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stardustizuku · 2 months

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Unfortunately I came across a very strange and misinformed video about Black Butler.

It’s not good. Don’t watch it. Unless you wanna ruin your day, in which case have fun.

Despite it all, I watched it. What left me wondering, however, was how off the mark the person who made the video was on, well, everything.

From their insistence that the Book of Circus Arc theme or point is non existent, to reading Ciel’s character so badly they genuinely thought the Green Witch Arc did nothing for his character development.

While baffled, it also made me think on how someone could read Black Butler so badly.

Sure, you can say that there’s no real way to read or interpret something “in the wrong way” but interpreting The Hunger Games as a pure battle-royale action story would make you believe it’s bad.

“Why are we focusing so much on how the capitol preps them?” Or “Why isn’t Katniss winning everything?” Or “I wanna know more about the rebellion” All questions that miss the actual point of the story - which is criticizing (not solving or ignoring) the way that media distracts us from violence via spectacle.

The same thing applies here. While there is no “right” way to consume media, there’s things that the author makes clear they wanna focus when creating a story. Things that, if you understand, make the story you’re reading actually make sense.

And in Black Butler there’s three things that you have to understand to properly get what Yana is saying.

Sebastian is the protagonist

Ciel and Sebastian’s relationship IS the story.

And that relationship is, fundamentally, a positive one.

A quicker version of it would be:

Black Butler is a love story from the POV of Sebastian, and you have to ship it to get it

- but that’s not entirely true.

You can still look at it as a complex but ultimately positive rship and get in broad strokes of what it’s conveying. It doesn’t have to be romantic. Although, it helps much more than a platonic framing.

(That said, interpreting their rship as father and son, still isn’t the best way to go about it. Mostly because by its very nature of “soul consuming” their relationship is extremely sexually charged. And hey, if you’re into that I don’t judge. However, if you’re desperately trying to interpret their rship as NOT romantic to the point you fall back on heteronormative patriarchal ideals of nuclear familiar as framing device, I don’t think this interpretation bodes with you)

Now, having all that ground work:

Why do I say these are the key components to understand BB?

Okay so, first,

1. Sebastian is the Main Character. The protagonist.

There’s a lot of people who wanna argue against it, claiming he’s either the villain or the antagonist. Both wrong.

He does not function as an antagonist. Even if, and an emphasis on if, you consider Ciel to the protagonist, Sebastian isn’t a narrative antagonist.

If you wanna go back to Creative Writing 101, be my guest. An antagonist is directly defined by the protagonist. It’s the opposing force. If the protagonist wants A, the antagonist wants to stop them from getting A.

Sebastian’s catchphrase is “Yes, my Lord”. He never opposes Ciel, in fact quite the contrary. By the mere fact they’ve created contract, it means that they’ve both agreed in the inevitable outcome.

People want to frame Sebastian as the villain, because Ciel having his soul taken by a demon, would be a BAD END in the context of their moral compass. They see Ciel as a frail victim of abuse, who’s being tricked by Sebastian, who wants Ciel’s soul.

Which is an. Interpretation. A bad one. But still one.

The narrative (and whether the narrative fits your personal moral compass and lack of critical thinking is irrelevant) treats Ciel as an agent in his own destiny. The abuse he suffered was the moment in which he had no control. It’s only after he meets Sebastian that he can rid of both his guilt and his despair, and do what he wants.

In this case though, it’s revenge.

The famous “Asthma” scene shows this. If Ciel is taken back to his past, he becomes helpless. Swarmed with pain and memories that make it so that he can’t even react. Sebastian is his saving grace. If Ciel didn’t have him, and the power he wields to rebuilt what’s broken, he would crumble once more.

If Ciel has a panic attack, because of all the pain he has, Sebastian picks him up and says “you are not a helpless child anymore, you are not a victim anymore, you have the power to do anything. So, what do you wanna do?”

Ciel’s answer is to kill them.

A proper analogy would be to say that, if Sebastian offers a gun, Ciel pulls the trigger. They are both at fault. Sebastian, strictly speaking, is not here to directly cause Ciel’s downfall, but as a tool Ciel uses to plunge into the abyss.

If, again if, you were to frame Ciel as a protagonist, Sebastian falls closer to the “Voice of reason” character. Not a literal voice of reason, but a literary one. If you have a protagonist and an antagonist exchanging ideals, the Voice of Reason serves to engage with the protagonist on their own ideals.

That said, Ciel isn’t the protagonist. The story quickly falls apart if you interpret it as such.

Things such as Ciel’s character arc being…shall I say odd?

It’s not that his character arc isn’t there, but it’s never lineal. His goals stay the same, the only thing that happens is that we start to peel back the “why”s of his goals. Throughout the series it’s never about Ciel understanding himself better, he knows who he is, he knows what he wants, he knows why he wants it. He doesn’t ever need to uncover these, but simply remember them. Because it’s always about the audience understanding Ciel.

He knows he wants revenge.

In the Circus Arc: He knows that he needs Sebastian because without him, the pain of the abuse he suffered would be too much to bear. But WE are introduced to it.

In the Book of Atlantis: He knows that with this new lease he does not want happiness and peace, he wants revenge. The one being told this is the audience.

In Green Witch Arc: He knows that their revenge isn’t for his family, the real Ciel or guilt. It’s because he wants it. He’s angry, he’s upset, and this is entirely for him. The one being told this is the audience.

Except. Not really. The one either discovering or remembering these key moments - is always Sebastian.

Sebastian is the one who reassures him that he now holds the power of a demon to override the pain. Sebastian is the one who remembers that to override that pain, Ciel wants revenge. And Sebastian is the one who discovers that that revenge isn’t built out of grief or guilt, but for himself.

We are witnessing it all, through the eyes of Sebastian.

This is why we have an extremely vague idea of who Ciel is, Sebastian does not have the whole picture.

If you haven’t been reading this manga with your eyes closed, you’ll realize we have a better grasp at Sebastian’s character than that of Ciel. We get a lot of insight on how he thinks and what he values through light hearted dialogue he has with the servants. You even see the character development in these little interactions.

Think about how when he first arrived to the mansion he magically created food with no regards to taste, but when he meets Bard he states that food is created to see whoever will eat it, smile.

That is character development, more than you will be able to see from Ciel.

Because Ciel’s character, while not static, doesn’t go from point A to point B. Mostly, cause it doesn’t need to. He went through that when he lost the real Ciel and got Sebastian. Everything we are watching is the falling out.

Now, given the fact that I’ve told you that it makes more sense for Sebastian to be the protagonist/main character, and that he 100% isn’t either a villain or antagonist in ANY of the interpretations you can get:

Do you believe me?

If you don’t, you’ll probably believe Yana herself.

This is from the first Volume, where Yana herself describes the process of making Black Butler. The primary idea behind the creation of BB was a butler as a “hero”.

If you go back to the introductory chapter, you notice that Ciel is barely mentioned. He’s simply the one to give Sebastian impossible tasks and standards that Sebastian must find how to overcome.

Ciel is properly introduced until the NEXT chapter. The second chapter has this formula too, introducing Lizzie as a problem to overcome. Although, to Sebastian the best way to “get rid of the problem” is simply to indulge her.

The issue here being that the problem isn’t as simple as a business meeting but something directly tied to Ciel and Ciel’s past. Each time that Sebastian has to solve a problem, it chips away at Ciel. While with Lizzie he shows a persona, once he’s alone with Sebastian he acknowledges the toll it took on him. It serves to build Ciel as Sebastian’s master, and how some problems aren’t as simple as discarding a tablecloth.

The third and the fourth, are a unified narrative, with a similar premise to the first chapter. Ciel gets kidnapped and Sebastian must find a way to retrieve him without raising suspicions.

If the first chapter is to set up what Sebastian must do as a butler, the third and the fourth serve to set up what he must do as a demon.

The entirety of the volume, and up to Book of Circus Arc, is about how Sebastian tries to follow the increasingly absurd orders that Ciel has - it is not about Ciel trying to solve them.

That’s how they work, we follow Sebastian for the most part, because he’s the one having to come up with the solutions.

If anything, in early Kuro, where the emphasis was more on a slice of life conflict, Ciel is the antagonist. He’s the one creating problems for Sebastian to solve.

What’s more, in the second volume, the very first chapter is one from Sebastian’s POV. So far, we hadn’t gotten an entire chapter from Ciel’s POV. In fact, I would find it hard to point to a single chapter where Ciel is the POV throughout. The reveal of real Ciel and the flashback is the closest contender.

But once we move past early Kuro, and into Book of Circus, this set up changes.

It’s fairly easy to assume that Ciel is the main character, because from this point on the conflict of the plot sorta surrounded him. We spend a lot of time with him and with his story. The enemies start being people directly tied to Ciel and Ciel’s trauma. Rarely, if at all, we get to see Sebastian before he met Ciel.The framing device for the story, is Ciel.

This is where point 2 gets intertwined.

2.- Sebastian and Ciel’s relationship IS the story.

The story begins at the point where Sebastian and Ciel met. Who Ciel was before he met Sebastian, informs why he’s the way he is when he does. You have to know all he went through to understand why he’s a brat, why he lashes out. However Sebastian’s past doesn’t matter…because Sebastian himself doesn’t care much for who he was, before he was “Sebastian”. That’s also part of the narrative.

