I gotta say Radagon/Marika should probably win the most problematic in Elden Ring poll.

Not counting the imperialism, genocide, and forced exile of native/pagan cultures in the lands between... Marika also normalized mutilating infants, locked her own twins in the sewers, divorced her husband by removing his grace after a long battle away from home (fought for her, presumably), summoned her twin/other half back home to take his place immediately after and saddling him with the title of chief home-wrecker, left his ex wife in shambles after assimilating her kingdom and adopting her kids, created a slave class out of crucible touched creatures, played favorites with her kids, instigated infighting and betrayal for the succession of her throne for reasons yet to be understood, shattered the laws of reality for personal reasons, told her husband he was a pathetic dog and would never be her, sowed the seeds of discord in the Tarnished for more personal reasons...etc etc. Radagon did all of that too but also hated himself the whole time, took his religious zealotry to the next level by inventing golden order fundamentalism, also played favorites with his kids, left his ex wife irreparably damaged, let the dog sleep on the furniture, forced takeover of his wife/twin/alter ego's bodily autonomy... I mean the demigods were the children of these two, they really can't hold a candle to the list of their parents totalled war crimes and petty personal drama at the root of world ending catastrophe.

Forgot to add: Marika locked her dog away in a dimension beyond time with the conceptual embodiment of Death and IGNORED HIS SAD HOWLS FOR CENTURIES (?) he just wanted to be a good boy

short king and his incubi (they both fucking hate him) + some very little and slightly nsfw sketches under

I don’t care if it’s cliché. Give me Overpowered!Batman and Overpowered!Superman. I want them to be so competent and skilled that the only people who understand them are each other. I want them to be able to handle everything well except their feelings for the other.

we could be good for each other

Yeah sure I’ll just die wonderstorm thanks for the food

"In total, Leonor governed Navarre as lieutenant, with some minor hiatuses, from 1455 to 1479, making her the effective ruler of the realm for nearly twenty five years. Out of her female predecessors, only Juana I served a longer period; however, Juana I was detached from the governance of the realm and physically distant from Navarre. Leonor however, remained in the kingdom throughout her lieutenancy, making her the female sovereign with the highest record of residency in Navarre.

One of the enabling factors for Leonor’s constant presence in the realm was the “Divide and Conquer” power-sharing mechanism that she employed with her husband, Gaston of Foix. Blanca and Juan had a similar division of duties, but unlike her parents’ often contrary objectives, all of Leonor and Gaston’s actions can be seen to be working toward their joint goals of obtaining the Navarrese crown and politically dominating the Pyrenean region. In order to achieve their ambitions, the couple were adept at working as a team even when physically seperated or carrying out divergent duties.

Politically, it appears that they took on different areas of negotiatiion. Gaston was the designated emissary to the French court, which was entirely appropriate as one of the French king’s leading magnates. One important example of his involvement in negotiations of this type include Gaston’s visit to the French court in the winter of 1461–62 to negotiate the marriage between their heir and the French princess, Magdalena, which ensured Louis XI’s backing for Leonor’s promotion to primogenita. Gaston also conducted negotiations on behalf of his father-in-law, Juan of Aragon, with the King of France, with a successful outcome in the case of the Treaty of Olite in April 1462, which was intimately connected to the marriage that Gaston was orchestrating for his son and Magdalena of France.

Even though Gaston normally took on the role of intermediary with the French crown, there are two letters issued by Leonor during her marriage in December 1466 as lieutenant of Navarre that show her involvement in French affairs. These letters were written during a period of extreme crisis, when Juan II’s difficulties in Catalonia were matched with Leonor’s continuing struggle with the Peralta clan in Navarre. In these letters, Leonor was playing on her familial connection to Louis XI, in hopes of his aid and backing, asking him to “commend this poor kingdom and the said princess to him [Louis XI] as one who is of his house.” Moreover, these letters show Leonor’s independent interaction in crucial diplomatic negotiations with France, both in receiving embassies directly from Louis and in sending her own personal ambassador, Fernando de Baquedano, with detailed instructions on how to proceed.

