#we all love our blorbos but we have to be able to understand that not all of them are important enough to be a persistent plot
Note
Mara said Nezarec is out of the picture so does that mean it's over? That was all there was for Nezarec :(
Pretty much yeah! We might get some extra info on his role in the Collapse, but he is not going to be an active character in the future. Link to the video where she says it.
And he never was an active character! This is something that I actually wanted to touch on because I've seen way too many comments and sentiments about Nezarec that are incredibly incorrect. A lot of it is on Bungie's handling of this lore, which I and others have spoken about at length before; the introduction was clumsy and disjointed and left a lot of people wondering about how relevant he is.
But also a lot of it is on the fandom mystification of random story elements and characters, as well as the fandom's inability to distinguish between important topics and curiosities that exist to spice up the setting. This is a problem in general with media, not just Destiny. Fandoms tend to not have a filter when it comes to things mentioned in the story and the setting. The truth is that some things that are mentioned are simply not important or are less important and will never be brought up again.
Long post below where I go into details about this trend in the community and specifically about Nezarec, tangentially related to the ask:
A really good example for this is Suraya Hawthorne. I know. I want more about her too. She was a really cool character and I love getting updates about her. But is she relevant and important enough to have more special storylines dedicated to her? Not really. A part of it is on the fact that she has fulfilled her character arc back in vanilla. She served as the human element to the Red War and was a face for the civilians impacted by the invasion. She served as someone who survived due to her exceptional skill and reluctance to join the rest of us in the City; she was not there when the attack happened, which saved her. Her survival skills in the wild helped her survive while on the run and allowed her to save others, including us! She fought alongside everybody to retake the City, a place she shunned but nonetheless felt connected to.
It ended with her accepting her role as an exceptional human that can help the City grow; she accepted that her potential is fulfilled when she joins everyone else in the City and helps humanity, instead of pretending that everyone should live on their own in the wilds. Destiny is inherently about people coming together against insurmountable odds and Suraya's story showcases that and ends with her understanding that message. Her story is over. There is nothing more to be said. Outside of small lore snippets that are really nice to see (Suraya playing Guardian Games, Suraya visiting her dads often), there is nothing to add to Suraya's story and theme. Sometimes we have to understand when a character arc ends. It's a good thing. The story has been told in a cohesive way and it ended.
There's also meta reasons such as VA availability. Amanda fills almost the same niche as Suraya and her VA is available since she also voices Caiatl so Amanda featured more often than Suraya. This also doesn't mean that no story can ever be made involving this character; just that expecting her to be a part of some big ongoing plot is not reasonable. Getting minor updates is fine.
There's a lot of this in Destiny. The game has A LOT of characters. There are plenty of others that fit the same issue as Suraya; their stories have concluded or they weren't as important as people thought in the first place. We always want more about our blorbos, no matter how niche they are. Sometimes, the more niche they are, the more attractive they are. The element of mystery often makes the interest skyrocket.
This is where Nezarec comes in. I want people to fully understand that Nezarec was just a name mentioned twice. He was never a character. It's highly unlikely that he was created with the idea of him being a disciple in mind; he was created as a mystery. It's a cool sounding name on a cool looking exotic with a mysterious lore tab. This immediately sparks people's curiosity. Nezarec's Sin was literally the only information about this character we had.
I've seen a lot of people claiming that Nezarec was a huge thing being set up for 5 years; this is simply incorrect. He is definitely a concept that was of personal interest to people who like digging and imagining solutions to mysteries, but he was never "set up." It was a cool name. The fandom created and enhanced the mystery around it, trying to "solve" who that was for years. The game did nothing to encourage this until Season of the Haunted.
There was a brief mention in Y2 where Drifter mentions that he's been to the "Fourth Tomb of Nezarec." Or rather, Shin mentions that Drifter mentioned it. This was meant to sound cool. That's all. You can tell because Shin mentions other mysterious things that Drifter claimed he's seen, none of which have ever been given the same scrutiny because people understand that they are supposed to be cool names;
"He says he's seen the deep side of Jupiter. Been to the Core Mines of Saturn. Name drops old myths no one's heard—the Luvial Crux, the Shift Chasms Below Elios, the Fourth Tomb of Nezarec. Goes on about the Idols of Lower Sul, the Treasure of Exodus Prime, the Solar Engine of Dead Star-Six.
Every single one of these is a "cool name" concept that you can speculate about for a thousand years. They don't mean anything, or at least they didn't in 2018. Nezarec only popped out because the exotic exists and people started imagining, again, that this is some incredible set up for epic reveals in the future about a character that will become super important and relevant and be the raid boss or whatever.
In a lot of writing, especially big ongoing MMO games and projects that last for years, things will be mentioned to spice up the setting and its mystery and size without the writers actually knowing or even planning to ever know what those things are. But then later, if they ever need to use something, they can look at those unexplained mysteries and pick one and use it to explain current content. It's easier than coming up with something brand new AND it gives you credit with the diehard fans who will see their niche blorbo being explained.
I can't confirm this obviously because I don't work for Bungie, but this is most likely what happened to Nezarec. He was never planned as a disciple, he was never planned as a big player or a huge character or a huge reveal. It was a mystery to make the setting exciting.
When they needed mysterious cursed artifacts for the pirate season AND they needed to tie that in with the current big story (Witness and its disciples) AND they needed to tie it with a location they can use AND that location has to be something known to people and mysterious in of itself AND they need a reason to talk about a very important historical event that shaped the world (the Collapse) which was also reframed in the current expansion by Savathun telling us we don't know anything about it = "revealing" that Nezarec was a disciple tied to the Lunar Pyramid whose body is used as evil artifacts is the perfect solution. Why invent a new character when you can name drop people's niche blorbo?
I'm mentioning this because people still insist that Nezarec was some huge mystery planned for years that kept us teased and primed for the eventual huge reveal. In reality, it really wasn't. That's personal bias talking, which I am also a subject to because I was obsessing about a name mentioned in two lore tabs as well. But it's important to recognise when the game is actually setting up an important plot point and when it's not.
All that said, you'd think that it doesn't really matter HOW it came to this. It only matters that now, Nezarec is no longer just a niche lore tab; he is a character! Which is true, to a certain extent. Once again, people tend to overblow the importance of something that is perceived as a big reveal.
Nezarec is certainly a character, but he is not an active one. He has been established as dead and gone ever since he was first mentioned. There have been vague hints about how he persists after death and how "he shall rise again." Persisting after death is not uncommon in the Destiny universe (Ahamkara are the most notable example), but it doesn't mean the character is active. Hints about him wanting to return are there, but don't necessarily signify that the character WILL return. Just that he wants to, as our villains tend to want. It's not exactly something to write home about? Taniks came back like 8 times and he's not even a disciple of the Witness (that we know of...............).
In Plunder, it was definitively established that Nezarec is dead and has been dead for a millennium. It was established that his body parts still have residual energy that whispers and influences people, but that keeping them apart effectively nullifies it. It was also established that these things can be cleansed and used for good, effectively ending Nezarec's influence and ambitions to return. Which is what happened and was always going to happen.
He is a character from our past who was always meant to be a mystery. Any further extrapolation of what that means is purely fandom speculation and fandom overhype of a name. He doesn't have a personality, he doesn't have a character arc, he doesn't have a story, he doesn't have relationships. Some of these might be explored in the context of the Collapse if they're relevant. He is part of our history and always was. Whatever the fans decided to overthink about him is on the fans.
And that's fun! I still like overthinking about him and speculating. Enrichment! The problem is when Bungie eventually says "there is nothing more to this" and people get disappointed and angry because of ideas they themselves conjured out of thin air. Bungie never gave us any reason to think that Nezarec is the next big villain that we will talk to and fight in the game. No more than they are implying that any of those mysteries mentioned by Shin are going to be new in-game locations or raid bosses.
Again, a lot of this is obviously on the storytelling itself. While there are obvious markers of stuff that's just here to enrich the setting and make players think and speculate and imagine, sometimes these markers aren't clear or they don't land well. I think with Nezarec a lot of this has to do with the additional hype created by the relase of Nezarec's Whisper glaive in Haunted that casually dropped flavour text about him being a disciple after not having heard of this niche mystery for 5 years. People lost their minds (me included) because that was an obvious hint that he is no longer purely a mystery.