Unlike Ciel, he doesn’t seem opposed to revealing information from before the contract. He talks about how pets from where he is from are gross, he talks about how he knows how to dance because of other places he’s been to, and alludes to the life he's lived before.

Just that, to him, they're footnotes.

He makes allusions to a very bland, uninteresting life, up to the point he meets Ciel.

That’s why we don’t know more about his past.

As for why we focus on Ciel’s story…okay maybe we need Creative Writing lessons 102

I studied Dramaturgy for about 3 to 4 years. And something you notice is how play-writing is the quintessential story telling. It’s making it work with the bare bones of a story.

Some other mediums have more finesse, more depth, or more spectacle - all amazing things that work for whatever they’re created for. But understanding a play, how and why it works, helps understand the fundamentals of any derivative story telling medium.

Particularly, conflict.

Conflict is dialogue and dialogue can take many forms. A story, in its essence, is a dialogue between two opposing ideas.

Take Batman, for example, who embodies the ideas of justice and order. On his own, he’s not a well rounded character.

If you ONLY present him, in a vaccum with nothing else, you don’t have a character. You have a list of characteristics that you’re supposed to know.

You only know who he is when you have dialogue with another character.

I say Dialogue, but it doesn’t necessarily mean spoken language at one another. Dialogue can mean fist fighting, playing tabletop games, talking to other people about the other, or even just a competition. The idea is to simply to compare and contrast both ideas.

If you want an example on how tabletop games serve as dialogue, watch the video “Well, Someone Had to Explain the Liar’s Dice Scene” by Lord Ravecraft

Another example, were we to retake Batman, you have him fight Joker. Who’s the embodiment of chaos and randomness.

In the following picture, you get far more information than the one previously shown. While the Joke fights with daggers and fake guns, Batman only uses his fists. He doesn’t use the tricks that Joker does. His serious demeanor, contrasted with Joker’s glee at the dangerous situation. The fact that Batman has a deathly grip on Joker’s shirt, while the Joker doesn’t, which shows a desperation to catch him.

You are being shown, through a dialogue, who Batman is.

It’s so much easier and much more effective to explore a character through another character.

This is the reason why Shonen has a tendency to make incredibly good gay ships. If you want to explore Naruto’s personality, and his feelings of inferiority, you HAVE to have him interact with Sasuke.

If you wanna understand Hinata’s passion for volleyball, you have him enjoy himself the most with the only other crazy motherfucker who’s as obsessed with volleyball - Kageyama.

And I think that originally, Yana had this problem.

Sebastian was the protagonist, but she had little room to develop him as a character in the confines of the manor, dealing with random enemies.

She likely tried to create Grell as someone of the same stature as Sebastian. Someone who could be this other person to engage dialogue with and show or allude to his past a bit more.

The problem being that Sebastian didn’t care for his past. Or really, engaging with anyone. He sees everyone as below him, but when confronted with Grell who isn’t below him, he doesn’t wanna talk to her.

So you’re stuck in conundrum.

How do you have dialogue with a character, that as a character trait, doesn’t really wanna have dialogue?

Well, Grell also solves the problem. Because only the moment she gets him to start any semblance of a dialogue - is questioning why he’s serving Ciel.

And this is the moment when it’s perfectly cemented that the focus of the story is their relationship.

Why is Sebastian here? Why does he stay? What did he see in Ciel that made him want this extremely convoluted contract?

THATS the dialogue.

THATS the conversation we’re having in Black Butler.

We need to know Ciel because understanding who he is, let’s us know WHY /Sebastian/ is here.

Then slowly, with the introduction with the Undertaker, we find out Sebastian’s conflict.

Which is…

He’s scared of losing Ciel. It becomes apparent with the constant imagery of the Undertaker taking away Ciel and at some point even obtaining r!Ciel’s body, that he’s worried it might happen.

But he can only be worried that Ciel might be taken away if he wants to stay near Ciel.

And that’s his character arc.

Realizing that he actually likes Ciel, cares for him and the role he plays a butler that he doesn’t want this to end.

In the first chapters, he doesn’t feel a need to protect Ciel anymore than what’s strictly necessary. Just don’t die, that’s about as deep as his involvement in chapter 4 gets.

But by the Green Witch Arc, he feels a need to protect Ciel from ANY harm.

This is why I also said

3.- Their relationship is fundamentally a positive one.

In broad strokes, Sebastian to Ciel is the person who allows him to survive. He’s not worried about giving up his soul since he’s already dead. While Ciel to Sebastian, is someone who’s making him have fun. He’s slowly becoming more and more attached to Ciel and the life he has with Ciel.

Their relationship is not that of just a predator and prey, but also of master and pet.

In the terms that Black Butler itself would call: Sebastian is a wild wolf acting like a collared dog.

Ciel is aware that the wild beast will eat him at the end of the day, but if he clings hard to leash for now, he might just be able to have Sebastian maul his abusers.

Sebastian as a dog, currently finds that he enjoys being a chained dog.

(This is demonstrated in the Green Witch arc where he quite literally says, he doesn’t wanna be a wild beast and prefers to be a butler)

And much like the actual DOG Sebastian, Ciel constantly interprets his attempts to get close and protect him, as an act of aggression.

This push and pull of Ciel’s perception of Sebastian and Sebastian’s true motives is what feeds the story.

And the briefs interludes were that isn’t the case (what other people call the “plot”, but I would refer to as the connective tissue) such as Sullivan and Wolfram, the other servant’s past, the grim reapers and the like, serve as a parallel to Ciel and Sebastian relationship. Either to signify how they care for each other, highlight their weaknesses or fears, or explore how they feel.

It’s no surprise that Sullivan and Wolfram are parallels to Ciel and Sebastian. A sheltered sickly child who seeks the protection of a cold hearted machine that only knew how to kill, but who eventually found he cared for her genuinely.

Undertaker and Claudia’s relationship being heavily paralleled with them, even though we aren’t 109% sure what they had but heavily implied it was a romantic attraction from the undead supernatural creature and a Phantomhive.

Everything is a parallel.

That’s why, like the approach of the terrible original video, is flawed.

Trying to interpret Black Butler as action scene after action scene, with mystery after mystery with the only connective tissue being the mystery of who burned down the mansion - is missing the trees for the forest.

That’s not the point.

And if you’re too much of a prude to engage with gothic horror in its gothic horror game, I see little point as to why you even bother to engage with it at all.

A lot of people, including the person who create the video, simply refuse to acknowledge Black Butler IS the story of Sebastian and Ciel as a close and positive relationship, romantically and sexually charged. The reason for it being that they’re “put off” by it.

Part of me wonders how much that is genuinely true, and how much is just performative outrage. It’s like ignoring the fact that Cersei and Jami are in an incestous relationship and try to frame it as “platonic love”, because the idea of it is THAT off putting.

But regardless of that, if you don’t like the fact that it’s as canon as canon can get, I would reccomend you don’t engage with the story at all.

As I’ve explained, the entirety of the series is about them. If you refuse to see Sebastian and Ciel as, at the very least, a duo that cares deeply for the other - you aren’t reading Black Butler.

I have no idea what you’re reading.Perhaps your own biases and subconscious stigma with British aesthetic. At that point, watch the fucking British Royalty Gossip Magazine. You’d find more substance there.

Just don’t be like the person in the video, please? Don’t play dumb. Don’t ignore the fact that Yana is a Shotacon, don’t ignore the fact Sebastian is a hero, don’t ignore the fact that the entirety of the story is based on Sebastian and Ciel’s dynamic.

Because if you do, you are ashamed. You are ashamed of what this story is about. You don’t wanna engage with the text, you want to engage with yourself. You wanna project into Ciel whatever traumas and experiences you have, for the sake a vanity project, where you come out as the morally superior.

You don’t wanna talk about Black Butler, you wanna talk about how good YOU are. How you “don’t sin” by watching it “without all the gross unholy stuff”.

Which is the exact opposite of what BB is about.

So, if you don’t want to, save us all the humiliation fetish and leave.

#Kuroshitsuji #black butler #sebaciel #essay #loli speaks

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lachiennearoo · 7 months

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How to Make Friends

A more-or-less clear guide on social interactions

Growing up with heavy ADHD and generalized anxiety, it was always a bit hard for me to make friends and socialize. Despite my yearning for friendship, I was always "the quiet one" and "a loner", simply because I didn't know how to approach certain social situations, and it made any friendship I had extremely unstable (except for my sister @vive-le-quebec-flouffi, who was so extroverted and friendly it was literally impossible to escape her clutches of socialization)

As I grew older, I learned through a lot of trial and error what makes a good friendship.

Or, rather... what's the best way for someone to WANT to be your friend (without being superficial or hypocritical.)

Now, obviously, this doesn't work for everyone. But this is what I found helped me the most in social circles (especially online) and I hope it can help others too

LET'S BEGIN!

1 - Be yourself

Now that sounds very cliche and cringe, I know, but hear me out, because my opinion on this is not the same as all those feelgood inspirational movies and ads.

"Being yourself" isn't as simple as it seems. Because after all, what does "self" imply? If someone is, say, a criminal, would "be yourself" mean that they should embrace their sinful side?

No, obviously not.

