how their TTM plot line could be wrapped up, in addition to specifically answering the question of what Callum’s role in freeing Aaravos may be, under the assumption he’s going to have a direct one at all. 

The two options are currently under possession, which guts Callum’s agency (and can work in a tragic way, but also removes more of the consequences because people can just say “you didn’t mean to” and it’ll be true) or him doing it under some kind of coercion that’s ultimately a choice, a la Soren choosing to stab Viren to save Ezran when push came to shove. This would also further the clear comparisons and contrasts he’s had with Claudia and Viren as a character throughout the show, specifically both ramped up in S4. 

Which is to say: if Callum and Ezran were in major conflict, I’d consider him more as a real option for being who Callum says “Just take it” for. But the brothers currently aren’t in conflict, and so nothing needs to be resolved. This could change in S5, but as of right now, we have no reason to think it will (although yes give me broyals angst, I’d adore it).  I do think they will be tested and maybe disagree on some things in S5 or going forward because of their Viren-Harrow parallels, but IDK if it’d amount to a finale conflict (and largely never has before, outside of 1x09, which is introduced and resolved in the same episode rather painlessly). 

But beyond just plot, there’s also the fact that TDP is 1) deeply symbolic, 2) all about inverted and repeating patterns, and 3) the Theme / foreshadowing, y’know? Which is to say:

1) Ezran is with Callum for 3/4 seasons he has the cube. Callum never talks about the cube with him even once. Every scene in which Callum discusses the cube Ezran is either absent or, if he is there, he isn’t weighing in and isn’t non verbal. To the degree I don’t think Ezran has ever even referred to the cube at all, even to draw attention to it whatsoever in a small way.

2) The only people Callum talks about the cube to or adjacently are Rayla (1x04, 1x05, 1x09, 2x07, 3x08, 4x07) and Bait (2x06, 2x07, 4x02). Bait is easy to explain as he’s a good excuse for Callum to say certain things, or add something/someone for him to react to, without actually being a conversational partner (hence why so many Disney princesses also have animal sidekicks, ‘cause we can’t get away with having characters just talk to themselves too much, most of the time). Rayla is harder to explain, because it would’ve been very easy to finagle some scenes with the cube, especially in S1 or even S4, to have Ezran conversing with Callum about it, being excited (like he is with the Sunforge dagger), trying to distract his brother from something, etc. But no, it’s always Rayla.

3) If you want an in depth meta on Rayla’s weird connection / Cube associations, you can read it here. But really all I gotta say is that Rayla is the character used to foreshadow the cube’s connection to Aaravos well before the letter in 2x06, the only person to routinely call it a game piece / toy, and the only reason Callum has it at all. And again, it did not need to be her consistently, just like she didn’t have to have it on her shoulder, glowing with the Star primal, for her grand re-entrance in Callum’s life. But she does, so. Something’s gotta give

4) Layers of irony. Turning the key over for Ezran only presents one layer of irony, with the Orphan Queen connection. Turning the key over for Rayla offers at least three: doing anything to save the life of a person who tried to kill you / who you asked to kill you; “I hope it was worth it to you putting everyone’s lives in danger” (when it was really just hers back in 1x04, hence why that line has Foreshadowing feelings) now being true; Rayla not being the one who sacrifices, but the one who is sacrificed for, and much more, tbh. As well as the fact it would add layers to her arc and dynamic with Callum that just wouldn’t be applicable with Ezran because, unlike his older brother and best friend, he just doesn’t have the same relationship to sacrifice, martyrdom, or the love-death duality Rayllum are constantly walking the wire’s edge to.

As well as then what it gives, Callum, as well? Just structurally / from an arc standpoint

Him having a vested motivation to then reclaim the cube and fully make it his own, as Rayla says in 1x04: “Hey sad prince. Let’s go get your cube” which could also parallel a journey with magic and understanding the other arcanum

Finally addressing and bringing Callum’s flaw of selfish tunnel vision to  a head (1x04 -> 2x04 -> 5x09?) as well as his ruthless side

The possible guilt over how things went but not regret over the choice he made and how complicated those emotions are

Possible fallout with Ez who disagreed in the moment and/or other characters like Soren or Opeli being upset with him, having to deal with that

Furthers the Callum-Claudia and Callum-Viren parallels, allowing both antagonists to remain sympathetic because a ‘hero’ made a similar choice and for similar reasons

Possible Rayllum reconciliation in time for Callum to be able to address his big messy feelings about Runaan without big messy feelings for Rayla also allowing him to create a distance from Runaan, either

And a big personal one-on-one score to settle as right now, Callum is scared of Aaravos only because he may hurt his loved ones, not because he’s actually tried to. Let the kid be angry and protective, y’know?

Callum possibly doubting if it’s a good thing he ever became a mage in a first place, exploring what his self worth looks like outside magic / that he has worth even without it, reaffirming his status as a mage, possibly inspiring him to want to share it with more people and help them connect to arcanums too, etc. 

Also giving Callum’s heavy associations with freedom/liberty throughout the seasons its own double edged sword it largely hasn’t had until now that I think is Neat

And last but not least, continuing arc 2′s trend of moving past “making up for our parents’ mistakes” to “how do we make up for our own mistakes or complicated choices?” which are chef’s kiss

Just remembered how baffling an experience it was for me to watch s4 vol 1 and then go onto social media only to see what appeared to be 90% of people completely overlooking the idea that Vecna/001 might be gay. Like come on. The second that guy first walked into the literal Rainbow Room with his soft, lilted voice and androgynous vibes I was like “Gay.” And it only got more obvious as we found out about his past. Like, oh, he was deemed “broken” and “different” by the hetero adults in his life for behavior that came naturally to him and was sent to a doctor to try to “fix” him. And when he disobeyed, he was punished with electroshock torture? Maybe (probably) it’s just because I always look at things through a gay lens, but it seemed so blindingly purposeful that it was all a metaphor for conversion therapy.

And, like, again he literally watches over the kids in a room with the lgbt flag plastered across the wall. People were clearly correctly noticing its similarity to the gay flag because they started making jokes and memes about it, but they weren’t open minded enough to seriously consider that it was a perfectly intentional set design choice (along with the other insertions of rainbows in the show) meant to bring queerness to the forefront of the viewer’s mind while watching. And then, of course, there’s his villain rant which was basically just him lamenting how heteronormativity in society is suffocating (go off king?). And all the parallels with Will just drive the point home. Like, Henry is a bitter, hurt homosexual who has rejected heteronormativity with disdain and attempted to free himself of the repression that was beaten into him by everything around him, seeking to make a more comfortable space for himself through a sort of hypocritical, violent overhaul that’s ending up hurting people in a similar way that he was hurt. And Will has also been beaten down by heteronormativity, but he’s not at the level of disdain for society that Henry is. Will is, comparatively, scared and insecure and sad.

Honestly I’m kinda with Vecna in theory cause no offense but heteronormative society kinda is inferior and maybe people who blindly follow it or prop it up are kinda like worthless peons idk

Also I just realized that if Vecna is really meant to be queer in some way, that means the bully from season 1 who said Will “was probably killed by some other queer” was foreshadowing… The moral? Sometimes the homophobe is correct (tragic).