And then we had to wait three more months in which people speculated to hell and back and conjured a story about how he MUST be an incoming next big bad disciple for us to fight. Only to be told, in Plunder, that he's a corpse. People's instinct is to say "No WAY they brought this guy back after 5 years just to have him be body parts." But there was never anything to "bring back." He was a name. Plunder gave information about that name. It's not like there was a treasure trove of information before or a promise that this specific concept will be the next villain.
Much like Destiny community insisting there's a secret mission when there isn't one, they're like that with this type of lore as well. Parsing through the overwhelming amount of information to figure out which bits and pieces are relevant and which are flavour for the setting is difficult, but it's something that has to be done. Every character is the most important character to someone in the community, every niche concept mentioned once is the most important next big hint to someone. And sometimes they will be correct! But in most cases they will not. And instead of sighing and moving on, a lot of it turns into "the writers are bad" spiel.
And sure. Everyone makes a bad storytelling decision sometimes. But that includes the fans as well. We can all be exceptionally bad at recognising and distinguishing between intended important events, plots and themes and those that are background information meant to enrich the setting.
Personal example would be the Aphelion. I desperately want to know more. I want an entire expansion about this. I think this is one of the most fascinating things in the entire setting. But that's just my personal preference. Bungie never explicitly stated that the Aphelion is some incredibly important concept that will be explored in the future. It's a flavour. It's meant to be mysterious. It's meant to be a cool scifi concept. I would love to see more, but if I never do, I will understand why that is. Bungie can obviously flip the switch and actually turn this into a big plot if they want to at any point in time, but we can't be angry with them if they don't.
This was not entirely related to the ask, but I had the need to write something about this anyway and it sort of fits. I've seen a lot of this recently especially with Nezarec. People have been claiming that Bungie "wasted" the potential of a super important character like Nezarec to end with him being turned into soup. They also tend to insist that it's impossible that his story is over and that he will still be some big villain or that it will turn out that he is possessing Osiris or something. The latter of which makes zero sense since Osiris had a storyline akin to this already. He will not have it again. I hope we can put that to rest. Osiris is Osiris and he will remain Osiris.
And the truth is that Nezarec was never an important character. He was never set up for anything extraordinary in the future. He is a curiosity from our past that has ties to the Collapse. He certainly WAS important in-setting for whatever happened back then, but he is now dead. Bungie didn't "waste" anything; whatever importance the fans projected onto Nezarec was the fans' own invention.
Remember back in Splicer when a completely new dialogue dropped where Mithrax mentioned the old Eliksni legend about "Skira the Watcher" and how it terrorised the Eliksni for a long time? And how it sparked about 7 billion posts and videos and theories about who this is and how this is hinting to the next big bad and how it has ties to everyone and everything and how this is obviously the next raid boss or whatever? Yeah. Does anyone remember now? Not really. It wasn't a hint for the next big bad. It was what it said on the tin; an old Eliksni legend.
Furthermore, Mithrax explained how it was defeated before the Eliksni had the Traveler and they did so by staying silent about it. I don't think that really spells "raid boss" or "big bad." Whatever it was, pre-Golden Age Eliksni were able to deal with it. It's probably not the Witness' next greatest agent.
Curiously, the new dungeon is called "Spire of the Watcher." I could make a clickbait video about this. Is there a connection for real though? Unlikely. And Bungie will not have "wasted the potential" of it to be, because it's not supposed to be. There's a difference between something being possible and something being probable. It's always possible because Bungie controls the setting, but it's not very probable.
You can genuinely make any connection to anything and blow a single mention of some lore thing out of proportion. And sometimes you'll be correct! A single lore mention of something called "Nefele Stronghold" led me, and others, to the conclusion that Rasputin has to be involved somehow with the story of Neomuna before Lightfall and that Rasputin needs to be brough up as a season this year. And we were correct!
To an extent, we were also correct that Nezarec was more than a flavour text on an exotic helmet. But that doesn't necessarily mean that he's the next big thing. Sometimes things are mildly important, or just temporarily important or important just for specific context. Just because something exists in the setting or was important in the setting once before, doesn't mean that it will remain important forever or that its narrative arc can't end.
#destiny 2#nezarec#long post#lore vibing#ask#this has been on my mind for a while now and this was a good opportunity to touch on it#we all love our blorbos but we have to be able to understand that not all of them are important enough to be a persistent plot#some things are just cool. some things have been dealt with. some things are both (siva...)#there are characters we like and want the game to be dedicated just to them but they've really wrapped up the extent of their story#i don't think we'll get any significant mentions of shiro-4 again for example. would i like it? yes! is it likely? not really#most of the time our blorbo mind overstates the actual plot and setting relevance of a character#and of course. bungie can literally change that at any moment#but for most of the stuff they won't#we have to be able to recognise when to stop expecting it and name calling writers because they haven't picked up on ...#... a plotline about our faves that are objectively not crucially important characters#and ofc it's okay to be sad about it!#if it were up to the fans then every single little detail would have 100 hours of gameplay dedicated to it
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This is going to be long so the short version is this:
I convinced my therapist to watch the 🌟Gay Pirate Show🌟 and now I have to confront a previously unidentified and terrifyingly deep emotional wound that could be as transformative to heal as it is terrifying to approach.
My therapist and I have a lot of let's say...demographic things in common that have made this the most successful therapeutic relationship I've ever had, but also that just made me think he might like the show. It's no secret that ofmd has been a deeply moving experience for its viewers, and queer, neurodivergent, and/or people of color have written at length about the special ways it touches us (or doesn't). Those are three categories both he and I fit into and it feels relevant to say that for context.
So yes I thought he might like it, but I also wanted to pick his brain about Big Feelings it was giving me that I hadn't experienced with the same intensity with other media/fandoms. Y'all, he gave me a completely unexpected reading on the show (and its story and its fan works) and why it makes us feel So Much that I haven't seen anywhere before.
When I say Big Feelings, I mean like I've literally had to swear off a couple of pretty innocuous categories on AO3 ("Growing Old Together" and "Domestic Fluff") because they would devastate me in ways that I couldn't attribute to anything specific. Growing Old Together comes with the possibility of death separating them, which is heartbreaking, but that didn't feel like it was the thing that was gutting me. Domestic Fluff could probably be called the most innocuous tag ever, but anything that saw our blorbos settling down and watching the Revenge sail off into the distance was fucking me up as well.
There are plenty of reasons why OFMD makes queer people feel so much, but when I say this was fucking me up I mean like, well, remember when people outside of classical music started learning about appoggiatura? Like intellectually knowing why I was crying but at a loss how intense everything felt. And my therapist (who is as good at analyzing a text as he is at being a therapist) was like "oh, it could be all the grief."
The grief.
The audacity of this motherfucker (affectionate).
It's a romcom! It's a romcom that we were explicitly told would have a happy ending! It's a romcom where the characters will get to sail off into the sunset together like they want and like we want for them! Stede and Ed, after four decades of self-hatred and trauma and fear and isolation, somehow find each other. And one of the sweetest things about their story is that it's a late in life love story, because it's incredibly inspiring for someone to get to experience a part of life they thought wasn't for them. The inescapable fact that their time together will be shorter than any of us would like is sad but not unaccountably sad to me, because of how much joy they'll be able to cram into the time they have left. I could be wrong but I don't think that alone is the source of what's been overwhelming me.
Grief is a constant presence in the world-building and the storytelling because grief is a natural response to well, so many things about being alive. Grieving is some of the hardest shit any of us ever have to do, but it's also so universal and so many of the things that make us uniquely human also make grieving well, maybe not easier, but something we can endure and process through ritual, community, and the example of those we've witnessed grieving their own losses. Many kinds of grief come with narratives that you can accept or reject all or parts of, but the narrative exists.
But have you ever heard of disenfranchised loss? Loss that's not easily labeled or classified or given the time or space or understanding it deserves? Have you experienced a loss like that? Can you imagine how much more difficult it makes the grieving process?