"Be yourself" is a bit more nuanced, but I'll try to boil it down for you.

It just means "be unashamed of your qualities which you think are flaws". For example, "be yourself" would apply to someone who sees themselves as ugly, or maybe someone with an odd yet unharmful hobby, or a weird sense of fashion, or someone with say a handicap, a speech impediment. "Be yourself" is a sentence for the specific people who have genuine good in them, but are afraid to show it to others because they have been persecuted in the past, or are scared to be. It does NOT mean to accept genuine flaws. "Be yourself" does not include say violent anger issues, an addiction, a recent crime committed, or a generally unpleasant personality. Those are obviously not things to encourage. You can understand they may be a thing that happen to you, and accept it in your life, but that's different from being proud of it or encouraging it.

Speaking of personalities... let's talk about that

2 - Be kind

Now when some people hear that, they think it means "always smile no matter what, always look happy and positive, always agree with everyone just so you don't hurt their feelings, and never cause any drama", like you're Deku in My Hero Academia or Steven Universe in his titular show.

But that's... not quite that.

Obviously, kindness is something you use to help people feel better, to cheer up, and feel happy, and obviously to be kind, you need to have compassion, heart, empathy, and always put yourself in other people's shoes regardless of who they are. But it is not necessarily all-encompassing.

There's a rule that I think anyone learning kindness must learn. It's that sometimes, kindness means to be firm.

Not mean, of course. Not judgmental, not insensitive. Don't insult anyone, don't belittle or patronize anyone or make them feel inferior to you. That's still very rude and that's not what you want.

But what I mean is that sometimes, if you know that a person's actions towards something are wrong, especially if it's towards someone else, you must be able to point it out, and act accordingly. Don't just stand there and agree with them just because you don't want to hurt their feelings. You must still be able to know right from wrong. Kindness just means you won't be an ass about it, it doesn't mean to stay silent.

Hey, that brings me to point three!

3 - Show your own opinions

If there's one thing people hate just as much as meanness, it's those who stand by and do nothing about it.

Regardless of if you agree with them or not, if you say absolutely nothing when genuinely bad behaviour is happening, out of fear of "starting a fight", you are actively making the person who is being attacked feel alone.

I remember myself, when I was bullied in the first two grades of secondary school (11-13 years old for those who don't know) for "being ugly", I was told by my mother (who was friends with other kid's parents) that some of the kids "didn't hate me" and "didn't agree with the bullying". And I asked her "if they don't hate me, why won't they talk to me?" She never managed to answer that one. And it broke my heart, because outside of my sister, I had no one else.

Don't be like that. You may be scared of acting, but you know who would be grateful if you did act? The victims. And isn't their opinion of you much more important than the opinion of someone who acts with hatred and bigotry?

If you see someone suffering injustice, or even just hear someone who has a rather harmful opinion, don't be scared to tell them that you disagree. Obviously don't be an asshole about it, stay civil, but if you voice out your opinion, you will be seen as someone who stays true to their beliefs and is brave enough to stand up for them if the opportunity comes.

There's obviously much more that comes with social life (nonverbal cues, sense of humor, timing and mood), and I don't know everything (I'm just some random québécois girl on the internet). But I hope this was a bit more helpful. I did have fun writing this, at least. So I guess that's better than nothing!

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furiousgoldfish · 7 months

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No matter how horrid and despicable the abuse is, the abusers will always insist it's all because of you. It's because you're doing something wrong, you're not doing good enough for them, you don't love them enough, you don't love them unconditionally, you're not showing that you love them through obedience enough, you're not considerate enough, and if only, if only you had more love for them, understanding and dedication and loyalty, then things would be fine and nothing bad would ever happen.

They convince you that this is the one ultimate truth and you almost can't escape it because their entire logic is warped around what YOU did to cause this, to cause them to snap and hurt you. They create this fictional world where potentially no abuse would happen if only you acted differently, almost as if it was under your control, whether they abuse you or not.

You can get lost in that world where your actions all have unpredictable, horrible and painful consequences, you can try to change your behaviour in a million ways to try and get different results, you can run yourself ragged trying to please the abuser to make them less hostile, and they still abuse you, and you still feel like nothing will ever be good enough, like you are not good enough.

And that's because their logic makes no sense. A person who loves you wouldn't do this to you. They wouldn't hurt you for anything. They wouldn't want you to suffer. They wouldn't consider themselves an authority over whether you've deserved pain or not, you would never deserve pain in their eyes.

A person who loves you and cares about you does not want you to run yourself ragged trying to please them. They don't want to train you into obedience, they don't find your worth equal to how much you're useful to them, they don't see you as a toy to manipulate into as much work as possible. The person who would do this to you hates you so intensely and so cruelly, you're not even real to them. They don't even see you as a person. And you know it, because after this type of treatment, you don't see yourself as a person either, you only see something to be used as a resource and discard at will, this is not who you are!

Compassion, humanizing, comfort, warmth, concern, care about your emotions, care about your experience of life, care for your well being, your happiness, your confidence, your quality of life, your dreams and goals, your happiness, your desires, freedom, passion, excitement, enjoyment, love can't exist without all that. That's what makes you feel like a person, that's what love is. Not being trained and dehumanized. Not being judged and punished because your best is not enough for someone. Not being blamed and scrutinized when you're in pain. That's the deepest hatred a person can hold for you, that's desire to torture you.

It doesn't matter if you're not good enough for this person because you were never meant to be a resource or a property. You were never meant to be used. You are good enough to laugh with, to spend time with, to adore, to comfort and to play with, to hold memories with someone, to be seen and heard and appreciated, to be held special in someone's heart. That's what you're meant for and this person is failing you. You don't have to be anything for them. They don't deserve to have anyone to use.

#emotional abuse #psychological abuse #cycle of abuse #victim blaming #victim shaming #darvo #twisting the facts #abuser logic #blaming victims for actions of the abusers #making victims responsible for the abuse #pretending victims can control abusers #making victims feel like they're not good enough #torture

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teejaystumbles · 1 month

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Against all odds (Part 5)

Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3 // Part 4

(this continues directly after Part 4, Hob reads the rest of Dream's entry)

Negligence and luck were my saviours in the end. I managed to escape and take my revenge. I have recovered my tools of office and my power. I am free. And yet I feel like part of me is still trapped inside that basement, as unconnected to the world around me as I was before, but in a different way. Before I was captured I felt, if not above then distinctly separate from humanity; I resented that my existence depends on them, on you. I felt detached, outside of what should be intimately familiar to me. Now I am able to recognise that, but to overcome my reluctance to embrace humanity more is still a struggle. I know that not all of you are like Roderick Burgess but the fear lingers, despite logic telling me there is nothing to fear. I know my function is to serve them and my imprisonment caused great harm to many. I see now why I cannot go on like I used to. I hope that you might help me with getting to know humanity again, as you have so many times before. I confess that in my mind you had stopped being simply a human and therefore outside of how I judged humanity. You might have worried I might look down on you, but in fact I have long since seen you as someone apart from the humans I tend to. For that I am sorry, because you are just as deserving and in need of my attention as everyone else. Your perspective was supposed to help me understand humanity better, to grow closer to humans and I failed to learn my lesson. I only grew closer to you, while completely ignoring that you are human and failing to extend my feelings for you onto the rest of humanity. I was supposed to listen to you and learn what it is like to live a human life, but I did not internalise the lesson. I hope that with time I will become able to value human lives in their entirety and show others more respect and compassion. This will not come easy to me after nearly a century spent in a cage at the hand of a human, but I will try.

I apologise, Hob. All this will not make much sense to you because I have still not told you who I am, and I still wish to do so in person. Suffice it to say that you have already glimpsed the truth and noticed changes that are related to my person and what happened to me. Feel free to guess, my friend, but be assured that I will give you my name soon. Maybe then you will understand the scope of all I’ve relayed to you.

I have laid myself bare for you, my friend. I do not think I could have articulated half of this had we talked face to face. Admitting to my faults and insecurities does not come easy to me. My ordeal has left me with some conditions that I did not know I was capable of suffering. As you already know I am struggling with being in enclosed spaces, and I feel especially reluctant if there is a lot of glass. I also do not enjoy being close to humans I do not know, although, as you well know, I know everyone. This is limited to certain aspects of their person, though, and does not include mind reading. Therefore I find myself apprehensive of their goals and possible actions, which is why I prefer to keep my distance. I know that these fears are not logical and that I should be able to “shake them off” - yet I cannot, and I do not know for how long they will impede me. My greatest fear I have so far not articulated, though. If I tell you my name, will you still look at me the same way?

The words stop without a farewell and Hob drops the journal with a choked sob, his eyes wide and watering. He wants to howl. He refrains for the sake of his neighbours and simply slumps to the floor beside the fallen book. It’s still open and Hob rereads the last line through more and more tears welling up. He makes a sound like a wounded animal and gets back up on his knees, searches for a pen on top of the desk and then immediately launches into writing a reply right there on the floor.

My friend, my dearest friend!