Gaston appears to have been more engaged with marital negotiations for their numerous offspring than Leonor. However, this may be due to the fact that the couple overwhelmingly chose French marriages for their children. Only three of Leonor’s children did not contract a French betrothal: Pierre who became a cardinal, a daughter who died young, and Leonor’s youngest son, Jacques (or Jaime), who married into the Navarrese nobility. Given the fact that Gaston was more intimately connected to the French court and the nobility of the Midi, it seems reasonable that he would take on the role of chief negotiator for these matches. All of the marital arrangements for their children were made in order for Gaston and Leonor to achieve their joint goals, the acquisition of the throne of Navarre and the consolidation of their power and influence in the Pyrenean region.

Another area where Gaston necessarily played a more central role was militarily. Robin Harris acknowledges Gaston’s successful military career and notes that after his useful military service to the French crown, “the comte was permitted by the [French] king in the last years of his life to employ his military resources in order to further his family’s interests in Navarre.” Gaston also performed many military services for his father-in-law; the agreement of 1455 that promoted Leonor and Gaston to the successors of the realm required Gaston to go to Navarre on Juan’s behalf and retake those areas that had fallen to the rebels “for the honor of the King of Navarre as well as for his own interests and those of the princess his wife."

However, there is some evidence for Leonor’s involvement in one military foray. In the winter of 1471, Leonor took part in a daring attempt to seize the capital, Pamplona, from her opponents, the Beaumonts. Leonor participated in an attempt to storm one of the city gates with a group of armed supporters. Moret notes that “this surprise was reckless; for it exposed the person of the princess to obvious risk and was somewhat rash.” Moreover, the element of surprise was ruined by the cries of her supporters shouting “ Viva la Princesa !” which alerted the Beaumont troops to the threat, and Leonor and her supporters were swiftly ejected from the city.

Like her mother, the noted peacemaker, Leonor was also involved in moves to reduce the civil discord in the realm. Zurita credited Leonor with “making a great effort to resolve the differences of the parties and subdue the kingdom into union and calm.” Leonor represented her father in negotiations for a truce with the supporters of the Principe de Viana on March 27, 1458, at Sang ü esa. Zurita notes, “The princess Lady Leonor was there at that time in Sangüesa and signed the treaty with the power of the king her father.” Leonor was instrumental in the forging of another truce that was contracted in Sangüesa, in January 1473, and she was also present at a conference with her father and her half-brother Ferdinand in Vitoria in 1476 “accompanied by the nobility of Navarre to renew the treatties . . . and attempt to arrive at a stable peace.

Although both spouses were named to the lieutenancy of Navarre, the documentary evidence clearly demonstrates that Leonor appears to have taken on the bulk of the administration of the realm. This was entirely appropriate as it was Leonor, not Gaston, who had the hereditary right to the crown. Moreover, it was logical for Leonor to remain in Navarre so that her husband could look after his own patrimonial holdings and continue to serve as a military commander for the King of France.

Leonor was an active lieutenant but she struggled to implement her rule fully across the kingdom, as many areas were dominated by the Beaumont faction who were opposed to her and her father Juan of Aragon. This meant that at times, she had no control or access to certain key cities in the realm, including the capital, as mentioned previously. Her grandfather’s impressive seat at Olite was the center of her sister’s court, but Leonor eventually regained her hold on the castle and used it as one of her primary residences between 1467 and 1475. Sangüesa remained an important base for Leonor, and she was also associated with Tudela on the southern edge of the kingdom.