Well what my therapist suggested, the thing that knocked me on my ass hard enough that I had to come have Online Feelings about it, is that eventually, we all have to mourn ourselves. Not necessarily in a "mortality is inevitable" way (that happens to everyone) but in ways that are often unique to people like him and me (black, ND, queer). Even if we work on ourselves, if we grow and heal our trauma and feel at home in our identities and our bodies and build beautiful lives, eventually we will be forced to mourn the selves that we never got to be in the societies in which we live and the selves we once had to become to survive this long.
And that mourning is a kind of disenfranchised loss, with no clear path forward. Obviously this conversation happened within the context of everything my therapist knows about me as an individual, but I thought certain things might resonate with other fans as well so I wanted to talk about it. The story of this bizarre little man and his remarkable second act and his lovely little found family and his incredibly beautiful love story (that we've been guaranteed will end happily) is still haunted by the specific kind of grief that comes from learning what's possible, and regretting that you didn't know it was possible sooner.
And does anybody have more delayed milestones, later-in-life discoveries, and/or need to invent places for themselves than those of us on the social fringes? Than those of us in societies unequipped for (or actively hostile to) the ways we exist and the things we need to survive and thrive? Than those of us who have to create our own narratives or be saddled with inaccurate or harmful narratives created by others, or even no narrative at all?
And narrative is so much. Narrative is everything. Narrative is the story we tell ourselves and each other and that literally shapes our reality. So those story beats where we discover something better than what came before are inherently stories with loss and will require mourning, because we mourn loss.
Even when the story has a happy ending. Especially when the story has a happy ending for someone who never thought they would be allowed to have one.
I mean just like, FUCKING HELL. I can't blame anyone for this but myself. I know my therapist. I know how insightful he can be. I did this to myself and now I have to live with it. But my god is it a massive mountain I'm about to have to climb now. My therapist and I have always found it helpful to discuss media that makes me Feel Things (see all the trauma work that came from Life is Strange) but if you had told me that I'd be looking into this new dark cave of unprocessed shit thanks to what I thought was just gonna be a harmless little gay pirate show starring fucking Murray from Flight of the Concords I would probably just have assumed you were in the middle of having a stroke and taken off to get you the medical attention you desperately needed.
#not to be dramatic#but I definitely worry this might still be dramatic#my therapist is great#but the problem with a good therapist#is that sometimes they will fucking read you#and then you get whiplash#don't be afraid to bring up media that speaks to you in therapy#you never know what might come of it#or how much it might shake you#I should also be clear that all this grief in a story with a happy ending isn't a bad thing#it just kind of is#and when you enjoy it#just enjoy it#every moment of joy is a gift#no matter the context#go ahead and grieve yourself#also I couldn't find an elegant way to fit this in#but the storytelling is very neurodivergent#or at least unfolds in a way that is friendly to my neurodivergence#that's why I'm not a big TV watcher anyway#but I was able to sit down and mainline this#it's the first new show I've watched in literal years#ofmd#our flag means death#ofmd meta#our flag means death meta#🤯🤯🤯#😳😳😳#disenfranchised loss
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I love my singlet partner but he's so oblivious to the difficulties that come with being a system.
He tries to be supportive but it doesn't land. I try to vent to him but then I end up having to educate him about my disorder and how our system works because he doesn't understand anything. It comes from a good place but it's frustrating.
I don't feel like I can speak about my struggles as a system to him because it will always end with him trying to google stuff that I'm talking about, instead of just listening.
If I tell him that I have no memory of an event or a day, he'll tell me that I can just ask him about it.
If I open up and tell him that, currently, I don't know who I am and my identity is just blurry, he'll just act confused and ask why we can't just know who we are.
Once again, it's nice. He's trying. But it's frustrating.
It reminds me of that disabled person who spoke about how their flatmates are always willing to help them reach/do stuff they can't in their own house.
It's sweet but holy shit. I just want to be able to do things by myself. I want to be able to talk about my day and not have to go on a tangent to explain what emotional amnesia is.
It doesn't help that he says that he'll educate himself more on CDDs so that I don't have to do all the work but he still doesn't understand that even our host is an alter. To be honest, I don't think he understands that DID is more than just having multiple blorbos in one brain, no matter how much we try to talk about our symptoms.
.
#system confession#osdd system#cdd#osddid#did osdd#dissociative identity disorder#did system#traumagenic system#endo dni#anti endo
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Blorbos and unresolved feelings
summary: your favourite character from the show you’re watching just died. F in the chat for blorbo 🫡
relationship: Rise!Leo x GN reader (can be read with any turtle imo)
warnings: mention of fictional character death, angst?/comfort
word count: ~970
A/N: i have no other explanation for this other than 1. i desperately needed something to get out of my writing block, and 2. i recently binged all of clone wars and the bad batch, and i have A Lot Of Feels that idk what to do with. enjoy :’)
(english is not my first language. constructive criticism and grammar corrections are very appreciated!)
— — —
It was a Wednesday night, and all that could be heard in your apartment was the ending theme song of your show, and your sniffles.
You were all wrapped up in your blankets on your bed as the credits rolled, with your laptop on your lap and an empty snack bowl at your side, as you religiously had been for the past weeks, watching the new episode to your current favourite show every Wednesday. You thought this would be just like any other episode, where after it was finished, you’d revisit all your favourite scenes, analyse some frames, and then you’d spend the next several hours rambling and fangirling about it on your blog.
What you had not seen coming however, is that your favourite character would die on you; unjustly murdered and left behind like a sack of potatoes. Another wave of sobs came over you, which you desperately tried to choke back. Closing the laptop, you snatched yet another tissue from the box and blew your nose.
Sure, this character wasn’t the main protagonist, but they were important to the story nonetheless! How dare they do that to them. To you. Tears streamed down your cheeks as you inwardly cursed the writers.
Sadly looking at the now empty bowl, you mentally ran through the items in your pantry, deciding which snack would be worthy of this occasion and could somewhat ease the pain in your heart.
As you were about to unwrap yourself from your cocoon of warmth, you heard your living room window softly clicking shut. Weird, you thought to yourself, Leo doesn’t usually come over on Wednesdays.
You heard him softly calling your name as he peeked around your open door.
“Hey babe” he said, holding out some chocolate and a family pack of your favourite chips. “How we holding up?”
You knew Leo didn’t watch your show. But you also knew you had rambled about it to him so much, so often, and so intensely, that he probably wouldn’t even need to. He was also very aware of how much you loved this one character, not only because of the amount of merch and posters you had of them in your room.
Looking up at him from under your blanket pile of misery, and meeting his gentle and understanding gaze, all the feels came back to you and hit you like a freight train. You leaned back into the bed, unable to hold back your sobs, and pulled the blanket over your face. You were conflicted on whether to give in to the pain and be pampered, or try to keep some dignity in front of your boyfriend.
“Oh no, it’s okay!” Leo comforted you and went to sit next to you, moving your laptop and the snacks to the bedside table. He held you as you all but ugly-cried under the blankets, his hand rubbing your arm up and down soothingly to the best of his ability, given how curled up you were.
“You know, I actually follow one of your mutuals’ blogs” Leo admitted with a sheepish smile. “I checked it this morning, and I knew you’d only be able to see the episode late in the evening avoiding the internet at all costs, so I wanted to come prepared.”
As your sniffles died down, he gently pushed back the blanket from your face and was met with your red, puffy eyes, and tear streaked cheeks. Suddenly his face became very serious as he looked at you for a moment. You questioningly raised a brow at him.
“I am so sorry for your loss” he spoke, and then saluted into the emptiness of your room. “F in the chat for our fallen soldier.”
You couldn’t help but giggle at his silly comment, the back of your hand coming up to rub against your face in an attempt to wipe away your tears, but they just wouldn’t stop. You laughed, cried, giggled, sobbed, and cried some more, all the while Leo was there and just let you get it all out.
After a while when you finally calmed down, you sat up to lean on his shoulder, and he hugged you, giving your temple a kiss.
“Feeling better?” he asked, reaching for the chips and handing them to you. You only nodded, mumbling a ‘thank you’ and taking them from his hands. As you were about to rip open the package, you stopped in your tracks. You leaned back slightly and looked up at him.