Why would you think that I would ever look at you differently? You are more dear to me than anyone else and knowing your name and who or what you truly are will not change that! I believe I have been privileged to get to know you over the few times we met, and even more through these letters we have been writing. Even if your name was Oberon, or Hades, or hell, even Lucifer! I would not look at you differently, except to ask you why you lied when I first guessed that you might be a demon. I don’t think you would ever lie to me, though. Whatever you are, I have thought about it and puzzled over it since I first met you, so you know that the only way I would look at you if I finally got to know your name would be with awe and curiosity - the same way I have always looked at you. You are endlessly fascinating to me and I cannot believe you would think that I might change my opinion on you because of something as unimportant as a name. I already know you, dear stranger, with or without it. So I say, don’t tell me unless you truly want to. Don’t think you owe me a name or explanation. I do not need it. All I need is you, and our conversations.

Hob pauses his writing and lets the pen drop from his fingers, drawing a shaky breath and rubbing his eyes. He wishes he had planned this better, thought about what he would write before starting, but in the end it’s maybe best to give his stranger this excessive honesty. Hob has a bad feeling about his friend’s entry simply stopping and what he probably needs is immediate assurance. So this is what Hob will lead with, and address the other issues afterwards. He means it, too. He doesn’t care who or what his friend truly is. He’s Hob’s friend, the oldest and best he’s got, and he’s determined to keep him, no matter what kind of being he turns out to be. “My sister, Death.” That's what his stranger wrote, Hob remembers and flips the pages of the journal back, rereading the first part of his friend’s entry. Roderick Burgess tried to summon Death, and got her brother instead. Death’s brother. His friend is Death's brother. What could that possibly make him? One of the four horsemen? Pestilence, or Famine? War seems unlikely, somehow. Actually none of these fit his stranger, Hob thinks and shakes his head slightly. He gets up and sits at the desk, the journal open in front of him. He doesn’t quite know what to write next and so he drops the pen and goes to wash his face and make himself tea, trying to collect his thoughts in the meantime.

When he returns to the bedroom he finds he cannot write more without mulling it all over first. He feels empty, the horror of his friend’s ordeal growing more and more clearer in his mind. He doesn’t know what to write besides “Please let me hold you. Please let me make you smile. Please let me love you.” None of that seems even nearly appropriate to tell to a traumatised person that is probably not even remotely attracted to him. What his stranger needs now is a friend (well, actually a therapist, but Hob will do his best), not a clingy lover like Hob.

He goes to bed and leaves the journal open on the desk. Maybe when he wakes up he’ll be able to find the right words. He falls asleep to thoughts of prisons made of glass, his friend stuck inside, looking mournfully at him.

Hob dreams of the White Horse. He wears his modern clothes but the Inn looks like it did in 1589 and with a smile he sits down at the lavishly decorated table, ready to host his friend. When Hob looks up his stranger is standing a few feet away on the other side of the table. He looks like Hob saw him in his bedroom, although his hair is a bit wilder and his black coat looks longer and is speckled with stars. Hob smiles at him and gestures at the spread.

“My friend! Sit, eat! You must be awfully hungry!”

His stranger frowns and takes a cautious step closer, looking at the table laden with food, then back at Hob.

“You offer me sustenance, my friend?”

I offer you everything.

“Of course,” Hob exclaims, “this, and more! If there is anything I can give you, I will! Please, only ask and I will try and find a way to get it for you.”

Hob wants to stop talking but he can’t seem to stop the words. “Be it food or drink, or hugs, or kisses - everything I have, my heart, if you but ask, is yours.” He blushes, knows that his eyes have grown wide in shock and still he cannot stop looking at his friend, staring at him in open adoration. Brother of Death, brother of Death, his mind keeps shrieking at him and Hob feels his smile crumble in dread as his stranger does not visibly react to Hob’s words at all. Too forward, too honest! Fool, you dare, he chides himself and bites his tongue when he feels more words on the cusp of breaking free.

His stranger does not acknowledge Hob’s words, he slowly picks up a strawberry and takes a delicate bite. His dark eyes do not leave Hob’s for even a second, though. Hob feels heat pool in his belly and bites his tongue harder until he feels blood well up inside his mouth. He opens it and a drop spills out, staining his lips as red as the strawberry is staining his friend’s. His stranger’s eyes are black from side to side now, gleaming in the low light like pearls. Hob blinks and suddenly the man is right in front of him, reaching out until his fingertip gently brushes the drop of blood from Hob’s lips, the next moment he is standing at the other end of the table again, a half-eaten strawberry staining his fingers. Hob feels lightheaded and grips the table to remain upright. What is going on? This is the strangest dream he’s ever had. The voice of his friend is suddenly coming from everywhere, reverberating inside Hob’s head.

“I accept your offering, dear Hob. I promise to cherish it…and treat it with utmost care.”

Hob wants to ask what his friend means but he feels very tired all of a sudden, despite knowing that he’s already asleep. He feels himself sink back into what feels like soft cushions and the room darkens around them until all he can see are two twin stars twinkling in his friend’s eyes. Then there is nothing but darkness, and sleep.

Part 6

#this went in a different direction than I had anticipated but I'm rolling with it #dreamling #1989 au #the sandman fanfiction #teejay writes

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class1akids · 9 months

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It’s not really a fully fledged meta, but I’ve been thinking about how the 3 main fights all had a lot of All Might symbolism.

1. In Dabi vs Shouto there is Round 1 taking place at Kamino with the All Might statue looming over them. Touya taunting Shouto about All Might, trying to destroy the statue as he gets more and more enraged with Shouto’s ice holding up the bent and damaged monument.

Then Round 2 takes place at the encouragement of All Might himself reaching out to Shouto, giving him the reassurance he needs so he can go and reassure everyone.

From the narrative point of view Shouto is set to embody this aspect of reassurance by All Might and surpass him by becoming a hero who can not only save strangers but also their family. Something All Might failed not only with Tenko, but by never even letting people close enough to himself to have a family.

2. Bakugou vs ShigAFO, Deku vs Shigaraki

This fight has the All Might vestige and the All Might card.

Bakugou and Deku embody All Might in win and save and set to surpass him. Winning a perfect victory with no losses, including not letting one guy to carry all the burden is a big part of Bakugou’s arc. Deku’s ideal of saving everyone he and his growing number of allies can reach goes beyond All Might’s aspiration of trying to save those he can reach alone and using his smile to reach the ones he cannot save.

Deku of course is also surpassing All Might in sheer power having access to full OFA (but this is less important...)

3. And now Ochako vs Toga brought back the All Might doll. It’s a blind xmas present from Izuku to Ochako, something she treasures less on a symbolic basis but more as a token from a person she cherishes.

Toga immediately picks upon this - again not for All Might’s symbolism at society level - but to try to bond over the simple truth that both her and Ochako have someone they care about and that makes them fundamentally similar. Ochako at the time rejects this and chooses to focus on their differences as hero and villain rather than their common humanity. But once she reaches Toga, Toga reaches back to give instead of take and the doll that they fought over before is held between them not as some big ideal, but as the symbol of their own connection: two teenage girls who love the ones they are close to.

Unlike the Origin Trio, Uraraka is not connected to All Might in hero inspiration. Her “origin” is not that of a successor, a legacy or a natural genius. She’s an ordinary girl with a mundane background (a normalcy Toga covets).

And yet after connecting the civilians to Deku and shaking them out of their complacency, now she’s set to show the public that compassion towards villains is a valid de-escalation strategy, helping to change the public mood with her very personal story being broadcast. These kinds of human stories are needed to catalyze thinking about and accepting the changes society will need going forward.

And suddenly this panel makes sense.

The ultimate hero doesn’t need All Might's power or to be his chosen one, but someone who can forge their own unlikely path to compassion and understanding with the person in front of them who may be similarly ordinary and yet extraordinary. Two teenage girls finding understanding can have a reach and influence beyond them.

Change in the end is not just about fighting over ideals (as Dabi says at the beginning of the fight, but the people involved in the conflict, who are all individuals), but building those unlikely connections at the micro level that can grow into a network of power.

In the end I think all battlefields will link up in a similar way (we already saw Shoji and the heteromorphs, for example) to demonstrate OFA not as an individual power, but as a power from connecting hearts and to lay the groundwork for a society that’s held up by much more than a single pillar and the sheer power and will of a single superhero.

But I think these main battlefields with the All Might symbolism and literal heart and blood symbolism are meant to come together not just narratively but also literally in some ultimate form of power. I’m really curious how it will happen and how it will connect back to All Might - the guy who started it all.