Leonor’s difficulty in implementing her rule across the whole of the kingdom is illustrated by a prolonged struggle between the lieutenant and the town of Tafalla, which consistently refused to send representatives when she called together meetings of the Cortes. Tafalla was a center of Beaumont strength, which had supported her brother Carlos in his struggle with Juan of Aragon and was thus bitterly opposed to her appointment to the lieutenancy. Between 1465 and 1475 there is a series of missives from Leonor both summoning representatives from the town and then expressing disappointment when they failed to arrive. During this period, Leonor appears to have called a meeting of the Cortes at least six times, but the town consistently refused to send envoys to the assembly. There is a sense of increasing exasperation and anger in these documents at the repeated failure to participate in these important events. At one point, in late 1471, Leonor personally came to the town to give advance notice of her intent to call another Cortes the following summer, perhaps to circumvent any excuse that the town did not have sufficient time to send representatives, but Tafalla still did not participate in the assembly.

As her authority was contested, Leonor was keen to stress her agency and her position in the documents that she issued. However, at times she even struggled with the chancery; between 1472–73, Juan de Beaumont retained the seals of the kingdom and refused to let Leonor have access to them. In 1475, she granted a reduction in taxes to the important city of Estella acknowledging the reduced capacity of the city to pay after the population had shrunk from the effects of war and flooding. In this document she stressed her efforts to assist all of the urban centers of the realm, to help them recover from the years of civil conflict and devastation, “the other good towns of the said realm have been refurbished by our certain knowledge, special grace, our own change and royal authority.

Leonor’s address clause drew on all of her family and marital ties as a means of establishing her authority:

 “Lady Leonor, by the grace of God princess primogenita , heiress of Navarre, princess of Aragon and Sicily, Countess of Foix and Bigorre, Lady of Bearn, Lieutenant general for the most serene king, my most redoubtable lord and father in this his kingdom of Navarre.”

The signet that Leonor used for the majority of her lieutenancy as well as her sello secreto had heraldic devises that mirror her address clause, bearing the arms Navarre, her family dynasty of Evreux, her husband’s counties of Foix, Béarn, and Bigorre, and finally the Trast á mara connections to Aragon, Castile, and Léon.

To sum up, Gaston and Leonor’s ability to divide up roles and responsibilities demonstrates the couple’s effective partnership, using each partner in the most appropriate arena. Moreover, this division was entirely necessary as the couple’s widespread territorial holdings and the demands of balancing the complicated and difficult political situation both within Navarre and the Midi and between France, Castile, and Aragon meant that both partners needed to be fully engaged and active in order to achieve their mutual goals and further their dynastic interests.

Even though Leonor and Gaston generally employed this mode of “Divide and Conquer” that left Leonor primarily responsible for the administration of Navarre while Gaston oversaw his own sizable patrimony, the couple did work together as a unit whenever possible. Documentary evidence shows that Gaston came to stay with Leonor in Navarre for short periods, particularly during the autumn of 1469 and 1470. There is also some additional evidence to indicate an earlier reunion in 1464, which appears to indicate a desire on the part of the couple to be together. Gaston and his party were stuck in the mountain passes between Foix and Navarre on his way to visit Leonor. The princess issued a series of orders to dispatch men and pay for additional recruits and mules in the mountains in order to clear the passes and roads for Gaston, including one order for 300 men to be sent to help. Gaston’s death in 1472 took place on another journey to see his wife in Navarre; he died en route of natural causes in the Pyrenean town of Roncesvalles.

 Overall, Gaston and Leonor worked together with the mutual goal of obtaining the crown of Navarre, throwing the weight of Gaston’s power, wealth, connection, and military forces behind Leonor’s hereditary rights and were willing to fight off opposition from their own family in order to succeed. They worked in partnership, with each partner taking on the most appropriate role; Leonor was responsible for the governance of Navarre, and Gaston supported her militarily and financially. They both worked on diplomatic efforts to achieve their ambitions; Gaston used his position as a powerful French vassal and general to gain support while Leonor negotiated with her Iberian relatives to maintain their rights.