“This is ridiculous though, isn’t it?” you asked, more at yourself than at him, really.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, here I am, in this state, over a fictional character…” You could feel the tears stinging at the back of your eyes again. “It’s kinda pathetic, really. I don’t know how or why you put up with me—“
You were shushed with a quick kiss to your lips, which was very efficient. Just as quickly as he had leaned in, Leo pulled back again with a stern look, which softened immediately though.
“First of all: no self-deprecating comments on my watch” he stated, and booped your nose with the tip of his. “And second: your blorbo might be fictional, but your pain is real. So you gotta process it in a real way, and that’s okay. I mean, you’re literally grieving them.”
“They deserved so much better!” you squeaked, as your tears came back, streaming down your face. Gosh, you would be so dehydrated after this. You didn’t even bother to wipe them away this time, unabashedly crying into his plastron.
The rest of the night went by with you in Leo’s arms: him being the perfect boyfriend he is, holding you and bringing you drinks and snacks and comforting you, until his warm embrace finally lulled you to sleep. Before drifting off completely, you managed to mumble out a ‘thank you’ because really, how did you deserve him?
— — —
(A/N: *hits chest twice with fist, then holds out peace sign* this is for you fives. you deserved so much better orz)
#goose feathers#rottmnt#save rottmnt#rottmnt leo x reader#tmnt 2018#tmnt x reader#rottmnt x reader#tmnt leo x reader
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Hey! I just saw that you reblogged a post of mine on Loki's powers a while ago. And while I completely agree with your tags (Loki's powers in the tv series among other things), you also write that the show was originally written for a different character and only the names were changed and the magic added later on. I've never read that anywhere, could you explain? It would make so much sense given how different Loki is in the show and how his previous experience is largely disregarded.
Hi there!!
It took me a while to answer this because of real-life stuff, but now I’m there!
By saying the show was written for another character I referred to this analysis on Twitter which again links back to another analysis on Tumblr. (The original link in Twitter is broken, but I found the post manually). I read this analyses a while back, and admire people who were able and willing to read Waldron’s original script. For me, it reads like an insincere column on what a deeply conservative person assumes would be what a left-leaning, progressive audience would like to hear without understanding anything about the points he tries to mirror. I can't add much to the original posts.
However, Waldron’s comments about Loki, including the “he’s an ass and that makes him easy to write” as well as his jokes on never having watched Thor 1 before writing the series can certainly give you the idea he never knew much about our beloved blorbo before writing him. The fact that he thought making Loki say “he doesn’t enjoy killing people but does it anyway for his personal gain” (rephrased) would make TVA Loki in any way redeemable is telling imo.**
Now, technically this is all I can say to your ask, BUT I realize I never truly elaborated on the stuff I mentioned in said tags, so here is an explanation for everyone who would like more about it.
I read those a while back and took my basic analyzing skills to the test by taking a look at Loki and how writing for a character works in general. This has two aspects (I can think of from the top of my head).
If a work is written for one special character it should be impossible to achieve the same plot if he was replaced by another character without the special abilities.
One thing I read a while back (and sadly forgot where) is that both sex and fight scenes are both character exposition scenes. This is true for magic as well, just it gets rarely used since in all of literature there aren’t that many characters who possess magic.
In the Thor movies, Loki’s magic is masterfully used, showing that the works were actually written with Loki in mind. Both Thor 1 and the dark world would simply not work if you put -let’s say Fandral- in Loki’s position. Loki’s skill to find the pathways between worlds is essential. And his ability to make himself invisible is essential for Thor 1. I could go on, but you get the idea, and I don’t want to get this too long to read.
Regarding the character exposition, Loki’s magic in the first movies was a mirror for his characterization (as it should be). He could make himself invisible, for he has been invisible to his family. He could cast illusions since he learned that people preferred an illusion to his real self. He could make others manipulate into saying what he wanted them to say because that was how Loki survived on Asgard (post-credits scene of Thor 1).
In TDW, we see Loki’s anger and frustration manifest in a telekinetic blast that ruins everything around him, and if that isn’t a masterful analogy for his arc I don’t know what would be.
Now coming to the series. All magic Loki uses is cosmetically or for show. He dries himself, he makes sweet little fireworks. How is that connected to his characterization? The show tells us he is insecure and loves only himself. If you squint real hard you might argue the drying is a sign of him being used to comfort. But I thought he was pampered and spoiled? Wouldn’t that mean he had other people to dry him?
And then there is the hiding/teleportation* scene on Lamentis. What does it say about his character? If it IS teleportation what does it say about him? That he can go distances without walking, perhaps, which would fit his line “I never walked so much in my life”, but doesn’t fit that scene from Thor 1 where we see how long he had to walk. And if he can teleport why doesn’t he spare them the walk? And if it doesn’t work for long distances, why does he run for cover right when they realize they are on Lamentis and doesn’t teleport? Why doesn’t he teleport onboard the spaceship? IF they wanted to use the fight as a character exposition, they should have made him use illusions. That’s his trademark.
Next is the “lifting a building” stuff. What does that say? I guess if you limit the interpretation to the series, it could be considered foreshadowing for the “we are stronger than we think”. And like so many stuff of the show it lacks any connection to the former canon. Loki isn’t known for brute strength, either of the body or of the magic. That’s Thor. Loki is known for being the intelligent one. Interestingly, the scene spells rather “we are dumber than we think”, too, since making two steps to the side would have achieved the same effect without any flexing of inexplainable telekinesis muscles.
The same goes for the fireworks in the train (characterizing Loki as sentimental, ok fine, and later as a dumb drunk who can’t control what illusion he casts, 😒). The plot would work without that magic. Just like it works without the drying, the building lifting, and all the other magic Loki used.
So, yeah, magic is Loki’s specialty that sets him apart from many other characters. Someone who writes a story with him in mind will use that automatically. They didn’t. Because it wasn’t him the show was written for. But the worst guy of all time.
Since I only talked about the magic here, I would like to recommend this marvelous analysis on Loki’s speech pattern and body language in the shown in comparison to the former installments.
* The only thing the “I don’t enjoy it” achieves is taking possible sadism out of the equation. TVA Loki is still irredeemable because he decided his sense of superiority would be worth more than the lives of the people in New York. This is egoism and a total dismissal of other people’s lives, something that cannot be “unlearned” by learning to love himself. That only removes the former motivation for the slaughter. Should something else motivate him to kill people, he would act just the same.
On the other hand, OG Loki has been coerced, not only by torture as we see it in The Avengers but also under the influence of the mind stone. Whenever we see him having the choice he acts morally better by sparing lives where he can.
**I don’t consider it teleportation since there is a time delay between Loki vanishing and re-appearing, and imo teleportation is instantaneous. Also, he vanishes feet first but reappears head first which doesn’t sit right with teleportation, and rather with making himself invisible and lifting invisibility again, but that’s for another post.
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Are you still alive??? And if you’re gone for mental health reasons or anything then I sincerely hope you get better soon, take as long as you want, we understand if you need to take a break.
I am indeed still alive💖
I appreciate your concern greatly! I guess I should've let everyone here know that the day job where I work has lost alot of workers, and its put me in a very very sticky situation where I am, quite literally unable to draw, I barely have free time.
However! That's going to change in the following week or two, since winters coming around all of our staff that come around during then will be up and running, so I should be able to interact here finally!
I greatly appreciate everyone's patience, I promise that I'll try to get back here as soon as possible, I love interacting with you guys, and it's amazing seeing everyone liking my characters and blorbos💖
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So I am going to be asking about a character I hate right now, but it's a character that I think about frequently because of his proximity to ALL my biggest blorbos. Charles Fairchild. What brand of neurodivergent do you think he is? I have opinions, but want to see what you have to say.
I LOVE THIS QUESTION SO MUCH!!! because I get to talk about a recent interest of mine: and that's how to be properly neurodivergent affirming for all neurodivergences, especially those that are overrepresented in criminal populations and those who are also overrepresented in those who are ostracised for being seen as 'bad people' due to having and expressing non-neuronormative needs that are a result of a combination of trauma and neurobiology. and not just being able to chalk it up to the double empathy problem, either. I will say I am not an expert in this, and if there's anyone in the community reading this who thinks I've not handled it sensitively, please let me know. I like feedback, and I also like it when people say things nicely because i'm human and fragile too.