#bnha meta #bnha manga leaks #bnha manga spoilers #bnha 395 #origin trio #saviour squad #lov trio #all might #todoroki shouto #uraraka ochako #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #dabi #himiko toga #shigaraki tomura #ofa

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gayemeralds · 2 years

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important question: what are your top 5 favorite qualities of sonic’s character?

rattling you like a snow globe i am. OOOOOOOH i love sonic's character so much let's see (in no specific order)

1) moral ambiguity

sonic's not a typical goody-two shoes protagonist and i think that's super interesting, especially considering how his other "rival" video game protagonists at the time (like link and mario, etc) were. sonic's not a very cut ad dry character- he is a simple guy, sure, but when you start to peel away at some of his layers.... he's a lot more nuanced than you're lead to believe

sonic's very much a live by my own rules sort of person. and while his rules sort of match up to him being the good guy, it doesn't always make him "heroic". he killed king arthur under the complete understanding that king arthur was a real person. he kills erazor djiin. he encourages elise to kill solaris. sonic's not afraid to fight dirty, and he's not afraid to get his hands dirty when the situation calls for it.

most protagonists are more of a "we have to save everyone" or "if we kill the bad guy we're just as bad as them" type. but i think sonic specifically is interesting, because he does help some overcome their misdeeds- like knuckles, shadow, silver- but ultimately it's because those people weren't that bad in the first place. they were misguided and manipulated and confused. if they had a full grasp of the situation at hand, chances are, they would have chosen a different path. and even if they didn't, they still showed the potential for true growth.

but for a lot villains that are simply plain evil... sonic doesn't seem to particularly hesitate. sonic's attack in satbk would have undoubtedly killed merlina- he didn't know her well enough to assume that she could choose a different path, and was willing to act first and talk later, knowing he wouldn't be able to talk her out of it.

not even with eggman. he was going to let his counter part in satsr fall to his death, until shahra convinced him not to. he's used excessive lethal force before, especially in the classic games. and then of course there's the implications that sonic lets eggman get away because he finds their adventures fun. like yes, sonic's going to stop him- everything eggman does is against his principles. so sonic's going to fight him. but sonic is also a thrill seeker and a daredevil, and wouldn't life be quite dull without eggman?

2) villainous qualities

it sort of ties into sonic's more moral ambiguity but i think sonic's interesting because a lot of his qualities, depending on the framing, could be quite villainous in nature. a guy who chases after adventures, who fights just for the thrill of it, who's stubborn and doesn't ever compromise, who lives life by his own rules and doesn't care if the breaks other peoples rules?

if sonic ever chose to be a villain... he'd make a pretty good one. he has a different set of morals than others and he doesn't like compromising on his beliefs. he thinks he's right, so he's going to act on it. and quite a few sonic villains share a similar point of view- that their revenge, that their opinion, is correct, and they have no intention on listening to anyone else's.

additionally... sonic's not particularly shy with manipulating those around him. you can see this characteristic plainly in sonic x and idw, where sonic manipulates his friends into trying to get him off a boat and shadow into not killing eggman.

deep down, sonic isn't that much different from rouge, for instance. they're both thrill seekers who don't compromise on their beleifs and are, in some senses, quite selfish. they're very self driven and independent and are great manipulators. the only difference between the two of them is that sonic seems to have a bit more compassion. they're two sides of the same coin.

3) environmentalist

i kind of miss the messaging of the older games... sonic was always invested in maintaining the beauty of the natural world around him. he fights a villain who essentially pollutes just for the heck of hit. he started this heroing gig with little more motivation than protecting his woodland animal friends and their homes.

it wasn't always about gods and the hubris of men pretending to be them. at the very beginning, it was just about protecting a tiny island in the middle of the ocean and the little critters who lived there.

it's also interesting to note how this can translate to other scenarios, like with merlina. she wanted to go against the natural order of things, she wanted to try to create an eternal kingdom- sonic saw through her selfishness and also tried to convince her that some things just were meant to end. and sometimes you just have to enjoy it as it was.

4) kindness

i think the last point also segways into sonic's kindness- again, sonic didn't necessarily start this mission to save the world. sonic did this to save those little animal friends. he stepped up to the plate and challenged a mad scientist armed with thousands of robotic drones and fought him.

i think the best instance of his kindness is in sonic 06, where that same compassion actually causes the end of the world. sonic's insistence on helping elise, and not just saving her but getting her to smile, ends up dooming the world. he forms a bond so strong with her in the small amount of time they'd been together that seeing him die causes elise to cry for the first time in ten years. it's his death that sets causes the apocalypse, all because he was compassionate.

it's this kindness, too, that i think adds more nuance to his character. because sonic is at his core a devil may care daredevil, who only does what he thinks is right, and who only does things for the fun and the thrill of it. but its not entirely true, because sonic will go above and beyond the demands of the situations he finds himself in.

saving tails from his bullies? sure. he doesn't believe in oppressors of any form. but then essentially adopting that kid and letting him tag along on adventures, despite his solitary nature and unwillingness to settle down or be tied down? not necessary. saving angel island and giving knuckels abck his master emerald? well, he can't just let eggman win. befriending knuckles after? not necessary. helping shahra stop erazor djinn from devastating the arabian nights? well it's not like he's got anywhere else to be at the moment and it looks like a fun challenge. promising to get shahra to smile and taking the hit for her? not necessary. defeating merlina after she shows her true colors? it's what he thinks is the right thing to do, and her disregarding the natural order of things is just plain wrong. but trying to console her after they attempted to kill each other? unnecessary.

sonic is a bizarre juxtaposition of selfish and selfless. he's here to have fun and constantly seeks out danger, but he's not just willing to save the world- he's also here to help you smile.

5) subversion from usual "speed types"

sonic's also interesting to me in a sense that he's not really your average speedster, personality wise. yes, sonic can get impatient, and he that can lead to him being reckless, but for the most part... sonic isn't afraid of taking things slow and steady sometimes.

sonic's hobbies outside of fighting bad guys include reading, looking at pretty natural landscapes, and snoozing. when he's not fighting a bad guy he travels the world but otherwise has some pretty mundane, rather slow hobbies.

think of the usual speedster archetype- fast talking, always on the move, never sits still, chatty and friendly and kind of annoying.

and sonic can be all those things, but sonic's also allowed to be pretty slow. he's allowed to laze around and read a book or take a long nap. he's allowed to be solitary and non-social and quiet. he knows how to slow down and smell the roses. he knows to appreciate the moments he's got.

#+ one: i like his mystery #there's so much we jsut dont really know about his character. it's all interpretation really. fascinating #master emerald brothel

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akindplace · 2 years

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There are those who say sick people “don’t do anything besides lying in bed”. Don’t listen to them. They don’t understand how some illnesses and disabilities are a full-time job. You see, trained caregivers have a job for providing care for a patient.

Sometimes, you are your own caregiver. Isn’t that a job even when you are the one doing it? When people can’t pay someone else to do it, they have to be their own caregivers, providers, emotional support, all in one, all while feeling sick, on your own.

Being sick and trying to heal, trying to care for your body and keep yourself alive when you already are in pain and exhausted… that is hard work.

People who are sick or disabled are not useless. They are working so hard just to get out of bed. We could use some compassion. Our worth is not measured by work. Our worth comes from the fact that we are all human, no matter how we look, how we feel, if we’re healthy or sick, none of this diminishes your humanity, your human rights - and every human being deserves equal treatment.

Remember this: you are not lazy, you are sick. You are not useless; you are in recovery. You are not unproductive; you are trying your best to live your life while dealing with your health all the time. See the effort it takes to be you. And appreciate the things you do for yourself, be proud of you because you are still going. You are still here, still alive, and those ableist people don’t want to see any value in people unless they are making money. See your own worth. Don’t let some ableist person who knows nothing about your life determine your own self-worth. Your self-worth should come from within, and to start building it, try giving yourself credit for how much you try instead of being so critical of everything you do!

Go get your rest, go searching for recovery, try to heal, try to build your own life and your own sense of self. You have been battling these issues for so long, give yourself some credit for how much you overcame. For how much you fight. For how much you try. For the time you take to care for your health.

Appreciate how far you’ve come. Appreciate yourself just for trying, for showing up, for caring for your body and mind, for reaching out. Those achievements are not small at all. You are here. You are alive. That is already incredible. Let’s hold hands and keep going.

#cw disability #cw illness #recovery #self-care #human rights #humanity #positivity blog #original writing #reminder #self-compassion

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fatalism-and-villainy · 28 days

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Hmm so a perspective I think I’ve seen crop up in meta before, but that I don’t really buy, concerns taking this line from Bedelia in 3.10:

You couldn’t save Hannibal. Do you think you can save this new one?

because I’ve seen people imply that Bedelia was correct in her assumptions about Will here, but I’ve honestly never gotten the impression that Will wanted to “save” Hannibal at all.

“This new one” can only refer to Dolarhyde (touched on only elliptically in this scene), and I think it’s fair to say that Will does have some investment in “saving” Dolarhyde, by some definition of that word - hence his attachment to the idea that Dolarhyde might be trying to stop killing. But I don’t think that he at any point wants to save Hannibal. He spends 3A trying to understand Hannibal better, but it doesn’t seem as though he wants to use that understanding to “redeem” Hannibal or save him from his worst impulses. In fact, he actively rejects the idea that Hannibal’s backstory can explain the person he is now (“Mischa doesn’t explain Hannibal… she doesn’t quantify what he does”), or that Hannibal is capable of being redeemed. My impression is that, consistently through seasons two and three, he thinks of Hannibal as an immutable force, one he can either resist or submit to. (And of course, he opts to resist at the close of the first half of season 3, and ends the show by submitting.)

So I think the investment Will may have in saving Dolarhyde stems from his identification with Dolarhyde, especially in the fact that Dolarhyde becomes another pupil of Hannibal (and Will uses their shared role vis a vis Hannibal to manipulate Dolarhyde in WOTL). His theory that Dolarhyde is trying to stop is perhaps wrapped up in his own desire to resist Hannibal, and by extension his own violent urges. And perhaps that sheds more meaning on “I don’t think I can save myself, but maybe that’s just fine.” But any desire to “save” Dolarhyde seems much more based in a desire to save himself than a desire to save Hannibal.