[...] Tragically perhaps, Leonor hardly had a chance to enjoy the position of queen regnant when it finally came her way. Leonor’s death, only a few weeks after her father’s in February 1479, meant that her rule as queen lasted less than a month. Leonor changed her address clause to reflect her altered position as “Queen of Navarre, Princess of Aragon and Sicily, Duchess of Nemours, of Gandia, of Montblanc and Peñafiel, Countess of Bigorre and Ribagorza and Lady of Balaguer.” Ram í rez Vaquero points out that most of these titles were disputed; several were titles that should have come to her as part of her paternal inheritance from her father but in reality would have gone to her half-brother Ferdinand de Aragon. In addition, the French titles that Leonor had held as Gaston’s wife had already been passed to her grandson. It appears that Leonor had enough time to mount a formal coronation, on January 28, 1479, at Tudela, firmly establishing herself as Queen of Navarre, even if only for a brief moment. Moret remarked that “out of all the kings and queens of Navarre she was the one who reigned the shortest, although she may have been the one who desired [the crown] most.”

-Elena Woodacre, "Leonor: Civil War and Sibling Strife", "The Queens Regnant of Navarre: Succession, Politics and Partnership, 1274-1512" (Queenship and Power)

Nina and I are unfortunately like dynamite and gunpowder. something happens and we’re just like oh yeah? You wanna go? Let’s go! Meet me in the ring bitch!

got to act 3 in my dark urge playthrough (holds my head in my hands)

some facts:

The Sohma family (especially the zodiacs) had fucked up childhoods and family structures.

All of the zodiacs wanted to be opaque with their children about their fucked up childhoods and family structures, but didn't necessarily give them all the gory details.

Akito is biologically female but was raised as a male her entire life.

None of the Sohmas (barring a select few) knew that Akito was biologically female. They all used masculine terminology to refer to her basically their entire lives.

Japanese as a language is not quite as gendered as English (e.g. leaving out pronouns and having more gender neutral terms overall).

now a concept:

Mutsumi, Hajime, and Shiki get thrown into the past and meet their parents as teenagers.

While discussing the future and the story's present, Shiki routinely makes comments about his mother and how she's happy, healthy, and making amends for all the hurt she's caused the zodiacs and the Sohma family as a whole.

Mutsumi, Hajime, and Shiki think that Akito was raised as her biological gender, and that saying "Shiki's mother" will automatically be understood as meaning Akito.

Yuki, Tohru, and Kyo are convinced that Akito somehow found, married, and fathered a child with someone who was even worse than him.

Shigure is one "que sera sera" away from losing it.

In which Bahari falls hard and fast for literally the most hated man in the entire city

She was a gerbil, he was a war criminal— can I make it any more obvious?

Ok but actually

They met at a parade in the city spearheaded by—freshly dubbed Magic Mouse—Bahari. It was meant to be a stunt to distract him, Praxys, from his high security government prison thing while the other half of their squad enacted their break in of said prison. One thing led to another and she’s dancing with him and bonding of music and dance of far gone ages. There was even a plan and a promise to meet up again (once the queen was safe from a sudden assassination attempt during the parade but that’s neither here nor there)

She hadn’t learned all his dark secrets yet by then but she always was one to live her life how she wants to

Whatever happens, happens, right?

A snippet from the date.

"C'mere a moment," she said suddenly during a lull in their conversation. She flicked a paw, beckoning the half elf closer. He gave her a curious, quizical look before reluctanly leaning closer.

She gave the man a look of assessment for a moment before unraveling the ribbon from her throat. "You've got such lovely hair, but you let it run rampant." She scootched her chair closer-- not caring in the least that she was in a fine dining establishment--and asked, "may I?"

Praxys began to open his mouth to respond but Bahari paid him no heed and continued on anyway. "Ah, so that was more of a formality than a question." He chuckled with a single brow raised and relinquished control to the bard.

"I'm the fashion forward one here, so hush." She chided him playfully. She put the edge of the ribbon in her teeth before running her paws through Praxys' silky blond locks. A soft silence encased them as she worked on his hair. She pulled the sky blue ribbon from her teeth and thread it delicately into his hair with practiced ease.

What must have only been a mere minute, felt like hours as Bahari finally tied the ribbon into a sweet bow. Its simple--half up, half down--but Bahari can already see a difference. She sat back on her haunches and assessed her work--a mere excuse to stare without question. Once she's had her fill she nods.