First, hate to be your stereotypical armchair diagnoser but something about Charles absolutely screams NPD. And as much as he's not a great guy I love that we actually do get to know him, we get to know not only our usual TSC boys who are bleeding with emotion and just so loveable and hungry for connection and love, but the trope that we're told exists, we see from the outside in politicians and business (usually) men (doesn't James compare Charles to one of those men with briefcases rushing about at rush hour in chain of gold?) and who never really let us in to the fact that they're human. Through Alastair's description of Charles' motivations in chain of thorns, we do actually get to know him and what drives him: fear, masked by ambition. And at this point I want to say: I don't think he has NPD because he's a dick. He just happens to be one as well, and that happens to be one of the ways it presents. It is not the only way NPD can present. Overall, in terms of NPD awareness and hey-let's-not-call-all-these-people-with-this-diagnosis-or-who-would-get-it-if-they-ever-got-help-abusers, Charles isn't the best representation. He's not the worst either; he does get sort of a redemption arc, and though we can speculate about his relationship with Alastair (and have reason to) there is very little that is canonically confirmed about it. So, at this point (and it's taken me a lot of thinking and one (1) Charles POV oneshot to get to this point) I agree with Ari that he's an interesting guy to have as a penpal, for curiosity if for nothing else.
I also think he may (?) be autistic. I've strung this together from a very obscure bunch of observations, the first being Will and Tessa's wedding where he 'had colic and wanted everyone to know' (don't mind me botching my quotations). Not saying all autistics are fussy but you know. Differing pain feeling thresholds that come with different sensory profiles. On top of that, politics is an intense and long-lasting special interest for him. I think some of it is the power, some of it is him still trying to get his mother's attention and love by imitating her even after all of these years, but also: it's a way to exist with people that gives him a more or less scripted role. He's known for quite a few social faux pas (think his engagement announcement at james and cordelia's engagement party! that can't be completely siren power mindpuppeting), he struggles with the social-emotional reciprocity thing (especially when it comes to the being vulnerable side of things and we see Alastair suffer for that), he seems to get irritable in a way that he doesn't understand nor know how to be honest about, and when he does want to say something, he just interrupts the conversation. Overall he seems to be a shitty presentation of a shitty stereotype, many shitty stereotypes in fact (that he humanises, like I've talked about). But. Before we brush off Cassie for that, it's important to have diverse representation of any kind of neurodivergence (including what we find ugly), and I find he does actually balance out james and thomas and christopher quite well. And yes. The TLH gang, more of them are autistic than not. His parents are also Charlotte and Henry and I do know how genetics works. I'd be surprised if they had a neurotypical kid.
Speaking of my absolute faves Charlotte and Henry who we do have to admit are kind of shitty parents during the time Charlotte is Consul I can kind of see how having two flaming neurodivergent kids who they had none of the resources to know how to support, one parent is disabled and one is facing the incredible pressure of being the one to break the glass ceiling of holding an INCREDIBLY stressful job with all the scrutiny that comes with Being A Woman while also kind of unofficially being her partner's caretaker and having two kids with zero time off her fulltime plus job and also has a fair bit of her own trauma in regards to Parents--I can see how the Trauma of Many Kinds resulted in this incredibly underresourced family and we have to recognise Charles is a victim of this. Especially, as we know, how neurodivergent needs are you know--different to neurotypicals--and you've got to be super attuned as a parent to understand the unique things your kid needs. We also have to recognise that growing up with him being doubtless unpredictable did a number on Matthew, six years younger and incredibly hungry for connection.
Overall, Charles is a really well put together character in my view and the way he exists in the ecosystem of generational and lateral community trauma just is really well done. He's not a great guy. I hope he gets whatever help he needs, whatever that looks like--I am kind of optimistic for him but I also Really Think It'll Take A LONG Time and it's going to be really hard for him to make genuine connections for quite a while. I think at some point Charlotte and Henry will slowly figure things out. And grieve. A lot.
#charles fairchild#neurodivergence#neurodivergent affirming#and i mean really neurodivergent affirming#the last hours#genuinely please let me know how i've gone with this
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hello gm i just thinking abt age things dsmp style and well....
i've seen multiple people draw up their cq as like. 8-10 yrs older than cclingy and uhm. huh? huh? he's like. their slightly older peer 😭 both point blank and narratively
we have canon conformation that ccling are minors on account of the eyes that we have and the ears that we use. but if you wanna be difficult abt it the exile contract plainly states that cdrm wants to keep tommy in there 'until he's 18.'
which. uhm. first of all, hope he boils alive in a giant pot. secondly, that makes ctommy at THE VERY LEAST 17 at that point, logically younger. he never ages out of the exile contract. both ctommy and ceret confirm it took place over Multiple Months, and he must've not been in the age range to have that happen, as neither the conditioning + torture AND the subjugation of nlm are ever talked abt with having a nearby end in sight. (cdrm melt alive in boiling acid challenge. btw. )
anyways cq is likely 18-19 at the start of the dsmp because he talks abt having JUST gotten out of juvie. like this JUST happened. you don't say you JUST got out of smthing if it was 8 or 6 or 3 or even 2 yrs ago 😭 cuz it. Just Happened. what age do you need to be to age out of juvie. are you saying ccling were 10 yrs old in the beginning streams. cmon man.
on the topic of character ages, imo cschlatt my sweet lil princess is likely 21-ish bcs smplive is explicitly canon. how can he be a geezer when he and wilbur are canonical situationship, when he and connor are treated like peers. cclingy see him in the same admire box they see cwilb in like 😭 how would tht be possible if he was 93. and the geezer jokes are just jokes IN CANON. you guys are just ableist w no media literacy.
if anything i think it makes more sense for ppl to have hced cwilb as older but god forbid our blorbo be anything but the youngest possible age so h(i am forcibly removed off stage). anyways that said i Do think it makes sense for him to be 24ish. the smplive-isms mean he's likely still 3ish yrs older than schlatt and the way he acts is super. postgrad daddy issues burnout guy who can't get his anti psychotics filled. the narratives you understand. it makes sense for him to be young.
he does however have a whole ass old ass son tho? 😭 and i DON'T WANT TO HEAR 'ohhh what if fundy ages different what if he-' FUNDY DOESN'T. he confirms he's 22 in later streams and he's on equal standing w niki at the start who's like 18. he doesn't show any kind of rapid onset age growth on screen at all despite multiple years passing so WHY would that suddenly stop being a factor as soon as the cameras turn away. be serious.
(my hc abt that is cfundy got whisked away/went missing to vault hunters as a v v young toddler, [he knows who iskall is and is actively friendly w him, he even invites him to the dsmp!], and came back way older cuz time there works differently and it REALLY wasn't that long for cwilb maybe a couple horrible grief stricken years. and the gap and strain isn't smthing they're able to work through v well because. how can you be normal. abt any of that. yr dad coddles and talks down to you because he still sees you as his little boy because How Can't He but also yr a grown ass man and yr own person with yr own thoughts and wants and opinions. and yr still so deeply desperate his attention and his approval. he didn't raise you. and he loves these other kids way more than he could ever love you. let's kill ourselves over this btw.)
anyways idont really have a point to this i just like yapping ^__^ 👍ppl can have their own interpretations it's whatever do whatever who cares i don't begrudge that but like. idk it's v interesting how narrative age Does play a factor into sm things and the few clues left around fr character's canonisms are very fun to discover.
#huri.txt#this fuckass series rules i'm never leaving i'm going to rewarch every single stream from the beginning. WOOHOO!!!!!#EDIT: MOST OF THE ENDING STREAMS ARE GENERALLY STILL BAD AND OOC THOUGH. IDC. IDC.
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Top five deciding factors on who is a blorbo to you?