And this dialogue from Bedelia is in the same scene as the wounded bird exchange. Bedelia instructing Will to crush the wounded bird, instead of save it, makes the most sense when read as her trying to get Will to kill Hannibal (in the same way she tried to get Hannibal to kill Will in 3A). But there’s no indication to me that Will thinks of Hannibal specifically as a wounded bird. In fact, it’s easier to argue that Bedelia saw Hannibal that way - she and Will discuss her continuation of her role as Hannibal’s psychiatrist, and that’s contrasted with her “crushing” Neal Frank, and her acknowledgment of how unevenly distributed her compassion was towards her two patients. So when she tells Will, “the next time you have an instinct to help someone, you might consider crushing them instead”, she’s actively trying to redirect his impulses, but I think also alluding to the shift in her approach towards Hannibal from 3A to 3B.

All of that is to say - I think Bedelia’s assumption that Will was motivated to “save” Hannibal is perhaps a case of projection on her part.

And Bedelia’s perception of Will changes throughout this arc. Although in 3.10 she’s very convinced that Will isn’t a true killer, she gradually comes to realize just how actively allied with Hannibal’s interests he is, whether he realizes it or not. The turning point for her is, I believe, 3.12, in the aftermath of the Chilton affair, when she recognizes Will as Hannibal’s “agency in the world.” Although Will does end up crushing Dolarhyde, he opts to help Hannibal. But it’s not rehabilitative help, it’s collaborative. And I think Bedelia becomes steadily more aware of that throughout this arc.

#hannibal meta #bedelia du maurier #will graham #hannibal lecter #hannibal #as always i am open to other interpretations - as a general rule but especially wrt 3B because it's so opaque #but yeah. the evolution of bedelia's perception of will and of will's relationship with hannibal #is honestly pretty extensive and something i kind of want to make a different post on #hannibal talk #my meta #hannibal season three

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marvelstars · 4 months

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Anakin and the Force Lore

There´s a strong belief in fandom which takes for granted that Anakin was some violence inclined jock who only cared for lightsaber training without caring or getting deep into the lore of Jedi beliefs but I belive this take is wrong because canon doesn´t support this.

EP I Anakin asks Qui-Gon what a midiclorian is, how the force works, he asks Yoda what it means to be afraid and it´s interested in knowing what a chosen one is supposed to be.

In the Obi-Wan and Anakin comics he explains to Obi-Wan he sees the Jedi and the Sith as two parts or clans of the force because of their mutual origin and that they have the same problem of comunication as the people the were trying to help get along, "the open and the close" who had been fighting the same war for so many centuries that they didn´t remember why they were fighting in the first place but there was a lot of hurt for them to stop.

This may sound naive but makes sense for the jedi the sith are dead people walking with no hope of getting back to life but what the story shows us in the end is that there´s a possibility even for sith to get back if they chose to do so. The Sith are shown in some cases like Maul or Vader and even Sidious as the result of generational trauma and grooming that do evil but even them can come back.

We see Anakin talking with Padme about Jedi philosophy on EP II and actually give his own take about compassion being unconditional love which is his way of mixing his Mother guidance with Jedi beliefs.

He teaches Ahsoka the meaning of Yoda sayings and how to complement their Jedi formation with the natural worry for their men and fellow Jedi in a war. Searching to help the most people they could.

When he married Padme he knew he had to leave the Jedi Order after the war was done because they didn´t allow marriage and he wasn´t going to ask them to change this rule for his marriage and he truly wanted a life with Padme, be her husband and built a family with her.

In ROTS he wasn´t interested in the master and council post, he told Palpatine the Jedi were tired of his reforms but Palpatine imposed it on him and the Council.

What he didn´t like was the way the Council rejected him once again, showing that no matter what he did in the war for the Order or the Republic, they didn´t trust him. He tells Padmé "The Jedi Council doesn´t trust me" which is a call back to the time he was 9 and was rejected, not "The Jedi Council didnt make me a Master" his only interest in becoming a Master was getting access to the Jedi library to see if there was something there to help save Padmé.

Imo fandom listens too much to Obi-Wan´s expressions about Anakin only "thinking with his lightsaber" Obi-Wan loves Anakin but he also teased him a lot and sometimes he was also a jerk to him, Anakin was a person who honestly got into the lore of Jedi knownledge to learn their ways and understand their pov´s and even as Vader he didn´t believe the Jedi Order beliefs were wrong, he believes they betrayed their own beliefs but this doesn´t mean he doesn´t accept at least to himself, that he betrayed them.

As Vader he went so deep into the lore of the Sith he could travel in time and learned to use elemental forces as well as the link between life and death. He learned the relationship between master and apprentice and actually told Palpatine he didn´t see the need to keep the rule of Bane if that meant he had to kill him. He also developed a closer relationship with the force because he needed it to live and breathe.

No matter the side of the pendulum, Anakin simply wasn´t some brute who cared about knowing how to fight and nothing more, that´s a bad read on his character, he was very intellectually involved in matters that excited him or he felt he had a responsibility to learn.

#anakin skywalker #star wars #darth vader #jedi lore #sith lore #jedi order #sith order

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itsyveinthesky · 11 months

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Edit: There is now an official English translation of the whole article by Meduza themselves: https://meduza.io/en/feature/2023/06/03/the-only-thing-worse-than-war-is-losing-one

Meduza is a Russian- and English-language independent news website, headquartered in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 2014 by a group of former employees of the then-independent Lenta.ru news website.

It asked the readers that supported the war to explalin why.

Sadly the answers paint a very bleak pictures of even young Russians reading independent media.

Some translated statements (feel free to correct if translated wrongly)

Andrey

35 years old, Volgograd

War ends when one side wins. Russia's defeat would mean national humiliation, which cannot be allowed. Consequently, one must win - there is no choice anymore.

Alexei

24 years old, Yakutsk

I do not support the war, but I do not want Russia to lose either.

Pavel

30 years old, Germany

I am angry at both sides of the conflict.

Anonymous reader

38 years old, city not specified

The only thing worse than a war is a lost war. It was an insane mistake to start it, but now it must be won, or else we will have the woe of the defeated. I don't support Putin, damn him.

Anonymous reader

36 years old, Tyumen

I'm not going to pay reparations for the mistakes of others for the next 20 years. No one talks to the losing side.

Nikolai

27 years old, Austria

I think the Western point of view is not quite right and agree with Putin's terminology of a unipolar world with double standards.

Artem

40 years old, Berlin

I have lived in Germany for 20 years and have never seen such propaganda. Western politicians and media have taken an absolutely one-sided position: Russia is the aggressor, Ukraine is a heroic state, Putin is always wrong, everyone looks into Zelensky's mouth.

Ruslan

28 years old, Kazan

I neither support nor condemn Russia for the war. I believe that since Russia started the war, it showed the weakness of its diplomacy and its inability to negotiate with a neighbouring state. However, I also do not support the point of view of those who compare Russia almost to Nazi Germany.

First of all, Ukraine had a choice; it could have reached an agreement with us in the early days of the war before things went too far and met our demands. It would have lost territories, but would have kept itself as a state. Is land more important than human lives? Therefore, Ukraine also bears some of the blame for the lives of those people who died. I am sure that people living in the territories that would have been handed over to Russia would certainly not have made their lives worse. Perhaps somewhere even better.

Sergey

27 years old, Perm

I support the actions of my president and my country. Yes, initially I didn't quite understand the point of this whole "operation", but after a while I saw the Russophobic statements both from Ukraine and from the European Union and the United States. Anyone with critical thinking and at least some common sense understands: Russia is not a "terrorist state", we are only defending our interests and sovereignty. That is why I, like most Russian citizens, fully support the UAS, and if I have to go to war, then I will go.

My personal favourite

Anonymous reader

30 years old, Astana

In a year and a half, [my] authority figures and moral compasses have turned into traitors (who wish harm to the citizens of their country, call for sanctions and do not try to lift them), shameful people (who offer to surrender to mercy and blame themselves), infirmities and liars.

I still believe that Russia got into this war for nothing, very much for nothing. But the way out offered by those [politicians] I [used to] hope for is shameful, painful, humiliating and deceitful. It is better to wait for those who will replace Putin: Russia is full of smart people.

Repenting for three [next] lives, giving up nuclear weapons and paying reparations - thanks, no thanks. I hope that the war will end as soon as possible and that as few people as possible will die in it, both Russian citizens in the first place and citizens of Ukraine, and if I have to go to war, then I will.

#russia #ukraine #journalism #then again #The Russians had access to all the information in the world when they attacked Georgia in 2008 or when they attacked Ukraine in 2014 #war in ukraine #yeah ok wasn't smart to start the war but suffering through the consequences?no thanks

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yanderes-galore · 1 year

Text

No one requested her but I wanted to write her so-

Yandere! Blue Diamond Concept

Pre-Era 3

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Dehumanizing behavior, Implied abduction and isolation, Manipulation, Sick sense of love, Implied thoughts of murder, Forced relationship, You're treated like a pet, Pre-Era 3 Blue

Blue Diamond, compared to her fellow Diamonds before Era 3, is much more respectful and compassionate.