"There." She says, pleased. "Much better. I feel I can actually make eye contact with you--now that all that hair isn't in the way."

Praxys reached a hand to touch the ribbon and looked back to Bahari curiously. She uncharacteristically feels herself heat under his perceptive gaze. She rests her chin on her paws in an effort to distract from warmth in her chest and tells him, "now you better take care of that ribbon. Its quite important to me." She suddenly feels exposed--she hopes a careful smile and cheeky eyes can mask it.

"Well," he starts slowly, "I can't in good conscience deny a lady such a request." He leant back in his chair as a server came by and refilled their wine. Bahari refuses to acknowledge who's wine they were drinking. "I'll be sure to return it to you b--"

"No, hold onto it."

He tilted his head.

Bahari grasps her glass and brought it to her lips with a coy smile. "You can return it to me after our next date."

His blue eyes widen ever so slightly. A small smirk graces his face before he too reached for his own glass.

"Very well."

The clink of their glasses echo through The Jewel sealing the night with a promise.

idk who needs to hear this but turning a female character into a predictable, tired trope of being an emotionless witch isn’t the revolutionary storyline you think it would be. alys can be cunning, powerful, and fascinating while also finding common ground and an alliance with aemond in that they have both been judged by others all their lives and have been viewed as outsiders. imo, it’s way more interesting to watch an unlikely bond form between two complicated people rather than watching a character being tricked throughout an entire arc (which would be incredibly boring and dull). people argue that alys would not have fallen in love with him as he “killed her family” but there’s no indication that she and her family were close as she was a servant and the more logical scenario is that they ignored/mistreated her as she represented a living embodiment of shame and dishonor for their house (by being a bastard). you don’t have to enjoy them as a romantic pairing but acting as if the only options are to turn her into a “cottage-core girl” or some cliché example of what a male writer thinks a Strong Female Character is (aka one who’s absent of the ability to develop feelings or emotional investment in others) doesn’t make sense and feels simplistic to me. she can be nuanced, complex, gifted in witchcraft/magical abilities while also forming a real bond with aemond. all of these relationships are “problematic” compared to modern-day norms and values but that doesn’t mean they can’t be intriguing to watch or have to be lazily-written solely because people can’t handle an unconventional love story. the idea that a female character can’t have any romance and has to be emotionally empty in order to be riveting and empowering is uninteresting and heavily overplayed in media. hope the writers see that and add more dimensions to their relationship rather than merely basing it on deceit.

I think one of the more interesting things they could do in Sandman season 2 is that the story of Nada and Dream is told through folktale, as in the comic, but this time we hear both the men’s version, the women’s version and couple other versions that circulate around. And they are clearly all contradictory and you can kind of see how they all slant towards their target audience. Who has agency, responsibility, depth, sympathy, etc varies wildly from story to story.

and then we never find out what the “truth” of their affair was. If Nada was innocent little girl, or arrogant and dangerous witch queen, just a victim of circumstances, or just a fool dallying with forces she shouldn’t have. And wether Dream was capricous and evil, hurt and lashing out, or more of a mindless force of nature.

We just see Nada and Dream reconciliating, but never actually hear the words they exchange, so what actually happened is a secret those two won’t share even with the audience.

I just really like that all the other relatinships that Dream has had have been very...realistic. They have ended with hurt feelings, but not because anyone was technically at fault, more that they just fizzled out for myriads of reasons that are exactly the same as with normal mortal relationships. I would like for Nada to get the same kind of treatment, instead of being an object whose story starts and ends with being a tool for Dream’s character development.

I am still not over the level cap thing what do you mean level fucking 10

ollie having like 50 wis and ven having 5(!!!) will never not be hilarious to me.

not that the west wing was ever a paragon of feminism but s6 in particular is filled with a subtle but pervasive misogyny that hides behind CJ as CoS

its spn thats what i was referring to Jn my orevious post. me and hal were watching it formerly