another thing I'm kind of sad about re: totk is that I feel like the release completely de-energized the community? I don't know if that's just me, like for sure any game has a shelf life and things get quieter over time, that's normal, but I don't know. We're slightly over 9 months since release and honestly? even the blogs that were hellbent on defending totk as a genuinely great game that would leave a wonderful impact on the gaming community are radio silent right now.

It's not that there isn't any new conversations or cool/creative content or anything, but I actually do believe the Zelda Youtube community when they say that TotK kinda killed the groove a little bit. :/

How did your mind escaped POV trap from books? I mean, you mentioned it many time, like about that Daenerys is shown only with EVIL GUYS™ without depth and thats why she looks so sympathetic to reader. Or Sansa through eyes of Arya, where she really feels like empty shallow rich girl. I'm asking because thanks to YOU I noticed it. This traps, I mean. Really. I was Dany stan, that gone to anti-dany blogs to check why all of you hate her so much. Well, understand now. (1/3)

I mean, as you said earlier, many of Dany stans were catched into trap because of her hard upbringing and constant abuse from her brother (yeah, me too). And how we turn a blindside to all of her wrongdoings, because of said traps. I first watched the show, where all seasons showed how she is so nice, cute, if sometimes brash. I wanted her to be the Queen. And now I see what are you talking about. To be real, I feel now like I lost a friend. It's awful, but I prefer this (1½/2)

(2/2) delusional. Sorry for rant, but I'm feelin' uneasy for last few weeks. Dany was my favourite heroine of all times, and now...😢

Hi there!

Thanks for coming into my inbox! I am very happy that you reach out! I think it is fantastic that you looked up our theories and thought about it.

First of all, you are not alone in falling into the PoV trap. I did as well and I tell you why and how I untangled myself from it. Many books especially light fantasy books (and even others) do not work with the PoV trap. They just expect you to like the hero/heroine and follow them whatever they do. Take HP for example. By the seventh book Harry who is the hero of the book does a lot of questionable things (like casting unforgivable curses) and nothing of it is ever addressed. In the context of his last stand against Voldemoart it is all understandable and even forgivable, but nothing suggest that the author even wants you to question Harry’s actions. We are just supposed to root for him no matter what. So, I guess, we are not really accustomed to read with detailed judgement.

More under the cut...

I remember I once read a book by Kristen Britain, the Green Rider series, pretty traditional fantasy, and the fact that the enemies tortured the heroes was a major plot point. And half a book later they captured an enemy and began to torture him and I was like “What the fuck, you’re supposed to be the good guys!”. But it was never addressed and I think it was just one of those cases where the double standards for protagonists and antagonists were just taken for granted - which is lazy storytelling but I digress.

Now, I think we can agree that GRRM is not someone who takes his readers by the hand and explains everything. You have to be really alert while you read, to get all the hints. Even if you skip over the foreshadowing and everything you have to make a puzzle from the information you get from different PoVs. Nothing is just handed to you. Nowhere does GRRM say: BTW, Lysa Arryn is the one who killed Jon Arryn. So, he sort of trains his readers to read between the lines. But you can still read everything and not delve into it and let yourself be surprised by the twists and turns. You don’t need to think about every sentence to enjoy the books.

In a way this manner of writing is also the case for the PoV trap. GRRM wants his readers to form their own opinion, but it took me actually really long to get that he actually wants me to question the actions of the PoV characters.

When I first read AGOT I sort of fell into the PoV trap. I routed for Dany, I enjoyed Tyrion’s witticism, I thought Sansa was a brat etc. etc.

I remember quite vividly, when I began to dislike Dany - and I must stress that this was not the moment I noticed the PoV trap:

"Most of Ogo's riders fled," Ser Jorah was saying. "Still, there may be as many as ten thousand captives."         

Slaves, Dany thought. Khal Drogo would drive them downriver to one of the towns on Slaver's Bay. She wanted to cry, but she told herself that she must be strong. This is war, this is what it looks like, this is the price of the Iron Throne.    (AGOT, Daenerys VII)

I remember, that I thought something along the lines of: “Well, Dany, it’s your fault these people are enslaved, you want the throne. Maybe you should have thought about that earlier.”

This was the moment I began to dislike her, but I still thought that she was obviously the heroine. Because the last lines of the book was this:

As Daenerys Targaryen rose to her feet, her black hissed, pale smoke venting from its mouth and nostrils. The other two pulled away from her breasts and added their voices to the call, translucent wings unfolding and stirring the air, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.     (AGOT, Dany X)

So, I thought: well, I don’t like her but it was not the first time that I did not like someone who was the protagonist of a book. It happens, and I usually brush over it, concentrating on the people I like.

In the second book I started to like Sansa. She won me over when she was so brave during the Battle of the Blackwater and from that moment I rooted for her although I feared that she was not important enough (you know, no sword and so son).

In the second book I got doubts about Tyrion, but I only began to dislike him in ASOS, when he killed Symon the singer for making eyes at Shae (and had him put into soup, yikes and double yikes).

And I still thought: O.k. Dany, Tyrion these are the main PoVs, certainly they will be important in bringing down the ice threat. Not once did I think that I was meant to realize their dubious actions. I thought it was all about them being a key in the destruction of the Others even if they were grey characters,

So I was still not onto the fact that the PoV trap was a thing....