1. WHUMP. I'd be lying to myself and all of you if I said that isn't the top deciding factor. Just yesterday I rewatched the first few episodes of Naruto that I'd watched eons ago, and as we were introduced to Kakashi I started thinking "Why was that one the favourite?"... then there came the episode that he used his sharingan for the first time and at the end of it he collapsed from exhaustion... and that was it. That's what I had watched as a 13-year-old or so and said "This one. This is the favourite."
But seriously, most if not all of my blorbos have had canon moments where they get whumped in one way or another and that's what clicks it for me. I don't think I've had a blorbo that I didn't make up whumpy fanfic scenarios for. They're like geodes - they have to be beaten up to show their true beauty :D
2. Some kind of empathy. Look, call me boring, but while I can appreciate a well-rounded villain that gives no shit about how much pain they cause... if I'm to emotionally connect to a character, I need them to portray that same kind of emotional connection to someone else. They don't even have to be perfect heroes with clean records either - Killian Jones from Once Upon a Time and Twilight from Spy x Family are examples of the exact opposite of that - but I want them to be able to understand what it's like for someone else to hurt, and to want to comfort them in some form. It's not a coincidence that it was during season 3 of OUAT that I started loving Killian - when he started breaking through his bravado and showing how much he understood others' pain.
3. Characters who feel a lot in general. I want my blorbos to feel things, even if (in Twilight's case) they try to push them away. It's one of the things I realized while re-discovering my love for Yamato from Digimon. He's a character who felt a lot, tried to repress it, and it came bursting out of him until he accepted that it was okay to feel things a lot. He was also my only blorbo who hid his feelings out of a misplaced pride - and in his case it's understandable because he was a kid; other blorbos who hide their feelings mostly do it for self-preservation after having experienced a lot of hurt, with the narrative implying that they need to grow out of it eventually if they want to be happy. On the other hand, I had blorbos like Douxie, who were unabashedly themselves and never bothered to hide their feelings out of any kind of shame. And I really enjoy my blorbos being so expressive - it allows me some relatable moments so that I can explore my own feelings that way. (Also why whump helps. It forces out a lot of emotions)
4. SAD. I want to look at my blorbo and be like "Aw, poor guy. Now make it worse >:)". Like, I wish they can have a happy ending (Ethan ;_;) but I want them to suffer until that happens. Look, I ain't babysitting them! I'm consuming their content to escape reality, and watching characters go through shit is my way of expressing my own angst, because the world we live in forces us to undermine our own issues all the time and think "It could be worse!" so I've learned to find escapes through fiction. So make them SAD.
5. That said, Angst with a bit of humor. YMMV but I cannot handle a character who is all depression and is never ever used in a humorous way or form. From Killian "I'll flirt with anything that moves, to my own detriment" Jones, to Douxie "can't sing one note worth his damn" Casperan, to Manny "Grim Reaper on stilts" Calavera, to Ethan "Horrible One-Liners" Winters, to Loid "I have a totally normal wife and daughter :)" Forger, while I adore the angst they go through, they're still fictional characters and a tool for our recreation and expression, so they need to have a break where either the characters themselves or the narrative present a more humorous side to them.
Ask me my Top 5/Top 10 anything!
#wow that was hard lol#I had to think a lot for 4 and 5#some introspection for y'all haha :D#nette speaks#priscilla9993#ask and ye shall receive
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Consider this your permission to rant about comics as modern myths, from a classics major who would love to hear it :)
HI OKAY so this ask might've been months ago but it's fine we're here to answer it now
SO BASICALLY one of the main features of myths is that they're archetypal, right? So long as you follow the archetypes and the general flow of the story it's the same myth. There is no definitive version, only the teller's version. Think about this with comic reboots and different versions and timelines. So long as Spider-Man is funny, slings webs, and lives in a city with a rogues gallery, that's Spider-Man. Actually, Across The Spider-Verse has somewhat demonstrated even that list is hewing too close to the bone, Spider-Man is more flexible even than that.
Consider Batman. Grim backstory, detective, uses fear as a weapon for good, has a dual identity with one consuming the other. Who to make, then, of Godkiller Batman? Of Chaos Nexus Batman? We still recognize them as Batman, but they're not detectives, they don't have dual identities, they're arguably not even fighting on the good side. Still the same character. But Owl-man? No, that's somebody else. That's a narrative foil.
We have good indications that what we assume about Dionysus isn't who Dionysus was to the people that worshipped him. Similarly, Red Hood is not, to me, who Red Hood is to somebody obsessed with the resurrected wrong trope.
If you're looking for modern myths, comics characters are your best bet. You don't have to have read, watched, or listened to Spider-Man content to know who that is. Living in the US or our sphere of cultural hegemony is enough. Similarly, a random Greek might not be able to list the 12 labors, but they know who Heracles was supposed to be.
Franchises don't usually work. There's a canon, definitive version of Obi-wan Kenobi. You can't really have a re-imagining of Old Ben. A re-imagining of Iron Man though? There's 3 of them being printed right now, with no relation to the MCU besides the idea of a guy and a suit. There's one where it's a knight in an unconventionally advanced suit of armor set during the middle ages, but a reader can look at that and go "yeah, that's Iron Man alright." I'm not sure how besides "archetypes just work like that," it's probably helped by the stamping of the name on the cover (similarly to how there's a couple dozen myths about different things Prometheus did, and some of them don't even seem like the same guy but short of a persistent translation error we're to understand it is; the storyteller often begins with "let me tell you a story of the titan Prometheus," or some variation to that effect).
All of this comes from a class I took on Ancient Mythology and a couple classes on genre, archetypal thinking, and characterization. I'm not an expert, but I'm fascinated by the ways humanity hasn't really changed, even over several millennia. We still just have our blorbos, and believe me there's people on this hellsite that would go in the woods and hold a Bacchanal if society was still structured in a way that allowed it.
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i jusr recently got into shameless and have been on the hunt for gallavich content and your blog is so perfect ive spent the whole day reading through ALL your gallavich posts you get them more than the writers do. Anyways u had a post where in the tags you talked about the possibilities of gallavich where noel fisher was actually mickeys age and the loss of buck toothed twink 17 year old mickey and I SUPPORT. Thinking about s2 mickey (in looks) with s11 ian is too much like the size diff UGH😫
hello and welcome to my dark twisted mind. gallavich spins in my head like a microwave i know them so well because theyre an intrustic part of my neurological function i have absorbed them thru osmosis and they live inside me now
seriously its easy to forget but mickey was a CHILD when he experienced the horrors in the show 🥺 even shorter, crooked teeth with a big gap, with that air of awkwardness only teens can have
a lot of s1-3 gallavich narrative moments were directly influenced by the actors' ages. i wonder how things couldve been different if they were different ages when casted? do you think the showrunners wouldve had them kiss sooner? how would their on-screen chemistry be effected if we were more of peers off-screen rather than noel fisher being a mentor for cameron monaghan? its such an interesting topic, but obviously everything happens for a reason and noel fisher at that point in his career was PERFECT for mickey
i also think some fans get too attached to on-scren portrayals of characters. like obviously mickey is a fictional character played by a much older actor, hes actually a natural strawberry blond, the markers are drawn on with literal sharpie. as audience members we are expected to suspend our disbelief and not take everything literally. mickey is mickey, not (several-times-snubbed-by-john-wells) actor noel fisher. mickey is a kid. hes a natural brunet. his tattoos are real. even though thats not reality, we are to understand that this show exists somewhere else and not here. another example is in s11 when mickey alludes to not working out despite having a body you can only get from working out 😭 idk i guess what im getting at is id love to see more portrayals that are less literal? like him with his big ass tooth gap and noodle arms. the absurd gallavich size difference. actually being able to see/read him growing up physically and mentally. same with other characters. like MY s1 ian did NOT straighten his hair so i love to imagine it much more curly and messy (i know that poor kid was not using products for his hair type). or like can you imagine fiona looking barely college-aged? how much more IMPACTFUL that is for her story of being a mother to her FIVE siblings? or putting more or less weight on characters, changing minute physical attributes because it fits the character, not the actor portraying them... like we are the creators of our own realities we can truly do whatever we want. HASHTAG MAKE MICKEY EVEN MORE BLORBO SHAPED!!!