To both a human and gem darling, Blue is merciful, respectful, and forgiving.

While Yellow would break you instead of accepting your opinions and White would rather control you than hear you out… Blue is much more lenient.

If you act out, Blue is much more forgiving.

She sees your behavior as a little tantrum that will pass over time.

She doesn’t entirely control you and would actually hate to break you.

Like Pink, she can be very affectionate towards you.

Although, her obsession and affection is similar to how one would treat a doll or pet.

If you were a gem of hers, she cares for you like all her subjects.

Although she does seem to pick favorites… due to the fact you’re always called to her room.

Normally a Diamond should only let her pearl be so close and see her so often.

Pearl or no, you are by her side like it or not.

If you were a human, she would treat you like a pet.

At first it’s because Pink loved humans and she felt it would be following Pink’s wishes to keep you.

Although… She doesn’t understand humans much at all.

She is surprised you showed her compassion when you see her grieving sometimes.

She didn’t want to put you in the zoo due to that-

It felt… comforting when you asked what was wrong and offered what little help you could to her.

You were probably doing it out of fear or a chance to negotiate freedom, but it ended up making Blue adore you even more.

She jokes that you’re her “emotional support human/gem”.

Even though such a thought makes you cringe....

The other Diamonds may try and get Blue to discard you if they see she has you.

An idea Blue is extremely against.

Get rid of you? No!

Before they knew, she used to carry you around with her pearl.

You’d be on her shoulder or in her hands, the height terrifies you.

She finds how she feels towards you fascinating which is why she keeps you.

Out of all the Diamonds, not including Pink, Blue seems plausible for feeling love towards things in a way.

Despite the fact she does not understand you and often treats you with a form of affection that feels demeaning.

While Blue is very patient and forgiving about your resistance, if she has to she will use her power on you.

Usually it is by accident, but now you’re both crying.

You yourself are unable to move due to Blue’s sadness at your fighting.

She’s just trying to love you, even if it isn’t right!

How dare you call her a monster!

How dare you say she doesn’t love you!

She does! … She thinks she does-

Is this not love?

Is keeping you in her room and pampering you the best she can not some sort of love to you?

Then please… correct her.

She may not be able to offer freedom out of fear you’ll leave forever, but she wants to know how to make you more comfortable.

She doesn’t want to lock you away forever…

Although, like she did with Pink, if you don’t listen to her and continue to rebel...

You’ll have to be put in some sort of room for only her to see….

If you comply with Blue's deranged wishes, she ‘ll give you a ton of affection.

You’re held all the time, lightly pet on the head, and given sweet words.

This whole love feeling is quite new to her.

She enjoys it even if it’s supposedly “wrong” according to you.

She hates the idea of sharing you or letting the other Diamonds take you away.

She knows what White and Yellow can do if they find you, so you’re kept hidden away from them.

Every day of your life, now forced to be on Homeworld, feels like you’re stepping on eggshells.

While Blue will comply to your wishes the best she can and won’t harm you, the others she talks about may not be as merciful.

Blue understands your concern when you admit it at one point, although she reassures you there’s no need to worry.

She’s here and she’ll take care of you.

You’ll only need to see her anyway.

#yandere steven universe #yandere blue diamond

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frozenwafflesagain · 11 months

Text

I spent the first hour of my 25th birthday thinking about Ben Hargreeves, as one does.

And thus I present…

A Collection of Ben Hargreeves Thoughts And Theories

- INSANELY misunderstood in my opinion

- There is a difference between how Ben was as a child versus who he is as a (ghost) adult

- The Hargreeves all remember the child Ben was, while Klaus knows who Ben became and loves him for it

- Ben as a child: sweet, quiet, kind, gentle, polite, snarky, serious, timid, fearful, still, obedient, know-it-all

- Ben as an adult: loyal, determined, jaded, unapologetic, realist, tough love, practical, sad, sarcastic, caring, desperate, annoyed

- Everyone says Ben was “the best of them” when they were teenagers; I imagine that he was always there for whoever needed it with a kind word or just a hand to hold. Ben just wants to help, I think that’s one trait that stayed with him into adulthood.

- He was afraid of the Horror growing up, obviously. He didn’t want to use it, we can assume from this that he never took pleasure in the death and destruction it brought. He literally says “I didn’t sign up for this.”

- Seemed to go along with Klaus’ pranks, even enjoy them. He might have had a bit of a wild side as a teenager that faded a bit after he died.

- We know he was scared to move on to the afterlife when he died. I think it was because he didn’t want to leave his family yet.

- He stayed with Klaus all those years, and he didn’t have to. He CHOSE to. I think he wanted to stay with Klaus, give him someone to hold on to and watch out for him no matter how frustrating it got.

- But even though he wouldn’t abandon Klaus, Ben very clearly got angry and frustrated and annoyed with him, and understandably so. He had to watch Klaus waste away the life he didn’t get to have.

- When he says as much to Klaus when they’re at the motel, I don’t think this was Ben choosing to rub the reality of his death in Klaus’ face. I don’t think he was doing it to be malicious, because that’s not Ben. I think that he was trying to give Klaus something else to focus on while he was reliving his trauma. Tough love - yeah, what he was saying was undoubtedly hard for Klaus to hear, and I’m sure Ben was airing out his own grievances, but I think it was in the name of distraction more than anything else. If Klaus could think about what Ben was going through instead of focusing on the memories, that could help him in the end.

- In regards to the S2 possession: I chalk that up to poor writing and poor characterization. Ben ASKING Klaus to possess him makes sense to me, but everything else that he does without consent I see as a failure to understand Ben’s character. After everything they went through as kids, after everything Ben himself went through, after the things he probably saw happen to Klaus on the streets, I simply refuse to believe that Ben would have “no regrets” about taking control of Klaus’ body like that. The person the writers have set up Ben to be prior to those scenes would NEVER have been okay with that. Honestly, in my mind, those Ben scenes are not canon.

-That being said, his decision to save Viktor makes perfect sense. As much as he clearly wanted to stay with Klaus, he knew he would finally make an impact on his sibling’s lives if he could get to Viktor and help him control his powers. Again, he showed Viktor tough love along with compassion: he didn’t let him give up.

- But wanting a hug as he goes? There’s the Ben they all knew as kids.

- I think he probably regretted not getting to tell Klaus the truth in his last moments, which is why he asks Viktor to do it. He didn’t want Klaus to carry around the guilt he must have felt at the idea that he made Ben stay. Ben, despite growing harder and more jaded in death, is still kindhearted.

- Predictably, dying greatly affected his personality and the way he saw things as he stayed with Klaus.

#I actually cannot stop thinking about him #it’s a problem #ben hargreeves #tua #the umbrella academy #tua ben #character study #umbrella academy #umbrella academy headcanons #umbrella academy ben #tua theory

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makeitastrength · 3 months

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You said in your list of episodes that you don’t like 4.07 and 5.04 for lots of other reasons and I’m wondering if you could say more?

Oh boy, okay, get ready for another essay.

(And again, to clarify, I love our show. I don't like to be negative and nitpick every little detail. But no show is perfect, and to me these are two of the episodes that really just missed the mark.)

4x07 Fire Fight

This one already made it onto my least favorite Chenford eps for reasons I spelled out here. But that's actually not my main beef with the episode. It's Nolan's storyline that I dislike. First of all, I've always found it to be unnecessarily depraved and gruesome. And I realize there are actually people like that in the world, and that's clearly what they were going for, but I did not enjoy watching it. They could have accomplished the same ultimate storytelling goal in a less horrifying way. Secondly, Nolan's escape is just absolutely unrealistic. I know, I know, he's the protagonist. And obviously I knew from the beginning that he was going to make it out alive, because they're not going to kill off their lead. But I honestly had zero investment in how he was going to make it out. I don't care how much adrenaline was coursing through him, I can't suspend my disbelief enough to make his escape seem remotely realistic.

5x04 The Choice

First of all, RIP Annie Wersching. I was so shocked and saddened when she passed away. She was a talented actress and such a good villain in both this show and Castle. It also explains why the storyline was wrapped up so hastily. I know they were limited in their options. That being said, I didn't like how it ended. I already talked about the Chenford of it all in my previous post (in short, there was a lack of compassion from Tim toward Lucy's trauma and a lack of closure for both of them). My main complaint about the rest of the storyline is (a) plot holes and (b) the John and Bailey of it all. Actually, part (a) goes back to the end of 5x01 when Rosalind somehow escapes across the border. Like... what??? As if the plates on that car wouldn't have been flagged??? There's absolutely no way a high profile criminal like her would have been able to cross the border in the same car she used to flee the scene, but according to Grey that's exactly what happened. And then she comes back just to torment John and end up dead? If they'd given Rosalind a terminal illness as well, it might have made sense. Like, she wanted that to be her legacy, to corrupt the incorruptible boy scout and make him live with that for the rest of his life. But since they didn't go that route, it just felt like she was inexplicably giving up. I was left with a lack of understanding and a lack of closure. Lastly, the actual way it all went down had too many unrealistic moments. Like... am I supposed to believe that Bailey and her crew showed up at that house and Bailey just happened to be the one to fall into that trap rather than any of the others? Too convenient. And for the life of me, I will never understand why Tim used an axe to try to break the glass (which was very obviously not going to break that way) when he could have just had Bailey back against the wall of the trap so he could shoot a hole in it and let it start to drain. I'm sure there are other details too that I'm not remembering, but really my overall point is that - even on a shortened timetable - there was so much potential for this storyline to come to a satisfying resolution, but that didn't happen.