At the end of ASOS I discovered some ASOIAF discussions and I came across the three dragonriders theory, Dany, Tyrion, Jon and Jonerys as endgame and I believed it all. I just believed it because this is how fantasy usually goes? Humanity against the evil menacing Others.

I did not like it very much though, not at all and I suppose the part of me that did not like it always was looking for other solutions.

When I read AFFC and ADWD I had sort of reluctantly accepted that I might not like the ending but I still read the books, because I wanted to see my favs and how they fared. I would accept Jonerys and the three dragonriders if my Starklings would just survive.

And then the show came out. I still didn’t like Dany, and some of her scenes made me cringe the Mhysa scene, that screams hubris and white saviour), but I still thought that she might be the hero. It was only during and after season 6 that I desperately looked for answers and chanced upon the idea that Jon and Sansa might be important and that Dany might be an antagonist. And it was only then that it clicked for me. I read the Meerenese blot and all that and I finally understood that there was a reason why I was uneasy when reading Dany’s chapters, a real reason, not just me being overly picky or just too morally sensitive to root for the heroes.

It was only then, that I realized the PoV trap for what it is - a clever way to make you root for a character and prepare the rug pull. As you can see it was a rather long journey for me!

And Dany wasn’t my hero, so how difficult must it be for someone who liked her. And to be quite honest with you, the show didn’t make it exactly easy to accept Dany’s turn, because although they did it, it could have been done much better!

And once it had clicked, there is no way back. Once you have understood something you cannot unsee that. So, if you feel like you lost a friend that is understandable.

It might be only a little consolation: This is what GRRM wants his readers to feel. The rug pull that happens once you realize you rooted for a tyrant. The doubt about your own ability to judge a person. The disappointment that a person you liked has misused your trust (in a way). You’re angry at Dany, really angry. You might be angry at GRRM that he duped you so well. That he knew how to get you, the bloody bastard.

So, I actually think it is o.k. to be flummoxed about the fact that can see that now. As if a veil was torn from your eyes, maybe. I think this is an important discovery: that we can be duped. That someone who uses nice words and apparently wants to make the world better can dupe us into believing them. It happens in real life and our only weapon against that is to be critical. To look closely, to think, and most of all to question ourselves.

Thanks for your ask! I was very moved that you came into my askbox for this!

The Flash #33

There's a whole voyeuristic shit eating fetish thing going on here that I don't want to think about too deeply.

Afterward, The Flash gives Steel the "I have a huge boner" eyes.

After Superman disappears into a black hole which certainly leads to the Dark Universe because reasons, Gorilla Grodd attacks the city. But it turns out it's not Grodd at all but a hungry person who just needed to eat a Snickers. It's a weird moment but it's good to see superheroes actually doing some good and helping regular folks for a change. Steel contemplates fucking the Anti-Monitor's giant butt plug but The Flash argues against it. It's too dangerous! He points out that Batman fiddling with it is why they're in the mess they're in. I'm not sure they can really blame Batman though. Didn't they read Dark Nights: Batman Lost #1? Batman was manipulated by Barbatos for his entire life. I bet Barbatos even manipulated the radiation around Thomas and Martha Wayne so that Martha only had one viable Bat-egg and Thomas, one viable Bat-sperm. The other members of the Justice League are all on missions to find Nth Metal. Remember when that happened in Metal? It was just before Detective Chimp was murdered by BatJoker. I know that Detective Chimp never dies on-panel but what other result should readers expect?! That maybe Detective Chimp jerked off all the Bat-monsters so he'd be spared? I suppose that's something that would take place off-panel, so I can't argue against that being what happened. Also I don't want to argue against that being what happened. It doesn't matter what the other Justice League members were doing because they all get sucked up in Evil Boom Tubes. I'm sure they'll get back to their missions in the next issue of Metal. But for now, they need to fight some of the Bat-monsters to a stalemate so it seems like Metal is full of more action than it really needs. I'd like to scan a picture of some of the big battles that take place but I can't because they don't exist. Okay, one exists. Doombat and Cybat beat the shit out of Steel and send The Flash into a dark room. The other Justice League members also find themselves in this room. This is probably the hell that the bats must get out of. And by bats, I don't think the title refers to the Batmonsters. I think the bats refer to the Justice League members who aren't Batman. It makes sense because fuck you. It's a clever take on a known phrase! People read it and go, "Oh yeah! I've heard people say that! It was even a Meatloaf album!" The hells they wind up in are different versions of the Batcave where they're all individually attacked by the Batmonster inspired partly by each of them. And that's where the issue ends because this was all prologue to the big action scene. And in comics, the big action scene is the only reason people keep reading them! So exciting! The Flash #33 Rating: 4 out of 10. It might earn a higher score if it had left out all of that Narration Boxing. A writer's use of Narration Boxes tends to make it so the writer doesn't need to write a script for a comic book. They just write the plot out through the character's rendition of what happened and leave it like that. It's also the way a writer can force a theme into the story's unwilling orifice. So The Flash, through Narration Boxes, tells a story about how he races Superman. Then that leads to him saying that Batman always advises him to run faster which leads to the big twist conclusion where The Flash points out that he's hearing Batman again but he's telling him there's nowhere to run! It's classic Flash storytelling! Just mention running as much as you can and equate it to whatever the fuck else is going on. Then finish it off by saying, "See? See what I did there? Clever, right?!"