#i already pretend entire scenes dont happen i can pretend early mickey has buckteeth and is like 5'4#like again its not the actors its US. WE CAN TRULY DO WHATEVER WE WANTTTT!!!!#the actors were ACTING its up to us to fill in the gaps#you know how many times ive portrayed a character knowing damn well i did NOT look like that character?#but guess what.... it dont matter! if i can convince you im the character despite my looks then im doing my job perfectly!#the amount of shit props ive used because we didnt have budgets and we're just like 'whatever the audience can use their imaginations!'#asks#anonymous#shameless#the way their size difference is already ridiculous but it could be even more ridiculous.....#hamster eating a banana dot jpeg#a.txt#sorry for my ramblings i dont know what im saying my brain is mush from work
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i have so much respect for you for your choice of original blorbo oh my god reepicheep
I was utterly obsessed with Reepicheep from ages 6-8 or so -- the first time I ever cried over a book was when my dad read the Narnia series to my sister and I before bed. We hit the end of Voyage of the Dawn Treader and that was it, I was out. Absolutely bawling, totally inconsolable. I dressed up as him for a book character day at school, and wore our copies of the couple of books he was in out completely, to the point that my dad had to track down copies that matched the rest of our boxed set because the originals were falling apart.
It's always hit me in a bit of a strange/bittersweet way as an adult. I know as a kid I loved him because he was a clever, quick-witted knight, devoted above all else to doing the right thing, but it wasn't untethered from the faith I grew up with even then, and now I have a solid understanding of what Lewis wanted him to represent -- unwavering faith in something I totally lost faith in. Usually your first favorite fictional character, who you're supposed to be able to look back on really fondly, doesn't have quite so many strings attached.
But I've mostly made peace with it. Even now, I still consider myself a very passionate and faith-driven person -- I just have faith in different things, like humanity, and the moral arc of the universe, and the possibility of a better future. I think that's the element that runs through baby Nate latching onto a brave mouse knight and adult Nate being who I am and loving other characters that better represent the things I have faith in now (thinking long and hard about Fjord from Critical Role here, whose journey towards being a paladin had to start with abandoning his misplaced faith in something else that was hurting him and others, and who I also cried and cried over when he hit some of his most important character beats).
Also in the Prince Caspian movie Reepicheep was played by Eddie Izzard (which is probably the only good thing about the Prince Caspian movie) and I have extremely transgender feelings about it. Carry on.
#you uh. probably were not looking for this kind of a reply#but i get weird anytime i talk about narnia (and especially reep) so here we are#ONCE AGAIN FOR THE NEW FOLLOWERS: JEWISH NOW#or at least most of the way there
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Okay time for another 3am essay haha. So I've always loved Michael Burnham, but recently- while watching Disco S4 for the first time- she has truly ascended to blorbo status. Her arc is incredible, and so underrated! I think maybe the earlier seasons were a bit too focused on her connection to Spock and his family, so now that there's some distance from all that, I'm able to appreciate her diasporic experience as a child of two worlds even more? And seeing her consistently fall back on logic to reassure herself but also connecting with her crew specifically through her emotional intelligence and transparency, humanising herself but still striking the right notes of authority, all without ever raising her voice, is just- ahh it's so good. She's shaping up to being one of the coolest Star Trek captains!
After watching her big (Very Trekkian) speech in S4E7, I was tempted to go back and rewatch some of the pilot, just to see how far she'd come- and I was struck by this parallel (I haven't seen S1 since it aired in 2017, so please forgive me if I'm just pointing out the obvious hehe)
S1E1 (while trying to convince Captain Georgiou to fire at the Klingons):
BURNHAM: Captain, we have to fire on them. Hit that ship with everything we've got.
GEORGIOU: Absolutely not. They haven't powered weapons. They don't appear to pose an imminent threat.
BURNHAM: The Klingon threat is always imminent and inevitable. [...] 240 years ago, near H'Atoria, a Vulcan ship crossed into Klingon space. The Klingons attacked immediately. They destroyed the vessel. Vulcans don't make the same mistake twice. From then on, until formal relations were established, whenever the Vulcans crossed paths with Klingons, the Vulcans fired first. They said hello in a language the Klingons understood. Violence brought respect. Respect brought peace. Captain, we have to give the Klingons a Vulcan hello.
GEORGIOU: If their intention is to attack, balling up our fists won't dissuade them.
BURNHAM: It would be logical for you to take into account my success rate during our seven years together, and execute my plan without further challenge before we're dragged into war.
GEORGIOU: Starfleet doesn't fire first. That's all, Number One.
BURNHAM: We have to.
GEORGIOU: In my ready room.
GEORGIOU: Computer, privacy.
BURNHAM: Captain-
GEORGIOU: How dare you challenge me?
BURNHAM: I apologise for my insubordination.
GEORGIOU: Don't you realise that kind of talk can destabilise a crew?
BURNHAM: Don't underestimate them. I've overseen their exercises. They're ready for battle.
GEORGIOU: Battle is not a simulation. It's blood and screams and funerals. I taught you better than this. We don't start shooting on a hunch, and we don't take innocent lives. Period. I understand your history with the Klingons.
BURNHAM: My commitment to this course of action is not emotional. We target its neck, cut off its head-
GEORGIOU: You're still injured. You're not thinking clearly.
BURNHAM: Thousands of lives will be lost because of failure to act.
GEORGIOU: Whose lives? Victims of your imaginary war?
BURNHAM: And your life, Captain. Yours.
GEORGIOU: Stand down, Commander Burnham. That's an order.
BURNHAM: You're right. I may not be myself.
GEORGIOU: Easy, Michael.
(She knocks Georgiou out with a Vulcan neck-pinch.)
BURNHAM: ... I'm sorry.
So this is the big event that makes Michael an infamous mutineer and kicks off the whole show. But cut to four seasons (and a thousand years) later- and she's the captain of the ship, addressing what's left of the Federation on how she thinks they should respond to a mysterious new threat (that has completely destroyed her lover's whole planet.) Much like S1 Michael, he is angry and traumatised here, and very much pushing for a preemptive strike by using the same "countless lives will be saved" argument. And against his wishes and approval, here's what she chooses to say in her speech:
BURNHAM: Our experiences shape us. That's what makes this so difficult. [...] Before we head down a path that could lead to destruction on both sides, we need to reach first for understanding. For generations, the Federation has sought out new life, new civilisations, not to destroy but to connect, even in the face of uncertainty. And we are not all Federation members, but those ideals can still guide us. Especially now. We cannot let fear define us in this moment. We need to decide. Who do we want to be? Do we lash out blindly, no matter the risk? Or do we proceed thoughtfully? Work toward the future we want to live in? I believe that's who we are. We wouldn't be here otherwise.
BOOK (in front of everyone listening): We don't have the luxury of asking philosophical questions right now. What matters is the actions we take. Stopping this thing today.
BURNHAM: There are different points of view in this room, I know. But I hope that when a decision is reached, whatever it is, that we can hold together. That we can move forward as a united front.
BOOK: Some differences are too great. Sometimes you just have to accept the consequences of that.
So obviously Michael is now in Georgiou's place- and Book is playing her old part (and pretty well, lol- the episode literally ends with him stealing a shuttle behind her back and doing what he wants, just like Micheal did in S1!) But what I find most interesting is her echoing Georgiou's philosophy in other ways, too.
S4E10 (talking to the Federation President):
BURNHAM: Thank you for sharing the news.
RILLAK: We could have told them together. Why did you want me to do it?
BURNHAM: In times of crisis, people need to know that their leaders are not rattled by uncertainty or overwhelming odds. They need to know that there is a plan, that they'll be okay. You're their president. You can give them confidence, a sense of security. You're my president, too.
RILLAK: Oh... I'm grateful we had the chance to... connect before we approach Species Ten-C.
BURNHAM: If we can't communicate with each other, what chance do we have with them?
It really goes to show how far she's come, and how much she's benefitted from learning to accept all parts of herself- her Vulcan upbringing, her Federation ideals, her Human family, her Starfleet training, and her bonds with the crew- which are, of course, completely inextricable from her relationship with Georgiou. Instead of warring within her, these different aspects of her are now working together to make her the best possible version of herself- she's learnt both from her own mistakes, and others'. Basically- what a character!