#asked and answered #anon ask #the rookie #episode analysis #these are just my opinions #respectful disagreement with me is fine #disrespectful comments or messages will be deleted

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soo-won · 8 months

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do you think soowon is sociopath? i saw some fans saying he lacks empathy and i don't think he does.

Hey Anon! Thank you for the ask :) I didn't expect to receive that kind of question that was the heart of debates years ago, but I'm more than happy to reply!

Very long answer below the cut. Sorry for being unable to be brief, there's nothing that I love more than talking about Suwon and his emotions!

Short answer is no I don't think Suwon is a sociopath, at all.

I've read people say that many times, especially in response to chapter 196, I don't know if that's what you have in mind. From personal experience, I've never seen anyone call him a sociopath know what that word really means or not being a Suwon-anti and I think most of the time people say this in the pejorative "cold and emotionless" way. The manga has shown countless times the range of Suwon's emotions, and to imply he doesn't feel anything is just, wrong (Kusanagi stated it explicitely too). I guess it's understandable for series going on for years like akayona, but I feel like it's a common mistake to read a chapter as a standalone and not something that adds to what was established before. Like, it's not because the diary and castle arc showed new sides of Suwon (through the eyes of other characters on top of that) and in specific circumstances that it invalidates everything shown to us about him before. It's one piece of the puzzle for sure, but nothing less nothing more. I'm no psychiatrist and I'm not qualified to give anyone any kind of diagnostic, but Suwon feels very much, and he feels guilt, is even paralyzed by it at times and it is sometimes an obstacle to him. Suwon is all about discarding feelings, and for that to be a thing, feelings have to be there to begin with. From what I know about sociopathy, this isn't it. And even if he was, that wouldn't make him any less lovable and deserving of compassion to me.

Now on empathy specifically, it's more arguable, but I don't see lacking empathy as something inherently wrong that makes someone broken or cold. What you feel or not doesn't matter in my opinion, it's what you do to care for others. So like, yeah, if you compare with Yona I guess you could say Yona is more empathic than Suwon, but in no way that alone would make her a better person than him(I don't want to make this about Suwon vs Yona, she was just the first character to come to mind).

Lack of empathy is also not exclusively a sociopath thing. Like, everyone feels it to a different degree and there is a lot factors that can be at play.

Suwon feels and thinks differently, his differences with characters like Meinyan, Yona and Hak being the most obvious examples of that, and it's one of the many things that make me see him as neurodivergent in some way. But in the end, whether he feels empathy or not is not important. Or like, yeah, it can be interesting to explore, but it isn't relevant to define him in the slightest.

That being said, let's talk about what we know. First, what we know for sure, is that he cares! And even if you admit he doesn't have the same level of empathy as others, he tries to help when he can and if it's not in the way of his goals. Whether it's when he was a child comforting Yona and his mother, or reassuring an insecure Lili, or again, trying to comfort a trembling Yona in the way he knows best. It's something that comes naturally to him, something that very much makes him, him. Suwon is someone who wants to help, and who finds joy in making others happy.

He is also intelligent, can understand how people think and feel, and why people act the way they do. He is able to sense very young that Il doesn't like him. He was able to give Yona exactly what she needed when she was mourning her mother. In the present, Suwon understands why Yona or Hak would want to kill him, or how his words would only upset them because he is able to put himself in their shoes. (This, is different than empathy imo. Putting yourself in someone else' shoes is an effort you make to understand others, whether you feel what they feel) It's because he understands how people feels that he was able to come this far and unite the country like he did. He is able to play with how people perceive him to get the upper hand over them too. And he is very aware of the consequences of his colder decisions. Everytime he discards someone, he very much expects their hostility towards him and doesn't ask anything of them again. In my opinion Suwon just doesn't think in term of good vs bad. He can tell between the two in like how it matters to others, but it's not relevant to him, and he rather thinks in term of "is that thing on my way or not". (I think he does struggle to understand the extent of how people feel about him, though. He thinks logically, so it's hard for him to understand things that go against all logic, like Hak and Yona helping him after everything.)

Then I think it's important to mention the part of Suwon that shows a discardment of emotions and empathy, and Yuhon.

Actually, how much of that comes from how Yuhon raised him, the environment he grew up in, or from how he is inherently as a person is interesting sure, but not that relevant either. Whatever the roots of it, he is able to put his feelings on the side and stay composed in dire situations. But again, it doesn't mean he doesn't feel anything. And what the war against Kai shows is that his ability to not be affected by the deaths of his people is the reverse of the determination-turned-desperation to not lose against Kai. "Even death is acceptable"(his own included) he says to himself. The fact this is a thing he had to tell himself to begin with says a lot in my opinion. He was struggling, and had to remind himself repeatedly to not look back, to think about nothing but the war. Suwon has limits, even if he is more composed and determined than most, and when he reaches these limits he needs to cling onto his father's words, because otherwise he would falter and stop being able to think clearly.

Thanksfully this desperation turned back into his usual determination(still kinda fueled by the urgency of his situation) after the events of this battle. But like, Suwon is not at all a character that is a complete facade when he acts as a King and whose cold decisions go completely against his heart all the time. He really is the King not hesitating to take harsh decisions and make sacrifices to achieve his goals. He really is the King not unfazed in the slightest about losing his own castle and capital, and people dying in war for his cause. That's also what makes him, him, and something more than helpful in war where you have to deal with losses and unpredictable events all the time.

Going back to chapter 196, when Yonhi thinks to herself "How can he be so detached?" or when Yuhon's faction is impressed by how unfazed he was about investigating his own father's corpse, in no way it is that Suwon doesn't feel anything about his father or Yona. He so does. He is shown burning with anger, and he is shown not looking the least enthousiastic about killing Il. The situations and ways in which he expresses these emotions are simply not what you would usually expect from a child, but why should there be any rule about how someone is supposed to react and feel? There's nothing scary about that. When you stop to think about 2 seconds, is it that fearsome for someone to cope by taking the lead and prioritizing dealing with the problems at hand first, and being unable to process things emotionally? Like, isn't that pretty common? I can relate a lot to that personally. I guess what is surprising in this case is how Suwon is able to do it so young and to this extent, but it's nothing more than that. When Suwon asks Yonhi if she wants Il to die, and she gets scared of that, Suwon is genuinely asking too. Is that this far-fetched for him to assume Yonhi would want that when everyone else around him does? When revenge seems to be the very reason Il, supposed to be peace-loving, killed his father?

People might say that Suwon lacks empathy and maybe they wouldn't be wrong, but he constantly tries to understand what people want and answer to their expectations anyway. And I think that's what matters the most, even if he fails at it sometimes. He couldn't understand how Yonhi felt about Il in chapter 196, but he still tried hard to be what he thought she wanted from him: a replacement of Yuhon (Again, logical conclusion when that's what everyone else around him encourage). He still did all he could to comfort her, and he gave her strength.

He became the ideal King most of the generals and Yuhon faction wanted, and a lot of the issues in his relationship with Yona and Hak come from the fact he behaved in front of them as the Suwon they (used to think they) wanted. He cared for them genuinely, but he couldn't show the rest of him because it would go against the idealized image they had of him. Just like he can't show all of himself in front of his supporters either, because what they want is for him is a perfect, never faltering King, following Yuhon's footsteps. When it became impossible to be these two ideals at the same time, he discarded one. Suwon cares and loves, and this has nothing to do with empathy. He is both the caring friend and the pragmatic king and can't discard either.

Suwon might have less empathy than others, yet he is the one who acted to better the lives of his country's citizens, in contrast to Il, that sure, might be more empathic (except when it comes to Suwon visibly) yet barely acted on it.

I'm gonna stop here but I could go on forever. I hope it's not too much all over the place. Sorry I can't help it.

TDLR : no I don't think he is a sociopath, mainly because he feels guilt and regards what people think a lot, and all he does is never for his own personal benefit. But empathy or not, he cares and does his best. There is so much to explore about him, and basing the morality of a character on empathy is just not it. I think the fact he has such a different way of thinking compared to the rest of the main cast is what makes him so fresh and interesting and I wouldn't want him any other way. He doesn't give a fuck and idk it's funny and so cathartic sometimes. We should embrace that.

#akayona is the least and most nuanced story of all times. at the same time.#soowon #suwon #akayona #lumen rants #ask #akayona thoughts #sure he is Yuhon's son and shares a lot with him #but he is also Yonhi's #and above all he is his own person #this is an aside but #i think his tendency to replace ppl (like the role of a mother for Yona + the role of Yuhon) is tied how he perceives himself(not good)#like him is not enough. he is unpleasant. ppl don't want /him/. or so he thinks.#he lives for his goal. and his arc is more about how he can reconcile his irrational feelings with it #than changing his methods and take a different path #smth smth ch243 #maybe you could make a case about whether yuhon has some kind of antisocial personality disorder #(saying this mainly bc of his impulsivity)#but even Yuhon had so much love. and i wouldn't villainize him bc of it.

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