#disco#just felt like rambling about her a little :)#so I do feel like this season could've been more interesting with some actual interrogation of the supposed goodness of the Federation#rather than just having that be something we take for granted#but I have to say! it's still a refreshing change in tone compared to like. the absolute paranoia of ent s3#and the biggest difference to me is that the way they handle such a plot with a character like michael at the helm#is WAY different to how other trek shows (both new and old) approach this sort of 'existential threat' storyline with others#also SMG is KILLING IT of course but. that's nothing new :D
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On Simon Petrikov and Betty Grof's Ending
I don't have the brain at the moment for the full essay right now, but i wanted to get this out there before it slides into the abyss that is my short term memory. So, uh, spoilers for Fionna and Cake's ending?
I think the main problem that was shown about Betty and Simon's relationship is a lack of Reciprocity. I want to make it clear that both Betty and Simon made their own decisions in their past, that much is clear. They loved each other, and cared about each other. They were happy with their decisions at the time. They each had their own agency, and they still Chose to be together. But whereas Betty would always choose to sacrifice her own plans or wants to go along with Simon's choices, Simon never really seemed to do the same for her when they were still together, less out of any malicious intent and more just him not really noticing or even considering the possibility of doing something that wasn't part of his plan. For heck's sake, look at what happens after he tells the story about how he and Betty managed to connect again at the bus stop:
Simon beloved, my sweet boy, my scrungly dumby. He just. Doesn't really seem to have considered that it was ever a possibility that he could've gone with her instead of the other way around. And that's really the core of it all. He's so focused on his own way that he never really thinks about what would've made Betty happy.
And here's the thing: Betty was happy either way. She always had the option to just turn around and go on that trip. But she chose to stay, because she wanted to be with Simon. And that's a valid choice! They got to share a moment together at the bus stop, which was wonderful. But a relationship needs for both people to be willing to make their own choices and to sometimes make the choice to take care of the other's needs. Simon never really did that for her. He'd do his thing, go for his goals, and Betty would choose to follow, often at the expense of her own stability and plans. Never the other way around.
He literally needed it spelled out for him in the most blatant metaphor of their relationship in the form of the Nova and Casper Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story that GOLBetty sent him to experience for him to finally understand.
"I could've made the effort to support you, the way you always supported me"
And that's the understanding that Simon finally has by the end of the series. And when given a chance to re-visit that moment at the bus stop...
He makes a different choice. Blorbo Simon finally learned to reciprocate and give in a relationship. And what's Betty's reaction?
She's overjoyed. And yet, it's bittersweet. Because he knows that in real life, he didn't make the choice to go with her. This is really all just a vision, a memory where he and Betty can talk.
He can't undo his choices in the past. Just like the game, he's reached a point where they can no longer get that happy ending where they're still able to be together. But he can still do one more thing for Betty, what she wants for him more than anything now. And he does:
He moves on.
He makes friends.
He explores the world.
He finds new meaning.
He gets help.
After a thousand years of grief and madness, Simon Petrikov finally does what he's never really been able to:
He lives his life. Happily.
And that's really all that anyone could really ask for.
"We made our choices. We could've made better ones, but I don't have any regrets."
#fionna and cake#fionna and cake spoilers#simon petrikov#betty grof#analysis?#renposting#i say that i don't have the brain to do an essay#proceeds to write an essay#forgive me for the rambling#the sun is beginning to rise and i have not yet slept.#i am full of feelings
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mina and ❓🧩 ???!!?! MEIN GOTT i would love to learn more heh heh 🕵️♂️😈
OUGH. The noise I made. 🧍♂️
I will put a read more because I'm so sorry Naomi, I'm so sorry I'm about to go ham.
Also, love how you used a puzzle piece. Very good you are truly the detective here!!! 🔎🔎🔎
But Mina is my Private Investigator or Detective in the DC universe. Originally she was made as a side character for Sophie to have friends outside the Rogue gallery. But my friend had her own DC oc, India 💖, so I was like okay lemme expand on Mina so she has more of her own personality and storyline than just being a side character. So I started to tailor-make her more for the Arkham series of games instead of Gotham. But again I just mash up stuff like I did with Sophie since it's so easy with comic book lore. I mean... DC does it to themselves just like Marvel lakfjwelkrj But I say that because uhhhhh wait idk if you've played the Arkham series games? I'm so sorry if you have not and seen spoilers every single day on my blog. But like the last game in the series makes it left open-ended Batman died and I'm like 'nah son' he does not die. So basically I do what I want as we all should so we can enjoy our fucking uhhhhhh little blorbos.
BUT the pun on her name is A. Query. Full name: Aemilia Wilhelmina "Mina" Query. Cuz I wanted someone for the Riddler LMAO just for the fucking canon character again. And at first, I toyed with Oh uh Echo and Query are henchpeople The Riddler has used but I didn't want a henchperson oc. But I love henchpeople ocs though! Ngl I read a lot of spicy riddler x reader where the reader is a henchperson, but I didn't want that for my oc but that's because I'm a terrible person and just want all my gorls OP. Also, Arkham Riddler is so fucking insufferable but I can't not have Mina fuck him!!!
So yeah Mina and Eddie get it on!!! You don't understand Naomi I made a stupid ass moodboard for them when it was slow at work and I had nothing better to do.
They are the tag: xo. lovefool
If you don't read all this I understand but thank you so much for asking and being interested! It's a good exercise to just get my lore out about her instead of just thinking it lmaooooo
Uhhh but she's a Private Investigator, licensed, she actually does not work or care for the GCPD and has a chip on her shoulder with them. So she likes to take cases from their departments and solve them before their people. But she's not taking on murder stuff, even though she could, no she's more into solving, which she has solved, a lot of missing persons and then cheating cases. LMAO she's like that fucking cheaters show and will bust people's asses for money. But she's very good at what she does and would probably be an asset if she did work for GCPD but she only really respects Gordon and Barbara there. Instead, she's fine with what she has, she's not ambitious but does like to stick her nose into things just to be knowing. Tying with Sophie she gets away with things someone on the 'side of the law' should not be able to do cuz she'll run to Sophie for protection. And she's not a bribe person I guess also? She's neutral in Gotham or does her best. She picks and chooses her battles.
So with her and the Riddler though for the longest time they never actually met in person. Instead, she's come upon his radio frequency before. After that, they talk and eventually flirt over the radio, phone, text, email, internet whatever, just anything but in person. She's a novelty item to Edward when Batman isn't paying attention to him basically. It's cuz she's solved his puzzles and riddles before so she's not just some little idiot running around Gotham. Still not as smart as him or even worthwhile other than to pass the time! But his attitude of him thinking himself smarter than everyone and being so degrading to her wears on her but instead of being 'ok bye' her ass actually starts a grudge. So she starts to make it a point to be better than him! And like the last straw is when he sets up his little challenges for Batman but it's a total coincidence, it interrupts a case she's been on for months and ruins everything. So her ass goes through the whole trouble of solving a series of riddles and puzzles meant for Batman. She went out of her way to find them all and solve them so she can confront the Riddler finally. Him getting pinged thinking it's Batman gets all excited but when he goes to confront it's Mina. He flips out just "Wtf wtf wtf you cheated! you didn't solve these! Why are you here??" but jokes on him she did it. ANYWAYS IM SORRY ITS SO LONG BUT SHORT STORY INSTEAD OF FIGHTING HIM LIKE SHE INTENDED SHE TAKES ONE LOOK AT HIS FUCKING WET BITCH PATHETIC ASS AND THEY GET IT ON. like tension but not the kind of tension he's used to where he just gets his face smashed in with the Dark Knight instead she uses her mouth on him *wink wonk* it's about the sexual tension babeeyyyyy !!!
also here is a moodboard just for Mina. She's the oc. wilhelmina
#WOW okay this is so long i'm so sorry but also thank you so much#because its nice to actually get the info about an oc out instead of just keeping it in my head locked away lmaooooo#its like that iceberg lore photo you reblogged i gotta find it now#oc. wilhelmina#xo. lovefool#naomi i love you. you da the real MVP#roberthouses#oc. mina
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